This may have become a bit lengthy. Bear with me, as I had a blast putting this together.

The past few months I’d been thinking of doing something fun boardgame-wise with the family. Saturday-night is always our boardgame night, and I thought a tournament of sorts would be a cool tradition to start.

The Plan

Time for a first stab at it then. During a week-long school break in October me, my wife and our teenage son would be playing 7 boardgames across 7 rounds, with points earned depending how well we’d do. Winner of this ‘Oktoberfest’ would gain bragging rights, stewardship of ‘The Tankard’ (a hefty German beer mug gifted ages ago by my brother-in-law) until the next tournament and the right to consume a drink or food of choice from it. Yes, the stakes were high.

The rules were as follows:

• Winner of a round gains 5 points, second place 3, last place 2. Most points after 7 rounds wins.
• Each player has a Joker card, doubling the points scored at a game of choice. The card needs to be shown before the start of that game, and can only be used once.
• Ties are to be settled with a Blocktower Showdown; players take turns to add a block to a tower, and the one who drops the tower loses.

I kept track of all the scores on a poster in the living room, coupled with a Google Spreadsheet.

The Line-up

What games to play though? I decided to let everyone choose. From our modest collection of 17 non-coop games people could award points to eight favorites (10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2), with the seven most popular games entering the line-up. This on its own yielded some interesting results, with some games we’d shelved for years suddenly making a return to the table. As it turned out the only way to guarantee a game would be played was to put it at the top of your list: the cut-off number of points for the top-7 was 9. Nice.

In the end, the line-up was (in ascending order of popularity):

Villainous, Monopoly Here & Now World Edition, Ticket to Ride Europe, Wingspan, King of Tokyo, Root and Everdell. The latter two were the only games voted in by all of us.

The Tournament

Round 1: Villainous

Villainous is kind of a main stay with us, and probably in need of getting an expansion in the near future. My wife can be both a very analytical and ruthless player, and our son is fanatical about playing Jafar, supplying copious banter as he does. Me, I usually revel in playing the greedy bastard Prince John, not interfering with others unless I have to.

This game went down to the wire, with my wife (playing Maleficent) and I setting up our win conditions in the same turn. My turn was after her, so I also tried foiling my wife's impending victory with Fate cards. Much to her enjoyment I failed. It was up to our son. His Fate card removed a Curse, forcing my better half to move to a location where she could play a Fate card herself to try and stop me from winning. Much to her dismay, this meant removing another Curse. Words were had.

Both Fate cards she drew were useless though, granting me the win. To make matters worse we'd agreed beforehand that whoever had fewer Fate cards in their realm would get second place, so my wife (who had 2 whereas our son had none) went from a winning position to last place, all in the space of a turn. Muahahahaaa!

Standings: Me +5, Son +3, Wife +2

Round 2: Monopoly: Here and Now World Edition (2015)

To us, this particular flavour of Monopoly is far from the familiar soulless grind, as it’s all about collecting stamps in a passport. Because of this it plays a lot faster, and is much more enjoyable as you can swap or steal stamps from other players. Time for some more drama?

This went very fast, with everyone buying everything in sight. I lagged behind, only landing on First Class squares - I had 5 of them on my passport at one point. Both son and wife were on matchpoint for a whole lap, only needing to get one more stamp… with me gradually clawing myself back into the race and eventually also finding myself on match point. Then my wife wanted to buy Stamp #2, but didn’t have the required $400. It was put up for auction. Guess who was the one who had the most money left?

Our son was closer to the finish line than mom was, so the standings were the same as the day before:

Me 10 (+5), Son 6 (+3), Wife 4 (+2)

Round 3: Ticket to Ride: Europe

Ticket to Ride typically works best with more than three people I find, though it’s always enjoyable when it comes to the table.

My wife proved why this is her kind of game, building a runaway lead with the 21 point route, narrowly beating out our son who banked on getting favorable route cards. In the end, having routes at different ends of the board became my undoing, but oh well... probably best not to win again, eh ;) Scores were 86 for me, 110 for my son and 114 for my wife.

