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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
If anybody has any questions about any of these I’m happy to answer them.