Apparently, during the last decade or so while I've been heavily into computer gaming, there's been a resurgence of quality "normal" game development centered in Germany. I got a pointer to <A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/home" TARGET="_top">Funagain Games</A> from a fellow Quake player and OMG... I've spent an amazing amount of time browsing through there over the past few days. This sort of stuff reminds me of the cool quirky games I used to see advertised in Dragon magazine. :-) Or, for that matter, that would sometimes come with Dragon magazine in pull-out and punch-out form. Except with great production values.

It's 100% certain that I'm going to acquire some of this stuff. The only question is what to go after first. In my own little obsessive-compulsive way I've been researching review sites and award lists and come up with a list of around 40-50 games that I'm going to take a closer look at. They range from being heavily themed to lightly themed to abstract, with all sorts of different formats, and different levels of complexity and play length. I'm going to list them below roughly grouped by format in case anyone else wants to check them out... or tell me how they are, if you're already familiar with some of them. The links are to the games' pages on Funagain, since those pages have reviews as well as links to other info about the games.

But first I should probably list this one by itself:

<BLOCKQUOTE>
<A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/01167" TARGET="_top">The Settlers of Catan</A>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

It seems like Settlers is "the" game to have these days. I guess like Risk or Monopoly were at the height of their popularity. There are all sorts of sequels and expansion sets for it too. Seems like a bit of an RTS. :-)

Here's the others that caught my eye:

Board games
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/08066" TARGET="_top">Adel Verpflichtet</A> 3-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11505" TARGET="_top">Barbarossa</A> 3-6 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06855" TARGET="_top">Capitol</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/08106" TARGET="_top">Carolus Magnus</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04482" TARGET="_top">El Grande</A> 2-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/00463" TARGET="_top">Expedition</A> 2-6 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04481" TARGET="_top">Kahuna</A> 2 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11489" TARGET="_top">Kill Doctor Lucky</A> 2-8 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/00819" TARGET="_top">Medici</A> 3-6 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11400" TARGET="_top">Medina</A> 3-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/00849" TARGET="_top">Mississippi Queen</A> 3-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06558" TARGET="_top">Ra</A> 3-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04483" TARGET="_top">Samarkand</A> 2-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/10484" TARGET="_top">Save Doctor Lucky</A> 3-7 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07574" TARGET="_top">Stephenson's Rocket</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07573" TARGET="_top">Taj Mahal</A> 3-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11034" TARGET="_top">The Great Brain Robbery</A> 3-7 players
</UL>

Card games
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/08127" TARGET="_top">Bohnanza</A> 2-7 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07577" TARGET="_top">Frank's Zoo</A> 4-7 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04310" TARGET="_top">Give Me The Brain</A> 3-8 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06644" TARGET="_top">Lost Cities</A> 2 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/00850" TARGET="_top">Modern Art</A> 3-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06908" TARGET="_top">Ohne Furcht und Adel</A> 3-7 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06909" TARGET="_top">Schotten-Totten</A> 2 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07682" TARGET="_top">Tabula Rasa</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06696" TARGET="_top">The Big Cheese</A> 3-6 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/08323" TARGET="_top">The Big Idea</A> 3-6 players
</UL>

Tile-laying games
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07869" TARGET="_top">Big City</A> 2-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11110" TARGET="_top">Carcassonne</A> 2-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07758" TARGET="_top">Die Mauer</A> 3-6 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11577" TARGET="_top">Die neuen Entdecker</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/05138" TARGET="_top">Drunter &amp; Druber</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04968" TARGET="_top">Safari Jack</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11398" TARGET="_top">The Princes of Florence</A> 3-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/08123" TARGET="_top">Through the Desert</A> 2-5 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/10831" TARGET="_top">Tigris and Euphrates</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/05226" TARGET="_top">Tikal</A> 2-4 players
</UL>

Abstract games
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04201" TARGET="_top">Headquarter</A> 2 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06935" TARGET="_top">Octi</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07681" TARGET="_top">Olix</A> 2 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/01060" TARGET="_top">Quoridor</A> 2 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07809" TARGET="_top">Saturn</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/05225" TARGET="_top">TAMSK</A> 2 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06911" TARGET="_top">Torres</A> 2-4 players
<LI><A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04520" TARGET="_top">Tribalance</A> 2-3 players
</UL>

I highly recommend checking out at least a handful of the above links. Some are weird, some are very imaginitive, some are full of neat little bits and pieces that make my fingers itch to play with them. I'll keep y'all posted as my research and acquisition progress. :-) I think it would be cool to whip out a few games like some of these at the next Gathering! Don't know how many of us are non-computer gamers too, but I imagine it's got to be a pretty large number.

