Board Games for You?
Apr. 3rd, 2021 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI'm curating (decluttering) my board game collection and you and yours gets dibs! (The rest go to Half Price.)
In case you might be interested in games you've never heard of, I have a description of each game and, where possible, a link to Board Game Geek's entry on the game. I included the date because board games from my childhood are mostly pretty terrible, unless maybe you're a little kid who loves the theme or you're creative enough to make up way better rules or a whole different kind of creation. The games are listed alphabetically, but that's not particularly helpful, so you might also try searching for any of these tags that I've added:
* cooperative
* deck building
* deduction
* kids
* resource management
* semi-cooperative (one against everyone else)
* simulation
* strategy
Car Wars (Deluxe Edition, revised)
(1985, Steve Jackson Games)
Some kind of demolition derby meets D&D game. It looks complicated.
Dominion
(2008, 2-4 players, 30 minutes, age 13+)
* deck building
Perhaps the original deck building game, you start with some minorly useful cards in your hand. For each game ten of the many available specialty decks are chosen and you can buy those cards to enhance your hand. The number of combinations makes the game quite re-playable. In theory.
Unfortunately for me, this is one of those games where it's fun to get all these cards that let you do stuff, but you only win the game by collecting cards that are useless. In other words, there are fun cards and victory point cards, and winning mostly involves switching over from collecting the first kind of card to the second kind of card at just the right time.
Empires in Arms
(1983, Avalon Hill, 2-7 players, 2-200 hours, age 14+)
* simulation
Experience the Napoleanic Wars first hand by actually immersing yourself in the situation and making decisions. Ideally you play this with 7 players over multiple weeks like D&D. Each person plays a country, and each country has different strengths and weaknesses. There is both combat and diplomacy.
I loved simulation games in school, and I got this because I heard good things about Avalon Hill games, but I seem to never get around to playing it.
Forbidden Island
(2010, 2-4 players, 30 minutes, age 10+)
* cooperative
We've been shipwrecked. You need to collect the four treasures, get everyone to the helicopter pad and take a helicopter to safety before the island sinks. Each player has different useful skills.
This is one of my favorite cooperative games. It's a lot like Forbidden Desert, but I decided it was more fun for some reason. But like most cooperative games, I find it a bit stressful.
Get Lucky
(2014, Cheapass Games, 2-6 players, 20 minutes, age 12+)
Dr. Lucky has enemies, and he has inadvertently invited a bunch of them to his mansion. So the bad news is they all want to kill him. The good news is they all want to kill him first, so they will try to prevent other people's murders.
You play a couple of the characters. On each turn you can draw a card, play a card to add or perfect a motive, a weapon, or an opportunity for one of your characters to strengthen them, or to attempt murder. If you attempt murder, other players must discard cards until your power is surpassed or your attempt succeeds and you win. If you are the first player to block the murder, you are tempted to not worry about it and let the other players deal with it. So it has a press-your-luck vibe that I don't really like.
I love the character portraits and the humor on the flavor text.
Investigators: A Cooperative Detective Game
(1989, Family Pastimes, ages 8+, no entry in Board Game Geek)
* cooperative
* kids
This is like a cooperative version of Clue, and it's set up so you don't have to have a good memory or take notes. Just go around the board picking up clues and red herrings and stumbling across and eliminating (or ignoring) road blocks.
My favorite part is you have to explain how your M.O's can be used to eliminate the obstacles. For example, my "tool kit" can be used to deal with this "locked safe" because I have lock picks in there.
This is only one step up from board games of the 1960s, where you go around the board hoping you get good dice rolls. It can get real old when you can't figure out how to escape, say, a drugged drink with a disguise and it takes the other player(s) forever to get to a go-anywhere space so they can rescue you. (Once they do, you can thank them with some of the cash you weren't spending by not having turns.) Also, like many cooperative games, it's not super easy to win, but it's not as depressing as most. Like most games, it is improved with storytelling along the way rather just rolling and going. Like most games for ages 8+, it's not fun enough for my tastes.
