LoC #62 - Top 50 Tabletop Games

[Compound]

Two on my list are relatives if not direct ancestors of it, and I assume they'll not be showing up as we get into to the top ten.

Yeah, but I'm trying to not use games that actually were nominated as that would show whether or not they ended up on the list.

[Compound]

Anyway, five more entries and then I head off to lunch!

[Compound]

# 10: Dungeons & Dragons

98 Points (On 5 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#1 by Johnny U & Compound)

Publication Date: 1974

Number of Players: 2+

Designed by: E. Gary Gygax

Publisher: TSR/ Wizards of the Coast/ Hasbro

Description:
A fantasy role playing game where one player takes the role of "dungeon master" whose role is to guide the other players on an adventure and the remaining players play adventures who do their best to successfully complete the adventure. In theory.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
You don't.  D&D often just ends. Just like life.

No, not the one with the little cars.

Fun Gaming Facts:
By 2004, more than 1 billion dollars had been spend on D&D products and the game had been played by more than 20 million people. (Including James Franco on Freaks & Geeks.)

The game has been the basis for many movies, some horror related (Knight Chills), some "True Crime" (Mazes and Monsters), some adventure related (Cloak & Dagger, The Hard Way) and three not very well done movies titled "Dungeons and Dragons."

Game creator E. Gary Gygax is likely the only game designer to ever appear on Futurama and the game itself inspired one of the Futurama movies.

Some well known D&D players include Robin Williams, Vin Diesel (who has a tattoo of one of his characters' names), Steven Colbert, Bill Amend, Karl Urban, Kurt Schilling, Tim Duncan and that Wil Wheaton guy.

The iconic Rust monster, who eats the valuable weapons and gear that players collect over their adventures, was based on a figure found in a bag of random monsters found in a dime store.

Dice:
Hell yes.  D&D uses at least 3 (sometimes 4) six siders, a pair of ten sided dice plus four sided, eight sided, twelve sided and the heavily used twenty sided die.



Purple and Orange?:
Well, no. No pieces after all. (Quiet, 4th ed. players. Minis are optional.)

Awards & Stuff:
Games Magazine Hall of Fame
Origins Awards - All time Best Role Playing Rules of 1977
Origins Awards- Best Roleplaying rules - 1989
Origins Awards- Best Roleplaying Game- 2000

Related Games that Received Votes:
Gurps.

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
Well, there a gajillion RPGs out there. Just in the fantasy genre, you have highly acclaimed ones such as Runequest, Pendragon or Ars Magica, less known ones like Adventures in High Fantasy or, er, yeah, those, like Synnibar or Spawn of Fashan.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price!   $13.59

Next Turn:
No. I'm not doing the joke.

[Compound]

# 9: Settlers of Catan

111 Points (On 6 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#2 by Kete)

Publication Date: 1995

Number of Players: 3-4 Or even more with expansions.

Designed by: Klaus Teuber

Publisher: Mayfair/ Capcom/ Many others

Description:
In Settlers of Catan, players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players collect these resources to build up their civilizations to get to 10 victory points and win the game.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
Be the first player to get 10 victory points, which are obtained by building roads, cities, armies and other stuff.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Over 15 million copies of Settlers of Catan have been sold and it is available in 30 different languages.

There have been a gajillion spinoff games involving Catan, including expansions with seafarers, knights, pyramid building, the Trojan war and the space-faring Starfarers of Catan.

There is also a Settlers of Cannan game, for the more religious out there.

A novelization of Settlers also exists, for the curious.

In August, Mayfair will be releasing Star Trek: Catan, a Catan variant using the setting of Star Trek: the Original series. It will be sold exclusively at Target. Curse you, Mayfair. I've got enough to buy already this fall.

And speaking of Star Trek, here's Wil Wheaton again:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/o3WJTlDa7oo?version=3&amp;" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/o3WJTlDa7oo?version=3&amp;</a>

And hey, Settlers of Cataan, pizza edition:


Dice:
Yes! two six sided dice.



