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Seven New Games that Celebrate Summer

Much of the world is friends with, or at least acquainted with, the Bros. Parker, but many people wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to go once the Boardwalk and Park Place have lost their luster. Don’t be Sorry if you haven’t got a Clue about where to start with modern board games– you’ve come to the right place! The best way to introduce yourself, and your novice friends to fresh new games is through gateway games. What is a “gateway game”, you ask? Well, definitions abound. For us though, a gateway game is a fun, easy to learn, relatively simple game featuring a newer game mechanic. A gateway game will build interest in newer games while building confidence in new players that they can quickly learn and enjoy what today’s world of tabletop games has to offer. For our top 5, we’ve chosen games that also feature an accessible price point. In no particular order, here are five favorite gateway games. King of Tokyo: This game is usually the first we pull out with game-shy friends, especially ones with younger kids. It’s a dice-rolling game with a Yahtzee mechanic of rolling a pool of dice, choosing what to keep, then re-rolling up to two more times to assemble what you’ll actually use. It’s a highly themed game, with players choosing whimsically drawn monsters like Cyber Kitty, The King, and Alienoid, then vying to be the first monster to achieve 20 stars or to be the last monster standing, thus earning the King of Tokyo moniker. It’s easy to learn and a really fun way to spend an hour to an hour and a half. Carccassone: This one is a fun intro to tile placement games. There are numerous iterations to Carcassonne, but they all incorporate placing tiles to build a setting. The original theme of a French medieval city gives the game its name, and in it you will build roads and cities, the occasional cloister, and fields. Players choose whether and where on their placed tile to add a meeple. Meeples are robbers when placed on roads, knights when placed in cities, farmers when placed on the fields, and monks when placed in cloisters. There is enough decision-making involved to make it enjoyable, but not so much as to overtax the thinky-bits. The short playing time, easy game play, and fun art make it another great choice for families with kids. Catan: We know a number of folks that claim Catan as the board game drug that got them hooked on the hobby. Catan features set collection and worker placement mechanics, but in a very simple way. In Catan (originally dubbed Settlers of Catan), you will settle the island, collecting and trading resources (wood, ore, wheat, brick, and sheep) in order to build roads, settlements, and ultimately cities. We love a game that lets us roll dice AND collect cards, and this game does. As a bonus, the trading with other players creates lots of excitement and sometimes even hilarity. Catan is suitable for kids, though the theme, artwork, and slightly longer playing time of 1 to 2 hours might not appeal as much to younger ones. We’d recommend it for anyone 8 and up, but think it’d be more appreciated by teens and older players. Dominion: The third in our list with a medieval theme is Dominion, a deckbuilding game. Deckbuilders in general are a great gateway mechanic, because of their simplicity and the fact that they are a change from games that move you around a board. In tabletop games, choice = fun, and deckbuilders allow lots of choice. Dominion claims the fame of being the original deckbuilding game, and has been popular since its arrival in 2008, holding literally scores of awards and honors. In Dominion, a player turn is as easy as ABC - Action, Buy, Clean-up. Check your hand for any Action cards, choose one to play, then use any treasure cards in your hand to buy a card, and then clean up by discarding your purchases and hand of cards. As you purchase more cards you’ll start building your deck so that you’ll have better Action cards that will allow you to take more actions and more money to make better purchases, including the Estate cards that ultimately grant you the win. Its immense replayability, short playing time of 30 minutes to an hour, and easy gameplay make Dominion a great game to introduce to new players. Ticket to Ride: Ticket to Ride is a hugely popular gateway game, thanks largely due to its theme of trains (I mean, who doesn't love a train?), tactile and colorful board, and its “elegantly simple gameplay” (BoardGameGeek). Players choose tickets which denote train routes across North America, then collect brightly colored train car cards in order to connect the routes by turning in the train cards for train tokens and placing them on the board. Points are scored according to the length of the route completed, and the turn is passed. Once a player has placed all but two or fewer of their trains on the board, play quickly ends and bonuses are awarded for completed tickets and longest route. This game is also relatively short (30 minutes to an hour) and simple and colorful enough for kids 8 and up to enjoy. Some final notes about the games listed here: All of the above descriptions are based on the original versions, but one of our favorite things about each of them is their expansions. As Gateway Games, the originals are excellent choices, but all of the above have clever and interesting expansions that keep seasoned players coming back to the table again and again. And lastly, these affordable games are widely available, but we highly recommend you buy local from Cape Fear Games if you're near Wilmington. The staff there are as passionate as we are and can provide you with even more suggestions.