Euro Games are probably the biggest and best-known type of board game right now. They are the games that have really brought around a revolution in how we think about board games, and what we expect board games to be like. Euro games balance luck and skill, giving all players a chance to win the game, from a seasoned board game player to a beginner playing the game for the first time. They also often use the mechanic of hidden point totals or end-of-game points to help keep the games up in the air even longer.

A great example of this type is Ticket to Ride. In Ticket to Ride, you are trying to complete different  train routes across the United States (or Europe, Scandinavia, or Africa, in other versions of the game). Between different cities, you have to build rows of connecting cars to complete the routes you’ve drawn by playing a different number of cards. These cards are different colors, and each color matches different sections of the rails on the map. So, there is luck involved in Ticket to Ride based on getting the color of train cards you need to complete a route. But there is also skill — you have to know your routes. and know how you can connect them in an attempt to get the longest route. You get points for playing down sections of train cars, and you also get points for completing routes. The first lets players accumulate points that are known to all players during the game, and everyone is chasing each other in that scoring, but the person who has the most points from the routes they’ve completed can change the outcome of the game in an instant, once everything is tallied up at the end.

So Who do Euro Games Target?

Thinking back to the article on board game groups and knowing your group dynamic, Euro style board games are great for a wide variety of groups. They allow the more serious players to really try to come up with a strategy and find a slight advantage (possibly) doing that. At the same time, very casual players or people who are new to board games are going to be able to pick up these games quickly and not feel like they are ever falling too far behind.

How Easy are They to Learn?

This really depends on the game, but a lot of them are quite simple. Ticket to Ride limits the amount of things that you can do on your turn, so you are deciding between just three different actions. Settlers of Catan has a very specific order for taking your turn, and that really doesn’t ever change. Those games are examples of simpler ones, but even the more complex Euro style games really do focus in on a repeatable turn so that new players are able to pick them up quickly. And unlike Party Games from the first episode of this series, they tend to remain playable over and over again, even with the same group of players.

What Would You Recommend?

The first one that I would recommend is the one that I’ve used as an example. Ticket to Ride is a very simple Euro Game that holds up to multiple plays. It is great for beginners, it is great for family, and for a more serious board game, it is great for smaller parties, because you can talk while playing it.

Settlers of Catan is another classic option. With a board that can change each time you play and the randomness of die rolls, Catan holds up multiple plays. Catan, when it starts to get repetitive, has plenty of different expansions which you can play with, and the game will seem fresh again.

Smallworld is probably my personal favorite. I have a TableTopics article up about it, if you want to know a lot more detail. What makes it a good game, though, is that it is a fast-moving game. Also, it is a more competitive game at times, as it encourages and actually forces conflict. That might seem like a negative, but since the game does force conflict (rather than the players doing so themselves), people generally don’t end up with hurt feelings. It is also another game that has many an expansion.

Finally, King of Tokyo is another one that is a lot of fun to play. This one has more strategy involved with it, but there is a wide variety of strategy. You play monsters who are vying for the most points and to be crowned the king of Tokyo. But there are multiple ways to do this — you can simply try to take out all your enemies, you can try to roll the most victory points, or you can try to buy the best cards and collect victory points. This game also goes by very quickly.

So now that you have a list of a bunch of different Euro Style board games, what are some of your favorites?

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