4 ms·

Haven't seen these mentioned yet, and I recommend both: Powergrid: Unique because there are no dice involved; a game of economics Steam: Unique because there

Haven't seen these mentioned yet, and I recommend both: Powergrid: Unique because there are no dice involved; a game of economics Steam: Unique because there is a bank (partly tied to your score) that you can borrow against to build pieces faster

throwaway1979 14y ago
I love powergrid! I recall the last two turns require a lot of calculations. When I played with non-mathematically oriented people (most people in my life), they got frustrated.
- jdludlow 14y ago
  Power Grid has a lot of simple arithmetic. You're adding numbers in your head constantly. Barring a runaway leader, the endgame tends to have a slingshot effect where the person who is "leading" is actually behind those who are currently in 2nd or 3rd place. Timing this come-from-behind win is a big part of the fun for me. It's the #6 game on BoardGameGeek [1], and well deserved to be there. Saying that "it's filled with math" doesn't make it sound all that exciting, but there's a good spacial element, an auction system that gets quite tense at times, and opportunity for "screw you" behavior that actually pays off. The winner is typically the one who was most efficient and has made some clever plays to keep his opponents out of his chosen markets. [1] http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame
  - T-hawk 14y ago
    I found Power Grid to be significantly improved by keeping a calculator on hand for all that addition. How much of my hundred can I bid on this power plant? Well I need four oil this turn at what might be seven cost each, and I want to buy three houses at fifteen, so that means forty five plus twenty eight is seventy three, so I can spend up to twenty seven in this auction. There's no reason to force all that mental arithmetic, and it really sucks if someone loses because they missed carrying a digit mentally. Just use a calculator to abstract away the math and speed things up.
    - jdludlow 14y ago
      I carry a stack of calculators around with me, since my gaming preferences lead me toward heavy economic eurogames and titles from the 18XX[1] world. Power Grid isn't bad enough to need a calculator most of the time, but if someone in my group wants to use one no one is going to bat an eye. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18XX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18XX
archon 14y ago
I enjoy Power Grid with a larger group (4+) people, but with a small group, the game really drags. This is unfortunate, because my usual gaming group consists of my fiancee and myself.
- infinite8s 14y ago
  Which 'german' style board games do you recommend for 2 people? It's often just my wife and I, and it seems like most popular eurogames are best with 3-4 people.
  - dagw 14y ago
    Take a look at http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/67262/near-perfect-2-player-games-top-25-who-occasionall http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/67262/near-perfect-2-playe... edit: for what it's worth the game my wife and I end up playing most of the time when we have 45 minutes to kill is Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, which isn't on the list.
    - ajtaylor 14y ago
      My wife and I bought Carcassonne because it could be played with only 2 people. But it's one of our favorite games because it's never the same game twice!
  - archon 14y ago
    Dominion is great for two players, and has excellent replay value. Settlers of Catan can also work well for two people. You just have the two players control two colors each. This preserves the competition for resources needed to make the game fun. Edit to add: Race for the Galaxy is also one of our favorites, but we've house-ruled it a bit so that the military strategy is not a guaranteed win.

throwaway1979 14y ago

I love powergrid! I recall the last two turns require a lot of calculations. When I played with non-mathematically oriented people (most people in my life), they got frustrated.

jdludlow 14y ago
Power Grid has a lot of simple arithmetic. You're adding numbers in your head constantly. Barring a runaway leader, the endgame tends to have a slingshot effect where the person who is "leading" is actually behind those who are currently in 2nd or 3rd place. Timing this come-from-behind win is a big part of the fun for me. It's the #6 game on BoardGameGeek [1], and well deserved to be there. Saying that "it's filled with math" doesn't make it sound all that exciting, but there's a good spacial element, an auction system that gets quite tense at times, and opportunity for "screw you" behavior that actually pays off. The winner is typically the one who was most efficient and has made some clever plays to keep his opponents out of his chosen markets. [1] http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame
- T-hawk 14y ago
  I found Power Grid to be significantly improved by keeping a calculator on hand for all that addition. How much of my hundred can I bid on this power plant? Well I need four oil this turn at what might be seven cost each, and I want to buy three houses at fifteen, so that means forty five plus twenty eight is seventy three, so I can spend up to twenty seven in this auction. There's no reason to force all that mental arithmetic, and it really sucks if someone loses because they missed carrying a digit mentally. Just use a calculator to abstract away the math and speed things up.
  - jdludlow 14y ago
    I carry a stack of calculators around with me, since my gaming preferences lead me toward heavy economic eurogames and titles from the 18XX[1] world. Power Grid isn't bad enough to need a calculator most of the time, but if someone in my group wants to use one no one is going to bat an eye. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18XX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18XX

archon 14y ago

I enjoy Power Grid with a larger group (4+) people, but with a small group, the game really drags. This is unfortunate, because my usual gaming group consists of my fiancee and myself.

infinite8s 14y ago
Which 'german' style board games do you recommend for 2 people? It's often just my wife and I, and it seems like most popular eurogames are best with 3-4 people.
- dagw 14y ago
  Take a look at http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/67262/near-perfect-2-player-games-top-25-who-occasionall http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/67262/near-perfect-2-playe... edit: for what it's worth the game my wife and I end up playing most of the time when we have 45 minutes to kill is Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, which isn't on the list.
  - ajtaylor 14y ago
    My wife and I bought Carcassonne because it could be played with only 2 people. But it's one of our favorite games because it's never the same game twice!
- archon 14y ago
  Dominion is great for two players, and has excellent replay value. Settlers of Catan can also work well for two people. You just have the two players control two colors each. This preserves the competition for resources needed to make the game fun. Edit to add: Race for the Galaxy is also one of our favorites, but we've house-ruled it a bit so that the military strategy is not a guaranteed win.