Board Games - what are you playing?

[FIRE 20/20]

I'm not sure if I should start another thread or not, but can anyone recommend any good 2-player board games for adults who generally don't play board games?  I enjoy playing board games now and then, but my partner usually doesn't.  She is open to trying new games, so I'm hoping there's something out there she'll like.  We've played Settlers of Catan with my nephews, and while she puts up with it because they're kids, she doesn't enjoy it at all.  I think Wingspan looks interesting, so I was considering looking for a Black Friday deal on it. 
Criteria would be - 2-player, fun for adults (i.e. not primarily intended as a game for children), not overly complex (learn basic rules in 5-10 minutes) or time consuming (max 2 hours-ish?), generally gets a good response from non-gamers. 

Thanks!

[zolotiyeruki]

DW and I will occasionally pull out The Game.  It works pretty well with two players, is cooperative, and is fairly short.  Azul and Splendor are also favorites at our house, are easy to learn, and play fine with two players, while still offering some depth and allowing for different strategies.

Catan doesn't work well with only 2 players--once one player's production gets ahead, the game's all over--there's no mechanism (like two players both targetting the leader) to get the game back in balance.

[grantmeaname]

Tokaido
Carcassonne
Sagrada

Ascension is a good gateway drug into the deckbuilder genre

[nereo]

Also good with just two that aren’t terribly complex and enjoyable by non-frequent gamers:

Ticket to Ride
Bears vs Babies
Planet

[FIRE 20/20]

Thanks!  I'll take a look at each of them.

[Villanelle]

Hanabi.  Technically it isn't a board game since you play with cards.  It's cheap to buy and quick to learn.  I think you can play with up to 5 but I've only ever played with just me and DH.  It's a cooperative game, so you the players are working together to win by accomplishing a task, rather than trying to beat on another, which I find good for marital harmony since I can get overly competitive.  It also feels more like a bonding thing because we are working together. 

The basics are that you are trying to build  fireworks ("Hanabi", or flower fire in Japanese).  so you need to play #1-5 in 5 different colors (so white 2 on top of white 1, blue 2 on top of blue one, etc.).  You can see the other players cards but not your own, and you give them clues to try to tell them what to play (or discard).  "You have 2 ones."  "You have three white cards."  That's really it, but it is pretty challenging.  I'd say we get all 5 fireworks finished in maybe 1 of 15 games, so it's challenging but not impossible.

We also enjoy Castle Panic (another cooperative game) and Ticket to Ride. 

[BNgarden]

A friend introduced us to two quick, relatively easy games (he calls them trifles):

Fafnir
Deep Sea Adventures

They have small bits so the age limits should be noted, but both come in compact boxes if you want to take them on holiday / to other locations. 

Board Game Geek will describe them better.  As far as I understood, (only played Fafnir a couple of times), both are resource management games, the first with betting to win gems of different colours, but the value of the colours go down if too many are gathered.  The latter (Deep Sea Adventure) is about managing your air supply to dive deeper for higher value gems (but there's some provision to share air to return to the surface etc.)

It seems to be harder to source Fafnir just now.

[BuffaloStache]

I went on a business trip recently to a different part of the country, and was able to hang out with one of my best friends from High School who is obsessed with board games.

We played 3000 Scoundrels, and I definitely enjoyed it!

How’s the two-player gameplay? 

Sorry for the late reply, @nereo . We only played with 3+ players, but I think 2 player gameplay would be good. A large portion of the game's progression is based on luck (which random cards you draw/pick up that are face down on the board), so even when one player thinks they're 'ahead' they may still lose at the end.

[Playing with Fire UK]

Wingspan is excellent, but I'm not sure that it's ideal for a beginner. I play a lot of strategy board games and had two experienced gamers explain it to me the first time I played and I spent most of the game uncertain over what moves were optimal (but it I could easily understand what moves were possible). Each round has a number of stages and it seems it would be easy to miss something important or spend a lot of time checking which stage is next if you were trying to figure it out between the two of you.

The game is fantastic and the theming works really well; I'd strongly recommend it to adults that already like board games.

[Metta]

Wingspan is excellent, but I'm not sure that it's ideal for a beginner. I play a lot of strategy board games and had two experienced gamers explain it to me the first time I played and I spent most of the game uncertain over what moves were optimal (but it I could easily understand what moves were possible). Each round has a number of stages and it seems it would be easy to miss something important or spend a lot of time checking which stage is next if you were trying to figure it out between the two of you.

The game is fantastic and the theming works really well; I'd strongly recommend it to adults that already like board games.

