Tabletop Board Gaming Thread

Casual Discussion
1

Our Family loves to play board games.

We have a Podcast called, “The Catholic Board Gamer,” but we haven’t recorded in a while.

Here are some Catholic Bingo Cards that we made that you can download for free : )

My current favorite Board Game is “Architects of the West Kingdom,” where you are building a Cathedral, Churches, and other things. What I love about this game is that you can choose to play it virtuously or in a way that is corrupt, but if your virtue meter dips too low, you are doing yourself a disservice. This game would have made our list of Top 5 non-Catholic Catholic Board Games, had we played it prior to making the list : )

What are some of your Family’s favorite Board Games?

2 Likes
Attending Mass while on holiday
How Does Your Parish Bring Generations Together? Learning from US Catholic Communities
2

Never heard of these games but they do sound interesting!

1 Like
3

Monopoly is my all-time favorite, though I went decades in between games because I couldn’t get anyone to play. Now my 10 year old is interested in it and we’ve played the last 2 Sundays. I also enjoy Chess, Clue, Sorry and Yahtzee.

1 Like
4

Check out “Machi Koro!” If you like Monopoly, then you and your 10 year old will really enjoy Machi Koro.

If you like Clue, then check out “Deception: Murder in Hong Kong” and “Code Names.”

If you like Yahtzee, check out “Cartographers” or “Silver & Gold” (which has similar mechanics). These are both flip & writes, whereas Yahtzee is a roll & write. There are some new roll & writes out there, but I can’t think of any that I’ve played.

If you like Chess, check out “Stratego,” “Wandering Towers,” and “Table Gype” (based on a joke that G.K. Chesterton had with another author).

I have gotten to know the creator of Table Gype (which is currently out of print) on Board Game Geek. He actually let my daughter and I stay with him and his family when we went to an unpublished board game convention near where he lives. We attended Mass with them as well.

If you like Sorry, I’m sorry (roll & moves are not really my thing ; )

My favorite mechanics are area control (think RISK and “Mission Red Planet”), bidding games (like actioning in Monopoly and the Game “Biblios”), and worker-placement (like “Architects of the West Kingdom” and “Everdell”).

Worker-Placement would be a great genre to replace your love of roll & move. It takes the chance out of it. And there are usually many options. Basically, you place your token or meeple on a place of your choice and take the action that comes with that location. This adds so much more depth to these types of games.

What I love about Architects is that there is a virtue scale. You can either play the game entirely good, entirely evil, or somewhere in between. But, if you become too evil, there are certain actions that you can no longer take and if you become too good, then there are certain places that you would never enter (like the black market). Also, in this game, we are working together to build a Cathedral. When the Cathedral is built, the end-game is triggered and everyone gets one last action. I can’t tell you how much I love this board game! You are placing workers, building Churches, hiring skilled workers, performing citizen’s arrests (optional), and bailing people out of jail (who were either legitimately sent there or just at the wrong place / wrong time). I like to play as someone who is bad in the beginning of the game and then has a conversion and tries to do good. This strategy usually does not win me the game, but I enjoy a good story. If you have ever played “Pillars of the Earth,” this is similar, but better!

If the theme of building Churches does not appeal to you, and cute animals is more your thing, then check out Everdell. You are animals harvesting and building for the Winter. There are four seasons. Like Architects, you are plaining workers and taking actions, whether that is gathering resources, building, or visiting another player’s village.

Both of these games appear to be overwhelming at first, but hang in there. It is so worth it. Everyone I have taught these games to can’t help, but think about them days after we’ve played. Most have gone out and purchased one or the other. They are a bit pricey, but there is a lot of game that it pretty much is cheaper than going out to eat and to the movies these days.

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions about any of these titles I’ve mentioned : )

5

I just stumbled across this post from last year. I am a new member to catholictalk.net. I noticed that there is not much activity in this area but I am wondering if there is any interest among Catholic families, especially those with lots of children, in Catholic board games.

I am the creator of a brand new really Catholic board game called the Holy Quest. My goal is to revive this niche and make some really cool and entertaining tabletop games to teach our children about our beautiful faith and entertain them at the same time. Right now I have finished designing the game and I am producing prototypes of it. I am also running a fundraiser so the game can be produced. Let me know if there is any interest in this game and other games I am working on. Does anyone think this is a great idea and are you interested in getting such games for your families? You can check out the Holy Quest at www.theholyquest.us. I hope you like it. If anyone is interested in reviewing the game, promoting it or just talking about it, let me know.

1 Like
6

For Father’s Day, my girls (with the help of my Wife) got us tickets to go to Origin’s Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio coming up this Weekend! Anyone else going to be there?

7

I wanted to resurrect this thread. Has anyone played any good board games recently? My Wife just bought me “Camel Up!” for our Anniversary, but I haven’t gotten it to the table yet. Hoping to have a game night this weekend or next.

8

Not lately. Used to play some games together such as Monopoly and Rail Baron when there were kids living with me. But the name “Camel Up!” reminds me of something a pastor said in Virginia: you never hear anyone say, “Dog up!” A dog cannot be anything except what God made it to be. Only people can be something that God did not intend. Have fun with the camel.

9

This reminds me of a joke I heard on a Skateboarding DVD my friend used to have. One of the dudes walked into the room and says, “It smells like Up Dog in here!” The other guys asks, “What the heck is updog?” Not much, what’s up with you? : )

10

Origins Game Fair (the third largest Board Game Convention) is coming up next month and I am excited about a few games that have been or that will be released in 2026.

  • Rumble Nation (Area Control Game)
  • Hot Streak (Party Game)
  • JackPot (Hand Management)
  • The Game Makers (Worker Placement, that came out at Origins last year, but they were sold out)

The Game of the Year last year at Origins (which also sold out) was “Ruins.” It is around $24 and we really enjoy it! It is a card shedding game (like Uno), but better. The scoring is a little clunky.

Basically what you are doing is, whoever leads the round chooses to lay down one card or multiple cards of the same number. So, say I have two 2’s. The next player must either play two 2’s or two of another number (two 3’s or two of a higher number). If the next player matches my two 2’s, the player after him gets skipped.

There are four ruins in the middle of the table that you may explore on your turn by burning lanterns to go into them. Some ruins require more lanterns than others. There are artifacts in each ruin that give you upgrades, but they must be used on one of the cards that you are playing on this turn.

For example, let’s say the player before me has played three 8’s and I only have two 8’s and a 6, but one of the artifacts in the middle is a +2 upgrade and it requires two lanterns to retrieve it. So I burn two lanterns and add the artifact (+2 artifact) to my 6 card, making it an 8. Because I was able to play three 8’s and it matching the player before me, the next player is skipped. Had I played 3 9’s or higher, the next player would not be skipped.

The theme feels slapped on, but it works. One other rule is that at the start of each round, you may flip a card to the night side (which makes that card a better card).

Oh! And you get two cards that allow you to claim any two cards throughout the game as your own and you will get it back it back in future rounds. My 9 year old loves to upgrade a card to some ridiculous high number like 27 and then claims it so that she can use it in future rounds : )

If your family likes Uno, definitely check out Ruins!

11

Very tastefully done. I like the way players are questioned as to the saints. Lots to it, to keep it interesting. Is there anything included about angels and demons? I think overall you’ve been careful to be respectful and I’d be interested to know how successfully you’ve distributed the games when taking into account the obvious dedication in its production. I can actually envisage definite learning, coming from its usage and maybe as a bridge or jump-off point to greater research into areas of one’s spiritual journey. It is a nothing less than a huge undertaking to plan and design a boardgame and so is an achievement to have completed such a product and a seemingly beautiful one at that.