LoC #62 - Top 50 Tabletop Games

[Compound]

And we're back. Hey! More games!

[Compound]

# 29: Hearts
 

46 Points (On 3 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#3 by DB Barnes)

Publication Date: 1850 
 
Number of Players: 3-7
 
Designed by: Unknown
 
Publisher: Public Domain
 
Description:
Hearts is a trick taking, standard deck playing card game, without trumps, which has been played popularly for generations and has many variations. The object is to avoid capturing hearts at one (1) point apiece and (in the most commonly played version today) the queen of spades, at thirteen (13) points, the card on which the whole game pivots. But to make it interesting, it is also possible to "shoot the moon," taking all the hearts and the queen, a coup that gives 26 points to each of your opponents or reduces your point total by 26 points, depending on if that variation is used.
 
The game is played like most other trick-taking games. One player leads each trick by playing a card from their hand. Each other player, in clockwise order, then plays a card from their hand. The first trick is led by the player to the left of the dealer. Players must "follow suit"; that is, play a card of the same suit as the lead card, if they are able. If they are not able to do so, they can play any card (an action known as "sloughing"), including a penalty Heart or the Queen of Spades. The trick and any penalty points it contains are won by the player who played the highest-value card of the suit that was led. That player then becomes the lead player for the next trick, and play continues until all players have exhausted their hands.
 
Hey, How Do I Win This[size=0pt]? [/size]
Score more than the other players.
 
Fun Gaming Facts:
The Aussies call their version of Hearts "Rickety Kate."
 
Dice:
None. cards only.
 
Purple and Orange?:
Nada.
 
Awards & Stuff:
None.
 
Related Games that Received Votes:
How many trick taking games are we up to now? Hearts, Spades, Euchre.
 
Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
 
 
Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! Heh. $4.00
 
Next Turn:
Let's head down to the general store.
 

[Compound]

# 28: Checkers
a.k.a English Draughts

47 Points (On 6  of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#7 by Mrs. Dick Courier)

Publication Date: Circa 1150

Number of Players: 2

Designed by: Unknown

Publisher: Public Domain

Description:
Abstract strategy game where players move disc-shaped pieces across an 8 by 8 cross-hatched ("checker") board.

Pieces only move diagonally, and only one space at a time. If a player can move one of his pieces so that it "jumps" over an adjacent piece of their opponent and into an empty space, that player captures the opponent's disc. Jumping moves must be taken when possible, thereby creating a strategy game where players offer up jumps in exchange for setting up the board so that they jump even more pieces on their turn. A player wins by removing all of his opponent's pieces from the board or by blocking the opponent so that he has no more moves.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
Remove all of your opponent's' pieces from the board.

Fun Gaming Facts:
The traditional red and black checkerboard that many of you are thinking of right now? Serious checker players hate that board. Why? Because since the pieces are the same colors, it makes it much harder to see the pieces at a glance. The American Checker Federation recommends the use of a green and tan/white board and red and white pieces. Good luck finding that combo anywhere other than the ACF website, BTW.

Yes, I used a non-red and black image up above. It was the best image available.

Dice:
Sigh. None.

Purple and Orange?:
No. Generally pieces tend to be rather red, black or white.

Awards & Stuff:
None.

Related Games that Received Votes:
Chinese checkers.

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
International draughts, which is played like checkers but has a larger board and more pieces. Plus it uses the "draughts" name.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $5.95 Horrible reviews of that version, BTW.

Next Turn:
No! It was transubstantiation! How can you not get that?

[Compound]

# 27: Pictionary

48 Points (On 4 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#9 by Monty)

Publication Date: 1985

Number of Players: 3-16

Designed by: Robert Angel

Publisher: Seattle Games/ Hasbro

Description:
Pictionary is a mix of a racing game and charades wherein multiple teams move around a board, land on a space and then draw a card based on the letter on that space. Each card will have  a list of terms to be guessed and depending on what letter appeared on the space landed on, a picture must be drawn. At that point, the other members of a team must guess what is being drawn before the timer ends or in the case of an all play, all team compete to see who can be the first to guess what is being drawn.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
The team with the highest number of points at the end of the game wins.

