With the exception of myself, my family members are not really tabletop gamers. Growing up, my brothers and I had a few of the classic, terrible board games (why does anybody still think Monopoly is fun?), a checkers board, and a bunch of kids' games, mostly strategy wastelands of the roll-the-dice-and-move-the-pieces variety where luck rules the day. But that's about it--our idea of spending time together has meant sitting in the same room and talking. And that's about it. Ugh.

But then for Thanksgiving this year, I was told that my task was to think of something fun for the family to do together. *DING!*

So I went out and picked up Carcassone and The Resistance. And everyone had a great time. And the best part is that several times since I've been asked to play Carcassone, completely unprompted, by other family members. Or even better, they played together on their own, without me! They still don't want to play with Farmers, but who cares? I've gotten family members playing games!

And tonight I introduced my mother to Dominion. And while she was unsure about how to play, by the end she was playing unassisted, without me needing to remind her what her cards did. And seemed to enjoy herself. YES!


Just wanted to share in the warm fuzzies. It's a great feeling, and I can only hope that this trend continues, because I really want to be able to do things with my family that aren't just sitting and talking.

They asked for Carcassone and not The Resistance?
I feel like I have suffered a defeat.

Carcassonne is amazing, that's why they asked for it.

It's palatable.

Ticket to Ride would be a great game for a generally non-gaming family. Easy to pick up with enough depth to not bore the more strategic types. And everybody loves trains!

I'm slowly moving family into the gamer spectrum. It started with light games: Timeline is a recent addition, but it's emblematic of the sort of thing that got accepted.

But, slowly, other games wormed their way into the hearts of those we shared them with. Settlers of Catan and Pandemic were the big ice-breakers (along with, in its own haphazard way, Dungeons and Dragons -- nobody really caught on over a slipshod, frequently interrupted session, but they enjoyed the ride), but the (formerly) non-gamer family has gotten to play and enjoy Betrayal at House on the Hill and Arkham Horror.

Twilight Imperium is next on the docket.

Carcassone can be played with only two or three players; unless there's some sort of family gathering we don't have enough people for The Resistance.



I did consider bringing home Ticket to Ride, but it was ridiculously expensive compared to the ones I ended up with, and I didn't want to shell out that much when I wasn't even sure if they'd want to continue playing. Now...well, I probably still won't get it until I've introduced them to some other, cheaper classics. But it's definitely on the radar.

My wife will play Ticket to Ride. Other than that, it's Crazy Eights or bust. It really appeals to everyone, I can't recommend it enough for this type of setting.

I need helping finding a suggestion for my friends. They like playing games but things with very complex rules disinterest them quickly. I've been looking for something to play with them that is specifically not strategy card game based. Other than that, I don't really have any criteria that needs to be met in a suggestion. Maybe something that takes 40-60 minutes too so we can play games quickly. Something like that. Any ideas?

40-60 is quickly? O_O

I know that at my local game shop Settlers of Catan has been the top selling board game every year since the place opened up. That doesn't make better than other games of course, but it's certainly a good indicator of popularity.

catan is fun, but there's not much substance to it

a million 'no's to catan

Catan is amazing but not what I'd suggest for what you need. The aforementioned Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride would be my suggestions.

Where is the threshold for complex rules? Agricola?
Anyway, random recommendations:
King of New York. Dice rolling games about big monsters fighting in Tokyo. Good fun if you like beating up eachother. I managed to have fun playing it, which is a good indicator, because I expected to hate it.
Cosmic Encounter. Politics and dickery in outer space. I haven't actually played this, since nobody gave it to me for christmas, but it's Tom Vasel and SUSD's #1 game, which must be worth something. Bases itself on assymetric player powers with wildly variying effects to create replayability.
Kingdom Builder. This game is sort of hit or miss, but I really like it. The mechanics are very simple, but the gameplay is still quite satisfying and deep.
Lords of Xidit, maybe? I'll have to play my copy before I can give an actual recommendation.
Could also consider Small World, even though I'm not a fan.
If co-op is okay, then you could consider Pandemic, Forbidden Desert, Ghost Stories, Flash Point: Fire Rescue or Shadows over Camelot.

I used Ticket to Ride to start getting my family into board games and the ilk. My brothers have been catching on to the other stuff (younger likes Smash Up a good amount) and my father has to a lesser extent, but my mother doesn't have the mindframe for the stuff.

That said, they ALWAYS talk about 'the train game' or 'choo-choo' and how they love it.

If you were to create a plot of board games using complexity and fun, you would see monopoly in the bottom right, Settlers up and to the right of that, then Ticket to Ride waaaaaaaaay to the right of both of those. Then you go a good bit up from there and get Power Grid, and pretty much every other board game ever.

What I'm saying, Catan is a game a lot of people might recognize (it was featured once on Big Bang Theory, which you can use to get some people into it) but I suggest Ticket to Ride to introduce people to non-traditional board games, or Power Grid if they are a big fan of Monopoly and can handle the decision complexity.

Uhhh... Cause it is?

People who think Monopoly is terrible have Gaming ADD(trademark and copyright) tbh.

I've enjoyed Mage Knight, which took me and two other players roughly 12 hours to complete, and my favorite computer game genre is puzzle games.
Monopoly is still not what I would call fun.

Cosmic is pretty awesome, it has pretty simple base rules (Flares can get a bit complex sometimes, but you can technically leave them out, though I think they add a lot to the game so I'd advise against it unless somebody is really thick), where things get interesting is all the alien powers and their interactions.

I'd actually prolly be down for running a play by post game of it if enough people are interested.

Also, best description I've ever heard for the game:
"Imagine you're in a car, five seats, five people, and your only goal in life is to touch every seat and the roof of the car simultaniously while still wearing your seatbelt. And the other four people want to do the exact same thing.
Now imagine that one of the othe guys is extremely fat, one has five arms, one just ignores his seatbelt and one begins to slowly eat his seat while staring at you.
All this while the car is moving.
Down a hill.
Through a gaggle of geese.
Congratulations you are playing Cosmic Encounter
"

I've since bought it, and it hasn't been as engaging as the surrounding hype lets in on. I'll play it, but I won't be thrilled about it.