[isaaclyman]

I feel like most of the games in this roundup, as an alternative to ingenuity, have turned to complexity as a way to keep things fresh. And that makes me sad. In my opinion, any game that needs more than one type of "counter" token is probably overengineered. (Sorry, eurogames, I know this hurts your feelings.)

My favorite games are either very simple or designed to absorb complexity into familiar devices, like decks of cards and well-designed boards. And they thrive on a deceptively simple mechanic, a few difficult decisions, and a sense of urgency. Pandemic, Dominion, Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders and Quadropolis come to mind. Each of these is clever, not just because it adds another "thing to keep track of," but because it asks you to do something that seems easy and is not.

I am speaking out of ignorance a little, though, since I haven't played many eurogames (and probably don't have the patience for any game that takes longer than 90 minutes).

[cletus]

As someone who has been playing these kinds of games for 25+ years I have to disagree.

Complex games always existed. They're just becoming more mainstream. This is understandable. Boardgamers tend to fall into one of three camps:

1. The "let's see what happens" crowd. This group tends like to like games with a significant luck element. It includes coop type games that I tend to describe as "group vs deck" games.

2. The "social gamer". There is a strong social aspect in any boardgaming but for some it's clearly a priority. This group will favour lighter games and may not tend to play optimally or think too deeply about strategy.

3. The "board gamers". While this can still be social, this group tends to be more focused on the play and will try and optimize strategy.

So what's really happened in the last 20+ years is that group (3) has grown quite a lot. So-called "gateway games" 9eg Catan) were probably a huge factor in this. A natural consequence for this is that people develop an appetite for complexity. It starts to become much easier to absorb the complexity of these games.

For example, I've played probably half the games on this list and I would say that none of them are "heavy". There are a couple of "medium-to-heavy" but it can get much heavier than this.

As an aside, of the group Great Western Trail is my current favourite. Mombasa (by the same designer) never really grabbed me. It just seems a bit too abstract (eg by playing bananas you may get to move armies around. Or not).

To your last comment, I've played games that have a typical playing time of 4+ hours. 90 minutes is definitely in the medium (and maybe medium to heavy) camp.

[tptacek]

Pandemic has an outbreak counter, an infection counter, a cured/eradicated disease counter, city infection counters and 2 different decks of cards, as well as meeples and buildings. And that's just standard Pandemic; Legacy is fully bananas with its engineering. Should its feelings feel hurt too? :)

[isaaclyman]

Lol, thanks for calling that one out. When I talk about "counters" here, what I mean is all those tokens players use to track 17 kinds of "resources" in the stereotypical modern eurogame. I mean, are we really at the point where board games are distinguished by the way you navigate the board and the name/number of resources you have to manage?

I haven't played Legacy, because on principle I won't buy a game that can only be played a set number of times.

In conclusion, get off my lawn, I guess.

[hirsin]

Legacy pandemic can be played any number of times - just don't rip cards up or progress at the end of the game. Once you progress you can't play that exact version of the game, but bow you have a new game to play. I would highly recommend it. To completely dismiss my own point but make another, we're on our second "season 1" with a new group after finishing out our first one.

[froindt]

I understand the principle, and I had that feeling as well, but I would encourage you to reconsider. I played through risk legacy and there was tons of excitement around opening packages of cards, adding elements to the board, etc.

I'm not as familiar with pandemic legacy, but with risk legacy, by the time you play 15 games with 5 people, the cost per person per game play is very low. And it's very exciting.

[Pxtl]

> In my opinion, any game that needs more than one type of "counter" token is probably overengineered. (Sorry, eurogames, I know this hurts your feelings.)

You're missing out. I can think of two of my family's favourite games that break your rule, and my players are only seven years old. First would be Splendor (engine-building game with 5 different colors of tokens that you use to buy properties). Second would be Speicherstadt (two separate sets of tokens - 1 set that represent's the players Agents that you use to bid on contracts, shipments, and properties, and second is a set of color-coded tokens that arrive on shipments that you use to fulfill contracts).

These games are incredibly simple and can be explained in a few minutes. Simpler than Catan's tedious set-up process and annoying edge-case rules.

And, for an over-engineered game, I played Terraforming Mars recently. The textbook example of an overengineered game. You have tokens to track quantity and income of each resource, and there are a half-dozen resources. Add that to a board and shoebox of cards each with its own elaborate rules.

It was a lot to take in first turn, but I have to say: this was the most fun I've had playing in a long time. Every card was a new exploration of the interaction of the rules, a new twist. The game was brilliantly designed in that the well-structured board meant that managing income and quantities of each resource was never ever tedious (unlike the wargames of my youth).

I couldn't play that with my kids, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

To me, the game's only flaw was the map - I felt like the Map of Mars was almost an afterthought despite how it visually seemed to be the centre of the game. For the most part the map could have been replaced with a couple of extra score-tracks (which would be consistent since it already had a fistfull of score-tracks).

[hluska]

Thank you very much for the tips - I'm going to find a copy of both Splendor and Speicherstadt. My step daughter is 7 and we have been having a bunch of fun with a D&D campaign. Gaming is fun and it's a significantly better bonding experience that we get playing Minecraft together. Board games would be even more fun, since my 40 year old mind is having trouble changing D&D enough (on the fly) so that it's still fun for her.

Seriously, thanks!

[dugmartin]

Along with Splendor you may want to checkout Machi Koro. Both my girls like playing it.

[kaishiro]

I just wanted to second Machi Koro as a phenomenal game for kids - you essentially just roll dice and buy things. But like a lot of these games there can be a surprising amount of strategy, especially with the expansions.

[isaaclyman]

Thanks for advocating the other side. I've played and enjoyed Splendor, but never saw it as a resource-management eurogame. As far as Speicherstadt, I'll have to try it. My opinion is definitely open to revision.

[JKCalhoun]

Agreed. We (the family) tend to pick up and try four or five of the "hot new games" around the holidays (as judged by boardgamegeek.com) and find they can be hit and miss.

The ones that endure are the simpler (e.g. "Ticket to Ride" and even "Settlers of Catan") games.