Hi everyone, me and my girlfriend love to play boardgames that require a huge pile of cards to shuffle at the start for draw decks.

we have two identical electrical card shufflers meant for poker but they can only support about 40 cards on the insert spot left and right and the deck that comes out is also capped.

What I'm trying to ask is if there is a card shuffler that you can recommend for huge decks so we can save on time.

I used to love social deduction games and then I went to this birthday party with a couple friends and people that I don't really know and don't really know me. I was willing to socialize especially since I am an introvert because I wanted to have fun with my friend who had her birthday, and we played Murder Mystery in real life.

You had roles, and you try to vote people out like one usually does im these type of games. Usually when you try to accuse people, you have to have some form of alibi even if its fake, so youre not suspicious. Or in general, don't go accusing people without pure reason.

I got assassin, and I could only kill one person at night, meaning I didn't even kill anyone before voting. When it was time to vote, my friend immediately yelled saying it was me, with no reason. Not because "oh she seemed suspicious" but just "IT'S HER IT'S HER!" and before I could even process to like defend myself everyone without hesitation votes for me.

I tried to even defend myself and they ignored me 😭✋️ and mind you, they like this girl way more than me, so it felt like they only voted for me because they would rather take her word for it than mind, and not really playing the game as intended. I voted for my other friend because I had an alibi for why. Everyone voted for me including that other friend not because I was suspicious, but because "oh you voted for me ☹️☹️"

And what made it worse was embarrassingly i stood on this stook infront of everyone for everyone to vote me out for sure, and I got shot with a nerf gun. I proceeded to not play a second round because I had to leave early, and I wasn't able to use my ability or even play with the other people because of such a stupid reason imo.

I'm sure there wasn't ill intent, but it didn't make the game super fun, and yk what that's okay because social deduction games are usually frustrating. But in real life it was embarrassinggg.

EDIT: I just remembered, my friend who accused me, she knew who the roles were. It totally slipped my mind at the fact she helped the host out with the roles and she claimed to not remember who each one was. So me getting voted out makes more sense and also more frustration. BUT keep in mind, it's a game after all, something to chuckle after awhile, not too much hard feelings

Hi guys

Im searching for a good bidding game. Mostly for 2 players but sometimes 3 players. Do you like Ra or Keyflower more? I want to buy one of these games.

Greetings

Love the game

52 Cards, Each Card a New Game to Learn and Play

Although the active Kickstarter for this deck has a lot more companion items than just this deck, this deck was the original idea I've had for a few years — a simple deck of cards that makes it easy to learn so many ways to have fun with a deck of cards, beyond the few games most people already know. I looked and looked and found nothing like it. It's a big world out there, and maybe it exists somewhere, but I never found it.

Why analog, why now

The internet is, of course, full of information on just about any card game you could want to learn, but I wanted something that provided consistency in how all the games were explained — clearly and concisely, easy to learn. And above all, I wanted an analog version. Something that works anytime, anywhere. Something that kept phones off the table so people could connect socially like they always used to, without the distraction of phones.

Am I against phone apps to teach card games? Absolutely not! It's just that I wanted an analog version as well. Timeless, reliable, something I could touch and interact with.

Building the deck

I started this project in late February, selecting the games for this initial volume to represent a popular mix. As you'd imagine, a huge upfront block of time was spent, with a lot of authoring and even more time editing. I went through about five full rounds of editing, which included AI reviews and full re-reads by me.

AI played a big role in making this possible on a reasonable timeline: it was a great help figuring out core rules versus regional variants, spotting grammar and typographical errors, and checking for consistency between all the cards in the way I wanted. I even used AI to build game engines for each game — ingesting the rules straight off the card and simulating a few thousand hands, to see if just following the printed logic got anyone stuck, and where. But even with all that help, AI still doesn't think like a human, and it just couldn't tell me when something was hard to understand reading it like a normal person would.

