Catch Up on the Top 100 Games

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61
60 through 51

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition – 50 through 41

50. Welcome To…

Published By: Blue Cocker Games
Designer: Benoit Turpin

Buy Welcome To

This one is a classic roll and write style game. I really like the decision space for Welcome To… of deciding what goals to go after and what combination of cards to write down on your board. The three choices of number and bonus works really well and has been fun in other games in the system, but the classic Welcome To is the best still.

49. The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth

Published By: Repos Productions
Designers: Antoine Bauze and Bruno Cathala

Buy The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth

Now, I like this and 7 Wonders Duel very similarly, but only one is staying in my collection and that is going to be the Lord of the Rings one. But both do similar things and are great games. This one, I find, cleans up some things like no end game scoring. And while I find the end game without the win in one of the three game ends if you get them situations isn’t 100% satisfying, going for those other goals is great. And they most of the time do pull of the win with them whether that’s getting the ring to Mordor or getting support from the various groups.

48. Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Published By: Days of Wonder
Designers: Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pederson

Buy Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Not my favorite racing game, but Heat: Pedal to the Metal is up there. I really like how the game works pretty quickly, so it has that racing feel, but you still make a lot of meaningful decisions in it. Heat is all about managing the heat on your engine so that you can push the corners at the right time. But the more heat you get, the more it clogs up your hand and then you need to back off and let the engine cool down. It’s just a clever and enjoyable system that’s easy enough to teach and gives you a great racing feel.

47. Ohanami

Published By: Pandasaurus Games
Designer: Steffan Benndorf

Buy Ohanami

Ohanami and the next game on the list are the two smallest ones. Ohanami is a great game for pulling out and playing a round or two of when you want a simple game to play. But it offers some fun with the twist that it provides on scoring and how you need to set-up the cards into the columns as you draft them. The drafting and adding always needing to be higher or lower than the top or bottom card in a column, at least if you want to play them, is fun as well. It’s not that common for someone to be stuck without something to play, but if you make that happen it’s fun.

46. Mind Up!

Published By: Pandasaurus Games
Designer: Maxime Rambourg

Buy Mind Up!

Mind Up! is another one of those games that just really works for me. There is so much luck in the game as you try and get the cards that you want, it kind of feels like it shouldn’t work. But at the same time, you always have a decision to make that matters and just enough knowledge. The fact that the order of the cards and how you want to fill in to get points changes each round while the cards in your hand don’t as much is a really fun system. Because, yes, I am guessing what is going to work to get the card I wanted, but I might remember a little what you have.

45. Schadenfreude

Published By: Studio Turbine
Designer: ctr

Buy Schadenfreude

I guess Schadenfreude is the third small game on the list. But it’s a pretty different game because it’s a trick taking game and it’s a trick taking game that does some really interesting things. Mainly it’s about not flying too close to the sun and getting burned as you try and get points. You get points and lose points based off of what is played into the trick that doesn’t match your suit. The other piece is you want to get as close as you can to 40 points. If you go over and everyone who goes over, that causes you to lose. But someone has to because that determines the end of the game.

44. The Great Split

Published By: Horrible Guild
Designers: Hjalmar Hach and Lorenzo Silva

Buy The Great Split

I like the mechanisms of “I split, you choose” in games, one of my favorite two player games has that in it. And The Great Split is primarily that in a game. Each round you are splitting up your hand of cards and then your opponent on the left picks one of them. You are doing that at the same time with the cards passed to you. Everyone is trying to optimize the contracts that they are getting the points from the various arts they are getting. But at it’s heart, the game is “I split, you choose” and it just works.

43. ICECOOL

Published By: Brain Games
Designer: Brian Gomez

Buy ICECOOL

Two dexterity games in a row and my two favorite dexterity games. First is ICECOOL, this is a game that was around my Top 10 for a long time because it’s just a simple but fun game. It’s been passed as my favorite by the other because that one has more customization.

ICECOOL is all about either being a penguin sneaking out of class to get fish or the hall monitor who is trying to catch them. The flicking works well and the ability to jump the penguin over walls is fun, assuming you don’t jump too far. Plus the box set-up and how it comes together is really fast and fun.

42. PitchCar

Published By: Ferti
Designer: Jean du Poel

Pre-Order PitchCar

PitchCar is the other dexterity game of the two and the one that I like just little bit better. PitchCar is another racing game as well,. This one is about flicking race cars, discs, around a track and being the first to cross the finish. It’s another game that is very simple to play but so fun. And this one gets the nod because of the track and how you make as hard or easy a track as you want. Do you want a loop or an overpass, you can do that, or you can just play with straightaways and some turns if you want the game to be faster.

41. Metal Gear Solid

Published By: CMON Global Lmtd
Designer: Emerson Matsuuchi

Buy Metal Gear Solid

Finally we have Metal Gear Solid a game that took a while to come out, but that is so worth it. Metal Gear Solid is a cooperative game where you want to sneak around as much as go in guns blazing. And that element is a blast for the game because it makes it feel different than a lot of games with minis. I like that the game also has a campaign, which I need to play, and one off scenarios that you can try and complete. And to add to that, while the enemy movement takes a moment to understand, the player turns are streamlined really well.

Join Next Week

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

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

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Catch up on previous videos here

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61
60 through 51
50 through 41
40 through 31
30 through 21

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – 20 through 11

20. Heat: Pedal to the Metal

• Published by Days of Wonder in 2022
• Fly around the track and manage your engine so it doesn’t over heat to win the race

This is a great racing game. It is a nice blend of simplicity. You play cards equal to the gear that you are in for your movement. But also some complexity as you need to be smart with how you handle the curves, straightaways, how much you push your engine and when you cool it down. That cooling down part of the game is great as it really makes a difference in how you play and when you push it. Plus there are modules you use, like drafting some cards for your deck, that make the game even more fun, or you can do a series of races which is also great.

Buy Heat: Pedal to the Metal

19. Planet Unknown

• Published by Adam’s Apple Games in 2022
• Terraform your planet and increase your technology better than your opponents can

Planet Unknown is a polyomino game where you are terraforming a planet. You can play it in the basic mode where everyone is doing the same planet and same tech track, or you can do unique planets and tech tracks. I love the unique ones and I think that’s the way to go after the first game. But Planet Unknown has more than just laying out tiles, how you decide which tile is picked for you is amazing. Whomever is the leader that round turns a lazy susan full of tiles and whatever one is pointing to where you pick from, those are your options. So you can stick someone with something or sometimes get the perfect thing.

Buy Planet Unknown

18. Clank! In! Space!

• Published by Dire Wolf in 2017
• Race through a spaceship but don’t try and make too much noise as you grab a treasure and get out

This is a push your luck deckbuilding game, and I enjoy both of those elements to the game. I find that pure push your luck doesn’t always work for me, but add in deckbuilding a mechanism I love, it’s great. You build up your deck to move and grab a treasure, fight monsters, and buy more cards that are worth points. But you also need to be aware of how noisy you are. If you’re too noisy the villain, Lord Eradikus will start drawing out your cubes, if you clank, and dealing damage to you. And you might not make it out before you die.

Buy Clank! In! Space!

17. ISS Vanguard

• Published by Awaken Realms in 2022
• Explore a new solar system while you manage your crew and your ship

ISS Vanguard is a big campaign game and one that I’ve played on Malts and Meeples. Not the whole way through, but far enough to give you an idea of how it plays. The game is interesting because it plays over two parts. Part of the game is exploring planets and discovering why humanity was called out to this location in the stars. The other part is managing your ship. I was worried that managing your ship wouldn’t feel important, but it’s a great element to the game and makes it feel even more thematic.

Buy ISS Vanguard

16. Vampire the Masquerade: CHAPTERS

• Published by Flyos Games in 2023
• Enter a world of vampires and darkness as you play across missions and try and figure out what is happening in Montreal

Chapters is choose your own adventure RPG in a box. I love how it gives you this great story filled with depth and grit. And it also gives you tactical combat and dice chucking. It feels like a great blend of things that I love in board games and in RPG’s. The story is well written and while there are definitely issues with it there is an app that should be helping fix that and an upgrade pack for it. But even without that, the game is fun, and the app is free so the few spots it’s really busted should be fixed. Plus, I want to play a dark vampire game, and this gives me that in spades.

Buy Vampire: the Masquerade – CHAPTERS

15. Metal Gear Solid

• Published by CMON in 2024/2025
• Sneak around the base and battle only when you need to complete missions

Yes, there is a game on my list that isn’t out yet. Spoilers, there might be another one as well coming up in my Top 10. But that is because I’ve gotten to play the final version of the game and I feel like I’ve had enough time with it. I love this game as it’s a tactical minis game where you can fight. But fighting generally is going to be noisy and messy and you’ll be swarmed. When that happens, well, it’s probably game over for you. So instead you need to be smart, sneak around, and try and avoid the guards the best you can or lose them. All while being a pretty simple game to play.

Coming Soon

14. Lost Ruins of Arnak

• Published by Czech Games Edition in 2020
• Explore the lands, find treasure, fight monsters and discover what adventure awaits you

Lost Ruins of Arnak is a deckbuilding game. It is a worker placement game, and it’s a exploring adventure game. For me all of those elements come through. And I love the puzzle of trying to manage your two workers you get place, knowing when and where to place them, buying cards, and risking fighting monsters. Because you need to do it all, and the game isn’t that long in terms of how many rounds it is. But if you’re smart, you can stretch it out for a lot of points and a lot of chaining actions. The Expedition Leaders even adds more fun to the game and more variability as well which I love.

Buy Lost Ruins of Arnak

13. XenoShyft Onslaught

• Published by CMON in 2015
• The base is under attack by bugs, you need to build up your defenses and work together to defeat them

I think I’m the champion of XenoShyft, but I really like the game. It’s another deckbuilding game, but it’s a cooperative one. And I think that cooperative element and how incredibly interactive the cooperation is, that is what makes the game stand out to me. Plus it does a clever thing where you’re never drawing dead with money, so you can always buy cards and bolster up your defenses. Because everyone needs to be able to defend their side of the base so the bugs don’t overrun it.

Out of Print, but you can find it on eBay

12. Marvel Champions

• Published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2019
• Heroes battle villains in this Marvel Superhero game

I love Marvel, we all know that. And Marvel Champions is one of my favorite, if not my favorite Marvel themed game. What I love about this one is that you feel like you are the hero. And not only that, you need to think about being the hero but balancing that with the alter ego. If you stay in hero form the bad guy will beat you up and probably take you out. But if you are in the alter ego side, they don’t know who you are, so they’ll go back to completing their scheme. And that’s not great as well because you can’t blow your cover in alter ego form.

Buy Marvel Champions

11. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

• Published by Portal Games in 2018
• Take on the role of detectives and work together, take the notes, and try and solve the cases

Detective for me is my favorite deduction game. I like deduction a lot, but Detective just makes it really immersive. In the box I’m showing it has five cases that all connect into something big and impressive. And you use information that you took notes on from one case and use it in another. I think by the end of all five cases I had between 12 and 15 pages of notes that we’d look back at. And it uses a computer system as well to let you do things like compare DNA, interview witnesses, and more. The game is just this great thematic detective game for me.

Buy Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule. It’s not just all my Top 100 Games (of all time).

• Monday night, time varies, I play different small solo games, though I might be looking to start up a campaign again. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to continue my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition. There is one week left, which is going to be two Wednesdays out. After that I’m planning on doing some look back and look ahead videos and smaller solo games or things like Balatro and Slay the Spire.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

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Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
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Catch up on my Top 100 Games (of all Time) 2023 Edition:

100 through 91

90 through 81

80 through 71

70 through 61

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

60. Five Tribes

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

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

Buy Five Tribes

59. Mesozooic

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

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

Buy Mesozooic

58. Res Arcana

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

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

Buy Res Arcana

57. Tesseract

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

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

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

Buy Tesseract

56. Potion Explosion

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

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

Buy Potion Explosion

55. Forest Shuffle

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

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

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

Preorder Forest Shuffle

54. Grove: A 9 card solitaire game

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

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

Buy Grove

53. Century: Golem Edition

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

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

Buy Century: Golem Edition

52. Arboretum

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

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

Buy Arboretum

51. Cthulhu: Death May Die

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

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

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

Buy Cthulhu: Death May Die

Upcoming Streams

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

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

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

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Top 20 Board Games on my Wish List

20. Sagrada Artisans

Yup, things can be on this and other lists. So I’ll go over them quickly. This is a legacy roll and write game based off of Sagrada. I played Sagrada again recently and I really do enjoy it, to me it’s a pretty relaxing game to play. And I want to know what the legacy version does. And how many years it should take to play is also a big question. The Sagrada Familia is still being built which is why I make that joke. But I like the stained glass theme so I’m excited for it and I like the dice drafting.

