What sort of Board Games do you Play (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

I tried Munchkin a couple weeks ago, and it was a failure.

The soon-to-be-husband had bought it, to play with his kids. But he had never played before, and hadn't read the rules. I've played a game of Munchkin once, a year ago. So I took over the rules and worked to figure out the game and explain as it we played. And Munchkin doesn't seem to have the clearest rules, with a snarky style best meant for teenage boys. Twenty minutes later, his fiancé and my wife were very frustrated and we gave up.

Carcassone Discovery went over much better. It's Carcassone "light", with a simplified scoring system that takes out the Farmers. It's easy to explain and simpler to play.

 

[DaveF]

Lost Citieshttp://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/50/lost-citiesA two player game. Friends lent it to me, said I should try it. I played a game of three rounds tonight. I'm not sure yet. It's easy and fast to play, and has a nice tactical tension. But the scoring is burdensome, taking a tedious amount of time, requiring calculators. I don't quite 'get' it yet. I need another few rounds to grasp the core strategy.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Lost Cities is a minor classic, but it may be showing its age a bit. There's a whole series of 2-players games from Kosmos in those small square boxes, and almost all of them are worth playing.

Geeklist of Kosmos 2-Player Games

There's a board game version of Lost Cities that handles up to 4 players that is pretty fun too.

 

[DaveF]

I created a Lost Cities scoring spreadsheet, so I can quickly tally a game on my iPad. That improves the game a lot!I uploaded it to BGG, but I don't see it there yet.Edit: it was rejected. Apparently no one has heard of the esoteric "iPad" or lesser known "iPhone". (Sigh)Thanks for the link to the two-player games. I'm wasting a lot of time lately reading BGG reviews and discussion on new and old games.

 

[DaveF]

A couple of games of Ticket to Ride and a couple of Acquire. I've had mixed feelings about Acquire in the past, but I've come to appreciate it. It's a good American boardgame, with a solid dose of chance, that requires short and long-term play.http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5/acquire

 

[Northgun]

Just ordered the newest Talisman Expansion: The Woodlands. My friends and I are quite excited to finally have the forth corner. A few weeks ago I also picked up three expansions for Arkham Horror and will be trying them out this coming Tuesday.

 

[DaveF]

Got the Ticket to Ride: Alvin and Dexter expansion for my Birthday Looking forward to trying it
http://www.daysofwonder.com/tickettoride/en/alvin-dexter/

 

[Al.Anderson]

Question for you board gamers - my son and his friends like to get together and invent games. Sometime they do it clean slate, other times they mash games together. (Risk-opoly is a staple.) Is there a board game (not D&D) that allows the players to mold the game?

And by the way, we're talking college-age guys.

 

[Carabimero]

Pandemic is our favorite board game of all time, with the expansion packs. Forbidden Island is also a close second, but the island is constantly sinking during the game, so I am not sure it it qualifies as it doesn't have a stable board. You can't go wrong with either Pandemic or Forbidden Island, preferably both.

 

[DaveF]

There's a game to suit every interest the trick is finding it.I personally don't know of games that let you fundamentally rewrite the rules like they want to do. But games with flexibility includeominion. Card games, where every games has a different mix of cards, that give specific behaviors to modify gameplay.http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominionRoborally a race game where you create commands to execute your racer. But they interact with your opponents, which lead to new possibly unplanned consequences. http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18/roborallyX-Wing Miniatures. I understand it has a lot of flexibility in game tactics and scenarioshttp://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/103885/star-wars-x-wing-miniatures-gameNetrunner. Very popular card game (deck building game). Choice of cards in a deck sets your powers and how you interact with your opponent bhttp://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124742/android-netrunner

 

[Bob_S.]

I have a seasonal site at a campground and my fellow campers introduced my family to "Greed". It's a dice game but a lot of fun we spent many a night playing that. Also played "HedBanz" which was a lot of fun. My son is always pestering me to play Monopoly but it just takes too long for me. Other games I enjoy playing are Stratego (haven't played that in a long time), Pictionary, Electronic Battleship. There was a Star Wars board game back in the 80's that I had and I enjoyed playing that too.

Also had a game called "221B Baker Street". It was a Sherlock Holmes game that was really cool to play.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Question for you board gamers - my son and his friends like to get together and invent games. Sometime they do it clean slate, other times they mash games together. (Risk-opoly is a staple.) Is there a board game (not D&D) that allows the players to mold the game?

And by the way, we're talking college-age guys.

