I want to design one now, so let’s get started.

The Campaign Roll and Write Theme

So now I want to design a roll and write campaign game. I thought about just doing another fantasy/dungeon crawler roll and write. But there are several of them out there, Deadly Doodles, Paper Dungeons, Doodle Dungeon, and Drawn to Adventure all fit that fantasy theme. Instead, I thought of two options. I could go Sci-Fi, likely a direction that we’ll start seeing more and more roll and write games go. Or, I could do wyrd west. Think Wild Wild West with Will Smith.

Why that theme, one it is kind of fantasy adjacent. You end up with crazy monsters or creatures that you can play as. But it isn’t going to be your standard fantasy. Pull out your pistol, load up your pack mule, and get ready to adventure in the Wyrd West.

Why Theme First?

Honestly, theme can be where you start, but I doubt it is standard for most designers. Or if it is, it is something that is held onto loosely. In this case, since I thought about it in the context of what Paper Dungeons is doing, I wondered what else might work theme wise for a campaign. It is more specific at a campaign level.

It is also important for me, while I own roll and writes and other games where the theme isn’t there, for me theme is important. If you hook me with a theme from the beginning, I am more likely to buy a game. And Wyrd West, Fantasy, or Sci-Fi all hook me when I think about.

So when I design or start to design an idea, theme is going to be important for me. And I want what I design in the game to make sense in the theme. If I put something into the game that doesn’t make sense, it firstly makes the game harder to teach. But it also breaks the immersion in the theme and in the game.

Why Wyrd West?

So any setting is going to give some level of ability to create a story. Wyrd West is just not one that I see used all that often. To go along with that, it lends itself to a fair number of the fantasy story tropes, but giving you a different setting for them.

Plus, then you are still able to create some of those leveling and story progression items. What character do you pick to start, are you the crafty outlaw, the robot sheriff, the damsel working at the bar with a dead eye shot? There is a lot of story there, and ways that you can build upon those characters.

Wyrd West also allows you to explore a lot of different things for monsters. Zombies, Vampires, Lizardfolk, other dimensions, all of them are fair game. I can even lean into Steampunk if I want, again harkening back to Wild Wild West and their giant mechanical spider.

Campaign Roll and Write Next Steps?

So what is the next thing I need to think through. The mechanics of the game, really, though some of those, being a roll and write, are going to be somewhat in place. But I want to think about missions, what do they look like, how the campaign progresses, and how characters level up or gain new abilities.

That is the one thing I really miss from the Paper Dungeons campaign is progression. I want to take something I got last game, or in between games to make what I do grow. Your standard campaign has character progression, so I want to figure out what that’ll look like in my game.

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What Board Games Are Leaving?

There are four games that are kind of leaving, or potentially doing so, let’s go through those first. Mainly, I remember those off the top of my head. One for sure is leaving, but also staying. One might come to live at work. And two I need to check on to see if they will leave.

Boomerang USA

Boomerang USA is kind of leaving. I got it on a good sale and then realized I had Boomerang already for a roll and write game. I don’t need two copies of what are basically the same game. Just Boomerang USA is a US map and regular Boomerang is Australia, which makes more sense.

Quarto

This is the one that is going to work to see about. It is a solid abstract game. I like the concept of it when I played it. You pick the piece your opponent places down. What keeps me from loving it is that after two plays, the game didn’t feel like it’d be that different. I want to try it at work because it is a fast game. So might work better in that setting. I just know I won’t play it at home more.

Quoridor

This is a game that I have enjoyed. And I think Quoridor is one that is great for a lot of people. It’s a simple abstract game that gives you some real clever plays. The issue is my group has “solved” it. By that I mean we always make the last possible person block. And honestly, it is not that much fun when you stick the block with the last person. I could see it being better now at two than four, but not one that is going to stick around, I don’t think.

Second Chance

This is a game that has had a dramatic fall for me from my original top 100’s to being outside of it this past year. Second Chance isn’t a bad game. I suspect that it is one my wife is likely to save. My issue with it is that I’ve played it a lot. I’ve gotten my phone with it and I am ready to move on from it. Patchwork Doodle does something similar and offers more choices.

Deadly Doodles (1 & 2)

Deadly Doodles is a solid little roll and write game. It takes a dungeon crawl idea and makes it extremely simple. And that’s why it is leaving. I think the expansion adds in more, but it has a lot of expansion boards. And with those boards, you need to learn more and it is harder to get to the table. I would say, there are probably too many extra boards. Plus, Paper Dungeons has knocked this one down for me. Similar concept, but Paper Dungeons is a more interesting game.

Photosynthesis

This one was tough to say that it was leaving. I like it as a good abstract game, but I knew I was starting with that cube, and I knew it just wouldn’t make the cut. The game is gorgeous. 3D cardboard trees look amazing. And I like how mean the game can be. I am trying to get my trees to grow better and faster than yours and block your trees from getting light points to spend as action points. The game looks less mean than it actually is, and I am keeping another game like that.

Ascension: Immortal Heroes

I have three versions of Ascension. I thought that I’d maybe play them all more often than I do. And I guess, that is three versions of Ascension that I am keeping. But I can get them all into one box, so they are sticking around. Immortal Heroes, it seems fun, but higher player count doesn’t add much to me. And I don’t know that I need any more Ascension than what I already have.

Welcome To New Las Vegas

I own Welcome To, which I love. I own Welcome To The Moon that I want to try. But Welcome To New Las Vegas, I was really excited for. I am not so excited anymore. The game looks good, but it looks like too much to me. It’s a two sheet roll and write game, which I don’t mind. But it feels like a lot of busywork without the fun theme of Welcome To. So I don’t think I need all three of the games in the line. And Welcome To The Moon with it’s campaign, that is more interesting.

The Drink

Just an Old Fashioned again. This time, though, I made it with rhubarb bitters. Now, I am out of rhubarb bitters. I really like the flavor of rhubarb, it grapefruit, and lemon are probably the bitters that I always want to have on hand.

Upcoming Stream

So, next Monday, I plan on streaming. I will not be streaming next Wednesday. I have family in town so I won’t be around on Wednesday. Monday, I am planning on doing more of the Should It Stay Or Should It Go series.

And I have to say, I am pleased with the amount I found again for the chopping block. Granted, a few might be going back. I think there is a decent chance that Second Chance is saved because it is so accessible. And it is a fun game. For me, I won’t complain if it is, because I don’t mind it. It is just one that I like to play now versus one that I want to pull off the shelf myself and play.

Which one would you save? Which one would you get rid of?

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Ranking My Fantasy Games

46: The Red Dragon Inn

This should be a game that I like more than I do, it’s basically a hand management game around drinking in a bar after you’ve been out adventuring and gambling to win money and getting in fights. And I suspect I do I like this game more than I think. I just don’t like it at high player counts. Most of the time when I play The Red Dragon Inn it is over the recommended player count, to me this is a 4 player game only. I don’t want fewer, I don’t want more. At four, it’d feel like good silly fun and not a slog.

45: God of War: The Card Game

God of War is another theme in a game that I should love, but the game around it wasn’t that great. The deck building was interesting in the game. But the card play and the monsters that you fight, those aren’t all that interesting. It feels like the game was meant for mass market without hitting mass market. Or it’s a weird area in between mass market and hobby.

44: Kodama: The Tree Spirits

This is one that barely falls into the fantasy area. Yes, it does have the tree spirits, but that’s barely part of the game. It’s more about building out trees trying to create runs of the different things that you want. In concept it’s not that bad, and in game play it is okay. Kodoma is one of those games where I think a lot of people will enjoy it, and it’s not a bad game, but it won’t be many people’s favorite game.

