What are the Evergreen Titles?

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.

^shit, yeah, you're right, Paths of Glory misses the 20 year mark by a few years.

Evergreen is a fine term for such games, and the dictionary would say so too: "Retaining freshness or interest." It also helpfully suggests "Perennial" as a synonym in this context if that's preferable.

I'm not sure about the expansions restriction. I don't know anyone who has the Settlers expansions, and the last time I played it was on an old 90s copy. If the base game stands on its own, it's eligible, isn't it?

This suggestion isn't a euro (though for its time could be considered a precursor to how euros eventually played), but it is the one game which has never failed in the many years I have played it with hardcore and casual gamers alike. The one game I think I could never imagine not owning.

Survive
(A.K.A. Atlantis, Escape from Atlantis, Survive: Escape from Atlantis, The Island. The board setup may differ slightly, but they are all essentially the same gameplay)

It's over 30 years old, designed by Julian Courtland-Smith. A very nice british fellow whom I spoke with often on BGG, and is quite fun. It sold over a million copies in the 80's through Milton Bradley, was produced in europe in the 90's with high production values ('97 waddingtons version... mmmm...) so I would say it had a large playerbase at one time. Until Stronghold games got a hold of it, it never had any expansions, and I recommend not bothering with them (the dolphin and squid are ridiculous in a bad way). A very euro/ameritrash hybrid that I beleive is a compulsory game.

im going to call nonsense on the no expansions criteria. A game only gets expansions if it is reasonably evergreen. You could look at games like Race for the Galaxy or Dominion and ask whether they will be done as popular games once the expansion train has stopped but i'm not sure that covers games like Cosmic or Magic which have a strong legacy.

also if we are going for a large player base as a criteria, then monopoly clue etc. Dune is more popular than Titan, so If Titan is evergreen many other old school titles are. I would suggest that if the game has a player base of more than one man and his dog it should be considered.

For wargames - ANGOLA.