What's your favorite board-game/card game and how do you chose new ones?

@Reyachan (589)
Romania
January 16, 2012 1:52pm CST
Lately me and my friends rediscovered the fun of playing board-games. But it turned out Monopoly, Risk and other childhood games we used to play were still fun, but a little outdated. So we turned to see what was new on the market. And i have to say, for a person that hasn't kept in touch with this particular sector, i was pretty dazzled. So many new games to choose from! I know from the reviews i've read online of a lot of cool games that we're played even in the 80's and the 90's in the US, Canada and so on, but most of them never got to Europe. So here we were , in the middle of a whole new very interesting world wondering where to start from. At the recommendation of the store owner, we first tried out Settlers of Catan and its expansions. Fun to play for a while, but too little interaction for our taste. So we moved on to the "heavy league" buying decks of Magic the Gathering, GoSu (goblin supremacy), Citadels, Civilization, Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness. Due to the persons i played with and the game-play itself, my heart chose Arkham Horror as a favorite for now, closely followed by Mansions of Madness (both from the Call of Cthulhu cycle) Very interactive and surprising games, hard to win but fun to play, with very good graphics. What is your personal favorite? And what other games that you like would you recommend ? If you decide to buy a new game , what are your criteria besides the price ?
2 responses
@saizo6 (2199)
• United States
29 Jan 12
My personal favorite has always been Monopoly. Even after all these years I still find playing it enjoyable. I can't even count the number of the game set my family has gone through. Plus, there are so many fond memories associated with that game. We'd get so into the game sometimes that it's very amusing when I think about it now. Plus, this was the only game my siblings and I could get my parents to play. They were not into them to begin with. Another favorite is Life. I can't really pinpoint why the game was so entertaining but it was always fun to make fun of each other at the end. Somehow my brother always ended up being the poorest with the most kids in tow. For card games, my siblings and I were really into Magic: the Gathering. Coming up with our own themed decks and pitting it against each other was so fun. It seems to never get old because you could change things around and the vast number of creatures/type decks you could come up with was vast. Another bonus is that you could have large group games. You could make truces with other players, gang up on someone who is too strong, mess with everyone else by using a card that ruining them, and so on. When buying a new game, I try to think of the enjoyment factor. I also try to find out if the other people would be into it too. I don't want to buy a game that I couldn't play with anyone. That would be pointless. Another thing is whether the game can be played with a large group or not. The more people that can participate the better and more fun it is.
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
7 Feb 12
Hello, saizo and thank you for joining the discussion. Sorry about the delayed response. I've been having fun lately reviewing music for money :)) It's quite an interesting site and thing to do but anyway, back to the games. I know Magic: the Gathering, but never liked it too much. I'm not into the TCG (trading card games) so much because it's pretty expensive,with them releasing new expansions all the time and some special cards being sooo expensive. I do remember though of a story that i think a mylot user was once telling me, if i'm not mistaking, about two brothers that had their car broken into and pretty messed up, but their sorrow was that their MTG set was stolen and it was worth about 30.000$! Can you imagine that? It's astronomical! Anyway, about Monopoly, that's a classic and will always stay that way, though it gets boring if you play it with the same people over and over, don't you think? As for Life, i don't know that game. Could you share some more info about it? It seems fun. As for your method of buying new games, i think it's the perfect approach. Board games are not playable alone so you have to think of who to play them with as well. Lucky for us (me and my boyfriend), we have 2 other couples, our best friends, that like board games as well and we buy new stuff all the time. We mostly have similar tastes, but we like to try out new stuff too. We're lucky that we can gather in this large number (6 is quite a few and well suited for most games), but i heard many people can barely get 2-3 others to play with and the others consider boardgames to be a childish occupation. Do you think they're right? By he way, if you want a fun game, try "Betrayal in the house on the hill". It's a very fun horror(or so they say)-adventure game in which you explore a haunted mansion with some friends and try to solve mysteries. It's really a fun and catchy game, especially since in the middle of the game there are haunt triggers that make one or more of the players go to the dark side :)
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
16 Jan 12
when my kids were smaller we used to play Scrabble and a great Canadian game, Trivial Pursuit and also Monopoly. we seldom buy games now because our daughters are older and arent interested.
@Reyachan (589)
• Romania
17 Jan 12
Hello, Cher! I think you can never be too old to play a good board game with some friends or family! :) It's a very fun way too release the stress of the urban life and take a break from screens, weather it's computer or TV screens. I think people grew apart because of so much TV and internet and board games are a nice way of interacting and socializing in real time, face to face, without avatars and emoticons. I believe your daughters will probably rediscover board games when they'll have kids of their own! Happy posting