12 arts days of Xmas: Day 7 – Armchair Quarterback and other games

Day 7: Frequent readers of this blog and my Lou's Views column know that I consider games under the A&E label.

Here's one you should consider for the sports fan in your life.

In Armchair Quarterback, each player uses a quick-erase board to make predictions on how the next down is going to work out. You can play it conservative and just guess if it will be a pass or a run. Or you can take more chances and, for instance, mark that it will be a completed pass… to the right… leading to a first down. The more you risk, the higher your yardage payout–but miss one detail and you get no gain on the play.

One of the best things about the game is that players can adjust the pace. If you are with a chatty, munchie crowd, you might only play every fifth down or so. Getting into it? You can all guess on every play.

Rarely a game goes by in our house now without at least one round of Armchair Quarterback, a creation of Indiana-based Fundex Games. We’ve even used it, live, at high school games and found strangers asking to play along. You can find info here.

If your giftee isn't sports-minded but would like games beyond the usual Walmart selections, you can find some of my game reviews from last year's GenCon here.