#boardsgames

[thespecialstories]

Star Wars: Attack of the Board Games (The Best Star Wars Board Games)

[gameonanderson-blog]

My collection is growing!!!!!!

[iamjenjen41]

Why some games hold up better than others.

So, I am not joking when I say that my husband and I have probably around 200 games of Sentinels of the Multiverse (if you include the app).  This game has immense staying power due to its diversity.  I will definitely say that of all the games we own it has the most bang for the buck in our house.  Diversity here is the key.  I love the fact that I can play one of three versions of Argent Adept (I have Kvothe because my husband is amazing!) and each one will play slightly differently against the same villain.  I love that basic Gloomweaver doesn’t scare me nearly as much as his variant version who regularly whoops me on the app. 

But, Sentinels is a bit of an exception.  Very few games have that level of diversity each time.  So why do some games hold up so much better than others?

Part of it is design.  Some games are designed so well that they hold up against the Cult of the New.  An example of this is Stephan Feld’s Notre Dame.  This game is incredibly well designed and its mechanisms hold up extremely well when compared to new games with innovative mechanisms.  In the case of Notre Dame, the combination of managing (or choosing to ignore) the rat track, plus choosing your personal path to victory, keeps this game interesting for me every time I play it.  There are many choices to be made with the card drafting and then on how you place your individual cubes each turn on the board.  The design of this game keeps the overall game interesting every time you play as there are many decisions that you need to be make and no assured means to achieve victory.

Theme is another thing that will make some games endure the test of time.  Robinson Crusoe is a great example of this.  The theme is so rich each time you play the game that you feel like you are making life or death decisions.  Our last game of this was a a nail biter with my character on the verge dying the next turn, ensuring our defeat.  The theme of trying to survive on the island became very real when we looked at what we had to accomplish in one turn to ensure victory.  We had one way to win and as I watched my friend role the dice to hit exactly what we needed, it felt like a rescue.  There are other games that bleed theme like this.  Pillars of the Earth is another great example of source material providing wonderful theme.  Playing Touch of Evil is another game that really brings the theme to the forefront.  All of these games will continue to hit our table simply due to the theme (along with good game design).

Uniqueness is also something that can make games endure.  I think this is the weakest of the reasons though.  So often, an innovative idea comes out and is often either a flash in the pan or is immediately copied by multiple other games.  Tales of the Arabian nights so far is the only game that has really 100% captured the Choose your Own Adventure feel to a board game, making it unique among the others who have attempted it.  Galaxy Truckers is another one to me that holds a special place for its unique mix of quick thinking plus strategy for surviving the round.  These games will come to the table due to the fact that there really aren’t a wealth of games that are like them, so they bring a freshness to the table each time they are played.

The last, but to me probably most important, is the enjoyment of the game when played with my friends and husband.  I am blessed with another couple who we regularly play board games with while enjoying a beer or two.  Some games endure because they just fit well with the group.  Eggs and Empires is a great example of this for our group.  This is a game that gets pulled out quite frequently due to its simplicity of play and the fact that it allows us to fill some time while chatting and having a drink.  Not all of these games are beer and pretzel games though.  Euphoria is a thinky worker placement game that not only scratches the brain teasing itch, but also makes us laugh as we imagine the horrible things we are doing to our poor workers in this dystopian future.

Overall, there are going to be a lot of hobby games that may only get one play, so enjoy the feeling of love for the ones that endure throughout the years.

Question:

What is your game that endures?