The strangest themes in games
[removed]
Posted Dec 15, 2020, 2:05 AM UTC
1846
The Bloody Inn comes to mind
15
Great choice! I’ve had my eye on that for a while but not had the privilege of playing it yet. The theme is certainly interesting.
The endangered orphans games come to mind too!
2
Learning the rules for the bloody inn was a bit of a mindfuck for me because they’re so incredibly simple yet so very different from everything else I’ve played. But once i learned it i found it a very fun game whose mechanics suit the theme far better than most games
3
Glad it’s not just me, every time we play it takes me a few minutes to make sure I’m doing it right. Super simple rule set but for some reason it is very unintuitive.
3
I feel that way about Cosmic Frog. The gameplay is very unique as well, and I’m already pretty bad with rules, so I expected it to be really confusing but honestly the mechanics fit the theme so well! :)
2
My copy arrives today! So ready to be a 2 mile high frog.
1
Love that game! It's so well made how the cards have so many functions.
1
Has there been any word on this getting a reprint?
edit: According to bgg forums, there's a reprint that should hit the US in a couple months! I suppose I could have done the 60 seconds of research *before* I asked...
1
Cerebria is very unique in addition to having a pretty thematic mechanical integration. You can tell Mindclash really put a lot of thought into a lot of the names and abilities.
De Vulgari Eloquentia is about creating Renaissance Italian.
Three Kingdoms Redux is one of the few relatively mainstream games I'm aware of about Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
It's probably easy to guess what Dinosaur Tea Party is about.
To this day nobody really knows what Duck Dealer is really about.
For-Ex is a no luck game about Foreign currency exchange that is played on a glorified spreadsheet, so I've always found that oddly interesting.
6
Hah, de vulgari eloquentia came to my mind too.
2
immediately googles Duck Dealer
I’ve only ever heard of Cerebria and the art / theme certainly makes me want to give it a try!
1
- Bios Genesis has you playing as a complex chemical molecule on the brink of becoming self replicating
- Black Orchestra is about plotting to assassinate Hitler
- Deck Building: the Deck Building Game is about literal deckbuilding
- Q.E. is about central banks bailing out too big to fail companies
- The Cost is about building profitable asbestos factories
- Fort is about inviting kids to play in your treehouse
6
From the creators of Deck Building: the deck building game comes Time Management, the time management game, Traitor Mechanic, the traitor mechanic game, and Trick Taking, the trick taking game!
6
Apparently there is also Unpub, the unpublished card game
2
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 gets hold of you.
Unexploded Cow
You are highly trained and well-paid sous-chefs, who have decided to climb to the top of a tall building, as fast as you can.
Devil Bunny needs a ham.
And he’s pretty sure that knocking you off the building will help him get one.
Perhaps he is right.
Perhaps he is not.
The Cretaceous.
Hot. Primordial. Dull.
You've been dominating the earth for longer than you can remember.
Then again, with a brain the size of a walnut, you've also been standing there for longer than you can remember.
Nevertheless, you're completely positive that it's been ten million years since anything interesting has happened.
So you decide to cajole your buddies into a suicide race across skull island. The winner is the first to hurl himself into a big volcano in the middle. The losers are everyone who got their hedz bitten off along the way.
-- Biting off hedz
You and your friends are hard-working candy machines in Devil Bunny's factory.
Devil Bunny hates the Earth.
And so he has decided to wreak his revenge upon the Globe by manufacturing a very unsatisfying brand of saltwater taffy.
You must stop him. Even though you are aware that his plan has almost no chance of success.
By luring innocent squirrels into the factory and using them to gum up your own works, you hope to stop Devil Bunny's plan from coming to its unlikely end.
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 Number 1
Everyone is Falling. And fighting. The object is to hit the ground last. It’s not much of a goal, really, but it’s all you could think of on the way down.
Bleeding Sherwood: You’re a traveling salesman, following Robin Hood through Sherwood Forest. He gives money to the poor, and then you sell them a bunch of expensive crap they don’t need.
Secret Tijuana Deathmatch: You’re a wrestling promoter, luring bankrupt American businessmen into back-alley fights south of the border. You promise to pay your marks a million dollars if they win five fights, so your hope is that they only win four.
I think cheapass games wins this.
6
The Mushroom Eaters. Take a little trip...
5
This is what came to my mind too. There are a lot of "crazy" themes out there, but they end up being noise because it's just wacky thing stacked onto wacky thing. Mushroom Eaters is grounded enough yet niche and strange enough to be captivating.
4
Snit's Revenge has one player taking on the role of a creature's immune system, while the other is the invading infection. It's a little weird, and very 70's.
4
Alright.... what’s gonna beat this? This is incredible! I wish the game was better (just accounting for BGG ratings)
2
I backed Goetia: nine kings of Solomon for the crazy theme of conjuring and worshiping demons. Not everyone's cup of tea, but gameplay looked interesting. It's being self published by just one guy in Sweden. I think it's up on TTS.
4
That’s super interesting! I’ve always enjoyed these darker and grittier themes. Though, then again I also love cat lady, cosmic frog, and calico, so who knows. Definitely going to keep an eye on this one!
1
It's on Tabletopia for sure. I don't believe on TTS yet. Great game!
1
Barbarossa:
"Barbarossa is set in a fictional Second World War setting in which cute German military girls rush against Moscow to defeat the evil magician Stalin."
Alternate history ww2 with hitler as the good guy, with magic and anime titties. Tell me that's not gold.
3
Queue (thats the english name, the polish name starts with a K) Queuing for goods in Late 70's/Early 80's Communist Poland.
3
Kolejka IIRC.
3
yeah thats it! I have it but I was too lazy to look
1
Some great ones already mentioned here but here are some of my faves:
Chaosmos: Galactic rumble over the Cosmic Egg. Whoever has it at the end dictates the fate of the new universe
Ferox: Sadistic film crew vs unforgiving natives in an asymmetrical 2p homage to cannibal exploitation films of the 70's
Bloc by Bloc: The Insurrection Game: Students, Workers, Prisoners and Neighbors fight against the State, inspired by 21st century riots and uprisings
3
Tanto Cuore is a deck building game about hiring the perfect stable of maids.
Fast and F’tangn is a card game about illegal Cthulhu street racing.
2
I feel like Kolejka https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/85325/kolejka Should be mentioned. It's about waiting in line.
2
Reversal of expected goals comes to mind.
-
Viral makes you diseases trying to take down a human.
-
Spirit Island makes you island spirits fighting off humans.
-
The Prodigals Club asks how quickly you can lose your political election, money, and friends.
Also, unusual titles come to mind:
-
So, You’ve Been Eaten
-
And then we held hands...
2
Gotta say Abomination: Heir of Frankenstein is pretty great. Something about this really draws me in. Worker placement about harvesting body/animal parts, blood and bones to assemble a companion for Frankenstein’s monster and zapping it to life. Gruesome artwork mixed with questionable moral actions and bits of story. Right up my alley.
2
Pandemic, because in that game you can actually stop the horror. Oh... I made myself sad.
2
Oh no. Apparently the sad is contagious too.
2
A polish game called Kolejka which I think means line-up or queue. Your goal is to fill your shopping list but you have to stand in line at the stores for possibly days and stock might run out. You have some special cards like “hold my baby” or “snitch to the cops”.
2
That's Not Lemonade you and your friends are setting up lemonade stands, but some kid is pranking people with...well...not lemonade.
2
Thank you for this thread. I had been struggling for the past couple of years with gifts for a close friend who seems to have every board game. I believe over 300 on his shelves at last count.
However, once I switched my gifting philosophy from finding good shit for him to finding weird shit, it's all come together. (He's getting Nyctophobia from me this Christmas.) He's someone who values theme much more highly than the typical board gamer, and this thread is an absolute treasure trove of great gift ideas for years!
Honestly, just discovering Jim Felli has been great. Cosmic Frog, Zimby Mojo, and Bemused are now high on the list of gift ideas. I would have added one to his xmas gift if any of them shipped faster!
2
Awesome! So glad some good has come out of this wacky thread. There are certainly a ton of options I didn’t even know existed until reading the replies and I hope your friend enjoys their gifts for many years to come! :)
1
Just going through my personal selection, these are my votes:
-
Magic Maze: it wouldn't be that weird if it weren't high-fantasy beings stealing from a modern era shopping mall
-
Quacks of Quedlinberg: I guess making potions isn't that weird, but the crapshoot of what you're adding into your potion is silly
-
Mysterium: communing with the dead to catch their murderer
-
Ex Libris: you're arranging bookshelves...with magical powers!
-
Menara: the idea that you and a team stumble onto ancient rune-blueprints and are trying to (cooperatively) rebuild these temples is certainly unique
-
Steam Park: simple, but an amusement park for robots
-
Guillotine: it gets weird at least if you start visualizing a line of people waiting to get their head cut off
1
+1 for Guillotine for executing the French Aristocracy and... (checks notes) ...a pissboy?
3
Consentacle is a 2 player game where one is a person and another is an alien, who are trying to have a successful sexual encounter together.
Alright this may take over Snit’s revenge... maybe.
And for the non-consenting version there’s Hentacle.