Favorite Tile-Laying Games

[kothmann]

I am interested in other tile-laying games and want help from anyone who is interested.  First a bit of background....

I found this great thread with a lengthy index of tile-laying games:
https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2301.0

In fact, it was the last post in this thread that led me to Land vs. Sea:
https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=6008

And from there to Fjords:
https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=6013

And then to double-sided Carcassonne and double-sided Fjords:
https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=6021

I am in the process of making double-sided variants of Tsuro and Days of Steam, though I was also persuaded by @danisthirty (Tsuro Review) to give the official version of Tsuro another try, and did enjoy it.

I prefer tile-laying games where there is no board, and a minimum of extra "equipment".  Land vs. Sea can be played with nothing but the tiles, for example!  Tsuro has only a single dragon marker per player.  Fjords has only 2 types of wood bits, and they are placed in distinct phases of play.  Days of Steam has a bit more complexity, and is my least favorite (it seems to have a dead Forum on BGG, and having only just bought a copy, I think I see why).

I prefer the randomness of the game to come only from the tile drawing.  And I like a lot of player interaction, not "simultaneous solitaire" (though I think this aptly describes Chinese Mahjong, which I do very much enjoy).  And I prefer each turn to present a reasonable number of choices, with clear risks and rewards and some tactics, but with enough randomness and complexity that it won't be useful to over-think things, so you can make a decision in a few seconds most of the time.  (As you can tell from all of this, Carcassonne is by far my favorite game!)

So...what tile-laying game should I try next?  I would be especially interested in games that meet most of my preferences but perhaps have a hand of tiles, because I think games like this are candidates to be improved by eliminating the hand of tiles and making the tiles double-sided!   

Thanks in advance to anyone with suggestions.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=6328.0

[Bumsakalaka]

Tantrix

Odoslané z SM-A202F pomocou Tapatalku

[fbinstant]

Cascadia, unlike Carcassonne, you place the tiles to form your own region.
Isle of Cats, but it is harder than Carcassonne.

[dirk2112]

We really enjoy Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

I also recommend Isle of Skye Chieftain to King.  There is a Big Box out now that excludes the worst expansion, but has all the good content.

[carlium]

I enjoy Cacao (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171499/cacao)

Expansions are interesting too.

You can test it https://www.yucata.de/en/GameInfo/Cacao

[Dugrand1]

Pocketgames like Sprawlopolis, Agropolis and Naturopolis (and expansions)

Gold Mine, The Cave and Saboteurs

[kothmann]

Tantrix

Thanks!  I have this and enjoy it, thought mostly as a motivation to think about math and topology.  I got so obsessed with hexagonal colored connection tiles a year or so ago that I bought the game Kaliko.  I like that game as a mathy puzzle sort of thing, but have only played a couple of times.

Cascadia, unlike Carcassonne, you place the tiles to form your own region.

I had heard of this and think it looks beautiful.  Some reviews on BGG make me a little hesitant to buy...

Isle of Cats, but it is harder than Carcassonne.

Oh, I had not heard of this and it looks like a great match for me!  Over the past 10 years or so, my dad and I tried to find all 2339 solutions of the 6x10 Pentomino Puzzle.  We got something like 1750 of them!  See photos here.  So, I think this game would be intrinsically appealing for me.  Also, my family loves cats.  Thanks!

We really enjoy Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

Looks interesting.

I also recommend Isle of Skye Chieftain to King.  There is a Big Box out now that excludes the worst expansion, but has all the good content.

Oh, I had heard of this one, but didn't know about the Big Box.  Adding this to the list!  Thanks!

I enjoy Cacao (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171499/cacao)
Expansions are interesting too.

This looks very cool and highly rated.  Also out of print and surprisingly expensive on eBay.  Possible birthday present.  Thanks!

Pocketgames like Sprawlopolis, Agropolis and Naturopolis (and expansions)

Oh perfect!  I ordered a copy of Sprawlopolis.  This sounds great.  I think solo games might be the right path for me...Thanks!

Gold Mine, The Cave and Saboteurs

I couldn't find this / these -- area they expansions?

Has anyone played Between Two Cities?  Discovered this while browsing some of the other suggestions on BGG.

[Dugrand1]

You can find Gold Mine, The Cave and Saboteurs on BGG

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68083/gold-mine

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/129351/cave

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9220/saboteur
There are a lot of Saboteur games

Another interesting game is Venice Connection
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1910/venice-connection

[kothmann]

You can find Gold Mine, The Cave and Saboteurs on BGG
There are a lot of Saboteur games

Thanks!

Another interesting game is Venice Connection
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1910/venice-connection

Oh, this looks great for me!  Not available?  Maybe I'll just make a version from blank tiles...  Thanks again.

[Dugrand1]

You can find several games of Venice Connection on ebay.it

[fbinstant]

If your family love cats, then you can also consider Calico.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283155/calico

It plays like Cascadia.

[kothmann]

If your family love cats, then you can also consider Calico.

Oh, this looks interesting.  Thanks!  I like the multiple bonus tokens: wood bits are fun!  Several reviews on BGG suggest the game is subject to analysis paralysis, so maybe a variant could be useful.  It has 108 total tiles and each player has a hand of tiles, so maybe I can work out a double-sided tile variant with no hand of tiles?  That would reduce the total number of turns from 108 to 54--shorter is usually better for me.  (But 60 tiles would be the purrfect number, allowing 2-6 players to have the same number of turns).  Maybe also eliminate the boards and have only one double-sided objective card per player?  Then the quilt would be freeform?  Also, then a 2-player game could use 27 tiles per player instead of 22.  A 3-player game would have 18 tiles per quilt.  If you had a single pattern tile, you could make a large regular hexagon with 3 tiles per side for an extra bonus?!  Hmm...  Or maybe you can some how get everyone to build a single giant quilt!?

Or maybe just play the game as it is.   

[kothmann]

I was in a second-hand shop and found National Geographic’s Global Pursuits for $4.  It contains 48 pentagonal tiles, obtained from projecting 4 globes—each showing different information like geography, products, etc—onto dodecahedrons.  There are also trivia cards and some rules, but I just ignored all that and enjoyed flipping through the deck and watching the chatoic flat surface emerge:



If you cut this out and folded it up, you should get a dodecahedron that is 4 tiles thick everywhere!

It was trickier than I expected figuring out where to put the tiles.  I rearranged only a couple of tiles near the end—not sure if I had to or not, but I got stuck!

You could also try to build 4 separate complete maps.

Seems like it could be a great puzzle to share with kids.  Looks to be available cheap on eBay.

[Vital Pluymers]

Alhambra
Cacao
Skye
Quadropolis

[Decar]

Lots of good suggestions here - you'll be busy for ages Kothmann!