Well that was a bit of a shock ... spotting myself doing a one handed 'I am not worthy' wave at Doctor Knizia as he walked past me at Essen this year ...
Last time I was at Essen I spotted Uwe Rosenberg and wanted to go over and say hello but my board game group who are big fans of his was like "nooooo" but still made me take a picture of them with Rosenber like 10m in the background 😅 shy weirdos!
I love a lot of board game designers but there is no one better than the great Dr. Reiner Knizia. His real testament is the FACT that games he designs are not only just 'respected' but played and beloved even 20+ years later after they were designed. Rulesets that are very simple yet house a DEEP level of strategy that is no other designer can even come close. I generally don't bother anyone at conventions such as designers or content creators, but if I had the chance to meet Dr. Knizia and even just give him a "we're not worthy" salutation: I'd do it in a heartbeat. He's my favorite designer and along with Sid Sackson, the father of modern board games: he's a pillar to this hobby. We owe him a LOT.
Living legend. Some of my favorite games he made: Battle Line, Lost Cities, Quest for El Dorado for 2 players (although the last one can be played with 3 and 4 as well), Modern Art and Dream Factory are great auction games, Tigris and Euphrates is one of his heavier games and Blue Moon City is a hidden gem. Most of his games have very clear, simple rules but offer a lot of possibilities.
He's one of my favorite designers. I know that with his prolific output, a lot of gamers consider to be hit-or-miss. However, I think gamers still recognize that he has put out some absolutely brilliant designs. I love his simple games that focus on one innovative mechanic. I especially love his many different takes on bidding.
The downside of creating a lot: some things will inevitably not be so good. The upside of creating a lot: you have a lot of opportunities to learn and improve! Reiner Knizia clearly has refined his design sensibilities, and there are some new games of his you can easily compare to his old games and see how he’s iterated on his work.
@@9Nails His newer games Babylonia, Blue Lagoon and Yellow & Yangtze are newer iterations on Through The Desert, Samurai and Tigris & Euphrates. Huang is a further iteration on Yellow & Yangtze. He's got a bunch of older auction games (Modern Art, Ra, Medici, High Society, Dream Factory, Merchants of Amsterdam, Amun-Re) where you can see how bits of them are iterations on previous games. The upcoming Zoo Vadis is an iteration on his 30+ year old Quo Vadis, re-themed and now with variable player powers. Schotten Totten got iterated on by Battle Line 20+ years ago, and in 2017 there was Battle Line Medieval and in 2020 there was Schotten Totten 2. Those are all the ones I know of, perhaps mostly more obvious ones, but I'm sure there's more!
@@9Nails I haven't kept up with Huang, so I don't know. I certainly recommend Babylonia! It's a little tricky to remember what all the powers do that you can activate when you surround a ziggurat (and how to apply all those powers effectively), but it's a great combination of little rules of the older games, fairly easy to learn, and pretty tricky as you go along through a game of it.
This is my first time seeing Knizia, and hearing him talk, he neither looks nor sounds like I expected him to! Knowing that he was an expert mathematician, I didn't expect such a friendly and loving looking and sounding man.
Legends in the modern boardgaming world. Wishing that the industry will continue to grow to a level that can compete with computer games so he can get better recognition. Good game, just like good music, will stay on long, often outliving the creator.
Are you sure? Might destroy the board game industry and bring us companies like EA an such we do not like ... I think mostly the industry is fine, maybe boardgame need more recoginition, but thats it. At least from my point of view.
@@justus8675 There will always be companies that just want to profit rather than building the community. This is true for any hobbies. But the exposures will still help to elevate the industry. Case in point: kickstarter games. It is just a glorified pre-order, often focusing more on components than gameplay. But, we cannot deny that it has elevated the boardgame industry.
This dude is such a rock star in the bg world. I'm surprised more people aren't wilding out as he walks around the convention. Would love a longer video with him. Should have a Masterclass.
I have Sofa King many of his games. First was The Lord Of The Rings from 2002 with Jown Howe's art. That got me back into board gaming. Ingenious was next. Have 20 now.
