What's your favorite board game other than Go?

[Joelnelsonb]

Anyone ever play a game called Third Reich? If Go is the most elegant game there is than this would be the least "elegant". The rule book looks like the Bible and no one really knows them all. Part of improving at the game is learning more rules to play by. I personally don't get it but my brothers loves those sorts of games.

[RBerenguel]

RBerenguel: where do you play Y? What I play is heavily influenced by what's available at LittleGolem.

Actually I don't even remember where I played Y (maybe gamerz.net?) I played several games like 8 years and found it nicer than Hex, but gave up soon because I also liked LG more

[wineandgolover]

We play mostly light board and card games:
Skull (my current fave - very simple and pure rules, but far from easy, like go)
Coup
Resistance
No Thanks!
Dixit

[HermanHiddema]

I play and enjoy lots of other games, from extremely simple card games to long and complicated board games. Some favourites throughout the years have included Settlers of Catan, Empire Builder, RoboRally, Through the Ages, Galaxy Trucker and Dominion.

But none of them have the staying power that Go does.

[CnP]

There are only two board games - Chess and Go If all the Go players in the world suddenly quit playing Go, Chess is what I would switch to.

[RBerenguel]

I play and enjoy lots of other games, from extremely simple card games to long and complicated board games. Some favourites throughout the years have included Settlers of Catan, Empire Builder, RoboRally, Through the Ages, Galaxy Trucker and Dominion.

But none of them have the staying power that Go does.

I know you play backgammon too

[Darsey]

Abalone!

[cyclops]

I like to play bridge!

[Joelnelsonb]

Abalone looks fun but the rules look a little confusing. Is it pretty simple to pick up?

[AVAVT]

Before playing Go I used to play this game a lot Ô ăn quan. It's an old traditional game in my country, very easy to learn and popular among children because it focus on counting. I think it's spread out of Vietnam by now though, last time I went to Germany there was a copy sold in the board game section

[Joelnelsonb]

I've recently been playing a lot of Checkers and Backgammon; both games I've been very impressed with. Firstly because they're both a lot of fun but also because I had never realized how complex they both are and the reading skill required to play them. Obviously, they don't quite compare with the complexity of Go but I've had fun branching out.

[RBerenguel]

I've recently been playing a lot of Checkers and Backgammon; both games I've been very impressed with. Firstly because they're both a lot of fun but also because I had never realized how complex they both are and the reading skill required to play them. Obviously, they don't quite compare with the complexity of Go but I've had fun branching out.

Do you play backgammon online? Re: checkers, have you read about Marion Tinsley?

[Anzu]

I've recently been playing a lot of Checkers and Backgammon; both games I've been very impressed with. Firstly because they're both a lot of fun but also because I had never realized how complex they both are and the reading skill required to play them. Obviously, they don't quite compare with the complexity of Go but I've had fun branching out.

Apparently, some people spend two or three hours on a single game of checkers. I was very surprised when I heard of that.

[virre]

Before playing Go I used to play this game a lot Ô ăn quan. It's an old traditional game in my country, very easy to learn and popular among children because it focus on counting. I think it's spread out of Vietnam by now though, last time I went to Germany there was a copy sold in the board game section

I checked it out on Boardgame Geek https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/157507/o-quan, it is possible that the game you saw in Germany was another related game in the Mancala family
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/9/mancala

[tekesta]

Before playing Go I used to play this game a lot Ô ăn quan. It's an old traditional game in my country, very easy to learn and popular among children because it focus on counting. I think it's spread out of Vietnam by now though, last time I went to Germany there was a copy sold in the board game section

This game is a lot like congkak in Malaysia or toguz kumalak in the Central Asian republics. These games come from an African game known in West Africa as oware. This game was first played 3000 years ago in East Africa and during the 8th century A.D. Arab traders learned the game there, after which they took it with them to different parts of Asia. A version of this game is played on some islands of the Caribbean and is known as warri. It was brought to the Caribbean by enslaved West Africans working on the big plantations of the European colonies. In contrast to congkak boards, warri boards are nothing more than a piece of pine wood with 12 hemispherical holes, 6 holes in 2 rows. This is because the slaves had to be able to hide the boards from their masters and overseers, who had prohibited the enslaved Africans from practicing their mother culture.

A game similar to Ô ăn quan is sold in many countries, including the US and Canada, under the name "mancala".