Top Five Best Non-RPG Games

Time to switch topics. The past month I discussed my top five post-apocalyptic – well everything I could think of. Now that I’ve run out of ideas, it’s time to do a different list.

So, since I play a lot of board and non RPG games, I decided I would write up my favorite board / card games.

Do not be surprised I did not include collectable card games like Magic. I know that game is insanely popular, but I never got into it. Several reasons, and I’ll be brief. I didn’t care for the new card sets constantly coming out. I didn’t care for the gambling aspect of it either – playing for cards or cash in some cases. And frankly, when the game came out, I just didn’t have the money.

The list to follow happens to be my favorite games. I have quite a few board games and I will be purchasing more over the next years, but these are ones I will turn to time and again, especially number one.

A couple of honorable mentions – Level 7, a board game where you have to try and escape from both human and ‘others’ after being abducted and subjected to horrific experiments.  The other is, believe it or not, is the Pathfinder Adventure card game, which I have mentioned a couple of times in my regular weekly blog.

1. Talisman – The classic, which is now in its 4^th edition. Technically you could argue it’s its 5^th edition, as Fantasy Flight Games got the license to produce the expansions for the game. I have absolutely loved this game since I was first introduced to it in the mid 80’s. I have played literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours with my friends over the years and even went as far as creating my own cards for it. Thanks to Talisman Island, I have a massive collection of fan-made cards and expansions. The latest edition has been faithfully re-creating many of the 2^nd edition expansions and coming out with new expansions and cards. Here is hoping they will continue to produce material for years to come. AND for those of you who like to play without the mess of cards and packing it all away after a game, it’s even available through Steam, including two of the boards that were released!
2. Dungeon Quest -  As with Talisman, this is a game I played years ago. Back then the art was pretty crude but I enjoyed randomly choosing tiles and trying to get to the center of the board to try and make it out with treasure before the timer ran out. On the way you had to deal with traps and monsters, which only added to the spice and excitement. Fantasy Flight games got their hands on this game and revamped it, adding new art, rules and the like, but the game never lost its charm or the feel of the original. This is something I really appreciated.
3. Munchkin – I only recently got into this game, thanks to my son. He purchased the game on a whim and we started playing. It’s all about backstabbing AND co-operation. You can, if you’re not careful, harm relationships and friendships in this game. Heh, my son and I are still friends, thankfully. The basic game now has eight expansions, all of which add new cards to the game and even some new types of rules. There are also a whole mess of stand-alone versions, such as Munchkin Cthulhu, Apocalypse, Legends, Zombies Pathfinder, and numerous others. We have played quite a few games and they’ve always been good for a laugh! Out of all the versions we’ve played, without a doubt the most fun we had was with the Munchkin Apocalypse.
4. Legendary Encounters: Alien Edition – This comes from Upper Deck, which was back in the day, known for their sports cards. I guess with how popular collectable card games became, it was inevitable they would dabble in it. This game allows the players to re-create the scenarios from all four Alien movies, and is intended to be co-operative rather than competitive. The game is a lot of fun, but can take a while to get to know the rules, and the scenarios are tough! Still, if you’re a huge fan of the Franchise as I am, then it’s worth picking up and learning.
5. Runebound- This was a bit of a difficult game to get into, as the rules tended to be quite complex, but still I really enjoyed it once we figured out how to play. You have a character and you travel across the world, dealing with encounters that vary in level. If you’re not high enough or powerful enough, you best stick with the encounters your character can handle. At least four additional boards were produced, each with their own rules and unique encounters and characters, as well as numerous item packs, encounter packs and even character packs. To my knowledge the game is now out of print, and is selling on Ebay for insane prices, if you happened to miss out on any of the expansions. I’m going to assume Fantasy Flight Games might be working on a 3^rd edition. Time consuming, challenging but a lot of fun.