Social Gaming: Settlers of Catan
Ok, so I've officially been sucked into Settlers of Catan. It's definitely an interesting game, and personally, I feel it's a better alternative for those who might otherwise be inclined to play Monopoly. The basic principles are mostly all there, but the game's maximum time more closely resembles Monopoly's minimum time. It's still not a quick game, but its progress is pretty automatic. The theme basically has the players colonizing a new island, using their settlements to generate resources so they can develop further. There's some stuff to diminish your opponents' capabilities, but it's not really the dominant thing of the game as in Monopoly. Dice are rolled each turn, whoever has settlements next to tiles with that number will get that particular resource. If you care to read more, I'll go over the strategies I've noticed for the game.