The Boardgames Thread / Board games

I need a board game for Christmas. With my in laws. Nothing too complicated emphasis on the fun. We played mid life crisis last year which went down well.

I’d like monopoly but get too competitive.

I like the look of Agricola, game of life or jumanji.

Decrypto. We’ve gifted it to three people now and they’ve all enjoyed it - first effort will lead to a whole lot of ‘WTF?!’, but once that first game is out the way they’ll be desperate to play again.

Can be as clever or simple as the people playing want to make it.

How about this?

https://www.waylandgames.co.uk/card-drafting/82013-wingspan-2nd-edition

I think they’d baulk at the bird bit.

Wingspan actually quite fun but the first time you play it feels like aeons are passing, probably not one to play just once at Christmas.

I passionately hate Monopoly, but Monopoly Deal is actually pretty fun.

Settlers of Catan is a staple in our house.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is an interesting one, the goal is different every time.

Coup is very quick to learn, and play. Great fun, and very replayable (but may generate some grudges depending how competitive you are).

King of Tokyo is another good one (I've only played as 2-player which wasn't brilliant, but reviews are good with 3+)

Carcassonne, without the expansions it's very easy to learn but had a surprising amount of depth. Really fun and after the first game is quick to have several games in an evening, or have a quick game before something else.

The various versions of Flux are good, easy to pick up as nearly all the rules are written on the cards.

Takenoko is pretty easy, you draw cards with objectives each worth some points, first to complete them for enough points wins.

Co-Op games a possibility? I always think Pandemic is good fun to bring out, Forbidden Desert as well (Forbidden Island is fun but a bit simpler, and Forbidden Sky is too but that's more on the complex side). For competative I really like 7 Wonders myself.

Carcassonne

Really easy to pick up.
Ticket to Ride Nordic? That's quite good fun and kind of christmasy in a wintery way.
We also enjoyed Quacks of Quedlinburg.

Backed this game Solar 175 on kickstarter last year and just finished off my first solo game. Big fan of it. Lots to think about and interesting mechanics, really like the setting and look forward to playing through the evolving legacy system, not sure if I’ve got the table space for many more zones though will cross the bridge when I get to it.

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Looks interesting. How long to play?

Family games that are a bit more substantial than easy party games:
Quest to El Dorado
Quacks of Queldlinburg
Camel Up

All three are great, easy to teach. People wanting to come back for more. Though if you’ve got a larger family, Telestrastions with eight is always amazing hilarity.

https://youtu.be/g3XAlpNtQ_4?si=EVXRmi9Q_bMVXQh7

Cheeky ask, give a friend (and he cycles to boardgame nights) a sub, he’s nearly at 100k followers! Some great ideas in this video.

So what's the best game for me and partner over Christmas?
30/40 designy people, strange humour and of course very clever.

We are not boardgame people, but need to do something that's not TV/looking at screen.
We played Monopoly once and I was dead broke and wife filthy rich, so that's not coming out again.

Uno ... You can even get designery people editions, like the minimal design one etc.

I also enjoy Klask, Ticket to Ride, and my all time fave, Carcassonne.

Strange humour? Well, you could take a look at the selection in Cheapassic Park. All those games are free or optionally "pay what you want". You print the PDFs and cut out the pieces (sticking the paper onto some card first, as appropriate). The advantage is that this means you don't have to go hunt for them in the shops or wait anxiously for Christmas-time delivery.

Some of the games work best with more than two people, but they definitely all fit the "strange humour" category.

If you can find an extra person or two, "Give me the Brain" is one of the most strangely brilliant games I've ever played. There are definitely clever strategies you can work out, but we all just had so much fun playing it we didn't care. "We" being the group of stoner friends I used to play these games with, but mind altering substances aren't necessary.

Monopoly is an awful game. But Monopoly Deal is great. It’s card-based and only thematically based on Monopoly.
Also Machi Koro is fairly quick to pick up - I think you can play that 2 player.

Not strictly a board game and more a trivia game I guess but played placing the past at the weekend and really enjoyed it as a group

Rumis is great if you can find it. Easy to pick up, hard to master, games are fairly short.

Even more when you LOOSE.

This looks good but starts at 3...

This looks very nice, at least design wise. Found it locally, will see if that works out and let you know.

My wife and I (same ages) love Everdell. It looks deceivingly cutesy but the gameplay mechanisms are really complex and strategic and we have played it 8+times just on our own and feel like we're still learning.

Not a board game but this is a good variation on the trad Xmas games.

https://kidstir.com/cooking-games/salad-bowl-game/#:~:text=The%20player%20picks%20a%20word,1%20minute%20turn%20is%20up.

Spice up the game with an additional final round where you are only allowed to use a sound or noise for a clue. This works better than you think because you've all heard all the clues before.

You can also do a more adult set of clues rather than standard places, etc. A sort of after dark if you will.

I went for ticket to ride in the end. Hopefully they’ll be OK with it. Most of my family don’t have the patience for learning new things. Bloody philistines

Long Shot The Dice Game is fun - horse racing gambling silliness with a lot of variation to keep it fresh, and fun at all player counts.

Mindbug is fun and quick to pick up, and silly, but quite tactical.

Forbidden island for quick to set up co op times.