Essential Board Games

[SFH]

Okay guys, let's have a collaborative game suggestion session here. Just moved into my own place with my lady. I already own a few board games but want to see what others are into.

So far we own "NFL Monopoly", "Chess", "Trivial Pursuit", "Scrabble", and "Life." I'm thinking of buying an updated version of "Battleship" and standard "Monopoly."

What games would you consider essential purchases?

 

[foleyfanforever88]

Do you want classic board games that most people know? Or better, lesser known games that require more thinking? Of the former, I'd add Risk, Yahtzee, Taboo, and Sorry to your collection. (I assume you aren't exclusively looking for games played on a board). If you're looking for some quality games that you might not have played before, I'd recommend Ticket to Ride, Power Grid, or The Settlers of Catan.

 

[SFH]

Oh I loved playing Sorry as a kid! I can definitely add that one to the list.

I'm open to anything that could be found in the "board game" section of any Target, Wal-mart, or K-Mart. Heck if it gets enough mentions I'd buy "Gooey Louie" if that means people still appreciate that classic.

Given the criteria I just mentioned, I'm pretty sure something like UNO would count as well. I've seen the cards on a hanging display in the same section.

 

[Youth N Asia]

I consider Phase 10 to be the best card game out there. Outside of any game you can do with a regular ass deck of cards. Can be played 1 on 1, but it's best with 4 people.

Apples to Apples is fun when you have 4 people.

I also like
Tribond. Haven't played in forever, don't recall how many people are needed.
Scattergories. Multiple people needed/
Upwords. It's scrabble, but with stacking letters.
Jenga's always fun, but not to be played on September 11

For goofy shit there's Guess Who, Topple, Ker-Plunk. All fun, but kid-ish.

Are you mainly looking for just two player stuff?

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

I can count on one hand the number of times I have lost at Yahtzee. I am supernaturally lucky at anything involving dice. Backgammon is awesome, too. What's that old ass game with the rocks in the board? Mancala? Or is that a jewish holiday. I can never keep these things straight.

 

[foleyfanforever88]

I've never lost on my own Othello board.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Oh, and in college, the game of prestige was BARRELL OF MONKEYS, but only if tequila and/or cough syrup was involved.

 

[SFH]

Are you mainly looking for just two player stuff?

Multi-player and two player.

I like the "Guess Who" suggestion as well. I was a beast at that game circa 1993. I'd love to get my hands on an old copy of "13 Dead End Drive" as well.

Scattegories and Taboo also great ideas. We plan on entertaining a lot so these will help. I'm inclined to steer clear of Pictionary type games though. I draw like an over-caffeinated retarded 2 year old.

 

[Youth N Asia]

I'm a Guess Who beast myself. Most people don't look for bushy eye-brows. One exchange with my brother went.

Brother: "Does your person have a mustache?"
Me: "NO. Does your person have facial hair?"
Brother: "Dude, fuck you."

People ask about beards and staches. Don't go there until you have facial hair down.

Again. I can't suggest Phase 10 enough. A deck will cost you $6, tops. Lots of fun.

 

[foleyfanforever88]

I can second Phase 10, though I prefer playing with regular cards and a slightly different list of phases.

 

[Youth N Asia]

I can second Phase 10, though I prefer playing with regular cards and a slightly different list of phases.

Yeah. I mostly play traditional. But now and then we'll hop online and find some variations. Keeps the game a little fresher.

 

[SFH]

Free Parking was a fun game. It is a spin-off of Monopoly. Seems it can be had for pretty cheap on Ebay.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Trivial Pursuit and Risk. I fucking love Risk.

 

[Black Lushus]

Is there anyone else that just never got Clue? Granted, I never really gave it a serious try, but I had it when I was a kid and just couldn't figure it out or get in to it. Haven't gone back to it since.

 

[Edwin]

Settlers is probably the best game ever. Ticket to Ride and that zombie one in a mall are pretty great too. The Euro-style games, much like Dirk Nowitzki, rape and crush all I thought was great as a kid.

 

[oldskool]

Is there anyone else that just never got Clue? Granted, I never really gave it a serious try, but I had it when I was a kid and just couldn't figure it out or get in to it. Haven't gone back to it since.

I didn't get it either but to be fair my one experience was with one cousin playing 2 characters since we couldn't find a third, she didn't explain it at all and after about 20 minutes figured out "it's nothing like the movie" and went upstairs to watch the movie instead.

 

[AA484]

Yeah, Settlers of Cataan is pretty fun but it used to get pretty heated in my circle of friends. Personally, I don't give a shit, but we had some people in our group who were very competitive, especially concerning Settlers, so post-game, we'd inevitably have either girls crying, people pissed off at each other or both.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Clue and Risk are pretty much essential. Also, Scotland Yard.

 

[Star Ocean 2]

Yeah Clue can be difficult if you're just RANDOMLY MOVING PIECES ACROSS THE BOARD. Read the rules, people.

Screw Uno. It's just a ripoff of Crazy Eights with a few extra stupid cards thrown in. You can play with a regular deck of cards. Blokus is pretty decent.

Try to find 1313 Dead End Drive. If you really want to look for old games that aren't made anymore, there's Solarquest, a nice Monopoly in space, and 221B Baker Street, a Sherlock Holmes mystery game, neither of which infringe on any copyrights.

 

[LPM]

Yeah, Settlers of Cataan is pretty fun but it used to get pretty heated in my circle of friends. Personally, I don't give a shit, but we had some people in our group who were very competitive, especially concerning Settlers, so post-game, we'd inevitably have either girls crying, people pissed off at each other or both.

