The WORST Board Game Ever!!!

[Mike]

   OK folks, I'm starting up a new topic.  What, in your opinion is the worst board game
       ever created.  I'll start it off.  In the late 90s, I saw a "Dr. Laura" game in a store, based
       on the controversial talk show host, Dr. Laura Schlessinger.  The description on the box
       said this game "teaches children values."  I almost threw up in the aisle at K-mart where
       I saw this game.  Well, there's my contribution, what's yours?  What board game do you
       think is the movie equivalent of "Heaven's Gate"  or "Ishtar"?  Oh, one stipulation.  It has
       to be something OTHER THAN MONOPOLY.  We're all heard the gripes and complaints,
       and Hasbro/Parker Bros. has been laughing all the way to the bank for years.  It's just
       too easy.  Let's hear others, and see you all at Southern Exposure!!

                                                                                              Mike C
                                                                                              Board Gamer

[Number Three]

Any knocks on Monopoly are created by the player's themselves.  If they insist on not playing by the rules (i.e. the Free Parking lottery), of course the games going to get screwy.  I think my worst board game is related to these problems: the WotC/"Avalon Hill" version of Cosmic Encounter.  Nothing ruins a game for you like repeatedly getting the short end of the alien schtick and getting trampled with it.

As for worst game ever?  The same guy you whooped my crippled butt in Cosmic Encounter told me about the Vegitales Card Game.  This guy likes the show, so he got it to play with his nieces and nephews.  The goal is share (give away) one of each item in the game, at least one with each players.  The problem?  There's some sort of special card in the deck.  Draw it, give it away, and you've won.    So the whole thing is a random race for the god card.  He let them keep it when he left.

[June]

I'm afraid I have to say Monopoly. Correct rules or not, it's too long for what it is: a luckfest. You can be smart as a whip about wheeling and dealing and mortgages and stuff, but the dice still control the game. I once played a game where at the very beginning, I went around the entire board twice and NEVER landed on anything that was for sale and landed on Luxury Tax both times. Everyone else at the table had four or five property cards in front of them while I had none. You can't come back from two completely loss-making rounds. I don't like to quit games in the middle, so I stuck out the next hour until I finally lost everything. The game went on for two more hours while I read book.

Which brings me to my next point. Player elimination is only fun in short games, like Tsuro. You even get enjoyment from watching what happens after you're eliminated. Not so with Monopoly. It's like watching paint dry.

The pawns are cool, the theme isn't bad, and the different collector editions are fun sometimes, but the game itself really is flawed.

June

[klz_fc]

June has made the excellent reasons why Monopoly is one of the worst games out there (the dice control is one of the reasons I don't feel Settlers is enjoyable to me anymore as well - if you have no resources, you can't trade or build!). Although shorter, I think the worst one has to be the much-reviled LCR. The dice control everything, but without the illusion of interactivity. BAsically, you have a pile of chips and you roll the dice. Every L means you pass a chip to the left, ever R means you pass a chip to the right, C means you pass a chip to the center pot, and a dot means you don't have to pass a chip. That's it. Even Candyland has a board where everyone is playing in. Ugh.

[KevinM]

Personally I"d say Ouija boards.  I've seen to many head aches start from them.

[Vaughn]

I hate to say it since a good chunk of my childhood was spent playing these games but pretty much all the roll-and-move games.
Monopoly, Payday, Life, etc...