''Clubhouse Games'', known in some European countries as ''42 All-Time Classics'' and in Japanese as is a compilation

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by Agenda and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

, consisting of

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

card Card or The Card may refer to: * Various types of plastic cards: **By type ***Magnetic stripe card *** Chip card *** Digital card **By function ***Payment card ****Credit card **** Debit card ****EC-card ****Identity card ****European Health Insur ...

, and

tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games. Classification according to equipment used Tabletop games c ...

s from around the world. It was released in Japan on November 3, 2005, in Europe on September 29, 2006, in North America on October 9, 2006, and in Australia on October 26, 2006. Some of the games included in the North American version are different from those included in the original Japanese version. On April 19, 2007, the North American version was released in Japan with support for the

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC) was an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop game download ...

service, as A follow up for the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

, '' Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics'' (known as ''51 Worldwide Games'' in Europe and in Japanese), was developed by

NDcube is a Japanese video game developer and a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo based in Japan with offices in Tokyo and Sapporo. The majority of the company is made up of former employees of Hudson Soft. They have also been the developers of the ...

and released worldwide on June 5, 2020.

Gameplay

''Clubhouse Games'' is a compilation of board, card, and tabletop games from around the world. The game is compatible with the Nintendo DS

Rumble Pak The is a removable device from Nintendo which provides force feedback while playing video games. Games that support the Rumble Pak cause it to vibrate in select situations, such as when firing a weapon or receiving damage, to immerse the player ...

. If the Rumble Pak is inserted, the Nintendo DS will vibrate when it is the player's turn in the game. The compilation contains three different game modes: Free Play, Stamp Mode, and Mission Mode. In Free Play mode, the player may choose any of the 42 games available to play. ''Clubhouse Games'' divides its 42 games up into eight categories. These are the categories and the titles found in each: *

Card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

Old Maid An old maid is a spinster. Old maid or Old Maid may also refer to: Games *Old maid (card game), a simple game popular around the world, existing in many variants *, a German card game (variant of ) whose name translates as 'old maid' Film * '' ...

, Spit,

I Doubt It I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

, Sevens,

Memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

Pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

Blackjack Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...

, Hearts,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Rummy Rummy is a group of matching-card games notable for similar gameplay based on matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build '' melds'' which can be either sets (three or four of a k ...

Seven Bridge 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...

, Last Card, Last Card Plus, Five Card Draw,

Texas Hold'Em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face ...

Nap A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to drowsiness during waking hours. A nap is a form of biphasic or polyphasic sl ...

, Spades, and

Contract Bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...

. *

Board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

Checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

, Chinese Checkers,

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, Dots and Boxes,

Shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, ''chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōgi'' ...

Hasami Shogi Hasami shogi (はさみ将棋 ''hasami shōgi'', "intercepting chess") is a variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game has two main variants, and all Hasami variants, unlike other shogi variants, use only one type of piece, and the winning object ...

Turncoat A turncoat is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party. In political and social history, this is distinct from being a traitor, as the ...

, Connect Five, Grid Attack,

Backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

, Field Tactics, and Ludo. * Variety games: Soda Shake,

Dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...

Koi-Koi is a popular card game in Japan played with hanafuda. The phrase "koi-koi" roughly means "come on" in Japanese which is said when the player wants to continue the round. The object of the game is to form special card combinations (or sets) calle ...

, and

Word Balloon Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a char ...

. *

Action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...

Bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

Darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

Billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions of ...

Balance Balance or balancing may refer to: Common meanings * Balance (ability) in biomechanics * Balance (accounting) * Balance or weighing scale * Balance as in equality or equilibrium Arts and entertainment Film * ''Balance'' (1983 film), a Bulgarian ...

, and

Takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...

. * Single player games:

Solitaire Solitaire is any tabletop game which one can play by oneself, usually with cards, but also with dominoes. The term "solitaire" is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout tiles, pegs or stones. These game ...

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...

, and

Mahjong Solitaire Mahjong solitaire (also known as Shanghai solitaire, electronic or computerized mahjong, solitaire mahjong or simply mahjong) is a single-player matching game that uses a set of mahjong tiles rather than cards. It is more commonly played on a ...

. Stamp Mode is a

single-player mode A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usually ...

that has three levels of difficulty. Players receive 1–3 stamps depending on how they place in the games. Several games in the "Free Play" mode are locked until the player plays them in Stamp Mode. After completing the first "easy" level of Stamp Mode, normal and hard modes are unlocked. Beating the normal mode unlocks the "stamp" section in the chat window; finishing hard mode gives the player a new color to use in the chat window and one last stamp. Mission Mode is a single-player mode that features 30 missions to accomplish. Some missions include beating the "Memory" card game under three minutes, bowling three strikes in a row, or getting 200 points in Darts. When a mission is successfully completed, another icon is unlocked. When all 30 missions have been completed, an alternative "Pop" soundtrack is unlocked.

