On lemmy you mean? I think the boardgames community on feddit.de is active.

It is super fun but you’re right it’s a time commitment.

FWIW there’s a pc/ios/android version that is a good way to get familiar with the game, although I can’t quite imagine conceptualizing the digital version if you haven’t already seen all the parts of the physical version.

Terraforming Mars is great. A lot more going on than with Catan, but it does have aspects of the same sort of tile/game piece placement. Aspects of engine building, drafting (optional), deck building, and resource management too.

Usually its a 1.5-3hr play through, depending on how experienced the players are and how many people are playing (1-5).

One big plus over Catan is it plays well with just 2 people.

Oh man I had that gamepad! Totally forgot about it (and the Gravis brand… what happened to them?)

I remember playing so much Raptor: Call of the Shadows with it.

These were all mentioned already, but Dragonomino, Rhino Hero, and Animal Upon Animal are pretty good. We’ve had fun with Dinosaur Escape Game and Busy Busy Bake Shop as well (but they skew a little younger, maybe).

I found tbis site to be a good resource: https://weplay2learn.com/

They take the approach that games that are designed to teach fail at being fun and fail st teaching because no one wants to play them. But games that are designed to be fun can actually provide some teaching (not that you were necessarily asking about education, but I think it’s a good take either way).

That’s an interesting idea.

I like patchwork for 2 players. Or if we want to go old school American gaming, Rumikub (although that can play with 4)

…and of course Wingspan and Terraforming Mars play well with 2 players…

…and Pandemic is a good 2 player co-op (but can play with more than 2)

That’s a pretty good question and I’ve never sat down and wrote a list of things I like about it. First time for everything though…

[After writing out this list, I actually think doing something similar for favorite games would be a good way to get more content here]

• In general, I’m drawn toward “engine building” games
• there’s something comforting about the game having a defined end after four rounds (rather than when some victory condition is met)… note that this doesn’t necessarily mean the game plays quickly!
• the end of round goals (one of the way you can score points) are randomized. This keeps things fresh
• the “bonus goals” (which are another way to score points) are also randomized on a per-player basis, which creates an interesting asymmetry… all players are working to score points, but each player’s path to that end is different
• (i think this has a lot to do with the randomized nature of the end of round goals and bonus goals) plays great with just 2 people but also fun with 5-7 (6 and 7 player variants require the Asia expansion)
• it may not seem like it at first but there actually can be quite a bit of player interaction
• the artwork is really gorgeous… will have to take a pic next time we play for an example
• the components are fairly high quality for the price point
• despite the relative complexity/weight, setup and breakdown are really easy

Overall, I very much recommend it. That said, there are things i dont like as much about it

• people are generally intimidated by the complexity the first time they play. I have found though that about 3/4 through the first game things start to click.
• because it has a lot of randomization via card draw and dice roll, there is a fair bit of luck involved. Sometimes you just don’t get the cards.
• although there is some player interaction, I wish there was more. I think this is addressed in one of the expansions (but admittedly I haven’t played all of the expansions)

The only game I like more is Terraforming Mars. I play it less, though, as it’s a but longer and the folks I play with don’t like it as much.