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Apples to Apples and Settlers of Catan are both incredibly fun.

I also dig a lot of the card games out there, like Fluxx.

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!

Fluxx isn't a game. It's a random number generator that may be fun when you're drunk and/or stoned (though, not being one to partake of such levels of chemical enhancement, I wouldn't know), but certainly not when you're sober. Get some Treehouse / Icehouse sets and go play Zendo instead. That's actually a neat game from the same publishers, Looney Labs.

In the board/card/table gaming world, Looney Labs does a pretty good job with their mailing lists. Yes, they keep up on the games that are being released, but since it's practically a small family operation, they have blog entries and such that go out as well.

Looney Labs makes some pretty awesome games, for what it's worth.

Looney Labs (and their weekly blog) make some excellent games that might fit your audience. They are perhaps best known for their card game Fluxx (my personal favorite), but also have a number of other games which are more board-game like.

The one that sounds most similar to what you're looking for is Chrononauts, the card game of time travel, which involves a time line that you build and control on the table. It also has an "Early American" version.

As already noted, they make the Icehouse pyramids which are most noted for games like Zendo and Ice Towers, but are also used for quite a few others.

Enjoy!

IceHouse is awesome! It's a game construction set and has rules for lots of games, and you can make up your own. It's perfect for the creative geeky type, for the easily bored type, check it out!
Looney Labs has lots of other neat games too, Fluxx, Aquarius, many more.

Both of these are card games which are sort of like Uno, but more complex and interesting. I've played Fluxx much more, so these comments relate to that. Fluxx is a great game because if you are familar with it and good at it, you can plan some good strategies, however, if you're a novice, there it is still possible to win. So, both skill and chance come into play. Games can range from one minute to over thirty, and it's good to play from two players to four or five.

There's even a Palm version, called MicroFluxx. It seems like the developers created and were distributing it without the knowledge or consent of Looney Labs, but the matter has since been settled.

Enjoy!

Todd

Icehouse from Looney Labs. You buy the pieces and then either buy a separate multi-game rulebook or just look up rules for Icehouse games online. Check out the rules for Volcano, RAMbots, and IceTowers... our three favorites.

Jason McIntosh has done many Cool Things (tm), including co-authoring Perl and XML and defining ComicsXML. He worked at O'Reilly for awhile in the now defunct Tools group, helping to build programs to convert author manuscripts into a formats amenable to the Production workflow. When not hacking code, jmac finds and plays obscure games from impolitely named companies. Buy his book and encourage him to write a second edition about Panther.

Here are several essays on game design, many focusing on simplifying a game to focus on the interesting mechanics and decisions. Clearly this applies to computer games as well, but non-computer games are also more accessible to non-programmers.

Yeah, that's why I stopped playing most card games and RPGs. I wasted so much money on Decipher's Star Wars CCGs trying to get rare cards even though the game was terrible (no where near as good as magic). I stopped buying RPG books when I realized I wasted hundreds of dollars on White Wolf's World of Darkness books just to stay up-to-date on the stories. It might be an effective business model to keep shoveling cards and books down gamers' throats, but it's not an effective consumer model.

Thankfully, there are alternatives. I recommend anything from Looney Labs. I've played Fluxx, Chrononauts, and Aquarius, and each was a fun, elegant, and affordable (no 20 different expansions to milk out more cash) game.

My group just started playing some games from Steve Jackson Games.
Our favorites are Munchkin, and Chez Geek. I haven't tried it yet, but Hacker is supposed to be really cool as well.

Finally Settlers of Catan from Mayfair Games is a really neat game for 4 players.
I played this past weekend, and can't wait to play again!

If you haven't found them the last two years I've made this post, you're missing out. Several small time game companies make cheap games often with a delightfully geeky bent:

• Fluxx ($10) from LooneyLabs
  A self-modifying card game where the rules of the game are the cards played.
  
  
• Icehouse ($35) also from LooneyLabs
  No, not the beer. A Unquestionably cool set of plastic pyramids suitable for playing a variety of games, and designing of your own games.
  
  
• Falling ($10) from Cheapass Games
  Imagine real-time (as opposed to turn based) blackjack on speed.
  
  

All of these games are perfect for sitting in restraunts waiting for food, or other such awkward time slots that normally get wasted.

If you haven't found them the last two years I've made this post, you're missing out. Several small time game companies make cheap games often with a delightfully geeky bent:

• Fluxx ($10) from LooneyLabs
  A self-modifying card game where the rules of the game are the cards played.
  
  
• Icehouse ($35) also from LooneyLabs
  No, not the beer. A Unquestionably cool set of plastic pyramids suitable for playing a variety of games, and designing of your own games.
  
  
• Falling ($10) from Cheapass Games
  Imagine real-time (as opposed to turn based) blackjack on speed.
  
  

All of these games are perfect for sitting in restraunts waiting for food, or other such awkward time slots that normally get wasted.

Actually, Looney labs sells a set of gaming pieces called an Icehouse Set, and one of the games you can play with it is RAMbots, which is much like RoboRally. I prefer it, personally. I also really like Falling, sold by their Contagious Dreams site.

In the 'Under PlayStation 2' category, I've got to go with the wierd non-computer games from Looney Labs . Specifically they're all under the $40 mark.

You'll find more information on their site, but here's a quick rundown:

Fluxx $10

A card game where the rules to the game are the cards you play. Very recursive, hence very geeky. Simple to learn, pointless to master. (It's partially luck based...)

Icehouse $35

A unique set of translucent stacking plastic pyramids you can use to play all sorts of neat games. The signature one is so geeky there's even a graphical version for X windows.

Chrononauts $20

A card game based around time travel. How cool is that? The official release date isn't until October 31st, but I can tell you from first hand experience that the cards are beautiful and the gameplay is solid.

--

• Fluxx is a self-modifying card game that never takes itself to seriously for only $8.95
• Aquarius, a beautiful dominoes derivative almost any age can enjoy for $9.95
• Proton is a PocketBoardGame for two people that is not only a neat game, but inherently portable. Perfect for all those times you spend waiting and a steal at $4.95
• Icehouse sets are great for playing more than a dozen different games. Not only are the new plastic pieces cool looking but the games are all unique and fun. From twists like being turnless to dynamic game boards the variety and sheer neato factor make this a gaurenteed winner at $34.95 (if you can't handle the extra cost, you can get a fun, do-it-yourself set for just $2.00! Be forewarned that they don't norally stack like the plastic ones.)
• They also sell nifty t-shirts, a few neat books, some cute buttons, and a stash of other weird stuff. (some of it is even free!)

They also review other small game companies offerings at their Contagious Dreams site.

It's where I'm doing more than half my Christmas shopping.

Enjoy!

--

• Fluxx is a self-modifying card game that never takes itself to seriously for only $8.95
• Aquarius, a beautiful dominoes derivative almost any age can enjoy for $9.95
• Proton is a PocketBoardGame for two people that is not only a neat game, but inherently portable. Perfect for all those times you spend waiting and a steal at $4.95
• Icehouse sets are great for playing more than a dozen different games. Not only are the new plastic pieces cool looking but the games are all unique and fun. From twists like being turnless to dynamic game boards the variety and sheer neato factor make this a gaurenteed winner at $34.95 (if you can't handle the extra cost, you can get a fun, do-it-yourself set for just $2.00! Be forewarned that they don't norally stack like the plastic ones.)
• They also sell nifty t-shirts, a few neat books, some cute buttons, and a stash of other weird stuff. (some of it is even free!)

They also review other small game companies offerings at their Contagious Dreams site.

It's where I'm doing more than half my Christmas shopping.

Enjoy!

--

• Fluxx is a self-modifying card game that never takes itself to seriously for only $8.95
• Aquarius, a beautiful dominoes derivative almost any age can enjoy for $9.95
• Proton is a PocketBoardGame for two people that is not only a neat game, but inherently portable. Perfect for all those times you spend waiting and a steal at $4.95
• Icehouse sets are great for playing more than a dozen different games. Not only are the new plastic pieces cool looking but the games are all unique and fun. From twists like being turnless to dynamic game boards the variety and sheer neato factor make this a gaurenteed winner at $34.95 (if you can't handle the extra cost, you can get a fun, do-it-yourself set for just $2.00! Be forewarned that they don't norally stack like the plastic ones.)
• They also sell nifty t-shirts, a few neat books, some cute buttons, and a stash of other weird stuff. (some of it is even free!)

They also review other small game companies offerings at their Contagious Dreams site.

It's where I'm doing more than half my Christmas shopping.

Enjoy!

--

• Fluxx is a self-modifying card game that never takes itself to seriously for only $8.95
• Aquarius, a beautiful dominoes derivative almost any age can enjoy for $9.95
• Proton is a PocketBoardGame for two people that is not only a neat game, but inherently portable. Perfect for all those times you spend waiting and a steal at $4.95
• Icehouse sets are great for playing more than a dozen different games. Not only are the new plastic pieces cool looking but the games are all unique and fun. From twists like being turnless to dynamic game boards the variety and sheer neato factor make this a gaurenteed winner at $34.95 (if you can't handle the extra cost, you can get a fun, do-it-yourself set for just $2.00! Be forewarned that they don't norally stack like the plastic ones.)
• They also sell nifty t-shirts, a few neat books, some cute buttons, and a stash of other weird stuff. (some of it is even free!)

They also review other small game companies offerings at their Contagious Dreams site.

It's where I'm doing more than half my Christmas shopping.

Enjoy!

--

• Fluxx is a self-modifying card game that never takes itself to seriously for only $8.95
• Aquarius, a beautiful dominoes derivative almost any age can enjoy for $9.95
• Proton is a PocketBoardGame for two people that is not only a neat game, but inherently portable. Perfect for all those times you spend waiting and a steal at $4.95
• Icehouse sets are great for playing more than a dozen different games. Not only are the new plastic pieces cool looking but the games are all unique and fun. From twists like being turnless to dynamic game boards the variety and sheer neato factor make this a gaurenteed winner at $34.95 (if you can't handle the extra cost, you can get a fun, do-it-yourself set for just $2.00! Be forewarned that they don't norally stack like the plastic ones.)
• They also sell nifty t-shirts, a few neat books, some cute buttons, and a stash of other weird stuff. (some of it is even free!)

They also review other small game companies offerings at their Contagious Dreams site.

It's where I'm doing more than half my Christmas shopping.

Enjoy!

--

• Fluxx is a self-modifying card game that never takes itself to seriously for only $8.95
• Aquarius, a beautiful dominoes derivative almost any age can enjoy for $9.95
• Proton is a PocketBoardGame for two people that is not only a neat game, but inherently portable. Perfect for all those times you spend waiting and a steal at $4.95
• Icehouse sets are great for playing more than a dozen different games. Not only are the new plastic pieces cool looking but the games are all unique and fun. From twists like being turnless to dynamic game boards the variety and sheer neato factor make this a gaurenteed winner at $34.95 (if you can't handle the extra cost, you can get a fun, do-it-yourself set for just $2.00! Be forewarned that they don't norally stack like the plastic ones.)
• They also sell nifty t-shirts, a few neat books, some cute buttons, and a stash of other weird stuff. (some of it is even free!)

They also review other small game companies offerings at their Contagious Dreams site.

It's where I'm doing more than half my Christmas shopping.

Enjoy!

--

• Fluxx is a self-modifying card game that never takes itself to seriously for only $8.95
• Aquarius, a beautiful dominoes derivative almost any age can enjoy for $9.95
• Proton is a PocketBoardGame for two people that is not only a neat game, but inherently portable. Perfect for all those times you spend waiting and a steal at $4.95
• Icehouse sets are great for playing more than a dozen different games. Not only are the new plastic pieces cool looking but the games are all unique and fun. From twists like being turnless to dynamic game boards the variety and sheer neato factor make this a gaurenteed winner at $34.95 (if you can't handle the extra cost, you can get a fun, do-it-yourself set for just $2.00! Be forewarned that they don't norally stack like the plastic ones.)
• They also sell nifty t-shirts, a few neat books, some cute buttons, and a stash of other weird stuff. (some of it is even free!)

They also review other small game companies offerings at their Contagious Dreams site.

It's where I'm doing more than half my Christmas shopping.

Enjoy!

--