Too pure a "game" and you'd prefer a bit more theme? Maybe a chance to see how history might have been different if you'd been in charge during the Cold War?: Twilight Struggle.
Pandemic [0] is a fantastic co-op game with a relevant-to-the-times theme. If you like the base game, then consider Pandemic Legacy [1], which is probably the best board game I've ever played.
And if you just want some chaotic fun, Magic Maze [2] is a real-time, co-op game where the division of labor is split along actions (move up/down, move left/right) rather than across players. There's a very short time-limit, so games are quick but stressful, if you take them seriously, or hilarious, if you don't.
Two quick games that qualify, that are liked by people who like the games you have:
Azul: (lovely) tile laying reminiscent of stained glass. Games take 30-45 minutes and explaining the game takes just a few of those.
Kingdomino: tile laying around a castle to connect different types of lands for points. Has an effective mechanic to trade off getting better tiles against future opportunity. Children play this game easily but adults also like it.
Note that Azul is a masonry game but the sequel, Azul: Stained Glass Sintra, is about stained glass. Both are excellent, but I personally find the sequel just overall a better experience.
Also, in the 'abstract games about stained glass' category, Sagrada is a 100x better than Azul 2: The Glassening. It's a fantastic little puzzle game that's a bit different every playthrough.
I’ve only played the original Azul and Sagrada, but Sagrada didn’t really do it for us (while we love Azul). What are you seeing in Sagrada that we are not?
I find that Sagrada is a better game when you've got players of mixed ages and skill levels playing -- it tends to be much more of a level field because the strategy doesn't matter quite so much between rounds unlike Azul. The scoring system in Sagrada is also a little more straightforward in that its pretty obvious how to maximize your points. The game is also generally less adversarial than Azul, which is good if you're trying to do a couple rounds after a family dinner or something. It ends up being a little more of a game you can share a drink or a dessert over -- whereas Azul quickly turns competitive.
Basically, Sagrada's the game I bring to family gatherings, Azul's the game I bring to board game nights for a warmup/cooloff game.
With Azul, it's basically the same puzzle every time, and you're dealing with the particular order in which things are available. Sagrada's goals and special moves switch out every game, which makes each game its own puzzle. This adds a lot of replay value for me, though there's also a lot of random variance in the puzzle difficulty: sometimes it's a very easy puzzle and everyone gets near-perfect points, and sometimes it's deliciously difficult.
Occult is just one of many, many popular themes in board games. Others are:
* trains (Trans America, Ticket to Ride, Empire Builder, 1830)
* animals (Wingspan has been mentioned),
* building (Catan, Pillars of the Earth, Argicola),
* trading (Le Havre, Cuba) (note: trading as a theme, not necessarily a game mechanic)
* evolution (Primordial Soup, Evolution)
* space combat (Core Worlds, X-Wing)
* history (Through the Ages, Civilization)
(I've tried to order the games roughly from easy to complex)
It's certainly true that fantasy, horror, and occult are also popular themes. Perhaps more so in Anglo-Saxon-style games than in Eurogames, which can be about extremely mundane things, like maintaining a garden or sewing a patchwork.
A couple of other interesting non-fantasy games:
El Dorado (finding your way through the wilderness)
Power Grid (generating power and supplying it to cities)
Terraforming Mars (theme is obvious)
Twilight Struggle (the Cold War)
Check on BoardgameGeek[0]. Also pay attention to complexity, time and age requirements. Some games are very big, complex and time-consuming, others are quick and easy. Catan, Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne are all classics that fall somewhere in the middle.
I think personally I wouldn't say having a "witch" as a character in a game would make it occult related, but assuming that you do find it that way, then here are some games I've enjoyed that I don't think even remotely touch on the occult.
What do you mean by "occult" - as in, like, literally they seem to tie into subjects you have a religious objection to? Or just that they seem like they're designed by and for spooky people who hide in basements?
Who are you playing with? Kids? Adults? Do you have a regular group? How large is the group? How often are you looking to play, and how long into the night?
What do you like about Catan, TTR, and Carcassonne? What older boardgames did you like before?
Like, I can say if you like the mechanics of TTR and the leveling-up feel of Catan, you should get Splendor... but if you're hungry for just more Catan, with deeper and more elaborate gameplay I'd say jump to Cities and Knights of Catan, the expantion that makes the game level up higher.
Do you love the tile laying of Carcassonne, but want something where you feel like you have more control? Get Kingdomino.
If you love tile laying but want less control and more mayhem, and love the exasperated agony of watching your hard work collapse? Including real-time rushing? Like, ever tried playing Jenga with a chess-clock? If that sounds fun, get Galaxy Truckers.
Want to explore the social side? Have a large group? Resistance Avalon. The game is pure social deduction - figure out who among you are traitors before they take control of the game. If your group is in for black comedy, there's a Weimar Republic themed game that's similar called Secret Hitler.
Ever tried a co-op game? Want something thematic to our modern pain? Pandemic - you and a bunch of specialists run around the world treating cities and hunting for cures.
Each of them are widely popular recent games that have a similar amount of rules to the ones you own and still offer some good strategy and fun for nearly everyone I've played with.
FYI I was kind of surprised when I saw that game only received a 7.5, but then I checked Catan for reference an that only received a 7.2 rating so make of that what you will.
Generally: Mechs and Minions, Zombicide Agricola and Pandemic
For family fun 'Bang'
Munchkin' is the go to game when we have annual holiday with some uni friends. Great speed of game, the betrayal element is great for that crowd plus kids 10+ enjoy and get in on the adult banter.
I was ready to chide you for sending this person on a fruitless quest for a copy of Modern Art, only to find out they have been reprinting the proper version again since at least last year! I fell in love with it playing a friend of a friend's copy, but for years the only version in print had the auction elements removed.
Sagrada is one I've personally played and recommend. I've heard a lot of people recommend Sushi Go but I haven't given it a play myself.
Check out BoardGameGeek if you haven't yet, there's every theme and mechanic out there you can think of, and you can see games related to ones you already like, highest rated games, curated lists, etc.
Hanabi is a good cooperative puzzle game based around a fireworks factory.
If you like games with an economic component, the Power Grid franchise is fun to play. Each map has a special twist on the rules, such as not being able to buy uranium on the North Korean market, and you can only buy from the North or South market each turn (not both).
> I'd really like to get into more board games, but so many of them have an occult flavor to them.
How did you come to this conclusion? It's... completely disconnected from reality.
If I go to boardgamegeek.com and look at the "the hotness" sidebar, there are 15 games (of which two, Gloomhaven and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, would appear to be closely related).
In descending order of "occult flavor":
1. Arkham Horror: The Card Game
2. Spirit Island (in which you play as pagan deities trying to repel the forces of civilization)
3. Gloomhaven (perfectly ordinary dungeon crawler, as far as I see)
4. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
5. Lost Ruins of Arnak (makes some reference to "fearsome guardians" associated with the remnants of a lost civilization)
At this point, there is zero "occult flavor" associated with any of the 10 remaining games. So, in the order listed on the site:
6. Pendulum - "Players command their workers, execute stratagems, and expand the provinces in their domain in real time to gain resources and move up the four victory tracks: power, prestige, popularity, and legendary achievement."
7. Dead Reckoning - "is a game of exploration, piracy, and influence based in a Caribbean-esque setting. Each player commands a ship and crew and seeks to amass the greatest fortune."
8. Imperial Struggle - "is a two-player game depicting the 18th-century rivalry between France and Britain. It begins in 1697, as the two realms wait warily for the King of Spain to name an heir, and ends in 1789, when a new order brought down the Bastille."
9. Terraforming Mars - "Giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, initiate huge projects to raise the temperature, the oxygen level, and the ocean coverage until the environment is habitable. In Terraforming Mars, you play one of those corporations and work together in the terraforming process, but compete for getting victory points that are awarded not only for your contribution to the terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and doing other commendable things."
10. Godzilla: Tokyo Clash - "you play as the Earth's most fearsome Kaiju — Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Megalon — battling for dominance as the most terrifying monster in Japan."
11. Wingspan - "You are bird enthusiasts—researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors—seeking to discover and attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves."
12. Maracaibo - "is set in the Caribbean during the 17th century. The players try to increase their influence in three nations in four rounds with a play time of 40 minutes per player."
13. Brass: Birmingham - "tells the story of competing entrepreneurs in Birmingham during the industrial revolution, between the years of 1770-1870. As in its predecessor, you must develop, build, and establish your industries and network, in an effort to exploit low or high market demands."
14. Everdell - "the time has come for new territories to be settled and new cities established. You will be the leader of a group of critters [forest wildlife] intent on just such a task. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, events to host—you have a busy year ahead of yourself. Will the sun shine brightest on your city before the winter moon rises?"
15. Root - "The nefarious Marquise de Cat has seized the great woodland, intent on harvesting its riches. Under her rule, the many creatures of the forest have banded together. This Alliance will seek to strengthen its resources and subvert the rule of Cats."
I was inclined to disagree with the OP, but if a third of the top board games could reasonably be described as having an occult flavor, they seem connected with reality. That’s high enough that it seems okay to ask for help choosing a game.
Gloomhaven is full of demons and Lovecraftian monsters to fight, by the way, and the player characters use summons and dark magic. Great game; we’re on roughly our 40th play session tomorrow!
I don't think it makes sense to consider Gloomhaven and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion independently. There are other issues with this count -- for example, Lost Ruins of Arnak doesn't appear to, technically, exist yet -- but that would be the main one.
If, instead of the "the hotness" sidebar, I look at the top 20 games by rating, then those with more than zero potential occult flavor are:
1. Gloomhaven
13. Spirit Island
19. Arkham Horror: The Card Game
(with potential honorable mentions going to Star Wars: Rebellion and War of the Ring: Second Edition, depending on your opinion of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.) This is 15%, not 33%.
You have to know what it is you're trying to count. A Feast for Odin (#23) might be objectionable on the grounds that you are thematically honoring a pagan god. But it involves no supernatural phenomena whatsoever. Mage Knight (#24) is a war game in which you use magic.
I would mentally classify Mage Knight in the same genre as superheroes rather than occultism, but somebody else might differ. But my larger point is, it's a mistake to look at those two games, acknowledge that they both meet (very different) definitions of occultism, and then conclude that occultism is extremely prevalent. First define what occultism is, and then you'll notice that the number of games actually meeting that definition is much smaller than the number of games potentially meeting any definition.
I’m fine with your revised criteria but still think it shows the OP was somewhat reasonable to ask for help. You insulted them pretty badly. They’ve gotten good recommendations from other users, though.
It’s not a third of the top board games. It’s 5 out of 15 games.
I’ve played enough games to realise anything in the top 200 is probably quite good. Probably anything from 201 to 500 is is also good.
Erring on the side of caution, maybe 20% of the top 200 may have magic or occult elements. I have far too many board games. I maybe have 5 that are occultish, have magic or pagan religions. I’m actually really surprised. I thought it would be more. I have more games about farming.
How is it "completely disconnected from reality" if a third of the games in your random sample fit the description?
Admittedly "occult" is a bit vague. Does it refer to everything with a fantasy or supernatural theme? Then it's undeniable that it's a popular theme for games. Fantasy, magic, horror, superheroes; there's plenty there that sparks the imagination of gamers and game designers, and if that's a theme someone dislikes or objects to, then that's a pretty big chunk they're losing out on.
Still, there are indeed a lot of games that don't touch on any of those topics at all. Shop around a bit, look into different kind of games.
Or use BBG's advanced search[0] to filter out all the themes you don't like[1]. (In this search, I filtered out everything fantasy, horror, religious or mythological.)
