Port Royal atm.
Well, a card game really, but what a cracker. 🙂
Really well balanced, easy to play and learn, cheaper than a round of drinks and quite a bit of depth to it.
Pirate themed, so bad acting obligatory.
Great with slightly older kids too.
I can see why it's so well rated.
Very highly recommended for just over a tenner.
You lot?
Not a board game, but my daughter has Posing Pandas which she beats me at on a regular basis. It's the same idea as Yahtzee but with pandas.
Not got it to the table yet, but Isle of Cats turned up the other day (via Kickstarter). It's a thing of beauty.
Played Just One last night. I really rate this, it's a dead simple game which works well with a high player count and perfect for getting non-gamers gaming. Everyone gets a rack a bit like a Scabble tile rack, and a whiteboard marker. You also draw a deck of 13 cards from a big stack (the rest aren't used). You take it in turn to be the 'guesser,' the guesser draws a card and puts it on their rack so that everyone else bar them can see it. On it is five words, they pick one of 1-5 (blind) and then everyone else writes a one-word clue on their rack. The kicker is that the guesser then closes their eyes, everyone else compares racks (quiet at the back) and duplicate clues are wiped out. The guesser then opens their eyes and has to guess the word from the clue. A correct guess means the card goes into a "winnings" pile, a pass means that card is discarded, an incorrect guess means it's discarded along with another one. When the draw deck is done, the number of winnings points is your score for that round.
Though, I do have a bit of a choice.
😀
Excellent!
I shall be picking your brains as to the next purchase later.......
Sure, happy to.
Kingdominos most recently, which is fairly fun. Our old staples are Jaipur (trading game), Azul (collecting things of a particular colour game), and Patchwork (2-person making shapes fit a board game) - all of them really recommended.
Our old staples are Jaipur (trading game)
I hated the sound of Jaipur. I bought it on a whim because loads of people recommended it. Opened the box, didn't like the artwork, didn't like the theme. Read the rules, thought it sounded awful.
Finally played it, reluctantly, and... it turns out it's absolutely brilliant.
Azul
If you like Azul, check out Sagrada.
Ok - what board game for a family to play (means d, boy of 9 and boy of 5).
Thanks!
TS.
My sister in law and her missus got Jaipur for their Christmas, my daughter seems to be quite good at it! Tried to get a set but the local shop didn't have any, walked out with Carcassonne instead. Good game, with another set or two you could end up with an epic full dining table size world. There was another one we were recommended who's name eludes me right now, more of a lo-fi PC world builder.
Must register and get a profile on there, cheers Cougar!
Ok – what board game for a family to play (means d, boy of 9 and boy of 5).
Never played (the junior version) myself but maybe:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ticket-to-Ride-First-Journey/dp/B0773YDWL3
walked out with Carcassonne instead.
Yeah, Carcassonne is a great game. Simple to learn and fun.
Good game, with another set or two you could end up with an epic full dining table size world.
There's oodles of expansions, many of which are diminishing returns. I'd recommend Inns & Cathedrals to start with, it gives you a bunch of new tiles, adds a couple of new rules but doesn't change the gameplay significantly (unlike some).
Oh, and if you like tile layers and Sim City-a-like gameplay, I've been enjoying Quadropolis lately.
If you like Azul, check out Sagrada.
I wondered about that, but between Azul and Cottage Garden and Patchwork, I wondered if we have too many "collect things, make them fit your board" type games.
I can also really recommend The Mind. It's ruffled a few feathers for being "barely a game", and it definitely takes a few rounds to get into, but once you do it's surprisingly gripping!
I've referred to this quite thorough board game guide at times: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/12/ars-technicas-ultimate-board-game-gift-guide-2019-edition/
Marvel Champions
King domino
Terraforming Mars
Bloodrage
Barenpark
Photosynthesis
D&D 5e
King of Tokyo
Goto game at our works lunchtime gaming session is Exploding Kittens (with most of the expansion packs). Unstable Unicorns is good too. Coup is a new arrival that seems popular. I'll update on Monday when i can ask the Games Master what the others are. Kittens is by far the best though
not technically board games, but I always liked Warhammer 40k and D&D.
