Board Games - what are you playing?

[Jenny Wren]

Haven't yet but about to play Dark Tower.  My buddy snagged it from his parents' house recently and it still functions perfectly.  Not bad for a 40 year old game with electronic parts!

My partner still has her childhood copy, and the tower still works perfectly. It was our kids' favorite board game growing up. It's being reissued/reimagined: Return to Dark Tower comes out in July https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Dark_Tower

We've been playing Backgammon, Evolution (Kid's current fave), and Compounded. Compounded is a bit complicated, still figuring it out.

[BlueMR2]

After having gone years without having picked up any new games (in fact, thinning my collection by giving away some old ones), we picked up a few during the pandemic...  Constellations, Xtronaut 2.0, Downlink, and most recently Apollo.  I think I might be done for awhile though.  While they are fun, I'm remembering why I was thinning out the herd before...  Really don't have a group of people to play games with regularly and just 2 people isn't exactly the most fun way to play these.

[lazycow]

Had a games night with my Women's group. There were 11 of us and we all played Articulate (in 3 groups). It was great fun - lots of laughing and teasing -  and took around 90 minutes. Most of the group are not regular board game players, so this was a perfect introduction for them.

[talltexan]

This is how I feel about Risk (which i also enjoy) - typically there's about 10-15 minutes of gameplay when any player could win.  Then there's this slow decline as one player gains an unsurmountable advantage† and each turn s/he slowly gobbles up the rest of the board.  The final 5-10 minutes (or longer if the winning player is a jerk like my brother) is just a futile exercise in stopping an opponent with a comically large advantage each turn.

†usually the tipping point comes one or two turns after a player secures (and holds!) a continent... usually Australia or S.America.  At which point the added armies and easily defensible position become too much for the other players to overcome.

I've been playing a lot of five player Risk lately and I don't see this pattern. In specific, I usually see two or so players break into all out war resulting in Pyrrhic victory for one and outright loss for the other. So my strategy is to try to not be one of those two players so I have a shot at the end game.

Interesting.  I don't think I've ever played 5-player Risk before.  Most of the time it's 3 or 2 player games.... maybe I need more friends?

I actually think it's really smart to take a big chance early: if it pays off, you're clearly the front-runner (and can enjoy all the advantages of being the tall stack on the board). If it doesn't, then you thank everyone, and excuse yourself for the night while the other players get ground into misery.

[neo von retorch]

Terraforming Mars is one of the best designed modern board games, in my opinion. On your first introduction, it can be overwhelming, and there’s likely a bit too much to learn for some. But I think the goals and points awarded are very well suited to the theme, and the overall framework and mechanics are not that complex. They just designed them solidly, and layered on good ways to use those mechanics. Our neighbor friends managed to learn the game solidly on their first play, and so did one of my nephews. Heck I think he had the game down by his second turn! My sister wasn’t sure about it on her first play, but she won her second game solidly! (Much to my dismay ;-P)

The two expansions our friend gifted us add zero complexity “in the moment” - that is while taking each turn. The maps just add some variety to the tile placement, and mix up some awards/milestones you can work towards. The Prelude expansion again adds variety, with some new starting corporations and projects, and a bonus step in the beginning that kick starts your “corporation”, which actually often helps newer players pick a direction to head off on.  (There's a third expansion that adds a Venus board, which does add a little more variety and some new goals, but the Venus/cloud mechanics are really just another skin on the existing mechanics! I know much less about the Colonies expansion.)

I’m sure the game isn’t for everyone, but a lot of people have at least a mild fascination with something like life on Mars, and the “science” that the project cards includes isn’t something you have to really be interested in to enjoy the game play. I actually sleeved the cards for the first time ever, and ordered upgraded player mats, as you do have to “track” a few things, and the default player mats are just flat cardboard that your tracking cubes can slide around on. These upgrades hold the cubes where you place them, and also make it easier to count above 20 for people like my sister and spouse that find ways for their corporations to have really high incomes :-D

Anyway, I recommend the game, but just know there’s an initially steep learning curve, but once you get past it, everything else follows pretty readily.

