This week's Cracked LCD is about the search for the Civ-Lite board game. Also, an Australian grad student wants to interview Michael...wrap your head around THAT one!
Date: Thursday, April 17, 2008
Author: Michael Barnes
Over a decade later, people are still playing and talking about CIV-LITE and even more are being introduced to it through its availability on Xbox Live. And all the while tyro designers fumble around with various Eurogame ideas to distill the magic of CIVILIZATION into a boring efficiency exercise or card drafting game; their pathetic visions of what “Civ-lite” means. But as I write this, I look over to the box on my shelf that contains the game I’ve been calling CIV-LITE. On the side of the box, it describes itself as “…a game of discovery, development and trade”. Above it, the expansion box claims that it is “…a game of culture, politics, and warfare”. Right there, on my game shelf for 14 years, was the exact formula for the perfect iteration of the “Civ-lite” idea.
When I was asked to relate a simple anecdote about how I got interested in Eurogames, I realized that in 1996 I discovered SETTLERS OF CATAN.
Volume One of this series of books does a grand job of introducing gaming to the masses, but offers a lot of familar information for gamers already in the know.
