Other Party Game Suggestions for Best At 6: Cash 'n Guns, Just One, Bang! (dice or card version) My All-Time Favorite for 6: Cosmic Encounter Respectful Disagreement for 6: TI 4th Edition. Way, way too long at that point and without having all the strategy cards picked it may feel even longer. Big Surprise for me from this: Reverend Mother Gaius! I have never even heard of that mechanic in a game!! Genius. Another Big Surprise for me: Never even heard of your #1 game. This is why I subscribe: to learn about new games from a unique perspective of massively well-read (well-played??) kiwi. Friendly Suggestion #1 for the Channel: Have another tier of donation where the producers can add some italicised lore text between their names. I.e. John "I've got wood for sheep" Doe would incentivize another tier up while allowing your backers to express juvenile jokes about Catan or other games. Friendly Suggestion #2 for the Channel: Be wary of Top 10 lists. Dice Tower continues to beat that horse into senseless. I realize they drive clicks, but everyone does this. What I am looking for are unique, intelligent perspectives about board games and their associated novels, minis, culture, etc. You are well-positioned to be more than a reviewer, but an actual critic with a unique perspective, a Pauline Kael or John Simon of board gaming. Keep up the great work!
Definitely need to redo the tiers at some point. They were thrown together ideas at the time and its been over a year. Top 10's, like all long form content, will be at a far lower rate than the recaps. Which are the channels core business. The lists actually allow me the extra time to really jump into games, which the 3 min recap does not. Between lists and "the games i got rid of", people will get a lot more "critical" content than just from the recaps, which are designed for balance with "pros and cons" and to help people make their own minds up. Simply put, as one person is doing most of the work here, I doubt i'll ever have the time to beat any horse to death :)
Vancouver Canada checking in! We have a monthly group where we play 6 player games and we share some common favs like GoT, TI3, and Dune. We also play Dominant Species, 1830, Imperial, and Princes of the Renaissance. Ill have to check out New Angeles, sounds interesting!
Another great vid. Really enjoy your presentation style and to-the-point information about the games. Recent new discovery for us that is a ton of fun at 6 players is Dutch Blitz. Very simple concept but the fun competitive banter gets going really quick and words you'd never expect from some people really start to flow after they've not finished first a few times in a row.
Hell yeah, SidCon! I was only able to play once with 6 players (our usual group is 4) but it was awesome. Your #3 Dune is also on my radar, patiently waiting for the reprint. TI4 is definitely a bucket list game.
Came to the comments to suggest Sidereal Confluence, was pleasantly surprised to hear it on the list. Great game. I started looking for games that fit higher player counts when my regular group was bigger, and never got out of the habit. So even though the group is most often three or four nowadays, almost all of my games play five or six.
@@corrado8955. I feel its because most games don't reflect how real negotiation works where New Angeles does. In most games, any negotiation will result in a winner and a loser. This makes negotiation suck as you are often left feeling like you were beaten. In New Angeles, as in real negotiation, both can come out on top. This is because in New Angeles, you only need to beat one other person at the table not everyone. So negotiation is fun and something that is about finding out how to get the most out of the situation with another person, rather than beating that other person.
Agree with all of your choices (except Last Friday, which we haven't played), but our #1 choice for 6P now is Quartermaster General, which will be reissued soon with all expansions included. Highly, highly recommended as a minimal-downtime, historically-plausible (most of the time!), team game that takes no more than 90 minutes with experience.
@@3MBG No, although that is also excellent and just as good as the original if playing with five. Here's the BGG entry for QMG. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159473/quartermaster-general
I find good six player games come with a lot of caveats. They are dependant on all the players being as dedicated to playing as each other. One less than serious player can throw the whole game out. Root can be good with six, with the right combination of factions. Betrayal is also good as long as you aren't taking the game too seriously. Lords of Waterdeep is a great game with six players. It's probably my favourite way to play the game. However, you do need the expansion to play that way.
Great list. I have not played all the games, and am not too fond of Robo Rally, but at 100% agree on everything you say about Codenames and Sidereal. One game, I wonder, if it's on your "not played" or "not liked" list is PRINCES OF THE RENAISSANCE. It's arguably as good at 5 as at 6, but I wouldn't play it at lower counts, and it does not support 7 or more. I know, the theme had been done to death with paste-on-games like Lorenzo Il Magnifico, but boy is it done right in this one! It just oozes history! This game had been really hard to find for some time, it might be not as easy now again, but the Mercury reprint of 2016 sure makes it at least possible to find.
I enjoy “I’m the boss” a pure negotiation game. At 6 players all 6 role cards are assigned to players so all deals on the board can be made. I can understand why some people don’t like it cause it can be a deeply unfun game for the player who has their primary role card stolen and keeps drawing cards that don’t help turn after turn. It doesn’t happen every game, but it’s really sad to see it when it does happen. And it’s much more likely to happen in a 6 player game because there’s no “floating” role cards.
My favorite games at 6 are Codenames, Cosmic Encounter. I agree, that's the perfect player count for it. It works well pretty much any count from 3-8, but 6 is the best. Another game I really like that plays well with 5-7p (but better at 5 and 7 than 6) is Dark Moon. My favorite hidden traitor/deception game. Zombicide works at 6, but I prefer it at 3p, so that everyone gets 2 characters. Between Two Castles is good at 6. Betrayal at House on the Hill is frequently not a good game, but occasionally it works out well, and it's not too slow even at 6p.
Great list! And I loved the joke with Rex and Dune. A game that I can recommend whick works really well with six players (been this one the best way to play it really) is Senji. I you have the chance to play it with six players enjoy it.
Holy shit! Best video you posted in a long time. I have the perfect 6p group that would love pretty much all games you suggested. Time to go shopping for games now :)
My picks would be: Ca$h n’ Gun$ Wits and wagers (Vegas) Bang! The dice game Pit The resistance King of Tokyo Flash point Dixit Shadows Over Camelot Time’s up! Honorable mention: any drinking board game
Love your videos another classic! so glad you started at 6 players! We have this number often and find it the hardest to fill. we have a bit of overlap! 1. Twilight Imperium 4 2. Dune (being reprinted soon hype!!) 3. Drakkon 4. Diplomacy 5. Sidreal Confluence 6. Western Legends 7. Libertalia 8. power grid 9. Citadels 10. Eclipse HM Viticulture Mission Red Planet Forumula D
6-player Power Grid is still supposed to be played with 5 areas, with a fewer amount of cities triggering phase changes, keeping it a reasonable length.
Great selection, I would say that from your list, my 4 favorites are: RoboRally (I rather enjoy the newer edition and the one you showed in your video), Code Name, Twilight Imperium and Sidereal Confluence. The 3 games I play the most at the 6 player count are: Power Grid, Arkham Horror (2nd edition), Railways of the World and Zombicide. Thanks again for this entertaining video!
Video idea, best games that scale well from 3-6+ . So you can buy without having the pressure of only being able to get it to the table under those conditions.
6 player games not mentioned: Ethnos, Downforce, Mare Nostrum, Cthulhu Wars, and the new Letter Jam. I have not played your 1 or 2... I need to get on that. New Angeles is super intriguing to me. Thanks for a great video.
@@3MBG I played it at 8... just because it was epic. We all had a great time but it wasn't great. I think 6 is as epic as you want. I thought I might argue for 3 and 5... but I really like the epic game without it taking as long as TI. I cant wait to play New Angeles... thanks again for that.
Thanks for some great game suggestions! A game I would add is Colt Express. A game that is somehow comparable to Robo Rally, but it is way more fun and with 6 players the mechanics seem to work best ;)
I recommed you Imperial 2030. It's an economic game that plays like a war game. A weird beast designed for 6 players with a Diplomacy like combat system.
David McKeown I think imperial shines with less than 6, 3-4 is best really. At 6, players can spend a significant time playing no power, and you want people to be playing at least one power a lot of the time
@@Cepheus_Rex I do enjoy it a lot at 3 as well. I liked 6 because it allows more alliances and negotiation. With the Swiss Bank rule, players can usually buy back a country pretty quickly.
I agree. I played his at 6 and was Swiss basically the whole game. It was so boring I will never do it again. I know you don’t need a country to win but it’s sucks to just sit there waiting to invest and watching a 2 to 3 hour game.
Two games I'd add to your honorable mentions are Euphoria and Charterstone, both designed by Jamey Stegmaier. Euphoria plays best at a higher player count and Charterstone really needs six players to unlock all areas and develop each region.
Only played euphoria at lower player counts, but I could see that one working well due to the fast turn structure. Charterstone I have, but have not touched yet.
Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition. This edition added Italy as a playable nation... bringing the game to six players and refined the rules to now be the definitive edition in one box.
Personally, I massively prefer that game 2 player. Axis vs Allies. Also, check out my copy of it vom-krieg.blogspot.com/search/label/Axis%20and%20Allies FLEXES HARD :)
"Imperios milenarios" could be considered a civilization upgrade, if you manage to get one. "Shadows Amsterdam" is the son of Codenames + mysterium, works great at 6. It's a nice alternative.
Have you ever played Alhambra? Playing that with 6 players seems pretty great. Classic Euro game. I am glad you included Robo Rally that has always been a fun hilarious game. Used to play Civ all the time but, yeah you have to have a ton of time to play it all the way through. Good list!
I remember it being pretty good, although we were playing St Petersburg at the same time and the gameplay of those two games has blurred a bit in my head.
Flame Rouge w/ Peleton Expansion is a great mess at six and really gives the texture of a tour-de-frace type race. Decrypto also works well at six, and I quite like Sushi Go: Party! for that same "manageable mess" at that player count.
Great video. I actually have the issue of having a 6 player game night coming and this came right on time. I'm surprised Zombicide Black Plague isn't in the lineup. I'd like to get your thoughts on it.
Have not played Z:BP. I got Zombiecide seasons 1-3, and that was enough. But to compare, we found the best games were either 2 player with 3 survivors each, or 3 player with 2 each.
I knew Dune/Rex and Twilight Imperium had to be on here. They're really only playable at six. Neither game feels right without the full six. I, personally, would have Carnival Zombie, Cash N' Guns, and Talisman (Yes, I am that sick); but I've not played Sidereal, New Angeles, or Last Friday.
As mentioned below. I last played Cosmic in the 80's. So my memory of the game is fuzzy at best. It's the first game mentioned on my "ten game that changed how i think about board games" vid though. But as I have never played it at 6, i can't really call it one of my favs at the play count.
@@3MBG at six players who've played before you can get TONS of energy in the room, and it grows until the end! You can go multiple turns where someone is about to win, and a few plays later everyone is going crazy over what just happened... then it's the next player's turn!
Cosmic Encounter. We play it 5 players with 3 (initially hidden) powers, each. Mayhem. Utter. Wth that many powers eventually in play it's almost impossible to keep track of interactions and thus even with everything revealed unexpected/crazy situations continue to occur until the very end.
The best 6 player game I've played is 'Here I Stand', but like Civilisation tht won't be for everyone! Battlestar Galactica is also great at 6. Enjoyable list. I definitely agree with GoT, TI and Rex/Dune.
You have impeccable timing. I have been invited to play Here i stand at a convention in a few weeks. That, along with "virgin queen" are two of my bucket list games I've never purchased because i suspected i'd never get a group together to play them. I have been assigned the English to play.
@@3MBG the English won our game! I was the Hapsburgs. Its incredible. I immediately went and put a P500 order in for the reprint of Virgin Queen. Enjoy!
