10 Games you can play forever
3 Minute Board Games
Views: 13454
Like: 1056
A reminder that only our reviews are 3 and bit minutes long.
To support us on Patreon please head over here
And, if you just want to buy us a coffee for a good job, pop over here
3 minute board games theme Music by Vic Granell
Sound effects from
“Shiny tech” “Shiny tech 2″ ” (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
…
“Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act
1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.”
01.05.2024
Amazing video!
Just recently a friend and I noticed that feeling: We still enjoy discovering new games… but we'd also like to spend more time "deep-diving" some of the games that we enjoy. We've already done that a little bit with my favorite game (Spirit Island) … but we've spent so much time playing new games once or twice only … it didn't feel right.
So we dicded to spend more evenings on a small pool of highly replayable games: Spirit Island, Cthulhu Wars, Return to Dark Tower… and yeah … for better or worse also Magic the Gathering. (Unfortunately where we live Living Card Games never caught on and there are regular opportunities to play TCGs. Two people in our group can have irregular working hours and the ability to drop in on a second or third game of MtG Commander has helped them getting more analog gaming time in.)
I just don’t believe that designers who churn out like two games a year are creating any forever games
Another incentive and excellent video. We do have our forever games but I don't think I have 10; we probably have a core of 4 – 5 games that we'll always play and others that will drift and give us 12+ and two-three years later we'll get back to those games. Port Royal is one we play at the end of almost every game session. PS, I'm pretty sure that chap does not have a thousand games.
I really liked playing Catan Duel with my gf but we broke up recently and the most fun part of the game is exploring the sets and then mixing them
it takes at least 9 plays of single theme decks before you can really mix them together. but with every game taking 90 minutes that's just not something you can do with a friend you see once a month or less. I fear I'll have that game on my shelf forever now unless I find another SO who enjoys it
man I hate deck crafting games with a fiery passion and half of the list is like deck building games or deck building adjacent 😭
Good video with great message though
Shaking 6 minite did I get that right? You moved it up and down and couldn't get it. Just saying.
Talking of two player games… do you still play Memoir 44?
Loved the video. Another couple other types of "forever" games spring to mind for me. Social deduction games (my rec: Blood on the Clocktower) and Social/party games (Wavelength, Monikers).
Both of these types of games are really enriched by the groups of people you play with. Social deduction combines the iterative meta-narrative and memorable moments you discussed for #9 – Dune, with the benefits of #2 – dominion, with endless combinations of good/evil teams of your friends and various powers, revealed information and bluffs.
Games like Wavelength, Codenames, Dixit, Decrypto, Charades where you're trying to communicate something to your team through some barrier bring out something wonderfully human – you learn how other people see the world differently to you and that you can achieve a goal together despite this. This idea in its' purest form this is a game by many names but most recently been published as Monikers (I know it as "Back in the Bowl" but celebrity handbag, the fishbowl, poop smoothie are other names I've heard).
I would happily play the same game over and over again if I could find someone to do this. I love learning about the nuances which I rarely get the chance to. How do you convince a diverse group of people with many interesting games to pick one, play, rinse, repeat. This is especially difficult considering time is also a precious commodity and there is the desire to put some of it towards the multitude of games.
Great to see Dune getting the praise it deserves🎉❤
this is an awesome video.
You hit the nail on the head with your opener… variability doesn't mean replayability. Variability just means different, its different, not always a good thing. Replayability means its good each and every time and stands the "test of time". Its always a good time when you play it.
For my various play groups, we have a the DC deckbuilder, Arkham Horor board game, Vampire the Requiem board game, Netrunner, and Vampire the Eternal Struggle, which is actually Garfield's 2nd game after MtG not Netrunner(1996) where as VtES was 1994.
Solo game – Terraforming Mars, Marvel Champions, and yes Spirit Island. All, to me, are forever games in the solo world.
Cosmic Encounter?
I think an interesting similar idea, is to try something along the lines of "10 x 10", where we play 10 games, 10 times, in a given time: typically one year.
I couldn't agree more! One of my pet peeves is having to play with expansions, when we have only played the base game once or twice. I some tease my friends that the hobby isn't playing board games, the hobby is buying new ones.
