What Is Isekai?

The term iIsekai literally means “another world”. What is most commonly thought of as an Isekai is an anime where the main character comes from one world into another.

There is some debate about one element of Isekai. That element is if the main character, or the character(s) who have been brought to another world can return. An example of this would be Sword Art Online. While the participants in the death game are trapped there, it is more of a virtual setting. So while considered by some to be an Isekai it is debated. For my list, it is eligible.

On the flip side, BOFURI is not going to be eligible for a list. While it takes place mainly in a game, the main character is able to logout. So it does not qualify.

My Top 10 Isekai

10. The Water Magician

This one the first season is actually still ongoing but I am really like The Water Magician. This is not one where there is much reference or connection to the original world. But that is great. The character comes in, gets dropped in a nice quiet safe area and has water powers. Eventually, because there isn’t anything in the area, he has to head out and find the real world. Turns out that he’s extremely overpowered. But he doesn’t let it go to his head. This one is just a feel good/relaxed Isekai.

9. The New Gate

Trapped in a death game, does that premise sound familiar? Well, in this case the main character just beat the death game. And everyone else logged out, but he saw a door that kept him in the world. But now it is several hundred years into the future and those NPC’s whom he knew, some of them are gone. And the world itself is massive changed. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t work for the hero to do in the world. If you want big adventures arcs, The New Gate is good for that.

8. My Instant Death Ability is Overpowered

A whole school bus is taken to another world in My Instant Death Ability is Overpowered. But when they get their powers, those who can’t are left behind. Including a kid who is actually very powerful. His ability is that he can just kill anyone or anything. The crux of the show though is how do you use that power. If you kill everything is that good or does that make you the villain? And how do you keep from becoming the villain?

7. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless reincarnation

Another common anime trope is that some middle-aged person gets a chance in a new world. And they are not dropped in as the hero, but they are reborn into the world. That is how the Isekai plot of Mushoku Tensei works. And it is a fun story with a lot of epic moments in it. It is also cringy at times as the main character is young and grows up. But the main character is also a middle-aged man. You can guess how that is weird anime at that point.

6. Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low-Level Spells

This is the second time that this trope for Isekai shows up on the list. It is the being passed over as part of a group. First it was with an instant death ability. Now it is just some low level spells. But what happens when you level up your ability to paralyze and poison everything? That is a very deadly and powerful combination. What I like about this and the other one is that these aren’t just revenge tours, there are plenty of Isekai like that, but these are decent characters and more developed than just revenge fantasy though it calls itself that.

5. Eminence in Shadow

It is not common for characters to go looking for another world. That is the case of Eminence in Shadow. When the main character maxes out his ability as a human, he needs to find a new world to embark into and gain even more power. It works. I like how this character wants to pull strings but pull them from the shadows. He is not the leader out in front sort. The other thing I like is that he creates his “harem” of assassins with a story. But it turns out that what he says about this story he makes up, turns out a lot of it is actually true.

4. Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill

Now we go from big adventure anime to another laid back one. What if you were dropped into a fantasy world, but the power you asked for was the ability to buy things online. It means that you can bring Japanese cuisine into another world. This anime is more of that laid back feel, like I mentioned, with a main character who just wants to live a normal chill life. But turns out everyone is a fan of his food.

3. Lord of Mysteries

Another new one on the list that is still coming out. Lord of Mysteries feels different than your normal Isekai. Some of that is because it comes out of China versus Japan for the story and animation I believe. But it is a mystery in a world where magic exists, but it’s not your normal fantasy setting. Think of this as a setting that is more parallel to our own past. And it is all about the mystery of beyonders, powers, and secret organizations.

2. Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs

From a mystery we go to something that is very goofy. After beating a dating sim for his spoiled sister our protagonists dies and finds himself in that dating sim. But he is not one of the main characters. He is just a background character, a mob. But in his attempt to keep himself in the background and to keep the story progressing as it should, he all of a sudden finds that he has a more important role, much to his chagrin. It is weird, the main character is annoying but in a way that he is supposed to be, so it works well.

1. Sword Art Online

Finally is Sword Art Online. I think that this is my favorite anime of all time at this point. And while not all of it is amazing, for the most part I just love it. And it is one of those where it borders on that Isekai, like I talk about above. But I think the story is great, and it is interesting to tackle a death world and make it all about the people in the world. It is less about clearing the game, in the first season, and more about how people interact and grow and grow desensitized to what is happening.

Final Thoughts

Just to mention a few just off the list. Tsukimichi, The Devil is a Part-Timer, and The Fruit of Evolution are all ones that I like quite well. And while I love the genre, it is one that you need to think about what you watch. There are a lot of not so great ones out there. And now that the genre is so popular and common there are even more common place ones out there.

You also likely see that I don’t have a few bigger names on my list. Mainly KonoSuba, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Re:Zero, and Overlord being some of the biggest I can think of. And they are some that I have watched. I thought Overlord was fine. And KonoSuba, That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime, and The Rising of the Shield Hero have good arcs but aren’t always consistent. I dislike Re:Zero, I don’t find the main character interesting or the plot consistently interesting. But I know a lot of people do.

What are your favorite Isekai?

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Top 10 Sneaky Party Games

10. Criss Cross

First of only two roll and write games on the list. And both of them are pretty similar in some ways. In Criss Cross you want to fill in a grid so that you score the most points in your rows and columns. This is done by filling in symbols on two dice that are rolled. The more like symbols in a row or a column, the better you do.

The twist on the game comes in that each time the dice are rolled you treat them like a domino. That means that the two faces of the dice always need to be played adjacent to each other. If you aren’t careful you might lock yourself out of being able to completely fill in your board.

The nice thing about this one is that it’s a short and simple. It is the type of game that you are apt to play a few times in a row which is a nice thing for a party game.

9. Knister

Knister is a fair amount like Criss Cross. You want to basically create Yahtzee style groups of five dice in rows and columns and on the diagonal as well. And this is done by rolling two dice and you place the combination of two wherever you want on your board.

This one I put slightly above Criss Cross for a party style game. Mainly because while both of the games are going to work great in a larger group, Knister is a bit easier to teach. Though the game itself is a bit harder to come by. But more people understand the concept of creating runs and pairs with numbers than doing so with symbols or pairs and sets. Plus there is not the domino type rule that people need to internalize.

8. PitchCar

I might have put more dexterity games on the list, but I wanted to keep it away from just being a list of that for alternative party games. PitchCar is the one I picked. It might be easier to get two copies of Ice Cool and play up to eight that way, it’s cheaper for sure. But I think that PitchCar is easier for players to understand.

This is a car racing game where to race you car you just flick it along the track. If you fall off, you go back to where you went. And when there is traffic you might run into traffic and push someone forward or off the track or into a spot where they don’t want to be.

The great thing about PitchCar is how everyone is engaged. In between your turn sure you are chatting, which is great for a party style game. But if someone makes a great shot, or falls off the track for the fourth shot in a row, everyone reacts. Especially for a great shot.

And there is a ton of PitchCar stuff you can get. If you play it a lot as a group, you can add in things like ramps and jumps, narrower tracks, or even a loop. Of course all that adds up and makes it even harder to store.

7. Strike

Strike is an obvious one for the alternative party games list. Mainly because it’s nothing more than rolling dice and taking pairs. Now, this is a game that only plays up to five. But if you want to play with more you can do like I did and buy another set of the game.

But the great thing, like some other push your luck games higher on the list, this game is simple. It is all push your luck. How many dice do you roll to get a pair? Okay, you didn’t get a pair or set of dice with the same number. Do you roll again or pass and not risk losing more dice. It has that egging people on, and those moments where you clear everything out that is exciting, or those moments where you roll a bunch of dice and somehow manage to get no matches.

6. Unlock Games

This does not need to be only the Unlock escape room style games. I think that Exit games work well as well. I will caveat this a little bit though. If you pick an escape room style game, it should be for when you need a party game at a lower player count. This one makes it on the sneaky party games list because it’s easy to get to the table and everyone generally understands the concept of puzzles and escape rooms. It’s just at higher player counts not everyone can see everything as easily.

