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.

Lumberjack Jenga 2: Revenge of the Golden Ax (a review of Click Clack Lumberjack)

Back for more, eh? It wasn't enough that you felled the first tree when you were simply trying to harvest the bark. No, now you've been practicing. Your skills have leveled up, and you're ready for a new challenge, like going for the golden bark or using hidden grubs to your advantage. And you've even sharpened your special tiny golden ax for good measure.

But can you wield it to great effect?

Swimming with the Sharks (a review of Get Bit!)

Jaws was a terrifying movie when I was younger. Terrifying. I didn't want to go near the ocean (not that I had much opportunity), and I was even suspicious of our landlocked Midwestern lakes.

But you know what is significantly less terrifying than a giant shark destroying boats and eating humans? A giant shark tearing unsuspecting swimming robots apart. See, that? That's not terrifying. That's just plain fun. That's also the premise behind Get Bit!, the game where you don't have to swim fast, just faster than your mechanical friends.

Stocking Stuffer Guide 2012

  "Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs?"
--G. K. Chesterton

There are likely as many stocking traditions as there are families who stuff stockings. I remember commercials from my youth suggesting that a diamond tennis bracelet--because it did not break the size constraint--was a suitable stocking stuffer. (If that's the case, make the stockings bigger--roughly the square, Fantasy Flight size game box.) In my family, "stocking stuffer" is a price range rather than a size limitation, and our stockings are often accompanied by bonus grocery sacks with things that are too big to fit in the stockings we have.

But for today's discussion of my recommendations for board game stocking stuffers, I'm offering two categories: one of small size, small cost games, and one of slightly larger games falling into a similar price range. Filler (stuffer?) games, if you will.

Here are my picks for 2012. Enjoy! (And if you're interested in larger games to give as gifts, check out our full 2012 gift guide.)

Red-Hot Trick-Taking (a review of Little Devils)

I grew up in a family of card game players. Rook and Pinochle were our games of choice, but I've been known to play Euchre (grudgingly) and Pitch (not quite so grudgingly) in a pinch. Dutch Blitz, Canasta, Phase 10 (which I later disavowed): all of these have crossed my table willingly.

Because of this, there remains a soft spot in my heart for small-box card games. I love ones that facilitate conversation while also offering interesting gameplay. Does Little Devils fit into this ideal niche for me? Read on!

It's a Rich Man's World (a review of Money)

It was a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and I had what turned out to be an awkward conversation with my wife.

"My sister called. She wants to borrow Money."

My wife was doing the dishes. She paused, gave me a puzzled look, and said, "Why would she want to borrow money—from us?" I'm the youngest in my family, and this would be a severe breach of the rules of family flow.

Thankfully, after this point we both shared a laugh. My sister wasn't asking to borrow the Benjamins; she was asking to borrow Reiner Knizia's blind bidding and bluffing game of exchanging currencies. So we know that my sister liked it. What do I think? Find out below!

Quest for Riches in the Ruins (a review of Incan Gold)

Playing games with kids can be a drag. You have to put up with the tantrums. You have to spend lots of time explaining and correcting. And, worst of all, most games for kids are just not fun for adults to play. Uno? Life? Even Clue? No thanks. This was primarily my reasoning behind trying Incan Gold, a 3-8 player party game based on Diamant (and this video review was what sealed the deal—those kids are great salespeople). I wanted a game to play with my niece and nephew that the adults could play without wanting to claw their brains out afterward. I just wasn't expecting to play Incan Gold so much when only adults were present.

Flip That House! (a review of For Sale)

[Editors note: The following is a Nemesis Review, featuring opinions from our in-house eurogamer, @Farmerlenny, and his deadly enemy the thematic space-loving @Futurewolfie. Make sure to read both opinions to get a better overall picture of the game!]

When I lived with my sister, she used to love watching shows that involved house flipping, the practice of buying low and selling high. She liked the home upgrade part. Ho-hum. I was interested in the business side—how much did the person get for fixing up that house? Was it a wash, or did they make some fat cash?

With the recent recession, house flipping is on a bit of a hiatus as a boom industry. But it's possible to relive the glory days through a little card game called For Sale.

(Ed. Note: The pictures in this review are from @FarmerLenny's copy of the game, the old Uberplay edition. It has since been released as part of the Gryphon Bookshelf Series with much the same components.)