Flashback Friday: Your Favorite 1980's Board Game?

In the first half of the 80's it would probably have been trivial pursuit, goddamned EVERYONE played that game in some form. Maybe monopoly as well, though we played the houserules/misinterpretations that stretched out the game as much as possible, 'cause what else were you gonna do on a rainy day when you had like 3 channels all playing adult crap and video games were in 2 colors?

As a tween on up it was definitely Battletech, or if "board game" is loosely defined to cover RPGs, ANYTHING made by TSR. Fortress America was way up there as well, as was Axis and Allies.

Supremacy dominated my high school years for sure, entire pizzas were wagered as bribes to shoot down incoming nukes!

Ahhh, the days when "Playtime:3-4 HOURS" was seen as a positive

I was going to look through my games and see which of my favorites were published in the 80s but then I saw Wiz-War listed here and I don't need to go look. That's definitely my favorite.

jason10mm wrote: In the first half of the 80's it would probably have been trivial pursuit, goddamned EVERYONE played that game in some form.

YESSSSSS! Wow, I totally forgot about that, everybody was playing that, then.

Of those published in the 80s, what got the most plays in the 80s? Probably Talisman, followed by Supremacy, Britannia, Wiz-War, and Space Hulk. What is my favorite among those? Wiz-War, without question. But all-day games of Supremacy with all the expansions we had (Unconventional, Neutron/Killer Sats, Fortuna(!), Warlords, Mega Map), plus playing a game of Warlords, the computer game, alongside it? Yeah. Those were some good nerd/grognard times.

Tales of the Arabian Nights. By far. The game for people with imagination. This is a work of genius, This is and will always be "my" game. You always discover new things, always fo back to this game. Inexhaustible.

Talisman 2nd edition core box is still a rock solid and beautiful game. Here, the genius is clearly Gary Chalk, who turns a good game into something amazing.

These two games I still own and would play any day.

Great memories of Space Crusade or Battlecars, but I don't know if they would be that fun to play today. Same with Arkham Horror 1st edition...

List one LOL….

Talisman
Can’t Stop
Dungeonquest
Space Hulk

OMG Supremacy, haven’t thought about that one in a while. Nobody ever won. Can’t believe there’s not a $500 KS remake of it yet with all those ridiculous reviews expansions.

Fer reals. I wonder how the dating of its premise (nuclear war; Hey, no one's thought about that in ages, amirite?!) might affect its reception? I mean, you can still make games about the Crusades despite that topic having undergone some serious negative examination in the past 30 years, so I guess Supremacy wouldn't be something that would just be frowned upon like someone trying to remake Puerto Rico.

At one point, I was really interested in trying to obtain the tank and submarine (Boomers!) expansions, but then I realized that there were better all-day games that I could be playing, like Here I Stand. Have to say, though, that Supremacy was the first game that really taught me about market manipulation. Cratering the market for oil, grain, or minerals to foil your opponent's invasion plans was a good time.

Michael Barnes wrote: OMG Supremacy, haven’t thought about that one in a while. Nobody ever won. Can’t believe there’s not a $500 KS remake of it yet with all those ridiculous reviews expansions.

The plastic mushroom clouds were iconic at the time.

And they still are, if anyone's interested in trading for/buying a copy w/multiple expansions!

It started when the aMAZEing labyrinth came out in 86 or so. I distinctly remember how the everchanging board blew my 12-year old mind. Half a year later I bought Talisman. I would gladly play either anytime.

edulis wrote: ... just about every Steve Jackson's pocket box game ; Car Wars, Necromancer, Ogre... what were some others?

We played most of the Pocket Box games, but Illuminati was, by far, the most popular. Some of the best times ever were had subverting the world to our nefarious schemes and machinations.

A decade or so later (the late 1990s) I introduced it to my Euro-gamer crowd and it went over like a lead balloon. I haven't played it since.

I'm amazed both Cosmic and Dune are from the 70s. They feel goundbreaking even today. Still, I'm surprised to find many of my old games aren't from the 80s.

So my pick is going to be Civilization. What an incredible game, I really want to make my own copy because it's downright amazing.

Greg Aleknevicus wrote:

edulis wrote: ... just about every Steve Jackson's pocket box game ; Car Wars, Necromancer, Ogre... what were some others?

We played most of the Pocket Box games, but Illuminati was, by far, the most popular. Some of the best times ever were had subverting the world to our nefarious schemes and machinations.

A decade or so later (the late 1990s) I introduced it to my Euro-gamer crowd and it went over like a lead balloon. I haven't played it since.

My high school gaming group was big on Steve Jackson games. Car Wars was our favorite, but Illuminati also got a lot of play for a couple of years. But eventually, we recognized that Illuminati had a serious leader-bashing problem that effectively doubled the length of the game. I still have Illuminati and the first two expansions, but it has been gathering dust for over 30 years.

At the Time:

Early 80s I was young, so a fair amount of mass market stuff. Pay Day was a hit with us for some reason.
Dark Tower
Dragonmaster (had it, loved looking at it, never played it)
Doctor Who: The Game of Time and Space (still have it)
Illuminati (nowadays wish it was a better game than it is)
Talisman (still love it)
DungeonQuest (still love it)

Now:
Merchant of Venus
Can't Stop
Survive!
Scotland Yard
Wizard
Bandu