Catch up on previous videos here

100 through 91

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – 90 through 81

90. Project: ELITE

• Published by CMON in 2020
• Real Time Scenario Based Tower Defense

Normally this wouldn’t be my type of game. I love parts of it, like chucking dice, scenario driven play, and cooperative game play. But I don’t like real time. This balances that out by giving you real time in bursts and then a moment to strategize before the next wave of enemies comes out. That is real time game play that works for me.

Not Currently Available

89. Lands of Galzyr

• Published by Snowdale Design in 2022
• Relaxing story driven cooperative or competitive game

Lands of Galzyr is a game that feels like that kind of random D&D session. You stumble across missions but each mission is it’s own thing. And the whole thing is done in a package that puts story first and keeps the game play simple. And it’s a relaxing game to play. Not that some stories aren’t exciting or risky, but it never truly feels high stakes.

Pre-order Lands of Galzyr

88. Kohaku

• Published by 25th Century Games in 2020
• Build the best and highest scoring Koi pond

I really enjoy Kohaku for the simplicity and thoughtfulness of the game play. It’s a game where you need to plan out where you place tiles to optimize your scoring. But it’s not overwhelming. And the elements like drafting both a koi and a scoring tile each turn and how that works is really enjoyable.

Buy Kohaku

87. My City

• Published by Kosmos in 2020
• A fast, ever building legacy game

My City is one of those legacy games that is just simple and fun to play. Sometimes they get bogged down in trying to be too big, but not My City. The game is focused on adding a little bit each time and giving you a fun fast session as everyone builds out their city in hopes that it’s the best one at the end of each scenario.

Buy My City

86. The Isofarian Guard

• Published by Skykingdom Games in 2023
• A massive solo and two player story driven adventure

This is one that you can checkout a game play of on Malts and Meeples. I really enjoy this game, though it is a massive table hog. The game is an interesting story telling game that has some tropes, but quickly branches off into magic powers and interesting story. It’s one that I think works well solo but I’d prefer to play two player to keep the combat simpler and share that great story experience.

Buy The Isofarian Guard

85. Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade

• Published by WizKids in 2020
• It’s Roll and Write Pinball, can you get the new high score?

Super-Skill Pinball is truly a pinball roll and write game. I love how it simulates the game with the ball movement and how it launches up, can ping around in the bumpers or drop back down. It’s a great game for solo play and it’s fun with others, though it’s possible that one player will finish before the others. That’s the only downside to the game, but with all of the tables i never feel like I’m lacking in something to keep it being played solo.

Buy Super-Skill Pinball

84. Crokinole

• Created in 1876
• A competitive flicking classic

There’s no publisher for Crokinole, the game is public domain, but there are a lot of great spots to get boards and get spendy or fancy boards. I really like the simplicity of the flicking game. It works really well and smoothly and it’s one that you can definitely get really good at. I wish I had more time to get this one to the table, though, I could say that about all of them.

Pre-order Crokinole

83. Clever Cubed

• Published by Schmidt Spiele in 2020
• Another combotastic roll and write game from the Clever line

I really enjoy Clever Cubed because while some of the others have combos, Clever Cubed is the one that has even more combos. And while sometimes I really like a good straightforward roll and write game, I also love the ones that give me a ton of combos. No doubt that this the latter, and the core game loop of how you pick and eliminate dice on your turn is always good.

Buy Clever Cubed

82. Furnace

• Published by Hobby World in 2020
• Bid on cards and build up the best industrial engine you can

This is a great and simple engine building game. Everything works smoothly with gathering resources and turning them into points. But there is also a really fun auction as well. I love how it’s a single bid per person per card but if you lose the big, you get a benefit for bidding there. And how the benefits scale based off of the number you bid with is amazing.

Buy Furnace

81. Yggdrasil Chronicles

• Published by Ludonaute in 2019
• Defend the world tree from all the threats that abound

This is a really tough cooperative game and one that I really enjoy. I think it’s a fun push your luck as you try to power up while hoping that you can keep the enemies in check. Of course, there are so many enemies and they ramp quickly that it can be very challenging. Plus how the enemies activate or how it’s determined which ones do is really clever and fun.

Buy Yggdrasil Chronicles

Final Thoughts on Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition 90 through 81

What do you think of the list, is there a game that you want to try or that you love on it? I feel like I got a really big variety on the list this time. There are some lighter games, but then you have a game with a ton of minis like Project: ELITE and a big campaign game in The Isofarian Guard. The only thing I think is missing is a true party game from this section.

Just a reminder, join me next week on Malts and Meeples for the next 10 on the list. The plan is to go live around 9 PM Central time and it’ll be 80 through 71. The best way to know when I go live is subscribe and click that notification bell. That’ll let you know for sure when it’ll be happening.

What is your favorite game from the list and what is one that you want to try?

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

Top 5 Roll and Write Games to Play Solo

5. Paper Dungeons

Paper Dungeons is one that works well solo and multiplayer. So in terms of a lot of a few of the roll and write games on the list, I think it is balanced out a bit more. But this one really does work nicely solo because it makes the game faster. You roll the dice and take your dice actions and are done. The limiting factor on how quickly it goes is you. This is a common thing for a lot of these games solo.

There is a downside to it, which is why it is lower on the list. In Paper Dungeons you lose out on the bonus when fighting the different boss monsters along the way. No one can get the bonus for dealing the most damage because you aren’t playing against an opponent.

4. Cartographers

Cartographers is going to be one where I say that it’s also one of the role and write games where it works well with many as well solo. And Cartographers might be one of the most challenging solo games out there. The scoring objectives you have all have numbers on them. And that combined total is what you’re trying to defeat. Plus they give you negative points, so you need to overcome all of that to just get a positive score. And how you place the monsters on the board changes, but it’s a ton of fun either way.

3. Railroad Ink Challenge

This is the first where I think I really do prefer it just solo. Mainly because I’ve taught Railroad Ink a few times and it’s gone well, but people feel like there is a bit much to keep track of. I like it with everything in there, at least for the base game and the challenges because I think it adds purpose and direction to the game. But for some people, it feels like too much. So since I know the game well, I prefer it as a solo game that I can knock out quickly.

But the route connecting and everything moves along quickly. Even the challenges don’t change from multiplayer to solo. Either way you have a specific round to hit for getting the challenges. So if you get it on that round or sooner you score the max points. If you get it prior to the end of the game you end up with fewer points.

2. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

Another one that is better solo, I think. And Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade is one of the roll and writes that I’ve mainly just played solo. The reason I like it better solo is that players can get out of sync. So I might lose my ball sooner than you lose your ball. That is the way that pinball tables go. So I play my second ball and it’s unlikely I lose it super quickly, but if i do you may continue playing for a period of time longer.

It’s really that the game can let one person go a lot longer that I think creates a bigger challenge to the game. Especially on some of the boards where a player might end up in a special area of the board. If they do, then it’s possible that they can prolong their game notably. At that point one person might need an extra 10 minutes to wrap up the game. The pinball tables are a ton of fun, but there is a good reason to play it solo.

1. The “Clever” Games

Finally it’s all of the Clever games from Wolfgang Warsch. I really enjoy all of these games. And I think that they are best at two or solo player counts. Why, because at more you lose a little agency in the game. You always get something on an opponents turn, but when your opponents have more turns, you play fewer turns as the active player. So that loss of agency, I think, makes it better as a solo or two player game.

And when you play at solo or two players the rules don’t change. Since in solo you get the rolls of an “opponent” to go against. And that’s really just getting that selection on an opponents turn like you would on a two player game. The dice might be limited in different ways than normal, but the outcome is similar.

Also, yes I did cheat and put four games on the list there.

Final Thoughts

A lot of roll and write games work well solo. Though, so many now hare being made to keep that feeling similar no matter what. By that I mean that most of these games now rely upon everyone going at once. So when you take an action or roll the dice, all of us get to go on that roll of the dice or the flip of the cards. I love that about the games because it lets you really play pretty quickly without losing an interesting game and interesting choices.

What are your favorite roll and write games to play solo? I know that I need to learn and play Hadrian’s Wall solo as well as there are others like Metro X, Fleet the Dice Game, that I like solo or still others like Three Sisters, Motor City, and more that I know people like solo. So I want to get even more to the table.

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

Top 5 Board Game Apps

Disclaimer, of course, I haven’t played them all. Some are for games that don’t interest me that much. So, like Dominion just has an app in beta or just out on Android, haven’t played it, probably won’t. And list is in no particular order.

5. Fleet: The Dice Game

Let’s start with the one that I’ve been playing the most of recently. Fleet: The Dice Game has a nice and simple app for playing their game solo. No pass and play multiplayer, but when I play a board game on an app, multiplayer is low on the list of things that I care about.

This one takes what’s not that complex a game to run solo in person, but takes up space on the table. So it makes it much more compact. And it makes me want to play the game again, and actually try it multiplayer in person. So that might not be the best sign for the app. But the app lets you get in a game much faster, as an app should, and let’s you mess around with strategies easier.

4. Super Mega Lucky Box

Next up is another roll and write style game. Actually, I could do a top 5, possibly Top 10, on this type of game. Why, because a lot of them end up with simpler rule sets and thus are simpler to program into an app. And Super Mega Lucky Box is another one without a pass and play, at this point, but one that you can play solo.

Now, I give this solid marks as a board game app not because it’s that much easier than the board game. No, I give it that because it’s more portable. I can play Super Mega Lucky Box solo easily enough in person. But there is a minor amount of set-up. With the app, it’s pull it out and play. And they give you a few ways to play which are fun to mess around with. Honestly, it’s a really good way to learn how to play the game.

3. Sagrada

Now one that isn’t a roll and write. Though, Sagrada does have rolling dice as you roll each time for drafting. This one does have multiplayer, which I have yet to use. But it also has a challenge/campaign mode. Not like the Sagrada Artisans legacy game, no, the campaign is just progressively better AI opponents. I like that sense of progression, and it walks you through the different ability cards and scoring cards.

And while the other games on the list are definitely faster in an app, Sagrada flies speed wise. I really like it for that, if I were to play a game of Sagrada solo, well, I haven’t before, but I imagine it might take a little bit. On the app, it’s about five minutes to play a whole game.

2. Railroad Ink

Now, yes, another roll and write game with Railroad Ink. This is another one that take a roll and write game that isn’t hard to play solo and makes it even easier. Railroad Ink is a game of connecting routes, which is not hard in person. But the app highlights were you can put railroad sections and makes it easier for you that way. And it keeps track of your round to help with scoring the challenge cards.

This is another one that is only solo. But it works slick, and games are definitely a little bit faster than playing solo in person. Out of all of these, I think that Railroad Ink probably saves you the least amount of time. But, it’s fun to be able to play it on a small screen in your pocket.

1. Clever Games

Finally, yes, this is a lot of games. Four games actually, though, I hope that they’ve improved the fourth one, Clever 4Ever on the app because, well, it doesn’t size correctly to all screens. But the other three are great ways to play and learn the various “Clever” games. And all of the apps work nicely.

It is only solo play, but it handles some of the solo elements like which dice end up on the platter on the “opponents” turn. No more guessing, though, the rules for that are simple in the real game. The nice thing is that it highlights what you can do when you click on a die, and shows you the options well. It’d be nice if it had a tutorial mode, but the rules are on there so you can read them as well. And mainly, if you know how to play, you just need to learn the scoring and new ability.

Honorable Mentions

Let me wrap up with some honorable mention board game apps.

Ascension – this has a nice app for the deck building game. And it comes with the base game and an expansion. You can pay for more to unlock them. The downside to this one, is it’s small on a screen. So until you know the cards it’s a bit fiddly. But it does have pass and play.

Hero Realms – Another deck building game, Hero Realms is a head to head battler. The AI is strong in this one, and you can set it and unlock more cards as you go. The system works well in this setting and it helps you remember everything, like if you haven’t attacked your opponent or your opponent has a blocker.

Potion Explosion – Finally, I want to end on Potion Explosion. This one you do lose some playing it on the app. Obviously you don’t have the tactile thing of pulling out a marble and watching everything else fall into place. That said, it still is slick and it does some of the work, auto placing ingredients if you want. I like it for that, and I like the challenge it offers.

What are some of your favorite board game apps?

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

Creating My Top 100 Games List

And that site is Pub Meeple. It’s a great site because it pulls in your Board Game Geek list and can use that to do a ranking. In the ranking you compare two games against each other. So let’s say Monopoly and Clue. You decide which one you like better, so Clue then Monopoly. Then you might compare Risk and Scrabble and decide on Scrabble. It’d then give you the comparison of Clue and Scrabble and let’s say I pick Scrabble, it’ll then have me compare Clue to Risk to determine which one I like better. If I pick Clue then Risk and Monopoly get compared. But if I pick Risk, then Clue and Monopoly just get slotted after.

Also, it’s worth noting a few other things I mention at the start. That’s how I eliminate some of the games. Each box of Dice Throne doesn’t count as it’s own entry. Every version of Clank, Aeon’s End, and Pandemic aren’t their own entries. Even Frosthaven, Gloomhaven, and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion get lumped together. Why, because otherwise the list would be dominated by a few games.

Finally, last thing is that I do not put games that I’ve only played digitally. There are a couple of games, Rogue Angels being the big one, that will likely end up in my Top 100 Games (of all time) when I can play it physically, but I want to experience it that way as well to verify my feelings.

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition 100 through 91

100. Ship Shape

A new one to the list, this is an interesting little game that is kind of a party style filler. But not a party game in terms of a “haha” game. But it’s a light game of filling out your cargo hold the best that you can. You have three goods, cannons, gold, and contraband. You get points for gold, cannons compared to the person with the fewest, and your contraband, if you don’t have the most.

Plus you are bidding on what tile you get to place into your hold. It might work out well, you win the bid, you get the top one, or you could get the second one. Of course, if you tie, then you don’t get any in order and have to rebid for your one once more a gone. So it’s kind of random, but a lot of fun with simple mechanisms.

Buy Ship Shape

99. Welcome To…

Welcome To has dropped on the list. I think that Welcome To is down on the list because I don’t play it as often because it isn’t my favorite solo roll and write game. But the game is still great as you try and build your favorite Stepford neighborhood. Can you build the best white picket fences, pools, parks, and get those house numbers in the right order?

Plus there is good variety with the different maps. So I likely need to play those more often so that I can get that variety. And one of the better things is that Welcome To is a great game for a larger group. There really is no upper limit, just sheets, as to how many you can play with. So that makes it a fun game to pull out when I want a bigger group game but not a party game.

Buy Welcome To…

98. SCOUT

SCOUT is another new one to the list and this was a big hit from last year in the US. I believe it was out in Japan prior to that, but I started hearing about it a ton last year and a ton at Gen Con in 2022. SCOUT is a card shedding game. That means that you have a handful of cards and you’re trying to get rid of yours the fastest.

To do that you are trying to play out card(s) in sets, runs, or a single card, that beats what the other person played. The trick of the game is that the cards have numbers on the top and bottom. And when you get your hand of cards you can’t rearrange it. So you’re stuck with what you had, that might mean that you can’t beat what someone else played down. Instead you take one of the cards they played and add it to your hand wherever you want.

Buy SCOUT

97. My City (My City: Roll and Build)

Next up is one of those combo of games. My City and My City Roll and Build. This is a game about building out a city in either a campaign or legacy game version. And one is a roll and write the other is a polyomino game.

I like each version. My City, the legacy version, is a good game that’s fast to play and works well with a group of people. My City Roll and Build is able to be played solo. It is still a very fast game, and fewer things carry over, but I like it a lot as a solo game. It is still extremely fast, probably 10 minutes for the roll and write game. The legacy version is probably 20-30 minutes.

Buy My City

96. The Reckoners

Now we’re onto a cooperative game on the list, The Reckoners. This is based off of a series from Brandon Sanderson that I really like. And this is a good cooperative game in that there is little to no downtime in the game.

How do they make that work? The game is in two parts, the first part is rolling dice to determine what actions you will do. And everyone does that at once, it’s kind of Yahtzee style in that you roll multiple times. But not completely because you always are keeping dice. Then everyone is talking as they roll to make sure it gets set-up right, and you go and do all your actions. Again it is done all at once. The only downtime is when you do the epics (super villains) actions to see what goes wrong.

Buy The Reckoners

95. Clever Cubed

Clever Cubed, another roll and write game and part of the Clever series of games with Ganz Schon Clever (That’s Pretty Clever), Doppelt So Clever (Twice as Clever) and a new game, Clever 4Ever. This one I really like how heavily it leans into combos. There are so many combos in the game that it’s just crazy with how things can connect together and how they just chain off of each other. Plus you get really high scores which is fun.

Buy Clever Cubed

94. Project L

A game that almost wasn’t around any more, as the company – Boardcubator almost went out of business. But Project L is a polyomino game where you are using Tetris like pieces to fill in shapes. As you get more pieces to use, you can start to grab in bigger ones and bigger pieces to fill in the shapes faster.

One of the cool elements of the game, besides the insanely high quality, is that there is a master action. It is an action that you can do one time per turn, but it lets you add to each of your shapes. So you can spend turns collecting more cards and then doing master actions to fill them up faster or all at once, so it’s very fun when you get that working well.

Buy Project L

93. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

Another roll and write game, Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade is not shockingly about Pinball. I like that you get a lot of tables to play so you change up what you want to play. And it isn’t hard to learn, though there are pretty simple rules for all the ball moves. The ball moves down and rotates clockwise, I believe, or counter clockwise, either way it’s always the same way.

And each table offers something new. I like the cyber hacking one where you can get into a special area of the board and score a ton of points. All of them have something unique and there are four tables in the main box. Plus there is an expansion box, a Star Trek box, and a holiday movie box, so a lot of options.

It is also a roll and write game that I like solo. Multiplayer it’s possible that one person will end much sooner than someone else. That can lead to downtime, and as you saw with The Reckoners, I like it when there is as little downtime as possible.

Buy Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

92. Atlantis Rising (Second Edition)

Atlantis Rising is a cooperative race against the clock (figuratively) as the island of Atlantis is sinking. And this is another game where there is little downtime. Everyone is working together and putting out your meeples to the board for collecting items. The further you are out on peninsulas it’s better, but because it’s sinking, you might lose a meeple, for that round.

With what you collect then you’re building up machines. The machines will open a portal that will allow you to escape. And they give you powers as well which might make it smoother to get what you need. Of course, by the time you’re doing that, the island is sinking fast, so it’s a race against time.

Buy Atlantis Rising (Second Edition)

91. Vegetable Stock

Next one is Vegetable Stock. A game that I wouldn’t have known about but for Chris Yi from the Dice Tower who likes this game. This is a small set collection game. And it is also a drafting game. As you draft cards that builds up your collection of card to give you points. And you draft from a pool of one more than there are people.

The card that is leftover affects the stock market. So what you take won’t push it higher, but what is left is going to be push it higher. If it gets too high it’ll bust and drop it down again, so you need to redo that work. Vegetable Stock is a light filler game and really fast. So one that will work well for a lot of groups just as that smaller group game that you can knock out.

Buy Vegetable Stock

Upcoming Streams (Top 100 and Game Plays)

Next Wednesday at 8 PM Central time I’ll be going through 90 through 81 of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition. So join me then and let me know which are your favorites on that part of the list.

And on Monday I stream around 9 PM central time. Generally it is a solo game, though sometimes a topic or a list or Slay the Spire. But it’ll likely be solo games for a while with the Top 100 List going on. And normally on Wednesdays I stream solo campaign board games. So after I finish up my Top 100 Games I’ll be getting back to that, possibly more of The Isofarian Guard.

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

Clever Board Games

I really enjoy this series of roll and write games. I think I’ve played on the app all of the games at least 30-40 times and well more than that for Ganz Schon Clever. And the apps for these games are solid. It is odd to me that there aren’t asynchronous games or other options to play with people, but it’s a solo game. Not even pass and play.

The upside is that you only play a couple of minutes when you play the game. Which I think that works really well. It is also a very good way to learn the game(s). Not just because the rules are in English. I expect most people will get rules in their language. But I bought two German versions so the app is a great spot for rules.

It is also nice because it shows off the moves that you can do. That means that you don’t need to think what is possible. You click on a die and it shows you where it is going to go. That also makes it very good for learning how to play all of the games.

Upcoming Streams

Next week I am back to my normal time. That means Wednesday stream will be at 8 PM Central time. You can find the link for that here. The plan is to wrap up exploration if possible. Though, while I suspect I’ll be able to this time. In future streams some of the planetary exploration might take longer to complete. But join me for that and for the ship phase as well as I stream.

And then next Monday, I keep on promising smaller games. I have a couple new roll and writes I could try or other smaller games to get to the table. So that’s going to be the plan, it might even be revisiting a roll and write which I’ve already enjoyed. The next game that I want to try I mentioned yesterday, Planet Unknown and see how the solo play goes with that game.

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

The Board Games

All three of these games are roll and write games in a series, connected by some basic mechanics, designed by Wolfgang Warsch. The base mechanics of the games, like I said, are similar across the board, but the games each offer their own twist.

The basic mechanic in the game is that you roll your dice, pick one to use, get rid, to a common pool, all the numbers lower than it, and repeat the process until you’ve used three dice, or fewer. Then the other players use a die from the common pool. Then the next player rolls and you repeat that process. Your goal, get as many points as you can.

There are two other things that are always true. The white die is a wild. And if you use the blue die or the white die in the blue section, it’s always the combined total of the white and blue dice. But the white ie you can use anywhere that you want. I guess a third thing, which is could be an afterthought when teaching is the foxes. If you get a fox, at the end of the game, multiply the number of foxes times your lowest scoring section.

Ganz Schon Clever – Doppelt So Clever – Clever Hoch Drei

Let’s talk real quick about each of them. Mainly compare how they work and actually maybe a slight change in my opinion after last nights play.

Ganz Schon Clever

Ganz Schon Clever is maybe the most basic of the games. Which makes sense being the original one that came out. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t have combos, it has a lot of them. But Ganz Schon Clever, doesn’t have the more complex sections like some others do. It is basically always simple on how to use the dice. It’s the one that I started with and it’s the one I’d use to teach, even if you like others better in the series.

Doppelt So Clever

Doppelt So Clever has always been the toughest for me and been the lowest of the three for me. Now, I’m not sure that’s the case anymore. Mainly, I think I’m seeing the puzzle better now, and I have some ideas of how I want to handle the game as I play. It definitely ramps up the complexity in the game with basically every section. While some, pink and blue might not be too complex, they offer more to think about.

Clever Hoch Drei

Finally we have Clever Hoch Drei, probably the one that clicked with my fastest and the one that I get the highest score on. A lot of the things just make sense to me as I play them. I didn’t do a great job comboing as I could have last night in the game. Mainly not using the yellow section as effectively as sometimes. But you fill in a whole lot more and get many more combos, it feels like in Clever Hoch Drei.

I think that Doppelt So Clever went up in my estimation last night and Clever Hoch Drei went down. Mainly you can do so much in Clever Hoch Drei that decisions matter a little less. Where as Doppelt So Clever being a tighter game, what you do matters more.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I am streaming my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition – 50 through 41. The video down below. So join me on that journey, then the following Monday, the 31st, I might take off for Halloween. I suspect it’d be cutting it close with podcast, Trick or Treating, and getting a kid into bed.

As for my Wednesday stream, next week my hope is to get Chronicles of Drunagor to the table at least for an unboxing. And I know a I have a few other boxes coming in as well. So I might play Final Girl, or we’ll see what my mystery package coming in might be. But soon I will get Chronicles of Drunagor to the table. And next week might be an unboxing of the game and picking out of characters, actually.

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

100 through 91 here.

90 through 81 here.

80 through 71 here.

Top 100 Games 2022 Edition – 70-61

70 – Just One

Just One is the first of the party games in this section. This game works well because it is a cooperative party game. And it follows one of my keys for a solid party game, it needs to give players the ability to make choices. Not like something like Cards Against Humanity, where you don’t need to be creative. Here you are trying to give clues but each player only is allowed one word. If you match with another player, both your clues cancel out. So you don’t want to get too obvious, but also a too obscure clue might point them in the wrong direction.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

69 – Cross Clues

Cross Clues is another party game. Again a cooperative game, but this time, you want to give a clue that lets other players figure out the combination of two words. You get a grid of 5×5 (or 3×3) where each row and column has a letter or number assigned. So you might get A3, and if A’s word is wood and 3’s word is flying, you might give the clue kite. But kite might work for something else, say tail and wind. So now you need to figure out if your clue is good or not. It’s a simple, but fun game.

Buy on Miniature Market

68 – Marvel United

Yet another cooperative game, Marvel United is not a party game. Marvel United is a Marvel comics and superhero game where you play as heroes to defeat a villain. The game play is pretty simple, you need to complete two objectives before you can take down a villain. All the while the villain is trying to get you out by causing you to expend cards and lose the game. What works in this game is that you play down a card you give symbols to help the next player. And you also get symbols, punch, move, or heroic action, to aid in what you are doing. It gives that superhero team up feel in a simple game.

Buy on Game Nerdz.

67 – The Reckoners

Apparently this section also has a lot of cooperative games. The Reckoners is another cooperative game and another game with super powers. But the super powered people aren’t the good guys in this, they are known as Epics and bad. You play as a team, the Reckoners trying to take them down and eventually take down the big bad Steelslayer. I like that there is no downtime in this game. Everyone rolls dice at once and discusses as they build up their pool. Then everyone plays out their actions at once. It’s a nice game because of that and being a harder cooperative game.

Buy from Nauvoo Games.

66 – Blank Slate

Blank Slate, we’re back to party games. Blank Slate is not the newest (or highest) party game on the list, but it is new to me this year. In this game you are trying to fill in a word and match with other people. The twist comes that you don’t want to match with too many people. If you match your word with one other person, it is three points, if you match with more than that, it is one point. And all you are doing is a fill in a blank like “Truck______”. You come up with the second half, it’s simple and a lot of fun.

Buy on Miniature Market

65 – Clever Cubed

Clever Cubed is a roll and write game from the Clever line of games, which there are four of now. Clever Cubed is the one that I think gives you the most combos. I like it a lot because it’s fun to get a ton of combos and a lot of points in the game. If there was a knock, it could be that it takes away some strategy. But I do think there are some real things you need to think about as you play. And it does have a lot of combos which I really like.

Buy on Amazon (Note German Edition)

64 – Five Tribes

Five Tribes, maybe my highest of the classic Days of Wonder games, I’m not sure if i have any above it. But Five Tribes is a great game with mancala style movement of meeples. By that I mean you pick up all of them from one spot and drop them off one at a time. I talk about it with Fruit Picking as well.

What makes Five Tribes so interesting, though, is the bidding for turn order. Mainly because money at the end of the game is points. So you are losing points to go sooner. Do you have a spot that for sure is going to get you more points back? Or maybe you need to block your opponent from getting a lot of points.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc.

63 – That’s Pretty Clever!

That’s Pretty Clever is the first of the Clever games and so far my favorite. I need to get and play the fourth more. I have played it on the app. But That’s Pretty Clever I always enjoy because it is a bit simpler. But also because I kind of know how I want to take on the puzzle of the game. I think that’s my issue with Twice as Clever, I haven’t quite gotten clever enough to figure out my strategy, or it seems to score lower. Here I know what combos I want to create, can I do it in a way that will give me the most points is the question.

Not Available

62 – Medium

The final party game for this section of the list. Medium follows a common trend. You want to match words with the person you are paired up with. But with Medium, you do that by each playing down a word. Then you try and come up with a word between. So it might be Mouse and Quesadilla and you need to both land on the same word. You probably could in that time with the word Cheese. But if you miss, you now use your new words and try again. It’s a lot of fun, and leads to a surprising number of laughs.

Buy on Amazon

61 – Century: Golem Edition

To wrap out this section we have Century: Golem Edition. I do think I’d enjoy Spice Road version, but the Golem Edition is just cuter. So that is the one that I want to play. This is an engine building and hand management game. I like how simple the game is, you either play down a card which will get or manipulate the games you have, pick up all your played cards, grab a card to be played, or get a golem. And no action is going to take too long. It’s a very fast moving game with an opportunity to create a really fun engine in your hand.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

Upcoming Streams

Next Monday is the continuation of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition. I am going to be going through games 60 through 51, getting to that mid point of the list. Here is a link to the upcoming video. If you want to catch it live, click that notification bell.

And coming up next Wednesday, I don’t know what I’ll be streaming. I think I have two different options, firstly, Chronicles of Drunagor is sitting on the shelf waiting to be unboxed and played. I could dive into a game of that, or do some smaller solo games. For those I have games like Set a Watch, Black Sonata, and Final Girl that I could get to the table as well.

Let me know what you want me to stream next? I am leaning towards Chronicles of Drunagor, if I have time to learn the rules but if not, what small solo game would you want to see?