Tartanscarf Ticket to Ride First Journey is a fantastic game, less of a dumbed down version of the big game, more of a simpler version that's faster to play. We (adults) play it ourselves for a quick play.
Mini Squirrel has My Little Pony Monopoly which is much the same, smaller board and mandatory buying makes it quicker and easier.
Chess.
and..
Currently designing a Pirate themed game. It's been on the back burner for some time and this thread has now inspired me to dust of designs so far and get it finished.
The hardest part so far has been the ship fighting mechanics.
Trying to avoid the elements of chance via dice and this has been quite difficult.
Good fun trying to design a game.
Hnefatafl
Ludus latrunculorum
(trying to tweek this with differing moves, but not wanting it become chess all over again.)
Thanks for the suggestions Cougar. Just ordered Ticket to Ride.
TS.
Ps can’t believe you’ve got so many games.
Ticket to Ride First Journey is a fantastic game, less of a dumbed down version of the big game, more of a simpler version that’s faster to play.
Ticket to Ride London scratches that itch for me. It's the same as the big box game but plays in about 10 minutes.
We play a lot of 5 Minute dungeon (hard to find in English - quite often available from US), its fast paced, and works with quite young children (you can change the times or number of gates to get through).
Firm favourites in recent years...
Carcassonne
King Domino
Queen Domino
Azul
Ticket to Ride
Settlers of Catan
Ok – what board game for a family to play (means d, boy of 9 and boy of 5).
While the evenings are dark -
https://www.thewildlibrarian.com/waldschattenspeil-shadows-in-the-woods-board-game/
The hardest part so far has been the ship fighting mechanics.
Trying to avoid the elements of chance via dice and this has been quite difficult.
As kids we made our own paper and pencil version of space invaders / asteroids - drew a board on paper littered with obstacles - asteroids, planets, black holes etc - then a base at each side of the paper - starting at your base we then took turns to try and navigate through the asteroids by placing a pencil tip down and holding it at the top with your finger tip - pushing down made the pencil skid off and draw line - you then drew your ship where the line ended (assuming you didn't crash into anything) . The aim was to try and get to a position where you had a line of sight to either your opponent or their base and take shots at it in the same way.
On a possibly more grown up basis though.... if you can track down a copy of Cheapass Games 'Vegas' it's sort of an alternative version of Monopoly where you move through casinos rather than London streets - rather than pay rent where you land you place bets of the value of the square you land on. Each casino has a game of chance that mirrors the house advantage in a real casino so through the game each casino tends to accumalate a pot that you play for later on.
Its ages since I played it.. but those games of chance either involved dice or playing cards - something very simply like just cutting the pack and win or lose being based on the value of the suit - so you might be able to find inspiration from there for your mechanism for chance by using a deck of cards.
By the same designer/author is Kill Doctor Lucky theres the idea of luck - each player holding a finite amount of luck cards and the game play is about trying to flush out other people's luck cards - so your element of chance might not be about the person taking the shot but the luck of the person being aimed at.
then took turns to try and navigate through the asteroids by placing a pencil tip down and holding it at the top with your finger tip – pushing down made the pencil skid off and draw line
Blimey, that takes me back! At junior school back in the late 60's we used to draw a race track with a start/finish line and use that method to get round it.
Happened across this just now as a nice variant of rules you can play with an existing game
Dungeon Mayhem is the game we also play a LOT, with Zombie Dice as a filler while we set up a "full game"
Space Team is a bit shouty. Rick & Morty's Total Rickall is ok but require a fair bit of table space
Currently being played and that I'm enjoying include:
- Burgle Bros
- Terraforming Mars
- Forbidden Island
- Mage Knight
- 7th Continent
Spirit Island has just turned up this week as a birthday pressie 🙂
Really enjoyed it thanks Cougar. My youngest lad (5) can pretty much play it himself against the rest of the family so it keeps him occupied too. He also won the first time we played it which caused a fight with my older lad 🙂
Thinking about getting Shadow in the Woods soon.
TS.
👍 awesome, glad to hear it.
Thinking about getting Shadow in the Woods soon.
Huh, that's a coincidence. I've never heard of that (BGG suggests it's from 1985!) but earlier today I saw something elsewhere on the Internet about a game played in darkness save for a tea light. I kinda skimmed past it, wonder what it was now?
Cougar - I think the old version of SITW used a tea light. It’s a wee LED torch they use now.
Elf and safety gorn mayd I tell you.
Not a board game but Flip Slide is addictive
I recently bought War of Whispers and managed a couple of games of it. It's a really tight, crunchy, devious game. Deceptively simple to learn with a really nice set of puzzles, and bagloads of passive-aggression.
Not a board game, but a game that the family enjoyed recently was Drawful2.
You do your best to draw picture of a word and then guess what words your other contestants have drawn.
Does need a phone per person and a pc/screen. (looks like you can get it on the firestick as well)
As a combined result of this thread, half term, knee surgery and wet weather we have been playing boardgames everyday for a week.
My wife got 221b Baker Street (cryptic crosswords meets Cludo) unopened from a charity shop for a fiver, and that has been a hit. We’ve also dug out some of the games that we had as kids: Sorry (Ludo for bastards) and Cludo were already played a lot, but Ulcers and Da Vinci Code (another charity shop find) are new to us.
My son is desperate to play Risk and Escape from Colditz, but wife and daughter are resisting.
I bought Port Royal off eBay and it arrived yesterday. We’ll tackle that on Sunday.
We got Bank Attack at christmas. thats a lot of fun but limited to 4 players... play with my 9yr old
Also i really enjoy Ravensburger Labyrinth Game!
My wife got 221b Baker Street
221B is ancient, but still a decent little game. I've fond memories of playing it back in my student days.
221B is ancient, but still a decent little game. I’ve fond memories of playing it back in my student days.
Ours is a re-box from 2006 according to the (C) date on the board. 70 cases IIRC. The kids like it, but my wife has won every game so far.
My daughter got us a game called "Forbidden Island" which we are quite taken with. You play as individuals but have to work together to complete the game successfully. The first few times we played it we were struggling to believe it could be achieved but with good planning, cooperation and a bit of good fortune it can be done.
Also recently got "Go" the ancient Chinese game which has black and white pieces and a simple grid board, simple right? Good grief, it makes chess seem like childs-play. The big boys and girls play on the full board of 18x18 squares, kids play in the middle using 13x13 and we use a quarter corner of 9x9. Great game, it's amazing how such a seemingly simple game can be so involving.
Ours is a re-box from 2006 according to the (C) date on the board. 70 cases IIRC.
2014 on mine, just checked.
According to BGG it was originally released in 1975!
My daughter got us a game called “Forbidden Island” which we are quite taken with.
If you like that, have a look at Pandemic.
Azul
Parfum
Century Golem edition
La Flamme Rouge (you lot on a bike forum haven't done this one yet?! 😛 )
Patchwork
Tak
Qwirkle - really good this
Lords of Waterdeep - excellent
Istanbul - bit like Lords of Waterdeep, but excellent too!
Space Park
Sea of clouds
Wingspan
Dungeon mayhem - very quick card game, mate's sons love it
Professor Treasure's Secret Sky Castle - again quick but pretty good
Edit, oops forgot
Odin's Ravens
Ticket to Ride (natch)
Forbidden Desert
Pandemic (though it can be long-winded)
Seeing as card based games are admissible….I bring you Dobble and specifically Harry Potter version. Simple, fast and infuriating game all at the same time. Maddening get beaten by my teenagers all the time and for the nerdy….the mathematically formula that means every card shares a symbol with every other card…
Update.
We’ve been playing Port Royal solidly all weekend. At least 5 x four player games, 2 x three player games and my missus and lad played nine times yesterday afternoon.
I need to rethink my tactics, as pretty much every time I’ve got over the line only to be beaten by one or two Victory Points. Grrr.
