Why "German" Games?
Why "German" Games?
Anyone remember the 70's? Back when you could count television channels on one hand, videogames were in black and white, and computers were monstrous things hand-built by complete fanatics in their basements? And when Parker Brothers had wonderful simple games for the whole family.
Germany and other parts of Europe have managed to keep a thriving board game industry, even with the rise of technology gnawing away at the number of players. (Computers, videogames, and local phone calls are still fairly expensive in most of Europe. And the plethora of languages in a small space has until very recently kept the number of TV channels fairly low.) Possibly for these reasons, as well as others, Germans seem to make and sell a lot of board games. A yearly hobby board game convention held every October in Essen Germany (Spiele) draws crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
The games themselves are often rather different from what we see here in the US. Games that cost $20 come with very sturdy linen finish cards, and lots of colorful wooden pieces. Most of the games stick to very high production standards, from the simplest children's game, to the most complex strategy games. The games themselves are also rather more sophisticated than the roll-a-die, move a pawn sort of games we often see in the US. There are rather intricate bits of strategy hidden in even the simplest games.
There also seem to be a couple of unwritten rules to the kinds of games that come out of Germany:
1. The game should not last more than 90 minutes. And 90 minutes is reserved for long and more complex games.
2. The game should have simple and concise rules. Many of the games are designed for families, and mixed age players.
And overall, the games are good--really good. Enough that for years many folks have been paying the extra shipping to drag some of these games overseas, and having to suffer through translation problems.
Fortunately through the efforts of many brave souls (and a nice little toy called the Internet), the dark days are almost over, and it is extremely easy to import games. Internet retailers like Funagain Games , and Boulder Games are importing in large enough numbers and reselling at very nice discounts. Translations are generally included.
(Fortunately, most German games have very simple components, and do not have a lot of cards with German text. So MOST of the time, with just a set of English rules, you will do quite fine. But there are still enough games out there with a lot of text all over the components that are very difficult to play without knowing German. So be careful, and establish a rapport with your importer.)
Even better, several companies are publishing full English versions of German games, generally with the same high component quality. Rio Grande produces a very large and rapidly growing line of games. Mayfair, and a few other companies have also begun to license games from German authors and companies. And at least two European companies (Eurogames/Descartesand Ravensburger) bring some of their own games into the US.
So the games are easy to get, absolutely gorgeous, fun, simple, and fast. Perhaps the only problem is choosing which games to buy. (And I frankly cannot recommend my own personal solution, which has led to a rapidly growing game collection of over 1300 titles.) So here are some personal favorites, grouped by "weight." (This loose term refers to length, strategic depth, and how much the game drags your brain through the ringer.)
Light:
Bohnanza (Rio Grande): 3-6 players. 45 minutes.
A fairly simple card game about bean farming. Not
only very inexpensive, but contains a lot of
trading and negotiation
Nicht die Bohne (Abacus Spiele): 5-6 players. 45 minutes. Another "Bean" game, this card game is extremely simple, and extremely vicious.
Showmanager (Queen Games):4-6 players. 60 minutes. While there are quite a few rules, this card/board game about putting together off-Broadway shows feels like a very nice Rummy-like collecting game. A nice, light playing game.
Medium:
Hare and Tortoise (Rio Grande): 3-6 players. 60 minutes. A classic game, recently released in English. The game is a not-so-simple race game about carefully spending carrots to move ahead.
Settlers of Catan (Mayfair Games): 3-4 players. 90 minutes. If you must choose one game, buy this one. It has sold like 2,000,000 copies in Europe, and is a very interactive game of trading and expanding your civilization on a small island.
Ohne Furcht und Adel (Hans im Gluck): 4-6 players. 60 minutes. While having a little bit of German text on the cards, the game is still quite playable. This is a superb game of bluff and interacting character powers.
Heavy:
Tigris & Euphrates(Mayfair Games): 3-4 players. 120 minutes. The rules are very unusual and not terribly intuitive, making this game quite tricky to learn. But it has a wonderful mix of strategy and luck, and a good feel for its conquest and empire building theme.
Twilight (Bambus Spielverlag): 4 players. 90 minutes. A great and nerve-wracking trick taking game-if the theme does not turn you off (it is about rival cults collecting souls.) The twist is that you are often forced to have opponents play cards on your behalf.
Tikal (Ravensburger): 3-4 players. 90 minutes. A visually gorgeous game about clearing archeological sites. Players take on roles of scheming archeologists.
Other places to start prowling for information:
www.funagain.com: Funagain Games posts customer reviews to their website, which also sports an extensive game catalog.
www.gamecabinet.com: While the site is not updated frequently anymore, translations for older games, as well as archives of an older UK game magazine covering German games (Sumo) are kept here. A lot of wonderful reading here.
boardgames.about.com: Many original articles as well as good link sections, and a fairly active discussion section.
www.neonate.org: My own very messy archive of language translations. The big plus is that most of the new games are covered.
www.thegamesjournal.com: A monthly magazine covering mostly these sorts of family strategy games from folks around the world.
There are also a few magazines in English with coverage of import games:
Counter (available from Boulder and Funagain) is a UK-based magazine with articles from many of the old Sumo contributors. This quarterly is small, thick, and contains many densely packed reviews of games.
The Game Report is a US-based quarterly with mixed coverage of US and import titles. The website keeps a very nice free selection of back issues.
Gamers Alliance A decent quarterly with thorough reviews, but they also sell from a huge collection of out-of-print games, and have a search service.