Episode 13: El Grande - Is this “Classic” Game Actually GOOD?

The year was 1996, one year after the release of a little game we like to call Settlers of Catan (or just Catan now, I guess). The German board game circuit is absolutely buzzing about the exciting future for board games hobby and designers are poised to risk it all with their next design. At that moment, Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich seize the moment and shock us all with their new design, El Grande. Fast forward. It is 2021. The board game hobby now ascends to heights many never thought possible. Glossy games with beautiful components and spot UV crowd the marketplace, with innovative mechanics seeking to refine, explore, and improve on the giants that came before. In this landscape, is it possible for any game, even a bonafide classic like El Grande to hold up 25 years of board game innovations? So we must ask, is it time to thank this dusty, old relic for its service that led us to this moment and move on to bigger and better things, or is it possible... there's still some life in this game yet. There's only one way to find out. Hop into our interdecisional spaceship and let's explore the Decision Space together!