2006 Board Games Gift Guide

SlantyBard writes "As per previous years, the Morning News has published their annual guide to Good Gift Games. You can also always check out BoardGameGeek's gift guide to boardgames or Funagain's all time top bestseller list for great gifts for your family and friends." From the Morning news post: "Occasionally I'll play a new game so elegant in design that I'll come away amazed that it hadn't been thought of before. Hey! That's My Fish! is the most recent example. Sixty small hexagons (each showing one, two, or three fish) are assembled into an ice floe. Players then place their penguins onto the board, and play begins. On a turn, a player moves one of his penguins and then claims the hex the penguin just vacated, scoring points for the fish shown thereon. The ice floe slowly melts as more and more hexes are taken. Eventually there will be no more legal moves, and the person with the most fish wins. It's extremely simple and remarkably strategic."

Step 1: Get the Wizards of the Coast catalog...

[xxxJonBoyxxx (565205)]

Step 1: Get the Wizards of the Coast catalog
Step 2: Open it to a random page and put your finger down
Step 3: Order that

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[Rob T Firefly (844560)]

I would, except it's full of those freaking "Magic: The Crack Addiction" cards.

Fluxx

[Shadow Wrought (586631)]

One of the best games for a group that there is. Not strictly a board game, but certainly worth getting.

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[turtledawn (149719)]

Universally hated by those with endless hours to kill and maybe three like-minded friends, perhaps. When you want something to take maybe an hour, have lots of people who would like to play, want people to be able to drop in and out at will (such as at a holiday party), there's nothing quite as much fun as fluxx. There's next to no learning curve (the rules are all on the table, for crissake) and there can be as much or as little strategy to it as you want. Yeah, you get the odd hand with nothing but lame c

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[Shadow Wrought (586631)]

I guess I just don't have the time to be too snobby about gaming. I've played everything from SFB to Silent Death to Dragon Dice to various versions of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. Most of which require a large investment of time. So Fluxx is nice because it lets you play with people who wouldn't otherwise be doing any type of game and its relatively fast. And, I am still curious as to what games you like and enjoy, especially since you're an admitted snob;-) Not trolling, but genuinely curious because

Re:Fluxx

[Byteme (6617)]

As of late... Age of Steam, Twilight Struggle (IGA winner 2006), Traders of Genoa, 1830, Power Grid, Friedrich, War of the Ring... mostly interested in economic / stock market simulations and war games (GMT Games, MMP Games). I do play chess, poker and some other lighter fare...

If I was suggesting a gift / newbie games in the ease to teach / pick-up realm that you place Fluxx then I'd suggest For Sale, Bonhanza, Bang!, Coloretto, That's Life. Though I've had success converting people with much deeper games... the ones I list are fun, quick to play, high replay value and easy to teach / learn. You can look them up here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ [boardgamegeek.com]

monopoly

[amazon10x (737466)]

I still play board games when me and my siblings all congregate at a single house. A favorite for a few of us is Monopoly. However, I've been in search of a game similar to this but more complex. The most important thing I'm looking for is the outcome of the game depending more on strategy and less on chance. Anyone know of any such board games?

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[LordNimon (85072)]

If you haven't tried Settlers of Catan, you should.

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[Rob T Firefly (844560)]

Risk. [wikipedia.org]

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[silentounce (1004459)]

Because there is no chance involved in that one at all.

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[MORTAR_COMBAT! (589963)]

Risk's outcome has some small portion strategy, but a large portion of it is the outcome of head-to-head rolls of the dice. That is very much based on random luck.

When YOU win, it's "strategy"; when I win it's...

[xxxJonBoyxxx (565205)]

Oh, I get it now. When YOU win, it's "good strategy"; when I win it's "luck". Shut up and roll. 11? Oh good, that's Illinois Avenue and I have three houses on it.

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[KDR_11k (778916)]

Puerto Rico [boardgamegeek.com]. The only randomness in that game is the plantation availability and that is a relatively minor factor (especially when compared to e.g. the ressource rolls in a Settlers game).

Re:monopoly

[meringuoid (568297)]

A favorite for a few of us is Monopoly. However, I've been in search of a game similar to this but more complex. The most important thing I'm looking for is the outcome of the game depending more on strategy and less on chance. Anyone know of any such board games?

Monopoly-by-the-book.

