Board games (and any other games) in winter

Years ago mates taught me the card games 500 and Eucre whilst we were stuck in a tent during stormy weather whilst climbing. But, have forgotten how to play now.

In the days when it seemed there was an abundance of time, the favourites were:

Monopoly
Scrabble
Chess
Mahjong

'How To Host A Murder', where everyone dresses up in costume and adopts a character was also heaps of fun!

Drinking games were fun while they lasted, or remembered, the following day, not so much fun at all! (Fuzzy Duck, Ducky Fuzz ...)

My favourite is Pandemic, because it is a cooperative not  a competitive game.  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_(board_game)
Too many very unhappy hours watching my little brother throw tantrums and be sent to bed over Monopoly, this is great, all working together to save the  World.

On topic, this is one of my favorite board games, aside from Settlers of catan:

7 Wonders





I like this game a lot, because it is a fun mix of strategy and random chance.

Amanda Launchbury-Rainey wrote:My favourite is Pandemic, because it is a cooperative not  a competitive game.  

Pandemic is a great game! My favorite game of all time, which sounds like it would be fun in the scenario OP described, is Betrayal at House on the Hill. Usually one person ends up being the traitor, but it's actually a lot of fun to be in that position. Another working together game is Flash Point. I find the co-op games to be a lot more fun than traditional board games.

I just recently picked up the Talisman core set and Agricola Family Edition.

Agricola seems like the perfect permaculture game. Has anyone here tried it? I haven't had a chance to play yet but it looks hella fun!



"Diversity is Key! Monoculture is boring." Right??!! lol

Worth reviving this thread for a NEW game by Thomas Elpel - currently in a Kickstarter!

Wildlife Web:  Dynamic ecology strategy game



Congratulations on the new game, Tom!!

Exploding Kittens and Sushi Go are guaranteed fun for hours.

I don't think it's been posted, but back in my college days, my friends would play pen and paper rpg games for hours. In fact, we'd often play until sunrise and we'd have to sneak back home and try to get a couple hours of sleep before class/work. It was fun!

I imagine that it has infinite replay value because the games/stories are never the same. The idea is that the story-teller creates a story and the players create characters they play. Story and character interactions are dictated by the luck of the dice. Characters can have bonuses for dice roles written down, but we would often play it by ear and use only dice.

If the weather gets so bad that there's nothing else to do or if the world comes crashing down, this would be a great option to stop the boredom.

Very good game with several expansions if you want, It's a fantasy adventure board game, best with 4+ but plays fine with 2 if you disallow PVP Despite having 3 map expansions for it and 3 deck expansions we tend to stick with the original. (2nd edition)

Skipbo is great, even with only 2 players
Bananagrams (like speed scrabble)

We have other games, but those see the light of day most often

Wow, this is an old thread.  Still great stuff.
I've seen some of our favorites...Cattan, Spoons, Monopoly. Our daighter-in-law is great to play ganes with her children. We also enjoy doing puzzles as a family which has been annual Christmas gathering event of long standing.

I especially enjoy Set, Sequence and Hand and Foot.  The last gathering at the family farm,  (20 years ago?) we had  at least 15 people around rhe dining room table playing H&F... pretty exciting!

A new game for us thisbgg year is Qwerkle. Great for all ages.  The first time we played it with our family, the 6 year old smoked us all! It was great!

Since so many other places are closed down, to give her vets something to do at the local American Legion, my daughter has board game tournaments going.  They are loving it.

My wife and I have recently gotten into Backgammon. It's a nice game, not too difficult, but as tough as you want to make it.

Our daughter is just 5, but we've been introducing her to games and she seems game.  Our current favorite is crokinole.  I've made a couple of special rules for her to make it more competitive (she gets 3 do overs per game and can leave her disk on the board as long as it lands in the 15 point circle, even if she doesn't hit my disk) and it's been really fun.

I didn't look at all the rules, but this sounds an awful lot like "Dutch Blitz", which is my family's all-time favourite when we get together! Highly, highly recommended for tons of fun. A little wild at times, as it's a speed game (all play at once), but that's what makes it so fun!

I remember being a teen and getting the Dutch Blitz game as a family present... it looks so un-fun and old fashioned when you just look at the cards, but looks are truly deceiving in this case

Mariamne Ingalls wrote:Hi all-

Our favorite family game (after scrabble) is a card game we call Peanuts (aka Nerts or Pounce or Squeek, I guess):

http://www.pagat.com/patience/nerts.html

My grandmother brought it back from Florida in the 70's. And we just played it here last week.
It's a form of multi-player solitaire, with no turns, and it's a riot.

It takes a lot of decks of cards: one deck for each player.

The only thing about winter play, is that it's much more fun to play if you have at least 4 or more people, which may not be the norm on a snowy day.
I laughed out loud when I read the rules web page (above) that says that it "gets out of hand" if five or more people play!
Because that's the way our family REALLY likes to play it (a fast free-for-all with no turns and lots of competition!)