The other nice thing is that you can scale or tailor multiple things to your group. Some of it is scaling how hard the puzzle is. They generally give you an idea from easy to hard. But you also can pick a theme. If you know you want to do this with a more casual group but they like The Pirates of the Caribbean movies, there is a pirate themed one. Or maybe they love Lord of the Rings, there is an Exit Game with the Lord of the Rings theme. It will all depend on your group.

5. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Now, a lot of social deduction games could go on the party games list. I think that most social deduction games are just party games without much actual game behind it. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is going to give you both deduction and social deduction as you try and figure out who the murder is.

But this game has a great twist on the normal social deduction games. Each player has four murder weapons and four clues in front of them. And the murder is going to, during the eyes closed time of the social deduction part of the game, pick one murder weapon and clue in front of them.

So how do the players know, the players can figure it out, with deduction, kind of, through reports sent up by the forensic scientist. Of course, the report might lead them in the wrong direction because they don’t know who the murderer is, so everyone is now suspicious.

It’s a great game to get people talking and engaging with each other. Even if it is just in the game it’s simple enough to keep things moving and works really well.

4. Fiction

People like the game Wordle online or at least they did. I don’t think it’s that people don’t like it anymore, I think that it’s more a lot of people just let it fall by the wayside. Fiction, though, is a one versus everyone Wordle style game. And that works as a party game because you can rotate who is the one. That one person is the keeper of the word. And everyone is going to be the guessers of the word.

Now, does that sound like too many guessers? Yes, it probably does. But there is a nice little twist on the game. The person who is the keeper of the word can also lie. Yup, you heard that right, they can lie. But when they lie, they need to be consistent about their lie. So as you go you might be able to track down or figure out what the lie is in what they are giving you as a clue. then when you either win or fail, you pass that keeper of the word role along and keep playing.

3. Push

The next two games are both of the same type. They are push your luck games. And both of them work well. I put Push slightly below the other one because the other one is easier to learn. But I think I like Push as a better game.

Why does Push work as a party game? I know there is an upper limit of six players, but I’ve played with more. So it works well for that larger group. And with a good party style game people need to be invested or engaged in egging others on or giving them grief. And with Push, you are invested. You want the player to stop if you might get something ideal for your collection. Or you want them to push because if they bust, well that is great for you.

2. Flip 7

Flip 7 has many of the same attributes as Push. But it is simpler in what you do. There isn’t the three piles, you just decide on your turn to draw a card or bank the points that you have. That is as simple as it gets. But it still has the same fun of egging someone on to draw one more card. And if they manage to pull that off, then do they push their luck again. And the same goes for your turn. It’s simple but it works really well as that bigger group party style game.

1. Ready, Set, Bet!

I debated about putting it on the list at all, but if it’s on the list, it’s #1. This is a betting game where a horse race is happening in real time and players are throwing down bets in real time. It’s a chaotic time and you would think that watching two dice being rolled over and over again would keep people engaged. But every time I play the game people end up standing and are highly invested in those two dice roles.

The reason it almost didn’t make the list is that it can have a bit more going on in it. There are prop bets that players can bet on and you need to know how those work. But if you don’t want to learn how those work, that’s okay, you can do great by betting on the right horse at the right time to win big.

What Are You Playing?

Now all of these games are going to have different results for you. So I think you need to know your group. Some of them are going to be better for different player counts as well. But all of them will move you away from those more traditional party games.

Is there one that stands out that you’d love to play with your group? Let me know that down in the comment section below. Or do you have a game that you go to that aren’t traditional party games when you need a party game?

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Top 10 Games To Take Along Traveling

10. A Gentle Rain (Solo)

This is a good game for a number of different locations for gaming. First off the packaging is quite small for the game that is going to make it easy to take with you. The game is also cardboard tiles and wooden pieces. The good thing about that is that it means it works well outside. So it’s very portable, it does take up a bit of space though, as you lay it out.

So let’s talk about how the game plays. A Gentle Rain is a matching game where you want to complete a square of four tiles. When you do you can place a flower matching the colors of the matched flowers that created the square. The goal is to get rid of all of the flowers to win the game. It’s very simple, flip and see where you can match flowers. But it is meant to be a calming and chill game and it is that.

9. Hanamikoji (2 Player)

Now we’re onto a two player game. Some of the other multiplayer games work well at two, but this one is specifically a two player game. And it is going to give you that ideal two player experience in a small package and some interesting game play.

In Hanamikoji you are playing down gifts to win the favor of Geisha. Your goal is to, after all the gifts have been played, have the favor of four Geisha or eleven points worth of Geisha. But how you play out cards is what really is interesting. Each player has four actions that they are going to do once. You decide which order to do them. You either save one gift hidden from your opponent to use in scoring. Save two gifts hidden from your opponent that are discard. Or you either give your opponent the choice of one of three cards or one of two sets of two cards.

I love how the game creates these mind games. You need to play what you have in your hand and try and understand what your opponent is trying to hide from you based off of what they are giving you as options.

8. Arboretum (Multiplayer)

Now we’re onto a multiplayer game that is a bit mean. Arboretum is a game of creating an Arboretum and connecting paths between types of trees going from low to high. But as you play out you are also adding more cards to your hand from the discard piles out there. And you can pull from your opponents piles and your opponents see what you are building out.

So how is it mean. There are two ways it can be mean. Players can block you from scoring a type of tree. If you don’t have the most points in your hand of a tree type, you don’t score that tree type. They can also hold back cards in their hand that you need to create your paths of trees. But the game is a lot of fun because it offers a lot of tough choices and for being on the list is one of the most interactive.

7. Schadenfreude (Multiplayer)

I can put a lot of trick taking games on the list. And I maybe should pick something else, so here are some bonus games. The Crew is a great cooperative trick taking game, same with The Fellowship of the Ring trick taking game. Fox in the Forest is a good two player trick taking game. But now let’s talk about Schadenfreude.

Schadenfreude is a different trick taking game where you want to score points, but not too many. The game ends in the hand where someone goes over 40 points. But 40 points isn’t the winning total. No, it is the total that guarantees you won’t win. So you want to get as close to 40 points as possible without hitting it or going over. Because whomever is the closest to 40 when someone goes over 40 is going to be the winner of the game. It’s a fun twist and not the only one in the game.

6. Ohanami (Multiplayer)

Now we go from two more interactive games to a more laidback game again. Ohanami is a drafting game where you want to create your best garden. And it is a game for travel that comes in a tiny box. So it is very easy to travel with because it is just cards. Now it does take up a bit of room as you play, but not too bad, you just create three columns of cards.

Like I said, Ohanami is a drafting game. You pick two cards from the hand each round. And each card you pick needs to be added to the three columns of cards you can create. You also need to play it above the highest value card or below the lowest value card in a column keeping it in numerical order. It’s not complex, but it works well.

And the scoring is fun as well. When you score, it changes each round. The first round you only score one type of card. They give you the fewest points but they score each of the three rounds. Whereas others score more but in fewer rounds. That little twist gives you direction when drafting as to what to take or not take.

5. Orchard/Grove (Solo)

Orchard or Grove are little card games that either of them work great for travel. Now they won’t work as well out in nature as some games, like A Gentle Rain, but they do work well overall. And they play very quickly without taking up much table space.

Both of these games are card layering games. As you play down cards you play matching symbols over each other. And the more you overlap the better you are producing fruit of various types. And your goal is to just see how high a score you can get with nine total cards played out. You can break the placement rules in both games, but it always costs you something.

Grove also adds in some scoring objectives that you can go for. I think that both of them are great games. Grove is probably a bit better because of the scoring objectives, in my opinion. But I think either will work for you if you sound interesting.

4. Point Salad (Multiplayer)

Now another multiplayer game and one where you can get the salad themed version of this game or an Eevee themed version if you’re fine ordering it from South Korea and paying some shipping costs. But this game is all about creating a salad that is going to give you points.

The game is pretty simple but it has a fun twist to it. On your turn you either take two vegetables or one scoring card. The twist is that when you take vegetables you are flipping down cards from a pile. And on the back of those cards is where the scoring is. So when you flip a card down that scoring is gone away forever. A simple twist but one that makes for some tough turns or gives you a way to block an opponent from getting their perfect scoring card.

3. Super Mega Lucky Box (Solo and Multiplayer)

I only put one roll and write game on the list and that is Super Mega Lucky Box. There are a lot that could go on the list, much like trick taking games. And a lot of them play solo or multiplayer. But I like Super Mega Lucky Box a lot and it is one that is pretty easy to teach which makes it nice for travel. Especially if you are traveling with or to meet up with non-gamers or more casual gamers.

