Because I Have To

This post is to say that I beat Mark at Caylus for the first time (two player). Caylus is 0.5% luck (and only at the very beginning, when the initial tiles are placed). I think I'm getting better at strategy games. A couple of weeks ago I beat him at Stratego (two player) also a very non-luck game. Oh! And Quarto. That's another good strategy one. First I won, and then we tied (we played a couple of times because that game is really, really short). Anyway, this post is just to rub in the fact that I can be better than Mark at strategy games sometimes. (And I won't mention all of the games I lost between those ones because then I wouldn't look as cool.)

Additions to the Fun

Because Mark's little brother left on a mission, we have acquired some fun toys. Kai gave us (to keep safe for 2 years) his XBox 360 and GameCube, complete with many games. Currently our favorite video games are Guitar Hero (wahoo!) and Assassins Creed (which I just watch). We finally bought a bookshelf to hold our video games and movies. The fun keeps coming, so come on over!

Game Descriptions

I just created a link to boardgamegeeks.com for each game on our list. Just click on the game you want to learn about and wham! You're there. Disclaimer: The boardgamegeeks website may list different time to play for some games and may also rate them differently. The ratings are all a matter of opinion, and the time to play that we have in our list comes from our experience.

The List

Title	Publisher	Time (min)	# of Players	Rating
Race for the Galaxy	Rio Grande	40	2-4	10
Saint Petersburg	Rio Grande	45	2-4	10
Vikings	Rio Grande	45	2-4	10
Power Grid	Rio Grande	60	2-6	10
Puerto Rico	Rio Grande	60	3-5	10
Robo Rally	Avalon Hill	60	2-8	10
Caylus	Rio Grande	90	2-5	10
Killer Bunnies	Playroom Ent.	90	2-8	10
Blokus	StrataGems	30	2-4	9
Citadels	Silver Line	30	2-8	9
Acquire	Avalon Hill	45	2-5	9
Alhambra	Queen Games	45	2-6	9
Pirate’s Cove	Days of Wonder	45	2-5	9
Scotland Yard	Ravensburger	45	3-6	9
Thurn and Taxis	Rio Grande	45	2-4	9
Settlers (Zarahemla)	Mayfair Games	60	2-4	9
Yspahan	Rio Grande	30	3-4	8
Arkadia	Ravensburger	45	2-4	8
Bohnanza	Rio Grande	45	2-6	8
Louis XIV	Rio Grande	45	2-4	8
Ticket to Ride	Days of Wonder	45	2-5	8
Princes of Florence	Alea	90	3-5	8
Rail Baron	Avalon Hill	180	2-6	8
Fluxx	Looney Labs	10	2-8	7
Loot	Gamewright	15	2-8	7
Glass Chess	N/A	25	2	7
Arc of the Covenant	Uberplay	30	2-5	7
Guillotine	Wizards	30	2-5	7
Ultimate Stratego	Winning Moves	30	2 or 4	7
Mark’s Game	Mark Anderson	45	2-5	7
Nertz	N/A	45	3-6	7
Ra	Uberplay	45	3-5	7
Zooloreto	Rio Grande	45	2-5	7
Tikal	Rio Grande	60	2-4	7
Dracula	Rio Grande	15	2	6
Authors	U.S. Games	30	2-5	6
Labyrinth (Board)	Ravensburger	30	1-4	6
Labyrinth (Card)	Ravensburger	30	2-6	6
Mag Blast	Silver Line	30	2-8	6
Quiddler	Set Enterprises	30	1-8	6
Rook	Parker Bros	45	2-6	6
Whoonu	Cranium	15	3-6	5
Fish Eat Fish	Out of the Box	20	2-5	5
Mille Bornes	Winning Moves	20	2-4 or 6	5
Set	Set Enterprises	20	1+	5
Cityscape	Pin	30	2-4	5
Perudo (Liar’s Dice)	Reveal Ent.	30	2-6	5
Pit	Hasbro	30	3-8	5
Cranium	Cranium	45	2-4	5
Munchkin	Steve Jackson	45	2-6	5
Queen’s Necklace	Days of Wonder	45	2-5	5
True Colors	Pressman	45	3-8	5
Clue	Parker Bros	60	3-6	5
Quarto	Gigamic	20	2	4
Stealth Chess	Dice Corp.	25	2	4
Dominoes	Cardinal	30	2-8	4
Newlywed Game	Endless Games	30	2-4 couples	4
Xactica	Set Enterprises	30	2-10	4
Phase 10 Dice	Fundex	45	1+	4
Rummikub	Pressman	45	2-4	4
Yahtzee	Parker Bros	45	2-6	4
Scrabble	Parker Bros	60	2-4	4
Conquest of Pangea	Winning Moves	90	2-4	4
Monopoly	Parker Bros	240	2-8	4
Bang	Mayfair Games	30	4-7	3
In A Pickle	Gamewright	30	2-6	3
Apples to Apples	Out of the Box	30	4-10	2
Twister	Milton Bradley	30	2+	2
Uno	Mattel	20	2-10	1
Racko	Parker Bros	30	2-4	1
Family Feud	Endless Games	30	4-8	n/a
Password	Endless Games	30	3+	n/a
Totally Insane Card	The Fowlers	45	4-12	n/a

This list is not final draft. The games rated at a 10 are not in order from most favorite to least favorite within the rating, but that feature will be added soon-ish.