I found this in a cute shop in Seattle ages ago, and it's from a Canadian Company that's so nice! They make only cooperative games made of non-toxic and recycled materials. And they are still in business! So I love them, but I just don't love this game.
Masterpiece
(1970, 3-6 players, 1 hour, age 10+)
Each player is a snooty art investor, buying and selling fabulous paintings at auction. The actual value of the painting is clipped to the back of the painting--only the owner can see the true value (including whether it is a forgery of no value at all). When all the paintings are sold, whoever's paintings are worth the most in total is the winner.
The cool part is that the paintings are all nice reproductions of real paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Mysterium
(2015, 2-7 players, 40 minutes, age 10+)
One player is the ghost of a murder victim; the others are mediums who try to figure out what happened based on pictoral clues. I think the more, the merrier with this game. I like it okay when someone else is hosting (the ghost), but it feels too much like mind reading is required, which is not my thing.
Once Upon a Time (2nd edition)
(1995, 2-6 players, 30 minutes, age 8+)
Start with a hand of a few cards. Some cards have a story element such as a character, a location, or an event. Some can be used to "interrupt" those elements. You also have one story ending card. The first player starts telling a story, trying to include the story elements they have and to steer toward the ending they have. Meanwhile, if they mention a story element someone else has, that person can play their card and take over the story telling (and then the first person would have to draw an additional card). You can also take over the story by using an interrupt card with the same element (such as "king") or the same type of element (such as "character") as a card the storyteller has just played. The first player to get rid of all their cards, ending with the ending card, is the winner. Ideally everyone's the winner because it's a fun story.
I'm not a good storyteller. And I'm not good with negotiating whether someone's card is an important enough element of their story to be able to count or whatever. I have enjoyed round-robin stories, though, so if you wanted to play this with me, I would do it. I just warn you that my part of the story would probably be kind of boring.
Primoridal Soup (aka Ursuppe)
(1997, 3-4 players, 90 minutes, age 12+)
* simulation
Play an amoeboid species as members of its population are born, move, feed, adapt to changes in the environment, and die. With life experience, you can acquire new members or new genes that can improve your control, efficiency, defense, etc.
I found this game interesting and fun the first few times, but there's a learning curve figuring out what all the possible genes do and which combinations are best, and getting serious about that made this game less fun for me.
Scotland Yard
(1983, 2-6 players, 45 minutes, age 10+)
* deduction
* semi-cooperative
One player controls Mr. X, on the run from the other player(s), who control the five detectives. All use fare tickets to move by taxi, bus, etc. The detectives can generally see which transportation type Mr. X is using and occasionally, at known times, his location. Mr. X can always see where all the detectives are and can hear them talking.
I'm not sure I've ever played this game. I would happily play with you if you wanted, but I don't think it's really my thing anymore.
I have the older edition. Its map has the cartoonish buildings, the fare tickets are quite plain, and the player tokens are clear, so you can sort of see the transportation stations through them (picture here).
Secrets of the Tombs
(2003, 35 players, 30 minutes, age 8+)
* kids
Seek paths through an Egyptian pyramid (collect and place path tiles), follow them (rolling dice to move yourself and or the Egyptian god Ammut) to artifact chambers (pre-laid tiles) where you can pick up 1 - 3 artifacts (cards). Discover 5 chambers or collect 12 artifacts and escape the pyramid first to win! Meanwhile Ammut has been awakened, makes his way to the pyramid and then looks for people to fight. And some path tiles trigger events (draw an event card).
This game is beautiful. And each artifact card has a wonderful illustration of a real artifact and a long description. All of which you ignore in the game because all you care about is whether there are symbols in the corners that mean that Ammut moves or you lose a life point. And the events all involve gaining or losing a life point, so they get boring quickly.
I think I would have loved this game as a kid because of the theme but now, not so much.
Shadows in Kyoto
(2017, 2 players, 15-30 minutes, age 10+)
* deduction
* strategy
Play a government group or a spy group, trying to gather intelligence from your opponent while keeping your intelligence safe. Win by capturing 2 enemy agents who possess real intelligence, letting your opponent capture 3 of your agents who possess fake intelligence, or by having one of your agents escape with real intelligence.
This game is beautiful, small, and set in Japan.
This is too much of an abstract strategy game for my tastes.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases
(1982, 1-8 players, 60-120 minutes, age 13+)
Also, these supplements:
* The Queen's Park Affair (1984)
* Adventures by Gas Light (1986)
* deduction
Not technically a board game, somehow you go through a list of clues, a map, a newspaper, and a directory, making notes and wracking your brain to deduce what's going on. The main game has ten cases. I've never played. Maybe sort of like those Infocom games?
Splendor
(2014, 2-4 players, 30 minutes, age 10+)
* kids
* resource management
A beautiful game now considered a classic. Collect gem cards. Each one lets you reduce your cost by one gem of the type shown. So why not buy just the cheap ones? Because they don't give you any prestige points, which is what you actually need to win.
I would happily play this game with you if you bought it. It's just not a favorite. Except for how pretty it is.
Spooks
(2003, Steve Jackson Games, 3-6 players, 10 minutes, age 12+)
This is a trick-taking game with cool pictures. I mean, the suits are spiders, ghosts, goblins, skeletons, and bats. Each suit has a special rule and the top card in each suit has a special power.
I haven't played it. It sounds sort of like Uno but with bit more strategizing.
Spy Alley
(1992, 2-6 players, 45 minutes, age 8+)
* deduction
Each player is a different nationality; each nationality needs to collect different things to win. But if someone guesses your nationality first, they win, so you have to get stuff you don't need, too, to fool your opponents.
I have not played this. It seems ancient and sounds like not my kind of game with the bluffing and player elimination.
Star Munchkin
(2002, Steve Jackson Games, 3-6 players, 90 minutes, age 10+)
Also the expansion:
* Star Munchkin 2 (2004)
This is a space-themed Munchkin card game with very silly characters and drawings. You fight monsters for treasure. This is one of those games where you need other people's help and also you need to stab them in the back, so it's not really my thing.
Stock Market Guru
(1997, Avalon Hill, 1-10 players, 2 hours, age 10+)
* simulation
Buy and sell stocks in the game's ten companies over the course of ten turns (years) in an attempt to acquire the most money at the end of the game.
I got this because I liked simulation games in school and heard good things about Avalon Hill games. I tried the base game a couple of times. (They also have historical scenarios you can use.) The game play is pretty satisfying but the disconnect from reality is disconcerting. Some of the things this game showed me:
* As with all stock market games, choosing the best stock and holding it works best, but you can't know what the best stock is. So diversifying works better than guessing wrong. [In real life, it can be pretty obvious that specific companies will probably do well and others are doomed, at least in the long term. But when you are clueless, maximizing diversity does work best (index funds have higher returns than a huge percentage of managed funds).]
* When buying and selling only once a year, the fees you pay don't matter. (In real life, that's probably true for one-time fees, but not for annual fees.)
* You can't just buy one stock or bond; you have to buy in groups of ten. (This sort of limitation is not as true as it once was, but any fees are usually a much bigger percentage of your purchase if you buy a small amount.)
* Any stock tips you get do not matter compared whether the market is a bull or a bear and compared to all the other random factors you aren't getting tips about. (In real life, acting on information the public doesn't know is illegal, and acting on information you get from paid advisors is risky. For example, brokers are incentivized to recommend stocks that give them a higher income and companies that have any S&P 500 index funds are incentivized to tell their other clients bad things about any new stocks that make it into this index (and that they are going to have to buy a lot of).
* Buying low and selling high doesn't work because the low-cost things will usually continue going down and vice versa. Well, that's what happened in the two games I played. (I'm sure this is true sometimes, but there are also cycles.)
* You can have a bull market or bear market for the entire ten years. (Rare.)
* When interest rates go up, bond values go down. (True.)
* Even in a bear market, most stock prices go up, just not as much. (Is that true? Maybe it is if you look at a whole year at a time.)
* When a stock splits, each stock keeps paying the same dividend amount (nope, the dividend would be split, too--but I can't imagine how they'd do it right and still have the game work)
* When a company goes bankrupt, you lose all the stocks you have in it without compensation. And then the company sells new stocks at a new price. (That's basically true.)
Total Depth
(1984, 2-5 players, 2 hours, age 12+)
* simulation
I do not have the instructions and cannot find them online. So I'm only listing this game on the very off chance that someone has or remembers the rules and is missing other parts or something.
Prospect for oil, hoping to strike it rich--first millionaire is the winner, but you may go bankrupt first. I think a lot of luck is involved, like in real life.
Whosit
(1976, Parker Brothers, 2-6, 45 minutes, age ~7+)
* deduction
* kids
This is a game from my childhood that I used to like. You each choose one character, play question cards to ask yes/no questions about the other characters until you figure out who they are. One character always lies, one always says no, one can answer however he wants. When you guess, the other players sneak their chip into the right or wrong side of a box. If all are in the right side, you win!
Unfortunately one of the traits you're guessing about is race and one is gender and it just feels squicky now. Probably I should just destroy it.
FYI, this game has been "reimplemented" as Dinosaur Tea Party with no race issues at all.
In case you might be interested in games you've never heard of, I have a description of each game and, where possible, a link to Board Game Geek's entry on the game. I included the date because board games from my childhood are mostly pretty terrible, unless maybe you're a little kid who loves the theme or you're creative enough to make up way better rules or a whole different kind of creation. The games are listed alphabetically, but that's not particularly helpful, so you might also try searching for any of these tags that I've added:
* cooperative
* deck building
* deduction
* kids
* resource management
* semi-cooperative (one against everyone else)
* simulation
* strategy
Car Wars (Deluxe Edition, revised)
(1985, Steve Jackson Games)
Some kind of demolition derby meets D&D game. It looks complicated.
Dominion
(2008, 2-4 players, 30 minutes, age 13+)
* deck building
Perhaps the original deck building game, you start with some minorly useful cards in your hand. For each game ten of the many available specialty decks are chosen and you can buy those cards to enhance your hand. The number of combinations makes the game quite re-playable. In theory.
Unfortunately for me, this is one of those games where it's fun to get all these cards that let you do stuff, but you only win the game by collecting cards that are useless. In other words, there are fun cards and victory point cards, and winning mostly involves switching over from collecting the first kind of card to the second kind of card at just the right time.
Empires in Arms
(1983, Avalon Hill, 2-7 players, 2-200 hours, age 14+)
* simulation
Experience the Napoleanic Wars first hand by actually immersing yourself in the situation and making decisions. Ideally you play this with 7 players over multiple weeks like D&D. Each person plays a country, and each country has different strengths and weaknesses. There is both combat and diplomacy.
I loved simulation games in school, and I got this because I heard good things about Avalon Hill games, but I seem to never get around to playing it.
Forbidden Island
(2010, 2-4 players, 30 minutes, age 10+)
* cooperative
We've been shipwrecked. You need to collect the four treasures, get everyone to the helicopter pad and take a helicopter to safety before the island sinks. Each player has different useful skills.
This is one of my favorite cooperative games. It's a lot like Forbidden Desert, but I decided it was more fun for some reason. But like most cooperative games, I find it a bit stressful.
Get Lucky
(2014, Cheapass Games, 2-6 players, 20 minutes, age 12+)
Dr. Lucky has enemies, and he has inadvertently invited a bunch of them to his mansion. So the bad news is they all want to kill him. The good news is they all want to kill him first, so they will try to prevent other people's murders.
You play a couple of the characters. On each turn you can draw a card, play a card to add or perfect a motive, a weapon, or an opportunity for one of your characters to strengthen them, or to attempt murder. If you attempt murder, other players must discard cards until your power is surpassed or your attempt succeeds and you win. If you are the first player to block the murder, you are tempted to not worry about it and let the other players deal with it. So it has a press-your-luck vibe that I don't really like.