I especially recommend it if you have a group with small kids (5 years old and up) and adults, total group about 6 to 8. Then you can pair each kid with an adult partner. The kid partner has the responsibility of watching for a chance to play just the one card off the pair's Peanuts pile (aka Nerts pile), while the adult does all the rest of the demanding fast work of trying to play out cards. This makes for lots of teamwork. The kids have one of the most important jobs, and there's lots of opportunity for the adults to help, coach and joke with their kid partners. And the adults can help the kids to reach down the long dining room table, to play their cards.

One thing we insist on, that makes it more fun, is how we turn over the cards in the stock pile, 3 cards at a time (just like in solitaire).We do this using a "flip".
That is: hold the stock pile in your left hand, slide the top card off with right hand's thumb into your right hand; then repeat with the next 2 cards, and flip the resulting 3 cards in your right hand over, to reveal the card you can play. (Please forgive the right-hand bias). You'll get why this is more fun, once you play.

You can see the whole thing demonstrated as "Squeek" on Youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6ssLI51RZ4
This family is faster than mine, and there isn't as much good-natured yelling as there is at our house. And they play the Peanuts pile face up (what's up with that?!).
Watch the player to the lower right of your screen -- it's easy to see him doing doing the "flip".

I guess you can tell by now that I REALLY like this game! And that this post definitely belongs in the meaningless drivel forum!

Have fun!
Mariamne

Heidi Schmidt wrote:I didn't look at all the rules, but this sounds an awful lot like "Dutch Blitz", which is my family's all-time favourite when we get together! Highly, highly recommended for tons of fun. A little wild at times, as it's a speed game (all play at once), but that's what makes it so fun!

I remember being a teen and getting the Dutch Blitz game as a family present... it looks so un-fun and old fashioned when you just look at the cards, but looks are truly deceiving in this case

Thanks for posting this!  I got Dutch Blitz for Christmas -- I'd heard it was good, but I haven't taken the time to figure it out yet.

David Royal wrote:

Heidi Schmidt wrote:I didn't look at all the rules, but this sounds an awful lot like "Dutch Blitz", which is my family's all-time favourite when we get together! Highly, highly recommended for tons of fun. A little wild at times, as it's a speed game (all play at once), but that's what makes it so fun!

I remember being a teen and getting the Dutch Blitz game as a family present... it looks so un-fun and old fashioned when you just look at the cards, but looks are truly deceiving in this case

Thanks for posting this!  I got Dutch Blitz for Christmas -- I'd heard it was good, but I haven't taken the time to figure it out yet.

You're welcome! Just take a little time to learn a few nuances in the rules, and play a few rounds slowly...  Try to play with four people for the most fun--three people are ok in a pinch. And watch out--it's a bit addictive. Have fun!

I have really been enjoying the newer game Patchwork. There are two versions. One for two players and one for more players. I like them both. The rules are a bit different for each.

We love Firefly, so...

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/138161/firefly-game

We've been playing a lot of dominoes this winter. Last winter was Unstable Unicorns, there are some fun expansion packs for that one. It can get vicious, so feelings get hurt if people get too serious about it, but it is a really fun game that only requires cards.

I also really like a game called Gloomhaven (nerd alert). That and Mage Knight are similar, both are pretty dark games that feel like a mix of Magic and DnD. Mage Knight takes longer for an individual game but it's over at the end. Gloomhaven has a storyline that links the individual game scenarios together into a campaign that can last for months to years. Each scenario takes about 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on whos playing, and the campaign can absorb new players at any point. It is a communal type game where you all work together, but there is also room for individuals or subgroups to break off from the main group and go their own direction if they want.. Your group progress is tracked by a really beautifully drawn map with stickers, and a book to guide you through the scenarios. The game is expensive, but I've never played anything that is as comprehensive, and since I'm still only about a quarter of the way through it after almost 2 winters I think it was money well spent!

Reading this post I recalled how much I loved playing board games as a child and still in my twenties... Thanks for sharing all this nice recommendations!
I would like to share Cluedo. We had the classic version in my childhood and later on I found by chance Cluedo The Simpsons Version. We had many evenings with hilarious laughter about who killed whom with a doughnut.
For two I liked to play Abalone. Strategy and I liked the click, click of the balls, I found that very soothing.
Also Backgammon because you can be silent and just enjoy the company or you have a little chat with it.
For the gardeners might be Bohnanza, a card game, something funny. It's about soya beans and blackeye beans that need to traded and collected. Good fun for a bigger group up to seven people, especially with kids.

Old thread, but being a board gamer I figure I might add my two cents

I really love nature games, and find a lot go hand in hand with permaculture or at least just environment/farming aspects and learning opportunities. Some along that theme that we like to play:

- Photosynthesis
- Wingspan
- Ecosystem Card Game
- Everdell
- Agricola
- Catan


Some other favourites around here when we're not running D&D: (most quite highly rated in the board gaming community, so a good place to start your search if you're looking into growing a collection)
- Arabian Nights
- Dead of Winter
- Mysterium
- 7 Wonders Duel
- Talisman
- Scythe
- Gloomhaven
- Galaxy Trucker
- Smallworld
- Puerto Rico
- Root
- Above and Below
- Dominion
- Star Wars X Wing Miniature game

We got "Wingspan" recently and have been enjoying that. Nice theme where you can learn about different birds and help them to lay eggs, beautiful artwork, and good balance of mostly strategy with some luck.



https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266192/wingspan