What board games to you have the most fun playing? Is there a board game that ruins your weekend? Is there one that you had to stop playing because it was killing relationships?

Are you a sore loser?

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

Answers

I love Pictionary. Specifically, I love playing Pictionary with either my husband, Tristan, or my big sister, Philippa. Philippa can draw a wavy line and I'll guess 'magazine rack!'. Tristan can draw a cloud and I'll guess 'nose bleed!'. We are scarily in sync. It would be interesting for Philippa and Tristan to play together and see if they can be as impressive without me (I doubt it).

I am a sore loser and a terrible gloating winner, so playing games with me is not for the fainthearted.

Tristan and I don't have any board games, although we've successfully taken on his mis-shapen stepfamily in Trivial Pursuit (nothing to really write home about - we were amazed they could read the questions without help). Tristan and I have had a couple of spectacular rows when trying to play games. This ultra-competitiveness also appears when watching sport - especially if New Zealand are playing South Africa in rugby. It's not a game, it's a lifestyle choice.

I used to play Monopoly with my little sister, Victoria, when I was a kid. I'd get bored though, and she'd have to bribe me with payrises and interest-free loans to keep me playing.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

If you ever are asked to play Axis and Allies, DON'T!! You'll be hooked and probably not leave the house for about 40 weeks or so, which is how long it takes to finish the game. I guess it may be more of a "guy" board game to play, but I imagine girls can get hooked on it too.

I'm a real rat bastard about Trivial Pursuit. My head is filled with useless knowledge, and it's the only chance I get to use it all, so I get very very very bitter if I lose that. But I usually don't. Usually I tag team with my good friend and we play some unsuspecting duo. I need my pal for all the science stuff, because I missed those days at school. But I own the sports and entertainment.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

When it comes to fun in a box, nothing beats Boggle. It's like Scrabble's dumber but more entertaining sibling. My friend found 'unsinkable' during one game. She is a Boggle God. For those of you who have never played Boggle before, you'll have no idea why that has caused me to worship her. Actually, even if you HAVE played Boggle before you'll still have no idea why I worship her.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

Hmmm. When I was younger I loved the game Life, because I wanted to be able to land on the square that said I could buy the horses. If someone else got them before me, I would refuse to play any more. Nowadays, I am not a big fan of board games, but I LUUURRRRVVVE card games. I can play Go Fish, War, Scat and of course, the old college favorites, Asshole and Shithead. Last term, my guy friends and I were so addicted that we once played Shithead (sometimes known as Palace) for over 6 hours straight because none of us wanted to end on a loss. I am a very competitive card player. And I am also competitive while watching hockey or football (i.e. soccer). When the Bruins lost their series in the playoffs this year, you would have thought I was on the team... So I guess I am a sore loser in that way, but generally speaking, I am ok about losing...

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

Here's the best game story I've got. Once, in the 10th grade, I was playing Trivial Pursuit (aka: The Devil's Game) with my outrageously competitive friend Kristen (who is now an attorney). I was winning but I would have just rather have been losing, she was acting so insane about it. Well, at around 2 in the morning, I was "in the middle," you know, and about to get the final question - the do or die question - that would decide the game. My many attempts at stopping the game earlier, saying "Ok, Kristen, you win! I give up!" had failed. She wanted to win fair and square which meant I had to LOSE.

So, I choose Arts & Literature as my category, passive-aggressively saying all the while that I surely would not get it right and she was going to win anyway so could we please stop playing, etc, etc. She refused. She drew the card, read the question...and immediately began screaming in anguish. "OH MY GOD THIS IS TOO EASY!! It's not fair! You are going to win on the easiest question in the world! ARRAGGGGGGHHH!!" She was falling apart. Again, trying to appease her competitive nature, I demured. "Oh, I'm sure I don't know it. You are going to win, blah blah."

This only seemed to annnoy her further. She was wild-eyed at this point. "A monkey could answer this question, Al. You are going to win." Then she trailed off, already beaten, mumbling something about how she was never going to make it to college and she was going to kill herself from the humiliation...

I was so tired and loopy at this point, I just wanted to end the game, even if I did have to win and cause her great suffering, which I was trying to avoid because I knew I would never hear the end of it. "Give me the goddamned question! Give it to me! I am going to miss it and then I'm going to bed!!!!"

With bloodshot eyes, she looked at me. "If you miss this, Al, and surely you will not miss it, I will run naked through the streets of Birmingham."

"GIVE IT TO ME!" I screamed. And, in a strangled whisper, she asked it. And the ensuing moment of silence has gone down in history as the longest 3 seconds in the history of board games.

"Who wrote _The Grapes of Wrath_?"

People, I was tired. We had just played more than 3 hours of this game and had a 20 minute debate on whether or not I would even be able to answer this question, me saying no and her saying yes. Despite a reputation for being the wisest and most literary 15 year old on the block, and despite the knowledge that what I was about to say would haunt me the rest of my days, I answered.

"I don't know."

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/2958

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

But did she run naked through the streets of Birmingham? That's what we really want to know...

