There's a Lord of the Rings deck builder called the Living Card Game I've been looking at for a while. There's also an expansion for the Harry Potter game that I'm hoping to pick up (or at least put on a Christmas list).

The LotR game is definitely different in that you build the deck before the game rather than as part of the game like deck building games usually are. A result of this is of course that LotR gets a lot of expansions and it comes down to players who spend more ultimately can play with a better deck. It does feel a lot more like a CCG as a result.

If you are looking for a game where you build the deck as part of the gameplay, there are a LOT of different games there. The usual go to recommendation made is "Dominion", since it invented the genre and has become a classic as a result.

Thanks for that advice, Reepi. I have noticed all the expansions as I've looked at LotR more, and I'm a bit daunted by them. While the ability to expand the game is very cool, the thing I liked most about HP (before owning it) was the fact I didn't have to invest a lot of money to get a full experience of different levels of play. I've seen Dominion come up a lot in my searches, so I'll look into it a bit more. I'm also considering something from the Legendary line, as that seems to be more of the style the HP game has.

I'm also considering something from the Legendary line, as that seems to be more of the style the HP game has.

Oh yeah, they have a lot of different licensed games. Dominion can feel a bit "boring" because it was the first of its genre and thus a bit "dry". It has a lot of expansions that change things up a bit, but if you're looking for something more HP, the Legendary games have a lot of different licensed version that could be interesting. They all have things that make them unique with different game modes and such.

As of right now my favorite board game is Scrabble. My sisters and I have the best time playing together and with our mom. We have good vocabularies since we were homeschooled and continue to read a lot, but wow some of the words you discover in the dictionary when playing words games. For-instance cozen, pouf, gloze....

In a game yesterday one of the words played was fee and by the end of game it was played off 3 times into unfeeling. Some of the other interesting words recently were - qua became squads, brow became brownie, maze became amazed, hob became hobblers, rage became enraged, etc.

Quiddler is another favorite and the only word game my older brother will play.

I prefer the short board games like TransAmerica, 10 Days in Europe, Domination, Sequence, etc. More chances to win (or be beaten) with short games.

SnowAngel

I've been introduced to a couple of fun games lately:

Hero Realms - a competitive card game that works a little like "Magic: The Gathering" with the addition that it's a deck-building game. You can acquire gold to buy from a selection of cards to make your deck better as the game goes on.

Battle for Greyport: This is also a deck-building game, but in this one the players cooperate with each other to overcome D&D-type monsters attacking the city of Greyport.

I just found this thread. For the most part, I like games which don't have a ton of rules to learn and the game goes fairly quickly. Two card games that fit the bill are:
The Mind (my son introduced me to it)
No, Thanks (my nephew introduced me to this one).

Once in awhile, I do enjoy playing Civilization, which is long and complicated.

I enjoy the board game Acquire quite a bit, also Settlers of Catan and Pictionary. I love Scrabble, but would rather play on-line where I can take a turn whenever it's convenient.

Couple of questions for those who enjoy Settlers of Catan, do recommend the 5-6 player expansion? Which of the expansions is the most fun/worth the money? My siblings and I received the main game for Christmas this year and we were told to open it the day after Thanksgiving. We are really enjoying it, but would like to have 5-6 players instead of 4.

SnowAngel

The 5-6 player expansion makes the game take longer. It can be hard to have a bigger group if you all are just learning the game, but it's not a bad experience. If I remember right, the 5-6 player expansion only applies to the base game, so it can't be combined with other expansions. If you have a large enough group I would recommend getting a second copy of the base game and then switch off who plays in what group.

My favorite expansion is Seafarers. It introduces some fun elements that can make the game more fun if you want something extra, or (as my family has) you've been playing for at least ten years and desperately need some new scenarios to work with. The trouble with having an oldest brother who works in game design is that you end up playing a lot of niche games before they become popular.

Taught the niece and nephew Dominion after Thanksgiving dinner. Had a tiny bit of trouble because niece is dyslexic so she had a hard time reading some of the cards and nephew is color-blind so we had to remember to identify victory cards by the symbol instead of just calling them green cards, but we had fun.

We have a game board version of Oregon Trail. I think it's funny but no one likes to play with me because it's just like the computer game - everyone usually dies before anyone can get to the oregon town.

I've played the Oregon Trail card game, too - even though I've actually never played the computer game. We've only played a few times and have yet to win. I'm lucky if I'm the second person to die instead of the first.

Right now, my gaming group is really into a game called Villainous (and its three expansions). Basically, the game is about Disney villains (the first game includes Maleficent, Captain Hook, Ursula, Jafar, Prince John, and the Queen of Hearts), and each villain has their own "board" and deck of cards. Each villain has a different goal they're trying to accomplish, and they mostly play independently of each other. However, since you're trying to get to your goal before everyone else, you can sabotage the other players by basically summoning the heroes of their respective Disney movie to cause problems for the villain. For example, if you're playing against Ursula, you can summon Ariel or Prince Eric, who mess with Ursula's plans.

We find it a lot of fun, even as a group that doesn't typically play really cutthroat games. The base game and the first expansion are pretty well balanced (at least how we play them), to the point where basically any time someone wins, everyone else goes, "Agh, I was one or two turns away from winning!" Occasionally you get someone who falls really behind everyone else, but in my experience, it's more often a really close call. Some of the villains from the later games aren't as well balanced, but they're still really fun.

I had my younger siblings make a list of all our board and card games, today I printed a copy for each family member. We are going to play every game on the list in the coming weeks or months, although with the way my siblings were eyeing the list I think it will probably be weeks. Today we played Tenzi, Army Monopoly, and Scrabble. I lost Tenzi and Army Monopoly, but I won one game of Scrabble.  

SnowAngel

Right now, my gaming group is really into a game called Villainous (and its three expansions). . . . We find it a lot of fun, even as a group that doesn't typically play really cutthroat games. Some of the villains from the later games aren't as well balanced, but they're still really fun.

Glad to hear all of this. I just got the base game for us to play (both as a family and with our friends who live out of town). I'm thinking we'll probably get the expansions eventually. One cool aspect for those is they're designed to play independently, so you can pick up any set and play it, which adds to the appeal for me.

We love playing board games when our family is together, and usually play for hours on end. Favourites are:

Dutch Blitz (using regular playing cards)
Boggle (a wonderful ol' word game)
Probe (an old word game)
Stock Ticker (an old stock and bonds game)
Bonco (a very fast-paced dice game for a larger group)
PIT/spoon PIT (a noisy, very fun trading game)

A newer game that our youngest son introduced us to last year is Code Names. We are hooked! Great for the mind (it uses language/words). When he was up at our place awhile back, we played it for 5+ hours.

Some of us also like Settlers of Catan, Quickie Scrabble, Zilch (a dice game).

Ah, yes, jo, Bonco! What memories! Haven't played it since; do I recall some difficulty regarding altered dice?

Though we don't play much right now, we used to play games to death. Dutch blitz, Chinese checkers, Boggle, and more latterly, Qwirkle and Settlers. Payday--way easier than Monopoly--was a childhood favourite.

I guess Mom was the one who liked to play the most; our likelihood of playing dropped off once her eyesight failed. But every now and again, we invite young friends over and make a night of it--last time it was dominoes. And then there's always the story-writing game.

Ahh, games, such fun!

Aileth, I simply cannot believe I left out Boggle on my list above. I have amended that list to add it in. One of our top favourites! An excellent game for words and therefore for the mind.