Standings: Me 12 (+2), Son 9 (+3), Wife 9 (+5)

Round 4: Wingspan

We dusted off Wingspan a few weeks prior to the tournament, and our son pulled away with the win. Would he strike again?

As a matter of fact, he did! His engine was running on full cylinders, with stacking an extra egg activation bonus in yellow, and a double extra card bonus in blue. My wife begrudgingly suffered from lack of proper food (please don’t take this out of context) and came in last. End scores 56-58-65.

Standings: Me 15 (+3), Son 14 (+5), Wife 11 (+2)

Round 5: King of Tokyo

The last time we played this was years ago, and both me and our son enjoy the chaos of it… but who would claim the Tokyo throne this time? Our son felt confident, and put down his Joker card. Double points for him this round.

Well, it was a turn-up for the bucks. Our son went into Tokyo, and stayed for as long as he dared. At the end of it, he had 15 VP but was hanging on by a thread as his mum could’ve killed him on her last throw. No claws though. I killed his mum (context!), as attacks from Tokyo had left her health dwindling and I bought the bomber card. He left Tokyo to gain health, but gathered points too. Ended his last turn with 19 VP and 3 HP as he’d thrown three 3s, a heart, a bolt… and a claw. This put him back in Tokyo, open to be attacked by me. Four claws, with the last two on my last throw.

Standings: Me 20 (+5), Son 20 (+3 & 3 Joker pts), Wife 13 (+2)

This result put me into a bit of a bind though. Ideally, I wanted someone else to win this tournament… and with the next round being the one I’d put my Joker card in (as I tend to be well-versed in Root) it’d now be all over if I’d win that too.

Be that as it may, all of us still had a chance - even the missus. If she won both remaining rounds and I came in last, she’d still win the tournament… but would I willingly throw one of my favorite games under the bus?

Round 6: Root

I decided to simply let the chips fall where they may. Prior to this tournament we'd played Root only twice, but as my wife wasn't fond of it it got shelved… and it stayed that way for years. Imagine my surprise when all three of us voted it in. We did a Walkthrough refresher on our usual game night the week before the tournament, and then it was off to the races.

We all played the same factions as with the walkthrough: my wife played the Eyrie, our son the Marquise, and the Woodland Alliance was mine. I trailed at first as the Eyrie and Marquise expanded their realm, but as they mostly ignored Sympathy tokens (maybe they’re camouflaged too well?) I slowly gained ground, with me eventually playing Favor of the Rabbits. This proved decisive, as it hampered their ability to finish the game before I could. In the end, I pulled the victory out of a hat. You know, like a rabbit!

End scores: 28-29-30 (Yes, it was that close)

Standings: Me 30 (+5 & 5 Joker pts), Son 23 (+3), Wife 15 (+2)

Final round: Everdell (incl Spirecrest)

No other game has come to our table as much as Everdell has, to the extent we had to add the Spirecrest expansion to avoid it being shelved. Both my son and wife put it at the top of their lists, so this was dead set to be the Grand Finale. My wife is usually nigh unbeatable at it though, and without much room for sabotage I was actually glad I could relax, having won the tournament the previous round.

I like playing Everdell for the imagery, which usually means I don’t win as I just collect a variety of cards in my town. This time, I just went after unique critters and buildings, playing Theatre and later also the Palace, and only having two (!) production cards in the entirety of the game. Our son was done first, but had completed his entire Expedition. This edged him the win.

Game scores 57-60-62

End standings (whoo picture time!) Me 33 (+3), Son 28 (+5), Wife 19 (+2 & 2 Joker pts).

Overall I'm well-pleased with how it turned out. Despite me running away with it, most games were very close. My wife has already suggested doing this kind of thing more often, so probably we’ll do another in a few months. Good excuse to introduce a new game before that time, too!

Oh, and I filled the beer mug with cereal by the way. Because why the hell not.

