Top 6 Gateway Games Not On Other Lists: Part 1
Recommendations for beginner board games, gateway board games, or next step board games (or any myriad variations) are spread across the wilderness of the internet like dandelions…
So here are some of our recommendations.
Oh, and they are all:
CHEAP
INTERESTING
and EASY TO LEARN
All right, so lots of these gateway lists are excellent, but they are very similar. One list will have significant crossover with another. And another. And another. The clear reasoning behind this is that there really are a handful of games that are just great to recommend to people new to the hobby.
These 10 are going to appear on a lot of lists:
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf (2014)
Each of these games has plenty of merit (I make this statement even though, for the sake of full disclosure, I freely admit we’ve never played 7 Wonders or Splendor, and it’s been 20+ years since I last played Catan). The choice not to include any of these games here is because, frankly, I don’t want this list to be completely redundant.
If you’re anything like me, as a curious beginner to the hobby, you’ve made some permutation of this google search a whole lotta times. You’ve seen Pandemic and Ticket to Ride recommendations on a baker’s dozen websites. If, for some reason, this is your first list like this, here are a few sites worth your traffic:
Paste, Dice Tower, IGN, Wire Cutter, this Medium list
It’s really difficult to recommend games to people, not only because of the reasoning previously stated (that many recommendations are made so often they are simply rote), but it also presupposes that my opinions here have some kind of merit. With that in mind, I am writing this list because this is the list that I really needed about four or five years ago. I googled this topic incessantly, and more often than not I purchased games that were simply not a good fit for me and Kathleen. Games like Pixel Tactics or Summoner Wars are interesting and well-made games, but they don’t particularly fit our play styles. Being as we flew into this hobby unaccompanied, we did plenty of wandering in the dark. If I’ve done my job here, each of these games will be different, presenting the players with a variety of mechanics spread across the hobby, each offering a different feel and scratching a different itch.
Okay, all that wordy garbagio out of the way, here are the criteria I kept in mind while making this list:
- Mechanics: Each of these games represents a different set of mechanics that should help point you in which direction you may further enjoy with bigger, heavier games.
- Price: These games are not expensive, and this is REALLY important to me. I hate when I see people recommend something like Pandemic: Legacy or Gloomhaven as a game for new hobbyists. These are great games, but if you’re not all-in to this hobby, do not buy a $100+ game. Wait until you know what you like. There are plenty of satisfying, well-designed games that I do not want to ever play. This says more about me than about the game. Save your money while learning what you like.
- Complexity: These are all reasonably simple and straightforward games. Beyond that, they [almost] all act as gateway games into bigger games–you’ll see one exception later. If you like a certain mechanic you experienced, you’re a spitting distance away from a bigger, heavier, thinkier game.
- Footprint: This is an inherited concern thanks to having a conscientious wife and a big collection. Small box games that pack a punch are precious. Learn to love ‘em, especially if you live in a small apartment.
Being as this is the Player One Player Two site, it should go without saying that we believe these all play very well with two players.
Enough of that, let’s get moving. This post is long enough already.
Kingdomino (2016)
$14.49; Complexity 1.21/5; BGG
Mechanics: Drafting, Tile Placement
I’m putting Kingdomino first because this is the game most likely to appear on other lists (it won the Spiel des Jahres the year it was released, the German Game of the Year award).
Kingdomino is a lovely little tile laying game that incorporates drafting and a clever exponential scoring system. In Kingdomino, players will draft tiles from an available pool, tiles that have different land types on them–like fields, lakes, or caverns. As you draft tiles, you will play them into your kingdom matching like land types (just like dominos! see? it’s clever!).
The larger a specific kind of land type, the more points you’ll score. Similar to Carcassonne, there are bonus multipliers that you’ll be looking for that will help you grow your score faster. But which tile you drafted will dictate the order in which you’ll get to draft in the next round, presenting you with an excellent dilemma each round. Should you draft that great tile, knowing it will put you farther down the line next round, or will you draft conservatively, putting yourself in a better position moving forward? Unlike Carcassonne, there are no meeples to drop across your map, meaning this game will not press you on the touch choice of it/when to drop a meeple, but arguably you’ll feel less regret when you choose poorly.
Kingdomino plays fast, has excellent artwork, and presents more options and choices than Carcassonne without robbing you of Carcassonne’s easy/breezy feel. The box is small, the teach is fast, and it’s cheap.
Polyomino games are hot right now. If you like this, check out (light to heavy): Patchwork, Barenpark, A Feast for Odin.
If the drafting element was cool, try 7 Wonders Duel for a unique, lighter spin on drafting, or Blood Rage for a much heavier experience.
Came Up Cards (2016)
Out of Stock today, check back!; Complexity 1.67/5; BGG
Mechanisms: Betting/Bluffing, Hand Management
Camel Up is a well-loved board game about camels racing in the desert that I’ve never played. Again, we are price-conscious 'round here, and when I purchased Came Up Cards, it was done understanding that this small box would give me a good experience of the wild racing/betting game that is Camel Up and save me about $25 in the process. This is not the only _____: The Card Game that will appear on this list either.
(Side note: I am dumbfounded that this is currently out of stock everywhere. Keep looking around, it will come back!)
When you think of games involving racing, the first assumption is that the game will center around you controlling one racer and, you guessed it, trying to cross the finish line first. Camel Up Cards is not that game, which is why it’s a refreshing play. Rather than pushing your own racer towards the finish line, you’ll be playing cards from your hands to move individual camels forward towards the finish line. Getting over the finish line will end the game, but it won’t mean anything for winning. The point of the game is to bet on who the winning–or losing–camel will be. Certain cards will denote how you believe each camel will finish, and the earlier you take a card, the more money (points) it will give you when the game ends. But who’s to say what cards your opponent is holding.
Camel Up Cards is wild. You can make early bets based on what you’re holding, but your opponent can and will play cards that will really screw up what you’re doing. Add in the crazy palm tree, the desert fox, and the ability to stack the camels, and it’s impossible to guess too far ahead who will win, but that won’t stop you from trying.
I don’t normally like “zany” or “wacky” games, and this game veers dangerously close to being both. Ultimately, it’s a really fun and wild experience, but not without strategy. It gets crazy, but doesn’t ever go off the rails, which I appreciate. BGG has the best player count at 4, but with fewer players this game is much more strategic than out of crazy, which is what I like. The more players you add, the less control you’ll have over what will happen in the race. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you better know what you’re getting into a 4+ player game.
If you like the wild, push your luck element (light to heavy): Port Royal, The Quacks of Quedlinburg
If you like the racing and betting elements: Downforce
Coal Baron: The Great Card Game (2016)
$22.69; Complexity 2.68/5; BGG
Mechanisms: Worker Placement, Set Collection, Hand Management
Worker placement is, for many, the evergreen mechanic. New worker placement games come out all the time, with some fitting perfectly into the most inside-the-box expectation of worker placement and others working to flip the whole genre on its head. The basic idea of worker placement is uber simple: take one of your workers, put them on an action space, and do that action. Each action will have a limited number of spaces, adding a bit of a wrinkle to your plans once people start to block you. I love the idea of worker placement, but this idea of blocking really irks me, which is why I tend to enjoy subversions to the genre more than more meat and potatoes staples of the genre.
Coal Baron: The Great Card Game (henceforth known simply as Coal Baron–not to be mistaken for Coal Baron: The Board Game) fits neatly into the “subverts the genre” column. This is a game about building trains, loading them with coal, and fulfilling contracts for points. In terms of the actual worker placement in the game, never will you be outright blocked from taking an action, which delights me.
However, there are some built-in wrinkles. For example, you don’t have workers as you’d immediately expect (meeples or pawns), but rather a hand of numbered cards that represent your workers. You must play cards down to action spaces in numerical order to take the action. So the first person to take a locomotive card to begin building their train must play a #1 worker. The next player to do this action must play a #2 worker (or two #1s), and so on. In this way, a space is never filled by workers, but taking an action becomes increasingly costly.
In this way, Coal Baron feels like it moves beyond worker placement and into hand management/action selection territory. There will always be a question of not only what you are doing, but when you choose to do it. Should you rush to take a contract and only spend a #1 worker, or wait until a better contract may be revealed, but be forced to pay more for it?
If you like the subverted form of worker placement seen here, try (light to heavy): Architects of the West Kingdom or the brain-melter Nippon (which I reviewed here).
If you like the puzzly card/hand management/set collection: Concordia
* * *
By my count, these three games make up the first half of our top six. I’ll finish off the rest of the list and be back before you know it with the rest of the countdown.
Thanks for reading!
Player One
Eric
