Author Topic: Board Games - what are you playing?  (Read 69877 times)

neo von retorch

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Board Games - what are you playing?
« on: December 27, 2016, 01:47:53 PM »
Best Board Games

First - party games. These are not my favorites, but they are popular and easy to add to an event.

Resistance (5-10 players, 15 minutes) You are either a government spy, or one of the noble resistance. But only you know for sure. You and your crew take turns assigning people to missions, and then you see if the missions succeed or fail. Figure out who the spies are... before it's too late!

Telestrations (3-12 players, 10 minutes) No scoring - you get a word or phrase, you draw it, you pass it along. The next person guesses... then the next person draws. And so on until you fill a book. Then you just share the silliness! Just played this for the first time this weekend. Silly and fun!

Sushi Go (Party) (3-7 players, 30 minutes) You start with 7 cards, take one and pass it to the left (or right, depending on round.) Just make a pair, a set or build up your dumpling supply. Simple... but then the person beside you keeps stealing the wasabi cards you want... what?!

Dixit (3-5 players, 45-60 minutes) Simple game somewhat like Apples to Apples but with beautiful artwork and free-form creative word/phrase selection. Good way to see how people think creatively!

Second - gateway games. These up the strategy involved, but are still very approachable.

Ticket to Ride (2-5 players, 45 minutes) Get some train tickets (LA to Chicago!) and start collecting the train cars you need to place your routes on the map. But... meanwhile  your opponents block off NY to Philly?! Ouch. I've played this 7 year old nephews and 55 year old in-laws. (For an upgrade, break out a saw and make card holders!)

Carcassonne (2-5 players, 45 minutes) The quintessential tile-laying game. Simply dip your hand in the bag of tiles, take one out... and find a place to add your castles, roads and churches to the kingdom. Place a meeple there to set yourself up for points later. Don't be shy with your meeples... but don't run out before you get lucky and draw a church! Once you learn the game, add farming, and the river is an easy way to make for a more interesting, larger kingdom (and one very lucky farmer!) This game really is a must - easy to learn, hard to master, some luck but plenty of strategy.

Catan (3-4 players, 45-60 minutes) While you can play with fewer or more players than 3 or 4, I think that's the sweet spot. This is one of the "original" European-ish style games to go mainstream. There's still LOTS of luck involved in the dice rolls, but once you learn it, you can play with where you start your island colonies, and become the master of resources... or get stranded on the coasts.

7 Wonders (2-7 players, 45 minutes) The way you pay for things is slightly confusing to new players at first, but overall this is an easy game to play, and you all take your turns at the same time, so there's zero downtime. You play 3 rounds with 7 cards each, so it doesn't take too long. There is a huge variety of strategies to go for (military, science, guilds, etc.) The flexibility of how many players and the speed of this game makes it very easy to recommend. My wife and I even like the two-player variant, though the Duel game that came out is even better (for two players!)

Third - excellent strategy games. Slightly more involved, but worth it.

Isle of Skye (2-5 players, 60 minutes) A recent addition to my collection, but a fast favorite! Tile-laying with an auction twist. Not much harder to learn than Carcassonne, and the different combinations of goals during each of the six rounds is really fun, plus the decisions you make on how to price the tiles you draw is really interesting.

Castles of Burgundy (2-5 players, 45-60 minutes) An introduction to dice as... strategic items. While dice rolls add a hint of luck, what you do with your dice roll is actually really strategic in this game of building the best kingdom. You could be the best sheep farmer, or build a lot of castles and take advantage of the free turns they grant you, or sail boats and get a jump on your opponent. So many different strategies. This plays super well at 2 players, but it scales really well, too.

Lords of Waterdeep (2-5 players, 45-60 minutes) Let your inner geek out. This is a Dungeons & Dragons themed "worker placement" game. Over eight rounds, you have to carefully decide where to send your agents to recruit wizards and warriors to complete your quests. Open up outposts and get bonus access to fighters and clerics when your opponents send their agents to you. This is one of the easiest worker placement games to learn, but once it dawns on you how clever and strategic this kind of game is... you might start looking for similar games!

