resonance: Games with the Game Professor
Last Wednesday, I had a delightful time with Professor Scott Nicholson http://www.boardgameinfo.com/content/43-the-game-professor (a lot of thanks to @slifty for organizing the event in the first place). We went through a bunch of games quickly without dwelling too much on fully forming a strategy for any one of them but rather focusing on learning each one of them. I wanted to share a couple of them here since some of them can be played with a modified deck of cards. Although, I do have to say that it takes out a lot of the fun without the beautiful artwork and pieces that some of the games have. As Scott says, "a good game depends on the people and the environment in which it's played".
We actually did a few small games first followed by one long and complicated board game (Seven Wonders) which has actually won a few awards. The link for Seven Wonder: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68448/7-wonders I'll explain two of the simpler games here (in order of how much I liked them myself). Simpler only in terms of the rules. Not in terms of play :)
No Thanks
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12942/no-thanks Each player gets 11 chips. A deck of 33 cards are numbered from 3 to 35. In the beginning, 9 cards are taken out of the game. The rest of the deck is placed in the center of the table. The first card is flipped over and game play starts with the first player deciding whether she would like to take the card or pay one chip to not take the card. This continues around the table until somebody decides to take the card and all the chips that have been paid. Then, the next card is flipped over and the game continues. The points are counted up as follows. For each connected string that the player has (for example 35-34-33-32 is worth minus-35 points, unconnected cards are worth minus that number of points), the largest value is the number of negative points. The chips are each worth +1 point. The player with the most number of points when the deck runs out, wins.
Skull & Roses
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92415/skull-rosesThis is a simple little game that can be reproduced with a deck of cards. The actual game has some beautiful artwork which goes with the theme and feel of the whole thing. Each player is given 3 skulls and 1 rose. Each player simultaneously chooses a card face down to put in front of them. Beginning with the first player, the player makes a declaration for how many roses she can turn over from all the face down cards on the table. The next player to the left then has two options. He has to either (a) state a higher number of roses he can turn over and put down another card face down or (b) decline and force her to take her own dare. Once the challenge has been accepted. The player can choose which cards to turn over. If he fails, then another player randomly picks a card from his original cards and discards it. If he suceeds, he has won the dare. The game ends when either a player has won two dares or everybody else is out of cards. Really fun, I think I'll be going to another session very soon.
No Thanks
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12942/no-thanks Each player gets 11 chips. A deck of 33 cards are numbered from 3 to 35. In the beginning, 9 cards are taken out of the game. The rest of the deck is placed in the center of the table. The first card is flipped over and game play starts with the first player deciding whether she would like to take the card or pay one chip to not take the card. This continues around the table until somebody decides to take the card and all the chips that have been paid. Then, the next card is flipped over and the game continues. The points are counted up as follows. For each connected string that the player has (for example 35-34-33-32 is worth minus-35 points, unconnected cards are worth minus that number of points), the largest value is the number of negative points. The chips are each worth +1 point. The player with the most number of points when the deck runs out, wins.
Skull & Roses
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92415/skull-rosesThis is a simple little game that can be reproduced with a deck of cards. The actual game has some beautiful artwork which goes with the theme and feel of the whole thing. Each player is given 3 skulls and 1 rose. Each player simultaneously chooses a card face down to put in front of them. Beginning with the first player, the player makes a declaration for how many roses she can turn over from all the face down cards on the table. The next player to the left then has two options. He has to either (a) state a higher number of roses he can turn over and put down another card face down or (b) decline and force her to take her own dare. Once the challenge has been accepted. The player can choose which cards to turn over. If he fails, then another player randomly picks a card from his original cards and discards it. If he suceeds, he has won the dare. The game ends when either a player has won two dares or everybody else is out of cards. Really fun, I think I'll be going to another session very soon.
