Summary
Games like Catan are classic staples at board game nights, especially for people who’ve played every tabletop game in the book. It’s easy sometimes, if you’re a real lover of complex board games, to avoid games that seem ‘casual’ or like they’re for beginners because you really want a challenge. But, there are some beginner board games that are worth your time too.
These more casual beginner board games can actually prove really fun, even if you consider yourself a die-hard Catan fan or lover of complex games. Here are some of the best beginner board games that are even more fun than Catan.
10Council Of Verona
Ode To Shakespeare
This game is a quick and easy-to-learn game that takes players inside the world of Romeo & Juliet. In this game, players take turns playing characters from Romeo & Juliet, mainly Montague or Capulet, and roleplay the feud between the two families. Throughout the game, you’ll use influence abilities and tokens to earn victory points.
What’s great about this game is that it’s really easy to learn and doesn’t take long to set up, but it has a decent amount of strategy involved for more experienced players. Plus, the rounds are relatively short at around 15 to 20 minutes.
9Love Letter
Quick But Complex
Love Letter has a similar vibe to Council of Verona, but with more of a social deception element to it. In Love Letter, players will take turns duplicitously portraying various nobles in a palace full of intrigue to slip a love letter to a beautiful princess.
This game is also decently complex, but has an easy barrier to entry as well. Just like Council of Verona, the rounds are also relatively quick, so there’s plenty of opportunity to mess up and try again in the next round. Slight points docked for beginners as it is an elimination format, meaning it’s easy to find yourself out of the game quickly.
8Exploding Kittens
Cartoonish And Fun
Exploding Kittens is a really fun, fast-paced game that’s great for beginners thanks to its relatively simple objective. All you want to do in this game is not draw an Exploding Kitten. However, for more complex board-game lovers, like those who love Catan, there’s just enough strategy to keep things interesting.
In this game, players take turns drawing cards from the deck until someone draws an Exploding Kitten, which eliminates them from the game. However, you can gain cards and abilities that allow you to avoid these explosions, meaning you can play your cards well and avoid these death traps altogether.
7King Domino
Catan-Light
Kimg Domino is a great strategy game that evokes Catan in many ways. In this game, players take turns placing domino-style tiles in a grid layout to form a kingdom. The game has resources similar to Catan that have stackable abilities and functions that can create interesting synergies across your board.
However, the game is cartoonish and vibrant, and very easy to understand for beginner players. Ultimately, this game has a good mix of strategy and luck thanks to the randomness of the tile draw. Plus, this game has tokens called Meeples, which I think are just great.
6Concept
Strategic Party Game
Bit of a personal sidenote here, I don’t think I’ve actually ever played Concept correctly. There are a ton of rules that you can implement to make this game competitive and more points-based, or you can play it vibes-only. Either way, the premise of the game is the same, and can be fun for casuals and hardcore gamers alike.
This is basically a game of free association. Players take turns giving clues to other players using a variety of images laid out on the board. They have to get their team to guess abstract concepts using rudimentary images. There’s a lot of difficulty variability here, as you can choose concepts that are relatively simple or complex based on your skill level.
5Forbidden Island
Cooperative Catan
Forbidden Island doesn’t have much mechanicallyin common with Catan, but it does have great island vibes, which has to count for something, right? This game sees players working together to find buried treasure on an island before it sinks completely into the ocean.
While this game is complex and maybe not right for all board game casuals, it’s cooperative, which is a huge plus. This means, even if a player doesn’t fully understand the rules, other players can help them out since everybody is working on the same team.
4Bang!
Cowboy Vibes
Bang! is a really fun and at times chaotically hilarious card game in which players take on the roles of cowboys in the Old West. This game is great for more casual players as most of the cards have direct references to the rules on them, and sometimes you’re working as a team. Although there is a social deception element to this game, which can prove more complex.
Ultimately, what’s great about this game for beginners is that you can’t get too attached to anyone’s strategy, as there are so many chaotic cards that can turn the entire game on its head. Watch out for the dynamite card, which essentially creates an everlasting hot potato situation for multiple rounds.
3Ticket To Ride
Good For Families
Ticket to Ride is a great game that I’ve used many times to getmy extended family interested in playingmore complex board games. Most people agree that this game, while longer in terms of play time, is great for beginners because it’s relatively easy to teach.
In the game, players take turns collecting cards that represent various trains and train cars to create an expansive map of railways spreading across the United States. While there is a lot of strategy at play in this game, ultimately, the goal is pretty straightforward: you’re just trying to make the longest routes possible. However, there are more metagoals that more advanced players can pursue as well.
2Wavelength
Conversation Starter
Like Concept, there are a lot of ways to play this game in teams or more competitively, or you’re able to just vibe. I prefer the vibes to be honest. In this game, players take turns giving clues to get their fellow players to guess a point on a spectrum between two opposing ideas.
For example, your card might say, ‘Smells Good’ versus ‘Smells Bad.’ It’s your job as the clue-giver to get players to guess a certain point on the spectrum between the two extremes. This is a great game that really gets people into heated arguments depending on people’s opinions, making ita great party gamethat’s easy to teach to beginners.
1Sheriff Of Nottingham
Comically Medieval
Like Ticket to Ride, this game also takes a little bit longer to play (sometimes closer to an hour), but it’s pretty easy to teach. Plus, the game is very bright and cartoonish, which can make it appealing to more casual players. In this game, players take on the role of merchants trying to sell legal or illegal goods without being caught by the Sheriff of Nottingham.
What’s most fun about this game is that it has a social deception element, but every player gets to take a turn playing as the Sheriff of Nottingham. This is good for beginners who might not be as used to social deception, but can enjoy the strategy of role-playing as the Sheriff every now and then.
