For true gamers, what is the best board game?

Question

For true gamers... Those that enjoy a good mental challenge when gaming. No roll-and-move only types (so no Monopoly or Sorry). No trivia based games (memorization and regurgitation of trivia is not a game). (Based on this "Backstreet Boys Around the World" wouldn't qualify.)

Games that you play for social interaction AND to challenge your mind. Games that reward you for playing well rather than playing lucky. Games that involve planning, strategy, cunning, and observation rather than knowing the name Ross' monkey or how to convey the word "dry." Games that interact with other players ("I bid 24 for Lite Metal" or "wood for sheep?") rather than wait for other players ("your turn" or "move already"). Games that include tough choices rather than rely solely on tough dice rolls. Games that make you think outside the box rather than be a box.

For those of you that are lost and can't think of a game, try www.boardgamegeek.com.

Answer 1

Hmmmmm. This seems more like persuasion than inquiry because if you know boardgamegeek, then you already know that the true boardgamers have voted for Puerto Rico. I do agree that Modern Art and Settlers have some great interaction. I played Die Macher this weekend for the first time and now I see why it's rated so highly. Complicated and long, but very interesting!

Answer 2

I agree with the folks who said Chess and Axis and Allies. I think Risk and Stratego are interesting, but predictable. Scrabble has a lot to do with luck of the draw so it's out. Chess has to be the ultimate mental game but Axis and Allies can be very challenging as well. I have seen some very good chess players get whipped repeatedly at Axis and Allies. I was glad to see someone vote for A & A, I was beginning to think that boardgame was lost to the sands of pre-ADD time(pre - attention deficit disorder time). Although, I must say Rome: Total War and its expansion on the computer can provide a modest challenge. So computer games are catching up, though they will never replace the social interaction aspect of a traditional boardgame. However, you are far less likely to punch someone in the mouth for gloating too much playing against the computer or someone on-line so . . . . . . . . . . . . .maybe the social interaction part is a tad overrated.

Answer 3

According to BoardGameGeek's members (who would largely considered "true" gamers if they're contributing to a boardgaming site), Puerto Rico would be the top game. I've played it about 30 times or so and I've had fun on most occasions. Another popular "best" game is Go, which is only 2-player and an abstract but there's a lot of players who only play Go and learn something new every time, and there's something to be said for that I guess. It takes a while to get into though.

My current favorites are El Grande (for multiplayer) and either Yinsh or Battleground (2-player). But the jury's out on whether I'm "truly" a gamer so take that with a grain of salt.

Answer 4

Out of all these suggestions, I cannot believe that Magic The Gathering is not on this list!

The game perfectly describes what you are talking about. You create a deck of cards and play against another. There are 5 colors: black, blue, red, white, green. They all represent different strengths and weaknesses. For example, black (which has many "evil" kind of cards) wields great power, but also can end up turning on it's user.

Unfortunately, the game has been labeled as nerdy, but there is unlimited combos and deck ideas with all the cards that have been around for 12 years! Some of the cards are expensive, but don't need those cards to guarantee wins. It has the collectible factor and rewards those that try to come up with a strategy. Is both online line and offline with cards.

Answer 5

Acquire. This is a proprietary game that consists in play of tiles and purchases of (what amount to) speculative claims against future positions of the game. The metaphor is establishment, expansion and merger of hotel chains, and the purchases are of 'stock' in the chains. The number of tiles (played to specific board locations), and the number of permitted chains, and the number of shares of stock in those chains is strictly limited. Play with experienced players (which is anyone playing their second game) takes about 45 minutes. Objective for each player is the same: be the richest player when the game ends.

The rules of this game are ASTONISHINGLY clearly written. You'd have to work very hard to err in play, if you'd read the rules once through. And the rules are short, written in the lid of the box.

