Why Change My Ratings Scale For Board Games?

First off, let’s talk about why I’m even changing my rating scale. It is more so that I can match between what I have on my BGG profile and what I have on the site. That is going to be the main reason for the change. I don’t need to adjust my rating to match between two spots or get a discrepancy.

But it’s also a chance to talk about the next topic. What the ratings mean to me. I am going to find that it falls into some of the buckets that you find on Board Game Geek. But let’s see what the scale for board games is going to look like.

What Do The Ratings Mean For Board Games?

When it comes to rating board games, Board Game Geek defines what they think that they are. And I think that I’m going to end up being pretty similar to them in some ways. But I’m going to do something that might be a bit odd. I am going to use the 1 to 10 system and clump numbers together to talk about them. And then talk about how it varies in the range as I rate board games.

10 to 9

10 and 9 are the games that I consider to be great. These are games that I want to play all the time. But also the ones that I am hard pressed to find a flaw with. But beyond that, they are games that I want to play. Even a game like Gloomhaven/Frosthaven which are big campaign games, I want to play them still. I beat Gloomhaven, twice, once in person and one digitally, and I want to play it again.

8 to 7

8 and 7 are the board games that I want to play a lot. And these are the games that I am going to recommend that we play. Are they my favorite game, certainly not. But they are going to be ones that I enjoy. A lot of these are going to be my game night games. The ones that I know that people like and I like as well. Even if not that, I still want to share them and play them with folks, or solo.

6 to 4

6 to 4 are the games that I’ll play but not ask to play. An example of this would be Catan or Tsuro. I enjoy both of those board games. But they left my collection because I already have played them a lot. And I am not apt to ask to play either of those games. That is more on the 6 side of things. A 4, not sure what that would be, Codenames maybe, I play but I’m not super excited.

3 to 1

3 to 1 are games that I want to avoid. I find that there aren’t too many board games in this section for me. I like and will play a lot of games. But there are some games that I just don’t want to play ever again. This can be for a lot of reasons. But if your game is gross or just relies on adult humor to be “good” game, that is going to score low. Or if the core loop of the game is no fun or has not decisions, also going to fall into that category for me.

Why Do Casual And Gamer For Rating Board Games?

But let’s move onto now the final section of how I do my ratings. And one of the elements that is important to me is that I rate what I think board games fall into for casual and gamer players.

What is a casual player, those are people who play games but not often. It’s the folks who play Catan, not for people who only play party games. At that point it isn’t something that is casual for you, it’s something that if you happen to have a party game brought out at a party.

Then on the flip side, a gamer is someone who plays lots of games. This one I think is a bit trickier to nail down. I play games with a friend who wasn’t thinking of himself as a gamer. Mainly because the board games that he owns aren’t that many or aren’t that complex. But he plays any game. That is the person I’m talking about. If someone likes games but won’t play anything more complex than Catan, that’s the casual side of things.

How do you rate board games? Do you follow something like I do, or do you rate them a different way?

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5 Games Gamers Should Try

Dungeons and Dragons

This is the first two the two that are going to be a bit more controversial. Note that I didn’t say board games. If it were just board games, it’s not on the list. But I think that Dungeons and Dragons, or an RPG of your choice, is worthwhile to play at least ones. And an RPG is easy to get played. Now, it might sound hard, but go to your local convention and play a one-shot there. Don’t have a local convention, Gen Con, Origins, and more all have RPG’s to play.

But why play an RPG? I think it gives a gamer a better appreciation for what games can do. Mainly how you can get into a game and enjoy it for more than just the mechanisms. It is also a chance to have a gaming experience where you step out of your shell and comfort zone as a person. I like that in an RPG you get to experience a story and game as being someone else.

Magic the Gathering

Now on the flip side, Magic the Gathering is one of those games that is going to have other issues with it. Yes, it is a collectible card game, though trading card game is preferred now. But you can easily play it without spending much money. Buy two starter decks and you are good to go.

I think this is worth checking out because it’s going to help in some games like Lord of the Rings the Card Game and Arkham Horror the Card Game. In both of those you construct decks to play with. And Magic the Gathering is the granddaddy of that type of game. But also because it is going to stretch gamers to think more about your strategy leading into the game and very strategic play overall.

Catan

Catan is one of those games that is worth playing just because it’s going to tell you where games have come from. And Catan is a solid game in it’s own right. I don’t own it anymore but that is more because I play different games when I want that feeling now. But it is worth playing because it’s going to help you know what is out there. And it is going to give you a game to connect with others for.

I know I’ve told this story before, but I’ve literally seen someone comment on a post for a new gamer that they should play Scythe. This person said they play games like Munchkin and other lighter games. If you can’t recommend a game that might be a next step up in strategy, that’s not ideal. You might find a different one than Catan, but know Catan and play it.

