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In the 3 months I have participated in Board and Card Games, I have seen Magic the Gathering nearly spun off (then not). I have read of other game stacks that started independently or spun off from B&CG but I don't really understand the whole timeline or reasoning behind all these events. I think it would be useful for enthusiastic gamers who are new to Stack Exchange to have this reference post for information like:

When did each game-related stack start it's Beta? Did it start independent or part of another stack to be later spun off? Was a new stack proposed but purposely NOT spun off? Why did it spin off and/or not spin off?

I don't want to see long explanations - just a date, title, and 0-20 words for each event with perhaps a link to a more in depth explanations of why various game stacks split off B&CG or started independently.

Why is this useful? I think it will be a good place to point to every time a new game proposal is considered (new stack, merger between stacks, etc.), so people can quickly get up to speed on past efforts. It will also help people like me (no expert in how Stack Exchange works but an avid gamer and participant in B&CG) get up to speed. Lastly, it will also help orient people toward the stacks that will best fit their gaming interests.

So, while all this is still young and tractable, who can answer the question:

What is the history of game stacks on Stack Exchange?

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  • Perhaps a community wiki would be a good way to do the answer as I hope this is maintained over time as new game stacks launch, old game stacks merge, etc. Plus, it might already be the case that no single person actually knows every fact related to game efforts on stack exchange.
    – Joe Golton
    Mar 30, 2012 at 16:03
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    This doesn't fully answer your question, but a post I made on Area 51 long ago contains links to the various game proposals that existed at that time. I'm not aware of any others currently.
    – Pat Ludwig Mod
    Mar 30, 2012 at 21:05

1 Answer 1

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2009 Launches

  • Go launched in fall as SE 1.0 site (shidogo.com), closed when Game of Go was proposed on Area51
  • Draw 3 Cards (Magic the Gathering) launched in fall as SE 1.0 site. Still live. SE 1.0 sites were given one year to migrate but Draw 3 Cards was extended to 1/1/2013. After SE 2.0 area51 proposal was closed in March, 2012, Draw 3 Cards migrated to askbot (see Migration Successful, December 2012). Over 1/3 of Board and Card Games stack activity in March 2012 was related to Magic the Gathering, whose rapid growth may have been fueled by the area51 proposal. For more: See Draw 3 Cards blog.

2010 Launches

2011 Launches

2011 removed proposals:

2011 Closed betas:

  • Game of Go proposed prior to 3/2011, private beta 11/2011, closed 12/2011 (inactivity)

2012 Launched:

2012 Removed proposals:

2014 Sites shut down:

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  • 1
    It is clear from the research I've done so far that there's a lot of interest in gaming among participants in the stack exchange network! This first draft is almost certainly incomplete and probably has some inaccuracies, so I'd greatly appreciate of other people can jump in and contribute little bits and pieces until this becomes complete and accurate. Thanks!
    – Joe Golton
    Apr 1, 2012 at 17:48
  • looks nice, thanks!
    – Pat Ludwig Mod
    Apr 1, 2012 at 20:07
  • Not sure if it's interesting, but the Game of Go had a SE 1.0 site (shidogo.com) that was active in late 2009 and got closed when Go became a proposal on A51.
    – mafu
    Apr 2, 2012 at 13:49
  • @mafutrct Exactly the kinds of detail I'm hoping to include. So I just stuck it in. Thanks!
    – Joe Golton
    Apr 2, 2012 at 14:19
  • Where does Draw 3 Cards fit in?
    – Alex P
    Apr 2, 2012 at 15:52
  • @AlexP Not being a Magic the Gathering player, I know nothing about it but did some Googling and added Draw 3 Cards in 2009. Can you please edit inaccuracies and provide additional information if warranted? Given my meager knowledge of all things MTG, and that this is a community Wiki, I'm more than happy to see you go in and change around anything I wrote related to Draw 3 Cards or MTG. Thanks!
    – Joe Golton
    Apr 2, 2012 at 20:28
  • @JoeGolton Oh, I don't know myself, hence the question! I never followed Draw 3 Cards and I'm not really familiar with the site proposal process or the SE 1.0 -> 2.0 migration process.
    – Alex P
    Apr 2, 2012 at 20:44
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    We do have until 2013 to host Draw3Cards on SE 1.0 server. You'll find a lot historical information on our blog: draw3cards.wordpress.com We are very sorry that the Magic proposal was closed ... we had planned on merging D3C into it, but now we'll have to migrate to some other platform, OSQA being the prime target.
    – ripper234
    Apr 5, 2012 at 6:51
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    @ripper234 Thanks - I removed the "??" indicating uncertainty.
    – Joe Golton
    Apr 5, 2012 at 14:04
  • In the 2012 entry, the link to the reasons is bad; the target discussion got removed.
    – aramis
    Jun 3, 2012 at 0:55
  • @aramis Thanks for pointing that out. I sent a request to the team behind area51 to restore the links.
    – Joe Golton
    Jun 3, 2012 at 1:22
  • @aramis The link was restored for historical purposes. However, there used to be some discussion related specifically to Magic the Gathering which I can no longer find.
    – Joe Golton
    Jun 3, 2012 at 18:01
  • @JoeGolton the arguments against MTG probably mirror those against Go, Poker, and Chess... I'm glad to see poker up and running - it really doesn't appeal to many gamer-types, in the same way Chess doesn't. Chess, SFB, Go, Poker, Shogi, and ASL all are games where knowing how to play and playing well are totally different levels of skill, and casual players almost always lose to high-skill players.
    – aramis
    Jun 8, 2012 at 1:30
  • @aramis I wonder how many gamer types have one game they're more serious about? For me it's Bridge. For a couple of my gamer friends, it's Go. And yes - the majority of my gamer friends are not heavily into Go, Poker, Bridge, Chess, etc. But I've noticed that there's a few people participating in Board and Card games who know one of these games at least at an intermediate level.
    – Joe Golton
    Jun 8, 2012 at 2:12
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    It's been years since this was updated. I just added something I thought historically noteworthy in 2014. Has anything else happened with game sites over the past few years?
    – Joe Golton
    Oct 3, 2016 at 16:30

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