Marv's list of games and other gaming resources

Marv's games
Below is a compilation of the board and card games that I own followed by some useful gaming links. If you have any doubt, let me clarify that I LOVE to play. I've loved board games ever since I was a kid. Even so, I quickly got bored of the mainstream games like Monopoly, Scrabble, Pictionary, etc. I was always looking for more advanced games. As a kid, I found more excitement in Stratego, Jotto, Masterpiece, and Spades (cards) than in the typical games most kids played. As I entered my 30s, I learned that there are hundreds, even thousands, of other games out there besides what you'd find at Toys R Us or in the local Shopping Mall. In my 40s, boardgaming has become a passionate hobby. Ironically, the gaming universe has exploded during the last 10 years. With the help of the Internet, we can purchase games from all over the world. Why Gaming?
Gaming for me represents the ultimate in small group camaraderie. People can get together and enjoy themselves without the overhanging peer pressure and conformity found in other social events. In fact, when going to bars or parties, people are encouraged to be wild or "stupid". Even the way one dresses is important for social acceptance. This is not the case when playing games; even with strangers. It's a casual and sedate way to enjoy each other's company without the superficiality and the need to yell above background noise and/or music. Often, when I meet people and tell them of my hobby, they ask "what type of games" and they'll say something about how hey like scrabble, pictionary, scattergories, taboo, Cranium, etc. When I mention some of my favorite games like I'm the Boss, Modern Art, Tichu, or Acquire, they have no idea and no reference to these. I'll suggest they visit some online game shop websites but they still have no reference to the specific games I'm referring to. So, I decided to create this webpage and point acquaintances to it to provide a reference. I'm sure it will change frequently as I come up with other ideas to convey the hobby but the best way to experience some of these games is to sacrifice a few hours and try a few. Every chance I get, I try to introduce people to gaming. The list below:
As I mentioned, I own ALL of these games and would be happy to introduce to you as many as we can play. Most require a minimum of 4 people, some will work best with 5 people, and still others require 6 or more to derive the best experience.
My subjective ratings below generally indicate how frequently I'd like to play that particular game and changes with time.
Clicking on the BGG links will take you to BoardGameGeek.com. BGG is the definitive reference for boardgames on the Internet. It is not a sales site and contains a wealth of information on almost every game known to the human race. In addition, as the hobby grows, more and more games are being produced by some very intelligent folks.
While I would love to play twice each week, I generally play about twice or thrice each month with various wonderful people and maintain a private maillist for these friends. Email me if you're interested. On Yahoo, I am marv_ 63 without the space.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
Click Here for some pictures.

Let's play!

Games I own: 129
Last update: 1/18/08

BGG ID Game Title Players My subjective rating Comments

5 Acquire 2-6 Very Good Acquire has been around since 1968 but has undergone several revisions. It's currently owned by Hasbro and is very difficult to find. The game itself is very interactive. Players place tiles on the board in order to form corporations. Each player can purchase stock in the established corporations. As corporations grow, others are merged into bigger ones and money is collected. There's a great deal of strategy in deciding how much stock to purchase in which corporations and when to build/merge corporations. For an advanced game, we can try keeping stock and money secret from each other

6249 Alhambra 2-6 Fair I haven't played this one very much. It's a game of using cards to lay tiles and accumulate money.

3359 Anagrams 2-6 Good Anagrams is a very old game with its beginnings stemming c. 1930. It's similar to Scrabble in that players make words from letter tiles. Players turn over random letters from the pile. The first person to yell out a word fromt he tiles gets those tiles and places the word in front of him/her. In addition, players may steal words from other players by using the faceup tiles in the pile to form anagrams. For example, if I have the word CAT in front of me and a "H" and "C" are turned up, the first person to yell CATCH steals CAT from me. Great for Scrabble lovers. I've heard that a new game called WordXchange is the latest incarnation of Anagrams but haven't seen it in person

74 Apples to Apples 4-10 Fair Apples to Apples has spawned many sequels. It's a party game, meaning it's typically played with a large number of people. In essence, there are cards with Nouns on them and are green in color. Red cards are adjectives and verbs. Players are dealt a handful of red cards. Each player, in turn, turns over a Green Card and everyone secretly chooses a red card from his hand to relate to the green card and hand them facedown to the greencard player. That player than reveals all selected Red Cards, typically to some giggles and laughs from the crowd. The Green Card player chooses the "winning" redcard. The player who submitted the winning redcard collects the Green Card as a win. Whoever reaches the goal of most green cards after a predetermined amount of time or predetermined goal, wins. The sequels add cards and descriptions

25643 Arkadia 3-4 Excellent Strategy game where players are placing tetris-sized buildings on a large chess-like board.. Players have the option of placing their "guys" are the buildings to obtain various color seals. The value of those seals change based on player actions. Sell the seals back to the bank at the right moment or risk losing value. Only four scoring periods per player; decided upon by each player for him/herself. Very fun and a thinking-type game

163 Balderdash 3-6 Good Balderdash is another party game. Here, each player takes turns being the "Reader". Reader reads a very uncommon or obscure word from a selection of hundreds. Players secretly write a definition for the word while Reader secretly writes the actual definition from the card. All players hand their submissions to the Reader, who reads all aloud. Lots of laughs and giggles. Each player than votes for the "Real" definition. Points are awarded to players whose definitions are voted as Real. Reader also scores points if no one gets the real definition correct. A fun game that's been updated in recent years although I've not played the updates. Also, see Wise and Otherwise below which substitutes sayings and phrases for words. My copy is a pretty old version

3955 Bang! 4-7 Very Good Best with 6-7 players. Bang is a card game where players are secretly assigned roles in a wild west town. Only the Sheriff reveals his ID to the group. The deputy must protect the Sheriff by killing everyone else. The Sheriff must kill the Outlaws and Renegades. The Outlaws must kill the Sheriff. The Renegades must kill everyone. All the fighting takes place using cards of guns, bullets, and various protections and modifiers (e.g. range restrictions). In additon to the major roles, each player has minor traits to assist in his battles. These minor traits vary from character to character, game to game, and are public knowledge to all players. A very fun game. The expansions add characters and minor traits.

9653 Bang! - Dodge City 3-8 unplayed See above

8269 Bang! High Noon 4-7 Very Good See above

14 Basari 4 Excellent One of my favorites and a great introductory game to strategic gaming. Basari entails all four players rolling the dice and moving their respective pawns around a board independently of the positions of other players. Every space presents a choice to each player to bid for one of three rewards: points, gems, or reroll of the dice. If only one player bids for a specific reward, that player receives it. If 3-4 players bid for the reward, they do NOT receive it. If two players bid for a reward, they barter gems with each other. The winner of the barter receives the reward while the loser receives the winning bidder's gems offer. There are four colors of gems. The game is played in three rounds (cycles around the board) and points are awarded to each player who accumulated the highest number of gems in each of four colors. Points are also awarded to the player who circles the board first on each of three rounds (hence the motivation for bidding the REROLL reward). An extremely fun and interactive game with lots of strategic options. Edel Stein and Reich is even better. See below

760 Battle Line 2 unplayed

25417 and 28260 BattleLore and Epic expansion 2 or two teams of 2 Very Good Very elaborate game system with miniatures and cards. Use cards to manipulate miniature into dice battles with the opponent. Quite a bit of unexpected strategy. Also own the Epic expanssion which allows for up to 6 players. Haven't yet played the expansion as of 6/7/07

2453 Blokus 2-4 Very good Best with four players. A very strategic and quick game where all four players get 21 Tetris-like 2D pieces. Players take turns placing their pieces on the board with the restriction that they must place pieces where only corners may touch their previously placed pieces. The object is to place as many pieces as possible with strategy of planning for future placement as well as subverting opponent placement. Very fun game and excellent for new gamers.

16395 Blokus Duo (Travel Blokus) 2 Blokus for two players. Smaller board and smaller pieces. Very good!

1293 Boggle 2-10 Fair Standard Boggle. Shake the letters. Make all possible words within 3 mins.

11 Bohnanza 3-7 Good A fun little card game. Players "plant" bean cards and trade with other players to make their beans grow in number. Sell them to the bank for gold coins. Very tight as one can plant a maximum of two (sometimes three) beanfields and cards don't always come up to your advantage.

6264 Bohnaparte 3-6 unplayed An expansion to Bohnanza. Sales of beans are used to finance cities and armies. I've not played yet.

8190 Bridges of Shangri-La, The 3-4 Excellent A very strategic game of tile placement and movement. As tiles move, the return path is blocked. Deciding when and how to place and move makes for a very tense game. Fun!

