SIMPLE GAMES
This was originally posted as a thread on Facebook in the immediate aftermath of everyone being ordered to STAY HOME as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The intention is to list some of the solid, simple, more traditional games that can be played with things that are likely to be close at hand: cards, dice, counters, etc...
There is much quality to be found among modern commercial euro-style board games, but in a lockdown down situation it's perhaps worth looking back to some of the foundations that those games were built upon.
Last Revised: 7th April 2020
PLAYING CARDS
If you are isolated, and you do not already own playing cards (you probably do), get some! Most convenience stores will have these at £1 or less. Books containing 100s of games are relatively straightforward to find and how-to-play information for most, if not all, of those games will also be readily available for free online.
There are only FOUR basic card games:
- Rummy - Set Collection
- Whist - Trick Taking
- Patience [aka. Solitaire (US)] - Sequencing
- Poker/Brag - Probability
Everything else is, to varying degrees, combinations and variations of these mechanics.
- Set Collection Card Games
... start with the most basic children's Memory game, where you deal out all of the cards face down, and reveal them trying to find pairs (sets of two). SNAP! is another game where you are simply looking for pairs of matching cards. This progresses to Happy Families [aka. Go Fish (US)] and the entire Rummy family of card games (forming Sets or Sequences of 3-4 cards) and forms the basis of more advanced card games like Canasta; tile games: Mah Jongg; and board games: Ticket to Ride, etc.
- Trick Taking Card Games
... are the most basic form of Resource Management game: "What is the least valuable card I can spend to win (or burn) this trick?", where a trick is a sequence of cards won (usually) by the single highest value card played.
Whist is the foundation for this family of card games, which reaches its pinnacle with the potentially lifelong obsession: Bridge.
- Sequencing Games
Patience [aka. Solitaire (US)] is the perfect solo game. There are hundreds of variants, some are pure luck, some rewards a degree of analysis and skill. The most common hit the sweet spot of being just hard enough to retain player interest, without being so difficult to win that the game becomes frustrating.
For years Solitaire was an absolute staple of the Windows operating system. As I understand things, it is no longer installed by default in Windows 10 but remains available for free among the catalogue of official Windows Apps (Search: Simple Solitaire in the Windows Store).
Arkham Noir is a recent commercial game that draws heavily on classic patience mechanics.
- Probability Games
Poker, Brag and the entire family of games where you are betting on the probability that your combination of cards is more obscure than any other players are ultimately gambling games and it's up to you if/when want to open that can of worms with your children.
The relative value of the various poker hands is good general knowledge to have, even if you don't really expect to play all that often. If you want a solid basic gambling game suitable for a lot of players (and which is more luck than judgement) New Market is a good place to start.
Arguably, the principle that: "During any gambling game the majority of players lose", is something that is better learned young and while playing with counters, rather than later playing for money.
The recently popular Texas Hold'em poker variant strikes a nice balance where the chips on the table and the stakes for the game are kept separate (eg. everyone has T$1000 - Table-Dollars - to bet/win/lose during the game, whereas the actual prize fund might consist of only £1 from each player).
A game that I first encountered as Injun - where you draw one card and place it against your forehead, so that everyone can see it except you and then bet on whether you have the highest card - is one that has recently seen commercial production with fancy headbands to stick the card into. It's an interesting simple deduction game, that shows up in films from time to time.
- Cribbage
... combines many of the above mechanics and remains an excellent game for 2-players.
NINE MEN'S MORRIS
... begins with an empty board. The players determine who plays first, then take turns placing their men one per play on empty points. If a player is able to place three of their pieces on contiguous points in a straight line, vertically or horizontally, they have formed a mill and may remove one of their opponent's pieces from the board and the game ...
The small Clifton Road Games carrier bags have for many years been printed with a board for playing this game.
MONOPOLY JUNIOR
... remains one of a tiny handful of 'commercial' board games that I suggest for very young children.
Hobby board gamers are generally pretty negative about Monopoly and consequently tend not to give the junior version so much as a second glance. Junior Monopoly, however, accelerates to a conclusion (instead of bogging down like the traditional version tends to), speeds up if players begin to lose interest, is instantly recognisable to adults, and playable by anyone who can count to 10 and handle a few basic colours.
Cheap (by modern quality board game standards) and widely available.
CHEKOV
... is a game by Maureen Hiron - look her up, she's pretty fascinating - played with three regular dice on a 6x6 grid.
Roll the dice, choose two, claim the number (eg. if you choose 2+6, you can claim 26 or 62). Three in a row scores points.
Easy to make, easy to play, easy to create your own variations. Somewhat harder to obtain an official copy at the moment.
YAHTZEE
... is also a solid traditional dice game, based loosely on poker, that teaches players to quickly evaluate probabilities with 6-sided dice. Score sheets - the only physical component beyond the 5 dice - are easily found online.
Cubes/Dice are also pretty easy to make and, unless they are VERY small, they really do not need to be all that regular to produce a fair distribution of results.