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Old School Games: Board Games, Card Games and Games of Chance

 
 
Margin Walker
02:25 / 27.08.02
I guess this is a two-parter. The first part is this is wondering if you gamble. If you do, got any good stories? And if not, why not?

The second part is wondering what you like to play that isn't electronic and doesn't have anything to do with Role Playing.

For the first part, I like to gamble but I rarely do it because I'm usually broke. I may have a lot of faults but thankfully I'm fiscally responsible enough that I haven't ever lost the rent money at the casino--although I've been tempted to a couple of times. I like to play Poker, but I don't get to play it that often. And if I don't have a lot of dosh to waste at the casino, I usually hedge my losses by sticking to the slots.
For the second part, I love to play Chess. Thank (insert diety here), I just got a job. If all goes well (crosses fingers), I'd like to start up a chess match with some folks via e-mail, probably using PostcardChess.com. And I'd like to learn how to play Mah jongg, Go & Shogi one of these days, too.

OK, it's your turn....
 
 
Jack Fear
11:25 / 27.08.02
With gambling, as with drugs, I prefer not to start if I'm unsure I'll be able to stop.

After years of Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, my daughter is now old enough for a rousing game of Parcheesi--and a bloodthirsty little cutthroat she is.

D has a renewed interest in Scrabble since reading Stefan Fatsis's book Word Freak, about the professional/tournament scene—so she and I have taken to playing Scrabble on Saturday nights after the kids go to bed, while waiting for Iron Chef and Cowboy Bebop to come on.

Interestingly, we're not the only ones: a fellow in my office came in to work 'tother way with a brand-new Scrabble set under his arm and tried to hsutle up a lunchtime game. I asked, "What brought this on?" and he replied, "Well, I'm reading this book..."

So expect a quiet Scrabble resurgence in the next year or two. I enjoy it immensely, but I never win big, because I become too intoxicated with the words themselves and forget about the points and the triple-score spaces: I'll intersect three other words to lay down some painstakingly constructed word like JAMBALAYA and score twelve points, while my partner sets down the X on a triple-word score to make EX and walks away with 27 points. I'll go for the elegant play over the big score every time.

I've always enjoyed games of knowledge (Trivial Pursuit), strategy (Pente), and creativity (Pictionary) more than those of sheer chance.

I never learned Chess, though, and have always regretted it: although after hearing anecdote after anecdote about how Chess tends to become an obsession, maybe I don't regret it so much after all--I prefer not to start if I'm unsure I'll be able to stop.
 
 
The Natural Way
11:33 / 27.08.02
Risk.

Haven't played it in ages (and I'm shit), but would dearly love to set up another "League of Risk Masters" (tm).... Don't ask.....
 
 
w1rebaby
11:38 / 27.08.02
I get a vague thrill out of gambling, but I've never been interested enough to do much more than buy one (1) lottery ticket and put money on office sweepstakes.

If I play board/traditional games it's usually because I'm not feeling creative enough to RPG (don't do much of either these days) and I don't want to think too hard. If I'm in the mood to think, I prefer to write something, argue with someone or do some hardcore coding, so I don't really play "clever" games like chess. I also hate losing at "clever" games, I don't take it very well.

I love Jenga. I'm mad for Jenga. I'm damn good at it, too, even when drunk, which is probably one of the reasons I like it. Kerplunk I don't mind either, mostly because of its fantastic drug-paraphenalia construction.

I always thought Cluedo was really dull.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
13:15 / 27.08.02
I'm pretty bad at Chess but love to play it, I like to play Scrabble too and sometimes Trivial Pursuit but only against people as bad as me. Mah Jongg - best game in the world, when I was a kid Dominoes was my favourite and I liked the game where you line them up and they knock each other down in a pattern. They did that on Record Breakers once and I got very excited. I always wanted to play Operation but never got a chance.
 
 
Loomis
13:54 / 27.08.02
I always wanted Operation too. I was however consoled with Kerplunk and the ever-popular Mousetrap. And of course Monopoly. I was always fairly decent at chess, and at least it's a game you can play in a cafe with a degree of respectability, as long as you look like an eccentric genius and smoke constantly.

The biggest letdown of my game playing life was when I played backgammon for the first time. It looks so elegant and exotic, but then you find out that it's just like draughts really. Which is frickin' boring, let's face it.
 
 
bitchiekittie
13:58 / 27.08.02
I like to play clue, life, and jenga with my daughter, because they are easy enough for her to play but still fun for me.

I like to play rummy and solitaire and on the computer I play free cell all day (though Im so good at it now its really not much fun). I like to play crosswords but Im really shit at it. chess and billiards are fun, but Im really embarrassingly bad at both (well, I suppose who Im playing against!). I like carnival games, I am ace with the squirt game and the darts.

I never gamble - I enjoy being an affable loser, but with lost cash Im not sure I could be
 
 
rizla mission
16:10 / 27.08.02
Not much of a fan of "games" to be honest - especially card games - they bore the fuck out of me and I'm always too slow to figure out what's going on.

Just lacking that competitive streak I suppose.

Chess also pisses me off due to it's logical-ness, cast iron rules lack of scope for creativity (waits for the Chess gurus to go mental and start carrying on about 'beautiful strategies' and 'endless possibilities').

I'd quite partial to Pictionary or Charades, but my favourite game is Scrabble, preferably played so that made-up words are allowed provided the player can give a satisfactory explanation of what they mean.
 
 
grant
16:14 / 27.08.02
I like the Scrabble. And the Mankala. Never got obsessed with chess or poker, although got really into playing go against the computer. I have a distrust of backgammon - too much like arithmetic.

I'm not good at gambling, but at the craps table at the Nugget (right outside Reno), I was with some friends of mine when one of them turned $20 into over $200 by staying on the hard eight. This means that the girl bet that her boyfriend would roll double fours twice in a row. And he did. Which is sort of unlikely. But quite profitable.

I'm fairly good at hearts, as well (the computer has made me a fearsome foe against human beings).
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
16:39 / 27.08.02
I have just started hanging out with a group that has a Friday Night Poker game, and gambling is involved just because poker without money isn't worth playing. The first few weeks were actually hard for me because I'M TAKING MONEY FROM MY FRIENDS...and I do have a bit of luck when it comes to gamer of chance.

Now I play to enjoy the joking around, and as long as no one gets stung too bad, it's cheaper than going to a movie and then to a nice place to eat.

The Poker variations I prefer at Auction, Texas Hold Em and, of course, the game that can kill your bank account quickly, Inbetween.

Don't much care for Old Chicago or any game with a lot of wild cards, though.
 
 
Mr Tricks
19:30 / 27.08.02
I was raised on Dominoes... Not just lining them up & knocking them down, but the cutthoat game with a set of Double Six Dominoes and 4 players/2 teams. In Spanish the game could be called Capicoo don't ask me what it means...



The 4 players each pick 7 "bones" the one with the double 6 goes first playing that piece. The game proceeds clockwise with the next player having to match the 2 outer most numbers. Thus the second player would have to play something with a 6. Imagine s/he plays a 6/blank. The next play (teamate of the first) must now play off of either the 6 or the Blank, S/he plays 6/5. The 4th player (teamate of the second) must now play off either the Blank or the 5. The Game proceeds this way, if the player Can't match the number they must pass. The Stragidy is to Block out your opponent forcing them to Pass while protecting your teamate, not letting your opponents force a pass onto Hir.

Whomever empties their hand first wins, that round and collects the other unplayed Dominoes to ad to their score. The game is usually played to 1000. The winer of the 1st round gets a 500 point bonus, second round gets a 400 point bonus, 3rd= 300 points, 4th=200pts, 5th=100pts, 6th=50pts. If you win round with a double blank it's called a "chuchasu" and you get a 100 point bonus. If you win a hand and the domino you play can be played at either end it's called "capicoo" and you get a 300point bonuse.
If you get a "capicoo" with a "chuchasu" you're a bad ass and everyone else should go home!!!