I'm going to direct Bachhus to this post...

You'll see why when he responds. (Assuming he's got the time).

Alternatively, of course, you can stop by the OFH. It's moved again, the required linkage follows.

The Old Folks' Home (still temporary)

Played a few of these...

*snip*

But first I should probably list this one by itself:

The Settlers of Catan It seems like Settlers is
"the" game to have these days. I guess like Risk or
Monopoly were at the height of their popularity. There are all
sorts of sequels and expansion sets for it too. Seems like a bit
of an RTS. :-)

Settlers is pretty popular in board gaming circles... it's an ok game, I've played it several times. The random placement of the tiles and the random dice rolling for resources can be a bit frustrating, even though it's "fair" randomness. The more board gaming I do, however, the more I dislike dice for determining success or failure. Give me random cards in my hard and let me make do with what I've got, but damnit, don't let me get screwed if I do everything right just cuz the dice don't like me =)

Here's the others that caught my eye:

Board games
Adel Verpflichtet 3-5 players
Barbarossa 3-6 players
Capitol 2-4 players
Carolus Magnus 2-4 players
El Grande 2-5 players

I've played El Grande. It's ok. I don't remember it being super awesome or anything. It's one of those games that can drag if someone is taking forever to do their turn (man I hate that =) ).

Expedition 2-6 players
Kahuna 2 players
Kill Doctor Lucky 2-8 players

all the cheapass games are great fun =) Kill Doctor Lucky and Save Doctor Lucky are both good ones.

Medici 3-6 players
Medina 3-4 players
Mississippi Queen 3-5 players

Yeah! Mississippi Queen is cool. Some good strategy determining where to go, when to pick up the Belles, and when to burn all that coal on a mad dash.... I like. The expansion for this is good too, giving the players who're behind a better chance of catching up.

Ra 3-5 players
Samarkand 2-5 players
Save Doctor Lucky 3-7 players
Stephenson's Rocket 2-4 players
Taj Mahal 3-5 players
The Great Brain Robbery 3-7 players
Card games
Bohnanza 2-7 players
Frank's Zoo 4-7 players

Woo hoo, Frank's Zoo! =) Hehe, I like this game, even tho everyone else makes fun of me for it. We always play this when we're waiting for a lane at the bowling alley or when we're waiting for some pizza. A cheap game, that's easy to pick up and pretty fun to play. Similiar to the card games "13" or "Asshole", but more variety in strategies. The point system can make things more strategic, but when you're just trying to teach some new people the game and pass the time it's easy to modify the rules and streamline things.

One card game you don't mention is Falling. This game is awesome =) It's a "real time" card game, where one person is the dealer, and everyone else is falling. The goal is to be the last person to hit the ground. ;) The dealer selects a "pace" with which he deals out cards one-by-one around the table. Once he gets to like the bottom 5 cards in the deck, people start going "splat", one by one. ;) Players can then play the cards either on themselves or other people. Like a "skip" makes the dealer skip you, and a split creates a new pile for you, so now the dealer gives you 2 cards every time he gets to you... there's some decent strategy about how you want to get cards dealt to you to ensure you have tons of skips and stops ready to play as the dealer gets near the end... It's a really chaotic and fun game. :) Cheap too. ($10 or so) And hey, a round takes like 5 min to play. Takes a decent number of people to be fun, however.

Give Me The Brain 3-8 players
Lost Cities 2 players
Modern Art 3-5 players
Ohne Furcht und Adel 3-7 players
Schotten-Totten 2 players
Tabula Rasa 2-4 players
The Big Cheese 3-6 players
The Big Idea 3-6 players
Tile-laying games
Big City 2-5 players
Carcassonne 2-5 players
Die Mauer 3-6 players
Die neuen Entdecker 2-4 players
Drunter &amp; Druber 2-4 players
Safari Jack 2-4 players
The Princes of Florence 3-5 players
Through the Desert 2-5 players
Tigris and Euphrates 2-4 players
Tikal 2-4 players

Tikal is fun =) Haven't played it in awhile so I don't remember all that much... I think it's fairly typical to other collection games, where there's many different strategies to winning... you can spend your time building up 1 area, or expanding to lots of areas.

Abstract games
Headquarter 2 players
Octi 2-4 players
Olix 2 players
Quoridor 2 players
Saturn 2-4 players
TAMSK 2 players
Torres 2-4 players

Torres is badass! A very strategic "castle building" game. It's funny, when we play this, everyone is usually dead silent cuz they're all examining the board and plotting their next moves... I like this game because little is left to chance... If you're planning ahead and pick up on the other players play styles, you can succeed. If you just try to do you own thing without exploiting the other players, however, you tend to fall behind in a hurry. DBO always wins by like 3 pts (out of like 2-300 total) when we play this. Annoying. =) hehe

Other games I highly enjoy that you might want to check our are "Quests of the Round Table", which is a 2-4 player card game. It has a very intersting scoring method which encourages pysch games and bluffing. None of those damn dice either. =) I likes.

Then there's an old board game called Power Barons which I used to play a ton, it's also a card game which deals a lot with bluffing... Then there's Wiz-war, which is a fun little 4 player game dungeon / treasure stealing game, though it's possible to be a bit unbalanced if someone gets all the good cards. A lot of people like roborally, but I think it sucks. =) Games where you hafta wait for like an hr for people to take their bloody turns are annoying... I like games where everyone can stay involved and interested at all times. Anyway, I've blown enough time at work. =)

You should check out your campus gaming club (i'm sure you have one). We've got a couple of guys who collect board games and literally have hundreds of them. Games are often spendy, especially if you hafta import em from Germany.... it often helps to play games before buying them so you get a chance to see whatcha like.

Tribalance 2-3 players
I highly recommend checking out at least a handful of the
above links. Some are weird, some are very imaginitive, some are
full of neat little bits and pieces that make my fingers itch to
play with them. I'll keep y'all posted as my research and
acquisition progress. :-) I think it would be cool to whip out a
few games like some of these at the next Gathering! Don't know
how many of us are non-computer gamers too, but I imagine it's
got to be a pretty large number.

~Blackbeard

Re: Offline games renaissance

Well, as I spent a year as the president (I got suckered into it, dont ask, im not even that involved in the club....) of my campus's gaming club (the type BB was talking about), I guess I should put in a few words.

Settlers: Well, once you get the 6 player expansion, there are ways to have "set" tiles that gets rid of a lot of the randomness. :)

Falling: Yeah, awesome game.

Also, check out "Lunch money," and "King of the elves." Both are card games with no dice rolling involved. King of the elves is a particular favorite of mine, very strategic, building your hand for a killer run at the end.

Witch hunt is another neato game.

Diplomacy, well, I tried an 8player game of that... once. We started at 11 am, stopped for lunch, started again, stopped for dinner... at about midnight, with 3 people left, we said "screw it," and called it a draw. Fun game, but too damn long.

Illuminati is another very cool card game.

Erm, Axis and Allies is one of the great games from the last great group.

Check out cheap-ass games, they are, as they say, very cheap. Basically, they assume that you have pennies, and dice, and that you can use those, so they manage to make very cheap games.

Also, check out buttonmen. Cool concept

Erm, anyone in the boston area who wants to, can email me for various people who organize gaming nights.

MS

Re: Diplomacy...

last year, we did some 'play by e-mail/HL' diplomacy games with
CP and friends.

Actually, online, with a month long timescale, might be the only way I would ever subject myself to that agony again.

The pain! The pain!
:
:)

Diplomacy and other games

Falling: Yeah, awesome game.

One of those games you either love or hate... Sorry, I'm on the hate side of this game. Now Brawl on the otherhand...

Also, check out "Lunch money," and "King of the
elves." Both are card games with no dice rolling involved.
King of the elves is a particular favorite of mine, very
strategic, building your hand for a killer run at the end.

For a boardgame version of KotE, try Elfenland. A very good game, and one which I find women will be more likely to play.

Diplomacy, well, I tried an 8player game of that... once. We
started at 11 am, stopped for lunch, started again, stopped for
dinner... at about midnight, with 3 people left, we said
"screw it," and called it a draw. Fun game, but too
damn long.

Eight player? What's the eighth country? Should only be England, France, Germany, Austri-Hungry, Italy, Turkey and Russia. And yes, wining as Italy is quite a feat.

Illuminati is another very cool card game.

Agreed, and the newer version has some great artwork that spices up the game play.

Check out cheap-ass games, they are, as they say, very cheap.
Basically, they assume that you have pennies, and dice, and that
you can use those, so they manage to make very cheap games.

Per my other post, yes, and of these Give me the Brain and Kill Dr. Lucky are among the best.

Also, check out buttonmen. Cool concept

I love Buttonmen! It's fast and easy to play and so what if it's mostly luck on the throw of the dice. With some of the type of dice, what you roll can cause great consternation on the part of your opponent.

Erm, anyone in the boston area who wants to, can email me for
various people who organize gaming nights.