My daughter is an absolute Kamikaze and gets 5 ships or busts and my lad is too cautious. My wife buys a Governor and Jester and cleans up. I’m yet to win.
£13 well spent! Thanks for the recommendation Pete.
Any other recommendations along the same lines? Preferably something portable as we take games on holiday.
I'm not quick enough to play Dobble with my 8 year old. I swear that she has the reflexes of a fly.
^^ kingdomino
Another card game...Schotten Totten, 2 player only and quite a bit deeper than it seems on first play. Our son, a big board game player bought it for us to get us playing more board games. At the opposite end of the game spectrum he also gave us Concordia, a big tactical Eurogame, which we’ve barely scratched the surface of yet but seems pretty good and involving, but slightly unusual as it can be hard to tell who’s won until you finish and score.
Two card games, first one is Fluxx many different variations depending on what you like we've got the firefly variation. it is both annoying and brilliant in that the cards can change the rules of play as you go along. The other is Sets a match the symbols game, you either get the hang off it or hate it.
If you like Exploding Kittens, they've got anther card game, Throw Throw Burrito, which is very simple, very fast, very stupid and turns into a game of dodge ball at random intervals as you try to hunt down the other players with a foam burrito. Instant hit in my house, including people who don't like playing board/card games. Put anything breakable away before playing...
My cousin has been running board gaming sessions at a convention he puts on and at local game stores for a few years now. Based on their experiences they've spent the last year developing and prototyping a gaming system, and have just launched a Kickstarter to try and fund their first boxed game.
Link is below, please take a look - it's an interesting and fun little game :
(Mods - not sure if this is naughty or not. Would add that I have no professional or financial interest in this project)
Personally, I think that's a relevant post and you don't have an immediate vested interest so it's fine. Other mods may disagree.
Back in stock, ace 2p game, bargain price, get it bought.
https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/all-creatures-big-and-small-the-big-box
We like 'The Chameleon', in short a group of you take turns to describe one word from a selection in a grid but one of you doesn't actually know what the word is. The guesser then has to nominate who the liar is. Simple but increasingly devious.
Surprised no one has mentioned Rummikub yet.
Check out Just One. I wrote about it on the previous page, I think you'll like it.
That looks good, I might give it a whirl.
It's more fun than it has any right to be, and it's been a hit with every group I've brought it to including absolute non-gamers.
Card game, but played on the table, spreading out the cards as far as the table will allow:
Maponimoes, very tactical, with just enough luck.
You will learn a lot about which countries or counties join up to others.
We got Pirate Fluxx last year, worth it just to hear what people think pirates talk like.
Our recent game of choice has been Cosmic Encounter.
Plays well with 4 and I think it will be really good with 5 but we haven't managed to get enough people together. There's so much variation each time you play and options to simplify for kids by removing more complex rules.
We also played Pandemic the other night. Seemed appropriate.......
Grauniad article today:
Gotta say, it's a better list than I was expecting from the headline.
Port Royal and Banangrams are getting hammered.
Is Kingdomino worth a punt?
Kingdomino and Queendomino are both well regarded, though I've not played either personally. Queendomino is more complex of the two, whether that's a positive or a negative to you I couldn't say.
I think you can combine the two to make one mega-game too.
Kingdomino and Queendomino are really good - we've had both over a year and play often with family.
If your into board games (and I couldn't see it mentioned above on a quick search), try www.boardgamearena.com. Nice and easy to sign up, easy to use and you can play several of those games listed above. Great for current situation as you can play family. Ive run games nights using it - Zoom or Skype call to speak and then use the website to play a game.
Finding some old simple games on there as well is very useful.
Kingdomino has been a massive hit!
Carcassonne ordered just now.
Apart from all of the death, economic meltdown and Lloyd Bloody Webber I'm really enjoying this disaster.
Lockdown purchases so far
Port Royal
Bananagrams
Kingdomino
Tamiya RC car
All excellent.
What a game Carcassonne is!
Been playing it as a family for three days. Last night when the kids had been packed off to bed me and my good lady wife carried on playing with a bottle of wine. I won.
