30 Strangest Board and Card Games 2008

3 Times 4=Swat!

Solve a multiplication problem and then be the first to hit the answer on a fly-shaped card with your flyswatter.

54 Jones

"A tile based game, where you play clones of sewer worker 54 Jones on a training day in the sewers of subterranean 12 Station City. However, 54 Jones unleashes a tidal wave of 'shunk' to try and drown the competition. The first clone to reach high ground wins the game."

Atom Smasher / Atom Smashers

Two downloadable games from two different authors.

Atom Smasher: "A lunatic angel investor has ... gathered the world's most capable physicists to demonstrate their prowess with a particle accelerator, using it to carefully and precisely chisel off subatomic particles from a huge atom. Players take turns flicking or sliding a small opaque pyramid (called the smasher) into a cluster of pyramids (called the atom). Each pyramid which is smashed a sufficient distance from the atom scores points equal to its pip count for the player."

Atom Smashers: "Each scientist starts with 10d6 which represent atoms placed within a particle accelerator. Scientists compete with each other by selecting from one to three atoms with differing charges to accelerate towards other player's atoms within the atom smasher. The player with the most electric charges at game's end wins."

Crazy Cat Lady Game

You try to collect more cats than any of the other players. Really, only strange because of the name and paste-on theme.

Dead Heat

"It was the dawn of a new age. The age of the Zombie. An age where the undead walked the earth instilling fear into all. All except for those few intrepid souls that could "think outside the box". Like Jim Bob Joe Hobbs and his younger brother Warren. The founders of ... DEAD HEAT - Professional Zombie Racing."

Dementalism

"Security at the Primordial Soup Kitchen, that wondrous and mythical repository of Oith's genetic legacy, has been lax of late to say the least. Following an insane night of fermented circuspi nut binging, impromptu (and painful) interior redecorating, and decidedly unsexy pillow fighting between you and your fellow guards you awoke from a booze-addled stupor to discover someone left the goosin’ doors open. Again."

I don't even know what that means.

Dirty Deutsch

A card game designed to teach you all the curse words in German, as well as how offensive they are and how to use them in conversation.

Dope Fiend

"Players take turns dealing drugs, then they ingest, inject or snort stuff into themselves, while trying to cause other players OD or get busted."

Erosion

"Each player tries to erode their mountain and generate the most amount of sediment in their delta."

Evil Vendetta Pie Fight

"You're all evil magic-wielding nightmares from the human psyche and you hate each other's guts. Your union won't let you actually hurt each other, so the only way to settle this like, well not like men, is to have an…Evil Vendetta Pie Fight."

Fladderdatsch

"Naturalist Florian Flügel photographs everything that flies in the air, whether bumblebee, butterfly or hot-air balloon. However, in doing so, he often overlooks what is lying in front of him in the meadow. The players move the magnetic game figure of Florian Flügel over the gameboard, trying to have him avoid stepping into the hidden (also magnetic) pieces of horse- and cow-dung."

Flapjacks and Sasquatches

A logging game, where your axe damage is boosted by eating pancakes and you have to watch out for the meandering Bigfoot.

Geek Fight

"Geek Fight takes place in a convention setting where you, the Geek Fight player, might run into a hairy anime character wearing thigh-high boots and an ill-fitting sports bra moments after being detained by a Stormtrooper demanding to see your credentials. You can also expect to encounter any and all of the stereotypical convention characters, vendors, swag, items, and crazy events that appear at conventions, or "cons."

What's most strange about the game is that each card is sponsored by an advertiser, making the cards relatively low cost (sometimes free).

Genji

"In Genji, players take the roles of courtiers out to woo fair princesses. Players score points for writing the finest poetry, or winning the most hearts. But beware: other courtiers will be waiting in the wings to steal those hearts away!"

I once created a fictitious card game for an RPG campaign called "Court the Maiden". Nice to see it finally come around as a real board game.

Hadronen: Big Bang Card Game

"Players are manifestations of the Strong force soon after the onset of the Big Bang with the goal of collecting sets of quarks to form baryons and mesons ..."

Really, do you need to hear more than that? One of several games by the Dutch Physics Association.

Hot Dog Hooligans

"Rounds begin with the first player flipping over a hot dog to attempt to eat. Play proceeds to the left with the next player playing a topping card on the hot dog to attempt to make the first player lose their lunch. Toppings include everything from lemons to fish heads. Then the initial player has a chance to play negative toppings such as pepto or antacid to make the hot dog edible. If they can't (the hot dog has a higher level than the character in at least one state), they lose their lunch.