19. Planet Unknown

One that I wish I’d backed on Kickstarter, Planet Unknown is a game of picking tiles and placing them onto your planet to terraform it the best. Terraforming a planet is a common theme, but one that I like. The thing that caught my eye is the mechanism of the rotating center board. So when I pick a tile, that means that you are picking the tile that is facing you, or where your marker is. So we are all getting a tile every turn. I think that’s a really clever mechanism because not only do I need to think about what I need, but I need to think about what I am giving you.

18. Aeon’s End Trespass: Odyssey

Do I need another big game? The answer is no, I do not. But this one which is just delivering from Kickstarter looks great. This is one of those pipe dream games where if I can stumble across it local and used and not too expensive I’d buy it. But Aeon’s End Trespass is a massive dungeon crawl adventure game with a lot of minis, you know the drill. The cooperative, soloable and campaign style game that I enjoy.

17. Dice Manor

Also on a list recently, and that is when I added it to my wish list. The game play just looks simple and clever. You either allocate dice to unlocking some more dice, I think, so you have a bigger pool, or to getting tiles, or to putting into your house to score you points. I guess I should explain more. In Dice Manor you are building up a house, and you need to allocate dice of certain numbers to get rooms. If you get that room you add it to your house. So it’s dice allocation mixed with figuring out how you want to put together your house. And then, like I said, using dice in the house to score points. Three pretty simple things that seem to offer really good decisions.

16. Agemonia

You’ll see a lot of these campaign soloable games on the list. Agemonia is another one of them. Though, I don’t think it’s as massive as some of them. Agemonia is one that I almost backed, and I was in for a dollar on it, but I didn’t upgrade it in the pledge manager. It looks like a fun one because the world looks more vibrant and dynamic than a lot of them, in terms of the boards you are playing on.

You might start out in a tavern and then go out into the town to interact with things. And as you do that, you might change what’s at a location so you find a card and put that down. And then you end up with new actions that you can do, all while trying to complete some goals that you need to in a set amount of time. Plus, it’s fantasy but not your standard fantasy, so I really want to get my hands onto this one.

15. The Everrain

This one I maybe shouldn’t have on my list. It’s kind of getting fulfilled now, but the company is in financial trouble, it seems, which doesn’t bode well for my Village Attacks pledge. But Everrain is a sea exploration adventure game. And that just sounds fun to me. As they put up, you have your crew and are building up your crew and ship before you’ll have to face off against a Lovecraftian great old one, which I’m sure is not too difficult at all. And you are exploring in a cooperative gaming experience.

14. Monumental

Like Aeon’s End Trespass this one is a pipes dream to find. Monumental is a deck building, area control, moving people on a map, and did I say deck building game? And it’s been out for a little bit and isn’t in retail. The company is having some issues fulfilling their next one, so I’m not hopeful that there’ll end up with too many in the market. And Monumental is well liked.

The interesting thing with the deck building is that you don’t have a hand of cards. You have a grid of cards and you activate a row or column. Then those cards get wiped and new ones get added in. I want to try the game just for those interesting mechanics. Deck building is a mechanic that I really enjoy, and to see something so different, it makes me want to track it down. But it’s expensive when you can find it.

13. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game

One that I passed at on Gamefound. The game looked decent, it’s supposed to be like Skyrim as a board game. So that means you have a main quest that you are trying to complete but also that you can just go and do a bunch of side quests. It’s not really a dudes on the map game but more of that adventure experience which I enjoy. It’s one that eventually it’ll be back in retail and I’ll get a copy just to experience it. And I’m pretty sure it can be played solo so there is that element that I like as well.

12. Birds of a Feather: Western North America

That’s a long title for a little play out a card and check off stuff on a sheet. You are basically trying to get as many birds that you’ve seen as possible, so bird watching. And there are some interesting rules around it as you see things at the terrain you are at. So if I play down a desert and you play down a desert bird we see both of them. But if everyone else plays down a forest bird, I don’t see them. It’s a clever system. But not all is lost because you can go next round to the forest, if you have a forest bird, and see the ones played previously. Unless someone plays down a predator bird which scares them away. So, like I said, a clever system.

11. Arkeis

Another one previously on a list, but a legacy adventure game. I like that a lot and it’s set in Egypt and almost seems like it’ll have an Indiana Jones vibe to it. If it has that, and they can promise what looked like a not too complex but still very interesting game, I’ll pick this one up on the theme alone.

10. S.H.E.O.L.

I blame Meet Me At The Table for making me want this one. S.H.E.O.L. is a game about a weird future where there are robot monsters and you’re exploring, fighting them, interacting with people and places and it’s again that big campaign, adventure, combat, and solo game that I enjoy. Plus the setting is just different. The aesthetic of the game is basically black and white and it isn’t a bunch of dungeons but ways that you create the paths. The whole thing is just intriguing and hard to find.

9. Heat: Pedal to the Metal

A racing game from Days of Wonder, this one is already out and it’s really interesting to me. It looks like a lighter game than some racing, like Formula D, but also not a betting racing game that a lot of lighter ones are, like Downforce. So I’m really intrigued by this one and people are really liking the game. So I want to give it a try as you balance pushing to go faster without building up too much heat that can clog up your hand and slow you down. A balancing act which I always enjoy that question of when do you push or when do you hold back.

8. Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders

Also on another list. Tidal Blades 2 is a dungeon crawler set in the interesting world of Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef which gives you the story that you are missing in the first game. And from what I can tell, the mechanics are interesting as well. You play out actions and slowly as you get more and more actions out you become more powerful. But then they’ll all get pulled back sometime so you’ll do it again. I like that ebb and flow and that it’s a dungeon crawler without just being a dice chucker.

7. Rove

One coming to Kickstarter this year, Rove is from a designer who did a fan expansion for Gloomhaven. Rove promises a dungeon crawl set in it’s own unique world. I don’t know too much about it beyond that, but I’m very intrigued by it because it’s someone who made a Gloomhaven expansion. Gloomhaven is my favorite game, so I’m hoping that it takes some of things that were learned from making and expansion and adds it to Rove.

