Set Collection is fun in games. But I know for a type of game it is probably less varied than some. Why, because they all do sort of the game thing. Now that might depend if it is all they do or not, but it’s a part of a lot of games. Let’s see what set collection games I own. And let’s see how many of those set collection games I need to keep because they do something different or the set collection isn’t that important.

And if you want to know the criteria that I’m using, or the conversation starting point, you can read that article here.

Set Collection Games I Own

As normal, two lists one for set collection games that I own and have played another for set collection games that I own and haven’t played. Because that latter group is likely going to be kept completely.

Set Collection Games I Own and Have Played

• Ticket to Ride
• Ra
• Five Tribes: The Djinns of Naqala
• Sagrada
• Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
• Flamecraft
• The Isle of Cats
• The Lord of the Rings
• Sushi Go Party
• Forest Shuffle
• Roll Player
• The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth
• Arboretum
• The Castles of Burgundy
• Calico
• No Thanks!
• Biblios
• Meadow
• Faraway
• Nidavellir
• Imhotep
• Canvas
• Century: Golem Edition
• Potion Explosion
• Yahtzee
• Aquatica
• Point Salad
• Creature Comforts
• Daftosaurus
• Let’s Go! To Japan
• Jump Drive
• Castle Combo
• Parade
• River of Gold
• Rock Hard: 1977
• Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler Game
• Circus Flocati
• Archeos Society
• Ohanami
• River Valley Glassworks
• Comic Hunters
• SpellBook
• Floriferous
• Astra
• Ecosystem
• Call to Adventure: The Stormlight Archive
• Marrying Mr Darcy
• Stonespine Architects
• Quiddler
• Pixies
• The Isle of Cats Explore and Draw
• Via Magica
• Tesseract
• Charcuterie
• Butterfly
• Metrorunner
• Gasha
• Trinket Trove
• GAP
• Ramen! Ramen!
• Birds of a Feather: Western North America
• ICECOOL Wizards
• Chop! Chop!
• Featherlight

Set Collection Games I Own and Have Yet to Play

• Ark Nova
• Everdell
• Star Realms
• Tokaido
• Endless Winter: Paleoamericans
• Targi
• Clank Legacy
• Abyss
• Mosaic: A Story of Civilization
• The Vale of Eternity
• Distilled
• Wonderous Creatures
• Cockroach Poker
• Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar
• Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef
• Monumental
• Fantastic Factories
• Deep Regrets
• Eleven: Football Manager
• Trio
• QE
• Cities
• Blue Prints
• Silver 7 Gold
• Oak
• Spirits of the Forest
• Skulls of Sedlec
• Books of Time
• Isle of Trains: All Aboard
• Maple Valley
• Four Gardens
• Marvel: Remix
• Pokemon Splendor
• Santa’s Workshop
• Cascadia: Rolling Hills
• Fika
• Goblin Vaults
• Jurassic Parts
• Longboard
• Senshi
• Boomerang
• Paper Safari
• Zoo-Ography
• Isle of Night
• Properitea
• Sunrise at the Studio

What Set Collection Games Are Leaving

Firstly, the list is massive. I will not mention them all. In particular with the stuff that I have yet to play. I likely should get rid of some of those, but there are ton in there. And I should mention too, I removed some from the list because they aren’t really set collection or because I talked about them before.

Now that we know that the ones I haven’t played are staying, let’s see if there are any that are easy to say they are leaving. I suspect it is going to be tricky because so often set collection is a secondary mechanism in the game. You might score your points off of that, but it’s how you get the sets that is the interesting element of the game.

To highlight this element, we have Sushi Go Party! and Ecosytems. Both are drafting set collection games. But Ecosystems uses a tableau building element for it as well. So they both stay as they do different things.

Easy Leave

The first one leaving is ICECOOL Wizards. This is a fun game, but it’s just less fun than regular ICECOOl. So that one is easy to get rid of because I’d rather play regular ICECOOL.

Another one is going to be Circus Flohcati. The issue with some of these games leaving is more that while they are fun, I’m just less apt to play them. I like Circus Flohcati, it’s just not likely to get played.

Another one is Charcuterie. Again another game that is fairly fun, but it’s almost more hassle to teach the rules than it is to play the game. And the game is extremely light when you get down to it. So the scoring and rules don’t feel like they match up with the game.

Archeos Society is on the pile to leave as well. It is a game that I’ve played at two and I thought it was fairly boring at two. The whole question is when do you collect your set and give the other player access to more cards. And then which tracks do you go up on. But neither of those things are all that interesting as you play it.

Finally, Astra is leaving. It is one that I’ve played on BGA a few times now and it is always just okay. I think the concept is cool, you fill in stars, but the actual execution of the game is meh. It doesn’t feel like fun actions when you take them.

Easy Staying

A number fall into the category of easily staying. You can look at my Top 100 Games this year and last year to see some of the games that I love. But maybe some less obvious ones, Draftosaurus is just a fun game that I enjoy. And there are a lot more, Ohanami, Let’s Go! To Japan, Arobetum and a ton more that I don’t want to list them all. Though I know I should.

What About The Rest?

But let’s instead talk about some that are at the edge of this list. Mainly I want to talk about any set collection games that are similar in their other mechanisms. That is the area where I think I can find games to get rid of potentially. Because while I might enjoy them if they do the same thing, is there one that I want to play more than the others.

And honestly, that is something that I’m finding hard to keep track of right now. Mainly because there are so many differences in how the games play. The one that is probably the biggest maybe for me right now is SpellBook. And the reason that it is a maybe is that while there are a bunch of different sets of cards that you play with, the plays actually seem to be pretty similar as you go. I wish it felt like a more interesting variety in what you were doing. So I think it’s going to leave.

Two others are Biblios and Faraway. Faraway is because I don’t know when I’ll play it in person. I say that, but I like it two player, so I think that I can get it to the table. For Biblios it is more about I haven’t played it in a long time. I like the game quite well, but is that enough to keep it around. Mainly, is it a game I am apt to play again. So while Faraway is going to say, Biblios is going to leave.

Final Thoughts

With how long that list of games is, I was hoping it’d be fewer games to keep. But there is such variety. Some mechanisms are more similar in their games. And while set collection is just set collection, how you do it is very different a lot of the time. And for that reason it is easier to justify keeping a lot of them. How you collect a set is not all equal.

What is your favorite set collection game?

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