The Swamp

My son and I have been enjoying King of New York (more complicated version of King of Tokyo). I also really like 7 Wonders. The instructions for 7 wonder are worth just throwing in the garbage as they don't explain how to play at all. The 30 minute youtube explanation by some random nerds made the game understandable and really fun.

I think our next game is going to be Camel Cup.

Forgotten Island is a great quick cooperative game. The girls also enjoy Ticket to Ride and Carcassone. There are a few more that I want to get. We try to have family game night at least twice a month.

Get the Secret Hitler Trump Expansion pack for $5 plus shipping.

All proceeds go to the ACLU.

http://trumppack.deals

My wife and I enjoy board games quite a but. Pandemic (and the xpansion pack) got us started, so we branched into others. Ticket to Ride is great, simple and we can get a number of games in the time window before we get tired. I own Agricola, but we haven't started it yet. With my buds we play Risk on an enormous board with army guys as the pieces (fun fun fun), and have also tried Shogun.

I'd like to try Catan, but that's more complicated than my wife normally enjoys.

Has anyone ever played werewolf? I'm highly intrigued by this, but am daunted by getting enough of my friends interested.

My wife, daughter and I rented a house in France (Brittany) a couple years ago along with another couple and their three kids. Every day we did a day-trip somewhere, then came home and played Werewolf in the evening. It was fun, and something that both the kids and the adults enjoyed.

Not sure if it was already mentioned, but Keith Law does a ton of writeups and reviews on board games if that's your thing.

And Wil Wheaton has a youtube channel where they play and review select table top games that is quite good for those that like table top gaming...

mister d wrote:Not sure if it was already mentioned, but Keith Law does a ton of writeups and reviews on board games if that's your thing.

Googling that now.

tennbengal wrote:And Wil Wheaton has a youtube channel where they play and review select table top games that is quite good for those that like table top gaming...

Addicted to it.

Recently added these to my library: (There's a used book/music/everything in Tucson called Bookman's and I have lots of in-store credit. Then there are some Amazon snap purchases.)

Age of Empires 3
Pandemic
Love Letter
Acquire
Splendor
Secret Hitler (hence my previous post)

Games I want:

Betrayal at House on the Hill (and its expansion)
The Godfather: Corleone's Empire
Fury of Dracula

Square Rob wrote:My wife and I enjoy board games quite a but. Pandemic (and the xpansion pack) got us started, so we branched into others. Ticket to Ride is great, simple and we can get a number of games in the time window before we get tired. I own Agricola, but we haven't started it yet. With my buds we play Risk on an enormous board with army guys as the pieces (fun fun fun), and have also tried Shogun.

I'd like to try Catan, but that's more complicated than my wife normally enjoys.

Has anyone ever played werewolf? I'm highly intrigued by this, but am daunted by getting enough of my friends interested.

I'm pretty sure Pandemic is more complicated than Catan. And I've never played it, but I have heard that Agricola is very complicated.

Catan isn't really complicated, you mostly just need to remember what resources are required for what you want to build.

Steve of phpBB wrote:

Square Rob wrote:My wife and I enjoy board games quite a but. Pandemic (and the xpansion pack) got us started, so we branched into others. Ticket to Ride is great, simple and we can get a number of games in the time window before we get tired. I own Agricola, but we haven't started it yet. With my buds we play Risk on an enormous board with army guys as the pieces (fun fun fun), and have also tried Shogun.

I'd like to try Catan, but that's more complicated than my wife normally enjoys.

Has anyone ever played werewolf? I'm highly intrigued by this, but am daunted by getting enough of my friends interested.

I'm pretty sure Pandemic is more complicated than Catan. And I've never played it, but I have heard that Agricola is very complicated.

Catan isn't really complicated, you mostly just need to remember what resources are required for what you want to build.

Wil Wheaton has played both on his channel. They look like equal degrees of complication. Board Game Geek gives Catan 2.36 out of 5 and Pandemic 2.43 out of 5, for reference.

https://youtu.be/ytK1zDPPDhw

https://youtu.be/o3WJTlDa7oo

Hmm...

A few years ago I picked up Exploding Kittens as a holiday gift for the kids. It is a silly card game. So when I saw that they were kick starting another game, Bears vs. Babies, I was in. Arrived on Saturday after a long wait. A very enjoyable game. Part of the joy of backing it on kickstarter was the extra love they give to the early adopters. I got a custom shipping package cartoon, an extra card, and bear skin box.

Exploding kittens is pretty fun. You can play games quickly.

When you're in your first couple turns of a kickass family game of Clue, is it smarter to include one item that you have in your hand when you make an accusation or should you just throw 3 unknowns out there? Assuming a fairly even distribution of suspects, weapons, and rooms in your hand OBVIOUSLY.

Ryan wrote:When you're in your first couple turns of a kickass family game of Clue, is it smarter to include one item that you have in your hand when you make an accusation or should you just throw 3 unknowns out there? Assuming a fairly even distribution of suspects, weapons, and rooms in your hand OBVIOUSLY.

I've been known to put two things in my hand in my first few guesses. I also suck pretty badly at clue.

Ryan wrote:When you're in your first couple turns of a kickass family game of Clue, is it smarter to include one item that you have in your hand when you make an accusation or should you just throw 3 unknowns out there? Assuming a fairly even distribution of suspects, weapons, and rooms in your hand OBVIOUSLY.

Yes. I never played that way until I played with my wife. She would include at least one item from her hand. She is a mean Clue player.

That's what I usually do. I used to ask for 3 unknowns, but then I realized the best possible outcome there is that all the other players (4-person game) show me a card and then everyone else gets basically the same information

I must've been playing Clue wrong this whole time. I thought when you made an accusation, you made it to a specific player, and that player only is the one who has to respond if he has it.

L-Jam3 wrote:I must've been playing Clue wrong this whole time. I thought when you made an accusation, you made it to a specific player, and that player only is the one who has to respond if he has it.

That's very possible

I'm pretty sure you make an accusation then it goes around until someone can prove you wrong by showing you one of the cards you mentioned.

L-Jam3 wrote:I must've been playing Clue wrong this whole time. I thought when you made an accusation, you made it to a specific player, and that player only is the one who has to respond if he has it.

Right. This.

A_B wrote:I'm pretty sure you make an accusation then it goes around until someone can prove you wrong by showing you one of the cards you mentioned.

Not how I have ever played it.

You guys were making it too hard then!

"After a Suggestion has been made, if possible, players must try to prove the Suggestion to be false. This is done by moving left to the player making the accusation. If that player has one of the cards that were used in the alleged crime, he then secretly shows the player making the suggestion. Clue rules state that only one card is shown to the other player and that it is done secretly with out others seeing which card it is. It is not against the rules, however, to deliberately make a Suggestion naming one or two cards that you hold in your own hand to mislead other players or to narrow your search for one specific suspect, room, or weapon. If the player to the left cannot prove the suggestion wrong, then the next player to the left attempts to prove it wrong. All cards shown prove that that card is not in the envelope and should be noted on your Detective Pad. Once a player has proven the Suggestion wrong, the next payer in the playing order takes their turn. If no one disproves the Suggestion the player then may either pass their turn or make an Accusation."

AB is the right on this.

A_B wrote:You guys were making it too hard then!

"After a Suggestion has been made, if possible, players must try to prove the Suggestion to be false. This is done by moving left to the player making the accusation. If that player has one of the cards that were used in the alleged crime, he then secretly shows the player making the suggestion. Clue rules state that only one card is shown to the other player and that it is done secretly with out others seeing which card it is. It is not against the rules, however, to deliberately make a Suggestion naming one or two cards that you hold in your own hand to mislead other players or to narrow your search for one specific suspect, room, or weapon. If the player to the left cannot prove the suggestion wrong, then the next player to the left attempts to prove it wrong. All cards shown prove that that card is not in the envelope and should be noted on your Detective Pad. Once a player has proven the Suggestion wrong, the next payer in the playing order takes their turn. If no one disproves the Suggestion the player then may either pass their turn or make an Accusation."

Yeah, and in Monopoly, if you land on a property and don't buy it, anyone else can buy it.

Hmmm, on further reflection, AB is right. It's been awhile since I have played it, but I guess we go around the room on it.

The property gets auctioned. That's a way to really speed up the game. In the LJam household, any time Hard 8, Hard 10, or Boxcars comes up, a random unowned property is auctioned off. We also start the game with 2 grand each instead of $1500. Games of 3 quality players lasts a shade more than an hour.

I played Monopoly with my two little real estate developers for the first time this weekend. I didn't think they would get auctions, so instead we started with 2 Grand, I dealt 4 properties at random each to be purchased immediately, and then we started. I landed on Boardwalk and Park Place on successive rolls, but I held off. We traded with LJam4 with Orange, me with red, and AEM with yellow (I instructed those colors, along with the Big Blues due to KO potential, are the ones worth having; don't bother with the other crap). AEM won. But I'm impressed with them not worrying about taking stragglers out of mortgage and just focusing on slapping up houses.

I remember playing too much Monopoly growing up and when I actually read about the auction rule (when I was far older and no longer playing the game) I was dumbfounded.

Gotta brag..I got a board game for wicked cheap.

After watching the episode of Tabletop featuring Fury of Dracula, I added it to my Amazon list. However, the going rate for the game is $100 because it's out of print and since the company lost the license to use "Dracula" and the other characters, there won't be a new edition coming out ever again. The retail price is normally $60.

So, after looking at r/boardgamedeals, it popped up as available at brick and mortar Barnes and Noble stores. And if you sign up with their Kid's Club, you get 30% off an item. Then I got another 15% coupon because I gave them my email address. So, B&N in Tucson had a copy and my friend picked it up for me. Both coupons stacked and I got the game for under $40.

And to make this story sweeter, I keep getting 30% off coupons like clockwork everyday day this week. I want to use one for another game, but I have an extra. Anyone want a coupon code?

The look on the cashier's face when I dropped 4 separate 30% off coupons for four board games yesterday at B&N was priceless. Telling them I got 7 in total was even better. I have one left.

(Castle Panic, 7 Wonders Duel, Legendary, & Downforce for those curious.)

Johnnie wrote:The look on the cashier's face when I dropped 4 separate 30% off coupons for four board games yesterday at B&N was priceless. Telling them I got 7 in total was even better. I have one left.

(Castle Panic, 7 Wonders Duel, Legendary, & Downforce for those curious.)

Reminds me of when Michael Scott wanted his coupon discount on all seven pizzas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iaujFvs8sc

Finally learned Catan. Really fun.

Your favourite retro games renamed with the titles they really deserve

Very funny.

So awesome. Thanks for the link.

Anyone follow GenCon closely? Basically needs took over Indianapolis for the weekend and games were everywhere. I'll have to try to attend one of these days.

I have heard great things about GenCon. I hope to go next year. There are also a couple other cons in Indy that I would like to attend.

duff wrote:I have heard great things about GenCon. I hope to go next year. There are also a couple other cons in Indy that I would like to attend.

It's a huge deal for the city, and from everything I've heard if you're into tabletops, RPGs especially, it's worth a go. Get passes early. It's midwest comic-con, and sells out quickly. Tell me if you're coming, I live 10 minutes from the convention center :)

BSF21 wrote:

duff wrote:I have heard great things about GenCon. I hope to go next year. There are also a couple other cons in Indy that I would like to attend.

It's a huge deal for the city, and from everything I've heard if you're into tabletops, RPGs especially, it's worth a go. Get passes early. It's midwest comic-con, and sells out quickly. Tell me if you're coming, I live 10 minutes from the convention center :)

Depending upon when I get back from my deployment next year, I may just crash on your couch! Thanks, BSF!

tennbengal wrote:Finally learned Catan. Really fun.

As soon as you start learning Dominion, let me know. I'm looking for folks to play with, and they have online options.

Steve of phpBB wrote:

tennbengal wrote:Finally learned Catan. Really fun.

As soon as you start learning Dominion, let me know. I'm looking for folks to play with, and they have online options.

I'd be in on that if the online system is better than it was a few years ago. I love Dominion.

I unloaded my Magic: The Gathering collection today and got $2,500. I haven't played in over 5 years and they've just moved from place to place. Well, they acquired some worth in that time.

If that amount looks high, just think that the collection was worth at least double. Unless you have the patience to sell everything yourself, the reality is that you'll never get more than half when you sell to a dealer.

With some of the money (plus the 20% bonus for it being converted to store credit), I bought some new board games. Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, Wasteland Express Delivery, and New Angeles plus a couple expansions for Legendary. Almost went in on Five Tribes (plus expansions) and Terraforming Mars, but it'll be cheaper to buy those at a later time.