Ten Games to Start Your Game Collection (And Twenty More)

Randolph Pub Ludique's games library. That's a lot of games. 

One of the most common topics I see in board gaming communities like DFW Nerd Night, The Boardgame Group, and /r/boardgames is about folks who are new to the hobby and want to expand their board game collection, but aren't sure what to buy. We're in a "golden age" of tabletop gaming, and with 1,500 new games being released each year, there are plenty to choose from and plenty of ways to evaluate them.

I've crowdsourced this list by polling the members of DFW Nerd Night, and used that list, plus some of my own discretion, to put together "Ten Games to Start Your Game Collection". It's important to note that these aren't the ONLY ten games I think our new friend should purchase, just the first ten that should give her plenty to play for the foreseeable future.

My Gamer's Resolution: Play the top 100 on BGG.com by Year's End

Hi all,

For those of you that do not know me, I do not write often. When I do write, it is usually on this blog. To provide a little background about this exercise, I should state that I think New Year's resolutions are silly. That said, I do create a list of goals for the year in order to provide focus for things that I want to accomplish. In this particular case, I call this a resolution because it involves gaming and I think I will actually finish it.

Gen Con Interview - Zev from Z-Man Games

We were especially honored to interview Zev from Z-Man Games, one of the leaders in the publishing community. Zev talked with us briefly about Gen Con, the hot games at their booth, and the upcoming Pandemic Legacy release. This was a fun interview!

For the full playlist of interviews from Gen Con, click here!

Under Two Reviews #11 Pandemic: In the Lab by Matt Leacock and Tom Lehmann

"Under Two Reviews" is a weekly video series in which we take a look at tabletop games and present them to our readers in under two minutes.

Pandemic: In the Lab from Z-Man games is an expansion. It doesn't include the H1N1 virus, but you can go ahead and say those are the purple cubes. What it does include is an imaginary centrifuge. Watch the video and learn all about curing disease with an imaginary centrifuge.
It'll be quick, I promise.
Enjoy the video after the jump!

Out of the Box: Solo-Role Pandemic

Ah yes, Pandemic, arguably the ultimate in co-op games against a really difficult game board. An insane amount of fun and strategy involved with other players, but what happens when attempted solo?

And I don't mean "solo" as in one person plays multiple roles. I mean solo as in just one role against the board.

Ballsy? Of course.

Crazy? You bet.

Challenging? You have no idea.