8920 BuyWord 2-4 Very Good Buy letters for cash. Sell words for more cash.

1445 Canasta Caliente 2-6 unplayed

822 Carcassonne 2-5 Fair There are many, many Carcassonne games and expansions. They're very popular among most gamers. Place tiles on a boardless table to build buildings, roads, farms, etc. Place tokens. Score points.

2993 Carcassonne - The Expansion 2-6 Fair

4390 Carcassonne - Hunters and Gatherers 2-5 unplayed

5405 Carcassonne - Traders & Builders 2-6 unplayed

481 Carolus Magnus 2-4 Very Good An excellent board strategy game. Players place cubes on a semi-mobile tiles. Control of the tiles is based on controlling castles which are also placed on the tiles by players when they hold the majority in colored cubes. Control can switch from player to player based on competition of cube placement and majority control. With 4 players, play can be individual or two teams of 2.

432 Category 5 (aka 6 Nimmt!) 2-10 Excellent An excellent card and quick card game. Very popular. Especially good with lots of people.

4491 Cave Troll 2-4 Very Good A cute little game with tokens representing monsters and heroes in a dungeon

171 Chess 2 It's Chess

337 Circus Flohcati 3-5 Good Light card game

478 Citadels 2-7 Fair A card game with a large following. Players build districts of a city. Each turn, players secretly choose a different character, each with different capabilities for that one turn

4636 Clans 2-5 Excellent I greatly enjoy this abstract board game. Players move groups of huts on a board to form villages and score points for all players in the village. The experience is enhanced because no one knows who belongs to any of the other huts until the very end of the game. In other words, the five colors score points throughout the game but you only know YOUR color. Try to deduce which opponent belongs to the other respective colors and then inhibit (screw) their strategy

5782 Coloretto 3-5 Good A card game where players build community piles of cards. Players must eventually choose piles which may score positive or negative points depending on previous piles chosen. Very satisfying the first few times played. Loses appeal after.

105 Colossal Arena 3-5 Very Good Players place bets on combatants and then influence those combats using cards. Interesting concept and pretty interactive

112 Condottiere 2-6 Good Players go to war using numbered cards. The option to pass is always available in the hopes of winning following rounds. Winner gets to place a token the board. First player to get three adjacent tokens, wins. In addition to numbered cards, there are a few others available thereby providing the means to inflict some surprises on the other players

26990 Container 4-5 Excellent Deep stategy game. Players produce various goods which are then sold to other players. Demand varies based on secret goals of each player.

17204 Control Nut 4 Good A very interesting trick-taking cardgame with lots of strategy and bidding. Very similar to the game of Spades but with much more depth

8552 Corsari 3-4 Very Good A very interesting Rummy-like cardgame with lots of hidden strategy

1302 Cosmic Wimpout 2-7 unplayed A complicated dice game

521 Crokinole 2 or 4 W O W !!! Over a century old, this game immediately drew us in. I ordered a custom-made board for almost $300 from Canada. See Crokinole.com

17998 Die Dolmengotter 3-5 Excellent An abstract strategy game.

1 Die Macher 3-5 Unplayed A long, deep strategy game. Unplayed as of 04/24/07

16991 Deflexion (now called Khet) 2 Very Good A revolutionary game. It's chess with lasers and mirrors.The only thing that would make this game Excellent would be the addition of sound; maybe a "ding" for a hit and a "dong" for a miss.

24083 Desert Bazaar 3-5 Good Interesting recent game. As of early March 2007, we've only played once so we need to give it another shot. It's a light strategy game where one places colored tiles for a cost. Some placements can be made for cheaper costs depending on previous placements.

23107 Drakon (3rd ed.) 3-6 Very Good Dungeon crawling...dizzying movement with random chambers...score gold...fight monsters

2346 DVONN 2 Very Good An abstract board game, part of the multigame GIPF series. Pieces resembling checkers fill the gameboard and then move according to specified rules. By moving strategically, pieces may become more powerful or become immobile. Player who has the most pieces with no available moves remaining, wins

5781 Edel, Stein, & Reich 3-5 Excellent A card game extremely similar to the boardgame Basari (see above). This cardgame has some added twists to the boardgame and leads to an exciting game for four.

9674 Einfach Genial aka Ingenious 2-4 Good A good tile placing game. Players have a rack of tiles from which they choose one to place on the board. The tiles resemble domino-like faces with each of the two ends containing a colored shape. Players place the tiles in such a manner that one shape must connect to another of the same makeup. Points are scored based on the number of tiles connected after each placement. Winner is determined by whomever has the highest of the LOWEST scores in each of the tiles

93 El Grande 2-5 Excellent A very popular and highly regarded strategy game. Players choose one of five cards each turn to assist in placing their colored cubes on territories. Players score points three times during the 9-turn game. Lots of twists and turns with loads of offensive and defensive opportunities

9911 Falcon's Maze 2 Good A game from the 1980s involving placing stones on a board. Players control two pawns each, called falcons, to maneuver through the stones and "escape" the maze. Some offense moves and a great deal of luck based on dice rolls

170 Family Business 2-4 Good Light card game with mobster theme

720 Fast Food Franchise 2-5 Poor Haven't played this one in many years. Players build food empires based on tokens

32125 Felix: Cat in the Sack 4-5 Very Good Light card game similar to For Sale and No Thanks.

7538 Fish Eat Fish 2-5 Good A quick strategy game best with 4-5 players. Players move their five fish around a 5x5 board. They have the option to attempt to "eat" an opponent's fish. To do so, the two opposing players secretly choose numerical cards in their hands to add to their fish ala the classic card game of War. The winner devours the loser and becomes a bigger fish. Once a card is played, it's lost for the remainder of the game. Points are scored for all fish bigger than 5 units. It's a fast and cute game with some strategy

172 For Sale 3-6 Excellent A two-phase card game. In the first phase, players bid cash chips for homes ranging in value from 1-30. Everyone receives an equal number of homes; higher bidders get higher value homes. In the second phase, checks are put up for auction with the home values representing the currency. A very fun, addictive game due in part to the secrecy in bidding tactics

3085 Gang of Four 3-4 Excellent An excellent Asian-rooted card game for 3 or 4 players. The game has 64 cards with in three suits (red, yellow, green). Red is highest and green is lowest. Each suit consists of cards numbered from 1-10 so that there are two red '1's, '2's, '3's....'10's, and two yellow '1's, '2's, '3's....'10's, and two green '1's, '2's, '3's....'10's. There are also three additional cards (two phoenix's and one dragon) and one additional multi-colored '1'. The object of each round is to be the first player to discard all cards in your hand. When successful, all remaining players score points. First player to score 100 points loses the game and the player with the lowest score wins. To play, player proceed in order by playing combinations of the cards similar to standard poker (single cards,pairs, triples, straight, flushes, fullhouses, straight flush). The next player has the option of passing or playing a higher-ranked hand equal to the number of cards played by the starter. For example, the starting player may play a red 3 and a green 3. The next player must beat it by playing a red 3 and a yellow 3 (remember that yellow is higher than green, or any higher pair. For example a two green 5's would be higher. Phoenix's are higher than 10's but may not be used in a hand except as a pair (the two phoenix's together) or as a single card (yellow phoenix is higher than the green one). The Dragon is the highest single card and may only be played as a single card. Four of a kind is wild and can be played anytime. There are some additional rules but that's the gist of the game. With three players, a dummy hand is dealt and not used. With four, players do not form teams. I LOVE playing this one. Even better than Gang of Four is Tichu which requires four players as two teams (see below)

19427 Gemblo 2-6 Best! Similar to Blokus but with significant differences. Gemblo can accommodate upto 6 players. It's more visually appealing than Blokus and the strategy is a bit different. Worthwhile playing a few times. I also have the cards for expansion but haven't played with them yet. Gemblo was released in late 2005.

527 GIPF 2 Very Good An abstract strategy game, part of the GIPF series of games. Players place checker-like pieces on the board and attempt to capture opponent pieces while playing defensively, too. For two players, only. Fun to play but gets old quickly--just like all the GIPF games

3139 Goldland 2-5 Good An adventure-like game. Players build the board by "exploring" unknown tiles. By exploring and utilizing various tools chits, players accumulate gold and other treasures. Score the most points from suviving adventures and accumulating gold to win. This game appeals to a small subset of gamers including myself.

116 Guillotine 2-5 Fair A cute card game with mostly luck and some minute strategy. Kids would love it. Score points by executing Nobles in line to the Guillotine.

25224 Hermagor 3-5 Very Good A complex strategy game involving tight bidding for tiles which allow a player to sell the goods depicted at cities on the board that accommodate those goods. Some area conrol strategies, too.