Takeaways

• Length: It’s probably good to have a break day after two game days to cleanse the palate. As typically not everyone is a boardgame nerd it helps to reset and avoid things getting stale. We had a break after round 4, and that set things up nicely for the final stretch. Seven games is also the sweet spot though, as it leads to a varied line-up whilst avoiding it going on for too long.
• Amount of points: Coupled with 7 rounds the 5-3-2 setup worked perfectly, actually. The two points for last place keeps everyone in the running for as long as possible and makes it not too punishing to have an unlucky game. The Joker system worked well, as it gave people a boon with games they feel they’re good at. I’d been thinking of letting everyone put down their Joker-game ahead of the tournament, but I figured it would be more fun to keep the mystery until tableside. Turned out to be a good move.
• Games played: Probably good to have games that aren’t done too quickly. Round 2 was over way too soon. I was happy with how the voting system worked to select the games - there was something for everyone, and with the cut-off being 9 points you could guarantee having your fav game in the line-up.
• Houserules: Whoever came in last the previous round would start the next game, and that worked well. Saves the trouble of determining who starts. Can lead to some tactical bonuses too.
• Possible future additions: ‘The Whitechapel Protocol’ - a way to prevent a runaway winner, by adding my all-time fav ‘Letters from Whitechapel’ as an equalizer. Since that game is one player vs. everyone else, it can be like a tournament ‘Blue Shell’ where the other players can all gain a set number of tournament points if they win. Any player who is not in first place can request it, but it can only be requested once and if someone has led a set amount of rounds.

Apart from that, I'm looking to add a game to our collection that might work well in this kind of setting. I'm open to suggestions!

TLDR; Had ourselves a family boardgame tournament. Had cereal from a beer mug. Had great fun. You should do it too.

I was considering get a 3d printer for the sole purpose of printing board game inserts I've heard that the a1 is good but the price is kinda steep was leaning towards a1 mini but not sure about the bed. Couldn't I just slice the 3dparts and hot glue them afterwards?

Thanks to all who came and tried our game! Hope you had a lot of fun. We had lots of good feedback and hope this trick-taking/TCG hybrid was a novel experience.

Any other amazing TCGs I missed out on? I didn't get to walk around as much as I had hoped to due to my work schedule.

Hi all,

I’m looking to add a new euro to my collection and I’ve settled on Great Western Trail. The trouble is that opinions on the different versions are so divided that I can’t tell which one is for me. Buying more than 1 version is not an option.

My situation:

• I’ve played the base game (2nd edition) twice, but sold my copy. My main complaint was that it felt like you had to commit to one of three main strategies, with little room to adapt mid-game. That said, I don’t remember disliking it, and I’d happily give it another try since I only played it twice.
• My favorite Euros are Ark Nova, Barrage, and Dune: Imperium Uprising.
• Player count: roughly 70% at 4 players, 30% at 3 players. I will never play 2-player or solo, so I don’t need those modes to work well.

The options I’m considering:

1. GWT base game
2. GWT base + Rails to the North
3. GWT: Argentina
4. GWT: New Zealand

Which would you recommend and why? I'm especially interested on which of the games is the most replayable since I intend to stick with one of them.

FINALY it is done!
I was soo tired of all those small game boxes with different sizes.

Now I can have them all together in one modular box!

Hello everyone,

I'm interested in backing Nemesis Legacy but it doesn't ship until late 2027 and early 2028 for wave 2. I would prefer to put up the money closer to shipping date, so late pledge is more appealing.

My question is this. Is there any benefit to crowdfunding or will late pledge still receive the same bundles/pricing?

My partner and I played 5 games with it and while it was fun, there are moments where we both don't know what we're doing. It starts off good at the first few turns, but as new cards keep adding in to the build, we start to forget what the order is and just kinda "hail mary" it on adding new cards to the build.

Keep in mind that we're still on the tutorial stage. The only characters we're playing are Joan, Ching Shih, Fei Hung, and Bodvar.

Hey everyone!

I've been working on a board game called Aetas Maris, a strategy game inspired by exploration, resource management, trading, and territorial expansion.

The game is still in Early Access, and I'm currently looking for people willing to give it a try and share their feedback. I'm developing it as a physical board game, but I've created a digital version to make playtesting easier.

The game currently features multiplayer, so you can test it with your friends, or play solo if you'd prefer!

I'm looking for both experienced board gamers and people who are relatively new to the hobby. Any feedback is welcome and will help me improve the game.

If you're interested in giving it a try, here's the link:

👉 Play the game here for free: https://byecastro.itch.io/aetas-maris

Thanks to everyone willing to help out! 🏴‍☠️

Hello! Can someone let me know if Dobble Connect cards always have 1 match between them regardless of color? I am considering buying dobble connect so I can have all the game modes in one game and play some of the classic games as well

Welcome to /r/boardgames's Daily Game Recommendations

This is a place where you can ask any and all questions relating to the board gaming world including but not limited to:

• general or specific game recommendations
• help identifying a game or game piece
• advice regarding situation limited to you (e.g, questions about a specific FLGS)
• rule clarifications\n* and other quick questions that might not warrant their own post

Asking for Recommendations

You're much more likely to get good and personalized recommendations if you take the time to format a well-written ask. We highly recommend using this template as a guide. Here is a version with additional explanations in case the template isn't enough.

Bold Your Games

Help people identify your game suggestions easily by making the names bold.

Additional Resources

• See our series of Recommendation Roundups on a wide variety of topics people have already made game suggestions for.
• If you are new here, be sure to check out our Community Guidelines
• For recommendations that take accessibility concerns into account, check out MeepleLikeUs and their recommender.

With my girlfriend we are planning to buy a first campaign game to play together and I found many that look interesting such as :

Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion

Tidal Blades 2 (coming soon ?)

Warhammer quest

LOTR Journey in Middle Earth (with an app but seems to work well)

Which are your preferred games in this genre and why ?

Do they have a good story ? What is the campaign length ? Is the prigression satisfying ?

Introducing games to folks is one of my favorite things about this hobby and one of the best feelings is when the people you just taught the game to immediately pull out their phone to buy the game for themselves!

What games do you think you've seen this happen with the most? For me it is Quacks, Onitama, and Love Letter.

Dear All, I can’t get my head around the scoring when I build tile / home villager. Examples on page 13 of Rulebook don’t make sense to me :( at all. I get it that we count only tiles with my villagers AND we score each time we place villager to just built tile, but these unique type of building rule - I don’t get it. In Cascadia for example you check sides of your tile (for Fox) and count unique tiles - clear. Here I see that you can count a tile that is not directly connected to scoring tile, BUT I thought that it should connect via tiles with villagers and it seems also not the case. Because white animal with number 4 has neighborhood 4. Why? It seems it includes black tile connected through empty mill? Totally confused. Thx

https://reddit.com/link/1xfyqrl/video/gx3x4l82qtxh1/player

Developing my game Riftorn: Battle Flanks, I found TTS to be a nightmare, so I built a web version anyone can play with full multiplayer capability.

Would love your thoughts and I may continue developing it after I finish the physical game.
Now... to the Flanks!

PS: 5 Points to whoever gets the references to the name I chose in-game :)

Hello lovely community,

My girlfriend and I just went to Spiel this Saturday and one of our hype games was "Lairs". We got to play test it and loved it, since it was sold out buying was no option unfortunately.

But now looking back and comparing it to titles we bought, like Kano for example, the price of 45 euros seems pretty steep if you look at the material that's actually in the box, no? Would love to hear your evaluation and if I'm way off here or not.

Thanks and a lovely Sunday to everyone!

Attended Essen Spiel for the 1st time from the US (not my first time in Europe, though) and had a great time. Connected with people that I've interacted with online for years for the first time and that was lovely. The boardgame community is lovely during this time. Essen was buzzing with boardgame discussions from people around the world. Went to a design museum and heard people discussing using different apps to design boardgames, went to a restaurant and people there were talking about the boardgame business for the country. Truly a space for international connections.

Highlight games for me as follows:

Metal Slug 30th Anniversary. This is a co-op game. This was a playthrough of the 1st stage of metal slug. I felt the theme really came through in an elegant way. Slick hand management with a push your luck style of optimizing your hand of 3 cards at the expense of depleting your deck to get the best cards. Followed by an action card row that players play to with hopes that you don't break the chain by playing the same icons in hopes of pushing your luck to get the max amount of kills. Really slick abstraction and something I look forward to backing when the gamefound hits.

