games to play with the wife/girlfriend???

[Hulkster]

i dont know if im the only one...surely not....but i absolutely love board games. i especially love games with mini's, which is one of the draws of heroscape. however, my wife could care less about heroscape because i guess it involves battles and conflict and stuff like that...and maybe because she has no interest in medeival stuff.

anyway, if any of you are married out there, and are like me....you want to play games like heroscape, or just a board game in general that requires some strategy with your wife. she likes scrabble and stuff, and although that requires thought....its still not that involved.

i want a game with strategic elements, and some cool mini's or something...but also something that my wife could enjoy as well. anyone have suggestions for this??

[Dreaded Gazebo]

i want a game with strategic elements, and some cool mini's or something...but also something that my wife could enjoy as well. anyone have suggestions for this??

No minis but my wife loves San Juan (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8217). It's a card game but has some interesting hand management. Essentially you get a hand of cards that represenent buildings you can build. Each building has a cost associated with it. In order to build a building you need to discard cards from your hand equaling the building cost. So to place a building down with a cost of 4 you'd need to discard 4 cards from your hand along with the building you are placing. Since you can only have 7 cards in your hand you gotta make some tough choices at times. My wife really likes it.

Does your wife enjoy games with strategic elements? She very well may not... I know my wife doesn't.

The trick is to find games that don't have obvious strategic elements ;) San Juan is a good example. There is strategy in what buildings to build and how they all work together, but you don't necessarily have to worry about what other people are doing. All you do is make do with the cards dealt to you. Carcassonne is another good example. Yeah, there can be strategy in blocking people off with how you lay your tiles and all that but you can also do just fine by worrying only about yourself.

While I haven't played it, you could also try something cooperative like Arkham Horror (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/15987) or Betrayal at House on the Hill (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10547). The players work together against the game system so you can help each other out with any strategies.

If you want more competition Descent (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/17226) might be a good choice. It places a group of hero characters against the overlord. The game works best with three hero characters which can be a bit to deal with so maybe you'd want to play the heroes and let your wife try out the overlord role, plus then she can have fun trying to crush you ;) Descent certainly fits the bill when it comes to minis although they are not painted.

[Hulkster]

thanks for the ideas. although i would love to try descent, i dont think my wife would be up for something like that. i did just get an email reply back from her about playing a good board game and she said that she liked "that clue DVD game". that may be about as strategic as she wants to get.

the betrayal game, and the arkham horror game look neat but those require more than 2 players dont they? i just want something i can play with just her.

[Dreaded Gazebo]

Arkham is listed as 1-8. Betrayal is listed as 3-6 but there are some 2 player variants mentioned at BoardGameGeek. I haven't played either game so I can't comment on how they work for two players, I've just seen them listed as cooperative style games.

[reapersaurus]

Does Nashville have a local boardgame group?
If so, show up and try to get in a game of Ticket to Ride or Settlers of Catan.

They are great introductory boardgames for couples.
Women typically do not like games that have competetive, aggressive, conflict-required boardgames.

Look for games with trading (Settlers, etc) and thematic games (Ra, Cleopatra!!) of themes she likes.

2 player games - lots of couples like Lost Cities.
I'd recommend going to BoardgameGeek.com and looking at their very popular GeekLists there that list good 2 person games for a wife to enjoy as well.

[Dreaded Gazebo]

2 player games - lots of couples like Lost Cities.
I'd recommend going to BoardgameGeek.com and looking at their very popular GeekLists there that list good 2 person games for a wife to enjoy as well.

Lost Cities is a great game and many list it as "wife friendly" but my wife really doesn't like the game. The problem is that you have very difficult decisions to make each turn and sometimes you simply can't do anything to help you out which I think she finds very frustrating. San Juan has you making really tough choices as well but there's always something you can do on your turn that'll help you to some degree.

Just something else to keep in mind as well ;) Reiner Knizia is a brilliant game designer but his games (like Lost Cities) often have those "tough decisions" that I think some non-gamers will find unpleasant.

[reapersaurus]

damn good post, Dreaded Gazebo. :thumbsup:

I didn;t mention that my wife can't stand Lost Cities. :lol:
The concensus I have gathered is that many many gals like that game. :shrug:

I've been trying to get in a game of San Juan for awhile. I know Puerto Rico, and a lighter version of that is better for any non-hardcore gamer.

And I would highly recommend Betrayal, of course.
But for the OP's wife, I would start with much lighter fare than he would think - things like party games (Taboo, Sequence, etc), and Apples to Apples, before launching on more serious fare.

[droolster]

Try the card game "Typo" if you enjoy word games. Balloon Cup is a very good couples game. Battle Line and Lord of the Rings Confrontation are others. Of course, there's always Dreamblade... :D

[cbs42]

http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/geekcomics/husband_med.jpg

[peterm]

Both Nexxus Ops and Monsters Menace America have gone over pretty well here (MMA is 3 players though).

Railroad Tycoon as well, but I think that's out of print now.

[Tiberius]

My wife loves playing low key games like scrabble or Apples to Apples. Alot of women like Apples to apples I have found. But my wife would never play anything requiring strategy or minis.

[netherspirit]

Balloon Cup is a good 2 player game that my girlfriend loves. Anything from the Kosmos 2-player line is good (with the exception of a few). The aforementioned Lost Cities is in that line and is also a good game. Odin's Ravens and Jambo are some of the better ones.

Ticket to Ride is a good choice. You can't really go wrong with Days of Wonder and the Ticket to Ride family.

