2003 saw the rebirth — some would say the afterbirth — of the American monster game.
Unlike old Avalon Hill titles, these longish games from US designers feature more concise rules, shorter playing times, and far less playtesting: Age of Mythology, A Game of Thrones, Kings & Things, Warcraft, Sid Meier's Civilization, Duel of Ages, Dungeons & Dragons Game.
SDJ celebrated its 25th anniversary. A quarter century old... Now it can legally rent a car, but we still don't care what they pick.
Spielfrieks celebrated its 4th birthday... It can now use the fork without the cork, although the glue huffers that make up its membership really shouldn't.
Paizo Publishing released a new magazine titled Undefeated which went largely Unnoticed by Eurogamers.
GAMES Magazine continued to increase precious column-inches to the subject of games, a bold move that reflects the title of the magazine.
Counter Magazine managed to once again fill a year's issues by congratulating itself on a job splendidly done. Despite its flaws, we still read the damn thing, though.
Dan Bosley's Misadventures in Gaming has disappeared from our collective radar after not just jumping the shark but by pole-vaulting over the tank. Did you know there were 20 of them? Yeah, me neither. Here's hoping he returns to his earlier glory when the MiGs were funny.
Over-long and over-produced, some LotR-inspired games keenly reflected the books and movies on which they are based.
A game begat a book — Die Siedler von Catan, the novel. Movie rights can't be far behind and Keanu Reeves' wooden acting would match up nicely.
A book begat a game — A Game of Thrones — inspired by some fantasy book that we're too old to read and too uninterested in to look up.
With Saddam Hussein on the Ace of Spades and his cohorts rounding out the rest, one American company trying to make a buck released the Iraqi Most Wanted deck of cards to the American public.
TGR editor Peter Sarrett won 1/4 mil. on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The more relevant question is, Who Wants to Watch Millionaire? Ooh! Ooh! I know! Not me!
The TV airing of the WPT and the Celebrity Poker Tournament has turned the phrase "Texas Hold 'Em" into more than just a reference to non-consensual gay sex.
Mentions of designer boardgames in the press seemed to be everywhere this year, but we really started to notice with the with "PC Generation, Back to the Board" which appeared in The New York Times (4/10/03). Hopefully, they didn't make up the story.
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After an unfortunately long and vicious thread on Spielfrieks, folks wouldn't touch Killer Bunnies with a 6-foot carrot on a stick. Pirateer anyone?
Knizia jumped the shark with King Arthur; sweatier Spielfrieks rejoice they now have "an edge".
Ghettopoly — Mercifully banned from the shelves in not-so-Urban Outfitters.
Paris Paris fell off the radar this year, as new releases quickly led it to the dust bin. The only Paris people talk about now likes to take her clothes off for the cameras. Action!
Magellan/Pizarro & Co/That Incredibly Repetitive Auction Game & Co. got outbid every time.
Clans suffered from the unfortunate combination of ennui-inspiring gameplay and lesser mechanics than Jiffy Lube.
Well-hung Werewolves were largely ignored by those murderous villagers in 2003.
The impressively-cardboard dice tower was not enough to save Drachenland from a permanent trip to Loser-ville. Population: Knizia.
GenConSoCal's maiden voyage featured an ocean of empty tables in a cavernous hall. One can only hope the Gygax Gala Costume Ball went off without a hitch.
CHITAG aimed to be the American Essen. Traffic was so light folks thought the Chicago Pier was filming a sequel to 28 Days Later.
The Japanese made some quality games for something other than the X-Box: Mermaid Rain (from the makers of Train Raider) and that card game with the Samurai chick on it. There's a geek list of Euro/Nippon games.
Korea saw a surge in growth for a community of boardgamers that pay for a seat in Soeul's 250 boardgame cafes; what's more, they actually read some of Tom Vasel's reviews.
US convention goers were treated to an extra-large spoonful of Special K: The good Doktor himself hosted the eponymous Kniziathon at Kublacon in California.
Alliance dropping AH-wargame licensee Multi-Man Publishing turned out NOT to be a sign of things to come.
Columbia's shift to a direct sales model also seems to be doing OK.
Has-been Hasbro announced it is closing all of its remaining WOTC and The Game Keeper stores. The stock price nearly doubled in 2003, and dozens of shiftless nerd-do-wells joined the ranks of the unemployed.
A handful of new online retailers all tried to carve out a little piece of a small pie: www.gamefest.com, www.timewellspent.org, www.thegameshop.ca, www.boardsandbits.com
GamesSurplus.com changed hands.
www.bouldergames.com finally implemented a better purchasing system. No more leaving credit card numbers on an answering machine.
Games on Board is gone, forgotten.
Terminal City Gamer's front-man Rick Thornquist moved his considerable talents over to the Gamewire section of www.gamefest.com.
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Well-liked game player and designer of Piratenbucht/Pirate's Cove, Paul Randles, died of cancer on Feb 10, 2003. He was 37.
Uberplay/Inspiration made a splash with top-notch releases of High Society, Bridges of Shangri-La, Settlers of Zarahemla, Ark of the Covenant, New England, Wildlife, Alhambra, ...
Face 2 Face rereleased KK&K as I'm the Boss and promised to publish other Sackson games — hopefully before his kids manage to steal back all the rights.
Plenary made a ripple with Fresh Fish. Here's hoping for a tripple ripple in 2004.
Almost a former company: GMT survived bankruptcy when the founders mortgaged their home to keep it afloat.
Games that were promised for 2003 but haven't made it yet: Wiz-War, San Juan, Ancients edition of Battle Cry, English version of Attika, any game that lives up to the hype as a civ-lite, Tresham's Revolution, and P500 perennials Winds of Plunder and Busho.
And we're still waiting for someone to make a board version of M.U.L.E.
The Euro surged against the dollar throughout the year, swinging from a value of nearly $.80 to $1.25 by year-end. Suddenly, waiting for a Rio Grande edition doesn't seem like a bad idea — even if the rules change and the art remains the same.
PC versions of boardgames continued to be released at a startling pace. Attika was even available on BSW before its Essen launch. Good thing, too. The early reviews helped us figure out that playing Attika was worse than sponge-bathing in GitMo. We were able to save our ducats for something really important like BreakKeys.
And PC games inspired many boardgame equivalents, but not without flaws: the repetitive and solitary Anno 1503 and dicefest Age of Mythology round out a lackluster list; while the cream of the cow, Warcraft, has largely gone missing from session reports. Mmmm. Orc needs food, badly.
Alan Moon became Chairman at SAZ, the Germany-based Game Designer Association. His first order of business should be to get a better domain name and change the official language of Austria to Adlungese.
France wasn't just a source of appeasement, lousy cheese, and bad bubbly in 2003; they somehow managed to be responsible for a host of releases: China Moon, For a Few Orcs More, Tony & Tino, and Lawless!. Maybe if we stop buying Rocquefort, they'll stop making us play their games.
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