I once solved a 3x3 in under 5 minutes.

True story.

One time at a poker game, one of my roommates buddies bet my roommate 20 bucks that I couldn't do it in less than a minute. I got 22 seconds according to the guy with the watch but I don't know if that's right. It was pretty fast (lucky case) solve though.

I can't stop playing Innovation since getting it a week ago. Best card game ever. Advance your 'civ', claim achievements to win, works best with players who like to screw each other over in the process, it's outstanding.

sounds really fun

+1

Game kinds looks fun and sounds cool from the brief I read from the link but I'm never paying $20-35 for a card game.

I don't understand this. That's cheap for hours of fun.

Admittedly it doesn't score highly on the 'what you physically get for your money' scale, but I had to pay about $50 for it total including freight to Ireland, and we have so far played it for a total of about 20 hours I'd say, all of which have been throughly enjoyable.

$2.50 an hour for this much fun is great, and cost per hour will plunge rapidly in the coming weeks

i would really like a (preferably free) pc based game that was basically warhammer. I know that there's a warhammer game, but it doesn't look quite like a direct implementation, unless i'm wrong.

edit: there was a uk tv programme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4jAy_0GVgk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Commanders
which is pretty much what i want to play.

How big is Innovation? Like how many cards, that is, and are there any other game pieces or just cards? Can just the deck be taken if you want to travel and play?

There's 115 technology cards, 5 special achievement cards, 4 player mats/aids (which you would not really need after a few games) and an 8 page rulebook.

There are no other pieces, all you need is the cards so you could easily just take the deck with you and play wherever you like. I would say though that it does need a decent bit of table space to lay out the various piles and for you to play your own cards etc., you can't just play this on your lap or on the kind of table you get in front of you on an airplane etc.

I've been going to a board game meetup every other Saturday for a couple months, which has about 25 attendees each time. As such, I've been getting exposed to 3-5 new games each session, which is pretty awesome, and have played lots of the games listed here in that time. Thus far, my favorites have been the card games, probably because of my background in MtG: particularly RftG and Dominion, although I've enjoyed most of what I've played. (As an aside, I'll probably buy a copy of San Juan before either of those, even though it's not as deep/good, just because I think it's a good gateway for my kids/my wife into the other two.)

A silly game we played on my last session was a light, "bidding" game, called Felix: The Cat in the Sack. Let me say up front, I'm not advocating you go out and buy this game. It was pretty meh - neither bad, nor good - but what struck me about this game is that you could probably just play it with a regular deck of cards and some pocket change. Simply assign roles, like King = big dog, Jack = little dog, and use coins for mice, and some of the # cards for cats. I'm curious if there are other games out there that could be "mapped" like this? Seems like being able to play a bunch of different games with the same deck would be a huge feature for travelling.

I don't have any experience with Euchre, Spades, Bridge, Rummy, yada yada yada, so I'm wondering: Are there games that a person like me, who loves TCGs, RftG, Dominion, Spectromancer, etc, can play with a regular poker deck, and experience the dame kind of strategic depth/fun? (PS: Don't say poker.)

So I want to get some more games that a good for a big group. Games that aren't too complicated and that everyone would enjoy. We already have Apples to Apples and Things in a Box but we want to get some more to mix it up. We also have scattergories but it isn't great for big groups. Currently on my wish list is Password, Taboo and What's Yours Like, any more suggestions?

POG has a Bridge thread which bumps to the top of the forum periodically. I love Spades but don't tend to think of it in the same category as something like Dominion.

Dixit is a recent "party game with more depth than the average party game". Plays six but would probably work fine doubling/teaming people up for larger groups.

Also I hear there's some kind of wolf game that works well with large groups.

I think Articulate is a better version of Taboo.

Cranium is the king of party games. Has a decent mix of knowledge, creativity and opportunities to embarass people. It works well with anything from 4-12 players and I don't see why it shouldn't work with more.