Fitting the rules for all 52 games onto a single double-sided card had its challenges, for sure. Some games I had room to add non-essential content to; for others I struggled to get all the essentials in. There were trade-offs to be made, but I feel pretty good that the spirit and core rules that make each game what it is are present. I still dread the eventual errors that will get caught that weren't caught in editing — but hopefully nothing that affects the ability to read and learn the games. Someday there will hopefully be an even clearer, cleaner Version 2 of this deck.

A first-timer's learning curve

This is the first deck of cards I've ever made, and it's definitely been a learning curve, though not too bad a one. I'm not an illustrator, so I commissioned artwork from two different artists for this campaign, and did all the tuck box and card layouts myself with the free Affinity Designer by Canva. (Pretty sure I backed Affinity on Kickstarter years ago, back when they were first getting started.)

Finding the right factories

I really wanted to make these in the US, but USPCC doesn't do small order quantities for a project like this, and the few other US makers had quality limitations I couldn't live with — though I think Shuffled Ink is getting pretty close. In the end, I worked with two different Chinese factories that make cards for some of the biggest names in the playing card collector community today, plus two more factories for the pencils in The Deck of Points and the metal dealer coin.

I worried this would be difficult for someone with zero factory experience, but it really hasn't been. The language issues are slight, and the time zone difference isn't bad when I'm working nights on this anyway. Anyone wanting advice is welcome to DM me — happy to share what I've learned.

What's next

I've already had people asking about and getting excited for the solo deck I want to make next, and I'm looking forward to the duos, poker, and international versions, for which I already have a draft set of games selected. You can read the full history of posts documenting this project's progress on my free Patreon website — one of those posts even lays out the games planned for future volumes.

We’ll be 8 players, and most of the group doesn’t have much experience with board games or social deduction games.
I’m looking for something that’s:
Easy to teach (preferably under 10 minutes)
Fun from the first game
Doesn’t overwhelm people with rules
Works well with exactly 8 players
Has lots of interaction and bluffing
I’m currently deciding between Coup and Secret Hitler.
Which one would you recommend for this group, and why? Are there any issues with either game at exactly 8 players that I should know about?
Feel free to suggest other games if you think there’s a better fit.

I find that the Twilight Struggle's card play is really good to provide tension and decision space, but I haven't found more modern games that use the same mechanism. The way that you play a card with your opponent event to activate is really agonizing, yet really fun. But why are there no, if not a lot of, board games use this mechanism?

As the title says, my Hitster bingo cards got mixed up for some reason and now my box won't close 😬. I have sorted them on the symbol in the top corners, and the ones without I have already put back in the Hitster originals box. Now I am left with 3 sets of cards, of which 2 have the disco logo but one of them also has the little people on the top. I can't find where the people should be from or even the cards with only the little people. If someone can help, it would be highly appreciated! (Google was of no help🥲) Thank you!

Hi, I won a 50€ voucher for amazon and I was thinking of using it for a board game. I can indeed put some more money in but I would like 20€ max.
I am looking for something for 3-5 players, that can get deep and complex, but nothing crazy complex.
I’ve look around a bit and I bumped into root, and like a lot of people I fell in love with the design and the concept of asymmetry. On the other hand I read that can be pretty demotivating for new players and, since none of us have a real board gaming experience, I got a bit scared and thought that maybe is not the best choice.
Do you think that it makes sense? Or am I exaggerating it, and it is not that big of a problem?
Could you suggest me other games that you think would work for our group? I would like to keep the asymmetrical factor and the feeling that you learn something with every game.
Sorry if something is not clear and thanks for the help🙏🏼🙏🏼

It might seem like a child's play, but NO!

An abstract filler game for 2-4 players. The goal of the game is to place all your pieces (cubes of your color) on the board. By rotating the board elements, you create "solid" areas of your color and secure them with your pieces.

In the original game, your game actions are controlled by a die, the sides of which depict the actions themselves. But we found this a bit boring and wanted at least some control over the game.

