Brettspielnetz.de is of legal age

18 years! Brettspielnetz.de is now officially of legal age. So technically, we can no longer claim that the site is still “in its infancy”. Although … some of the old parts of the code could probably still show a child ID.

On September 21, 2008, Bram, Frank and I officially went online with the German version of jijbent.nl. Before that, we had spent months working on the entire framework, translating fifteen games into German and testing everything extensively with numerous friends and volunteers.

From the very beginning, there were some differences compared with jijbent.nl, because Frank and I also brought in our own ideas – for example, the groups with their colorful icons. Over the following years, twelve more games from jijbent.nl were quickly added. Since then, we have more than doubled that number again: you can currently play 54 different games.

And I hope there will be even more in the coming years. Perhaps I will even manage to integrate Streetsoccer into our framework before the end of the year. After all, you should still be allowed to make plans for yourself on your 18th birthday.

18 years – and who is still here?

About 90 of the players who were with us in the early years are still around today. Considering that this is 18 years of internet history, I find that quite remarkable. Some of you have been here almost as long as the site itself – you probably know more Brettspielnetz stories by now than I do.

After a good start, we had around 600 active players on our site by 2023. When Bram stopped running jijbent.nl and yourturnmyturn.com, and as we expanded to support multiple languages, more than 1,000 new players from all over the world joined us.

We notice this not only from the many Dutch and English contributions in the forum, but of course also from the language-specific wordplay. A complete translation of the site will still take quite some time, though. I have learned by now that “multilingualism” is a very nice word for “There is still a lot of work waiting for me.”

Since Frank left, I am now the only person who can continue developing the site technically. Alongside all the administrative work, that is quite a challenge. So my thanks go first of all to my co-admins, who help take some of the load off me or – like Marianne – help move the site forward by maintaining the Dutch and English dictionaries.

Another big thank-you goes to Hoodie and Jos_krd123 for organizing the custom tournaments, which clearly provide a lot of people with a lot of fun – and the organizers with at least as much work. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone from your team!

And last but not least, my thanks go to my wife, who gives me the freedom and support to keep working on Brettspielnetz.de. Without her support, the site would probably have reached adulthood much earlier – but I probably wouldn't still be here with it.

What happens next?

That depends partly on you!

If you continue to support Brettspielnetz.de, hopefully the site can keep running for many more years. One of the best ways you can help is by telling other people about the site. Unfortunately, the number of active users has been steadily declining since the big increase in 2023. We are currently at around 80 % of the number of users we had back then.

There are certainly many reasons for this: the age of the players, changing interests, new ways of spending our free time, and much more.

There is one reason, however, that particularly annoys me: a bad habit that has crept into some of the games.

Although it is explicitly forbidden by the terms and conditions, some players use external assistance – such as chess programs or AI – to calculate their moves.

Quite apart from the fact that this takes away some of the enjoyment of the game for themselves, it also discourages their opponents, who are working out their moves on their own.

I simply cannot understand this kind of unfairness. Some very good players have already given up playing because of it, and I find that a great shame.

After all, Brettspielnetz.de is not a “Who can find the best AI?” competition. The point is to play yourself. To think. To get annoyed when you make a stupid move. To be happy when you outsmart your opponent. And sometimes simply to wait for 40 moves for that one opportunity that never actually comes.

18 years old is no reason to grow up

So, as you can see: reaching legal adulthood does not make all the problems disappear.

But perhaps Brettspielnetz.de doesn't have to grow up at all. After all, there is nothing wrong with keeping a little bit of your playful spirit – especially when you are already 18 years old.

What makes me happiest is that this site is still here after 18 years. That people are still playing games, organizing tournaments, discussing things in the forum, celebrating a great move or getting annoyed by a particularly mean opponent. And that new players continue to join us.

Thank you to everyone who has accompanied, supported and helped bring Brettspielnetz.de to life over all these years!

Here’s to the next 18 years – and hopefully there will still be plenty of stones, dice, cards and playing pieces left by then.

Have fun playing on Brettspielnetz.de!
Ottmar / Mathomo
Euer Admin

I had a little help from ChatGPT polishing this text – and the Dutch and English versions were also created with its help. The ideas and memories, however, are still mine.