With the Thanksgiving holiday now upon us, it’s time to consider what board games to bring to the family gathering. (Of course, we MUST bring games. Being stuck on the couch talking to your obnoxious brother-in-law and your drunk aunt is out of the question.)
Most people try to come up with a list of games that can be played by a large and diverse group of people. Ones that will make everybody happy. Well, we take a different tact here at the Haunted Game Cafe. Why try to make everybody happy when there are so many good games that will really piss them off.
So, here’s a list of games that are truly cruel, viscous and reward the underhanded. Enjoy!
Gloom
The world of Gloom is a sad and benighted place. The sky is gray, the tea is cold, and a new tragedy lies around every corner. Debt, disease, heartache, and packs of rabid flesh-eating mice—just when it seems like things can’t get any worse, they do. But some say that one’s reward in the afterlife is based on the misery endured in life. If so, there may yet be hope—if not in this world, then in the peace that lies beyond.
In the Gloom card game, you assume control of the fate of an eccentric family of misfits and misanthropes. The goal of the game is sad, but simple: you want your characters to suffer the greatest tragedies possible before passing on to the well-deserved respite of death. You’ll play horrible mishaps like Pursued by Poodles or Mocked by Midgets on your own characters to lower their Self-Worth scores, while trying to cheer your opponents’ characters with marriages and other happy occasions that pile on positive points. The player with the lowest total Family Value wins.
Printed on transparent plastic cards, Gloom features an innovative design by noted RPG author Keith Baker. Multiple modifier cards can be played on top of the same character card; since the cards are transparent, elements from previously played modifier cards either show through or are obscured by those played above them. You’ll immediately and easily know the worth of every character, no matter how many modifiers they have. You’ve got to see (through) this game to believe it!
Ca$h and Gun$
In an abandoned warehouse a gangster band is splitting its loot, but they can’t get an agreement on the split! It’s time to let the guns talk and soon everyone is aiming at everyone. The richest surviving gangster wins the game!
Plus, it comes with foam guns!
Mall of Horror
Survival is in the Betrayal – Each player controls 3 characters: a blond girl, a big guy and a dude with a gun. They must escape the zombies by locking themselves in the stores. But be careful: there is not always enough room in the stores for everybody, you might get trapped in the hallway, amongst the living dead. Better talk fast, if you want to survive.
Diplomacy
We can’t make a list like this one and not mention Diplomacy. The classic game of war and negotiation, Diplomacy has been ending friendships since it was released in 1959. Each player controls a country trying to take over as much territory as possible. But, you can’t do it alone. You must have the support of another country before you can make your move. It is possible to win this game without lying, but what fun would that be?
Munchkin
Go down in the dungeon. Kill everything you meet. Backstab your friends and steal their stuff. Grab the treasure and run.
Admit it. You love it.
This award-winning card game, designed by Steve Jackson, captures the essence of the dungeon experience… with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items! Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm… or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon…
Fast-playing and silly, Munchkin can reduce any roleplaying group to hysteria. And, while they’re laughing, you can steal their stuff.
Biblios
