I don't know if anyone else said this but you should also mention that some of the games you mentioned are language independent games. Since there are no words on the games they can be taught to just about anyone as long as the person can translate the rules verbally well enough. Like Splendor, Azul, and Dixit don't have words on their games so it makes it easier to play like for my parents who don't speak english but we can still play because they are language independent. So I agree these are some good games that are good for bringing players into the hobby even those that don't speak english.
This is a great point! This is also why Codenames: Pictures is a great variant when you play with very varied groups. Although it is popular enough to be translated into many languages, you maybe don't want to have to buy multiple versions of the same game :)
From a bilingual gamer that have these games I can tell you that Dixit is difficult if there is a language barrier because you give clues that are not that direct/literal and the players can very easily feel alienated from the other ones if they don't get the clues after a few rounds. But azul, splendor and ticket are perfect for that.
Yeah! For me who own a lot of language dependent games like Unstable Unicorns it is very hard to play with my grandparents who speak no English. I really need some games where if I tell them in Chinese (I ‘m not very good at) and they can remember by picture or color makes it much easier!
My Dad is absolutely obsessed with Splendor, but he can rarely even remember the name. Every other day, he'll come up to me and say "hey, let's play the jewel game again!"
maybe he really really loves spending time with you too and it makes for a great excuse, which could be part of why he's so obsessed :) hope you're both doing fantastic
I'm deep onto tabletop games, but there were a couple that I haven't played on here! There's so many games coming out all the time that it's easy to overlook seemingly common games. Thank you so much for making this!
I guess Im randomly asking but does anybody know a tool to get back into an instagram account?? I was stupid forgot my password. I would love any assistance you can give me!
One I would like to add is Love Letter. It’s easy to learn because you literally only have one or two cards at a time, and there’s no board. So it’s just you and each other player with their one card. It’s filled with strategy and I think more people should try it out!
Heck yes! Splendor is amazing for new players. I taught my mom (who never understood boardgames) and even my 80+ years old grandmother. And they picked up on how to play pretty quick. If that does not speak volumes of its genius and easy to learn quality, nothing will.
As an addition, Coup is also pretty easy to teach people--especially considering it comes with a pair of cheat sheets per player--and as far as I can remember, is almost always a hit.
I think Coup is really fun in the beginning, becoming really dull after some time, because some people would just start to recklessy challenge everything, making bluffing impossible.. But I'll never forget when I announced my third character, my best friend pointed that out, but nobody was confident enough to challenge it. :D
Codenames is the one I'd get if I absolutely had to narrow it down to one - it's extremely simple to explain and yet also has a surprising amount of depth and replayability to it.
Thanks for the rec for Codenames Duet. I love Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne, but my sister isn't as into strategy, so she tends to lose, and thus doesn't enjoy it (because losing sometimes is okay, but all the time is boring). We've found she's okay with strategy if it's co-op, though, like with Forbidden Island.
A great cooperative card game that Id also recommend is Hanabi. Its a chinese game where the catch is that the other players are the only ones who can see your hand.
Betrayal house of the hill (MAKE SURE ITS THIRD EDITION!) Is a nice and light co-op game w less strategy and more narratives where you and your oddball crew explore a haunted mansion! Its very thematic and makes for some interesting and goofy stories, and the kicker is that one of you will turn traitor and play as a certain flavor of ghost or demon (out of a pool of 52) each with unique powers, flavor, and playstyle. 3rd wdition makes the game SO smooth to play and learn! I would call this game almost roleplay-esque, without needing to comit to being an actor But if you want to ease her in to light strategy via co-op, forbidden desert and forbidden sky are both p solid titles, w my favourite being desert. You have to manage rising sand levels and an ever changing board to find parts of your ship before you dehydrate, and it carries a REALLY nice sense of tension especially when you can see the sands literally rising as physical stacks of sand pile up haha If she manages to like both genres enough to want more, I can suggest Eldritch horror or arkham horror 3e that marries the two elements together for a butt clenching rushing to stop the end of the world kind of experience~ fair warning that these games are a little bit more work to learn though so she really HAS to fall in love w those genres of co-op to dive deeper
I've brought Codenames to more than one social function and offered it as a minor distraction, like "Hey we should try playing a round or two of this game, I think you guys may like it". 100% of the time it completely overtakes the night, and no one wants to do anything but play more Codenames. After a couple games it's just "One more round, but this time I want to be the codemaster," or "One more round, but this time let's scramble the teams," or my personal favorite, "Have you been codemaster for me yet? We should do one more round." One time I forgot to bring the game, so i remade the game pieces and cards out of sticky notes and colored markers in about 20 minutes. There were other board games that i brought that the other people specifically requested that they wanted me to bring, and we didn't even open them. We just played Codenames for hours and hours. I showed the online version to some discord friends one night and we all brought our non-gamer partners to play with us. The next morning my girlfriend (who does not like board games) sheepishly asked me "Can we do another Codenames night soon?" I checked discord and, sure enough, every one of our partners had individually asked each of us if we could play more Codenames together again. I've never found a game to instantly be so addictive to so many people. It's... kind of scary.
Funny story, I literally had used 4 of these 5 games to introduce my parents or friends to board games before i saw this video. Two bonus ones for anyone that might be interested. 1. Parks, it’s a nature board game with the simple objective of collecting resources on a trail and using that resource to visit parks. Really good illustrations and chill vibe, definitely for the out doors crowd. 2. Dungeon Mayhem, it’s made by DnD creators, very simple but well designed. I’ve introduced this game to countless numbers of people, my girlfriend even took it home to France and got almost all of her friends and family hooked on it.
