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[Smiley90]

Any suggestions for games that require little setup time, take about 30/45mins tops to play and are fun for 2-5 people? We usually just end up playing love letters with 2/3 people at work, if we're more our default is 7 Wonders.

Probably gonna pick up Mascarade (for when we're even more people)&7 Wonders expansions soon...

King of Tokyo: Not successful with my group, sadly
Lords of Waterdeep: Very successful, but too much setup time/too long to get serious playtime
Small World: Fun,but too long
Dominion: too long to set up


I have Race for the Galaxy, but I'm not sure I wanna go through trying to explain that to everyone :lol. Might do it, though, as I loooove the theme. And it's not a very long game. Any suggestions for games I'm not thinking about?

I was also considering getting a coop game like Pandemic.... but not sure if that'll take too long.

 

[Xater]

Any suggestions for games that require little setup time, take about 30/45mins tops to play and are fun for 2-5 people? We usually just end up playing love letters with 2/3 people at work, if we're more our default is 7 Wonders.

Probably gonna pick up Mascarade (for when we're even more people)&7 Wonders expansions soon...

King of Tokyo: Not successful with my group, sadly
Lords of Waterdeep: Very successful, but too much setup time/too long to get serious playtime
Small World: Fun,but too long
Dominion: too long to set up


I have Race for the Galaxy, but I'm not sure I wanna go through trying to explain that to everyone :lol. Might do it, though, as I loooove the theme. And it's not a very long game. Any suggestions for games I'm not thinking about?

I was also considering getting a coop game like Pandemic.... but not sure if that'll take too long.

Hmmm Qwirkle, No Thanks, Eight Minute Empire, Hanabi and like you said Mascarade would be my suggestions. Mascarade though only get's really good from 4 players up imo.

 

[Smiley90]

Hmmm Qwirkle, No Thanks, Eight Minute Empire, Hanabi and like you said Mascarade would be my suggestions.

I have never heard of Qwirkle, No Thanks or Eight Minute Empire before, so I will go check them out right now, thanks! Hanabi I've heard of but never really looked into it. Mascarade I'll probably get anyway, because Resistance/Avalon are a huge success when we're more people (we sometimes have boardgame nights where we're 7/8 people) but they always end up in a lot of yelling and we can't play them too many times before we want to switch so Mascarade should be perfect as it's also great for a lot of people and there's less "YOU'RE A GODDAMN LIAR" yelling.

 

[Xater]

I have never heard of Qwirkle, No Thanks or Eight Minute Empire before, so I will go check them out right now, thanks! Hanabi I've heard of but never really looked into it. Mascarade I'll probably get anyway, because Resistance/Avalon are a huge success when we're more people (we sometimes have boardgame nights where we're 7/8 people) but they always end up in a lot of yelling and we can't play them too many times before we want to switch so Mascarade should be perfect as it's also great for a lot of people and there's less "YOU'RE A GODDAMN LIAR" yelling.

Mascarade usually doesn't get as vicious as Resistance can get. Mostly you lose track of what is really going on and it's just dumb fun.

Also I think Carcassone doesn't really require a lot of setup and is quick to play. You could just play the base game which is still fun.

 

[The Horror the horror]

In my search for 2 player deduction games...

Picked up 221b Baker Street. A deduction game based on the Sherlock Holmes lore.

Also purchased Hanabi, which everyone knows about.

Someone had recommended Mr. Jack but I prefer more minimalist 2 player deduction games and Mr Jack had some red flags (if anyone can recommend or vouch for it, I'd love to be corrected)

I'll give a proper review of Hanabi and 221b once I've played both enough times.

 

[Karkador]

Smiley, what did your group not like about King of Tokyo? I'm asking just to figure out what else to avoid suggesting.

Someone had recommended Mr. Jack but I prefer more minimalist 2 player deduction games and Mr Jack had some red flags (if anyone can recommend or vouch for it, I'd love to be corrected)

What were the red flags for Mr Jack?

I haven't played Mr. Jack proper, but I have Mr. Jack Pocket and love it as a small and quick 2 player deduction game.

 

[Smiley90]

Smiley, what did your group not like about King of Tokyo? I'm asking just to figure out what else to avoid suggesting.




