Other board games

[Slamz]

From what I could tell with Magic you could totally dominate someone new to the game. And there's definitely a learning curve.

Mostly because if you've been playing for a while, your deck is worth $500 while your opponent's deck is probably worth $25.

But the basic strategy of the game is simple enough and deck building is fun. Each player has "health", creatures have an attack value and a defense value and often some sort of special ability, etc.

Sometimes the rules get a bit obscure or have poorly defined interactions but basically it's a fun, easy to get into game.



But I will never play another collectible card game because in the end they are designed to make you spend very large amounts of money trying to obtain rare, powerful cards, without which it can be difficult to compete. You can build a good deck for $25 but you always know it would be better if you just replace these 2 50-cent cards with those 2 hard to find $50 cards. And those other 2 $20 cards. And those 4 $10 cards...

Are there good NON-collectible card based games? That is, a game where you buy it and everything you will ever need is in that one box. Like poker. Except not poker.



I've actually just ordered Settlers of Catan anyway and will have a look but I think that'll be a hard sell.

I need something more interesting than poker/Pictionary but less complex than Settlers of Catan.