Eye candy is a large part of it. Having everything laid out for you - that is, drawn in 3d or 2d as true as possible to what they are supposed to represent - reduces the imagination and I am not able to get as emotionally involved. I enjoy playing Silent Hunter or whatever for the challenge they present but I never get the same sinking feeling in my heart wondering now if I have made some catastrophic blunder and what UnderseaLCpl's devious plan is. I would tear my hair out over a game like Abalone because as I think you said somewhere else, the
fate of the universe would rest on the shoulders of those tiny ordinary black and white balls
It's the kind of paradox that gets the blood pumping!