6 player suggestions

Hi guys, I'm going on holiday soon with some friends of ours and I want to take a couple of board games with me for the evenings. There will be 6 of us, which would be preferable, but 4 player games would be ok. None of my friends are board gamers, but there will be 2 video gamers who I have played D&D and Warhammer with before, and the rest are novices. All adults, no kids. I have decided to take Pandemic and also Cthulu Fluxx as a filler so I am looking for something we 3 gamers can get into but won't be too intimidating for the newbies.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I've already done a bit of research but I'm fairly new to the hobby so I haven't actually played any of these myself - I'm by no means restricted to this list, feel free to suggest any games you think might be suitable - I may be a bit biased because I am thinking of games I want to play, not something everyone will enjoy -

Shadows Over Camelot - another coop but I like the traitor element
King Of Tokyo
Caverna - too heavy?
7 Wonders?

Thoughts please!

I was going to suggest KoT. Settlers of Catan is great 4 player but you could expand it to 6. Bang is pretty good with 5-6.
If you wanted to get more complex; Eclipse is great and I personally rate Spartacus very highly (4 players, up to 6 with expansion).
If you want to try out any of these, I'm happy to demo them at the club

From your list, I'd say King Of Tokyo is definitely one that won't be intimidating for the novices, it has a fun theme and lends itself to 'fun' rather than 'serious' play. Shadows Over Camelot is not *that* complex but the rules explanation is quite long so I wouldn't start with that. I've not played Caverna, but from what I've seen it would probably be pretty intimidating for a non-gamer. I've only played Seven Wonders once - there are quite a few symbols etc. that need explaining but it benefits from being short so you can play some practice games and give people a chance to understand how to play without getting locked in a 3 hour game that they have no chance of winning!

Some other options...

Ticket To Ride Europe is easy to learn but has enough depth to be satisfying to play quite a bit. It only plays 5 but there are some promo extra train sets out there which let you add a sixth player.

Catan is the classic gateway game, but it's a bit of an investment to buy the base game plus 5-6 player expansion I guess. A 6 player game can also end up quite long, particularly with new players.

Something else light (and cheap) that you might consider is Saboteur. It's simple, has hidden roles and is quick to play.

Carcassonne is a pretty good gateway game. It only plays five out of the box but you can easily pick up an extra set of meeples for a sixth player...

Oh Jamaica is a nice easy access but still good game.

Like others have said, I'd suggest KoT first, very accessible. Jamaica I've had a lot of success with as well. 7 Wonders is a little serious and does take a bit to explain, but people tend to like it in the end. Bang! can be a bit divisive and has player elimination, which some people don't like. You might prefer The Resistance (I hate it, but I'm being diplomatic...)

I'd say Caverna is a bit hardcore (it's like a souped up Agricola), but it's very impressive to look at.

Otherwise I can suggest Libertalia, which is an accessible pirate based card game, or Space Cadets: Dice Duel for some real time dice rolling madness (that's 6 or 8 player only though).

Citadels and Forbidden Island are other games that newcomers often like and are cheap to pick up.

Despite Lizzy's hatred of the game, Lords of Waterdeep may be a good choice. It's light enough to be accessible to non-gamers and it's D&D themed, which may appeal to your D&D friends.

Power Grid is a classic... Carcassonne can be 6 player with expansions.

Bunglebogs wrote:Despite Lizzy's hatred of the game, Lords of Waterdeep may be a good choice. It's light enough to be accessible to non-gamers and it's D&D themed, which may appeal to your D&D friends.

I don't hate it. A lot of people like it so I must be missing something. Just every time I think abou.....  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

I've only played it once and didn't get what all the excitement was about... seemed pretty similar to most worker placement type games to me... admittedly I will probably try it again - perhaps on iOS when the iPad turns up...

Also zzzzzzz for me

Don't pick on me, I'm having a bad day!

Thanks for all your suggestions there are definitely lots of fine games there which I'm looking forward to playing. However, I actually didn't take any of your advice (I'm really sorry!) and eventually went for Tokaido which ticked all my boxes.

Thanks again for the input!

I'd forgotten about Tokaido! That's a lovely game. Excellent choice.