I have played (almost) no games beginning with the letter N

[andrewducker]

We were challenged, on Facebook, to share boardgames we loved, with the extra twist being a randomly assigned letter.

I was assigned "N", and immediately went from "This will be fun" to "Good Lord, I have no idea!"

So I dropped over to BoardGameGeek and went through all 1600 entries beginning with "N" (pages 429 to 445 if you're interested

Comments

[ckd]

I'm a fan of Navegador, which has one of the best paragraphs from a BGG review I've ever seen:Hot Lisboa Action. Dude, when it comes to this game, you are, like, so in Portugal. Of the surprisingly many Portuguese-themed games out there, Navegador is arguably the Portuguesiest, mostly because of the way it supersedes its fellow Portugames. You like Goa? You like Macao? For Navegador, those places are just waystations on a far grander journey. Vasco da Gama? Navegador will see your Vasco da Gama and raise you a Bartolomeu Dias and an Afonso da Albuquerque. So break out the Madeira and linguica and get Iberian on this mofo.
"arguably the Portuguesiest".

It's also a very good game, IMO.

[andrewducker]

That's a fantastic review.

[erratio]

I'll take a letter :)

[andrewducker]

"E"

[erratio]

Ooh, I've played Eurorails. It's the 'hardest' rails game I've ever played - lots of cost/return calculations involved, takes ages to play, but lots of fun IMO.

I've also played En Guarde, a cute little multiplayer card game without much strategy.

I can't remember whether I've played Eminent Domain, but I do remember people raving about it back in the day.

And, I've played Eclipse a couple of times but don't like it because I don't deal well with games that encourage betrayal (not counting things like BSG where the betrayal is the point). I would recommend it though for people who are less prone to getting unreasonably upset about those sorts of things though.

This exercise has also taught me that there is a game called Excrement: the splattering. Looking up more detail is left as an exercise for the reader :)

[doubtingmichael]

I guess you weren't the right age to play Nuclear War, which was unreasonably popular when I was a student. You all had population cards and missile cards, and when you fired a missile you flicked a little spinner to see how well it worked. Usually someone blew up the world and everyone lost - it was, after all, designed by CND. Friends of mine loved it, but I don't think you've missed out by not playing it.

I have heard good things about Netrunner, and I have even bought a set, but I have yet to play it.

Oh, and may I have a letter, please?

[reverancepavane]

I miss my copy of Nuclear War. I really should stop lending games to thieves friends.

[andrewducker]

You get "D".

[andrewducker]

Oh, and in my experience almost any game with nuclear weapons in it inexorably leads to some idiot destroying the world.

[reverancepavane]

Can I have a letter please, sir?

[andrewducker]

"R"

[reverancepavane]

Off the top of my head: Roborally, Risk, Race for the Galaxy, Robinson Crusoe, Rail Baron, Republic of Rome, Ramspeed, Roll Through The Ages, Revolution!, Ricochet Robots, The Russian Campaign, Rommel's Panzers, Renegade Legion: Interceptor, Renegade Legion: Centurion, Renegade Legion: Leviathan, Rescue from the Hive, Rome at War, Rio Grande, Run Silent Run Deep, Road to Richmond, Rvdis, Red Baron, Round the World in 80 Days.

[I thought you were going to ask me something tricky like Q (Quo Vadis, Quarriors, Queen's Necklace, or Quest for the Grail), X (XXXenophile or Xena Warrior Princess), Z (Zooleretto, Zombies!, Zombie Fluxx, [actually this is too easy]), or Y (Yggdrasil). OK, you almost got me on the last one! =9)]

[doubtingmichael]

This post reminded me of a puzzle: "Work through the alphabet finding an animal beginning with each letter. What's the first letter where it's hard to find an animal?"

In the context, I'm sure you can guess the answer, but it's not what you'd expect otherwise, and it matches your experience rather well.

[andrewducker]

Would "nadder" be cheating? :->

[doubtingmichael]

Old school! You and Chaucer nailing it! The only other answer I know is also dodgy, being "nanny goat". Oh, or "narwhal" given I forgot to specify land animal, unlike the original question.

PS Will post about D boardgames. Soonish.

[andrewducker]

I shall look forward to it!