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Settlers is great. It has a bit of a learning curve, though, so if you have any friends who know how to play (and who would be okay with a few "open hand" round

Settlers is great. It has a bit of a learning curve, though, so if you have any friends who know how to play (and who would be okay with a few "open hand" rounds), you might invite them over. Have fun!

bradbeattie 17y ago
If you find yourself enjoying Settlers, take a look at BoardGameGeek's top 20 list of games: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame While Settlers is a nice gateway game, there's a fair amount of chance involved that can be frustrating. I'd highly recommend Puerto Rico, Tigris & Euphrates, and Caylus. Good games, although they're a bit more involved than Settlers.
- smokey_the_bear 17y ago
  Dominion is the best game I've played in a long time. Easy to learn, and incredibly addictive. I'd gotten bored with most strategy games, but we've been playing hours of Dominion a night for a month.
- yread 17y ago
  Puerto Rico is indeed amazingly chess-like; deterministic to a point where you start to pull your hair out because you didn't take the corn field in the beginning when you could. It also has the nice point that the situation can turn extremely quickly and your opponents start pulling their hair :) I would also add Agricola which is similarly deterministic but notoriously diffucult to develop a strategy for!
  - bradbeattie 17y ago
    I'd argue that Agricola isn't deterministic. The cards dealt out at the beginning are done so randomly and often lead to asymmetry. Beyond that, I don't recall any chance. One feature of Agricola I don't like much is that it's difficult to assess another player's score at a glance. In Caylus, for example, it's quite clear how well another player is doing. Environmental attributes in board games: http://www.cognitivesandbox.com/posts/board-games/ http://www.cognitivesandbox.com/posts/board-games/
JshWright 17y ago
Certainly the deeper strategies of the game can take a while to develop and master, but the basic mechanics are fairly simple...

bradbeattie 17y ago

If you find yourself enjoying Settlers, take a look at BoardGameGeek's top 20 list of games: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame While Settlers is a nice gateway game, there's a fair amount of chance involved that can be frustrating. I'd highly recommend Puerto Rico, Tigris & Euphrates, and Caylus. Good games, although they're a bit more involved than Settlers.

smokey_the_bear 17y ago
Dominion is the best game I've played in a long time. Easy to learn, and incredibly addictive. I'd gotten bored with most strategy games, but we've been playing hours of Dominion a night for a month.
yread 17y ago
Puerto Rico is indeed amazingly chess-like; deterministic to a point where you start to pull your hair out because you didn't take the corn field in the beginning when you could. It also has the nice point that the situation can turn extremely quickly and your opponents start pulling their hair :) I would also add Agricola which is similarly deterministic but notoriously diffucult to develop a strategy for!
- bradbeattie 17y ago
  I'd argue that Agricola isn't deterministic. The cards dealt out at the beginning are done so randomly and often lead to asymmetry. Beyond that, I don't recall any chance. One feature of Agricola I don't like much is that it's difficult to assess another player's score at a glance. In Caylus, for example, it's quite clear how well another player is doing. Environmental attributes in board games: http://www.cognitivesandbox.com/posts/board-games/ http://www.cognitivesandbox.com/posts/board-games/

JshWright 17y ago

Certainly the deeper strategies of the game can take a while to develop and master, but the basic mechanics are fairly simple...