Ask HN: What are some good board games for the office?

Metro is a tile-laying game by Dirk Henn, who also designed Alhambra and some other well-regarded Queen games. It plays 2-6 and scales well -- I've played it at 2 and I've played it at 6 -- though some point out it may be more strategic at lower player counts, esp. at 2.

The rules are simple -- either play the one tile you have or draw a tile and play that instead. The tiles represent tracks on the Paris Metro and you need to play it so its tracks fit with the tracks on the tiles next to it. You're trying to build routes, the longer the better, since you get a point for each tile that your route takes, including ones you loop through. Routes that end at the central power-station have their score doubled. That's basically it.

The game can be played casually. Some people do make it thinkier, which would raise the playing-time -- if you have such people around, you may have to nudge them to play faster -- i.e. set a 30-second timer for them or the like.

There is also a newer edition of the game, also on sale at MM for $22 [2], that comes with 4 expansions, including a stock expansion -- you don't own a railroad if you play with it, you have 4 cards representing stock in up to 4 railroads and depending on how well those railroads do, you get points at the end. There are 3 other expansions that do other things. This edition is a tad less charming in that it replaces the wooden train pieces with cardboard ones, though in both the pieces just sit on the side of the board, indicating that a train route is unfinished and are removed to indicate that a line is done.

Interesting that the newer edition has only 6 copies left while the original has 20+, meaning they have a lot. On the other hand, I watched a Tom Vasel review [3] earlier today where he basically said the expansions are not really necessary, that the base game is sufficient.

Miniature Market is in the midst of a sale now, which should last till 11/26, and will have another one later this week. They do order-holds, so you can rack up a few orders to get to $100 for free shipping or at least to get a few games shipped together. So you might find some other things too, for the office or yourself.

[0] https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/559/metro

[1] https://www.miniaturemarket.com/qng60159.html

[2] https://www.miniaturemarket.com/qng10241.html

[3] https://boardgamegeek.com/video/147901/metro/metro-review-do...