Pandemic

Pandemic is going to be the placeholder for cooperative games. There are a lot of coop experiences out there, Dungeons and Dragons is even one. But find a good cooperative board game and play that. And I pick Pandemic for this list because it’s again that accessible sort of game.

To go back to my Scythe comment above with Catan, maybe the person doesn’t want a confrontational game. Maybe that is not the type of game that works for their group. Pandemic is another one of those welcoming games that you can play with someone and this time you can all work together. Just don’t run the game for the person and you are good.

Rebel Princess

The final one on the list is going to be my game for trick-taking games. Rebel Princess is a great game in it’s own right. It’s one of my favorites. But I want it on the list because a lot of people know trick-taking games. And for gamers a lot of the time trick-taking is just a type of game that you overlook. You played hearts on the computer back in the day. Why play a trick-taking game now? Well, because these games are a lot more. And Rebel Princess is Hearts, but with a twist and more fun.

So this is a great game for getting people who are into trick-taking games maybe into more of what a game can do. But also it’s for the person who thinks that trick-taking games are just for old people that they are actually for old people. There are a lot of fun and interesting ones out there now.

Final Thoughts on Games that Gamers Should Try

This list is not a list of games that you must try. I know that some people would hate the idea of playing an RPG because they only play solo. Or maybe some of these you played and bounced off of already or have played something similar. Pandemic is a great example of that, find your cooperative game that works for you. Catan could be replaced with Ticket to Ride, Small World, or Carcassone if you wanted. But the point remains.

Some gamers need to step outside their comfort zone. And sometimes it’s just so you can say that you tried it and it isn’t for you. Magic the Gathering is a great example for that. I wrote an article recently as to why to play or not play trading card games. And there are great reasons on both sides, but a lot of gamers use bad reasons for it. So give it a try and see if you have a real reason.

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New Board Games To The Collection

Orleans

Orleans is a game that I probably should have played before now. It’s a classic bag building game where you are trying to expand your dominance across a medieval landscape. You get farmers, merchants, knights and more to help you do that. But you are adding them to a bag and then what you draw out that is going to determine what you are able to do which I really like the sound of that.

Jisogi

Jisogi is a worker placement game about making an anime studio. Well, that’s not quite right, the anime studio already exists but it’s not that great. So your goal in this board game is to get it up and running with happy employees and turning out anime that people are loving. I don’t know all the details of how it works but it’s a bigger euro style game and I’ve found that I’m enjoying more of those board games now that they have themes to them.

Campy Grizzly

Camp Grizzly is not a euro game, this is pure ameritrash fun in a board game of trying to be the survivor in a camp horror movie. I love the them and I’m fine if the game has some turns that aren’t the most outstanding, which I’ve heard, because the game is going to provide more fun and great moments than those downer moments.

The Architects of Amytis

Now this one is one that I played on BGA and I picked it up because it was on sale. But I really like this game. It’s a two player only board game and I probably have enough of those board games. But in this game you are trying to build up the best city and complete objectives. These objectives are get tiles in the right order.

To do that you place workers on a grid of tiles and take that tile and place it. If you get a row of workers, three in a row, you get a bonus end game scoring. But there are other elements, like the fact that you don’t just draw an objective you need to take a tile that gives you one that add to the strategy of the game.

All Mine!

All Mine! is a game that is a remake of an older one. But I like this theme and the other one was out of print. It’s a trick taking game with not picking how many tricks you’ll win but the color you’ll win the most of, I believe. And that is going to be how you get points in this game. It’s simple twist without over complicating at least that is my hope.

dnup

dnup is a game that I’ve talked about a fair amount on some of my new to me game posts. I originally didn’t love the game. But the more I play it the more I appreciate the simple strategy in the game. That is going to make the game easy to teach. I still think that I like Scout better, but I think that dnup will get played more.

Hercules and the 12 Labors

Hercules and the 12 Labors is a solo dice game, and more, about the 12 Labors and you need to beat them all to win the game. I like the sound of that and as a small box game I think it’s going to be a solo game that I can get to the table or take with me places to play when I have downtime.

Nidavellir: Idavoll

I have not heard a ton about this expansion, and I’m not 100% sure that Nidavellir needs more. But this was on a good sale and I got it with Architects of Amytis so it didn’t really add to shipping costs or anything like that. I’ll see if I like it. The trick is that I need to find a time with two other players to get it to the table as I don’t like Nidavellir as a two player game.

Dice Throne: Mystic Brawler

It’s a new Dice Throne character of course I’m going to get it. Do I need to say more?

Pirates of Maracaibo: Bermuda Triangle

One of two expansions that I own for Pirates of Maracaibo. And I will say, I need to play my copy of the game, I might tomorrow actually. I love the game on BGA and I almost always have a game of it going on. I’m not the best at it, there are some rush it strategies that lock out others, but it’s such a fun time. And it gives me that pirate adjacent theme. Maybe with the expansions I’ll get more of that.