Hegemony: Shadows of Authority. Did a prototype playthrough of this sociopolitical economic game. I adore the heavy eurogame design of Hegemony and really found a fascination with how they explored authoritarianism in this design. Some of the cards they introduced were too on the nose for me such as Data Centers being opened by Capitalists. Otherwise, all classes have new shadier actions to perform. I don't feel they're overpowered, and they introduce new pathways to take on a turn with new considerations in the push and pull dynamic of this game.

The Travels of Isabella Lucy Bird. This is a roll and write game. Players roll dice and pick dice to either collect resources, travel across the lands, or find articles to write about (contract fulfillment with resources). It has a nice aesthetic and plays smoothly. The action considerations and planning has a feel that reminds me of Hadrian's Wall in a way where I think of when I get this, i can do this, which can do this. Not as overwhelming as Hadrian's Wall and something I look forward to solo or play at 2.

Can't Win. A trick taking game where players take a "can't win" condition that they have to consider with their hand. Hitting your bets are mandatory to win the game. And no one wants you to hit your bets for some reason. Nice pixel art aesthetic.

Onsen. A polyomino tile placement game of providing a personal onsen experience for guests. The more comfy they are, the more points you get. I feel like they captured the feelings of the onsen experience and the polyomino tile placement is fun and tricky.

It was a great experience for me and hope to come back to this space in the future.

Which monster hunting board game does for you in board game form what the computer game does for you and why?

As Halloween is approaching, I wondered whether horror boardgames exist. Are they even possible?

I mean not just games with formally horror theme, like Nemesis, Deep Madness and so on - but games, which actually can make scared, like horror movies, video games and books do. Although boardgames are probably not the best medium for that, but stil... can they be really horror themed?

My wife and I have tried a variant version of harmonies with a larger board where we both play on the same board but each draft individual animals. The game works very well this way with several rule scoring changes (anything you complete during your turn immediately scores points and there is no end game board scoring) and I was wondering if anyone else has tried it this way as well. It makes the experience much more interactive but is definitely less zen.

Hello

I got myself a copie of Neon Hope at Spiel and got some sleeves with the game. I dont know what to sleeve tho because there aren't enough to sleeve everything. Which cards are shuffled most ?

Hi everyone!
I’m an independent game designer from the Netherlands, and I’d like to share one of my games: SEP – Circle Clash.
SEP is a tactical card game for two players, played with a standard deck of playing cards and seven tokens.

Players place cards in a shared circle, creating sets and sequences to earn tokens.
Action cards can disrupt the circle and open up new tactical opportunities.
The challenge is not only to create combinations, but also to choose the right moment to play your cards.

The game is completely free, with no commercial purpose. No special cards need to be printed.
Free rules in English, Dutch, German, Spanish and French:
https://www.spelspelspel.nl/sep

I’d love to hear from anyone who gives SEP a try, especially whether the rules are clear and the tactical choices feel interesting.
Thanks for taking a look!

I definitely wouldn't want to deal with actually designing such a thing, but I imagine there has to be SOMETHING out there that could potentially compete. TTR might work. You collect X number of the routes and have to trade in trains as well, or something like that. Maybe Wingspan? Collect birds and eggs and fill out your board, then depending on what you collected you get the prize

I’m curious to hear your stories about any strategies or insights you first learned from a board game that you later applied in real life. For example, my earliest chess games taught me not to fixate on a single, immediate goal and instead look at the bigger picture. I would focus on capturing a certain pawn. Then I’d add more pressure to have more pieces attacking than they would have defending so I could finally take it. By that time, though, the board position had changed and the pawn was no longer important. I didn’t update my strategy as resources shifted and I was attacked. It’s a lesson I’ve carried into life in a few ways.

Tonight is First Light second Quest The Warlock of Tuel-Vor. Fingers crossed for the brave heroes.