German-style board game

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Puerto Rico, a popular German-style board game
Puerto Rico, a popular German-style board game

German-style board games are a broad class of games that feature simple rules, modest length, and attractive components.[1] They are usually themed rather than abstract, and generally require more thought and planning to play well than do party games such as Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit but less than strategy games such as Chess, Go or wargames[citation needed]. These games appeal to a wide range of ages, though generally not young children. The audience includes casual gamers, who play with family and friends, as well as more serious hobby gamers.

Not all German-style board games are German, and not all German-style games are board games. As a result, various other names have been offered for the class. Eurogame is a common, though still imprecise, alternative label. Because most of these games feature the name of the designer prominently on the box they are sometimes known as designer games[2]. Other names include family strategy game and hobby game. Shorter, lighter games in this class are known as gateway games[1] whereas longer, heavier games are known as gamers' games.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Early examples of German-style board games, such as Acquire, appeared in the 1960s. However, the genre as a more concentrated design movement began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Germany. Germany publishes more board games than any other country per capita, hence the name. Today the phenomenon has spread to other European countries such as France, The Netherlands and Sweden. While many games are published and played in other markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom, they occupy a niche status there.

Settlers of Catan, first published in 1995, paved the way for the genre in the United States and outside Europe. It was neither the first "German game" nor the first such game to find an audience outside Germany, but it became much more popular than any of its predecessors. It quickly sold millions of copies in Germany, and in the process brought money and attention to the genre as a whole. One of its most famous and successful follow-ups in the genre was Carcassonne.

[edit] Characteristics

As far as generalities can be made about such a large and diverse group of games, German games are usually multiplayer and can be learned easily and played in a relatively short time, perhaps multiple times in a single session. A certain amount of socializing and "table talk" might typically be expected during game play, as opposed to the relative silence sometimes expected during some strategy games like chess and go, or restrictions on allowable conversations or actions found in some highly competitive games such as contract bridge. German-style games are generally much simpler than the wargames which flourished in the 1970s and 1980s from publishers such as SPI and Avalon Hill, but nonetheless often have a considerable depth of play, especially in some "gamers' games" such as Tigris and Euphrates.

[edit] Themes

German games have themes (i.e., are not abstract, but are about something)—more like Monopoly or Cluedo, rather than go or backgammon. Themes are often very loose — unlike a simulation game, the theme of a German game is often merely suggestive, and it is not unknown for a game to be designed with one theme and published with another, or for the same game to be given a significantly different theme for a later republication, or for two games on wildly different themes to have very similar mechanics. However, combat themes are uncommon and player conflict is often indirect (for example, competing for a scarce resource). While they often have a simulation-like theme, they are not simulation games per se, as many wargames are.

Example themes are:

  • Carcassonne - build a medieval landscape complete with walled-cities and monasteries, roads and fields in the area around the French city of Carcassonne.
  • Puerto Rico - as a Governor of the island of Puerto Rico build a colony in the New World.
  • Imperial - as an international investor, influence the politics of pre-World War I European empires.

[edit] Games made for everyone

While many titles (especially the strategically heavier ones) are enthusiastically played by "gamers" as a hobby, German-style games are, for the most part, well suited to "everyman" social play. In keeping with this social function, various characteristics of the games tend to support that aspect well, and these have become quite common across the genre. For example, generally German games do not have a fixed number of players like chess or bridge; though there is a sizable body of German-style games which are designed for exactly two players, most games can accommodate anywhere from two to six players (with varying degrees of suitability). Six-player games are somewhat rare, or require expansions, as with Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne. Usually each player plays for himself, rather than in a partnership or team.

In keeping with their social orientation, numbers are usually low in magnitude, often under ten, and any arithmetic in the game is trivial.

Playing time varies from a half hour to a couple of hours, with around an hour being typical. In contrast to games such as Risk or Monopoly, in which a close game can extend indefinitely, German-style games usually have a mechanism to stop the game within its stated playing time. Common mechanisms include a pre-determined winning score, a set number of game turns, or depletion of limited game resources. For example, Ra has limited tiles to exhaust.

[edit] No player elimination

Another prominent characteristic of these games is the lack of player elimination. Eliminating players before the end of the game is seen as counterproductive. Most of these games are designed to keep all players in the game as long as possible, so it is rare to be certain of victory or defeat until relatively late in the game. Some of the mechanics, like hidden scoring or scoring at the end of the game, are also designed around this avoidance of player elimination. Balancing mechanisms are often integrated into the rules, giving slight advantages to lagging players and slight hindrances to the leaders. This helps to avoid the "runaway leader" problem and keep the game competitive to the very end.

