Unique Board Games

Soldato
Joined
12 Sep 2012
Posts
11,698
Location
Surrey
I know its a bit late being past the Christmas period and such, but i am looking to grab some board games.

I am not after the standard stuff like monopoly and such but rather games which are not considered popular and have a unique twist to them. This is inspired by a pub chat i had the other day when my mates were trying to recall a horror/survival board game with day/night time and a glow in the dark board which changes by turning the lights off to represent night time.

In the end, no one could recall the game, so if anyone is familiar with a similar game, please post what you think it is.

Do any of you know of any particularly unique games?

Bonus points if they have an element which make it dynamic like the night/day aspect of the aforementioned game or maybe a game with an accompanying phone app to introduce elements of unique game play.

No particular theme, though i appreciate horror or role playing games.
 
I remember playing rat trap back in the day, is it still around?

What about brainbox, I am guessing that's not new, we were playing a bit at Christmas.
 
I will check it out but what is your personal opinion on the game apart from fun?

Is it complex?

Average game length?

It is my favourite board game (well, with the cities and knights expansion).

The rules of Catan are far more comprehensive than any mainstream board game I have played, probably slightly more complex than learning poker if you've never seen a pack of cards before (but without the need to calculate odds). Cities and knights doubles the rules and means there are a lot more things to consider at a time... Catan experts only!! 4 player game of Catan is probably 1.5 hours with banter time and open deliberating.

The best bits about catan are twofold:

1) you can do something on every go and what everyone else does is directly relevant to you, so there is absolutely no 'downtime'.

2) trading. As you swap cards with other players there is a huge amount of being a sneaky git and misleading others of your intentions, which leads itself to a lot of good banter as you thoroughly douche each other over :p

Some people say that there is too much chance in Catan - it's true that few things are more frustrating than a "bad Catan" but those are particularly rare and the enjoyment everyone else gets from seeing you squirm on two points for the whole game makes it worth it.

Smoking gun - I have introduced Catan to at least 4 sets of friends and they have all immediately gone out and bought it :)
 
If you want a board game thats kind of like a mixture between the games risk and chess then the game of thrones board game is awsome, however it can take about 5 hours to complete with 6 players lol..
 
All great suggestions guys. Lengthy games not an issue. Though i am hesitant to go for games with tons of rules. Complex games are fine but having to familiarise and memorise tons of rules wont be great since these are to crack out when me and the missus are bored and can just give a shout out to any of my mates in the area who want to come round and have a drink/smoke night in.
 
Dead of Winter (2-5 players) is a co-operative Zombie survival game where one of you may be a traitor - it also has action cards (crossroads) that may or may not trigger depending on what happens that turn.



Betrayal at House on the Hill (3-5 players) is a horror game where you build the house as you explore it - at a certain point in the game, one of you will turn to evil and then try to kill the others




Lords of Waterdeep (2-5 players) is a worker placement game where each player takes a turn to assign resources to do various things - really easy to teach, great fun to play

 
If you want a board game thats kind of like a mixture between the games risk and chess then the game of thrones board game is awsome, however it can take about 5 hours to complete with 6 players lol..

Great game and the rules are easy, FFG have a tutorial video on their YouTube channel for them.

However the game is only good (without expansions at least) with a player count of 6. Otherwise it is imbalanced as one player steam rolls all the free territory that isn't controlled by any player.

Edit:
Betrayal at Haunted House on the Hill is a great story telling game. Don't expect the game to be balanced with how many different scenarios that can happen and al lat different stages of unveiling the house. However I've never not enjoyed a game of it. Just treat it as trashy fun instead of some serious strategy game.
 
I know its a bit late being past the Christmas period and such, but i am looking to grab some board games.

I am not after the standard stuff like monopoly and such but rather games which are not considered popular and have a unique twist to them. This is inspired by a pub chat i had the other day when my mates were trying to recall a horror/survival board game with day/night time and a glow in the dark board which changes by turning the lights off to represent night time.

In the end, no one could recall the game, so if anyone is familiar with a similar game, please post what you think it is.

This list may be of some help. It could have been Atmosfear, though.
 
Go to Ikea and buy the biggest Kallax shelf you can find. Thank me later :p



got this the other day to sort out the kids Christmas haul :p

I thought I had a lot of games when they were stored on the shelves under the stairs.... now I have so much space I need more!!


OT:
we recently got Carcassonne and it is very good, I believe some of the expansions add other things to it too to make it more competitive and add other mechanics if that's what your after. I haven't got it yet but Dead of Winter is supposed to be very good and the traitor adds a bit of guesswork and doubt to the co-op mind-set.

also look into Pandemic Legacy, its been a massive hit but its also story based and consumable so you really need a set group of players each time to get the best out of the experience.

if you want a phone/tablet app based table top game you are pretty much left with X-Com, its the only one (that I am aware of) that requires both and gets good reviews for how innovative it is as its closer to a videogame then your usual table top game but its the table top aspect that makes it work so well.
 
Last edited:
Eegads! Store those games sideways man! :p

Way easier to play pick one out if you do :p

its still work in progress :D it has all moved around since the photo (and the cards have been picked up too ;))

im planning to pick some foam board up from hobbycraft tomorrow and make some insets for Zombicide, Imperial Assault, Space Hulk and Wrath of Ashardalon over the next few weeks as they have some great plans online.
 
Back
Top Bottom