Monday, January 14, 2019

Board Game Reviews: Ghost Stories, Star Trek, and Reign of Cthulhu; Top Prog Albums of 2018, Trivia, and Ninja News

Board Game Reviews

We play a lot of board games in our house. (Actually, a lot of all sorts of games.) We really enjoy the cooperative ones, as we win or lose together.
Board games have come a long way. I thought I would share some of the games we’ve enjoyed this past year.

Ghost Stories

From Board Game Geek:
Ghost Stories is a cooperative game in which the players protect the village from incarnations of the lord of hell – Wu-Feng – and his legions of ghosts before they haunt a town and recover the ashes that will allow him to return to life. Each Player represents a Taoist monk working together with the others to fight off waves of ghosts.

I recommend watching a couple YouTube videos first before attempting play. Once you get the hang of it though, this game is a lot of fun and sometimes a bit frustrating.

Each player begins his turn by bringing out a ghost/card. He then decides where he will move and what he will do. Each of the four Taoist pieces has two sets of special abilities and you decide which ones to use for the game. Some can move to any tile, some can fight two ghosts. Each tile is a villager with a special ability – setting Budda bombs, bringing a player back from the dead, etc. The goal is to survive to fight the boss ghost (card always placed tenth from the bottom in the deck) and then beat the boss ghost. Add in dice, tokens, and ghost figures moving in to haunt the town and you have one interesting game.


We really enjoy this one. There are four Taoists, so my wife and I each play two, but it’s still fun that way. Together we plot out the best strategy for beating ghosts, keeping the board from becoming overrun with ghosts, and gathering the right color tokens to win in the end. There are multiple boss ghosts (you pick blindly which one will be in the deck) and some are easy while others I pray we never get.

The frustrating comes from when a ghost card spawns another ghost – and then yet another ghost – or your dice rolls suck. (That’s right, Ray – don’t roll a one.) If you’re not on top of things (or you draw really crappy ghosts from the beginning) the board can become overrun rather quickly.

But beating that boss ghost at the end is so satisfying!

Star Trek the original series Road Trip

From the rulebook: Travel the game board of uncharted systems and planets to compete in Starfleet Academy's “Enterprise Challenge." Carry out board actions, gain phaser tokens, and acquire access codes to enter deep space in order to collect federation tokens. Be the first cadet to complete your score card by returning all 4 unique federation tokens to your dormitory and win the prestigious “Enterprise Challenge.”

Up to four players, you do play against one another. The race is one to get a token that allows you through one of the color-coded passages into deep space. Once you have a federation token, it’s a race to get back to your dorm and secure it. Along the way you can pick up action cards (good) and 50/50 cards (usually not good) and extra phaser tokens.


You also have to fight hostiles – how many depend on the space you land on. Then it becomes a battles of dice rolls to see who wins. Sometimes it takes several rolls. And many phaser tokens.

Everything can be going great – and then you land on detour that sends you to the other side of the board and away from where you were trying to get to. Or you lose the Federation token before reaching your dorm. Those things keep it as anyone’s game until it’s over.

It’s simple, quick to play, and fun.

Pandemic – Reign of Cthulhu

If you’ve played Pandemic, it’s the same basic premise of preventing an outbreak across the world. Only this time, you are trying to stop the evil Old Ones from taking over.

Each player selects an investigator card and each investigator comes with certain bonus qualities – the ability to kill three cultists at once, travel to any town without using a town card, etc. Players start with four sanity tokens, cultists and one shoggoth are randomly placed within the four cities (Arkham, Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Kingsport), and then the race is one to seal the gate in each town.

Players have four actions they can take each turn: move, take a bus, trade a card, kill a cultist, defeat a shoggoth, or seal a gate. They draw cards that correspond to the towns and it takes five of any one color to close a gate. Then there are the summoning cards which places new cultists on the deck. Or worse, evil stirs and a new Old One comes forth.


This cooperative game is a lot of fun. Two to four players work together, using each character’s strength, to wipe out cultists, defeat shoggoths as they appear, and close gates. Working against you are the Old Ones appearing (some of them mess with abilities), losing sanity points, and too many cultists appearing to control.

