A Beginner's Guide
to Board & Card Games
Beyond the Usual
(additional recommendations)


Here are some more good, solid games with broad appeal - perfect for beginners.

Rumis
Place your 3-d Tetris-like pieces on the board to have the most faces showing from the top.
Card
Bohnanza
Being a bean farmer. No, really!   You plant yer beans, you trade yer beans, and you harvest yer beans.
If not taken too seriously, it's a really good, light, semi-cooperative, fun game.
Coloretto
(tbd)
For Sale
(tbd)
Category 5
(tbd)
Turn the Tide
(tbd)
Mamma Mia
(tbd)
More challenging
Power Grid
Run an electric company.   Purchase power plants, buy fuel, and connect cities to your grid.
Puerto Rico
Manage your section of the Carribean island.   Manage the plantations, industry and governance to best produce and utilize crops.
Tigris & Euphrates
Build & join kingdoms in ancient Mesopotamia.   Collect points in 4 areas of society, by placing tiles that generate points and leaders that collect them.
Silly & Party
Give Me the Brain
You're zombies working in a fast food restaurant.   Try to finish up your tasks for the day so you can shamble home, but some require the brain, and there's only one brain between all the zombies.
Snorta
Make another player's animal noise before they make yours.   Everyone picks, shows, then covers a barnyard animal. Flip cards, when yours matches another person's, be the first to make the noise of the other player's animal.
Fluxx
Playing the game changes the rules.   It starts as simply "pick a card, play a card," but most cards played change the rules, so it's soon quite chaotic.
2 Player
Balloon Cup
Win the most balloon races.   Play cards to push your balloon - or your opponent's - in 4 concurrent races.

This was created & distributed by Peter Dahlstrom, who has no stake in any specific game, game company or game store.  He just likes playing games, and thinks you might, too.