That’s the cover to DungeonQuest, a game that came out in 1985. I bought it probably around 1987 or 1988, and it’s a game I really like.
In it, you are exploring a castle with all sorts of rooms and passages. At the center is a Dragon’s lair, where you can find treasure aplenty. Problem is making it there. See, not only are you building the rooms as you go along (by drawing tiles randomly, which means often going in the wrong direction) but you’re encountering all kinds of traps and …

I have two regular boardgame groups, one that meets on Sundays and one that meets on Tuesdays. This past Tuesday Mike, Jim, Kyle, Chris, and I met and played Jim’s new acquisition, Cyclades. This was good because I figured hey, I can review it for Analog Gaming!

Cyclades is by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc, who’ve done a number of games together, including the delightful Dice Town, which I love. Cyclades is set in the ancient Greek isles, and the goal is to establish two metropolises (metropoles?) in the isles. To …

As soon as any new computer hardware or software becomes commercially available, most niche groups try to find ways to apply it to their area of interest, especially if those groups are already somewhat nerdy. This is why porn and Star Trek are always the first two third-party applications of any new tech. Boardgamers are no exception.
While boardgames are often presented (in the title of this column, for example) as an alternative to videogames, there’s no reality to this. Boardgames have always coexisted peacefully with computer games (just ask Deep …

Once you’ve been gaming for a while, you’ll notice that, even if you have a constantly rotating palette of opponents, you’re still pretty much always playing with the same people. Sure, some of the similarities will be obvious; if you want to do some boardgaming, make sure you know a bunch of white guys who usually have beards and aren’t too proud to still be quoting Monty Python and All Your Base. But beyond that there are some definite categories that every player falls into at least one of, if …

Boardgaming is a social hobby, and for that reason most games are intended for several players (4 to 5 seems to be the sweet spot, usually.) However, there are plenty of fine games that are intended for only two players. If you don’t have a group of people handy, or you just want something that you and your significant other can enjoy over a bottle of wine in the evening, here are some games you might consider looking at.

Hobby boardgamers are geeks, and that means it’s important for them to try to get everyone around them interested in whatever they themselves are interested in. There are a special subset of games referred to as “gateway games” because of their alleged success in “converting” non-boardgamers into boardgamers. We’ve already discussed those games here.
Today I’d like to talk about the opposite of these games, games that are not at all friendly to “newbies.” After playing (probably more like “enduring”) one of these games, the target is not likely to say, …

Interaction is a concept that isn’t discussed much with regards to American games, since they seem to take it for granted. In most American games, the players interact with each other as well as the game. That is, in Monopoly, if I land on your property, I pay you money. You can upgrade that property to hurt me even more when I land on it. In Sorry!, landing on my piece sends it back to start. In Risk, your armies are directly attacking mine. These are pretty basic methods of …

Hobby games are often called “Eurogames” because they are, for the most part, created, developed, produced, and sold in Europe. Even more specifically, they’re sometimes referred to as “German Games,” which makes sense when you hear the names of some of the most popular creators: Reiner Knizia (Tigris and Euphrates, plus a host of others), Klaus Teuber (The Settlers of Catan), Wolfgang Kramer (The Princes of Florence), Friedemann Friese (Power Grid), etc. This style of strategy game got its start in Europe and remains popular there; the worldwide industry convention …

One of the criticisms of American politics is that it’s been turned into a game, where the only concern is making the other side “lose” instead of trying to figure out what will be best for the country. What better way to examine this than to actually make a game out of American politics? And what better political event to make a game out of than the 2008 Obama/McCain election, with all its highs, lows, majesty, and mudslinging?

In the last column I had to burn down the village of American boardgaming in order to save it. With Monopoly off the table, I will now offer some alternatives for folks to try out. The criteria I have for these games were: (1) Easy to learn from the rulebooks. (2) Available for purchase. (3) No crazy complex rules or long play time. (4) Appropriate (within reason) for the entire family, from double-digit kids to Grandma. To find a store near you that sells these games, check The Game Store …