107 replies to this topic

[Stars]

Does anyone around here play board games very often? Do you have favorites, like the classic Chess, the foreign Go, or the contemporary Carcassonne? I love board games, even more than when I was a kid thanks to all the weird and interesting ones I've been introduced to in recent years.

Germany seems to be a prime source for new games. I love Settlers of Catan and even more so its expansion, Cities & Knights of Catan; it's rather expensive to get both of those plus the 5-6 player expansions, but it was totally worth it. Catan is the sort of game where you try to earn Victory Points by doing various things (building towns on the board, advancing your technology to a certain level, fending off barbarian attacks, etc.), and the first person to reach a set number of points wins. There are loads of pieces, cards, and rules to keep track of, but once we got the hang of things, it became one of the most engrossing games we've played.

More recently, I got Ticket to Ride (also German), which I discovered through my sister-in-law's family. It's easier to learn than Cities & Knights, so I'm able to get more people to try it out when they come over. There are other versions that feature different locations, but the one I have has a map of the United States on the board. At the beginning of the game, you have a number of Tickets with two cities and a point value listed on them. During the game, you collect various colored train cards, and you have to try to connect the cities on your tickets by spending the proper train cards needed to create a route between two neighboring cities. It's a fairly simple idea, but it's a blast to play. We just played two rounds this afternoon and taught a new player who seemed to enjoy it.

I've tried learning how to play Go, and I've got the rules down; I just have no sense of strategy for the thing. I have a hard time getting people to play with me, so I barely get to practice at all. I do enjoy it though, and I'd love to find someone local who already knows what they're doing so I can improve. The only guy I've met who knew the game has moved to Iowa, which doesn't help me at all...

One game that I would warn people to be careful of (though it's still fun) is Diplomacy - or as my friend's dad calls it, Back Stab. It vaguely resembles Risk but is played in an entirely different manner. It has no dice, no cards, and turns can take upwards of 10 minutes each. The board is a map of Europe during WWI, divided into 7 major powers and neutral countries (I'm told it's best with 7 players, but I've only played with 4). Each territory can hold only one army token, but adjacent tokens can support each other in battle.
Turns are comprised almost entirely of talking, as indicated by the name. You can talk across the board, pass notes, hold "secret conferences" in other rooms, offer alliances, spy on said secret conferences, declare war, and everything you say can be true or a blatant lie. Nothing you say is binding except for the orders you give your armies when the talking is done for the round. Everyone secretly writes down what each of their pieces will do - be it defending, invading, or supporting - and everything is resolved at the same time; this can cause quite a headache when three people are trying to do the same thing, and you have to work out the result.
The first time I played, I allied myself with one of the people who owned the game. We managed to push back the other two players quite a bit, and it looked like we would end up as the clear winners. However...the "back stab" part came into play when my ally's brother told him off-hand that if he betrayed me, the game could last longer and be more interesting. I knew there was no way he would actually do it, and he flatly said that he wouldn't, but before I knew what had happened, nearly my whole territory had been blitzed by my former compatriot, and I was knocked out of the game a few turns later.
You quickly learn to trust no one in this game. <_<

If anyone has bother to read this far, I'd like to make general recommendations for Carcassonne, Blokus, and Starfarers of Catan. Good stuff.

What games do people here enjoy playing?

[Maelstrom]

Been playing some chess recently again because a friend of mine likes to play it because he's really good. I've beaten him before, but I don't like having to put that much concentration into it...

I played that catan stuff I can't remember... on yeah, my cousin's friend had it. It's okay. It was fun, but I didn't get hooked on it or anything.

Never played shogi before.

My friends play Munchkin, and kinda collect the different sets. Like the spy one, wild west one, space one, etc. That one's pretty fun.

We also play Betrayal at the House on Haunted Hill (or something like that). AWESOME game that's expensive as hell cuz they don't make it anymore. Basically a 'horror' game that ends up with one of you being the betrayer, who has to win by getting the other players or get some other objective done. the rest of the players either have to kill the traitor, or escape, or whatever. What happens depends on each game, as each game will have it's own special rules. It has 50+ betrayal scenarios, like turning intoa werewolf, controlling frankenstein's monster, cannibalism, shrinking people, vampires, bats, cats, controlling monsters etc. And each of those has it's own win/lose scenario for both the survivors and the traitor (sometimes there isn't a traitor). Anyways, the basic gameplay is exploring the house by exposing tiles for 3 different floor levels, and you determine (for the most part) where the tiles go, so the house is different in each play thru too.

