Board games in times of pandemics and in general


It's about two decades since board games came back on my table. I abandoned them in my childhood (titles like Talisman or Monopoly), in favor of a computer games. After years I discovered that they changed a lot. It was a new era of board games, with new mechanics and ideas. The most interesting for me was new type of games, which was called as [Eurogame]. That games are like cage fight - there is only a player, and a game mechanism, which player must bend to win. Bending of the mechanism excludes: game randomness and direct interactions with other players (owe it to this: low level of annoyance to each other). So we must defeat the game, and win.


When I'm talking about Eurogames firstly I'm always thinking about [Puerto Rico] (2002). For me it's essential example of such games, it was also long time winner of Board Game Geek (BGG) ranking. My mine objection is only, that is so hardcore, that sometimes I am feeling literally like moving inside wired cage. It seems to be so straight in comparison to today's titles. But even today, one game is enough to see its masterpiece.


Last years in board games


Board games are so popular, that big industry entered also in that corner. There are so many titles, and so many of them are totally rubbish. There are so many overpriced titles, which seem to say that expensive is always very good. There are also many crowdfunding projects, which seem to have every piece of the game forged in metal or cut from diamonds, as if it were to prove the quality of the game. In short words, the world has gone mad like everywhere. Even the holy BGG rankings sometimes give weird information.


It just means that if someone starts playing board games they have to be very careful about their choices so as not to get discouraged without even getting to the bottom of it.


Times of pandemics


I was frequent player before times of pandemic, and I have been always playing with my friends in "paper" board games. Of course times of pandemics brings that strange limitations also to my board game habits.


But we try to play online, in "electronic" versions of board games on sites like [Tabletopia.com] or [BoardGameArena.com]. It's interesting because it is possibble to play for free, or only with one premium account in many of advanced titles. First site is 3D/virtual board game sandbox, in theory, for every game, second site is "electronic" implementation of selected board games.


During almost two years we were playing mainly:



Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization


It isn't the purest example of [Eurogame] but it's one of my favourite board games. I know it from the first "paper" edittion, and I was amazed by how it is close to the Civilization 1 computer game. It's funny, because it even doesn't look similar in general (computer game is showing world map, board game is showing several cards and piles only). But the overall feeling is like sitting inside computer game, with whole complexity of it. We can't eat or produce to much, or to little. We can't have to much army. We can't be to weak, or to strong. Under or too developed in culture points, or having to much/little science power. When we would rule in bad direction, it will end with fighting phalanx leaded by tribal chief against modern army with air forces.


I don't know how that game could be received by people who didn't play in "paper" version, but this game has also awesome iPad implementation. Everything which is good, except time lose for game preparation (this game has many elements).



[Eurogame]

[Puerto Rico]

[Tabletopia.com]

[BoardGameArena.com]

[Terraforming Mars]

[Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization]

[Terra Mystica]


--

szczezuja.space CC BY-SA

@ Sat 12 Feb 2022 08:19:10 PM CET


tags: #boardgame, #howto



/gemlog/