Have to agree with you about Settlers of Catan; it has a nice midlevel sort of playing -- complicated enough not to be boring, simple enough to not drag on. Puerto Rico is nice, but I tend to feel like something the cat dragged in after playing it, it is just that bit more complicated than Settlers. But that could also be because I'm not as familiar with it as Settlers.
I also agree with Mahjong, but I haven't played it in too long. We used to have these nice long afternoons of playing the South Pacific variant. Our old venerable set is about 35 years old, and it's made of either bone or ivory, because the tiles, which used to be cream coloured when I was a child, are dark yellow now.
And I also agree about Elfenland, because it is one of the only games I can think of that works just as well for two as for five, and it has a nice strategic component, and the pieces are so pretty. Once you've grasped the rules, it isn't too complicated either.
I also have to add in GooMishGoo, which is a card game, a variation of "Oh Hell!"; it is of the same school as 500 or bridge, in that one has trumps and takes tricks, but (a) trumps are determined randomly (b) the number of cards dealt are reduced by one each round, until you get down to 1, then it increases again (c) you have to get your exact bid (one can bid zero) and (d) one bids by sticking one's fingers out with the number of tricks you're bidding for, and everyone does this at the same time, so that nobody can adjust their bid depending on what other people bid. This can lead to hilarious situations where someone loses because they won all the tricks, or that someone can take a trick with a 5 because they led and nobody has any of that suit. One simply can't take it seriously.
Games that I would most like to have a copy of? - Search For The Nile -- my brother had a copy of this, and I think he may still have it. It's impossible to get nowadays. It's an explorer game, each player is an explorer in the Dark Continent of Africa, making up expeditions, mapping, dealing with hostile natives and natural disasters, and trying to get back to port before one's food runs out, and then turning around and doing it all again. The cool thing about this game is that the board itself is a blank, which one draws on with crayons during the game, and then wipes off at the end, so each game is different.
- Awful Green Things From Outer Space -- it was just so silly-fun when we played it, and it's nice to have a game that works for two players.
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I also agree with Mahjong, but I haven't played it in too long. We used to have these nice long afternoons of playing the South Pacific variant. Our old venerable set is about 35 years old, and it's made of either bone or ivory, because the tiles, which used to be cream coloured when I was a child, are dark yellow now.
And I also agree about Elfenland, because it is one of the only games I can think of that works just as well for two as for five, and it has a nice strategic component, and the pieces are so pretty. Once you've grasped the rules, it isn't too complicated either.
I also have to add in GooMishGoo, which is a card game, a variation of "Oh Hell!"; it is of the same school as 500 or bridge, in that one has trumps and takes tricks, but (a) trumps are determined randomly (b) the number of cards dealt are reduced by one each round, until you get down to 1, then it increases again (c) you have to get your exact bid (one can bid zero) and (d) one bids by sticking one's fingers out with the number of tricks you're bidding for, and everyone does this at the same time, so that nobody can adjust their bid depending on what other people bid. This can lead to hilarious situations where someone loses because they won all the tricks, or that someone can take a trick with a 5 because they led and nobody has any of that suit. One simply can't take it seriously.
Games that I would most like to have a copy of?
- Search For The Nile -- my brother had a copy of this, and I think he may still have it. It's impossible to get nowadays. It's an explorer game, each player is an explorer in the Dark Continent of Africa, making up expeditions, mapping, dealing with hostile natives and natural disasters, and trying to get back to port before one's food runs out, and then turning around and doing it all again. The cool thing about this game is that the board itself is a blank, which one draws on with crayons during the game, and then wipes off at the end, so each game is different.
- Awful Green Things From Outer Space -- it was just so silly-fun when we played it, and it's nice to have a game that works for two players.