Catch Up on the Top 100 Games

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition – 60 through 51

60. Trinket Trove

Publisher: GameHead
Designer: Rocco Privetera

Buy Trinket Trove

I love how Trinket Trove has pretty simple rules. But it is a game that offers more than just simple game play. You collect cards in your hand that will be your score at the end of the game. There is a twist, though, as those cards you also use to bid on other cards. So you need to bid to get more cards or get cards that you want, but that means you mess up your hand. I think that little twist is clever as well as being able to take the cards others have bid to make for a really fun game.

59. Vampire: The Masquerade – CHAPTERS

Publisher: FLYOS
Designers: Thomas Flippi, Gary Paitre

Buy Vampire: The Masquerade – CHAPTERS

Now to another one of those big adventure games that I love, we have Vampire: The Masquerade – CHAPTERS. This is set in the World of Darkness/Vampire: The Masquerade RPG setting. And it is a scenario driven adventure game. Now all the scenarios chain together, so it is meant more as a GM-less RPG sort of setting. I like the simplicity in which it plays. And I think balancing things like hunger and abilities is interesting in the game. The story is the element that really gets me though, as the combat itself is pretty simple.

58. Five Tribes: The Djinns of Naqala

Publisher: Days of Wonder
Designer: Bruno Cathala

Buy Five Tribes is Not Available Currently

This mancala style game is going to give you a ton of ways to score points. And I like that tension of trying to figure out a good move on your turn. Now, I know for some that might introduce some analysis paralysis and there are people I won’t play it with. But I like that puzzle of figuring out what I think is a good move for me and dropping off workers until I get to that last spot. I also like that everything gives you points in the game as that makes even a less than perfect turn still give you something.

57. Too Many Bones

Publisher: Chip Theory Games
Designers: Josh J Carlson, Adam Carlson

Buy Too Many Bones

Another adventure game on the list, I own so much stuff for Too Many Bones. This one is about the Gearlocs that you have and leveling them up. Each one is going to play differently. Some of them might let you level up archery as you unlock new dice, others might start to build bombs that you can use in combat. But this game is one with a great flow. You do an adventure piece, you fight some bad guys, you level up and then you repeat. You do that until you feel that you are ready to face off against the boss, and if you are lucky, you are ready and can win.

56. First-Class Letters

Publisher: GameHead
Designer: Peter C Hayward

Buy First-Class Letters

I love roll and write games, and I like word games. This one is a bit of both. You roll letters and you need to come up with words that use them. But there is a twist to that because there is a letter that you can’t use as well. And of course that is going to be a common letter to make it tricky. To add to that, there are some spots where they set the letter the word must start with. And all the words at the end need to be in alphabetical order. There is a bunch going on, but not too much to ruin the fun.

55. Super Fantasy Brawl

Publisher: Mythic Games
Designer: Jochen Elsenhuth

Super Fantasy Brawl is Currently Unavailable

I don’t love all fighting games. There are a few that I find great, and Super Fantasy Brawl is one of them. This is a game of fighting against an opponent to knock out their characters and complete objectives. But what I love about the game is the simplicity of the play. I play three cards a turn and do their actions, one for each color. Or, if I use a color for a reaction on my opponents turn, then it’s two cards on my turn. I also like that you score objectives at the start of your turn. So you need to hold that spot through your opponents turn.

54. Century: Golem Edition

Publisher: Plan B Games
Designer: Emerson Matsuuchi

Buy Century: Golem Edition

Century: Golem Edition is a great hand management engine building game. Each turn is simple, but the better you are at figuring out how to create a combo with the cards in your hand, the better you’ll do. It’s all about getting games and leveling up those games to get Golems, who are points, in the game. You can get the regular version of this as well, it’s the same game, but I love the Golem artwork and the gems in this are just more fun.

53. Pandemic Legacy Season 1

Publisher: Z-Man Games
Designers: Rob Daviau, Matt Leacock

Buy Pandemic Legacy Season 1

This one is for all the Pandemic Games. I love the Pandemic System, though I haven’t played base Pandemic in quite a while. Mainly because I think that Pandemic Legacy Season 1 and Season 2 are so good. The system just works and the story that you get within the legacy games is great. I even played Pandemic Legacy Season 1 solo on Malts and Meeples early on. So you can see that there, if you want to see how it went for me. I almost feel ready to play it again. If legacy isn’t your thing, than maybe Star Wars, Warhammer, or Lovecraftian horrors will work.

52. Mesozooic

Publisher: Z-Man Games
Designers: Florian Fay, Alexander Ortloff-Tang

Mesozooic is Currently Unavailable

Back to back Z-Man Games on the list, but Mesozooic is very different from Pandemic Legacy. This one is a small little drafting game where you draft eleven cards to make your zoo. But those cards, you don’t get to decide where they fit in your zoo. Instead, you shuffle them up and then then a sliding puzzle, you race to get them in place in 45 seconds. You do that draft and slide puzzle three times and whomever has the best zoos at the end of that is the winner of the game. It’s silly fun and I like it as something really different.

51. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Publisher: Grey Fox Games
Designer: Tobey Ho

Buy Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Finally wrapping up with #51 we have Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. This is the one social deduction game that I like, and that is because there is deduction as well. You start to piece together the clues from the Forensic Scientist to figure out the murder weapon and clue. Of course the murder and accomplice are trying to keep you away from that, and the witness is trying to subtly point you in the right direction. It’s just a great time and there is always a story in this game.

Join Next Week

Just as a reminder, I am streaming my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition every Wednesday night at 9 PM Central Time. The next few videos have their links up, so you can click notify on them to know when I go live. Or you can subscribe to the channel and click notify to know whenever a new video comes out. Currently I am playing through Legendary Kingdoms on Monday and then my wife and I are playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on Fridays. So join us for those videos.

And thank you for checking out the video and articles. Let me know what your favorite game from this chunk of 10 is and which one you would love to get played.

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Catch up on my Top 100 Games (of all Time) 2023 Edition:

100 through 91

90 through 81

80 through 71

70 through 61

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition – 60 through 51

60. Five Tribes

Five Tribes is a classic game at this point. One of the Days of Wonder games that put them on the map and is my favorite of them. This has a mancala style mechanic of picking up meeples and dropping one on each tile you move to. Then you gather the ones that match the color of the last one you place out and that determines what you’re doing, which is basically always getting points.

That’s another feature of the game that is great. You are always getting money, or points (same thing) in this game. No matter what action you do, it is likely to help you. To add to that, the money that you get is also what you use to pay for your turn order. So if you see an amazing move, it be worth paying to go first, but will what you pay offset the points that you get? And that’s part of the puzzle of the game.

Buy Five Tribes

59. Mesozooic

I doubt that Mesozooic will make many or possibly any other Top 100 Lists. Why, this is a light and silly little drafting real time game of making your own Jurassic Park. But it is one that I really like. And I like it because it is fast and silly but still a good time with a little bit of strategy as you draft cards.

You get parts to your monorail system or zoo pens for the dinosaurs as you draft. Then you put them in a four by three grid and because you have one empty spot, you draft 11 cards, it’s basically a sliding puzzle. You then get 45 seconds, I believe, to slide everything around and get it in the order that gives you the most points. Where ever you are at when that time runs out is the zoo you have. So it’s possible to get it perfect, but it’s not that much time, so when to call it good enough is a big part of the game.

Buy Mesozooic

58. Res Arcana

Next up is Res Arcana. Res Arcana is a much thinkier game than the last one, but still not extremely complex. In Res Arcana you are taking your hand of cards, I believe it’s 8 cards, and building a points engine out of them. And the game is basically as simple as that. You do actions each round and when you are done with them all or all you want to do, going turn to turn, you take a special power that will help you the next round of turns.

This game is just a fun puzzle. You can play with the starter decks. I like drafting the cards I get better so that I can try and build up a synergy and get an engine going faster. But either way is fun to play. And Res Arcana is not that long a game which is great as well, so you get your engine going quickly in the game. I like that because it’s like there is a little to no downtime of the engine.

Buy Res Arcana

57. Tesseract

One of the new games, I played this one for the first time at Gen Con and I had an absolute blast with it. It’s a Pandemic like cooperative game in some ways. There is more going on with it, though. The structure of do your turn and then a bad thing happens is very Pandemic like.

The basic “story” of the game is that this Tesseract, a cube of dice has come to Earth. And we’re scientists of different types trying to solve the puzzle of it before it explodes, or implodes I should say, and kills everyone. Our actions are to collect and manipulate dice to get runs and sets and be able to put dice onto tracks matching their color and number. That is how we win, the game wins if the cube is gone, if too many overflows happen (Pandemic outbreaks), and possibly another way, I forget. So it’s a race against time and using your abilities the best you can.

And the dice cube, really is a five by five, I believe, cube. I said four by four yesterday, but think about it, I think it’s five by five. And that dice cube/tower is on a rotating board so that everyone can just turn it to see the other sides. It’s a clever system.

Buy Tesseract

56. Potion Explosion

Another game with a gimmick is Potion Explosion. Potion Explosion reminds me of an app game where you pop a bubble and it causes the column to drop down. If two (or more) like colors hit again, they pop and so on. That’s what Potion Explosion is, and it’s great with that toy factor. It has a nice dispenser for marbles, and then you’re doing what I said, removing one and letting matching colors hit.

But it adds to that by giving you potions that you can craft. Those potions are then special powers that you can use one time. That’s help you get more marble, ingredients for your potion, and let you brew even more potions. It’s a fun game of optimizing which marble you take out of the dispenser with the powers that you have. Great toy factor, again, but also just a great game.

Buy Potion Explosion

55. Forest Shuffle

Another new one to the list, Forest Shuffle is another game that I got to play for the first time at Gen Con. It’s a nature tableau building game, which, that theme or idea is very popular right now. I like how this one works a lot, though because it’s simple. You play from a handful of cards and are using cards in your hand to pay for the cards you want to play. So each card is dual purpose that way.

But they are also mainly dual purpose (besides trees) in that they have two things on them. It’s part of your forests habitat and ecosystem on the cards. So you put those cards around the trees you have in your forest. And you will show one or the other side. But which one you pick means you miss out on the other for scoring.

The end game trigger is fun as well. Three winter cards are shuffled in to the bottom of the deck. When the third one comes out the game is done. So you might find one and have a bit of time, or it might be ending really quickly after that. So you need to determine when you just need to play out cards versus go digging or picking up cards that might just get stuck in your hand and give you no points.

Preorder Forest Shuffle

54. Grove: A 9 card solitaire game

My most played solitaire (solo) game of the year. Grove is a great game that is a ton of fun as you are building up your grove or orange, lemon, and lime trees. You do this by layering cards and matching the fruit that you are overlapping. And you can’t just overlap any trees, you get one overlap that doesn’t match, and that gives you negative points.

This probably sounds a lot like Orchard another game in that series. And what I’ve described is pretty similar. Where Grove is different is that each game you are playing against a challenge. Or you can choose to do that, but I always choose to do it. You get two challenge cards, they give you bonus points. But they also provide a point total between the two cards that you need to win. So it’s not just beat your high score, it gives you a target, for that game, to beat it.

Buy Grove

53. Century: Golem Edition

Century: Golem Edition is one that has stuck on my list for a long time. It’s not one that I play often, but when I get it played, it’s always a good time. Century: Golem Edition is a game of hand management where you are playing out cards to get gems and transform/trade gems into better gems. Then you use those to get Golems, most golem points wins.

But what I like so much about this game are the quick and snappy turns. My turn is basically one of four things. I play a card to manipulate the gems that I have, whether that’s get more or transform them, get a card from the market, pick back up my played cards into my hand, or get a golem. It’s one thing per turn and the game just flies along because of that, plus it has good decisions.

Buy Century: Golem Edition

52. Arboretum

Arboretum is one of those nature themed games where it looks pretty, and it’s pretty mean. But that’s what makes the game one of my favorites. In Arboretum you are building an ascending order of trees. And you score routes of trees that start and end with the same type of tree, always ascending numerically. Plus if you start with a one and end on an eight, both of those give you bonus points.

The tricky, and where the mean comes in, is that you don’t get to score all of your trees. At least not automatically. You need to have the most, card value wise, of that type of tree to be able to score it. So you might have built up a beautifully high scoring line of maples, but if you have a greater value of maples in my hand than you have, they are worth no points to you. And that is mean, but so much fun and adds in a layer of strategy and depth.

Buy Arboretum

51. Cthulhu: Death May Die

Finally, the last new one for this part of the list, Cthulhu: Death May Die. This is one that I got to play for the first time at CMON Expo, and I just fell in love with it. It’s such a fun game of investigating, trying to stop the ritual, or whatever is going on, but knowing eventually you’ll need to fight a great old one. And when you start, you are not in a position where that is going to be possible.

It only becomes possible as you become more insane. The more insane you are, the most powers you can unlock. There are points on the sanity track where it lets you unlock a new power. So you get to decide which of your three tracks you want to go up on. One is unique to each character, and the others are a combination of generic ones. Like the brawler ability, it might let you hit a whole room with an attack, if you level it up, but it’s always a choice of what to level.

Then, of course, you can still die from insanity. So if you die from what, because you leveled up too fast, you’re out of the game and that messes up things as well. So it’s a ton of fun how it lets you push your luck but not too much with that insanity. And it’s also fun to get more powerful as the game goes on the closer to death you are.

Buy Cthulhu: Death May Die

Upcoming Streams

Let’s run through the stream structure like I normally do. You might already know the schedule but in case you don’t. Wednesday at 8 PM Central I stream either a campaign game, or with this time of year it’s my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition. And join me next Wednesday for games 50 through 41, so hitting the half way point. It goes so fast, and now I have so many games that I want to play.

Then on Monday I stream at 9 PM Central time. It’s generally a solo game. Though I’ll also do pack openings for things, like I should have a Lord of the Rings Collectors box coming for the new cards. But normally it’s a solo game and a one off for the game like a roll and write, or sometimes a game like Under Falling Skies which was on the list today.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Simple vs Complex

Simple vs Complex can actually be broken down into a couple of different ways. One is going to be for learning a game, the other is going to be the actual playing of the game. Mainly, because I think that some games can be a bit of both. Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift, which I wrote about yesterday, I think that game play can be simple. But learning the game is a challenge.

Learning

A game is complex to learn when the rule book is difficult to get through. This can be for a number of a reasons. It might be that a game is challenging to get through because of a lot of different reasons. It might just be a big rule book, or a lot of specific side situations. Or just a poorly done rule book that is hard to reference when you need to.

Versus a simple rule book, that is going to be one where it lays out out clearly and the game is not that challenging to pick-up. Even with a more complex game, a simple rule book is going to give you the information you need and not much more.

Playing

For playing, simplicity and complexity can be in two different areas. Firstly, if a game is simple, turns are going to be simple. I do one thing on my turn, and it’s done. So I know what I want to do right away, I do that action, and I know how that action is going to go. Something like Century: Golem Edition (or Spice Road) is an example of this. On my turn, I get a card, I pick up my played cards, I get a golem, or I play a card. I do one of those things and all are straightforward.

