What’s the best, non party game for 6? I want something that plays in 2 hours or under.
I own
Chicago Express
Ethnos
I’m the Boss
Quartermaster General
Carcassonne
I’ve sold Keyflower
Any suggestions please? Is the answer to just split and play 3 player games instead?
Mysterium or Obscurio work very well at that player count.
New York Slice feels like it was designed for a full six (you don’t have to remove any types of pizza for it).
Letter Jam for a great word game.
For Sale on the quicker side.
Mission Red Planet for some area control but not too serious area control. (Often compared to Libertalia.)
Hidden movement games like Letters from Whitechapel or Scotland Yard (yes, the only place to hiddenly move is London).
Space Cadets or Captain Sonar if everyone wants a station with a job to do (although the former is better at 5).
I’ve never played it but surely @lalunaverde will say Zoo Vadis fits the bill.
ZOOOOOO VADIIIIS
Antike/Antike 2
Evolution - I think Oceans will be utterly insufferable at 6 players, especially with AP players.
Stationfall - not sure how fast your table will be. Very dependent. We knocked it out around 2 hrs with 8(?). Take this as a maybe
Medici or Strozzi
Cosmic Encounter - I believe you have some expansions which ramps it up to 6?
The first one, Cosmic Incursion, adds a sixth player color, along with new aliens of course, and the Rewards deck, which is one of those things where once you play with it you don’t want to go back.
Colt Express was huge fun at 6-ish.
Factory Funner great at 6
Gravwell ditto, quick paced race game
Show Manager might be a bit old in the tooth by now, but still easy at 6 players
Other than stuff already mentioned (seconding Libertalia, Mysterium and Evolution in particular), my top pick would be Adrenaline. The expansion takes it up to 6 and gives you team play options.
The Great Split and The Great Fire of London 1666 are also good (though the latter has a fiddly set up).
And if you combine Bullet 
and Bullet 
you can play up to 8!
Lords of Vegas with the Up expansion can fit 6, and is likely really good fun (I have only gone to 5 so far, and it was a blast). Hard to get right now though if you don’t already have it.
Otherwise, I can only echo what others have said: Libertalia, Mysterium, Zoo Vadis, Heat. I suppose Flamme Rouge would count as well, with the expansion to add more cycling teams.
Shadows Over Camelot would also fit the bill, but again, hard to find now
We have very much enjoyed these with that many players:
7 Wonders
Tsuro
Dixit
Bohnanza
Thanks all
There’s some interesting stuff on here - stuff I’ve played, stuff I’ve heard of and some completely new things to research.
Oh, Sheriff of Nottingham goes up to 6 with the expansion, at least in the first edition. I think the new edition includes some expansion content, but don’t know if it has the 6th player materials. May be worth looking at.
Lords of Waterdeep with the Scoundrels of Skullport expansion goes up to 6. Never played it with 6 tho.
Ah, this is one that goes effortlessly to 6, and in fact the more crowded the space is the better, but doesn’t feel any more complicated. Definitely a good game at 6.
And over in seconds with that amount of people!
Other people have suggested Mysterium and Tsuro, and I agree. I’d also say my old favourite Coup; ideally Concept has a few more, but it can work all right at 6; Deep Sea Adventure, Freehand, though it’s more of a party game; Letter Jam; Pirate 21; Not Alone. (Some of these are fairly hard to find now, though they’re in my collection; I’m not saying you should go out and look for them.)
Food Chain Magnate goes to 6 with the expansion. Not played above 5 personally but can’t see a reason it wouldn’t work at 6 beyond some people won’t enjoy FCM.
Steampunk Rally either base or expandalone go to 6 and has the advantage of being a drafting game that’s largely simultaneous play so not much difference in downtime between 3 and 6 players. Best game I’ve had of it was at 6.
Cthulhu Wars is excellent at 6 but you need space and funds in serious quantity and therefore the enthusiasm for it. Base game is 4 player, you need the larger map and 2 faction expansions, so that’s outlay of around £200…
Playing Cthulhu Wars with 6 is like playing one of those “epic gaming nights” sessions but time only went by for 3 hours.
I find the down time between turns is usually really high in this game if there are too many players, but obviously YMMV. I don’t like to play with more than four.
If you play it with people who know the game, it generally flies by. BUT it does mean that you don’t actually get to put many tiles down at high player numbers so it can feel a bit pointless.