Hey user, you like games, why don't you bring one out for the family to play on Christmas Eve?

Secret Hitler would have been a better choice but I think the mechanics would have been too much for these folks...

I guess this was the point of your post, but
>poker
>not about lying

>werewolf
>having to lie to win if you're villager

>Introduced parents to Seven Wonders last year
>Dad liked it. Mom didn't really get it.
>"What did you bring this year?"
>"Well...I have this game called Five Tribes but it's more complicated and I don't think you'll...
>Mom immediately picks up on the Mancala-style mechanic and we all finish within 10 points of each other.

>Everything went better than expected

Coop then.

Coup. Fucking phone.

How the fuck do you not lie during poker?

I also hate my family and am counting the minutes until I get to go home.

When everyone thinks you are bluffing not bluffing is the best bluff.

Tbh, I have seen shit like this happen.

Some people are unbelievably dull hosts.

Coup is not a game. There's no deduction element and everyone will just say they have a Duke and Contessa all the time. Calling those bluffs is a crapshoot.

>Not bringing an easily accessible, quick to learn game for the sake of getting people into non-kid's board games as a whole

Out of curiosity, what is the best game for this purpose? I'd say Catan, just because it did so much for the hobby at large.

To specify, the purpose here is "be the entry level sophisticated board game"

Catan actually made me dislike board games since it was my introductory non-child boardgame. Now admittedly, my friend who owned it and explained it to us got the rules wrong in a significant way, but having played a lot of it since then with the correct rules, I think I like Catan even less than with the janky rules he used.

Carcassonne is a good one for this. No setup to speak of, simple to learn (play the first couple of games without farming), "feels like" what it looks like, luck is a factor but not so much as to make it like Candyland.

>saying Werewolf is tiresome after one session
>immediately suggest Superfight

That game basically encourages everyone to become That Guy and almost always boils down to less about whose character would actually win in a fight and who is tired as fuck about debating it.

Assuming this actually happened, was the person in question just a really bad liar or did they actually have some sort of moral issue with "lying" being the basis of being the Werewolf?

Meaning it's super casual and approachable with morons. That's why it's down the list of recommendations I gave.

If they like Risk I recommend Small World.

Ayyyyy, I did this last night. Family enjoyed it greatly.

Played Cards Against Humanity with the GF's family and it went better than expected. Also played a dice based game where everyone brought little gifts and then stole them from each other. Was quite a lot of fun, particularly as we ended up drinking everytime doubles were rolled.

Play Catan. It's the best way to never be asked to provide a family game again.

Best gateway games for family night are as follows:

Secret Hitler
Carcassone
Citadels
Mysterium
CODENAMES, CODENAMES, CODENAMES

For the love of Christ, stay away from Catan (too long) and Cards Against Humanity (fun for precisely 17 minutes, then magically becomes shit).

I played flames of war with my dad today, good times.

Played spyfall for around 3 straight hours. Everyone really got into it.

I play with both my cards face down without looking at them and then just say I have whatever card I feel like.
How are you going to call my bluff if I don't even know I'm bluffing?

I love Ticket to Ride as an accessible game. Maybe it's only because I usually beat my friends at it, but the planning aspect is just so fun.

Small World (in my experience) devolves into people bickering and yelling at each other even faster than Risk does. Not that I don't enjoy it.

>Not using ambassador to stack the deck and know when people are lying.

Ambassador is the most godlike card to have in your opening hand, especially in larger games.
My ideal start would be Ambassador + Ambassador every time. Keeps you off the radar because you have no resources and the knowledge you get is guaranteed to be valuable all game.

I do this, too.

The only time that I've lost while doing it, it was because one of the other players was specifically trying to take me out of the game because he considered my strategy to be bullshit.

Tokaido

I'll fucking shoot you.

Sounds like a case of shit players, friend. Every game I've ever played has ended up going on for long amounts of time because it turns from "which is more powerful" to "which is just plain more silly", i.e. Mind Reading Kardashians who can multiply infinitely, but halve their intelligence when splitting vs a fainting goat riding the Popemobile inside a giant mechanical Justin Beiber.

And then someone starts doing the Mike Tyson lisp when playing Ten Mike Tythonth on Pogo Thtickth, and the entire table has to take a breather for the laughter to subside.

>didn't bring Cards Against Humanity
It's like you didn't want to ruin the relationship between your family members so hard they decide to just mail you your gifts from now on.

Which reminds me, is there an official CAH/Pretend You're Xyzzy thing for Veeky Forums? I mean, I know there's a set, but do we have a place to play it?

You can't bring that to family gatherings user, people will disown eachother.