Board games

[Flint]

We tried to play Bang! on New Year's Eve, but somebody hid the rules under the table. We're still not sure whether it was on purpose or an accident, but we didn't find them until a month or so later (they were wedged to the bottom of the table). We still played, but we had to use the Italian rules, and nobody spoke Italian. So, I'm not sure how closely the game we played resembled the actual game.

IIRC, I was the sheriff.

Well imagine this: playing the game with a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds more than once a day for 2 weeks. I would rather have played in Italian . I have found it is a good game, but with anything good (especially music) it should not be overplayed. Bang! is a game I dont find I can play anymore (at least its been a good yr since I last played it and I hope this yrs group of kids doesnt get as attached to the game)

Shadow HM: is liars dice also called perudo?

[ShadowHM]

Shadow HM: is liars dice also called perudo?

According to this website, yes, although apparently the rules vary. Frankly, I have no idea whether we use "the real rules" or not. I learned the game back in about 1974, from some aquaintances at the time.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/45

[Flint]

well then i have played liars dice with different rules then. I wonder if me and my friends played by the right rules either, bc our game sounded very diffenerent. Everyone had their own cup w dice n it no commuunity cup (is that what u meant).
I have never played bullshit tho

[Kylearan]

Hi,

Have you played Carcassonne: The City?

No, but it looks very beautiful. Alas, it's expensive too, so I'm not so sure we'll buy it anytime soon. The couple we play Carcassonne the most with already owns the original game, the first expansion, the Traders and Builders expansion, the River expansion and the Count expansion. That's enough for one game, and buying even more iterations of the same game principle is a bit much.

And erm, you guys know about Brettspielwelt, right?

Yes, I've discovered that site just recently. But, and this probably sounds a bit silly from someone who enjoys playing Civilization and Diablo over the internet, I don't like playing board games online. I need real persons at the table I can interact with and real pieces to move (wooden, preferrably...). And drinking beer all alone in front of your monitor is a bit...depressing.

It's just that from my childhood socialization, board games are strongly tied to socal interaction in real life in my mind. However, I'm beginning to get weak on that because I don't find people playing Puerto Rico with me in the real world, mainly because setting up the board takes so long.

Regarding games like Taboo or Pictionary, my wife wants to play these types of games all the time. In fact, most women I know want to play them, while most men I know prefer less creative and more strategic games, which always leads to discussions at the beginning of gaming evenings. My wife likes to call Taboo-like games "fun games", and St. Petersburg and the like, "dry games".
I like the "dry games" more, but I have to agree that the "fun games" are often the only games possible to play with more than six players, and they can indeed be fun then.

Liar's dice: I know that game too, but we call it "Mäxchen" and only play it with three dice. Or rather played it, because instead of replacing the drinking penalty with a silly hat, we just have stopped playing it. Might play it again with a silly hat once we have children in a suitable age, though.

And I don't think you need "real rules" for that - if someone starts to discuss the rules when playing this game, there's something seriously wrong.

-Kylearan

[ShadowHM]

Liar's dice: I know that game too, but we call it "Mäxchen" and only play it with three dice. Or rather played it, because instead of replacing the drinking penalty with a silly hat, we just have stopped playing it. Might play it again with a silly hat once we have children in a suitable age, though.

And I don't think you need "real rules" for that - if someone starts to discuss the rules when playing this game, there's something seriously wrong.

-Kylearan

On the subject of 'game rules', I do find a brief 'review' of the rules of any game worthwhile before playing with new people. I know all too many idiosyncratic people, I guess. There is always a 'house rule' in there somewhere, which is not a bad thing, but it does help to know about it before commencing.

On the subject of 'silly hat' penalties: You may be surprised at how many adults take their dignity too seriously to be able to cope with a 'silly hat' rule. One way to find out more about your friends, eh?

[Doc]

I can twist and weave my dreadlocks into a bird's nest and even keep a couple of eggs in there for kicks and giggles... Not bothered am I with silly hats.

And I am not going to talk about the cockatiel nest incident.

[Kylearan]

Hi,

sorry to revive this thread, but since some people here seem to know the game San Juan, I thought I could mention that I have implemented the game on the computer with some (hopefully) strong AIs to play against. You can download it here:

http://www.compoundeye.net/jsanjuan/

Because it's written in Java, it should run on all platforms supporting the Java language (Windows, Linux, Macintosh, ...). I plan to implement some more AIs, so if you've played the game I'd like to hear some feedback from you.

Enjoy,

-Kylearan

[BeefontheBone]

That's interesting, the game known to me as "Bullshit" involves a deck of cards (or two with lots of players) dealt out to the players, who take it in turns to place cards from their hand face down on the table, calling out what they've discarded ("Two twos", "three sevens" etc) with the restriction that what the card you call has to be either 1 greater or 1 lower than the last player's call in value (so if one player puts down threes, the next must call either twos or fours). If anyone thinks you're lying, they call "bullshit!" (Or "cheat!", which is probably the original title) and the cards are turned over - if you were lying, you pick up all the cards on the table, if you were telling the truth then the player who called you a cheat picks them up, and the winner is the first player to get rid of all their cards.

On the subject of LotR games, I remember my dad had one of those ridiculously complicated 70s boardgames by the name of Sauron, effectively a tabletop battle game with hundreds of tokens on a board with a hexagonal grid. It took ages to play and wasn't very much fun He also had a similar Doctor Who game which was a bit better - I'm pretty sure both were made by Games Workshop before they realised they could extort a huge amount of cash out of geeky teenagers and their parents with Warhammer (If I sound bitter, I was one of those teenagers for a while - then I realised that roleplaying was more fun and much cheaper).

Ooooh, Diplomacy - there's a classic boardgame! Gotta love a game that requires seven players give up a month of their lives in order to complete it

[dathon]

My fiancee and I opened a new board game that her parents got me for my birthday last August. The game is called "Candamir" and was made by Klaus Teuber (same guy who made the Settlers of Catan series). We were instantly hooked. Easy to learn, capable of 2 - 4 people (haven't tried more than 2 to date). As far as I can tell from 6 plays, the games is very well-balanced, and offers a lot of strategic depth. Easy learning curve for gamers, I would guess moderate for non-gamers.

The aspect I like most is that this is very much a "play the hand you're dealt" game. If you go in with a set strategy, you're asking for a bruising. Each game you play as a different personality, with different traits and bonuses, and your strategy will be further influenced by what you (and everyone else) picks up in the first couple turns. Winning requires being flexible enough to change your startegic goals, though pursuing no goals won't get you far either. I would highly recommend it

dathon

[Kylearan]

Hi,

The game is called "Candamir" and was made by Klaus Teuber (same guy who made the Settlers of Catan series). We were instantly hooked.

A nice game, but it takes too long IMHO. Especially with four players, a game can easily take 3 hours - and if I need that long for playing one game, I prefer more complex games like Caylus or Puerto Rico, which offer more strategy in the same time frame.

Each game you play as a different personality, with different traits and bonuses

There's an official character editor from Klaus Teuber on the internet where you can create your own characters using a points-buy mechanism. It offers some more traits than the characters from the original game, but is still balanced nicely (and you can even include a photograph of you on the card ). This can make the game more variable and interesting.

I don't know if there's an English version for the computer (the original is in German), but I've seen a text-only version in English on BGG - mail me if you're interested.

-Kylearan