Settlers of Catan is a good introdution game but doesn't play well with only 2 players, I have tried some variants and they just don't seem to work. If you know another couple that would be into board games, I would definately say pick up Settlers, if its just going to be you and your wife most of the time, I would probably pass. There is however a 2-player Settlers of Catan card game that is pretty enjoyable. We have only played it a few times, but I really liked it and she seemed to enjoy it.

Carcassonne is always a good choice, its a tile-laying game. The base game has many expansions and can be played with up to 6 people, but plays really well as a 2 player game.

There is a stand alone Carcassonne game called Carcassonne: The Castle that only plays 2 people and is really fun too. I haven't decided if I like more or less than the original Carcassonne, but its a good time.

Through the Desert is really easy. All you do on your turn is place 2 camels on the board. Really easy to learn, but it has enough depth and strategy to keep us going back for more. Its a nice abstract game, that has been called the poorman's Go.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

My wife loves Settlers of Catan. Does small wooden blocks count for miniatures?

[Jim]

My wife loves Settlers of Catan. Does small wooden blocks count for miniatures?

So does my wife! So much so that she bought the 10th Anniversary 3D set.

She also loves Carcassonne.

Jim

[netherspirit]

So does my wife! So much so that she bought the 10th Anniversary 3D set.


:drool:

[Hulkster]

thanks for all the great replies! i can see where this is a common theme to where wives generally dont like confrontation type games. games with battles or tough decision type stuff. my wife doesnt like those, and there really isnt anything i can do about it. :brickwall:

about as good as i can get so far is that she wants to play the clue dvd game. that kinda has some tough decisions but nothing involved. i keep thinking that one day my wife will play heroscape just to shut me up, and then she'll magically find that its fun. :ponder: but it most likely will not happen.

i showed her betrayal and she seemed interested in that, so i may take a look at that game to see if its worth getting. i saw it an comic store the other day for around $20. should i get it?

[Dreaded Gazebo]

Check out the entry at BoardGameGeek:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10547

Read up on some user reviews and skim through the comments. Maybe ask your wife to read through some of them with you. You should be able to get a pretty good feel for what the game is like and if it'll appeal to both of you.

I gotta say I'm pretty interested in the game now, it sounds fun!

[peterm]

It's fun; I've never tried a 2-player variant, so I don't know how well it would work with just the two of you (if that's how you find yourself most commonly playing games).
Tons of theme though, and it's pretty funny.

[auralerogeny]

I'm going to chime in and agree with Settlers, with the before-mentioned setback that it's better with 3-4 players. It can be done with 2 though.

Blokus is another game that I've recently discovered. Its for 4 players, but there's a 2 player version as well. There is strategy in that game, but it's not all that evident at first. It's REALLY easy, and the girls really like all the pretty colors (no colors that a guy wouldn't like (no stinky pink)). It's like a wierd cross between Tetris and Checkers. It's worth checking out. It's one of the more recent games, the one that everybody's playing that no-one's heard about.

[netherspirit]

I'm going to chime in and agree with Settlers, with the before-mentioned setback that it's better with 3-4 players. It can be done with 2 though.

I would argue that it can't be done. Once you get down to 2 people you lose the trading aspect of the game. Which in my opinion is the best part of the game, at that point its no longer Settlers, its just roll the dice, and hope you get what you need to build stuff.

More on topic:

Blue Moon City is an easy game to learn and play.

Also, Ingenious is a good abstract game that playhs pretty well with 2.

[auralerogeny]

We still trade with only two people. Why wouldn't you? It's not as fun as with 3-4 players, I definately agree with you there. It makes it a little harder, because on every trade, you know that your entire opposition is getting what they want too...

[netherspirit]

because on every trade, you know that your entire opposition is getting what they want too...

Which is why 2 player trading sucks.

[ninthdoc]

The one thing I'm not seeing is what I'm most interested in. Perhaps I misunderstood the title of the thread. I'm looking for games that I can play with my wife and my girlfriend at the same time.

*...and then the spirit of nwojedi left a confused ninthdoc...*

Did I just post that?

[TheFatIdiot]

I see someone else has already suggested Balloon Cup, Jambo, Lost cities, Settlers, Carcassone, Ticket to Ride, Ingenious and Blokus... these are all excellent games to introduce non-gamers to our hobby.

A lot of Eurogames are non-confrontational, you can also try: Fjords, Dvonn, Drakon, Yinsh, Zertz, Tamsk, Deflection, Fluxx, Chrononauts, Guillotine, Set, Go, Munchkin, Union Pacific (it has a 2 player variant), and Europe Engulfed.

Michael

[auralerogeny]

because on every trade, you know that your entire opposition is getting what they want too...

Which is why 2 player trading sucks.

Yeah, ok, I guess I'll concede the point. I see what you are saying now, I hadn't thought of it that way. I just looked at it like it made the game more interesting. But I totally see where you are coming from... :wink:

[Bannister]

The one thing I'm not seeing is what I'm most interested in. Perhaps I misunderstood the title of the thread. I'm looking for games that I can play with my wife and my girlfriend at the same time.

*...and then the spirit of nwojedi left a confused ninthdoc...*

Did I just post that?

:D

I clicked on this thread just to see what NWO would have to say.

Now I know...sort of.

:D

Bannister

PS. Scrabble is only the game I can get my wife to play. She just isn't interested. No sweat though to be honest, she has her things I have mine, I have come to accept it.

[reapersaurus]

PS. Scrabble is only the game I can get my wife to play. She just isn't interested. No sweat though to be honest, she has her things I have mine, I have come to accept it.That's a real shame, man.

[CupidsArt]

Nevermind.... :unsure:

[deadeyedan42]

Baby Scape! [MOAM]