I love the character portraits and the humor on the flavor text.
Investigators: A Cooperative Detective Game
(1989, Family Pastimes, ages 8+, no entry in Board Game Geek)
* cooperative
* kids
This is like a cooperative version of Clue, and it's set up so you don't have to have a good memory or take notes. Just go around the board picking up clues and red herrings and stumbling across and eliminating (or ignoring) road blocks.
My favorite part is you have to explain how your M.O's can be used to eliminate the obstacles. For example, my "tool kit" can be used to deal with this "locked safe" because I have lock picks in there.
This is only one step up from board games of the 1960s, where you go around the board hoping you get good dice rolls. It can get real old when you can't figure out how to escape, say, a drugged drink with a disguise and it takes the other player(s) forever to get to a go-anywhere space so they can rescue you. (Once they do, you can thank them with some of the cash you weren't spending by not having turns.) Also, like many cooperative games, it's not super easy to win, but it's not as depressing as most. Like most games, it is improved with storytelling along the way rather just rolling and going. Like most games for ages 8+, it's not fun enough for my tastes.
I found this in a cute shop in Seattle ages ago, and it's from a Canadian Company that's so nice! They make only cooperative games made of non-toxic and recycled materials. And they are still in business! So I love them, but I just don't love this game.
Masterpiece
(1970, 3-6 players, 1 hour, age 10+)
Each player is a snooty art investor, buying and selling fabulous paintings at auction. The actual value of the painting is clipped to the back of the painting--only the owner can see the true value (including whether it is a forgery of no value at all). When all the paintings are sold, whoever's paintings are worth the most in total is the winner.
The cool part is that the paintings are all nice reproductions of real paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Mysterium
(2015, 2-7 players, 40 minutes, age 10+)
One player is the ghost of a murder victim; the others are mediums who try to figure out what happened based on pictoral clues. I think the more, the merrier with this game. I like it okay when someone else is hosting (the ghost), but it feels too much like mind reading is required, which is not my thing.
Once Upon a Time (2nd edition)
(1995, 2-6 players, 30 minutes, age 8+)
Start with a hand of a few cards. Some cards have a story element such as a character, a location, or an event. Some can be used to "interrupt" those elements. You also have one story ending card. The first player starts telling a story, trying to include the story elements they have and to steer toward the ending they have. Meanwhile, if they mention a story element someone else has, that person can play their card and take over the story telling (and then the first person would have to draw an additional card). You can also take over the story by using an interrupt card with the same element (such as "king") or the same type of element (such as "character") as a card the storyteller has just played. The first player to get rid of all their cards, ending with the ending card, is the winner. Ideally everyone's the winner because it's a fun story.
I'm not a good storyteller. And I'm not good with negotiating whether someone's card is an important enough element of their story to be able to count or whatever. I have enjoyed round-robin stories, though, so if you wanted to play this with me, I would do it. I just warn you that my part of the story would probably be kind of boring.
Primoridal Soup (aka Ursuppe)
(1997, 3-4 players, 90 minutes, age 12+)
* simulation
Play an amoeboid species as members of its population are born, move, feed, adapt to changes in the environment, and die. With life experience, you can acquire new members or new genes that can improve your control, efficiency, defense, etc.
I found this game interesting and fun the first few times, but there's a learning curve figuring out what all the possible genes do and which combinations are best, and getting serious about that made this game less fun for me.
Scotland Yard
(1983, 2-6 players, 45 minutes, age 10+)
* deduction
* semi-cooperative
One player controls Mr. X, on the run from the other player(s), who control the five detectives. All use fare tickets to move by taxi, bus, etc. The detectives can generally see which transportation type Mr. X is using and occasionally, at known times, his location. Mr. X can always see where all the detectives are and can hear them talking.
