Do you play board and card games?

[eMTe]

Or did you play as a kid? I mean true board/card games, with real people, and I dont mean rpgs. Old-fashioned games like Checkers or Rummy or anything. My friend just posted a pic of Mensch ärgere dich nicht (I wonder why there's not an English name for it, in Poland it was also known as Don't get angry, but it was commonly produced as The Chinaman, apparently becuase of oriental origins of this game (see: Pachisi) via Facebook, surely from a family meeting, and I just realized that the last time Ive played a board game (Chess) was some years ago with my friend at work.

I used to play a lot when I was a kid, because my father was a devoted fan of various games, charades, crosswords and almost forced me to learn them (oh, but I loved them anyway). That way Ive learned to play not only Chess and Checkers, but also, thanks to a special thick book, less known games like Backgammon, Ultima (I had to create pawns myself, fortunately the board is the chessboard), Halma, Mills, Fox and Geese, Fanorona and many more. As for card games I loved especially Sixty-Six (the variant called simply The Thousand), but I also knew how to play Canasta and several simplier games. I was able to play numerous solitaires, we had several domino sets, and on top of this I was a member of Scrabble Club.

This is long gone now (well, not completely gone, I sometimes play cards when on a trip with friends etc.) for various reasons, one is probably the sheer online availability of various classic and modern online games, so my interest in such games rather turned towards other kinds of games, not diminished. Anyway, I wonder if you still play board or card games with your friends or families?

[Pater Alf]

I play board games and card games a lot. Mainly because Iwork with kids and they enjoy playing those games. But I also meet with friends on a quite regular base to play board games with them.

[Chroelle]

Mensch ärgere dich nicht[/url] (I wonder why there's not an English name for it, in Poland it was also known as Don't get angry, but it was commonly produced as The Chinaman, apparently becuase of oriental origins of this game

In Danish its simply "Ludo".

I play Wordfeud now, which is a remnant from my childhood where I played "KrydsOrd" which is simply a Danish word for Scrabble. We were a family that loved playing boardgames until my parents got divorced (and me and my sister entered out teens). Of boardgames I still play Settlers (of Catan) with 2 friends whenever we can find time (not alot). I also enjoy playing specific games at work (I work with kids too as you know) but most of the games that the kids want to play are simply too simple for my taste. We have Abelone, Triominos, UNO, Kalaha and other games that I like to play, but when they suggest playing Monopoly, Risk or Stratego then I pass, because I wont have opportunity to dive entirely into the game as we are shortstaffed, and I hate playing those games with only half of my attention.

Of cardgames I enjoy 500 and used to play Canasta with my family as well. I also played quite a few solitaires in my days as a kid, but that seems to have been replaced by stuff like Wordfeud on the phone.

[eMTe]

I used to play a lot of Monopoly (well, not exactly Monopoly, it's called Eurobusiness here, I dont know if it is still published under this name though) as a kid, but somehow lost the verve for it over time. It requires several hours of spare time and it can happen that you get bored with it during one session. So it is not the game to play often, rather for special occasions. Last time I played it exactly one year ago with my friend's kids and I was beaten to hell. Besides, I had to restrain from yawning almost all the time.

[Railwaymodeler]

Some evenings Maria and I play Monopoly. She's quite good at it, and so am I. Not unusual for games to last till the early hours of the morning!

Then she and I play sometimes, a "house rules" version my dad taught me, and he learned in college.

We call it "Cut-Throat Monopoly". Each player starts with $500, but the property deed cards are all shuffled, and dealt evenly to all players. This means no buying of property, everything is owned from the start, and it is possible to have monopolies on property from the start too. These games are considerably shorter in time span.

I played a board game with my dad years ago, and now play it with Maria, called "Empire Builder". This game, published by Mayfair, is about building railroads across the USA (A European board is available too, and a North American board with more of Canada and Mexico). The idea is to accumulate wealth by delivering cargo, build new routes, eventually connecting five major cities and having millions of dollars in the end.

[Zyx]

One of my friends collects board games so I've played a lot but now rarely because of time issues. My favorite board game is Puerto Rico, which is currently (at least by the opinion of the ranking boards of BoardGameGeek) very well recommended, like Settlers of Catan (or as my friend uses to say, "let's play Catan and pray to Satan").

I used to play a lot of Monopoly (well, not exactly Monopoly, it's called Eurobusiness here, I dont know if it is still published under this name though)

Why on Earth was it called Eurobusiness?

This game, published by Mayfair, is about building railroads across the USA (A European board is available too, and a North American board with more of Canada and Mexico).

I was surprised you didn't play Ticket to Ride... =)

[Railwaymodeler]

I had never heard of Ticket to Ride. Just Googled it, and it looks interesting. Thanks!

[eMTe]

Why on Earth was it called Eurobusiness?

Because there are only European states and cities.

That reminded me that while all of my friends had Eurobusiness I had purely Polish version called Fortuna - it had exact rules (probably there is lots of licensed versions of Monopoly around the world), but set in the interwar Warsaw. Having in mind that it was produced during 80-ies Im not sure if it wasnt simply a pirated version, since western copyrights wasnt much respected in PRL.

Im sure your friend, if he's true collector, at least heard about both Eurobusiness and Fortuna.

[Pager]

I play a lot of Zombies!!! whenever I get the chance. My folks had originally bought the starter one day when they were out and I got hooked right away...now whenever anyone comes over I propose we play...I'd love to get one of those huge board room tables to play on, and maybe but padding on the game tiles so they don't slide around...Anyway, for those who have never heard of it check it out here: http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/en/ ... mbies.html

These guys have a whole slew of games...they even have one where you play as Zombies and eat humans called, Humans!!!

[Chroelle]

Has anyone ever called you "twisted" Pager?
Let me rephrase: Did you ever meet anyone that didn't at one point call you twisted.