Eight classic board games I’ve never played
From card games to war games, there's a whole world of games I haven't explored.
I talk a lot about games I’ve played in this newsletter, and for good reason. It’s much easier to write about things you’ve experienced than things you’ve not, and I’m not in the business of writing previews for new games constantly.
Occasionally I’ll still do that for games that I’ve already got on the shelf or that I’m personally excited for, but for games that I haven’t played and don’t think I’ll play? No thanks. And not No Thanks!, which is great, and which I’ve played, as you may have read last week. Also, I do love to read that sort of content, so if you’ve got a favorite source for previewing to-be-released games, drop me a link, won’t you?
All that said, I think it will be interesting this week to talk about some games I’ve never played but would like to. I’d also like to focus in closely on some classics, which is a nebulous term. That suits my purposes here because it really opens the field of games to consider, but to provide a little definition here: A classic, for this purpose, is a game released before 2013 that remains well-considered today.
Why before 2013? Well, that’s around the year I really dove deep into games and a solid decade ago, so there are games I just have missed prior to that as a result. But there’s also a very interesting divide, and I’d pinpoint 2013 as the start of an era — themes migrated from being squarely focused on colonialism and Mediterranean trading to supporting a broader variety of themes and experiences.
That being said, I’ll also not focus on games that can widely be considered folk games or classic card games. Those are great, and I love them, but they are not my subject today. I do want to write about those games, so if you’ve got any card games your family played, especially with a standard deck of cards, leave a comment or reply to this email. I’d love to hear more.
Anyway, let’s get on with this, shall we?
6 nimmt! (1994)
This Wolfgang Kramer card game is one I’ve read about for years and years. When The Mind was particularly difficult to find after it was first published and received rave reviews, this little card game was often cited as “compatible” with the ruleset. I do actually have this one waiting to be played, so I’m hopeful I can talk about this one in more depth soon.
This is one of those “avoid getting points” games, and I think I’ll love it. Maybe I won’t. I don’t know, these sorts of games wherein you’ll inevitably take some points but you want to time when and how you do that — that’s a real sweet spot for me.
Crokinole (1876)
BoardGameGeek calls this a “traditional Canadian dexterity game,” although Wikipedia is a little less certain about its origins. Crokinole is a game of disc flicking on a huge circular board, and it’s easily regarded as one of the greatest dexterity games of all time. I’d really like to play this one, but buying a nice Crokinole board just hasn’t entered my wishlist for some reason. I should probably play it first.
Lords of Vegas (2010)
I don’t know quite enough about this game, just that you’re A) building Las Vegas, and B) rolling dice. I’ve also had it recommended to me repeatedly by one friend, and I trust his opinion on games, so on the list it goes. Unfortunately, the game does appear to be out of print right now, so I might need to win big if I want to pick it up right now.
PitchCar (1995)
Another dexterity game? I hear you over there. Yes, another dexterity game. This one’s a classic flicking game, and you get to build a race track before flicking discs along it. Tell me that doesn’t sound like just an absolute blast.
Roads & Boats (1999)
I’ll let the BGG short description do the hard work here: “Develop a logistical network from pack animals to the stock market.” It may not sound absolutely riveting, but a former coworker just adored this game, and I never played it. It feels a lot like one I should just play some day. I know it’s supposed to be a bit complicated and mentally taxing, but those are experiences that really stick with me.
Robo Rally (1994)
In 1993, Richard Garfield first published Magic: The Gathering. In 1994, he published Robo Rally. One of those has had tremendous staying power, and the other is a collectible card game. (I kid. Robo Rally does remain a much discussed game, but Magic was a hugely formative game for me as a teenager.) I still haven’t played this programming game, and given I’ve made my career programming (web applications, not robots), I feel like I should really give it a whirl.
Space Alert (2008)
Real-time cooperative games fit a slightly narrow niche for me. I think I generally prefer my games a little less frenetic and frenzied — at least when we’re working together — but success in a real-time game feels so, so good. When we’re humming along as a team, doing things we never thought we’d be able to do? That’s a sweet spot. I’ve wanted to play this game of dangerous interstellar travel since I first watched the Shut Up and Sit Down review back in 2013. Are there better real-time cooperative games with a soundtrack? Probably! But this is a classic. I just need to find a CD player …
War of the Ring (2004, 2011)
I haven’t played many war games (really, just Risk and tic-tac-toe), but this remains one I’d love to sink my teeth into on a lazy Saturday. Four hours is a long time to play a game for most anybody, including me. (I would almost always rather play four one-hour games than a four-hour game, though I’d settle for two two-hour games as well.)
What classic games have you fell in love with long after their publication date? I’d love to hear from you.
I know I can get a bit focused on what’s new, but I love reminders that there’s so much that’s come before that’s absolutely worth exploring. It’s a bit like music. I love discovering new artists as they’re just starting to gain footing in their career, but I also love that over the last five years, I’ve gone deep on soul, jazz and city pop. Those have all helped me form a broader perspective on music, and I think there’s something similar to be said about games.
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Don’t Eat the Meeples. I hope I see you back here next week, and as always, keep playing games.
We recently set aside a Saturday to finally get War of the Ring on the table, and we were all blown away. I'm not huge on war games typically, but as a giant LOTR nerd it was one of my favorite tabletop experiences I've ever had. There were a few movie moments that were awesome to recreate, and we had the single most memorable game turn in any game I've ever played. Incredibly fun and a very fun asymmetric experience.
A bit of a side note, but we played with 4 (2v2) and it was actually a fantastic experience, especially since it was our first time playing. It was really helpful to be able to lean on each other for rules and strategy, plus I always love cooperative play.
I also really want to play Crokinole, just need to invest in a board at some point.
Delighted to see Lords of Vegas on this list. It is such a genuinely fun and easy to introduce game that doesn’t get mentioned often enough. Ra and Metropolys would be my picks for games I adore that I found far after they were released. Both are excellent auction games. Ra still gets a good amount of love as a Knizia classic, but Metropolys is rarely mentioned.