Purple and Orange?:
Sometimes. Orange is sometimes used for piece colors, but it changes from version to version.

Awards & Stuff:
1995 Spiel des Jahres Game of the Year
1995 Deutscher Spiele Preis 1st place
1995 Essen Feather
1995 Meeples' Choice Award
1996 Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board Game
2004 Hra roku
2005 Games Magazine Hall of Fame
2005 Gra Roku Game of the Year

Related Games that Received Votes:
Dominion & Carcassone, which both involve city/culture building, albeit in very different ways.

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $32.00

Next Turn:
Hey, I could use another picture with Death here too!

[Compound]

# 8: Clue
a.k.a. Cluedo

135 Points (On 11 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#4 by Mrs. Dick Courier)

Publication Date: 1949

Number of Players: 3-6

Designed by: Anthony E. Pratt

Publisher: Parker Brothers

Description:
The classic detective game! In Clue, players move from room to room in a mansion to solve the mystery of: who done it, with what, and where? Players are dealt character, weapon, and location cards after the top card from each card type is secretly placed in the confidential file in the middle of the board. Players must move to a room and then make an accusation against a character saying they did it in that room with a specific weapon. The player to the left must show one of any cards accused to the accuser if in that player's hand. Through deductive reasoning each player must figure out which character, weapon, and location are in the secret file. To do this, each player must uncover what cards are in other players hands by making more and more accusations. Once a player knows what cards the other players are holding they will know what cards are in the secret file.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
Be the first to deduce who killed Mr. Boddy.

No, not Mr. Black.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Parker Brothers sold a unique version "Clue" for the US market, while Waddingtons sold their version "Cluedo" in the UK. Both companies used slightly different maps and rules. However, in the early 90s Hasbro bought both companies and starting in 2002, just produced one version for both markets. (Although the titles in both markets remained the same.)

Clue has had several dozen spinoff games including VHS versions, expanded versions with more rooms, characters and murder weapons, Museum heists, children's versions (which lack an actual murder), versions set on trains, Secrets and Spies, the updated Clue: Discover the Secrets and various computer games using the name. Oh, and the movie too.

Licensed versions of Clue include the Simpsons, Alfred Hitchcock, 24, Scooby-Doo, Seinfeld (yes, really), the Office, Harry Potter, Family Guy, Arrested Development and Dungeons & Dragons.

There was also a Clue: Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, making this the only Clue game to be based on a theme park ride based on a tv show at a theme park owned by a major film studio.

Dice:
Yes! However, some editions use one die and others use two dice.


Purple and Orange?:
Halfsies. Professor Plum has been a character since the beginning but there are no orange pieces in the game.

Awards & Stuff:
Games Magazine Hall of Fame Inductee

Related Games that Received Votes:
Kill Dr. Lucky

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
221b Baker Street, where players race around and collect clues in an attempt to solve a mystery.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $19.99 for the "classic" version, rather than the recent redo of the game.

Next Turn:
Oh, I hope no one was voting for Conway's version of this...

[Compound]

Oh, hai Death.

 
 

[Compound]

 

# 7: The Game of Life

138 Points (On 8 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#2 by Pak-Man)

Publication Date: 1860/ 1960
 
Number of Players: 2-6
 
Designed by: Milton Bradley (Yep, he existed), Reuben Klamer, Bill Markham
 
Publisher: Milton Bradley
 
Description:
A game where a number of players embark on the great journey of life, where they are born, go to school, get jobs, get married, have children and eventually retire, all while driving cute little cars.
 
The modern game consists of a track on which players travel by spinning a small wheel (in the center of the board) with spaces numbered 1 through 10. The board also contains small mountains, buildings, and other three-dimensional objects. Playing pieces are small, colored, plastic automobiles which come in red, blue, white, yellow, orange, and green; each car has six holes in the top in which blue and/or pink "people pegs" are placed throughout the game as the player "gets married" and has or adopts "children". Some "early modern" editions have eight automobiles.
 
