First off, I’m so happy you decided to take your first step into this amazing hobby! It can be a bit daunting to begin your own collection; there are so many great games to choose from! 

Fear not; I’m here to take the stress away from picking your first few games that will ease you in and get you ready to expand your collection. These board games are what I like to call “foundations,” because while they’re easy and have a dash of thinking and strategy, they will also get you psyched up to play games that dig deeper into their mechanics. 

They’re also called “gateway” games, so if you want to search this term up to expand your own knowledge about them, go for it! Or you can stick around and let me do the research for you. 

Let’s dive into the 5 games I believe are great games to begin your board game collection. 

Pandemic

Pandemic is a 2-4 player cooperative game where you and your team take on a specialized role with unique abilities (deliver cards easier to other players, move people further on the board, etc.) and attempt to find cures to the four diseases plaguing the world. 

Using city cards, you can either use them to move from city to city, or you can play five of the same color to discover a cure to that disease. There are also special action cards in the form of events that give you an advantage over the impending doom facing the world. 

Be careful, though. Outbreaks can happen and diseases that you thought were under control could spread again and quickly. Too many outbreaks and humanity is doomed. 

I love introducing this game to new players because it gives them a taste of what it’s like to play a co-op game. The teamwork involved really brings players together and that social aspect makes playing it so much more fun. You’ll cheer as you finally get the cards you need; you’ll groan as another outbreak hits the map (“I could have sworn we were fine there!”); you’ll tense up as city cards are revealed, indicating where those deadly disease cubes will hit next. 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1554984/pandemic)

Pandemic is a great board game to add to your collection if you want something exciting, tense, easy to learn, and where no one can be a sore loser; you either win together or lose together. 

Azul

Lots of pretty colors, aren’t they? In Azul, you’re attempting to create the best-looking mosaic to impress a Portuguese king (just pretend that they’re there, okay?). 

What you’re really interested in is how it plays. 

During your turn, you’ll select a tile from a set of “factories” and add it (and all the other tiles of the same color) to your board. 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3721302/azul)

You’ll line them up to the left of your board, and once you’ve filled in the required number of tiles (1 – 5), you’ll be able to place it into your mosaic. Easy, right? Well… 

If you get too many of a single color and they won’t fit, then they contribute negative points at the end of a round. Ouch. You score points based on how many tiles are adjacent to the one just placed on your board. For instance, if you place a tile and it has two directly above it (3 points) and four across (including the piece itself), you get a total of 7 points. Nice! 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3720018/azul)

Your game group will love holding all the pieces in their hands and forming their own works of art, all the while scoring points for getting in combinations of tiles. 

Setting up is easy. Explaining the game is easy (I think I did a decent job but having the game is a better way to learn). Clean up is easy. Easy! 

Lords of Waterdeep

Worker-placement games; one of my favorite board game mechanics. To put it simply, you take one of your workers, you put in on a space on the board, you get something. That’s it. 

Lords of Waterdeep is a game set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, where you play as a lord from a ruling faction within the city of Waterdeep (insert rich person’s laugh here, whatever that may sound like). Your task is to send out your workers to gather resources to complete quests, which will net you points and money. Feel free to shout “fly, you fools!” 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1283062/lords-waterdeep)

You can also build waterfront property to add more spaces to the board, enabling you (and other players) to do more on your turn. If someone decides to visit your property, you get a bonus! (That sounds oddly familiar.)

I think that Lords of Waterdeep is such a great gateway to the world of worker-placement games. There’s a bit of “gotcha” mechanics (actions that make it harder to win for other players), but where it isn’t so aggressive. It’s easy, plays quickly, and tickles that strategic part of your mind that makes you think about how to maximize your turn. 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1369085/lords-waterdeep)

When you’re ready to take your game to the next level, the expansion Scoundrels of Skullport adds even more to the game. New boards, new mechanics, new buildings, new quests, new cool skull-looking bits. You’ll like it.

Machi-Koro

Roll dice. Get money. Buy stuff. Roll again. Get more money because you got more stuff. 

Buy more stuff. Become addicted to the idea that rolling dice gets you money. You take these dice to the bank. You roll it in front of a teller. They stare at you. You stare back. You’re being dragged away by security. 

Then you’re back at the game table, rolling your dice in handcuffs. This is okay. 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1994294/machi-koro)

Machi-Koro is all about rolling dice and hoping that whatever you roll gets you money. What’s neat about this game is that you can obtain cards that lets you get money when other players roll that number, so you’re always paying attention to what everyone is doing. 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2010674/machi-koro)

It’s simple, cute, and I’ve always had a great time introducing it to new players. It’s a great addition to a new collection. 

Splendor

I was a bit hesitant to put this one on the list, but I introduced this game to 9th graders and they loved it and wanted to know more board games like it. 

So, it counts as a great game for newbies. 

In Splendor, your job is to amass properties (they’re cards but properties sound more… formal? Fancy?) that make it easier to buy other properties. You use jewels (in the form of poker chips that are of surprisingly great quality) to get your first few properties, but over the course of the game, it will become easier and easier to snag properties that net you points. 

The first player to 15 points wins. 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1904126/splendor)

This game is a great introduction to the engine building mechanic. By that, I mean a game where you start small, where your “engine” doesn’t do much, but as the game progresses you get more pieces for you “engine” that makes it run better and more efficient. 

They’re typically slow-burn games that ramp up as more turns are completed. 

(Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2026074/splendor)

Heavier games (those that are considered more complex) will incorporate this mechanic with, say, worker-placement or deck-building. 

Splendor is a great game to get just a taste of what’s out there while still having lots of fun. 

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I hope this has helped in choosing what games to start your collection off with. You’ve got diseases, you’ve got dice, you’ve got tiles, you’ve got workers, and you’ve got gems. Not a bad start! 

Welcome to the world of board games. It only gets better (and more brain-burning) from here.