> One of the more interesting games that, in the UK, had pretty much gone no where, was "Settlers of Catan".
In the Netherlands, Settlers of Catan was one of those boardgames that you pretty much could not avoid in mid to late nineties, and from what I understand it was even bigger in Germany. It really seems to hit a sweet spot in terms of accessibility and depth.
One of my personal favourites is Citadels[0] (called Machiavelli in the Netherlands), because when your group gets really good at it, the character-draft mechanic turns into in making strategic choices where everyone is basically trying to trick the other players into thinking they've chosen a different character than they have, either by bluffing or making them think they're bluffing. So it actually feels like everyone is trying to pull off Machiavellian schemes.
For a more lighthearted party game version of that, Mascarade[1] (both of these games are by Bruno Faidutti, which explains why their mechanics are somewhat similar). I've played this with ten people and it turns into a wonderfully chaotic game.
In the Netherlands, Settlers of Catan was one of those boardgames that you pretty much could not avoid in mid to late nineties, and from what I understand it was even bigger in Germany. It really seems to hit a sweet spot in terms of accessibility and depth.
One of my personal favourites is Citadels[0] (called Machiavelli in the Netherlands), because when your group gets really good at it, the character-draft mechanic turns into in making strategic choices where everyone is basically trying to trick the other players into thinking they've chosen a different character than they have, either by bluffing or making them think they're bluffing. So it actually feels like everyone is trying to pull off Machiavellian schemes.
For a more lighthearted party game version of that, Mascarade[1] (both of these games are by Bruno Faidutti, which explains why their mechanics are somewhat similar). I've played this with ten people and it turns into a wonderfully chaotic game.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadels_(card_game)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascarade