Board games

[johnh]

I know there's a few on here into board games - I'm new to them (apart from the OG stuff like monopoly and played Disneys Villanous). Any recommendations for a family of 4 adults ?

 

[Jib]

Gloomhaven

 

[VeeMonroe]

I know there's a few on here into board games - I'm new to them (apart from the OG stuff like monopoly and played Disneys Villanous). Any recommendations for a family of 4 adults ?

Where do you want to start?

Bluffing/party games? Dungeons & Dragons-style adventure? Are you folks comfortable with lots of rules reading, or do you want to just launch in and play as fast as possible? What length of game are you thinking about?

Gloomhaven is superb, but it does commit you to a 100-game campaign with each session taking a couple of hours. Personally, I'd go with Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion if I was new to board gaming.

 

[Taxiturn]

I know there's a few on here into board games - I'm new to them (apart from the OG stuff like monopoly and played Disneys Villanous). Any recommendations for a family of 4 adults ?

Ticket to Ride: Europe is the ultimate gateway board game

 

[neil1637]

I like forbidden island for 4 players. Working together to beat the game.

 

[VeeMonroe]

Ticket to Ride: Europe is the ultimate gateway board game

I'd also recommend Pandemic, Marvel United, Codenames, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion (if you're into D&D roleplaying stuff).

Pandemic is, basically, Forbidden Island for grown-ups (or maybe I'm just jaded because my eight year old's gateway game was Forbidden Island, and he now plays Slay the Spire: The Board Game, Dwellings of Eldervale and Primal: The Awakening)!!!!

 

[Jib]

Gloomhaven is superb, but it does commit you to a 100-game campaign with each session taking a couple of hours.

I just named my favourite lol. But ok if you want something more non campaign -

Settlers of Catan
Dungeon Petz
Small World
Castle Ravenloft
Talisman

Card/ Tile games
Cut Throat Caverns
Blood Bowl Team Manager
Carcassonne
Lorcana - I know you said not Disney but this ones pretty good

Also another good campaign one is Descent (the first one)

That's just scanning the shelf and picking out a few

 

[VeeMonroe]

I just named my favourite lol. But ok if you want something more non campaign -

Settlers of Catan
Dungeon Petz

Dungeon Petz is a great game, but maybe a bit complex rules-wise for a beginner

Small World
Castle Ravenloft
Talisman

Yep!

Blood Bowl Team Manager

I think that's out of print, so I wouldn't pay over the odds for it. If you see one cheap, I'd go for it.

Carcassonne

There are a tonne of great Carcassonne variants. We have Carcassonne South Seas. Original Carcassonne now has too many expansions and is a bit cluttered.

Also another good campaign one is Descent (the first one)

That's massively OOP with impossible-to-find expansions However, there's a new version of Descent that doesn't have a boggy end game and also a bunch of Descent variants (different theme, same ruleset) that are still available. We have Imperial Assault - it appears you can still easily get the base game. Some of the expansions were OOP for a while. I spent AGGESS looking for the Thrawn expansion because I'm a massive Timothy Zahn Thrawn fan.

 

[OxfordNick]

We've been playing a lot of wingspan this year - it has quite a good tutorial for the first time you play

 

[Fubar]

Been enjoying Brass Lancashire recently however it's more on the complex side.

For a fun family game we like Sushi Go Party, easy to learn and lots of replayability. Quirkle is another good one that's very easy to pick up and good for travelling with.

7 wonders is also worth a shout and has intermediate complexity.

Edit: oh and Splendor is a favourite that's easy to learn with good strategic play.

 

[Jib]

I know you're probaly not looking for something online if you're looking for board games but I used this during Covid with family and friends. I haven't really used it since then as part of the point is offline play but lots of free games to try out and a good way to learn rules as it basically won't let you do something you're not allowed to do.

Some of the games my mum joined in with (which means not too complex!)
The King's Guild
Tokaido
7 Wonders
Stone Age
The Boss
Dinosaur Tea Party
Just Desserts
Saboteur
Colt Express

Very Simple ones
Sushi Go
Hanabi

 

[Jib]

Forgot to post link lol

Play board games online from your browser

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boardgamearena.com

 

[johnwhitfield]

The European Ticket To Ride is great (feels more playable than the American version)

Pandemic is great. Settlers is good.

For lighter relief we still play Exploding Kittens.

There’s a version of Cthulhu on the Orient Express on kickstarter at the moment which picked up rave reviews.

Used to play Scotland Yard which is a fun hunt them down type game.

 

[johnh]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, really appreciate it. Been smurfing all these to see what might be the gateway for us Picked up Scotland Yard, Sushi Go Party, and Ticket To Ride Europe on Ebay, they'll look like an easy place for us to start. Thx!