Top 10 Games My Wife Plays (Plus Your Recommendations)
Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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Based on my own experience and from what I've read on BGG, getting your wife (or girlfriend) to play board/card games can be challenging. Some of you have wives who are up for any board game. (Kudos to you.) Others have wives who aren't interested in anything except Monopoly. (It might be time to get a new wife.)
My wife is somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. In general, she does NOT play board games with any of the following attributes:
1. Direct attacks on other players
2. Long periods in between players' turns with nothing going on
3. Games that take more than 90 minutes
4. Trivia
5. Games that are only 2 players (they just don't get played enough)
That being said, here's the list of her top 10 games. Feel free to reccommend other games that meet the above parameters. I'm always looking for good birthday/anniversary/Christmas/Mother's Day ideas.
(Note: This is my first GeekList. Any suggestions are welcome.)
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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This was our first Euro game and is still a favorite for both of us. It remains the most requested game with family and friends. We have all of the expansions but usually only play with one at a time.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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It's probably the game we play most often with just 2 players. She loves fighting the animals and helping Candamir, or as she calls it, "fighting Candamir." We've made our own cards using the online card editor.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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This is usually our go-to game when there's not enough time for Settlers or Kingsburg.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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Our newest game. We recently picked up the expansion as well.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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We had a gift card to Toys R Us, and we picked this up after recalling that it was a Mensa Select game. It's a great game for the price and is surprisingly strategic with 2 players.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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My wife prefers this game to Wits & Wagers because she's not a big trivia fan. It's one of the few games her father will play, so we break it out when he comes over.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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My wife loves the Harry Potter books, but isn't big on the movies. The cards feature original artwork instead of movie stills, which is a huge plus for her. Her favorite starting characters are Dumbledore, Longbottom, Sprout, Potter (2nd Year), and Arthur Weasley.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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My wife has enjoyed this game since she was a child. She loves word games that can be played quickly.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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Another fun word game my wife enjoys, although she breaks out the dictionary a little too much for my liking. Quiddler usurped Boggle as our most played "word creation" game. Bananagrams occasionally steals some playing time from Quiddler as well.
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Matthew Cordeiro
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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We always bring it on camping trips because it's one of those games you can play with a few drinks, and it's not a big deal if the cards get a little dirty.
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Jeff Mays
United States
Cincinnati
Ohio
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This one has been a really big hit with my wife, who agrees a lot of your wife's requirements. Although its main feature is rolling dice, it has a good amount of strategy that generally negates sheer luck of the dice. It plays better with three or four, but is decent with two (and since she doesn't like 2 player games, I guess that is not too much of an issue).
I was very surprised at how much we liked this one. And my daughters love it as well, so it works well with various ages as well.
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Isaac Milton
United States
New Hampshire
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My wife's favorite game. We've played over 60 games together and are pretty close when it comes to total wins.
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Isaac Milton
United States
New Hampshire
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I was afraid she would hate this game. It's very spacial, which I am better at (or so I thought). She loves the game and destroys me almost every time. She's a pro at building ships that have no exposed connectors.
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Raiko Puust
Estonia
Keila
Harju Maakond
Raiko & Agnes Forever! Feel the Love and Feel the Warmth. Happiness is 2 hugs plus 3 kisses every hour...:D (http://mrboardgames.wordpress.com/)
Addicted Estonian gamer with big heart and direct winning attitude. Need any help with something, just ask. Need some GG for something, just ask. Need something to be translated, just ask. Meanwhile, behave! :D (http://mrboardgames.wordpress.com/)
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This one likes to my girlfriend a lot!
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15.
Board Game: Agricola
[Average Rating:8.25 Overall Rank:2]
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the missus loves this, and so do I. We don't have any set rules about what kinds of games we like, but it seems we do lean towards euro games where you're more trying to do the best you can, not necessarily by blatantly messing with the other player. There's something incredibly satisfying about building your farm, and the cards give great replay value, no other game has hit the table more for us, and we still have loads of extra decks and the expansion to give a try.
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Tim Myers
United States
Salem
Wisconsin
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My wife really likes this and it is one of her favorite games.
There are no "direct" attacks on other players but you can sure mess with them by blocking and beating them to a market.
On each turn a player gets 3 actions and so the downtime is not too bad.
Most games are between 60 and 90 minutes.
We usually play with another couple but we have played some very challenging 2 player games.
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David Dawson
United States
Champaign
Illinois
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We have the Traders and Builders and the Inns and Cathedrals expansions, and me and my girlfriend actually play pretty regularly, despite being busy college students.
Also, she whoops my butt 8 or 9 times out of 10. 
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Carver
Minnesota
1. Direct attacks on other players
2. Long periods in between players' turns with nothing going on
3. Games that take more than 90 minutes
4. Trivia
5. Games that are only 2 players (they just don't get played enough)
My wife doesn't have so many objections, but . . .
1. While she's competitive and OK with direct attacks on other players, she can't stand what she perceives as sneak attacks; she wants the conflict to be right out in the open. I'm pretty much with her on that; I don't care for a lot of deception in games either.
2. She does get impatient with me if I spend too much time taking my turn or thinking--or if anyone does. But she'll gladly use downtime between player turns to talk new players through their moves or whatever. As long as she can do something (even go get a cup of tea), she's OK with it. But she'd be unhappy if she just had to sit there twiddling her thumbs.
3. My wife actually likes long games. We've had many enjoyable sessions of Advanced Civilization and History of the World. And she just bought me a copy of Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization. The trouble is, she'll only play these games if we have at least two other people over--and we almost never do.
4. Trivia is not a favorite for either of us. Kind of a last resort.
5. This is the big dispute between us: I'm perfectly happy with two-player games (or even solitaire games), but she isn't interested in them very often. For me, it's so much of a chore trying to get her to play a two-player game that I've practically given up. Thanks to my browsing and buying, we own a big stack of excellent two-player games, but one is still in shrinkwrap and most of the others are unplayed. That said, her favorite game is Lost Cities--but she wishes it could be played by more people (a moot point, since there are almost never more people around anyway). If it's just the two of us, she figures she might as well play a computer game by herself instead (and she usually chooses a computer game with several AI players so there's at least the illusion of company).
Macedon
New York
College Station
Texas
Still, here are a few that she likes:
1) Scrabble, and most other word games. She's very good at them, and plays for blood.
2) Animal Upon Animal. This is probably the Eurogame that she has enjoyed the most. She has actually even suggested playing this before! I can't think of another game she has suggested playing.
3) Card games. While she prefers standard card games, she has been know to play Category 5 and some other less-complicated German card games.
4) Bigger dexterity games, like Crokinole, Sorry! Sliders and Tumblin-Dice. She won't ask to play them, but she will, on occasion, play them and enjoy it.
5) Some party games. The biggest hits have been Apples to Apples, Say Anything and Wits & Wagers. I have been adding a few new ones to my collection to try out the next time there's a gathering at the house.
For the most part, I've given up trying to pick titles that she will be interested in playing. If she expresses interest in a game, I'm surprised and will get it, but I never count on it.