Wingspan is one of my favorite games. I taught it to my family when they were here for a visit. They're not really gamers. My two nieces caught on to it pretty fast, one loved it, the other seemed to enjoy it but not as much. My sister thought it was too complicated. And my 85 year old mother who doesn't like games didn't like it. So a mixed bag. I think the people who love it are less competitive in general but love games. If what you want to know is how to win, it's not really a game that has a single path to victory. So the joy comes from what one learns and the many different interactions you can have in the game.

[Playing with Fire UK]

If what you want to know is how to win, it's not really a game that has a single path to victory. So the joy comes from what one learns and the many different interactions you can have in the game.

Yes! That's exactly it!

[neo von retorch]

We have a large collection of board games, but only a few make it to the table with guests, and Wingspan is one of them. I think it's really straightforward, but learning to teach it evolved for me. The first time I played with non-gamers, it took a ton of hand-holding throughout the game. But since then, I've taught and played it with quite a few people.

I remind them there are really only 4 actions to choose from, and they are thematic (in my mind, and teaching)
 * Bird-watching (draw cards)
 * Gathering food
 * Birds lay eggs
 * Attracting birds (play card)

You want lots of birds in your habitat. Everything else is secondary. (You can evolve strategy once you know the game! And you can focus on round bonuses if you want extra direction.) So everything is "what do I need to attract the birds I want in my habitat? I need food? I need eggs? I don't have any more birds to attract?" There's your next turn.

Overall that gets everyone going and playing with minimal confusion/learning, and the efficiency of turns and everything else comes later organically.

[Metta]

We have a large collection of board games, but only a few make it to the table with guests, and Wingspan is one of them. I think it's really straightforward, but learning to teach it evolved for me. The first time I played with non-gamers, it took a ton of hand-holding throughout the game. But since then, I've taught and played it with quite a few people.

I remind them there are really only 4 actions to choose from, and they are thematic (in my mind, and teaching)
 * Bird-watching (draw cards)
 * Gathering food
 * Birds lay eggs
 * Attracting birds (play card)

You want lots of birds in your habitat. Everything else is secondary. (You can evolve strategy once you know the game! And you can focus on round bonuses if you want extra direction.) So everything is "what do I need to attract the birds I want in my habitat? I need food? I need eggs? I don't have any more birds to attract?" There's your next turn.

Overall that gets everyone going and playing with minimal confusion/learning, and the efficiency of turns and everything else comes later organically.

I'm going to make a note of this as a training method for the game. That's really nicely summarized.

[nereo]

Love the discussion on wingspan.

We gifted it to FIL who is a casual game player but serious bird watcher and thought he would love it. However, with very little instruction he tried it once and then put it into the back of his game closet.

Over the holidays I’m going to pull it out and see if we can’t get some better game and more enjoyment by all.

[jnw]

San Juan
Splendor
Ticket to Ride
Jaipur
Pandemic
Onirim
Elder Sign

[mspym]

Thanks to this thread for the Wingspan rec - that was our family Christmas present and we really like it.

The other games that make it out regularly are
- Pandemic
- Catan
- Mexican Train Dominoes
- Monopoly Deal - which removes all the bad parts of Monopoly and replaces them with some of the fun parts of rummy

[Villanelle]

Our go-to game--meaning we play it nearly daily--right now is Hanabi.  I'd love to find similar games; maybe someone here can help.

Things we love about it:
2 player.  This is critical and needing 3+ is a dealbreaker.
Cooperative.  I get a little too competitive so we find this is usually best, though we have some competition games, like Ticket to Ride, that we do enjoy.
Simple set up.  Specifically, not a million pieces and a huge board.  Little space required.  We can sit on the sofa and play it. 
Strategic.  This may go without saying, but games that are mostly about luck or contingency aren't what we enjoy.
Fairly quick-playing.  A game of Hanabi usually takes us 25-40 minutes.  (DH is slowmethodical, otherwise they'd be a bit quicker.)  That's probably about the sweet spot.  Anything else feels like too big a commitment on most weeknights after work. 

Any suggestions? 

[zolotiyeruki]

Our go-to game--meaning we play it nearly daily--right now is Hanabi.  I'd love to find similar games; maybe someone here can help.

Things we love about it:
2 player.  This is critical and needing 3+ is a dealbreaker.
Cooperative.  I get a little too competitive so we find this is usually best, though we have some competition games, like Ticket to Ride, that we do enjoy.
Simple set up.  Specifically, not a million pieces and a huge board.  Little space required.  We can sit on the sofa and play it. 
Strategic.  This may go without saying, but games that are mostly about luck or contingency aren't what we enjoy.
Fairly quick-playing.  A game of Hanabi usually takes us 25-40 minutes.  (DH is slowmethodical, otherwise they'd be a bit quicker.)  That's probably about the sweet spot.  Anything else feels like too big a commitment on most weeknights after work. 