Ditto for the SF/SJ Bay Area.. Silicon Valley Boargamers for one...

Silicon Valley Boardgamers

Re: Diplomacy and other games

Ditto for the SF/SJ Bay Area.. Silicon Valley Boargamers for
one...

Ah yeah, I was fingering through their mailing list archive earlier today. They're pretty close to me.

Re: hey now...

It's called "Apples to Apples" =) I got one of the 2
expansions now too. more exciting words! hehe =)

Developed right here in my hometown too! A great game... and my wife's current fav.

Re: Offline games renaissance

Aye, fluxx is a great game. It is rather deterministic, especially with two players, but can become insanely amusing with interesting draws. Especially great when someone has been building a huge hand, and you play a hand limit card, or other neat-o things.

"Look, I got Death and the Rocket."
"Hmmm, is there a 'challenger' goal?"
"Nope."

Bohnanaza, or whatever it's called, it also a great game.

Just played "through the desert" tonight. Interesting concept, but a bit odd. It "feels" like it should be a more complex game then it is.

Also played "Frag," which any quake head should play. Basically, it is an FPS played on a board game. Amazingly fun with large numbers of people.
"I move here, pull out the Flamethrower, and shoot you."
"I play 'No Carrier,' you automatically disapear for one turn."
"@#$%!@%"

MS

Re: hey now...

Developed right here in my hometown too! A great game... and my
wife's current fav.

Of the "Party" type games, I really enjoy Apples to Apples (I have both expansion sets, so there...).

By way of explaination, Apples to Apples consists of Noun cards which players have a hand of six, and Adjective cards, which the current judging player draws and announces. The other players may play one ot two Noun cards from their hand that they think the Judge will choose as the closest match. It is important to know the judge when choosing a Noun card to be played.

The cards are played face down and once four cards have been played, no more my be added. These are randomized so the Judge does not know who played what card.

As an example, say the Adjective as "brilliant", and the choice of nouns were: Albert Einstein, Diamond, Fireworks, the Sun. Which noun best matches brilliant? For each of us, it could be a different choice. The player who's card is picked, gets the Adjective card and those that played cards, draw back up to six cards. The role of judge passes to the next player on the left and play continues.

---
Aother party like game of recent note, is Times Up! This is essentually a boxed set of a parlor game known in some circles as "celebrities". It's your job to get your partner to figure out the name of the person (real or fictional) that's named on the card.

It's played in three rounds. The first round, players may say anything (except the name on the card or a form of the name) make any noise or make any action to elicit a correct response. The bad news in the first round, is that you may not pass on a card. You get one minute to do this then the stack of cards that remain are passe to the next team. Play continues, until all 40 cards are found out.

In the second round, players may only use a single word, plua any sounds and motions. Of course, you know all the cards now, so it is a little easier, save that if there are two or three baseball players, it's difficult to distinguesh one from the other.

In the third rounds, only sound effects and actions may be used. Of course now is when the game really starts being a fun fest of laughter and applause at great actions. Also, in the second and third rounds, you may pass, but also, an icorrect guess on the part of your partner constitutes a pass.

---

Okay, last topic and then I'll stop... I mentioned a series of two-player games from Kozmos, it should be Kosmos...

Lost Cities and Kahuna were previously mentioned. I'd like to add that "Hera and Zeus", "Caesar &amp; Cleopatra" and "Babel" are also from this series and are also quite good, if not better than Lost Cities. There are others, but of these, I can only recommend "Tally Ho", which as much as I like it, is a lighter game compared to the three I just mentioned.

Re: hey now...

Lost Cities and Kahuna were previously mentioned. I'd like to
add that "Hera and Zeus", "Caesar &amp;
Cleopatra" and "Babel" are also from this series
and are also quite good, if not better than Lost Cities. There
are others, but of these, I can only recommend "Tally
Ho", which as much as I like it, is a lighter game compared
to the three I just mentioned.

Hera and Zeus is a great game... guess I have to convince other people to buy the other ones.

I'm what's known as a "gaming mooch." I have a few pencils, one set of dice, and thats about it. I simply use other people's games, character sheets, cards, and pretty much everything else. :)

[b]Oh yeah...[/b]

I forgot, I've played <i>Torres</i> too. It is a blast.

