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Get to know the apple pickers a little bit better... |
last update: November 30, 2004 | |||
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To start things out... a composite picture of the "typical" Apples Project participant:
And make sure you look to the right to catch Chris Dickson's "additions" to the Apples Project categories... sigh. What I had to put up with these last six months... [Note: These bios were current when originally published back in 2002... some of the information is out of date. For example: Joe Huber has now pbulished two games!] Kurt Adam Maintains the Cosmic Encounter FAQ. Have contributed to the Game Cabinet, Game Report. Partner in Hangman Games. Kurt's Top Ten Games
Doug Adams "Been gaming for 25 years. Mainly a wargamer/Games Workshop creature until the mid-90's where I discovered the wonders of European games. This led to the Billabong Boardgamers which I joined around 1997. Looked after the website for a few years before moving on. Gaming is a little more low-brow and relaxed these days, but I enjoy the tactile sense and social interaction of a boardgame as much as ever!" Doug's Top Ten Games
Erik Arneson "I run About.com's Board Games site. Erik's Top Ten Games
Dave Arnott Dave's Top Ten List Mark asked for a bio and a top ten list. I figured I'd do the top ten list first because it would be easier to write than the bio, right? Right? Out of the 627 different games that I have played and rated on a 1 to 10 scale, 26 of them have gotten 10's from me. So. How do you pick ten (an arbitrary number to begin with) from 26? Well, there are a few of my 10's that I can eliminate with no problem. These are the 10's that are, well... personal. Battleship, for example. I loved this game growing up and I still really like it, would play it in a heartbeat. But I doubt most people would rate this one as high, nor could I fault them for it. I think it's an elegant and economical game with great bits to boot, but I'm not going to try and change your mind here when I find out you've given it a 5 or a 6. For Sale, Can't Stop, and My Word (Joli Kansil, not the Knizia) also fall into this category. Some people feel these games are too light to rise above, say, 7's, and I can't say I don't understand. But these games really push my buttons - I wish I had designed them. The beauty here is that they're all simple enough that I could have designed them... if I designed games. Which I don't. But I could have. For Sale is the king of all fillers, Can't Stop is by far the best version of the dice-rolling press-your-luck mechanic, and My Word is a clever twist on Jotto. All are addictive. These are the games we should be giving 10's, say I. There are the 9's that I have bumped up to 10's because, well... I just like them. Black Vienna and Code 777 are definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Adel Verpflichtet, Bandu, Chinatown, Daytona 500, Montage, and Wyatt Earp are all solid games, but none of these are perfect. In fact, any of them could conceivably drop down from their Arnott 10 status if only I played them more often. But because they so rarely hit the table, I give them benefit-of-the-doubt 10's. 10's out of nostalgia. Also, I think they're all cool games. On the opposite side of the fence we have Taboo and What Were You Thinking? Definitely top shelf, but I've overplayed them. For now anyway. I still rate them as 10's, but since I'm not as keen to play them these days, they didn't make the Mark Jackson cut. And then there's Careers and Cribbage. I haven't played Careers in years, but back when I did play it, boy did I play it. I've gotten in easily 100 plays of this one, often multiple plays in a row. It was the rainy day game of my youth, and for that, it will always be a 10 to me. Though, who knows... if and when I finally play it again... to think: it might not hold up. Sigh. I have no doubt about Cribbage, on the other hand - it will always hold up. And, in fact, it's my eleventh game, were I allowed to go beyond ten. But I just don't play it enough. Plus I already had three other card games on my list. But make no mistake, from a "technical" standpoint, it's a "better" game than some others on my list. It's just not a "top ten" favorite... today, anyway. Remember, all 26 of these are 10's for me. You could pick ten of them randomly as my list and probably get no complaints from me. But, since I was asked nicely (well, browbeaten nicely), here's my "top ten."