A more complex board game is going to create more questions in what you are doing. When you select an action, it branches into many more things that you can do. Kind of like a bunch of combos happening. Sonora, for example, is complex for a roll and write because everything combos into everything else.

Another way board games add complexity is through housekeeping. This is the idea that you don’t just need to know what you do on your turn, you need to know what the game does. One that’s a bit more simple for this is Pandemic. Unless there is an epidemic, you flip a card and put out a cube. But there are games, Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth, for example, where there is a lot that you need to do.

Shallow vs Deep

But now let’s talk about shallow versus deep for a game. Because, I think at times, people get the two concepts confused a little bit with how I talk about them. A shallow board game is going to be one where the decisions I make are pretty straightforward. I don’t need to think about the complexity of a game when considering if a game is shallow. A game with depth is going to give you a lot of meaningful decisions. It is the space where you need to consider and weigh your actions carefully.

For example, the actions while playing Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift might be simple as you execute them, but the decision space for what action you take at what moment that offers real depth for the game. Compare that to Sword & Sorcery, where the execution of the action is not that complex, but the turn is a bit more complex as a whole, but what you should do on your turn is not that deep.

What Combinations Can Board Games Be?

So, I think that there are three combinations of this that I like. And the rule book is it’s own thing, so that won’t factor in too much. I think too complex rulebook especially if it’s not laid out well, is a barrier to entry that is just a bit too steep. And so a lot of gamers won’t get to see if the game itself is complex or simple, or shallow or deep.

The first combination is shallow and simple.

I like this one for my party games, filler games (generally) and dexterity games. I don’t want the game to feel like it’s too much. Pulling out the game should mean that I can teach it and play it fast. Something like Wits & Wagers is a game that is shallow and simple. Same with something like Ice Cool.

The next one is deep and complex.

This is going to be your bigger games, something like Gloomhaven stands out this way. There is a lot in Gloomhaven to keep track of, and the decision space of what cards you choose to play is really intriguing. So, the decisions really matter and you need to keep track of a lot of rules, statuses, things like that, in your head.

Finally we have deep and simple.

I love games in this area. Ones that give you good decisions to make while not bogging you down in a ton of rules. Res Arcana is a game that does this. I can build out an engine with eight cards, and my goal is just get it running faster and better than yours. Or Hanamikoji is also great. You only do four actions in the game. But when you do each one, and which cards you use, it’s so tough.

I don’t like shallow and complex.

Needless to say, there is one that I don’t like, that is when a game is shallow and complex. In that case, it seems like they are just adding in rules to make the game seem more challenging, but when you get down to it the base of the game is very simple in what you are doing. If you have a thirty page rule book to cover all the one off scenarios but I only ever use 10% of the basic rules in my game and it’s always obvious what to do, I’m am not going to be interested in the game.

I think that a game that kind of falls into that trap is Sword & Sorcery. Now, there are interesting decisions to make, early on, when you play Sword & Sorcery. However, the more you play, the more you just drop into a routine of what you are doing. Move, fight, is your best ability on cooldown, use the next best one, repeat. The decision space shrinks as you go because there are obvious choices in what to do.

Final Thoughts on Different Types of Board Games

I think that players are going to have those different sweet spots. Some people are really going to want to play those heavy and crunchy games that take a lot of complexity to remember everything and give you a lot of decision space. And I even like some of those games.

But when a game can really pull off the simple but deep combination it is a gem to play. Stuff like Res Arcana, Hanamikoji, or Century: Golem Edition stand out as amazing games this way. They offer really fun decisions and interesting decisions without bogging you down in a ton of different edge cases or steps to your turn that you need to keep track of.

For me, complex and shallow is just going to be a killer, though. If I need to put a lot of effort into playing your game, I expect a full and rewarding game play. And if that doesn’t exist, well, that’s an issue. At that point in time, it makes learning the game and playing the game feel like a chore, or work. It’s a bit like a task at work where you need to copy information from 30 e-mails into fields in a spreadsheet. You need to make sure everything ends up in the right spot, but you don’t need to think about it too hard.

Which is your favorite intersection for a board game with Shallow and Deep, as well as Simple and Complex?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Ranking My Fantasy Games

46: The Red Dragon Inn

This should be a game that I like more than I do, it’s basically a hand management game around drinking in a bar after you’ve been out adventuring and gambling to win money and getting in fights. And I suspect I do I like this game more than I think. I just don’t like it at high player counts. Most of the time when I play The Red Dragon Inn it is over the recommended player count, to me this is a 4 player game only. I don’t want fewer, I don’t want more. At four, it’d feel like good silly fun and not a slog.

45: God of War: The Card Game

God of War is another theme in a game that I should love, but the game around it wasn’t that great. The deck building was interesting in the game. But the card play and the monsters that you fight, those aren’t all that interesting. It feels like the game was meant for mass market without hitting mass market. Or it’s a weird area in between mass market and hobby.

44: Kodama: The Tree Spirits

This is one that barely falls into the fantasy area. Yes, it does have the tree spirits, but that’s barely part of the game. It’s more about building out trees trying to create runs of the different things that you want. In concept it’s not that bad, and in game play it is okay. Kodoma is one of those games where I think a lot of people will enjoy it, and it’s not a bad game, but it won’t be many people’s favorite game.

43: Stuffed Fables

This is a game, in Stuffed Fables, I should maybe have given more tries. The theme of a being stuffed animals and toys of a kid trying to get their blanket back that was stolen, super cute. And the game was cute when I played it, but also more complex than it should be. I get what Plaid Hat Games is doing with their adventure book games, but with changing rules it just made it more complex than I wanted.

42: SeaFall

SeaFall, people would probably put that to the bottom of their lists because it is not a good legacy game. Though, legacy games, to me, have higher standards than most other games. If I am only going to get a limited use out of it, it needs to be epic. I liked the mechanics pretty well though they needed to be less punishing. But the story was a bit too scattered, though, with some tweaking, could be made better.

41: Near and Far

Well, I just wrapped up Sleeping Gods, that isn’t on the list yet, so I like it better. For me, Near and Far is a cool concept, a cool world, and just falls flat. The game has story, and even vignettes of story like Sleeping Gods, but it’s more mechanics than anything. And I think since it’s competitive the game couldn’t get away from the mechanics as much as how you score points.

40: Legacy of Dragonholt

Legacy of Dragonholt is another one of those games that isn’t bad, but could have been better. The system for an RPG/Choose Your Own Adventure game is fun. The story is okay, and that’s what kept me from diving back into it. It wasn’t that the concept of the story wasn’t good, but the execution of it felt too YA (young adult) and not a well written YA story, but one that got published because other YA books similar were well done and popular. I’d love to see Fantasy Flight come back to this system, keep some of the ideas and just improve the writing.

39: Fae

Fae is a fantasy game in cover art only. It is really an abstract game where you are a fae creature who is then hidden from everyone else and you try and score the most points. The game is good, and I like the challenge of trying to score points but not make it too obvious so that people tank your fae’s scoring. A clever idea and very abstract.

38: Legends of Andor

Another game that was in my collection and then left. And another one that is fun, it is an efficiency puzzle of how you get through the story as effectively as possible so you don’t trigger end game too early. My issue with it is only a me issue, I have too many campaign games. I let it go when I realized I would only ever play the starting scenario at least for right now. When I have capacity for that campaign, then I might get it back.

37: Sword & Sorcery

Sword & Sorcery left my collection, but that’s because I did play through the campaign. It is a fun campaign but one that I knew I wouldn’t revisit. The depth of game play is fun for a lighter dice chucking game. And the story is also light, well, in terms of the decisions that you make. I wish the story branched more, and that your powers would change up more, because once you found a few good things, you just did those.

36: Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients

Shadows of Brimstone is one that hasn’t left my collection as a campaign game, but maybe should. The only issue is that I need to glue the figures back together. My first gluing didn’t stick as well as it should have, because I didn’t use the right glue. But also, it’s a theme that I don’t have games for, the weird west. So monsters and other worlds all messing with the old west. I love that theme and there aren’t many games or good books that I’ve found with it.

35: Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

Another campaign game, and another one that left my collection just because I wasn’t going to get to it anytime soon. But it’s Lord of the Rings, and app assisted from Fantasy Flight Games. The story was fun that I did play through. The writing was well done, which I appreciated, and you can see is something that’s important to me. Definitely a good one for Lord of the Ring fans, which I am.

34: Krosmaster: Arena

This is a skirmish game with fantasy characters casting spells, summoning monsters, and hacking and slashing away. I like that you pick and build the teams that you play with. I like the dice rolling and how you can play with secondary objectives so it’s not just knock out your opponent. But you can play just with knocking people out as well. Krosmaster is one I would keep but I didn’t have people to play it with, and now I have another skirmish game or two that I put over it.

33: Too Many Bones

This one will probably move up the list when my Gamefound comes in for the latest expansions. Not that I own any other Too Many Bones, but that might start me getting more. This is kind of a short campaign game where you fight some battles and then fight against a boss. But where the game really shines is how you build up your characters. Each of them do different things, and how you level them up gives you room to explore a character multiple times. Plus it’s a different fantasy world than anything else out there.

32: Lord of the Rings: Journey To Mordor

This is a roll and write game, but it is a fun little one. Not one that I own or one that I’d go and seek out to add to my roll and write collection. But Journey to Mordor basically has you advancing your Hobbit on their journey to Mordor while trying not to let the Nazgul get you. Very simple roll and write but it has a little more player interaction, so it feels different than some.

31: The Hobbit

Speaking of Hobbits, we have The Hobbit. This is a competitive game about dwarves trying to get treasure, which is kind of what the book is as well. I like the mechanics where you are leveling up skills based off of cards you play. But you want to balance it so everyone levels up because you can’t defeat the monsters all by yourself. So it’s semi-cooperative, but not in a way that someone is working against the group, it’s just that sometimes you let another person get the better thing.

30: Deadly Doodles

Another roll and write game, and this one I think has dropped a little on my list. It’s a good simple roll and write where you are trying to get treasures, find weapons and defeat monsters. And what you do gives you points. There are some different dungeons which add in more things to do as well, which I need to play around with.

29: The Lord of the Rings

And even more Lord of the Rings, this is the classic Fantasy Flight Game. I like how it plays through the books. And you play as the Hobbits taking the ring to Mordor. It is fairly abstracted, but the locations you go and the scenes you play through are all very Lord of the Rings, so it feels more thematic than just with what you are doing. Plus it’s a really tough cooperative game and I like those.

28: Titan Race

Normally I don’t love games that have a lot of in your face, try and mess the other person over, but Titan Race is a lot of fun. This is a fast game and a silly game with great fantasy in it. Titan Race is very silly and I like how the tracks work. You can either do a race where you loop over the same board over and over again, or you can do a grand prix and go over three boards and each board does different things. And those things make the game even sillier.

27: Claim

Claim is a two player trick taking game which is odd. Plus the first hand you play doesn’t actually give you a score, it is how you build your hand for trick taking. It’s such a clever idea and I like that it plays really fast. The fantasy theme comes in that the different suits are fantasy races. And each of those fantasy races has it’s own powers, or they might. Some of them there are just more of, whereas others have powers. A knight always beats a goblin, for example. So it puts even more of a twist on trick taking in a way I really enjoy.

26: Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler

I don’t know where this one will end up, so middle of the list is good for right now. I don’t know where it’s going to end up because I’ve only played this roll and write game once. And I liked it a lot, it’s a dungeon crawler as a roll and write. But as compared to Deadly Doodles where you go into a dungeon and cross over stuff, you do a lot more in this game. You level up your heroes, you have powers and abilities, you craft items and brew potions. And the better you do in other things, better you can explore. A lot going on, but not too hard.

25: Skulk Hollow

Skulk Hollow is a game of woodland creatures, the Foxen, fighting against a Guardian. It’s a two player only game and one that is very asymmetrical. As the guardian my goal might change from game to game, depending on which guardian I am. And the Foxen, well they always want to beat down the Guardian. And the Foxen can change up depending on who their leader is. Really cute game and fast to learn and play.

24: Silver

I think I say this every time I talk about Silver, but it reminds me of a game I played growing up with a deck of cards. In Silver you have a village in front of you and you want the lowest score possible. You know what two of the cards are in your village. You don’t know the other three. So now you swap cards out or play them for powers to get rid of cards in your village and lower your score. It’s simple, it’s fun, there’s a lot of take that, yet it feels nostalgic in a good way.

23: Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure

Clank is a fun push your luck, deck building, dungeon delving game. You want to get the best treasure that you can, but as you get cards, make noise, and well, annoy the dragon because it’s their horde, now the dragon starts damaging you. So you could jump in, grab the first thing you see and run, but if someone else can make it out, now they have more points and better treasure than you. Really fun game and easy enough to play for most people.

22: Deranged

Deranged might fall more into a horror game. But there is a magical gate and fantastical monsters who are out to get you. And you yourself can become one of those fantastical monsters if you don’t deal with your curses and get out in time, why, because you might become Deranged. The game has a lot going on, but I like the dual use cards and the theme of the game. A little horror I’m most certainly interested.

21: Village Attacks

Village Attacks is another darker themed game because you for sure are the monsters. And after a long day of terrifying villagers, you are ready to settle down. But nope, here some villagers to break down your door because clearly you’re the monsters, not the people trying to trash your place. That sounds light, and I find it silly, but it is themed dark. Still a very nice tower defense type of game.

20: The Grimm Masquerade

Themed with Grimm Fairy Tales, The Grimm Masquerade is a deduction game. You are each a masked party goer, one of the Grimm characters. You are of course looking for something, a glass slipper for Cinderella, but also have something you don’t want. Can you get what you need or make everyone else bust before they figure out who you are?

19: Ascension: Deckbuilding Game

Another deck building game, Ascension is fantasy themed. Really, like most pure deck building games, it’s about building up an engine that gives you points. I just like this fantasy theme and variability of it better than something like Dominion. But that’s not what we’re talking about. This lets you get heroes and casters and sages and constructions to fight monsters, get more income and buy more cards. I like that it offers a ton of different strategy for the game.

18: Res Arcana

Res Arcana is another in theme only fantasy games. You are basically building out an engine to get points and who can do it better to get points faster. I like it though with the theme of brewing potions and dragons and places of power. It makes it feel different, and I also like that you only have 8 cards to make your engine with.

17: The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

The Dresden Files are my favorite fantasy series. I love the world that Jim Butcher has created. The game, it does a good job of giving you the pieces of that world. But you need to know the world to connect them together. So it’s not the best fantasy game or story game for everyone, but if you know the series, it’s a lot of fun to play.

16: Small World

Small World is Risk with fantasy creatures, crazy powers, and well, a whole lot more fun. What really works is that this is a small board. The game is in your face, but it’s in everyone’s face. The option of hiding away in Australia is gone that you’d have in Risk. Plus, you get crazy combos. Flying Halflings, Seafaring Giants, Wealthy Trolls, all of them are possible. Really accessible game too for most new gamers.

15: The Lost Expedition

This one is on the list because of the expansions and promo cards. I don’t think in the base game there is anything too fantastical, but werewolves, fountain of youth, yeah, those are fantasy. This is all about surviving to get to the lost city of Z. The game is a really good cooperative one that if you have someone who is a alpha player, it keeps them from being too much of one.

