My parents got this for Christmas for everyone coming home.
We played 4 people (none of whom had ever played before), and the game took about 4 hours. We played again later and it took a little less than 2 hours.
The basic idea is to settle an island nation, and get resources to build settlements/cities (which give you more resources), or buy cards that give you special benefits. The winner is the first to get 10 points, with different things giving you points.
A couple of interesting notes about the game: It's intended to be a balanced game, and to make it so that everyone can do something on every turn. The time we played, almost everyone was in the lead at some point. Also, you can trade resource cards, so even if it's not your turn, you can still trade with the player whose turn it is. You can also collect resources on other players' turns.
There are a variety of mechanisms to keep the rich from getting richer: a robber than steals resources cards if you have too many; Cards that allow you to steal; The importance of trading - people can just not trade with the top player, etc.
So far it's been pretty fun. If anyone's played a good online version, I'd be interested in trying it out.
4/5 so far
Settlers of Catan - Boardgame
There is a 360 version that you can download for $10. My copy of the game also came with a free trial of the PC online game for 1 month.
If you enjoy this you might want to try out Carcassonne which is a tile match game where you build roads and citys.
Ticket to Ride: Europe is cool too. You draw cards to connect different cities which earns you points. There is a US map and some Switzerland maps in other versions. The US was the first and is the most basic.
Board Game Geek is a great website for other board games if you end up liking Settlers. Board games with Scott is another good site with this goofy guy who does video reviews of games.
If you enjoy this you might want to try out Carcassonne which is a tile match game where you build roads and citys.
Ticket to Ride: Europe is cool too. You draw cards to connect different cities which earns you points. There is a US map and some Switzerland maps in other versions. The US was the first and is the most basic.
Board Game Geek is a great website for other board games if you end up liking Settlers. Board games with Scott is another good site with this goofy guy who does video reviews of games.
You can also play these games online for free: http://games.asobrain.com/index.html
The names are different, but the games are the same. Although if you play with the expansions be sure to read up first, Settlers with the expansions is a lot different from the basic game.
The names are different, but the games are the same. Although if you play with the expansions be sure to read up first, Settlers with the expansions is a lot different from the basic game.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
But really, if you liked Settlers, there's a whole lot of other board games you will love. And the best way to try some out is a gaming group. If you are near a university - or even a large community college - there will probably be a board gaming group meeting at least once a month. Go hang out sometime and play some games. Most of the ones I've been to have had good people having a good time and ready and eager to share their favorite games with visitors.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
True, there are no guarantees, but statistically speaking superior strategy > inferior strategy. There is a random element that is not overcome every game by good strategy, but over multiple games it will make a fairly consistent difference.
Most boardgames will work like that, although the random element changes (dice rolls and drawing cards are the most common). Without that random element, it's just chess with different rules.
Most boardgames will work like that, although the random element changes (dice rolls and drawing cards are the most common). Without that random element, it's just chess with different rules.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
Right, I'm just trying to figure out how much I do/don't like the amount of randomness. I appreciate some randomness, but there might just be too much in this game.TPRJones wrote:True, there are no guarantees, but statistically speaking superior strategy > inferior strategy. There is a random element that is not overcome every game by good strategy, but over multiple games it will make a fairly consistent difference.
Most boardgames will work like that, although the random element changes (dice rolls and drawing cards are the most common). Without that random element, it's just chess with different rules.
Grundy's comment helps.
It's not me, it's someone else.