Hmm... There no room for the bio now. Ah well. Should have done that first. Ben Baldanza "I grew up playing games with my family, mostly Italian card games. I played War Games and 3M Games in college, then dropped out of gaming until the mid-nineties when I got introduced to German style games. Today, I play weekly with the DC Gamers, a great group. I also teach gaming classes through two local Adult Education programs, and in the process have introduced more than 50 people to German games this way. My wife, Marcia, is also an avid gamer and as an elementary school Principal she uses games in her school. I've helped her on her annual "Family Game Night" where she gets almost 200 people to come to the school and play games in the evening. I write regularly for Counter Magazine, and have contributed reviews to The Game Report and Rail Gamer. I attend the Gathering of Friends and Gulf Games events as often as possible. I play every game to win but usually can't tell you who won two minutes later, since for me the fun is in the playing and the interaction." Ben's Top Ten Games
Matt Baldwin "In sixth grade Matthew Baldwin stole the Steve Jackson Pocket Box edition of Illuminati from his best friend and has been addicted to games ever since. The 31 year-old programmer currently lives in Seattle with a wife, two cats, and an intense dislike for sweet potatoes. He used to write a lot about games at AcesUp, but then got sick of writing about games, so now he writes about everything (including games) at DefectiveYeti. Matthew is the seer, and knows for a fact that you are one of the werewolves." Matt's Top Ten Games
Craig Berg "As far as I can remember I have always been interested in games. I cut my teeth on standard Milton Bradley fare, then graduated to SPI wargames and RPGs. "In 1994 I started looking into games I could play with my family and stumbled across rec.games.board on the Internet. I remember all the discussion going on about this game called "Modern Art". My curiosity was piqued. I went out to the game store the next day and bought it. "I was in love. "I started checking out more and more of these types of games. I had no idea these things even existed. I bought "Settlers of Catan", "Family Business", "Manhattan" and every other game I could find. "One day, back in 1997, I was telling a friend at work about these games. He told me he would like to see them and would be willing to try them. Another friend overheard us talking and also said he would enjoy trying them. Within a week, I called another friend of mine, and the four of us were sitting around my kitchen table playing these wonderfully cerebral games. Thus was born the "Kitchen Table Gamers". Currently we meet every other week. "In addition to my bi-weekly meeting, I bring games in to work. I rotate the titles every Monday and several of us descend on a conference room every day at lunch. There are often enough people to get two different games going during a lunch hour. Craig's Top Ten Games
Acquire - The granddaddy of stock speculation games and a true classic in every sense of the word. I often describe this game as "elegant in its simplicity" because the simple mechanics belie the layers of strategy it takes to play this game well. Billabong - Think of this as Advanced Checkers. Basically an abstract with a pasted on theme, but what a great theme it is: kangaroos racing around a billabong (small pond) and jumping over each other in the process. You absolutely need to plan ahead in this game, several moves ahead if you want to stand a chance of winning. Quick and easy, this is a favorite with my lunchtime work group. Bohnanza (and expansion) - This is a terrific trading/haggling game. Combine this with the slightly quirky mechanics (don't rearrange the cards in your hand!) and you have a real winner. This game also ranks very high on the gregarious factor partly, I think, because of the theme. GIPF - While I enjoy all the games in the GIPF Project, this is the one that I think has the most depth of play. Like most abstracts, it forces you to carefully survey the board and plan several moves ahead. But the thing I like most about this one is how it also introduces resource management. You are not only making sure that your pieces don't get captured, but you also have to make sure that you don't run out of pieces to place on the board. You do this by getting four of your own in a row. Essentially "capturing" your own pieces to replenish your stock. It also has tactilely wonderful as are all the games in the Project. Lowenherz - This is an overlooked gem. It has never received the praise it deserves. It has all the elements that I like in a game: tension, interaction, angst, bidding, and cool bits! I really like how it allows you to get established in the early game, bidding interaction becomes more important mid-game, and territory competition becomes downright viscious on the board in the end-game. If you haven't played this one, you are missing one terrific game. Manhattan - This game is my "hook"; the game I use to introduce people to German Games. It goes over well because of the easy to understand rules, simple scoring method, and cool bits. Some say it is too nasty, but I don't see it so. True, there is a lot of attacking other players, but it feels more like "Hey, nothing personal. That