games to play with the wife/girlfriend???

Hulkster · #1 November 3rd, 2006, 04:17 PM

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 · #2 November 3rd, 2006, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hulkster

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. 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 or Betrayal at House on the Hill. The players work together against the game system so you can help each other out with any strategies.

If you want more competition Descent 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 · #3 November 3rd, 2006, 05:08 PM

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 · #4 November 3rd, 2006, 05:15 PM

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~~ · #5 November 3rd, 2006, 06:20 PM

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 · #6 November 3rd, 2006, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reapersaurus

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~~ · #7 November 3rd, 2006, 06:42 PM

damn good post, Dreaded Gazebo.

I didn;t mention that my wife can't stand Lost Cities.

The concensus I have gathered is that many many gals like that game.

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 · #8 November 3rd, 2006, 08:00 PM

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...

cbs42 · #9 November 3rd, 2006, 10:32 PM

peterm · #10 November 4th, 2006, 10:27 AM

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 · #11 November 4th, 2006, 10:33 AM

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 · #12 November 4th, 2006, 10:41 AM

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.