{"items": [{"author": "Jeremy", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648129855452", "anchor": "fb-648129855452", "service": "fb", "text": "Jeff, have you played \"Escape: The Curse of the Temple\" yet? I like how it combines the \"real time\" dynamic with cooperative play.", "timestamp": "1391992678"}, {"author": "Jeannine", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648130429302", "anchor": "fb-648130429302", "service": "fb", "text": "There's also Jungle Speed with no strategy needed, but also no downtime.", "timestamp": "1391992943"}, {"author": "Maxwell", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648131671812", "anchor": "fb-648131671812", "service": "fb", "text": "There's also a true classic: Diplomacy. Everyone writes down their orders simultaneously. It encourages lying and backstabbing, because you can't wait and see what someone else did and reciprocate in kind. :-)", "timestamp": "1391993457"}, {"author": "Bill", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648138857412", "anchor": "fb-648138857412", "service": "fb", "text": "My favorite is Pit, everyone all the time.  Second favorite is spoons.  Neither one are board games, though.", "timestamp": "1391996760"}, {"author": "Jeannine", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648140035052", "anchor": "fb-648140035052", "service": "fb", "text": "spoons is awesome!", "timestamp": "1391997008"}, {"author": "Emery", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648148044002", "anchor": "fb-648148044002", "service": "fb", "text": "Have you tried 7 Wonders?", "timestamp": "1391998236"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648148453182", "anchor": "fb-648148453182", "service": "fb", "text": "@Emery: Yes! Another good game with this feel.", "timestamp": "1391998294"}, {"author": "Maxwell", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648149032022", "anchor": "fb-648149032022", "service": "fb", "text": "Hungry Hungry Hippos. Just saying.", "timestamp": "1391998358"}, {"author": "Linda", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648155893272", "anchor": "fb-648155893272", "service": "fb", "text": "I found Clue a lot of fun.", "timestamp": "1391999010"}, {"author": "Josh", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648159880282", "anchor": "fb-648159880282", "service": "fb", "text": "Falling!", "timestamp": "1391999330"}, {"author": "Jan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648169905192", "anchor": "fb-648169905192", "service": "fb", "text": "Set.", "timestamp": "1392000304"}, {"author": "Jim", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648180753452", "anchor": "fb-648180753452", "service": "fb", "text": "Professor Pugnacious Portfolio of Perils, Pugilism and Perfidy (written by a rationalist acquaintance of mine) has this. (It's a deckbuilding game; think Dominion. We have a copy at Citadel.)", "timestamp": "1392001743"}, {"author": "Mark", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/105303832002231091966", "anchor": "gp-1392002540726", "service": "gp", "text": "Have you played Eminent Domain? \u00a0It's as if Dominion and Race for the Galaxy had a baby. \u00a0On each player's turn, that player plays an action (Dominion style) and then chooses a role (RftG style) that other players can also take part in.", "timestamp": 1392002540}, {"author": "Maia", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648195369162", "anchor": "fb-648195369162", "service": "fb", "text": "Jim: That game sounds really good. Could you let your acquaintance know that the \"Where to Buy\" link on their website currently returns a 404?", "timestamp": "1392004344"}, {"author": "Aleksandra", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648196067762", "anchor": "fb-648196067762", "service": "fb", "text": "This is one of the reasons that I love bananagrams and its variations. (I particularly like the version where anyone can jump in at any point and steal words from other players.)", "timestamp": "1392004692"}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/112947709146257842066", "anchor": "gp-1392005086608", "service": "gp", "text": "@David&nbsp;German\n\u00a0Simultaneous turns 2-board Acquire!", "timestamp": 1392005086}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/112947709146257842066", "anchor": "gp-1392005220967", "service": "gp", "text": "Personally, I'm not a big fan of real-time board games, as opposed to just simultaneous turns ala Race. When I play a board game I'm not looking to test my twitch skills, and that's one reason I find Galaxy Trucker problematic.", "timestamp": 1392005220}, {"author": "Brendan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648199740402", "anchor": "fb-648199740402", "service": "fb", "text": "Maia: I pm'd him about it.", "timestamp": "1392007205"}, {"author": "Sasha", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648222963862", "anchor": "fb-648222963862", "service": "fb", "text": "I second Seven Wonders - I don't think it's a great game, but it's a great game for seven people who don't want to split and who want something lighter than Diplomacy.<br><br>If you like Galaxy Trucker, you should look up Space Alert, also by Vlaada Chvatil. It's a co-op game where your timer is based on a CD playback.