If you’ve played Apples to Apples before, you’ll find Dixit Odyssey familiar. Each player gets a hand of six beautifully illustrated cards. The cards are surreal and evocative, and a pleasure to look at. One player, the storyteller, will select a card from his or her hand, and say something: a sentence, a word, a tune, anything. Everyone will then search their hands for a card that matches the story that the storyteller told. All the cards will be shuffled together, then turned face up. Each player will then guess which card belonged to the original storyteller. Players score based on how well they guessed.
Dixit Odyssey is not the original game, but it is a better choice than the original because it handles more players, has a better scoring track, and the rules are streamlined and easier to learn and play. There are many expansions for Dixit. Check them out:
The Verdict
10Perfect
The Good: |Amazing art
|Fun, no-conflict gameplay
|Kids and adults can play together
|Can play with up to 12 players
The Bad: |Your kids will eventually memorize all the cards – but there are expansions available!
Citadels is a card game featuring a role-selection mechanism. That means that each turn, players choose from among different roles that give them a special ability for that turn to help them build their city. This game plays quickly, and the way that the roles interact with one another make for a tense game of bluff and double-bluff. Playable in 30-60 minutes, this game can be played with and by children, but has hidden depths of strategy that will keep you coming back.
The Good: |Plays well with anywhere from 2-7 players
|Quick and fun, with little downtime between turns
|Multiple paths to victory
|Small box travels well, for when you’re going away for Shabbat
|Game plays very well with any number of players from 2-7
The Bad: |Some players won’t like that some roles directly target other players
If you’ve ever played Werewolf or Mafia at NCSY or camp or afternoon groups, you’ll jump right into The Resistance, which is all about figuring out who you can trust, and who is an undercover agent. What’s great about the Resistance is that unlike Werewolf and Mafia, you don’t need a moderator to play, and players do not get eliminated during the course of the game. Instead, The Resistance is a fun, tension-filled game full of false accusations, strained rebuttals, and lots of guesswork and deduction for 5-10 players, for under $20!
Unlike most of the games we remember from our childhood, Pandemic is a cooperative game. That means that instead of playing each other, players band together to try and beat the game itself. This unique dynamic makes for a very fun game that’s perfect for people who don’t like confrontation and direct competition. In a sense, Pandemic is a game where players try to solve a difficult puzzle together. The theme of global diseases threatening humanity really gets the blood flowing! Pandemic is suitable for up to five players, and even works really well as a solo game.
Upon its release, Dominion ushered in a whole new genre of games: the deck-building game. In Dominion, you not only play the hand you’re dealt, you actually select which cards go in your deck. Dominion has very simple rules, making it easy to teach and learn, and it has many expansions too. The game doesn’t skimp either, with tons of cards included in the box, including 25 different types of action cards. Since you only play with a random set of ten each time, no two games are the same. The game tops out at 4 players, making it a perfect couples game!
Released in 2010, 7 Wonders has quickly become one of the most awarded games in history. What’s so great about it? For starters, you can ply with up to seven players, and the game still takes only about 30-45 minutes. That’s because in 7 Wonders, players take their turns simultaneously, so there’s never any waiting around. One minus: adding up the score at the end is easiest with a pencil and included score pad. If you’re playing on Shabbos, you may want to keep some poker chips or a deck of cards handy to help you with the math. The first game is also a little bewildering, so don’t be discouraged! Wonders is a well-designed, fast-paced game that plays equally well with as few as three or as many as seven players. There’s even rules for a 2-player game, but the game really shines with three or more. If you’d like to play with eight players, check out the Cities expansion.
Another “new classic” board game, Carcassonne is unusual because it doesn’t even have a board! Instead, like dominoes, players create the board while playing the game by laying tiles on the table. The tiles show roads, towns, and other features of the French city Carcassonne. Players earn points by placing pawns on the tiles to claim the roads, farms, towns, and cloisters. A fast-moving game, Carcassonne plays differently every time, and has a wide array of available expansions to keep things interesting. Got a bigger family or game group? The Inns and Cathedrals expansion lets you add a 6th player to the fun, and offers new rules for more advanced play.
The Good: |Board changes from game to game
|Short, quick turns so everyone stays invovled
|Quick and easy to teach and learn – great for new players!
|Tons of available expansions
If someone says “board game” and you think Monopoly and then groan, you should try Settlers of Catan. In Jewish neighborhoods around the world, Settlers has become a hugely popular Shabbos game for children and adults. What makes it so popular? Settlers is easy to teach and learn, the board changes with each game, making it fun to play over and over again, and it plays in about an hour, so the fun doesn’t run out before your patience does! In Settlers, there’s no fighting, and your gain isn’t always someone else’s loss, which makes it enjoyable even if you’re not the really competitive type. And with so many expansions available, there’s lots of variety if you ever grow bored. Settlers of Catan has changed the way people think about board games. A great start to your collection, and a wonderful gift for children ages 10 and up, as well as adults.
Expansions for this game include:
5-6 Player Expansion, City and Knights of Catan, and Seafarers of Catan
The Good: | Modular board of hex tiles means no two games are the same
| Lots of player interaction, trading, and negotiation
| Many paths to victory, many viable strategies
| Additional expansions available to extend the game
| Quick and easy to learn and teach – great game for new players!
The Bad: | Can only be played with 3 or 4 players. A 5-6 player expansion is available
expansion lets you add a 6th player to the fun, and offers new rules for more advanced play.
are also available.