Chris Brooks - Unplayed Games Burndown

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Things are not looking good. A bulk purchase of games at Funagain combined with a lack of playing time over the summer has really set me back on my quest to play all of my unplayed games in 2006.

One of the first steps to recovery is admitting you have a problem, so let me just say it – without some other changes, I don’t think I can complete this project in 2006. Time for some drastic action.

There are two changes I can make to get into recovery mode:

Get more aggressive about knocking out the unplayed games.
Get rid of games on the unplayed list that likely wouldn’t stay in my collection anyway.

I’ve chatted with a few friends like Ken and KC about hosting a burndown party at my house – this is gaming where we focus on quantity, not quality. Maybe I’ll give points to people that show up to help me knock down the list and do some weighted raffle prizes or the like. Given that we are entering football season and my Saturdays will be shot September-October, I may need to set aside a Sunday to do this.

The second bullet is more interesting to me and is where I think I can get more help from you, the reader. I’m going to list all of the games I own but have yet to play, and I’d like those of you with opinions to post a comment with a list of 5–10 games that you think I should dump from my collection.

Checkers 2000
Dying Lights
Fast Golf
Golden Deuce
Himalaya Blackjack
Key-Cue
QUITS
1830 - Railroads and Robber Barons
Battlestations
Diplomacy
History of the World
Starship Catan
Britannia
Corsairs and Hellcats
Iron Dragon
Silverton
Kingdoms
Crystal of Power, The - DragonLords
El Caballero
Loco!
Maelstrom (a Vortex game)
Manifest Destiny
Mag-Blast Second Edition
Master Labyrinth
Hellas
Cave Troll
Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers
Orient Express
Hero Clix
Cannes - Stars, Scripts and Screens
Quest for the Dragonlords
Turbo Taxi
Atlanteon
Stock Market Game
Target
Legend of Landlock, The
Sequence
Mille Bornes
Spy Alley
221B Baker Street and Expansions
Magdar
Blitzkrieg
Malefiz
Stock Market Game, The
Outdoor Survival
ASL Starter Kit #1
Das Ende des Triumvarates
Kreta
Warrior Knights
Ys
Parlay
Gemblo
Socks in the City
Kunst and Kennis Spel
Mutiny
Wie Hund und Katz
Wordwild
Paths of Glory

posted on Thursday, August 03, 2006 2:15:27 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Comments [11]

Thursday, August 03, 2006 3:57:59 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

First, a few recommendations to push to the top of the list to play:
Loco! - Simple and fun filler - It's the lowest hanging fruit on your list.
Starship Catan - One of my favorite two player

You might consider dumping these as they are old AH games and probably don't stand up to today's standards. The only one I have played is The Stock Market Game and it was only so-so 15-20 years ago:
The Stock Market Game
Outdoor Survival
Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers
Blitzkrieg

Finally, something to cheer you up. My unplayed list is at 296.

Rob Cannon | robAT NOSPAMcannonsoftware dot com

Thursday, August 03, 2006 4:12:38 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Many of the games on your list, I know nothing about. However, I would definitely dump these:

* Hero Clix
* Outdoor Survival
* Sequence
* Manifest Destiny (there are those in RCG that like it. I hate it.)

I would transfer ownership of the following to me:
* 1830 - Railroads and Robber Barons
* Iron Dragon

These are ones worth playing, but will take significant time investment:
* Britannia
* ASL Starter Kit #1
* Paths of Glory
* El Caballero
* Ys
(okay, the latter two, maybe not as much time)

These are ones we could knock off at lunch some time:
* Starship Catan (this is good.)
* Cave Troll
* Hellas
* Stock Market Game, The
* Mille Bornes

The rest of the list is a mishmash of things I don't know, middling games, and those that have probably passed their "use or freeze" date.

Eric | ericAT NOSPAMlandesfamily dot com

Thursday, August 03, 2006 7:09:34 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

I have not played many of these and several look like real stinkers, but I cannot recommend:

* Britannia - twice as long as A Game of Thrones, with the same amount of fun.

* El Caballero - dreadful. Bad rules, and dull, unintuitive gameplay. Ridiculously overrated.

* 221B Baker Street and Expansions - I worked out that this sucked at 10 years old. This won't amuse you for more than 10 minutes. Play Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective instead.

Iain | iainAT NOSPAMcheyne dot net

Thursday, August 03, 2006 8:57:52 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

* You should play Maelstrom with one of the boys. I played this with Caleb and we enjoyed it. Is it a CCG that plays like a boardgame or a boardgame that plays like a CCG?

* You should also try Das Ende des Triumvirates. It's a euro-wargame hybrid that plays in an hour once you are familiar with the rules and it's made especially for 3.

* I don't know how it would hold up today but I enjoyed playing Silverton in the mid-90s. It's definitely an american style game but I thought it did a nice job of recreating the feel of trains in the gold rush era out west.

* I concur with the Starship Catan recommendation. Nice 2-player game. I also agree that you should get rid of 221B. It has a little more going on than Clue, but you're really looking at a basic roll-and-move deduction game.

My list is not as long but I do have a stack of wargames to work through including PoG.

Jim Ginn | ginn5jAT NOSPAMyahoo dot com

Friday, August 04, 2006 1:37:04 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

OK, definitely seeing some common threads here. I need to dump the old Avalon Hill / 3M stuff, which I think makes sense. I do know that Starship will be great, as Jacob and I played a turn while at Essen. I was surprised to see Britannia mentioned, as it looks like it could be some fun. But it is long, and I have enough longish games to knock out. Keep the comments coming!

