Subj : Re: Favourite Board Games
To   : Jimmy Anderson
From : Arelor
Date : Sun Mar 20 2022 09:51:39

  Re: Re: Favourite Board Games
  By: Jimmy Anderson to Arelor on Fri Mar 18 2022 10:49 pm

 > Very true! My first 'post Monopoly' game was Settlers of Catan (now just cal
 > Catan). There is still an obvious 'leader,' but at least no player eliminati
 > so everyone is in it until the end...
 > 
 > Same with Ticket to Ride! And I think both (especially ticket) is GREAT for
 > a gateway game...
 > 

Catan is fine but I much prefer Ticket to Ride as a gateway game, to the point
I still play Ticket to Ride from time to time, but I never pull Catan.

The main issue I have with Catan is that nobody will ever trade with me, even
if I have something somebody else desperately needs and I am the only guy who
has it. Not a problem with the game, but it really sucks :-) The politics in
the game make everybody either play as hypocrites pretending to do you a favor
while they build an engine to close your routes on the board, or to play as
sharks openly.

Catan is fine but it has a lot of potential for players to get locked. It is
easy to place yourself into a corner from which you have no room to keep
building so I'd rather play it with people with the brain agility needed to
recognize that, even if they are noobs. If your players are smart enough to not
letting themselves be locked then it is a good time.

I don't have that problem with Ticket to Ride. It has its issues when played
RAW without expansions, but you can have any random dude understand the game
and make meaningful moves in no time. It has some strategic space baked in
("Should I place a railway? Should I pick this ticket? Should I pick an Engine
even if it means I don't get to pick an extra card?") but it is not gigantic,
which helps a lot if you play with newbies or if your group has had too much
bourbon.

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