From Gen Con

Now let’s talk, again, about the few that I got from Gen Con. And yes, my friend who bought them for me was able to get all of the ones I asked for.

Torchlit

Torchlit is a trick taking game with a dungeon diving monster fighting theme. I’m really curious to see how it all comes together. I think that I might do a multi-table board game night coming up here soon where it is trick taking board games. And this is one that I want to hit the table for sure.

Pet Quartet

Pet Quartet is a set collection game. But there is a twist to it. You are collecting and playing out animals. The twist is that only solo performers and quartets are going to score you points. I’m sure that I don’t have the rules right on this one, but I’m a big fan of GameHead and excited to try more of their games.

Trick to the Future

Speaking of GameHead games and trick-taking games with have Trick to the Future. A game where the cards display digital numbers and you have pieces you can add to them. The twist is that you “bid” how many tricks you’ll win based off of how many of those sticks that you have left. So you need to balance winning tricks but not spending too much. A simple twist and hopefully one that is a lot of fun.

Kobayakawa

Kobayakawa is a game that is trick-taking adjacent, I’d say. You have a choice on your turn, you either change the card in the middle or you draw and discard a card. Once everyone has done that, you see who has the highest number. That’s not much of a game, and I might be missing some rules. But the twist, the player with the lowest number adds that number from the middle to their total. So that can swap who is winning like that, and I love that twist.

Questline

Questline is a game that I don’t know a ton about. But I like the theme, of building out this epic story or questline for your character. And it’s from Thunderworks and I love their games and worlds that they have been creating. So I’m really excited to get this one to the table.

Zenith Expansion

More cards and things for Zenith one of my favorite two player games. I’m totally in on that. I don’t know how much it adds, but I think it’s just an expansion that adds more with minor rules if any.

Arnak Expansion

And another one of my favorite board games we have more stuff for Arnak. I appreciate that it’s just more cards because I have the big box for Arnak and there isn’t room for that much more in the box. At this point in time if they just do a promo card every now and again, I think I have enough Arnak as I don’t want to have to add another box to the game or get the even bigger big box.

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Birthday Board Games Wishlist

Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority Hagalaz

Should this one by on the list, I’m not sure. But it’s on the list because I am interested in it. But it’s not the game that I’m going to get for myself. I need to play the Mass Effect video games as well, but I feel like that ship might have sailed on me. That said, I do own them on Steam, so maybe I’ll get around to them. But a game set in that universe sounds interesting to me.

Digging for Dinos

This is one that I might just pick-up for myself at some point in time. But Digging for Dinos is a set collection dinosaur game where you are trying to complete your skeletons and that gets you points. But you have two archeologists who move around either orthogonally or diagonally and then flip to move the other way. Simple but fun.

Spooktacular

We’ll see how much longer this one stays on my gift wishlist. Mainly because I really want this game. I love the theme and campy nature of this game. You are horror movie tropes/villains that come off the big screen at a movie showing. And you want to kill as many people as you can in the theaters, so you are, in your own special thematic way, doing that and I just adore the idea of that in a game.

Corps of Discovery

This game just looks like my type of game as well. Corps of Discovery is a deduction sort of game, if I remember correctly but can be played solo. You play in this Lewis and Clark sort of setting or that time period but it’s not just the normal world. This is also based off of a comic. The game and scenarios definitely sound interesting as you play.

Duel for Cardia

This is a two player dueling game that is a lot of fun. I’ve played it a bunch on BGA and I really enjoy every play that I’ve had of it. You are playing out cards where you want to win a certain number, I believe it is 5, before your opponent. But if you win the battle you get the point (for now) and your opponent gets to activate their cards ability. And that can mess with previous duels that you’ve had. And I like that back and forth of maybe trying to lose sometimes for the power

Galactic Cruise

Honestly, this might be a game that I wait to see drop into a local game store used. I have played it on BGA and I find it to be a really fun game though very crunchy and one that I probably need to play another 2-3 times to get everything down. But that’s the fun of some games and the theme of launching cruise ships into space and become the best not pilot but best coordinator for the company is a lot of fun

Splendor Duel

Now, I am not the biggest fan of Splendor. Mainly because I feel like the game becomes very samey over time and that’s not a bad thing but it’s a game that I’ve played enough. Splendor Duel feels better. You have three ways to win and the grid of gems is going to change. So while the game definitely has a lot of the same collecting vibe, it’s just handled in what I’d call a better game.

The Battle of Versailles

Did I think that I’d want a game that is about fashion ever, no. But this one sounds really intriguing as a two player game battling over a historical fashion show where two different groups were trying to come out on top. The back and forth nature of a two player game draws me in more than the theme does and the company is also really intriguing.

