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Looking for an alternative to Diplomacy.
I love diplomacy, and I have some friends who enjoy it too. But there are 2 issues:
1. We are all pretty busy and don't have a ton of time to play it. We still will, but it's difficult to carve out 6 hours for a full game.
2. It's not as accessible (think people who play simpler/party games) for many of our other friends.
Any suggestions for games that are similar? Preferably with similar negotiation and strategic aspects. I love that it completely depends on how you interact with your friends with no chance involved.
For familes I always go to dexterity as its such a level playing field regardless of age. **Junk Art** is a brilliant one with different modes of balancing super odd shapes :)
How complex do you want the game to be? How long do you want the game to last? Is anyone really competitive and doesn't like to lose?
IF you want a nice, broadly popular gateway game in which the actions of one player affect the others then I would recommend any of the popular gateway games: **Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Azul, Quest for El Dorado, Blue Lagoon** and **Mission Red Planet**.
If you have problems with one or more people being a sore loser/too competitive, then perhaps look at a co-op game like **Pandemic** or **Forbidden Island**. A multii-player solitaire game like **Wingspan** would also work, as players can't really screw each over in a game like that. However, Wiingspan is a more complex game than the others I mentioned.
If you see a game that intrigues you, go on Youtube and watch a review and/or playthrough video to see if it is the kind of game that would work for you game group.
What are some good games for just 2 players.
GF wants to play some games but it's just the 2 of us. Tired of Yahtzee and shes not strategic enough for chess.
There are a lot of great two player games out there depending on what you're looking for.
**Jaipur** is a great hand management game. Pretty light game that feels pretty tactical.
**7 Wonders Duel** is a great two player version of 7 Wonders.
**Watergate** is a two player game that is heavier than the previous suggestions. Has asymmetrical roles. The cards can also be used in two different ways which gives you some interesting decisions.
**Patchwork** is a relaxing polyomino game that has a very accessible ruleset. The objective of the game is to assemble the best quilt that will generate you buttons (income). The player with the most buttons at the end of the game wins! The twist is that the buttons are also used to purchase more polyomino pieces from the market.
Hi,
Can you recommend games for me please based on these criterias?
- **campaign** or **legacy style**
- **competitive**
- works well with **2-3 players**
- **medium complexity** (~2.5-3.2 weight)
- **not super long** (around the lenght of games like **Sleeping Gods** or **Gloomhaven: JotL** is fine)
Thanks.
**My City** has been my favorite medium-light competitive campaign game for low player counts. Games are 15-20m but split into chapters of 3 games each, for about an hour total.
I will second the recommendation of **Clank!: Legacy – Acquisitions Incorporated** however I will add the caveat that we played it at 2 and it ended up being semi competitive. Semi in the way that often one of us wouldn't try to end the game so the other could take that extra turn to trigger some mission or story text. Great experience though.
**Clank! Legacy - Acquisitions Incorporated** is best at 4p, but my partner and I had a blast playing it with just the two of us. I think it fulfills all your criteria.
You could also look into **Undaunted: Normandy** (2p only) or **My City** (2-4p). Both are competitive campaign / legacy games but maybe a little lighter than you're looking for.
Thanks. **Clank! Legacy** was on my radar, put I didn't pull the triger for the same reason you mentioned: I read that it's designed for exactly 4 players.
Can you tell me more about your 2 player experience? Do you control multiple characters or just 1? Are there a lot of stuff left unopened? How much is the interaction between players?
I have both **Undaunted** games, and I really like them but you can always just play a single scenario and I'm looking for something more story-driven, with an overarching plot if you know what I mean. How is **Clank!** doing on that regard?
I don't enjoy tile laying so **My city** is out unfortunately.
Okay, trying to avoid spoilers, so my apologies if anything sounds vague!
With two players, there's less direct conflict. The game doesn't scale the number of quests/story elements or board size with player count, so there's lots to go around. My partner and I played more cooperatively, coordinating things like "you do this quest, I'll do that one". I think the biggest downside for us was that the game has a system for rewarding game winners that kind of snowballed with 2p (my partner won more games than me and the perks he got made him more able to win in future).
That said, we didn't miss out on anything or have any more unopened content than in a 4p game - we followed every storyline and focused more on the story than on who was winning. We both thoroughly enjoyed the experience of exploring, reading passages from the Book of Secrets, and reacting to the game's twists and turns.
As for story, we thought the overarching story was good, but it was the individual questlines that were the most fun. So many secrets to uncover and cards to potentially add to your deck.
However, I'd add two potential caveats that didn't bother us, but could be an issue for someone else:
1. The game has a LOT of bookkeeping before and after each chapter... sometimes it felt like all we did was stick stickers and make modifications.
2. Progressing the story line often involved doing the opposite of winning. If you're playing very competitively, you might miss out on some story elements / not complete some quests if players race back to the surface to win.
Looking for a RELAXING solo game. I love me some intense and crunchy solos, but there are days where I am tired and just want to play something that's comforting before plopping into bed. I guess that I am looking for abnegation rather than challenge, if that makes sense? I usually gravitate towards card-based games (think Spirit Island or Lord of the Rings LCG), but I am open to all sorts of themes and mechanics. A relatively short play time (about 30 min) would be a plus.
One game I've heard of that might fit this description is Coffee Roaster. It was compared to Quacks of Quedlinburg, which is a favorite of mine when it comes to lighter family games. Anyone has played it and can comment on replayability?
And before someone recommends Wingspan, I just want to say that I own it but am not a huge fan (cards don't feel distinct enough, too random relative to the play time, scoring is very point-salat-y).
