Board 8 > thirty-one tabletop games, ranked

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Alanna82 03/28/18 4:11:10 PM #303:	I can't lie. I'm outed as the bad guy right away. I can't keep a straight face when I lie. I have never played with a first mission fail. Even if we sent both spies. We usually never won unless me and my friend Kat were the spies because neither of us can lie. All the three player missions always ended up with one spy. I think we play with 7 people once and we still never won. It got to the point where no one agreed with the final mission so a spy ended up picking the final team since if we rejected it one more time we auto lost. We basically never play this anymore since so many of us either couldn't lie, had poor deduction skills, or both. (I was really good at catching my husband when he was the spy though) --- Don't mess with a Bunny! <cite>Alanna82 posted [p:898657666] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>I can't lie. I'm outed as the bad guy right away. I can't keep a straight face when I lie. I have never played with a first mission fail. Even if we sent both spies. We usually never won unless me and my friend Kat were the spies because neither of us can lie. All the three player missions always ended up with one spy. I think we play with 7 people once and we still never won. It got to the point where no one agreed with the final mission so a spy ended up picking the final team since if we rejected it one more time we auto lost. We basically never play this anymore since so many of us either couldn't lie, had poor deduction skills, or both. (I was really good at catching my husband when he was the spy though)</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
trdl23 03/28/18 4:34:20 PM #304:	Im a terrible liar. However, I am a very good actor. --- E come vivo? Vivo! <cite>trdl23 posted [p:898658843] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Im a terrible liar. However, I am a very good actor.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
banananor 03/28/18 5:11:03 PM #305:	yeah, i can only lie effectively if i have an 'alternate truth' to focus on. bluffing in something like coup is rough, but sticking with however i would actually believe if i were a 'good guy' is a little easier to grasp my entire resistance group was a bunch of cowards, don't think anyone ever failed the first mission aside from me. but really, the most important thing as spies is to just make it to the 4th mission without the town knowing who the spies are the game just has so many hilarious moments. the anticipation before the card flips, the final reveals, the hilarious double fails special mention to the hidden spy and reverser (turncoat?) roles --- You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured. <cite>banananor posted [p:898660942] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>yeah, i can only lie effectively if i have an 'alternate truth' to focus on. bluffing in something like coup is rough, but sticking with however i would actually believe if i were a 'good guy' is a little easier to grasp my entire resistance group was a bunch of cowards, don't think anyone ever failed the first mission aside from me. but really, the most important thing as spies is to just make it to the 4th mission without the town knowing who the spies are the game just has so many hilarious moments. the anticipation before the card flips, the final reveals, the hilarious double fails special mention to the hidden spy and reverser (turncoat?) roles</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 03/28/18 5:17:27 PM #306:	I've never played with the Lancelot (reverser) roles, though I think they'd be fun for a laugh. Oberon (hidden spy) is fantastic. It's easier for me to say "I'm good" dogmaticly than to come up with "alternative facts." Tough, because when I'm good I always articulate my thought process - so if I'm struggling to with a thought process, it's almost always because I'm evil. Alanna82 posted... I think we play with 7 people once and we still never won. It got to the point where no one agreed with the final mission so a spy ended up picking the final team since if we rejected it one more time we auto lost. 7 seems insanely difficult if there are no roles. Have you played Avalon or just the vanilla Resistance? --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898661280] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>I've never played with the Lancelot (reverser) roles, though I think they'd be fun for a laugh. Oberon (hidden spy) is fantastic. It's easier for me to say "I'm good" dogmaticly than to come up with "alternative facts." Tough, because when I'm good I always articulate my thought process - so if I'm struggling to with a thought process, it's almost always because I'm evil. <cite>Alanna82 posted...</cite> <quote>I think we play with 7 people once and we still never won. It got to the point where no one agreed with the final mission so a spy ended up picking the final team since if we rejected it one more time we auto lost. </quote> 7 seems insanely difficult if there are no roles. Have you played Avalon or just the vanilla Resistance?</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Naye745 03/28/18 11:56:58 PM #307:	resistance (with avalon/resistance-universe-equivalent expansion) is still the best its the most pure and simple social deduction experience, which is generally what i want in that kind of game --- it's an underwater adventure ride <cite>Naye745 posted [p:898683028] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>resistance (with avalon/resistance-universe-equivalent expansion) is still the best its the most pure and simple social deduction experience, which is generally what i want in that kind of game</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 03/29/18 4:04:57 PM #308:	3. A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Second Edition) https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169255/ Genre/mechanics: Lifestyle game, expandable card game, deck construction, hand management, tableau-building, simultaneous action selection, player combat Rules complexity: 9/10 Game length: 20-60 minutes Player count: 2-4 Experience: 100-150+ games with 2, 3 games with 4 players First played: 2015 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Second Edition) is an expandable card game in the vein of Magic the Gathering or Pokemon TCG - but it is a Living Card Game (LCG), which means that you don't need to buy random booster packs - when you purchase a Chapter Pack, you get exactly what you need. You construct a draw deck of sixty (or more) characters, attachments, locations, and events; and a plot deck of seven plots. The goal is to reach fifteen power, at which point the game immediately ends. Each deck has a Faction from ASOIAF that determines what cards you can include - Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen, Greyjoy, Tyrell, Martell, and the Night's Watch. Experience - I originally got this game as a board game type, but with just one copy of each card from the core set, it was pretty much garbage. The deckbuilding rules were also a little opaque, so I wound up researching it so heavily that I realized the investment was impossible with a board gaming crowd. So I had to find an entirely new group to play this game, like Magic: The Gathering. Anyway, I've now played at over a dozen game night kits and store championships, a handful of regionals, and two continental championships. I've traveled across many states and gone to weekly game nights specifically for AGOT LCG, and had drinks and karaoke after them. Bad losses still haunt me. So maybe that will give you an idea of where I'm coming from. Design - If you've ever played a card game that involves spending resources to play dudes, and then having your dudes fight your opponents' dudes and sometimes killing them, with permanent non-dude cards that can give you economy or lasting bonuses, and the occasional one-off card that has an instant effect... then you know what AGOT LCG is about. There are several things that make AGOT LCG unique from my baseline of MTG/Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I'd say virtually all of them are more interesting (if more frustrating, as well). From a cards/deck construction perspective, the rules for forming a deck are inherently interesting. Unlike other games with practical limitations on what cards you should include, AGOT LCG cards are all designated to one of the eight Factions, or Neutral. When you construct a deck, you first choose a Faction. Your deck must consist only of cards of this faction, plus neutral cards. However, alongside the faction card, you also get to choose an Agenda, which can modify your deck construction or the way the game plays - you may be able to include characters from one faction (Arya Stark in a Lannister deck!) or be able to draw extra cards (provided you don't play Balon Greyjoy in your deck). Another interesting concept is Unique cards - a Character can either be Killed or Discarded, so you have two "out of play" piles. A character that is in the dead pile, if it is Unique (i.e. has a symbol on it - named characters are usually Unique) cannot be brought into play if you draw another copy of them, and you cannot put into play a second instance of that character. However, if you've already got a copy of Eddard Stark on the board and draw into another, you can play your second one on top of your previous as a "duplicate" - so if Eddard would normally leave play, you can instead discard the duplicate to save him. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898718759] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>3. A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Second Edition) https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169255/ Genre/mechanics: Lifestyle game, expandable card game, deck construction, hand management, tableau-building, simultaneous action selection, player combat Rules complexity: 9/10 Game length: 20-60 minutes Player count: 2-4 Experience: 100-150+ games with 2, 3 games with 4 players First played: 2015 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Second Edition) is an expandable card game in the vein of Magic the Gathering or Pokemon TCG - but it is a Living Card Game (LCG), which means that you don't need to buy random booster packs - when you purchase a Chapter Pack, you get exactly what you need. You construct a draw deck of sixty (or more) characters, attachments, locations, and events; and a plot deck of seven plots. The goal is to reach fifteen power, at which point the game immediately ends. Each deck has a Faction from ASOIAF that determines what cards you can include - Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen, Greyjoy, Tyrell, Martell, and the Night's Watch. Experience - I originally got this game as a board game type, but with just one copy of each card from the core set, it was pretty much garbage. The deckbuilding rules were also a little opaque, so I wound up researching it so heavily that I realized the investment was impossible with a board gaming crowd. So I had to find an entirely new group to play this game, like Magic: The Gathering. Anyway, I've now played at over a dozen game night kits and store championships, a handful of regionals, and two continental championships. I've traveled across many states and gone to weekly game nights specifically for AGOT LCG, and had drinks and karaoke after them. Bad losses still haunt me. So maybe that will give you an idea of where I'm coming from. Design - If you've ever played a card game that involves spending resources to play dudes, and then having your dudes fight your opponents' dudes and sometimes killing them, with permanent non-dude cards that can give you economy or lasting bonuses, and the occasional one-off card that has an instant effect... then you know what AGOT LCG is about. There are several things that make AGOT LCG unique from my baseline of MTG/Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I'd say virtually all of them are more interesting (if more frustrating, as well). From a cards/deck construction perspective, the rules for forming a deck are inherently interesting. Unlike other games with practical limitations on what cards you should include, AGOT LCG cards are all designated to one of the eight Factions, or Neutral. When you construct a deck, you first choose a Faction. Your deck must consist only of cards of this faction, plus neutral cards. However, alongside the faction card, you also get to choose an Agenda, which can modify your deck construction or the way the game plays - you may be able to include characters from one faction (Arya Stark in a Lannister deck!) or be able to draw extra cards (provided you don't play Balon Greyjoy in your deck). Another interesting concept is Unique cards - a Character can either be Killed or Discarded, so you have two "out of play" piles. A character that is in the dead pile, if it is Unique (i.e. has a symbol on it - named characters are usually Unique) cannot be brought into play if you draw another copy of them, and you cannot put into play a second instance of that character. However, if you've already got a copy of Eddard Stark on the board and draw into another, you can play your second one on top of your previous as a "duplicate" - so if Eddard would normally leave play, you can instead discard the duplicate to save him.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 03/29/18 4:05:00 PM #309:	On the gameplay side, the Plot Deck (and general turn order) is one of the most interesting parts of the game. I come from a "your turn to draw a card, play them, and attack me, now my turn" system - but AGOT alternates each phase. "We both draw, you play guys, I play guys, you attack me, I attack you." So you have to decide what to hold back when you're going first, or how much you want to commit to defense when you're going second. At the beginning of each such round is the Plot Phase - a point where both players simultaneously choose a card from their plot deck and reveal them. The plots can have powerful instant abilities such as discarding characters from the board or from a player's hand; they can have constant abilities like protecting characters or increasing your characters' strength; they also give you your income for the round (as opposed to relying solely on draw deck cards) and your claim value. The claim value of a card ties to challenges. There are three different types of attack you can declare in AGOT LCG - Military, Intrigue, and Power. A character's eligibility to participate in a challenge type is determined by whether or not they have the appropriate challenge icon printed on them. Win one of these as the offensive player, and your opponent pays the Claim value printed on your plot (usually 1, but can be 0 or 2 or altered by card effects) - choosing and killing characters of theirs (Military), losing cards at random from their hand(Intrigue), or giving power (the victory condition) to the winner (Power). It's infinitely more interesting than "I hit you, you lose life." Thematically, AGOT LCG gets the job done. As I've mentioned before, ASOIAF is pretty much the only IP that gets me to pay, and AGOT LCG does it really well, with thematically named abilities that suit the characters. King Robert Baratheon gets stronger when others kneel (card turned sideways) and can Intimidate others into kneeling after he attacks. Ser Jaime Lannister is an expert at Military challenges, but he has no Power icon, indicating he can't hold titles as a Kingsguard and is disgraced. Eddard Stark stands up (un-kneels) when you attack him. Combined with the great art and card layout, the immersion in the game is brilliant. Future - I have little time to buy cards and build decks, but I'm still in it for the community - which is friendly enough to supply me with decks when I do go to tournaments and game nights. It's a really good experience. Bonus question - What is your favorite lifestyle game? What games are you into that have their own community around them? Hint for #2 - a game by a designer in the top ten --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898718763] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>On the gameplay side, the Plot Deck (and general turn order) is one of the most interesting parts of the game. I come from a "your turn to draw a card, play them, and attack me, now my turn" system - but AGOT alternates each phase. "We both draw, you play guys, I play guys, you attack me, I attack you." So you have to decide what to hold back when you're going first, or how much you want to commit to defense when you're going second. At the beginning of each such round is the Plot Phase - a point where both players simultaneously choose a card from their plot deck and reveal them. The plots can have powerful instant abilities such as discarding characters from the board or from a player's hand; they can have constant abilities like protecting characters or increasing your characters' strength; they also give you your income for the round (as opposed to relying solely on draw deck cards) and your claim value. The claim value of a card ties to challenges. There are three different types of attack you can declare in AGOT LCG - Military, Intrigue, and Power. A character's eligibility to participate in a challenge type is determined by whether or not they have the appropriate challenge icon printed on them. Win one of these as the offensive player, and your opponent pays the Claim value printed on your plot (usually 1, but can be 0 or 2 or altered by card effects) - choosing and killing characters of theirs (Military), losing cards at random from their hand(Intrigue), or giving power (the victory condition) to the winner (Power). It's infinitely more interesting than "I hit you, you lose life." Thematically, AGOT LCG gets the job done. As I've mentioned before, ASOIAF is pretty much the only IP that gets me to pay, and AGOT LCG does it really well, with thematically named abilities that suit the characters. King Robert Baratheon gets stronger when others kneel (card turned sideways) and can Intimidate others into kneeling after he attacks. Ser Jaime Lannister is an expert at Military challenges, but he has no Power icon, indicating he can't hold titles as a Kingsguard and is disgraced. Eddard Stark stands up (un-kneels) when you attack him. Combined with the great art and card layout, the immersion in the game is brilliant. Future - I have little time to buy cards and build decks, but I'm still in it for the community - which is friendly enough to supply me with decks when I do go to tournaments and game nights. It's a really good experience. Bonus question - What is your favorite lifestyle game? What games are you into that have their own community around them? Hint for #2 - a game by a designer in the top ten</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
