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Role Playing (Games) Entertainment Games

Boardgame Recommendations For Xmas? 102

Posted by simoniker from the santa-shops-german dept.
Thanks to GamerDad for their article discussing recommended board games to buy or play this Christmas. The writer argues: "Particularly in the last ten years, board games have evolved and changed, so that they are a far cry from the games of old", and goes on to recommend anything from the Lord Of The Rings board game ("one of the most unique board games of recent years"), to Dvonn ("A game that could best be compared to the abstract strategy of checkers.") What are you going to be buying novice board gamer relatives this Xmas?
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Boardgame Recommendations For Xmas? More

Boardgame Recommendations For Xmas?

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  • Only board game worth playing. TTT Risk on my XMAS list, got LOTR Risk last year.
    • Risk used to be my favorite game... it's ending is a bit lacking tho... it tends to become teadious the constant to and fro.

      Start and middle game is great tho, and I still do reccomend it.

      Since I discovered Setlers of Catan, Risk is only my 3rg favorite now:

      1. Go
      2. Settlers
      3. Risk :)
    • Try Risk 2210. Its got much of the same feel as regular risk, but with a few good twists thrown in that add to the game play. Also, it has a 5 year limit, so there isn't the tedium of mopping up to win the game.

  • cheapass games (Score:5, Informative)

    by dr_leviathan ( 653441 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @06:58PM (#7674872)
    There are lots of good boardgames available from Cheapass Games: http://www.cheapass.com. I usually buy 4 or 5 games from them around christmas time as stocking stuffers.

    • Re:cheapass games (Score:4, Informative)

      by clamatius ( 78862 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:03PM (#7675968) Homepage
      Cheapass makes some great games and obviously you can't beat their prices. However, a bunch of their games are long on flavour but short on game balance, so their replay value isn't necessarily amazing. Also note that the games don't usually come with everything you'll need to play; you have to scavenge the bits you need from other games. For example, Monopoly is a good source of money bills for their money-based games. If you're giving the games to someone who doesn't play a lot of games, that may potentially be a problem and you might want to stay away from Cheapass stuff.

      That said, Cheapass games I'd personally recommend:

      Cube Farm [cheapass.com]. A simple but elegant strategy game. Ok for novice game players.

      Freeloader [cheapass.com]. Again, great flavour and a nice level of strategy. However, this one is more complicated so you might not want to get it if you're giving it to a real novice. Also very greedy on the number of pieces it needs (30+ different-coloured counters for each player).

      Give me the Brain [cheapass.com]. Less strategy and more luck in this one (not necessarily a bad thing). If you're giving it to young children, skip this one because of zombie-related humour. Male teenagers will probably like it, though.

      The Very Clever Pipe Game [cheapass.com]. Pure strategy, and small enough to be a good stocking filler. Doesn't need extra pieces. It's really a 2-player game though although it claims to be a 4-player game too, so be warned.
    • That's funny, my cheapass recommendations are completely different:

      Unexploded Cow
      Lord of the fries
      US Patent #1

      Enjoy!

    • Re:cheapass games (Score:5, Informative)

      by david.given ( 6740 ) <dg@cowlark.com> on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @06:54AM (#7678850) Homepage Journal
      My favourite Cheapass game is, in fact, the free one that comes on their catalogue: Fight the Power.

      It's terribly, terribly simple. Each player controls a faction of elves working at the north pole. The aim of the game is to either grow your faction to eight elves (at which point you are now strong enough to overthrow Santa) or to reduce your faction to zero elves (at which point you are now safe enough to rat out the other factions to Santa). Both are win conditions.

      Your elves are represented by six-sided dice. You start with four elves. The numbers shown on the dice are important, and persist from turn to turn; they only change when explicitely described below.

      Play goes round the table. Each turn you may either fight or recruit.

      To recruit, you steal an elf showing a given number from another player. You may only do this if you have more elves with the same number than the other player does.

      To fight, you roll zero or more of your elves. The player you're attacking rolls all of their elves. Highest numbers shown wins. The winner must take an elf from the loser.

      The reason why this game is so good is because whenever you gain an advantage, another player may be disadvantaged or advantages. If you, with four elves, attack a player with two elves, and you win the battle, your victim is now closer to winning the whole game (because zero is a win condition).

      Every move you make affects the entire game state in non-obvious ways. Frequently I've seen someone attack another player just to force the other player to reroll their elves, because the numbers they had were too good. Attacking with an intent to lose is very common.

      Total equipment needed: 4D6 per person. Games are short, the gameplay is addictive and surprisingly subtle. You'll play half a dozen games very quickly and then suddenly slow down as you start getting the hang of how it all works and start planning ahead.

      Fun.

  • My Recommendation: (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jxa00++ ( 322387 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @06:59PM (#7674876) Homepage
    Settlers of Catan.

    • Re:My Recommendation: (Score:4, Insightful)

      by smoondog ( 85133 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @07:01PM (#7674909)
      Yup and Puerto Rico. Both great games.

      -Sean

      • Spiel des Jahres (Score:5, Informative)

        by clamatius ( 78862 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @07:35PM (#7675261) Homepage
        For those of you not in the know, the Germans own the boardgame market. Boardgames are a much bigger cultural thing in Germany than anywhere else. Almost all the best boardgames are German in origin and luckily you can mostly get them in English translations. Rio Grande is the biggest manufacturer of translated German games.

        For family-style boardgames with a bit of depth, you can't go wrong with any of the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) winners [kumquat.com]. This is an annual award. As I recall, it's awarded at the Essen Game Festival. Winners tend to be fairly simple games suitable for family play (rather than being aimed at hard-core gamers) while having enough strategy to satisfy the hard-core gamer at the same time.

        I have never played a bad game that won the Spiele des Jahres. Some of my favourites that have won in previous years:

        Settlers of Catan
        Manhattan
        Carcassonne
        Mississippi Queen

        As the parent points out, Puerto Rico is also a fabulous game and I would highly recommend it.

        • Re:Spiel des Jahres (Score:3, Informative)

          by Grab ( 126025 )
          I can't remember if it's a Spiel des Jahres, but the card game "Citadels" is very good. Rules are simple, there's a lot of strategy involved (you can be nasty if you want to :-) and a bit of luck, and you can have up to 9 people playing it.

          As far as traditional games go, I *love* Mah-Jongg. (No, I *don't* mean the computer version where you match tiles!) If you can play Rummy, then Mah-Jongg is very similar. There's also something very tactilely appealing about using chunky tiles instead of cards.

          Grab
    • I was introduced to Settlers of Catan just last night, and I cannot get the experience out of my mind. It is absolutely wonderful. I cannot recommend this game enough.

      • I recommend the computer version if you want to experiment more - I found that I got much better after a few rounds against the AI's

        Gnocatan [sf.net] is the name and it rocks!

        (It has modes for the normal games, the seafairers and other expansion packs).

    • This is a great game (settles of catan), playable and enjoyable to many.

      The good thing about it is the different way of handling the dice and is something totally different from traditional games.

      The aspect of trade is something that adds to the fun and when played with relatives it can be a way to tease and have fun, or when played with serious players can be a way to annoy people!

      Besides all that, there are multiple additions that can be bought for the more experienced players so the game will r
  • Per my post [slashdot.org] in the other /. thread on this sort of subject [slashdot.org]:

    Nuke War. [flyingbuffalo.com]

    Gotta be Nuke War. [flyingbuffalo.com]

    Got change for 25 million people?

  • RoboRally (Score:2, Interesting)

    by pardey ( 568849 )
    RoboRally. [roborally.com] Simple enough for all my relatives (and that's pretty simple), but still enough stratigery to make it fun.
  • There isn't a single doubt in my head that this is the best family boardgame out. Another game I wouldn't mind recieving is a nice chess set. With both monopoly and chess, there are different themes. Some are very nice. My cousin is a big corvette fan, I think I might wanna pick up monopoly corvette for him from ebay. My 2 cents.
    • Yeah, but which version do you play?

      Star Wars Monopoly?
      Gallip-olopoly?
      Edna Krabopoly?
    • For family, Setlers of Catan (series) is better. (Even Risk is better than Monopoly) Monopoly only amuses the younger family members.

