I wasn’t planning on doing a double post today. But this Top 10 list ties so directly into the topic I wrote about earlier, I wanted to touch on it as well. What makes a good choice in a board game? Well, you can read about that here. And it really does matter that there are good choices in board games. So what are the Top 10 Board Games, that I’ve played, which offer really good choices, and why.

Top 10 Board Games that Offer Good Choices

10. Lost Ruins of Arnak

One of two games that I played at Gen Con that made it onto the list. Lost Ruins of Arnak is just on that edge because I do think once in a while there are too many decisions a round that bog you down. Granted, some of that is adjusting on the fly, which is a good thing.

But the basics of what you do, play a card, buy a card, place a meeple, and move up on the research track, it’s pretty straight forward. It’s honestly a game that looks bigger than it really plays in some ways. And because of the limited number of rounds, I feel like it’s a great balance for that decision making. You know what you want/need to get done, it’s just a matter of creating your engine/puzzle to get it done.

9. Floriferous

Floriferous falls into that category of limiting what you can do on a turn. You place your meeple next to a flower or a scoring card and take it. That by itself is a bit too simple. But based off of the grid that is laid out, the higher you are on it, the sooner you go in the next round. So you need to consider what is in the next round. Is there a card that is perfect for you so you’d take a less optimal card now?

That little bit of an addition to the puzzle means that you have an interesting decision. Which is better, that good card now and hope to get that perfect card. Or take that slightly worse card and guarantee of getting that card. But you don’t need to plan further out than that, so each turn has just enough to plan.

8. First Rat

First Rat makes the list as the other game I learned at Gen Con. First Rat is all about building up a rocket ship for your rat. Except, it’s just that in theme. Instead it is a really interesting ladder climbing game. You have one track you push up on to gain resources and trade those in to score points. That is like most euro games, it is all about getting resources and points.

For me, though, First Rat, besides having a theme that is more fun, does a really interesting thing. You can either move one rat up and be able to move faster and farther. But if you don’t do that and you move two rats, you are limited as to how you can place them. They need to match colors that they end on, and they can’t move as far. But if you can do that, you get the resources from both spots.

Then you add in lighting the path. You land on spots to push your bulb forward. But if you spend time doing that early, you get double resources on any spot your bulb has passed. Which can be great to push one rat up to the top moving the bulb up to then start moving your other rats for more resources. But at the same time, you’re missing out on the top scoring spots fort he different rocket parts. Really clever design.

7. Gloomhaven

My Number One game of all time, Gloomhaven, is not at the top of this list. I actually think Gloomhaven suffers in two ways. Firstly, most of the missions are just beat all the monsters. So you go into a scenario or mission and it’s generally going to be the same. The decision space, and choices weren’t used the best there. And with the city or road events, the results can be a bit random, so the decision space could use refinement.

But it’s on the list because of the card combat in this game. There is so much decision space when playing out cards. But at the same time, you know what cards you have, and you want to give yourself flexibility, you don’t know what the other characters will do. So it’s picking the cards you hope to have work, and then having to use them on the fly to adjust your decision making. And when you upgrade and swap in a new card, that allows you to refine your puzzle and choices. It’s just great for that feeling of improving what you can do and clever plays.

6. Arboretum

Arboretum, I think, is the meanest game on the list. In Arboretum you are planting trees for your arboretum, or something like that. But what you are really doing is creating routes of trees in ascending order. That in and of itself is not that difficult.

The decision making space comes from knowing that you won’t score your great path of trees unless you still, at the end of the game, have the most of that tree in your hand. So, you could create an amazing route to score, but if someone holds back one card that is higher than the one you hold back, you won’t score it.

Arboretum is a very mean game that way, but it creates an interesting decision. How much do you push to create a great path or row of trees? When do you hold back maybe a card or two more than you would because you suspect someone is trying to block you. The choice matters, and you’re never quite sure if you made the right one.

