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Board gaming

Anyone else in playing board games? A lot of you might have heard of Monopoly, Yahtzee and Clue. But how many of you traded sheep for wood or connected New York to San Francisco? I have been playing board games my whole life. Started out playing card games, Monopoly and Kerrplunk with my father and grandmother. Later in life I discovered a whole other world of gaming, with games that are simply yet fun to games that are strategic and in a few cases can take up to 8 hours to play.

There is a large list of games for all kinds of players and people. As someone who suffers from anxiety and has gotten worse as I got older, board gaming helped me not only get out of the apartment on occasion but I met a lot of people, some of which are now my close friends.

I saw a post from several years ago and instead of reviving it I though to start my own. Feel free to discuss games you like, do not like, ask for recommendations or questions in general. I know there are several good resources for these things, I figured maybe I can peak people's interest here.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
I've always been a Monopoly fan, I love playing it when I can twist a couple peoples arms into committing to a game!
I also like chess, checkers, and backgammon, and those are easy to play with all the video versions out there.
Even without a board, it's still a board game!
 
I’ll bite. Can’t say I’m a board game guy, but I played a few with my parents (though it was more my mom’s thing), and my daughters as well.

Mostly I’m responding because you mention Clue. I played with my parents and also with my daughters. After the pandemic hit, I bought the Clue app for my mom for Mother’s Day 2020. Every weekend while stuck at home, we played a game or 3 with my mom, my youngest daughter (13 at the time), and sometimes my nieces with all of us on speakerphone. Brought us together and kept us sort of sane at the time. We’d tell increasingly elaborate scenarios of Body’s murder at the hands of each other. We’re busier now, but still play together when we can, though it more like once or twice a month now.
 
I used to love playing Parcheesi with my family back in the USA
on rainy days during summer vacation. Now everyone would probably
just sit around the house looking at their phones...

Parcheesi-board.jpg
 
I haven't played in a while but I really enjoy Cribbage. It's fairly easy to learn and you can play with 2 to 4 people. A simple board and 2 decks of cards costs about $30.00 but if you're on a budget you can devise as system that doesn't use a board.
 
Back in the day, it was Avalon Hill for me and my best friend. Panzerblitz, Panzer Leader, Richtofen's War, and the ultimate, Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader and all the modules. I had a pile of boxes for storing the whole system and we'd have marathon gaming sessions that would last all weekend. We'd play for HOURS with very little sleep, fueled by junk food and strawberry soda. After a while, I got tired of it; keeping things organized and buying the latest upgrades. It just got to be too much for me. The Avalon Hill I knew no longer exists.

I know there are other board games out there now, but I just lost interest, I guess.
 
I've thought of starting a similar thread, and never got around to it. Thanks for taking the initiative!
My family really enjoys board games. We've played Ticket to Ride and Labyrinth a fair amount. For Christmas, we added Forbidden Island and Century Golem Endless Mountain. Those are the common games we added. We also grabbed one called Golden Ticket that the girls really enjoy and Here Kitty Kitty that are both really fun.
My wife's birthday is coming up, and she's been intrigued by Wingspan, so I'll likely get that for her.
I also have a copy of Star Realms. I enjoy playing the free version on mobile, but have only played the physical version a few times. That one is a bit harder for me to get the family to play, as the youngest can't really join in yet.
 
Beats watching TV every night!

Board games have come light-years from when I was a kid in the 70s. They are even more clever now with brilliant graphics and and game pieces. Some can be learned (relatively) quickly.
The wife and I enjoy some 2-player versions of the more popular games. I can heartily recommend these:
  • 7 Wonders Dual
  • Lost Cities
  • Jaipur
  • Codenames Duet
  • Scrimish
  • Fox in the Forest Duet
  • Akrotiri
Some other fantastic games for 4-ish players
  • Zombiecide
  • Pandemic
  • Kemet
  • King of Tokyo
  • Game of Thrones
And about a dozen others I can't think of right now.
 
Oh yeah. Board and card games were a big part of my life. Hard to get to play anymore though.
Heck, My friend and I even invented a wrestling game.
One of our favourites is Talisman. The second edition is the best but the FFG version was very good too.
I spent a lot of time playing card games too. Still try to play D&D now and again but it's super hard to find that kind of time for a campaign.

One game I really like to play with my friends is an old game called Masterpiece. It's super fun with the right group.
Canadians might remember a great game called Stock Ticker. If anyone out there has played it, you know how awesome it is.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
Back in the day, it was Avalon Hill for me and my best friend. Panzerblitz, Panzer Leader, Richtofen's War, and the ultimate, Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader and all the modules
Ah yes ... I was into the Napoleonic games from AH.

The mind boggles at how fast those games could be played if all those little cardboard army units were computerized ..
 
Just won a gift card to a board game store in town and it's reigniting some interest. As kids, we played a lot of board games:
Clue, Risk, Monopoly, The Inventors, Masterpiece, Planet of the Apes, Tip-It, Learn to Drive, Sorry, Mastermind, Stratego, Boggle, chess and checkers. We fell out of board games once our kids became teens and didn't want to hang out with mom and dad. I like the idea of two person games for us, however we have a puppy who I am sure would want to chew on game pieces.

One brother and his friend invented a board game (loosely based on Monopoly) called Excretum. It was a poop themed game and they had a board, pieces and cards all printed. You'd go around the board to gather food chips to be changed into waste chips. You'd also have cards that would give or take food chips from you (Find valuable donkey dung in dungeon, gain 5 food chips. Piranha in the john takes a chunk of your cheek, lose 3 food chips.) I know you won by having the most waste chips, but I can't remember how the game ended.

