There are tons of board games out there, and I feel as though I’m probably missing out on some great ones.
So, tell me about your favorites; what they’re about, what is unique, why you like them, etc.
I’m partial to Trivial Pursuit.
Though not technically a board game, my sister and I enjoy Crack the Case. It’s a box filled with mysteries, and you’re supposed to ask yes or no questions to figure out what’s going on.
For instance:
Someone threw paint on her fur coat, and she was happy it happened.
The “she” is a baby harp seal, and the paint meant she couldn’t be killed for her coat.
Without a doubt, my favorite board game growing up was the originalWa-Hoo (can’t believe I found it, let alone can buy a set). We played this all the time as a family and had a ball.
Any games that were harder, more strategic, or took longer were usually abandoned, so while I liked Monopoly, Risk, and (later) Trivial Pursuit, I really had nobody to play with (since my family was usually not interested, outmatched, or both).
But Wa-Hoo? That was the universal game for us and I have a lot of great memories of game nights playing it.
My boyfriend and I are huge fans of board games. Our current favorites:
Puerto Rico - who knew it could be so much fun to grow coffee, sugar and tobacco and then ship it? This is my personal favorite because for some reason I tend to be really good at Puerto Rico.
Agricola - holy crap, this game is complicated. I love it although I always seem to lose. I had to play it 3 times before I really started to enjoy it, but now I LOVE it! There are so many aspects to focus on - growing crops, raising lifestock, starting a family, expanding your house. You need to get the right resources, make sure there’s enough food! I hope that doesn’t sound boring, there are a lot of turns but I always wish the game lasted twice as long.
Bonus - pictures of an actual game!
Carcassonne - I’m actually not a HUGE fan, but everyone else likes it. I never win this one and can never seem to figure out the strategy for scoring well, although I’ve played it a bunch
Primordial Soup - you get to be a little amoeba and eat/excrete. Bonus points for getting to say “poop” a lot.
Vinci - tragically out of print. Create a civilization, rise to greatness, crush your enemies, eventually collapse, create a new civilization to re-conquer!
Power Grid - figure out how to successfully expand and power your cities, fair amount of strategy involved.
Facebook privacy being all crazy:
Here’s a link to an album of photos playing games!
A fun game my whole family likes. Two keys to winning (for me) are getting a couple of farms, and keeping most of my meeples invested at any time, but with some flexibility around getting one back if I need it.
I used to like Diplomacy a lot, but seven players really is optimal, and that’s hard to get (and playing by mail is less fun).
I own **Puerto Rico **but have only played it once; it was a lot of fun, but my kids aren’t there yet. I also get endorsements of **Agricola **and **Power Grid ** from friends.
**Acquire **is a good sort of uber-Monopoly game, with fairly simple rules.
We’ve been playing a game called Kremlin a lot lately. It involves creating secret influence over Politburo politicians, and then revealing that influence as they make decisions and rise through the ranks. Because everyone around the table can put 1, 2, 3, and so on up to 10 “influence points” on exactly 10 different politicians (out of I think, 23?) you never know where you stand as someone rises to power…you could maneuver someone to the top, only to find out someone else really controls them. The winner is the one who controls politicians who manage to wave from the Red Square parade podium in 3 different years.
Hmmm, I see Munchkin in the stack there. I never know whether to recommend that to people or not.
That is actually a friend’s stack of games (just happened to be in my photo album). I’ve never played Munchkin!
Parcheesi has always been my favorite. Aggravation is a modern, updated version.
I like them both.
I liked Monopoly as a kid. It’s hard to find anyone willing to commit 4 hours to a game these days.
I still play Yahtzee with friends.
Welcome to the Boards, Archie. We have a separate forum for all discussion of games and sports, The Game Room, whither I’ll move this for you. It’s not a big deal to start a thread in the wrong forum, but you might benefit from reviewing forum descriptions.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
“I propose this thread be relocated!” moved Twickster.
Oops. Wrong thread.
I like a bunch of the games on Glory’s list, especially Puerto Rico. I echo her comments exactly on Carcassonne…fun, not necessarily my favorite, but I have a couple friends who love it, and nobody dislikes it.
Dominion, although not strictly a board game (it uses cards) is a really fun game that is both fast paced and has enough strategy and variation to be interesting while not being overwhelming to learn.
Settlers of Catan is still the best game ever, as far as I’m concerned. I really think it’s as close to a perfect board game as I’ve played. It’s not my most played game these days, but it’s one that you can always pull out and have fun with. For a bit more complexity, I really like the Cities & Knights expansion as well.
I think of Dominion as a board game. It’s not really what you think of as a “card game” per se. The expansions are really nice as well, incidentally.
MrWhatsit brought a copy of Galaxy Trucker home from our local board gaming club’s library last week, and I wanted to play it obsessively. It’s pretty expensive but I think I really want to get a copy. Basically you have a pool of ship component tiles in the middle of the board, and you have a limited time to build your ship as quickly as possible, with certain criteria in mind (i.e., the tiles have to fit together a certain way, you can’t have engines pointing directly towards living compartments, you need to have weapons to defend against asteroids, etc.) It’s really, really fun and very replayable.
Other favorites in the Whatsit household, many of which have been already mentioned:
Agricola, Power Grid, Carcassonne (although we kind of burned out on this a few years ago and haven’t pulled it out much lately), Settlers of Catan, Fury of Dracula (love!), Twilight Struggle (fantastic 2-player political simulation game), Le Havre, St. Petersburg, San Juan (hey, why do so many of these games have place names as their title?), Bohnanza, Caylus, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a skrillion more.
Interesting, I thought the game thread was for sports and athlete discussions. Not kids playing Go Fish.
I’m glad now, I didn’t start a thread about card games.
We just bought Dominion but we haven’t played it yet. It’s a four person game and our group is usually 5 people. Good to hear positive feedback!
We have Settlers of Cataan (and tons of expansions), but I just can’t get in to it for some reason. It’s just okay for me.
For a group of middle-skill gamers, nothing beats a competitive game of Agricola Agricola | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
If it is my history-buff friend and I sitting around nerding it up for a day, I can’t recommend Twilight Struggle enough.
FYI, the Dominion: Intrigue expansion allows you to play with up to 6 players.
I still have a nice collection of Avalon Hill games that I will play with my son when he gets older (if he’s interested): Midway, Afrika Korps, Guadalcanal, Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, and lots of others that I’ve had since I was a kid. That ought to keep us busy for a few years or so.
I also enjoy the old Milton Bradley Gamemaster series. Probably my favorite of the series, ironically enough, is Broadsides and Boarding Parties, by far the shortest and easiest of the bunch.
I used to have an intact, working copy of Dark Tower, but alas, that was destroyed by neglect on my behalf. It would be worth a fortune now. Fun to play, if a bit random.
Another fun game that I still play regularly is Scotland Yard. Fun, simple game that has all manner of complexities.
Last, I can play Othello/Reversi all day long. A minute to learn, a lifetime to master, they say. They’re absolutely right.
I like Reversi. This is a grid of squares, 8 x 8, and 64 playing pieces. One side of each token is white, one is black. You don’t move your pieces, you place them, and if you can trap your opponents pieces between yours in a straight line, you get to flip them over to your color. A properly placed piece can flip over several lines (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal) and completely change the appearance of the playing field. Some game company or other put this game out under the name of Othello, and the advertising said “A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.” I think this is true…it’s very easy to learn the simple rule of the game. It’s NOT so easy to learn how to place the tokens to best effect.
Nobody in my family will play this game with me any more. ;D Not even if I offer to let them have another starting token. Fortunately for me, I can find online players who don’t know me.
I also like Clue and Dune. I don’t know if Cosmic Encounter counts as a board game (I bought a couple of versions of it).
Really, Reversi and Othello are the same game? I’ve been playing Othello for years (released by Pressman btw) and have always wondered what Reversi was. I was always thinking “Well that sounds similar to othello. I’m not going to buy another game so similar!”