Ghost stories and Robo Rally are strong contenders for me too 
Unfortunately, IRL I am cursed with gaming friends who hate both of them 
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Slimming down to 3 seems so difficult, because it feels like I’m choosing games that are versatile over games that I love. I’d hate to suddenly find myself rarely playing any games because the ones I have are too heavy as well. So, we’re looking at accessible and versatile…
Codenames:
Quite liked by family and friends alike. Manages to be both challenging and accessible. I’ve yet to meet anyone who dislikes it. One way or another, I know that if I set it up, it will be played over and over again.
Cyclades:
I don’t love Cyclades, but I can’t think of another mappy strategy game which:
- Has excellent depth:rules ratio and can be understood by most people that don’t normally play games.
- Plays well at different player counts.
- Can feel drastically different with some expansions.
The Resistance:
It’s easily the most accessible social deduction game. Werewolf might be simpler, but it’s hard to convince people to play a game where they may be eliminated immediately. There’s also more definite information available, so it feels less messy. No, my friends/family want to spend the whole 45 minutes convincing people they’re not a bastard when they might actually be a secret bastard.
Gah, I look at those 3 and I hate it. You know what, if I’m only going to get 3 games, I’ll get three 2-player games for me and my partner. Give me Memoir 44, Whitehall Mystery, and let’s imagine a world where they keep publishing more Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. There… much better.
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My technique was “OK, so let’s imagine I can still play any game I want to, any time I wanted to, which three would I still just own in spite of that” and suddenly it became a lot easier.
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Me: looks at empty board.
Me: looks at opponent.
Me: “Good game. What should we play next?”
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That was something that made complete sense to me after I’d played it a couple of times. At a certain point adding more stones just seemed an exercise in futility, because it didn’t gain or protect territory.
I haven’t tried to narrow this down perfectly (partly because I don’t think I could), but I’m going to say:
- Hive
- Carcassonne
- Hansa Teutonica
I can teach them to anyone. They cover a range of gameplay styles, durations, and player counts. They are all amongst my all-time favourite games. They each have a bunch of expansions (one of them on a fairly ridiculous scale). A limit of three games is pretty brutal, but if these were what I had at my disposal and someone wanted to play something, I think I’d be in good shape.
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I meant to ask about this!
I love tiny box/bag games. Is Hive or Hive Pocket something that’s easy to teach and immediately fun for newbies? Looks ideal as a game to carry around.
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I carried a home-made set around the world for a year and a half and found it easy to teach to all kinds of people, and popular too.
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I’d probably want you to teach this one to me again, given the confusion regarding the original rules and the revised rules. It’s like Carcassonne farm scoring is that regard, come to think of it. ; )
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In my limited experience, yes. I’ve taught it to about a half dozen people, and thus far everyone has enjoyed it, and picked up the basics quickly, and been keen to play multiple games (it’s also quick to play – half an hour would be a long game). The standard game only uses five different tile/creature types, which are all easy to distinguish from one another, and it’s easy to teach because there are very few rules to learn. There’s plenty of depth, though; it’s easily one of the best two-player games I know.
The pocket version is pretty good – I carry a copy most places, in my backpack. As a literal “in a pocket” thing it’s not all that practical (refer to Quinns’ video), and even the smaller tiles still weigh a bit, so if you’re serious about minimising the space and weight then I reckon a home-made version is a fine idea. I’d grab yourself a copy of the Pocket edition first, though, and see how you get on.
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The only revised rules I’m aware of are for the two-player game, and insofar as the two sets of rules changes for a two-player game are really very different to one another, you’re not too likely to get them mixed up. I’ve never seen anyone say they prefer the original two-player rules, so I think it’s safe to forget about them : )
I think I was also remembering this thread, identifying translation issues.: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2035654/official-rule-change-bonus-marker-placement-2014-e
It includes the comment, “The above posters are correct. The rule is clear in the first edition.”
I may have said this to you before, but our games of Hive have become a bit degenerate with each player getting a bug on top of the other’s queen.
This obviously isn’t some game breaking thing we’ve discovered, but it’s really hard to break the pattern because whoever tries to loses!
Ok, have now spent some time looking at beginner strategy. I think we may be able to move forwards
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It’s usually pretty easy to block that kind of a threat with a defensive piece of your own – or at least, it tends to be if you still have them in hand. it’s almost inevitably going to take your opponent more moves to press that attack than it takes you to effectively defend it, so it’s probably not going to be worth their while.
If you actually manage to secure that position unhindered, though, it can easily be a game winner. I always make a point of demonstrating how that particular situation is going to play out when I’m teaching Hive, as a “definitely don’t allow me to do this” pointer.
Of course, blocking things in general is often simple enough… the real trick is to notice when your protection has been neatly circumvented while you were concentrating on some other part of the hive : )
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I think that we’ve both just been attacking from the off, with no attempt at defence. I think once we break the meta we’ll be able to explore the game a lot more.
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I predict fun times ahead : )
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When I sell Hive to new customers, the usual pitch includes the line “Your first game of Hive you’re going to finish saying ‘Oh my gods, ants are the best things ever.’ By game three, you’ll be saying ‘Actually, grasshoppers are totally overpowered.’ By game seven you’ll be singing the praises of beetles. And then by game twelve, you’ll be convinced that ants are the best things ever again.”
A lovely game, and one that rewards skilled play quite expertly. A straight-up better version of chess.
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Beetle on beetle works as a defence. 
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Taverns of Tiefenthal I’ve had this for a while and still play it regularly. I’ve taken it to friends and they’ve ended up buying their own. It’s a very satisfying game which plays well from 2 to 4. An easy first game for the 3-game collection.
Welcome to if I can only have 3 games, I need something that’s straight forward to teach, easy to get people to play and scales well. This is a fun little game and hits all those requirements… I get an unlimited pad, right??
Flash Point I love a good co-op game and this one is always good fun.
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Or a photocopy machine… 
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