Favourite board game

Cerebral distractions of every kind, mostly but not exclusively Countdown-related.

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What is your favourite board game?

Boggle
3
4%
Chess
11
15%
Connect 4
1
1%
Draughts
1
1%
Monopoly
7
9%
Risk
5
7%
Scrabble
19
26%
Settlers of Catan
8
11%
Other [please specify]
19
26%
 
Total votes: 74

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Charlie Reams
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Favourite board game

Post by Charlie Reams »

If you don't vote for Settlers of Catan then I offer good odds that you haven't played it.

Also Monopoly is shit.
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Michael Wallace
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Michael Wallace »

Settlers is awesome, haven't had a game in ages though. I think that perhaps the reason I enjoy it the most though is the capacity for being an utter bastard to people, which probably isn't the best reason...
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Jon Corby
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Jon Corby »

Countdown!


*giggles childishly*
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Charlie Reams
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Charlie Reams »

Michael Wallace wrote: I think that perhaps the reason I enjoy it the most though is the capacity for being an utter bastard to people, which probably isn't the best reason...
Yep! Also, if you play with really nice people (like my family), you can negotiate ruthlessly and they'll be too polite to decline.
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M. George Quinn
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by M. George Quinn »

Chess then scrabble.

I really like Risk, though.

Where are the classics?
Hungry Hippos, Operation, Guess Who, Ker-plunk...
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Ben Wilson
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Ben Wilson »

I'm a Scrabble man at heart but I'm partial to the odd German board game- Carcassonne being my favourite.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Paul Howe »

Didn't Settlers have some votes earlier? Brilliant game.

I used to play Go a lot, it's a wonderfully challenging game with simple rules but very deep strategy, I've learnt a lot but have still barely scratched the surface of what's possible. Learning to play at a level that's not laughably inept does take a while though.

Chess I've never really got into but I like doing the chess problems in the papers. Connect 4's all right for a few games but quickly gets boring, don't like Monopoly, never played Risk or Boggle. I've never really enjoyed Scrabble either, not sure why because it seems like something I should love, but I just can't get into it.
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Charlie Reams
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Charlie Reams »

Paul Howe wrote:Didn't Settlers have some votes earlier? Brilliant game.
Err, yes, the vote seems to have reset itself. Probably my fault in some way.

I also like Go, that one slipped my mind.
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Michael Wallace
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Michael Wallace »

Whilst I like Go in principle (the simplicity and all), I've barely begun to learn how to be any good at it, and to call it daunting is an understatement. Chess I've started looking at again, but am getting a bit bored by learning all the opening theory. Monopoly just annoys me :|
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

I loved Chess in school and I was in a chess club, but undoubtedly, it has to be Scrabble :D

I have a game too called Zatre, which is short for Zahlen & Treppen (numbers and steps).

EDIT: Cluedo is also a brilliant board game too.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Dinos Sfyris »

Settlers of Catan
:?: Someone mind explaining this one to me?
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Charlie Reams »

Dinos Sfyris wrote:
Settlers of Catan
:?: Someone mind explaining this one to me?
Try this site, it's very informative.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Dinos Sfyris »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Dinos Sfyris wrote:
Settlers of Catan
:?: Someone mind explaining this one to me?
Try this site, it's very informative.
Ta
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Charlie Reams wrote:If you don't vote for Settlers of Catan then I offer good odds that you haven't played it.

Also Monopoly is shit.
Yeah, if you do vote for Monopoly then I offer good odds that you haven't played anything else.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by David O'Donnell »

M. George Quinn wrote:Chess then scrabble.
I take it you don't play in any local tourneys then as I am sure our paths would have crossed.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by M. George Quinn »

Nah, they're my favourite but I'm no good at either.

I'm more surprised that our paths haven't crossed due to the stupid amount of beer guzzling we both seem to do.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Martin Gardner »

I used to play chess when I was a teenager and that's where the name Mglovesfun comes from actually, which according to Yahoo! was registered in 1999, so nearly 10 years ago now. But I'm terrible at chess, I tried to make a little comeback on Yahoo! and only won one game on a checkmate and a couple of others by disconnection or losing on time, but counting just checkmates I won 1 and lost about 20, although in fairness higher rated players kept accepting my propositions (of games I mean) so it's hard to win games when you're playing players rated 300 points above you.

So in the end, I just got bored of it. I mean I could never get bored of Scrabble I've played at least 10,000 games on the Internet, and I'm still happy to play more.