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

for some odd reason, people here at school like to play trivial pursuit when drunk. i'm always kind of in the middle of the pack when we play. not the best, but not the worst either. depends on what i've drunk and how much of it i've drunk. but one night two terms ago, we were drinking vodka collins when someone dragged my friend's game out. i wiped up that game, in a record time of just over an hour - after five drinks. i've never been that on for a game of any sort, before or since.

we played trivial pursuit sober this new year's eve. i sucked.

i've learned my lesson. i'm not smart unless i'm drunk. i guess. =)

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

My family are all game players. I grew up playing games on snow days and weekends and holidays! My brother gives us a game of some sort Every Christmas. My dad was always the sore loser! The worst! I love Mancala and Uno and Boggle and Pit and Tripoli and all kinds of non-betting card games. My dad always cheated at Monopoly, so I stopped playing that at about age 10 in protest. My dad also obsesses on the trivia games so I'm burned out on them too! The bad part is that my husband's family doesn't play games (except poker) and they all look at me like I'm nuts when I suggest we play something. We have a 4-year-old son and I'm already raising him to love games (my husband will play his games!) He's been playing card games since he was two! I made up a "color" game with Uno cards. We play Mancala and Go Fish and Rummy and Egyptian Rat Screw and Trouble and CandyLand and Check-Up Charlie and the Bugs Life Game and the Toy Story Game, most evenings after dinner. It's a good way to wind down AND spend quality child time!

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

I love Trivial Pursuit for reasons stated by others -- I've got a head full of useless information and nothing to do with it. Ask me where my checkbook is, I don't know. Ask me what the Skipper's full name was, I'll shout out Jonas Grumby before anyone else can have the chance, for fear that no one will recognize that I had that information close at hand for just such an occasion.

I used to love Scrabble but my wife kicks serious butt at it. After one snowbound day together I decided I'll never play it again unless I'm playing against someone who doesn't speak English.

A little off the subject, what IS a Luann Platter?

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

I love Scrabble but have never lost at it and now no one will play with me. So I haven't played it in about 5 years... maybe I'm so rusty now that's I'd lose. I like Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly as well, and even silly mindless games like Sorry and Parcheesi. I liked Backgammon for a while. My husband hates all board games though... he's lousy at all of them, just gets bored I guess, so we never play. I'm not a sore loser at all - games are just games and as soon as one is over, it's in the past anyway. But I rarely lose games... maybe if I had lost a lot more I'd be less laid-back about losing, I don't know, but I do know I'm very laid-back about winning - I really couldn't care less either way, I just enjoy the actual *playing* of games more than the outcome.

Judy http://www.judywatt.com

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

No, for those of you who are wondering, she didn't run naked through the streets. What she did do was suck in a huge gust of air, leap to her feet, jump on the coffee table and dance around screaming "John Steinbeck! John Steinbeck!" in sort of a Rumplestiltskin/ Beetlejuice kind of way. When she fell, exhausted onto the couch, I half expected Steinbeck himself to walk in and smack me in the head.

We're all still waiting for her to streak through the neighborhood. Incidentally, I will be a bridesmaid in her wedding in 2 weeks and plan to give her _The Grapes of Wrath_ as a wedding present.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/2958

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

By the way Brad, a LuAnn Platter is a plate you get at Luby's Cafeteria - something like a meat and two vegetables or something. Fellow Texans, help me out, I don't ever eat at Luby's.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/2958

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

Like a few other people who have answered before me, I love Trivial Pursuit, and I'm always better at it when I'm drunk.

However, playing any kind of game with my best friend Bill's family is a farce. They're all competitive to an extreme, especially Beth, one of Bill's older sisters. It doesn't matter if we're playing Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, Uno, poker.. when I play games with that family, they are out for blood.

It is not uncommon at the end of an evening to hear the words, "Great game of Pictionary, guys. Sorry I had to break your fingers, Bill."

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

There are a number of games that my circle of friends cannot play, namely because all of us have a particular game that just seems to rile us. My enemy is UNO. Yes it comes across as a simple relaxing game of cards, but wait till your best friend or boyfriend Draw-Four several times in a series of games.... then you find out what bitter really is. Then again maybe UNO and burboun just don't mix.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

Ooh...I have another story. When I was 21 I was dating a guy who was 32. One night he and three of his 30 something friends and I were playing Trivial Pursuit. One of my questions was something to the effect of Name the Singing Cowboy from the 30's who had his own breakfast cereal. Well the others all passed the card around laughing because they were sure I would never get it. They had never heard of the guy. I had no idea what the answer was. Just at the last minute before I gave up I said "I don't know...Tom Mix." I swear I pulled that answer right out of thin air! One of the guys literally fell off his chair! All their jaws dropped. We were all equally shocked! I had forgotten all about it until I read the other Trivial Pursuit stories.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

I am Sarah's little sister. Our dad is indeed obsessed with Trivial Pursuit. When I was a kid I always insisted they let me play, even though I was far too young to actually know anything trivial. So they's always pretend to let me play, but I always got the same question. What was the name of Jackie Paper's best friend? I sure felt cool playing with the big folks.

