OHSU has created a game collection. The purpose of the collection is to find fun ways for members of the OHSU community to explore ideas in a social way. Initially this collection is focused on Health themed games. These games can help teach and inform concepts around complex issues. They are also just plain fun and can help to get into a more relaxed state of mind.
The initial collection was donated by Andrew Hamilton who is a librarian at OHSU and an avid game player. As we grow this collection we will also expand the scope to include more broadly themed games.
If you have questions about the collection please contact us.
Players vie for cards to build their city. This is a race to see how many points can be earned before one player completes the 7th wonder. There are three strategies for winning: military might, development of science, or basic victory points.
This is a very accessible card game that starts with few rules and no way to win. As the play progresses, players add rules and goals. A deceptively simple and very fun game.
This card game imagines you are a victim of a toxin. Using the cards can you come up with an antidote in time
In each round of Buffalo, players race to make matches using cards on the table. Be the first to shout out the name of a real person or fictional character who matches the descriptors on two or more word cards, claim the matched cards, and continue flipping. When the deck runs out, the player with the most cards wins.
The classic two player perfect knowledge game. Each player controls 16 pieces of 6 different types. The object of the game is to eliminate your opponent's "king" piece by maneuvering your pieces and eliminating your opponent's pieces. No rules are included with this game, but there are many resources online for learning.
Each turn players choose a different character to use their special abilities in a race to grow their city before another player completes their city.
Players divide into two teams and try to get their team to guess their cards without picking the other teams cards or especially the assassin card. The trick is each card has a random word and you can only give your team a one word clue and a number.
This is a worker placement game that takes place inside a human cell. Players start out with a number of workers and on a player’s turn, they will place one of their workers in any available location within that cell. Some of the locations provide players with resources (e.g., mRNA, ATP); some with actions (e.g., convert resources, collect cards). Resources are used to build enzymes, hormones and/or receptors, which score Health Points. The player with the most Health Points at the end of the game wins!
From the creator of The Oatmeal, this game pits players in a last-man-standing scenario that is, of course, kitty-themed.
This is a cooperative game that pits the collective wits of the players against the waves of patients needs. In this game the players will run a hospital including managing resources like staffing to meet the needs of the patients while keeping the hospital solvent.
This is a very accessible card game that starts with few rules and no way to win. As the play progresses, players add rules and goals. A deceptively simple and very fun game.
This very quick game matches player wits against each other, trying to deduce which cards the other player holds and remain in the game.
Nyctophobia (fear of the dark), is a semi-cooperative game of survival in which players cooperate to escape from a terror in the dark. Players actually play the game blinded by blackout glasses. This game is a tactile maze game. Only one player can see and they play the hunter trying to catch the other player
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This is a cooperative game where the players face a world with rapidly spreading diseases. Together they must fight off the disease and find cures before the disease spread too far.
The 7 wonders of the great civilizations were built by slave-power, and societies' need to enslave weaker neighbors went unquestioned for millennia. Until the day an audacious petition was sent to Parliament, not just to end slavery in England, but throughout the entire world! In this game, you assume the role of an abolitionist during the Age of Enlightenment, either a Parliamentarian, an evangelical, or a private philanthropist. Assign warships to blockade slave ports or intercept slave ships, install missions, trading posts, and colonies in foreign lands steeped in serfdom, challenge the institution of slavery on moral and legal grounds in courts, and sanction underground railroads, slave revolts and revolutions. Play in cooperative-competitive, cooperative, or solitaire modes. If victorious, you achieve the greatest political accomplishment in history: making slavery everywhere illegal.
—description from the publisher
This is a party game of social deduction. It is designed for five to ten players, lasts about 30 minutes, and has no player elimination. Players are either Resistance Operatives or Imperial Spies. For three to five rounds, they must depend on each other to carry out missions against the Empire. At the same time, they must try to deduce the other players’ identities and gain their trust. Each round begins with discussion. When ready, the Leader entrusts sets of Plans to a certain number of players (possibly including himself/herself). Everyone votes on whether or not to approve the assignment. Once an assignment passes, the chosen players secretly decide to Support or Sabotage the mission. Based on the results, the mission succeeds (Resistance win) or fails (Empire win). When a team wins three missions, they have won the game.
Sequence uses standard playing cards in combination with a board. The board shows all the cards (except for the Jacks) of two (2) standard 52-card decks, laid in a 10 x 10 pattern. The four corners are free spaces and count for all players equally. The players compete to create rows, columns or diagonals of 5 connected checkers placed on the cards that the player has laid down. Two-eyed Jacks are wild, while one-eyed Jacks allow an opponent's checker to be removed. The goal of the game is for a player to reach a predetermined number of sets.
This game simulates the terraforming of Mars. Players compete for space and resources while at the same time working to increase temperature, oxygen, and water. Players must balance their resources to gain victory points and ultimately make Mars habitable.
This classic card game has each player competing to empty their hand first. The catch is the players need to remember to say "Uno" when they reach one card in their hand.
This game is focused on viruses infecting a host cell - and how they assemble and replicate inside that host cell. Players take on the role of viruses competing to infect a host cell in order to replicate their own viral components, thus scoring points..
This classic dice game is played with 5 dice. Each player's turn consists of rolling the dice up to 3 times in hope of making a set of dice values that match 1 of 13 categories. The categories are generally similar to poker hands. For example: 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, straight, full house, etc. Each player tries to fill in a score for each category, but this is not always possible. When all players have entered a score or a zero for all 13 categories, the game ends and total scores are compared. The winner is the person who has the highest point total.
