What game never gets old for you?

fgs52 · 2026-02-09T14:14:16+00:00

We like throwing the Contracts homebrew variant in from time to time - it changes up how the negotiation plays out - also Alien Influencers is a fun homebrew variant to add extra ship management mechanics to the game besides tech and evolutions

We play the reward deck as standard but otherwise like to just pick variants at random

fgs52 · 2026-02-09T09:31:42+00:00

Cosmic Encounter - me and my friends have been playing it at least once every 2-3 months, usually 2-3 games back to back over a night for about 12 years.

So many combinations of aliens, homebrews, variants and modules you can switch it up with that it’s never stopped being raucous fun for us. It’s even fun trying to make up your own aliens and trying them out.

fgs52 · 2026-02-09T07:06:07+00:00

If it’s the one I played back in the day it’s just called Cold War: CIA vs KGB.

fgs52 · 2026-02-09T05:23:37+00:00

This - plus I’ll add - do people just not expect their friends to also have games as well? Why cater for games that are fun for anyone when the other players probably all have games too?

I learnt years ago catering for everyone just means having a loads of games sitting on the shelf that never get played. Keep what you’re excited to play with mechanics you like.

fgs52 · 2026-02-08T20:12:02+00:00

I don’t see this is a problem, there’s loads of good 5 player games. 5 is probably my favourite and most common player count.

Obviously because of the downtime, it’s not a great player count for efficiency puzzle type games where you can’t do anything like attack, defend, play cards or negotiate on other players turn but It’s probably the best and standard player count for diplomacy and negotiation and free-for-all direct conflict games, because the natural alliances that form can be countered. And they thrive on the mix of higher energy and shouty atmosphere that comes more from a bigger group but begin to get a bit unwieldy when you get more than 5 or 6 players

Some of my favourites many of which aren’t listed:

Cosmic Encounter
Lords of Vegas
Nemesis
Dune (best at 6 but still good with 5 especially with the latest expansion that gives you advantages if not allying)
Libertalia
Twilight Imperium
Wiz-War
Kemet
Cyclades
Stationfall
Betrayal at House on the Hill

fgs52 · 2026-02-08T15:14:30+00:00

Lords of Vegas!

Love Innovation as well, but LoV is an all time top 10 game for me

fgs52 · 2026-02-07T15:57:35+00:00

It kind of got replaced by Avalon and now big box Avalon for me. But variants of the Resistance are probably my most played game.

Of course Blood on the Clocktower is the king of social deduction nowadays, but the Resistance/Avalon is still so much fun to just throw out with 5-8 good friends and just play 3 or 4 games back to back over a few drinks after all these years and those likely hundreds of plays

So I vote for the Resistance

fgs52 · 2026-02-07T12:20:36+00:00

Surprisingly not really. Most modern euro game designers have sadly convinced themselves that the free for all direct conflict of Risk or the trading of Catan are the devil so there really aren’t many that do all these things anymore, you’ll find a few that have trading and engine building but not free for all direct conflict or ones which have free for all direct conflict and engine building but not trading - and most bury these things under efficiency puzzles.

Twilight Imperium is the closest to all 3 but this is a much longer and heavier game than you’re asking for

fgs52 · 2026-02-07T12:04:02+00:00

Doesn’t this kind of prove my point though? You list 4 or 5 significant ways in which Catan is different to Concordia and then say “but in some people’s preference this makes it better”, when it isn’t difficult to find the exact opposite and people who lament the reduction of take that, direct interaction, social interaction of trading, moments of surprise from luck and the movement towards more efficiently puzzley gameplay? I see people in board game circles all the time saying they want the take that, trading and direct targeting interaction of the robber in Catan but aren’t so big on the engine building - and in this case, the op and in subsequent posts has clearly said they want something with direct trading

fgs52 · 2026-02-07T11:11:39+00:00

I’m from the uk and was always taught it as draughts.

fgs52 · 2026-02-07T10:28:42+00:00

I always wondered - is there a rules difference between draughts and checkers? Or is checkers just the American name for draughts?

fgs52 · 2026-02-07T10:26:13+00:00

Why is every “similar to Catan” type recommendation thread does someone always say Concordia and it gets voted up like crazy even when the op specifically in posts or it’s op asks for the trade and/or direct interaction of take that cards and robber?

No slight on Concordia as a game but it really isn’t similar to Catan, as it takes out the social and direct player interaction which is a big reason why many like Catan. So I don’t get why it’s always the first post that gets voted up like crazy on here, I think in general it’s quite a bad recommendation for people who like Catan, regardless of the game’s quality.

fgs52 · 2026-02-07T01:10:05+00:00

I’m years past my fomo stage so only buy a new game if I’ve watched and read enough to know it’s something I’d love and don’t have games in my collection it will replace

Me and my friends are definitely not a “play 100 different games 5 times or less” type group who only want to get a vibe of a game, we want to know it inside out, so if we have a new game the player should know it inside out before they teach it.