      For serious, Go is way better than chess. But only if you can grasp ladders. ;)

  • Cranium (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Dormous ( 638736 ) <(mikemucc) (at) (yahoo.com)> on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @07:11PM (#7675001)
    Cranium [cranium.com] is one of the most fun board games I have ever played. I got it for christmas last year and we played it on christmas day. Most fun we've ever had. Some of the things you have to do in that game are an absolute riot. It is best described as Pictionary combined with Trivial Pursuit, combined with Charades, combined with Name that Tune.

    Warning!!! Brain Required

    • Re:Cranium (Score:3, Informative)

      by Ted Cabeen ( 4119 )
      We played Cranium a few times, and it just didn't thrill us. The trivial pursuit style questions were incredibly easy, and the other three categories were sort of amusing but not stellar. Combine that with the fact that advancement on the track was incredibly random and unbalanced, and it just didnt make for a well done game. IMHO, if you want to play pictionary or charades, just do that.

    • Re:Cranium (Score:2, Interesting)

      by hseikaly ( 159786 )
      Cranium rocks!!! I really don't anyone who doesn't like this game.. Really I don't. In fact, the only time i've heard anyone talk badly about cranium is on slashdot. Who knew?

      Its just total fun with lots of people. The questions are easy enough that you don't have to be rocket scientist to get them. That makes the game accessible. There is word games, drawing, drawing with your eyes closed, humming, charades, even sculpting with clay. So there is always some in your team that can do one of those thi

    • Re:Cranium (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bigbigbison ( 104532 ) * on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:42PM (#7676304) Homepage
      i played it once and it just was not fun to us. we got about half way through and everyone went home.
  • The Farming Game [farmgame.com]. Imagine monopoly with seasons and crops and much more debt.

    It's quite a tricky little game.
    • Oh man! I used to love this game when I was a kid. It's about as hard to convince people to play it as monopoly though.

      I don't think I ever really got into the strategy because I was probably about 12. I do remember it being a lot of fun.
  • Icehouse from Looney Labs. [looneylabs.com] You buy the pieces and then either buy a separate multi-game rulebook or just look up rules for Icehouse games online. Check out the rules for Volcano, RAMbots, and IceTowers... our three favorites.

  • My Faves (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Oriumpor ( 446718 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @07:24PM (#7675139) Homepage Journal
    10. Hacker the deluxe edition [sjgames.com] (until recently oop)
    9. Wizwar [silcom.com]
    8. Nuclear War [canosoarus.com] (which someone made into a silly computer game of a similar name.)
    7. Settlers of Catan/Seafarers of Catan (you can find this at nearly every game store)
    6. Eurorails/Empire Builder [angelfire.com]
    5. Family Business [boardgamegeek.com]
    4. Risk and/or the NEW risk (of course)
    3. Chess
    2. Checkers
    1. A set of these [gamelandsports.com]


  • Go [samarkand.net]


    ---Lane
    • Go is one of the "elemental" strategy games, like chess - you see echoes of it everywhere in other strategy games once you understand how to play well.

      It is also fairly simple, given that you can reduce the whole game down to 3 or 4 rules. However, it is extremely abstract and in my experience novice gamers are not generally interested in very abstract games - if they can play a game with nice flavour to it, they'd rather play that instead.

      So, while Go is definitely an amazing game and one of my favourit

  • Definitely somethin in the Catan series (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hrbrmstr ( 324215 ) * on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @07:41PM (#7675317) Homepage Journal
    Settlers of Catan [coolgames.com] and it's siblings/children are all worthy of family battle - er -gaming time.

    We play them as a family (a wide range of ages) and it's great fun. At times, it can get fairly heated, but overall it's great, especially with the expansions.

  • couple of favorites (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    if you want some thinker games... then i recomend these:
    puerto rico by Alea $35
    Prince of Florence by Alea $40
    Euphrat & Tigris $50

    if your looking for more lighter games then:
    The Settlers of Catan $35
    Drakon by fantasy flight $20
    Carcassonne $25
    kill doctor lucky by cheapassGames $7

    Card games:
    guillotine by wizards of the coast $10
    give me the brain by cheapassGames $15
    Lord of the fries by cheapassGames $15
    Unexploded cow by Cheapass Games $7

    i own all of these games and the rankings are in no particular orde

  • Settlers of Catan or Expansions (Score:5, Informative)

    by Prien715 ( 251944 ) <<agnosticpope> <at> <gmail.com>> on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @07:47PM (#7675387) Journal
    We used to play monopoly all the time, it was almost a tradition. Then, our gaming group tried settlers and fell in love. The reasons I like it so much are as follows:

    *It's not really a cut-throat game like monopoly where your main sorce of income is from making other players pay. Instead, the game is heavily focused on trading with other players for mutual benefit.

