[Kuinn Stormbringer]

Heh heh heh...I always liked Payday. That is, until I acutally had to work for a living!

[Uzo]

Catan is at the top of my list as well. When it was first described to me, I thought it sounded stupid. Then a couple of years later, I downloaded a demo of it for XBox and after playing a couple of games went out and bought a copy of the board game. I've played a lot of games of Catan, but probably not to the extent that you have. I currently only own the core game and the 5-6 expansion, but want to pick up the other expansions eventually.

Originally Posted by Loremaster

It's hard for me to narrow it down, but probably at the top of the list is Settlers of Catan. I played it a bunch with a friend, then dropped a hundred dollars (ten of it shipping from Fargo, mind you I was living on student loans at the time) on Settlers, Seafarers and the 5-6 expansions for both. I took a couple of days playing with the sets, figuring out how to get a good land-to-water ratio on a random board. So when most people were playing scenarios, I brought a randomized board that, after playtesting, was very popular. I'll post it on request.

There's not many games that I know I've played 200 hundred times, but Settlers is one. It's one of those games that non-gamers would look at and think its weird, and then sit down and really enjoy it.

[Loremaster]

Well, with a title like that, it has to be a zombie game!

Made by the Flying Frog (which also made A Touch of Evil, above), once again we have a board game where players control different characters and play different missions, this time on a somewhat randomized board. Unlike A Touch of Evil, Last Night on Earth is always played competitively. There are always 4 Hero Characters, and one (or two) players commands the horde of zombies that try to kill the characters.

The typical mission is to kill 15 zombies in 15 turns, or you run out of daylight and the zombies automatically win. The zombies also win if they kill at least two of the four characters, that's it. The characters are resourceful with ranged weapons and specail abiltiies, able to take multiple hits and trade items amongst each other. The zombies, well... they outnumber you, move slower but surround you with mob tactics, and the zombie player is always drawing cards used to give bonuses to combat or play events. The players only draw a card (like to get a weapon) when they search inside a building. So the zombie player seems to be at a huge advantage, so the players HAVE to work together to survive, like holeing up in the same building, using baiting or hit-and-run tactics, etc. There are 4 other kinds of missions as well. There is also an expansion set that I haven't bought.

Problem is, some of the gamers that I play with, especially the wife, DO NOT like competitive play. Playing nice in this game will quickly give the game away. If all players play without holding back, the game is usually close at the end. The point is, with intelligent people working with and against you, you're usually going to have a challenge.

This game doesn't have near the countless counters and game pieces that A Touc of Evil has. There a 8 character and 5 different missions. 6 L-shaped boards go around a central, double-sided square (you use 4 of the 6 in a game), which have the town buildings on them. So like Settlers, the boad is different every time!

The game's website:
http://www.flyingfrog.net/lastnightonearth/