Christmas Board game recommendations

[Bored Of Education]

A card game but played Linkee tonight. Good. Certainly better than Cards again Humanity.

[WOM]

We just played What Do You Meme?, which was a hell of a lot more fun than I expected it to be. Bit of a one-trick pony, though, tbh.

[Lurgee]

I bought Catan for the family this year, and I heartily endorse steveeeeeeeee's recommendation. It's ace. The chap who designed it must be sitting back thinking what a clever bastard he is, and hiring people to count his money. Just the right mix of complexity, interaction with other players and a fun resource allocation dynamic. And you get to build cute little houses.

[Hot Pepsi]

I hate that game. Tedious. Then again, I haven’t played in years.

We like Quiddler and Farkle.

[Lurgee]

Perhaps it is a matter of perspective. I grew up playing Games Workshop's Blood Royale, a game so gargantuanly and preposterously drawn out that we never managed to complete it - even after once playing it for 24 hours straight. So - to me - Catan seems very fast moving and fun.

[WOM]

We played Farkle and Yahtzee this afternoon. But then, we usually do up at the cottage.

[HORN]

A card game but played Linkee tonight. Good. Certainly better than Cards again Humanity.

Linkee was good. So good in fact that everyone refused to play it after I wiped the floor with them. Dobble (a fast-paced card game) proved more popular.

Farty Pig (also not a board game) was this year’s silly game of choice. Play That Tune (also not a board game) was well worth the fiver it cost.

[diggedy derek]

We've loved playing Ticket To Ride's Nordic edition over Christmas. I'd been recommended it was good, and as we've travelled extensively in Finland and elsewhere because of my wife, it had an extra appeal. It's really well designed so that it works well even with two people, because there's a lot of competing for crucial routes in remote areas where you have to weight up whether to gamble on them paying off later or not. My journey cards were a horror show, from the bottom of Norway and Sweden right up the to far-flung bits of Arctic circle, though at least that meant my son got to better than me.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Would recommend Flamme Rouge - a game of road-race cycling. It takes about five minutes to learn yet has quite a lot of strategic depth and complexity.

[Benjm]

Would recommend Flamme Rouge - a game of road-race cycling. It takes about five minutes to learn yet has quite a lot of strategic depth and complexity.

Thanks, BLT. I've got a cycling mad younger brother's 40th coming up in a couple of months and this looks like an ideal gift and birthday weekend activity.

[sw2borshch]

Blood Royale is best played over a number of weeks, few hours per session.

[Ginger Yellow]

Flamme Rouge seconded. The cycling theme does nothing for me, but it's a fun little game. Lots of opportunities for plans to be made, only to be upended by the luck of the draw or your competition.

[Del Usory]

Blood Royale is best played over a number of weeks, few hours per session.

Was that the pale Diplomacy impersonation, with only four powers - leading to England getting bounced out of Calais and then carved up from the start?

[sw2borshch]

Not really.

It was medieval themed rather than Great Powers pre-WWI, was much more about dynastic politics (and role-playing) than diplomacy, had five player-controlled nations and more luck (well, die-rolling) than Diplomacy.

Anyway, I'm trying to tidy my study and as I can see the box I have to resist getting it down and opening it.

[Del Usory]

Don't remember the dice-rolling and dynastic politics tbh.

It was certainly medieval though.

Might have been an "intro" version we played.

[Lurgee]

Blood Royale is best played over a number of weeks, few hours per session.

Parents seemed to object to dining room tables being colonised for months at a time.

[Del Usory]

Like I've said before.

We need to get a game of Diplomacy rolling on here.

[sw2borshch]

Had a spell of playing Blood Royale at school at dinnertime and when we were meant to be revising for exams. Access to a lockable room.

[Sporting]

This Ticket to Ride game: is it easy to learn and which version (there seem to be a few different regional ones) is the best?

[Ginger Yellow]

It's very easy to learn. The base game is probably best for beginners/young kids, and Europe for more experienced players. Switzerland is fine, but I don't think it does enough to merit a separate (physical) purchase. It's something like £5/£10 as an expansion to the iPad version, at which price it's worth it.

[ad hoc]

I'd say it's very easy to learn but takes a few games for younger players to start to strategise. I'd go with the European edition because the geographical learning that goes along with the game is more useful (to a European child obviously)

[Gerontophile]

Apologies for the interjection, but I miss Totopoly.

[Sporting]

I'd say that learning about European geography is important to kids all around the world, just as for a European child it's good to have some idea about Asia or South America and so on and so forth. I'm constantly amazed about the basic lack of knowledge of the world in many people I meet, though, and I'm referring to adults as well. Anyway, mild rant over and thanks for the advice above. Maybe next Christmas...

[Ginger Yellow]

Europe has a fiddlier ruleset with the tunnels and stations. Probably still fine for kids though.

[Benjm]

Apologies for the interjection, but I miss Totopoly.

My parents had an old set of that. I was absolutely fascinated by it but don't think I ever managed to convince anyone to play through a whole game.

Escalado was the other racing game that we had. It was somewhat less sophisticated and involved cranking a handle to vibrate a baize track, with the first horse to wobble to the end winning.