6. The Great Split

The Great Split is already out as well, but hard to come by. It’s a game where you are giving your opponent the option between two things and they are doing the same for you. So how do you make it, as you push up tracks based off of what you get, that you get what you want and they don’t get exactly what they want. The game system seems like it is pretty simple but also offers really good decision making. And it’s from Horrible Guild a company who I’ll generally always checkout what they are making.

5. The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era

Yes, it’s a second Elder Scrolls game, this one from Chip Theory Games. And yes, this one is coming to Gamefound this year. So I’ll probably end up backing it. It’s an adventure mini-campaign game that is based off of the Too Many Bones system, a system that I enjoy. And Chip Theory Games tends to make games that interest me. And I mentioned campaign, but did I mention you can play it solo? So even more reason why I’m interested in the game.

4. Hoplomachus: Victorum

Speaking of Chip Theory Games and solo games and campaign games, we have Hoplomachus: Victorum. This builds upon their Hoplomachus system, makes it purely solo and adds in a campaign and leveling as you go. You are a gladiator or fighter going through lands, fighting in arenas, recruiting troops all as you work your way up to face off against your final adversary. Will you be strong enough to defeat them? It’s one that I’m so close to pre-ordering from Chip Theories website, I might have just talked myself into it.

3. Clank!: Catacombs

This is the newest version of Clank! A game that I like all the versions of. Clank!: Catacombs is going to offer one really unique and new feature to go along with the deck building, and that is that the map is modular. So as you delve into the catacombs you are building it out. That sounds like a lot of fun, and I doubt it’ll even mean that I get rid of any of the others. Clank is one of those games that I just want to have a lot of it because whether it is Clank!: Catacombs, Clank!, or Clank! In! Space! I think that it’s going to be a fun time.

2. Stonesaga

Also on a previous list, Stonesaga is a legacy game set in the stone age where you are all working together to build out your civilization. Of course there are some monsters, there are other trials and tribulations that you can go through, and well, I’ve had a chance to playtest it and I had a lot of fun with it. The game really gives you some story of building up your civilization as you play. Without it being too heavy handed in the story elements of the game. I think it has more story than something like Charterstone or My City, but less than a Pandemic Legacy, for example.

1. Rogue Angels

Another one that I’ve already played, though like Stonesaga, which I hadn’t mentioned, just on TTS (Tabletop Simulator). And it’s great on there, but I really want to get my hands onto a prototype and show that off at some point in time. And I’m hoping it can get to Kickstarter or Gamefound this year.

The trick right now for the creator is getting enough eyes on it and getting enough people showing it off. But it’s kind of Mass Effect the board game or that is the designers intent. And I think that comes across. There are missions where you are doing combat, there are missions that just have a specific challenge(s) that you need to complete and everyone feels different.

Then there are mechanics which are so simple, do two actions which are generally playing cards. But when you play down a card it goes in a slot and then cools down over time. So a really good card might take longer to get back into your hand. And there are ways to speed that up, but that probably means that you’re not doing something else useful. Just a fun system with interesting characters and interesting story.

Final Thoughts: What is on Your Wish List?

Let me know what is on your wish list. You can do that down below or over on Twitter. And my wish list isn’t just 20 items. In fact, there is one, Paper Dungeons Expansion that isn’t on the list because expansions were filtered out. And even then my list is 55 items long. Some are in the maybe I’d want to get it category. Others, especially in this Top 20, I’d love to get my hands on them. Of course, time to play them, and money to get them is always a question. But I hope I can end up getting or playing a lot of these.

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May Board Gaming

Paper Dungeons – 10 Plays

This one you can watch over on Malts and Meeples and I’ll put the last video down below. But a dungeon crawl roll and write game. I really like it, and I want more. I want a bigger story, I want different sheets to play off of, more monsters to play around with. And just a few more things to change it up.

Biblios – 4 Plays

Biblios is one that I want to play more of. Four plays were fun and I’ve played it at 2 and 3 players. I want to try it at four sometime. It’s basically a set collection game where you try and get majority in different colors. I like it for that, it has some good choices but is mainly a filler game.

Village Green – 4 Plays

Another one that I believe I played on Malts and Meeples solo in an attempt to “fix” the solo mode. I think I came up with a good way to do that. Mainly, having cards fall off the rows so that the rows change up more as you play the game. Otherwise the solo experience is a bit boring.

Icecool – 3 Plays

Icecool, a game that I am always down to play. I brought it in to work one day and we had fun messing around with it. And all the players had a fun time with it. It’s a nice one as always to just sit around and play and have a laugh with.

Matcha – 3 Plays

Matcha is a fun trick taking game and set collection game. What is really interesting about this game is that some tricks it based off of number and some off of the suit that is played. And the fact that you can win by not winning tricks enough times is interesting. The game plays fast and it’s a solid two player trick taking experience.

Tainted Grail – 2 Plays

Oddly enough, I don’t think that there is any Tainted Grail for June, or there might be a play. One of the players bought a house and has been busy with that. But as always Tainted Grail has been a fun experience of exploration, fighting monsters, and finding out the story. Really it is for the story.

The Quacks of Quedlinberg – 2 Plays

Got to play Quacks of Quedlinberg again, and it was fun. We swapped up the ingredients powers which made it a different game in a good way. Obviously it’s set-up for that, and I’m glad that it does make that difference. I like the push your luck element to it and the catch-up element. I really want to try with more than two player, though it won’t make a massive difference to how I play the game, but it’s just a fun one I want to share.

Quadropolis – 2 Plays

New game off the shelf with Quadropolis. Though, it is one that was published a while ago by Days of Wonder. I really like how it works to put out places onto you board and the placement rules for it. And I think that while the game is pretty straightforward, there are a lot of good decisions that can be made in it. And how you take the tiles and place them just works well. Accessible but thinky is a good way to describe the game.

Incan Gold – 2 Plays

I want to find a push your luck game that I really like. I’m not sure that Incan Gold is going to be that, though I did have fun with it. I think that push your luck is a bit group dependent. Some people are too risk adverse so will drop out early. Others it’s less fun for because they push in too far. But I had a good time with it.

PitchCar – 2 Plays

More dexterity gaming with PitchCar. This one was fun because a couple of kids were playing as well. And they had a solid time with it. Also it was at the GameZenter so we had people coming over to see what we were doing.

Qwixx – 2 Plays

Qwixx is a nice filler roll and write game. I like how simple it is and that element of pushing your luck in hopes to be able to fill in more works well. I think I prefer it at two player just because closing off a row is so powerful, with three or four, whomever doesn’t close something off can’t win, it seems.

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong – 2 Plays

My favorite social deduction game. Won’t say much more on it, but it’s the only one that gives you something real to start talking about from the get go. I’m always down to play it, will hesitate to play any others.

The Table Is Lava – 2 Plays

Another game off my shelf of to be played. This is a silly game of sliding or throwing cards to score meeples. I really enjoyed the play of it, though. Another one of those games that is just a good time and some good laughs as you try and knock over meeples.

Similo – 2 Plays

Similo is a fun party style game of deduction. I like that it is cooperative, so while one person is playing the clue giver, everyone is on the same team. It almost has a little bit of a Codenames feel to it, but because it’s pictures, I think it’s more fun. Plus how do you give a clue if the Little Mermaid is like or not like a Ghost?

Destinies – 1 Play

I want to play more Destinies. I just did a two player game of the introductory scenario. And I loved what I played. The story element is fun, the app integration is slick and adds in good story and adventure to it. And I want to get into the bigger thing where it is all one giant story, with different characters, throughout 3 different parts.

Atlantis Rising – 1 Play

Atlantis Rising yet another one off my shelves for the first time. This one we got a rule or two wrong with it, but got the basic concept of the game right. I really liked it. Firstly, it looks amazing. But also the push your luck element of the worker placement, how far you place out, works really well. And I can see this being a cooperative game that I’d pull out before Pandemic a lot of the time.

Drawn to Adventure – 1 Play

I barely made it through a game of this. Drawn to Adventure, unfortunately, did not impress me. I think it’s cool to do an dungeon crawl or exploration sort of game. But it’s just too limited in what you can do. I wanted more decisions to make and it felt like the game almost played itself. Plus it isn’t a fast game either.

Terraforming Mars – Ares Expedition – 1 Play

I still really enjoy Ares Expedition and want to get it played every now and again. I do want to try, sometime, more than two player. But two player moves so fast, not that more would slow it down much. The card play in this game just works well for me. And once those expansions hit retail, I’ll probably pick up one or two.

XenoShyft Onslaught – 1 Play

XenoShyft is a deck building game that I really love. Again, did not beat the game, but got close. I am not sure if I’ve ever beat the game, maybe once. But I keep on coming back to it because we always get close. And getting close is enough for me to want to try it again and again.

Canvas – 1 Play

Canvas, another one that I’ve played a few times now and at a few different player counts. It’s such a pretty game and while it is very simple, I find it a lot of fun. I can see why some people want to just make the prettiest painting, and that is an option but won’t help you win. But even when going for the best score, it is fun and you get good artwork to look at as well.

The Fox in the Forest – 1 Play

Another trick taking game, this was playing with a different player than the first few times. I need to start adjusting my strategy because I keep on making moves too soon. But I really like this as a fast little filler two player game.

So Clover! – 1 Play

So Clover, amazing party game. Highly recommend finding this one if you like cooperative party games. It’s higher than either Similo or Just One for me. Mainly because while it’s not too hard, there is just a bit more going on with it.

Just One – 1 Play

Speaking of Just One, also got that one played. Back to back with So Clover actually. I still really enjoy Just One. The game play makes it very easy to play with basically anyone. And cooperative, for me, puts less pressure on. Though I know for some people with guessing the word the fact it’s cooperative adds pressure.

No Thanks! – 1 Play

Finally, No Thanks! got played again, and one of the people who played it I believe picked it up to play with her family. It’s a fun game and definitely a different bidding feel than sometimes I’ve played it. The players set the market for taking a higher value card lower than sometimes. And it paid off big time for one player.

Year to Date

So, I’m going to keep this a little bit shorter this time. Mainly because, well, I’m going to be doing this again next week. So all of June’s stats are mixed in now. But 8 new for me games were played in May. And 52 plays overall which is more than I thought there would be. May started out slower with plays, I believe, but then ended strong. So I am well on my way to 365 plays for the year.

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124-101

Unplayed Board Games – 100 through 76

100: KeyForge: Call of the Archons

KeyForge has been on my radar for a little bit, mainly because the concept sounded interesting. It’s almost a TCG (trading card game) but you can’t build decks. All of them are prebuilt but also are different. And it’s a two player head to head game, take out monsters, get keys, and first to a number wins. They were on sale around Christmas, so I figured it was time to pick up a few decks to give it a try.

99. Vault Wars

This is one that I backed on Kickstarter because I find the concept funny. And I suspect that the game play is going to be easy enough to get it to the table with my gaming group. Vault Wars is basically fantasy Storage Wars. You bid to get the best vaults to get you the most points or money by the end of the game. I hope it’s a goofy good time.

98. Mage Knight

Probably should be higher on the list, but I’m intimidated by the rules for this game. It is notoriously hard to get to the table and learn. But it’s also supposed to be one of the best solo games out there. And while big solo games can be tricky to get tabled for me. I feel like I need to give it a try.

97: Shadows of Kilforth

This one I bought because Rolling Solo did a play-through of the predecessor to this game, Gloom of Kilforth. It’s a fantasy game and one that kind of has a story emerge as you go. But you play as a hero going out into this dark fantasy world, fighting monsters, getting cards of companions and equipment to see if you can defeat the boss in the end. I like the ideas of the game, I just need to play it.

96. Sentinels of the Multiverse

Sentinels of the Multiverse is on the list for an odd reason, or this low on the list for an odd reason. In 2020 at the Holidays Greater Than Games had a crazy good sale for Sentinels stuff. So I got all of it, or most of it. And I think I paid $75 for all of it. So very cheap. But now I have all the stuff, and it’s a bit intimidating to pull off the shelf. I just need to do it and play it. Because super heroes and super villains are my jam for board games.

95. Narabi

This is a little card game that is hard to explain. You are trying to get all the cards into ascending numerical order. But with that, each card is only allowed to move in a certain way, or has a movement rule on it. So it becomes a puzzle where you can share limited information to swap cards around to see what they can do, until you get it into order. A cool puzzle of a game idea where you see how fast you can do it.