    * It's also fairly simple. Most people learn the game about halfway through their first game though learning to master it is a different story.

    * Close games. The game is played to points and games are usually close until the end. I dislike lots of games, both computer and boardgames, because there comes a point when a player's really lost and the game's over but it goes on anyway because some player still thinks he has a shot or always plays until the end.

    * Expansions. Though I don't like seafarers so much, Cities and Knights is a great expansion which adds complexity and additional levels of strategy.

    * Staying power. This game was released almost 10 years ago. It's still very popular (see here [boardgamegeek.com]). That's the sign of a classic.
    • Our local gaming group often refers to this as the 'Gateway Game' for introducing German/Euro style games for all the reasons you mention above. I often recommend it as a way to get started because:

      -It has just enough luck to keep you on your toes but allows you to mitigate pure luck with thought and strategy

      -It introduces the following concepts that are not greatly found in 'typical' games seen here in the US:
      -A dynamic board which is actually 'dealt' out at the start of the game.
      -Negotiation
      -Tr
    • I'm not a big fan of this game. Oh, the mechanics are fine and the concept is a good one, but the winning strategy for this game, like for many others, is to stay in 2nd place until near the end. I've grown tired of that dynamic in gaming - gang up on the winner until the quiet person who didn't draw attention to him/her self wins. I prefer a game where you can give your all every turn and that's the best strategy.

      -Jeff
  • Ghettopoly [ghettopoly.com]? From the site: "Buying stolen properties, pimpin hoes, building crack houses and projects, paying protection fees and getting car jacked are some of the elements of the game. Not dope enough?...If you don't have the money that you owe to the loan shark you might just land yourself in da Emergency Room." What more could you want from a game?
  • Fluxx is brilliant and the Scrabble(tm) card game is pretty decent.
    • Fluxx is horrible. YMMV. Check out www.boardgamegeek.com for the state of the art, and then go to www.funagain.com or www.gamesurplus.com or www.fairplaygames.com and order the top 10 on their sales list. I am not affiliated with these sites:)
    • Depends on the people you're buying for with Fluxx. If they're just wanting to have fun and enjoy some silliness, by all means, it is a good game. If they actually want to learn to play a game well and develop strategy, then don't get them near Fluxx - it's pretty much a luck only game.

      It seems you either love it or hate it, and you often can't guess which until you try it.
  • At least it's nostalgic for me: Acquire [avalonhill.com] (now owned by Wizard's of the Coast via Avalon Hill

  • Super Geekin' (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Apreche ( 239272 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @08:03PM (#7675533) Homepage Journal
    http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076
    http://www .boardgamegeek.com/game/822
    http://www.boardgameg eek.com/game/555
    http://www.boardgamegeek.com/gam e/1
    http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3931

    The bestest games they be. Settlers is good, but played out.

    I was too lazy to turn these into links. But if you used Firebird and had the textlink extention it wouldn't matter.
    • I believe the optimoz mouse gestures plugin also has a feature like this, highlight the text of the link, then mouse gesture for a new tab/window. Loads link in background.

  • for family play (Score:4, Insightful)

    by timothy ( 36799 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @08:28PM (#7675722) Journal
    a) ignore age recommendations, generally -- they're mostly nonsense :)

    b) Get games that require creativity in some form. Monopoly could be seen as requiring financial creativity at least, but many games are nothing but throw-the-die-on-your-turn. Win, Lose or Draw, Pictionary, Cranium (if the players are all prepared for it) ... these games make you solve a problem visually or physically, communicate with the other players.

    c) Avoid games with complex pieces, or that require batteries to power whatzitz or doohickeys. They will get lost, or break.

