Five Types of Board Games To Play With Non-Gamers

Now, I am going to skip a bit one, mainly because some of these will fall into that same category or they can. But cooperative games are always good. Often times people don’t like games because they played Monopoly and Risk as a kid and had bad experiences with that. So competitive games are kind of a trigger for a bad time, but turning it on it’s head and everyone working together is great.

Escape Room Games

Let’s start out with board games that are escape room or puzzle games. These are going to feel really unique to players. And this is a situation where the games are cooperative as well, so players are going to like it for that, potentially. But it is also going to feel not like a normal experience. A game like Micro Macro Crime City where you explore a map and spot a criminal or crime across a map in a “Where is Waldo?” style experience is going to be unique.

Or there are the Exit and Unlock games. These are going to give you more of the puzzle feeling that an escape room might be. And there are a lot of people who do escape rooms who might not board game. So it’s a good branch between an activity that some people might like and a board game. Or even things like Sudoku and Crosswords and Cryptograms that people do for a brain teaser activity daily will help them be interested in an escape room style of game.

Trick Taking Games

Next up for a type of board games is trick taking games. This one makes a lot of sense because even if people don’t play too many games, they often at least know Hearts from the computer. So trick taking games are a nice safe and soft entry into more board games.

Now it might seem like this isn’t really an entry point, but it is. It is because there are so many variations or board gamer type things done with trick taking games. Things like The Crew make it cooperative, so that is interesting. Or there is Schadenfreude where you want to come in second to score points, but you also don’t want to go over forty points. And Rebel Princess which is just hearts, but there are powers and rules change each round. So it is going to feel familiar but there are a lots of trick taking games that add in more.

Dexterity Games

Next up is Dexterity Games. These are great board games to use when you have a variety of ages and a variety of interest. Why, because they can become a funny good time or a really tense time, it’s up in the air, literally, depending on the game that you decide to play.

A game like Ice Cool or Pitchcar are going to be more on that funny good time as you either have Penguins who are skipping class to get a fish snack and trying to avoid the hall monitor as you flick them around. Or you are racing around a track in Pitchcar. Either way it’s lighter and more of the excitement comes from someone making a great shot.

Then you have a game like Menara. This is going to be a stacking game, but unlike others, say Jenga, where you are removing things and the person who knocks it over loses, this one you are building up the tower, kind of like Jenga, but it’s cooperative. So you want to complete a target objective before it gets knocked over. And that is going to provide that cooperative and dexterity that can make it easier to play.

Roll and Write Games

The next time of board games are roll and write games. Now, with this one be careful. There are roll and write games that are very complex. But there are a lot of easy ones as well. And you want to target those that are a step up from Yahtzee. That is why they are on the list. People know Yahtzee, so it is going to be familiar to them. And a roll and write will seem less intimidating.

I think that something like Ganz Schon Clever (That’s Pretty Clever) can be a great option. There is a bit to learn in scoring, but for the most part it’s a fast and easy teach. Or a game like Metro X where you fill in tracks, that could bed good. And Mind Space or Qwixx over simpler game play but with just that little bit more for it. There are a ton out there, so a lot of good options.

Drafting Games

Finally are drafting games. This, like Roll and Write Games, you need to think about a little bit. I don’t know that I’d jump straight into Seven Wonders. But there are great games out there like Sushi Go and Draftosaurus that work really well. And the themes help those games.

The reason I think these board games work well is that you all go at once. There isn’t that downtime. And you learn as you go, often times with these games. Often, I feel like, for a competitive game, you get the question, what’s a good strategy. Or, I don’t know what to do. Drafting games I often find you get the question, but the answer is pick something for the first card. And as options get fewer it is easier and becomes more reactive. So I say often times the first card doesn’t matter.

And because you play all at once it means that games are often shorter. A game of Draftosaurus, for example, is maybe twenty minutes if people are really slow. So it’s great to play once and then play again.

Final Thoughts

These are just some of the types of games. I think there are a lot of types of games that can work for people to try for a new game. One important thing, though, is to remember that not everyone is going to like every type of game. So try some things and see what works, and ask people why they maybe don’t like board games. And then if you want to try, try and find something that’ll avoid those things they don’t like.