Any suggestions?

You'll want to check out these, then:
The Game
The Mind
The Crew

They meet all your requirements.

Pandemic may also be an option, although there's a tendency for one player to dominate the others and set the strategy

[Villanelle]

Our go-to game--meaning we play it nearly daily--right now is Hanabi.  I'd love to find similar games; maybe someone here can help.

Things we love about it:
2 player.  This is critical and needing 3+ is a dealbreaker.
Cooperative.  I get a little too competitive so we find this is usually best, though we have some competition games, like Ticket to Ride, that we do enjoy.
Simple set up.  Specifically, not a million pieces and a huge board.  Little space required.  We can sit on the sofa and play it. 
Strategic.  This may go without saying, but games that are mostly about luck or contingency aren't what we enjoy.
Fairly quick-playing.  A game of Hanabi usually takes us 25-40 minutes.  (DH is slowmethodical, otherwise they'd be a bit quicker.)  That's probably about the sweet spot.  Anything else feels like too big a commitment on most weeknights after work. 

Any suggestions?

You'll want to check out these, then:
The Game
The Mind
The Crew

They meet all your requirements.

Pandemic may also be an option, although there's a tendency for one player to dominate the others and set the strategy

Thank you.  I will look into those.

We briefly owned and played Pandemic, IIRC.  I don't remember what we didn't like, but we didn't stick with it for long.  If we are willing to set up a full board, we enjoy Castle Panic as well. 

[zolotiyeruki]

Our go-to game--meaning we play it nearly daily--right now is Hanabi.  I'd love to find similar games; maybe someone here can help.

Things we love about it:
2 player.  This is critical and needing 3+ is a dealbreaker.
Cooperative.  I get a little too competitive so we find this is usually best, though we have some competition games, like Ticket to Ride, that we do enjoy.
Simple set up.  Specifically, not a million pieces and a huge board.  Little space required.  We can sit on the sofa and play it. 
Strategic.  This may go without saying, but games that are mostly about luck or contingency aren't what we enjoy.
Fairly quick-playing.  A game of Hanabi usually takes us 25-40 minutes.  (DH is slowmethodical, otherwise they'd be a bit quicker.)  That's probably about the sweet spot.  Anything else feels like too big a commitment on most weeknights after work. 

Any suggestions?

You'll want to check out these, then:
The Game
The Mind
The Crew

They meet all your requirements.

Pandemic may also be an option, although there's a tendency for one player to dominate the others and set the strategy

Thank you.  I will look into those.

We briefly owned and played Pandemic, IIRC.  I don't remember what we didn't like, but we didn't stick with it for long.  If we are willing to set up a full board, we enjoy Castle Panic as well.

If you like Hanabi, I suspect you'll really like the three I mentioned--they're all cooperative card games with limited communication between the players.

[talltexan]

Thanks to this thread for the Wingspan rec - that was our family Christmas present and we really like it.

The other games that make it out regularly are
- Pandemic
- Catan
- Mexican Train Dominoes
- Monopoly Deal - which removes all the bad parts of Monopoly and replaces them with some of the fun parts of rummy

I received Monopoly Deal as a Christmas gift, and this makes me more excited to try it!

[simonsez]

My buddy and his wife brought over Wingspan.  DW is not really a group activity person so she relaxed and read while we played.
 It seemed to work well with 3 and my friends talked about how there were more opportunities with 3 compared to 2 (which they had only played 2 or 3 times since they received it as a Xmas gift).  I wonder with 4 or 5 players if it can have too much going on or if it's just even better and more collaborative/competitive/goodies flying around.

It was my first time playing, was fun and due to the setup, it never seemed that big of a deal to focus on who was winning or likely to win - more like it was just enjoyable to build bird sanctuaries mostly separately but also a little bit together.

I could see how various "engines" could make the game a little unbalanced between a newbie and someone who has a good feel for the abilities of birds coupled with some knowledge of the odds.  But still, there's a healthy dose of luck involved as to which bird cards you draw. 

Beautiful game with plenty of repeat value, I give it an A.

I don't think I'll introduce this to my in-laws who enjoy games (but usually with a glass of wine and music going and nothing too complex) just yet or possibly ever.  Due to the layout of the game, at time it can be hard to read all the fine print on the various bird cards - especially the three that are face up that can be drawn.  I could see having to handhold too much and repeat instructions.  They love Catan, Azul, and Trekking (in addition to dice and card games) so I have no problem playing those over and over with them.

