What sort of Board Games do you Play (1 Viewer)

[BobO'Link]

My son, the 16yo, my 6yo grandson, and I played a round of Dino Hunt yesterday. The 6yo won - and not from us being easy on him. We're busy setting up strategy while he's just going for dinosaurs he likes. And almost all of his die rolls come up winners while we're missing and losing energy or having turns end early.

Later we played several rounds of Azul. I got a copy for my 16yo grandson and included the "Jokers" expansion so he really wanted to test and play with those. They're interesting but I can see why you'd not want to play with them often. They certainly change strategy significantly. Since their use eliminates any end game bonuses for areas in which they appear I avoided them as much as possible, as did almost everyone else. That presented several very tempting opportunities that we'd succumb to (getting a 5 tile run was the biggest one). You'd never see a run that large with the standard tiles but it frequently presented itself with Jokers - often being 5 Jokers and 1 regular tile. We're considering some house rules to make them a bit more attractive - one is to incentivise their use with a bonus if you can do a 5 tile Joker run which should encourage picking them up to prevent someone receiving the bonus. I tried to get my new Factory tiles in the game but no one wanted to play with 2 new expansions/changes this time out.

My son, 16yo grandson, and I played a few games of Greed after my daughter and her girls went home. It's not great but still a fun and quick diversion. Like other drafting type games it can be a challenge to remember all of the cards in circulation and build a strategy based on possibly getting some of the combos that appear. With 3 players we saw a bit less than half the deck any given game.

I'm the king of seeing the combos *after* the cards have been drafted by someone else. The "Well, dang! I should have gotten that xxx a turn ago. It would have really gone well with this xxx." and I've already seen both cards at least once. Of course I pull the one card as soon as it hits me but the other doesn't come back around. I also tend to build a strategy for a few cards and brain fart it away due to idle chatter or being tired with the latter often being the case.

My son and I almost played another round of Greed after the 16yo went to bed (actually semi-bed as he was wanting to get on his games and visit with on-line buddies before going to sleep) around 10:30. We saw the time and went "Nope... too late!" When you have 3 kids ages 3-7 who get up with the chickens it's kind of difficult to stay up later to play games. The bad part about that is it's pretty common for our heavier or thinkier games to come out after the smaller kids have been put to bed - 8pm or later - and by then I'm in "brain dead" mode and we only have time for 1, maybe 2, games before we're all ready for bed.

Supposedly we're going to play more adult (i.e. too heavy for any of my son's kids) games today. We'll see... It rarely works or a game that should take 1 hour takes 2+ due to being pulled out by one or more of the kids. I know the 15yo wants to play Blood Rage and I'd really like to get Scythe on the table. I'd also like to get my daughter into one of these but with her "I don't want to learn a new game" mantra...

 

[BobO'Link]

I bought Seafarers back when it first was released, and reluctantly concluded after a number of games that I didn’t like. It turns Settlers into a starvation-economy game, bringing out the worst of the Settlers for my playing tastes.

I also got the Cities and Knights expansion, I think it was called, back 15+ years ago. I played it once, liked it, and never played it again!

I think the Traders and Barbarians expansion is interesting, if only for the fish variant that gives a catch-up mechanism to smooth out pain of the dice hating you. It’s got other variants I’ve never played, though!

These days, Settlers never gets played except on holidays with family. It’s not brought out with gaming groups. But it remains a classic and enjoyable to me.

Interesting... my son likes the Cities and Knights expansion best. Several years ago I purchased all of the expansions for him for Christmas. He's brought his collection to the house once and we played with that one. I remember it being enjoyable but mostly just adding complexity. I'm still quite happy with the base game and nothing added that changes the overall game play. Yes, Seafarers does change things but not that significantly. It's still mostly the same game.

I really like the sound of Traders and Barbarians as it's several smaller expansions. I missed it being on sale at Amazon last year and again this month and am waiting for it to come up again...

 

[DaveF]

I’ve got the six player expansion too. But never get to use it as there’s never five people all wanting to play Settlers!

I keep thinking there’s opportunity for new games to be designed with the social / trading aspect. I’m surprised that Settlers 20 years on is still the only game to do it that I’ve found.

