It can happen to anyone: a friend of a friend joins for the evening and suddenly Catan is not an option.

What are your goto games in those situations?

  • SonaMidorFeed@fedia.io
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    1 year ago

    Our go-tos are as follows!

    • Monikers: A silly little game that turns from describing a word on the card into bizarre charades. It’s ALWAYS been a hit.
    • 6 Nimmt!: Can play up to 10 and I’ve NEVER seen people get so turned up about slapping down a card with a number on it.
  • Lele@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    I really like 7 Wonders, for 3-7 players and one round is also not too long with about 20 minutes ^^

    • chris@fedia.io
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      1 year ago

      With the Cities expansion it goes up to eight too. Pretty simple to explain and as turns are simultaneous the extra player doesn’t add any time (unless they are particularly slow)

  • kmo@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    These are the games my friends and I prefer currently:

    • 7 Wonders
    • Dominion
    • Catan
    • Anno 1800
    • Fallout
  • legendarydromedary@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    These are my go to games for larger groups:

    • Codenames: A modern classic! Works best with 6 or 8 people.
    • Decrypto: For a more gamey version of Codenames.
    • Wavelength: Fun party game that spikes interesting conversations
    • Concept: Don’t play to win, just play to have fun guessing
  • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Cash n Guns - 8 players: Players get to have a standoff with foam guns pointed at one another trying to take out each other either with a loaded gun or bluffing that your gun is loaded to gain the most loot that was gathered from a prior heist.

  • pathief@lemmy.worldM
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    1 year ago

    At 6 players we mostly switch to party games.

    • Just One is by far our favorite, works great with all sort of crowds.

    • Secret Hitler is another we tend to play, doesn’t work well with the more casual folks.

    Always interested in expanding this list, it’s hard to find something outside word games and social deduction that don’t have a ton of downtime.

    • gpage@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      My go to would have been Deception: Murder in Hong Kong which I think needs between 6 and 9 players to really shine, but discounting social deduction, I’d look at Captain Sonar. The downside there is the player count is brittle… I do agree with @Zipheir that Bohnanza works well from 4-7. If 6 is acceptable, Point Salad is fine and that means you don’t have to sort cards as you use them all.

      Really, after 6 people, we break up into two groups. I mean, sometimes we break up at 6…

  • RQG@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    We default to Munchkin when nothing else seems obvious. Games get long with 7 or more people because someone can always sabotage the leaders victory. But the game is still hilarious and gleefully fun to us after all these years.

  • theinfamousj@rammy.site
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    1 year ago
    • Fluxx

    • Codenames

    • Munchkin

    • and if you’ll believe it, most people haven’t played in so long that it is usually a huge hit: Scattergories

    I love light party games with a huge crowd.

  • chris@fedia.io
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    1 year ago

    Mysterium - identify the suspect by looking at abstract cards given by a ghost (goes up to 7 players I think; use the original Ukrainian rules!)
    Shikoku - interesting movement game, goes up to eight players
    Eclipse - epic space exploration and battles, nine players with the expansion (I’ve never played it nine players, it would probably take about a week and need a banqueting table to put it on)

  • neutronicturtle@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The Thing: The Boardgame is a really nice game that works well with larger group (up to 8 people). You are basically playing out the move.

  • Zipheir@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    A good question and an interesting thread. At five, our group sometimes tries a substantial game like Viticulture or Power Grid. Knowing the game is critical, however, since many complex games are not at their best with five players. When our group hits six, we’ve recently been playing Mysterium, which is an excellent, simple investigation game with evocative art and a great deal of replay value. It’s surprisingly accessible for new players.

    With even larger groups, we sometimes play Mascarade. This Bruno Faidutti social deduction game is similar to his later Citadels, but easier to get started with. Another hit has been Bohnanza, although its wheeling-and-dealing style may not appeal to quieter folks.

    When we have players who are easily overwhelmed by lots of rules, we tend to fall back to Sushi Go. This is entertaining enough–though beware of playing it with hate-drafting Magic players.

    EDIT: It’s “Mascarade”, not “Masquerade”.

    • JakeBacon@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I love draft games (Magic player here, but I don’t hate draft a ton). Been thinking about picking up Sushi Go but my current living situation severely limits my ability to play board games.

    • shmanio@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I’ve just read the rules of Masquerade, it seems really good. Also, being able to play with up to 13 players makes it really flexible.

      EDIT: Have you played the expansion as well?

      • Zipheir@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        No, but I would like to. I have not seen either game at our local stores, sadly.

        • shmanio@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          Hi, just wanted to say that we tried it yesterday, and we loved it! Great game, great mechanics and even if it was our first there have been some great deceptions. Thank you for the suggestion!

  • ace_garp@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    For larger groups, we’ve had success with these:

    Diamant

    Bang:The dice game

    Citadels

    Skull

    CamelUp

    Just One

    Fake artist goes to New York

    Sushi Go:Party