I know my wife has a definite preference for card games, but I think that's because that is what she played with her family in her "formative" years.

I find that women players tend to prefer lighter games on average. More card games fall into that category than boardgames.

My wife prefers anything that allows her to laugh over my violent demise.

Do men prefer card or board games?

How dare you try to generalize what all "women" want! I am outraged! Every woman is an individual, each managing a unique and effective arsenal of weapons to drive all males in adjacent squares completely insane. It is this variety that we must treasure!

I like boardgames more, but I think you cannot generalize. For example: I definitely want to try a wargame, but my significant other doesn't want them in our home.

Yes, I'm a girl...

Ann

My take is that it's an unanswerable question -- or not answerable in any meaningful or interesting way.

Basically, male geeks who make these generalization seem to be guys whose male gaming partners have been chosen based on common tastes in games. By contrast, some (if not all) of the women they game with aren't gamers and have been chosen as friends/playmates based on other attributes. Small wonder then that the women in question have different tastes in games than the guys in question. But that's less a matter of gender differences than the different ways the two samples were selected.

Personally, I think that the board/card game distinction is blurry and don't have a categorical preference either way. Depends on the game.

That right there is how you get your wife into games... find something that gives her the opportunity to pound you into the ground, and she'll start looking for other games in which she can demolish you.

Have to agree that the question is hard if not impossible to answer. Without going down the path of generalization

It would be the same to ask if men prefer beer more than whiskey or something like that??!?!

My wife like every game I own (we own).
I don't know any games she dislike and won't play.

Hmmm...maybe those games (few) where I crush her all the time

Ahh, you're married too... :rimshot:

Who cares what women like to play. Who wants to play games with women anyway. And poker too! Let them play Bunko and Scrapbooking.

I think you're missing the point. Women, being the verbal creatures that they are, tend to love word games over other gamers. It doesnt matter if it's a card game or a board game as long as it has something to do with language or words. Now, I'm not implying that they DON'T like other games, but they seem to prefer language based games.

This is getting a strange discussion, with mainly man stating things. I think I basically like EVERY game, as long as there is not too much luck involved. I do play Lost Cities though.

Most girls and boys I play with like the same games, anyway, they have too, as they come to my house and play with MY games

I don't think there is a 'standard' woman game geek.

Ann

My wife loves card games, boardgames, and wargames equally.

She'll just as easily kick your ass in Killer Bunnies, A House Divided, Risk Godstorm, or Rommel in the Desert.

And I'll play virtually anything once, just to see if I do enjoy it or not.

Why do men believe that most women either abhor games or generally stick to one kind of game or another (and usually it's something trite, too)? I'm almost ashamed at my brother's out there in Geekdom, acting sexist and all.

Join the rest of humanity in the 21st century!

That is what is wrong with male gamers. That is why women don't want to play with some guys. Most have attitudes like that. You walk up to gamers and they already don't think you will play or can play because you have breast much less if you are remotely attractive.


Well, I have to admit. I scrapbook and cross stitch. But, with this debate. . . Wanna play Rommel with me? Let's see what kind of competitor a woman can be.



Okay, yes. I am a verbal creature but I think that has to do more with my individual person rather than being female. I actually don't like word type games. I like more strategy type games, wargames being my top game. I do not like Lost Cities. It is not my thing. Hera and Zeus is one of my favorite games because like alot of card games they are great for two players.



I think what my husband meant was, his wife does not like to be generalized and told that she does not like wargames. Yes the vast majority does not like wargames but saying women do not like wargames is too pretentious.

I understand the reason for this forum but the discussion was getting pretty insulting. There is no wonder why women are not in your gaming groups.

At least he does not need to care about people feeling insulted for nothing in his game sessions.

More little girls will look longer at a human human face than little boys, More little boys wll look longer at a mechanical mobile.

Little boys have tested to enjoy looking at maps more.

Cambridge University discovered this when studying autism.

Let that cloud your impressions.

It's funny - right when I first saw the title of this thread, I thought to myself "No, I'm pretty sure women prefer the 'What the H#!! Kind of Crack Is That!?' Game", but then I figured "Man, that's exactly the kind of line you wanna hold out on until after somebody else has stepped in it"...

Soo, did I wait long enough?