What types of board games do you introduce to new prospective gamers?

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Top 5 Allplay Games

5. Chomp

This one is just a fun little game. I like the simplicity of picking a car and trying to create dinosaur herds. Of course you need your dinosaurs not to die off, so that is a whole element of the game. But the game is, like so many Allplay games, fast to play and easily to follow and learn. That’s a hallmark of their games, and I won’t mention it again because it’s true for all of them on the list. Chomp works because it’s a fun system with fun cards and a fun theme. It’s not the thinkiest, but not all games need to be.

4. Mind Space

Next up is Mind Space. One area that Allplay has only a couple of forays into is roll and write games. But The ones that they do are a lot of fun. Mind Space is about mapping your mind, though the theme doesn’t really matter. It’s about putting various colors onto the board to score points. Of course there are rules as to how you place and you get bonuses as some points in time.

One element that I really enjoy about the game is the flowing system of cards. Shapes hop onto the flow and then each round progress one spot further down. So you know that a shape might be getting close to going off the flow so you need to grab it now if you need that color. Of course, you also need to hope that the color you want is the one rolled there.

3. Mountain Goats

This one I need to play my physical copy, but I love playing it on Board Game Arena. The game play is simple, you just roll dice and climb up paths with your mountain goats. When you get to the top, you get points. When another mountain goat gets up to you, it bumps you back down.

This is just a filler game, but it’s one that’s fun. And I said I wasn’t going to mention it again, but that’s what Allplay does well. I think it works especially well here in Mountain Goats because there’s the excitement of how long can you stick at the top and keep getting points before you get knocked down. And you can stay up longer, because it’s a longer climb on smaller points, but of course, it might be better to grab the big points instead.

2. River Valley Glassworks

This one is new as of this year. But I really like River Valley Glassworks. I think that it works as a solo game. And I think that it works at two or at four or at five. Every player count works well. And that is not something that can be commonly said about games. Most of the time they find a spot they work the best, and there might be an ideal, but there isn’t a bad player count.

The game is simple, put down a piece of glass and collect adjacent glass. But it’s so much more than that as you need to plan out your scoring attack. You score columns and rows. But which you focus on, and how much you focus on both is the question. And the scarcity of glass colors as well is fun. Plus the shapes mattering to collect glass and colors matter when placing it on your board. There is a bunch going on for a fast game.

1. On Tour

My favorite is the other Allplay roll and write that I can think of. And this one is about making a route, low to high, for your band to travel. It’s a fictional band, but you’re basically trying to place dice combinations, 1 to 100, on your board so that you can make a pathway that is always getting higher. The concept is simple, but the game play and execution is a ton of fun.

It’s one of those games, too, that I like where at the beginning you feel like anywhere works. You place a number do, you feel like you can connect it. At the end of the game as decisions become tougher, you also have fewer spots to play. So it’s that nice balance of when the game could lock up, you already find yourself limited in options.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoy Allplay for the most part. A few games I find just to be okay. Kabuto Sumo is an okay game. Big Top, I think I could have fun with that, but it wasn’t my favorite. But games I like such as Pollen, Dandelion and others miss the list. And there are still others like Couture and Ghosts of Christmas that I want to play really badly. Or a whole mess of trick taking games as well from them.

Of course, not all their games are going to be for everyone. But for me, they are very consistent. And I think that consistency is going to tell you if you’d like them or not. Because once you play one or two, you’ll know what type of games they are. And you will find out if Allplay is a company for you.

What’s your favorite Allplay game?

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Mind Space

The reason I enjoy coming back to a game after a bit is to refresh how much I like it or see how well it holds up. That is the case with Mind Space where I’ve played two games prior to this, both streamed previously. You can find that playthrough here.

Let’s tackle what has held up well and what I still think I’m tripping myself up on. I like the scoring in this game a lot. I think it’s smart in how it gives you various scoring options based on the different colors. Some, I think are better than others, but I might be wrong on that, I’m sure it is well balanced. Well, I say that, I think that with some smart play all of the scoring becomes an option.

