I love board games. At the Resolved weekend away just gone I played Monopoly for the first time since I came out as a socialist and I’ve got to say, my inner dodgy developer rose to the surface faster than you can say “You’ve one second prize…”
Anyway, this got me to thinking about my own collection. Though I dream of one day filling a linen cupboard with untidily stacked cardboard boxes, for the moment our collection is fairly small. It seems to be that we’ve collected some “odd” games. We’ve got LotR Risk, Anti-monopoly, Simpsons Cluedo and Bagh Chal (a Nepalese ancestor of Chess). We’ve recently been given Ticket to Ride (Zug um Zug to the purists).
But I’m wondering what games you think are indispensable for a decent games collection. What game do you want to buy next? And if you had $100 to spend on games, which couple would you buy?
Here’s 10 games on my “like” list at the moment:
What do you think?
The Box Pop 
i’m not a huge fan of board games.
i do enjoy Carcassonne:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne_%28board_game%29
peaceout
Is it the whole competitive thing Dave?
I just realised this post whole post could come across as greedy and out of character. I’m more fishing for ideas than I am building bigger barns…
sometimes competitive gets personal and therefore ugly.
i don’t mind competitive if it’s fun.
i think boardgames are often like forced fun.
that’s all.
nah – the tone of the post is cool. just want some advice!
having said that – i’m thinking of running a connect4 tourney at college.
chess isn’t for everyone.
but connect4? any idiot can play!!
you in?
not saying you’re an idiot!!
😉
people are going to think there was a rally exciting discussion on this post… until they click and see i’m talking to myself. no i’m not
Hi Steve,
So I read this post yesterday and it inspired me to search for a favourite of mine from primary school. I couldn’t remember its name, but I remembered enough details that Google was able to help me out.
It’s called “The Sorcerer’s Cave”. It originally came out in 1978 with the idea of making D&D type gameplay more accessible. You can check it out here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1202/the-sorcerers-cave
You know, I don’t think I followed all the rules when I played in the library at primary school.
It also turns out the author wrote a computer game version (Windows 95) that he now lets you download free from:
http://skookumpete.com/index.htm
I’ve wasted a good couple of hours on it the last couple of days. I’m probably just about sated again for the next 25 years.
Another good boardgame I’ve played in the past is called Shanghai Trader:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/796/shanghai-trader
You need at least 3 people to play it. I think you’d like the Risk-like possibility of making and breaking deals with other players.
But remember, there’s no shame in playing Monopoly. After all, you’re providing shelter for all those otherwise homeless dogs, hats, boots, cars etc. at quite reasonable prices in today’s market.
Michael
Thanks for the tips Michael! Do you have a copy of Shanghai Trader?
Hi Steve,
I just eyeballed the box of Shanghai Trader. I can only assume it still has enough parts in it. Are you hoping to borrow it? Just remind me next time you’re down.
Michael
Scrabble 🙂
Scrabble and I are on a break Stephanie. I realised I had a problem when I had inadvertently memorised the two-letter-word list. 😀
I guess that means I have a problem too. I played Scrabble with Graeme once. He thought I was cheating because I won with two-letter words he’d never heard of lol.
Why don’t you take a look at some great new independently published games here: http://nightstalkergames.wordpress.com/