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Getting into board games
I figured this deserves its own thread.
Like TheWhaleShark mentioned, Settlers of Catan is perhaps the most widely accepted starter game there is. It was the first German style game we'd ever played, and we were hooked pretty-much from the start.
It's a game of building settlements and farming resources to build more, all the while trading and conniving with other players over said resources. It's a wonderful game.
There is a small problem with Settlers, but it isn't evident until one has played the game extensively. Basically, advanced players will understand that there is indeed an optimal move to be made every round. Four such players will play fully-optimally, and this moves victory determination to the random rolls of the dice, as every player action can be predicted and accounted for.
Luckily, once you get to that point, you've likely moved on to other more "pure" (aka bastardly) games.
Tikal is another good starter game. It's part of a three game series, but itself is a standalone game. Play involves laying tiles on a map and excavating those tiles for treasure or buried temples. Each player gets a number of action points to spend as they choose every round. It's simple in terms of game mechanics, but maintains a surprisingly high strategic aspect.
Like TheWhaleShark mentioned, Settlers of Catan is perhaps the most widely accepted starter game there is. It was the first German style game we'd ever played, and we were hooked pretty-much from the start.
It's a game of building settlements and farming resources to build more, all the while trading and conniving with other players over said resources. It's a wonderful game.
There is a small problem with Settlers, but it isn't evident until one has played the game extensively. Basically, advanced players will understand that there is indeed an optimal move to be made every round. Four such players will play fully-optimally, and this moves victory determination to the random rolls of the dice, as every player action can be predicted and accounted for.
Luckily, once you get to that point, you've likely moved on to other more "pure" (aka bastardly) games.
Tikal is another good starter game. It's part of a three game series, but itself is a standalone game. Play involves laying tiles on a map and excavating those tiles for treasure or buried temples. Each player gets a number of action points to spend as they choose every round. It's simple in terms of game mechanics, but maintains a surprisingly high strategic aspect.
Comments
I'd have to say that Amun-Re is a pretty simple game, and the strategy is easy to grasp, but it's also a bit of a bastard, so it's best to play it with people that are cool with being bastards.
I'm digging to come up with some other good starting games. Anyone else have any ideas?
Personally I might like the boardgames better if I was able to learn one at a time not after midnight or after a day of running around crazy. But that's just me.
Erm, but seriously, Amun-Re is FUN. Simple, but with enough room for some strategy and super-dickery. If (or when, I guess?) I play it again, I'd like to experiment with the whole sacrifice thing more. Since I got that one place with the camel, it was to my benefit to stick the gods in the beginning, so I didn't get to explore how the rewards from the gods factor into my play. I wonder if I should have built more pyramids in the first round... but then again, I think the key is balancing how much you spend in the first round with how much you're *assured* to get out of it. Since I built pyramids modestly, I saved money in the first round, and when the flood came I was able to use that extra moneys to just buy up the heavily pyramided provinces and leech off all the work you guys did the first round. ^_^
For beginning games, I think Alhambra was good, and Carcassone too. Tile games are pretty easy to pick up on. T&E, though, that's whipping out the big guns. "Here Jess, we taught you how to fire a BB gun, so now take this bazooka and go and fight in a war!" kinda deal. I was sort of overwhelmed by it. But at least now if/when I play it again, it'll be easier... there is only be a first time once :)
What was the game I played when I first met you guys at RIT through Kevin? Was it Settlers or Puerto Rico? I forget. But I was sort of overwhelmed then too, because I'd never played a board game like that before. I had bad memories of board games because ALL my sister wanted to do when we were little was play "Life." Over and over. ^_^;; Kill me.
Sometimes you get close though, but there's always a rule about it. Usually you just reshuffle the deck.
It's kind of strange though. Everyone sort of plays their own game. It's not so much a "me against you" sort of thing. The other players act as parts of a mechanism that you play against.
Every once in a while someone will be a blocking asshole. This pisses people off but it's good to mix up the strategies like that and keep everyone on their toes. Teach them life is not as smooth running as they thought it was.
Just another way Rym and Scott have changed my life! lol
I wish I had done it long before. It's a heck of a fun game and easy to teach.
I would warn you though, there is one rule that is misplaced in the book...
A city that only has two tiles does not score the same as larger cities. Two tile cities only score one point per tile while anything three tiles or larger are two points per tile. This rule is not actually in the section about scoring cities. It's below that in an example.
Have fun.
The rules were changed to make the farmer scoring less counterintuitive, especially for new players. It's a matter of personal preference which you use, of course, but I personally use the latest ruleset, because I play the game mostly as a gateway game with nongamers -- I like to keep things simple for them.
Actually, the disparity of the farmers rules is one of the things that kept me from getting the game for so long.
I had heard that the farmers were nothing less than the most painful pain in the ass. I had thought that anything with this level of ass-painedness could not be worth it unless it had to do with hit locations via which type of gauss cannon vs. certain armor types dependent on range etc etc etc.....
Basically I loved hard core rules in my old school "american" war-boardgames but when it came to the new school "designer" or "german" games to introduce new people into gaming then to hell with it.
What I found is that with the basic rules set in the basic Carcassonne the rules for farmers are much much MUCH easier than I was led to believe.
I don't particularly care about the other rules sets or variations. I have THIS box with THESE rules. That's what we use and they're easy and they work. Why the hell would I bother fucking around with all of the other BS rules and then trying to compile them into some coherent whole?
As it is we use the original Rio Grande USA rules for scoring farms by cities.
I have enough other games I want to buy without needing to get the five million expansions to Carcassonne and then trying to retro-fit all the rules....
I'm fine with the original set and then getting other games.
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To address the idea that anything other than the RG rules for farmers are not good for non gamers.... I guess I can't agree since I have played this with non gamers and they get it right away.
Perhaps a later rules set would be better but why should I bother?
We played this incorrectly for almost a year before someone noticed that little example... -_-
Love your show.
I would just like to warn people the pitfalls of getting into board games! Make sure you have friends who will play them with you, because board games that just sit on your desk or bookcase unplayed will drive you nuts! Ive just got into gaming and i have no one to play with and i have 10 games just sitting there untouched. The only one i play constantly is For Sale - which i take to work cause i can play with other people during our lunch break.
So anyways if you can handle going insane, I strongly recommend you try some of these titles.
1. Ticket to Ride - rules take 10 minutes to explain. really simple, really fun to get into.
2. For Sale - great auction game where you buy and sell properties - only 15 minutes per game.
3. Lost Cities - 2 player game. Great for when you don't have enough people and want a boardgame/card game fix.
Want something more complex?
4. Puerto Rico - still great for beginners - there are more rules, but the theme blends really well with the design.
5. Princes of Florence - in the same vein as Puerto Rico.
And my thoughts...
1. Settlers - i think the design is a little dated, plus i feel when you actually trade resources, you are actually evening the game out. I bought this and only played it once.
2. Carcassonne - Ive only played The Castle - just a bit short on theme. A good second game, but may give someone the wrong impression of german games if its the first game. However it was my girlfriend's first game and she loves it.
James
Over the weekend, I went to a friend's house for game night. I was introduced to Metro. Here is BoardGameGeek's description: Tile placement games are near and dear to me, so I was already interested when my friend told me it was a lot like Tsuro. However, unlike Tsuro, not all the tile pieces are unique. There are a few that are doubles. I find it enjoyable playing gamess where you create your pathways that either effect yourself or your opponents. Even though you are trying to make your tracks longer, you also have to pay attention to what your opponents are doing and possibly make a move to where you can stop them from earning more points.
The game is 2-6 players. Depending upon how many players there are will determine how many trains you start out with along with what colors to use. I've so far played with 2, 3, and 4 players, and they gave equal enjoyable play in all 3 of them.
The rules are very simple to follow. The game can be played with children who are at least 8 years of age, as suggested by the rules. There are limitations to how tiles can be placed. You can't place a tile to where the track begins and ends on the same tile. Each track has to be at least 2 tiles long. You also have to place the tile in the same direction the arrow is pointing on the piece to the direction the arrow is on the game board. There is a different game variation to where you can disregard this rule, however I think it's more challenging/fun to play it by following the direction of the arrows.
Here is a picture I took of one our games we played:
As you can see from the image, your tracks can make all sorts of loops and crosses to where you can score big points for one track alone. In one game, we had a track that scored for over 20 points, and it didn't even hit the station in the middle.
I enjoyed this game so much, that I decided to purchase it the next day. It was $40 at the game store, which is the same price on Amazon.
So for those who enjoy playing tile placement games that can create different paths to give something different each time, I highly recommend this game.
My boyfriend also purchased Carcassonne: The Catapult expansion. I did not play it with him and his friends, however I was in the same room when they did play it. Just from seeing how long it took them to play the game and from how the mechanics of the catapult was implemented into the game that pretty much results into randomness, I can say that it's pure balls and takes the enjoyment out of playing Carcassonne. I do not recommend that.
I just remembered that you're in Canada (Alberta?), and I have no idea what the shipping cost would be there. Their U.S. shipping costs are very reasonable, though.
FWIW, I also enjoyed Metro quite a bit the one time I've played it. It's a bit deeper than Tsuro, but they both scratch a similar itch.
My friends and I have honestly played a crap ton of board games so having a wide variety of games is a must. I honestly should take a picture of all the games my friends and I own. It's a bit ridiculous, however that's what we do.
There are so many board games I could recommend just to play because they are fun, but since I recently played Metro, it was something I wanted to share. Thank you so much for that recommendation. I will definitely look into them when purchasing more games, even though I do have a few game stores in my area that are well stocked with the board games I'm interested in.