What is this German game in which you speak?

For the last couple of decades boardgames and card games have been much more popular in Germany than just about anywhere. The last decade in particular saw a huge upsurge in popularity as boardgames swept their popular culture. From there these games spread out across Europe, the United States, and around the world. They've not yet attained the kind of popularity they received in Germany, but among people who really enjoy games they've become very popular.

While the craze started earlier than this, the spread of these games outside Germany really began in 1995 when Mayfair Games (here in the United States) published an English language version of Die Siedler von Catan, in English The Settlers of Catan. The key ideas behind these family strategy games from Germany was that it was the players' thinking and decisions that really determined the outcome of the game, and random factors such as dice played a very small part.

Since then publishers like Rio Grande Games and others have reprinted a large number of German games in English. Some of the most popular include games like Carcassonne, El Grande, Tikal, Puerto Rico, and many others.

You can get full descriptions and pictures of these games and many more by using the QuickSearch feature of the Board Game Geek at http://www.boardgamegeek.com

Hope that helps. If you want more please feel free to ask.

:)