What are the best board games you've ever played?
Asked by
Joker94 (
8180
)
March 3rd, 2011
What board games, and why do they stand above the rest to you?
For me it’s Risk. I’ve gamed many a board, but Risk…Risk is just tops!
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55 Answers
I like Aggravation, Battleship and Stratego.
I like to play Candyland with my granddaughter. We have a vintage 45 year old Candyland game!
Monopoly. Fun and a good training tool. Prize Property for the same reason.
Monopoly, Stratego, Life, Axis & Allies, Sorry, Pictionary, Scrabble, Taboo, Clue, Scattergories, Backgammon.
BattleTech (the basis for the MechWarrior video games) would have to be my favorite of all time. Some may argue that it’s a map, but it uses spaces the same way chess or checkers do. By the same token, the older version of Car Wars qualifies and gets an honorable mention from me. Both games have also won many awards, so I’m not the only one who loves them.
As for more mainstream, classical board games, I would say Othello.
Ooh @jerv I forgot about Othello, I like that one too.
I played Risk for hours, days on end with a home made set back in the 1970’s. It is far and away the best game in my experience. Haven’t played it for ages though. I like chess and Go as well but never got quite so much fun out of them.
I like Monopoly and I used to love Cluedo and Scrabble. Although my husband hates playing scrabble with me because I use words like cat etc. He is a ‘serious’ scrabble player. I don’t think I have ever played Risk. I might buy it. We don’t play board games enough these days!
Everybody has played those kind of board games, but if you want something different, a friend got me into such games as Acquire, Fresco, Dominion, or Puerto Rico. There is this whole other world of board games that I’d never even heard of! If you like to sit down and play board games you have to check them out. These games are much more intricate and very entertaining!
Squad Leader series is the best board game ever in my opinion. Squad level wargame covering WW2 in Europe.
What are these games about @jgrissett? The themes, premise? I would be interested in buying more board games. I think playing a game together is a great thing to do as a family.
Lol…..I love board games…..Chess my favorite..—In school chess team I got 2nd place in my province…. Second has to be Monopoly….yay, and finally Axis and Allies….
Chess, TwixT, Monopoly, and Clue (same as Cluedo in Europe).
@Mz_Lizzy These games are fun, but not really family style games because they do take a lot of patience and there are normally a lot of rules. I am 22 and play them with other guys who are in their early to late 20’s. The themes and premises differ from each game and can be difficult to explain without taking up a ton of room on Fluther. You can google them to learn more about each one.
Ty for the response. I will check them out since we are all adults in my family.
I love Monopoly, but I think I prefer Loaded Questions when there’s too many people.
Backgammon is one of my Fav’s. My boys love Risk and so do I.
Dark Tower, introduced at the critical junction in time when Dungeons & Dragons was big and gaming electronics was new and interesting. Sure, it sucked ‘D’ cell batteries dry within hours and sent mom & dad to the poor house, but it was awesome.
You can play a version online that’s very faithful to the original here.
The first URL points to a Wiki article on the game and is shortened because fluther doesn’t handle parenthesis in URLs all that well.
Monopoly the card game trumps Monopoly the board game. (And we play it with ‘house rules’, where the instructions card acts as a “financial tsunami” and wipes out everyone’s money. Plus, it’s much faster.
“Carcasonne” is also a great game, the Wheel of Fortune version is particularly very well balanced.
Recently we also have been playing “Empire Builder”, which, like Risk, is a really long game. It also takes a while figure stuff out.
I don’t know if this counts, but the most fun I’ve ever had with friends and a board, dice, etc are the traditional pencil and paper role playing games. (Good old “Dungeons and Dragons”). Huge time investment, but the creativity and EQ involved!
Not that in first 2 links the last parentheses is missing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne_(board_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Builder_(board_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons
Hmmm, in terms of difficulty I would say monopoly, I’m just not good at it. But for fun Scrabble, deffo. It’s cos I’m A VERY good speller lol.
Boggle…is that considered a board game? Fuck it. Definitely Boggle. And Scattergories.
My family loves Scattergories.
Risk. But there is this game, a little bit like checkers, called “17” that is very cool.
I used to like playing MouseTrap. And it’s not a board game so much as it’s a card game, but I love Apples to Apples.
Operation. (that’s considered a board game, right?)
Monopoly, Clue, Taboo, Scattergories and Balderdash. (I don’t know if Taboo, Scattergories and Balderdash are considered “board games”, but they’re fun as hell!)
