Online Board Game Funtimes
 

One of the best things about GFF Meet is all the board gaming that happens. There are a lot of board game enthusiasts here, and I've recently found a couple of free websites that let you play dozens of licensed board games online, either in real-time or asynchronously.

If there's enough interest, we could pick a time every week to get on Skype and get our cardboard on, or if it's easier, we could just play in turns when it's convenient. I'm not going to list every game available, but here are some highlights:

Board Game Arena - Flashier site with a more contemporary list of 60 games

• Seasons
• Race for the Galaxy
• Takenoko (the one with the panda that we played at Meet this year)
• Tzolk'in
• Tokaido
• Hive
• Puerto Rico

Yucata - Not as slick, with more focus on asynchronous play, but a list of 100 more Euro-ish titles

• A Few Acres of Snow
• The Castles of Burgundy
• Russian Railroads
• Thunderstone
• Firenze

There are a lot of games I'm unfamiliar with, but I'm up for learning new games if other folks are. Who's interested?

I've never heard of any of those games but I'm always up for some asynchronous board gaming.

Also Space Hulk is really cheap on Steam (And has just been re-released in limited numbers as a board game, merely three times as expensive as when I first bought it 24 years ago).

I look forward to beating you at Takenoko even more often.

I'm a boring guy, the only ones I was interested in were Yahtzee, Hearts, and Reversi. I was hoping to see some Monopoly or Trouble.

Not everything on there is complicated strategery (though I love those). Like I said, I'm not familiar with many of the games, but Takenoko and Tokaido at least are very simple.

Takenoko involves building a bamboo garden, then moving gardener and panda tokens around to grow/eat the bamboo. You have cards in your hand with objectives like "eat 3 pink bamboo" or "grow 4 green bamboo on a tile" or "Lay tiles in the garden that match this pattern". That's a bit of an oversimplification, but folks at the Meet picked up on it quick.

Tokaido is supposed to re-enact a trip across Japan. The board is a long straight line, and whoever is last in line moves. Each spot on the line does something (buy souvenirs, get gold, visit hot springs, collect pieces to 1 of 3 panoramas, get some sort of lucky charm, donate to the temple). In the base game, that's it. You move along the line, figuring out what tactic you want to use to get points, and maybe land on a space to block someone else from getting it (you can't move backwards either). It's a dead simple game. The expansion adds in choices at each stop (you can choose from 1 of 2 things to do instead of only one), but for beginners I'd start with the base game.

Since we're all in different time zones, it's probably easiest to play asynchronously. On Boardgame Arena, the table creator can set it so there's no time limit, and also restrict it to friends only and/or save spots for users. I'm nuttyturnip (of course), so I could set up some tables if we're interested.

I created an account on Board games arena, user name Ed Can Do.

I just noticed that Board Game Arena doesn't have Ludo. Worst site ever.

I signed up, as well, under the username ReadThese.

I'm in as MennoKnight. Played a game of Takenoko, figured it out pretty quickly. Almost won, too.

I've added Shin, Capo and Menno to my friends list, and will add anyone else who posts here. I opened up a Takenoko and Tokaido table, restricted to friends only. Not sure if my friends list can see it, or if I have to invite people. Just let me know if I need to invite you, and if folks want to create other games, that's cool too.

You've set up Takenoko to be an invite only game, so i can't get in there. Tokaido is just your friends, and that worked fine.

Apparently if you uncheck all the skill level boxes, it becomes invite only. It's fixed now.

Joined both games. Are we going to wait for a full slate before beginning?

I joined the Takenoko game so it's full and started now. I also read the rules...

I played a live game of Takenoko, got beat but now have a feel for the game. Also played Yahtzee and won!

I went ahead and pressed start on the Tokaido game, since 3 players is fine. Hawkeye and I played live games of Takenoko and Tokaido last night, and both times we lost to randoms at the last minute. Sigh.

I am signed up as shadebox. Add me, fools.

I have already made two horrible mistakes in Takenoko. This does not bode well.

Haha, I did wonder where you were going with that panda.

He's just trying to throw us off his strat. The Panda stood perfectly still for hours, only to distract us in a fit of seemingly random, ineffectual movement. I see your game.

Registered as TeamParty.

I thought I was doing pretty good in Takenoko, until I saw that Hawkeye and Capo are doing much better in the goals dept. :(

I went ahead and created a Stone Age table, open to the GFF group.

Yeah, I thought I had way more time left to catch up. :(

i was doing alright, but the last few cards i picked up were just never going to happen.

I started up a new game of both Takenoko and Tokaido, if you guys are up for another round.

I would like to play board games. My board games name is Pangalin on the board games website. Board games. Please add me to the board games group for board games so I can play board games.

Capo is proving to be a formidable opponent. I joined Tokaido, but I'll let someone else have a crack at Takenoko unless you need players.

I also created a table for Caylus, a game Mo0 and I had a chance to play this weekend. It's definitely complicated, but there's a high potential for trolling. In short, it's a worker placement game where you're putting buildings along a road from the castle, while also contributing materials to said castle. Each building lets you gather materials or build new buildings, but the kicker is, except for the basic start buildings, each building belongs to the player that built it. This means if I own the building that lets you build houses, you have to pay me a point to use it. There's also a white marker on the road called the Provost; any buildings past the Provost on the road cannot be activated. He steadily moves forward, but players can pay to move him forward or backwards 3 spaces, meaning you could put a worker on a building (and pay points to another player to do so), only to have another player pay to move the Provost back and cause you to get nothing. There's a lot more to the game than that, and folks should read the rules, but if you like Stone Age, you'll like Caylus.

I'll have to go over the rules but I'm always up for a new worker placement game.

As for the tables I've opened: We still have two spots open on both games. All those people who signed up and then never played a game should feel free to grab a spot. If the spot's not filled by tomorrow morning or so or whenever I get around to it, though, I'll just start 'em up.

I'll join the Takenoko game, I need to hone my techniques! I nearly won a game earlier in live play but made a dumb move right at the end and blew it. :(

Pang or Shin: Join Tokaido. It is a game about walking from Edo to Kyoto. Each spot on the board has either a piece of a panorama, or a bath house (netting you victory points), or a random encounter, or a market where you can buy one of four categories of trinkets, each category owned netting you further points. Then there are inns you stop at along the way where you can buy a meal from a pool of dishes of varying price on a first come, first serve basis. The person furthest back on the board moves wherever they like forward. And that's basically it. There are some "achievements" tallied at the end which give you victory points. You can read about those in the rules below the game. Simple game, but a fun one.

e: Since people new to the game are playing I decided to turn off all the expansions. To do this I had to "expel" everyone who had already joined. Whoops.

It's a game where you can literally have Bath House Pang House.

Pang is attempting to make his turns last as long as an actual trip across Japan.

You've got to admire a man's dedication to the role play.

I opened a new table for Caylus. Nutty and I played a game earlier and I really enjoyed it. Hoping to see how it plays with (at least) three players this time.

I'm getting creamed in 3 player Caylus because I didn't take the Stables into account. In 2 player, turn order rotates each round, but with more than 2 you have to waste a worker to change. Definitely a lot more competition to build stuff.

Since we're playing turn-based, smaller games seem to work better. I've created tables for Kahuna and Targi (both 2 player, pretty easy to learn) and Yahtzee, because why not.

That's exactly why I want to try it with three. I'll join Targi. And Yahtzee.

I joined the Yahtzee game, hoping to extend my one from one streak in the game which given that I'd not played it for years and couldn't quite remember the rules was quite an achievement.

You'll need to rejoin the Yahtzee game. I think the site deleted it because I waited too long to start it.

Man, almost every turn in Tokaido I have to look at the rules again to remember what each stop does.

I was going to try Tokaido but I tried reading the rules while a bit stoned and it scared me a little.

Ultimately I'm not sure it's a game where knowing what you're doing would actually help.

It seems like there are some subtle avenues through which strategy can enter the game here and there, but not enough to make an enormous impact. It's like Snakes and Ladders but with no snakes and no ladders and everyone takes turns rolling 1 over and over.

That is the only way I play: stoned and a little bit scared.

also in re: complexity: This is why I initially wanted to play with all the additional rules. Makes it more of a game than a wait-in-line simulator. Ah well.

Oh hey, I finally got around to creating an account on Board Game Arena as Manablade. Hopefully I'm not too late for panda fun times.

It's all good, maybe by then I'll be able to remember what everything does.

I just notice the extra category of "Rigole" at the bottom of Yahtzee. What is that and how do you score it?

Also, since this seems to be the only unstickied thread in this forum, I'm going to fix that.

if you hover over it, it should tell you - i think it's an almost yahtzee, 4 of a kind, and then the last one has to be the number on the opposite side or something?

Yeah, I can't hover over on an iPad. Sounds like they're just making up categories.

A rigole is a four-of-a-kind with the last die being the one opposite the other four. More simply put, this means the last die must be the one that, when added to the value of the four-of-a-kind, makes seven. For example: 1-1-1-1-6 or 5-5-5-5-2.

e: Blame the French.

Woohoo! First panda victory!