It's just sad that Nintendo feels the need to say that you need to be able to read to play their games. Did they get a lot of complaints from illiterates and parents who bought the game for their four year olds?Also a coworker wanted to know about what board games to play with his wife. I lent him a small selection of games I intended to give him a taste of the range available. It's not the ideal set, but I selected from my own collection what I thought would be easy for two unexperienced players to learn on their own:
10 Days in Africa - This Alan Moon game is a lot like Rummy in its design. That gives them a foundation for understanding and the game's rules are easy to understand. Each player tries to built a run of ten countries in their hand linking them by being neighbors or through special forms of transportation.
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers - I prefer this version of Carcassonne to the original. Carcassonne is a great game for introducing someone to modern board gaming since it is easy to understand and play.
1960: The Making of the President - Neither of the other two games I provided were very thematic and I wanted to include something that took the complexity up a bit without going off the deep end. Most of my other heavily themed games either require more players, need a player that is attached to the theme, or take the complexity right off the scale of what I would want to show a new player. The card game mechanics of 1960 and the election theme should make this one easier to follow.
