What board/card games have their own notation?

Question

What non-classic board games have their own notation (eg, not chess, go, backgammon, bridge)?

I'm particularly interested in the games that routinely top the BGG listings, like . . .

• Settlers of Catan
• Dominion
• Puerto Rico
• Agricola

or other popular games like . . .

• Magic: The Gathering
• Mafia (party game)
• Monopoly

Answer 1

Diplomacy

has a notation built into the game, in that you use it to write down your moves. For example,

A Mar -> Spa
F Lyo S Mar -> Spa

Means "The Army in Marseilles moves to Spain; the Fleet in Lyon supports that move."

That notation can then be used to recap each turn of the game, or to communicate with other players about what you intend to do, especially if you're playing online.

Answer 2

Arimaa

Arimaa has a standardized notation for recording games similar to chess notation, but different enough to warrant a mention. There are 6 kinds of pieces, each represented by a letter: Rabbits(R), Cats(C), Dogs(D), Horses(H), Camels(M), and Elephants(E). Gold's pieces use a capital letter, Silver's pieces use a lower case.

A step is shown by indicating the piece, then the position in chess positional notation, and then a letter to indicate the direction of the piece's movement: (n)orth, (s)outh, (e)ast, or (w)est (from Gold's perspective), or the letter 'x' to indicate a capture. Since all pieces move roughly the same--1 square in any of 4 directions--this is sufficient to capture the moves of the game.

The only added bit is that each players turn and color precede the listing of their steps for that move. So a typical Arimaa record might look like (my commentary in parens):

1g Ra2 Rb2 Mc2 Dd2 ...          (setup phase)
1s ra7 rb7 rc7 rd7 ...          (setup phase)
2g Ra2n Ra3e Rb3n Rb4e          (Gold Rabbit on a2 moves north, east, north, east.)
2s ra7s ra6s ra5e rb5e
3g Dd2n Dd3n Mc2e Rc4s Rc3x     (... Gold Rabbit on c3 is captured)
3s rc7s rc5e rc6x rd5e re5s

Answer 3

Dominion

isotropic has their own way of listing a Dominion match. Council Room seems to reflect isotropic so it seems likely that their patterns will stick around for a bit.

An alternative, more practical, way to record games can be found at the Dominion Strategy blog. Their annotated games sort of skip the gory details and just list the important changes.

(Note: I didn't include deep links to specific games or matches. If anyone has any good examples I can add them.)

Edit: Here is a good example from Council Room:

--- alex_office's turn 1 ---
alex_office plays 4 Coppers.
alex_office buys a Pirate Ship.
(alex_office draws: 3 Coppers and 2 Estates.)


--- Combaticus's turn 1 ---
   Combaticus plays 4 Coppers.
   Combaticus buys a Moneylender.
   (Combaticus draws: 3 Coppers and 2 Estates.)

--- alex_office's turn 2 ---
alex_office plays 3 Coppers.
alex_office buys a Workshop.
(alex_office reshuffles.)
(alex_office draws: a Pirate Ship, 2 Coppers, a Workshop, and an Estate.)


--- Combaticus's turn 2 ---
   Combaticus plays 3 Coppers.
   Combaticus buys a Lookout.
   (Combaticus reshuffles.)
   (Combaticus draws: 2 Coppers, a Moneylender, and 2 Estates.)

--- alex_office's turn 3 ---
alex_office plays a Pirate Ship.
... attacking the other players.
... Combaticus reveals 2 Coppers.
... alex_office trashes one of Combaticus's Coppers.
... alex_office gains a Pirate Ship token.
(alex_office draws: 3 Coppers and 2 Estates.)


--- Combaticus's turn 3 ---
   Combaticus plays a Moneylender.
   ... trashing a Copper for +$3.
   Combaticus plays a Copper.
   Combaticus buys a Pirate Ship.
   (Combaticus draws: 3 Coppers, an Estate, and a Lookout.)

Not all information is listed in these logs, however. Cards discarded or passed via Masquerade are not there. This doesn't necessarily qualify as notation but it is the closest I have seen for Dominion.

Answer 4

Star Fleet Battles

has several notational methods. Almost all are used only for setup, but they are all also used in play-by-mail.

The baseline is the hex in format XXYY; a hex is in column XX from left, and the YYth hex down. EG: 0101 is top left hex of the map. 1505 is 15th row, 5th hex. 0230 is 2nd column, 30th hex down. This was used in almost all of Task Force Games' designs.

A counter is labeled with type and number; in scenarios, these almost always match counters in the box. Dashes or spaces are used when a ship class ends with a number, and may or may not be used with designations not ending in a number. EG: D7-1, D5 3, CL 2 or CA2.

A facing can be added for noting things which have facing that matters (most everything). The rosette on the maps is lettered A-F. A ship in hex 2532A is in the 25th row, 32nd hex, facing hex 2531.

  A
F   B   The direction rosette.
E   C
  D

Next is a ship entry; this is used in scenario setups:

Fed CA 1701D WS III  
Fed : Race indicator, in this case, federation  
CA : Class indicator, in this case heavy cruiser.  
     May be followed by a counter number.  
1701D : location and facing  
WS III : Weapon Status (can be WS 0, WS I, WS II, WS III,  
                        in increasing pre-game readiness)

An alternative notation has been used for tracking movements by some players. It's based on the hex notations above. It combines impulse number and hex/facing

2 1701D
4 1702D
6 1703C
8 1803C
10 1904C

Another mode of notation is older: number of hexes forward, and P or S for turn one hexside; Some use Tp and Ts instead, to allow Sp and Ss for sideslips. This was originally used back when SFB was played entirely with plotted movement. It's also shared with several other Task Force Games, including Starfire.

Weapons Fire is able to be indicated by type, mount and target. EG: Ph #3 CA3 Ph is phaser or photon torpedo; since phasers are numbered, and photons are lettered. Targets are indicated by counter ID (Class & number).

Answer 5

Axis and Allies

There is a fairly standard notion that is used when playing by email. All the units and territories have standardized three letter acronyms (like INF for infantry, EEU for Eastern Europe). An attack would be noted by something like:

Attacking EEU:

• 3 INF, 2 ARM, 1 FTR from CAU
• 2 INF from GER

Non-combat moves, purchases, and unit placement are sent using the same lexicon.