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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Speaking of Scrabble, what do people think of the Franklin Mint edition of Scrabble?

In my opinion, It does look like a nice Scrabble set, but I'm not sure if I would want to spend that much money (around £300+) just on a game of Scrabble.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Joseph Bolas wrote:Speaking of Scrabble, what do people think of the Franklin Mint edition of Scrabble?

In my opinion, It does look like a nice Scrabble set, but I'm not sure if I would want to spend that much money (around £300+) just on a game of Scrabble.
You can probably have more than one.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Howard Somerset »

My vote went for Chess, as that is the game, of those listed, that I enjoy the most. It's a close thing as to which of Chess and Countdown I'm worse at. :(
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Dinos Sfyris »

I also voted for chess. Not that I've had a decent game in ages. Used to be in the chess club at my junior school which was a hoot with a league and everything, then I moved up to the comp where everyone was a brutish rogue with no idea of what a Sicilian defence was. Online chess just doesn't appeal to me for some reason. It lacks the intimacy of a game in person. Think my last game against anyone of true calibre was my auntie's boyfriend when I was about 13. But then they split and she married someone else. Apparently her happiness is more important than my potential chess partners. Women :x
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Michael Wallace »

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Online chess just doesn't appeal to me for some reason. It lacks the intimacy of a game in person.
I'm with you on that one. I generally find I just can't take it seriously enough when it's pixels on a screen rather than a scowling dude across the table from you.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

For the new members in the forum (since Charlie's plug), What is your favourite board game?
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Kevin Thurlow »

Chess - I guess, but I hate the online stuff. A practical reason to do so is that I played a tournament in Guernsey last week and was winning in round 6, when I completely overlooked a threat by the opponent and just lost immediately. My amiable Dutch opponent said, "Ah, you were unlucky - let me buy you a beer."

At least when you play a real live person you can be fairly sure that you are just playing him/her, whereas online, whether chess or Countdown, they might have silicon or other help.

And I'm better at chess than Countdown.

Kevin
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Kevin Thurlow wrote:At least when you play a real live person you can be fairly sure that you are just playing him/her, whereas online, whether chess or Countdown, they might have silicon or other help.
Fairly sure, yes; definite, no -- you might be playing Kramnik.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by jeff wharton »

I voted for Boggle,Scrabble would be a close second.
For those who don,t know Boggle.You have a number of dice shaped
tiles (I think 25) which sit in a tray with individual slots for the tiles.
A transparent raised lid is placed on the tray then the tiles are shook
to give a random letter selection.The idea of the game is to make as many
three letter (or more) words as possible.But the letters in the words you
make must be next to each other in the tray.You can,t just use letters
from all over.The longer the word the higher you score.Three and four letter words
score just one point.There is a sand filled timer provided which i think gives just a
couple of minutes for you write your words down.There is another twist to the game.
That is you only score with words that no one else in the game have found.If you have
never played the game give it a go if you get the chance.
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Martin Gardner
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Martin Gardner »

jeff wharton wrote:I voted for Boggle,Scrabble would be a close second.
For those who don,t know Boggle.You have a number of dice shaped
tiles (I think 25) which sit in a tray with individual slots for the tiles.
A transparent raised lid is placed on the tray then the tiles are shook
to give a random letter selection.The idea of the game is to make as many
three letter (or more) words as possible.But the letters in the words you
make must be next to each other in the tray.You can,t just use letters
from all over.The longer the word the higher you score.Three and four letter words
score just one point.There is a sand filled timer provided which i think gives just a
couple of minutes for you write your words down.There is another twist to the game.
That is you only score with words that no one else in the game have found.If you have
never played the game give it a go if you get the chance.
It's actually 4 x 4 not 5 x 5. But yes I had a semi-competitive game recently, I think we played best of 10 shuffles and I won. If you can manage it, try to write the words down without looking away from the grid, so you can spot new words while writing others down. The problem is it's really intense. You have to concentrate really hard while with Scrabble you've got loads of time and just 15 moves (approx, depending on the level) to make in 25 minutes, plus you can think while your opponent's clock is running. I think a couple of my opponents at Peterborough were unimpressed as I sat staring into space even though they had just made a move.
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Joseph Bolas
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Martin Gardner wrote:It's actually 4 x 4 not 5 x 5.
Actually, it was originally 4 x 4, but they did bring out a 5 x 5 version called Boggle Master :D. I also believe there is a Boggle puzzle book, with even bigger grids :)
Last edited by Joseph Bolas on Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Michael Wallace
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Michael Wallace »

Haha, Boogle :)
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Michael Wallace wrote:Haha, Boogle :)
Actually if you Google Boogle, it does come up with a game :D
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Ian Volante
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Ian Volante »

I loved Monopoly when I was too young to know any better. Then I realised that Totopoly was much better, and so on, basically the more complex the game, the more I liked it. To an extent however, some of the bigger wargames (Conquistador springs to mind) take six hours to work out the rules, and so suffer from diminishing returns.

