Tabletop/Board Games

[saroufall]

Hey Rebels, I've come to you for some suggestions. I pretty much gave up video games a while back when I decided that I needed to actually start living my real life instead of a virtual one. Since then I've taken up hiking, trail running, mountain biking, and have started reconnecting with old friends. One of these friends invited us over for a game night, and while I expected things like Clue and Risk he introduced us to a whole new world of gaming. And since then we've been hooked. We love games like Eldritch Horror and Pandemic and would like to add some similar games to our collection. But the games don't all have to be long ones; we enjoy shorter ones too like Forbidden Island and Love Letter.

 

Also my oldest son will be turning 7 this year and he's tired of the same old 'roll the dice, move the piece, do whatever the space tells you to do' scenario from most classic board games. While we all love to play Mouse Trap and any of the Cranium games (Hoopla, Cadoo, Sculpturades) hes really taken to games like King of Tokyo and Terror in Meeple City (originally known as Rampage). So I've come to you all; self proclaimed nerds, fitness lovers, and those who like to break a mental sweat too. Do you have and game suggestions, either for family games or just for us older folks?

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

BANG! is a card game that has the oddball mechanics feel of these board games. Each player is a character from the wild west with a secret role (outlaw, renegade, deputy, or sheriff, the sheriff is the only non-secret role), each with differnt win conditions. Good times.

 

Settlers of Catan is a good one as well, simple rules, but can egt very strategic. I like it because people can get as serious or as casual with it as they want, so everyone enjoys it.

 

Frag- basically a firts person shooter turned into a board game. players travel around the map collecting weapons and powerups and try to kill each other.

 

so many others I've played as well. Being a new parent, I'm getting to play them more often as us and a bunch of new parents we know just bring the babies over one person's house when they all crash at 7 and spend 3-4 hours playing board games.

[AugustaAdaByron]

Hey Saroufall,

 

Of all the games you mentioned I've only played Love Letter and I like it. 

 

I have a few games that I can suggest if you want to take a look, although they are probably not similar to the ones you mentioned.

 

• Bohnanza
• Hanabi
• Carcassonne
• Spot it! (aka Dobble)
• Set
• Saboteur

Bohnanza and Hanabi are the ones requiring the most interaction between the players. In Bohnanza you get some cards (each card representing seeds of some type of bean and in each round you either have to plant them or trade them with other players. Objective is to harvest them and make the most money. It can be fun bargaining for the cards with your friends.)

 

In Hanabi the goals are more egalitarian. You hold your cards over your head facing against you so everybody else sees them but you. And you also see the cards of all other players. Whenever it is your turn every other player gives you a hint and you have to guess your cards and throw the most suitable one. It is based a lot on logic.

 

I've probably spent the most time playing Carcassonne though. There are so many expansions of the game that it's hard to get bored of it. I'm not sure how to describe it with a few words.

 

Spot it needs observational skills and speed. There are many variants of the game that you can play with a set of cards. There is a deck of cards each having 8 drawings on top. Each two cards have only one drawing in common. In a variant of the game, each round a card is placed on the table and you have to find the common drawing with the card that you're holding and say it out loud. The fastest one wins the card.

 

Set also needs good observational skills and speed. In every round 9 or 12 cards are on the table and you have to find a set of 3 with some specific properties. Every time you find a set you take the cards and 3 new cards are opened on the table. Again the objective is to find the most sets first.

 

Saboteur is fun but can get boring. You've got to dig for gold. A set of players are gold-diggers and another set are saboteurs. The gold-diggers want, each one of them, to find the gold first. The saboteurs want to prevent them. (If you have any trolls in your company you may get a gold-digger who trolls and behaves as saboteur. It confuses everybody but you'll get a laugh in the end.)

[Why not?]

+1 for Settlers

 

+900 for Carcassonne

 

Also, Small World is a new favorite that I've recently picked up. It's kind of like a more entertaining, shorter version of Risk.

 

Ticket to Ride is also excellent.

[AugustaAdaByron]

Ticket to Ride is also excellent.

 

I was sure I would forget at least one game.

[Skibbles]

Argh Tabletop games are my favorite! You mentioned Pandemic and Forbidden Island (Try Forbidden Desert as well, it's pretty darn fun). I love games that have a level of cooperative play to them. Two that I've been playing quite a bit lately are Shadows Over Camelot and Betrayal at House on the Hill. They both have a fun traitor aspect as well.

 

SoC is similar to pandemic, Achieve a certain goal before a number of lose conditions happen. I like it because it allows for up to 7 players, plus I'm an Arthur fan so a Camelot themed game was right up my alley.