14: Century: Golem Edition

This is another one where the theme is fantasy, but game play doesn’t really shine through on that. Still, the artwork and gem pieces are great, and I wouldn’t want a different theme. It’s a hand management game where you are building up cards in your hand to use them to turn gems into other gems until you get the right combinations to get golems. And the golems at the end of the game give you points. What is so amazing about this game is that turns are super fast, so while there are good decisions to be made, it doesn’t take long to get back to your turn.

13: Potion Explosion

We’ve all probably seen the app games where you get like colors to touch and that removes them from the board and if more hit, those are removed as well. That is what Potion Explosion is. You are making crazy potions by pulling dice and trying to get the like colors to hit. Light game with a great table presence.

12: Root

Root was one where I was thinking, is this actually fantasy. Well, let’s see, it’s animals fighting and building, so yes, that seems like fantasy. But really, it’s a confrontational game where you fight it out with your group trying to get points to win the game with everyone trying to keep everyone else in check. Great asymmetrical game, just know it’ll take some time to teach. And don’t let the artwork fool you, this is not a nice sweet happy game.

11: Roll Player

Roll Player is a game about making your Dungeons and Dragons (or Generic RPG) character. You draft dice to put them into various stats for your class. It’s a lot of fun as you try and match up colors and get the numbers right to score more points. Plus you buy up gear and abilities which can influence your stats or points as well. And that’s the game, it’s about building up your character.

10: Spire’s End

Spire’s End, coming soon to Malts and Meeples is a story adventure game. In Spire’s End you wake up to find a spire has appeared at the edge of your town and many people are missing. You and others go into the tower, fight monsters, make choices, and generally go on a weird and dark adventure. Really like this one as a solo game.

9: Super Fantasy Brawl

Super Fantasy Brawl, it’s in the name that it’s fantasy. Super Fantasy Brawl is a two player skirmish game where you are trying to complete objectives in an arena and knock out your opponents. Complete objectives, get trophies. Knock out your opponent, get trophies. The first to five wins. What I really like is the turn speed, you play up to three cards, one of each color and do what it says on the cards. And the cards you play determine who moves. Light game but very tactical in how you play.

8: Cartographers

The second game I have in the Roll Player world, won’t be the last. But Cartographers is a roll and write game where you are making a map of the land. And you get points for making it in certain ways. Forests surrounding mountains might give you a point or two, things like that. What makes it fantastical is that you put monsters on the map as well. And you don’t put your own down, you put them on your opponents board in the worst spot for them to make them score negative points.

7: Sleeping Gods

Sleeping Gods, well, you can watch me play this one I just wrapped it up over on Malts and Meeples. Sleeping Gods is a big adventure game where you, as the crew of the Manticore are transported to a new world. You want to get home, but in order to do that you must awaken the sleeping gods and all you know is that totems might help with that, not where to find them. So it’s really a sandbox game of exploring, finding quests, fighting monsters and more.

6: Roll Player Adventures

Roll Player Adventures, the final Roll Player world game, this is an adventure game set in the world of Roll Player, using mechanics or dice mechanics that feel like Roll Player, and it’s really good. I really like that Roll Player Adventures is an easy game to learn and a lighter game to play. A lot of the big adventure games can have a lot to keep track of and a lot of tokens. Roll Player Adventures has enough, but not too much. And the world you play in isn’t too dark.

5: Aeon’s End

Aeon’s End is another deck building game and the highest on the list. This is a cooperative game where you play as breach mages trying to fight off nemesis that come through. The game does two really interesting things for me. Firstly, you never shuffle your deck. So when you discard cards you can kind of put them in an order. And the other is that turn order is random. There is a deck, in a two player game, which has two activations for each character and two for the Nemesis. On a really bad draw you could go twice with each character and then two Nemesis turns, plus then shuffle that up again and two more Nemesis turns.

4: Lords of Hellas

Lords of Hellas is fantasy in the future, or mythology in the future. It’s a cyber world of Greek gods. An odd setting with some amazing miniatures and mechanical creatures. But a really good game with some rough edges and a lot of ways to win. To me that is one of the best parts of the game where you are able to win in a number of different ways. You might fight monsters or build and control a monument or take over areas, how you play is up to you and the powers you have.

3: Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Tainted Grail, if Roll Player is light fantasy or happy fantasy, Tainted Grail is very dark fantasy. The world of Avalon is falling apart, the Menhir that drove back the wyrdness are failing and you aren’t sent out to stop it. You are sent out to find out what happened to the people who are better equipped to do this than you. But the story in Tainted Grail is amazing and one that I highly recommend people track down, which can be hard. Also know that this is a survival game with a ton of story, if you want the story, play in storymode, I am.

2: Dice Throne

Odd one to put on the list but Dice Throne is very much fantasy. It is fantasy head to battling in almost a Mortal Kombat type setting but it is still fantasy. My Pyromancer is going to blast your Barbarian with fire or then there is a Seraph or a Treant or a Gunslinger, all sorts of things, and you can take any of them up against each other. I’m so excited, it isn’t that far out to when Marvel Dice Throne will be delivered, several months but not that far. And Marvel Dice Throne is compatible and can be played with everything else I already have.

1: Gloomhaven

Finally, my #1 game of all time, Gloomhaven, This is a massive fantasy game of dungeon crawling combat. It is amazing and what really makes it is the card play. You pick two cards to play, one will determine how fast you go. Then when you go you use the top of one card and the bottom of the others to move and attack, so you can set yourself up for some epic turns or make it flexible to cover a changing board state. And there are so many different characters that are interesting to play as.

Final Thoughts

I love fantasy as a theme. A lot of my favorite series are fantasy for books in particular. And for board games, there are a lot of games that use the fantasy theme. But when you get down to some of my favorite games of all time, the big fantasy games are hard to beat. I think that my Top 3 games are all fantasy games. And I even skipped some games, like stuff in the Lovecraftian Mythos because while they are fantasy, I feel they are more horror. Maybe I’ll do a horror game ranking soon.

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Different Types of Board Game Versions

I think it’s good to talk about the different types of versions you can find within these board game reprints. To me, there are three different categories of board games game reprints or versions that can happen. There might be more, but these are the three that stand out. A board game could also just get reprinted as it was before, but that really isn’t a change from what I already might own.

• The Updated Look Reprint
• Same Game New Theme
• Version 2.0

The Updated Look Reprint

This type of reprint is going to give you the same game that you had before. The game itself is getting a new look and feel to it. So this is something like the different editions of Pandemic that have come out. And while it isn’t a reprint, this is kind of what Pandemic Legacy does with season 1 and season 2, they each are available in two different options of box colors. Those box colors mean nothing to what is in the game.

A reprint like this happens most often when a game has been out for a while. It starts to look dated and people are buying it less. So even though it’s a classic or popular game, it needs a reprint to get it into the hands of more people.

Why might you want to get a reprint? It might get the game to the table more. If the artwork and aesthetic are better, people might be more willing to play it. Or if you old version of the game is well played, then you might want to get a new copy of the game and the new artwork and aesthetic might make sense versus tracking down an old copy.

Same Game New Theme

The game also doesn’t change or change much in this sort of version or reprint. It is more of a new version of the game though. The easiest example of this comes from CMON and all their different versions of Zombicide. You have Zombicide, Zombicide: Black Plague, Zombicide Green Horde, Zombicide Invaders, Zombicide Undead or Alive. They might do a minor tweak to the rules to improve them ore make them more thematic, but the games generally stay the same.

This again helps sell more games because some people like other themes better. This is true for myself, Undead or Alive with zombies and an old west theme is way more interesting than orcs in Green Horde. And the same with the just standard version of the game, it interests me less. This also is why I have Century: Golem Edition instead of Century: Spice Road. The theme makes a difference to if I want to play the game.