BakusaiTenketsu 03/29/18 4:41:58 PM #310:	SeabassDebeste posted... Bonus question - What is your favorite lifestyle game? What games are you into that have their own community around them? When I was (a lot) younger, I found a hobby shop that had a large group of players that played a game called Emperor, I think it's also called Scum. I had a lot of fun playing it, but I was never able to find anyone who played it anywhere else, and it requires a fairly well sized group to play. I think more recently, Pinochle is one that I've played that is hard to find groups for, but when you do, there are usually a lot of players for it. EDIT: After reminiscing on Emperor, I looked it up, and apparently it's also called Asshole. I've never played Asshole, probably because I don't drink, but that seems to be pretty much the same thing as the game I played as a kid. --- http://tinyurl.com/ozuq4pq http://tinyurl.com/zy566j2 <cite>BakusaiTenketsu posted [p:898721098] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>SeabassDebeste posted...</cite> <quote>Bonus question - What is your favorite lifestyle game? What games are you into that have their own community around them?</quote> When I was (a lot) younger, I found a hobby shop that had a large group of players that played a game called Emperor, I think it's also called Scum. I had a lot of fun playing it, but I was never able to find anyone who played it anywhere else, and it requires a fairly well sized group to play. I think more recently, Pinochle is one that I've played that is hard to find groups for, but when you do, there are usually a lot of players for it. EDIT: After reminiscing on Emperor, I looked it up, and apparently it's also called Asshole. I've never played Asshole, probably because I don't drink, but that seems to be pretty much the same thing as the game I played as a kid.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Peace___Frog 03/29/18 4:45:26 PM #311:	Recently played enter the dungeon. A little simplistic, but winning by mind-gaming was a very enjoyable experience! --- ~Peaf~ <cite>Peace___Frog posted [p:898721301] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Recently played enter the dungeon. A little simplistic, but winning by mind-gaming was a very enjoyable experience!</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Alanna82 03/29/18 5:03:06 PM #312:	SeabassDebeste posted... I've never played with the Lancelot (reverser) roles, though I think they'd be fun for a laugh. Oberon (hidden spy) is fantastic. It's easier for me to say "I'm good" dogmaticly than to come up with "alternative facts." Tough, because when I'm good I always articulate my thought process - so if I'm struggling to with a thought process, it's almost always because I'm evil. Alanna82 posted... I think we play with 7 people once and we still never won. It got to the point where no one agreed with the final mission so a spy ended up picking the final team since if we rejected it one more time we auto lost. 7 seems insanely difficult if there are no roles. Have you played Avalon or just the vanilla Resistance? just vanilla. --- Don't mess with a Bunny! <cite>Alanna82 posted [p:898722341] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>SeabassDebeste posted...</cite> <quote>I've never played with the Lancelot (reverser) roles, though I think they'd be fun for a laugh. Oberon (hidden spy) is fantastic. It's easier for me to say "I'm good" dogmaticly than to come up with "alternative facts." Tough, because when I'm good I always articulate my thought process - so if I'm struggling to with a thought process, it's almost always because I'm evil. <cite>Alanna82 posted...</cite> <quote>I think we play with 7 people once and we still never won. It got to the point where no one agreed with the final mission so a spy ended up picking the final team since if we rejected it one more time we auto lost. </quote> 7 seems insanely difficult if there are no roles. Have you played Avalon or just the vanilla Resistance?</quote> just vanilla.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
banananor 03/30/18 2:33:12 PM #313:	SeabassDebeste posted... Bonus question - What is your favorite lifestyle game? What games are you into that have their own community around them? in no particular order- dungeons and dragons, world of warcraft, and magic; the gathering were my three. i consider these all lifestyle games because i spent way more time thinking, theorycrafting, and creating than actually playing the games although i could see netrunner replacing mtg on that list. It's an LCG- not a CCG- and feels balanced with surprisingly joyous, exciting gameplay. I'm in a honeymoon phase, I think. --- You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured. <cite>banananor posted [p:898771980] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>SeabassDebeste posted...</cite> <quote>Bonus question - What is your favorite lifestyle game? What games are you into that have their own community around them?</quote> in no particular order- dungeons and dragons, world of warcraft, and magic; the gathering were my three. i consider these all lifestyle games because i spent way more time thinking, theorycrafting, and creating than actually playing the games although i could see netrunner replacing mtg on that list. It's an LCG- not a CCG- and feels balanced with surprisingly joyous, exciting gameplay. I'm in a honeymoon phase, I think.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
trdl23 03/30/18 3:26:08 PM #314:	Netrunner is awesome. The trouble with LCGs in general, though, is there isnt a good way to sell out of them when the player base dries up (my situation) or you lose interest. While MtG is certainly a higher entry cost, its also a decent investment that is surprisingly liquid. Anyway, MtG is my lifeblood! I adore everything that goes into the game. --- E come vivo? Vivo! <cite>trdl23 posted [p:898774717] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Netrunner is awesome. The trouble with LCGs in general, though, is there isnt a good way to sell out of them when the player base dries up (my situation) or you lose interest. While MtG is certainly a higher entry cost, its also a decent investment that is surprisingly liquid. Anyway, MtG is my lifeblood! I adore everything that goes into the game.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
banananor 03/30/18 4:38:25 PM #315:	i really need to figure out how to "cash out" of magic! i've always assumed i'm only going to get like 50% of the amount i paid in, tops. maybe i've just been doing it wrong- my pattern was primarily just go to prereleases, not to buy singles or anything like that i'll admit part of my motivation for finding another game was the sense of malaise i get from looking at my shoeboxes of mtg cards --- You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured. <cite>banananor posted [p:898778598] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>i really need to figure out how to "cash out" of magic! i've always assumed i'm only going to get like 50% of the amount i paid in, tops. maybe i've just been doing it wrong- my pattern was primarily just go to prereleases, not to buy singles or anything like that i'll admit part of my motivation for finding another game was the sense of malaise i get from looking at my shoeboxes of mtg cards</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
banananor 03/30/18 4:50:04 PM #316:	and i think the other half was that i wasn't having fun playing with strangers at game stores and if i'm just going to be playing with one friend or two... why not pick something complete and balanced from the get-go? --- You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured. <cite>banananor posted [p:898779188] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>and i think the other half was that i wasn't having fun playing with strangers at game stores and if i'm just going to be playing with one friend or two... why not pick something complete and balanced from the get-go?</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 03/31/18 6:40:52 PM #317:	banananor posted... and i think the other half was that i wasn't having fun playing with strangers at game stores yeah, if it weren't for the community i'd definitely be out of the game by now! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898836464] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>banananor posted...</cite> <quote>and i think the other half was that i wasn't having fun playing with strangers at game stores</quote> yeah, if it weren't for the community i'd definitely be out of the game by now!</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
banananor 04/01/18 5:52:03 PM #318:	wait... but mtg hasn't shown up on the list yet... --- You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured. <cite>banananor posted [p:898887437] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>wait... but mtg hasn't shown up on the list yet...</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
trdl23 04/01/18 10:54:14 PM #319:	I think Seabass said earlier that MtG didn't count on this list? --- E come vivo? Vivo! <cite>trdl23 posted [p:898902137] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>I think Seabass said earlier that MtG didn't count on this list?</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/01/18 10:59:43 PM #320:	Yeah, I haven't played it enough in general, or recently enough, for it to rank. I also don't rank Chess. Lifestyle games are a tough sell to make this list in general. List will wrap up tomorrow or Tuesday! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898902424] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Yeah, I haven't played it enough in general, or recently enough, for it to rank. I also don't rank Chess. Lifestyle games are a tough sell to make this list in general. List will wrap up tomorrow or Tuesday!</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/02/18 9:54:37 AM #321:	2. Codenames/Codenames Duet https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames Genre/mechanics: Clue-giving, restricted communication, cooperative, team vs team, word game, party game Rules complexity: 3/10 Game length: 10-20 minutes Player count: 2-12+ Experience: 100+ games combined of Codenames, Pictures, Deep Undercover, Duet, etc. - player count 2-12+ First played: 2015 Two teams with one spymaster and multiple guessers, twenty-five words. The spymaster knows which of the words belongs to them and gives a one-word clue to link a subset of them. The team attempts to guess their words. Then the other spymaster goes. First team to touch all its words wins. In Duet, two spymasters see different sides of the same card and work together to cover their words. Design - Codenames is pretty much perfect. It functions both boisterously as a party game involving lots of trash talk, and as a quiet thinking game for anyone being the spymaster. The word selection is also excellent; lots of double-entendres can be found, giving tons of opportunity for creativity. There are so few rules that anyone can just jump in and it's so damn elegant and the components are perfect. I can't even say much here. Vlaada Chvatil is incredible. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898918541] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>2. Codenames/Codenames Duet https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames Genre/mechanics: Clue-giving, restricted communication, cooperative, team vs team, word game, party game Rules complexity: 3/10 Game length: 10-20 minutes Player count: 2-12+ Experience: 100+ games combined of Codenames, Pictures, Deep Undercover, Duet, etc. - player count 2-12+ First played: 2015 Two teams with one spymaster and multiple guessers, twenty-five words. The spymaster knows which of the words belongs to them and gives a one-word clue to link a subset of them. The team attempts to guess their words. Then the other spymaster goes. First team to touch all its words wins. In Duet, two spymasters see different sides of the same card and work together to cover their words. Design - Codenames is pretty much perfect. It functions both boisterously as a party game involving lots of trash talk, and as a quiet thinking game for anyone being the spymaster. The word selection is also excellent; lots of double-entendres can be found, giving tons of opportunity for creativity. There are so few rules that anyone can just jump in and it's so damn elegant and the components are perfect. I can't even say much here. Vlaada Chvatil is incredible.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/02/18 9:54:41 AM #322:	Enjoyment - It's essentially been Codenames and Avalon for me in terms of high-player-count party games, and I've been all-in on Codenames since it was released. It might have been the first game I got hyped for, and I was super-excited when my friend got it shortly after Gen Con 2015 when it was (incredible as it is to believe now) hard to find. One of my favorite parts of Codenames is the relationship-building and learning about people you get when they try to link clues or guess what you were thinking. The sinking realization of "Ohhh crap" is fantastic. I've played every variant of Codenames except Marvel and Disney (because fuck that noise). I've played at pretty much every player count with variants of guessers-guess-for-both, same-guesser-for-both, one-team "cooperative" mode where we race against an "AI" that gets 1 or 2 (depending on a coin flip - we'd store a quarter in the game box). We've had rowdy, massive trash-talk sessions, a surprising number of people being shocked by the more PG-13 words in Deep Undercover, minds being bent at the Pictures variant, and stewing mind-bending from 2 to 4 in Duet. There's a bunch of stuff surrounding Codenames, so I'll just give my opinions on each of them, real quick. Playing with a timer is near-essential in my opinion. You can download a fantastic app for Codenames that has variable turn lengths and gives specific extra time to the clue-givers on the first round. A timer can add some tension, but paradoxically, it can make the game less punishing. Being a spymaster in Codenames can be brutal for the anxious - you're expected to maintain a poker face and stew in silence as your team picks wrong answer after wrong answer and then has the audacity to trash you for it - you can't even fight back! But it's even worse if you feel like you have no room for error, and when you use a timer, no one expects you to be perfect. A timer also lets you play more games in a quicker amount of time - always a good thing. The primary "word variants" of Codenames are Pictures and Deep Undercover. For my money, the base Codenames is by far the best. The pictures themselves are fantasticly designed and clever in a tri-tone, minimalistic way, but the clues that link them tend to be annoyingly straightforward ("round" will very often be a phenomenal, game-winning clue in Pictures, which... isn't that satisfying). Deep Undercover has a bit of shock value and can make you laugh in that Cards Against Humanity way, but drawing connections between a bunch of phallic euphemisms can wear out in novelty pretty quickly - it's a reasonable change of pace. Duet is a different story. As someone who loves guessing and being a spymaster, Duet lets everyone by a spymaster and a guesser at all times. It's like twice the game! I also love cooperative games, and it's the perfect game at two to four players. The only downside is that the word selection in Duet is a little weaker, but there's nothing stopping you from applying Duet rules to a different set of cards. Duet has been around for a lot less time than Codenames, but it's become perhaps my favorite cooperative experience in board gaming in that time, and it's what pushed the Codenames family over the top here. Future - I'm a bit Codenames'd out - I want to play a few games and let everyone be a spymaster once or so, but I no longer want it to be the centerpiece of a game night, with ten games a night (and I loved doing that before). It's still a great party game and especially a really good closer. That said, I've gotten far fewer reps of Duet and right now, I could play that until the cows come home - with the right people. Bonus question - What is your favorite Codenames memory? What is your most versatile game? Hint for #1 - A mass market game whose variants have gone by different monikers in the past --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898918543] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Enjoyment - It's essentially been Codenames and Avalon for me in terms of high-player-count party games, and I've been all-in on Codenames since it was released. It might have been the first game I got hyped for, and I was super-excited when my friend got it shortly after Gen Con 2015 when it was (incredible as it is to believe now) hard to find. One of my favorite parts of Codenames is the relationship-building and learning about people you get when they try to link clues or guess what you were thinking. The sinking realization of "Ohhh crap" is fantastic. I've played every variant of Codenames except Marvel and Disney (because fuck that noise). I've played at pretty much every player count with variants of guessers-guess-for-both, same-guesser-for-both, one-team "cooperative" mode where we race against an "AI" that gets 1 or 2 (depending on a coin flip - we'd store a quarter in the game box). We've had rowdy, massive trash-talk sessions, a surprising number of people being shocked by the more PG-13 words in Deep Undercover, minds being bent at the Pictures variant, and stewing mind-bending from 2 to 4 in Duet. There's a bunch of stuff surrounding Codenames, so I'll just give my opinions on each of them, real quick. Playing with a timer is near-essential in my opinion. You can download a fantastic app for Codenames that has variable turn lengths and gives specific extra time to the clue-givers on the first round. A timer can add some tension, but paradoxically, it can make the game less punishing. Being a spymaster in Codenames can be brutal for the anxious - you're expected to maintain a poker face and stew in silence as your team picks wrong answer after wrong answer and then has the audacity to trash you for it - you can't even fight back! But it's even worse if you feel like you have no room for error, and when you use a timer, no one expects you to be perfect. A timer also lets you play more games in a quicker amount of time - always a good thing. The primary "word variants" of Codenames are Pictures and Deep Undercover. For my money, the base Codenames is by far the best. The pictures themselves are fantasticly designed and clever in a tri-tone, minimalistic way, but the clues that link them tend to be annoyingly straightforward ("round" will very often be a phenomenal, game-winning clue in Pictures, which... isn't that satisfying). Deep Undercover has a bit of shock value and can make you laugh in that Cards Against Humanity way, but drawing connections between a bunch of phallic euphemisms can wear out in novelty pretty quickly - it's a reasonable change of pace. Duet is a different story. As someone who loves guessing and being a spymaster, Duet lets everyone by a spymaster and a guesser at all times. It's like twice the game! I also love cooperative games, and it's the perfect game at two to four players. The only downside is that the word selection in Duet is a little weaker, but there's nothing stopping you from applying Duet rules to a different set of cards. Duet has been around for a lot less time than Codenames, but it's become perhaps my favorite cooperative experience in board gaming in that time, and it's what pushed the Codenames family over the top here. Future - I'm a bit Codenames'd out - I want to play a few games and let everyone be a spymaster once or so, but I no longer want it to be the centerpiece of a game night, with ten games a night (and I loved doing that before). It's still a great party game and especially a really good closer. That said, I've gotten far fewer reps of Duet and right now, I could play that until the cows come home - with the right people. Bonus question - What is your favorite Codenames memory? What is your most versatile game? Hint for #1 - A mass market game whose variants have gone by different monikers in the past</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Maniac64 04/02/18 10:20:32 AM #323:	So no Betrayal huh? Thats surprising to me. I really need to play codenamess sometime. Seems like a game I would likw. --- http://img.imgcake.com/drakeryn/maniacjpgma.jpg ~Drak "Hope is allowed to be stupid, unwise, and naive." ~Sir Chris <cite>Maniac64 posted [p:898919418] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>So no Betrayal huh? Thats surprising to me. I really need to play codenamess sometime. Seems like a game I would likw.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Mana Sword 04/02/18 10:23:27 AM #324:	I'm pretty lukewarm on Codenames. It's alright once in a while, but I find it kind of frustrating. That's probably on me because I always want to try and find the optimal move, which isn't really possible, especially given a time limit. --- http://card.psnprofiles.com/1/Gylgamesh501.png <cite>The Mana Sword posted [p:898919519] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>I'm pretty lukewarm on Codenames. It's alright once in a while, but I find it kind of frustrating. That's probably on me because I always want to try and find the optimal move, which isn't really possible, especially given a time limit.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Tom Bombadil 04/02/18 10:43:27 AM #325:	Codenames isn't really my style but I still liked it okay the one night I played a couple games --- Look at all those chickens There's a hunger in the land, there's a reckoning still to be reckoned <cite>Tom Bombadil posted [p:898920368] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Codenames isn't really my style but I still liked it okay the one night I played a couple games</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/02/18 11:55:57 AM #326:	The Mana Sword posted... I'm pretty lukewarm on Codenames. It's alright once in a while, but I find it kind of frustrating. That's probably on me because I always want to try and find the optimal move, which isn't really possible, especially given a time limit. Tom Bombadil posted... Codenames isn't really my style but I still liked it okay the one night I played a couple games what a surprise the people who like boring solitary eurogames don't like a masterpiece of communication involving other humans Maniac64 posted... So no Betrayal huh? Thats surprising to me. I really need to play codenamess sometime. Seems like a game I would likw. I've played Betrayal once. It's kind of cute, but it didn't feel game-y to me. You do need to play Codenames, and at its price and availability, there's no reason not to own it! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898923409] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>The Mana Sword posted...</cite> <quote>I'm pretty lukewarm on Codenames. It's alright once in a while, but I find it kind of frustrating. That's probably on me because I always want to try and find the optimal move, which isn't really possible, especially given a time limit.</quote> <cite>Tom Bombadil posted...</cite> <quote>Codenames isn't really my style but I still liked it okay the one night I played a couple games</quote> what a surprise the people who like boring solitary eurogames don't like a masterpiece of communication involving other humans <cite>Maniac64 posted...</cite> <quote>So no Betrayal huh? Thats surprising to me. I really need to play codenamess sometime. Seems like a game I would likw.</quote> I've played Betrayal once. It's kind of cute, but it didn't feel game-y to me. You do need to play Codenames, and at its price and availability, there's no reason not to own it!</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
VintageGin 04/02/18 11:58:59 AM #327:	Codenames is pretty fun. Not sure if I'd rank it so high though! --- Ginhyun http://i.imgur.com/t7G7uoU.gif <cite>VintageGin posted [p:898923535] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Codenames is pretty fun. Not sure if I'd rank it so high though!</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
banananor 04/02/18 12:01:46 PM #328:	codenames is nice because it can get all sorts of people playing and it's still somewhat strategic and competitive however, 99% of the time when i have a group ready to play, i just know that telephone pictionary would be an even bigger hit --- You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured. <cite>banananor posted [p:898923679] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>codenames is nice because it can get all sorts of people playing and it's still somewhat strategic and competitive however, 99% of the time when i have a group ready to play, i just know that telephone pictionary would be an even bigger hit</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
skullbone 04/02/18 12:11:47 PM #329:	Codenames is a fantastic game and one of my favorites also. I know you had some similar games on your list but have you played Spyfall or Snake Oil Salesman? --- skull <cite>skullbone posted [p:898924099] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Codenames is a fantastic game and one of my favorites also. I know you had some similar games on your list but have you played Spyfall or Snake Oil Salesman?</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Tom Bombadil 04/02/18 12:32:15 PM #330:	SeabassDebeste posted... communication involving other humans shudder --- Look at all those chickens There's a hunger in the land, there's a reckoning still to be reckoned <cite>Tom Bombadil posted [p:898925065] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>SeabassDebeste posted...</cite> <quote>communication involving other humans</quote> shudder</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Mana Sword 04/02/18 12:39:41 PM #331:	Tom Bombadil posted... SeabassDebeste posted... communication involving other humans shudder --- http://card.psnprofiles.com/1/Gylgamesh501.png <cite>The Mana Sword posted [p:898925457] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>Tom Bombadil posted...</cite> <quote><cite>SeabassDebeste posted...</cite> <quote>communication involving other humans</quote> shudder</quote></quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
My Immortal 04/02/18 12:49:01 PM #332:	Codenames is easily my favorite game. --- #VnaaVimmDrnuddma <cite>My Immortal posted [p:898925992] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Codenames is easily my favorite game.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/02/18 3:57:08 PM #333:	skullbone posted... Codenames is a fantastic game and one of my favorites also. I know you had some similar games on your list but have you played Spyfall or Snake Oil Salesman? Spyfall I have played a few times. I arbitrarily decided not to include it on my game-tracking list because it doesn't feel much like a board game, because I wanted it to fit at a nice round number, and because I find it nearly impossible to play using physical components (though the online implementation was really good). I think the game is "okay" and don't think it compares to Codenames at all in terms of design and fun. I've never played it, but from what I can tell, Snake Oil is a "judge picks their favorite" type of game, right? I tend to despise that mechanic. The creativity involved in the game sounds like it's really good for laughs, but the process of "okay, now I pick one that I like best" has always felt awkward to me. My Immortal posted... Codenames is easily my favorite game. now here is a gentleman of distinguished taste --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898935746] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>skullbone posted...</cite> <quote>Codenames is a fantastic game and one of my favorites also. I know you had some similar games on your list but have you played Spyfall or Snake Oil Salesman?</quote> Spyfall I have played a few times. I arbitrarily decided not to include it on my game-tracking list because it doesn't feel much like a board game, because I wanted it to fit at a nice round number, and because I find it nearly impossible to play using physical components (though the online implementation was really good). I think the game is "okay" and don't think it compares to Codenames at all in terms of design and fun. I've never played it, but from what I can tell, Snake Oil is a "judge picks their favorite" type of game, right? I tend to despise that mechanic. The creativity involved in the game sounds like it's really good for laughs, but the process of "okay, now I pick one that I like best" has always felt awkward to me. <cite>My Immortal posted...</cite> <quote>Codenames is easily my favorite game.</quote> now here is a gentleman of distinguished taste</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
