Any Board Gamers?

[Steve Machol]

Anyone else into board gamers?

I've always loved games and lately I have been discovering and trying newer style board games that go beyond the games of Monopoly, Life, Risk and Sorry that I grew up with. In fact, there seems to be a renaissance of board, dice and card games that are much more varied than the games of my youth.

Here's a few games that I have that so far have been liked by everyone I've introduced them to:

Ticket to Ride
Dixit
Forbidden Island
King of Tokyo
Pandemic
Colts Express

Anyone else?

[merrymaker]

Anyone else into board gamers?

I've always loved games and lately I have been discovering and trying newer style board games that go beyond the games of Monopoly, Life, Risk and Sorry that I grew up with. In fact, there seems to be a renaissance of board, dice and card games that are much more varied than the games of my youth.

I too have noticed the resurgence of board games and have considered checking a few of them out. I haven't heard of the ones you've listed so I will have to check out!

I never played D&D, Warhammer, etc. but I am willing to check out some of the new board games as they look like pretty fun and interesting.

[Steve Machol]

I too have noticed the resurgence of board games and have considered checking a few of them out. I haven't heard of the ones you've listed so I will have to check out!

I never played D&D, Warhammer, etc. but I am willing to check out some of the new board games as they look like pretty fun and interesting.

You might want to check Meetup.com for any board game groups in your area first so you can try out some of the newer games with people that know how they're played and will teach the games to newcomers. There are so many different genres of games to play - some of which you may love and some that you probably won't. One of the newest genres is co-op games, i.e,. games in which everyone works together (instead of against each other) to defeat the game. I like co-ops because everyone becomes invested in the game - even when it isn't there tur. There is a lot more social interaction and teamwork in co-op games.

Two of the best and most popular co-op games are Pandemic where you work with your fellow gamers to help stop a Pandemic from wiping out humanity, and Forbidden Island where you are part of a team to find ancient powerful artifacts before the Island sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

[The Optical Giant]

They're not board games but I love Killer Bunnies and Munchkin!

[Steve Machol]

They're not board games but I love Killer Bunnies and Munchkin!

I count them as being in the same general category. I do have Munchkin Cthulhu, but haven't played it yet.

[AngeHamm]

Settlers of Catan is awesome. And I'm desperate to get my hands on Munchkin Axe Cop.

[Steve Machol]

I haven't played Catan yet but I hear it's a great gateway game.

[Jubilee]

You got to make it to GenCon sometime! It is the best 4 days of gaming.. and then some!

Catan is great. Its almost become mainstream in a lot of areas. In case you needed to geek it out some more, there is a StarTrek version out as well. This year at GenCon they are doing a fundraiser for a local crisis shelter by breaking the record for the most people playing catan at one setting. "The Big Game." I used to participate in their tournaments, but decided I liked playing multiple game types, instead of two days playing the same game multiple times.

It you are playing Munchkin, then you are familiar with Steve Jackson Games. I also liked "Give me the Brain" and "Lord of the Fries" For a card game similar in feel to Munchkin, but a bit more diabolical, I recommend Cutthroat Caverns from Smirk and Dagger.

Cutthroat Caverns by line is "Without cooperation you will never live. Without betrayal, you will never win." You and your group are trolling the dungeon and fighting monsters along the way. Each monster has its own unique abilities and health pool. You want to be the one to kill it for all the prestige. There are assorted attack cards, and screw cards. There are monsters that will negate some of those cards. Others that gain bonuses for playing... do you let someone take the kill and the points to prevent damage or do you risk losing a party member so you can get all the points yourself. There are no winners if everyone is dead!

Smirk and Dagger also has their Good Game gone Bad series. So if you like a good parody, Run For Your Life, Candyman.. is fun. It turns out that the greedy King Candy has sold you, the Gingerbread people, to the greedy children of the world. Now it is every Gingy for themselves as they try to escape the Candy Kingdom. The game board looks very similar to that first board game most of us remembers. Instead of colors, they have different candy types. Chocolate bars, JuJus, Hard Candy, Candy Corn, Peppermints, and can't forget that chewy Gum center. These also represent certain body parts on your gingerbread tracking sheet. You need that sheet because you are in a battle royale to get out. You will whack others as you pass them. You can even move backwards if necessary to pull them into a candy cage match. As you take damage to parts, they get ripped off. Hopefully you will draw a frosting card to be able to "glue" on the body part again...

Dread Curse is a fantastic Pirate game with bidding for positions, and each crew member having a special rules that go with them.

Student Bodies is my favorite Zombie game. High School Students trying to make it to the Chemistry lab to chug the antidote, and then make their way out of the school alive. If you don't get the antidote, and succumb to the zombies, its possible to be a smart zombie and try to prevent everyone else from winning as well.

Carcassone is a tile placement game that plays well as a solitaire type game, or in groups of 2 or 3.

For kids, I like Castle Panic for a cooperative play game. Work together to prevent the monsters from storming the Castle. They now have versions that use Zombies, and the Munchkin theme.

Lunch money is great for a quick card game.

One Night Werewolf is a great party game. It has an app that you can download that talks you through the various phases. Everyone starts with a card, and an assumed role.. that they only know. During the course of the "night" you keep your eyes closed and only open them to do what the instructions say, such as swap a card with another player, or draw from the center.. when the time is up, you have to figure out who the werewolf is.

So many games.. so little time..

https://boardgamegeek.com/ usually has some great reviews.

I also will watch TableTop once in a while with Wil Wheaton (Yes, Wesley Crusher) play games with a group of "friends." They will discuss the game, its rules, the goals, strategy/tactics.. If I am thinking of investing in a game, or trying to decide if it will appeal to a certain group, I will often see if they have featured it on their show.

[Steve Machol]

Thanks Jubilee! I just picked up a copy of Castle Panic and played it with my wife the other night. We whittled the horde down to just three monsters, but alas they finally broke through and destroyed our last remaining tower. My wife is not much of a gamer, but she did like this one. Not as much as she liked Forbidden Island though.

I have also started watching TableTop with Wil Wheaton and I like it. It's a good way to see how a game is actually played.

As for BoardGameGeek, I have an account there. Here's my collection: https://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/smachol

[Sledzinator]

My friends and I LOVE board games. We have Catan with 3 expansions and 5-6 player add ons. Power Grid is another fun game that is a good monopoly replacement. We also have 4 expansions of dominion which is a self contained deck building game and probably our favorite. We have many others that I cant think of right now but board games are where its at.

[Steve Machol]

Catan is one of those 'gateway' games that I haven't played yet. Yesterday we had some people over and played: Forbidden Island, Tsuro, Castle Panic, Takenoko, Indigo, and Sushi Go!

[AdmiralKnight]

If you're having trouble getting your friends into picking up some board games, or are interested in finding some new ones for yourself, Will Wheaton has a great series on Youtube called TableTop. He gets some really interesting people together to play games. I've discovered some really interesting games from watching the series!

[Steve Machol]

If you're having trouble getting your friends into picking up some board games, or are interested in finding some new ones for yourself, Will Wheaton has a great series on Youtube called TableTop. He gets some really interesting people together to play games. I've discovered some really interesting games from watching the series!

Yeah I watch his videos. I really enjoy them. I also watch a few others like GameBoyGeek and Rahdo to learn how to play certain games.

[AngeHamm]

If you're having trouble getting your friends into picking up some board games, or are interested in finding some new ones for yourself, Will Wheaton has a great series on Youtube called TableTop. He gets some really interesting people together to play games. I've discovered some really interesting games from watching the series!

I'm a big fan of Hwil Hweaton.

[Steve Machol]

I'm a big fan of Hwil Hweaton.

Have you watched the Titans Grave series with Will Wheaton? It's a D&D type adventure and he plays the Game Master. I've always been interested in doing a D&D adventure like that.