February (Part 3)

FLOWERS

Flowers is a group collection game that reminds me in some ways of Qwirkle. And that is kind of tough for it because I like Qwirkle a lot. So, what do I mean by that for Flowers. Flowers is about collecting and creating groups of flowers, but you are limited in your placement based off of numbers and colors. You get points for big groups by color, but you also score for getting groups of a number in the right size, so four fours, for example. That is Qwirkle like and Qwirkle is just a better game for me.

Gizmos

I thought I was going to love Gizmos. And I think that I might, in person. But on BGA it’s a lot to try and really wrap your head around. Especially because a game like that, I do better with the book in front of me in person. It’s just a lot to keep track of and understand how your marbles are going to cascade through into points. So I’d love to play this one again in person.

Mango

Mango is a light filler game of creating groups of fruits that are adjacent to water droplets. If the group size matches that of the water droplet, so the number might be 5 on the droplet, you score points. It’s light and not that interesting.

Dungeon Date

Dungeon Date is one that I picked up for the theme. You basically build up your adventurer and try and score points based off of how you can interact with different monsters. You might kill some, marry others and have some fun with others. It’s a bit take that, and a bit meh when it comes to the overall execution. Fun theme, but I wish there was a more interesting game there.

Super Squad High

Speaking of dating, Super Squad High is a fun game about being a superhero and balancing high school like and grades with that. Plus you are trying to deduce who the bad guy is and then face off against them. It does a ton of things, and sometimes that might be a bit too many things. But I think if I were to play this more often, I’ve only played it once, I could figure it out and teach it a whole lot faster. And then the theme really makes it a fun game.

Stem & Branch

Stem & Branch is a game about playing out cards from the Chinese Zodiac onto a grid to score points. Now that sounds pretty dull and I won’t say that it’s the most exciting of games. But it’s an abstract game that works pretty well. And the game isn’t too long which is nice. The trickiest part is collecting the right cards to play things out. Not one that I like super well, but not a bad play.

Villagers

Villagers is a game that I was hoping to like more. You build out your village by drafting cards and then chaining them off of villagers that are already played. Another one which might be better for me in person. But the game itself is just fine. And sometimes you look at what you can chain and you realize that you are unable to do everything that you want. For me that’s the negative of the game. might be my planning or might be the game.

Miams

Miams is a roll and write game. Now I like a lot of roll and write games. I also find a lot of roll and write games to just be okay. Maims is one of those. You roll dice and decide which spots to fill in based off of the results. Then you can buy cards that let you mitigate things. And the buying cards is big in the game, but also, sometimes you just can’t get a great card, so it feels too lucky there still.

Patchwork

I’ve played Patchwork Doodle and I like that game quite well. Patchwork is the tile laying predecessor to that game and is also quite fun. It’s definitely more challenging as you still try and build out the best area that you can. But you are managing your buttons which are currency to play out things and to move along the track. I don’t feel like I need it, but I wouldn’t say no to playing it.

Top 5 Games from February

So there are 29 games from February over the last few days. Which ones are the ones that look best to you? I’ll let you know my Top 5 from these games.

5. Overboss Duel

This game a good game and a lot of fun. I do think it’s lower than some of the list because there is a bit of a learning curve. And sometimes, just with how the tiles come out, someone might just have better or meaner options to mess around with. But the game gives you really good interactions and makes it feel like it should end up close.

4. Tucano

Tucano is just light fun. It’s one that I think a lot of people will like in terms of more casual games. Now, it’s really simple, so for heavy gamers it won’t be their type of filler. But that’s what my next filler is for.

3. Knarr

Knarr is a blast and I think it works well for people who are more casual when it comes to games and people who like heavier games. Knarr’s engine building is something that it took a bit for me to balance out, and I like that it’s so simple to learn but can develop some good strategies.

2. The Veil of Eternity

Speaking of strategies, The Veil of Eternity is amazing for creating some good depth of game play and making players be reactive. I compared it to Ascension and it is more that than Dominion which both give you that point building feel. This one makes you pivot and develop new strategies in the game, which is great.

1. Movers & Shakers

Finally, my favorite is Movers & Shakers. This is a big game, and I talk about how often times big games are hard to really rock on BGA. But Movers & Shakers is easy to understand and easy to play and just offers great choices throughout the game. The decision point of when do you stop filling trains, or maybe your opponent is moving trains so you can keep at it. Just great strategy in the game.

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February Games (Part 2)

Aquarius

This game is one of those games that is barely a game. Now that’s not a massive negative for some games, but in this case, it’s kind of just meh. I actually rated it a 4.5 which is low for me because I tend to enjoy most games. Some of it is that it has an element that I don’t love. I know what I need to complete and you don’t. So you need to try and guess that, but it’s really obvious in the game, and there just isn’t much exciting about it the game is too simple.

Movers & Shakers

I talked about a train stock game last time, and Movers and Shakers is the one that I told you I like better. This is a great game of trying to manage loading and moving goods on trains to deliver them. As well as beefing up your contracts so that you are completing things for more points and more money. There is a good amount going on in the game, but it’s not too complex and when you get into it, it chugs along really nicely.

Dale of Merchants

Dale of Merchants is a game that kind of disappointed me. I had high hopes for it as a deck building game where you could do some cool things. And now, I think it might be one that I prefer in person. It felt like it had enough going on that made it hard to keep track and see what ideal moves might be. I don’t need to (and rarely do) make perfect moves, but it’s one where you want to make a plan between your turns, and that’s just harder on BGA.

New York Zoo

New York Zoo is a game that I’d wanted to play for a while. And I think that it’s a pretty clever little tile laying game. I like getting more of the different animals and balancing that out with building out more pends in your zoo. The downside is that the game feels like it’s kind of the same puzzle over and over again. So it’s a good game, but with limited replayability for me.

Haiclue

A word game to get people to guess which word is yours. And you are supposed to make it smart by connecting the words in different ways as you build everything out. The game kind of works. But it also kind of doesn’t because it gives you words to create with and they are generally just so so and can make it really easy or impossible depending on what you get.

The Vale of Eternity

I like this game a lot, probably my second favorite from this chunk of games. It’s an engine building game where you either sell cards for coins and then spend coins to play cards and get points. It reminds me of a faster Ascension in some ways where it’s just all about optimizing the point scoring and pivoting to being able to score points depending on what comes up.

Dice Mission

Dice Mission is another of those games that is just okay. It’s a dice rolling game where you are trying to complete missions. And depending on how many dice you roll and how many times you roll, your opponents are locked into that many rolls as well. I like it for a simple game, but you often end up with turns where you can do nothing. You get a card with a power to help you, but they just don’t a lot of the time because it’s still dice chucking.

Overboss Duel

This is a fun game. I like the two player version of Overboss where you are trying to score as many points as you can while also trying to mess up your opponents scoring. In most games I dislike too much in your face negative interaction. But Overboss Duel gives you ways to work around that and it’s two players, so I mess with you and you mess with me. One that I think can hit the table pretty often with how easy it is to play.

Azul Duel

In January I played Azul for the first time and I like the game so much that I bought it. Azul Duel is not going to get the same treatment. In fact, I think that Azul is a better two player game than Azul Duel. There is just too much going on in the game that makes it feel like work to keep track of everything you can and should do and it loses that fast and fun game play.

Lodge

Lodge is a cool game and one that I like for how simple it is to play. Again, it’s easier to learn and play simpler games especially when you want to learn a lot. The game works as you build up your lodge and try and get rooms of colors together to score points from guests. And you get even more points if they are higher in your lodge and match the floor they are supposed to be on. It’s not my favorite game, but overall one that I’d gladly play.

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February Games

Chimera Station

This is a game that had caught my interest a while ago, and after playing it, I think it’s an okay game. It’s a worker placement game where you’re workers are aliens that you can swap out body parts on. That part of the game is fun, but I feel like some is lost with that playing it on BGA. On BGA I think that it’s an okay game. I wonder if I were to play it in person I’d like it better because of the tactile elements.

Knarr

Knarr got played on BGA and in person. I like this game, it’s kind of an engine building game as you play out Vikings to score points, and then you spend them to complete cards and score more points that way. The game play is easy, but I feel like it’s a lot of fun, and a good filler type of game. I don’t mean that the game is super light, there are good decisions to be made, but it’s not a long game and it’s easy to learn.

Space Lab

Space Lab seemed like a very cool idea for a game. You got cards that you used to fill in around labs. When you got what they wanted, you got bonuses, and depending on where you placed cards, other bonuses. But it’s a game that ended up just feeling like it was an okay game. Nothing stood out to me about the game other than that I think the artwork is really nice on it.

