Bring Your Own Book is a light social game you can fit in your wallet (just take a subset of the cards) and play using whatever text you happen to find around you in the real world. There’s a free version you can print and play on that site, or you can buy a fancier boxed version. Anytime you are in a group of people and there’s some kind of text you can grab around you—even restaurant menus in a pinch—this game is a delight.
Glory To Rome is my clear favorite group competitive mechanically-heavy card game. I’ve played it more than a 100 times. It’s fun as a beginner and fun with an expert group. The meta never seemed to settle—there was never a consensus on the best strategies even with extensive playing. Something about the drafting and card interaction dynamics of the game mean it’s self-balancing. The thing I am most surprised by is that I still have sessions where the game ends up in a state or a dynamic I’ve never seen before. The rules interact in chunky and explosive ways that keep things interesting.
The game is out of print, caught in some kind of legal limbo, so you’ll have to hit up used markets or print and play your own unofficially. Worth trying to get it though. I prefer the original ruleset, but there’s tons of fun to be had mixing in some portion of the expansion cards from the Black Box. Even a few cards can swing the game in pretty wild ways. I’ve tried the designer’s other games which on the surface have similar mechanics. They aren’t bad but none captured the magic of Glory to Rome. Please, somebody, get some lawyers and get this game back in print!
Bring Your Own Book is a light social game you can fit in your wallet (just take a subset of the cards) and play using whatever text you happen to find around you in the real world. There’s a free version you can print and play on that site, or you can buy a fancier boxed version. Anytime you are in a group of people and there’s some kind of text you can grab around you—even restaurant menus in a pinch—this game is a delight.
Glory To Rome is my clear favorite group competitive mechanically-heavy card game. I’ve played it more than a 100 times. It’s fun as a beginner and fun with an expert group. The meta never seemed to settle—there was never a consensus on the best strategies even with extensive playing. Something about the drafting and card interaction dynamics of the game mean it’s self-balancing. The thing I am most surprised by is that I still have sessions where the game ends up in a state or a dynamic I’ve never seen before. The rules interact in chunky and explosive ways that keep things interesting.
The game is out of print, caught in some kind of legal limbo, so you’ll have to hit up used markets or print and play your own unofficially. Worth trying to get it though. I prefer the original ruleset, but there’s tons of fun to be had mixing in some portion of the expansion cards from the Black Box. Even a few cards can swing the game in pretty wild ways. I’ve tried the designer’s other games which on the surface have similar mechanics. They aren’t bad but none captured the magic of Glory to Rome. Please, somebody, get some lawyers and get this game back in print!
There are also a couple of games who explicitly state they borrow from Glory to Rome, if you’re looking for a similar experience:
Mottainai
Import/Export