Just got into Double 9 Dominos... very different set of rules...
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
20:59 / 27.08.02
I love games, I can pick them up stupidly easy. Not so much with the computers but boards, cards and so on. I love the strategy and the play, reading your opponent and calculating the risks.

Gambling isn't such a big thing for me and I wouldn't get into it on a regular basis but there have been some good nights when I've learnt many different variations of poker even if it is at the expense of a small widge of cash.

Current favourites are RPG's, Joe (known to most as asshole), Bizarre French Yatzee and Mah Jongg.

Warnings for people taking an interest in Poker. Sit and watch when Baseball gets wheeled out or someone says the word widowmaker. Having a go can be a very costly affair when you really don't understand the game.
 
 
The Strobe
17:28 / 30.08.02
Mahjongg is a wonderful game; I'd love to own a set one day, but refuse to buy a shithouse plastic set. I want a nice imported one, damnit! It plays nice, it feels wondeful to play; it's good stuff.

Poker is brilliant. I'm better at Draw than Texas Hold 'Em (the preferred weapon of choice down my way), but just love it as a game. I play pretty sensible, occasionally taking risks, and then occasionally fucking people over a treat. It's a marvellous game - but I need to be sober to play it. I stop drinking when the cards come out, or just slowly work my way down whatever's in the glass.

(Other fave card games: Gin, and Canasta. Oh, and the French lot like Bezique and Piquet, though I've forgotten how to play them).

I like Monopoly, but I play it like a bastard. IE:

Friend:"I'll give you these two properties and a train line for Old Kent Road".
Me:"No".
Friend:"Why not? It's, like, five times what it's worth, you know"
Me:"Yes. And you'll get a set and build hotels and fuck me. So no. I'm keeping it.
Friend:"But it's useless to you!!!"
Me:"Maybe so."
Friend:"You are SO unfair. You're no fun at all! It's a game
Me:"Yes. And I want to win"

That game of Monopoly also involved someone somehow acquiring all the £1 notes, and then charging £5 anytime anyone needed one. That was a real earner.

Other top stuff: lots of earlyish Ravensberger stuff - they could REALLY make games. Labyrinth is a corker.

Hates: Cluedo, it's shite and tedious. Oh, and Risk is bollocks as well.
 
 
James Clarke
09:33 / 01.09.02
Regarding the first question rarely do I gamble, I sometimes have played poker with friends for small change and play the lottery now and again.

As far as board games go. Back in June at the end of term I decided it was finally time to get around to learning Go something that I had been put off down to lack of good resources at first look. However after looking harder I found a very good website for learning Go. It is called The Interactive Way To Go and is an online version of the Karl Bakers introduction to Go called The Way To Go which you can get from the American Go Association.

While I don’t usually have time for board games when I do get the chance I enjoy playing Go, Chess and Mahjong.
 
 
The Natural Way
09:54 / 01.09.02
And Monopoly. I love Monopoly.

I'm getting 'Peanuts' Monopoly for Crimbo. Shundice!

Rizla? Card Games? What's up with you boy? Where did yr parents go wrong? Shit head and Blackjack get me as hot as two attackfrunts battleshunting!
 
 
Saint Keggers
15:38 / 01.09.02
Talisman. A game that you have to start at the begining of a long weekend if you want to finish in time for work on tuesday. Damn good fun tough.
As a kid I likeed those games that came with a tape for the VCR. Atmosfear, I think, was the name. They were creepy.
 
 
invisible_al
16:39 / 01.09.02
Ah Talisman, it was always the game of last resort with my mates at uni as we like it, just we played it sooooo many times.
Friend of mine is a board game collector and he has loads, he's always trying to get us to play Shang-hi Trader (trade opium and other things but get out before the revolution happens) but Cults Across America is more fun. You can summon Cuthulhu and rampage across the states, what more could you want.
Also been vaguely playing Mancala recently, its really simple and yet quite addictive. Should learn Mah Jongg properly at some point as well anyone here play?
 