[b]My informal gaming group[/b]

I don't belong to any formal gaming groups, but I have some friends and try to get together with them as often as possible to play games. (Less often lately, what with the arrival of the Blood Princess.) This includes, once a year, a Labor Day extravaganza that some of them began about 5 years ago, called Bakkenalia (because their last name is Bakke and because they are overeducated). Here is a description of the games we play at these things, which is actually a pretty good classification system for non-computer games:

<b>German Table Games (sometimes called Cafe games)</b>

These aren't all German. And they don't have to be played on a table (but that helps). What we mean by "German Table Games" are games that last 30-90 minutes, that have fairly simple rules but are nonetheless very strategic. Most of the German Table Games we play are imported and distributed Rio Grande Games, a company owned primarily by our friend Jay Tummelson. The bulk of the games played at Bakkenalia are German Table Games. Examples: Settlers of Catan, Medici, Modern Art, El Grande, Tikal.

<b>War Games</b>

A slight misnomer, but as a category war games include games that are competitive like German Table games, but which are longer with slightly more complicated rules. Many are published by Avalon Hill. We play a few of these every Bakkenalia. Examples: Kingmaker, Diplomacy, Advanced Civilization, Shogun, Illuminati, Flux <i>[Not Fluxx, but a game designed by the brother of one of the organizers]</i>, Age of Renaissance.

<b>Role Playing Games</b>

Games where you get to pretend to be someone else for a while. Usually six-player games (plus a judge/narrator) that last about four hours. It is interactive storytelling -- sort of a combination of writing a group adventure short story and acting in a play. We usually run two of these at each Bakkenalia.

<b>Live Action Role Playing Games (LARPs)</b>

These are big productions. Basically, they are big role playing games (like 20 players) that last about six hours. But unlike role playing games (which tend to be played sitting around a table in jeans and a t-shirt and eating potato chips), in LARPs people tend to put on costumes and walk around interacting in character the entire time. We run one LARP every Bakkenalia. <i>[Note: I am one of the writers/judges of this year's LARP. Whee!]</i>

<b>Train Games</b>

It's hard to say what these games have in common other than their association with trains. Most involve building a rail system and then running train cargo from one place to another, using the rail system you built earlier in the game. We play a few of these every Bakkenalia. Examples: British Rails, Rail Baron, Dampfrosse, Empire Builder, Freight Train, 1850.

<b>Card Games</b>

This one is self-explanatory. Bridge and poker are our favorites, but hearts and spades are nice back-ups. And then there are all the weird card games out there that don't use actual playing cards. Those are fun too.

<b>Party Games</b>

These are games that can be played in big groups. Many are take-offs of charades. Some involve singing. All are easy to play, mildly competitive, mildly silly and a lot of fun. No Bakkenalia goes by without one or two party games. Examples: Songburst, Taboo, Balderdash, True Colors, Scattergories.

<b>Silly Games</b>

This is a catch-all for games like Clay-O-Rama (creating PlayDoh creatures that squash each other) and Battle Cattle (same idea with cybered up cows) that just can't be categorized other ways. They are all about fun and weirdness, and not particularly competitive. Bakkenalia always kicks off with a silly game.

<b>Kid Games</b>

<i>[The organizers have four kids, so there is always something like Candyland, Chutes &amp; Ladders, etc. going on at some point]</i>

Yep, it's a packed Labor Day weekend. I won't be able to participate as much as I would like to this year -- see above re the advent of the Blood Princess -- but it's always fun.

[b]Like this?[/b]

<A HREF="http://www.space.net.au/~geosync/digiart/page4.htm">http://www.space.net.au/~geosync/digiart/page4.htm</A>

I will refrain from comment on Ramses II and Egomania...

Possibly

There didn't seem to be any more info there on the game, though my browse was not in depth due to the lateness of the hour. ;-)

The game wasn't quite a 'personality' game as I recall it though, it was more about making money and preventing the IRS and the other players from taking it. Then again, maybe it was a personality game from the perspective of cash. Quite complex (Perhaps unecessarily so) at times, but with a simple base premise. The box was something like that color I think, so maybe.

Poke me if you see anything else.

Ramses II (Avowed narcissist and rabid egomaniac)

haha yeah

Mille Bornes.

Dunno why. Have a fetish for that game. Fun!

_/ C

that's a good one. :) I first played it when I was like 6 or 8 or something, so I have fond memories of it. ;) I remember there was a cool mac version back in the day...

~Blackbeard "H A R !"

[b]Coup Forre'[/b]

[quote]
Mille Bornes.

[/quote]
If you like Mille Bornes that much, might I suggest you check out "Express" from Mayfair Games. I find Express to have similar elements as Mille Bornes in a slightly more strategic form, that also draws from Rummy. I like it best as a four player, partners game (which I also like about Mille Bornes)

In Express, you collect sets of trains (as in Rummy, this would be a meld). One card (any face down card) has to be used as a Locomotive, while many like cards are played face up to create sets of trains. Cards (depicting train cars) range in value from 1 to 5. The lower valued cards are more abundant, so while high value cars are worth more, they are are also more difficult to complete.

