Second in an occasional series.
Here are four games that can introduce you to the world of “serious” board gaming. It’s a great way to spend time with friends and family without resorting to reruns of The Office or sitting around talking about yearbooks for entertainment. These games are superior to the Milton Bradley or Parker Brothers games sitting tiredly on the shelf of the local Toys “R” Us.
And here’s my advice for playing these four games. Buy (or borrow) the first game, and play it repeatedly for a few (at least three) months. Play with all combinations of players, multiple times. Try different strategies after you become comfortable with the game–see if something that worked last game will work every time, then try a different tact. In that way, you can improve on the skill set for that game, but you can also be prepared for various strategies in other games. Then, after you’ve adequately “mastered” that game, buy the next game, and repeat. I’ve picked four games that, I think, sufficiently follow one another in difficulty and provide a nice pathway to one of the most complicated (but enjoyably complicated!) games around. After that, you’ll be prepared for just about any game that you see.
The Settlers of Catan
Mayfair Games
Game meme: “I’m willing to trade sheep.”
3-4 players
90 minutes
Settlers is the “gateway game” for the casual gamer seeking to become a serious gamer. A Settlers player is not necessarily a serious gamer; many Settlers players are simply “dabblers.” But Catan makes a casual gamer feel at home: there are typical turns, dice to roll, and commodities to collect. You try to achieve 10 victory points by building cities and roads before your opponents. A simple and straightforward game that’s extremely enjoyable. It’s the perfect game for two couples to play after a dinner party.
Carcassonne
Rio Grande Games
Game meme: “I needed that!”
2-5 players
30-60 minutes
Named after a relatively famous French city with a beautiful historic castle, Carcassonne elevates the dabbler to an “amateur” gamer. (Okay, so these are terms I coin on car trips with Emily.) Your goal is to accumulate the maximum number of points by placing knights, robbers, monks, and farmers on the board. You draw a tile and place it on the game map as you attempt to complete roads and castles. This game is quite simple to explain, but the strategy of placing farmers in particular, and in maximizing points in general, takes time. It’s a game that, with repeated play, urges nearly a card-counting of tiles–are there any monasteries left? is one of the many nail-biting queries from an anxious would-be farmer. There are several excellent expansions, which allow incremental increases in the amount of strategy involved.
Puerto Rico
Rio Grande Games
Game meme: “I’ll take the Prospector.”
3-5 players
90-120 minutes
With a 16-page instruction manual and gameplay that may push two hours, Puerto Rico is truly a serious game (currently ranked as the #2 most popular game of all time at BoardGameGeek.com). The goal is to obtain the most victory points by colonizing Puerto Rico. You can obtain points by producing or selling goods, and by building and populating structures. There are dozens of buildings and several commodities; there’s a unique turn-order and an interesting way of incentivizing certain actions; and there are several strategies, none of which has a clear edge (although some, of course, can be better than others). You’re constantly watching what the others players are doing, particularly the player on your right. And whenever the game ends, you feel like you wish you could have just one more turn.
Caylus
Rio Grande Games
Game meme: “Give me a food cube.”
2-5 players
90-150 minutes
I put this game (currently ranked #8 at BoardGameGeek.com) last simply because, in my opinion, it’s more difficult than Puerto Rico. There aren’t quite as many total moving parts as there are in Puerto Rico, but the need for strategy is more acute. The goal is to end with the largest number of prestige points. Over three loosely-called “rounds,” players construct buildings, collect commodities, earn money, and attempt to build in the King’s castle and earn his “favors.” You can obtain points if opponents use your buildings. And the buildings wind down the board in a particular order, requiring careful counting and placement to accomplish all you want on your turn. It’s a sprawling and beautiful game requiring a lot of careful strategy and calculated gambles.
The next topic in this series will discuss ideal two-player games.
Hey! What’s with that second sentence?!?
Also, that weird roommate I had a couple years ago would have all-night Puerto Rico parties with people she met on the internet. So I am leery of that one.
Did the “yearbooks” comment strike too close to home?
Makes me want to come visit and stay up way too late playing games!
Did we tell you played Caylus with some friends who are absolutely ruthless when moving the bailiff (or the other guy, I can’t remember)? It was brutal.
Also, looking forward to suggestions of two-player games.
Anna, don’t get your hopes up, because I don’t think I’ll have anything terribly novel. In fact, I’ve already discussed two of the games so far….
We love Carcasonne. Jay just gave it to me for Christmas.
[…] (BGG; released in 2009) is a child’s edition of Carcassonne (which I’ve discussed before). There are two real negatives before I begin this review. First, it’s probably my favorite […]