So I introduced my family to Ticket to Ride on Thanksgiving and it was a hit. My parents invited me over the next night and played again! Now I'm looking to introduce another game, but don't want to pick something too complex to scare everyone off.
You should really check out Decrypto as well! Its a lot like Codenames but feels a bit more like you're actually cracking the other team's code because that's pretty much what you're doing. I have both and like them both a lot.
Grimm Forest is #1 gateway board game. The perfect beginner balance of strategy, luck, and "gotcha" mechanics. Simple theme that everyone can relate to. I've hooked a lot of people onto games using Grimm Forest.
My introduction to modern board gaming was with "The Resistance." A VERY simple game of players secretly voting for if a mission succeeds or not and trying to figure out which player is secretly voting for missions to fail. It's very similar to what later became "Secret Hitler" though far more simplistic. After that I dove into "Boss Monster."
I think Splendor also has very satisfying tactile pieces. The chips are heavy plastic and it makes a big difference. I don't think the game would be nearly as much fun if the chips were just resource cards or little cardboard bits.
My girl and I always get so much enjoyment out of Ticket to Ride. Both from the game itself, and the not knowingness if we're gonna be nice to each other....or be assholes and block the other's path >:D
I've been extremely interested in playing DnD and other board/table top games. But I'm unsure of how I'd actually enjoy it. So, this is actually very informative and helpful in my situation. I appreciate it, ProZD. Good Shit. Also, Dixit seems like....CAH But not inappropriate, and with pictures instead.
Only haven’t played dixit from the 5 mentioned. But definitely great pics. All of them are very easy to explain to friends who’ve never played before as well which is always great.
I mean, have you seen board gaming? Sure, it seems so nice and chill when you're building trains and buying jewels, but eventually it just doesn't have the same kick it used to--you start craving ingenuity, strategy, good design. At first, you think, "What's the harm? I'll try out Pandemic, maybe give Terra Mystica a go," then badda bing, badda boom, you're stuck in a room with a lion man and a sexy turtle for eight hours trying to kill everyone but come across as the least dangerous person in the room.
Went to a board games night at uni and played splendour for the first time, my strategy was simple, in almost all cases go for the 3 singles rather than the double as it's 50% more chips and generally speaking that will be more helpful than just tunneling a single path or whatever. I ended up winning. Then I played Catan and it was also my first time, and I built a few misplaced roads early on, and like 5 minutes later I realised I had no chance of winning, so I was just stuck there for another 20 minutes waiting for the inevitable end. Hence I do not like Catan. And all of you should care
tbh i dont like catan much either for the same reason: it's easy for a less experienced player to feel left out and also easy for gangs to form that specifically target one or two people which makes for a bad experience for the people getting the short stick
I find it hilarious that you mention board games you can play with your mother, because I play board games with my mother and she LOVES Ticket to Ride and Splendor(Splendor Especially).
I love this video, and I appreciate it. I have a family who love Love Letter, Rummy, Codenames, Next Station London. They bounced off Pandemic, Cockroach Poker, Skull hard. They've warmed a little to Trapwords. They tend to also like trivia games. So next on my list is, of course, Herbaceous, TTR Europe (I'm told the additions smooth out some of the mean blocking) and Pax Pamir 2e :P
@Jonathan Amwoza It's not a racist conspiracy theory if the former german chancellor decides to flood EU nation states with Syrians, rather than sending aid to said Syrians, or military support, or, I'dunno, letting them figure out their own civil war themselves. (You know, like other nations do, Egypt, for a recent example.) I'm sure Greece would love to hear you laugh at their economic crisis that hasn't been helped by merkel's refugee scuffle... but whatever, clearly anyone talking about this subject is an "evil wacist." And couldn't possibly hold a more nuanced opinion of the crisis at hand.
Thank you for making videos like these! I've only played the super mainstream childhood board games, but got interested after hearing good things about Azul. I really appreciate having some nice beginner's options, along with your other videos recommending 2 people games since it's just me and my sister living together.
I am a massive board game geek, I’m studying game design in college currently and I really appreciated this video because I wanted to find some games my whole family would enjoy.
Hanabi, Jaipur, and Carcassone also good to get started with an eventual goal of luring people into the deep end with Agricola then they're going to be nice and hooked!
I actually got my friend into board games with Scythe. He plays a ton of strategy games on PC. But he hated board games because they were "slow and boring". But he saw it on my shelf one day and asked about it. Now he will play any board game these days even the simpler ones. He thought everything was like Monopoly or something like that.
My sister got me into Dominion. Its a pretty easy game to learn the basics of but lets you really expand your strategy the more you learn it. And with the bonus card sets the game can grow with you.
Definitely agree with codenames. We played codenames pictures with my parents on Easter and we had so much fun. Ticket to Ride is interesting to me because I agree it's an easy and fun game, but every game we've played has felt so stressful. We got ticket to ride Pennsylvania and only played one game before we quit the series because it was too stressful lol
Also, don't confuse it with the Kennerspiel des Jahres which is awarded to more complex games if you're looking for something more easy to jump into. Looking forward to the 2019 nominees later this month at BGG Con in Dallas! Additional FYI, the Spiel des Jahres is the most prestigious award a board game can win.
Any shop that sells Dixit likely also sells the little expansion boxes with extra cards, if you ever get bored of the basegame ones. The only problem I've ran into when playing Dixit with my family is that it takes kind of a while for everyone to take a good look at the cards before voting. I'd recommend playing with a little tray or something that can fit all the cards and spin easily, otherwise people are gonna be craning their neck to look at cards that are placed upside down from them.
among the games you recommended, i really liked splendor and dixit. we played those games in a board game bar, but my parents love dixit. my sister and i team up against my parents for obscure word associations for pictures based on the things we're interested in (various tv shows and games, mostly). my parents weren't into splendor, though. i'm pretty sure i'm the only one in my family who loved splendor. we also played ticket to ride but we all got bored playing it after one round. among the games you recommended, i want to try azul now
I can't recomend Splendor enough, it's super simple to learn but has a lot of strategy! My recomendation: Sheriff of Notingham. A simple to learn bluffing game with a lot of hidden strategies. It's great because it keeps everyone playing all the time, there's almost no down time!
