Our game night has a player who knows every strategy game on the shelf and another who has barely played anything beyond party games. If we choose something deep, the newcomer is overwhelmed; choose something too light, and the veterans drift away. I've had better luck with games that offer interesting choices but few rules exceptions. What titles create real decisions without rewarding years of genre-specific knowledge quite so heavily?
Choosing games for a group with wildly different experience levels
- board-games
- choosing
- games
- group
17
5 replies
I’d lean toward games with a clean core and limited exceptions. Ticket to Ride, Splendor, Parks, stuff like that. The experienced player can...
I’d lean toward games with a clean core and limited exceptions. Ticket to Ride, Splendor, Parks, stuff like that. The experienced player can still play well, but they’re not getting a giant head start from obscure rules knowledge.
Carcassonne can work too, depending on the group. There are choices every turn, but the rules explanation doesn’t turn into a lecture.
I’m not fully sold on Carcassonne for this mix. One sharp player can run away with it if the newcomer doesn’t see tile value yet.