Board games

[Psyduck]

Not sure if it's a bit cheeky to put this in general gaming or not, or whether it should go in off topic...

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for "grown ups" board games. We've got the usual scrabble, pictionary, articulate, cranium (which we don't like), trivial pursuit. Are there any less well known ones people can suggest?
These are for playing with family, so mums and dads have to be able to understand pretty easily.

Thanks!

[averybluemonkey]

My family and I are utterly addicted to Catan (first got exposed to it over XBLA). It's got a simple enough rule set but allows for continued learning with new tricks and ideas. Because it's a game about manipulating the other players and ganging up on each other it suits itself well to all groups because the game adapts to the players' skill levels and if one person starts to pull away the others can all turn on them. Like the best games it also allows you to be deliciously evil to each other.

There's also Carcassonne which is another good one. It has less depth but is enjoyable enough and doesn't last quite so long.

It's a Fantasy game and a bit more complicated and time consuming but Talisman has never failed to go down well at family gatherings too. You each play as an adventurer and move round the board fighting monsters and so on to level up trying to be the first to reach the centre and be strong enough to claim the Crown of Command.

As ever check BoardGameGeek for more detailed info.

[Extra Terrestrial]

Pictionary

That is a superb board game.

Even better when everybody is completely drunk!



How about Pass the Bomb? That is quite a cool game.

UNO although that is a card game. If you like Scrabble, you should check out Upword.

[Psyduck]

Cheers for the suggestions monkey, but I think they're probably a bit too geeky and complex for the parents, plus as ET suggests - alchohol is usually involved.
I'll look into the ones you suggest ET, cheers

[MisterBubbles]

the drinking game pass out is good fun, depends how sozzled you wanna get.
and no twister???

[kryss]

Blokus.

It's great for all the family. I think one of them is for up to four players.

[112]

For a moment there I was expecting to come into a thread about being bored of games lol........ Ireckon you should all play hero quest or blood bowl!

112

[erhgiez]

Ticket to ride is great, everyone I know that plays board games loves it and you can learn the rules in under a minute.

[Skull Commander]

No one mentioned Monopoly? The greatest boardgame ever made!

[abigsmurf]

Monopoly is great but takes far far too long

[112]

I ALWAYS cheat when i play Monopoly........ makes it SO much more fun!

But somehow the game loses its charm when its in digital form....... it kinda loses its soul or somthing.....

112

[Flabio]

Monopoly is one of the worst boardgames ever from a design point of view. It's all about positive feedback, so once one player starts to take the lead they're almost impossible to catch. It becomes obvious who is going to win, but it might still take them several hours to actually do it.

[abigsmurf]

The secret to winning monopoly is to get houses ASAP. If you can get houses on blue or better before anyone else even has a set, you'll probably win.

The fun of monopoly is the flexibility you're given in the deals you can offer (and the rules in general).

[averybluemonkey]

Don't like Monopoly at all myself, it's all luck.

[Skull Commander]

The key is the orange set. They hold the power. The blues are a nice bonus but chicken feed.