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Board Gamers, show us your loot! (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter anotherdaydown
- Start date
Bringing in the new year with some friends and a long-time favorite, Lords of Vegas. Using an old dice chip set I gifted them forever ago to replace the game’s stock paper money; a perfect use for dice chips IMHO. 
mastercave
Sitting Out
First time with board games besides Monopoly and Life. Picked up Spirits Island and Pandemic Legacy Season 1, I feel these two are way too advanced for my level
Any recs for beginner board games, preferably good for 2 players?
And do most of you players typically gravitate towards a certain type or theme in your favorites?
Any recs for beginner board games, preferably good for 2 players?
And do most of you players typically gravitate towards a certain type or theme in your favorites?
Welcome to the modern world of board games! It's a wildly larger place than most people on the outside realize, with virtually every possible theme and style of game you can imagine being available in one shape or another. It can be overwhelming at first finding that initial footing, but your in for a lot of great times if you stick with it and hone in on & follow what you enjoy about gaming.
As for your question, it can be hard to say what will hit or miss with any given person, and while at least in the case of Pandemic I think the system is actually very new player friendly, the Legacy version, as well as the complexity of Spirit Island definitely create a bigger overhead than you'll have been used to with the older titles you mentioned.
One of the best 2 player games released in the last 10 years that is very newbie friendly is 7 Wonders: Duel; a game so successful it effectively defined the use of 'Duel' or similar as the defacto naming convention for a designer/publisher releasing a 2-player specific variation of a larger game. 7WD is cheap, is effectively just cards with only a couple other components, and is easy to pick up. It's core mechanisms are a form of card drafting; taking turns selecting cards from a grid on the table made up of some face-up and some face-down cards.
Another great new player friendly game that works great at 2 would be Splendor; another very simple game that focuses on engine building (getting items/components which generate resources so you can get better items/components, etc, etc, ultimately in the goal of scoring points).
Other honorable mentions for newbie friendly stuff that works well at 2 players would be Azul (there are three titles in this line, and soon to be a fourth; I'd recommend the original to start), maybe Wingspan (I'm not 100% sure on its 2p quality actually, only played it with more). And then of course there's modern staples which can be played with 2 but are probably better with more like Ticket to Ride, Catan, and Carcassonne.
None of those are cooperative, while the couple you mention in your post are- if you're specifically looking for good light co-op games, I can definitely recommend Hanabi, a card game about fireworks with the hook being that no one can see the cards they're holding in their own hand, only everyone else's cards, and you have to give limited information to your teammates about what their cards are to get everyone to play them in the right sequence. A recent spin on this same mechanism is The Crew, which I've only tried once but it seemed great.
I see you're listed as being in San Francisco- I can recommend first hand that Gamescape SF (in the city proper) is a great store with good staff that could also give you some good recommendations I'm sure, as well as Games of Berkeley (in Berkeley, shocking I know!). Last I was in the area there was a good shop in Oakland that I visited too, but it's been years and the name is escaping me, so no telling if they're still around.
Hope this helps! Drop more questions if you have them, or let us know how your gaming journey goes.
mastercave
Sitting Out
Thanks @NotDunric for the recs! Target is having a 15% off so I picked up Azul, Pandemic, and Ticket to Ride. My gf wanted Rummikub which is making sets of flush or straights. Played a game of Azul after we went on Youtube to watch a how to play video.
On the topic of poker chips, I wonder if I can make a versatile chip set that can work for poker, board games, and my craps practice.
On the topic of poker chips, I wonder if I can make a versatile chip set that can work for poker, board games, and my craps practice.
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
You can, but there are a lot of variables... poker stakes and number of players, which board games, and craps stakes.
I find having 8-9 sets, from low stake cash games up to high-end tournaments, can cover nearly every board game.
Love Axis and Allies. These are great variants.
Chester Copperpot
Two Pair
I have the Axis and Allies anniversary edition. I’ve brought it out once to play. Wish I could get more people into it.
cpjt05
Waiting List
Some serious collections in here! Thread inspired me to take inventory of my stash. Must be at least 50% untouched. Wife and I normally just resort to 7 Wonders, Azul, Splendor, or Pandemic Legacy… would welcome any other 2 player suggestions!