This game has a blackout bingo style to it. You flip cards and each player is filling in a spot on one of their three bingo cards. As you complete rows and columns you get bonuses. Those bonuses might give you more points. Or they might let you fill in other numbers. And the more you fill in, the more points you get too as you get cards filled. The concept is simple but it has some fun interactions.

2. Castle Combo (Multiplayer)

Castle Combo is a newer game on the list, though a number are pretty new. This one is about building out a grid that can score you the most points. All of this will balancing your access to the two resources.

On your turn you buy a card to fill into a three by three grid. Depending on where it is in the grid, or sometimes the color of shields it has or color of card it is, that is going to be scoring you points. You want to optimize how it scores you points at the end of the game. At the same time you need to consider the ability that happens either throughout the game, such as a discount on a type of card, or happens when you play the card. Because that is how you are going to get more money.

Now there is a bit more going on in the game. But I think that gives you the general idea. This one is that nice balance of pretty easy to learn and play but it has good decisions in it. For people who like to game, there is probably going to be enough going on that you won’t feel bad about missing your bigger games at home.

1. For Northwood! (Solo)

Finally we have For Northwood! and maybe I should have put this in with the trick taking games. But I think it deserves it’s own spot on the list. While it takes up some room on a table, it travels in a really small box. And for a trick taking fan, you will likely like this game even when you don’t have people around to play a trick taking game with.

In this game you want to win a specific number of tricks depending on your location. Each location is going to have a critter by it and a number of tricks to win. The critter is going to determine what trump is. So after you draw you hand you need to decide which spot you think you can win at. Then you play against the remainder of the deck by flipping a card and going up against that.

Now that doesn’t sound like it would work too well That is a lot of luck. But you always have access to three critters with abilities. These abilities help you get more cards into your hand or discard cards and more to get that right number of tricks. Can you pull off a perfect game and win the right number of tricks at each location?

Final Thoughts

There are a ton of board games that work great for traveling. And depending on how you are traveling you can take larger games at times. What I wanted to do was keep it down to a lot of little games. Those are consistently going to be able to go with you. And what I put on the list, these are just a few small box games. I could list off probably 100 honorable mentions between trick taking games or roll and write games and then so many other little ones.

What games do you find work well when you travel?

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Top 10 Games to Demo at Gen Con

10. The Hobbit: There and Back Again

I love the Middle Earth setting, but this is the only Middle Earth set game that is making my Gen Con to demo list. There is also The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. A “pandemic” style game in some ways. But I know more about that one. The Hobbit: There and Back Again, I don’t know much about it. I hope that it’s a fun and interesting game themed around The Hobbit. As board gamers, I think we have a lot of Lord of the Rings themed games that are good, but The Hobbit, not so much.

9. Crits & Tricks

Crits & Tricks is a fantasy themed trick taking game. I like trick taking so that is what drew me to this one right away. It sounds like each trick is a quest that you play out and that you win loot at the end of it. The theme founds fun and interesting. Or maybe each hand is a quest, so that is interesting and maybe as you progress through the quest, different hands, that is where the suit can change. Either way, I really like the sound of this trick taking game.

8. The Battle of the Divas

The Battle of the Divas is a game that jumped out at me because it is such a different theme for a game. I believe there is another game in this series from Salt & Pepper Games. But the idea is that it’s a two player back and forth game where you want to be the best opera diva. And it is based around actual historical opera singers, Callas and Tebaldi and their clash to be the best. So it is just exciting sounding as a very different game.

7. BattleForge: Berserker

Creative Games Studio LLC is the game company behind BattleForge. And I like the one game of theirs I’ve played. Though I need to play it more. And I am excitedly waiting for their next one Dante: Inferno to come. I think it might be shipping soon-ish. But BattleForge is a cooperative game again, which I love that they make cooperative games. But this one I don’t if it supposed to be a campaign. Either way, I want to know more about it as it comes out and Gen Con is going to be a great spot to demo it.

6. River Market

River Market seems kind of to be a third in the line of Creature Comforts and Maple Valley. Now, each of the games is different from KTBG, but there is a similar aesthetic. And the designer of River Market is Roberta Taylor who is the designer of Cafe Baras, a cafe capybara game. I think that game is light and fun, so I am excited to see what this game can be.

5. Tea Witches

Manny Vega and Sandara Tang are two people working on Tea Witches. If that seems familiar they also did the design and artwork, respectively, for Flamecraft. That’s the game about little dragons who help around town. So a new game with Sandara Tang’s artwork is always going to interest me. I don’t know much about the game play, but it’s tea, it’s witches, and the artwork gives me a vibe of Little Witch Academia, so I’m all in for it.

4. Camp Grizzly

Camp Grizzly is a game that is already out. And if you want to buy it now, it is going to cost you around $600 on ebay. What is this game? It’s a horror movie themed game, or horror themed game in the theme of classic horror movies set at camps. The artwork on it looks great, and I love horror films. So the idea of this theme is really interesting and exciting to me. And it is one that I did look, a year or ago or so, on ebay to see about getting it. But it is crazy expensive. So I think it is coming back to crowdfunding and when it does, I’m very interested.

3. Class of ’89

Paverson games is making a name for themselves. I have the game Luthier which is coming and that looks amazing. But their first game, Distilled, is really popular and is on my shelf to get played. Class of ’89, though, does seem like a little different game. This is a game about making a year book. And that itself sounds lighter as a theme. But it is also a theme that sounds like a ton of fun. So I want to know more about their next project. And I really hope that I like it because I really love the theme.

2. Viking Route

Viking Route I think was on my most anticipated games coming to crowdfunding or maybe coming this year. But now at Gen Con is the time to demo it. This is a ship sailing game but it uses a mechanism for navigating your ship that I think sounds great. What is that mechanism? Magnets. You play magnets around the board to move the ship and affect the way the compass is pointing. That mechanism is in another game that I own and I need to get played.

1. Mystic Curling Club

So after so many amazing sounding games, how is it that Mystic Curling Club is the top of the list? One word, curling. I love watching curling as a sport. And I want at some point in time in my life to do some casual curling. And yes, where I live doing some casual curling is a possibility because the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro has multiple locations with curling. But this is going to be a dice flicking game witch magical powers in it as well. This sounds silly and fun and I love the theme so it is easily my #1 game to demo at Gen Con.

Final Thoughts

As always, I wish I was going to Gen Con. I think that all of these games sound wonderful to play. And there are a ton of different and unique things among them. So someone want to check them out for me and let me know their thoughts?

But out of all of these, the one that I want to try the most is Mystic Curling Club. But as I say that, I think I am apt to just buy that one for the theme no matter what. So I think that The Battle of the Divas is the one that I want to see and try the most because I am less likely just to buy that one sight unseen. Even then, if I can find it or it’s predecessor cheap, I think I may pick it up. I play games at two players fairly often, so a two player only game is pretty easy to get to the table.

What is your most anticipated game to demo at Gen Con?

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Top 10 Solo Only Board Games

Almost all of these games are ones that I’ve featured on the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. I will put out videos for all of them that I have one so you can find them all here.

10. Snowfall Over Mountains

This one is a nice and peaceful board game. Snowfall Over Mountains is a card laying game, and you will see a lot of these. You create a layout of cards that score for different types of terrain. You score rabbit tracks one way, ponds another, trees another, and so on, and this scoring can change. But you want to get as high as score as you can and that’s it for the game. It is fast, it is easy to shuffle up and play again.

9. Cursed

This one is all about trying to defeat a curse before time runs out. You need to defeat a certain number of monsters before the deck of cards runs out, or the witch gets your soul. The game play is all about pushing your luck and deciding how many cards to use to try and defeat the monsters. I like how all the cards have a few things on them. They might have special rules or treasure, but they can all be used for attacking and they are all monsters.

8. Numbsters

Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine. Yes, that is the basis for this game, and it it works. You want cards to eat each other and you want to end up with as few cards as possible. So you create a line of cards (or you can play it in your hand) and you need to use the rule at the front to eat cards, or just to eat cards that are one higher. It’s a little game, part of the Button Shy Line of games, and it works better than a lot of them for me.

