Board games
For the last few nights Jesse and I have played a few board games before the end of the day. Sunday was Backgammon, last night was Mancala. It’s a great non-electronic way to relax at the end of a day.
If you have any good shorter (can be played in under 20 min) board game suggestions please leave them in the comments.
I’ll start us off with Gobblet
Shaun McQuaid introduced me to this particular game. Each player starts off with three sets of four pieces. The pieces are small cylinders and are stackable (as you can see in the picture above). Each player tries to make a row of four of his color, but your opponent can place his larger pieces over your pieces… both blocking you and advancing his own progress. Once all the pieces are on the board players move them from one location to the next until someone eventually wins. There’s some serious strategy as you are forced to remember up to four levels deep within a single board.
I’m going to have to purchase this game. It was extremely fun.
What other fun short-play board games do you know?
Are you looking for just two player games or any number of players? I just got Lost Cities for Christmas, 2 player, its a great game. You choose how many rounds you want to play through so it could take anywhere from 15min to an hour to finish a game. Usually we do 3 rounds which is around 30 min.
Another short game that I like that is for 2-6 players (I think) is Through the Desert.
I’m not great at giving short game descriptions but look them up both good games. Lost Cities is a card based game, and Through the desert has peices and a board to set up.
I guess I’m open to any number of players. 2 player games typically seem like they are shorter and better suited for a pre-sleep ritual but I wouldn’t be opposed to games that require larger participation.
Through the Desert is fun, I’ve only played with more than 3, not sure if it works with two. Jambo is a good two player card based game also, but it takes about ~60 min to finish usually. Same with Carcasonne the Castle, two player but ~60 minute gameplay usually.
We just got another game that fits the bill, Hey! That’s My Fish. 2-4 players ~20min of play and very easy rules. Also recommended by Defectiveyeti.
mille bornes
In addition to Gobblet, I’m a big fan of Blokus. In this game, players place Tetris-like pieces on the board - and the goal is to fit as many as you can until you run out of space. The trick is, every piece you put down MUST touch the corner of another of your pieces, and CANNOT touch side-to-side any portion of your pieces. It’s fascinating and always a challenge. For 2 players, the “travel” game is best, since the board is smaller, making the game more challenging. For more than 2, go with the full board.
The game I’ve been learning is Go, and good lord is it good… best thing about it is you can (and should!) handicap the games so that they’re even.
Not a short game, but that’s my recommendation. Here’s the wikipedia for it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(board_game)#Basic_rules
Not Milles Bornes, unless you want to be bored out of your skull.
Lost Cities is a good start for two player. For classics, I would suggest Checkers, Scrabble, Anagrams, Boggle, Pente, and Go. For modern games, Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation plays in ten minutes. Also Yinsh, Dvonn, Zertz, several CCGs (if you have discipline not to overspend) such as Magic or Netrunner, Crokinole, Ingenious, Blokus, Hive, etc…
Boardgamegeek.com has tons of suggestions for two player games on their geek lists.
Yehuda
“Not Milles Bornes, unless you want to be bored out of your skull.”
LIES
I was going to say checkers.
If you’ve even got 3 people, Balderdash is one of my favoritest games ever.
Balderdash is great!
Balderdash ROCKS!
Pit is a fun game that’s really fast, but I think needs a handful of players.
The fastest board game I know is Candy Land, unless you’re playing with really little kids. I like the longer games.
Shame on you for forgetting Chutes and Ladders.
I prefer the longer games myself. Settlers of Catan is AWESOME! Mainly cause I normally win.
I did not forget Chutes and Ladders. Chutes and Ladders can take forever! Unless you master the spinner, you can keep on hitting chutes and never win.
Pente. Not Pit! It’s GREAT but not for a pre-sleep game as it will definitely wake you up!
Monopoly doesn’t take that long right?
Ha. I love Dane Cook - nice video. Have you heard the Kool Aid rant? It’s priceless.
Anyway, about games. Taboo is always fun but you definitely need at least 4 people. Just change the total point value to a lower number so the game finishes faster.
Oooh, Gobblet looks pretty cool. Not much to recommend I’m afraid, I love boardgames but don’t get to play them very often.
What about that interactive Star Trek board game that had the video tape to go along with it?