You know what’s funny been playing Board Games everything from A Feast for Odin to Vital Lacerda’s awesome Heavy Euro’s…owning over 500 games…I still absolutely love and cannot get enough of Azul, Ticket To Ride, Splendor,and Carcassone. Anytime you might get a little board you can just get an expansion and it has new life. Great “gateway” games are actually just really great games.
The New York version is especially good to pick and play and teach people with. Since it's short, so you can go through a whole game and scoring really fast, and the person learning can jump and try again once they've seen the game in action.
This is a great, great list. I have one I'd like to add for anyone interested; Tokaido. It's a beautiful, beautiful board game with gorgeous materials and art. It's basically about having the best trip through Japan possible. It's extremely easy to learn, all you do is move and collect sets of cards. It's only semi-competitive, making for a pretty relaxing, chill game. I love Tokaido.
Recently found out you had a youtube channel after watching Anime crimes division. I really enjoyed that series and i really enjoyed this video, great to be apart of this channel.😀
My dad is really in to board games and I have played all of these. If anyone is looking into codenames there is a marvel and Disney one I think there's more than that but I like the marvel one alot.
Thanks for this video, I went out and got Azul based on your recommendation, because my mom is similar to yours when it comes to games. She loved it and so did everyone else.
I love a majority of the games on this list. I'm always looking for something that is easy to teach so that anyone can play it, it's fun, and it doesn't always feel the same every time. A very underrated game that I would suggest is Coup - the first time I played it was with my family and we played it for 6 hours straight.
Ticket to Ride has the incredible distinction for me of being the board game I was able to teach my dad in just one session. My dad doesn't play board games, really, and he doesn't pay attention, and he's not terribly patient for or inclined to anything he isn't used to, but the game engaged him plenty (he loves trains), and he figured out not only the mechanics, but some even some of the strategy by the end of one game, and was willing to play it again a couple days later. I cannot agree more with its inclusion on this list.
Gizmos is a great alternative to Splendor. Very similar game and very fun. Every time I introduce someone new to board games, my go to game is The Quest for El Dorado. Simple to teach and it has deck building which is one of my favorites if not my favorite mechanic.
Totally agree about splendor! It was an absolute hit with my in-laws, so much so that after playing it with them for a couple of years we got them their own copy! Another one that wasn't mentioned but was a real hoot with both my family and my in-laws is "Sheriff of Nottingham" - easy to learn, is a lot of fun, and can be very funny!
I got Dixit during the Christmas holiday and have been playing it with my family and other family members who visit. They all love it and have since bought the game themselves. I do plan on trying the others at some point too.
Dude, you cursing like that early in the video was so disarming and hilarious that my fiancé and I both burst out laughing! Your channel is amazing and all of your opinions are very well executed!
You forgot to mention the best one: Love letter. I have the Lovecraft version, (lovecraft letter) and that deck has easily seen almost a thousand rounds of play, if not more. It's cheap, easy to learn and has almost no extra components besides a few tokens which, if lost, is easily replaceable or find a substitute for. It's what got me hooked on modern board games, as I used to play it with my friend after school.
I love how codenames can be really different with how well you know the people you play with. If i play with my brother and sister we can win the match in 1 or 2 turns with obscure references.
I know you mentioned Century Spice Road. I think it is a great intro board game, and the set collecting reminded me of Splendor and sorta replaced it for me. I was able to teach it to my wife who isn't really into it, and she seemed to like it better than Splendor when I taught that to her. I also really like Onitama for beginners. Similar to Chess in that pieces have unique movement, but the movement is tied to cards and each game is very different. And when you use a card, your opponent will get it. So it isn't lopsided. Similarly I taught it to my wife, and she liked it. I still need to play Azul, though I got it during some Target B2G1 free sale lol
I will check out Azul, seems fun. If you haven't yet tried Imoteph, I recommend! It is first complicated, but once you play it, it's quite simple. Tactic and fun design.
I hope I inspired this video :) Love to see vids like this. I can't argue with any of your choices, even though TTR gives me the rage like few other games. I can play diplomacy or game of thrones with the zen of a buddist monk on a mountain. But TTR turns me into a frothing madman. Do more of these sorts of vids. Quality stuff
Everyone always has high praise for Ticket to Ride and I just can't enjoy it. It's been too many years since I last played it so I've forgotten what it is that drives me up a wall about it.
@@calebokeefe376 Its that people can hold route cards you need, just to block you. That's what does it for me. So easy to play negatively and screw people out of their objectives
I've never really been super into board games, but I always enjoy playing new ones. One of my friends introduced me (and a few others) to Dixit a little while ago and it was really fun! Next time I'm out with them at our local board game cafe, I'll be sure to try out a couple of these!
There's even an adult language version of code names, but that one isn't nearly as good cuz it kinda makes it harder to come up with ways to include/exclude cards you want people to guess/not guess.
@@TheRoseFrontier you could argue that every hobby game is that way. If there wasn't a chance element to all the games, each game would play out exactly the same every time. You have to strategise with the 'hand' you're dealt. When you play monopoly with the original rules (auction property when it's landed on but not bought) it becomes a bit more strategic.
