Mine is Ludo: A solid 2 to 4 Player board game.

Fun Fact: It causes a war in Hindu Mythology.

Second is Chess because dev abandoned their game.

  • cizra@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Go. It’s nobody knows how many thousands of years old, it’s easy as pie and difficult like crazy. The game can’t end in a draw. It’s easy to balance strong and weak players so they can compete with full effort. The equipment is trivial to make with common, cheap household items. Computers got competitive against humans just a couple of years ago (compare to chess where they beat humans in 1997 and ever since).

  • Toes♀@ani.social
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    2 months ago

    Betrayal at House on the Hill

    Great board game for 3+ people. Best with a full crew. You and your mates explore a mansion. As you explore a new room you place a tile and something can happen.

    It’s meant to have a lot of replayability as each time you play there’s a booklet full of potential end games that you can trigger. Such as the mansion is burning down and you need to escape.

    • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      I love the idea of that game. But in practice, I hate it.

      Exploring the house is fun. And then the haunt usually ends up with a lopsided win. I can’t remember a time where the haunt didn’t feel like a forgone conclusion once revealed. Basically, I’ve never felt like I had any way to impact the outcome outside of potentially just throwing it.

      Edit: in my mind, it’s less of a game and more of an experience or story generator.

  • dontkickducks@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    My absolute favourite is Spirit Island. A co-op game where you work together defending your island and kicking out explorers and settlers. Expanding your presence and getting new powers along the way. Every game with new combinations.

    When we got the game we played this more than once every week for over a year. With each game taking 1-3hours with our playstyle. Sometimes longer with four players (but that’s partly because of not actively playing the game then). We play less now only because of moving with the renovation taking too much time.

    • OmnislashIsACloudApp@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I love Spirit Island so much.

      though usually unless folks are also as into complicated stuff as I am I end up playing horizons of Spirit Island for a simplified experience

      • frannyman@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        What makes you say it’s improved over Wingspan? I own both. I like them both separately but I disagree with saying it’s an improved version. For context, I own all of the expansions to Wingspan, play it at least a few times a week with my wife, and it would be my answer to OPs question hands down.

        Wyrmspan doesn’t have any expansions so are you saying it’s better than the base game of Wingspan? I could definitely see that argument since there is more strategic diversity in the base game than base Wingspan. However if you include the expansions I think Wingspan mops the floor with Wyrmspan.

    • Muun@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Ahhh Ticket to Rage. My wife’s family is not allowed to play that anymore.

    • forgotaboutlaye@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      This is mine too. I don’t really like board games, but Ticket to Ride really clicked with me and I had a blast playing it. Will get it for myself but damn it’s expensive (I guess that’s a problem with board games in general, and I do see the value of the investment).

    • elephantium@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I wanted to like the game, but one game where the other players adopted the ‘backstabbing’ style ruined it for me.

      • hydrashok@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        It’s complex yet very simple. Can be played by a small or large group easily. Teaches logic, reasoning, and deduction over “outscoring” your opponent. Being the dealer doesn’t give you any advantages if you play it right. And because of all the various permutations of the cards, it’s always a new game each time vs a number of set scenarios/strategies.

    • Blemgo@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I never got into Clue myself, though I blame Clue DVD for that. The premade cases led to a limited replay ability, sure, but due to these cases involving background narratives made you feel like a detective as you piece together alibis through story snippets.

      It’s a shame they aren’t producing it anymore for quite some time now.

  • cRazi_man@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Single favourite is hard to pick.

    Casual: I agree, Ludo is GOAT.

    Invested: Catan… Maybe Scrabble

    Dumb fun: Mad magazine game

  • Zukial@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    That is easy to answer for me.

    Mansion of madness

    I have played so many rounds with so many different people. The game is complex enough that each round is different. But easy enough to geht people to start with. Easy to play hard to master.

    The digital game master via APP is great. I had so many games in which the last player actions decided the game. After some hours of game time. Your actions feel so impactful.

  • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Call to Adventure, Wingspan/Wyrmspan, most of the Tiny Epic series, Coup are all solid contenders.

    I like the Red Raven games but I don’t really look forward to playing them because of all the set up and tear down lol, I would love them as digital products with automation.

    • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I absolutely love Wingspan. Should I also get Wyrmspan, or would I be better off getting the last expansion or two I’m missing from Wingspan? We also love the Tiny Epic series, but we couldn’t really get our group into Coup unfortunately

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        2 months ago

        I like Wyrmspan because it shakes up the mechanics, but to be perfectly honest I just love dragons more than birds so the art alone practically sold me on it lol

        • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          My partner and I prefer dragons as well. I don’t mean to keep bothering you but I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind

          1.) Are they all different dragons with little trivia tidbits like the birds?

          2.) Do you know if it plays well at two players? We really appreciated the Asia expansion for catering to that specifically

          • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            No bother at all! They are all different dragons with wonderful original art, but the cards don’t have trivia. There is a “dragons facts sheet” thing that’s included just as flavour.

            Might not be the best person to answer the latter, as my partner and I played an absolute crap ton of Wingspan just the two of us and thought it played fine enough, even without the Asia expansion.

            • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              We enjoyed the original as well, we just super enjoyed that they focused on it. I’m kind of sad no trivia on the cards. I know I’ll end up with the game eventually. Love their stuff. Scythe and Viticulture are also in our library

  • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Solo: Mage Knight

    2 player: Star Trek Fleet Captains

    4 player: Shadows of Brimstone

    Stupid-fun dice chucker for 4 or 5: Project Elite

  • cymor@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    The ones I usually carry around to introduce people to good boardgames are: Hive Portable it can get as complicated as chess, but is really easy to pick up for kids and adults. Carcassonne chill and you can pick and choose expansions Forbidden Island (and its family) it’s a fun cooperative game that’s easy for kids to pick up.

  • rand_alpha19@moist.catsweat.com
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    2 months ago

    My wife and I really like Agricola. It’s a farming-based people-placing game created in Germany for 2-4 players (with the base game), but there is an expansion for 5-6 players. We do play with a decent amount of house rules, though.