Boardgames have of course been around for thousands of years. But it's not all Risk, Monopoly and Pictionary! There's a whole world of other games out there. Let's give you a very brief tour:
Euro-games
'Euro-games' were so named because many of the classic examples were by European game designers. They tend to have simple but clever rules, little luck and bags of strategy. Unlike many traditional board games, players are generally not eliminated during the game, so everyone can have fun until the end. Games for the careful thinkers:
Example: Settlers of Catan
This was the first Eurogame to become really big and it's sold millions of copies over the years. Your job is to settle the wild island of Catan, harvesting resources so you can build villages and roads. The board is made up of randomly arranged hexagonal tiles, so each game is different. Depending on where you build your settlements you'll get different resources, so you have trade with other players. It has been proved that it is impossible to get through a game of Settlers without someone saying "I've got wood for your sheep".
Example: Power Grid
OK, a game about making money by supplying electricity to Germany doesn't sound thrilling. But this is a really clever game that requires a variety of skills to master. Each round you can buy a power plant in an auction, but you also have to be able to fuel it with the correct type of fuel - coal, oil, garbage or uranium - from a wildly fluctuating market. Money is consumed as you expand your grid across the map, constantly upgrading and optimizing your network so you can keep just a few more dollars.
Ameritrash
Not an insult to our friends across the pond, but a term that's arisen to describe the polar opposite to the austerity of Eurogames - boardgames that are colorful, chaotic and sometimes infuriating. Games for a good time:
Example: Galaxy Trucker
You're a space merchant. So far, so simple. But first you have to build your starship from random components in a race, slapping together engines, lasers and cargo bays in a ramshackle structure before the time runs out. Then you see how your hastily-constructed ship will fare against asteroids and alien attacks. If you make it to the end of the round with your ship still intact (easier said than done!) you can sell your cargo for profit. Then it all starts again, but this time with a bigger, more complex ship ...
Example: King of Tokyo
You’re all monsters. You’re all attacking Tokyo. But only one of you can be the King. Now fight!
Card games
What's old is new again. Not card games in the sense of poker and rummy, but strategy games with varied, colourful decks. Games that don't need a board:
Example: Race for the Galaxy
RFTG is not everone's cup of tea, and it takes a few games to master the bewildering icons on the cards. But if you do get into it, it's one of the most rewarding games that can be played inside half an hour. The idea is to build a galactic civilization composed of planets and technology developments; but to add a card to your empire you have to discard others, making for lots of agonizing choices.
Example: Dominion
A rising star of the gaming world, this is another short but strategic card game, set in a medieval fiefdom. The twist here is that you spend the game building up a deck of cards that you will cycle through repeatedly. You want to add as many point-scoring cards to your hand as possible before the end of the game, but they don't do anything else for you, so if you buy them too early your hand will get clogged up and you'll stall.
Cooperative / traitor games
Games in which players have to work together to a common goal or they will all lose. But occasionally someone is actually on the other side. Games for the gregarious - or the machiavellian:
Example: Pandemic
Four deadly diseases are spreading around the world, and only your crack team of experts can stop them before humanity is wiped out. Each player has a special role, but you'll need to work together to have a chance. And there's no time to waste. Each turn the disease spreads further, with outbreaks popping up over the globe. Fail to contain it in a city and the disease will spill over to all its neighbours.
Example: Battlestar Galactica
Who is on which side? Team affiliation is decided secretly at the beginning and can even change half way through the game. The human race is battling for survival against the Cylons, but the Cylon players masquerade as humans and try to frustrate their plans to find a new Earth. Faithful to the hit TV series, the game provides tension till the end with success for the humans depending on identifying which players are Cylons and for the Cylons disrupting the human plans whilst not being caught.
Negotiation or bluffing games
A challenging game doesn't need complex rules or a simulation. Sometimes it's hard enough to get what you want out of other people or just to figure out what they're thinking ...Games for the diplomat or businessman:
Example:I'm the Boss
You want to make money - simple. To make money, you need this deal to do through - simple. But you need the cooperation of the other players to make the deal succeed. That's the hard part. What sort of deals are you prepared to cut?
Example:Cash 'n' Guns
The only game I know of that comes with orange foam pistols! You and your fellow players are mobsters after a heist. There's plenty of loot to be divided up and everyone wants their share. Simultaneously, everyone points their pistol at someone else. Do you back down and lose the money? Or do you stay in, hoping that those aiming at you are bluffing or will back down themselves? You might be bluffing yourself ...