Last week I read about five games that teach food and agricultural economics. This got me thinking: Are there games that teach about cheese?
I did some searching, and while I didn’t find any games that teach you anything about cheese(perhaps something culture needs to look into), I did find a lot of cheese-centric games. Some of them also had nostalgic value for the culture staff. Here they are in no particular order.
1. Mousetrap – Who remembers this piece of awesome entertainment from the 80s? Okay, so maybe the game was released in the 60s, but I remember seeing ads for it as a child and desperately wishing for it. The dichotomy of first collaboratively building a complex mouse trap, then turning against each other and baiting your fellow players with cheese pieces is great.
2. Slamwich – Okay, maybe it’s not totally about cheese, but then again, what’s a sandwich without cheese? This game is like a crazed and complex version of Egyptian Rat Screw in the sense that you’re looking for “sandwiches” (three-eight-three; lettuce-tomato-lettuce) to slap and gain control of cards. There are also “munchers” and “thieves” who will steal and eat your sandwich cards if not kept in check through shouting.
3. Crazy Cheese – This cheese puzzle has 9 wooden puzzles pieces that can be arranged in multiples ways depending on the level of frustration you want to impose on yourself. This is a very educational game in the sense that it taught me that people will really buy anything you try to sell. Seriously, I remember desperately wanting this as a kid and then HATING it the moment I received it. Now that I’m writing about it … I kinda want it again.
4. Mamma Mia – Ever wanted to run your own restaurant? Here’s your chance! In Mamma Mia players pool pizza ingredients and then try to fill pizza orders. While the rules take a round or two to really get, once everyone is on board the pace picks up and things get more fun. It reminds me a little bit of the card game Go Fish mixed with Food Network’s Chopped.
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cheese Touch Game – If you haven’t read or watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid, let me explain: Remember “cooties” in elementary school? The Cheese Touch is pretty much the same thing. In this game, players move along a board answering personalized trivia, but watch out, the wrong answer will result in the dreaded Cheese Touch!
6. Chase the Cheese – This brainteaser-type game is all about fulfilling the wishes of a hungry mouse. Draw a path through a mind-bending maze to connect the mice to the cheese pieces, and you win! The problem is, as you get more mice and more cheese, you have to connect them without letting them cross paths. Squeek!
7. Cheese Louise – A cheesy sandwich-making game, but with a different twist from Slamwich. Cheese Louise features pieces of hole-y Swiss cheese that you have to stack with other sandwich fixings. The trick is to make sure that no condiments show through holes in the slices of Swiss. The most interesting part? The condiments include everything from peanut butter to pickles. Yum.
Know of any other cheese games that I missed? Tell us about them in the comments!
Katie Aberbach
Always hungry for a good story, editor Katie Aberbach brings an extensive journalism background to the culture team. Formerly a food writer and editor for the Washington Post Express, Katie works to ensure that culture’s print coverage is timely, accurate, and – of course – appetizing.
