German-style games tend to have a theme (role-play element or a background story)—more like Monopoly or Clue, rather than poker or Tic Tac Toe.^[4] Game mechanics are not restricted by the theme, however—unlike a simulation game, the theme of a German game is often merely mnemonic. It is somewhat common for a game to be designed with one theme and published with another, or for the same game to be given a significantly different theme for a later republication, or for two games on wildly different themes to have very similar mechanics. Combat themes are uncommon, and player conflict is often indirect (for example, competing for a scarce resource).

Example themes are:

• Carcassonne – build a medieval landscape complete with walled cities, monasteries, roads, and fields.
• Puerto Rico – develop a plantation on the island of Puerto Rico, set in the 18th century.
• Imperial – as an international investor, influence the politics of pre-World War I European empires.
• Bruxelles 1893 – take the role of an Art Nouveau architect during the late 19th century and try to become the most famous architect in Belgium.^[5]

While many titles (especially the strategically heavier ones) are enthusiastically played by gamers as a hobby, German-style games are, for the most part, well suited to social play. In keeping with this social function, various characteristics of the games tend to support that aspect well, and these have become quite common across the genre. For example, generally German-style games do not have a fixed number of players like chess or bridge; though there is a sizable body of German-style games that are designed for exactly two players, most games can accommodate anywhere from two to six players (with varying degrees of suitability). Six-player games are somewhat rare, or require expansions, as with The Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne. Usually each player plays for him- or herself, rather than in a partnership or team.

In keeping with their social orientation, numbers are usually low in magnitude, often under ten, and any arithmetic in the game is typically trivial.

Playing time varies from a half hour to a few hours, with one to two hours being typical. In contrast to games such as Risk or Monopoly, in which a close game can extend indefinitely, German-style games usually have a mechanism to stop the game within its stated playing time. Common mechanisms include a pre-determined winning score, a set number of game turns, or depletion of limited game resources. For example, Ra and Carcassonne have limited tiles to exhaust.

Designers of German-style board games include:

• Antoine Bauza is a prolific French designer, best known for his work on 7 Wonders.
• Leo Colovini is best known for his board games Cartagena and Carcassonne: The Discovery.
• Stefan Feld is a German designer with a unique style of his own. He has designed games such as Castles of Burgundy and Trajan, and has been nominated for the Spiel des Jahres.
• Reiner Knizia is one of the most well-known & prolific German game designers, having designed over 200 published games. He usually works as the sole designer. Recurring mechanisms in his games include auctions (Ra and Modern Art), tile placement (Tigris and Euphrates and Ingenious), and intricate scoring rules (Samurai). He has also designed many card games such as Lost Cities, Schotten-Totten, and Blue Moon, and the cooperative board game The Lord of the Rings.
• Wolfgang Kramer often works with other game designers. Some of his best-known titles include El Grande, Tikal, Princes of Florence, and Torres. His games often have some sort of action point system, and include some geometric element.
• Alan R. Moon is a British-born designer with numerous games to his credit, often with a railway theme, including the Spiel des Jahres winning Ticket to Ride and Elfenland. His games are often characterized by selecting a single action from a choice of several (e.g. gather new cards or use existing cards)
• Alex Randolph created over 125 games and is responsible for the placement of the author’s name on the rules and box.
• Uwe Rosenberg designed Agricola, a highly ranked game on BoardGameGeek, as well as Bohnanza, Le Havre, and several others.
• Sid Sackson was a prolific American game designer.
• Andreas Seyfarth has designed the award-winning games Manhattan, Puerto Rico, and, with Karen Seyfarth, Thurn and Taxis.
• Klaus Teuber has designed a small number of games, many of which became extremely popular. Some have won the Spiel des Jahres Award. Titles include The Settlers of Catan and Adel Verpflichtet.
• Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, the German game designer of the popular Carcassonne board game series. As of September 2014, Carcassonne, has 9 major expansions as well as numerous mini-expansions.