The next thing I want to try with the game is multiplayer. What works well with this game as solo game is that you need set of dry erase markers. And this game comes in a small box. So if I play multiplayer, the markers will be shared. Now, Allplay did give an additional set of dry erase markers, but they don’t fit in the box.

But I do think there is some interesting options in multiplayer. Mainly the timing of competing for goals. That is one are, as I said on the stream, I think unless it’s easy you can kind of ignore them. Not to the point where you don’t complete them, but because you don’t know what is going to flip first. You can’t plan properly for them. With multiplayer, I can see if you’re closer than I am to a goal. And if you are, I might pass on that one.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I stream at 9 PM Central. That is sometimes a bit hit or miss, but that’s the goal. And I do small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well.

On Wednesdays, well, I said that I plan to play at least a few more games of Rogue Angels. This is going to continue how I play my solo campaign games on the channel. The reason for that is with how many campaign games I can play solo, I want to try more. That is at 8 PM Central time for the campaign games.

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Mind Space

I like my roll and write games, and Mind Space isn’t an exception to that. I think that it’s a fun little roll and write game that works well as a solo experience. Does it stand out as the most unique game from other roll and write games, I don’t know about that, but it is simple to play solo and a fun time.

I enjoy the scoring in the game quite well. I think there are some strategy elements, and one rule, that I forgot. Mainly that you get money for completing an area. Also pushing for blue to be in every area is huge as well, so overlapping that as needed to cover them all and get rid of those negative points. But that’s just thinking back on it. Scoring wise I really enjoy what the game did. I like that each area scores differently as that gives you different strategies to think about.

If all the colors just scored the same, say all of them were adjacent to another color like purple to orange is, it would feel like the same thing. But because Pink cares about repeated shapes, and orange just cares about how many, there seems to be a number of ways to score. And for a pretty simple game, like Mind Space, that is a good thing.

For me as a solo gamer, I also like the Mind Space’s rules are simple for the solo play. It’s simply pretend like the game has done scoring of goals at different times in the game. Is it a little bit of memory of what round it is, kind of, but it’s simple enough to count and check, so that makes it easy. And for a solo game, I like that it’s fast, but also it’s not too fast because I still need to think about where I place everything. It’s a good filler style of solo game and likely multiplayer as well.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I stream at 9 PM Central. That is sometimes a bit hit or miss, but that’s the goal. And I do small solo game plays. That is going to be interspersed with learning to paint. I am not going to be teaching you how to paint, I’m going to be learning myself. So join me on Monday for solo gaming or painting.

On Wednesdays, well, I said that I plan to play at least 10 games of Rogue Angels. This is going to continue how I play my solo campaign games on the channel. My goal, play four different campaigns 10 times each. It’s tricky, but I think that I can do it. That is at 8 PM Central time for the campaign games. The next part of Rogue Angels can be found coming up here.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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Via Kickstarter

Let’s start here because there are a number of note. A quick rundown on these will be good, but a number of them I already talked about in Back or Brick.

Once Upon a Line – The Butterfly’s Breath

This one I wanted to back because it looked incredibly different. It talks about how it is so new with it’s scratch off stuff for a board game. That isn’t “new” but to build a whole game around it is definitely is. This is an adventure game where you try and scratch off words or shapes to progress story. The concept just sounded fascinating, but also like it was pretty straight forward.

For that reason I didn’t go all in on this one. There is going to be plenty of content in the base game. But I didn’t have enough confidence in the game beyond the interesting mechanic to say that I wanted it all. But I also think that this game is unique, so I want to try it.

Marvel United: Multiverse

It’s more Marvel United, of course I backed it. Marvel United: Multiverse really describes the core box. But, the rest of the expansions, around events like Age of Apocalypse, Annihilation, or Civil War, and there are more as well, are very interesting.

Plus the game adds in a few news things as well. Mainly it adds in equipment cards that you can swap in generically or for specific characters. And then campaign decks as well which will change up how you can play a series of games. I like that idea for the game. And while I still want a dungeon crawl style game with these characters, CMON did a great job of offering so many fun things.

