[Durbs]

Big BG fan here...

Best 2 player games that I play/own:

Carcasonne (Been playing for about 8 years, still love it, certain expansions are excellent) - Checkout JCloisterZone for a Java version, which I'm on quite a bit.
Personally I put a 3-player cap on Carcasonne, or it becomes too luck-based and slow if waiting for 4 other players.

Jaipur - A rare beast in that it's designed for 2 players only. Very subtle, lots of fun, highly portable

5 Tribes - Slightly more complex, but very good.

Party games (i.e. no/few cards or board, works well with random people)
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Spyfall
Two Rooms and a Boom (8 - 30 players)
The above are all good social deduction games, where you lie, bicker and throw accusations around. They can be as fun as you want them to be. I've learnt my wife is an excellent liar. Spyfall and 2R1B can also be printed out for free, or played for free via a mobile website.

Codenames - Really clever game, ignore the theming, it's just very clever and creates some excellent facepalm moments.

Family fun (Easy/simple rules, not too agressive)
Ticket To Ride Europe
Settlers of Catan
Zooloretto
Camel Up / Camel Cup

[Baldy]

Agree with many of the above.

I was looking at picking up one night ultimate werewolf just before christmas, but the price was a touch offputting.

Would you say it is worth it?

Other games I love would include:

Bananagrams - A great word puzzle solving game. It's not terribly competitive, since you all play on your own, but it can sure get engrossing if you like that sort of thing.
Very simple, like scrabble, but I'm sure there is a high skill cap for the top players.
Smallworld - A really well made game, lots of replayability, with an almost infinite number of race/power combinations. I've lost every game that I have played, but I have had too much fun to care. Highly Recommended.

[36chambers]

Family fun (Easy/simple rules, not too agressive)
Ticket To Ride Europe
Settlers of Catan
Zooloretto
Camel Up / Camel Cup

Uncharacteristically, my brother called my dad a "tw*t!" the last time we played this as a family...

But of course what is said during a game of Catan stays in the game of Catan. 

[Grubes]

Jaipur - A rare beast in that it's designed for 2 players only. Very subtle, lots of fun, highly portable

I forgot about that its great,.
My friend bought and and we played it about 4 games straight then I have not played it since. very good game

[psychomansam]

For party gaming a lot of people are into ultimate werewolf type stuff too, or something like spyfall. Not really my bag as I'm shite at lying.

Another game similar to werewolves is bang, spaghetti western game where you have to work out who different characters are and kill/protect allies/enemies.  My partner prefers it over werewolves as you try to work out who people are based on how they are playing the game

I've played that one too actually. If she likes that for that reason, try spyfall.  Personally I thought it was better as an app.

[JamieG]

Jaipur - A rare beast in that it's designed for 2 players only. Very subtle, lots of fun, highly portable

I forgot about that its great,.
My friend bought and and we played it about 4 games straight then I have not played it since. very good game

 

Also a fantastic IPA from Thornbridge in Bakewell. http://www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/product.php?s=jaipur

[Sidehaas]

Ticket to Ride with the Switzerland or Europ1912/Big Cities expsnsions.

A UK version of ticket to ride came out end of last year. not played it but heard very good things from people who have.

Cool, what did they say about the new game mechanism/features?  The online review I read was a bit mixed. I was recommending the Switzerland one purely because it's supposed to be the best map for 2 player btw.

[Grubes]

Jaime I find beer is never off topic when playing games.
I find Jaipur by thornbridge has a couple of issues.
1 it is very drinkable
2 they serve it at Manchester airport

Both of these are not necessarily bad except its almost 6% and less than £3 at my local. Too many Wednesday s after the wall resulting in hung over Thursdays

[Durbs]

Both of these are not necessarily bad except its almost 6% and less than £3 at my local. Too many Wednesday s after the wall resulting in hung over Thursdays

Fuck me - it's £5.60 at mine! The joys of Surrey...

[Grubes]

I had a mate staying at mine he had lived in leeds or manc for the past 7 years. He could not believe how cheap and how much good beer was available in hudds.
Pints he was paying £8+ for in the norther quarter in manc were around £4. Lets just say he drank a lot when he was here.
The bad part about it is I feel sad when ever I pay over £3 for a pint of ale ..


back to ticket to ride UK. I have heard the routes are quite contrived but that is to be expected when compared to the whole of the US or europe.

[JamieG]

As a rule the northern quarter is over-priced. I guess you are paying for the 'cool' factor.

Staleybridge buffet bar on the other hand is fantastic and on my train ride home. Literally step off the train straight into the bar. It also serves many other tasty treats besides Jaipur. A very dangerous place indeed.

Eh . . . . I'd better say something about games. I really enjoy Exploding Kittens with my wife. Also King of Tokyo with my younger cousin was great fun. Phew!

[Grubes]

geek and sundrys top 5 gaves of 2015
http://geekandsundry.com/geek-sundrys-top-5-board-games-of-the-year/

[Will Hunt]

So to follow up my post before, the games shop in Leeds didn't stock the Europe Version of Ticket to Ride so I bought the original. Having lots of fun with it so far - it works OK as a two player and have had one game with 3 people. Looking forward to trying it with more people.

Also went with Seafarers and thus far have had no opportunity to play due to lack of a third person but it looks good.

[andy popp]

Don't ask me why, but I hate board games with a violent passion. Always have done.

[andy_e]

Were you assaulted by the man off the monopoly board as a child?

[rginns]

Good thread.

I've enjoyed playing 'run,run as fast as you can' with the kids this Christmas, where you're a gingerbread man who has to get to and cross the bridge as fast as you can, but the second die gives the option of fucking up your opponent by sending the cook/cow/horse to break up their gingerbread man before they get to the bridge if they're beating you.
It's designed for 4+ which means
A. I understand how to play it.
and
B. you see how good your kids are at trying to destroy you.

Orchard do a good line in games for 4 to 8 year olds that are well worth getting if you've got kids that age

  http://www.tesco.com/direct/orchard-toys-run-run-as-fast-as-you-can-educational-game/211-6298.prd?skuId=211-6298&pageLevel=sku&sc_cmp=ppc_sh-_-sh-_-tesco-_-211-6298&gclid=CIHmpuT_l8oCFQEFwwodi0wLEg&gclsrc=aw.ds

[tomtom]

Don't ask me why, but I hate board games with a violent passion. Always have done.

Why? I'm scrabbling for  cluedo(s). Is there some risk involved or do you worry about going directly to jail?

[psychomansam]

Were you assaulted by the man off the monopoly board as a child?

My mother used to try to make us play family games. Luckily this was a long time ago and I've gotten over it.

[lagerstarfish]

Orchard do a good line in games for 4 to 8 year olds that are well worth getting if you've got kids that age

fuck yeah!

we've got a few - they are ace

it surprised me how much the kids liked them

[Mumra]

My mum loves scrabble

[Grubes]

just found out I am working at the uk games expo in a couple of weeks at the NEC
 

[Grubes]

Had an amazing weekend playing games constantly for 3 days.

Highlights of new games

Tatsu - two play game very tactical with an touch of luck. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181811/tatsu
Ice cool - Its like subbuteo but you don't have to like football. You flick little penguin models through doors and hall ways to catch fish while being chased by another penguin.

CVilisation - Resource management game with cool mechanics. The winner is the one with the happiest tribe http://www.gaminglib.com/products/cvilizations-pre-order
Burger boss - Worker placement and resource management. Very fun.

Vienna - This was also a good game I enjoyed playing https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171492/vienna

[psychomansam]

Spent Saturday wandering around the expo while off my face on meds. Didn't seem to play much but bought lots. Played Odins Ravens for a nice simple two player filler game (though not nearly as good as the slightly heavier 2p patchwork & 7wonders:duel). The diazepam was good.

If any Sheffielders ever want to try some medium-heavy boardgames, just drop me a line.  Plenty of obliging pubs etc

[Grubes]

I was working in the family zone s did not really see much.

I wanted to try Cthulhu pandemic but never got the chance. I heard beyond baker street was very good and smugglers was good too

[Will Hunt]

Cosmic Encounter seems to be back in print. Bought a copy which hurt my wallet and now I need some people to play with! Do none student types join one of them board game club things? I can imagine it being an absolute beard-fest.