Simply put: he is my favourite author. I have 400+ board games and some 120 are by Knizia, I even hold a Knizia-Index of 30. It means that I played at least 30 of his games 30 times each (for a total of more than 900 games just here...) His games just are perfect for my mindset: simple rules, and a lot of depth. He was considered one of the best authors at the beginning of the Century. Now, tastes have shifted. He once had several games in the top 100 on BoardGameGeek and now I think he has 1 or even none. He's not as popular anymore as he used to be, because people now are more interested in the number of minis and pieces in a box than they are interested in the real rules of the game. Currently, people just aim for "more", whatever "more" is: pieces, rules, complexity. I am still on the side of cleanliness and simplicity. I still appreciate his games so much! Among his 700 games, let's be honest, there are a lot of repetitions (a game Like Botswana has other 4 or 5 names...), and there are a lot of games that are really sub-par... on the other hand, his best games are absolutely fantastic and anyone who wants to approach modern board games, should try his best works. I once had him sign one card of my copy of one of his games (Colossal Arena), hoping that some good influx would help me in the board gaming world... so far it didn't help much but... I think it's better to follow the suggestions he is mentioning here.
I've played many of his games. They're usually not my top favourites but always good for a change of scenery. The main critique if his games is that the game mechanics are detached from the theme which I agree with but don't mind personally. My favourite game of his is the original version of Lost Cities (two player game). The theme is "expeditions" but if you think about it it's just a row of numbers and betting cards that you have to play in order. You can actually play this game with two sets of regular playing cards if you mark some of the cards from one set. I think Knizia is a master of inventing game mechanics (like in Ingenious). Very few people can make a living solely on being a board game designer and he is one of the chosen few. Props to him and his career! I remember listening to an interview with him once and his original professional was in the sciences if I remember! Was it physicist or statistician or engineer? A very smart man.
We are all equal around the table. This, right here, this is what I hold to, it's a good part of why I love tabletop gaming. Everyone coming together to play, share in the experience and have fun, it's wonderful.
I love his style of games. Simple, effective but whacky. Sad that it's overtaken by gigantic clockwork-like games or dice-chuckers these days. Abstracts are still around, but they seem to stuck in certain specific mechanics like drafting or tile-laying.
I have no doubt that his games are well crafted and well play-tested. If only they weren't so complicated, though! Chess shows how simple a game can be and still be deep.
Get Ra! Especially if you play with your family or friends who aren't too deep into the hobby. It's not super light, but very easy to teach and you play off each other which is always fun. The art of the latest reprint is gorgeous.
I wonder if non gamers really know the extent of influence Kinzia has on board game design and the industry as a whole. I can put it bluntly that as important as Ali is to boxing, Kinzia is to board games.
3:34 El Dorado: In the box you only read the gold city in the jungle of South America, he doesnt say the gold city from the Inca 's Empire 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🫡🫡
he is a genious and some of his games are my favourite, but I wish he had designed "only" 350 games with more care and testin, rathe than 700, 500 of which are quite forgettable.
He has truly made some great games but his numbers are bloated. For example, Beowulf is just a re-themed game he already made in the past (Kingdoms). He does this a lot, and that is what allows him to claim such bloated numbers. Even if 400 of them are re-themed (and I'm not sure I'm inaccurate in saying that), that still leaves an impressive 300 that are not.
3:40 I disagree with Knizia here. We are not equals if you've brought to the table a game you're good at, and others at the table have never played it before. And this is quite likely. Even an experienced gamer has played only a small fraction of the games that are out there. There are far too many board games. What would be better is quality, not quantity. Better games, not more games.
I've only recently in past years started getting into solo board gaming. Prior to that I was heavy into Fantasy Flight games. I follow Kickstarters and watch videos on the hottest games and see what is high on BoardGameGeek. I also frequent local game stores. I can say without a doubt, I've never heard of this man nor any of the top 10 games that he has created and that says an incredible amount about quantity over quality. For me to know the name Isaac Childres with so few games as he's made compared to someone who has made over 700 is also saying a lot about the games he creates. These must be very niche games. I'd be interested to see where they fall on BoardGameGeek's top 100, if at all.
The man is an absolute legend. Highly respected for a reason
definitely in the top 10 board game designers of all time and arguably the greatest
Well that was a bit of a shock ... spotting myself doing a one handed 'I am not worthy' wave at Doctor Knizia as he walked past me at Essen this year ...
That was a really cool wave!
Last time I was at Essen I spotted Uwe Rosenberg and wanted to go over and say hello but my board game group who are big fans of his was like "nooooo" but still made me take a picture of them with Rosenber like 10m in the background 😅 shy weirdos!
lmaoo this is brilliant
was a nice gesture :)
1:18 this you?
This is not just some guy. This is the godfather of high quality euro-style board games.
He is one of the massive pillars that boardgaming hobby was built on.
Heard his name mentioned countless times on boardgame YT channels. First time seeing and hearing him. Thanks for posting this.
He is not my favorite game designer, but I respect him A LOT. Our hobby wouldn't be the same without him. Kudos.
