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

So what are these games, we have three different roll and write games all from the same series of game and all with some similar mechanics. In all of the games you are rolling six dice and then using them to fill in areas on your sheet in classic roll and write style. Also in all of them you are picking one die, and using it in it’s color, except for white which is wild, then getting rid of all the dice lower, rolling again, and doing that until you have used three dice. Then on your opponents turn, of the three dice they didn’t use, you get to use one of those, and if you can’t, you get to use any die they ended with. In all the games there are also plus ones which allow you to use an extra die after any round, or rerolls which allow you to reroll all the dice on your turn.

Ganz Schon Clever

The older of the three siblings, this game is pretty straight forward. You are basically crossing off spots based off of a number, or filling in numbers that then score points for you. Where this game shines is that it is pretty combo focused which is great because as you fill in spots, it then allows you to fill in other spots and you can potentially chain it pretty long. The rules are pretty straight forward with the most complicated thing being that you need to remember to add the blue and white die together whenever looking at the blue section, and that the purple section counts up so you always need to be greater but a six resets it. It’s not complex stuff, but those two rules compared to filling in everything else are the most complex.

Doppelt So Clever

The second one in the line is probably the most complex of them. It has a section with grey where if you fill in the grey section you take all the lower rolled dice and fill them in as well, so having a high grey can be good, but also can mean that you lose too many dice. So it adds in an ability to get dice back. That is something additional to keep track of, but not that complex, you just have a few things to pay attention to. The yellow section is also tricky, using a yellow die once means that you circle the spot which can help you get bonuses, but you have to cross off spots in yellow, using that same spot a second time, which will give you points but not a bonus again. Overall, everything is just a bit more complex to think about. The blue section still has you adding blue and white together, but it is always decreasing or equal to with no resetting, so you need to plan that out carefully. Green is all about getting a high die and then a low die as you score the difference between the two spots you fill in, and pink gives you points for the number you put down, but rewards if you put down numbers that meet the criteria. Definitely much more to think about.

Clever Hoch Drei

This one I find a bit easier than Doppelt So Clever, but closer to it, in it’s complexity, than Ganz Schon Clever. This one you have a green section that is filled in by looking at how many dice you have used of the same number, plus that die, and filling in the column with that number. There is a brown section that allows you to go as far to the right on it as you want to fill in a number, but you can never go back. There blue section has you either building up or down from a central number and resetting it on a seven, but it always has to go up or down by one. And the pink section either gives you a bonus, or you can multiply your number for the dice when scoring it. This one adds in a mechanic where instead of getting a die back, you can unlock numbers to change the die face to when you are putting it on the player board, but you don’t actually flip the die.

The Fight

Normally I’d do some comparison, but I’ve kind of already done that at the top and talking about each I’m talking about the differences for them. I think the biggest thing with all of these games, besides them being similar in how they work is that they all are roll and writes that focus on getting combos. I love to be able to use a plus one to fill in a spot that will then fill in another spot and then hopefully chain even one further.

This fight itself is seeing a lot of mirror moves from Ganz Schon Clever, Doppelt So Clever, and Clever Hoch Drei. They really are doing the same thing, but Ganz Schon Clever gets knocked down and out of the ring as Doppelt So Clever and Clever Hoch Drei are just faster and showing off more complex variations. Those two go at it with Clever Hoch Drei getting ahead by pulling off more combos faster and chaining together more moves, Doppelt So Clever on the other hand seems to be trying to get some really complex moves in there. They both are wearing each other down and Ganz Schon Clever comes back from where they’ve been lying outside by the ring and pushes Doppelt So Clever out of the ring. It hits the late game combos on Clever Hock Drei, and goes for the pin…

And the Winner is

Ganz Schon Clever

I will say that I really like all of these. I think that they are interesting and creative games that keep something similar throughout but still offer up great challenges. Ganz Schon Clever is just a little bit simpler, and I think that works well for all groups where as something like Doppelt So Clever feels like it’s two steps beyond that and for some people might not work as well. I also think that Ganz Schon Clever has a slight advantage for me because it should play faster since there is less going on. I really do love them all, I think they are really clever and interesting games.

Which is your favorite of the three?

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