The Club Library - game requests

Absolutely no promises. In fact, I can almost promise you won't get what you want. Especially if it's Avalon. That said...

You might not be personally bothered by what games are in the club library yourself (e.g. because you own everything pauly), but might have some suggestions as to what games would be useful to add for beginners.

You might have a game in mind which you think we should definitely have because you want to play it lots. Grand. Especially if it meets some of these sort of criteria:
accessible to newcomers
range of playing times including fillers / quick games
easily playable in an evening session
multiple player counts e.g. 2-5 players
durable
appealing to a wide range of people at the club
high replayability - lasting appeal
not apparently discriminatory

Suggestions people - shoot for the moon!

Quadropolis: new Days of Wonder (beautiful built-in storage) loveliness, easy to explain and pick up. Comes with helpful crib sheets. Has 2 difficulty options and randomised setup to enhance replayability and accessibility.

Carcassonne*, Catan: Cheap and reassuring for newcomers. Easy to play. And Carcassonne isn't even cr*p.
Codenames - for people who play scrabble
Machi Koro* - simple, fun & enjoyable
Splendor - couldn't be arsed to own this but always good for a quick pop. Again, easy to pick up.
Spyfall - yes it's hidden role so I largely hate it, but it's ridiculously easy to learn, is over quickly and doesn't involved closing your eyes and sticking your thumbs in the air.

EDIT - I'm adding:
TTR - a less common version so experienced members might want to play it for that reason
Love letter - perhaps one of the re-skins?
Sushi Go - great intro to drafting. One of the few fillers that I find myself really wanting to play.
Colony Wars - because Star Realms is technically the most played game in the club this year. Quick, cheap, easy to learn.

*Full disclosure: I have copies of these I'd be happy to sell the club. Corrupt as the day is long, me!

I'd suggest:

Catan
Carcassonne
Love Letter
Hanabi
No Thanks
TTR
Splendor
King of Tokyo
Jamaica
Pandemic
Sushi Go
Blueprints
Celestia
Flick em Up
Jaipur (in case two people get stuck with no game)
Avalon (it does get played every so often...)
Spyfall
Codenames
Mysterium
Shadow Hunters

psychomansam wrote:
Machi Koro*

*Full disclosure: I have copies of these I'd be happy to sell the club. Corrupt as the day is long, me!

So do I! I have the Harbour expansion too. I'd also donate my copy of Monopoly: Sheffield Edition.

What do you mean you'd only burn it?

I say start small but welcoming...

Settlers of Catan
Ticket to Ride
Carcassonne - base with maybe The builders expansion.

Then maybe add more titles if the need/use demands.

I thought we had Catan? Or did The Red House have a copy?

If we only get three games i'd probably get one gateway, one filler and one game for lots of players.

Catan, Love Letter and one of the hidden role games maybe

Lizzy wrote:...and one of the hidden role games maybe

Would expect either Codenames or Spyfall to be better choices than Avalon, for this category.

I think Avalon has had a great record of getting new players engaged at the club. Seems like an obvious choice.

King of Tokyo also on account of its track record at the club.

Dominion was the game that actually convinced me to come down to the club at all. Massively popular, top of people's favorite games list all over the place, people see this talked about online and they want to try it themselves.

Cosmic Encounter is a good choice for the exact same reason. Gateway games aren't the games that are endurable for people that don't want to play your stupid board games, they're the games that get people excited about the hobby, and Cosmic Encounter is exciting because Tom Vassel and Quinns don't shut up about it.

Pandemic, similar reasons, especially with the release of Legacy. That's no good as a club game but the original is still regarded as a classic and a gateway game for good reasons. Also, gotta have a co-op game. Co-op games are pretty great for rules ignorant players with nobody to teach them as you can struggle through the rules together and not be cheating somebody if you get things wrong.

If we don't have Catan we obviously have to have Catan. Not even debatable

No Thanks is my preferred filler over any other (Sushi Go, For Sale, |Love Letter, whatever). It is the filleriest of fillers in terms of learning to play and time it takes, which are both pluses. It actually has people paying attention to what other players are doing and laughing at each others fortune and misfortune.

A big beautiful wooden Pucket board like the one Tom bought on Sunday is sure to draw some attention. Nice to have a dexterity game. Maybe Crokinole, which I've never played but would love to.

It's also dramatically important to have a game with nice miniatures and box-art because if all else fails the game that is actually going to get somebody to pick up a box and open it is Blood Rage.

Busen Memo, anyone?

Holy shit, what happened to Board Game Geek?

Sam wrote:
I think Avalon has had a great record of getting new players engaged at the club. Seems like an obvious choice.
Holy shit, what happened to Board Game Geek?

I was wondering where you've been. Obviously somewhere. And are you drunk? You'd better be!

Avalon is a good idea but I can't remember a club session without it for a long time so might not be necessary