94: Quadropolis

This is an older game that I just got. But Quadropolis is one I’ve had my eye on. It’s a city building game that looks simple but intriguing. I really like the mechanics of how you determine what tiles you can get to add to your city. And Days of Wonder, while not everything is a smash hit for them, has made some of my favorite accessible games like Ticket to Ride, Small World, and Five Tribes.

93: Jamaica

Jamaica, when I heard about it, I knew I wanted to try. But it is not a game that has always been easy to get. When Fantasy Flight Game Center, now GameZenter, was clearing off their demo wall to rebuild it better, it isn’t better, they sold the games. So, I need to do a piece count and then play this, but it’s a pirate racing game, that sounds like a fun time, assuming the pieces are there.

92: Heaven & Ale

Normally I don’t get Euro Games, but again, a sale. Also, one of the reviewers I follow, Ryan from Man vs Meeple, is a big fan of this game. So that recommendation and a euro game about brewing beer, I was interested. And I say that I normally don’t get euro games, I don’t, but I don’t dislike them. So I need to do my best monk brewing beer impression sometime soon.

91. Silver & Gold

Silver & Gold is a roll and write game, another one that I need to try. And one that I think will be a lot of fun, because you get to fill out cards throughout the game. So like Super Mega Lucky Box, you get to use dry erase markers on the cards. And it has this treasure hunting theme, but is more of a shape filling in game. I think it looks like one that is easy enough to learn but still interesting to play.

90: This War Of Mine

I’m intimidated by this game, much like Mage Knight. I’ve heard it it hard to learn. But more than that, this is a game about a fictional war and trying to survive in it. The concept is cool, but also a dark concept. And it’s tough to want to sit down and play a game with story that you know you probably won’t survive. Especially if it’s a harder game to learn and get to the table. But the concept sounds very intriguing and different to try.

89: Boomerang

Not the last time you’ll see a Boomerang on the list. A roll and write game. Won’t say too much about it, looks like a good puzzle of a game, like the one you’ll see coming up. This version just doesn’t look at nice as the other.

88: Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Descent is an interesting one, and this isn’t the big box version of the game that just came out. This one has been out for a little while. But it’s interesting as I do want to play the game, but I mainly got the game so I could practice painting minis. That is something I that I need to get back to doing, and we’re getting close to the point where I might be able to prime them outside. But I do want to try the game, because fantasy dungeon crawl, I like those.

87: MonsDRAWsity

We go from a big fantasy game to a small fantasy game, a party fantasy game. MonsDRAWsity, has one person a monster that they look at and then describe. Everyone else draws the monster. And I believe, the person with the closest drawing wins. It’s a drawing party game, but one that looks silly and fun.

86: WWE Legends Royal Rumble Card Game

Speaking of silly and fun, I’m a professional wrestling fan. It’s true, I mainly just watch the pay-per-views with a group of friends. And the Royal Rumble is the best one. This one is a take that style game where you try and be the winner of the Royal Rumble. Your guy gets tossed out, you get a new one, and the last one standing wins. Clearly I already know the group I want to play this with.

85: Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops

I really like the world of Shadworun. This cyber-punk future where corporations run everything. And you go on runs, hacking into systems, and exposing dirty secrets, great idea. And I’d love to play in a Shadowrun RPG campaign. This is a board game version, and it’s about setting up for a run. I have a massive box of stuff, but how the runners of the Kickstarter handled distribution, there were lots of problems, I’m less excited to play it.

That’s probably not a great reason not to play it. I think that it looks like a fun game. I still love the theme. It’s just harder to get into wanting to play it. Though, I did get the cooperative expansion, so maybe that’d be an easier way to get it to the table.

84: Boomerang: USA

I told you Boomerang would be back. The first, more logically, it set in Australia, but using the system, the designer made more versions. This version just looks nicer than the version I own of Boomerang. Either way, I need to play one or both. And then decide which one I want to keep, if I keep one, because I doubt I’ll want both of them.

83: Palm Island

I don’t know why this one is still on the list. Mainly I think because I play Orchard most of the time when I want a small solo game. Palm Island is a solo game that fits in the palm of your hand. It’s a resource management style game, if I remember correctly. You are trying to build up your engine to get more cards flipped around to flip more cards. I need to give it a whirl.

82: Blueprints

Blueprints is one that my FLGS recommended to me. It’s an abstract game about getting dice to build buildings. This falls into that category of a game that looks like it’ll be an interesting puzzle every time you play it. And I like those games where there is a good puzzle to it. Will the puzzle last a long time for me, we’ll have to see.

81: Specter Ops

Specter Ops is a hidden movement board game. One player is infiltrating a base to get to different objectives and then get out. The other player(s) are trying to figure out where they are and take them down. I like the concept and the theme of the game. This one is just the matter of learning both sides so I can teach it.

79: Crash Octopus

From the company that made Tokyo Highway, a dexterity game that I love, Crash Octopus is another one. This one is about flicking treasure to your ships and balancing the treasure on them. It seems like a silly game and one that will, like Tokyo Highway, look cool on the table. I want to see if it works as well as Tokyo Highway does for my gaming group.

78: 6 nimmt!

I don’t think the first time I heard about 6 nimmt! was from an anime, Afterschool Dice Club, but that is where I learned the most about it. This is a card game about trying to avoid taking points. I picked it up on sale when I got No Thanks! and both of the games kind of fit into that same mindset of figuring out clever play. I hope that this one works as well for my group as No Thanks! did.

77: InBetween

Two of the last three I got because of Sam Healey liking them on the Dice Tower. His and my tastes in game often overlap because we both go towards bigger, Amerithrash style games. The two on this part of the list are not that. InBetween is a two player game that feels, from what I can tell, like Stranger Things. One player is trying to get everyone to one side, while the other player is trying to flip them into the “upsidedown”.

It’s not actually a Stranger Things game. But the theme definitely has that vibe to it, and I think it came out about the same time. So theme wise, I like it. And as a two player game, I should be able to get it to the table.

76: Heroes of Terrinoth

This is another game that I saw on Rolling Solo’s YouTube channel. And it also looks good, card play game from Fantasy Flight, I liked how you level up in the game. And I like that you can pick from a variety of heroes. It isn’t a dungeon crawl game, but it almost has that feel. You pick a scenario, you can move between places, and you fight monsters. Plus you level up to improve how you can do things, which was cool.

