It just occurred to me that I’ve never played a hand of the trick taking game “Hearts” that wasn’t fun. It has the most simple rules, but every game engages you with the other players and leads to laughing (and usually swearing).
So rather than what are your “best” games (or most complex Lacerda puzzles), what do you think are the most “fun” games you own?
This doesn’t have to be party games, although there may be more player interaction than not, but which ones get people talking and agreeing that they just had a great experience, or saying they loved it and want to play again?
Ticket to Ride - I like that the game has this “I know what I have to do, I know I can do it, but my slowness means it can easily be scuppered” tension. Sometimes the game is a fun disaster and sometimes it’s a breezy game. It’s got all the fun modes for me.
Fake Artist is a really cool game and our end pictures give us some nice memory.
Dixit, Pictomania and Telestrations all hit the spot for us.
And, on the basis of getting people talking and agreeing that they’ve just had a great experience, and saying they loved it and want to play again - Spirit Island does all that for us, every time.
On a side note, I think I’ve decided that I really need to get rid of all games that don’t get someone saying they love it, and only keep the ones that do…!
Inis - Drafting and area control are both really good for tabletalk. Love the situation of not being able to do the perfect move because you don’t have the right card, makes for super interesting situations. And the wincons meaning it’s quite possible (maybe even likely) for a player to jump from distant last to winning the game. Decrypto - Of the team party games, this is becoming my favourite. Great amount of game meta developing across plays. Dogs of War - Another game that encourages grudges and trash talk for no reason. I think games with simple adversary set ups with mechanic limitations are always great fun for joking around. Just make sure there’s no Lady MacBeth. Too stronk
(Honourable mention to Cosmic Encounter. It’s great when people know the game and you can chill with it, but so much is above the table, the imbalances so chaotic and the ruleset is so archaic that it can just fall hard with a group of first timers. So many of the people who hate cosmic I wonder if they just had a bad first play (and I know that’s such a cliché/condescending remark! ). When cosmic is bad, it’s real bad.
Would go to Root for a similar kind of assymetric game without worrying so much about first play gambles. It can still stumble when people don’t understand their role in the game’s ecosystem, but at least the euro elements of moving meeples around and developing your player-board state contribute towards a good game-feel regardless of the ultimate result).
Didn’t expect this to be on a list of “fun” games. That’s not to say I don’t like it, I think it’s an excellent game. And it certainly does encourage grudges and trash talk, as you say.
I would feel bad about recommending it, only because it’s been OOP for a while. But I hear it’s coming back, which is great news.
). When cosmic is bad, it’s real bad.