Personally, I spend the largest percentage of my free time playing board games. Here in the USA, the type of games I play are commonly referred to as “Euro-games”. For some of you they are just a part of your national culture.
In my experience, this is not an uncommon activity among the “technically-minded”. If you are ‘one of us’ who play such games (if you recognize Settlers of Catan, Ticket To Ride, Trajan, Stone Age, Carcasonne, Macao, Goa) let’s discuss your favorites (and why they are treasured to you).
Monopoly is the main one that I’ve played, when playing against my family, I’d get houses and hotels on Park Lane and Mayfair and then it would be game over fairly quickly. I’ve played the PC version of Cluedo a few times.
[font=calibri]That kind of game is fantastic – I’m a huge fan of Settlers, Carcasonne and Railroad Tycoon (which I think is similar to Ticket to Ride) – I think one of the reasons I like them more than a lot of traditional board games is that they are much more open-ended. With a lot of games, you’re quite restricted in what you can do, whereas with these ones you can get creative and every game will be different. Unfortunately too few of my friends who like these games live nearby and have enough free time to play them as often as I would like.
The other games that fall into a similar category for me, although they are card games rather than a board games, are Munchkin and Fluxx. I can’t recommend them highly enough![/font]
That is among my favorites too. If you like Thun and Taxis you will also like Thebes. Whereas many (most) games deal with some sort of [limited] resource you must manage and some sort of currency, in Thebes the ‘currency’ is TIME. The game is based on Archeological research and it has a mechanic that very carefully balances the amount of time each player ‘expends’ on the various actions.
I agree and both of those are in my collection. The “Fluxx” games come in so many varieties. I have played Zombie Fluxx with a group on a recurring basis and loved it. I own a copy of Martian Fluxx which may be my favorite version (of the few I have played).
A more ‘commercial’ card game that is a family favorite is Rage. I highly, supremely recommend it for any group. The game supports up to 8 players, is very easy to learn but has a lot of interaction.
Among the many games we have introduced to people who are NOT what you would call “gamers”, Rage is one of the couple that, invariably, conclude with the enthusiastic comment, “Let’s play that again!!”
I love playing board games of all sorts, but Running Bear doesn’t, so I don’t get much chance to play, and hence don’t own very many. One game we do have is Wooly Bully, which we usually play by candlelight in power cuts. It’s a family game (i.e. meant for children :o) but we can get very … er … competitive.
@ParkinT; Do you know if Thebes was ever released outside of the US? It’s sounds like a good game (I often watch an archaeology program on tv over here called Time Team)
In regards to the opening thread, my family and I have always played board games. We own a variety of board games but the ones that we enjoy playing the most are Monopoly, Scrabble. When I was growing up I used to play the board game called Sorry! and Risk all the time with my mother and father. My favorite all time is Risk but it is a little complicated and a little difficult to play with children.
Do virtual versions of board games count? I like playing chess. The computer usually wins, though. At least I manage to take a good chunk of his pieces.
Nobody yet mentioned Chess and Checkers… Surprising!
I like those games, especially if I play with skilled person (I used to, almost everyday with my friend, I won him only once and he almost everyday ), losing the game to skilled player gives me addiction to the game and a wish to win this player
Monopoly is also good, however, playing it can be tedious, especially if there’s low amount of players.
Yes, I’ve read that you have your own version. Still, for the explanation in that page, it is similar enough to checkers (damas for Spaniards) to consider it the same game, in my opinion.
One game we do have is Wooly Bully, which we usually play by candlelight in power cuts. It’s a family game (i.e. meant for children :o) but we can get very … er … 