Fourth - games that I love for the theme, components or other reasons.

Euphoria Dystopian future, amazing colorful board, wonderful dice and components (worker placement)
Viticulture Wine-making from fields to bottle! (worker placement)
Brew Crafters Beer-making; a million components (worker placement - beware long setup times but worth it!)
Cosmic Encounter An updated classic galactic diplomacy game that's a lot of fun for 3-5 players
Tales of the Arabian Nights Forget strategy. Hilarious story-telling game! One of the most fun!
Five Tribes Like Mancala, but... way more colorful. Lot of different ways to win this Arabian themed game.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2016, 02:08:04 PM by neo von retorch »

Poundwise

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2016, 01:59:55 PM »
Thanks for your list!

Spent all morning playing Legends of Andor with my boys, ages 12 and 7.  Their comment: "Better than Minecraft!"

Santa also brought Carcassonne.

Lews Therin

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2016, 10:46:24 PM »
I also have a large list of games I enjoy:

King of Tokyo - You roll dices in order to strengthen your monster / hurt other monsters, last one standing wins, 45min first game, and can be 15-45min depending on the number of players and how the game advances.

Dominion - In the same style as 7 wonders, you build a ''deck" of cards that allow you to buy estates and the person at the end with the most estates win. Many Many different strategies and large portion of luck that can make even clearly winning strategies lose out due to special cards.

Betrayal on house on the hill - No idea how to explain this game, you explore through a house that gets built room by room, and mid-game, one of the players becomes the traitor and the other players have to attempt to win against him. Interesting to play, but I haven't played enough to find the sweet spot of the right amount of players VS the traitor (at 6 players, the traitor got slaughtered pretty quickly)

Guillotine - Not a board game, but a card game that is very simple to learn, every turn a noble is murdered, and the more important he is, the more points he is worth. The rules are written on every card, so no complicated explanation.


Mr. Paws

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2016, 12:24:42 PM »
I didnt see Arkham Horror listed here. 

I love this game.  You and the other players work together against the game.  This is a pretty difficult game to win against though.  Its based on HP Lovecraft novels. You each get a character that has  different ability stats with a background story and work together fighting monsters, sealing portals to other worlds and possibly fighting an Ancient One (end boss) if it awakes. There are also several expansions to enhance the game. The downside is there are tons of items with this games including many different cards and tokens for different items or scenarios.  Also, there are a lot of rules and sometimes they are vague.  Usually you can get an answer by searching online for questions or updated rules if you get stuck.  Overall, though it's the most fun board game I have ever played.

MauiNut

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2016, 06:28:49 AM »
Risk.

Played the original version as a pup many years ago with my parents and brothers, and there's a Star Wars version that my now-adult boys have played since they were munchkins.

Only drawback is that games can last for days, if played properly.  This past weekend, we had a four-person game going on, and after three hours hardly anyone had expanded their territory.  We happily called it quits when dinner was ready.  Still, a lot of fun.

neo von retorch

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2016, 06:36:14 AM »
Risk.

Have you heard of Risk:Legacy? I heard it's a lot of fun. You physically alter the board each game, so it affects future games. But I also believe each session is shorter than the standard game.

I got it for my brother's family this Christmas since they are very into Risk, and I'm excited to hear back!

Hall11235

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2016, 12:28:36 PM »
I am a fan of "Sentinels of the Multiverse."

You, as a team of 3-5 players, fight a villain(s). It is great for families looking to avoid confrontational board games (distinct memories of the bloodbath that was playing Monopoly with my father come to mind). It is strategic, and, with expansions, has over 35 heroes to choose from and well over 20 villains. The games never get boring.


Captain FIRE

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2016, 12:56:35 PM »
Ticket to Ride (2-5 players, 45 minutes) Get some train tickets (LA to Chicago!) and start collecting the train cars you need to place your routes on the map. But... meanwhile  your opponents block off NY to Philly?! Ouch. I've played this 7 year old nephews and 55 year old in-laws. (For an upgrade, break out a saw and make card holders!)