In recent years can’t seem to find the time to open something new and learn some of the heavier games!
7 Wonders Duel
The 7th Continent (all expansions)
Acquire
Agricola
Articulate
Azul
Balderdash
Brass (Birmingham)
Brass (Lancashire)
Carcassonne
Cards Against Humanity
Catan
Catan (Rivals)
Catan (Seafarers)
Cluedo
Daybreak
Diplomacy
Dixit (all expansions)
Dominion
Eclipse
Euphoria
Fief
Great Western Trail
Jaipur
Kahuna
Kemet
Lords of Waterdeep
Mage Knight (Ultimate Edition)
Maponimoes
Monopoly
Mr. Jack
Pandemic Legacy
Pass the Pigs
Perudo
Pointless
Pointless (Travel)
Power Grid
Puerto Rico
Risk
Risk (Game of Thrones)
Scrabble
Scotland Yard
Scythe
Smallworld
Spirit Island
Splendor
Terra Mystica
Terraforming Mars
Through the Ages
Ticket to Ride (Europe)
Ticket to Ride (UK)
Trajan
Trivial Pursuit
Twighlight Struggle
War of the Ring
Who Knows Where?
The Wine Game
Wingspan
Yinsh
In recent years can’t seem to find the time to open something new and learn some of the heavier games!
7 Wonders Duel
The 7th Continent (all expansions)
Acquire
Agricola
Articulate
Azul
Balderdash
Brass (Birmingham)
Brass (Lancashire)
Carcassonne
Cards Against Humanity
Catan
Catan (Rivals)
Catan (Seafarers)
Cluedo
Daybreak
Diplomacy
Dixit (all expansions)
Dominion
Eclipse
Euphoria
Fief
Great Western Trail
Jaipur
Kahuna
Kemet
Lords of Waterdeep
Mage Knight (Ultimate Edition)
Maponimoes
Monopoly
Mr. Jack
Pandemic Legacy
Pass the Pigs
Perudo
Pointless
Pointless (Travel)
Power Grid
Puerto Rico
Risk
Risk (Game of Thrones)
Scrabble
Scotland Yard
Scythe
Smallworld
Spirit Island
Splendor
Terra Mystica
Terraforming Mars
Through the Ages
Ticket to Ride (Europe)
Ticket to Ride (UK)
Trajan
Trivial Pursuit
Twighlight Struggle
War of the Ring
Who Knows Where?
The Wine Game
Wingspan
Yinsh
CrazyEddie
Full House
Welcome to the forum! Here's my go-to list of two-player recommendations:
- Fox in the Forest is a beautiful and clever trick-taking game for two.
- Blood of an Englishman is a layout-manipulation card game for two with unique gameplay.
- Cribbage and Gin Rummy are traditional-deck must-haves.
- Piquet is another two-player traditional-deck card game, less well-known but very good.
- Fjords is an elegant two-player abstract with a perfectly serviceable theme. Lightweight but engaging and fun.
- Tak is a pure abstract of recent invention, from James Ernest of Cheapass Games fame. It's not as deep as chess, but the strategy is extensive (but approachable) and is still being worked out by players.
- Lost Cities is a classic. Quick, easy, fun, and a tense fight between the two players. A must for anyone's two-player collection.
- Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is a nerve-wracking duel, similar to Stratego but at much smaller scale (both physically and game-wise) and with absolutely perfect theming if LotR is of any interest to you.
- Memoir '44 is a wargame for boardgamers and is an excellent way to experience the excitement and flavor of wargames without having to endure the fiddliness and grind that wargamers love so much.
I love this game so much.
Greykin
3 of a Kind
I haven't had much time for gaming lately, but here's a view of my collection and table. Sorry if it's been mentioned already, I only skimmed the last 4 pages, but for those of you who are newer to the hobby or looking for recommendations, boardgamegeek.com is a fantastic resource and community. Check it out if you haven't already.
Pinesol13
Flush
It's not a board game, but my wife and I play Cassino a lot, it's a great two player card game.
https://gamerules.com/rules/casino-card-game/
I got Death at the Dive Bar last Christmas, and finally getting around to playing it this weekend. Looking forward to it!
