The Eurogames Reclamation Project hits home.

repoman wrote:

I think Bolide comes with a sand timer for just that reason.

I've never heard of anyone killing themselves with a sand timer before, but that would fit right in with The Fun That Is Bolide. I've played some serious crap in my time, but that's the only game where I've asked to stop before the game ended.

The only racing game that's really worked for me is PitchCar.
It is the elements of racing, a balance of speed and accuracy.

I was in a Formula De league a couple summers ago and it's some of the best gaming I've ever done. We played FAST. Averaged 8 players, we'd start about 6pm, you'd run a time trial lap when you arrived to determine pole position. After that was done, weather roll and a few minutes for final car construction tweaks. Then we'd make it through two 3-lap races using a mix of advanced and house rules and be done usually around 9pm. I think the key was a mix of peer pressure to not AP it to death and also everyone tended to 'count' spaces between their turns, so we usually knew what sort of roll we needed. I have also played in one-off games of Formula De that took 2 hours to do one lap. Yuck.

Haven't played a ton of other racing games but did enjoy Rush 'n Crush, which was almost like Formula De with weapons and (more) obstacles. Magical Athlete is a favorite. Of the horse racing games I've tried, Win, Place & Show gives a nice feel of both racing and also gambling at the track. Winner's Circle and Long Shot are ok, but didn't seem as fun as Win, Place & Show.

And now RobertB's life has been touched by the Eurogames Reclamation Project- a deal for Winner's Circle has been struck. He has heard the clarion call of the ERP. Like Space Ghost, who donated Mississppi Queen for research purposes...and Nate, who just yesterday wrote about rediscovering Lost Cities and had a friend notify him that the ERP had reached out to him. And there's Shellie, who has taken on an elder stateswoman role in what may very well become an ERP Advisory Panel. Von Tush has been eyeing the old time Euros on the shelf in his game shop. Andy and Scissors just got mad about it.

The question isn't "if" the Eurogames Reclamation Project will touch your life. It's "when".

I have one of those cool timer cubes you can turn over to your side and it ticks off your time, but I've never been ballsy enough to bring it out for a game because all the players I play with are inexperienced and that would freak them out.

What kind of got me looking back was the realization that I think we're about to hit a period of very good games going out of print for a long while, if not forever. Especially since no one really seems to be looking back anymore, it's all about what's new and expansions for the hit games.

Also, relative to how fast this hobby really does move and changes it was interesting for me to look back about ten years and think about the changes during that time, remember what was "hot" when I got into the hobby and see where those games are today.

No doubt. Shit has changed since I got back into boardgames when I bought Railroad Tycoon.

Michael Barnes wrote:
The question isn't "if" the Eurogames Reclamation Project will touch your life. It's "when".

Or where.

Its funny reading this stuff because I never got out of these games. Been saying I'm a fan of the classic German family games since day one here.

Well, I have too, but like Von Tush said, we're now in an era where those games are not only going out of print, they are leaving the conversation. There are now a couple of generations of game players for whom Kickstarter trash, FFG product lines or the bloated BGG-appeasing Euros pretty much ARE hobby gaming. The games of 20 years ago are in that state that AT classics were back in 2003, 2004. GONE.

The ERP's mission statement includes a section about redressing this imbalance.

What's interesting is that games seem to be taking a cyclical direction here.

There were a ton of out of print games from the early 90's and before, and then just about every one of them was reprinted. Merchant of Venus, Titan, Dungeonquest, Wiz-War, etc.

It was at the point that there really wasn't anything left for which people were begging for a reprint.

Now we're starting to see late 90's early 2000's classics disappearing. The HiG/Rio Grande split has made quite a few disappear, at least temporarily, as Z-Man has been slow to pick them up.

I'm very bitter that Heroquest and Broadsides and Boarding Parties haven't been reprinted. Those would be auto-autobuy for me. I mean, my wallet would open and pay before I even realized that they were available for purchase.

dragonstout wrote: I agree with Barnes that a weirdly reoccurring problem with race games is that they're really slow. WTF, designers? Even his fave, the Really Nasty Horse Racing Game, is WAY too long, especially with necessary pauses whenever a hedge is reached to give Faller-card-owners a chance to decide whether they want to use it. Magic Athelete is the fastest race game I've played, and probably the best. I've actually always been tempted by that Knizia horse race game, looks quick and simple.

I suspect this has already been mentioned in the 3.5 pages of responses I haven't read yet, but...

The purchase of 1 $3 30-second sand timer will fix a lot of race games--at least those that actually actually have you race. E.g., Formula De/D is a *brutal* experience the minute any sort of "min/max-er"-type player steps up to the table--they start counting spaces and working out probable outcomes depending on gear die selected and it just *kills* the racing narrative along with most prospects of what the casual observer might call "having fun". Racing should be "grip and rip"--30 seconds is more than enough time to ID your line, select a gear, and heave a die. Don't roll the dice in time? The dice go to the next racer and your car/horse/bike/whatever stays in place.

It's criminal that some derivative boring junk gets praised and vaulted into the BGG top 100 but you can't buy El Grande at all.

Legomancer wrote: It's criminal that some derivative boring junk gets praised and vaulted into the BGG top 100 but you can't buy El Grande at all.

The trick is to buy it ASAP and never, ever sell it.