• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Clever Board Games

Mr Person

Mr Person

A Little Bitter
Supporting Member
DP Veteran
Monthly Donator
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
64,239
Reaction score
62,590
Location
Massachusetts
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Other
Now, I love a good game of Settlers of Catan with strangers (with or without expansions), but I find a truly clever one is Quarto.



It's two-player. Players take turns handing the other player the piece they get to play. It's on a 4x4 board. You're going for 4 in a row of one like quality. Pieces have 4 different qualities. So much room for deviousness, strategies upon strategies, and of course also plenty of room for getting ahead of yourself and handing the other person a win by assuming that there are too many layers of strategy going on between the two of you.

It's sort of a cross between SET (another one I like), poker, and 3d checkers.


Others?


(I also like..what's it called... 9 Man's Morris I think? Also, mancala. Naturally, chess, but I'm terrible at it these days.)
 
Mr Person said:
Now, I love a good game of Settlers of Catan with strangers (with or without expansions), but I find a truly clever one is Quarto.



It's two-player. Players take turns handing the other player the piece they get to play. It's on a 4x4 board. You're going for 4 in a row of one like quality. Pieces have 4 different qualities. So much room for deviousness, strategies upon strategies, and of course also plenty of room for getting ahead of yourself and handing the other person a win by assuming that there are too many layers of strategy going on between the two of you.

It's sort of a cross between SET (another one I like), poker, and 3d checkers.

Others?

(I also like..what's it called... 9 Man's Morris I think? Also, mancala. Naturally, chess, but I'm terrible at it these days.)
Click to expand...

Checkers against anyone over 60....

Reversi/Othello

Catan and Quarto look interesting.
 
Fledermaus said:
Checkers against anyone over 60....

Reversi/Othello

Catan and Quarto look interesting.
Click to expand...

FYI, Catan is more of a turn-based strategy game, with random chance affecting lots of things. I didn't really describe it. Very different from Quarto.


You generate a new map each time randomly by flipping these hexagonal pieces over and arranging them in a pattern. You flip over discs to put on each and these determine what number you have to roll to get the resource the disc is on. People take turns rolling the dice, collecting and spending resources, etc. You build roads and new resource-generating settlements/cities as you go along, at times trying to block an opponent from getting to a spot. One makes probabilistic judgements based on what one has, what one needs, what others have, etc. There's more, but that's the basic idea.
 
Mr Person said:
Now, I love a good game of Settlers of Catan with strangers (with or without expansions), but I find a truly clever one is Quarto.



It's two-player. Players take turns handing the other player the piece they get to play. It's on a 4x4 board. You're going for 4 in a row of one like quality. Pieces have 4 different qualities. So much room for deviousness, strategies upon strategies, and of course also plenty of room for getting ahead of yourself and handing the other person a win by assuming that there are too many layers of strategy going on between the two of you.

It's sort of a cross between SET (another one I like), poker, and 3d checkers.


Others?


(I also like..what's it called... 9 Man's Morris I think? Also, mancala. Naturally, chess, but I'm terrible at it these days.)
Click to expand...

I'm betting my 13 year old grandson would like Quarto. We bought him Otrio for Christmas. It's fun and challenging enough.
 
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/

There are so many interesting board games these days, it's hard to even know where to begin. Settlers is definitely a gateway game, if you liked that, there may be a trove of other ones up your alley.

Lots of genres too that have been fairly well fleshed out, along with cooperative games, head to head, team-based, and I suppose a smattering that can be played solo. A lot can be purchased on Amazon these days too. I prefer fantasy or sci-fi elements in a game, mundane is too mundane for me (!) , so I hesitate to recommend any particular.

Looking at BGG, you can browse games, than see the top ranked. Then look at the mechanics, it gives you an idea of what the game genre is.
Some mainstream ones are Pandemic, Stone Age, Ticket To Ride.

Some really out there stuff. One of the most wild I've played in recent years was T.I.M.E. Stories. It was like a cross between a choose your own adventure and a board game, and was really wild, and challenging.
One thing with all the new games like these though is you have ot be OK with sitting down and reading instructions and getting up to speed with a game...afterwhich it's much easier. Some people (my family) gets so bored so quickly that I have to playtest a few times before trying to get them to play, and even then it's a hit or miss.
 
a good game of Twister can be fun with a few drunk females :2razz: ........
 