Anyone ever play "The Farming Game".
Pawn38
Sitting Out
I rarely play 2 players only, but when I do it's usually these. All great games.
Targi
Akrotiri
7 Wonder's Duel
13 days
Except for Akrotiri, the other three can be played for free online if you wanted to try before you buy.
This is an excellent 2-player recommendation, and feels like more of an actual "board game" than most 2-player games, which are often basically just card games.
Patchwork as well.
cpjt05
Waiting List
This is brilliant thanks! Big fan of LOTR but wife had a breakdown trying to learn War of the Ring... so will try confrontation instead! + a few of the others look great as well
Will also get Targi as well as that got quite a few votes. Thanks to everyone for all the ideas!
mastercave
Sitting Out
As a new collector/player, the recent posts and recommendations are great! especially since I'm looking for games for my girlfriend and I.
Any recommendations for games that would make use of our chip sets? I was excited to use my 1s for 7 Wonders Duel
Any recommendations for games that would make use of our chip sets? I was excited to use my 1s for 7 Wonders Duel
Some great games there still in shrink.
Eclipse, Scythe, and Terra Mystica are all great. Scythe is probably the easiest of those to get to the table.
ekricket
Royal Flush
Lol yes, picked it up at Gebo’s back in the early 80’s. One of our family’s favorites for almost 40 years. The fruit tree strategy is the hardest to counter, but I also don’t think we’ve ever played it with anyone except family, so there may be more in depth analysis around.
Also picked up Dark Tower in the same time frame, pretty cool for the times.
Some additions to our collection:
I randomly bought Sabatouer and we’ve really been enjoying it. Fairly simple setup and gameplay, but a lot of fun rooting out the sabatouers.
From the same distributor is also 6nimmt which uses kind of a blind bidding mechanic. It has quickly become a favourite in our family.
Tokaido is just nice and very calm. Exploration/collection style game. A very nice change of pace, especially if my family gets tired of my cut-throat ways.
Incan Gold is also a ton of fun and has pretty quick rounds. It’s an exploration game but will appeal very much to the gamblers. Every card played raises the stakes. This game inspired me to buy Sabatouer.
Coup is a fantastic card based secret identity/bluffing game. Each player has two roles and can bluff any. Things get interesting when those bluffs are challenged.
Wizard is a bid/trick game that uses a custom deck, but will be an easy game to pick up for people who have played whist etc.
I randomly bought Sabatouer and we’ve really been enjoying it. Fairly simple setup and gameplay, but a lot of fun rooting out the sabatouers.
From the same distributor is also 6nimmt which uses kind of a blind bidding mechanic. It has quickly become a favourite in our family.
Tokaido is just nice and very calm. Exploration/collection style game. A very nice change of pace, especially if my family gets tired of my cut-throat ways.
Incan Gold is also a ton of fun and has pretty quick rounds. It’s an exploration game but will appeal very much to the gamblers. Every card played raises the stakes. This game inspired me to buy Sabatouer.
Coup is a fantastic card based secret identity/bluffing game. Each player has two roles and can bluff any. Things get interesting when those bluffs are challenged.
Wizard is a bid/trick game that uses a custom deck, but will be an easy game to pick up for people who have played whist etc.
Mr. Cheese
Full House
We just recently got Terraforming Mars and love it. Played it 2 times the first week and each game was vastly different.
Mr. Cheese
Full House
We play that at my wife's parents. Kind of a fun game to play occasionally
TM is one of my favorites, highly recommended!
Mr. Cheese
Full House
Yeah we're really loving it. Just ordered 3d tiles and the 2 layer player boards. Have you played the expansions? If so do you like them?
I have...I think the map expansions are must-haves, if only for variety. I think Prelude is a must-have as well, with more corps, a nice jumpstart, and a good way to differentiate play between each game since you will be led towards a specific engine. Venus is cool, for the addition of cards/corps, the Venus track I could do without but it's fine and pretty much optional. Colonies and Turmoil are okay. I have only played them each once, and I liked Turmoil more. They are good additions if the base game gets stale but really they just add complexity and more things to do.
CrazyEddie
Full House
Okay, time to liven up this thread with some controversial opinions. 
Terraforming Mars is a good game. But I don't like it. Similarly, we got Villainous for Christmas, and we played it, and it's a good game, but I don't like it. They both fall into a gigantic category of games that I don't like, a category that includes games ranging from Magic The Gathering to Race For the Galaxy to Oath. And that category is:
Games Where You Really Need To Know What Special Rule Is On Every One Of The Hundreds Of Different Cards In The Game
I like games where you can hold the entire game, conceptually, within your head. Even if the game demands attention to intricate details, and has surprising and complex interactions between the moving pieces, I want to be able to understand how all the pieces move - what all the rules of the game are - and to be able to explain them simply and briefly and coherently. Games where the bulk of the game is actually driven by the special cases that constitute each different card simply frustrate and annoy me. You need to know all the cards; and if you don't know the cards, then you need to read them one by one as they come into play, whether they're in your hand or your opponents', and how fun is it to ask the other players to read their cards out loud to you especially if they already know them? No fun, that's how fun. No fun at all. And a great deal of the game is about sorting through all the different cards to find optimal combos, which is a daunting task if you don't already know what they all are, being a mostly hit-or-miss affair of making guesses on the fly.
I have a certain degree of tolerance for this kind of stuff, but the more different cards there are, and the fiddlier each card's special rule is and the more finely the rulespace is carved up into tiny differences just to have more cards, the greater the strain the game places upon my limited tolerance.
... but maybe that's just me.
Terraforming Mars is a good game. But I don't like it. Similarly, we got Villainous for Christmas, and we played it, and it's a good game, but I don't like it. They both fall into a gigantic category of games that I don't like, a category that includes games ranging from Magic The Gathering to Race For the Galaxy to Oath. And that category is:
Games Where You Really Need To Know What Special Rule Is On Every One Of The Hundreds Of Different Cards In The Game
I like games where you can hold the entire game, conceptually, within your head. Even if the game demands attention to intricate details, and has surprising and complex interactions between the moving pieces, I want to be able to understand how all the pieces move - what all the rules of the game are - and to be able to explain them simply and briefly and coherently. Games where the bulk of the game is actually driven by the special cases that constitute each different card simply frustrate and annoy me. You need to know all the cards; and if you don't know the cards, then you need to read them one by one as they come into play, whether they're in your hand or your opponents', and how fun is it to ask the other players to read their cards out loud to you especially if they already know them? No fun, that's how fun. No fun at all. And a great deal of the game is about sorting through all the different cards to find optimal combos, which is a daunting task if you don't already know what they all are, being a mostly hit-or-miss affair of making guesses on the fly.
I have a certain degree of tolerance for this kind of stuff, but the more different cards there are, and the fiddlier each card's special rule is and the more finely the rulespace is carved up into tiny differences just to have more cards, the greater the strain the game places upon my limited tolerance.
... but maybe that's just me.
Legend5555
Full House
I like Terraforming Mars. But I think it's very overrated. I don't like Villainous. I love Magic, but only the drafting and sealed formats.Okay, time to liven up this thread with some controversial opinions.
Terraforming Mars is a good game. But I don't like it. Similarly, we got Villainous for Christmas, and we played it, and it's a good game, but I don't like it. They both fall into a gigantic category of games that I don't like, a category that includes games ranging from Magic The Gathering to Race For the Galaxy to Oath. And that category is:
Games Where You Really Need To Know What Special Rule Is On Every One Of The Hundreds Of Different Cards In The Game
I like games where you can hold the entire game, conceptually, within your head. Even if the game demands attention to intricate details, and has surprising and complex interactions between the moving pieces, I want to be able to understand how all the pieces move - what all the rules of the game are - and to be able to explain them simply and briefly and coherently. Games where the bulk of the game is actually driven by the special cases that constitute each different card simply frustrate and annoy me. You need to know all the cards; and if you don't know the cards, then you need to read them one by one as they come into play, whether they're in your hand or your opponents', and how fun is it to ask the other players to read their cards out loud to you especially if they already know them? No fun, that's how fun. No fun at all. And a great deal of the game is about sorting through all the different cards to find optimal combos, which is a daunting task if you don't already know what they all are, being a mostly hit-or-miss affair of making guesses on the fly.
