Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue

[venta]

OK, you people know Stuff about Things. Please can you help me out?

Every year I have a huge struggle trying to find something for a couple of my best friends for Christmas. I'm not entirely sure why, but I find it impossible to gauge their tastes accurately, and have ended up with some fairly limp presents of late.

They're big boardgamers, and I've always avoided that because I'm not very well-informed on the topic. I love games, but they don't seem to happen much in my life at the moment. The last time I felt I had my finger on the pulse, Settlers of Catan was big news.

So, I'd like recommendations of things to give a couple of hard-core boardgamers for Christmas this year. I'm really quite unsure what games they already have stashed round their house, so I think it probably needs to be something quite new, or something quite obscure, to be certain of not giving them something they're already familiar with.

I think they already have all the Arkham Horror expansion packs in the world (ditto Carcassonne). I've played Tales of the Arabian Nights, Shadows Over Camelot, Robo Rally and some other Greek-myth-based game (whose name I forget) with them in recent years. Also Apples To Apples, which one of them described as "what you play while you're waiting for enough people to show up to play a game".

I think they also play a lot of the more traditional games like chess, Go, backgammon and Othello. And poker. Lots of poker.

Any advice or recommendations gratefully accepted.

PS beckyl, if you're thinking "why don't you just come in to the shop and ask me this?", then I shall probably be doing exactly that on the way home this evening :)

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Everyone seems to be banging on about Cards Against Humanity at the moment - not played it yet but I've heard good things.

(Jeux Sans Frontieres, btw)

[venta.livejournal.com]

They are? I didn't even know that. Very out of touch :(

I guess I do worry that if it's the game of the moment they'll already have played it.

Jeux Sans Frontieres

... always the first there in any humanitarian crisis :) One kudo to you.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Sounded a lot like an "adult" version of Apples-to-Apples to me.

[zotz]

I know it's not exactly hot news these days, but I'm still a big fan of Illuminati, and I don't have much problem finding new people to play it with. War on Terror's been quite fun too.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I like Illuminati too, but on reflection they definitely do already own that. T'other one I'm not familiar with.... yes. Am hitting boardgamegeek a lot this morning. Sounds interesting, thanks!

[erming.livejournal.com]

My German teacher introduced me to Labyrinth which is great fun.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravensburger-26448-Labyrinth-Game/dp/B00000J0JF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354099085&sr=8-1

I guess read the description there, buy from somewhere that pays the tax!

[erming.livejournal.com]

It is quite an old game though...

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

King of Tokyo (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-of-tokyo) is a good laugh, one of Richard Garfields newer games. Simple to get into and lots of fun as giant monsters battle for control of the mighty Tokyo.

The really nasty horseracing game (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/126/the-really-nasty-horse-racing-game) This game is to Totopoly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totopoly) what a boot in the groin is to a handshake. It's a trimmed down and fun betting and racing game for horses where you get your horse to win and nobble everyone elses.

Aye Dark Overlord (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18723/aye-dark-overlord) is more a Münchhausen style story game, but great fun as hapless minions try to explain to the dark lord it's really not their fault that important mission horribly horribly failed.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, I have heard good things about King of Tokyo. Good to get a first-hand rec!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

You remind me that I've wanted to play Aye, Dark Overlord for ages, too.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

This is an impossible question to answer properly without knowing more about your friends' taste in games, so I'm going to randomly assume their tastes are roughly the same as mine. Two recs:

* Libertalia - It's a game about pirates and looting things, what's not to like? Also seems to have a nice balance between being fun the first time you play and having plenty of strategy to keep you interested.

* Spartacus - This hasn't received uniformly good reviews, but people who have actually played it seem to rate it highly.

Important note: I haven't personally played either (although the former is on my Xmas list). On the other hand that caveat would apply to anything recent enough that your friends weren't likely to already have it.

[venta.livejournal.com]

This is an impossible question to answer properly without knowing more about your friends' taste in games

I know :( Sadly, I exhausted my knowledge in my post... I imagine I will have heard them talking about other games, but the names just haven't stuck in my head.

However, thanks for the suggestions (and who doesn't like pirates?)

