01 April 2025
|
Gateway game is a common term in board games. We'd define it as a game that is easy to learn, fun to play, but most importantly, it gets new players hooked on the hobby.
Written by Emma Garrett
Borrowing a term from the world of narcotics is a little on the nose for many gamers. Much like gateway drugs, gateway games can change your life. Your social circle dwindles in part, and expands in new directions, as does the way your mind works.
Both cut a sizeable chunk out of your bank balance. Taking the metaphor back to its origin, these are the games that draw you in. The ones that you take off the shelf for a little fun, and find it wasn’t just a shelf, it was one of those doors in glamorous libraries. Suddenly you find yourself through the gateway, wading into a wonderland of possibilities you could never before have imagined.
An important quality of a gateway game is that the explanation doesn’t take very long. Whilst reading rulebooks might have become a beloved part of the hobby for us - in the same way as popping out tokens and smelling the new pack of cards straight from the packet - I hear that many people find it a drag.
They just want to get playing, they don’t want to hear any rules. Another is simplicity, ideally a new player won’t feel overwhelmed by the experience. Rather, they’ll be enthused by how much more sense it makes by the end of one play and eager to try again.
Gateway games are the games your non-gaming friends have sometimes heard of. They can be a blessing and a curse, if someone doesn’t enjoy their experience playing one of these, they may be turned off gaming forever. Many people in the hobby can look back and talk fondly of which games were their gateway.
The games that friends showed them that lit a spark inside them. Some of us still think of them fondly, some feel they’ve outgrown the thing they used to love, their tastes having blossomed, refined and branched out. They can be games that stand the test of time and become modern classics, like Catan or Ticket to Ride. Or they can be more short term. I wonder how many people’s real first gateway game was something in the Marvel or Star Wars franchise.
3 Gateway Games
Carcassonne
The first modern board game many of us played. A new classic, a traditional gateway game and (probably) the origin of the humble meeple, Carcassonne has a lot to answer for. The basic concept is simple to grasp, like dominoes, things have to match. Now, go forth and build roads and cities! Don’t forget you have a limited number of meeples. Almost nothing needs explaining, as long as you don’t include the farmers in someone’s first game.
Cards Against Humanity
I can hear the debate already as to whether this counts as a gateway game or not. It’s a household name, possibly more so than any other modern board game. What it lacks in replayability, it makes up for in kudos points. Maybe it’s a party gateway game. Once you have finished a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity you might just be able to get something else out. You’re around a table already, after all.
Buy Cards Against Humanity on Amazon
Forbidden Island
It might have been Pandemic that got there first as a well-known co-op game, but Forbidden Island’s simplicity sees it hot on its heels. Simple and quick, it’s easy to explain to new players even if they aren’t familiar with the mechanics of board games. What makes it a fantastic gateway game is how it makes you feel when you play it, and just how memorable plays are when it’s all new and exciting.
Buy Forbidden Island on Amazon
Sometimes we may include links to online retailers, from which we might receive a commission if you make a purchase. Affiliate links do not influence editorial coverage and will only be used when covering relevant products