Tip - We raid the tile holders from our Rummikub game to hold the cards.  It works well with the regular holders and the travel version, but not the Disney one.

vern

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2016, 07:03:07 PM »

doggyfizzle

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2016, 07:15:17 PM »
Risk and Cribbage.  Occasionally I get talk my wife into a couple games of scrabble during dinner.

katscratch

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2016, 07:21:38 PM »
My coworker just recommended Sushi Go so that's on the list to pick up!

I am a weirdo that doesn't enjoy competitive situations so my favorite strategy games are collaborative - like Pandemic and Forbidden Island.  The latter was a huge hit on Christmas this year with gamers and non-gamers alike- very easy to learn while you play for the first time.

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2016, 12:50:17 AM »
Bought sushi go for my DD. We've had fun playing that game. The way the points are scored makes the strategy interesting. Youtube has a great quick tutorial on how to play. Not only will you steal the wasabi for the squid nigiri, but the dessert cards too. Have fun!

Friar

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2016, 05:15:54 AM »
My partner and I received Articulate and Absolute Balderdash for Christmas. Which we proceeded to play over the following days.

Articulate (4-20 players) - Players are split into teams of 2 or more and take turns for one player to pick up a card and try to describe the word(s) on that card to their team that corresponds to the category that the team's game piece is situated on. This has to be done without saying the word itself, without 'rhymes with' or without 'sounds like'. If the team guess correctly, and the 30 seconds for the go has not yet expired, they draw another card and try again. The winning team is the one that moves around the board to the finish line the quickest. It's really fun - particularly after a few drinks!

Balderdash (2-20 players) - Players each have a token on the board. At the start of each round the "dealer" picks up a card and asks the players the question on it, for example "What is illegal between 5 and 6 PM in Nashville, TN?". Each player then has to write down their answer to the question on a piece of paper, with the dealer writing the correct answer on theirs. The dealer then collects all the pieces, shuffles them, and reads them aloud. Players then have to guess which is the correct answer! Points are awarded for players guessing your answer is the correct one, guessing the correct answer, or being close to the real answer. The winner is the first person around the board. Question categories vary depending on which tile the leader has landed on.

Both are great games for those who don't typically play board games or for the seasoned tabletopper(?) if they fancy a bit of light hearted tomfoolery.

neo von retorch

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2016, 06:47:00 AM »
Oh Articulate reminds me of Codenames - can't believe I forgot that one. Ideally 4+ players (2 teams). The set up is a 5 x 5 grid of words, and a unique codex for each game that shows the team leaders which of the words are blue spies, red spies, innocent bystanders or the deadly assassin. Their job is to get their team to successfully "make contact" with the red or blue spies. Bystanders just end a turn - but if you "make contact" with an assassin, you lose the game! So the only tool in the leaders' arsenals is the ability to say a single word... and a number. Then the team has to try to figure out which words relate to that initial word (the number being the suggested number of matches.) Then they "make contact" with those spies. It's easier to learn than that paragraph, it's usually only like $12-15, it scales to big teams super well, and everyone really gets into the challenges on either end.

Mezzie

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #14 on: January 02, 2017, 10:59:26 AM »
I've been having a lot of fun with Dominion lately.

The Fake Cheap

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2017, 07:32:13 PM »
The wife and I had been playing a lot of Pandemic recently, it is a great 2 player cooperative game.  We just got Duel for Christmas and have put in about 4 or 5 games already, it is also a great 2 player game; think Puerto Rico with a hint of Settlers of Catan, if you are familiar with those.

neo von retorch

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2017, 07:13:43 AM »
The wife and I had been playing a lot of Pandemic recently, it is a great 2 player cooperative game.  We just got Duel for Christmas and have put in about 4 or 5 games already, it is also a great 2 player game; think Puerto Rico with a hint of Settlers of Catan, if you are familiar with those.

I've never played Pandemic in a way that my wife enjoyed it. Keep trying to get another chance, but she is pretty much against it now. Oops!

