One man's trash is another man's treasure. Well, really, often one man's trash is another man's trash. But occasionally, out in the wilds of thrift stores, we can find the holy grail. Which brings us to today's question: What is your greatest gaming find? (Alternatively, what game is a "find" that most other gamers don't know about?) Answer in the comments!
@FarmerLenny answers:
I haven't had much luck at thrift stores with regard to games. (I did once find a first edition copy of 1984 at a library book sale for fifty cents. But I digress...) I did find Ulcers there, a game that isn't very good but has a fantastic theme. I've tinkered with it over the years, and my wife, sister, and I enjoy playing it.
As for an undervalued game, Midgard takes the prize for me. When I saw it for $7.99 on Tanga, I thought it must be bad; why else would a $40-$50 game be so cheap on a deal site? But my brother-in-law loaned it to me, and I've really come to value this game of Vikings dying gloriously. Is it the best game out there? No, but it's certainly worthy of more attention than it's gotten.
@Futurewolfie answers:
I do spend a lot of time, when I visit thrift stores or Half-Priced Books, looking at the game section. You just never know when you might discover something someone gave away who didn't know what they had. Unfortunately, the core group of gamers that plays the good stuff is too thrifty to give their goodies away, thanks to BGG trades, so I really haven't discovered anything good. I've seen a few games that look quite horrific, or ridiculously insane - or yet another entry in a long line of collectible Star Trek board games. I actually own a couple of those because my family members nab them for me for some reason. And I'm not exactly sure how an "INTERACTIVE VCR GAME" could possibly play differently each time.
Also unfortunately, I'm not super great at finding undiscovered treasures. Pretty much for the most part I find games because other people have pointed them out, and I get a lot of ideas from @FarmerLenny. Awkward. If there's one game I own that hasn't been talked about all that much, it's Olympos. That game is awesome.
Showing posts with label Ulcers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ulcers. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday Question: Do You Use House Rules?
We all know the drill. If you go over to Billy's house, he may play the game this way, but with Phyllis, you play the game by the book. It can be difficult to keep track of the different rules that different players use. So here's today's Friday question: are you a house-rules culprit? Which game, and which rules do you add? Feel free to answer (or just discuss house rules in general) in the comments.
@FarmerLenny answers:
I try to play games strictly by the book, but in some cases (namely, in poorly written rulebooks) a house rule is necessary. There are really only a few games that I play with house rules. One of these is a game called Ulcers, which I picked up at Half Price Books on the clearance shelf for $2. I loved the premise of the game (hiring personnel and trying to keep them happy to avoid corporate raids), but the game itself was rather...boring. So, with my wife's permission, I have been slowly tweaking the rules to make it more fun. Basically, instead of making it a simple roll-and-move kind of game, I've played with shortages, acquisition order, and adding interesting decisions to make the game more cutthroat. We both enjoy it more with these additions. I also have added a house rule in Canasta (since it wasn't covered in the rule book) that players cannot pick up the prize pile based on a canasta they already have. This keeps the game a bit more even and more fun, we've found. Most of the time I eschew house rules if I can, but I try not to begrudge them to my friends who use them more frequently.
@Futurewolfie answers:
I rarely add house-rules to board games, especially if they're good games. Someone has already put hundreds of hours testing, tweaking, and figuring out what works best, so even if I don't quite understand why a rule is or isn't in place, it likely has a balancing effect on the game somehow. However, as Jon mentioned above, sometimes games are ALMOST fun, but it feels like whoever made the game didn't really playtest it. It just needs some tweaking - it's not bad enough to toss out completely, but it's not good enough to enjoy without a fix.
And then sometimes it's just worth house-ruling to settle arguments more quickly or make a game more fun in a particular situation. The only house-rule I consistently use is for Cosmic Encounter - when alien powers are dealt out at the beginning of the game, I made it a rule that if you are dealt a card you have played with before, you can return it and get a new power to choose from. That doesn't affect the gameplay at all, and part of the fun of CE is experiencing the ridiculous variety of alien races.
@FarmerLenny answers:
I try to play games strictly by the book, but in some cases (namely, in poorly written rulebooks) a house rule is necessary. There are really only a few games that I play with house rules. One of these is a game called Ulcers, which I picked up at Half Price Books on the clearance shelf for $2. I loved the premise of the game (hiring personnel and trying to keep them happy to avoid corporate raids), but the game itself was rather...boring. So, with my wife's permission, I have been slowly tweaking the rules to make it more fun. Basically, instead of making it a simple roll-and-move kind of game, I've played with shortages, acquisition order, and adding interesting decisions to make the game more cutthroat. We both enjoy it more with these additions. I also have added a house rule in Canasta (since it wasn't covered in the rule book) that players cannot pick up the prize pile based on a canasta they already have. This keeps the game a bit more even and more fun, we've found. Most of the time I eschew house rules if I can, but I try not to begrudge them to my friends who use them more frequently.
@Futurewolfie answers:
I rarely add house-rules to board games, especially if they're good games. Someone has already put hundreds of hours testing, tweaking, and figuring out what works best, so even if I don't quite understand why a rule is or isn't in place, it likely has a balancing effect on the game somehow. However, as Jon mentioned above, sometimes games are ALMOST fun, but it feels like whoever made the game didn't really playtest it. It just needs some tweaking - it's not bad enough to toss out completely, but it's not good enough to enjoy without a fix.
And then sometimes it's just worth house-ruling to settle arguments more quickly or make a game more fun in a particular situation. The only house-rule I consistently use is for Cosmic Encounter - when alien powers are dealt out at the beginning of the game, I made it a rule that if you are dealt a card you have played with before, you can return it and get a new power to choose from. That doesn't affect the gameplay at all, and part of the fun of CE is experiencing the ridiculous variety of alien races.
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