Comments on Belgian Waffle: Board games are awful

The Settlers of Catan lovers have clearly forgotte...

2012-02-03T20:08:59.083+01:00

The Settlers of Catan lovers have clearly forgotten that nobody should be trusted with a trading mechanic, especially not children or inlaws.

another vote for settlers of catan... I'm not ...

2012-02-03T04:22:38.332+01:00

another vote for settlers of catan... I'm not a big fan of board games, but played this with family over the holidays and did not mind it... even won.
welcome back!
Suze

Hello, battleships? Used to love playing that wit...

2012-02-02T12:05:42.109+01:00

Hello, battleships? Used to love playing that with my brother who had strong military leanings. But I was smarter and it used to annoy the hell out of him whenever I won... :) good times!

I'm a cautious game fan, good ones are great, ...

2012-02-01T19:28:55.342+01:00

I'm a cautious game fan, good ones are great, bad ones are tedious and dull. I've picked up a few suggestions from here. I have 3 stepsons (12,14 & 16) and current faves are Rummikub (a variant of rummy with tiles) and The Really Nasty Horseracing Game (this can be long though 90mins +) and will definitely make some cry! Perennial fave is 'Who's in the Bag' which seems like a cross between the Rizla game and the Hat game, choice of 3 famous people on a card (including a kid friendly option) which you have to describe to your team. As many as you can before the timer runs out.

Oui, I hate board games. I never suggest them; I p...

2012-02-01T11:42:02.757+01:00

Oui, I hate board games. I never suggest them; I panic slightly when someone else does because you are supposed to LOVE going into a piece of real socializing now and then. My brother-in-law is the worst, his three boys follow suit.

Monopoly, strangely, is something I can handle. Best way to play: Set a time limit at max 2 hours, then count the money.

Powergrid is a board game from Germany that comes ...

2012-01-30T12:02:25.098+01:00

Powergrid is a board game from Germany that comes with the awesome original name 'Funkenschlag'. I remember it being baffling to start with, so maybe not a good one for kids. Otherwise Bananagrams is a good word game for adults and kids as all the players have to construct their own crossword grid with the letters they pick, so noone messes up anyone else's game. First one to complete a grid with all the letters wins.

Here's another vote for Settlers of Catan, the...

2012-01-30T09:22:36.919+01:00

Here's another vote for Settlers of Catan, the only game I can/will/want to play. The rest are futile attempts to drag my fuggy brain towards some sort of logical behaviour or my body towards physical feats (e.g. coordination) for which it was never designed. Settlers (and all its evil add-on packs) allows my tortuous Machiavellian thought process free reign whilst leaving my body utterly untroubled. Lots of bust-ups though. Which allow me the added pleasure of a luxurious sulk. CATAN!

Re your scrabble comment: why is it that bilingua...

2012-01-29T15:59:38.208+01:00

Re your scrabble comment: why is it that bilingual children can't spell? My daughter was in a Spanish immersion school and her spelling is atrocious. My Canadian aunt's children were in French immersion and they can't spell either.

Board games are so tedious, particularly monopoly. Our "memory" set was given to my son by his uber-Catholit aunt and it consists entirely of different images of the Virgin Mary. He loved it and I used to have to play "Mary Memory" with him almost daily.

Scrabble is not for children. Scrabble is for adul...

2012-01-29T06:19:51.767+01:00

Scrabble is not for children. Scrabble is for adults who can and will eagerly parse the subtle differences in meaning between verbose, prolix, and loquacious and then kick your ass for snickering.

Until I read this blog post and the subsequent com...

2012-01-29T06:09:20.314+01:00

Until I read this blog post and the subsequent comments I thought memory was a game my mother had invented. We always played it with a standard pack of cards and matched red and black numbers, queens etc with a complete disregard to suit.
I taught it to the child mentioned in my previous comment to stop him from covering all my finger tips with ink (he had just gotten a csi finger print thing for Christmas) and again had to let him win.
The most difficult thing about board games is without a doubt suppressing my awful competitive streak.
I once threw a strop because my boyfriend beat me at frustration but I think that was justified because before then I had never ever lost a game and a 18 year winning streak is a hard thing to let go of.

We do not have 1000 Bornes except IN FRENCH CLASS....

2012-01-28T20:14:41.882+01:00

We do not have 1000 Bornes except IN FRENCH CLASS. Thereby killing any amusement it might offer.

The Waffle's back. Yeah. Tried Shadows and Hun...

2012-01-28T20:14:28.785+01:00

The Waffle's back. Yeah.
Tried Shadows and Hunters this Christmas. My ten year old was game master, it was not too bad, despite hugely complicated rules.

Tilia

Why is the verification word something as easy as "house"? Is this a trick?

So SO lovely to read you in long(ish) form again, ...

2012-01-28T18:32:17.544+01:00

So SO lovely to read you in long(ish) form again, beauteous waffle.

Also, Carcassonne, YES. The scoring looks dodgy the first time 'round, but it's loads of fun once you catch on. (Plus, there's enough luck one doesn't feel stupid because one doesn't win every time. And I am an awful loser.)

You are a much more scientific researcher and repo...

2012-01-28T15:01:59.744+01:00

You are a much more scientific researcher and reporter than I am. I just hate them all, no reason.
Thank you.

A game with sloths sounds good, being someone who ...

2012-01-28T12:48:25.486+01:00

A game with sloths sounds good, being someone who very slowly raises one arm, until my center of gravity shifts and I slowly roll over, ending up much closer to my goal. But I thought 1000 Bournes was a drinking game with Matt Damon movies, surely that's great fun for the whole family. We have a board game stashed away that revolves around historical German postal routes ('historical' postal routes, as opposed to those being part of legend or fiction, like the current routes). It's helpful for teaching obscure facts regarding minor aristocratic families, and where beer names come from. Boring, unnecessarily complex, and precludes any ability you ever had to see the forest. Voted best game of the year, because if you disagreed they'd beat the crap out of you. No, really.

I LOVE board games but am so utterly competitive a...

2012-01-28T10:08:10.230+01:00

I LOVE board games but am so utterly competitive and vile that people complain at the lack of fun. Board games are not about fun! They are about WINNING. Cranium is probably our most played. Agreed, the modern Cluedo is terribly crass. We were gifted Scrabble Trickster which involves allowing texting acronyms, for shame. We are all slightly obsessed with both the hat game (write nouns on pieces of paper, draw from hat then - in progressive rounds - describe and act them for partner to guess*) and the Rizla game (famous person stuck to head, guess identity via yes/no questions).
In spite of my enthusiasm, I do always reach a point where it seems painfully evident we are all just waiting to die.

*Now be honest, how can sex possibly compare to that?

Board games suck your soul out as you play them. ...

2012-01-28T09:52:30.110+01:00

Board games suck your soul out as you play them. I second Karen, Mousetrap is AWFUL. And I too absolutely loathe the new Cluedo - there are just too many rooms and implements and people now, I only have to look at it and I want to clean the kitchen floor instead. But Monopoly is the worst - I will no longer play that with my kids because the fighting makes me want to kill them both.

We were OBSESSED with Monopoly, but that's bec...

2012-01-28T04:33:01.863+01:00

We were OBSESSED with Monopoly, but that's because we didn't follow the rules strictly and played a speed version (deal out the property cards and have a round of trades, plus NO Banker, just an independent bank, which everyone watched like a hawk). The only other games we played were Trivial Pursuit and anything with a Pop-o-matic. Also, poker and canasta.

Oddly, even though my mom played for blood (I never heard about "letting the kid win" until I was an adult), and my grandma cheated at canasta like she was playing for the rent money, there was never much crying.

Re: memory. I played once with my little niece and she annihilated me. She was 4 and I was trying really hard. I'm pretty sure after a while she was easing up on me. The humiliation was total.

Gosh, I missed you!!

The American version of Mille Bornes was called &q...

2012-01-28T04:27:38.135+01:00

The American version of Mille Bornes was called "Touring." Dreadful!

I just can't be shagged with board games, but ...

2012-01-28T01:29:48.664+01:00

I just can't be shagged with board games, but I have found that the card game '5 Crowns' works well. It's a bit like Rummy with 5 suits; start with 3 cards when Jokers and 3s are wild, continuing on adding one card to each round. 'It's not over 'til the Kings go Wild'. You don't have to cheat to let the kids win. It's been the big hit over the past few years with all of the households in my boat access community. Anybody who wants company during the summer meets down at the dock anytime after 5 for cards and 'docktails'. Quite blisul really.

Settlers of Catan is BRILLIANT. Very easy to lear...

2012-01-28T00:50:41.694+01:00

Settlers of Catan is BRILLIANT. Very easy to learn, but the element of luck is sufficient to ensure that it's possible to win even if you're a bit crap at playing. It's a strategy game, sort of like a cross between Monopoly or Risk. The best thing of all is that a game takes an hour and there is a definite winner/end to the game. None of the dragging on for days that you get with Monopoly or Risk. And sometimes (very occasionally) it is possible to get through the entire hour without arguments.

I second the notion of Monopoly: Fight, or get bor...

2012-01-28T00:48:42.652+01:00

I second the notion of Monopoly: Fight, or get bored and abandon? That game just sucks.

I used to play Uno with my first serious boyfriend. We would sit at my kitchen table and he always sat with his back to the window. We were playing at night so I could always see his cards reflected in the window, so I cheated...All The Time and always won. He finally caught on (like 4 months later?!) and was so mad he stormed out. I broke up with him shortly after...I can't abide a man with no sense of humor.
I have to say, my dad did play cards with me. I loved that. He taught me how to play poker and rummy.
My kids like Apples to Apples-it's a word game...it's not too bad.

Mousetrap. If any one of those plastic pieces is l...

2012-01-28T00:48:01.468+01:00

Mousetrap. If any one of those plastic pieces is lost, it doesn't work. If it's not put together properly, it doesn't work. If someone knock the board, it doesn't work. Hideous.

The only advantage of board games is that one does...

2012-01-27T21:46:56.146+01:00

The only advantage of board games is that one doesn't have to put on some horrid synthetic costume to play . Otherwise no advantages. Why not just bicker?

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who has...

2012-01-27T20:35:05.821+01:00

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who has gone from Memory Champion of Champions to total loser. I can now only beat the 2 yr old.

I refuse to play Monoploy scarred for life by my younger sister the cheating Banker of my youth. Ditto scrabble as I am always stuck with at least 4 identical vowels.

I'd much rather collapse in front of crap telly- evn crap French telly.