Reddit mentions of Carcassonne Board Game Standard

I made this list for /r/NintendoSwitchDeals since someone asked about games. Figured I'd share here. Most of the games I've played, I've indicated where I haven't. Bolded prices indicate lowest price on CCC according to the plug-in.

• 7 Wonders | $28.99 | 3-7 players | ~30-45 Minutes | 7.8 on BGG - This is a fantastic game to introduce people to "tableau building" and "card drafting." If you're not familiar, a tableau is the cards in front of you that are part of your "engine" going forward, usually you will add cards to it that add synergy to your strategy. Card drafting is when players have a hand of cards, choose one, and then pass to the person next to them. This game can fit up to 7 and it doesn't really bog the game down. I'm not in love with this game, but at this price I think it's a very fair offering for a game that once taught and played once, flows really nicely and makes for a great game to drink and talk while playing rather than being buried in thought about what to do.
  
  
• 7 Wonders: Duel | $17.81 | 2 Players | 20-30 Minutes | 8.1 on BGG - This is a 2 player adaptation of 7 Wonders and it's quite a great version. Instead of card drafting by passing hands, there is a "market" that opens up further as more cards are chosen in which players take turns choosing from. It offers an intense 2 player back and forth of "chicken" in a way that flows nicely and culminates in a satisfying, even if sometimes mean, ending. Often credited as one of the best 2 player games out there, especially with expansions.
  
  
  * Agricola | $32.89 | 1-4 Players | 30-150 Minutes | 8.0 on BGG - I have never played this but you can find lots of excellent discussion about this on BGG and /r/boardgames. Ultimately it's a beefier board game about managing your farm to take care of your family. Sounds thrilling right? Well apparently it really is. It's currently rated the 25th bestboard game of all-time, and is often mentioned among some of the great games out there. This is an excellent price for this game new, so if there's any interest, go watch a review of two. Deal is done.
  
  
• Carcassonne | $19.99 | 2-4 Players | ~30 Minutes | 7.4 on BGG - This is an excellent tile laying game for gamers and non-gamers alike. It's simple to teach, takes almost no time to set-up, and can easily be expanded to fit 5 players. If you end up loving this, there are many expansions for it to add depth, or silliness, whichever you prefer. This has become a staple in my circle of friends who don't really play board games because it's so approachable.
  
  
• Isle of Skye | $24.35 | 2-5 Players | 30-50 Minutes | 7.5 on BGG - I've never played this, but it's been on my list for a while as a tile laying game with more complexity than Carcassonne. I don't know much about it, but this is a great price and those with Irish heritage might love the theme. Edit: Well this is embarrassing, Isle of Skye is in Scotland, sorry for that.
  
  * Pandemic: Fall of Rome | $27.99 | 1-5 Players | 30-60 Minutes | 7.8 on BGG - This is a variation of the much beloved game Pandemic. In this variation, you and up to 4 other players are taking control of Roman armies to defend against the oncoming tribes attempting to take over a weakened Rome. You will use your unique powers and randomly drawn cards to work together with the other players in this cooperative game. If you've played base Pandemic you will know what to expect, but this version has some cool thematic changes that have many reviewers calling it the second best iteration of the Pandemic series. Dead deal.
  
  
• Patchwork | $17.84 | 2 Players | ~20 Minutes | 7.7 on BGG - This is an excellent 2 player game using spacial skills to build out your quilt in a sort of "Tetris" way. You need to manage buttons (currency) and time to efficiently build your quilt with as little empty spots as possible. It's a darling of the community and designed by the great Uwe Rosenberg. People meme about it because it's often recommended, but there's a reason why it is.
  
  
• Photosynthesis | $21.11 | 2-4 Players | 30-60 Minutes | 7.2 on BGG - I've never played this, but it's quite a nice looking game on the table. It's about growing trees while using a limited amount of sunlight - or that's how it's been described to me anyway. I've heard that this game can get pretty cutthroat, especially at higher player counts, because of how limited the board space gets.
  
  
• The Castles of Burgundy | $19.20 | 2-4 Players | 45-90 Minutes | 8.1 on BGG - One of the finest board games I've ever played in spite of the ugly art and theme of it. Visually, I find nothing about this appealing, but the gameplay is so fantastic that I fell in love with it immediately. You have 25 turns in which you are using two dice each turn which are used to make decisions on how to build out your board to gain victory points. The actions are mostly easy to understand, and you're never screwed over by a bad roll because bad rolls can be mitigated via worker resources. There is a good amount of strategic depth to it, minor "meanness" in "screwing over" opponents, and I mostly feel happy with every round - it's a rare game of satisfaction each turn. My only complaint is that the yellow tiles are all unique which turns into a lot of, "What does that one do?" which is mitigated with player aides you can find on BGG. Warning, new print coming out this year that may or may not make the art look better, but the new print will have all expansions. With that said, for $19.20 this is a no-brainer if you want something more complex than something like Catan.
  
