[Alain Gomez]

I am seriously addicted to this game. I have all the expansions and play just about any chance I get.  Anyone else?

 

[arshield]

I have played it several times and enjoyed it.  But we don't have many gamer friends and it is not the same with two people.  I did pick up the ipad version, but I haven't played it yet.

 

[Ben White]

I love it, I think it's one of the greatest games ever designed.  I hardly ever get to play it, though, it's hard to round up enough  people.

 

[NogDog]

I own the original plus the "seafarers" as well as the extra-players expansions for each. Haven't played in quite some time though, as my former "serious gaming" group (as opposed to my current "gaming is an excuse to get together to eat and talk" friends) has drifted apart.

 

[Alain Gomez]

Has anyone ever tried any other games from German companies?  I tried Dominion which is card game of sorts.  Didn't much care for it.  I also tried Carcasonne (sp?).  That one is really fun and good for two players.

 

[A. S. Warwick]

Oddly for the massive geek I am I have never played it.

 

[Ben White]

It's not from a German company, but Ticket to Ride is fantastic, especially the Europe version.  Carcassonne is fun too.

 

[MamaProfCrash]

It is a fun game. There are many more games that are even more fun. Check out the Alea Bookshelf games. Ra and Taj Mahal are tons of fun. Puerto Rico is a must own. Tikal is another great game. So many wonderful European made strategy games out there.

Ticket to Ride and its expansions are a lot of fun.

 

[Tris]

Only played it once myself. Though one of my friends is a MAD fan and has it in various versions. I didn't know there was SO MANY types and versions of the game until I walked into a game store a few years ago.

I did pick up the ipad version, but I haven't played it yet.

My friend who is the mad fan would love that! Only I wonder if there is an iPhone version as she doesn't have an iPad (yet). If there is an iPad version there must be an iPhone version too right?

Tris

 

[NogDog]

Has anyone ever tried any other games from German companies? I tried Dominion which is card game of sorts. Didn't much care for it. I also tried Carcasonne (sp?). That one is really fun and good for two players.

I've played that one a few time: a friend of mine is a big-time game collector, and has that and another one based on the same system/format, but the name of which I don't recall. Though not German, another tile-based map-building game I've always liked is the "1830" railroad game.

 

[MamaProfCrash]

I really like Dominion. Great game.

 

[Alain Gomez]

Oddly for the massive geek I am I have never played it.

You must try it. If you have ever played Age of Empires or Civilization, you will enjoy it immensely.

 

[albianne]

I bought this game one Christmas as a last minute "family" gift but it is still sitting in our game cupboard unopened, I guess I should pull it out and take a look at it again.

 

[Alain Gomez]

I bought this game one Christmas as a last minute "family" gift but it is still sitting in our game cupboard unopened, I guess I should pull it out and take a look at it again.

Don't let the boring box deceive you.

 

[MamaProfCrash]

The nice thing about the vast majority of the European based board games is that they are strategy game that you win based on how many points that you score and not based on wiping out your competitors. This is very different from most American based games. There are ways in all of the games to hurt your opponent (build on the same train line, build a settlement where they wanted to, grab a resource they wanted) but normally if you do these things just to hurt them and not to help yourself it will bite you in the butt.

For me, this translates into a more enjoyable gaming experience. I might lose but I am still in the game and have the illusion of hope. Monopoly, Risk, Sorry, all of those types of games tend to leave people pissed off at the end because they were wiped out.

There is a website, board game geeks, that has very nice description of various games and makes recommendations for folks based on age and the types of things they enjoy doing. I have 50 or so games and love when we get to play them. My brother has 300 or so and my cousin has 500 or more. There are many out there and some of the best are not found in stores in the US but can be ordered online.

 

[Basilius]

I've played that one a few time: a friend of mine is a big-time game collector, and has that and another one based on the same system/format, but the name of which I don't recall. Though not German, another tile-based map-building game I've always liked is the "1830" railroad game.

This might be the only time I've seen Carcassonne compared to 1830. Yes, each game has tiles, but...yow.

That's like comparing A Wrinkle in Time to Lord of the Rings. Yes, both are excellent speculative fiction books but...yow.

Back to the original point... Settlers of Catan is a fantastic game. We own nearly every expansion and variant on that theme. Others along the same level of complexity and replayability are Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride (both previously mentioned), Zooloretto, Pandemic, and Acquire. Dominion is also good, but there can be a bit of "huh?" before you get how to make it work. (Assuming the player has never played any game where you customize decks of cards.)

 

[Alain Gomez]

There is a website, board game geeks, that has very nice description of various games and makes recommendations for folks based on age and the types of things they enjoy doing. I have 50 or so games and love when we get to play them. My brother has 300 or so and my cousin has 500 or more. There are many out there and some of the best are not found in stores in the US but can be ordered online.

Great. The small amount of money I have leftover from taxes will now be spent. Cool site!

 

[Alain Gomez]

Back to the original point... Settlers of Catan is a fantastic game. We own nearly every expansion and variant on that theme. Others along the same level of complexity and replayability are Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride (both previously mentioned), Zooloretto, Pandemic, and Acquire. Dominion is also good, but there can be a bit of "huh?" before you get how to make it work. (Assuming the player has never played any game where you customize decks of cards.)

I'm going to reveal my true geek here....

I found Dominion to be dull compared to Magic: The Gathering. You're limited by whatever cards are in the box and there are too many steps for each turn for a card game, imho. The Star Wars Customizable Card Game had similar issues rule-wise.

 

[Ben White]

I'm going to reveal my true geek here....

I found Dominion to be dull compared to Magic: The Gathering. You're limited by whatever cards are in the box and there are too many steps for each turn for a card game, imho. The Star Wars Customizable Card Game had similar issues rule-wise.

I haven't tried Dominion, but I used to play Magic and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. Vampire was great, I had a Ventrue/Toreador political/bloat deck. Nice balanced game with a lot of depth and nuance to it, fast-paced, constant hard choices to make, opportunities for deals and alliances and bluffing, and the 'prey' system was genius. Nobody wanted to sit to my left

 

[Martel47]

I like Settlers and have played a couple of the expansions, but I don't own any Settlers.  I played the game the first year it was released in the US and was amazed when some people started talking about it like it was some new hit game thing ten years later.  I've never really invested in games, but have enjoyed playing some. 

About some games not already mentioned:  My 'gamer' friends have gotten me to play Power Grid and I've tried one of its expansions, too.  It was pretty fun, but I have always been frustrated when playing it because I can't beat this one friend.  I had him dominated one game and then another player, who was new, started making decisions that negatively affected me more than the other friend.  Grrrr!

For a card game, I enjoyed Citadels so much that I did end up purchasing it.  I've also been exposed to Munchkin, which was cute, but I was never into D&D so some of the inside jokes were lost on me.