[neo von retorch]

My buddy and his wife brought over Wingspan.  DW is not really a group activity person so she relaxed and read while we played.
 It seemed to work well with 3 and my friends talked about how there were more opportunities with 3 compared to 2 (which they had only played 2 or 3 times since they received it as a Xmas gift).  I wonder with 4 or 5 players if it can have too much going on or if it's just even better and more collaborative/competitive/goodies flying around.

...

I don't think I'll introduce this to my in-laws who enjoy games (but usually with a glass of wine and music going and nothing too complex) just yet or possibly ever.  Due to the layout of the game, at time it can be hard to read all the fine print on the various bird cards - especially the three that are face up that can be drawn.  I could see having to handhold too much and repeat instructions.  They love Catan, Azul, and Trekking (in addition to dice and card games) so I have no problem playing those over and over with them.

We've played it with 4 and it felt just right. Also a few more bird powers that affect others (e.g. pick up a food) seem to come up which is always a fun feature.

We played it with a friend's parents, but we did partners so each parent had someone helping them. I think they would've been overwhelmed otherwise. But it's going to depend on the people! My dad describes 7 Wonders as the worst 2 hours of his life! (He's a master at Pinochle and Sequence though.)

[zolotiyeruki]

My buddy and his wife brought over Wingspan.  DW is not really a group activity person so she relaxed and read while we played.
 It seemed to work well with 3 and my friends talked about how there were more opportunities with 3 compared to 2 (which they had only played 2 or 3 times since they received it as a Xmas gift).  I wonder with 4 or 5 players if it can have too much going on or if it's just even better and more collaborative/competitive/goodies flying around.

It was my first time playing, was fun and due to the setup, it never seemed that big of a deal to focus on who was winning or likely to win - more like it was just enjoyable to build bird sanctuaries mostly separately but also a little bit together.

I could see how various "engines" could make the game a little unbalanced between a newbie and someone who has a good feel for the abilities of birds coupled with some knowledge of the odds.  But still, there's a healthy dose of luck involved as to which bird cards you draw. 

Beautiful game with plenty of repeat value, I give it an A.

I don't think I'll introduce this to my in-laws who enjoy games (but usually with a glass of wine and music going and nothing too complex) just yet or possibly ever.  Due to the layout of the game, at time it can be hard to read all the fine print on the various bird cards - especially the three that are face up that can be drawn.  I could see having to handhold too much and repeat instructions.  They love Catan, Azul, and Trekking (in addition to dice and card games) so I have no problem playing those over and over with them.

If they like Catan and Azul, then Splendor may be right up their alley.  Sagrada is another that may fit them--it has some similar mechanics to Azul, but is a bit more complex.

[nereo]

My buddy and his wife brought over Wingspan.  DW is not really a group activity person so she relaxed and read while we played.
 It seemed to work well with 3 and my friends talked about how there were more opportunities with 3 compared to 2 (which they had only played 2 or 3 times since they received it as a Xmas gift).  I wonder with 4 or 5 players if it can have too much going on or if it's just even better and more collaborative/competitive/goodies flying around.

It was my first time playing, was fun and due to the setup, it never seemed that big of a deal to focus on who was winning or likely to win - more like it was just enjoyable to build bird sanctuaries mostly separately but also a little bit together.

I could see how various "engines" could make the game a little unbalanced between a newbie and someone who has a good feel for the abilities of birds coupled with some knowledge of the odds.  But still, there's a healthy dose of luck involved as to which bird cards you draw. 

Beautiful game with plenty of repeat value, I give it an A.

I don't think I'll introduce this to my in-laws who enjoy games (but usually with a glass of wine and music going and nothing too complex) just yet or possibly ever.  Due to the layout of the game, at time it can be hard to read all the fine print on the various bird cards - especially the three that are face up that can be drawn.  I could see having to handhold too much and repeat instructions.  They love Catan, Azul, and Trekking (in addition to dice and card games) so I have no problem playing those over and over with them.

If they like Catan and Azul, then Splendor may be right up their alley.  Sagrada is another that may fit them--it has some similar mechanics to Azul, but is a bit more complex.

Oooh, thanks for the recommendation on Splendor.
I’d add: Isle of Skye. It plays a bit like Carcassonne (another great group quick-play) but has an “auction” component that will feel familiar to the “trade” part of Catan. Skye seems to have more permutations on how the board develops compared to Catan.