Chris Brooks | brooksclAT NOSPAMcomputer dot org

Friday, August 04, 2006 9:01:57 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Many of these I'm not that familiar with, but here's the ones with which I am:

Heroclix: I'll disagree with Eric on this one. Quick to play and involving the same strategic approach as a game of Magic: the Gathering, but with more sentimentality to it. The system is relatively simple, though you'd want the latest revision of the rules, which I discovered at Dexcon was the 'Danger Room' version from the most recent Marvel HeroClix release. A short game can take less than an hour.

Kingdoms: Another short, easy game. For those who love math. :-) The original version was simply market stalls, but the US release sexed it up with dragons and trolls and such. A fun diversion.

Cave Troll: Depending on the number of players, about 1-2 hours (at least, the first time). Simple gameplay, but the objective takes a while to reach. Not terribly deep, but we enjoyed the few times we played it.

Milles Bornes: A classic. I used to be severely addicted to a Palm version of this one. Very simple but suprisingly fun.

Oh, and Iain is spot on....221-B Baker Street is stops being fun FAST. Last time we tried it was when I was 12, and I don't think we finished the game. Starship Troopers is nostalgic, but I don't recall it actually being any good.

WizarDru | wizardruAT NOSPAMwizardru dot net

Monday, August 07, 2006 12:38:00 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Hey man!

Love your blog ... i am not really into games - but your blog makes it all pretty interesting.
Every times i see a new entry pop - i try and look into somewhere that gives me a direction to start!
If you could recommend 2-3 games which a group of people could play (mostly adults) which would they be?

Thanks!

Jivi

Monday, August 07, 2006 8:47:44 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Battlestations is fun and worth hanging onto. I think your boys would enjoy you running it for them. It will represent a time commitment to learn the rules, but I think it's worth it.

I'm a Cave Troll booster. :)

Diplomacy is best played online with a cyberboard, imho. Well, it is fun to devote an entire Saturday to playing it ftf, but how often is that really going to happen. Diplomacy is a great game than I no longer own and am happy not to own.

Games I'd dump:

El Caballero
Outdoor Survival
Stock Market Game
Starship Troopers

While I've played a dozen fun games of Britannia, I agree with Iain's opinion of the game relative to AGoT. Same on El Cabellero and 221-B Baker St.

I've not played Hero Clix, but... do you really want to go down that road? The worst case scenario is that it's really fun. ;)

mgagan | mgagan1AT NOSPAMcomcast dot net

Wednesday, August 09, 2006 12:04:49 AM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

A vote in favour of 221B - but used differently.

I have turned this into a group activity based on the board game and use it at development camps for youths (8 groups, six in a group). It GOES OFF every time and always ranks in the best three things from the whole weekend in the evaluations.

I play the board game as per normal but all the clues/locations are posted outside (up to 500 metres away in different directions) and when the group's board piece is in a room they are out of play until the clue is collected. It has security aspects to prevent cheating not that anyone thinks to cheat - they are too busy racing around.

Combine this with nightime, torches and candles and it is absolutley manic with people running everywhere. I include the adult leaders with the groups and they are also become posessed.

I have tried to do this with several other games but have got nothing that comes close. All suggestions greatly accepted by the way (have tried werewolf but the elimination made it hard, wrote it up as a team activity and it worked better).

Warren

Warren Adams | wadamsAT NOSPAMecu dot edu dot au

Wednesday, August 09, 2006 6:31:46 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

Far be it from me to comment here when I can blog about it, but since my blog was a general comment, some specifics.

I second the comment to get rid of the old school AH games (in general), and crappy games.

Given that you liked 18FL, you should try 1830.
I can't see your BGG profile now, but from the list of games Paths of Glory (and, to a lesser extent, Manifest Destiny) seem wildly divergent from the rest of your list. And they are long. [I own and am keeping PoG, and dislike MD, but that's me].

Silverton seemed reasonable the one time I played it, but it took forever.

Target looks bad, but isn't. Not necessarily a keeper, but worth trying. And it only takes 15 minutes to play a hand. [Assuming it's the same game I'm thinking of].

Apart from 1830, none of those games strike me as great, but after throwing away the old AH and obvious trash, most are worth a play or two, if you have time and the taste. So if you are tossing some out, start with the bad, then go with the long games.

http://gaming.powerblogs.com/posts/1155158589.shtml

Brian

Wednesday, August 09, 2006 7:20:29 PM (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)

I can make it easy on you :) Here are the only ones I'd keep:
1830
Starship Catan
Battlestations, maybe - it's on my play list as well, although I'm not that optimistic in all honesty
El Cabellero
ASLSK#1
Paths of Glory

Warrior Knights is a close call, maybe that's worth keeping too, give it a try once. Silverton is a good niche game for 2-3 players, but it's been out a long time, and if you haven't played it yet, you have to ask if you are really going to - the best game is the campaign game, which is long. Britannia is worth playing once, but I'd do that then seriously considering selling it.

Brian talks a bit on his blog about tests a game should pass before it stays in the collection, to which I'd add: no matter how much I like it, am I ever realistically going to going to be able to talk anyone *else* into playing it?

When a game gets "on the bubble", that is to say, it's been around a long time and hasn't been played and we don't know whether it's a keeper, we add it to a small stash (5 games, 10 games tops) of "use it or lose it" games which we keep out with the other new or new-ish games (where it will attract attention). A small number like that isn't overwhelming. If, after being given that sort of psychological push to get it played, it still can't hit the table - it's gone.

For me, I don't need a reason to get rid of a game, I need a reason to *keep* a game. Anything that hasn't been played in a few years really needs to have some specific reason why it's sticking around. If not ... it's outta here.

Chris Farrell | gameblogAT NOSPAMmac dot com

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