
Best board games from Essen 2016 - Tomte
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/10/best-board-games-of-essen-2016/
======
jbm
Boardgaming has vastly increased my social circle and my life quality in a
part of the world that is renown for the number of social shut-ins.

I run a gaming club out of my apartment; I have gone from knowing very few
people to having a constant stream of new people coming into my family's life.
I couldn't ask for more; especially when compared to the alternative (only
knowing people at work, having a narrow circle of friends, etc..) I am also
glad my kids get to see their parents with friends.

However, on the other hand... I don't find the new stream of games to be all
that compelling. I don't get who will be picking up all of these new games.

Every bg is a whole new set of rules to explain, and often, to people who are
relatively unfamiliar with many other games. In most cases, I tell them "Let's
play a few rounds and restart the game when you get used to it" because
explaining everything is a futile gesture. Then you only get to play again 2
weeks later (in a best case scenario) and someone brings one of his games and
the process begins again... and again.

To get away from this, I have a very small subset of games I run in rotation
at my place (7 Wonders, Power Grid, Pandemic the Cure, Race/Roll for the
Galaxy, Catan). The group sometimes gets together separately for more complex
games (Food Chain Magnate, Eclipse). There really is no place for another 12
games an year, even 12 good games, unless they are of the "dead simple" social
/ party game variety.

I respect the creators very much, but I think diminishing returns are going to
be kicking in if they haven't done so already.

~~~
paulddraper
I love seeing new and inventive game mechanics. The ones you mentioned are
great examples.

7 wonders - Your hand becomes your neighbors have next turn. Plus the
simultaneous turns makes for a quick group game.

Pandemic - Challenging location-based co-op play

Race for the Galaxy - you and others decide which phases of a turn will happen
(for everyone)

Catan - hex grid; resources produced the same for everyone (depending on your
assets); trade

While I agree you can only handle so many games, I will definitely prioritize
those with unique mechanics. And not everything has been invented.

~~~
cm2012
Co-op play is a game changer, especially for most women in my experience.

~~~
Judgmentality
Why does gender matter?

~~~
paulddraper
You're asking the OP to offer broad conjectures explaining his observations?

~~~
Judgmentality
I don't understand why women would enjoy coop more than men. It just seemed
like a strange thing to say so I was asking for clarification.

~~~
paulddraper
For what's it's worth, I've noticed the opposite: Aggressive (usually male)
players tend to dominate the decision making, effectively creating a one or
two player game from a co-op.

~~~
milesvp
This is why I can't play coop games. I often have the most experience, so I
know what's coming, couple that with a good sense of strategy, and I become
the asshole that chases away new players. I know this about myself, so I
simply excuse myself from playing games like pandemic.

~~~
secabeen
The best coop games resolve the problem by giving players secret information
they are disallowed from sharing with others, thus reducing the ability of one
player to dominate. If you're really worried about it, increase the
restriction. For example, in Pandemic, forbid players from naming more than X
number of specific cards they have each turn. It'll make the game harder, but
that's about all.

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isaaclyman
I feel like most of the games in this roundup, as an alternative to ingenuity,
have turned to complexity as a way to keep things fresh. And that makes me
sad. In my opinion, any game that needs more than one type of "counter" token
is probably overengineered. (Sorry, eurogames, I know this hurts your
feelings.)

My favorite games are either very simple or designed to absorb complexity into
familiar devices, like decks of cards and well-designed boards. And they
thrive on a deceptively simple mechanic, a few difficult decisions, and a
sense of urgency. Pandemic, Dominion, Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders and
Quadropolis come to mind. Each of these is clever, not just because it adds
another "thing to keep track of," but because it asks you to do something that
seems easy and is not.

I am speaking out of ignorance a little, though, since I haven't played many
eurogames (and probably don't have the patience for any game that takes longer
than 90 minutes).

~~~
Pxtl
> In my opinion, any game that needs more than one type of "counter" token is
> probably overengineered. (Sorry, eurogames, I know this hurts your
> feelings.)

You're missing out. I can think of two of my family's favourite games that
break your rule, and my players are only _seven years old_. First would be
Splendor (engine-building game with 5 different colors of tokens that you use
to buy properties). Second would be Speicherstadt (two separate sets of tokens
- 1 set that represent's the players Agents that you use to bid on contracts,
shipments, and properties, and second is a set of color-coded tokens that
arrive on shipments that you use to fulfill contracts).

These games are incredibly simple and can be explained in a few minutes.
Simpler than Catan's tedious set-up process and annoying edge-case rules.

And, for an over-engineered game, I played Terraforming Mars recently. The
textbook example of an overengineered game. You have tokens to track quantity
and income of each resource, and there are a half-dozen resources. Add that to
a board and shoebox of cards each with its own elaborate rules.

It was a lot to take in first turn, but I have to say: this was the most fun
I've had playing in a long time. Every card was a new exploration of the
interaction of the rules, a new twist. The game was brilliantly designed in
that the well-structured board meant that managing income and quantities of
each resource was never ever tedious (unlike the wargames of my youth).

I couldn't play that with my kids, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

To me, the game's only flaw was the map - I felt like the Map of Mars was
almost an afterthought despite how it visually seemed to be the centre of the
game. For the most part the map could have been replaced with a couple of
extra score-tracks (which would be consistent since it already had a fistfull
of score-tracks).

~~~
hluska
Thank you very much for the tips - I'm going to find a copy of both Splendor
and Speicherstadt. My step daughter is 7 and we have been having a bunch of
fun with a D&D campaign. Gaming is fun and it's a significantly better bonding
experience that we get playing Minecraft together. Board games would be even
more fun, since my 40 year old mind is having trouble changing D&D enough (on
the fly) so that it's still fun for her.

Seriously, thanks!

~~~
dugmartin
Along with Splendor you may want to checkout Machi Koro. Both my girls like
playing it.

~~~
kaishiro
I just wanted to second Machi Koro as a phenomenal game for kids - you
essentially just roll dice and buy things. But like a lot of these games there
can be a surprising amount of strategy, especially with the expansions.

------
kinnth
This is actually last years Essen. The new Essen is coming up in September and
there will be even more great boardgames to play!

~~~
djm_
October actually, 26. - 29.

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fiatjaf
Are there any games that explore economic theory? I keep coming up with games
that would embody Austrian economic principles. In my imagination they are
very solid, realistic and yet fun and simple.

~~~
GlennS
There are quite a lot of board games based on supply and demand mechanics,
often with rules for trading and opportunities to inflate or crash the market
for a particular good.

Other comments have already listed some pretty good ones, but I'd add Wealth
of Nations [https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/32666/wealth-
nations](https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/32666/wealth-nations)

I'd also recommend the very similar, but more in-depth, computer game Offworld
Trading Company [http://offworldgame.com/](http://offworldgame.com/)

~~~
1123581321
Offworld Trading Company is an extremely good game!

It is designed as a board game, too, with board-game-style rules. The game is
a combination of real-time and turn-based (for auctions) and each tick of the
real-time game is actually a simulated 'turn.'
[https://www.mohawkgames.com/2014/06/16/offworld-
rules/](https://www.mohawkgames.com/2014/06/16/offworld-rules/)

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adamnemecek
In Germany board games are so popular that they have board game reviews in the
newspaper.

~~~
tptacek
So does The Guardian.

~~~
adamnemecek
% of German newspapers publishing them > % of English/US newspapers publishing
these

------
exhilaration
Any suggestions for good two player board games that one can play with one's
significant other?

~~~
wvl
Ars Technica had a 'best two player' guide a while back:

[https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/04/table-for-two-our-
fav...](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/04/table-for-two-our-favorite-two-
player-board-games-2/)

------
walshemj
Bit late isn't it Essen 2017 insn't that far away

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anotheryou
lol, [http://cosmos.nautil.us/short/85/the-argument-against-
terraf...](http://cosmos.nautil.us/short/85/the-argument-against-terraforming-
mars) is 5 posts up at hn

~~~
XaspR8d
The joke, for passers-by: _Terraforming Mars_ was huge hit boardgame last
year, and is now in the running for the Spiele des Jahres, the German game-of-
the-year which is often considered one of the foremost awards in tabletop
gaming. In particular, Terraforming Mars seems to be the preferred choice
among most gamers, but the SdJ committee is somewhat infamous for its
surprising final selections, often not matching what speculators think of as
the intended weight/complexity of the category. So that post's title, "the
argument (for|against) Terraforming Mars", is an extremely relevant and
current discussion topic in the board game community.

(The real link is, of course, simply about the planet.)

------
fiatjaf
The problem with all these games is the theme they use. They use some real-
world theme, make up real world map and refer to real-world things, but they
aren't realistic enough, so it all gets a little stupid at some point, if you
think about it.

The best example I can remember is from one of the Civilization games (not a
boardgame, I know, but it is the same), which had a "technology" you could
"develop" named "Communism". It made your workers produce 10% more.

~~~
cableshaft
The map is not the territory.

Any model or abstraction will not be able to completely replicate the thing or
phenomena it represents, as the real life thing is too vast and complicated
and interwoven with all sorts of variables in time and space that there's no
way to represent it all. Laws of physics, finance, chemistry, economics,
medicine, etc. are all the same. Just models, not perfect. Convenient and
useful models, but models all the same.

Human brains just aren't capable of capturing anything in its totality, so at
some point everything "gets a little stupid".

That being said, I can understand what you mean about these euro-style games
where often many of the things in them can boil down to 'go here to do this
'real world thing' which in this game really just means it gets you a +2 to
this widget that will earn you an extra 6 points at the end of the game. So
thematic :)

I still really like these games, but I like learning and manipulating game
systems and mechanisms.

~~~
fiatjaf
I agree with you, and I also like playing these games, even though they are "a
little stupid".

But I think some abstractions can be better than others.

The abstractions of Catan, for example, make sense, since they somehow capture
the essence of the things: a terrain simply produces a good, goods can be
traded, houses can be built from goods. Of course it is not perfect, but
doesn't bug my mind.

Puerto Rico, on the other hand, has so many types of buildings and actions,
all referring to real-world things, that it is impossible to make decent
abstrations.

I guess I'm just advocating less detailed real-world themes, if you can't make
simple abstractions that make sense.

~~~
falsedan
There's already way too many unfun abstracts, please don't encourage designers
to not spackling on a loose theme.

