I love boardgames (love them)...but my friend hates them with a passion. This is somewhat infuriating to me, as he has only played Monopoly. He decided that boardgames were therefore a pointless waste of time.

I call upon fellow boardgame enthusiasts to help. Truly, there must be a way to show my friend the light.

This seems to me to be one of those strange dislikes for no apparent reason. How is monopoly a waste of time? Well, maybe it's not everyone's cake. A waste of time? You can say that about ANYTHING.

If he doesn't like Monopoly than all hope is lost.

Seriously though, maybe he'll play a shorter game like Stratego and like it.

It is neigh impossible to convert someone to like a boardgame!

If he thinks Monopoly is pointless, I think he has never read the rules, and doesn't know how Monopoly is played in the tournaments. *shakes head*

If you think there's still hope for him, try to find out what kind of games he likes. That'll give you an idea about which boradgame you should use (and possibly buy if you don't already have it) to get him hooked. Hopefully it's one you can have fun with too. :)

Post back and we might be able to give you some recommendations. :)

Ah, and there is, in fact, a wonderful resource for boardgame fans: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ Pretty much an encyclopedia of every boardgame ever made.

I personally have little taste for Monopoly. That annoys me more because of that. He is willing to dump an entire pastime based on one product. It's like dismissing novels because you don't like Animorphs, or scoffing at videogames because of Superman 64.

Now, there are some real gems of game design out there. Puerto Rico...Settlers of Catan...Ticket to Ride...Twilight Imperium...Caylus...the list goes on and on.

Well, I just got "Descent: Journeys in the Dark" (http://boardgamegeek.com/game/17226). If neither this nor "Fury of Dracula" will convert him, nothing will.

I love boardgames (love them)...but my friend hates them with a passion. This is somewhat infuriating to me, as he has only played Monopoly. He decided that boardgames were therefore a pointless waste of time.

I call upon fellow boardgame enthusiasts to help. Truly, there must be a way to show my friend the light.

I have a friend thats exactly the same we always want to play risk with him but he freakin hates it for no reason and yet he loves monopoly and he is really good at it. We gave up trying to show him the light that guy is stubborn:mad:

Havnt tried checkers or chess?

Or try dexterity game like Polarity (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/380). :D

I can get 3 on the same foundation, or 3 in a row. :D

I got lucky, all my friends like risk :p so much to the point I dont even need to bring a board over, they already have one :p

CivCube,
Start with what your friend does like. Does he play computer games? If so, which ones? If he already plays strategy games, it's not too big a jump to convince him that some of the old boardgames are predecessors to the current computer strategy games. Risk, Axis & Allies, and others come to mind. If crossword puzzles are his thing, challenge him to Scrabble. On the other hand, if he doesn't play computer games, and his idea of fun is, say, bowhunting, you may just be SOL. Good luck.

axis and allies kinda blows, i remember by the time we had the world set up we were too tired to play

What I never liked about A&A is that there were mandated moves at the beginning, IIRC.

If he is into RPGs you might try Arkham Horror. Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Carcasonne are good gateway games.

I have had very good results getting the uninitiated to fall for Settlers of Catan. I suggest you start there and move slowly towards other games. I think Settlers works well because even when its another players turn, you gain resources and can be involved in trading, and thus everyone stays interested. Common expression a little later: "I don't want ANY of your stinking sheep!"

never heard of settlers of catan, not even a clue where getting it would be possible

Is your friend looking for complexity or not? Settlers (there're many variants, with Catan being probably the most famous of them) can take a while to learn, and you need to think hard to get together your winning strategy.

kcwong, are you implying that Settlers is complex? Most BGGs consider it to be the intro game to real gaming.

Captain2, the internet is your friend. You can get it from Mayfair games ( http://www.mayfairgames.com ) directly (for full price) or from one of the many, many boardgame sellers online (I use fairplay, bouldergames, and funagain) or if there is a hobby shop in your locale they can set you up with a copy.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlers_of_Catan

interesting, i shall see what i can do with this so called inter-net

or check that place that sold me axis and allies

kcwong, are you implying that Settlers is complex? Most BGGs consider it to be the intro game to real gaming.

Settlers of Catan is not complex to me... but I thought it might be, to a new gamer.

