About Boardgame News

Boardgame News – alternatively known as BGN or BoardgameNews.com – features news, reviews, previews, designer interviews, columnist spews, and much more about the world of board games to amuse, peruse and confuse.

What kind of games are covered on Boardgame News? While there are many types of games in the world – board games, card games, trading card games, roleplaying games, video games, miniatures games, etc. – Boardgame News focuses on designer board and card games. Unlike mass-market titles released in the U.S. and elsewhere, a designer board game features the name of its creator on the front of the box, just as books, CDs, movies and other art forms trumpet their creators. Game designers have their own styles, after all, and players tend to find that some designers fit their tastes better than others. As with other media, designer board and card games can be aimed at adults, families, teens or children.

How do designer games differ from mainstream offerings? In general:

• They allow a player to win or lose based on skill rather than luck factors.
• Their components include customized wood or plastic pieces.
• Their rules are relatively easy to learn, while your grasp of the strategy will evolve over multiple playings of a game.
• They don't have player elimination along the lines of Monopoly or Risk.
• Their playing times run 30-90 minutes.

This style of game originated in Germany with German designers and German publishers – which is why they're often called "German games" or "Eurogames" – but designer games are now available from publishers around the world. As for finding where to buy and play these games, you can check the Gamestore Database, a wiki that is slowly being filled in by readers like you, and BGN's Game Clubs & Groups.

Why concentrate on designer games? In my opinion, the best board games and card games being produced today are designer games. They give players a chance to flex their mental muscles and compete against other players rather than being led around the gameboard by die rolls and random card draws. While designer games do typically include random elements, a player's ability to develop a strategy and carry it out, while simultaneously reacting to the strategy of other players, has more to do with that player's success than chance game elements. That said, BGN does cover some party games, pure information strategy games, family games, wargames, and other odds and ends.

What can I find on Boardgame News? Everything you might need to enter the world of designer games and find great new games to explore and introduce to others in your circle:

• News on board games: upcoming game releases, special gaming events, game designer info, and much more.


• Gone Cardboard, which tracks upcoming game releases in North America; links for game releases in Europe are included on the GC page.


• Previews of upcoming games, and reviews of already released titles.


• A roster of weekly, international and at-large columnists who write about whatever game-related thoughts are on their minds.


• Board 2 Pieces, a twice-weekly comic strip about games.


• Convention previews that detail hundreds of games that will be shown or sold at conventions in Nuremberg and Essen, Germany.


• A special features section that includes articles, interviews, game convention coverage, humorous essays, and much more.


• A links page that catalogs hundreds of links to podcasts, publishers, personal game pages, other news sites, and more.


• RSS feeds to deliver much of this material to you as it's posted.

Note that BGN columnists and cartoonists have the freedom to cover whatever game-related topics they like. These writers might talk about games they have designed, developed, published or edited, but when they do so, they will alert readers to this fact. BGN will also publish articles in which designers and publishers write about their creations. While such articles might seem self-serving, these writers can present readers with a broader picture of the game industry or their particular creations than a writer without such connections.

Why "Boardgame News" instead of "Board Game News"? Compound nouns used as adjectives are frequently hyphenated or combined into a single word in order to aid comprehension during reading. Thus, news about board games is published on Boardgame News, BGN covers happenings at boardgame conventions, I write about the boardgaming community, and so forth.

How can I contribute to Boardgame News? You can get involved with BGN in any number of ways:

• Create a free guest account, and post comments on the articles and news items on the site.


• Send news leads to the BGN editor.


• Write reviews, articles and convention coverage. Feel free to contact the BGN editor first to discuss your idea.


• Buy an ad. BGN is read by thousands of gamers, designers and publishers each day. Advertisements are available in multiple sizes, as shown on the advertising page, and cost as little as $20.


• Become a BGN member. By forking over $25, you'll receive twelve months of access to the most recent convention previews for the Nuremberg and Spiel game conventions, which detail hundreds of game releases from the two major game conventions in Germany. These previews are more detailed than any other you'll find online, and they include first impressions of various titles from the BGN editor based on playings of preproduction copies. BGN members will also be entered into drawings for free games that will be held at irregular intervals.


• Donate money. If you read Boardgame News regularly and value the material published, kick something into the kitty to keep the news updates, previews and reviews coming on a regular basis.

Thanks for checking out Boardgame News, and if you have any further questions, write me. I'll be glad to hear from you!

W. Eric Martin
Editor, BoardgameNews.com

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