Shannon Appelcline: Some Thanks for Alea Games

At the start of 2009, I decided to play through the entire corpus of Alea Games. Too many of them sit forlornly on the shelves nowadays, not as cool as the new kids like Agricola (aka Puerto Rico Killer), Dominion (aka San Juan Killer), and Twilight Struggle (aka Mammoth Hunters Killer). So I opted to spend some times with old friends and remember why they too were hoopy froods in their time.

Last Thursday I finished the play of my 22nd and final Alea game for the year, In the Year of the Dragon, and this Tuesday I finished my write-ups of the first twenty-one Alea games on my personal blog (with Alea Iacta Est still waiting for a few more plays after an American release ... someday ... before I discuss it). Today I’d like to share with you some lessons learned, some high points, and some low points.

And I also want to say thanks to Alea developer Stefan Brück, who’s added some really fine games to our joint collections.

Some Lessons Learned

I think the most important lesson that I learned is that not every Alea game is a strategic masterpiece. I know there are folks who complain about every Alea release that isn’t Puerto Rico, Traders of Genoa, and Princes of Florence--all molded into one massively strategic package. But, Alea has never been an exclusive publisher of heavy-strategy titles. Heck, their first game was Ra and their second was Chinatown. Though I love Ra, you can’t say that either of those games is a brain burner. In fact, looking at the whole Alea series, it’s Puerto Rico that’s the outlier, both in game length and complexity. Nothing else comes close.

To show the broad scope of Alea games, I’ve put together the following chart. It takes complexity ratings from the Alea website and game lengths from that same website and/or from the backs of the American boxes. I don’t necessarily agree with all the numbers (for example I think they rate Augsburg 1520 and Rum & Pirates both low on game length and possibly complexity as well), but they’re at least a consistent standard to draw from.

I’ve categorized the Alea games broadly into four types:

The “Serious Games are the ones that people are talking about when they really worship before the altar of Alea. But, as this diagram shows, they’re definitely the minority of Alea’s releases.

The “Light” Games are, in my opinion, every bit as good as the serious games. Notre Dame and Ra are surely best-of-category in the genre of lighter, but still strategic games. Augsburg 1520 may be too, though to me it feels more like it fits into the serious category.

The Fillers are another category where Alea has really excelled, with the whole bottom row of Royal Turf, Witch’s Brew, Alea Iacta Est, and San Juan all being well loved ... by me at least.

Long & Light (aka, the turkey head) is the only category where I don’t think Alea has done well. I may be the only person in the world who genuinely enjoys Mammoth Hunters. Though Rum & Pirates feels somewhat clever, I often think it goes too long. As for the rest, well ... I suspect that the gaming crowd just isn’t the audience for these long-but-light games. Maybe they appeal more to German families. Though I certainly don’t think that Alea needs to confine itself to strategic stuff, I hope they avoid this bewattled, light brown island in the future.

Overall, I think the most troublesome Alea games outside of the brown island have been those lying along the complexity interfaces. I’ve never been a particular fan of Adel Verpflichtet and I’ve never understood Fifth Avenue. Similarly none of Wyatt Earp, Edel Stein & Reich, or Palazzo have particularly tickled my fancy.

Though I’ve already hinted at them with some of my above comments, I’d like to offer my opinions on some of Alea’s best and worst before I close this article off:

The Other Best Three Gamers’ Games

Almost every one claims that Puerto Rico, Traders of Genoa, and Princes of Florence are the best three Alea games, by which they really mean the best three serious games. Here’s the other three serious games that I think deserve about as much attention:

1. Taj Mahal. I don’t even understand why no one includes this in their whole “when Alea was at its height” nolstalgia trip. It came out just before Princes of Florence, and it’s an innovative and strategic auction game.
2. Year of the Dragon. Perhaps some people do put this in their lists nowadays. In its somewhat abstract and multifaceted resource management mechanics, it feels a lot like the games of yesteryear.
3. Louis XIV. I bet this one would have gotten a little more attention if it were just in a bigger box. And then we could have gotten a board to frame our tiles and keep them neat, too. Ah well. It’s certainly a fine strategy game and one of the very few majority-control games in the series.
   

The Best Three Light Strategy Games

As I said, I think the lighter strategy games are just as impressive in their category as the more serious ones.

1. Ra. Another Reiner Knizia game and another winner. Fortunately, I think this one has gotten the respect it deserves. It’s another fun and original auction game, and though people complain about the theme, I think it’s actually very colorful and fun.
2. Notre Dame. This latter-day game returns to a lot of the strengths of Ra. There’s really strategy but the facade seems so approachable that you can’t even tell you’re really thinking and planning ahead.
3. Augsburg 1520. I’m not sure I actually agree that this is a “light” game because it melts my brain whenever I play. I’m really amazed that this super-tight resource-management game hasn’t gotten as much attention as some of the classics.

The Three(ish) Best Fillers

1. San Juan. ‘Nuff said. Not only did it create a mini-genre, but the two other entrants in it, Glory to Rome and Race for the Galaxy, are both great too (and in many ways have stolen San Juan‘s glory).
2. Witch’s Brew. Another take on role-selection, but one that’s about 180 degrees away from San Juan, and one that’s a great social game.

I’ve opted not to list a third filler because I don’t think any of the others stand up to those two. If I were to list a third, it’d be Royal Turf, though I hope that Alea Iacta Est will win me even more over once I’ve played it more than once.

The Three Worst Games.

Though I’ve generally been speaking about those games I’m thankful for, I’m going to end with those games that I’m thankful ... that I probably won’t have to play again (except maybe the first).

1. Fifth Avenue. Every couple of years I try to play this one. I never seen the fun or the strategy that the designer and developer must have. If it weren’t an Alea game, I’d just sell it, but because of that darned Alean number, I’m burdened with the Sisyphean task of rolling this box up the hill every year or two.
2. Die Sieben Weisen. A fair card game with endgame problems. I think Rio made the right decision in not bringing this one over.
3. Edel, Stein & Reich. I think this one took the strategy (as it were) and the central focus out of Basari without adding anything beneficial. Oh well.

And those are my thoughts after a year of playing Alea games. Read my journal entries if you’d like to hear more, as I wrote a short article on each.

Around the Corner

And with that, the Alean turkey wishes happy Thanksgiving to all. And, you know, happy Thursday to all of you non-American heathens (like many of my favorite game designers).

If you’d like to read some of my other recent gaming thoughts, you can find reviews of 2 de Mayo, Desperados, Eine Gegen Eine, Rise of Empires over at RPGnet. 

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