 
Saint Keggers
17:50 / 01.09.02
University...ah tha tbrings back memories (ok, of college...)
Talisman, Dungeon, Noble House and Shogun (Based on the James Clavell novels) Car Wars and Naval War..I think somewhere I found time amongst those games to attend class...
 
 
Rev. Jesse
17:52 / 01.09.02
I hang out with a lot of poets who are, for some reason, addicted to Truth or Dare. These are, of course, really creative people, so their games of Truth or Dare get really creative, which makes them really scary to play with.

Monopoly is fun with the fam, and I do pretty well at Trival pursuit too. Chess I do play on occasion.

But Truth or Dare is the game I both look forward to playing next and dread playing next. I'm surprised no one else listed it.
 
 
Lionheart
23:02 / 08.12.03
I was playing Texas Hold 'Em a few days ago and I was holding a hand consititng of some anonymous card and an ace of hearts. The flop was dealt and in its contaiment lay some anonymous card and 2 cards also of the hearts suite. Somebody raised, somebody folded and we all called. Then we ended up on fourth street which was also a card of the hearts suite. I decided not to chance it (considering I had no hand) and proceeded to fold. Then we arrived at the river which turned out to be another card of the hearts suite. AAArgh! I folded on a flush, ace high! Noooo!

Uhm.. Yeah.

I just started playing poker not too long ago. I started playing it on Yahoo and now have friends teaching me how to play. So far I know Texas Hold 'Em and 5-card draw. I used to know 7 card stud but now I don't. I also play Blackjack every once in a while but it's more of a game of chance than I'd like it to be plus I haven't finished learning the basic strategy. I've been getting quite good at video poker and can turn over a little profit at a casino but I don't like to play for long considering that, on the machines I've played, a straight pays something like 3 to 1 and the lowest winning hand is a pair of jacks.

I also play roulette online (but not for cash) and currently bet on either 2 columns or 2 rows thereby placing my money on 24 out of 38 numbers (including "0" and "00".)

I've just regained my interest in chess. When I was younger I used to be a loose player. Just threw my pieces around, hoping for my opponent to make a mistake, but my grandpa was a much better player than me and constistantly kept kicking my ass. I've changed since then. Just recently I've played chess on my friend's cell phone and beat the computer. Sure, one might point out that the difficulty level was set to beginner but it's a computer! Kasparov can only tie it. I can beat it!

My mom taught me backgammon a few years back on a backgammon board built for her by a childhood friend. The board is very special to us for on it is a massive portait of Stalin, black lacquer on furnished wood.

Checkers never really fully appealed to me. I don't know why though.

Monopoly is a bitch to play for me due to me hoarding up random streets and avenues and forcing my friends to pay outrageous amounts of money and propery in exchange for some street normally valued at 250. This usually makes my friends fume and storm out of the house in anger but I find it all terribly amusing and laugh it off. I'm an evil, evil, evil real estate profiteer.

Cluedo is too simple for me. It, like some other games including Snakes and Ladders, are based solely on chance. Games of pure chance begin to seem like very bad repetitive movies to me. You can't really do anything to change the outcome of the dice throw, can you?

And to finish this horribly dis-organized post off...

I never played RPGs. I might start eventually though. Oh, and the only strategy board game which I've played in my entire short life was "Axis and Allies." Is it available for the computer?
 
 
Squirmelia
09:29 / 09.12.03
The last boardgame I played was Go Fetch It. It consists of a board, some dog playing pieces, and a cassette tape. You choose which dog to be, and then listen to the tape, which tells you to hide the coloured plastic bones, roll on the floor, and to move forward in the game. The tape I have is quite ropey, due to it being rather old. I enjoyed playing it, although some of the others that played decided that a game where you pretend to be a dog while listening to a tape is not really a very good concept. They obviously never played it when they were kids.
 
