[Boardgames] Next Purchase?

[Maerdwyn]

So I'm starting a boardgaming night at our Church. It was an off-handed suggested by my wife one night, and all of a sudden I've got a tone of interest. Looks like the age range will be from around 10 to around 75. We've got a two hour time frame, which will have to include learning rules the first time, at least. Some folks are going to stick with Backgammon and Chess, but we'll be doing Carcassone, Puerto Rico, Formula De, and Settlers (of Canaan, rather than Catan, this time, just to be cute), among a couple others.

I'm looking for a couple more that fit the time frame, are very social (I love crayon train games, but they doen't have as much player interaction as I'd like for this setting. One of the stated purposes is for people in the congregation to get to know each other better.), are relatively easy to pickup, rules-wise, have "appropriate" themes (no "Kobolds Ate My Baby" at my church, please. But feel free to come over later), and enjoyable to a wide age range.

I haven't kept up with the newer releases very well - I've considered Ticket to Ride and Mystery in the Abbey (both by Days of Wonder) but don't know much about them.

It's not that I necessarily need more games for this session; more like I feel like it's time to expand the ol bookcase and this seems like a good excuse

Thanks!
Ian

My currently-owned multiplayer game list:
Tigris and Euphrates
Settlers and it's expansions
Cacassone and it's expansions
Empire Builder and variants
Puerto Rico
El Grande
Formula De
Lord of the Rings (probably a good one for this, now that I think of it)
Tikal
Acquire (have it, never played it)
Hoity Toity
Civ, Advanced Civ, Age of Renaissance, Republic of Rome, etc. (Beloved games, but to long and maybe too much for this setting)

 

[qaaral]

A great one for that sort of setting is Apples to Apples.

 

[Maerdwyn]

A great one for that sort of setting is Apples to Apples.

Thanks qaaral! What's it like?

 

[Crothian]

Another good one would be Once Upon a Time, although it is a card game it is very social, has great interaction, and fun.

here's the blurp from Atlas' Site:

Once Upon A Time is a game in which the players create a story together, using cards that show typical elements from fairy tales. One player is the Storyteller, and creates a story using the ingredients on her cards. She tries to guide the plot towards her own ending. The other players try to use cards to interrupt her and become the new Storyteller. The winner is the first player to play out all her cards and end with her Happy Ever After card.

The second edition of Once Upon a Time is available now. It features a full-color format, beautiful new art, an extended card set, high-quality linen-finish cards, and blank cards to script your own endings.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Another good one would be Once Upon a Time, although it is a card game it is very social, has great interaction, and fun.

Oooh! I'd forgotten about Once Upon a Time - I know I've got that floating around somewhere in my house. (I hope it survuved out move last summer.)

That will be perfect, especially with some of the kids.

 

[TracerBullet42]

A great one for that sort of setting is Apples to Apples.

I'll second Apples to Apples...much fun. I love giving crazy answers...

It's hard to explain the game without seeing it. It involves cards and questions...but mostly creativity in how you use the cards...

 

[Crothian]

Oooh! I'd forgotten about Once Upon a Time - I know I've got that floating around somewhere in my house. (I hope it survuved out move last summer.)

That will be perfect, especially with some of the kids.

There is also an expansion of cards for it that deal with darker tales

 

[francisca]

aMAZEing Labyrinth rocks. There is a junior version as well.

I played Dwarven Dig (by Kenzer) at GenCon last year, it was a blast.

Other than that, you already have many of the games I enjoy.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I'll second Apples to Apples...much fun. I love giving crazy answers...

It's hard to explain the game without seeing it. It involves cards and questions...but mostly creativity in how you use the cards...

Let me recommend Apples to Apples as well! Here is a link to Out of the Box, the games publisher. I'd recommend either the Party Crate or Party Box editions.

Also, take a look at Fluxx and Chrononauts/Early American Chrononauts from Looney Labs. They are card games, but great for groups.

 

[random user]

I have the fortune to be friends with a collector of board games. Here are some of my favorites which may fit. I think these are still all in print, but I'm not sure.

Attika. 2-4 players, not a lot of direct confrontation which some people don't like (about as much as Settlers)
Medici. 2-6 players, very quick, very light bidding game. Can probably get 2-3 games in a 2 hour session. A little more luck involved than some games.
Lost Cities. 2 players. Pretty quick. Good to play a game while waiting for another game to finish up.
The Princes of Florence. 2-5 players. Umm hard to explain this one. It's similar in some respects to PR (though also very different).
Modern Art. A bidding game. It's nice and quick.
Torres. 2-4 players. A little bit of abstraction in this one.
Alhambra. Tile placing game along with bidding. A lot of fun.

Descriptions of all these games, and more, can be found at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/

If this list isn't long enough, I can come up with more