4 stars
Eurogames is I liked a lot. It is good for what it is. It is a scholarly work, so that means there is way too much in-line documentation and a rather dry writing style, as long as you prepare yourself for such you will be impressed. returnreturnI found it interesting that Woods, an Australian, spends so much of his time discussing European board games from an American perspective. Is this the only data that was available? returnreturnThe first half of the book goes about what is a Eurogame, why it exists, how Hobby market came to be etc. I found most interesting the history of German board games, the German history of making fine toys, the community lack of interest in anything War related after loosing two world Wars and many Anglo-American games being illegal due to them containing Nazi symbolism. returnreturnThe second half of the book is based primarily on a survey he did on BoardGameGeek and his attempt at analyze responses. returnreturnIt may make me a better gamer, I'm not sure, it seems to communicate that my desire to win by sabotaging my opponents plan is considered bad form. I don't know why that's not cool...he tried to explain and it sounds like they are all just bad losers to me :-)