Bump for xmas time. I want to get about 5 games or so, agree with bobman that Pandemic gets a little boring after a while btw (still haven't gotten the expansion) and there tends to be a dynamic where more experienced players take over the game

As mentioned in the community thread, I have finally gotten the real world (i.e. not online) version of Ghost Stories a 1-4 player coop game. It's pretty damn hard on the easiest setting (0/5 so far) but it's also a lot of fun and has a great feel to it. Tons better than Pandemic as a multiplayer coop game imo and it seems very replayable because the strategies differ a lot depending on the board, monk abilities and order the ghosts come in. Pandemic seems a lot more "been there, done that" in comparison..****;dr: highly recommended [I snapordered the expansion, should arrive this weekend]
Basic gameplay overview: 9 tiles in the middle represent the village, one monk gameboard square on each end of the resulting cube. Each monk has one of two special abilities (depending on which side of his gameboard is flipped up; stays the same for all game). Each turn there's a ying (ghost) and yang (monk) phase. Ying: Do all the "each turn" abilities of the ghosts in play that are on the monk's board, draw new ghost, do ghost come into play effect. Yang: Monk can move upto one square, either use the special ability of the tile he's on if it's not haunted or attempt to exorcise a ghost he's next to (roll 3 dice, needs to at least match the power of said ghost in the right colors). Rinse, repeat
There's more special abilities and stuff but as the game progresses it gets more and more tense since ghosts can have pretty wicked abilities (like bring other ghosts into play; capture one of the dice etc. pp)

I also got Dixit (Spiel des Jahres 2010) and it's tons of fun with around 6 players. I belive it's categorized as a party game. Each player gets 6 cards, active player puts one face down and describes it however he wants; all other players put one of theirs face down. Cards are mixed and put on the board active player and everyone who guessed the right one get 3 points if >0 but <ALL guess it, otherwise active player gets 0 and everyone else gets 2. Each player gets +1 for everyone else guessing his card.
The cards are beautifull and fairly abstract and the composition and creativity of the group makes or breaks the game. Highly recommended

I'll get one of Shadow over Camelot/Battlestar Galactica, most likely BSG for sure and Dominon+Expansions will take the second slot. The other 3 slots are wide open.
Any recommendations are welcome. I think I want at least one hardcore econ style game probably Puerto Rico, Agricola or Power Grid
I think I'll get Cash-n-Guns since it seems like a good fast to learn+play and fun when drunk type game

It has been mentioned multiple times ITT :P

Also: there's two game concepts floating around in my head and I'll probably try and create games for them next year just for the heck of it. Will make a "creating a game" thread with screenshots of hillariously bad looking game art and whatnot about it if I do

i searched the thread for apple. i guess it didn't show up.

I definitely enjoy BSG more than Shadows over Camelot. More decisions for both traitors and players to make. It often gets to the point in Shadows where the end of the game just plays itself. Dominion+Expansions are definitely worth getting.

Puerto Rico, Agricola, and Power Grid are all awesome. Agricola is basically a more hardcore Puerto Rico with a ton of choices each turn. I kind of prefer Puerto Rico, but they are both great games. Power Grid is different since every player gets the same choices every turn, but focuses more on controlling your position in the game.

Only new game I have played recently is Wits and Wagers which is a fun party game. Probably been mentioned before in this thread.

Thx, I'll go for BSG then (was leaning that way already). Has anyone ITT played Smallworld yet, looks kind of fun and there's basically unlimited expansion potential.

+1 Cosmic Encounter

Fresh fish / Frisch Fisch
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1017/fresh-fish

Acquire
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5/acquire

Shark
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/433/shark

And I forgot the name of game ... Gem bag of tiny colored stones. Goal was to get the most points according to scoring chart. Key part of the game was if a deal couldn't be made then both players lost the gems. (Deals had to be specific, not based on chance, like heads I win, tails you lose)

Gem game sounds interesting. Btw, I'm always looking for nice game mechanics. Feel free to list the best/most innovative/strangest you can think of

I got Smallworld today, won't play it this weekend though. I also played Boomtown (smallish card+dice game) and it's kind of fun. You wager gold for mining rights that produce different amounts of gold on a certain dice roll (two dice a la settlers), roll each round, wager for new rights etc. There's some additional stuff but outbidding people is fun enough already

Alos there's an advent sale going on at one of my online sources with a reduced game each day. The following look interesting, comments on any of them would be appreciated:
- A Castle for all seasons
- Sylla (this looks really great, will get it for sure)
- Scepter of Zavandor
- St. Petersburg
- League of Six
- Chinatown
- Macau
- The end of the Triumvirat
- The Dutch Golden Age

Played St. Petersburg. Thats a fun building card game, get most victory points type game. Haven't played the others.

Buy 'em all

I probably will, at least 60 Euro worth for free shipping
milan-spiele.de in case you're interested