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[fireflame]

I have noticed that numerous board games are created every year. Howewer, most of people i know play a specific small amount of well known, old board games, like monopoly, scrabble,etc.

Board games with complex rules seem to ask a lot of involvement and time, and it is much harder to get people to play them-at least, this is how i experienced it-.

Risk for example needs some time to be played, while shorter games like abbalone, pyraos,cluedo, are easy to jump in.

Do you face same issues when playing board games?

 

[cubicle47b]

Yeah, it's a problem. I end up spending a lot of time reading rules and playing practice games before people come over to play new games. I also usually host so I'm pulling double duty.

 

[toddhunter]

There are plenty of great boardgames that are not complex. Even the "complex" ones as rated by archaic communities such as bgg can be easily understood by a six year old with half a clue.

The enemy of board games is time, not complexity. While complexity does somewhat feed into explanation time this is swallowed by playing time, setup time, clean up time and organisation time. This is a lot of investment in the time when people would probably rather be just chilling out and not engaging in strategic thought.

Nobody really has time for all that so if they do play something it has to be brain dead.

 

[patapuf]

Yes, especially in a family setting. Though i wouldn't put Risk in the "complex rules" category. It's a classic board game and people usually know how to play it.

I do have a group of friends that likes to play more complex boardgames though. If people know beforehand that a new game will be played they tend to be much more willing to learn them rather than when you just want to pick up something to pass the time.

Just know your audience. There's "a bit more complex" games and then there's the stuff that need hours before you can play.

 

[Moose Biscuits]

I once played a boardgame called Die Macher with a group of friends who meet up to play a wide range of boardgames. It's a game about the German government. It took several hours to explain and play, and as a result of playing it I now loathe boardgames as well as the German government, by proxy.

Nowadays I avoid them like the plague. I'm not good at competition so I lose the majority of games I play; I hate losing (especially when it takes a long time), and most big boardgames take a fucking age to explain, let alone play.

 

[Zaru]

It's really the opposite for me, I've been to a couple of "experimental boardgame nights" where everyone tries new games that might have more complex rules. On the contrary, I rarely play older, well-known ones.

 

[Allonym]

I'm going to high jack this thread and ask if anyone has any recommendations for games that are similar to Catan.

 

[Fuchsdh]

A friend has boardgames nights and the guy literally has a wall's worth of games, so he's always down to try new stuff. Since he's leading them and everyone is kind of new, it's not bad, but I generally find a lot of them too much setup and reading to enjoy.

 

[shaneo632]

Generally I only play board games when drinking, so I prefer them to be relatively simple.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I only really ever play two "mainstream" board games, Rummikub and Blokus, and even those aren't really "mainstream" they just happen to be made by larger game companies.

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of board games out there that are far easier to play, take less time, and are more fun than Monopoly or Risk.

My parents and brother visit every Sunday, and I cook them dinner and then we play games all afternoon. Popular ones in my house are

- Love Letter: A deduction card game, where you're trying to figure out what card your opponent has, while making sure your card is higher than everyone else's. You only get one card, but every turn you draw an additional card and need to discard one of them. Cards have abilities that fire off when discarded (look at an opponent's hand, trade cards, pick someone to discard, lose the game (it's the highest card in the game, and you cannot discard it without losing)). Rounds last about 5-10 minutes, and you play until someone wins a certain amount of rounds (whatever you want that to be). It's also insanely cheap, like 10 dollars. This is by far the most popular and most played game in my house.

- Deep Sea Diver: A Japanese made game where everyone shares a resource of air as you hunt for treasure by moving across tiles after a dice roll. The more treasure (tiles) you grab, the more air you lose and the slower you move. You need to make it back to the boat to cash in your treasure. You play three rounds, with good treasure getting closer and closer to the surface. Takes about a half hour.

- King of Tokyo: Not that simple of a game, but it's basically a really fancy version of Yahtzee. You pick a monster and need to stay alive while gaining points to win. Being in Tokyo is dangerous, but you also gain points quickly and are able to attack all monsters. Outside of Tokyo is the only place you can heal, but you can only attack the monster in Tokyo. There are also power cards you can buy via energy tokens you get from rolls that give your monster certain abilities, like an extra die, or the ability to hit multiple monsters, even outside of Tokyo. Has a few expansion packs that are fun, but add complexity.

I have a whole closet full of games, most of which are all fairly easy to explain and play, but those three are the ones we play the most.

We go for short, not necessarily not complex (although there are games I won't buy if they're too heavy). We have a game called Quantum that isn't that easy, but it's not very long (half hour or so) and is really fun, and we like it.

 

[snausagesUK]

I've a tough time with long or complex board games. I'm more into playing board games as a means of making connections and having fun with people so getting knee-deep into some 3 hour long interminable resource-management thing is a nightmare to me.

 

[Xero]

There are a ton of new boardgames that are quick to learn and play, you just have to do your research.

 

[Fury451]

I'd say there's very few board games that are actually as complex as they seem. Those that are really difficult to access are typically vastly outnumbered by easier to play or more mid-range commitment games. There's also a ton of games with complex gameplay, but easy to learn concepts on the surface.

The issue is that unless someone knows how to play it already, it can be very difficult to teach or learn until people play it themselves, and usually people don't want to commit to that, they just want to play and have it be over in 30 minutes or less.

The board game hobby is vast and wide, but in my experience, once you play a game once with people (especially those that have played it already), everything that seems so complex and difficult clicks into being fairly easy to play afterwards.

For example:

Axis and Allies can be complex in that, like Risk, it requires a lot of time to actually play (as well as setup). There's quite a few moving parts, but the turn routine is straightforward and basic, and the actual gameplay is like Yahtzee with tanks. Not hard. Strategy matters, but chance is also in play, so you make your best move with what makes sense and whatever happens happens.

Something like Arkham Horror however, is needlessly obtuse and finicky, so that's not particularly fun to teach, and even if you know how to play it, there's so many fidgety rules that can make it a pain. Mansions of Madness kind of runs into this problem too, and in fact most of the Fantasy Flight Arkham stuff is like this, except may Eldritch Horror and the Living Card Game to a lesser extent.

There's so many things to play though that most games are far more "everyone friendly" than people think.

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

I'm going to high jack this thread and ask if anyone has any recommendations for games that are similar to Catan.

Machi Koro, Quadropolis, Carcassone, Ticket to Ride

 

[BigBeauford]

I'm going to high jack this thread and ask if anyone has any recommendations for games that are similar to Catan.

Depends what you like about Catan. There are much better games out there like Scythe, Agricola, or Power Grid.

Some games really nail the feel of simple rules and choices, but deep gameplay, like Patchwork. I would even go as far as saying Agricola Family Rules isn't a hard game to teach, though playing against someone who knows what they are doing means others won't stand a chance.

Edit: I think Splendor is actually the best combo of what the OP is looking for.

 

[admiraltaftbar]

Risk is a terrible game so there's no reason to play it anyways but there are plenty of games new and old that offer easy to play complex to master rules and can be played with an hour. Heck there's even games like Betrayal at House on the Hill which offers RPG light experience without needing the complexity or time that other role playing games take. That being said I like both types of games I just make sure any friends coming to play know we are going to play Scythe or some other strategy game and make sure everyone is prepared ahead of time. It just requires slightly different planning from a regular old game night.

Look up Medici it's worth playing if you can find a copy. Tons of strategy but also simple that everyone should have an idea of how they want to try to win.

 

[Seganomics]

There has never been a better time to get into board gaming. The breadth of games available is incredible. There are literally hundreds of excellent games that you can learn in minutes, there is even a mountain of great games for one or two players if you dont have a ton of friends or family to play with regularly.

The other great thing is you can ease into more complex games as lots of the systems you find in the more basic offerings are often similar to systems you will find in the more beefy experiences.
Pick the system(s) you like, pick a theme you like, count how many friends you have and then shop around, you will almost certainly find something that is perfect for you and your group.

 

[Rabid Dwarf 76]

It all comes down to the teacher. I firmly believe people can get into and enjoy more complex games if they have a good rules teacher. I highly recommend the Watch It Played series. The dude can perfectly explain complex games in an easy to digest way.