So, I think this is a better reason to get a new version of a game. For me, I could have backed Zombicide 2.0 when that came out, the updated version, but the theme wasn’t interesting. I almost backed Zombicide Invaders, but theme didn’t grab me as much. So depending on your group a new theme might make a game more interesting for getting to the table.

Version 2.0

This type of version doesn’t change the theme, most likely, though it might. And it keeps the core of the game the same as was before, but it tries to improve upon the game that already existed. Lords of Hellas to Lords of Ragnarok is kind of a Version 2.0 of a game. Some of the original DNA is in the game, and while the theme changed, it is going to feel similar to at least some extent.

Another example of this would be Galaxy Trucker getting a new version. Galaxy Trucker, the original, was played over building your ship and flying three times. Each time you build a new ship and then go off flying through space. The new version gives you that option, but you can also play the game just doing the building and flight once. That drastically shortens the game time. Or any game that Restoration Games does like Downforce or Return To Dark Tower could be 2.0 versions of a game.

This is the one that I’m much more likely to want and I think that a lot of people want. A 2.0 version should improve your gaming experience not just because the looks or theme have changed. It should make the game more streamlined, better balanced, less obtuse rules, generally better in some meaningful way. Now, not everyone will like the changes, but the goal is that the game should be more accessible overall.

So Get A Version 2.0 Board Game?

Not always will you want to get that, because you can ask yourself a few questions. Will I play it over the version 1.0? Can I bring the new rules back to the old version? Do I play this game enough to need a new version or two versions? Do the changes improve it for me?

Let me use Lords of Ragnarok as an example for this, because I’m questioning this right now for myself. The game is backed, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep it because I have Lords of Hellas and do I really need both, even though Lords of Ragnarok does change up the system.

Will I Play It Over Version 1.0?

This one is tough, I have a lot of stuff for Lords of Hellas, which I mean, you get with any Awaken Realms crowdfunding. And I have played a solid chunk of it, but not all of it. So I do have stuff in version 1.0, Lords of Hellas, to explore still. But, Lords of Ragnarok is also a different enough experience that I suspect I’d play both of them. Gone is questing, one whole way of winning the game has been removed. The end game doesn’t trigger on a monument being built but Ragnarok.

There are a lot of different things that make me think I’d play both games. Lords of Ragnarok even has a tighter board, so you’re going to be in each others way more often and there should be more conflict between pieces on the board. This might be a 2.0 version of Lords of Hellas, but there are certainly a good amount of changes to the game.

Can I Bring The New Rules To The Old Version?

This one is easy to answer, no. The whole Ragnarok end game trigger is not something you could bring into Lords of Hellas easily.

Do I Play This Game Enough To Need New/Two Versions?

I put the word need in there, but that’s really more want. I love the Vikings and Norse Mythology theme, so I want Lords of Ragnarok for that. And I also think that this will feel enough like a different game that they will feel different. Dropping one way to win a game is a lot, and they changed up an end game trigger. So I am not sure I need two versions because of them, but mechanically I can see keeping both of them on my shelf.

Do The Changed Improve It For Me?

This I wonder about. BoardGameCo and Quackalope have done some content on this. And I’m slightly concerned, but this is also Awaken Realms and they have a very good track record for me. It seems like Lords of Ragnarok has pulled back on some of the things that can make you unique. I really love that about Lords of Hellas. Now, Awaken Realms might be looking at that feedback. And the more things that are unlocked in the Gamefound campaign, the more likely it’ll have more things to make you unique.

But also the end game trigger changing, I like that. One knock that people had on the previous game, Lords of Hellas, was that you’d only get one monument on the board. And that was on the board for the last three rounds of the game because it was the game end trigger. Lords of Ragnarok seems to encourage that building more. The game no longer ends on that but on Ragnarok. Though, even Ragnarok sounded like it might need tweaking or better selection for how fast it’ll trigger.

You can see how it might be a tough decision. For a new theme, I just keep the game that I like the theme of better. For a new edition/printing of a game if the rules haven’t changed, I don’t even care. Even something like Galaxy Trucker, I have my version, I don’t need the new one. But this is so much tougher because the games are different enough, and from a company that I love their stuff.

So Do You Get A New Version?

This is really one of those things that you need to decide. Even after laying out everything, pros/cons, comparison between theme and changes, I still don’t know if I’ll keep my Lords of Ragnarok pledge. Will I like the game, most likely. Will I be able to sell the game if I don’t like it for what I paid for it, most likely. But when a new version or new edition of a game comes out, don’t assume that it’s always going to be better as well, or that your old version isn’t worth it anymore.

Way out the pros and cons of the new version. Even if it’s just an artwork update, that might be enough to get the new printing of a game. Or a new theme if it gets it to your table more often. Generally I try and consider that as the biggest factor. Will I get this new version to the table more.

How do you decide to get a new version or printing of a game?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

The next 10 are going to be on Wednesday at 8 PM Central Time. You can join me over on Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel. You can flick the notification bell, here, to know when I’m going live. I hope that you can join as we get higher into the Top 100 list.

100 Through 91

90 Through 81

80 through 71

70 through 61

60 through 51

Top 100 Board Games 50 through 41

50. Railroad Ink

Railroad Ink is a fun roll and write where you are connecting routes. And I think that concept works so well for a roll and write game. Each face of the die has a different route that connects not only railroads but roads as well. And you’re trying to connect as many exterior ones as you can. But you also get points for having more spots in the middle filled it. And there are negative points for routes that just end nowhere. The game works really well as a larger group game because everyone is playing at once.

49. The Lost Expedition

This game actively tries to keep there from being an alpha gamer in it’s cooperative experience. It does that by limiting how much you can talk about the cards in your hand. By limiting that, no one player knows everything and when a persons turn comes up advice is only limited. And that’s just for creating the travel path for the morning and evening. After that, the group as a whole discusses how to best traverse all the bad things that are going to be happening and progress to your goal of finding the lost city of Z.

48. Five Tribes

My favorite of the gateway games, I think. Though, this game does have more going on than your average gateway game. In this game you get points for doing everything, have more vizers than your opponent, you get points, take off workers, get points, empty a location, get points. But that’s what makes the game so much fun, everything gives you points, but at the same time, you can be clever or feel clever when you spot a really good move. It uses a mancala style mechanism to move around the meeples, and works well with two and well with more.

47. Marvel United

A new one to the list, Marvel United really burst onto the scene for me. I knew I’d probably like it because it was Marvel themed and a cooperative game. But this one works so well, now, I will say, one negative about the game is that there was a lot on the Kickstarters. Now that in and of itself isn’t a negative, but it means that you do miss out on some if you didn’t back the Kickstarter. Still for a game that makes you feel like you’re playing as a superhero and working with others, this one is really good.

46. Deranged

I finally got to play my copy a couple of months ago. This is a game that I played at GenCon and was really excited to get. Then I got it, right in the middle of the pandemic. So it was fun to finally play it again. This is a really good game where everyone is trying to break their curses and get out of a town. What is interesting is the card play where your actions are limited by your cards and by some madness. Plus then, when you hit night time, someone might become a deranged and now their goal in the game changes. This game has a nice Halloween scheme.

45. Draftosaurus

This game is almost a roll and write game. It isn’t in that you are placing dinosaur meeples onto the board as you draft them. But the game feels like one. You place the dinosaurs into different pens and they all score in slightly different ways. One wants just one dinosaur, but if it’s your only one of that type, you get points. Others might want pairs, or unique dinosaurs. The game plays super fast and it is a ton of fun and is easy to get into.