43: Stuffed Fables

This is a game, in Stuffed Fables, I should maybe have given more tries. The theme of a being stuffed animals and toys of a kid trying to get their blanket back that was stolen, super cute. And the game was cute when I played it, but also more complex than it should be. I get what Plaid Hat Games is doing with their adventure book games, but with changing rules it just made it more complex than I wanted.

42: SeaFall

SeaFall, people would probably put that to the bottom of their lists because it is not a good legacy game. Though, legacy games, to me, have higher standards than most other games. If I am only going to get a limited use out of it, it needs to be epic. I liked the mechanics pretty well though they needed to be less punishing. But the story was a bit too scattered, though, with some tweaking, could be made better.

41: Near and Far

Well, I just wrapped up Sleeping Gods, that isn’t on the list yet, so I like it better. For me, Near and Far is a cool concept, a cool world, and just falls flat. The game has story, and even vignettes of story like Sleeping Gods, but it’s more mechanics than anything. And I think since it’s competitive the game couldn’t get away from the mechanics as much as how you score points.

40: Legacy of Dragonholt

Legacy of Dragonholt is another one of those games that isn’t bad, but could have been better. The system for an RPG/Choose Your Own Adventure game is fun. The story is okay, and that’s what kept me from diving back into it. It wasn’t that the concept of the story wasn’t good, but the execution of it felt too YA (young adult) and not a well written YA story, but one that got published because other YA books similar were well done and popular. I’d love to see Fantasy Flight come back to this system, keep some of the ideas and just improve the writing.

39: Fae

Fae is a fantasy game in cover art only. It is really an abstract game where you are a fae creature who is then hidden from everyone else and you try and score the most points. The game is good, and I like the challenge of trying to score points but not make it too obvious so that people tank your fae’s scoring. A clever idea and very abstract.

38: Legends of Andor

Another game that was in my collection and then left. And another one that is fun, it is an efficiency puzzle of how you get through the story as effectively as possible so you don’t trigger end game too early. My issue with it is only a me issue, I have too many campaign games. I let it go when I realized I would only ever play the starting scenario at least for right now. When I have capacity for that campaign, then I might get it back.

37: Sword & Sorcery

Sword & Sorcery left my collection, but that’s because I did play through the campaign. It is a fun campaign but one that I knew I wouldn’t revisit. The depth of game play is fun for a lighter dice chucking game. And the story is also light, well, in terms of the decisions that you make. I wish the story branched more, and that your powers would change up more, because once you found a few good things, you just did those.

36: Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients

Shadows of Brimstone is one that hasn’t left my collection as a campaign game, but maybe should. The only issue is that I need to glue the figures back together. My first gluing didn’t stick as well as it should have, because I didn’t use the right glue. But also, it’s a theme that I don’t have games for, the weird west. So monsters and other worlds all messing with the old west. I love that theme and there aren’t many games or good books that I’ve found with it.

35: Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

Another campaign game, and another one that left my collection just because I wasn’t going to get to it anytime soon. But it’s Lord of the Rings, and app assisted from Fantasy Flight Games. The story was fun that I did play through. The writing was well done, which I appreciated, and you can see is something that’s important to me. Definitely a good one for Lord of the Ring fans, which I am.

34: Krosmaster: Arena

This is a skirmish game with fantasy characters casting spells, summoning monsters, and hacking and slashing away. I like that you pick and build the teams that you play with. I like the dice rolling and how you can play with secondary objectives so it’s not just knock out your opponent. But you can play just with knocking people out as well. Krosmaster is one I would keep but I didn’t have people to play it with, and now I have another skirmish game or two that I put over it.

33: Too Many Bones

This one will probably move up the list when my Gamefound comes in for the latest expansions. Not that I own any other Too Many Bones, but that might start me getting more. This is kind of a short campaign game where you fight some battles and then fight against a boss. But where the game really shines is how you build up your characters. Each of them do different things, and how you level them up gives you room to explore a character multiple times. Plus it’s a different fantasy world than anything else out there.

32: Lord of the Rings: Journey To Mordor

This is a roll and write game, but it is a fun little one. Not one that I own or one that I’d go and seek out to add to my roll and write collection. But Journey to Mordor basically has you advancing your Hobbit on their journey to Mordor while trying not to let the Nazgul get you. Very simple roll and write but it has a little more player interaction, so it feels different than some.

31: The Hobbit

Speaking of Hobbits, we have The Hobbit. This is a competitive game about dwarves trying to get treasure, which is kind of what the book is as well. I like the mechanics where you are leveling up skills based off of cards you play. But you want to balance it so everyone levels up because you can’t defeat the monsters all by yourself. So it’s semi-cooperative, but not in a way that someone is working against the group, it’s just that sometimes you let another person get the better thing.

30: Deadly Doodles

Another roll and write game, and this one I think has dropped a little on my list. It’s a good simple roll and write where you are trying to get treasures, find weapons and defeat monsters. And what you do gives you points. There are some different dungeons which add in more things to do as well, which I need to play around with.

29: The Lord of the Rings

And even more Lord of the Rings, this is the classic Fantasy Flight Game. I like how it plays through the books. And you play as the Hobbits taking the ring to Mordor. It is fairly abstracted, but the locations you go and the scenes you play through are all very Lord of the Rings, so it feels more thematic than just with what you are doing. Plus it’s a really tough cooperative game and I like those.

28: Titan Race

Normally I don’t love games that have a lot of in your face, try and mess the other person over, but Titan Race is a lot of fun. This is a fast game and a silly game with great fantasy in it. Titan Race is very silly and I like how the tracks work. You can either do a race where you loop over the same board over and over again, or you can do a grand prix and go over three boards and each board does different things. And those things make the game even sillier.

27: Claim

Claim is a two player trick taking game which is odd. Plus the first hand you play doesn’t actually give you a score, it is how you build your hand for trick taking. It’s such a clever idea and I like that it plays really fast. The fantasy theme comes in that the different suits are fantasy races. And each of those fantasy races has it’s own powers, or they might. Some of them there are just more of, whereas others have powers. A knight always beats a goblin, for example. So it puts even more of a twist on trick taking in a way I really enjoy.

26: Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler

I don’t know where this one will end up, so middle of the list is good for right now. I don’t know where it’s going to end up because I’ve only played this roll and write game once. And I liked it a lot, it’s a dungeon crawler as a roll and write. But as compared to Deadly Doodles where you go into a dungeon and cross over stuff, you do a lot more in this game. You level up your heroes, you have powers and abilities, you craft items and brew potions. And the better you do in other things, better you can explore. A lot going on, but not too hard.

25: Skulk Hollow

Skulk Hollow is a game of woodland creatures, the Foxen, fighting against a Guardian. It’s a two player only game and one that is very asymmetrical. As the guardian my goal might change from game to game, depending on which guardian I am. And the Foxen, well they always want to beat down the Guardian. And the Foxen can change up depending on who their leader is. Really cute game and fast to learn and play.

24: Silver

I think I say this every time I talk about Silver, but it reminds me of a game I played growing up with a deck of cards. In Silver you have a village in front of you and you want the lowest score possible. You know what two of the cards are in your village. You don’t know the other three. So now you swap cards out or play them for powers to get rid of cards in your village and lower your score. It’s simple, it’s fun, there’s a lot of take that, yet it feels nostalgic in a good way.

23: Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure

Clank is a fun push your luck, deck building, dungeon delving game. You want to get the best treasure that you can, but as you get cards, make noise, and well, annoy the dragon because it’s their horde, now the dragon starts damaging you. So you could jump in, grab the first thing you see and run, but if someone else can make it out, now they have more points and better treasure than you. Really fun game and easy enough to play for most people.

22: Deranged

Deranged might fall more into a horror game. But there is a magical gate and fantastical monsters who are out to get you. And you yourself can become one of those fantastical monsters if you don’t deal with your curses and get out in time, why, because you might become Deranged. The game has a lot going on, but I like the dual use cards and the theme of the game. A little horror I’m most certainly interested.

