iusethis.one

Settlers of Catan

The O.G. points board game, I think I've literally played this game a thousand times. Fun: 5/5, there's elements of strategy, luck, and lots of opportunity for interaction between players. There's also a lot of big moments, which makes the game exciting.Complexity: 3/5, there's definitely a decent amount of mechanics with all the building and points and stuff, so it would take a while to explain to somebody who hadn't played it before.Replayability: 5/5, you could play this infinitely and once everybody knows the rules it's not so involved that you couldn't just have a conversation while playing.For 2-4 players.

0

Codenames

A great game for casual environments.Fun: 4/5, depends a bit on the crowd: IMO if people play fun clues and go for lots of words at once it makes the game more fun. Complexity: 2/5, very easy to explain the rules and get a game going even if all the players are new. Replayability: 4/5, the game changes each time since the configuration of words resets, but the core gameplay is similar enough that you might not be able to play it that many times. For 4+ players. I would check out Decrypto if you enjoy this game (although I haven't played it enough to include it in this collection).

0

Sushi go!

Another great game for casual environments.Fun: 4/5, really fun game, lots of exciting mini moments during the rounds since some of the cards have a delayed payout and you can mess with the other players who are going for them. Sometimes you might be totally out of the running if one of your rounds goes poorly though. Complexity: 2/5, pretty easy to explain the rules and get a game going even if all the players are new, although there might be some hiccups the first round with some of the mechanics. Replayability: 2/5, at some point the game can only play out so many different ways. For 2-5 players.

0

Scythe

There's board games where you build engines, and then there's scythe where you build 5 engines at once.Fun: 4/5, depending on if you enjoy complexity. If there are folks who don't want to think about a lot of different systems while playing a board game this will not be fun for them. Complexity: 5/5, it will take some time and maybe a sample round for people to understand the game.Replayability: 4/5, definitely replayable although after going through each faction a few times I'm not sure how much more fun it would be. For 1-5 players, although I can't say I've ever tried the 1 player version.

0

Terraforming Mars

Pretty fun but 1) some of the cards are just better than some of the other cards and 2) the art for the card 'Hackers' is just a photo of some asian dudes I think they ran out of art budget.Fun: 4/5, similar to scythe, depends on if you enjoy complexity. If there are folks who don't want to think about a lot of different systems while playing a board game this will not be fun for them. Complexity: 5/5, there's a lot of different mechanics at play for sure, with the three different terraforming components, multitude of cards, and keeping track of what everyone else is doing. Replayability: 5/5, there's a ton of different strategies you could play although maybe not all of them are viable. For 1-5 players, although I can't say I've ever tried the 1 player version.

0

Wingspan

Fun engine-building game!Fun: 4/5, I like a game with lots of great physical parts - some heavy custom dice and a cardboard bird tower that you get to put together. The gameplay is also pretty fun to think through, where your strategy will depend on which birds you draw which all have unique effects. The theme is also great - each bird card is actually a bird in reality and comes with a fun fact on the card which you can read while somebody takes 10 minutes to decide what to do on their turn.Complexity: 4/5, definitely gonna spend some time going over the rules with everyone before starting (I suggest just doing a sample round). Make sure everyone knows you need an egg to build a second bird, that messes up everyone's opening play the first time they play.Replayability: 2/5, at some point it's just laying eggs at the end, I gotta figure out if there's a variant where laying eggs isn't as good or something. For 1-5 players, although again I haven't played the single player version.

0

Secret hitler

Fun mafia-like party game!Fun: 5/5 although crew dependent. If people are comfortable enough with each other to yell and get heated it can be super super chaotic and fun but might be tough if the squad isn't at that level. One time while playing this game person A said to person B "you are literally the dumbest person I have ever seen in my life". Complexity: 2.5/5, mostly easy to understand but might need a second to explain the mechanic of drawing blue/red and the special mechanics as more policies pass. Replayability: 4/5, could definitely play this many times although as a social game it's a little draining so not sure how many times you could play it in one night.For 5-10 players, although I wouldn't play with less than 7.

0

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

Very cute, simple game. Fun: 5/5 You say the words and play a card and if it matches you slap! They picked 5 fun words so it's good vibes. Complexity: 1/5, it's pretty simple if you know all 5 words that the game is called. Replayability: 2/5, definitely less fun once the novelty factor wears off, but really fun before that.For 5-10 players, although I wouldn't play with less than 7.

0