Rant: People keep saying 'gateway game' when they just mean 'simple'

I hear folks at my local game store in Austin call Catan a gateway game, but they use it for any light game. A real gateway game needs to teach a core mechanic, like how Ticket to Ride introduces route building. Calling everything a gateway game waters down the term. What's a game that actually got someone into a new genre for you?

3 comments

3 Comments

dixon.spencer2mo ago

Totally get that. I'm guilty of using it wrong myself, honestly. Called Azul a gateway game last week and my friend just stared at me. For me, it was Concordia. That game made me finally get what a proper euro was about, the whole efficiency puzzle thing. Before that, I just thought they were all dry spreadsheets. Now my shelf is full of them, so I guess the gateway worked.

vera6812mo ago

Oh man, Concordia is such a good call for that. It totally flips a switch in your brain about how these games work. My own "aha" moment was with Castles of Burgundy, of all things. Saw all the beige and almost passed, but then the pieces just clicked together. Now I'm the one trying to explain why moving sheep around a board is actually super tense.

david_park2mo ago

Love seeing that click happen, like with @vera681 and Burgundy. It's funny how we all have that one game that rewires our brain for a whole genre.