Need a new multiplayer board game for my brother.

[Mystic Muse]

Well, my brother just let me spend a few days at his house for Gencon, and I need to get something to thank him. I looked around while I was down there, but couldn't find anything I knew for sure that he'd like.

I'm looking for something with a variable number of players. XCOM: the Board Game looked interesting, but I was told you had to have EXACTLY 4 players, which isn't ideal.

Something that allows 5 players or more is ideal. I was looking at Betrayal at House on the Hill, but does anybody have any experience with that to explain what it's like?

My brother would like something non-co-operative, or at least co-operation optional. Betrayal at House on the Hill sounds interesting, but it seems more like every other player against the one bad one from my reading.

So, I just need some suggestions. It would be best if you could explain why you're suggesting whichever game you're suggesting as well.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, games where you essentially build the map as you play and it's a variable thing are much preferred.

[TheEmerged]

Something that allows 5 players or more is ideal. I was looking at Betrayal at House on the Hill, but does anybody have any experience with that to explain what it's like?

My brother would like something non-co-operative, or at least co-operation optional. Betrayal at House on the Hill sounds interesting, but it seems more like every other player against the one bad one from my reading.

Well, that limits me since I'm more of a co-op person.

Take a good look at Betrayal. Essentially it's a co-op game until The Event(tm) happens, and only then is it "everyone against one". The thing is that the traitor has some pretty serious advantages - one of the two times I got to play it, for example, the traitor was controlling multiple other pieces on the board and the other one the traitor might as well have been Superman and the other players the Care Bears.

One I'd recommend that I've seen in game stores enough that I think it's been reprinted is Robo Rally. Variable board? Check. More than 4 players? Check - in fact, I'll go so far as to say it's three different games with 2-3 players, 4-6 players, and 7-8 players. I have all the boards from the original edition. One recommendation from that linked review I can't second hard\often enough though: NEVER play with more than 2 boards at a time. With so many boards there's a permanent temptation to go nuts. Trust me: 2 boards is enough. In fact, one of the most fun ways to play it is 8 players on 1 board.

There's a similar game out that I haven't been able to play yet called Volt, but I think it's capped at 4 players.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

For 5+ players, there's two recommendations that stick out first.

The Resistance: Avalon is my gold standard for "traitor" games. There's a team of players, and one or more are traitors trying to undermine the rest. Each round, someone (the Team Leader) picks a team of players to go on a mission. If the team is approved by the entire group, then each player secretly plays a "pass" or "fail" card. If a single card comes up as a "fail", the mission is failed. The traitors are trying to get 3 out of 5 missions failed, while the other players are trying to pass that many. So the game consists of the traitors trying to fail missions without getting suspected by the other players (who can choose not to pick them to go on missions).

Coup plays well for a wide number of players. The nature of the game changes, and I prefer the 3-4 player game (because there's more uncertainty), but it's a great game. You get dealt two cards, each of which is a character with a special power. On your turn, you can take one of the basic actions in the game or use a special power. But you don't show your cards to anyone, so you can claim any power that you want. You're trying to use the powers you have (and claim to have) in order to eliminate your opponents' characters. So it's a deduction and bluffing game.

[Driderman]

I like the games from Flying Frog Productions.
Fortune & Glory (Indiana Jones-style pulp adventures where you hunt artifacts and fight Nazis, cultists and mobsters) has both Co-op and competitive rules. Same goes for A Touch of Evil (monster-hunting in a "Sleepy Hollow" american village somewhere in the 1700-1800s) and Last Night On Earth (zombie apocalypse survival scenarios) has a mechanic where one player plays the zombies and the other(s) play the survivors.
The alien-invasion one I haven't tried, but I'm assuming it's as awesome as the rest of them.

All the games support 5+ players, although only Last Night on Earth (and possibly the alien invasion game) has any sort of map building. Still, with the amount of item and event decks to draw from, the games all have fairly high randomization element.

[thirsting]

Eclipse might be worth checking out. Empire building, with simple logistics. Base game supports 2-6 players. The galaxy map gets build from random hexes and ends up different in each playthrough, you get to customise your own ships and select technologies from a large random pool. The game discourages turtling quite well by rewarding early war against both "neutral" NPC ships and other players.

The only downsides are the numerous pieces needed (way too easy to accidentally knock them down, scattering them across the table/floor) and the time it takes to play through: easily at least 3-4 hours with 4+ players.


Playing it with my spouse right now. We've been playing an hour or so every night, for three nights in a row. About 80% through.

[Driderman]

Eclipse is good for a relatively fast (as compared to Twilight Imperium that can take up to 24 hours), classic empire-building game that seem to draw it's inspiration from Master of Orion. Has map-building, but no co-op, other than in-game alliances.