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

The Roll And Writes

19. Second Chance

If you want to play about the most accessible roll and write I’ve played, Second Chance is that. It is very simple, flip two cards, everyone fills in one of those two shapes on their board. And you try and fill in as much as possible. If you can’t play either, you get a second chance card you can use. If you can’t use it, you are out of the round. So extremely simple, but works well. And it is fun to doodle and fill everything in.

18. HexRoller

HexRoller should be just as simple, but for some reason it a bit more confusing. In this roll and write, you fill in spots with numbers trying to connect paths and fill in hexes. It gets confusing when you try and add in the straights that can score you points based off of the dice you pick. It is a good puzzle of a game, but doesn’t feel like it has that much diversity to how it’ll play.

17. Cat Cafe

Cat Cafe I think should be higher on my list. It just isn’t one I pull off the shelf all that often. It is a fun roll and write game about building cat towers to attract cats to your section of a cat cafe. And it has drafting in the game. I really like the everyone goes at once but everyone is slightly different. The die you draft determines half of your action. And there will be one die left that determines half of everyone’s action. So there is strategy in how you build things out. Plus it’s about cats.

16. Criss Cross

This one is also on the list this low, like Second Chance, because it is so simple. Now, that simplicity means that it gets played often, or did. But it also means that it isn’t as interesting as some to play over and over again. Basically you want matching symbols in rows and columns. And you need to put two dice adjacent to each other as they are rolled. More more likely symbols you have adjacent in a row or a column the more you score. I like this on also because it’s very easy via Zoom/Hangouts/Facetime, even if you don’t own the game.

15. Yahtzee

The OG roll and write game. Yahtzee still works well as a game. It is a simple push your luck rolling game to get as many points as you can. But it works. And it works well for people who want a bit more casual of a roll and write. It is another one that I don’t need to play a ton more of because I already have a lot. But it is also one that I can play with anyone. Some because they likely already have played it, and some because it is that easy to teach.

14. Floor Plan

This one has dropped a fair amount since my Top 100. I actually got rid of it from my collection. Granted, that’s to make room, eventually, for Floor Plan: Winchester Mystery Mansion. A theme that I think works better for this game. In the game you make a floor plan. It is fun because you end up with crazy houses. The downside is you end up with crazy houses. I wish the rules made it so you built more of a house. Like negative points if you didn’t have a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom all with doors. But if you want to build a crazy house, it is a lot of fun.

13. Deadly Doodles

This one is another one that I feel like moves around. I like it as a dungeon crawl roll and write. Basically, you go into the dungeon every day, fight some monsters, and get weapons and treasures. All of that in a goal to get the most points possible. The expansion makes make the game more difficult or give more options, but the base game is a lot of fun. It is another one of those games that I really like because of how fast it plays. And you get a story as you play of what is happening in your dungeon.

12. Patchwork Doodle

Now to move away from theme again, Patchwork Doodle is a very abstract roll and write. It is about trying to create the biggest quilt that you can. It reminds me a ton of Second Chance, you start with a shape and then add more adjacent to it. Patchwork Doodle, though, has more going on with it. And that little bit additional just adds enough to the strategy that it make sit more fun for me. And the big thing that Second Chance has going for it is how relaxing it is to play, I think Patchwork Doodle is just as relaxing.

11. Doppelt So Clever

One of a few combo focused games coming up on the list. Doppelt So Clever is my least favorite of the Clever trilogy or roll and writes. And it’s not because it’s the only one that I don’t own in German. It feels like it’s just the most punishing and locks you into lower scores a lot of the time. But the mechanics are great, and you do still get a lot of combos to play around with.

10. Clever Hoch Drei

Now we’re up to another Clever game. As compared to Doppelt So Clever, Clever Hoch Drei is the easiest to do well at. That means you get even more combos going, and that is because a lot of the tracks are so littered with combos you can’t avoid them. It feels good to get a lot of combos and all of a sudden what looked impossible to do is possible.

9. Super Mega Lucky Box

This is the newest roll and write on the list, and Super Mega Lucky Box is one that I wasn’t sure how high it’d get when I first played it. It is a very easy game to play. A card is flipped, you fill in that number on one of your bingo cards. But the more you play it, the more you can see how there are interesting decisions and combos as you finish off rows and columns. Whenever you finish a row or column, you get a bonus, and how you leverage those bonuses really matters for the winner of the game.

8. Metro X

How do can you maximize your bus routes, or subway routes, is what this game is all about. But it is clever in what it does, and I really like it for that. Multiple routes might go through the same station. And you are just trying to fill in stations. But you always fill in from the first empty spot down. And you can’t skip over filled spots. It’s hard to explain, but it works well, and makes you think about how to optimally fill in your routes so you can complete as many as possible.

7. Ganz Schon Clever

The final of the Clever games, and the original. I really like Ganz Schon Clever. This is even with knowing generally how to optimize the puzzle. I always push to see if I can do a little bit better. And the app for the game works well. I might not play it as much as I used to on the app, but it is still the one I go to first when playing any Clever game. And in person, I think it’s even more fun. There is something about hoping for the perfect die rolls in person that is more compelling than an app.

6. Welcome To…

This, I think, was originally at 10 in my Top 100 Games (of all time) and clearly with five more roll and write games above it has slipped. I really like Welcome To still. It mainly has slipped because I haven’t played it recently. And while I enjoy it every time I play it, I also do think I want to start mixing in the expansion maps. I think that it’ll change up the game enough that it’ll feel refreshing. This is also a roll and write with a theme that I like a lot.

5. Sonora

This is the final one that is all about the combos. And compared to any of the Clever games, this one has more combos. Plus Sonora has you flicking discs around a board to determine how you fill in things. Each quarter of the board fills in a specific spot on your scoring sheet. And as you fill in spots you get scoring bonuses, but then, basically, extra discs that you u se as well to fill in. And that can lead to more. Sonora gives you a great rush of feeling like you can do almost everything, every time you fill in on the board.

4. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

Probably the most thematic roll and writ eon my list, Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade and the expansion(s) give the feeling of playing a pinball machine. Everything bounces in a way that makes sense, and while your flippers are limited, which isn’t the case in actual pinball, for a game it makes sense. And the boards are all so different. I really like the hacking board and the special that is on there. It can ramp a score like crazy, but will you fail because you push your luck too far?

3. On Tour

On Tour maybe should already have been in my Top 10 Roll and Writes and Top 100 Games, but I held off on ranking it until I played a physical copy. Why, because sometimes that’s different. And with On Tour, where you are making your best route for a band tour, I was worried it’d be hard to score the best route. Turns out, it isn’t that hard. But let’s talk about the game.

You make a route of low to high on states, but depending on what is rolled and cards flipped out that becomes tricky. You are limited to where you can play down the numbers. And everyone is limited in the same way. And as you fill in more and more spots, you become more limited. I think that is one thing I like best, the game becomes so much more tense at the end of the game, and each decision matters so much. But because you have fewer available spots, the game doesn’t slow down. It’s a great game arc.

2. Railroad Ink/Railroad Ink Challenge

So, in my Top 100 I had these two games separate. Now I put them together because they really can be together in that their mechanics are mainly the same. In both you build out train and road routes and your goal is to connect exits. Railroad Ink Challenge adds in challenges that you want to complete at certain points to score more points. Some people find it more complex, or too complex, but I like that it gives an additional thing to focus on. It makes my decisions faster generally as well. Really good roll and write with a very high production.

1. Cartographers

At the number one spot, not a big surprise, is Cartographers. The theme is a lot of fun in this game. I like making a map. There is player interaction as you put monsters on my board. But what really makes the game is the scoring. You score for A and B the first round and then going through rounds, in round four you score D and A, so you come all the way back around. It makes for an interesting puzzle to solve and try and optimize your points. And like most games on my list, everyone goes at the same time, so nice and fast to play, while offering great decisions.

What is Your Favorite?

I have so many that I need to play still. I own Copenhagen Roll and Write, Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write, Imperial Settlers Roll and Write, Welcome To Dinoworld, Welcome To New Las Vegas, Fleet: The Dice Game, and more on my shelf that I need to pull out. A lot can be played solo, so maybe I’ll do a big solo roll and write stream or day of playing coming up here.

Let me know what your favorite is down in the comments below. Or you can let me know on Twitter or Facebook as well.

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

Quick disclaimer, I use the term roll and write for all sorts of “blank” and write games. This can be a flip and write or a flick and write and or whatever mechanic is chosen. Roll and Writes were just more of a thing first, with Yahtzee so the term got coined that way.

Cartographers

Cartographers might be my favorite roll and write game. It’s a bit more complex but not that hard to play. The basic idea is that you are creating a map, putting in forests, lakes, villages, and fields. But the game really shines with how you score points in it. The game has a creative way for it with playing four rounds, and each rounds scores differently. Spring scores A & B and Summer B & C and so on but Winter then scores D & A, so each scoring things gets scored twice.

Plus there are monsters in the game. When you draw a monster, you pass your sheet to someone else draws monsters in the least useful spot. The game plays fast that is a lot of fun and you get to draw a map. This might seem more complex when you start but it’s really not that hard to play.

Railroad Ink Challenge

Railroad Ink Challenge is a route connecting roll and write. You try to get as many of them connected as possible. There is Railroad Ink where that is about it, but Railroad Ink Challenge adds in, well, a challenge. And I think the challenge is more fun because it gives you something more specific to go for.

This game comes with really nice components. The box has a magnetic clasp, the dice are really nice, and the boards are dry erase. This is a bit more of a brain burner, I would say, of a game. Getting all the routes connected and optimizing your scoring can be tricky, but it’s a lot of fun.. And if you want to give it a try, there is an app.

Second Chance

Second Chance is the easiest of the games on the list. All you are doing is filling in shapes on your board hoping to have as much filled in as possible by the time you can’t place another shape. That’s all there is too the game, but it’s really a relaxing game to play.

Plus, it’s a game, like Cartographers, that allows you to be creative. As you play and fill in areas, a lot of us like to doodle in the different shapes. If you don’t rush through it and just enjoy that process, it can be a very relaxing game to play with anyone.

Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade

Now we’re onto the most thematic of the list, I’d say. This one feels like you are playing pinball as the ball moves in certain ways around the board as it bounces off things. It also is probably the longest of the roll and writes, but the different boards, pinball machines, you play on are a lot of fun.

The game basically has you picking dice to use to bounce off of different bumpers, knock down targets and score points. You can get a bonus ball in play or score double points. It’s another game that works great solo and there are a lot of different maps, four in the base box, that are a really fun time to play.

Ganz Schon Clever (That’s Pretty Clever)

We go from the most thematic to the most abstract. Ganz Schon Clever is all about maximizing the points that you score by filling in spots and numbers. This game shines with the combos that you can create though. Filling in a spot in one section can link to another section so you fill in there, and you can fill in a lot of things.

The game play is pretty easy, but compared to some of the more thematic ones it might be harder to teach. Still, it’s a great puzzle for players to try and figure out. And even when you figure it out, you still want to optimize the puzzle so you can score the best you can every time. Plus there are two more games in the series once you feel comfortable with this one.

These are just some, I wanted to give a good variety. I have 28 different ones on my shelf and I want to get and play around with more. So there are ones for everyone. Love cats, Cat Cafe, Jurassic Park, Welcome to Dino World, build a house, Floorplan, and more. So pick your favorite theme, so some are better than others, I will say. What is your favorite roll and write? And which one would you give or want to get this Holiday season?

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

100 Through 91

90 Through 81

80 through 71

70 through 61

60 through 51

50 through 41

40 through 31

Top 100 Board Games – 30 through 21

30. A Gentle Rain

A Gentle Rain is what I call a pallet cleansing solo game. All you are doing is flipping tiles and placing them, trying to get four corners to meet so you can put down a disc. If you get all the discs out you win the game. It is pretty lucky, I have won, I’ve also gotten only 4 of the 8 discs out. But it is nice and relaxing to play. The whole point of the game is to have a nice relaxing time.

