Boardgame Musings - my love for games with 'take that' mechanisms

I like a mean game - and by that I mean one where the other players can mess with what I am doing. I try and explain why here.

[foyoGames]

❤ take that, gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em, & know when to politic

[KabukiKid]

I grew up on those games, as well... or just wargames, where EVERYTHING you did was "take that!" lol ;-) An old, early one I always liked was Mille Bornes. Silly card game where each of you is racing to 500 miles, if I recall correctly. You are constantly throwing "Flat Tires" on your opponents, or "Out of Gas"... stuff like that. It was a good feeling to have the special card to "counter" the attack from another... "COUP-FOURRE!" It was a French card game, but my version had both French and English on the cards. Fun, silly game that I always have fond memories of... and that game was all about "take that!" ;-)

[DentedRazor]

Hansa Teutonica - The definition of passive aggressive "take that", such a fantastic game.

[chrisdonovan]

I think that one reason why we're seeing a decline in "take that" design is because there has been a decades long push against direct competition, and more recently, bullying in education. I teach PE in NYC at the high school level. This initiative is more prevalent with younger kids, but it sometimes persists.

Of course bullying is heinous, and pathetic, but sometimes the virtues of fair competition is overlooked.

[chrisdonovan]

Have you played the Fantasy Flight version of Wiz-War? The core of the game is "take that!" It's tactical, creative and comical.