Olympics Rio 2016The Olympic Games Rio 2016 just happened, and a group of friends and I had the idea to organize our own Olympic Board Games 2016.

The participants of the games would be:

  • Icon CamilaCamila
  • Icon Cesar Cesar
  • Icon Marcelo Marcelo (myself)
  • Icon Roberta Roberta

We sat together to decide which games we would play and in which order.

Here is the schedule that we came up with for three weekends:

  1. First Weekend
  2. Second Weekend
  3. Third Weekend

The score would be calculated accordingly to the Olympic Games:

  • ????First place gets a Gold medal
  • ????Second place gets a Silver medal
  • ????Third place gets a Bronze medal.

The lack of medals in the Emoji keyboard made us get to a different arrangement, though. ????

In case of tied scores, two medals of the same type would be given following the same Olympic rule.

The winner is entitled to choose a Funko Pop Vinyl as the competition’s prize.

First Weekend

Olympics Star MunchkinAfter our opening ceremony eating hot dogs, we played the first game: Star Munchkin.

In a 2 hour and 17 minutes match with plenty of highs and lows and, as always, lots of arguments about rules, we finish with the following result:

  1. Icon Marcelo Marcelo ????
  2. Icon Cesar Cesar ????
  3. Icon Roberta Roberta ????

The night ended with Icon Cesar Cesar accidentally dropping some frozen dessert in Icon Roberta Roberta’s hair. ????

Second Weekend

Olympics UbongoWe ate some snacks to warm up and started playing Ubongo.

The game was competitive.

In each turn we had completely different results.

It was hard to guess who would be the winner.

When we finish it, Icon Cesar Cesar and I had the same number of gems of the same color for all combinations.

That was crazy.

It was the first time we had a score like that.????????

So it was a tie for the Gold, with Icon Camila Camila in third:

  1. Icon Marcelo Marcelo ????
  2. Icon Cesar Cesar ????
  3. Icon Camila Camila ????

A quick stop for some yummy chicken tacos and we went straight into the next game: Rummikub.

Icon Cesar Cesar is well known for winning around 99% of the matches he plays in Rummikub.

Olympics RummikubWe decided that we would play three games and calculate the points as usually Icon Cesar Cesar makes massive amounts of points and can reach the winning point in one or two matches.

Everyone was expecting Icon Cesar Cesar to get the Gold medal, but to the players’ surprise, he finished only in the third position.

Icon Marcelo I was happy as I was able to get my third gold in the Olympic Board Games 2016 and Icon Roberta Roberta that usually doesn’t go too well playing Rummikub came in second for the Silver.

Olympic Games have a different atmosphere, so the unexpected is always around. ????

  1. Icon Marcelo Marcelo ????
  2. Icon Roberta Roberta ????
  3. Icon Cesar Cesar ????

Olympics SmallworldThe last game of the night was Smallworld.

Nine rounds and plenty of races going into decline.

After a lot of exclamation – mainly from me – about how many coins the players were getting, I was pretty sure that Icon Roberta Roberta would take the Gold.

But it ended up being that Icon Marcelo I had 78 coins. Icon Roberta Roberta and Icon Cesar Cesar had ‘only’ 76. ???? Ops.

  1. Icon Marcelo Marcelo ????
  2. Icon Cesar Cesar ????
  3. Icon Roberta Roberta ????

And like that, we finish our second weekend of board games.

Icon Camila Camila is behind, but she promises to level her game up in the next weekend.

Third Weekend

To celebrate our last day in the Olympics, we started the night with a Brazilian-style pizza and Guarana Antartica – a soft drink that tastes like sugar but is loved by most of Brazilians.

Olympics ScrabbleThe first game of the night was Scrabble.

Everyone was tense and as the final of the match approached, we struggled to form new words and keep punctuating high.

I wasn’t in my best form and was using easy words.

Turn after turn I was feeling that Icon Roberta Roberta and Icon Camila Camila were doing much better than me.

Icon Cesar Cesar is definitely better with numbers than with letters.

His performance was the opposite as his usual in Rummikub. ????

When I used my last tile, I was surprised that everyone else had still so many letters to be used, and that meant that surprisingly I was in the race for the Gold medal

We then summed the points and, I have to be honest, it took two people and four counts to reach the correct value.

