The Gamer's Quarter

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

We've talked a little about them before, but does anyone have any board games to recommend? I'm always looking for new ones.

You can see my current collection here, and I just ordered three more that I've been wanting to get for quite a while (images are not mine--they are from Boardgamegeek.com):

Nexus Ops

Shogun

Modern Art

dessgeega · Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:36 am Post subject:

i like samurai, and really need to try euphrat & tigris someday. i like cheapass games a lot in theory but find them lacking in execution. i'm interested in hive, which is apparently like chess without the board, and lord of the rings: the confrontation, which is apparently an asymmetrical stratego.
_________________

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I have played a fair amount of Settlers of Catan and other non-traditional board games, the names of which do not come to me right now.

While not a board game, I have had much fun at gatherings playing Apples to Apples and feel a strong affinity for games by Out of the Box because they're based in Wisconsin.

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

I'm a big fan of Carcassonne and Robo Rally, although it can be hard to find people who are willing to play the latter, since it can be a little obtuse and takes a long time.

Apples to Apples is also really good. I was recently introduced to Speed Scrabble, which goes as follows:

- Everybody draws seven tiles
- After somebody says 'Go!', you start arranging your seven tiles into words that interconnect
- Once somebody arranges all of their tiles into interconnecting words, they yell 'Done!' and everybody immediately has to grab another tile
- The game continues until you can't take any more tiles, scoring is as per regular Scrabble with points deducted for your loose tiles

The most important aspect of playing board games for me is the other people involved. I'm lucky enough to have a number of close personal friends who also happen to be interested in getting together and playing board games, which means that it's like a regular get-together, only you're playing a game. Too much of the time social gatherings like the typical university gaming club are a collection of social idiots and it becomes difficult to enjoy actually playing the game because it becomes completely about interpersonal conflicts.

ETA: Oh yeah, and I've played tons of Diplomacy back in the day. This is much harder to get going than other games because you really need a lot of time and 7 people who are all equally into the game and aren't likely to drop out. We actually played this as part of our International Relations class in high school, with every Friday being a session of Diplomacy rather than the regular lecture. The teacher was very happy when we actually managed to produce a balance of power (England and Turkey were two large powers with Italy, Germany and Russia (me) being smaller powers, meaning that we basically controlled our original allotment while the two big guys controlled the northwest and southeast corners of the board, the way it worked out in the end is that all 3 of the small guys would throw their weight toward whoever of the big dogs was doing better, keeping either one of them from winning the game).

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

I have Euphrat & Tigris, but I've never tried it. (I bought it used from a friend a couple years ago.) I just learned of Samurai earlier today. It looks like fun. I've also been curious about Hive.

One important thing I learned about Apples to Apples is that you should end the game after the recommended number of rounds. People generally have fun playing and want to go longer, but this can lead to burnout.

I've always liked Diplomacy in theory, but I don't think I have the personality for it. I played it once or twice and just couldn't bring myself to be mean and deceptive enough to do well.

I think Carcassonne is a perfect game to show people who think they don't like board games because all they've seen is Monopoly or whatever.

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

Usually I don't get to excited about the theme of a board game, but the stone age version of Carcassonne looks exciting.

I have started loving Settlers of Catan and I have enough friends into board games to easily set up a game on a weekend. Need to find a board for a decent price though, its surprisingly difficult. I'm tempted to just make one myself.

I've only played 4000 AD twice in my life because it disappeared somewhere at a family cottage but it stuck me as an exceptionally interesting strategy game. This one I might want to make a home version of as well.
_________________
| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

The Guiness Book of World Records game was really good.

There were several minigames played with rubber bands and so on.
Different games for determining slowest/fastest, longest/shortest, biggest/smallest, etc.

What a cleverly made game.

I wish I still had it.
_________________
I felt sheer anarchic joy when I ran over my first pedestrian.

chompers po pable · . Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 142

i like pente and scrabble.

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Puerto Rico was the name of the game I could not remember. Also I remember playing a game called "Towers" or something like that where you build said towers.

Over Christmas I played a lot of Boggle with my mom. She's been wanting to play board games with me whenever I'm home and for years we never did, so to make up this year we played Boggle just about every night.

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

dessgeega · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:33 pm Post subject:

woohoo! samurai is pretty nifty.

puerto rico is probably the most talked-up game on boardgamegeek. it looks kind of intimidating.
_________________

Fred · . Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 99 Location: Iowa

The Dr. Laura Game has always been a big hit at parties, but I think its production was discontinued.

A couple of years ago I learned how to play Mah Jongg from some Cantonese kids and now I can't get enough of it. It's all mental, and once you get the mathematics and the flow of the game down there's a lot of psychological business going on, even moreso than poker. It's a lot of fun; better than board games really. But in Iowa, ehh, not so many people know how to play.

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:59 am Post subject:

FortNinety · Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:12 pm Post subject:

Every once in a while, gameLab hold game night, which is when folks are invited to their studio to play games... board games to be specific. Its usually lots of fun, but I've becoming increasingly annoyed how everyone goes on about Settlers of Catan and how great it is, which makes me want to play, then they all go "it'll take too long for you to learn... let's try something else." Talk about cock blocking. So I end up just playing Tetris, the board game instead.

I'm bringing a guest this time, and since I know you frequent these boards, I choose you dmauro.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Does DnD with minatures count?
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dhex · Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:30 pm Post subject:

tetris the board game?

i will play chess with anyone who wants, but my real love is backgammon. a close third is dominoes.
_________________

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Settlers really doesn't take that long to learn. I mean, you'll probably lose in the first game or so you play, just because everybody else would know the longer-term strategies or so, it's something that you can definitely pick up fairly quickly.

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:46 pm Post subject:

tetris was sort of a board game to begin with, though, wasn't it?
_________________

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

The 'tetrad' shapes came from a board game, but it lacked the magic ingredients of time and pressure.

Man that Tetris documentary was good.

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:51 pm Post subject:

i liked the giant cardboard tetrads.
_________________

dmauro · . Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 303 Location: Brooklyn

Maybe you should let them teach you how to play Carcasonne first, and then they can ease you into Settlers. I will make sure this happens when I go with you.

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

_________________
I felt sheer anarchic joy when I ran over my first pedestrian.

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

A somewhat violent board game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHsYhORsQPo

I guess this probably belongs in the videos found on the Internet thread rather than this one.

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Can someone tell me anything about Puerto Rico? It seems interesting to me, but is it anything a casual not-really-gamer (aka girlfriend) might have the patience to enjoy? Or is it one of those "could be played with 2 people but needs 4 to be any fun" deals to begin with?

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

Sorry for the double-post, but I thought someone might be interested in this. The game Nexus Ops (which you can read about here) is only $11 right now. (It's going out of production.) You can get it here at Amazon.com. I'd describe it as a sort of a cross between Axis and Allies and Starcraft..

Also, thanks dessgeega for recommending Samurai. I think it's a good game and I recently used it to convert some extended family members to playing board games.