 
Smoothly
09:47 / 09.12.03
Like Jack Fear I shy away from gambling because of an addictive personality (really, my personality – I can’t get enough of it). But it does mean that I get faddish about other games. I immersed myself in chess for a few months last year. I’m pretty shit, but love playing. And chess books have fantastically discouraging titles – The spine of Jeremy Silman’s The Amateur’s Mind is mocking me from my book shelf as I write.
Currently Scrabble is my game of choice. Dyslexia is a mixed blessing here, since although incompetent spelling is a setback, an aptitude for jumbling letter order can bring about some inspired word selections as a multitude of permutations jump off the rack.
I’m also a fan of Monopoly; and Lionheart’s and Paleface’s tale of cut-throat tactics all sound perfectly reasonable to me. Cementing an early lead by buying up all the houses, thus preventing an opponent from getting on the first rung of the property ladder, is another good ploy. Ahh, Monopoly.
 
 
Tezcatlipoca
10:12 / 09.12.03
I tend to prefer the classics when it comes to board games. I play a fair bit of Cluedo and far to much Go. Monopoly is great, especially as - in my experience at least - other players are too busy going for green and purple properties to notice you slowly acquiring those browns and blues. What's that? Just passed GO, huh? Right, hotel on Old Kent Road, that'll be £250 please.

Of late, a group of friends and I have begun to hold regular Texas Hold'Em poker evenings, which are a huge amount of fun, if only to watch people's dispositions change in contrast to their wealth throughout the course of the game.
 
 
Whisky Priestess
13:44 / 09.12.03
When I was in Edinburgh about five years ago, living for a month in a flat with nine other actors, our games of Truth or Dare became a nightly obsession. As no-one had brought cards or any other sort of game, we were confined for entertainment purposes to Streetfighter II (only 2 at a time) or Truth or Dare (all 10 of us at once). Apart from the fact that actors are a bunch of attention-seeking loose-tongued slappers, I've no idea why it was so popular with us.

Every Christmas I have to relearn a number of basic card games (Sevens, several types of whist, Rummy etc.) in order to play them for one night only wiht my aged relatives. We used to play Trivial Pursuit until everyone learned the answers (to about 5 years) and we still play Lexicon - sort of like Scrabble meets the word section of Countdown, with letter cards. I lurve Lexicon because it's the only game I'm ever likely to win.

I also used to play a lot of chess when I was little, then I realised I was never going to be a child prodigy and gave up in disgust. I can still play a basic game but get whipped by anyone even halfway competent. And Monopoly, Risk, croquet and any other game that involves screwing over one's opponent always gets my vote.
 
 
Papess
14:46 / 09.12.03
I am a pool player...or billiards as it is properly called. However, I usually play Eight-ball and not Snooker. I am generally at work when I play, (yes I love my job!) and they tend to have rinky-dinky coin operated tables. The snooker tables being the largest, and the bar tables being the smallest, I like something inbetween to challenge my game but still allow for hard, fast shots on the balls that is so entirely satisfying...ahh...

Actually, it was the sound of playing pool that drew me to it. I used to sit and watch in fascination and admiration for the sharks and hustlers in the bar when I first started working in them. I think I may have picked up a thing or two but I am still not all that good.

Really, I am not hustling you...
 
 
invisible_al
08:38 / 10.12.03
Just something I've thought of, has anyone else noticed that socialists and anti-capitalists are usually shit hot at playing monopoly.
And does anyone know somewhere in London that does decent imported Mah Jongg sets, this thread has reminded me that I want one .
 
 
No star here laces
09:08 / 10.12.03
All I'm going to say is that chess is the king of all games and anyone who says otherwise is a fule.

