With Christmas just around the corner, it might be time to buy a new game for the family to enjoy after dinner on the big day. So today I thought i would have a look at a few of my old favourites and also some of the new ones that have arrived this year.
First up is possibly my favourite board game...
Ticket to Ride is a great family game which can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. It is easy to learn and fairly quick to play. This is the first game that I played with my family where we could all play with out the need to adjust the rules a bit for the children. In fact my daughter who was 7 at the time picked up so quick and was on a bit of a winning streak for a while. This is a great 'entry' game for people that have not played a board game and might be daunted by the idea of complex, time consuming mechanics. The game lasts about 45 mins and has great replayability. There a now numerous expansions available which make the game even better.
Next we have Carassonne, the game where you build a map of cities and gain points for building roads, farms and cities. It is again really simple to play and is very quick. It takes about 25 minutes and has very little set up required. This game also has many different expansions to make the game a little more interesting and complex.
Then there is Catan, which has been around for many many years. It is a really simple trading game in which players build roads and towns around differing types of resource and then try to make deals for other resources with other players to get the points that they need to win. It is a great social game with a slightly more complex rules structure than the other two games mentioned but still really easy to learn.
Splendor is another one of my family favourites,it is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you're wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige. The game looks great and is again very quick to learn.
This yeat has seen some great releases with one of the best being Codenames. In Codenames, two teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. Their teammates try to guess words of the right color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin.
Of course this is just a small selection but they are all great Christmas purchases and all play exceptionally well, especially with families and first time gamers. Other titles worth a look would include Pandemic, Munchkin, Dobble, Love Letter, 8 Minute Empire, Small World, Flick Em Up, Bang the Dice Game, Seven Wonders, Timeline.....
The list could probably go on for some time. If you want to come in a try any of the games that I have in stock then you are always welcome to do so. I have several demo copies and most only take a few minutes to learn. If you wnt a particular game then send me a message and I will see what I can do.
