F@#$ Filler Games

Today I write a rambling stream of conscious essay on filler games.

What is a filler game, as defined by Darren?  

A filler game is easy to teach, easy to play and takes very little time to play, ideally 10 minutes or less.

Why these qualifications?  It’s how we play these games.  Let’s say we have 7 people attending a game night.  There are maybe 2 games we own that play 7, and generally don’t play 7 well.  It’s not the games fault either, that many players is unwieldy and it makes turns take forever.  I refer you to my “What makes a good game” post; I want it to be my turn lots, everyone else can F@#$ off.  So our solution in general is to split into two groups.  It is a guarantee that these groups will not finish at the same time.  So to avoid that stupid socializing and talking to each other, we play filler games.

Easy to teach:  These games have got to get going quickly.  If the game takes a half hour to teach, you won’t get through turn 1 by the time group 2 finishes.

Easy to play:  There should be no deep decisions.  Analysis of your move should take 5 seconds maximum.  Same reason, this is supposed to be quick so when the 2^nd group finishes you can move onto the deeper game fare.

Playtime :  10 minutes is my ideal, but a half hour is still doable in a lot of circumstances.

No Thanks! is probably THE fill in game.  It meets each and every qualification and is a fantastic game.  This is the game we fill in with most.

Some others, Dice of Cataan works, but Dice of Cataan is pretty dumb.  Same with Roll Through the Ages.  NF doesn’t own Wyatt Earp or For Sale, but both of those play well and qualify.

Lost Cities board game is border line.  Normally the game takes 90 minutes to play, but you can choose to play 1 round and that takes about 30 minutes.

I think Space Alert might eventually qualify too, but currently if we break out Space Alert we are playing that for at least 2 hours.