Bug Out Games and Entertainment

Survivalists and preppers sure love their acronyms. B.O.B’s, G.H.B.’s, B.O.V’s and B.O.L’s are a few that come to mind. In the spirit of Bug Out acronyms I’m going to coin, and i searched to see if anyone else had, a new one. Bug Out Games, B.O.G’s. I’ve been thinking about not just bug outs but Bug In’s, disasters, power outages and whatnot. Disasters can be boring! Sure there is a lot to do but there will still be downtime and you will not have the normal comforts you’re used to. The tried and true entertainment most seem to carry in their B.O.B’s seems to be one deck of cards to play solitaire. I don’t think that’s the best choice though. For one It assumes you will be alone, a bad idea in any of the situations I described. Secondly as much as I enjoy a game of solitaire it can get repetitive. So what are a few of my choices for B.O.G’s?

I’ll break the B.O.G’s into two categories. Games for bugging in and Games for Bugging out. Obviously you can store bigger games at home for disasters and would want smaller ones to carry when bugging out.

Bug In Games

This section will be dominated by Board Games and specifically ones that don’t require any power. So you will not see talking battleship or operation on this list. Also you can use whatever game you like I’m just sharing a few of my personal favorites here. To this list you can also add any of the ones covered in the Bug Out Games list.

 

 

Settlers Of Catan

 

I first read about this game a few years ago in a popular mechanics article. It had quickly risen to be one of the most popular award wining board games in the world that most have never heard of. Settlers has a variable board that can make each game different from the last. The purpose is to collect resources  to build roads, settlements and cities. It addresses many of the issues I have with games like Monopoly in that it encourages trading of resources and penalizes you for not doing so. In Monopoly if someone decides to be a dick they can prolong the game way past the point of still being fun. To play it is best to have at least three players. You can find this game online and in Walmart’s but I’ve never seen one in a second hand store yet.

 

 

Trivial Pursuit

 

I’ve always been a big fan of Trivial Pursuit. I have an uncanny ability to remember useless facts. I can hear something once and it’s usually stuck in my head. Not so much when it comes to names, faces or birthdays. I find that Trivial Pursuit is good for keeping the mind sharp while learning neat little tidbits. Although it does come with a lot of cards if you play enough ,and with people like myself, you will being to memorize the answers. Luckily you can purchase extra card sets to keep things going. In fact you can just toss a deck of the cards into your B.O.B and keep points based on right answers. Trivial Pursuit has been around a very long time and finding them in thrift stores for a few bucks is pretty easy. One word of warning I used to have a very old version and it made some answers difficult. For example there was a question about what the biggest company in the U.S was. I yelled out Microsoft of course. This copy of the game was from the early 1970’s though and Microsoft was not even formed yet.

 

Risk

 

Who doesn’t like Global Domination? Which is exactly the point of Risk, your goal is total global domination. I find This game to be good for keeping the mind sharp and using stratagems against your friends. The downside is if you suck at dice rolling. I’ve seen a much larger force attract a small force and the larger one be wiped out by poor dice rolling. Another issue is when your friends form alliances against you. Once when playing I decided to take out the weakest player to have her countries to fortify myself and fight the remaining two players. I almost succeeded, she was almost out of the game. When my friend, who was dating her, and his friend ganged up on me. Three against one is pretty much a death sentence and I was obliterated. Lesson learned, make treaty’s and alliances in the game.

 

 

 

 Monopoly

 

I have a love/ hate relationship with Monopoly. I have had some great memories playing it, and some hellishly boring ones. If it goes good the game is fun, takes about an hour or two to complete. However though if you get stuck with certain players the game can drag on and on…I’ve quit many games because they went on too long. Recently when a friend of mine asked me to play his new Monopoly game with him and his daughter I was hesitant. He said it was new and had a fast play mode. I ended up giving it a try and had a blast. I dominated by the way. The fast play rules and special dice really speed the game up. I would recommend that version or at least reading the fast play rules to use on a regular version. However the old version has been around forever and getting a used board is very cheap and easy.

Bug Out Games

For games to play while bugging out we need something small and light. No one wants to carry around a full board game whether your on feet or in a vehicle. So our main purpose here is the most amount of fun/ entertainment for the weight.

 

Magic The Gathering

 

I know some of you are thinking WHAT?! Magic the gathering and other card games like the such are really fun. You can get really geeked out and build a super deck but you don’t really need to for this purpose. I’ve linked to a basic two player starter deck. All you need is two decks and the rules, until you know them, and you can match your skills against your friends and family. To me these themed card games are the natural evolution of a deck of cards. This beats that and so forth. With this you can think and strategies, defense and offensive actions. Magic is themed in the fantasy world but there are games built around any genre you can imagine. I’ve played a few different ones and have had a lot of fun after learning the rules. Give it a try it’s not just for pimply nerds. If you plan to Bug Out in a group you can each carry your own deck otherwise carry two and you know you can play with anyone.

 

 

Uno

 

This is a fun game most everyone has played at some point. Great for a group of people of 3 or more. If you will be with kids this is an especially good choice. It’s cheap at around $7 new and finding a used deck is not too hard. This is a definite step up from a regular deck of cards in my opinion.

 

 

Deck Of Cards

 

Lastly is the lowly deck of cards. It is light and easily packable. Versatile with a near endless amount of games than can be played from a single deck. Not as flashy as some of the others on the list but it makes up for it in the staggering amount of games that can be played. I would suggest learning about different games or having a print off of some of the lesser know ones for diversity.

That wraps up the lists of Bug in and Bug out games. While this is by no means a comprehensive list it showcases a few of my personal favorites. What do you like to play while at home? Do you have some entertainment in your B.O.B? Whats your favorite games to play that don’t need power? Let me know in the comments!