First and foremost, this means no money gets put in the middle for Free Parking, ever; it goes to the bank where it belongs. You CAN buy on your first time round. If you choose not to buy unowned property when you have the chance, the property goes up for auction, and you can bid for it even if you turned it down at the list price. There is no double salary for landing exactly on Go. If there are no houses left in the box and somebody wants to build, too bad, they can wait till some houses get freed up, and if some bastard hogs all the houses by refusing to upgrade to hotels, that's his right and he deserves everything he gets if he gets the Make General Repairs card.

Nobody plays Monopoly by the rules, but the Free Parking Jackpot kills the game stone dead, and auctions (a) get all the properties owned much more quickly and cheaply, and (b) raise the backstabbing factor by about a billion.

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[Ingolfke (515826)]

Oh yeah! Acquire is a lot of fun. If you like it I think you might like Ticket to Ride.

Link to "Hey! That's my fish" game

[Programmer_In_Traini (566499)]

since the article didn't offer one :

Its from Mayfair games :
http://www.mayfairgames.com/ [mayfairgames.com]

and they use friggin frames so this is the best link i can give. using the main page you can find it in the a-z listing.

http://www.mayfairgames.com/shop/product/phalanx/p ages/pha6017.htm [mayfairgames.com]

Cartagena

[Roy van Rijn (919696)]

I usually don't like boardgames that take hours to read the rules. I just want to sit down and play it once in a while.
When I was at some friends house this weekend we played Cartagena [panix.com], a very simple but intresting game!
Has anybody else played it?

pwned for following the link?

[AcidLacedPenguiN (835552)]

Hello visitor from Slashdot! You are seeing this message because you've clicked on a link from Slashdot directly to our site. We have chosen to put this message up instead because last year our site was taken down by the "Slashdot Effect", and we simply couldn't afford to have a repeat during the busy Holiday shopping season. However, we welcome your visit and if you'd like to explore our site you can bypass this little warning by going to your address bar and typing "www.funagain.com", or, if you like, type "Funagain" into Google. Another option is to use the Coral Cache version of our site (particularly if you are just looking for information) by just clicking on this link: http://www.funagain.com.nyud.net:8090/ [nyud.net] If you're new to board games in general (or at least the only ones you're familiar with are Monopoly, Candy Land, and The Game of Life) you're in for a treat. To get started, check out any one of our "Beginner's Guide to Games", our "Shopper's Guide", our bestseller list, or our customer favorites list. You can also see a list of award winning games (including the annual Games 100 award list) by clicking on the "Award Winning Games" link under the "Funagain's Lists" section of the home page. Happy Gaming, Funagain Games

My favorites in no particular order...

[Ingolfke (515826)]

Ticket to Ride - Outstanding quality and very fun to play.
Acquire - Great fun
Nuclear War - A simple and wonderfully addictive card game.

Apples to Apples

[wuie (884711)]

I've played the game Apples to Apples many times, and what I love the most about it is that you have enough cards for practically everyone at the party to play, especially if you have all the special sets combined into one large set. There have been times where we've had 10+ people in a circle, all playing the most absurd things that they have in their hand. Plus, I love how if you are the judge, you can choose *any* criteria you want for voting the best one.

There's one house rule that we always use, and this always makes for more entertainment: we play two descriptor cards instead of just one. Trying to match one thing is ho-hum, but trying to match two adjectives makes the game much more interesting.

My Favs

[BlackIcejane (1004346)]

1. Chez Geek/Goth
2. Apples to Apples
3. Killer bunnies
4. Things
5. Munchkin (any)
6. Settlers
7. Illuminati
8. Hacker Deluxe Edition
9. Ninja Burger
10. Maharaja

I own more but this is what gets played the most!

Re:Buy Board Games That Encourage Cooperation

[spun (1352)]

Dude, cooperation is the devil. Don't you listen to the capitalists and libertarians? Only pinko commie socialists cooperate. Everyone else tries their damndest to kill or fuck over everything else on the planet. That's the American way.

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[bigdavex (155746)]

I've had fun with Lord or the Rings [boardgamegeek.com].

There's an individual component as well, but we've always ignored that aspect.

Re:Buy Board Games That Encourage Cooperation

[xero314 (722674)]

they refer to "Our Town" as "Communist Monopoly"

As opposed to "Monopoly" where everyone starts with the same resources, earns the same income and can be jailed for no fault of their own.

Risk and/or Monopoly? Not anymore

[mcvos (645701)]

These two are mandatory for any board game collection.

They were 20 years ago, but not anymore. They suck in comparison to just about any game that has been released since.