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Max Jamelli
United States
Chambersburg
Pennsylvania
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#25 on the list - Box of Golf: A Classic Golf Board Game
Box of Golf is a game my dad bought at a WBC. It came out in 2003, I would bet he bought it around that time, although it feels like he had it earlier than that. I remember my dad had a set of golf clubs when I was growing up, but I never saw him play. I think it was just something he had in case his buddies wanted to go.
When I was in high school I went "real" golfing a couple times. The first time I shot a 74. ... (this is usually when people say ... really?!) and then I explain that this miraculous feat of athletic golfitude was accomplished on a 9 hole, par 3, pitch and putt. So, yeah - I shot 47 over par on a pitch and putt. My first attempt on a real course resulted in a 136 (which if you double the 74 to a 148 is actually a 12 shot improvement). I never really golfed again after that. I'd go with my buddies to smoke a cigar, but I gave up golf. That is, until Box of Golf showed up.
This game is basically yahtzee. You roll five dice (instead of numbers there are colors) and you can re-roll any amount of dice up to 3 times. The difference being if you roll a black color, you lose that die for the turn. Just because there are no numbers on the dice doesn't mean that my luck with them is any better but I do seem to win more than other dice games.
The last couple WBC's that I've attended, my dad has always brought BOG back for us to play. Thursday night, when we're feeling a little worn down from hours of gaming, we'll pull BOG out and play a light, relaxing round. And then we'll start rolling dice, finding our way into bunkers, and the relaxation stops. 
I still rank it fairly high because of the social aspect it allows. When it's not my turn, I don't have to seriously contemplate my next move. I just know I need to roll dice. I can have fun being around the people I'm around. For that reason, I think this is a great game. When I'm in a gaming mood, I'll probably pick something else, but to just sit and hang out with my dad and play something, this works great.
The one thing I will say about this game is the quality is remarkable. First off, the game weighs a ton. It's all wooden box hosts sliding wooden boards with the holes on both sides. You can see it a little better on this pic:
credit Paul Marshall
The golfer figures are very intricately designed and painted - and my dad wraps them in the packing material when he puts the game away so they don't get damaged. I've read where people have used other markers to play though just fine.
The game can be played two ways - either by going for gems or actually playing for a per-shot score. For as often as I've played (and at only 6 plays I'm no expert) we've never played "per-shot". We've always counted gems at the end. I guess that's a fun way to play since you can use gems as power-ups throughout the game, but if you use one you are losing points.
Final Thoughts
A few years back when I was doing Marketing and Multimedia production, we had a client who was a 4-star golf course. I remember that the company that produced BOG said they could do custom courses. I tried to have our client create their own board game, but it never panned out.
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