 

[BobO'Link]

Played more Blood Rage. I still like this one. I also discovered we've been playing several things incorrectly which I'm sure were misreads the first time we played. Every play session after that has just used the rules as reference for questions that come up. Nothing big - just drafting too many cards (drafting all 8 instead of just 6) and limiting fjords to one ship when it's really as many as you want. My daughter has indicated she'd be willing to learn this one - that'll make the 16yo (her son) very happy as it's his current favorite game.

Tried to get a game of Scythe going but my 16yo grandson (I keep accidentally typing 15yo but he turned 16 in Sept.) wouldn't play, although my daughter (aka "no new game tonight) and the 13yo (nope... don't want to play) did. We got a couple of turns in and the 13yo and my daughter decided it was too heavy right now, plus we had only an hour before having to give up the table so it got aborted. Bummer... At least my daughter said she'd try again another time.

 

[BobO'Link]

Something I'd not realized until right before Christmas is that deepdiscount.com carries a limited selection of board games. I'd lamented that I failed to purchase the 5th player expansion for Blood Rage and stumbled upon it there when some MP copies came up on Amazon. They maintain a presence there (as Deepdiscount) and had it listed. I checked their site to find it was a couple of $$ cheaper ordered directly from them (the usual case) than through Amazon. I was able to snag a copy at a bargain price - less than it would have cost normally ($20 vs. the $36+ everywhere else).

That put them on my radar for gaming purchases during their % Off and coupon events.

Earlier this week they had a one time $5 off $30 purchase coupon. I took advantage of that to snag a bargain copy of the "Ticket to Ride: France and Old West" expansion. The coupon covered the extra weight shipping fee and sales tax making it $30.42 shipped (it was $30.05 before coupon/shipping/tax). That's at least $6 less than the lowest, pre shipping, price I'd found.

I feel rather remiss at not posting about that here as they have mostly good prices on what they have. Often they beat most other board game vendors prices even with the extra weight shipping fee added (it varies based on game). I'm going to try to remember that going forward and recommend you check the Deepdiscount thread in the "bargains" area just in case. They have fairly regular 15% off sales. Their minimum order for free shipping is $25 and extra weight games under that price don't negate the extra shipping fee for orders below that minimum so it can pay to drop a cheap item or two in the order to get above $25. Coupon amounts come off *before* shipping is calculated.

The Blood Rage expansion arrived in excellent condition and packaged well. The TTR expansion is currently scheduled for delivery on Monday. I'll post the condition but expect no different. They still use boxes for larger/heavier orders so I fully expect it to arrive in a well padded box.

I now have a half dozen or so games in my dd wish list for future sales. Right now, all are several $$ lower than the next lowest competitor. I'm curious to see if it'll stay that way or these are end-of-year prices (they can be very flaky with prices on DVD/BR so...).

 

[BobO'Link]

My 16yo grandson and I played Terror Below a couple of days ago. He didn't like it as it's a "pick up and deliver" type game - almost exclusively. He claims to not like those although there are a few he does enjoy. As soon as he realized the mechanics he pretty much tuned out and spent his between turn time with his head stuck in his Switch. I thought it was enjoyable but that it would be far more enjoyable with at least 3 people and 4 would be the real sweet spot as it'd tighten up the board considerably. They have a mechanism for 2 players but it's just not as good as that 3rd person (you essentially play a vehicle card on a worm based on a die roll). I got it mainly to have another game we could all play, and enjoy, with the 8yo. She loves to play games but many of those we play are just a bit outside her abilities at the present. My daughter (their mom) is supposed to come over this afternoon to play games and I hope to get it to the table then.

We did all play games all afternoon yesterday. My grandson had been wanting to get Orcs, Orcs, Orcs back to the table. We'd played it *once* shortly after I picked up a copy and enjoyed it but never got it back to the table (it'd taken us ~1 1/2 hrs that time so we were a bit hesitant). Yesterday we played it - all afternoon (4 games) with his mom and older sister (13). I was surprised the both mom and sister really liked the game - enough so that it'll hit the table again with no argument.

The 8yo felt a bit left out (but she also wouldn't stay at the table to watch and learn Orcs, Orcs, Orcs so there's that) so after supper we played a couple of rounds of her choice: Bob Ross: The Art of Chill. My grandson played somewhat under duress (mom said "We played something you wanted all afternoon so you owe it to her to at least play.") and, surprisingly, enjoyed the game in spite of groaning when asking how to play and I replied that it's mostly a set collection game (he claims to not like those either - I think he's full of it and decides pro/con based on the game name and graphics as he plays all kinds of games, some of which have those mechanics he claims to not like). He was actually the cause of the 2 rounds played dragging on longer than they should due to some AP on his part. I found it humorous that his 8yo sister won one of the games and scored higher than him on the 2nd.

 

[BobO'Link]

I sent Gamewright a complaint today about the duplicate player marker we received and the different card sizes. The different size cards are mostly the new cards added to make "Party" with the original Sushi Go! cards, other than chopsticks, all the same size. I'll post any reply if I receive one.

**UPDATE**
Gamewright responded very quickly. They are sending replacement player tokens and cards. Hopefully the new cards will be cut properly. That's a 10-14 day process so I'll update once they arrive.

The replacement parts arrived today - in the form of an entire new copy of the game! Wow! *That's* CS! All player tokens are present and the cards are all cut consistently. My granddaughter was thrilled - me too!

 

[Sam Posten]

Terror below is ONLY good if you are willing to beat up on the other players. If you try to be too nice to each other it won't be fun at all.

 

[BobO'Link]

That's my take on it too. After reading the instructions and playing with my grandson I got the impression it's very much a "Take That!" game. I was unable to get it to the table Sunday - we spent the afternoon playing Barenpark a few times followed by another round of Bob Ross: The Art of Chill (which my grandson suggested - surprise there!).

I'm not sure about "The Art of Chill" simply due to the AP it induces in him and his mom. It's a fun family type game and should be a quick game (about 30 minutes). They stretch it to almost an hour, taking very long times to decide what to do and it's really pretty basic.

You get 3 actions from these: Play a color card on your pallet, draw a color card (from the face up ones on the table or the deck), "purchase" a technique card, wipe the color cards for 4 new ones, clean your pallet (usually only needed when a painting changes and you've started one with colors that won't work based on the previous painting), "paint" a painting item/feature. "Bob" decides when the painting changes via a die roll with each player turn - he moves along the bottom of the painting when the die shows him. The die shows Bob (all but 3 sides), play a color free, get a free card, get a free action. If he gets from one side to the other you switch the painting. There is a separate pile of "Bob actions" when he moves. Those are all of some benefit with a few saying "Don't move Bob. He's chillin." Paintings have 3 things you can possibly "paint": Each thing has 2 to 4 different colors and 1 brush needed to complete. Get the colors on your pallet properly, play the brush, item painted. If 1 player does this for all 3 before Bob changes the painting a new one comes out.

With my grandson's attitude towards Terror Below and how he's pretty much poisoned his sister against it I'm considering a return.

 

[DaveF]

I should have bought this on sale! A friend actually got it and told me it's indeed saxariffic and Kenny G-licious!

 

[BobO'Link]

I had to look that one up on Amazon just for laughs... Here's one of the "reviews":

Me and my saxy friends attempted to play this for half an hour and couldn’t figure out the rules.

Very much like playing with Pokémon Cards, it’s fun to have, but no one knows how to play.

I always wonder about people who can't figure out a basic/easy game (Pokemon is not hard). I watched the Dice Tower review. Wow... this is an incredibly simple coop party game - dead easy to play (and something I'd rather play than most "party" games).

I have the Bob Ross game and will stick with that for a light game based on a celebrity. I'd be afraid if I brought a Kenny G game out someone would want to play his music while the game is in progress...

 

[DavidJ]

My son got a copy of "One Night Ultimate Werewolf" for Christmas and brought it to the house. He, my daughter-in-law, and I played a quick game last night. Meh... it's a party game that, IMHO, has a few issues that prevent it from being something stellar. There's a main section where specific player characters either look at or move around the "cards" (heavy tiles) on the table. Even on a table with a tablecloth it was fairly apparent when someone did this (very hard to do it quietly). There's an app that plays music and sound effects while a moderator goes through the motions needed (telling who when to open eyes and do their thing). I think it'd be quite helpful - or play music or other noise generators to mask player movement.

I figure we'll play this one again over the next few days. A bunch of relatives are coming over tomorrow and, hopefully, we can get a game of this - or anything else (even UNO - a game I hope to never have to play again) - going to get away from the same old, repetitive, conversations and stories.

Our kids really like this one and we will play it when we have others over or go to a party. For example, the kids at the New Year’s Eve party enjoyed playing several rounds. It works better with 6-9 players.

We use the app because you need sound and music to cover movements when looking at or switching cards. We will often add a bit of soft table tapping to hide the sounds even more.

 

[KeithDA]

I've just dropped in on this thread by accident and wonder if the wild and varied board games mentioned here are even available here in the UK?
I used to play 'Risk' a lot with some friends over 20 years ago. After I moved away from that area, I bought a set for myself and was very disappointed to find that it had new rules and strategy cards - quite different to the 'original' version we used to play. It rather put me off board games....
I do have a a pile of boxes in the back of a wardrobe from my youth - again none look as exciting as those I've seen here. Great that there is still a market for this kind of 'non-screen' entertainment.

 

[BobO'Link]

I've just dropped in on this thread by accident and wonder if the wild and varied board games mentioned here are even available here in the UK?
I used to play 'Risk' a lot with some friends over 20 years ago. After I moved away from that area, I bought a set for myself and was very disappointed to find that it had new rules and strategy cards - quite different to the 'original' version we used to play. It rather put me off board games....
I do have a a pile of boxes in the back of a wardrobe from my youth - again none look as exciting as those I've seen here. Great that there is still a market for this kind of 'non-screen' entertainment.

A lot of them are available in the UK. Many of those we've mentioned are imports for us. Essentially a US distributor licensing and printing a UK/European game for the US market.

Here's a thread on boardgamegeek dealing with UK online game stores:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/882179/uk-online-board-game-retailers

That thread is rather old but also points to this wiki which might be of more use:

https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/UK_faq#toc1

I did a quick Google search for "Darlington UK board game stores" and came up with quite a few in your area:

https://www.google.com/maps/search/...54.5500898,-1.7119001,12z/data=!3m1!4b1?hl=en

I'd love to have such support in my town (we have only Barns & Noble Booksellers, who overcharge on everything most of the time, Walmart [mostly "Ameritrash" stuff], and Target [very small selection]) It's mail order and Amazon or my local comic shop for games and supplies for me.

I had that same issue with Risk. My 16yo grandson discovered the game ~6 years ago so I decided to purchase a copy for us to play. I had to resort to the used market to get a version I wanted - The 1998 edition with original rules and plastic army figures - as all others had either significant rules changes or were "legacy" versions (which is a version that changes when you play by applying stickers, destroying items, marking on things, etc). I think it's now been reprinted in a similar form to those 1990s versions but haven't really investigated closely as the version I got is still in good shape.

 

[BobO'Link]

Dave, I just remembered you gave your wife the Barenpark expansion for Christmas. Have you guys played with it yet?

 

[DaveF]

Dave, I just remembered you gave your wife the Barenpark expansion for Christmas. Have you guys played with it yet?

Yes, yes we have.

We learned the variants a couple weeks ago.
Yesterday we played all three variants: Monorails, Grizzlies, and Both. (Although we're still not playing with Objectives, which are an advanced option in the base game.)

Here's Monorails:

When you play a "wheelbarrow" green space piece, you can put down a pillar on the space. After the first pillar, al pillars must be separated by two spaces and immediately connected by a monorail piece, and at 90 deg from the previous section. They can't be played and connected out of order.

The monorail pieces, like the part pieces, have decreasing value. So getting the first one down, or even getting ahead of opponents in the "cycle" can be a real scoring advantage. But of course thiis driving you to put down non-scoring park pieces, and perhaps de-priortize filling parks to get statues. So it maintains the essential strategic tensions of Barenpark.

