Ultimate Board Game Collection (Valcon) - Sony PSP

by Capcom

• Each game has a trophy that can be unlocked by completing a specific goal
• Customize each game by selecting different rules, environments, piece type & more
• Play against the CPU or up to 6 other players, depending on the game
• User selectable sound track, chose from 4 different styles
• Games Included -
  * Chess
  * Quatro
  * Checkers
  * Enigma
  * Backgammon
  * Reversi
  * Snakes & Ladders
  * Naval Battle
  * Parcheesi
  * Dice
  * Dominoes
  * Go
  * Chinese Checkers
  * Word Cubes
  * Mahjong Solitaire
  * Anagrams
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Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000MV1T02
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4 x 0.8 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: May 1, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,402 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Sony PSP

Ultimate Board Game Collection contains 12 classic board and table top games that have been played by countless families around the world, including such favorites as Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, Jigsaws, Sudoku, Mahjong, Chinese Checkers, and more! Compete head to head with up to 3 of your friends in each of the games -- can you handle the pressure of a Sudoku battle? With its wide variety of games, multiplayer options and subsequent ultimate replayability, this game collection can be enjoyed by players of all ages for as long as you have it! Includes 100 different jigsaw pictures.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for playing classic games while travelling! June 14, 2007

By J. S Thompson

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

I bought this game while on vacation recently & have thoroughly enjoyed it. The game has versions of Battleship, Mancala, Chess, Checkers, Concentration, Othello, Chinese Checkers, and many more(Some of the games I've noted above are the brand name the board games go by--they're called something else on this game disk.). While I cannot speak for the AI in the version of Go on this game as a previous reviewer has, I can say I found the AI on the games I have played to be fairly challenging and there are varying skill levels. I found the AI for the chess game very challenging--far more so than the AI for the PSP game Online Chess Kingdoms--interesting graphics-cruddy AI. The graphics are not state of the art, but with the number of games on this one disk for the price you pay, graphics shouldn't factor into your decision. Well worth the purchase price, particularly for the number of games you get and GREAT for taking on the road!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what it's supposed to be... August 19, 2007

By RJ

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I've been looking all over the web for reviews of this game, and there haven't been that many. The game websites trash this collection, yet most of us players say good things about it.
I'll totally agree with most of the players on this one. I bought this because I occasionally wanted to play Chess, and a few other board games when I'm away from home, and that is exactly what this game supplies - some nice board games to play on the road.
Yes the graphics aren't much at all, but the fact that it lets you do jigsaw puzzles of your own pictures, and import your own MP3 tunes on here is a very nice feature. Plus, I don't really care if the graphics are that great when I'm playing board games anyway. Great graphics are nice in other games, but the ones here are just fine for this game.
One of the small downsides is it doesn't come with instructions for the games, so for the ones that you've never played before, you'll have to lookup the instructions online.
Overall, and selling for the cheap price that it goes for, this collection is totally worth it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Sold it May 6, 2008

By Shotokan7

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 2.0 out of 5 stars   

After playing Ubi Soft Sudoku this game doesn't come close, the controls are not conducive to smooth game play. The gaming screen is very small the developers did not take advantage of the PSP's large screen. Don't even think of playing mahjong the tiles are tiny. Also when you flip to Black in playing chess, Black stays on the top! When you play checkers, you have to jump all the pieces; you cannot hold back a piece for strategic position. When you create the jigsaw puzzle you have to keep manipulating the background color on the different boards so that you can place the necessary pieces. Yeah you get what you pay for.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good selection of games, Go AI is poor May 29, 2007

By Nate R

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

I've played this game for 2-3 hours and so far I've enjoyed it. One of the main reasons that I bought this game was to play Go on my PSP. I was hoping that the AI for this game would be decent. Unfortunately it is not. I haven't played the other games long enough to know how the AI rates.

My only other complaint is that you can't select more than five songs if you create your own custom playlist.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Good start but needs work! December 12, 2007

By Kimo VINE VOICE

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 2.0 out of 5 stars   

All of the write ups I saw before I bought this game neglected to say what games were included but I bought any way. The games are broken down to 5 catagories: ALL TIME FAVORITES (Backgammon, Checkers, Chess, Chinese Checkers, Reversi) WORDS & NUMBERS (Anagrams, Dice, Kakuro, Sudoku, Word Cubes) PUZZEL GAMES (Concentration, Enigma, Jigsaws, Mahjong) FAMILY FAVORITS (3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, Naval Battle, Parcheesi, Quattro, Snakes and Ladders) STRATEGY GAMES (Dominoes, Go, Mancala, Gomoku, Shogi). In addition to having a lot of obscure games the game is not very intutive. It is difficult to figure out how to get help or get to the tutor mode. The font that is used plus the colors (font and background) make it difficult to read in places. The scoring on some games is different to what I am used to (i.e. dominos) and different from Hoyle's board games (PC/MAC) and so far I have not found a way to adjust change the scoring.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for people who don't have Clubhosue Games for DS June 16, 2007

By JB in Minot

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

I would highly recommend this game for those who don't already own the excellent Clubhouse Games for the DS. Even if you don't I would still wait until the price comes down. I believe the UMD could have held quite a few more games. The graphics are well done and the interface is pretty good.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly the Ultimate Board Game Collection July 18, 2008

By Charlie

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I love the games. I would like to see a version II of this kind. The jigsaw puzzle game is a bit difficult to maneuver. Overall, I would recommend to a friend.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection, Go could be better March 29, 2013

By James S. Pratt

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Apparently, the PSP version is the best of this particular release. I've read reviews of the PS2 version which claim it has long animations and badly-implemented 3D boards and other such attempts to help immersion. That is NOT true of the PSP version--it's just the games, no attempts at glitz or glamour. It's pick-up-and-play fun.

There are 20 games, each with a tutorial (when you start the game, click on the head in the lower-left corner) that adequately explains the rules. I haven't played all of them, but the ones I did play were well-implemented, and pretty much the best console renditions of these games that I've played.

... Except for Go. The version of Go on this collection plays adequately, and I imagine it would be fun with two players, but it has two big drawbacks.

1. Board size selection. You can only play on either 9x9 or 13x13 boards. A full Go board is 20x20, and it disappoints me that you're forced to play a pared-down Go game (unless there's a way to unlock the full board and I just haven't discovered it yet?)

2. The AI is terrible. To be fair, Go isn't like Chess--it depends a lot on intuitive logic and computers can't intuit, so naturally they suck at Go. That being said, the AI in this collection acts like it doesn't even understand the rules of the game. It will uselessly sacrifice pieces and clutter up territory (which is the OPPOSITE of what you're supposed to do), pretty much ensuring you can't lose, even if you set it to "Hard" mode.

If Go were better, this would probably be the definitive portable Go experience. But sadly, it isn't.

Fortunately, there are 19 other games, including Reversi (another personal favorite), several variations of Tic-Tac-Toe, Chess and Checkers (including Chinese Checkers), Mahjong (which I now finally understand how to play thanks to the tutorial) and, unexpectedly, even Shogi! These other games are solidly implemented, and more than make up for the minor letdown of the Go experience.

Recommended to everyone. Read more ›