Multiplayer

A player may send over a demo of a game by using the "gift" option. They can set the difficulty of the CPU. It is similar to the

DS Download Station Nintendo Zone was a download service and an extension of the DS Download Station. Users could access content, third-party data, and other services from a hotspot or download station. The service had demos of upcoming and currently available gam ...

demo; the receiving player may play the game as many times as they want, but once the Nintendo DS is turned off, the game is erased. ''Clubhouse Games'' supports the

service. The original Japanese version did not feature WFC support; an April 2007 release features it. Out of the 42 games, Old Maid, Spit, I Doubt It, Pig, and the three "Single Player Games" are not playable over WFC. With strangers, players may send

emoticon An emoticon (, , rarely , ), short for "emotion icon", also known simply as an emote, is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using Character (symbol), characters—usually punctuation marks, numbers, and letters—to express a ...

s and pre-selected messages (such as "Good game!" and "Aaack!"). Like all other WFC-compatible games, it uses a friends list and friend code system. Against friends, players can draw out messages. ''Clubhouse Games'' also supports Single-Card and Multi-Card Download Play for up to eight players.

Development

''Clubhouse Games'' was developed by Agenda. The 42 games included in ''Daredemo Asobi Taizen'' are similar to the games included in ''Clubhouse Games'', but there are some differences. The original Japanese version lacked the

service of the North American version, and the aesthetics of many games have been changed across regions. The games Goninkan, Bozu Mekuri, Sugoroku, Seesaw Game, Last One, Mini Golf, and Napoleon (a Japanese card game unrelated to the British card game Nap) are exclusive to ''Daredemo Asobi Taizen''; Texas Hold'Em, Dots and Boxes, Grid Attack, Ludo, Dominoes, Escape, and Mahjong Solitaire are exclusive to the international versions.

Reception

The game received generally positive reviews from outlets, with many reviewers praising the game for its diverse selection, simple interface, and tweakable and easily accessible rules. The portable "pick-up-and-play" mentality was also praised. Some of the more popular games in the collection included Solitaire and Mahjong Solitaire. Much of the game's criticism comes from the limitations on card games. Both ''GameSpot'' and ''GameSpy'' complained that

allowed players to bet in negative chip totals and did not offer no-limit playing.Provo, Frank
Clubhouse Games for DS Review
GameSpot. October 13, 2006. Also noted was that the Blackjack options to "split" cards and buy insurance were not in this series. Stamp Mode was greeted more warily. ''IGN'' noted that having to unlock some games through Stamp Mode went against the "pick-up-and-play" mentality of the compilation, while ''GameSpy'' went further in calling it a "cheap way" to get players to play every game. ''Clubhouse Games'' was the runner-up for ''IGNs best offline multiplayer game for the

, losing only to '' Bomberman Land Touch!'', and a nominee for ''GameSpot''s Nintendo DS Game of the Year for 2006.

Sales

''Clubhouse Games'' (as ''42 All-Time Classics'') received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the

Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...

(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

DSi releases

Several games from ''Clubhouse Games'' have been re-released in five-game compilations for the

Nintendo DSi The is a dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1, 2008, and worldwide beginning in April 2009. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony In ...

through the

DSiWare This is a list of games and applications, collectively known as DSiWare, for the Nintendo DSi handheld game console, available for download via the DSi Shop and unplayable on earlier DS models. An update released for the Nintendo 3DS in June 2011 ...

download service. The DSi series is titled in Japan, ''A Little Bit Of... All Time Classics'' in Europe, and ''Clubhouse Games Express'' in American English. All of the versions came out with the alternative Pop soundtrack, all player icons, and the stamps and golden color for the chat mode pre-unlocked; only the game designs still have to be unlocked. * consists of Old Maid, Spit, Sevens, Memory, and I Doubt It. It was released in Japan on December 24, 2008. In American English it is known as ''Clubhouse Games Express: Family Favorites'' which includes Hearts, Contract Bridge, Dominoes, Ludo, and Dots and Boxes. It was released on September 7, 2009 and in Europe on November 6, 2009 as ''A Little Bit of... All Time Classics: Family Games.'' * ''Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics'' ( in Japanese) consists of Blackjack, Five Card Draw, Last Card, Last Card Plus, and President. It was released in Japan on January 28, 2009, in North America on April 27, 2009 and in Europe on October 30, 2009 as ''A Little Bit of... All Time Classics: Card Classics''. It came pre-installed with every DSi XL system in Oceania. * consists of Turncoat, Hasami Shogi, Connect Five, Shogi, and Koi-Koi. It was released in Japan on February 25, 2009. In American English it is known as ''Clubhouse Games Express: Strategy Pack'' which includes Backgammon, Field Tactics, Turncoat, Connect Five, and Grid Attack. It was released on September 21, 2009 and in Europe on November 20, 2009 as ''A Little Bit of... All Time Classics: Strategy Pack''.

Notes

References

External links

Clubhouse Games Wi-Fi hubClubhouse Games Nintendo site
{{Touch! Generations 2005 video games Digital card games Cue sports video games DSiWare games Party video games Multiplayer online games Nintendo DS games Nintendo DS-only games Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection games Shogi video games Tile-based video games Touch! Generations Multiple-game video board games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in Japan Nintendo franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2005