Flash Point: Fire Rescue

I had a long-time customer tell me the other day that Flash Point: Fire Rescue has become his go-to game for co-operative play. This was a big announcement because for years his favorite co-operative game was Pandemic, a game many of you readers will know as an excellent co-operative game. But, you know, I think [...]

After Settlers, After Ticket to Ride, After Carcassonne…

The holiday shopping season is upon us and one of the common questions we’re running into this season is what board game we would recommend to someone who already has Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride. We’ve been asked this so many times, in fact, we decided to put our recommendations on our [...]

Powerboats

My exposure to racing board games is limited but I know there are many fine examples. I have never heard Powerboats mentioned in lists of excellent racing games because of its simplicity but it is the simplicity my family really enjoyed.

Here is a quick overview of the game. Each player races a powerboat on a lake, navigating around three buoys in the correct order and direction and then crossing the finish line. Three-sided dice control speed. At the beginning of each turn, you can decide if you want to add or remove one dice. You also decide if you want to roll re-roll any dice. The combined total of the dice is your speed for that turn. You then move your boat that number of spaces, but before you move, you have the option of turning your boat one hex-side (or 60 degrees).

Aqua Romana

Aqua Romana is a German-style board game for two to four players. Players assume the role of experienced architects and use workers and master builders to build aqueducts that supply water to towns and cities during the age of the Roman Empire. The winner of the game is the architect that has accumulated the most points by building the longest aqueducts.

Introduction to German-style Board Games

If your household is like mine, chances are you have closet space or cupboard space set aside for a collection of board games. At my house, our cupboard has the classics Scrabble, Monopoly, Trouble, Pictionary, Yahtzee, and Battleship. We also have no less than a half-dozen decks of playing cards, and a selection of German-style board games.

German-style board games are a class of tabletop games that, generally speaking, have simple rules, short to medium playing times, emphasize strategy, downplay luck and conflict, and usually keep all the players in the game until the very end. Germany produces more board games per capita than any other country, but the style of the German board game has been adopted by other countries, thus board games designed with the same principles in mind are often refered to as German-style board games or European-style board games.

The degree of strategy involved in playing these games can vary, but, in general, German-style board games are designed for everyone– meaning the beginner and the expert board gamer (and everything in between).

With this primer in German-style board games in mind, I give you a list of five such board games that would be a welcome addition to any board game closet or cupboard. The games are listed in no particular order.