Pardon my skepticism, but considering that Tribune: Primus Inter Pares, one of the hottest games from Essen, was promised by FFG for December, then February, and now April, I’ll be very surprised if it comes out in May.

FFG has a track record of being optimistic about their release dates, but they are on the other hand they are working with a different publisher here.

Pardon my skepticism, but “Garibaldi”?  What kind of a name/theme is that for a boardgame?  Alas, I still wait for the day that a company steps forward in 2008 and gives us a boardgame with a theme that every non-gamer friend of mine I have doesn’t look at it and go… “huh?”

I’m off to go eat sushi…

Ryan B.

He’s a national hero in Italy, Ryan, where, not surprisingly, this game was designed.  Tell your non-gamer friends to hit the internet!

They also may want to check out the new version of Risk we’ve been talking about.

Ryan, here’s the description of Garibaldi that I ran in the Essen 2007 preview:

“On the 200th anniversary of his birth, Giuseppe Garibaldi—a military hero who helped create a united Italy—is being honored with a board game reenacting his flight from Austrian, French and Spanish soldiers in 1849 after the fall of Rome. Garibaldi, whose wife Anita died during this trek, traveled to New York before returning to Italy in 1854 and returning to battle in 1859.

“Garibaldi: La Trafila is played in the style of Scotland Yard and Fury of Dracula, with one player (representing Garibaldi) against everyone else (representing Austrian troops). If Garibaldi makes it to safety, his controller wins; if he’s captured, the other players win.”

Now with that background in mind, don’t you think Garibaldi’s story is the perfect candidate for a game like this? Especially considering, as Larry pointed out, that the designer (Gabriele Mari) and original publisher (Nexus) are Italian? Why should publishers limit their offerings to what you and your friends find acceptable?

What’s nice about having so many designers and publishers in the game industry is that the topics covered in games go all over the place. Heck, I’d prefer more crazy subjects in games: juggling, lawn maintenance, slush fund management, dike building, wigs, pediatrics, etc. For people who aren’t hip to modern strategy games, I love to introduce a game by saying something like, “You run a flea circus! You’re a bean farmer! You manage a zoo!” I want to show them something they don’t know, something that will make them go “Hunh?”

Speaking of sushi, maybe you should check out the Z-Man Games title Wasabi. I’ll be running a preview in March or April before the game’s release. I’m sure many people would say, “A game about making sushi? WTF!?” But maybe that theme will interest you. Diversity is good…

Giuseppe Garibaldi:  Italian National Hero and Viable Historical Figure, I can go with.

Giuseppe Garibaldi:  The entertainment for a night out with friends?  Not so much…

Eric,

You raise some interesting points.  However, it is past midnight so I will pick up the conversation a bit later.

RB

Dear Abby,

You know what I would make this game about?  Clowns.

Yep, that’s right.  Circus Clowns chasing each other around in some sort of sappy, hilarious way.

Also:  You asked: Why should publishers limit their offerings to what you and your friends find acceptable?

Answer:  Because I represent the mainstream buying public, that’s why.  But I don’t think publishers SHOULD limit their offerings to what me and my friends find acceptable.  But guess what?  They don’t.  In fact I find more and more that publishers ALWAYS do the exact opposite. 

No games from anyone about Circus Clowns, Crazy Burger Factories, Campy Monsters, Clue-Style Murder Mysteries, Goofy Plumbers on some type of hilarious adventure, Floppy Eared Dogs or any other laugh inducing “take it easy” and have fun types of games that everyone (male and female)can get into. 

Plenty of games about Garibaldi, Wizards and Orcs with hit points, Space Mutants, Toledo Spain, Hannibal, Deer Mating, Carcasonne France, Kings & Merchants, More Kings, German Postal Systems, Trading Spices, Castle this, Castle that etc. 

Abby, did I mention Wizards and Orcs? (LOL) And let’s not forget the now obligatory victory track… Help!

Bottom line: I maybe liked some Eurogames at some long ago juncture but it all definitely seems the same now.  Eurocrap.

I definitely have to applaud the Ameritrash movement for calling some of this stuff out, even though I didn’t exactly approve of all their methods.

But I am not an Ameritrash fan either.  I just want somebody to put out some games like: I’m the Boss, A Dog’s Life, Lifeboats, Pirate’s Cove, Mystery of the Abbey, Winner’s Circle (the rules of which were very well written, BTW) Scotland Yard etc. 

Is that so much to ask?  : )

And stop giving me game titles that make me want to run for the hills in despair too.... (sigh)

Please help Abby!

Sincerely,

Desperate for the Campy in Life…

Lawn Maintenance.(LOL) AWESOME IDEA!  I love it.  Get me a game about mowing over other people’s lawns and I would love it!

Eric,

You really should be a game designer!

Your friend,

Ryan B.

Ryan wrote: “Bottom line: I maybe liked some Eurogames at some long ago juncture but it all definitely seems the same now.  Eurocrap.

“I definitely have to applaud the Ameritrash movement for calling some of this stuff out, even though I didn’t exactly approve of all their methods.”

So games with themes you don’t like are crap? Seems like a juvenile attitude. I’m not interested in dungeon crawl games, for example, but I don’t think they’re crap; I don’t rail against their existence or complain that a publisher is denying me games with themes that I do want. I just look elsewhere for games that I will enjoy. I’m glad that folks who enjoy dungeon crawl games have lots of opportunities to get them. More power to them! Why should my desire for another type of game deny them what they want?

I’m not sure what you’re applauding the Ameritrash movement for. What did they call out? That they don’t like these games? That they find them similar or boring? Big deal. No one is forcing anyone to play these games. Instead of insulting things you don’t like, go find games that you do like. Create them yourself, if need be. Write articles about them, and make me understand why you think they’re the bee’s knees. Maybe someday I’ll read something that encourages me to try a dungeon crawl game and I’ll discover that I like them after all.

