I guess I hadn't heard the term Ameritrash used in this particular context until I read Continental Divide: Board games reflect the culture that created them.
The article leads off with a nod to Pandemic Legacy:
Last winter, a new board game, Pandemic Legacy, did something quite rare: It became the No. 1 board game of all time on BoardGameGeek.com, beating more than 83,000 games. First printings of games usually run between 5,000 and 10,000; pre-orders of Legacy were an unheard-of 80,000 copies. But in some corners of the hobby game world, Legacy’s rise is controversial. One review said its popularity was proof that "all of these Euro lovers have secretly always wanted a taste of what Ameritrash games provide."
We haven't yet played Pandemic Legacy, but last winter my daughter introduced us to the original Pandemic game, and it has quickly moved to near the top of our regular games list.
My grand-daughter is particularly fond of Pandemic, and, I must say, is particularly good at it.
Pandemic is interesting because it is a very different sort of game:
The players are disease-fighting specialists whose mission is to treat disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand....
Taking a unique role within the team, players must plan their strategy to mesh with their specialists' strengths in order to conquer the diseases.
...
but the diseases are spreading quickly and time is running out. If one or more diseases spreads beyond recovery or if too much time elapses, the players all lose. If they cure the four diseases, they all win!
Either everybody loses, or everybody wins.
It's a very different experience than most board games, where one person wins while the other players lose.
We've tried a few other of the so-called "cooperative games," but none has been remotely as good as Pandemic
I think that means it's time to give Pandemic Legacy a try!
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