  • Toys R Us completely misses the adult-toy (no, not THAT adult-toy) market. Yes, they're a mass-merchandiser and we can't expect them to carry every game available, but there should be some sort of quality control in the games they select to sell. There's a reason that Cranium was a huge seller... and initially only available in Starbucks stores. If TrU decided to carry even 5-10 games listed in the GAMES 100, that would be a start.
    • Not exactly a board game, but fun anyway: Carabande [kumquat.com], which may be out o

  • Party games (Score:2, Informative)

    by clamatius ( 78862 )
    At Christmas time, you usually have a bunch of potential players around if your family is into games, so you may want to think about buying a party-type game.

    Here's some solid recommendations [kumquat.com]. My personal favourites out of that list:

    Balderdash. Solid party word game. Very little kids will have trouble keeping up, however.

    Perudo. Simple bluffing dice game that pretty much anyone can play.

    Apples to Apples. Excellent family game.

    Pit. A classic trading game. Very, very noisy to play, your house ends
  • Not strictly a board game, but Apples To Apples [otb-games.com] is really, really fun with five players or more. Nothing to do with the computer manufacturer. Alcohol is sufficient but not necessary.

  • Heh.. (Score:2, Informative)

    by calebtucker ( 691882 )
    Mousetrap [toys2wish4.com]. Heh, anyone remember this one?

    Seriously though, a game that both adults and children can enjoy is Rummikub [rummikub.com]. It's pretty simple to learn but it can lead to some intense games that involve borrowing numbers from the game board during your turn while still leaving the board in a consistent state (just realized I borrowed this phrase from my database class for which I'm cramming for the final exam, which is tomorrow). It's kind of hard to explain, but it's a good game. This is coming from some
    • It's kind of hard to explain, but it's a good game. This is coming from someone who really hates learning new card games and such.

      You can also learn it fairly quickly, because there aren't too many rules to it. I usually have to re-learn it every time I play (because it's usually months or even years between times when I'm with the members of my family that have this game), but it always comes back fairly quickly. I think I might pick it up myself sometime soon, as it's been quite a while since I last pla

  • Free as in Beer: 1000 Blank White Cards (Score:5, Informative)

    by NickFusion ( 456530 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @10:06PM (#7676506) Homepage
    Ok, not quite, you need a pack of index cards, but otherwise free.

    As discussed [slashdot.org] in an oddly similar thread about 4 posts down, this is a DIY game I stumbled upon recently, and have bcome totally obsessed with.

    The rules are very simple, you can google for it, or read the rules [chromecow.com] on my site (second post from top).

    It's a game that gets more & more fun the more you play, and no two games will ever be the same.

  • I just got Dvonn two weeks ago, and it is a fabulous game. Takes about 5 minutes to learn how to play it, and a game takes about 20 minutes to play. It's for two people only. I've played several friends who said that it looked really straightforward until they actually sat down to play it and realize how much thinking it requires.

    Dvonn is part of the GIPF project, there are 4 other games (with one more game to follow apparently). (Since you probably didn't follow the link :) )

    Based on my experience

  • http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewitem.php3?gameid= 624

  • antimonopoly [antimonopoly.com] is what monopoly is really all about, but the focus was lost through marketing.

    You might also look at getting cash flow [richdad.com]

    R

  • Ur. Go On that is. Um, hmm....

    Go

    Not really a "gather round the table" kind of game, but incredible complexity for a fairly simple set of rules. Well worth learning, and very worth learning young.

    There are computer versions so you can play against a program and IGS so you can play over the net against humans.

    Not as immediately attractive to 10 year olds as some games, but will pay off for many over a much longer period.

    • As a 30 year old I wish I had rather learnt Go and not Chess when I was 7 years old. :)

      It's fairly cheap to get a good board, but can be thousands of dollars for a propper one. (So it's for players of all ages)

      It's possibly the only one of three board games people of ages 70+ still play for money, and it's possibly the most intellectually stimulating game in existance.

      Sure, I've got Settlers of Catan (and expansion), DnD, Magic the Gathering and a host of computer games... but nothing has gripped me like

  • So many games.... so little money (Score:3, Informative)

    by Lithium_Golem ( 730956 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @10:42PM (#7676779)
    I am a huge boardgame freak and here are just a few of my favorites (sorted by gamer type for your convienence)

    For the Video Game Type
    Age of Mythology [eaglegames.net]. - Awsome translation of the popular RTS video game. A unique style of play indeed. 2-4 players without expansion
    Civilization: The Board Game [eaglegames.net] - Not a direct translation of CIV III but provides players an opportunity for intense military, political and economic strategy. 2-6 players (standard and advanced rules)
    Warcraft: The Board Game [fantasyflightgames.com] - Provides all the elements of the RTS Game in a very nice turn based style. The board is dynamic to allow for many different playing scenarios!
    Frag! [sjgames.com] - Take a First Person Shooter like Quake and turn it into a board game. Run around collecting weapons to kill other players. Very fun for a quick game. Capture the flag to deathmatch rules.

