Friday Fun: Board Games

[Brittany Wispell]

Hey everyone! 

Background: I had a power outage that knocked out my internet woohoo. Since my job is primarily working remote this meant no work, so I went searching for coffee shops to visit. I didn't want a typical Starbucks, so I searched and found a place called nerdvana coffee 15 mins from me. I walk in and they have board games EVERYWHERE all types that you could possibly think of. You can also borrow a game and just hangout and have coffee. I have come back 3 times already even if I have internet at home.

Anyway that's what brought up my Friday Fun day discussion! 

What is your favorite board game? Any suggestions for other cool board games? Does anyone have a board game night at work? 

I bought Ricochet Rockets today, I've been looking for this game for about 2 years now. Saying I was SO excited is an understatement. I'm interested in hearing everyones suggestions and reading the chat! 

Have a great weekend everyone!

[Jonny Adams]

Not a board game, but a great card game is Fluxx and since it is simply a deck of cards it is easy to take with you where ever you go. I personally like Batman Fluxx and carry it with me when I go to a brewery.

I routinely play Epic Spell Wars. The premise is hilarious and the spell combinations are too. One of the rules is that you have to use a good wizardy voice when you announce your spell. After a couple of bourbon Old Fashions the wizardy voices really start to come to life.

Will Wheaton has a Youtube series called Table Top where he gets friends together to play different table top games. If you want to see how a certain game plays out or just want to watch famous geeks geeking out then you should check it out.

[Monique vdB]

I love TableTop!

[Brittany Wispell]

Hey Jonny!

I'll have to look into Table Top BUT the Epic Spell Wars sounds like my kind of game. I have a group of friends where we do board games nights every month or video games. I think they will like the Epic Spell Wars. 

[Kat Warner]

I am a big fan of Cards Against Humanity and trying to target my submissions based on the Card Tzar.

At a B&B on the weekend, I spent a night playing Trivial Pursuit with my husband. It is a great game even with 2 people and an old set of questions from another country.

We have a stack of games at home but never get around to inviting people over to play them with us.

[Brittany Wispell]

Everyone has their favorite card from CAH, mine is the Panda card. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I'm not allowed to play CAH with Adaptavists any more.  After the last time, 25% of the company stopped speaking to me.  Although the founder I played that card against was fine.

[Kat Warner]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- - that is why I am wary about bringing it into work. Do my teammates really need to know how twisted my mind can be?

[Emily Errico]

I've been to a similar board game emporium and it was a ball. They also had retro arcade games and ping pong tables, but it was a smaller building so everything was compact and cozy. You had no choice but to play with other patrons, which can be good or bad depending on how social you are.

I haven't ventured far into exotic board games, so I'd have to say that my favorite is the classic Risk. I've also had some of the most fun when my family took a game like Chutes and Ladders or Candyland and made crazy/personal rules to make it more interesting.

[Brittany Wispell]

I love those types of places! I am not too social but I'd do anything for a good retro arcade place. 

For some of the older board games it is more fun to make up your own rules since you've probably played it so much as a kid. 

[Monique vdB]

I'm a board gamer and have converted my child -- lately we've been playing a lot of Clue! As long-time Friday funners know, I also have a board game group playing Gloomhaven. Tonight is games night, as a matter of fact. 😊

And the latest game I bought is Fresco, at @Thomas Schlegel's suggestion.  I'm very excited to play it!

[Thomas Schlegel]

@Monique vdB, I’m sure, you‘ll enjoy it, it‘s an awesome game!

[Carol Jones]

I love to play clue with my kids!  It's a classic!

[Manon Soubies-Camy]

I love board games! Tough to choose my favorite ones, I'd say:

• Puerto Rico
• Seven Wonders Duel, the best 2-player game IMO
• Citadels, because each round is different and it's easy to carry around
• Codenames, obviously
• Ticket to ride, because it's a basic and the mobile app is awesome (spent a lot of time on it while waiting in airports!)

I don't currenty have board game nights at work, but I used to have board game lunches (mostly Seven Wonders)!

[Brittany Wispell]

Codenames looks like an adult version of Clue? 

I have heard a lot about Ticket to Ride but I've never played it. 

[Thomas Schlegel]

@Brittany Wispell You should definitely give Ticket to Ride a try - it‘s a great, but not too difficult game.

[Manon Soubies-Camy]

I haven't played Clue for a while, but I don't think so: in Codenames, there are 25 cards with words on it on the table. You're in teams, one persone makes the rest of the team guess 9 words - so you need to make sure you don't make them guess the other team's words, or neutral words, or the assassin word. You definitely should try both Codenames and Ticket to ride! :)

[Fabienne Gerhard]

I love board games - starting with Settlers from Catan (and all the other games from there) to Monopoly or just Parcheesi (not sure if that's the correct word...)

Last game we played a lot was 'Ticket to ride' in different scenarios

Right now I prefer games with coop-mode :) as some of the gaming nights.... let's say.... escalated a little bit.... (no more words needed here I think - ended up with something between murder and divorce - but don't be afraid - everything is fine)

One of my favorites at the moment is 'Pandemic'.

Just moved to a new town in december and found out that there is a gaming night in a bar every thursday - gonna check this out!

Thanks @Brittany Wispell for mention this topic and give me a reminder.

[Jonny Adams]

I love Pandemic. Takes a lot of focus, but such a great coop game.

[Brittany Wispell]

A good coop game that my friends and I enjoy is Castle Panic. I can play this game over and over it changes every time. We play 3-5 rounds a night. 

Board game night at a bar! That almost sounds like more fun than the trivia night I go to. 

[Thomas Schlegel]

In Hamburg, there’s a board game café: https://wuerfelundzucker.de

They have hundreds of Board Games and you can play them for a small fee.

[Brittany Wispell]

Looks similar to where I go! They have another side to it for happy hour that have console games you can play, and have dinner. 

nerdvana coffee 

[Deleted user]

Monopoly is a favourite of mine (the power plays that players come up with during a game are just amazing), though I get together with a couple of friends every month and we have a board games night. Someone will bring along a new game every time so it is always a new experience. 

[Mirek]

I like to play classic board games .. cheess, draugths (checkers), gomoku, .. etc. I also like Scrabble. Overall everything that requires thinking on a strategy to win not only roll the dice and count on luck.

BTW - I just did some kind of test "Which classic Board you are?" (http://brainfall.com/quizzes/which-classic-board-game-are-you/) and the result was .. Scrabble, so maybe something is related really yo what I like to play :)

[Brittany Wispell]

I also got Scrabble! 

I enjoy those too but with my immediate family. My goal in life is to beat my dad at chess but....it hasn't happened YET.

[Thomas Schlegel]

I don‘t play board games with colleagues, but I have three regular board game groups, a weekly one and the other two monthly.

My favourite games at the moment are:

- Azul (most probably Game of the year 2018 in Germany, award ceremony is in July)

- Pandemic Legacy

-  Century - The Spice Road

- Valeria - Card Kingdoms

- Raiders of the North Sea

- Blood Rage

- Roll for the Galaxy

- Tzolkin

- Time Stories

Just to mention a few... 

[Jonny Adams]

Great list. Hadn't heard of most of these.

Just added Blood Rage to my shopping list.

Thanks!

[Rachel Wright]

I brought a bunch of games with me on the road...but we've never played them while traveling.  Bummer!  They are Tabu, Rummikube, Uno, a mini version of Connect Four, and a basic deck of cards.  All the "too big" for the RV games are back in a small storage unit in my home state.

My boyfriend's favorite game is Clue, and my least favorite game is Clue, lol.  Sorry @Monique vdB!

Maybe we need to have a game night this weekend.  Thanks for the suggestion @Brittany Wispell.  :)

[Paz]

Rummikube is my JAM! Can't get my wife + kids to play with me though... it was a game my family played passionately growing up!

[Monique vdB]

@Paz my parents love Rummikub and gifted their spare set to my daughter who is also SO INTO RUMMIKUB. Very big whenever Oma and Opa come for a visit or we visit them :) 

[Deleted user]

My favorite is Risk and other 'classics' like Monopoly and Clue.

[Paz]

A sleeper of a board game is Pente. It's deceptively simple, which means lots of strategy comes into play. Very fond memories playing this in a huge tournament during a family reunion over several days. 

Honorable mention goes to Yahtzee, Apples to Apples, Bananagram, and Rummikube. All of which are debatably "board" games in the first place because they don't come with any boards at all!

[Thomas Schlegel]

Cards and dice games are also board games in my opinion. It doesn’t matter, if there‘s a board or not.

[jndeverteuil]

Ohhh board games!

Beside the most known ones, I've been presented with Medici that I really like! It's a game which I used to play at work at lunch hours with 3-4 other colleagues from time to time. Easy to learn, fun and fast to play!

Really, the description on boardgamegeek.com sums it up really well :

Another Reiner Knizia standby, this game plays very well with varying numbers of people. The object is to accrue the most points during three rounds, which you do by spending your points to bid on sets of cards. Each turn the current player turns up one to three cards for all the players to bid on, with the highest bid taking all cards. The cards denote a commodity type and quantity/value. The round ends when each player's ships are full, or the commodity card deck is exhausted. After each round, points are awarded to each player having the most of a given commodity, and to the one with the most valuable total "cargo load".

[Deleted user]

Check out Scythe, great game. 

[Thomas Schlegel]

Yes, I love Scythe! It‘s a good game with great graphics! 

[Deleted user]

I have yet to play the digital edition though it was offered on Humble Bundle a while back. 

[Fadoua]

Pandemic is one of my favorite board games.

[Fabienne Gerhard]

Same here @Fadoua

[Jack Nolddor [Sweet Bananas]]

;(

[Carol Jones]

A new one I want to try is Fire in the Library.  I've heard a few good reviews and am excited to try it out with my kids!

[Monique vdB]

@Carol Jones I've never heard of it! Did you give it a try?

[Brittany Wispell]

I have an update on a game! 

EXIT the Game: The Pharaoh's Tomb

It is an escape room in a box! 

[Karen O'Keefe]

When I lived in Ohio, I hosted a board game night every Friday. I played with my husband when I was married and with my friends when I was divorced. I've been living in Oregon for 10 years and just finally donated something like 40 board games to them. I like trivia, logic, and board games.  I ended up donating them to a hands-on local museum where you can go and play any game you like. I figure if I need to host a game night, I'll do it there!

[kardosgorenak]

Exploding Kittens is the funniest board game I have ever played. You can play it as board game or online with friends on the mobile app from https://techbigs.com.

[Esme Crutchley]

I bought that ages ago, and we've yet to play it! Might give it a try this weekend :)

[Jack Nolddor [Sweet Bananas]]

I'm a big fan of Saboteur. Have anyone play this game?

Saboteur is a semi-cooperative card game about mining for gold and coming out on top. Each player is a dwarf searching a mine for treasure with one or more players attempting to sabotage the rest. Players want to be the first to reach the treasure but have to work together against the hidden saboteurs.