Not every game will be to every person’s taste. BGN focuses on Eurogames, and European publishers tend to cater to the taste of Europeans, thus the games deal with historical figures, the Renaissance period, Italy, ancient Greece, China, and so on. That’s what their customers want.

To end on a positive note, have you checked out Aunt Millie’s Millions, Ca$h’n Gun$, Wheedle, Chopstick Dexterity MegaChallenge 3000, Viva Pamplona, Too Many Cooks, Scottish Highland Whisky Race, Showmanager, or Hollywood Blockbuster? They seem like they might be to your taste: modern themes with lots of interaction. Maybe I’m wrong, but if I am, don’t insult the games. Just keep looking for something that will appeal to you. That’s more productive in the long run.

Hi Eric,

(LOL) Well, they are just games after all.  They aren’t people.

But to any boardgame out there whose feelings I hurt:  I’m sorry.  : )

Ah, I can see I am going to have to go on a more serious note. 

To wit:  I think too much is made of my opinion about boardgames here.  It’s just one person’s not even semi-important opinion.  But I do have a strong opinion about the redundancy of Eurogames nowadays.

And having just a very small, wrinkly tiny hand in the original formation of BGN I can say I believe that Rick, Tom, Patrick Korner’s and Greg’s focus was on boardgames in general, not just Eurogames.  Although Eurogames most certainly were the passion for creating the website, I think.

Of course, I know all four of them love Eurogames, as a genre. I am probably the holdout in that regard.  And they have often treated that genre with rightful respect. 

And so in saying that, I realize there is much value that Eurogames have brought to the world of boardgames.  And there have been some great, innovative games with a Euro scope:  Ticket to Ride being chief among them, in my opinion.

And I certainly don’t mind either what other people personal tastes are in games.  More power to them.  And considering my higher education focuses in International Affairs, I doubt most people who know me would say I am even remotely ethnocentric.

But I will also say that when the boardgame landscape is dominated by the same thing, over and over and over again.  Well, I’m going to have an opinion about that.

Eric, as you are the editor of BGN now, I sincerely hope we are not capitulating the freedom of adverse thought about a whole genre of boardgames simply because of other external factors?  I personally don’t think that we are. 

But if so, then the “Ameritrash” argument most often promulgated elsewhere has truly won out here. 

Actually, I have found it interesting that, overall, that the discussion of anything “Ameritrash” seems to be open to criticism but criticism of “Eurogames” amounts to some sort of sacrilege?  In my opinion, both should be wide open to calling out their respective strengths… but we should also be more than willing to call out their respective failings as well.

And trust me, I’m not in the so-called Ameritrash camp.

I simply feel enlivened discussion is good.  And now I feel that maybe even a little bit of sharpened satire is even better to bring the point home.

Let remember that from a news perspective, BGN has a reputation for being objective.  And that is the thing that defines the essence of BGN’s value.  But columnists are supposed to have opinions… and they don’t necessarily have to be objective.  I’ll certainly voice my opinions.  And I’ll only state what I actually believe.

Storytime:  I think its funny though, because at Boardgamegeek someone called me out, in the “Ameritrash” camp no less, for exactly who I am and what I represent to BGN.  Their paraphrased comment was something to the effect that I was “less than bright” as a columnist because I didn’t know beans about most boardgames anyway and that most everyone on BGG knew more about most of the various boardgames than I did.

You know what?  That person was right. Especially, about the “less than bright” part.  : )

But, as my readers surely know, that’s not why I write.

I have no problem with people stating their opinions of games of any type, but not liking something doesn’t make it crap. When I review a game that I don’t like, I talk about the elements that don’t appeal to me because I recognize that someone else might enjoy the very things that I dislike. The game isn’t crap; it’s just not for me. That’s the distinction that I’m trying to point out. People like different things! This shouldn’t surprise anyone, but apparently it does—and me not liking something doesn’t mean that it’s not valuable to or enjoyed by someone else. (Similarly, when I like a game, I try to explain why so that those who abhor such things can avoid the game.)

My line about not insulting the games is just my way of pointing out that there’s someone behind the box, some designer who tried to make a game that people would enjoy. If I don’t like a game, I’ll say why, but ideally with respect. He or she created something new, so kudos—maybe someone else will take a shine to it. As for me, I’ll just move on to something else. The world’s a big place with lots more to discover.

Rick wrote the “New to the Site?” piece linked to in the upper-lefthand corner (which I lightly edited at some point in the past year) and that page hammers home BGN’s Eurogame focus. I think I’ve actually broadened the site somewhat in the past year by talking more about abstracts, Gamewright releases, mainstream games from Educational Insights, oddball companies like Zygote Games, and so on. There’s still a ton that I don’t cover, but a guy’s gotta sleep…

People like different things. Sold.  : )

And to be more clear on my opinion: the games themselves are not Eurocrap.  It is the continual redundancy of these games that (in my opinion) are starting to turn the genre.

So now, let’s ALL get some sleep. 

Except for me.  I’m off to work…

Cheers!

"You know what I would make this game about?  Clowns.”

Eric, your prayers have been answered:

The circus is in town! This time though, the clowns aren’t funny…They’re hungry and they think you would make a good snack!

Zombies!!! 7: Send in the Clowns pits you against the traveling carnival of the damned. Visit the Big Top, and the Fortune Teller. Get lost in the Fun House. Enjoy some cotton candy. Actually, forget all that and get ready to run screaming from the growing mob of zombie clowns.

http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/zombies/zombies7.php