I admit it, I grew up playing role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. I also enjoyed my share of board-games, so when one of the gaming magazines I read awarded a new board-game 10 out of 10 in its review I had to try it out!
It was Christmas 1996 and the game was called Settlers of Catan. This was a whole new type of game to me. Sure, there was dice rolling and a little luck, but much more important than these were the choices I made during the game. Everybody was actively involved all the time, even when it wasn’t their turn, and the race to be the first to 10 victory points was close enough so that no one got left behind. Everything about the game was just right!
The best thing is that, ever since, games have had to compete with Settlers, so now there are hundreds of games which are just right… |