This game plays well with 3, 4, 5, or 6, and can be an adequate game for just two players. The number of players is significant, affecting 'texture of play'; the three handed game is highly strategic, with the players having a fairly high degree of control over their individual destinies; the six handed game is a mad scramble of opportunists maneuvering for position to snatch profit; the four and five handed games fall between those poles.

NO ONE who sits down to play this game for the first time gets up from the table without a fair understanding of the basic strategies and tactics of this game. I count that a VERY important plus: this game is so very strong that even people who do not automatically sit down to play board games are drawn to it, and actually seek to play a second game. Few games have that merit, as any true board gamer knows.

As illustration: When I was in the Army, I took my copy of Acquire into the dayroom (where soldiers goof off). There were, naturally, two tables of poker players and a few empty tables. I set up the game and invited a couple of fellows (who'd just been cleaned out at poker) to play. The game took a little less than an hour, and, despite that I won, the two fellows sought a second game; each felt that he'd learnt some essential truth of the game, and reckoned he'd do better in the next. Both were right, and the second game was very tight. A couple more boys joined the game, which easily accommodated them. Now we were five guys playing the game. And interest grew. Kibitzers materialized, and I overheard some fascinating theories of play--from people who hadn't actually played yet.

Ya gotta love a game that can be learned by eye.

My copy of that game did not leave the dayroom. It was in play 24 hours a day, and there were always six players--with others waiting their chance to get into the game. The poker tables were reduced to one poker table. (The quality of play there improved--but pigeons became scarce.) A game has to be pretty strong to knock poker down a peg.

I have never seen any game so eagerly received--and grasped--by newcomers. Nor have I seen another game that pleases women so much. I surmise that because Acquire is NOT a game of conflicting powers, women do not feel that it's unladylike to stomp opponents into the dirt. (That smiling blue-haired granny is a killer. Watch her tile play closely, or she'll gut you like a trout. And the little red-headed nine year old with braces is even more dangerous.)

Lastly, if I could take only one board game with me into a 'Survivor: Somewhere in Rural Nebraska' situation, I would take Acquire. Even if my companions are NOT boardgamers, they will play this one--and they'll get good at it.

Answer 6

Here's some games with excellent interactions between players:

1. Settlers of Cataan (from Mayfair Games)
2. Puerto Rico
3. Throne of Swords (from Fantasy Flight Games)
4. Twilight Imperium (from Fantasy Flight Games)
5. Circus Maximus (from Avalon Hill, find it cheap on Ebay).
6. Sword of Rome (from GMT Games)

Answer 7

What is a true gamer? I think a true gamer doesn't have a best boardgame.

But, previously now we are doing Robo Rally, Dune (ver 1979), Plunder, Talisman

We doing Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition this Tuesday.

And Formula De, El Grande, and Settlers of Catan in the future.

Gamers enjoy games...

But the best... Chess or Go

Answer 8

I have 2 choices for you, I play both and find them both to be the ULTIMATE challenge.
1. Chess. It requires careful thought, strategy, the ability to anticipate your opponent, concentration, and every game is always different.
2. Poker. This game is more than mathematics and luck. A true poker player is part mathematician, part actor, and part psychologist. You have to be able to calculate the odds your hand will win, or weather there's enough money In the pot to continue with the hand. You have to be able to read your opponent and his/her tell's to know weather they are bluffing or not. you also have to be able to give a certain "image " at the table while hiding your own hand strength.
Both games only take a few minutes to learn but they both take a lifetime to master.

Answer 9

Chess <3

Answer 10

"stare". i love that game. you can play with two people, or two teams. you get 3 minutes to stare at a famous painting... famous picture and then they take the card away and ask you 6 questions about the card... and the object is of course to answer the questions right. BUT, it's very hard. it may ask what color the 3rd bird on the electric wire was... or what way the wind was blowing... it's tough but my step-daughter and i team up against my husband and my step-son. i don't know why the guys even bother... WE'RE SO GOOD! :) THIS GAME covers mental, stratagy AND luck!