7. Relics of Rajavihara

Maybe you remember the video game Chips Challenge. If you are like me, you loved that game growing up and trying to figure out every puzzle you could. Relics of Rajavihara gives you some of that same feel in a board game. You need to manipulate blocks in ways that let you get to the relic on each level. If you get stuck, you just reset the board and try again. It is one that I owned, played, sold, and now I got it back because I just want to go through them again.

6. Bargain Basement Bathysphere

This is a crazy game when it comes to board games names. But Bargain Basement Bathysphere is a fun campaign roll and write game. It is meant to be solo and it’s campaign only in the loosest terms, less of a campaign than Welcome to the Moon for example. But it’s fun to play and it’s fun to figure out how to manipulate the dice and get down to the bottom of the sea and get back out before your oxygen runs out. There is just a little bit of tension in the game, and that works well.

5. Grove/Orchard

Yes, this is two games at once on the list. But Grove and Orchard are very similar in what they do as board games. I could also add a game like Sprawlopolis to this, but I like what Grove and Orchard do better. In this game you are trying to grown the most fruit that you can. You gain fruit by overlapping cards so that matching fruit symbols cover each other. And that’s the majority of the game right there. Grove adds in some extra scoring challenges which are fun to play with as well.

4. Under Falling Skies

Have you ever wanted to play space invaders with Independence Day? For me, that is what the game Under Falling Skies feels like. At it’s core, it is a dice placement game where you want to get big numbers so you can fight the aliens, drive them back, and research how to stop them. But the higher number you use the faster the smaller alien ships descend. And if too many of them make it into the Earth’s atmosphere, well, that’s game over, man.

3. Final Girl

Final Girl is the one game on the list that I haven’t played yet on Malts and Meeples Youtube. I need to refresh myself on how to play it and then get it to the table. Though that might wait until the fall because Final Girl is all about horror. Every game you play takes you into the setting of your choice and you are the final girl. You need to survive and beat the killer or other things as you play.

And there are really a ton of different options as to what you can do. I love the mix and match nature of the horror setting your are in with the variety of final girls who you can play as. And it is all time management and resource management to try and win the game. Of course, the longer it goes, the scarier it gets. Can you find what you need, rescue others, and defeat the scenario?

2. Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom

This is the one with the most recent playthrough on Malts and Meeples. And I blame Meet Me At The Table for getting me into this game. This is a legacy game, which is a bit odd to put on the list. But it’s a game all about managing a deck of cards to build up your kingdom and get as many points as you can. I love how streamlined it is and how almost all cards throughout the game can be upgraded as well as be resources that you use to upgrade other cards. So the decision how to use a card is always a challenge.

1. For Northwood

Finally, we have For Northwood a solo only trick taking game. And you might think, like I did, I like trick taking but how is it going to work solo? Well, it is my number one, so I think that it works well solo. In the game you need to win at each grove. When you win at a grove you get access to a leader who can help you in future rounds and you get points. But it is hard because each grove needs an exact number of tricks one.

I love how the game gives you powers and abilities that you can use. Though, you are only allowed to use them once per hand of cards. So if you need to spend it early, well that might be rough if things start to go sideways. But it just works and the challenges work well as well for once you have conquered the base game.

Final Thoughts

Now I know I have a lot more solo only games that I’ve played. There are a ton of Button Shy Games like that and only one of them made the list. Why is that? I think it is because a lot of them feel similar and they are all very small games. That isn’t a bad thing because for the most part I enjoy them a lot. And I know that I have a lot more to play from littler games like Friday and Palm Island to bigger solo only games like Mr President, Hallas of Hegra, and Hoplomachus: Victorum.

Is there one of the solo only games that you want to see me highlight on the channel? Let me know that down in the comment section or over on the Nerdologists Facebook page or on the YouTube channel.

Five Solo Board Games to Play on Malts and Meeples

But what are my Top 5 solo only games that I want to get played? Well, let’s do one last final list really quickly and in no particular order.

1. 20 Strong – This looks like a fun game and it’s from Chip Theory Games, but it’s small. And you decide what setting you want to play, so it can be their new one for the game or it can be one of their existing ones.
2. Mr President – This one would be a huge undertaking and that is why I haven’t played it yet. Have you ever wanted to be the President of the United States? I honestly can say that I don’t think I have, but in this board game, you can play as them and make decisions but you need to balance everything.
3. Forage – This is going to be the easiest to get to the table. It’s in the same line as Grove and Orchard, so I should just stream this one.
4. The Ratcatcher – This is the Pied Pipers story, in some ways, in a board game. It is one where you want to catch all the rats before they get too much cheese. I’ve heard the rulebook is tough but I still want to give it a got because of the theme.
5. Hoplomachus: Victorum – The second Chip Theory Games game on the list. This one is not small and it’s a campaign. But it is a short campaign. Can I build up my troops and combat prowess to get through the whole thing?

Which one of these should I play?

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Top 10 New To Me Board Games of 2025

10. Schadenfreude

One of the few games that I didn’t play first or only play on Board Game Arena (BGA). Schadenfreude is a trick taking game but one with some weird rules. You want to be second in the game. If you win the trick you aren’t getting the points. Instead whomever comes in second gets the trick and scores their card and any that don’t follow suit. Some cards are going to give you positive points and some are going to be worth negative points.

But what I really love beyond that with the game is that as you get points you are trying to get as close to 40 total points as you can. This is something that might take a few hands. But the game is over in the hand where someone goes over forty points. If you go over forty points, you lose the game, you can’t win anymore, instead it’s the person who is the closest without going over who is the winner of the game. It’s a neat little twist on trick taking.

9. Pirates of Maracaibo

The biggest of the board games on the list just in terms of what is going on, Pirates of Maracaibo is the first of three games that I just always have a game of going on BGA. That’s because I constantly play it with one other person and it’s just always going. I love it when I come across someone who wants to keep playing a game so I can really learn it.

Pirates of Maracaibo is all about being a pirate, getting treasure, hiring crew, upgrading your ship, and exploring lands. There is a lot going, but almost all of it is pretty simple to learn and play. There are a few things that I want to get better at with the game, and that one person, I still haven’t beaten them. But I have gotten close so I think I will one day. But the game, when you know it, is thinky but fast to play and I really enjoy the theme and different strategies in the game.

8. Space Base

I owned Space Base and then I sold Space Base, why because I wasn’t playing it. I like to try a game before I sell them, but I just wasn’t playing it. And I had played games like Machi Koro and Valeria and those were fine. Then I played it on BGA and now I love it. I love it so much that I got it back into my collection and I have played it already.

The game is roll dice, activate spots, get income, buy cards and upgrade those spots. But I really like how as you play, you improve what you do on your opponents turn. When you upgrade a spot, the old cards flip vertically and now they activate a different ability on your opponents turn. And it is a race to see who can get points the fastest.

There are some trickier cards to teach in the game. But I think you can teach them as they come up. And once you know the handful of basic cards, the game is easy to play. And I like it a bunch more than Machi Koro which is fun, but feels slightly limited. This one feels like it was created with more purpose.

7. Symbiose

The second of three games that I have a standing game on BGA. Symbiose reminds me of games like Silver or games that I grew up playing with a deck of cards. In those you start with face down cards and you want to get rid of them and get rid of points. In this case, you start with face down cards and you want to build out an optimized scoring set-up.

I love how scoring works in this game. It’s a two by four grid, so two high and four wide. And the middle four cards, the middle two in each row, they are the ones that score for you. So the scoring on the bottom half of the card is what matters. And they score your whole grid. But to the left and right, those score your opponents to your left and right. So you need to decide when you flip those cards over and swap them. It’s simple but such a fun game.

6. The Guild of Merchant Explorers

I thought at one point that The Guild of Merchant Explorers could end up as #1 on this list. It is the game that I have played the most thus far this year. And that is because I love it on BGA. I often set-up a number of two player games because they go really fast and you don’t feel like you lose anything. Plus I play with a group of two others where we just have a standing game. So when one game ends a new one begins.

Watch me play it below and see if it’s for you. But I love how simple it is once you know how the game works. I think it’s even a very simple teach.

5. Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom

You saw me play through this on Malts and Meeples. And you can catch-up on that and watch it down below. This is a solo legacy game where you want to build out the best kingdom possible. You flip out cards and then you spend those cards to upgrade other cards. It’s all about managing your deck and setting it up so that you gain stronger actions. Of course there is a lot that you want to manage and you decide what scoring and what paths you go down in the game. I already bought another copy to play it again.

4. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game

Do you love Lord of the Rings, this game is steeped in theme. Do you love trick-taking? Well this one is cooperative and pretty different in how it plays. Because you play through The Fellowship of the Ring with different characters depending on where you are in the book. And each character is going to want to win tricks in a different way, maybe a certain number of tricks, maybe a certain suit. So it is very tricky and changing and works really well. I want to dive into this more with a group of people.

The one thing I will say is that I think that The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is not an introduction to trick taking. It is a very good game, but because there isn’t communication you need to have some idea of how trick taking works. It is too easy, otherwise to just repeat the same chapter over and over again. Because like a game like Euchre, you want to tell your teammate, in this case everyone that you have or don’t have.

3. Zenith

Zenith is a great two player game where you are battling for favor on planets. But there is more going on with it than just that. I really like how you battle for one of three different planet victory conditions. You can gain favor three times from one planet, once from four different planets, or five total favor tokens. But you do that by card play to gain favor, going up a technology track, and then spending cards to manage other things like gaining more income or more cards on your side of the board.

I really feel like every time that I play Zenith the game is different. And that is what I love about it so much. I don’t feel like I found a strategy that is going to work every time. I sometimes go for all favor from a single planet by playing cards. Or I might try and get a lot of technology/research done and manipulate the board that way. But the game is really good at making you adapt as you go and it is tense as you battle for favor with your opponent.

2. Clank! Catacombs

The last two are kind of “cheats” so to speak. Clank! Catacombs is just a new version of Clank a game that I already know I love. This push your luck deck building game is really now just modular. The game does change in a few other ways but it is mainly that it now adds in a modular board. And I like that element that the game is going to be different each time you play it. In base Clank you might find your optimized path and strategy. Here the game is going to be different each time. And you decide how it is going to be different based off of how you explore it.

1. Marvel Dice Throne: X-Men

It’s almost unfair to have this on the list. I know that I love Marvel. And I know that I love dice Throne. So of course I love the combination. But it’s still new to me this year and I still really enjoy it. Plus I get to play as Gambit which is always a win for me. I won’t spend much more time on it than that because you know what Dice Throne, battle Yahtzee with special powers and cards. But yes, the new X-Men stuff is good. And I’m excited for even more of it to be coming in.

The Whole List

Thoughts on the Board Games Outside of the Top 10

I like most of the board games that I’ve played new this year. I think that beyond maybe the bottom 11 of them I want to play most of them again. Karvi is an interesting one and it’s on that edge. I played it once and I need to play it more. But I’m not 100% sure that I understood everything and I messed up my first play. There is an interesting track where you go around and take your actions. But you can go as far forward as you want. I didn’t understand where the starting point . So I’m not sure if it is a game that I’ll love or not.

But just outside the Top 10 I want to highlight a few board games. I just wrote my review for Scratch & Catch, which is #17 and I think the game is a really fun filler game. I like the different strategies and plans that players can have in the game. Also Knister and #13 is such a simple roll and write game, but while it is very lucky, as a lot of roll and write games are, I think it’s a very good one to play.

And one final one because I’m not sure where it will and is Apiary. Right now it is sitting very much in the middle at #36. But I think it could rise. I also think it could drop. I just don’t know because I need to play it in person. And when I play it in person that means that I need to learn the rules better so I can teach it. And it feels like a game where nothing is too complex but there is a lot going on. So that is a bit intimidating for the teach.

Final Thoughts

My goal at the start of the year was to learn 50 new board games. I’m well past that at this point. And I plan now to shoot for 100 new board games. If I keep up a pace of 1 per week I won’t quite make it there. But already this week I learned three new board games, all of them on the list. So it isn’t like I’m running behind on that and running behind on learning new board games.

That is a new game that you really have loved this year? It doesn’t have to be from 2025, it just needs to be a new game for you. Let me know that down in the comment section below.

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What’s Deck Building and List Criteria

Deck building is when in a game you are adding cards to a deck or cards that you then draw and play from. IT is not a game where you build a custom deck to start and no cards are added during the game to that deck of cards. This eliminates games like Arkham Horror The Card Game, Marvel Champions and Star Wars Unlimited from being on the list.

For this list, one of the important elements is that it needs to matter in the game. There are some games where you maybe add a card or two during the game. Those aren’t going to be making the list. I’ll talk in each about how much the deck building matters in the game.

Top 10 Deck Building Games

10. The Quest for El Dorado

The Quest for El Dorado is the only deck building racing game that I have on the list. In fact, I’m not sure that I can think of any. Heat can have a drafting element before the rest to kind of create some deck construction, but that’s it.

This one is all about getting to El Dorado as quickly as you can with your explorer. You play out cards matching terrains to be able to move along. And there are big blocks of different terrains, so you build up your deck one way and then you need to be able to pivot away from that or not get so deep in that because you need to get cards for the next terrain type as well.

One of the cool thing about this game is that as you empty out piles or cards, the next player picks what new stack of cards is going to go into that pile. It creates this interesting element where the players are the ones who set the market.

9. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is the one campaign game on the list. Though there are two more that offer campaign modes. But this one is only a campaign game where you play through the books of the Harry Potter series. It’s a fun game as you add new spells to your deck and you balance getting cards to get better spells and getting spells to help deal with the threats that can start to pile up.

There is a negative to this game. While it does offer cool unlocks of new things that are added for each book, there are also the same bad guys. So each time you play there are more and more bad guys. Now your deck should be getting more powerful because of the added cards, but you don’t carry anything over. So while I enjoy this game, it’s not one that stuck in my collection because it’s not too fast.

8. Knights of the Hound Table

Knights of the Hound Table is a game that I need to get played again. After playing it at Gen Con I decided I should pick it up. This game is an interesting little game where you are adding dog knights to your deck and them facing them off against your opponent.

You play out three cards each turn and depending on how the fight goes, that is going to determine who gets to buy first and who is gaining points in the game. Each card is going to give you something special. The ones on either end of the three you play give you attack and defense, respectively. Then the one in the middle is going to give you a special power of some sort (I believe I have that order correct). So it becomes an interesting little game of how you can manipulate your hand of cards to get a winning combination out there.

7. Hero Realms

Hero Realms is another two player head to head game, or it can be solo/cooperative against a boss/enemy deck. But I like this game a lot as a two player head to head game. You are trying to whittle down the other players health.

To do this you are playing out troops and they can either attack your opponent, assuming there is no enemy troop who forces you to attack them first. Plus there are other cards that offer more than just troops. Some of it might be money to buy more cards. Or you might be healing up and keeping ahead of your opponent that way.

The game also has a lot of expansions. I really like to use the characters for the game. Each character is going to provide a slightly different starting set-up and some powers that you can use throughout the game. It is going to give you a bit more of that asymmetrical experience while keeping the goal the same.

6. Ascension

Ascension is the most straightforward of the deck building games on the list. It is about grabbing cards, fighting monsters, and getting points. It’s one of two deck building games that I would consider great spots to get into deck building that I’ve played. The other being Dominion. But I don’t like Dominion that well and I think that it struggles more disparity in player experience.

There are three big things that I like better about Ascension. Firstly there are monsters. So it is not just about buying cards to get the victory point cards, you also want to buy troops to fight the monsters and get victory points from killing them. You also have a changing market. By that I mean that when a monster is defeated or a card is bought a new random one is flipped out. Finally are the constructs which stay in play. They give you a bonus that keeps going from round to round, unless your opponent destroys them.

5. Mistborn

Now we move onto the newest game on the list. Mistborn is a competitive deck building game to see who can be the best Mistborn. Or you can play it cooperatively against the Lord Ruler. You can see that cooperative style of game on the Malts and Meeples YouTube and down below.

Both ways work well for the game. And while it is a deck building game, the game offers some very unique things. The big one is that it pulls in burning metals like they do in the Mistborn books. And as you go through the game you get better at burning metals. That means that you can burn more on your turn which means that you can play more cards.