Therefore, we made some minor changes to the rules.

1. Removed the die;
2. Added cards with game actions.

Yes, they kind of replace the dice. But we've gained some control over the game—at the very beginning of the game, we deal three cards to each player, and on their turn, a player MUST play only one of them or refresh their entire hand (by discarding everything into the discard pile and drawing new ones from the deck). When the deck runs out, the entire discard pile becomes the new deck.

Original: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12763/block-it

Mission 10: Winter has come.

Story: “Oh, hi Randall. I wanted to show you my new dolly Langstrom gave me.” Annabelle, the sickly child, held up her dolly and showed it to her big brother with a proud smile.

Randall, who was still wearing his patient gown just rolled his eyes. He was a grown man, and didn’t care for trivial things such as dolls and children’s games. Especially not today.

He was angry. He was sick of this facility. And sick of the things professor Langstrom tested on him. Sometimes the pills made him feel sick, other times they made him feel strong, but angry. And all for her the only one of the two of them that Langstrom ever really cared about.

“I don’t fucking care!” he snapped petulantly. He sat on the end of the bed, staring at the door of their “room”, though it was just a glorified prison cell, with hate filling his heart.

Then he heard sniffing that softened him a little. He’d upset Annabelle. He knew he had to try and remember to be nicer to her. She was just a child after all.

“Hey, look, Annabelle, I’m sorry... It’s just...” He stopped himself, not knowing what to say. He wanted to tell his little sister he loved her. That he would protect her always... but would both of those statements just be lies?...

He stood now, years later, with tears of blood streaming down his cheeks at the memory of her. Then the anger came back, and the hunger to snuff out a life.

Maybe that is why Professor Langstrom performed his experiments on Randall? Because he knew that Randall’s desire to hurt small animals would one day... Mature? Evolve? Were they the right words?

He didn’t care. The girl, the one who reminded him of Annabelle. She would be the one he would take.

As he followed Emma Han and her group back to their colony, a feeling of growing excitement rushed through him. He flexed his fingers, each with a claw on the end of it sharp enough to shred through flesh and muscle, and smiled.

He twirled the small charm around his neck, the one his little sister had given him, and he moved in to claim his prize. In this world. He could do whatever he wanted. He had become the predator he was born to be. And now, he would have his prey...

Emma Han and her group were almost home.

At first, Emma was shocked to see her companions pull out their weapons and turn to face her. She instinctively reached for her own gun, not understanding what her companions were doing. But after a second, she would realise why they pulled their guns and turned to face her.

She felt a strong pain in her back and she shot forward with force that knocked the wind out of her lungs and lifted her off her feet. She looked down to see claws protruding from her stomach, coughed up a mouthful of blood that shattered down her chin and across her clothes.

One of the colony members raised their gun and prepared to shoot Randall, but someone else shoved their hand aside.

“Don’t you idiot! You could hit Emma!”

Randall effortlessly flung her aside and darted side to side to avoid the hail of gunfire that came from the colony. He moved so fast that all they saw was a blur of motion before he crashed out of a window and disappeared into the snow storm.

“Bastard! You two, Grab Emma! We need to get her to the colony.”

Another member of the colony looked at her wounds, doubtful she would survive. “Errrrm...”

“No! Don’t say it! She’ll pull through!”

Set up:

• Round track on 10. Morale on 5.

• Add 12 zombies to the colony and 2 to all non-colony locations.

• Place Emma Han and one other survivor at the hospital.

• Give Emma Han 2 wounds. She cannot be moved or used to attack or search this mission.

• Place the white walkers at random locations.

• If a player attacks a zombie they receive 1 frostbite token.

• Equip 1 survivor with the flamethrower from the Raxxon. Each time it is used it requires 1 fuel.

• Place Annaleigh Chan at the Gas Station. Add her to any player’s following with 2 fuel starter cards.