cyko 04/02/18 6:00:21 PM #334:	SeabassDebeste posted... Bonus question - What is your favorite Codenames memory? Me - ... ... ... "China... Eight." My entire team - "YOU IDIOT! There is no way 8 of those words have to do with China!!!" --- Yay - BkSheikah is the guru champion of awesomeness. <cite>cyko posted [p:898941942] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>SeabassDebeste posted...</cite> <quote> Bonus question - What is your favorite Codenames memory? </quote> Me - ... ... ... "China... Eight." My entire team - "YOU IDIOT! There is no way 8 of those words have to do with China!!!"</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
BakusaiTenketsu 04/02/18 6:26:07 PM #335:	I've never played (and don't think I've even heard of tbqh) Codenames. --- http://tinyurl.com/ozuq4pq http://tinyurl.com/zy566j2 <cite>BakusaiTenketsu posted [p:898943268] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>I've never played (and don't think I've even heard of tbqh) Codenames.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Emeraldegg 04/02/18 6:53:06 PM #336:	cyko posted... SeabassDebeste posted... Bonus question - What is your favorite Codenames memory? Me - ... ... ... "China... Eight." My entire team - "YOU IDIOT! There is no way 8 of those words have to do with China!!!" That's only the last resort option if you know the enemy team is gonna win next turn --- I'm a greener egg than the eggs from dr. seuss <cite>Emeraldegg posted [p:898944716] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>cyko posted...</cite> <quote><cite>SeabassDebeste posted...</cite> <quote> Bonus question - What is your favorite Codenames memory? </quote> Me - ... ... ... "China... Eight." My entire team - "YOU IDIOT! There is no way 8 of those words have to do with China!!!"</quote> That's only the last resort option if you know the enemy team is gonna win next turn</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Maniac64 04/02/18 8:47:02 PM #337:	SeabassDebeste posted... The Mana Sword posted... I'm pretty lukewarm on Codenames. It's alright once in a while, but I find it kind of frustrating. That's probably on me because I always want to try and find the optimal move, which isn't really possible, especially given a time limit. Tom Bombadil posted... Codenames isn't really my style but I still liked it okay the one night I played a couple games what a surprise the people who like boring solitary eurogames don't like a masterpiece of communication involving other humans Maniac64 posted... So no Betrayal huh? Thats surprising to me. I really need to play codenamess sometime. Seems like a game I would likw. I've played Betrayal once. It's kind of cute, but it didn't feel game-y to me. You do need to play Codenames, and at its price and availability, there's no reason not to own it! There is one reason not to. The only person around to play with is my wife and she isn't really interested in it. --- http://img.imgcake.com/drakeryn/maniacjpgma.jpg ~Drak "Hope is allowed to be stupid, unwise, and naive." ~Sir Chris <cite>Maniac64 posted [p:898951175] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>SeabassDebeste posted...</cite> <quote><cite>The Mana Sword posted...</cite> <quote>I'm pretty lukewarm on Codenames. It's alright once in a while, but I find it kind of frustrating. That's probably on me because I always want to try and find the optimal move, which isn't really possible, especially given a time limit.</quote> <cite>Tom Bombadil posted...</cite> <quote>Codenames isn't really my style but I still liked it okay the one night I played a couple games</quote> what a surprise the people who like boring solitary eurogames don't like a masterpiece of communication involving other humans <cite>Maniac64 posted...</cite> <quote>So no Betrayal huh? Thats surprising to me. I really need to play codenamess sometime. Seems like a game I would likw.</quote> I've played Betrayal once. It's kind of cute, but it didn't feel game-y to me. You do need to play Codenames, and at its price and availability, there's no reason not to own it!</quote> There is one reason not to. The only person around to play with is my wife and she isn't really interested in it.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Epyo 04/02/18 11:03:12 PM #338:	duet >>>>>> other codenames --- People who don't finish their sentences I'm a Castlevania superfan! Ask me anything! <cite>Epyo posted [p:898959365] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>duet >>>>>> other codenames</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
KommunistKoala 04/03/18 8:55:57 AM #339:	played roll for the galaxy last night, much fun was had --- does anyone even read this <cite>KommunistKoala posted [p:898974864] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>played roll for the galaxy last night, much fun was had</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/03/18 9:13:52 AM #340:	cyko posted... Me - ... ... ... "China... Eight." My entire team - "YOU IDIOT! There is no way 8 of those words have to do with China!!!" The massive number ones are great. In Pictures, I had a spymaster give a 1-pic clue in round 1. The other spymaster seemed pleased and confident and gave a 4-pic clue... and then we swung back and the second clue was for 7 or something, and the win. Then there was the "America 8" in regular Codenames on turn 1. Took us around 3 total turns to win though! BakusaiTenketsu posted... I've never played (and don't think I've even heard of tbqh) Codenames. consider yourself newly educated - now get out there and play it! Epyo posted... duet >>>>>> other codenames it's incredible how well they adapted the formula! i also seem to remember you being a co-op hater, so i'm glad this helped you come around on it :) KommunistKoala posted... played roll for the galaxy last night, much fun was had first time? --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898975375] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>cyko posted...</cite> <quote>Me - ... ... ... "China... Eight." My entire team - "YOU IDIOT! There is no way 8 of those words have to do with China!!!" </quote> The massive number ones are great. In Pictures, I had a spymaster give a 1-pic clue in round 1. The other spymaster seemed pleased and confident and gave a 4-pic clue... and then we swung back and the second clue was for 7 or something, and the win. Then there was the "America 8" in regular Codenames on turn 1. Took us around 3 total turns to win though! <cite>BakusaiTenketsu posted...</cite> <quote>I've never played (and don't think I've even heard of tbqh) Codenames.</quote> consider yourself newly educated - now get out there and play it! <cite>Epyo posted...</cite> <quote>duet >>>>>> other codenames</quote> it's incredible how well they adapted the formula! i also seem to remember you being a co-op hater, so i'm glad this helped you come around on it :) <cite>KommunistKoala posted...</cite> <quote>played roll for the galaxy last night, much fun was had</quote> first time?</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
My Immortal 04/03/18 9:21:42 AM #341:	I'm not a huge fan of Duet, but we only played it once. I think our group likes the competitive aspect of Codenames too much. --- #VnaaVimmDrnuddma <cite>My Immortal posted [p:898975620] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>I'm not a huge fan of Duet, but we only played it once. I think our group likes the competitive aspect of Codenames too much.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
My Immortal 04/03/18 9:22:13 AM #342:	Also I do like Disney Codenames but I do not like Marvel. The pictures in the Marvel one are so busy you can't make out anything unless you pick it up and really study it. --- #VnaaVimmDrnuddma <cite>My Immortal posted [p:898975641] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Also I do like Disney Codenames but I do not like Marvel. The pictures in the Marvel one are so busy you can't make out anything unless you pick it up and really study it.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
KommunistKoala 04/03/18 9:28:41 AM #343:	yea first (two) times --- does anyone even read this <cite>KommunistKoala posted [p:898975878] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>yea first (two) times</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Pokewars 04/03/18 9:45:54 AM #344:	Man, I need to get Codenames. I know my family would be super into it. --- So? https://imgur.com/GC44SXO <cite>Pokewars posted [p:898976528] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Man, I need to get Codenames. I know my family would be super into it.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Maniac64 04/03/18 9:50:01 AM #345:	Im going to convince my mom to get it. Then I can play it during the holidays at least --- http://img.imgcake.com/drakeryn/maniacjpgma.jpg ~Drak "Hope is allowed to be stupid, unwise, and naive." ~Sir Chris <cite>Maniac64 posted [p:898976703] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Im going to convince my mom to get it. Then I can play it during the holidays at least</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