I'm not sure I've ever played this game. I would happily play with you if you wanted, but I don't think it's really my thing anymore.
I have the older edition. Its map has the cartoonish buildings, the fare tickets are quite plain, and the player tokens are clear, so you can sort of see the transportation stations through them (picture here).
Secrets of the Tombs
(2003, 35 players, 30 minutes, age 8+)
* kids
Seek paths through an Egyptian pyramid (collect and place path tiles), follow them (rolling dice to move yourself and or the Egyptian god Ammut) to artifact chambers (pre-laid tiles) where you can pick up 1 - 3 artifacts (cards). Discover 5 chambers or collect 12 artifacts and escape the pyramid first to win! Meanwhile Ammut has been awakened, makes his way to the pyramid and then looks for people to fight. And some path tiles trigger events (draw an event card).
This game is beautiful. And each artifact card has a wonderful illustration of a real artifact and a long description. All of which you ignore in the game because all you care about is whether there are symbols in the corners that mean that Ammut moves or you lose a life point. And the events all involve gaining or losing a life point, so they get boring quickly.
I think I would have loved this game as a kid because of the theme but now, not so much.
Shadows in Kyoto
(2017, 2 players, 15-30 minutes, age 10+)
* deduction
* strategy
Play a government group or a spy group, trying to gather intelligence from your opponent while keeping your intelligence safe. Win by capturing 2 enemy agents who possess real intelligence, letting your opponent capture 3 of your agents who possess fake intelligence, or by having one of your agents escape with real intelligence.
This game is beautiful, small, and set in Japan.
This is too much of an abstract strategy game for my tastes.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases
(1982, 1-8 players, 60-120 minutes, age 13+)
Also, these supplements:
* The Queen's Park Affair (1984)
* Adventures by Gas Light (1986)
* deduction
Not technically a board game, somehow you go through a list of clues, a map, a newspaper, and a directory, making notes and wracking your brain to deduce what's going on. The main game has ten cases. I've never played. Maybe sort of like those Infocom games?
Splendor
(2014, 2-4 players, 30 minutes, age 10+)
* kids
* resource management
A beautiful game now considered a classic. Collect gem cards. Each one lets you reduce your cost by one gem of the type shown. So why not buy just the cheap ones? Because they don't give you any prestige points, which is what you actually need to win.
I would happily play this game with you if you bought it. It's just not a favorite. Except for how pretty it is.
Spooks
(2003, Steve Jackson Games, 3-6 players, 10 minutes, age 12+)
This is a trick-taking game with cool pictures. I mean, the suits are spiders, ghosts, goblins, skeletons, and bats. Each suit has a special rule and the top card in each suit has a special power.
I haven't played it. It sounds sort of like Uno but with bit more strategizing.
Spy Alley
(1992, 2-6 players, 45 minutes, age 8+)
* deduction
Each player is a different nationality; each nationality needs to collect different things to win. But if someone guesses your nationality first, they win, so you have to get stuff you don't need, too, to fool your opponents.
I have not played this. It seems ancient and sounds like not my kind of game with the bluffing and player elimination.
Star Munchkin
(2002, Steve Jackson Games, 3-6 players, 90 minutes, age 10+)
Also the expansion:
* Star Munchkin 2 (2004)
This is a space-themed Munchkin card game with very silly characters and drawings. You fight monsters for treasure. This is one of those games where you need other people's help and also you need to stab them in the back, so it's not really my thing.
Stock Market Guru
(1997, Avalon Hill, 1-10 players, 2 hours, age 10+)
* simulation
Buy and sell stocks in the game's ten companies over the course of ten turns (years) in an attempt to acquire the most money at the end of the game.
I got this because I liked simulation games in school and heard good things about Avalon Hill games. I tried the base game a couple of times. (They also have historical scenarios you can use.) The game play is pretty satisfying but the disconnect from reality is disconcerting. Some of the things this game showed me:
* As with all stock market games, choosing the best stock and holding it works best, but you can't know what the best stock is. So diversifying works better than guessing wrong. [In real life, it can be pretty obvious that specific companies will probably do well and others are doomed, at least in the long term. But when you are clueless, maximizing diversity does work best (index funds have higher returns than a huge percentage of managed funds).]
