
Ask HN: What are some good board games for the office? - klenwell
I&#x27;m looking for some holiday gift ideas for my colleagues. Here are the specs I had in mind but I&#x27;m not dogmatic:<p>- Less than $30<p>- 3-6 players<p>- Playing time: 30 minutes or less<p>- Mildly strategic or cognitively stimulating. Nothing too intense or competitive (or offensive)<p>Only idea I&#x27;ve been able to come up with so far is Love Letter. Thanks!
======
qohen
The first version of Metro [0] is on sale now at Miniature Market for $11 [1]
(shipping is a flat $5.95 for orders up to $99; after that, shipping is free).

Metro is a tile-laying game by Dirk Henn, who also designed Alhambra and some
other well-regarded Queen games. It plays 2-6 and scales well -- I've played
it at 2 and I've played it at 6 -- though some point out it may be more
strategic at lower player counts, esp. at 2.

The rules are simple -- either play the one tile you have or draw a tile and
play that instead. The tiles represent tracks on the Paris Metro and you need
to play it so its tracks fit with the tracks on the tiles next to it. You're
trying to build routes, the longer the better, since you get a point for each
tile that your route takes, including ones you loop through. Routes that end
at the central power-station have their score doubled. That's basically it.

The game can be played casually. Some people do make it thinkier, which would
raise the playing-time -- if you have such people around, you may have to
nudge them to play faster -- i.e. set a 30-second timer for them or the like.

There is also a newer edition of the game, also on sale at MM for $22 [2],
that comes with 4 expansions, including a stock expansion -- you don't own a
railroad if you play with it, you have 4 cards representing stock in up to 4
railroads and depending on how well those railroads do, you get points at the
end. There are 3 other expansions that do other things. This edition is a tad
less charming in that it replaces the wooden train pieces with cardboard ones,
though in both the pieces just sit on the side of the board, indicating that a
train route is unfinished and are removed to indicate that a line is done.

Interesting that the newer edition has only 6 copies left while the original
has 20+, meaning they have a lot. On the other hand, I watched a Tom Vasel
review [3] earlier today where he basically said the expansions are not really
necessary, that the base game is sufficient.

Miniature Market is in the midst of a sale now, which should last till 11/26,
and will have another one later this week. They do order-holds, so you can
rack up a few orders to get to $100 for free shipping or at least to get a few
games shipped together. So you might find some other things too, for the
office or yourself.

[0]
[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/559/metro](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/559/metro)

[1]
[https://www.miniaturemarket.com/qng60159.html](https://www.miniaturemarket.com/qng60159.html)

[2]
[https://www.miniaturemarket.com/qng10241.html](https://www.miniaturemarket.com/qng10241.html)

[3] [https://boardgamegeek.com/video/147901/metro/metro-review-
do...](https://boardgamegeek.com/video/147901/metro/metro-review-double-
trouble)

~~~
klenwell
That looks ideal. I've added it to my shopping list. Thanks for the detailed
response!

~~~
qohen
You're welcome. I don't know if you need more, but here are a few other games
that can handle 6 players, can be played in close to 30 minutes and are in
your price range. The first set is probably the best for gifting, i.e. they
are among the best games and also look nice/substantial (except for Codenames,
which comes in a smaller, though not tiny box, but there's a lot of game in
there):

 _Codenames_ \-- 2-8, though I think you need 4 min. Under $20. Highly-ranked,
highly-popular team vs. team word game. There are multiple versions, including
one using pictures, instead of words, one for Marvel, one for Harry Potter,
etc. But the base game is fine. Has a strong social component, as one person
gives clues about certain words that appear in a grid of word-cards and their
team has to guess which words they are being clued about; wrong words may give
the other team an advantage, etc.

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames)

 _Sushi Go Party_ : $18.38 @Amazon plays 2 - 8 Highly-ranked and fast card-
drafting game. As opposed to the original Sushi Go, it plays more players and
lets you create a different deck of cards for every game (i.e. using different
foods). Comes in a nice tin.

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192291/sushi-go-
party](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192291/sushi-go-party)

 _King of Tokyo_ : plays 2 - 6 ($30 and change on Amazon). It's a yahtzee-
mechanic dice-chucker where each player is a Godzilla-style monster in or out
of Tokyo. It's also by Richard Garfield. This one is a well-known game in
gaming circles, with expansions and so on. Comes with large, custom dice.

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-
tokyo](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-tokyo)

 _Treasure Hunter_ plays 2 - 6 ($27-ish on Amazon, though it may go down as
Amazon has a history of discounting Queen games during this season -- last
year it hit $12.50) Card-drafting game by Richard Garfield (who did another
card-drafting game called Magic: The Gathering :-) ). It's in a Ticket To Ride
sized box, as it has a board and tokens in addition to cards. Fairly light,
despite all the components.

And here are a few others -- mostly card games:

 _Parade_ : plays 2-6, $19.91 @Amzn, $16.99 @Miniature Market. It's a light
card game with an Alice in Wonderland theme; it's pretty well-regarded.

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/56692/parade](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/56692/parade)

 _For Sale_ : plays 3-6, either around $30 on Amazon for the regular box or
around $16 for the deck-of-cards box "travel edition" which has thinner tokens
and the rules printed on cards. The game is a well-known filler in gaming
circles.

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale)

 _Fantasy Realms_ : plays 3-6, $19.99 @ Amazon -- light card game

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223040/fantasy-
realms](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223040/fantasy-realms)

 _Cheaty Mages_ : plays 3-6 $16.47 @Amazon -- small-box, light card game

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38194/cheaty-
mages](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38194/cheaty-mages)

 _Age of War_ : plays 2-6, small, light dice game by ace-designer Reiner
Knizia (though this isn't one of his classics). $11.76 @ Amazon.

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155695/age-
war](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155695/age-war)