The Hobbit: There & Back Again

I am a sucker for Lord of the Rings themed games. I like Lord of the Rings a lot. But my wife likes it more so it’s something where I feel like I can get it and it’s much more likely to get played. Because of that, The Hobbit: There & Back Again is on the list. And the game itself does sound interesting to me. Interesting that it’s competitive, but that doesn’t bother me.

Darwin’s Journey

This is another game that we’ll see how long it sticks to the list because I really want this game. I played it twice now on BGA and I feel like I understand it, but I’m not that good at it. There is so much going on in the game as you are exploring the islands, sailing, as well as then finding specimens, sending them back to museums and it’s just a lot. Plus the game is beautiful as well.

Toy Battle

This is a two player game that I debated if I really wanted it or not for a while. And the answer is yes. This is a two player lane battling game in the vein of a game like League of Legends. You either draw tiles or play a tile on your turn. Your goal is to get points and get enough to win. Or to get to your opponents base and place a tile there. The tiles all have powers and the maps change up paths and strategies.

Turing Machine

I didn’t think I’d like this game. I won’t lie. I thought that the game was going to be too difficult to really puzzle out. Then I learned it on BGA and I really like the game. I bounce off of some of the more obtuse board games when it comes to deduction, like Orapa Mines. But Turing Machin just works for me. And I love the idea of this as a puzzle of the day for me to get my brain going.

Yaxha

This is a light filler game of selecting stones and building up a pyramid. I have this one on my list for myself but also because I think that others in my group would like it. And sometimes those are the board games that I put on my Birthday list or gift list. I know which board games I want to play and I tend to buy those for myself. But the board games that others might like better, I like those as gifts.

Final Thoughts

Thank you all for sticking with me through years of Nerdologists. As I get older this is something that is going to keep on going and talking about board games because I love doing it. How I write and what I write about has changed over the years but my passion for this hasn’t. So thank you again for sticking with me through the thick and the thin of board gaming fun.

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Top 5 New To Me July Board Games

5. Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest

Now, if you read yesterdays article it might seem like I didn’t love this game. And I don’t love it. But I did enjoy it well enough. I think that in person I’d probably enjoy it more. But it’s in that camp of game that I like well enough to play but not well enough to own. So if a friend wanted to play it, I’m in. I’m just not going to own it. I like the hidden role selection but then the actions and interactions are just okay for me.

4. Droles de Zebres

This one is also in that camp of I’d gladly play it but I’m not going to seek out the game. It’s simple and fast enough when playing two players. The downside of the game is that I think it’d start to feel very similar over time. Also this game could be any theme. Why does the crocodile and gazelle switch spots if you want, no one knows. But those interactions are what makes the game interesting and sticking your opponent with a placement they may not want.

3. Seasons

Seasons is a game on the cusp of me wanting to own it. And it is a tricky game to know if I should pick it up or not because it’s a game that I think I’d play some. But also a game that I think with the combos would be a game that not everyone in my group would want to optimize. And the more you play it, the more it feels like it’ll get out of balance with players who know the combos and players who don’t.

2. Twinkle Twinkle

I own Twinkle Twinkle but I played it on BGA before I played my copy. And I like it, clearly, so I’m glad that I own it. I even backed it on crowdfunding, so I believe I have the extra box for it which adds in a little bit more but also, I believe, gave me acrylic tiles. This is a simple game but it’s also a lot of fun with how simple it is which is a good combo for getting to the table.

1. Magical Athlete

Magical Athlete is easily the top game on the list. Why, because it’s the one that I got and because the game is just fun. You can read my full review of it here. But the simple premise of it is that you draft racers, you pick one of your drafted racers and then you roll dice and see whose racer can win the race and get the points. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does because of the racers powers and the dumb fun that happens.

Final Thoughts

Which of these games would you like to know more about. Let me know that and let me know which are your favorites. While July wasn’t as strong a month as some, the top two are really great. And Magical Athlete had tempted me, I held off on buying it, but after playing a friends copy it is a must buy game for me and now is part of my collection to play with family and friends who want that silly fun sit around and talk game.

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July Board Games (Part 2)

Sheep Boom Bah

A dud of a game. Two sheep board games this month and neither of them were that fun. You wanted to get your sheep to your barn but were moving blindly around a board. Plus you could mess with other peoples sheep. It’s a simple concept for a game but is one of those things where it just doesn’t fall into the category of fun for the amount of randomness in the game.

Perch

Perch is, in theory, an interesting game. I say “in theory” because the game works well for what it’s trying to do but just fell flat for me. You are playing birds to different locations. Depending on the location you score points if you have the most, middle, or fewest, and you might get extra perks. The interesting twist is that you play some of your birds and some of your opponents so you can try and mess them over. In theory that is fun, in execution it’s just okay.

Flip 7: With a Vengeance

A new version of Flip 7, this one with more mean cards. But I will say, I think that it works. Now, do I need to own this and Flip 7, absolutely not. And Flip 7 is simpler math and easier to teach. For that reason it’s going to stay in my collection versus this new version. But if you like the chance to be a bit more take that, Flip 7: With a Vengeance is going to be a solid choice for you. And it’s light and fast so it doesn’t feel bad.

Quartz: The Dice Game

Quartz might be a game that I demoed at Gen Con previously and hadn’t rated. But it’s a mining game. And then you roll dice to see what extra actions you get. You can get rid of the bad things that you didn’t want to mine, save gems you have mined for points, or dig more. It’s a game that works. And that’s kind of negative sounding. I don’t mean for it to be that way, it’s just a simple filler sort of game that some people will want and for me was a pass long term.

Magical Athlete

Magical Athlete is a game that I did a review on already that you can read here. The simple version is that this is a roll and move racing game with powers. But it works for what it is. You draft racers and then you roll dice and see what happens but what happens is generally a lot of silly fun times. And each race doesn’t take too long.

Droles de Zebres

I’m sure there is an English name as well, but this is what it is on BGA if you want to find it. It’s a two player area control game on the African savannah. You move a safari guide, I think, around the edge of the board and that determines what column or row you can place your next animal in. If you have majority in an area you get the points. But the crocodiles and lions can mess with placement. It’s light and pretty fun for a game like this, but not a two player game that I need.

Jackpot: Set the Reel

Jackpot is the second slot machine game that I remember relatively recently. This one you are trying to lay out the best combination of 3 cards to get coins which lets you buy more and better cards and score points, if you play out three of a kind. But you can’t change where the cards are in your hand. This is not a hard game to play as you improve your hand and pull cards into your hand to set-up future turns. But it’s also not that fun.

Liberatlia: Winds of Galecrest

I haven’t played the original Liberatlia so Winds of Galecrest is my first play of it and I think it’s a solid game. It isn’t a game that I love as you try and play out characters which then give you a benefit and you guess what your opponents might be playing. On BGA this maybe suffers from the downtime as you play asynchronously. That said, I just felt like it was a good game not a great game.

Name The Thing

This is a party game where the person who is it flips over a card that says something like “A 90’s Boy Band” or something like that and the other players use cards in their hands to create names. The person who is it picks their favorite. This is the type of game that has been done a million times. And it’s the type of game where sometimes you have something great that you can play from your hand and something you have nothing. So just a normal party game.

5Pairs

Final game for the month of July is 5Pairs. This is a game played over multiple rounds of creating pairs of cards either by color or number and scoring points. If you get both color and number to match you get double points. This is a perfectly average game. Mainly because there aren’t many decisions to make. You either have a pair and you take that or you don’t and you draw two cards adding one to your hand and one to the middle to make a pair again. Of course by the time it comes around you might be stuck because you have no pairs or no cards in the middle. A lucky game.

Is there one of these games that you’d like to learn more about, let me know in the comment section.

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July Board Games (Part 1)

Azul: Queen’s Garden

Another version of Azul. And Queen’s Garden isn’t a bad game. I don’t think that any of the versions of Azul are bad games. But I’ll say, I think that’s not nearly as good a game as the original. They almost add more to do in the game and that more to do often is just extra work in the game without feeling like I get a ton of extra payoff. Queen’s Garden is maybe the worst offender for that from the ones that I’ve played.

Nacho Pile

Nacho Pile is a little push your luck tile drawing game, or nacho drawing game. It’s fine for what the game is. But like a lot of these push your luck board games they feel pretty similar to a lot of others. And for that I kind of bounced off of it, not in a bad way, just in the way that I’ve played games like this before.

TREOS

TREOS is an interesting quest completion game with some unique movement rules as to how you can move based off of the card that you can play. Both the compass on the card and the number there. I wish that it felt like it had more fun to the game. Yes, you program out your movement and then you wait for everyone to take their turns because they might move a bandit around.

Letter Tycoon

Letter Tycoon is a stock market word game, kind of. You make words that give you funds to buy letters from your word. If your opponents use those letters you get points or money or some benefit. Overall it’s an okay-ish word game that doesn’t work on BGA. Why doesn’t it work, because you can challenge words, which is fine in person because you can do that really quickly. When every turn there is a challenge phase that just draws out the game.

Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game

Another Terraforming Mars game. I’ve played Ares Expedition and Terraforming Mars and this is the worst of them. That isn’t to say that it’s a very bad game, it’s a fine game. But when it comes to Terraforming Mars it feels like it’s lacking. And the game itself just doesn’t ramp the way that I’d like to see it do, especially when compared to the other two.

Twinkle Twinkle

Twinkle Twinkle is a lot of fun and does some things that I like a lot. I like tile placement or more tableau building where I maximize my scoring by how I place out my tiles. But beyond that, I really like the open drafting mechanism for this game. It uses the metho that I love in Floriferous where you draft and depending on where it is in the row in this case, that sets your draft order for next round. And you see what is coming up next. Scoring is simple and it’s a light game, but a good one.

