Our Recommendations

Keiran (aged 7) enjoys making really big cities in Carcassonne, and really long walls in Alhambra (as well as working out how much money he needs to buy a building). He loves working together as a team in the Lord of the Rings game and getting the treasure in Labyrinth. He also enjoys playing any game with his mum and dad (and he said that without any prompting!). Keiran also said he likes Balloon Cup, RoboRally and Midnight Party (which, unfortunately, is out of print - come on Ravensburger, when are you going to re-release it?)

Daniel (aged 11) is really keen on RoboRally because there is lots of action, it doesn't just depend on luck and it works best when lots of his friends are playing it. He also likes Labyrinth because it doesn't rely too much on luck (and, he says, because he's really good at it). He agrees with his brother that Alhambra and Carcassonne are brilliant games, not for any particular reason, they're just good fun. Ticket to Ride, in all its forms, is really interesting and gives you a good sense of geography, and he loves the cooperation you need to use when playing Lord of the Rings. Possibly his favourite game at the moment though is the Starfarers of Catan which is really exciting and has a great space age theme, and keeps you going for hours!

If you're particularly interested in games for the familiy you may be interested in reading our recommended family games page.

Jenny's long standing favourite game is Puerto Rico, a wonderfully original game, which offers lots of different strategies and is different each time you play. It also has almost no random elements. Another favourite, Caylus, has absolutely no random elements (except the initial order of play). Some rather lighter games she likes are Mamma Mia and Lost Cities, both of which are fun and quick to play, ideal as an end-of-evening-just-before-bed-time game. Citadels is simple to learn, compact, generally quite short and can be played equally well with two or as many as seven players (although it plays quite differently). It's versatility and compactness make it an ideal game to take on holiday. And then there's Starship Catan, a two player game which borrows a lot of its theme from The Starfarers of Catan, but which is quite different, and has a nice mixture of strategy, memory and a little bit of luck.

Richard (me): we were thinking of including ‘game mechanic' as a search option on our site (e.g. memory game, dice rolling, laying tiles), but one of the things I love about modern games is that each one is so different. I really enjoy getting to grips with new styles of play and working out the best strategies. One game that struck me as very different and exciting is Caylus. Each game is different because the board is effectively built by the players as the game is going along. Another game that is very original is Power Grid, which is a lot more fun than its write up makes it sound! The rules give certain benefits to the players in last position, so the games are always close. In fact it can be best to hang back in last place until near to the end of the game and make a sudden comeback in the final stages. All board-games are different, but it is really exciting when games like these with whole new ways to play come along (see also: Puerto Rico, Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, RoboRally, Settlers of Catan ...I could go on for a long time)

Magic: the Gathering - the first, and in my opinion the best, collectable card game. This game is often criticised because of its addictive nature - once you start collecting you can't stop. But these critics often overlook the fact that M:TG is a brilliant game! Unlike some genres which might take a few attempts to get right, Richard Garfield came up with the perfect set of rules right from the start! Three new expansions (i.e. more cards) come out each year, so you're never going to get bored of it - long may it continue!

Most new games designers pride themselves on writing short, concise rules for their creations; not so Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition. This is a Behemoth of a game! You need to set aside a whole day to get through it. It gives you exploration and empire building, politics, trade, space battles - you can even build your own Death Star (okay, they call them War Suns, but we all know what they really mean). I love the look of the game with its space theme and hundreds of components. Sure, it takes a while to get through the rules, but once you do you're in for a treat! There's even an expansion, in case the basic game isn't enough for you!

Finally I have to mention Talisman. I used to play this back in the 80s, and my original copy has almost fallen apart. When the third edition of Talisman was released most of us were disappointed to see that it had been dumbed down and had lost some of its magic, so when I heard that a fourth edition of the game was being planned and saw the press release photos of the board and some of the components my initial reaction was ‘oh...'. Since then however I've seen it in the flesh and played it at a games fair, and my reaction there was Oh!Oh! It's a real return to form, and I'm already looking forward to the expansions!