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The premise reminds me of Unexploded Cow from Cheapass Games. There's a free print-it-yourself version and a $25 deluxe version.

Europe. Summer. 1997. You and your friends have discovered two problems with a common solution: mad cows in England and unexploded bombs in France.

You've decided to bring these two powderkegs together just to see what happens. And you wouldn't say "no" to a little money on the side.

So round up your herd, march them through France, and set them loose behind the Cordon Rouge. If you're lucky you'll come home rich before Greenpeace figures out what you're up to.

Either way, there's something magical about blowing up cows.

surely they don't mean Cheap Ass Games

If you're going to patent a time machine, you might as well make it US Patent #1.

Yes, indeed, advertising and shelf space and maintaining stock gets expensive: so does paying for insurance plans for vice presidents, making fancy PowerPoint presentations to investors, and showing up at trade shows to showcase your games.

For an example of how modest, "indie" games can work well, take a look at http://www.cheapass.com/. These guys make small, funny as all heck, modest board games that spend their efforts on making the game fun, not on fancy graphics. They're the "Kingdom of Loathing" of the board game world. And speaking of Kingdom of Loathing, there's an example of awfully fun computer gaming with minimal hardware requirements, modest infrastructure needs, and a well-earned fanbase for a game run on donations and buying in-game items.

Once you have a time machine, it isn't good enough to go back to 2000 and patent it.

http://www.cheapass.com/products/boardgames/cag034.html

A very little research gives us details on the Directors of Hasbro.

http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/businessProfile.asp?s=us%3AHAS

The mean ages, which missing out one of them, Bennett Schneir, is 53 years old.

So yeah, perhaps they just would have never considered it.

But just to make another point, consoles and PC games are a different beast than board\card games. It's quite possible to enjoy both.

For your interest here are a few of my current favourites, Zombie Flux, Cthulhu 500, Bang! and Give me the Brain. Check them out, you might enjoy them :-)

I believe the answer is U.S. Patent Number 1 by Cheapass Games.

• Kill Doctor Lucky - the award winning game of what happens right before Clue begins. I happen to own and love the Cheapass version as well.
• Battlelore - the best light wargame I've ever played
• Mystery of the Abbey - Clue for fans of The Name of the Rose and Brother Cadfael
• Puerto Rico - a classic eurogame and, for my money, the best "gateway game" there is. I'll play this over Catan any day of the week.
• Warrior Knights - an updated version of the '85 classic, and a terrific American-style boardgame (which is to say, there's direct player vs. player conflict). Where else can you be made Ambassador to the Orient and a Traitor to the Crown on the same turn?

That reminds me of this game.
http://www.cheapass.com/products/boardgames/cag034 .html

Eureka! You've just invented time travel.
But the awful truth is that you're not alone.
In fact, scientists have been inventing time travel since 1814.
But if you have a time machine, it really doesn't matter who invented it first. All that matters is who gets to the Patent Office first.
And by "first" we mean on opening day. Because nothing suits a time machine like U.S. Patent 1.

CheapAss Games is definitely still around. They tend to be beer-and-pretzel games with some good humor, but range from 5-minute games to several hours.

My friends and family like "Give Me The Brain", and the "BRAWL:" sets, but our favorite of those is "Light Speed".

CheapAss Games is definitely still around. They tend to be beer-and-pretzel games with some good humor, but range from 5-minute games to several hours.

My friends and family like "Give Me The Brain", and the "BRAWL:" sets, but our favorite of those is "Light Speed".

Depending on how complex your game is I would suggest tlakign to some of the indy publishers.

There are companies like Cheapass Games, Loony Labs(thoguh I think they do all their stuff in house), Playroom Entertainment to name a few off the top of my head.

Also, the simpeler you can make the physical pieces of the game the better off you are I think. Can the "board" be cloth or some such? Will the pieces idealy be simple or complex (checkers, WH40K pieces, or soem where inbetween)?

The other thing to do is to go to Cons (SF/F and gaming). So long as they have a gaming room (for board/card games) you can find a good number of people who are in the field. Most of them will be Reps, but even they are good to talk to, and some times you will run into the actualy developers (or other people more closely tied to the company), especialy at larger cons. Just make sure you have a working copy of your game (I would suggest tryign to make it look good, over trying to emulate a proffessional distribution).

Good luck!

If the major board game publishers jilt you, consider selling your idea to Cheapass Games, the creators of such works of subgenius like Kill Doctor Lucky and Give Me The Brain.

I looove the games I've gotten from Cheapass. Half the fun, for me at least, is the fact that there is 'assembly required'

Since you have to supply your own pieces, and the games come in envelopes (generally), it gives me projects to work on, including building boxes to hold all the cool pieces I've built.

The two Cheapass Games I have are 'Captain Treasure Boots' and 'Steam Tunnel'. For the former, I built little ships to use as pawns, and I used Mardi Gras Doubloons as the treasures. For the latter, I built a pipe-shaped box to hold all the parts. My friends and I have a weekly game night, and we've had a lot of fun with both of those.

Currently, I have my eye on 'Enemy Chocolatier' as a hopeful Christmas gift.

I didn't even know they still made that Scotland Yard game. I had a lot of fun with that when I was a kid. I'd also recommend CAG. Plus if you love strategy and have some hours to kill I'd highly recommend Advanced Civilization or Diplomacy. In my opinion Diplomacy surpasses Risk because the only element of chance involved is your opponent.

I have become a huge fan of Cheapass Games in recent years. Most of them don't have quite the intensity and involvement of Carcassonne, Settlers, or Puerto Rico, but they are still a lot of fun. They have a sense of humor and are incredibly cheap (some can be had for less than $5, and there are even a few freebies that you can print out from their website). If you're interested, I would start with Kill Doctor Lucky and U.S. Patent No. 1. The one catch is that they don't include common pieces (dice, pawns, money, counters, etc.), but I'm sure anyone reading this thread has more than enough to go around.

Someone's already got prior art on that idea:

http://www.cheapass.com/products/boardgames/cag034 .html

it's true. they even made a game based on the idea

If a time machine were ever to be invented, it would currently be U.S. Patent #1.

To patent a time machine you must have Patent #1.

I'd much rather play some backgammon, or use one of the 2 chess sets we own, but whatever. We have Scrabble, and Yahtzee. Yahtzee is fun, maybe we'll break that out. But I like the site you mentioned. I'm considering a few now. As a matter of fact, 'Get Out' looks like it might be cool. And 'Mana Burn' maybe.

Thanks for the link.

I'd much rather play some backgammon, or use one of the 2 chess sets we own, but whatever. We have Scrabble, and Yahtzee. Yahtzee is fun, maybe we'll break that out. But I like the site you mentioned. I'm considering a few now. As a matter of fact, 'Get Out' looks like it might be cool. And 'Mana Burn' maybe.

Thanks for the link.

Sir, it sounds like you haven't played Life in a while.
I suspect you will soon find that spinning a spinner and moving the token accordingly gets old about two rounds into the game.

I understand wanting to relive the old days, or whatever you old codgers are always rambling on about, but why not go for something from Cheapass games?
They're cheap, they're original, and you're not paying $14.95 for a copy of Life.
Or how about The Sims? That has destiny-choosing too.

Come on, man. I'm only trying to save you from yourself.

I haven't seen it pointed out yet that requiring all games sold in retail stores to be rated forces indie game developers (who may not have the money in the first place) into a (presumably costly) rating process that would effectively bar them from getting their games on to store shelves.

Mind you, I'm not aware of any indie games sold at retail outlets, but there may be an unfilled Cheapass Games like niche that would be closed by this law.

This is also the concept behind CheapAss Game's US Patent Number 1 where you play the inventor of the time machine, and try to beat all the other inventors of time machines throughout history to the day of the opening of the Patent Office.

Check out U.S. Patent Number 1 from Cheap Ass Games.

Speaking of card/board games...

"Cheap Ass Games" Board Games -- fun, quick, and cheap to play.

http://www.cheapass.com/products/category/cheapass .html

Back when I had lots of geeky friends in college who liked to find new games to play but lacked the financial resources to actually buy any of them, my friends and I discovered Cheap Ass Games. Though only a few of their games have real staying power, they were all very cheap, easy to learn and at least some fun.

I understand their game "Kill Dr. Lucky" is now played in tournaments.

Don't be insultring cheapass.

Cheapass Games has some great products.

If it were, US Patent #1 would be for a time machine. :)

I don't understand why no one's put a link for Cheapass Games, which I also heartily recommend. There's loads of creativity, and if you only liked one game out of five, it'd still be better value for money than buying a typically priced game. And believe me, you'll like more than one out of five.

The Cheapass game most like the sort of "civilization development" games you described is probably One False Step for Mankind.

Bob

Beat me to the punch. My roomate got it from here and we've had a blast in the last couple of weeks since we got it. Considering that he's thinking about writing a zombie survival horror video game, he's kinda had zombies on the brain anyways.

If you're into it for the zombies, I might also suggest Lord of the Fries, where you play a zombie filling a fast food order. And FreeLoader is another really fun game by the same people. The great thing about CheapAss games is their price. They used to be even better a couple years ago, most games costing less than $5, but then they started thinking they could actually get away with actually making quality games. Caveat: one reason that CheapAss games are so cheap is that by default they usually don't come with some of the things you need to play: dice (We've all got those sitting somewhere) Player markers (We've all got a chess set, some little plastic toys or random colored doo-dads to use. Counters? (Dried beans, pennies, small stones or whatnot are just as fun to play with.) You can usually get a deluxe version with "all the bits" but that somehow seems impure. Gotta play it the original CheapAss(tm) way.

CheapAss even has some free games, including a combat strategy game which seems right up the aisle of the original submitter. I assume every self respecting gamer has the dark secret of RPGs in their past and still has their cache of dice sitting somewhere just waiting to be used.

Beat me to the punch. My roomate got it from here and we've had a blast in the last couple of weeks since we got it. Considering that he's thinking about writing a zombie survival horror video game, he's kinda had zombies on the brain anyways.

If you're into it for the zombies, I might also suggest Lord of the Fries, where you play a zombie filling a fast food order. And FreeLoader is another really fun game by the same people. The great thing about CheapAss games is their price. They used to be even better a couple years ago, most games costing less than $5, but then they started thinking they could actually get away with actually making quality games. Caveat: one reason that CheapAss games are so cheap is that by default they usually don't come with some of the things you need to play: dice (We've all got those sitting somewhere) Player markers (We've all got a chess set, some little plastic toys or random colored doo-dads to use. Counters? (Dried beans, pennies, small stones or whatnot are just as fun to play with.) You can usually get a deluxe version with "all the bits" but that somehow seems impure. Gotta play it the original CheapAss(tm) way.

CheapAss even has some free games, including a combat strategy game which seems right up the aisle of the original submitter. I assume every self respecting gamer has the dark secret of RPGs in their past and still has their cache of dice sitting somewhere just waiting to be used.

Beat me to the punch. My roomate got it from here and we've had a blast in the last couple of weeks since we got it. Considering that he's thinking about writing a zombie survival horror video game, he's kinda had zombies on the brain anyways.

If you're into it for the zombies, I might also suggest Lord of the Fries, where you play a zombie filling a fast food order. And FreeLoader is another really fun game by the same people. The great thing about CheapAss games is their price. They used to be even better a couple years ago, most games costing less than $5, but then they started thinking they could actually get away with actually making quality games. Caveat: one reason that CheapAss games are so cheap is that by default they usually don't come with some of the things you need to play: dice (We've all got those sitting somewhere) Player markers (We've all got a chess set, some little plastic toys or random colored doo-dads to use. Counters? (Dried beans, pennies, small stones or whatnot are just as fun to play with.) You can usually get a deluxe version with "all the bits" but that somehow seems impure. Gotta play it the original CheapAss(tm) way.

CheapAss even has some free games, including a combat strategy game which seems right up the aisle of the original submitter. I assume every self respecting gamer has the dark secret of RPGs in their past and still has their cache of dice sitting somewhere just waiting to be used.

Beat me to the punch. My roomate got it from here and we've had a blast in the last couple of weeks since we got it. Considering that he's thinking about writing a zombie survival horror video game, he's kinda had zombies on the brain anyways.

If you're into it for the zombies, I might also suggest Lord of the Fries, where you play a zombie filling a fast food order. And FreeLoader is another really fun game by the same people. The great thing about CheapAss games is their price. They used to be even better a couple years ago, most games costing less than $5, but then they started thinking they could actually get away with actually making quality games. Caveat: one reason that CheapAss games are so cheap is that by default they usually don't come with some of the things you need to play: dice (We've all got those sitting somewhere) Player markers (We've all got a chess set, some little plastic toys or random colored doo-dads to use. Counters? (Dried beans, pennies, small stones or whatnot are just as fun to play with.) You can usually get a deluxe version with "all the bits" but that somehow seems impure. Gotta play it the original CheapAss(tm) way.

CheapAss even has some free games, including a combat strategy game which seems right up the aisle of the original submitter. I assume every self respecting gamer has the dark secret of RPGs in their past and still has their cache of dice sitting somewhere just waiting to be used.

Steve Jackson games are great. A friend grabbed me Ninja Burger for Christmas, which is more of a card game than a board game, but still fun.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Cheapass Games. They're perfect for those on a budget and great fun. You may have to shop around a bit, but I've found them in a few gaming stores.

See here. To save you the time, here's a list of stuff I found from that story, games that sounded interesting or worth checking out.

First, I decided I should really get into Go. Some links from that Slashdot story: here, The Second Book of Go here, here, here, here, and here.

Other games:
Apples to Apples - got this for my cousin, they liked it.
Settlers of Catan - got this for myself, very nice game, try a local hobby shop or here or try Amazon.com

Others: Puerto Rico (Similar to Settlers of Catan), Lord of the Rings board game was mentioned, Kill Dr. Lucky, Deadwood, Give me the Brain, Lightspeed Games, Fluxx is fun, very random and quirky.

There's more! Mind Trap
Munchkin , Heroscape, Ticket to Ride, Mystery of the Abbey, Memoir '44, Queen's Necklace at Days of Wonder, Bang!, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Articulate
Killer Bunnies (and Quest for the Magic Carrot), Illuminati , Acquire .

Some other reviews/top game lists here:
here
here
here

Happy gaming!

This company makes a ton of wierd, fun, -cheap- games. Prices range from free (on their website) all the way up to $7.50 or so (with most being being 5 bucks or less). They should be in stock at ayour local game store, if you have one. http://www.cheapass.com/

Ah, Settlers of Catan. That one goes down in my book as the best board game ever. A perfect combination of luck and strategy, and extrememly replayable. You should try Seafarers of Catan and Cities and Knights.

Also, the third edition of Twilight Empirium just came out. You'll have to drop about $75 on it, but it's a fantastic game. Hexagonal pieces, space combat, very dynamic, lots of ways to win. Expect to commit a few hours to a single game.

Carcasonne also has a few expansions out if you want to consider more with that series.

Although mostly card games, check out Cheapass Games. Lots of bang for the buck.

That said, is anyone else reminded of the Day of the Dead boardgame? (link can't be checked, at work and the filters don't allow anything with "game" in it. Alt link or use Google to find it yourself)

Speaking as a board game fanatic, I have to say that I find Monopoly too simplistic, Chess rather a different animal than most board games, and Risk, well, I've played too much for it to be interesting anymore, especially when there are more interesting variants on Risk out there now. So I can see how other, newer, more sophisticated games (not DOOM, necessarily) might get rated higher.

I agree with you about Zombies, which is no fun and should probably be rater lower than it is; however, much as I love Cheapass Games, and I do, Kill Doctor Lucky is junk. I had much more fun with Witch Trial.

"...either way, there's something magical about blowing up cows."

Days of Wonder just produce some amazing stuff, including the heralded Memoir '44, which was recently released, along with a bunch of others that me and my wife can't get enough of.

Mystery of the Abbey is like a thinking man's/geek's version of Clue. Instead of that boring ole rag of a board game, you get an intricate and well designed whodunit that has strategy and tactics involved as to who finds out what and how to play the game to win. This is a favorite in our household and whenever we have a gettogether it's the first board game pulled out.

Ticket to Ride is another Days of Wonder production, designed by a frenchman I believe, who ironically created a game about US train lines around the early 1900's. You have a set # of trains and must build them in tandem across the country. You must connect certain cities according to your "tickets" you recieve at the beginning of the game, always giving you a goal and with multiple paths to each city there is strategy involved as far as how you connect them and by what color (each route is defined by color). It gets more in-depth and is very fun/interesting and fast paced to boot. The younger kids in the family really like this one as its color-based, easily followed, and easy to learn.

As far as other games, we love card games. Bang! is hands down the best multi-player card game I've ever played. Take that as you may, but I've played my share and it is awesome stuff. When a friend/family memeber asks us what we want to play, it's always Bang! Great mechanics, interesting roles to play, fun and funny to boot. There are some expansions to it (about a dozen cards each) to throw some variety to the game, but we've not needed those just yet. This is an absolute must-buy.

Queen's Necklace is another Days of Wonder production and is very cool. I know, a guy saying that playing a card game based on jewelry is cool, but it's a blast and is still fun with just 2 players (me and my wife play it occassionally). Easy to learn, hard to master, plenty of strategy and lots of enjoyment to be had.

Lastly I'll mention that Cheap Ass Games is a treasure trove of goodness, particularly Kill Dr. Lucky. This is a game that happens -before- Clue. Instead of figuring out who died and how, you actually get to kill that person! Of course, he's the luckiest guy ever, so it takes awhile and each person chases the good Doc around the mansion in an attempt to finally kill him in a variety of ways.

I think my favorite "Foiled!" card that showed up as I tried to Kill Dr. Lucky said something like "And suddenly...you felt not so fresh."

Hilarious, fun, and cheap!

Hope this helps :)

I've been buying Cheapass Games lately, and I've been very pleased with them. They're cheap (duh), they put original game mechanics ahead of fancy packaging or gimmicks, and they incorporate a healthy amount of humor.

while some are not really board games (rather being card games), if you are into playing board games, you should try these.

These games are generally fast, fun and require more strategy than is readily apparent from the shipping package. I highly recommend Kill Dr. Lucky. It's fun. You are a guy who hates Dr. Lucky (a rich philanthropist), and you want to kill him while at his mansion for a dinner party. Only thing is, everyone else wants to kill him too, but you don't realize that. So you have to get him into a room by yourself and then try to kill him. It's amusing.

Another great game is Chrononauts, which is a card game with an interesting twist.

my favorite find of the last few years has been Cheapass Games: http://www.cheapass.com/products/index.html

All their games are imaginative, fun and, best of all, cost next to f-all. It's refreshing to see someone trying to be fresh about game styles.

Personal favorites:
Unexploded Cow - a poker-style game involving incinerating BSE infected cattle in French minefields...

The Great Brain Robbery - Get your Zombie out of the runaway train by stealing brains with special abilities.

Bitin Off Hedz - even works for kids - a standard-ish board game where dinosaurs race to extinction.

They're so cheap you can afford to take a risk anyway.

None of the games mentioned are from the eponymous Cheap Ass Games company. I just found out about this company a few weeks ago, when I was looking for cheap ass Christmas presents. I can't vouch for their products but they seem like a good deal for 2 reasons.
a) The games sound like fun. Sure, who's going to advertise their games as totally boring and stupid? No one. But, Kill Doctor Lucky and Deadwood to name two I remember, have funny concepts and sound interesting to play.
b) They are CHEAP. And, seeing as to how most board games I've owned have been played about 3 times, max, the money spent seems much closer to the value derived than the $50 it costs for a lavishly wood-crafted board game.

Again, I don't know much about the product so don't come crying to me if they suck, but I'm probably going to risk a few bucks on them this year.

None of the games mentioned are from the eponymous Cheap Ass Games company. I just found out about this company a few weeks ago, when I was looking for cheap ass Christmas presents. I can't vouch for their products but they seem like a good deal for 2 reasons.
a) The games sound like fun. Sure, who's going to advertise their games as totally boring and stupid? No one. But, Kill Doctor Lucky and Deadwood to name two I remember, have funny concepts and sound interesting to play.
b) They are CHEAP. And, seeing as to how most board games I've owned have been played about 3 times, max, the money spent seems much closer to the value derived than the $50 it costs for a lavishly wood-crafted board game.

Again, I don't know much about the product so don't come crying to me if they suck, but I'm probably going to risk a few bucks on them this year.

None of the games mentioned are from the eponymous Cheap Ass Games company. I just found out about this company a few weeks ago, when I was looking for cheap ass Christmas presents. I can't vouch for their products but they seem like a good deal for 2 reasons.
a) The games sound like fun. Sure, who's going to advertise their games as totally boring and stupid? No one. But, Kill Doctor Lucky and Deadwood to name two I remember, have funny concepts and sound interesting to play.
b) They are CHEAP. And, seeing as to how most board games I've owned have been played about 3 times, max, the money spent seems much closer to the value derived than the $50 it costs for a lavishly wood-crafted board game.

Again, I don't know much about the product so don't come crying to me if they suck, but I'm probably going to risk a few bucks on them this year.

Cheapass Games has created a game about the struggle to file the first U.S. Patent.

Stefan