Dreaming of trying board games

I keep thinking I should play more board games. Not Monopoly. The newer ones, where a game takes under an hour, nobody gets knocked out early, and people laugh at the table. Board games are an excuse to sit with people, put the phones away, and do something together.

Wirecutter has a guide, The Best Board Games for Adults, which is a good place to start. Below is my shortlist of games that are easy to learn and fine for anyone (PG), plus a plan for actually doing this in Omaha.

The shortlist

Easy games to learn, roughly from lightest to heaviest:

Game	Players	Why
Codenames	2–8+	Team word game. Takes five minutes to learn and gets everyone talking.
Wavelength	2–12	Party game about guessing where your friends' brains are. Good icebreaker.
Sushi Go Party!	2–8	Quick card drafting. Cute, fast, easy to teach.
Ticket to Ride	2–5	The classic "gateway" game. Build train routes across a map.
Cascadia	1–4	Relaxed tile placement about building Pacific Northwest habitats. Low conflict.
Pandemic	2–4	Cooperative: everyone wins or loses together. Good for groups that don't like conflict.
Wingspan	1–5	Birds and engine building. A step up in complexity, and beautiful.

The plan is to try games before buying them.

The Omaha plan

Phase 1: Try games without buying anything (October)

[ ] Visit Spielbound Board Game Cafe at 3229 Harney St in Midtown. It's a nonprofit with a big library of games. A day pass is about $5, or there's a membership. Volunteers will teach you games, which is the whole point.
[ ] Bring one friend. Ask staff to recommend something from the list above, or anything else in the "easy to learn" range.
[ ] Write down which games were fun and which were a slog.

Phase 2: Meet people (November)

[ ] Go to Spielbound's free Board Game Night. Last I saw it ran on the third Tuesday of each month, so check their calendar first.
[ ] Join the Omaha Boardgamers meetup and RSVP to one event. Members often post pickup games at Spielbound and around town.
[ ] Check out the open game nights at The Game Shoppe (4014 N 144th St, west Omaha).
[ ] Say yes to one game I've never heard of.

Phase 3: Host (December)

[ ] Buy one game that was a hit in Phase 1 or 2. Ideally from a local game store instead of online.
[ ] Invite 3–5 friends over. Snacks, short game, early night.
[ ] Teach the game myself. (The best way to learn it is to teach it.)

Phase 4: Make it a habit (2027)

[ ] Monthly game night. Same night every month so nobody has to plan it.
[ ] Rotate who picks the game.
[ ] Add a cooperative game (Pandemic) for friends who don't like competing.
[ ] Post an update here about what stuck.

Notes to self

Shorter is better. Under an hour, at least at first.
Teaching takes longer than playing the first time. That's fine.
The game matters less than who's at the table.

Tags: games, people, friends, community, todo

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