An Introduction to Board Games

Have you ever played this board game before? What is your recommended board games? These are the questions that often be asked among board game lovers. To me, board games have been friends since my childhood. Besides books, reading and understanding the rules of games are also beneficial to my abilities of understanding words and logical thinking.

Meanwhile, board games are common tools in young generations’ social occasions as well. For example, on one hand, when visiting friends that haven’t seen for a long time, board games can make the atmosphere more actively. On the other hand, when meeting with strangers, board games also can help each other get familiar.

What is Board Game？

The phrase “board games” refers to games without any electronic devices. In general speaking, poker cards, chess and Monopoly are board games. Apart from these kinds of games, board games can be divided into two categories. That is, “Eurogame” and “Ameritrash”.

"Eurogame" vs. "Ameritrash"

The feature of “Eurogame” is that its rule is easy to understand, which is suitable for beginners. In comparison with other board games, its content is similar, including tiny wood blocks, cards and plates. As a result, its price is affordable. Its type is mostly categorized as family games. One of the representative games is “Carcassonne”.

In Carcassonne, the players act as lords, dispatching their secondaries to broaden their territory. On the basis of different areas occupied, the secondaries will transform into different characters (knights, bandits, farmers and monks). As a player who has played other board games, it took me ten minutes to comprehend the rules. Afterward, I taught my cousin, who studied in primary school. She understood them so quickly that we then played Carcassonne immediately. To sum up, the experience implies that the simplicity of “Eurogame” might benefit the relationship between adults and children.

Conversely, “Ameritrash” is more complex, which takes time to understand its rules. In addition, its playtime is much longer. When speaking of the contents of Ameritrash, they are more delicate, including plates, cards, and sometimes figures for main characters and monsters. Yet, it is more expensive. In the games, players will act as main characters, adventuring and working with others (there are sometimes also battles among the players). The representative games are, “Betrayal at House on the Hill”, “Mansion of Madness” and so on.

Among all Ameritrash, “Nemesis” is my favorite. In this game, players will act as characters with various jobs, like the engineer and the doctor in a spaceship called “Nemesis”. In addition to fighting against monsters from the galaxy, there are also different groups among players. Some people’s requirement for success is to return to Earth eventually, while others might try to destroy the spaceship or make it far from Earth. In my viewpoint, how to strike a balance between teamwork and personal interest is the most challenging question in this game. As for the rules, they indeed took me quite a long time to comprehend. Furthermore, it takes time to complete a game, usually 2-3 hours. Therefore, “Nemesis” may be more suitable for adults.

The Digital Version of Board Games

Along with the advance of technology, many companies have rolled out the digital version of board games, allowing players to buy them at lower prices. In my opinion, it has several advantages. First of all, through the game platform, everyone can get access to players around the world anywhere and anytime. Moreover, there are events in the games that give players motivation to win the reward by keeping playing on the game.

For instance, last year, a card game called “Yu-Gi-Oh” released its electronic platform “Master Duel”. Gamers can spend no money utilizing every function in the game. It is especially friendly to students like me since in reality, the decks are hardly affordable, at approximately NT$ 3000 per deck. Furthermore, in reality, finding a card partner is difficult, not to mention I, who is afraid of strangers. Yet, on the game platform, I cannot only play with my friends but also with players around the world. If you are interested in the board game but having trouble with money or finding someone you can play with, please try these “digital board games”.