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A well written rule book goes so far towards making the learning/teaching experience a pleasant one. Not to mention a good layout, reasonable font, and like you guys pointed out, a good glossary and/or reminder of what pieces are what. I think I like Rosenberg's rulebooks the best although Vlaada's are actually funny to read and deliver the rules in a organic way that helps the learning process by linking the mechanics to the theme.
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Sep 1, 2017 15:29
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Does Le Havre still hold up? LGS sale and I can't think of any WP economic theme games I have that are really that similar, but at the same time I have a lot of economic-themed (it sucks that everything on BGG muddles theme and mechanics together wrt economics) games.
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Sep 1, 2017 15:40
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Chill la Chill posted:Does Le Havre still hold up? LGS sale and I can't think of any WP economic theme games I have that are really that similar, but at the same time I have a lot of economic-themed (it sucks that everything on BGG muddles theme and mechanics together wrt economics) games.
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Sep 1, 2017 15:44
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FulsomFrank posted:A well written rule book goes so far towards making the learning/teaching experience a pleasant one. Not to mention a good layout, reasonable font, and like you guys pointed out, a good glossary and/or reminder of what pieces are what. Font and layout are way bigger than "not to mention." When I've done this exercise in the past (using board games as a route into introducing technical writing), I've found that Splendor has some of the biggest rulebook problems, and the biggest contributing factor is the font and layout. Right now I'm trying to decide if there's any advantage to giving them Sushi Go Party vs Sushi Go. If it's just for someone trying the game out and learning how it works, I'm starting to think that I'm better off with the simpler base game.
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Sep 1, 2017 15:56
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The font and background of the rulebook is the one bad thing about Caylus  Tekopo posted:I think so, but there are others that don't think it has enough replay-ability and I must say that I haven't played the game enough to hit those problems yet. The criticism is that in the end you always just need to find a steel engine to build steel ships and that's the only way to make the big bucks. Thanks! That is probably a no for me then. Might get Mombasa instead.
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Sep 1, 2017 15:58
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Any recommendations for my Phd holding cousin who wants to get into the hobby? No party games, thematic games or mean games like Ticket to Ride. Looking for something challenging but not overwhelming, preferably not longer than an hour-hour and a half.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:16
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Lorini posted:Any recommendations for my Phd holding cousin who wants to get into the hobby? No party games, thematic games or mean games like Ticket to Ride. Looking for something challenging but not overwhelming, preferably not longer than an hour-hour and a half. Ticket to Ride is mean? I have a PhD and I love worker placement stuff. What's her field?
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Sep 1, 2017 16:22
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CommonShore posted:Ticket to Ride is mean? I was gonna ask this too, since TtR is an undirected graph game if her phd is in math... Last Will, maybe? Not terribly mean, has a theme people can identify quickly, plays pretty quick...
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Sep 1, 2017 16:23
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Lorini posted:Any recommendations for my Phd holding cousin who wants to get into the hobby? No party games, thematic games or mean games like Ticket to Ride. Looking for something challenging but not overwhelming, preferably not longer than an hour-hour and a half. 
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Sep 1, 2017 16:24
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Istanbul is one of the best medium-ish games out there. It's not mean at all (if someone blocks you you just pay them 2$), and it feels very satisfying when you've figured out a good sequence of moves to make. I'd say Century sorta scratches the same itch, except it's lighter. Alternatively, Galaxy Trucker .
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Sep 1, 2017 16:25
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CommonShore posted:Ticket to Ride is mean? Her field is education, she's also run a theater company in Los Angeles for many years. Getting cut off in TtR is mean. I don't want her early games to be like that.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:26
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Dominion is basically the least-mean game if you make sure not to include a handful of cards.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:28
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jivjov posted:Does Love Letter stop being awesome in Fall or something? Love Letter was never a great game. Rarely does the choice between which of two card require any consideration, since in nearly all circumstances the choice is obvious. Hold high cards, play low cards for effects, rinse, repeat. Without meaningful decisions, it's a fidget toy, a tactile social engagement to shoot the poo poo over. It is not an "awesome" game. It takes five minutes to play, so, sure, if you have exactly and only five minutes, go ahead and play Love Letter. Outside of that specific circumstance, you are better off with a different game.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:29
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Hmm, education. Yeah my friend who's a high school bio teacher really likes Last Will. Ra, too, which is an auction game but isn't really mean about it. She likes Goa, too, but that game *can* be pretty friggen mean.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:34
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I think that's the point, though. Because it only takes like 2-5 minutes to play, the issues of randomness are attenuated. No one thinks that Love Letter is some high strategy mental workout, but for when you want something to pass the time, it's perfect. I used to play it when waiting for people to arrive when playing 18XX. The OP even says that it's perfect as a filler.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:35
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Lorini posted:Her field is education, she's also run a theater company in Los Angeles for many years. Getting cut off in TtR is mean. I don't want her early games to be like that. Meh if losing access to a scarce resource is too mean for her, board games might not be for her. My partner also has a PhD and her favourite games from my collection are Patchwork, Codenames, and Dominion. I like AFfO (which she just shakes her head at), Agricola (which she finds stressful), and FCM (which she has yet to try because it's too long). My suggestion is to sit down and play your favourite game with her. Puerto Rico might be a good place to start. I haven't met many people who don't like it.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:35
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Yeah the OP recommendations could definitely use an overhaul, there's a ton of good gateway games that didn't exist 3 years ago.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:53
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Tekopo posted:I think that's the point, though. Because it only takes like 2-5 minutes to play, the issues of randomness are attenuated. No one thinks that Love Letter is some high strategy mental workout, but for when you want something to pass the time, it's perfect. I used to play it when waiting for people to arrive when playing 18XX. The OP even says that it's perfect as a filler. If you only have five minutes before you train game starts, why not just have a conversation with your friends? Love Letter adds nothing to your game night.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:11
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There's a kickstarter up for the new edition of Stephenson's Rocket https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1986861668/stephensons-rocket-the-classic-board-game-returns
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Sep 1, 2017 17:12
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Vlaada Chvatil posted:If you only have five minutes before you train game starts, why not just have a conversation with your friends? Love Letter adds nothing to your game night. Sometimes people need to be doing something to facilitate the conversation or just to do with their hands. It may not add anything to your game night, but in the situations I use it in it adds a lot. Some people just aren't conversationalists.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:16
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Vlaada Chvatil posted:If you only have five minutes before you train game starts, why not just have a conversation with your friends? Love Letter adds nothing to your game night.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:17
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CommonShore posted:Meh if losing access to a scarce resource is too mean for her, board games might not be for her. Yeah, this was kinda my thought also. I mean, anything short of a purely co-op game is going to have a certain amount of "meanness" in it just by the nature of competition. Even Catan has the robber and even Dominion has the Thief. I had a suprising (to me) success recently getting my wife into co-op dungeon crawlers just because they're co-op and we could give her a simple job (be warrior, hit things). So maybe look for purely co-op games.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:21
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FulsomFrank posted:A well written rule book goes so far towards making the learning/teaching experience a pleasant one. Not to mention a good layout, reasonable font, and like you guys pointed out, a good glossary and/or reminder of what pieces are what. The downside of Vlaada's rulebooks is they're lousy for looking up a specific rule reference, since everything is spread out across tutorials. We've been raving about COIN games, but the way they use the rulebook + playbook combo is really excellent. Volko's language is precise, so once you understand his terms the rules leave very little room for interpretation. They're organized logically with thorough references. The playbook breaks out the tutorials, strategy tips, historical background, etc.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:25
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Vlaada Chvatil posted:If you only have five minutes before you train game starts, why not just have a conversation with your friends? Love Letter adds nothing to your game night. Love Letter is good, accessible, has interesting decisions (especially when playing with those familiar with the game and game state), and does so with a tiny deck and table footprint. Additionally, you may be a broken robot if you earnestly believe that playing Love Letter is mutually exclusive with having a conversation with your friends.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:36
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CommonShore posted:Meh if losing access to a scarce resource is too mean for her, board games might not be for her. My partner also has a PhD and her favourite games from my collection are Patchwork, Codenames, and Dominion. I like AFfO (which she just shakes her head at), Agricola (which she finds stressful), and FCM (which she has yet to try because it's too long). I would argue that having someone totally screw up your 20 point route just because they can is a lot different than having to take your 2nd best choice in most other worker placement games. Yeah Dominion and Patchwork are good choices, although I don't care much for Patchwork (personal preference) we could still play it. She'd love Codenames but she'll have to find someone other than me to play it with  We'll be at the con so there'll be plenty of people to play it with.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:36
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Love Letter is good but my group hasn't touched it since we've fallen deep in the Lost Legacy hole. I think I have 10 different decks for that, the extra decision vector of finding the location of the Lost Legacy, which is a lower number card, adds a lot to the decision space.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:50
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I can write up some stuff for a new OP. I think listing notable games in various categories would be useful; classics, intro games, fillers, coops, euros/ameritrash and the difference, card games, 2 player, new hotness over the past year or so, digital games, etc.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:51
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Bottom Liner posted:I can write up some stuff for a new OP. I think listing notable games in various categories would be useful; classics, intro games, fillers, coops, euros/ameritrash and the difference, card games, 2 player, new hotness over the past year or so, digital games, etc.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:53
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Tekopo posted:We did that in the thread before this one and it's still my opinion that it's more useful to have a FAQ, mostly because someone new to the hobby might not know what those categories are and not really interested in knowing what they are beyond asking for recommendations. And regulars are not really going to give a poo poo about the OP either way. Might be a good idea to have the thread vote for which games are worth mentioning, just so we can see whether our opinions of "goon consensus" are accurate.
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Sep 1, 2017 18:01
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lol there's like 3 games this thread can agree on as being good
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Sep 1, 2017 18:05
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homullus posted:Love Letter is good, accessible, has interesting decisions (especially when playing with those familiar with the game and game state), and does so with a tiny deck and table footprint. Additionally, you may be a broken robot if you earnestly believe that playing Love Letter is mutually exclusive with having a conversation with your friends. I would rather talk to my friends while playing a game that isn't garbage designed for children and clowns, but I guess if you yourself predominantly play on top of an overturned milk crate behind the circus, then I must concede your point. Beep boop.
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Sep 1, 2017 18:06
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Bottom Liner posted:lol there's like 3 games this thread can agree on as being good Napoleon's Triumph, which others?  Vlaada Chvatil posted:I would rather talk to my friends while playing a game that isn't garbage designed for children and clowns, but I guess if you yourself predominantly play on top of an overturned milk crate behind the circus, then I must concede your point. Beep boop. Goddamn that sounds like an awesome way to play LL, I gotta say.
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Sep 1, 2017 18:11
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Bottom Liner posted:lol there's like 3 games this thread can agree on as being good 1. Munchkin 2. Flux 3. ??? ???
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Sep 1, 2017 18:12
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Bottom Liner posted:lol there's like 3 games this thread can agree on as being good FCM is one of them so not seeing the problem here
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Sep 1, 2017 18:14
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Sloober posted:1. Munchkin Talisman
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Sep 1, 2017 18:15
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What the?
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Sep 1, 2017 18:16
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I knew it! I knew Vlaada was playing the long con ever since galaxy trucker!
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Sep 1, 2017 18:18
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Vlaada Chvatil posted:Talisman Yes, excellent, we love talisman. I had forgotten about that. Shame about the license tho.
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Sep 1, 2017 18:20
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I like to think of triumph and tragedy as the filler game we play in between games of love letter.
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Sep 1, 2017 18:22
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List of Non-controversial games in the something awful board game thread: - Hanabi - One Night Ultimate Werewolf - Splendor - Tragedy Looper - Sentinels of the Multiverse
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Sep 1, 2017 18:27
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