Carcassonne Central

The topic of other games that we enjoy has cropped up several times on this forum, so here are my favourite 'other games'. They are in no particular order.

Ticket to Ride (and Swiss expansion TTR)
Settlers of Catan
Pandemic
Stone Age
Agricola
Hive
Ice Flow
Thurn and Taxis


And one that I don't enjoy:

Power Grid (I just can't see where the fun part is in this game)

It would be interesting to read what games others enjoy playing.

Siedler von Catan (incl. all expansions)
Munchkin (all expansions)
Zooloretto+Aquaretto+XXL (inkl. all mini expansions)

I enjoy Settlers of Catan, TtR - US w/ 1910 expansion, Nordic Countries and Marklin - haven't played the Europe or Swiss maps.
I also really enjoy Cosmic Encounter - completely different from just about everything else I've played, but it is so much fun.

I've played Settlers a few times, but don't really like it. I find it difficult to build anywhere without getting blocked off very quickly. Many games I've been completely trapped. I think I need to change strategies and start near the water on a good trade space. Despite my dislike for the game, I think they've done a great job with the expansions, though I've never played any of them.

My brother bought Ticket to Ride and we've played it once thus far. It was more fun than Last Spike (an older railroad building game), but the penalty for not finishing a contract burned me pretty bad.

I played Power Grid a few weeks ago. I think it does a good job of equalizing the players, but I didn't like how other players could build through my area and ruin my brilliant plans. I got into a lot of bidding wars with the same person.

Probably the game I enjoy most besides Carc is Dutch Blitz. Probably because I am faster than my brothers.

Formula D (or De) - Probably the best racing game ever.
Ingenious - A game by Reiner Knizer (he did the castle). It's a tile laying game using double hexagons, on a board, with matching colours. So abstract Carcassonne if you like - Works very well.
4000AD - This is an old Waddington games from the 70's. A group of us used to play it until around 5.30am in the morning every weekend. Hyper space travel and star fuelled wars, using a 2D board that was actually interpreted as 3D. One of the best games I've ever played - Honest!
The Graet Game of Britain - A great family game of rail travel around the British Isles. I've got the version with both the InterCity map and old 4 Railway companies (May not mean a thing to you non UK guys!)
Stocks and Shares - Again a really old game from the 70's made by Pepy's. Also again a fairly simpistic stock trading game based on the card you hold and what players before you do or don't do - Easy game tom play when friends come round and want a new game to play. I keep intending to make an advanced version of it.
Wings Of War - Has anyone else played this? Terrific table top World War 1 plane game. Plays with minuture planes and cards for movement with measuring rulars for targeting. It can be played in a really simple format and then add other elements when your ready. Easy to come up with your own scenarios and there's quite a few expansions and extra planes to buy. Highly recomended here.

Lots of others... but I've gone blank!!  ;D

Just out of interest, although I don't really like 'roll and move' games (i.e. Monopoly), but I do enjoy 'The London Game'. "Maybe it's because i'm a Londoner... and I love London town... maybe it's because i'm a Londoner..." This is a great 'roll and move' luck game, which I find fun.

Another game I used to play when I was young was 'Black Box'. I still have a Waddington's edition original set, but it rearly sees the light of day. There was a revamped version released a year or so ago, but I preffered the look of the Waddington's edition more than the newer edition.

Games I also play: Formula D, Settlers of Catan with some expansions, Doom+expansion, Lobo (Wolf in English), Agricola and Ticket to Ride...

Ticket to Ride
Urland
Citadels
Niagara

Stone Age
Star Wars - Epic Duels
Risk
Axis and Allies

Wings of War
Kingmaker
Memoir 44
Cash and Guns
LOTR Strategy Battle Game

Roborally - all time favourite!
Arkham horror - really good game.
Descent
Game of thrones
Puerto rico

And lots more. I just ordered Caluys and Battlestar galactica.

I do not particulary like Settlers, but Elasund is nice.

BattleLore*
Cosmic Encounters
Mystery of the Abby
Munchkin*
Starfarers of Catan
Settlers of Catan*
Sellters of Caton the Card Game*
Twixt
Leverage

*usually play with only a few expansions but we change it up, rarely with all, sometimes none

Games I Love
RoboRally - Lots of fun and a family favourite.
Wings Of War - Great WWI aerial combat game. Miniatures add a lot in my opinion. I WANT To start a league for this.
Formula De - Awesome racing game. I own all of the tracks. Currently running a league. Big fun.
Battlestar Galactica - Big fun and lots of paranoia during gameplay.
Stone Age - Very well designed Euro for worker placement. Many paths to victory.
GIPF Series - Very well designed series of two player abstract games.
HeroScape - Some great miniatures and terrain pieces for the money. Fun with multiple sets and expansions.
Texas Hold'em Poker - Ran a league for two years. My wife and I like to play low dollar freeze out tournaments.

Fun Filler Games We Enjoy
Battle Line - Quick little two player game that travels well.
Code 7 - Great little logic game for four players. Family favourite.
Guillotine - Catching the heads off of French Nobles. Silly and Irrereverant fun.
Gloom - Clever card game about making your family unhappy then bumping them off. Silly and fun.

Games I Do Not Care For
Settlers of Catan - Just grew tired of it I guess. Meh.
Tichu - Not a fan of tracik taking card games.
Puerto Rico - Just doesn't resonate at all with me.

So I've received an order of games - Citadels, Pandemic, Power Grid, and Race for the Galaxy.  Never played any of these, so I was wondering if people here had opinions on what to try first.

I have an inclination, but I would like to get some opinions before biasing the sample.

Well...

Pandemic is a great game. I love it! But should you try it first? hmmmm? If you do, you might be hooked and not get to play the others for some time ;)

or I could say...

Play Power Grid first... get the disappointment over with and then you can get on and play Pandemic ;)  (i'm joking, of course. That is just my opinion of Power Grid... others quite like it)

I can't comment on the others, as I have never played them :(

I've only played Citadels, and to be honest, it's a game meant for at least 4 players.  5 or 6 would be good, more than that, it drags.  It's a quick short game and is one of the better non-CCG card games out there.

Of those games, I've only played Power Grid. Didn't really enjoy it, but I enjoyed the opportunity to get together with my friends. If they wanted to play it again, I would join in.

Well, Joff, I read BGG Pandemic page and it seems great. I'll have to check the rules. I never thought of being a doctor, but neither a train driver... :)

We played Pandemic last night, and everyone liked it so much we played a 2nd game which took us to 1 am, but it was great to play.  This was after a game of catan with Cities and knights and then Cosmic Encounter.  Ah to have 6 hours of board games, it was a good night.

bests gemes in ORDER :

1) Emmerlaüs, the duel of mages(card games)
2) WoW: TBG, of course a BOARD game!
3) Munchkin(all sets), a card game(in english, cuz the french version is botched by miserables weak translacers!)
4) Carcassonne, duh!
5) WOW: TAG, another type of WoW but individual.
6) Ninja Burger, a card game, a ninja who delivers burgers in GREAT places...
7)Dhavha, another card game
8) Chez Geek, livin in appart card game
9) Cold War, card game, 2 players only, a mix of black jack/poker/action.
10) Red Hot Silly Dragon, lil board game + dices, fun with kids and older teen(30+)

that's it, i also play D&D and some others RPG, but timelessness wins on the availability!

mathguy when I play boardgames qith my folks it takes all night long!!!

@Joff: I've just read pandemic rules from BGG and I found it most interesting. I think that if I start to play it, it'll be hard to stop playing it, too. I'll buy it in a couple of weeks, as soon as I can buy again from eBay. (My bank account says NO, for the moment) :)

@Joff: I just bought Pandemic and played a couple of times. It's awsome! You were right. People can't stop playing it!!! Although I noticed it went to easy because some rules weren't followed... Oops! No intention! Really! We can't know all rules by heart just for plaing the game a couple of times, now do we?
So, thanks Joff for letting me know the game. Surely one of my favourites!!! :)
 

Pandemic really is a great co-op game.

I have just traded my copy of Power Grid for Thurn and Taxis.

Also, I have just purchased Mr. Jack. It's a 2 player detective game; just perfect when it is just me and my son wanting a game.

I'm not sure if I should pity Joff Jr. or be happy that he wants to play Mr. Jack with his father :)

Pity him... he has no choice ;) lol

LOL, you are a horrible slave driver!  Whenever we are in a 2-player mood we get TtR Switzerland out for a spin.  Occassionally, it's TtR Nordic.

Yeah, we like TtR Switzerland, but we wanted a detective game so went for Mr. Jack.