[BuffaloStache]

Good to know about Terraforming Mars! I'll have to try it sometime.

I know this is an old standby, but I finally got around to playing Ticket to Ride as I received it as a gift recently. I'm really enjoying it, and have played with 2, 3, and 4 players and not noticed any real downgrade in gameplay. My partner loves it because each round is fairly quick.

[ender]

I don't think I'd ever recommend Terraforming Mars without Prelude at this point, to be honest.

[Lews Therin]

King of tokyo, 3-4 players is always excellent.

[neo von retorch]

I don't think I'd ever recommend Terraforming Mars without Prelude at this point, to be honest.

You're probably right. I haven't played without it in probably at least a year, and my memories from before are still fond. I don't mind the game taking a while. It gives your engine a chance to fill out, and gives the players a reason to start really populating the planet with tiles.

But Prelude does give everyone a bit of a kick start and a focus to get their engine moving.

We also really prefer the drafting variant of the Research Phase. Like the Beginner Corporations, the static 4 cards ease decision-making for inexperienced players, but take away from meaningful, strategic decisions for players that understand the mechanics and want to make the most of them.

[talltexan]

Our family has built a network of people who like the "exit" escape room games. Some of the puzzles are too hard, but some of them are about right for our 6-year and 9-year children.

[Jenny Wren]

Thrift store score today: Pandemic Legacy season 1, never opened, for $8. Also picked up a Star Trek Fluxx deck for $0.99, instructions missing but all cards present. Happy to add these into our board game rotation. We already love Fluxx and have a couple of other decks, and I've been wanting to get Pandemic since playing it with friends. The Legacy games can be played as one time play through 12-24 game saga or you can play it like original Pandemic, so I'm stoked to find it at 10% of the going retail price!

[neo von retorch]

Thrift store score today: Pandemic Legacy season 1, never opened, for $8.

Yeah that's incredible. We waited until it hit $30 but you still blew past us in Victory (Frugality) Points!

[talltexan]

My parents are visiting, and we're playing Bananagrams a lot. It's so great for forcing you to zone out on all other thoughts, playing it requires complete and constant thought about the game.

[nereo]

[nereo]

Two new (to us) ones:

Happy Salmon.  Produced by the same folk as “Exploding Kittens”.  It’s a mindless and fun party game with a deck of cards, and works surprisingly well with our 3 year old.  The basic idea is that you flip over your card and try to ‘match’ with someone who has the same card as quickly as possible.   Games go by very quickly (in about 10 minutes). Not much in the way of strategy nor skill (as in: almost zero).  It’s a lot of yelling / physical interaction, if that’s what you are looking for.  Definitely not a Covid-friendly game

Above and Below.  I really want to like this game but it’s way more complicated to learn than expected. I think it builds on the D&D style of play where you move, take an action (e.g. run away, fight) and then roll a die to see what happens by reading the outcomes in a ‘dungeon master-type outcome book’. Definitely layers of strategy, and the artwork is cool too.  If you grew up playing D&D I think this is a more natural fit, but it’s not a fast learn and it takes even longer to recognize what are good and bad strategies. Good replay-ability though and the artwork is fantastic.


Edit: fixed typo

[zolotiyeruki]

I was introduced to a new game over the weekend: Survive: Escape from Atlantis.  If you've played "Forbidden Island", there are a lot of similarities, but it's competitive rather than cooperative.  The goal is to move your pawns to neighboring islands (either swimming or boating) while avoiding the sea monsters, and each player's turn includes moving their own pawns as well as one of the sea monsters. 

It's a solid game--the rules and mechanics are simple enough that it's quick to pick up, but there's a fair amount of depth available as well.