2655 Hive 2 Good A chess-like game where insects are the pieces. Each insect has different abilities around a completely dynamic and borderless board known as the hive. Appeals to a small subset of folks

153 Hornochsen (aka Take 5) 2-6 Excellent An excellent and quick card game in the same vein as Category 5 and No Merci/Geschenkt

21654 Iliad 2-6 Unplayed Reviews showed it would be a game I'd like so I purchased. Looking forward to playing. As of 3/3/07

28 Illuminati Deluxe Edition 2-8 Fair Haven't played in years and no real desire to play now. It's an old game and was good back then but too many better games have developed in the last 10 years to want to return to this one.

115 I'm the Boss (aka Kohle, Kies & Knete) 3-6 Best! Oh wow! This game is incredible and appeals to everyone that I've ever introduced to it. It's really only worth playing with 5-6 people. Basically, we are all high class investors trying to broker high-value deals. It's fast and furious, and a bit chaotic at times, as players literally include and exclude other players from deals with the use of offensive and defensive cards. Eventually, either the cards run out on each deal and the deal is brokered or those in power are happy with the terms of the deal and are unstoppable by the others, resulting in the deal succeeding. It's also possible that players can screw themselves or the others out of a deal. The game has variable endings, too. Lots of hilarious fun! Highly addictive! One of the best games ever! You've got to play this one to fully appreciate it. And, it can be learned in under 15 minutes.

24181 Imperial 3-6 Very good Deep strategy game where players vie for sharesin countries. Major stockholder gets to make economic and military decisions for the country but other players still hold stock. Need to play more to get a better understanding

13780 In the Shadow of the Emperor 2-4 unplayed Very good reviews but I haven't played it, yet.

265 Intrigue 3-5 Interesting A brutal negotiation game. Lots of hurt feelings can result if played with sensitive people

12002 Jambo 2 Very Good Very good strategy card game. Players compete against each other by drawing cards; offensive and defensive, to use in conjunction with other cards depicting wares. Wares are bought and sold to earn gold. Reach 60 gold to win. Too bad it's only for two player.

4099 Keythedral 4-5 Played once Excellent deep strategy game. Vaguely similar to Settlers of Catan but MUCH better. Played only once

7806 King Me! 3-6 Very Good A very simple game. Something like 15 unique tokens (A thru T?) are placed randomly on the board of five stairs. They ascend the steps to the throne where, one-by-one, they attempt to become King. Each player secretly votes Yay or Nay. To become King requires unanimous Yay votes. A defeated attempt to become King results in the execution of that token in that round. Each player can vote Nay only a limited number of times in each round. The steps have points associated with them. Each player has a secret card with 6 of the tokens on it. Once a King is chosen, resolve points based on where the tokens reside. Start a new round with new cards and new votes. Three rounds ends the game. Simple, cute, and a bit of psychology and luck. Most points, wins

58 Kings & Things 2-4 Very Good
/unplayed Another adventure-like game. I haven't played in 10+ years but remember it fondly. I have two never-played before copies. Unfortunately, the rulebooks and tokens (hundreds of tokens) are in German. English translations are available on BoardgameGeek.com

398 Loco 3-5 Very Good Light card game

249 Lifeboats 3-6 Good Reminds me of "Musical Chairs" in a boardgame. Everyone must jump one pawn at the end of a turn from one ship to another. Players vote which ship springs a leak thereby reducing the available seats. Boats are sailing to an island. Be seated in the boat when it reaches the island and score points

3201 Lord of the Rings - The Confrontation 2 Fair A combination of Chess and Stratego, the game remains true to the movie. I'd rather play other games but it's still pretty good

50 Lost Cities 2 Very Good Here's a cute, easy game of numbers. Two players only. Decide which pile of numbers to develop by drawing cards. Succeed for points. Failure to develop adequately results in negative points. Choose wisely.

9341 Lost Valley 3-4 Good Better than Goldland. Tile exploration game. Buy resources to mine goldi. Lots of little tiles

66 Lowenherz 3-4 Very Good A deep strategy game. Build territories and protect them from opponents.

118 Modern Art 3-5 Best! Another excellent game! This one has us playing as art collectors. Players put paintings (secret cards in one's hand) up for auction. There are different types of auctions ranging from the classic free-for-all to "once around" to secret bid, etc. Manipulate your auctions and purchases to your advantage while inhibiting other players. Lots of interaction in this game

152 Mu & More Good

5942 Mystery Rummy: Al Capone 2-4 Very Good I own three of the four available Mystery Rummy games. Each of the different games has some relation to the classic game of standard Rummy with various twists for the melds. In Al Capone, the cards are of gangsters with some offense cards available. Jack the Ripper has suspects for the serial murderer and has a goal of catching the murderer or having him escape. Jekyll and Hyde has one card for the split personality which adds additional strategy to that game. They're fun games and a great introduction to those who have never played non-mainstream card games.

106 Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper 2-4 Very Good

1265 Mystery Rummy: Jekyll and Hyde 2 Very Good

15363 Nexus Ops 3-4 Excellent While I currently think this game is excellent, I realize it probably won't be regarded as highly by my usual group. The game involves each player controlling an army of aliens on various land hexes. The six army units have different abilities on different hexes. Income is earned, specila missions are accomplished (satisfying requirements on various cards), and offense/defense cards are played during battles. Conflicts are resolved with dice. A relatively quick game with lots of variety.

12942 No Merci (aka Geschenkt) 4-5 Excellent Very simple cardgame. Points are bad in this game. Cards are numbered from 3-35. Each turn, one card is flipped over. You have two choices: take the numbered card for that number of points or place one chip on it. If you place a chip on it, the next players can choose to take the card or place another chip. Around and around it goes. Chips are worth -1 points each so they DECREASE bad points for you. Unfortunately, everyone starts with only 11 chips. Out of chips? You must take the card. Play until the deck is exhausted. But, there's another twist. If you take consecutive numbered cards, you receive points only for the lowest in the run. Also, 9 cards are removed randomly before play begins. Lots of strategy here.

9027 Oasis 4-5 Excellent A deep strategy game. Players cmpete for scoring markers and tiles and camel placement on a grid. Lots of interaction because players are appealing to opponents to accept their "offers" of tiles in return for position

9792 Oriente 4-12 unplayed A new (May 2005) card game. Rules are somewhat difficult to understand. I'll work on it

2987 Pirate's Cove 3-5 Very Good An interesting and highly interactive strategy game. Players take on the role of pirates and visit various islands. Fight others players as well as legendary pirates (cards), earn gold, ship enhancements, weapons, etc. Fighting involves dice

140 Pit 4-8 Good/Loud The very old (early 1900's) game of cornering one commodity market before your opponents. Highly interactive and loud.

17025 Poison 3-5 Very Good Light Reiner Knizia game. Good for kids, too.

19764 PUNCT 2 undecided The final Gipf game of the series. Played only once so far so it's still kinda mysterious to me.

15290 R-Eco 3-5 Very Good Good card game

12 Ra 4-5 Excellent Another deep strategy game where players bid on tiles. Each player gets 3 bidding numbers to use. Winning an auction means losing the winning tile and gaining another; for better or worse. This game was extreme popular and went out of print for awhile before returning. While OOP, it fetched ~$90 on eBay

28143 Race for the Galaxy 3-4 unplayed Highly-rated strategy card game

568 Rage 2-10 Poor A card game of taking tricks. As far as I can see, there's no strategy whatsoever and it's pretty boring. I still cannot figure out why Funagain.com consistently has this as a topseller. No redeeming value in my opinion

12962 Reef Encounter 3-4 Excellent Deep strategy game involving shrimp and coral. Place coral tiles while considering dominance and recessiveness among the various different coral types

875 Roads and Boats 3-5 unplayed (second edition) Deep strategy game and approx 4-6 hours to play

6411 Rumis 2-4 Excellent An interesting game from the makers of Blokus (see above). Rumis has 11 Tetris-like shapes in three dimensions. Players build their pieces on one of four boards (for variety) and

21523 Runebound-2nd ed. 2-6 Fair-Good An extremly long game (on the order of 6 hours) where players are fighting various monsters which increase in difficulty as the game progresses. Lots of dice rolling. Almost like Dungeons and Dragos for the 21 Century. Only played once so I would like to try again. Lots and lots of expansions which I dont own

9220 Saboteur 3-10 Very Good Light, interesting card game where players are split into two teams: one trying to find gold and the other trying to prevent it. Players need to deduce who is on which team. Teams change randomly for the three rounds of a game. Best with more players.

3 Samurai 3-4 Excellent Another strategy games where players place power hexes to surround three different types of firgurines allowing capture. When all figurines are captured, a winner is determined by whoever has the most of 2 or 3 of the types. Much more strategy than I'm describing here.