  
• The Quest for El Dorado | $19.99 | 2-4 Players | ~45 Minutes| 7.6 on BGG - This is a great deck-building racing game to get to El Dorado first. It's simple to learn and honestly my only complaint is that the game takes up a lot of space. The map is completely variable and there are some official variants in the book, as well as many others on BGG on the files section. If you enjoy the concept of building a deck to race through the treacherous lands to get to El Dorado, this is a great game. Warning, there is a new edition coming out with new artwork, so you may want to hold off.

I'm excited to see your post, because I was going to write something similar. In particular, I wanted to link to the five geek social fallacies which is all about why nerdy gamers feel obligated to include socially awkward friends at the table, even when they're disruptive. And then, I wanted to suggest that OP transition this high-anxiety friend over to a different social event, and your suggestion of board games is perfect. Board games do not require role play in which a socially awkward person bungles the social interactions. Here are some of my favorites that seem to work well with socially difficult people:

• Dominion (a deck building game -- start with 10 cards, mostly cards to buy stuff, and spend the game buying up more cards that give you extra actions or cash -- what's extremely cool is that the cards you buy are varied, so one game might feel very different from the next game).
  
• Rummikub (you gain 14 tiles and must put them down in runs of color or number -- this is great for aspergers types, because it goes at your own pace, and someone who can envision adjusting all the numbered tiles on the board/table can sometimes on a single turn get rid of tons & tons of tiles in an epic reconfiguring of... everything).
  
• Sequence (team-based card game that involves putting down cards on a game board to form lines, sorta like Connect 4, but involving teamwork, so if someone nervous doesn't want all the pressure on himself or herself, there will be teammates to help in this game).
  
• Munchkin (a joke game based upon D&D but without the social interactions... perfect).
  
• Carcassonne (a slower game that involves making "kingdoms" by placing tiles, pretty good for someone looking for low-pressure).
  
  Good luck OP!

This is crazy exciting! My two primary sources of entertainment these days are my Nintendo Switch and board games.

For those of you who don’t know, the hobby of board gaming is absolutely exploding with popularity, thanks to some stellar designs being released over the past decade. Games like Monopoly, Risk, and even Catan to a degree are starting to show their age, while new games like Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Pandemic, Dominion, and even heavier games like Gloomhaven are gaining a lot of critical acclaim.

It’s because these games are stinkin’ fun. My wife and I have played our game of Carcassonne over twenty times — it’s another great way for us to spend time together. We play plenty of Super Mario Party, BotW, and Overcooked 2 together, and I would consider modern board games to be just as fun.

While I won’t discourage y’all from getting Carcassonne digitally, I have a better recommendation: buy the hard copy. Try owning a new board game and see where it takes you! There’s something about holding wooden bits and cardboard, and gathering around a non-electronic medium that is both social and enjoyable. Right now, Carcassonne is at its all-time low on Amazon for just $17.99, which is an amazing deal for anyone interested!

https://www.amazon.com/Z-Man-Games-ZM7810-Carcassonne/dp/B00NX627HW

If you have any questions about Carcassonne or board games, hit me up! I’d love to help or give recommendations :)

This is extraordinarily thorough. So thorough in fact, that you should also consider board gaming. Reading this, it just makes a lot of sense for you. I think board gaming would fit you like a glove.

1. Video games have moved away from couch co-op. You've made a great list here with a lot of solid points, but I doubt you would have ever reached your conclusion, had you considered board games. Keep Talking is certainly a good entertaining game, nothing against it. It's just, that game feels plucked like a needle out of a haystack. Like you've biopsied out a very small node from inside a large mass.

You don't really have this problem with board games. Literally every single board game in existence is designed to be played with people immediately around you. I hesitate to use the phrase "played co-operatively" simply because most board games are NOT co-operative - though there are notable exceptions like Pandemic or Ghost Stories. Both great games.

Board games use human beings as the engine the game runs on. That's not to say board games pit intellects against each other in some sort of valid competition of "who's the most smartest", but to say: humans are social machines and will surprise you with their grasp of system thinking. If I have five or six people in the room with me, I'd prefer the game that we're playing to exist in the head-space between us rather than on some electronic device.

People have come over to my house in the real world. Why not play a game with them that also exists in the real world? I can play videogames over online multiplayer until I'm blue in the face. Just last night I reinstalled Bad Company 2 and played with a few old college roommates. If I had those old friends over to my house, we'd play a board game. It seems crazy to me that someone has taken the time to drive over to your place and you set them down in front of a computer.

