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"Wanna play a game?" As a kid, that question was usually followed by a mad dash to the hall closet where our hoard of games was stashed. Among its treasures were Monopoly, Clue, Life, Scrabble, and several other favorites.
One item in particular stands out, though. It was a cheesy plastic attaché filled with a gamut of gaming goodness. Think of a classic table game and chances are good it was in there.
I'm referring, of course, to those familiar game anthologies chock-full of traditional pastimes like Backgammon, Checkers, Chinese Checkers, Chess, Cribbage, Dice, Dominoes and good ol' fashioned playing cards. I'd venture you probably owned one, too. And, whether it sported a nicer case than our cut-rate synthetic one or not, I'm sure you remember it fondly.
Okay! Now that we're all feeling duly nostalgic, let me introduce you to Clubhouse Games. A virtual rec room of entertainment for the Nintendo DS, it's packed to overflowing with games of yore that are still as fun as ever. So, warm a cup of Ovalteen, grab some homemade cookies and let's have a game night!
To begin, Nintendo managed to cram 42 games into this compilation, most supporting two to eight players. Here's the rundown divvied by category.
- Basic Card Games: Old Maid, Spit, I Doubt It, Sevens, Memory and Pig.
- Intermediate Card Games: Black Jack, Hearts, President, Rummy, Seven Bridge, Last Card and Last Card Plus.
- Advanced Card Games: Five Card Draw, Texas Hold 'Em, Nap, Spades and Contract Bridge.
- Basic Board Games: Chinese Checkers, Checkers, Dots and Boxes, Hasami Shogi, Turncoat, Connect Five and Grid Attack.
- Advanced Board Games: Backgammon, Chess, Shogi, Field Tactics and Ludo.
- Variety Games: Soda Shake, Dominoes, Koi-Koi and Word Balloon.
- Action Games: Bowling, Darts, Billiards, Balance and Takeover.
- Single Player Games: Solitaire, Escape and MahJong Solitaire.
Part of the Touch Generations library (along with Big Brain Academy, Brain Age, Magnetica and Tetris DS), Clubhouse Games makes excellent use of the DS stylus, better than most third-party games. And, like other Touch Generations titles, it features an easy-to-use interface. In fact, the Control Pad and Action Buttons aren't even needed. You can use them for select functions, if you wish, but with the stylus it's not necessary.
When playing alone or against CPU opponents, you have three modes from which to choose: Free Play, Stamp and Mission. Free Play lets you choose any game from the collection, though a few need to be unlocked first -- Word Balloon, Shogi, Field Tactics and Ludo, specifically. Meanwhile, Stamp walks you through each game in sequence. Earn three stamps for a game, and you advance to the next. Fortunately, stamps are acquired whether you win or lose. Finally, Mission provides 30 challenges with varied goals like achieving a set point total or solving a puzzle within a certain time limit.
Given the vast number of games included, I won't try and describe them all. It's more than this column can bear and would certainly bore you to tears. Rather, I'm going to focus on just a few favorites.
First is Word Balloon, a word guessing game in which you pick letters as you guess the identity of a hidden word. When you begin, a package is held aloft by ten balloons. Guess right and the letters are filled in, but guess wrong and a balloon pops. Pop all your balloons before reaching the solution and you lose. Another favorite is Grid Attack, a variant of Battleship. Unlike Milton Bradley's game, it supports up to four players, has adjustable difficulty levels and includes two special multi-grid game pieces.
Other memorable diversions include Bowling, Darts, Solitaire and Mahjong Solitaire. Bowling and Darts allow two to eight players to compete and offer three difficulty settings. A hoot to play, they make excellent use of the DS stylus. Solitaire and Mahjong Solitaire, single-player only games, are also uniquely entertaining. Solitaire, basically Klondike, sports seven tableau piles, a stock pile and four foundation piles. Mahjong Solitaire, a traditional tile game, serves up 10 standard layouts with a random layout feature. No bells, no whistles, but still mind-numbingly fun.
While solo play's a blast, what's extra cool in Clubhouse Games is its multiplayer component. Most diversions are playable locally or around the world via Local Wireless or Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, respectively. All that's needed is a single game card. Then, depending on the title, you can challenge up to seven friends and/or family members to a game. Even if you haven't played Old Maid or Backgammon with Cousin Kathy since you were a kid, you can do so now--even if she's a continent away.
Okay, now for the gripes (you were expecting some, right?). While Clubhouse Games is sterling overall, I do have a few nits to pick with it. For instance, Mahjong Solitaire is entertaining, but the tiles are so tiny they're hard to make out. It almost requires a magnifier! You may have to endure a few games you really don't care for in Stamp mode, as well, to unlock others more to your liking. Finally, a few of the Mission challenges are frustratingly difficult to complete, enough so that you may just give up on them entirely. But, these issues are minor and don't detract from an otherwise admirable product.
If you love casual fare, Clubhouse Games is a must-buy. Once you have a copy, apart from nostalgia's sake, there's no longer a need to dig out that big box of games on game night. For a quick fix, your DS and Clubhouse Games is all you need!