# Anyone playing the new generation of board games? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 1, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-playing-the-new-generation-of-board-games/739143 "2015-12-01T20:33:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-playing-the-new-generation-of-board-games/739143/81 "2016-02-19T06:16:01Z")
> [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](#): > > Yeah, I haven’t played Dead of Winter, partly because a couple of people in my usual gaming set seem to have a visceral dislike of the hidden traitor mechanic. The one time I played Dead of Winter, the majority of us playing were doing so for the first time. So we left out the traitor mechanic to keep it simple. (We all got eaten by zombies anyway). But I think this illustrates a problem with the hidden traitor mechanic; players have to know the game pretty well in order to play the traitor so there’s that steep learning curve. I think hidden traitors work better in games like _Dead of Winter_ or _Pandemic_ where you can first learn the game as a co-op and then introduce a traitor for variety after people are familiar with the basic game. (Or _Monopoly_, where you can play with the Hidden Communist rule where one player is secretly trying to overthrow the capitalist system from within.) ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-playing-the-new-generation-of-board-games/739143/82 "2016-02-19T14:05:12Z")
I bought Dead of Winter, read the rules and watched a few playthroughs online and ended up selling it. It just wasn’t my flavor. Games I’m stoked for: Concordia Orleans Castles of Burgundy. I have all three but have yet to bring them to the table. I have to be very select with games I introduce. I’ll bring out Concordia this weekend, probably. ---
**Author:** ![MentalGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MentalGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MentalGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-playing-the-new-generation-of-board-games/739143/83 "2016-02-20T13:21:43Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I bought Dead of Winter, read the rules and watched a few playthroughs online and ended up selling it. It just wasn’t my flavor. > > Games I’m stoked for: > > Concordia > Orleans > Castles of Burgundy. > > I have all three but have yet to bring them to the table. I have to be very select with games I introduce. I’ll bring out Concordia this weekend, probably. I haven’t tried the others, but I really like Castles of Burgundy. Quite a bit of strategy and skill involved for a dice based game. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-playing-the-new-generation-of-board-games/739143/84 "2016-02-20T15:03:27Z")
My friends and I play most Wednesday evenings and every 2nd Saturday. Our combined game list of games that we play with some regularity, in no particular order: Lords of Waterdeep + xpac Lords of Vegas + xpac Suburbia + xpac Kingsburg + xpac Forbidden Desert Pandemic Tsuro / Tsuro of the Seas Gloom Star Fluxx Castle Panic Cavernra Last Will + xpac Keyflower Terra Mystica Smash Up Smallworld + xpacs Shinobi Waaaaaatah! Thunderstone Advanced + xpacs Alhumbra + xpacs Ticket to Ride Carcassonne Firefly + xpacs Stone Age + xpac Puerto Rico King of New York Betrayal at House on the Hill Arkham Horror Call of Cthulu Coup The Resistance Exploding Kittens We consider each of these to be fun, or we wouldn’t be playing them. 🙂 If anybody has any questions about any of these I’m happy to answer them. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-playing-the-new-generation-of-board-games/739143/85 "2016-02-21T04:30:14Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I bought Dead of Winter, read the rules and watched a few playthroughs online and ended up selling it. It just wasn’t my flavor. > > Games I’m stoked for: > > Concordia > Orleans > Castles of Burgundy. > > I have all three but have yet to bring them to the table. I have to be very select with games I introduce. I’ll bring out Concordia this weekend, probably. Orleans has been really hot with my game group lately (I have the deluxe edition with wood bits and 5 players) Castle of Burgundy is one of my favorites, nice input luck. Hard part is remembering what the buildings do (there is a good player aid on BGG) Concordia is easy to play, the only thing that is wonky is scoring. The Salsa expansion allows you to take tiles when you get back your cards. IIRC they either give you an ability or end game points. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-playing-the-new-generation-of-board-games/739143/86 "2016-02-22T06:31:50Z")
I finally got the chance to play Spyfall over the weekend. It’s brilliant. It’s delightfully simple. At the start of the game a random location is selected. Everyone knows the location, except for one player who is the spy. The spy’s goal is to figure out where they are, the players’ goal is to figure out who is the spy. Each game takes up to eight minutes with a timer running in the background. The starting player chooses another player and asks her a question. That player answers, asks another player a question and so on. Each player may once per game at any time stop the timer and accuse one other player of being the spy. A vote is taken, and if it’s unanimous (excepting the accused) the game ends. If the spy is successfully identified and voted out, the players win and the spy loses. If a player is voted out the spy wins. Additionally, the spy may at any time reveal herself and guess where they are. If she’s right, she wins. If she’s wrong, the players win. So, players have to ask and answer questions accurately enough to prove they’re not the spy, but not so obviously the spy can figure out where they are. The spy has to bullshit convincingly. It’s a pretty great party game and a wonderful palate cleanser between bigger, longer games. I would highly recommend it. I also played Mysterium and enjoyed it quite a bit. Basically a cooperative Dixit, but with meatier mechanics and some deductive elements. One player basically tries to communicate information to the other players using a deck of cards with abstract, dreamlike images. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-playing-the-new-generation-of-board-games/739143.md?page=4)