Our Favorite Games - Part 2

Click here for Part 1 in our series on our favorite games. Now for Part 2.

Martha Briggs

• Agricola (surprise)
• Ticket to Ride - USA 1910
• Blue Moon City

Rick Pasquale
For me, Agricola is clearly at the top of the list.

1. It's fun*
2. It's enjoyable with any number from one to five
3. It has sophistication, but isn't so complicated that it turns off non-gamers.
4. It plays relatively quickly (two can play in 30+ minutes).
5. The multitude of card combinations and choices makes it a game with great replayability.
   

*Fun: Its a game where success is based upon creating and developing, rather than destroying. So even when you don't "win" by having the highest score, you've nonetheless succeeded in developing your own unique farm. Although you sometimes miss out on a selection taken by another farmer, there are plenty of alternatives to pursue, so "screwage" is minimal. The game has nice graphics and for some of us, even miniature animals and materials to get fully immersed in the game (and escape from reality).

Eric Reinhold
My favorites aren't always what I want to play at GCOM sessions...

• Blue Moon City
• San Juan
• Race for the Galaxy
• Ticket to Ride is of course what I usually bring out as the starter with new players (with the USA 1910 expansion).
  

Favorite 2 player games:

• Gin Rummy
• Lost Cities
  

Bill Salvatore
Serious games:

• *Attika
• *Power Grid
• *Puerto Rico
• *Princes of Florence
• *World in Flames
• *Russian Campaign (and variants)
• *Acquire
• *Caylus
• *Agricola
• *Antiquity
• *Cribbage
• *18xx
  

Games for fun:

• *Alhambra
• *San Juan
• Saint Petersburg
• *Ticket to Ride
• Taj Mahal
• Elfenland
• *Cleopatra & the Society of Architects
• *Magna Carta
• Settlers of Catan
• Ingenious
• Lost Cities Boardgame
• Railway Rivals
• Blue Moon City
  

New (to me) games I'm still trying out:

• *Wealth of Nations
• Galactic Emperor
• Roads and Boats
• Tichu
• Merchant of Venus
• *RailRoad Tycoon
• *Pillars of the Earth
• *Dominion
• *Race for the Galaxy
• Silverton
  

The less a game has in the way of random elements, the less skillful I am at the game, in general: terrible at Wealth of Nations, Age of Steam, and Caylus, for example (although decent at Antiquity, because it's almost a solitaire). If such games are rich in logistics, production, and other forms of pseudo-economic planning, and if I were any good at them, they'd be my favorite group.

Games with the randomness level of, say, Power Grid, Princes, and Puerto Rico are my favorites, because once in a while I can get lucky, even against good players, but games with even more randomness, such as Attika, Taj Mahal, and the Ticket games, are really more in my wheelhouse, because I’m more lucky than skillful.

Games that I'll play pretty much any time that I have time to play (and opponents) are marked with an asterisk. Games not so marked I’ll happily play unless I can get people to play one of the asterisked games.

I hate games that require a lot of negotiating, because no one ever trusts me -- they must have a reason for thinking that way, but i don't know what it is. I have a weakness for non-negotiational train games; and for games that are convenient to play by email or over the Internet that it's easy to find opponents for. If anyone has suggestions about games not on my list that they think I’d really like, I’d be eager to hear them.

Judy Trent

• Through the Ages (Scott and I are obsessed with this game at the moment)
• Power Grid
• Age of Steam
• Brass
  

These are the four that popped into my head immediately. I'm sure there are others that I have forgotten and left behind to play Through the Ages though.

Thanks everyone. Part 3 coming soon!