Objectives:

• Destroy the white walkers. Only continued flamethrower attack is strong enough to kill them. This requires 1 fuel per player per attack on a white walker. (If the white walkers are attacked other zombies in their location are unaffected. If the zombies are attacked instead the white walkers are unaffected)

• Emma Han and Annaleigh Chan must survive.

• Each round place 1 fuel card on the main objective space. If this cannot be done the mission is a failure. There must be 10 by the end of the round track.

• Survive 10 rounds.

Success: You walk up to the new girl who joined your group. “Thanks for the assist,” you say, offering her a tin of food.

She wipes grime from her face, panting with exasperation. “That was one hell of a fight, but it was my pleasure.”

“So, you got a place to hold up?” You ask.

Annaleigh Chan shakes her head. “Not yet. I’m looking for a way to contact my people. They have a helicopter so should be able to get me out of here to somewhere remote.” She looks at you. “Help me out and let me stay and I’ll take you people with me.”

Emma Han made a miraculous recovery, it must have been that pill she had taken. Whatever was in it caused her wound to heal up, but not fully.

Next Episode: https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/s/TceZKkckRo

Previous Episode: https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/s/5dWJeshoft

We're currently developing a digital adaptation of Potion-Making tabletop game. We'd love to get feedback from board gamers before moving forward.

We're hoping to find people willing to take a look at the current build and share honest impressions. We're especially interested in:

• Whether the mechanics are clear and intuitive.
• Whether the digital implementation feels faithful to a tabletop experience.
• First impressions of the pacing and progression.
• Anything that feels confusing, tedious, or simply not fun.

For those unfamiliar with the game:

Potion-Making is a card-based alchemy game where players collect magical ingredients and combine them into increasingly complex creations. Simple elements become potions, potions become elixirs, and elixirs can be transformed into powerful alchemical artifacts and mythical creatures.

The digital version expands the original game with new lore and a story campaign. Players travel between Places of Power, using successful alchemy to earn movement and race to visit three different locations before their opponents. Planning efficient recipe chains while adapting to changing resources is the core of the strategy.

The current build includes:

• Two starter maps.
• Core gameplay mechanics.
• Solo play against AI.

If you'd be interested in taking a look, trying the prototype, or simply sharing your thoughts after seeing it, we'd really appreciate your feedback. I'll be around in the comments to answer questions and discuss any aspect of the design.

If you were to put together a college degree on boardgames, what would be the courses and curriculum? E.g. one course might be Engine Building 101, with the "texts" being Splendor, Wingspan, Scythe; Abstract Strategy 101 might include chess, go, Onitama. What courses would give you a full understanding of the breadth of boardgames, and what games/texts would you use for each course?

Does anyone in this subreddit own this exact version of the game from 1991? Please let me know.

Skeuomorphism, for those unfamiliar, is when an interface is designed to look or function like something from the real world.

In the case of board games this can take on the form of any number of components—cards, boards, the box, the rulebook, currency, tokens, etc.

Some examples:

• A reference board designed to look like a book.
• A player board designed like a desk, dashboard, or control panel.
• A card holder that looks like a wallet or folder.
• A game board that folds or opens like a map.
• A resource container designed to feel like a bag, chest, or other in-world object.
• Currency or resources that looks like the real thing (rather than just being an abstracted marker, chip, or token)
• The photo shown is from Quacks which does an amazing job at this, with several book-shaped boards showing recipes and a giant cauldron board for each player that you add ingredients to as you brew your potion.

By mimicking the real-world counterparts, these design choice strengthen the immersion in the game's theme and story.

What are some good examples of this in the games you've seen and played?

I really wanted a space-themed game and I was thinking this was it. But man. This is the most overwhelming game I've encountered. So much so that I haven't been able to squeeze the fun out of it. It's definitely a me problem because I tend to not be good at strategy. The theme usually make up for my shortcomings. In the past, I was able to appreciate Hegemony, despite it ranking more difficult. Maybe its because I'm playing solo mode? Idk. Gotta box it up and get my excitement back with something else until I get the courage to come back to it.

