The alien board game folks spend months translating
For many people, reading the rules of complicated board games can feel like reading a foreign language. City of six moons goes one step further. A game about the development of an alien civilization, the rulebook itself (which was “discovered” by Amabel Holland) is written entirely in symbols and icons. You, the player, will have to decipher the rules before you can even start playing – although in Dutch’s eyes the translation is part of the game itself.
City of six moons was inspired by Holland’s experience translating a German board game she found in a thrift store, according to one interview with Gamesradar. Holland is known for its other innovative high-concept games such as Doubt is our product.which is about disinformation spread by the tobacco industry in the twentieth century, and Striking Flintabout the 1937 union strikes in Flint Michigan. City of six moons is deliberately opaque, forcing players to engage with complex theories surrounding real-world systems through their interpretations of this alien language.
In fact, you’ll never know if you’re right. “We will never answer questions about the rules,” the game page says. About Bluesky, Holland said that, once translated, Six moons is a “functional, replayable game.” In the same post, Holland warned that the translated interpretation of the game could be “perhaps a lesser one.” But I want you to feel that loss; I want it to stick.”
In an interview with PolygonHolland explained that idea. The sense of loss she alluded to reflects the difficulties of any attempt to capture the true essence of a translated work from its native language. Even the best translations are “at best an approximation of something, although I think that applies to any form of communication,” Holland said. “Once you put something into words, you close off certain meanings, and in that process the thing becomes distorted and that’s a bit sad. You can try to capture it as much as possible, and language gives us ways to embody ambiguity, to allow meanings to be slippery, but ultimately anything worth expressing is only approximated in that act of expression. For example, this morning I said “I love you” to my partner, and I meant it, I said it with all my heart, but that word not only feels much smaller than the feeling I wanted to express, but also loses some of the nuance, all the different shades of meaning. I have the same feeling when I write about a work of art… The words can come close, but never quite.’
People ignored the Netherlands’ warning and spent countless hours of their lives translating City of six moons – with one reviewer, Dan Thurot, struggling with it for four months. “The response has been very satisfying and I feel like the trend is quite positive,” Holland said Polygon. “I haven’t heard much from people playing the ‘post’ translation game. Whether that’s because the translation puzzle was the big draw for them, or because they’re afraid of spoiling it for others, I can’t say. Most of the online commentary about the game seems to revolve entirely around its central conceit.”
While excitement for the game hasn’t been universal (no pun intended), as some people find the concept too esoteric and arcane for their hobby preferences, for those who appreciate games that push the boundaries of tabletop design, it’s a striking piece of art. To quote one Bluesky user“Is (City of six moons) really a game? Who cares?”