was just the best move available to me at the time!". Everyone I have taught the game to (and that is a LOT of people) thoroughly enjoys it. Modern Art - To me this is the ultimate auction game. You really need to speculate and calculate the differences between what you are paying and what you are earning. It may be true that a newbie to the game can hose others inadvertently, but when the game is played with all veterans it really shines. Mu & Mehr - Another trick taking game makes it into my top 10. Also, another game that may take a while to get your head around, but well worth it. I like the trump bidding mechanism: revealing the strength of your hand by playing cards face up on the table; kind of a "pre-meld". How much do you reveal? How badly do you want to name trump? I also like how the high bidder gets to pick his partner, so that partners can change for each hand. Not for the faint of heart. Torres - Every time I play this one, it gets better and better. A deep thinking game with action cards thrown in to keep it out of the realm of a "pure" abstract. The beautiful components make it easy on the eyes as the game progresses too. I've heard people talk about how it can bog down with slow players, and I guess I can see that, although I have never personally experienced it. Twilight - I love a good trick taking game and this one is a beaut! It takes a bit to get your brain wrapped around it, but once you do it is terrific. I love asking my opponents to play a card for me from their hand when it is my turn. Card counting is a must in this game, but with a relatively small deck (28 cards) it isn't too taxing. The game has recently been re-themed as Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, which is probably just as well because some people had a problem with the original theme (two opposing cults fighting over souls). Also, the original edition had numerous printing errors. Dave Bernazzani "I've been interested in board and card games since I was very young. My family grew up playing games - Cribbage, Scrabble, Rummy (various forms), Chess and Trivial Pursuit were heavily played when I was growing up. So I've always enjoyed games - but it has been only the last few years that I've made it a huge part of my life. When playing, winning is not particularly important (though I do try), but instead it's the fun of playing through the game and the interaction with friends at the table that are the reason I play. I tend to play lighter games where I can concentrate less and enjoy myself more (though I do enjoy the occasional heavy game as a nice mix with the mid-to-lighter fare). I attend several gaming groups in the area - but I primarily head up the South Shore Gamers which is a weekly group that meets at the local Barnes & Nobles. I also help run the local Unity Games list - this is an email list that helps coordinate local gaming activity and helps gamers in the area keep in touch. We also serve up full day game events for all UGers to attend -- this helps keep the gaming community closer. There are currently more than 200 local gamers on the list and there are gaming opportunities at least 5 days out of the week. More information about Unity Games can be found at the website. I even married a gamer - Jenn is not only supportive of my gaming hobby but is an active participant. Life doesn't get much better than this!" Dave's Top Ten Games If you are going to include my top-10, I want it visibly noted that my top-10 changes from WEEK-TO-WEEK! I'm also including traditional card games. Also, I will NOT place these in any order - they are alphabetical.
Patrick Brennan "I host weekly (and weekend) gaming sessions at the Pymble Gaming Arena, which has been a hive of gaming activity over the last few years. The deeds of the PGA have been documented through many session reports, posted at the BoardgameGeek and on the spielfrieks mailing list. Other gaming community contributions include articles for the Strategist and the Diplomatic Pouch, as well as reviews and opinions posted to various online forums." Pat's Top Ten Games (with notes!) My Top 10 philosophy has been to list the games that I've spent the most time playing in my life (or expect to, for current releases) and within those, find a range of superior games in a number of different genres, providing me a gaming option across a range of numbers and types of players. So if ever I'm stuck on a desert island ...
Stven Carlberg "My name in Stven Carlberg and I live in Atlanta. Please feel free to pronounce "Stven" as either "Steven" or "Stven." You've read my stuff signed "StvenC" or "Steve Smooth" in the newsgroups, at Funagain, and at the Geek. How I wound up in this neck of the woods started with my recognizing at an early age that games are fun. I've been playing them ever since. After winning the Hearts Championship of the Known Universe (the annual DeepSouthCon tournament) as a Louisianan in 1985, I moved to Atlanta in 1989 and joined the group of gamesters with whom I still play every Thursday night. Years later I discovered the Atlanta Boardgamers and have played with them as well on many a Tuesday and Sunday. I hooked up with the gaming community on the internet at about the time Euphrat & Tigris appeared and since then would guess I have learned about 500 new games." Stven's Top Ten Games I have always resisted compiling a list of my "top" games in the past since that's an apples to oranges kind of thing... but I suppose that's what Mark's project is all about. So here, in no exact order, are ten games I have played with very special enthusiasm on more than a few occasions and am ready right this minute to enjoy again:
Nick Danger "I participated in the Apples Project. It doesn't get any better than that, baby!" [Note: Nick, as usual, is being too modest. He's the bartender, part-owner & head bouncer of the yahoo group Nigglybits, which is a delightfully quirky corner of the boardgaming universe.] Nick's Top Ten Games There is nothing harder than trying to come up with a short list of your favorite games. Well, that's not entirely true. I'd have to put trying to open a coconut with a rubber snake ahead of it on the hardness scale, but still it's a tough feat. My tastes of what I feel like playing can change daily, but since Mark has given this directive I'll play the part of the submissive, obedient minion and give my best shot at listing ten games that I'd likely jump through hoops of burning fire with two house cats on my head to play. Numbering intentionally left out, and no thought has been given to listing order. How's that for a loop hole? Ave Caesar - Quite possibly my most played multi-player game. A fun romp that always produces trash talk and laughs. Also a game that I think has more strategy and control than most give it credit for. Plus, how cool is it to yell "Ave Caesar!" and toss your coin at a leafy headed dude? Bohnanza - Although I don't think I have ever won this game as I just can't play it seriously, I enjoy every hand of it. I love the wheeling dealing atmosphere it creates. El Grande - Speaking of which, when you have too many for San Marco break out El Grande. One of the first Designer Games I tried and it's had a place in my heart ever since. Euphrat & Tigris - A game I find both intriguing and infuriating. When circumstances and tile draws both go your way it's an out of body experience. Then there are the games when nothing goes as planned and you begin thinking about throwing the monuments into a chipper and using them as fill in the bottom of the gerbil cage. Field Command - There's something about this two player simultaneous movement war game that really grabs me. Every game I've played to date has been a real joy. Ra - My favorite auction game by far. Simple, clean and plays quickly. Usually with all players in contention - assuming all are veteran players. Samurai - The mechanics of this game just seems to mesh with my brain for some odd reason as my won/loss record is nearly obscene. Then again, maybe that just speaks volumes of my local competition. San Marco - Only with three. With four, I'd rather play many other games. With three and open card dividing it's a lot of fun packed into 45 minutes. Then again, I think territorial type games hit my sweet spot quite easily. Serenissima - Is it a trading game? Is it a wargame? It's two, two, two games in one! I love the way this game gets divided up into two distinct type of play. There's a variation going around that tries to tame the violent ending of the game - don't fall for it! It sucks the life out of the ending. I'm guessing it was invented by someone who lost at the game. Hey, you know the battle it coming, be prepared or you're going to lose. Don't change the rules because you can't adapt. Star Wars: Clash of the Lightsabers - Yeah, yeah, yeah, probably my most controversial top ten pick but I've played this game to death and have gone through several decks and I still find if a wonderful, quick little game. Made even better using my minor variation to even out any huge luck swings due to bad card draws. In my not so humble opinion of course. Sheila Davis "My game collection (aka hoard as labelled by Steve Kurzban) now numbers in excess of 8000 titles." Sheila's Top Ten Games I don't *have* a top ten list... Hmmmm, current favorites in no particular order:
Jonathan Degann "I have loved boardgames for as long as I can remember. While I played my share of Candyland as a kid, my first compusion came when I saw an ad on TV in the 1960's for "Clue" and just had to own it. It was the first and last thing I ever asked Santa for. Anytime I was at a friend, and was asked what I wanted to do, the answer was always: play a "boxed" game. Learning Monopoly was like falling in love - only it took longer to get eliminated. I have yet to get as much career fulfillment in my current job as I got on my many lunar expeditions playing "Careers". "By Junior High School, I was going over to a friend's house several times a week after school to play "The Game of Life". You may laugh, but a true junkie doesn't ask whether the drugs you're handing him are from Starbucks or from Folgers. He just wants 'em. Now. I must have ended up on the Poor Farm a dozen times. It was a harsh experience, but it built character. "Then one day, I stumbled onto this incredible display of 3M games at a department store. Exhorbitantly priced at $8 each, I had to have each and every one of them. Over the course of some time, I did get three of them as presents: High Bid, Stocks and Bonds, and the amazing Acquire, which is still in my collection. Alas, I got Acquire just after the change