This is why people should get Settlers.

I have a group of friends that just eats up the more complex board games out there. My favorite is probably Arkham Horror...you wander around some spooky town in the early 1900s trying to stop an evil god while staying sane. It's cooperative, so you're all working together to beat the game. Nice change from something like Settlers.

Then you have the types of game where it's cooperative to a point. Battlestar Galactica starts out cooperative, but there's a chance that someone is secretly working against everyone else. So they win if everyone else fails. It ends up making the game nice and paranoid.

 

[Danville_Wrestling]

Are you mainly looking for just two player stuff?

Multi-player and two player.

I like the "Guess Who" suggestion as well. I was a beast at that game circa 1993. I'd love to get my hands on an old copy of "13 Dead End Drive" as well.

Loved those two games.

 

[MillenniumMan831]

I have the Wrestling Challenge board game. It's over my head. I had to adjust the rules.

 

[Edwin]

Yeah, Settlers of Cataan is pretty fun but it used to get pretty heated in my circle of friends. Personally, I don't give a shit, but we had some people in our group who were very competitive, especially concerning Settlers, so post-game, we'd inevitably have either girls crying, people pissed off at each other or both.

This is why people should get Settlers.

I have a group of friends that just eats up the more complex board games out there. My favorite is probably Arkham Horror...you wander around some spooky town in the early 1900s trying to stop an evil god while staying sane. It's cooperative, so you're all working together to beat the game. Nice change from something like Settlers.

Then you have the types of game where it's cooperative to a point. Battlestar Galactica starts out cooperative, but there's a chance that someone is secretly working against everyone else. So they win if everyone else fails. It ends up making the game nice and paranoid.

The BSG game is fantastic, but man, is it long. The shortest game I've played was around three hours, and that only ended then because the humans were wiped out before making it to the end game. Great Sunday afternoon game, though. The only thing I don't like is starting as a human and then being the person who finds out he's a cylon at the midgame; it kinda makes any good work you've done to that point fruitless.

 

[ViciousFish]

Settlers is amazing and Arkham Horror is one of my favorite games ever but gets REALLY pricey when you start adding in expansions. Like well over $300 for the whole game at this point.

If you like strategy games History of the World and Age of Renaissance are super fun. Tikal is another favorite of mine. It's a game about finding and exploring Aztec temples.

 

[foleyfanforever88]

Yeah Clue can be difficult if you're just RANDOMLY MOVING PIECES ACROSS THE BOARD. Read the rules, people.

Screw Uno. It's just a ripoff of Crazy Eights with a few extra stupid cards thrown in. You can play with a regular deck of cards. Blokus is pretty decent.

Try to find 1313 Dead End Drive. If you really want to look for old games that aren't made anymore, there's Solarquest, a nice Monopoly in space, and 221B Baker Street, a Sherlock Holmes mystery game, neither of which infringe on any copyrights.

Ooh I've played 221B Baker Street too. I like that one a lot. And seriously, people, Clue isn't hard. I've been winning since I was 10.

I have a group of friends that just eats up the more complex board games out there. My favorite is probably Arkham Horror...you wander around some spooky town in the early 1900s trying to stop an evil god while staying sane. It's cooperative, so you're all working together to beat the game. Nice change from something like Settlers.

Then you have the types of game where it's cooperative to a point. Battlestar Galactica starts out cooperative, but there's a chance that someone is secretly working against everyone else. So they win if everyone else fails. It ends up making the game nice and paranoid.

I have the same group of friends. I've played Arkham once, but it was the first time for all of us so it took WAY too long and turned me off almost completely. I can see how it would be fun though. For co-op games I prefer Pandemic.

I've also played Agricola and Carcassone, the latter of which is really simple but not all that fun. Agricola is long and there's a lot to it, but once you know what you're doing it's a pretty good game.

Robo Rally is fun too.

 

[SFH]

One night the whole family got together to play Clue. My sis was in from the army so there was celebrating all day and Mom was, well, drunk. Worst game of Clue ever because she was only "suspecting" the cards in her hand. She'd peer into her hands and say "I suspect...uhh....Ms. Scarlet, with the Wrench, in the Ballroom..." and of course no one would have the cards...

yeah..

 

[CanadianChris]

Cribbage and Careers get played most often in my household.

 

[CanadianGuitarist]

Cribbage and Careers get played most often in my household.

Careers! My mother got that when she was seven or eight. It was still at my grandparent's house last May, so my grandmother and I played a game for nostalgic purposes. It was fun. In fact, my brother came home from out west at the beginning of this June, and the three of us played two games of it three weeks ago. Good times.

Come to think of it, almost every time I visit my grandmother, we'll play some kind of board/card game. Usually Rummy or Scrabble. My grandfather's been non-sighted since he was a young man, and though they own a Braille deck of cards and Scrabble board, he seems to like playing Yahtzee the most with us.

When I think about it, my mother played a remarkable amount of games with my brother and I growing up (almost every time we'd ask), though she never liked Monopoly, which was the favourite of my brother and I for many years.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Monopoly takes forever and it's a mess. I like it ok, but not my favorite.

I like really degenerate games of Risk where whoever is holding Kamchatka can deal out shots of Kamchatka Vodka (BAD IDEA), and we stand around the table like generals, pushing pieces into play with flyswatters and shit. Shit talking while someone else rolls, trying to foment dissent and mutiny in his ranks. *whispered* "the general is indecisive..at nightfall we flee..murmur murmur"

 

[Black Lushus]

Most of you may not be old enough to remember this, but man I fucking LOVED this game: