Author Topic: What board game for a gift?  (Read 8258 times)

Captain FIRE

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What board game for a gift?
« on: December 11, 2017, 04:32:24 PM »
Looking to get my brother a board game for Christmas. 

Particular favorites he has already:
Smash Up Original
Firefly: The Game
Takenoko
King of Tokyo
Potion Explosion

Other games he has (plus expansions of many of these):
Apples to Apples
Boss Monster 2: The Next Level
Brew Crafters: The Travel Card Game
Brew-opoly
Bring Out Yer Dead
Buffalo
Canasta Caliente
CLUE: The Big Bang Theory
CLUE: Supernatural
DICEcapades
Exploding Kittens
Firefly: The Game
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Trivia Game
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Hero’s Quest
Myst
Pretending to Grownup
Rummikub
Run for your Life, Candyman!
Scrabble
Star Wars: The Card Game
Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game
Stratego
Superfight
Supernatural Save Your Souls Card Game
Tangoes
Ticket to Ride
Travel Buff
Warehouse 13

Based on these games, what do you think he'd like?

ixtap

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2017, 04:43:49 PM »
Tsuro (simple, but fun, strategy game)
Catan (resource game)
Agricola (resource game with complicated set up)
Pandemic (cooperative strategy)
Forbidden Island (cooperative card strategy)
Fluxx (card game, it is the end goal that is in flux)
Ticket to Ride has several versions: US, Europe, India...
Ingenious (strategy)

nickybecky1

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2017, 04:48:15 PM »
My BIL loves King of Tokyo, Hogwarts Battle, and Ticket to ride. He also really likes Sushi Go Party, which is a fun one for me to play with him as well.

And +1 to pandemic suggestion.

Meesh

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2017, 04:54:38 PM »
Try Splendor or Survive: Escape from Atlantis

They are awesome and go well with his collection, I think. Survive is very take that similar to King of Tokyo or Smash Up, Splendor similar to Takenoko or Potion Explosion I believe (haven't actually played these myself though).

If he likes bluffing try Coup or for a big party game maybe The Resistance: Avalon (more bluffing)

I don't see any co-op games but a great one is Pandemic for something a bit different.

albireo13

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2017, 05:05:42 PM »
Scrabble

ixtap

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2017, 05:33:52 PM »
Forget all the good suggestions above. Please buy him Hanabi and let us know how the heck you can possibly win this game! We think we might be playing too conservatively.

seattlecyclone

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2017, 05:42:03 PM »
Forget all the good suggestions above. Please buy him Hanabi and let us know how the heck you can possibly win this game! We think we might be playing too conservatively.

The trick is to come up with an agreed-upon understanding of how you're going to play before you play. For example, you might decide that each player should assume that their left-most card is discardable unless someone warns them otherwise by giving them some information about that card.

ixtap

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2017, 05:55:21 PM »
Forget all the good suggestions above. Please buy him Hanabi and let us know how the heck you can possibly win this game! We think we might be playing too conservatively.

The trick is to come up with an agreed-upon understanding of how you're going to play before you play. For example, you might decide that each player should assume that their left-most card is discardable unless someone warns them otherwise by giving them some information about that card.

So simple, so brilliant.

Meesh

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2017, 06:59:01 PM »
Forget all the good suggestions above. Please buy him Hanabi and let us know how the heck you can possibly win this game! We think we might be playing too conservatively.

Yes! Inquiring minds want to know; we have yet to win either. lol Great game though, even if we loose every. single. time.

Meesh

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2017, 07:01:06 PM »
Forget all the good suggestions above. Please buy him Hanabi and let us know how the heck you can possibly win this game! We think we might be playing too conservatively.

The trick is to come up with an agreed-upon understanding of how you're going to play before you play. For example, you might decide that each player should assume that their left-most card is discardable unless someone warns them otherwise by giving them some information about that card.

I tried something like that but hubs said it was cheating :( boo on him.

Veidon

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2017, 09:08:01 PM »
Long time lurker, first time poster - because boardgames :-D

I second Survive: Escape from Atlantis as a really fun light game, though if your brother enjoys Exploding Kittens then Fluxx might be a good option - there's even Firefly Fluxx!

Other recommendations:
Sheriff of Nottingham - a really great interactive bluffing game that usually includes a lot of banter. You score points by selling legal goods in Nottingham, or possibly by smuggling in contraband... if you can get it past the Sheriff, that is.

Batman Love Letter - my favourite of all the Love Letters. For one thing it has bat tokens, and for another we always do the deep voiced "I am Batman!" thing whenever we play the batman card and guess correctly. Who doesn't love that.

Clank! - a deck-building boardgame involving treasure-stealing and dragon attacks. It also has some push your luck and take that elements to it. If you pick this one up, I highly recommend playing with the companion app that adds in just a little more randomness to each game. There's also an expansion for it called Sunken Treasures.

Deep Sea Adventure - a small push your luck game where players are divers who have to go down and bring back treasure to the submarine. The trouble is, as soon as a player picks up a treasure, they start to use up the oxygen supply and, if it runs out while you're still in the water, you die and lose all your own treasure... so do you roll the die just once more to go that little bit deeper and maybe pick up a higher value treasure, or do you turn around and start booking it for submarine while you can...

River Dragons - such a cute light programming game where you're trying to get your villager across the water and to their home village. And before the "cute" puts you off, I've played this with quite a few guys who have really enjoyed it. You can steal other player's planks, you can make them jump in the water, you can block a player from playing one of their cards.. it's cute but can get kinda nasty.

Also, if your brother likes Terry Pratchett books, then Discworld: Ankh-Morpork is a good area control game.

Also also, an expansion for Potion Explosion (The Fifth Ingredient) has been released if your brother doesn't own it already.

seattlecyclone

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #11 on: December 11, 2017, 09:10:11 PM »
Forget all the good suggestions above. Please buy him Hanabi and let us know how the heck you can possibly win this game! We think we might be playing too conservatively.

The trick is to come up with an agreed-upon understanding of how you're going to play before you play. For example, you might decide that each player should assume that their left-most card is discardable unless someone warns them otherwise by giving them some information about that card.

I tried something like that but hubs said it was cheating :( boo on him.

It's not cheating, it's strategy. The game is designed to force you to use limited amounts of information in the most effective way possible. You need to read between the lines with the hints given. It's not enough to know that a certain card of yours is red; you need to understand that your teammates told you that this card was red for a reason, instead of all the other things they could have told you. Gleaning more from the hints than face value is literally the only way to win. How exactly you do that is up to you. It works much better if you agree on the protocol behind the subtext before the game starts so that you're all on the same page.

Contract bridge uses a similar element with the bidding conventions. An opening bid of 2♣ does not necessarily mean that you like clubs; it's a signal that you have a strong hand, and starts a coded conversation with your partner about just how good it is.

FIREby35

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #12 on: December 12, 2017, 06:55:26 AM »
I love all the game recommendations!

One of my favorites that I did not see mentioned is: Tikal.

Great game that get's chosen over Catan, Camel Up, Atlantis, Munchkin, Ticket to Ride and others on a regular basis.


formerlydivorcedmom

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #13 on: December 12, 2017, 07:16:20 AM »
Our friends who love Ticket to Ride also love Carcassonne.  It's a great game for 2-5 people.

If you want a party game, perhaps 5 Second Rule or Cards of Humanity.

Captain FIRE

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #14 on: December 12, 2017, 07:18:42 AM »
So many great ideas.

Let's see, to respond to a few: The inlaws are getting him the Potions expansion.  He has Scrabble already (and it seems more mundane than I feel his tastes run to.  Just like Rummikub was one of his first games he owned, but I don't think he plays it as much anymore.)  My nephew has Forbidden Island and 5 second rule.  We have Cards against Humanity.

He's played Catan and Sushi Go before and never expressed an interest in getting them (I actually had thought he had them but looked at the list and no), so I think I'll pass on those.  It's possible good friends have them and he plays their games.  He didn't like Carcassonne.

I'm now leaning towards:
Splendor
Survive: Escape from Atlantis
Firefly Fluxx
Sheriff of Nottingham
Hanabi
Pandemic

which is way too many choices, ahh!
I suppose I can narrow it down by which are possible to play by 2 people.  They seem to equally enjoy short games and long games that are complicated to set up.

Meesh

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #15 on: December 12, 2017, 08:30:00 AM »
So many great ideas.

Let's see, to respond to a few: The inlaws are getting him the Potions expansion.  He has Scrabble already (and it seems more mundane than I feel his tastes run to.  Just like Rummikub was one of his first games he owned, but I don't think he plays it as much anymore.)  My nephew has Forbidden Island and 5 second rule.  We have Cards against Humanity.

He's played Catan and Sushi Go before and never expressed an interest in getting them (I actually had thought he had them but looked at the list and no), so I think I'll pass on those.  It's possible good friends have them and he plays their games.  He didn't like Carcassonne.

I'm now leaning towards:
Splendor
Survive: Escape from Atlantis
Firefly Fluxx
Sheriff of Nottingham
Hanabi
Pandemic

which is way too many choices, ahh!
I suppose I can narrow it down by which are possible to play by 2 people.  They seem to equally enjoy short games and long games that are complicated to set up.
I think those are all pretty good options but if you want for 2 people, I'd say scratch out Sheriff of Nottingham it's for 3+, Splendor is the best for 2 on the list and some love Hanabi at 2 (myself included) but it's crazy hard at that number. Pandemic and Survive can be played with 2 but work better with more I think. I haven't played Fluxx in years so I don't really remember that one...

JJ-

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #16 on: December 12, 2017, 08:41:06 AM »
My recent favorite has been Betrayal at House on the Hill.

You and friends explore a haunted house (turn over cards as you wander around) and go through events, when suddenly BOOM somebody is cursed and turned into a werewolf. The rest of you try to defeat the cursed one and escape before he eats all of you, for example.

 There are several curse scenarios and it's pretty rare to ever have the same one. It's easy to pick up on the first try, and once you get the hang of moving through the game they can run from 45 minutes to 1h30 with 4.

nickybecky1

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #17 on: December 12, 2017, 08:49:09 AM »
My recent favorite has been Betrayal at House on the Hill.

You and friends explore a haunted house (turn over cards as you wander around) and go through events, when suddenly BOOM somebody is cursed and turned into a werewolf. The rest of you try to defeat the cursed one and escape before he eats all of you, for example.

 There are several curse scenarios and it's pretty rare to ever have the same one. It's easy to pick up on the first try, and once you get the hang of moving through the game they can run from 45 minutes to 1h30 with 4.

But this one doesn't work with 2 players I don't think. I do agree, my sister and BIL have a similar game stash and love Betrayal.

We play pandemic frequently as two players, though it's definitely more challenging with 4. If they have a regular group of people they game with, Pandemic Legacy is AMAZING but you pretty much need to be able to play with the same 4 people each time. On the other hand, we play Hogwarts battle with 2 people and just play as all 4 characters, since it's cooperative, you could do the same with Pandemic.

SimpleCycle

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #18 on: December 12, 2017, 09:04:03 AM »
Pandemic is great, but better with more players.

My favorite 2+ player game is Dominion, which is a card game.  DW and I play it just the two of us, or it can be played in a group.

We also like Blokus, but it seems like it might be out of print.

Captain FIRE

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #19 on: December 12, 2017, 09:53:26 AM »
My mom has blokus and my sister in law didn't like it.  Got pretty irritated and grumpy actually.

They've played toyoko as 2 players (each taking an extra character), so I know they are amenable to creative workarounds to play together when it's just them.  Not sure if they have regular enough friends that game together to do Pandemic Legacy.