The neat thing about Ticket To Ride is that you really don't know who's going to win until the very end. That's why I like it so much, you won't have a situation where you know 5 minutes in that you're going to lose and just have to slog the rest of the game. A player who was lagging behind in points the whole game can reveal a miracle combo of completed routes at the end and suddenly shoot way ahead of everyone. :)
Watched a few of these videos now. Convinced me to order Ticket To Ride. I always wanted to get into bored games as a kid but the games I picked out were too complicated for my family, maybe Ticket to Ride will be something fun to play next Christmas, or maybe I can finally convince my friends to do something other than just watch RUclips when we hang out again.
Played Ticket to Ride a lot over the years, but never played Splendor or Azul. I absolutely want Azul, though - it looks gorgeous! Own the other two and I agree with your assessments - I always bring those when going to relatively casual group.
I think the beauty of azul as a gateway game is that players can make as complex as they want it to be. There's a huge complexity ceiling of how they want to score and make it as easy or hard as they want it to be. Also there's some serious cutthroatness to it if you want it to be.
Splendor is really great, actually. Was glad to see it get some attention on your channel. Also like Dixit, and Codenames is decent. Really good picks, here.
i spent the longest game of splendor (almost two hours!) trying to teach it to my grandmother. i can’t even tell you how many times we had to explain that cards are permanent resources.
Fun list--We own all of these...if you want to step up from the intro levels I'd say Space Base over Splendor, Sagrada over Azul, Obscurio over Dixit, Codenames Pictures if you like Codenames, and Blood Rage over Ticket to Ride :) What's a gateway to gaming list without King of Tokyo?
Betrayal at the House On The Hill was the first game (outside of the ones every kid plays like Monopoly, Life, Trouble, etc) that I played and still my favorite.
Games that I really like and I found easy to learn as a new boardgamer is Clank! There's also a super silly game like Ice Cool where you just flick weighted penguin pieces around an igloo classroom
I introduced Splendor to my family about six months ago, and they're fanatical about it. Since I started logging our games a month ago, we've played over 50 games, and from there I've estimated we've probably played around 3-4 hundred since I bought it.
Ticket to Ride was always hard for me to enjoy because it feels like my turn has little to no bearing on the turns of others. Feels like playing a game side-by-side, rather than playing together.
Ticket To Ride Europe is our bread & butter when my brother & mom & i play together! my signature move is stockholm to petrograd... get those dank 21 points lol
I would highly recommend Machi Koro. Managed to convince my fiancee and her family to get into boardgames with this game. Fast turns, easy to learn, beautiful art and expansions if you decide to spice things up. Highly recommend!
If you enjoy Machi Koro, I'd recommend checking out Valeria: Card Kingdoms. Similar game play, you get resources on the individual results of your 2 dice in addition to the sum, and it has a fantasy theme. The game is a bit quicker and avoids the situation where you get nothing for multiple turns on account of bad dice rolls.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
"Oh some cool new board games?"
"Wait I've played all of these"
"WAIT A MINUTE! My friends Gateway Board Gamed me!"
Oh, you know you loved it.
TL;DR
1:35 Ticket to Ride
3:42 Splendor
5:34 Azul
8:50 Dixit
11:20 Codenames
+
Thank you!
Doing the work. Much thanks!
Mystirium is Clue meets dixit which is another fun board game
Splendor. Fuckin rng fest
Yes, the “mom standard” 😂 I relate to that well.
Same
I use a very similar "wife standard"
I use an also very similar “dad standard”
I think your moms are too patient. Mine can't even play Uno without painfully grunting.
@@VermillionPengu
I have the same problem with dad.
I don't know if anyone else said this but you should also mention that some of the games you mentioned are language independent games. Since there are no words on the games they can be taught to just about anyone as long as the person can translate the rules verbally well enough. Like Splendor, Azul, and Dixit don't have words on their games so it makes it easier to play like for my parents who don't speak english but we can still play because they are language independent. So I agree these are some good games that are good for bringing players into the hobby even those that don't speak english.
This is a great point! This is also why Codenames: Pictures is a great variant when you play with very varied groups. Although it is popular enough to be translated into many languages, you maybe don't want to have to buy multiple versions of the same game :)
This is an amazing point! I'm def gonna choose these games to teach my parents
Thanks a lot. I was looking for similar ones
From a bilingual gamer that have these games I can tell you that Dixit is difficult if there is a language barrier because you give clues that are not that direct/literal and the players can very easily feel alienated from the other ones if they don't get the clues after a few rounds. But azul, splendor and ticket are perfect for that.
Yeah! For me who own a lot of language dependent games like Unstable Unicorns it is very hard to play with my grandparents who speak no English. I really need some games where if I tell them in Chinese (I ‘m not very good at) and they can remember by picture or color makes it much easier!
“Yeah... I guess you could say I’m a gamer.”
A "Bored" gamer.
green of tree black of blue he
I want to kill my. Self.
You’re the new Justin Y
@@greenoftreeblackofblue6625 LMAO
My Dad is absolutely obsessed with Splendor, but he can rarely even remember the name. Every other day, he'll come up to me and say "hey, let's play the jewel game again!"
That's nice
aww, thats super sweet
maybe he really really loves spending time with you too and it makes for a great excuse, which could be part of why he's so obsessed :)
hope you're both doing fantastic
I'm deep onto tabletop games, but there were a couple that I haven't played on here! There's so many games coming out all the time that it's easy to overlook seemingly common games. Thank you so much for making this!
ha, nerd
I guess Im randomly asking but does anybody know a tool to get back into an instagram account??
I was stupid forgot my password. I would love any assistance you can give me!
One I would like to add is Love Letter. It’s easy to learn because you literally only have one or two cards at a time, and there’s no board. So it’s just you and each other player with their one card. It’s filled with strategy and I think more people should try it out!
Heck yes! Splendor is amazing for new players. I taught my mom (who never understood boardgames) and even my 80+ years old grandmother. And they picked up on how to play pretty quick. If that does not speak volumes of its genius and easy to learn quality, nothing will.
As an addition, Coup is also pretty easy to teach people--especially considering it comes with a pair of cheat sheets per player--and as far as I can remember, is almost always a hit.
cutthroat but fun
I think Coup is really fun in the beginning, becoming really dull after some time, because some people would just start to recklessy challenge everything, making bluffing impossible..
But I'll never forget when I announced my third character, my best friend pointed that out, but nobody was confident enough to challenge it. :D
Codenames is the one I'd get if I absolutely had to narrow it down to one - it's extremely simple to explain and yet also has a surprising amount of depth and replayability to it.
Thanks for the rec for Codenames Duet. I love Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne, but my sister isn't as into strategy, so she tends to lose, and thus doesn't enjoy it (because losing sometimes is okay, but all the time is boring). We've found she's okay with strategy if it's co-op, though, like with Forbidden Island.
A great cooperative card game that Id also recommend is Hanabi. Its a chinese game where the catch is that the other players are the only ones who can see your hand.
Betrayal house of the hill (MAKE SURE ITS THIRD EDITION!) Is a nice and light co-op game w less strategy and more narratives where you and your oddball crew explore a haunted mansion! Its very thematic and makes for some interesting and goofy stories, and the kicker is that one of you will turn traitor and play as a certain flavor of ghost or demon (out of a pool of 52) each with unique powers, flavor, and playstyle. 3rd wdition makes the game SO smooth to play and learn! I would call this game almost roleplay-esque, without needing to comit to being an actor
But if you want to ease her in to light strategy via co-op, forbidden desert and forbidden sky are both p solid titles, w my favourite being desert. You have to manage rising sand levels and an ever changing board to find parts of your ship before you dehydrate, and it carries a REALLY nice sense of tension especially when you can see the sands literally rising as physical stacks of sand pile up haha
If she manages to like both genres enough to want more, I can suggest Eldritch horror or arkham horror 3e that marries the two elements together for a butt clenching rushing to stop the end of the world kind of experience~ fair warning that these games are a little bit more work to learn though so she really HAS to fall in love w those genres of co-op to dive deeper
I've brought Codenames to more than one social function and offered it as a minor distraction, like "Hey we should try playing a round or two of this game, I think you guys may like it". 100% of the time it completely overtakes the night, and no one wants to do anything but play more Codenames. After a couple games it's just "One more round, but this time I want to be the codemaster," or "One more round, but this time let's scramble the teams," or my personal favorite, "Have you been codemaster for me yet? We should do one more round."
One time I forgot to bring the game, so i remade the game pieces and cards out of sticky notes and colored markers in about 20 minutes. There were other board games that i brought that the other people specifically requested that they wanted me to bring, and we didn't even open them. We just played Codenames for hours and hours.
I showed the online version to some discord friends one night and we all brought our non-gamer partners to play with us. The next morning my girlfriend (who does not like board games) sheepishly asked me "Can we do another Codenames night soon?" I checked discord and, sure enough, every one of our partners had individually asked each of us if we could play more Codenames together again.
I've never found a game to instantly be so addictive to so many people. It's... kind of scary.
Funny story, I literally had used 4 of these 5 games to introduce my parents or friends to board games before i saw this video.
Two bonus ones for anyone that might be interested. 1. Parks, it’s a nature board game with the simple objective of collecting resources on a trail and using that resource to visit parks. Really good illustrations and chill vibe, definitely for the out doors crowd.
2. Dungeon Mayhem, it’s made by DnD creators, very simple but well designed. I’ve introduced this game to countless numbers of people, my girlfriend even took it home to France and got almost all of her friends and family hooked on it.
one of my fav gateway games is Carcassone!
So I introduced my family to Ticket to Ride on Thanksgiving and it was a hit. My parents invited me over the next night and played again! Now I'm looking to introduce another game, but don't want to pick something too complex to scare everyone off.
codename is probably the most played game by me and my friends, we are playing this game pretty much always when we see each other ;d
You should really check out Decrypto as well! Its a lot like Codenames but feels a bit more like you're actually cracking the other team's code because that's pretty much what you're doing. I have both and like them both a lot.
I have five children under 10 years old and this list has some amazing ideas. Thanks.
@Mr. Spaghetti I'm the oldest of five kids. It's a mess, mate.
Mr. Spaghetti my mother is the youngest of seven
love the creative aspect in dixit and that it can make a difference how well you know each other in it's own kind of way
Grimm Forest is #1 gateway board game. The perfect beginner balance of strategy, luck, and "gotcha" mechanics. Simple theme that everyone can relate to. I've hooked a lot of people onto games using Grimm Forest.
My introduction to modern board gaming was with "The Resistance." A VERY simple game of players secretly voting for if a mission succeeds or not and trying to figure out which player is secretly voting for missions to fail. It's very similar to what later became "Secret Hitler" though far more simplistic. After that I dove into "Boss Monster."
I think Splendor also has very satisfying tactile pieces. The chips are heavy plastic and it makes a big difference. I don't think the game would be nearly as much fun if the chips were just resource cards or little cardboard bits.
Totally agree
Great timing, was thinking of getting board game for my Mom for Mother's Day
Is funny how that works
My girl and I always get so much enjoyment out of Ticket to Ride. Both from the game itself, and the not knowingness if we're gonna be nice to each other....or be assholes and block the other's path >:D
I've been extremely interested in playing DnD and other board/table top games. But I'm unsure of how I'd actually enjoy it. So, this is actually very informative and helpful in my situation. I appreciate it, ProZD. Good Shit. Also, Dixit seems like....CAH But not inappropriate, and with pictures instead.