* When buying and selling only once a year, the fees you pay don't matter. (In real life, that's probably true for one-time fees, but not for annual fees.)
* You can't just buy one stock or bond; you have to buy in groups of ten. (This sort of limitation is not as true as it once was, but any fees are usually a much bigger percentage of your purchase if you buy a small amount.)
* Any stock tips you get do not matter compared whether the market is a bull or a bear and compared to all the other random factors you aren't getting tips about. (In real life, acting on information the public doesn't know is illegal, and acting on information you get from paid advisors is risky. For example, brokers are incentivized to recommend stocks that give them a higher income and companies that have any S&P 500 index funds are incentivized to tell their other clients bad things about any new stocks that make it into this index (and that they are going to have to buy a lot of).
* Buying low and selling high doesn't work because the low-cost things will usually continue going down and vice versa. Well, that's what happened in the two games I played. (I'm sure this is true sometimes, but there are also cycles.)
* You can have a bull market or bear market for the entire ten years. (Rare.)
* When interest rates go up, bond values go down. (True.)
* Even in a bear market, most stock prices go up, just not as much. (Is that true? Maybe it is if you look at a whole year at a time.)
* When a stock splits, each stock keeps paying the same dividend amount (nope, the dividend would be split, too--but I can't imagine how they'd do it right and still have the game work)
* When a company goes bankrupt, you lose all the stocks you have in it without compensation. And then the company sells new stocks at a new price. (That's basically true.)
Total Depth
(1984, 2-5 players, 2 hours, age 12+)
* simulation
I do not have the instructions and cannot find them online. So I'm only listing this game on the very off chance that someone has or remembers the rules and is missing other parts or something.
Prospect for oil, hoping to strike it rich--first millionaire is the winner, but you may go bankrupt first. I think a lot of luck is involved, like in real life.
Whosit
(1976, Parker Brothers, 2-6, 45 minutes, age ~7+)
* deduction
* kids
This is a game from my childhood that I used to like. You each choose one character, play question cards to ask yes/no questions about the other characters until you figure out who they are. One character always lies, one always says no, one can answer however he wants. When you guess, the other players sneak their chip into the right or wrong side of a box. If all are in the right side, you win!
Unfortunately one of the traits you're guessing about is race and one is gender and it just feels squicky now. Probably I should just destroy it.
FYI, this game has been "reimplemented" as Dinosaur Tea Party with no race issues at all.
no subject
on 2021-04-04 12:44 am (UTC)* Car Wars
* Dominion
* Forbidden Island
* Get Lucky
* Mysterium
* Primordial Soup
* Secrets of the Tombs
* Shadows in Kyoto
* Sherlock Holmes
* Splendor
* Spooks
no subject
on 2021-04-04 12:36 pm (UTC)If you are willing to deal with the hassle of shipping, I'd love to have Secrets of the Tomb for my niece. If you'd rather not deal for just one game, I get it.
Reedrover at gmail will transfer to my real gmail account to start the conversation.
no subject
on 2021-04-04 05:49 pm (UTC)Hmm, in case you also like my interest in favorite games, let me tell you what they are!
1) Wingspan - Lure birds (cards) onto your property by stocking the habitats they like (part of your board) with the foods they like (wooden pieces) and managing eggs (other wooden pieces). You get about half your victory points from the birds you attract. But the birds you attract also give you special powers when collecting more bird cards, food, and eggs. And you have several personal and game-wide goals that can give you more points.
2) Betrayal at House on the Hill - Explore a haunted house (by turning up room cards). Some rooms let you improve one of your four traits (strength, etc.) once, and some have items or events (You're surrounded by spiders! Roll the die to see if this affects your sanity!). Partway through the game, someone turns traitor in some way, such as by allying with the local two-headed snake monster to kill everyone else. Then it becomes semi-cooperative. The stories in this one are amusing.
