Boardgames anyone?

[Marshal]

I play a lot of board games and, since lockdown, I've found a load of ways of playing on line. I just thought it might be of interest here as it's one way of feeling you have done something social with your time; certainly helped me feel less isolated.
There are a load of games available. I use Board Game Arena a lot because it has a good range of games from simple card games up to some fairly hefty building and trading games as well as opportunities to blow each others spaceships to dust 
Most of the games are free to play, though they are charging for more now, and you do need to run something like Skype or Zoom alongside them so players can talk to each other. Happy to give more info if anyone's interested.

Marshal

[biglouis]

Thanks for this. I know board games can be addictive and I enjoy playing chess, scrabble and card games with my computer from time to time. Unfortunately they can take up a lot of time when you have a business to run.

[Scrumpy]

Thank you Marshal.. I play a couple of games online.. and talk to others that are playing at the table.. I play scrabble with my family..  do the odd jigsaw puzzle and a game of poker .
I don't pay for any games..
I didn't know how to play poker when I started but have learned as I have gone along.. Interesting people from all over the world... we chat..

[biglouis]

I learned to play poker, rummy, brag etc as a kid. One of the skills I learned from my father. We played for match sticks. Fortunately I never got into gambling.

[Michael Rolls]

I play chess against the computer. I guess it is a sign of an inferiority complex that I play at a level where, despite sometimes a hard struggle, I win
Mike 

[GrannyMac]

I play chess online against my son. I rarely win, only if he drops a clanger.  I also play Word, a scrabble game against a few people online, including my husband. We have a jigsaw on the go, and I've ordered a couple online.

I want to take up bridge again once lockdown is over.

[Marshal]

I play chess against the computer. I guess it is a sign of an inferiority complex that I play at a level where, despite sometimes a hard struggle, I win
Mike 

I know how you feel, Michael. My way of getting round that is to play games with a lot of chance in so that I can always blame the cards/dice rather than my strategy 

[Michael Rolls]

Good point - I do also play solitaire, but console myself that it is no more intellectually challenging than tossing a coin. Oh, and a few times, I have tried to play  against the computer at its highest level. Never lasted more than half a dozen moves or so! 😥😥😥
Mike

[biglouis]

One of the courses I really enjoyed at uni was military studies. No prizes for guessing I was the only female on the course. I always fancied getting into some of the war and strategy games that you can play internationally but they are soooo time consuming. I like the idea where you build a civilization and then send plague, fire and pestilence down upon it to see what happens.


Perhaps we are all puppets in a game where some entity is doing that to us!

[Marshal]

Good point - I do also play solitaire, but console myself that it is no more intellectually challenging than tossing a coin. Oh, and a few times, I have tried to play  against the computer at its highest level. Never lasted more than half a dozen moves or so! 😥😥😥
Mike

Yes - not sure what it is with chess, but I'm often beaten in a dozen moves and I can never really work out how they did it. That's why I like games like Risk (and there's much, much better versions out these days). There's a sort of on-line Risk here: https://www.warzone.com/
I just won the first round anyway 

[Marshal]

One of the courses I really enjoyed at uni was military studies. No prizes for guessing I was the only female on the course. I always fancied getting into some of the war and strategy games that you can play internationally but they are soooo time consuming. I like the idea where you build a civilization and then send plague, fire and pestilence down upon it to see what happens.

There's some serious games like that use a system called Vassal. I know what you mean about how long they can go on but I've actually played more Big Games since lockdown because you just stop and save when you've had enough and come back to continue whenever it suits.

Perhaps we are all puppets in a game where some entity is doing that to us!

It would explain a lot 

[biglouis]

I read too much sci fi - probably

[Michael Rolls]

I used to work with someone who reckoned that, just as Greek playwrights depicted humans as the playthings of the Gods, so there were some sort of superior beings, so vast that we could no more understand them than an ant could understand you or me, and they had invented us for their entertainment. I was never really sure if he actually believed it, or was just trying to wind people up
Mike

[Marshal]

I read too much sci fi - probably

Unfortunately, you may need to watch this....

[Michael Rolls]

I see the makers of Monopoly are now following the woke route
Mike