Top 100 Games 2022 Edition – 30-21
We’re nearing the top of the list, next week are are into the Top 20 Games of my Top 100 Games. But before that, last night on Malts and Meeples I streamed numbers 30-21. And there are a lot of great games on the list. I know there is at least one controversial choice, but for me, it’s a game that I really love and works more often than not. Though, I do get it when people have an issue with it. Which game is it, you’ll have to see.
Top 100 Games 2022 Edition – 30-21
30. Sushi Go Party!
Sushi Go Party! is one of my go to bigger group games when I want to play something that isn’t just another party game. It plays up to eight and is a drafting and set collection game. What works so well with Sushi Go Party is that you have a different set-up each time. The combination of appetizers, specials, main dishes and deserts means that you end up with a huge combination that you can use. And that helps it feel different when you play it each time.
Plus, it’s not a hard game to learn, but it has more meaningful choices than a lot of party games do. So being able to play it at 8 is great because it is just more of a game than a lot of games at that player count.
29. PitchCar
PitchCar can also be played at a higher number, but this is a flicking racing game. So fewer decisions to make. You flick your car around the track, everyone taking turns, and the first person to get around wins. I like this one a lot because it can play almost any age. I’ve played with 9-year-olds and I’ve played with over 40-year-olds. The game works and is fun for everyone.
And I can scale how difficult it is. When I build a trick, I have everything for it, I can decide how big or small I want it to be. I can make it as challenging as I want or as hard as I want. If it’s for a casual time, simpler shorter track. If it’s the focal piece of a game night, well, then I’m up for adding in a loop and other crazy things that will slow the game down but offer even bigger “wow” moments.
28. Black Sonata
Black Sonata is a game that I feel like shouldn’t work. It is a solo only game of deduction. How does that work, wouldn’t you know the information? You’d think so. But the game uses a smart system with moving around the lady in black, the hidden character who you are trying to find. It does so by a deck of cards.
So you are trying to figure out how she is moving. And get ahead of her so that you can find out information at a location before she moves on. Of course, if you guess wrong, now it makes it harder for you to track her as she moves. It’s a pretty small game, some set-up at the start, but it’s worth it for a solo game that is really different.
27. Cartographers
Cartographers, which I got to play this past weekend, is a roll and write game. And it’s one that really sells me on it with the theme, of making a map, but more so on two things that the game does. The first is there are monsters. When a monster comes up you pass your sheet to the next person and they draw the monster in the worst spot for you. So for a roll and write it’s more interactive.
I also like how the scoring is done. You score two of the four objectives each round, season, of the game. You start out with A and B objectives. And you end with D and A objectives. So you score each objective in two different seasons. But for objective A it is at the start and end of the game. It’s just something clever that allows you have some strategy. Maybe you focus in on one type of scoring. Or maybe you diversify and see which gets you the most points.
26. Super Fantasy Brawl
Now we are onto a much bigger game than Cartographers, but one that actually plays faster. Super Fantasy Brawl is a head to head tactical battling and objective based game. Where you are taking a team of three creatures and pitting them up against another player and team.
A couple of things stand out about the game. First is all the characters and how different that they play. I think I have either 24 or 21 different characters. And you can mix and match them to create the team that you battle with. I like being able to pick different characters off of abilities that I remember or off of fun looks or combos that I hope I can create.
The other thing is that this is a game where you are trying to get points. You do that by completing objectives or by knocking your opponent off the board. If you only go for objectives, your opponent will be able to control the board by just knocking out a character you need to complete it. If you go for pure combat, your opponent can sneak objectives past you. So it needs to be a balance of both.
And the objectives don’t just score when you complete them. It scores at the start of the next turn. That means even though I am all set-up for an objective. I might not get it because you have a whole turn to stop me. I think that’s a smart system because it takes care of some things, like a first player advantage.
25. Under Falling Skies
Under Falling Skies is another solo game on this section of the list. The game is a combination of Space Invaders and Independence Day. In that you have waves of small alien ships getting lower and lower as the game progresses. And you are also trying to win by researching the other mothership. And once you’ve done enough research you can take it out.
Now that’s the theme, mechanically it’s about placing dice. The dice go in columns and determine how far the small alien ships advance. But they also do other things, like give you energy, let you research, or blow up the small alien ships. It’s a tense game of trying to control the small ships but at the same time not focus on that so much that you can’t make the last push on research to stop the mothership.
24. Betrayal at House on the Hill
One that has bounced around on the list, Betrayal at House on the Hill is not without it’s flaws. Someone can be very overpowered, good for them but that can determine a scenario either direction. But the basics of the game are that you are exploring a haunted house. Eventually someone finds something that causes them or someone else to become the betrayer and the haunt happens.
I like this game because it’s so thematic. You get that horror feel of exploring a crazy house and getting little bits of random story. And then eventually someone in the group turns on you, it’s fun for that. However, the haunts, what the betrayer needs to do to win and what the survivor, how that is written out should be better. And they’ve never really improved it, so sometimes figuring that out can be a bit tricky.
23. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade
Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade is one of two roll and write games left in this section. It’s a game where you’re playing pinball. And I have to give it a ton of credit, playing pinball is not the easiest thing to simulate when it comes to a board game, but Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade does a good job with it. And it’s fairly thematic for a roll and write as well.
They do that, mainly, but giving you ways in which the ball moves and bounces. So as you hit it with the flippers it is going to go a certain direction. And as it bounces off things, it’ll start to drop again. Unless you can get it into the spot that’s on most boards where it just bounces around trapped between 3 bumpers. The game even has that in it.
22. Sonora
Then we have Sonora, Sonora is the other roll and write game. But instead of rolling a die, you are flicking discs and where the discs end, that’s the action on the board you’re going to take. That part of the game is fun, but I really like filling out your board or scoring sheet.
That is mainly because in Sonora everything combos. You fill in on one area and that’ll open up something else you can do in another area which might then even open up something more. And because of that you get really high scores and it feels like you re being very clever. Now, you are, because how you combo things together will be what works best for your scoring. But everyone in the game gets to be clever.
21. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong
Deception is a deduction and social deduction game and I really like it. If you know me, I don’t like social deduction. Mainly because most of the time social deduction at least at the start of the game just comes down to guessing. And randomly guessing if you’re good to vote for someone or not is not fun. But Deception gives you real information to work on.
There has been a murder and the murder, as well as everyone, has a murder weapon and a clue in front of them. The murder picks one of their murder weapons and one of their clues to be it for the game. Only the forensic scientist knows what they are (or an accomplice) and the scientist is sending up clues to get people to guess what it is. So those clues give you something to work on right away which I really like.
Upcoming Streams
Right now there’s a chance that next Wednesday I will not stream. As that pushes it up to the day before Thanksgiving and I might not be free that evening. But on Monday, I have 20 through 11 of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition. So join me on Malts and Meeples then at 8:30 PM.
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