Board Games – Sequence

Cost – Around $20.00 to buy the game new

Board games are a great way to spend time with someone special. They get you away from the hustle and bustle of life and allow for some great times. We recently tried a new game to us called Sequence. Did it live up to our love of Scrabble, or did it get put back on the shelf in a fit of rage, never to be played again? Well, you’ll have to keep reading to find out.

SHE SAID:

I usually can’t stand learning a new board game, even though I love board games. Normally I don’t have the patience to read wordy instructions on game play and score keeping. I just want to play the game. Once in a while I pull it together if numerous people have recommended one, as was the case with Sequence.

Initially, I had sort of passed off Sequence as a boring board game because those who recommended it were of, let’s say, a different generation (love you, Mom!). Boy was I wrong. It’s now one of my top 5 favorite board games (check back for the other 4 as we continue this series).

I find Sequence fun because it’s one of the few board games Brad and I both love. Brad loves Risk and I would rather make firewood out of its contents. I like Monopoly, but Brad would rather live on bread for a year than be subjected to its “drawn out nonsense” (which makes no sense considering Risk takes HOURS, perhaps even DAYS, to complete). End rant.

I personally like Sequence because it can be a two-player game and it has just the right amount of challenge. The board is basically the faces of two decks of cards. To win, you must make a row, or “sequence,” of 5 tokens. Sounds fairly easy, but not so much when the cards in your hand don’t make a nice sequence on the board. It doesn’t take all night to play, like Risk, but also isn’t over as quickly as Dutch Blitz.

Typically, board games are a great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon or a rainy day, but they might also work well in the sun. We’ll have to try that out next summer and get back to you. For now, I like how they take you away from your computer and TV screens and force you to converse and spend quality time together. That’s what it’s all about.

HE SAID:

When I was first shown what Sequence looked like I quickly blurted out, “Pffft…Lame!”. But internally I was thinking “Dear God that looks confusing. Quick, make it look like you’re not interested!” You see, me and numbers don’t exactly get along. When I first looked at Sequence I didn’t think about the fact that it was just a bunch of card faces, I just saw a bunch of numbers scattered across the board and panicked.

Luckily this game is great, even for the numerically challenged. The best way I can think to describe it is if Connect Four and Go Fish had a board game baby it would look like Sequence. I’ll leave you with that mental picture for just a second.

There are four things that make Sequence a great game for me:

• The first is that it’s easy to learn. I can’t stand the kind of games where nobody really knows what’s going on, with reading the rules just adding more confusion. The rules aren’t open to interpretation so arguments are kept to a minimum.
• The second great thing about is it works for two people or for larger groups. If you’re playing with six or eight people, you just pair off. The trick is you can’t talk to or see the cards of your partner.
• The third thing is that it’s fairly quick to play. I love dedicating a whole evening to an epic battle for world domination in Risk, but there’s something to be said for being able to sit down for a few minutes to play Sequence and then go do something else. It doesn’t eat up your day like some other games.
• I get a surprising amount of enjoyment out of shouting “SEQUENCIA!!” when I get a sequence.

I think it’s fair to say we both loved this game and can’t wait to play it again. What are some of your favorite board games?