1041 San Marco 3-4 Good Another great game similar to El Grande (see above) but with some very different mechanics. I've only played once or twice but would love to play more often

320 Scrabble 2-4 It's Scrabble!

1198 Set 2-10 Good A card game where players are looking for "sets" of like cards or sets of completely different cards.

20551 Shogun 3-5 unplayed Deep Startegy game.

594 Sleuth 3-7 Best! I LOVE this game! It's a brilliant game of deduction. There's a set of 36 unique cards. Each card has three characteristics: type of gem (diamond, pearl, opal), color (red, green, blue, yellow) and number of gems (one, two, or three). Hence the number 36 (3x4x3=36). Players split the deck evenly and secretly but one card is secretly placed facedown in the middle of the table. Players must deduce what that card is based on what cards they have in their hands and learning info through asking question of other players. The questions are in the form of cards which are dealt to each player faceup. On their turn, players may choose which of four faceup cards to play thereby asking a question of any opponent. Depending on the questions asked, the answer is either verbal to all players or verbal to all players with some additional info given solely to the asker. Players have one, and only one, guess as to the missing gemcard (center of the table) and can choose when to guess without time restriction. As I said, I LOVE this game but it requires a lot of thinking and good note-taking. Very little interaction here since everyone is absorbed with their notes.

14935 Slow Freight 2-4 unplayed

9615 Station Master 2-6 Very Good A very strategic game with some psychology built in. Players secretly place passengers in the form of chips on train engine cards. These engine cards can be positive or negative scoring, and can accommodate varying numbers of passengers and cars. When the engine is filled with maximum number of cars (cards), it leaves the station and points are scored based on various criteria. Lots of strategy and offense/defense maneuvers.

534 Sticheln 4-8 Excellent A very challenging trick-taking card game.

108 Tamsk 2 Very Good Another in the GIPF series.

20022 Terra Nova 2-4 Excellent A new (late 2006) area control strategy game. Fencing off areas to score points and/or prevent opponents from scoring.

503 Through the Desert 4-5 Excellent A very strategic game where players place camels in 5 different shared colors in hexes throughout the board. With several different ways to earn points, players need to watch their opponents' moves while placing their camels in strategic locations.

215 Tichu 3-6 Best! My favorite game of all! I play this one card game more frequently than all other games. A phenomenal Asian-rooted cardgame. Very similar to Gang of Four (see above) but with some major differences. It's played with a deck of 52 cards in four suits (similar to standard deck of cards but they use colors instead of hearts, diamonds, etc. They add four cards, just like Gang of Four. Here are some differences: Tichu plays with two teams of two. Flushes aren't allowed. Points are scored for cards captured and not for having cards remaining in your hand. One may call Tichu before playing first card. Calling Tichu means you are betting 100 points that you will be the first to be out of cards. One may call Grand Tichu before looking at the last 5 cards. This bets 200 points. Tichu has a card called "Dog" which, when played, passes control to your partner. In Tichu, one may play any number of cards greater than four as a Straight. In Tichu, one may play consecutive pairs. There are various other differences but this game is truly wonderful and exciting. There are several different versions of the rules floating around the Internet. They all say the same thing a bit differently. Here's one: http://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Games/Tichu/

9209 Ticket to Ride (with and without Mystery Train exp.) 2-5 Fair This game is extremely popular and well-liked by most gamers. It's gotten rave reviews from everyone including those people who are new to gaming. Unfortunately, it just doesn't excite me like as it does for everyone else. Players draw cards as "Tickets" and then draw cards to place plastic trains on routes on the board depicting the entire US. Tickets may become obsolete if your path is taken by an opponent for a different ticket. In this case, you lose points. Complete routes of varying lengths for points; the longer the route, the more points earned. Yay! Several sequels have spawned. I wish I liked these games more than I do since everyone looks at me funny when I mention my dislike of them

42 Tigris & Euphrates 2-4 Best! The number two best-voted strategy game. Players place tiles and construct castles on a board. As conflicts arise, players play tiles to assist in their previously placed tiles to determine strength in the conflict. A territory-acquisition game with lots of strategic offense and defense

54 Tikal 3-4 Excellent A very fun game of tile exploration.Explore the jungle by turning over tiles, revealing temples or treasures, volcanoes (three of these and they trigger scoring), or empty space on which to build a camp; thereby lessening the cost to further explore nearby tiles. Lots of strategy and interaction

88 Torres 3-4 Very Good A deep strategy game where players compete by building and scoring castles. With 5 "action moves" per turn, players can choose to build/develop castles, place knights, move knights, choose or play helpful cards, or take victory points. There's even a King in the mix for bonus points. An excellent, tense game which won high awards in 2000.

15261 Trump Tricks Game 3-4 Very Good Another card trick-taking game. Not as good as Tichu but definitely some interesting mechanics

94 Union Pacific 4-6 Excellent Great game! It's a bit similar to Acquire but with more depth. Players build and expand about 10 different railoads on different types of track. On our turns, we must decide to expand OR invest. To expand, you must have the proper track card and the railroad must be able to expand into that type of track. There are four semi-random scoring periods; similar to Tikal

25420 Ur 3-4 Very Good Deep strategy game that doesn't take very long to play

10523 Victory & Honor 4 Very Good A very light and decent card game. Players place cards on their respective individual boards to take tricks. Some cards score points. Played as two teams of two.

5393 Wheedle 4-6 Very Good Very similar to Pit with a bit of a twist since there's a tradeable card in the center. Some additional scoring mechanics absent in Pit

11104 Who's The Ass? 3-12 Very Good A very light card game which reminds me of a cross between "Old Maid" and "The Great Dalmuti". Players try to rid themselves of cards. Anyone remaining after the first out scores (bad) points for remaining cards. The Ass card scores lots of points.

3236 Wildlife 4-6 Excellent A very strategic tile placement game complete with currency, multiple offense and defense cards, conflicts, tiht scoring between players, etc. I greatly enjoy playing this one but it requires about 2 hours to play after a 30 minute explanation

1382 Winner's Circle 4-6 Very Good A reprint of Royal Turf. A nice game where players place secret bets on horses and then each player moves horses around the track within various constraints.

2652 Wise and Otherwise 4-7 Very Good Another party game. Similar to Balderdash (see above) but with phrases rather than words. requires a great deal of creativity on the part of players

878 Wyatt Earp 2-4 Very Good Very similar to the Mystery Rummy series. Some luck involved in terms of drawing cards but overall, a fun and easy game to learn and play. Players play Rummy with Wild West characters. Play melds to build, and take bounties

7854 YINSH 2 Very Good Part of the GIPF Series of games. Abstract strategy. Placement of two-sided color checker-like tokens and rings. Place it strategically to capture opponent pieces and flip (reverse) certain other already placed pieces

528 ZERTZ 2 Good Part of the GIPF series. Players place and capture marbles on a dynamic board of rings

BGG ID	Game Title	Players	My subjective rating	Comments
5	Acquire	2-6	Very Good	Acquire has been around since 1968 but has undergone several revisions. It's currently owned by Hasbro and is very difficult to find. The game itself is very interactive. Players place tiles on the board in order to form corporations. Each player can purchase stock in the established corporations. As corporations grow, others are merged into bigger ones and money is collected. There's a great deal of strategy in deciding how much stock to purchase in which corporations and when to build/merge corporations. For an advanced game, we can try keeping stock and money secret from each other
6249	Alhambra	2-6	Fair	I haven't played this one very much. It's a game of using cards to lay tiles and accumulate money.
3359	Anagrams	2-6	Good	Anagrams is a very old game with its beginnings stemming c. 1930. It's similar to Scrabble in that players make words from letter tiles. Players turn over random letters from the pile. The first person to yell out a word fromt he tiles gets those tiles and places the word in front of him/her. In addition, players may steal words from other players by using the faceup tiles in the pile to form anagrams. For example, if I have the word CAT in front of me and a "H" and "C" are turned up, the first person to yell CATCH steals CAT from me. Great for Scrabble lovers. I've heard that a new game called WordXchange is the latest incarnation of Anagrams but haven't seen it in person
74	Apples to Apples	4-10	Fair	Apples to Apples has spawned many sequels. It's a party game, meaning it's typically played with a large number of people. In essence, there are cards with Nouns on them and are green in color. Red cards are adjectives and verbs. Players are dealt a handful of red cards. Each player, in turn, turns over a Green Card and everyone secretly chooses a red card from his hand to relate to the green card and hand them facedown to the greencard player. That player than reveals all selected Red Cards, typically to some giggles and laughs from the crowd. The Green Card player chooses the "winning" redcard. The player who submitted the winning redcard collects the Green Card as a win. Whoever reaches the goal of most green cards after a predetermined amount of time or predetermined goal, wins. The sequels add cards and descriptions
25643	Arkadia	3-4	Excellent	Strategy game where players are placing tetris-sized buildings on a large chess-like board.. Players have the option of placing their "guys" are the buildings to obtain various color seals. The value of those seals change based on player actions. Sell the seals back to the bank at the right moment or risk losing value. Only four scoring periods per player; decided upon by each player for him/herself. Very fun and a thinking-type game
163	Balderdash	3-6	Good	Balderdash is another party game. Here, each player takes turns being the "Reader". Reader reads a very uncommon or obscure word from a selection of hundreds. Players secretly write a definition for the word while Reader secretly writes the actual definition from the card. All players hand their submissions to the Reader, who reads all aloud. Lots of laughs and giggles. Each player than votes for the "Real" definition. Points are awarded to players whose definitions are voted as Real. Reader also scores points if no one gets the real definition correct. A fun game that's been updated in recent years although I've not played the updates. Also, see Wise and Otherwise below which substitutes sayings and phrases for words. My copy is a pretty old version
3955	Bang!	4-7	Very Good	Best with 6-7 players. Bang is a card game where players are secretly assigned roles in a wild west town. Only the Sheriff reveals his ID to the group. The deputy must protect the Sheriff by killing everyone else. The Sheriff must kill the Outlaws and Renegades. The Outlaws must kill the Sheriff. The Renegades must kill everyone. All the fighting takes place using cards of guns, bullets, and various protections and modifiers (e.g. range restrictions). In additon to the major roles, each player has minor traits to assist in his battles. These minor traits vary from character to character, game to game, and are public knowledge to all players. A very fun game. The expansions add characters and minor traits.
9653	Bang! - Dodge City	3-8	unplayed	See above
8269	Bang! High Noon	4-7	Very Good	See above
14	Basari	4	Excellent	One of my favorites and a great introductory game to strategic gaming. Basari entails all four players rolling the dice and moving their respective pawns around a board independently of the positions of other players. Every space presents a choice to each player to bid for one of three rewards: points, gems, or reroll of the dice. If only one player bids for a specific reward, that player receives it. If 3-4 players bid for the reward, they do NOT receive it. If two players bid for a reward, they barter gems with each other. The winner of the barter receives the reward while the loser receives the winning bidder's gems offer. There are four colors of gems. The game is played in three rounds (cycles around the board) and points are awarded to each player who accumulated the highest number of gems in each of four colors. Points are also awarded to the player who circles the board first on each of three rounds (hence the motivation for bidding the REROLL reward). An extremely fun and interactive game with lots of strategic options. Edel Stein and Reich is even better. See below
760	Battle Line	2	unplayed
25417 and 28260	BattleLore and Epic expansion	2 or two teams of 2	Very Good	Very elaborate game system with miniatures and cards. Use cards to manipulate miniature into dice battles with the opponent. Quite a bit of unexpected strategy. Also own the Epic expanssion which allows for up to 6 players. Haven't yet played the expansion as of 6/7/07
2453	Blokus	2-4	Very good	Best with four players. A very strategic and quick game where all four players get 21 Tetris-like 2D pieces. Players take turns placing their pieces on the board with the restriction that they must place pieces where only corners may touch their previously placed pieces. The object is to place as many pieces as possible with strategy of planning for future placement as well as subverting opponent placement. Very fun game and excellent for new gamers.
16395	Blokus Duo (Travel Blokus)	2		Blokus for two players. Smaller board and smaller pieces. Very good!
1293	Boggle	2-10	Fair	Standard Boggle. Shake the letters. Make all possible words within 3 mins.
11	Bohnanza	3-7	Good	A fun little card game. Players "plant" bean cards and trade with other players to make their beans grow in number. Sell them to the bank for gold coins. Very tight as one can plant a maximum of two (sometimes three) beanfields and cards don't always come up to your advantage.
6264	Bohnaparte	3-6	unplayed	An expansion to Bohnanza. Sales of beans are used to finance cities and armies. I've not played yet.
8190	Bridges of Shangri-La, The	3-4	Excellent	A very strategic game of tile placement and movement. As tiles move, the return path is blocked. Deciding when and how to place and move makes for a very tense game. Fun!
8920	BuyWord	2-4	Very Good	Buy letters for cash. Sell words for more cash.
1445	Canasta Caliente	2-6	unplayed
822	Carcassonne	2-5	Fair	There are many, many Carcassonne games and expansions. They're very popular among most gamers. Place tiles on a boardless table to build buildings, roads, farms, etc. Place tokens. Score points.
2993	Carcassonne - The Expansion	2-6	Fair
4390	Carcassonne - Hunters and Gatherers	2-5	unplayed
5405	Carcassonne - Traders & Builders	2-6	unplayed
481	Carolus Magnus	2-4	Very Good	An excellent board strategy game. Players place cubes on a semi-mobile tiles. Control of the tiles is based on controlling castles which are also placed on the tiles by players when they hold the majority in colored cubes. Control can switch from player to player based on competition of cube placement and majority control. With 4 players, play can be individual or two teams of 2.
432	Category 5 (aka 6 Nimmt!)	2-10	Excellent	An excellent card and quick card game. Very popular. Especially good with lots of people.
4491	Cave Troll	2-4	Very Good	A cute little game with tokens representing monsters and heroes in a dungeon
171	Chess	2	It's Chess
337	Circus Flohcati	3-5	Good	Light card game
478	Citadels	2-7	Fair	A card game with a large following. Players build districts of a city. Each turn, players secretly choose a different character, each with different capabilities for that one turn
4636	Clans	2-5	Excellent	I greatly enjoy this abstract board game. Players move groups of huts on a board to form villages and score points for all players in the village. The experience is enhanced because no one knows who belongs to any of the other huts until the very end of the game. In other words, the five colors score points throughout the game but you only know YOUR color. Try to deduce which opponent belongs to the other respective colors and then inhibit (screw) their strategy
5782	Coloretto	3-5	Good	A card game where players build community piles of cards. Players must eventually choose piles which may score positive or negative points depending on previous piles chosen. Very satisfying the first few times played. Loses appeal after.
105	Colossal Arena	3-5	Very Good	Players place bets on combatants and then influence those combats using cards. Interesting concept and pretty interactive
112	Condottiere	2-6	Good	Players go to war using numbered cards. The option to pass is always available in the hopes of winning following rounds. Winner gets to place a token the board. First player to get three adjacent tokens, wins. In addition to numbered cards, there are a few others available thereby providing the means to inflict some surprises on the other players
26990	Container	4-5	Excellent	Deep stategy game. Players produce various goods which are then sold to other players. Demand varies based on secret goals of each player.
17204	Control Nut	4	Good	A very interesting trick-taking cardgame with lots of strategy and bidding. Very similar to the game of Spades but with much more depth
8552	Corsari	3-4	Very Good	A very interesting Rummy-like cardgame with lots of hidden strategy
1302	Cosmic Wimpout	2-7	unplayed	A complicated dice game
521	Crokinole	2 or 4	W O W !!!	Over a century old, this game immediately drew us in. I ordered a custom-made board for almost $300 from Canada. See Crokinole.com
17998	Die Dolmengotter	3-5	Excellent	An abstract strategy game.
1	Die Macher	3-5	Unplayed	A long, deep strategy game. Unplayed as of 04/24/07
16991	Deflexion (now called Khet)	2	Very Good	A revolutionary game. It's chess with lasers and mirrors.The only thing that would make this game Excellent would be the addition of sound; maybe a "ding" for a hit and a "dong" for a miss.
24083	Desert Bazaar	3-5	Good	Interesting recent game. As of early March 2007, we've only played once so we need to give it another shot. It's a light strategy game where one places colored tiles for a cost. Some placements can be made for cheaper costs depending on previous placements.
23107	Drakon (3rd ed.)	3-6	Very Good	Dungeon crawling...dizzying movement with random chambers...score gold...fight monsters
2346	DVONN	2	Very Good	An abstract board game, part of the multigame GIPF series. Pieces resembling checkers fill the gameboard and then move according to specified rules. By moving strategically, pieces may become more powerful or become immobile. Player who has the most pieces with no available moves remaining, wins
