Board games that take no time to play

[Lawbag]

Really this is the anti-thread to this post

http://www.nutkinland.com/forums/showthread.php?t=875

so what boardgames are out there that take less time to play than either

a) explain the rules
b) set up the board

I could cheat and say a 1st Turn Prediction by the Bene Gesserit in Dune!

[kanegrundar]

Sorry is pretty quick and self-explanitory.

For more along the lines of what you'e lilkely looking for: Zombies!!! is pretty quick and easy to play, even with added expansions.

[Name Lips]

Any game where the players take turns can potentially be very long, depending on how long it takes them to make up their mind.

That said, there's something to be said for Checkers or Othello.

[Nicephorus]

so what boardgames are out there that take less time to play than either

a) explain the rules
b) set up the board

I could cheat and say a 1st Turn Prediction by the Bene Gesserit in Dune!

Are you talking about easy games or about games that have a cheesy strategy for winning in the first turn or two?  I think it's the latter.  Chess has a few quick win strategies but, luckily, they are easily blocked by someone who is aware of their existence.  

Some CCGs have had that problem at times - usually it becomes illegal for the betterment of the game.  If a player has a deck that can win in the first turn with the right draw regardless of what the other player does, it reduces the game to luck.

I remember feeling a game was over in one turn but I'm blanking on names.

Related are games that have a rich get richer or poor get poorer angle or that have some sort of death spiral where those who are losing have a hard time even staying even.  Whoever gets the early lead will almost definitely win.  The game is effectively over early on but it may not be officially over for hours.

Chess has some of this last problem.  Once you are a queen or a couple of pieces down, it's rare to come back.  that's why most people resign at that point.

There are also games that are normally medium to long games which I've lost in the first turn due to bad set up or a key error.

[SmokestackJones]

Related are games that have a rich get richer or poor get poorer angle or that have some sort of death spiral where those who are losing have a hard time even staying even. Whoever gets the early lead will almost definitely win. The game is effectively over early on but it may not be officially over for hours.

The reason I no longer play backgammon.
 
My nomination is a recent favorite: Monkey Arena.  Grab a primate card, deal the cards, place the pieces on the board and go for it.
 
-SJ

[kryyst]

I guess it also depends on how long/short you consider 'no time'.  I'd say Ticket To Ride is a pretty quick playing game.  It's finite, it can't go on for ever, the rules are pretty straight forward and a game with 5 people still finishes in about an hour.

Another family favorite is Sequence.  It's kind of like 5 in a row except instead of empty boxes on a board there are cards drawn.  You then draw cards and can only place your markers on the cards that you have.  The rules are dead simple and it plays fairly quickly.

Ingenius is another one that we've grown to enjoy.  Different coloured pieces that you match together, the more you match the greater your score.

One other one I've recently found is called Drakon.  It's a tile based mazed game.  It can go on for awhile depending on how the tiles get placed but it's usually pretty action packed and always very cut throat.  Plust it's good for up to 6 players.

[Cyberzombie]

I guess it also depends on how long/short you consider 'no time'.  I'd say Ticket To Ride is a pretty quick playing game.  It's finite, it can't go on for ever, the rules are pretty straight forward and a game with 5 people still finishes in about an hour.

Y'all must talk at the table less than we do.  It takes more like 2 hours for us.  Still quick, easy, and fun, though.  And I have to say it makes more sense than the crayon-based railroad games, fun as they are.  

[Dr_Avalanche]

Metro - half an hour, ridiculously easy to explain the rules.
Transamerica - about the same, about as easy to explain.
Good games, both. Metro especially is popular with our group.

[phoamslinger]

Blokkus is pretty quick.

[Rob Anybody]

Fluxx, with a few people it's a fast game.  the more people you add the longer and more random the game gets as it's impossible to know what the rules and goal are going to be after a trip around the table.  Of course you can always get a lucky hand and win on round one through a few different combos.

[Rob Anybody]

Speaking of fast games.  I just picked up 2 new(to me) ones.  
Kings Blood - An english translation to a Japanese game.  It plays like a complicated Uno where you try to empty your hand by matching numbers and/or colors except the cards are placed side by side not in a pile and form a geneology of family and friends in a royal house.  Cards of the same color and opposite genders placed next to each other form a marriage and can result in children adding layers to the board.  Interesting and fast game although next time I think we'll try to keep score as the strategy would be more apparent than the empty your hand game we played the first time.  Also Steve Jackson games messed up the translation as some obviously female characters were marked as male by the card.  

Zig Zag - Is a simple race game.  Each player is dealt an course with different paths of different terrain.  Then all the terrain cards are spread out face down in the middle of the table.  With one hand you turn over the cards and grab the ones you need IN ORDER placing them face down in your other hand while remembering where you are along your course.  After all the cards are flipped and someone yells stop or if someone thinks they made it to their goal you check the order of the cards vs thier track to see where everyone ended up.  It's very simple but in a fun way.

[Cyberzombie]

King's Blood...  Also Steve Jackson games messed up the translation as some obviously female characters were marked as male by the card.

Yeah.  Especially the one called a "seamstress".  Pretty dead giveaway.  

Zig Zag - It's very simple but in a fun way.

It definitely rocks.  It's like a badassed version of memory.  Very cool game.

[kryyst]

Y'all must talk at the table less than we do.  It takes more like 2 hours for us.  Still quick, easy, and fun, though.  And I have to say it makes more sense than the crayon-based railroad games, fun as they are.  

Depends on the evening and the players and what sort of mood poeple get in.  If they are all just out to burn the other guy and not worrying about making tickets the games go faster regardless of chat.  If however people are actually thinking ahead and planning routes then yeah Ticket To Ride with 4 players will probably take about 1 1/2 - 2hrs with chatter.

[JMcL63]

Days of Wonder's Memoir'44 stonkingly splendid WW2 boardgame is one that can be astonishingly quick to play. You could open the box from the store and get your first game or two under your belt in about an hour. Fabulous game. :gnasher:

GMT's Ivanhoe cardgame can be really quick too, but it's of the quickest set-ups I've got.