NextTime

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #20 on: December 12, 2017, 10:08:58 AM »
I picked up quite a few new games in the last month during the BF and Cyber Monday sales:

Sheriff of Nottingham - great game I've played before at a friends game night.
Smash Up - Haven't played yet.
Betrayal at House on the Hill - Coop game (haven't played yet)
Crowded Waters - Interesting strategy game where you try to cut off the other players to where they can no longer move.
Evolution - the Beginning - Bought for the 6 year-old but probably too complicated for him. Very fun game.
Pling Pong - Similar to beer pong. Actually very fun party game that can be played with kids, or turned into a version of the aforementioned beer pong.
Ultimate Werewolf Deluxe - Another great, very quick, party game that can be played with up to 75 players
KingDomino - Christmas gift for the kid. Haven't played yet but looks similar to Catan.




Some games I've played that I really enjoyed but never see mentioned in these types of threads:

Revolution
https://www.amazon.com/SJG-1902SJG-Revolution/dp/1556347936/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1513098196&sr=1-2&keywords=revolution+game

Francis Drake
https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Games-101411N-Francis-Drake/dp/B00F2LS9QY/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1513098277&sr=1-1&keywords=francis+drake+board+game

Scoville
https://www.amazon.com/Tasty-Minstrel-Games-1012TTT-Scoville/dp/1938146700/ref=sr_1_7?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1513098451&sr=1-7&keywords=pepper+game

seattlecyclone

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #21 on: December 12, 2017, 10:47:27 AM »
My favorite 2+ player game is Dominion, which is a card game.  DW and I play it just the two of us, or it can be played in a group.

I'll second this recommendation. Dominion is great with two people, and works well with up to four players.

Another nice card game that works well with two players is Race for the Galaxy. It's a bit higher up on the complicated scale though.

Erinbynight

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #22 on: December 12, 2017, 09:54:39 PM »
Castle Panic!!! Its the best!

ixtap

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #23 on: December 12, 2017, 09:58:31 PM »
Castle Panic!!! Its the best!

This is a good one!

soccerluvof4

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #24 on: December 13, 2017, 03:32:24 AM »
I'm 53 and have never heard of ANY of those games ! versions yes.  So Clue, Monopoly or Risk would be my suggestions! haha

AMandM

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #25 on: December 13, 2017, 08:36:30 AM »
Quite different from all these strategy games, but one I love, is The A-Maze-ing Labyrinth.  It's a cheesy name, but a nifty game.  Your goal is to move through a labyrinth to collect treasures, but the board is constructed partly out of fixed tiles and partly out of sliding tiles that get pushed on each turn, so the labyrinth is different each time your turn comes round.  The planning is all visual/spatial.

jamesbond007

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #26 on: December 13, 2017, 01:47:11 PM »
Can't go wrong with Agricola. People say Catan this, Catan that but it's just dice roll. A vast majority of the game depends on luck. I find Catan boring for the same reason. YMMV.

Slow2FIRE

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #27 on: December 13, 2017, 05:53:28 PM »
Does your brother like worker assignment games?  Based on your brother enjoying Smash Up and King of Tokyo I would lean towards Champions of Midgard for a worker assignment game (but others like Stone Age can be very fun).

What about deck builders?  Thunderstone is a fun game -> if the theme is not desired Dominion is similar but without the monsters/dungeons/magic theme.

Munchkin or Killer Bunnies can both be fun games along the lines of the silliness of Smash Up.

My personal favorites:  Talisman (kind of a long game, but if you ever played Dungeons & Dragons it would be an enjoyable game), Suburbicon (city building strategy game), Lords of Waterdeep (worker assignment game themed on Dungeons & Dragons, but the theme is really unimportant to the game play), Carcassone, Fluxx, Sushi Go, Smash Up.

My wife really likes:  Talisman, Lords of Waterdeep, Machikoro (a city builder / card collector game), and Above and Below (something of a worker assignment with a "choose your own adventure" dungeon delving component).

Blazin

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #28 on: December 13, 2017, 06:29:23 PM »
Kahuna and Bohnanza are also some of our favorites.   

Mrs Hen

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #29 on: December 14, 2017, 01:59:32 PM »
For 2 people, Mr Hen and I love Lost Cities, Babel and Hive.  Jaipur is also good.

I'm UK based so these may go by different names in the US (or not be available).

Looking for one extra gift for hubby, so off to check out Dominion.

RidetheRain

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #30 on: December 14, 2017, 02:03:37 PM »
I enjoyed Web of Spies for two people. I've never played it with more people though so I don't know how it scales up.

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #31 on: December 15, 2017, 06:23:33 AM »
Not sure if they have regular enough friends that game together to do Pandemic Legacy.

We play Pandemic and Legacy with two people, each controlling two characters. It works well. I know two separate Legacy groups that haven't completed Season 1 because of the hassle of getting everyone together (one was complicated by a divorce - the pre-nup didn't specify who got custody of the gaming group - ouch!).

Another rule variant: Epidemic cards stay in your hand and erode your hand limit.

Dezrah

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #32 on: December 15, 2017, 07:43:36 AM »
Shout out to Vegas Showdown.  I almost never see it on these lists of favorite games even though it's awesome.  We bought this after a game store owner recommended it, and they know what the good stuff when they play it.

https://www.amazon.com/Avalon-Hill-A19220000-Vegas-Showdown/dp/B009CGAVFM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513348636&sr=8-1&keywords=vegas+showdown

Don't be fooled.  This has nothing to do with casino games.  It's all about strategically spending your money and building your hotel-casino while your opponents are doing them same.  Just enough variance in cards that every game will play out differently.

ToolateforER

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #33 on: December 15, 2017, 01:22:22 PM »
2nd to Dominion
For more than 2, Skulls is an easy & fun bluffing
Exploding kittens is hilarious
Flux is and awesome card game

FIREby35

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #34 on: December 17, 2017, 07:33:46 AM »
Castle Panic!!! Its the best!

This is a good one!

I just played Castle Panic for the first time last night, awesome game!

jc4

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #35 on: December 18, 2017, 01:51:43 PM »
Forget all the good suggestions above. Please buy him Hanabi and let us know how the heck you can possibly win this game! We think we might be playing too conservatively.

The trick is to come up with an agreed-upon understanding of how you're going to play before you play. For example, you might decide that each player should assume that their left-most card is discardable unless someone warns them otherwise by giving them some information about that card.

I tried something like that but hubs said it was cheating :( boo on him.

It's not cheating, it's strategy. The game is designed to force you to use limited amounts of information in the most effective way possible. You need to read between the lines with the hints given. It's not enough to know that a certain card of yours is red; you need to understand that your teammates told you that this card was red for a reason, instead of all the other things they could have told you. Gleaning more from the hints than face value is literally the only way to win. How exactly you do that is up to you. It works much better if you agree on the protocol behind the subtext before the game starts so that you're all on the same page.

Contract bridge uses a similar element with the bidding conventions. An opening bid of 2♣ does not necessarily mean that you like clubs; it's a signal that you have a strong hand, and starts a coded conversation with your partner about just how good it is.

I agree that this is cheating. It seems to be clearly outside the intended bounds of the game.

Shropskr

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #36 on: December 18, 2017, 04:22:35 PM »
castle panic  co operative you protect the castle from the orcs
rampage  a physical game.  you build a town.  you are a monster(like godzilla).  you destroy the town and eat the meeple.  :)  He who eats the most meeple wins.

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #37 on: December 19, 2017, 12:00:24 AM »
I agree that this is cheating. It seems to be clearly outside the intended bounds of the game.

The rules (my edition at least) specifically encourage using house rules to make the game more fun and rearranging cards that you have information about. They also specify that the lack of communication is communication.

Anon in Alaska

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #38 on: December 19, 2017, 04:45:59 AM »
Does it have to be a "board" game? Card games can be cheaper (as long as you avoid collectible ones).

