Top Ten Filler Games

Last time I posted a top ten around these parts, it was my top ten lunch games, games that can be played and taught comfortably within the confines of a lunch hour.

But what if your lunch hour is more like a lunch break? Or what about those times when you want to play another game, but you're waiting to mix up the players, and the other group is playing a game of Power Grid that simply will not end?

That, friends, is where the aptly named "filler" games come in--short games that can be used to open, close, or fill gaps within your game night.

What defines an ideal filler game? Here are my criteria:

Far from a Raw Deal (a review of Sushi Go!)

Sushi: a food as beautiful as it is polarizing. Fish--raw or otherwise--may not be your thing, but you know what is?

Victory points.

And there are many of those to be had if you compose the best meal, preferably washing it down with the most pudding.

Giving Thanks for Games (a holiday session report)

My family celebrated Christmas over Thanksgiving this year (long story), so all of us descended on my aunts' house for four days of food, togetherness, and... gaming.

My family has always enjoyed playing games together--first trick-taking games like Pinochle and Rook, then party games like Scattergories and Rapid Recall, and now hobby games, beginning with Acquire. There were fifteen of us at the gathering, and we played a lot of games over the four days. I usually list what I've been playing in the weekly news, but I thought I'd write a separate post since several of these are new, and I'd prefer to treat them in more depth. So here's what we played.