Niagara

I don’t like Niagara. It’s a game where you can mess with the weather, go sailing over the edge of the falls and lose stuff. It’s just a game that feels punishing without it feeling all that clever as you play. And then the game is just too long. Now some of that is on BGA it takes a while, but for what it is, it should be a really fast game and it wasn’t.

Please Don’t Burn My Village

A fun set collection game that’s really light. I say that, but it works. You are getting a lot of cards, and as you play out sets you move up or down what those sets are on the scoring track. So you want to get as many points as you can by playing out big groups and having those big groups be worth more points at the end of the game. But you only play out one group of every item and even that you won’t do. It’s one that I think I want to add to my collection.

Obsession

Obsession is a game that people talk about a lot. And I will say that I like it based off of the one play that I had of it. But it is just one play. And the game is pretty complex, so I don’t feel like I totally wrapped my head around it. It’s one of those games that has just enough complexity that I think I’d do better with it in person so I could be reading cards more easily between turns.

Tembo: Survival on the Savanna

Meh the elephant game. I think that there are elements that are interesting to the game. But for a cooperative game about going through the history of an elephant and moving around the board, it feels like a lot of work without the theme in there. I get where they try and infuse that into the game, but I didn’t feel the pressure like a good cooperative game and I didn’t feel that the game is that dynamic.

Tucano

Tucano is my sort of light silly little game. This one is a set collection game from, I believe, the same company that made the ninja rock paper scissors game. Tucano is fast in how it plays and there is an element that I really like about it. I like how you take the cards of one of three piles and then three cards get added, one to each pile. So a poorly scoring pile can become more tempting. It’s a good filler game with light strategy to it, but one I want to get.

Mini Rogue

Mini Rogue is a one or more player little dungeon crawler game. It’s one that plays fast, but lets you level up, fight monsters and have abilities. I think that works well for a game for me because I don’t feel like it’s too much to handle. The one downside is that the cards scale. The scaling is good and needed as you get further into the dungeon, but you see the same cards multiple times, I wish there was more variety.

Ride the Rails

Ride the Rails is a train/stock game. Kind of the first one that I really played of this style of game and one of the lighter ones. It isn’t an 18xx game. But one that I feel like I should learn again and play a few times in a row. The downside is there is a stock and railway game that I like better than this so do I want to spend the time on it, not really.

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January Part 6

Stone Age

Stone Age is a stone cold classic when it comes to board games (all puns intended). And I found that I enjoy this game quite well. I originally rated it a 7.5 but after more plays, I think it’s an 8 for me. One element that I really like is the spending as many workers as you want/can on an action. That gives the game more than just a straightforward place a worker get a benefit feel.

Dewan

Dewan is a very new game this year, and I thought it was okay. It’s a game about expanding your civilization through card play and completing goals as you go. It just didn’t stand out to me as a game that I felt was that exciting to play. Maybe with more plays I’d find that I enjoy it more. But nothing made me feel like, I should go back to this game.

Up or Down?

This is probably the game I’ve played most from the ones that I learned in January. Up or Down? is a simple game where you are adding numbers to columns and the columns either go up or down in number. But you score more points depending on two things, the number of cards in the column and then multiply that by the most common color in the column. It’s simple but it works well and reminds me of Onitama but easier understand the scoring.

Finca

Finca is a game that was actually in my collection and my one play of it was enough. Mainly because the game is fine. The mechanisms work well and it’s pretty light and easy to learn. But that’s the highlight of it, nothing about it made me super excited for the set collection and controlling areas aspect of it. It’s one of those games where I’m glad that I played it once, but don’t feel the need to come back to it, because you see what the game has to offer off of one play.

Azure

The final game is Azure. And this one almost beat out Up or Down? for the most plays. I think that I like it the best out of the highlight games from this part of the January games. Azure is a game of area control and scoring points. You play out stones to draw cards and score points. Then you use those cards to put out more stones. But if you place in a row or column where you have a stone, you get a card discount. It’s simple, but very good strategy, and there are bonuses you get in each area. But it isn’t so much that it makes it too complex.

January’s Highlight Games

So which games are the best for me? Let’s see which ones would make my Top 5.

5. Azul

This one is so simple but a lot of fun to play. I’m not sure why I drew a line with it and Sagrada and only had one of them. Now I own both and I enjoy them for different reasons even if there is an element of filling in areas that feels similar.

4. Azure

Azure is just a cool game that works really when it comes to an abstract game. The powers that you can go after are fun. And when you can line-up enough stones to get to one of big scoring points, it feels great. It also feels like you aren’t out of the game, even if it starts to get lopsided, because you are probably building towards big points.

3. Popcorn

Popcorn is a game that works so well on theme. Really this game is about optimizing your movie theater to score you points, but I love the movies, I love the theming of the game. And the game itself is not too complex to learn.

2. Regicide

Regicide is a great solo or multiplayer puzzle of a game as you try and take out all the face cards. It’s so simple to learn and play, but also the game is so challenging to beat. It’s where I want a good solo game to be at, hard to beat but fun to play and quick to play. If it was a longer game and I lost a ton, it’d probably be less loved by me.

1. FlipToons

FlipToons is an amazing game. I love how a bunch of games are kind of in the auto-battler genre of games. But FlipToons is one that stands out because it adds in a bunch more. And it’s less a battler and more of an auto-scorer game. You build out that deck of cards and try to optimize your scoring. It feels like 30 is a big number and then all of a sudden you are there.

What of the games of January stands out to you as one you want to play or hear more about?

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January Part 5

For Sale

I like For Sale a lot. Not because I think it’s the most strategic game in the world, but because it’s just simple and fun to play. The game is simple in that you buy houses with the money you have, if you pass on a bid, you take the lowest remaining value house. Then you sell off your houses again based off of cards that are played out, whomever sells the highest number house gets the most money each set of selling cards. The most money at the end of the game wins, and that just works for a simple filler.

Nanga Parbat

A game about climbing mountains and collecting animals, Nanga Parbat is another pretty simple game but with solid strategy. I like the set collection element of the game and trading those sets in for points. I also like how the climber moves, depending on which animal you take in a section it moves to that numbered section. But there are other lighter games that I like better than it, so just okay for me.

Martian Dice

Martian Dice got played because of Zombie Dice being played at a game night. And Martian Dice takes some of the ideas of Zombie Dice and makes it a bit more complex. It’s not too complex though, which is good for games about dice chucking because of the high level of luck. Overall, this one is just fine, which is what I’d say about Zombie Dice as well.

Formula D

Big old racing game here. Formula D was first played by me on BGA and then in person. And I think it works pretty well in both settings. But like a lot of racing games, it only feels so much like racing. You lose out on some of the feeling of speed. And while the push your luck is good and fun, it’s also not a short game, so feels good, but also odd.

Carnuta

Carnuta is one of the games that is new for 2026 and one that I enjoyed quite well. It’s the first 8 on this section of the list. I did have Formula D rated as an 8 but bumped it down to a 7.5. Carnuta is a hand management and scoring development game. By that last bit, I mean it does something I like. As you play out cards they have the scoring you’ll do at the end of the game on them. So like the game Point Salad, you are going to be scoring differently than your opponents, but you can also maximize your scoring.

13 Leaves

13 Leaves looks pretty, but this game was just a dud for all of us who were playing it. I shouldn’t say that, but for a number of us. You’re trying to shed cards so you empty your hand the fastest. But there’s not that much more that feels like is happening in the game. And for that reason probably one of the lowest rated games I’ve played.

Pokemon

Got to catch ’em all. I play a number of trading card games, and Pokemon is one that my kid is interested in. I’m not super excited by the game, it’s simple and my kid cares more about the Pokemon than the game. So just an okay game for me, but that’s fine because not every game needs to be for everyone.

Wingspan

This is a game that I actually owned for a bit but I never got it played. And it does some things that I like. I like the engine building elements of the game and in general I like engine building games. Wingspan is definitely helped out by all the birds. For me, it’s a good game, but it isn’t game that I’m going to come back to all the time.

7 Wonders Dice

A spin off of a really popular game, is 7 Wonders Dice good? I think that it is okay. The game mechanism are simple, you roll dice, they get split into different costs, you can reduce the costs, and then you fill in a spot. That is what the game is, and that’s not bad. But it also is way less exciting than a lot of roll and write games. And compared to 7 Wonders or 7 Wonders Duel, this game is a notable step down.

All In: A Flip & Write Showdown

The final one of the games is another roll and write style game. All In is a poker flip and write game and I have been enjoying poker games recently. You build your best hand of cards on various rows and columns. And you get bonus points for filling them in before other people do. It’s simple, you can print and play with a deck of cards pretty easily. It isn’t a roll and write style game I want to play all the time, but it’s not bad.

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January (Part 4)

Ito

Ito is a newer, to the US, party game. And it is one that I have now played quite a number of times in person. Though when it comes to party games, it is one of those that falls more into an activity than an actual game. But, I know that my players like the game. For me, I rated it a 7 originally. The more I play Ito the lower it goes for me. It’s the perfect icebreaker type of game, but the more you play it, the less of a game it feels like.

Shifting Stones

Shifting Stones is one of those easy to learn abstract games that I played on BGA for my road to 1000 games. I like Shifting Stones pretty well. You want to get the right combination of stones to score your cards and you can shift the stones or flip the stones to the other side. Of course, your opponent has their own cards they want to score as well. It’s simple, I’m pretty good at it, but it’s not one that I’m drawn to playing more.

Tang Hu Lu

This is a simple little game, and one that is pretty cute. I think that it works well as a roll some dice, get some fruits and foods and stick them on a stick. This game could easily come to the US and be Minnesota State Fair themed where everything is on a stick. But in terms of actual game play, it’s super light. Not a problem because it is fast as well, but it won’t stick around as one I’ll play often because it’s not going to change up.

River Rats

Cooperative poker is a thing now with games like Ace of Spades, The Gang, and River Rats. Do I own them all? Yes I do, and I backed another game like that, article upcoming. But this one is a solid game as you try and take down the rats by winning a number of tricks. And you cooperatively are building the hand that the rats are playing against. And different cards have powers as well, which is fun to add to the challenge.

Pili Pili

Pili Pili for me is a simpler version of on of my favorite games, Rebel Princess. Now I say that, they are different games in that Pili Pili is not Hearts, in fact you bid on how many tricks you will. But there is something that messes you up each round, some special rule that you need to account for. So I think I have room in my collection for both of the games.

Cry Baby

Cry Baby is another trick taking game like Pili Pili and another one that I’m tempted to get. You get to bet how many tricks you’ll take. And if you lose a trick and play the lowest card, you can rotate cards in hand or get Cry Baby points. It’s a good trick taking game because it adds in just enough different without being too crazy or too complex.

Bloxo

Bloxo is a game that reminds me of a few different things and one that I think is okay. You score points for playing out cards that match the symbols on other cards. The more you match, in terms of the group side, the more points that you get. Games like Quirkle and I’d even say Tacta (which will show up on this series later) are similar to it. Do I need all of them, no, but I think I might look for this one as an easy game for my family to play.

Get on Board: New York & London

Get on Board: New York & London is a roll and write style game. I say style because it was originally and there are still elements that are writing. But you want to create the best bus route that you can dropping off people along the way and picking them up. The game follows a pretty nice little pattern of play and is one that I could see playing more, but also are there games that are similar that I like better, I’d say yes.

Kabaleo

Kabaleo is a stacking game where you want to have, at the end of the game, more of your color showing then the other players. It’s a pure abstract, simple rules, and is one that I won’t go back to. Why, not because it is a bad game, but because a lot of these style of games have a very limited shelf life for me. And in this case, I think that it’s one play and that’s plenty.

Postcards

Finally on the list is Postcards. This is a game that I just came back to. And firstly, I think this is a very pretty game. You bike around France seeing sites and sending postcards out from those location. You get multi-use cards where you either use them for stamps on your postcards or for other abilities like moving, drawing more post cards, or camping. And when you camp, you can activate more bonuses and score more points. It’s a game that has grown on me the more I play it. It’s probably not one I’ll buy, but in terms of lighter and prettier games, I think it’s one worth checking out.

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January Games (Part 3)

The Shipwreck Arcana

I had so much hope for this game. I like deduction in games and games where they give you rules for a cards number and how it’s limited, it should have been interesting. But I felt like, and this might just be on BGA, that the game is just punishing for what it is doing. And it isn’t as clever as I felt it could be. In fact, I think it’d be more interesting if it was just an app and I was playing it against a computer.

