Thanks for this—my group isn’t getting together as often, but I’m looking forward to spending a good few hours in the Pax Prime boardgames room(s) again this year.
Wingspan is interesting—it’s beautiful, fairly easy to learn, takes the right amount of time, and it got played a lot last year and early this year. And kind of dropped off—it’s not exactly shallow, but it’s very dependent on your draws and availability when your turn comes. It’s also not very interactive among players.
A few games that have held our attention that aren’t on your list:
Terraforming Mars. Not my favorite, but beloved of some of my friends—a bit long and a bit … twiddly with the variety of cards and resources. But pretty good pacing throughout, and the right mix of strategy and luck that you can think about things but don’t feel bad when it doesn’t work out.
Burgle Bros. Coop (players against game, all win or all lose together), and surprisingly difficult, we lose far more than we win. More tactical than strategic—you need a general approach, but most decisions are looking only a few turns ahead.
Takenoko. Cute, lightweight, and pretty easily understood, good for kids and more casual gamer friends.
Pandemic. Another co-op game, the expansions keep it interesting, but the basic gameplay is pretty repeatable. Likewise the Forbidden {Desert,Island,Sky} games.
On your list, I’ve played the majority, and Ticket to Ride and Power Grid are in our rotation pretty often. I should take another shot at getting a few more of them into Bridge—I played Duplicate a bit long ago (which got eclipsed by Poker, which has kind of dropped off my activities, even before COVID).
Thanks for this—my group isn’t getting together as often, but I’m looking forward to spending a good few hours in the Pax Prime boardgames room(s) again this year.
Wingspan is interesting—it’s beautiful, fairly easy to learn, takes the right amount of time, and it got played a lot last year and early this year. And kind of dropped off—it’s not exactly shallow, but it’s very dependent on your draws and availability when your turn comes. It’s also not very interactive among players.
A few games that have held our attention that aren’t on your list:
Terraforming Mars. Not my favorite, but beloved of some of my friends—a bit long and a bit … twiddly with the variety of cards and resources. But pretty good pacing throughout, and the right mix of strategy and luck that you can think about things but don’t feel bad when it doesn’t work out.
Burgle Bros. Coop (players against game, all win or all lose together), and surprisingly difficult, we lose far more than we win. More tactical than strategic—you need a general approach, but most decisions are looking only a few turns ahead.
Takenoko. Cute, lightweight, and pretty easily understood, good for kids and more casual gamer friends.
Pandemic. Another co-op game, the expansions keep it interesting, but the basic gameplay is pretty repeatable. Likewise the Forbidden {Desert,Island,Sky} games.
On your list, I’ve played the majority, and Ticket to Ride and Power Grid are in our rotation pretty often. I should take another shot at getting a few more of them into Bridge—I played Duplicate a bit long ago (which got eclipsed by Poker, which has kind of dropped off my activities, even before COVID).