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‘Board Games are just for Christmas.’ This would be something a silly 2020 version of me would have thought, despite my absolute love of board games ever since I was child. Well he would have thought it if wasn’t for the unending panic that was the year 2020.
My absolute love of Christmas came partly from how much I loved our board game sessions post Xmas lunch, whether it was the four hour tedium of a game of Monopoly, or the realisation that my general knowledge skills were on par with someone self-isolating for the last 50 years, (Sorry I’ve got Covid on the brain now) when playing any number of the trivia games my family owned.
I loved playing anything and everything, as long as it involved throwing dice or badly shuffling cards; I would always be so excited for the Christmas period, and rarely played a board game unless it was the Xmas holiday.
Board games were not something I knew had a plethora of options available, from mechanics to pieces, gameplay to design, it was a world I didn’t know existed, a hobby that wasn’t there. That was until 2021.
In 2021, I met my now wife. And she, along with her family, introduced me to a whole new spectrum of board games, a hobby to delve into and explore, and my love for this wonderful, social hobby was able to flourish.
So if like me you thought Board Games ended at knowing Professor Plum was the murderer, or that the capital of Paraguay was Asunción, I have my 5 board games that got me into the hobby, and might just do the same for you.
5. Catan
The first game to truly get me into the board game hobby was one my wife’s family introduced me to one Spring afternoon, and quickly made me realise the fantastic mechanisms that go into a ‘proper’ board game: Catan.
Often cited as the father of modern board gaming, in particular the widely popular Euro game genre, Catan is a fantastic introduction into the hobby, as you compete with your friends to 10 victory points through building roads, trading resources, drawing cards and building towns and cities. There is a good amount of interaction to keep everyone talking while you slowly build up your points, and when you roll the number for that bit of wood you so desperately need to build your town, the euphoria is real.
It worked perfectly as my first foray into the hobby, as while it did have some mechanics I wasn’t familiar with at the time, the game is wonderfully simple, with easy to follow rules that meant even total board game novices can quickly wrap their head around the best strategies to win. It helped introduce me to real tactical thinking, without needing a 40 page rulebook to explain it.
Three years into the hobby now I have found games that have taken a lot of the elements Catan introduced and improved upon them, but if I ever want to introduce a game to someone who still fears the dull board game sessions of their youth, Catan is an easy win.
4. Betrayal At House On The Hill
The game that showed me not only how hilarious board games can be, but also introduced me to my favourite mechanic in all of board gaming, the traitor mechanic!
I have to start this entry by stating, Betrayal At House On The Hill is a very flawed game. Whether it’s the needlessly confusing rules or the fact the end game traitor reveal can be so unfairly balanced for one team that it can feel broken.
With all that said, I really, really don’t care. I love this game.
Another one introduced to me by my partner, it was a family classic of hers and I instantly understood why when they showed it to me.
The over the top cliched horror theme worked perfectly. The revealing of different locations in this haunted house, the insane card pulls, the haunt rolls to see if and what traitor is about to be revealed and the tense moments that creates just hooked me immediately.
The traitor mechanic I now adore. Since then I have played or watched games like Blood on the Clocktower, Avalon, or The Thing, The Traitors has become my favourite TV show, and it all started one evening playing Betrayal At House On The Hill, a game I now own and always want to show people.
If you get the right group together, who do not take it too seriously, who just immerse themselves into the nonsense horror vibes and add a little roleplaying for good measure, Betrayal At House On The Hill might just convert you into a board game hobbyist like me.
3. Fox In The Forest
As I began truly exploring my new found hobby, I started looking for ideas on some great, small 2 player games that me and my partner could play of an evening. One particular game quickly jumped out at me, Fox in the Forest.
A two player trick taking game, Fox in the Forest is a lovely card game where you compete against your opponent to amass the most points, or tricks to win a round. However, you don’t want to win ALL the tricks (a pair of two cards), as if you are greedy you’re opponent will actually score all the winning points, and you’ll be left with nothing. Some the cards have a special effect, with four different suits, and you will need to plan when is best to play each card to maximise your chances of victory. There can after all be only one, Fox in the Forest. (That’s not the theme of the game).
This simple card game has created some fantastic matches between me and wife, as not only are you thinking about your cards and how to win, but also your opponents strategy. Maybe you want to win the first few hands to make it look like you have a very strong hand, only to end weakly so that you can score the max points possible. But your opponent is playing all low cards, so maybe you need to change tact quick to avoid getting greedy!
It’s very clever, quick and easy to learn with some astounding artwork. Fox in the Forest is now a staple of my home, with its small box easy to take with you on holiday or a day out. Its been with us from Italy to Mauritius, from Wales to Cornwall, and is perfect for an evening with some wine and music to wind down after some sightseeing, or to play by the pool with a cocktail.
2. Pandemic
Pandemic I’ve had a strange history with. Bought for me one Christmas several years ago, we tried it as a family, no one could be bothered to learn the rules, we half-heartedly tried it, gave up, and we put it away that Christmas, never to be seen again.
Until I started getting back into the hobby. I dusted it off, brought it home to my partner and we had possibly my best ever experience with a board game.
This fantastic co-op game needs no explaining of rules at this point. From the brilliant build-up of intensity every time you pull a card from the infection deck, to the incredible strategising that you and your team do to best solve the marvellous puzzle Pandemic presents to you, it is a game that is to be enjoyed by casual fans, (apart from my family it seems), and hobbyists alike.
There is a reason it is often cited in list videos and blogs online as an ideal game to introduce people to the hobby, and I couldn’t agree more. Pandemic through its brilliant use of the co-op genre shows newbies the sheer drama and tight tactics that can come from a board game, and experienced players still have enough strategy and theme that allows for repeated plays until they have mastered it.
We have recently bought Pandemic Legacy as well to increase the experience even further, to make every decision matter, and our first game of it was quite possibly the most drama I have had with a game, of any kind.
Pandemic cemented my love of board games, and I could see myself truly investing into the hobby. But I still hadn’t played one of the big box games. A game with a large set of rules, loads of mechanics, a heftier price tag, a ‘gamers game’. That was until….
1. Ark Nova
If there was one game I had to pick that made me realise how much I loved this hobby, it would be Ark Nova.
First bought two years ago, Ark Nova is the biggest game in my collection, and quite possibly my favourite.
In Ark Nova, you and your opponents go head to head to essentially make the best zoo possible. But what makes the best zoo? Is it simply having the best animals? Not in this game, where it joyously emphasises conservation and research, highlighting some of the work zoos do around the world in important conservation efforts. But having the coolest and cutest animals still helps.
With its absolutely brilliant theme, tight mechanics and fantastic gameplay which scales beautifully whether you’re playing it as a 2 player head to head game or a 4 player technical battle, Ark Nova showed me what board games can offer in terms of fun and how beautifully a theme can be incorporated into a game.
The sheer amount of cards, tokens and rules could have bloated the game but instead it allows for endless strategic possibilities which makes every game feel different. I have played using different approaches every time, whether I have made an amazing kid friendly zoo with petting animals galore or been a conservation heavy zoo dedicated to releasing my animals back in to the wild, each game has been excellent.
It is a large, at first difficult to get your head around rule set, and it’s certainly not one you would crack open to anyone novice to board games. But if you have dabbled at euro games, put your toe in the water at negotiation and tried your hand at some bluffing games, and think you are ready for a game that is a bit heavier, then Ark Nova is a perfect game for you, as it was for me.
