{"id":578,"date":"2016-04-22T11:52:36","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T11:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/?p=578"},"modified":"2016-06-01T18:34:23","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T18:34:23","slug":"board-games-101-eurogames-vs-ameritrash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/22\/board-games-101-eurogames-vs-ameritrash\/","title":{"rendered":"Board Games 101 – Eurogames vs. Ameritrash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this series I want to get into the various terms and slang that is common among the board game community. \u00a0Some of the stigma associated with this in-crowd language I feel can be a barrier to any new players. \u00a0I want to dissolve these feelings so everyone can see that there is a chair for anyone at the table.<\/p>\n

We will start the series with two of the most common board game terms that you may hear. \u00a0I personally feel that the terms are a bit dated because most modern games have adopted the best qualities of both but I digress. \u00a0These terms are used to describe the mechanics of a game and the general feel of the game. \u00a0Games were put into one of these two categories to help gamers pick out a new title. \u00a0These terms are Eurogame and Ameritrash.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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What is a Eurogame?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

The idea of this genre of game was widely defined by games that were published from the late 1970’s to the early 1980’s in Germany. \u00a0They often credited the designers which is now common place which earned them the name a designer game. \u00a0Since then the design elements have crossed over and are designed on a global scale. \u00a0Eurogames have evolved since their conception which makes them harder to define but that topic is going to have to wait. \u00a0Let’s now break down the characteristics of a Eurogame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0 \u00a0 Theme is present but the mechanics don’t hinge on them. \u00a0<\/strong>What this means is that the focus of the game is playing the mechanics and not playing for the narrative that the theme provides. \u00a0 \u00a0This allows the mechanics of the game to be unrestricted by the loose theme. \u00a0Often the mechanics can conflict with the theme and break the illusion of a narrative.<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Players will never be eliminated from play.<\/strong>\u00a0 If a player starts the game then that player will\u00a0play all the way to the end.<\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0There is little to no luck\u00a0or randomness\u00a0involved with the game play<\/strong>. \u00a0Dice are uncommon in Eurogames. \u00a0Other forms of randomness are usually controlled through a players decision before the random event as opposed to before.<\/li>\n
  4. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The designer of the game is clearly labeled on the box.<\/strong> \u00a0This isn’t mutually exclusive to other genres of games now but it was a key feature in designer board games of the time.<\/li>\n
  5. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Game play is very simple and straight forward.<\/strong> \u00a0This doesn’t necessarily mean that the game is simple but the rules are simple to pick up once explained. \u00a0There are very little rule exceptions<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n

    Examples of an Eurogame<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    Ticket to Ride<\/p>\n

    \"tickettoride\"<\/p>\n

    Carcassonne<\/p>\n

    \"530b7428-149b-4e76-888e-35b92236bd58\"<\/p>\n

    The Castles of Burgundy<\/p>\n

    \"castlesofburgundy\"<\/p>\n

    Catan<\/p>\n

    \"catan-photo\"<\/p>\n

    Puerto Rico<\/p>\n

    \"puertorico\"<\/p>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    What is an Ameritrash Game?<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    Obviously, as the name implies, this is a board game that has an American style of play. \u00a0The name itself was originally conceived by fans of the traditional Eurogame that didn’t care for the style. \u00a0Over time the fans of these styles of games adopted the term oddly enough. \u00a0What this means is Ameritrash style of game is the\u00a0basic polar opposite of a Eurogame. \u00a0Let’s break down the characteristics of an Ameritrash game.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u00a0 \u00a0 The theme is highly evolved and immersive.<\/strong> \u00a0All the game mechanics revolve around the theme and are intended to accentuate the atmosphere. \u00a0Typically there are characters that the players can embody to bring this further along.<\/li>\n
    2. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Players are in direct conflict<\/strong>. \u00a0Fighting is very encouraged in Ameritrash. \u00a0A common term that is associated with Ameritrash games is “screw your neighbor”. \u00a0Whatever can be done to have players messing with each others plans will probably be employed in these games.<\/li>\n
    3. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Luck and Randomness is at a high level.<\/strong>\u00a0 Often dice are used to inject this but also game mechanics like card draw or blind picking. \u00a0This is to the benefit of\u00a0new players who can rely on that but is often an annoyance to Eurogame lovers.<\/li>\n
    4. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Player elimination is very common<\/strong>. \u00a0It isn’t always the case but is common due to the fact most Ameritrash games have been associated with war or adventure themed games. \u00a0Player elimination goes hand in hand with these type of themes.<\/li>\n
    5. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The play time is remarkably longer<\/strong>. \u00a0When your building a thematic world and have some more involved rules then the game can tend to drag out.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      \n

       <\/p>\n

      Examples of Ameritrash\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n

       <\/p>\n

      Arkham Horror<\/p>\n

      \"arkham1\"<\/p>\n

      Battlestar Galactica<\/p>\n

      \"battlestar_galactica_boardgame\"<\/p>\n

      Cosmic Encounter<\/p>\n

      \"CE01_board\"<\/p>\n

      King of Tokyo<\/p>\n

      \"a6b1efb8-864c-4fc5-b4e6-b53bb753518c\"<\/p>\n

      Pandemic<\/p>\n

      \"46d6a656-9613-462a-b53b-f9b95339ddb0\"<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      \n

       <\/p>\n

      I hope this helps in your dive into the hobby. \u00a0In the next installment we will be looking into the differences and meanings of streamlined and clunky.<\/p>\n

      Happy Gaming!<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        In this series I want to get into the various terms and slang that is common among the board game community. \u00a0Some of the stigma associated with… Continue reading <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[57,63],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reference","tag-board-games-101","tag-euro-vs-ameritrash","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions\/627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traversecityboardgamers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}