| Board Games Holiday Gift Guide - 1999 | |
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Greg Schloesser, president of the Strategy Gaming Society, knows his board games. And I always appreciate his insight. So here are Greg's thoughts on the best games to introduce your family and friends (or yourself) to the world of German-style board games (aka designer games).
If you're completely unfamiliar with designer games, you may also want to read the feature on the 2000 Games 100, Games Magazine's list of the best 100 games of the year. This year's list included a record 48 imports, most from Germany.
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Here's a list of the games that would appear in my "German Sampler Package":
Also known as Liar's Dice. This is undoubtedly the most requested game within my gaming group, the Westbank Gamers. It's a rollicking dice-fest filled with bluffing and guessing. Super, although a bit noisy, fun!
Don't let the theme of bean farming fool you. This is a fun game filled with lots of negotiation and trading aspects. No one is left out of the action as the trading is very free-wheeling and exciting. Again, another game for the entire family.
My personal favorite game ... and a top selection by huge amounts of folks. So many tough decisions must be made on each turn that a player is constantly challenged. It's a fun, interactive game of constantly changing priorities and tactics.
This game broke the mold. It's not a territorial conquest game, or a game where you're trying to get the majority position in a stock or enterprise, or a military conflict game. It is very, very different ... refreshingly so. It challenges a player to manage his cards and tokens to an optimum level so he can travel the furthest and visit the most cities. It's a wonderful game for the entire family, and challenging enough to keep gamers happy.
I contribute this one because of its highly interactive nature, and it is one of the best auction games I've played. Players bid to purchase paintings from various artists, hoping they can steer their collection to the highest value and extract exorbitant fees from their opponents. I'm not a huge fan of auction type games (probably because I'm horrible at them!), but this is the best of the lot.
This is the game that truly launched the German boardgame invasion. Planning, trading, negotiation, event cards, competition ... it's all neatly packaged in 1 1/2 hours of pure fun. This one is now a recognized classic and will continue to be played 50 years from now.
A superb, challenging game from top-notch designer Reiner Knizia. This is the best of his "tile-laying" series of games, but is a bit more intense and advanced than the others on this list. The game forces players to make tough decisions each and every turn. One wants to do five actions per turn, but is limited and must choose between them. Agonizing, but in a delicious sort of way.
There you have it... the About Board Games 1999 Holiday Gift Guide. And remember that one of the wonderful things about board games is that the good ones will still be fun to play next year and 50 years from now. Here's to many years full of happy gaming!
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