 

BaHotH...eh maybe I'll call it Betrayal. Anyways Betrayal is quickly becoming a favorite. The balance is slightly off I think with some items and events. But the traitor mechanic is so darn fun! Can be played with up to 6 as well. I'd say not quite as strategic as the others, but really a good time, especially if your group gets into it. I played this a few times with my group and quickly bought it myself!

 

I'll second Gainsdalf with Settlers, it is one of the few non cooperative boardgames my fiancee likes, it is a classic and rightly so.

 

I've never played any Augusta mentioned, but I've seen Carcassonne brought up everywhere, and that tells me it is probably great as well.

Another game that I absolutely love is Resistance! I've gotten almost all my friends hooked on this one, more a card game than a board game, and more a social experiment than anything else. It is really fun. 5-10 players, and the group is split into two teams. There are bad guys and good guys. The bad guys will know who each other are, but the good guys won't know anything. Through gameplay lasting 5 rounds, it is up to the good guys to figure out who their evil infiltrators are!

 

I could keep going but I'll let others chime in. I love Tabletop games, have fun getting involved with them!

[JesterShay]

Yay for tabletop games. I will second Ticket to Ride. I think it's probably good for kids. We don't have any kids who can play yet in my group (all under the age of 3), so my suggestions are mainly for adults.

Lords of Waterdeep - you don't need to know anything about Forgotten Realms to play it. Goal is to complete the most quests for points, but there is lots of strategy because you play as one of the lords and which quests are better for you will change. Twice as fun with the expansion.

Dominion - a card game where you build the deck as you go. Tons of expansions and great replay value, as some of the cards are randomly selected each time.

Eclipse - a long game with a big setup, but kinda like board game Civilization in space. Settle planets to get resources, to build ships, to get more planets to get more resources and eventually have a big space battle to win the game.

My friends have tons of games, but those are the ones that everyone is always excited to play. Also, if you want to see if you might like a game, I recommend searching for youtube videos. There are quite a few people that review board games or nerd celebrities that play.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Lords of Waterdeep - you don't need to know anything about Forgotten Realms to play it. Goal is to complete the most quests for points, but there is lots of strategy because you play as one of the lords and which quests are better for you will change. Twice as fun with the expansion.

 

Lords of Waterdeep is a fun one. Sort of like Caylus, another one that is tons of fun if you haven't played it.

[JesterShay]

Lords of Waterdeep is a fun one. Sort of like Caylus, another one that is tons of fun if you haven't played it.

I haven't. It does look like it would be similar, but with the ability for players to influence how fast the game is? I'm definitely going to be using this thread to get ideas of games to add to the collection.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I haven't. It does look like it would be similar, but with the ability for players to influence how fast the game is? I'm definitely going to be using this thread to get ideas of games to add to the collection.

 

Caylus is the game that invented the worker placement mechanic if I'm not mistaken, all the others borrowing from it. Each turn, you place the workers, gain resources, and build various things for points, those things becoming new spots to place the workers that produce more resources or do other things when you put the wokrer on them that turn. You basically build the board for points as the game goes on, with various ways to win the game.

[emyerson]

My 7 year old and I have been playing Splendor pretty much non-stop since I introduced him to it. We can generally get through a game in about 20 minutes.

[MegaCarp]

I've actually played several games that are pretty fun. You can play a nice racing game like Formula D, or you can be superheroes with Sentinels of the Multiverse. Other games I've enjoyed playing with my 7 year old nephew has been Boss Monster (They have a Kickstarter for Boss Monster 2) and I think if I had it he would enjoy Takenoko or Takaido. I'm impressed that you have him playing Eldritch Horror, that's rather impressive. 

 

If you do like those cooperative games that the game turns on you, I'd suggest Robinson Crusoe. Its dang hard, but I think you'd feel very fulfilled after winning. If I were home I'd go through my shelf. Another type of table top game would be Wings of Glory where you can fly around little plastic planes and try to shoot each other down. Plus the game is very expandable by getting new planes. I like the WWI variant the best because WWI planes are cool. 

[Harbard]

I love this thread!  I have a group of friends from all over the country that get together once a year to do nothing but reconnect and play board games.  

 

As far as games to play with family/children (to repeat some of the suggestions from above):

• Ticket to Ride
• Splendor
• Seven Wonders
• Agricola (family variation)
• Blokus
• King of Tokyo / King of New York

Two Player Abstracts that I love (old chess fan):

• Duke
• Hive

All out nerd fests that would be great for a group of adult game fanatics:

• Battlestar Galactica
• Terra Mystica
• Hansa Teutonica
• Lancaster
• Twilight Imperium (if you have a full day to burn, and friendships that can withstand it)

Awesome party games:

• Reverse Charades
• Ultimate Werewolf
• Tumbling Dice (especially if you're playing with enhanced beverages)

[Harbard]

Sorry.  Double posted

[saroufall]

Wow, so many awesome suggestions, you guys rock! I had to look up a few of these and I ended up coming across a youtube show called "

" with Wil Wheaton. Him and a few other 'nerd celebrities' describe and play through a different game each episode, so you kind of get a feel for the game. A few episodes had some of these games that you mentioned.

