So, I’ve gotten into this conversation a couple of times, here. When we’re not planning a trip, DH and I spend a lot of time playing board games.
What games have you played that you enjoy? I tried to list my favorites for @disneygirlmama but came up with too many, and thought I’d better put them into categories.
First… Disney Related:
Villainous
The Grimm Forest (not exactly Disney, but fairy tales so close enough)
Tsum Tsum Bubble Fever
Disney Eye Found It!
Those aren’t the best games in our collection, though. I’d much prefer some more “complicated” games
7 Wonders
Above and Below
Arkham Horror (Third Edition)
Charterstone
Clank!
ETA: Robinson Crusoe. We don’t own it, but a friend does, and we play that a LOT
Suburbia
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Valeria: Card Kingdoms
Simpler Party Games:
Azul
Beyond Baker Street
Codenames (I think there’s a Disney edition, but we don’t have it)
*Agricola
*Carcassonne (good for playing with DD7 and DD8)
*Splendor (also good with DD7 and DD8)
*Ticket to Ride Europe
We just got Kingdomino and are enjoying it! We also have Dragonwood and BattleSHEEP (autocorrect made it Battleship, ha) and those are fun with the girls, too. We have 7 Wonders but don’t get to play it often since our girls aren’t really old enough for it and the 2-player version of the full game is just not awesome.
I have Azul and Above and Below and Lanterns on my list to buy!
My girls love Rat-a-Tat Cat, There’s a Moose in Your House, and Go Nuts for Donuts. They like others, too, like Sequence and Yahtzee, but their favorites are card games.
Oh, so many good games! I really like Carcassonne, too, but no one else in the family likes it as much. Dragonwood is fun - we don’t own it, but my sister does. Ticket to Ride - even the kid’s version, is a good introduction game. I think that’s how we got my BiL hooked on games.
Oh, also, the EXIT games, if you like escape rooms. Play them in-order of release.
DH and I started playing board games about 15 years ago. There weren’t a lot of options (D&D, Magic, Arkham Horror 2nd edition, classics like Clue and Monopoly) and it’s been really fun to see the explosion of REALLY good games in the past few years.
We also enjoy painting the mini figures that come with some games. I’m REALLY not artistic, but it’s been fun to be successful at something like that. I’ll see if I can find some of the pictures we’ve taken. Most are on my home computer
We also play Monopoly and UNO, but my eldest DS always wins Monopoly, and DD always wins Uno. The youngest DS always wins Risk. The rest of us get tired of losing so we won’t play!
I can honestly say that I have not played any of the games on your list; most of them I have not even heard of. Growing up I was a Monopoly fiend, but somewhere in my adulthood got burned out on it. Back in the 80s I was very into D&D and played a couple of times a week, but then I moved across country and never really got established in a group. I’d probably enjoy getting back into it, but the rules have been rewritten at least several times since I last played so it would be a steep learning curve, and honestly, how many D&D groups want a 60 year old guy in them?
DW isn’t very much into any board games except for Scrabble, but she is so much better at it than I am, I pretty much know before we even start that she is going to win. I still love Clue, but it takes 3 or more to play so I’m kind of SOL there. I’ve never been especially interested in "traditional’ card games beyond occasional gin or canasta, and I just can’t wrap my brain around the “Magic” family of deck-building games
We don’t do a lot of board games, but we do play a lot of card games. DS10 is now the reigning champ in Cribbage, we just started him on Pitch, we played Pepsi sitting by Stormalong Bay on our trip a couple of weeks ago. When in doubt, we take out a deck of cards!
My favorite game is Cards Against Humanity. I don’t know what that says about me and my warped sense of humor but I have a total blast when we play it. My teens are mortified at some of my answers. It’s a great way to get to know someone.
That’s part of why I started this list - for people if they wanted to get into games at all. It’s definitely been fun for me to hear what other folks are playing!
Based on those two statements, I may have a recommendation for you.
Your wife likes word games, you don’t want to lose all the time. You like “puzzle” games if you like Clue.
Try Codenames Duet
It’s a 2-player co-op word game. It’s easy to learn, rules-wise. It’s inexpensive as far as games go, and lots of fun!
I have never heard of most of the games mentioned, we like the Classics here. My husband and son love to play cribbage, especially when fishing/camping. As a family we seem to pick Clue a lot. It is just as much fun now as it was when I was a child.
We played CAH at Christmas dinner last year. Me and my sister saved our worst cards so that our mum had to read them out. She was not amused. We were very amused
Risk, Sorry, Parchessi and Battleship are our go to games. I’ll be playing some this weekend for sure! My wife and I play Cribbage allot which is fun if you dont mind counting