I also like that you can burn the metal on a card to play another card. It offers just a little bit more strategy. And I mentioned leveling up. The game is great with that because you level up each turn. And sometimes you can play cards to make that move faster. But it means that you feel more powerful and also can push the end game faster as you get further into the game. So it doesn’t stagnate in what you can do.

4. Clank! (All Versions)

This spot on the list includes Clank! The Adventure Deck Building Game, Clank! In! Space! and Clank! Catacombs. I recommend if you are starting out, get Clank! Catacombs. That is the newest one but all of the games generally follow the same system. The system is get into the dungeon/spaceship, grab a big treasure and get out.

Clank! is a deck building game that is competitive again, I have one more competitive one on the list. But what you can do to mess with other players is limited. Instead, your big concerns are making too much noise, clank, and then the monster drawing them out of the bag and damaging you and knocking you out before you can get out.

The deck building is all about pushing further into the dungeon. You want to grab cards that are going to let you move. But you also need cards to deal with the monsters or get coins to buy from other markets and grab points that way. The game gives you a lot of ways to get points while also giving you a very nice push your luck feel as you try and race back out once you’ve gotten your treasure. Because when people grab treasure that is going to push the game closer to the end.

3. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Lost Ruins of Arnak is the game on the list that is way more than just a deck building game. And you don’t always draw a ton of cards in the game. So as you build your deck, you might find that you only see cards one or two times. But the deck building is important in this game, as is the worker placement and resource gathering.

Let’s mainly talk about the cards. The cards are always going to augment what you can do in the game. There are two different types that I like as well. There are goods cards which you can buy, and they go to the bottom of your draw pile. So for a game with only a few turns it means that you see those cards quickly. And then there are relic cards that you get to use immediately, without paying their cost and then discard.

I had someone explain them to me this way. Relics are things you find while you explore the Lost Ruins. So it makes sense you can use them right away. The goods, though, are being shipped over to your expedition. So they take a bit more to get to you.

2. Xenoshyft: Onslaught

Xenoshyft: Onslaught is one of my favorite deck building games and just games overall. The first part I guess I didn’t need to say, really. But I love how cooperative this game is. And the final two deck building games on the list are cooperative.

In Xenoshyft, you are battling waves off bug aliens who want to destroy your base. So it is really a tower defense game. And each player has their own side of the tower that they defend against. But the total health of the tower, that is shared across all the players and all sides of the base.

There are a few things that make me love this game. Firstly, the game feeds you money. For each wave you get through you get more and more money. And that corresponds with unlocking better and better troops. So you are always able to buy troops.

I also love how cooperative this game is. I use my cards like grenades or healing on your turn defending the tower. In fact, we talk through that and work through that all together. But there is more than that. Maybe you didn’t draw enough troops because you have a lot or armor. Well, I can just play a troop your side of the base and now that is your card. Or maybe you have an extra weapon. You can equip that card to one of my troops and now that stays in my deck.

1. Aeon’s End

The final game on the list is cooperative and it has a campaign. I love Aeon’s End, and there is a ton of it to choose from. This game is all about surviving a big boss fight. And the bosses, called nemesis, all are slightly different. And the mages that you play, they are all slightly different as well. So your strategy each game is going to change depending on the mages that you play with and nemesis that you are going up against.

One of the big unique things for Aeon’s End is that you don’t shuffle your deck. That seems like one of the standards for deck building, but it’s a negative to shuffle your deck. When you buy cards they go to your discard. And after you are done buying and playing cards, you take those cards that would go to the discard and put them into the discard in the order that you want. So you can try and split-up cards if you get too many spells by each other, or you can create combos in your funding to really optimize your money.

Finally, I like how the spell and turn systems work. Though, the turn system make it so that I think Aeon’s End is a two player game or solo. The turn order is random and you draw a card to see who goes. With more than two, it can be a long time between turns. But with two, players get to go twice in a shuffle of turn order cards with the nemesis going twice as well. And that works well because you play a spell one turn and shoot if off the next. So you feel like you are doing stuff each round.

Final Thoughts

I managed to get 13 games into a Top 10 list. I like deck building and I think there is a ton of fun going on with it. There are other games that I want to play that have deck building in them, or ones that just missed the list. Shadowrun Crossfire is one that I enjoy but I need to play more of it. And Etherfields has a deck building component to it. So does Dune Imperium, which I own but have yet to play. And I suspect that if I were to think about it, there are a few more as well that could have made the list, or have that element that I need to play.

What is your favorite deck building game?

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What Is A Legacy Game?

A legacy game is a subset of campaign games so let’s start off with the question, what is a campaign game? A campaign game is a game where you what you do in the previous game chains into the next game or carries over in some way. Often times there is story in a campaign game, but not always a ton of story.

Now, keeping campaign games in mind, what is a legacy game? A legacy game is a game where you make permanent changes to the game during and between plays. This might include, writing on elements, destroying elements, adding stickers to elements and more. A legacy game is generally not replayable as the legacy experience after you play it once. But the big element is those permanent changes.

Top 5 Games That Should Get a Legacy Game Version

So what are my rules for the list. The first thing is that I need to have already played the game. So no game that I know would make a solid legacy game even from theme or mechanisms if I haven’t played it. The other is there can’t be a legacy version of it already. In this case the example would be, I can’t ask for Pandemic Legacy Season 3, three legacy Pandemic games already exist.

5. Mansions of Madness

This one maybe should be my #1 for a legacy game. But Mansions of Madness or really a lot of the Arkham Games from Fantasy Flight Games would be perfect. But I love Mansions of Madness a ton and I want a campaign for it, so why not legacy. In this game you play as investigators trying to stop some Eldritch ritual from happening or horror from coming through.

So create an adventure that is going to tie things together, that is more of a campaign than a legacy game though. What do you do for legacy elements? I think player stats and making those improvable throughout the game would be really interesting. My lore is bad at the start, but I can spend some resource to level that up. Or maybe you fail a mission. Instead of playing it again fail forward. But destroy a location that you might have been able to go to and lock out a benefit.

One element I don’t talk about too much is adding in new rules. But I think this game is one where you could easily add in more rules. You create different types of challenges for the players to face and that’s a new rule. Or you unlock new monsters and new bad things that can happen within the game. There is so much in this game as it is that it’s hard to come up with everything that could work for a legacy game.

4. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Now, they did make a campaign game for Lost Ruins of Arnak, but I think a legacy game would be great as well. This is a worker placement and deck building game. In it you explore ruins, gather artifacts, research and note discoveries and more. The player with the most points wins.

As you explore the game, some sites you explore become tapped out. Or you set that something is always going to be at a location that you can get. And as you play through games, you can upgrade items and artifact cards you can get and lock some of them into your starting deck.

Since Arnak is a competitive game, I think adding to those starting decks and improving those cards would be important. If you lose, you get to sticker a card or cards in your starting deck or on your board to give you more starting resources or more flexibility in the cards you have.

Finally, I think that unlocking new research tracks could be interesting so you explore new temples and that changes up the game. As well as new artifacts and items that you can buy would be great as well for options for a legacy game. And possibly even remove/destroy some. Or make some artifacts or items truly one time use.

3. T.I.M.E. Stories

I want to see someone take a run at this one. T.I.M.E. Stories is a time travel game where your consciousness is sent back into the past and you need to complete a mission. If you fail, your consciousness comes back to the future and you loop and try again. There is supposed to be a story that goes through it all, but it only kind of is there.

But I think there are some interesting ways that you could make this a legacy game. The first being that when you go from the past to the future after failing a mission, let’s say by dying, nothing really changes for you. So instead I think it could be really cool to give out scars there. And each person you jump into has a positive and potentially negative thing you need to deal with. Why not give that to the person who jumps into them as well.

Plus there is a lot of story that can be done as well. And I think, something maybe interesting, would be limiting how you can jump back in. Nothing should lock you out of completing the story, but the more you jump back and forth the more the villains notice you, so you keep track of that as well. And the more you do it, maybe the more you change up a scenario, such as you sticker up to hide some bonus that you could have gotten, or destroy that item card that you could find.

2. Xenoshyft: Onslaught

One of my favorite games, another one that I think would be easy to do as a legacy game. This is a deck building tower defense game where players are dealing with waves of bugs attacking the base. You need to build up your deck and your troops to stop the wave of bugs that’s coming to your side of the board, but you also cooperatively help the other players as well, because any weak side is going to let damage through.

