Top 15 Games We Came to Love During the Lockdown and Beyond

People of Prague have spoken again. Last month I set off on a journey of finding the ultimate game of my life. Along the way, you inspired me with your tips. And these are the top 15 games you find the most entertaining these days:

Board Games:

• Carcassonne
• Crazy Labyrinth
• Dixit
• Lord of the Rings
• Pátý přes devátý
• Settlers of Catan 
• Takenoko
• Ticket to Ride 
• Time’s Up

PC Games:

• Disco Elysium
• DCS
• Mass Effect 1 & 2,
• World of Warships

Online Board/Multi-Player Games

• Parchis on Facebook
• Pummel Party on Steam

And now, let’s take a deep dive in your stories:

#1 Káťa’s Story

“I’m so lucky my boyfriend is a gamer – otherwise, I would miss never-ending sentences like, ‘It’s a pity you are not a gamer too,’ or, ‘I don’t have anyone to play with,’ or my favorite one, ‘I have so many games! So when I die you have to finish them all!’ 

Eventually, he convinced me to play a party game with him. The game has a party in the name, for me, it means I can have a drink while playing, so it can’t be bad. Easy math. The game is called Pummel Party. The perfect game for quarantine times, believe me! Have you got that feeling while being locked at home for a month, that you really want to punch your beloved other-half in the face? With a chair? Well, now you have the chance! And you can also invite up to 6 friends to watch.

It’s a board game with different kinds of minigames. First, you choose your characters, roll the dice and that’s it. Your goal is to collect keys to open treasures with golden cups. The player who has the most cups wins. How simple is that? But there’s the thing! You can collect and use different kinds of items which you can win in minigames, or just find a present. These items help you to steal keys and items from other players. By using a magnet, you can hurt them with a wrecking ball or explosive eggplant or you can use a portal to switch places with somebody. But I think the most wanted and useful item is a rocket – you can ride it and move forward and at the same time you can stick it to others. 

More players, more fun. In the end, you can get a prize for being a bastard (most damage points) or honorable thief (most keys gained). It indeed costs some money, but it’s worth buying. And if you don’t like this game, on the gaming portal called Steam, you can choose something else.”

#2 Zuska’s Story

“I love games! My husband and I played every evening during the quarantine… My all-time favorite is Dixit. Unfortunately, you need more than two players. I can also recommend Pátý přes devátý, which is perfectly possible to play in English. Or another of our favorite games, Time’s Up! We made it ourselves (the original is unnecessarily expensive) and we play it almost every time when our friends Jirka and Caro come to visit; all in English, since Caro is from South America.

Once I teamed with Caro and had to describe ‘John Travolta’ for her to guess. I only said, ‘Grease; actor.’ And she immediately shouted, ‘John Travolta!’ Boys from the competing team looked confused. They expected some Papadopulos or Christakis from Greece… We are always super loud when we play this game. Even the neighbors sometimes scold us for making noise after midnight…”

#3 Steven’s Story

“The game I enjoyed the most through quarantine was Disco Elysium. It’s an introspective game that gives you some insight into the life of the main character who works as a Detective but his life has fallen apart.

The story can change slightly depending on your choices but the things that remain the same are that:

1)His marriage has fallen apart and he’s so emotionally torn about what happened he can barely bring himself to think about it.

2)He struggles with drug/alcohol addiction.

3)His career is in jeopardy.

There are many more events that occur but those are the central themes to him individually.

It’s a story of this guy who is in a late mid-life crisis with his life falling apart and coming to terms with the consequences of it. It’s a game that looks at the darker side of being human and the weakness associated with it.

I enjoyed it so much because it’s a game that looks at complicated and difficult issues people face and addresses them unapologetically. The game acknowledges that the ‘good guys’ are critically flawed humans just like the rest of us (at least in the main characters’ case).

Furthermore, the game presents you with these problems but by no means forces you to address them. You can go the entire game without dealing with the emotional issues the main character has, without doing your job, or just by being a self-centered prick. 

There are consequences for everything and even when you get things right nothing is perfect. It’s distinct from typical movies/games/stories where the good guys are one-dimensional ‘heroes’ who are there to do some good and don’t have any issues of their own.

The ‘bad guys’ in the story also have their motivations and they are easy to understand (but not easy to uncover).”

#4 Alex’s Story

“During the quarantine period, I had suddenly tons of free time. And because of the lockdown in Spain, my family had even more. So we started to play an online version of a traditional Spanish board game called Parchis. I would team up with my brother, and together we would discuss and analyze every move we would make, so we could beat our parents. Sometimes the matches would get extremely competitive, challenging the emotions of everyone, we would cheer and celebrate a good move, or drown in despair when the other team beat the odds with a ridiculously rare combination.

But the best thing about it was that we were all connected through a WhatsApp call at the same time. So really the distance between us was virtually none; we would talk in real-time while playing, and it would feel like we are all in the same room, making the lockdown a fun period of our lives, far from all the problems that came with it.”

#5 Felix’s Story

“While I do play board and card games there was not much opportunity to do so during the quarantine. Not to worry though because an avid PC gamer such as myself has a significant backlog of games to either finally play for the first time after a purchase long past or coming back to for nostalgia. 

My choice was a mix of both, namely Mass Effect 1 & 2. These titles are fairly old, having been released in 2007 and 2011 respectively. I had played both of them before. However, it was in the incorrect chronological order, a long time ago and I had not actually fully finished either of them. Both games have a well-developed story, dense world, and lore to immerse yourself in. Hence they are best enjoyed continuously in longer sittings, much like binge-watching a good TV show. During the lockdown, I had the time to spare to do just that. 

In addition to these single-player games, I played World of Warships together with members of my online clan in multiplayer. Two teams of 12 face off against each other, every player controlling one ship. These are World War 1 & 2 era vessels plus a few cold war models divided into Destroyers, Cruisers, Battleships and Aircraft Carriers. The combat is simplified and geared towards action rather than realistically simulating naval engagements. Yet it is still important to position your ship correctly, cooperate with your allies & know the capabilities of each class in order to win.

For me as an aficionado of military history, the detailed models of famous warships are very enjoyable also. The overall aim is to gain rewards and resources to progress up the tech tree, unlocking new skills and vehicles. Playing together while communicating via text and voice channels offered at least some sort of human contact during the quarantine. In this way video games contribute towards social distancing.”

In August, we’re kicking off a new theme – Learning New Skills! Join in the conversation on my Facebook page. And/or share your story with me whether it’s about Games, Learning, or anything else that is on your mind.

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