You might describe these games as “gateway games” or “simpler games” but I really like the term Welcoming Games. These games aren’t just games to get you into heavier games, but it’s to welcome you into the hobby of board gaming. And more so, welcoming games are the games that welcome you to the table. Come join with me in something that I really enjoy. So let’s talk about some welcoming games, and I’m going to pick some that are maybe less on the radar than the classic welcoming games to give you more options.

And for other ideas check out the previous lists.

Two Player Games
Campaign Games
Solo Games
Party Games

Welcoming Games

Bonsai

Bonsai is a pretty game about growing Bonsai trees. That’s a theme that is going to be a lot of fun for a lot of people and less “nerdy” which a lot of the games that are welcoming games try to be. That is, they are attempting to be less nerdy to be more welcoming.

In Bonsai you grow you tree by collecting pieces for your tree and then placing them out onto your tree. You pick either of those actions to do. Now it’s a bit trickier than that because as you play there are card abilities that let you hold more or place more tree pieces. Or you grab scoring cards to add to your end game scoring. There is a good amount going on, but it’s not too much because your actions are either take a card or add to your tree, meditate or cultivate as it calls them. And in the end you have an interesting looking bonsai tree.

Draftosaurus

The next fun theme for welcoming games is Draftosaurus, a dinosaur drafting game. In this game you build out your best dinosaur zoo for points, but you do that by drafting dinosaurs and placing them into different pens that will score in different ways.

On a turn the person who is in charge of the die, that passes each turn, rolls it and that determines where the dinosaur you pick has to go. Except for the person who rolled the die and can place it anywhere. Then you pick a little wooden dinosaur from your hand and add it to one of the pens. Some pens will give you points for pairs of dinosaurs, or maybe it wants all different dinosaurs or all the same. Each one is going to give you points in a unique but simple way.

Cafe Baras

Another welcoming game is new this year and it’s Cafe Baras. You are capybara baristas making your best coffee shop. There is cute artwork and some in jokes in this game about the different board games that the company has made. But it’s a nice easy game.

You either are adding more food and drink to your menu, which costs you money, or you are getting customers which gives you money. And you want to get the customers that give you the most points too, at the end of the game, because if you give the customer exactly what they want you can get a customer for life. Plus there are some other ones who will give you points at the end of the game if you have your menu built out in the way that they like it or your coffee shop set-up like they like it.

Cafe Baras is another game that really keeps it clean and simple and easy to play. And these first few have basically no reading to them which makes them quite language independent.

Castle Combo

Castle Combo is the first of our welcoming games that does have more reading to it. In this game you build out a three by three grid of point scoring fun. And all you do on your turn is buy a card and add it to your grid.

I love how easy this game is for being one that offers some good challenge. But each card tells you everything you need to know about it. First you know the cost of the card, how many coins it’ll cost you to buy it, then there is a bonus. The bonus might be getting you more money or keys. Or it might be a permanent discount on buying cards. And finally, there is the end game scoring, how you need to play it to get points. That is it.

Now, there is one last element, the element of the keys. The keys just allow you to change what you can buy. You either wipe all the cards in one row. Or you move where you can buy to the next row. The game is so simple, fast and friendly that it’s a good welcoming game experience.

Mountain Goats

Finally the lightest game on the list, Mountain Goats. This one is very simple to teach and play but also a lot of fun. Mountain Goats is a dice chucking game as you climb up a mountain to grab points.

The game has six different spots where your mountain goats climb. Each column has a different number and different points that match the number. You roll four dice and then you combine them to move mountain goats up towards the top of the mountain. When you get there, you get a point token. And you stay up there and can get more points if you roll that number or combine dice for that number again. But if someone else gets there it bumps you all the way to the bottom and you need to climb again.

That is all there is to the game. This one is again language independent and one that is going to be the easiest for younger kids to play as well. You just need to be able to think about the different combinations of numbers you make. Once a kid figures that out, it is easy to play.

Final Thoughts

You also can’t go wrong with the classics. Games like Catan, Carcassone, Ticket to Ride, and Small World are still great options. But I want to let you know there are new fun options as well out there. And this isn’t even a complete list, I know I could find a whole lot more.

Which of these games do you think a non-gamer or rarely gamer friend or family member would play out of the welcoming games?

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here