38 thoughts on “Tabletop Times: The latest hotness for Christmas”

1. We just started introducing basic board games to the boy like Trouble, Sorry, etc. Try as I might, I just can't seem to beat the little bugger. Beginner's luck, or something.

   1. How old? We're big on games with our kids, and have been trying to get away from the simple dice/counting games. To that end, once they're old enough, I recommend:

      Sequence Jr.
      Chinese Checkers
      Engineering Ants
      TransEuropa (or TransAmerica)
      Spot It

      There are others, but those are the ones that come to mind immediately.

      1. Engineering Ants. Also a hit at our house although it kind of devolves into lots of freeform building before the game ends (not a bad thing).

         1. So. Many. Flying. Machines.

      2. For younger kids, I recommend Outfoxed as a cooperative game. It's sort of like a cooperative clue, and is a favorite for both our 6 year old and 4.5 year old.

   2. I just picked up Candyland because the oldest has reached the 3-6 range the game recommends. I suspect it will be closer to 4 when he is capable of consistently playing.

   3. We got "Race to the Treasure" from ... somewhere? and the little one (4.5 yrs) loves it. Super simple, but involves actual strategic thinking and a cooperative win/loss mechanism that works pretty well.

      Everyone is working together to build a path that has to pick up various tokens before getting to the end. At the same time there are ogre cards that turn up and move the ogres ever closer to the treasure. Lots of fun and short games (5-10 minutes).

      1. That looks pretty cool.

2. Thanks for this, Punman! The wife and I will be looking this over for gift ideas.

   1. I'd add to the "newer" classics: Smallworld and Takenoko.

3. Every year a group of our friends get together on the Friday after Thanksgiving for The Annual, a night of tacos and board & card games. (This year was the 23rd annual Annual.) I didn't play as much this year as in years past, but did get to try a few new-to-me games. I watched a group of folks play through Secret Hitler, which was developed by one of the Cards Against Humanity people. I don't know what plans there are for post-Kickstarter production, but the game looked really well thought out.

   Speaking of Cards against Humanity, if you enjoy that game you might want to check out Joking Hazard, which is similar in concept (and coarseness) but provides a fun wrinkle: you are attempting to complete the last panel of an hopefully funny, likely offensive comic strip. If you like to work blue, it's probably up your alley.

   I'm not really a fan of Catan-style economic/strategy games, but I really enjoy playing Suburbia. The goals change every time you play, which alleviates the tedium of Catan. (It also prevents any hardcore Cataners from demolishing any less-dedicated opponents. I had a friend who was obsessed with Catan and was out for blood every game; after a few occasions we refused to play anymore because it just wasn't fun to be someone's Catan speed bag.)

   If you're looking for fun, mixed-company games for gamers & non-gamers alike, you might enjoy Flapjacks & Sasquatches. If you like guessing games Concept, SiXeS, and Guess the Mess! are worth checking out.

   1. I played Joking Hazard for the first time this weekend. We only got to play for about 20 minutes, but it was fun. It seems to have more opportunities for wit than CAH, and maybe less likely to get stale. We played liked 10 rounds, and I would say there was about 3 genuine laugh out loud moments. Definitely some duds, though.

   2. Reposted from me from 2014

      Last year at Thanksgiving, my BiL and I completely ruined a game of Suburbia just to mess with my brother. I, running a town I christened "New Birmingham" had concentrated largely in manufacturing and he in cheap housing over in "New Detroit" Once our towns touched, we formally announced the merger of our towns and formed the new town of "New Birmingtroit". Article I of the new town charter was "Suck it, Boog." as there was nothing in the rules that said we couldn't. And he looked for a long time.

      Needless to say, the combined might of New Birmingtroit was no match for Boog and his - then - girlfriend - now - fiancée. (ed:now wife)

   3. A guy from work supported Secret Hitler. We've been playing at every work event (we congregate in NYC a few times a year) since. It's a blast.

4. I got roped into playing Monopoly over the holiday break. It was somewhat interesting to re-acquaint myself with the game--probably the last time I played it I was in middle school--but there are a lot of aspects about it which I don't like. The worst is that players get eliminated as you go and the game can last for hours after that. I don't necessarily mind some randomness in a game, but it seems like at the start, at least some of the properties should be put up for auction, rather than waiting for people to land on them.

   Anyway, I would put votes in for Dominion and Race for the Galaxy. They incorporate a lot of the aspects that I enjoyed about Magic: The Gathering gameplay, but without having to go out and collect cards (which I never bothered to do anyway, I would always just borrow someone else's cards.) I've also played Roll for the Galaxy lately, which I like as well and might be a better option if you like a bit more randomness injected into the gameplay.