Hey, How Do I Win This[size=0pt]?
The player with the highest dollar amount at the end of the game wins! Just like in real life.
 
Fun Gaming Facts:
The AARP has criticized the game for implying that life ends at retirement.  Fuck off, AARP.

 Life is based on "The Chequered Game of Life" which was created in 1860 by Milton Bradley. That version used a modified chess board where landing on certain spaces would give you points with the goal of getting 100 points to win the game. This version used a top to determine how far you moved as rolling a die was considered to be gambling at the time.
 
Licensed versions of Life include Star Wars: A Jedi's Path, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sailor Moon, Monsters Inc, Pokemon, Spongebob, Wizard of Oz, Indiana Jones, Family Guy, the Simpsons and a "Rock Star Edition" which involves lots of "wrecking hotel rooms" spaces.
 
Dice:
None. Life uses a spinner.
 
Purple and Orange?:
Yes. Purple and orange cars tend to be included.
 
Awards & Stuff:
None.
 
Related Games that Received Votes:
 
Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
Not a board game, but Princess Maker pops into mind. Payday too, I guess.
 
Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $17.82
 
Next Turn:
14 straight hours of this on ESPN 2!

[Tripe]

There was also a game show in the UK based on Cluedo.

[Compound]

# 6: Poker

141 Points (On 9 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#2 by CJones)

Publication Date: 1810

Number of Players: 2-10

Designed by: Unknown

Publisher: Public Domain

Description:
Poker is played with a standard deck of 52-cards, and sometimes Jokers are added as wild cards. (I'm having a Simpsons flashback here.) The object of the game is to win the pot which contains all the bets the players have made in a deal. Players are dealt cards which are usually reduced to a Poker hand of five (5) cards. Betting and bluffing are used in rounds until all bets are squared up, or until all other players have conceded the pot (folded). If all bets have been squared up, the rounds are followed by a "showdown" in which all hands are fully revealed; the one with the best combination of a Poker hand of five (5) cards being the winner.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
Get better hands than your opponent and get all of their money.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Poker's popularity spiked in the early 21st century after the introduction of online poker and the invention of the hole card camera for televised games.

Ten episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation involved poker in some fashion.

There are many, many poker variants including draw, stud, hold-em, donkey, Pai Tai, Klotsky and many, many others. I'm not going to explain them all.

Strip poker is a traditional poker variation where players remove clothing when they lose bets. I'd be shocked if anyone here had ever heard of this rare variant though.

Well known celebrity poker fanatics include Jennifer Tilly, Gabe Kaplan, Tobey Maguire (who is alleged to have won over $10 million dollars off of other Hollywood celebs), Michael Phelps, James Woods, Ben Affleck, Wil Wheaton (again) and, of course, Chris Hanel.

Dice:
None. Unless you're playing poker dice.

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! $1.45 You'll still need chips though.

Next Turn:
We get wordy again.

[Compound]

There was also a game show in the UK based on Cluedo.

Australia as well.

Okay, the list will resume in a few hours.

[Pak-Man]

The old school game of life where you play the stock market and get a chance at the end to risk it all to auto-win in a mansion is the bomb. Modern Life is too over-simplified. (The exact opposite of ACTUAL modern life! :^))

[Tripe]

There was also a game show in the UK based on Cluedo.

Australia as well.

I will have to watch some of that; the UK version was was pretty fun most of the time, controversies about art imitating life for one of the actors notwithstanding.

[CJones]

# 6: Poker

What I really like about Poker, besides the mathematical and psychological parts, is the fact that's it's really a crap load of different versions of the same game smashed together. Unlike trick taking games, where you have to pick one version and stick with it, in Poker, the one you play can change from one hand to the next. The dealer specifies the rules of the game, and everyone else has to go along with it. Of the popular varieties, I'm not a big fan of 5-card draw. But I do like 5 or 7 card stud, and Texas Hold 'em.

Oh and I played one of the VHS versions of Clue. It had a butler named Diddit.

[Compound]

# 5: Scrabble

147 Points (On 9 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#2 by DB Barnes)

Publication Date: 1948

Number of Players: 2-4

Designed by:   Alfred Mosher Butts

Publisher: Mattel/ Hasbro

Description:
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a gameboard marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
Score more points from words than your opponents.

Fun Gaming Facts:
Scrabble is sold in 121 countries and there are 29 different language versions. Approximately 150 million sets have been sold worldwide, and sets are found in roughly one-third of American homes.

Boardgamegeek.com notes that this is unplayable is other languages. Duh.

The Hub currently runs a game show called Scrabble Showdown, which is based on the game. And in 1987, Chuck Woolery hosted a Scrabble game show as well.

The highest theoretical score in a game of Scrabble is 2015.

In 1984, two players set the Guinness World Record by playing Scrabble for 153 hours straight. Guinness has since stopped recording these types of records as they feel that they are too dangerous.

The tile set:


And Randall Munroe notes:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I get excited by being able to spell "Ostrich" too.

Dice:
None at all.

Purple and Orange?:
No.

Awards & Stuff:
Games Magazine Hall of Fame Inductee

Related Games that Received Votes:
Boggle & Upwords.

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
Skip-a-cross, which is Scrabble but with a different name. Apparently it was licensed from Hasbro one year when there were a lack of Scrabble sets available for sale.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $19.46

Next Turn:
War. Huh. What *is* it good for?

[Compound]

# 4: Risk

159 Points (On 10 of 14 lists)
Highest Vote: (#2 by Amazing thor)

Publication Date: 1959

Number of Players: 2-6

Designed by:   Albert Lamorisse, Michael I. Levin

Publisher: Parker Brothers

Description:
Risk is a strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers (now a division of Hasbro). It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde ("The Conquest of the World") in France. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players. The standard version is played on a board depicting a political map of the Earth, divided into forty-two territories, which are grouped into six continents. The primary object of the game is "world domination," or "to occupy every territory on the board and in so doing, eliminate all other players." Players control armies with which they attempt to capture territories from other players, with results determined by dice rolls.

Hey, How Do I Win This?
By taking over the world!

Fun Gaming Facts:

Risk has had many alternate versions released over the years. Even most of the licensed versions tend to have different rules than the basic game, rather than just changing the images on the board and pieces, which is the standard for most licenses. These spin off games include Castle Risk, Risk Napoleon, Risk 2210 AD, Risk: Lord of the Rings, Risk Godstorm (a CCG-ish version), Risk Clone Wars, Risk Transformers, Risk Narnia, Risk Metal Gear Solid and Risk Factor.

The most recent release of Risk is Risk Legacy where the game changes the more time you play the game. I won't say more due to spoilers.

A few "anti-Risk" games exist where your goal is to be peaceful. In Glasnost the Game, for example, your goal is to be the first to achieve the complete disarmament of your territories. Ironically, the goal can only be completed after you conquer almost all of the world.

Dice:
Yes! 5 six sided dice, 3 for the attacker, 2 for the defense.



Purple and Orange?:
At various times, yes. Not at the moment though.

Awards & Stuff:
Games Magazine Hall of Fame Inductee.

Related Games that Received Votes:

Related Games that Didn't Receive Votes:
Supremacy, where you're trying to take over the world using your armies and navies as well as strategic weaponry. It usually ends up in a nuclear holocaust though.

Hey! It's an Amazon link with the price! $28.77 This is the 1959 reprint with wooden pieces. the current issue of the game has different rules than previous versions of the game.

Next Turn:
Pie. Piece. Triangle. Wedge. Whatever you call them.