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Tickets, please... now boarding for the Westbank Gamers, Brett & Board, BoardGameGeek, and all points beyond! |
last update: September 22, 2004 | |||
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This is NOT an exhaustive list of boardgaming websites... I don't have the time or the energy to keep one up. Brett & Board used to keep a nice one going, but then Mik had some evil badness happen with his computer. Anyhoo, I'm not sure where to send you now for a complete list of sites. This is actually a pretty opinionated index of the sites I use the most... or some real out-of-the-way places I'd suggest you visit sometime. Just make sure you bookmark Game Central Station before you board the "A" Train & head out of here! :-) If you haven't been here in a while, take another look around. There's been some changes. The "A" Train These are the ESSENTIAL sites for anyone interested in boardgaming. The BoardgameGeek database has continued to grow and is the most comprehensive site for board game information I know of. They compile session reports, reviews, translations, pictures, "Geeklists", and even a few variants on an easy-to-search database. In the last few years, they've added e-mail playable games (including Euphrat & Tigris), an excellent trading/game sales system, and the Worldwide Gamers Database. Thanks to Derk & Scott for creating this great resource! For a long time, Mik Svellov was THE source for gaming news coming out of Germany. While that isn't true anymore (having abdicated The King of Gaming Information throne to Rick Thornquist and Gamewire), Mik's Brett & Board is still a delightful resource, especially when it comes to extended previews of odd & interesting new games. Once the undisputed source on the Web for boardgaming, it has not been updated since October of 2000. Still & all, Ken did a great job and it's always good to hear from Mike Siggins. This is still a great place to go for information & rules on German games prior to 1998. Rick Thornquist is a man with a mission: do the most comprehensive job of news in the world of Eurogaming. (He's got another mission - which is to attract prospective game buyers to Gamefest, thehost site of the Gamewire - but we won't get into that right now.) Rick does an amazing job, in no small part thanks to translation skills of Patrick Korner. (And I promise I'm not just saying nice stuff about them because they keep me informed about Haba games.) Open a second window to AltaVista's Babelfish translation page and browse to your heart's content at this huge archive of reviews. Many of them are in English (though many are not)... and there are some nifty pictures of OOP German games as well. Magazines The once mighty SUMO magazine is no more... though you can find back issues on the The Game Cabinet (see above). Reviews from COUNTER are now posted on the FunAgain Games website (see below). Here's a couple of places that do the work themselves! Burt Hochberg's "The Games Cafe" site unfortunately closed... but thanks to the efforts of Greg Aleknevicus (editor) and Frank "Moo" Branham (publisher), the excellent articles posted there have become the basis of The Games Journal. These guys are intelligent, thoughtful gamers and are intent on building a web-based games magazine... give them your support! The web home of The Game Report magazine (published in the U.S.). Peter Sarrett reviews a variety of games as well as giving us some great articles on gaming. Gaming Clubs Hey, we here at Game Central Station aren't the only boardgaming club in existence. These are some of the best (judged by their sites, not their clubs!) The folks from Down Under chime in with this very helpful site... re-translations are a speciality here, as their versions of Bohnanza and Finale are the best around. Mike Green (along with his faithful henchman, James Miller) has created a great site. One of the special features is the massive series of game designer articles written by Joe Huber (a game designer himself!) Some good reviews are here, along with a nifty "identify the game" quiz (which I received a perfect score on once, thank you!), but the real highlight(s) are the essays - opinionated, edgy, and very readable! (The webmaster here is Ray Mulford, who is also the webmaster of the granddaddy of online game stores, FunAgain (see below). The Westbank Gamers More than just your average game club site... Greg Schloesser, possibly the nicest human on the planet, maintains this site that chronicles the adventures of his New Orleans-based gaming club. Lots of reviews & variants, along with pictures and the Bayou Bazaar! Other Important Places This is kind of a mish-mash of interesting sites... see what you can find on them! BoardGameStuff Home of the Board Game Recommendation System... which is really kind of a nifty toy to play with. Go try it out (but come back here when you're finished!) A wonderful site that lists a number of different board game awards... and links for more information about the games! Well done. The Great Games of Sid Sackson A graphics-heavy homage to the grandmaster of American game designers (Acquire, Can't Stop, etc.)... very informative. The Last Homely House's Game Room Aaron Fuegi has this nifty little site that is the home of a very big list... The Internet Top 100 Games List. Go there to read, to argue... but don't forget to vote! Chris Lawson maintains this information-packed site on the games of Dr. Reiner Knizia (Euphrates & Tigris, Medici, Lost Cities, etc.) and is updating it with FAQ's and translations, due to his role as playtester for Dr. Knizia (lucky dog!) The site has not been updated lately, however - sigh. Individual Games Again, this isn't comprehensive... it's just a few I think you should know about. (Links appropriate to games featured on at the Station are listed on those pages.) Battle Cry: A Command & Colors Game Richard Borg's first published design in the Command & Colors series... still one of my favorite beer (well, root beer) & pretzels games ever. This site is the most comprehensive of the fan sites and is nicely put together. Beat People Up The "official" site of two odd but incredible "fighting" games, Brawl (a real-time card game) and Button Men (a math-y dice game). New Cards for Honor of the Samurai A set of beautifully designed expansion cards for the Gamewright game. Not only a great place to find variants for Rail Baron, but the source of a nifty shareware version of the game for your PC. Online Game Stores Different sites for different needs... I've ordered from all four of these Internet stores. Stop Numero Uno for me - and not just because these folks sponsor Game Central Station. Their customer service is incredible, the prices are competitive, and their website is probably the friendliest for newbies and non-gamer family members. This is the second stop... and what a stop it is! A huge selection with a well-designed website. While pricey, they are the best source for OOP German games on the Web. Say what you will, the prices are good and the speed of delivery is unbelievable if you live in the South... End of the line... I've only dealt with these guys a few times, but they did a great job each time. More Trains Outta This One-Horse Town... There are more links scattered throughout Game Central Station... links that pertain to particular games are in the same area as those games. Happy traveling! | ||
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