[Nick_Miller]

Two new (to use) ones:

Happy Salmon.  Produced by the same folk as “Exploding Kittens”.  It’s a mindless and fun party game with a deck of cards, and works surprisingly well with our 3 year old.  The basic idea is that you flip over your card and try to ‘match’ with someone who has the same card as quickly as possible.   Games go by very quickly (in about 10 minutes). Not much in the way of strategy nor skill (as in: almost zero).  It’s a lot of yelling / physical interaction, if that’s what you are looking for.  Definitely not a Covid-friendly game

Above and Below.  I really want to like this game but it’s way more complicated to learn than expected. I think it builds on the D&D style of play where you move, take an action (e.g. run away, fight) and then roll a die to see what happens by reading the outcomes in a ‘dungeon master-type outcome book’. Definitely layers of strategy, and the artwork is cool too.  If you grew up playing D&D I think this is a more natural fit, but it’s not a fast learn and it takes even longer to recognize what are good and bad strategies. Good replay-ability though and the artwork is fantastic.

I hope you give Above and Below another chance! It's a wonderful game that allows for so many strategies! My family has played it about 4 or 5 times and we're still learning. Near and Far is a similar game (same publisher) and we adore them both.

And we FINALLY tackled Catan this past weekend and geez compared to other games we play (see above), it's super easy to learn, although the varying strategies are still there. My wife got off to a slow start, but she focused on gathering knights and coupled with a couple of city upgrades, she trounced us. I shall have my revenge.

[tygertygertyger]

Same on Above and Below! We love that one here. We also have Near and Far, which is good, but I prefer Above and Below.

We are continuing to play Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective. (We have not only the new issues, but also my partner hunted down the old ones from the 80s...) That's been a wonderful pandemic game to play over zoom. My partner scanned the map, the newspapers, directory, and the case book, and emails out the files. Mostly I end up doing the reading, but it's been fun solving (or not solving) a case with friends.

We've also been playing Mysterium, a cooperative game where several psychics are attempting to solve a long-ago murder. The ghost is confused but sends "dreams" to the psychics to aid them in solving its murder. The dream cards are so beautiful and lush. The actual "solving" is less logical and a bit random, but the psychics are trying to interpret the dream cards to point them to a suspect or location or weapon. I got the new circus one but we haven't played it yet.
 

[nereo]

Two new (to use) ones:

Happy Salmon.  Produced by the same folk as “Exploding Kittens”.  It’s a mindless and fun party game with a deck of cards, and works surprisingly well with our 3 year old.  The basic idea is that you flip over your card and try to ‘match’ with someone who has the same card as quickly as possible.   Games go by very quickly (in about 10 minutes). Not much in the way of strategy nor skill (as in: almost zero).  It’s a lot of yelling / physical interaction, if that’s what you are looking for.  Definitely not a Covid-friendly game

Above and Below.  I really want to like this game but it’s way more complicated to learn than expected. I think it builds on the D&D style of play where you move, take an action (e.g. run away, fight) and then roll a die to see what happens by reading the outcomes in a ‘dungeon master-type outcome book’. Definitely layers of strategy, and the artwork is cool too.  If you grew up playing D&D I think this is a more natural fit, but it’s not a fast learn and it takes even longer to recognize what are good and bad strategies. Good replay-ability though and the artwork is fantastic.

I hope you give Above and Below another chance! It's a wonderful game that allows for so many strategies! My family has played it about 4 or 5 times and we're still learning. Near and Far is a similar game (same publisher) and we adore them both.

And we FINALLY tackled Catan this past weekend and geez compared to other games we play (see above), it's super easy to learn, although the varying strategies are still there. My wife got off to a slow start, but she focused on gathering knights and coupled with a couple of city upgrades, she trounced us. I shall have my revenge.

I haven’t given up on it yet, but it’ll take the right frame of mind to try it again.  With our little one blocks of game-playing time tend to be brief, and A&B seemed a bit more involved than we were prepared to tackle.

[neo von retorch]

Yup - Red Raven Games also makes Megaland which is the purest form of "here you move, take an action (e.g. run away, fight) and then roll a die to see what happens" (or rather, you simply stay or run, and a card is flipped to see if the thing you encounter is strong enough to kill you (or you get lucky and get rewarded.)

