The Appeal of Board Games

Not too long ago, I published an article in which I referenced an ex-girlfriend who once told me that I think too much. Specifically, it was in the context of a comparison of casinos to board game cafes, and the differences between board games and gambling. I was reminded of this by two events that recently happened: I attended a friend's party, and a different friend sent me a link to an article about how board games can reduce cognitive decline in old age.

The article does not mention the reason why board games are so beneficial to mental fortitude; it quotes the author of a scientific study as saying 'it is not just general intellectual and social activity, it seems; it is something in this group of games that has this small but detectable association with better cognitive ageing.' Which implies that they don't claim to know why board games improve cognitive function in the elderly.

Sure, I'm no scientist, but I have a pretty good idea what it is about board games that make them so beneficial. Two factors: social interaction and mental engagement.

Board Game Review: Cheer Up!

I'm going to lay all my cards on the table, just as soon as you forgive me for that terrible pun. I only sort of like Cards Against Humanity. Sure, when I first played it, I thought it was delightfully funny in a darkly immature way. But after a while, I got tired of it. Mostly because it was the only game that many of my friends wanted to play. Yeah, it's offensive in that way that non-uptight adults living in an incredibly uptight culture appreciate it. But CAH ultimately is just offensive jokes for offensive jokes' sake. There's no creativity, no strategy, no skills. In the end, it all boils down to 'which player happened to receive the card that the judge finds most humorous this turn?'

But, as I said, it's the only game that many of my friends like to play. There's a certain group of people that I like, but I can't spend much time around them because the only thing they ever do for fun is get drunk and play games, usually CAH, or if not, then one of the JackBox games.

So when I saw Cheer Up! by Chris Rio and published by Cheer Up Games, I wondered if maybe I had found a game that would appeal to those who rely on CAH for their 'gaming' needs but still provide me a little more engagement than the normal CAH-style party game so that I don't feel resigned to my fate when everyone else wants to play it.

So let's look at those numbers:

Board Game Week at Geeks Are Sexy

The fine folks over at Geeks Are Sexy decided to spend a week looking at board games. If you don't regularly follow that site, first off, why the heck not? And secondly, here's a list of the five articles they posted as part of that theme:

• Day 1: Why You Should Join a Game Group
• Day 2: Understanding Hobby Game Terms
• Day 3: How to Teach Games
• Day 4: 3 Picks to Start Your Game Night
• Day 5: 3 Must-Have Expansions

I thought that these articles were fairly well written, for the most part. I especially liked days 1 through 3.

I kind of disagreed with Day 4, though. Perhaps it's just my personal preferences, but I wasn't impressed with their picks. The first suggestion, Pick-omino, I had never heard of. But even after watching a video tutorial, I'm still not super impressed. The second one, Zombie Dice, runs into my dislike of zombie themes. I've played it once, and wasn't too keen on it anyway. Their final suggestion is Fluxx (or some variant thereof). I've played a few different iterations of this game, and they are all basically the same. And my problem with them is the same as well: they have very little player agency. Sure, players get to decide which card they want to play on their turn, but the winner is basically chosen at random by whoever happens to draw the needed cards when the correct Goal card is in play.

'Pick the Right Answer' games

I was thinking about Dixit the other night, as a result of playing the game Mysterium. The latter was described to me as a combination of the former with Cluedo (or Clue for my American readers). This reminded me of one of my favourite board games: Balderdash. For those that don't know how it works, Balderdash has a set of cards, each of which contains five words that can be found in at least one English dictionary, but are not commonly known. This includes words like 'quincunx' and 'coprolite.' Players take turns as the 'dasher,' who reads off one of the words on the card. Everyone (including the dasher) writes the word on a slip of paper. The dasher writes the real definition of the word on his paper (the real definitions being provided on the back of the card), and everyone else makes up a definition for this word. The dasher shuffles all these papers together and reads out all the definitions. Everyone else then takes turns voting for the definition that they think is the right one. You get points for guessing the correct answer, and also for each person that voted for your own answer.

Dixit is essentially the same, but instead of making up definitions for words, you're coming up with simple (one to four word) descriptions of paintings. The cards are lavishly illustrated with elaborate artwork, often somewhat surreal in nature. Players take turns as the 'storyteller,' who chooses a card and gives a short description (something like 'Memory' or 'Loneliness' or 'Lost in the storm'). The other players then choose a card from their hands that they think can also be described by that word or phrase. All these cards are shuffled together, and players must choose which one they think is the storyteller's.