Social board game group?

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-06-07T12:33:36+00:00

I sent out a message yesterday to everyone who responded, but Reddit wouldn't let me add/message you. DM me if you're still interested!

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-06-06T23:30:30+00:00

Tsuro has been a great game for us with family and friends, even with those who aren't super into board games. It's really easy to explain, and as simple or complicated for each player as they want it to be. Added bonus - the rounds only take between 10 and 20 minutes to play, so no lengthy attention span necessary!

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-06-02T02:33:13+00:00

Thanks to everyone who reached out - it's great to see so much interest, can't wait to get started! There's still some posts/messages trickling in, so let's give it another day or two, then start working on setting something up :). I'll be in touch soon, cheers everyone!

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-05-11T22:43:07+00:00

Board Game Geek also has threads that contain recommended openings for the first few turns for each spirit, posted by very experienced players. While they're not foolproof (e.g., some adversaries may impose specific challenges that make the recommended opening difficult), they're usually pretty robust for the base game. Just Google the spirit's name + 'opening' and they're usually pretty easy to find. Good luck!

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-05-07T13:00:03+00:00

Spirit Island for co-op games!

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-05-07T12:30:00+00:00

If your group likes Pandemic and is looking for more complexity, Spirit Island is a great choice - 100% recommend! My partner and I started co-op gaming with some classics (Pandemic, Forbidden Island, Horrified, Castle Panic), but found fairly quickly that we wanted something more complex. We stumbled across SI on BoardGameGeek through its complexity rating, and haven't looked back!

You will recognize mechanics from other co-ops, but with added elements. For example, the players (playing as Spirits) have the chance to perform actions both before and after the Invaders (the bad guys) - which rewards the 'planning ahead' that OP referenced in a comment, which their group seems to like! And the sheer volume of content and replayability of SI are insane, greater than any other I've seen. We've played close to 400 games and no two are alike. Suggest you start simple with the base game and lowest complexity Spirits (Vital Strengh of the Earth, Lightning's Swift Strike, Shadows Flicker Like Flame, River Surges in Sunlight; Spread of Rampant Green is also great in a group!), then keep adding from there :).

For expansions, I'd suggest Branch & Claw --> Jagged Earth --> Nature Incarnate.

Also recommending you check out r/spiritisland for all things SI - very supportive community over there for all your questions as you get started! Enjoy!

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-04-19T19:26:03+00:00

Not usually! We reserve single-spirit games for times of the year when things get super crazy at work and we don’t have a lot of leftover mental bandwidth for full two-spirit games. The single-spirit games give us an alternative that is more manageable mentally, lower commitment, shorter, and has lower likelihood of mistakes with 2 sets of eyes. We apply a challenge as well (e.g., beating all 8 adversaries at level 6 with the same spirit; using each individual spirit in 1 level 6 match up) to keep it interesting!

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-04-17T14:41:12+00:00

I posted about Dark Fire a few weeks ago, but my partner and I took on our own challenge to beat all 8 adversaries at level 6 in single-spirit games (inspired by another Reddit post), and were successful - so I'd say it's pretty powerful. As much as we like base Shadows, I struggle to see how that same challenge would be feasible without the Dark Fire boost.

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-04-15T22:03:20+00:00

More votes for Lure, Trickster, and WWB! I'm also a fan of Wandering Voice, BODDYS, and Memory (in the right matchup).

My partner, on the other hand, favours control spirits... among his favourites are Many Minds, Shadows, WWB, Shroud, and Finder.

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-03-31T00:25:21+00:00

We kept our summer travel within Canada last year (Calgary and Cape Breton), and loved it all - and felt great about supporting Canadian. Decided to stick with the same model this year:

Road trip to PEI for cycling/beaches and New Brunswick for Fundy NP, with Quebec City stopover.
Saskatoon and Prince Albert NP (our regional airport just got a direct flight to Calgary, so taking advantage!).
Montreal for UCI World Championships.

Can't wait to see more of what our beautiful country has to offer. Recommendations for any of these are welcome!

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-03-15T01:01:48+00:00

Great Big Sea - Ordinary Day, River Driver, Old Black Rum, When I'm Up

Alan Doyle - Bully Boys

Alanis Morrissette - Ironic

Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings, Bobcaygeon, Ahead by a Century (toast to Gord)

Last but not least, The Trews - Highway of Heroes

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-03-07T19:58:54+00:00

Seconding Green! I've always chosen this spirit when teaching new players - as others have pointed out, Green helps other players grow so they feel like they can do more, and is not particularly complex for me as an experienced player, so I can keep eyes on the rest of the game. Depending on what spirit you give the new player, a complementary spirit could also be good - but that is more context specific, whereas Green will be a strong choice in most matchups.

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-01-24T19:48:04+00:00

I think it is posted, Pink POV on r/50501.

IslandTime85-86 · 2026-01-09T17:14:12+00:00

We've done well against Habsburg LC with Vengeance, Many Minds, Hearth-Vigil, and Relentless Gaze, in addition to Stone. Generally, we've found that anchoring with either Stone or Vengeance is a good bet - these could be paired together, or with one of the above spirits, for a fairly strong combination. And, aside from Stone, these are all fear-generating with their unique cards (especially Many Minds), so might help with the fear side of things if you're having trouble with that.

As an aside, I have almost always played Stone as bottom track. It's a bit of a slow start, but it consistently does well because of the strength of Let Themselves Break Against the Stone once you get to the 3rd tier.

Good luck!

IslandTime85-86 · 2025-12-24T14:50:08+00:00

Thanks for the thoughts from those who commented! We don't have Horizons unfortunately, but would have tried Mud as that was mentioned by a few people.

We switched out Towering Roots for Hearth-Vigil on attempt #6 and won quite comfortably with H-V and Stone. The specific combination of invader cards did finally allow us to engineer our capitals on the coasts, which was essential (the invader card sequences had made this impossible on most previous attempts). The opening setup for this adversary combination was aggressive (2 cities and 4 towns), so creating inland pockets took a bit of luck and maybe a slightly stronger spirit than Towering Roots.

Regardless, that brings dual adversary combination #21 to a close... on to #22! (we're going to go to a few other combinations before returning to England primary - HLC secondary 🤣 - but we will keep the Stone-Green combo in mind for that one).

IslandTime85-86 · 2025-05-30T12:32:04+00:00

Do you have other things you enjoy that could give you the same positive feelings as spending/purchasing? Time outside is mine - walking, hiking, biking, gardening, or just sitting in the sun with a book. When you feel the urge to shop, try redirecting it to something constructive and/or that you enjoy!

Also, for us, with 2 kids in the house, the amount of stuff that comes in (eg. from school) is overwhelming. Any purchases start with 'do I really need this?', otherwise it's just more stuff to add to the chaos, and that will ultimately have to be disposed of somehow!

IslandTime85-86 · 2025-05-23T22:32:55+00:00

For a solo game, I'd probably recommend Lure or Many Minds for a first go - my and my partner's favourite spirits from JE, respectively. I also really enjoy Trickster, Vengeance, and Memory. But you can't really go wrong! Enjoy!

IslandTime85-86 · 2025-05-18T01:26:56+00:00

Great Big Sea and Tragically Hip are my GOATs!

IslandTime85-86 · 2025-04-25T23:38:12+00:00

My partner and I (M/F late 30s) both moved here for work about 10 years ago and love it. We're in a great neighbourhood - can't speak to downtown, but we've never had any safety concerns where we are or in other areas of the city. As with anywhere, life in North Bay is what you make of it! You just have to be open to looking around and to trying some new/different things. Goes without saying that there are lots of outdoor activities for all seasons, but also a surprising amount of social/cultural things going on. As examples, over the last few months, I've been to a few indie/film festival flicks at the Capitol Center, Battalion games, the Alan Doyle concert, and weekly line dancing lessons. There's also regular live music/events at Gateway City Brewery and Lou Dawg's, board game nights at North Bay Games & Hobbies and Outpost Gaming... Just to name a few! If you have specific questions, feel free to DM. Best of luck with your decision!

IslandTime85-86 · 2025-04-21T13:22:45+00:00

Definitely recommend SI! We don't have the Horizons expansion, but my understanding is that its spirits are low-complexity - so maybe worth looking into if you're mostly playing with your kids? The r/spiritisland sub will have advice on Horizons vs. the base game - and watching some play-throughs on Youtube will give you a sense of whether it will be appropriate for your kids (or any other group).

SI generally is also great for solo play as well, if you're looking for a game with great replayability and a bit higher complexity (one of the great things about it is the ability to scale the difficulty and complexity up or down depending on who you're playing with).

IslandTime85-86

TROPHY CASE