Clubhouse games, known in other parts of the world as 42 All-time Classics, is a game that came out of no where to be something I’d recommend to anyone with a Nintendo DS. It is a collection of board games, card games, and variety games (42 in all) most of which can be played online versus opponents around the world via WIFI or played between people on different DS with local sharing. Not only is playing a board game online cool, the ability to communicate with friends via a white board drawing applications (Color Pictochat!) is awesome.
Right now, I’m working through "Stamp mode" which is simply a introduction to all the games. You can play versus AI opponents of various difficulties to learn the basics, then jump online to challenge people. Right now, I’m excited by the possibility to learn the Japanese equivalent of hwatu, sometimes known as Gostop by Koreans. In Japan it is called, "Hanafuda" or "Koi-Koi". I want to learn how to play when it wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg first before I play with relatives for fun.
I’ve played a lot of the games already, but have never been taught Backgammon or Bridge in any form. My parents didn’t know how to play them, or never played them with us. The rules are explained, and since legal play is enforced by the machine, I can learn what to do so that if I wanted to play them on my own, I could. Since learning new games is a hobby of mine, being able to grasp a game I’ve heard of but never played would be interesting. Shogi, on the other hand, looks down right intimidating and I don’t know anything about it other than it is "Japanese Chess".
About the current game selection, the only games I seem missing that I would really like to have are cribbage and Go (badduk). Cribbage is one of my favorite card games ever, and while I have a Go board, I don’t know how to play well enough to do anything other than waste people’s time. Since Go players on television (That’s right, there is a dedicated Go channel, with live televised matches all the time) are so serious, I’d be afraid to learn by challenging an old man on the street. Perhaps this comic could help?
While there are a few games I’ll need to learn, and a few more games I’d like to add, there are certainly enough things to do and play to keep people busy either online or off in this budget priced title. If you have even a causal interest in playing a good number of board games with a touch screen, I’d highly recommend this title.
