Ask Lemmy

Unfathomable hands down.

It requires 3-6 people for well over two hours (longest was around 5h).

Constant attacks from the sea creatures trying to destroy your ship. With traitors.

But it's so engaging and fun. There is enough depth for replayability, lots of variation, there is always something happening, and players interact a lot, so there aren't boring parts just watching someone go off with their turn.

There was recently an expansion, adding lots of variety and more depth.

Almost everyone who played once wanted to try it again. If you can find people who have the time, they will not walk away until it's over. And will think about how to play differently the next time.

so many good options on here already so I'll add one that's a little more of a dedicated game:

Arkham lcg.

you create a deck that represents the character you will play in a series of approximately eight games where you cooperatively work through Lovecraftian mysteries loaded with interesting stories lore and twists.

has almost a tabletop RPG feel to it if it was converted to a card game, absolutely love it.

I mean talisman. Especially when multiple expansions are in play. junta was just so fun and hilarious. diplomacy in a take forever and sorta want to kill yourself if you even play till an actual duo wins type of way.

My absolute favourite is Spirit Island. A co-op game where you work together defending your island and kicking out explorers and settlers. Expanding your presence and getting new powers along the way. Every game with new combinations.

When we got the game we played this more than once every week for over a year. With each game taking 1-3hours with our playstyle. Sometimes longer with four players (but that's partly because of not actively playing the game then). We play less now only because of moving with the renovation taking too much time.

My wife and I really like Agricola. It's a farming-based people-placing game created in Germany for 2-4 players (with the base game), but there is an expansion for 5-6 players. We do play with a decent amount of house rules, though.

Pictionary

I love the second edition of Merchant of Venus.

Ticket to Ride. Building out your rail network is so satisfying.

Is ludo parcheesi?

Heroquest.

I’ve had the most fun with Burgle Bros

Betrayal at House on the Hill

Great board game for 3+ people. Best with a full crew. You and your mates explore a mansion. As you explore a new room you place a tile and something can happen.

It's meant to have a lot of replayability as each time you play there's a booklet full of potential end games that you can trigger. Such as the mansion is burning down and you need to escape.

Sequence is a favorite of mine.

Silver

I have WAY more games than I should, and I have so many better games, but Silver is the one that my wife and I have played more than ALL the others put together.

Technically, we play what we call Super Silver, which is using all the cards from every expansion (except a few we hate) and don't shuffle them back in between rounds. The game ends after four rounds or the deck is gone.

It's just easy to pick up and go, and random enough that every game is a little different.

Call to Adventure, Wingspan/Wyrmspan, most of the Tiny Epic series, Coup are all solid contenders.

I like the Red Raven games but I don't really look forward to playing them because of all the set up and tear down lol, I would love them as digital products with automation.

Go. It's nobody knows how many thousands of years old, it's easy as pie and difficult like crazy. The game can't end in a draw. It's easy to balance strong and weak players so they can compete with full effort. The equipment is trivial to make with common, cheap household items. Computers got competitive against humans just a couple of years ago (compare to chess where they beat humans in 1997 and ever since).

Mancala, if that counts.

Solo: Mage Knight

2 player: Star Trek Fleet Captains

4 player: Shadows of Brimstone

Stupid-fun dice chucker for 4 or 5: Project Elite

Clue.

Single favourite is hard to pick.

Casual: I agree, Ludo is GOAT.

Invested: Catan..... Maybe Scrabble

Dumb fun: Mad magazine game