What were the red flags for Mr Jack?

I haven't played Mr. Jack proper, but I have Mr. Jack Pocket and love it as a small and quick 2 player deduction game.

Player Elimination was probably the biggest thing. Given that our lunch breaks are only like an hour long (tops), if a player gets eliminated and the others keep playing for 15 minutes, it takes away a pretty big chunk of their possible playing time. So we try to stick to games that don't have player elimination.

At least that's what I feel like what was the reason.


I also got "The Agents" from kickstarter delivered so I might give that a try someday. Not sure if that's even any good though haha.

 

[Phthisis]

Any suggestions for games that require little setup time, take about 30/45mins tops to play and are fun for 2-5 people? We usually just end up playing love letters with 2/3 people at work, if we're more our default is 7 Wonders.

Probably gonna pick up Mascarade (for when we're even more people)&7 Wonders expansions soon...

King of Tokyo: Not successful with my group, sadly
Lords of Waterdeep: Very successful, but too much setup time/too long to get serious playtime
Small World: Fun,but too long
Dominion: too long to set up


I have Race for the Galaxy, but I'm not sure I wanna go through trying to explain that to everyone :lol. Might do it, though, as I loooove the theme. And it's not a very long game. Any suggestions for games I'm not thinking about?

I was also considering getting a coop game like Pandemic.... but not sure if that'll take too long.

Anything else by Seiji Kenai will probably work for you. I would recommend Chronicle or Cheaty Mages (I prefer both of them to Love Letter). Real quick setup, real simple rules, lots of bluffing and player to player meta games. I'd also really highly recommend Sushi Go!. It's basically 7 Wonders Lite (cards only, no boards).

In my search for 2 player deduction games...

Picked up 221b Baker Street. A deduction game based on the Sherlock Holmes lore.

Also purchased Hanabi, which everyone knows about.

Someone had recommended Mr. Jack but I prefer more minimalist 2 player deduction games and Mr Jack had some red flags (if anyone can recommend or vouch for it, I'd love to be corrected)

I'll give a proper review of Hanabi and 221b once I've played both enough times.

Check out a game called Vampie Empire. Really good, plays in about 30 minutes, fits all of your criteria.

 

[Yaboosh]

Any suggestions for games that require little setup time, take about 30/45mins tops to play and are fun for 2-5 people? We usually just end up playing love letters with 2/3 people at work, if we're more our default is 7 Wonders.

Probably gonna pick up Mascarade (for when we're even more people)&7 Wonders expansions soon...

King of Tokyo: Not successful with my group, sadly
Lords of Waterdeep: Very successful, but too much setup time/too long to get serious playtime
Small World: Fun,but too long
Dominion: too long to set up


I have Race for the Galaxy, but I'm not sure I wanna go through trying to explain that to everyone :lol. Might do it, though, as I loooove the theme. And it's not a very long game. Any suggestions for games I'm not thinking about?

I was also considering getting a coop game like Pandemic.... but not sure if that'll take too long.

Teach RFTG, it is so worth it.

 

[Xater]

Man I tried selling my copy of Oss because it really didn't go over well with my group. Pretty much everyone hated it. No one on eBay bough it. Guess I am stuck with it.

 

[SkullHydra]

Any suggestions for games that require little setup time, take about 30/45mins tops to play and are fun for 2-5 people? We usually just end up playing love letters with 2/3 people at work, if we're more our default is 7 Wonders.

Probably gonna pick up Mascarade (for when we're even more people)&7 Wonders expansions soon...

King of Tokyo: Not successful with my group, sadly
Lords of Waterdeep: Very successful, but too much setup time/too long to get serious playtime
Small World: Fun,but too long
Dominion: too long to set up


I have Race for the Galaxy, but I'm not sure I wanna go through trying to explain that to everyone :lol. Might do it, though, as I loooove the theme. And it's not a very long game. Any suggestions for games I'm not thinking about?

I was also considering getting a coop game like Pandemic.... but not sure if that'll take too long.

I recommend Smash Up. It's super easy to set up, and can be played without a large time requirement. It's also loads of fun!

