Something like fantasy baseball, but different? Or not?
December 10, 2018 12:07 PM Subscribe
What's an online activity we can do as a family that's asynchronous, engaging and a bit competitive, not too complicated, and doesn't require much extra equipment or good reflexes?
My dad is not in the best of health these days, but his brain is still fine and he loves playing games. He was always very active and is in a fair amount of pain, so life these days is pretty frustrating and unpleasant for him.
I live about an hour away and my brother lives in another state, so we can't visit as often as we'd like, but we notice that when Dad has something to distract himself, he seems to be in much better spirits.
So...we thought maybe there's something we can do online that will connect us and also be a fun distraction? Dad is a big Dodgers fan so we were thinking of fantasy baseball (but we don't know anything about how it works) or...something else? Hopefully something more interactive than just playing online cribbage or whatever.
Things he likes:
Planning trips abroad (he's not in good enough shape to actually go on any)
The sort of treasure hunt where you solve clues
Nature
Baseball
Liberal politics (although that's kind of a downer lately)
Fishing and hunting (can't go now)
Card games (cribbage, euchre, hearts, bridge)
Board games (Settlers of Catan, Rummikub, Castle Panic, Ticket to Ride)
Escape rooms
TV shows like Columbo or Foyle's War
Things that would not be a good fit:
Anything where you have to kill people
Anything super rah-rah patriotic
Actual gambling
Games like chess, which I find intolerably dull
Word games, which my brother hates
Technical considerations:
Must work on a desktop computer and maybe also have a mobile interface.
Should not require us to be all online at the same time, or not often.
Should allow at least 3 players and maybe more if we add other family or friends.
We'd like to be able to get started over Christmas when we'll all be in town.
Doesn't require hand-eye coordination or speed.
My dad is not in the best of health these days, but his brain is still fine and he loves playing games. He was always very active and is in a fair amount of pain, so life these days is pretty frustrating and unpleasant for him.
I live about an hour away and my brother lives in another state, so we can't visit as often as we'd like, but we notice that when Dad has something to distract himself, he seems to be in much better spirits.
So...we thought maybe there's something we can do online that will connect us and also be a fun distraction? Dad is a big Dodgers fan so we were thinking of fantasy baseball (but we don't know anything about how it works) or...something else? Hopefully something more interactive than just playing online cribbage or whatever.
Things he likes:
Planning trips abroad (he's not in good enough shape to actually go on any)
The sort of treasure hunt where you solve clues
Nature
Baseball
Liberal politics (although that's kind of a downer lately)
Fishing and hunting (can't go now)
Card games (cribbage, euchre, hearts, bridge)
Board games (Settlers of Catan, Rummikub, Castle Panic, Ticket to Ride)
Escape rooms
TV shows like Columbo or Foyle's War
Things that would not be a good fit:
Anything where you have to kill people
Anything super rah-rah patriotic
Actual gambling
Games like chess, which I find intolerably dull
Word games, which my brother hates
Technical considerations:
Must work on a desktop computer and maybe also have a mobile interface.
Should not require us to be all online at the same time, or not often.
Should allow at least 3 players and maybe more if we add other family or friends.
We'd like to be able to get started over Christmas when we'll all be in town.
Doesn't require hand-eye coordination or speed.
Hmmm, could you collaborate on something in Minecraft?
posted by Grandysaur at 12:27 PM on December 10, 2018
posted by Grandysaur at 12:27 PM on December 10, 2018
Are the three of you movie fans at all?
I used to love playing the Hollywood Stock Exchange, where you invest in movies, actors, etc. and their price goes up or down based on how future project will do or how their box office will do. You can even short movies and actors. Maybe the three of you open up accounts (you get $2M to start with) and see who's the prognosticator of prognosticators?
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 12:52 PM on December 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I used to love playing the Hollywood Stock Exchange, where you invest in movies, actors, etc. and their price goes up or down based on how future project will do or how their box office will do. You can even short movies and actors. Maybe the three of you open up accounts (you get $2M to start with) and see who's the prognosticator of prognosticators?
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 12:52 PM on December 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I belong to Fantasy Movie League where you every week fill an 8 screen theater with movies you think will do the best. It's extremely simple (you can pick all your movies in under a minute!) or you can look at what's releasing, what's getting a bump in theaters, what maybe got a one week release in IMAX suddenly (Thank you, A Star is Born, this week!), etc. You get $1000 and movies cost an appropriate amount for what they're expected to make that week relative to the rest.
It's slightly competitive and good fun. Also free. You can set up private leagues or there are large open ones.
https://fantasymovieleague.com/
Another idea, there are online riddles that can be quite complex and go on for awhile. I asked which ones were good a few years ago. You can work on them separately and talk about it and move forward when one person figures out a page (or make it sort of a race, but I find collaborative more fun personally.)
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2018
It's slightly competitive and good fun. Also free. You can set up private leagues or there are large open ones.
https://fantasymovieleague.com/
Another idea, there are online riddles that can be quite complex and go on for awhile. I asked which ones were good a few years ago. You can work on them separately and talk about it and move forward when one person figures out a page (or make it sort of a race, but I find collaborative more fun personally.)
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2018
If you don't mind watching The Bachelor, there are fantasy games about that. If you have the time to manage the scorekeeping, you can do the same for any reality TV show.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:52 PM on December 10, 2018
posted by kevinbelt at 4:52 PM on December 10, 2018
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Board Game Arena
Yucata
Boiteajeux
Tabletopia
posted by o0dano0o at 12:27 PM on December 10, 2018 [2 favorites]