All In the Family

So with all the updating on secret Conservation Illuminati voting, I haven't had much of a chance to plug the upcoming Family Games: the 100 Best, edited by James Lowder. Here's the list of worthy authors and subjects - see how many of each you recognize.

Foreword by Mike Gray

Introduction by James Lowder

Afterword by Wil Wheaton

1. Carrie Bebris on 10 Days in the USA
2. Steven E. Schend on 1960: The Making of the President
3. Dominic Crapuchettes on Apples to Apples
4. Mike Breault on The Awful Green Things from Outer Space
5. Jeff Tidball on Balderdash
6. Keith Baker on Bang!
7. Bruce Harlick on Battleship
8. James Wallis on Bausack
9. Paul Jaquays on Black Box
10. Lewis Pulsipher on Blokus
11. Teeuwynn Woodruff on Boggle
12. Fred Hicks on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
13. James Ernest on Candy Land
14. Ian Livingstone on Can’t Stop
15. Bruce Whitehill on Careers
16. Jared Sorensen on Cat
17. Wolfgang Baur on Cathedral
18. John Scott Tynes on Clue
19. Alessio Cavatore on Condottiere
20. Elaine Cunningham on Connect Four
21. Will Hindmarch on Cranium
22. Erik Mona on Crossbows and Catapults
23. William W. Connors on Dark Tower
24. John D. Rateliff on Dogfight
25. Robert J. Schwalb on Dungeon!
26. jim pinto on Dvonn
27. Gav Thorpe on Easter Island
28. Jeff Grubb on Eurorails
29. Kenneth Hite on Faery’s Tale Deluxe
30. Richard Dansky on Family Business
31. Warren Spector on Focus
32. Corey Konieczka on For Sale
33. James M. Ward on Fortress America
34. Stan! on Frank’s Zoo
35. Bruce C. Shelley on The Game of Life
36. Phil Orbanes on A Gamut of Games
37. Monica Valentinelli on Gloom
38. Matt Leacock on Go Away Monster!
39. Steve Jackson on The Great Dalmuti
40. David “Zeb” Cook on Guillotine
41. Jason Matthews on Gulo Gulo
42. Joshua Howard on Halli Galli
43. Bruce Nesmith on Hare & Tortoise
44. Mike Pondsmith on HeroClix
45. Anthony J. Gallela on HeroQuest
46. Chris Pramas on HeroScape
47. Ed Greenwood on Hey! That’s My Fish!
48. Colin McComb on Hive
49. Alan R. Moon on Hoity Toity
50. Jon Leitheusser on Ingenious
51. Uli Blennemann on Java
52. Luke Crane on Jungle Speed
53. Monte Cook on Kill Doctor Lucky
54. Emiliano Sciarra on Knightmare Chess
55. Todd A. Breitenstein on Liar’s Dice
56. Marc Gascoigne on Loopin’ Louie
57. Andrew Parks on Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation
58. Seth Johnson on Lost Cities
59. John Yianni on Magi-Nation
60. Bill Bodden on Master Labyrinth
61. Andrew Greenberg on Mastermind
62. Ken Levine on Memoir ’44
63. Scott Haring on Mille Bornes
64. Steve Jackson on Monopoly
65. Sheri Graner Ray on Mouse Trap
66. Kevin G. Nunn on Mystery Rummy: Murders in the Rue Morgue
67. Dale Donovan on The Omega Virus
68. Darren Watts on Othello
69. Charles Ryan on Pandemic
70. Michelle Lyons on Pente
71. Thomas M. Reid on Pictionary
72. Nicole Lindroos on Pieces of Eight
73. John Wick on Pit
74. Matt Forbeck on Pokémon
75. Robin D. Laws on Prince Valiant
76. Stephen Glenn on Qwirkle
77. Sébastien Pauchon on Ricochet Robots
78. Peter Olotka on Risk
79. Richard Breese on Rummikub
80. Jesse Scoble on Scotland Yard
81. Richard Garfield on Scrabble
82. Mike Selinker on Set
83. Rob Heinsoo on Small World
84. Hal Mangold on Sorry!
85. Jess Lebow on Stratego
86. Eric Goldberg on Strat-O-Matic Baseball
87. Andrea Angiolino on Survive!
88. Karl Deckard on Thebes
89. Dan Tibbles on Time’s Up!
90. Tom Wham on Trade Winds
91. Susan McKinley Ross on TransAmerica
92. Ray Winninger on Trivial Pursuit
93. Leo Colovini on Twixt
94. Matthew Kirby on Uno
95. David Parlett on Upwords
96. Lester Smith on Werewolf
97. John Kovalic on Wits & Wagers
98. Philip Reed on Yahtzee
99. Kevin Wilson on Zendo
100. Jess Hartley on Zooloretto

Appendix A: Games and Education by David Millians

Appendix B: Family Games in Hobby Games: The 100 Best by James Lowder

My contribution: Eurorails (and the Mayfair train games in general) comes out of the fact that my wife and I have played a lot of them over the year, and it was great to tell other people about them.

More later,

Update: Went through and boldfaced the games I've played over the years. What strikes me about the list is how interesting the pairings are - reviewers are definately going with favorites that feel outside the expected comfort zone. And now I have this desire to play "Hey, That's My Fish!".