I listened to Guy Spier’s interview with Howard Marks while driving to my hometown. I enjoyed it, as usual with his interviews. But I wanted to highlight something: he asked Marks about playing bridge to become a better investor. Marks answered something like, “You should play bridge if you think you’d enjoy it. You shouldn’t play bridge to become a better investor,” and also added that he likes resting and relaxing when he’s not investing. I found his answer unexpected. I thought he would share a hobby or a story that revealed how he remains an investor outside of work — but he didn’t.
Yet, I still believe Guy was onto something. I’ve never played Bridge, but looking at its mechanics, I see deduction of incomplete information, positional reading, coordination, among other aspects. As I mentioned, I’m fascinated by games — I’ve designed games and taught game design at the university — but I had never deeply reflected on how games are often a minimal space in which cognitive skills are practiced.
After listening to Guy’s interview, I pulled the list of board games I have at home. I uploaded it to ChatGPT, along with a couple of books that are encyclopedias of game mechanics. It generated a mapping between games, their mechanics, and cognitive skills employed. I then created an A4 sheet listing my games, their core mechanics, associated skills, play duration, and recommended age. I plan to use it with my daughter Clara to: a) pick games using skills and see which feel most natural to her, and b) ensure that she tries different skills in a free, playful environment. (Here’s the 2-page file if you are curious).
The idea of practicing a skill outside its original domain fascinates me. I read The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin, who excelled both in chess and Jiu-Jitsu. He talks about “interconnectedness,” meaning that knowledge and skills can be transferred between fields. While it’s unclear where the limits of domain specificity lie, games seem to offer a fun and fascinating way to explore this. So I completely agree with his original intuition.
If you ever want to build an Aquamarine ludothèque of board games related to investing — or games that train investing skills indirectly — these would be some titles I would suggest (the site BGG — BoardGameGeek — is the main web for board game ratings and reviews):
- Biblios — Limited resource management and value anticipation | Year: 2007 | Duration: 20 min | Players: 2–4 | BGG Rating: 7.0 (7,000 ratings, Rank: 869) | Author: Steve Finn
- Lost Cities — Skill: Risk management, opportunity cost, strategic commitment | Year: 1999 | Duration: 30 min | Players: 2 | BGG Rating: 7.1 (33,000 ratings, Rank: 784) | Author: Reiner Knizia
- High Society — Emotional control and financial discipline | Year: 1995 | Duration: 20 min | Players: 3–5 | BGG Rating: 7.0 (6,500 ratings, Rank: 1007) | Author: Reiner Knizia
- Hanabi — Deductive reasoning and risk management under opacity | Year: 2010 | Duration: 25–30 min | Players: 2–5 | BGG Rating: 7.1 (46,000 ratings, Rank: 607) | Author: Antoine Bauza
- Modern Art — Asset valuation and auction discipline | Year: 1992 | Duration: 45–60 min | Players: 3–5 | BGG Rating: 7.3 (12,000 ratings, Rank: 529) | Author: Reiner Knizia
- Brass: Birmingham — Long-term strategic planning | Year: 2018 | Duration: 60–120 min | Players: 2–4 | BGG Rating: 8.7 (56,000 ratings, Rank: 1) | Authors: Gavan Brown, Matt Tolman, Martin Wallace
- Power Grid — Optimal capital allocation and efficient auctions | Year: 2004 | Duration: 120 min | Players: 2–6 | BGG Rating: 7.8 (59,000 ratings, Rank: 72) | Author: Friedemann Friese
- Indonesia — Building strategic value and corporate mergers | Year: 2005 | Duration: 180–240 min | Players: 3–5 | BGG Rating: 8.0 (7,500 ratings, Rank: 103) | Authors: Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga
Like the famous Civilization’s game designer said, “Games are a series of interesting decisions”. The games of this list are amazing.