board game recommendations sought for GenCon demoing!

[Mistwell]

Keeping in mind your shorter playing time, and 2-6 player request, here is what I suggest:

Citadels
Ticket to Ride
Alhambra
Ra
Bohnanza
TransAmerica
Metro
Chrononauts
Nuclear Escalation or Nuclear Proliferation

 

[Steel_Wind]

Games to look at:

A Game of Thrones - FFG - Medium AT 4-6 players
Marvel Heroes - FFG - Medium AT - 2-4
Battlelore - Days of Wonder - Light to medium AT - 2player
Memoir 44 - Days of Wonder - Light AT - 2 player
Tide of Iron - FFG - Heavy AT - 2 player
Power Grid - Rio Grande - heavy Euro - 3-6 player
TannHauser - released at Gencon - FFG medium AT - 2-4 player
Ca$h n Guns - Asmodee - light AT - 4-6 player
Peurto Rico Rio Grande - Heavy Euro - 3-5 players
War of the Ring - FFG - Medium to Heavy AT - 2 to 4 players


For a fun card game, I would be pleased to recommend Family Business (Mayfair) and ZeeMan Games "B Movie Series".

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Wow. I can't believe that Carcassonne and Robo-Rally haven't been mentioned yet! Not to mention, it's a card game, but Once Upon a Time is great fun.

 

[fusangite]

If you find Tales of the Arabian Nights, I'll pay you whatever it cost you plus 20% or $100, whichever is greater. The game is awesome; it's halfway between an RPG and a board game. Any game in which, by rolling dice, you can become "enslaved by the impudent hunchback" is as good as it gets.

 

[theredrobedwizard]

Carcassonne

Original post, mate. That's why it hasn't been mentioned.

As an avid hater of board games, the few that I have fun with are usually the simplest. Tsuro is a good time, as is the card game Rook.

-TRRW

 

[Hypersmurf]

If you find Tales of the Arabian Nights, I'll pay you whatever it cost you plus 20% or $100, whichever is greater. The game is awesome; it's halfway between an RPG and a board game. Any game in which, by rolling dice, you can become "enslaved by the impudent hunchback" is as good as it gets.

There's a used one on eBay at the moment - it's up to $70 so far.

-Hyp.

 

[Pramas]

Definitely check out Ticket to Ride. It's fun, easy to learn, and plays quickly, but it also has depth. If you can find a copy of History of the World, that takes longer but is a great multiplayer game. Formula De is a winning racing game and also good with multiple players. Battlelore and its associated games (Memoir 44, Commands and Colors Ancients and Battle Cry) are superb, but are really for two people. Some of those games have "epic" scenarios for four people but you usually need two copies to pull them off.

 

[Agamon]

Power Grid - 2-6 players, 2 hours, fun game.

Tichu - 4 player card game, about an hour. Like the card game President (also known by other, less grandma-friendly names), but a lot more fun.

Three-Dragon Ante 2-6 players, hour or so. Another cool card game, a betting game like Poker, but nothing really like Poker.

Puerto Rico 3-5 players, 1.5 hours. Great resource management, building Eurogame.

 

[MerricB]

Ok, for good family games:

Ticket to Ride (Europe preferred)
Alhambra (2-4 players best)
Colosseum (3-5 players - I like this one a lot)
Ra (3-5 players; 45 minutes - this is also great)
Niagara (3-5 players; 45 minutes, 3-6 with expansion... very very good game).

For slightly longer games with more players:
Age of Empires III (2-5 players; 2-1/2 hours)
Railroad Tycoon (best with 4-6 players; 2-1/2 hours)

Once you get to 5+ players, the options are a bit more limited. Game time tends to be... longer.
Twilight Imperium 3e I find enjoyable (3-6 players), although it's better with the expansion. (3-8 players then!)

For the games I really like, see here:
Merric's ratings on BoardGameGeek

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Probably gets beyond your specified time limits, but I would suggest checking out Illuminatti from Steve Jackson Games.

http://www.sjgames.com/illuminati/

END COMMUNICATION