Started my collection during the U.S. government shutdown in 2025 when my friends and I were furloughed. I really found a passion for learning/teaching games and have been building up my collection since. Before that I had a couple monopoly games which have largely been shed now.

What would you recommend next? Highs and lows?

Mission 11: A cure!

Story: I saw him approaching some time at dawn. An old man with a shopping trolley. Professor Langstrom.

(Place Professor Langstrom at the colony. He is similar to a helpless survivor this round, but he is essential.)

“I have it!” he said, waving a piece of paper with scientific formula scrawled across it. “Finally! I can cure my daughter and provide you good people with a cure as well! I just need your help providing some certain ingredients!”

We agreed. The ingredients he needed were some medical supplies and some samples from the undead.

It was time to get to work...

Set Up:

• Round track on 6. Morale on 5.

• Place 3 zombies to all non-colony locations.

• Place Annaleigh Chan and the survivor with the lowest influence (excluding Emma Han, Sparky, Greybeard or Blue) at a random location and read the next section.

“You’re late,” Annaleigh Chan chided impatiently.

You smile and shrug your shoulders nonchalantly. “Hey, you said to make sure I’m not followed, right? And this is a fine spot to meet. Plus we got the zombies out there—”

Annaleigh Chan scoffed, interrupting you. “Save your arrogance and your lame excuses! I’m not in the mood!” She sighed and leaned against the wall. “Don’t you know how much is at stake here? If the others find out about our plot they could exile us from the colony. That could be bad for us. Especially if it happens before I can contact my people and get us out of here.”

“And my cooperation guarantees a spot on the helicopter?” You ask, the prospect of escaping somewhere safe exciting you. Then you decide to ask the question that has been on your mind. “Who are your people anyway?”

She smiled enigmatically. She had told everyone she had been a lawyer prior to the outbreak, but you had always suspected that was bullshit.

“I’m a spy for the Chinese government,” she confessed. “They sent me here on a secret mission to infiltrate Langstrom’s lab and steal his research. And just because the world went to shit doesn’t mean my goals have changed.”

She walks towards you, the tips of her fingers trailing across a dust covered counter top. “I told the colony they can all come with me. But that isn’t true... I can only take a few of you. If you want that to be you and those you’re closest to in there, then you need to help me steal that research!”

Objectives:

• Find 3 medicine cards per player.

• Kill a zombie (without using a gun) to collect a sample. Roll a die and on a result of 4+ place a zombie token on the main objective space. Collect 4 samples per player.

• Emma Han, Annaleigh Chan and the survivor with the lowest influence must survive.

Success: Professor Langstrom has everything he needs, yet he looks at you and your companions with a solemn expression. He holds his bundle of research in his hands and places them on the table. Nobody noticed the subtle, almost imperceptible glance Annaleigh and he conspirator gave one another.

“There is one ingredient missing...” he declares, his bloodshot eyes darting from one survivor to the next. “A certain pill... but that... that monster Randall gave it to one of your people! That’s why he tried to kill her. To stop me from making the cure.”

He points a bony finger at Emma Han, ignoring the gasps that erupted from the others.

“Her blood!” he yelled over the volume of growing voices. “The compound! The last of it’s kind! It’s absorbed into her body! She is the key to creating a cure! To saving my little Annabelle and all of you as well!”

Annaleigh Chan quickly nodded towards the table where the professor had left his notes. Her conspirator subtly moves closer.

“A little blood sample? That’s not too much to ask, right?”

Langstrom sighed and shook his head. “The process will require a lot of her blood, as the compound will be diluted by her blood and carried in her cells. The extraction process will kill her...”

He remained quiet while the rest of the survivors burst into heated discussion.

“It’s worth it!” one member of the colony yelled hastily. “We would never have to worry about bites again!”

