A good board game is all of the above, not always at the same time, and not always combined. A game is only as good as the experience it hosts and the feelings it produces for those at the table. It’s also dependent on the people you play with; the perfect game for me might be the worst game for you. This is why board games are also very social activities. There’s been a stigma that, granted, hasn’t been very prevalent lately, because board games are ‘cool’ again – but for most of the 21st century, playing board games was seen as nerdy and geeky. In truth, board games are about as social an activity as you can get. You need to communicate, cooperate, pay attention, and learn to be good at these things.
You’ll find many an association room across the campus with a collection of board games to pick and choose at your leisure. The Ockham room, for example, has a decent collection with all of the classics, and Fanaat in the Bastille is literally the board games association, and has a vast roster to show it off. If you ever want to try out playing with other people, you’ll most likely always find someone who’s down to try.
So without further ado, here we have, in my opinion, the most memorable board games I’ve played – friendly for both beginners and veterans.
1. Wingspan (1-5 players)
Wingspan is an amazingly designed game; it feels like the little decisions you make throughout the session matter hugely towards the end.
This game is about collecting birds. You want to discover and collect birds in the form of cards to place in your habitats to unlock actions and progress in the game. Think of gaining food tokens via throwing dice, laying eggs by taking the wooden eggs that come with the game, and drawing from the 180 bird cards to place on your mat. You play four rounds consisting of eight action turns at first, with this number decreasing by one for every round played. The player with the most points at the end wins.
I’ve only played this game a few times, but it’s always been fun, no matter if I win or lose. It’s got gorgeous art, fun mechanics, and is extremely friendly towards new players wanting to play a more ‘serious’ board game.
Rating: 9/10. Also, check out Wyrmspan – a similar game from the same company, but with more emphasis on your actions rather than your deck-building. Also, it has dragons, and that should be enough to convince you.
2. Codenames… with The Crew (min. 2 players)
Codenames is already a pretty fun game by itself. Two teams compete against each other to complete a pre-determined ‘winning’ board by guessing which cards/words from the board game are associated with the clue word said by the spymaster. You keep going until either one team finds all of their cards or one team guesses the assassin card.
If you combine this with The Crew, another acclaimed board game, you’re in for loads of fun. This does require the presence of a person who has played this combination before, but it’s not too difficult to learn. You arrange your ‘The Crew’ cards in a single top row and first column to set up a matrix filled with ‘Codename’ cards corresponding to a colour and number from ‘The Crew’ cards. The objective is to fill the matrix with ‘The Crew’ cards that you get on a per-turn basis – for example, if you get a red card that says ‘1’ on it, and the ‘Codenames’ card that corresponds to ‘red row, 1st column’ in the matrix says ‘carrot’, you have to say a codename that helps the others guess the word. If they guess correctly, you place your ‘red, 1’ card on the carrot card, progressing the matrix, and if they guess incorrectly, then you place your card back in the discard pile.
It’s a great party game. It also doesn’t take too long, usually under an hour, and you can play with as many people as you want. It does, however, require you to have both ‘Codenames’ and ‘The Crew’ available.
Rating: 8/10. Individually, both games are also very fun.
3. Munchkin (3-6 players)
Ahh, Munchkin. I don’t think any game has ever brought as much laughter and as much outrage as this game has for me. It’s a card game that imitates classic role-playing games by having DND/dungeon crawler-esque terms, with the goal of reaching level ten. Not everybody likes this game, and I get why if you’re not into DND or dungeon crawlers. However, I always have a blast playing this game, and I’m lucky to be surrounded by people who do like dungeon crawlers.
The game is simple. You’re a band of adventurers that start at level 1. You progress by going through the dungeon, knocking down doors, killing any monsters that are behind these doors, and taking their loot, with your level increasing as you go. The loot you get from killing monsters can be gear you use to increase your attack power, races to unlock special abilities, or classes to use specific perks.
Munchkin is quick at first, when players progress from level one to level seven. After this, you have to play to win, because the goal is to win, and you cannot feel pity for others. The game starts to get really fun when you obtain Curse cards and Additive cards, which you can use to screw other players over on their turns (or not – maybe you have beef against someone in particular). It’s also fun when you make deals with people to help you kill a monster and split the loot. I had a recent session that lasted almost three hours, when four out of five players were at level nine at some point, but we just kept adding monsters to fight and cursing them to the point where we reverted back to level one. It’s a simple game and worth trying with a fun group of people.
Rating: 8/10. Sessions last anywhere from under an hour to over three. Sometimes, the winner is the luckiest one and not the one who played all their cards right.
4. Catan (3-4 players, 5-6 with the expansion)
What would a board game list be without Catan? Everyone’s heard of it, nearly everyone’s played it. Even non-board game people have played Catan once.
I’ve played it so many times that I’ve come to realise that this game gets utterly boring after the first half hour. It’s still a good game, don’t get me wrong, but every session will always have a player gunning for the longest road, the largest army, and monopolising wheat. And somehow ore is always scarce.
So, I’ll keep it short here. The goal of Catan is to get ten points. You get points by building villages, or upgrading these villages to cities. You can trade resources with other players, and you want to expand and keep getting resources every turn to build your settlement.
Rating: 6/10. It gets old after a while.
5. Scythe (1-5 players)
Scythe is also an amazingly designed board game, though I wouldn’t play it with new people. Heck, I barely know how to play it, and I’ve played twice with two different groups. It’s got great art, great figurines, and very interesting mechanics, made by the same company that created Wingspan.
In a game of Scythe, players represent different factions of post-WW1 Europe. Players build an economy by selecting one of four actions on the board, along with the costs to perform said action, and players must perform different actions on consecutive turns. If you progress enough, you can unlock a second set of actions after your first action. Moreover, actions can be upgraded to make them less costly or stronger when played.
You progress by completing tasks and earning stars as a result, with six stars being the end signal. You win the game by obtaining the most points/money after six stars. Your economy depends on your completed tasks, territory controlled, and gathered resources.
Scythe is a game of calculated efficiency. You need to really pay attention to what the other players are doing and be strategic about your choices. If another player moves onto your territory, signalling a fight, do you use all of your attack points and deplete your power, or do you take the loss and concede the territory? Do you unlock buildings now, or do you deploy your mechs? When should you get resources or complete your tasks?
It can get a bit overwhelming, especially for people who aren’t too into board games yet. For this reason, even though it is amazingly designed and I can appreciate the mechanics and the art, Scythe isn’t for everybody.
Rating: 5/10. If I play more, this can probably get up to Wingspan’s level, but finding a group of people to play this game with is already hard enough. There’s definitely potential, though.
I am extremely glad to see board games making a comeback. There are still so many people who refuse to sit down at a table, play a game, and socialise because of the stigma surrounding board games. And even with the extensive collection available at my fingertips, there are still so many I wish to play. Dune: Imperium is one of them, which is critically acclaimed as one of the best board games in recent years, and Brass: Birmingham is another, but finding people is, again, easier said than done. In any case, have fun killing monsters and collecting birds!