Catharsis Sagas: Nocturne

This, honestly, was not going to be a back because I have to play Catharsis still. The game does look like a ton of fun, so I want to get it to the table and chuck some dice. But do I need more, the answer is really no. But it is cheap, so I grabbed it. It is more adventure for Catharsis and new characters to face off against, or play as, I’m not completely sure anymore as this one has wrapped up. And when a crowdfunding campaign wraps up, I kind of forget about it between updates.

Fork

This is a small back, as was Catharsis Sagas. Fork is a trick taking game where Fork stands for Fox, Owl, Rabbit, and Kale. And depending on what you play down, it determines who wins. The concept seems simple, but like there is enough game there and enough different of a twist to trick taking that I wanted to give it a try.

Stonesaga

I am lucky enough to know one of the designers and game with him often. So this is one I got to playtest already and actually get to see the prototype this past weekend at The Source in Roseville Minnesota. But this is a fun survival exploration game as you build up your society, gather food, and try and survive.

It is played in a legacy type of experience. So you create your character(s) throughout the game and develop the society your way. I think that the mini games you play are good and easy to follow what is going on. It isn’t a cheap game, but the components are nice and there is a lot in the game.

Chomp, Sail, Couture, and Mind Space

Finally, from All Play (used to be BoardGameTables.com) there is a set of four small games. Chomp, Sail, Couture, and Mind Space. Each of the games looks interesting. And I backed it for all of the games. A couple of reasons for doing that, the games do all look interesting. I am least interested in Couture, but when you want to get three of them, it is better to get all four because you get the upgrades for free.

Chomp has a fun dinosaur theme. Sail is trick taking, and Mind Space is a roll and write game. So I am definitely interested in how all of those will work. And Couture is an auction game which might be very interesting. It just jumped off the page less to me than the other ones did.

Gamefound

Gamefound is generally slower than Kickstarter. Though there are some good projects on there that I backed as well.

Arabella

This is an interesting one for me to have backed. It is a roll and write game, I love roll and write games. There isn’t anything interesting about that. But it is an 18xx train, stock game as a roll and write game. I don’t play 18xx games. They don’t interest me that much because it’s really a whole system to learn and get good at. And the people who are good at them are very good at them. Plus, probably one that is harder to play.

But as a roll and write game. Now it is a more interesting to me. I like the idea of taking a big game like that and making smaller. It might still take a while, but it won’t take as long. And I hope that it offers a very big and different roll and write experience.

Witchbound

Witchbound is another one that I got to preview and one that I am very excited for. This and the next one are two similar games. But Witchbound is a game where you are the first witch on Coven Cove in over 100 years. And it is a point and click adventure as you interact with people and locations and solve puzzles, fight bad guys and more.

What I like about this one, besides the fun theme. Is that it is a simple gaming experience with a lot of story. So I can pull it out as a solo game and play around with minimal setup. Plus then a good amount of story with minimal setup which I think is a lot of fun and a sweet spot that not too many games are in, Lands of Galzyr being the best example I have.

Robomon

Finally we have Robomon. This is one that I almost backed when it was active and then I late pledged. But Robomon is basically a Pokemon game with robots instead of creatures. But it looks like a simple adventure game, and while there is more going on mechanically than Witchbound, my hope is that it’s not too much.

The style of game and the artwork in the game work for me as well. Again, I hope it is a sweet spot of story but also then good game play and ease to get to the table. Another game that I hope is a good easy to the table game with story that is fun to play.

Final Thoughts on Crowdfunding

I picked back up some of what I have been backing. A few reasons for that, but mainly, I knew there would be a few bigger games to start the year that I wanted to back. I know that in March there is going to be another one with the Chip Theory Elder Scrolls game.

What games will you be adding to your collection that you’ve backed in the past few months? Any ones that I maybe missed that you should I should checkout?

One that I had backed and dropped my pledge is Andromeda’s Edge. I want it still, but space Dwellings of Eldervale. While that sounds fun, and I am sure it is more than that, do I need two games that are going to be similar? I ended up deciding no on that one.

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