This last week in class, the game played was a little different from the others, and it was stressful to say the least. I’m talking about Captain Sonar, the real-time team strategy game, all about communication and problem-solving. The first thing to know about this game is the positions all the players can be in the game. There are four, for an optimized two opposing teams of four. The game revolves around the teams controlling a complex submarine, which has multiple systems. Both teams not only have to concentrate on controlling their sub, but also find and keep track of where the other sub is in order to find and destroy it.

The roles are what make this game extremely interesting, and they include the Captain, First Mate, Radio Operator, and Engineer. The Captain is responsible for determining where the submarine goes, and how they can confuse the other team on where they are going. The First Mate keeps track of the sub’s systems, which have to charge over time. This means the First Mate has to pick and choose which systems to charge based on the situation. The Radio Operator is the one listening to the other team’s Captain, using their shouted out movements to try and track where they are on the map. The Engineer has probably the most complex task, keeping track of the sub’s damages. Each time the submarine moves, it takes some damage to its inner workings based on the direction it last moved. The Engineer decides which part of the sub’s systems get damaged, and have ways of undoing that damage through certain patterns.

For our class specifically, we had a limited number of people, so the Captains had to take the First Mate role in addition. This was the absolute hardest thing for me to do, because both of those roles had their own things to communicate to the other players, so keeping track of both at the rapid pace the game naturally goes at was difficult to say the least. Leadership was very individual based in my opinion, with each person expressing their concerns in their own way in order for the team as a whole to succeed.

I have a friend in Maryland who really, really likes these types of games. I think he would either be the Captain or Engineer during the game, because he likes to lead or manage the most important elements of the game. I will have to see if he had heard of this game over winter break, maybe even play it with him and some mutual friends.