For enthusiasts of Old-school German-style board and card games.

With the advent of the Internet in the 1990s, hobbyists began to discover wonderful board games from other parts of the world that they hadn't previously been exposed to. In particular, board games popular in Germany at the time introduced many outside Europe to the "German school" of board game design and helped spark growth of the board game hobby worldwide.

What is the "German school" of board game design? Categorization of board games is challenging because of the huge variety of games produced every year and the countless edge cases, but in general, games of this design philosophy often feature:

• clean and streamlined rulesets without many exceptions, making them relatively easy to teach but still provide opportunity for strategy/tactics
• few if any special powers or abilities for combos
• a shared (physical or social) game space, with little of the gameplay happening on individual player boards
• non-combative but necessary player interaction (e.g. auctions, area majority)

But please don't get too hung up on definitions. There will always be exceptions. We try to focus on the 'feel' of the game.

Examples are CATAN, El Grande, Tigris & Euphrates, Web of Power and Modern Art. This style of game was most popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, and internationally they came to be first known as "German games", then "German-style games" and, most popularly, "Eurogames" or simply "Euros".

Over time, styles change. Hobby board games became more complex, with engine- and tableau-building and "point salad" types of games growing in popularity. These had gradually evolved from the Eurogames of before and were also known by that name. Newer people entering the hobby, possibly unaware of the classical usage of the term, saw the most popular (complex) games called "Euros" and before long the term "Euro" suggested by default a certain (high) level of complexity. These can be called "modern" Euros.

This guild is to appreciate the "old-school" or "classic" Euros most popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, as well as newer games of that style. We also call them "German-style" games, so as to differentiate them from Euros (as the term is used now) and to honour the past.

The goal of this guild is not to bash modern Euros. Guild members enjoy many different types of games! We wish to celebrate and encourage enjoyment of OGs, and this may by necessity draw direct comparisons to modern Euros. We wish to help define OGs as a genre distinct from modern Euros and one worth drawing attention to.

An incomplete list of some notable game designers who often create(d) games in this style:

Leo Colovini
Franz-Benno Delonge
Rüdiger Dorn
Stefan Dorra
Friedemann Friese
Dirk Henn
Michael Kiesling
Reiner Knizia
Wolfgang Kramer
Alan R. Moon
Sid Sackson
Michael Schacht
Klaus Teuber
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede

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External Links:
GeekGroup.app
BoardGameArena group
Discord server

Some other guilds have only one "introduce yourself" thread. We have two! That's twice as introductory for the same price.
Game-(and OG)-related: Introduce yourself - Tell me: What is it that you truly desire (from the OG guild)?
Game-unrelated: The "introduce yourself" thread

OGlossary of Terms
OG of the Month Club
The guild’s collective list of OGs (assembled during the HoF polls)

1964: Acquire (Sid Sackson)
1980: Can't Stop (Sid Sackson)
1992: Modern Art (Reiner Knizia)
1994: 6 nimmt! (Wolfgang Kramer)
1995: El Grande (Wolfgang Kramer, Richard Ulrich), High Society (Reiner Knizia), Medici (Reiner Knizia), CATAN (Klaus Teuber)
1997: Bohnanza (Uwe Rosenberg), For Sale (Stefan Dorra), Tigris & Euphrates (Reiner Knizia)
1998: Samurai (Reiner Knizia), Through the Desert (Reiner Knizia)
1999: Lost Cities (Reiner Knizia), Ra (Reiner Knizia), Schotten Totten (Reiner Knizia), Tikal (Michael Kiesling, Wolfgang Kramer)
2000: Carcassonne (Klaus-Jürgen Wrede), Taj Mahal (Reiner Knizia), Web of Power (Michael Schacht)
2003: Coloretto (Michael Schacht)
2004: No Thanks! (Thorsten Gimmler), Power Grid (Friedemann Friese), Ticket to Ride (Alan R. Moon)
2009: Hansa Teutonica (Andreas Steding)

As voted on by guild members, the OGGY for a year is the board or card game with a wide-spread release the previous year that best captures that "old-school German-style" feel or is simply the best game for fans of this style.

2022: SCOUT (Runners-up: Brian Boru: High King of Ireland, Whale Riders)

Top Games hitting the table among OG Guild members

Year	1st	2nd	3rd
2021	Babylonia	L.L.A.M.A.	Azul
2022	Tigris & Euphrates	Azul	Race for the Galaxy