Over the last several years, the board game industry has boomed with companies like Fantasy Flight re-releasing old games with new art and higher quality pieces, new Euro-style games getting attention in America, game versions being released to play online or on iOS, Kickstarter having an awesome section for board games, and self-publishing of games made thousands of times easier. The release of many co-op games probably helped quite a bit, as well.
Last year, my wife and I (and Hirkala) started a board game group in our local area. We meet once a week and play board games at a coffee shop. Our collection of games has grown considerably over the last year and we've had a lot of fun trying out new games with many different mechanics. The second meeting of every month, we run an RPG session, as well, if anyone there wants to play.
Hopefully this new boom will change the world view on board games (away from Monopoly and the like).
Feel free to answer any of the questions below.
Does anyone here run a board game night or attend one?
What games do you like?
If you don't currently play, do you at least have an interest?
What mechanics do you like in a game? What don't you like?
Our list of games we have and games I'm planning on getting is below. It's actually considerably smaller than some collections I've seen. If you have any suggestions, let me know. I always love looking at new games.
I've also just found Compounded (a chemistry board game) on Kickstarter. It looks worthwhile enough to add to the collection.