Family Game Recommendations

Bison · August 02, 2015, 08:33:44 PM

Maybe Dominions or Splendor would be a good option.

Splendor is on my shortlist for the family gaming shelf.

Bison · August 02, 2015, 08:37:12 PM

Quote from: Nefaro on August 02, 2015, 05:42:00 PM
When I was investigating Ticket To Ride, the saw the 1910 expansion repeatedly recommended with the original game purchase.

It adds a bunch of additional destination tickets which I can see being beneficial because there are only a few that go certain places so you "know" if an opponent starts to take certain railroads. It also adds a couple of other ways to play the game like only routes to/from big city to big city. Also it replaces the original card decks with larger cards. I don't find the mini cards annoying, but I can see how some might like a more traditional standard sized card.

Capn Darwin · August 02, 2015, 08:57:24 PM

With my girls and wife we have had a few family favorites over the past few years.

Ticket to Ride
Smash Up with its expansions
Dominion and expansions
Run Fight or Die
Kung Fu Fighting
Incan Gold
Catan
Hey! That's my Fish (seems like a nice friendly game, but goes cutthroat really fast)

Bison · August 02, 2015, 09:11:06 PM

I've actually looked at Smash Up a few times.

Arctic Blast · August 02, 2015, 10:20:53 PM

The only problem with Smash Up as a family game is that you're constantly doing number crunching. The situation at each of the base cards is in a constant state of flux because every single card manipulates the rules and card values. If you're going to be playing with younger kids, they might get frustrated. Hell, I sometimes get frustrated with it.

Hey! That's My Fish is a great family game that's surprisingly cutthroat and really simple. If that looks interesting, you might also want to check out Battle Sheep. It isn't any more complicated, and the pieces are nice and weighty bakelite with an art style that kids will like.

Nefaro · August 02, 2015, 11:38:59 PM

Quote from: GJK on August 02, 2015, 08:23:23 PM
My other half (whatever her relation is to me at the moment) just will not play "strategy" games but she likes card games (Uno, hearts, spades, etc) so the challenge was to find something that she would play, my 16yr old would play and that I wouldn't be absolutely bored with. I can't do too much luck and their *must* be some strategy involved.

I think most of us hardcore games completely understand the divide.

Perhaps you can find one that fits her style, is simple to learn, but still has some newer mechanics that could hold your attention better than those old creaky things..

I'd recommend Paperback, as an example. It's like a Scrabble card game, but it's a deck-builder. So instead of randomly drawing letter tiles you actually 'purchase' cards from the public offer and add them to your own personal deck, therefore actively choosing what letters you will get in your future draws along with the occasional extra 'boost' ability of a few. At least it requires more advanced planning than most of the oldies. I think the normal rules are approximately four small pages long, plus some optionals, so there's nothing to it.

If cards are her hook, maybe some of the easier deck-builders would fly between all three of you? The Paperback suggestion was just the first easy one that sprung to mind which also doesn't really have much of a theme or anything too scary/fancy.

Quote from: Arctic Blast on August 02, 2015, 10:20:53 PM
The only problem with Smash Up as a family game is that you're constantly doing number crunching. The situation at each of the base cards is in a constant state of flux because every single card manipulates the rules and card values. If you're going to be playing with younger kids, they might get frustrated. Hell, I sometimes get frustrated with it.

I've given a little thought to this downside. I may try using poker chips or tokens (one color per player) to keep track of the totals at each base and adjust as each change happens. Simple quick-look to see who has the tallest stack. Or just use scratch paper, which might be easier. Smash Up still looks like a lot of family-level fun, I just haven't got it to the table yet (amongst others).

Cap Darwin mentioned Run, Fight, or Die. I did play that once. Fun & fairly easy game but I'm on the fence about it's group play. It seemed like it was just each person rolling dice and doing their own solo thing, one at a time. There may be a little gameplay interaction but we didn't see any that I recall. Like three people playing their own dice game. :-\ I also have Ancient Terrible Things, another dice game albeit a bit meatier, but I fear it may end up being the same to some extent. I know it does have numerous stuff you can use on other players, though.

Bison · August 03, 2015, 12:27:22 PM

Quote from: Nefaro on August 02, 2015, 11:38:59 PM
Quote from: GJK on August 02, 2015, 08:23:23 PM
My other half (whatever her relation is to me at the moment) just will not play "strategy" games but she likes card games (Uno, hearts, spades, etc) so the challenge was to find something that she would play, my 16yr old would play and that I wouldn't be absolutely bored with. I can't do too much luck and their *must* be some strategy involved.

I think most of us hardcore games completely understand the divide.

Perhaps you can find one that fits her style, is simple to learn, but still has some newer mechanics that could hold your attention better than those old creaky things..

