Leisure Academy: Board Game Round-Up Part 2

Holding the title Leisure King, it is a necessity that I love games. Video games, sports games, word games, mind games, card games, travel games, party games, and particularly board games. Games are an extremely popular leisure activity. In the last few years I have taken a special interest in strategy board games, or "gamer" games, German-made games that you won't find at Target. To read up on the characteristics of these award-winning German-style games check out my previous post. But today I would like to continue my discussion and promotion of strategy games with a look at some new ones I have tried out over the last few months.

Agricola:
Agricola, Latin for farmer, is a complex game in which you must grow and maintain a balanced farm, harvesting different crops, raising a diverse collection of animals, expanding and improving your house, and growing and providing for your family. Released in 2008, it won top awards at Germany's Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis, kind of like the Oscars and Golden Globes for boardgames (minus politics, corporate backing, obscenely expensive clothing, and bullshit). Most impressively, Agricola took the crown for highest-rated board game on BoardGameGeek.com away from Puerto Rico*, which unwaveringly held that spot for the previous 5 years. This is actually quite understandable considering that it is extremely similar to Puerto Rico in goals and game play, but perhaps even more complex (who knew that was even possible?), with more game elements/variables, a more aesthetically pleasing design, and with new strategies to explore. The game is restricted to 14 turns only, which adds a dimension of anxiety, but also makes you focus and stops the game from going on too long. After the few times I have played it I must say that it is quite fun and challenging, but definitely not for the beginner strategy board game enthusiast. It took my friend and I a good 6 hours to read through the rules and understand the game, and we're pretty smart guys. I think the burden of having to explain the game to new players has prevented us from gaining new competition, but I am really looking forward to playing it with more than one opponent. Highly recommended, highly complex.

Shadows Over Camelot:
Serge Laget and Bruno Cathala's Shadows Over Camelot is a very unique game in which all the players are on the same team playing against the game itself, unless one of the players happens to have been secretly assigned the role of traitor and is allied with the game. Players take on the role of one of King Arthur's famed knights of the round table and each turn must introduce a new evil element into the game as well as attempting to combat it (unless, of course, you are the traitor, in which case your are being evil all the time, secretly). A cool aspect of the game is that there are a lot of things going on at once and you must use teamwork to beat the board, at any given point you might be questing for the Holy Grail, while another teammate is vanquishing invading monsters, while another player is fighting a dragon, and someone else is searching for Excalibur. That said, the game can get repetitive and putting everyone on the same team takes a slight bit of competitive fun out of it. I think the game is designed to be best played with a larger group of 6-7 players, and I have only played with at most 4, so that might also be contributing to my opinion. ...but try convincing 6 of your friends to commit a few hours to something so geekily titled as Shadows Over Camelot, not an easy task. It is definitely a unique, interesting, and new gaming experience, and for that I must recommend it.

Ticket to Ride Europe:
This is the same game as Alan R. Moon's original Ticket to Ride*, but with a new board and a few new game elements. On first play through, the Europe board seems much less balanced than the original America board, there are only two 6-train connector routes and one 8-train route that will earn you a whopping 21 points if you secure it. I then realized that the new element of the Station, which allows players to use opponents' connections, adds an entirely new dimension and strategy to the game allowing you to reach many more destinations than typically possible in the original game. I really enjoy this new element and will definitely be testing its limits in the future. The other new elements (tunnels and water routes) do not really change the game. I recommend this for veteran Ticket to Riders interested in new ways to play, but might suggest playing the American version first for the n00bs.

Chez Geek:
Unlike the other games featured, Chez Geek, is a simple, fast-paced, American made, card game, but has just as much "gamer" cred. It was created by Jon Darbro and Alain H. Dawson with help from gaming powerhouse Steve Jackson (famous for creating the game series Munchkin). Bursting with humor, the award-winning Chez Geek is a race to attain "slack" (aka leisure time) by doing various activities such as watching TV, playing RPGs, and getting nookie while your roommates (aka the other players) try to thwart you to reach their own "slack goal" first. You can also gain slack by calling fun people to come to your "room", getting a Live in S.O. (significant other), or purchasing booze, weed, and shrooms, but watch out for unwanted house guests. With cards delightfully illustrated by John Kovalic, it is quite fun and on-the-nose relevant to this blog and the post-grad slacker lifestyle (which I am currently enjoying). Highly recommended for people who like having fun, could possibly be a great drinking game, but not for younger audiences...I suppose it would probably have a PG-13 rating for drug references and sexual references.

Alright, I hope this gets you interested in checking out some fun and challenging alternatives to your Monopolys and Apples to Apples.

Leisure on! Play Games!

*Read my thoughts on Puerto Rico and Ticket to Ride here.

Leisure Academy: German-Style Board Games

Over the course of the last couple years, I have had the great fortune of stumbling into the world of strategy board games. Previously unknown to me, and to probably most of Earth's population, is a vast collection and subculture of expertly designed, aesthetically pleasing, and intellectually stimulating board games. We are not talking about your Monopolys, or Apples to Apples, or Magic: The Gatherings here, we are talking about the kind of game that most people will only experience as a shelf filler on the lower most, out-of-the-way, endcap at Barnes and Noble. These games are typically found at local board game, hobby, or "educational" toy stores...a place where only geeks have ventured, but I assure you these are games that anyone who enjoys playing a good game with their friends should know about. And the most highly regarded of the strategy board games are the German-style games. I'll let Wikipedia define them further:

German-style board games are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, high levels of player interaction, and attractive physical components. The games emphasise strategy, downplay luck and conflict, lean towards economic rather than military themes, and usually keep all the players in the game until it ends. German-style games are sometimes contrasted with American-style games, which generally involve more luck, conflict, and drama.

German-style games are usually less abstract than chess, but more abstract than wargames and traingames. Likewise, they generally require more thought and planning than party games, such as Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit, but less than strategy games, such as chess and Go. Their rulebooks are typically four to twelve pages long and playing times are on the order of 30 to 120 minutes. These games appeal to a wide range of ages, though generally not very young children. The audience includes casual gamers, who play with family and friends, as well as more serious hobby gamers.

Another cool aspect of these games is the designer as an auteur. You've probably never heard the names Klaus Teuber, Alan R. Moon, or Andreas Seyfarth, but in the world of boardgames these men are rockstars. There are a number of game designers who have developed quite the following of players who will buy their products simply because of the name of the designer. We're talking Steven Spielberg status. Germany loves it's boardgames so much that they award the coveted Spiel des Jahres ("game of the year") to the year's most excellent game. It is hard to imagine this bizarro land where boardgame designers are so revered and respected, but I think it is pretty sweet for such creativity and ingenuity to be recognized. Thanks to Xbox's release of virtual versions of some of these game titles, German-style games are reaching new audiences and gaining more and more popularity. Personally, I'm just a n00b in the German board game world, but I intend to explore it further and I encourage anyone who enjoys games, but is frustrated with the lopsidedness and luck factors of American games like Monopoly and Risk, to head out to your local hobby shop and pick out a German game. I promise it will be a more rewarding and stimulating experience than sitting around watching Top Chef. And now I will provide my thoughts on some of the most popular games I have enjoyed, but these are just the tip of a humongous iceberg.

The Settlers of Catan:
Klaus Teuber's Catan is often considered the "greatest game ever made" and I'm not one to disagree. The perfectly balanced board, multiple avenues of winning strategy, aesthetically pleasing elements, and just the right amount of luck make this resource management and trade game one of the crown jewels of boardgames. The game builds in intensity as each player tries to develop their colony on the new found island of Catan. The expansion sets also add new and fun ways to play, Seafarers of Catan is probably my favorite way to play.

Puerto Rico:
Like Catan, Andreas Seyfarth's game is a race to develop your colony of the recently discovered New World of tropical Puerto Rico. Unlike Catan, however, Puerto Rico is completely void of the luck element, and winning is entirely based on out-strategizing the opposing players. This makes the game more difficult to learn and master, while also proving frustrating when there are different levels of players competing in the same match. There is also a lack of fun and colorful game elements, but that does not mean its not a worthy challenge when engaged in a heated match between similarly experienced players.

Carcassonne:
A personal favorite of mine is a game based on the French Medieval town of Carcassone. Players take turns placing randomly chosen pieces of land to form the Medieval city and create their own castles, cloisters, and farms without having them stolen by encroaching players' "meeples." This unique gameplay mechanic makes every game a unique puzzle. With an endless supply of expansions and land tiles you can customize the game to be as short or as epic as you have time for. "The Princess and the Dragon" or "Traders and Builders" are both worthy expansions that enhance and enrich the simple and addicting gameplay.

Ticket to Ride:
Alan R. Moon's train game for 2-5 players is simple to learn and fun for the whole family. On a beautifully detailed board designed as a map of turn-of-the-century United States, players compete to build railroads across the nation and connect America's cities. It's easy, fast moving, and my mom loves it. There is a unique secrecy game play mechanic that make it so you do not know who the winner will be until the absolute end of the game, so players always feel like they are "in" the game as you never know who is ahead. If you get tired of unifying America, there is also a gameboard for Europe or the more focused Germany and Nordic Countries gameboards designed for 2-3 players.
So I guess that's it for now...go straight from work and pick up some sweet German-style boardgames! They are a great way to spend your free time with friends and family.

Leisure On!