[neo von retorch]

What I like about Isle of Skye is the challenge of the auction system... trying to balance keeping tiles you like for yourself, keeping enough money to buy better tiles, but also pricing the tiles you know others want. It really amps up the interactivity. That plus you're building your own area with tiles, rather than one shared kingdom - that might be more "multiplayer solitaire" but it kind of lets you own your space and plan ahead more. But I also like the rounds and the different "goals" (drawn randomly each game) that you score at the end of rounds.

[nereo]

Agreed. In fact, my spouse and I were lukewarm on Isle of Skye at first until we re-read the instructions and realized we were doing to auction component completely wrong. Once we fixed that there was a lightbulb moment… like :oh, sometimes your best strategy is to put the card your opponent wants most  up for auction and set the price high.

[erp]

Another fun auction mechanic is The Castles of Mad King Ludwig, I enjoy it a lot.

[simonsez]

My buddy and his wife brought over Wingspan.  DW is not really a group activity person so she relaxed and read while we played.
 It seemed to work well with 3 and my friends talked about how there were more opportunities with 3 compared to 2 (which they had only played 2 or 3 times since they received it as a Xmas gift).  I wonder with 4 or 5 players if it can have too much going on or if it's just even better and more collaborative/competitive/goodies flying around.

It was my first time playing, was fun and due to the setup, it never seemed that big of a deal to focus on who was winning or likely to win - more like it was just enjoyable to build bird sanctuaries mostly separately but also a little bit together.

I could see how various "engines" could make the game a little unbalanced between a newbie and someone who has a good feel for the abilities of birds coupled with some knowledge of the odds.  But still, there's a healthy dose of luck involved as to which bird cards you draw. 

Beautiful game with plenty of repeat value, I give it an A.

I don't think I'll introduce this to my in-laws who enjoy games (but usually with a glass of wine and music going and nothing too complex) just yet or possibly ever.  Due to the layout of the game, at time it can be hard to read all the fine print on the various bird cards - especially the three that are face up that can be drawn.  I could see having to handhold too much and repeat instructions.  They love Catan, Azul, and Trekking (in addition to dice and card games) so I have no problem playing those over and over with them.

If they like Catan and Azul, then Splendor may be right up their alley.  Sagrada is another that may fit them--it has some similar mechanics to Azul, but is a bit more complex.

Thanks for the recs!

As for Wingspan, I've made some house rules which have seemed to go over well.  I apologize in advance to any rules purists.
-when rolling dice not in the birdfeeder (like to try to cache a fish or rat), we allow two rolls if only rolling one or two
-being slightly more liberal with what is considered a body part (e.g. pileated woodpecker, the pileus is absolutely a body part) for that particular bonus card.  FWIW, bushtit and dickcissel still do NOT count toward this. :-)
-allowing the birdfeeder to be rerolled if there is a wheat/worm cube and a worm cube (or a wheat/worm and a wheat), it really stinks when you effectively waste a turn getting a resource you don't need because the birdfeeder is not cycling fast enough.  This helps counteract the power of the raven cards somewhat (though they're still absolute powerhouses, especially when played in Rd1 or Rd2).  This seemed slightly better than re-rolling the birdfeeder between rounds (for various brown power reasons).

Anyone have any custom Wingspan rules that have been crowd pleasers?  Currently not interested in purchasing expansions or removing the raven cards from the deck.  Hardest thing to keep track of in a 5 player game are the pink powers but it's a friendly game and everyone is helpful.

[lentil]

Just wanted to thank @Villanelle for the Hanabi rec!! Just played it for the first time and had an absolute blast.

[Villanelle]

Just wanted to thank @Villanelle for the Hanabi rec!! Just played it for the first time and had an absolute blast.

Glad you liked it.  It's our favorite.  Our deck is starting to look pretty worn so it may be time for a replacement.  I considered doing the upgrade to the tiles, which I'm told have the same gameplay.  But they are expensive, and I'm worried I'd miss the cards. 

[mspym]

@Villanelle i think the tiles are absolutely worth it for Hanabi. It adds a dominoes/mahjong feel and helped me ‘get’ the game mechanic in a way I couldn’t with the cards.

[Villanelle]

@Villanelle i think the tiles are absolutely worth it for Hanabi. It adds a dominoes/mahjong feel and helped me ‘get’ the game mechanic in a way I couldn’t with the cards.

Thank you Can you explain how they work?  I looked (admitedly fairly briefly) and never found a great explanation of the mechanics.  If I think they'd work for us, I can ask DH for this for my birthday.

