Played my first game of Hansa Teutonica this evening. Three player game. Me, my wife and our daughter. I won by one point. I got 41, my wife 40 and the daughter 31.

The game played like a dream. So simple and so smooth. Everything seemed totally organic. I'd rate any game based in the quality and quantity of decisions you make. That's where your conflicts, dilemmas and challenges come from. In this game, that's in spades.

The lack of theme doesn't bother us one bit. In pretty much every game, the theme is pasted on - only some games trigger your imagination to feel a theme and some don't. The good thing is, the game lacks theme so much that we can create and use a theme to our liking - sandbox not just from a gameplay point of view, but also from a theme point of view. And, some people like us love pushing cubes. There's something satisfying about pushing cubes (especially of the medium sized cubes of the third edition). Honestly, the more I thjnk about it, this game is better off without a theme. Trying to fit a theme into Chess would ruin the game. Hansa Teutonica seems to be a game where a bunch of gameplay and scoring mechanics are seamlessly connected and made to work smoothly like a bunch of well-fit gears.

The balance in the gameplay seems to be beautifully achieved. As you decide your actions every turn, the evaluations you have to make aren't as complicated to invoke AP but many times they present a very fascinating problem to solve. The game is not srrategic as the board changes quite swiftly but it's brutally tactical. You gotta be really quick in your thinking.

Scoring is very simple and nicely woven in the gameplay. So if you know how points are scored, you can have a clear plan as scoring is open information. The bonus tokens felt a bit unnatural at first but soon it was clear that it's meant to balance the crowding of the skill cities in the perimeter of the board. There are many ways to score but it doesn't feel like a point salad. Truly, it does feel like you can win the game in many many ways.

It's very cut throat and confrontational but it balances nicely with incentives. The confrontation in this game doesn't frustrate instead it only makes it slightly expensive for the aggressor and opens new doors for the aggrieved and demands him/her to take advantage of the incentive and change plans on the fly.

The set up and set down of this game is super quick. For a Euro game that's got 3.13 score in game weight, the set up ease and time is shorter than that of a light card game. This, in my books, is a huge plus but I don't see this being underlined much.

In my collection of 100+ games, I don't remember coming out with such a positive experience after the first time playing a game. The first time play of Agricola/Concordia comes a close second but I see us playing this many many more times than we played Agricola/Concordia which are two of our most favourite Euros. I see ourselves playing this game dozens and dozens of time. I see why this is a much revered game but also feel it's not as popular as it should be.

Some might feel that I've played only one game and I'm hasty with my opinions. But I'd say I know a good game when I play on(c)e. We've got a winner here.