I don't even own it. Nor have I ever played it. In fact, it. . . just doesn't seem that interesting to me.

Is there a term for a poser-geek?

I can't help it. I'm addicted to theme.

What have the Germans got against giant robots?

Maybe some day, I'll play this and suddenly see the light.

Neither owned nor played. In fact, I haven't played a lot of the Euro classics such as Settlers or Carcasonne.

I don't own it and have played it only once... I enjoyed the game, but with the wrong crowd this could be a painful experience.

My son and I have also played this variant several times and find it very compelling as a two player game. I was surprised. I love PR, but never thought of it as a two player game. My mistake.

Poor Puerto Rico. Now that Caylus is here, PR has become the bastard cousin. Puerto Rico is now the new Ticket to Ride of gamer ire.

You have 3 of his games rated at 10, nobody else comes close. Strange for someone that doesn't consider Knizia his favorite.

All will be forgiven if you do the right thing and join the church of Kramer.

He is my favorite designer of math-y games. (disclaimer: have not played any of his tolkein games)

The Tolkein games are also fairly abstract/mathsy.

Can I get an 'AMEN' from the congregation?! No doubt! Dry! Dry! Dry!

Francis Tresham is #1

Well I'd classify this as a Wizards of the Coast game, not Hasbro, but I suppose it's semantics.

HeroScape is certainly a good start.

Just think how bad I feel, I couldn't name more than three game companies to save my life. I barely know the name of designers.

Despite all the errata needed in the books, I really like "Betrayal At House On The Hill".

True, as they are somehow the distributor for Knizia's "Lord of the Rings"...

I couldn't disagree with you more about your Puerto Rico comments, but I can't agree with you more about this Avalon Hill entry. The recent Avalon Hill game releases make me feel like a 13-year old game geek again... and that rocks!

I have walked by a copy of Caylus on a store's shelves and did not immediately pitch a trouser tent.

Now that made me laugh, I wish I'd thought of it the first time I played.

Someone ought to add that one into the "relationships" of Caylus!

I have never played Caylus so, the explanation might be WAY off base but here's an exchange I had with my girlfriend the other day:

Me: There's a new game called Caylus that is getting a lot of buzz.
Her: Really? What's it about?
Me: I think it's got a little bit of Puerto Rico in it but, instead of selecting a role and getting it's privilege, you buy buildings and people pay you to use their privileges.
Her: Oh! Just like Monopoly!

hehe

Many times I've described Settlers of Catan as "Monopoly but shorter and more fun." Well, as far as Caylus goes, at least it's more fun...

You can ease a monopoly player's transition to Caylus by speaking "Chance" and "Community Chest" language.

"Bailiff movement in your favor. Score the castle now."
"From sale of stone, collect 2 deniers."
"Move the provost back 3 spaces."
"Take a ride in the joust field. If you pass over a denier and a cloth, collect 1 favor."
"You are assessed for castle repairs. 1 food + 2 of other goods."
"Stop! Your token goes directly to 'jail'. Do not pass the provost. Do not take action on that building."
"You have won second prize at the stables. You are now the second player."
"Gate: Advance token to nearest "utility". If unowned, you may use it without paying a VP."

A terrible shame, as this is a tremendous game.

It does, and it's awesome with any number. I don't play Magna Grecia nearly as much as it deserves...

Almost thou persuadest me to be a pure-mechanics gamer.

I am of the belief that there is no excuse for bad graphic design. I also passed on the game due to the look of the board. I mean, think about it...if you have a great game with great mechanics, but you make a land mass that looks like an Op-artist puked on it, why would you expect people to get excited? Unless it's a DESERT, land should be green and water should be blue. At least they got it half right.

Along this same line of thinking, I embrace some truly horrible games due to loving the theme or artwork.

I'm not sure how far down the list you extend "top-rated" but I own 13 of the top 25, but I've only played 9 of them.

I've been asked that about Union Pacific!

Of the top 25 games, the only ones I've played are Memoir '44 and Hammer of the Scots. I own both.

Heh--out of the top FIFTY, I've played six. And I'm pretty comfortable with that.

I have played exactly 10 of the top 20 games. I own none of them.
Extending to the top 100, only 26 of them have I played, and I own only three (four if you count Bridge, which I suppose pretty much everyone could be said to "own").

Nothing a bullet can't fix.

That's called effective marketing. You notice the theme words before "Monopoly" registers in your brain.

Ack, before I became a gamer geek (ie, I just played MtG, Robo Rally and GW stuff) I bought Star Wars Monopoly.

But that game now lives is my basement away from the other games, so that has to count for something right?

I still love my Disney monopoly game, even if I don't play it. It is nice to know that if we game with those who must only play monopoly I will be using my Disney princess pewter pieces. Scoff if you like.

Offer them up for trade

I have played several games of Go and said, "this game licks my pouch."

Funny,I find go against the computer quite relaxing, quite zen... as in "no thought needed"

Maybe that's why I suck at it, but enjoy it...

aramis, another game you might enjoy is "Elisa"

The ONLY thing Go has going for it is that it is supposedly an easy to learn Asian game and therefore has mystique props. Its not easy. Its rules are overly complicated. You can't play mystique. Chess is *such* a better game with an end condition that makes sense. Or, if you really like black and white stones Othello or Reversi works just as well.

And if you want something that is better balanced there is always Hex.

Go is indeed a difficult game, but after you've played for a while the end condition will make sense: pass when playing a move will reduce your score. As chess often ends in a draw I can't agree that its end conditons are better than those of go, which always has a winner. But chess is a good game too.

[quote]And if you want something that is better balanced there is always Hex.[/quote]
Wait, what? In Go, to account for first-move bias, you add about 6.5 points to the white player's score at the end of the game. Hex is a first player win without side-swapping rules...

I completely agree !
This was the reason that convinced me to buy it in the first place. A great idea and a great mechanism ... wasted in a terminally random game where your strategy and choices make no difference at all! By the way, I play it every now and then, almost as a relaxing pastime

To be honest, I don't see why Fluxx gets so much hatred. I mean, yes, it's a pretty mindless card game, but as mindless card games go, it's not bad (much better than Guillotine, for example, which seems to be far more popular amongst BGGers). The only serious strike against it is that the game length is so variable.

Some people need to get over their hatred of Fluxx. Fluxx is Fluxx. It is a great little game. Sure it can be random. So what?!

I like the chaos, but the people who say it's barely a game have a point. Playing this is as much about seeing what happens as actually trying to win. It isn't good for people who take winning too seriously.

Then there are those who are OK with fast, light games, but start having a problem when the game goes on too long. Again, I think that is more likely to happen when people are playing too seriously.

I once paid $160.00 for ONE card, glad I got over that phase.

I once shot a man just for snoring.

I think, actually, that the point was that he regrets this. The title of this list might have given you a hint in this direction.

At one point in time I played this like mad. Had MANY big time cards and finally got fed up with the you need this card, this card is banned and people kept getting frustrated with each other. I sold all my cards for at least 20 x what I paid for them and am all the happier for it.

With spending money on decks I played a whole bunch of people with a COMMON deck made of cards people would gladly give you and WON 8-10 times. It is all in how you play not what you PAY.

Fast forward many years and my group started playing magic again with ALTERNATE rules. 1 GIANT deck EVERYONE plays from. The game plays very well this way and NO whining about who has the most $$$ on cards.

and now for my MtG anecodte!

Friend of mine has been a dedicated rolegamer from way back when, he slips into minis and card games occasioanly (hell, his company even makes a few; check out gomi designs ifn intrested) but is in essence a rolegamer. He used to be pretty big on the whole gameing con organising thing and was there for the start of the proliferation of the card gamers into the various cons around the country.

Anyhum at one con he fianlly lost it after some (possibly entirelly imagined) slight from a cardgamer about rolegame(r)s being dull and over complicated when compared to card game(r)s. At the end of the event there was to be an auction for charity; signed games, limited editions etc and one especially spiffy magic card (no I dont know what it was, call it the sacred black lotus ifn you want) this card was the reason a lot of the card gamers were at this con and the rolegamers were annoyed about this alone ifn nothing else.

So my friend during the con (indeed he actually left his game to do this, an unheard of event!) quietly goes around the whole rolegamers fraternity and asks for donations, several tense hours of counting and a couple of buckets of coins later and the auction begins, the hall is split almost entirelly down the middle; card gamers on one side real (yes I say real!) gamers on the other the auction carries on and lots of money is made for good causes.

The final item is the card, bidding is brisk starting very fast and spiralling rapidly upwards £25, £50, £75, £100 and it slows here, the hammer is finally comeing down I think at around £117 odd; going once... going twice... at which point my friend stands up and in a clear but soft voice says: "Three hundred and fourteen pounds seventy nine pence 3 french francs and a packet of polos" after which he dosent even pause just comes to the front with the buckets of money puts them on the front of the stage, climbs up onto it and takes the card from the auctioner's hand.

At this point you could have heard a pin drop; the card gamer side of the hall is dumbfounded jaws gapeing, the real gamer side is sniggering behind their hands, my freind takes one of the buckets out of the metal waste paper basket it was in and with the card in one hand and his zippo in the other, lights the card and drops it in to the empty waste paper basket, then walks of stage to the ensueing whooping and accolade from his side of the hall and the wailing and curseing of the other. He didn't do another con in an organisational role again after that

sorry ifn that ran on a bit longer than I intended but it's a good true story

WalkerRedEye

This is the only one that's potentially harmful. And we all do it, alas ...

you can get them to play, they will enjoy it. but if you ever try any other game you will hear these words for the rest of your time with them. "it not as good as the train game".

LOL! Guilty as charged your honour.

On a weekend away with 6 people (non gamers) I packed a copy of TTR (hey, you never know?), first night after dinner there was talk of playing a game, the M word was being used a lot, I sat in horror. The night was saved when I plucked out TTR, it went down a storm and next morning at breakfast everyone says they want to play 'the train game again'.

Three weeks later we invite one of the couples to our place for dinner and a game. My wife and I decide we should give Puerto Rico a go. It went down well enough (too much wine at dinner didn't help!), but when we talk about doing it again, you guessed it, they'd rather play 'the train game'.

My wife and I have turned our neighbor-friends into TtR junkies. We now get together 1-2 times/month to play games, and even though we've introduced them to many other games, TtR is always their #1 choice. It's like newbie-eurogamer crack -- they just can't get enough.

How many times have you played Goa and Power Grid? You can always buy the new maps for Power Grid. In fact, you can integrate Settlers with both those games. The settlements in Settlers and the houses Power Grid are even the same shape. Just think what you can do when you convert a Power Grid house to a city... double production!

It is only partly a new game, and it isn't that much better.

I agree with the Cities and Knights expansion. Cannot agree with the silly price tag on the 3D version, despite the fact that it does look superb.

The only pognant comment I can make re: Sett;ers is it introduced me to deeper gaming than I had experienced previously. Well, Euro style anyway. It was my "portal" game.

Try playing some of the "Das Buch" variant rules. No need ot shell out money for the expansion (although I did), you can just download the alternate rules off the Geek and improvise the bits you need. One of the best variant rules, Settlers of Atlantis, can be played with just a supply of counters (to mark how close each hex is to sinking). You could use glass beads, pennies, chopped-off fingertips, anything.

Don't knock Hi Ho Cherri-o man.
For a kid's game, especially toddler age, it is an essential library game. Very few games teach elementary counting as well as Hi Ho.

It comes highly recommended by most 4-6 year olds I know.

Don't knock the beginnings of gaming.

My son really loved his copy of Sesame street chutes and ladders, especially the pieces that were some of his favorite characters. I've actually never played the game so we were learning together. He learned to use to spinner and has a new found fascination with dice. He will be a gamer yet!

My take is that these games are essential to learning how to play a game, thus good for the age group (try Crafty Badger for a good young game). The challenge is you must resist the temptation from the cute pieces of Cooties when she is three or you will regret it