<br><br>Also I think Robo Rally is one of the most underrated games ever - 1-8 people program their pet robot at the same time, then resolve simultaneously with priorities defined by the commands (and there's an hourglass timer which you theoretically flip when the penultimate player finishes choosing their command, though if you're feeling ambitious you might agree to do it sooner).", "timestamp": "1392036398"}, {"author": "Tom", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648225019742", "anchor": "fb-648225019742", "service": "fb", "text": "I second Diplomacy - I'm currently inviting some EAs I know to an online game at playdiplomacy.com , so if anyone wants to give it a go you can join this at https://www.facebook.com/tog22/posts/10100726902658409...", "timestamp": "1392039554"}, {"author": "Jan-Willem", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/100580955183019057735", "anchor": "gp-1392040033077", "service": "gp", "text": "I learned Eminent Domain yesterday and I'm not sure the three of us playing made any sense of it. \u00a0You need to thin your deck, but in order to thin your deck you need a strategy, and in order to have a strategy you need some idea of what the heck you think you're doing.", "timestamp": 1392040033}, {"author": "Oz", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648225873032", "anchor": "fb-648225873032", "service": "fb", "text": "Sushi Go is our current favourite for this; with everyone acting at once, and each phase being so quick the game gets really frenetic and fun", "timestamp": "1392040281"}, {"author": "Mark", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/105303832002231091966", "anchor": "gp-1392041826869", "service": "gp", "text": "The learning curve is steep, but worth it, as far as I'm concerned. I finally got a produce/trade strategy to work yesterday and it was glorious.", "timestamp": 1392041826}, {"author": "Mark", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/105303832002231091966", "anchor": "gp-1392042471929", "service": "gp", "text": "Also take a look at Gravwell and Adel Verpflichtet/By Hook or By Crook/Hoity Toity (same game, but different editions have different names).", "timestamp": 1392042471}, {"author": "Mark", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/105303832002231091966", "anchor": "gp-1392042535818", "service": "gp", "text": "Also also, I'd be interested in hearing more about this double-Acquire variant.", "timestamp": 1392042535}, {"author": "Karl", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648232978792", "anchor": "fb-648232978792", "service": "fb", "text": "Race For The Galaxy is one of my favorites. Moves pretty quickly, and has a nice bit of strategy. The base game is quite good, and the expansions make it excellent by adding new abilities and strategy paths.", "timestamp": "1392046832"}, {"author": "Sarah", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648235982772", "anchor": "fb-648235982772", "service": "fb", "text": "My favorite real-time is \"Falling\" by Cheapass Games. http://www.cheapass.com/node/45", "timestamp": "1392049385"}, {"author": "Michael", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648236337062", "anchor": "fb-648236337062", "service": "fb", "text": "I would put in a vote for \"Forbidden Island\". While it's turn based, it's a cooperative game. That is, everyone wins or everyone loses. Kibbitzing is encouraged and, I think, necessary. As such, even though it's turn based, one is always involved in the decision making process of what every player will do during their turn. Also, the game mechanics are rather clever too.<br><br>More recently a harder \"Forbidden Desert\" has come out. We're still working on winning that one.", "timestamp": "1392049592"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648290932652", "anchor": "fb-648290932652", "service": "fb", "text": "@Michael: does Forbidden Island manage to avoid the trap where some cooperative games (ex: Pandemic) it can turn into \"the most experienced player tells everyone else what to do\"?  You can avoid this socially, by trying, but it's easier as part of the game, giving people some important information that they can't easily share and requires each person to be thinking and working.", "timestamp": "1392080636"}, {"author": "opted out", "source_link": "#", "anchor": "unknown", "service": "unknown", "text": "this user has requested that their comments not be shown here", "timestamp": "1392080992"}, {"author": "Michael", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648296561372", "anchor": "fb-648296561372", "service": "fb", "text": "@Jeff, I looked up Forbidden Island on boardgamegeek.com earlier today and learned that the game play is similar to Pandemic (with which I'm not familiar). So I guess it's possible to fall into that trap. However, it's not been my experience. Maybe I just play with nicer people. :-) As a guess, it's also possible that Forbidden Island has fewer factors involved in achieving goals so it's easier for someone to come up to speed and any \"experience gap\" lasts for a fairly short time.", "timestamp": "1392083308"}, {"author": "Marcus", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648307639172", "anchor": "fb-648307639172", "service": "fb", "text": "Having played both, and similarly worry about the cooperative game trap (I had a long livejournal post on this), I have found that Forbidden Island is less prone to the trap than Pandemic... but I'm not entirely sure why. Michael's guess about fewer factors is a possibility - but hypothetically, that should make for less interesting gameplay because that just means the optimal solution is more obvious. Anyway, this is why I like Betrayal at the House on the Hill, because the first half is selfish-cooperative, and the second half is (usually) all vs. one, but doesn't feel as competitive as other board games. Betrayal also involves world-building, which is a mechanic I'm fond of. (Arkham Horror is the other cooperative game I've played, but it very much suffered from Pandemic-ness).", "timestamp": "1392088591"}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648315513392", "anchor": "fb-648315513392", "service": "fb", "text": "\"does Forbidden Island manage to avoid the trap where some cooperative games (ex: Pandemic) it can turn into \"the most experienced player tells everyone else what to do\"?