Even if you’ve never played Pandemic, you’ll have a lot of fun playing. And if you’re into Lovecraft and Cthulhu, you’ll really love it.

Tomb of Annihilation Board Game

From Board Game Geek:
Tomb of Annihilation Board Game is a cooperative adventure design in the same series as Castle Ravenloft that's based on the "Tomb of Annihilation" storyline for Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition.

We just got this game, so I’m still working my way through YouTube videos to figure it out, but it’s highly rated and looks like a ton of fun. I’ll post a review later this year.

Ninja News


The #IWSGPit Twitter pitch is once a year now – and the next one is Tuesday, January 15!.
If you’re reading this Monday, that’s tomorrow!
Don’t miss it.



New releases!
Ain’t Nobody Got Time for Book Reviews! by Toi Thomas
Have you ever wondered why it seems authors are often whining about book reviews? What's the big deal anyway? How much of a difference could your one book review really make? In this opinion piece, ten-time self-published author and blogger, Toi Thomas, discusses candidly why book reviewing culture isn't what it should be.
Find it on Amazon

Rob’s Choice by Sandra Albrich Almazan 
Find it online at these retailers.







Best Progressive Rock Albums of 2018

Continuing my best of 2018 series, I’m diving into music next. And since prog rock is my favorite,it’s the best of prog rock albums.

6 - Joe Satriani – What Happens Next -  This is Joe's best album in years. Amazing start to finish.

5 – Ayreon – Universe - Everything about this live performance is stunning. The number of well-known singers is pretty spectacular.

4 – Seventh Wonder – Tiara - Back from a very long hiatus, they continue to create intricate prog that is also catchy and accessible.

3 – Khemmis – Desolation - Continues to be one of the most interesting new band on the scene. This is a great follow-up to Hunted.

2 – Haken – Vector - They continue to re-invent themselves with each album. Vector is complex, heavy, and catchy.

1 – Amorphis – Queen of Time - While I love all of the other albums on this list, this is hands-down the best album of the year. Every song is incredible without a dud in bunch!

Board Game Trivia

Since I reviewed some board games today, the trivia is all about board game pieces. Guess the game from the board pieces:

1 – If you don’t win, you’ll be…


2 – Specialty dice for this popular game.


3 - You will learn about this as you play.

4 – Second game in a series – first one was about islands.

5 – A thinking game.

6 – Variation on an old classic.

7 – Another variation – onward and…

8 – Where it pays to be a slumlord.

Answers in two weeks!


Have you played any of those board games? Participating in #IWSGPit? Fans of any of those bands? (Why not?!) And can you guess the trivia…?
Since January 21 is a holiday (and a three-day weekend), I’ll be offline, but I’ll return with a post on January 28.

96 comments:

nashvillecats2 said...

A great post as usual Alex. I and my late husband used to enjoy playing the board game Scrabble. Many a good hour was spent.

Enjoy this new week.
Yvonne.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I recognize 4 of the game pieces!

I have heard a lot about Pandemic, but not about this variation...sounds interesting! I played my first cooperative game the other day with my son and my 6 year old niece and nephew...Outfoxed. Cute game and it was really cool that we weren't playing against each other. :)

Shady Del Knight said...

Hi, Alex!

I haven't played a board game in eons. The themes of the games you reviewed are exciting, especially Ghost Stories and Pandemic, and have me stoked to get back in. I also appreciate your list of best prog rock albums of the year. The rudder will surely turn and I will once again be interested in the genre. The bands are all new to me and I look forward to sampling the sounds of each as I plan future purchases.

Have a great week, good buddy Alex!

Pat Hatt said...

I got Life, Scrabble, Monopoly and Chess out of it. Been a long time since I played board games much, although those ones do sound interesting. The IWSGPit should be fun.

RaveAir said...

It was great to read about board games at your blog!

I have a friend who dislike the Pandemic and the whole Cthulhu/Lovecraft thing, but he love the Pandemic - Reign of Cthulhu.

The Ghost Stories on my whislist, but I'm not quite sure about my would enjoy it or not. We love the cooperative games, but this one is not from the easiest ones.

The Cynical Sailor said...

I recognized a few of the board game pieces, but not many. Looking forward to your post in a couple of weeks when you reveal what games they go with. I don't play board games in general, but they do look like a lot of fun.

Cheers - Ellen

Rhonda Albom said...

We are big board game fans also, but I hadn't thought about how old our games are until I read this post. Rummykub is my favourite. My daughter is a D&D player, and I think she would love several of your suggestions. Looks like it is time to add to the family collection. As for the trivia, I know over half, but it is number 7 that intrigues me, as it looks like my kind of game. I am guessing it is some version of scrabble.

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...

Thanks for mentioning Rob's Choice!

The first one is Sorry!

Mason Canyon said...

Board games had changed since I played them. Guess it's time to check them out again. Congratulations to those with new releases.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Elizabeth, we'll have to look for Outfoxed. It is nice to play with each other rather than against each other.

Shady, try one or two and see what you think.

Pat, three right! The one isn't Scrabble but a variation.

Zoltan, there is a learning curve with Ghost Stories. Watch several YouTube videos before attempting. It is a lot of fun though.

Rhonda, it is! You'll find out what in a couple weeks.

Sandra, you're welcome, and correct!

Joanne said...

never heard of these board games. We don't play in our house - too competitive. I admit to having a problem losing. I am ashamed of that fact. I'd be nice at your house, though.

Lynda Dietz said...

We have so many board games it's ridiculous, but I can't imagine getting rid of any of them. The ones you have sound like fun—is the Star Trek game one you've had for a long time, or did you find it as an adult?

I was able to guess almost all the board game pieces, and laughed when I saw Upward . . . my husband does NOT like Scrabble or Upward and would only agree to play it with me on my birthday, lol, but I had to allow him to make up words if he was desperate.

If you've never played Quelf, that's one of the more entertaining newer ones (in the past handful of years or so), and it's great for when you have friends over.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

We need to watch videos to play board games now? I am so old/old school!

I think I got a few right -
1 = SORRY!
3 = THE GAME OF LIFE
7 = UPWARDS
8 = MONOPOLY

I think 6 is something like TriOminoes? A take on Dominoes? Or maybe I just need more coffee.....

Natalie Aguirre said...

My daughter and her boyfriend play a lot of board games. They have a bookcase full of them. Some are expensive--like $50. I'll have to see if any of these appeal to them.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I love anything Cthulhu.

I know Triominoes. We also have Quadominoes.

Harry Hamid said...

I started my real love of music with prog. The classic era prog, although it was about 15 years after prog's peak (I'm counting 1973, the year I was born, as the peak).

I don't know the new stuff, though. I used to try to dip my toe in, but I don't connect with the vocalists I've heard in new prog, and there's so much that it's overwhelming.

Opeth. I know some Opeth after they went prog, and there are some wonderful moments on "Heritage."

Fundy Blue said...

How fun to learn that board games are popular in your home, Alex! I love board games and card games. We grew up with both in my family, and we still love to play games. You don't even need electricity, just firelight. My family members are competitive, either individually or on teams. I see reminders of old favorites in your quiz: chess, Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, Parcheesi, and Dominos. Have a great day!

Patricia Stoltey said...

I mostly remember Monopoly and Checkers from when I was a kid. Now my husband and I play Scrabble occasionally....and Boggle which isn't a board game but is lots of fun.

Carrie-Anne said...

My guesses:
#1 is Clue.
#3 is Life.
#5 is chess.
#7 is Scrabble.
#8 is Monopoly.

I used to play board games all the time with my paternal grandparents. Monopoly and Husker Du were some of our favorites. I also often played Candyland with my late uncle, and he cheated to try to prevent losing to a kid.

Chemist Ken said...

Monopoly was always fun, but it can take a while to play, and no one in my family has that kind of patience. Now if we could play it using phones, then my kids might be more interested.

The Angry Lurker said...

1.
2. D&D
3. Life
4.
5. Chess
6.
7.
8. Monopoly

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Joanne, that's why we like the cooperative ones - we aren't playing against each other.

Lynda, we found it a year ago. It's fairly new. And you're the first to get Upwords right. I'll check out Quelf.

Madeline, you got five right - you're in the lead.