Well, technically Cards Against Humanity is basically Dixit and Apples to Apples with inappropriate stuff. (Both Dixit and A2A pre-date CAH by a lot)
@@jimbobjones9330 Huh. The more you know!
Codenames is absolutely phenomenal. Unlimited possibilities with essentially one game component. Great recommendation.
Only haven’t played dixit from the 5 mentioned. But definitely great pics. All of them are very easy to explain to friends who’ve never played before as well which is always great.
I misread the title as “5 Great Gateway Drugs for New Players” and didnt question it
Hahaha. What a fucking hilarious joke.
I did too but I didnt take it as actual drugs but games that are like drugs
Weed, alcohol, xanax, whip its, and...pcp?
I mean, have you seen board gaming? Sure, it seems so nice and chill when you're building trains and buying jewels, but eventually it just doesn't have the same kick it used to--you start craving ingenuity, strategy, good design. At first, you think, "What's the harm? I'll try out Pandemic, maybe give Terra Mystica a go," then badda bing, badda boom, you're stuck in a room with a lion man and a sexy turtle for eight hours trying to kill everyone but come across as the least dangerous person in the room.
Went to a board games night at uni and played splendour for the first time, my strategy was simple, in almost all cases go for the 3 singles rather than the double as it's 50% more chips and generally speaking that will be more helpful than just tunneling a single path or whatever. I ended up winning. Then I played Catan and it was also my first time, and I built a few misplaced roads early on, and like 5 minutes later I realised I had no chance of winning, so I was just stuck there for another 20 minutes waiting for the inevitable end. Hence I do not like Catan. And all of you should care
tbh i dont like catan much either for the same reason: it's easy for a less experienced player to feel left out and also easy for gangs to form that specifically target one or two people which makes for a bad experience for the people getting the short stick
Catan is a bad game but still miles better than monopoly or risk or most games that came out before it
I find it hilarious that you mention board games you can play with your mother, because I play board games with my mother and she LOVES Ticket to Ride and Splendor(Splendor Especially).
I love this video, and I appreciate it. I have a family who love Love Letter, Rummy, Codenames, Next Station London. They bounced off Pandemic, Cockroach Poker, Skull hard. They've warmed a little to Trapwords. They tend to also like trivia games. So next on my list is, of course, Herbaceous, TTR Europe (I'm told the additions smooth out some of the mean blocking) and Pax Pamir 2e :P
The game that got me into board games was sushi go. Love the aesthetic and isn't too complicated but definitely has strategy.
I've been debating on getting Azul even though I hadn't played it, definitely will now, thank you!
my secret to enjoying board games is to being enough of a nerd to be friends with the board game dudes
2:57 ah yes, the famous non-European country, Germany
The difference is that one is a map of Europe, the other is a map of Germany.
Nah, it's the English divorcing Europe. Maybe if they turned Brexit into a board game someone would solve their colossal cluster fuck.
Gerexit
Gotta love the Internet. This innocent comment's thread turned into politics and racist conspiracy theories in record time.
@Jonathan Amwoza
It's not a racist conspiracy theory if the former german chancellor decides to flood EU nation states with Syrians, rather than sending aid to said Syrians, or military support, or, I'dunno, letting them figure out their own civil war themselves. (You know, like other nations do, Egypt, for a recent example.)
I'm sure Greece would love to hear you laugh at their economic crisis that hasn't been helped by merkel's refugee scuffle... but whatever, clearly anyone talking about this subject is an "evil wacist." And couldn't possibly hold a more nuanced opinion of the crisis at hand.
Been looking for a video like this for ages! Thank you.
Thank you for making videos like these! I've only played the super mainstream childhood board games, but got interested after hearing good things about Azul. I really appreciate having some nice beginner's options, along with your other videos recommending 2 people games since it's just me and my sister living together.
just want to say i freaking love the board game vids. I dont play the games but you can see you really care about these!
I am a massive board game geek, I’m studying game design in college currently and I really appreciated this video because I wanted to find some games my whole family would enjoy.
Hanabi, Jaipur, and Carcassone also good to get started with an eventual goal of luring people into the deep end with Agricola then they're going to be nice and hooked!
I actually got my friend into board games with Scythe. He plays a ton of strategy games on PC. But he hated board games because they were "slow and boring". But he saw it on my shelf one day and asked about it. Now he will play any board game these days even the simpler ones. He thought everything was like Monopoly or something like that.
Fantastic board game video. The shorts are great, but seeing the board game videos really makes me smile because you’re growing the hobby! Thank you!
My sister got me into Dominion. Its a pretty easy game to learn the basics of but lets you really expand your strategy the more you learn it. And with the bonus card sets the game can grow with you.
He's reviewed it
Definitely agree with codenames. We played codenames pictures with my parents on Easter and we had so much fun.
Ticket to Ride is interesting to me because I agree it's an easy and fun game, but every game we've played has felt so stressful. We got ticket to ride Pennsylvania and only played one game before we quit the series because it was too stressful lol
The 'Spiel des Jahres' award means Game of the Year in german, the the number under it is obviously the year it won, just fyi
Bunny K prozd saying Speel the Jar cracked me up.
Also, don't confuse it with the Kennerspiel des Jahres which is awarded to more complex games if you're looking for something more easy to jump into. Looking forward to the 2019 nominees later this month at BGG Con in Dallas! Additional FYI, the Spiel des Jahres is the most prestigious award a board game can win.
