And for other ideas check out the previous lists.

Two Player Games
Campaign Games
Solo Games
Party Games

Welcoming Games

Bonsai

Bonsai is a pretty game about growing Bonsai trees. That’s a theme that is going to be a lot of fun for a lot of people and less “nerdy” which a lot of the games that are welcoming games try to be. That is, they are attempting to be less nerdy to be more welcoming.

In Bonsai you grow you tree by collecting pieces for your tree and then placing them out onto your tree. You pick either of those actions to do. Now it’s a bit trickier than that because as you play there are card abilities that let you hold more or place more tree pieces. Or you grab scoring cards to add to your end game scoring. There is a good amount going on, but it’s not too much because your actions are either take a card or add to your tree, meditate or cultivate as it calls them. And in the end you have an interesting looking bonsai tree.

Draftosaurus

The next fun theme for welcoming games is Draftosaurus, a dinosaur drafting game. In this game you build out your best dinosaur zoo for points, but you do that by drafting dinosaurs and placing them into different pens that will score in different ways.

On a turn the person who is in charge of the die, that passes each turn, rolls it and that determines where the dinosaur you pick has to go. Except for the person who rolled the die and can place it anywhere. Then you pick a little wooden dinosaur from your hand and add it to one of the pens. Some pens will give you points for pairs of dinosaurs, or maybe it wants all different dinosaurs or all the same. Each one is going to give you points in a unique but simple way.

Cafe Baras

Another welcoming game is new this year and it’s Cafe Baras. You are capybara baristas making your best coffee shop. There is cute artwork and some in jokes in this game about the different board games that the company has made. But it’s a nice easy game.

You either are adding more food and drink to your menu, which costs you money, or you are getting customers which gives you money. And you want to get the customers that give you the most points too, at the end of the game, because if you give the customer exactly what they want you can get a customer for life. Plus there are some other ones who will give you points at the end of the game if you have your menu built out in the way that they like it or your coffee shop set-up like they like it.

Cafe Baras is another game that really keeps it clean and simple and easy to play. And these first few have basically no reading to them which makes them quite language independent.

Castle Combo

Castle Combo is the first of our welcoming games that does have more reading to it. In this game you build out a three by three grid of point scoring fun. And all you do on your turn is buy a card and add it to your grid.

I love how easy this game is for being one that offers some good challenge. But each card tells you everything you need to know about it. First you know the cost of the card, how many coins it’ll cost you to buy it, then there is a bonus. The bonus might be getting you more money or keys. Or it might be a permanent discount on buying cards. And finally, there is the end game scoring, how you need to play it to get points. That is it.

Now, there is one last element, the element of the keys. The keys just allow you to change what you can buy. You either wipe all the cards in one row. Or you move where you can buy to the next row. The game is so simple, fast and friendly that it’s a good welcoming game experience.

Mountain Goats

Finally the lightest game on the list, Mountain Goats. This one is very simple to teach and play but also a lot of fun. Mountain Goats is a dice chucking game as you climb up a mountain to grab points.

The game has six different spots where your mountain goats climb. Each column has a different number and different points that match the number. You roll four dice and then you combine them to move mountain goats up towards the top of the mountain. When you get there, you get a point token. And you stay up there and can get more points if you roll that number or combine dice for that number again. But if someone else gets there it bumps you all the way to the bottom and you need to climb again.

That is all there is to the game. This one is again language independent and one that is going to be the easiest for younger kids to play as well. You just need to be able to think about the different combinations of numbers you make. Once a kid figures that out, it is easy to play.

Final Thoughts

You also can’t go wrong with the classics. Games like Catan, Carcassone, Ticket to Ride, and Small World are still great options. But I want to let you know there are new fun options as well out there. And this isn’t even a complete list, I know I could find a whole lot more.

Which of these games do you think a non-gamer or rarely gamer friend or family member would play out of the welcoming games?

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Again, this isn’t a bad thing, tastes change over time. What I like today doesn’t mean what I liked yesterday or five years ago in board games was bad. It’s an evolution and a journey. And remembering that is not a bad thing. So as I put together my list, I can think of positive experiences with all of them, it’s just now that I’ve cooled on them.

Top 5 Board Games I Cooled On

5. Munchkin

I don’t think this is one that would surprise a lot of people. This is one of those games that shows up often when you start playing board games. It’s a silly system of kicking open doors and hoping you have enough to fight a monster so you can level up. Or you might need to run away.

There are two things that dropped this on my list. The first being the length of the game. It might be over fast, but it might overstay it’s welcome, especially with a larger group of players. If I could guarantee it is a half hour filler for four people, I’d probably still own a copy.

The other thing is how the game ends. A normal, I feel like Munchkin game goes until two players, normally, reach that second to last level. The first player gets a monster that would get them to that last level. Everyone plays their good cards to stop them. Then the second player to kick down the door to win does so, and they get an easy monster and they win because people spent their cards. It’s kind of anticlimactic. It does keep the same shorter, but not that interestingly.

4. Catan

Catan is another classic that I think it’s in favor to say that it’s a bad game now. Or that it is kind of a kids game now. I don’t own it anymore, but I’d have no problem playing it. Why, because there is strategy and a bunch of luck to it.

My issue or why I cooled on Splendor is that I’ve played it dozens of times. I guess that with it being the first game I was introduced to as a modern board game, I probably have played it fifty times. That is a lot to play a game that generally plays out fairly similarly with no one wanting sheep.

