Christmas Board game recommendations

[Incandenza]

I bought Sequence a while ago, but we still haven't played it. Anyone on here played it before?

[WOM]

Yes. Tons of times. Love it.

[WOM]

Our favourite game with the kids is still Blokus.

[HORN]

Mrs H has lowered the bar significantly by bringing home “Don’t Be a Donkey” (ages 4 and up). I know our twenty-something children well enough to be certain they will not be amused.

[Incandenza]

Our favourite game with the kids is still Blokus.

That looks interesting, never heard of it before.

[WOM]

Little kids can play it every bit as well as adults can. Once you learn it (two minutes, tops) every match is different. Maybe 10 or 12 minutes per round, so you can easily play three rounds before people are ready to move on.

[Benjm]

Mrs H has lowered the bar significantly by bringing home “Don’t Be a Donkey” (ages 4 and up). I know our twenty-something children well enough to be certain they will not be amused.

Don't Rock The Boat (balancing plastic penguins on the deck of a listing galleon) is a good one in that department.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Another vote here for Ticket to Ride. This year I've ordered Forbidden Island on a friend's recommendation (apparently it's a gateway game to Pandemic which everyone raves about)

I'm not mad on Pandemic, something always goes wrong and ruins the game, all players have to be 100% into it and there's usually always someone who is half-arsed about playing.

Ticket to Ride, Puerto Rico, Carcassone and Settlers of Catan are my favourites. Zooloretto is good too.

[Guy Profumo]

Oh yeah.

Escape From Atlantis is quite good too.

[KGR]

The KGR family enjoy Escape from Atlantis, though the youngest twins don't like it when you choose their boat to be sunk by a serpent, instead of choosing someone else's.

Forbidden Island - another vote for that.

[Lurgee]

Another vote here for Ticket to Ride. This year I've ordered Forbidden Island on a friend's recommendation (apparently it's a gateway game to Pandemic which everyone raves about)

My kids loved Forbidden Island, and its sequel, the cunningly named Forbidden Desert. They are fun because you work together, so no-one gets pissed off or bored, and there is a cool sense of impending doom. They are also quick to play, so you can cram in several fun-filled, waterlogged rounds in the time it would take everyone to get tired of playing Monopoly.

[Me Old Flower]

I bought Sequence a while ago, but we still haven't played it. Anyone on here played it before?

Yes, it's very good. That's our go-to Christmas Day afternoon game, and great when you have enough people to play in teams.


According to Wikipedia, the game is illegal in Texas. Could that be true?

[Jah Womble]

I had to play a board game a few weeks ago, as my goddaughter was there and I had to return a favour (she'd agreed to be bored shitless during the question & answer session with Dennis Diekmeier).

I can't remember what the game was called, but it involved drawing and charades. My team absolutely wiped the floor with her team, and I made sure she knew it: Hair-ruffling, wanker's wrist, verbal insults, the whole caboodle. She didn't cry, but only because she didn't want me to take the piss out of her for that as well.

So, another reason to abolish board games: They make middle-aged men behave like cunts.

The artist that blames his tools. But, 'w*nker's wrist' to your goddaughter? That's some admission, sir...

[treibeis]

But, 'w*nker's wrist' to your goddaughter? That's some admission, sir...

When she was about seven or eight, I once had to pick her up from primary school. To avoid any unsavoury accusations, I had a note signed by both her parents, I had my passport, everything.

She wasn't there when I arrived and didn't show for a good ten minutes. Rather than go and look for her, I asked a group of kids her age whether they'd seen her. The abuse I got was, let's say, unexpected. They accused me of wanting to do all sorts, half of which I'd never actually heard before. There were parents and teachers standing around, and all they did was give me "Well, what can you do?" looks. When she turned up, she was subject to a similar volley of abuse to the one I'd received, and returned it, with interest.

So, yes, it's not really the done thing to do wanker's wrist to a twelve-year-old (although I'd put it down as a spontaneous, rather than a choreographed, goal celebration). But she herself has come out with that, and worse, many times before. And not because I taught her it.

[Jah Womble]

She's a kid. Which doesn't excuse rudeness, but it does to some extent account for it.

However, had those little f***ers said anything like that to me, I'd have gone straight to the head teacher. Not pleasant.

[Incandenza]

Yes, it's very good. That's our go-to Christmas Day afternoon game, and great when you have enough people to play in teams.


According to Wikipedia, the game is illegal in Texas. Could that be true?

There's no citation for that. I'm calling BS.

[WOM]

No, it's true. I was there last Christmas.

[Ginger Yellow]

In a Texas jail?

[WOM]

Dammit...outdone.

[Patrick Thistle]

I played Organ Attack a couple of nights ago. It's viciously funny. Best played with your most sick-humoured friends.

[Patrick Thistle]

I've got a never played Ivor The Engine board game that may get an outing this Christmas, as we are hosting a few people. Can't recommend it at this point, for obvious reason.

I've got that and have also never played it.

I've had the Firefly Board Game unplayed for several years.

[Ginger Yellow]

I've played a couple games of Firefly. It's OK, but the base game doesn't really have enough inter-player interaction. Supposedly the Blue Sun and Pirates & Bounty Hunters expansions fix that. I'll probably get them at some point.

[Levin]

It that the one with the little ships? If so it's too big and long. I know firefly fans who love it and have all the expansions though.

[Ginger Yellow]

It that the one with the little ships?

You're describing about half of all board games.

[HORN]

I was wrong. Don’t Be a Donkey actually worked very well, in no small part due to the competitive natures of those involved (think “Snap” meets “Musical Chairs”).

Chameleon was good. I’m sure we will play that quite a bit. But Crimes Against Humanity left me cold. How the hell can anyone create a hilarious sentence by sticking “Madeline McCann” or “Mining Disasters” or “Dead Babies” on the end of it? Disappointing.