El Grande
El Grande is a German board game designed in 1996. The game board represents medieval Spain where the nobility (the Grande's) fight for control of the nine regions. The game is played in nine rounds, and three rounds in which player scores are counted with respect to all the regions.
Players
The game can be played with two to five players. When played with two players, it can be rather fast paced. If five players participate, the game becomes very complex and challenging, as it becomes almost impossible to "do the maths" on the regions, and players team up and compete to keep others from winning, or to score more points for themselves.
Decision making
There are no dice in the game, and players have ample choice of ample cards, thus the game is all about agonizing decisions. Often the path to scoring more points is clear, but sometimes it can be wiser to prevent opponents from scoring.
The role of Luck
Since the game is played without dice or other random generators, the role of luck is rather minimal. The main challenge of the game is keeping track of the many factors that determine the balance of power in the regions and the score track.
Authors
Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich.
Awards
The game was awarded the Spiel des Jahres prize in 1996.
