How many times have we organized a gaming table with new players, or whose tastes are difficult to understand? The choice of the title is often a blessing and a curse for us enthusiasts, and the question “I propose this… but will everyone like it?” often causes a big stomach ache. After all, a game that can be good only for us is not enough; we need a boardgame that is good for everyone.
Sure, a beautiful box still pristine and ready to be die-cut is always an object of desire with which to spend hours and hours together with friends. But hesitations are always around the corner: with a fresh party game in your hands, the proposal of playing with the “hardcore” group would be skipped over completely; and what about when the 18 boxes of the All In kickstarter that you have been waiting for three years arrive at the same time and, after having read the 60-page rules 3 times, you would like to start the next day. But then you realize that tomorrow’s guests have answered to your call with “Have i ever played Board games? Well, Risk a few times when I was little, bingo with grandma at Christmas… oh yes, last summer I played Taboo, sooooo cool!”?
Choosing is difficult, especially nowadays with tons of titles just waiting to be enjoyed. If we also include “the player variable”, which ranges from those who have to play at least 100 times old games before trying a new one, to those who get tired after a few turns of the current game and immediately want to move on, the fat is in the fire.
Luckily, we have those 10-20 titles that we know how to play well, that we know who will like, and that are varied enough to satisfy every palate.
My picks are… Cascadia, for example, for newbies. Dry but wonderful and colorful graphics, explanations lasting 10 minutes at most and infinite replayability. Sure, you have to divide tiles and whatnot, but with our setupper for Cascadia in a few seconds everything will be set up.
Then I think of Terra Mystica when the group is quite savvy and strategic. A type of gameplay easily convertible into its various declinations, from Gaia Project to Age of Innovations. Here, a good organizer is a must, of course made by The Dicetroyers!
And if you want to live an adventure and turn the evening into carnage, I think first of all of Zombicide, and immediately after of Nemesis. Different experiences, of course: the first to spend a few hours of pure and simple gaming chaos while rolling millions of dice and moving hundreds of miniatures, the second certainly darker and more cerebral, but no less satisfying; try and believe it! And of course, here we came equipped, take a look at our catalog!
These are just a few examples of how to turn the evening around with anyone who walks through the door of our house; surely other evergreen titles are Puerto Rico, Carcassonne, Lords of Waterdeep, Great Western Trail… And so on and so forth!
The cherry on top for true hardcore gamers are those games that require commitment, dedication and lots and lots of patience: titles like Through The Ages, Mage Knight, Frostpunk and Frosthaven for example. Here you need a loyal army of true hardcore soldiers of the gaming world, who have experienced a thousand battles or, more simply, want to experience really complex ones.
Whether the choice of title is a stumbling block or a great opportunity it’s subjective, the only thing we are sure of is that the more games you have, the more you will be satisfied: buy to believe!
Discover also the other games in our catalog and contact us for any request or question!
