My brother is a HUGE boardgame fan but it's hard as a dad of 2 young children to spend 1-4 hours playing a game with him. The simple nature of games like Hive make it easy to take it out and get a few quick games in. Are there similar games to these that are $50 and under?
Posted Jun 24, 2016, 8:44 PM UTC
These are not under $50 because they are out of print but any of the GIPF series will astound you. You can play DVONN, ZERTZ, and TZAAR online but you can also easily make your own copy of YINSH (which is my favorite). I simply used rubber o-rings from home depot and Othello pieces. I also made my own board using chipboard
The GIPF games are in line to get reprinted soon, so the prices will go down.
Jaipur and Patchwork might be up your alley...
Maybe even Tides of Time?
Can vouch for Tides of Time. Just got that game and it is quick but got a lot of depth. Very fun!
Awesome! doesn't get mentioned a TON, but it's legit.
I second Jaipur recommendation without hesitation. Very quick, incredibly simple but thoroughly engaging.
Tried Patchwork and while I can see why people would like it, it wasn't really my cup of tea.
Word. Check the others!
Someone mentioned Star realms also, and that's a good one.
Kind of obvious, but you may not know about it: Jarl.
Wow looks very similar to The Duke, even down to tile design. Never heard of it though so thanks!
Its by the same company as The Duke, and is basically an sequel. It is also compatible with The Duke so you can mix up the pieces etc....
If you have a Barnes and noble near you Jarl is in their clearance sale. You might be able to get a copy on the cheap.
There actually is one near me! I'll have to run over there and hope a copy is sitting waiting for me.
By similar, do you mean fast two-player games, or two-player abstract games?
Another good two-player abstract is Android: Mainframe. It's very different from The Duke and Hive (it's a card-driven area-enclosing game), but is a lot of fun and plays quickly. Another that's basically an abstract is Kingdom Builder, which is about putting your pieces on a "map" (basically a hex grid of different-colored hex regions) meet various scoring conditions.
If you just want a fast two-player game, Star Realms and (maybe, depending on what you think of as fast and how you play) Ascension, Roll for the Galaxy, Carcassonne, Dominion, and San Juan are also good choices.
I'm still new to boardgames so I'm not sure what you mean by abstract. I'm guessing it means no board? I've heard of ascension and it seems to be a classic for a lot of people so thats going on the list. Android seems like it might be fun as well so I'll check both of those out. Thanks!
Abstract games are ones that are entirely about the mechanics, there's no meaningful integration of thematic elements. Think classics like Chess, Go, or Checkers - those are abstracts, as are The Duke and Hive.
If you do check out Ascension, I suggest grabbing the Realms Unraveled set - I personally think it's the best of the ones I've played. (Ascension has many base sets you can get that all will let you play the game, but they all have different cards, some new mechanics, etc.) If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can also try out Ascension for free (with the original base set) or cheap (with any of the others) on there - see the Play Store and iTunes.
Thanks so much!
Lots of good abstracts that fit your likes! My favorites are Tak, PushFight, and Micropul.
Tak! Holy hell didn't realize that was from the novels! I'll keep my eye on this one.
Recently ive been on a 2 player abstract binge. It all started with Santorini. I had played Hive before and loved it. Then I heard of Tak and that caught my attention too. Soi ce my other hobby is wood working, i decided to cut out 100 1inch hexagons and throw them in a drawstring bag. Now in this one bag i have: Santorini, Hive, Hey Thats My Fish, Onitama, Tak, GIPF, TZAAR, and DVONN. Ive yet to actually play the last 4 games, but ive heard great things about all of them.
Onitama fits that bill perfectly. Short fun and tough in a pretty package.
For the Crown is chess paired with a deckbuilding card game.
You can make your own board for YINSH as it is OOP at the moment. Very interesting abstract game.
I would call them elegant instead of simple because there's no extra fluff, no unnecessary bits or rules.
Check out Kamisado!
My son (8yrs old) Picked out Nefarious for an adult family friend's birthday and we all absolutely LOVE it. It's about a 30-45 minute play for 2-6 players, and the "Twist" system of mixing things up is simplistic genius for nearly infinite replay value. You pick 2 "Twists" at random that change the rules ever so slightly (Examples: Start with +10 extra $$ and +5 VP on top of base rules to Win) , and the rest of the game play is the same. There are 4 options for your turn corresponding to 4 squares on which you can place spies.
(Espionage) Place a spy
(work) Gain money
(research) +$2 and gain an invention card
(invent) Place an invention card for VP+screw with other players
Usually (unless a twist overrides) you only get to do one thing per turn and it promotes forward thinking. Spies placed on a square gain you money from the bank when the player to your left or right do an action corresponding to the square your spy(or spies) is/are on, helping supplement your work funds with turn by turn cash flow. You spend money to invent or place a spy on higher value squares. Inventions both gain you victory points and force other players to do things like lose a card or a spy on the board, (Easy Card Iconography to learn too!) etc. Simple to play, but really fun IMHO. Once you've played through it, the game goes by fast and can get rather competitive. The stack of twists is very large and at only 2 used per game, you have a TON of replay value. I've yet to play with 2 twists that didn't work beautifully together. It's a rather simple game that kids can grasp pretty easily and adults won't get bored with. Good luck!
I really like Qin, it's ticks the same boxes for me as Hive although a game is sligthly longer (around 15 mins.), it's also easy to get people to try it because it looks like dominos. I played my first game of Android: Mainframe yesterday and it seems to be good as well, although the little plastic partitions are a bit fiddly
Chess and Go are like those, but much better!
We grew up around Chess. My father is a rated Master and we still play (and lose badly) with him now and then. Go always interested me but the boards I've seen are pretty expensive.
Not all of these are abstracts - but they are relatively quick and simple - so they may be worth checking out.
Some great quick 2P (+) games:
Also some great quick 2P (+) card games:
Add Raptor to your list of great quick two player games!
Well thank you very much - that's yet another game that I now need to add to my burgeoning wish list. Hope you are happy with yourself, coming over here, and being all helpful and stuff.
I love Takenoko for it's cuteness - but it doesn't play well with 2. This is specifically a 2P game, with cute baby raptors and teeth. It looks like this game has some teeth. It looks heaps of fun.
I will immediately warn you not to expect a balanced experience; the scientists win far more often than the raptors. However, it's short enough that it's not to difficult to manage two games in a row and swap sides.
Put that aside, and it's a game that manages to be both heaps of fun and pretty nasty. It also feels almost like an abstract game, and yet manages to be incredibly thematic, which I think is superb.
My brother actually has Tash Kalar and we had some fun with that one.
Those quick 2p card games look like it might be what I'm looking for.
Epic - gets a bit of dislike as the rules are a little convoluted but only a little. There are tutorial videos on their website.
I really like Epic, it's quick and like the name the battles are epic. Its also uses the LCG model so every pack contains the same cards (so no MTG money sink). Essentially there is just the core game (which is cheap) and then they brought out 4 booster packs (which I don't have) and thats it so far.
Star Realms is by the same company, follows the same LCG model, and plays real quick but is a lot of fun. They also recently brought out Colony Wars and you can mix the cards together.
Valley of the Kings is an interesting deck builder as you have to decide when to take cards from your hand (which are aiding you) and put them in your tomb (as that is how you score VP). It's an interesting balancing act. There is also an expansion Afterlife, which can be played stand alone or mixed with the original.
Battle Line is a great 2P card game. I was put off getting it for ages as I just thought it looked like 'rummy' - and was like so what's new. It plays completely differently and the Tactics cards really mix things up. It's a really awesome little card game.
Yeah Battle Line looks good so I might give it an order.
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Actually I was looking at Lord of the Rings: Confrontation and that looks like it fits the bill. Have you played it?