GAMERT (Gaming) Round Table

Hi!

If someone handed you $500 for table top/boardgames, what games would you buy? This is a starter collection at an academic library. The people playing them are college students interested in gaming and game design.

--Diane

This is way too long a list.  I'm admitting that in advance, and you should probably ignore it if you want a quick-and-dirty listing that fits neatly into the $500 budget.  Sorry!

I think one of the big questions is whether they're more interested in game design/gaming from a theoretical standpoint, or a practical one (not saying there's anything wrong with either).

On the theory side, I would say you should definitely include some of the classic stuff from Milton Bradley (Hasbro) or Parker Brothers (Hasbro).  Lots of these games are deceptively simple, and examining them would generally be a good idea in my mind (added bonus: they tend to be less expensive!):

Monopoly
Sorry
Battleship
Yahtzee
Stratego
Risk (basic)
Pit
Milles Bornes
Uno
Scrabble
Scattergories

Also on the simplicity side would be games that, on Boardgame Geek, are referred to as "Euros."

Ticket to Ride
Settlers of Catan
Carcassone
Puerto Rico
Power Grid

Then you have the other side of things, acknowledging that the likelihood of creating a game that has as wide an appeal as Monopoly that will also get people to buy it is relatively low.  From there, I would say you could focus more on games that are complex enough to require niche markets, but still spur interest from a thematic or pure fun point of view.  Often these games will tend to work better with house rules, which give the added bonus of getting in some critical thinking about how rulesets could be better.  Lots of these will be of the "Ameritrash" variety, if you frequent BGG.

Arkham Horror
Risk Legacy (although you have to be willing for this to potentially be a recurring purchase)
Ikusa (formerly Samurai Swords or Shogun)
Diplomacy
Battletech
Axis and Allies
Fortress America

You'd also probably do well to see some of the latest games that got massive commitments on Kickstarter, like:

Zombicide
Kingdom Death: Monster
Tammany Hall
Rivet Wars

The downside to these is that you'll probably either have to pre-order them, or ask your Friendly Local Game Store to get a copy in for you.  The upside is you have an official reason to go to your Friendly Local Game Store!

Great thanks for this!

If the goal is for students to access resources that serve as a toolkit/reference bank for game design then I think finding resources that are good representations of how game and play is represented through mechanisms and themes. 

So, for example Mechanisms:

Roll and move - Monopoly

Tile Placement - Carcasonne

Area Control - El Grande

Auction - there are a host of Knizia Games...etc.

Themes:

Elections - 1960: The Making of the President

Physics/Racing - Bolide

Stock Market - Black Friday

I think talking with the teacher of the class(es) that would want to access the resources to find out if there are approaces that are being taken in the class that would be best to support.

Buying what is current or hot, may be temporarily popular but may not be the best representations that can be drawn from for future classes.

Without knowing more, I wouldn't be able to give exact recommendations but I would be happy to help you further.

To add on to the idea of developing the collection by mechanism, I've been noticing the selections at my own game nights being split by two different dichotomies: casual (5-15 minutes) vs. involved (1-3 hours), and competitive (one winner) vs. cooperative (all players either win or lose).

Co-op games especially seem to be the new hotness these days and might fall into the "popular trend" trap, but it might help to choose games based on user interface elements like that as well as on game mechanics.

Most of these games are used during our monthly gaming events, but we hope to start offering small game design sessions as well during each event. It is all sparkly ponies and rainbows in our heads. We hope it transfers over well to real life.

I have a great group of students that love games and gaming.

If the scope encompasses all tabletop games, not just boardgames, I'd suggest some of the more profitable party games, like Taboo, Cranium, Apples to Apples, or Wits and Wagers.

Below is the list my library had going when I first was trying to buy games. Unfortunately they rerouted the money elsewhere... but I hold on in hope.

agricola

apples to apples

arkham horror

battle ship

carcassone

checkers

chess

clue

cranium

dixit

dominion

fluxx

go

monopoly

mtg

munchkin

once upon a time

pandemic

pictionary

playing cards

powergrid

puerto rico

risk

scrabble

settlers of catan

through the ages

ticket to ride

trivial pursuit

yahtzee

I would definitely include the classics.    Maybe this is an opportunity to survey our students to see what kind of board games they play and what they are interested in.  :)

There are great suggestions already on the list--if you do go with Settlers of Catan (highly recommended) you might want to pick up the 5-6 player expansion as well.  And consider that for any versions you buy other than the basic as well.  Our board game collection at my library consists of what the librarian (me) and friends donated at the beginning, a few things grabbed at a con sale and stuff I find at at thrift shop cheap enough that I'm willing to donate it.    So sadly not developed in a cohesive manner (other than my decisions to exclude a few things), but it is used and seems to be appreciated.

I would get the classics everyone knows, such as Monopoly, Chess, Life, Uno, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit Advanced, Risk, etc., see the classic list above. And, also the party game list above looks good, such as Wits and Wagers, Cranium. :) Darlene

While neither is a "board game" per se, CCGs (collectible card games) and RPGs (role playing games) are both "table top" games and I think could be useful for people interested in both gaming and game design.

Dungeons and Dragons is the most widely known RPG, but there are many, many others.

Magic: the Gathering is the biggest CCG. And while it might cost a lot to have "competitive" decks, you can also just buy a lot of cards incredibly cheaply and still be able to play.

I have been contemplating creating Pauper deck collections to have Magic available at events. For those who don't know what that means, a pauper deck is one made entirely out of common cards (as opposed to a mix of commons, uncommons, rares, and mythic rares as most competitive decks are). This significantly brings down the cost while providing a way to teach newcomers to the game all of the essential mechanics.

At last years International Game Day, we had a collection of competitive decks for use, but I think it was too much of a learning curve to know how to use some of the more strange mechanics for people not familiar with magic.  For those already familiar I think playing with someone else's deck feels weird? Either way, the pile of competitive desks were largely unused.

If we do move forward with the pauper deck plan, I would be happy to share our successes and/or failures.

matthew, i think the the CCG ideas are good! :-) very popular... teresa had a good idea about pauper decks. i have seen competitions being done with these... but do not know whether the players brought their own competitve decks or not. 

Definitely get mostly classics to start with, like SORRY, Monopoly, UNO, etc. but also get a couple of what I like to call "make you think games" like FLUXX and Killer Bunnies.

Among the classics, I would include the ancient board game Go, which the American Go Foundation provides for free to institutions that will teach others to play it: http://agfgo.org/pages/libraries.php

Go has the accessibility of checkers and the complexity of chess, and can be played one-on-one or with teams (2-on-2 generally being the limit for reasonable play). Expert play requires a combination of spatial and logical reasoning, as well as simultaneous considerations of offense and defense. The game can be played in full for an hour or two per game, depending on the skill level of the players, or "first capture Go" can be played in quick bursts to bring people up to speed.

I have had some success teaching Go to kids, teens, and adults in my public library, and recommend it among the classics of any gaming collection.

Thanks for sharing this. I am going to try to get one for our library.

--Diane

Having a library collection of "Pauper" decks is a great idea.

Usually at competitive events players bring their own deck, or purchase random packs of cards and build one on the spot. Those aren't great for a collection, but are good for library events.