By the way, did I forget to mention it has BARF cards?"

How Not to Be Seen

"Players try not to be seen. They must occasionally risk being seen in order to obtain points, but risk certain death if they are seen."

Based on the Monty Python sketch.

It's All Chinese To Me

"You are starving. You are in the middle of Chinatown and only one restaurant is open. Oh no! The menu is written only in Chinese. You only know 5 Chinese characters, one for each meal type (beef, chicken, lamb, fish and vegetables). For each meal type, you are hesitating between two Chinese characters. You will have to try to order using your very limited knowledge of the language. The waiter, slightly confused, will bring you what he thinks the majority wants. The player who successfully orders the most meals will score the most points and win."

Kitten War

"This adorable take on the classic card game War features 100 kittens from Kittenwar.com, the top-rated Web site with a devoted following. KittenStats like "Stealth" and "Paw to Paw Combat" contribute to each feline's overall score. Players build their kitten armies—and dodge the Kitty Litter—in three different game variations. Let the battle begin!"

No, I have no idea how this plays.

Lice

The object is to get rid of the lice on your head by shaking it onto the head of one of your classmates.

Mountebanks

"Each player is a particularly slimy snake oil salesman, traveling between different regions, trying to sell their elixirs to eager balding or ailing customers.

Once a player has successfully demonstrated in an area, there will then be a limited number of turns before that area will become dangerous for other salesmen... The people of that region will soon realize that the last product they bought was bogus and they will be more skeptical of new salesmen coming to town.

Particularly bitter areas will send out police or mobs after the shysters, and so players must be careful to avoid being jailed or injured, which will set back their efforts.

After a certain number of regions in the area have become hostile, all players must make it to a train station within another turn in order to escape. The player who escapes with the most money is the winner."

Pillz

It's a tile-laying game where you have to match tiles to complete pictures, which is not strange. But the pictures you have to match are pills, as in capsules for medicines. I honestly have no idea why pills.

Playing Gods

"Enact the religious struggles ripped from today's headlines with Moses, Jesus, and others, or step back in time to don the mantle of the Norse ruler Odin, the Roman god Mars, the Celtic warrior Morrigan, or Kali the Hindu god. Wiccans can battle Scientologists and ancient Mayan gods for control over the world... the only limit is your imagination. Unleash floods and plagues on each other's followers, while protecting your own flock. The god with the best strategy, skill, and luck shall rule the world...."

Controversial by design.

Presidential Scrabble

Not by Mattel or Hasbro, but by Fundex.

"All of the extra scoring spaces are replaced with the various states [which] gives an additional bonus equal to the state’s Electoral College value (after all other modifications). So for instance California is a triple letter space and gives a bonus of 55 points as well (it is also way off to one side)...

Finally there is a deck of cards showing all of the Presidents. Each card has a bit of historical information and gives a way to either get an extra bonus when played or change the rules in some fashion. The Nixon card for instance allows one to play a word with one letter misspelled. Players receive five of these cards at the start of the game, and can play at most one per turn."

Supermarket Psycho

"Now it is all about survival. Suddenly all the people in the supermarket look strange. And they stare and they scream and they push and they are everywhere. Will you crack? Will you make it out alive?"

Venison

"Santa has only five houses left to deliver gifts to this Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, the town is rife with hunters that only want one thing for Christmas--venison! Will Santa be able to deliver all the toys to the good little boys and girls before the hunters shoot all of his reindeer down?"

What Did I Step In?

"Use the sneaker to step on a card - the suction-cup heel will pick it up! If the card you step on matches a card in your hand you get to keep the match. Players compete to collect the most, all the while trying to avoid the worst thing you can step in - dog poop!"

Zombie Mosh

"In Zombie Mosh players strive to be the last zombie standing at the end of each song. As they flail about the limbs start flying and start flying off! Lose too many limbs and you are out at least until the next song. The danger doesn't just come from your fellow players of course there is a whole pit full of Zombies, and they are more than happy to flail into the players at full speed!"

Zombies Want Fluffy

"Fluffy has had a lot to drink and is looking to “visit” a tree on his way home late one night. And he’s found his mark -- a beautiful, secluded tree right there in the back corner of the cemetery. Unbeknownst to poor Fluffy, the cemetery is filled with man-eating, er..., dog-eating zombies who just woke up for a midnight snack. Fluffy is gonna be that snack if the shambling menaces having anything to say about it. Can you help Fluffy race to freedom (and relief!) before his bladder explodes or he becomes zombie chow?"