What are your favorite board games? Me and my friends love playing board games, but I get the feeling their tired of playing the same things. What do you guys usually play? My favorite board game of all time is HeroQuest. I never get tired of playing it. Also love Catan, Arkham Horror, Betrayal House on the Hill, Spyfall (great at parties)
We have a wider circle of friends who are boardgame enthusiasts, so we go through a rather lot of them. Some stick, some don’t. These we play regularly and have a lot of fun:
There are more that made an impression on me, I remember playing them a few times, but do not want to play them again (Do you know that feeling? :D ), eg. Eclipse (the galaxy-wide battle 4X preparation-takes-as-long-as-playing-and-playing-takes-a-whole-day strategy), Agricola, Mice and Mystics…
Brass Birmingham is a masterpiece. I absolutely love that game. It’s and absolutely heartbreak that my SO dislikes it.
Have you tried Lost Ruins of Arnak? It’s great!
I really like board games that don’t take that long to play. It’s a lot easier to rope your friends into a game that takes 30-40 minutes to play and is easy to learn rather than a game that takes 4+ hours.
Some that I’ve found
- Azul
- Sheriff of Nottingham
- Splendor
Azul is such a beautiful game too. That’s usually my intro for people new to board games.
My partner and I love playing Wingspan. A game about bird may not sound great but it’s full of strategy without being too hard to pick up. It’s competitive, but just total points at the end, you can’t screw each other up during play.
I came here to say Wingspan. I have gotten my friends and family to play it, and everyone likes it.
My second favorite game might be Scythe, another one of their games. They just make good stuff.
Ooh, we picked up the digital version of Scythe because it was a few dollars during a Steam sale, we’ve only played one game so far, but it almost immediately jumped onto our list of games we’re planning on buying.
Nice! It’s super good in real life. It feels like there’s so many things at the start since there are so many ways to win. But I really think the game is pretty smooth after a couple of turns. Every time I play it I have a good time — even if I lose.
I ended up buying the expansion that tells a story as you go. But unfortunately my friends and I haven’t had a good time to really play through it.
There is a board game I played years ago at a comic shop, and I can never remember the name of it. I only played it once but it was super fun. Kind of like if Freelancer were a board game. You had a huge game board with a bunch of planets and you picked up missions. I dont remember what the win conditions were, but I remember I had a lot of fun with it.
I vaguely remember totalbiscuit and the gang play some games that would fit the description. Maybe worth a shot digging through his old stuff
Yeah, I’ll have to go and check some of those out, thanks for the suggestion!
You had me at “Freelancer the board game”. I love that game, and what you’re describing sounds fun as hell
It was years ago, so my memory may be a bit foggy on it lol. I looked up the names someone else suggested and it was Xia: Legends of a Drift System. I remember it was a lot of fun, even if I was totally out of my depth the first time playing it
Looking at images online and your description of it, it seems like the game in question.
That could have been:
• Xia, legends of a drift system
• Star Wars, outer rim
• Firefly
• Merchant of VenusThose are probably the most well-known games along that line 💁🏻♀️
Maybe it’s Xia or Merchant of Venus, those are activating something in my brain…
I like the ones that platform socialisation and banter - things like hidden role games, party games, etc. Less focus on the game’s strategy and more on the people you’re playing with.
Codenames (and Codenames Duel) is slower-paced but an engaging word-based game.
Just One is a simple word game that even drunk people can play (and likely have more fun in).
Detective Club is a bluffing hidden role game, where all of you are using weird art cards to match a prompt, but one of you didn’t have the prompt and is spinning bullshit - guess who!
Concept is Pictionary for people who can’t draw.
And my all time favourite:
Telestrations, a blend of ‘the telephone game’ and illustrations. If you’re familiar with Gartic Phone, you already understand the gist. Every event that I’ve brought it out, it has been a good time.
Hive is a modern, fun take on chess with a dynamic board. Its super fun and unlike chess its not figured out and people just don’t bother to throw a “book” at it. Every board game convention I try to find someone wirh Hive and it’d awesome!
I’ve been absolutely loving a couple of the Button Shy games at the moment! They’re really nice because I can just slip them into my work bag and play them at lunch. In particular, I’ve been playing a fair bit of Sprawlopolis and Food Chain Island, both of which are really great solo games.
With other people, I’ve been playing a whole lot of Spirit Island, which is probably one of my all-time favorites. The amount of diversity in how each of the spirits play is mind-boggling and makes every game feel very different. My regular play-group is also getting pretty excited for the new expansion that’s coming out in the next couple of months.
The Red Dragon Inn is fun, especially when you drink real alcohol when you “drink” in game
I realise this doesn’t really count (well, it does but you know), but chess. The rules are straightforward and it has infinite replayability. And you can play a game online any time you want in an instant.
Other boardgames I enjoy are Arkham Horror and Twilight Imperium, though I haven’t played either in a while.
Jeez, when you play a board game you really decided it’s an all day event. Both Arkham Horror and Twilight Imperium take forever every time I’ve played them
Try the Arkahm Horror Card Game. It moves quite a bit faster but shares much of the difficulty and has great stories.
Was into the tabletop simulator version of TI4 for a while. But even with automated set up and digital streamlining, the games are still 6-8 hours.
Love the game, but just don’t have time to play anymore.
My city is an astoundingly good game. My wife and I are playing it basically every weekend at the moment. Super easy to learn, tactically rich, the art is lovely and you make your own city story to some extent. It’s just wonderful.
It might be Marrakech now that I think about it. It’s not too time taking and friendly to casual players yet not completely luck based. Also placing the rugs just feel so good. Are there other board games that comes with neat little items like Marrakech?
deleted by creator
I really love Spirit Island because i find the setting really nice. You are Spirits and need to destroy the invaders to your island. Another great part is that its a coop game and you can chose many different spirits with each different playstyle.
Feels like everyone I know has eventually ended up with their own copy. Hands down my favorite coop board game - it does a good job of minimizing the problem where one person effectively ends up playing for the whole table. Plus as you said the flavor is great.
I’ve fallen in love with Arkham Horror The Card Game. It’s difficult and can be played solo if I really feel the need.
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/arkham-horror-the-card-game/
I’ve been getting into Go/Baduk lately, it’s a shame how few people there are playing it in the US! Would love to play in-person instead of always online
Go is the most amazing game I know. I often regret not sticking with it as a kid. And IRL games are wonderful. The feeling of the stones on fingertips, the rattle of prisoners, the clicks and clacks when placing stones on the goban…
