Board Games

[poliphilo]

My son Mike (manfalling) is celebrating his aquisition of a vintage, secondhand boxed set of Shogun- which is a late twentieth century board game where you get to wage war all over medieval Japan. He and Joe loved it when they were kids. I got pulled in once or twice and found it slow. I guess the real joy is imagining yourself as an ancient Japanese warlord and if that doesn't float your boat there's nothing to hold your interest while your opponents agonise over their moves.

My favourite game from that era was Talisman- which is basically Dungeons and Dragons without the Dungeon Master. Or to put it another way, Dungeons and Dragons for lazy people.

I played Dungeons and Dragons too- but that's another story.

Further back- when I was a kid myself-  the games we played en famille (on winter evenings) were Scrabble and Cluedo. The thing about those two- which locks them in place as classics- is that there's skill involved. I was quite a whizz at Cluedo- good at befoozling the opposition and making deductions from other players' moves.  Games where it's all down to the fall of the dice soon become boring.

Ailz and I bought ourselves a Scrabble set last Christmas and gave it a bashing over the festive season. Perhaps we'll fetch it out again this winter.

There was/is a horrible game called The Game of Life, which is Snakes and Ladders reimagined (though imagination has nothing to do with it) as a turn upon the  middle-class treadmill. Go to university, get a corporate job, have kids, upgrade your house, get wheeled into the crem (only without the bit about the crem). More like the Game Of Not Having A Life, really. How cruel (and borderline sinister) to have kids play at being middle-management when they could be being shoguns or super-sleuths or orc-fighting adventurers. 

Do people (I mean young people- not oldies reliving their youth) still play board games- or has all the action moved into cyberspace?

Comments

[dakegra.livejournal.com]

well, you can play Scrabble on Facebook...

Around here...

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

Young and old alike, far and wide, are playing this together:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

My sisters and their families play board games--it's one of the things I really like about visiting them, since it's tough to play by yourself!

There is a group of people in Austin who meet to play board games, but I haven't gone, for one reason or another.

[queen-in-autumn.livejournal.com]

We don't play boardgames much at my house, but then boardgames are much less enjoyable with only two people.

My experiences with Talisman and The Game of Life were exactly the opposite of yours. My ex-husband loved Talisman, but it bored me to tears, but while I was growing up, I played The Game of Life, sometimes by myself. But then, I used it as a jumping off point for stories about those little pink and blue pegs. Of course, at that time there were no fantasy board games or D&D.

But now that I'm thinking about this. . . when my daughter, mother and I played The Game of Life last year, I found myself appalled at the oppressively hetero-centric, middle classness of it all, and I refused to get married. I don't remember even considering that when I played as a youngster.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

My younger daughter (age 24) plays board games every weekend with a group of friends. That said, the games are much more sophisticated these days than the classics like Scrabble and Monopoly and they often reflect a certain online influence.

[glassgirl7.livejournal.com]

We had a board game binge last Christmas and for a couple months following. It started as a gift-giving plan during the intense grief period in my family. We discovered Lost Cities and stayed up WAY too late with it, playing through a lengthy bout of winter colds, among other things. We also got Ingenious, which we have played but haven't played with as much total focus and addiction as Lost Cities. We've played Sneeze and Poison and Hey, That's My Fish with our god daughter and my nephew...and we bought Reef Encounters, but haven't learned the elaborate rules/game play yet. But its beautiful, and probably this year we'll dive in.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah yes....

[dakegra.livejournal.com]

progress?

Re: Around here...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've read the article and I'm not sure I'm any the wiser. I'm put off by the sheer complexity of the enterprise.

Also I fear addiction.

[methexis.livejournal.com]

You really ought to try Settlers of Catan. It really is as good as people say it is. It takes at least three players, but if you're two there's a card game version that's pretty darn good. Power grid is also excellent, and all of these "grown-up" board games are actually quite easy to figure out.

Best,
J.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well yes. I'd imagine it would be pretty difficult to smuggle a Scrabble board into the office, but if you've got it online....

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We had a board-game playing culture in my family when I was a kid, but no-one seems to have kept it up.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose the attraction of Game of Life for a child is that it allows you to imagine life as a grown-up. It's just such a huge shame that the life path you're offered is so mainstream and boring.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm not really aware of the new games on the market. Maybe I should explore.

[dakegra.livejournal.com]

it's good fun - currently playing about half a dozen games with people in various countries, from the US to New Zealand.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Lost Cities sounds interesting. I need to have a look at what's out there.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll take a look.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Gosh. That sounds pretty mind-bending....

[glassgirl7.livejournal.com]

We got a copy of GAMES magazine, and once a year they publish a review of the best games of the year, with separate reviews for board/card games and electronic games. I think they put the Games 100 on their website, so you could take a look without hunting down a back issue. They have a shot of the board, and a paragraph or two describing and reviewing the game.

And Lost Cities is great. Its for two players, but I think if you have two copies of the game, there is an adaptation for four players, possibly in teams. I like a combination of strategy and luck, and this game has that; however it might not have complex enough strategy for you. I just get a headache if there are too many layers of think-ahead strategy.

[glassgirl7.livejournal.com]

I think Settlers of Catan is from the same game designer as Lost Cities and Ingenius, and also Poison, which is simpler and more suited to kids, maybe. Anyway, Reiner Knizia is the guy who invented these.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

It's an excellent bonding activity, I think. To some extent, one of my sisters also does video games together, but that's mostly her husband and the two sons.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

Our little group plays boardgames regularly. We really like Carcassone and Puerto Rico; we have a whole new list to go through as well.

Most of us are in our early thirties; that may not count as "young people" even though we're not necessarily old. We are however, the video game generation to be sure-- most of us still have Nintendo DS Lites and play a lot of video games too. It seems a lot of the nerds I know, myself included, have a great love of board games as well as technology.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

Forgive the wooden delivery-- coffee is still brewing >.

Re: Around here...

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

I'm not entirely sure I'd call it addiction... but it is a total immersion in another world. I don't play because it takes way too much energy and commitment to play well. Hubby plays, though, almost every day. He sort of "lives" there?

[jfs.livejournal.com]

There's been a huge upsurge in interest in what are sometimes called the German Games - there's a massive tradition of innovative board games being produced from (mainly) German designers.

If you google for Reiner Knizia - one of the best known designers - you'll find a list of interesting games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Reiner_Knizia_games