    For the War Gamer Type
    Axis & Allies [avalonhill.com]. - Classic WWII simulation. Will soon be updated with a new rules release. 2-5 players
    Risk 2210 AD [avalonhill.com]. - Beefed up version of the original RISK. Not my favorite game, but it is fun. 2-6 players I believe.

    For the Formula One Type
    Formula De [descartes-editeur.com]. - Formula One simulation board game with real tracks! Rules for standard and league type play. 2-10+ players.

    For the Fun Type
    EVO [descartes-editeur.com]. - Play as a species of dinosaur struggling to survive until the doomsday meteor hits. Great game for all ages. 3-5 Players
    Drakon [fantasyflightgames.com]. - An evolving tile based board game that is different every time. The expansion is great! 2-6 Players

    And Finally... For the Geek Type
    Chez Geek [sjgames.com]. - This isn't a board game, but it doesn't matter. This is a must have for any gaming geek. Take everything funny (true or not) about geeks, design a wonderful card game and add in some hilarious flavor text and art and you have this game. I've played this game for hours on end with geeks and non-geeks alike. Huge laughs for all. Get this game. Trust me. Do it now. Oh, and the expansions are great too.

    And no, I don't work for Steve Jackson Games.

    • Civilization: The Board Game - Not a direct translation of CIV III but provides players an opportunity for intense military, political and economic strategy. 2-6 players (standard and advanced rules)

      How funny... the computer game was highly inspired by Avalon Hill's Civilization/Advanced Civilization board games. Then the computer game gets made back into a board game - it's come full circle. :)

  • History of the World [avalonhill.com] is a great game. It got me interested in ancient history, architecture(from trying to figure out what were on the monument pieces) and non-western history in general.

    Don't forget the classic that started the rule modification game craze: Cosmic Encounter [bu.edu]. Hours and hours of complex, mind bending fun.

    I am astonished neither game has been mentioned in the discussion so far. Perhaps my tastes are a bit different.

  • I can thoroughly recommend the following games...
    Any GIPF project [gipf.com] game... These are abstract strategy games for two players... The games link into one megagame, and individually and collectively they are extremely compelling...
    I recommend trying them in this order...

    Zertz [kumquat.com]
    Yinsh [kumquat.com]
    Dvonn [kumquat.com]
    Gipf [kumquat.com]
    Tamsk [kumquat.com]

    each game is based around a different core mechanic. For example, Gipf is sliding, Zertz is jumping, Dvonn is stacking, Tamsk is time, and Yinsh is... well I'm not sure, but it's different.
    The linked meg
  • I highly recommend Clans, which is a strategy game for 2-4 players that takes about 30 minutes to play.

    It's fast moving, the game has a clear ending, all players are in the game until the end, and best of all, you don't let the other players know what your color is, so part of the fun is trying to figure out what everyone else is.

    You can buy it from Fun Again Games [funagain.com]
  • Classic, conventional games have a great advantage in that most people already know how to play them. Also, most are really quite good.

    So here's my list:

    Dominoes (These also double as a good block type toy for younger kids)

    Monopoly

    Risk

    Any card game

    These are all great games, without being too complicated. They also all require substantial strategic thinking to master.

    The important thing is to spend most of your time playing rather than reading the rules, unless your family is a bunch of die-hard gro
  • ... is thousands of years old. Unfortunately, no one can be told how awesome Go [xmp.net] is. You have to experience it for yourself. And it requires patience (which is why it hasn't taken off in the US :)
  • If you can find it (it's sadly out of production now) this Gamesworkshop classic from 1987 is one of the best boardgames I've ever played. For 2-4 players, one of whom plays as Dracula, while the others play the vampire hunters, it's just a truly superb game all round. You might be lucky enough to find it on ebay I suppose....