I enjoy monorails, but feel that it wants the game to be constrained into a more predictable approach to play. To optimize the monorails, you're apt to end up with the above board configuration or similar.

Here's Monorails + Grizzlies:

I don't have a pictures of Grizzlies by itself. But if you peer in there, you'll see dark green pieces that take up 7 spaces and have scores up to 10. To play, on your turn, you discard a Wheelbarrow and Cement Mixer piece and take a Grizzly Park piece. You can do this at the start of your turn to place the newly acquired park piece. Or you could place a piece, and based from the new park pieces you claim at the end of your turn, discard and claim a Grizzly piece to have ready for the next turn. You can't discard and claim more than one grizzly park per turn.

Grizzly Park pieces take up seven spaces, compared to five for the base games Excavator bear parks, or four for the Cement Mixer enclosures. And their values go up to 10, while excavator pieces max out at 8.

Finally, When you cover the "Expansion" space on the fourth board, you place a new, fifth Grizzly Park board down. More room, more scoring!

Their are three main tensions in Grizzlies:

1. Discarding scoring pieces to get higher scoring pieces. Oh, did I mention, it add Cement Mixer Enclosure pieces so they start at 8. Do you discard an 8-point piece to get a 10 point piece?
2. Getting statues version rapid expansion. The grizzly pieces are huge! You'll get 2 to 4 placed in a game. Getting more room early lets you better deal with the weird and sprawling shapes of the Grizzly parks.
3. Piece efficiency. More than ever, playing efficiently to claim two or more new pieces with a single park placement really matters. You want to be able to place a piece and claim a Grizzly park in a single turn. You don't want to be constantly having just one new piece to play in the mid-game.

I think Grizzlies is harder but more interesting than monorails. I haven't found it pushing me to a specific play approach as much, and is more board-dependent.

Finally, monorails + grizzlies. As above, you can play both together. This is a much slower game than base Barenpark. I think it was quite interesting which good competing tensions in game play. You want small, non-scoring green spaces for monorails. You want to discard small, non-scoring green spaces for Grizzlies.

My feeling is that Monorails + Grizzlies is the most fun combo. And it plays well for two people. I anticipate it could become a slog with four players, with too much dead time between players.

The positive here, is that with the expansion, you can choose from like five distinct variations (including Objectives) that range from the pretty breezy base game up to a slower, longer, more tactical, space optimizing, point salad "play everything" game.

Recommended if you like Barenpark.

 

[BobO'Link]

Well... we've played, finally, Barenpark - several times. My daughter and all the kids like it. But it can really be a slooooow game with people trying to figure out the best piece to claim and the best way to lay out their park. Adding things that could slow it more... Gotta think about that one. I like the sound of the expansion but don't know that I could get it to the table very often - especially with its potential to slow things. Sigh... It really comes down to we "need" more time to just play games and these days it just doesn't happen often enough.

 

[DaveF]

For us, Barenpark base game is now a reasonably fast game. If it’s still lengthy for your crew, adding the expansions would only make it longer.

 

[BobO'Link]

For us, Barenpark base game is now a reasonably fast game. If it’s still lengthy for your crew, adding the expansions would only make it longer.

I think if we played more it could be faster for us as well. It looks to be one of those that you develop a basic strategy and will always shoot for specific tiles along the way. That, alone, could speed our games by 25%.

It's gotten to the point where we get in a "game day/night" of 2-5 hrs. of play every 2-3 weeks. My daughter got a promotion a few months back and now doesn't get home until 6-6:30 which pushes supper back to the point there's no time left for games. Then the 2 oldest grandkids are caught up in video games for the 16yo and the phone for the 13yo. Getting something new to the table is worse than pulling teeth and it's a struggle just for ones we've played and know we like. The 8yo (9 in a couple of weeks) is almost always up for a game so there's that but she doesn't quite have a good grasp on many of the strategy in the games we play most. She's getting there though.

 

[Sam Posten]

We have moved game night to BoardGameArena.com

It's not the same but it'll do for now.