Any shop that sells Dixit likely also sells the little expansion boxes with extra cards, if you ever get bored of the basegame ones. The only problem I've ran into when playing Dixit with my family is that it takes kind of a while for everyone to take a good look at the cards before voting. I'd recommend playing with a little tray or something that can fit all the cards and spin easily, otherwise people are gonna be craning their neck to look at cards that are placed upside down from them.
among the games you recommended, i really liked splendor and dixit.
we played those games in a board game bar, but my parents love dixit. my sister and i team up against my parents for obscure word associations for pictures based on the things we're interested in (various tv shows and games, mostly). my parents weren't into splendor, though. i'm pretty sure i'm the only one in my family who loved splendor. we also played ticket to ride but we all got bored playing it after one round.
among the games you recommended, i want to try azul now
I can't recomend Splendor enough, it's super simple to learn but has a lot of strategy!
My recomendation: Sheriff of Notingham. A simple to learn bluffing game with a lot of hidden strategies. It's great because it keeps everyone playing all the time, there's almost no down time!
Yo my roommate has that one! I'm not big on board games, but it was really fun.
Yep, love me some Splendor and Century Spice Road.
Not Alone is a little more complicated, but it's pretty cool, and doesn't have a ton of rules.
You know what’s funny been playing Board Games everything from A Feast for Odin to Vital Lacerda’s awesome Heavy Euro’s…owning over 500 games…I still absolutely love and cannot get enough of Azul, Ticket To Ride, Splendor,and Carcassone. Anytime you might get a little board you can just get an expansion and it has new life. Great “gateway” games are actually just really great games.
The New York version is especially good to pick and play and teach people with. Since it's short, so you can go through a whole game and scoring really fast, and the person learning can jump and try again once they've seen the game in action.
This is a great, great list. I have one I'd like to add for anyone interested; Tokaido. It's a beautiful, beautiful board game with gorgeous materials and art. It's basically about having the best trip through Japan possible. It's extremely easy to learn, all you do is move and collect sets of cards. It's only semi-competitive, making for a pretty relaxing, chill game. I love Tokaido.
Recently found out you had a youtube channel after watching Anime crimes division. I really enjoyed that series and i really enjoyed this video, great to be apart of this channel.😀
My dad is really in to board games and I have played all of these. If anyone is looking into codenames there is a marvel and Disney one I think there's more than that but I like the marvel one alot.
This was amazing. I love board games and I wish I had time (and friends) to always play them with people.
Yeah I lack friends too. Lol
Thanks for this video, I went out and got Azul based on your recommendation, because my mom is similar to yours when it comes to games. She loved it and so did everyone else.
I love a majority of the games on this list. I'm always looking for something that is easy to teach so that anyone can play it, it's fun, and it doesn't always feel the same every time. A very underrated game that I would suggest is Coup - the first time I played it was with my family and we played it for 6 hours straight.
Great list. A few others I've pulled out with brand new board gamers are Sushi Go Party, Sagrada and Forbidden Island (for a co-op option).
Ticket to Ride has the incredible distinction for me of being the board game I was able to teach my dad in just one session. My dad doesn't play board games, really, and he doesn't pay attention, and he's not terribly patient for or inclined to anything he isn't used to, but the game engaged him plenty (he loves trains), and he figured out not only the mechanics, but some even some of the strategy by the end of one game, and was willing to play it again a couple days later.
I cannot agree more with its inclusion on this list.
Thanks a lot, I’ve been looking for something to get my family into the hobby and those all look great, your selfish desire is much appreciated!
Trying to start a board game night with my friends who don't play them very often, this is perfect. Thank you!
Gizmos is a great alternative to Splendor. Very similar game and very fun. Every time I introduce someone new to board games, my go to game is The Quest for El Dorado. Simple to teach and it has deck building which is one of my favorites if not my favorite mechanic.
Awesome insight, I'll be sure to bring up a couple of these when my group is back in town!
Totally agree about splendor! It was an absolute hit with my in-laws, so much so that after playing it with them for a couple of years we got them their own copy! Another one that wasn't mentioned but was a real hoot with both my family and my in-laws is "Sheriff of Nottingham" - easy to learn, is a lot of fun, and can be very funny!
I got Dixit during the Christmas holiday and have been playing it with my family and other family members who visit. They all love it and have since bought the game themselves. I do plan on trying the others at some point too.
It doesn’t feel right that I know multiple people who own Ticket To Ride and never played it.
go fix that
Dude, you cursing like that early in the video was so disarming and hilarious that my fiancé and I both burst out laughing! Your channel is amazing and all of your opinions are very well executed!
You forgot to mention the best one: Love letter. I have the Lovecraft version, (lovecraft letter) and that deck has easily seen almost a thousand rounds of play, if not more. It's cheap, easy to learn and has almost no extra components besides a few tokens which, if lost, is easily replaceable or find a substitute for. It's what got me hooked on modern board games, as I used to play it with my friend after school.
I got Splendour for my parents on their anniversary. They've been OBSESSED with it since. Great list Sungwon
I love how codenames can be really different with how well you know the people you play with. If i play with my brother and sister we can win the match in 1 or 2 turns with obscure references.
I know you mentioned Century Spice Road. I think it is a great intro board game, and the set collecting reminded me of Splendor and sorta replaced it for me. I was able to teach it to my wife who isn't really into it, and she seemed to like it better than Splendor when I taught that to her.
I also really like Onitama for beginners. Similar to Chess in that pieces have unique movement, but the movement is tied to cards and each game is very different. And when you use a card, your opponent will get it. So it isn't lopsided. Similarly I taught it to my wife, and she liked it.