  • One of the best word games of all time! It's been out of print for ages, but a new company has bought the rights and are now selling it in a nice tin package [areyougame.com].

    It's an excellent two player game, as each player always has something to do. However, we had luck playing as two teams of two over Thanksgiving.

  • Board game, card game and RPG recommendations for christmas: check out the Ogrecave's Christmas Guide 2003 [ogrecave.com].
  • I got mine at KayBee a few years ago for $5 (on clearance). Each of the properties is a different dot com company. The game came out in like 1999, so if you can find the game today, you'll notice that many of the dot coms listed around the board are actually bankrupt in real life! It may be discontinued just for that reason. I know it's getting harder to find.
    Monopoly Dot Com Edition [amazon.com]
  • Trumpet - Minutes to learn, lifetime to master. One of those games with rules so simple anyone can learn them, but enough random thrown in to make it impossible to ever get too much of an edge. Truly an excellent game. Royalty - (OK its a card game) If you like Scrabble, you will love royalty
  • This is a Reiner Knizia, Lord of the Rings two player game that is easy to learn, quick to play and has a lot of replayability. My 10 year old daughter picked it up real quick and has gotten quite good. Essentially each player takes the white (good) or black (evil) pieces. Each piece is of a character from the books and each has a special ability. Good players try to get Frodo into Mordor and the bad player tries to eliminate Frodo or get three of its pieces into the Shire. Since there is no set order

  • One of the games I have had most success getting other non-gamer types to play is Naval War [boardgamegeek.com] by Avalon Hill. Although technically it's a card game.It's rated a 1 on AH's skill level so anyone can learn it in about 5 minutes, even kids.I had some trouble buying it a few years back at local shops when a friend wanted a copy, but he found one on ebay immediately. I bought the Lord of the Rings game [boardgamegeek.com] for our last family New Years eve party and it was a big success. I was debating between it and Settlers of Cat [boardgamegeek.com]

  • I hestitate to mention this because they're already backordered everywhere and you will have trrouble getting a copy by December 25th...

    Boeing commissioned the Century of Flight Edition of Monopoly [boeingstore.com]. http://store.brainygames.com/usa193.html [brainygames.com] They tell me that more are on the way.

    The 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight is December 17th.

  • I've been a long time fan of this game, where detectives chase the mysterious "Mr. X" around London by mass transit. It's rather funny in that sense, but I've always enjoyed playing. The only problem is that I haven't seen Mr. X win among a group of experienced players in a long time.

    Game details and a few customer reviews here [kumquat.com]. I guess it also got the Spiel des Jahres Game of the Year award in 1983.

  • This game is totally fun.

    Zombies!! [twilightcreationsinc.com]

    I have the original and the second expansion. We usually just play with the expansion now, since the game balance/pace seems to be a bit better.

    As the players take their turns, they lay out the map, kill zombies, and move zombies.

    Takes a few rounds for everyone to "get" it, but then it is good times till you leave everyone in the Zombie infested mall from the safety of your helicopter!

  • I love a good game of Liar's Dice, except we play with our own dice and slightly different rules from the version you can buy.

    Number of players: 3 or more. More is better, but only to a limit, since games get longer with more players. We usually play with 5 or 6.

    Required equipment: 5 dice per player plus something for each player to hide their dice from the other players. We use opaque disposable plastic cups with the bottoms cut off.

    Each player starts with 5 dice. Before actual play starts, p

  • Go is the opitime of strategy games. Minutes to learn, eternity to master. Yes, not a lifetime -- eternity.

    Richochet Robot [gamereport.com] is a fun game for a small group of folks. Definitely will drive you nuts to some degree. Really racks your brain and puts it into overdrive. Hell, I think I'm going to bring this one into the office.

    Formula De [descartes-editeur.com] is just nifty. Pretty quick games, some strategy, some luck. Yeah, you'll need to pick up extra boards over time, but it's a tough game to get sick of. I've even playe

  • Yet another $20 for the game you already own...

    Air Force Monopoly [af.mil]

    The only reason I care is because I am in the U.S. Chair Force. Although it would be cool to zip around the board in an F-22 or stealth bomber...

  • Diplomacy.

    No luck element.
    Simple rules.
    Complex human interaction.

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