75: Codinca

The final Sam Healey recommended game on this part of the list is also small, and it’s abstract. So that’s probably why it hasn’t gotten played. I’m bad about playing my abstract games, even though I normally like them. Codinca is a game where you want to create a pattern.

Final Thoughts

We’re still not into a ton of the big board games. But I do think this will be a section where I can get a lot of games off of the list. Stuff like Boomerang USA and Boomerang, Silver & Gold, Codinca, and Blueprints, all of those shouldn’t be hard to table.

On the flip side, I’m also going to be a bit surprised if I do get This War of Mine or Mage Knight to the table as part of clearing off games. I am very intimidated by both of those rule books. And I’m generally the one learning how to play the games so I know I can. But those two look like beasts to learn and with not great rule books, probably tough to get rules right.

Which one should I play first?

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Now, if you are in the market for board games, I will say that there are a lot of sales going on. A lot of board game companies or online board game retailers have been running longer sales versus a massive “Black Friday” sale. So there are still deals to be found, but let’s talk about what I found.

All Systems Go

I think I talked about how last time I was there, I got enough in store credit to get a free $100 game, but I wasn’t sure what game I wanted to buy. Ankh interested me, but I want to try it before I buy it. Well, it’s no longer the case that I don’t know what game I want. It’s also no longer the case that I have the credit or points to get a $100 game.

Mythic Battles Pantheon + Pandora’s Box

I think it was early in this year that Mythic Battles Pantheon: Ragnarok came on Kickstarter. I backed it, but only at one dollar. And then I never upped my pledge in the pledge manager. I don’t regret that too much. I like the Viking and Norse theme a lot, but it is an expensive game. And there was a copy, I think all in on the Kickstarter, for Mythic Battles Pantheon that had been sitting in All Systems Go for a while.

Now, the base box was over $100, so I didn’t consider it for my free game. But on Small business Saturday, it was discounted by 20% off (as was Pandora’s Box), and that took the base game right to $100. So, it was time. I know I want to try this game. The concept is a lot of fun. You take gods or titans up against each other and see who wins in a fight. It comes with big minis and terrain or some sort, because you can pick up a tree and smash someone with it.

It just seems like a great big game that won’t get played too often, most likely. But when I do play it, it is going to be a lot of fun.

Marvel Champions: Hood Scenario Pack

It’s more Marvel Champions, but also a character that I don’t know a ton about when it comes to the comics. I know he’s a villain, scenario packs are for villains, and I think I’ve read a comic or two with him in it. But more Marvel Champions, what can I say, eventually I’ll have a full Kallax cube full of only Marvel Champions, but not quite yet. If I sleeved all my cards, I’d probably be there already.

Haba

Haba is running, or maybe was running, a by one get one sale on select games. And a few weeks before the toddler, who has been enjoying his first board game, Animal Upon Animal, we talked about a car game. He really likes anything with cars, or trucks, or construction vehicles. I asked on Facebook for recommendations in a board game group, the most common answer came from Haba, and was on sale.

Monza

One of two games for the toddler to play with on a theme that he loves. Monza looks like a simple racing game. And while he might just enjoy the cars right now, I want the idea of games and gaming to be common to him. He gets some of the ideas of Animal Upon Animal. This one looks like a game where you roll dice and move cars around the board.

But it is from Haba, so I expect there is a tiny bit more than that. But it will be simple and good for him eventually. I’m not sure when he’ll get the game, we already have a Christmas gift for him, or two, or three, but when something he’ll like is on sale, especially a board game.

In A Flash Firefighters

I know even less about this game than Monza. But he likes firefighters and there is one on the box. it looks like it’s maybe a speed based game, and a little bit more complex. Or at least smaller pieces, though, this is Haba, so will be good for kids I’m sure.

Now, it’s not rated as well as a lot of Haba games, so I’m guessing a bit more complex so doesn’t work as well with kids, but it is really just guessing. And, like I said above, Haba is doing a buy one get one sale. So that means, it is a free game.

Biffleys

You’ve never heard of Biffleys. That is okay. Biffleys is a use book, video game, DVD, and a board game shop. It is going out of business in my home town. Now, I don’t know if that’s because it didn’t have enough business, but I suspect because it was a lot of work. It isn’t a new business, so it’s lasted 20 years, or so. But 30% off games meant when I was in town for Thanksgiving, time to check it out.

Quadropolis

This is a Days of Wonder game that I wanted to try for a long time. Days of Wonder makes Ticket to Ride, Five Tribes, and games like that which are very accessible. Quadropolis is their take on town building. In typical Days of Wonder fashion, though, it isn’t too complex, but offers a challenge.

What I find really interesting, in theory, about this game is how you get city tiles. You place down markers and that limits rows and columns you can use in the future. At least, that’s how I think it works. It also doesn’t have some of the financial stuff that bigger games in the genre do, I’m excited to play it.

6 nimmt!

This game showed up the first time on After School Dice Club, an anime that I watched because, I like anime and board games. It isn’t super fresh in my mind, but I think it is basically a game of trapping your opponent into cards or points. It is only a card game, and I like that it’s in a small box.

I want to try this one because it was on the anime. I also want to see how tricky a game this is. If a game is very accessible, I can play it with my groups. And card games, especially those that feel a bit more familiar, are good options. I think 6 nimmt might be a game like that.

No Thanks!

No Thank! is a game that I don’t remember where I heard about it. But I like the concept for it. And I know they talk about it on the Dice Tower sometimes. You want as few points as possible in the game. To do that you are saying no thanks to cards with points. To do that, you put a marker on the card, but you only have a limited number of markers. Eventually you need to take something.

But the card you take, you get the markers on it. At what point in time is a 75 worth it to take? If you get 10 markers is it worth it, if you get 20 is it worth it? That is the question you are asking yourself. You get the 75 with 20 markers, now you can make people take lower cards and several of them. Or is it worth it to just take a 10 without any markers on it because it is a lower number?

I don’t know what strategy for this game. But the concept is extremely simple, so I’m excited to find out. This is one of those games that I think will work well in larger groups And I think it will work well with gamers and non-gamers.

Horrible Guild

Now, the most dangerous thing that happened was Horrible Guild opening a web store. I love their games. And in particular, Potion Explosion and Railroad Ink Challenge, anything for those I want. So now, because they opened a store, I own more for Railroad Ink Challenge at least.

