Enclosure

Mechanism · III – Space & Position delayed / aggregated · irreversible / conditional · open · competitive

Enclosure draws boundaries and controls spaces: control arises through encircling, demarcating or sealing off a previously open space.

Design question – How does control arise in your game through encircling and demarcating spaces?

Reference example – Go: enclosed stones are captured, enclosed territory scores. Dots and Boxes: whoever draws the fourth side closes the box and claims it. Agricola: only fences turn open land into a pasture for animals. Go (Enclosure Game) · Blokus (Grid Coverage) · Patchwork (Spatial Puzzle)

Structural pattern

Input -> transformation -> output: an open space (board) becomes a controlled area (enclosed zone) via boundary-drawing/encirclement (stones, lines, figures).

Regulated mainly in conditioning mode (when an area counts as enclosed: completely, partially, via a connection; what happens then: capture, scoring, blocking) and constraining mode (minimum and maximum size; which borders count). In a game, the sizes become specifications.

Design parameters

• Enclosure degree – complete (Go) ↔ connection (Hex)
• Boundary permanence – permanent ↔ breachable
• Effect – Capture ↔ sealing/resource gain
• Competition – one-sided ↔ mutually contested
• Scale – small-scale ↔ large-scale

Related Mechanisms

• Placement (MEC-10) – Frequently combined: place boundary elements.
• Capture / Elimination (MEC-24) – Frequently combined: remove what is enclosed.
• Scoring (MEC-09) – Frequently combined: area scoring.
• Proximity (MEC-13) – Frequently combined: adjacency defines the boundary.

Ludic Organisational Structures

Territory (core) · Commons (dynamic)