Alea Big Box Series

alea was started as a new label within Ravensburger in 1999. Each of their games in a particular sized box is numbered in order of publication, yielding their big box series, the Alea medium box series and the Alea small box series. The alea versions of the games were produced in German. Some of the series were re-printed by Rio Grande Games in English versions of the boxes. Chinatown and Adel Verpflichtet were not.

• The English version of Mammoth Hunters, while having a similar box art style as the others in the series, does not actually have a number 8 printed on the box.
  • Jay Tummelson discusses his reasoning for this break in the numbers being printed on the Rio Grande Games boxes and why he didn't do RGG editions of Chinatown and Adel Verpflichtet on the Boardgame Babylon podcast, Volume 36.
• The Swedish/Finnish edition of Puerto Rico was renumbered #1 by the publisher, and the separator between the author and game name was dropped.
• Different games of the series are published in Dutch:
  • Ra was published by 999 Games. Same box art, no number.
  • Chinatown was published by Quined White Goblin Games. Different box art, no number.
  • Taj Mahal was published by Quined White Goblin Games. Different box art, no number.
  • Princes of Florence was published by Quined White Goblin Games. Different box art, no number.
  • Adel Verpflichtet was published by Jumbo. Different box art, no number.
  • Die Händler von Genua was published by Quined White Goblin Games. Different box art, no number.
  • Puerto Rico was published by Ravensburger. Same box art, no number.
  • Macao was published by White Goblin Games. Same box art, no number.

The "big box" games (with their ranks on BGG as of May 7, 2011) are:

1. Ra (38)
2. Chinatown (196)
3. Tadsch Mahal (Taj Mahal) (80)
4. Die Fürsten von Florenz (The Princes of Florence) (21)
5. Adel Verpflichtet (Hoity Toity) (593)
6. Die Händler von Genua (The Traders of Genoa) (119)
7. Puerto Rico (2)
8. Eiszeit (Mammoth Hunters) (1559)
9. Fifth Avenue (1731)
10. Um Ru(h)m und Ehre (Rum & Pirates) (944)
11. Notre Dame (86)
12. Im Jahr des Drachen (In the Year of the Dragon) (82)
13. Macao (125)
14. Die Burgen von Burgund (The Castles of Burgundy) (111)

The first 7 games in the Alea big box series were highly praised on BGG, and are often given as examples of gamers games. All but one, Adel Verpflichtet, rank in the top 200 games on BGG as of May 7, 2011. The following three games–Eiszeit, Fifth Avenue, Um Ru(h)m und Ehre–have remained substantially lower ranked. Two of the more recent games, Notre Dame and Im Jahr des Drachen, could be considered a return to form, as both are rated in the top 100 as of May 7, 2011 with Macao and Die Burgen von Burgund both rising in ranking.