Scrabble! I love words and word games. So Scrabble and Boggle FTW!
When I was a kid though, I also loved anything that made annoying noise, so I loved Trouble, Perfection (and Superfection), Operation, Simon and electronic Battleship.
Our family used to collect at our summer camp in Lake Placid. Often we were 16 at table. We used to have practically to-the-death games of Trivial Pursuit over desert in the living room around the fire.
Long ago, my brother was there with his wife and 4 kids. We were down to the last tie breaker and he got asked a movie question. On the other team, I knew the answer and whispered it to our sister.
Well, dear reader, my brother read my lips and won the game. I forget the question but the answer is “Bette Davis, in Jezebel.”
I got hoist for being the show-offf that I was at 15, and he was typically morally superior, having reverted to his second child sneaky ways.
Monopoly. I once beat the Wisconsin State Monopoly Champion. I am THAT big of an asshole good.
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Life was always my favorite but recently, I suggested a game while drinking with my ex’s family and half way through I was wasted and walked away because it was taking too long. Great game, just takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
Settlers of Catan, Apples to Apples (not really a board game). When the kids were little, Guess Who?
I’m definitely looking into some of these. Is Dungeons & Dragons worth getting into..?
Risk. But backgammon, chess and checkers are great too.
@Joker94 D&D is an awesome game, if you can find some awesome people to play with.
@Prosb I know a couple guys who play regularly, and they actually wanted me to join with them. I just might have to now XD
@Joker94 I recommend it, just to try it out. It can be tons of fun, and chances are you’ll want to come back and try it again, hehe.
Trivial Pursuit
My husband and I have had some good times playing this game with our sons. It’s also great practice for their involvement with the scholastic bowl team. Speaking of, my youngest son just came home from a match with an award around his neck. =)
@jonsblond: Lovely. I read “sword around his neck” at first glance. Ah, that tiny font and these aging eyes.
My personal favourite? Disney Trivial Pursuit!
RISK, hands down. But it takes too long, and I can never get anyone to play with me, so it’s all Conquer Club these days.
Scrabble and Mancala are also favorites.
@Mz_Lizzy If you’re getting RISK, you should try to find RISK 1959. The original RISK board looks like a map out of an elementary school textbook. The new version of the game is styled like it’s a serious game, all black and red. But RISK 1959 uses the old style. There is also Middle Earth RISK. Same game, different map. And if you want to try before buying, see the link I posted above to Conquer Club. Conquer Club uses RISK rules.
This is in response to a comment on a card games thread that kind of crossed over.
@hobbitsubculture great tips. Now I want to go shopping and find the game. There is a really good game shop at a shopping centre I am going to tomorrow so I will look for it there. Thanks for the advice.
@Mz_Lizzy I have the modern version of RISK. I still find it incredibly entertaining, but it takes serious devotion to get a game going, and slightly more to finish it. RISK is made of win, you’re gonna love it!
I can’t go shopping until tomorrow and now I want to play Risk NOW!
Ah, that’d drive me nuts!
@Joker94 worse than that, I went today and can’t find the game anywhere and this fabulous games shop that used to be in a shopping centre near me has closed down.
You know, board games just aren’t so popular anymore. I remember being on holiday and thinking I will go and get a couple of games for us to play and I couldn’t find a Backgammon set OR a Chess set anywhere. I wasn’t looking for anything elaborate, just something cheap for while we were away. There were virtually no board games about. Today’s experience suggests this problem is more widespread than I thought. I assumed the holiday experience was just because it was a smallish town. I will look for somewhere to buy online.
@Mz_Lizzy I’m sorry to hear that :/ That’s actually extremely bizarre..I wish you the best in finding it! You have to let me know how you like Risk!
I am buying it from Amazon! There is always a way. Will let you know.
I’ve been on break from fluther for quite a while, but I’m back now and trying to catch up.
Top 5:
1. Genoa (formerly Traders of Genoa) – all about trading and making money in the renaissance; like monopoly on steroids
2. Twilight Struggle – struggle for influence and power during the cold war
3. Go (AKA Igo, Baduk, and weiqi) – perhaps the oldest board game still in existence
4. Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game – yes, there is a board game
5. Agricola – try to gain the most points by building and maintaining the most effective farm.
I’m a little more on the strategy end of the spectrum than most people, and also a bit of a eurosnoot when it comes to board games. I cannot recommend these games highly enough if you like strategy games at all.
If you have a Books a Million or Barnes and Noble nearby (and not a friendly neighborhood board game store), they normally carry some good board games.
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