# What are your favorite tabletop boardgames?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [August 1, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699 "2015-08-01T01:22:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/1 "2015-08-01T01:22:51Z")
There’s another thread on the Tabletop webseries, so I figured why not start a thread on the general topic?
Ten of my favorites:
Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Fidelitas
Istanbul
Kingdom Builder
Le Havre
Machi Koro
Smash Up
Suburbia
Troyes
Zombicide
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### Author:  [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/2 "2015-08-01T11:33:13Z")
I like variety. Brass is one of the few games that has stayed in my “will almost always play” list. Maybe add “Castles of Burgundy.”
Right now I am most eager to play a full game of Arkwright. Played the “Spinning Jenny” simplified rules which was probably wise but am eager to get more meat.
Haven’t played Le Harve in a while, need to bring that out again.
Looking forward to getting Orleans (played once at BGG@SEA)
I don’t like the “master builder” aspect of Ludwig. It adds player interaction, but it is a hard thing to do (esp early in the game when you don’t know what folks want) But otherwise I like the game
Brian
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### Author:  [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/3 "2015-08-01T13:52:41Z")
It’s gotta be **Cosmic Encounter**.
It’s definitely not super balanced and victory is often more luck dependent than anything else, but it’s always a delight to play with the right crowd. The sheer variety of possible powers and combinations pretty much guarantees every game with contain a solid mix of clever plays, dramatic reversals, and shocking betrayals.
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### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/4 "2015-08-01T14:08:53Z")
They weren’t boardgames but in college in the early 90s I played the hell out of Illuminati and a Mobster themed card game. I would like to play more tabletop games but my friends don’t share my interest.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/5 "2015-08-01T16:52:03Z")
My all times favourite is “[Republic of Rome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Rome_(game))”, a competitive and cooperative game (if Rome collapses, which can happen for a number of reasons, everybody loses). Long, complex, very subtle.
Unfortunately, the old edition from the early 90s is rare and costly, and the new edition from the late 00s is apparently deeply flawed.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/6 "2015-08-01T17:12:28Z")
[_Pandemic_](http://zmangames.com/product-details.php?id=1246) is the game I play most frequently because it is challenging but the rules are easy enough for a newly introduced player to grasp. [_Russian Railroads_](http://zmangames.com/product-details.php?id=1420), also from Z-Man Games, is a good step up from the basic _Ticket to Ride_ and _Settlers of Catan_ type worker placement games. I thought I’d really like [_Power Grid_](http://riograndegames.com/games.html?id=5) but I’ve honestly found it kind of repetitive, sort of an adult version of _Monopoly_. The game I wish I could get more people to play is [_Trajan_](http://www.gtsdistribution.com/info/trajan-page.asp) which is a great resource allocation game with an appealing setting and a lot of replayability, but you really need three or four players who don’t mind spending three or four hours pondering over strategy. I don’t own it, but a friend has [_Viticulture_](http://stonemaiergames.com/about-the-game/) and the expansion which I’ve found fun to play the first couple of times but I suspect would wear thin after a while after exercising the various strategies (focus on making wine, making money from other sources).
When we have a group over that just wants to bash around the table for half an hour or so, [_King of New York_](http://www.iellogames.com/KingOfNewYork.html) (an expanded version of _King of Tokyo_) is good mindless fun with a lot of opportunity for trash talk. [_Last Night on Earth_](http://www.flyingfrog.net/lastnightonearth/) is basically just as mindless (search for items, avoid or kill zombies, achieve the scenario objective) but takes a little longer to set up and play (usually runs about an hour and a half in my experience).
Not exactly a board game but [_Machine of Death: The Game of Creative Assassination_](http://machineofdeath.net) looks like it would be a blast with the right group, but as with [_Fiasco_](http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/) it just sits on my shelf waiting for a collection of players who don’t mind being morbidly risible and absurdly silly.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/7 "2015-08-02T05:06:53Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> My all times favourite is “[Republic of Rome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Rome_(game))”, a competitive and cooperative game (if Rome collapses, which can happen for a number of reasons, everybody loses). Long, complex, very subtle.
>
> Unfortunately, the old edition from the early 90s is rare and costly, and the new edition from the late 00s is apparently deeply flawed.
Eh, I thought “huh, weird, that sounds a lot like the old _Res Publica_, did they make two of those games ?!” - but they’re the same game, they just changed the title in France :).