3) Steampunk Rally - Play a character with one of the greatest minds of the time to a race around mountains in neutral Switzerland organized by Nikola Tesla. Start with a unique cockpit + other vehicle part (cards). Then each turn, draft cards to add to your vehicle or exchange for energy. Then use the energy to see how far you can get your vehicle on the race track without exploding.
no subject
on 2021-04-05 01:31 am (UTC)Given your excellent taste in games and where we overlap, I'm putting the two that I don't have from your note onto my wish list. Thank you for the ideas!
I have Betrayal, both original with the 100-page errata and the second edition. I have probably played about half the possible scenarios throughout my board game life, and many more than once due to chance and circumstance. The ones that stand out as the most often played are "shrink to the size of mice" and "become werewolves." I also have the Widows Walk expansion but have only played it once.
no subject
on 2021-04-05 01:37 am (UTC)I recently developed a house rule--once the traitor is revealed, they can trade places with any other character. This is good for new people who don't feel confident being the traitor and for people who don't want to be mean. Or like one kid I played with, people who do want to be mean. (She wasn't the traitor, but she was the traitor's ally. Needless to say, the traitor won! That was pretty hilarious.
no subject
on 2021-04-07 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
on 2021-04-07 12:52 pm (UTC)For straight out every-person-for-themself games, I'm terrible at but fond of: Terraforming Mars, Race for the Galaxy, Lords of Waterdeep
For lighter games that I can play with my family: Ticket To Ride, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Rise of Augustus, Ruin (like Sorry! with better board elements)
For silly, everyone is distracted by the socialization, anyone can pick up your hand next turn, my go-to game is RoboRally.
no subject
on 2021-04-08 12:08 am (UTC)Robo Rally is definitely in my top ten, but I've never thought to play it like that! It's definitely fun learning new things about old favorites. Last year I played with a new group and someone immediately fell into the basement, which totally sucks. Immediately another player joined them (or was it two other players?). Let me tell you, it sure sucks a lot less with other people helping you find the way out! I will be doing that in the future too!
Hmm, let me tell you about my other favorite games.
My favorite quick-to-teach game to play in a distracting party is Bohnanza. (Set collection, trading.)
And for easy silly fun there's Trailor Park Wars. (Make your trailer park pretty; land bad tenants in other people's parks; collect the most pink flamingos to win.)
But my favorite silly game (with stereotypical 12-year-old-boy humor) is Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards. There are several. I don't know how different they are, but I have Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre. (Play three-card spells such as Morgan's Dastardly Lightning Bolt, say the name of your spell with your best wizard's voice, and use the powers of each card to destroy your opponents. I usually don't like take-that games, but this one is over the top and you won't make enemies.)
And I have several favorite big games in small boxes, good for travel:
* The Builders: Middle Ages (resource management)
* Tiny Epic Galaxies (none of the other Tiny Epic games look good to me)
* No Siesta! (worker placement)
* Fallout Shelter: The Board Game (actually a card game, worker placement)
And I recently got Hallertau, a worker placement game I decided I didn't like because there's only one winning strategy--do everything!--but then I've been playing it a million times solo. I like it solo because if you refrain from using the space in one round, it's available to you the next round--I think I wouldn't like it as much with other players.
And then for a short 2-player alien game, I like Hanamikoji. By 'alien,' I mean the rules are very different from anything else I've played. I've played it with someone competitive and I'm not sure I would enjoy getting to his level. But hey, it's short! And pretty!
And I always enjoy when other people pull out 7 Wonders, so I got my own copy.
no subject
on 2021-04-08 10:32 am (UTC)I learned to play RoboRally at a New Years party. We would play for about a board and then wander off to socialize. People who didn't want to come back would draft other people to play their hands, so it was a somewhat rotating group. Since the goals are obvious, and each board invokes a slightly different strategy, it is a very social game. We also played with unlimited regeneration to keep everyone engaged.