Eric Martin decides which board games
are going to be the next Monopoly, or not

By Paul Jivoff

The world of board games is no longer the exclusive purview of chess masters and Candyland fiends. A new breed of games, known as designer board games, is claiming the attention and time of children and adults of all ages. 

Designer board games originated in Germany, and even though they are now developed and produced in the United States and around the world, they are still referred to as “Eurogames.” Sporting names like Borneo, Carcassonne and The Settlers of Catan, these games are quite mysterious at first glance. But they share several characteristics that separate them from Clue, Scrabble and Trouble.

Designer games prominently feature the creator’s name, much like a book names its author. The games are usually conceptually simple, with a focus on developing a strategy over several matches. They are also generally based on player skill rather than luck of the dice or random choices, and players are not eliminated as in Risk or Monopoly. According to Eric Martin, editor of board gamenews.com, designer board games are unique because they have “a point of view and a personal style.”

Mind games: Eric Martin oversees a board game Web site devoted to the unusual and skilled.

Boardgamenews.com, also known as BGN, is devoted to previewing, reviewing, critiquing and explaining the world of designer board games to fans of the genre as well as curious readers. The comprehensive and well-organized site debuted Nov. 28, 2005, as the brainchild of Rick Thornquist, a board game enthusiast and leader of a game group in Washington, D.C. According to Martin, Thornquist had been posting tidbits of gaming news on a site for his group since 2000. “I started writing for Rick in the summer of 2006, then took over as editor in November,” says Martin. 

Martin was a professional freelance writer before becoming editor of BGN, and continued freelancing during his first months as editor. “For the past five months, I’ve done only Boardgame News,” he says. “While not a full-time paying job, it is a full-time working job.” Martin had started his own board game Web site, funandboardgames.com, in October 2006, but abandoned that project in April 2007 to focus on BGN. While funandboardgames.com is still online, it has received no updates for more than 18 months.

Martin, who lived in the small town of Wappingers Falls, N.Y., from 1978 to 1990 and Albany from 1990 to 1991, graduated from Brandeis University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1999. He credits his transition to the writing life to his wife, Linda Formichelli. “She was enjoying her work and the ability to set her own schedule, and since I had helped her with a couple of articles in those years, including an article co-written for Games magazine in 1997, I followed in her footsteps,” he explains.

In the late 1990s, Martin published about a dozen short stories he had written. Then, in 2005, he and Formichelli co-authored two very different non-fiction books. The first, Tools of Timekeeping: A Kid’s Guide to the History & Science of Telling Time, was published by Nomad Press in July 2005. In October of the same year, they co-authored The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting and Running a Coffee Bar (Alpha Books) with Susan Gilbert, a California café owner. 

His background in math prepared Martin to appreciate board games at a mechanical level. While he never studied game theory, Martin still enjoys finding the systems and patterns behind the game. “It’s just the way my brain works,” he notes. “I like figuring out how things work.” His interest evolved into a passion in 2003, when, he says, “I really got heavily into the games.”

In Concord, N.H., where Martin currently resides, he found and became involved with a weekly board game group. “The person who hosted the game group, she had almost 500 games. We would try new games all the time,” he says. Before joining the group, Martin had played some games without knowing they were designer games. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but the first one might have been Fluxx,” he says, referring to a card game which changes rules as cards are played.

Nearly 10 years later, Martin still plays Fluxx and another of his first games, Lost Cities. The strategy and competition against other players keep him coming back and interested in new games. “I like the competition against other people,” he says. “I like interacting in general with other people.”

Games People Play

“Many people think games are just something to do with family once or twice a year during the holidays,” Martin continues. However, games have more social potential. In fact, they are a lot like good books, movies and television programs. “I like talking to people and seeing what kinds of games they like, and find games that fit the same way you’d recommend books.” Just like several readings of a book provide the reader with a deeper knowledge of the author, repetition with a game leads the player to encounter the mind of the designer. 

Board games can also provide a family-friendly alternative to less socially interactive forms of entertainment. “I watch television maybe an hour a week, and I play games the rest of the time,” says Martin. Because designer board games tend to have simple rules but complex strategies, children and adults of nearly all ages can play together on a similar level.

Martin believes that there is a game to fit every personality, although he admits he has met people who are predisposed to dislike games. “I have definitely encountered people that hate games, and all they’ve played is Scrabble,” he says. “It’s kind of like reading one book and saying you hate reading.” Positive or negative experiences with board games are very often the result of the personalities of the other players more than the game itself. 

When playing a game for a review on BGN, Martin tries to have as many different experiences with it as possible. Even then, he says, “There are no objective reviews. I try to make that clear when I do the review.” To provide the most accurate representation of each game, Martin plays each one several times, varying the group members and group sizes. The goal of the reviews is to help readers find the right game for them, even if they are unfamiliar with gaming lingo. “I try to write reviews so that anyone can read the review not knowing anything about games,” he says.

All designer board games have a social element, but some focus more on strategy. “Some games are all about the social aspect while other games are very much about playing the system,” he explains. The way these elements balance determines the style of the game. As long as the players are engaged with the game and each other, the game can be a success. 

Martin says the creative problem-solving necessary in many designer board games appeals to him. “You can come up with a plan, and then you have to react,” he says. Critical thinking is a useful skill for people of all ages, and games help teach those skills. “I really like games as a way to teach people how to think, how to reason. The fun element keeps you interested.” 

Apparently, it keeps lots of people interested, because Martin reports that BGN receives 8,300 daily visits and 40,000 unique hits per month. Much of the content on BGN is provided by Martin and about two dozen U.S. and international columnists, and most of it is free of charge. Readers who want complete access can pay $25 for a 12-month membership. Members receive access to previews of the massive Nuremburg and Essen game conventions in Germany and exclusive interviews with the game designers at those conventions. 

Members are also eligible for game giveaways that take place almost every month. Guests as well as members can post comments on the reviews and other articles. Martin and the other writers often respond to the comments, providing even more detailed information for the readers. 

Martin and BGN serve as moderators between the developers and publishers and the players and readers. Some game publishers have been willing to help Martin, while others require more work. “It varies from one end to the other,” says Martin. “Some people I have to ask every single time if they have anything new.” Martin likes to preview games whenever possible, but he does not ask for copies of games from the publishers. “I don’t because my response time for reviews is sometimes slow. I don’t want to ask for something and sit on it forever,” he admits.

Martin gives away many of the new games he gets from publishers in exchange for a donation to the Concord Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “I feel wrong selling games from the publishers,” he says.“I thought this would be a nice way to funnel money to the organization while also getting the games out of my house and into the hands of others.”

Designer board games can entertain, facilitate group activity and even help the players “figure out how to think and how to live,” Morgan believes. He is spreading the word about games and their potential. But there is one drawback: “There are so many more games than one person could possibly cover.”

Punch This Ticket

Ticket to Ride, from well-known game publisher Days of Wonder, is a great introduction to the world of designer games. Loosely based on Around the World in 80 Days, Ticket to Ride finds a group of old friends gathered to celebrate Phileas Fogg’s successful journey with a whirlwind race of their own. 

The objective of the game is to travel to as many American cities by railroad as possible by connecting train lines. Players are assigned cities that they must connect by train before the game is over. The gameplay is fast-paced and the rules are very easy to learn. Recommended for ages 8 to 99. 

Ticket to Ride is available locally at Go! The Game Store in Shoppingtown Mall, 3649 Erie Blvd. E., DeWitt. Call 449-4263 for pricing and more information. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO