How To Play Boop

Boop is a pretty simple game. You put down a kitten and boop any adjacent kittens one away from you. The goal is to get three cats in a row. But as you put things down they are always booping further away from the other kittens. So you are trying to setup a situation where you either can boop a kitten into place or have kitten in a position that it can’t move.

Once you complete getting three kittens in a row you turn them into cats. And now your goal is to get three cats in a row. And you can turn kittens into cats in multiple times. Kittens can boop other kittens around but they can’t boop cats around. But cats can boop kittens and cats around. So the goal at the end is get three cats in a row, or for one player to have all eight of their cats on the board.

What Doesn’t Work

Honestly, no major complaints here. I think that like most abstract games it will have one inherent issue with playing it. This isn’t something that needs to be correct, just should be known. The more you play, the more you will know the patterns. So if you play a lot, you will get better faster than the people you play with, unless it’s one person. It is a game of skill and planning, so the more you can do that and experience that, the better you will get.

Now, I do want to quickly touch on that this isn’t an issue. When I look at Boop, I place it in the category with other abstract games like Quarto or Chess. Complexity might be very different. But Boop is a game of learned strategy which is what games like Quarto, Chess, the Gyph series, and more abstract games are known for. So Boop is going to become snappier and quicker for you the more you play. But you might pass the people you play against in skill level.

What Works

First off, let’s talk about how cute this game is. The cats are cute, the kittens are cute, the quilt you play on is cute. Boop doesn’t do what a lot of abstract games do and create something that is purely functional. Boop is functional, but it is cute and fancy as well.

The next thing is that Boop is simple. It’s not the simplest abstract that I’ve played, but it’s not near the most complex. Actions are very simple and lead to simple decision making, though there is a lot of strategy. This is a solid balance because I want, in an abstract, a game that won’t bog itself down with too many decisions. Turns won’t have too much analysis paralysis because the options are just limited enough.

Finally, Boop does offer good strategy. You need to think about how you’re trying to setup your pieces to make it so your opponent will set you up, or your opponent can’t cover everything to let you complete a row of cats or kittens. It’s smart that way and offers you chances to be clever in what you are doing. Again a hallmark of a good abstract game.

Who Is It For?

I think it’s for fans of abstract games. But I don’t think that is who they mainly cared about. This is for gamers who might have someone who doesn’t like abstract games that well in their life. Boop offers a theme, which is pasted on, that is cute and that will draw people to the game. Because it’s not just the theme it’s the components matching that theme. So this is for people who like abstract games and maybe play with someone who doesn’t as well.

Final Thoughts on Boop

I think it’s important to talk about where I come from with abstract games. I am not the biggest fan of abstract games. Boop was added to my collection because of the theme, not because of the style of game. I took a chance on it for that, because I do want to find a streamlined abstract game that I like.

For me, Boop is a fine game. I had fun with it, but I don’t think it is a long term game for my collection. Why, because when I pick a two player game, I want to play Dice Throne, a little bit longer but more epic feeling. Or if I want a fast two player game, Hanamikoji which is a shorter game with as much theme. But there is more randomness in both, which means that me playing a lot does make me better, but won’t create as much of a gap.

That is very much a me thing. In terms of theme and game play, I liked it. I love cats, own three of them, so it makes sense that I’d like a cat themed game. But the game play is just good for me, and that comes down to my taste. I think you’ll see how that is reflected interestingly in my grade.

My Grade: C+
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B+

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The Case Against

Deluxe board games are fun, we generally get that. However there is a point where they can become too deluxe. In the case of Tsuro, it is one you can find used for $10 that is not over $400 with shipping. And it is not a complex game with a lot of pieces they are just making it fancy. By creating a copy that is so deluxe, people will now see it and want it and buy it on Kickstarter. Then others will see it and feel like their regular copy is inferior and not play it as much.

Now, that one is on the gamer who decides that. But for others, it might be seen as a barrier for entering the hobby. A lot of people go all the way into a hobby and when you need to spend a large amount of money on a game, that makes it harder.

It also takes money away from smaller publishers. Right now on crowdfunding, whether it’s Kickstarter or Gamefound, it is tricky for the smaller publishers to gain traction. Now, a game that maybe didn’t need to be deluxe is taking large chunks of money. $400 is 4 smaller crowdfunding campaigns or a bit more for really small games. So in that way, it hurts the industry growth.

The Case For

On the flip side, the game looks amazing. The custom pieces, the hand carved and painted, the whole thing is gorgeous. So if you can afford it why shouldn’t you buy it. Regular Tsuro might be too bland looking for some people to try, but if you own a copy that looks like a heirloom chess set, now maybe more people will play it.

Plus, if you can afford the game, then you likely can still afford to back other crowdfunding campaigns. So it takes away less money from other campaigns than you might think. And it gives you something unique for your collection.

Also, sometimes a more deluxe version of game makes it easier to get to the table. There are a lot of games that have a bland look to them. Whether it’s poor artwork, components, or just a look that is all over the map. Some games are better to play when they look nicer. For example, I didn’t buy Terraforming Mars for a long time because it looks uninteresting from an aesthetic standpoint.

Final Thoughts on Deluxe Board Games

I don’t think there is right or wrong answer on this. It comes down to what someone can afford. I do think that companies can overdo it. Not every game needs an heirloom edition. I’d even argue that Tsuro doesn’t. There isn’t enough game to warrant it. It the same time an upgraded version of Gloomhaven which has tons of components probably doesn’t need it either because it’d get too large.

Certainly could do it for any game though. But full heirloom treatment often will be a bit much. But upgraded add-ons or a deluxe version with metal coins and screen printed meeples. Miniatures where they might not be needed that you can get if you want, like the Monsters for Tainted Grail. Those are all add-ons to games that give them that fancy feel. But it gives the consumer more choice.

A rare situation like this with Tsuro is fine. And like I’ve said, I don’t get it. For me Tsuro is an okay game that I’ve played enough times. It has no reason to be upgraded to the point that it costs more than ISS Vanguard did or almost as much, pre-shipping, as Marvel Zombies without Galactus. But if Tsuro is a game that you love and would love to have set out ready to show off like a chess set, this might be for you.

What is the most deluxe game that you own?

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How To Play Quarto

The game is pretty simple, you are trying to get four in a row based off of one of four different things. You can get your four in a row by height, color, shape, or top. By top, some tops have a divot cut out of them, others don’t. That isn’t too complex for what you are doing.

Where the twist comes in is that I pick the piece you place on the board. And you pick the piece that I place on the board. So I need to look through all my piece options while placing to make sure I can still keep you from winning, and vice-a-versa. The player who puts down the piece for four in a row wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

If I had a complaint about the game, it is that the decision space of the puzzle can be a bit limited. You make a decision or two really. Place a piece, give a piece. Now, that is an interesting decision on where you place or what piece you give. And that’s the point, it’s supposed to be a strategy game of picking what won’t let your opponent win and make them give you a piece to let you win.

What Does Work?

I like the giving of the piece to your opponent. That feels different. I am familiar with the game connect four, and that is simple. Quarto feels like more depth is happening but all the while keeping the simple systems in place.

I also like that the game is fast. This might sound like a negative, but when I play an abstract game, I want something that gives me good decisions and a short time frame. If I want to play something longer, I want there to be a lot of theme. And Quarto definitely doesn’t have theme, so make sure the game plays fast.

Who Is This For?

The abstract gamer in your life (or that might be you), will likely like this game. There are fun but simple decisions to make in the game. I actually think that Quarto is probably a good game to introduce to middle school kids or upper elementary. It’ll help them think through things in a different way, but also is simple enough to learn. It almost feels a bit like a light Chess, if Chess were Connect 4.

Final Thoughts on Quarto

I don’t like Quarto that well. I think it is a fun abstract game, but I don’t find the decision space interesting enough. And I don’t think that there is enough variety in play. BoardGameCo did a video talking about that a while ago where even though Chess isn’t variable, it feels different with different players. Quarto doesn’t give me that feeling. The games that I’ve played, they feel the same.

And that’s the knock that I can’t get over. The decision space is just limited too much for it. I can sit down and puzzle out every piece and how it could be used to create a row once there are enough pieces on the board. And I’m sure a very good Quarto player could start laying a trap early. But I don’t think it’s interesting enough to get that good.

That said, I don’t think it’s a bad game, I can see what it is doing. I can just say that Quarto isn’t a game for me. I think that a lot of abstract gamers would love it, but I want theme. Even if it is basically an abstract game, give me some sort of theme on it.

My Grade: C
Gamer Grade: C
Casual Grade: B

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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 Arboretum

Arboretum, when it comes down to it, is a set collection game, but one that has more going on in it. The mechanics of what you do on a turn are pretty simple, you take two cards from the combination of discard piles and the draw pile. You play one and discard one to your own discard pile.

As you play down cards you put them in rows and columns to create groups of trees in ascending order. The only thing that matters with that, is at the end of the game you can create paths that start and end with the same tree. In the middle it doesn’t matter. But if you can make it all of the same type of tree, you score more points.

The twist comes with how it is determined who scores a tree type. You need a card of that tree type in your hand, but not only that, you need the highest combined value of those tree types. So you can block someone from scoring well, or you might need to keep a lot for yourself. At the end, the player who scores the most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The teaching of this game can be a big tricky. You need to know a few things before you get going. And I think with the first game, it is always going to be a bit of a challenge. The whole concept of ascending isn’t difficult, but the strategy of what cards to keep to score, that is trickier. I think some gamers will get it quickly, but I am not sure that most players would.

And while this isn’t a problem for me, I can see some people not liking that this game can be mean. If you build out a nice row of trees, say five of the same type starting with 1 and ending with 8, you might be in line to score a lot of points (13), but if I keep just enough points in that tree to keep you from scoring it, your hard work of building that run of trees is wasted. So, know it can be mean going into the game.

What Works?

I think that the balance of how many of a tree you play down versus you keep in your hand works well. You want to build that really big row of trees to score those 13 points, like in the last example, but also is it better to score fewer and make sure you score? The game is a very good push and pull of what you want to do. And what cards do you leave in your hand that an opponent might want?

I also like that you don’t need only one type of tree to score. I could go from an oak to a spruce to a maple and end on an oak. You score fewer points doing that, but it is still points. It can make sense to diversify and score in a number of trees versus a lot in a few. And that variety of strategy works well for me.

Then there is a game length and decision space. Not long ago I wrote about quick vs fast in board games. Read that here. The idea is the game turns don’t take too long and the game always keeps you engaged. This is a quick and fast game. Game play doesn’t take too long, and I need to know what you are doing.

Who Is This For?

I think this is a great game for people getting into the world of hobby board games. A lot of board games that you play growing up, chess or Stratego for example, give you an abstract game to figure out and a way to go up against an opponent. Arboretum isn’t as confrontational, but it feels in the same realm, just more of a gamers game.

But with that, it is not a game that is too easy for gamers. The decision space is well made for the game. And it feels like there can be different strategies. Plus, with different players, that will change up how you want to play the game as you go.

Arboretum Final Thoughts

This is a very good game. And one that I think is small enough that for a lot of gamers, it probably should be in their collection. Mainly because you can pull it off the shelf and play it with anyone. And I don’t see this being a game that can be solved. Which I think is important for these games that feel like a bit of a puzzle. There is just enough interaction that happens to keep it fresh.

And for me, the speed that the game plays at really sells it. I like being engaged. I like that I make meaningful decisions. And I like that this is a game I can play with basically anyone. I can see this becoming a staple filler type game for me. And it isn’t a mindless filler which is very important.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B

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Mastering vs Variability

So let’s start out by defining our terms. It isn’t that complex a topic really, but I think it’s good to start out at the same point. Because, even more variable board games can be mastered to some extent, just in a different way. So let’s see how that works, potentially.

Mastering Board Games

Mastering a board game means that you can do something to get better at it. You can spend the time playing it to learn the strategy of the game and be able to pull off the most optimal strategy. What that means is that if you play against someone new, you probably need to rein it in somewhat, so that you don’t crush them. Or you need to play against players at a like level.

A lot of games can be mastered. Something like Icecool can be mastered just by practicing at flicking around penguins you can get better. Or something like Dominion, if you play it enough, even with different card combinations, you see the optimal patterns. This is what I mean with how a game can be variable, but still mastered with Dominion since it is set but the puzzle might change slightly.

Variable Board Games

Variable board games are going to focus on changing up what you do each time. And this might be because of the game, or it might be because of whom you play against. But most of the time people mean that a game can change how it is set-up and that a single strategy won’t work in the game every time.

So, an example of this, BoardGameCo gave it in his video on variability in games recently, would be chess. Chess isn’t variable, but it is, because you are interacting so directly with the person across from you the game is different each time you play it. The set-up doesn’t change, you don’t get new pieces, but that player interaction makes it more variable.

At the same time, a game like Res Arcana is also variable because you play with different cards each time. So while the puzzle might be figuring out how to activate your engine more efficiently to get points, how you do that will change up depending on your cards, your mage, the places of power, and monuments.

Is One Better?

Now, a lot of people are going to say that yes there is one that is better. And the answer to this question, for me, is that none of them are better. Sometimes I want something that is familiar and easy to set down with that I can master. Sometimes I want to play a game that offers me a new puzzle and a new experience.

Now, I might have one that I prefer more than others, and for me that is a game that is more variable. There is more reason for me to come back to a game and try a new strategy. And that new experience, that fresher experience is what interests me a lot about games.

I find a game that I can master generally moves on from my collection faster. I learn how to master it and either I need other players at my level of the game, or I need to move on from it. Playing a game that I’m very good at against someone who is very bad at it is not that fun. And it might just be because my experience with the game is greater, but for them, why continue trying to learn when they are going to get beat?

Which Do You Prefer?

Let me know in the comments below. Like I said, I think there can be reasons for each way of playing games. Sometimes you just want the sense of accomplishment from mastering something. Other times you can to be able challenge yourself with something new. And neither of those is a bad thing, neither of those is a better thing. They are just different ways of engaging with the board game hobby.

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What’s An Abstract Game

An abstract game is a game with no theme. Now, that’s not completely right because there are a lot of drier euro games that are euro games that really don’t have a theme. Generally an abstract game is going to be more of a puzzle or strategic game. They tend to have little luck, and give you the opportunity to strategize for a longer term plan.

More recently abstract games have been getting themes but the theme tends not to matter. It’s more that recently abstract games have been getting artwork. A lot of the older ones are very simple with plain pieces, now things like Calico has great looking cat and quilt artwork on it. But it’s an abstract because the theme really doesn’t matter.

What Do I Look For In An Abstract Game

1. Looks Good
2. Easy To Learn
3. Easy To Play
4. Interesting Decision

Looks Good

Why is this at the top of my list? Because a lot of old abstract games look ugly. And kind of like eating, you play a game with your eyes first. If the game doesn’t look appealing on the table, I’m less apt to play it. Now, it can simply be nice looking colors or high quality wood pieces, like Quoridor. It doesn’t need to be like Calico with great artwork and cute cats. But make it look good, if it looks cheap I am going to pass on it most likely.

Easy to Learn

Next, I want the game to be easy to learn. If I have a lot of things that happen on a turn, I want theme, I want reason behind why they happen. That’s why I don’t mind if a big game like Gloomhaven has a lot of things to keep track of, I can remember them better when there is a theme behind it. For an abstract game, since they are thinkier sometimes, I want it to be easy to learn and easy thing to take care of.

Easy to Play

This falls in with the previous one. I want the game to be easy to play. That means again, I don’t want much to do on my turn. Give me a few specific things to think about. Again, if an abstract game limits the randomness, I don’t want to think about 12 different moving parts to make sure they are moving together toward the right goal.

Interesting Decisions

But with that ease of plan and being easy to learn, I still do want to have interesting decisions to make. I want to feel like I can do something clever. And I want to be able to plan my turns a little in advance, or at least think of options. If I have to react too much in an abstract game that leads to analysis paralysis. And since the games are dry, I want it to move at a snappy pace.

Are All Criteria Equally Important?

I think for a lot of people, especially people who like those extremely limited luck games, they might not see all of these as important. But I think for myself, these are all equally as important. I don’t want to spend too much time on an abstract game. I don’t want that abstract game, like Chess, where I need to think 5 moves ahead. Instead, I prefer that little bit of luck in my abstract games, and the ability to think about and plan my next turn right after I’ve finished my previous one.

Let’s Do An Example

We’re going to go with Calico. You can already see that I like Calico in my TableTopTakes. But why does it work for me?

Looks Good

No question about this one. Beth Sobel’s artwork is amazing and adorable for this one. And the quality of the game is really nice. The tiles are nice and thick, the player boards are dual layer, overall this is a really good looking game.

Easy To Learn

This game is pretty easy to learn. I think the trickiest bit is teaching how the scoring tiles on your quilt work. The cat scoring and button scoring make sense, but people often miss, even when laid out, that the tiles just need to match the pattern surrounding the quilt block and they can be mixed up while doing that. It’s more a rule that people assume is there. But the game turns are really easy to learn.

Easy To Play

This game is very easy to play. While it does give you a lot to think about the cats, buttons and quilt blocks all providing scoring, turns are simple. You play a quilt block and take a quilt block. That’s it. And you can plan what you are going to play down between turns. No player can mess that up, which makes the game work really well for me.

Interesting Decisions

This game does give you some feel good moments. You can really decide what you’re going to focus on, you might go all in on cats and pay less attention to buttons and quilt blocks. But really, you can’t completely ignore everything. So when you play down that one tile that works for the cats and the quilt block, that feels clever. You do have a lot to think about as you build out your quilt and even more to think about as your options shrink.

So Calico is a strong contender for an abstract game I think for a lot of people. With the exception of teaching the quilt block scoring, I think that the rest is pretty easy. And the artwork is so amazing that the game will hook peoples interest. I think that had this game not come out in 2020, people would be talking about it more than they are. And generally, Calico has been really well received.

Will This Work For You?

Yes, I think this will work for most people. While there are some people who are deep into games like Chess, I think for most gamers, having that simpler abstract game is going to hit a better spot. Mainly because a lot of abstract games a pretty accessible because they are simpler. That means you can get it played with more people. But do note that there are some abstract lifestyle type games out there, like Chess that wouldn’t fair as well with my criteria.

What is your favorite abstract game?

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So, what are the requirements to make this list. The game has to have been published before the year 2000. I considered going earlier, but that seemed like it would work best. One game you’ll see missing from my list is Chess. Chess is great game, and if you get into it, you can really get into it and get good at it. I wanted to balance how good a game was with how easy it was for everyone to play it. So a game like Chess has too much of a divide between player levels to be on the list.

5 – Balderdash

I’m starting with a party game that might not have made it to the list in it’s original form. Balderdash, when it came out, just had you writing down definitions of words, or what you thought they were and then players voting on which one they thought was right. Since then, they came out with Beyond Balderdash, which is now just what Balderdash is which added in acronyms, weird laws, and movie synopsis. The game is still a lot of fun, mainly because it eventually becomes less of a game and more of a silly activity where people use in jokes from previous rounds and keep those jokes going.

4 – Cribbage

Cribbage is the only pure card game on the list. I like it quite well, in particular in a bar setting. It’s small, not many pieces, and easy enough to teach. There are definitely some complexities to the rules, but I can generally get through them in a pretty quick time frame. I’m sure there’d be some debate about a more experienced player beating a less experienced one more often than not, and I’d agree, but it’s not a massive difference. And once you’ve played a hand or two, you have the general idea.

3 – Clue

Probably up there with Monopoly in terms of games people think of when they think of classic board games. It, unlike Monopoly, made my top 5. Clue is a lot of fun and I like that it gives you real choices in the game as you craft your accusations. As a kid it took me a bit to get all the subtlies down of game, but now it’s still fun to play once in a while because of the deduction aspect and how detailed you can keep track of notes and how you reveal or don’t reveal information to other players. It’s just nice and clever in how it works. Not one I’d play all the time or want to play all the time but one that hits the table every few years.

2 – Scrabble

It’s close between my top two, but Scrabble comes in at number two. Scrabble is a word game that can be about the big words that you know, but is more about optimizing your points and blocking other players for being able to get large amounts of points. I say that with Scrabble (or Banagrams though I prefer Scrabble) my ability to recognize patterns quickly helps me a lot. And of course knowing all the two letter words that the Scrabble dictionary accepts (I don’t know them, helps a ton as well.

1 – Yahtzee

Probably not a huge surprise that the game at the top of my list is basically a roll and write game. Yahtzee is a game that I might have played too much at this point, because it’ll basically play itself. There is some strategy to it, when to push your luck on the top, how risky you want to be. Otherwise, once you’ve played it enough, you can figure out the probabilities and you adjust your rolls accordingly to it. But I do like this one as a game that you can play and just chat while playing because there are some push your luck moments or exciting moments of getting Yahtzee, but it doesn’t have the most thinking at all times in the game.

There are other older games that I could put on the list as well. I kept Quoridor off of the list because it’s less known, but a good one, just not one that people grew up with for the most part. I personally really like the game SET, but I left that one off because I like the game SET, it’s a pattern recognition game that I’m good at. What are some of your favorite classic board games?

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Story games are interesting because they care as much about the story and theme as they do about the mechanics a lot of the time. But for a long time there weren’t a ton of story games. Games, for a long time, were pretty straight forward either luck or logic games. A game like Chess or Go doesn’t really tell a story because it’s all been abstracted away. Even though you have two armies facing off in chess, they are just pieces that have specific movement rules, not like they are tied into the different types of characters and why they move the way they move.Or you would have luck based games. A game like Monopoly seems like it has some more story that is going on, but the game is so random that you can’t really tell a story in it.

Then there started to be some story games, but they weren’t your regular board games. RPG’s were the first games that really told stories and really focused in on story telling. There was story in some games prior to that, war games for example told the story of a battle, but D&D and RPG’s were the first to really create those story gaming moments. But even they had a lot of rules at the beginning, now we’re seeing the loose story based RPG’s that don’t care nearly as much about the rules or have abstracted most of the rules away into a single, simple roll of the dice for anything.

But in board games there were games that tried to delve more so into story, and we’ve actually seen the idea of story telling board games really take off as of late. A lot of this can be attributed to the growth of the hobby, but some of the earlier ones also helped the hobby grow. While games like Catan or Ticket to Ride have abstracted away all of the story and are some of the biggest ones for growing the hobby, story based games helped the hobby continue to grow into the big hobby it is today. Finding that sweet spot of where people could play a game the way that they want while still having some rules and structure makes gaming a lot more appealing to a lot of people.

There are a number of different story telling games. There are some that are basically light RPG’s and some that are board games that tell you a story. We have a number of interesting examples to look at though in board gaming.

Tales of the Arabian Nights and Near and Far are two interesting games where you are going out exploring. There are plenty of game focused parts to what you are doing and you have some skills, but the main focus of the game is going out exploring and getting a little bit of story. So that’s what most people are playing them for, being able to make those few decision bits in their story. Now, I personally enjoy both of these games, but they do have a bit of a flaw to them. That’s in both games the story while being loosely connected at items, especially in Near and Far, are random bits of story that you are reading from a book. The story isn’t cohesive as it goes along so while it starts to feel like a story game, it is missing a little bit.

Take that in comparison to a game like Sword and Sorcery. Now I haven’t played Sword and Sorcery, but it is one that I’ve seen played. In that, and in Tainted Grail, you are finding story events for various scenarios that unfold the story for you. A certain card or a certain place might trigger a different bit of the story. So while you don’t have to find the story in a specific order, always, you are figuring out the story and what’s going on in the world as you go. These games are newer than either Tales of the Arabian Nights or Near and Far (though Near and Far is quite new), and they can get away with it, because you are playing through chapters and scenarios.