from wooden to plastic pieces. "Thanks to the great lessons I learned from "The Game of Life", I decided to go to college. But inexplicably, I decided not to become a doctor, lawyer, journalist, or even a teacher. I went into business, and became a pension actuary. To this day, I'm still waiting to buy a yacht, but any chance of winning second prize in a beauty contest has long passed. "Just about the time I was entering college, in 1973, I discovered Strategy & Tactics magazine (I think I read the advertisement in National Lampoon). Ohmygod! I expected the games inside to be of the sort you'd find today in Games magazine. Move a couple of pennies around a grid. Imagine my surprise when my first copy of CA came in the mail - all 400 counters, eight pages of rules, and an apology from the editors on providing such a simple game system. If Monopoly was like falling in love, Strategy & Tactics was like getting laid. Which is to say: it was pretty hard to find a partner. So in four years of college, I collected maybe 24 issues, bought an equal number of games retail, and played maybe ten times total. After graduating, I became an occasional playtester for SPI, which meant spending two hours on a Friday night reading some rules, an hour playing one game turn, and going home. While the SPI era was a great time to buy games, it really wasn't great for playing them. "Eventually, SPI folded, I spent two years in Chicago getting my MBA, and moved out to Los Angeles, intending to become a film producer. This is when things started picking up for me and for the hobby. Playing mostly meant going to conventions 3 times a year and playing my guts out 20 hours a day for three days in a row. But in this time I was able to join a regular game group. This was in the Avalon Hill/Mayfair era, when games we played leaned toward Guerilla, EuroRails, and Merchants of Venus. Games you could actually play. Oh yeah, and games like Bonkers and Smoker's Wild - games you could play but didn't want to. "Then one day, a member of the group told me to check out The Game Cabinet on the Internet. Wowie zowie - these games sounded cool - and there was seemingly no place to get 'em. Occasionally, some game like Modern Art or Incognito would show up at a convention, but waiting months to play some of these was excrutiating. Finally, I was introduced to Siedler von Catan at a convention, and realized that this was the sort of game I had yearned for, for over a decade. Through TGC, I located an importer, and sprang for both Siedler and, on a whim, some new game called "El Grande", which I must have payed $80 for when you include shipping. It was worth it. El Grande, along with Siedler, were gaming revelations. "My old Wednesday night group evolved considerably since then, as all but one other member has moved to strange places ranging from West Virginia, to the California desert, to drug rehab, but I am delighted to be playing German and similar games every Wednesday with a great group of people. As a hobbyist, the last eight years has been a renaissance for me. "As a man, I have been fortunate enough to have an enjoyable career as a manager of planning and analysis, to be happily married to a singularly kind and thoughtful woman, Tina, and to be father to the most adorable future gamer imaginable, my daughter Ilana. I look forward to the day when I drive up to Millionaire Acres, and get $20,000 a piece for 'em." Jonathan's Top Ten Games
| Chris Dickson "I'd like to thank the academy... no, hang on, I am part of the academy here. My name's Chris Dickson, I'm slightly under 10,000 days old and I live in Middlesbrough, a town of about 140,000 people in the north-east of England. I've been self-employed ever since graduation, have written a published book of puzzles, contributed to two quiz books and worked on several different web sites. "My experience with these games of ours dates back to late 1994; ever since then, I've spent quite a large number of days attending board games conventions, quite frequently helping out behind the scenes and/or running a tournament. To date I have organised ten Settlers of Catan tournaments, more than anyone else in the UK. By good fortune I now also attend a games club in town with a weekly attendance averaging 45, but it's mostly CCGs - only about a quarter of the games played are board games. (I'm working on it, though!) "Another strong area of interest is that of puzzles; I've been fortunate enough to be a part of the UK team in the World Puzzle Championships twice and have organised two "puzzle hunt" crossover puzzle-solving treasure hunts at games conventions. I take a great interest in the puzzle hunts that go on around the world. My other claim to gaming fame is that I once bowled a perfect game. That is, a perfect zero. (I believe there were 32 consecutive misses in all.) "Other than that, gaming interests include TV game shows, postal games, role-playing games, laser games, rule-changing games, co-operative games, old arcade games, games that cross over between computers and the real world, game design projects, massively multi-player online games, books about games, sports, obscure sports, tournaments in obscure sports, trifling minutiae about the organisation of tournaments in obscure sports, games which are so unusual that nobody's yet thought of a