Rob Eno started this... blame him! "Our group has recently been toying with the idea of themed gaming sessions. Between us we own a plethora of games, although it seems that some of them just don't come out as often as we would like. It seems that we get in a groove and play the same game on consecutive weekends or meetings. Currently this has been Settlers and we are afraid of wearing it out." [Can't imagine why, Rob... it's not as if we haven't played 27! games of Settlers in the last 5 months here at Game Central Station... go figure.] So, that little e-shove by Rob on rec.games.board started a veritable flood of suggestions from the likes of Mik Svellov, Robert Rossney, Huw Morris, Scott Reeves, Ted Cheatham, Rick Jones, Bagherra (I still don't know this guy's name!), Matthew Baldwin, and Scott Alan Woodard. While their input was (to say the least) voluminous, it's a bit like drinking from a fire hydrant. In the interest of user-friendliness (and keeping this page short enough to not blow out the ink-jet cartridge on your printer), I've personally selected what I (in my not-so-humble opinion) feel are the best five (or six) choices for each category. Feel free to disagree as long as you avoid [a] whining, and [b] death threats. And here in November of 2004, I've added a few suggestions of my own. The Need for Speed Auto Racing: - Augebremst (ASS)
- Carabande (Goldsieber)
- Entenrallye (Walter Mulder)
- Formula De Mini (Eurogames)
- D'Arf (Splotter)
- Daytona 500 (MB) or Detroit/Cleveland Grand Prix (Mayfair)
- Mille Bournes (Parker Brothers)
Bike Racing: - Der Ausreisser (FX Schmid)
- Devil Take the Hindmost (? - recently turned into an auto race as Formel Fun)
- Um Refeinbreite (Jumbo)
Horse & Chariot Racing: - Ave Caesar (Ravensburger)
- Circus Maximus (Avalon Hill)
- Jockey (Ravensburger)
- The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game (?)
- Royal Turf (Alea)
- Win, Place & Show (Avalon Hill)
Balloon Racing: - Balloonrennen (Ravensburger)
- Cloud 9 (FX Schmid/Out of the Box)
- The Great Balloon Race (Parker Brothers)
Racing - Other Transportation Modes - Ab die Post (Goldsieber) mail biplanes
- Billabong (Franjos) kangaroos
- Flying Carpet (Ravensburger) flying carpets (what else?!)
- Gallop Royale (Goldsieber) sedan chairs
- Mississippi Queen (Goldsieber) riverboats
- Russelbande (Drei Magier Spiele) pigs
- Yeti Slalom (Hans im Glueck/Rio Grande) animals on snowboards
More Civilized Pursuits Diving/Fish - The Reef (Kosmos/Rio Grande)
- Diver (?)
- Lost Treasure (Ideal)
- Nautilus (Kosmos)
- Secrets of the Deep (Ravensburger)
- Submarine (Winning Moves/Rio Grande)
Food & Eateries - a la carte (?)
- Drops & Co. (Haba)
- Eat at Ralph's (MB)
- Mamma Mia (Abacus/Rio Grande)
- Quartier Latin (?)
- Too Many Cooks (R&R Games)
- Volle Hutte (ASS)
Music & Show Business: - Concerto Grosso (Amigo)
- Evergreen (Rio Grande)
- Katzenjammer Blues (Rio Grande)
- Schrille Stille ['Piercing Silence'] (Zoch)
- Showmanager (Queen)
Cops & Robbers Cosa Nostra: - Capone (Amigo)
- Corruption (Atlas)
- Cosa Nostra (Parker Brothers Europe)
- Don Pepe (Hasbro)
- Family Business (Mayfair)
- Gangsters (Avalon Hill)
Crime & Punishment: - Family Business (Mayfair)
- Guillotine (Wizards of the Coast)
- Kill Dr. Lucky (Cheapass)
- Scotland Yard (Ravensburger)
Master Criminals: - Cluedo/Clue (Parker Brothers)
- Clue: The Great Museum Caper (Parker Brothers)
- Scotland Yard/NY Chase (Ravensburger)
- The Sherlock Holmes Card Game (Gibson's)
The Three R's Real Estate - Acquire (Hasbro-Avalon Hill)
- Big City (Goldsieber/Rio Grande)
- Chinatown (Alea)
- Landlord (Abacus/Rio Grande)
- Manhattan (Hans Im Gluck)
- Shark (Ravensburger/Rio Grande)
Railroads There are lots of great railroad games... but every time I try and list them, some Puffing Billy fanatic tells me they "aren't REAL train games" because they're historically inaccurate... sheesh. So, go make your own list of train games. (Just make sure there are 2 or 3 Alan Moon games on it!) 'Rasslin (Personal Combat) - Brawl (Cheapass)
- Button Men (Cheapass)
- Gladiator (Avalon Hill)
- Wrasslin (Avalon Hill)
Other Civilizations Arabian Nights - Basari (FX Schmid/Out of the Box)
- Die Siedenstrasse (Schmidt Spiele)
- Durch du Wueste/Through the Desert (Kosmos/Fantasy Flight)
- Samarkand (Abacus/Rio Grande)
- Tales of the Arabian Nights (West End Games)
- Targui (Jumbo)
Japan - Honor of the Samurai (Gamewright)
- Reiner Knizia's Samurai (Hans im Gluck/Rio Grande)
- Samurai Swords/Shogun (MB)
- Senjutsu (?)
Ancient History - Caesar and Cleopatra (Kosmos/Rio Grande)
- Ra (Alea/Rio Grande)
- Res Publica (Queen/Avalanche Press)
- Tigris and Euphrates (Hans im Gluck/Mayfair)
- Vinci (Eurogames)
Stuff That Involves Getting Muddy Exploration: - Entdecker (Goldsieber)
- Expedition (Queen)
- Lost Cities (Kosmos)
- Lost Valley (?)
- Oceania (Mayfair)
- Source of the Nile (Avalon Hill)
- Tikal (Ravensburger)
Gold Rush: - Digging (Avalanche Press)
- Elfengold (White Wind original, not the Elfenroad expansion)
- Gold Rausch (FX Schmid)
- Lost Valley (?)
- Silverton (Mayfair)
- Yukon Co. (db Spiele)
Politics: - Candidate (Avalon Hill)
- Die Macher (Hans im Gluck)
- Junta (West End Games)
- Kremlin (Avalon Hill)
- Landslide (Parker Brothers)
- Mr. President (3M)
Sci-Fi Channel Stuff Aliens: - Awful Green Things From Outer Space (TSR/Steve Jackson Games)
- Cosmic Encounter (Eon/Mayfair)
- Merchants of Venus (Avalon Hill)
- Space Hulk (Games Workshop)
- The Starfarers of Catan (Kosmos/Mayfair)
- Starship Catan (Kosmos/Mayfair)
Dinosaurs: - Dinosaurs Of The Lost World (Avalon Hill)
- Dino Hunt (Steve Jackson Games)
- Evo (Eurogames)
- T-Rex (Hans im Gluck/Rio Grande)
Faerie Tales: - Elfendland/gold (Amigo/Rio Grande)
- Enchanted Forest (Ravensburger)
- Hare and Tortoise (Abacus/Rio Grande)
- King of the Elves (Amigo/Rio Grande)
- Ohne Furcht & Adel/Citadelles (Hans im Gluck/Fantasy Flight)
And Now for Something Completely Different... From the fertile mind of Ronald Hoekstra:
I've used a theme in many gaming sessions. I combined it with some other features. To give an example: We played some kind of Tour de France cycling. The whole evening was build up in several stages and each stage was a particular game. I designed a scoring system to keep track of the overal standings and there was a possibility to carry over some cards or so to the next stage. - Two stages were played by the card game Der Ausreisser.
- The timetrial was cycling game on the computer (some part of Summer Games I believe).
- Then there was actual cycling on a hometrainer. Each player had to make as many kilometers in 5 minutes as he could. While riding the hometrainer I played a tape with sounds from the radio during the last Tour de France.
- The mountain stage was the boardgame Demarrage.
- The final stage was again Der Ausreisser with the use of the saved cards from earlier stages.
After each stage the leader had to wear the yellow jersey. ...and the equally nimble brain of Christian Killoran.
Yes, using themes to vary the titles played is a great idea! Instead of creating categories, however, we often choose a game based on current circumstances. For example, last night we all played mah jongg in honor of the Chinese lunar new year (would Chinatown be a good choice for this next year? I don't know the game.) We'll always play Slapshot during the Stanley Cup playoffs - once a year is plenty. Coup in Columbia? Time for Junta. And a camping trip is the only time to play Outdoor Survival. ...and Bruno Faidutti had to chime in and start another mess...
What about a "history of the universe" week end, starting with a game of Ursuppe, then Quirks and ending two days later with Cosmic Encounter? Well, then Bob Rossney suggested ending with Infinity (this sounds a lot like most of my games of Air Baron recently), and that prompted John David Galt to suggest Nuclear War. Personally, I'd figure you'd have to get Tyranno Ex, Civilization, Vinci, Age of Renissance, and maybe even a quick (ha!) game of Risk in there before Nuclear War. Just don't invite me! :-) Last but certainly not least... Bagherra (which is German for "He Who Has No Real Name and Decided To Name Himself After A Fictional Tiger") came up with the splendid idea of tying gaming to holidays: - Valentine's Day: Family Business (St. V. Massacre...)
- President's Day: Mr. President or Landslide
- Ides of March: Caesar & Cleopatra [Conductor's Note: Republic of Rome?]
- St. Patrick's Day: Curse of the Cobras, Balderdash
- April Fool's: any good bluffing game would do...
- Easter: Wabbit Wampage [Conductor's Note: as a minister, I'm not sure what I think of this suggestion... but I'm having trouble coming up with anything else...]
- Memorial Day & D-Day: WiF or any other suitable War Game [Conductor's Note: how about The Longest Day? Or Memoir '44? Or Axis & Allies D-Day?]
- July 4th: We the People
- Labor Day: Careers, etc [Conductor's Note: Payday]
- Halloween: Chill: Black Morn Manor [Conductor's Note: The Gothic Game]
More Completely Different Stuff... How about a Five Senses theme? A recent thread on rec.games.board suggested a game night based on using all five senses. Here's the suggestions (from Blackberry aka Brian, Keith Ammann, Clay Blankenship, and Chris Sjoholm): Smell: - Spice Navigator - a trading game accompanied by the mechanic of sniffing small pots of actual spices to identify them
- Hanafuda - SMELL the pretty flowers!
Sight: - Riddles & Riches - not a very good Clue clone, but you have to look at 8.5x11 pictures of rooms in the mansion to discover clues to the mysteries presented.
- Modern Art - SEE the terrible paintings!
Touch: - Carabande, perhaps - the theme isn't touch or textures, but it requires a lot of touching of stuff to play. :)
- Klondike - where you have to shake the black pebbles out of a pan while retaining the gold ones
Taste: - Fast Food Franchise
- Vino - possibly... while there is no actual wine in the game, it's about growing vineyards.
- Food Fight - game published in Dragon Magazine and I think available in their Best of Dragon Games box.
- Lord of the Fries - TASTE the Chickabunga Conga!
Clay: "Taste is a tough one. Plenty of games about food exist (Mamma Mia is one that hasn't been mentioned.) but I don't know any that actually involve tasting things. Maybe you could use M&M's for counters in some game and eat them when they get destroyed." Chris: "There was a game about 10 years ago called "Pop Opinion" or "Pop Secret", which came with a bag of popcorn you were supposed to eat in the course of the game. It was in the Games 100 ca. 1991." Hearing: - Evergreen - you don't actually listen to music in this one, but you play record company executives trying to sign recording artists.
- Zapp Zerapp - shake the little container and guess how many pebbles are in it
- Play It By Ear - in which you answer trivia questions related to sound bites played on a CD
- Stop Thief - in which a little electronic device plays sounds that are clues as to where the thief is.
As If There Wasn't Enough Weirdness on this Page Already... The Other White Meat? Once again... don't blame me. Jonathan Degann innocently asked "What is it about pigs & games?" and the rest is history. Here, thanks (or NO thanks) to Geoff ?, Richard Irving, Erik Arenson, Greg Aleknevicus, Jonathan Degann, Magma (formerly of FunAgain Games), & a couple of other folks whose names I missed, is the result. Greg Aleknevicus regaled us with tales of "Pork & Beans" night at the gaming table. The following games were liberally mixed with Bohnanza, Space Beans & Nicht die Bohne amongst others. So, if you've got a hankering for a little gaming pork, here's the menu: - Fette Bauche (Klee) - Teuber kids game of pigs whose bellies pop (a la Monty Python) when they get fed too much... the name means "Fat Bellies" in English
- Ferkelei (?) - ?
- Galloping Pigs (Rio Grande) - pigs race in a circle for vegetables
- Land Unter (Berliner Spielkarten/Ravensburger) [aka Zum Kuckuck] - Stefan Dorra's re-theme-ing of the wonderful Zum Kuckuck involves pigs trying to keep from going underwater (and a wicked weather-controlling frog... [Conductor's Note: This theme is only true for the Berliner Spielkarten edition of the game.]
- Les Couchons d'espace (Tilsit) - a space wargame, the 'game concept' is that a special kind of Acorn grows in one part of the Galaxy, and the pig clans need it to brew 'The Glandenbourg' - Acorn Beer. This has several effects, including control of the 'Gruik Force' - Yes you've guessed it, this game includes a smattering of references to various Sci-Fi 'classics'. Lots of cardboard bits, and there are some cards in French so you either need Schoolboy French or to do some work. The title translates to "The Pigs of Space".
- Pass the Pigs (Milton Bradley) [aka Pigmania] - a dice game with plastic pigs as dice... shot through with bad puns (you roll the pigs from a Pig Sty, you score the game with a Pig Pen, and if two pigs land on each other, you're Makin' Bacon... Milton Bradley calls this position "Not Allowed", but if that were true how would get more pigs? ;-)
- Pigasus (Gamewright) - kid's card game
- Pig Pile (R&R Games) - get rid of your cards faster than anyone else & earn plastic pigs... a great family game from Richard "Battle Cry" Borg
- Pig Out (?) - ?
- Pig Pong (?) - an odd Ping Pong variant using a feather-weight ball and pigs that puff jets of air
- Robo Battle Pigs (an entry into the 2001 8x8 Game Design Competition) - a 2 player version can be found at the About Games website. And for those who really like the concept of robot pigs beating the heck out of each other, there are two official variants: Robo Battle Pigs B.A.S.H. (8 players) and Team Mole Robo Battle Pigs (6 players)
- Rudi Russel (Hans im Gluck) - A game VERY similar to Galloping PIgs but with a board. You can get the rules off their website! The title translates "Racing Pig".
- Russelbande (Drei Magier Spiele) - one of the nominees for kids SdJ this year, a game of acrobatic circus pigs racing home
- Schwein Gehabt! (?) - ?
Maybe with a nice apricot marinade... :-) | 