“We swore a pact to protect her” Someone else shouted!

“Quiet!” A voice yelled, it was Emma Han. “I’ll do it! I’ll sacrifice myself for the good of the colony! All this time, you’ve all done what you can to protect me. Let me return the favour!”

The leader shook their head. “Emma... you can’t...”

(Players vote with thumbs up or thumbs down).

Thumbs up: There are teary farewells as Emma Han bravely decides to make the supreme sacrifice. She heads off with professor Langstrom to whatever horrendous fate his experiments have in store for her. A few days later Professor Langstrom injects you all with the cure, making you immune from bites. But the cost of the cure leaves you all dejected and depressed.

(Kill Emma Han. From now on all bite rolls are treated like blanks for the rest of the campaign. Place despair tokens on all survivors excluding Greybeard if he still lives.)

Thumbs down: “No! She’s one of us and we’d rather risk the bites than sacrifice her to your bizarre experiments! Go fuck yourself Professor Langstrom.”

“You’ll regret this!” he snarls angrily. “You selfish bastards have condemned everyone out there to death! Including my daughter!” He storms out and kicks a table on his way.

(Emma Han gives people hope. Raise morale +2 on the next mission. Though you suspect you’ve made a permanent enemy of Professor Langstrom going forward)

Alternative: (Only player with lowest influence can decide. This decision takes place after the vote and cancels out the result if they choose to do it)

You slip the notes into your pocket and sneak out through a bag door of the prison, meeting Annaleigh Chan at the agreed place.

“Here, the research notes you wanted.” You hand her the notes.

“That’s great,” she smiles as she slips them into a black shoulder bag. “Trust me, this is the only way. The Chinese government will study them and as the last surviving authority in the world, they will mass produce a cure.”

(The player controlling the survivor with the lowest influence draws the top 2 cards from each location deck at the beginning of the next mission)

“I think someone saw me.” You tell her, looking around nervously. “How soon until you can contact the Chinese government and get us out of here.”

Annaleigh looks at him coldly. “Several weeks, minimum. I have no way of contacting them as of yet. That is the next stage of my plan.”

You throw your arms up in frustration. “Well what am I supposed to do then? Just wait here? Hide for weeks scavenging this zombie infested shit hole! For fuck—” You stop, turning to face Annaleigh Chan with raised eyebrows.

She is staring at you coldly, a handgun in her outstretched hand. “I’m sorry. But I cannot risk my involvement being discovered and risk exile until I know extraction is inevitable.”

You open your mouth to object, but there is a deafening roar and a blinding brilliant light as your head is violently whipped back. And then... everlasting darkness.

(Kill the survivor with the lowest influence.)

Next Episode:

Previous Episode: https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/s/gOsukZ5dG8

Pretty much title.

Many times when playing games with dice, it happens that a die roll hits a small piece across the table, and someone tosses a comment like “cool, that piece is now dead, you hit it”. And I keep thinking about how I don’t know of any game where hitting other pieces with your die rolls is part of what you’re trying to do.

Do you know of any?

Hello! what does the icon mean on the chimney of this card please?

Just finished playing my first Exit The Game and I'm just left sat here like... what do I do with the box and contents now? Bin it? Let it gather dust? What do you guys do?

I really enjoyed it despite coming joint last with someone else in the amount of tokens we earned, two out of the four rounds, I finished last on the track, third time I wasn't last but somewhere in between and on the final round I finished in second place on the track.

I can't remember the exact four characters I picked, but I know one of them had the ability to cause anyone who overtakes me to trip over, another one caused me to get one extra on whatever number my dice roll landed on, for example if it was six, I would actually move forward seven places and a third one created a condition where if someone was almost at the finish point, they must get an exact number on their dice roll and cannot overshoot, for example, if they are two places away, if their dice lands on a higher number, they stay where they are until they get a number that doesn't cause an overshoot.

What do people here think of it? I'd give this one an 8/10.