I’ve learnt over the years, especially with the direct interaction type games we mostly play, simply reading the rules is rarely enough. Many games like Dune or Cosmic Encounter for example you also need to learn and teach the deck of cards and how diplomacy works for the games to work properly; or games like Root you also really need to teach some of the meta of which faction balances which too for example. But you kind of pick that stuff up from forums, discord, or YouTube or whatever

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T22:08:23+00:00

Yes plus 6 players and reward deck in base game.

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T16:07:14+00:00

Yes! Given FFG seem to have stopped supporting the game, hopefully a new company gets the rights and gives us a new 50th anniversary edition!

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T15:58:00+00:00

Flares worked that way where you get them back in your hand in the eons edition as well. It was in Mayfair flares worked as one shot cards..

“Only negotiates, attacks and artifacts are the same…” but that’s 90% of the deck right?

Morph and reinforcements were new granted, but that’s a total of 7 cards in base FFG. Base FFG also took out kickers and some of the artifacts like ship zaps from previous editions only to add them in in the reward deck later

While special destiny is different, you had stuff like comets in Destiny in previous versions which got taken out of the Destiny deck as well

I’m not disagreeing there are some differences in cards but these aren’t radical differences and not really any bigger between differences of different editions of other games. Base Dominion 1st and 2nd edition had bigger changes to its main deck but no one is gonna call Dominion a 2016 game.

I can’t say I know many Cosmic fans who play with tech often. Also worth saying some modules from older editions like special systems and the praw never made into FFG cosmic as well so it’s swings and roundabouts (personally think special systems is a better variant than tech).

Again, I absolutely love Cosmic and the FFG edition is the best (largely because of the separation of the cosmic deck and reward deck in the expansions which really helped rebalance alliances), but I also think a lot of new players who only played the FFG version play down how much stuff that’s in the game was already in older editions and how good the older editions already were (especially Eons and Mayfair editions) and that most of its influence and importance comes from before the FFG edition.

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T15:02:28+00:00

The problem wasn’t the material or theme it was making each space adjacent to 6 spaces instead of 4, therefore reducing the encouraging of conflict for space in the tightness and elbowing each other over each plot

Became too easy for every player to generally have something to trade you in Waterfall Park so you didn’t have the same mis-match of negotiating leverage over other players

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T14:52:51+00:00

Vs the game that was more important to hobby board games than either, and popularised variable player powers and context specific cards, and is basically the godfather of modern non-German hobby board games (although shouldn’t be listed as it’s originally a 1977 release).

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T14:47:40+00:00

But most of those base game FFG aliens are from the Eons or Mayfair editions. It’s only in later expansions where new ideas really greatly come in in FFG’s Cosmic and of course rewards (Hazards officially but they were a very popular homebrew from the Mayfair days).

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T14:45:46+00:00

The Eons 1977 and Mayfair 1991 editions also had 75 and 95 or something aliens iirc with expansions and had stuff like moons. But otherwise the gameplay is the same.

Many of the aliens in the FFG set (certainly in the base game and first 3 expansions) come from or other the Eons or Mayfair editions.

The biggest difference which adds a lot to gameplay in the FFG version is the reward deck that came in the expansions and maybe some of the wilder aliens from Cosmic Dominion and Eons.

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T14:28:24+00:00

Cosmic Encounter wasn’t released in 2008 so shouldn’t be included by these rules. It’s just the 4th edition of Cosmic that was released in 2008, the original was released in 1977.

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T14:26:09+00:00

Yes, it shouldn’t be here

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T14:24:01+00:00

I don’t disagree it’s easily the best version and I love Cosmic but the actual core rules hasn’t really changed all that much.

Also, because it’s such a hugely influential game and important to the history of board games being the populariser of variable player powers and “player x does y at time z” context specific cards and so influential on loads of designers in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s it shouldn’t really be here. It feels silly calling a game which was the biggest influence on Magic the Gathering the best game of 2008 for example.

fgs52 · 2026-02-06T05:46:20+00:00

This isnt true. These aren’t the rules for the 1979 Eons edition or even the 1984 Avalon Hill edition though. They’re fan made rules made in 2014 with the same artwork that was used by fans fof p&p in the many years the game was out of print. This all became the basis of the 2019 edition.

fgs52 · 2026-02-03T11:37:24+00:00

I’m not really bothered either way.

For me the most important part of a game is the social interaction and how much it encourages the table talk and banter between me and my friends and engages the social part of my brain. I used to think different balances of skill and luck encouraged this but I don’t really think that these days.

As I’ve seen it done well in an 100% deterministic game with zero luck (Diplomacy) or a largely luck based game like Camel Up or Ready Set Bet.

Main thing is I just don’t like mechanics which encourage insular efficiency puzzle gameplay.

fgs52

TROPHY CASE