Natalie, these days that's how much the ones we buy cost.

Harry, my nephew is a big Opeth fan.

Fundy, you got three right.

Carrie-Anne, you got three right.

Ken - funny! And a little sad.

Fran, you got it! First to get D&D.

Christine Rains said...

Yay for board games! (I know all the answers to your trivia!) Pandemic is awesome. Ghost Stories looks right up our alley. Have you tried Betrayal at House on the Hill? So much fun. Instead of playing solitaire on my computer, I play Settlers of Catan. It helps get my brain going in the mornings! Have a great week, and good luck to everyone participating in #IWSGPit tomorrow!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Alex - Cluedo and Monopoly I can manage ... and the domino x 3 and x 4 variations ... the rest I almost certainly fall down on - but god-daughters seem to know them all.

Have a happy weekend - just nice to take some time out ... cheers Hilary

Al Penwasser said...

I'd like to play that "Star Trek" game. Except I'm afraid I'd end up on "Deep Space Nine,"
And never leave.

Elephant's Child said...

It is a very long time since I have played board games. Perhaps it is time for a return.
Congratulations to those with new releases.

Stacy McKitrick said...

My son love board games and have brought some over to play. Like Ticket to Ride and Catan. He bought me Star Trek Catan, but we've only been able to play it once. We just don't seem to find the time to play any more.

Elizabeth Seckman said...

We love board games too. I made a note of these games for gift-giving. I have several birthdays coming up for my guys!

We play Sentinels of the Multiverse. It's a cooperative play card game if you haven't played it, you might want to check it out. There's also a ghost one, but I'm not home and can't remember the name of it.

J E Oneil said...

That Cthulhu game looks really cool. I wish I had some people to play it with :)

I think I got about half of the games in the trivia. It's been years since I've played any of them!

Guenther said...

What about puzzles?

Andrew Leon said...

We're playing Tomb, right now, and Pandemic: Legacy.
I want the Cthulhu one, but no one else in my house is interested.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I've played four of those games. We played lots of board games when the kinds were still home. My one son adds a version of monopoly to his collection each year. Last year was GoT and this year was Stranger Things.
My oldest son has numerous versions of Risk.
Enjoy your long weekend.

The Happy Whisk said...

I think I might know three of the pieces. Glad you guys enjoy, win or lose, it's just fun to play.

Beverly Stowe McClure said...

Look at all the games. I know nothing about them. How about Monopoly? Yes, I'm outdated. The look like fun. Reckon the cats or dog would play with me?

Liz A. said...

Nope, I've not played any of those games. I used to collect board games, but not so much anymore. I'm still up for a good round of Chronology, though. (Great game.)

Okay, which games do I know:
1. Sorry
2.
3. Life
4.
5. Chess
6. Triominos
7. Upwords
8. Monopoly

Yeah, I'm not sure about those.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Christine, I'll have to look for that one.

Al, at Quark's bar?

Stacy, we've played Ticket to Ride with friends.

Elizabeth, thanks - I'll check it out.

J, we like puzzles, too.

Susan, that's cool in a really geeky way.

Beverly, they might play catch.

Liza - six right! You're in the lead.

Jemi Fraser said...

We haven't played many board games since the kids moved out - but those ones look fun!
I recognize chess of course, and Sorry!, Life & upwards - probably Monopoly :)

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

Alas, I can get some quiz questions right here.
1. Sorry 3. Life 5. Chess 6. Yahtze? 7. Upward 8. Monopoly
That was a fun one.
A great week to you, Alex.

Truedessa said...

Hi Alex,

I tried to leave a comment earlier but, Blogger ate it up.
Here were my early morning guesses on the game trivia

3 - Life
5 - Chess
7 - some sort of scrabble
8 - Monopoly

Ghost Stories looks fun and complex at the same time.

I played a fun game over the holidays "Five Second Rule". It brought on a lot of laughs and kept everyone entertained as we tried to come up with 3 replies in 5 seconds. It was refreshing to see people interacting as they put their phones down.

What, no Imagine Dragons on the list? I listened to them this weekend while working on a project.

Have a great week!

Mark said...