To my surprise, Icon Marcelo I ended up as a winner by 42 points, thanks for that last letter I played.

  1. Icon Marcelo Marcelo ????
  2. Icon Camila Camila ????
  3. Icon Cesar Cesar ????

Olympics MunchkinFor the last game of the Olympic Board Games, we went for the classic Munchkin.

Not only because we enjoy it, but mostly because it has a historical value for the group.

It is the game where we fight, help each other and stab ourselves in the back all at the same time.

We spend a lot of the time discussing rules and establishing some of our own.

All for the sake of fun.

As in the traditional Marathon, Munchkin is the game we spend the most time playing.

This last match lasted around three hours and fifty minutes.

Not a record for us, but long enough to make everyone feel exhausted at the end of it.

After almost winning the game and being attacked by everyone, Icon Marcelo I tied in second place with Icon Cesar Cesar, which was in the last position almost the whole match.

Icon Cesar Cesar managed to go from level 1 to 9 in just four turns.

With a setback of rules and some well-played cards, Icon Camila Camila finally achieved her first Gold medal in the competition, and now she likes to call herself the Munchkin Queen. ????

  1. Icon Camila Camila ????
  2. Icon Marcelo Marcelo ????
  3. Icon Cesar Cesar ????

The Olympic Board Games Wrap-up

Icon Marcelo I was really lucky in this first Olympic Board Games and finished the overall score in first, followed by Icon Cesar Cesar, Icon Camila Camila and Icon Roberta Roberta.

Here is the final score:

Olympic Board Games Medals Standings

The prize I chose for my outstanding performance ???? is… the Iron Throne Pop Vinyl.

Olympics Iron Throne

It definitely suits as a prize for the winner, doesn’t it?

It was three fun weekends, and we all enjoyed it.

Now tell me if you also make different arrangements to bring new ways to play amongst your friends and how it goes.

What did you do at the Olympics?

Author

Playing board games since I was 8, I created a passion for different styles such as Strategy, Cards, Family and Role Playing Games. My current favourite board games are Ticket to Ride, Tokaido and Rummikub.

10 Comments

  1. Ohhh that was so much fun! I’m really the Munchkin Queen so now you need to write another article to explain that ????

    • Marcelo Reply

      Some things are better if they remain unexplained. 😛

  2. I thought that it was very clever how you organised this as it was unpredictable just like the Olympics are. Is that Iron Throne Pop Vinyl, some sort of headdress as that is quite an amazing prize.

    • Marcelo Reply

      Thanks Adrian. It was really fun.
      The Iron Throne is a Pop Vinyl indeed. 🙂
      I may also ask a crown to go with it. 😉

  3. Rebecca Blair Reply

    This is so awesome! I sat on my couch and watched the Olympics lol! But I absolutely love this idea…hopefully in 2020 I will remember this so I can organize my own little Olympic Games with my friends and family! Thanks for the funny post and congrats on winning!

    Rebecca

    • Marcelo Reply

      You should do it Rebecca!
      I can assure you that we had a lot of fun.
      All the best!

  4. Hi, Marcelo
    I enjoyed reading about your Olympic Board Games 2016. It was fun and unexpected.
    I can see that you are a good player since you won the whole Game.
    I have been watching The Olympic Games Rio on my television back home in Norway. We have several
    participants from our country. I especially liked watching handball with our fantastic ladies.
    Back home my and my fiance are playing card and a game called Yatzy. That’s fun and relaxing for me.

    Thanks for sharing.
    Tove

    • Marcelo Reply

      That’s great! Norway got, if I’m not wrong, four medals in this Olympic. Well done!
      I thought Yatzy was a dice game. I’ll have to take a look at this card version of it. It sounds like fun.

  5. Hey, Marcelo! This is such a creative and unexpected way of “gamifying” the greatest game event on the planet. And you know what? I think you could invent and market a real Olympic board game out of this. Could be just in time for the Tokyo Olympics!

    • Marcelo Reply

      Hi, John! Thank you for your kind words.
      It was definitely a great way to have fun during the Olympic Games.
      For Tokyo 2020 we have four years to plan and maybe we can have an official Olympic Board Games.
      Let’s see how it goes. 😉

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