Last week, Wired featured a profile about Klaus Teuber, best known for creating the board game Settlers of Catan. The feature—much like the game itself—is a fine introduction to the resurgent nerdy board game genre, which is apparently taking off as a “comfort food” entertainment choice while people are freaking out about their jobs (in spite of games like Catan typically retailing for $40+).
As a bonus, the article pretty much calls Monopoly the worst board game ever, and I’m amazed to think that other major publications haven’t done so before:
It requires almost no strategy. The only meaningful question in the game is: To buy or not to buy? Most of its interminable three- to four-hour average playing time (length being another maddening trait) is spent waiting for other players to roll the dice, move their pieces, build hotels, and collect rent.
Have you seen modern Monopoly? Instead of using paper money, the game works with swipe cards and a digital money calculator. As if cheating wasn’t bad enough when an evil older sibling manned the bank, now players can use this device to jack up their cash totals without any paper trail—the screen clears after transactions. Monopoly is now training the future Diebold techs of America.
The bulk of the article is probably old hat for most Sloggers—I’ve met a lot of people through Slog who love Catan (and love whooping me in it). But the feature gives me a good excuse to suggest that the next Slog Happy be filled with board and card games. Catan, Carcassone, Bohnanza, Power Grid, Dominion, Guillotine… if that list seems like gibberish, don’t worry, cuz most of those have easy learning curves and aren’t too competitive. What say you?
Oh! Oh! Does anybody have a copy of Ohne Furcht und Adel (also published in English as Citadels)? I played it in Park City years ago and thought it was great, but I’ve never seen it since.
Fucking a citadels is the shit, bought myself a copy at gary’s games on greenwood.
@42-Agreed about the possible mechanics of Slog Happy game night. Although everyone knows that inebriation and grabass are key elements of any good game of Catan!
No one’s ever grabbed my ass at Slog Happy, but I’ve always been fairly grateful for that, because I always assumed it would be man hands grabbing.
Will trade wood for sheep…
@18 – Apples to Apples is some mild party fun, I’ll grant you, but what you really want to play is this.
To all the monopoly haters out there:
If you play according to the rules set out in the manual then hell yeah it is boring. But Monopoly has no restrictions (regulations) on making up new rules to supersede old rules as long as all the players consent. With that in mind you can create as many rules or products as you want:
Insurance on paying rent at Mayfair? pay 5 bucks every round to your insurer and he/she will take the hit.
CDOs CDSs, the sky is the limit.
The problem with the new Monopoly is that you always have to swipe your card to find out how much money you have (and then you immediately forget before your next turn).
My favorite game is Acquire but I only get to play it at occasional family gatherings, I can’t bring myself to teach any of my friends because I know they wouldn’t enjoy it the first time (and, honestly, probably wouldn’t like it that much after they knew how to play, either).
@56: Weird. That’s like a hybrid of Apples to Apples and 1000 Blank White Cards.
BWC is, incidentally, the shit.
No love for Killer Bunnies?
It’s all about Arkham Horror.
Despite never having attended a Slog Happy thingamajig and not being a particularly frequent poster (and pretty late to the party in general, obviously) I’d happily drag my 50+ board games to the next one, if anyone wants to play ’em. I have just about every game mentioned in this thread so far, and a few that haven’t been released in America yet.