Railroad Ink Challenge

I’m going to list everything I got here. They had a nice discount, not for Black Friday or anything, well, kind of, but for the web store launch.

• Arcade Expansion
• Eldritch Expansion
• Electricity Expansion
• Futuristic Expansion
• Sky Expansion
• Underground Expansion
• Additional Card Pack
• Collectors Storage Box
• Solo Board

That is a lot. All of the expansion ones are just small expansions that have 4 dice and some rules, maybe some challenges. I am curious and I really want to start diving into the expansions, probably will start doing that on stream. The additional cards I believe are additional challenges that can be added in. And the Collectors Storage Box just takes all my Railroad Ink and puts it into on box. Solo board is a board for solo game play, not sure what is different, but I want to see.

BGG Promos

This is kind of like Horrible Guild, Board Game Geek is doing a buy 4 get the 5th free for some of the promos they have. So I decided to grab a bunch of them, well, a few. I didn’t want to go too overboard, and I did find ones for games that I like, or that are just cool for games I have coming.

Aeon’s End: Thieving Spirits

I love Aeon’s End, we’ve been through that. This just adds in a new set of cards that you can play with. I need to, now that I’ve played through Aeon’s End Legacy, to get all my games into a single box, and then I’ll have a massive Aeon’s End experience to play around with, which is pretty exciting.

Deep Madness – Magnetic Saw Gun

It’s a magnetic saw gun, I’m not even sure what that means. But it sounds dangerous and Deep Madness is on the list of games that I am going to play this year, well, maybe not this year but soon.

Downforce: Civilized

Downforce is a game that really became interesting for me as a racing/betting game. I want to play it more because I think there’s still strategy to be tapped into. And the different powers, like Civilized is, changes up the game. This one will add in more variety to the game. I think that the powers really do make an interesting difference, and could be leveraged more in my game play.

Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game: Ra

Ra is not a character in the Dresden Files, but it is more for the game. And characters are really easy to slot in. So while I normally play characters from the current book I’m playing in the game, I could slot Ra into the game. And this one might be a little bit of me being a completionist, I won’t like.

Icecool : Blocked Doors

This is what it says it is, it is a way to block doors. And I like blocking off doors, it’s just a fun thing to add to the game. It’s also one of those things that doesn’t change up the game too much or make the rules more complicated. Some expansions add more depth to a game, but for a simple game, I want it to stay simple. Just a few more cards, and that’s really it, doesn’t change up the game much.

Silver: Marauders

Like the Aeon’s End Expansion, Downforce, and Ice Cool, this doesn’t change up the game much, it is something that is easy to slot into what you are doing. With Silver you just play with any combination of 0 through 13. This just another set of cards to drop in at a number. I don’t know that I need more combinations of cards, but also, more combinations aren’t going to hurt. I think with 4 different combinations at each numbers, that’s probably enough for life.

Time of Legends: Joan of Arc: Sam the Blacksmith

This one is because I like the Dice Tower, and I like Sam Healey. He was a lot of fun when he was on the Dice Tower. And he loves Time of Legends and in fact now works for Mythic Games. This is just him in the game, as a Blacksmith. The card looks cool and it’s more content that I’m hoping can just easily be slotted into what I already have.

That is a lot that I picked up but a lot of it was quite cheap. Even Mythic Battles Pantheon and stuff from All Systems go, which would have been over $200 was just over $50, so a massive game with a ton of stuff, but pretty reasonable for me to pick it up. Did you get anything on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or now Cyber Monday deals?

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5. Dead Men Tell No Tales
A cooperative game on the list, this one you are trying to rescue treasure from a pirate ship, dealing with ghosts, skeleton crew (all puns intended), and fires breaking out on the ship. If you have three players you have a nice range of powers, and the ship expands fast enough that you feel like your running around and it’s less contained. This is a tough cooperative game, but it’s a lot of fun, and you get that kind of Pirates of the Caribbean feeling with it. Definitely a game to check out for cooperative game fans, and it has some interesting mechanics with it that I’ve talked about on the action point list.

4. Lord of the Rings
Now, this isn’t the LCG (Living Card Game), this is the old board game. I do think it plays well with four as well as three. But I like it for it’s fast turns, and with three players you feel like you have enough players to have a shot, but it isn’t too long between turns. You’re going to see this come up later as well, the amount of times between turns. Keeping it moving fast is important in games because no one gets distracted or forgets what they are trying to do. I know it’s an older game so it isn’t always the easiest to find, but for someone who is a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, the game does have that travelling feel, and I guess the advantage of playing with five is someone can play as Fatty Bolger.

3. Ticket to Ride
Now, this one is good at any player count, but at three players the board is going to be the most open. So that is going to be the friendliest way to introduce someone to a game that can end up being a little cut throat with routes being blocked. Ticket to Ride, the North American map, is going to play very open and free flowing with three players and is likely going to get another non-gamer to like the train game if played that way. If played with five, or two, the map becomes quite tight and they couldn’t have fun if they get routes stolen before they can get to them just because of card draws. There might still end up being some of that, but it’s going to be less.

2. Dead of Winter
Now, this game can be played with a higher number, but I like it around that 3-4 player range. With two players, I don’t feel like you should play with the betrayer, with four players, the game can drag out a little bit long. With three players there is only one turn out of the three players turns you don’t have something to do. Either your taking your turn, or you at least get to check to see if the player triggers a Crossroads card. Even if you know immediately that the Crossroads card won’t be triggered, sitting through two turns while waiting for yours isn’t too long. Also, the more people there are, the harder it is to coordinate and actually win tough scenarios even if there isn’t a betrayer trying to screw you over.

1.Gloomhaven
I think I’ve said this before, but as my favorite game, I have to say I like it at my favorite player count. The reason I like it at three is that with Gloomhaven if it’s only two, you can probably spend more time figuring out the logic of what is going to happen when and really plan it out. With three players, you have to plan what you want to do and try and puzzle it out, but you also need a contingency so that your whole turn isn’t a waste. It forces you to not always do the best move but instead what might be the most versatile move. I also think that with four, it’s going to push that randomness too far out and you are going to have a number of wasted turns, especially if you have a character who isn’t that fast. For that reason Gloomhaven takes the top spot on my 3 player list.

Now, these are my person opinions, you’ll see on Board Game Geek that they disagree with me some (the community there), but these should all be enjoyable at the three player count.

What are some of your favorite games that you think really work the best at three players?

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