Gotta love the cooperative games, especially with friends. I've played several variants of the Cthulhu ones. It's long

Birgit said...

I love board games but don’t know the ones you play. Congrats to the authors like Toi...deserves the accolades. As for the trivia...1. Sorry. 2. No idea but love the pieces. 3. Life...love that game. 4. Looks like a Star Wars game. 5. Chess. 6. Dominos? 7. Scrabble and 8. Monopoly. There are different names for Sorry and the German game is called Menscheigeredichnicht. Yup one word Cos the Germans are nuts when combining words. I used to have the Gilligan Island game and wish I had it now! I have Clue and, one of my favourites, Masterpiece which is all about the art world but you don’t have to knownthe art world at all. You have money, art pieces and cards that give the value of the art piece. You can inherit a painting, buy one or steal one from another player but be careful as you could get a forgery. We also had the game called Manhunt which was fun to play.

Botanist said...

We have loads of board games, but don't play them half as often as we should. One co-operative game we & the kids used to enjoy was Break the Safe - a game played against the clock.

As for the trivia:
1 - Clue (or Cluedo) - one of my favorites as a kid.
2 - Dungeons & Dragons - or something akin.
5 - Chess.
6 - Tri-ominos - we got that one out again last summer!
8 - Monopoly.

Leslie S. Rose said...

Holy cow, the 15th snuck up fast. I'd better go polish my pitch. Thanks for the reminder.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

I'm intrigued by the Pandemic: Cthulhu edition and the Dungeons & Dragons Tomb of Horrors board game.

Roland D. Yeomans said...

I'm intrigued by the Star Trek and Cthulhu games. Have you ever watched GAME NIGHT. It's right up your interest alley. :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm not much into board games, but my hubby likes to play.

Tyrean Martinson said...

I've never seen the Star Trek game, but I think my husband would love it. We generally try to get a new game or a new extension every Christmas, so ... this one is going on my list for next year or maybe a mid-summer game fling?
We happen to be really into Dominion these days and Catan - both competitive games, but with some building involved.
1 - Sorry
2 - D&D or MERP or another role-laying game.
3 - Life
4 - ?
5 - Chess
6 - Tri-ominos
7 - UpWord
8 - Monopoly

Tonja Drecker said...

Board games! It's one of our favorite family activities, but right now, the kids still like them easy and quick. I've been peeking in on the pitches every now and then. So fun!

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad to see board games are still in play. I thought they would have gone out with the advent of video games. I grew up with boardgames, and there really is nothing like them for sociability first in the family and later extended to friends.

John Wiswell said...

I'd totally play Reign of Cthulhu with you if we ever hang out!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Jemi, you got five right!

Robyn, you also got five right.

Truedessa, three and a half right. And no, not a big fan of that band.

Birgit, four right, and that's one heck of a name for a game.

Hey Ian! Four right.

Roland, haven't had the urge to watch it yet.

Tyrean, big score - seven right! Lots of people have mentioned Catan and we'll have to get that one.

John, you're on!

Loni Townsend said...

We have a closet full of table top games that we don't break out very often, just because there's never much time and not a lot of concentration from the 5yo in order to participate. But I still recognized some of the games like Sorry, Dungeons and Dragons, Life, and Chess. I could guess at others... Maybe Dominos, Scrabble, and Monopoly? But I can't say for sure.

J.H. Moncrieff said...

Fun post! The ghost board game sounds right up my alley.

Hope the IWSGPit goes well for everyone!

Sandra Cox said...

Hadn't heard of the Ghost Stories board game. Sounds like fun.

Roland Clarke said...

I used to be heavily into board games, but nowadays the family want to be on their phones and tablets. I can't get any of the kids to play properly - even the big ones - or even read.

Raimey Gallant said...

1 sorry 2 ? 3 Life 5 chess 6 I can't remember!7 Scrabble 8 Capitalism Training
All of the board games you described in the beginning of your post sound pretty fantastic.

Cathrina Constantine said...

We used to play board and card games all the time. It's a great way to enjoy company and family. I just bought a few new ones: Telestrations. 5 second rule. Cards Against Humanity(our kids won't play with us)

1. Parcheesi
2. ?
3. Life - was a fave
4. ?
5. Chess- love it
6. Dominos
7. Upwords - we play this quite a bit

Donna K. Weaver said...