5781	Edel, Stein, & Reich	3-5	Excellent	A card game extremely similar to the boardgame Basari (see above). This cardgame has some added twists to the boardgame and leads to an exciting game for four.
9674	Einfach Genial aka Ingenious	2-4	Good	A good tile placing game. Players have a rack of tiles from which they choose one to place on the board. The tiles resemble domino-like faces with each of the two ends containing a colored shape. Players place the tiles in such a manner that one shape must connect to another of the same makeup. Points are scored based on the number of tiles connected after each placement. Winner is determined by whomever has the highest of the LOWEST scores in each of the tiles
93	El Grande	2-5	Excellent	A very popular and highly regarded strategy game. Players choose one of five cards each turn to assist in placing their colored cubes on territories. Players score points three times during the 9-turn game. Lots of twists and turns with loads of offensive and defensive opportunities
9911	Falcon's Maze	2	Good	A game from the 1980s involving placing stones on a board. Players control two pawns each, called falcons, to maneuver through the stones and "escape" the maze. Some offense moves and a great deal of luck based on dice rolls
170	Family Business	2-4	Good	Light card game with mobster theme
720	Fast Food Franchise	2-5	Poor	Haven't played this one in many years. Players build food empires based on tokens
32125	Felix: Cat in the Sack	4-5	Very Good	Light card game similar to For Sale and No Thanks.
7538	Fish Eat Fish	2-5	Good	A quick strategy game best with 4-5 players. Players move their five fish around a 5x5 board. They have the option to attempt to "eat" an opponent's fish. To do so, the two opposing players secretly choose numerical cards in their hands to add to their fish ala the classic card game of War. The winner devours the loser and becomes a bigger fish. Once a card is played, it's lost for the remainder of the game. Points are scored for all fish bigger than 5 units. It's a fast and cute game with some strategy
172	For Sale	3-6	Excellent	A two-phase card game. In the first phase, players bid cash chips for homes ranging in value from 1-30. Everyone receives an equal number of homes; higher bidders get higher value homes. In the second phase, checks are put up for auction with the home values representing the currency. A very fun, addictive game due in part to the secrecy in bidding tactics
3085	Gang of Four	3-4	Excellent	An excellent Asian-rooted card game for 3 or 4 players. The game has 64 cards with in three suits (red, yellow, green). Red is highest and green is lowest. Each suit consists of cards numbered from 1-10 so that there are two red '1's, '2's, '3's....'10's, and two yellow '1's, '2's, '3's....'10's, and two green '1's, '2's, '3's....'10's. There are also three additional cards (two phoenix's and one dragon) and one additional multi-colored '1'. The object of each round is to be the first player to discard all cards in your hand. When successful, all remaining players score points. First player to score 100 points loses the game and the player with the lowest score wins. To play, player proceed in order by playing combinations of the cards similar to standard poker (single cards,pairs, triples, straight, flushes, fullhouses, straight flush). The next player has the option of passing or playing a higher-ranked hand equal to the number of cards played by the starter. For example, the starting player may play a red 3 and a green 3. The next player must beat it by playing a red 3 and a yellow 3 (remember that yellow is higher than green, or any higher pair. For example a two green 5's would be higher. Phoenix's are higher than 10's but may not be used in a hand except as a pair (the two phoenix's together) or as a single card (yellow phoenix is higher than the green one). The Dragon is the highest single card and may only be played as a single card. Four of a kind is wild and can be played anytime. There are some additional rules but that's the gist of the game. With three players, a dummy hand is dealt and not used. With four, players do not form teams. I LOVE playing this one. Even better than Gang of Four is Tichu which requires four players as two teams (see below)
19427	Gemblo	2-6	Best!	Similar to Blokus but with significant differences. Gemblo can accommodate upto 6 players. It's more visually appealing than Blokus and the strategy is a bit different. Worthwhile playing a few times. I also have the cards for expansion but haven't played with them yet. Gemblo was released in late 2005.
527	GIPF	2	Very Good	An abstract strategy game, part of the GIPF series of games. Players place checker-like pieces on the board and attempt to capture opponent pieces while playing defensively, too. For two players, only. Fun to play but gets old quickly--just like all the GIPF games
3139	Goldland	2-5	Good	An adventure-like game. Players build the board by "exploring" unknown tiles. By exploring and utilizing various tools chits, players accumulate gold and other treasures. Score the most points from suviving adventures and accumulating gold to win. This game appeals to a small subset of gamers including myself.
116	Guillotine	2-5	Fair	A cute card game with mostly luck and some minute strategy. Kids would love it. Score points by executing Nobles in line to the Guillotine.
25224	Hermagor	3-5	Very Good	A complex strategy game involving tight bidding for tiles which allow a player to sell the goods depicted at cities on the board that accommodate those goods. Some area conrol strategies, too.
2655	Hive	2	Good	A chess-like game where insects are the pieces. Each insect has different abilities around a completely dynamic and borderless board known as the hive. Appeals to a small subset of folks
153	Hornochsen (aka Take 5)	2-6	Excellent	An excellent and quick card game in the same vein as Category 5 and No Merci/Geschenkt
21654	Iliad	2-6	Unplayed	Reviews showed it would be a game I'd like so I purchased. Looking forward to playing. As of 3/3/07
28	Illuminati Deluxe Edition	2-8	Fair	Haven't played in years and no real desire to play now. It's an old game and was good back then but too many better games have developed in the last 10 years to want to return to this one.
115	I'm the Boss (aka Kohle, Kies & Knete)	3-6	Best!	Oh wow! This game is incredible and appeals to everyone that I've ever introduced to it. It's really only worth playing with 5-6 people. Basically, we are all high class investors trying to broker high-value deals. It's fast and furious, and a bit chaotic at times, as players literally include and exclude other players from deals with the use of offensive and defensive cards. Eventually, either the cards run out on each deal and the deal is brokered or those in power are happy with the terms of the deal and are unstoppable by the others, resulting in the deal succeeding. It's also possible that players can screw themselves or the others out of a deal. The game has variable endings, too. Lots of hilarious fun! Highly addictive! One of the best games ever! You've got to play this one to fully appreciate it. And, it can be learned in under 15 minutes.
24181	Imperial	3-6	Very good	Deep strategy game where players vie for sharesin countries. Major stockholder gets to make economic and military decisions for the country but other players still hold stock. Need to play more to get a better understanding
13780	In the Shadow of the Emperor	2-4	unplayed	Very good reviews but I haven't played it, yet.
265	Intrigue	3-5	Interesting	A brutal negotiation game. Lots of hurt feelings can result if played with sensitive people
12002	Jambo	2	Very Good	Very good strategy card game. Players compete against each other by drawing cards; offensive and defensive, to use in conjunction with other cards depicting wares. Wares are bought and sold to earn gold. Reach 60 gold to win. Too bad it's only for two player.
4099	Keythedral	4-5	Played once	Excellent deep strategy game. Vaguely similar to Settlers of Catan but MUCH better. Played only once
7806	King Me!	3-6	Very Good	A very simple game. Something like 15 unique tokens (A thru T?) are placed randomly on the board of five stairs. They ascend the steps to the throne where, one-by-one, they attempt to become King. Each player secretly votes Yay or Nay. To become King requires unanimous Yay votes. A defeated attempt to become King results in the execution of that token in that round. Each player can vote Nay only a limited number of times in each round. The steps have points associated with them. Each player has a secret card with 6 of the tokens on it. Once a King is chosen, resolve points based on where the tokens reside. Start a new round with new cards and new votes. Three rounds ends the game. Simple, cute, and a bit of psychology and luck. Most points, wins
58	Kings & Things	2-4	Very Good /unplayed	Another adventure-like game. I haven't played in 10+ years but remember it fondly. I have two never-played before copies. Unfortunately, the rulebooks and tokens (hundreds of tokens) are in German. English translations are available on BoardgameGeek.com
398	Loco	3-5	Very Good	Light card game
249	Lifeboats	3-6	Good	Reminds me of "Musical Chairs" in a boardgame. Everyone must jump one pawn at the end of a turn from one ship to another. Players vote which ship springs a leak thereby reducing the available seats. Boats are sailing to an island. Be seated in the boat when it reaches the island and score points
3201	Lord of the Rings - The Confrontation	2	Fair	A combination of Chess and Stratego, the game remains true to the movie. I'd rather play other games but it's still pretty good
50	Lost Cities	2	Very Good	Here's a cute, easy game of numbers. Two players only. Decide which pile of numbers to develop by drawing cards. Succeed for points. Failure to develop adequately results in negative points. Choose wisely.
9341	Lost Valley	3-4	Good	Better than Goldland. Tile exploration game. Buy resources to mine goldi. Lots of little tiles
66	Lowenherz	3-4	Very Good	A deep strategy game. Build territories and protect them from opponents.
118	Modern Art	3-5	Best!	Another excellent game! This one has us playing as art collectors. Players put paintings (secret cards in one's hand) up for auction. There are different types of auctions ranging from the classic free-for-all to "once around" to secret bid, etc. Manipulate your auctions and purchases to your advantage while inhibiting other players. Lots of interaction in this game
152	Mu & More		Good
5942	Mystery Rummy: Al Capone	2-4	Very Good	I own three of the four available Mystery Rummy games. Each of the different games has some relation to the classic game of standard Rummy with various twists for the melds. In Al Capone, the cards are of gangsters with some offense cards available. Jack the Ripper has suspects for the serial murderer and has a goal of catching the murderer or having him escape. Jekyll and Hyde has one card for the split personality which adds additional strategy to that game. They're fun games and a great introduction to those who have never played non-mainstream card games.
106	Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper	2-4	Very Good
1265	Mystery Rummy: Jekyll and Hyde	2	Very Good
15363	Nexus Ops	3-4	Excellent	While I currently think this game is excellent, I realize it probably won't be regarded as highly by my usual group. The game involves each player controlling an army of aliens on various land hexes. The six army units have different abilities on different hexes. Income is earned, specila missions are accomplished (satisfying requirements on various cards), and offense/defense cards are played during battles. Conflicts are resolved with dice. A relatively quick game with lots of variety.