Here's his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/WatchItPlayed

Edit: As StoOgE pointed out, Kemet is a more complex game than I had originally thought when recommending it so please take my recommendation of it with a HUGE grain of salt.

If you like Risk but want something a little faster without sacrificing complexity check out Kemet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rvQWx77b0A

Board gaming is my other BIG hobby, so if would like more recommendations of games, videos, channels, or reviewers I'm at your service.

 

[Rudimental]

Search for 'gateway games' on Google.

These are games that are either specifically designed to be streamlined versions of more complex games or that are lower complexity games, that often use the same core mechanics as more complex ones. Playing some of these games not only teaches you the different types of mechanics that more complex games are often variations on, preparing you to play more complex games, but also helps you to figure out what types of games you like.

 

[Rabid Dwarf 76]

I'm going to high jack this thread and ask if anyone has any recommendations for games that are similar to Catan.

Edit: Disregard my Terra Mystica recommendation. As other have pointed out it, it was a very poor recommendation.

My second recommendation would be Concordia. The rules are literally one page and are very easy to explain. It has an amazing amount of depth too.
Here's a great review of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9u6IuoIPUA

 

[Sandoval]

Game complexity isn't a big deal... Having rules that are well written and sensible is the most important part. If I'm reading your instructions, referencing a 'let's play' video, and checking message boards and I'm still having issues with just getting a game started... You've fucked up and I'm not keeping the game.

 

[TrueDefault]

I'm a fan of medium weight worker placement, but my friends always complain about the length of those games. Need to find better board games friends.

Terra Mystica! It's like Catan on steroids but with zero luck and asymmetric game play. I've played it over 30 times and am still craving more plays.

This is not a very good recommendation. They're nothing alike. Catan is a luck based dice game, very simple to pick up and play, whereas Terra is very deliberate, requires a lot more commitment to learn the rules.

 

[espher]

Assuming you are catering to a demographic that isn't going to immediately be overwhelmed by something that looks rules-heavy, complexity is really only an issue the first time you play a game as many games are much less complex than a thick rulebook would have you believe. Length is a far bigger obstacle. Also, don't make the mistake of reading the rulebook cover-to-cover before you start playing - if you're the person 'running' the game, give it a read-through once before you start playing and have people do their first turn or two with 'open' hands (or, in games where the starting hand really matters, do a 'trial turn' as a group) so people understand the mechanics. The bulk of the time I've done that when someone is worried about a game's complexity and almost always had people say "oh, that was way easier than I thought" and be way more interested in sticking with it.

That being said, I only pick the most complex (or rules-heavy-but-not-necessarily-'complex') games in my library when I have a good idea that a) the people I am playing with are going to be interested in the theme of the game (e.g. Eclipse) or the mechanics of the game (e.g. Ascension) and b) I expect we'll break the game out again in a future session.

No sense pulling out a game like Twilight Imperium to play one time ever with people that are lukewarm to the concept (a friend of mine made that mistake with Battlestar Galactica one time and now nobody - even the people that WERE interested - wants to play it).

Edit: Also, look at co-op games - people are less likely to be put off complexity if you're all working together and they don't lose because someone understood a weird rule better than they did.

 

[Akuun]

I usually prefer accessibility. At social events, usually you don't have time to play more than one or two games. Some of the more complicated games take more than one or two sessions before you have any idea what you're doing, so they're not as fun to just jump into.

 

[StoOgE]

Disclosure:

I own a board game publisher and this is my full-time job.

There are plenty of new board games that are very easy to learn. Machi Koro is one of ours that has a ~4 page rulebook with less than three rules you need to remember in order to play.

Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Catan, King of Tokyo are all very easy to play games that I think will have a better play experience than "classic" games that you are used to playing.

There is a good resource here: https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Board_Game_Gift_Guide_2015 to find new games.

I would even posit that most "classic" games are actually relatively complex, it's just that you have the rules to those games ingrained in your head so they seem very simple to play.

That said, there are a world of increadibly complex games that you can steer clear of if that is not your thing. We certainly publish those as well.

