What are the Evergreen Titles?

Thinking about Nate's excellent Acquire review, and my love of TITAN, I'm wondering what titles would y'all consider similar?

I'm thinking games that are at least 20 years old, still have a big player base, and the game is essentially unchanged since day one. Also, it has no expansions and you can get better at it the more you play.

When someone talks about TITAN you know _exactly_ what the rules are of the game they're playing. No need to ask which expansion was included, which edition, etc. I also feel like my level of play is going up (even if incrementally).

I don't know of too many titles like this besides older abstracts such as chess and co., but surely there are some. A House Divided? T&E?

I cheated and used BGG's advanced search. For my personal preferences and your additional restrictions (popular, get better as you play more, and no expansions), the games not already on your list are:

Tichu
1830
Diplomacy
Eurorails / Empire Builder
Modern Art

I'd also throw in Scrabble and Monopoly.

A lot of games, like Dune and Die Macher, are great games but would be harder to get on the table. Others like Survive have a limited skill ceiling. Note: All opinions are my own, and not representative of FA management, etc.

List below:

BGG Old Game Criteria

Advanced Squad Leader

I don't get it, the title and the OP seem like they're from different threads. Evergreen titles are titles that are nearly always in distribution such as Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, or Arkham Horror.

My goof.

I thought that evergreen titles meant that no matter the changing flavor of the season these titles were still just as viable as when they first game out.

Mr. White wrote: My goof.

I thought that evergreen titles meant that no matter the changing flavor of the season these titles were still just as viable as when they first game out.

Ah, nope. Don't think there's a term for that, so go ahead and coin one.

Bull Nakano wrote:

Mr. White wrote: My goof.

I thought that evergreen titles meant that no matter the changing flavor of the season these titles were still just as viable as when they first game out.

Ah, nope. Don't think there's a term for that, so go ahead and coin one.

"Good Games"

I thought games that were always in distribution such as TtR and Carc are known as 'cash cows'.

El Grande is 20 years next year. Reminds me a bit of some recent podcasts discussing "modern classics", of course, you have to pick some arbitrary age of cutoff, but I think you could argue that its "Settlers and after" in terms of the more widespread resurgence in boardgaming, though obviously the american style games, wargames and the like go further back. Something like Acquire is pretty obviously a classic and timeless, but I would think Tigris is the kind of game and design that will stand the test of time. I honestly don't see the vast majority of the kitchen sink and/or point salad euro lasting many more years, certainly people won't be talking about them in 20, 30, 50 years, I think Tigris as a design might, if enough people get to play it without being drowned out by the huge influx of generic tripe that the hobby has turned into for the casual reader.

Bull Nakano wrote: Ah, nope. Don't think there's a term for that, so go ahead and coin one.

Instead of "Evergreens", how about "Redwoods"?

Ra is one that I think has had the longevity, though it's only fifteen years old this year. Still, it only really fell away after Uberplay lost the rights in their collapse. I don't think the rules have been altered at all.

Citadels and Bohnanza are both really popular games that haven't gone anywhere, and don't seem to be in any trouble of doing so. I know both have expansions, but I'm not sure anyone actually owns Citadels without Dark City anymore, and the important expansions for Bohnanza have been integrated into the game.

Anymore I'm impressed if a game manages to stay in circulation consistently for a ten year span. That includes a lot of games that aren't favored here but have had an undeniable impact, like Puerto Rico and Power Grid.

Puerto Rico does appear to be waning even if its action selection system casts a long shadow.


I suspect most of Knizia's early popular titles will retain evergreen status, at least in play among a small crowd if not headline sales.

Cosmic is clearly evergreen

Dune probably is, even with its slightly ugly Rex rebirth. Though i wonder if Rex has been a bit of a sales flop.

I think Merchant of Venus would be one, for me.

In the wargame area... I'd say something like Paths of Glory still delivers. Maybe Up Front?

there are probably quite a few in war games. But it is slightly different in that games 'replace' games at a much slower rate than in euros. I would say that OCS, Great Campaigns of the ACW and Nappy 20 are all evergreen as is command and colors.

Don't forget, Mr. White set us some restrictions.

"No expansions" takes out Cosmic Encounter, Magic, Settlers, and Squad Leader (Which is ASL these days anyway).

"Big player base" takes out Dune, Die Macher, and RoboRally IMO. I could be convinced that RoboRally belongs on that list, but I know a lot of hardcore gamers that flat out hate it.

"20+" takes out the Eurogame big hitters, like Settlers, PR, and El Grande.