Power Grid is honestly not that complicated to learn, as long as someone at the table knows what's going on. It's also an amazing game.

TTR is terrible and almost entirely luck-based. I play it a lot because my fiancee loves it, but it's a bad game.

I read somewhere that all of Power Grid comes down to the final 2 moves, and at that point, some people know they can't win and can just screw with other players. True?

Also, looking for more thoughts on the TTR luck/skill ratio. Am looking for something with a blend of both, of the 'easy to learn, hard to master' variety.

TTR isn't that bad. It clearly has a high luck factor, there's nothing wrong with that. Its still fun. If you don't want random elements, play chess.

Though I will say that if I'm going to play something lighter I prefer Carcassonne (especially with the Inns and Cathedrals and Traders and Builders expansions) to TTR by a pretty large margin.

you'redoingitwrong

My recommendation stays picking up 7 Wonders. I'd also concider a game you didn't list: Stone Age.

A little 7 Wonders convincer


Kinda disagree, there's some luck but also quite a bit of strategy. Also depends a lot on the TTR you pick, Nordic Countries is the best imo (most cutthroat) I dunno about the new boards and stuff that came out recently-ish (Asia etc. I belive)

The problem with TTR is that one player will usually have a large (in multiplayer games, potentially almost insurmountable) advantage as soon as starting routes are drawn.

EDIT: Also you should probably just buy Small World anyways.

TTR Europe >>> TTR USA

i) Yes I was thinking of ordering TTR Europe, not USA.
ii) I'd be interested in games that my parents could play (not necessarily just from this list). It's often just the two of them, but they also might want to play with friends. I think they'd like something cerebral but not too complicated. My instinct is that games like 7 wonders and dominion wouldn't appeal to them (but who knows). I think they'd really like Ingenious.

Anecdotal, but my wife generally doesn't like competitive games in general and is not at all interested in any kind of strategy game. She will play Yahtzee, Scattergories, Pictionary, Cranium etc. at a family gathering or party once in a while but that's about it. It's not like she's into the medieval theme either. We played Dominion (Intrigue, but you should start with the base version IMO if you don't have friends that have it) and she has taken to it.

We've played heads up 3 times and once with friends. On the last two HU games she was the one that brought up playing. I've been out of town for work for a little over a week and mentioned to her that I've been playing a lot. With disappointed tone she said something like "so you probably won't want to play when you get back, then?" A friend I play games with the most said something similar about his ex - it was the only game she would play with him.

I think it's perfect for what you are looking for.

Just got into smallworld and love it. A random trivia/sillyness game I love is sagarian. Look it up.

My wife just found me clue VHS and clue museum caper for a dollar at a garage sale. Awesome!

I forgot that I asked my dad about the list of games that partygirl suggested. He wrote like 5 texts to me saying mainly buy them all, but one thing that might be worth adding was that he thought 7 wonders was best with 5 or 6 players, rather than 3 or 4.

Has anyone here played Hey Waiter, Memoir 44, Shadows over Camelot, or Stompie?

Anybody here remember Fireball Island?

Have played Smallworld Underground with my wife several straight nights, lots of fun.

such a sick game. played lots of that back in the day. can't remember if there was any skill involved or if it was just rolling the dice.

I have not played Shadows over Camelot but if the theme isn't an issue for you Battlestar Galactica is far superior

Battlestar galactica, Axis and allies 1940

Played Shadows over Camelot exactly one evening -- not because it sucked, but because the friends we would play it with are not plentiful. Would play again. Needs a decent sized group.

My wife is in love with Smallworld and Smallworld Underground...other than buying expansions, is there any somewhat similar game I could get her as a gift? TYTY.

Wetzel, yeah that's what seems tough about that game, and I think it looks fun but if it requires a big group it's harder to get your money's worth. I guess I need more boardgame loving friends.

you could maybe try el grande. its also an area control game but its got a bit more going as far as interlocking game mechanics. i have only played it a couple of times, but i really liked it a lot

Thanks will check it out

Gameplay wise, without a doubt the answer is Vinci

However the big appeal for many Small World enthusiasts is the theme/sillyness so they might not like Vinci.

my understanding of vinci is that it is almost exactly small world only with no theme and colored cubes. not sure why a person would want both in a single collection of games

Was looking at picking up a few games- any of these must-get or must-avoid?

-Ingenious- A couple people I play with seem to always want me to pull out Blokus, so I figured another little abstract game would work well. Good choice? Qwirkle could be another option, I guess.

-Citadels- I've heard good things, but I'll probably mostly be playing with 2-4 players. Still a good game with those numbers?

-Jaipur- A couple people I know seem to enjoy Lost Cities and I figured another little 2-player card game would be nice. I don't know anybody who has played this, but it looks pretty solid.

-Ghost Stories- When I visit my dad, he seems to like the co-op aspect of Pandemic. Plus, if it's as difficult as it sounds, I wouldn't mind playing it solo every now and then. Are there a lot of fiddly rules to this? With friends, I tend to play while having some beers, and I'd rather not have to explain rules for half an hour to impatient drunk people.

The only one on the list I've played is Citadels. I enjoyed it, but the one time I played we had 5. It seemed to me like it might not scale down well, but cueballmania has only played it with 2 and he thought the two player version was good. I don't know that I'd label it "must get" but it almost certainly worth buying given that it retails on amazon pretty inexpensively and comes with the expansion.

Ingenious is great. Mix of luck/skill, interesting format, would appeal to a wide range of people ...

Ghost Stories..I simply love it. The only downside is that the rules are fairly badly written but once you get it the game is extremly fun, hard and rewarding.

We usually just use all four monks and collaborate on the moves (i.e. all players play all monks). I like it quite a lot more than Pandemic. I really enjoy coop games, Arkham Horror is pretty nice as well.

I wouldn't explain GS drunk eventhough it's actually pretty easy but the devil is in the details. But it's an excellent game to play drunk once everyone understands the game. Done it quite a few times...pretty fun to bitch about the ghost draws etc heh

GS is pretty solid as a solo as well.

Yeah this is pretty much correct.

Also two two player abstracts you should investigate are Hive and Yinsh. Yinsh is probably my fav abstract eventhough I haven't really figured out a great strategy and we played Hive on our last microbrewery tour. Good travel game.