best games for asynchronous play

General discussion on board games
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StephenMcG
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Joined: 07 April 2020, 15:24

Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by StephenMcG »

cigma wrote: 27 April 2022, 20:50
StephenMcG wrote: 27 April 2022, 11:51 Should BGA have a category to advise on this?
Indeed they have. You can filter the games site for Specific and then Recommended for turn-based games: https://boardgamearena.com/gamelist?specificTag=29

But actually there are only 9 games on this list.
I do apologise for the tardy thanks - I have not been looking at the forums and the notification was easy to miss...

There are indeed only nine and none of the games that we play quite happily on turn-based approach (Carcassonne, 7 Wonders, Century etc). There are some that are a disaster area (I am looking at you Puerto Rico).
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BastienWink
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Joined: 20 July 2022, 22:56

Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by BastienWink »

Nidavellir works very well.
I do not recommand Abyss because of Exploration Cards.

Here is a spreadsheet find out sync/async ratio for all games currently played :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Cribbage, Tokaido, Ultimate Railroads and Dice Hospital have highest async ratio.

That would be more accurate to use monthly sum instead of current games, any idea how to find that ?
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Salvidrim
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Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by Salvidrim »

I play every single table asynchronously (aka turn-based), it works well.

If there is ever any issue about figuring out what your opponent players you can look in the game log, and if that is not enough info (for some games it really isn't), you can hit the log entry right after you finished your previous turn and hit "replay from this point", BGA will re-display all that your opponent did and bring you back to present time where it it your turn. I typically do this for games like Oriflamme and Rainbow, or Fluxx, or Skull.

The most tedious ones are card games because there are a lot of "turns", each card played by each player is a turn, but even so I do play games like Hearts and Solo Whist in turn-based Arena; we can typically get through a full game over the length of an Arena season. Obviously two-player card games are by definition faster and more convenient, like Haggis or Cribbage. I've found 6 nimmt typically goes by at a brisk pace, since every player selects their card at once. On the other hand, Tock games are usually way too long when played async. However if you have a mind for counting cards you might find that much easier in synchronous play, and that's really an important part of Hearts. But you can always use the game log to reach the same conclusions.

Great asynchronous games are games with no interaction, where each player kind does their own thing and compete for final score. Stuff like Can't Stop Express, Welcome To, Railroad Ink, dice games like Martian Dice, Yathzee, Piraten Kapern, Dungeon Roll, Cardiceo.
Other low-interaction games with very manageable turn counts turns include Copenhagen, Patchwork, Conspiracy, KIngdom Builder, Kingdomino, Color Pop, Chromino, Cubirds, Azul.
It can work too for the simple absract games like Connect Four, Pyrga, Squadro, United Square, Bug, etc. but these games might benefit from developping a longer strategy that can be difficult to "fall back into" mentally at a glance, which can be impaired by async play -- but you can always use the "note" tab.
Some coop games can also be fun async, like Tranquility or Forbidden Island; for the latter you can leave messages in chat for whenever your partner takes their next turn. The latter has "out of turn" actions but you can always send a chat to the other player.

One of the very few games that does not work async but yet somehow has it enabled is Solo -- a core part of the game is "jumping in" during someone else's turn if you have the card for it, which is simply not manageable in async. Turn-based play should be disabled, like it is for Coup.
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SquashEngineer
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Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by SquashEngineer »

I find async is good for most non-conflicting, turn based games. I play turn-based exclusively on BGA, so I need the games I play to be async compatible. Yahtzee, Railroad Ink, Martian Dice - most two player abstract strategy games work well.

I wish Abalone would show the other players move, before your turn - it's critical to resolve where your opponent played while you were away from the table.

Colt Express plays great in async mode, but requires keeping track of everyone's moves in the Notes page. By design, the game log only keeps track of the last move of all players (mimicking the table game play where you're supposed to keep the other players moves in memory as they go by), but I can't keep that much info stored in my head between day-long gaps of play. I use the notes to keep track of everyone's moves. What a fantastic game though, and a great implementation on BGA.

Hearts is TERRIBLE in async mode. You must be able to keep track of the cards within every round, and there is simply no way to do so easily in this BGA implementation. The log is way to linear to review every single card play, and keeping track in notes would be a tedious nightmare. I stopped playing Hearts on here because of it.
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Blindmetaller
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Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by Blindmetaller »

blossom- wrote: 30 April 2022, 11:50 I prefer turn-based when possible and it's definitely funny realizing which games do and do not work for it. Seasons, for example, your entire turn can literally be choosing a dice roll.
While I prefer real-time for this type of game, I find the asynchronous play to be still enjoyable
FitBoy
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Joined: 23 January 2023, 04:58

Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by FitBoy »

StephenMcG wrote: 27 April 2022, 11:51 I have been playing on this site all the way through the pandemic. My biggest beef is that there is little signposting on what games work best real-time and which shine in asynchronous play.

There are games like Puerto Rico that are painful if you are not all round the board at the same time, there are games that benefit from watching other players make their moves (like Carcassone) and there are others that play well regardless of whether you are in real-time or in asynchronous play (like 7 Wonders).

I was wondering if folk have favourite games for asynchronous play? Or games that should be 100% avoided unless you are playing real-time? Should BGA have a category to advise on this?

Stephen
Games with long turns and lots of downtime are probably your best bet. For async play, I like Through the Ages. It has a lot of twists and turns. There is an another option of using cheat commands to make games more interesting.

In my experience, games with small turns, such as Terraforming Mars, do not work well.
Last edited by FitBoy on 26 February 2023, 15:23, edited 1 time in total.
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SquashEngineer
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Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by SquashEngineer »

Async works for: Backgammon, Trek12, Take 5, Boomerang, AZUL

Async is tougher for Las Vegan. I imagine this game would be better at a table in real time, to manage remembering which cards have been played.

The Crew is similar, in that knowing which cards have been played is key. Keeping track in the notes is tedious. I know there's a card tracking option for The Crew, but it isn't always enabled, and IMHO it's a little bit like cheating - especially for the theme of this game. (Is the card tracking option in this game driven by a specific Mission? I guess I had thought it was the Game Master's option choice?)

Splito can be tougher as Async.

Downforce and Bang! are definitely suited more for real-time, at the table, watching everyone else's moves.
ExaltedAngel
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Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by ExaltedAngel »

Ticket to Ride is perfect for async, but while the endgame is engaging, I find the drawing phase to be a pain: 20 turns in which 95% of the times you and your opponent just double click the deck :|
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ahyangyi
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Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by ahyangyi »

I feel many of the games work better when you use the "take note" functionality of BGA.
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asp3
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Joined: 20 December 2022, 22:13

Re: best games for asynchronous play

Post by asp3 »

I hadn't used turn based gaming until recently I wanted to play Gizmos, wasn't getting any players and saw a turn based game. I'm enjoying it so far. We tend to do one or two turns a day and it's working quite well. I kind of like having a little more time to take my turns. I'm finding I'm not making the mistakes I do when playing in real time. I might try some more turn based games.

Gizmos isn't in the list of good turn based games but I'd vote to have it added.
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