Video games are fun and all but I’ll be honest, I’m a complete sucker for classic card games and sports. I’ve spent more than a few nights at a brewery I lived near with a friend talking shit and playing Twenty or just scrolling Pagat looking for something interesting to play. I played a lot of backgammon with my brother and even now I still find time to play mahjong (albeit online) with my friends back home. Recently a friend of mine got me interested in Tak, since they were a fan of Patrick Ruthfuss’ books and started playing because of them. You have any of those traditional games that call you back even with everything around you? Interested in any?
How about those niche or community level sports? Wiffleball, Ultimate, disc golf, even recreation stuff like vintage baseball that you don’t get to bring up enough? I do HEMA, actually I was an assistant instructor who specialized in longsword, rapiers, and short swords and I’m trying to keep it going even after my move!
Love playing cards over drinks or coffee! Growing up it was always 9 card brag, played a little poker with friends as we got older but it always felt a little too competitive, I was more interested in the social side. Twenty is new to me but looks really fun!
I play a lot of tabletop games that are involved, but on the level of more ubiquitous, well-known games I like anything trick taking. Spades and Rook especially, but I want to learn Tarot and Bourre. My favorite game to play in a big group is probably Liar’s Dice or Skull.
My partner and I look for good 2P games a lot too. They aren’t big on strategy like chess, but we both love Koi Koi, which has to be my favorite 2P game.
If we want to talk more involved board games I have a big list of more complex stuff I like, but these are my more traditional mainstays.
9 card brag seems like fun! The issue is always finding a game to play that isn’t too competitive. For social games, something like mahjong or some sort of rummy is always fun with the mind games you can play!
Hey shill those more involved board games if you want! I’m much more of an abstract game person but I’m sure there’s people who would love something more fiddly.
As for Bourre, I always had trouble finding people who wanted to play since it’s a game of stakes and poker is too popular to beat there but here’s a tutorial! Now since you’re interested in trick-taking then the tarot family is gonna be your best friend! I have a handmade reproduction of Prospero Bentivoglio’s deck and there’s plenty they make. All you have to do is find out which game and which deck. Want popular? French Tarot! You can get a deck from Ducale or Lo Scarabeo on Amazon. If you want something that got recommended to me? Ottocento (or the Millone variant)!
It has been a while, but my best friends own a bunch of board games as something they can do with their child, and I really enjoy playing those with them when we have some time to do so. I have thought about getting into more complicated or obscure board games (especially ones with spooky themes and designs!) as a hobby if I can put together a bigger adult group of people to play them with.
At this point of my life I genuinely don’t know whether I love board games more or less than I love video games. (Which, considering how much I’ve always loved video games, is a crazy thing for me to say.)
I own around 60 board games, and my favorite is probably Root. I feel about Cole Wehrle (Root’s designer) the same way many gamers feel about Hideo Kojima or Fumito Ueda. I absolutely adore every game he’s put out, but I also love a lot of simpler games as well. Some of my favorites right now are Sky Team, Flip7, Quacks, Lacuna, and Spots.
ROOT is my favorite board game of all time too, though at this point I think I’ve worn my friends out of wanting to play it. My favorite kind of board game is one that abstracts some system into an understandable way, and also encourages you to think and act in a way that’s authentic to what it’s extracting. ROOT is such an incredible example of this. I remember the first time I realized that my Eyrie’s royal decree would cause turmoil and death but could not be stopped due to their adherence to tradition. My friends kept begging me not to take the actions, but I had to due them due to the rules. It ended up hurting everyone, including me. I was hooked from then. I don’t care if the games aren’t balanced (looking at you, Vagabond); I just love watching the systems work and the stories that come out.
I have also gotten very deep into Arcs, which I think is just as exciting as Root. Base Game + Leaders/Lore is a fantastic, heavy experience. The campaign is ridiculous; I believe you need to go into it with your goal being simply experiencing it rather than really trying to strategize and win, because that first playthrough there is almost no way you’ll be able to identify and use all the moving pieces. Even so, the first Arcs campaign I played (over a series of about 12 hours) was unlike any other board game experience I’ve ever had. Incredible.
Like I said, Cole Wehrle games all hit different, at least for me. Every single one of them is a masterpiece for a slightly different reason. But the campaign mode for Arcs might just be his magnum opus, for real. That shit is frankly insane.
But then again, the same could realistically be said about John Company. And possibly about Oath, too.
Great, now I need to try ROOT! I’m only familiar due to its reputation and the fact it recently got an RPG adaptation. Everywhere I go I always hear about someone loving it.