That leads us into other scenario games. In particular, I’m thinking of Legacy games here. I don’t know that you’d consider Pandemic Legacy to be a scenario based game, but as you play through and find out more information about the story, it feels like it’s a scenario based game for how you have to win each game. In this case, they are handing out specific story points at very specific points in the game. And that works really well for a game like Pandemic Legacy or even a game like Gloomhaven which isn’t a true legacy game or is the new wave of legacy game where you can play it repeatedly without buying a new copy.

Seafall in comparison gives you a different story feel. While in Pandemic Legacy you can make choices that will affect the game, you are following a pretty linear story. In Gloomhaven you can go further afield from the story, but you are still focused on the story and you get the main story to unfold in a certain order. What Seafall tried to do was too ambitious in creating a story that unfolded in whatever order you read it. The issue is that it doesn’t really work, because you have to be so vague about it. That turned the story into a bit of a mess.

So, what other ways are we seeing stories besides these scenario games?

We’re also seeing story in games where the game is about making up your own story. Once Upon a Time and Gloom are two examples of this. In Once Upon A Time you are trying to create a fairy tale by playing cards while telling a story and eventually leading the story to your own ending that you got at the beginning of the game. This works okay as a game, but does run into a run away leader problem and the rules are just very loose, so it isn’t going to work for everyone. Gloom on the other hand is a depressing story as you try and kill off your family of characters while they are miserable. But the more miserable they are, the more points you get, so you are playing a card each turn and telling a story as you play the card as to why your character is more miserable or someone else’s character is less miserable. These games take the story telling away from the game itself, and mechanically add the story telling element to the game with what the players need to do. The downside to this is that if you don’t have a creative group, or more so, if you don’t have a group that is just going to be silly, the game isn’t going to work as well.

On the opposite side of things you have games that basically are only story. I did an article on them recently with RPG Lite. But two great examples of this are Legacy of Dragonholt and Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger. Both of these games are really just Choose Your Own Adventure, with a couple of mechanics added in so that you can’t quite just only do it as a book.

On the opposite side of things you have games that basically are only story. I did an article on them recently with RPG Lite. But two great examples of this are Legacy of Dragonholt and Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger. Both of these games are really just Choose Your Own Adventure, with a couple of mechanics added in so that you can’t quite just only do it as a book. That takes away the pressure of the story or the pressure of learning a lot of rules from the players and puts it back onto the game designer, but when you strip away most game mechanics, you can basically just worry about writing a story, it works well.

So, where do I fall with story games?

For me, if a game doesn’t have an interesting theme, I’m less apt to enjoy the game. There are some games where the look is nice enough or the mechanics are good enough, that I like it without having an interesting theme. But most of the time I want theme, and because of that, it means that I want heavy story as well. The story is one way to get a lot of theme into the game. So you’ll see what are commonly called Ameri-trash games showing up on my reviews more likely than a Euro Game because Euro Games tend to be pretty themeless. Even Euro Legacy games, like Charterstone, the story is 100% outside of the game and doesn’t impact what you do or how you play the game at all.

I also think that story is something that is important to games in terms of getting new people into games. There are some games that are simple enough that they don’t need story, but it’s easier to pitch a game to someone where they get to be a hero fighting against the evil corporation, versus a game where they are collecting gems. Even if the second game is a better made and balanced game, it’s still harder to get people to play it.

So, let me toss it out to you, what are some games that are story focused that you really like? How much story do you need in the game?

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With people who think of Monopoly or other classic games, what games can you recommend that might take them further into a journey of board gaming? I’m going to try and take a stab at what classic games can be replaced or have a game that can be used as an advancement into the board gaming hobby.

If You Like Clue
T.I.M.E. Stories or the Escape Room board games, Unlock and Exit are two of the more popular ones would be good options. These games are cooperative, which might be something different, but there is still the puzzle aspect of trying to solve the escape room or in T.I.M.E. Stories trying to solve the case presented to you.  T.I.M.E. Stories is my recommendation here, however, there are games like Chronicles of Crime and Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game that if they are looking to solve a murder, might work better, but I haven’t played them yet.

