Boardgames

September 24, 2007 12:48 AM

What is your favorite boardgame?

Boardgames have been enjoying a resurgence. The likes of 'american' games like monopoly, clue, risk have had to make room for 'german' style games such as Puerto Rico, Tikal, El Grande.

Which style do you prefer?

Also why do 'american' games tend to have dice and 'european' games tend to be diceless?

posted by Kilovolt to sports, hobbies, & recreation (61 comments total)

Go. The rules are simple, but the game is very complex.
posted by panic at 1:33 AM on September 24, 2007 [3 favorites]

Talisman, because the art is pretty and with the right group of people... ah hell, any boardgame is great with the right group of people, so that just leaves the art.

Also, a house-rules version of Pictionary, which ditches the game board, because the game board is just used as a stupid and clumsy scoreboard, and ditches the cards, because they're too easy - someone takes the job of thinking up the most difficult words they can, and ditches the timer, because it's always a race between teams, so no need for arbitrary imposed limits.

Also why do 'american' games tend to have dice and 'european' games tend to be diceless?

I would think it's an age thing. Dice are usually used to retard the skill of players so that young children can play against their siblings and not always get so thoroughly trounced that they hate it.
So older people have no truck with dice, because they want their input and choices to have meaning - it's a waste of time trying to win if it's just dice throws that decide who wins.

In America, board games are aimed at families with young children. In some places in Europe, there is more of a culture that board games aren't just for kids, and many of the board games aimed at this older demographic hence tend to be more skill-oriented rather than luck-oriented.
posted by -harlequin- at 1:48 AM on September 24, 2007

Sorry to be mainstream here, but I really dig Settlers of Catan. Pretty sure it's European in origin, but it uses dice to randomly assign resources. Building on harlequin's point, most adults I know like it a lot because there's actually still tons of input and choices since you trade resources with other players and can gang up/team up as you wish; if trash-talking and casual backstabbing occurs, it actually makes for a pretty hilarious night.
posted by universal_qlc at 1:58 AM on September 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Obviously my favourite board game is Settlers of Catan, because it's incredible. But everyone is going to say that, so I'll mention that Diplomacy is exciting me at the moment.
posted by greytape at 2:08 AM on September 24, 2007

My favourite boardgame is Scrabble. Also somewhat mainstream.
posted by roofus at 2:10 AM on September 24, 2007

In college, we spent an obscene amount of time playing Apples To Apples (but I think that's more of a card game than a board game) along with Sorry! and Pretty Pretty Princesses.
posted by sperose at 2:15 AM on September 24, 2007

I also like Dread Pirate because the set and playing pieces are so beautiful. The game itself is fairly luck-dependant and uninspiring, and I haven't figured out house-rules to turn it into a more compelling game for adults yet. However I'd been moaning for years about how there were no boardgames with decent production values, then this came along, and so for that reason I mention it.
posted by -harlequin- at 2:22 AM on September 24, 2007

Sorry, here is the Dread Pirate link. This time it actually works. :)
posted by -harlequin- at 2:24 AM on September 24, 2007

War on Terror, the Boardgame
posted by cheerleaders_to_your_funeral at 2:26 AM on September 24, 2007

Kill Doctor Lucky. Cluedo in reverse. You've got to love a game that aims to have you commit a murder, while fostering mistrust and enmity amongst your fellow players.
posted by tim_in_oz at 2:30 AM on September 24, 2007

uckers, which is a modified version of ludo - much more evil, with blocks so people cant rush around the board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uckers
posted by dnc at 3:00 AM on September 24, 2007

Two good ones: Quicksand (from fantasy flight games). Simple and addictive game with the object of getting your marker to the finish-line first. We usually run through several sessions in one sitting with friends over a couple of beers/wines.

Labyrinth (can't remember manufacurer). Also simple, but mind-bending, game. You shuffle tablets on the gameboard, to make way to the "treasures". First to collect their treasures win.

Both these games are set up randomly, but winning them depends on the players wit and tactics.
posted by Rabarberofficer at 3:14 AM on September 24, 2007

The board gaming world is generally divided into two large camps: Hobby Games and Popular games. Popular games are like the ones you've described as 'American' designs, and are generally family oriented (monopoly and the like).

