Looking for new games!

I am always on the lookout for another great board game. I’m looking for something that will introduce me and all of my family and friends to hours of play. This weekend the wife and I are finally attempting to host a big gaming day at our new home. Considering we are almost at our first anniversary of purchase it’s about time! Today I’m going to talk about what I look for in a game. At the end hopefully you readers can suggest some new games for me to check out.

The Nerd Dungeon, or my game room if you prefer.

Easy to learn. Important yet not… let me explain. I like a game that is easy to learn and to teach new players because I want to introduce new players to gaming. I need more gateway games to intro new gamers and to keep more casual gamers coming back to my table. It isn’t important to me personally because I love complicated rules games and am a devilish rules lawyer. Of course those games with complex rules have a limited appeal to my usual gaming crowd but I do know some players who would love to get in on them. For example: Dixit is a perfect intro game that keeps players coming back to the table while Twilight Imperium is my super complex dream come true in the form of a board game.

Less reliance on luck/choices should be meaningful. I really hate the old game mechanic of: roll dice, do what board tells you, repeat ad nauseum until game ends. That isn’t fun for me. I really need to have an impact on how the game progresses. I need my mind and the minds of the other players to impact the progression of the game. I need interaction for fun to happen. I’m not totally opposed to luck if it adds chaos to strategy. I like luck factors (card draws and dice rolls) to create a need for more interaction and strategy. For example: Settlers of Catan relies on luck for dice rolls to collect resources but players make decisions on building, trade, and moving the robber. These decisions change the effect of later dice rolls. This blends luck, interaction, and strategy for a fun game experience.

Novices should have a chance of winning. There are games where experience pretty much guarantees victory. I get bored easily without a challenge so I want every opponent to bring a challenge to the table. Chess is an example where experience allows you to beat an inexperienced opponent easily. In Chess there are certain combinations of moves that allow you to win quickly and easily. Typically there does have to be a randomness factor that limits an experienced player’s advantage and allows for novice players to gain traction in the game.

Replayability. I want to be able to play the game often and have fun every time. Mechanics should lend to the game experience being different each time you play. Things like board memory limit this (i.e. the board is static and certain positions are optimal for game winning) I love eurogames with a board that alters each game. A fantastically replayable game is Betrayal at House on the Hill. The map changes each game and the haunt is randomized. Players go in not knowing which horror story they are in and only find out part way through. Players also don’t know who will be the traitor for the game until the random haunt reveal. Of course replayability is increased by my next point.

Multiple routes to victory. I believe a game is “broken” when it becomes apparent that there is a single game winning strategy. For example Risk. Ask pretty much any player how to win Risk and they typically go with this strategy: take Australia and slowly build to take Asia. It works very well and if you are playing against novice players you are pretty much guaranteed the win. I prefer a game to have mechanics to counter opponents’ strategies. If there are multiple routes to victory the game develops character. Moves, countermoves, bluffing, deception and observation make for a deeper game experience. Risk 2210 does change the game franchise creating new routes to victory and limiting the advantage of taking Australia by opening routes to invasion.

Enjoyable for the losers. A game night should be fun for everyone at the table. Every player should feel like they contributed to the experience and should be able to pull off some interesting plays. Game nights for me are more about the companionship with friends and family and I want to enjoy their company. While I really like to win games I don’t want to sacrifice friendships for it. I still play like a jerk sometimes but I want other players to have fun too. After all you don’t bond over the “who won” stories; you bond over the stories of awesome plays. A great game to enjoy even when you lose is the story telling game Gloom.

Theme. The theme of a game makes it more relatable and playable. For example: My dad worked on the railroad. We grew up around trains, so naturally Ticket to Ride is a huge hit with the family. It’s easy to overlook flaws in a game when the theme fits with the players. Finding the right game for the right players is a fun experience in itself. Getting that Doctor Who game right for one niece or Harry Potter for another, Star Wars or Firefly for my wife, Superheroes for a nephew and the brother in law, or the perfect wargame for my brother… it’s worth the effort to get a game right for them.

The right number of players. I like a game to fit my game group. I should be able to have people over for a great game experience. Typically I have about 6 people at the table causing issues with games that only allow for limited numbers of players. I’m not sure why but it seems 5 players has become the standard. I also grew up in a family of 5 so 4 player games have just never see our table. I’m also working on building my game group. I’ve been playing with groups of 12 or more people so I need more “big group” games. Unfortunately I can’t get everyone into RPGs (yet) meaning I am in the market for simpler tabletop games for large groups.

Okay now that I’ve talked about my overall concepts about games I think I will address my views on types of games.

Beer and Pretzels- I love this style of game if it is done right. I need it to be fun, funny, and simple to learn, and have a short play time. Usually this is a high luck/low strategy game. It’s great for when people just want fun, great to start a night or for bringing casual gamers to the table. Great examples are either Bang! or Poo!

Eurogames- These are games from Europe that don’t fit the typical American game ideas. They tend to focus on strategy, keep their rules simple, have quality components and reduce the luck influence. This really is my favorite style of game. Think Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride.

Wargames- My brother and I had a huge sibling rivalry going on growing up and we tended to really get going around a wargame. We fell in love with wargames because even though we really got competitive we really connected over them. Memoir 44 or our old standby of Axis and Allies are good examples of wargames and we are always on the lookout for something better.

Mass Market games- At the risk of sounding like a hipster I have to say: I hate mass market games. I hate Monopoly and its ilk. I think these games are detrimental to the concept of board games because this is what people who hate board games think board games are all about. They never get introduced to the plethora of amazing games out there because they hit that mass market wall of (in my opinion) poorly designed games.

Collectible Card Games- I got into CCGs when I was younger but I feel I have outgrown them. And there I go being an old Hipster again. My problem with CCGs is that I don’t want an investment strategy, I don’t want to research, and I don’t want constant new editions making my investments irrelevant. I want to grab a game and play it. I tried Magic the Gathering and it left me feeling like a gaming version of a meth-head. Just my personal tastes here, go hard if you like CCGs but leave me out.

Miniatures games- I haven’t played any miniatures games. On one hand I’m wary of them because they seem to be very collectible in nature and I don’t want the old CCG habit kicking in. On the other hand I like the look and the painting aspect looks like it would be fun. I’d love to command an army of burly dwarves or post apocalyptic soldiers and mechs but I just don’t know which game I would like or if I want to make the investment. Being an adult and having bills sucks.

Role Playing Games- I love them. I love the story telling the character growth and the camaraderie of the RPG players. I could spend my life creating RPG characters and am more than willing to GM. I started on Heroes Unlimited and RPGs became my teenage “bad habit” as my parents opposed them. They bought into the “RPGs are occult” mentality of yesteryear. Screw you Tom Hanks and your Mazes and Monsters!

Deck Building- Defined by having a starting deck and slowly purchasing newer cards in an in game market. I’ve had issues getting into the mechanic. It just hasn’t clicked with me all that much. That is until Legendary: Aliens. Now I’m open to trying them again but the theme really has to resonate with me. The set-up and take-down time for most deck builders seems to be more work than the gain of fun from them. Maybe it’s my CCG prejudice kicking in but I’m just not really into deck-builders. I am willing to give them a try.

Now that I have talked about what I look for and enjoy in games I would like to ask you dear readers: What games do you like? What do you look for in a game? Do you have suggestions to expand my game library?

Thanks for reading and commenting below! Check back next week when I talk about my first attempt at a big gaming day in the new place.