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German-style board games, also known as Euro games, designer games, family strategy games or hobby games, are games designed to appeal to both older children and adults. Usually they have simple rules, attractive components, modest length and a tangible theme, yet still offer lots of opportunities to make strategic decisions.

While games with all the hallmarks of German style board games originated in the 1960s (Acquire, by Sid Sackson, published by 3M in the USA being a notable example) the genre as a more concentrated design movement originated around the late 1970s/early 1980s in Germany, and per capita that country publishes more board games than any other, hence the name. Nowadays, the phenomenon has spread to many other places in Europe; plenty of the games are designed and published in such places as France and The Netherlands, and while many are published and played in other markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom, they remain largely at niche status there.

The Settlers of Catan (in German: Die Siedler von Catan), first published in 1995, paved the way for the genre in the U.S. and outside Europe. It was not the first German game, but it quickly 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.

Characteristics

As far as generalities can be made about such a huge and diverse group of games, German games are usually designed as a vehicle to underpin a social gathering, rather than to play as an end in themselves, as wargaming titles and classic strategy games like chess and go often are. Despite this, many titles (especially the strategically heavier ones) are enthusiastically played by "gamers" as a hobby, but the publishers are for the most part aiming their products at "everyman" social play. Bearing this social function in mind, designers have found various characteristics tend to support that aspect well, and these have become quite common across the genre. Generally German games do not have a fixed number of players like chess or bridge (though two-player exceptions exist). Six player games are somewhat rare (or they require expansions, such as Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne). Each player plays for himself.

German games have themes instead of being abstract - like Clue, rather than go or backgammon. While economic themes and mechanics are common, direct accumulation of wealth as a game goal is not. 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 do not attempt to simulate, like Kriegspiele (war games), Risk, or Monopoly.

A wide variety of mechanics are used, many innovative, and commonly used 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 do not usually dominate the game: Bridge and backgammon have more randomness than all but a few German games, Settlers of Catan having a large degree of randomness for a German game. While rules are light to moderate, they have depth of play, usually requiring a shift of tactics through the game and often with a chess- or backgammon-like opening game, middle game, and end game.

These games are designed for international audiences, so they are not word games and usually do not contain much text outside of the rules. In keeping with their social orientation, numbers are usually small, often under ten, and any math in the game is trivial. Great care is taken with the look and feel of the game. They commonly have wooden pieces. Playing time varies from a half hour to a couple hours.

Another common feature, though not central to actual play, is that the designer is clearly credited - The person or people who devised the game are 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.

Another prominent characteristic of these games is the lack of player elimination. These games are intended to be part of a social gathering, and 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 that it is rare to be certain of victory or defeat until relatively late in the game.

Game designers

Companies

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.

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.

Influence over related genres

The German-style genre of board game has been so influential in Western game design theory as to have set in place new, and more stringent, requirements to which players hold games. Although still commercially successful, old favorites such as Monopoly and Risk have fallen out of favor as game-players become more aware of the other options that are available.

The Gathering, released in the USA by Richard Garfield, was a landmark game that emerged in 1993, shortly before the popularization of German design concepts. Because nothing like Magic had been done before on such a large scale, many of the cards were not well-balanced with one another and the game required adjustment. The German school of design was heavily influential on the evolution of this dynamic game, which evolved into what would later be termed a "resource game".

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.

See also

External links

Board games | Board game designers

German games | Autorenspiel | ドイツのボードゲーム | Designer game | 德式桌上遊戲

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "German-style board game".

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