Spirited

Spirited is another game that is just okay for me. And Spirited is about using different factions to get majorities and score points. But each faction is going to have it’s own special power. I felt like the powers were okay but the game play itself was not that interesting and honestly a bit much for how much complexity the game felt like it had. With really simple powers, you felt like it was a lot to do in the game.

Summy

I hate to be mean to a game, but Summy sucks. Summy is a game where it’s Scrabble but it’s math. But it’s just a pain because sometimes you have a great math problem you can create, and other times you have nothing and it’s so much luck that it’s not fun. And do you need to be good at math to play this game, absolutely. So it’s a game where sure, you can get better as you play it, but it’s going to be imbalanced so often just based off of math skill levels of players.

Terraforming Mars

I knew I was going to like this game and it’s true, I like Terraforming Mars a lot. I might even buy it for my collection again. Though the legacy version is tempting. This is actually part of a nice run of games that I very much enjoy. In Terraforming Mars, you build your engine to be the corporation that is best at terraforming Mars. I think that the game plays nicely and while it’s a bigger, longer game, it never felt too bad on BGA.

Through the Ages

Through the Ages is another good game. I rate this one an 8 as well. And it is another really big game. Through the Ages let’s you build up your civilization, fight battles, make alliances, and generally do everything you’d expect. The one downside for me is that the game is long. And there is a lot of upkeep. That is not a problem on BGA, but in person it is bound to be. And it is a game where you, as you learn, can get stuck.

The Voyages of Marco Polo

Next up another game that I rate an 8, we have four in a row here. The Voyages of Marco Polo is a good game of spending dice to get goods and move around the board. You try and create your trade routes and score points for those goods that you have. I’m not good at this game, but I like how it plays and it’s a fun challenge. It’s one where I’m not sure I’ll play it a ton more, but I probably wouldn’t say no to playing it.

Popcorn

Popcorn is one of my favorite games from the year. This is a game about building out your best movie theater and scoring points based off of the movies that you are showing. And the movies you show are fun parodies of actual movies. This is an 8 for me and it might move up to a 9 when I get a copy of it. And I really want to because the theme is one that is inviting for people and the game isn’t hard to play.

Pirates Under Fire

Pirates Under Fire is an abstract game of two pirate factions battling it out on the high sees. You want to have more control in your opponents area and to land on spots that give you points. It’s a fine game, it reminds me of a game like Stratego. So, with the abstract nature and some luck/reactive card play you need to do, it’s just an okay game for me.

Azul

Finally we wrap up with two games that I should have played well before now. Azul is just a game that I never was drawn to because I didn’t fully understand how to play it. Now that I know, I like the game a lot. It is a great game to challenge yourself with either playing mean and giving your opponents negative points, or scoring a lot for yourself. And the game is going to play differently depending on who you play with and player count. But Azul is a really fun game.

Cascadia

Cascadia is the other game that I know I should have played sooner. It is one that I own so I don’t know why I didn’t. But I like tile laying and trying to build out the best scoring paths that you can in the game. Now, I will say, I have this and Calico. I know a lot of people much prefer Cascadia. For me, I like how tight Calico is and the pressure feeling like you may or may not get the tile that you need. Cascadia is much more open and for that reason welcoming when it comes to game play. So I think Cascadia is going to be better for more people, but not for me.

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January Games (Part 2)

Eruption

Eruption is a game all about a volcano erupting, and you get to plan the path that it goes. You want it to heat up and burn down your opponents towns while keeping it away from yours. And your town is the coolest at the end, then you win the game. It’s a decent party style game with a little bit more than a party sort of feel to it. The downside is that the implementation on BGA is not good.

Lady’s Choice

This game is hard to rate. I think if they cleaned it up and made it less cringy it’d be better. There are some interesting mechanisms in there of bluffing but overall it’s not a game that I’d recommend. And when the designer has a strong stance on not making a less cringy second edition, it’s not a game that I can recomment.

King of the Woods

King of the Woods is a kingdom building game where you are playing out cards your kingdom your own opponents so that you end up with the strongest kingdom. I like the game, it’s a solid and light little game, but not one that I want to go back to again and again. Mainly because it does have that mess directly with your opponent which can mean that all the hard work they do is undone just kind of by random luck.

Revive

Revive is a game that I own and one that I want to play in person. A lot of these big games on BGA are just harder to play and really grasp. I certainly figured out some elements of it, but also with all the tracks, there is even more that I can delve into. But if you like a game with exploring, interesting card play, and a lot of tracks, this is a game for you. The downside, compared to some other games on the list, this is a table hog.

Regicide

The highest rated game on this section of the list and the most played game. This game is all about managing your hand of cards so that you can defeat all the enemies. The cool thing about it too is that you don’t need the game to play it, the game is played with a basic deck of cards. But I do like the actual cards as it’s easier to remember what everything is.

Reforest

Reforest, for me, tries to do what Forest Shuffle does, but isn’t as interesting. The big thing is that you are trying to build up your forest and fill in spots to score points. You can stack cards with taller cards and that’ll adjust how you score points and interact. The way it’s like Forest Shuffle, though, is that you use the cards in your hand to play cards from your hand. So you need to decide when to collect cards and when to play. The downside is that the scoring and interactions are just less interesting to me.

Rallyman: GT

I like Rallyman Dirt a lot, so I’m going to like Rallyman GT as well. And I do like both of the games, though I think that Rallyman Dirt is a more interesting game. In Rallyman GT you still have the push your luck, but you aren’t always just looking to be in the highest gear to have the lowest time. You want to spend your dice moving up and down and still pushing your luck, but there’s no difference in time, so I want to get to gear 6 one turn and back down to 1 the next turn to go as far as possible.

Neon Reign

Neon Reign is probably the biggest disappointment for me on the list. I was hoping, based off of the campaign for a fun game where you could create cool combos and battle kind of like a Mortal Kombat style thing. But it’s so light in terms of game play. Every character has a special power, but while you power up, the game is basically fly away light. There are other battler games that I like so much better.

Legions: Abyss Universe

Legions is a game set in the Abyss Universe, and the naming is dumb. But is the game play dumb, no, not really. You are trying for area control and collection points as you play a tug of war between two sides of the board. It follows a common thing, which is why I like it but don’t love it, where you are playing out cards to different lanes and depending on if you had the higher or lower card played, you either get to use your abilities or not. There are just ones that are better for me like Duel for Cardia.

A.E.R.O (Sausage Sizzle)

Finally we have A.E.R.O. though you’re more apt to find it as Sausage Sizzle. This is a simple dice game where you roll dice and you are trying to get as many of different aliens as you can. But it follow that Yahtzee style mechanism where you can keep some dice and then reroll the rest, but as you lock dice, it’s going to be fewer and harder to get what you want because you’re rolling less. I like it for a simple dice filler game.

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January Games (First 10)

Altay: Dawn of Civilization

Altay is a fine game, for me, though I know other people love it. It’s a game about expanding your civilization and completing goals. You do this by playing out cards that allow you to move and allow you to settle. It’s one that I should probably give another go to see if I like it better than I did to start. But in terms of games where you have that expansion and things like that, it’s going to just be a fine game for me. One that I’d play but not seek out.

Astseria

Asteria is another one of those okay board games. This game is a card playing game where you are trying to build out your dominance across planets. It’s an interesting idea because each card is going to give you four things that you can do with it. I like that about it a lot, it makes it thinkier in what you are doing that way for a game with only a few components. But the game play itself is not that interesting and I wish what there was more to do in the game.

Castles of Caleira

This is a sitting building game where you are trying to build out your strongest castle. Of course, your opponents can mess with the castle. It’s another one of those games that is just okay for me. I wish I could say that I liked it more. It reminds me in some ways of some of the solo games that you can get from Button Shy Games, but this one is multiplayer. It’s just now interesting enough when it comes to intereactions.

Cathood

Cathood again is another game that is okay. And that is a shame because I love cats. so I think that this one hurts more compared to the other games. This one is all about moving your cat around town, collecting resources and trading those in and getting bonuses. But there are rules around how you can move. Overall, the game just felt too mechanical to me and the theme doesn’t really fit with the mechanisms.

Cosmoctopus

This is the first of the games on the list that I’m tempted to buy. Mainly because this one is a pretty simple game, again collecting resources, but it’s done in a fun, light, and silly way with the tentacles and just the goal of the game. Plus I really like engine building and this one has some fun engine building to it. I think that it’s likely I will pick this one up at some point because I suspect I’ll like it even better in person.

