Through the Lens: Board Games - Game Design Theory - page 132

The original version of Monopoly , however, wasn't like that. When
Parker Brothers bought the game in 1935 it changed one of the main
rules, which was that when a player landed on a space, there was a round
of bidding (an auction) to determine who would get the property and at
what price. This rule was essentially the core mechanism of Monopoly ,
and it was ripped out of all versions of the game long before any of us
even learned what the game was.
Monopoly is only one example, but it represents part of the larger
picture that many people have about board games—that they take too
long, that they stalemate, that they're just about rolling dice and nothing
else. Recently, however, games like Settlers of Catan , Carcassonne , and
Ticket to Ride have begun to bridge the gap between games totally based
on luck like Monopoly , and more serious Eurogames like hrough the
Desert and Puerto Rico . But the PR campaign for board games still has a
long way to go.
The Downside of Interesting
We (especially if we're seasoned video-game players) can usually jump
right in and figure everything out in a video game, and we tend to find
tutorials an annoyance. Yes, I can figure out that pressing A swings my
sword and B makes me jump, thank you very much. Board games aren't
really that way: most that you sit down to play will be a completely new
kind of experience.
Of course, we all say that we want games to be innovative and inter-
esting and new. But when a game comes out that actually is all of those
things, it means we have some learning to do, and this can be difficult
for many people. Reading rules is a slow and sometimes painful process,
oftentimes made more painful than it has to be due to poorly written
rule topics. As I mentioned earlier in the topic, games are nonlinear, and
so it can be very difficult to read through a rule book and have any idea
what's going on. Often you'll need to read the rule book, then attempt to
(sort of ) play, then go back and review the rule book a second time be-
fore you're ready to actually play. Lots of people have difficulty mustering
the patience, concentration, and energy required to give a game a shot if
doing all this is required up front. And, unfortunately, the more new and
interesting a game is, the more this is required.
Eurogames and Ameritrash
I don't use the terms Eurogame and Ameritrash as my categories, because
these terms don't describe game mechanisms, but rather regional styles of
board-game design. I've included descriptions of what each is, however.