44. Say Bye To the Villains

It’s odd to put a game that I’ve never beaten onto the list. But I love the game because it always feels close. I always feel like i should be able to win, but I just don’t have quite enough time. In the game you are a group of samurai taking on some villains. You prepare by increasing your stats, helping the other samurai, and seeing what the villains are doing. But there isn’t enough time to completely do all of that. One of these days we’ll beat the game, and it’ll be great, but until then, I’m going to keep on trying.

43. Century: Golem Edition

Century: Golem Edition is a game I wish I played more often. It’s such a great introductory engine building and hand management game. And it looks amazing on the table. The gems are cute and the table presence is amazing for it. The game is also really fast, turns fly by as you take one of a few actions in the game. I feel like i need to get it to the table again soon, and if you’re looking for a game to introduce people to, this is a really good one.

42. Calico

Another very family friendly game, Calico has much more of a brain burning experience to it than it might look. This game gives you so much to think about as you are balancing three different types of scoring. You get buttons for creating groups of colors, you attract cats for groups of patterns. And then on the quilt itself, it wants certain groups of patterns and colors. And at the end of the game you might be hoping to get that one perfect quilt block that will finish off multiple things for you. There is an easy version as well, which works pretty good, though I do prefer the more brain burny version.

41. Floor Plan

Finally, we have Floor Plan, this is about building out a goofy house to meet some criteria. You might end up with three living rooms iwth no doors, but if that you gets you points, it gets you points. They are coming out with a Winchester mansion version of this which will make a lot of sense thematically for building out a crazy looking house. But it’s a good time to play and while this one, I feel, might slip over time, it’s one that I want to explore more.

The Next 10

If you want to catch any of the remaining Top 10’s live, you can check them out and my normal streams on Wednesday at 8 PM Central time. If you subscribe and click the notification bell you’ll know whenever I go live or upload a new video to Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. When I’m not doing my Top 100, you can find me on Wednesday playing board games solo on the YouTube channel.

Let me know what game you’d want to play out this list? Are there any of your favorites here or any one that you now really want to play?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

The Problem

So, there is a reason that I want to talk about this. This is something that I’ve been harping on for a little bit with people who are entrenched in the hobby game scene. We often forget what it was like to start playing board games. I know that I don’t love a game like Splendor anymore. Why, because I’ve played it enough times and it doesn’t offer enough variety for me. But Splendor is a great game to introduce people to.

It’s common to kind of turn up a nose at Catan now. And I get it, there are a million different versions and expansions of games like Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Munchkin, all games that a lot of people got started. I don’t get excited when they announce a new version of Catan, but again, Catan is a game that got so many people into the hobby.

And all of those games, we played them a number of times. It wasn’t like we played them only once. I played Catan probably 20 times at least while I was getting board games. The same goes for Ticket to Ride. I can’t even begin to think about how many times I played games like Skip-Bo, Dutch Blitz, Uno, and more while growing up. But now that I’m a game, there is a temptation to push people along fast.

So What Is the Right Pace?

Unfortunately, that depends on the perspective gamer. Some people move through games like Catan really fast. Others never stop playing Catan. Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t introduce new games, but it means that there is no perfect formula.

How Do You Know When?

1. Ask the person
   It can be as simple as that and it should be as simple as that. The person you play the game with, ask them. They might say no, and that is okay. Play those introductory games longer.
2. How often do they win
   Not everyone knows when they are ready to try a new game. So another sign can be how often the other player wins. If the person wins most half the time or often enough, maybe introduce a new game. Ideally one with similar mechanics but I’ll get to that more.
3. Amount/how often you play the game
   This might be the biggest one. Now not everyone wants to play a game all the time. But if you go from playing a game a lot to playing a game less, it might mean that they are ready for another game. They know the game and now they want to try something new.

What Do You Play Next?

This is another big question that you need to answer. What game are you going to play with them next. Now, I’ll point you back to that Top 10 list that I linked at the top and streamed yesterday. I think there are a lot of good options in there. But that doesn’t answer the question fully.

To do that there are a few things that you need to think about, the most important being, what do they like about the games they know? Do they like being really competitive, work that direction. Maybe they like solving a puzzle, lean that direction.

Let’s actually take a dive and look at Catan. What all does Catan have in it? Catan has resource management. It has city/route building. It has a luck to it and probability. Which of those elements does the person like? Let’s work off of my list of games from yesterday.

Resource Management

Century Golem Edition would be my top choice. It has you manipulating your resources more than Catan does, but you are pushing for certain groups of gems to get your Golem. And there is more control over what you are getting as compared to what Catan does. This will cut down on the randomness and add in more strategy for a Catan player.

City/Route Building

I think that Draftosaurus would make some sense for this one. You are collecting different groups of things, but it is fairly different. I also think that Marvel United oddly enough could be interesting or The Lost Expedition. You aren’t building your own city or route. But working together you are creating a chain of things, either actions or a path you take. But Draftosaurus would probably be the best.

The Odds

Sagrada would seem like the likely option. It has the dice rolling in it, but I’m not sure I’d put that at the top. In think that Silver might actually be best. With that game it has a bit more push your luck to it. And I think that is what some people like with the odds. So both Silver and Sagrada would be great options for the next step on that side of things for Catan.

So you can see how different games might work better. I think the big thing is give options, but not too many. And talk about what they like or maybe don’t like as well about a game when picking the one for the next step. And expect to play that next game a few times. I have friends who I can pull out a new game with them every time I play, but new gamers, those aren’t the people to do that with.

What do you do to pick a game? Any tried and true tips that you have for helping new gamers try new games?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Why No Modern Classics?

I talk about it some in the video, but a quick recap. Modern classics like Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Small World, Carcassonne, and King of Tokyo are great. But you can find most of those without much problem. A lot of people who are interested in hobby gaming have already played the likes of Catan and Ticket to Ride, and the rest.

As a gamer, that means that I don’t need to do that work anymore. I don’t have to show people that next small step up from games like Clue, Scrabble, and more. People already know that next level of game, at least in name and a lot of time in play. So I wanted to make a list of other games you could get in front of people.

The Drink

So, from Sociable Cider Werks I had a dry apple cider. Now, it isn’t bad, but it isn’t great. Why, because it is too sweet for me. I went on a little bit of a rant how there are a lot of ciders out there that claim to be dry, but cider as a whole is so much sweeter now. I get that a lot of people like sweet ciders, but I like a really good dry cider that has a solid acidic bite to it. And this is a common issue, so not something that just Sociable Cider Werks has an issue with, but almost all cider companies do this.

The List

Alright, if you don’t have time to watch the video (please still give it a thumbs up), let’s see everything that made the list.

10. The Lost Expedtion

9. Homebrewers

8. Silver

7. Marvel United

6. Draftosaurus

5. Point Salad

4. Century Golem Edition

3. Potion Explosion

2. Sushi Go Party!

1. Sagrada

Which of these games would you use for a new gamer, or which one would you want to try?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Let’s Meet the Fighters

Splendor

Splendor is a game all about collecting gems and becoming the best gem merchant in wherever it is set. It is a fairly generic theme, but it works for the game. Splendor, like I said, starts with you collecting gems to buy cheap cards that then give you more gems. However, the gems you get from the cards are permanent and in a tableau in front of you. So you collect more gems, but now you need less to get your next card. And if you can figure it out, you can build up those cheaper cards to then get more expensive cards for cheaper, or for free, and those cards generally give you points.

Century Golem Edition

Another game with gems, but this one is a little bit different. This one gives you a hand of cards that you add more cards to. You are trying to build your most efficient hand play combos of getting gems, and upgrading gems. When you get the right combination of gems, then you can trade those gems in for a Golem. And the golems at the end of the game are worth points. So with Century Golem Edition, you are trying to build up that perfect engine in your hand. Super fast turns and a really fun game.