A forever game my wife and I play a lot (over 60 plays and counting) is Radlands. Every game is different. Thoughts?
Just finally started getting back into Arkham again, very excited to get through Carcossa. Good shoutout to Playingboardgames, they're an excellent source of info.
I was def on a kickstarter 'kick' and chasing the hotness and it sucked. I only have so much time to play board games and I found myself going back to Marvel Champions most times. While the LCG can be a hit to your wallet, I found that being a patient gamer, and waiting for deals just added to the excitement of collecting the content. I have culled my collection down quite a bit this year and I can say that I don't miss most of the culled games. I want to play my games and not just collect stuff.
I entered the hobby six years ago and I played around 500 games. And I also think it is too much. I would like to play more my games and less the “best game of all time” of the las week!
I've always been kind of flabbergasted at the common sentiment that a game is only expected to be played 3-5 times. Seen it a lot among the board games Reddit and BGG. A lot of folks act like that's totally normal while I find the idea absurd. That and collecting, I hate to be judgemental, but games are meant to be played. They aren't fine China, WW2-era firearms, or unique rocks from the base of a volcano. They aren't rare or particularly valuable.
As a fellow YouTuber/writer. I agree with you. The churn that is happening right now isn't sustainable or enjoyable. By content creator standards, I'm pretty slow thanks to ADHD and a high chance of being on the spectrum, and I still have burnt out more than once because I was making content about new things that I felt I had to do, instead of playing what I wanted to play.
There's no reason for a normal person who isn't making content about board games to burn out through that kind of churn. Find some favorites and play them, it doesn't mean you have to give up new games altogether, heck, playing new games is how you find those favorites in the first place. But when you enjoy a game, play it, more than once, more than twice. Play it as much as you can. You will be happier for it.
A couple of my forever games are Spirit Island, Maximum Apocalypse, and Dune Imperium.
GOT TO BUY IT, GOTTA BUY BUY BUY
Love this video. Might just grab Circadians Chaos Order without thinking…
This would be a good time for me to thank you, as you and your channel have introduced me to my forever games! Dependant on the friends I am playing with, those games would be Architects of the West Kingdom, or Tyrants of the Underdark! For groups 6+ we play social deductions and Coup (with expansion) is our go to.
❤ this. I’ve actually been enjoying culling and clearing my games this past year, donating and gifting where I can to introduce others to the hobby and focusing on games I enjoy with my kids. ❤ Forever games include Santorini, Memoir 44, Small World, King of Tokyo Dark Edition, Grand Austria Hotel.
Subscribed based on this Great video.
For me this list includes Marvel Champions(similar to AHLCG) and Vindication. Even the core box of Vindication has a bunch of different modules to change up the play, but I just really like how every game I play of it, plays out differently, whether using modules or not.
My group has fallen in love with Bohnanza. I can't get enough of trading beans!
My only consistent gaming group is myself, and so I’m working on building a well rounded forever collection of solo games with good variety. Here’s mine so far.
Lord of the rings LCG
Spirit island
Mage knight
Imperium Legends
Hoplomachus Victorum
Dinosaur Island rawr and write.
I’ll still occasionally get new games, like the last few months I’ve had frosthaven at the table. But those core games I get to at least once a year.
What an impactful message at the beginning of your video. You've just earned my great respect. I've always loved playing board games since I was little, and recently I started a board game hobby as an adult, buying so many games in such a short period of time. I began this journey at the start of the year and now own around 65 different games, not including the expansions. Heck, I haven't even played some of them yet because I rushed to buy so many so quickly. Watching your video, especially this one, really made me reconsider what I'm getting myself into. I don't want to end up like one of those "skipping stones" bouncing across the vast ocean that has much depth beneath it. I've already subscribed to your channel; you are one of the few board game reviewers I find truly authentic and genuine, offering crucial advice to someone like me who wants to make this a serious hobby. Thank you!
This is probably my favorite of your “topic” videos. I intentionally keep a very small curated collection (~40 games) for this very purpose – so I can play my favorites all the time. If I do add games to the collection, they’re always forever games.