What a fun post. I recognize several of the pictures. Lately, the two games our family plays are Settlers of Catan and The Great Dalmuti.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Loni, you got five right.

Raimey, you got three right.

Cathrina, you got three!

Donna, so many have mentioned Catan, but I've heard the play time is really long.

Patsy said...

The only board game I play now is Scrabble, but I used to enjoy chess and draughts. I hated Monopoly. Iit starts off OK, but it soon becomes clear who will win and then it drags on for hours with everyone else getting more and more fed up - or maybe we were just really bad at it?

Victoria Marie Lees said...

I so love reading your blog, Alex. I love board games. Some are more complicated than other, though. We've just played Scotland Yard and 221 B Baker Street, complicated mystery whodunit games. My family likes these thinking games. Your Star Trek game sounds good. As for guesses of the game pieces:
I think #1 is Sorry
Don't know 2
3 is Life
Don't know 4
And 5 is chess.

All best to you, Sir!

Lisa said...

I missed the Pitch fest, but didn't really have anything ready for it anyway :(
We play Risk, Scrabble, Dominoes, card games, Dixit: Odyssey, Cribbage and Chess. Not all of those are board games, but still involve more than one player!

Sandra Cox said...

Ghost Stories looked like fun but I gotta get the HH Star Trek:)

Arlee Bird said...

Other than Scrabble I haven't played board games for years--many years. I don't recall playing any recent games with the most recent being Trivial Pursuit in the 80's. I like board games, but no one in my circles seem play them.

Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out

SpacerGuy said...

Games are good for keeping the brain ticking over, one of these could be Bridge right? I recognize Chess, Monopoly, Pyramids and scrabble.

XmasDolly said...

I love, love, love, love, love, love, love... did I tell you I absolutely LOVE BOARD GAMES! Yep, it's my weakness. I like that Ghost Stories one you have here that's for sure. Sorry I haven't been around that much, but with therapy & doctor appointments they're driving me bonkers!!! Thanks for stopping by my friend & have a great day! hugs

klahanie said...

Hi Alex,

That's quite the list of games. Ghost Stories is one game I can see right through.

It seems I missed the Twitter Pitch and no, this time, I wont mention the alternative name for "IWSG"!

I'm not aware of any of those prog rock groups. I'll have a check on them. I was watching a concert that was performed by "Yes" from only a few months back. The concert was fantastic. Speaking of early prog rock, I saw Emerson, Lake and Palmer, way back in 1974, in Vancouver, when they were on their "Brain Salad Surgery" tour. Yep, the loudest concert I've ever been to.

Thanks.

Gary

Juneta key said...

All those games looked cool. I used to like playing games like that but ran out of people to play with. Great post.

Anonymous said...

Our family loves to play board games too. That's why I know almost all of the game pieces. Almost. We love family game night. We also started playing games on the X-box. One of our favorites is Jack Box. It's so funny!

Elsie

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Patsy, no, that's spot on. I usually start out strong, getting all the best spots, then my wife comes from behind and slaughters me.

Victoria, I'll check those out. And three right!

Spacer Guy, you got two right.

Marie, just good to hear from you - no worries!

Gary, wow. And we just watched that Yes concert. Anderson still sounds amazing - so does Rabin.

Debra Renée Byrd said...

I'm more of a classic rocker (though I love Rush); I've never heard of these bands!

The board games look fun!

Heather R. Holden said...

I've always enjoyed board games, and these look fascinating. Great reviews!

Anonymous said...

I love board games! We played so many when my son was younger.

Helena said...

And here I thought I was a lone nerd who enjoyed board games! (And I still won't admit to liking puzzles too.) I definitely want to try out the Star Trek and ghost ones. Thank you for the great descriptions, Alex!

Shadow said...

ah man, board games, everyone loves them once they play them, why do we get these electronic ones???????

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Deb, you have excellent tastes in your classic rock.

Helena, definitely give it a try!

Shadow, I'll admit I enjoy both.