Do you mean 7 Wonders: Duel or just Duel (which I have never heard of and am having a tough time finding via Google thanks to the short name?)
« Last Edit: January 04, 2017, 07:16:50 AM by neo von retorch »

Poundwise

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2017, 07:56:19 AM »
I hunted down a 1970 version of Milton Bradley's Masterpiece (bidding on art). We had a great time with this classic, which taught me everything I know about art history (okay, not much, but better than nothing!)

Mr. Paws

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2017, 08:01:47 AM »
I am a fan of "Sentinels of the Multiverse."

You, as a team of 3-5 players, fight a villain(s). It is great for families looking to avoid confrontational board games (distinct memories of the bloodbath that was playing Monopoly with my father come to mind). It is strategic, and, with expansions, has over 35 heroes to choose from and well over 20 villains. The games never get boring.

This sounds interesting.  I will look into this.  Thanks!

nereo

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2017, 08:21:30 AM »
A few others...  Each of these are small games good to travel with (they easily fit into a backpack or purse, and don't need a lot of pieces or space to play).

Ghost Blitz / Geist Blitz.
10 minute fast-grab game. The epitome of a simple-to-learn game which works for all ages; there are four figurines, each a different color.  You flip over a card which will show an illustration of two of the figurines and two of the colors.  Grab the figure which isn't represented at all on the card and you get a point. 

Spot it!
10 minute fast-grab game.  Multiple ways of playing, but each involves matching symbols on your circular cards to other cards as fast as you can.  Easy to learn. There's a junior version for kids < 8.

Bang!  A turn-based group card game for 3-7 people. 15-30 minutes. Each player starts as a renegade, outlaw, deputy or the sheriff, but no one else knows what you are (except for the sheriff).  Outlaws want to kill the sheriff, renegades want to kill everyone and the deputies want to keep the sheriff alive. Cards can be played to attack, heal or defend against others, but who's good and who's bad?

Munchkin. Turn-based group card game.  30-45min. Munchkin basically spoofs the D&D games, with "weapons" like "a really long pointy stick". You gain levels by slaying monsters, and the game encourages you to both team up with other players and then stab them in the back when it's convenient.  The game motto sums it up pretty nicely: Steal the treasure, slay the dragon, stab your buddy. Bonus: the game favors people who are behind, so even if you "die" early on there's a reasonable chance you could still come back to win.

Royale with Moustache

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #20 on: January 04, 2017, 09:33:50 AM »

I've never played Pandemic in a way that my wife enjoyed it. Keep trying to get another chance, but she is pretty much against it now. Oops!


Is it because you end up quarterbacking? I am always afraid I end up just telling people what to do on cooperative games, that's part of the reason I like Hanabi. It's a cooperative deduction game where you can see everyone's hands except your own. Since giving hints about someone's hand costs you a token, you have to be careful giving out clues.

I've also been enjoying Camel Cup/Up, it's a silly party game where you bet on which camel is going to win the round.

In general I tend to play more strategic games rather than party games, some of my current favorites are:
Concordia
Tzolk'in
Caverna
Galaxy Trucker
Terra Mystica

neo von retorch

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #21 on: January 04, 2017, 09:53:10 AM »
Is it because you end up quarterbacking? I am always afraid I end up just telling people what to do on cooperative games, that's part of the reason I like Hanabi. It's a cooperative deduction game where you can see everyone's hands except your own. Since giving hints about someone's hand costs you a token, you have to be careful giving out clues.

Pretty much this! In the moment, I'm like "the best way for the team to win is if you..." but obviously that takes the fun out of making decisions for yourself!

I've also been enjoying Camel Cup/Up, it's a silly party game where you bet on which camel is going to win the round.

In general I tend to play more strategic games rather than party games, some of my current favorites are:
Concordia
Tzolk'in
Caverna
Galaxy Trucker
Terra Mystica

Pretty much a list of games I want... but don't have yet! I've played Camel Cup/Up and it is fun, and I'm sure my wife would like it.
I have Viticulture/Tuscany so I probably won't get Concordia for a while (though they play differently, even wine theme for now!)
Really want Caverna and Terra Mystica... when the price is right.