Above and Below adds a lot of other elements like building up your village, adding to your team, trading items, etc. while the fun game play exists in those mini adventures you head out on. I've mentioned it in this thread before, but it reminds me Tales of the Arabian Nights in that respect.

But I do think it's an eminently learnable game! I do know, though, that I'm about 6 years into learning complex board games, and I'm just starting to hit my stride on learning new rule sets and teaching them to relative beginners, so that game is now anchored in a place of "that wasn't too bad to teach" (we played it maybe 5 months ago with some family.)

Do you learn by reading rule books and/or watching YouTube video (e.g. Watch It Played with Rodney)? (In our house, most of the time my wife will watch the video while I read the book. Though sometimes she does both and teaches me, like last week with Eldritch Horror!)

[Nick_Miller]

Yup - Red Raven Games also makes Megaland which is the purest form of "here you move, take an action (e.g. run away, fight) and then roll a die to see what happens" (or rather, you simply stay or run, and a card is flipped to see if the thing you encounter is strong enough to kill you (or you get lucky and get rewarded.)

Above and Below adds a lot of other elements like building up your village, adding to your team, trading items, etc. while the fun game play exists in those mini adventures you head out on. I've mentioned it in this thread before, but it reminds me Tales of the Arabian Nights in that respect.

But I do think it's an eminently learnable game! I do know, though, that I'm about 6 years into learning complex board games, and I'm just starting to hit my stride on learning new rule sets and teaching them to relative beginners, so that game is now anchored in a place of "that wasn't too bad to teach" (we played it maybe 5 months ago with some family.)

Do you learn by reading rule books and/or watching YouTube video (e.g. Watch It Played with Rodney)? (In our house, most of the time my wife will watch the video while I read the book. Though sometimes she does both and teaches me, like last week with Eldritch Horror!)

Rodney's videos are superb! He has basically taught me about a dozen games. I find it so much easier to digest with him as my guide, you can tell he has a real passion for the games, and I like how he gives you the 30,000 foot view first, because that's how I process info. Tell me the objective/end game, and then dive into the how.

Whenever we tackle a new game, my wife is like, "Nick, let's try out x" and I go and watch a video, then read the rules, then watch a Rodney video, and then we're ready to go. Is Near and Far the more complex one, where you have pack animals and bandits and you make camps? I think that might be Mrs. Miller's favorite but we don't know enough other board game nerds.

[nereo]

Yup - Red Raven Games also makes Megaland which is the purest form of "here you move, take an action (e.g. run away, fight) and then roll a die to see what happens" (or rather, you simply stay or run, and a card is flipped to see if the thing you encounter is strong enough to kill you (or you get lucky and get rewarded.)

Above and Below adds a lot of other elements like building up your village, adding to your team, trading items, etc. while the fun game play exists in those mini adventures you head out on. I've mentioned it in this thread before, but it reminds me Tales of the Arabian Nights in that respect.

But I do think it's an eminently learnable game! I do know, though, that I'm about 6 years into learning complex board games, and I'm just starting to hit my stride on learning new rule sets and teaching them to relative beginners, so that game is now anchored in a place of "that wasn't too bad to teach" (we played it maybe 5 months ago with some family.)

Do you learn by reading rule books and/or watching YouTube video (e.g. Watch It Played with Rodney)? (In our house, most of the time my wife will watch the video while I read the book. Though sometimes she does both and teaches me, like last week with Eldritch Horror!)

Typically I try to learn by reading the instructions, and have only recently used YouTube videos as instruction.  Given how difficult I found these instructions I probably should watch a few vids an then try again.  Thanks for the tip with Rodney - haven't viewed any of his yet.

Thinking about it, I believe we just set ourselves up to not enjoy that complex of a game.  We barely had the allotted time, and one of us was unpacking while the other was reading the game-play instructions, and then there was just a lot of "wait, which is the one that..."