   1. I got to play some Dominion over Thanksgiving. I am not a fan of the Dark Ages expansion, relative to some of the others. I say that having won the game with the expansion, despite almost never winning.

   2. The rules do say to auction off any property that isn't bought. I haven't played in quite some time but it seemed that all of the house rules people add make the game last even longer. Then people complain about how long it takes so they don't want to play.

      1. Any property that is landed on and isn't bought. We were playing by that rule, but everyone bought every property they landed on. It's pretty hard to argue against purchasing a property unless you happen to land on so many more properties than everyone else that you are starting to get too cash poor. Even then, if you've got some property banked up, you can mortgage it if you are only a little short on cash and have some properties earning income to make you whole again in a few turns.

         The one house rule that we were using (which I wasn't aware was a house rule when I got roped into taking over for my wife) was putting taxes, etc. in the middle and doling it out for free parking. That definitely extends the game, and I think it's a bad house rule.

         The way our game was playing out, the guy who got knocked out first basically only landed on something like three properties that hadn't already been purchased. He never really had a chance to get in the game. If all the properties were auctioned off either at the beginning, or just when someone lands on them, he at least would have had some choices to make. Or maybe some compromise like auction off all the unpurchased properties after everyone has passed Go two or three times.

         1. Or maybe some compromise like auction off all the unpurchased properties after everyone has passed Go two or three times.

            I've played this way before. I believe it was 3 (or 4) rounds, and it did seem to help. Doesn't remove the luck of the roll completely, which is a main component of the early game, so that's nice.

            1. We set a timer. Then, when the timer goes off, whoever's turn it is gets to flip the board off the table and storm off, vowing never to play again. That way we reach the end without taking too much time.

               1. Oooh. I like this approach. Seems most appropriate for Risk and the like.

   3. We have been playing cribbage and Up and Down the River.

      1. Is this a variation on Cribbage or something else?

         1. It is a trick-taking game like spades. Sometimes called "Oh, Hell" or "Oh, Heck".
            We play it with 13 hands (1-card trump, 2-card trump, ..., 6-card trump, 7-card no-trump, then back down the river to 1-card trump). Best played with 4-6 players.

            1. That's a favorite at our house. We only pay thirteen hands, though.

               We taught it to my in-laws, and now it's a favorite over there, too.

               1. 7+6=13. 😉

                  1. Ah, see, we do it 1-13 (which is a no trump hand, and thus, my dad's favorite)

                     1. Ahh. So, you can't play more than four players....

                        1. Right, I do sort of like your way for the rare occasion where we have more than four who want to play. Or less, I suppose, since the full 13 doesn't really work very well with LESS than four players, either.

                     2. We play it a lot at the in-laws. Up to 7. First and last hand (1 card) are played with the card on your forehead, such that you know everyone's card but your own.

                        1. That is dealer's choice for the last hand in our version. Works best when alcohol or children are involved.

            2. Oh, I was more interested in Cribbage Variations.
               We often play "Captains", a 3-player variation where each game has one dealer. The other two are partners. Dealer deals 5 and a 6th to himself, gets both of the discards and gets to create two hands (one crib) out of all eight. Rotate once around and add up win/loss deficit.

               I've been trying out slight rule changes of classic two-hand with my FiL, just for variety:
               "Backwards", where you try to score as few points as possible. This was fun, I'd play it again.
               "Five Card", each player is dealt seven and one straight to the crib. After too much grumbling about having to split great deals. I think this had too many points available with a lot of variability, so you could get way far ahead or behind.

               1. How long does a Backwards game take? Twice as long? Or do you accidentally get a lot of good hands with the cut?

   4. My friends were visiting from Korea and brought along an extremely addictive Monopoly card came. Highly recommended.

      1. I've heard good things about the card game.

5. We picked up Castles of Burgundy on your recommendation. I'll let you know how it goes.

   1. You should set up an account at boiteajeux.net and join Punman and me in a game or two, so's to learn it before gifting it...

6. Some of my website's players hung out for a week over my birthday in October, and we spent the vast majority of the time playing games.

   I can't suggest The Resistance enough. It gets emotional and intense, and is just the exact type of rush I'm looking for when I play games. It's kind a Mafia/Werewolf game where as few as five people can play. We played the five-handed version four times up at the cabin (twice with nibbish). God, I adore it.

   Another we took up there was Party Playoff, a ridiculous and fun party game where you get a randomly-generated 32-item tournament and argue the virtues until there's a winner. There's a point scheme, but it feels secondary to the laughs along the way. It's been out for years but I'm not sure it ever got its due.

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