I love a lot of board game designers but there is no one better than the great Dr. Reiner Knizia. His real testament is the FACT that games he designs are not only just 'respected' but played and beloved even 20+ years later after they were designed. Rulesets that are very simple yet house a DEEP level of strategy that is no other designer can even come close. I generally don't bother anyone at conventions such as designers or content creators, but if I had the chance to meet Dr. Knizia and even just give him a "we're not worthy" salutation: I'd do it in a heartbeat. He's my favorite designer and along with Sid Sackson, the father of modern board games: he's a pillar to this hobby. We owe him a LOT.
I got "only" 100 of his games. Knizia is my favourite designer. A genius.
Great words from Master Reiner Knizia. Thanks for what you bring and have brought to the hobby for so many decades !
Living legend. Some of my favorite games he made: Battle Line, Lost Cities, Quest for El Dorado for 2 players (although the last one can be played with 3 and 4 as well), Modern Art and Dream Factory are great auction games, Tigris and Euphrates is one of his heavier games and Blue Moon City is a hidden gem. Most of his games have very clear, simple rules but offer a lot of possibilities.
It's very humbling to hear such a well respected and accomplished designer speak
As a game maker who's been making games since I was 5 or 6 and now being 31 I know what he means by the "curse of the ideas".
What a great video about an amazing and humble creator. Thank you!
Not so humble. He stated once he finds playing other designers' games a waste of time because he is too busy with creating and playing his own ones.
Been playing Knizia’s since 1994 … and still auto-purchase any of his new designs. Simply the best. And … where can I get those cushion covers 😊
He's one of my favorite designers. I know that with his prolific output, a lot of gamers consider to be hit-or-miss. However, I think gamers still recognize that he has put out some absolutely brilliant designs. I love his simple games that focus on one innovative mechanic. I especially love his many different takes on bidding.
The downside of creating a lot: some things will inevitably not be so good.
The upside of creating a lot: you have a lot of opportunities to learn and improve!
Reiner Knizia clearly has refined his design sensibilities, and there are some new games of his you can easily compare to his old games and see how he’s iterated on his work.
@@DeyaViewsSuch as? I'm genuinely curious 😊
@@9Nails His newer games Babylonia, Blue Lagoon and Yellow & Yangtze are newer iterations on Through The Desert, Samurai and Tigris & Euphrates. Huang is a further iteration on Yellow & Yangtze. He's got a bunch of older auction games (Modern Art, Ra, Medici, High Society, Dream Factory, Merchants of Amsterdam, Amun-Re) where you can see how bits of them are iterations on previous games. The upcoming Zoo Vadis is an iteration on his 30+ year old Quo Vadis, re-themed and now with variable player powers. Schotten Totten got iterated on by Battle Line 20+ years ago, and in 2017 there was Battle Line Medieval and in 2020 there was Schotten Totten 2.
Those are all the ones I know of, perhaps mostly more obvious ones, but I'm sure there's more!
@@DeyaViews Interesting. Do you know when Huang will be available for purchase? Do you recommend Babylonia btw? Been looking at that one for a while
@@9Nails I haven't kept up with Huang, so I don't know. I certainly recommend Babylonia! It's a little tricky to remember what all the powers do that you can activate when you surround a ziggurat (and how to apply all those powers effectively), but it's a great combination of little rules of the older games, fairly easy to learn, and pretty tricky as you go along through a game of it.
LOTR: The Confrontation is my favourite game. Highly respect Reiner Knizia.
Knizia its one of the greatest ever. Thanks for all. Meeple hug
This is a man who is not afraid to play the odds for a hit.
I met once Reiner randomly in a airport , most lovely person ever.
Thank you for all your games! What a wonderful creator!
For y’all that don’t know, this man is on the board game Mt. Rushmore!
Though it’s my first time hearing his voice 🎉
Out of curiosity, who else is on it?
A true legend!
What a happy man.
This is my first time seeing Knizia, and hearing him talk, he neither looks nor sounds like I expected him to! Knowing that he was an expert mathematician, I didn't expect such a friendly and loving looking and sounding man.
Lol, mathematicians must not be reknown for being friendly and loving.
This guy is a champ. My favorite designer.
Legends in the modern boardgaming world. Wishing that the industry will continue to grow to a level that can compete with computer games so he can get better recognition. Good game, just like good music, will stay on long, often outliving the creator.
Are you sure? Might destroy the board game industry and bring us companies like EA an such we do not like ...
I think mostly the industry is fine, maybe boardgame need more recoginition, but thats it. At least from my point of view.