One of my favorites is "Guillotine". It's the French Revolution and the players are rival guillotine operators competing to cut off the most prestigious heads by manipulating the order of the line. 2-6 players, about half an hour. MSRP 14.99. $10.00 on Amazon.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/116/guillotine

Also, check our boardgamegeek.com for their ratings of, and very complete treatments of tens of thousands of games.


partgypsy

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #39 on: December 19, 2017, 09:20:59 AM »
Hey all. What game would you suggest, for adult, a kid who is 15 high Iq, and a 11 year old with low reading ability so an emphasis on a game that does not require a lot of reading/high strategy?
We all play together labyrinth, enchanted forest, clue, and things like connect 4, jenga, and videogames. 

jamesbond007

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #40 on: December 19, 2017, 03:01:56 PM »
Hey all. What game would you suggest, for adult, a kid who is 15 high Iq, and a 11 year old with low reading ability so an emphasis on a game that does not require a lot of reading/high strategy?
We all play together labyrinth, enchanted forest, clue, and things like connect 4, jenga, and videogames. 

Catan would be ideal. Try Pandemic (Not the legacy) it is good too and fits your purpose. Forbidden Desert. The latter two also help building teamwork thereby providing opportunity to lift the spirits of the 11yo, if that's what you want out of it.

partgypsy

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #41 on: December 20, 2017, 05:04:17 PM »
We have pandemic and played it, but the youngest didn't care  for it. Oldest plays it with her friends (that and exploding kittens) Someone gave us forbidden island? But we lost pieces before we played a single game. Maybe I should revisit it. I also 2nd labyrinth as a fun game kids of many ages can play. My youngest often beats me.

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #42 on: December 21, 2017, 12:39:43 AM »
Most of the pieces aren't actually needed for Forbidden Island. You need player tokens, but can use appropriately coloured buttons or pieces of modelling clay. The treasures are nice, but you only really need a way to track which ones you have salvaged.

Could either child make or draw treasure tokens?

Flash Point is another good co-op game. It is maybe more strategy than your youngest would like, but you are working together. There is a Fire Captain role who can partially direct the other firefighters and drive the strategy - your oldest could take this role to support the youngest. There is very little reading but a lot of different mechanics and symbols to recognise - it's easy to customise the rules by taking elements in or out of the game.

They played it on TableTop - you could check that out before buying.

AMandM

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #43 on: December 21, 2017, 08:01:49 AM »
Hey all. What game would you suggest, for adult, a kid who is 15 high Iq, and a 11 year old with low reading ability so an emphasis on a game that does not require a lot of reading/high strategy?
We all play together labyrinth, enchanted forest, clue, and things like connect 4, jenga, and videogames.

Set.

It's a card game, not a board game, but requires no reading at all because the content is entirely visual/graphic.  The goal is to find three cards that are either all similar or all different on four characteristics: shape, number, colour, and texture. Once a kid is old enough to understand the principle, being older isn't an advantage.

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #44 on: December 21, 2017, 08:16:57 AM »
Hey all. What game would you suggest, for adult, a kid who is 15 high Iq, and a 11 year old with low reading ability so an emphasis on a game that does not require a lot of reading/high strategy?
We all play together labyrinth, enchanted forest, clue, and things like connect 4, jenga, and videogames.

Monopoly Empire? Quick version of the old game. Some sort of betting game, like Liar`s Dice.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2017, 11:17:08 AM by Canadian Ben »

SimpleCycle

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Re: What board game for a gift?
« Reply #45 on: December 21, 2017, 09:50:52 AM »
Hey all. What game would you suggest, for adult, a kid who is 15 high Iq, and a 11 year old with low reading ability so an emphasis on a game that does not require a lot of reading/high strategy?
We all play together labyrinth, enchanted forest, clue, and things like connect 4, jenga, and videogames.

Set.

It's a card game, not a board game, but requires no reading at all because the content is entirely visual/graphic.  The goal is to find three cards that are either all similar or all different on four characteristics: shape, number, colour, and texture. Once a kid is old enough to understand the principle, being older isn't an advantage.

Set is a fabulous game - my mom uses it with her 6th graders and what she loves is that it meets the child where they are.  People of different levels of sophistication can all play together.