Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Our Favorite Games - Part 1

Recently I asked the folk of the GCOM West Yahoo! group to send me a list of their favorite games. I didn’t put any restrictions on the request, asking that people list any number of games and add any commentary they liked. The list wasn’t limited to absolute favorites but any games that currently caught their fancy.

I received fifteen responses. Because of the size, I will break the results into multiple posts and post them over the next few days. Here’s the first batch.

Leslie Barkley
Goodness, pick out a favorite game, or even 5....

Doug Hoylman
These are a few of my favorite games:
However, the games I'd prefer that people bring to sessions are new ones and ones we don't play very often.

Scott Percival
I think of games in terms of categories, so I'll pick one from each category.
  • Age of Steam: Well Rounded Brain Burner. Its got many of my favorite game mechanics: role-selection, auctions, route-building, economics; lots of player interactions. My favorite part is the (typically) tight competition and endgame tension. Even though I find it exhausting, losing a close game is a joyous occasion, winning a close game is nirvana.
  • Bamboleo: Geeky Dexterity. If I had my way I'd alternate brain burners with dexterity games. The physical activity loosens me up and refreshes me. The engineer in me loves to calculate the mass distribution on the plate to see which piece to take. I don't care who "wins" as much as I want to see how far we can get: I view it as a cooperative game.
  • Advanced Squad Leader: wargamer's wargame. Strategy and Tactics, Oh My! I don't care for Memoir '44, I want a wargame where I can fully develop and implement my own unique strategy and tactics.
  • Tichu: Favorite Slippers. Like an old pair of slippers you love because they fit so well. It was challenging at first, but I've played so often that the "Tichu Pathways" in my brain have fully developed so I don't have to think about it anymore. Kind of like running down stairs: if you had to think about it you would be in serious trouble, but if you let your subconscious take over it is a breeze. I can play even when I'm so tired I can't think straight. A light game, but a pleasant way to spend time with your friends.
  • Go: Deep Abstract. Simple rules yet complex game play. Kind of like fractal definition. Calls very loudly to the geometry geek in me.
Laura Reinhold
Bryan Snyder
  • Iron Dragon - Rail Game. I like rail games in general but the empire builder type games offer some good route vs money planning with a minimum of conflict. (Oh, there is game screwage. Just not as much as a lot of other games). It is a good relaxing game that still works the brain a bit. The randomness of the destination cards and event cards makes each game a bit different
  • Axis and Allies - Even though I have been on the losing side most of the time, I like the cooperative aspect of the game. You have a good mix of strategizing, money management, and the fate of the dice rolls.
  • Can't Stop - Quick fun game of risking another dies roll for the win or losing it all
  • Dominion - I like the whole idea of starting with a few cards and building your deck up.
That's it for the first batch. There's certainly a wide variety of games represented, from dice games to card games, from abstract games to wargames. There are already three mentions of Dominion.

Please discuss or ask any questions in the Comments below.

5 comments:

Ipecac said...

I'll be posting mine later, but Doug and Laura's best approximate my own list. I'm pretty much straight up Eurogames without anything unusual.

I've played every game on this list except Pegs & Jokers and Descent.

Bob

David Fair said...

I thought it interesting that, despite the presence of Dominion on 3 people's lists, there was little other overlap among the lists. Definitely a group with small overlap among favorites.

Unknown said...

I don't think the small overlap is that surprising. Given the thousands of games out there people are bound to have different top fives. Your Monty's Top 100 from a few years ago shows lots of overlap when you count the top 100.

Scott

Ipecac said...

There's more overlap in the upcoming posts. But Dave makes a good point. There are very few that are on more than 1 or 2 lists.

Ryder said...

Oh!! You're a true game lover... I would like to pick some of them!! I love to play video games a lot...