December 11, 2004
Curious George: Games for Xmas gifts.
Specifically, I'm looking for personal opinions/recommendations on: two-player games; 2-4 or more player games; and large (4-8 or more) family-friendly games. Must be easy and quick to learn. Must not be long, drawn-out, strategy-type thingies. Must be newer or lesser-known; something you can purchase for a gift, not something you'd do yourself with a standard card deck, pen, paper, or dice.
Okay. I want games for me and my husband to play together (Lost Cities is one I'm looking at). I'm focusing on card games right now, but definitely open to other suggestions. Uncomplicated with a nice fast pace of play. Games I can play with my brothers or a small group of friends. These can be a bit more complicated, not much more, but we are willing to take a bit of time for a fun payoff. We like quirky. We're also hard to offend. Card, board, or other all fine. We enjoy stuff like Chez Geek. And games for my family to play together after dinner. My family is going to be the trickiest since it has to be something you can explain in under five minutes, swiftly-paced, and very simple in actual play that doesn't require too much thought/intellectual knowledge. Preferably something that gets everyone loose and laughing. Bonus points if it's so simple my 7-year-old sister can join in (not a requirement, but nice). Nothing really quirky (my father will play Falling, but my mother won't), nothing offensive. So far Apples to Apples is the game of choice and it's universally loved. Everyone gets bored and wanders off after half an hour of Monopoly. We do play Trivial Pursuit but it drags and my mother almost always opts out (she's the hardest nut to crack here). I've found two relevant-ish AskMeFi links (1, 2) and I'm combing Cheapass Games, BoardGameGeek, and Defective Yeti for ideas. But I'd really love some personally tested monkey recommendations, not only what you like but what you've tried and don't like, and why, to help me narrow the shopping field. Thanks in advance!
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I forgot to add that one of the games I'm looking at for me and my brothers to play is Settlers of Catan.
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TenaciousPettle introduced me to this card game, which is a hell of a lot of fun. Every B-movie horror cliche imaginable. If horror's not your thing, check out the rest of the zmangames site.
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Lost Cities is absolute game gold (my husband and I are addicted). I'd also recommend Odin's Ravens (by the same folks, also 2 player). If you have a slight off sense of humor, then I think you could get a lot out of Grave Robbers from Outer Space. It's fun with larger groups (and there are other flavors of it if B-grade sci fi isn't your thing). bah! on preview MST beat me to it :)
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Carcassone is also quite good, very simple and elegant. I really enjoy the Hunters and Gatherers version. As for Cheapass games, you can't go wrong with Kill Dr. Lucky (especially if the folks know the game Clue). Lord of the Fries is also a lot of fun, and the special edition in the chinese takeout container set is a great gift (the cards are also more durable).
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It may sound odd, but the Ebay board game is pretty fun. I don't know if it is made anymore. If only there were someplace online where you could bid on all sorts of crap...
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Abalone! Sort of a cross between sumo wrestling and checkers. Old news for the European readers, but I don't think it ever really caught on in NorAm. It is a strategy game, but not an overly complicated one so the games aren't too long.
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Apples to Apples. Zero learning time, infinite enjoyment (though obeying Metcalfe's law).
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I'm getting #2 the LotR version of Risk.
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I'd recommend Fluxx. I found out about it myself while looking for a less orthodox card game to play with my friends. While it's a bit different at first, everyone I've played it with picks it up pretty quickly, and really seems to enjoy it. Most game-specific stores will carry it, and you can even get boosters to make your own cards for the deck, should you so desire.
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Grave Robbers looks funny, I will check that out! We already have Kill Dr. Lucky and Lord of the Fries, my brothers both like those, but neither worked out as a whole-family game. Cheapass is great for me and my brothers, but not for the 'rents, it seems. Glad to hear a strongly positive opinion on Lost Cities. I will look up Odin's Ravens and Carcassone, I've heard good things about both before. I will also look up Abalone, never heard of it. I got the family Apples to Apples a few years back and it went over awesome - sorry if I didn't make that clear - it's the favorite after-dinner game now and I'm trying to find something that will go over just as well, for them. Strategy/world-building type of games aren't completely ruled out for the middle group of games I'm looking for; just for me and my husband alone, we want something not so involving, and for the family it wouldn't do at all - my mother won't play anything she has to think too much about, and extended family members want games that are explained/paced quickly. My father really likes world-building computer games (Civ II, Pharaoh, Tropico are all past Xmas gifts that he played like crazy) though and a board or card game of the same type, if it's well-done and not too fiddly, would go over well with him and my brothers. My husband would probably enjoy the LotR version of Risk, but he'd never have anyone to play it with. ;) Fluxx is a game I've heard about and am considering; is it something for the family or more for me and my brothers alone?
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I would guess that Fluxx would be more for you and your brothers. Just about all my experince with it has been with who were about my own age, and it seems to work better in small groups - around 4 or so.
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I have purchased and played many of the cheapass games and I have found them all enjoyable. Kill Dr.Lucky and Unexploded Cow are my personal faves, but they all have their charm. On the downside, many of the games require the purchse of additional pieces (tokens, money, chips etc). But considering the price those extras don't amount to much - and many can be ransacked from other games.
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This is a great thread.
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Slashdot just did a thread on this with links to The Morning News' game guide and also Funagains games of the year
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every year around xmas, we play "sorry". it's simple, it's classic, and it's oh so much to be vindictive to your loved ones....Sor-rY! god bless the parker brothers!
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Apples to Apples is regularly played (and loved!) by the couples in our "game night" circle. others we dig the hell out of : Pass The Bomb (passing a ticking bomb around the table as you come up with words that contain a 2 or 3 letter fragment on the up card - die roll determines if it cannot be used at the beginning or end of a word. Give a word and hand off the bomb before it "explodes". Catchphrase - played in teams, similar to Pass The Bomb, you are handed a ticking disc with a word displayed in the middle - you must give your team hints to guess the word, then pass the disc before the buzzer sounds. Great fun, as you get a sticky word and the tension mounts as the ticking gets faster and faster, and the player gets more and more flummoxed trying to come up with a description.
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Quarto
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halo 2
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Settlers of Cataan -- all purpose fun, and you can find variants online if you want to get fancy with playing it. Upwords -- I think it's the best word game on the market, far more challenging than Scrabble
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I second Fluxx. Another good one is the little-girl-street-fighting Lunch Money (from Atlas Games)... graphically it's amazing, and fun as hell to play.
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Settlers rocks, we played it last night. I love that game, and I'm not very good at those geeky sorts of games. (When we used to play Risk, my friend and I would just try to take over areas like say France, so that we could be Napoleon and Josephine. Yeah, not very serious players). It was a tournament so Billy and I both won a small card game as a prize. Since I had the longest road I got "Ostrakon" which bills itself as "philosophical party game where you ask universal questions." For getting largest army, Billy won "Bang!" which looks hilarious, and very party-oriented. They're both group games, the first being 5-12 players, the second 4-7. I haven't played them yet, but they seem good, and couldn't have been very expensive.
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Falling, from Cheapass games, is my personal favorite - and each round takes less than 2 minutes! It's a realtime game based on the idea that the whole group is falling out of a very high building. Last one to hit the ground lives!
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Toronto lands a spot in world Monopoly game. Which confirms that Monotony is just as boring as ever. City ranking here.