European Games for American Players
by Ken Tidwell
1997
What’s a game player to do once they’ve collected all the best cards, lead all the toughest squads, and masqueraded with the most influential of the undead? Cast your eyes eastward to Europe and the largest game market on the planet. The larger market in Europe gives designers the freedom to use a wider diversity of themes, experiment with interesting new mechanisms, and target their games at a more diverse audience. The result is a huge range of games produced to a very high standard that is constantly growing and changing.
The European games market can be divided into several large categories. Games for spielfreaks, or game fanatics, are referred to as “gamer’s games” and are meant for an adult audience who plays many games and is always eager to seek out new gaming experiences. Other games are known as “family games” and can be enjoyed by more casual gamers and by a variety of ages. These are particularly popular in the countries where television has not dominated private life. In those countries, entire families gather and play games together on a regular basis. Finally, there are “children’s games” that are targetted at the younger gamer. These are usually colorful but extremely simple games that children can play without adult supervision.
Germany
Germany is the center of the European game world. All of the largest companies and many of the most successful designers work there. Surprisingly, the number one game in Germany this year will be familiar to American gamers – it is Taboo, the forbidden word party game. Even more surprisingly, the number two game is a gamer’s game that you may have heard of before – The Settlers of Cattan (published by Mayfair and Kosmos). And, shockingly, the number three game is a gamer’s game that you should have heard of (and played!) but probably haven’t – El Grande (published by Hans im Gluck).
The Settlers of Cattan was designed by Klaus Teuber, far and away the most successful designer working in Europe today. Teuber has created a long string of stunningly good games using a wide variety of themes and mechanisms. In Settlers, players arrive in a new land and seek to settle in the best spots so as to leverage the natural resources found there. Players must trade with one another at the same time that they are trying to cut one another off from all the best resources. The game is good fun and the original German edition looks great. Kosmos, the German publisher of Settlers, is known for high quality editions featuring top designers. They are supporting the game with a series of expansions to allow for additional players and introduce sea travel and exploration into the game.
Barbarossa, one of Teuber’s past successes, has just been reissued by Kosmos. This game couldn’t be more different from Settlers if it tried. Each player models two objects out of clay. Players move around a track that allows them to take one of three actions each turn: they can guess the identity of one of the objects, they can ask for a letter from the name of one of the objects, or they can collect a token that will give the player better control over where they land next time. There are also a few special squares that give the other players extra points and such. The goal is to build an object that is neither too easy nor too hard to guess. Objects that are guessed early and late in the game score fewer points than those guessed during the middle game. Good fun and very light hearted.
Lionheart (Lowenherz) from GoldSeiber is Teuber’s latest game. Players vie to control the most territory on the board by pushing out their borders. Gold mines make for choice acquisitions. Knights can be stationed to defend the edges of your territory. It’s a very good game but a bit more dry than Settlers or Barbarossa.
GoldSeiber are an interesting new publisher in Germany. They issue two large format games each year. These large games are either family or gamer’s games. They also issue several smaller format children’s games each year. All of the games either meet or exceed Kosmos’ high standard and often feature unique bits of equipment. One game, Ab die Post, featured a black, plastic storm cloud with a transparent lightning bolt. Instead of rolling dice, players shake the cloud and a small colored ball rolls down into the lightning bolt. The color determines the distance moved on that turn. It is particularly interesting that you can open the cloud up and add or remove balls to adjust the probabilities of a particular color dropping out.
El Grande is another interesting game American players should check out. Like Lionheart, it is a game of territorial control. The board shows Spain divided into a series of states. Each state may contain the pieces of several players. There are three scoring rounds during the game and the player who has the most pieces in each state scores the most points. Each turn four action cards are revealed. The players then bid for the order in which they pick an action to take that turn. The actions add or remove pieces from the board or rearrange pieces that are already there. They also control the number of pieces a player has at their disposal to move onto the board. The most powerful actions provide the fewest number of pieces. The game requires a balanced strategy and good timing. It was designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich. American gamers may be familiar with Kramer from his Midnight Party published by Ravensburger which shows that Kramer also has a great creative range.
El Grande is published by Hans im Gluck. The company name translates as Hans in Luck – a reference to a German folk tale about a hero who always thinks he’s doing great no matter how bad things get. Their logo depicts Hans soon after he traded his horse for a prize riding pig. Hans im Gluck was founded by game designers who must have often felt like Hans when they were first starting out. They are supporting El Grande with an expansion, King & Villain (Koenig & Intrigant) that adds a deck building aspect to the game.
Ravensburger, publishers of the aforementioned Midnight Party, should already be familiar to American gamers. Their line of fine children’s and family games have been available in the US for years. Parents of young children should seek out Wizard of Oz, the latest incarnation of Alex Randolph’s wonderful memory game originally known as Sagaland. This is one of the few games I’ve seen that can be genuinely enjoyed by a mixed group of adults and children. And the kids often win!
FX Schmid is following Ravensburger’s lead by opening an American branch of the company. American consumers may already be familiar with FX Schmid from their wide puzzle line. The games line kicks off in a few weeks and should be appearing in stores near you very soon (if they haven’t already!). Check out Take It Easy, a strategic twist on Bingo that can overheat the brains of your entire family. Each player starts out with the exact same mix of hexagonal pieces with three colored lines crossing them. Each color of line is worth a certain point score – but only if you can build a solid line of that color all the way across your board. Each turn one player picks out a piece at random and calls out the the three point values. All of the players must then place that piece somewhere on their board. Surprisingly, I’ve never seen two players choose exactly the same strategy. Look for it in stores near you.
No article on German games would be complete without a mention of Reiner Knizia, the prolific designer of Modern Art, published by Mayfair and Hans im Gluck. Reiner designs more games before breakfast than most people will all year. His games tend to be rather abstract and particularly appeal to gamers who enjoy thinking hard. Hans im Gluck will be releasing Tigris & Euphrates, a long awaited Knizia design, at the Essen Spiel games days this October.
Bridge players should check out Mu, a card game published jointly by Amigo and Doris & Frank. In Mu, players bid by revealing cards from their hand. The high bidder becomes the Chief. The second highest bidder becomes the Vice and leader of the opposition to the Chief. Both the Chief and the Vice name a trump, either one of the five colors or one of the nine numbers depicted on the cards. Then the Chief calls anyone except the Vice as their partner. The Chief and partner must between them score a target number of points determined by the number of players and the number of cards in the winning bid. Each player scores personal points for each card they take. And if the Chief and partner make their bid, they receive a bonus. If they are thwarted then the chief is penalized, the opposition scores points, and the partner comes out in the wash. Its a very serious card game that can be quite challenging when you find yourself in with a pack of cut-throat Bridge aficionados.
Amigo are a mid-sized company that often publish games by obscure designers. In the case of Mu they stepped in to help Doris & Frank deal with the volume of sales that Mu saw after its nomination for Game of the Year in Germany.
Doris & Frank are a very small game publisher of a sort that we don’t see in the States. The company is run by Frank Nestel, the game designer, and Doris Mathaus, the resident artist. They produce very small editions with very high quality components. Their games range from family games such as the ultimate hedgehog racing game, Hedgehogs in a Hurry (Igel Argern), to the gamiest of gamer’s games, Fugger, Welcher, Medici, an expansive trading game. Their games are always released at the Essen Spiel games day held each October. This year’s game looks to be a good one that should just hit that sweet spot between family and gamer’s game. The players control amoebas that grow and evolve over time as they surround and incorporate more and more special abilities. Good strategy, lots of silliness, one to watch.
There are several other small design shops in Germany that always bear watching. Karl Heinz-Schmiel’s Mosquito Games takes its name from its small size. Mosquito releases one new game at each Essen Spiel. Karl seems to alternate between very light family games and very serious gamer’s games. In the former camp we have A la Carte, a cooking game where the cooks try to spoil each other’s broths, and Sing Sing, a memory game in which players try to spring the cons. In the later camp we find the classic Die Macher, a game of politics without equal and equally hard to acquire, and Kunststuecke, an abstract game about abstract art.