Of games I've played, the ones I particularly enjoy are:

Settlers of Catan (with extensions of course)
Carcassonne
Blood Bowl
Shogun

It's difficult to get the time and/or players these days though, especially now I'm a grown-up. :(
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Ian Volante wrote:Then I realised that Totopoly was much better, and so on, basically the more complex the game, the more I liked it.
Never heard of this game before, and Googling tells me it's a horse racing board game. How they made Horse Racing into a board game baffles me.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Ian Volante »

Joseph Bolas wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:Then I realised that Totopoly was much better, and so on, basically the more complex the game, the more I liked it.
Never heard of this game before, and Googling tells me it's a horse racing board game. How they made Horse Racing into a board game baffles me.
Firstly there was a training phase where your horses developed (or generally went lame), then you flipped over the board and literally raced them round the track according to various rules.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Ian Volante wrote:
Joseph Bolas wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:Then I realised that Totopoly was much better, and so on, basically the more complex the game, the more I liked it.
Never heard of this game before, and Googling tells me it's a horse racing board game. How they made Horse Racing into a board game baffles me.
Firstly there was a training phase where your horses developed (or generally went lame), then you flipped over the board and literally raced them round the track according to various rules.
Sounds like a fun game to be honest.

It is a way to learn how to bet on horses so you become a gambler :lol:
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Kirk Bevins
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Kirk Bevins »

I remember having totopoly when I was a kid - had a green box. I also had another horse racing game which was quite fun.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Frank Rodolf »

I love board games in general and own too many that hardly ever get played, since no one around here likes to play them with me. :(

From the listed games, my favourites would be Scrabble and Monopoly, closely followed by Trivial Pursuit - I actually own both Dutch and US versions of all three.

My real favourite board game though is backgammon.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Frank Rodolf wrote:I love board games in general and own too many that hardly ever get played, since no one around here likes to play them with me. :(

From the listed games, my favourites would be Scrabble and Monopoly, closely followed by Trivial Pursuit - I actually own both Dutch and US versions of all three.

My real favourite board game though is backgammon.
I know that feeling not having anyone around to play the board games :(. I don't have to travel far though to play Scrabble, but it would be nice if a Scrabble club and a Countdown club were set up in Liverpool.

I would do it myself, but I don't have the funding yet :(
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Thomas Cappleman »

Of those, it's definitely Settlers, though the various German ones like Carcassonne are also very good.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by David Roe »

Totopoly, or Buccaneer, depending on mood. Either way, it's "other".
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Lesley Jeavons
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Lesley Jeavons »

Aside from Countdown, it would have to be Yahtzee http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2243. (If we're not being too strict on the 'board' element of the question.) It's always a hard choice to stick with a full house on throw two, when throw three might just have been a Yahtzee! And the low and high straights are such a bugger as if you don't get them, the selection of dice is pretty useless for points elsewhere. Five dice would def be on my list of things to take to a desert island - I'd prob not even realise I was there!

And I'm (as yet) unbeatable at Humm Bug http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/15009 which is kinda like Name that Tune with humming. I often lap people a few times before they reach the end. Only problem is that my knowledge of 90s (with the exception of the mid 90s fab Brit pop Kula Shaker, Space, Pulp, etc period) and 00s is shocking!

I also love Therapy http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/33418 and PSI http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3432 for a bit of amatuer psychology (and an argument!). And I also have a wee soft spot for Ludo. ;)

My husband also bought me a Sudoku board game thinking it would make me more sociable, but I much prefer doing them in a book or the Radio Times by myself.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Blockbusters was an alright board game, but they could've made the game a whole lot better IMO.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Matt Morrison »

It would have to be Wildlife Adventure, by Ravensburger if I recall correctly.

