Some Current Favorites
What am I playing now? Well, honestly, less than I'd like... adulting sucks, kids, and it sucks time more than anything else. So enjoy not having to do be an adult while you can.
Still, with that said... we moved pretty recently, and we moved knowing we had a renovation in our near future, so I pruned the game cabinet down to a much smaller shelf than it used to have. Here's a few that made the cut, with some very brief notes on each. They aren't full reviews, but should give a flavor of what I like in each.
This is probably my current favorite "board game," although it's not a board game in the move-your-token-around kind of way. The basic idea is that you have a hand of tickets by which you promised to build trains from A to B and C to D; you then have to buy tracks to connect those destinations, with bonuses for the longest track, for completing more tickets, and so on.
I like the network build effect---if you're clever with your initial tickets, it's relatively low-risk to add more later, because you'll probably find some you can connect easily enough. And it's actually rare that I find other players cramping my routes, which is a little bit surprising. I could maybe do with a little more of that and then maybe clever ways to deal with that---maybe if you could build track not previously on the board, or buy them away from other players, or something.
Still, it's a fun game, and one that only makes my in-laws shake their head without understanding it, instead of worrying for me because I'm playing.
This is mostly a card game; you spend cards to give your species additional advantages, sometimes use their abilities, or to increase population and body size. You "win" by collecting the most food across the duration of the game, but "die off" if there's not enough food in a given turn, or if carnivores eat you. It's a fun conceit, and I really enjoyed combinations like the "Northwestern Tree Elephant" my daughter had: a species with a huge body size, Climbing, and Camouflage.
When I say "formerly," I mean "back in the late 1970's," just to be clear. And, sigh, to date myself. As in carbon dating. Anyway, it's been re-branded and is still sold....
This is a silly dice game played by rolling pig figurines and scoring based on their landing positions. It's great as a travel game because it's quick, fun, and incredibly portable (in fact, your danger will be losing the pigs, not deciding how to pack it).
A card game; you play various terrible fates onto your own characters, while showering blessings and happiness upon your opponents' characters---the goal is to have your characters die as miserable as possible! And the mechanic of the transparent cards, sometimes covering parts of earlier plays, sometimes not, and sometimes adding with special effects makes the strategies interesting too.
Still, to be painfully honest, this is a game that I enjoy, but most other people seem to be less enthusiastic about it. Still, my blog, my review, and I enjoy both the silliness of the horrible fates, and telling the two-or-three-sentences that you're supposed to to flesh out how that fate happened, given whatever else has been inflicted on that character. Even more than that, I love listening to the connections spun by my more-creative-than-me friends.
This one's a classic, although not a "I mean 1970's" classic. We play with the Cities and Knights expansion. I never seem to get my resources right, but it often takes just a bit longer to finish than my kids have time for, so at least I don't actually lose as a result...
I'm not sure whether to call it a board game or a card game; it's both. Depending on the arrangement of the board and where you put your pieces, you can collect resource cards, which you need to build things or to directly score victory points. Also, depending on where you put your pieces on that same board, you control how easily you can change a surplus of one resource into whatever one you need for your building.
This one feels like a game where the basic idea is easy to pick up, but finding a strategy---or at least a good strategy---is much more subtle.
Still, with that said... we moved pretty recently, and we moved knowing we had a renovation in our near future, so I pruned the game cabinet down to a much smaller shelf than it used to have. Here's a few that made the cut, with some very brief notes on each. They aren't full reviews, but should give a flavor of what I like in each.
Ticket to Ride
This is probably my current favorite "board game," although it's not a board game in the move-your-token-around kind of way. The basic idea is that you have a hand of tickets by which you promised to build trains from A to B and C to D; you then have to buy tracks to connect those destinations, with bonuses for the longest track, for completing more tickets, and so on.
I like the network build effect---if you're clever with your initial tickets, it's relatively low-risk to add more later, because you'll probably find some you can connect easily enough. And it's actually rare that I find other players cramping my routes, which is a little bit surprising. I could maybe do with a little more of that and then maybe clever ways to deal with that---maybe if you could build track not previously on the board, or buy them away from other players, or something.
Still, it's a fun game, and one that only makes my in-laws shake their head without understanding it, instead of worrying for me because I'm playing.
Evolution
This is mostly a card game; you spend cards to give your species additional advantages, sometimes use their abilities, or to increase population and body size. You "win" by collecting the most food across the duration of the game, but "die off" if there's not enough food in a given turn, or if carnivores eat you. It's a fun conceit, and I really enjoyed combinations like the "Northwestern Tree Elephant" my daughter had: a species with a huge body size, Climbing, and Camouflage.
Why do elephants paint their toenails red?
To hide in cherry trees.
Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?
No; see how well it works!
We have the Flight expansion, but I don't love it---among other concerns, it adds a bunch of cards to the deck which makes the game long, and flying beasties seem very, um, prone to extinction. At least the way I play them; my son has started to beat me regularly, which is kind of surprising and a little disorienting.To hide in cherry trees.
Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?
No; see how well it works!
Pass the Pigs (formerly Pigmania)
When I say "formerly," I mean "back in the late 1970's," just to be clear. And, sigh, to date myself. As in carbon dating. Anyway, it's been re-branded and is still sold....
This is a silly dice game played by rolling pig figurines and scoring based on their landing positions. It's great as a travel game because it's quick, fun, and incredibly portable (in fact, your danger will be losing the pigs, not deciding how to pack it).
Gloom
A card game; you play various terrible fates onto your own characters, while showering blessings and happiness upon your opponents' characters---the goal is to have your characters die as miserable as possible! And the mechanic of the transparent cards, sometimes covering parts of earlier plays, sometimes not, and sometimes adding with special effects makes the strategies interesting too.
Still, to be painfully honest, this is a game that I enjoy, but most other people seem to be less enthusiastic about it. Still, my blog, my review, and I enjoy both the silliness of the horrible fates, and telling the two-or-three-sentences that you're supposed to to flesh out how that fate happened, given whatever else has been inflicted on that character. Even more than that, I love listening to the connections spun by my more-creative-than-me friends.
Catan
This one's a classic, although not a "I mean 1970's" classic. We play with the Cities and Knights expansion. I never seem to get my resources right, but it often takes just a bit longer to finish than my kids have time for, so at least I don't actually lose as a result...
I'm not sure whether to call it a board game or a card game; it's both. Depending on the arrangement of the board and where you put your pieces, you can collect resource cards, which you need to build things or to directly score victory points. Also, depending on where you put your pieces on that same board, you control how easily you can change a surplus of one resource into whatever one you need for your building.
This one feels like a game where the basic idea is easy to pick up, but finding a strategy---or at least a good strategy---is much more subtle.
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