As you may recall I wrote about classic games in Entry 16, nine of which made the RD list so I won’t talk about the cross-listed ones. A few others from the list were discussed in Entry 5: Ancient Games with one more listed in Entry 22 (Catan). This leaves us with eleven left from the list, so without further ado, lets dive into the list…
Aggravation
This game has many good memories for me. It was the German version called Mensch ärgere Dich nicht first published in 1914 that I learned to play and love. Whichever name/version you want to call it, the game is a variation of the ancient game Pachisi so it is safe to that Aggravation is truly a classic.
Boggle
A game in which you must spell words from the letter cubes as quickly as you can before timer runs out. If you find words that other players miss you get points. We played this game growing up and will go into our personal collection again when my daughter’s vocabulary is greater.
Candy Land
Candy Land is a game that nearly every kid in America has played at some time in their life. Who doesn’t remember moving their gingerbread man up the rainbow path to get to the Candy Castle and find King Kandy. Ah, the memories. My daughter will have this game in her collection for sure.
Clue
Another classic game from my youth and probably for many of you too. Clue, known as Cluedo outside of North America, was created in England in 1943 and first published in 1949. The popularity of this game has resulted in a few different editions as well as many licensed versions too.
Clue is so well loved that a Hollywood movie (with an awesome cast) was made as well as a mini-series, a musical, and numerous books.
“I suggest that it was Professor Plum in the Dining Room with the Rope. Can you prove me wrong?”
Connect Four
First came out in 1974, this two player game which you must get four in a row on a 6 high by 7 wide grid has become a fast classic. With many companies putting out variants (name changes) to the game it has remained popular even to this day. It is a game that can be played over and over until you either get tired of winning or losing.
The game has also become a hit for mathematicians for attempts at solving various equations regarding the game. The one that caught my eye was that there are 4,531,985,219,092 positions for all boards using 0-42 pieces. WOW!!!! Someone had a lot of time on their hands.
Pass the Pigs
If you are a fan of pork or the farm life, this game may be for you. In Pass the Pigs you literally roll a pair of pigs and score points based on how they land. With scoring combinations named “razorback,” “trotter,” “snouter,” and “jowler” you are sure to have a squealing god time. Just avoid rolling a “pig out,” “oinker,” or “piggyback” which will cause to lose your points or get kicked out of the game.
Pictionary
Based on what I have read about the history of Pictionary, the creator was actually inspired by Trivial Pursuit (which came out just a few years prior) when designing the game. This game tests your art skills by having you draw a picture in a short amount of time while your teammates guess what it is you scribbled.
The five categories are: People/Place/Animal, Object, Action, Difficult, and All Play. How well can you draw the action smell or the difficult alfalfa.
Rummikub
The second ever Spiel des Jahres winner back in 1980, Rummikub (pronounced Rummy-Cube) was first sold door-to-door in Israel by its creator in the late 70s. This game is a combination of Rummy and Mahjong so if you like to play card and want to use tiles then this is the game for you.
Sequence
Sequence is a hybrid card and board game in the sense that you are drawing and playing cards and putting chips on a board in attempt to get X chips in a row. This game can be played with a few individuals but if a larger group wants to play you would then divide up into teams. Another great game for the standard card lovers in your life.
Twister
Originally called Pretzel when it was conceived in 1964 then changed to Twister when Milton Bradley acquired the rights in 1966. It became an instant hit when it was featured on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The game was also dubbed controversial because it caused participants to entwine themselves in “compromising positions.”
The game became a fad and even still today, groups are attempting Guinness World Records in three categories with the game. In a sense, Twister is truly a family game in which many generations came play together, as long as you are able to bend, twist, and reach.
Wit’s End
Wit’s End is a game that we are not familiar with ourselves but I know I have seen copies of it at thrift stores and after reading the description listed from BGG it sounds like one that we could play with my Dad. Here is what it says on BGG:
“In Wit's End, the players all start at the outer ring of a square gameboard; the goal being to reach the center square. This is done by rolling the die, moving along the track and answering a question. Questions can be analogies, slogans or definitions. Other wild cards can influence the outcome of the game. Players must land on certain squares to move up on a right answer, but a wrong answer will demote that player to the lower ring. First to reach the center wins.”
Conclusion
Out of the 24 games from the Reader’s Digest list. We are only missing 7 in our personal collection; however, I have played all of them except for Wit’s End. I bet most “advanced” board gamers would look at the list and mock it a bit (Monopoly I am looking at you) but I am sure that most games on the list they have played at some point in their life growing up too.
As my daughter grows up, I know that I will be collecting and playing these games with her as she also learns to play with our “advanced” board games as well.
Enjoy the classics, I know I do. Happy Gaming!!!
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