BrettspielWelt is an online game system, a board game world accessed through either a Java applet (http://www.brettspielwelt.de) or a free Java client (There are several places to download the client on their site. The easiest one to reach is the main Community Download, but the one in the localized Community Download uses the Java installer, and tends to provide less flawed installations). Games are played in real-time, but the multi-player games provide no artificial intelligence for opponents - in other words, you have to find opponents to play the games. In addition to the myriad multi-player board games and card games playable on BSW, there are even a few solitaire games to help you while away the hours - or possibly pass the downtime in a game a little faster by playing one secretly on the side.
Multi-player Games
The ever-growing roster of games currently includes the following:
Solo Games
Here are the solitaire games to help you pass the time whilst you await an opponent. A few of them are even playable while you wait for your current opponents to take their turns!
Other Resources
The number one complaint about BSW is that it is difficult to understand or navigate. BSW is a board game
world - essentially a permissive role-playing game - in which real life players play the role of townsfolk roaming a world to play boardgames. This seemingly redundant layer of abstraction can be frustrating to new players - especially those who take their role of looking for games to play with opponents from around the world quite seriously... and personally. Strangely enough many of the players on BSW really
are people looking for opponents from around the world to play board games. I know. It's hard to believe, isn't it?
It is for perhaps this reason that BSW has gradually become more newbie-friendly, with improved navigation for those who eschew the role-playing "meta-game", as BSWers tend to call it. Nonetheless, helpful guides and such have been created to get new players started.
