Patters

Non-video games

Recommended Posts

Long story short...

We should play!

We certainly should. I'm currently just doing some reading as I'm pretty bad and want to get back into the hang of things before I play people, but I would enjoy playing with someone who won't hate me once I've spent some time refreshing my memory of the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've picked Go up again in the last few months, but I'm not very good. But, our TZs are completely out of kilter. :getmecoat

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been looking for a Go app of some sort because I've been wanting to learn Go for years, but I guess on-the-PC play might do just as well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've found SmartGo Pro to be pretty good (on iphone) they have another for the ipad, if that's what you're after.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So if anyone could help I'd be super into board games and other such non-video games, but obviously that requires other people to play with, and unfortunately, not many of my friends are into anything too deep (so, for example, I looked at Small World, which sounds fun, but is probably too... oh I don't even know how to describe it, it requires investment I suppose?) So I'm now looking for a way that I could get them interested in the concept with something a bit simpler.

I was thinking maybe 'Apples to Apples', and possibly 'Cards Against Humanity' what with them being very similar in concept. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Coloretto is rad, and simple. it's kind of rummy-ish.

Cards Against Humanity is great, but it gets super, super blue. if you and your friends aren't ready for "And the Oscar for not giving a shit about the Third World goes to all-you-can-eat shrimp for $4.99" or "What am I giving up for Lent? Jerking off into a pool of children's tears." then you aren't ready for Cards Against Humanity.

Forbidden Island is awesome, scales to any group of players, and is a good gateway drug to harder stuff like Pandemic.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
So if anyone could help I'd be super into board games and other such non-video games, but obviously that requires other people to play with, and unfortunately, not many of my friends are into anything too deep (so, for example, I looked at Small World, which sounds fun, but is probably too... oh I don't even know how to describe it, it requires investment I suppose?) So I'm now looking for a way that I could get them interested in the concept with something a bit simpler.

I was thinking maybe 'Apples to Apples', and possibly 'Cards Against Humanity' what with them being very similar in concept. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Fluxx is worth a punt as is Apples to Apples. Dixit and Carcassonne are good choices too.

I don't rate Forbidden Island much.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

yeah, Carcassonne is another good one (though I personally don't like the scoring system, because it's way too easy to accidentally fuck up and misjudge your moves.) what don't you like about Forbidden Island, though?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
yeah, Carcassonne is another good one (though I personally don't like the scoring system, because it's way too easy to accidentally fuck up and misjudge your moves.) what don't you like about Forbidden Island, though?

The pace and mechanics are simply lacking. The presentation is great, but there isn't much behind it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

yeah, I wouldn't say it's particularly deep -- when you can beat it reliably, most of the tension is gone -- but as a way of easing people into non-traditional board games, I like it a lot.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Carcassonne is probably better left until later on, as the scoring can get so complex. As soon as one player understands farms, they will kick all asses. They involve playing a longer strategy,and newer players tend not to understand it until someone suddenly gets an extra 40 points at the end of the game.

Dixit is a great game, incredibly accessible and expandable with extra decks (The Dixit Odyssey box has space for all three).

Saboteur and The Great Dalmuti are nice simple card games, and can accommodate quite large groups. King of Tokyo is a bit more intricate than any of these, but it's a pretty funny game about giant monsters and not too taxing.

Ticket to Ride and Ticket To Ride Europe are great, so long as your friends wouldn't be put off by millions of tiny plastic trains. The latter is a tiny bit more complex than Ticket To Ride, though not much and the extra bits like tunnels add a nice risk taking mechanic.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I downloaded and cut out a whole bunch of "Cards Against Humanity" cards and played a few rounds with friends today. On the whole it was very funny and enjoyable, that's the humour that most of my friends enjoy as wrong as it is.

Though now I have hesitations into moving onto something else, I get the feeling that they were more into the hilarity of the game than what I enjoy (the togetherness type thing) so I'm not sure they'll really enjoy anything else.

But on the plus side, Cards Against Humanity went well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Your friends don't enjoy being with their friends? What?

Pretty much.

Or, more literally, I think they don't really appreciate non-video games, it was only the mirth of this that attracted them to it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Did I mention in this thread how fantastic Ticket to Ride is? If so, here it is again. Best game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah I had that problem, I wanted to play non-video games with a few of my friends and they thought that it was the dumbest thing ever. I bought Citadels after seeing it on Shut Up & Sit Down since it's a small box and just cards. Oh that's the thing, they were incredibly against the idea of playing a board game, but they play cards all the time at Starbucks. Anyways I kept trying to get them to play Citadels and every time they said it looked super dumb and laughed at me, and after probably a month one time they said yes as a joke, but then ended up playing it. They liked it so much that when it got too cold to play outside (this was in the winter) they asked if they could come over to play some more instead of going home. One of those guys is also the cousin of of of the Desktop Dungeons guys and when they came from South Africa for GDC they stayed with him and brought Thunderstone. He's now loves that too.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, remember that fancy new version of Ogre that I mentioned in this thread a year ago? In case you don't follow board game news, get a load of this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/847271320/ogre-designers-edition

It looks awesome. Ogre is a really fast, simple, extremely asymmetrical wargame which started life in a little pouch 25 years ago, and now is going to be in a huge box. It's very pricey, but they're going all out with the production. I'm kinda hoping that this crazy one will drum up enough interest for them to make a refreshed "Microgame" version that retains portability.

If you want an idea of how it plays, the DOS version (made by Origin Systems!) is available (presumably legally) here. It's not pretty, but it works like the board game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Another vote for Carcassonne and TTR!

@SometingStupid

If you looking more at card games, Ascension is pretty easy to pickup. Also comes on the ipad, which might make it a little easier to get your friends to play.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Did I mention in this thread yet that me and my friends once combined Carcassonne and all of its expansions into something we called 'mega-Carcassonne'. The game lasted two days and covered the entire living room floor with tiles. It was excruciating and afterwards I swore I'd never play the game again. In retrospect, that was maybe entirely the right call.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Did I mention in this thread yet that me and my friends once combined Carcassonne and all of its expansions into something we called 'mega-Carcassonne'. The game lasted two days and covered the entire living room floor with tiles. It was excruciating and afterwards I swore I'd never play the game again. In retrospect, that was maybe entirely the right call.

along the same lines, I've recently wanted to try an experiment where I buy like eight different reskins of Monopoly and play them all as one large common game, in the style of the puzzle The Mighty Duck Konundrum from an MIT Mystery Hunt a few years back.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What I would like to do is a Mega-Dominion with maybe 20 or so action cards instead of 10 and and changed victory conditions so that the game would last for a few hours. Would probably have to include the higher valued cards from Prosperity (only played that twice).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, see, in theory that sounds awesome, but good games have a specific length for a reason - it works best that way.

Not Monopoly though, that game is bullshit.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yeah, see, in theory that sounds awesome, but good games have a specific length for a reason - it works best that way.

Not Monopoly though, that game is bullshit.

you've read Critical Miss's article, right?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now