2. Because boardgames have always been designed around a social experience taking place in the real world, they're just better at it. This is definitely subjective. You can feel free to disagree with me all you want, but there are mechanics that I just don't see in videogames. Sure, I could load up Gremlin's Inc and replicate what is probably the best roll n' move game I've ever played, but roll n' move is a Monopoly era game genre. Board games can move past this.

You can't play Two Room's and a Boom on a machine. You can't play Bid n' Bluff games like Liar's Dice, Sheriff of Nottingham, or social deduction games like Coup or Love Letter. You can't play physical dexterity games like Jenga (still great fun btw), Flick em' Up, or Catacombs.

There are just games that play better with groups of people because they exist in the real world and make use of humans as the operating system.

3. Board games are much more open to much more people. I don't know about you, but in my experience board games are just more accessible to a wider range of people. I'm maybe going to get a round of Mario Kart out of the adults in my life that love me, but I've sat down with people over 50 and had a great time with Ticket to Ride. At family reunions I've enjoyed Dominion with young children and grandparents alike. Settlers of Catan, Blockus, and Carcassonne are all genuinely fun games I played to death with my family.

How crazy is that? I would really look forward to playing one of those games with my whole family. I can't think of even one videogame that fits that criteria.

4. Perhaps most simply, there are incredible games that just don't exist in videogame form - even though they could. Is the total conversion mod for Crusader Kings II not giving you that full heady Game of Thrones experience? Why not just play Game of Thrones. This is probably my favorite game and it's just not on computers. I can imagine a version of Cosmic Encounter played over online multiplayer, but why? It already exists in perfect form. If I want to play El Grande, or Arctic Scavengers, or Lords of Vegas - well . . . those games just don't exist as videogames.

5. Just honorable mentions. Seven Wonders. Splendor. Blueprints.


TL;DR. There are a ton of great board games out there and if you actually are struggling to think of something that you and your friends can enjoy together in the same room - maybe give it a shot rather than lament the lack of couch co-op in videogames.

I agree with /u/raisedbynarcoleptic - you need a structured non-threatening activity with the kid. Start with all four of you, don't suddenly take the scared kid out alone.

Honestly, I'd wait six months before bringing up the potential for marriage. Wait until you and he have had a conversation, he's smiled at you, and he's volunteered something positive about you to his mother. Also, STOP TEACHING HIM, if you haven't already. Move him to another teacher or studio. Stop muddying those waters.

I'm a board game person, so here's what I would do:

• Buy 2-3 board games for him for Christmas for his mother to give to him.
  
  
• He and his mother play the games for a few weeks until she knows what his favorite is.
  
  
• You and your son learn that game. (or all the games!)
  
  
• You and she get all four of you together for a tournament over a few weeks with silly prizes. Out of six times, the overall winner gets five bucks and a silly hat. That sort of thing. (NOTE: Some teenagers would flat-out refuse to play cheesy board games with their parents, but it sounds like he is close to his mother and not a particularly brash kid, so you might get some buy-in.)
  
  
• Start having weekly game nights.
  
  
• After a few successful game nights, suggest playing a game that's 2p only and then have the winners play each other.
  
  
• Let the kids play against each other.
  
  
• Once that has been shown as non-threatening, suggest kids against adults - parent v. kid.
  
  
• Finally, suggest mixing it up and have you play against him. Direct interaction, but in the same room as the others.
  
  
• If that goes well, have his mother schedule a multi-hour thing on the same day that your son is busy with another friend. Ask his mother to fret and wring her hands about leaving him alone so much. Volunteer to go to a cafe with the kid and play whatever his favorite game is.
  
  
• First time alone with him! Keep it low-key. No talks about the future. No talks about family or feelings. Just stay in public and play a game together and go home. Maybe buy him some sort of mountain-of-sugar drink.
  
  And so on.
  
  The hobby doesn't have to be board games, of course, but that is the general outline of how I'd recommend handling it with a kid who literally shakes at the sight of you. Excruciating baby steps.
  
  Games I'd recommend for this:
  
  
• King of Tokyo ($33)
  
  
• Betrayal At House On The Hill ($34)
  
  
• Uno ($5ish anywhere)
  
  
• Sorry! ($12ish anywhere)
  
  
• Carcassonne (out of stock at Amazon but usually $25ish)
  
  
• Ticket To Ride (out of stock at Amazon but usually $35ish)
  
  
• Bohnanza ($14)
  
  
• Castle Panic ($22) (Has Star Trek and Zombie versions!)

No worries, people can't take the ~ 12 seconds to google something. I'm on the (honestly, horrible) boardgames subreddit, where this was posted by a redditor last year (there's a popular board game called Carcassonne).

If you like traditional board games, try one that's a little more complex, such as:

Carcassone

Catan

Risk

I recommend buying the version (may be the only version around these days) that includes The River mini-expansion. Like this one from Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/Z-Man-Games-ZM7810-Carcassonne/dp/B00NX627HW/

Only after you've played that a bunch should you consider any of the many expansions.