I still have to play that one - a friend of mine has the original box and wanted to get a game going, but so far it’s been annoying to get everybody’s schedule nice and sync’d.
As for myself, you’ll always get me with an opportunity to play the _Game of Thrones_ boardgame. Also _Dune_ because I swear, someday my Bene Gesserit prophecy will pan out and it will be \*so \*sweet.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2015, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/8 "2015-08-02T05:49:59Z")
> [@Quimby](#):
>
> They weren’t boardgames but in college in the early 90s I played the hell out of Illuminati and a Mobster themed card game. I would like to play more tabletop games but my friends don’t share my interest.
As you can see by my list, I take a pretty flexible view on what’s a boardgame.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/9 "2015-08-02T15:08:22Z")
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> so far it’s been annoying to get everybody’s schedule nice and sync’d.
Yep. That’s the issue with this kind of games
> [@](#):
>
> As for myself, you’ll always get me with an opportunity to play the _Game of Thrones_ boardgame.
That’s any good? I tend to assume that any game published after a book, movie or show is automatically going to be crap, and wouldn’t even have considered it.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/10 "2015-08-02T16:33:26Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> That’s any good? I tend to assume that any game published after a book, movie or show is automatically going to be crap, and wouldn’t even have considered it.
_The Pillars of the Earth_, “based” on Ken Follett’s novel, is a really good game.
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### Author:  [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/11 "2015-08-03T01:20:34Z")
I’m loving Smash Up right now, loads of goofy fun with some nice tactical depth.
Shadowrift is a hard-as-hell cooperative deckbuilder with style.
Coup is a quick, nasty little social deduction/deception game. So is Mascerade. So is Shadow Hunters.
Battlestar Galactica is a longer, nasty big social deduction/deception game with space ships.
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### Author:  [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/12 "2015-08-03T01:21:36Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> That’s any good? I tend to assume that any game published after a book, movie or show is automatically going to be crap, and wouldn’t even have considered it.
You’re right about 90% of the time, but GoT is an exception. So is, oddly enough, Spartacus.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/13 "2015-08-03T02:27:51Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#):
>
> I’m loving Smash Up right now, loads of goofy fun with some nice tactical depth.
I like the fact that the different decks have significantly different abilities (although I think they’re reaching the point of running out of workable possibilities). That and the way you combine two decks means there are always a lot of different tactics in the game, which keeps it fresh.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/14 "2015-08-03T02:52:50Z")
No love for the classics? Backgammon is the best game ever!
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/15 "2015-08-03T03:04:20Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> That’s any good? I tend to assume that any game published after a book, movie or show is automatically going to be crap, and wouldn’t even have considered it.
Then you missed out on [Dune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_%28board_game%29), which is an excellent game.
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### Author:  [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/16 "2015-08-03T03:08:01Z")
Haven’t played in decades, but my two favorite were Supremacy and Kingmaker.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/17 "2015-08-03T03:12:39Z")
**Ra: The Dice Game** is an awesome game that I always go back to. I have not even played Ra, but the dice game is great.
**Carcassonne: The City** - the original grows stale, but this two player game is great.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/18 "2015-08-03T04:13:17Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> That’s any good? I tend to assume that any game published after a book, movie or show is automatically going to be crap, and wouldn’t even have considered it.
It’s pretty good, yes. Think \*Diplomacy \*mixed with _Condottiere_, with a smattering of _Knights of Camelot_ for seasoning.
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### Author:  [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/19 "2015-08-03T07:57:24Z")
> [@Quimby](#):
>
> They weren’t boardgames but in college in the early 90s I played the hell out of Illuminati and a **Mobster themed card game**. I would like to play more tabletop games but my friends don’t share my interest.
_Family Business_?
In recent years I’ve seen a fair bit of _Seven Wonders_ and _Power Grid_. _Nuclear War_ is good for those who just want to watch the world burn although it’s Cold War-era black humour and so a little dated now. One on one, I had a lot of fun over the years with _Squad Leader_ and _ASL_. More recently, I played _Dead of Winter_ for the first time a few months back and the sooner I get another crack at it, the better.
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-tabletop-boardgames/726699/20 "2015-08-03T10:47:46Z")
Chess
1856
1835
Pandemic
Diplomacy
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