I have been taking part in a game design course, creating simple board games that are, all things told, quite fun. I created a little game based on the classic Atari game Frogger (this particular assignment called for participants to be inspired by an old Atari 2600 game). I reckon it hits the spirit of the game quite well – expect to see it just as soon as it has been play tested a little more. Anyway, it got me thinking about other simple, cheap games that you can just download and play as you like – a concept called “print and play”. While there are lots of games you can buy, there are also heaps and heaps that you can get for nothing. I have been having great fun reading through and playing all kinds of games – solitaire and otherwise – in a variety of genres, some of which I might not normally play.
Do yourself a favour and google “print and play” board games. Also check out Board Game Geek.