In this thread there are at least three examples of why hobby games are not growing faster, however and is why you are probably afraid of trying more complex games.

1) Someone made a non-board game player take on a game of Die Macher which is one of the most complex games that exists. Congrats friend of poster, you just ruined hobby gaming for a group of potential new gamers forever.

2) Someone threw out Kemet as a replacement for Risk. KEMET IS VERY COMPLEX. If you want a replacement for Risk, go get Small World. It's a pretty easy to play game with lots of videos. This is an example of "Alpha gamer syndrome". Kemet is not the most complicated game, so people who like complicated games think Kemet is an easy game when it is in fact very complex and will scare you away from hobby gaming forever.

3) Someone asked for a game like Catan... and a poster told them to buy Terra Mystica. DO NOT BUY TERRA MYSTICA. It's VERY COMPLEX. There are lots of games that are "like Catan". Go get Ticket to Ride. Go buy Splendor. Machi Koro. Century Spice Road.

Hardcore Gamer's, as an interested party financially to the hobby gaming world growing, please stop making new players play complex games and let them dabble in the gateway world for 6 months before deciding it's time that they play TI:3.

 

[HollowCentral]

The best example of a complex game that's easy to learn is Settlers of Catan. It's definitely complicated, but once you get into the game it's not that hard to figure out.

 

[SwiftDeath]

I play board games weekly with a group of friends and go to GenCon every year [Board game convention that attracts 60k+ ppl every year]

So I'm probably not a good data point in regards to this question.

That being said I do find we often settle into play the same 3-5 complex board games instead of continuously trying out new ones even though we all own 2-3 board games that we've never played due to how active the medium is right now.

Edit: Lol StoOgE, I'm just imaging trying to get some of my family into playing those crazy European resource management games. That would go well.

 

[Aiii]

I've got a group of friends and we come together about once a month and play boardgames like Arkham/Eldritch Horror, BSG The Boardgame, Dominion, Twilight Imperium, etc.

We especially enjoy co-op board games, just working together to beat the game, that's a lot of fun.

Sure, it takes some time when you start a new game to go through the several tens of pages of manual to understand all the rules, but in the end it's just a lot of fun to spend an afternoon and evening laughing and playing with friends and the complexity of the games just makes for better and more diverse gameplay, making the sessions a lot less boring than a simpler game would.

 

[StoOgE]

Terra Mystica! It's like Catan on steroids but with zero luck and asymmetric game play. I've played it over 30 times and am still craving more plays.

My second recommendation would be Concordia. The rules are literally one page and are very easy to explain. It has an amazing amount of depth too.
Here's a great review of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9u6IuoIPUA

This is fucking horrible advice. I love both of those games. Someone looking for Catan and being sent to buy two incredibly complex unforgiving games is never going to buy a board game again. Concordia and Terra Mystica are the sorts of games you get into in year 2 or 3 of liking hobby board games.

 

[espher]

In this thread there are at least three examples of why hobby games are not growing faster, however and is why you are probably afraid of trying more complex games.

1) Someone made a non-board game player take on a game of Die Macher which is one of the most complex games that exists. Congrats friend of poster, you just ruined hobby gaming for a group of potential new gamers forever.

2) Someone threw out Kemet as a replacement for Risk. KEMET IS VERY COMPLEX. If you want a replacement for Risk, go get Small World. It's a pretty easy to play game with lots of videos. This is an example of "Alpha gamer syndrome". Kemet is not the most complicated game, so people who like complicated games think Kemet is an easy game when it is in fact very complex and will scare you away from hobby gaming forever.

3) Someone asked for a game like Catan... and a poster told them to buy Terra Mystica. DO NOT BUY TERRA MYSTICA. It's VERY COMPLEX. There are lots of games that are "like Catan". Go get Ticket to Ride. Go buy Splendor. Machi Koro. Century Spice Road.

Nail on the head with all of these, right down to the recommendations.

 

[Gurrry]

I play a lot of board games, and while there is a fair amount of research that goes into learning how to play (reading the manual, watching YT videos, googling specific questions), I feel like the more complex games you play, the easier the next one becomes.

