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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?
Merchants and Marauders.
wow. Quite a slow first game as we got up to speed with all the various mechanics within the game - trade/combat/NPC movement. next games were reasonably fast and furious - but still took >3hours for a 4player game but it didnt feel like it. good fun with the obligatory bad pirate accents.
I assume the poster developing their own pirate themed game has played it - the combat mechanics do use dice with various modifications so there is an element of chance - I quite enjoy the elemnyt of chance in the various interations.
definitely worth the money in terms of £/hour of fun.
Has anyone played Villagers?
Not personally, but I believe there's a sequel recently released (Kickstartered?)
Currently I'm enjoying playing Aeon's End : War Eternal, which is a great deck builder... possibly beating Spirit Island as my favourite game.
And reading the rules for Fire in the Lake as I hope this is the next new title to hit my table... a bit heavier, but I'm hoping it proves to be a good for a brain workout.
Recent acquisitions:
Ticket to Ride
Exploding Kitten
...and I've just bought Citadels as I suspect that we'll be playing a lot of games over Christmas.
Carcassonne, Bananagrams and Port Royal still the favourites. Our Port Royal cards are getting a bit tatty after so much use.
As per the other thread we've been playing Dungeon Drop, it's really rather good!
book marking for later
One-man chess
I keep losing though 😕
( Must learn to search before starting a thread )
The wife and I currently have:-
Wingspan. Our favourite, Great artwork and fun to play, definitely gets better the more you play it, might be a bit dry for the younger generation.
Everdell. A bit more complicated than the above but with similar elements of gathering materials and card placement. Would be fun with more than two people
Sherlock Holmes consulting detective. We really love this, cooperative play, a bit unfair at times until you get to know the game. We will definitely be getting the two further games.
On order for my birthday is Mansions of madness, another co-op game with a horror theme and an app to help setup.
We haven't gone full RPG yet but we did briefly eye up Gloomhaven, but the £100 price tag put us off, also I see there's a new version of Descent on the horizon that will now utilize an app, £135....ouch
It's probably already on this thread but Pandemic is consistently in the top 10 lists, the wife refuses to even consider it though, can't blame her
If you want to play Pandemic but find the theme a bit uncomfortable, have a look at Forbidden Island. They're both from the same designer and Matt himself describes FI as "Pandemic Lite".
Some of the favourites in my family (wife and 10 y/o twin girls) include:
Mission Red planet second edition
The Quest for Eldorado
Camel Up
Skull
Hanabi
The Crew, the quest for planet nine
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Biblios
Further to Cougars Forbidden Island recommendation I would also consider Forbidden Desert which again is by the same designer and shares similar mechanics but has a little more going on, it sits between island and Pandemic in terms of depth.