The countdown continues! Are your favorites going to be in the Top 10 or did I foolishly leave them off my list? Without further ado, let's see numbers 5 through 1.
When someone who is unfamiliar with board and card games sees a group playing Dominion, it usually elicits a “What is that?!” type of response. The deck-building genre (not to be confused with CCG/LCG "Deck Building) is a relatively new type of game that is starting to really come into its own, spearheaded by the original: Dominion. Lighter on player interaction, this game is ideal for people who want to compete without having to worry about someone sabotaging their plans. Once the basics of a deck-builder are learned, it opens the flood gates for tons of great games.
Positives
Positives
- Competitive without being cut-throat
- Fairly quick learning curve
- High replayability (500 cards in the base game, does have several expansions)
- Theme is pretty bland (good luck figuring it out with reading about it)
- Some of the rules can be a little fiddly and need clarification
- Newer players have a hard time competing with experienced ones
Normally when you start a board game, you pick a color or you get a little piece that represents you. In Small World, you are presented with a myriad of races and powers from which you choose, each one changing how you play. This is the hook that really gets people into the game. The “point” of the game is similar to Risk (control the board), and the mechanics are not overly complex, which makes this a fantastic game to get people playing more tabletop games.
Positives
Positives
- Variable races and abilities
- High replayability factor (combinations of race/power are different every game)
- Different boards depending on number of players (well-balanced areas)
- Some race/power combinations are too powerful
- Impossible to remember what each race/power does without playing several times
- People can be “targeted” leading to a bad experience (losing without playing badly)
You might be surprised to find the grand-daddy of gateway games at #3 on my list, but here it is. Settlers is probably the game that got most hobby board game players interested, and for good reason. It is definitely a step-up in difficulty from Monopoly, but does a good job of blending popular elements like dice-rolling and trading while introducing resource management (with cards), strategic placement (starting cities), and victory point win conditions. Catan is one of the ideal blends of old and new that really make transitioning into board games enjoyable and fun.
Positives
Positives
- Strategic without being overwhelming
- Offers multiple paths to victory
- Expandable with expansions
- Can get a little mean (lots of swearing…)
- Prone to “kingmaking” (i.e. Player A knows they won’t win, decides to give everything to Player B so they can win)
- A lot of randomness (board set-up, starting position, dice-rolling)
Carcassonne jumps to number two because it really exemplifies what a good gateway game is: The rules are easy to understand, the gameplay is fairly quick, and no players are eliminated. There is definitely some strategy to the game, even if it does still exhibit quite a bit of luck as well in the form of tile drawing. On top of all this, Carcassonne was the first game on this list that introduces the player pieces most often associated with hobby board games: The Meeple!
Positives
Positives
- Quick Gameplay
- Expandability through TONS of expansions
- Easy to learn, easy to teach
- Scoring is a little bit fiddly
- Illusion of choice (only one tile in hand at a time limits you greatly)
- Prone to over-analyzing
Why does Ticket to Ride take number one? It exemplifies everything a gateway game should be while integrating elements that people are familiar with and love from their old favorites. The rules are accessible, you have options for every turn, it has great components, and it has a beautiful, colorful board. With several different versions of the “base” game (with slightly tweaked rules), and a host of map packs, Ticket to Ride can scratch the gaming itch for quite a while.
Positives
Positives
- Surprisingly tense and rewarding for a “solitaire”-ish game
- High replay value
- Easy to learn, easy to teach, hard to master
- Can get a little mean when players block others for strategy (or just giggles)
- (Warning: Nit-Picking) I HATE the small sized cards; but can be replaced with Ticket to Ride: 1910 expansion.