For most of my life, there was no tile placement sub-genre of board games. There was just Scrabble. This all-time great won me over at a young age and continues to be a favourite. Once I discovered the world of enthusiast board gaming, I discovered that there were many other games that use the concept of tile placement in very different ways. In this installment of the Board Game Night Playlist, we’re doing nothing but quality tile placement games. Let’s go!
scrabble
Board Game Night Playlist: Old Mainstream Board Games
The likes of Monopoly, Life and Candyland define a very specific part of my childhood. These were the games that introduced me to tabletop gaming and admittedly, I had a lot of fun playing them back in the day. However, as with almost every game of this ilk, its appeal wore off as I grew up and realized that these games weren’t very good.
Now that I’ve immersed myself in the genre, it’s easy (and board game hipster of me) to simply dismiss anything coming from Hasbro or Mattel as garbage. Some of these old games that have a mainstream retail presence at stores like Walmart or Toys R Us are – and have always been – good. If you’re looking to take part in a game night with old mainstream games that you can pick up anywhere, try these!
In Third Person’s Guide to Scrabble, Words With Friends and other Scrabble-Like Games
Over the past few weeks, Words With Friends-mania has consumed my office. It never seems to get old having multiple games of Scrabble going with my friends where turns can be taken at your own pace. Through this experience, I’ve learned a lot about my coworkers as people. They’ve also learned one thing in particular about me: I’m a calculated and cold-blooded Words With Friends player.
While I’m far from a Scrabble champion, I’ve played enough Scrabble in my lifetime to understand some of the game’s beneath-the-surface nuances. If you’d like to learn some of the strategies and tactics I use to infuriate my coworkers, read through this guide!
In Third Person 