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Board Games
31
items Board games I've played and enjoyed, my thoughts on them, and brief descriptions.
Sections
6
Fun, But Requires Some Thought
Easy Games, A Lil Bit of Planning Required
Easy Games, Good For Younger Audiences
Games for Large Parties
Good for Two
So You Like It Long and Hard
Fun, But Requires Some Thought
Moderate time to learn and play, but nothing crazy
Grifters is probably one of my favorite games, you play as an underworld boss organizing teams of people to complete heists to ultimately be the wealthiest player at the end. It's fun, and there are expansions which can either act as their own stand ...
Grifters
5
I would also rank this as one of my faves, it's kinda like Clue but the guy's not dead yet. You want to kill Doctor Lucky, he has wronged you grievously in some way and he must die, and you want to be the one to kill him but of course you can't have ...
Kill Doctor Lucky -The 24 & 3/4th Anniversary Edition
Love this one, it's honestly one of my favorites. You each start with a bunch of meeple, each with varying point values, on the central island. Your goal is to get the most points by getting your meeple to the adjacent islands safely as the starting ...
Survive Escape From Atlantis 30th Anniv Ed
1
I played this at a convention last year and bought it immediately, I love it both functionally and thematically. You play as a wizard who needs to summon crows to gain magic, and you win by being the one with the most magic.
Crows
1
A solid classic, collect train cards to claim railroads to complete trade goals. There are plenty of expansions as well, all with slightly different game play.
Ticket to Ride
2
Really fun but lots of coordination and planning. You run a stand that sells pets and need to take care of them and make them desirable to sell.
Dungeon Petz Strategy Game
A good asymmetrical game where one person plays as the alien on a hostile planet the other players crash landed on and are now trying to escape. A little unbalanced towards the alien though tbh but still fun. there's a few expansions which seem like ...
Not Alone
This is an assymetrical game in which one person acts as Jack the Ripper and selects a base of operations somewhere around London, and then each phase selects a location to commit a murder and then must run back to the base. The other players are pol...
Letters from Whitechapel
Pretty game with fantastic art and enjoyable game play. You play as a gardener trying to be the first one to plant in certain plots in a community garden, collecting points as you do. The game comes with some pretty cards detailing information about ...
Herbaceous Sprouts
Smash Up is a fun game with various expansions. You pick two different thematic decks (ex. dinosaurs and ghosts, plants and pirates) and you shuffle them together and battle.
Smash Up | Board Game - BoardGameGeek
Azul is a fun game were you design a tile floor and get points for collecting different patterns.
Azul
An interesting cooperative game in which one of the players acts as a ghost and the others are psychic investigators with whom the ghost communicates via pretty but vague art cards. The art cards can be combined with other cards from the same game de...
Mysterium
Evolution is a very fun game where you create species with various different traits to try to acquire the most points or die trying. You might starve, you might get eaten, or you might evolve fast enough to win.
Evolution Second Edition
Easy Games, A Lil Bit of Planning Required
Easy to play, takes 15 minutes or less to learn, not too long to play, but a 10 year old or less might struggle a bit to play.
This game is both fun and the packaging is phenomenal, the first few weeks I had it I kept wondering why there was a pack of ramen on my board game shelf and whenever I would go to move it I'd remember it was actually a game. Your goal is to create a...
Ramen Fury
Quick to play, quick to learn, but oooh so sneaky and deceptive. You get two roles, two chances to trick those around you and be the last man standing.
Coup
I picked this game up a couple months ago and have already played it quite a few times. It's fun, cooperative, not hard to teach and reasonably quick to play. You and your friends have suffered a plane crash into a ravine and now must survive several...
Ravine
Machi Koro is one of my go to games for groups not super into heavier games but still looking for something with a little game to it. You each are building a city and need to complete certain landmarks to win, to do so you need money and to get money...
Machi Koro 5th anniversary Edition
Skull is a very simple bluffing game in the same vein as Bullshit/BS. You start with four tiles, one of which is a skull and the others are flowers and you go around in a circle placing your tiles face down until someone starts the betting. You bet h...
Skull
Easy Games, Good For Younger Audiences
Games that are fun, and simple enough to play with someone less than 10
A nice little game where you get tiles with paths and you direct your dragon along the board until you're the last man standing.
Tsuro
This game is pretty easy to pick up and play, it's good for children or just for something fast and simple.
Qwirkle
There are plenty of versions of Parcheesi out there, and I have one with cute little animal figurines. This was one of the first games I remember playing as a kid, and I still love it. It's similar to Sorry.
Parcheesi
I got Tinderblox more recently and it's such a cute, quick little game of dexterity. You assemble a tiny fire using tweezers. It's within the same realm of dexterity games as Jenga.
Tinderblox Game by Alley Cat Games | Barnes & Noble®
Games for Large Parties
These games generally need ~5+ people to play well but are great for large groups
A fun hidden role game good for medium size groups. I'd say this plays best with 5-7 players, but plays up to 10 people
Secret Hitler
1
Great game for larger parties/crowds, I'd say you need at least 5 to get a good game out of this. I also recommend picking up the expansions if you like the base game, and there's an app you can use to act as the GM
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
If your group likes history/trivia then this is a great game to play. You go around in a circle drawing cards and through your knowledge of history you guess where that event falls in the timeline you are amassing, if you get it right in relation to ...
CHRONOLOGY
Good for Two
Games that either only play two or are best with two imo
Very good game for two players, I also recommend the expansions with ladybug, mosquito, and pill bug. There's also a phone app version of this and a pocket size version which are great for travel, but the tiles in the full size version are so nice an...
Hive Board Game
Great two player game in which you're trying to get your piece over to the other side of the board while simultaneously blocking your opponent from doing the same using strategically placed walls.
Quoridor
A gorgeous game for two. This beautiful game in which you're in a power struggle over a magic forest. This is another one of those industry vs nature themed games.
Haven 2nd Edition Strategy Game (B&N Exclusive)
So You Like It Long and Hard
These games take longer to play and require more planning
Not the hardest or longest in this section but not terribly short either. This game is fun and I like the little pieces it has, you play as spirits trying to fight industrialization on your island. It's cooperative and requires a lot of strategy to w...
Spirit Island
I must admit I only played this once, and we functionally lost 30 minutes in but kept playing for 2 more hours. We decided to end it there, even though it wasn't technically over. I like the mechanics and if we had understood how to play it we might ...
Unfathomable
Not the longest, but certainly difficult. I've played this game probably more than 10 times and won maybe 2 or 3. This is a hidden role game where you and your friends are survivors in a zombie apocalypse and have to work together to keep a survivor ...
Dead of Winter