Who plays them? I love them

My family and I realised a while back that we all just sit around gazing into computer monitors, so we got out the old classics like Monopoly and started getting into it. For a while, me and my brother were in a board gaming/D&D club way back in school and after remembering some of the ones we played, we bought some in and been hooked ever since!

For those who are that way inclined, I highly recommend games such as Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Bootleggers, Shadows Over Camelot, Cosmic Encounters, Ra and many more. For those who don't, I suggest you buy some and play them!

Anybody else got any to recommend?

Zombies is a fun board game to play.

Not a board game, but a card game (so close enough), a really fun game is Fluxx.

I'm tossing up whether to buy Settlers of Catan. It looks fun, but it's a 3 player game... What's it like?
Carcassonne is the other one I've seen and almost bought. They seem the type of games I like
So any feedback on them?

Yu-Gi-Oh!!!!!!!!!

Otherwise i still enjoy Risk even today and have a demo for "Risk Factions" on Xbox. Quite fun

Risk and Monopoly are both favourites in our house, particularly over Christmas when more of the family is together. I never got into D&D which was a shame as it seems like my kind of game.

We don't own Settlers of Catan but I've played it several times and I'd highly recommend it. The board is made up of hexes, representing the different resources, which players try to control. Resources can be harvested and traded between players and allow you to develop and expand your settlements. The game quite simple in concept and very easy to pick up but lots of fun to play. You can have up to four players, although an expansion allows for a total of six. Other expansions have been released that add other dimensions to the gameplay but I have yet to play either of them.

Hmm, so it's a simple game to pick up? I usually have trouble getting others to join in board games, so not being nedlessly complicated is a big tick in my book. I saw the islands expansion as well and that looked pretty cool.

Well, unfortunately, as with most strategy-type-games it does have the appearance of being complicated - so you may still have a job trying to convince newcomers to join. It's the kind of game that looks compicated from the outside, but only requires one playthrough to realise how simple it is. IMO, its far simpler than Monopoly and nowhere near as unforgiving as Risk.

Catan is fantastic - really easy to pick up. Usually my brother works out the rules and teaches them to the rest of us. We've played it with some friends of ours too and they really got into it, in fact one of them won on their first game! Because of the nature of the game, it gives people a good chance of winning even if they've never played before. That said, after playing it a few times you tend to come up with your own strategies, so it's easy to learn and hard to master.

The Seafarers expansion is an excellent addition, and there's also an expansion as AW said which increases the game from 3-4 to 3-6 players if you're playing in a larger group.

Carcassonne is one of our favourites, I can highly recommend it and it's (many) expansions to anybody who enjoys a bit of strategy mixed with a bit of chance. If you want to find out about a game to see if it's for you, BoardGameGeek is a great site with lots of detail and a marketplace too where you can buy second-hand copies of the game.

I had a game of Settlers yesterday. It went rather well though I came last (no army to speak of and pipped to the longest road by 1). I was kinda in trouble when I began with no access to wheat and then my brick supply got blocked by the Robber... It actually is a fair bit like Monopoly I think. Choosing the areas to stop others claiming them to maximise your own income.

Thanks for the link Raccy! I'll be sure to check it out in more detail tonight.

Not a problem Cal Another game I forgot to mention was Entdecker, one we got for Christmas. I believe it was the precursor to Catan, but it's more heavily focused on exploration instead of resources and building.

I'm going to change the name of this thread to Board/Card Games instead, purely to justify talking about Munchkin. As anybody who has played this knows, it's absolutely hilarious! The rules are not too complex, and can be bent and twisted to suit your own needs in various different ways, making it all the more fun. You could be doing quite well, gaining levels along the way (you win if you reach Level 10) with equipment such as the Wand of Napalm and the Badass Bandana, and then you face something like Squidzilla or the Plutonium Dragon!

It's great to play with friends, and we often end up quoting puns from the game in everyday conversation now. The expansions are also good, along with spin-offs like Munchkin Fu, Star Munchkin and Munchkin Impossible, which can all be added to the original game for even more ridiculous fun!