Carcassonne
http://www.amazon.com/Z-Man-Games-81006ZMG-Carcassonne-Board/dp/B00NX627HW/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1449692961&sr=1-1&keywords=carcassonne

Oooh, I looooove board games. From what you're describing I feel like Ticket to Ride could work really well; there are a good amount of instructions but they're pretty easy to follow along with (it's mostly for scoring purposes).

For something way more light/fun, there's also Sushi Go! or Love Letter -- they're both card-based games that look deceptively simple but are never played the same way twice. My wildcard choice would be Carcassonne, which is definitely more of a hard sell -- you build a Medieval French town with picture tiles -- but I promise is really, really fun. Again, the scoring is where it gets slightly more complicated, and it can be intimidating-looking, but the game is really fantastic. Lots of strategy and luck needed, and it's a really unique experience.

Whatever this is for sounds like it'll be a lot of fun!

Buy whatever games you want, I own CAH and Munchkin too and I do not care if anyone hates a game I enjoy.

Recommended Essential Games:

• $28 Carcassonne
  
  
• $34 King of Tokyo
  
• $35 Las Vegas
  
• $39 Ticket to Ride
  
  Recommended Social Deduction Games:
  
  
• $14 Bang! The Dice Game
  
• $17 The Resistance
  
• $22 Sheriff of Notingham
  

Carcassonne - $19.99

ZMan Games - Carcassonne Board Game https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NX627HW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_sEl-AbYHD75HR

There are a lot of good options. I enjoy all of these with 2 players, and all except 7 Wonders Duel scale well with more players. Just pick 3 that are close in price to maximize the deal.

Castles of Burgundy $29

Dominion $30

7 Wonders Duel $24

San Juan $26

Carcassonne $21

Amazon is where we get all of our board games.

It's likely more that she hates video games and views them as a complete waste of time than it is the actual money. Try buying a board game instead. I was (and still am to a certain degree) an avid gamer. For reference, my XBOX Gamerscore is over 50,000. But a few years ago I sort of accidentally found myself getting into modern board games. I'm not talking about Monopoly or Scrabble, or even Settlers of Catan. Little did I know there is an entire world of modern board games that has been exploding in recent years. I've actually found a lot more enjoyment in board games because they require more in-depth thought, problem solving and mental acuity. My wife is not a fan of video games, but as luck would have it, she loves playing board games with me because it's something we can do together. I've gone off onto quite a tangent here, but I'm serious. Board games have mostly scratched the itch that video games used to for me and it's a great way to get my gaming in without my wife getting annoyed. I'd recommend Splendor, Pandemic, or Carcassonne as starting points if you're not real familiar with modern games. All three of those games are pretty light and a lot of fun. But also, just go peruse Fantasy Flight Games for an idea of the kind of stuff that's available which might be a good transition from video gaming. Tons of Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Lovecraftian horror, LOTR, etc.

Also, fuck tithing.

Apples to Apples, Dixit, Jungle Speed, Pictionary, Anomia, SET, Loaded Questions, and Jenga are a few that come to mind where the adults wouldn't necessarily have an advantage over the kids. Also Fluxx and We Didn't Playtest This are both hilarious card games that would be perfect for kids in that age range, but I have a blast playing them with other adults on a regular basis too; Spaceteam looks like another good one but I haven't personally played it. If you're looking for more involved strategy games, Ticket to Ride and Carcassone would be fine for that age, just require more of a learning curve. Cranium and Quelf are silly games that involve a variety of tasks (drawing, acting, singing, trivia, etc) and although they're supposedly aimed at adults, kids love them too (just skip cards that are too hard; or you could also consider the kids' versions of both games, Cranium Cadoo and Quelf Jr.). Uno (or Crazy Eights with a regular deck of cards) is always a classic, and you can always play charades or the category game!

edited to add: not sure about a good choose your own adventure story, but Mad Libs are always fun!

Crazy escalation to jump from Catan to Terraforming Mars.

Carcassonne (picture here) is a great game. Easy setup, easy tear down, and consistently fun. I highly recommend the Z-Man edition of the game the other commenter mentioned. Carcassonne has expansions that you can add after you’d played the game for a while. But the vanilla version is great at two players.

Here we go:

Sushi Go amazon link

Cost: $11 Remaining: $89

Love Letter amazon link

Cost: $8 Remaining: $81

Settlers of Catan amazon link

Cost: $38 Remaining: $43

King of Tokyo amazon link

Cost: $27 Remaining: $16

Forbidden Island amazon link

Cost: $14 Remaining: $2

This is how I'd do it.

Alternately you could try Carcassonne amazon link in place of Catan and then Pandemic amazon link in place of Forbidden Island. Which I think puts you a bit over the $100 mark. Other games you might look at Ticket to Ride.