Hey Yo!
Back in January I made this post about board games called Board Games for Boring Days. Though yesterday wasn't boring per se, I did not enjoy a minute of the video games I played, and I was all over the place emotionally, but that's for a different post (haha, or not.)
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BANG!
Let me just start by saying that BANG! is a weird game. Now, in this case, weird is definitely not bad. It is made by the foreign company "daVinci Editrice" to be along the lines of a Spaghetti Western film, complete with guns, Wells Fargo Wagons, and drinking beer to recover health.
Yes, the game is ridiculous. Each player is assigned a character and a role, and they have to play the game from there fulfilling that role. The four roles in BANG! are: Sheriff, Deputy(s), Outlaws, and Renegade. - I can't help it, I love that song. ;)
Yes, the game is ridiculous. Each player is assigned a character and a role, and they have to play the game from there fulfilling that role. The four roles in BANG! are: Sheriff, Deputy(s), Outlaws, and Renegade. - I can't help it, I love that song. ;)
Pros:
•Lots of good strategy elements.
•Western theme makes for some super fun moments.
•Pretty balanced.
•"I'm your favorite deputy!"
Cons:
•Poor name choice often results in questionable character choices.
•A bit of takedown required
•Super steep learning curve
•Despite being mostly balanced, a few of the characters feel really powerful.
•Renegade rarely wins
Final thoughts:
YEEHAW! It's crazy zany fun, that has plenty of strategy involved.
•Pretty balanced.
•"I'm your favorite deputy!"
Cons:
•Poor name choice often results in questionable character choices.
•A bit of takedown required
•Super steep learning curve
•Despite being mostly balanced, a few of the characters feel really powerful.
•Renegade rarely wins
Final thoughts:
YEEHAW! It's crazy zany fun, that has plenty of strategy involved.
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Careers
The big difference in this game is that everyone has their own career goals. There are three different commodities in this game -- Money, Happiness and Fame. The goal is to fulfill your own personal combination of the three, and as long as they all add up to 60, you are in the clear. So, you might decide to go for 25 Fame, 15 Thousand Dollars, and 20 Happiness. As soon as one person accomplishes their goal, they reveal that the game is over. There is quite a bit of strategy regarding how the goal is accomplished, and few games look similar to a previous game.
Pros:
•Easy to get out and play
•Good balance between fun and thinking (I'm an ESTP, so take that for what's its worth. ;) )
•Overall well designed and thought through game.
•Not forever up a creek without a paddle if you get bad rolls the first few times around.
Cons:
•I always lose to Jon
•Doesn't offer as much flexibility in the game
•Due to the lack of flexibility, there is somewhat of a steep learning curve
Final thoughts:
Well balanced game with less of a luck factor than some other popular games.
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Personal Preference
Personal Preference is a Canadian game made originally made by "Playtoy Industries"
La préférence personnelle est un jeu canadien fait à l'origine par "Playtoy Industries"
Ok, ok, that was a lame joke, I know. :P
This game was made back in the 80's and could be categorized as a "get to know you" type game. Competition is light, and there is very little strategy involved.
The game has players going around a board, and the first one to reach the end wins. There are two ways to get points: by rolling the die on your turn, and by guessing a person's preference correctly. There are four different preference categories; Activities, Food, Potpourri and People. The player will land on one of those squares and will proceed to organize the cards in their hand to match their own personal preference and then everyone takes guesses by placing their number tokens on the appropriate corners of the board. If you are super sure of your guess, you can even place the number in the middle, giving you DOUBLE the movement forward if you're right, but one step back if you are wrong.
•Overall well designed and thought through game.
•Not forever up a creek without a paddle if you get bad rolls the first few times around.
Cons:
•I always lose to Jon
•Doesn't offer as much flexibility in the game
•Due to the lack of flexibility, there is somewhat of a steep learning curve
Final thoughts:
Well balanced game with less of a luck factor than some other popular games.
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Personal Preference
Personal Preference is a Canadian game made originally made by "Playtoy Industries"
La préférence personnelle est un jeu canadien fait à l'origine par "Playtoy Industries"
Ok, ok, that was a lame joke, I know. :P
This game was made back in the 80's and could be categorized as a "get to know you" type game. Competition is light, and there is very little strategy involved.
The game has players going around a board, and the first one to reach the end wins. There are two ways to get points: by rolling the die on your turn, and by guessing a person's preference correctly. There are four different preference categories; Activities, Food, Potpourri and People. The player will land on one of those squares and will proceed to organize the cards in their hand to match their own personal preference and then everyone takes guesses by placing their number tokens on the appropriate corners of the board. If you are super sure of your guess, you can even place the number in the middle, giving you DOUBLE the movement forward if you're right, but one step back if you are wrong.
Pros:
•Good get to know you better game
•Just fun in general
•Fun combinations (i.e. Shatner v.s. ham)
•Rewards observing a person's interests in various activities.
Cons:
•Not fun if you don't know everyone
•The game is dated, and a lot of the famous people may not be known to younger players.
•Cleanup from the last turn happens all the time, and can make the game feel a little slow
Final thoughts:
Great game that puts relationships, individual tastes and fun in the spotlight.
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So, yeah.
Hopefully that gave you a little bit of an insight into the games that I like, and maybe it's even convinced you to buy more games. Whatever your final verdict, make sure to remember this one thing:
•Fun combinations (i.e. Shatner v.s. ham)
•Rewards observing a person's interests in various activities.
Cons:
•Not fun if you don't know everyone
•The game is dated, and a lot of the famous people may not be known to younger players.
•Cleanup from the last turn happens all the time, and can make the game feel a little slow
Final thoughts:
Great game that puts relationships, individual tastes and fun in the spotlight.
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So, yeah.
Hopefully that gave you a little bit of an insight into the games that I like, and maybe it's even convinced you to buy more games. Whatever your final verdict, make sure to remember this one thing:
PLAYING GAMES IS FUN!!!
First!
ReplyDeleteClassic careers is also an amazing look at how sexist the 60s were
ReplyDeleteThat's quite true. In "Teaching" my favorite square that one might land on says: "New principle is a bachelor. +2 Happiness"
DeleteAs if only women are in teaching, and only women that want to find "her man."
It gives my family plenty of laughs and giggles.