Table Games

[Quindiana Jones]

I can't think what else to call them. Games which are not video games but nonetheless require a thing to be played. Card games, board games, tabletop RPGs and so on.

There's a fantastic card game in China called San Guo Sha, based on the same topic as Dynasty Warriors (The Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Lu Meng is my favourite character by far. It's a reasonably complex game, and insanely deep given the amount of characters and the abilities they have. It's so good.

And I just finished playing a game called Settlers of Catan. It's... difficult to explain. It's like a resource management world building game, but with far less of the usual warfare than you might find. It was amazing, and I can't stop thinking about it. :D

What are your favourite games to play?

[Ayen]

I only played one game that was like this. I don't remember what it was called, but I remember the woman on the tape kept telling us to say some word I couldn't pronounce or you'd be move back to start. Needless to say I never got very far.

Oh, and I did play a Buffy tabletop game with some friends a couple of years ago. I did pretty well for a newb.

[Rez09]

I love tabletop games; Key to the Kingdom and HeroQuest are the two games from my childhood I love as much as Sonic 2. I made up so many stories and custom rules for both games and often mixed things from them together, so there would be a random HeroQuest monster moving around on the Key map, giving out equipment cards when beaten, or various treasure cards from Key showing up in HeroQuest and being needed to open secret doors in some rooms. It's just too bad that youthful exuberance led to those pieces and cards being used in everything ELSE as well, from Army Men to Flying Pirates games, and eventually everything ended up lost/torn/broken. Finding complete versions of these games now is a rather pricey affair. :(

More recently, I picked up both Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon, and they are licensed DnD Co-op boardgames that people tell me feel a bit like 4th edition. They are fun enough, and respectably challenging due to monster placement rules, but there is an odd stigma around the DnD brand I've encountered that makes people hesitant to try the games out. Fortunately though, once people break down and play once, they are hooked and happily continue playing. Much like HeroQuest, I feel there is a lot of potential in the titles if I made custom rules/stories for them, though doing so without completely discarding the original tile placing rules might be difficult. I'm also a bit curious how to deal with later monsters if I allow players to hold onto equipment between quests, as players will continue to grow in power where monsters remain static. Perhaps rooms that require certain items to unlock? Or giving monsters extra HP and armor? Hmmmm.

There was a board game I played a while ago that the owner claimed was a lot like Master of Orion, though I can't remember the name. You have map tiles that were hexagons you placed down, or maybe flipped, as you explored, and you invested in techs and upgraded your ships and whatnot. I wish I remembered more about the game, but I was pulled away before we finished and haven't seen or played it since then. It was a lot of fun and I'd love to check it out again, though.

I played the Resident Evil card game with a friend and it was pretty good -- much better than I had expected. It's very quick to learn and there are some cool strategies I threw together over the dozen or so games we played, though I seem to remember us having to stop friendly fire due to what I like to call, 'mad Jill grenade spam'. Good times. There's also Munchkin and Bang! on the card front, both being a lot of fun, and there are toooooooons of Munckin expansions. Sadly, I didn't get to spend the same amount of time with either title as I did with RE, only playing around two games of each. I should really pick one of the three up for myself sometime.

Lords of Waterdeep and Libertalia have both been super high on my wishlist since I heard about them, but no one I know owns either and I don't have the income to purchase them, so I don't have much else to say about them. I just felt the need to get their names out there. There's also Battlestar Galactica, Arkham Horror, and Thunderstone which people I know have and tell me I need to play, though I haven't been able to for whatever reason yet. Eventually I will though, and Arkham Horror in particular I am looking forward to. :)

[Shauna]

I wish I had more friends to play tabletop games with. :(

[Rez09]

Yeah, that's a super big problem I have too. :'(

[Del Murder]

Settlers is fun and I only recently got I to it. My favorites are Monopoly, Risk, Stratego, Jenga, Boggle, Taboo, and good ol Scrabble. For card games I like Canasta, Uno, Down the Tubes, and Texas Hold Em. I actually can't wait until my kids are old enough to play this stuff with us. Family game time will be the best.

[Shlup]

We have a pretty decent game collection over here. Favorites are Settlers of Catan, Quiddler, Phase 10, Scattegories, Ticket to Ride, Spite and Malice, and Takenoko.

[Rez09]

. . . Ticket to Ride . . .

I saw that at a yard sale a while back, and I'm pretty sad I passed it up. Is it awesome? :(

[theundeadhero]

I like them but rarely have anyone to play them with.

[Shlup]

. . . Ticket to Ride . . .

I saw that at a yard sale a while back, and I'm pretty sad I passed it up. Is it awesome? :(

I like it, yeah. It's not a lively game, but it's very fun.

[Bubba]

There is definitely gonna be family board game time when my kids are older. I loved Hero Quest too. Generally play the classics these days whenever I get chance which is very rare.

Monopoly, Chess, Scrabble and of course the legendary... Saint & Greavsie The Board Game.

[Quindiana Jones]

I still have yet to play Risk and I really, really want to.

[Shoeberto]

. . . Ticket to Ride . . .

I saw that at a yard sale a while back, and I'm pretty sad I passed it up. Is it awesome? :(

I like it, yeah. It's not a lively game, but it's very fun.
I think that's why I like it. You don't have to think real hard. It's good for drinking and shooting the shit, and I imagine kids would find it pretty fun too.

I like board games a lot. One of my favorites that I think is underappreciated is Zombies!!! Everyone always seems to love it when I can get them to play it.

I'm also a fan of more common (ie buy it at Wal Mart) games, like Cranium. Cranium is the best for parties.

[Loony BoB]

As a kid, I'd play Hero Quest quite often with my sister. Amazing game.

I'd love to do this kind of thing again but I struggle to learn them and always get annoyed at how I am handicapped from the start because of this. I also don't want to have to pay for the thing because we struggle as it is with material stuff, we need to throw a lot of things out before we think about bringing more in. If you're ever buying something for Danielle or myself, please, don't make it ornamental. xD It'll end up in the bin eventually.

Board games I like in general include Stratego, Risk, Chess, Cluedo, Pictionary, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit.

[Shorty]

I don't love tabletop or board games because they were a huge source of contention in my family when I was a kid and I generally find them boring. But I've played D&D a few times with friends and it was insane fun.