Another brother was very into the Avalon Hill military games, to the point he created the Normandy beach invasion map on his wall. He later graduated from West Point, so those could have been early military training.
 
MANY thanks for posting this thread. One of my wife's favorite games to play with our daughters and granddaughters, who are now adults and scattered around the country, was "Sorry: Card Revenge" with the Big Red Talking Pawn. All I remember is the thing making comments like "I can't feel my legs". I could not remember the name of that game, and when I asked my wife, she remembered that the batteries had not been changed in over 3 years. She found the game and the 3 batteries were very corroded. Fortunately, cleaning with vinegar, Q-tips and an old toothbrush brought it back to life.

I haven't been a board game fan in many years. I played hexagon war games with friends in the 60's, Stratego was always my favorite (but no one in my family would play me), chess in the 70s while smoking pot was fun (wait, who's turn is it?), and 221B Baker Street and Clue were also great games.
 
I think I have played nearly every game that has been mentioned so far. Gaming was a fun once in awhile thing, it then became a hobby and almost lifestyle. Some friends of mine go to garage sales and the like for a business they have and they found a lot of games from the 60's and 70's. I have been on a quest to collect as many themed Yahtzee's I can. My favorites so far are Jaws and Serenity I have 7 so far, friends that go to garage sales is a handy source.

With Kickstarter the collection of games between friends has gotten substantial. My friends have gotten into a thing where they trade off who will get what game, mostly lighter games are typically owned by multiple people. I have backed a handful of games on KS mostly lighter games. The one big one I backed is Foundations of Rome by Arcane Wonders. After playing it one time everyone who played was gotten hooked, we typically play it 2 or 3 times when we do play it.

Some favorite lighter games:
Chai Tea, players try to fulfill customer orders by collecting the right tea type and other ingredients like lemons.

Canvas, has become a regular meeting game. Players choose cards from a lineup that will best match characteristics needed to complete as many judging cards as they can. The cards have some very fun and interesting pictures on them and the rest of the card is clear so you can see the rest of the pictures below.

Alhambra will always be a favorite. Players create there own Alhambra by collecting building tiles and currency.

Ticket to Ride we have all versions. Players collect different train cards to be used to lay trains to complete paths from one city to another. There are different versions that add things like passengers or just different maps.

Yahtzee, Just good old Yahtzee, players roll 5 dice to complete different poker type hands in the hopes to get a Yahtzee (5 of the same number) and rub it in their friend's and family's faces.

Tsuro games, The art for these games is very beautiful. The basic idea of the games is to have your pawn move around the board without falling off the board, colliding with another player or in one version getting eaten by a DaikaiJu.

There are games in a category called social deduction where people have different roles and player characteristics and you have to try and figure out who is who and whether they may be on your side or not.

Battlestar Galactica (too bad it's out of print and too much money to get at the moment), players take on the role of a character from the show some of which are Cylons. The intensity of this game and theme is one of our favorites but since games take 6+ hours we only get to play it maybe every few months.

Secret Hitler, this game might not be for everyone because of the theme. You play as either a fascist the fascists also have hitler on their side or your a liberal. Players nominate a president and chancellor. Both sides are trying to pass 6 of their laws and that side wins. If the the player who is hitler is nominated as chancellor the fascists win if the liberals assassinate hitler the liberals win.


Alhambra and Ticket to Ride I find are great "starter" games for people dipping their toes into board gaming. But there is such a large world of games now, there is pretty much a game that will suit anyone wanting to play.
 
One of the joys of my life is playing with you wife's granddaughters. They are Japanese
and had never seen Western board games, until I brought over a few from the USA.
We play Chutes and Ladders, Candyland and more recently, Trouble and Connect Four.
They have their own games on their iPads and Nintendo Shift but still get a thrill from
old-fashioned board games. Hopefully, this will continue to adulthood. They also play
shogi, which is an Japanese form of chess.
 
Played lots of Risk and Stratego as a teen. Now, play Yahtzee with the sister, Mille Bornes with her and parents, and Rummy 500 with parents.

I forgot about Mille Bornes. That was a great game. My cousin, myself and our wives played, "gals against guys", quite often in the late 70s/early 80s. They were "take-no-prisoners" games. As I remember our wives were, more often than not the winners, and loved rubbing it in. Fun times until kids, life and distance got in the way. Have not played that one in years.

I got burned out on Yahtzee, but when our daughters, or granddaughters, drive or fly out to visit for a week (pre-covid), my wife has that game out every night.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I’ll bite. Can’t say I’m a board game guy, but I played a few with my parents (though it was more my mom’s thing), and my daughters as well.

Mostly I’m responding because you mention Clue. I played with my parents and also with my daughters. After the pandemic hit, I bought the Clue app for my mom for Mother’s Day 2020. Every weekend while stuck at home, we played a game or 3 with my mom, my youngest daughter (13 at the time), and sometimes my nieces with all of us on speakerphone. Brought us together and kept us sort of sane at the time. We’d tell increasingly elaborate scenarios of Body’s murder at the hands of each other. We’re busier now, but still play together when we can, though it more like once or twice a month now.
This might be the coolest thing I've read in a year, definitely the best thing I've read all day. Good on you my friend!
 
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