Tag Archives: card games

Games

Games: Post-2017-Holiday Edition

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Been a while since we've had a games post, and, like I'm assuming many (some?) of you, I recently had a chance to play some games with family. Holidays are good for that. Some quick rundowns:

CHILDREN'S GAMES

Outfoxed - Someone 'round these parts recommended this one last year, but it was out of stock. I kept it in my Amazon wishlist for a year and we bought it for the kids this year. A good logic mystery solver game for kids. Almost like "Guess Who" but racing against a board and not quite so lame. Too easy for the 8 year old, but still fun for him, and right about perfect for the younger ones.

Memory - It's an old standby, but I've played so much of a PJ Masks version of it lately, and my kids enjoy it, so it gets a mention.

Pokemon - The 8-year-old has gotten really into Pokemon lately, and it's a perfectly fine card game for that age. Every game is different, the characters are fun, luck plays a big role, but not too big, and the amount of variables are enormous. I'm sure we'll be playing this for years, and Aquinas enjoys just collecting the cards too. He also got a DS with a Pokemon game from his godfather. At least it also came with Mario Kart so I'm entertained.

NON-CHILDREN DIVISION

Dice City - My b-i-l's new game. Only played it one time, but it certainly seemed like it could stand a few replays. I think who you play against would probably make a lot of difference. Roll 1 die for each of 5 sections of the board, and the die determines which action you can take. Give up some actions to take other ones. Gain resources from the rolls, use those resources to buy things or build things or attack people. Use those things you bought or built or attacked to gain victory points. I kept to the straight-forward strategy and aimed for the highest value options and won handily while the others playing tried different approaches. If the game is really balanced, replay value could be high. If it's not... much less so.

Betrayal at House on the Hill - One of the more fun games I've played in a while. Starts as cooperative, with everyone picking a character and then exploring a haunted house while various events, items, and omens act upon you (either increasing or decreasing your character's base stats). Die rolls based on your character's stats affect your progress and performance (this sounds more dungeons and dragons-y than it is). All the while, you keep moving closer to the moment when someone in your group betrays you, and then the game becomes that person vs. the rest of the group, in one of 50 different scenarios (chosen based on what triggered the betrayal). You never know who will be the one betraying you, so that adds a nice surprise element. Plus, the betrayer usually gets to control monsters, and both sides have specific goals that are at odds with each other, with secret information that only their side possesses. I am amazed at the replay value here, and I can't wait to try it out again (we played 3 games of it, and I'd happily play all 3 of the specific scenarios again).

I Should Have Known That - Trivia game. As the name implies, general knowledge stuff that everyone *should* know. You get 1 point for each right answer and somewhere between -3 and -8 for each wrong answer. I finished in the positives 1 time out of the 4 we played (and at 0 another time), and I'm probably fair+ at trivia. A worth entry into trivia games, and it moves quickly (4 questions on a card, each person in the game takes 1 turn reading a card, and then you're done, and can move onto another game).

Linkee - Each card has 4 trivia questions. The 4 answers are all related in some way. It may be super obvious or more attenuated. Buzz in whenever you think you know the relationship, because that's the only answer that really matters, but if you get it wrong you don't get another shot at that round. It was okay, but I've played better.

One Night Werewolf - This was a blast. Would love to try it with more people than we had (7) and mix up the roles more than we did. Short version: lots of werewolf roles that you know and love and the others, all of which take night actions in order (as directed by the phone app that auto mods the game for you), and then you have to find a wolf the next day. If you succeed, village wins, if not, wolves win. Some players try to get themselves lynched, some players switch the roles of other players (so can accidentally switch who the wolves are, for example... you can end up being a wolf and not knowing it), etc. 5 minute rounds (plus ~1 minute for night actions), and huge replay-ability. Highly recommend. This would even be the thing that would get me to get a smart phone.

So what did you play over the holiday? What new games did you get? Who wants to come down here and have a game night with me?

Games

The Games We Play: Christmas Wrap Up

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Did everyone give new games for Christmas? Did everyone get new games for Christmas? Games were popular in our household, so I thought a rundown might be appropriate.

Kids Division:

Connect Four - My kids got it from someone. It's a classic at that age for a reason. Simple, but the game holds up, and they're loving it.

Race To The Treasure - DG shared this one during the last Games post, and I'd like to echo his recommendation. My kids have enjoyed this game immensely. The mechanic is simple - draw a tile, place it on the board, build a path that collects the required keys and get to the end before you draw too many troll tiles. I was worried the game would be too easy - and it borders on that - but we've just made it more difficult by requiring 4 keys instead of 3. Aquinas has played the game a number of times on his own too, and has made variations as he sees fit. I can't recommend this one highly enough.

Outfoxed - RPZ recommend this one. When I looked (a week-and-a-half out or more)I couldn't find it anywhere that would get it delivered before Christmas, so we didn't get it, and haven't played it. But I read up on it, and it seems strong enough that I'm excited to chase it down in the future.

Grown Ups Division

King Of Tokyo - Highest recommendation for this game, particularly for more casual gamers. Simple mechanics (roll dice, pick the ones you want to keep), multiple ways to win (smash other players, gain points), multiple ways to accomplish those tasks (roll dice, buy cards, hold the city), and cards you can buy during the game that effectively make each game significantly different. Aquinas is 7 and loves the game. He's not the greatest at it all the time, but once or twice he has come up with fantastic strategies that I didn't see, and won the game with them. So it's easy enough, but complex enough to be enjoyable many times over. Also, by Richard Garfield, the same guy what made Magic: The Gathering.

Hanabi - A simple cooperative card game that is incredibly difficult to win. There are 5 colors and 5 numbers. The goal is to create a pile of each color, in numbered order (Blue 1 - 5, Red 1 - 5, etc.). You play with your cards facing away from you, so all the others can see them but you can't. You then move around the circle either playing cards from you hand (if it's the next card on the stack, you can play it, if it's wrong, you discard it) or giving hints to other players. There are only a few of each card number though, and you can run out of hints to give, so you need to be very careful about your path forward. I played this with some darn intelligent folks and we never won (though we found out we were handcuffing ourselves a little bit, which might have changed 1 out of like 4 results... Maybe.). A great challenge.

500 - Look, it's a classic, and we played a bunch of it.

Adult Division

Cards Against Humanity - I'm well aware that I'm late to the party on this one, but I've played it now, and yes, it was fun and funny and awful. There were a number of things that I needed to avoid googling. So I felt good about that?

Codenames: After Dark - A slightly racier, more scatological take on the original, which is a great party game. Basically, the clue givers give a single word clue and how many cards on a common board that the clue applies to. They can't say anything more or otherwise hint in any way. The trick is that some of those words on the common board belong to the other team, and one is an assassin, so you need to be careful in your clues, and good luck in your guesses. The After Dark variant sets it up so that the clue givers are often in the position of saying things like "boob" or "poop." It's not really particularly adult, but it tries to be. Still a very fun game, and I recommend any version of it.

So what did you get? What did you give? What did you play? What are you excited to try?