Fun Gaming Facts:
You know, Ellen de Generes is a big fan of the game.

So is Cormac McCarthy.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/UGxqOOHxaFo?version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/UGxqOOHxaFo?version=3</a>

Dice:
Yes. A standard six sided die and a "challenge die" are used.



Purple and Orange?:
While both colors are used on the board, the pieces are still in the standard four colors . Kinda.

Awards & Stuff:
None.

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
Charades.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $31.49

Next Turn:
It actually shows up earlier in google searches than what it refers to now.

[Compound]

# 26: Ticket to Ride

48 Points (On 4 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#7 by Johnny Unusual)

Publication Date: 2004

Number of Players: 2-5

Designed by: Alan R. Moon

Publisher: Days of Wonder

Description:
Railroad barons race to complete train routes across North America (or a variety of other maps). They claim routes by playing matching sets of same colored train cards.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
Players are dealt route cards at the beginning of the game. They gain points by completing those routes by the end of the game or lose them if they fail to build that route. You also gain points by playing trains to the board and by having the longest connected train route by the end of the game. Highest score at the end of the game wins.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Aside from the basic Ticket to Ride game, which uses the North American map, there are also versions of the game using the European map, Switzerland, Asian and Nordic countries.

And while Ticket to Ride has resisted the temptation to add zombies to the game (No seriously. There are a few zombie train games out there.) there is an expansion that adds an alien and a dinosaur to the game, who basically exist to prohibit routes into a city and to annoy the hell out of other players.

And hey, watch Wil Wheaton & Co. play the game.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/qHmf1bau9xQ?version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/qHmf1bau9xQ?version=3</a>

Dice:
No. Although there is a dice expansion which replaces the card drawing in the game with dice rolling. Yay dice!

Purple and Orange?:
Kinda. There are orange and purple colored cards, but the train pieces are the standard four colors plus black.


Awards & Stuff:
2004 Boardgameratings.com Best Family Game.
2004 International Gamers Award Best Strategy Game Nominee.
2004 International Gamers Awards - General Strategy; Multi-player Nominee
2004 Japan Boardgame Prize Winner, The Best Advanced Game
2004 Meeples' Choice Award
2004 Meeples' Choice Award Winner
2004 Nederlandse Spellenprijs (Netherlands) Nominee, Game of the Year
2004 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee
2004 Origins Awards Winner, Best Board Game
2004 Schweizer Spielepreis Family Game 2nd Place.
2004 Spiel des Jahres (Germany) Winner, Game of the Year
2004 Spiel des Jahres Nominee
2004 Spiel des Jahres Winner
2004 Tric Trac Nominee
2005 Årets Familiespill (Norway), Nominee, Family Game of the Year
2005 Årets Spel (Sweden) Winner, Best Family Game
2005 Årets Spel Best Family Game Winner
2005 Årets Spill Best Family Game Nominee
2005 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming
2005 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming Nominee
2005 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming Winner
2005 Juego del Año (Spain) Winner, Game of the Year
2005 Vuoden Peli Family Game of the Year Nominee
2005 Vuoden Peli Family Game of the Year Winner
2005 Vuoden Perhepeli (Finland) Winner, Game of the Year
2006 Golden Ace (France) Winner, Game of the Year
2006 Hra roku (Czech Republic) Winner, Game of the Year
2006 Hra roku Nominee
2006 Hra roku Winner
2006 Japan Boardgame Prize Winner, Best Japanese Game
2008 Ludoteca Ideale Official Selection
2010 Hungarian Boardgame Prize Nominee

Yeah, folks seem to like it.

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
Rail Baron. Or Empire Builder, which had nifty crayon drawing on an erasable map. But it still involved trains.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $34.98   It's on Steam too for $9.99 And a Xbox Live version too.

