Beyond gateway games

chezfugu asked me in the comments of this post about games beyond gateway games. This is a fairly vast subject, so I thought that a full blown post would be in order.

First of all, I am definitely not a specialist. I'll point to some great resources at the end of this post to help you find other opinions about this.

After playing some games like Carcassonne or Settlers of Catan, one way to go further is to look into the expansions of theses games, as there are many of them. I've played the first two extensions of Carcassonne (Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders) and they really add a lot to the games. Some even say that this two extensions give the best balance to the game.

I have not played extensions to Settlers of Catan, but I've heard that Cities and Knights of Catan really add depth (and playing time) to the game. Some people I used to play Settlers with now always play with this extension.

Of course, one does not have to stick with these two games. Here is a quick list of games that are a bit more complex without being too difficult. I really like Yspahan, especially to be able to play with so many dices. In a completely different theme, I've found Nexus Ops to be a light space themed game that is a lot of fun. I've played Ticket to Ride: Europe and found it a great version of Ticket to Ride. The Märklin version, which I haven't played, adds even more mechanisms. Finally, here are two more complex games that I have not yet played: Struggle for Rome is part of the Catan series and seems very nice, and The Pillars of the Earth looks like a good introduction to resource management games.

To go further, there are many resources online. I would recommend some of the lists of The Dice Tower, such as Games a New Gamer Should Buy: part 1, part 2, and part 3, all part of Episode 0 of this podcast. They also did two lists on gateway games which may be of interest. And to discover games in general, and learn a lot about the rules without having to spend too much time reading them, I've found the Board Game with Scott video podcast to be one of the best resources.

Good gaming!