I still need to play Azul, though I got it during some Target B2G1 free sale lol
Yay! I've been waiting for this type of video ever since I saw your one that included Forbidden Island :)
I will check out Azul, seems fun. If you haven't yet tried Imoteph, I recommend! It is first complicated, but once you play it, it's quite simple. Tactic and fun design.
I hope I inspired this video :)
Love to see vids like this. I can't argue with any of your choices, even though TTR gives me the rage like few other games. I can play diplomacy or game of thrones with the zen of a buddist monk on a mountain. But TTR turns me into a frothing madman.
Do more of these sorts of vids. Quality stuff
Everyone always has high praise for Ticket to Ride and I just can't enjoy it. It's been too many years since I last played it so I've forgotten what it is that drives me up a wall about it.
@@calebokeefe376 Its that people can hold route cards you need, just to block you. That's what does it for me. So easy to play negatively and screw people out of their objectives
I've never really been super into board games, but I always enjoy playing new ones. One of my friends introduced me (and a few others) to Dixit a little while ago and it was really fun! Next time I'm out with them at our local board game cafe, I'll be sure to try out a couple of these!
There's even an adult language version of code names, but that one isn't nearly as good cuz it kinda makes it harder to come up with ways to include/exclude cards you want people to guess/not guess.
“I don’t know, I don’t know…”
Splendor was one of my gateway games. The other is going through all of these videos. Love them both
More people need to realize that Monopoly is a terrible game. Thank you Sung Won.
Isn't it just bad because people always use house rules?
corasundae It’s a bad game even with the actual rules, but a majority of people play with house rules, yes.
And yet Monopoly was what started the whole hobby.
Yeah, it's pretty much a chance game masked as strategy to give you the illusion that you actually have a say in your property-owning destiny
@@TheRoseFrontier you could argue that every hobby game is that way. If there wasn't a chance element to all the games, each game would play out exactly the same every time. You have to strategise with the 'hand' you're dealt.
When you play monopoly with the original rules (auction property when it's landed on but not bought) it becomes a bit more strategic.
The neat thing about Ticket To Ride is that you really don't know who's going to win until the very end. That's why I like it so much, you won't have a situation where you know 5 minutes in that you're going to lose and just have to slog the rest of the game. A player who was lagging behind in points the whole game can reveal a miracle combo of completed routes at the end and suddenly shoot way ahead of everyone. :)
Watched a few of these videos now. Convinced me to order Ticket To Ride. I always wanted to get into bored games as a kid but the games I picked out were too complicated for my family, maybe Ticket to Ride will be something fun to play next Christmas, or maybe I can finally convince my friends to do something other than just watch RUclips when we hang out again.
If my German serves me right, that symbol says "Game of the Year" (or something like that)
Played Ticket to Ride a lot over the years, but never played Splendor or Azul. I absolutely want Azul, though - it looks gorgeous! Own the other two and I agree with your assessments - I always bring those when going to relatively casual group.
I think the beauty of azul as a gateway game is that players can make as complex as they want it to be. There's a huge complexity ceiling of how they want to score and make it as easy or hard as they want it to be. Also there's some serious cutthroatness to it if you want it to be.
ticket to ride is my favourite! I like playing the European version
Splendor is really great, actually. Was glad to see it get some attention on your channel. Also like Dixit, and Codenames is decent. Really good picks, here.
i spent the longest game of splendor (almost two hours!) trying to teach it to my grandmother. i can’t even tell you how many times we had to explain that cards are permanent resources.
My 5 Gateway Games are
Tsuro
Hanabi
D&D: Rock, Paper, Wizards
The Resistance OR Secret Hitler
Labyrinth
Fun list--We own all of these...if you want to step up from the intro levels I'd say Space Base over Splendor, Sagrada over Azul, Obscurio over Dixit, Codenames Pictures if you like Codenames, and Blood Rage over Ticket to Ride :)
What's a gateway to gaming list without King of Tokyo?
Ticket to ride WAS my gateway game. It’s wild that I don’t play it much anymore and now am into some games that are way more complicated.
Betrayal at the House On The Hill was the first game (outside of the ones every kid plays like Monopoly, Life, Trouble, etc) that I played and still my favorite.
I'm so sorry you enjoy that game
Games that I really like and I found easy to learn as a new boardgamer is Clank! There's also a super silly game like Ice Cool where you just flick weighted penguin pieces around an igloo classroom
I introduced Splendor to my family about six months ago, and they're fanatical about it. Since I started logging our games a month ago, we've played over 50 games, and from there I've estimated we've probably played around 3-4 hundred since I bought it.
You make recommendations. They are always the ones that people end up getting hooked on. Greetings from Spain.
Ticket to Ride was always hard for me to enjoy because it feels like my turn has little to no bearing on the turns of others. Feels like playing a game side-by-side, rather than playing together.
One game I like to get people to play because it's so simple is Can't Stop. Roll dice, make combinations, then either press your luck or play it safe.
Ticket To Ride Europe is our bread & butter when my brother & mom & i play together! my signature move is stockholm to petrograd... get those dank 21 points lol
If you like Dixit but want a neat wrinkle/some added content, then play Mysterium! You get to be a spooky ghost
0:20
I love your counter irony call out!
I just picked up Azul and I'm loving it!
I would highly recommend Machi Koro. Managed to convince my fiancee and her family to get into boardgames with this game. Fast turns, easy to learn, beautiful art and expansions if you decide to spice things up. Highly recommend!
If you enjoy Machi Koro, I'd recommend checking out Valeria: Card Kingdoms. Similar game play, you get resources on the individual results of your 2 dice in addition to the sum, and it has a fantasy theme. The game is a bit quicker and avoids the situation where you get nothing for multiple turns on account of bad dice rolls.