We are a game-playing family. While we enjoy some of the old standbys, we’ve gotten hooked on the game store variety that are more expensive, but worth the investment. When you consider what it costs to take a family of five to see a movie, you can easily justify the cost of a board game that you’ll play for years.
Here are six winners I recommend based on the following criteria:
- Appropriate for middle schoolers through adults
- Winners must be strategic and not just lucky
- High repeat playability – they don’t grow old quickly
- Typical games last one hour or less
- Worth the investment
- Don’t use dice
1) Ticket to Ride – Europe (click to follow link)
This is the game that got us hooked. You build train routes across Europe while avoiding your competitors who may try to occupy the same sections of track. Buy the Europa 1912 Extension to increase the number of routes and make the game less predictable.
Strategy (5 being significant strategy / 1 being complete luck): 3.5
Repeat playability (with 5 meaning it never gets old): 4.5
2) Metropolys (click to follow link)
I bought this used online and am loving it. You bid to place your buildings strategically throughout a city – all the while working to accomplish your secret objectives. The expert version (part of the original game) adds interesting twists that make it more difficult to discern and, therefore block, your opponents’ secret objectives.
Strategy: 4.5
Repeat playability: 4.5
3) Carcassonne (click to follow link)
You use tiles to build cities, complete roads, farm pastureland, and much more. We purchased the Big Box 3 which contains the original game and five of the most popular extensions to the game. I would also recommend buying the River II extension. You can play the original game alone or with as many extensions as you like. The more extensions, the longer the game takes, but even with all of the extensions in the Big Box you are looking at about 90 minutes.
Strategy: 3.5 (luck in drawing tiles, but strategy in how you place them)
Repeat playability: 4.5
4) Settlers of Catan (click to follow link)
You build settlements and cities while paying for everything in commodities (sheep, wood, bricks, grain, ore) that you earn or trade for with your opponents. Good game with lots of variability. I have two gripes: 1) Starting position in the game significantly influences the final outcome, and 2) You use dice – which exacerbates the feeling of chance even if it is no more random than drawing tiles in Carcassonne.
Strategy: 3
Repeat playability: 3.5 (4.0/4.5 if you ask my kids)
5) Hey, That’s My Fish! (click to follow link)
A great game for brighter young children through adults – you collect fish by moving your penguins around an ice flow that gets smaller with each turn. This is a quick game that is lots of fun. The strategic principles remain constant but the layout changes with each gameplay.
Strategy: 4.5
Repeat playability: 4.5
6) Buzz Word (click to follow link)
I include this one for my wife. This is the perfect party game – fast moving, laughter inducing, encourages conversation between rounds, can last as long as needed. You are given a key word (“buzz word”) such as “apple” and then you have to respond to clues for 10 common words or phrases containing the word “apple.”
Strategy: Not really the right criterion for this one – more a matter of word association and recalling bits of general knowledge than being strategic
Repeat playability: 4.0
If you find you want to know more – I recommend going to Board Game Geek (click to follow link) for detailed information on these and thousands of additional games.
Let the games begin!
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