Some we like are Azul, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Kingdomino, Splendor, Castles of Burgundy, Pandemic: Iberia, Lanterns, Isle of Skye, Concordia, Kingdom Builder, and Potion Explosion.
I'm not sure Dominion is a great choice if the OP is trying to avoid anything occult-related. Isn't the Witch a card in the base set?
OP, I would just go on BoardGameGeek and browse through the top-rated games. Just looking at a game's page should be enough to tell you if the content is acceptable.
Though honestly, as a newbie, you should probably look through one of the curated game lists: the bare rating that a game has seldom lines up with what a beginner might be looking for. For a start, it's mostly heavier games that have very high ratings.
And like many ratings sites BGG ends up weighted to novelty. Is this really the best movie / novel / video game / comic book / burger ? No, probably not, but it's the popular new one right now among people who watched a lot of movies, read a lot of novels, played a lot of video games, read a lot of comic books or ate a lot of burgers as appropriate.
Unlike built-in ratings (e.g. Uber, eBay) these ratings do at least provide some value at the low end. There are a fair few games on BGG with 5.0 or lower ratings and you probably just don't want those games, sight unseen.
You're getting some downvotes for this recommendation it looks like.
My personal observations about BSG:
As a traitor-mechanic game it suffers severely if the traitor doesn't know how to play well or if someone gets bored and isn't paying attention.
Again in particular with coop-with-traitor-mechanic games, it is very vulnerable to loud alpha-gamer quarterbacking ("Hey! Everyone needs to support this plan because it's clearly The Best Plan, and if you don't you're clearly the traitor because you're playing sub-optimally.")
It takes a long time, 2 hours minimum and I've been subjected to 4 hour games.
Put simply, it is generally not fun for a rookie gamer.
Recommendation:If this game of cooperative play with traitor mechanic sounds interesting to you, I recommend the game "The Resistance: Avalon", which has similar mechanics but plays in 20 minutes optimally and 50 minutes for a slow game. Compare with 120 minutes to 240 minutes in my experience for BSG.
Disclaimer:I've played BSG twice (same group), I've hated it twice, and I refuse to play it anymore. I do not consider myself a rookie, and I personally prefer shorter (120 minutes or less), simpler games.
I've played New Angeles which is the replacement for Battlestar Galactica using the Android setting instead of a licensed setting.
I hate traitor mechanics, and I'm not a big fan of the Android setting (Android itself I find not much fun) - but I found the mechanism in New Angeles acceptable. One player did indeed screw everybody else over, and it wasn't the most fun I've had in that amount of time, but I'd do it again some weekend I think.
The popular game I refuse to play is "Firefly: The Game". The friend who owns it says "Well it's flawed but it really captures the TV show". I hadn't enjoyed our first game of Firefly and hadn't seen the TV show, though I had seen the movie, so I watched the TV show. The next time I explained to him that he'd been correct. It exactly captures the TV show, in that the TV show's writer clearly doesn't understand that he's writing a story about the bad guys. Stories about bad guys can be fun. There don't even need to be good guys, there arguably aren't any good guys in "The Wire" for example - but the writer does need to be aware they're telling a story about bad guys. Firefly thinks these people are heroes. And so does the terrible board game.
Star Wars is the story about Space Wizards right? It's like a Western, except it has Space Wizards for some reason and also the main hero wants to fuck his sister? Some of them were pretty OK, I liked the one where Indiana Jones is captured by Space Nazis. I didn't watch all of them, there are lots and it seems like the quality is very variable.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41/cant-stop
Too pure a "game" and you'd prefer a bit more theme? Maybe a chance to see how history might have been different if you'd been in charge during the Cold War?: Twilight Struggle.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/51380/game-twiligh...
Better to stay away from politics as well as the occult? Is it OK to make wine (you are not obliged to drink the wine)?: Viticulture
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128621/viticulture
If it's OK to make wine, how about whisky?: Clans of Caledonia
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216132/clans-caledonia
If it's not OK to make wine (or whisky) how about electricity?: Power Grid
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2651/power-grid