category to put them in, the collection frequent flyer miles (yes, that's a game) and so forth. I'm so vain, I think the URL boardgamegeek.com is about me. Chris' Top Ten... Well, Categories Participating in this project has been great fun. The only problems I've had with it is that Our Glorious Leader wants us to produce a list of our personal top ten games and that he didn't accept any of the blatantly sensible suggestions I made for categories to include. Hang on, I think I can kill two birds with one stone here, by presenting my list of top ten games and the categories they ought to have won: BEST GAME INVOLVING DAMAGE TO PLASTIC CUPS: Bluff BEST GAME ENGENDERING SAUSAGE-RELATED JOKES: Durch die Wuste, also known as Through The Desert BEST GAME TO PLAY WITH YOUR SOFT TOYS: Fuzzy Heroes BEST GAME FOR SETTLING LABOUR DISPUTES: Kohle, Kie$ & Knete BEST GAME USING COMPONENTS PARTIALLY IN ELVISH: Lord of the Rings BEST GAME LIKELY TO CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE ENVIRONMENT: McMulti BEST GAME FOR PEOPLE NAMED CHRISTIN P. OR KARL GITTER: Modern Art BEST GAME INVENTED BY A GEOGRAPHY TEACHER: Railway Rivals, called Dampfross in Germany BEST GAME WITH ABOUT A DOZEN EXPANSION SETS: Settlers of Catan BEST GAME WITH A PICTURE OF A PANDA ON THE BOARD: Wildlife Adventure There. Much more useful than the other categories. Aaron Fuegi Aaron created and maintains the Internet Top 100 Games List to serve as a playing and buying guide to the best games around. He plays regularly (3-4 days a week and has attended all of Essen, GenCon, Origins, WBC, GoF, etc... at times) all types of games. His extensive Last Homely House web site has a Games room and individual pages devoted to a couple of favorite games: Tichu and Cosmic Encounter. He also writes articles for gaming publications occasionally and participates in many boardgame discussion areas. Aaron's Top Ten Games
Just Missed: Crokinole, Aquarium Derby, 6 Nimmt, Ricochet Robot, Battle Line, 25 Words or Less Stephen Glenn Stephen is the creator of the Spielfrieks mailing list, organizer of Protospiel (a gathering for game designers), and a two-time top ten Hippodice finalist. As well, he has a game being released by Kosmos/Rio Grande in 2003 in the 2-player square box line - way to go, Snoop! Stephen's Top Ten Games
Michael Green "I have a web site, along with James Miller, called GameNight. Our gaming group consisits of a mish-mosh of people from work. Most of these co-workers are non- to light gamers. Because we frequently have students in our department, I invite them over to our GameNights. The response is generally positive and several have even picked up copies of their favorites to take back to play with their family and freinds. I occassionally get e-mails from some of them asking for other game suggestions or telling me what games have gone over well. I also meet with Craig Berg's Kitchen Table Gamers." Michael's Top Ten
Ronald Hoekstra "I spent a lot of time with gaming: I'm the webmaster of Spelmagazijn.nl, a Dutch website about board and cardgames of about 600 pages. [Note: The link takes you to the English portion of Ronald's site.] I'm jury member of the Gamers' Choice Award and the Nederlandse Spellenprijs (Dutch Game Award). My game collection is more than 900 games and I have a special gaming room for it." Ronald's Top Ten Games
Just missed the list:: Up Front Joe Huber "Well, to be specific, I'm not in any well known gaming groups - neither GHAG nor Joe Rushanan's group have any particular fame, I don't have a website, I make no regular contributions to any magazines, and I haven't designed any published game. [Note: Joe, like Nick, is too darn modest. He is a long time online participant in the gaming world, and has a number of excellent designs for games that SOMEBODY needs to publish. Joe attends the Gathering of Friends and Gulf Games. As well, he is the author of some excellent profiles of designers and their games that is housed on Mike Green's GameNight site. Finally, he's the guy who came up with Happiness Quotient.] Joe's Top Ten Games... well, Eleven (Sorry - I can get it to eleven without pain - can't really see a way to cut more...)
Mark Jackson "I'm the founder of Game Central Station, which is both a website (you're soaking in it) and a local gaming club. I've contributed articles to the Boulder Game Notes & The Strategist. Though I've pulled back from the heavy-duty invoIvement in the online community of gamers that I had a couple of years ago, I'm still active on the spielfrieks & Nigglybits mailing lists. I attend Gulf Games and finally got to use my 6 year old invite to the Gathering of Friends this last spring." Mark's Top Ten Games Can't Stop - A splendid dice game with plenty of tension...Victory can be so tantalizingly close... and yet so far away. It's known in our house as "Can't Win", as in "I can't beat my wife at this game." My repeated attempts account for it's place atop my most played games list. El Grande - A classy, gorgeous game that deserved it's Spiel des Jahres and Deutsche Spiele awards. A long time favorite and one of my first purchases of a game with lots of German on the cards. Entdecker - This simple yet elegant & enjoyable game was unfairly compared to The Settlers of Catan (which Klaus Teuber had designed the year before)., causing