5. Marvel Champions

Marvel Champions gives you one of the common ways to get some interesting decisions into your game. That is firstly by multi-use cards. So I have a card, I can use that card either for it’s affect or pay it out for resources to play another card. And you need to pay for cards always, so which cards are better to hold onto to play later, or is it better to use it now to get another card out.

I also like the decision about if you defend against damage or not. Defending is good because it means you less likely need to flip over and spend a turn or two healing while the villains schemes. On the flip side, not defending means that you get a hero action to attack or thwart the next round which you might miss out on.

There is just a lot clever in the game. And I like that what I’d consider some of the harder choices, how to build the deck, are done prior to the game. Granted, I don’t do much of the deck building, but I should do more of that. That construction really can set you up for success or failure.

4. Super Fantasy Brawl

Super Fantasy Brawl is a very big box game, but one that is also light to play. You have a limited number of cards that you can play out. There are a few things that I appreciate about the decision making here. Firstly, you have a limited number of cards to use, and you are limited to which ones you can use. There are activation tokens of different colors, and each round you can activate three cards one of each color.

Of course, that leads into the other interesting thing, or one of them, you can sometimes play defense. But if you play a card for defense, that means that I use up one of my colors. I’ve activated that on your turn to play a defense. When it comes to my turn, I’ll have two activations left, so is it worth it?

I also like that you score objectives at the start of your turn. That means if you position yourself to get two trophies, by having majority in some area, I can come in and try and knock you out or push or pull you out of there. It’s a good way to give interesting scoring because you need to take your opportunities to get those trophies when your opponent can’t manipulate you as much.

3. Calico

Calico is a brain burner of a game. But one that I really enjoy the decision making space of it. Mainly because you have such a limited number of options, but how you place everything matters so much.

I pick one of two tiles that I have to play. But I need to think about the scoring objectives on my board when I place it. And I need to think about how it might attract a cat because of it’s pattern. Or how I can get buttons by matching colors. I think the three different scoring things to think about might be too much for some people, but I really like it as a thinky game without too much going on in it.

2. Tainted Grail

Tainted Grail is on this list for two reasons. Firstly is combat and diplomacy. The card play in those allows for some interesting things. If I go first, how can I get the combat stopped at the right point so you are setup to finish off the enemy? Or how do I get it setup right so that when I stop, I take as little damage as possible.

But then you also have the story element in this game. And Tainted Grail, I feel like, has some of the best story decisions. I wish that I could see more of the story every time that I play. And in the base game, we went down one path which totally shuts down other paths. It isn’t consistently shutting down huge paths, but it might limit little things, which is fun as well.

1. Hanamikoji

Hanamikoji is a pretty easy #1 on the list. The decision space is great because so much of what you are doing is letting the other person decide for you. But in the game you take four actions. Keep one card hidden to win favor. Keep two cards hidden to discard. Let your opponent pick one of three cards for winning favor. And let your opponent pick one set of two cards to win favor. That is it, but there’s so much to think about.

And so much about it is trying to get into the mind of your opponent. How do you tell what your opponent has when you can’t see their cards. What can you infer from the option that they just gave you. It’s so interesting as you need to read your opponent to understand what is going on. But really manipulate your opponent into picking what you want them to pick based off of what you know.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of games that make for really interesting choices. These are just some that really stand out to me as being that nice balance. I wanted to put Stars of Akarios on the list but I think it can push past that sweet spot a little bit into extra thinky. Not really a bad thing, more just a part of the game that doesn’t make it the sweet spot. But Stars of Akarios is still a lot of fun as it has that story element to it as well.

I really like the simple decisions but tough decisions of a game. As especially with the likes of Calico and Hanamikoji at the top of the list, those two really drive home that decision making level that I love. I don’t have a ton of options of things to pick, but what I pick really matters for the game. Probably why I like trick taking as well, though none made the list. But there a few that were close.

What game(s) have the best decision making space to you?

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