I had a hard time learning Magic. Once I got the rules down though, I noticed that every other card game I learned to play afterwards had similar rules as MTG, so learning became easier.

So essentially, the more games you play, the easier the concepts of new games become.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

I'm going to high jack this thread and ask if anyone has any recommendations for games that are similar to Catan.

If you like the trading aspect of Catan, look into the card game Bohnanza. Yes its about planting and farming beans but its a legit classic.

 

[Nezumi]

I'm going to high jack this thread and ask if anyone has any recommendations for games that are similar to Catan.

Terra Mystica! It's like Catan on steroids but with zero luck and asymmetric game play. I've played it over 30 times and am still craving more plays.

Yeah, no. I have yet to bring this to the table, simply because I know it will be a pain to teach as there is quite a lot of stuff you have to keep track of.

My recommendation would be Kingdom Builder. It falls into roughly the same genre as Catan and is just as if not more accessable. Due to the changing winning conditions and the variable board, there is a ton of replayability since you need to adjust your strategy with each game.

It is less luck dependent then Catan but also a lot more forgiving to mistakes than a lot of other games in the same vein.

 

[Unicorn]

Geek and Sundry on YouTube has the amazing board game show with Will Wheaton (?) explaining games and playing with minor celebrities. Models play and the arc of a game.

 

[fuzzyset]

Don't get something like Scythe, Terra Mystica, Agricola, or Power Grid if your only exposure to board gaming is Catan. They're fiddly and enormously complex in the strategies involved. Even if you 'understand the rules', you'll probably be frustrated at what you should be doing each turn. Some personal recommendations for heavier-than-Catan games:

• Splendor
• Small World
• Forbidden Island or Desert (co-op)
• Pandemic (co-op)
• Sushi-go
• 7 Wonders (can be a little rules heavy compared to the others but scales beautifully to 7 people and card drafting is a great mechanic)

I would recommend going for games that have a 'suggested' play time of 15-45 mins. You'll likely take twice as long your first play through. Playing a game a couple times is good to really see if you like it.

To OP's point, what do you mean by complex? Complex is a vague term in board game circles that gets thrown around a lot. Is chess complex? I use the word fiddly above because I think it does a somewhat better job. All those games have a lot of moving parts and it's easy to over look rules on your first few playthroughs.

 

[Secret Character]

Here are a couple of my recommendations for newer players or people who have an interest in tabletop:

Agricola is a fun little game that has a similar premise to Catan in that it's a resource management game. The rules are fairly simple and it's considered to be one of the better board games for people trying to break out from the norm.

Smallworld is a great little pick up and play that has some very wild strategies depending on the race that you play as. Things change gradually as your races go in and out of prosperity. The winner in the end is the one who controls most of the map. It sounds simple, but it's a different game each time you play it.

Zombies is the board game version of a rogue-like. The map is created as you play by randomized map tiles that get drawn every turn. Zombie survival is easy to understand with single d6 rolls and power ups are abundant. There are a couple of cards in the deck that can be used to make the game difficult for first time players, but the consequences of dying are minimal. This game is more fun with the more people you have... and beer.

And now for one that I personally love, but is horribly out of print, and quite rare now a days...

If you enjoy auto racing, Formula De is the most amazing way to do a board game version of it. There was a US release a couple years back called Formula D, but there are a lot of changes there that may or may not be to player's liking. If you enjoy F1 racing at all, this is a game to own.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Actually what I think might be good gateway boardgames if people want to start off less complex and move to more complex would be some deckbuilders like Dominion or DC Deck Building Game

You start with the base game(s) which are usually pretty straightforward to learn and then you can get a bit more complicated depending on the expansions you use which you can start to introduce at a later point.

Also helps that the games are fairly short (45 minutes or less)

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

My friends and I play a lot of board games, but even we usually have someone read the rules and/or watch a playthrough before starting a complex new game. Trying to play on the fly is going to take much longer and not going to be very satisfying.

Also, you have to know who you're playing with. My gf doesn't play many board games, so when she's around, we choose something that's easy to learn.

 

[Secret Character]

Oh, and OP: If somebody wants you to play a game called Twilight Imperium, respectfully decline unless you have at least a day to kill.

