124-101

100 – 76

Unplayed Board Games 75 -51

75: HEXplore It: The Forest of Adrimon

Yes, this moved up slightly. Mainly because I missed it and I didn’t want to go back and adjust it a few spots. But I do think it could be higher. HEXplore It is an adventure style game, so one that I think I’ll like. And the Forest of Adrimon is supposed to be one of the easier to get into. It has some feel like another game that will be on another list in that it’s an RPG but a board game.

74: Formula D

Racing games, I’ve really been digging them lately. And in general I’ve liked them. I have TItans Race which I enjoy as a silly racing game. And Downforce which is amazing for racing and betting. But Formula D is the most involved and I really want to give it a whirl. I think doing something that simulates racing a bit more might be cool, though possibly slower in terms of game play.

73: Arkham Horror 3rd Edition

I am surprised how far down Arkham Horror 3rd Edition is. I like Arkham Horror 2nd Edition but I got rid of it because it is too long. So I suspect I’m going to like this version of it as well, and a shorter play time. So I need to get it to the table. But I think because it is familiar and because I have games like Arkham Horror The Card Game and Mansions of Madness, I feel like I might not need to play this as soon,

72: Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar

I bought this one when it was cheap at Target. Well, the price hasn’t changed, but the version of the game now at Target is a cheaper one, and I think smaller. This is when shipping was backed up so Target bought a bunch of Restoration Games’ stock. This is going to be a good and silly time. But I just need to find the time to play it. I don’t think game play will last too long for it.

71: Everdell

Everdell for a lot of people, I’d guess, is higher on the list. I know this is a well loved game, and the tableau and engine building it looks to offer seems great. Plus then the artwork is amazing on the game. I definitely notice that I’m a big fan of engine building games, and ones where they have some of those more euro mechanics to them as well. It’s lower for me just because it is a bit less thematic.

70: The Table Is Lava

This is a silly game. The Table Is Lava has you throwing cards onto the table, placing down meeples to get points. But when you throw you try and knock down other peoples meeples which is hilarious to me. I’m going to turn off the fan in the game room when I play this one because that might interfere with throwing cards. Should just bust this one and have a good time with it some game night.

69: Star Wars: Unlock!

The last of the escape room style games that I own. It’s higher than the Lovecraftian themed one just because of theme and being three games in one box. My wife and I need to play these because we both like Star Wars. And after the Olympics and before Moon Knight comes out, it’d give us something to do for a few weeks. I’ve heard they aren’t too challenging, but it’s still Star Wars, so I’m sure it’ll be fun.

68: Cockroach Poker

And a small game in Cockroach Poker, this is almost a classic filler game, if not one, at this point. You either tell the truth about the card you pass or you lie. And you don’t want to get sets. If you call the persons bluff and they were telling the truth, you get the card. If you can call and they were lying, they get the card. Or you can peek at it and pass telling the next person who you think it is. Clever idea, seems like it should be fun with the right groups.

67: Drawn to Adventure

By the name Drawn to Adventure might sound like a roll and write, and it is a roll and write. It’s about adventuring the best that you can. And you do it over several maps. The production is great, but one thing keeps it down the list a bit. The several maps makes me wonder how long the game will take. If it’s interesting enough, it being a bit longer won’t be bad, but we’ll have to see.

66: Matcha

This is a little card game that I don’t know a ton about. But I like the tea theme and I like the aesthetic. So why so high on the list? It seems to do some things that I like, and it’s a two player game. That makes it easier to get to the table. I like set collection and hand management. It’ll be interesting to see how the bluffing works.

65: Mariposas

A couple games about butterflies on the list, but only one on this section. Mariposas is about generations of butterflies flying up north and then returning back to the south for the winter. I like the idea and it’ll be interesting to see how it goes over. The pieces are solid and the mechanics seems simple enough. It’s more about the puzzle of getting as far north as you can but then being able to go fast south again.

64: Tannhauser

A grail game for me, Tannhauser is lower on the list, just because I think it might take me a bit to learn. But I love the World War II theme of it, plus a bit of a weird world setting as well. Plus, it’s another game that Sam Healey was a big fan of, and like I said, his and my tastes generally match pretty well. It’s hard to find, though, because it’s out of print, so I’m glad to just own it.

63: Air, Land, and Sea

A little lane battling two player card game. I actually have this one sitting at work waiting to get played. Probably will happen next week. It’s a short little game where you deploy out troops to try and win three different theaters of war, air, land, and sea. I don’t know that it’ll be my go to two player game, but it’d be nice to have on in the mix.

62: Shakespeare

A Euro game at the middle of the list, Shakespeare is about putting on a play. You do different rehearsals, build sets, get actors, and get costumes to do the best performance possible. It’s been in my collection for a while, but I don’t want to get rid of it. Even with the fact it’s a euro, I like the theme a lot. And I( think that it’ll be a puzzle that works for me.

61: Foodies

Foodies is one of three games that I own where you roll dice and everyone can do something. Space Base, higher on this list, and My Farm Shop, already played, are the other two. I previously have owned Machi Koro, and I want to buy Machi Koro Legacy when I have a group for it. It’s a mechanic that I like, but will Foodies beat out My Farm Shop? And could Space Base beat out both of them?

60: Papillon

Another butterfly game, and this one is higher, slightly because the aesthetic is cooler. Plus, I like some of how the game works. You build out different patches of flowers, trying to close them off then place butterflies on locations And those locations are an area control/majority battle. So the game seems really cool and offers different areas to focus on for strategy. Diversify across all flowers to get some points in a lot of spot. Or go for a lot of points in a few spots.

59: Valor & Villainy: Minions of Mordak

This is another one versus all game like Descent. But this one is newer and I’m getting the campaign or legacy version of this via Kickstarter with Lludwick’s Labyrinth. I do want to try this version as well as both the villain and the heroes and see how it plays. Mechanically I think it is interesting and I like the leveling up that you do in just a single scenario.

58: Flick of Faith

Two dexterity games now in a row. Flick of Faith reminds me a bit of Sonora, but just with flicking being the focus of it versus the roll and write aspect. You flick discs trying to get control of certain spots. And you have bigger discs that are harder to knock out of the way. And then there are god powers that change up how you play the game each round.

57: Rhino Hero Super Battle

The other dexterity game is about stacking. Three on this section of the list with The Table Is Lava. And this one definitely needs the fan off as you try and be at the top of the tower, or at least the highest up when it topples over. Unless, you knock it over, and then everyone else wins. Simple game, but I like simple and fun dexterity games.

56: Doodle Dungeon

Doodle Dungeon is a roll and write game, but the biggest box I have, well, up there with Sonora, and I own the Railroad Ink big box. But this is a dungeon crawling or creating game, which I think leans into the Boss Monster side of things. We aren’t the heroes, we’re the monsters in the dungeon trying to stop heroes. I need to look into this one more, but I think it’s going to feel like a much bigger game than a normal roll and write.

55: The Bloody Inn

A game with a morbid theme but one that seems like a lot of fun. In The Bloody Inn, you run an inn. But you find out that it’s more lucrative to kill off the people staying there, hide their bodies, and take their money. Who can do that the best, and will the police crack down on you? Card game but one that the theme while morbid is also funny.

54: Wingspan

Wingspan is not a game that I thought I’d own. But a friend got an extra copy, so we traded games. And I do think that I’ll like Wingspan. It’s a tableau building game about bird watching. That theme isn’t that interesting to me, but everyone seems to love the game. Family weight plus game, it might work well for a lot of groups. I am excited to try it for that reason.

53: Welcome To New Las Vegas

Another roll and write, we have four on this chunk of the list, one more to come. And Welcome To New Leas Vegas is a harder. That’s kept it on my shelf. One thing that I like about it’s predecessor Welcome To, is that it’s easy to play. I can teach that game to basically anyone. But will this one be too hard for my group. I need to try it and see.

52: Welcome to Dino World

The other roll and write is Welcome to Dino World. I like the idea of a dinosaur park. I didn’t grow up watching Jurassic Park and the sequels, but the concept is still fun. This one looks like a good time and you can have dinosaurs escape which every good dinosaur park should have happen. Because I’ll never ask if it should be done, just if it can be.

51: Camel Up

Final game is another racing game. Camel Up is kind of a classic at this point in time. Mainly because the game is goofy. You bet on who wins and the earlier you bet on it, the more you can win. But it’s hard to know who can win. The camels, as they race, stack. And the camel on top is in the lead. But if a camel on the bottom moves, they move the stack. So a camel can get lucky, move up to land on someone and then bound ahead again when that came moves.

Final Thoughts

We definitely had a few bigger games this time. And four roll and writes. But we’re still not to the big ones yet. The top 25, for sure, will be a lot of big games. And I do think that the roll and writes will be played on this section of the list. Plus some of the games like Matcha and Air, Land and Sea should be easy to get to the table.

Which game would you want to play on this section of the list? Which one should I play first?

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This is going to be a list article, with all my unplayed games ranked. But before I dive into that, I want to talk about some of the terms that I just used. Mainly shelf of shame and shelf of opportunity. They are the same term phrased in different ways. Let’s dive into them and then the big list of games to play.

Shelf of Shame vs Shelf of Opportunity

This is a term that I’ve heard thrown around for a few years now. The idea that games on your shelf have this title. First off, I think this is kind of silly. Games that you haven’t played don’t have a special spot in existence. Now, maybe they do have a special spot on your shelf, but they aren’t held in any sort of light. They are just a board game.

But the first term I heard is Shelf of Shame. The idea behind this is that you feel bad since you haven’t played all your games. This is silly. I go back to my talk about collection versus a hobby. Know what you have on your shelf. For me, board games are a collection and a hobby. That means it’s fine to not get to every game quickly. They are part of my collection. But I play them, as they are part of my hobby as well, and hobbies get used or worked on.

Then came the term Shelf of Opportunity. Shelf of Shame is very negative, and opportunity sounds much better. But I, again, find this not much better. Yes, they are games that you play eventually. And yes, it spins it in a positive light. But both terms keep a focus on the fact the games aren’t played.

What Do I Call Them?

I call them what they are. Board games to be played. A board game is just an object. In labeling them either way, it places power on that object. Yes, one puts it in the light of a game being an opportunity for something new, and new exciting opportunities are good. But it leaves the pressure on actually playing the game.

Like I said, I play games. I buy games. Board Games are a collection and a hobby for me. I own games that might take a long time to get played. Campaign games where I play one at a time or two, and I am already playing two. Those wait for when I have time, and that is okay. I feel like the label places a cloud, no matter what label, over the games, and in the end of the day, games are just games.

If I never play a game in my collection and it collects dust for five years. I shouldn’t feel bad about leaving that opportunity out there. I most definitely shouldn’t feel shame. It is a game and I play games. So I play other games and not the game that is sitting there. I am still enjoying the hobby without playing every game I own.

So Why Write This Out?

I gave myself a challenge at the beginning of the year. Not because I feel guilt about games that I haven’t played. But because it is fun to play games. And I want to play games, I want to experience new games, and I want to cover new games.

For me, my challenge isn’t to get all the games off the shelf. It isn’t because I feel like I miss out on an opportunity. And I care not about shame from it. For me it’s about trying new things and almost making a game out of it. If I don’t make it by the end of the year, I don’t care. I play these for fun.

Unplayed Board Game List

Let’s Talk About the List

124 Games on it, and my goal is to get it down below 100 by the end of the year. You add in a bunch of Kickstarter games coming in, and you can see why it is a big list and also a challenge. And of course, then, there are campaign games on the list. If we look at campaign style games, I think we’re sitting at 14 on the list. And that is a lot of games to play through a campaign of, so that isn’t going to happen. Though, with Sleeping Gods coming off the list to start the year, it will some over on Malts and Meeples.

There are also some kids games on the list. Right now, I don’t think I will play those this year. Monza looks fun, but the toddler isn’t quite ready for it. But the toddler is also three, so who knows, maybe by the end of the year, we can play those games a bit more. But right now I’m not expecting to.

I also think it’s important to note that a lot of big games are at the top. Those are the ones that I’m most excited to play and cover. And some of them should be getting played soon. Probably after this weekend I’ll be lining up a time to get started playing Roll Player Adventures.

To go along with that, there are a lot of solo games as well. I could play, in the top 20, around 75% of them solo and some of them are solo only games. So I need to start knocking those out first, because they are high on my list. That won’t be how I get under 100, though.

Final Thoughts

I think that it is fine to challenge yourself to play your unplayed games. I think it is fine to limit how many unplayed games you own. When that becomes the focus or the obsession, I think that is when we start to lose the focus on what we are doing. Or when tie to it other emotions, like shame.

