Boardgames To-Go

Extended family gaming

A couple weeks ago we went on a road trip, a family vacation on the road to see more family. My in-laws live about 400 miles north, in Santa Rosa. We used that as a stopover point to continue on another 250 miles or so to Eureka, where my brother and his wife live. (And though this won't impress any readers from Texas, all of this driving was within California!) At first I almost decided not to bring any games, but at the last minute I packed a bag. It quickly turned into a pretty big bag. :-)

Over on the Gamefest weblogs there's one by Greg Schloesser about "evangelizing" our hobby. You can read my comment about that there, too. In a nutshell, I don't begrudge anyone who wants to do that, but I don't care for it myself. I really don't care for anyone who thinks it's something we all should be doing. I'm also bugged by the (closely related, I think) attitude held by some that our hobby is better than others. God forbid anyone should enjoy watching TV!

(Now, some of my friends like Greg are "boardgame evangelists," but they're not the kind that get snooty about the hobby, so I'm okay with that.)

Anyway, so here I am on a family vacation carrying a load of games in the back of the minivan, but I don't think I'm evangelizing. Because I'm not. When part of the trip had us in Santa Rosa joined by two sisters-in-law and their five young kids (four squealing girls--my daughter loved it!), I didn't even suggest a game. Everyone was having enough fun doing other stuff, and I know a game wouldn't have been popular. However, earlier in the week I played a few games with my kids and brother, who enjoy games in moderation. My brother's wife joined in one game, and my wife joined another two the following night. Although I didn't "convert" anyone to be a serious boardgamer like myself, we had fun with the few games we played. That's enough for me.

A few notes about each of the games we played...

Cluzzle -- We didn't really play this so much as let my kids entertain themselves making sculptures. Funny thing, I thought Barbarossa was fun except for the top-heavy game mechanics. The real fun is the sculpting and guessing. Cluzzle seemed to recognize this and distill the game down to just that, but we're finding that even Cluzzle is a bit more game structure than we really want. Just making sculptures and playing 20 Questions with it is about what we do. The actual game and (especially) scoring in Cluzzle will have to wait until I play it with real gamers.

Hick Hack in Gackelwack -- This one has worked with my kids & brother before, so it was a natural pick. It can be a little rough if you don't get your fair share of foxes, but I think there's more to the game than that. It's really about dealing with groupthink.

Ticket to Ride -- I tried this with my brother & his wife, figuring it a good pick for casual gamers. It worked pretty well. I think the strategic heft of the game was about right (i.e., not too much), it looked nice, the subject matter felt immediately familiar, but interestingly it was almost too long of a game. Heck, I play almost nothing but shorter games, but even I was surprised by the different perspective of casual gamers.

Starship Catan -- The next day I had a chance to play something with just my brother Matt. We grew up playing games (from Monopoly to G.E.V. to Champions roleplaying), so I knew he could appreciate the increased complexity, strategy, and theme. He did, too. I'm glad the game didn't last any longer since it bumped right up against the time to start dinner, but it was a success. I know Matt has been a little unimpressed at some of the plain themes of German games I've showed him (e.g. Carcassonne), so this showed him some have a lot more to chew on.

Wings of War -- I ordered this on impulse. Then I had second thoughts and tried to remove it from my order. Too late, and thank goodness for that. It's fun like everyone says. I normally don't care for minatures games, but this is a great little format. Steve Jackson Games ought to license a Car Wars version of the same system. (Actually they should've done that a decade ago, while there was still some life in that game.)

La Strada -- Another purchase I made then later thought twice about, I have some hopes for this as a 2-player game with my wife. As it was, we played 3-player and that worked fine. Funny...what's considered a light game among gamers is one I hope will work as a meatier game for Candy & I. It's all what you're used to, you know. Candy pointed out the same usability issues highlited in Shannon Applecline's review. But I like the board frame, storage insert, and smaller box. Overall a nice little package.

Coloretto -- The buzz wore off on this one, but not for me. I wish we played it much more often. I guess I'll wait for the mini expansion to be made available for free download on designer Michael Schacht's website, but I suspect I'll prefer the game as-is. (BTW, can anyone tell what's on those expansion cards?) When I tried this once before with family it bombed, so I'm glad it went over well enough now. Though again, it's an interesting wake-up call for playing with casual gamers: my brother commented on how you have to really watch everyone else's position, you can't just play your own game. That goes without saying among experienced gamers (not just boardgamers...certainly Bridge and poker players understand this concept!), but there it was with my intelligent brother. Something to remember for future family outings.

Posted by MarkJohnson at July 20, 2004 10:06 AM