2006 Board Games Gift Guide 99
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... (Score:4, Funny)
Step 2: Open it to a random page and put your finger down
Step 3: Order that
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Of the 10 that were listed by the Morning News article, only one is made by Wizard's board game division, Avalon Hill.
Wizards does do quite a few card games though.
Fluxx (Score:2)
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http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/258 [boardgamegeek.com]
Fluxx is way to random, when I same "gamer" I mean someone who likes to be challenged, be competitive, use their brain when playing. Fluxx might be fun for stoners... maybe a one time play for others... but I would not suggest it as a gift for anyone that is into gaming or that you'd like to turn on to the hobby.
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http://tinyurl.com/snsc9 [tinyurl.com]
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Re:Fluxx (Score:4, Interesting)
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]
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Check out the highly rated games at boardgamegeek.com for a very diverse group of good games.
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Also, there are abstract games that are random. Tigris and Euphrates is an example with its tile draws.
Random elements are fine... just when things are pure chance or chaotic in nature it loses all appeal as a game. Unless, of course, there is a woman involved.
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Haven't got the hang of threading yet? Unless *any* comment under one of yours magically is a reply to you, I didn't reply to you.
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Fluxx is best enjoyed with good friends and humourous people. you must not have funny friends because this futile exercise is quite fun. in my experiences its just a laughable easy to play game. mix in drinks and sometimes its just too much fun. i'm a gamer and find this excrutiating task rather enjoyable. easy for anyone to pick up or join on the fly too. :D
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I've been playing this for years, I think I have a rev 2.0 set (might be a rev 1.0 but I think it has a few additional cards).
The rev 3.0 (I think it is) currently kicking around has a bunch of new rules and cards that makes it just that little bit too complex for teaching novice (non-gamer) users, I'd personally ditch the extras and go back to the rev 2.0 set.
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monopoly (Score:2)
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Settlers really is great. (Score:2)
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My personal favorite board game is probably Carcassonne.
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I post this in response to the "Risk" comment, simply 'cause I want to agree with the parent.
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Do people still play Monopoly? (Score:2)
Do people really still play Monopoly? I liked it when I was a kid and there was nothing better around, but the last 15 years have given us a multitude of far superior games. Monopoly and Risk are obsolete.
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When YOU win, it's "strategy"; when I win it's... (Score:2)
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You can find it on Ebay, though not always cheap, and if you are lucky at a garage sale.
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Re:monopoly (Score:5, Interesting)
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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1. Everything other than rent or property purchases goes into Free Parking along with $500.
2. The $500 is replaced as soon as Free Parking is hit.
3. You can buy on your first time around.
4. Double cash for landing on Go.
5. No auctions.
6. If there is an equal number of players and property, there is a vote on divvying it up.
7. You buy whatever property you
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Anyway, "Ticket To Ride" is definitely one of the best games I've played recently. Haven't play it enough to tackle the tunnel, station, and ferry rules on the Europe board, but that just means there's more to play once the main rules are learned.
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You can make monopoly much more complicated fairly easily. Allow players to negotiate and sell options for purchasing properties, portions of future revenues from properties they may or may not have at the present, etc. A smart player and good negotiator can easily pick win and you can intelligently hedge your ri
Illuminopoly (Score:1)
The default victory condition is to own or control at least 1/2 of the property values once all properties are owned. Each piece has alternate victory conditions and special powers. In addition, properties can be razed/rezoned with the appropriate graft. Bribery and backstabbing are expected, and even cheating is allowed, with a mandatory Go To Jail if caught; thou
The two I suggest (Score:2)
I third Settlers (Score:2)
In Monopoly, we found people largely traded once, built up, and crossed their fingers. If you made out in the deal-making frenzy you won, if not, it's a long slow ride to death.
In contrast, in Settlers, trades were made almost every turn and the last five minutes of the game are usually very close. In a race to 10 points, it wasn't uncommon to have 2 people with 8, one with 7 and one with 9 and have the 7 point person win
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Keep in mind that there are 3 elements to every board game: Luck, strategy and interpersonal interaction. For example Monopoly is primarily based on luck, then secondly based on interaction then finally has a small amount of s
Link to "Hey! That's my fish" game (Score:4, Informative)
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/
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Risk and/or Monopoly? Not anymore (Score:3, Insightful)
They were 20 years ago, but not anymore. They suck in comparison to just about any game that has been released since.
Cartagena (Score:3, Interesting)
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?
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pwned for following the link? (Score:5, Informative)
OT: Why do coral cache links (Score:2)
Ha, if you click that link from here you still get the slashdot message.
Then you can click it within the message.
My favorites in no particular order... (Score:3, Informative)
Acquire - Great fun
Nuclear War - A simple and wonderfully addictive card game.
Buy Board Games That Encourage Cooperation (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Buy Board Games That Encourage Cooperation (Score:5, Funny)
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There's an individual component as well, but we've always ignored that aspect.
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A) Have they read the books more than once? - This may be the best indicator if they will enjoy the game. If they enjoyed the books enough to re-read, then there is a good chance they will enjoy the game and give it a chance.
B) Do they handle losing well? - It is double tough to win this game, especially with the expansions. If they don't like games they only have
Re:Buy Board Games That Encourage Cooperation (Score:4, Funny)
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Blast from the past (Score:2, Interesting)
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Since you have to supply your own pieces, and the games come in envelopes (generally), it gives me projects to work on, including building boxes to hold all the cool pieces I've built.
The two Cheapass Games I have are 'Captain Treasure Boots' and 'Steam Tunnel'. For the former, I built little ships to use as pawns, and I used Mardi Gras Doubloons as the treasures. For the latter, I bu
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Apples to Apples (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Fish game (Score:1)
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1875 [boardgamegeek.com]
http://i7.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/7d/d9/edec_1.JPG [ebayimg.com]
Twilight Struggle (Score:1)
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Instructions for online found here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1224164 [boardgamegeek.com]
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My Favs (Score:3, Informative)
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!
Time's Up (Score:1)
Bang! (Score:2)
The New Stuff (Score:2)
Scrabble... (Score:1)
Carcassone, Settlers of Catan, and Ticket to Ride (Score:1)
The Spiel's 2006 Holiday Game Gift Guide (Score:1)
Over 50 recommendations for gamers of all ages and games of all flavors. From games less than $10 to budget busters, we've got you covered.
Download directly from our site [thespiel.net] or via RSS [thespiel.net] or iTunes [apple.com].
Comments, questions, or suggestions are always welcome: stephen@thespiel.net
Happy holidays!
Stephen
co-host and creator of The Spiel