The best game of chess I ever played was on a beach in the Bahamas. We smoked about an eight of weed wrapped up in a tobacco leaf and played slowly and contentedly for 4 hours. It was bliss. There is nothing like having all the time in the world and letting your mind drift aimlessly around the chessboard for as long as you care to let it.... (sunshine helps too)
 
 
Sir Real
12:09 / 10.12.03
backgammon is one of the most fascinatingly sublime games of all time. it can be incrdibly dramatic, lends itself perfectly to gambling and the game itself seems to possess a sharp sense of irony. it seems that whenever that perfect roll thast ruins all your plans occurs the game takes great pleasure in showing you that very same roll over and over again. the dice know when you make a bad move and delight in punishing you

my other fav is foosball. a beautiful, elegant game. not just spinning like mad and wacking the hell out of the ball
 
 
rakehell
23:52 / 10.12.03
I play a fair bit of cribbage, though not as much as I'd like to. I also play pool whenever there's a table and opponent around, though I'm not that good.
 
 
ibis the being
17:49 / 12.12.03
I like a lot of games, various cards, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, Pictionary (tho noone ever wants to play with me), dominoes, and simple Tetris-like computer diversions. As far as gambling goes, I really only like blackjack, that's a lot of fun. I'm decent at it, but then again it's easy, everyone's decent once you know the basics. I suck at Pool.

I was overjoyed to get Operation as a child, but turned out the thing rattled my nerves so tremendously that I had to play without the batteries in. A game for kids where, if you're a little outside the lines, you get a sudden shock! Fun!

Speed Scrabble is great, recommended for drinking with friends and needing a fast game that doesn't require much of an attention span:

No board used. Dump all the tiles in a pile face-down in the center. At the cue, "Go," everyone draws four tiles and tries to make a word(s). Whoever does it first, using all tiles, cues, "Go." Everyone draws one more tile, tries to make word(s) with all tiles (in Scrabble formation), etc, until the tiles are gone. You can rearrange as you go. The round ends when the center pile is gone and someone has managed to use all their tiles - all the words have to connect in Scrabble form. Compare words & start over.
 
 
ibis the being
18:03 / 12.12.03
Oh, another great game is Stanford - has to be played on a pool table whose owners won't mind/know about it being abused, ie, a university campus center.

No cues used, best with 3 or more players. There are 2 balls on the table at any time, usually the cueball & another just for ease of distinction, leave the rest in the pockets just to have them handy (will explain).

Say we have 3 players, A, B, C, with the cueball & 8ball on the table. A goes first, grabbing the cueball and rolling it (hard) at the 8 to try to sink the 8. If he does, B gets a letter - a la HORSE, but this time spelling STANFORD.

If A doesn't sink it, B quickly grabs the cueball - but it has to touch the 8 or a wall first - and tries to sink it giving C a letter. If he doesn't get to the cueball before it stops rolling, B gets a letter and loses the turn. The other rules are that you can only throw from the short ends of the table, you get a letter if you mess that up, and you can't reach past midtable to get the cueball.

If the person before you accidentally sinks the cueball, you can grab any ball out of a pocket and continue using that as the shooter.

It's a really fast, cutthroat, raucous game - you'll be literally running around the table.
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
20:56 / 12.12.03
For my b-day, a pair of friends got me the LotR Risk edition. Fun stuff.

I've been playing Risk for like 15 years now. Gotta love it.
 
 
Goodness Gracious Meme
23:45 / 14.12.03
no you haven't. sorry. goes on my 'zzzzz' list with Cluedo and Monopoly.

Love card games, Canasta rules especially, but variations of Rummy and Poker are also great fun.

Also backgammon, which I'm lousy at, but enjoy loads. Most of the excellent players I've known have been massive stoners, which i don't quite understand...

Giant pub Jenga=happyjoy

Operation is the king, though.
 
 
Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey
03:03 / 15.12.03
As far as gambling goes, the odd lottery ticket is my limit.

But when it comes to board-type games, I'm a lifelong abalone devotee. If you haven't heard of it, I heartily recommend it, especially if you're into games like reversi or Go.

It takes about 30 seconds to learn the game, but can get mind-bogglingly strategic. Absolutely brilliant and deserves to be made compulsory.

When there's enough of us, a good boys-v-girls Cranium session can also be very enjoyable, especially accompanied with lashings of red wine.
 
 
Icicle
09:07 / 15.12.03
I've just got the Sophie's World board game. It's based on the book by Jostein Gaardner, and it's brilliant, and so interesting that I don't actually care whether I win or not!
 
  
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