Filler Games

Here’s my ratings of the filler games I’ve played based on the system set out here. Reminder of the ideal property values below:

  • Simple – Complex (W = 3): Simple enough to explain to board gamers in under 10 minutes.
  • Short – Long (W = 3): Fairly short, but still long enough to feel that one game is enough.
  • Chill – Stressful (W = 2): Should be very chill, don’t want to stress out over a filler game.
  • Forgiving – Punishing (W = 1): Should be reasonably forgiving, you may be out of contention for winning quickly but you should at least be able to play the game to the end.
  • Instinctual – Calculating (W = 1): Should be fairly instinctual to ensure turns go quickly.

Owned

Decorum (BGG)
 Passive aggressive cohabitation is a fantastic and very apt subtitle for this game. Also this is definitely one of my favourite games ever made. See here for my attempts at scenario generation for it.

  • Simple – Complex: 10/10
    • Perfect complexity for a filler game, can easily explain to board gamers. Also a very fun little puzzle.
  • Short – Long: 10/10
    • One game is enough, although could always accidentally fill a night.
  • Chill – Stressful: 9/10
    • Considering it’s a cooperative game with a VERY lenient time limit, it’s very chill. Some may find it slightly stressful as the ‘passive aggressive’ parts kick in though.
  • Forgiving – Punishing: 10/10
    • There’s essentially no way of completely messing up, since everything can be undone.
  • Instinctual – Calculating: 10/10
    • You quickly realise trying to calculate exactly what your teammates require is futile, so rough instinctual compromise is required.

Final score: 9.8/10

Sky Team (BGG)
 Pilot and co-pilot almost crash a plane for 15 minutes.

  • Simple – Complex: 10/10
    • Perfect complexity for a filler game, can easily explain to board gamers. Also a very fun little puzzle.
  • Short – Long: 10/10
    • One game is enough, although could always accidentally fill a night.
  • Chill – Stressful: 4/10
    • Can be fairly stressful due to the communication limits and constantly being on the verge of failure.
  • Forgiving – Punishing: 8/10
    • You can dig yourselves into a hole, but since it’s just a 2 player cooperative game, you both lose together and can simply immediately restart, so still scoring this highly.
  • Instinctual – Calculating: 10/10
    • Nice level of having a rough idea of what you should do, but without complete information can’t truly calculate.

Final score: 8.6/10
 Final score if okay with stress: 9.8/10

No Thanks! (BGG)
 A very unique and interesting trick taking game.

  • Simple – Complex: 6/10
    • Super simple, although potentially too much so, sometimes it feels there isn’t enough game there.
  • Short – Long: 10/10
    • Perfect length for a filler game.
  • Chill – Stressful: 9/10
    • I suppose you could stress over the secrecy of your stones or really wanting a card, but otherwise it’s chill.
  • Forgiving – Punishing: 7/10
    • You can screw yourself by picking up a high card without enough stones on it, but in usual play it’s pretty tight.
  • Instinctual – Calculating: 10/10
    • If you can count to 35 then you’re good and everything is instinctual.

Final score: 8.1/10

Unowned