I only find MP5's boards boring in comparison to 6 & 7. To focus on the new capsule system Nintendo/Hudson sorta left events outta the boards themselves. This does make them less individual activity-wise but once a few capsules are chucked far more will occur than in any of the previous 4 games. 6 & 7 certainly trump it with the boards having lotsa their own quirks on top of the orbs (which also vary from board to board).
A couple of rather dull events- the rocket rides and rocket-go-round in the Future Dream. They're snooze-inducing for whoever is using them, let alone everyone else (the Manta in Underwater Dream is also snail-paced).
I'd say MP5 has both the best and worst library of mini-games. Like someone said above, the 4-player category is wicked with 'Chomp Romp', 'Coney Island', 'Dinger Derby', 'Hotel Goomba', 'Hydrostars', 'Leaf Leap' and 'Pushy Penguins' all candidates for my all-time top 10 (and 'PP' is probably my number 1... silly pun, yeah). On the other hand mosta the Duel mini-games are rotten- either too short, too luck-based or too button-bashy.
