I recommend avoiding the expansion packs until you've got the hang of the regular game.
The original works well with 3+ players: for 2 players there's a "Castle" version.
Sander
· 1 year ago
I second the recommendation for Carcassonne, and to not start with expansions - excepting perhaps the mini-expansions The River or The River II, as they make for a more interesting start without otherwise affecting the rules. Puerto Rico - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076 - is also worthwhile - has a long setup time, a slow build up, and far too many tokens - but it all pays off in the end game (much more so than I'd expected).
A two player game which I can highly recommend is Yinsh - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/7854 . This gets mindbendingly fun (in an "ouch, my brain hurts, but I _think_ that you can't stop me if I do _this_ *evil laughter*" kind of way) after the first couple of games when you grok some basic strategy. For 4 players, just bring two sets of Yinsh and rotate opponents after each game. (Or try one of the five other Project Gipf games; though imo Yinsh is the most rewarding of them all.)
Oh, and peruse the archives of Hixie's weblog - he's the boardgame master, and has many recommendations.
robcee
· 1 year ago
most of the Steve Jackson games are pretty fun, if silly. I have fond memories of The Awful Green Things from Outer Space and OGRE, but those might be hard to find.
@ben: I've played Carcassonne on the Xbox (of all places) and it's pretty interesting. I can see how the end-game scoring piece could be a bit complicated without a computer, but kind of fun just the same. For me, I'm not sure it has the same social aspect as Settlers — the trading keeps everything interesting, but nonetheless sounds like it's worth checking out.
@sander: good suggestions!
Gerv
· 1 year ago
Settlers rocks. We had fun this evening playing Set (http://www.setgame.com/) which is a great, quick game for any number of players, the only disadvantage being that whatever way you try and describe it, it sounds _really_ geeky. That may not be a problem with your friends, I don't know.
I also love Roborally, although it's hard to get hold of. Fluxx is fun for a while, Aquarius is good for novice gamers, Zendo (although it doesn't come as a boxed set any more) is great too.
Fun fact: with careful packing, the entirety of Settlers plus the 5-6 player expansion can fit in the (much smaller) box for the 5-6 player expansion. :-)
Justin Hall
· 1 year ago
All these suggestions sound awesome. Puerto Rico is some dense strategy and resource management. I tend to like those kind of games, but they take a lot of setup and patience. Then the strategery begins!
Usually about eighty minutes before all 1-8 players are ready to take their turns. There's mechanical artificial intelligence, hundreds of cardboard chits, 1920s horror and role-playing. The game is cooperative - everyone is on the same team, facing down terrible eldar gods from the great beyond, etc. It's a deep hoot.
Also, along those lines, Talisman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talisman_%28board_... - this is another game that feels so complicated it should have been a computer game. But then you play it for a short while and it's so rich that you can have these hilarious competitive potion flinging contests with other players, etc.
All Comments
I recommend avoiding the expansion packs until you've got the hang of the regular game.
The original works well with 3+ players: for 2 players there's a "Castle" version.
Puerto Rico - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076 - is also worthwhile - has a long setup time, a slow build up, and far too many tokens - but it all pays off in the end game (much more so than I'd expected).
A two player game which I can highly recommend is Yinsh - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/7854 . This gets mindbendingly fun (in an "ouch, my brain hurts, but I _think_ that you can't stop me if I do _this_ *evil laughter*" kind of way) after the first couple of games when you grok some basic strategy. For 4 players, just bring two sets of Yinsh and rotate opponents after each game. (Or try one of the five other Project Gipf games; though imo Yinsh is the most rewarding of them all.)
Oh, and peruse the archives of Hixie's weblog - he's the boardgame master, and has many recommendations.
@ben: I've played Carcassonne on the Xbox (of all places) and it's pretty interesting. I can see how the end-game scoring piece could be a bit complicated without a computer, but kind of fun just the same. For me, I'm not sure it has the same social aspect as Settlers — the trading keeps everything interesting, but nonetheless sounds like it's worth checking out.
@sander: good suggestions!
I also love Roborally, although it's hard to get hold of. Fluxx is fun for a while, Aquarius is good for novice gamers, Zendo (although it doesn't come as a boxed set any more) is great too.
Fun fact: with careful packing, the entirety of Settlers plus the 5-6 player expansion can fit in the (much smaller) box for the 5-6 player expansion. :-)
If you want a deeply demanding data-tracking boardgame challenge, check out Arkham Horror: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkham_Horror
Usually about eighty minutes before all 1-8 players are ready to take their turns. There's mechanical artificial intelligence, hundreds of cardboard chits, 1920s horror and role-playing. The game is cooperative - everyone is on the same team, facing down terrible eldar gods from the great beyond, etc. It's a deep hoot.
Also, along those lines, Talisman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talisman_%28board_... - this is another game that feels so complicated it should have been a computer game. But then you play it for a short while and it's so rich that you can have these hilarious competitive potion flinging contests with other players, etc.