Board game help.

[CalvinJohn]

My brother and his partner both have November and they both want board games FYI they're both in their 30s. So far all they have is trivial persuit and scrabble.

So they like fun games that make your brain work. Novelty games are no use.

I'm never really in that area of the shops, so no idea what's new or popular.

Thank you for any help, as I'm completely stuck.

Not strictly a board game but "Cards Against Humanity" is Hilarious and very popular

If they like cookery then Smorgasbord is a great and quite varied game

Chess (obvs)

Khet is a laser based game modelled on chess. We love it.

Ticket to ride
Catan
Carcassonne
Pandemic

Camel cup!

Linker

Linkee even

Camel Up
Codenames
Dixit
Bounce Off
Escape Room games are cheap and fun but you can only play them once - search Exit The Game on Amazon.

Andor

I'd do them a favour and go with two player games they can play together so they can get the use. Highly recommend Jaipur, Hive, or Patchwork (you can get all of them on amazon, all are easy to play).
Otherwise a bit more complex and better with more players; Pandemic, Ticket to ride, Settlers of Catan. For something way more basic we like Boggle, which they might enjoy if they like word games, or if theres something specific they're into the themed trivial pursuits/scrabbles/monopoly are fun, easy to play and work fine with two players- we love the Harry Potter one in our house.

Settlers of Catan
Carcassonne
Exploding Kittens

Rummikub is pretty popular in our house. It's fairly simple and easy to learn but you have to really think.

Pandemic is great. Also love ticket to ride and catan

I agree with several of the recommendations above.
For a game they can play together Codenames Duet (co-operative version of Codenames which can be played with just 2, Codenames itself is very good but needs 2 teams so minimum 4 players).

Also Hanabi is a cooperative card game which is good fun.

Pandemic is not too complicated to learn but you do need to think and can be played with 2 players so that's my number 1 reccomendation! There are also expansions available for this.

I'll second a few others saying Catan and Ticket to Ride but you need 3 players minimum for those . Betrayal at the house on the hill is another good 3 player minimum.

I'm enjoying one called eldritch horror at the moment (1 to 8 players) but it's very long to play and a bit more complicated to understand than the others (I'm not very good at it!) So I'd maybe start with pandemic and see if they like that first

Ticket to Ride
Pandemic

Correction ticket to Ride can be 2 played! So that's a good option too. I still think pandemic is the best choice but if you were thinking 1 game each I'd say pandemic and Ticket to Ride :)

Thank you so much. I'll be looking all of these up. So many options, that hopefully I'll find 2 out of these.

Thanks again.

Dominion
221b Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes game

Second the Sherlock Holmes game, that is fab.

Maybe Risk?

Pandemic definitely

Escape From Colditz or Westminster (I think they're both still available).

Settlers of cayman is a favourite

Also
Scotland Yard for all ages

Sequence is a great game that not many people seem to have heard of. It uses cards and counters and can be played with any multiple of 2 or 3 players. Suitable for adults and older children .

Mexican train is another one that's popular with my family and younger children can join in too.

I'd recommend Khet as well.
And Labyrinth.

Bucket of Doom is slightly tamer than Cards Against Humanity.

With CAH you are forced into saying un-PC things, but with BoD your imagination lets you be as twisted or untwisted as you like.

Boardgamegeek is a great place for reviews and suggestions. I would recommend Dominion (probably Intrigue rather than the base set) as a good 2 player game.