Cheap Entertainment - Board Games and Cards

[cschin4]

What games to you play for "cheap entertainment"? We recently bought Super Scrabble and I have a trophy I found in the basement. We are having team tournaments with the kids. I am tired of monopoloy. Any board games which you find are alot of fun? I would also like to learn some fun card games. Where would I learn the rules on some new card games? We like all kinds of games including betting games as we use chips.
I bought the game Heroscape for the kids for Christmas but it looks too complicated so we haven't actually sat down to play that yet.

[Scanner]

This is more for the teenage years but I used to have a blast playing "Diplomacy", "Axis and Allies" and "Supremacy."

In Diplomacy, you play a country, make deals, backstab, and try to seize territory through, well, 'diplomacy", LOL.

Axis and Allies is a WWII simulation game - takes a few hours to play (and yes, it's educational to see how close that war really was from Germany winning).

Supremacy is more modern.

Okay, all war games but very entertaining for males, I guess.

I was a Dungeons and Dragons nerd too - the question is, do you want your kids to be nerds like me>

[trillium]

Rook, yahtzee, Uno!, pick-up sticks, tiddly-winks, dominoes, jenga (always a crowd pleasing favorite).
For card games:
war
500 rummy
31
crazy eights

If you want card game rules:
http://www.pagat.com/alpha.html

[LuxLiving]

We enjoy Mexican Train and Chicken Foot. In fact, CashHappySon just asked last night if we could get a game in today after church before FrugalSon has to leave for work.

http://www.amazon.com/MEXICAN-TRAIN-...toys-and-games

[MonkeyMama]

Good Ones Trilllium.

checkers/chess
Tripoly is a family favorite

& card game - "Oh Hell"

[trillium]

Oooh MonkeyMama - forgot about the checkers and chess!!!

I know there are sets out there (I have one) that has like 7 games in the same box..
usually its like backgammon, parcheesi, checkers, chess, chinese checkers, cribbage, and dominoes or something.

I think we bought one at Wal-mart for $20 a few years back that had a wooden board in a tin with other game pieces.

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by trillium

Oooh MonkeyMama - forgot about the checkers and chess!!!

I know there are sets out there (I have one) that has like 7 games in the same box..
usually its like backgammon, parcheesi, checkers, chess, chinese checkers, cribbage, and dominoes or something.

I think we bought one at Wal-mart for $20 a few years back that had a wooden board in a tin with other game pieces.

Oh yeah - we have one of those too. Definitely a good way to go.

[jodi]

It doesn't get any cheaper than a deck of cards - for me, the best entertainment there is.
As kids, our parents started us out with Go Fish, Rummy, Crazy Eights. From there, we progressed to Hearts, Spades, and Pitch. Finally, we learned pinochle (the best, IMO!). I'm sure you can find the rules to all of these games online. If not, check out a book from the library.
As far as board games go, try Sequence, Parchesi, Sorry, Chinese checkers, etc. A lot of good games were already mentioned above.

[scfr]

There's a company called Cheapass games that sells games with interchangeable parts to keep the costs down. They also have explanations of free games you can play with stuff you probably already have (cards & dice): http://www.cheapass.com/free/index.html

Puzzles can be fun too, and you can often find them at garage sales.

[tinapbeana]

scanner & scrf: i used to do marketing for an online game retailer, including managing our con presence. was at gencon the year D&D edition 3 came out... if you've never been to something like dragon con or gencon, it's worth going just for the people watching!

the folks at cheapass games (call 'em CAG if you don't like the name, they're used to it) are way cool and definitely have some unique games for low dollars. some of my favorites are oldies but goodies: kill dr. lucky, who's got the brain, and starbase jeff.

my personal favorites tend to be card games: spades, hearts, poker, rook (requires a special deck). oh, and solitaire in all in permutations...

[disneysteve]

DD is getting into chess. As I type, we are at the library where she is playing in her first chess tournament (and I'm on ebay looking for a cheap tournament chess set).

Another family favorite is Blackjack. We actually started doing it a few years ago to help her work on her addition skills. I proceeded to teach her basic blackjack strategy and she's actually become a pretty decent player. In 10 years when she is old enough to gamble, I'm sure we'll be doing some dad and daughter runs to Atlantic City.

