the games to play
------------ the game room animal cracker combat the games to play - other opinions the gathering 2001 ------------ [home]	Now since this website is all about me, let's continue with.... My all-time favorite games: (links lead to description and reviews at Funagain Games) Carcassonne by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede — Game of the Year 2001 Union Pacific by Alan Moon — an American designer in the German gaming scene. Woohooo! Taj Mahal by Reiner Knizia — OK, Knizia is a game god and we're not worthy. These games are really representative of the high quality of German games. Not only are the boards, cards, and playing pieces (little wooden people, locomotives and Taj Mahals!) attractive and well-made, but the game play is fantastic. There's no dice and no running around a track, but more of a game than you'll see by anything being offered in slick packaging at the Toys 'R Us. Typical of German games, you have several tasks that you have to achieve in order to score well and way too little time to do them in. Every turn you are faced with a wonderfully horrible decision: should I try to continue to build up points or stop to secure or improve my position? Each game is easy to learn and grasp but still challenging. While Carcassonne and Union Pacific are for the whole family, Taj Mahal offers more strategy. And they're FUN! Did you ever hear anyone say "I need a meeple!", "I raise you an elephump!" or "all I have is crap track!" while playing Monopoly?! The Princes of Florence by Richard Ulrich & Wolfgang Kramer — A little something for the more experienced gamer. The best game (IMHO) out there — beautiful, well-balanced, and fascinating to play.        ...and these desert-island-with-a-huge-storage-space games, that is, games I presently (these things change, ya know) think are also totally awesome. In no particular order: Bluff — roll the dice and lie like the wind! Torres — brilliant strategy game that requires brilliant strategies, the German Game of the Year for 2000 Robo Rally — program your robot through the maze...or forget the maze and just shoot the other robots Ohne Furcht und Adel (Citadels) — interesting card game, where players trade roles in order to do each other in, nominated for Game of the Year 2000 Battle Cry — a fun war game... yes, I said fun war game! Caesar & Cleopatra — great themed two-player card game ShowManager — scramble to get schlock actors to put on terrible musicals in Troisdorf Kill Doctor Lucky — "It was me in the Servant's Quarters with the tight hat!" Royal Turf — "Go Nougat!" - horse racing at its best Tikal — beautiful strategy game about exploring in the Mayan jungle Fluxx — crazy card game, where you never know what's going on Web of Power — tight strategy game that takes less than 45 minutes! Give Me the Brain — fast food restaurant zombies serve up fun Hase und Igel (Tortoise and Hare) — children's race game that's not just for kids, was first German Game of the Year in 1979 Lost Cities — another Knizia game, this time a two-player card game Mamma Mia! — making pizzas as fast as you can Wyatt Earp — rounding up bad guys... rummy-style Ursuppe (Primordial Soup) — ameobas move, eat, and poop... what could be more fun? Don't trust me? You dare doubt the woman who coined the term 'meeple'?! Find out more about me, my game likes and dislikes, and my fellow gamers at: Other Opinions