To end a round, you must have a train with at least 5 cars, one with at least 4 cars, and any other train set a minimum of 3 cars in length. In going out, you must have no cards left and as with a normal turn, your last card is discarded.

If there is a failing in the rules, it's in the scoring explainations. For each train, check the value of the cars (they should all match save for one instance) The first three cars count for the value of a single car, any additional cars are worth their own value. For example, a four car train with Commuter cars (value 4) would score 8 points. The first three count as one of the value 4, plus a fourth card that is of the value 4 for a total of 8 points. If there was a fifth car, the total would be 12. The other players/team adds up their points and subtracts the points from cards left in their hands.

Where is it that it matches Mille Bornes you might ask? In addition to the regular cars, there are "way" cars that prevent an opponet from playing Disaster cards. The play is similar in some respects to the "Safety" cards in Mille Bornes. The Way cars can be played during your turn, or they may be played from your hand in resonse to a disaster card. However, unlike Mille Bornes, a Disaster card can still be played on a player with the matching Way card, but all it does, is remove the Way card from play. Since Way cars are worth 5 points, this makes for interesting play, do I get the points out of my hand, or do I chance having negative points left in my hand.

Partner play is really fun, as the Locomotive cards (you have to use one card face down as the Loco for each train in play) can be picked up by either player at the start of their turn, and the same or new ones placed down by the end of their turn. In this way, team players can pass cards and information. This is one of the best features of Express in partner play.

I've left out a lot of other interesting bits to Express, and wish I could cover them all, but time does not permit right now.

Here is Funagain's page on Express: <A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/00465?QvQRJa97;;9">http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/00465?QvQRJa97;;9</A>

[b]can't check for sure...[/b]

[quote]
that's a good one. :) I first played it when I was like 6 or 8
or something, so I have fond memories of it. ;) I remember there
was a cool mac version back in the day...

~Blackbeard "H A R !"

[/quote]
at work on a PC, so I can't check the archive for sure, but ...
but this page seems to have a link to the old mac game...

<A HREF="http://www.ralentz.com/old/mac/recreation/classic-mac-games.html">http://www.ralentz.com/old/mac/recreation/classic-mac-games.html</A>

doing a search on download.com brought back several versions for PC.

Conner

You mean "Durch die Wuste"?

Train Games

Try "through the desert"
newish game, seems more complex then it actually is. its a nice
quick play once you've gone through it a few times

Been there, played that. It's fun, but not a train game. 8-)

Re: My gaming groups

Besides the Silicon Valley Boardgamers group, I also play games
with a couple of small groups of friends. These are mostly RPGs
(GURPS and ADD&amp;D) but we take the occasional break and play
boardgames from time to time. SVB also hosts a GamesDay event
every 2 to 3 months (Saturdays from 10 AM to 11 PM) that I try
to attend. (the next one is scheduled for August 11th at the Los
Altos City Library)

ADD&amp;D. Is that "attention deficit dungeons and dragons?"
:
::ducks::

[b]Boardgaming... reporting back[/b]

Been a long time since my original post...

Thanks for all the responses. I've since started a twice-a-month boardgaming get-together as a spinoff of an existing twice-a-month moviegoing group, alternating weekends. We have a regular core of 5, sometimes as many as 8 (or more depending on how many Significant Others tag along). So far so good! Lots of fun for everyone involved... usually. :-) Also I really enjoy trawling the Web and Usenet for opinions, shopping, breaking open and learning a new game, and teaching it to the group.

Got some initial impressions. Game names linked to Funagain (where possible) as before, but <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/">BoardgameGeek</a> is at least as informative (although their advanced-search options are comprehesively broken).

--

Among us we've got two copies of <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/01167">Settlers</a>, the <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06713">5-6 player expansion</a>, and the <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/05099">Seafarers expansion</a>. One or another variety of Settlers undoubtedly accounts for most of our gaming so far. The dependence on dice rolls is indeed pretty awful at times, although it's possible to try to cover enough different numbers to mitigate that. Along with the frustration tho the dice also occasionally bestow manna from heaven on some of the players who aren't regular winners, which helps keep the group happy.

So far I dislike the 5-6 player expansion (of the non-Seafarers variety) as being very crowded and stringing out the endgame. On the other hand, Seafarers seems promising; only played it once so far (with four people) but I do like the additional options and the extra elbow room. The larger map lets you play to a higher victory point total, evening out the dice-luck effects just a tad, without getting claustrophobic... makes for a longer game of course, but seemed to have more of a sense of open possibilities and "stuff happening" than our couple of long 5-6 player games of basic Settlers. Seafarers might even work pretty well with the 5-6 player expansion, tho I'm hesitant to get burned again on that.

Haven't tried the <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11245">Cities &amp; Knights expansion</a> yet. That looks like it makes the game mechanics fundamentally different and more complex, as opposed to Seafarers which just made minor mechanics changes and opened up the playing surface. Dunno if I want to pay for the privilege of trying that expansion out, but one of our regulars says that she'll bring it for us to try as soon as she can extract it from her ex-boyfriend's residence. (Not holding my breath. :-) )

--

<a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11110">Carcassonne</a> was a fun, modestly competitive experience the couple of times I've played it, but it seems best with 2-3 players and our group really resists breaking into small subgroups if at all possible. Also often there's been a new "big game" that I'm breaking in, so I'm not available to shepherd a Carcassonne introduction. Hopefully I'll manage to wedge another Carcassonne session into the itinerary some day. Seems to be enjoyable and a bit of a break from the more cutthroat games (although there is still definite potential for screw-the-other-guy actions).

--

Couple of games of <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11254">Lord of the Rings</a> so far, both starting from the "wimp position" with Sauron on 15. First time we lost the ringbearer midway through Mordor, although we overlooked a certain rule and were handicapped; second time we finished with a fairly strong win and would have won even if Sauron had been on 12 or 11, although we didn't save many shields for scoring.

Interesting game. Shows the difficulty of making a cooperative game; the stuff that happens to the players is necessarily luck-driven (otherwise this would just be a "puzzle") but having massively bad things happen to your party from the luck of the draw can be hard to swallow. Certainly makes it suspenseful though. :-) We probably won't play this one again real soon, but I'm sure it will get broken out again sooner or later.

The <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/12524">Friends &amp; Foes expansion</a> sounds cool but I don't think I'm going to pony up for it. On the other hand, if the upcoming Sauron expansion lets one of the players be the bad guy (as is rumored), I'll be taking a close look at that for sure.

--

One play of <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04482">El Grande</a>, quite good and a little more intense than most of the other games. I'm sure we'll have a replay soon since on our first run-through, me and another guy tied -- landing exactly on the last square of the scoring track, curiously enough. It's not a game that I have the impulse to dive back into, but when I actually think about our first run, I don't know why... because it was certainly fun. Maybe has to do with the theme (or lack thereof), or the fact that everyone will need to re-learn the rules when we break it out again. :-)

--

Had one play of <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07415">Illuminati</a>; more rules than I think I like, and confusing enough so that those of us who were newbies unintentionally threw the game to another newbie, to the great frustration I think of the experienced player. (And call me shallow, but I also like more substantial and colorful bits-and-pieces than this game sports... although this was a very old set, could be things have changed.) Dunno if this one will make a return; however the construction of the conspiracy networks is definitely a snazzy mechanism.

Also one play of <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/01958">Survive!</a>, an older "family boardgame" that has a fun light-strategy feel; may be a bit long for a game that light, but I wouldn't be averse to trying it again.

--

We tried <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04310">Give me the Brain</a> in one of our very first meetings and were tickled but less than impressed at some of the gameplay; in particular I recall there being one card that if you had it, you could win the game at any time past a certain point in the game... don't remember the details of all that. We muttered about maybe omitting that card and changing some rules, but with so many other games to try we haven't been back.

I have <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11489">Kill Doctor Lucky</a> but it hasn't made an appearance yet.

--

We usually run a card game of some sort for an icebreaker... <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/05166">Apples to Apples</a> is popular, although the last couple of times the "last one out" mechanism has led to really ultra-fast card playing that makes the word choices not as interesting. We've also played <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04492">Guillotine</a>, <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/10952">Shipwrecked</a>, and even <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/01416">Uno</a>.

I haven't played Shipwrecked yet, but I've been in on a few games of Guillotine (undefeated!). Quick, luck-driven, and not much mystery about what the right thing to do is when your turn comes around. Fine for an opener, especially since it's got a funny theme and artwork -- although I can imagine some people being less than amused by a "decapitation game".

--

Games on my current list to buy or try (to some extent with the size and tastes of the group in mind as well):

<ul>
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11502">Capitol</a>: Targets my weakness for "building games".
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/06908">Citadels</a>: English version coming soon. Not as big on card games generally, even (or especially) card games that try to mix in other mechanics, but this one seems to be widely admired. And we need more large-group games.
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/00452">Entdecker</a>: Cf. Capitol and "weaknesses", except an exploring game this time; also a favorable pedigree (the Settlers designer). There's a newer edition out, which will have an English version soon, but curiously almost everyone agrees that the old edition is better, although some of the new edition changes are applauded. You can find instructions on "how to play the old edition with some of the new rules" and "how to play the new edition using most of the old rules" (which is fairly convoluted). Not sure what to do about this one.
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11400">Medina</a>: Another building game (!), straightforward mechanics with conflicting goals, cool bits, should be fun.
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11398">The Princes of Florence</a>: Sort of a building game, sort of an auction game. Apparently not very cutthroat, which will appeal to some folks in our group. Looks to be "between publishings" though. :-/
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/10831">Tigris &amp; Euphrates</a>: A more intense game to go along with El Grande for those times when we have a group of people really in the mood to match bare brains.
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/05226">Tikal</a>: Maybe. Or maybe Java. Everyone seems to agree that a) Tikal and Java are fairly similar and b) one is much better than the other. But opinion is about evenly split on which one is the better one. :-) I can't get a great read yet on how my opinion and the group's opinion would likely fall; if I had to bet, probably Tikal... but it's not likely to be a blind purchase.
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/12647">Valley of the Mammoths</a>: Not really on my to-get list yet, but a good buzz on this one and I'd like to know more.
<li><a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/12120">Vinci</a>: Described as "Civilization lite", which could be just right for our group. (The upcoming "Mare Nostrum" also <a href="http://faidutti.free.fr/jeux/articles/3jeux/3jeux.html">sounds intriguing</a> in that way.)
<li>One of the "genetics games"... <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/01426">Ursuppe</a>, <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/12359">Urland</a>, <a href="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11366">Evo</a>?
</ul>

So many games, so little time/money. Some games are in categories that just don't ring my bell when I hear about them, but they might end up being enjoyed by our group (including me), you never know... pure auction games, train games, racing games, stocks-shares-business-whatever games. I may leave exploring those categories up to other people. So far I've provided the bulk of the games, especially new ones, although the other folks in the group have brought Guillotine, Shipwrecked, Uno, Survive!, Illuminati, and one of the Settlers basic sets. If another person in the group caught the new-game bug too, I wouldn't complain. :-)

Re: Speaking of German table games...

Interesting! Nope, I hadn't seen that yet.

[b]And another more local link...[/b]

Here's a link to an on-line version of Settlers developed by someone on this side of the Atlantic:

<A HREF="http://settlers.cs.northwestern.edu/">http://settlers.cs.northwestern.edu/</A>

Bots fill in any seats not taken by human players. They are pretty functional and know how to trade, etc. Good for a mid-day fix when work is slow :)

[img]http://www.clanplaid.net/~charon/charon.gif[/img]

Re: Good link here

Oh, this is good. I will point out a couple of quirks that others may find if they try to go to BSW.

1. The lockups (which prompt people to type "t" to test their connections) are apparently a Windows Java problem. I have had only one lock-up through IE5 for OS X, and that appears to have been a BSW server belch, not my system.

2. Using IE for OS X, however, I do have to enter BSW in a non-standard manner. If I click into the world from the front page, the Java window that opens is just black. Nothing but black. I know (from my modem lights and occasionally the BSW sounds) that I am connecting to the server, but the graphics just do not load or run properly. The only way I can get into the Welt is by clicking through to the Games page, picking a game (usually Carcassone) and picking one of the game's rooms from the pull-down. The Java window opens and I'm in the game room, from which I can exit to the "town" and go from there without a problem. It's odd, but not really even annoying.

3. The toolbar that Mark Johnson shows on his guide site is very different in the Mac world (or there is a newer version). The icons are different and not as recognizable. It takes a little fiddling to figure out what they all do.

All in all, the guide is helpful. More English rules and information are being added all the time, as I understand it. (Fortunately, Princes of Florence, which uses German-language cards, has English translations available -- which leads to longer turn times on occasion as people flip to the browser to figure out what they want to do.)

Re: Speaking of German table games...

Carcassone (and the expansion version not yet available in the U.S.)

You mean The River? I think it's made its way over here... I bought Carcassonne for my uncle's family for Christmas, and the box and contents were just like my set except that the box had something stamped on it about the expansion, and the contents included the expansion tilesheet and a slightly changed rules booklet that mentions how to use it.

The store was also handing out free expansion tilesheets to anyone who had bought the game before, so I grabbed one. Haven't tried it yet. Looks like it will make the resulting "landscape" more attractive, and maybe add a small twist to the game, but no major change.

Quick &amp;amp; Dirty Guide to BSW