Next Turn:
Meeples! Glorious meeples!

[Compound]

# 25: Carcassone

49 Points (On 4 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#6 by Asbestos Bill)

Publication Date: 2000

Number of Players: 2-5

Designed by: Klaus-Jurgen Wrede

Publisher: Rio Grande Games

Description:
The game board is a medieval landscape built by the players as the game progresses. The game starts with a single terrain tile face up and 71 others shuffled face down for the players to draw from. On each turn a player draws a new terrain tile and places it adjacent to tiles that are already face up. The new tile must be placed in a way that extends features on the tiles it abuts: roads must connect to roads, fields to fields, and cities to cities.

After placing each new tile, the placing player may opt to station a follower piece on a feature of that newly-placed tile. The placing player may not use a follower to claim any features of the tile that extend or connect features already claimed by another player. However, it is possible for terrain features claimed by opposing players to become "shared" by the subsequent placement of tiles connecting them. For example, two field tiles which each have a follower can become connected into a single field by another terrain tile.
The game ends when the last tile has been placed. At that time, all features (including fields) score points for the players with the most followers on them.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
After the last tile is placed, the person with the most points wins the game.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Hey! How many expansions are there for Carcassone? Thirty.

Versions of the game exist for iPhones, Androids and Xbox Live.

The follower token for Carcassone, the meeple, is the unofficial mascot for the BoardgameGeek website.


Dice:
None.

Purple and Orange?:
Nope. The basic colors are blue, red, green, yellow and black. There are purple and orange token in other expansions. I think.

Awards & Stuff:
2004 Vuoden Perhepeli Winner.
2002 Årets Spel Winner, Best Family Game.
2001 Spiel des Jahres Winner, Game of the Year.
2001 Deutscher Spiele Preis Winner, Game of the Year.
2001 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee, Game of the Year.
2001 Spiel der Spiele Hit Games with Friends Winner.
2000 Meeples' Choice Award Winner.

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
Agricola. Although instead of building a city, you're running a farm.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $20.88

Next Turn:
A word game with a pun in its title? I am shocked, shocked by this!

[Compound]

# 24: Scattergories

50 Points (On 3 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#3 by Johnny Unusual)

Publication Date: 1988

Number of Players: 2-6

Designed by:   Unknown

Publisher: Habsro

Description:
"The Game of Scattergories," published in 1988 by Milton Bradley, is a great game for any group to play. In the game each player fills out a category list 'with answers that begin with the same letter.' If no other player matches your answers, you score points. The game is played in rounds. After 3 rounds a winner is declared, and a new game can be begun.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
Get more points than anyone else by listing the most words.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Alliteration is encouraged in the game. For Actors with "M", Martin Sheen will only net you a point, but Matthew Modine will get you two.

Dick Clark hosted a gameshow version of Scattergories and Chuck Woolery was a regular guest on the show.

Dice:
Yes! It uses a special twenty sided die with letter instead of numbers.



Purple and Orange?:
Nope.

Awards & Stuff:
1990 Mensa Select

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:


Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $26.79

Next Turn:
Two letters. A lot of thought.

[Compound]

# 23: Go

51 Points (On 3 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#9 by CJones)

Publication Date: Approx 2200 BC

Number of Players: 2

Designed by:   Unknown. Probably Steve. He got around a lot.

Publisher: Public Domain

Description:
Two players alternately place black and white playing pieces, called "stones", on the vacant intersections (called "points") of a grid of 19×19 lines (beginners often play on smaller 9×9 and 13×13 boards). The object of the game is to use one's stones to surround a larger total area of the board than the opponent. Once placed on the board, stones may not be moved, but are removed from play if captured. When a game concludes, the controlled points (territory) are counted along with captured stones to determine who has more points. Games may also be won by resignation.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
The player with the most pieces on the board at the end of the game wins.

Fun Gaming Facts:
About 40 million people play Go worldwide. It is also one of the few games to have been played in space. (In 1996)

Atari was named after a term used in Go. It means "used for a situation where a stone or chain of stones has only one liberty, and may be captured on the next move if not given one or more additional liberties."

Dice:
No.

Purple and Orange?:
No. Black and white are the traditional colors. And Go is very resistant to non-traditional ideas.

Awards & Stuff:
None.

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $17.43

Next Turn:
However, you need a $100 co-pay before you take your turn.

[CJones]

The Loch Ness monster is a pussy!

The actual monster or the roller coaster? I've ridden the Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg more times than any other RC in the world.

I've never even heard of Ticket to Ride. It's funny how Wil Wheaton has become cool now (well I think he is anyway).

[Compound]

# 22: Operation

53 Points (On 5  of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#7 by Thrifty)

Publication Date: 1965

Number of Players: 1-6

Designed by: Marvin glass & John Spinello

Publisher: Milton Bradley/Hasbro

Description:
Operation is a dexterity game in which you must extract silly body parts from a hapless patient. In the course of the game you acquire cards which dictate that you must remove a certain piece from the body of the patient. To do this you use a set of tweezers that are attached by wire to the game board. If you are sloppy and touch the metal sides of the hole where the item is located, the patient's pain is indicated by a sudden buzzer and light-up nose. Successful extractions net cash.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
By having the most cash at the end of the game.

Fun Gaming Facts:
There is a car-based version called Pit Stop, in case you get squeamish at the thought of er, electric buzzing.

The patient's official name is Cavity Sam.

In 2004, a new piece was added to the game: "brain freeze" an ice cream cone placed in the brain. It was chosen by fan vote.
 

Dice:
None.

Purple and Orange?:
Nope.

Awards & Stuff:
None.

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
Not too many dexterity based games made the list actually. Don't Break The Ice also required dexterity but lacked an electrical buzz noise.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $14.99

Next Turn:
Sigh. Yeah, I'll just fake what I understand what I'm typing again.

[Compound]

# 21: Gin Rummy

55 Points (On 4 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#5 by D.B. Barnes)

Publication Date: 1909

Number of Players: 2-4

Designed by: Elwood Thomas Baker, Charles Graham Baker

Publisher: None

Description:
Gin Rummy is a popular two-player "draw and discard" standard deck playing card game derived from Rummy in which players follow basic Rummy rules for forming "melds" of three or more cards of the same suit, or 3 or 4 cards of the same rank. Each turn players draw a single card, either from the top of the discard pile or from the top of the draw deck, and then discard a card from their hand.

Melds are formed in a player's 10-card hand and kept there until a deal is ended by one player "knocking" when he has few enough non-melded "deadwood" cards to "go out": generally cards whose values total 10 or less (with face cards valued at 10 and aces low), though some variants value differently. The player that did not go out then has the opportunity to place his melds and "lay off" any of his cards that he can add to his opponent's melds. The values of the remaining deadwood are compared and the player with the smallest total scores the difference.

If the player that did not go out's deadwood is the same or less than his opponent, he gets a 20 point (Variant: 25 points) bonus for "undercutting"; if the player that went out with "Gin" by emptying his hand without deadwood, he scores a 25 point bonus (and cannot be undercut, and the opponent cannot lay off deadwood to his Gin meld). The game continues with subsequent deals until one player's total score reaches at least 100. At that point, the winning player is awarded an additional 100 points (he also doubles this score if his opponent has not won a hand). Each player then scores an additional 25 points for each hand won. The winner is the player with the most points. (Numerous variants and much regional variation occurs in the values assigned to these scores, and many bonuses and additional variations in scoring exist.)

Hey, How Do I Win This?
Score 100 points.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Stu Ungar is widely regarded as the greatest gin rummy of all time. Now you know.

Dice:
None.

Purple and Orange?:
Nope.

Awards & Stuff:
None.

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:


Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! Eh, just grab the card set from Hearts or Spades unless you want an electronic version.

Next Turn:
No, not with Founders and Gamma stuff.

