Starting tomorrow, my family will start coming to town to enjoy the holidays together. This means it will be time to pull out the “gateway” games… Settlers of Catan, Dominion, Ticket to Ride, and new to my list this year… Flash Point: Fire Rescue.
For this week’s discussion let’s talk about:
1) what games will you be playing this weekend, and
2) what are the top one or two games you play with friends and family that have had the best results in getting them interested in playing board games and getting into the hobby?
This past weekend, I played Magic: the Gathering Commander format. Commander is my favorite format for M:tG, since it is more casual and better for multiplayer than most other formats. I have a Wrexial the Risen Deep deck.
Granny,
I’m interested in hearing more about your Mage Knight experience, I left a comment in the Discussion forum for the game.
Outside of trying to get Mage Knight ready to go, I got to play Underground (not quite pick up and deliver, but had elements of it with route building and moving passengers), K2, a few games of Eminent Domain, and a few games of Tetris Link, which was a very impressive implementation of Tetris. It’s not a deep strategy game by any means, but it looks great, is easy to learn, and has the correct playtime for what it is.
Just picked up Castle Panic over the week-end, and the family really enjoys it. We’ve played about 5 rounds of this game. Also, I’ve been playing a lot of LOTR LCG over the last few days and continue to get my rear end handed to me. Still have a long way to go to master this one.
*Great* gaming weekend.
Summoner Wars, San Juan, Risk 2210, TransAmerica, Colossal Arena, Eat Poop You Cat, and our variant of Bananagrams.
Played our first game of Cards Against Humanity. I’ve never laughed so hard. Easily the funniest party game ever.
Warning: If you still think you have a chance to get into heaven… don’t play this game.
I gave up on that route a long time ago. 🙂
Games this weekend include a session of the Pathfinder game I’m in (looks like we only have one session left in the campaign) and four games of Dominion. Tried out a new Kingdom card selection mechanic this time around which was quite enjoyable.
To date I haven’t had a huge lot of luck introducing non-board gamers to the hobby. My mum has enjoyed Dominion and Forbidden Island and Blokus, but she’s very casual as far as gaming is concerned and doesn’t actively seek games out. My father finds many of the games I love to be overly complex and frustrating, so introducing games to him has been a challenge. My sibs are already gamers, as are quite a few of my friends. So while I may be doing some of the introducing, they’re doing just as much.
Well, apparently I will be playing Blokus this weekend! We had a grab bag/Pollyanna/Yankee Swap and I walked away with the game, which I had been interested in for a while so, woot for me! 🙂
@Andy
Let me know how your Mage Knight session goes. We tried it cold, and I have to say… it was a BIG set of rules. It took us almost two hours just to get set up and get started. If at all possible, I’d suggest doing the walkthrough yourself and introducing the more advanced game to the players. The limited game the walk-through suggests is sort of dry without the combat. Everyone thought it was longer than it was fun. So, even though this teaches the rules… everyone was not sure they wanted to play again. I can tell this is the type of game you need to play at least 2 or 3 times to really start enjoying, because downtime will shrink. It’s hard for me to expect my group to slog through 8 hours before they start having fun… especially when we have 1000 other games at our disposal. The game has the possibility of being good (if not great), but it is going to require a commitment.
Let me know! I’d be curious.
1) So, Mage Knight 🙂 and Warhammer, and Dixit, and Flash Point, and whatever we end up playing tonight… might try the Asia expansion for TtR.
2) Dixit for some… TtR for others. Incan Gold gets people excited… especially large groups. Puerto Rico got me hooked. Witch’s Brew has worked well.. but it’s OOP now, so it’s impossible for a newb to get a cheap copy. I give away copies of Incan Gold and Parade to get people playing new games. Then, I start introducing other games based on personalities.
Have a family Christmas party today and then lots of preparations for the home stretch before Christmas tomorrow, so just card games like Uno, Monopoly Deal and whatnot. Might get a game or two of Scrabble in tonight too.
Got to try out Infinity City for the first time tonight – fun game!
As for what has worked to get others interested in gaming? I seem to get the best results from my nieces and nephews with games they can learn quickly enough where they can be competitive – nobody wants to lose all the time. I’ve had fun playing Heroscape, Carcassonne, Dominion, and Summoner Wars.
It’s too bad I don’t live in the area anymore – I think they would have kept getting deeper into gaming, but I’m the one in my family with all the games.
Started with Kingdom Builder, Ingenious Challenges, Ascension, and Quarriors this evening with my wife & kids.
Hope to play Eminent Domain at some point this weekend. Maybe more Kingdom Builder & Ascension. Possibly Blood Bowl Team Manager…
Haven’t had much luck dragging family into gaming (extended family.). Apples to Apples went over well.
Ticket to Ride & Formula D (or De) have worked really well in getting my friends into gaming.
I have to offer Heroscape as a gateway game, as that is the one that introduced me to the hobby.
My wife and I just got back from visiting with friends tonight, and they definitely aren’t hobby gamers. We played Survive: Escape from Atlantis and Forbidden Island twice each. We had a great time playing. I have had some success with these games as introductory games . I definitely feel these are two good ones to get people interested in the hobby.
As an addendum, the couple that we played with last night ordered a copy of Forbidden Island today, so maybe I’m making progress!
Nothing, sadly, as the weekend will be devoted to preparing for Christmas vacation. But ON that vacation I hope tremendous amounts of D&D… board games, Red Dragon, and role playing.
As for intro games I haven’t had much luck bridging that gap. D&D 4th ed has been the most effective so far, actually. But those people were already nerds. Just not gamers.
Malifaux. Maybe some Flames of War or Wings of Glory if I find the guys are willing,but Malifaux for sure.
1)Mage Knight finally arrived, so I’m hoping to slog through the walkthrough and prepare to run it later in the week. King of Tokyo, Can’t Stop, and Quarriors should get some play, and others that I don’t know yet.
2a)For games to get people into gaming, the standards (Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Alhambra, and Ticket to Ride) have been good. King of Tokyo seems to be working well lately. Pitchcar has also been good at getting people interested.
I’ve had good luck with non-gamers getting them playing Incan Gold, Dixit, For Sale, Bananagrams, and Telestrations. They seem to enjoy these games and are willing to play them again, but don’t generally advance beyond and really embrace board gaming.
(2b)If you’re interested in worst experiences, I once had a very bad time with Railroad Tycoon. They had played other games before, seemed excited about running their own railroad, and told me they understood what was going on. Halfway through the game, when they abandoned it, it was clear that, for that group, I had made a major mistake!