Media Watch: An affinity for rules?

From The Economist(!):

To serious gamers Puerto Rico is German territory, not American. They assemble in groups of three to five to plant crops, ship goods and raise edifices, compressing into a cheerful hour or two the wheeling and dealing that consumed the careers of 16th-century colonists in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico, ranked the second-best board-game by users of boardgamegeek.com, is the brainchild of Andreas Seyfarth, a civil servant, one of a handful of game designers who work in cardboard rather than silicon.

Germany is to board-games what Belgium is to chocolate. It specialises in “Eurogames”, which emphasise strategy over showiness, downplay luck and conflict, lean towards economic rather than martial themes and strive to keep all the players at the table until the game’s end. The cleverest and most prolific inventors, such as Reiner Knizia (who lives in England) are nerdy superstars. Euro (also “German-style”) games must not be confused with “Ameritrash” games, which generally involve high drama and employ plastic pieces, though arguing over what the difference is seems to be gamers’ second-favourite pastime.

“The cleverest and most prolific inventors...are nerdy superstars.” What a fantastic quote, and quite true to boot. For the rest of the article, head to the Economist website.

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