My favorite quirky board game concept is an old cheapass game called Patent One

the players play the role of different inventors throughout history, who all just invented time machines

and you're all racing through time to reach the day the US Patent Office opened

so that you can get the first patent

fun fact

that would be in 1836

before that, patents were un-numbered

but in 1835 most of the old ones were destroyed in a fire and they decided to start a new system of record-keeping

It was me

I started the fire

Because fuck Thomas edison he doesn't get the Time Machine patent