I have been a board-gamer since I was but a wee lad. As a teen-ager, in the 1970's, I played lots of war games (Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Panzer Gruppe Guderian, etc.), and classic strategy games (Acquire, King Maker, Cosmic Encounters, Civilization, 1829, etc.), as well as lots of lighter stuff (Mille Borne, APBA baseball, etc,) then moved on to Dungeons & Dragons. Many of these required dozens of hours to complete a single game.
Enter real life. With kids, a job, and a family, there is simply no time for games that require many hours. Starting in the 1990's, a new style of board game arrived. Many of the early ones were first published in Germany; the whole category is now called "German-style games". The defining characteristics are that they are relatively strategic (not too large a luck component), interesting for adults, and generally require less than 2 hours to complete. This makes it possible to invite your friends (with their kids) over to your house for a meal and a game or two in an evening or afternoon.
There are board game conventions held across the country. I attend The Gathering, in Niagara, NY, and BoardGameGeekCon in Dallas, TX. Here are some photos of Sue and I playing at the Great Lakes Games in November of 2003.
Playing New England, a great new game by Reiner Knizia.
Mystery of the Abbey. This is sort of a grown-up version of Clue. I'm looking a bit fried because all of my guesses have been wrong! (Turns out one of the players had given an incorrect response to a question, which threw off all my inferences.)
Settlers of the Stone Age. This is a version of Settlers of Catan, one of the greatest board games ever. I think "Stone Age" might actually be even better, but it does take slightly longer. I had a horrible game here (as usual, my numbers were never rolled!), but had a lot of fun.
Industria. This is a brand new game published by Queens Games, a German publisher. We got an translation from the internet. This is sort of an "empire building" game with a strong (and very cool) bidding component. I liked it a lot and hope to see it published in English.
Hunters & Gatherers: Carcasonne. This is a version of Carcassonne, but does not require the original game to play. I think the original is better, but this game is a lot of fun. (I was romping to victory here!)