banananor 04/03/18 11:16:46 AM #346:	i find betrayal games fun, but you have to be in the mood for a silly and somewhat complex time they're not particularly competitive, and don't feel all that strategic. it mostly seems to come down to who draws the haunt, how early in the game it is, and how that particular haunt is balanced they're good, flavorful romps --- You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured. <cite>banananor posted [p:898980064] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>i find betrayal games fun, but you have to be in the mood for a silly and somewhat complex time they're not particularly competitive, and don't feel all that strategic. it mostly seems to come down to who draws the haunt, how early in the game it is, and how that particular haunt is balanced they're good, flavorful romps</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/03/18 11:22:54 AM #347:	My Immortal posted... I'm not a huge fan of Duet, but we only played it once. I think our group likes the competitive aspect of Codenames too much. I don't find that the two compete against each other unless you have exactly four players. At two or three players I'm going to take Duet 9 out of 10 times, and with 5+ I take regular Codenames 10 out of 10 times. My Immortal posted... Also I do like Disney Codenames but I do not like Marvel. The pictures in the Marvel one are so busy you can't make out anything unless you pick it up and really study it. Had no idea that Marvel Codenames had pictures in it! Pokewars posted... Man, I need to get Codenames. I know my family would be super into it. Maniac64 posted... Im going to convince my mom to get it. Then I can play it during the holidays at least The hype machine works! --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898980329] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote><cite>My Immortal posted...</cite> <quote>I'm not a huge fan of Duet, but we only played it once. I think our group likes the competitive aspect of Codenames too much.</quote> I don't find that the two compete against each other unless you have exactly four players. At two or three players I'm going to take Duet 9 out of 10 times, and with 5+ I take regular Codenames 10 out of 10 times. <cite>My Immortal posted...</cite> <quote>Also I do like Disney Codenames but I do not like Marvel. The pictures in the Marvel one are so busy you can't make out anything unless you pick it up and really study it.</quote> Had no idea that Marvel Codenames had pictures in it! <cite>Pokewars posted...</cite> <quote>Man, I need to get Codenames. I know my family would be super into it.</quote> <cite>Maniac64 posted...</cite> <quote>Im going to convince my mom to get it. Then I can play it during the holidays at least</quote> The hype machine works!</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/03/18 11:34:34 AM #348:	1. Time's Up! Title Recall https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36553/times-title-recall Genre/mechanics: Team vs team, clue-giving, trivia, restricted communication, memory, party game Rules complexity: 2/10 Game length: 30-40 minutes Player count: 3-8 Experience: 50+ games with 4-8 First played: 2016 Time's Up is a twist on classic clue-giving party games like Taboo and Charades, played on teams using one deck of cards. When it is your turn, you draw a card - which has a title on it - and get your partner(s) to guess what's on it and score the card. You go through as many as you can in the time limit, and then the unguessed clue(s) go back into the deck. Then the deck passes to the next player. Once the deck is drained, the cards are scored and re-shuffled for further rounds (a total of three), where clue-giving is restricted to one word and then acting-only. Design - So in terms of explaining the hint - Time's Up is in no way a "designer game." It's a combination of two classic "parlor games" and it's in fact been a parlor game called Celebrities, where the deck is constructed out of people writing on cards, and every entry is a person's name. ("Time's Up!" is also filled with celebrities, whereas "Time's Up! Title Recall" is filled with titles of books, TV shows, movies, games, and the like.) If you've heard of Monikers, that's also the same thing, though Monikers's cards are more diverse/modern and have short blurbs printed on them (along with a ruleset that I find less satisfying). Back to the design of the game - games like Taboo are inherently fun because you get to watch people struggle to communicate certain words, and then be baffled by how effectively they can communicate others. The time limit throws that challenge into a pressure cooker. Time's Up gives you all of that, and it also gives you opportunities to get the other team back for their easy clues, due to the second and third rounds. There can also be a lot of frustration to a game of Charades, since acting out a bunch of words can be quite difficult - but when you've already seen the cards, the memory element means you only need to evoke a bit of that card before your partner may be able to pick up on it. Four is by far the best player count for Time's Up, but six (with either two teams of three, or three teams of two) is also very good. Five (asymmetric teams) can work, as can three (no teams, but your score is a sum of your clue-giving and guessing scores). You can play with bigger teams than that, but the downtime between personally seeing the cards and the agency in guessing will drop a lot. --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898980844] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>1. Time's Up! Title Recall https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36553/times-title-recall Genre/mechanics: Team vs team, clue-giving, trivia, restricted communication, memory, party game Rules complexity: 2/10 Game length: 30-40 minutes Player count: 3-8 Experience: 50+ games with 4-8 First played: 2016 Time's Up is a twist on classic clue-giving party games like Taboo and Charades, played on teams using one deck of cards. When it is your turn, you draw a card - which has a title on it - and get your partner(s) to guess what's on it and score the card. You go through as many as you can in the time limit, and then the unguessed clue(s) go back into the deck. Then the deck passes to the next player. Once the deck is drained, the cards are scored and re-shuffled for further rounds (a total of three), where clue-giving is restricted to one word and then acting-only. Design - So in terms of explaining the hint - Time's Up is in no way a "designer game." It's a combination of two classic "parlor games" and it's in fact been a parlor game called Celebrities, where the deck is constructed out of people writing on cards, and every entry is a person's name. ("Time's Up!" is also filled with celebrities, whereas "Time's Up! Title Recall" is filled with titles of books, TV shows, movies, games, and the like.) If you've heard of Monikers, that's also the same thing, though Monikers's cards are more diverse/modern and have short blurbs printed on them (along with a ruleset that I find less satisfying). Back to the design of the game - games like Taboo are inherently fun because you get to watch people struggle to communicate certain words, and then be baffled by how effectively they can communicate others. The time limit throws that challenge into a pressure cooker. Time's Up gives you all of that, and it also gives you opportunities to get the other team back for their easy clues, due to the second and third rounds. There can also be a lot of frustration to a game of Charades, since acting out a bunch of words can be quite difficult - but when you've already seen the cards, the memory element means you only need to evoke a bit of that card before your partner may be able to pick up on it. Four is by far the best player count for Time's Up, but six (with either two teams of three, or three teams of two) is also very good. Five (asymmetric teams) can work, as can three (no teams, but your score is a sum of your clue-giving and guessing scores). You can play with bigger teams than that, but the downtime between personally seeing the cards and the agency in guessing will drop a lot.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/03/18 11:34:38 AM #349:	Enjoyment - It's hard to think of a game for me that is as consistently fun as Time's Up. I actually got into it for the first time at a meetup, waiting to get into a game of Avalon. Like so many other games, the fun you have in Time's Up is tied to the people you play with. I like to be strict about certain rules, but lax on others, but if people get tied up about specifics, it can get overly argumentative. Due to the nature of the cards' titles, having people with at least a reasonable cultural reference pool is also critical. Anyway, I enjoy everything about Time's Up - it's cooperative but also competitive, it's creative, it rewards playing quickly, it involves just the right amount of memory, and you laugh a lot while playing. It's fair in the sense that everyone gets a shake at it, but of course the luck of the draw will always matter. It's the type of game where you'll have a nine-word title that no one recognizes in Round 1, and it will not be gotten until everyone has seen the card and they know what to guess - but then in Round 2, it will be gotten instantly when someone clues "Nine!" It's the type of game where you'll know that there are two food-related items in there, so you might accidentally shout out the wrong one in Round 3 the moment your partner pantomimes eating, resulting in the card being skipped, and then bemoan your over-anxious trigger finger. But you can be redeemed with the next card when your partner points at you enthusiastically and stares at you - the universal signal for "WHAT YOU JUST SAID!!!" It's the type of game that has people pantomiming getting their ass burned by sitting on "Blazing Saddles." It's the type of game where you realize that "Two Indian guys want to get fast food" means "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," or where the same card will cause two partners to give vastly different clues to each other that they simply can't figure out. Time's Up isn't for everyone and I wouldn't consider