Dog Lover

Dog Lover is another animal themed game, and generally those are lighter games. It’s a fine game for me. Again, it falls into that category like so many on the list. Nothing it did really stood out to me except collecting resources and how that works. I like the mechanism of selecting a row and being limited on how you can select that row or column. But there are other games, Quadropolis and Meadow, which I like a whole lot better for that.

Dragon Eclipse: Mystling Academy

This is a game that I need to play in person. Not the Mystling Academy, the small version, but my big Dragon Eclipse. It’s one that I should clear off the game table and get that set-up to stream. Because I think I’m going to like the game with story and playing solo a lot. But as a two player battling game with Mystlings, dragons with powers, it was okay on BGA.

Challengers!

Challengers! is another game that I own and one that I like a lot on BGA. It’s the first game out of all of these that I’ve rated an 8. Though, the last two in this 10 are 8’s or higher. But Challengers! is an interesting game because it’s an autobattling game. You create a deck of characters and have them play capture the flag basically. But when it’s down to capture the flag, that’s just flipping until you flip a character total value that beats your opponents. You play a few rounds across all opponents to see who the winner is.

Galactic Cruise

Galactic Cruise is an 8 for me as well. This is one of the big games that I have learned this year. It’s all about launching your spaceships and scoring points as you attract guests and see what you can get done. I like it and I want to own it. But it’s a massive, expensive, deluxe board game. Now not as expensive as some of the campaign games I buy, but you know, a lot aren’t. I really like the theme and mechanisms and I think I’d get the strategy even better in person.

FlipToons

Finally my 9 on the list. It feels like I’ve been playing this one longer than just this year. And it’s possible that I have and just bumped up my rating. But i don’t think so, this is another kind of auto-battler type game. Except you aren’t battling in this game. Instead you make your best deck of cards and you are trying to score points from a 3 wide and 2 tall grid. But each card is going to score you points in different ways. Simple, but fun for me.

Final Thoughts

Now I said that this is only going to be 31 games. I suspect it’ll be a little bit higher because I probably have adjusted some ratings. If that’s the case, that’s okay, you get to see a few extra board games. But let me know which one from this group of 10 your favorite of the games that I’ve played.

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How I’m Going About It

Let’s first off talk about how I’m trying to get to 1000 board games rated and played. Mainly because that’s a ton of games and I’m not spending money buying 84 more games. That isn’t to say that I’m not adding some. I’ve added a few and of course crowdfunding board games are still showing up. But that wouldn’t work to get to 1000.

That’s where a website like Board Game Arena (BGA) can come into play. I have a few friends on BGA who are always up for learning a new game. So while I play my old favorites, I also am trying out so many new games with them or with random folks. Either games that are new to BGA, or older board games that are ones that I haven’t played before. But I get through 10-15 new board games a month between in person plays an BGA.

The Biggest Challenge

Now, you might think that the biggest challenge is time. And time certainly is a factor. Now with a more set schedule, it’s going to be trickier to play as many new board games on BGA and learn them. But, like I said, that is doable to learn board games and to find time.

The biggest challenge is complexity of the board games. It is easy to sit down and learn a simple dice game. And it’s easy to do that even when you feel a heavier mental load. But it is not easy to learn heavier board games. For example, sitting down and learning Galactic Cruise on BGA is a lot of work. Not just because it is a lot of time, but also because the game is complex so I can’t just accept a game and learn that one on the fly. And while BGA has a ton of lighter board games, I have to scroll further and further to find them.

Join Me On My Quest to 1000 Board Games

So if you want to join me on my quest you can. I am, as I said, always up for learning new games on BGA. And you can find me and add me as a friend on BGA by searching for The Scando. I want help finding more games to checkout and play and see which ones are going to be the best for me.

What Happens When I Reach 1000 Board Games

I need to figure out a way to celebrate that. One idea I have is to do a Top 1000 Games Of All Time Video. That is going to be a crazy video where I’ll have to do all my rankings. Or it might be a 1000 Board Games video series where I go through all the games I have rated on BGG and talk about them, adjust ratings, and explain why I rated them that way. That one is going to be simpler to do. But I also might do that on my road to 1000 Board Games rated.

Let me know what you think would be a good idea. And I’m not sure I’ll be able to set it up perfectly, but let me know what game you think should be my 1000th game that I play. I have some ideas based off of what I have in my collection. But if I get a great suggestion, when I might buy and stream a play if I can to celebrate 1000th game getting played to be rated.

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