Love this content. First video of yours I've seen, and am immediately subscribed. I appreciate mtg getting props while also recognizing its issues. I thought it was my forever game for decades, but just in the past couple years I've gotten frustrated with it. I have an addictive personality as well, so I swung too hard into other games (without increasing my monthly spend much at all). I've bought over 50 board games the past two years (including all arkham horror lcg content), but I'm justifying it as building a new collection and finding the right games for my family (with small kids) and playgroup. I'm hoping to settle in and slow that rate way down. Looking forward to browsing more of your content!
What is the significance of the "tekau" or whatever at the start of each segment?
Castles of Burgundy and Terraforming Mars are my forever games. They're also my favorites 😊 Magic could also be one, as I've been playing off and on since the mid 90s.
My wife and I have been playing Terraforming Mars for about a year and a half now. This week we ended up playing a 2.5 hour game, totally different than before. We finished and said to each other, “Okay, NOW I’m starting to get this game.” So deep. Great video
I only have about 300 games behind my belt and own a modest 100, but I can't think of any that I would want to play "forever". I do agree with the guy you mentioned at the beginning of your video: there is little innovation in this hobby of ours and I am also growing tired of the same mechanisms and ideas.
Dominion was my true entrance into the board game world!
Fully agree with your views.
I have more or less stopped buying new games and am only adding 5 to 10 year old ones. For my group a forever game is Cyclades.
Furthermore Arkham Horror 2nd edition. And 2 player Tash-Kalar.
YES!! "People are now treating games like fast food" it's a symptom of gen-z "zoomers" aka the tiktok generation. Young people lost critical thinking and long term satisfaction in favour of small and frequent doses of dopamine to distract them from life.
I really like this video. Man, I've played Hanabi thousands of times online, Pandemic in person dozens of times, Marvel Legendary close to that amount, and Battlestar Galactica was my 'Dune' but most of those players moved away 🙁
thank you for putting up a genuine, honest, and insightful video like this – it's one of the main reasons I follow your channel! 😀
I wish I had enough available friends to play the same games over and over again.
I'm not the BGG user mentioned here but definitely fell into a similar hole. Started really being my main hobby about 5 years ago and went from 10-20 games to currently about 500 and playing at least a game a day on average during the home times but still only playing most games in my collection 0-1 times. Definitely started to feel the burnout and was spending more time getting games then playing games. Having moved last year and having to deal with packing, moving, and now trying to deal with it still months later I've really been feeling the weight of the quantity. I've stopped buying new games over the last year and would like to get down to 100 keepers (200 is probably more likely and would still be a big change) and really play those a ton. It's hard though, both the mental side of letting aspirational games go but also in the size and weight for trying to sell them.
Spirit Island, Pandemic, Dice Masters, Concordia, Magic and Legendary are my favorites.
Good pronunciation on the "nimmt"
Orleans is my forever game. I love teaching it to new people. I love digging into it with my group who already knows how to play. I love exploring the solo scenarios particularly Invasion. It's comfort in a box.
+1 for Dominion. I introduced it to my wife last year and she absolutely loves it. We can’t get enough because it’s so different after each new kingdom. With only 4 expansion the game has a ridiculous amount of new combos and play styles to explore.
It’s great. I no longer crave the newest games. I just enjoy playing dominion with my wife because it’s always a different game and endless fun. She wins, I win it goes back and forth all the time. With a dozen expansions left to explore we could play this forever and never play the same cards twice. Plus we don’t have to learn new rules, that’s a huge bonus and welcomes repeat play.
A great evening is set up a randomized dominion deck and and old fashioned with my wife. Perfect!
Quick question, did you consider Lord of the Rings (designed by Reiner Knizia, and Fantasy flight Games) , the Red Dragon Inn (by Slugfest games) , or The Creature That Ate Sheboygan (designed by Greg Costikyan)? A 'yes' or 'no' will do as an answer.
What a great video! Special respect for the Rebellion! For me, Netrunner was that, for a long time. And the one I could literally play for infinity is X-Wing. Not anymore, but when you have a group of likeminded Star Wars fans, who play X-Wing because of lore and cool moments – this game is the best for me.
Thanks for the video! My favorite is Lords of Waterdeep, the most played game in my collection
Thank you for this! Very refreshing perspective! I love your philosophy.
Thanks for this outstanding Video and your inspiring thoughts ❤