Thinking of getting some expansion packs.
We got drunk last weekend and started building a willy shaped city that ended up rather deformed. Good times.
Do any of you guys play Magic? Trying to get started and would appreciate some playthroughs. Finished Arena tutorial so have a very basic grasp.
My good lady wife has bought 17 ( I think) expansions for Carcassonne. First three arrived yesterday (The King, The Robber and The Cult) and so far I'm unbeaten.
Has anyone tried combining two sets of the base tiles to make a 'Mega Set"?
Do any of you guys play Magic? Trying to get started and would appreciate some playthroughs. Finished Arena tutorial so have a very basic grasp.
Bought it at Xmas with the expectation it would be simple to pick up and play. How wrong was I? Watched loads of video tutorials and gameplays but still couldn’t grasp it as too many attack/defense elements are vague.
That said, it’s massively popular so I and jnr must be missing something obvious.
triominoes - like Dominoes but with three sides. Works for all ages.Adults have to take shot every time the say "It's the wrong way round". That will make sense to anyone who has played it
Bought it at Xmas with the expectation it would be simple to pick up and play. How wrong was I? Watched loads of video tutorials and gameplays but still couldn’t grasp it as too many attack/defense elements are vague.
That said, it’s massively popular so I and jnr must be missing something obvious.
Pretty much the same story but we got handed 2 decks by the local board crack dealer. Playing Arena seems to habe clarified a bit but its still far from clear.
My good lady wife has bought 17 ( I think) expansions for Carcassonne.
First expansion Inns and Cathedrals is essential. Second expansion Traders and Builders is the next best expansion. Beyond that it's variable.
All of the sets are compatible (beyond differences in first / second edition art) so you can hoy tiles and expansions in and out as you like.
Family Carcassonne spend is now somewhere north of £150 and we have 17 expansions!
This is fantastic value. Base set and 11 expansions for £41.
You can download the English instructions for nowt. We got a Czech version a few weeks back.
We've got Carcassonne arriving today at some point so will see how that goes, I've played it briefly before but not sure how the other half will take to it.
Has anyone played Scythe? That was nearly purchased its place but thought we'd go for the more 'traditional' option first.
Update:
Carcassonne has been absolutely hammered in our house over lockdown, but less now since evening and weekend activities have been coming back. I think it will be relegated to the Wet Sunday Afternoon slot.
The kids got Ticket To Ride (Europe) over the weekend and we had our first go of it last night. Once the initial bickering and not listening to the rules bit was out of the way we had a good game. I was surprised how fast the turns were once we got moving, with only my daughter employing her "ponder tactics" designed specifically to wind everyone else up.
I won.
Recommended.
Lowering the tone a bit (I do occasionally play Catan) Monopoly Empires is great for playing with kids aged 7-12. All the fun of Monopoly and none of the boredom or uncertainty about how long it'll last - 15 minutes 'warm up', 15 minutes of fury and then a winner. Compact enough that we'll often play a couple of rounds, simple enough that the rules are never consulted, and opportunity for basic strategy and plenty of tactics.
The kids got Ticket To Ride (Europe) over the weekend and we had our first go of it last night. Once the initial bickering and not listening to the rules bit was out of the way we had a good game.
TTR is great.
You'll find there's two ways of playing it, either "gentlemanly" and not intentionally blocking opponents, or cutthroat where you casually drop a two-train link into the middle of someone else's coast-to-coaster. It's best to agree ahead of a game which way you'll all be playing or there will be blood spilled.
All the fun of Monopoly and none of the boredom
Monopoly is a bit of a running joke within board game communities, but its single biggest problem is that everyone thinks they know how to play when in actual fact someone read the rules once back in 1927 and it's been handed down by word-of-mouth ever since. Not playing by the actual rules is one of the reasons a game can last for a week.
Agree with Cougars comment on monopoly, every family has their own special rules!
We dusted off Forbidden Island on Sunday, it was great and I am now waiting for Ghost Stories to turn up ready for the next wet weekend.
Has anyone played Villagers?
