Getting into Board Games in 2021 | Our 3 GAMES EACH to START your Collection with!
Keep in mind, this list is subjective and everyone is different! Tastes differ, opinions differ, these are just a couple paths you could take to get into board games, but they’re games that we constantly recommend to new players and show new players and have found success with.
Let us know in the comments whether you agree or disagree with these picks and which games you started with in the hobby! And what 3 games would be on your recommendation list?
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0:00 Getting into Board Games in 2021
1:08 Dylann – Jaipur
3:38 Dylann – The Quest for El Dorado
8:33 Dylann – Quacks of Quedlinburg
13:08 – What Dylann’s Picks are Missing
14:33 Carlo – Modern Art
18:48 Carlo – Blue Lagoon
23:03 Carlo – The Crew
27:21 What Carlo’s Picks are Missing
29:02 Next Step Games
29:20 Dylann – Castles of Burgundy
33:22 Carlo – Agricola
40:33 What are your thoughts?
What was your first board game in the hobby? And what would your 3 games be that you'd recommend to people wanting to get into board games?
Agricola is one of those games that I will never get rid of, and love in my collection. It was my step-up from Catan, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride etc and I sucked when I first started playing it. Now I feel I've "Mastered" the game, but enjoy pulling it out to teach new people or to challenge myself with other family members who have also "Mastered" it. I still pronounce it Agri Cola (like CocaCola), because it's how I've always pronounced it, and now I'm just fighting the good fight. My friend and I silently compete over the correct pronunciation, even though I know I'm not "Technically" right lol I feel like Le Havre is the step up from Agricola that I wanted, it's faster than Feast for Odin (which is also one of my favorites), but still has that extra layer of complexity that I enjoy in those Uwe Rosenbergs
I started with azul, because of the beautiful tiles 🙂
Open the Agri-cola box up
Another great video! Have you guys done a video on best expansions worth buying? Would be cool to get your ideas on must have expansions that really upgrade a base game.
This is the first time I've heard how to correctly pronounce it lol
My starter was
Pandemic Iberia
Instant subscribe! Solid choices!
Funnily enough, Monopoly Empire started the interest in board gaming, but it wasn't until I played Robinson Crusoe that I started my own collection.
Here are four games I think would make a great starter set.
Paperback: teaches deck building but it has the familiarity of a word game.
Sagrada: people will be familiar with dice rolling games, and most know about soduku but it also introduces the concept of achieving different goals for points.
Fox in the forrest: easy to learn, very deep to master. Great art, it is a fantastic two player game.
Carcassone hunters and gatherers: I prefer the theme of this one, and the menhere tiles make it less of pure strategy and add a wild element. Easily my most played game. Best at two but fine at 3 or 4.
I am just getting into board games. I have watched a bunch of your videos and others to get good recommendations to start, so thank you! We ended up getting Quacks, Azul, ticket to ride, and kingdomino. I feel all of those ware fun and easy to learn. We also play with kids ages 4-9 and they can play a lot of these. I don’t know if you all ever play with kids but a beat games to play with kids list would be awesome, maybe I missed it and you have done it but just a suggestion.
I started the hobby over the pandemic with Jaipur and Santorini and I still love playing them.
Started with Dead of Winter followed by Bloodrage. First game I purchased was Star Wars Rebellion. Good video. Very much enjoy your content
Great video. If I can’t repeat any of your choices, mine are:-
Dixit got me into modern board games – I had no idea that games could do something so very different than the ones I’d played as a kid. So I’d pick that one for the social/party/high player count option.
I like roll & writes – and their ability to scale so well between player counts. Welcome To would be the pick – engaging theme and artwork – and gets the balance right between offering a lot of choices and replayability without having rules that are overly complicated (although you’d probably want to a see a watch-it-played rather then relying on a rule book).
Azul for a simple, but perhaps surprisingly interactive and competitive, puzzle game that just looks so good on the table
Curious to hear your impressions of The Crew: Mission Deep Sea. Is that strictly an improvement due to the changes in the objective cards? Or is Planet 9 still useful as a more introductory game?
I started board game collecting this year and love your tastes in games! Modern Art and Jaipur are two of my faves and are great starters. Adding Quacks and El Dorado to my wishlist 🙂 great vid guys
Sorry for so many comments but I do think a “Don’t judge a Game by its Box” video would be awesome !
Of course if I know a person's taste… I can recommend better. But for 3-4 player games: Stone Age, Biblios and Las Vegas (or 6 nimmt!). 2-player games? Lost Cities, TZAAR (or Ingenious) and Carcassonne (Ingenious and Carcassonne of course works well with more players too). I agree Blue Lagoon, The Quest for El Dorado, Modern Art and Jaipur are good choices too. If you like conquest: Babylonia and Small World are very nice.
TZAAR is the best modern abstract strategy game. So why not buy it at once? 😉
The first game that set me off? Civil War by Avalon Hill. Drove my little playmates nuts, I did.
My first game was For Sale. The 3 games I’d recommend would be: Manhattan, Through the Dessert, and For Sale.
Did not care for Quacks. I don't care for the factor that the entire game come from the push-your-luck aspect.
My plays saw that the people that busted lost, plain and simple.
If I had to pick the biggest three game mechanics to start a collection, I would go for:
1. Worker Placement
2. Deck building
3. Tile laying
My nephews & their girlfriends (cool & smart, and in their early twenties) are gonna come and visit me to be introduced to boardgaming.
