1. Card 2. Board 3. Paper 4. Dice
I wasted a lot of my nights as a student playing "wist"... I'm not very proud of that now.
Lately, I play RPG's. I finished Might and Magic 6 to 9 and Neverwinter Nights(my favorites)
Edited: RaulDrake on 22nd Apr, 2005 - 7:14pm
For my money, the finest three games ever devised by human ingenuity are 1) contract bridge (provided everyone at the table takes it seriously and plays to win - it's no more for incompetents than harpsichord-playing is); 2) shogi (Japanese chess), which is great fun even if you play it badly, but even more rewarding to play well, and more tactical than the western game, since you can't really win by playing for a favourable endgame; and 3) miniature wargaming, which is an absurdly fussy and frustrating hobby, but looks sooo pretty if you paint your figures with a little reference to history, and is lots of fun even if you're no good at it at all.
I'm a board game fanatic and own WAY too many of them. boardgamegeek.com is a website I visit a couple times a week to get info, alternate rules and extras for many of the board games I play. My top 5 list of games would be:
Puerto Rico (a game with a unique mechanic that is fascinating to play...very strategy intense)
Settlers of Cataan (probably the most popular non-Parker Bros./Milton Bradley game there is)
Lord of the Rings (by Reneir Knezia. Fun in that the group plays against the board so all players have the same goals and aren't competing against each other)
Mystery of the Abbey (a Clue-like game that is exceptionally "themed" You are a detective monk in search of a killer in the abbey)
Ticket to Ride (by Alan Moon. Great gameplay, high strategy/low luck, the game can be exhilerating and maddeningly frustrating in the span of a single turn)
A new game I'm keeping a close eye on is Days of Wonders "Shadows Over Camelot" Looks VERY promising!
Card and dice games were the staple growing up they were portable and easy to look after. At home board game and card games where the main ones.
Outdoor games in summer lawn dart the real one were great fun. Mostly the old stick and ball or out in the back 500 acres of bush. I do not want to explain the madness that occurred there.
I love dice and paper games. I really love paper and dice used together as one game. I spend a lot of time in a fantasy world setting. Right now I have four no wait five games going on at once. Sometimes it is hard to keep track of them but it is fun none the less. I do think of some things for my gaming world while I am at work. Sometimes it gets me out of a tight spot much to the GM/DMs surprise at other times it just gets me deeper into it.