Board games for college women

The Game Room
1

My daughter is in college now and tells me that there’s not a lot to do in the area. I went to the same school so I know there’s not a lot to do outside of classes. I suggested getting board games as that’s what we used to do there sometimes.

She doesn’t like games that are too competitive. She usually likes the cooperative games like Horrified or Mysterious Island. She likes some of the silly card games like Exploding Kittens.

Any ideas for games I can get my daughter that aren’t too complex and just kind of fun, silly games?

2

There are a lot of great co-op board games these days… the trick is finding the lower-to-med complexity ones, if she or her gaming group doesn’t want to learn too many rules.

The base Pandemic games are awesome and very cooperative, while not being overly complicated. Everyone works together, and in a group, it can mean that the more experienced players can assist the newcomers by suggesting actions while they learn. (But don’t play with anybody who’s too controlling or they can end up dominating the game). If she likes the base game, there are many expansions she can get, along with alternate versions (like Pandemic Cthlulu or Iberia), or the “Legacy” versions that let a game group play a longer campaign over the course of a year, as new rules gradually come into play. She should start with the base one, though, if she’s not too used to board games. It’s a good co-op game to start any newcomer with.

My favorite co-op game of all time is probably Clank! Legacy, a mostly-cooperative deck builder that plays out over a few sessions and very gradually increases the complexity as you get more familiar with the game. It starts out really simple (but still fun) and then adds a rule or two every time you play again. At the end of the campaign, you can still keep your characters and board and re-play it as a non-“Legacy” game. It’s cooperative in the sense that everybody works together towards the same goal, but there is some very minimal inter-player score competition (doesn’t really matter that much) and catch-up mechanics for anyone who falls behind. I would overall still consider it more a cooperative than competitive game.

If she likes escape rooms, the “Exit” series are excellent escape-rooms-in-a-box that she can play through with 2-3 other players (probably 3 players total is ideal)… they’re very easy to get started with, but are one-time-play only.

The older Time Stories is similarly investigative, but replayable. You end up trying to solve the puzzles by going back and forth through time, each time learning a little bit more.

Defenders of the Wild is a newer title, where four animals work together to defend the wild against invading machines. Gameplay-wise, it’s similar to Root, but not quite as complex, and is cooperative rather than competitive. (Root itself is an amazing game, but is quite difficult to learn for a newcomer, and is very competitive.)

Sky Team is fun for 2-player game nights (with only one friend/significant other) where you work together with limited communications in order to safely land a plane in increasingly difficult scenarios.

Betrayal is another fun cooperative-competitive game… the game starts out cooperatively, but halfway through the game, one of the players suddenly becomes a traitor, and then it’s them against the rest of the group. The Legacy version is also excellent.

Point City is a simple and quick engine-builder, easy to learn and quick to play. It’s got enough complexity to be fun, but not enough to be the only game for a game night. It’s a good starter/icebreaker game at any game night though.

We just started The Dark Quarter, an app-assisted investigative game taking place in New Orleans… a lot of fun so far and very atmospheric, between the board, the minis, and the storyline. But I don’t really like the app-assisted part that much. Would’ve preferred a regular story book, like in Betrayal.

If she’s into D&D (or could be) there are some good D&D games too, both real D&D itself (with the pan and paper and rulebooks and such) or one of the lighter self-contained spin-off boxed sets that are basically “D&D light for the RPG-curious”. The Gloomhaven and Frosthaven games are similar, I think, though they are app-assisted and more complex.

For party games, my two favorites are Monikers and Wavelength.

Monikers is a mix of Taboo + single-word Taboo + charades + a variable bonus round (sometimes this game is also called Fishbowl, like if you play it by putting your own words into a bowl). Like if your card is “Stephen Hawking”, maybe your clue is “astrophysicist in a wheelchair”, your second round is just “wheelchair”, your third round you act him out, and the fourth round maybe you have to act it again under a bedsheet, or with only your fingers from behind a couch.

Wavelength is a game where two teams work together to try to guess where on a continuum a certain word is, based on a randomly chosen “degree” on a spectrum. Like if you draw a card for “hot to cold” and the pointer needle is just slightly towards “hot”, maybe you give a clue like “coffee” — it’s not hot like the sun or like lava, but not room temperature and not ice either. There is an app version too, but the paper board game version is better.