A fantastic, and interesting (I'm fairly sure that playing it at a young age contributed to my love of travel and animals), and surprisingly tactical game. A real gem.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Mikey Lear »

Charlie Reams wrote:If you don't vote for Settlers of Catan then I offer good odds that you haven't played it.
This casual comment made a couple of years ago has quite severely altered my life, thusly: I played online to see if it really was any good. I decided it was. I bought it and played it some more. I discovered http://www.boardgamegeek.com which talks about Settlers as a 'gateway game', meaning a gateway to a nerdier world. I walked through that gateway and bought Bohnanza and Carcassonne (both also excellent - and Carcassonne and Settlers are playable on http://games.asobrain.com which is pretty good). Then my brother bought Caylus from the top ten list on Board Game Geek, and from there we've started amassing. Earlier this year I hosted a board games weekend and since then I've had three more. Board games have started taking over my social life to the point where I've started to see less of my friends who aren't really interested. My most recent purchase, nominally to celebrate my brother's birthday but really because I'm an addict, was Twilight Struggle. A two-player game which simulates the Cold War. A war with almost no actual conflict. A game that lasts about 3-4 hours. I now consider Settlers to be a little childish and only play it with my nephews. My current inventory includes: Settlers of Catan; Carcassonne (including two expansion pack - Traders and Builders, and Inns and Cathedrals); Bohnanza; Agricola; Puerto Rico; Caylus; Twilight Struggle. My favourite is probably Agricola.

I might play tonight.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Ian Volante »

Mikey Lear wrote: http://games.asobrain.com
I may regret looking at that site...
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Charlie Reams »

Mikey Lear wrote:My current inventory includes: Settlers of Catan; Carcassonne (including two expansion pack - Traders and Builders, and Inns and Cathedrals); Bohnanza; Agricola; Puerto Rico; Caylus; Twilight Struggle. My favourite is probably Agricola.
If you like those, I strongly recommend Dominion. The only downside is that you will experience an overwhelming desire to buy all the expansion packs, which come to several hundred quid.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Ben Wilson »

Starfarers of Catan is a fun variant on the general Catan theme, adds a nice 'exploration' feel to it too. I've also always been fond of the Mask trilogy of games (Tikal, Java, Mexica) and if you're a fan of board games and of Lord of the Rings you absolutely owe it to yourself to get Reiner Knizia's game- the same applies for the new Battlestar Galactica game. Both are excellent examples of co-operative games too.

I'm also going to take this opportunity to mention Gambler, made by Charlie Towlson, as possibly the most fun I've ever had playing a board game. The mechanics of it are simple- you start off with $350 and use it to place various bets in order to accumulate money and achieve the ultimate goal of placing a winning bet in Las Vegas. Bets can be betting on the roll of a dice, a high-low card game, a coin toss... it sounds so-so but the potential for chaos is unmatched. From the starting amount of $350 the highest amount of cash ever accumulated in one game stands at just over $8 000 000 000, and I remember playing a game against one Mr. G Male and one Mr. J Bentley after the first ever COLIN that halfway through had a halfway-hammered Mr. Bentley flagging in last place whilst myself and Gary roared into the lead. Naturally, two and a half hours and several cans of strong cider later, Jim wins the game whilst we're stuck completely motionless with copious amounts of debt.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Charlie Reams »

Ben Wilson wrote:I'm also going to take this opportunity to mention Gambler, made by Charlie Towlson, as possibly the most fun I've ever had playing a board game. The mechanics of it are simple- you start off with $350 and use it to place various bets in order to accumulate money and achieve the ultimate goal of placing a winning bet in Las Vegas. Bets can be betting on the roll of a dice, a high-low card game, a coin toss... it sounds so-so but the potential for chaos is unmatched. From the starting amount of $350 the highest amount of cash ever accumulated in one game stands at just over $8 000 000 000, and I remember playing a game against one Mr. G Male and one Mr. J Bentley after the first ever COLIN that halfway through had a halfway-hammered Mr. Bentley flagging in last place whilst myself and Gary roared into the lead. Naturally, two and a half hours and several cans of strong cider later, Jim wins the game whilst we're stuck completely motionless with copious amounts of debt.
To provide an alternative perspective, I played a few games of Gambler with Stewart Holden and it's honestly one of the worst things I've ever played. The game involves almost no skill, so you might as well play Snakes and Ladders, and to add insult to tedium, it deliberately punishes you for boring mechanical mistakes like forgetting to move pieces. Charlie Towlson has been flogging it privately to people for years, and I'd have to guess that the reason it's never been picked up by a publisher is that it's just not fun at all. If you want a simple game that you can play while drinking then try Carcassonne. (In fact, try it anyway because it's great.)

