FoxFairline

As an alternative that does not require booster packs or such nonsense i can highly recommend Compile and the Vale of eternity. Both very good cardgames that capture different feelings of playing a deckbuilder.

Never cared for CCGs since they are by definition pay to win.

If you want to scratch a similar itch, and have not already, try Guild Wars 2.

It does have microtransactions, but only because they have no subscription fee and they are mostly cosmetic with a few rare exceptions.

It also has no FOMO except cosmetics from certain festivals, which you can also buy in the next year.

It is still the best MMO on the market IMHO, because it values your time and money compared to other games in the genre.

Guild wars 2 has so much variety i would not know where to start. Would just search it on youtube and find the fitting mood i guess.

That people still pay monthly for save games has always been wild for me.

First thing that always comes to mind is King of Tokyo. Everyone i have played that with wanted to play it again after it was done.

Even bought 3 copies over the years as gifts. Very fast, easy to learn and most importantly teach to young and old.

Tokaido is very chill but can be cutthroat like monopoly, if you want to get competitive with it.

Treasure Island, which is like Scotland Yard but with a treasure and a map you can draw clues onto. Kids love that one even when it can be a bit complicated for some.

We always play it as a team and as the bad guy you gotta nerf the clues a bit, because it is meant to be played against each other.

Speaking of teamplay, Pandemic is a well known puzzle classic for every collection.

Aswell as Dorfromantik, which is similar to the Videogame but just as good with some friends and family that likes endless puzzles.

As for good Cardgame alternatives there is Scout, which is way better than Uno IMHO and the newer Secret Tip i can give to everyone that is into CCGs, but do not want to buy endless Booster packs named The Vale of Eternity. Very tight and simple engine builder where you get a good Card game right out the box.

Got quite the large collection and know a bit about it so i hope it helps. Can also recommend the Shut up and sit down youtube channel, that highlights a lot of great games.

Cheers

Monopoly is such a boring game with bad mechanics. It is what people play if they do not know better and i know back then we had not many alternatives.

But if you play it nowadays you are missing out on some amazing boardgames compared to that. Settlers of Catan and Uno are very outdated aswell IMHO.

Guild Wars 2 as well. :)

Played the demo last year and instantly bought it now. Very chilled out game so far.

Read a sentence about immortality in a shadowrun book decades ago.

Was something like: "Immortality would be hell for most people, since they dont even know what to do with themselves on a boring sunday afternoon."

Maybe not so similar but more like Xcom is The last Spell.

Can highly recommend that and it is weird not many people are covering it.

Always reminds me of this classic: Total biscuit of the heart

Thank you for the very informative link.

Did not know that.

I always try to avoid it but thanks to this list i at least know which company to trust about it a bit. Scorecard

Still wont buy anything from danone, mars or nestle tho.