\"<br><br>No.", "timestamp": "1392093293"}, {"author": "Josh", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648316157102", "anchor": "fb-648316157102", "service": "fb", "text": "Did someone already mention Incan Gold?", "timestamp": "1392093992"}, {"author": "Margot", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648370448302", "anchor": "fb-648370448302", "service": "fb", "text": "Quick and math-y: 6 Nimmt (or Slide 5 - same mechanics, different graphics)", "timestamp": "1392152700"}, {"author": "Sasha", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648438327272", "anchor": "fb-648438327272", "service": "fb", "text": "Re Elliot, Robo Rally just times the slow player out, so that shouldn't be a problem. There's nothing particularly difficult about introducing such a mechanism to any simultaneous games either.", "timestamp": "1392212919"}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648482119512", "anchor": "fb-648482119512", "service": "fb", "text": "Sasha In the case of 7 Wonders, at least, that's not true, because the mechanics break if someone doesn't make their pick. Though I don't really agree with Elliot that 7 Wonders proceeds slowly enough to worry about it. The only problem I've really had with 7 Wonders is when the speed differential causes people to get confused about how many cards they're supposed to have.", "timestamp": "1392240968"}, {"author": "opted out", "source_link": "#", "anchor": "unknown", "service": "unknown", "text": "this user has requested that their comments not be shown here", "timestamp": "1392241346"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648485188362", "anchor": "fb-648485188362", "service": "fb", "text": "@Elliot: It sounds like RoboRally and 7 Wonders aren't good fits for the crowds you've been playing with.  I'm used to always playing RR with the timer, and playing 7W with people who decide very quickly, and then that's less of a problem.  Come play with us when you're in Boston?", "timestamp": "1392243381"}, {"author": "Jeff&nbsp;Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648485397942", "anchor": "fb-648485397942", "service": "fb", "text": "@Todd: \"the mechanics break if someone doesn't make their pick\"<br><br>Fix: if you fail to pick by the time the timer runs down you discard a card for 3 money, chosen randomly.", "timestamp": "1392243480"}, {"author": "Todd", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648485497742", "anchor": "fb-648485497742", "service": "fb", "text": "That would work", "timestamp": "1392243531"}, {"author": "Sasha", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648486904922", "anchor": "fb-648486904922", "service": "fb", "text": "Or you just play a card randomly, with the option of discarding it (the only option, if it's an illegal play).", "timestamp": "1392244520"}, {"author": "David&nbsp;Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/106120852580068301475", "anchor": "gp-1392257934260", "service": "gp", "text": "Diplomacy! ", "timestamp": 1392257934}, {"author": "Brayden", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/648125663852?comment_id=648541944622", "anchor": "fb-648541944622", "service": "fb", "text": "Thomas Eliot is the designer of Professor Pugnacious' Portfolio of Perils, Pugilism and Perfidy, and I imagine would have something to contribute to this discussion", "timestamp": "1392278980"}, {"author": "Will", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/115623320734956550423", "anchor": "gp-1392307718680", "service": "gp", "text": "It's not exactly real-time, but Arkham Horror tends to not have much waiting since everyone takes their turns at the same time and if you have each player play 2 or 3 characters, difficult (i.e. time consuming) moves tend to be distributed pretty well.", "timestamp": 1392307718}, {"author": "Jan-Willem", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/100580955183019057735", "anchor": "gp-1392478994125", "service": "gp", "text": "Thinking about this some more, I think there are two possible factors at work here. \u00a0One is the downtime factor: Am I engaged with the game [nearly] all the time? \u00a0If everyone's taking turns simultaneously then yes. \u00a0But there are other ways to do it, like the Role mechanic in Puerto Rico where everyone gets a go and a go never takes very long.\n<br>\n<br>\nThe other part is player engagement / interaction, and here the \"everyone goes at once\" games are distinctly a mixed bag. \u00a0Spit is basically solitaire where we're competing from a common deck. \u00a0Boggle is basically solitaire except for the fact that we compare notes at the end and some of my points turn out to not count. \u00a0Something like Space Alert, on the other hand, requires a pretty continuous conversation between all the participants.", "timestamp": 1392478994}]}