Oktoberfest has been held in Munich, Bavaria since 1810. A tradition that has continued on and off for over 200 years has had to change and adapt with the times. What started off as a celebration of a royal wedding and a horse race has turned into the world renowned folk and beer festival that we know today.
Despite its name, OktoberFest starts in September (this year it’s September 21st…) and normally ends on the first Sunday of October. As we have been known to serve the odd beverage in Chance and Counters, we’re going to be holding an Oktoberfest Keg Party at Gloucester Road, Leeds, Birmingham and Cardiff on Thursday October 3rd 2024. So what’s it all about and what games should be hitting those tables next to those beers?
Did Someone say Horse Race?
The horse racing event that started this all off doesn’t exist today BUT why not celebrate the roots of this great tradition with a game of Ready Set Bet, one of our firm favourites!
Back in the day the only games involving horse racing that stand out to us would be Totopoly (1938) and The Really Nasty Horse Racing Gaming (1989). At their heart they were both roll and move games where you were looking to win a race and earn money by good betting… Ready Set Bet just concentrates on the aspect of gambling in a wonderfully realised real time environment.
If the game is played with someone running the race (in our opinion, the best job!) then this is a 2 to 9 player game over four races, dice are rolled and as the horses progress at a certain points no new bets are allowed then it’s a sit back and cheer for the horse you have the best odds on.
There is something about this game that just lifts your spirits and you never know which way the dice are going to go, this leads to a great rush and a big laugh too.
Surely, these days it’s all about the beer?
On a global perspective, yes, and do you know what else is all about beer? Taverns of Tiefenthal that’s what!
To be more precise it’s all about the Tavern but there is a lot of beer being served here.
This 2019 classic is a wonderful mixture of dice placement and deck building with a number of extra modules in the box to add a wider range of variability to the game.
The artwork is stunning and the gameplay not as complex as the rulebook would make out. Hire staff, increase the size of your beer cellar, try and get nobles as regulars to earn more money… it really feels like you’re running your own local.
Let’s not forget the Carnival too!
Now you’re talking. You know what you get at carnivals? Carnival games! And if there’s something we know all about it’s good, fun, wholesome games of skill, like Tumblin’ Dice.
This is a tabletop dice based Boules game from 2004, easy as that. Each player will take turns flicking/shoving/pushing their dice from a raised platform down some steps and after four rounds of this you simply multiply the pips on the top face of the dice by the multiplier it has landed in.
It’s that simple.
Until you start getting people pointing out how ‘well’ someone is doing and then people are knocking each other’s dice from the platform with a vengeance and that’s where the fun begins.
I know, we said clean and wholesome but we think it still counts as the game is so quick you can always enact your revenge in the next round.
Did Shumbudy shay Beeeer?
At our celebrating sites on the night of October 3rd and around that time, we will have Lost and Groundeds Festbier on tap, brewed with love and passion in honour of Oktoberfest. If you’re joining us, grab a ticket and it’s free gaming all night and a pint of the aforementioned within the ticket price too!
What goes well with Beer? Bread. Well, why else would there be a game called Beer & Bread?
In Beer & Bread (2022) it’s a head to head challenge between neighbouring villages who are sharing fields and resources and aim to outdo each other over 6 years of harvesting. The twist is you need to balance both types of production as your score is the lower of the two scores, make sure you brew as well as you bake!
To make it even trickier there are fruitful years and dry years too, these alternate through the game and you need to make sure you’re prepared for them. With a fascinating twist on player interaction, a healthy dose of card drafting, and some good old fashioned resource management, this multi-use card game will get you in the mood for Oktoberfest!
Whuut’s going on? Drinksh! Yeah!
Not everyone likes a drink, but if you’d like to be as confused as someone who has had one or two, then this is the game for you… Fluxx, as the name suggests, keeps changing with every card you play.
There are literally dozens of styles of Fluxx available from Monty Python to Star Trek, Doctor Who to Fairytale, Chemistry to Rick and Morty, it’s a style of game that suits many themes and any of the sets can be mixed together as although they share the same style back, they all use a different font at the top of their cards so they are easy to separate.
The game is devilishly simple and as complicated as it becomes. At the start of the game you have 3 cards and the rule is draw a card and play a card. Cards can be Keepers or Creepers that stay in front of you, New Rules that change the game, Goals that give you a way to win, Actions that do stuff when played or Surprises that get played by their own rules. That’s it.
It’s daft and silly and can go on a bit, especially if you mix lots of sets together… some of our favourites are Jumanji Fluxx as the chaos in Jumanji is really well represented and also the wonderful plastic cards of Drinking Fluxx that do add a potential drinking mechanic to the game, although clearly it’s best to drink sensibly and alcohol is a personal choice, don’t let a game tell you what to do.
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So, bring some friends, come join us for Oktoberfest and have a fun evening of gaming and a hearty Festbier (alternative drinks are available…)! If you can’t make it, we expect you’ll be at the other great German institution that takes place on that date, Essen Spiel, the biggest board game convention in the world! I mean, beers and board games, those Germans know how to party…
Whatever you do, please drink sensibly, we know we serve alcohol at our sites but it’s all about the games really, the tasty, tasty food doesn’t hurt either though and those milkshakes… well…