One thing to look for are demo people or teams at your local game stores. My spouses and I are such a team. Many companies have their own demo groups, such as Steve Jackson Games, Slugfest Games, and Stronghold Games, to name a few. Additionally a company called Double Exposure had a sub group called Envoy that does games for many smaller publishers such as USAopoly, Biezer, and Tasty Minstrel Games, again to name a few.

The great thing about this, is you can try the games before buying them. And when games can range up to $80 or even $100, trying them out is a good thing.

A really good game is Thanos Rising. It's a cooperative game like Pandemic. Players lead teams of heroes to try to rescue other heroes or defeat villians. Dice are used to make these attempts. It is a really challenging game and is scalable so more novice players can have a chance. When we demoed it at one store, players played it 3 or 4 times right after.

I personally love deck builders, and resource management games. Oh and social deduction games, like One Night Werewolf. In fact our two most popular games are the One Night series and Sparkle Kitty.

Sent from my Z982 using Tapatalk
 
zslZq8S.jpg


The Awful Green Things From Outer Space- simple to learn, and its fast and furious. One side controls the crew of the ship, who are desperately trying to find a way to kill off the growing infestation of alien monsters before they get overwhelmed.
 
Chess,Scrabble and Monopoly I played with friends for years. This weekend we're going to dig in and play Monopoly. Landing on Boardwalk and Park Place is murder The railroads and the yellow spaces can nail you as well.
 
PTF said:
Chess,Scrabble and Monopoly I played with friends for years. This weekend we're going to dig in and play Monopoly. Landing on Boardwalk and Park Place is murder The railroads and the yellow spaces can nail you as well.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't recommend Monopoly. It's an enticing game until you realize just how bad the game mechanic is.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...-with-your-kids-and-play-these-games-instead/

For adults, Terraforming Mars is a fine game once you get the hang of it.
 
Phys251 said:
I wouldn't recommend Monopoly. It's an enticing game until you realize just how bad the game mechanic is.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...-with-your-kids-and-play-these-games-instead/

For adults, Terraforming Mars is a fine game once you get the hang of it.
Click to expand...

You must have serious players who are willingly sit for hours,perhaps the night playing until a decisive winner. I believe the key is having a person who will be able to sit down and become the bank for the entire game. I've done it with four or five friends several times. It's my personal experience. If you have the time and friends(hopefully more than three), it will be a favorite.
 
PTF said:
You must have serious players who are willingly sit for hours,perhaps the night playing until a decisive winner. I believe the key is having a person who will be able to sit down and become the bank for the entire game. I've done it with four or five friends several times. It's my personal experience. If you have the time and friends(hopefully more than three), it will be a favorite.
Click to expand...

Time isn't the biggest issue, at least not when Monopoly is played properly. The roll-and-move mechanic is. You could be five spaces away from the property that you need to get back in the game, but then you roll a six and...maybe next go-around. If there is a next go-around.
 
Phys251 said:
Time isn't the biggest issue, at least not when Monopoly is played properly. The roll-and-move mechanic is. You could be five spaces away from the property that you need to get back in the game, but then you roll a six and...maybe next go-around. If there is a next go-around.
Click to expand...

This is part of the action,the luck of the roll.
I always wanted the railroads. I lucky to get two. Of course the biggest catch is Boardwalk and Park Place. If you get the roll you want by luck it to my opinion would not be so fun don't you think ?
 
late said:
Been playing Go for 50 years.

Best board game there is.
Click to expand...
Oh come on! I gave you a great opening for a series of game puns.

I like strategy games as well. Get to play this great one under development at Metatopia (gaming con in NJ for designers to have their concepts alpha and beta tested by actual players).

Think of it as a combination of tic tac toe, chess, and connect 4. The board consist of 4 tiles which have a 2x2 grid, for a board of 4x4. Each player has 16 pieces that consist of 4 sets of 4 nested cylinders. The inside most one is the narrowest and tallest, and they get shorter and wider.

Each player takes turns placing a single piece and then rotating one of the tiles 90 degrees either direction. Pieces may be set either in or around an already placed piece as long as it is not the same size. IOW they can nest on the board, and it doesn't matter who the other pieces belong to.

To win, one must either have:
4 of the same size of their pieces horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
A set of 4 of their pieces from shortest to tallest horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
A nested set of 4 of their pieces in a single space

It was quite challenging and very fun.

Sent from my Z982 using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom