Expanding my collection, part four: Number of Players

It's important to own games that work in many different settings with different groups of people. One of the easiest factors for me to control here is to have a variety of games that play well with different sized groups.

For instance, Carcassonne can be played with 2-6 players but is best with 2, good with up to 4, and not so great with 6. Inversely, El Grande plays with 2-5 players but is best with 5, not the greatest with 2, and okay in between.

Of my new games, For Sale plays between 3 and 6, and is best near the higher of that scale, and Say Anything plays up to 8 players very well. These are both great additions because they can handle large groups and then can hit the table in situations where other games like Neuroshima Hex! (2-4 players, best with 2) or Carcassonne really can't (or shouldn't!) be played.

Of course there are many situations where a 2-player game will be ideal, the most common of which is games I play with my wife. In such a situation, Neuroshima Hex! may be perfect, as would Memoir '44, Dominion (2-4 players), or Alhambra (2-6, but much better with 2 or 3).

The best way to get a feel for the appropriate group size for almost any game is board game geek. In the information section of each individual board game page there is a 'best with # of players' line, which details the general opinion amongst users about the ideal number of players for a game as well as which numbers are not quite perfect but still recommended.