many people to miss a tremendous gaming experience. I like the older version (Goldsieber) better than the newer one (Kosmos/Mayfair) which I think over-complicates a nearly perfect game. Expedition - Another attractive game that has had a long history... first released by Ravensburger as Wildlife Adventure (if you have an English copy of this, hang on to it! It's worth some bucks), it was then re-tooled at Terra X and finally as Expedition. Opportunities for tricky plays abound! For Sale - A simple yet brilliant card game that combines Poker-like bluffing and the simaltaneous card play mechanism of Raj to great effect. The balance between bidding up your opponent and paying too much for a house is excruciating enough... and then you add the tension of trying to attract the richest buyer. With small (20 card) decks, card counting is important, but so is skillful bidding and bluffing. This is, in my humble opinion, one of the best small games on the market. [There are variant rules with the game that we have never used... testimony to how good the basic game is by itself.] The Princes of Florence - Cross a Tetris-like puzzle with a series of 7 auctions... add a theme of Italian patrons of the arts & sciences... stir well. I promise you, the sum of this is certainly greater than it's parts. This is a captivating game that invites multiple paths to victory. I find myself stunned time after time that so much gaming experience can be packed into what is essentially 21 decisions... 7 auctions and 14 "actions". Yowsa. The Settlers of Catan - The flagship of the "German gaming invasion", this is still one of the best games ever designed. With a few exceptions (notably, my wife!), every person I've taught to play has *immediately* begged to play again. Showmanager - Each turn, the players "hire" actors to appear in their productions... when they have a complete cast, they put on a show and score points. Sounds simple, eh? Mix in a serious cash flow problem, actors who can only play one part, roles that MUST be cast correctly to earn bonus points, and a point system that awards you for staging a better show than the next guy and you have the magic that is Showmanager. Very fast-moving fun with lots of difficult decisions. Um Reifenbreite - One of the best racing games ever designed, Um Reifenbreite (roughly translated: "By the Width of A Tire") manages to capture the feel of bicycle racing while remaining accesible to non-gamers. There's a nice blend of luck (dice, an event deck) and skill (decision-making about where to move & when to use your set of energy cards) as each player manages a team of four bicyclists. Union Pacific - A surprisingly evocative game with simple mechanisms, Union Pacific is the one game on my Top Ten that I hardly ever win. It combines the stock collecting mechanism of Acquire with a stunning map populated by with tiny plastic locomotives... and then throws in a humdinger of scoring/game ending system. Players 'invest' in rail companies as they expand their lines across the U.S., but if you expand, you can't invest, and vice versa. The choices are excruciating! Mark Johnson "I'm 36, married, and have two young children (ages 8 & 6). My wife is generally a reluctant game player, though she has a fondness for word games and pleasantly tolerates my hobby :-). My kids weren't interested in boardgames until very recently, but now my youngest (daughter) asks to play! "My exposure to serious strategy games started 25 years ago with small science fiction wargames (microgames such as GEV and Starfire). I still play several short (no more than 3-hour) wargames each year, though these days my interest is with historical battles like Gettysburg or Waterloo. I had my years with RPGs, too, and an obsession with Magic:The Gathering that never quite left. :-) "I've been playing German-style boardgames since 1996, when I discovered them through The Game Cabinet, The Game Report Online, and discussions on rec.games.board. At the time I lived in Northern California, and started the Tri-Valley Boardgamers. After moving to Southern California in '98, I hooked up with the Left Coast Gamers, who I still play with on occasion. In '02 I helped form a new group in my own town, the Santa Clarita Boardgamers, who I game with regularly. Now & then I manage to play quick games with my coworkers over lunch. Several times a year I help organize SoCal Games Days, hosting 50+ gamers for a solid day of great boardgaming "Through the years I've enjoyed being active on Internet mailing lists & discussion boards for boardgames. I have my own simple website devoted to boardgaming, and a site for our Santa Clarita Boardgamers is forthcoming, but I'm trying to submit more material to Boardgamegeek and The Games Journal." Mark's Top Ten Games Making a Top Ten list is always difficult, especially for your #11 favorite that just misses the cut, or if you rank your choices. I can cheat a bit by listing just the family strategy titles. (For the record, a more complete list would also include Magic, Smithsonian Gettysburg, Up Front, Down In Flames, Napoleon, Ace of Aces, Queen's Gambit, and GEV.) Anyway, I made this list thinking of the ten games I'd keep if my collection were reduced to that. There are some other games I enjoy as much as these, but I have to own the following games.