Also, DH and I play a variation where we lay the discarded cards out so we can see them.  (The rules say you can look through discards, so we just make it easier.  That way, we know that one yellow 4 has already been discarded, so we have to protect the other.  Or we know, through process of elimination, that the 4 in our hand has to be either green or blue because all the other 4s have been played or discarded.)  Is there some way we'd be able to do that with the tile version?

[BuffaloStache]

My wife and I recently got Cascadia and we have been really enjoying playing that. It works well as a 2 player game, or with more people. 

[neo von retorch]

My wife and I recently got Cascadia and we have been really enjoying playing that. It works well as a 2 player game, or with more people.

We play this one a lot. It's one that I always feel comfortable teaching to someone new. Nothing too crazy. Make big habitats and put your animals in the patterns they like (as per the cards in front of you.) Bam! Some slight analysis paralysis with some players, but it's a casual enough game that you can incorporate good-natured teasing into the gameplay ;)

[mm1970]

DS18 recently rediscovered Catan, and he's obsessed.  So he got 4 different expansion packs for his birthday last week.  Guess what we are doing on Spring break!

[zolotiyeruki]

Time to bump this topic.  I've been playing Descent: Legends of the Dark with three of my sons for the past couple months.  We bought it a few years ago when our local game store had a huge black friday sale, but couldn't quite understand the rules at first.  After getting a tutorial with my niece and her husband, we had a good enough grasp that we started the campaign on our own.

It's been a fantastic experience.  It's like...D&D with pre-made characters and a tablet acting as the DM.  Sort of.  I can't compare it to other TTRPGs, as I have next to zero experience with those, but it has been a lot of fun.  Since it's cooperative, the boys have far less opportunity to be at each other's throats, and we're all working to make the most out of our respective roles.  I think we have probably 30 hours in it so far, and the boys are begging for more. 

[grantmeaname]

We are super excited to get our copy of Tales of the Arthurian Knights, the recently released sequel to the cult classic Tales of the Arabian Nights which we have played absolutely to death. It's much more group storytelling than a game - there are thousands of encounters in a ~300 page book of tales and the victory point objectives feel very secondary.

[mm1970]

DS12 got Catan Starfarers for Christmas.  We started a 4 person game, but never finished.  It's still on the dining table.  Now that DS18 is at college, we will have to finish as a 3 person game.

[neo von retorch]

Scythe

I really enjoy it. Getting through the rules the first time with our group was a little rough since each player has a slightly different player board and each of the factions has different abilities. I've won a number of games, I've lost more. I've had folks come in on their first game and win or come in a close second.

While it looks like a war game, its more about optimizing your turns. Attacking is there but its costly and can leave you in a weakened state that could potentially allow someone else to take advantage of the weakened winner. I like trying to optimize my turns and do best whatever faction I'm playing does. I've got the expansion and really want to play in a 7 player game to see the insanity.

So I've played the physical game maybe 2-3 times total, way back when this discussion was happening. It has just sat on the shelf since.

Last month, Dire Wolf had a humble bundle deal, $18 for nine board games, plus expansions. My friends, wife and I bought 4 total copies, so we can play remotely while they are in WI! Anyway, it includes Scythe: Digital Edition, so I've been playing it the last few days.

Got completely destroyed by a medium bot, and then played two easy bots, and still lost badly. Finally beat an easy bot one on one, but it was a close game. Just now, had my first game (against 2 bots) where I felt like... I had control of my destiny. And yes, I did not attack or be attacked once in this particular game! It is not a war game (necessarily.)

This time, my faction bonus was to get a second bonus from encounters, and I managed to get that early and often -- the extra things massively made every turn after that feel more efficient, and moved everything forward for me. (I'm definitely going to have to noodle on how to make other faction advantages give me that early boost for those to work for me.)

It was also the first game I fully understood how the Popularity score affects the multipliers for the rest of the score calculation.

It's definitely a game where it's dense and (I suspect for most people) difficult to really learn to the level you need before you can play with some solid strategy. But then I think if you get to the other side, it's rewarding. That game felt great! But it took quite a few playthroughs that I wasn't particularly enjoying to get to that point. Oof! Of course I love this digital option, because it means I was able to speed through a bunch of games solo and get through the grind before bringing it out to the table, and I can probably convince my spouse to do the same, either solo, or together with me. Then if she gets to the point where she's actually having fun, we might get the board game back out and enjoy those lovely miniatures!

[nessness]

My kids and I have been having fun checking out board games and card games from the local library.

Some reviews on the recent ones:

- Dragonwood - a card and dice game where you try to capture magical creatures. We really like this one - easy enough for my 7-year-old to play but still fun for adults. A good balance of luck and strategy IMO.

