What are some good board games that involve strategy but don't take too long to play?

Question

My wife and I have had some good times playing Monopoly with friends, but it seems to take too long to play sometimes. I am looking for games that are not super short, but can be played in about 2-3 hours comfortably. Also, the game should be able to be played with four players or more. A fun strategy game like Monopoly is preferable. Thanks!

Answer 1

Life? Not sure if that's a strategy game though. Otherwise it takes that amount of time.

Answer 2

checkers

chess

Answer 3

I am seconding the settlers of catan and am going to paste a little info from a recent post. most games take 45-60minutes to complete.

Settlers of Catan. My whole family plays, well except Grandma, when we get together and its great fun. Its a pretty deep strategy game, but unlike risk, its not about conquering and eliminating other players, its about trying to build your resources quicker and compete in that respect. Also the way the game is played you never have the same setup with the board pieces twice, so its got a different strategy to every game.

Answer 4

i would have to say play :

scrabble

life

pictionary

the price is right

clue

smarty party

fact or c**p

Hollywood shuffle

Answer 5

definitly Risk, you fight for the world, or Axis and Allies, that one is alot more strategic becuase you have money and things like that

Answer 6

Settlers of Catan has some similarities with Monopoly but takes a bit over an hour and has more strategies available.  You can't play more then four without an expansion though.  Ticket to Ride is another popular "gateway" to European- style games.  It takes about an hour and plays up to 5.  If you want to try something a tad more complex, try Traders of Genoa, which is very heavily dependant on trading (hence the title).

Answer 7

Here are some good strategy games that clock in under 2-3 hours.

Settlers of Catan

Ticket To Ride

Railroad Tycoon

Pillars of the Earth

Winner's Circle

Pandemic

Puerto Rico

Thurn & Taxis

Blue Moon City

Lost Cities

Alhambra

Carcassonne

Through the Desert

Blokus

Can't Stop

Niagara

Most of these can be played in 45-90 minutes, except for Railroad Tycoon, which can go 2- 3 hours.  

Have fun!

Answer 8

We like trivial pursuit and monopoly but find them too long also.  So we modify some rules such as needing less pieces in trivial pursuit to win or having a back up question option if you get the fist one wrong.

In Monopoly if you start with 2000 instead of 1500 and if you land on your own property you roll again.  That way the real estate goes faster.

Have fun!

Answer 9

Try Trivial Pursuit. Its the right game you are looking for.

Answer 10

You could learn to play Mafia, which is a fun and challenging strategy game- and you only need a deck of cards to play (to set identities). I play that game all of the time with my friends, and games usually run from 1-3 hours depending on how many people we have in the game at a time. 5-9 people is considered a good number of members to play, but if you want it to be really challenging, you can put in as many as 25 people. If you google "how to play mafia" it will explain everything, and it's actually fairly easy to learn- and you don't need a board to play! :-D

Answer 11

We love Trivial Persuit! There are so many versions out there! Also, you may like to check out the links I left for different games. If you want, go to the home page on any of these and see hundreds of board games. I cannot believe all of these games! I have put this in my favorites and will surely do some shopping!