3

Take 5 plays up to 10, and the more players the more chaotic it is. Everyone secretly picks a number card and tries not lay down the 6th card in a row.
Point Salad is the predecessor of Point City and may be simpler. Plays up to 6 and with 3 is great because you play with half the deck so you can play a second time easily.
Just One and So Clover are coop party word games that are worth investigating.
These type of games are not my usual thing.

Brian
“Caylus is an easy and silly game, at least compared to Advanced Squad Leader”

4

I don’t know much about board games, but these guys do.

5

Long Shot: The Dice Game is a good light game. It plays in about a half an hour and it works for two to eight players with no problem.

6

Absolutely! :grinning:

It’s co-operative, so everybody will win (or lose) together.
It’s got strategy and variation.
A game usually lasts 30-60 minutes (convenient) and (only if necessary) can be continued later (though there’s a lot to make note of.)

7

My family loves Just One and plays it at every gathering. We ignore most of the rules and just take turns being the guesser. It’s delightful.

Another fairly silly fun one is Poetry for Neanderthals–like charades, only you’re allowed to talk as much as you want as long as it’s only one-syllable words.

8

And there’s the inflatable club!

9

There’s a NSFW (not safe for work) version of Poetry for Neanderthals too. Though it might be weird for her to get that from her parent…

10

So clover is a terrific game. I also like hanabi, which is a harder game that people tend to take seriously (like bridge) only it’s a co-op game, not a competitive one.

11

Allow me to suggest Cosmic Wimpout, which is a simple dice-rolling game that is surprisingly tons of fun. Comes in a small bag with a cloth board, so it’s super portable and you can set up and start playing in about 10 seconds. Great for when you’re just in the mood for a party game that doesn’t take forever and doesn’t require a lot of focus/rule thinking.

12

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I will find a couple and give them for Christmas so she has them next semester.

We used to play this at work during lunch for a few years. Great game, not sure she would like it much.

13

I enjoy Carcassonne quite a bit. It’s not a cooperative game, but it’s relatively simple, perfect for playing while you’re just chatting away with other people. You lay tiles down, place your pieces, and attempt to score by completing castles, roads, cloisters, and fields. There are a ton of expansions for it, but they’re not necessary, and at a certain point they don’t really add anything to the game anyway.

14

In the “fun, easy to get started, competitive, but light” category, i like playing Oh Hell. The number of players is very flexible, and all you need is a couple of decks of cards.

15

Crossing is competitive but a lot of fun and very simple.

16

I normally play the more competitive style of board games, so I’ll throw all of those out.

I’ll add another +1 for Pandemic, and have a copy of the base game, though I figure I expect to loose 2-3 times for every win, even with careful cooperative play. It can get depressing!

I’ll mention a semi-competitive game that generally doesn’t generate hard feelings, takes up little space (important if she’s in a dorm) and is fast and replayable: Fluxx.

It’s a card game, rather than a board game, but it’s got a lot of replay due to changing rules and conditions, and there are endless variants. And of course, you may be able to find a published variant that suits her other interests!

But again, pretty low investment to get one or two sets, and a lot less worry about the space and bits and pieces of many modern board games.

17

Depending on the size and temperament of her friend group, the various social deduction games can be great fun; One Night Ultimate Werewolf, Mafia de Cuba, Coup, Avalon, etc.

I generally play mostly co-op games, but a lot of mine fall on the more complex end of the spectrum.

18

Some of the simpler roll and write type games might go over well. Surprisingly deep in strategy, at least some of them, with the advantage that everyone playing at once means games can go quite fast. Things like Welcome To…, Super Mega Lucky Box, Cartographers, and several others.

Codenames often goes over well and scales easily. Some of the more abstract games like Azul, Sagrada, Patchwork, Splendor, maybe the Century series, things like that. I rather like both Inis and Galactic Renaissance.

Then there’s the semi-cooperative games, but those tend to be rather mechanic heavy. And often physically heavy. Bloodborne, Nemesis, Gloomhaven, things like that.