a world without string
Games played in 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Here is a summary of board games I played in 2008. These are “face-to-face” games, not games played with a computer. I expect game playing to be a regular activity for the remainder of December, with the Holidays and all, so these numbers are expected to change. It is interesting for me to see how many different board games I played this past year. And it’s also interesting how some of the really “hot” board games from 2007 didn’t see as much activity this year.
I also believe that 2008 was an excellent year for new board games. There were so many interesting titles that hit the table this year. For some of the games, they were played a lot at first and then less often in the following months. However, this was not always because of the attraction of new games to try, rather that there were so many exceptional great games we added in 2008, so we were always rotating through more game titles than usual.
This summary is ranked from most frequently played to least.
2 - 5 players
60 minutes
Ages 8+
Played in 2008: 30
This was one of the first “euro” games we purchased and still remains a favorite. I think we own all the expansions but frequently play with just a few:
2 - 4 players
45 minutes
Ages 10+
Played in 2008: 28
A new game for us in 2008. I’ve played this game at work over lunch, at home with family and out with friends. It’s a cooperative board game, all the players struggle to beat the game itself. The theme is that each player is a researcher working in a team trying to save the world from outbreaks of diseases. The game mechanics are quite clever and the game components and colors are first-rate. This is an excellent game, and obviously very popular. Pandemic is one of the those games that when it gets newly introduced to people, they often want to go out and purchase their own copy.
I still enjoy playing this game and even enjoy playing it solitaire. However, it’s not as “hot” as it originally was with my family. Still if I were constructing a collection of board games to introduce, this one would definitely be included. I’ve written up a review about this game.
2 - 6 players
15 minutes
Ages 10+
Played in 2008: 21
We started playing this game in 2007 and it still remain a family favorite. I’ve recorded that we have played this game 77 times since we first owned it. Escalation! is a fast-paced, fun card game. We frequently use it to “break the ice” when beginning a game session. I’ve also written up a review about this game.
2 players
30 minutes
Ages 9+
Played in 2008: 16
This is a very cool strategy game and was new for us in 2008. The premise of the game is that one player is playing “Mr. Jack” and the other is trying to figure out who he is. The challenge is that there are several detective figures on the game board and one of them is Mr. Jack.
The game plays pretty quick, I’ve introduced it a lunch time at work and it has seen several plays there. It feels a little like Chess because you need to out-think you opponent carefully. I like this game a lot, and frequently play with my son.
2 - 4 players
60 minutes
Ages 10+
Played in 2008: 13
A new game for us in 2008 too. This is a “worker placement” game with a bit of luck too. The board game is beautiful and the components are first-rate. There’s even a leather dice cup.
For a while there our family played this game every week. It’s still highly regarded by my family.
2 players
A classic and familiar game to many
Played in 2008: 12
My youngest brother hand made a wooden chess board for me back when he was in High School Wood Shop class. I still use it to this day with a very nice set of wooden chess pieces given to me 30 years ago. I taught Nicholas to play Chess years ago and he’s getting better at it. These games were all played between the two of us.
2 - 4 players
45 minutes
Ages 10+
Played in 2008: 12
My wife surprised me with this game as a Christmas gift last year. She looked over my Wish List on Board Game Geek and discovered I was interested in this game. I’m not sure how she found a copy but I was delighted.
This is a “puzzle” game. Each player adds interesting factory machines onto their factory floor game board, looking for ways to optimize the connections (inputs and output) and locations on the floor. I’ve played this game over lunch at work. It also works as a solitaire game.
Felix: The Cat in the Sack
3 - 5 players
20 minutes
Ages 8+
Played in 2008: 10
This is a light card, auction game, by Friedemann Friese, the designer of Power Grid. It’s not quite as fun as Escalation!, but we also use this game as a session “starter”.
1 - 5 players
120 minutes
Ages 12+
Played in 2008: 8
We received our copy of this game in August, so there’s hasn’t been much of the year for playing it. Even then it shows a healthy 8 plays in only a few months.
Agricola is a board game about farming. And it’s an excellent game. There’s a set of rules for the family/starter and the regular rules which provides for a rich gaming experience. This really is an outstanding game. I’ve read great reviews about it and enjoyed teaching it to others. Invariably, while the game is on-going I’ll hear someone remark how cool this game is. I recommend that if you want to learn this game, waste no time and go over and see the excellent video tutorial Scott Nicholson created on his Board Games With Scott web site.
Note that there are official rules to play this game solitaire. Also, it’s become such a popular game that many people have “tricked out” their components with custom made pieces. We did it too. We made a whole set of very cute and fun custom Sheep, Pigs and Cows for use in playing this game. It just adds to the fun. This game is rated number 1 on Board Game Geek, having been the first board game to displace Puerto Rico from it’s long-held number 1 position.
Agricola may not be for everyone but I recommend you give it a try if possible. The only downside I feel with the game is that it can take about 3 hours to play the first time with newbies.
2 players
20 minutes
Ages 9+
Played in 2008: 8
Hive is an abstract strategy game. Each player is provided with a set of insects that have unique movement abilities, like pieces do in Chess. However, this plays nothing like Chess. The board is formed by the placement of the pieces. And the pieces can move around as each player tries to surround the opponent’s Queen Bee.
I keep a copy of this game in the car and often play a game with Nicholas if we go out somewhere for lunch or dinner.
2 - 5 players
45 minutes
Ages 8+
Played in 2008: 8
This was our first “Euro” game and remains a family favorite. If I’m introducing someone to European Strategy Board Games, I always bring out Ticket To Ride. It’s reputation as an excellent “gateway” game is deserved. We always play with the USA 1910 expansion nowadays.
Our family can usually complete a game of Ticket To Ride in 30 to 45 minutes. We haven’t done anything to “trick” this game out, even though it is a family favorite. I do admit though that we purchased the Ticket To Ride: Marklin game just to have the purple and white train pieces so we could use them with the original game. You can see we’re pretty big fans of Ticket To Ride.
2 - 5 players
120 minutes
Ages 10+
Played in 2008: 7
This is another “worker placement” game with beautiful components and game board. It’s an economics game. I think it’s quite a bit of fun and consider it a medium-weight strategy game, not quite as light as Ticket To Ride. We played Stone Age and Cuba often in the same weeks, and did not tire of either.
I’m not going to break out details about the other games, but they are all excellent examples of modern board games and I am happy to have them in our collection. Each of these games were played about a half-dozen times in the past year. Some of the board games have not been played very often just because there’s hasn’t been lot of time, and there are so many excellent new games to choose from. Here’s some of the remaining list. Each entry has a link to it’s entry at Board Game Geek.
1960: The Making of the President
Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game
HeroScape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie
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