Our third
stop for publishers is Rio Grande Games (RGG).
A look at this company in comparison to the other publishers profiled
reveals that RGG is the most prolific of the three. RGG takes a different strategy when it comes
to publishing games; they primarily bring established games from Europe to the United
States rather than bring a new game to market.
This approach has shown itself in the number of Spiel des Jahres (SdJ) winners
that RGG has published, including Dominion,
Carcassonne, Zooloretto, Thurn and Taxis
and Niagara to name a few. Of BoardGameGeek’s (BGG) Top 100, Rio Grande Games
has 25 titles!
The number of
(SdJ) winners makes sense when you think about RGG’s focus on family
games. The first few sentences on their
website say it all:
Rio
Grande Games is dedicated to bringing you the best in family entertainment. We
offer the best family strategy games available! We have games for younger
children to play with their older siblings and parents, games for their older
siblings to play with their friends, and games for teens and parents to play
with each other or when they get together for social occasions.
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| PR was #1 on BGG for years! (Promo image) |
As one
thinks about it, this all makes sense.
RGG has focused on publishing European (largely German) boardgames for
the US market, which makes the games very family friendly. This style of game, often called a Eurogame
within hobby circles, tends to be a little less thematic, with a focus on
keeping everyone in the game until the end, and with both mid-game and end of
game scoring. Great stuff for casual
gaming as we discuss here at Zwischenzug.
The games
are all made with excellent components.
The artwork is pleasing to the eye, if not eye popping. RGG publishes very few games that last more
than 90 minutes and most play in an hour or less. All of these are great games for a casual
night of play.
In fact, buying
a Rio Grande game is nearly guaranteed to give you a game that is designed
around a family. However, it is not a guarantee
of a great game. It’s true that buying
an SdJ winner will give you a great game.
Nonetheless, with as prolific as RGG is, they have published a few
stinkers too. It’s just the law of
averages; no one “bats a thousand” as they say in baseball.
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| This is a MUST HAVE game! |
Personally,
I would have to recommend Carcassonne. Everyone I have ever introduced the game
to has loved it. It is one of my
personal favorites. After chess, it is
the game which I have played the most.
It’s probably due for a full review, so I will stop at that. Ah, the list of games for me grows
longer. For you, well…
It’s
Your Move!