Agree with the rest of what Ben said though. Have been trying to get hold of Knizia's LotR for ages but it appears to be out of print and second-hand copies are rare (testament to its quality, I suppose).
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Ben Wilson »

Charlie Reams wrote:Agree with the rest of what Ben said though. Have been trying to get hold of Knizia's LotR for ages but it appears to be out of print and second-hand copies are rare (testament to its quality, I suppose).
Really? I got mine for £6 off ebay last year and all that was wrong was it had a slightly broken hobbit.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Peter Mabey »

The only board game I get to play regularly nowadays is Scrabble, but I agree that of the named ones Settlers comes out top. (Only play friendly socials with other OAPs , so we have the official wordlists available to check plays & correct errors without penalty :) )
I used to enjoy 1853, but haven't had an opportunity to participate in recent years - I like it best of the 18xx family, as the 1830 derived versions are too much of a business war for my liking. :roll:
I also like Civilisation and Puerto Rico, though again there aren't any groups hereabouts for me to take part in , so haven't played recently (not tried online versions.)
Peter Mabey
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Peter Mabey »

Joseph Bolas wrote:... it would be nice if a Scrabble club .... were set up in Liverpool.
See here http://www.absp.org.uk/clubs.html :)
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Kai Laddiman
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Kai Laddiman »

Mikey Lear wrote:This casual comment made a couple of years ago has quite severely altered my life
The same thing happened to me when KC first showed me Fantastic Contraption. My life has never been the same since. :shock: :o
16/10/2007 - Episode 4460
Dinos Sfyris 76 - 78 Dorian Lidell
Proof that even idiots can get well and truly mainwheeled.
Gavin Chipper
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Charlie Reams wrote:To provide an alternative perspective, I played a few games of Gambler with Stewart Holden and it's honestly one of the worst things I've ever played.
There's two variables here.
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Dmitry Goretsky
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Dmitry Goretsky »

Des Chiffres et des Lettres, of course.
I'm a probability guru, so please PM or e-mail me if you need some help about probabilities.

Truly yours,
Dmitry Goretsky <0668964628@mail.ru>
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Robert Baxter
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Robert Baxter »

My other is Countdown :D
Contestant: Continent please, Rachel.
Rachel: Y.
Contestant: Because I want one!

For more info, see http://wiki.apterous.org/User:The_Doctor , and don't have a go at me a the F1 drivers series.

The 86th postingest forummer.

And I'm a :ugeek:.
Jojo Apollo
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Jojo Apollo »

My vote goes to Monopoly, a truly great game, and yes I have played most of the other games. :)
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Mikey Lear
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Mikey Lear »

I've now got Brass, but only played it twice so I can't give much of an opinion though it looks good. Citadels - simple but good with excellent artwork. Civilization - requires at least a whole day to play it. One full game finished with a few aborted attempts - it's pretty excellent and the board game which inspired Sid Meier's computer game, though the board game only goes up to 300BC.

Board Game Weekend VII is coming up. I'm standing on the brink of an addiction and I'm about to hurl myself in. Or over. What do you do to brinks?
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Jojo Apollo »

Anyone else remember the board game "The Alley Cats", with cats hiding in dustbins, chasing fish, and being chased by bulldogs?
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Mark James »

I love boggle but it doesn't really have a board. When I was a kid I liked Hero Quest but I've no idea why. It was awful. We had one called Soccer Drama which was fun, kinda. We never had Go For Broke which I always wanted cause it looked good on the ad. Never got to play it. Also used to like the one where you dropped the glow in the dark skull down the tower which set of booby traps, can't remember what it was called. Ghost House or something like that. As for which one to vote for, scrabble's got enough votes and I hate the CSW so I'm gonna go for "Sorry" which is really for kids but is a great laugh. Also, how come no one's mentioned pictionary?
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Michael Wallace
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Michael Wallace »

Mark James wrote:Also used to like the one where you dropped the glow in the dark skull down the tower which set of booby traps, can't remember what it was called. Ghost House or something like that.
Was it this? I loved that as a kid.
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Re: Favourite board game

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Michael Wallace wrote:
Mark James wrote:Also used to like the one where you dropped the glow in the dark skull down the tower which set of booby traps, can't remember what it was called. Ghost House or something like that.
Was it this? I loved that as a kid.
In my memory it's called Ghost Castle. In fact the next game on that site - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/44827/which-witch

There's two of them?
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