I’m just curious what games keep you coming back, but I’ll go first (in no particular order)
Twilight Imperium - excellent for when you want to give your brain a real workout and enjoy some cutthroat strategy.
Munchkin - It’s not a masterpiece or anything, but it’s a blast with friends
Red Dragon Inn - Not dissimilar to Munchkin for the high quality evening with friends potential. Expansions are endless, but almost always worth the change of pace. Does suffer from a little power creep between the OG box and the stuff released after it.
Xia Legends of a drift system - Best played on Tabletop Sim, but this sci-fi game about being a starship captain creates some great stories with friends.
Space Base - You might be seeing a bit of a theme here, but really they’re just really good games. Space Base is a pretty refined worker placement game, and it doesn’t take 9 hours like some of the games on this list.
Sheriff of Nottingham - Social deduction, pettiness, and silly voices, what’s not to love?
The King’s Dilemma - Okay this one is a bit of a cheaty one, it’s a legacy game but with the right crew who like to get in character it’s a fantastic experience.
Alright, your turn!
For no reason at all other than I love the birds on the cards, Wingspan has to be my favorite
This take is both valid and fair. I never actually played it as while the flavor interests me, the mechanics didn’t. That said on the topic of wings, Evolution is exceptional, including the flight expansion.
Yeah, the mechanics of it always seem to trip people up, but it is probably the most aesthetically pleasing game I own. Even the manual is printed on quality paper. 😍
Betrayal at the House on the Hill is one of my favourite games. I like that the game is different every time and how the objectives to finishing a game can be completely different.
Love that game - high replay value, easy to pick up, and can build some solid tension!
Carcasonne is a game that’s fairly easy to pickup but has TONS of replay-ability even with one set. No matter who wins, it’s fun to see the cute little medieval kingdom take shape by the end.
Moonrakers is a fun tabletop game I found as a mod on Tabletop Sim. It’s a card game with simple Dominion-like mechanics, you and your opponents work together on space contracts but compete to earn Victory points (Prestige). I can’t afford the physical version yet (The 280 CAD deluxe edition is the only one I see available)
Pandemic is fun because it’s a nice mix of working together, getting stressed at the growing infection and the multiple impending gameover conditions.
Codenames because it’s a great party game to pick up and requires a lot of creativity.
A lot of the other games I want to play but figuring out the rules takes a long time and many of my friends don’t have the patience to learn a new game at least every time.
late to the party here. we have some big board game fans in our office, and we have started the tradition of a weekly game of The Resistance. it’s been a lot of fun!
Hey Smorks, thanks for the server! The more the merrier! Resistance is definitely one of those games I’d consider both team building and trust issue inducing, so I’m sure it’s a fun office pick :P
We’re still novices in our household, but a few that we’ve enjoyed so far:
- The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
Trick-taking cooperative card game with a bunch of different gameplay variations in the missions. The brilliant wrinkle is that you can’t speak with each other during gameplay.
- The Quest for El Dorado
A deck-builder race game that’s really approachable for those new to deck-builders. Winning is in finding the balance between deck management and board positioning.
- Happy Pigs
A euro-like game of economy management as you all raise pigs, breed them, and prepare them for selling to market. The strategy is in anticipating what your opponents will do, since players must share turn actions between them.
Our main group likes playing coop games. Some of our favs are Pandemic, Fuji Koro, Sanctum, Until Daylight, and Betrayal at House on the Hill (which we nicknamed spooky house).
I love showing people Chicago Express (now reprinted as Wabash Cannonball) as an alternative intro game to “mid tier” classics. If you’ve never played it it has all the fun aspects of train building, but with a pretty cool shared stock market and bidding spectrum where you have to work with others to earn the most money for your various investments. It gets played as often as Dominion in our house and other classics. Definitely worth a look if you’re into that sort of thing!
Splendor is my partner and my go-to. We’ve played endless rounds - though we normally ditch the nobles when it’s just the two of us.
Pandemic, Forbidden Island, Betrayal at house on the Hill… there are so many!
We live in a golden age
Betrayal was my intro into proper board games vs monopoly and ludo and chess. And it thoroughly blew me away with how complex and flavourful board games could be.
Now I have half a Kallax chock full of board games and It continues encroaching on the book territory.
Going through my collection:
Catan: mostly due to a wide appeal+familiarity. I’m the source of getting my social group into gaming, so I have to have some games that they’ll have access to elsewhere/are already familiar with.
Sushi Go Party!: An easy intro to drafting games and has incredibly cute artwork. Usually the game I pick for board-gaming curious friends.
Skull king: Everyone loves a good trick taking game and the themeing+rock-paper-scissors of the non-suit cards really amps up the fun.
Cockroach Poker: A game that’s just as fun sober and otherwise. Incredibly portable and easy to get folks onboarded.
Coup: If you want to test the fabric holding the friend group together, and also have some incredible spicy back-stabby fun.
Betrayal at house on the hill: My introducion to modern board games and also the game I pick for the TTRPG curious among my friends. Exploring a haunted house with lots of flavour and dice rolling is always fun.
Wingspan, The Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Puerto Rico, most of the Azul variants, also Patchwork and Splendor for 2p games.
- Illuminati is the most fun
- Agricola is a whole world
- Betrayal at House on Hill is the most engrossing
Wingspan, Tiny Epic Galaxies, Dune Imperium, Tiny Epic Pirates, Firefly, Fluxx, Love Letter, Dominion, Tsuro, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Let’s Summon Demons, Carcassonne.
