Take That

How do you folks feel about games with a take-that element? Generally, I think of take-that games as multi-player featuring cards that you play to directly screw with other players. What is your favorite take-that game, and why?

Spartacus is the greatest take that game bar none. It affords opportunity to defend yourself yet constantly yields surprises. It doesn't feel arbitrary due to the negotiation and inherent chaos. It also works quite well with the theme.

Dune - the Parker Brothers version. Playing a Hunter Killer (Hunter Seeker?) on someone's favourite equipped-out character was the ultimate slap in the face.

I think the best take-that! anyone has ever given me is we were playing player's choice board game day. We all take turns picking board games to play. I had totally screwed someone for a win in a game right before it was their choice to pick the next one. They then called an audible and picked Munchkin which is my least favourite game of all time I think. He got me good

charlest wrote: Spartacus is the greatest take that game bar none. It affords opportunity to defend yourself yet constantly yields surprises. It doesn't feel arbitrary due to the negotiation and inherent chaos. It also works quite well with the theme.

What he said

I haven't played Spartacus but I've always thought that Wiz-War is the best take that game bar none.

I generally do not like Take That, its my least favourite part of Spartacus. I like Wiz-War because you usually know when you are in the danger zone and its sort of just funny anyway. Pax Porfiriana has take that elements but all cards are bought from a central market so you know what's out there. Cosmic also has some take that elements but they don't tend to bother me much and add to the chaos.

There's no such thing as "bar none" when it comes to opinion-based questions, for starters.

There are so many Take That types of game out there that it's really hard to decide. What's the metric for "best"? Is it "the amount of times you screw with people"? Is it "how devastating a blow you can make?"

For me, a game like Nuclear War is a good example of that. It's almost 100% "Take That, Bitch!". Barney's "Dune: PB" Hunter-Seeker point is 100% spot on, too. That game is fucking BRUTAL and underrated. Five Finger Severance is also fucking evil. Kill Dr. Lucky is the same, and is really "Take That" all the time. 1313 Dead End Drive is a great "Take That" kind of game. Hell, that might be in the top ten ever. Beasty Bar is 100% pure evil from the "Take That" perspective, and is great all around. Cheaty Mages is totally Take That. Drakon is a hell of an example of a Take That game.

If I had to say which game has the most profound Take That game there is, the one where when you play it on people, you skullfuck a whole crowd of people, it's Battlestar Galactica. There's almost no opportunities to do anything, but if you're a Cylon and you dump a bunch of shit cards on the ship at the worst possible time, you can literally win the game. Worse, if you drop a Super Crisis on their heads, that can be a game ender. The "FFFFFUUUUUUCCCCK YOUUUUUU" in that game is unparalleled.

All that said, if there had to be "The One Game To Rule Them All" from the "Take That" perspective, it's unconscionable that none of you seasoned professional gamers that are talking about Spartacus are talking about the fact that Ca$h n' Gun$ makes Spartacus seem tame in the Take That perspective. The game is all about fucking people over and "Take That".

I tend to really enjoy games with a "take that" element. Whether it's via cardplay or something you can do mechanic-wise to fuck someone. Having a take that element usually means that it's up to the players to balance things out....which can sometimes mean "bash the leader". I'm perfectly fine with this. I think one of biggest strokes of genius in Lords of Waterdeep is the "Intrigue" Cards. They give you ways to mess with the other players' schemes, but you have to weigh if using an agent to hinder an opponent is actually worth it. Some people get SUPER pissed when you muck with their plans in that game.

If I'm playing something like Dominion, I'd always want there to be an attack card among the purchasable cards. It adds interaction and if someone starts pulling ahead...ruin their day with the Thief or the Witch.

I think Wiz War is probably the ultimate "take that" game. The whole game is just one big tit for tat until the death.

Talisman's spell deck has some MAJOR, "fuck you" packed within it. Cast "Acquisition" on someone and steal their Talisman just before they'r about to reach the crown. There is an 87% chance they'll flip the table and call you Snatch-faced Fucktard as they storm outta your house.

I haven't played Spartacus yet, but that looks like it's got plenty of take that...hell they basically made an entire phase based around it.

Cosmic has plenty of take that with the artifact cards. You can get Zapped, be forced into negotiations etc...

Games with some "take that" tend to elicit lots of groans, laughter and emotion at the table. All signs of a good time to me.

I'm going to have to join the Wiz-War chorus on this topic. Anyone who has played the game even just a few times will have favorite stories about times when they were the subject or the object of a viciously entertaining take-that combo. It's a game that isn't for everyone though, and the take-that element combined with the game's notorious "randomness" (which is a crock, incidentally: Wiz-War is no more random than MTG, Twilight Imperium, or Battlestar Galactica, for example) are turn-offs for some players. I love it though!

Android has a fascinating take-that mechanic. Players control characters that are investigating a murder, and each character has his own back story and plotline that will be fleshed out over the course of the game. Each character also has a personalized deck of "good" cards that his player will use to further their agenda and "take that" cards that the other players will use against him. Even if they are kind hearted, those other players will have to use his bad cards in order to be able to play their own good cards. The thing that is neat about the system is that the bad cards are only triggered under very specific conditions that relate to the character's plot. For example, if your character is an alcoholic you'll have to think twice about investigating a bar, especially early in the day. This lets you mitigate the take-that element, especially after multiple play sessions. The game can feel very punishing on the first playthrough though.

My group LOVES take that. As far as we're concerned, the more turns you've taken planning an action only to be fucked over, the better. The most enjoyable take thats come, in my opinion, when there's more than two parties in play. If A plays a counterspell on B, but C says "not so fast, fuck BOTH of you and I also get all your money," so much the better. I haven't played every game out there by a long shot, but Cosmic Encounter seems like one of the best at this kind of multi-member exchange, so long as you play with unlimited flare uses per turn (which it may not surprise you to learn my group considers mandatory).

Also, Spartacus. God damn, that game is good.

I don't mind Take That but what I've come to have little patience for is Slap Fight. That is, gameplay that goes: X places cube. Y removes it. X puts it back. Y removes it and another. X puts two there. Y removes them. Repeat. Eventually score.

Sadly, the games I have that suffer from this are 1960 and Twilight Struggle, and both haven't seen much play as I've come to get weary of that. The worst offender was this Dominaire game from AEG that did it for hours. Just nothing but place a cube, remove a cube, and I ended the game with ONE point. ONE. I only beat everyone reading this by one and none of you were playing.

One of the weirdest and meanest Take That games I've played is Mike Gray's Lord of the Rings game, a tie-in with the animated movie. It is CRAZY. You all have a ring for some reason and you're racing to Mt. Doom and you just fuck with everyone else. You can drop a goddamn Nazgul on top of Pippin if he's being a punk. I wrote about it here .