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Your first step into the world of "German games"

Yirmeyahu's German Games Page The beginners guide to German Games

Page 1: The intro and the contenders.

There are a lot of parts to the website, but this page is IT. This may be a bit wordy, but this page is the whole point, the raison d'etre, of this website. I want to demonstrate to you, a newcomer to German games, what a German game is. I should clarify here that a German game may not be actually from Germany at all. It could be designed by a person from any country, and published by any company in any nation. The term 'German game' came about because the great majority of these games are published by the big German game companies (such as Kosmos, Hans im Gluck, Amigo), and, historically, most of the designers are from Germany, though that is changing rapidly. For examples, Alan R. Moon is American and Martin Wallace is British; Eurogames/Descartes is a French company. In the last 10 years, American companies such as uberplay entertainment, and Rio Grande Games, now co-publish English editions of 'German games' with the German companies resulting in high quality English translations of these fantastic German games.      German games are still board games, but they are better board games. Perhaps I can explain it thus: Imagine if you bought a video game system 20 years ago. As good as that system may have been for its time, video games have come a long way since then. Video game designers have gotten better at what they do, which means better video games. Nintendo's Mario Bros is a good game and was fun for it's time, but that game improved to Super Mario Bros., then 2 sequels, then Super Mario World with a sequel, then Mario 64, and now has evolved into Nintendo's Super Mario Sunshine. One can scarcely compare Mario Bros with Super Mario Sunshine! Nintendo is better at what they do, now more than ever. Similarly, one can scarcely compare Monopoly with even an average German game like Ticket to Ride.      The big American publishers made some fun games 60 years ago, but while they have rested on their laurels, German companies have been putting out better and better board games. Game design has simply improved. Board games, especially German ones, are more challenging, more interactive, and nicer to look at than ever before. Generally, you wouldn't walk into a store expecting to see 200 copies of Mario Bros for sale because it wouldn't sell -- video games are better now. Yet walk into Toys'R'Us and there are probably a half dozen versions of Monopoly for sale. German companies are doing for board games what Nintendo does for video games: making a more innovative and engaging product.      The best way to explain what makes a game 'German' is to compare German and American games for differences in key areas. So enter the contestants: I chose the two most popular American classics, Monopoly and Risk; and I choose two popular German games, Settlers of Catan (best selling German board game of all time) and Puerto Rico (best selling German strategy board game of all time), both designed by German authors for German companies. Let's see how they match up against the mass market games.

The Contenders

VS.

Now go see how these games match up. What makes a game 'German'? The next page will show you the differences, and what makes German games so fun. Click the logo below or on the link in this box to go to page 2 of the Beginners guide to German Games.

Page 2