[Nick_Miller]

Yup - Red Raven Games also makes Megaland which is the purest form of "here you move, take an action (e.g. run away, fight) and then roll a die to see what happens" (or rather, you simply stay or run, and a card is flipped to see if the thing you encounter is strong enough to kill you (or you get lucky and get rewarded.)

Above and Below adds a lot of other elements like building up your village, adding to your team, trading items, etc. while the fun game play exists in those mini adventures you head out on. I've mentioned it in this thread before, but it reminds me Tales of the Arabian Nights in that respect.

But I do think it's an eminently learnable game! I do know, though, that I'm about 6 years into learning complex board games, and I'm just starting to hit my stride on learning new rule sets and teaching them to relative beginners, so that game is now anchored in a place of "that wasn't too bad to teach" (we played it maybe 5 months ago with some family.)

Do you learn by reading rule books and/or watching YouTube video (e.g. Watch It Played with Rodney)? (In our house, most of the time my wife will watch the video while I read the book. Though sometimes she does both and teaches me, like last week with Eldritch Horror!)

Typically I try to learn by reading the instructions, and have only recently used YouTube videos as instruction.  Given how difficult I found these instructions I probably should watch a few vids an then try again.  Thanks for the tip with Rodney - haven't viewed any of his yet.

Thinking about it, I believe we just set ourselves up to not enjoy that complex of a game.  We barely had the allotted time, and one of us was unpacking while the other was reading the game-play instructions, and then there was just a lot of "wait, which is the one that..."

Above and Below requires you to COMMIT!! :)   I make my family give me complete eye contact and complete attention (no phones or multi-tasking) when I outline the rules. It's as fun as it sounds!

[talltexan]

I got my family to commit to a three-game series, with scores added up across the three games:

• Mille Bornes (the French auto-racing card game); scores here are divided by 100
• Midnight Party (from Ravensberger), where the ghost chases everyone around the House.
• Fireball Island: This is an updated version that was released about three years ago, so partial scoring is possible as there are minor treasures and photo spots.

[DadJokes]

In large groups, I have been having a blast with Camel Up. In it, all players are gamblers betting on a camel race. Players have the option to advance camels by rolling a random die, influence camels that land on specific locations, place bets on the outcome of the race or individual legs of the race, or enter into partnerships with other players. There are five camels racing around the track, as well as two "crazy" camels that go backwards. Camels occasionally land on top of each other, and the bottom camel will carry all camels on top of them (which is where the crazy camels really cause chaos). Include alcohol, and this game is even more fun.

[Nick_Miller]

Is anyone else's family borderline addicted to board games and puzzles?

Our game room is getting overrun! And the thing is, like 90% of the games we buy are awesome! We don't really get many duds. And unlike books, it's not a 'one and done' experience so you're not really tempted to get rid of any of them. So our pile keeps growing. We probably have a half dozen still wrapped in plastic, same with puzzles (although we do sometimes give away puzzles to family members when we're done). Our "to play" list keeps growing!

I feel like my wife and I treat games as our new 'go to' choice when buying presents for each other. We love them but there is only so much time in the day. We need to retire, meet other gamers, and embrace this next season of our lives.

[neo von retorch]

Sooo... about that... this photo is from June, so it doesn't include additions from Christmas (Everdell, Jaipur, Super Motherload, two Lost Cities games, etc.)

[Nick_Miller]

Sooo... about that... this photo is from June, so it doesn't include additions from Christmas (Everdell, Jaipur, Super Motherload, two Lost Cities games, etc.)

Oh my god. We would be best friends in real life! Are those Lego on top??

I'll post a pic tomorrow.

[neo von retorch]

For sure! We have neighbors that play medium-level complexity games, and friends an hour away that will play more complex ones. But there's never enough time for all these games. Often have to re-learn them between plays.

Yes - MvR has quite a lot of Harry Potter LEGO sets! (She's more frugal than me, now that she's had the pleasure of assembling them, she's talking about selling them...!)