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

I'm a game freak, but evidently not enough of one, because I'm not familiar with any of the ones you reviewed. At least I know most of the ones included in your trivia quiz... all but #2 and #4.

kaykuala said...

Board games have been long past. It is now time-consuming unlike before when it was fun. Now the new ones are technologically based and confusing.

Hank

Mary Kirkland said...

I'll have to check out that music. I've never listened to any of those.

Magic Love Crow said...

Have a good three-day weekend! I can't wait to see the answers! I love board games! This was a fun post Alex! Thank you!

Sandra Cox said...

I checked out the games and games in general. Some of the prices made me blink. One board game I saw was in the thousands. If I remember correctly, the cards were autographed by pro ball players.
Enjoy your time away.
We'll leave the light on for ya.

mail4rosey said...

We like board games too. I recognized Monopoly, Triominos, Sorry and Chess. Satriani has been making good music for year! Hurrah for a new album that rocks (figuratively and literally). :)

Erika Beebe said...

We love playing games in my house. I haven't played the ones in your review but the kids and I really enjoy Jumanji. I love all the trivia question and know several. Sorry. Life. Chess. Monopoly. :)

DMS said...

I used to play board games every week with my roomate and some other friends (years ago). Haven't played any board games besides chess (which I have an ongoing game with my roommate)in a while- but I do love them.

Love the trivia- only a few I am not familiar with and I enjoyed learning about the new games.
~Jess

T. Powell Coltrin said...

It's a game post!!! I love board games. Since I can't compete with the vid games my grandkids have at home, I make sure the toy closet has lots of card and board games. They love it.

Nilanjana Bose said...

Used to play board games growing up and well into adulthood. Current crop look really sophisticated and fun too.

Sandra Cox said...

I'm glad Toi is shining the light on the need for reviews.
YOU have a great day and enjoy your time away.

Anonymous said...

I don't know when was the last time I read the words "board game" instead of the more normal "bored [of this] game" so that was fun to read some reviews of games my boys may be interested in (although I'm getting them RISK next :)

mshatch said...

I used to play board games a lot more than I do now but I still don't know all the ones in your trivia. *sigh* I do remember Life though :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Hank, some of those are a bit challenging.

Sandra, pass on that game! Most of the ones we get these days clock in around fifty bucks.

Rosey, four right!

Erika, you got those right.

Teresa, we love it as well.

Mark, which Risk? There are dozens of varieties now.

Michael Di Gesu said...

Hi Alex!

What fun to see these old board game pieces! I kind of remember most of them ... I think.

Let's see.

1. Sorry
2.?
3.LIFE
4.Battleship?
5. Chess
6. Dominos?
7.Scrabble
8. Monopoly

Loved Sorry, LIFE, Battleship, and Monopoly... Played them for HOURS, WEEKS, YEARS until adulthood. Can't remember the last time I played a board game, had to be back in the 90's.... guess it's time to bring out that old monopoly game I have buried under my tshirts in the closet. LOL

Thanks for the reminder of such happy times!

Sherry Ellis said...

That's cool that you still play board games. We did a lot when the kids were young. Once in a while we'll pull out Clue, Life, Parcheesi, Chess, and Monopoly.

Sandra Cox said...

Even fifty for board games has me clutching my heart and reeling backwards. Heh.

Toi Thomas said...

Thanks so much for sharing my release.
I think it's time for me to clean out my email, I totally missed this post.
My husband and I have tried a few board and card games recently. They are pretty fun. Pandemic – Reign of Cthulhu sounds really cool.
Game 3 and 6 have me stumped. Can't wait to find out what they are.

PJ Colando said...

My family's favorite, during quiet evenings together, was a card game called Touring. It centered on auto trips in the 50 states, so it's no wonder that my husband and I enjoy adventure travel!

Thanks for the shout-out about my new release, the Winner's Circle. Drop date is Friday, February 1. One of the three females on the cover wins a mega-million lottery and then... Of course, they discover that there's no place like home.

It's an adventure, it's a trip, it's Boomer Chick Lit!

Yolanda Renée said...

We enjoy board games too, but the older ones, Monoply, Scrabble, Sorry, etc. We really should try some of these new ones, thanks for the information and reviews. But how familiar to the cultrue do you have to be?