I own new games such as Pandemic (what a game!!!!) , Game of Life (almost a kid's game, but I have lots of fun playing it at the PC also), Dungeon Twister (never played yet), Around the World In 80 days and I guess I'll buy JUMANJI just or the fun, and may be Railroad Tycoon or Age of Steam...

This thread is old, but I'll chime in...

Carcassonne is my new favorite.  I try and play as often as I can, but I find I have to teach it a lot.  Especially the expansions, but that's OK. 

Settlers was my first German board game experience.  I actually learned to play with the Christian version, Settlers of Cannan.  So far, the only expansion I've played is Seafarers.  Looking forward to trying some of the others.  The C&K CAR will probably help with that!

I tried Ticket to Ride a few times.  I've played the U.S. and Europe once each.  It was fun and I'll probably play that a lot at family get togethers.

I grew up playing Risk, that is always fun as long as people don't take forever.  I'm probably one of those people.  I also enjoy Axis and Allies.  I like those kinds of thought out strategy games though I never was much of a Chess or Checkers player (I prefer King's Corners), but Othello is an old favorite.

I like specialty card games like Uno, Phase 10, Rook, SkipBo, and my family loved Dutch Blitz years ago.  I can't find it now unfortunately.  I like Poker, Cribbage, and love Rummy style card games with my family on holidays. 

I'm a fan of dice games like Yatzee, Skunk, and a few more that either don't have a name or have too many names.  And, Pass the Pig!  Great fun!

With my wife's family, we love to play Sniglets, Balderdash, Cranium, and lots of different Trivia games.

Does D&D count?  Love rolling that D20!

I'd really like to try Pandemic and some of the other games you guys have mentioned.

Not sure how far away they ship, but my local Christian book store has Dutch Blitz:
http://www.houseofjames.com/store/details/014698002017 (http://www.houseofjames.com/store/details/014698002017)

The game store where I do most of my purchasing has it as well:
http://www.cravingforagame.ca/products/Dutch_Blitz-1422-0.html (http://www.cravingforagame.ca/products/Dutch_Blitz-1422-0.html)

Thanks!  I'll definitely look for another one.

I thought it was rather an expensive store. Its prices were almost on par with what we pay in Sweden. But then I realised it was canadian, and it all made sense again.  {dk

so, mathguy, did you ever try Pandemic and/or Race for the Galaxy? Those would be my two suggestions. My husband and I love them both and are looking forward to the expansions.

We played Pandemic, many times in fact. Really enjoy it, and we're still at the point where if the game wins, we just shuffle everything and go again.
Other games have gotten in the way of getting Race for the Galaxy to the table, but I'm hopeful at some point to play it.  Only problem I see is a decent learning curve with symbols.

Race for the GAlaxy you just have to play a few times and realize that you won't know what is going on for a while. Eventually you learn all the symbols and start to see strategies and then it is awesome.

We have played Ghost stories (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37046) for a bit now, and while it is the most difficult coöperation game I have ever played; it is also one of the most beautiful. The sensation of hopelessness that creeps into you after a while is unmatched (and I mean that in a good way). Try it!

Finally got Race for the Galaxy to the table.  Took awhile to learn, but it certainly offered some surprises.  1st game I thought I was out in front, lost by a point, 2nd game, thought I was out of it, ended up tied for the win.  It's a fun game, but not my personal favorite. 

Old game to you folks I expect, but I recently bought "Ticket to Ride Europe" to try and entice my 10 year old off his Xbox.

Great success, the whole family enjoyed playing it together which is more than i could have hoped for.  Highly reccomended.

Actually, I would recommend Ticket to Ride (without the Europe) but with 1910 over that.  It's simpler, but more complex and more fun than Europe. 

An additional plus is that I can pronounce most of the names on the original TtR, where I have difficulty with the weird sounding names in TtRE.  >:(  :o ;D

That is awesome. Congrats. I always consider it a big success if I can get someone interested in a boardgame over TV or a video game. Well done!

I recently taught two 9 year olds and an 8 year old how to play Carcassone.  I did most of the stratigizing for them but the loved it.  Especially when we played with the Dragon.  My nephew liked it well enough that I just bought the base set for his 10th birthday and threw in my extra King set and the Missionary.

For those who like Pandemic, there is an expansion about to be released - Pandemic: On the Brink

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40849 (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40849)