[tygertygertyger]

Yes!! We also have a ton of games, and pre-pandemic we played most weeks with friends. They liked that we just bring over a selection. But, their kids are at an age where our time with our friends is more limited, and when we do play games, they’re shorter ones. Hopefully in a few more years we’ll get back to a wider assortment at better times of day for everyone to be awake! In the meantime, we have slowed a bit on acquiring new ones.

[chaskavitch]

Sooo... about that... this photo is from June, so it doesn't include additions from Christmas (Everdell, Jaipur, Super Motherload, two Lost Cities games, etc.)

Ooh, good to know that there's a Blokus Duo!

We just got our 5.5 year old to play Catan for the first time (to 5 points), and he loved it (because he won).  Between that and Sushi Go, I'm excited to get him into "real" games and not play so much Connect Four and Candyland :)

[Nick_Miller]

Sooo... about that... this photo is from June, so it doesn't include additions from Christmas (Everdell, Jaipur, Super Motherload, two Lost Cities games, etc.)

Ooh, good to know that there's a Blokus Duo!

We just got our 5.5 year old to play Catan for the first time (to 5 points), and he loved it (because he won).  Between that and Sushi Go, I'm excited to get him into "real" games and not play so much Connect Four and Candyland :)

Extra parenting points for you!

And it just gets worse! Our 12-year-old mopped the floor with us on Machi Koro last weekend.

I think we will break out Catan again this weekend. I will try not to get sucked into chasing the "longest road" contest this time, which is just a huge game of chicken that distracts me from everything else.

[talltexan]

For sure! We have neighbors that play medium-level complexity games, and friends an hour away that will play more complex ones. But there's never enough time for all these games. Often have to re-learn them between plays.

Yes - MvR has quite a lot of Harry Potter LEGO sets! (She's more frugal than me, now that she's had the pleasure of assembling them, she's talking about selling them...!)

My wife and the kids enjoy building the legos, and my wife persuaded me to spring for the Harry Potter Lego kit a while ago. It is glorious and finished, on display in our music room.

[nereo]

Sooo... about that... this photo is from June, so it doesn't include additions from Christmas (Everdell, Jaipur, Super Motherload, two Lost Cities games, etc.)

Ooh, good to know that there's a Blokus Duo!

We just got our 5.5 year old to play Catan for the first time (to 5 points), and he loved it (because he won).  Between that and Sushi Go, I'm excited to get him into "real" games and not play so much Connect Four and Candyland :)

I despise Candyland - much to the chagrin/annoyance of my inlays who, for whatever reason, have a nostalgic fondness for that game.
I'd say there's not many games that were as mindless as Candyland, but unfortunately that seems to describe so many that were popular (or at least widely available) in the 1980s/90s.  The Game of Life has another particular spot in hell IMO.

[zolotiyeruki]

Sooo... about that... this photo is from June, so it doesn't include additions from Christmas (Everdell, Jaipur, Super Motherload, two Lost Cities games, etc.)

Ooh, good to know that there's a Blokus Duo!

We just got our 5.5 year old to play Catan for the first time (to 5 points), and he loved it (because he won).  Between that and Sushi Go, I'm excited to get him into "real" games and not play so much Connect Four and Candyland :)

I despise Candyland - much to the chagrin/annoyance of my inlays who, for whatever reason, have a nostalgic fondness for that game.
I'd say there's not many games that were as mindless as Candyland, but unfortunately that seems to describe so many that were popular (or at least widely available) in the 1980s/90s.  The Game of Life has another particular spot in hell IMO.

I've realized that a LOT of "classic" games are pretty terrible.  Monopoly (although that one was *designed* to be bad), Life, Sorry, Candy Land, Trouble, Risk....they're all pretty bad.  I suppose they can serve a purpose in introducing kids to board games as a concept, but I'm grateful we live in a time with better games.

[nereo]

Sooo... about that... this photo is from June, so it doesn't include additions from Christmas (Everdell, Jaipur, Super Motherload, two Lost Cities games, etc.)

Ooh, good to know that there's a Blokus Duo!