The Happy Philosopher

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #22 on: January 04, 2017, 10:27:37 AM »
Just got Castles of Mad King Ludwig which is insanely fun. It's a little like Carcassone and 7 Wonders in that it's a tile based building game, but there are multiple ways to score points and every player will be going after different bonuses. Current favorite.

AlwaysBeenASaver

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #23 on: January 08, 2017, 07:21:16 PM »
I am a fan of "Sentinels of the Multiverse."

You, as a team of 3-5 players, fight a villain(s). It is great for families looking to avoid confrontational board games (distinct memories of the bloodbath that was playing Monopoly with my father come to mind). It is strategic, and, with expansions, has over 35 heroes to choose from and well over 20 villains. The games never get boring.

This sounds interesting.  I will look into this.  Thanks!

We play this game too, with just 2 players, and it's a lot of fun!

AlwaysBeenASaver

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #24 on: January 08, 2017, 07:24:13 PM »
The wife and I had been playing a lot of Pandemic recently, it is a great 2 player cooperative game.  We just got Duel for Christmas and have put in about 4 or 5 games already, it is also a great 2 player game; think Puerto Rico with a hint of Settlers of Catan, if you are familiar with those.
We were just introduced to Pandemic over Christmas, played with my sister and her husband; great fun game!

The Fake Cheap

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #25 on: January 09, 2017, 06:16:52 PM »
The wife and I had been playing a lot of Pandemic recently, it is a great 2 player cooperative game.  We just got Duel for Christmas and have put in about 4 or 5 games already, it is also a great 2 player game; think Puerto Rico with a hint of Settlers of Catan, if you are familiar with those.

I've never played Pandemic in a way that my wife enjoyed it. Keep trying to get another chance, but she is pretty much against it now. Oops!

Do you mean 7 Wonders: Duel or just Duel (which I have never heard of and am having a tough time finding via Google thanks to the short name?)

Yes, 7 Wonders: Duel.  Sorry I should have clarified.  Just to add that the games are very fast, about 30 mins.

gggggg

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #26 on: January 13, 2017, 01:06:59 AM »
Backgammon, it's the only one besides Monopoly I'm good at. Tried chess for a while, but it requires too much memorization for me.

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #27 on: January 13, 2017, 10:31:13 AM »
From the current stack I've got;

Scythe
Terra Mystica
Castles of Burgundy
Splendor


We went to GenCon this year and that was a lot of fun. Got to see a bunch of different games and games in developement.

I want A Feast for Odin


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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #28 on: January 13, 2017, 10:35:56 AM »
Exploding Kittens with my kids.  They love it.

munchabunch

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #29 on: January 13, 2017, 08:19:40 PM »
I now have much faith in your judgements since I have played a lot of these games and love them as well.

Apparently I desperately need to try Castles of Burgundy.

Also, I cannot believe no one has mentioned Power Grid.  Own a power company, buy fuel and power plants, and dominate a region with your brand.  Some zone claiming, auctioneering, and supply/demand.  Every player has something to do every turn, and the expansions are some of the best I've seen for any board game (just get a new deck of cards!  No extra fancy rules!).

oldtoyota

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #30 on: January 13, 2017, 08:38:20 PM »
Played Headbands today.

We received Catan as a gift and still haven't played!

We play Dictionary. This explains it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictionary

neo von retorch

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #31 on: January 14, 2017, 05:34:22 AM »
You do, it's great. I really like Power Grid but it hasn't gotten much play time here because my wife didn't enjoy the math you do to plan out power stations and fuel purchases (I do!). Good call!

ahoy

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #32 on: January 15, 2017, 02:27:40 PM »
My family and I like:

Battleships
Ticket to Ride
Scattergories
Pictionary
Cluedo
Cranium

Some other good ideas here that I need to check out, so many I have never heard of.


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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #33 on: January 15, 2017, 02:40:28 PM »
From the current stack I've got;

Scythe
...