There are also TONS of free online game sites. Most are one player games but there are plenty of 2 players games, as well.

[trillium]

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

scanner & scrf: i used to do marketing for an online game retailer, including managing our con presence. was at gencon the year D&D edition 3 came out... if you've never been to something like dragon con or gencon, it's worth going just for the people watching!

the folks at cheapass games (call 'em CAG if you don't like the name, they're used to it) are way cool and definitely have some unique games for low dollars. some of my favorites are oldies but goodies: kill dr. lucky, who's got the brain, and starbase jeff.

Okay... I'm officially jealous I've been to the cons and loved the gaming tables/rooms that were being run. Got introduced to alot of card games this way (DragonStorm and Magic the Gathering).

CAG are awesome. I was introduced to them at DuckCon a few years ago along with Apples to Apples (also a heck of a game and depending on the age of the kids there is a junior edition).

[tinapbeana]

Originally Posted by trillium

Okay... I'm officially jealous I've been to the cons and loved the gaming tables/rooms that were being run. Got introduced to alot of card games this way (DragonStorm and Magic the Gathering).

hehehehe! i've only been in an official capacity, not just as an attendee, but cons are a unique experience either way. the year i was at gencon, the welcome packet had a list of tips for a good con experience. one of them was to try to sleep a few hours every day, another was to take at least one shower during the 4 day event. gah!!!

some of my best memories of that job:

• crossing peachtree street in atlanta in a group including darth vader, 5 storm troopers, chewie, a couple of hobbits, a variety of elfs, magicians, and several warriors carrying broadswords.
• getting a cease and desist letter from lucas entertainment for sponsoring a star wars prequel from australia. 6 months later they released their own prequel.
• seeing my ads in print in dragon magazine
• meeting gary gygax

[cicy33]

we bought Uno Attack this year. It is so fun and the kids love it and it is easy to learn for them.

[LuxLiving]

Don't forget a good physical game (vs. computer) of Mahjongg...


http://www.amazon.com/Western-Mah-Jo...toys-and-games

...and Mancala!

http://www.amazon.com/University-Gam...toys-and-games

I enjoy the tactical feel of scooping those counters out of their cups!

How about Go?

http://www.amazon.com/Wood-Folding-S...toys-and-games

[tinapbeana]

oooh, i have mancala and really enjoy it!!! drives DH nuts b/c he never wins

[Scanner]

Tina,

I thought about Magic the Gathering but let's face it, that's not a frugal way to go because you end up buying/collecting the cards. My kids just found my wife and I's old box of those cards. That is a nice game because you can play a couple of hands in under an hour.

I was never to a convention but I was the proud owner of the original D&D set, prior them going AD&D.

AD&D becomes frugal because you end up having no life, just playing every weekend, never going out and meeting the opposite sex, LOL.

It reminds me of this "serious group" I played with once - every Friday and Sat. night, from 7:30 to 3:30 a.m. Hey, man, I love AD&D too but after 4 hours, enough is enough. . .saw that game break up a couple of marriages.

I had an idea for an online game that you would only play 15 minutes/day - I'd call it "World Politics" Every morning in your email, you'd run a country and the "World Master" would send you events that you had to deal with - collapsing currency, military build-up on your border, etc and you respond.

Fun stuff, LOL. Probably already is a game out there like that.

[threebeansalad]

We're fans of Settlers of Catan.

[tinapbeana]

so many gamer geeks here, who knew!!!

i was about the only person at the company that wasn't really into the games (although age of empires and sim city both tried to suck me in). i'd leave the office at about 8p and everyone else would just be getting set up for a lan session. come in the next morning, and sure enough they'd still be there, asleep at their desk or on the couch, or sometimes still playing.

ah, the good old days, when mountain dew flowed freely and everyone had stock options and dreams of going public.... remember that tech bubble that burst? yeah, got some on me... still own 25000 shares of nuthin'

[shelbylovesmelby]

We play monopoly, Yhatzee, computer games mostly Mahjong is one of our favorites besides the other standards like solitare.