[Compound]

# 20: Dominion

56 Points (On 3 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#1 by Asbestos Bill)

Publication Date: 2008

Number of Players: 2-4

Designed by: Donald X. Vaccarino

Publisher: Rio Grande Games

Description:
In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can "buy" as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end.

From the back of the box: "You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner.

"But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn't be proud, but your grandparents, on your mother's side, would be delighted."

Hey, How Do I Win This?
The game ends under two conditions: when the stack of Province cards (the highest-value Victory card in the base game) has been exhausted, or when any three other stacks have been exhausted. At that time, the players count the number of Victory Points in their complete decks, and the player with the highest score is the winner. When playing with the expansions, other victory conditions may be introduced, but generally based on when a certain type of card is exhausted.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Every turn can be labeled as "A,B,C" You get an action phase, a buy phase and a clean-up phase.

In the 4 years since release, Dominion has had 7 expansions published.

Dice:
None.

Purple and Orange?:
No. Just cards.

Awards & Stuff:
2010 Årets Familiespill (Norway), Winner, Family Game of the Year
2009 I Mensa HungarIQa Társasjátékverseny, Legjobb Stratégiai kártyajáték - I Mensa HungarIQa Boardgame competition, Best Strategy cardgame
2009 Japan Boardgame Prize, Game of the Year, Winner
2009 Spiel der Herzen, Game of the Year
2009 BoardGamer.ru Card Game of the Year.
2009 BoardGameGeek Golden Geek, Winner, Game of The Year and Card Game
2009 Deutscher Spiele Preis, Game of the Year, Winner
2009 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming winner
2009 Dice Tower Gaming Awards, Best Game of the Year, Winner
2009 Games 100, Best Family Strategy Game, Winner
2009 Guldbrikken, Årets Jurypris (Special Jury Prize), Winner
2009 FAIRPLAY Magazine, A la carte, Card Game of the Year, Winner
2009 Hra Roku (Czech Republic), Game of the Year, Winner
2009 J.U.G. Winner
2009 JoTa - Card-Game Winner (Critics / Audience)
2009 Lucca Games Best of Show (Italy), Winner, Best Card Game
2009 Ludoteca Ideale, Games of the Year
2009 Mensa Select, Winner
2009 Origins Awards, Winner, Best Card Game
2009 Spiel des Jahres Winner
2009 Vuoden aikuistenpeli Adult Game of the Year, Winner
2008 Meeples Choice Awards
2010 Nominated for the Juego del Año Tico.

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
There's been a huge boom in constructed deck games in recent years, mostly inspired by Dominion. Warhammer: Invasion, for example.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $31.46

Next Turn:
#19-11! Memory games, more RPGs, word games, head games (It's you and me baby and I can't take it any more. Head games. Don't wanna play no head games.) And I fumble around with the rules of still more card games! All this and more next time!

[Compound]

A few random notes for today:

*The list may be late tomorrow or pushed to Wednesday as I've got some work stuff to take care of. We'll see how my schedule works out.

*A quick joke explanation from above:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/mctBMLUQdsg?version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/mctBMLUQdsg?version=3</a>

I've never even heard of Ticket to Ride. It's funny how Wil Wheaton has become cool now (well I think he is anyway).

It's his blog. It rehabilitated his reputation in geeky circles. (Well, for most people at least. It actually moved moved me from neutral to antipathy regards Wil.) I mostly watch Tabletop to see Wil lose. He's quite obliging there.

[Pak-Man]

Ooh. Dominion looks like fun. I might have to track that one down. Don't know if I want to pay $30 for it, though...

[CJones]

# 22: Gin Rummy

Semi-interesting story. I had Gin Rummy on my list (kinda wish I had put it higher now that I think about it). The "interesting" bit is that the guy who taught me how to play it is also the first person I've ever known to be murdered. He was shot in the head during a convenience store robbery. And that wasn't even the first time he'd been shot in the head. I've never played the game again since then.

Sad thing is, he isn't the only person I've known who's been murdered...