Its just amazing to me how Steve Jackson's games stand the test of time. Munchkin, Ogre, Gurps, Car Wars, these games are 20+ years old and people still think of them fondly. A lot of modern games it seems have a 6 month shelf life before they fade away.
I have always thought of Steve Jackson as an RPG company, perhaps because I came into Board Gaming via Role Playing, and my first association with Steve Jackson was with Gurps and Toon. Toon in particular has been a favorite in our house. I think the first Board Game I bought from them was Awful Green Things, and if they ever did a deluxe version of that, I would be mighty tempted to get it.
I still have the original OGRE in the little baggie. heh I also have Car Wars in the little pocketbox and Illuminati too. Overall, my favorite from Steve Jackson has always been Car Wars. I still own pretty much everything they put out for the game, but I am extra curious about how the new version will play. Great game.
Munchkin was sort of a gateway game for me, and I can get all kinds of gamers to play with me. It will probably stay on my table even though I am ready to move on. I also recently got my kids Dino Hunt Dice. (A kids version of Zombie Dice) They love the theme and it’s easy to understand. I too enjoy it.
Illuminati NWO was probably the game that got me into tabletop gaming. Very few people played it but I had so many decks that I was handing it out to my friends and we woudl play at least once.
I'm staring perpendicularly at a flat man pasted onto a wall. Bizarrely flat lighting or has Tom resorted to a green screen? :D Thanks for talking Steve Jackson. So many quilty pleasures!
I enjoy AWFUL GREEN THINGS FROM OUTER SPACE -- I bought it when it came out (in the 1970s) with my own money (that was significant as I was a kid!) -- and was happy to see it on this list!
It's an old game and of course it's been revamped (I think it's tricky to get hold of in Europe these days) but does it stand up in these modern times I wonder.
It's not modern, of course, but I think it stands as a fine game. The only comment we've got is that the board itself feels cramped. I wish it was twice the size so that everything fit well.
I never played the original, and picked up the updated version a few moths ago... I love it! It fits a good niche, and has mechanics (unkown weapon effects) that I have not seen used again since. He didn't touch upon playing the green things in the video, which is important, because they play so differently than the crew. I am happy it made the list also!
1. Port Royal is my 56th favorite game. I hadn't played this one until recently, I didn't think I would like it, but I did. 2. Car Wars is my 76th favorite game. I played it in the late 80's while in the military and hadn't played it again until recently. I have played it 3 times in the last couple months and is going over well with my family, surprisingly. I like it, but don't wish to play it often. I wondered if it would make my top 100 with a replay since the 80's and it did. Munchkin: I played it once several years ago late at nite when everyone was very tired. I didn't care for it. But would try it again, however I don't think I will like it, but maybe...
I'm actually not surprised Munchkin didn't make the cut. Although that game and Ticket to Ride were really my introduction to the board game world (outside of your typical monopoly, clue and family games of that nature.) I still enjoy playing Munchkin with my family (9 year old son loves it), but when it comes to game night with my adult gaming group, I will almost never want to play this game anymore. It's just been played out for me. "Oh you got the orc class and we're playing Epic? Cool you win if you're above level 10." Good game. lol.
My favorite Steve Jackson game didn't even make this list, and I suspect it's because of the mildly mature theming: Chez Geek. I also own Munchkin and Munchkin Cthulhu.
My favourite is Tribes. But since it requires about 8-10 players to be really awesome I guess it's why it didn't make it to the list. It's a great convention game, tho! Hmm... perhaps I should arrange a session with it at the next BSK Games Convention in Sweden! :)
I loved Chess growing up but Knightmare Chess blew it out of the water. I will never go back to vanilla Chess. The best Knightmare variant is playing on a 4 person chess board.
How about the games fantastic fantasy games he originally did for Metagaming Concepts: Melee, Wizard, and the whole "The Fantasy Trip" franchise. When I hear the name "Steve Jackson" - those are what comes to my mind. And his historical "One Page Bulge" is also quite good.