One of my friend is a Settlers fan... he has almost every one of them, and so I get to play them all. ;)

Re:Settlers of Catan

Two couples my wife and I introduced it to ended up buying it. Neither were game-players before. Like every game, it is complicated at first, but Settlers is easily figured out after about 10 turns. I suggest playing somewhat non-competitively the first time or two (for fast turns).

The more I read about Settlers of Catan, the more I think it's going to have to go on my "boardgames to buy" list.

The more I read about Settlers of Catan, the more I think it's going to have to go on my "boardgames to buy" list.
Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Even my girlfriend who is unethusiastic about board games likes it. I'm thinking of buying "Settlers of the Stone Age" (a spin off version with a Earth map) next month. :)

I suspect I'll end up buying it, even knowing that I may never get to play it. Kind of like I did with Twilight Imperium, Risk 2210, . . .

I love boardgames (love them)...but my friend hates them with a passion. This is somewhat infuriating to me, as he has only played Monopoly. He decided that boardgames were therefore a pointless waste of time.

I call upon fellow boardgame enthusiasts to help. Truly, there must be a way to show my friend the light.

I have/had the same problem. When you mention boardgames, especially to Americans, their eyes tend to glaze over. Everyone automatically thinks of Monopoly, Life, Scrabble, etc. The easiest way to "convert" someone is to simply get them to sit down and play. I haven't had too much problem getting people to play at least one game.... and, after that, it's pretty easy to get them to play more. I tend to start with easier/quicker games (For Sale, Bang, Settlers, Modern Art, etc) to get 'em hooked, then slowly work up to the more thoughtful, strategic titles (Columbia Games, mid to heavy weight "Euros", etc).

If he doesn't like Monopoly than all hope is lost.

No offense to anyone, but Monopoly is a horrible game -- and it utterly astounds me that it's so popular. There's not much in the way of tough choices, or strategic/tactical depth. After you play some decent euros, you'll never look at Monopoly again.

Is your friend looking for complexity or not? Settlers (there're many variants, with Catan being probably the most famous of them) can take a while to learn...

Wow. I fail to see how Settlers (any version) could take awhile to learn.

Wow. I fail to see how Settlers (any version) could take awhile to learn.

Well, definitely not for you, and not for me too. But I've seen it is for some new players - esp. those who've never played any boardgames at all, besides the reaaaaaally classic ones.

When you mention boardgames, especially to Americans, their eyes tend to glaze over. Everyone automatically thinks of Monopoly, Life, Scrabble, etc.

Sadly, true. I enjoy a good game of Scrabble, though. Not that there's a lot of deep strategic thinking to it, but it's still enjoyable. And I used to have some friends that would come over for games of Monopoly or Life, but those games were almost invariably accompanied by beer or shot glasses, two items that can quickly destroy long-term strategic thinking. . . .

The easiest way to "convert" someone is to simply get them to sit down and play. I haven't had too much problem getting people to play at least one game.... and, after that, it's pretty easy to get them to play more.

But I think that's the basic problem. You can't get them to sit down and play that first game. (Or at least I haven't been able to.) You made a comment in the "Boardgames!" thread about a game having a decent playing time of 2-3 hours, but I think for many Americans, 2-3 hours is a very, very long game. I can usually get someone to sit down long enough for what I would call non-strategic games (Monopoly, Scrabble, Yahtzee, etc), but mention Risk, A&A, or anything more complicated than a character doing laps around the board picking & up cards, that's when their eyes glaze over. I agree that if you want to get someone into the more complex boardgames, you've got to start with something simple. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people either (a) lack the patience to learn any game more complex than Monopoly; or (b) have heard that wargames are horribly complicated and don't want to put out the effort to learn one. Either way, it's a shame.

But I think that's the basic problem. You can't get them to sit down and play that first game. (Or at least I haven't been able to.) You made a comment in the "Boardgames!" thread about a game having a decent playing time of 2-3 hours, but I think for many Americans, 2-3 hours is a very, very long game.

The 2-3 hr. comment was in reference to wargames.... and that is pretty short when compared to the likes of Axis & Allies, Europe Engulfed, etc. Still, your point is well taken... that's why I try and start with something like "For Sale" (15 mins) or Carcassonne, Colossal Arena, Memoir '44, etc (1 to 2 hours).

I've personally found "For Sale" to be one of the ultimate "gateway" games. At 15 minutes for a fun game, it's fairly easy to get people hooked. After that it's Settlers or Carcassonne, etc.... once you pash that threshhold, they should be hooked (or were never a gamer to begin with).

-V