iSci Board Games

Haha, I'm looking to build an iSci Board Game Collection. We will also try to develop a parallel 'board game club' that will run one evening every week -- that'll be totally casual. We're planning to charge $4 or $5 fee as upstart to all iSci students, feel free to opt out if you are not interested in playing board games. Ideally, most people should pay so then we can just leave them out casually instead of having a sign-up system, and everyone can jump in. After we get the funds, I'll go out to board game stores/go on Amazon, etc. to buy some sweet games.

I for one am totally stoked.

Any suggestions for board games that you think would be ideal for this club? After we get enough choices we'll narrow it down to 5 or 6, and we'll try to continuously add to the collection either every semester or every year.

Here's my list:

Games we MUST get:

Dominion (One of the best modern games in my opinion, can be 3-5 players)
Bang (If you've ever played mafia/werewolf, it's a bit like that, this is extremely fun and easy to get into)

Other games we should consider:

Blokus (4 player 'geometry' type game that looks deceptively simple... fast games, but intense strategy)
Shadow Hunters (Not sure if anyone knows this one but it's like a mix of Bang and Clue, and depending on the cards, strategy changes every game)
Ticket to Ride (Fairly simple game, but good for us geography buffs)
Pandemic (It's a co-op game, I've never actually played it, but everyone else loves it, it fits the science theme as well)
Ricochet Robots (I've only had one friend with this, but I remember playing it for like 12 hours straight)
Balderdash (The classic version though, new version sucks)
Cranium (Probably a game people have actually heard of -- great fun, and with teams you can have lots of people play at once)
Abalone (two player board game -- like reversi, but not at all)
Race for the Galaxy (Such a science-y game, but really steep learning curve)
Amun-Re (Nice Egypt theme for Sarah S, haha, but it's really fun, it's like a more complex, shorter version of Settlers)
Puerto Rico (my friend Dan kills me at this every time, but yeah, for some reason though this game reminds me of the TV show apprentice, it's like business back in the day, well structured, fair game though, like it's ranked number 1 on boardgamegeek)
Agricola (A farm/civilization based game, played it once, steep learning curve, but looks really fun if you learn it well)
Ingenious (unlike any game I've ever played, another one that strong logicians/mathematicians can pick up on really fast)

Traditional Games:

Chess (We need a copy of chess!!)
Scrabble (Also fun for dirty scrabble haha)
Risk (Used to love it, but games are too long, not sure if it would be good to have)
Diplomacy (See above but 10 times longer)
Battleship (Simple fun game, could be easy to get)
Boggle (My personal favourite haha)
Mastermind (Not sure if people are familiar with this game, but it develops amazing code-breaking and combinatorics skills for such a simple game)
Othello (Another personal favourite)
Trivial Pursuit (Any edition... I'm expecting some Trivia Buffs coming in, and I know in our year we have some former Reachers too)
Clue (I dislike this game, but I have an extra copy I can lend)
Apples to Apples (I can see this as a popular choice after projects when we want to wind down)
Settlers of Catan (everyone knows Catan now it seems, long but fun game)
Rushhour (I loved this game as a kid, it's one player, but nice puzzle game to have if you're bored)

Also we need some decks of cards! Preferably science-themed, haha. We can have our Euchre games, and we can all teach each other new games. I'm still looking for some people to play President (or Big 2) with! And we need some epic Signal games too. Also we need poker chips, definitely need poker chips.

If people have these games (iSci 2013 or iSci 2014), and have an extra copy to lend to iSci, that would be highly appreciated!

Also post here if you have other ideas for board games, or opinions on the ones listed above. If you are unfamiliar with some, they should be on boardgamegeek.com if you want to find out more about them.

Regards!

Monopoly! That's so classic we have to include it, even though it will take like 6 hours to play a game.

This actually sounds pretty awesome! Hopefully I can find time to play once or twice...

I have a really fun game that I will donate, it's called killer bunnies, it is REALLY fun!

APPLES TO APPLES YES

Trivia! and i will once again beat scot...

i have a game called WTF... i just have to find where it's packed lol... it's a drinking game soo... maybe we could meet on friday nights for these games

also, risk is best game ever

Haha, good suggestions guys.

Of course Monopoly is a good classic we should definitely consider, I'm sure someone might have a spare copy lying around that we could use.

I've never played Killer Bunnies, Scot, but I looked it up online, and it looks really cool, I'd be excited to play it. It reminds me a bit of Dominion (though only in format -- gameplay looks very different)

Of course, yeah, Apples to Apples is always fun, and some Trivia games. To Yohan and Scot: If you guys have Reach or maybe Quizbowl packages lying around we could use those. Perhaps we could invest in a set of iSci buzzers too and set up some organized trivia tournaments..?

Haha, yeah I remember playing WTF with Kieran a few times, it's a good one. Not sure if it'll fit well with the iSci board game collection at Thode... it would be interesting seeing the profs come join in, haha.

I played the game "Tigris and Euphrates" yesterday, it was actually really fun... a 3-4 player game, based on building and stealing kingdoms, it's actually really deep strategy. And also played 4-player variants of Bang and Shadow Hunters -- those two are way too fun to not have.

It's going to be difficult narrowing down games to get for our first batch!

^^Also we could look into making buzzers, I don't have the electrical expertise, but it would be a cool project if someone knew what they were doing.

Hahaha! We should ask the Math Wars people for help on the buzzers LOL

lol.

Their buzzers were a complete failure. Let's find somebody else to ask

im sure i can steal borrow quizbowl's buzzers if we need them...

lol, do we hafta be THAT intense bout this stuff

haha, yeah. nick you gotta bring a poker set by the way. let's see if i can beat you in a game of heads up.

legit guys, I might be able to bring a poker set if anybody is interested

Yohan actually bought some poker stuff (except for cards) for iSci, that for some reason I have, so we should be good

poker for sure everyone. I'm thinking a isci series of poker?

haha yeah, i'd be down for that. we should have like isci poker rankings and stuff haha, like total winnings... would be fun.

lolllll let's make it an isci+artsci thing that'd be pretty cool and we'd get more ppl

totally man, i'd be in favour for a joint artsci thing! everyone contact your artsci friends to see if theyd be down for something like this.

isci+ artsci would be sickkk.... we could also do black jack and count cards and totally own artsci!!

haha, nice. i like the way you think alex!!

i'm looking into buying some games for the upstart... so i'll try to get 5 or 6 (but i'll need to have a guarantee we can each pitch in $5 -- or at least those willing to participate).

i'll try to send out a more formal e-mail first to all first years and second years, probably during welcome week. so stay tuned.

also, any more game suggestions (though i think the goal is to try out some of the more strategy-intensive euro-type games) please post them here.

PUERTO RICO FTW! I just got it for my friend for his B-day, WE LOVE IT! It is the best game ever! it is sooo complex yet so simple. We must have puerto rico for iSci. Also, there is a hairy tarantula (they have low prices and a large selection of board games Euro and otherwise) near my place in TO, so I could pick up a few board games for iSci. also Munchkin is a really good card (it is NOT a playing card game) game, it is relaxed and very funny.

im surprised no one has requested the board game "research lab" from the big bang theory yet...

I'm in for Puerto Rico. Never played it, but I've heard good things about it.