M2: What’s Changing in the New Microscope

My fellow designer Caroline Hobbs has described Microscope as my Silmaril, ‘the work of my heart that cannot be remade’. And she was not wrong. For a long time cracking open Microscope and revising it felt like an impossible task. But what better task to take up than the impossible one? And now, after creeping up on it for many years, I have arrived at a place where I can see clearly how I can make Microscope better. So I’m doing it. My guiding star has been to keep the magic of the original but make it even easier to get there. The heart and soul of the game works, but there are rough spots that need to go. In other words: Make it easier to pick up and the book and play from scratch. Lower the learning curve and starting effort. Fix anything that wastes precious play time. Deal with any rough edges or bits that drag or distract. I want to be able to hand the book to someone who has never heard of Microscope and say “just follow these instructions” and be confident they could sit down…