- Taco vs Burrito - a card game where you build a taco or burrito with gross ingredients. The kids enjoyed the silliness but the gameplay got old quickly.

- Trekking the National Parks - a board game where you  use cards to move around the board and claim national parks. A bit too complex for my 7-year-old, but my 10-year-old and I both really enjoyed it. I'll probably buy this one if I can find it on sale.

- Dog Park - A board game where you bid on dogs and walk your dogs through a park. None of us really enjoyed this one - set up takes forever and game play isn't that fun. Plus the gameplay has no relation to what people actually do at dog parks - it would make more sense if they reworked it into a dog show game. On the plus side, it did have nice artwork.

- Deduckto  - fun, quick card game where you try to guess your mystery card based on clues from the other players. This would be a good one for on-the-go play.

[tygertygertyger]

We've been playing Joyride with friends. It's kinda like MarioCart for a board game. You get to move, steer, shift gears, and also deploy weapons in a racing game. The four of us have been enjoying it. Though, we've noticed that sometimes having multiple laps in a race means some players just can't catch up, and the game can drag.

But I've very much liked crashing into my friends' cars and/or setting them up to have difficult moves.

[neo von retorch]

We've been playing Joyride with friends. It's kinda like MarioCart for a board game. You get to move, steer, shift gears, and also deploy weapons in a racing game. The four of us have been enjoying it. Though, we've noticed that sometimes having multiple laps in a race means some players just can't catch up, and the game can drag.

But I've very much liked crashing into my friends' cars and/or setting them up to have difficult moves.

Oh, I'm going to ask one of my board game friends about this! I never thought I'd enjoy a racing game, but I kind of liked Formula D, and I've come to really appreciate Heat. If I have one complaint, it's like many "real" racing games, in that if you make a major mistake (and by mistake, I just mean you get a bit unlucky pushing your luck going as fast as you can around a turn, which is something you have to do to win!), you're basically out of contention for winning, and the rest of the game kind of sucks!! A lot of fun "arcade" games like Mario Kart have a "rubber-banding" mechanism that makes losing players a bit faster so they can stay close enough to the leaders to have a shot at overtaking them. Can't speak towards Joyride, but Heat mostly doesn't have this (there is a slight affordance for being in last place, but in no way does it give you a chance at getting back to the front!)

[tygertygertyger]

We've been playing Joyride with friends. It's kinda like MarioCart for a board game. You get to move, steer, shift gears, and also deploy weapons in a racing game. The four of us have been enjoying it. Though, we've noticed that sometimes having multiple laps in a race means some players just can't catch up, and the game can drag.

But I've very much liked crashing into my friends' cars and/or setting them up to have difficult moves.

Oh, I'm going to ask one of my board game friends about this! I never thought I'd enjoy a racing game, but I kind of liked Formula D, and I've come to really appreciate Heat. If I have one complaint, it's like many "real" racing games, in that if you make a major mistake (and by mistake, I just mean you get a bit unlucky pushing your luck going as fast as you can around a turn, which is something you have to do to win!), you're basically out of contention for winning, and the rest of the game kind of sucks!! A lot of fun "arcade" games like Mario Kart have a "rubber-banding" mechanism that makes losing players a bit faster so they can stay close enough to the leaders to have a shot at overtaking them. Can't speak towards Joyride, but Heat mostly doesn't have this (there is a slight affordance for being in last place, but in no way does it give you a chance at getting back to the front!)

Exactly - with Joyride, there's one mechanism to give the slower players a minor leg up, but it doesn't help that much. Still, it's fun.

It's nice for me because I've played MarioCart with these same friends before, and they are much better at video games than me. But with this being a board game, I've got loads better odds of taking them out.

[erp]

We got a copy of Star Realms: Rise of Empire recently, which is a delightful legacy version. Unlike a lot of legacy games, this one is two players and the individual episodes only take about 20-30 minutes - so it's much less of a commitment than something like Risk:Legacy.

I think we're on scenario 5 of 12, and it's been a blast so far (although, fair warning - I think Star Realms is the greatest thing ever, and a lot of other people seem to think it's just fine).

[AerynLee]

We got a copy of Star Realms: Rise of Empire recently, which is a delightful legacy version. Unlike a lot of legacy games, this one is two players and the individual episodes only take about 20-30 minutes - so it's much less of a commitment than something like Risk:Legacy.

I think we're on scenario 5 of 12, and it's been a blast so far (although, fair warning - I think Star Realms is the greatest thing ever, and a lot of other people seem to think it's just fine).

Thanks for the info. IIRC DH & I enjoyed Star Realms and are always on the lookout for good two player games

Right now we're playing a lot of Panda Royale and Duck & Cover. But we're also going through our game library and making a point to try and play at least 80% of our games in 2025. As of right now we have 165 games and that number is likely to go up next month after the local board game convention

[BicycleB]

Just found this thread - haven't read the whole thing, but saw that Splendor and Cascadia have their fans; have played those, and like Cascadia especially.

Splendor seems a lot like Century: Spice Road (free version is Spicee), which I play a fair bit of lately.

[neo von retorch]

Just found this thread - haven't read the whole thing, but saw that Splendor and Cascadia have their fans; have played those, and like Cascadia especially.

Splendor seems a lot like Century: Spice Road (free version is Spicee), which I play a fair bit of lately.

Yes we actually sold Splendor and just play Century Spice Road now.

Really like Cascadia! But also bought Harmonies 😁 which is similar though plays a little differently. But I like the stacking. Still between the two Cascadia is the better game in my opinion.

[simonsez]

Does anyone prefer Ark Nova over Terraforming Mars? I'm considering buying just one of these. I've heard they are somewhat similar.

For the following games (of which I currently own none), are they good enough standalone or are expansions more or less required (or in some cases, only buy the expansion in lieu of the original)?
Carcassonne - I've read if can find it for cheap, just buy two originals to double the # of tiles and have a bigger final board. Unsure if most feel that way or if one base game is fine or if expansions add something that you wouldn't play without?
Power Grid
Agricola
7 Wonders
Ticket to Ride

Also am curious about Quacks of Quedlinburg. Unsure if expansions even exist but sounds like a fun one!

Additional Wingspan notes:
Have the base game plus European, Asia, and Oceania expansions. For anyone who thinks the base game is too grassland/egg/egg goal heavy, the expansions will round it out, especially with the balanced boards that are introduced in Oceania and Asia does come with 2 more in the box. The new boards are the standard now in our house.

I love most things about the expansions with the exception of nectar (a "wild" food). Nectar itself is a fun concept that makes sense for many of the Oceania birds in real life but I think Oceania rules alter the game too much and rewards the person using the most, leading to more runaway games.  Our house uses 2 nectar dice (2 of the six sides have nectar, once split with fruit and once split with seeds/wheat) with 3 regular dice, we ignore the 5/2 nectar bonuses for each habitat, and you can carry it over (though most of the time nectar gets used up in a round anyway). In all only something like 20 birds have nectar in their food cost or have a power involving nectar. This was our solution to nerf it somewhat while still having it present and not having to drop any beautiful bird cards. YMMV

For round goals, I'll also either purposely select "No goal" and then 3 randoms or if I do grab 4 randoms and "No goal" is in there, it goes in the slot for Round 1 to give everyone 3 additional actions (8, 8, 7, 6 instead of 8, 7, 6, 5).  It is by my far everyone's favorite goal, or lack thereof.  The round goal for # beaks pointed left or right deserves honorable mention for giving extra attention and strategy to the artwork of each card.

Lastly, if anyone prefers 2P Wingspan (or all they have is two players usually) and doesn't have Asia yet, the Duet mode is pretty cool. I just don't play Wingspan usually unless I have 4-5 people and thus, Duet mode is not relevant but it is really fun! I haven't used Flock Mode once, I read about it and it didn't sound like fun. I think I'd rather have two fully separate games going instead of the weekly connected Flock Mode if I had 6 or 7.

[neo von retorch]

Does anyone prefer Ark Nova over Terraforming Mars?

Personally, no way. We prefer Terraforming Mars (preferably with Prelude and ideally Hellas/Elysium and Venus Next if we're in the mood for the expanded game.) But we do have a more "hardcore" gamer who loves Ark Nova.

For the following games (of which I currently own none), are they good enough standalone or are expansions more or less required (or in some cases, only buy the expansion in lieu of the original)?
Carcassonne - I've read if can find it for cheap, just buy two originals to double the # of tiles and have a bigger final board. Unsure if most feel that way or if one base game is fine or if expansions add something that you wouldn't play without?
Power Grid
Agricola
7 Wonders
Ticket to Ride

We like all of these as base game, and have almost no expansions. We do have 7 Wonders: Cities but usually don't play with it.

Also am curious about Quacks of Quedlinburg.

So good, so fun! My only thing is, I refuse to buy it until I feel like spending the extra for resin chips. It's such a tactile experience! So I just play my friends' expensive copies when I get the chance.