The (Almost) Lost Joy of Board Games

On a recent episode of The Vampire Diaries, I was somewhat surprised to see several of the characters playing Pictionary because you don't hear much about people playing board or similar type games anymore. When people get together now, they're more likely to play Guitar Hero than Monopoly or Scattergories. But I love board games and it's a bit sad I don't get to play them very often. So here's an ode to some of my favorites.

1. Monopoly -- This is the first board game I can remember playing, probably because of how much my family and I played it during the horrible winter of 1977-78. It snowed and snowed and snowed that winter. We were out of school almost the entire month of January. So we tried our best to stay warm and played a ton of Monopoly. My younger sister, who was only 3 at the time, would just play with the fake money. For a long time after that winter, I was sick to death of the game. But years later, I started playing again and even have my own National Parks Monopoly game.

2. Trivial Pursuit -- I'll admit it. I was a geeky kid in school. I loved learning, still do. And I've always loved trivia games. I was on my school's academic (quiz bowl) team, so this game is a classic for me. There have been many different versions, but I still have the original, complete with falling-apart box.

3. Clue -- Col Mustard in the library with the candlestick. I've always liked mysteries, so this game was fun. I loved trying to figure out the answers before everyone else.

4. Scattergories -- You have to think fast in this one, trying to match categories with words that start with the same letter.

5. Scrabble -- I'm not the best at this game, often losing to my husband when we play the occasional game, but I still like how it stretches my brain. I love word games.

6. Dominoes -- I never played Dominoes until I met my husband. His family played, and so I learned from them. Another funny memory I have regarding Dominoes is when my husband and I lived in married housing on our university campus while he was in grad school. Our upstairs neighbors were some guys from Barbados, where the game is evidently very popular. They would host some very loud, crazy games of Dominoes up there.

7. Pictionary -- An artist, I am not. But this drawing game has provided a lot of laughs through the years. One year, my RWA chapter even created a version with romance book titles and played it at our chapter retreat. Hilarity ensued.

8. Uno -- Haven't played this card game in years, but I remember liking it when I was young.

9. Yahtzee -- I haven't played this dice game in years either, but it was popular when I was a kid.

10. One of the more recent faves is Perquaky, a word game where you roll dice and try to make up as many words as you can with different amounts of letters in a short amount of time. My friend and fellow author Annie Solomon introduced me to this one, at another chapter retreat. I liked it so much I bought my own game and force my hubby to play it every once in awhile. :)

As the days get shorter and colder, it's a great time to drag out those old board games and rediscover the fun of playing them.

What about you -- are you a fan of board/classic games? If so, what are your favorites? Any special memories attached to certain games or playing board games in general?Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/board%20games
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The Games We Play

Posted by Donna MacMeans


Christmas is over, the presents unwrapped. This year we had some requests for some games under the tree, and now - when ice coats the road and snow piles up outside - we can enjoy those games around the kitchen table.



I had to laugh, though. As some of those familiar games that I remember from long ago have a different look. Like these:





Harry Potter Clue. I found versions of this game based on the TV series The Office and 24. I hope they kept Miss Scarlett and Colonel Mustard!








Monopoly - There's nothing like the classic, but different versions keep hitting the market. I know you've seen the versions based on different cities and colleges. I found one based on dogs (to the right there), one based on Star Trek and another based on the Wizard of Oz.






I remember playing Life out on the back porch. Filling my plastic car with sticks (babies) and choosing whether to go the long way for a college education or go straight for a career. Not sure those are options in Redneck Life. I think I'd just like to read that game board.





Here's a new version of the classic Scrabble game called Bananagram.


I've played this game. It's a lot faster than scrabble and there's no triple word scores or adding up of scores. Though the instructions say it can be played with two people, it's one of those games that would be a lot more fun with a lot more people.



Anyway, as I was looking for fun games as gifts, I found quite a few that might be good to stock in the bandit lair. I picked out some games that I thought might appear to certain banditas. I challenge you to match the games to the bandita. By the way, the above games are included in the match as well.



Sherlock Holmes anyone? This is 221B Baker Street









Then there's Colosseum...










Or How about A HOT AFFAIR. (I found that one in games for adults.)






Here's a classic - Chutes & Ladders - Superhero Style










We do like our wine in the lair, and who doesn't love a good murder mystery?









Wordplay had good reviews on Amazon. It's a game about finding words with specified letters to fit certain categories. Don't think they're asking for Haikus, but it looked like it could be fun.