My decision to move toward family friendly games was simple. I could either sit and stare at my collection of ASL, Combat Commander, and Panzer every day or I could actually play games. I have hopes that eventually I'll get the oldest interested in playing C&C Ancients or perhaps even Panzer or C&C, but in the mean time I get to play a board game now everyday. I'm looking at getting GMT's Manoeuvre as an entry level wargame.

bayonetbrant · August 03, 2015, 02:09:08 PM

Manoeuvre is an excellent starter wargame, especially if the players are already familiar w/ Chess, because the grid map is so similar.

Other decent starter wargames (some of which are a little harder to find)

Tank on Tank from LNLP
Hold The Line from Worthington
Dogfight from Bucephalus Games

mirth · August 03, 2015, 02:15:14 PM

Bison, check out some of the Table Top videos. Much of what they play are casual, "family friendly" games. The playthroughs will give you a decent feel for the games and the videos are usually pretty entertaining. Will Wheaton is a knowledgeable gamer and he gets some cool guests to game with him.

http://geekandsundry.com/shows/tabletop/

Nefaro · August 03, 2015, 02:17:51 PM

Quote from: Bison on August 03, 2015, 12:27:22 PM

My decision to move toward family friendly games was simple. I could either sit and stare at my collection of ASL, Combat Commander, and Panzer every day or I could actually play games. I have hopes that eventually I'll get the oldest interested in playing C&C Ancients or perhaps even Panzer or C&C, but in the mean time I get to play a board game now everyday. I'm looking at getting GMT's Manoeuvre as an entry level wargame.

I have never played it, but I got the impression that the WW2 game, which uses the C&C game mechanics, is a bit easier draw for the newbies. I suppose since it has actual minis and, therefore, looks better? In that case the civil war one, Battle Cry may be the easiest despite the varied terrain.

Bison · August 03, 2015, 04:25:52 PM

Memoir 44 is the WW2 version of the C&C system. It's on the shortlist, but I want to intentionally expose them to a wargame without minis.

Bison · August 03, 2015, 05:34:22 PM

Quote from: mirth on August 03, 2015, 02:15:14 PM
Bison, check out some of the Table Top videos. Much of what they play are casual, "family friendly" games. The playthroughs will give you a decent feel for the games and the videos are usually pretty entertaining. Will Wheaton is a knowledgeable gamer and he gets some cool guests to game with him.

http://geekandsundry.com/shows/tabletop/

I've got mixed feelings about the tabletop program. I don't really want to get off topic here but go to the 4:56 mark and just watch. I wanted to reach through my monitor and slap Will upside the head.

I've seen this happen on a few episodes now. It's irritating. If you find something that offensive Will don't play the game. It's easy.

Nefaro · August 03, 2015, 06:25:54 PM

Quote from: Bison on August 03, 2015, 05:34:22 PM

I've got mixed feelings about the tabletop program. I don't really want to get off topic here but go to the 4:56 mark and just watch. I wanted to reach through my monitor and slap Will upside the head.

I've seen this happen on a few episodes now. It's irritating. If you find something that offensive Will don't play the game. It's easy.

I've only watched a few with games I actually want to play. Most of them are Euros or Family games. So I haven't seen most of the episodes.

But I definitely agree about stopping the game to moralize about some components. It's a goddamn game with historical themes. Which, to me, means that people bitching about pieces/cards representing slaves hundreds or thousands of years ago are attempting to whitewash away the realities of human civilization's past, and historical reality in general.

Dunno about you guys, but I haven't owned any slaves. So I also don't want to hear people preach about how offended they are when they see some historical reference to them. Yes, we already know it was bad so STFU.

There were some other recent game reviews I've seen, regarding games in a historical setting, where the writer made huge complaints about the inclusion of slaves and similar things. These PC indoctrinated jackanapes give me the impression they don't think anyone else knows such things were cruel instituations and that we'd all start doing it all over again if Mister Crusader didn't run around bitching about getting all mention of them removed. ::)

Sorry for the rant. The PC wannabe-brainwasher crowd gets my blood up sometimes.

Bison · August 03, 2015, 09:13:05 PM

I'm pretty offended that there are white, black, yellow, and red pieces in games. I'm basically offended by all of the potential racial undertones. Is what I was expecting to hear come out of his mouth next. Sad really that we cannot even have historically thematic games, even those with a very thin veneer of historical context, without it becoming a political issue. And Five Tribes is not a historical or political game beyond it's thin historical theme.

Anyway, I found another let's play that didn't annoy me within 5 minutes and I'm not sure I see the excitement that Five Tribes has generated on BBG.

Arctic Blast · August 03, 2015, 10:34:33 PM

Five Tribes is...okay. The problem is that you can't really plan your moves ahead of time because the board state is constantly shifting. If you play with anyone who takes a while to process a turn, this simple game will bog down into a never-ending death march. The cool part is that there are a ton of different things to go after for points. The bad part is that you may witness the passing of an actual epoch of time before the game is over.

Incidentally, there was such a hissy fit over the slave cards that they've been replaced in the reprints by Fakir cards. I'm amazed that nobody complained at all about the fact that one of the tribes are assassins who 'kill' other pawns.