<p>I love to play board games, but while my H & I used to play when we were dating, he is too competitive to really enjoy it, even when playing with kids younger than 10.
But we will be spending the holidays at a B& B where there may be others around to play, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get suggestions, and for those whose get togethers devolve into a lifestyle competition, can get ideas for alternate activities.
My latest game is Ticket to Ride, we played it with D last year when we went to her college town. It is pretty easy to learn and the games last less than an hour. But I need to find a new box, our pup chewed the outside.</p>
<p>I’m a big Ticket to Ride fan, too. I like their European and Switzerland games best, and play the European one on my iPad when I commute on the train. I’d recommend Settlers of Catan, which also has several expansion possibilities. </p>
<p>I second the suggestion for Settlers of Catan. Our family has become obsessed with it since our youngest D introduced the game to us over a year ago. Even my son-in-law, who “dislikes board games” enjoys Catan. Makes a great gift too.
Card games we enjoy immensely are Set, Five Crowns, and Dominion. D2 recently played a card game “Family Business” which both she and her fiance highly recommended.</p>
<p>I have a few in my family who are not a fan of some of the more “social” board games - and are much more math/logistically minded. We have had large success in getting these people involved in family games through “Blokus.”</p>
<p>It is a strategy game that involves you using your colored tiles to spread throughout the board, essentially “blocking” out the space of others. The one who plays the most tiles wins! A very simple concept, with layers of strategy involved. </p>
<p>kgos, my dad gave Blokus to my youngest DS a few years ago when he was maybe 10. We love that game! We always take it to my parents’ house at the holidays. </p>
<p>A friend owns it and I played once at a holiday party…absolutely hated it compared to the traditional square version. I just couldn’t get my mind to work with the hexagon shape. DH laughed and says it was because I was a social work major (this is a running joke in the family)! </p>
<p>My D used to work at a toy store so we had a chance to try out many board games. Here are what I remember:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>If you like Ticket to Ride, try Lost Cities. Easy to learn, game over in an hour or so. Perfect for impatient, ADHD player like me!</p></li>
<li><p>If you like Settlers of Catan, try Stone Age. More rules to learn, longer game. The rest of my family loves this, I can only remember a few rules so my strategy is not so sophisticated. I usually lose.</p></li>
<li><p>If you like Blokus, give Khet a chance, a chess like strategy game with lasers to shoot playing pieces. Rules seem simple but playing is not easy. I only watch, too complicated for my feeble brain.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>kgos, have not seen the Trigon version. By the way, for anybody interested in Blokus, have handy some snack-size Ziploc bags to keep the four sets of colored pieces in. Then you don’t have to sort them out every time, and you won’t lose the little tiny one-square that’s about the size of half a postage stamp!</p>
<p>We play lots of games with the family and friends. For small games stocking stuffer style, SET or Mhing are fun.</p>
<p>For longer play, I love Dominion. And there are great add on sets. Also Cosmic Encounter.</p>
<p>If you have a group, we play Taboo, or Apples to apples can be fun for bigger groups. Win, lose or draw (like charades but draw pictures). We have a tradition of playing a1995 version of Family Feud on new years eve. It’s a lot of fun (or maybe its just the champagne).</p>
<p>A co-operative game is Space Alert (need computer). You have to work together and you all win or all lose.</p>
<p>Galaxy Trucker - you win/lose on your own - not competing against each other as much, can be good if some people are too competitive. You have to read the instructions which are hilarious!!!</p>
<p>We like Upwards. It’s simpler than Scrabble. Balderdash is another fun game. We also like Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, but I guess they are not really board games.</p>
<p>Risk was the game of choice this Thanksgiving. My kids like Pit which I had never played until a few years ago. Our game must have come from my husband’s family as it’s very old and most of the companies have changed names or gone out of business. Easy for anyone to play. Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, and Apples to Apples are well like too.
I’m thinking of getting Settlers of Catan.
My husband is very competitive too and usually wins unless I secretly tell the kids to limit their trades and dealings with him:)</p>
<p>We like Small World - it describes itself as being like Risk but more fun. You are also trying to take over the (fantasy) world, but with the added interest that you have races with different attributes and you can cycle through multiple races during the course of the game. We’ve also enjoyed playing Dominion. I love Upwords, but no one will play with me. Blokus is nice, but works best with exactly four people. We followed their directions for playing with three and hated it. Over thanks giving we played a bunch of games my nephew brought with him. The one I liked best was a card game called Sushi-go. It’s very fast moving, silly and fun.</p>
<p>Favorites: Ticket to Ride in all its variations (especially Nordic Countries and Switzerland), Settlers of Cataan, Lost Cities, Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity. Also like Balderdash, Pictionary, and Scattergories.</p>
<p>We have Apples to Apples, we also used to play Cranium.
I learned Fluxx from a family who learned the game at a wedding weekend with the designers.
H & I used to play Feudal, 3m bookshelf game which is a bit like chess.
It’s more fun to play games with more than one person, I think.
When I was a kid, we played Yahtzee & Mille Bornes, my dad prefered Go.</p>
<p>Our family likes many of the games mentioned here. I’d also like to bring up several cooperative games that we like. In these games, everyone wins or everyone loses together:</p>
<p>Pandemic-- cure diseases before everyone in the world dies
Forbidden Island-- steal treasure from an island that is sinking into the sea
Flash Point-- get people out of a burning building before they get burned up</p>
<p>This thread just reminded me I wanted to buy Pente for my D for Christmas. It doesn’t look like they make the rolled up board version anymore, the ones I can find on eBay are quite expensive. I’m not sure they make the flat board version either, but it seems more available. I will have to check out Ticket to Ride for a new family game.</p>
<p>How have i missed Spot It??
Looks really great for many reasons…amazon reviews are very positive too.
I ordered several as stocking stuffers: the original for our DD, the NHL version for her boyfriend, and the MLB one for our DS. It will be a spotty christmas!</p>