[Monkeydog]

Argh, I wish I had friends who were willing to play board games.

The only one I can think of that kind of is, is Hyperlisk, and he lives too far from me now.

I really kind of want to get into some of the new board games (and I especially want to try a DnD game, or at least a derivative of it) but they all cost so much. I've played Catan and Ticket to Ride on my computer, but they're not really fun when you're playing by yourself.

I used to love Chess though. And I am a fan of Scrabble, despite how badly I suck at it.

[Maelstrom]

Lol. forgot about scrabble. I tend to win at that... but then again, I also seem to be the one that actually enjoys the crossword puzzles in the daily paper.

Also, my friends were gonna try DnD. This weekend after anime club is when we'll meet to create characters and learn about the game and all that stuff. Then the next weekend is probably when we'll actually start a game and see what it's like.

As for me, I'm not gonna do it all in character and stuff. I'm gonna play it like I'm playing some video game rpg. The fun is in the fighting and the winning/losing.

Also, I hear there's some online thing for DnD rules and stuff, so you really don't have to buy stuff. Well, probably a few things or whatever, but you can probably just use other things at home as stand-in stuff for dragons or what have you.

[Monkeydog]

Also, I hear there's some online thing for DnD rules and stuff, so you really don't have to buy stuff. Well, probably a few things or whatever, but you can probably just use other things at home as stand-in stuff for dragons or what have you.

Yeaaaaaaaah but the problem with DnD is having the rules near by, having people to play it with you, setting everything up, making maps, buying dice. It's a big hassle especially if you already don't know how to play very well.

I remember when I was younger, and really into anime, I was trying to get a DnD game with my friends...despite not knowing the rules very well (I knew better than I do now, though, somehow) and I just had pages of just prep work. It's kind of annoying.

I really just need to make friends with someone who already plays.

And if I did find people to play DnD with, I probably would be too much into character either. I'm not crazy enough.

[Maelstrom]

Also, I hear there's some online thing for DnD rules and stuff, so you really don't have to buy stuff. Well, probably a few things or whatever, but you can probably just use other things at home as stand-in stuff for dragons or what have you.

Yeaaaaaaaah but the problem with DnD is having the rules near by, having people to play it with you, setting everything up, making maps, buying dice. It's a big hassle especially if you already don't know how to play very well.

I remember when I was younger, and really into anime, I was trying to get a DnD game with my friends...despite not knowing the rules very well (I knew better than I do now, though, somehow) and I just had pages of just prep work. It's kind of annoying.

I really just need to make friends with someone who already plays.

And if I did find people to play DnD with, I probably would be too much into character either. I'm not crazy enough.

Actually yeah, we're being lead by some loud, obnoxious guy who already knows how to play. >.>

And as for the dice, that's like 6 bucks for a set of one of all the die you could possibly want at any local comic/gaming store. And yeah, the veteran dude will be the DM and making/pulling out a map for us based on the characters we create and stuff.

And like I said, that site, my friend found it and said it saves you all those pages of prepwork by having a character creating engine that basically helps you through everything to make a lvl 1 character. From stats, abilities, weapons and armor to buy... and classes and races that you'd normally have to buy several books to learn of their existence and their rules and abilities and all that. wizards.com or something like that, i dunno. I'll have to ask him later.

[Stars]

If you're playing with the 3.5 rules and not 4.0 (don't know anything about the new edition), this site has all the reference material that is allowed to be shared for free. It's got just about everything from the player's handbook, monster manual, and dungeon master's guide, plus bits of a few other books, like psionics.

[Kamau]

I used to love playing Chess. I'm not too sure when I stopped loving the game, but I think it was at some point in high school, when the adviser of the club turned it into a huge competition. Once he started getting mad at me for not doing things the 'right' way, the game stopped being fun... which is really sad, because I still secretly love the game. I'm just not that good at it anymore, since I think I've lost the ability to strategize effectively enough to win.

I also like the game LIFE. This was a game my entire family used to play, during those rare occasions when we'd all decide to play a board game. Now, I know people up here at college that also like playing the game~.

