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I imagine much of it comes from a second (more expensive fee/bigger dictionary) stab at translation from the original german on the back of sales successes.
It's a different publisher, too.
I've been having a think about this. If you want to expand the game, I'd suggest you seek out Inns & Cathedrals. I'd pretty much consider it an essential add-on. New rules aside, it gives you more tiles (handy when you have more players), big meeple which count for two regular meeple (makes stealing land easier) and an extra meeple set for a sixth player. The new rules are entirely optional, and add a bit of variety without too much complexity / breaking the game completely.
One of the nice things about Carcassonne is that you don't have to play with all the various rule additions. For instance, "Traders and Builders" adds goods to the mix which changes the gameplay quite a lot; if you wanted you could happily ignore the "Traders" bit and just play with "Builders" which gives you an extra turn occasionally. Or you can mix and match for variety. See your Abbot - you could choose to use it, or ignore it, depending on what you feel like playing that day.
cheers. will look out for those expansions over the summer.
And while theyre at school I might crack open Catan and have a go at learning the rules.
ION, Catan.
Your game of Catan lives or dies based on your initial starting set-up. When you're learning you don't have the experience to make this decision wisely, so there's a 'first game' layout provided. I'd recommend sticking with this layout until you're all completely comfortable with how the game works.
Don't be scared of trading. This is the meat of the game, we spent ages shying away from this and trading with the bank, which isn't cost-effective and makes a game last for ever. Remember though that only the person who's go it is can initiate a trade, but that trading is free-form and open to negotiation. Eg,
1: "Has anyone got any wood to trade? I'm offering a sheep."
2: "I'll give you a wood for two sheep."
1: "I can't do that, sorry."
3: "I've got a wood spare which you can have for a sheep, so long as you go and put the kettle on."
... would be perfectly valid at our table. (-:
Also of note is that you don't have to accept trade offers. Just because you have something in your hand doesn't mean you have to give it away.
given Jr's propensity to barter anything to get TV time, this could prove either a boon, or extremely costly....
One more flue to sweep and stove to clean and I will go and sit down with the instructions.
(BTW, bit of a win. Got a second edition "s/h" set of Risk from an ebay charity shop. s/h only in that the box had been sat in the sun somewhere for years - the cards/die/armies hadn't even been taken out of their wrappers!)
Yeah, don't tell him that, then. (-:
Never really got on with Risk, because I always played with people who knew it backwards. Think I'd go with an alternate edition if I were to pick it up. Won't be an issue if you're all new to it then.
Never really got on with Risk
The worst thing, for me, about Risk is that it's possible to be out of the game entirely but not be knocked out since you're just no longer a threat. It's bad enough having player elimination in a 2 hour plus game but having it be possible to just be sat there waiting for someone to kill you off for turn after turn is the ultimate in tedium.
bit old school here another vote for Risk - Cluedo - kids cheat but then again that's the real world I guess, Monopoly need a go pro on the banker. Scrabble = except the big people are way too competitive - playing cards? my small people seem to know a lot of games and enjoy teaching them
I know this is not appropriate to the ages groups, but if you get a group of adults, Dead of Winter is great fun. Played a game on Friday night (Saturday nights with this group of friends are reserved for D&D), and had lots of laughs.
I thought Risk was OK at best. The Narnia edition was quirky. However, [url= https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/487/power ]Power[/url] is everything that Risk should have been (It's better/best with 3 or 4 players though)
Sadly we don't seem to be able to gell with SoC, maybe I tried it too early for junior..
twister
If you want something to complement the more involved games how about (apologies if mentioned and missed)-
Bananagrams: Suits almost all ages, games are over very quickly but it's very easy to play lots. Best description I've heard of it is 'freestyle scrabble'- I get bored in scrabble, this is much faster!
Backpacker: Good for games of about 20 minutes, cards so only needs a small surface. Kept four of us entertained on the trains on a long weekend wandering round Belgium and for several hours when the chunnel broke. Very likely to induce Risk level dislike of other players as people get screwed over.
They now introduce farmers as an advanced feature. I can see why - they're can be a bit tricky to get your head round, but they're absolutely core to the game. You want to be playing with farmers as soon as you can.
That makes loads of sense in respect of new players, though would make the game kind of dull and plodding. Farmers make it awkward enough that after the first few weeks, it sat on the shelf for years during regular public game nights I ran. I love the meandering thing Robert Florence [url= http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/13/cardboard-children-of-parpellimonies/ ]wrote about it here[/url] (I probably wouldn't recommend Cosmic Encounter for groups aiming to include kids, but it is often hilarious).
Also, a few people mentioned Ticket To Ride earlier: Ticket To Ride Europe adds just a few more things that put it into just the right level of complexity for a sociabe group, IMO.
This thread
I'll put a couple of others into the mix; they are fairly quick but have a lot of life imo.
1. Forbidden Island - Co-op game.
2. Love letter
Both are very popular with my kids and love letter is also popular with the grand parents. Most importantly they're great fun.
Pandemic, another co-op, is also an amazing game but 5 is probably too young for it; but worth buying when they get older.
I never get the love for Love Letter. It's completely stripped of any meaningful decisions and there's not enough game for bluffing or deduction. It more or less plays itself.
Love Small World and Carcassonne, both have really good apps too, and King of Tokyo!
Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs.
"Pteranodon swoops!" Is still a catchphrase around here, 25 years later.
I never get the love for Love Letter.
It's a light game, for sure (and you could probably play it with a normal deck of cards). But it's quite pretty and charming in its way. I hate to stereotype but I wonder if part of it's appeal is that non-gamer partners like it?
IIRC, the same game exists in a different theme (and I think the other pre-dates it), and you rarely hear about that one.
But it's quite pretty and charming in its way.
Maybe the fact that I have the black Japanese edition removes some of the picturesque charm but I can never work out when the fun bit starts.
edit: speaking of light games you can pay with a deck of cards (or even beermats in this case). Skull should have been one of my filler recommendations and everyone should know how to play Perudo.
everyone should know how to play Perudo.
I got horribly addicted to Liar's Dice in Red Dead Redemption. Used to fire up the game just to play it online with a couple of mates.
I got horribly addicted to Liar's Dice in Red Dead Redemption. Used to fire up the game just to play it online with a couple of mates.
It's one of my family's christmas games. MY OH is almost scarily good at it, she often wins without having lost a dice. The only other games she's any good at are Bananagrams and Caverna - no idea what that says about her thought processes.