Reccomend some (non-RPG) games

[Desdichado]

Lunch Money is fun and morbid.

Settlers of Cataan when you want to invite a few friends over.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a fun boardgame that never plays the same way twice, and incidentally is kinda a bridge into RPGs. Especially if by RPGs you mean Call of Cthulhu

Carcassonne is really simple, yet really fun, and has the advantage that you can't really hose each other. It's relatively non-competitive.

Curses is a blast, but you need to invite a few friends over to play it. Haven't laughed that hard since I saw The Naked Gun the first time as when my sister-in-law had to dance with her hands every time she spoke (with a Trannsylvannian accent, no less), had no arms (her hands had to be attached to her chest at all times) and had to hold a card for the entire game. And had to faint every time anyone rang the bell.

I've also had to play Yu-Gi-Oh with my oldest son a few times, but I don't exactly recommend that one.

 

[howandwhy99]

Sheepshead is well known as the greatest card game ever. Yahoo has a pretty nice online site for free.

 

[Tiberius]

This doesn't work for two people, but a great 3-5 player game is Puerto Rico. The boardgamegeek.com reviews of this title are rather informative, so I suggest checking them out.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Carcassone (and Carcassone: Hunters and Gatherers, which is a slightly better game IMHO) is pretty good with 2 (admittedly better with 3-4)

There is a good 2 player variant at boardgamegeek for Puerto Rico.

My wife likes Empire Builder and other crayon rails games (you draw track on maps to represent the tracks you build for your trains and try to make money carrying cargo from city to city).

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Carcassonne is really simple, yet really fun, and has the advantage that you can't really hose each other. It's relatively non-competitive.

I really like Carcassone, but my wife hates it. HATES it. She doesn't like strategy games, and when it comes right down to it, thats what Carcassone is.

 

[Desdichado]

Really? My wife doesn't typically like strategy games at all either, but she loved Carcassone.

 

[TerraDave]

The Classics

I'm looking to both broaden my gaming palette and put together some stay-at-home fun for me and my wife. (Insert joke here.) I was thinking of finding some board or card games that work well for just two players, and aren't the usual stuff (Trvivial Pursuit, etc.). My wife is not a gamer, so I'm looking for games that have appeal to the non-fantasy/SF-inclined. Any reccomendations?

We liked Pente and Mastermind...

We are both interested in learning GO, but my guess is that may be a little more involved

 

[Willowhaunt]

SICK HUMOR ALERT

If you feel that your sense of humor is R-rated enough, try White Wolf's new card game, pimp: The Backhanding. It's almost as simple as fluxx, though conversely, it may not have the staying power of fluxx. And beware, it really is an R-rated game, it has cards with names like Porno Film With Donkey (the illustration is rated G, however), and the three categories of cards include Pimp cards and Ho cards. The game is split into the Macking Phase, the Backhanding Phase, and the Money Laundering Phase. Meant only for the truly twisted.

END SICK HUMOR ALERT

For something much more tame (PG rated) and yet still extremely twisted and funny, Guillotine is an awesome game. Each player is an executioner during the french revolution, all competing to behead the most notorious nobles. Whoever gets the best collection of famous noble heads wins. The game is played by lining up 12 noble cards in front of the guillotine (a cardboard stand up that comes with the game) and each player takes one noble per turn after having the opportunity to play a card to somehow alter the order of the line. The game has a slapstick approach to beheadings, but the art has nothing objectionable, and the card names don't get anymore vulgar than one of the noble cards being named "Piss Boy." It's a fun game that I and my friends have managed to spend whole evenings on.

There are many Lord of the rings themed board games that are very good. War of the Ring is one that I haven't yet had a chance to play, but some board game fanatic friends of mine have assured me it is a lot of fun.

I have to recommend Fluxx as well. One of the most fun non-CCG card games I've ever played. The rules are never the same, as, just as the game is advertised on the package, it really is the card game with ever-changing rules. This is also a game who's theme and art could not get any tamer, if I remember correctly there is not a single offensive card in the game. This also has the most enduring gameplay. For something like $10, you can get days of fun play, and it's easy enough to learn that you can teach people as they play their first game, as the game has so few rules.

 

[Stone Angel]

Maybe this isn't what you are looking for but if you have a gaming console or pc go with tetris or pac man it's always a good time. Nothin like a little wine and eating some ghosts for five seconds at a time.


The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[WayneLigon]

I'd also recommend Guillotine , Settlers of Catan, Chez Geek, and Pimp: The Backhanding.

If your wife is not a gamer she might not enjoy Munchkin, the non-collectable Illuminati, Cults Across America or maybe even Zombies as much as the rest of us. Talisman is probably also out.

Apples to Apples. Very good general party game. It has a number of variants, from the huge party box to the small two deck set.

Once Upon a Time: a card game where you spin a fairy tale. You get a hand of cards. You start off a story and if you mention a word or situation that appears on another players card, he gets to interrupt the story and start telling it.

If you can find it, Junta is an excellent board game. You're the dictator of a banana republic that is trying to get to the airport with as much cash as you can manage.

If you can find a copy, Credo is a very interesting card game where you are combining and voting on sections of all the various competing philosophies (Gnostic, Mycene, etc) of the time to form the Basic Statement of Christian Faith.

There are also a number of train simulations available.