They might enjoy Risk: Legacy. The idea is that you play it multiple times, and each time, you make permanent changes to the game based on what happened that session. Switch out cards, write stuff on the board, etc. I haven't tried it myself, but it's very popular.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/105134/risk-legacy

What's different is that Risk Legacy' changes over time based on the outcome of each game and the various choices made by players. In each game, players choose one of five factions; each faction has uniquely shaped pieces, and more importantly, different rules. At the start of the first game, each of these factions gains the ability to break one minor rule, such as the ability to move troops at any time during your turn, as opposed to only at the end.
What makes this game unique is that when powers are chosen, players must choose one of their faction's two powers, affix that power's sticker to their faction card, then destroy the card that has the other rule on it – and by destroy, the rules mean what they say: "If a card is DESTROYED, it is removed from the game permanently. Rip it up. Throw it in the trash." This key concept permeates through the game. Some things you do in a game will affect it temporarily, while others will affect it permanently. These changes may include boosting the resources of a country (for recruiting troops in lieu of the older "match three symbols" style of recruiting), adding bonuses or penalties to defending die rolls to countries, or adding permanent continent troop bonuses that may affect all players.
The rule book itself is also designed to change as the game continues, with blocks of blank space on the pages to allow for rules additions or changes. Entire sections of rules will not take effect until later in the game. The game box contains different sealed packages and compartments, each with a written condition for opening. The rule book indicates that these contain the rule additions, additional faction powers, and other things that should not be discussed here for spoiler protection.
The winner of each of the first 15 games receives a "major bonus," such as founding a major city (which only he will be allowed to start on in future games), deleting a permanent modifier from the board, destroying a country card (preventing it from providing any resources towards purchasing troops in future games), changing a continent troop bonus, or naming a continent, which gives that player a troop bonus in future games. Players who did not win but were not eliminated are allowed to make minor changes to the world, such as founding a minor city or adding resources to a country.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Thanks for all the great ideas! Of the bunch, Risk Legacy (which I can't believe I never heard of) is a slam dunk. And I found one by accident as I was researching the ones you gave me that sounds like a good match - Cards Against Humanity (even though it breaks the rule and is not a board game). And I think I'm going to pick up Dominion for me. (Best part of gift shopping!)

Thanks again all!

 

[DaveF]

They might enjoy Risk: Legacy. The idea is that you play it multiple times, and each time, you make permanent changes to the game based on what happened that session. Switch out cards, write stuff on the board, etc. I haven't tried it myself, but it's very popular.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/105134/risk-legacy

Good suggestion. That flitted through my brain and then I forgot it. I'm not a Risk player, but Legacy is a clever idea.

A marginal option is Small World
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-world
It's a good game, easy to pickup. And while the rules and map are fixed, the fantasy races you play get mixed up. They're a random matching of "race" and "bonus ability", which modifies your strategy slightly every game.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Ooh, Small World is another good option.

 

[Northgun]

Just bought the Forest Expansion for Talisman, quite pleased with it after a play through. My friends and I are now heavily considering Mage Wars. We've never been big trading card game players, but this looks like quite a bit of fun.

 

[Ejanss]

Got the Ticket to Ride: Alvin and Dexter expansion for my Birthday Looking forward to trying it
http://www.daysofwonder.com/tickettoride/en/alvin-dexter/

A monster expansion of the already crack-addictive Ticket to Ride?

I was only exposed to it a year and a half ago, and now wish I'd found this post before last Christmas.
(Had family that exposed me to it, but they're the ones who have the copy...And probably too late, too, as the oldest kid is now going off to college and majoring in game design.)

 

[Northgun]

Ending up getting the Miskatonic Horror Expansion for Arkham Horror for Christmas. The expansions I already own have added so much already. I cant wait to see what else this expansion adds!

 

[Mark Booth]

We played 'Cards Against Humanity' for the first time on New Year's Eve. OMG, was it a LOT of fun! But it's most definitely NOT a game for prudes or anyone with sensitive sensibilities. If you've never watched an XXX rated movie, then you should probably avoid 'Cards Against Humanity'!

BTW, in addition to the original starter set (of cards), we also got the first CAH expansion pack. The politically incorrect (and downright dirty) craziness continues (if not getting more intense) in the expansion pack.

Mark

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Just bought the Forest Expansion for Talisman, quite pleased with it after a play through. My friends and I are now heavily considering Mage Wars. We've never been big trading card game players, but this looks like quite a bit of fun.

I hear great things about Mage Wars. Sounds like it can get really involved with the spell books!