There are a few things that I think make sense for a legacy game. The first thing is your side of the base generally has some special abilities. Start with generic ones and as you unlock the game players sticker on new abilities. You also could add abilities and unlock special versions of cards, or change up your starting deck of cards with stickers.

And for the enemies you could unlock new enemies and destroy enemies in some ways to completely remove them from the deck. Of course that is going to come with some sort of cost to the players. But adding in elements like that would be interesting. And I think elements around succeeding or failing a mission and damage to your base or changing funding or cards that you unlock could be really interesting.

1. Burncycle

This game for Chip Theory Games is one of the first that I spotted on my shelf. Now this could be a campaign as well, but it is also one that could make a very good legacy game. The theme of the game is where that strong legacy and campaign element could really take hold.

The world went through a time where robots were in control or important. Then humanity took back over with mega corporations and now the robots are on the run sneaking into these corporations and trying to complete missions. That is what the base game is.

So how could this become legacy? First you chain the missions together. Next as you play, you create new abilities and sticker them on for your robots. Or you upgrade abilities that you already have and they are persistent through the game and you make them unique for how you want to play. I think also the corporations could also have legacy elements to it. You unlock new abilities that replace old ones as they get wise to your tactics. And if the players hack and deal with the right thing, maybe you remove abilities as well.

Final Thoughts

Those are just five games that I think could work well as a legacy game. What is a game that can be a campaign game already but would work well as a legacy game? Is there something that you look for when you see a legacy game?

Right now, though, I really don’t need more legacy games. I am looking at a shelf where I have a few to play. Like the second Aeon’s End Legacy, both Clank! Legacy, Betrayal Legacy, Ticket to Ride Legacy and more. But I always wan to find more and I’m always excited when they come out because they offer some of the richest overall experiences and let designers really play and change up a game.

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Top 10 Food Board Games

10. Diced Veggies

This is a pretty simple game. And a lot of them that I own really do fall into that category. But Dice Veggies is a board game where you are completing recipes. To do that, you need to slice off veggies from a big block of dice. But the rule is that the veggies can only be up to, I believe, 10 total on their pips. So you might want to try and get a bunch at once, but you can’t get the color you really need because the value is too high.

The big selling point on this game is the chopping off the dice. You get a cardboard cleaver that you use to make you cut. The rest of the game is pretty light, though they try and add in a little bit with some modifier cards that you can use or bonus cards. But I like the game for what it is. It’s a silly little filler or family weight style game that is easy to get to the table.

9. Coffee Rush

Next up for our food themed games we have Coffee Rush. This is one that I have been enjoying on BGA. And you can find my review here. Coffee Rush is another order fulfillment game, this one though works with an interesting central mechanism. You move around a central board to collect ingredients and how far you move is limited each turn. Plus how you move, at least at the start of the game, is limited as well.

But you unlock more that you can do. However, there is a cost to that, if you want to unlock more to do you need to spend points that you already have. And in a game where the points are tight, it’s a very good decision.

Plus, this game comes with amazing artwork and coffee/tea cups where you make you drink. Not just that, but the ingredients that you collect are 3D as well, not just cardboard tokens or wooden cubes. This is a great one for your coffee fanatics in your life.

8. Cafe Baras

But Coffee Rush isn’t my favorite of the coffee or tea themed board games. I like a few better than it including Cafe Baras. The theme is really what gets me for this game, you are capybaras running a coffee shop, get it, Cafe Baras?

This game is from the same company as Dice Veggies, but I like Cafe Baras better. There is a bit more going on as you gather in different menu items that are going to score you points. And you are grabbing them so that you can then grab customers and score them for points. Sometimes you just grab a customer to get more money to get more items for your menu. Other times you try and hold off so you can get them as repeat customers.

This is another pretty simple game. But with a theme that is a ton of fun and very good artwork, it’s a nice accessible game. It is going to feel like a set-up for people who don’t play too many games, but not so complex and not too much reading to learn and play the game.

7. A Nice Cuppa

A Nice Cuppa is one that I played on the Malts and Meeples YouTube. If I didn’t play at night time, I might have had a nice cuppa Earl Grey tea with it. But this is a solo game where you are seeing if you can get the steps of making a cup of tea in the right order. But that’s harder than you think because the actions available to you are limited. I could say more about this one, but if you want to learn more, please checkout the video down below.

6. Vegetable Stock

Vegetable Stock is one that I debated about putting on the list. It is less about eating food, but it is about food. In Vegetable Stock you are manipulating the vegetable stock market trying to grab as many points as you can. As you see, like Cafe Baras and Diced Veggies, it’s another play on words.

The game is simple and I really like it for that. You play out a few rounds of drafting cards with the first player switching each round to draft. To draft you deal out one more card than there is per player. The last card is used to adjust the market. Any veggie symbols push the value of that veggie higher. But if you get too high it is going to bust and go back down to one. So are you able to balance that or bust something early and get it pushed back up by the end of the game.

5. Matcha

Matcha is probably the least known game on the list, this or A Nice Cuppa since that is solo, but Matcha is a two player trick taking and set collection game. You gain resources by winning tricks. But it’s not a standard trick taking game. You don’t play out a card to a single trick. Instead you play out I believe it’s four tricks at once. And where you add cards and how tricks are won is determined by the spots the cards are played. It’s a clever and enjoyable trick taking game.

Now, I do want to add in a caveat here. I like this game a ton. However, the rules are not great for the game. I think that they are overwritten and because of that it causes a bit of confusion as you learn the game. So if it sounds interesting to you, see if there is a how play video out there to learn from, it’s going to be easier than the rules.

4. Point Salad

Now we are to one of two board games that I’m sure everyone assumed was going to be on the list. Point Salad is one of the most popular board games with a food theme. Now, I don’t actually own the regular version anymore. I own the Eevee version because it’s Eevee and the theme is more fun. But Point Salad is a great food game.

Point Salad is an open drafting food game. What do I mean by open drafting? In an open drafting game everyone sees the cards available to take. But it is does something clever. On the back of the cards is scoring. So on your turn you either take two vegetables form six to add to your tableau of veggies, or you take a single scoring card. If you take veggies the scoring cards on top of the deck flip down. And now those are gone from the game.

I love that push and pull of when you grab your scoring cards versus when you just grab veggies. Too many scoring cards are not enough veggies, you won’t score well. Too many veggies and not enough scoring cards, likely the same case. But there are ways to get around both, but you need it play out perfectly.

3. Fromage

Now we have the cheesiest game on the list, Fromage. Yes, this is a game all about cheese and it uses some awesome mechanisms as you play that I don’t see in many other games. It’s a worker placement game about making cheese. The more cheese you make the better you’ll do in the game. But let’s talk about the unique element of the game.

The main central element of the game is this big wheel, not of cheese but locations where you make your cheese. And that wheel turns each round of the game. Now each round you can use two workers on the board and then potentially your other one, or a couple of them, on your player board as you unlock things. But on the main board everything has a timer. That timer is how long it takes to get back your worker. It is easy to tell that timer though, because when you wedge of cheese worker is pointed back at you, you get it back.

That element is so clever in the game. And the game does a good job of scaling itself for player count. You swap out board parts for each wedge of the board. And, I forgot to mention this, the board is modular. Yes, there are only four modules that make up the whole wheel. But how those go together changes up what comes after each other. I’d love to see this in more board games.

2. Homebrewers

Next up a game that I love to champion. We have Homebrewers a game about homebrewing beer. I love beer and I love homebrewing beer, so it’s a game made for me. But I also love engine building and Homebrewers is a fun engine building game.

In this game you want to be the best homebrewer, not surprise there. So your goal is to be the best at brewing four different styles of beers to gain medals and points as Summerfest and Oktoberfest. But as you brew, you gain ingredients. These ingredients modify your beers. They might give you more money or raise up how good you are at brewing that beer faster or an adjacent beer.

One of the elements that I love at the end of the game is you have a bunch of wild beers. Since I love beer, I always think, would I drink that beer? The answer is basically always, yes, I’d drink it once. But sometimes the flavors are a bit out there.

1. Sushi Go Party!

Finally, at number one, we have Sushi Go Party. This is my favorite food themed game that is all about drafting the best meal possible. Everything is going to score you points, potentially, as you draft them. And most of it is pretty simple set collection. Sometimes, though, you get a card with a special power that is going to let you break the rules and swap what you are drafting.

One element that I love about Sushi Go Party is how you tailor it for your group. I make really mean drafting combinations sometimes. When I say that you score points, it’s possible to score negative points. Or I can make it really friendly so that everyone is getting a ton of points. That to me separates it from the base Sushi Go where the game is going to be the same every time. This is one that I really recommend people checkout just for a fun time.

Final Thoughts

Now, I am sure that people are noticing a few missing board games. Food Chain Magnate is a food themed game that just isn’t interesting to me. It’s too big and too much going on that I don’t want to learn it, play it and then need to play it a few more times. Also Vihnos or Viticulture are likely ones people might note as well. I am actually interested in playing both.

I did on my list have a few board games that I didn’t put on there. Fruit Picking is a fun one. I like the mancala style mechanism of the game. Cacao is a chocolate creation game, I guess you could call it, and it’s fun with it’s tile placement element to it. And Charcuterie is another one. I like Charcuterie, the game and the food style, but it’s a super light game that I’ll gladly play but probably am not that apt to pick myself.

What are your favorite board games with a food theme? And which is your favorite of the 10 Food Board Games I listed?

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Top 10 Board Games that Deserve a Second Shot

10. Bottom of the 9th

Bottom of the 9th is one of a few board games on the list that are Gen Con games. So what does that mean, it means that I got to demo those board games at Gen Con. And that is not always the best spot to do it. This one is lucky feeling. And I think that is going to be one of the common reasons why it is lower.

But I didn’t play a full game at Gen Con. So is there more fun interaction, I suspect there could be. Even if not in the game, Bottom of the 9th is probably a decently fun time with the right person that you are facing off against. It can become a game of just trying to get into that players head. And that, I think, could make the game more fun.

9. Lucidity: Six-Sided Nightmares

This one I think just didn’t work for me because it’s maybe not best at two players. And it isn’t going to be the only one of the board games on the list like that. But this is a push your luck dice game as you try and traverse nightmares. And you might even get turned into a monster.

That is something that I love the sound of. However, like I said, this is a push your luck dice game where generally bad things just happen. And you find that any control you have is very limited. For me that is the biggest letdown in the game. But I do think with more than two players, it is going to balance a bit more. One player still might run away with it, but it won’t feel as lopsided.

8. A Fake Artist Goes to New York

This one I already feel like I should rank higher. And for that reason it is lower on the list. To me, this is a pretty enjoyable hidden role game. However, I don’t love hidden role board games, unless there is more to go on than just social deduction. And A Fake Artist Goes to New York does give you a bit more of that.

Plus this is a fast game and easy to play. It is way less set-up than other hidden role games. It’s just drawing a picture and adding to it each time, but there is one person who doesn’t know what is being drawn. If you figure out who they are, the players who know what the image is get points. If not, the fake artist gets points. And it’s relatively easy to figure out who it is, but if that person can guess what the drawing is, well, they get points that way too.

7. Arkham Horror: Final Hour

This one I suspect is not a great game. But again, it is one of those Gen Con demo board games on the list. And we got to see how some of it works, but not spend enough time with the game. That’s the downside of a game that kind of fizzles immediately, it isn’t back at Gen Con.

In this game you want to interrupt a ritual. And to do that you need to figure out what the ritual is all while dealing with cultists. The game, I think, has a bit of mastermind feel to it, or simple deduction maybe (it’s been a while) where you figure out symbols that are part of the ritual or not. And then you need to correctly guess all of them. But at the same time you need to avoid being overrun by cultists which adds to the game. I like Lovecraftian games though, generally, so I want to try this one again.

6. Sword Art Online Board Game: Sword of Fellows

I only played this game a couple of times solo. And it is one that is actually still in my collection. It never left because I like the IP so much and it’s pretty unlikely we’ll get a ton more games in this IP. Though, Japanime Games did just crowdfund a new skirmish Sword Art Online game. I am interested to see that one, and probably pick it up, at some point in time.

But this one is a die rolling game. And I think that there are some interesting elements to it. Mainly, you face off against three bosses in the game, one after the other. As you go you level up your character and unlock new abilities. That is pretty simple and normal, but it brings in from the anime the “switch” mechanism. If you get a perfect hit, aka use up all your dice, you switch with the next person. And that person just jumps straight into their attack. The bad guy doesn’t get to deal damage to you. That is a fun thematic twist from an otherwise Yahtzee style game.

5. Fallout

Now, I own Fallout Shelter, and that’s not the one I’m talking about. Though, I need to play Fallout Shelter still. But I’ve only heard generally good things about that one. This one I’m talking about is the big Fallout board game where you are exploring the world, seeing story, maybe allying yourself with factions, and upgrading.

The issue I saw with this game is that it could get out of balance pretty quickly and there is just too much luck when it comes to pushing the end game. I went for one way of scoring, based off of my character, and things just didn’t line-up for that. What I’ve heard is that the expansion improves the game. I’m not sure it is going to be one of those board games on this list where I start to love it if I play it again, but I’d be interested to try again with the expansion.

4. Celestia

Celestia is another convention board game. Though this one isn’t a Gen Con game. I learned and played this one at AcadeCon which is mainly an RPG convention. My wife and I had downtime between games and we decided to give it a try.

This is one of the games on the list where I know that I played it wrong. I think we rolled too many dice at the lower levels. So we never really progressed up as we went. And Celestia being a push your luck game, I think two players is probably not the right number. In fact on Board Game Geek, they recommend 3-6 players and really say it’s best at 5-6 players. So I want to try it again at a game night and see if it’s better. This is one that I might pick-up to see if it works for me.

3. Smash Up

I did enjoy this game. But it is a game that fell off some for me. I think that I should try it again. Because, I suspect that I’d still find enjoyment in the game. Or maybe more enjoyment now that I haven’t played the game in a while.

Smash Up is one of those board games with a great concept. You take two factions, you mix them together and then you battle for area control. But, I think that the game works at three. Mainly because three factions can battle over the locations. And then the number of locations as well. The game just feels too lopsided at times with two. One player might just get their combo or dinosaurs and bears to work perfectly while the other players wizard robots never get going. But at four, it’s a bit too much randomness.

2. SeaFall

This one might be shocking on the list. But I think with the right group of three players, none of whom have analysis paralysis tendencies at all, the game could be fun. I thought that there were some good ideas in SeaFall, and some fairly easy things to fix that could have made the game better.

But the biggest thing is that the game at five players is just way to long. Especially when I played it, there were a couple of people who loved to think heavily through their turns. So even though they had four turns before theirs, their turns would be as long as the three players who didn’t have analysis paralysis. So I think the game could be fun with three for me. Though, even I’ll admit, it is going to need to be the right three.

Side note, I’d love to see a second edition of this come out. And in the second edition the story be fixed, and game length, so that the story, being redone is more of a narrative progression. I think faster game length (so fewer points to win), progressing story, and balancing winning and losing combats would by relatively easy fixes to the game.

1. Nidavellir

The final game on the list is a bit of a cheat. But I came to realize as I played Nidavellir on BGA (Board Game Arena) for the first time in a couple of years why it maybe didn’t work for me. I think that there are some strategies in two players that makes Nidavellir not that fun. But at three players or more, I think it works well.

Nidavellir is a blind bidding game where you recruit dwarves into your group. Each type of dwarf is going to score a different way. Generally the more you have the more you score. But some of them the numbers on them matter as well. You also gain bonus dwarves as you fill in complete sets of dwarves. And these bonus ones often give you some really nice extra scoring or abilities. But one of the abilities is kind of broken in two players if you get it. So that just makes the game less fun.

It’s like I’ve said with some other board games. At two players it is prone to a run away leader issue. But at more players there is more of a balancing act that needs to be done. And I don’t find that with more than three, which sometimes can become too random, Nidavellir becomes too random. I think it still works well.

Final Thoughts

What are some games that you ranked poorly in the past that you think you should revisit. Now, know that my list is not all the games that I’ve ranked that low. And I think that there are some that I rank low that people would be shocked about. For example, I really dislike Concept and Dominion. Neither of them made the list for me to revisit them.

Let me know which ones would make your Top 5 or even just a couple you think you should revisit?

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