SJGames, I love the company I am an MIB for them, which means I own or have played a lot of their games and I run demos a lot... But my personal top 10 1. Munchkin-just about any version is great, but I think my favorite is the fantasy sets or the Marvel/XMen sets. 2. Revolution-this game just is fantastic, the more I play it the more I love it, but unfortunately most of my game group doesn't like it, so I only get to play it during demos. 3. Zombie Dice- easy to learn, easy to teach, and just all round fun. 4. S.P.A.N.K.- this game maybe a bit harder to find, but it is very fun. 5. Frag- this game I love to play, but trying to demo it for me personally I think it is one of their harder games to demo, not that I won't demo it but, um yeah. 6. Munchkin Treasure Hunt- this is obviously geared towards children, but it is a very decent little game, and a good starter to get kids into more advance games. 7. Ninja Burger Card Game-Super silly game, but fun as heck. 8. Castellan- I really enjoy this game and is I could play it more it would probably get higher on my list. 9. Chupacabra- another easy to learn easy to teach dice game that to me is very fun, plus glow in the dark Dice!
10. Mars Attack the Dice Game- Great game in general. Some games that would make the list but are not just SJGames but are co made with other companies but I love them... is a Munchkin Panic and Loot Letter, I really want to get the Munchkin Smash Up and Munchkin Gloom but so far I haven't been able to just yet.
OGRE is a great intro to war gaming, or at least the type of war gaming that has hexes, chits with attack and movement values, a combat results table, etc. It's simple to learn and it can take the intimidation factor out of war games that some new players might otherwise feel. Great gateway.
This is an easy one for me. Out of 838 games in my collection, exactly ONE of them is a Steve Jackson game. So, clearly not a publisher I think much of. Having said that, Dino Hunt (the card game - not the dice game) is a game I enjoy playing with my son.
Knightmare Chess is the only kind of chess I will play. Now, I won't play it often, because games can run up to four hours or so, and I invariably lose anyway, but chaos rulz
Illuminati has an issue with too much math and juggling cards that affect other cards in totally different locations, which feels clunky - it would probably work better as a computer game/app where all calculations and adjustments were done under the hood and you only saw the result..
I think that reflected the theme (of insane conspiracies and the contradictory conceptual lengths nutters go to to explain them) quite well. And I certainly hope it was intentional.
It's almost like a conspiracy theory generator... for example, the teachers union is controlled by the drug cartel which is controlled by the media. Hilarious.
Illuminati is a horrible game. The game is hilarious for a split second when you have some crazy combination of cards, but the game play is an absolute dread. The game has way too many exceptions to the rules. Downtime is super long, you could play a game of Port Royal between your turns.
Company known for one thing? Seriously Tom? Car Wars had approximately 50 expansions and a magazine entirely devoted to it that ran for 40 issues, several novels and a comic book series, OGRE is in it's 6th edition, Illuminati is a staple of gaming that helped paved the way to Magic: The Gaithering, and GURPs made a crater-sized impact on RPGs with something like 50 different adaptations. So saying that is kinda like saying Disney is known for only one thing, the MCU.
Ditto, I played it once. I made decent headway at the start, but two players went for the buildings I had influence over and there was nothing I could do about it! I came last by a mile. Like you, never again. There are far more enjoyable games out there to play.
Its just amazing to me how Steve Jackson's games stand the test of time. Munchkin, Ogre, Gurps, Car Wars, these games are 20+ years old and people still think of them fondly. A lot of modern games it seems have a 6 month shelf life before they fade away.
I have always thought of Steve Jackson as an RPG company, perhaps because I came into Board Gaming via Role Playing, and my first association with Steve Jackson was with Gurps and Toon. Toon in particular has been a favorite in our house. I think the first Board Game I bought from them was Awful Green Things, and if they ever did a deluxe version of that, I would be mighty tempted to get it.
Toon was a lot of fun! Our group liked to play it when we were a little burned-out on D&D.
I still have the original OGRE in the little baggie. heh I also have Car Wars in the little pocketbox and Illuminati too. Overall, my favorite from Steve Jackson has always been Car Wars. I still own pretty much everything they put out for the game, but I am extra curious about how the new version will play. Great game.