 

[Karkador]

Player Elimination was probably the biggest thing. Given that our lunch breaks are only like an hour long (tops), if a player gets eliminated and the others keep playing for 15 minutes, it takes away a pretty big chunk of their possible playing time. So we try to stick to games that don't have player elimination.

At least that's what I feel like what was the reason.
.

If you haven't already, you could look up how to play Liar's Dice. It's just a simple dice bluffing game you can play with regular dice (buy a set of 30 or so small dice for 6 players) Although there's player elimination, it's a very quick game along the lines of Love Letter. There are certainly other dice games you can look up from there that can be played with your dice set. You could probably even make up your own version of Cant Stop.

I recommend Smash Up. It's super easy to set up, and can be played without a large time requirement. It's also loads of fun!

Every game I've played of Smash Up so far, while enjoyable, has taken a long time.

 

[Prophet Steve]

Any suggestions for games that require little setup time, take about 30/45mins tops to play and are fun for 2-5 people? We usually just end up playing love letters with 2/3 people at work, if we're more our default is 7 Wonders.

Probably gonna pick up Mascarade (for when we're even more people)&7 Wonders expansions soon...

King of Tokyo: Not successful with my group, sadly
Lords of Waterdeep: Very successful, but too much setup time/too long to get serious playtime
Small World: Fun,but too long
Dominion: too long to set up


I have Race for the Galaxy, but I'm not sure I wanna go through trying to explain that to everyone :lol. Might do it, though, as I loooove the theme. And it's not a very long game. Any suggestions for games I'm not thinking about?

I was also considering getting a coop game like Pandemic.... but not sure if that'll take too long.

I have played Carcassonne with a turn time limit, which was kind of fun. But probably far from the ideal game.

 

[Affeinvasion]

Cosmic encounter isn't a bad choice but the game length can vary significantly.

 

[Smiley90]

Cosmic encounter isn't a bad choice but the game length can vary significantly.

I thought Cosmic Encounter was a MUCH longer game Oo

Thanks everyone for the suggestions though, I'm taking a look at all of them.

 

[SkullHydra]

Every game I've played of Smash Up so far, while enjoyable, has taken a long time.

It's really easy to decrease the amount of play time though. Just reduce the number of victory points required to win and possibly reduce the map count by one.

 

[Dreavus]

If you haven't already, you could look up how to play Liar's Dice. It's just a simple dice bluffing game you can play with regular dice (buy a set of 30 or so small dice for 6 players) Although there's player elimination, it's a very quick game along the lines of Love Letter. There are certainly other dice games you can look up from there that can be played with your dice set. You could probably even make up your own version of Cant Stop.



Every game I've played of Smash Up so far, while enjoyable, has taken a long time.

Smash up is one of those games that feels like it should be really short, but I think the constant state of flux of the power on each base makes people need to add stuff up in their head over and over again and it seems to just drag onnnnn.

I've liked the game so far, but the last time I played I just wanted it to be over from the beginning even though I ended up leading and winning in the end.

 

[Ohnonono]

I bought Robinson Crusoe. It's fantastic. I got bit by a snake on turn 2. Had everything ready to win the game on the last possible turn. Turned over the card from the snake bite and took just enough wounds to die. Hilarious!

Seriously its great though.

 

[Slacker]

Man I tried selling my copy of Oss because it really didn't go over well with my group. Pretty much everyone hated it. No one on eBay bough it. Guess I am stuck with it.

Vasel saved me from that one. The concept sounded interesting, at least to play with the kids, but after watching the review it was ruled way out. Too hard for the kids, and if I tried to get my regular gaming group to play it they would think I'd gone insane.

 

[Xater]

Vasel saved me from that one. The concept sounded interesting, at least to play with the kids, but after watching the review it was ruled way out. Too hard for the kids, and if I tried to get my regular gaming group to play it they would think I'd gone insane.

I had fun with it in Essen but clearly that fun did not translate outside of it...

 

[blurrygil]

Ghost Stories really is damn amazing.

*peeks at price on Amazon*

Oh my. Might just bite!

Nope, just backing it. Am I not supposed to post about Kickstarter games here?

EDIT: Reading back on my post, it does kind of look like an add. I'm not a shill, I promise. =/

Took a peek at this. I like the concept, just not the components. I can't stand the "meeple" figures. That shit just gets old. :|

But I do have it on "watch", so I might bite at that value.

 

[Omikron]

Managed to find Caverna for a pretty great price locally in Australia. Just unpacking it is pretty daunting as there are so many damn pieces. Pretty excited to give it a spin perhaps later today.

 

[BattleMonkey]

How can a person not like meeples?

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I love Caverna. I don't think it will replace Agricola for me, but, goddamn is it a good game.

 

[Karkador]

Managed to find Caverna for a pretty great price locally in Australia. Just unpacking it is pretty daunting as there are so many damn pieces. Pretty excited to give it a spin perhaps later today.

unpacking it definitely turns a table into a banquet of wood and cardboard, and this is supposed to be a more streamlined Agricola

 

[Xater]

Played a full game of 1775 today and I still really like it. This kind of light war game I can really enjoy. I mean Memoir is fun but I HATE the setup time. Is there anything besides 1812 I might also want to look at?

 

[blurrygil]

How can a person not like meeples?

I just...don't. No definition. Look like they belong in a kids game box or some American roll-n-move game.

I'm prolly in the minority, here.

 

[Phthisis]

Played a full game of 1775 today and I still really like it. This kind of light war game I can really enjoy. I mean Memoir is fun but I HATE the setup time. Is there anything besides 1812 I might also want to look at?

1775 is truly excellent, and a really great (and hilarious) multiplayer game if you can get 4 people together.

If you like it, you should check out Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan. Mechanics are a little different, but it captures that same sort of simple ruleset for conflict that's very easy to understand and get into (though no dice, it's purely tactical; that may or may not be your thing). Beautiful production values, too.

 

[Karkador]

I have Sekigahara, and it is indeed fun and a nice-looking game. however, it's a bit misleading to say it's completely tactical and has no random element. the cards you use for battles are random, and the blocks you draw out for reinforcement are also random. With that said, it is at least something you can mitigate more than a dice roll. I wish I had more opportunities to play it!

 

[Xater]

Sekigahara seems to be a bit on the long side though. 2 hours really is my limit for board games.

 

[Karkador]

Sekigahara seems to be a bit on the long side though. 2 hours really is my limit for board games.

I think the 3 hours is a little bit of an overestimation, or perhaps the upper ceiling of what you'd spend playing the game, as the game has a structure of taking 7 "weeks" (2 rounds in each week), and the turns are not necessarily long. You just have to decide whether you want to discard some cards to move your stacks of blocks around, and then get into some battles if you run into enemies. You may very well end the game halfway through. I'm not into war-gaming, but Sekigahara caught my eye for being...almost a minimalistic wargame? It's really not too complex, but the battles are fun and there's elements of bluffing to them.

However, if you want a "light wargame" (if this counts) that is quick (30 minutes), simple to set up, has lots of theme, and still packs oodles of gameplay - try Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. I had a lot of fun with that one, it's quite a nice game.

 

[Merino]

Sekigahara is the game I most want to buy right now.

It is also the game I'm least likely to actually get to the table

Standing strong and holding off for now

 

[Ferrio]

Picked up Takenoko the other day. Very cute game that everyone enjoyed. Seems like it'll be a good fit for the casual board game crowd of my group.

 

[AstroLad]

I learned Merchants & Marauders over the weekend. Actually seems kind of like Eclipse: Pirates Edition but with a little more flavor and direct conflict. Excited to try it out soon.

 

[Flynn]

I love Caverna. I don't think it will replace Agricola for me, but, goddamn is it a good game.

Can't wait.

 

[TumblingHippo]

So here was the progression of our first game of CO2.

Decade (round) 1: Learn the mechanics, be nice to one another, point out good moves. Quite civil.

Decade 2: Figure out a couple of the more fiddly rules, become a bit more aggressive, start battling for control of the regions. Block others with scientists and weasel in on summits.

Decade 3:

Spoiler

Fuck.

We have to work together to not lose! So we'll agree this is the best course of action. But what if he screws me over to get more points/control? We can focus to build 3 plants in Africa to save the world and end the game this decade, but if we do that I'd probably lose, so I'll build elsewhere and try to steal control. Maybe I'll steal the power plants from under him in Africa. What if he tries the same thing?

 

[Flynn]

I just...don't. No definition. Look like they belong in a kids game box or some American roll-n-move game.

I'm prolly in the minority, here.

Celda

 

[AstroLad]

Finally beat Ghost Stories on Nightmare yesterday (barely, of course; we were on the brink of death pretty much the entire game). So damn proud.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I learned Merchants & Marauders over the weekend. Actually seems kind of like Eclipse: Pirates Edition but with a little more flavor and direct conflict. Excited to try it out soon.

Love M&M

 

[Phthisis]

Woo, first math trade on BGG and it worked out for me! Sending out Quarriors and some expansions, getting Civilization in return.

 

[Xater]

I think the 3 hours is a little bit of an overestimation, or perhaps the upper ceiling of what you'd spend playing the game, as the game has a structure of taking 7 "weeks" (2 rounds in each week), and the turns are not necessarily long. You just have to decide whether you want to discard some cards to move your stacks of blocks around, and then get into some battles if you run into enemies. You may very well end the game halfway through. I'm not into war-gaming, but Sekigahara caught my eye for being...almost a minimalistic wargame? It's really not too complex, but the battles are fun and there's elements of bluffing to them.

However, if you want a "light wargame" (if this counts) that is quick (30 minutes), simple to set up, has lots of theme, and still packs oodles of gameplay - try Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. I had a lot of fun with that one, it's quite a nice game.

Sekigahara also looks like a bit too much from the rules perspective. I think that LOTR game is no longer available over here.

 

[Angst]

Woo, first math trade on BGG and it worked out for me! Sending out Quarriors and some expansions, getting Civilization in return.

Math trades can be awesome. Hope you like Civilization!

 

[Karkador]

Sekigahara also looks like a bit too much from the rules perspective. I think that LOTR game is no longer available over here.

Yeah, the rulebook is not written in a very friendly way, but I swear the rules are not that complex, and the game itself is rather straight-forward. Anyway, I'm not trying to push the game on you, lol, I just think it's a good game that people seem to misunderstand because it's categorized with other wargames.

As for LOTR, which country do you live in?

 

[Xater]

Yeah, the rulebook is not written in a very friendly way, but I swear the rules are not that complex, and the game itself is rather straight-forward. Anyway, I'm not trying to push the game on you, lol, I just think it's a good game that people seem to misunderstand because it's categorized with other wargames.

As for LOTR, which country do you live in?

Germany. The game is out of print here. I looked into it before.

 

[joelseph]

I learned Merchants & Marauders over the weekend. Actually seems kind of like Eclipse: Pirates Edition but with a little more flavor and direct conflict. Excited to try it out soon.

Big fan. I always bring M&M and Libertalia to game nights. My two favorite pirate games.

 

[antronoid]

I just got Risk Legacy, loving it so far!

 

[BattleMonkey]

Yay Eclipse ship pack 1 is out.

*looks at pics of the ship minis*

Errr ummm no

 

[billmcdougal]

Are you guys familiar with the Pirates "Constructable Strategy Game?"

The original was called Pirates of the Spanish Main, and then there were a ton of other sets like Pirates of the Cursed Seas and At Ocean's Edge.

I doubt they're incredibly highly regarded as actual games. You purchase the ships/game in booster packs that contain two ships a piece (or a ship and a bonus, depending on the set). The booster packs contain cards that you punch pieces out of and then combine to form mini game pieces.

I honestly haven't even played the game yet, but I've spent a decent amount of money on it because it's fun to open the boosters and construct the cool little ships

 

[ultron87]

Big fan. I always bring M&M and Libertalia to game nights. My two favorite pirate games.

I just picked up Libertalia! Very excited to give it a try.

 

[Karkador]

Are you guys familiar with the Pirates "Constructable Strategy Game?"

I saw the constructed ships on display at a store once and thought it looked really cool. I love the cardboard ships you put together yourself. I looked it up after, but I gave up on the idea after seeing that it was a short-lived and discontinued thing.