RabbitZ & Robots

Not a fun game, in my opinion. This one is a lot of luck and randomness. Now, I will say, I played it on BGA. Why say that, because this type of game is going to be better in person with a group who is up for dumb fun. But it’s mainly just dumb, unfortunately, and doesn’t offer anything that I find to be worthwhile to checkout in person. Now, that’s really negative, but I didn’t like it.

Relative Space

Another game that isn’t that fun. You are trying to get things onto escape pods. But what you’re really trying to do is get rid of your cards first. To do that you need to play a higher value card than the last one. And sometimes you don’t know what value your card is going to be. So it’s lucky and yes, you can stick your opponent with a harder spot to get a card played out just by jumping a number more, but that’s not that much fun.

Penalty Challenge

Now another one that is a bad game. Relative Space isn’t bad, just not that much fun. This one is more like RabbitZ & Robots. This is a game of mainly luck that goes on way too long. You want to be the first person to score 5 goals. You pick a shot card, your opponent sees that and picks a goalie card, they then block off some spots and you need to roll a die to see if you score. This is a soccer game, you should score more often than not, but not in Penalty Challenge.

Seasons

I want to play Seasons again. That is a good sign for a game. I want to play it again because I think that I could do better and I think the more you play it the better that you do. Seasons is a game of building up points and an engine to get points. Playing it on BGA, I felt like I lacked the time/desire to fully dive into understanding the combos at all times. But when I did, it was good combos. And there is some messing with the other players as well, or more depending on what cards you have in there. Fun concept and execution of a game.

Which one of these games sounds the most interesting or would you want a review on? Let me know that down in the comment section below.

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What Are Expansions?

Let’s start out firstly with what an expansion is. I think that we probably have a general idea, but I want to make it clear. Expansions are separate boxes/purchases that you make for a board game that adds in additional content to that game. They are separate from being a module that comes in the box, so if something says solo player rules in the box for a game that isn’t “solo” that’s a module for that game, or special rules, not an expansion.

Good vs Bad Expansions

Expansions can be both good for a game and bad for a game. I’ll go into detail on some of the common types of expansions for games and if they are good or bad for a game. But let’s talk about why that could be and mainly why an expansion could be bad.

Bad expansions are sometimes used in crowdfunding to keep part of the game behind a paywall. The company looks at a game and splits it into two parts, something playable and something good. This also happens after the fact. If a game is not properly playtested through the whole game experience you end up with a game that is broken when it is printed, the first expansion then fixes the game. But not people have purchased multiple things.

Good expansions are going to take what people already love about a game and enhance it or add more to it. It’s not going to fix that flaw in a game. But now that we have a basis here, let’s talk about some of the different types of expansions.

Different Expansion Types

More Content

Let’s start off with this expansion as this one is generally a good expansion type for a game. When you make an expansion with more content generally you aren’t adding to the rules and complexity of the game that much. It, instead, is just giving the players more of what they want.

Now, not all more content expansions are perfect. The big thing with a more content expansion is that it should be easy to integrate with the existing game. Sometimes the more content is play with some cards of the expansion and then remove some cards from the base game, for example. But then you can play with the other cards in the expansion, but if you do, not the first group of cards. So you need to make that simple to differentiate between those two otherwise it causes overhead and makes the game harder to play.

More Players

This one is a very hit or miss expansion type. The prime example of this is Catan which you can get a 5-6 player expansion for the base game and every expansion that they have. The more players in a game like Catan, the longer that game is going to take. Now, Catan does balance that some by getting resources on other players turns, so you have potential to get more. But a lot oft he time the more player expansions are just going to add in more time as well as players.

The risk with adding in more time is that it can take a 90 minute game to over two hours, or maybe a 30 minute filler to an hour long game. So it needs to balance that out. But for other games it doesn’t matter. Guild of Merchant Explorers, for example, plays at 4 out of the base box. But everyone plays at the same time. So the expansion that adds in a few more cards and 4 more players won’t add much time because the speed is always the speed of the slowest player in the group.

New or More Mechanisms

This is another one that is risky. And I think that New or More Mechanisms is often a spot where the fixing the game falls into. But, like the more players, this can cause issues, or even the more content it can cause issues. With adding in something new like a new mechanism these expansions are fundamentally changing how the game is played.

Sometimes that can be a fun little addition to the game. Other times it changes what is a game that people like into one that people don’t like. Or, it becomes difficult to play without it if you want because that is now integrated into cards in the main box. An example of that would be Roll Player which adds in new things with expansions, but it’s all cards so very hard to remove it if you want to teach the simpler base game.

On the flip side, you have a game like Lost Ruins of Arnak. I love that game and I love it even more with the expedition leaders. This added in minor new mechanisms for each player to have in the game. But you only need to know your mechanism for that game. That improves a good game already and is simple and light to add into the game. And easy to not play with if you want.