Ohhh!!  How do you like playing Scythe?  I *really* want that game next, but it's been hard to find and harder to order here in Canada (though I haven't checked since early December).
My biggest challenge with board games is my usual group isn't so keen on learning very complex games.  I worry the learning curve for Scythe would tax them too much...
thoughts?

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #34 on: January 15, 2017, 02:57:17 PM »
Oh Articulate reminds me of Codenames - can't believe I forgot that one. Ideally 4+ players (2 teams). The set up is a 5 x 5 grid of words, and a unique codex for each game that shows the team leaders which of the words are blue spies, red spies, innocent bystanders or the deadly assassin. Their job is to get their team to successfully "make contact" with the red or blue spies. Bystanders just end a turn - but if you "make contact" with an assassin, you lose the game! So the only tool in the leaders' arsenals is the ability to say a single word... and a number. Then the team has to try to figure out which words relate to that initial word (the number being the suggested number of matches.) Then they "make contact" with those spies. It's easier to learn than that paragraph, it's usually only like $12-15, it scales to big teams super well, and everyone really gets into the challenges on either end.

+1 for Codenames. I've brought this to breweries to play with friends and I've brought it to family gatherings. It's always a huge success, and it's just competitive enough.

Also enjoying:

Shadow Hunters- (4-8 players) Hidden identity/survival game where every player is either a Shadow, Hunter, or Neutral character. Shadows have to kill the Hunters, Hunters have to kill the Shadows, and Neutral characters have a bunch of unique, interesting win conditions. It's like Bang!... but the Neutrals make things more interesting.
Love Letter- (2-4 players) Really fast, easy to learn deduction cardgame. < $10 on Amazon.
Marrying Mr Darcy- (2-6 players) Each player is a female character from Pride & Prejudice. Players work to improve themselves (Beauty, Intelligence, etc.) in order to become worthy of the male suitors. Then everyone dukes in out during the "proposal stage" to fight to lock down the best marriage. Highly entertaining, especially when played with dudes.

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #35 on: January 15, 2017, 08:04:24 PM »
From the current stack I've got;

Scythe
...

Ohhh!!  How do you like playing Scythe? ...
thoughts?

Kept an alert on this and told my wife... and she snagged it for me for Christmas. But we have a puppy so I haven't dared try to play it yet! Looking forward to it!

HappierAtHome

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #36 on: January 15, 2017, 08:05:48 PM »
We played Ticket To Ride Europe on the weekend and it was awesome :D

Half Stached

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #37 on: January 15, 2017, 08:30:41 PM »
Through the Ages - we play in person when we can, but always have a game going online as well. I believe we play almost 50 games of this in 2016.

Terraforming Mars - this has become a new favorite over the past couple of months.

Vegas Showdown - this remains a great 60 minute game.

Go - I have one game going at all times with a coworker. We take turns at work when we have a free few minutes; a typical game lasts 2-4 weeks. It's also been fun to read the news about AlphaGo lately.

St. Petersburg - another great 45-60 minute game.

PhysicsCat

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #38 on: January 17, 2017, 05:20:24 AM »
From the current stack I've got;

Scythe
...

Ohhh!!  How do you like playing Scythe?  I *really* want that game next, but it's been hard to find and harder to order here in Canada (though I haven't checked since early December).
My biggest challenge with board games is my usual group isn't so keen on learning very complex games.  I worry the learning curve for Scythe would tax them too much...
thoughts?

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.

As for finding it, I bought it at GenCon and got the expansion at our local gaming store.

svosavvy

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #39 on: January 22, 2017, 10:00:25 AM »
Alhambra- One of my faves.  Teach your kids to be currency traders so they can rule the world.

cavewoman

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #40 on: January 22, 2017, 10:15:28 AM »
Love this thread! I want to get some game nights going at my house.