@@justus8675 There will always be companies that just want to profit rather than building the community. This is true for any hobbies. But the exposures will still help to elevate the industry. Case in point: kickstarter games. It is just a glorified pre-order, often focusing more on components than gameplay. But, we cannot deny that it has elevated the boardgame industry.
Did anyone else notice the guy in the chair behind him just holding a huge stack of games?
That's more games than I will probably ever play in my life, and I consider myself a gamer!
That 1 of 6 was “abandon ship”. One of the games I kept in the process of reducing my collection from over 500 to a target of 50.
This man is legendary. Keep rocking!
This dude is such a rock star in the bg world. I'm surprised more people aren't wilding out as he walks around the convention. Would love a longer video with him. Should have a Masterclass.
I have seen him multiple time during conventions. It is just a matter of respect not to bother him all day long.
I have Sofa King many of his games. First was The Lord Of The Rings from 2002 with Jown Howe's art. That got me back into board gaming. Ingenious was next. Have 20 now.
Has someone compiled a list of his top 25 most loved games? I've only tried a few, like Tigris & Euphrates, and some 2 player games from 20 years ago.
Simply put: he is my favourite author. I have 400+ board games and some 120 are by Knizia, I even hold a Knizia-Index of 30. It means that I played at least 30 of his games 30 times each (for a total of more than 900 games just here...)
His games just are perfect for my mindset: simple rules, and a lot of depth.
He was considered one of the best authors at the beginning of the Century. Now, tastes have shifted. He once had several games in the top 100 on BoardGameGeek and now I think he has 1 or even none. He's not as popular anymore as he used to be, because people now are more interested in the number of minis and pieces in a box than they are interested in the real rules of the game. Currently, people just aim for "more", whatever "more" is: pieces, rules, complexity. I am still on the side of cleanliness and simplicity.
I still appreciate his games so much! Among his 700 games, let's be honest, there are a lot of repetitions (a game Like Botswana has other 4 or 5 names...), and there are a lot of games that are really sub-par... on the other hand, his best games are absolutely fantastic and anyone who wants to approach modern board games, should try his best works.
I once had him sign one card of my copy of one of his games (Colossal Arena), hoping that some good influx would help me in the board gaming world... so far it didn't help much but... I think it's better to follow the suggestions he is mentioning here.
Insane, didn't realize he made so many games
I love Knizia’s games! He’s a good of the board game industry!
An epic designer.
I've played many of his games. They're usually not my top favourites but always good for a change of scenery. The main critique if his games is that the game mechanics are detached from the theme which I agree with but don't mind personally. My favourite game of his is the original version of Lost Cities (two player game). The theme is "expeditions" but if you think about it it's just a row of numbers and betting cards that you have to play in order. You can actually play this game with two sets of regular playing cards if you mark some of the cards from one set. I think Knizia is a master of inventing game mechanics (like in Ingenious). Very few people can make a living solely on being a board game designer and he is one of the chosen few. Props to him and his career! I remember listening to an interview with him once and his original professional was in the sciences if I remember! Was it physicist or statistician or engineer? A very smart man.
We are all equal around the table.
This, right here, this is what I hold to, it's a good part of why I love tabletop gaming.
Everyone coming together to play, share in the experience and have fun, it's wonderful.
LEGEND.
What a legend! Tigris & Euphrates is simply a masterpiece!
A good 6 or 7 of them are pretty good too.
What a wonderful charming man
He's the man
"Brains in bottles" - that is a very good inspiration for the next game. Can't wait to play it. Legend.
Now I want a Knizia game where bridges are being thrown at you.
Love the instrumental
I love his style of games. Simple, effective but whacky. Sad that it's overtaken by gigantic clockwork-like games or dice-chuckers these days. Abstracts are still around, but they seem to stuck in certain specific mechanics like drafting or tile-laying.
I have no doubt that his games are well crafted and well play-tested. If only they weren't so complicated, though! Chess shows how simple a game can be and still be deep.
"A lot of things initially start in my mind."
Well, I guess that's a pretty good place for an idea to start.
Lovely man!
My only Knizia game is Lotr Confrontation but that one is a hoot. Should probably try some other ones.
Get Ra!
Especially if you play with your family or friends who aren't too deep into the hobby. It's not super light, but very easy to teach and you play off each other which is always fun. The art of the latest reprint is gorgeous.
Awesome designer! Would love to meet him for a beer sometime for a chat :)
Danke für die tollen Spiele
"Reiner Knizia is like royalty in the board game community" - more true statements havetn been spoken
Living legend!
