A Clinical Definition and Some Opinion

Hello, everyone! I typically go by the alias BradyLS (Brady Severns) on Boardgame Geek. Here I assume the moniker BrayD. Not terribly exciting or imaginative, I know, but there it is. My thanks to Matt Thrower for inviting me aboard to post my opinion about all things Ameritrash Gaming on his blog. I hope to stick around as long as it lasts, but we'll see how well I can keep the plates spinning...

What IS "Ameritrash"? How is it used as a term to describe a boardgame?

Well, imagine: "...In walked a man among a horde. A man, armed and amored, among a multitude of fangs, muscle, and chitin. A man with a name and a mission. In walked Sergeant Petrol of the Styrene Marines..."

Sure, it's cheesy. But it does set a mood and an expectation. Will it deliver?

If we're talking about a book or movie that does, we have something along the lines Heinlein's Starship Troopers or Scott's Alien(s). If not, then we're out a few hours and few dollars.

If we're talking about a board game(!) and it does(!!!) then we have a classic "Ameritrash" title. Maybe it's GamesWorkshop's Space Hulk or Space Crusade. Or maybe even the boardgame version of Starship Troopers (by defunct publisher Avalon Hill) or Aliens. And in the game, we don;t simply follow the (cheesy) story, we help tell it and vicariously experience it. If not, we have the fractured of an experience: a bad game that maybe cost us (these days) $45 and the effort to learn and assemble it.

So "Ameritrash" is a term that I equate with not just any boardgame. But a boardgame that allows the players some immersion in its premise (its theme) as they play and to even tell some sort of story. Or... Imagine a book or movie or TV show or historical period or event. Imagine that "thing" transmogrified into a game with a set of rules, pieces, cards, and probably a board that allows the players to recreate and manipulate the content and facts in their imagination. Primarily for entertainment and fun but perhaps also to learn something new about the thing.

In other words: it is a game which offers its players a chance to compete against each other in an imaginary setting with components designed to invoke and reflect the imaginary setting.

This is different from role-playing games, in that players are not required to be "in character" while they play. They do not assume a role as an actor might, but rather assume a position at the table which allows them to manipulate resources in the game. They are different from most wargames in that players do not assume a single side or faction that is trying to rigidly and seriously simulate a historical event (battle) or period (war). They typically take several hours to play.

But why "Ameritrash?" Why just that word?

It's hard to say. "Ameri" implies American. Most games that I have just described came and do come from American game publishers. "Trash" I can only guess as refering to it's contents. Its "bits". Often, they are plastic or varying thicknesses of cardboard with lurid/brash graphics. In the 1970's, when such games began to really assert their presence among game-playing hobbyists, such graphics were amateurish or very similar in style and appearance to wargame graphics.

In the decades that followed, and particulalrly in the last 10 years, the graphic content is almost thoroughly professional: four-color printing featuring graphics from artists and designers with established careers. Novel plastic pieces, counters, and boxes from miniatures sculptors and and package designers. "Trash" can only mean, nowadays, the "disposable" commodity that games made of plastic and cardbaord were once considered to be.

As opposed to what other kind of games?

Role-playing and wargames have been mentioned. Others include social or party games (self-explained) and family strategy/abstract games (often called "Eurogames" these days). Euro(game)s are strategy and abstract games that typically feature streamlined play with easily learned rules and well-made components (often of wood). They usually take an hour (more or less) to play. They are called "Euros" because notable examples of such games were and are often made by European publishers.

...In all honesty, most of you reading to this point probably understand the difference already. But in case you didn't, the above one way of clinically disecting and describing it. I'll leave it alone. If you don't know what I'm talking about, gamewise, from this point forward... Well, I did my duty—however inexpertly. It had to be done. So there.

Some opinion...

The hot topic which seems to have spurred the formal launch of this blog was Michael Barnes' banishment from The Boardgame Geek. As much as anyone, I was surprised at the apparent summary decision that was made. I enjoyed Michael's irreverent style on the 'Geek as well as his frank and earnest opinion about games. (Wish they'd been banished instead. *Ba-da-bump!*). I think he, among several others, offered a refreshing viewpoint about the kinds of people that play games and the sorts of games they play. His opinion had much two do with splitting what seemed like a pretty homogenous body with the membership of Boardgame Geek. Between he andd DW Tripp, it's hard to tell which one is/was the Geek's Martin Luther.

I'm glad he's here in the Fortress (and I with you all) and I hope folks will stop by to hear his proclimations from the battlements.

That's about all for now. As I get used to sustained writing rather than my usual sniping, I hope to be more engaging in the future!

Oh... Try to imagine the blog's name not as

fortress ameritrash

but

FORTRESS: (Dun-dun-DUN!*) AMERITRASH! (dunn-Dunn-DUNN-DUNNN!!!!) (A Matt Thrower Production)

*Trumpet fanfare