Hm... So, I actually *like* board games...

[conuly]

I know some people don't, but I do. I like playing games with my family, board games, card games, I have to clear the table now...

Anyway. Moving on. While on somebody's livejournal, I saw an entry about this game which, though insanely complicated, looks mildly interesting. That started me thinking. What can I get my mom for christmas which would encourage gameplaying? I like clue (though we don't often play it, not enough people) and museaum clue (though we lost that years ago, I want it back!) and parcheesi (though I'm too competitive... really... and ask Jenn about proper parcheesi piece placement) and mancala (hm. lost that too, and mommy's no good at it). My mom likes boggle, scrabble, upwords (we need another board), word yahtzee, regular yahtzee (ick).... We also have monopoly, chinese checkers, risk, and pick up sticks lying around the house. I hate checkers and chess, so don't suggest those.

Now, I have a dual question. 1. If I go randomly picking interesting looking games, would you tell me if they're good? and 2. what games do you reccommend?

Comments

[phibby.livejournal.com]

Being a lover of board games myself, I'll recommend a few I like.

*Life - You didn't mention it, but you've probably heard of it. I love this game, really. It's quite fun, but your mom seems to like word games more than anything else, and Life isn't a word game. So...

*Letres - "The card game for people who like words." I think my sis got this for her birthday about five years back, but I'm not sure we've ever played it. I can't recommend it based on loving it from playing, but I guess I can recommend it since she seems to like word games. If we play it before Christmas, I'll tell you if we like it or not.

*Monopoly - You know what this is, but you didn't mention it. It's pretty fun now and then, but if she's not the type for games that take a while, don't bother.

*Guess Who - One of my favorites, but only for two players, so not really for the whole family unless you get two copies of it. Hm, we should try that some time!

*Trivial Pursuit - I love trivia and I love board games. What better to play than Trivial Pursuit?

*Stratego - Played it a couple times at grandma and grandpa's with Elyse. Two players, and it does take some thinking. We should go buy it one of these days...

*Jenga - Not really a board game, but still quite fun.

*13 Dead End Drive - You probably haven't heard of it. A very wealthy widow has just died, and some of her associates are battling it out to get her money. People like her boyfriend, hairdresser, butler, and cat try to make it out of her house with the cash before anyone else does and before the detective gets there and makes things worse. You get three character cards, and you have to make sure one of your three characters is the one who makes it out of the house. You get to move any character around even if it's not one of your cards, and you can either try to get yours out or kill off everyone else's. If you move a character to a certain spot, something will happen to them that will make them meet a gruesome end. You can push them down the stairs, send them into the fireplace, or make the chandelier fall on their head. It's got to be one of the most interesting and fun games I've ever played, but it does take a while to set up.

That's all I can think of right now. Other card games you can play that you can just play with a regular deck are Hearts, Whist, Spades, Crazy 8's, and if you've got a board, Cribbage.

[phibby.livejournal.com]

*I should've pointed out that that's not all you can do to kill off characters in 13DED. ^_^;;; Is it wrong that I find the most fun part of that game is killing the characters?

[conuly]

My mother hates life, and monopoly is a bit crazy... should've mentioned it, though. And we stopped playing trivial pursuit right around the time I realized you can read the cards EVEN WHEN YOU'RE NOT PLAYING.

But thanks for the other suggestions.