October 23, 2007

• Quite so. There are four people in this room at four computers. I've been itching for some Monopoly. Well, Careers, actually.
• You sank my battleship!
• He and I obviously have a different frame of reference. I was reared on a steady diet of Atari games in my youth, and I played all of them alone. The thought of an alternate reality in which my (divorced) parents, (fictional) siblings and I played Joust together in a genial haze of familial camaraderie is disturbing, if not outright preposterous. (Or is he talking about a time before he brought Atari to the masses? The Rockwellian past, when mom wore pearls while she vacuumed? I can't tell from the article.)
• Oh, yes. I remember family fun times in the evening before we were sent to bed. We used to play He Hit Me Back First! A fun game, cumulating in Dad getting in there for the final wack.
• culminating? Whatever. It hurt.
• yeah I used to play with the grownups. That was cool. Shortly after that they quit being able to understand much.
• I know that I've pretty much given up video gaming because of the time it takes away from my family, and although I probably won't get one, the Wii only really holds appeal because it seems like something we could do together. I think he's on to something. Of course, there is a board game renaissance going on... Can't be a coincidence.
• Indeed. And it doesn't hurt that Carcassonne is better than stupid ol' Monotony...
• In my pre-high school years I spent plenty of time playing board games, at first with my family, later with friends. Of course, there was no alternative, until high school chums and I went bowling one day and there was this one machine, this incredible, hi-tech Pong game that cost just a quarter. But let us not leave the board game topic quite yet. I believe that good and clever board games, past or present, were and are fantastic and fun excuses for really enjoyable social interaction, be it in a family environment, or a bunch of kids passing time, or at a small social gathering of adults who want to do something more entertaining than listening to each other talk politics, religion and child rearing. Invite me to a games night for adults, I'll be there. And charades is NOT passé
• Load of bollocks. I played ATARI as a kid, and almost exclusively played alone, like mechagrue. If you ask me, the age of MMORPG and LAN parties makes gaming far more group oriented. I have friends across the world I have made via gaming, conversing via headset or whatever. So we're not in the same room, big deal. I don't want to play games with my family, I can't stand 'em. All of that family shit is overrated.
• True. Until recovery.
• ATTENTION: THE SKY IS FALLING. Oops, wrong thread.
• I met Hank in a MMORPG world once, briefly. My character at the time was named Werner Herzog. Suck it, haters!
• More importantly, what was Hank's character? I played all kinds of games growing up. I was a board game fanatic, but also loved computer games. Both have their place.
• Hank's character is an orc. Not just in games, but in everything he's ever done. Orc orc orc.
• My family and I used to play lots of board games at big gatherings. I remember both playing Monopoly with cousins (one cousin and I would team up and give each other free rent or 0% interest loans, heh) and playing "championship of the world" Trivial Pursuit games with the whole family. Actually, one of my fondest memories is playing Craniumj with my mom, my sister, and my grandmother (Bobo), and laughing until I nearly died -- first because my Bobo had to pantomime being a roller coaster (a truly epic effort on her part, which actually looked like a modified "robot" dance) and second because I had to hum AC/DC's "Back in Black" for them to name the tune but I was literally the only person in the room who'd heard the song. Good times, good times. That said, we also had an original Atari and it rocked.
• I like board games, but if "the family standards" aren't being played much anymore (with the exception of Scrabble), the game designers have only themselves to blame. People who like board games are more interested in well-designed newer stuff (however, because I'm not really obsessed with strategy and don't mind a "luck" element, I don't always agree with everything said on Board Game Geek). Also, there's a failure to get mass distributorship (I mean, in your local UberMart) for games like Carcassonne and the Catan series. They could cause a board game renaissance but they remain nichey because you have to go to a "special" retailer to get them. Bookstores are carrying a lot of board games these days, but still not the ones with the best reputations. Also also - there's a new edition of Talisman! Love that game.
• (On another note: isn't Paradice gorgeous?)
• Still have some fond family memories about board games after dinner as a little child. And when the Atari arrived, for a little while family was involved, specially that joystick-wrecker Decathlon, and the Enduro driving game.
• Long live Yahtzee.
• I hate chess.
• verbminx, it's certainly beautiful, but by all accounts, a poor game. I wonder if, ironically (using that right?), the release of the X-Box Settlers and Carcassonne will be the final push needed to get these quality, and very approachable, games onto the mainstream radar. I certainly never played any video games with family. Frankly, I feel like my priorities have changed more than video games have. But then, there's the Wii...
• I saw Catan in a Barnes & Noble last Christmas and came this ---><--- close to buying it. Worth it?
• MCT- Definitely. Everyone I've ever played it with loves it. That includes my mother-in-law, my hardcore geek friends and the few "norms" in my life.
• If you don't like Catan, you're dead inside. ;) I'm kidding. But it can even be difficult to find at specialty hobby shops. I've definitely heard the stuff about Paradice's gameplay, which is why the no shelling out of $200 for it on my part. There is that $40 version, but it's wood, not resin. I just found a working, almost complete copy of Dark Tower (a "grail" game for 80s nostalgia buffs) at a church rummage sale for $4. It retails for like $250 and up on ebay.
• My favorite is Speed Scrabble. Toss out the board, everyone takes 5 tiles and starts their own board on the floor/carpet, when someone uses all their tiles they shout "take two!" and everyone has to grab two more tiles to incorporate. Game is over when there are no more tiles and someone uses all of the ones they have, with scoring being the same as normal but you lose points for any unincorporated tiles. Best part is that you can rearrange your board/convoluted-mess at any time, so you have to balance speediness with maximum word overlap. So much fun.
• I saw Catan in a Barnes & Noble last Christmas and came this ---><--- close to buying it. Worth it? Absolutely. Though I'm more of a Carcassonne man, myself. But beware: it will have you surfing Board Game Geek, and spending much of your disposable income on board games, that could probably be better spent on the missus, the poop machine, or beer.
• I'll have to give a try to speed Scrabble. Have you ever played speed Uno? You have to draw a card when: 1) You take too long to play (as defined by the table) 2) You ask any question (including "whose turn is it?" or "why is the sky blue?")
• Picked up Pompeii today. Build the city. Destroy the city. Awesome.