That's definitely a struggle. Games that take 15-45 minutes are easier to get people into. BGG has Amoeba Wars at ~150 minutes per game, which is daunting.
Btw, interesting comparison. I'd sooner bludgeon myself with a bat than play Monopoly for any length of time.
I literally just bought Love Letter yesterday from a local gaming shop. Very cheap. I'm hoping to play it this weekend.
Apparently there are tons of great worker placement games, Waterdeep among them. I like Waterdeep because of the setting, though, since I am very familiar with Forgotten Realms and Waterdeep in particular (several novels are set in the city).
Risk seems like something I want to leave in my past. I loved it, but I feel like my sensibilities have changed and that it would seem a little too...I dunno, plain? That, and it's hard finding people willing to devote three hours to a game like that.
Agreed on Settlers. It's too classic for me not to give it a fresh playthrough.
Role-playing works too. The multi-day time commitment of it can be daunting, but I own an old D&D starter kit along with some miscelaneous maps and expansions. D&D wasn't big for me because video games were replacing tabletop when I was starting to get into them. But, for example, my brother, who's 12 years my elder, was big into D&D because he didn't have the same options I did.
It's maybe 12 years for me with Risk. Still, like you said, fond memories.
Another I'll throw out there is Castle Risk. European map, some new mechanics, and very hard to come by. But it's also a notch or two more complex than regular Risk, and a lot of fun.
Risk may be retired for me, though. Like I said, there's a hardcore/casual mix that needs to be struck, and most of my friends would hesitate to drop 3-4 hours on a proper playthrough.
My friends and I used to play way too much Munchkin. I actually miss it a lot, but the games often got past 3 hours in length after we added all the expansion packs. Still, it's a great game that you can include a pretty big group in, and the cards all pretty consistently funny and fun.
I tried Pandemic, and didn't love it, but was super intrigued by the concept of a game where the players work together against the game to win- everyone loses or wins, which takes out some of the monopoly-style competition that inspires some to hate board games, and you're all invited to get super into team strategy, which is fun if you're ready for it. A couple friends of mine had a game with a similar playstyle, but rather than playing a group of scientists and researchers trying to fight a global disease (as in Pandemic), you were a group of elfs and dwarves and other fantasy characters trying to fight some goblin hordes and other evil. It was sweet, but I don't remember the name.
As a result of those two games, and cause I'm a big comic nerd, I really want to play Sentinels of the Multiverse. I read about it on BGG a while ago and it sounds right up my/friends alley.
Another friend was telling me that he recently played Tannhauser and had a lot of fun. It's a strategy boardgame set some time around or after the 1940s, in a world where the Axis discovered dark magic and the Allies gained powerful alien weaponry... which is a pretty awesome concept. The game itself is expensive though, iirc.
I haven't played nearly as much, but I own Super Munchkin. It's always a blast, as you mention, but yeah, length is always an issue. A couple of my friends turned on it recently, so I'm hoping we still get to play it again soon.
I've heard of Pandemic, but don't know anything about it. If you play it, let us know what you think.
As a great, quick party game that also has some depth, One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a new favorite of mine. And, based on descriptions, "The Resistance" and its more popular variant "Resistance: Avalon", seem to be similar to Werewolf, but with some added depth. I'm targeting one of those as my next purchase, as something that will appeal to a variety of casual-to-hardcore gamers.
Also, way too many of these are pretty expensive. I suppose it's to be expected, given the production values of many games, but it definitely makes it hard to expand a collection.
- I found a game shop really close to me (like, within walking distance), and introduced my gf to it. We stopped in this afternoon to play some of our games, and managed to recruit a couple others for a round of Love Letter. They have regular game nights and tournaments, and I may pop in every now and then.
- I did a ton of digging on BGG for games that I own, that I've played, and that I might want. I have a moderate list of things I'll want to purchase in coming months/years.
- I scoured Ebay, Amazon, and BGG for some of those "wishlist" games and found a few that were very cheap, so I'm already adding to my collection.
- BGG is also a great resource for Print & Play games...those that are available as downloadable and printable PDFs. Other than the cost of, say, card stock paper and a little printer ink, they're totally free. And while many are unimpressive, a long enough search revealed several that I'm excited to play that have as much complexity as many for-purchase games.
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It's remarkable how little time it takes between being a newb and really knowing some stuff and being into a hobby. In literally less than a week, I can talk about various game genres and styles, and I know of many popular games and what they're about, and also have a plan for building a collection that will have fun games for nearly any occasion, gamer type, or group size.
I have an active social life, but there's still a lot of downtime either alone or with my gf where we're just watching movies/TV. That's fine, but I wanted something to break that up every now and then. This is it, and it's a lot of fun!
That's too much, plain and simple. I can't imagine the justification for something like that, or the bank account that would be needed to fund it. My goal isn't to become some massive collector. I want somewhere around 30 games that I enjoy. And I want to have an array of games for different occasions. So, for example, 5 friends are over and we're drinking...we need something easy to learn, casual, and fun for 5-6 people. Or I'm on a double date and I need some cool 4-player games, potentially with teams. Or it's just me and a friend. Or just me. Or a few "heavier" games for a gamer crowd.
Gaming is a social thing for me, I'm not just in its for the games (with rare exceptions when it's just me). So my main goal is accommodating various social situations in ways that maximize that fun. And I certainly don't need 500, or even 100, games to accomplish that. Even with regularly playing stuff, 20-30 games is a huge rotation.
Recent Purchases:
- Risk & Castle Risk: more for Castle Risk, a fun, obscure variation.
- Stratego: lost my old set, needed a new one.
- 221B Baker Street: sounds like a more complex Clue with a Sherlock Holmes theme. I don't have high hopes - reviews are mixed - but it was cheap as balls.
- Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: apparently an incredibly hard, massively interactive roleplaying/deduction game, that you play cooperatively with any number of people. Reviews looked great, and while it's not a party game, it could be a great 2-3 player game.
- Love Letter: As mentioned earlier, a simple, inexpensive, but deceptively intriguing little game. It initially seems like a lot of luck, and there is a fair amount. But there's ample statistical and deductive analysis that can give players an edge.
Free Stuff (Downloadable/Printable Games):
- Rat Hot: A simple 2-player puzzle strategy game. It's got enough to make you think, and is a nice way to kill 20-30 minutes.
- Mythwars: Clash of the Gods: A card-based combat game with teams of gods from various pantheons. Haven't played it yet, but it seems entertaining.
- Regnum Angelica: Another divine card-based combat system, but this one includes a board for movement and has quite a bit of complexity to it. The free printable version is a "lite" version. It's playable, but not as deep as the full game. If friends/gf like Mythwars, I will test this out, but may not play it otherwise.
Considering:
Lords of Waterdeep, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, Oddville, Hive, Dixit, Ticket to Ride
I added links to my previous post if anyone's interested. If nothing else, the free games are, well, free, minus the cost of printing them (ideally on card stock or glossy photo stock).
Seems like a decent party game. The description of it on BGG didn't excite me, but it's well-rated on the site, which usually bodes well. Amazon has it for ~$10, so it's not a huge investment either. I may look into it, thanks.
I play the video game single player version (hard to find online players) occasionally on PS3. It's not bad but I enjoy other PS3 games much more. Like XCOM, Magic 2013, and Monopoly.
__________________ Darwin's theory of evolution is the great white elephant of contemporary thought. It is large, completely useless, and the object of superstitious awe.-Dr. David Berlinski, Philosophy
Most people believe Evolution not because they themselves are dumb, but cause they trust the "experts" who are feeding them evolutionary fast food, and so they don't bother questioning whether or not it's true.
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Aug 15th, 2014 04:48 AM