Not a huge fan of BSG at six. Like it at five and even seven... In base, dislike the sympathizer rule at six, and haven't found a variant or revealed blend that I think keeps the right feel
@@3MBG it works surprisingly well too! (Most of the time) when your teammate takes an action, you take the action too. You sit on the opposite sides of the table. Three teams, 6p, sitting order ABCABC :P
New Angeles above TI4? Wow. But as for me, it's too hard to play as traitor when it's 6 players,and I don't see much difference between 5 and 6 players.
I haven't played many games at 6, also I play at two different clubs which is a different situation to a regular group of six players. The games: Mare Nostrum: Empires Fantasy Realms Ethnos Between Two Castles 7 Wonders Codenames Breaking Bad I can't play games that rely heavily on trading and negotiation in French due to the extra cognitive load it puts on me and the fact that I am just more reticent and miss things because it's my second language. I can't play most word games either, I can just about manage Codenames.
That linguistic component is so important to you, and I really get that. I think you would be in a great position to do some really good writing on language dependency in games, and of the cognitive load required to translate and play at the same time.
@@3MBGIt's something that I definitely would like to do in the future. I have had problems with a regular player in one of the clubs really not understanding how much it changes things for me. It's taken a year but it's finally sunk in! It can be exhausting, especially when you are also neurodivergent as I am (autistic and ADHD).
@@3MBG um, yes, no. It's euro, little engine building and little combat. It's a rondell and after a couple turns, the games just moves so fast because your turn is a single simple action except when you move and almost small world style combat others.
Own all the games from number 5 to 1. But only Game of thrones and Sidereal confluence could be tabled.That too once. The other three are sitting in the shelf for 2 years. Very difficult to convince and organise 5-6 interested players.
Zombicide was close for me. But the best games i've played of that have been with two people with 3 survivors each. Betrayal is another one i considered (original though, not played the BG one)
@@3MBG Technically I played with 2 other people with 2 Survivors each, but I still think it would work extremely well with 6, whereas Massive Darkness I would never play with more than 4.
I heard "Last Friday" wasn't as good as it seems. I know it doesnt compare to whitehall mystery/letters of whitechapel, or Fury of Dracula, but how would you compare it with Scotland yard?
To answer the obvious question. yes, I will be doing more of these at other players counts. Eventually. And to follow that up, what's your favourite games at 6 players?
Thanks for the great video! Just played captain sonar with 6 the other day and was awesome :) . Also really enjoy Sheriff of Nottingham with the merry men expansion. Having 2 people as deputies creates a framework for short term teaming up then back stabbing in later rounds. Not only that but it limits the number of people doing turn by turn play to 4. 6 people also sits comfortably (imo) with jungle speed (party game)!
I agree TI4 with six players is a wonderful experience. Although, quite contrary to what you said, for me the best thing about four player is that all strategy cards DO get picked. That, and the bit more spacious map are in my opinion the best circumstances to teach the game to new people.
I'm not exactly sure. I mean, drafting isn't the issue, as I'm fine with that in other games. I think it's probably that the theme is so thin on the mechanics, it wasn't the game I expected going in, and the actual gameplay didn't feel all that rewarding or interesting.
Oh, sure, there is less of a punctuated "wow, your attack completely routed my army" event, but if you catch the subtler maneuvers where advanced players pinch every penny, and live vicariously through your opponents, they're still a good time.
Sidereal Confluence at 6 players? Too chaotic. You're bargaining, negotiating with other players on the other side of the table to see what they need, but sitting from afar, you have to walk over there, so they can hear you over the din and voices of other players bargaining/negotiating with other players, while the timer is running down. NOPE! Almost unbearable. HOw about Sushi Go party at 6 players? Fantastic quick game.
I know different people have different tastes, which is great. But i have to laugh at the reasons you don't like Sidereal confluence at 6 are exactly why i love it. Its exactly that chaos and uncertainty, the having to move and talk and interact which is what i love.
@@3MBG I forgot to mention, at 6 player, we were playing at a rectangular table, and with me at one end, I felt disadvantaged because I can't see or hear the other players on the other side, whereas those sitting near the middle could easily see, hear, and bargain with just about anybody. Just felt disadvantaged with the timer running down.