kayt

-- Anonymous, June 01, 1999

The bestest game in the old wide world is Twister. A few years back my parents had their 25th wedding anniversary. My sister bought them Chocolate Body Paint and I bought them Twister ... the perfect combination, and we hadn't even planned it. I spent the entire weekend playing Twister with my two sisters and my mother. My father was forced against his will to spin the dial and call the next moves. It ended in tears, of course. I had several Twister-related injuries by the end of the weekend - carpet burns, pulled muscles, that kind of thing. Playing games is a serious business in my family.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 1999

Dirty Pictionary. The raunchier your drawings, the more bonus points you got. Bullshit is also another favorite, but that's best played when the parents aren't around.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 1999

Prolly my fave game would have to be my Star Wars Monopoly gaame. It's the best! I mean how many other games do you know of where you can buy, sell, put your brother into bankruptcy (uh...I kan't spel) and do it all while getting to move around this fun little sterling Darth Vader player piece and pretend it's you? I always win at Monopoly, except when my fiancee plays, in which case, we all go down in flames. My only salvation is that I am the last, and take the longest to die out.

Other faves of mine and my family's are Rook and Password. Rook I like, because even though I always loose, it brings out this great side of everyone, and they can joke and laugh even if they're loosing. Password frustraits me, but it's still fun now and then. My fiancee and I also play chess allot...another game that I usualy win except when playing with him. Oh well.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 1999

I am a game FREAK! I have so many games in my coat closet that the coats had to go. The poor games like Mindtrap, Chess, Stratego, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, ect...that require strategy and memory skills have excessive amounts of dust on them because no one will play them with me. Very depressing. The rest are family favorites every get together. More people should play games. Except don't ever play word games like Boggle with my mom--unless you like severe pain and humiliation.

-- Anonymous, June 03, 1999

I dig Life the most these days. I always enjoyed it when I was a kid, because it was a fairly uncomplicated game. You spun the spinner, moved your car and suffered the consequences. Easy!

Now that I'm an adult, however, it's a completely different experience. Playing Life, I can actually go to college (which I never got to do). I can make a hell of a lot more money than I really do. It's just a very imaginative experience. It's also a lot of fun playing with the group that I play with. We have these big discussions in the middle of the game, and just generally have the best time. The last time we played, we made up a bunch of different squares and made it even more LIFElike.

Then there's Poker. I actually don't love Poker, but it carries some of the fondest memories for me. It reminds me of one of the best and worst summers of my life.

That was the summer of '94. I was far younger than I had any business being, and even more naive, stupid, and an embarrassment to everyone I knew. At any rate, me and the Gang always got together on Friday nights to play Poker. It was just penny ante, no big deal. A quarter or 50 cents was the limit to raise. Mostly it was an excuse for us all to get together, drink a lot of booze, smoke cigars and hang out. We'd play from 8 until about 2:30 in the morning, then walk down to the nearby taco bell to get some munchies to replace the alcohol in our bloodstream and to enjoy the scenery. Each night we would put Margaritaville in the CD player on repeat and listen to it all night. To this day I can't hear the song on the radio without thinking back to that summer and grinning.

I've always been a loner, and whenever I read really good books that was basically about friendship, I felt like I didn't understand. Now, because of that summer I do. I don't play Poker anymore, but I still love it, and the memories it brings.

-- Anonymous, June 03, 1999

I love playing board games of all sorts, but I can hardly ever find anyone to play them with me, because most of those games need at least four people to be any fun at all, and most of my friends are RPG-ers and way too cool for board games.

Probably they won't play with me because I'm such a freak. I am the world's worst loser if I don't know what I'm doing. Is that weird, or what? If it's a game where I think I have a reasonable chance of beating the other person, I can win or lose with equanimity, but if it's a game I've never played before, or a game that requires real strategy (which I suck at) I get all huffy and irritable and grouchy and snippy and generally difficult to be around. Is that weird, or what?

Back when Magic: The Gathering was a popular game, I collected the cards along with everyone else, but I had to quit playing after it became obvious that my friends were about to stuff me in the freezer the next time I whined.

I am such a freak...

-- Anonymous, June 04, 1999

Jenga is really cool. I could play that all week.

-- Anonymous, June 04, 1999

i'm all about LIFE, but old school LIFE. they've changed it so that now at the end you can't cash in your insurance or get credit for your kids. they've added a square about 2/3's through the game where you have to get yout tattoos removed. $100,000.

-- Anonymous, June 16, 1999

Vodkopoly *rules*.

I am the CHAMP. I can drink vodka all night while playing and still *remain* champ*.

UNDEFEATED! Rawr! Rawr! Rawr!

And hey, whoever is left standing wins, and face it, by that time, whoever has Park Place and Boardwalk...well, you don't care.

(* Caveat: if it were Beeropoly, Cideropoly or Wineopoly, though, I'd be drunker than Noah in mere minutes because of the sulfites. I can't have two sips of plum wine without being pickled. Mystery of life, innit?)

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2000

I am the patron saint of Trivial Pursuit. I have no idea where I gathered all this trivial information I am in possession of, but when I am given an opportunity to air this useless knowledge, watch out! I can honestly say that, since I was about fourteen years old, no-one has ever beaten me.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2000