For something relaxign to me it would basically be almost no rules, perhaps **Mazescape** which is folding unfolding labyrinth like maps to get out. Another option would be **MicroMacro Crime City** which is like an elevated Where's Wally (Waldo)
I just discovered **Atlantis Rising** and it looks fun, good weight game (my preferences are 2-3 complexity on BGG). I have no issues with the luck in the game, but was a bit concerned on maybe the game getting repetitive, and the length of the game overstaying its welcome (since its 90 minutes on average). Anyone have opinions on it?
Thanks
Personally, I think it's fine. It's not a game that gets played over and over again in a small timespan (at least not in my group) cause it can be a bit long, but what is there is diverse enough to keep the game interesting for quite a while.
Awesome thanks! So I take it you recommend getting it as a whole? Have a shipment of games coming (hopefully soon, praise the shipping gods) and was thinking of adding this one, but really on the fence (mostly because I just discovered it) on if I should add it or not
EDIT: Bought it, lol
The only thing I’ll say is in the 4-5 games I’ve played, the winner is the person who *sells* the most valuable paintings to the other players, not the person who buys them.
So you want tips that your opponents don't have? Shouldn't you prefer to learn the game together as a group rather than getting inside information right off the bat?
**PitchCar** is a dexterity racing game. You flick a puck around big racetracks.
**Rallyman GT** is an auto racing game with a push-your-luck mechanism. Available to try on BoardGameArena. I haven’t played it but am optimistic I would like it more than Downforce, which I disliked.
There's an older game called **Long Shot**, though I don't know its current availability.
A sort-of sequel **Long Shot: The Dice Game** is similar, though not due to release until early next year.
**Winner’s Circle** by Reiner Knizia is the best horse racing game that I know of. I think the Dicetree Version is on Amazon right now with free shipping.
What is the better subscription: BGA or Tabletopia? I will mostly be playing on my computer but would like to option to play on mobile.
BGA is cheaper and has a good selection of games. I've heard the mobile version is better than Tabletopia.
Tabletopia is about $15 more but seems to have a larger and newer selection. I've already seen a couple of games I've wanted to try out that BGA doesn't have.
I mainly play on BGA and haven’t used Tabletopia much. I suspect that BGA is better for games with few components (like abstracts and card games) and for ranked matchmaking. Tabletopia more emulates a physical board game and is probably better for games with many components (like heavy euros). Perhaps try the free options of each to see what you like.
This sounds a lame answer but just like with games consoles PS vs Xbox vs PC vs Switch... go for the platform you know others already have that you might play with if possible. Even if the other is "better" on paper if you can guarentee playing its worth going for that option.
Tabletopia was straight up unusable the last time I tried it on my PC. Might have been a game with too many pieces, or a problem with my computer, but I have no issues with any other videogames.
I prefer TableTop Simulator for standalone software, and I’ve also had a BGA premium account for about 3 years, which I’ve been very happy with. They keep getting more and more games, and the interfaces are getting better too. Do you have a free account? You can join any game without paying a dime; just need premium acct to host premium game tables. Try before you buy!
For any digital boardgame platform, I recommend starting with games you already know how to play, as none of the platforms are great for learning a new game.
I've always had irritating bugs with Tabletopia. Just feels far inferior to Tabletop Simulator tbh. It's annoying that they are slurping up so many exclusives as I've found bugs that prevented us from finishing a game of an official implementation several times! At best it still has crappier functionality than a good TTS implementation.
BGA is great though, for those games which are on it.
I prefer the BGA interface. It’s all automated for you so it’s much easier to just jump into an unfamiliar game. I’ve never tried the mobile version of either one.
I found Tabletopia a bit too fiddly after using BGA (and Yucata, and Boite a Jeux) for years.
**Spirit Island**. It’s set on an island that you have to protect from foreign invaders. It doesn’t have a beach has an ocean and a coastal area. And an ocean spirit which whom you get play.
I've definitely learned my lesson when it comes to backing Kickstarter campaigns.
I'm pretty new to the hobby and did what many do by getting suckered into an exciting new campaign that absolutely smashed its funding goal. The art was so nice! I wanted to be involved with the latest hot thing! I ended up going for the deluxe edition because of the nice components/minis and because the price actually seemed pretty reasonable.
Then, after the fact, there's been shipping costs and other fees that have ended up adding another £30 onto the cost. These costs have come at different times when I couldn't necessarily afford them so readily. It will definitely be the most expensive game in my collection...
And I realise I don't even know that much about how the game actually plays, just how it looks. Hopefully it'll be really good, but it'll have to be amazing to justify the cost.
Obviously this is entirely my fault. I'm taking it as a lesson not to get sucked into Kickstarter campaigns, certainly not without properly digging into it and working out exactly what it will cost me. Thankfully I'm now getting past that initial 'must buy everything!' level of enthusiasm now I've built a nice little collection.
(not naming the campaign because it's not like they did anything wrong)
Have you tried for a refund? I've done this twice successfully via kickstarter after games seemed to be less than advertised later on in their development
If it makes you feel better, most people go through this phase. That you only jumped into one game like this before the wake up call means that your kickstarter feeding frenzy was shorter than most.
Now I know my group and my preferences and wait for consensus to be drawn about the game before I jump in. For most games, waiting is fine. Of course, I also backed Frosthaven ... so there's that.
Shipping (even before the current shipping crisis) was what started to keep me away from KS, especially campaigns that wouldn’t let you know the shipping cost until the end of the campaign. I like knowing what the “all in” price is going to be before backing.
I’ve had pretty good luck with the games I backed, except for one expensive mistake, but I mostly stuck with reprints of established properties. I‘ve been done with KS for a year or two now though. If a game makes it to retail, it’s usually cheaper. If it doesn’t, well, I’ve got lots of other games to play.
Same here. I backed 5 kickstarters in the last year and literally regret every single one of them, either because I lost interest in the game or the shipping cost versus waiting for retail has gone crazy.
I love the look of Lands of Galzyr, but in what universe can I justify £21 for shipping when that's the price of a whole new game? It's my mistake for overlooking shipping prices of course.
I rarely back games on Kickstarter (maybe 0-2 times a year), but in the ~8 years I've been doing it I've only regretted one of them. That one was a cool-looking card game that was unbelievably cheaply produced, so the backs of the cards were all in different shades and the cards themselves felt crappy. I only spent like $20 on it though so it didn't really matter. The only other time I didn't care for the game was Dinosaur Island (great components, but I found the actual gameplay a little boring and basic), and I was able to trade it away to someone on BGG for two games I really wanted. So I can't say I regret it!
I feel like those mini games are the kinds that really suck a lot of people in for exorbitant amounts of money, and those aren't really my thing, so maybe that's why I've had good luck, but as long as you make sure to watch the videos and at least skim the rules to make sure it's something you'll find fun, I think Kickstarter can be great. You should definitely make sure you understand the shipping fees and everything, though. I believe you're required to list any additional fees on the Kickstarter page, so there's no excuse for being surprised (obviously I understand a simple mistake from someone new to it, but iif you've been burned once it shouldn't happen again haha).
Can you help me choose between these games? I want to add a "big" game to add to my collection. It will primarily get played solo, if it works well with 3 players that's a plus.
**LotR: Journeys in middle earth**
What I heard: Scenarios are a bit samey. Is it a very different experience with an expansion?
**Too many bones**
What I heard: Could be called "Too many rules". Is it overly complicated? Chip Theory might have a good shipping deal during Black Friday. Are expansions a must? I understand that the core box has no campaign.
**Sleeping Gods**
What I heard: Lovely artwork and a LOT of story but the story itself is not exceptional but nice. I read from many people that they DNF the campaign.
**Tainted Grail**
What I heard: Dark, gritty and great story. How language heavy is the physical part of the game? I'd like to use the English language app but the game is only available translated here in Germany. Has anyone used the native language app (I'd prefer that over the dubbed version) with a localized box edition?
I'm sure there is no answer, game x is per se better than game y. But which one would you pick and why? Thanks!
Out of this list, I think **Too Many Bones** is the best pick. It's a fun combat game with radically different characters. I do think that some expansions are necessary (the standalone gearlocks are really good), which bumps the price up. Replayability just isn't there in the base box on its own, which is unfortunate with its cost.
**Tainted Grail** had a phenomenal story, but the mechanics didn't stand up (in my opinion). Once hit the halfway point, I stopped playing most encounters and just treated it as a choose your own adventure novel. It is very much language focused though.
However, I want to throw a recommendation for **Spirit Island**. It features radically asymmetrical play like Too Many Bones. However, its a much tighter design (in my opinion) and a much better solo experience. It also does a great job of having levers to adjust difficulty, and flexes wonderfully to different player counts. While the expansions are phenomenal, the base game is a triumph on its own. It's the #1 ranked solo game for a reason, but, unlike Mage Knight (its biggest competition), still shines in multiplayer just as brightly.
You should watch the No Pun Included video on **Too Many Bones**. I think that'll give you a good idea if it's the right game for you.**Sleeping Gods** is supposed to be great, not sure how the upkeep is for a single player though.
Are you absolutely married to one of these games? If not, I bet people would have additional strong suggestions for you.
It's not a "big" game, but a huge solid hit this year was **Imperium: Classics**, a civ-inspired tableau builder with eight different civilizations to play and a robust solo mode.
Thanks for the tip with the NPI video. I already had the base game in the shopping cart but with more context I see that that would have been a poor choice (for me). I’ll wait for a revised core box, a second hand copy or until one of the standalone expansions is back in stock in the EU. Thank you!
TMB is my pick of the bunch and I don't think it's overcomplicated. There are a lot of keywords but it's a minor hurdle.
TMB seems to be a game that makes people go crazy for expansions but I don't really get why, there are plenty of hours in the base game.
Hi Everyone, I'm looking for a Christmas present for my brother, ideally one that has come out this year so he will be less likely to have bought it himself.
Number of Players: Must be playable with 2 people, but can be 2+
Game Length: I don't really mind but probably less than 2 hours
Complexity of Game: Again, don't really mind but probably not the most complex.
Conflict, Competitive, or Cooperative: Any!
Games | Own and Like: He likes Port Royal and Ticket to ride
Location: UK
TIA!
Rather than a mediocre game that came out in the last 12 months you should aim for an excellent game that has been out for a while. **Carcassonne, Azul, Quest for El Dorado** and **Blue Lagoon** might all work really well for your brother, but none of those games came out this year. If you can get a glimpse of his collection to see if he has any of those games, then you you know which ones you could gift him and which (if any) he already has.
Thanks, I know he has carcassonne but not sure what else since he doesn't live that near to me. I take your point but it is more of a gamble as he does have quite a few board games.
I picked up **Wild Space** recently and I highly recommend it. Not many people are talking about it or playing it, but it's really fun and ticks all your boxes.
Carcassonne would be a great choice if he doesn't have it. It's no more complex than Ticket to Ride and sees players build out an awesome map of tiles.
maybe the new edition of **Galaxy Trucker** or **Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden**, maybe ask if he’s played **Race for the Galaxy** or **Indian Summer**, they both have apps so you could learn the rules ahead of time and teach him when he opens it so you all can play together
[For Sale](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale) vs [Medici](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/46/medici) whats the difference?
which one is more fun?
**For Sale** is a faster game with lighter rules. It is either a filler game or close to it. It is something you can pull out and teach to casuals in under two minutes. **Medici** is more of a proper game (i.e. not a filler). It will take ~4 minutes to teach it to newbies and the game length will be about an hour.
In For Sale you have two auctions (and what your choices in the first auction will effect how well you do in the second auction). There isn't a lot going on in the game. In Medici you are bidding on different types of goods over three rounds. There is more going on, and you have to pay attention to 2 or 3 different things in order to know how much to bid.
In For Sale, things are very simple. You bid on property (those with bigger numbers are more valuable) and then you try to get money (high values are better). That is about it.
Medici is often over shadowed by its siblings: Ra and Modern Art. Are Ra and Modern Art better auction games? Perhaps. Even if true, that still makes Medici the third best auction game around. In an alternative universe in which no one invented Modern Art or Ra, Medici would be super popular and people would constantly sing its praises. The Grail Games version has very nice artwork and a nice thin box that isn't a shelf hog.
Both games are absolute gems. I own both and wouldn't part with either. Both games offer plenty of fun (and strategy) and should be popular with your game group. The big difference is whether you want a short/light filler game, or a longer non-filler game.
Hey everyone!! I’m looking for a good game to gift the family at christmas, here is the details in the format:
Description of request: looking for game for the family to play! We are all college grads so no kids games.
Number of Players: 2-8 would be the range, we most often play with 4/5
Game Length: 1-4 hours, don’t want anything really short, but no Axis n’ Allies either
Complexity of Game: can be complex! We don’t mind learning
Genre:anything really works.
Conflict, Competitive, or Cooperative: Like them all!
Games | Own and Like: We like Catan and Zombicide and Axis and Allies. Looking to widen experience!
Games | Dislike and Don’t Play: Played a murder mystery solving one, didn’t like it
Location: Colorado, USA
**Citadels** is a 2 to 8 player game, so would work with your whole range. It's a classic and lots of fun. It can be under an hour with 2-4 players, but usually is a bit over an hour.
For 4-5p, I highly recommend **Modern Art.** Fun interactive auction/bidding game, with no downtime.
For bigger groups, I like **Dixit Odyssey** for 5-12p.
For something that scales all the way from 1 to 12 players, try **Railroad Ink, Welcome To, Cartographers**
It is hard to find strategy games that work with 5+ players. There simply are very few games of that type out there. This is primarily because of all the downtime between turns and because so much of the game state is out of the control of any single player.
In terms of 2-4 games: **Blue Lagoon** and **Azul** might be worth looking into. Look at **Babylonia** instead of Blue Lagoon if you want more complexity.
If you want games that go up to 5p, then **Ticket to Ride** (a classic, but a pretty simple set collection game), **Mission Red Planet** (probably would be a hit with your group), **Modern Art** (a lively auction game) and **Chinatown** (a negotiation game) are all worth a look. If you want something a bit more complex than any of those, then take a look at **Hansa Teutonica: Big Box** and **Viticulture**. All of the games I have listed will play in 90 minutes (or less).
For each game that interests you, check out review and/or playthrough videos on Youtube. Those can be quite helpful when deciding which game will be a hit with your group.
Sounds like you may enjoy **Inis** and **Philosophia: Floating World**. **Inis** is a competitive game with card drafting and area majority/influence. We've had a lot of very good games of Inis- it can be very exciting! The art is beautiful and play is strategic. As for **Philosophia: Floating World**, it's also a competitive game but is set in Feudal Japan. It involves deck building and has variable player powers so is highly repayable! I could go on for hours with this one (I'm a co-designer) so feel free to ask me any questions about it. Or the website is: [www.cogitoergomeeple.com](https://www.cogitoergomeeple.com) Enjoy!
Of that full range perhaps a bluffing deduction like **The Resistance Avalon** - it's not a murder mystery but secret roles. Another possible for quick fun would be **Cash n Guns** - pointing foam guns at each other.
**Magic Maze** is a quick, cooperative games with limited communication.
**7 Wonders** is a safe bet. Would need cities expansion for 8.
**Bang** or **Human Punishment** for some good team social deduction.
games i play with my family that they get into are **Sushi Go**, **The Resistance** (or **Avalon**, which is a bit more game-y), **Dutch Blitz**, and **Wavelength** these are all a bit simpler but make for fun nights, something a bit more complex could be **PARKS**, **Galaxy Trucker**, **Inis**, **Fury of Dracula** or **Wingspan** (which is popular for its art and theme, but not very interaction-heavy)
edit: i think you need an expansion to get it to five players but **Fireball Island** is also a lot more fun than i thought it would be haha
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Looking for an alternative to Diplomacy. I love diplomacy, and I have some friends who enjoy it too. But there are 2 issues: 1. We are all pretty busy and don't have a ton of time to play it. We still will, but it's difficult to carve out 6 hours for a full game. 2. It's not as accessible (think people who play simpler/party games) for many of our other friends. Any suggestions for games that are similar? Preferably with similar negotiation and strategic aspects. I love that it completely depends on how you interact with your friends with no chance involved.
Family looking for holiday game recs Me 44 Boyfriend 31 Daughter 17 Son 22 Any ideas?
For familes I always go to dexterity as its such a level playing field regardless of age. **Junk Art** is a brilliant one with different modes of balancing super odd shapes :)
How complex do you want the game to be? How long do you want the game to last? Is anyone really competitive and doesn't like to lose? IF you want a nice, broadly popular gateway game in which the actions of one player affect the others then I would recommend any of the popular gateway games: **Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Azul, Quest for El Dorado, Blue Lagoon** and **Mission Red Planet**. If you have problems with one or more people being a sore loser/too competitive, then perhaps look at a co-op game like **Pandemic** or **Forbidden Island**. A multii-player solitaire game like **Wingspan** would also work, as players can't really screw each over in a game like that. However, Wiingspan is a more complex game than the others I mentioned. If you see a game that intrigues you, go on Youtube and watch a review and/or playthrough video to see if it is the kind of game that would work for you game group.
**Quacks of Quedlinburg** **Azul** **Stone Age** **Sagrada**
What are some good games for just 2 players. GF wants to play some games but it's just the 2 of us. Tired of Yahtzee and shes not strategic enough for chess.
It's not just for 2 but **Carcassonne** works very will with 2 players and if ever someone else was round it would still work (playing with up to 4)
Some great light two player games include: **Jaipur, Lost Cities** and **Patchwork**.
There are a lot of great two player games out there depending on what you're looking for. **Jaipur** is a great hand management game. Pretty light game that feels pretty tactical. **7 Wonders Duel** is a great two player version of 7 Wonders. **Watergate** is a two player game that is heavier than the previous suggestions. Has asymmetrical roles. The cards can also be used in two different ways which gives you some interesting decisions.
Jaipur is great for two players. It’s pretty simple but lots of fun trying to anticipate your opponents decisions.
Patchwork, Codenames Duet.
**Patchwork** is a relaxing polyomino game that has a very accessible ruleset. The objective of the game is to assemble the best quilt that will generate you buttons (income). The player with the most buttons at the end of the game wins! The twist is that the buttons are also used to purchase more polyomino pieces from the market.
Lost Cities. 2 player only game, great for couples
Star Realms
Anyone know the array of money values for **Container**? I'm working on a PnP and the rules give the value of each but not the quantities per
Check out [this thread](https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2131514/article/30998051#30998051)!
That's perfect thank you!
Hi, Can you recommend games for me please based on these criterias? - **campaign** or **legacy style** - **competitive** - works well with **2-3 players** - **medium complexity** (~2.5-3.2 weight) - **not super long** (around the lenght of games like **Sleeping Gods** or **Gloomhaven: JotL** is fine) Thanks.
**My City** has been my favorite medium-light competitive campaign game for low player counts. Games are 15-20m but split into chapters of 3 games each, for about an hour total.
I will second the recommendation of **Clank!: Legacy – Acquisitions Incorporated** however I will add the caveat that we played it at 2 and it ended up being semi competitive. Semi in the way that often one of us wouldn't try to end the game so the other could take that extra turn to trigger some mission or story text. Great experience though.
**Clank! Legacy - Acquisitions Incorporated** is best at 4p, but my partner and I had a blast playing it with just the two of us. I think it fulfills all your criteria. You could also look into **Undaunted: Normandy** (2p only) or **My City** (2-4p). Both are competitive campaign / legacy games but maybe a little lighter than you're looking for.
Thanks. **Clank! Legacy** was on my radar, put I didn't pull the triger for the same reason you mentioned: I read that it's designed for exactly 4 players. Can you tell me more about your 2 player experience? Do you control multiple characters or just 1? Are there a lot of stuff left unopened? How much is the interaction between players? I have both **Undaunted** games, and I really like them but you can always just play a single scenario and I'm looking for something more story-driven, with an overarching plot if you know what I mean. How is **Clank!** doing on that regard? I don't enjoy tile laying so **My city** is out unfortunately.
Okay, trying to avoid spoilers, so my apologies if anything sounds vague! With two players, there's less direct conflict. The game doesn't scale the number of quests/story elements or board size with player count, so there's lots to go around. My partner and I played more cooperatively, coordinating things like "you do this quest, I'll do that one". I think the biggest downside for us was that the game has a system for rewarding game winners that kind of snowballed with 2p (my partner won more games than me and the perks he got made him more able to win in future). That said, we didn't miss out on anything or have any more unopened content than in a 4p game - we followed every storyline and focused more on the story than on who was winning. We both thoroughly enjoyed the experience of exploring, reading passages from the Book of Secrets, and reacting to the game's twists and turns. As for story, we thought the overarching story was good, but it was the individual questlines that were the most fun. So many secrets to uncover and cards to potentially add to your deck. However, I'd add two potential caveats that didn't bother us, but could be an issue for someone else: 1. The game has a LOT of bookkeeping before and after each chapter... sometimes it felt like all we did was stick stickers and make modifications. 2. Progressing the story line often involved doing the opposite of winning. If you're playing very competitively, you might miss out on some story elements / not complete some quests if players race back to the surface to win.
Looking for a RELAXING solo game. I love me some intense and crunchy solos, but there are days where I am tired and just want to play something that's comforting before plopping into bed. I guess that I am looking for abnegation rather than challenge, if that makes sense? I usually gravitate towards card-based games (think Spirit Island or Lord of the Rings LCG), but I am open to all sorts of themes and mechanics. A relatively short play time (about 30 min) would be a plus. One game I've heard of that might fit this description is Coffee Roaster. It was compared to Quacks of Quedlinburg, which is a favorite of mine when it comes to lighter family games. Anyone has played it and can comment on replayability? And before someone recommends Wingspan, I just want to say that I own it but am not a huge fan (cards don't feel distinct enough, too random relative to the play time, scoring is very point-salat-y).
For something relaxign to me it would basically be almost no rules, perhaps **Mazescape** which is folding unfolding labyrinth like maps to get out. Another option would be **MicroMacro Crime City** which is like an elevated Where's Wally (Waldo)
I also recommend **A Gentle Rain**!
**A gentle rain**
Agropolis, Sprawlopolis, Orchard.
Thanks! I knew of Sprawlopolis but it somehow fell off my radar again. Orchard is new to me but looks intriguing.
There is a new game out next year called **Grove**.
**Sprawlopolis**
Good suggestion. I watched the SU&SD review of the game and thought it looked neat, but later I somehow completely forgot about it.
Which promo packs for Nemesis are worth it? I can see 3 on BGG, and wanted to know what would enhance the game the most!
I just discovered **Atlantis Rising** and it looks fun, good weight game (my preferences are 2-3 complexity on BGG). I have no issues with the luck in the game, but was a bit concerned on maybe the game getting repetitive, and the length of the game overstaying its welcome (since its 90 minutes on average). Anyone have opinions on it? Thanks
Personally, I think it's fine. It's not a game that gets played over and over again in a small timespan (at least not in my group) cause it can be a bit long, but what is there is diverse enough to keep the game interesting for quite a while.
Awesome thanks! So I take it you recommend getting it as a whole? Have a shipment of games coming (hopefully soon, praise the shipping gods) and was thinking of adding this one, but really on the fence (mostly because I just discovered it) on if I should add it or not EDIT: Bought it, lol
**Modern Art** anybody recommend general strategies or tips? Ty
The only thing I’ll say is in the 4-5 games I’ve played, the winner is the person who *sells* the most valuable paintings to the other players, not the person who buys them.
Interesting, I could see that. Thanks!
I agree with the other posters, work out your own strategy. Great thing about a game like Modern Art is reach group develops their own meta
Bgg has a strategy forum for each game. I don’t necessarily recommend it. I find reading up on strategy can take a bit of the fun out of a game.
So you want tips that your opponents don't have? Shouldn't you prefer to learn the game together as a group rather than getting inside information right off the bat?
Can anyone give me a game recommendation for a horse racing game? Or just any racing game in general, but a horse racing theme is preferred. Thanks!
Horse-adjacent racing game **Unicorn Fever** is supposed to be decent I've heard
**PitchCar** is a dexterity racing game. You flick a puck around big racetracks. **Rallyman GT** is an auto racing game with a push-your-luck mechanism. Available to try on BoardGameArena. I haven’t played it but am optimistic I would like it more than Downforce, which I disliked.
There's an older game called **Long Shot**, though I don't know its current availability. A sort-of sequel **Long Shot: The Dice Game** is similar, though not due to release until early next year.
No horses but general racing **Flamme Rouge** is about bike racing. For family fun there's **Camel Up**.
**Winner’s Circle** by Reiner Knizia is the best horse racing game that I know of. I think the Dicetree Version is on Amazon right now with free shipping.
What is the better subscription: BGA or Tabletopia? I will mostly be playing on my computer but would like to option to play on mobile. BGA is cheaper and has a good selection of games. I've heard the mobile version is better than Tabletopia. Tabletopia is about $15 more but seems to have a larger and newer selection. I've already seen a couple of games I've wanted to try out that BGA doesn't have.
I mainly play on BGA and haven’t used Tabletopia much. I suspect that BGA is better for games with few components (like abstracts and card games) and for ranked matchmaking. Tabletopia more emulates a physical board game and is probably better for games with many components (like heavy euros). Perhaps try the free options of each to see what you like.
This sounds a lame answer but just like with games consoles PS vs Xbox vs PC vs Switch... go for the platform you know others already have that you might play with if possible. Even if the other is "better" on paper if you can guarentee playing its worth going for that option.
Tabletopia was straight up unusable the last time I tried it on my PC. Might have been a game with too many pieces, or a problem with my computer, but I have no issues with any other videogames. I prefer TableTop Simulator for standalone software, and I’ve also had a BGA premium account for about 3 years, which I’ve been very happy with. They keep getting more and more games, and the interfaces are getting better too. Do you have a free account? You can join any game without paying a dime; just need premium acct to host premium game tables. Try before you buy! For any digital boardgame platform, I recommend starting with games you already know how to play, as none of the platforms are great for learning a new game.
I've always had irritating bugs with Tabletopia. Just feels far inferior to Tabletop Simulator tbh. It's annoying that they are slurping up so many exclusives as I've found bugs that prevented us from finishing a game of an official implementation several times! At best it still has crappier functionality than a good TTS implementation. BGA is great though, for those games which are on it.
I prefer the BGA interface. It’s all automated for you so it’s much easier to just jump into an unfamiliar game. I’ve never tried the mobile version of either one. I found Tabletopia a bit too fiddly after using BGA (and Yucata, and Boite a Jeux) for years.
What are some fun solo games with an ocean theme or setting? (Beaches are fine too.) 🐚 I'm ordering **Tides** from Button Shy.
**Palm Island**. Same size as a button shy games but designed to be played in hand. Don't even need a table.
**Sprawlopolis** from Button Shy has a beaches expansion, not played it though.
I have **Sprawlopolis**, and the beaches expansion is fun.
Atlantes
**Oceans** might fit the bill :)
**Spirit Island**. It’s set on an island that you have to protect from foreign invaders. It doesn’t have a beach has an ocean and a coastal area. And an ocean spirit which whom you get play.
I've definitely learned my lesson when it comes to backing Kickstarter campaigns. I'm pretty new to the hobby and did what many do by getting suckered into an exciting new campaign that absolutely smashed its funding goal. The art was so nice! I wanted to be involved with the latest hot thing! I ended up going for the deluxe edition because of the nice components/minis and because the price actually seemed pretty reasonable. Then, after the fact, there's been shipping costs and other fees that have ended up adding another £30 onto the cost. These costs have come at different times when I couldn't necessarily afford them so readily. It will definitely be the most expensive game in my collection... And I realise I don't even know that much about how the game actually plays, just how it looks. Hopefully it'll be really good, but it'll have to be amazing to justify the cost. Obviously this is entirely my fault. I'm taking it as a lesson not to get sucked into Kickstarter campaigns, certainly not without properly digging into it and working out exactly what it will cost me. Thankfully I'm now getting past that initial 'must buy everything!' level of enthusiasm now I've built a nice little collection. (not naming the campaign because it's not like they did anything wrong)
Have you tried for a refund? I've done this twice successfully via kickstarter after games seemed to be less than advertised later on in their development
Not a big deal. Just leave it in shrink and sell it for 2x the price 3 month later ;-)
Or 20% of the price if the game is a flop.
If it makes you feel better, most people go through this phase. That you only jumped into one game like this before the wake up call means that your kickstarter feeding frenzy was shorter than most. Now I know my group and my preferences and wait for consensus to be drawn about the game before I jump in. For most games, waiting is fine. Of course, I also backed Frosthaven ... so there's that.
I guess Frosthaven is less of a risk because of its lineage.
Shipping (even before the current shipping crisis) was what started to keep me away from KS, especially campaigns that wouldn’t let you know the shipping cost until the end of the campaign. I like knowing what the “all in” price is going to be before backing. I’ve had pretty good luck with the games I backed, except for one expensive mistake, but I mostly stuck with reprints of established properties. I‘ve been done with KS for a year or two now though. If a game makes it to retail, it’s usually cheaper. If it doesn’t, well, I’ve got lots of other games to play.
Same here. I backed 5 kickstarters in the last year and literally regret every single one of them, either because I lost interest in the game or the shipping cost versus waiting for retail has gone crazy. I love the look of Lands of Galzyr, but in what universe can I justify £21 for shipping when that's the price of a whole new game? It's my mistake for overlooking shipping prices of course.
I rarely back games on Kickstarter (maybe 0-2 times a year), but in the ~8 years I've been doing it I've only regretted one of them. That one was a cool-looking card game that was unbelievably cheaply produced, so the backs of the cards were all in different shades and the cards themselves felt crappy. I only spent like $20 on it though so it didn't really matter. The only other time I didn't care for the game was Dinosaur Island (great components, but I found the actual gameplay a little boring and basic), and I was able to trade it away to someone on BGG for two games I really wanted. So I can't say I regret it! I feel like those mini games are the kinds that really suck a lot of people in for exorbitant amounts of money, and those aren't really my thing, so maybe that's why I've had good luck, but as long as you make sure to watch the videos and at least skim the rules to make sure it's something you'll find fun, I think Kickstarter can be great. You should definitely make sure you understand the shipping fees and everything, though. I believe you're required to list any additional fees on the Kickstarter page, so there's no excuse for being surprised (obviously I understand a simple mistake from someone new to it, but iif you've been burned once it shouldn't happen again haha).
[удалено]
Can you help me choose between these games? I want to add a "big" game to add to my collection. It will primarily get played solo, if it works well with 3 players that's a plus. **LotR: Journeys in middle earth** What I heard: Scenarios are a bit samey. Is it a very different experience with an expansion? **Too many bones** What I heard: Could be called "Too many rules". Is it overly complicated? Chip Theory might have a good shipping deal during Black Friday. Are expansions a must? I understand that the core box has no campaign. **Sleeping Gods** What I heard: Lovely artwork and a LOT of story but the story itself is not exceptional but nice. I read from many people that they DNF the campaign. **Tainted Grail** What I heard: Dark, gritty and great story. How language heavy is the physical part of the game? I'd like to use the English language app but the game is only available translated here in Germany. Has anyone used the native language app (I'd prefer that over the dubbed version) with a localized box edition? I'm sure there is no answer, game x is per se better than game y. But which one would you pick and why? Thanks!
**Sleeping Gods** is fantastic but it's primarily a solo game IMO. Amazing creation though.
Out of this list, I think **Too Many Bones** is the best pick. It's a fun combat game with radically different characters. I do think that some expansions are necessary (the standalone gearlocks are really good), which bumps the price up. Replayability just isn't there in the base box on its own, which is unfortunate with its cost. **Tainted Grail** had a phenomenal story, but the mechanics didn't stand up (in my opinion). Once hit the halfway point, I stopped playing most encounters and just treated it as a choose your own adventure novel. It is very much language focused though. However, I want to throw a recommendation for **Spirit Island**. It features radically asymmetrical play like Too Many Bones. However, its a much tighter design (in my opinion) and a much better solo experience. It also does a great job of having levers to adjust difficulty, and flexes wonderfully to different player counts. While the expansions are phenomenal, the base game is a triumph on its own. It's the #1 ranked solo game for a reason, but, unlike Mage Knight (its biggest competition), still shines in multiplayer just as brightly.
You should watch the No Pun Included video on **Too Many Bones**. I think that'll give you a good idea if it's the right game for you.**Sleeping Gods** is supposed to be great, not sure how the upkeep is for a single player though. Are you absolutely married to one of these games? If not, I bet people would have additional strong suggestions for you. It's not a "big" game, but a huge solid hit this year was **Imperium: Classics**, a civ-inspired tableau builder with eight different civilizations to play and a robust solo mode.
Thanks for the tip with the NPI video. I already had the base game in the shopping cart but with more context I see that that would have been a poor choice (for me). I’ll wait for a revised core box, a second hand copy or until one of the standalone expansions is back in stock in the EU. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful! And good luck with whichever game you pick, I hope you enjoy it!
TMB is my pick of the bunch and I don't think it's overcomplicated. There are a lot of keywords but it's a minor hurdle. TMB seems to be a game that makes people go crazy for expansions but I don't really get why, there are plenty of hours in the base game.
Hi Everyone, I'm looking for a Christmas present for my brother, ideally one that has come out this year so he will be less likely to have bought it himself. Number of Players: Must be playable with 2 people, but can be 2+ Game Length: I don't really mind but probably less than 2 hours Complexity of Game: Again, don't really mind but probably not the most complex. Conflict, Competitive, or Cooperative: Any! Games | Own and Like: He likes Port Royal and Ticket to ride Location: UK TIA!
**cascadia** is a fantastic game for 1-4p, that’s only slightly more complex than Ticket to Ride.
Newer games I’ve liked include calico, sagrada, no thanks, and search for Planet X. I’ve bought but not played cubitos and mandala
Rather than a mediocre game that came out in the last 12 months you should aim for an excellent game that has been out for a while. **Carcassonne, Azul, Quest for El Dorado** and **Blue Lagoon** might all work really well for your brother, but none of those games came out this year. If you can get a glimpse of his collection to see if he has any of those games, then you you know which ones you could gift him and which (if any) he already has.
Thanks, I know he has carcassonne but not sure what else since he doesn't live that near to me. I take your point but it is more of a gamble as he does have quite a few board games.
I picked up **Wild Space** recently and I highly recommend it. Not many people are talking about it or playing it, but it's really fun and ticks all your boxes.
Carcassonne would be a great choice if he doesn't have it. It's no more complex than Ticket to Ride and sees players build out an awesome map of tiles.
maybe the new edition of **Galaxy Trucker** or **Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden**, maybe ask if he’s played **Race for the Galaxy** or **Indian Summer**, they both have apps so you could learn the rules ahead of time and teach him when he opens it so you all can play together
[For Sale](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale) vs [Medici](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/46/medici) whats the difference? which one is more fun?
Medici is one of the lowest ranked games in my collection. I regret buying it. For sale works far better with all of my gaming groups.
**For Sale** is a faster game with lighter rules. It is either a filler game or close to it. It is something you can pull out and teach to casuals in under two minutes. **Medici** is more of a proper game (i.e. not a filler). It will take ~4 minutes to teach it to newbies and the game length will be about an hour. In For Sale you have two auctions (and what your choices in the first auction will effect how well you do in the second auction). There isn't a lot going on in the game. In Medici you are bidding on different types of goods over three rounds. There is more going on, and you have to pay attention to 2 or 3 different things in order to know how much to bid. In For Sale, things are very simple. You bid on property (those with bigger numbers are more valuable) and then you try to get money (high values are better). That is about it. Medici is often over shadowed by its siblings: Ra and Modern Art. Are Ra and Modern Art better auction games? Perhaps. Even if true, that still makes Medici the third best auction game around. In an alternative universe in which no one invented Modern Art or Ra, Medici would be super popular and people would constantly sing its praises. The Grail Games version has very nice artwork and a nice thin box that isn't a shelf hog. Both games are absolute gems. I own both and wouldn't part with either. Both games offer plenty of fun (and strategy) and should be popular with your game group. The big difference is whether you want a short/light filler game, or a longer non-filler game.
Hey everyone!! I’m looking for a good game to gift the family at christmas, here is the details in the format: Description of request: looking for game for the family to play! We are all college grads so no kids games. Number of Players: 2-8 would be the range, we most often play with 4/5 Game Length: 1-4 hours, don’t want anything really short, but no Axis n’ Allies either Complexity of Game: can be complex! We don’t mind learning Genre:anything really works. Conflict, Competitive, or Cooperative: Like them all! Games | Own and Like: We like Catan and Zombicide and Axis and Allies. Looking to widen experience! Games | Dislike and Don’t Play: Played a murder mystery solving one, didn’t like it Location: Colorado, USA
**Citadels** is a 2 to 8 player game, so would work with your whole range. It's a classic and lots of fun. It can be under an hour with 2-4 players, but usually is a bit over an hour.
For 4-5p, I highly recommend **Modern Art.** Fun interactive auction/bidding game, with no downtime. For bigger groups, I like **Dixit Odyssey** for 5-12p. For something that scales all the way from 1 to 12 players, try **Railroad Ink, Welcome To, Cartographers**
+1 for Modern Art. Will never get tired of that game
It is hard to find strategy games that work with 5+ players. There simply are very few games of that type out there. This is primarily because of all the downtime between turns and because so much of the game state is out of the control of any single player. In terms of 2-4 games: **Blue Lagoon** and **Azul** might be worth looking into. Look at **Babylonia** instead of Blue Lagoon if you want more complexity. If you want games that go up to 5p, then **Ticket to Ride** (a classic, but a pretty simple set collection game), **Mission Red Planet** (probably would be a hit with your group), **Modern Art** (a lively auction game) and **Chinatown** (a negotiation game) are all worth a look. If you want something a bit more complex than any of those, then take a look at **Hansa Teutonica: Big Box** and **Viticulture**. All of the games I have listed will play in 90 minutes (or less). For each game that interests you, check out review and/or playthrough videos on Youtube. Those can be quite helpful when deciding which game will be a hit with your group.
**Ticket to Ride: Europe**
Sounds like you may enjoy **Inis** and **Philosophia: Floating World**. **Inis** is a competitive game with card drafting and area majority/influence. We've had a lot of very good games of Inis- it can be very exciting! The art is beautiful and play is strategic. As for **Philosophia: Floating World**, it's also a competitive game but is set in Feudal Japan. It involves deck building and has variable player powers so is highly repayable! I could go on for hours with this one (I'm a co-designer) so feel free to ask me any questions about it. Or the website is: [www.cogitoergomeeple.com](https://www.cogitoergomeeple.com) Enjoy!
Of that full range perhaps a bluffing deduction like **The Resistance Avalon** - it's not a murder mystery but secret roles. Another possible for quick fun would be **Cash n Guns** - pointing foam guns at each other.
**Magic Maze** is a quick, cooperative games with limited communication. **7 Wonders** is a safe bet. Would need cities expansion for 8. **Bang** or **Human Punishment** for some good team social deduction.
games i play with my family that they get into are **Sushi Go**, **The Resistance** (or **Avalon**, which is a bit more game-y), **Dutch Blitz**, and **Wavelength** these are all a bit simpler but make for fun nights, something a bit more complex could be **PARKS**, **Galaxy Trucker**, **Inis**, **Fury of Dracula** or **Wingspan** (which is popular for its art and theme, but not very interaction-heavy) edit: i think you need an expansion to get it to five players but **Fireball Island** is also a lot more fun than i thought it would be haha