[edit] Made for an international audience

These games are designed for international audiences, so they are not word games and usually do not contain much text outside of the rules. Game components often use symbols and icons instead of words, reducing the amount of text to be translated between localized editions.

Some publishers design games that contain instructions and game elements in more than one language, e.g. the game Ursuppe comes with rules and cards in both German and English; Khronos features instructions in French, English and German. However, this is usually not the case if the rights to sell the game outside its country of origin are sold to another publisher (see below "Publishers").

English editions are often available in specialist shops, but most of these are published in the USA and they usually cost more than original German editions in other countries. Even when non-localized versions are unavailable, it is not uncommon for players outside of Germany to buy German editions of these games and download rules translations from sites such as BoardGameGeek.

[edit] Game mechanics

A wide variety of often innovative mechanics are used, and familiar mechanics like rolling dice and moving, capture, or trick taking are avoided. If a game has a board, the board is usually irregular rather than uniform or symmetric (like Risk rather than chess or Scrabble); the board is often random (like Settlers of Catan) or has random elements (like Tikal). Some boards are merely mnemonic or organizational and contribute only to ease of play, like a cribbage board; examples of this include Puerto Rico and Princes of Florence. Random elements are often present, but do not usually dominate the game. While rules are light to moderate, they allow depth of play, usually requiring thought, planning, and a shift of tactics through the game and often with a chess- or backgammon-like opening game, middle game, and end game.

[edit] Design quality

Great care is taken with the look and feel of the game—they are made to be attractive games to own and play. They commonly have wooden pieces and good quality artwork related to the game's theme.

[edit] Game designer as auteur

Although not relevant to actual play, the name of the game's designer is often prominently mentioned on the box, or at least in the rule book. Top designers enjoy considerable following among enthusiasts of German games. For this reason, the name "designer games" is often offered as a description of the genre.[2]

[edit] Industry

[edit] Designers

Reiner Knizia and Bernd Brunnhofer at the Deutscher Spiele Preis awards at Spiel 2003 in Essen, Germany
Reiner Knizia and Bernd Brunnhofer at the Deutscher Spiele Preis awards at Spiel 2003 in Essen, Germany
Main article: List of game designers

[edit] Publishers

There are many German companies producing board games, such as Hans im Glück and Goldsieber. Often German producers will try to establish a line of similar games, such as Kosmos's two-player card game series or Alea's big box line.

The rights to sell the game in English are often sold to separate companies. Some try to change the game as little as possible, such as Rio Grande Games. Others, including Mayfair Games, substantially change the visual design of the game, and sometimes the rules as well. Fantasy Flight is another publisher.

[edit] Awards

The most prestigious German board game award is the Spiel des Jahres ("game of the year"). The award is very family-oriented. Shorter, more approachable games such as Ticket to Ride and Elfenland are usually preferred by the committee that gives out the award. In contrast, the Deutscher Spiele Preis ("German game prize") is often awarded to games that are more complex and strategic, such as Puerto Rico. In many years, however, there is one game with broad enough appeal to win both awards.

[edit] Influence

The German-style genre of board game has had some influence in Western game design theory though that influence is still developing and exists to a different degree in different markets.[citation needed] In the German market where they are most popular (the market leaders selling hundreds of thousands and occasionally millions of units over their lives) they have some claim to have set in place new, and more stringent, quality requirements to which many players hold games, although it is still the case that old favorites such as Monopoly and Clue still outsell German-style titles.[citation needed] There is some evidence that German-style design sensibilities are gradually appearing in new mass market product from industry giants like Hasbro, especially from subsidiary divisions such as Wizards of the Coast.[citation needed]

Many related card games exist, designed with similar goals in mind. However, because card games usually involve luck incidental from shuffling they are often considered lighter in nature, even though many of them involve quite a bit of skill. Among the most famous of the German card games is Bohnanza, a game which relies on trading to introduce a strategic element.

Xbox Live Arcade has included popular games from the genre, with Catan being released to strong sales[3] on May 13, 2007 and Carcassonne being released on June 27, 2007[4]. Alhambra is due to follow later in 2007 and Puerto Rico is also a rumoured addition.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c glossary. BoardGameGeek wiki.
  2. ^ a b Bob Schwartz. One Retailer's Perspective.
  3. ^ Xbox Live's Major Nelson: Xbox Live Activity for week of 4/30
  4. ^ Porcaro, John (2007-06-25). Build a Medieval Empire on Xbox LIVE Arcade with the Popular German Board Game Carcassonne.

[edit] External links

  • Brett and Board with information on German-style games (has not been updated in some time)
  • Luding.org - board game database with over 15,000 English and German reviewed games