If You Like Chess
Now, I personally think Chess is a really interesting deep game that I’m not good at. It probably doesn’t need to be replaced, but if you have someone who likes Chess, there are a lot of other abstract board games that they might like as well. Onitama is my recommendation here. It’s a fast strategy game where you can have any of your pieces do one of two moves you have in your hand, however, whatever move you use goes into the middle and your opponent will get it in their hand after their move. The game has a ton of really interesting strategy to it as you try and eliminate the others players “king” piece or get your “king” to the opposite side of the board. From there, you can branch into a variety of other abstract games, but Onitama has a nice Chess-like feel to it.

If You Like Risk
I only have one replacement for this game, and that’s Smallworld. Smallworld takes the area control and conquest aspects of Risk and makes it so that you can’t hide in Australia. The conflict in Smallworld is high, but everyone is in conflict, so it isn’t like you should gang up on a single person. The variable powers of the races and then random ability that they get paired with makes this a fun game. It also almost eliminates the die rolling luck aspect of the game as well and the game play is so much faster as it has a limited number of rounds.

If You Like Scrabble
Personally, I think that Scrabble has aged quite well, but can be a bit slow as people try and figure out words. My replacement for Scrabble is Unspeakable Words. The game has a Cthulhu theme on it for no good reason, other than to be silly, but there is luck involved in this game, and the ability to make a big word isn’t always the most useful. And even if you are falling behind and have gone insane, you are still part of the game. It’s a simple word game, there are others out there that I want to try as well, but for someone who likes Scrabble, but it’s too long or they aren’t the best at word placement, Unspeakable Words could be a fun time with them.

If You Like Sorry
Sorry has some very frustrating rules as you race around the board and get sent backwards and then as you are about ready to win, you have to sit there until you roll the right number. It’s a bad game that ends up with people annoyed at each other. I actually have two recommendations, and I haven’t played either of them. The first is CamelUp, it’s a camel racing game through the desert where instead of a person having their own camel, you bet on which camel is going to be ahead at time and roll dice, but if a camel lands on another camel, they stack, and if the bottom camel moves, all of those on top of them move. The other one is similar, but it’s auto racing and Downforce is the name of the game. In this game, you do have your own car, but you bet on peoples cars if yours isn’t doing too well, and you have difficult decisions to make, because you have a card you have to play on your turn, and it will probably move your car, but will also move other peoples cars, so you have to pick which card you play carefully.

If You Like Trivial Pursuit
I have so many issues with this game, one person can simply be better at trivia and run away with this game. And not just that, you might not get the pie piece you need. Most trivia games are going to suffer from the one person knows more issue, so what is a trivia based game that might not do that? Wits & Wagers is my choice. In the game, everyone is answering a question, like how many yards does the record rusher in the NFL have? Now, Gary might be the trivia expert, so his number might end up being the closest, but everyone writes down a number ,and then you bet on which one you think is the closest without going over. So even if Gary always does the best, you can bet on Gary and you can play as many or as few rounds as you want.

If You Like Monopoly
I’m not going to say that someone is a bad person for liking monopoly. I know that a lot of people have fond-ish (or horrible) memories from playing it growing up, because there weren’t that many game options out there. But there are a lot more now.  Monopoly is a tough game to suggest a replacement for, because there’s the buying property aspect, there’s a collecting set aspect, there’s the collecting rent aspect, and what is really the aspect that people like in the game? My choice is going to be considered an odd one, but I think that Ticket to Ride can be a decent Monopoly replacement. This is especially true if you’re playing at higher player counts. There’s a card set collection aspect, there are locations that you’re getting to, and there is a take that aspect that you can block someone out of a place that they wanted to go. Definitely not a perfect replacement for Monopoly, but I think it’s a game that someone who likes Monopoly would enjoy.

What other classic games need to be replaced? Are there any games you think would make sense to replace or to be suggested in place of the ones listed that I’ve missed? If so, comment them below.

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