The games we play

At Christmastime at least.  We're a board game family.  From RISK to Catan to Monopoly, you name it - we like to play games as a family.  Following the ancient proverb that the family that plays together, stays together, we've logged in quite a few hours playing games over the years.  We like other things, but in recent years, finances have limited our travels and our excursions that come at a price.  This has made our stash of board games all the more valuable.

Each year, we seem to get at least a few games.  We have about three shelves filled with games in the basement, not counting Flames of War (my currently defunct hobby owing, once again, to our finances).  This year added a few more games to the mix, a few surprises and at least one stinker.  In the grand tradition of posts that mean nothing to anyone except me, the following are quick takes on the games we've had a chance to play.

Mansions of Madness
A game based on Lovecraft's bizarre horror fiction, this bad boy was actually from last year.  But things were a bit crazy then.  Not that they aren't now, we're simply more resigned to the fact that things are going to change, or we'll be homeless.  Last year, it was all just hitting us as jobs were being lost on the eve of the Christmas holidays.  So even though this was something we were looking for, we just never got around to playing it.  I've gone over the instructions, the boys are anxious, my wife is ready, so we'll know soon...

Dungeon!
Apparently this gift, playing on my boys' love for all things fantasy and in keeping with this year's The Hobbit environment,  was actually a remake of a game from decades ago.  It was originally published in the 1970s by  the company TSR, that produced the infamous Dungeons and Dragons roll playing game.  This was an intro to that game I guess, and was meant to expose people to the gist of the roll playing version.  All I can say is, I first thought 'oh well' when I saw it, but must admit, it's one of the funnest new games I've played in years.

Telestrations

Another game I hadn't heard of, but was pleasantly surprised after playing.  At first I thought 'Pictionary' knock off, but found out it was a little different.  It's sort of Pictionary mixed with the old game of 'telephone', where one person whispers a secret, and it is passed around a circle of people until in the end, you see how far the secret got from the original.  Here, someone pulls a card, and then has to draw what the card says.  Then the next person writes what he or she thinks it is, and tries to draw it again, and so on.  Believe me, how The Godfather ended up being a moonwalk is something only this game can explain.  Even my Mom got into it and laughed till her sides ached.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Based exclusively on the Peter Jackson film, this board game sought to capture the scope and atmosphere of the movie's adaptation.  It failed miserably.  The real stinker of the year, this game left us, after almost two hours of playing, absolutely flummoxed.  The basic game, getting all 13 dwarves to the eagles' eyrie, was itself all but impossible even if it could be figured out.  But beyond that, the instructions were virtually non-existent, and what they said seldom matched the game-play   Elements were left unexplained, game components ended in dead ends, or contradicted each other.  All around, an almost embarrassing failure that was obviously a half-baked afterthought rushed through production in order to capitalize on the movie.  Like my oldest boy said, who alone has seen the film - it's about like the movie, overdone and under-planned.

So there you have it.  We received a few others, or at least the boys received a few.  We may play them, based on what they want to do.  There are other games as well, some we've had years and haven't played for a long time, and one we haven't played at all that we might have a chance to try.  We'll see.  But these are the ones so far, for all the billions in the world who were itching to find out our latest snowbound forms of entertainment.