For them to choose from, I sent them pictures and a short description of:
– Ticket to Ride (too gateway?)
– Wingspan (engine building, set collection, card game)
– Isle of Cats (polyomino)
– Agricola (worker placement)
Next on my list:
– Meadow
– Parks
– Renature
– Arraial (too light weight? but fun!)
(My favourite theme is nature, as you can guess.)
Agricola (with – indeed – the emphasis on the i) is Latin for farmer.
The 'collis roseus' on the cover means 'Rosenberg', and the nummer next to it is 1673.
I wish you would have done three next level games too! Although we've moved on a bit from starter games, I still have Quest for El Dorado on my list. I just enjoy deck builders in general so I want to play more of them. As for next level, Wingspan is definitely one. We have Castles of Burgundy but haven't gotten it to the table yet.
I think the $700+ pledge for Etherfields is a great place to start. Affordable, straightforward with clear rules and concepts.
No, Agricola is not a German word. I have no idea where it comes from, maybe Latin?
You can't go wrong with buying Quacks and The Crew. Awesome list guys!
Nice video, though I STRONGLY disagree with Agricola going anywhere near a newcomer to the hobby. I found it to be a dry, soul-less, punishing, toilsome borefest….sorry
AgrÍcola. But I'm Brazilian, so it does make a lot of sense. I actually never thought people in the US would say AgriCOla, but I understand it.
The best expansion you can get for Quacks are the Geek Up bits from BGG. They're pricey but worth every penny if you play a ton of Quacks.
Been boardgaming since 2001 – started as a gamer, ended up as a collector (over 1000 games); sadly now i do more organizing and reading than actual playing, hahaha.
The name Agricola has its origins in Latin and literally means “farmer”. It has also been used as the name for a boy in Roman times but also more recently in Italian speaking countries. However, It does not fall inside the top 1,000 most popular names for boys. Just some FYI. ;). . I am in moderate agreement of the choice of Agricola as a step 2. 2020-2021 saw my gaming hobby flourish and after such introductions as Splendor, Carcassonne, and Ticket to Ride, I’ve graduated to Castles of Burgundy, Viticulture and just recently to Agricola. Everything you said about it it true… its punishing, challenging and totally AWESOME! Cant wait to get better at it. Lol. Thanks for the Vid.
Great video. I was brought into board games through playing Civilization 1 on computer, role-playing Dungeons and Dragons, playing Magic and learning card games due to German/Midwest customs. Learned trick-taking, hidden roles/partners, push your luck, and card rulesets that way. We always wanted something epic so we got into Attack! and Civilization (2002). When it wasn't a war game, it was Puerto Rico (which I bought because it was #1 on BGG, but left it unopened for 3 years). We then played it probably 100 times. It is interesting to think how something like more complex card games could be used as an entry point to some pillars of modern game design.
nice sharing guys, jaipur really the fist game got me into this hobby!
For my top 3 board games I would recommend beginners to start off with: Catan, Carcassone, and Splendor. All 3 are wonderful games to try out.
I'm 4 for 4 with Dylann on games owned, and 0 for 4 with Carlos. Interesting. Thanks for the video; I'm going to have to give Modern Art a look. Sounds fun. Splendor was the gateway game for me. I love tableaux builders.
I can definitely agree with Dylann's list and own all three (only started in the hobby last November and Jaipur was my first). I might swap out El Dorado for Azul, but both I think are perfect for new gamers. Oh, Kingdomino too!
I haven't played Carlo's #1 or #2 games (yet!).
I started watching you because of Marvel Champions, but I got more into board games and I'm enjoying your other content now too. Thanks a lot guys!!!
I call it Uglycola because of the utterly hideous artwork. But it’s an excellent game.
My first six recommendations for a collection would be:
1. Ticket to Ride
2. Wingspan
3. Carcassonne
4. The Quest for El Dorado
5. Kingdomino
6. Schotten Totten
Next step:
1. Raiders of the North Sea or Everdell
2. Clank or Clank in Space
3. Castles of Burgundy
I got my family to transition from Hasboro to Ticket to Ride. Still trying to get them to play Carcasonne. They don't like Sagrada. And than there's me currently playing the solo mode of Mage Knight, Clans of Caledonia and more.
A friend of mine swears by Lord's of Waterdeep to get his parents into board games.
I know it is wrong but it will always be AGricola to me 😉, great game.
In my language (portuguese) its "Agrícola", accent on the "i" 🙂
Lords of Waterdeep is a good entry into worker placement. I’ve had non-gamer (non D&D as well) friends enjoy the game.
My first modern board game was KINGDOMINO. To round out my three games, I would add SKULL and FOR SALE.
One of the first games that got me into board games was Carcassonne and it's always a hit with everyone I introduce it too. Even for just 2 players is really fun
Fox in the Forest is a better trick taking game, IMHO.
I DESPISE Agricola! No game has ever stressed me out as much as that one! I learned the correct pronunciation from the person who taught me how to play.
I just bought Modern Art based on your recommendation here and in another video. I can’t wait to play it!
My first game was Settlers.
My friends and I love Citadels! We always have a blast playing it.
Great list! Cody’s list was especially intriguing cuz they way he explains his love for his games are all the things I look for! Will definitely add Modern Art to the wish list now!