Now, I want to say that there are expansions as well. Some of them make the game more interesting, some more complex, and some longer. But generally what they add hasn’t moved it back up on the list for me of games that I really enjoy.

3. Splendor

Splendor falls into the same camp as Catan. Less luck, but one that I played a ton of times. And as I play it, I never think that Splendor is going to end differently or that this game is going to be that different.

Splendor has two strategies. You buy small cards until everything expensive is cheaper and discounted enough so you can get them very fast. Or you save up and buy bigger cards for the points. Which is a better strategy, it at times comes down to which cards are flipped over on the next flip of the piles.

So there is a luck element to the game. But it is really that Splendor doesn’t offer enough exploration of the game for me, at this point. I play Splendor and nothing is different from game to game. Which is a common problem or a common reason for games to drop or get cooled on.

2. Dominion

Now, Dominion is one I know a ton of people still love. And this one, I understand why people still like it a lot. I understand why new sets sell like hot cakes. But, for me, Dominion lost it’s luster pretty quickly and dropped for me.

The big reason is the fixed market. I find that if one person knows Dominion strategy well, they pick the best or most optimal play and stick with it. Dominion is winnable at the start of the game, and then you play the whole game still.

I also find that I want to explore a game and it’s strategies. When I play Ascension, I adapt to what comes out. I need to play different strategies depending on the situation. In Dominion, the exploration is solving that one puzzle first. And if I play with people who like to explore it as well, we play suboptimal and enjoy. But one person who knows how to win at Dominion, it lessens or makes that experience not that fun.

1. Cards Against Humanity

Finally is Cards Against Humanity. I am 100% done with the game. While I might play Dominion and Splendor again, and I would play Munchkin and Catan again, I will not play Cards Against Humanity again. And I do think some of it is that my tastes have matured. Cards Against Humanity uses sophomoric and gross out humor in it’s game. That is not a game just to use those. And not every party game needs to add a NSFW expansion.

But that is not the main reason. The main reason is that when you play you see most of the cards. At least that is my finding. People play and go through the cards in a big group in a sitting or two. So now each time after no card is new to you. It is why the expansions are so successful for it. I know all the cards, the jokes, potty humor, whatever it is, aren’t as funny anymore. So people buy more cards and more cards in hopes it will still be good.

But the cycle is there. Once you start, the same thing happens over and over again. And I don’t want to spend money each time I play in hopes I get new cards that make me laugh. That is where I felt like Cards Against Humanity, and a lot of party games let me down. And it makes much more particular with the party games I buy.

Final Thoughts

I hope even with Cards Against Humanity, I laid out well why it doesn’t work for me. If that is a game you love, play it. My theory is play more games, even if they aren’t ones I like, still play them. And explore more games because it is fun.

I know my tastes have changed over time. And I know my tastes are even changing now. I love dungeon crawler and campaign games, that might never change. But even with those, I am becoming more particular about what I back and what I play. Why, because I own and play a lot of them. But I don’t have time to own and play them all.

What are some games that you have cooled on during your time as a gamer?

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How To Play Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archive

This isn’t the full details, like I said, it’s a first impression. And along with that, I need to try competitive mode still. But the basics of the game generally remains the same. In this game you are building out your heroes grand adventure in three different acts. You cast runes to test your skills and complete challenges to get story elements.

To do this you cast three basic runes that can give you 1 or no points for a check. And you cast runes based off of skills on the card. Those are your standard Dungeons and Dragons stats. So you can cast up to three runes of each type which can give you more points and better points since it is a skill you are good at.

In the cooperative game you are trying to get your characters levelled up to cast runes against Odium at the end of the game. Odium has hit points and you remove them throughout the game in various ways. Mainly if you get cards with radiant symbols. But if you fail checks it can also add more onto him. So you all work together to make sure you pass checks and can take out Odium in the end by casting your best runes.

What Doesn’t Work

Right now I think the weakest thing is that the story, while there, could be there more. When I play, I want to really tell a story of what I am doing. And I think that is something the game can encourage. It is almost a backstory generation for an RPG campaign. Especially if you are starting higher than level 1. I also know know that for some people that won’t work, telling more story. But I’d probably implement some story time in my game as the cards really lead you.

The game is also very light. This might be more for whom it is for, but the combination of light game play and the casting of runes, epic fantasy artwork, it feels off slightly. You almost expect the game to be more strategic looking at it, but it is very casual in what it does. And in the competitive version, it will have some take that, which might turn some players off as it doesn’t match the theme that well.

What Works

I enjoyed the cooperative game play quite a lot. I thought that Odium was an interesting villain and while what he does is fairly simple. And you can change him up with one of several cards that you assign to him at the beginning. We played on one that I think is a harder one and managed to win. But that is because we leveraged our cooperation a lot we were able to win.

I also think the game played well as cooperative because had less downtime. This is a lighter game, as I said, so downtime isn’t a major issue. You have a limited number of choices so you pick one and go with it. But in cooperative you help other players. I play a card and it improves your chances of completing your challenge. Competitive it’d be more take that and playing cards on yourself.

The light game play is also nice. Again, it helps with downtime. But it also made it pretty easy to pick up. I think the rules are solid. And I think you could get down to it and get playing fast. More teaching would occur during the game but it is easy enough that you could do that. And because of the great artwork, I think it’s a nice game to draw people in.

