You're very welcome. I'm glad to hear it was a success.
Zipheir
joined 1 year ago
I agree about Werewolf. It's especially nice that the set of characters can be varied for lesser or more experienced groups.
I've had a terribly boring time with large-group (five or more) Wingspan. Admittedly, I'm not very enthusiastic about the mechanics in the first place, but the game seems to drag badly with more than four players. I also would not recommend it for groups with inexperienced players. Wingspan's combo-oriented engine-building can be punishing for those without "system mastery", as can the odd "score n points for each bird with a red tail who's looking to the left" objectives.
No, but I would like to. I have not seen either game at our local stores, sadly.
A good question and an interesting thread. At five, our group sometimes tries a substantial game like Viticulture or Power Grid. Knowing the game is critical, however, since many complex games are not at their best with five players. When our group hits six, we've recently been playing Mysterium, which is an excellent, simple investigation game with evocative art and a great deal of replay value. It's surprisingly accessible for new players.
With even larger groups, we sometimes play Mascarade. This Bruno Faidutti social deduction game is similar to his later Citadels, but easier to get started with. Another hit has been Bohnanza, although its wheeling-and-dealing style may not appeal to quieter folks.
When we have players who are easily overwhelmed by lots of rules, we tend to fall back to Sushi Go. This is entertaining enough--though beware of playing it with hate-drafting Magic players.
EDIT: It's "Mascarade", not "Masquerade".
Gödel, Escher, Bach. Hofstader's writing is quirky and there is certainly a lot of it, so I didn't get more than 20 pages in on my first attempt. Perhaps needless to say, I'm very glad I came back and finished it. GEB's vision is overpowering; these days, I have the idea that the only way Hofstader could approach that vision was to attack it from many different directions, which explains the book's length and discursiveness. If you haven't read GEB, or have tried it and gotten bogged down, I heartily recommend giving it another shot.