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

[Aaron Silverman]

My girlfriend gave me Pandemic for my birthday. Neither of us had played it before but we've really been enjoying it. The cooperative gameplay is interesting and not something I've seen before in a board game.

To add a home theater angle, two of the best co-op games are Lord of the Rings (which has an expansion that allows one player to take the role of Sauron) and Battlestar Galactica (which is really more of a team game, although in the beginning you don't know which players are toasters).

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/823/lord-of-the-rings

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37111/battlestar-galactica

 

[DaveF]

To add a home theater angle, two of the best co-op games are Lord of the Rings (which has an expansion that allows one player to take the role of Sauron) and Battlestar Galactica (which is really more of a team game, although in the beginning you don't know which players are toasters). http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/823/lord-of-the-rings http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37111/battlestar-galactica

Don't learn BSG with the Cylon mothership expansion! First game ever, we had six players, four of us newbs, and they threw in the expansion. It took us over three hours, and was one if most tedious games I've played. Unfortunately, I fully disliked the whole thing after that, and have written BSG off.I've played a game if Pandemic, and it was middling. Likewise for a game of Cthulhu. It may be I don't like co-op games.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Yeah, the expansion was a big mistake with 4 new players. I haven't played Arkham Horror yet, but I understand that it can take a long time as well.

I'm not a huge fan of Pandemic, either. I actually like Forbidden Island a lot better. It's by the same designer and uses many of the same concepts, but plays much quicker.

 

[Northgun]

Yeah, the expansion was a big mistake with 4 new players. I haven't played Arkham Horror yet, but I understand that it can take a long time as well.

I'm actually planning on reviewing Arkham Horror next. I've had games last about an hour and we've had games last three hours. Its varies quite a bit and our skill level didn't effect the length of the game much, which surprised me.

 

[Northgun]

Has anyone ever played the Casino Expansion for monopoly? Just ran into it for the first time the other day. Looked pretty interesting.

 

[DaveF]

I'm completely out of it regarding monopoly. I haven't played the board games in...20 years? I'm reading about Starvation strategies for Stone Age. I haven't tried that approach yet. http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/334530/ok-people-already-flamed-starvation-how-to-make-i

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I played Mouse Trap last week for the first time in decades... and I lost... but it was still kinda fun!

 

[DaveF]

Did it work? That game always suggested something really amazing, but usually left me just frustrated as a kid.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I never got to land on the spin the crank, but it sure worked when my token was stuck in the spot. It took I think three turns for it to succeed, but the manual kinda suggests it's not supposed to work 100% of the time anyway.

 

[DaveF]

Cool!

 

[DaveF]

I've been reading BoardGameGeek (BGG) forums on Stone Age, and my mind is blown that the US rules are considered to have significant errors by many, compared to the German version.But as we all know, Euro games are best played in the original Klingon.First, unique civ cards score as independent sets, despite the US rules from Rio Grande. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1169029/bga-what-the-crap-opponent-scoring-exponentially-t/page/1Second, for Decorations: the trading rules are much more relaxed than I'd understood from the directions. Basically, trading is available once per round as desired, to make buys you couldn't otherwise, to increase the value of buys you could make without a trade, and even to create a stockpile situation where you trade for resources you already have.http://boardgamegeek.com/article/15790206#15790206A further detail on Decorations: you get teeth when advancing via hut and civ card bonuses.http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12963435#12963435I'll play some this weekend with my wife and try out these alternate rules. This is going to dramatically change our gameplay. Unfortunately, I think, very much in her favor, as she favors card collection and trade route

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Interesting. I've only played Stone Age on the iPad, so the rules be what the rules be as far as I've seen.

 

[JohnS]

My neighbor gave me and my girlfriend Star Wars Game of Life.
We're waiting for a rainy day here in Las Vegas to play it.

We've also toyed with the idea of getting some 80's board games from Ebay and playing some of them.
One I really want to play for the hell of it is Mall Madness.

I also want to try the horrible renditions from videos games such as Qbert, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

 

[DaveF]

You can find great old games at garage sales

 

[DaveF]

Interesting. I've only played Stone Age on the iPad, so the rules be what the rules be as far as I've seen.

I think the iPad version follows the German rules, from what I read on BGG

 

[DaveF]

Some random thoughts:

* I'm having a midlife crisis over Settlers of Catan. I've been playing for 15 years. I love this game. It's my introduction to Euro gaming. It was long my favorite. But now, I'm facing up to its weaknesses compared to newer games. Is there still a place in my life for Settlers? Maybe it's a problem of novice players? I'm not a consistent winner, but I feel I know the game inside out, and get frustrated when players make obviously bad choices, that further skew the game's weaknesses. I'm reading BGG reviews of Settlers, seeking insight into the current views and play variants.

* Stone Age: playing with the BGG documented rule variants (that I described earlier) is going well. It frees up the game play overall, and leads to simpler rules. It also makes the Trade Route much more powerful.

* Friends introduced Gloom last weekend. We didn't finish due to dinner, but were intrigued. At their recommendation, we watched the TableTop episode on Gloom. I'm not a TT viewer, but this episode is a hoot, and makes me want to play a full game of Gloom.


* Speaking of TT and Settlers, this is very fun:

 

[JohnS]

Thanks for the Table Top links.
I watched the Gloom episode.
Gloom looks interesting and wouldn't mind trying it out.
Hopefully I can convince my girlfriend to play it.

 

[DaveF]

In my first go at Gloom, I did struggle with the mental complexity of it. You're simultaneously:
* Playing a card game and sorting out actions and point values
* Listening to people tell stories and trying to remember them
* Crafting your own story that, ideally, incorporates your opponents' stories

It was tough. I'd need several rounds to start to get the hang of it. But I think there's super neat game there with the right people, and the right attitude.

 

[DaveF]

Ticket to Ride. Haven't played in a year or two, and it was good to get back to it. We played with friends who aren't gamers, so it was an "unfair" game. The don't know the pacing, and the end snuck up on them, with a lot of trains unplayed and unfinished routes. Still, it went well with newbs, and we had a good time. It's an easy game to explain and get going with.

And of course, closed out the night with No Thanks. Absolutely recommended if you want a fast, light game.
http://www.amazon.com/Z-Man-Games-ZMG-4031-Thanks/dp/B000TQ4UU6

 

[Dave Upton]

I've been playing a lot of Munchkin lately. Truth be told, I've never tried Catan