 

[Karkador]

There are tens of thousands of board games, classified into different genres and styles of play. You gotta find the types of games you like to play. It's not just about complexity vs. accessibility. It's also a matter of what you find fun to do.

Furthermore, board games are largely a social activity, and there's no shame in your game selection being about entertaining your friends and having a good time with them. There are lots of nerds who will pontificate about why one game is better than others (myself included), but it really doesn't mean a whole lot if it's not the thing you and your friends like to do together.

 

[snausagesUK]

Incidentally when I mentioned up above about hating big complex games Terra Mystica was the one I was thinking about. Popped around a meetup the other day and it went on so long and was very unfun (for me) .

 

[Alcotholic]

Most people have recommended staple games already.
Some other ones you want to check out are:

-Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension
-Pandemic
-Gloom
-Timeline
-Lost Cities
-Battle Line
-Odin's Ravens
-Tales of the Arabian Nights
-Onitama
-Carcassonne
-King of Tokyo

If you like risk, here are some recs that are far better, but not necessarily less complex:
- El Grande
- Power Grid
- Tammany Hall
- Memoire 44
- Command and Colors: Conquest

I have many more suggestions, but these are fairly easy to learn games.

 

[ThLunarian]

I love hobby board games. My favorite board game ever is Twilight Imperium 3rd edition, especially with the Shattered Ascension modded ruleset. However, I rarely have a chance to play it because of how complex it is and how long it takes, and that makes me sad.

My two most hated games are Agricola and Carcassone. Agricola stresses me out way too much when I play it, and Carcassone is mind-numbingly dull.

 

[Shadybiz]

I do see a lot of games coming out all the time.

Anyone know a good one that's relatively quick and easy, and is good for 2 players? Would like to play more with my wife, as a break from the usual routine. Will occasionally be more than just us, but it's usually just the two of us.

Yeah, it's a problem. I end up spending a lot of time reading rules and playing practice games before people come over to play new games. I also usually host so I'm pulling double duty.

Yeah but you're a good host. I have a friend who (before he moved) would try to get us to play new games. Problem is that he would buy the game, not preview the rules beforehand (like at all), and just try to learn as we went. It usually just resulted in the rest of us getting bored and aggravated, and switching to something we all knew already.

 

[Rabid Dwarf 76]

I'm a fan of medium weight worker placement, but my friends always complain about the length of those games. Need to find better board games friends.


This is not a very good recommendation. They're nothing alike. Catan is a luck based dice game, very simple to pick up and play, whereas Terra is very deliberate, requires a lot more commitment to learn the rules.

My apologies. I do see how it may be too much of a jump from Catan to Terra Mystica.

 

[corn_fest]

Video tutorials are the best way to quickly introduce someone to a new game. There's tons on YouTube, often very well put together and under 20 minutes.

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

Anyone know a good one that's relatively quick and easy, and is good for 2 players? Would like to play more with my wife, as a break from the usual routine. Will occasionally be more than just us, but it's usually just the two of us.

Tides of Time. Its a quick and easy two-player game.

 

[fuzzyset]

I do see a lot of games coming out all the time.

Anyone know a good one that's relatively quick and easy, and is good for 2 players? Would like to play more with my wife, as a break from the usual routine. Will occasionally be more than just us, but it's usually just the two of us.

Patchwork is a fantastic, quick 2 player only game.

 

[meow]

i just know I bought dead of winter 1.5 years ago and regret it because as soon as anyone sees the long instruction manual and billions of pieces, they never want to play. haven't played that game even once since getting it.

 

[MrChom]

I match complexity to my play group.

I can go from simple stuff like No Thanks and For Sale all the way up to the Castles of Burgundy, or something like that.

I know, for instance, if one person is there they LOATHE long games (anything more than 30 mins), another hates "Take that!" style games, another likes a bit of crunchyness....

Sadly this means you need a lot of knowledge, and also a good understanding of myriad rules....most of which I can keep in my head. At the end of the day the only way everyone goes home happy is if you can get something that hits them all, and maybe pushes one or two comfort zones.