Category: Games

Apples to Apples [Game Review]

Posted by Nathan – December 29, 2009

Apples to Apples is a conundrum for me. I should like this game. The game is simple and works like this:

Everyone has 6 or so cards, each with a noun on it. The nouns are like “Michael Jackson” or “socks” or Ethiopia.

The active player randomly flips over an adjective card from the adjective card deck. It has a single adjective on it. All the other players play a single noun card (face down) from their hand. They play one that they feel the active player will most likely select as relating to the adjective. The player whose adjective card is selected by the active player gets a point. Five points wins.

Let’s say the active player flips the adjective card: “smooth”. The other players play “Snake”, “Vodka”, “The little mermaid”, and “Silk”. Now the active player has to choose which one best fits “smooth.” Let’s say “Vodka” is chosen. The player who set down “Vodka” gets a point.

There are lots of positives. The rules are so simple that anyone can play. It takes seconds to learn. People can start and stop the game without interrupting play. It’s relaxed and lighthearted.

Games tend to last somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes. All the games I’ve played tend to have 3 phases of about equal lengths:

Phase 1: Everyone’s excited to play and folks match up nouns and adjectives. There’s some experimentation and discussion about choosing things.

Phase 2: Folks run out of their obvious cards and begin playing randomly. Most of their hand of cards is made up of nouns they don’t really want to use. Active players get sick of being thought “obvious” and begin basing their choices on things other than matching to the adjective. In attempts to be less predictable, players sometimes even choose antonyms matching “Sour” with “Sugar” or something like that.

Phase 3: Players are now all aware that entropy has invaded the game. Someone usually comments but it’s too late and the game begins to wind down.

This game has two problems.

Firstly, I like games where the more you play, the more enjoyable the game becomes. Generally games of skill are like this but lots of games of luck are also fun for long periods of time. Apples to Apples, however, has diminishing returns: the longer you play the less enjoyable the game, not because you’ve solved it like you’d solve tic-tac-toe, but rather because the wheels come off the game and people start behaving more and more randomly.

This is a perfect game for people who do not enjoy most games. If it were a food, it would be junk food. It doesn’t fill you up, but eventually you just want to stop eating.

Apples to Apples | Image | BoardGameGeek


Couch of Power

Posted by Nathan – January 23, 2008

One issue I’ve been grappling with is what to play when you have more than 8 people. The most obvious game is Mafia/Werewolf. While I have nothing against Werewolf, like all fantastic games it has an addictive quality that can be unhealthy for a regular game night. So I went looking for an alternative. What I needed was a game where there was communication, strategy, lasted for a bit less than an hour and was playable with more than 8 people but with few materials. Couch of power was that game.

We tried it out last night and it worked pretty well. The rules we used were from Wikipedia and are as follows:

Everyone writes their name on a slip of paper and puts it in the pile, which is then shuffled. Each player takes a slip and does not reveal the name on it to anyone else.

Divide the players into two teams. The game works best if the teams are even. To avoid later confusion, instruct one team to distinguish themselves from the other team by wearing headbands, rolling up their pants legs or shirt sleeves, etc. — boys vs. girls may work.

Teams then alternate seats (i.e., no two team members are sitting next to each other) so that two people from each team are on the couch and there is one empty seat. Play begins with the player left (or clockwise) of the empty seat.

The player calls a name, and whoever has that name on their slip must move to the empty seat, making their former seat the new empty seat. Play always passes to the player to the left of the empty seat. When all four people on the couch are from the same team, the game is over and that team wins.

The game works on several levels. One is that you have to remember everone’s name and then also who HAS that name. Then you also have to play the game with a bit of strategy. I like the team dynamic that it has and it’s a great alternative to Hombre Lobo (Mafia) if you have an even number of players.

So Long Sucker!

Posted by Nathan – January 17, 2008

It’s my birthday and as a present to myself I’m beginning this blog about games. I want to start out with a really great game that I recently learned: So Long Sucker! (SLS)

SLS is for those who love Diplomacy but are never going to get 7 players together. Who love Risk or TEG but feel like it takes too long. It’s a pure negotiation game that strips everything down to the bare basics. Essentially players take turns deciding who will win the game. Each player has 7 poker chips. No luck, pure politics. If it sounds boring it’s not.

The first time I played this was on a double date (something I won’t make the mistake of repeating) and things very nearly went badly. As it was I died easily and early. This wasn’t just because I executed my girlfriend’s pieces in vengeance for an unfavorable move she had just made, I am simply not very good at negotiation games. I seem to become a lightning rod of controversy, something that will almost never help you in politics.

This game is perfect for a group of guys who want to play an hour long game at a bar. The game requires concentration. While it’s labeled as a strict 4 player game I’ve also played with 5 and it worked out just fine. Also if there’s more people partnering up just adds more personalities to the mix without unbalancing the game. While it does involve short term tactics the game is incredibly easy to learn and play. The only issue is that you may learn how nasty your friends can actually be…

So Long Sucker BGG Entry
Download So Long Sucker Rules from BGG