# What Board Games are you playing? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [December 6, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383 "2020-12-06T14:38:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/1 "2020-12-06T14:38:19Z")
I am sure this has been a topic before but I don’t think it has been brought up in a while. My wife introduced me to modern board games a few years ago (she had been playing for years) and since then we build up a nice collection of a few dozen games. A few of our favorites at the moment: Res Arcana: a fun engine building game where you try to make a handful of cards generate enough points to win. It’s a Wonderful World: another card game. Where you draft cards to build up more resources to build more cards faster than your opponent. Quest for El Dorado: A racing game. Various flavors of Clank! A push your luck deck building game. What are some of your current favorites? ---
**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:** [December 6, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/2 "2020-12-06T14:47:18Z")
Wingspan: Yes, it was overhyped. But it’s a fun game. Eggs and Empire: A light filler. The Butterfly Garden: A personal favorite I’m theoretically in the middle of a Clank legacy campaign but it’s been really hard to get the four of us together in one place. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/3 "2020-12-06T15:39:12Z")
FIDE Chess Korean Chess Chinese Chess Japanese Chess Ploy (can be considered a Chess variant) Realm Mancala Hijara (a great twist on 4-in-a-row) Connect6 (get 6-in-a-row) Onitama (odd Chess variant) L-Game 3-Spot These can all be found on [Board Game Geek](https://www.boardgamegeek.com/). Those are the board games. I’m playing a number of card games and domino games also. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/4 "2020-12-06T19:04:05Z")
I mentioned in the “games you play wrong” thread that I’m part of a Cosmic Encounters cult. We’ve been playing Macron and Void and Laser and the whole gang for a good number of decades now. My family and friends are all fond of Settlers of Catan, which, to be horribly honest, I find stultifying. But I’ll play because, hey, why not? Go along to get along! ---
**Author:** ![FriendlyCurmudgeon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friendlycurmudgeon/32/5786_2.png) [@FriendlyCurmudgeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendlyCurmudgeon)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/5 "2020-12-06T21:27:52Z")
My friend and I played [Space Hulk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhzOGwktkfQ) all day yesterday, tons of fun. If you liked the movie Aliens you’ll love this game. I have the older version of the game and it’s expansions. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/6 "2020-12-06T21:30:18Z")
Is Wingspan overhyped? I didn’t realize that. We bought it for both my siblings & their families for Christmas, since we’ve been playing the snot out of it. Also Castles of Mad King Ludwig. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/7 "2020-12-06T21:53:04Z")
Unfortunately, not playing so much at the moment, but in the Before Times: I’ll second _Eggs & Empires_ as a light, filler game. For light to medium-weight games: _King of Tokyo_ _Sentinels of the Multiverse_ _A Touch of Evil: Dark Gothic Deckbuilding Game_ For heavy-weight, big box miniatures games: _A Touch of Evil_ _Descent_ 2nd Edition (particularly with the App that makes it fully co-op) _Imperial Assault_ (same) _Mansions of Madness_ 2nd Edition _Hellboy: The Board Game_ I don’t particularly care for worker placement games, but my friends who enjoy them love _Scythe_ and _Lords of Waterdeep_. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/8 "2020-12-06T22:39:35Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > I don’t particularly care for worker placement games, but my friends who enjoy them love _Scythe_ and _Lords of Waterdeep_ . I’m a big fan of worker placement games and one of my favorites is _Architects of the West Kingdom_. It doesn’t have some of the features that annoy people about worker placement games. For example, there’s no location blocking. And there’s significant player interaction because of a rule that lets you capture pieces. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/9 "2020-12-06T22:46:37Z")
I play weekly with my local group online, and monthly with college friends. Both of these are on yucata. Snowdonia is popular but I play quite a variety. I also play with other friends on BGA. I’m enjoying Marco Polo II Brian ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/10 "2020-12-06T23:10:44Z")
Scrabble. My wife was an aficionado when we started dating, and she used to regularly beat me until she taught me some tips & tricks. Now I beat her 90% of the time. I just beat her in a game a couple hours ago, in fact. Stratego— when I was 10 or 11, I was unbeatable with my classmates. These days, I taught my 15 year old and he quickly figured out how to beat me. He’s untouchable when it comes to chess as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/11 "2020-12-07T10:30:11Z")
At the moment, mostly chess through the free [chess.com](http://chess.com) app - it’s very good quality considering. I’m not sure if it qualifies as ‘worker placement’, but my even more nerdy gamer friends are big fans of Gaia Project. I’ve played a couple of times and quite enjoyed it, but that wasn’t enough for me to fully understand the strategies (unsurprisingly). For a lighter, but still meaty, game along similar lines, I like Concordia (with the Salsa expansion). Fairly recently I acquired a Khet (Egyptian laser chess!) set, but sadly I can’t persuade my wife to like it. Our go-to for strategy type games is Ticket to Ride (yes, I know - she’s just not that into more complex games), sometimes the UK or Pennsylvania versions. My older son (6) has shown some interest in chess, The Viking Game (a sort of primitive chess but still with lots of strategy/tactics), Carcassonne, and Qwirkle (the latter two of which my wife also likes) but at the moment he’d generally rather play with Lego or toy cars/Transformers, so I’m not pushing it - plenty of time. He has also enjoyed Sheriff of Nottingham but my wife doesn’t like that one either for some reason. Possibly because she is even worse than me at lying - though not as bad as our son 🙂. He loves it if he ‘fools’ us though - adorable. I can’t wait until we’re allowed to meet friends in person, indoors (hopeful for January) - then I can have an abstract games night with a colleague, including most of the above games and probably also Inis and Hive. Then we will need to schedule another evening for a game of Twilight Struggle, one of my all-time favourites. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2020, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/12 "2020-12-07T11:40:07Z")
FYI Terra Mystica, the predecessor of Gaia Project is available on [yucata.de](http://yucata.de) and boardgamearena. Brian ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/13 "2020-12-07T15:09:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > ’m a big fan of worker placement games and one of my favorites is _Architects of the West Kingdom_ . It doesn’t have some of the features that annoy people about worker placement games. For example, there’s no location blocking. And there’s significant player interaction because of a rule that lets you capture pieces. I do like _Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu_, a re-skinning of _Pandemic_. The theme is more appealing to me, but also _Pandemic_ as a _cooperative_ worker placement game is a lot more fun for me personally than a _competitive_ worker placement game. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/14 "2020-12-08T02:54:39Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > I do like _Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu_ , a re-skinning of _Pandemic_ . The theme is more appealing to me, but also _Pandemic_ as a _cooperative_ worker placement game is a lot more fun for me personally than a _competitive_ worker placement game. I’ve played the co-op version of _Orleans_ a couple of times. The game kicked our ass both times. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/15 "2020-12-08T05:15:11Z")
Been playing a lot of Terraforming Mars with my son which has been great. We’ve split wins 50/50 and won in such various ways that we’re both still trying to pin down various strategies. He likes 7 Wonders Duel also which is sort of similar but plays in less time. For faster less complex games I still can’t get enough of Splendor or Jaipur. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/16 "2020-12-08T17:40:50Z")
My wife and I have probably played a few hundred games of Potion Explosion since the pandemic started, using the pass and play app. We’ve also played Wingspan lately, Istanbul, and a cooperative called The Grizzled. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/17 "2020-12-08T18:01:33Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > For faster less complex games I still can’t get enough of Splendor or Jaipur. Have you played _Century: Spice Road_? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/18 "2020-12-08T19:01:25Z")
I see Dialect around. Anyone tried it? > **[Dialect: A Game about Language and How it Dies](https://thornygames.com/pages/dialect)** > > Who was the Isolation and why were they lost? In this game, your language is the story. ---
**Author:** ![tavaritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/19 "2020-12-08T20:52:25Z")
Robo Rally, Munchkin, Magic the Gathering & Fluxx. When ever I get some friends together I suggest one of these. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383/20 "2020-12-08T21:06:57Z")
There’s always _Ticket to Ride_. Never really gets old. Bought _Takenoko_ last year around this time and have been enjoying that. I’ve been working on a succinct speech to explain how to play but it’s difficult. It’s one of those games that’s really simple and easy once you understand it, but it’s hell to explain to someone new. The card game _Sushi Go!_ is a good one to travel with. Short, quick, portable, and fun. It does make you really want sushi, though. _Roll For It_ is a fun dice-and-card game. Comes with 4 sets of tiny dice to play with. Easy enough for small children to play, and there’s enough of a degree of chance involved for them to be competitive with adults. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-board-games-are-you-playing/927383.md?page=2)