Outside of board games, I love, love, love playing card games. Not things like poker or black jack, but games like rummy and stuff like that. One of my favorites is a game entitled "May I", which my grandma taught me. It's a game she's known how to play practically forever, and when I first learned, it was at her old house with some of her old friends. They were playing cards and I was there, so I wanted to play too. We play it as often as people are willing, but half the time my mom and sister don't want to play, so we don't have a ton of people. It's a kind of game where you definitely need at least three people. There are six rounds, with each having a different set of cards that you have to put down before you can start adding to others' piles, and all that. Sadly, no one seems interested up at college.

I also enjoy Pokeno, which is basically Bingo with cards instead of numbered balls. It's fun.

[kspr]

DnD is alright if you just make up rules on the fly. risk is fun, but can take waaaay to long. bendominos is a lot of fun, especially if you can find the ones with all animals. apples to apples is fun if you have three other people. its not exactly a boardgame, but you can just wing it. i really miss playing operation, perfection, but the best ever was clue.

[Stars]

Forgot to mention Backgammon. Few of the people I've asked have heard of the game, and fewer know how it's played. My dad taught me when I was 7, and it's what we play whenever we want to hang out at home. Everyone in my family except my mom knows how to play and is pretty good, but I'm the only one left at home, so I usually just play with my dad. It's great since we're fairly equal in terms of skill.

As for card games, I'm surprised I didn't think to include those in the topic. One I learned recently that is apparently quite old (my mom has told me stories of when my grandmother played it as a girl) is Pit. This one is best played with as many people as possible, up to 8 I think. There are 9 cards each of various grains (corn, wheat, etc.), and you offer trades with other players to try and get all of one type of card. There are no turns since everyone plays at the same time, and you offer cards (without revealing them, though they have to be the same type) by yelling out the number you want to trade until someone passes you the same number. As soon as someone has a "corner" on one of the grain markets, they ring a bell to end the round. This game is made much easier if you have a loud voice. =p

Another fun one is Set. There are 12 cards laid out that have various shapes, colors, numbers, and fills (solid, outline, or textured). Players scans the cards as fast as the can to find a set of three that are either all the same or all different in each of those aspects; then you call "Set!" and point out the ones you found, taking them to add to your points and replacing them with fresh cards. As an example:

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
At a glance, I see at least three sets in that picture:
> 5, 10, 11; Shape: all ovals; Color: all purple; Number: one, two, and three; Fill: all outlines
> 6, 7, 12; Shape: all "squiggles"; Color: all green; Number: all three; Fill: outline, texture, and solid
> 3, 8, 9; Shape: "squiggle," diamond, and oval; Color: all red; Number: all two; Fill: outline, texture, and solid

[Monkeydog]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SET. Evil game.

[Stars]

Haha. An unexpected reaction.

Also, 2, 5, 11 has the same number with different colors, shapes, and fills.
Lots of sets in that pic.

EDIT: Since someone mentioned Scrabble, UpWords is an interesting variation of that game. It's played almost exactly the same, though the board is smaller and the points are much simpler. The unique feature of the game is that you can stack letter tiles on top of old ones to change the words that are on the board. For instance, you could change STOP to STAR. Even better is that if you change a letter that is a part of two intersecting words, you get points from both of the new words. This is the game I play with my mom in lieu of Backgammon.

[Hyperlisk]

Whenever I go down my sister's we always play games. Latest game fad there is Killer Bunnies. An interesting card game too long to detail here... But it's pretty fun, though they always want to play that instead of LIFE D:

[Amethyst]

LIFE seriously depresses me.
I'm not even trying to make a joke. That is the saddest board game ever.

[toysintheattic]

Monkey, when we have Portland house we will play board games every day!

[Kamau]

I love Backgammon! :D

[Vicious Parker]

Scrabble is my mostest favorite. But nobody else loves it like I do...

[Monkeydog]

Monkey, when we have Portland house we will play board games every day!

Hurray! :D

[lazlo falconi]

Ekans likes Munchkin, but that's not really a board game... It's more of a card game. Ekans also likes Rummikub, which is very fun. And Scrabble. Ekans hates Monopoly though.

Ekans used to be an avid chess player (But was never good) but Ekans hasn't really played with anyone since high school.

Ekans also likes Pictionary.

[Stars]

Ekans also likes Rummikub, which is very fun.

Indeed it is. My brother-in-law taught us that one. My brother takes too long with his turns though (then again, he does that with most games we play).