It’s also nice because while it might take up a bit more space than small solo games ideally do, it is a small box and it plays very fast. So it’s a good little puzzle to play through and have something to think on, but without spending a lot of time or brain power on it. Plus it’s pretty cheap and really good quality.

Out of Stock

29. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

I will start by saying, I have yet to play Terraforming Mars. It’s on my shelf and I want to get it played. But Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition drew me in because it looked better. The artwork was really good on it, and when I saw it played, I really liked the mechanics. In particular, I like the action selection, how fast that goes. Each player selects an action and everyone gets to take it but as the person who picked it, you get an extra bonus. Any action that isn’t used is skipped that round. Gives good strategy.

Now, I wish I had backed this on Kickstarter. I did end up buying board overlays because the cubes will slide on the board. That said, the quality of the game is nice and the more you play it the faster you go. I think my first few two player games took around two hours, but by the third, we had the game down to basically an hour. And adding in more people won’t really slow down the game. Really fun engine building board game.

Buy On Miniature Market

28. Aeon’s End Legacy

I really enjoy Legacy games, and Aeon’s End was no exception. I knew I’d likely like it a lot, but you can see how much over on Malts and Meeples. What I wasn’t expecting is how good Aeon’s End Legacy is at teaching you how to play Aeon’s End. The game play is just slick and really enjoyable. And they start you off easy and teach you the game.

In fact, that’s one thing I do and don’t love about the game. I already knew how to play Aeon’s End. So when Aeon’s End Legacy dumbed it down a little bit, there were things that I wanted to do that I couldn’t at the start of the game. But this is an amazing way to learn Aeon’s End. The story is solid and the game play is a ton of fun, plus it’s cooperative which is always a bonus.

Out of Stock

27. Potion Explosion

Now we move onto a game with a ton of toy factor. The main mechanic of the game is pulling marbles from a tray that they roll down. You pick one marble and then like colored marbles that hit you also get, and it can cascade into a lot of marbles. You use those marbles to brew potions that give you points and give you one time abilities.

This game when it’s on the table people notice because of the marble tray and just how different it looks. The game play is solid with more depth than it first looks. Optimizing how and when you use the potions means that you get can give you really powerful turns. So while it is light and fun there is strategy.

Buy on Amazon

26. Sagrada

Sagrada is another game with a great table presence. This one has you making stained glass windows. You draft dice which you then have to place into your stained glass window based off of number or color rules. The game play on this one is pretty simple but getting the numbers and colors you need can be tricky.

I like this game a lot because it works well with family. My parents play board games, but they don’t play a ton of them. A lot of modern board games are going to be too complex, but something like Sagrada they were able to get quite easily. So with it’s great look and ease but interesting game play, Sagrada is a great game.

Buy on Amazon

25. Metro X

New game to the list, Metro X is a roll and write I’ve played on the Malts and Meeples channel before as well. This is about completing bus routes the best that you can. The game play, for me, is a lot of fun because of two things. Some routes use the the same stops. So if I fill that stop in I’m working on completing two or more of the routes. But you always are starting from the earliest spot on a route when you fill in, and you can’t skip. It makes it a really good puzzle.

I also like that the game plays fast. This is a game that might trip some people up to start out with because it is doing some interesting things that might not be intuitive, but when you get into it, it’s quite simple to play. And it comes dry erase already which is a bonus. I wish that the expansion bus routes/maps would come to the US.

Buy on Amazon

24. Roll Player Adventures

This game is actually coming in the mail today. Normally I don’t like to put prototypes on the list, but I had such a great experience with this one at GenCon in 2019, that it has been on the list before. I think I dropped it last year because it was a prototype.

This is a more family friendly, from what I can tell, adventure game. It reminds me of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, not in game play, but in the idea that you are exploring at a higher level and then you drop out of that into combat, but it’s not a tactical combat. Plus you can bring your Roll Player characters into this game which I really like as a concept too.

Buy on Miniature Market

23. Letter Jam

Most word based games aren’t cooperative, but Letter Jam is. That is some of what makes it on the list. The game play is also really clever as you can’t see the letters that make up your word. They are facing away from you, so through clues you have to deduce what your letters are.

If I were to give the clue, and you can see the letter FR*M where the * is your letter, you can probably guess that it’s FROM so you letter much be O. But had I done F*RM now it could be FARM, FIRM, or FORM. So you need to be clever as you give clues because you want to limit how many letters it could be. And if you give a clue that means you aren’t getting helped so everyone needs to give clues.

Buy on Miniature Market

22. Betrayal At House on the Hill

Buy on Amazon

21. That’s Pretty Clever (Ganz Schon Clever)

Final one on this part of my Top 100 Games of all time is Ganz Schon Clever. This is the last of the Clever trilogy on the list, through the first one of them to come out. I really like Ganz Schon Clever because like Doppelt so Clever and Clever Hoch Drei, this game is all about combos. You fill in one thing, that unlocks something which allows you to fill in, in another spot.

This game also has an app that is really good. I do prefer playing the physical version, but sitting down and playing a quick game is a lot of fun on the app and it works really well. And while the game I think does take longer with more people, it’s still a really good multi-player experience and solo game.

Buy on CoolStuffInc

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. I’ll be streaming next week but then a week off for Thanksgiving and Top 10 will be on December 1st.

Now, I did say I wanted to talk about my streaming times. Through the Top 100 list, I am going to keep my 8 PM Central time on Wednesdays for streaming. However, this might be changing. A channel that I like to watch and be part of their live chat, the GloryHoundd channel is adjusting their schedule. And I know I have crossover viewers from their channel. If they take that 8 PM Central Wednesday spot, I might look at making my main streaming day on Monday. Be aware that change may come.

But what game do you like best out of this part of the Top 100? Are there any that you want to get to the table that you haven’t played in this bunch?

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