Your 1st Games – Abandon all artichokes and Love Letter

Great beginner board games

To learn more about what board games are good for beginners click here.

Because we are the beginning of what games a person should buy when getting into board games – these three qualities were important in the selection:

• Easy
• Short
• Inexpensive

Those three traits are what the first two games I am introducing have in common. That and they are also both really fun games. For your first two games to begin your modern board game collection, I’ve selected two that completely strip out the “board” in board games. These are two great “small box” card games that will begin to introduce concepts found in countless other games. Those concepts being: Deck Building, Hand Management, and Deduction. For right $27 bucks (at time of writing) – you can end up with both of these great beginner board games.

Abandon all artichokes

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Abandon All Artichokes is a card game with a win condition that I have not really seen elsewhere. Winning isn’t determined by score, or how many total cards you have or don’t have, or even the amount of “tricks” you or your team have won. Instead, you win if you draw a hand and you have no Artichokes in it. But alas, I’m getting ahead of myself –

At the beginning of the game, you essentially have a deck of 10 junk cards – 10 Artichoke cards. Those cards can’t do anything, and in fact, you are actively trying to get rid of them. Each round you will draw 5 new cards, pick a new card from a shared board in the middle of the table, and then play as many cards as you can (or like) out of your hand. Because the artichoke cards are “junk” cards, you’ll actively be trying to get them out of your deck altogether. You’ll either compost them (remove them from play), pass them to another player in one form or another, or simply discard them – and hope you don’t continue to draw them.

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Why I Picked It

This is a good introduction game because of the way it flows. You’ll only need to worry about picking one card – and then doing (more often than not) what that one thing it says to do on the card. Likely same with the second round. There isn’t a need to remember a lot of rules, because the individual cards spell out exactly what you need to do. The pace is Draw – Play – Discard — Repeat. While you are playing, you’ll also actively be interacting with your opponents – possibly giving them artichokes, taking their valuable action cards, or even giving them cards that will ultimately help them. After a few rounds, you might play 2 to 3 cards, and the tension builds trying to get that clean hand of no artichokes.

This type of game is known as a “Deck Builder”. In this type of game the players find themselves trying to improve their overall deck by adding cards to it that will help achieve the goal. The goal being in this game being able to draw 5 cards that aren’t artichokes. Often in other deck building games, you need to first collect some form of currency to “buy” the card you want. Abandon All Artichokes strips that down. You simply pick a card you want out of a selection of 5 available cards. Whatever card you pick, you generally can play immediately. What you can “do” with the card is clearly spelled out on the card itself. Abandon All Artichokes has distilled all the complexities of a deck builder down to its simplest form. After a few rounds of looking at the cards available and selecting the one you want – the pace of the game quickly picks up. As the game moves along, the tension builds between the players, as they anxiously draw their cards to see if they can fade artichokes and win the game. To learn more about “Deck Builders”, check out my Best Deck Building Games list.

This is a game I can introduce and teach to anyone. It is a good entry level deck builder that is good for the whole family. Because cards all the cards players will be picking is all open information – if younger kids not strong with reading have questions, you can help without spoiling the game. Deck building is a good concept to learn early, because it is seen in a variety of other games. Sometimes the whole game will be dominated by deck building, like Dominion. Other times it will still be prevalent, but other things are going on too, like Lost Ruins of Arnak.

But at the end of the game I picked this game because it is so fun and easy to learn. It matches those first three criteria so well and can play to a wide group of people. Any collection would benefit by having this game on the shelf.

If you enjoy two player card games, check out my list of easy to play two player card games here.

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“I also love how easy it was to teach.”

— Jamey Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games

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Love Letter

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What is It?

I love “Love Letter”.  To be honest if this was just a bit better as a two player game – I would have listed it as the first to buy.  The fun in this game is all about deducing what card a person is likely to be holding.  However the information you have to do so is very limited in the beginning, but slowly develops over the course of a round. To win a round in this game, you’ll either be still “in” at the end of the round with the highest ranking card – or you’ll have eliminated the rest of the field.  A round can list literally one turn or take just under 10 minutes to complete. Win a certain number of rounds (based on player count) and you’ve won the game!

The entirety of the game is held in a small deck of 16 cards.  Within the deck of cards there are various characters, each with a special power that is very clearly articulated on the card, as well as a handy player aid each player receives.  Along with the card’s “powers” they can do the card also has a rank varying between 1-8.  Anytime the game asks to compare cards – the higher number wins and the lower number is eliminated from the round. This includes the final turn in the round, after the draw deck is exhausted. At the start of the game each player will start with a single card.  At the start of a player’s turn, they will draw only one card from a shared draw pile.  Then they must decide which of the two cards they will play. The player will need to consider what option presents the best chance to either eliminate a player, or position themselves to have a higher card at the end of the round.

Each time a card is played – it is laid face up, for everyone else to see.  Remember – there are only 16 cards.  Most are duplicated, and there are 5 of one particular type.  SO as each card is revealed – you learn more and more about what cards are remaining, and what each person may be holding.

Why I Picked It

I picked Love Letter because of its beautifully simple instructions and rule set.  The rules are 1)Draw a card 2) Play a card.  Since your decision of what card to play is only between two different cards in your hand – players don’t need to obsess to long about what the best “long term” play is. Very often it will be clear on the “right” thing to do. Another advantage of this game is that there is no dense rule book to worry about. Much like the earlier game mentioned, Abandon all Artichokes, the majority of the needed rules explanation are written on the cards each player is holding.  

I love how the game reveals itself during each round.  The opening play of the round may be a blind guess (which with luck may totally be correct) – but as cards are revealed, and people ask questions, and people respond in certain way – you have a lot more information by the time you take your second turn. Now the guesses aren’t so blind.  You will try and read people on what they may be holding, or why they made a certain guess….  You may even get to see an opponent’s card, forcing them into a difficult spot. 

I also picked it because: I just know it works.  I can put this in front of both both “gamers” and “non-gamers” and I’m certain to get a positive response. This has been reaffirmed to me twice over the last few weeks.  I introduced this game over a year ago to one group at a pseudo “men’s retreat.”  While they were at first apprehensive playing it – I just had a sense it would work within that group.  Sure enough, as this year’s retreat came around – each of them that played the preceding year asked me (without the others knowing) if I’d be bringing “That Princess Game” again.  It was also affirmed to me again in the not so distant past. I introduced this to a staff retreat of colleagues.  At first it was apprehension – but it was quickly replaced with laughs and a desire to play it again and again. I cannot think of a group that I wouldn’t think this game wouldn’t work with.

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“It’s a simple, beautiful, tiny little game you can pop in your pocket”

— Matt Lees, Shut Up and Sit Down

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So there you have it. These two games meet the criteria I’ve outlined for beginner board games. Starting here will open up a wide range of other options and you’ll never feel bogged down by the weight of the rules. Let me know what you think in the comments!