Munchkin was sort of a gateway game for me, and I can get all kinds of gamers to play with me. It will probably stay on my table even though I am ready to move on. I also recently got my kids Dino Hunt Dice. (A kids version of Zombie Dice) They love the theme and it’s easy to understand. I too enjoy it.
Illuminati NWO was probably the game that got me into tabletop gaming. Very few people played it but I had so many decks that I was handing it out to my friends and we woudl play at least once.
I'm staring perpendicularly at a flat man pasted onto a wall. Bizarrely flat lighting or has Tom resorted to a green screen? :D
Thanks for talking Steve Jackson. So many quilty pleasures!
I enjoy AWFUL GREEN THINGS FROM OUTER SPACE -- I bought it when it came out (in the 1970s) with my own money (that was significant as I was a kid!) -- and was happy to see it on this list!
It's an old game and of course it's been revamped (I think it's tricky to get hold of in Europe these days) but does it stand up in these modern times I wonder.
It's not modern, of course, but I think it stands as a fine game. The only comment we've got is that the board itself feels cramped. I wish it was twice the size so that everything fit well.
Yeah, the game still stands up. A game from the 70s that is still good today is a pretty cool accomplishment.
We've talked about enlarging the board as an art project. Might need to do that... :)
I never played the original, and picked up the updated version a few moths ago... I love it! It fits a good niche, and has mechanics (unkown weapon effects) that I have not seen used again since. He didn't touch upon playing the green things in the video, which is important, because they play so differently than the crew. I am happy it made the list also!
1. Port Royal is my 56th favorite game. I hadn't played this one until recently, I didn't think I would like it, but I did.
2. Car Wars is my 76th favorite game. I played it in the late 80's while in the military and hadn't played it again until recently. I have played it 3 times in the last couple months and is going over well with my family, surprisingly. I like it, but don't wish to play it often. I wondered if it would make my top 100 with a replay since the 80's and it did.
Munchkin: I played it once several years ago late at nite when everyone was very tired. I didn't care for it. But would try it again, however I don't think I will like it, but maybe...
I'm actually not surprised Munchkin didn't make the cut. Although that game and Ticket to Ride were really my introduction to the board game world (outside of your typical monopoly, clue and family games of that nature.) I still enjoy playing Munchkin with my family (9 year old son loves it), but when it comes to game night with my adult gaming group, I will almost never want to play this game anymore. It's just been played out for me. "Oh you got the orc class and we're playing Epic? Cool you win if you're above level 10." Good game. lol.
My favorite Steve Jackson game didn't even make this list, and I suspect it's because of the mildly mature theming: Chez Geek. I also own Munchkin and Munchkin Cthulhu.
My favourite is Tribes. But since it requires about 8-10 players to be really awesome I guess it's why it didn't make it to the list. It's a great convention game, tho! Hmm... perhaps I should arrange a session with it at the next BSK Games Convention in Sweden! :)
Will you rank the top 10 Munchkin Games?
He doesn't like Munchkin so that will probably never happen unless it's an april fools type of thing
I loved Chess growing up but Knightmare Chess blew it out of the water. I will never go back to vanilla Chess. The best Knightmare variant is playing on a 4 person chess board.
Same. I played a ton of chess with my wife in college and found nightmare chess when it came out. It blew my mind way back then.
How about the games fantastic fantasy games he originally did for Metagaming Concepts: Melee, Wizard, and the whole "The Fantasy Trip" franchise. When I hear the name "Steve Jackson" - those are what comes to my mind. And his historical "One Page Bulge" is also quite good.
I was surprised by no "the stars are right" on the top!
SJGames, I love the company I am an MIB for them, which means I own or have played a lot of their games and I run demos a lot...
But my personal top 10
1. Munchkin-just about any version is great, but I think my favorite is the fantasy sets or the Marvel/XMen sets.
2. Revolution-this game just is fantastic, the more I play it the more I love it, but unfortunately most of my game group doesn't like it, so I only get to play it during demos.