We just got our 5.5 year old to play Catan for the first time (to 5 points), and he loved it (because he won).  Between that and Sushi Go, I'm excited to get him into "real" games and not play so much Connect Four and Candyland :)

I despise Candyland - much to the chagrin/annoyance of my inlays who, for whatever reason, have a nostalgic fondness for that game.
I'd say there's not many games that were as mindless as Candyland, but unfortunately that seems to describe so many that were popular (or at least widely available) in the 1980s/90s.  The Game of Life has another particular spot in hell IMO.

I've realized that a LOT of "classic" games are pretty terrible.  Monopoly (although that one was *designed* to be bad), Life, Sorry, Candy Land, Trouble, Risk....they're all pretty bad.  I suppose they can serve a purpose in introducing kids to board games as a concept, but I'm grateful we live in a time with better games.

Monopoly (IME) is the most mis-played game in the history of boardgames, and most of it's "faults" are because people change the rules and flood the game with cash. Play it as it was intended and it's much more comprehensive (and fairly fast overall).  I'm still just lukewarm on the game overall, but I don't think it's terrible.

Candyland, Life, Trouble, Sorry are all pretty terrible.  All are fairly brainless and mostly (if not entirely) luck based.  Life gets the worst score from me because the fate of the game is essentially decided in the first ~4 turns (when its randomly decided what your career and how many children you will have), but it drags on (with no input from the player) for another 15-20 spins. It's message on life is also pretty terrible.  Candyland is a close second (on my list of worst mass-produced games).  Just about as brainless but at least without a subversive underlying message (your 'score' in life is based on your career and the number of children you have, and essentially random luck).  Oh, and the damn "people" that fit in the car and continually got lost/jammed into floorboards... it also gets a design fail.  And the spinner... god how awful that spinner was.

[zolotiyeruki]

Monopoly (IME) is the most mis-played game in the history of boardgames, and most of it's "faults" are because people change the rules and flood the game with cash. Play it as it was intended and it's much more comprehensive (and fairly fast overall).  I'm still just lukewarm on the game overall, but I don't think it's terrible.

Candyland, Life, Trouble, Sorry are all pretty terrible.  All are fairly brainless and mostly (if not entirely) luck based.  Life gets the worst score from me because the fate of the game is essentially decided in the first ~4 turns (when its randomly decided what your career and how many children you will have), but it drags on (with no input from the player) for another 15-20 spins. It's message on life is also pretty terrible.  Candyland is a close second (on my list of worst mass-produced games).  Just about as brainless but at least without a subversive underlying message (your 'score' in life is based on your career and the number of children you have, and essentially random luck).  Oh, and the damn "people" that fit in the car and continually got lost/jammed into floorboards... it also gets a design fail.  And the spinner... god how awful that spinner was.

Monopoly wasn't designed to be fun.  It was designed to teach people that profit from land ownership is Bad. link  House rules make it even worse, by prolonging the agony.

[nereo]

Yeah, I’m aware of it’s anti capitalism history, but I won’t discredit it for that. It’s got some skill, some strategy (but mostly an understanding of probability and risk) but it’s still largely luck based.

As I said, I don’t think it’s great, but I don’t hate it either.

[talltexan]

I twisted the family's (collective) arm and convinced them to play a series of games, with scores aggregated. Sometimes we divided by 100 to get the scale to line up, but everyone gets to have their specialties in that way.

 

[JLee]

Is anyone else's family borderline addicted to board games and puzzles?

Our game room is getting overrun! And the thing is, like 90% of the games we buy are awesome! We don't really get many duds. And unlike books, it's not a 'one and done' experience so you're not really tempted to get rid of any of them. So our pile keeps growing. We probably have a half dozen still wrapped in plastic, same with puzzles (although we do sometimes give away puzzles to family members when we're done). Our "to play" list keeps growing!

I feel like my wife and I treat games as our new 'go to' choice when buying presents for each other. We love them but there is only so much time in the day. We need to retire, meet other gamers, and embrace this next season of our lives.

My SO is getting really into puzzles - we now have a dedicated puzzle / board game room in the basement (though we have yet to play any board games there).  We are exceptionally good at collecting games...a little less so at making the time to play them.