We started playing games at work on lunch and break. Dominoes, Sushi Go, and lately Phase 10. I'm a rummy player so I really enjoy that one.

rosaz

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #41 on: January 27, 2017, 10:47:51 AM »
Castle Panic - really like that's it's primarily collaborative in nature. It means I can usually let my seven year old win, and still get to enjoy the strategizing :)

money beard

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #42 on: January 27, 2017, 10:56:48 AM »
What no Empires in Arms?

powersuitrecall

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #43 on: January 27, 2017, 11:18:14 AM »
We've got young kids, so DW and I have started playing more 2-player games that are 30 minutes max:

Patchwork - two players compete to build the most aesthetic (and high-scoring) patchwork quilt on a personal 9x9 game board. This one is fun because it requires the management of so many commodities - each piece you choose to add will cost you currency and time (there is only so much time), and will give you board coverage and income ... and there is the pleasing aspect of matching pieces up tetris-style.  DW destroys me pretty much every time and it's still fun to play.

Carcassonne - (described above) We recently added the expansion "Inns and Cathedrals" which is great.

Sushi Go - (described above) works well as a 2 player game

Creatures Great and Small - 2 Player version of Agricola which is also great.

We started playing Monopoly Jr with our 5yo and he loves it.

gp_

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #44 on: January 27, 2017, 06:17:47 PM »
Backgammon, it's the only one besides Monopoly I'm good at. Tried chess for a while, but it requires too much memorization for me.

+1 backgammon!

LindseyC

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #45 on: January 31, 2017, 06:31:24 PM »
We play board games weekly with a giant group. A few of my favourites right now:
Machi Koro
Castles of Burgundy
Celestica
Starfall
Broom Service

neo von retorch

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #46 on: February 01, 2017, 06:40:44 AM »
LindseyC
We LOVE Broom Service @ 4 players. So much fun. A real challenge to use strategy, but undermining each other is excellent!

What are Celestica and Starfall like?

Do you have any expansions for Machi Koro? I play with the original, but with a variant that includes some of the randomness of the expansion.

Castles of Burgundy is nice at 2 players (my wife and I) or more! I'd like to get this on the table more.

LindseyC

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #47 on: February 01, 2017, 07:42:53 AM »
LindseyC
We LOVE Broom Service @ 4 players. So much fun. A real challenge to use strategy, but undermining each other is excellent!

What are Celestica and Starfall like?

Do you have any expansions for Machi Koro? I play with the original, but with a variant that includes some of the randomness of the expansion.

Castles of Burgundy is nice at 2 players (my wife and I) or more! I'd like to get this on the table more.

Sorry my autocorrect corrected to Celestica and I didn't realize, it's actually Celestia. It's a gambling type game where you take turns being a captain fighting against odds and your shipmates bet on whether you can successfully beat the odds for points. It's very easy to explain and a great opener game. I find the more people the better. It can be a game with a lot of laughs as people may or may not try to con you, just because they can!

Starfall is a new one to me. Again a really simple concept game (but tricky to play well) where you are trying to earn points, while preventing others from doing the same. It's an unusual format, but another great opener game because it's quick to explain. Watch a YouTube on this game because being able to see the playing board makes an explanation much easier. :)

Machi Koro is my boyfriends and he does have two expansions for it, I'm not sure which ones (name wise). We play this a lot two player and with multiple people and everyone generally likes this as there are just so many variables to mix up the game. I like the expansions a lot.

Castles of Burgandy has not seen a lot of play despite me dying to play it over and over again until I perfect it. I have not owned it long, but I am thinking about asking some people over just to play it specifically.

We have such a huge group of regular players, I'm lucky to be exposed to more games then I can even remember. I just introduced my parents, who are seniors, to Qwirkle and they are hooked. Luckily I found a brand new copy of it (not even opened) at the thrift store for $3 so I can hook them up when they come back from being snow birds. That was an exciting MMM and board game moment for me!

LindseyC

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #48 on: February 01, 2017, 07:46:48 AM »
Oh I forgot to add, if you like Telestrations you might like the "After Dark" version. We crack it open at parties where we know the guests are there for a laugh and not easily shocked and there are always some pretty hilarious results.

whitedott

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Re: Board Games - what are you playing?
« Reply #49 on: February 01, 2017, 01:53:21 PM »
I just kicked off the Seafall legacy campaign that I was given for Christmas. We've already plowed through the first hidden box and I am salivating over the all of the other things we still have to open and discover.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!