3. Zombie Dice- easy to learn, easy to teach, and just all round fun.
4. S.P.A.N.K.- this game maybe a bit harder to find, but it is very fun.
5. Frag- this game I love to play, but trying to demo it for me personally I think it is one of their harder games to demo, not that I won't demo it but, um yeah.
6. Munchkin Treasure Hunt- this is obviously geared towards children, but it is a very decent little game, and a good starter to get kids into more advance games.
7. Ninja Burger Card Game-Super silly game, but fun as heck.
8. Castellan- I really enjoy this game and is I could play it more it would probably get higher on my list.
9. Chupacabra- another easy to learn easy to teach dice game that to me is very fun, plus glow in the dark Dice!
10. Mars Attack the Dice Game- Great game in general.
Some games that would make the list but are not just SJGames but are co made with other companies but I love them... is a Munchkin Panic and Loot Letter, I really want to get the Munchkin Smash Up and Munchkin Gloom but so far I haven't been able to just yet.
The first game I thought of was Toon. This is an RPG based on the old Saturday cartons, mostly old Warner Bros
Steve Jackson Games is a name I look out for. They're on the lighter end and often card based. Ninja Burger is one of my favourites.
"They're on the lighter end..."
*Looks at old copy of Car Wars*
Emphasis on old.
Lighter end? Read the 50 some odd volumes of GURPS and get back to me on that.
Thomas Huff ??? The Dice Tower is a board game review show, not an RPG review show.
Okay than, read the 256 page Car Wars Compendium rulebook and get back to me.
OGRE is a great intro to war gaming, or at least the type of war gaming that has hexes, chits with attack and movement values, a combat results table, etc. It's simple to learn and it can take the intimidation factor out of war games that some new players might otherwise feel. Great gateway.
This is an easy one for me. Out of 838 games in my collection, exactly ONE of them is a Steve Jackson game. So, clearly not a publisher I think much of. Having said that, Dino Hunt (the card game - not the dice game) is a game I enjoy playing with my son.
When does the new port royal come out?
Never cared much for Munchkin but I do enjoy some of the spin-off expansions, like Star Munchkin.
Knightmare Chess is the only kind of chess I will play. Now, I won't play it often, because games can run up to four hours or so, and I invariably lose anyway, but chaos rulz
Please do a best of Cheapass games
Cool Video!
Illuminati has an issue with too much math and juggling cards that affect other cards in totally different locations, which feels clunky - it would probably work better as a computer game/app where all calculations and adjustments were done under the hood and you only saw the result..
I think that reflected the theme (of insane conspiracies and the contradictory conceptual lengths nutters go to to explain them) quite well. And I certainly hope it was intentional.
It's almost like a conspiracy theory generator... for example, the teachers union is controlled by the drug cartel which is controlled by the media. Hilarious.
Illuminati is a horrible game. The game is hilarious for a split second when you have some crazy combination of cards, but the game play is an absolute dread.
The game has way too many exceptions to the rules. Downtime is super long, you could play a game of Port Royal between your turns.
Revolution! by a mile. Amazing game.
Company known for one thing? Seriously Tom? Car Wars had approximately 50 expansions and a magazine entirely devoted to it that ran for 40 issues, several novels and a comic book series, OGRE is in it's 6th edition, Illuminati is a staple of gaming that helped paved the way to Magic: The Gaithering, and GURPs made a crater-sized impact on RPGs with something like 50 different adaptations. So saying that is kinda like saying Disney is known for only one thing, the MCU.
I own Knightmare Chess.
Before I watch this .. I predict Ogre at no.2 .. if I get it correct I will apply to the CIA's psychic division. UPDATE: ok I'm seriously applying.
Should only have been about 30 seconds long... Castellan.
No Illuminati? List invalid!
I love Munchkins , still don't understand why Dict Tower hates it.
Simon's Cat: The Card Game
No Munchkin?!
no!
Hi
A grand master :(
"Chez?" Is it not pronounced "shay"?
OMN:I
ugh I really dislike revolution 0/10 won't play again.
Ditto, I played it once. I made decent headway at the start, but two players went for the buildings I had influence over and there was nothing I could do about it! I came last by a mile. Like you, never again. There are far more enjoyable games out there to play.
OGRE