I bought Gloomhaven on sale a while ago and really want to try it out, but I need to build a cover for the table first so we can leave it set up without the cats King Kong-ing their way across the table.

[neo von retorch]

A little FYI: Gloomhaven has an awesome rule book, but it's still a little confusing. For example, there's a "standard modifier deck" you create and use for each player and shared among monsters, but each player gets additional modifier cards. Do NOT add the additional cards in. The rules tell you this, but in a bit of a non-linear fashion. We messed it up. Ended up buying Jaws of the Lion, and it has an improved rulebook and eases you into the rules in a much more seamless, metered manner. Huge improvement.

[Lews Therin]

Have you watched the 2.5hrs of explanatory videos for jaws of the lion? :D

[JLee]

A little FYI: Gloomhaven has an awesome rule book, but it's still a little confusing. For example, there's a "standard modifier deck" you create and use for each player and shared among monsters, but each player gets additional modifier cards. Do NOT add the additional cards in. The rules tell you this, but in a bit of a non-linear fashion. We messed it up. Ended up buying Jaws of the Lion, and it has an improved rulebook and eases you into the rules in a much more seamless, metered manner. Huge improvement.

lol I have Jaws of the Lion too...again, never played. Thanks for the tip - we'll start with Jaws of the Lion!

Have you watched the 2.5hrs of explanatory videos for jaws of the lion? :D

oh dear, what am I in for?

[Lews Therin]

Jaws separated full game into 5 introductory scenarios, so you learn new rules until the 5th, when you have everything. It's a pretty good system for when you have nobody who knows the game at all. When there are experienced players, you can skip the intro scenarios (at least one who knows it well)

[bacchi]

We started Jaws of the Lion this week and we're loving it. We're a little worried about balance since there are only 2 of us and nothing has indicated that the enemies scale down.

[neo von retorch]

They definitely scale! Each map in the book has a three-bar indicator per monster for 2/3/4 players that is either no monster, a normal one or an elite. The mix varies per player count.

[bacchi]

They definitely scale! Each map in the book has a three-bar indicator per monster for 2/3/4 players that is either no monster, a normal one or an elite. The mix varies per player count.

Ah, that's why Scenario 2 was so hard. I remember reading about the bars but forgot. Thanks.

[Lews Therin]

I recommend re-reading the booklet occassionally. You will 100% misd things. Just re-read a few pages every few scenarios, and make sure you haven't missed a detail, that might make a difference.

[bbates728]

lol I have Jaws of the Lion too...again, never played. Thanks for the tip - we'll start with Jaws of the Lion!

Have you watched the 2.5hrs of explanatory videos for jaws of the lion? :D

oh dear, what am I in for?

Nahh, don't worry too much about it. Gloomhaven (I haven't played Jaws of the Lion yet but it should be easier to get into) has an impressive rulebook but most rules make total sense if you have played "dudes on a map" game. Understand that you will definitely get stuff wrong the first ten times you play, but reread the rulebook occasionally and if things feel too easy/hard reread that specific part again. Another life saver is to google your question and look for Boardgamegeek topics as the designer frequently answers questions authoritatively.

Worst comes to worse, ask us! :)

[Lews Therin]

A little FYI: Gloomhaven has an awesome rule book, but it's still a little confusing. For example, there's a "standard modifier deck" you create and use for each player and shared among monsters, but each player gets additional modifier cards. Do NOT add the additional cards in. The rules tell you this, but in a bit of a non-linear fashion. We messed it up. Ended up buying Jaws of the Lion, and it has an improved rulebook and eases you into the rules in a much more seamless, metered manner. Huge improvement.

lol I have Jaws of the Lion too...again, never played. Thanks for the tip - we'll start with Jaws of the Lion!

Have you watched the 2.5hrs of explanatory videos for jaws of the lion? :D

oh dear, what am I in for?

We've been playing for three months straight, 4-5 scenarios a week.

The hourly cost of this game is pennies.