Not all women are against games... I like all sorts of games... I think the only type of game that I HAVEN'T played is war games, and I am willing to try them, but when we have a good length of time to play... There are games that I enjoy more than others, but isn't that what everyone says... I have been to Origins twice, PrezCon (and won the Bohnanza tournament), Game Days and have a twice weekly game sessions... Along with getting my family to play games whenever I can... That doesn't include the Werewolf games that I play and mod... Or the gaming sessions at home with my husband...

Barb Flaxington won Puerto Rico at last year's WBC. The year before that she won Tikal. I guess those games reminded her of cross-stitching or something?

Why are men such idiots sometimes? The very existence of this thread is offensive. I apologize on behalf of my gender, ladies.

I'm always surprised at how people get worked up about this topic. The original poster even used the terms "tend" and "trend". Sure, if you ask on a big gaming forum you'll get the ancedotal replies from/about women who are willing to play all sorts of games with great enthusiasm, however everything I've ever encountered in my life and those of my friends speaks to the fact that "gamer" women are rare in the overall population. Because of that, if you want to convert a non-gaming woman into a gamer, or at the very least have her tolerate a game now and then, you need to fall back on trends. Every individual is unique, but when talking of groups or populations there are measurable trends within that population, which are your best bet in anticipating how an individual from that group will react.

Last year I was doing the online dating thing and after a great deal of scrutinizing a couple of women made it all the way to stand before my horribly geeky gaming collection. I certainly wasn't going to pull Memoir '44 off the shelf, much less Advanced Third Reich, with the hope of making a good impression. Instead I grabbed Blokus and Carcassone and they worked great. There are actually quite a few women who come to game nights where I live and when they are selecting a game it's always Ticket to Ride, Blokus, Elfenland, Frank's Zoo or some other on-the-lighter-side type of game. All I'm doing is observing what women tend to grab of their own accord and take note of that.

None of this is meant to be an attack on women, instead this is just about men trying to find a way for their gaming hobby to be compatible with their romantic life. Men ask what tends to work for women because they want to the best chance to win their signifigant other over to their hobby. If after a bit of gaming your SO would like to try and complicated and ponderous wargame then that's great, but this can hardly be a commonplace event.

With my own online dating experience I ended up winning the gamer lottery. In an odd twist to how things normally unfold it was my girlfriend who embarrasingly revealed that she was a gamer. It was quite the surprise for me as I was hoping merely to find her being bemused with my geeky hobby, but before I knew it she was talking about metagaming, mini-maxing, nerfing, etc. This last week of vacation she eagerly campaigned for multiple games of Twilight Imperium. Mmmm, I'm in love!

So sure, there are women gamers out there, but come on... they are rare beings and when a man is dealing with large numbers (51% of the earth's population) he needs to work with probabilities and trends if he want's success with both gaming and love. As with basically everything in life, you begin with the general and then move to the specific.

As for the original question. As others have said, boardgames and cardgames don't have such a clear cut distinction in this hobby. Card games tend to be lighter and lighter games are always a good way of going when introducing a game to someone. Look at the geeklists for this topic and you'll get a nice long list of great games to show to women.

Not on my behalf I hope. I do not apologise for nothing: that would make my apologies devoid of meaning.
Not admitting that there are differences between men and women tastes is a form of sexism. One does not show tolerance by negating differences but rather by trying to understand them.
As for the question asked by this topic, if it is offensive, than every form where you have to state your sex is.
As for the statement that men are such idiot sometimes, it must be true, but it is subjective.
I am however inclined to apologise to the initial poster on your behalf.
Ladies and gentlemen, happy gaming.

Neil, you are a lucky man and I hate you for it. Does she have a sister?

Neil,

I actually agree with everything you said. What upset me was not the trend but that women trends are games that are light and simple to understand. Yes, the majority of gamers are men. Most men that are gamers know women who are not and are trying to convert them. I can appreciate this aspect. The thread itself did not offend me. Like you said, it was asking for trends and personal experience. I just hate how the conclusion of being drawn is women don't like games unless they are easy.

There are gaming groups with women, who have individual tastes like your group. Congrats on your great relationship. I am fortunate to find a husband like the one I have.



What I meant here was, I am a dimensional person. I also found his comment funny because it was meant to be funny. I do have a sense of humor.