Let’s finish with the artwork. It is amazing. It helps that I know the characters. But even if you don’t, the artwork is gorgeous. And it is likely going to make you want to reach the books to find out what everything means. But the qualify of the game is very solid overall. The player board is a bit thin, but cards are nice, runes are nice, and cardboard tokens are nice.

Who Is It For?

This is more of a gateway game than I was expecting. I think that people who are familiar with a few games or a few concepts would be able to pick up this game. I might not pull it out over something like Catan or Ticket to Ride, but it is close to that. And, in all fairness, I might pull it out over them because of how much I’ve played those two.

If you are looking for a highly strategic game, there are elements of strategy. But it is not going to wow you with the strategy in the game. This is more about the artwork and that lighter game play than heavy decision making.

Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archive – First Impressions

I had a good time with the game. I want to try it as a competitive game. But I suspect I will prefer it cooperative. A game like Call to Adventure could rely too much on take that, I think, in competitive mode. And to be trying to set yourself up for that one perfect card or toss and have someone mess with it is not that fun.

I also wonder about staying power for the game. The game is likely to stay in my collection because it’s Stormlight Archive versus it being a highly replayable game. There are elements that change it up, but is it enough. Granted, Brandon Sanderson is writing more books in the series, so it could be one that comes back and works out just fine with another expansion in two years. Overall, it is a fun game that I think is a bit lighter than I’d life if I didn’t love the theme.

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Story in Board Games

I believe that is one of the great things about modern board games, though. The fact that you can put story into the games. Or a game is very thematic that can tell a story itself. But when you look at most classic games, there might be a theme but not one that you could really engage with.

Going into really classic games, like Monopoly, Clue, Chess, and Scrabble only one of those games contains much theme. Clue gives you some of that through telling the story of a murder as you try and deduce who the killer is. But now games integrate that story and theme so much more into the games that you can play.

Two different types of story can be in board games. You likely know what they are because of the title. The first is that the game can contain narrative, your story driven games. The second is a game that has an emerging narrative to it. A lot of games can have this, something like Pandemic, which doesn’t have it’s own story, develops a story as you play along. But let’s dive deeper into those two.

Story Games

A story game is going to have an active narrative throughout the game. It can be as big as a game like Gloomhaven where you read story elements as you get into each dungeon. Or something like Spire’s End which has story on every card. But even these show examples of how different story games can be.

With Gloomhaven you end up with a fair amount of text. You read it as you go into every scenario. There might be text for the scenario as you open doors. There is text then at the end as well. Plus you have city events that add more flavor and story for the town of Gloomhaven and road events for when you travel to locations outside of the town walls. Everything adds in story.

Spire’s End, you have all of the story on the card. You flip a card and you read story. It might give you a choice, it might lead to a battle. But I think that a better example of a different type of story, in a vein similar to Spire’s End, is Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game. That game has cards with story and a website (police database) that you use. But the story, while it is almost everything in that game, doesn’t get told in such a narrative, linear, structure.

Emergent Story Games

The basic idea of these story games is that as you play, the story itself becomes clear. This might be through text, but the choices you make develop the story for the game. It doesn’t give you the option to just read through everything, like a novel, and get the story. It is only through playing the game. And there might not even been story text to read, the game might just give you choices that create theme and story.

An example of this would be something like Western Legends. You play as a character in the wild west, and you can decide what you do. Do you become a lawman hunting down other characters who might be robbing a bank and gaining infamy. Or maybe you are running cattle up to the train and making your living that way. But when you come out of the game, you have a story of what your character did.

And then with Sleeping Gods, for example, that does have pieces of story that you can explore. But it is just pieces, little vignettes into the world. And you pick and choose the pieces of story that you go on. You can watch my game play and see the little bits of story that I messed around with, but together, all of that made a narrative of the adventures of my crew in that game. Next time I can explore in a new direction or try and complete stories I didn’t fully see.

Old Game to New Story Game

But I think that this is hard to talk about without giving some examples. Plus, I just like examples of a game that you might know to a game that has more story to it.

Clue to Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

An example for a game that I already gave here with Detective. But Detective that’s that who-done-it nature of Clue. You try and figure out these five interconnected cases, but each of them is it’s own story as well. But it takes it from Clue where it’s more purely deduction as you try and ask the right questions to eliminate information. To Detective where you want to deduce what is going on, but that is picking out elements of a story/narrative that you consider to be the best leads to go down.

I always describe Detective in a way that I think will be a turnoff for some people. But I mean it as a compliment. It’s a bit like a crime show. Yes, not the most fun thing and if you’ve watched CSI or NCIS that seems boring. But when you are the detective versus watching a detective it makes for a much more fun experience. It’s one of the better stories I’ve played in a game as well.

Munchkin to Betrayal at House on the Hill

I think you could make an argument that you end up with a bit of a narrative of what your character did and got in Munchkin, but it’s really more about everyone messing you over. And I think that is a style of game that a lot of people get into the hobby with. It’s taking Uno but instead of making it colors and numbers, you have monsters, weapons, armor, and fighting.

For a more thematic experience I’m going with Betrayal at House on the Hill (or Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate). It has a similar feeling of kicking open doors as you explore this haunted house. You find crazy bits of story or items, and omens that will eventually lead to one player betraying the rest. It gives you that sense of surprise that you get in Munchkin as you flip over a room. But has story and has tension as you know that betrayal is getting close.

Catan to My City

This one is maybe a bit of a stretch, but My City does have story to it. It is pretty light on the story, but as you play through different chapters, new things happen. And It gives you that feeling of building up your own city as you go or you own area. It’s similar to what Catan does that way, but it has those little bits of story as it adds in new mechanics.

Charterstone would also work for that, but I think My City is more accessible and for me more fun to just sit down and play. But they both offer that city element or building out your area in a way to help you the most. Charterstone maybe a bit more so because you have that resource gathering element like in Catan. But My City is just so accessible and easy to just sit down and play a few games in one sitting.

Ticket to Ride to AuZtralia

Finally, Ticket to Ride doesn’t have much theme. You could just be connecting random points together with blocks. But if you want a game that builds out routes and has some story that develops throughout the game, AuZtralia might be a solid option.

Now AuZtralia has no story on it’s own. But in a game where you face off against great old ones as you try and build up your tracks and hope that the monsters go after everyone else, that is story. Plus the game has solid and interesting mechanics as you spend time to do actions but that then means other people get to do more. But back to story, fighting a monster, having the old ones win the game potentially, all of that will create moments of story where you eek out a victory or have it snatched away from you. All while building out trains.

Final Thoughts on Story in Board Games

For me, if a game can promise and deliver upon story, I am always going to be interested. A lot of my favorite games have that story element. But not every game needs a story element to it. An abstract game like Quoridor doesn’t need to try and tack on a story, or a trick taking game like Matcha. But when there is a chance to add in theme and add in pretty artwork, I appreciate it when a game does that.

A good story for a game, even if it’s not a campaign, just intrigues me. It keeps me wanting to come back to the game over again. Even something like Homebrewers which really doesn’t have a story, I like to put one on there with the beers that I’m brewing with their odd ingredients and what that might look or taste like. So it is possible to add in your own story to a lot of games, it just depends on if you want to.

What is your favor game with story or best story you’ve come across in a game?

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How Much Can It Be?

Let’s take Catan for an example, how much could you get for Catan. Just doing the basic stuff that people know, off the top of my head, you have Catan, 5-6 player expansion, Seafarers, Seafarers 5-6 player expansion, Cities and Knights, and 5 to 6 player expansion. I likely could come up with more, but that’s just for basic Catan without going into different versions. But Game of Thrones Catan is out there as well and Star Trek Catan and Starfarers of Catan. Plus a big 3d tile version of Catan. That adds up fast. And if you look on Board Game Geek, there are over 175 results.

And you can do that with a lot of games, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Marvel Champions, or any of the living card games from Fantasy Flight Games give you a ton of content. Or Aeon’s End, there are 6 big boxes for the game, all that are standalone, plus then, I think, it’s 11 small box expansions as well. Or Sword & Sorcery with three or four big boxes now, plus a lot of character boxes.

So, there can be a lot out there.

But I Want To Have Everything

This is a common sentiment that really drives the whole idea of buying everything for a board game or not buying anything at all. But that isn’t feasible with so many games. Or it means that you will limit the number of games that you can get.

If you think about, let’s say, all of Marvel Champions, Arkham Horror, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Android Netrunner, and I think that is all the Fantasy Flight Living Card Games, that is a ton of content just there. I just remembered that there is a Star Wars one as well. It would be nearly impossible to get all and nearly impossible to play all of that.

So do you really need everything. I get the idea of wanting to own it all. But I believe that an all or nothing approach is not ideal.

Why Might It Not Work For Every Board Game?

I have a few reasons why it might not work for every game. And I will finish up with that I don’t think it’s always bad. But I’ll explain more on that later.

Cost

Firstly, this is very expensive to get everything. I do have a few games that I own basically everything for or everything for. Aeon’s End, Deep Madness, and Marvel Champions. Plus some smaller games, but that tends to be something like Res Arcana which has two expansions. But doing it for every game, like I said, is that it is very expensive. So I can’t do it for every game, and most likely you can’t as well.

Ease of Play

It also can make it harder to get the game to the table. And this is one thing that I suspect a lot of gamers don’t think about. What sort of content are you adding in? Is it content that needs to be sorted in and out depending on if you want to play with it? If that is the case, then the game is going to be much harder to get to the table. If it is just stuff that you can add into the main decks of cards and main box, then it might not make it too difficult.

An example of it not being a big deal with Marvel United. That is basically grab and go for the game. You don’t mix in anything extra. On the flip side, there are games that add in modules, even something like Medium a party game, where you are supposed to sort it out each time.

Getting Through The Content

Finally, at least that I’m thinking of right now, you need to ask if you will get through all of the content. Marvel Champions has how many heroes and villains? Will you get through all the combos? Or will you just play your favorite hero against different villains? Because there’s no harm in that. But that does mean that you don’t need all the content.

I won’t lie, I shouldn’t own all the content currently. I do, and I do want to play it. But I own all of it because I love Marvel. Not because I think, for sure that I’ll get to all of it. Some of it I just want to own because of the theme and characters it has. Maybe I will get to it, but Marvel Champions, with the speed they add more content, is unlikely ever to be fully played.

So Never Get Everything?

No, I don’t want to say that you shouldn’t ever. Let’s be fair, I own everything for Marvel United, Marvel United X-Men, and Marvel Champions. I own everything for Aeons End and almost everything for Deep Madness. But I don’t need everything for all my games.

I own base Carcassonne and that is all that I need. The core box for Lord of the Rings The Card Game is on my shelf, and I don’t need more of that. I got rid of the Sauron expansion for the Lord of the Rings game because I didn’t need the extra content that added.

When buying everything for a game, ask yourself the question above. And also consider that you can probably always track down more later. With a rare exception of Marvel United and Marvel United X-Men all the games that I own everything for, I got it not all at once. Well, let me correct that, anything that has an expansion.

Final Thoughts on Owning Everything For A Board Game?

You don’t need to own everything for every game. You don’t even need to own everything for any game. But I also don’t want to discourage you, too much, if you do have games you want everything for. I certainly don’t need everything for Marvel United, but I own it and I don’t regret it.

I do think it is worth thinking, though, when you find yourself going down that path. When you look at a Kickstarter and think, I should go all in on this, even though you don’t care about some of the content, just in case you do later. eBay exists, so you can probably find it later. It might cost a bit more, but also doesn’t eat up space, isn’t something you have to sell, if you find you don’t want it.

What is a game that you want or own everything for? And what is a game that maybe has been harder to play or left your collection because you did own everything for it?

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• Add More Players
• Add More Content
• Change Up The Content

Most of the ones I’m going to want expansion for will be in the last two categories. Rarely do I want to add more players to a game, unless it doesn’t change how long the game is. Six player Catan, for example, takes longer than two player Catan.

So let’s get to the list.

Points Salad

Point Salad should really have an expansion, but it is not an easy one to give an expansion to. Point Salad is a set collection game where you draft cards from a tableau. You either draft vegetables or scoring cards. And that is why it’s tricky. The scoring cards are on the back of the vegetables, so you can’t just add in more veggies easily. If you added more you’d need to redo every single card, and at that point, it’s just a new game.

So how would I make it work?

I think I’d add in a toppings expansion. So stuff like croutons, bacon, cheese, nuts, dressing, things like that. And they would influence how scoring goes. But they would need to be in the big tableau to able able to score. I don’t know how you’d change it up too much with them, but maybe they get played in a row of veggies or they use up certain veggies for their scoring.

Homebrewers

Homebrewers is one where I just want more content for it. I want more end game scoring objectives, I want more playable characters, I want more ingredients to brew with. The game is a ton of fun and a really fast engine building game with a theme I love of brewing beer.

Mainly, I think with the ingredients there is room for more powers that you could add to them. And more things you could do to play around with the different types of ingredients. So that’s what I’d really like for it. It’d just be more stuff that you could do. I know there is an equipment pack for it, but that’s impossible to find, so I consider Homebrewers one that needs an expansion.

Sonora

Sonora might seem like an odd one, how would you expands this roll and write game? In it you flick discs, that determines where you can write. So you write on your player board in four different areas that all combo together. Sonora is a roll and write game where it is all about the combos.

This is one where with how they built it that you can slide the main board in and out, I want to see a new main board and new player boards. Give me a whole new Sonora puzzle with completely new roll and write sections to be working on, all while still flicking discs. That would just be fun to have more for the game.

Mesozooic

One that I wrote about recently. Mesozooic is a combination of a drafting game and a sliding puzzle. It is a lot of fun as you try and complete routes in your dinosaur park, get enclosures completed, things like that. You can read more about it here.

I’d like to see an expansion that adds in some new scoring. I do need to mess around with the advanced scoring cards as well. But even more wouldn’t be bad. And I wouldn’t even mind seeing more players add to this game. It’d make the game even more random at higher player counts. But that’s okay, the sliding puzzle itself makes the game pretty random as it is.

Ohanami

Ohanami is an interesting little game about putting numbers in order. The game is simple in that you draft two cards and you add them to any of three columns you have going. But the number must be either higher or lower than what is already in that column. Plus there is scoring that develops over time.

What would I add to Ohanami? Probably ways to score more points. So a new scoring pad and some scoring cards that give you bonus points. Like a multiplier for the longest run of numbers that you have consecutively in a column. Points for the column with the most cards in it, stuff like that. And have there be three bonus cards you play with each time. Just seems like a simple edition that could add more to the game.

Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler Game

Paper Dungeons, another game that I’ve talked about recently. In fact, you can see me play it over on Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel. Or you can watch it right below. But this is a dungeon crawling roll and write game where you are leveling up heroes, fighting monsters, crafting items and more. It’s a great puzzle of a game.

I want to see more monsters added to this game. More monsters with different rewards and possible even some different behaviors. Or maybe even trait cards you could play on monsters that make you consider how strong you want to be when fighting it. Stuff like that which change up the monsters and maybe make them feel more unique.

Titan Race

And the final one is Titan Race. This is a racing game where you can race a few different ways. You can loop over the same track three times, or you can make a grand prix and play on three boards. Each board has special interactions, might hand out damage, might let you jump or move faster. And each racer has a power as well that they can use.

Titan Race is a game that won’t get an expansion, it’s been out for a while at this point. But I’d love one for it with more boards and more racers. I think that when it comes in Tiny Turbo Cars might replace this. But Titan Race will be simpler, so it might be one that sticks around for that, because the game is a lot of fun. I’d like more boards and more variety and maybe even the shot for a longer race, though that’d make the game take longer

What Board Games Do You Want To Get Expansions?

What are some games that you think need expansions. So many games these days do get expansions so it was a trickier list to make than sometimes. But I think I came up with a lot of good games. And while I was writing the article, I ordered the equipment expansions for Homebrewers, so it only should kind of make my list.

There are some games, like Unfathomable, the more I play it the more I might want an expansion. But right now I don’t need one for it. And if it makes it more complex to teach or get to the table, I won’t get it to the table as much. Or it depends on how well I can keep them separated to pick and choose what I want to play with.

Let me know ones you’d like to see get expansions down in the comments below.

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Why Might Dice Be Bad?

Dice add randomness to a game, that in and of itself isn’t inherently a bad thing. But where hobby board gamers often run into an issue with dice is when you can’t mitigate them. Let me explain that a bit more. In Monopoly when you roll the dice you move whatever amount you rolled. It could be two places, it could be twelve spaces. If twelve spaces ends with you on someone else’s property, there is nothing you can do to stop that.

Now, dice mitigation would say something like, pay $50 to the bank and roll the dice again, you must use that next roll. Or it might be something like pay $100 to the bank and increase or decrease the value of one of your dice by one. There is a cost, but it gives you more control over the dice.

So, the most common thing for hobby gamers is that they don’t like that a die roll can determine everything. In Monopoly, a bad roll or two could bankrupt you without you having choice over that. In Catan the statistically more probable numbers might not get rolled as often, it’s just the luck of the dice.

But Are They Bad?

I don’t think that rolling dice in a game is a bad thing. I don’t even think that sometimes just rolling a die and that being your result is a bad thing. Would I still play Catan? Yes, even though I might roll a three every time and give you resources, I would play it.

But I get why some gamers don’t like it. I generally do not want to play a game where dice determine everything. Monopoly, what you roll determines how well you do. I’d play it, but it wouldn’t be a high choice. Mainly because the decisions outside of do you buy a property or not, there aren’t that many. And generally you buy the property.

Most often though, hobby gamers want to have more control over dice rolls and there are a lot of good examples of games like that. Dice are not going away from games. It is often more about fairness in how you use the dice.

Hobby Games Examples

Let’s talk about a few games that use dice differently. I want to explain how different games might do this. And I think there is a good variety of ways and they often give some really interesting choices.

Ganz Schon Clever

Ganz Schon Clever is a roll and write. Roll and write games often try and deal with the randomness by giving everyone the same randomness. If I roll something, we all fill that in on our board. Ganz Schon Clever gives even more control than that.

When you roll and pick a die to use in Ganz Schon Clever, every die with a lesser value gets set on a silver platter. Your opponents will pick one die from that platter. To go along with that, you do that three times. So if I pick a 4 the first time and put two dice on the platter and roll again, I have eliminated dice that I can use. So yes, the dice rolls are random, but I pick what options I leave open for myself and what I give to you.

Dice Throne

Dice Throne is a head to head die combat game where you upgrade your character and can manipulate the dice. The character that you are using, generally, has upgrade slots. Before you roll for attack, you can pay for upgrades that might give you a better attack or, might give you more die combinations that work to attack with. That is one way you can mitigate a really bad roll, make those rolls harder to happen.

But you also have cards that allow you to change die values or reroll dice. They all cost combat points, the upgrades and the cards to change die faces, so that is the cost you pay to get more control. And I like the variety of ways you can change dice. You might get to reroll dice up to two times. You might be able to change a die to a six, or match another die, or increase or decrease a value by one. So there is a lot of versatility.

Plus, in Dice Throne, some of those cards work on my dice only. But sometimes, I can change the value of one of your dice. So I get a little control over what you roll as well. It adds to the strategy of do I want to play defensively a ruin your plan, or do I want to save it for a big hit?

Dice Forge

Dice Forge gives you control over you dice in a completely different way than anything else I’ve mentioned. You actually customize your dice in Dice Forge. Everyone starts off with dice that are the same. You roll your dice every turn, even your opponents, and you can buy cards for points or dice face one your turn. That then allows you to customize your die rolling engine.

Now, there isn’t anything that you can do to change your roll. But you are the one who built your dice the way that they are. If you still have rolls that go poorly, it probably means you need to upgrade your dice more and focus less on cards. If every roll is good, now you flip your focus, or at least every roll is better, and start buying cards.

Mansions of Madness

Mansions of Madness is a fairly basic way to mitigate dice. When you are doing checks there are success, there are almost successes and there are misses. When you roll and get say a success, two almost successes, and a miss, you can spend clue tokens. That turns the partial successes into fully successes.

So Do You Avoid Dice?

I think that some players have a really strong aversion to dice. They see a die getting rolled and they think that they roll poorly so it isn’t a game for them. I guess that could beg the question if some people roll poorly or not. I don’t think that players actually do or it does even out in the end.

Yes, it might not feel like that when a roll and the end of the game causes you to fall just short. Or maybe it is Dice Throne and I get my ultimate and you can’t do anything about it. But dice aren’t bad for most gamers. And your rolls aren’t bad, no matter what it feels like.

The hobby gamer who should avoid dice are the gamers who want perfect information. What do I mean by that? Precisely what it sounds like, you know all that information. You know how everything will interact and there is little to no variability. It is about building your engine more efficiently than the other person. Or making the smarter moves in an abstract game. Chess is an example, you know all of your moves, you know all your opponents possible moves. If you need that, dice definitely aren’t for you.

Final Thoughts

This last bit is going to be more about what I like. Because I do like a little randomness in my games. I think that it can help keep the game fresh when it isn’t so much of a puzzle or a game where all the moves are available to see every turn. I like to react versus plan twelve steps ahead in a game.

So I like that I can save up in Dice Throne either to stop you from getting ultimate, if need be, or to shoot for one of my own. It makes for a more interesting decision making space for me. It is some of why I prefer Ascension to Dominion. With Dominion, yes shuffling is random, but it is more of a fixed puzzle in each game, versus Ascension which is more reactionary, like responding to a die roll.

That said, I am not going to go out of my way to find a random game. Something like Monopoly where you roll a die and then see what happens. That is not interesting to me. Like I said, I would probably play Monopoly if someone really wanted to, but I know I wouldn’t seek it out. So there is an element of control I want, but I don’t need that perfect control.

Oathsworn

I want to finish up by talking about Oathsworn to kind of demonstrate some of what I mean. In Oathsworn to make an attack or do a check you either roll dice, or draw cards. The cards give you the same randomness that the dice do. So if you roll dice you might get a 0, 1, or 2, let’s say. And the cards also have several 0’s, several 1’s and several 2’s. But the deck doesn’t reshuffle. So you can card count and either know that you’ve seen most of the 0’s so drawing cards and pushing luck that way is great. Or it might not have had any 0’s drawn so it’s cold.

To me that is a fascinating decision point of when you would push your luck with dice or with cards. The dice are always going to be more random. So on a fresh shuffle of cards, you might be able to get higher using the dice. But t here is also a better chance that you’ll bust and the check or attack will fail. It takes a push your luck mechanic and gives it so much more to be interested in the decision.

So to end on a question, do you like dice in games? And do you feel like you have good or bad luck rolling dice in games?

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How To Play Project L

Project L is a game about basically playing Tetris, or with Tetris pieces. You are trying to complete shapes by filling in pieces to it. At the start of the game, you have two pieces a single square and two squares, but you get more as the game goes along.

On your turn you have a number of actions that you can do. And you get to take three of them per round. You can pick up one of the shape cards that you need to fill in and put it in front of you. Next you can upgrade a piece, and they have different levels which determine how you can upgrade. Or you can take a basic piece. You can clear a row, or one important one is you can master. Master you can do once per turn, but allows you to put a piece in every shape that you have.

The game continues until you get down to none of the harder tiles left. After that you finish out the round plus one more. That way each person gets a similar number of turns. Then you count up points on your shapes, and most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The base game is a lot of fun, and I have more positives than negatives. However, I am concerned about how the base game will play over a lot of plays. I expect it to stick in my collection because the game is very accessible, more on that later. But for me, without the Finesse expansion or Ghost expansion which I want to get, will it be interesting enough.

The game play itself is simple, and after a handful of plays. I feel like it doesn’t change up too massively. Now, I think it can change up with different players because if I go for the higher scoring cards and push the end game faster, that will make it feel different. But if I build up a really strong set of pieces and go from there, it’s going to feel like what I’ve done before.

What Works?

The ease and time of play are great on this game. In a two player game, turns are snappy. And while there is decision space with what shapes you take, how you allocate your pieces, things like that, it isn’t daunting. I felt like I could sit down and play this game with anyone.

The game also looks great on the table. The bright colored pieces that you are fitting into the black and white cards makes the game pop. It makes it feel easy to get to the table and play. And the pieces are a lot of fun, very high quality game.

Who Is This For?

I think that this is a great game for gamers to teach people getting into the hobby. Or to teach players who gravitate towards that Splendor, Ticket to Ride, and Smallworld weight of game. I don’t know that this will work for a group of heavier gamers. It might work a few times but it won’t be one that sticks around because the decision space and strategy for the base game is a bit limited.

But more casual gamers, I highly recommend this game. Project L is a game that should be in Target and sell a million copies or at least one hundred thousand, because it is fun, it is easy to learn, and it looks great. Put this on a shelf next to a lot of games and it’ll stand out.

Project L- Final Thoughts

I think that this is going to be one that sticks around in my collection. And I think that even though it won’t be one that I always want to play. Because while the game play is fun and easy, I’m not sure the base game has the level of strategy that I want.

I am hopeful, with looking at the expansion, that will improve the game for me. This is a game that should have staying power on my shelf for a lot of people I game with. And I don’t think it is going to be a game where I will turn down playing it. I also think that the expansion is going to make that even less likely that I’ll turn down playing it. Mainly because it looks to add to the puzzle of the game.

Finally, this isn’t part of the review, but there is a insert or Game Trayz for Project L. I’m not sure if it’ll be something you can buy later, but man, is it nice. Takes what could have been a bit of a messy table and a slower set-up and makes an easy game easy to get to the table.

My Grade: B
Gamer Grade: C-
Casual Grade: A

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Quick Recap

The basic premise comes from how we interact with new people coming into the hobby. I might not own a game like Catan anymore, but that is a game that still brings hundreds if not thousands of people into board gaming. So when someone finds out about Board Game Geek, for example, or the Dice Tower, and they want a board game recommendation, they might ask on the Facebook groups. And I’ve talked about this idea before. If they say they own Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Catan, what is a good recommendation.

Too often I see games like Scythe, Gloomhaven, Brass: Birmingham, something that is way too big. But people are recommending their favorite games. Why is that? Because they want more people to love them like they do. And honestly, so do I, but those games aren’t accessible to new gamers.

All of us have a pathway that leads through a lot of different games to where we end up. And some people that might stop at the likes of Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Catan. For others that means that we end up playing through all of Gloomhaven. But what were the steps that got you there? I challenge all of you, myself included to write down or think about your board gaming journey to remember what were your steps.

Then, the next time someone asks for a board game recommendation, you can give them the name of the game that isn’t your favorite game, but was your next step. And I can do that as well.

Orchard: 9 Card Solitaire Game

This is a little solitaire game about stacking cards. The game play is simple enough, you are laying cards down so they overlap. Where they overlap colored trees, apple, pear, and plum, you put down a die. One overlap gives you 1 point per tree, two gives you three, and so on the more layers that you get. The goal is to get as high as score as you can. You got to see my high score last night as I got up to 56.

It’s a really good solo game. One it’s small so easy to take place. But when you pull it out, it’s still small in that it doesn’t take up too much space. Finally, it plays fast, but gives you good choices. There are some solo games that give you some choices and play fast. Orchard is a great puzzle that gives you great choices.

Next Weeks Board Game Stream

So next week’s stream will be a little bit different. It’s going to be the last stream for the year. And I’m going to ask for your help in figuring out what board game(s) I should stream at least to start the year. I have a number of campaign games that I’d love to have hit the table, and I’d love your help figuring out which one is the one that I should play next. So expect to see a poll going up with that, probably in the chat, to help me decide.

Then I’ll be taking off for the holidays. I think it’s just two weeks where I won’t be streaming. But it’s partially because I might not be around, and partially as a little bit of a break for me. So join me next week to see what games I’m considering.

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But let’s talk about what board games I’m going to be doing a list on first. I’m doing Gateway Plus Games. What does that mean? A gateway game is a game that you can introduce to anyone. Gateway plus is one that you introduce to people after that. These are for the people who are just getting into board games but maybe haven’t gotten far past the level of gateway games. They know and like games like Splendor, Catan, Ticket to Ride, and others. What’s the next level games to introduce?

Calico

This is a game I’ve talked about before and it’s barely a next level game. The game is very simple to play. You have two tiles in front of you can you put one onto your quilt. Then you take one of three tiles and put it in front of you. You do that until your quilts are full. But it’s challenging because of scoring. If you get a group of three of a color, you get a button. A certain size or shape of the same pattern, that’ll attract a cat. And then scoring pieces that want to match patterns and colors.

The game is way more challenging then you’d expect. And most of the time you are hoping that the one piece you really need will come out. There is a lot to worry about with what is going on, but it’s still a blast. The game can be a bit cutthroat feeling if someone takes a piece you need, but generally people want to optimize fo their own scoring.

Roll Player

You might have introduced your friends or family to Sagrada. That can be a slightly past gateway game depending on the set-up. But it’s generally quite friendly and fun dice drafting game. Roll Player steps that concept up just a little bit and makes it a whole lot nerdier. You’re still drafting dice, but now you’re using them to build a Dungeons and Dragons or other RPG character. And all you’re trying to do is match the stats to where you want them to be.

The game works really well and the Monster and Minions expansion adds in more to the game. Now you have to deal with monsters as well, which I think adds to the overall game. It makes it feel like you’re doing more. This one is gateway plus because there is just a little bit more going on with making money, buying cards, and casting spells. But it’s still easy to get into and for a friend who is a bit more nerdy.

Photosynthesis

Another more abstract game like Calico. Photosynthesis is all about growing trees, but in a very cutthroat way. Here you are planting trees, growing trees, and then when the trees mature harvesting them for points. But the game has a really clever mechanism to it. The sun rotates around the board, so you get light points (action points) to use based off of how many and sizes of your trees seeing the sun.

Where the game gets cutthroat is that you can block out the sun from other people. Two trees of the same height, if the sun is hitting one that one can block the other. Or larger trees have a bigger reach as to what they can block. This is going to be for that person who likes moving the robber around in Catan.

Hanamikoji

This is a two player only game, but it’s very thinky, and I think for a lot of gamers, especially maybe a chess gamer (which chess isn’t gateway) but someone looking to branch into more hobby board games, this will be a good puzzle. The game is extremely simple, you do four different actions each round. But each choice is to hard to make.

You either take a card to score, which is hidden, discard two face down, give your opponent the choice of three cards for winning favor or get two pairs of cards and your opponent picks one. The push and pull of trying to control the favor of the Geisha is really well done in this game and the game plays extremely fast.

Dice Throne

The final one is also two player and it’s on Kickstarter right now as a Marvel version. So if you have a big Marvel fan in your life you can get this for them. Otherwise, you can always pick up the fantasy version that is already out there. Pick two of your favorite duel packs and you can get playing right away. This is generally a two player head to head dice battling game, but you can play it more.

In fact, I really like the three player version where it is king of the hill. If you attack the person with most life you get a bonus. It’s a really good game with more strategy than you might think with Yahtzee style dice rolling. When you upgrade cards, how you push your luck and use cards to manipulate dice make this a more challenging and fun version of something like King of Tokyo, which I consider a Gateway Game.

What game would you get that is Gateway Plus? This is something that I see a lot that people want that next game on board game groups. And people give games like Scythe or Gloomhaven, or whatever their favorite game might be. I wanted to put together this Christmas list of ideas for you for friends who are interested in games, or games to ask for yourself if you’re just getting into the board game hobby.

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