The Playboy winner's guide to board games [Paperback]

Jon Freeman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Playboy Press; Revised edition (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872165620
• ISBN-13: 978-0872165625
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,162,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book ever written on this topic, April 15, 2004

By 

C. Green "CJ Green" (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Playboy winner's guide to board games (Paperback)

This book is more than just a critical survey of the lot of games available in the late 1970s (including many great titles long since unavailable--anyone for a round of Masterpiece or Panzer Blitz?), it provides great general strategy hints that can work in just about any game, and detailed chapters on timeless games such as Monopoly, Clue, and Backgammon.

Freeman's writing style is very engaging and often hilarious. His scathing review of Life is alone worth the price of the book. I really wish that he could provide an updated edition of this book one day, as board games are starting to experience a renaissance as good, clean family entertainment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I second the motion, November 1, 1999

By 

Michael Mapa (Manila, Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Playboy winner's guide to board games (Paperback)

The previous reviewer said it all: after 20 years, Freeman's exhaustive reviews are still very readable and instructive. I'm amazed by how often I still turn to it, and I must be word-perfect on his text by now! Mr. Freeman, if you're reading this, please, PLEASE WRITE AN UPDATE!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 20 years later, still nothing like it, April 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Playboy winner's guide to board games (Paperback)

This book may be utterly unique -- it's a wide-ranging survey of board games (circa 1975) with strategies and observations about the best of them.

While bookstore shelves are filled with books on Chess, card games, and Nintendo tactics, I don't think I've ever seen a survey of this breadth, covering racing games (backgammon, parcheesi), sports games, deduction games (Clue and its ilk), trading games (Monopoly, and games that are actually fun), various types of battle games (from old hex-grid wargames to strategic titles like Risk and Diplomacy), and an early survey of role-playing games.

So, there's the obvious problem: THIS BOOK IS 20 YEARS OLD. Many of the titles have long since disappeared from store shelves (try finding "Smess", "Black Box", "4000 A.D.", or "Speed Circuit").

But the best games stand the test of time, and that's the case here -- Freeman spends the most time on "Monopoly", "Clue", "Scrabble", "Diplomacy", and other classics that are still played today. With 10-20pp on these, you'll see whether a game's play appeals to you, or if you already a player, how to improve your game.

It's like reading years worth of reviews from "Games" magazine, with strategies and analyses thrown in for good measure. If you like a broad variety of board games, you'll like it