 

I'm thinking of picking up Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne to play with the family, and maybe Lords of Waterdeep and Ultimate Werewolf for my friends and I (someone else recently grabbed a copy of Catan). But I will certainly be adding these all to my wishlist so that I can add them to our collection.

[Oramac]

Hey there!  I'm coming in late, but I wanted to throw out one of my all-time favorite games: Cards Against Humanity.  

 

Fair warning though: it is not for the younglings.  Definitely need to have an open mind and something resembling maturity to play.  But if the people you're playing with have those, it's quite possibly the most fun I've ever had during a card game. 

[Why not?]

• Seven Wonders
• King of Tokyo

+1 for these as well

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Hey there!  I'm coming in late, but I wanted to throw out one of my all-time favorite games: Cards Against Humanity.  

 

Fair warning though: it is not for the younglings.  Definitely need to have an open mind and something resembling maturity to play.  But if the people you're playing with have those, it's quite possibly the most fun I've ever had during a card game. 

 

We have it and the expansions. It's REALLY fun at first, but gets played out quick when you're playing it every other weekend for a year.

[MegaCarp]

Yea, CAH gets run down real fast, and I think the idea pool is running out of gas too as I've seen the latest revision and the cards are just meh. 

 

So thinking of more games for kids, there is Fish Eat Fish which is awesome and a cute little game. I also know of Magblast which is a solid game (although I admit, I've not played in awhile). +1 for Terra Mystica. Played it once and it was awesome. As for 7 Wonders, I know lots of people love it, but because to me the scoring requires a doctorate degree in Particle Physics (not just how to score the points, but what resources you have at your disposal, and how to gauge what to do in order to get said points) I feel that it's hell on Earth and I've told anyone that if I'm forced to play I deserve a Nerf Gun. 

 

Congrats on finding Tabletop, yes it is extremely fun to watch and I get lots of game ideas on it. Hopefully you didn't miss International TableTop Day from Saturday. (I saw Crusoe played that day, played Eldritch Horror, then Scoville, followed by Spyfall, and then a game of Sheriff of Nottingham, but in the background people played Wits and Wagers and Black Fleet ((again, another good game))) If you like dice rolling/worker placement there is a game called Alien Frontiers that's pretty neat. If you like cute little games, you could play Coup or Resistance(Its like Love Letter) or Hanabi. 

 

If you need ideas/suggestions, or even just hints on where to find great deals feel free to contact me. (like I stalk Target online for Takenoko because they have a deal with Asmodee and Miniature Market will always have an awesome Black Friday sale on Boardgames...I generally burn through a few hundred on day 1 of the sale). 

[CrackerWatson]

A game with friends - Pirate Flux (a card game), not sure how child friendly it is, not sure if it has an age attached, I played it at an Ale Festival (which may have helped) and had a great evening!

[Son of Rylos]

I'm going to drop some of my Tabletop knowledge. I'm usually a big fan of the co-operative games that are everyone vs. the game mechanics. Pandemic and the Forbidden games (Island and Desert) are ones I play regularly. Echoing many others and I agree with Ticket to Ride (though if you start with the original, get the 1910 expansion immediately, it helps a lot). Splendor my family got for me for Christmas and it's definitely a good one. With the young one, there is a quick one (with many expansions) called Timeline. It can also double as a great tool for learning about history.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I always feel bad buying them online. I really want to support my local gamestore/MTG shop, but their prices are consistantly 50% or so higher, amounting to $20-30 sometimes.

[MegaCarp]

Yea, Gainsdalf...you know me, if its $5..I'd probably support, but when we get to 15 or 20...its so hard to justify

[honeybadger]

Some very kid friendly games that are really fun to play-

 

Qwirkle

Pass the Pigs

Pit

Blokus

[emyerson]

I bought a Kickstarter game a while back called "Blurble". It's basically a deck of 250 cards, each with an illustration of a concrete (and usually easily identified) noun (banana, monkey, ice cream, truck, you get the idea). There are rules for the basic game, which has to do with shouting out some other noun that starts with the same letter, but in a household like ours, there are LOTS of games you can play with a deck like that. We've turned it into:

• Lego Creationary (because of course)
• Story Challenge (continue the collaborative story using whatever is on the next card)
• Find the connection (we take turns laying out cards from our hand that have something - even something very tenuous - in common with the previous card. Things like "Both are foods", "Both start with 'P'", "Both are green", "Neither one is a thing currently in our kitchen", etc)
• We haven't yet used it for charades or pictionary, but both would be suitable