ludossier

The contents of spielbox issue 6/2008 is as follows: Read more… »

The detailed contents of spielbox issue 4/1998 is Read more… »

The detailed  table of contents of spielbox issue 1/1999 is Read more… »

GAMES, a magazine which is actually more about puzzles than games, started the Hall of Fame in 1984 to

“honour games that have met or exceeded the highest standards of quality and play value and have been continuously in production for at least 10 years; i.e., classics”.

As you can see from the BoardGameGeek user ratings of these games, many players will disagree with the magazine’s editors about the “quality and play value”. For more information, see:

• the official site with the list of games in the Hall of Fame.

spielbox issue 3/1999 was the 100th issue and hence included more content than usual and a look back at the magazine’s history. Read more… »

The detailed  table of contents (in German) of spielbox issue 1/2003 can be found on the spielbox website.

• News: 8 page report on the game fair in Nürnberg; games for disabled people; Gamers of the Year award
• Long reviews: Clans, Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers, Hellas, Moderne Zeiten, Bayon, Krone & Schwert, Ehre der Samurai, Meine Schafe deine Schafe, Crazy Race – Station Manager – Mogul, Virus & Co, Kopfsalat, Keythedral, Zoo Sim, The Napoleonic Wars
• Short reviews: Canal Grande, Scarab, Mömmen, Guillotine
• Children’s games: Stop, Hit The Deck, Num Num, Flotter Falter, Vorsicht Qualle, Jacke wie Hose
• Edition spielbox 60: Dominanz, an abstract movement game for two players by Hartmut Kommerell
• Profiles:
  • Christian Beiersdorf, freelance game developer
  • in memoriam of Gilbert Obermair, co-founder of the first game magazine in German
• History:
  • how Zaibatsu became Moderne Zeiten
    
  • horse race games for collectors
    
  • games derived from Risk (part 2)
  • revisiting GourmetGuru and CigarGuru
  • the roots of Connect Four Professional
• Variants: Moderne Zeiten, Risk (the capital variant)
• Other: discussion between journalist Michael Knopf and publisher Bernd Brunnhofer on the need for game expansions and the role of reviews

The detailed  table of contents (in German) of spielbox issue 3/2004 can be found on the spielbox website.

• News: the Spiel des Jahres 2004 award; 23rd game author gathering in Göttingen
• Long reviews: Dos Rios, Sankt Petersburg (nominated for Spiel des Jahres 2004), Da Vinci Code, Raiload Dice, Goa, Feurio!, Oase, Rückkehr der Helden, San Juan, Lunar Rails, ASL Starter Kit #1
• Short reviews: XAGA, Ludoviel, So ein Käse, Corsari
• Children’s games: Macius, Schatz der Drachen, Schnelle Welle, Mare Polare (all nominated for Kinderspiel des Jahres 2004)
• Edition spielbox 67: Quattuor Vencit, an abstract alignment game for two players by Martin Schlegel
• Profiles:
  • Alex Randolph (author), on occasion of his death; the profile includes part one of his last interview
  • Rudi Hoffmann (author), on occasion of his 80th birthday
  • Norbert Proena, author of Dicke Luft in der Gruft (nominated for Spiel des Jahres 2004)
  • Heinrich Gumpler, author of Feurio! and co-owner of the Edition Erlkönig publishing house
  • Martin Schlegel (author), on occasion of his 12th game for spielbox
• History:
  • the roots of Hühnerpfanne
  • domino for collectors
  • the development of Feurio!
  • revisiting Rudi Hoffmann’s Spiel der Türme (nominated for Spiel des Jahres 1993)
• Variants: Sankt Petersburg
• Other: an open letter to players of Intrigue

spielbox is the oldest German game magazine, published since 1981. It appeared four times a year, but since 1985 it is published six times a year. From 2009 on, it will appear seven times a year in order to better cope with the avalanche of games to be reviewed.

The contents is made of a nice variety of articles, whereas other magazines, like WIN, are almost exclusively made of reviews. What follows is my own classification of spielbox’s articles.

• Long reviews make the bulk of each issue. Most games reviewed also get a score from 1 (worst) to 10 (best) from one or more reviewers. The list of games that got scores since 1989 is here.
• Short reviews have only a qualitative score (‘super’, ‘quite OK’, or ‘oh well…’).
• Children’s games only get short reviews, without any scoring.
• News include any noteworthy information about the German or international gaming landscape.
• History articles usually describe older games, including collector items, but they may also describe the development or the roots of recent games.
• Profiles are articles about (or interviews with) game authors and publishers.
• Edition spielbox is a centrefold, original game.
• Variants show how to improve known games.

I especially like the profile and history articles, as they provide a richer perspective on game design than reviews, which focus on current games and on the player’s perspective.

One of my forthcoming New Year resolutions is to start subscribing to spielbox, as a way to force myself to regularly read some German again (nice excuse, nicht wahr? ). In future posts I will describe the contents of both the new and the back issues I already have, as a way to note down where each personal profile or game was described, if I want to find it later. I hope other readers of spielbox find this service useful too.