Is anybody playing any cool board or card games? I've been a huge Magic:TG game, so I love complex card or board games. A friend of mine has been introducing me to a bunch of different ones that are a lot of fun:
Munchkin - Illustrated by the same guy who does Dorktower, Munchkin is sort of like a dumbed down version of M:TG with better multiplayer politics. You start out at level 1 and the goal is to fight monsters, collect treasure, and get items to get to level 10. (You gain levels by defeating monsters or getting level up cards.) All of the cards and situations are pretty funny, too. When you first start out, people are willing to team up to defeat a creature (in return for a treasure or two). By the time, you get to level 8 or 9, nobody is going to help you win and everybody is going to play every card they can to make you lose the battle.
There are many, many sets of Munchkin, each with their different flavor and slightly different types of cards.
Dominion - I've only playing a few games of this, but this is a lot of fun. Two games of this was enough to make me buy the game and expansion for my house. You start out with ten cards, but you use those cards to buy more cards to put into your deck. When you are out of cards to draw, you reshuffle your deck (including what you've bought) and play your deck. So, basically, you are building a deck as you're playing it. The goal is to get a deck that is making good money to buy Victory cards to put into your deck. You win by having the most victory points, but most victory cards themselves are useless weights in your deck.
The beauty of this game is that you have many different combos you can play and it's up to you how you want to build your deck. The phases are divided into action, buying, and redrawing (yes, it's last), and you can normally only play one action and buy one item. But, you can use other cards to increase your current hand and/or actions, exchange cards, increase your money, increase how many buys you get, etc. Most interactions doesn't affect the other players, but there are attack cards that do, benefiting you and hurting the other player.
Robo Rally - Very fun game, but on paper, it sounds like a simple video game. You are in charge of a robot, and the goal is to move your robot to three flags in order. However, in order to move your robot, you are dealt a deck of 8 cards to put into 5 slots. Cards like "turn left", "move 2 spaces", "turn around", etc. Your five cards played in order, but on each card, everybody moves at the same time! This can lead to robots bumping into each other and totally fucking up the rest of the card order.
Plus, there is damage in the game. Every card turn (called a register), every robot shoots lasers in front of them. If they hit a robot, they take a point of damage. (There are also lasers on the map itself.) Every point of damage means you get less cards on the next turn. If your HP is less than 5, then you start to "lock" cards, meaning that you HAVE to play the locked card that turn. If you completely die, you have to go back to the last spawn point (with a -2HP hit).
The game play can be complex, but again, it's very fun. Here's a demo of the game play.
Dicecapades - This isn't as intelligent as the other games, but it's interesting in that the whole game revolves around these 133 different dice of various shapes, sizes, and functions. There is trivia, actions (some of them quite goofy), and some math puzzles. I like this game, though it seems like Shellie and Becca liked it a lot better.
Munchkin - Illustrated by the same guy who does Dorktower, Munchkin is sort of like a dumbed down version of M:TG with better multiplayer politics. You start out at level 1 and the goal is to fight monsters, collect treasure, and get items to get to level 10. (You gain levels by defeating monsters or getting level up cards.) All of the cards and situations are pretty funny, too. When you first start out, people are willing to team up to defeat a creature (in return for a treasure or two). By the time, you get to level 8 or 9, nobody is going to help you win and everybody is going to play every card they can to make you lose the battle.
There are many, many sets of Munchkin, each with their different flavor and slightly different types of cards.
Dominion - I've only playing a few games of this, but this is a lot of fun. Two games of this was enough to make me buy the game and expansion for my house. You start out with ten cards, but you use those cards to buy more cards to put into your deck. When you are out of cards to draw, you reshuffle your deck (including what you've bought) and play your deck. So, basically, you are building a deck as you're playing it. The goal is to get a deck that is making good money to buy Victory cards to put into your deck. You win by having the most victory points, but most victory cards themselves are useless weights in your deck.
The beauty of this game is that you have many different combos you can play and it's up to you how you want to build your deck. The phases are divided into action, buying, and redrawing (yes, it's last), and you can normally only play one action and buy one item. But, you can use other cards to increase your current hand and/or actions, exchange cards, increase your money, increase how many buys you get, etc. Most interactions doesn't affect the other players, but there are attack cards that do, benefiting you and hurting the other player.
Robo Rally - Very fun game, but on paper, it sounds like a simple video game. You are in charge of a robot, and the goal is to move your robot to three flags in order. However, in order to move your robot, you are dealt a deck of 8 cards to put into 5 slots. Cards like "turn left", "move 2 spaces", "turn around", etc. Your five cards played in order, but on each card, everybody moves at the same time! This can lead to robots bumping into each other and totally fucking up the rest of the card order.
Plus, there is damage in the game. Every card turn (called a register), every robot shoots lasers in front of them. If they hit a robot, they take a point of damage. (There are also lasers on the map itself.) Every point of damage means you get less cards on the next turn. If your HP is less than 5, then you start to "lock" cards, meaning that you HAVE to play the locked card that turn. If you completely die, you have to go back to the last spawn point (with a -2HP hit).
The game play can be complex, but again, it's very fun. Here's a demo of the game play.
Dicecapades - This isn't as intelligent as the other games, but it's interesting in that the whole game revolves around these 133 different dice of various shapes, sizes, and functions. There is trivia, actions (some of them quite goofy), and some math puzzles. I like this game, though it seems like Shellie and Becca liked it a lot better.
Rosalina: But you didn't.
Robert: But I DON'T.
Rosalina: You sure that's right?
Robert: I was going to HAVE told you they'd come?
Rosalina: No.
Robert: The subjunctive?
Rosalina: That's not the subjunctive.
Robert: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Rosalina: It would have had to have had been.
Robert: Had to have...had...been? That can't be right.
Robert: But I DON'T.
Rosalina: You sure that's right?
Robert: I was going to HAVE told you they'd come?
Rosalina: No.
Robert: The subjunctive?
Rosalina: That's not the subjunctive.
Robert: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Rosalina: It would have had to have had been.
Robert: Had to have...had...been? That can't be right.