Homebrewers

Finally, my favorite theme, we have brewing beer in Homebrewers. In this game you are competing to have the best beers in four different categories, ale, stout, porter and IPA. You can brew them and get some base points, but one of the big things in the game is that you can modify your brews. Maybe you have a card with yuzu on it, you can then make a yuzu IPA. That might give you more money, points, or raise you up in another beer. Twice during the year, you are then judged on how good your brews are, player with the most points wins.

Similarities

Al of the games allow you to get better at doing things as the game goes on. In Splendor it is because you have more permanent gems and with Homebrewers you have the ingredients on the beers. Century is a bit different, but you have an improved engine because of the new cards that you’ve add to your hand.

There is also that every game is about points. In Homebrewers you get points for brewing the best beers. Splendor you get points with the cards that you buy. Century Golem Edition, you get points for the golems and coins that you have. They also give the players a chance to catch-up. Though, Splendor is the one where this stands out most. Because the end game in Splendor is triggered by someone reaching a point threshold.

Differences

So, I already kind of talked about one. Century builds up an engine of card play. Homebrewers and Splendor have a tableau. Now even between Splendor and Homebrewers there is a difference. Homebrewers you trigger part of your tableau when you build, Splendor the whole power of the tableau is always available. So the engine building piece itself, while similar that there is one, how they each handle it is different.

And while the theme is an obvious difference, I think it’s worth pointing out that Century Golem Edition and Homebrewers feel like they have more theme than Splendor. If we go back to the clean versus messy games article I wrote this week, Splendor is the cleanest. This isn’t that it is massively more clean in game play than the others, but just that all of them a very neat and tight games, Splendor just removes more theme while doing that.

The Battle

They come out swinging, Splendor gets ahead with some fast and simple moves getting Homebrewers into a corner. But it, like in a button mashing video game, just seems to be doing the same basic moves over and over again. Homebrewers and Century Golem Edition get the upper hand knocking Splendor out of the ring.

Homebrewers and Century Golem Edition keep on duking it out in the middle of the ring. Every time Splendor tries to get back in, they dump it back out. The battle, in the end comes down to the two of them. Century Golem Edition keeping some cards back and changing up their moves. But Homebrewers builds up several solid sets of moves to keep pace… and the winner is…

Homebrewers

Homebrewers just beats out Century Golem Edition, though, it is really close. Both are engine building games and both are a lot of fun. I think that I just like the theme of Homebrewers better. It is fun to sit down and play that game, and it plays fast, and at the end talk about what weird beers you’ve made and if you’d try them. Both are really good games though. And I know a lot of people really like Splendor, but to me, I’m kind of done with that one. It was fun, but I know how it plays out most of the time now, so I don’t need to play it again.

Which do you prefer?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Culling Games

This is sort of a Marie Kondo thing that has been everywhere. The idea is to downsize the things that don’t give you joy. Though, people often take it too far. They clear out a ton of things in their lives and then realize that they wanted some of that or have to get some of it again. This is very true in board games as well.

There most definitely is something freeing about getting rid of stuff. Having too much stuff can feel oppressive and overwhelming. And people often get on a roll of culling games or things from their life. With board games people often use the standard of, have I played this recently, which isn’t a great standard. But they do other things as well, do I like other games better that do the same thing is one of them.

Let’s talk about these two standards for culling.

Have I Played This Game Recently

I don’t like this standard, some of it is because I probably have enough games and expansions to play one game a year without repeats or close to that. But even without that, let’s look back at the past 14 months. How many party games have gotten played, how many social deduction games have gotten played? The answer is, probably not that many for a lot of people. So while people have had time around their house to go through and cull collections, if it is based off of play, there are certain games that just won’t be played.

Taking this logic as well, some games, Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea for example, will get played less often for me. It is a big long game. If it gets played once every two years, that’s often enough for that game, I think. For some people they’d play it more, but for me that isn’t going to be the case. Still, it’ll stay in my collection as a 4X fantasy game.

But let’s go onto a way I like better for culling games.

Do I Have Other Games I like Better, That Do The Same Thing

What does this one mean? Let me give you an example. Splendor is a very simple tableau and engine building game. I think it’s okay, I wouldn’t pull it off the shelf. If I want that engine building experience, I have Space Base, Century: Golem Edition, and Homebrewers that I like better as engine builders. So I will pull them off the shelf first. Now, in all fairness, I haven’t gotten rid of Splendor, but this is an example of one that I could cull. If it wasn’t one that my wife liked a lot and can teach herself, I’d probably get rid of it.

The concept is basically, would I reach for this game on my shelf over other games of the same type? Ask me if I’d reach for a game like Claim over Gloomhaven, no, I wouldn’t. At least most of the time I wouldn’t. But they are two massively different types of games. So compare within a type. Gloomhaven versus Sword & Sorcery is a good example. I wouldn’t pick to play Sword & Sorcery again over playing Gloomhaven again. So I ended up selling Sword & Sorcery.

How Do You Downsize Without Culling?

There’s one main way that you can downsize stuff. And that’s condensing boxes which can be done in a couple of ways. With small games it’s about removing them from the oversized boxes, or moving expansions and everything into fewer boxes. Let’s dive into each of them.

To A Smaller Box

This is one that I actually haven’t done yet, but I could do with a number of games. I know of it more from The Dice Tower where they have a lot of small games in photo boxes, basically hard plastic shells, and then those in larger photo storage boxes, so you can get a lot of small games in.

Going to small boxes works because of how sales and shelf space work. A small game is going to get overlooked more often on a shelf of a store. People will glance over it and buy the bigger game that costs more. So companies smartly so, put stuff into boxes that take up more space and catch more attention.

However, at home, I don’t have all the shelf space in the world. So a game in a bigger box than need be, that eats into how many games I can reasonably fit. Now, that might be a sign to cull some games, but fairly often smaller games getting culled barely helps this situation. Instead, you can store more small games compactly by putting them into photo cases or something like that to free up room.

All To One Box

This is the one that I tend to do, which is look to see how many boxes I can get rid of for my board games. Often times inserts that are well done, or poorly done, will eat up room within a box, and then you get an expansion for a game. The biggest one I can call out for this is Marvel United. They had great inserts, but that means that there were 8 total boxes. By removing inserts and moving stuff around, I easily fit it into 3 boxes. I went from 8 game boxes to 3 boxes. That’s a huge difference when it comes to shelf space.

I am going through my collection to see what I can do that with. I’ve found some other games, all the small expansions for Aeon’s End can fit into their respective big boxes, so that frees up room. But beyond that, eventually I’ll be able to put Aeon’s End into even fewer bigger boxes. Ascension went from 3 boxes down to one by adjusting the an insert, and I can probably even make it fit better by completely removing the insert and creating one of my own for the game.

This is a really easy way for a lot of games to free up a chunk of room. It kind of goes that shelf space thing again. Some games will take up more space if you keep your expansion box. Just condensing down a handful of games frees up a lot of space. With that said, it also means you need to know how and where the expansion stuff is to split it out, which sometimes is easier said than done. So that is a downside, but some games like Marvel United or Sentinels of the Multiverse or even Marvel Champions it doesn’t matter much.

How Do You Downsize Space Without Culling Games?

Are there any other ways that you can free up space, without getting rid of games? A lot of gamer habits, putting sleeves on cards and upgrading games with fancier bits can cause it to take more room. But are there other ways to make games take up less room that you’ve found? I guess trimming boxes shorter so that it more accurately fits what is in side would be a way as well, but I haven’t heard of people doing that. Let me know your ideas in the comments below.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.