Many PC gaming fans started their adventure in the medium with family-friendly titles like the Civilization series, but not every young player could necessarily afford to secure a legitimate copy. However, instead of resorting to piracy, one fan of the series created their own method of playing Civilization that didn't require the game or a PC to still enjoy its basic concepts.
Redditor Alexander-00AK shared an incredible concept that the fan had devised to play Civilization when they couldn't afford to get their first copy of the release. It might not have had all the features and graphical capabilities of a modern game in the series, but the workaround is an excellent showcase of the fan's ingenuity.
This unofficial version of Civilization was made entirely on graph paper, called Paper Civ, and had its own set of rules that mirrored the game in a way to make it playable without a PC. The original post was accompanied by pictures of the world map that the player had created, as well as some examples of how resources and units would be tracked. While the gameplay as a whole is a somewhat simplified version of modern Civilization game modes, there is still a robust ruleset that captures much of the spirit of the game.
Before I ever had money for civ, I had to make up my own version that could be written out and played on paper. I called it “paper civ” from civ
In a reply to comments on the original post, the fan goes into detail about the basics of how to play this version of the game, complete with resource management, era progression, and combat. It would also appear that adding new leaders to Civilization in this paper version may have even been easier than the work that goes into updating the digital version of the game. Though, getting all of these maps and figures set up must have been a huge time investment, especially for a young fan working on the concept of a game they didn't own.
This whole project is a remarkable showing of what players will do at times when excitement for a game builds, but they have no way to access it. Whether fans are waiting for an upcoming release, like the final New Frontier Pass DLC for Civilization 6, or holding out until they can afford to buy the game, there are still ways that players will continue to engage with the content. While some fans will watch and re-watch trailers and analysists until they get their hands on the game, it is fantastic to see some players like Alexander-00AK go the extra mile to make something of their own to enjoy in the meantime.
Civilization 6 is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.