But it is really unfair to compare these games to the German style boardgames, since these German style games are geared to a niche market of hobby gamers, and thus should be compared to the now thriving American style hobby game design and not our popular/family games.

In the world of 'Hobby Games' there are three large sub-camps: Ameritrash, Euros and Wargames. German style 'Euro' games have been all the rage for the last 10 years or so and has invigorated the hobby game world. But the pendulum has slowly begun to swing back and we are seeing passion continue to grow for the lavish heavily themed Ameritrash games.

Euro games tend to be largely (well, overtly) mathematical in nature (and are often criticized for having a thin pasted on theme). They are also often focused on efficiency and elegance. They generally despise direct player confrontation, significant random elements, player elimination, complex rules and long playing (or setup times).

Ameritrash games on the other hand tend to be focused on drama. They encourage player confrontation and interaction are heavily themed, designed from the top down, generally much longer playtime then their euro brethren, they have large random elements which require significant risk management skills and carry with them tons of messy rules.

Wargames (or as preferred by some consims - conflict simulations) focus on realistically presenting historic or hypothetical conflicts. The do so even at the cost of very long playing times, very complex rules, and less focus on either the drama or elegance of either Euros or Ameritrash.

Personally euro games often leave me feeling like I'm playing a multi-player solitaire puzzle, rather then a 'game'. But some of them are quite wonderful, and have the added bonus of being much more accessible to non-gamers and with their shorter playing times easy to get to the table on a whim. Some of my favorites are Power Grid, Settlers of Catan and the heavier themed Mission: Red Planet, Bootleggers and Citadels.

Ameritrash games have given me most of my deepest and most pleasurable gaming experiences. While I enjoy playing my euro games, I find each particular game generally forgettable after a few days, and can't usually recall who even won the last few outings. On the other hand me and my pals can reminisce and recall entire ameritrash games we played 5-10 years ago. The downside is they are such a major investment in time and effort that it can be hard to muster the players/energy/time to get the to the table. Many recent (and fantastic) Ameritrash games incorporate mechanics and game elements originally developed by euro game designers (such as a focus on victory points and Variable Phase Order. Some of my favorites are Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition, Fortress America, Dune, Arkham Horror, Fury of Dracula, (hell pretty much anything in a big box from fantasy flight games).

As for wargames, they have been long though to be neigh dead, but they too have risen from the dead largely on the success of the sub-genre of Card Driven Wargames. They may be rules heavy and dry, but they can be profoundly rewarding once you are properly invested. Unfortunately take my problems with getting Ameritrash games to the table and double them and there you have where I stand on wargames. That being said one of my current favorites games is the fantastic Card driven Wargame (and euro hybrid) Twilight Struggle, an incredible two player simulation of the cold war. Also among my favorites are Paths of Glory (another CDW) the Block wargame Hammer of the Scots and the truly epic Empires in Arms (probably the single best gaming experience of my life was a three month long round of this bad boy)
posted by Jezztek at 3:21 AM on September 24, 2007 [12 favorites]

Reversi. a.k.a Othello.

(i'm old fashioned.)

Cranium.
posted by Izzmeister at 3:41 AM on September 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Also why do 'american' games tend to have dice and 'european' games tend to be diceless?

Euro games tend to be focused more on resource management then risk management and have comparatively slight random elements. But most importantly player choices tend to to occur *after* the results of a random element is revealed (which tend to favor randomizing mechanics like tiles over dice). For example at the beginning of a player's turn a random tile is revealed, and then the player much choose what to do with said tile (but knows for certain weather said action will succeed)

Ameritrash and Wargames tend to be more focused on risk management then resource management (although these are often tied together) due to the fact risk management is inherently more dramatic (but typically less elegant the the opposite) and thus use larger random elements. Most importantly players tend to make their choices before the results of a random element are revealed (for example the player must choose weather to attack with an army before he or she knows if the attack will succeed). There exists a large contingency of euro players who don't recognize risk management as a skill (or at least not a skill on the same level as resource management). Of course by simply observing Poker, with it's large random element, we see the difference in levels of success between the most highly skilled and least skilled poker players is very large which seems to undermine this premise.

This of course if predicated on these random elements occurring with enough density that modest lucky or unlucky streaks eventually average out over the course of a game. Again going back to poker, a highly skilled player may not win every hand against an unskilled player, but over the course of a night will have an almost insurmountable edge. The short playing times of Euro games don't often allow for enough of this averaging out effect compared to the multi hour playing times of many Ameritrash games (and the multi-day playing times of some of my favorite wargames). also important is that there are enough meaningful decisions intermixed with the random elements to make skill levels matter, like playing poker compared playing pogs.

American family/popular style games purposely short shift both of those assumptions for exactly the reasons -harlequin- outlined, they let kids/unskilled players a chance at winning against adults/skilled players.
posted by Jezztek at 3:49 AM on September 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Talisman, Scotland Yard, Clue
posted by sneakin at 4:15 AM on September 24, 2007

I'm a big 'ol nerd fan of German games, finding them to be far more rewarding than the Ameritrash-type. I used to play the odd tabletop wargame in the past, but they tend to require a huge investment in time (to prepare and play), and in some cases money as well.

I've got to second the vote for Power Grid, which I played for the first time (and won <grin>) on Saturday evening. Great game.

I'm surprised not to see Carcasonne already mentioned here (particularly since there is what looks to be a pretty sweet conversion on XBLA). An incredibly simple basic mechanism (which makes it one of the German-style games with greatest mainstream/crossover appeal) leads to immensely satisfying strategy and gameplay. I'm yet to be convinced by some of its many expansions, although Inns and Cathedrals is a pretty nice addition.

I also recently played Formula Dé for the first time, and really enjoyed. Granted, I'm a bit of a petrol-head, so the game had immediate appeal which might not be there for some gamers, but I also thought the way it models race driving as a simple game mechanic was really elegant. Another one which should appeal equally to "serious" boardgamers and casual players alike, I reckon.

By the way, if you weren't already familiar with the site, and hadn't picked up from all the linking going on, Board Game Geek is a great resource. Check out games sorted by rank. (Hint: you win if you manage to spend less than $250 after spending a lunch-hour reading the site.) For fans of German games, the Spiel des Jahres awards are also a good place to look for outstanding games.
posted by kxr at 4:59 AM on September 24, 2007

Tigris and Euphrates (a German game) offers a good mix of resource-gathering and fighting. Plus, you can engineer conflicts between other players and stay out of it...

Also, there's a series of Mystery Rummy card games that's pretty fun--Al Capone and Jack the Ripper versions are both good--like a combination of regular old rummy and a board game (altho the game "pieces" are just really nice cards with extra info on them)
posted by mundy at 5:01 AM on September 24, 2007

Backgammon!
posted by methylsalicylate at 5:05 AM on September 24, 2007

I tend to sometimes really like the games where you don't have to think about/depend on whatever someone else is going to be doing for the next twelve turns or whatnot, so I lean more towards simpler games and card games.

Can't Stop finally got a new printing so I can now recommend it to people with abandon. This is a press-your-luck dice game and is a lot of fun, if not particularly involved. It is perhaps a very American game, with dice to spare.

Scepter of Zavandor on the other hand, is a very German game. No dice, millions of pieces, lots of looking to figure out what everyone else is doing. I enjoy it, but only when I'm mentally ready for two or more hours at a single game.

I would agree with the dice adding an element of randomness that evens out the game for people of all ages.

Oh, I feel the need to convince you to look into more card games, as well. Mü is a good set of cards for multiple games, including a couple tricky bidding trick-taking games. Bang is good for mindless silly fun. And don't forget classics like Spades, which have enough variants to make games quite silly--Suicide spades was a favorite of ours.
posted by that girl at 5:17 AM on September 24, 2007

You mentioned Puerto Rico, but I'd like to put in a plug for San Juan. It's like P.R. but with cards as the entire mechanic. Streamlined down, easy to learn for non-gamers, but still very fun and strategic for gamers too.
posted by jozxyqk at 5:33 AM on September 24, 2007

Puerto Rico, mentioned in the original question is one of my favourites; I've also very much enjoyed playing Ticket to Ride and Web of Power (out of print now, sadly.)

Finally, while it's not strictly speaking a board game, Munchkin and its many variations always make for a good time; it's got a lot of humour and a zany anything-can-happen feel which is a lot of fun.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:46 AM on September 24, 2007

Risk
posted by crewshell at 5:53 AM on September 24, 2007

Which style do you prefer?

Total chatfilter.

Also why do 'american' games tend to have dice and 'european' games tend to be diceless?

Euros favor efficiency and strategy over luck, combat, and "take that!"-style conflict.
posted by mkultra at 5:57 AM on September 24, 2007

Paging Shadowkeeper.

Or, if you can't wait for him to show up (he is is Portland, and strikes me as the late-sleeping type), check out Defective Yeti, which has many posts about games.
posted by qldaddy at 6:00 AM on September 24, 2007

Blokus!
posted by zackola at 6:22 AM on September 24, 2007

PS Don't get the travel version, or the triangle version. Stick to the original.
posted by zackola at 6:22 AM on September 24, 2007

Diplomacy is an amazing game, if you have the right crowd. I had a high school elective that actually was designed around a semester-long series of diplomacy games. Awesome.
posted by jtfowl0 at 6:25 AM on September 24, 2007

Axis & Allies is awesome if you have 10 hours and are willing to hate the other people you play against with a fierce, abiding passion. But it has little planes that you get to put on aircraft carriers!

But as far as the perfect boardgame, chess wins it, hands-down.
posted by mckenney at 6:27 AM on September 24, 2007

I really like Tigris and Euphrates, even if it takes a while to get all of the rules down and actually understand what's happening. Ra is pretty awesome, too.

Guillotine (if technically a card game) is a very fun, simple game with hilarious illustrations.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:35 AM on September 24, 2007

Roborally. Robots racing around the board that is designed to kill them. Great fun. Like others have said, Settlers is also a great game, and Apples to Apples is a great party game, especially for people who don't play games. The other game we really like right now is Bohnanza, the game of bean farming. I generally prefer the games with easy instructions that you can then put as much or as little strategy into as you like and still enjoy playing.
posted by JonahBlack at 6:37 AM on September 24, 2007

Pente / Go / Othello
Backgammon
Scrabble
posted by The Deej at 6:45 AM on September 24, 2007

Solarquest!
posted by cashman at 6:58 AM on September 24, 2007

chess and go.
posted by bruce at 7:01 AM on September 24, 2007

I'm a Settlers of Catan fan myself, although I have a lot of fun with Carcassonne!
posted by trokair at 7:19 AM on September 24, 2007

Since no one else has mentioned it: Shadows Over Camelot Is a fun one. It's mostly a cooperative game, but there's a chance that there's a traitor.
posted by chndrcks at 7:22 AM on September 24, 2007

Quoridor is like Chinese Checkers with walls. Very fun!
posted by jstef at 8:25 AM on September 24, 2007

I'll second the recommendation of Formula De given above, with the caveat that I've only played the paper-and-pencil version with my high school physics classes (for a simple and fun review of vectors). Suffice it to say that the kids begged for a repeat session and that I was sorely tempted to assent.
posted by msittig at 8:25 AM on September 24, 2007

Some older classics no one has mentioned: Manhattan (be sure to add the Godzilla rule option), Billabong, Modern Art, and the absolutely unique Lifeboats which has been out of print for something like 15 years. I also love Quandry, Ab Die Post, Hare and Tortise... I can go on but I need to be at work sometime today.
posted by chairface at 8:25 AM on September 24, 2007

Sequence has fairly simple rules but is surprisingly fun and strategic. My partner and I, and more extended family when we visit them, have a lot of fun playing it.
posted by aught at 8:55 AM on September 24, 2007

Deuda Eterna
posted by rottytooth at 9:12 AM on September 24, 2007

Here's another voice for Settlers of Catan. Best boardgame in the universe.
posted by arcticwoman at 9:17 AM on September 24, 2007

Nthing Settlers of Catan and Talisman.

But it got me thinking of a couple of board games I loved playing as a kid; The Sinking of the Titanic and Lie, Cheat and Steal. Very different but really fun. The links rate the games pretty low but we had a ball with them.

The Titanic game is good for young folks - you run around the sinking ship (each turn rotates the ship until all the staterooms are under water) collecting passengers to save and then float around on your lifeboat visiting islands while cannibals eat your passengers. Colorful board and lots of morbid humor.

Lie, Cheat and Steal is a very tongue in cheek (and very cynical) look at political power. What made the game really cool is that any sort of cheating is allowable in the game as long as you can get away with it. That includes robbing the "bank" when everyone else is using the bathroom, etc. Very silly and fun.
posted by elendil71 at 9:26 AM on September 24, 2007

Thirding Carcassonne.
posted by o0dano0o at 9:30 AM on September 24, 2007

Bug House! Two chess boards, 4 players.

(Also good chess fun for those of us with only minimal chess experience-- you can play against people stronger than you if your teammate is strong).
posted by nat at 9:49 AM on September 24, 2007

N+1 for Settlers, of course. Thurn & Taxis is another fun Euro game. Betrayal at House on the Hill is a cooperative adventure game that has some objective shortcomings but is just so fun we tend to play over and over again. Quick fun card games include Bang, Bohnanza, and Lifeboat. I just played Roborally for the first time last week, and it seems quite promising.
posted by dreadpiratesully at 9:53 AM on September 24, 2007

Go. It's great because, as panic said, the rules are simple but the game is complex. It is also very enjoyable even if your skill level isn't that high, as long as you have somebody to play against that isn't too far ahead of you. Also, there is a handicap system so that you can play somebody much better than you and still have a fighting chance.
posted by number9dream at 10:33 AM on September 24, 2007

I've never played any of the games that make up the Gipf project, but I'm fascinated by it, and dying to try 'em.

This is a series of abstract strategy games, which can either be played individually, or in combination, so that the actions and outcome of one will affect the way the others play. This always reminds me of Azad in Iain M. Banks' most excellent The Player of Games - a book which rather obsessed me when I read it in my youth (I told you I was a big ol' nerd).
posted by kxr at 10:34 AM on September 24, 2007

The Gipf Project is fantastic. Simple and very strategic. I'm a member of our board game society here in Columbus so I do my fair share of board gaming, and while there are a lot of fun games out there, I always have to come back to my favorites- Chess and Go. Pure, simple, perfect.
posted by zennoshinjou at 10:44 AM on September 24, 2007

Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear.

I don't prefer one style to the other. I played German games pretty much exclusively for a decade or so, but these days I'm just as likely to play Struggle of Empires as Caylus.

Actually, my favorite games in recent years are those that blend the two styles into a single offering. Right now I am borderline-obsessed with the masterful Twilight Struggle. My review of TS is here.

What's my favorite boardgame overall? Tigris & Euphrates has long been my standard answer, but, honestly, I haven't played it for a while. These days I'd be more inclined to answer Power Grid, which I never tire of playing.

My favorite card game, by the way, is Tichu by a longshot.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 11:05 AM on September 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

I like illuminati a lot. Can be fun with even as few as 3 players.

Diplomacy is excellent with a full set of players, but if you have fewer than 7 people, it can get iffy in terms of balance. Hmm...that implies it's balanced when you have 7 players which isn't quite right either, but let's say that the balance of the starting positions matters less when everyone else is properly kept in check by their neighbors. Which starts to be less and less true the fewer players you have.
posted by juv3nal at 12:01 PM on September 24, 2007

BTW, if you enjoy Settlers, you must try the Event Deck add-on, which replaces the die rolls with cards that follow a standard 2-die distribution pattern (e.g. there's 1 "2" card, and a bunch of "7"'s).

It prevents the inevitable scenario of one player being bored and frustrated because his/her tiles never get rolled, and adds a much deeper strategy, in knowing which territories have "dried up" for a while.
posted by mkultra at 12:57 PM on September 24, 2007

It's got to be Rummikub. My friends and have hours of fun with it.

It's basically rummy with tiles instead of cards. Great fun!
posted by reenum at 1:12 PM on September 24, 2007

boardgamegeek is a great resource for boardgame information and discussion.
posted by garlic at 3:22 PM on September 24, 2007

Another Settlers add-on I can't recommend highly enough is the "food stamp" variant, especially with new players:

Basically, every time there's a dice role that doesn't produce any resources for you, you get a food stamp. (We use pennies or poker chips.) The food stamps can be traded with the bank for one resource card, based on the number of points you have. That is, if you have four points, you'll need four food stamps to get one resource card.

EXAMPLE: I have six points and five food stamps. Anna rolls an 8, which produces wood for her, and wood and sheep for Bob. Neither Carol nor I get any resource cards, so we each get one food stamp. This brings my total up to six, meaning that, on my turn, I can trade in my six food stamps for the card of my choice.

(Oh, nobody gets food stamps on a roll of seven. Nice try! Also, if the production of your number is blocked by the robber--meaning you usually produce on a roll of, say, six, but the robber is on your six--you don't get a food stamp. Because technically, you *did* produce that turn, but the robber stole your resources.)

That's it. It really helps speed up the beginning fourth of the game, when no one has anything and no one wants to trade because everyone needs wood and brick. The neat thing about how they're tied to your score is that, as the game goes on, the food stamps become increasingly rare (because you have more settlements to produce resources) and increasingly worthless (because you have more points). They're good for breaking up the tedium of the beginning of them game, then they sort of go away.
posted by Ian A.T. at 3:43 PM on September 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

Also, here's a game recommendation for the Settlers fans in this thread:

TRADERS OF GENOA is easy to learn, but it's a more involved, more complex, more Italian Renaissance-y version of Settlers. Imagine a Catan where you not only traded Bricks and Wheat, but property rights for settlements, crop options, and right-of-way.

In Settlers you can trade five commodities, but in Traders the list is at least twice as long. So the negotiations are much more complex, and the evaluations are much more difficult. It's relatively easy to know what a lumber does for you in Settlers, right? And it's a fair guess as to what your opponent will do with an ore. But in Traders, everything is up for grabs, and not everything helps every player.

I know, this makes the game sound incredibly hard, but it's not. Or, at least, it's not hard to learn. Like a lot of Eurogames, the game can be picked up in just a few minutes.

And in a few turns, the game develops a real rhythm, and with the right group, the complexity melts away and you're left with, basically, a very engaging party game. Bring your poker face.

Sorry to go on and on...Traders Of Genoa is My Kind Of Game.

(Another good game for the Settlers lovers is Keythedral, which has a similar feeling--but with no trading--and really gorgeous art.)
posted by Ian A.T. at 4:05 PM on September 24, 2007

"What style do you prefer?" is total chatfilter. What style will be most pleasing to a person depends on a lot of factors that you're getting no info about, so really this like asking "what kind of book do you like?" -- well, I like different kinds of books in different circumstances.

You should look at boardgamegeek.com to explore this question. Check out their very useful glossary describing many different styles of game. Once you build a bit of vocabulary you will be able to explore Geeklists that list games you might like (for example you will know that if you enjoy Power Grid, you may be enjoying the "auction" element or the "perfect information element" and you can look for other games that are listed in Geeklists about those game mechanics). Be aware that BGG users tend to favor more complex, mentally-intensive, longish-play-time games, so some shorter silly games will have low ratings. Don't feel bad if you like a game that gets a low BGG rating -- different games are good for different times and places.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:39 PM on September 24, 2007

Another vote for Roborally... even though my g/f always kicks my arse at it.

Also, chess and backgammon.

To the extent that I follow your America/German split, definitely German.
posted by pompomtom at 6:18 PM on September 24, 2007

Well, Scattergories is my favorite boardgame. I guess it's pretty mainstream compared to most other games named here, but it is fun and challenging! Technically, there is a die. It has letters on the different facets, though. (You can tell right there that I don't play dice games, since I probably used the term 'die' incorrectly, and I have no idea if 'facet' is used at all!) I tend to prefer trivia or wordplay games (which are also usually more social) than games of strategy (like chess).
posted by Mael Oui at 8:44 PM on September 24, 2007

Scrabble, Boggle, cribbage, Life and Clue.
If card games count, I am a wicked good Spades player and love gin rummy.
posted by Lynsey at 11:40 AM on September 25, 2007

No one has mentioned Ingenious? Best-designed game I've played in a long, long time. It takes about 3 minutes to learn, and about 30 minutes to play. Non-gamers love it, gamers love it.
posted by agropyron at 1:36 PM on September 25, 2007