it a centerpiece game for a game night where you want to cover some "meaty" games. However, it's probably the one I enjoy the most. My core group of four isn't a big fan, and at public meetups, I'm often trying different games. But in the bigger get-together where Avalon usually gets done, I'm always a bit excited when a game night dwindles toward its end and only four or six people (who can be persuaded to enjoy the game) are left and I can reach for the cards and sand timer. Future - Knowing the cards (of which there are many, but not unlimited) can confer an unfair advantage, sadly, so I try not to overplay the game - usually only one game per gaming session, tops two. But when everyone gets to know the cards to some extent, that mitigates the effect. As I mentioned above, I'd ideally play it once per gaming session with enthusiastic partners that I like - if I suspect the player count will be right at any point, I try to bring my set. Bonus question - What is your favorite game (or favorite X games), and why? --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898980846] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Enjoyment - It's hard to think of a game for me that is as consistently fun as Time's Up. I actually got into it for the first time at a meetup, waiting to get into a game of Avalon. Like so many other games, the fun you have in Time's Up is tied to the people you play with. I like to be strict about certain rules, but lax on others, but if people get tied up about specifics, it can get overly argumentative. Due to the nature of the cards' titles, having people with at least a reasonable cultural reference pool is also critical. Anyway, I enjoy everything about Time's Up - it's cooperative but also competitive, it's creative, it rewards playing quickly, it involves just the right amount of memory, and you laugh a lot while playing. It's fair in the sense that everyone gets a shake at it, but of course the luck of the draw will always matter. It's the type of game where you'll have a nine-word title that no one recognizes in Round 1, and it will not be gotten until everyone has seen the card and they know what to guess - but then in Round 2, it will be gotten instantly when someone clues "Nine!" It's the type of game where you'll know that there are two food-related items in there, so you might accidentally shout out the wrong one in Round 3 the moment your partner pantomimes eating, resulting in the card being skipped, and then bemoan your over-anxious trigger finger. But you can be redeemed with the next card when your partner points at you enthusiastically and stares at you - the universal signal for "WHAT YOU JUST SAID!!!" It's the type of game that has people pantomiming getting their ass burned by sitting on "Blazing Saddles." It's the type of game where you realize that "Two Indian guys want to get fast food" means "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," or where the same card will cause two partners to give vastly different clues to each other that they simply can't figure out. Time's Up isn't for everyone and I wouldn't consider it a centerpiece game for a game night where you want to cover some "meaty" games. However, it's probably the one I enjoy the most. My core group of four isn't a big fan, and at public meetups, I'm often trying different games. But in the bigger get-together where Avalon usually gets done, I'm always a bit excited when a game night dwindles toward its end and only four or six people (who can be persuaded to enjoy the game) are left and I can reach for the cards and sand timer. Future - Knowing the cards (of which there are many, but not unlimited) can confer an unfair advantage, sadly, so I try not to overplay the game - usually only one game per gaming session, tops two. But when everyone gets to know the cards to some extent, that mitigates the effect. As I mentioned above, I'd ideally play it once per gaming session with enthusiastic partners that I like - if I suspect the player count will be right at any point, I try to bring my set. Bonus question - What is your favorite game (or favorite X games), and why?</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
The Mana Sword 04/03/18 11:38:15 AM #350:	Interesting choice. --- http://card.psnprofiles.com/1/Gylgamesh501.png <cite>The Mana Sword posted [p:898980994] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Interesting choice.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
VintageGin 04/03/18 12:02:50 PM #351:	Never played Time's Up so I can't really comment. Although I'm reminded of a game in the pictionary/charades category where one team sees the word first and orders the methods for describing that word by point value (so something like acting = 1 point, drawing = 2 points, etc). Then one person on the other team chooses a method and tries to get their team to guess the word. Anyone know what game this is? (Hopefully it's not on the list...I'd feel a bit silly) Games I would have liked to see on this list: City of Iron: 2nd Edition (or any of the games by Red Raven Games) Castles of Mad King Ludwig Vitaculture Yomi --- Ginhyun http://i.imgur.com/t7G7uoU.gif <cite>VintageGin posted [p:898982191] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Never played Time's Up so I can't really comment. Although I'm reminded of a game in the pictionary/charades category where one team sees the word first and orders the methods for describing that word by point value (so something like acting = 1 point, drawing = 2 points, etc). Then one person on the other team chooses a method and tries to get their team to guess the word. Anyone know what game this is? (Hopefully it's not on the list...I'd feel a bit silly) Games I would have liked to see on this list: City of Iron: 2nd Edition (or any of the games by Red Raven Games) Castles of Mad King Ludwig Vitaculture Yomi</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SeabassDebeste 04/03/18 12:09:20 PM #352:	Thanks for reading all! Final list here - sub-lists and whatever to come after this. Nein! 80. Secret Hitler 79. Mascarade 78. Sheriff of Nottingham 77. Good Cop, Bad Cop 76. Dead of Winter 75. Word on the Street 74. One Night Ultimate Werewolf Punch Missed 73. Boss Monster 72. Colt Express 71. God's Gambit 70. Sushi Go 69. Qwirkle 68. Cosmic Encounter 67. Ticket to Ride Banzai! 66. Settlers of Catan 65. Machi Koro 64. Zombicide 63. King of Tokyo 62. Guillotine 61. Turn the Tide 60. Coup 59. Roll for the Galaxy 58. San Juan 57. Ca$h 'n Guns Feeling Bold 56. The Bloody Inn 55. World's Fair 1893 54. The Grizzled 53. Two Rooms and a Boom 52. 7 Wonders 51. Tokaido (also Lost Cities: The Board Game) 50. Takenoko 49. Karuba 48. Acquire 47. Welcome to the Dungeon THREE! THREE! THREE! 46. Ra 45. Pit 44. Love Letter 43. Dixit 42. D-Day Dice 41. Small World 40. Mysterium 39. 6 nimmt! 38. No Thanks! Well Fed 37. Agricola 36. Ghost Blitz 35. BANG: The Dice Game 34. Power Grid 33. Tzolk'in 32. Seasons 31. Anomia 30. Wits and Wagers 29. Century Spice Road 28. Isle of Skye I'm In! 27. Glory to Rome 26. Five Tribes 25. Scythe 24. Captain Sonar 23. Jungle Speed 22. For Sale 21. Specter Ops 20. Celestia 19. Hanabi 18. Splendor Bananas! 17. Werewords 16. Blood Bound 15. Dominion 14. Kemet 13. Discoveries: Lewis and Clark 12. A Game of Thrones 2nd Edition 11. Bananagrams 10. Dracula's Feast 9. Concordia 8. Forbidden Island/Desert/Pandemic 7. Pandemic Legacy (Season 1) And Merlin is... 6. Through the Ages 5. Keyflower 4. The Resistance: Avalon 3. A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (2nd Edition) 2. Codenames/Codenames Duet 1. Time's Up! Title Recall --- yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness <cite>SeabassDebeste posted [p:898982531] in thirty-one... [t:76412082]...</cite> <quote>Thanks for reading all! Final list here - sub-lists and whatever to come after this. Nein! 80. Secret Hitler 79. Mascarade 78. Sheriff of Nottingham 77. Good Cop, Bad Cop 76. Dead of Winter 75. Word on the Street 74. One Night Ultimate Werewolf Punch Missed 73. Boss Monster 72. Colt Express 71. God's Gambit 70. Sushi Go 69. Qwirkle 68. Cosmic Encounter 67. Ticket to Ride Banzai! 66. Settlers of Catan 65. Machi Koro 64. Zombicide 63. King of Tokyo 62. Guillotine 61. Turn the Tide 60. Coup 59. Roll for the Galaxy 58. San Juan 57. Ca$h 'n Guns Feeling Bold 56. The Bloody Inn 55. World's Fair 1893 54. The Grizzled 53. Two Rooms and a Boom 52. 7 Wonders 51. Tokaido (also Lost Cities: The Board Game) 50. Takenoko 49. Karuba 48. Acquire 47. Welcome to the Dungeon THREE! THREE! THREE! 46. Ra 45. Pit 44. Love Letter 43. Dixit 42. D-Day Dice 41. Small World 40. Mysterium 39. 6 nimmt! 38. No Thanks! Well Fed 37. Agricola 36. Ghost Blitz 35. BANG: The Dice Game 34. Power Grid 33. Tzolk'in 32. Seasons 31. Anomia 30. Wits and Wagers 29. Century Spice Road 28. Isle of Skye I'm In! 27. Glory to Rome 26. Five Tribes 25. Scythe 24. Captain Sonar 23. Jungle Speed 22. For Sale 21. Specter Ops 20. Celestia 19. Hanabi 18. Splendor Bananas! 17. Werewords 16. Blood Bound 15. Dominion 14. Kemet 13. Discoveries: Lewis and Clark 12. A Game of Thrones 2nd Edition 11. Bananagrams 10. Dracula's Feast 9. Concordia 8. Forbidden Island/Desert/Pandemic 7. Pandemic Legacy (Season 1) And Merlin is... 6. Through the Ages 5. Keyflower 4. The Resistance: Avalon 3. A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (2nd Edition) 2. Codenames/Codenames Duet 1. Time's Up! Title Recall</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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Board 8 > thirty-one tabletop games, ranked (+) Yeah! (+)

Board 8 > thirty-one tabletop games, ranked