Would A Genre By Any Other Name Be as Fun?

By Marc


Much like any other form of artistic media, board games are a diverse, complicated, and intricate web of elements, ideas, and concepts. Trying to untangle all of them in a single post could potentially end in a wall of text that would never end. Instead, I’ll be trying to focus on some of the most foundational genres of board gaming and tackle them one at a time.

We’ll start with the biggest divide in board game genres: Euro or European Style games versus American Style games (often lovingly referred to as “Ameritrash” due to the amount of plastic and wood often within the boxes).

Way back in the 1990s board gaming was a very different hobby, especially when contrasted with the modern design of today’s titles. Games were mostly designed to be educational or moral lessons rather than “fun” in the way we consider it. Popular games like Risk or Monopoly were meant to chew up enormous amounts of time, and even they were considered revolutionary compared to classic games like Chess.
All that changed in 1995 when a little game called (at the time) Settlers of Catan was released. Board gaming would never be the same. A game with no player elimination, no direct conflict between players, and constant interaction regardless of who’s turn it is. It was so wildly popular that it created an entire genre: “Euro,” which is largely a reference to Catan’s place of origin, being originally designed and published in Germany. 

In contrast to Catan, around the same time a whole genre of games arose that were all about direct conflict, player elimination, and violence. These games were focused on removing the “perfect information” problem that many games have. Chess, for example, has  a measurable, best response to any given move. There is no randomness, no “hidden” moves or information, and “American” games attempted to fix that by either incorporating diplomatic and negotiation elements, or by injecting a random element with dice. 

Lots and lots of dice.
While the American genre is often maligned due to a few bad apples (Risk, I’m looking at you), the evolution of the original American Style games has resulted in many stone-cold classics, and a few of them are still pretty good by modern standards. Dune was originally designed in 1979, and the new edition is really just a fresh coat of paint with a few of the rough edges cleaned up. Cosmic Encounter leans into the diplomacy elements, and games like Ankh can trace their lineage back to foundational games like Axis & Allies and Diplomacy

Many American Style games evolved from the massively diverse assortment of “Wargames” that were around before the big board game boom in the 1990s. Modern board games owe a long debt of gratitude to wargamers. During the lean years of the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was the Wargames that kept the hobby alive. They tend to be highly precise and rules-heavy, with more emphasis on realism, but there are some great examples that focus on being fun wargames in the newer designs like Undaunted: Normandy and Memoir ‘44.

From these two humble genres (Euro and American), now dozens have splintered off, occasionally disappearing into obscurity (the lost genre of VHS or DVD games, for example), but usually continuing to diversify and solidify. Deckbuilders (Dominion), Racing (Formula D), Bidding (For Sale)... much like movies, books, or comics, there are as many genres as there are stars in the sky. 

Just like other forms of media, finding the right genre for you is often the first step on a long and enjoyable journey. Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t dabble outside your favourite genres: you absolutely should! But finding a few styles that you really love will help make your board game collection feel more like your board game collection.

In the coming weeks, we’ll discuss several genres in more depth.
See y’all then, and happy gaming!


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