Prelude

Prelude expansions are generally good expansions. But I’d also say generally bad expansions because I think this is often something that should just be in the box to start the game. What is a prelude expansion? This sort of expansion is going to reduce some of the grind at the start of the game. If a game takes 2-3 turns to get going and get engines up and running these expansions are going to offer a way to bypass that. The most obvious example of this is Terraforming Mars Prelude.

This is often going to shorten up a longer game. But the biggest benefit is that it gets rid of those dud turns. An example of not an expansion but a rules option for this would be in Space Base. And it’s the one I’m most familiar with. But that one lets you draw some cards and then spend to get them into your engine before the game starts. So when you start rolling the dice to get money and points, you already have something unique to start. And you get money and get moving faster.

Big Box

The final one I want to talk about are big box expansions. These expansions come out after a game already has a number of expansions. Often times one of the downsides of an expansion is that you have spot to store everything. So expansions are going to give you five boxes to lug around if you want to take it all with you. Thus the big box was born.

A big box is often good, but very often poorly done. When you make a big box expansion there are two things that I think are a must. It can’t just be a box. There are companies who sometimes just release a big box and all that comes with it is a box and they charge you $40 for it. Yes, that is how much it costs to ship and get over here carefully because it’s an empty box, but that’s lousy value for the consumer. So put in some small expansion, whether it’s just more cards, or in the case of Arnak some more research tracks. Make it worthwhile.

The other thing is that a big box shouldn’t be empty in terms of storage either. Lost Ruins of Arnak gives you a way to make it faster to get to the table. Versus Roll Player which gave you a big empty box. All the stuff fits but now it’s a pain to get to the table because there’s not organizing everything. So a big box expansion must have a way to organize everything to be good, or at least instructions for how to take organizers from the other boxes and use them.

Expansion vs Expandalone

Finally I want to talk about an odd distinction here that is kind of only a thing in board games. I can’t think of many or any video game expansions that fall into this category. But what in the world is an expandalone? An expandalone is something that is an expansion but also can be played standalone.

I have two major examples for this, Aeon’s End and Dice Throne. In Aeon’s End, each box comes with mages to play as and nemesis to fight. So each box is a separate game that you can play on it’s own. But, all the mages and nemesis are also compatible with all the other versions of Aeon’s End. So if you want to mix one from the core box with Aeon’s End War Eternal Expandalone, you can do that.

The same can be said for Dice Throne. You can take any two of the characters and battle them against each other. If you want to get the Santa Claus vs Krampus box and the Dice Throne Season 1 box, you can do that and battle Santa Claus and Krampus one time and then the Pyromancer versus Krampus another time.

So expandalones fall into that expansion category of more content for a game. But they give you enough to still be able to play the game without anything else.

What are your favorite expansions for board games?

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5 Board Game Themes We Need More Of

5. Literature

Now, this one is an odd one for me to put down. We have a lot of board games that are based off of books, and that is what I mean. I want more like that. I want more games based off of my favorite series. Right now, for example, there is a game based off of The Dresden Files. But I’d say that the game it out of print. I want another game around that, I want five more games around that really.

And I think we are starting to see more games in that area. That is why it is lower on the list. But it’s been pretty recently with Brandon Sanderson making waves in the board game industry that we are starting to see more games, like the Wheel of Time board game or Dungeon Crawler Carl get picked up. And I know there are so many series that I’d love to see more board games about or even one off books.

Stories are just a massive pool to draw from. And a good board game could be made about any book. But finding that audience and knowing which one to grab onto is the hard part. Or, maybe it’s not that hard, but getting a good board game out of that might be tricky instead of something just generic.

4. Werewolves

This one is really specific but I mean it. I want more games with werewolves. Now, I do have a Werewolf big campaign board game coming from Flyos Games the same company that made Vampire The Masquerade Chapters. But I want more games with this theme. I think that transformation element is giving a lot to play with.

I find it interesting how vampires are super common and zombies offer a survival type of game. But generally werewolves are very much under utilized in the board gaming space but also just in general in media. So give me more with them, I think the ability to be a werewolf at night but not during the day and maybe more randomness at night but less during the day, that could create an amazing combo for a game.

3. Fairytale

Now, this is maybe something that is close to fantasy and just falls under that. But we get a lot of games with fantasy in them and maybe pull a little bit of fairytale. I want more games that just use the classic fairytales in different ways. A good board game around Hansel and Gretel where it’s maybe one versus all, that sounds cool to me.

Also, make your fairy tale board game dark and gritty as well. I love a good dark storyline where it is something we know but twisted. No, I haven’t watched the Winnie the Pooh horror movie, but stuff like that is often fun. And when it comes to the Grimm Fairytales and things like that, they are dark and disturbing, not that happy Disney version.