12942	No Merci (aka Geschenkt)	4-5	Excellent	Very simple cardgame. Points are bad in this game. Cards are numbered from 3-35. Each turn, one card is flipped over. You have two choices: take the numbered card for that number of points or place one chip on it. If you place a chip on it, the next players can choose to take the card or place another chip. Around and around it goes. Chips are worth -1 points each so they DECREASE bad points for you. Unfortunately, everyone starts with only 11 chips. Out of chips? You must take the card. Play until the deck is exhausted. But, there's another twist. If you take consecutive numbered cards, you receive points only for the lowest in the run. Also, 9 cards are removed randomly before play begins. Lots of strategy here.
9027	Oasis	4-5	Excellent	A deep strategy game. Players cmpete for scoring markers and tiles and camel placement on a grid. Lots of interaction because players are appealing to opponents to accept their "offers" of tiles in return for position
9792	Oriente	4-12	unplayed	A new (May 2005) card game. Rules are somewhat difficult to understand. I'll work on it
2987	Pirate's Cove	3-5	Very Good	An interesting and highly interactive strategy game. Players take on the role of pirates and visit various islands. Fight others players as well as legendary pirates (cards), earn gold, ship enhancements, weapons, etc. Fighting involves dice
140	Pit	4-8	Good/Loud	The very old (early 1900's) game of cornering one commodity market before your opponents. Highly interactive and loud.
17025	Poison	3-5	Very Good	Light Reiner Knizia game. Good for kids, too.
19764	PUNCT	2	undecided	The final Gipf game of the series. Played only once so far so it's still kinda mysterious to me.
15290	R-Eco	3-5	Very Good	Good card game
12	Ra	4-5	Excellent	Another deep strategy game where players bid on tiles. Each player gets 3 bidding numbers to use. Winning an auction means losing the winning tile and gaining another; for better or worse. This game was extreme popular and went out of print for awhile before returning. While OOP, it fetched ~$90 on eBay
28143	Race for the Galaxy	3-4	unplayed	Highly-rated strategy card game
568	Rage	2-10	Poor	A card game of taking tricks. As far as I can see, there's no strategy whatsoever and it's pretty boring. I still cannot figure out why Funagain.com consistently has this as a topseller. No redeeming value in my opinion
12962	Reef Encounter	3-4	Excellent	Deep strategy game involving shrimp and coral. Place coral tiles while considering dominance and recessiveness among the various different coral types
875	Roads and Boats	3-5	unplayed	(second edition) Deep strategy game and approx 4-6 hours to play
6411	Rumis	2-4	Excellent	An interesting game from the makers of Blokus (see above). Rumis has 11 Tetris-like shapes in three dimensions. Players build their pieces on one of four boards (for variety) and
21523	Runebound-2nd ed.	2-6	Fair-Good	An extremly long game (on the order of 6 hours) where players are fighting various monsters which increase in difficulty as the game progresses. Lots of dice rolling. Almost like Dungeons and Dragos for the 21 Century. Only played once so I would like to try again. Lots and lots of expansions which I dont own
9220	Saboteur	3-10	Very Good	Light, interesting card game where players are split into two teams: one trying to find gold and the other trying to prevent it. Players need to deduce who is on which team. Teams change randomly for the three rounds of a game. Best with more players.
3	Samurai	3-4	Excellent	Another strategy games where players place power hexes to surround three different types of firgurines allowing capture. When all figurines are captured, a winner is determined by whoever has the most of 2 or 3 of the types. Much more strategy than I'm describing here.
1041	San Marco	3-4	Good	Another great game similar to El Grande (see above) but with some very different mechanics. I've only played once or twice but would love to play more often
320	Scrabble	2-4	It's Scrabble!
1198	Set	2-10	Good	A card game where players are looking for "sets" of like cards or sets of completely different cards.
20551	Shogun	3-5	unplayed	Deep Startegy game.
594	Sleuth	3-7	Best!	I LOVE this game! It's a brilliant game of deduction. There's a set of 36 unique cards. Each card has three characteristics: type of gem (diamond, pearl, opal), color (red, green, blue, yellow) and number of gems (one, two, or three). Hence the number 36 (3x4x3=36). Players split the deck evenly and secretly but one card is secretly placed facedown in the middle of the table. Players must deduce what that card is based on what cards they have in their hands and learning info through asking question of other players. The questions are in the form of cards which are dealt to each player faceup. On their turn, players may choose which of four faceup cards to play thereby asking a question of any opponent. Depending on the questions asked, the answer is either verbal to all players or verbal to all players with some additional info given solely to the asker. Players have one, and only one, guess as to the missing gemcard (center of the table) and can choose when to guess without time restriction. As I said, I LOVE this game but it requires a lot of thinking and good note-taking. Very little interaction here since everyone is absorbed with their notes.
14935	Slow Freight	2-4	unplayed
9615	Station Master	2-6	Very Good	A very strategic game with some psychology built in. Players secretly place passengers in the form of chips on train engine cards. These engine cards can be positive or negative scoring, and can accommodate varying numbers of passengers and cars. When the engine is filled with maximum number of cars (cards), it leaves the station and points are scored based on various criteria. Lots of strategy and offense/defense maneuvers.
534	Sticheln	4-8	Excellent	A very challenging trick-taking card game.
108	Tamsk	2	Very Good	Another in the GIPF series.
20022	Terra Nova	2-4	Excellent	A new (late 2006) area control strategy game. Fencing off areas to score points and/or prevent opponents from scoring.
503	Through the Desert	4-5	Excellent	A very strategic game where players place camels in 5 different shared colors in hexes throughout the board. With several different ways to earn points, players need to watch their opponents' moves while placing their camels in strategic locations.
215	Tichu	3-6	Best! My favorite game of all!	I play this one card game more frequently than all other games. A phenomenal Asian-rooted cardgame. Very similar to Gang of Four (see above) but with some major differences. It's played with a deck of 52 cards in four suits (similar to standard deck of cards but they use colors instead of hearts, diamonds, etc. They add four cards, just like Gang of Four. Here are some differences: Tichu plays with two teams of two. Flushes aren't allowed. Points are scored for cards captured and not for having cards remaining in your hand. One may call Tichu before playing first card. Calling Tichu means you are betting 100 points that you will be the first to be out of cards. One may call Grand Tichu before looking at the last 5 cards. This bets 200 points. Tichu has a card called "Dog" which, when played, passes control to your partner. In Tichu, one may play any number of cards greater than four as a Straight. In Tichu, one may play consecutive pairs. There are various other differences but this game is truly wonderful and exciting. There are several different versions of the rules floating around the Internet. They all say the same thing a bit differently. Here's one: http://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Games/Tichu/
9209	Ticket to Ride (with and without Mystery Train exp.)	2-5	Fair	This game is extremely popular and well-liked by most gamers. It's gotten rave reviews from everyone including those people who are new to gaming. Unfortunately, it just doesn't excite me like as it does for everyone else. Players draw cards as "Tickets" and then draw cards to place plastic trains on routes on the board depicting the entire US. Tickets may become obsolete if your path is taken by an opponent for a different ticket. In this case, you lose points. Complete routes of varying lengths for points; the longer the route, the more points earned. Yay! Several sequels have spawned. I wish I liked these games more than I do since everyone looks at me funny when I mention my dislike of them
42	Tigris & Euphrates	2-4	Best!	The number two best-voted strategy game. Players place tiles and construct castles on a board. As conflicts arise, players play tiles to assist in their previously placed tiles to determine strength in the conflict. A territory-acquisition game with lots of strategic offense and defense
54	Tikal	3-4	Excellent	A very fun game of tile exploration.Explore the jungle by turning over tiles, revealing temples or treasures, volcanoes (three of these and they trigger scoring), or empty space on which to build a camp; thereby lessening the cost to further explore nearby tiles. Lots of strategy and interaction
88	Torres	3-4	Very Good	A deep strategy game where players compete by building and scoring castles. With 5 "action moves" per turn, players can choose to build/develop castles, place knights, move knights, choose or play helpful cards, or take victory points. There's even a King in the mix for bonus points. An excellent, tense game which won high awards in 2000.
15261	Trump Tricks Game	3-4	Very Good	Another card trick-taking game. Not as good as Tichu but definitely some interesting mechanics
94	Union Pacific	4-6	Excellent	Great game! It's a bit similar to Acquire but with more depth. Players build and expand about 10 different railoads on different types of track. On our turns, we must decide to expand OR invest. To expand, you must have the proper track card and the railroad must be able to expand into that type of track. There are four semi-random scoring periods; similar to Tikal
25420	Ur	3-4	Very Good	Deep strategy game that doesn't take very long to play
10523	Victory & Honor	4	Very Good	A very light and decent card game. Players place cards on their respective individual boards to take tricks. Some cards score points. Played as two teams of two.
5393	Wheedle	4-6	Very Good	Very similar to Pit with a bit of a twist since there's a tradeable card in the center. Some additional scoring mechanics absent in Pit
11104	Who's The Ass?	3-12	Very Good	A very light card game which reminds me of a cross between "Old Maid" and "The Great Dalmuti". Players try to rid themselves of cards. Anyone remaining after the first out scores (bad) points for remaining cards. The Ass card scores lots of points.
3236	Wildlife	4-6	Excellent	A very strategic tile placement game complete with currency, multiple offense and defense cards, conflicts, tiht scoring between players, etc. I greatly enjoy playing this one but it requires about 2 hours to play after a 30 minute explanation
1382	Winner's Circle	4-6	Very Good	A reprint of Royal Turf. A nice game where players place secret bets on horses and then each player moves horses around the track within various constraints.
2652	Wise and Otherwise	4-7	Very Good	Another party game. Similar to Balderdash (see above) but with phrases rather than words. requires a great deal of creativity on the part of players
878	Wyatt Earp	2-4	Very Good	Very similar to the Mystery Rummy series. Some luck involved in terms of drawing cards but overall, a fun and easy game to learn and play. Players play Rummy with Wild West characters. Play melds to build, and take bounties
7854	YINSH	2	Very Good	Part of the GIPF Series of games. Abstract strategy. Placement of two-sided color checker-like tokens and rings. Place it strategically to capture opponent pieces and flip (reverse) certain other already placed pieces
528	ZERTZ	2	Good	Part of the GIPF series. Players place and capture marbles on a dynamic board of rings

