Good Board Games

 

The games I've listed below are games which you might not find at Toys'R'Us. They're all games that you would have to purchase online or at a store like Wizards of the Coast (which might be out of business now).  My recommendation for a website to purchase them from is Funagain Games. These are not the only games that I like, but these are my personal favorites and ones I have played enough times that I feel comfortable making serious recommendations about them.

When I say a "good" game, I mainly mean that it's a good game for a serious game player. They'e not necessarily high on the pure fun scale (Dave's episode of drinking 2/3 of a bottle of vodka during a game of Settlers aside). They're all thinking games where luck will play some role in the short run, but not as much as in most board games that you have probably played before. I have made my personal ranking of the games in 3 categories. The luck factor describes the extent to which an individual game is affected by luck, and it varies from 0 (luck is irrelevant) to 10 (skill is irrelevant). The strategy factor is not the opposite of the luck factor, but rather how much scope there is for doing interesting and creative things, so it's somewhat tied to the replay value of the game. It varies from 0 (nothing interesting to do) to 10 (nearly every decision is interesting). The fun factor basically describes, basically, how likely non-gamers are to want to play the game. 1 means that it's very unlikely and 10 means that if you do not want to play, then there is something really wrong with you. Anyway, without further ado...

 

Settlers of Catan

 

Luck Factor - 6

Strategy Factor - 5

Fun Factor - 8

Synopsis: You start with two small settlements in places of your choosing at the intersection points of a board of hexagonal tiles. Each tile represents one of the 5 possible resource types (ore, sheep, wheat, wood, and brick). Each tile has a number on it from 2-12. Each turn a die is rolled, and anyone possessing a settlement adjacent to the number rolled receives one of the resource on the tile. Players use these resources to further develop their possessions by buying more settlements, upgrading the settlements to cities, building roads, buying development cards... etc. For example, building a road takes one wood resource and one brick.


My take: Settlers is one of the most popular strategy board games of all time, and it has spawned about 5 expansions and/or variations. I have personally played this game at least 250 times, mostly during my junior and senior years of college. It is varied enough that it really doesn't get boring even after that many replays. The game is very easy to learn, but there is enough subtle strategy that you will continue learning things even after a hundred games. With the rule changes given below, I think it is most enjoyable with exactly 3 players.

 

Rule variation 1 - We (meaning virtually everyone I play this game with) have agreed that 3-player games should be played to 12 points instead of 10.

Rule variation 2 - Always randomly scramble the numbers rather than following the pattern suggested by the letters. This really does not result in unbalanced games like you might think it would.

 

Acquire

Luck Factor - 4

Strategy Factor - 9

Fun Factor - 2

Synopsis: A grid-like board that holds one tile per grid square begins almost empty. Each player has 6 tiles that are marked with a location on the grid, and these 6 tiles are hidden from the other players. Each turn a player must play a tile. When a played tile touches an existing tile, a company is formed. Players may buy stock in the newly formed companies, which grow and accumulate value as more tiles are added to them. They can merge together, (temporarily) eliminating one of the companies, and awarding bonuses for the players holding the most and 2nd most stock in the dispatched company. The goal is (not shockingly) to end up with the most total value (counting stock shares and bonuses at the end).


My take: I've played about 50 games of this in my life, and I'm still not sure whether I'm any good at it. The strategy is very subtle, and the only information you have to go on is the few tiles that are sitting in front of you. The replay value of this is very high - almost no two games play out the same way. However, the game is fairly dry - not a lot of interest for non-gamers. My opinion is that this is best as a 4-player game. Theoretically it can be played with 2-6. With 2 or 6 it is really bad. In a 2-player game, if anyone gets a lead in a stock, they cannot be caught, so once someone gets ahead the game is essentially over. In a 6-player game, you have really no scope for strategy, because the game board changes so much by the time the play gets back to you after 1 round. You have to buy stock at every single turn and hope that your company either grows huge or merges out early so you can get money.

 

Puerto Rico

Luck Factor - 1

Strategy Factor - 9

Fun Factor - 6

Synopsis: You are the governor of an island which has a grid of open squares that can hold plantations and buildings. Your goal is to produce goods (with one exception, they require having a plantation, a building, and the workers to man both) and either ship them for victory points (the scale for winning) or sell them in order to buy buildings (which are also worth victory points and help you out in other ways). The interesting dynamic of the game comes from the fact that there are 6 possible jobs (getting plantations, generating goods, shipping goods, ...etc), and every turn, each of the players selects one of the jobs that was not already taken that round and ALL players get to do whatever action is associated with that job. The selecting player gains a small advantage (e.g. discount on building, extra victory points for shipping, etc.) but everyone benefits somewhat from the action.


My take: This is one of the best games I've seen, in that there is little or no luck involved. There is basically nothing random in the game other than the human element. There are a lot of buildings and a reasonably high number of rules, so it takes at least one time playing to get used to the flow of the game. Most of the strategy revolves around predicting which jobs your opponents will pick on their turn each round, and using that information to make your choices as well as you can. Timing is crucial in this game, and frequently a difference of one unit of money or one good at any point during the game can make the difference. A good player will win at a rate of around 80% of the games against two weaker players. My opinion is that this game is best played with exactly 3 people, even though it's playable with 3-5. With more than 3, your control over the game and ability to predict other people's choices diminishes exponentially, thus lessening your ability to make interesting plays.

 

Carcassonne

Luck factor - 6

Strategy Factor - 4

Fun Factor - 6
Synopsis: A large pile of tiles begin face down, with one in the middle. Each tile on it has some combination of fields, buildings and roads on it. Piece by piece you construct a town (each player plays one randomly drawn tile per turn) by matching up the sides of the tiles with other like sides already on the board (i.e. no buildings that abruptly become fields). When you place a tile, you have the option to claim one of the features on that tile if it has not yet been claimed, and you have a limited number of little colored men with which to claim features. Each feature is worth a certain number of points when it is completed (buildings get a bonus here), or at the end of the game. You get your man back when the feature is finished, and he can be reused the next turn. The goal is to have the most points when all of the tiles run out.


My take: This is a good quick game that I feel is unique because it's best as a 2-player game. It only takes 20 minutes if two people who have played before are playing, and so it's a great time-filler. It's not as hard-core as the other games, and thus is more fun for non-gamers. There is some scope for doing advanced things, but not that much. In the short run, which pieces you draw will have a strong effect on who wins.