Thank you, Doctor! :)
I interupted my board game design session for this :)
He even had a pretty good DS game back in the 2000s
Legend and hero
At 3:19 is that a Futurama reference? Surely hope so!
Nah, Futurama didn't invent the concept.
Just finished a Explorers play with my kid.
The GOAT.
Nice to see the mainstream media picked this up
The Isaac Asimov of board games.
Hmm, not sure to what degree you mean that as a compliment.
@@eyflfla The Legend degree I suppose.
I wonder if non gamers really know the extent of influence Kinzia has on board game design and the industry as a whole. I can put it bluntly that as important as Ali is to boxing, Kinzia is to board games.
Curious what games are in his top 10.
Live his games. Bit strange he now looks like Baron Samedi from Atmosfear
Oh mais c’est le Shruberry le bar !!!!
quantity != quality
> Even the very very deep 3 to 4 hour games ...
Grognards: 🤨
LEGEND... (having some AP).... DARY!
3:34 El Dorado: In the box you only read the gold city in the jungle of South America, he doesnt say the gold city from the Inca 's Empire 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🫡🫡
what games has he made
what a god
Ima rotting here thinking seven board games I have made is impressive and then I see this 😢
Loll very impressive haha this Notivated me!
What's with the dude standing behind him with the stack of games? They couldn't find a table to stack those on?!
He's epic
We must respectfully say that the San Francisco game shown in the video was a bit boring lol. But I love many of his other games.
i think I'll catch him up on his contributions, given a few years.
For as much as I respect mr Reiner, not even his games are "perfect"
Play test = data to experiment
Are a big chunk of the 700 ....that 1 game with a bunch of games in it?
Maybe you're thinking of Friedemann Friese?
@@Patronux yup 504, Knizia truly is Prolific!
what a chad
A kid who forgot to grow up. How wonderful.
Possibly the closest to genius in modern board gaming I can think off. Name another designer that creates so much game with so few rules. I’ll wait…
700 board games?
I published 6,6K drawings on DeviantArt!
Checked your deviantart. When do you plan to improve or learn the fundamentals?
@@vornamenachname594 No, this isn't necessary.
Thank for the proposal.
Maybe you should collaborate.
Thanksgiving
he is a genious and some of his games are my favourite, but I wish he had designed "only" 350 games with more care and testin, rathe than 700, 500 of which are quite forgettable.
Its like any big name artist, once you get the funding, any whimsical idea can be greenlit.
He has truly made some great games but his numbers are bloated. For example, Beowulf is just a re-themed game he already made in the past (Kingdoms). He does this a lot, and that is what allows him to claim such bloated numbers. Even if 400 of them are re-themed (and I'm not sure I'm inaccurate in saying that), that still leaves an impressive 300 that are not.
Undu colong nih mantape
Ah yes, the most based board game designer ever
3:40 I disagree with Knizia here. We are not equals if you've brought to the table a game you're good at, and others at the table have never played it before. And this is quite likely. Even an experienced gamer has played only a small fraction of the games that are out there. There are far too many board games. What would be better is quality, not quantity. Better games, not more games.
My Island pls ;) ;)
Respect to the guy who made many great games. But the images supporting his 'diversity' comments really didn't help. Poor job Euro News.
Anybody can design 700 boardgames... making a fun boardgame is something totally different though...
Aren't you board?
So..the Mozart of cardboard 🤔
Better the Mozart of cardboard, than the Stalin of milkshakes, my old grandmother used to say.
There are too many board games these days.
In Arstotzka, we have boardgame 1, boardgame 2, and boardgame for kids.
What is he compensating for? 😂
Yes and 500+ of his games are bad. The man is all about quantity over quality.
Yes and the 200 are very high quality
Big stretch. There are certainly some bad games in there but the vast majority are good to excellent. Also, how many good games have you made?
Well I own more Knizia games than any other game designers games. Guess I have bad taste.
true , but he's made some absolutely classics that will still be played or continue to influence the genre for future decades
I've only recently in past years started getting into solo board gaming. Prior to that I was heavy into Fantasy Flight games. I follow Kickstarters and watch videos on the hottest games and see what is high on BoardGameGeek. I also frequent local game stores. I can say without a doubt, I've never heard of this man nor any of the top 10 games that he has created and that says an incredible amount about quantity over quality. For me to know the name Isaac Childres with so few games as he's made compared to someone who has made over 700 is also saying a lot about the games he creates. These must be very niche games. I'd be interested to see where they fall on BoardGameGeek's top 100, if at all.