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Tabletop Weekly Discussion #3 - What's one of your favourite games?
This is a recurring thread in ~games.tabletop where we can talk about board games in a fun way. Feel free to discuss boardgames in any way you want, but I like to add a bit of a hook each week to spice things up. Here's my hook for this thread:
What's one of your favourite board game and why?
Edit: I made the question a bit less hard to answer - instead of your absolute favourite, pick a favourite, and talk about it.
My current favourite game to play is Hnefatafl which is a chess-like, asymmetric, nordic game where one side has a king to protect and help escape. In the version that I've been playing, all pieces move like chess rooks, and capturing the non-king pieces is done by sandwiching them between two of your own pieces. The king can be captured by being surrounded on all 4 sides.
The game itself is pretty good on its own; it's a bit more advanced than checkers, but less advanced than chess. It's worth playing if you like chess, but aren't super serious in competitive chess. I've been playing with my 8-year old daughter, which is where I think a lot of the enjoyment is coming from. She's a straight up evil witch that mercilessly destroys me about half the time on the battlefield, which is honestly pretty great. I'm no slouch either - she's the only person other than my dad who has consistently (or ever) bested me at the game.
In the same vein, we've also enjoyed Santorini a lot, which is a delightfully constructed building game with greek gods and architecture.
Dominion
I think what I like the most about it is that the game board doesn't change much during play, so I can plan out a strategy before we start, and follow through with it throughout the game. In most engine building games you constantly have to revise your strategy during play, because some options disappear while other potentially more powerful options appear. This means the game doesn't give me analysis paralysis as often as most engine builder games, making it more enjoyable for me personally.
Some other good features:
I really enjoy Dominion as well, and one of the other key things I like about it is that it's a good game with 2, 3, or 4 people. I find 3 to be the perfect number of people, but it's still good with one more or one less, and it's hard to find games that play about the same regardless of the number of people.
Hopefully nobody is going to be judgy! I applaud anyone for enjoying whatever boardgame they want to play. Maybe not Mall Madness.
I think all the things that you mentioned are great about Exploding Kittens, and it really captures one of the important things about gaming, which is that playing games should be fun.
I was given Exploding Kittens for Christmas a few years ago, and all I can tell you is that it is not fun with only two players :p. I have to imagine it's way more fun in a party setting
My boardgame group brings Exploding Kitttens every week and I just don't get it. It's a cute party game but how do you not find it incredibly repetitive? "infinitely replayable" to me doesn't ring true, I feel like I must be missing some rule that makes it so the game even has plans beyond "blow up and hope to take out the nth player in line after you".
I really enjoy Unstable Unicorns. It's in the same style but has a lot more depth to it IMO.
Wait, what app?
One Night Ultimate Werewolf -
The companion App for Android and iOS make this game simple and easy to play with larger groups.
What I find engaging One Night Ultimate Werewolf is the Meta game that unfolds. Since the goal is to create enough consensus in the group on who is the Werewolf, a lot of social dynamics are at play and can change or persist on the next play through.
I've always enjoyed this game, but we get to play it infrequently because my wife loathes it on a fundamental level.
I find it fun and my kids love it a lot. I'll have to check out the app!
what does you wife loath about it? The inherent lying/trickery that is involved or something else?
I think that she dislikes that there is no particular strategy, which I think is a valid complaint. It's just random flailing with storytelling, but she wants gameplay mechanics that she can use to create a way to win. That's not really the kind of game it is though.
And that is what I like about it, it's not the "game board" that determines if you win or lose but the group of people who is playing the game.
Does anyone know of other games like this?
I agree with @aphoenix's wife, "no strategy" is kinda meh, but if you're looking for group-first games then most coop games, eg. Pandemic, would fit the bill. I'm a big fan of that style of play.
Escape rooms are also probably a good fit for you. If you're looking to stick to board games, the Unlock series is a great "escape room as a board game" series.
Oh I like that about it as well - I don't think every game needs to be all about strategy. Sometimes it can just be about making up a fun story together to tell.
Avalon is an interesting and somewhat similar game, though it does bring it back to being more about strategy and dealing with information.
Secret Hitler also has similar mechanics and is a ton of fun.
I recently ran a game of Microsope with some friends, and it was a blast. It's sort of a collaborative story telling game, where the group creates an alternate history. Each round someone proposes a focus and then each player adds a period, event or scene to the time-line (not necessary to be in chronological order).
We essentially made a history where Ancient Aliens was fact, haha
I haven't played this one at all - I will have to check it out, because it sounds great!
It's a little bit between a TTRPG and a board game, so probably a bit outside of the usual suspects. Highly recommend :)
I only just got it, and I've only played 3 games of it, but I think I already consider Captain Sonar to be my favorite boardgame.
The basic premise is you split into 2 teams of 4, each controlling a submarine trying to kill the other one. Every member on the team is responsible for a different part of the boat's operation, the captain decides where to move (avoiding islands and without crossing their own path) and makes higher level decisions, the first mate charges up abilities that the captain can choose to use, the engineer essentially plays a puzzle game to keep the sub from breaking, and the radio operator listens to the other team's captain, marks down the moves and tries to figure out where the enemy is. Every player gets to contribute to the team in a meaningful and unique way, and you get to compete against your friends. It's the best parts from co-op and PvP games. Here's the kicker though, you play the game in real time, not turn by turn. It's chaotic as hell but damn if it isn't fun. Real time gameplay strongly rewards good communication and efficiency, because the only thing gating your movement speed is how fast your team can do their jobs.
It's seriously so good. If you can get 8 people together, I can't recommend it enough