Anglophiles, anyone?









Okay, it's not a board game but it's all about the wild, wild west...






I don't think you have to be a senior to have a senior moment, but it helps.










Here's a timely game, Stick it to the IRS. It's a game of tax shelters, and no - purchase of the game is not tax deductible.







How about a passport to culture?









I had to add this last game because who could resist Storming the Castle with Wesley and Buttercup and the Dread Pirate Roberts.



Do you like board games? How would you match up my picks to the bandits? Any other games you'd like to add to the collection? It's Saturday, time to kick back and play.

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Descent: Journeys In The Dark

Being somewhat of a gaming creature-of-habit, one of my new years resolutions was to try some new games. Therefore, when the opportunity to try Descent: Journeys in the Dark with a couple of friends presented itself, we took the chance.

Descent is highly rated on boardgamegeek, ranking as the 56th best boardgame on that website, and a perennial fixture on their list of hottest games. There are a lot of folks who enjoy this type of game, with at least 5 expansion sets (Well of Darkness, Altar of Despair, Tomb of Ice, Road to Legend, Sea of Blood) released since 2005. And Descent has spawned several copy-cat adventure board-games, like Doom, World of Warcraft, Battlelore and Runebound, and is arguably in the same genre as Talisman.

The game itself comes in a huge box, easily 30” by 12” by 8”. The contents include monster and character miniatures, an infinitely re-configurable interconnecting set of dungeon tiles, full-color treasure, monster, character and skill cards, and assorted bits a-plenty. The artwork is excellent. The rules come in 12” by 12” booklets, of perhaps 30 or so pages in length. The game costs $80-90, but considering the art-work and the quality of the game contents, it is probably good value for the money.

There is a significant amount of pre-game preparation involved in playing this game. The Dungeon-Master (called the Overlord) and the players must spend some time, before the game begins, sorting and organizing the various items and game-bits. That process took the five of us about a half-hour, but set-up may be faster for those who are more familiar with the game and its mechanics.

Once the bits, miniatures, cards and dungeon tiles were sorted and the prepared, each of the players selected from sixteen different pre-defined characters, each with their own strengths and special abilities. In addition, each player received three extra abilities and a certain amount of gold to purchase their starting equipment.

Descent, as far as I can tell, is pure dungeon-crawl. The two games we played were strictly of the “kill the monsters and take their stuff” variety. We didn’t do any trap-searching, puzzle-solving, negotiating, clue-synthesizing, or role-playing. But considering the stripped-down nature of this dungeon-crawl adventure game, we spent a lot of time referring back to the rules. In fairness however, the friend who brought the game had only played it a couple of times before, and the rest of us had never played it.

We never finished either game of Descent. The first game started at about 9 pm, and we finally stopped (just short of the last encounter) at around 3 am. A week later we tried Descent again. That game started at 8 pm, and we finally called it quits at around 2:30 am, having reached, but not completed, the final monster encounter.

Ironically, the Descent adventures we were playing were only 5 rooms each, with a handful of monsters in each room. Whether it was due to our inexperience, or the nature of the game itself, combat seemed to take much longer than I would have expected. After we packed up the game for the second time, my wife remarked “That was a fun game, but we could have played three games of Settlers of Catan in the same amount of time.”

Perhaps our experience with Descent was atypical. But while I can appreciate the quality of this game, between the beautiful artwork, top-notch contents, and simplified rules, I did discover that I am not a fan of simple dungeon-crawling. I missed all of the other elements of a role-playing game, such as mapping, exploring, interacting with dungeon features and inhabitants, solving puzzles and enigmas, synthesizing and drawing conclusions from in-game clues, negotiating, and so on.

Would I play Descent again? Sure. For me, playing “the game” is only part of the fun: getting together with friends, the out-of-game jokes and conversations, the food and drink, those are often what make the evening truly memorable. But would I pay $90 for my own copy of Descent? Unlikely. After all, how many old-school game accessories could I buy for $90? I could probably get several of Urutsk, Cursed Chateau, Dungeon Alphabet, Majestic Wilderlands, B/X Companion, Dungeoneer RPG, Legends of Steel, Warriors of the Red Planet, Stonehell, Swords & Wizardry White Box, Savage Swords of Athanor, and The Grinding Gear (to name just a few!) for what I would pay for Descent.

And putting it in that context makes my purchase decisions very easy!Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/board%20games
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