alhambra

  • Wired on the recent meteoric rise of the German-style board game, with a focus on the creator of the popular game The Settlers of Catan.
    Last year, Settlers doubled its sales on this side of the Atlantic, moving 200,000 copies in the US and Canada—almost unheard-of performance for a new strategy game with nothing but word-of-mouth marketing.
    I myself have been on a German gaming kick in the past few years, often playing such games as Carcassonne and Alhambra. What distinguishes them?
    German-style games tend to let players win without having to undercut or destroy their friends. This keeps the game fun, even for those who eventually fall behind. Designed with busy parents in mind, German games also tend to be fast, requiring anywhere from 15 minutes to a little more than an hour to complete. They are balanced, preventing one person from running away with the game while the others painfully play out their eventual defeat.
    The article mentions that Monopoly has recently modified their instructions to emphasize the oft-ignored property auction, which evidently makes the game go faster and makes it more interactive. (5) #
    4/3/2009
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