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[Ozle]

So, you have a group of friends that play games, but its just not enough, you want more, more, MORE!

Maybe you want some wives and girlfriends to join in, but they wont, the blood sucking witches!
Or you have a friend that thinks its just a bit too geeky for them.
OR, the WORSE CASE SCENARIO....they want to play Monopoly instead (I cannot help you with these people, just shoot them now, for the sake of humanity)

But anyway, what are your suggestions for good intro games to get people into gaming, because we all know that once they have got the bug, they are hooked! (The first game is always for free....)

Anyways, I like to start off with Incan Gold
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37759/incan-gold

Its the simplest game ever, you explain to them that they only have one decision to make each turn (Whether to stay in or run away).
It plays up to at least 8 people
It gives them cool little tents
Its the simplest game in the world, they will get it in 5 mins of how to play and will usually always ask for another game.

So once, they have played Incan Gold a few times and are comfortable with playing games....whats next?

It of course depends on numbers and how you rate thier strategy, but Settlers of Catan is a good way to go.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13/the-settlers-of-catan

Again, simple, but with more decisions.
But you cannot really make just one decision to make you lose, so they feel like they are involved all the way. And the decisions are fairly easy to make, it doesn't make your brain hurt thinking about all the choices.

Another option at what I am now calling Level 2 would be something like Stone Age or possible Ticket to Ride

Once they have grasped Catan, they can go anywhere, for example Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, etc...but I would go for one that involves buying cards, because then that will lead them eventually to....Dominion!

Ozle

[Kirian]

Incan Gold/Diamant makes a very good starter game, as will anything relatively simple.  Fluxx (if you can stomach it), Seven Dragons/Aquarius, Hey! That's My Fish! all come to mind as very simple to learn.

Second Level is Carcassone, Ticket to Ride, (possibly) Catan, Pandemic (very easy to learn), some others.

It'd be interesting to consider a "scale" of games for newer (or even seasoned) gamers, based on complexity, strategy, etc.

[jsh357]

I have found that once I can talk someone in to playing a game or two of Dominion, they get pretty hooked.  The hard part is the talking in.  I just have a hard time selling the concept to people.

[Kuildeous]

Carcassonne is a pretty good intro game. I talked one of my friends into buying it for her and her girlfriend. They love it. When I visit them this weekend, I will be bringing Blokus. It has simple rules, but the tactics can be deep. If it wasn't for the fact that there are two large hyper dogs, I would consider bringing my Dominion.

I think Dominion is not a bad game to start on. Where it can get overwhelming is the kingdom cards. I've toyed around with the idea of introducing Dominion with four kingdom cards. Throw in the basics: Smithy, Workshop, Market, and Village. That covers +Cards, +Coin, +Actions, +Buy, and gain a card. The only thing it doesn't cover is trashing and cursing. Those can be added later. After one or two games at that basic level, the players should easily grasp the concept of the game. Then you can use one of the named sets. And then go crazy random on them.

Witch's Brew is a fun game. It probably is a higher-level game in terms of strategy, but it would just be fun to sit around, drinking wine, and saying, "No, I am the Alchemist!"

[Ferrouswheel]

I'd like to recommend Bang the Bullet as a game for introducing people to board games, it's nice, simple and quick. I would say that quick is possibly the most important of these 3 items.

[Axxle]

I'd like to recommend Bang the Bullet as a game for introducing people to board games, it's nice, simple and quick. I would say that quick is possibly the most important of these 3 items.

Bang! has a weird sweet spot for number of players though... I'd say between 5 - 6 players.  Any less than 5 and it's way too obvious which player is which role, and any more than 6 and it becomes very easy for one player to be eliminated before their first turn!  Actually, the fact that it has player elimination probably wouldn't make it a very good game for a lot of people to start with.

[A_S00]

Much as I love Bang!, I also wouldn't say it's quick, at least not when you're still introducing players to the rules.  I tried to get a few of my friends in on a game a while back, and when most of the players have to remind themselves what each of their cards do every turn, it's a slooooow game.  I think people find the symbols on the cards in Bang! a lot less intuitive than the instructions on the cards in, say, Dominion.

That said, when everybody knows the rules and you can just slam through a turn, it is pretty fast I guess.

[^_^_^_^]

Stratego or Chess? My 2 favorite board games. Dominion, to be honest, I consider a browser-based game. Reasoning being that Isotropic captured Dominion in its purest form for me. I was also looking for a good chess board for a friend when I found Dominion. Don't ask how I did it, but I did lol.

[Ozle]

Don't ask how I did it, but I did lol.

How did you do it?

[Davio]

Stratego or Chess? My 2 favorite board games. Dominion, to be honest, I consider a browser-based game. Reasoning being that Isotropic captured Dominion in its purest form for me. I was also looking for a good chess board for a friend when I found Dominion. Don't ask how I did it, but I did lol.

I consider real life Dominion and Dominion on iso to be two different games, or at least two very different aspects. Much like online poker and real life poker. The internet version is mathier, more abstract, essentially only its distilled and stripped core. I enjoy online Dominion for different reasons than I do offline.

With online Dominion, it's all about the brain challenge and I play almost exclusively 2player. In real life, I play with 3-4 and I play (as any other board game) for the interaction and general fun.

[Cataphract]

The trick is the keep it simple in the beginning. Sometimes start with simple card games like LOOT or PALASTGEFLUSTER. The best game to lure them in (in my experience) is BATTLELINE.

Reason that I pick card games in that card game don't look too scary for new players.

Play a few of those games, so they get interested and feel less "scared" less "nerdy". Then, take the next step with DOMINION for example.