I need a recommendation on what to get rid of. I have too many games ( I know is that even possible)
Well ones you have no plans on playing will be a good start…
— Alan
It helps to sort your games on BGG just to put your games in perspective relative to how often you play and how much you like them. I saw my low scores for Dominion against the generally high opinion there and I felt pretty comfortable in parting with it knowing that things just hadn’t worked out, for instance.
ckessel
4005
Settlers of Catan is still one of the best gateway games. It’s very simple to learn and has decent player interaction with trading. Despite preferring heavy games myself, I’ll rarely turn down a casual game of Settlers even today.
For card games, Gordon had a good list. I’ll add:
Wyatt Earp (better with 3 than 4 though)
Fairy Tale works very well with 4, but has a card familiarity curve
Dominion
The Miskatonic School for Girls Deck Building Game Kickstarter has been doing well. As they are hitting stretch goals, they are offering additional stickers in the box and some exclusive cards that only backers will get.
It’s starting to be a better deal now that you get more exclusive stuff with the kickstarter (though I can obviously live without stickers. It’s more cards I really like).
Wendelius
guppy
4007
I’m trying to organize a monthly board game night for a disparate, not wholly regular group. I have no experience doing this, and it presents a variety of challenges. I would welcome some advice on these points and any others that I might have missed.
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Game selection. My main options seem to be either to pick every game myself, or to have a rotating member select the game each time. I think I’d like to do the latter, which presents some challenges of its own.
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Player experience. Some of the people involved in this have significant board game experience; others have virtually none besides games like Monopoly. Not everyone is going to have a favorite game they want to introduce to the group. Plus, we have to choose games that are simple enough to avoid overwhelming newbies but deep enough to keep the veterans happy.
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Player number. This unfortunately may be variable. I expect it to be in the range of 4-6, generally, and probably never more than eight tops. I don’t know how to square this with the problems that might arise when it’s someone’s turn to pick a game and they want to play a four-player game but we have six players.
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Game rotation. What if we find a game that we like a lot? Is that something we play once a month for several months running? How do you decide how long before you move on to a new game? It seems crazy to buy a new game every time, but I don’t want people to get bored and I don’t want them to feel like their turn will never come. This also seems like a problem with the monthly format, but my friends and I are busy and coordinating a group with this many people all with different schedules makes doing it more often problematic.
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Game selection. I am a bit concerned about finding games that are simple enough for newbies to quickly grasp and enjoy but deep enough to keep veterans happy.
I’d also welcome recommendations for this group. I don’t care for Catan; I’ve played Carcassonne and it is decent but I am tired of it. I’ve played Kill Doctor Lucky, and I recently played (an older version of) Cosmic Encounter, which seemed pretty good. I’ve played Dominion but i think it would overwhelm our very green players. I would like either games that take an hour or two to play, or games that are brief but fun to play several rounds of. Let’s tentatively set a hard upper bound of three hours at the very most.
Feel free to tell me that I’m going about this all wrong too. Like I said, no experience at all.
Dean
4008
All I could think of at this point in your post was a dildo spinner. That would be cool!
But seriously, you’re overthinking it. Get some people, tell them to bring games, spend the first half-hour or hour choosing what you want to play that night. Too many metarules would turn me off and make me not want to come.
“This week John decides the game, Bob and Eric must bring food, and George is bringing the beer. George, no more weird microbrews that give everyone gas.”
It’s a social thing. Be social.
If there are more than five people, I think it usually works best if someone holds up a game and says, “I really want to play this! Anyone else want to?” I have yet to see that approach fail to get things going very quickly.
guppy
4010
Good advice. Thanks guys.
mkozlows
4011
Also, Dominion really isn’t too scary for novices. My mom plays it fine, and she’s the person who said, of Citadels, “oh, it’s kind of like Monopoly.”
There have been a bunch of good suggestions already. I’d add Bohnanza, a trading game that has never failed to win over new gamers. I’d also swap out Tichu for Gang of Four, as the latter uses the same core principles but is much, much easier to grasp and doesn’t require partners. If they like it, switch over to Tichu as soon as possible as it’s one of the best card games ever.
GMT Games’ Fall Sale ends today.
— Alan
Alan_Au
4014
Choosing games?
Usually it’s host’s choice. Of course, at the game days I attend, there are enough people that we can have multiple games going. Generally, there’s a suggestion, and maybe 1-2 people want to play something in particular. Other players have veto rights, or with enough people, those players can just opt out and play something else.
For beginners, I like Catan and Carcasonne, but if you don’t like 'em… Hmmm, maybe try Ticket to Ride? Citadels is fairly straightforward. Bohnanza, Bang!, and Guillotine are also pretty easy to pick up. For something more social, you could try Apples to Apples. Some people like Fluxx, but I’m not a big fan of it.
How many times have you played Dominion? I played it once not long after Intrigue had come out, with a bunch of people who were raving about it, and I just didn’t get the appeal at all. I tried it again earlier this year, and it instantly became my favorite game ever. And I’ve heard similar from a few people: on the first play-through, it seems needlessly unpredictable, but after a few games it becomes clear.
In any case, I’d second mkozlows that Dominion isn’t too complex for newcomers. I’ve been surprised at how quickly other people pick it up and enjoy it. Even players I don’t think are going to “get it” have gotten impatient with me trying to explain the rules and strategies and just want to start playing.
I’m going to be in Chicago this weekend visiting the in-laws, and we’re all going to the Chicago Toy and Game show. It looks like a very different set of companies than the ones I’m familiar with - I only recognize a couple on the exhibitor list. Is anyone familiar enough with what’s showing there to make recommendations of what I should check out?
Did anyone ever create an iOS board game thread? Several things dropped out of the blue today, including Ticket to Ride Pocket, Keltis Oracle HD, Brawl, and Forbidden Island. They all look great, too. I also saw that after Caylus is released for iOS the company plans to make Eclipse for iPad. That’s nuts.
I grabbed Tigris & Euphrates today but haven’t played it yet.
Ooh, Forbidden Island. Could Pandemic be far behind?
Edit: Jesus, what a beautiful presentation from an app that no one saw coming from a company no one had heard of.
Just to note, it’s Keltis HD. Keltis Oracle is actually a universal app.
IainC
4019
Rio Grande make exceptional board games, definitely worth checking them out.
Mayfair are another company with a great line up, a lot of licensed games from other publishers.
Asmodée are a French company that mostly makes card games, I have some of their stuff and they are fun for quick games especially with people who aren’t so into boardgames.
Whoops, good call. I’ve had Keltis Oracle for years so I should have known the difference.
Wish they had ported Lost Cities: The Board Game instead since it has a lot of similarities but I vastly prefer it, but the way things are going I wouldn’t be surprised if they do that later.