When I see people post about clearing their shelf of shame, I am sure it feels good for them. But on the flip side, in the comments, you see people feeling guilty about their unplayed games. I am not that way. I don’t feel guilt over that. And you shouldn’t either.

This is an odd article, I wanted to talk more about the games, and I will soon. But before I could do that, I think it is import to talk about the shame or guilt that can be thrown around in the hobby. Not always intentionally malicious but always harmful.

Also, let me know what game you think I need to try first. What is your favorite on the list that I have too low, or that you know I would like or should try?

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Miniature Market Order

If you want to go to a board game shop with really good online sales, Miniature Market is the best I’ve found so far. Granted, it is an issue, because well, board games. But let’s see what I order this time.

Horizon Zero Dawn

I finally took the plunge on this game. I wanted to back it it when it was on Kickstarter, but the all in for Horizon Zero Dawn was a lot. Then I heard, when it came out that the game was good, but there wasn’t enough in the base box. Now with even more reviews coming out and more reviewers I knows talking about it. I am back to being very interested in it.

Plus the expansions, or at least some of them, are available. So if really like the game, I can get expansions. If I don’t like the game, well, I suspect I’ll like the minis. We’ll need to see, the game might just make me want to get back to playing the video game. I have too many video games that I really need to get played. Horizon: Zero Dawn, and The Witcher are the top two.

Cockroach Poker

We go from a big box to a small box with Cockroach Poker. I knew about this game, but not how to play it until I watched an anime actually. It shows up in Afterschool Dice Club, and the game looks fun. Plus the game looks like a fun filler. The person who is it passes a card to the next person telling them what is on the card. But that could be a lie. The person either can look at it and pass it to the next person saying what it is. Or call the persons bluff. If they call their bluff, and they lied, it goes back to that person. If they are telling the truth, it goes in front of the person who called their bluff.

The concept is simple. And I like that for a filler game. But the game itself seems fun. When do you bluff, when you do not? You are trying to not get four of a bug in front of you. So if it is something you don’t want to get do you tell the truth, or do you lie and hope it gets passed on one further? The game play feels clever to me.

Detective: Signature Series – Petty Officers

Of course I’m going to get more Detective. I love the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game system that Portal has created. And Petty Officers looks great. It isn’t about a Petty Officer as in the military, it is about pet detectives. I don’t know how that will work, but I’m excited to see. And I really liked the Dig Deeper case from the signature line. I think that it is a fun way to get a lot of different stories into the game.

Final Girl: Feature Film – Slaughter in the Groves

And this is the other reason that I’m talking about Final Girl in the title. I found one of the feature film boxes in the wild. But of course, I haven’t been able to find the core box. I am constantly checking for it on Miniature Market and CoolStuffInc and other sites. Because I’d love to get that and get the game to the table sooner versus waiting for the Kickstarter to fulfill. This is just another horror movie to be played through. I know I will eventually collect them all.

All Systems Go

My boss game me a gift card for the holidays to my favorite board game shop. And I had a bunch of games to trade in with them. That was part of the big point of sale I did a little bit ago. But when I brought in the trade, I did pick up a game, and a big one at that.

Marvel Champions: Vision

But let’s start small. The latest expansion, Vision, is out for Marvel Champions. All Systems Go knows to set aside a copy for me every time. I always say I need to play this game more, and I really do. Because there are so many characters and villains out now that I need to play against. I have everything sorted, I just need to throw stuff together to play again.

That might be another goal I give myself this year. When I sort characters into my big boxes to pull out a villain and face them off against it. That way I can play through more characters, even if I do only play them that one time right away.

Sea of Legends

This is the big game that I got. And it is a big game because it was a Kickstarter. And the game comes with an expansion box as big as a game. Another one that I almost backed on Kickstarter. But I am glad that I didn’t. When the game delivered, the app it uses, wasn’t ready to go. So it really wasn’t playable. It sounds like the rule book has issues as well.

All of those things are a negative. But I have heard that the game is good when you play it. When it is working right it is a lot of fun, and it sounds like it is working right now. Plus the game does some cool things. Each player picks a Captain, Lover, and Nemesis. And you enter that into the app and that determines how story in the game unfolds. It reminds me, in concept, of Merchants and Marauders, but with even more.

Kickstarter

Final Girl: Season 2

I already spoiled it that Final Girl is on the list. The question is, what did I back for it? So, I wasn’t sure what I was going to back. I originally did an a la carte option where I could get the core box and add on a few of the feature film boxes. But then Van Ryder Games made my job easier. I don’t care about some things like minis, or other odd extras that the game has. Yes, it makes it more thematic, but I don’t want them.

Instead, what they gave me was the game play option. That is all five feature films for season two. Now, I need a core box as well. But I could add that on, which, I did. And that is cheaper than getting everything separately. It is cheaper than getting stuff in the big bundle which has things like minis in it. If I cared more about the minis, I’d get them. But this is a solo game. I don’t feel like I need minis for it.

Which is Most Exciting?

Let me know in the comments below which of these games would you want to play first?

For me, I think I want to get Horizon Zero Dawn played the most. I can play that one solo. And while it is a bigger game, I will likely make weekend time to get it played. The aesthetic of the game is just so cool, and I think I’m going to dig it. I know there are some weird things about the them. For example, you shoot and kill a monster across the board, the loot drops next to you. Thematically doesn’t make sense. But makes it nicer to just pick up something.

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As a quick recap, this is the story about a socially awkward girl who feels like she’s different than everyone else and can’t have fun, but then she meets a new student at her school who pulls her into adventures which ends up with them finding their student council president working at a board game store and they start to learn about board games.

In episode #2, they are back in school and excited to try out a new game that their student council president has brought with her. But they notice that another student is staring at them. So Aya, the new student, invites him to join in playing the game of Cockroach Poker. She doesn’t realize that he’s interested in her and that’s why he was watching them, and she’s not that great at bluffing, which is needed for cockroach poker. Then, in the end, Aya reads it all wrong and thinks that he’s interested in Midori, the student council president, which confuses him even more.

Let’s talk a bit about the episode before I talk more about the game and some thoughts on that. I think that the anime still hasn’t hit it’s pace. It’s very much a slice of life anime, but it’s kind of a background slice of anime. It isn’t one that leans too heavily into the humor that you can get from a lot of slice of life anime, so you don’t have to fully follow to catch all of the jokes. This is definitely a weakness of the anime, because you can miss some of what is going on in the show, because it isn’t attention grabbing enough.

On the other hand, I think that it is doing a good job of showing off what I love about board games. It branches out and brings people who might not be together into a single group. To me, that’s one of the things that I love about board games. And I think it does a good job of showing how board games can help you process with real life things or, in the case of this episode, how real life things can influence how you play a board game, because the guy was trying really hard not to beat Aya or cause her to lose anyways, and how playing with someone you like can affect how you play a game.

Let’s talk some about Cockroach Poker. It’s a gross sounding game, and you have bugs that you are playing and lying about. Or you might be trying to tell the truth. But on a person’s turn, they are playing a bug card face down and then telling another player that it is either the bug that it is, or lying about it and saying it’s another bug. The person then either guesses that you are lying or not, or if they don’t know, they pass, look at the card and then present it to another player, either saying the same bug or a different one. But if you are caught lying or called out for telling the truth, you get the card in front of you, but if you are telling the truth and the person thought you were lying or vice-a-versa, they get the card. You are trying to not be the first person to get four of a single bug, or one of all eight bugs. This game actually seems pretty interesting to me in terms of a bluffing game. It’s a simple enough one and easy to teach. That said, I feel like bluffing games have a limited appeal, because while most people can understand the concept of bluffing, if you aren’t good at bluffing, it makes a game like this harder to play. I’m okay at bluffing, generally better after two drinks, but I don’t think this game would be everyone’s cup of tea.

Overall, I’m still thinking this anime has more that it can offer. I do really enjoy that it’s teaching about board games and bringing them into the public eye more. Now, it is anime, so it is fairly niche, but overall, I’m sure that it’ll introduce more people to the variety of games that are out there and they have done a good job of having simple but different games than people would know. I’m hoping that it can build into more of an anime with a bit of a story instead of being so separate, I know that’s not what all slice of life anime does, but I think this would benefit from it, because it isn’t quite funny enough just to have completely stand alone episodes.

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