Ouch, that's tough. Just missing the cut are En Garde, La Cittá, and Mississippi Queen. Steve Kurzban (K-ban)
K-ban's Top Ten Games
Larry Levy "I am a member in reasonably good standing of the DC Gamers, which meets weekly to indulge in the best of German gaming. I've been contributing to Counter magazine for the past four years, including a regular column they used to be soft hearted enough to let me write, The Other Side of the Pond. I've also written for The Game Report and The Games Journal on the web. Speaking of the web, I've just debuted my web site Huzonfirst Games, which contains rules to my original games, articles, reviews, variants, game ratings, a limited ludography, and more. One of those original games has actually been published (well, all right, mostly by me): Head to Head Golf (Omni Gaming Products). Pick up a copy and join the dozens of others who own it!" Larry's Top Ten Games
Chris Lohroff "In 1997, a friend of mine from work mentioned that he played games on a periodic basis with some of this old high school friends. He mentioned Acquire, Empire Builder, and Settlers of Catan. I had never heard of any of these. He brought Settlers in to work and we played at lunch. We were all hooked. A few weeks later, we played Empire Builder and Acquire at his house on a Friday evening, and the rest is history. Within just a few months I had acquired several games (El Caballero and Union Pacific were 2 of the first, as I recall), and soon after that I opened an online store called Fair Play Games, which I have since sold. I currently run GRGames.com and the Crokinole Yahoo group." Chris' Top Ten Games
Kevin Maroney "I write reviews for Games Magazine, occasional articles for the Games Journal, and post frequently on rec.games.board and Spielfrieks. In my non-gaming life--which does actually exist--I am the managing editor of the New York Review of Science Fiction." Kevin's Top Ten Games Top ten, today:
Craig Massey "I'm an active member of the growing behemoth that is Unity Games (as I always say, you can't swing a dead cat in Boston without hitting a game player/UG member). I game regularly with the Pitt Crandlemires, Aaron Weissblums, and Alan Moons of the the world in Gloucester on a weekly basis at Aaron's art studio as well as host semi-regular sessions at my house only to see Alan throw game pieces on the floor to my dog - I'll be bitter about that for a long time for sure. "While I enjoy writing, I don't do it as often as I would like, but I have written articles for the Game Report, the SGS Strategist, and the Gamer's Alliance. "I would like to have a website, but don't due to a severe lack of patience for the whole process. I marvel at those who do have websites and keep them updated and minty fresh.[Note: If I don't know Craig liked me, I'd swear he was commenting on how darn long it's taken to update the Station this year.] "I would probably also like to design a game or two, but have way to much fun seeing new ideas from Alan & Aaron." Craig's Top Ten Games Okay - this is tough. I find it impossible to pick out favorites and as a result this list is subject to change on a minute by minute basis. But in the interest of science, here is my all time favorite Top 10 Games.
Greg Schloesser Greg Schloesser is the force behind the Westbank Gamers, a weekly gaming group that meets in the bayous of New Orleans, Louisiana. He builds and maintains the Westbank Gamers webpage, which is one of the most popular gaming club websites in our hobby. Greg is also a regular contributor to numerous gaming publications and websites, including Counter magazine, Moves Magazine, Strategy & Tactics, the Games Journal, Gamers Alliance Report and the Game Table Online. He is also on the committee of the Gamers' Choice Awards, which recognizes outstanding games in the industry. Greg has been a gaming enthusiast his entire life, growing up in our hobby mainly on the war game side. His foray onto the internet exposed him to the wonderful world of German and European games and now nearly all of his gaming time is devoted to this area of our hobby. He travels to several gaming conventions each year and is the co-founder of Gulf Games, a regional gaming get-together held in the Southern USA. Greg was born in 1961 and has lived his entire life in New Orleans. He is married and has one daughter and is proud of the fact that they are now both avid gamers! Greg's Top Ten List
Kevin Whitmore Kevin is an active boardgamer, playing in two regular weekly groups. He hosts the "Tuesday Night Gamers" in his home each week. Kevin teamed up with fellow New Mexico gamer, Rob Derrick to found Southwest Games - an semi-private gaming convention held at least annually. Contact Kevin for details at thewhitmores@swcp.com. Kevin ocassionally tests prototypes for Rio Grande Games, unfortunately he is sworn to secrecy about the details. Kevin regularly games with Richard Bethold, co-designer of the game Republic of Rome; where he play-tests several games in development as well. Kevin's Top Ten Games
Scott Alan Woodard "I host a weekly gaming group (The San Fernando Valley Gamers) and I co-run SoCal Games Day." Scott's Top Ten Games The dreaded "Top Ten Games List." I always have a difficult time putting these things together because yesterday's Top Ten Game is often not tomorrow's Top Ten Game, so here is my CURRENT list:
Dave Vander Ark "I'm an active member in the Grand Rapids Area Boardgamers, hosting gaming sessions at my house every other week. I also maintain the Games for Kids website, a collection of game reviews with an eye toward recommendations for games that work for different aged children. (The site for this page is currently offline, should be up in a week or two.)." Dave's Top Ten Games It's hard to cut my list of favorite games down to just ten titles. However, since there's no leeway on the number, no chance of sneaking an extra game along, this is the way the list ended up being trimmed. I'll do these in alphabetical order.
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