Hello:

My schedule has been quite busy lately and so has my partner's. We both really enjoyed Mansions of Madness and used to play that a lot with friends, but just have not had the time lately. I am wondering -- is this a good game for two people to sit down with once a week and just play casually over a beer? In your opinions, does it have replay value? Does the game flow well, or do you have to stop every few seconds to read an entire paragraph off of a card? Don't get me wrong, my favorite games are complex ones. But, I am looking to pick up a game that simply has a large fun factor, high replay value, and not a super huge learning curve. Thoughts?

Yes. The game plays wery well under an hour; especially the core set and the first expansion (Unseen Forces) should grant you a playing time of 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how fast you're at decision making and risk / benefit evaluation (and I assume you're fast considering your background in mathematics). The replay value is very high (at the moment I'm close to 150 games with it and I can go more without problems), and it's certainly a ton higher than Mansions': Ancient Ones come with specific powers and difficulties that should grant variety in the game, and being the board composed by cards, this increases interactions and combinations a lot.

Additionally, starting with Gates of Arkham, we had a series of now 4 expansions, each providing a different setting for the game (specific adventure cards and specific Mythos deck), so, replayability is huge for relatively little money (compared to the investment you had for LotR, for example).

As for the rules: the core set rulebook is wonky, but it's not too wonky, in the sense that after grokking them, you just keep playing, never to look back at the rulebook (so, again, nothing comparable to the rules intricancies of a LotR LCG)

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. I think that this is just the thing that I am looking for. I will give it a try and let you know how it goes!

I enjoy the Arkham Horror universe, but, as you mentioned, am also a huge LotR LCG fan, and so am not looking for another LCG to play. I am sure that the Arkham LCG is a lot of fun, but just not what I am looking for at the moment. I watched a few videos of people playing Elder Sign and it looks good!

AH LCG is more story than LotR, but for many reasons I like LotR better, and if I had to choose, I'd have no doubts and go full on LotR. Elder Sign definitely scratches a different hitch

Curious to hear your thoughts after you try it out