Board and Card Games

published 2026-04-13

by Christopher Howard

My two older boys recently got old enough that we could start playing together some board games and card games that I enjoy as well.

Risk

We have two variants: Risk: Lord of the Rings Edition, and Risk 2210 A.D. LotR Risk is mostly similar classic risk, except with a few additions

strongholds, which give you a bonus on your defense rolls, and extra armies
leaders, which give you a bonus on your attack and defense rolls
sites of power, which give you special powers cards if you conquer them with a leader. The special powers cards have various beneficial effects when played

However, the game can be played with Classic Risk rules only, and that is what we normally do.

Risk 2210 is a post-apocalyptic version, and it has quite a few changes which make it basically incompatible with Classical Risk:

the addition of water territories — underwater cities — and lunar territories. Lunar territories can only be reached through using space stations
five different commanders types, which have specialized bonuses. E.g., to attack water territories you need to own a naval commander, and the naval commander only gets his attack bonus when attacking a water territory.
there is an energy resource, separate from army production, which is needed to buy things including commanders, space stations, and command cards
command cards give special abilities when played, and you can only purchase and use a command card of a certain type when you own the corresponding commander
energy can also be used to bid for play turn order each round (game year) meaning it is possible to get two turns in a row

In both these games, the essence of winning is still essential the same: there is always an advantage to being the attacker, so long as you are attacking with three or more armies, because you can have up to three attack dice, but only up to two defense dice. The defender wins the ties, which narrows the advantage some, but in the end being the attacker is generally speaking the best plan. So you try to maximize your advantage statistically by attacking first all enemy territories with just one defending army on them — only one defense dice — and then move on to attacking the larger enemy armies. Again, it is best to be the attacker even if you are outnumbered, because the rolls are always 3 vs 2.

Risk 2210 is certainly the coolest version of Risk I've played, but it is a bit of a cheat, because if you are playing optimally, you are just going to be rushing to attack your opponent as quickly as possible on land, rather than buying a bunch of expensive commanders or launching moon conquests.

Province

There is a neat little two-player game I've owned for a while called Province. Basically, it involves moving workers around to produce work units and money units, which can be used to produce buildings. Buildings in turn give you victory points, as well as special abilities, additional workers, or increased work or money generation.

The game is fun, though after a few plays, you realize there is an optimal play pattern where you try to build the village first, and then you try to build the harbor and the town (in one order or the other) to get the maximum number of workers as quickly as possible.

Deep Sea Adventure

My sister lent us a little game called Deep Sea Adventure. The basic idea is all the players are divers attached to the same submarine, and they have to collect treasure from the ocean. The deeper you go, the more the treasure tokens are worth, on average. The tricky parts are (1) you have to get your treasures back to the sub before running out of oxygen, or they fall back to the bottom of the ocean, (2) carrying more treasure tokens increasing your rate of oxygen use, and (3) the other players are drawing from the same oxygen supply as you, meaning it is not difficult for them to torpedo your plans by sucking up all the oxygen before you get back to the sub.

I would like to play this game some more, so I could experiment with various strategies. Unfortunately though, after I started to get good at it, nobody in the family will play it with me anymore.

Monopoly Deal

The card game version of Monopoly. There is so much randomness, due to the action cards, that even the best players are likely to lose nearly as often as they win. E.g., cards that steal sets or force trades. But it is still fun. Micah played it with me once or twice but hasn't been interested in it since, for whatever reason.

Boss Monster

Micah and Silas recently got interested in Boss Monster. It is a retro-style card game which involves trying to lure heroes into a dungeon that you have constructed, and you gain points by killing them before they make it through the last room (room card) in your dungeon. If they make it all the way through, you get a wound instead, which is an anti-point. Your opponent is trying to lure in the same heros, or get super powerful heros sent to your dungeon instead.

The game is fun, but it is a bit frustrating at first because they are so many room abilities and spell cards to keep track of. So, you have to train yourself to very quickly move from one thing to the next to the next, rather than dwelling on deep strategies. Micah got upset the last time we played because I was launching so many spells cards and other tricks at him. We have another relative nearby who is good at Boss Monster so maybe a group game will be more fun.

Stellar

I haven't played this game much yet, having just borrowed it from my sister. But it is basically a two-player math puzzle game, with an astronomy theme. Each card has a type (planet, moon, etc., like a suit) and also a real number (0-6) and a star number (one, two, or three stars). You have to play cards into your telescope and notebook areas in a way that produces the maximum number of points. Basically, "star points" on the cards in the telescope area get multiplied against max real number runs in the notebook area. I looked through the cards, and it is the case that the higher the real number on the card, the lower the number of stars on it. So, ideally you would put all your high star number cards in the telescope, and then use all the other cards in the notebook to make runs. But this is complicated by the fact that that the telescope area is divided into three parts or sections, and you can win bonus points by getting the highest number of real numbers in that sections. You can also get some points by having all five card types represented in the telescope area.

The boys were interested in the game, due to the cool artwork and theme, but I'm not sure yet how much they will enjoy the game mechanics.

Copyright

CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed