Board games

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

My problem with every "advanced" board game I have played is that you can lose for hours. What I mean by that is that it can be clear early on who the winner will be, and then you have to accept slow death as the events play out.

So to me, the only point of board games in 2014 is to teach children sportsmanship and how to be gracious winners and losers.

i'm still new at board games but i think you're playing the wrong ones. A lot of the german style games try to take away the luck in the game. Make it more even.

I'll use monopoly as an example.
Your scenario is what they call the "runaway leader". what happens is a player gets all amazing rolls and picks up an unbeatable monopoly. Everyone else either gangs up on that one player "kingmaking" or someone has no chance of winning so they basically try to dump their cards for the player so they can win ("player elimination").

Might want to try other stuff like catan, small world, ticket to ride. King of tokyo feels a little luck based imho but the games are really quick. Pandemic is a co-op board game so everyone's working together. Might be a good alternative.

 

[poofyhairguy]

i'm still new at board games but i think you're playing the wrong ones. A lot of the german style games try to take away the luck in the game. Make it more even.

I'll use monopoly as an example.
Your scenario is what they call the "runaway leader". what happens is a player gets all amazing rolls and picks up an unbeatable monopoly. Everyone else either gangs up on that one player "kingmaking" or someone has no chance of winning so they basically try to dump their cards for the player so they can win ("player elimination").

Might want to try other stuff like catan, small world, ticket to ride. King of tokyo feels a little luck based imho but the games are really quick. Pandemic is a co-op board game so everyone's working together. Might be a good alternative.

Thank you for the advice, I will try one of those next time. You are correct, everything I have played has some basis of luck.

 

[purbeast0]

i remember loving Scotland Yard as a kid but i really don't remember anything about it.

 

[Midwayman]

My problem with every "advanced" board game I have played is that you can lose for hours. What I mean by that is that it can be clear early on who the winner will be, and then you have to accept slow death as the events play out.

There are games with catch up mechanics. Powergrid and Imperial come to mind. Both give benefits to the player in last place. I'm sure there a lots of others. You might also be interested in co-op board games like pandemic or Robinson Crusoe. You work as a team so nobody feels like a loser for most of the game.

 

[BUTCH1]

No one in my family likes board games. I prefer Monopoly and Risk but they take a long time, so no one ever wants to play them.

When I was a teen way back in the '70's we would often have Risk games that spanned several days, same for Monopoly. It was too frigging cold to stay outside at night, gas was hard to come by and there were no electronic games to play unless you wanted to drive to the bowling alley and play Pong or pinball..

 

[JTsyo]

i remember loving Scotland Yard as a kid but i really don't remember anything about it.

That's the one where there's one guy trying escape the others? You have to use buses, taxis and subway to make your escape while the other try to trap you? Played on a map.

My favorite ones are (in no order):

-Settlers of Catan
-Carcassonne
-Puerto Rico
-Agricola
-Power Grid
-Oregon

We also play some card games:

-Dominion
-Race for the Galaxy
-San Jaun

 

[tfinch2]

i'm still new at board games but i think you're playing the wrong ones. A lot of the german style games try to take away the luck in the game. Make it more even.

I'll use monopoly as an example.
Your scenario is what they call the "runaway leader". what happens is a player gets all amazing rolls and picks up an unbeatable monopoly. Everyone else either gangs up on that one player "kingmaking" or someone has no chance of winning so they basically try to dump their cards for the player so they can win ("player elimination").

Might want to try other stuff like catan, small world, ticket to ride. King of tokyo feels a little luck based imho but the games are really quick. Pandemic is a co-op board game so everyone's working together. Might be a good alternative.

Catan is a good game, but we've stopped playing it all together (after many years of playing it) because of the "runaway leader".

When you're playing with other players who know all the right moves to make, winning comes down to:

1.) Whoever places their city first (initial board placement before any turns even start) - We actually keep track of this, and it is something ridiculous like 85% of the time this person wins
2.) Whoever gets lucky die rolls - We joke that 4 and 10 pieces should have 6 dots

 

[Malfeas]

I love board games. That is one of the things I miss about Seattle since I moved, there is a huge board game nerd culture up there. My friends and I would get together several times a month for our burger, beers and board game nights.

If you are interested and in the area, you can always check out the Card Kingdom in Ballard, or Blue Highway Games in Queen Anne.

 

[Midwayman]

Catan is a good game, but we've stopped playing it all together (after many years of playing it) because of the "runaway leader".

When you're playing with other players who know all the right moves to make, winning comes down to:

1.) Whoever places their city first (initial board placement before any turns even start) - We actually keep track of this, and it is something ridiculous like 85% of the time this person wins
2.) Whoever gets lucky die rolls - We joke that 4 and 10 pieces should have 6 dots

Initial city placement is incredibly important. Probably 70-80% of the game, but I don't think it's number 1 that has an advantage unless the board ends up pretty skewed. #3 is the best guess as they have a chance at a coherent strategy while not picking last. For point #2 they make a card set you can use for resources instead of dice. Resource distribution will even out over the course of a game with them.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

Catan is a good game, but we've stopped playing it all together (after many years of playing it) because of the "runaway leader".

When you're playing with other players who know all the right moves to make, winning comes down to:

1.) Whoever places their city first (initial board placement before any turns even start) - We actually keep track of this, and it is something ridiculous like 85% of the time this person wins
2.) Whoever gets lucky die rolls - We joke that 4 and 10 pieces should have 6 dots

ah i didn't know that. the problem with my group of friends is they don't want to learn to play anything with semi complicated rules. i have so many games that haven't even been opened yet (resistance, lords of waterdeep, dominion, etc). they just want to play munchkin lol. that game is the same every time and it's all luck. it's fun at first but i want to be able to play a game that involves skill and doesn't take like 4 hours to play because someone can't get the right card combo.

 

[Mossimo142]

I'm drawing a blank on a game I used to play when I was in Junior High back in the early/mid 90's.

It was a hero's verse evil/monsters type game. It was divided between 1 "bad" guy who set up the game and 3 or so "good" people. I think there was a choice to be a Magician type guy, a girl, and a "warrior", maybe a dwarf as well.

I don't recall the gameplay exactly, but the hero's entered the game board and events were triggered by however the other player set it up.

There was a VHS that accompanied it. I dont recall if it had an impact on the actual gameplay or not, but I recall the opening where the hero's were running around and the sky was dark and there was lightning going on.

Does anyone recall this game?

Found it! It was called "Dragon Strike"
http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Strike-Makers-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/B001QA6ENU

 

[norseamd]

ever try stratego

 

[Chapbass]

Hah, stretego, awesome.

I play Dominion, Citadels, Pandemic, and a bit of Catan. Catan is probably my least favorite of those 4, and Dominion/pandemic are tied for my two favorite.

 

[tfinch2]

Initial city placement is incredibly important. Probably 70-80% of the game, but I don't think it's number 1 that has an advantage unless the board ends up pretty skewed. #3 is the best guess as they have a chance at a coherent strategy while not picking last. For point #2 they make a card set you can use for resources instead of dice. Resource distribution will even out over the course of a game with them.

Perhaps it seems more skewed when playing Cities and Knights expansion, which is mostly what we play. Usually the person who places their first city puts it on the best available wood spot to build up their paper stock and get the Aquaduct ability ASAP. Plus city improvements on wood produce much better progress cards than any other.

 

[Drako]

Risk

 

[rivan]

I've been playing some simpler, co-op ones with my kids (6 & 10) - Forbidden Desert is our current favorite.

I can't wait for the younger one to be old & mature enough to start taking on higher level rules and strategy.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Board games are awesome! We play Vikings, Agricola, Settlers of Cataan, Powergrid, Monopoly, Risk and, a host of others. We enjoy the socializing, smack talk, food and learning /teaching new games that goes along. Sometimes we'll take long weekends and play from breakfast til pass out with a dozen friends sharing home brews. Given a choice between any pc game on the best computer out there and playing board games with our friends, we'd choose board games every time.

 

[Rhezuss]

You guys absolutely have to try Runewars, Merchant of Venus and/or Mansions of Madness.

 

[JoJoDawg]

Axis and Allies all time favorite. Risk 2nd.

Picked up Agricola and Pandemic over holiday sales. Couple of plays with the little have been fun. Need to try with a decent group.

 

[mrjminer]

Man oh man i loves me some board games.

Oldies but goodies that i dont play muchbthses days; Axis &Allies, Carcassonne, Citadels, Dominion

I play Ticket to Ride: Europe with the wife fairly frequently

I got Descent 2nd Edition for christmas and finally got my buddies over for a play through. Fantastic game.

Then theres the old classic Hero Quest which my 6 and 8 year old adore.

Id like to play Arkham Horror more, but its soooooo slow and the games take forever.

Hero Quest was pretty badass. Too bad I've only gotten to play it a couple times.

I wish I had board game friends. I only know one other person that would play board games with me regularly, but haven't hung out with him in a while. Now, I'm condemned to the occasional board game party where non-board games take over after an hour of a mediocre game of, typically, trivia/acting board games.

Woe is me

 

[KidNiki1]

i like playing clue with the minions. we also play scrabble, checkers, chess (although i am not very good at it) and uno (ok, card game but whatever).

i want to get them into some rpg card games, like magic, but i've already nerded them out so much in their young lives...

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Hero Quest was pretty badass. Too bad I've only gotten to play it a couple times.

I wish I had board game friends. I only know one other person that would play board games with me regularly, but haven't hung out with him in a while. Now, I'm condemned to the occasional board game party where non-board games take over after an hour of a mediocre game of, typically, trivia/acting board games.

Woe is me

You have to make friends with folks who have similar hobby's, woodworking, sewing, welding, gardening etc. Folks who like doing things with their hands, tend to like boardgames and cards.

 

[brianmanahan]

i play eurogames every week, I LOVE THEM. so much better than amerigames like monopoly.

some of my favs (in approximate order of most fav first):

- 7 wonders + xpacks
- dominion + xpacks
- ticket to ride
- citadels
- settlers of catan + xpacks
- agricola
- carcassone
- bang

there are some others but i cant recall them atm.