2. Pirates

Yes, I know there are a good number of pirate games out there. But I find that not many of them give me that pirate feel. I want swashbuckling on the high seas. And a lot of them give me pick-up and deliver without the fun and adventure. Now, I have some games that I need to play with this them. Mainly I have Sea of Legend and Scoundrel’s Bay. But I want more games like that.

And I think some of this is that I want a big legacy game that gives me this. Y es, there is a game out there called Seafall. No, Seafall is not a good game when it comes to this. I actually have ideas of how to take the base of Seafall and turn it into something better. That said, I want more with this theme and with that adventure feel.

1. Anime

Now, this is starting to pick-up a little bit. And there are some companies, Japanime and Level 99 who have games with anime themes. But, I hate to say it, a lot of those games aren’t that great. They take an anime and they slap a pretty generic game to it and ship it out. And some of that might be the companies that are being worked with, or it might be what the licensing company is asking for. But I want a great board game with an anime theme, and I haven’t found one yet. Middara is probably the right answer, but I haven’t played it yet.

And I think the easiest way to make this work is to not use an existing anime. A smart designer who knows anime will be able to create a game that feels like an anime. But they won’t be tied down to making a board game that needs to fit perfectly with an anime vision.

What type of board game, in terms of theme, do you want more of? Is there one that maybe hasn’t had the quality or is maybe just not used as much?

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How To Play Up Or Down

Up Or Down is an open drafting game where you are trying to get numbers in order. If you want a board game comparison, it reminds me of Ohanami, but more complex drafting and simpler scoring.

In Up or Down you create three columns of cards and those are your scoring columns. But once you start building on a column the numbers either need to go up or down. So if you start at 9 a 1 or 2 is not going to be useful for that column. Now, if you can’t take play a card or don’t want to add it to a pile you can trash a pile and score 1 point per card.

But let’s talk about how to get cards. In this game you have a circle of cards from high to low. When you play a card you add it to the circle of cards. And you slot it between the numbers it falls in numerical order. So if you have a 42 it goes between the 32 and 45, for example. Then you take one of those two adjacent cards to add to your columns. Remember you add but you always add in the direction it was started in, either increasing or decreasing.

Then you draw a card and your 42 is added to the cards. The game goes like that until all the cards have been played. That means on your last turn you have a single card to play.

Scoring

So we know you get one point per card. But everyone ends up with the same number of cards. Each column is going to score one point per card in the column. And then you multiply that by the most common card color in the column. So a column with only five cards but four of them are the same color that is going to score you 20 points. As compared to a column with 10 cards but the most common color is only a two, that also gets you 20 points.

What Doesn’t Work

There is some luck in the game. Now I say some luck because you don’t know what your opponents are going to do. And the blind draw of cards, into your hand of three, can leave you stuck with numbers that are in a range that limits your options. Let’s say you get the 35, 42, and 44. In my example above, all of those cards fall between 32 and 45, so you only get two options on cards. That said, that happens to most people once during a game, so it’s not a massive limiting factor, and it’s all about pivoting.

What Works

Firstly, I like how simple the game is, but the card playing mechanism, in terms of the card you get for your column is clever. If you could take anything, it would be too easy. But it would also be too limited if you couldn’t take many cards. I think most of the time I have around 4 cards I can take that are unique when you play. Yes, it could be all six, but that’s unlikely with how the hands of cards work out.

The scoring is very good as well. I compare this game to Ohanami, but that game is much harder to teach the scoring. And while the drafting is simpler in Ohanami, the game takes longer to teach. So I like how Up or Down makes it that you just need to pay attention to colors. It is also going to make some interesting choices. Sometimes you look and you want to make a large jump to get the color you want. But when is the right time to make that jump, or is someone going to take the card you want.

Who Is Up Or Down For?

This is a good filler game. It is not extremely fast in it’s play, but it’s easy to teach and learn and turns are that fast. It is mainly that you go through a good number of cards. And the game is nice in that it gives you a long and short way to play it. So that is going to make the game tailored to how long you want it to be. I think that this is a solid filler for a good variety of players.

Final Thoughts on Up or Down

I enjoy Up or Down a lot in person and digitally on BGA. It is one of the BGA games that I find that I come back to pretty often. And because it’s so simple, it’s easy to jump back in without forgetting the rules to it.

The card playing is what really makes me like this game and why I picked it up. That manner of getting cards is just clever and it isn’t too complex. It feels like the right complexity and choice for the type of game that it is. I think that the same is true for the scoring of the cards in the game. Sometimes you make three really great columns of five cards, four of one color in each. Or sometime you have one column that scores one point per card and another that scores 4 points per card and has 10 cards.

I do really recommend this game. If you want a fun filler, this is a good choice. And it’s one that I think both my parents will understand and it’d be easy to play with them and other people who maybe don’t play as many games.

My Grade: B+
Casual Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B-
Luck: 2.5 out of 5
Strategy: 2.5 out of 5

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