France
The French consider board games to be luxury items. Game prices and component quality descend from that opinion. French games are almost universally overproduced – that is to say more money has been spent on the pieces and bits than was really necessary. That said, French games can be a joy to look at and you never have to fiddle with cheap cardboard bits on the board.
Formule De, hailed by many fans as the ultimate Formula 1 racing game, is published by Eurogames. The game is supported by large, colorful tracks for all of the major Formula 1 tracks and many of the more obscure venues, as well. Play hinges around trying to land in just the right gear to let you slide through the turns without destroying too much of your car. He who limps home with the least equipment remaining undamaged is often the winner. Eurogames also publishes Serenissima, a game about trade in the Mediterranean Sea between the 14th and 16th centuries. It is very much a gamer’s game and its overall format should appeal to American wargamers.
Descartes are another major French publisher who produce a wide range of family and gamer’s games. They are fairly well known in the US for their war games. Murder on the Nile, a recent variant on the old Clue theme of murder and detection, will appeal to families.
Multisim fall more into the small design house. They have recently released Murder at the Abbey, another game of murder and detection after the Name of the Rose, designed by Bruno Faidutti and Serge Laget. Bruno may also be familiar to American gamers as the designer of Knightmare Chess (published by Steve Jackson Games).
The Netherlands
The largest games publisher in The Netherlands is, not surprisingly, Jumbo Games. Jumbo specializes in popular family games, particularly classics like the Game of Goose. Among gaming circles they are best known for a bicycling game known by many names – Um Reifenbreite, Demarrage, or Homas Tour. The game was originally produced in small quantities by a small design house. Most of the edition burned in a warehouse fire and the rest circulated as rarities. Since it was quite a good game and very rare, copies changed hands for exorbitant prices. Jumbo’s reissue of the game received the German Game of the Year prize. It is a bicycle racing game for four players. Each player controls a team of four riders. The game has rules covering drafting, hill climbing, rough roads, falling, and bursts of energy. There are even optional rules covering drugging! And you can explain how to play the game in less than ten minutes. Pretty good bang for the buck.
England
American gamers are very familiar with the best work of English games designers. Francis Tresham’s 18xx games (published by just about everyone) serve as the backbone of the train gaming world and David Watt’s Dampfross/Railway Rivals fills out the rest of the body. Tresham is also well known for Civilization (published locally by Avalon Hill). Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (no, there are at least two and this is the English one, not the Texan) founded Games Workshop, publishers of Warhammer and host of other miniatures-based wargames.
The Ragnar Brothers founded a small design publishing house with the unique habit of printing boards on tea towels, a common item in England. Their second design was a huge hit – History of the World (published by Avalon Hill). This sweeping game starts at the dawn of time and simulates many of the great empires between hither and yon.
The list goes on but many of the games will already be familiar to you since we are, after all, two great nations divided by a common language.
And The Rest
There are thriving game companies in almost every country in Europe. The small design houses in each are particularly interesting since they start from the gaming traditions of their own culture when creating mechanisms or applying themes. It is definitely worth chasing down the odd game of Italian politics or a Czech cut on auto racing games. The range of games to explore is huge. What are you waiting for?
Ken Tidwell was for many years the publisher and editor-in-chief for The Game Cabinet, a bi-monthly magazine delivered exclusively via the World Wide Web. Over the years his interests have ranged from dominoes to roleplaying to his current fascination with the European games scene. When Ken is not playing games, he writes software. His resume looks like a buzzword bingo card – artificial intelligence, object-oriented programming, programming environments,
multimedia, and Internet server software. Mostly Ken enjoys having a good time with his friends.
Though The Cabinet is Gone, the website is still there (2011), though it hasn’t been updated since 2000. However, there is still a lot of information there, including game reviews: http://www.gamecabinet.com/