I have a certain degree of tolerance for this kind of stuff, but the more different cards there are, and the fiddlier each card's special rule is and the more finely the rulespace is carved up into tiny differences just to have more cards, the greater the strain the game places upon my limited tolerance.
... but maybe that's just me.
TM is just too long for what it is. And the board okay feels pointless as the card and engine building are the real stars of the game. And they mostly solved the issues with the cards only version Ares Expedition.
Villainous is just a fancy and more solitaire version of Munchkin.
I don't mind a million different cards though because discovery of a game to me is more fun than mastery. I don't mind losing to things I do didn't know about because it shows me things I didn't know were there.
But I also like games of near perfect information as well like Terra Mystica.
I DO NOT like the vast majority of 2 player abstracts. That includes Chess, Go, and the entire Gipf series. Because those games require more mastery than I like. And better players will basically ALWAYS beat worse players. And with them only being 2 player, it's not nearly as interesting as contending with 3+ players, even if you are strongly likely to win as the better player in 3+ player games. Plus, while I think theme is somewhat overrated, I need some.
This is directly adjacent to why I have come to not care for board games which rely heavily on card drafting from a large card pool (T.Mars, Blood Rage, Seasons, even the classic 7 Wonders comes to mind). These systems reward repeat play immensely for the reasons you outline (being able to get intimately familiar with the meta of the card pool and thus being in an elevated position for decision making), which makes playing them AS a new player frustrating when you're just feeling like the underdog more so than the usual first time experience with a game, and makes playing them WITH new players unsatisfying when you're such a favorite.Okay, time to liven up this thread with some controversial opinions.
Terraforming Mars is a good game. But I don't like it. Similarly, we got Villainous for Christmas, and we played it, and it's a good game, but I don't like it. They both fall into a gigantic category of games that I don't like, a category that includes games ranging from Magic The Gathering to Race For the Galaxy to Oath. And that category is:
Games Where You Really Need To Know What Special Rule Is On Every One Of The Hundreds Of Different Cards In The Game
I like games where you can hold the entire game, conceptually, within your head. Even if the game demands attention to intricate details, and has surprising and complex interactions between the moving pieces, I want to be able to understand how all the pieces move - what all the rules of the game are - and to be able to explain them simply and briefly and coherently. Games where the bulk of the game is actually driven by the special cases that constitute each different card simply frustrate and annoy me. You need to know all the cards; and if you don't know the cards, then you need to read them one by one as they come into play, whether they're in your hand or your opponents', and how fun is it to ask the other players to read their cards out loud to you especially if they already know them? No fun, that's how fun. No fun at all. And a great deal of the game is about sorting through all the different cards to find optimal combos, which is a daunting task if you don't already know what they all are, being a mostly hit-or-miss affair of making guesses on the fly.
I have a certain degree of tolerance for this kind of stuff, but the more different cards there are, and the fiddlier each card's special rule is and the more finely the rulespace is carved up into tiny differences just to have more cards, the greater the strain the game places upon my limited tolerance.
... but maybe that's just me.
I do however come from a TCG playing background (WoW TCG, Magic, others) and CAN enjoy those things when everyone is expected to commit their energy to 'solving' the aforementioned meta, and everyone knows what they're getting into from the outset. So in theory I could see myself digging into titles like those mentioned above and getting super competitive with them, if for the fact that I'd A) need a consistent group of people playing at that same level like a TCG community, and B) I'd be giving up time spent playing a wider more varied selection of board games, which I love too much given how diverse the industry is these days. Even playing games I really enjoy too many times in succession (like with multi-game campaigns or legacy games) can wear them out for me and really make me want to playing literally anything else, so I'll never desire to "get good" at games that require that much time investment.
But all said, yeah, I see why 'Mars' and others of that ilk are such a popular games, and TM in particular does some really cool things if only it didn't have the above issues. I haven't had the chance to try the recent spin-off title Ares Expedition, though I'm eager to do so since it's supposed to play much faster, and honestly the play time with original TM is a huge part of my issue with it relative to the card problem- the high variance of cards and meta knowledge requirements become way less of an issue if it only takes an hour to play, instead of 2-4.
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