Online Gameshops

Link Name of Game Shop Comments

www.boardgamegeek.com BoardGame Geek This is THE definitive website for boardgamers throughout the world. There is a wealth of info here for just about every game known to the human race. While it can be overwhelming at first, spending some time browsing the site will yield tremendous amounts of knowledge as it relates to gaming. BGG does not sell games

www.fairplaygames.com Fairplay Games An online game shop located in Columbiaville, MI

www.funagain.com Funagain Games An online game shop located in Ashland, OR

www.timewellspent.org Time Well Spent An online game shop located in Broomfield, CO

www.thoughthammer.com Thought Hammer An online game shop located in Austin, TX. They offer a flat rate shipping fee

www.gamesurplus.com Game Surplus An online game shop located in Pennsylvania

www.bouldergames.com Boulder Games An online game shop located in Lizella, GA

www.boardsandbits.com Boards and Bits An online game shop located in WA. Flat $10 shipping

www.charisgames.com Charis Games An online game shop located in Carmel, IN

Link	Name of Game Shop	Comments
www.boardgamegeek.com	BoardGame Geek	This is THE definitive website for boardgamers throughout the world. There is a wealth of info here for just about every game known to the human race. While it can be overwhelming at first, spending some time browsing the site will yield tremendous amounts of knowledge as it relates to gaming. BGG does not sell games
www.fairplaygames.com	Fairplay Games	An online game shop located in Columbiaville, MI
www.funagain.com	Funagain Games	An online game shop located in Ashland, OR
www.timewellspent.org	Time Well Spent	An online game shop located in Broomfield, CO
www.thoughthammer.com	Thought Hammer	An online game shop located in Austin, TX. They offer a flat rate shipping fee
www.gamesurplus.com	Game Surplus	An online game shop located in Pennsylvania
www.bouldergames.com	Boulder Games	An online game shop located in Lizella, GA
www.boardsandbits.com	Boards and Bits	An online game shop located in WA. Flat $10 shipping
www.charisgames.com	Charis Games	An online game shop located in Carmel, IN

Selected Game Distributors and Publishers

Link Game Publisher Comments

www.face2facegames.com Face to Face Games Several excellent games like Sleuth and I'm the Boss

www.fantasyflightgames.com Fantasy Flight Games Until recently, FFG did mostly Dungeons and Dragons-type games. But, that's changed with games like Ingenious (see above) and Through the Desert (which I don't own but have played.

www.mayfairgames.com Mayfair Games Mayfair started the US games craze with Settlers of Catan in the early 1990's. They also publish or distribute many other games like Tigris & Euphrates, Station Master, Bang, and Modern Art. Also see Italy's Davinci Games for whom Mayfair is the US Distributor.

www.davincigames.com/index_eng.cfm Davinci Games Game publisher in Italy for games like Bang, Oriente, etc. Mayfair Games is their US Distributor

www.daysofwonder.com Days of Wonder Just a few games but very highly regarded. Days of Wonder publishes Ticket to Ride, Gang of Four, and Shadows Over Camelot (a highly regarded game that I've not played yet)

www.educationalinsights.com Educational Insights Publishers of Blokus and Rumis

www.otb-games.com Out of the Box Publishing Publishers of Apples to Apples, Basari, Fish Eat Fish, and others

www.riograndegames.com Rio Grande Games Lots and lots of excellent games like El Grande, GIPF series, Carolus Magnus, Carcassonne series, and Clans

www.uberplay.com Uberplay Games Many games like Wildlife, For Sale, Bridges of Shangri-La, Alhambra, and Oasis

www.usgamesinc.com US Games The Mystery Rummy series

Games "Everyone loves" .....except me

3076 Puerto Rico

2651 Power Grid

9209 Ticket To Ride

15062 Shadows over Camelot

18602 Caylus

Games I'm planning to buy soon (in no particular order)

BGG None right now

Miscellaneous Gaming links

Link Comments

Bay Area Gamesday Information about Bay Area Gamesday; a bimonthly casual gathering of Gamers in the San Francisco Bay Area

Comprehensive gaming link This guy put together an extremely comprehensive list of gaming links

Eric Martin's Board Game News A wealth of info about recently published, and to-be published, games. Also, lots of blogs and more

Spiel By Web Play boardgames online

Mabiweb Play boardgames online

Link	Game Publisher	Comments
www.face2facegames.com	Face to Face Games	Several excellent games like Sleuth and I'm the Boss
www.fantasyflightgames.com	Fantasy Flight Games	Until recently, FFG did mostly Dungeons and Dragons-type games. But, that's changed with games like Ingenious (see above) and Through the Desert (which I don't own but have played.
www.mayfairgames.com	Mayfair Games	Mayfair started the US games craze with Settlers of Catan in the early 1990's. They also publish or distribute many other games like Tigris & Euphrates, Station Master, Bang, and Modern Art. Also see Italy's Davinci Games for whom Mayfair is the US Distributor.
www.davincigames.com/index_eng.cfm	Davinci Games	Game publisher in Italy for games like Bang, Oriente, etc. Mayfair Games is their US Distributor
www.daysofwonder.com	Days of Wonder	Just a few games but very highly regarded. Days of Wonder publishes Ticket to Ride, Gang of Four, and Shadows Over Camelot (a highly regarded game that I've not played yet)
www.educationalinsights.com	Educational Insights	Publishers of Blokus and Rumis
www.otb-games.com	Out of the Box Publishing	Publishers of Apples to Apples, Basari, Fish Eat Fish, and others
www.riograndegames.com	Rio Grande Games	Lots and lots of excellent games like El Grande, GIPF series, Carolus Magnus, Carcassonne series, and Clans
www.uberplay.com	Uberplay Games	Many games like Wildlife, For Sale, Bridges of Shangri-La, Alhambra, and Oasis
www.usgamesinc.com	US Games	The Mystery Rummy series

3076	Puerto Rico
2651	Power Grid
9209	Ticket To Ride
15062	Shadows over Camelot
18602	Caylus

Link	Comments
Bay Area Gamesday	Information about Bay Area Gamesday; a bimonthly casual gathering of Gamers in the San Francisco Bay Area
Comprehensive gaming link	This guy put together an extremely comprehensive list of gaming links
Eric Martin's Board Game News	A wealth of info about recently published, and to-be published, games. Also, lots of blogs and more
Spiel By Web	Play boardgames online
Mabiweb	Play boardgames online