[lnr]

Someone was recently asking a similar (but less hardcore) question on theladiesloos community recently - looking specifically for games which work with two players. It's a locked post, but with permission to share the general contents, so here's a quick list of the recommendations from there:

Aquarius
Arkham Horror
Backgammon
Bananagrams
Bohnanza - http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11/bohnanza
Carcassonne
Cards
Cheapass games (Exploding Cow)
Chrononauts
Dominion
Dominoes
Dungeon Twister
Find It
Fluxx (Pirate, Zombie, Monty-Python)
Forbidden Island - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gamewright-317-Forbidden-Island-Game/dp/B003D7F4YY/
Frustration
Guillotine
Jenga
Labyrinth - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravensburger-26448-Labyrinth-Game/dp/B00000J0JF/
Lost Cities
Magic: the Gathering
Oregon
Pass The Pigs
Qwirkle
Roll Through the Ages
San Juan
Set
Settlers of Cataan
Spy Game (possibly previously called James Bond)
Tantrix
Tayu

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

Of the stuff noted above, King of Tokyo is in stock and very cool, we have Labyrinth which is awesome and certainly playable with kids, and if you drop in this evening with a list of roughly what they already have, I can make recommendations.

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

And of the stuff in lnr's list - we have in stock Aquarius, Arkham Horror, Backgammon, Bananagrams, Bohnanza, Carcassonne, Chrononauts, Dominion, Dominoes, Fluxx (Pirate, Zombie, Monty-Python), Forbidden Island , Guillotine, Labyrinth, Lost Cities, Magic: the Gathering, Oregon, Pass The Pigs, San Juan, Se, Settlers of Catan (NOTE does not play 2 players!)

[rapperaddict.livejournal.com]

Munchkin?. More of a card game than a board game. Very silly Dungeons and Dragons type thing but amusingly vindinctive.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I do like Munchkin a lot. However, it falls into the category of "well-known, been around a while" and thus I assume they'll at least have played it, if not own it.

[snow-leopard.livejournal.com]

If you want to know what is going on in the world of board games then you need to watch TableTop (hosted by Wil Wheaton):
http://tabletop.geekandsundry.com/
Watching that has made me add most of the boardgames to my Amazon Wishlist!
Ticket To Ride is the one that looks the most fun.

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Ticket to ride is a bit handle cranky (by which I mean, there's not that much to it strategically). But it kinda makes you feel like there is. So once again I guess it depends what kind of game you like!

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend Kingdom Builder. It's a year or so old, and is one of those that has a surprisingly broad range of tactics, as the game set-up chooses 4 random special abilities out of 8, and 3 ways of gaining points out of 10.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Seconding this heartily -- this is T and my main 2-player game at the moment (and it also works well with 3 or 4). Easy and fun but with some depth if you want to take it more seriusly, lots of variety between games, very likeable.

I should also plug Divinare which is likewise for 2-4 and I slightly know the designer.

But Dominion as mentioned below is imo head and shoulders the best game for moderate-core boardgamers published in recent years, so if they haven't already got that, they really should.

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

Everyone I know likes Dominion. I'm not massively keen myself, but it seems to have pretty universal appeal.

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Robo Rally was based on Greek myths! :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

:P

You know what I mean. A, B, C and another game D (which is based on Greek myths).

[dr-bob.livejournal.com]

I'd second Dominion as a good 2 player (a sort of CCG deck building game but without the collecting cards thing).
I should also note unexploded Cows is not recommended for 2 players (fun tho').
Elder Sign is a good 2-4 player shorter version of Arkham (same universe, theme and characters, different game mechanics).

[ceb.livejournal.com]

We have been really enjoying Pandemic recently.

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Pandemic is awesome. If they don't have it, you must buy it for them.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I guess from the remark about Apples to Apples that they like proper games and not vaguely game-ish diversions, and beware that some of the list above are in the latter category.

Cthulhu Fluxx is the game that's been trying to get written in previous Fluxxes. I rather like it, and would try it even with people who aren't wild keen on Fluxx. It's become our standard Nerdvana beer-and-pretzels game.

Clare and I rather enjoyed 1805: Sea of Glory, but this really is a hardcore game for the sort of people who have old copies of Star Fleet Battles lying about the place.

If they like beer in their beer-and-pretzels, Family Business, and tell them the alcoholic rules.

Lord of the Fries is my favourite of the old Cheapass games, if still available. If they're filthy goths they might be amused by Gother Than Thou.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hang on a minute, I don't know the alcoholic rules for Family Business...

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

I am going to take this as a request to name my favourite games.

Battlestar Galactica is amazing, but not to everyone's tastes. (The betrayal mechanics upset some people, but if they like Shadows over Camelot they will LOVE BSG.)
Citadels is strategic, easy to learn and relatively friendly to non-gamers IME, making it a good one to have in your cupboard.
Condottiere is also lovely.
Cosmic encounter is good fun with lots of silly aliens.
Pandemic has already been mentioned, but I'll mention it again. Seriously good coop game.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

This list and/or its sleeve notes and/or the list's successors from previous years, may be relevant to your interests.

Disappointingly I am 999999 miles behind the pace and have played 0 of them.