Another shout for Ticket to ride here!
Made by the same company (days of wonder) is a good one called The River.
Survive (not as well known weirdly?) But my 6 and 9year old play it too and love it!
Settlers of Catan, another good one! More grown up though imo… there are a load of expansions for that one too.
We love a game called Grabbolo, not a board game but highly competitive and we love it.
I shall stop but I could go on and on…
My husband eyes up wingspan every time we go in our local games shop. Our one has it so pricey though and we always get distracted by something else.
Maybe Christmas present? I’m glad you’ve made me remember this game!
100% it’s a beautiful game. We play it as a board game whenever we can…but it the base version is also available on pc via steam and also now on iPad, Xbox etc too I think. My My wife flies for a living so is away for a week at a time - so we can still get our wingspan fix in a digital form.
I’m very much into my birds, so it works on so many levels.
It’s quite regularly discounted on a lot of the online stores so worth a look!
I’ve 3d printed an insert for the box to keep it tidy (yes I’m that sad)
There’s a similarly themed and beautiful game called meadow that ive bought too - but not played yet.
I’ve never played labyrinth but I’ve bought my son the Pokemon version for Christmas and I imagine it will be opened as soon as he sets his eyes on it 
I always try and shop out our local store as they are great and even if its a game they don’t stock they will order in. But I might have to shop about for this one 
It does look rather pretty. The birdhouse is a nice touch. 
I’m not sure I would have given that a second look without a recommendation, as we’re not automatically drawn to the nature-themed ones. I’m trying to cast a wider net though for when I eventually get ones for the kids to play too. This one (and Meadow) looks really nice, and I think they’ll also pick up a bit about birds and nature just by playing, which can only be a good thing. 
Maybe mention it next time you go in, and say you’d rather spend the money there but at that price difference it makes it really difficult. See if they’ll do you a deal.
Facebook market place can be a good way to pick up local bargains of big name games.
That and the groups but that can be a curse as well as a blessing!
My favourites as a kid was mousetrap and rumble in the jungle 
anything that had lots of bits to it that had to build I’d love.
@BLovesC - Yes, I love Wingspan. To be honest, I haven’t really thought about the expansions since there are so many bird cards in the main game to get a different experience each time.
We also have Quacks of Quedlingburg, but haven’t played it yet. We’re buying them faster than we can learn to play and get through them when we have “old favourites” that we play instead all the time, haha. Need to start playing through the unplayed ones as some are really enjoyable. We played Disney’s Villainous last week and it was good 
@Ian_Chimp Definitely recommend Ticket to Ride. There’s so many versions to pick from, too. We have the main US one.
@Forever_his - The price was one of things that put me off for a while with Wingspan but it’s a very nice, well made game. I got mine for about £45 secondhand which was basically brand new condition.
I don’t think I’d be brave enough 
@ChloJakes - I am glad you said Risk. I remember playing it years ago in a pub.
I really want to buy this for my son to play but I am worried it was a nice memory rather than a good game.
Worth the money?
Well, really you’re doing them a favour, as you’re trying very hard to give your money to them instead of Amazon. The worst they can say is ‘no’, but if you ask they might say yes…
There are quite a lot, aren’t there. I think I like the idea of the Europe and the US ones more than the London and UK ones, but there are so many more too. Where do people buy them from online? (not sure I have a local games shop) The googling gave me a lot of sites I’d not heard of, and a vast difference in prices.
We buy our board games from a mix of places, but most of the time it’s Amazon, eBay or Zatu. There’s also a few stores around our city centre that we sometimes go into (Forbidden Planet and Worlds Apart). Travelling Man also have loads of games, too.
GAME have started selling board games so it’s not all video games now.
Definitely pays to shop around, though. Some of the prices can have big differences. I’ll usually be in a shop and look up the prices online first before buying anything there.
There’s a site called Board Game Prices UK that tracks ups and downs in prices for hobby games. It shows whether postage is included and an indication of trustworthiness. Also sign up to the newsletter to enter a draw for Wingspan!
Chaos Cards, Dice and Decks, Board Game Extras and Board Game Hut are all pretty solid bets.
Or you can pick up a London version of Ticket to Ride for £20 from Argos.
Love it. Such a great push your luck game and good for beginners. They start feeling confused by the rules and by round three they feel like Gods as they string together cool combos.
Yeah I feel your pain….I have a numbered list of all our games and we roll a D20 or two to choose!
However if we’re mentally tired we always fallback to wingspan!
I’m into my birds so having the European expansion meant there were lots of birds I liked - plus there is an additional ‘type’ of bird that triggers its action at the end of each round which adds a new dynamic.
The Oceania expansion adds another (that triggers at the end of the game) and also mew boards and a new food type - the changes are all very good - the new boards stops you Just laying loads of eggs in the last few rounds and makes for a more rounded game…but we’ve played it a lot!
I get mine either from a local shop in Reading, or usually from Zatu or Amazon. I get sucked into the discounts if you buy three games at Zatu, but their service is very good and speedy and you earn points like you do on LH which quickly add up!
The ones we’ve played recently were Cranium, Ticket to Ride, and Rummikub. If we ever settle down, I’d like to get a nice chess set
I have a few more random ones as well that I think I picked up from The Works on a whim one year. One of them is pretty good (Furstenfeld), but I think the others have slightly flawed game mechanics (Bean Trader, Darjeeling). I do like their artwork though, especially when you compare them to the more usual MB games.
My kids are only 6 at the minute, so I’ve got a while to wait before they can join in with some of these properly (I’m looking forward to Discworld ). Has anyone taught their kids to play any of these? And are there any ‘stepping stone’ style ones that may speed it up?
