Roundup: Three “programming” board games that will tickle your pseudocode

Enlarge / Programming aspects are all over boardgames these days, even on Fireball Island. (credit: Charlie Theel)

Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com.

“Programming” in board games—where you lay down instructions in advance and then execute them in order—has shown up in everything from 1984’s RoboRally to 2014’s Colt Express. Several of the most interesting games I’ve played this year rely almost entirely upon this mechanic, which makes the games fun to play while also introducing the concept of programming to young players who might have little to no previous exposure to it.

Here are three of my recent favorites.

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