What Should You Do When Your Games Suck?
I like games. There are lots of games I like a lot. And then there are these games. These are games you should avoid at all costs because, simply put, they suck.
It’s not too hard, as you’ll see to find better games you can buy to replace them.
YCCM:TBCG
First up is You Can’t Check Me: The Basketball Card Game. I thought about saving the worst for last, but then I decided to get it out of the way, so I wouldn’t have to think about it anymore. YCCM:TBCG is so bad I wouldn’t even trade it away. I’d almost feel obligated to pay you to take it off my hands.
Remember the game of War you played with a regular deck of 52 cards as a kid? This game has some similarities to that one, but War is better because you can use that same deck of cards for lots of other good games. The only other use I can think of for the cards in YCCM:TBCG is kindling.
If you’re looking for a good sports or dexterity game, try one of these instead.
- Pizza Box Football
- BAS-KET
- StreetSoccer
- Strat-O-Matic Baseball
- Rod Hockey
- Crokinole
Snakes and Ladders
This is an iconic (even ancient) children’s game that is almost as bright and colorful as Candyland but that’s unfortunately the best thing I can say about it.
You may remember this one fondly from your childhood, but that’s probably only because there weren’t very many good games pre-1995.
Games that rely totally on the roll of a die just aren’t all that exciting. If you want a game with more interesting uses of dice, try these.
- Biblios (aka Scripts & Scribes)
- Dice Town
- Gemlok
- Kingsburg
- Yspahan
A Question of Scruples
The only real question worth asking about this game is this: Who were the unscrupulous designers who invented this awful game, and what were they thinking?
This is a big box of cards with questions that, often as not, require you to reveal things about yourself that you don’t want other people to know or else to lie about the same. And this is supposed to be fun? I can only see bad things resulting from playing this game.
If you want a good game with card – question cards or others – you’ll be much safer and happier trying any of these.
- Bohnanza
- Flaschenteufel
- For Sale
- Glory to Rome
- Lords of Scotland
- Lost Cities
- Quiddler
- Saint Petersburg
- San Juan
- Race for the Galaxy
- Set
- Tichu
- Wits & Wagers
Power Barons
This game would probably remind you of Risk at first because it employs a game board showing the countries of the world. For all its flaws (such as its length and use of player elimination), Risk is still a far better game than Power Barons, which can suffer from the runaway leader problem.
Better board games than Power Barons? Oi. Where to start and when to stop? Any of these will do.
- Agricola
- El Grande
- Galaxy Trucker
- Carcassonne
- Ticket ot Ride
- Dungeon Lords
- Dungeon Petz
- The Pillars of the Earth
- Caylus
Guest Host
The premise of this game is just silly. You’re asked questions as if they’re coming from a late night talk show host. Think: Jay Leno or more likely Johnny Carson, based on the game’s publication date. The poorly worded questions though don’t resemble anything such a host would ever ask.
Also, you should have been born pre-1970 or so, or else be a real movie buff, if you expect to recognize enough of the people in the answers.
Your time would be much more wisely spent playing any of these fun board games.
- Le Havre
- Amun-Re
- At the Gates of Loyang
- Trollhalla
- Small World
Sudoku
Really? Several people have tried to make a game of these solo puzzles. To my knowledge, none have succeeded. It’s a numbers logic puzzle for one person. Let it be!
If you want a little logic in your board games, play these instead.
- FITS
- Hey! That’s My Fish!
- Mr. Jack
- Mystery of the Abbey
- Scotland Yard
- Timbuktu