21: Village Attacks

Village Attacks is another darker themed game because you for sure are the monsters. And after a long day of terrifying villagers, you are ready to settle down. But nope, here some villagers to break down your door because clearly you’re the monsters, not the people trying to trash your place. That sounds light, and I find it silly, but it is themed dark. Still a very nice tower defense type of game.

20: The Grimm Masquerade

Themed with Grimm Fairy Tales, The Grimm Masquerade is a deduction game. You are each a masked party goer, one of the Grimm characters. You are of course looking for something, a glass slipper for Cinderella, but also have something you don’t want. Can you get what you need or make everyone else bust before they figure out who you are?

19: Ascension: Deckbuilding Game

Another deck building game, Ascension is fantasy themed. Really, like most pure deck building games, it’s about building up an engine that gives you points. I just like this fantasy theme and variability of it better than something like Dominion. But that’s not what we’re talking about. This lets you get heroes and casters and sages and constructions to fight monsters, get more income and buy more cards. I like that it offers a ton of different strategy for the game.

18: Res Arcana

Res Arcana is another in theme only fantasy games. You are basically building out an engine to get points and who can do it better to get points faster. I like it though with the theme of brewing potions and dragons and places of power. It makes it feel different, and I also like that you only have 8 cards to make your engine with.

17: The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

The Dresden Files are my favorite fantasy series. I love the world that Jim Butcher has created. The game, it does a good job of giving you the pieces of that world. But you need to know the world to connect them together. So it’s not the best fantasy game or story game for everyone, but if you know the series, it’s a lot of fun to play.

16: Small World

Small World is Risk with fantasy creatures, crazy powers, and well, a whole lot more fun. What really works is that this is a small board. The game is in your face, but it’s in everyone’s face. The option of hiding away in Australia is gone that you’d have in Risk. Plus, you get crazy combos. Flying Halflings, Seafaring Giants, Wealthy Trolls, all of them are possible. Really accessible game too for most new gamers.

15: The Lost Expedition

This one is on the list because of the expansions and promo cards. I don’t think in the base game there is anything too fantastical, but werewolves, fountain of youth, yeah, those are fantasy. This is all about surviving to get to the lost city of Z. The game is a really good cooperative one that if you have someone who is a alpha player, it keeps them from being too much of one.

14: Century: Golem Edition

This is another one where the theme is fantasy, but game play doesn’t really shine through on that. Still, the artwork and gem pieces are great, and I wouldn’t want a different theme. It’s a hand management game where you are building up cards in your hand to use them to turn gems into other gems until you get the right combinations to get golems. And the golems at the end of the game give you points. What is so amazing about this game is that turns are super fast, so while there are good decisions to be made, it doesn’t take long to get back to your turn.

13: Potion Explosion

We’ve all probably seen the app games where you get like colors to touch and that removes them from the board and if more hit, those are removed as well. That is what Potion Explosion is. You are making crazy potions by pulling dice and trying to get the like colors to hit. Light game with a great table presence.

12: Root

Root was one where I was thinking, is this actually fantasy. Well, let’s see, it’s animals fighting and building, so yes, that seems like fantasy. But really, it’s a confrontational game where you fight it out with your group trying to get points to win the game with everyone trying to keep everyone else in check. Great asymmetrical game, just know it’ll take some time to teach. And don’t let the artwork fool you, this is not a nice sweet happy game.

11: Roll Player

Roll Player is a game about making your Dungeons and Dragons (or Generic RPG) character. You draft dice to put them into various stats for your class. It’s a lot of fun as you try and match up colors and get the numbers right to score more points. Plus you buy up gear and abilities which can influence your stats or points as well. And that’s the game, it’s about building up your character.

10: Spire’s End

Spire’s End, coming soon to Malts and Meeples is a story adventure game. In Spire’s End you wake up to find a spire has appeared at the edge of your town and many people are missing. You and others go into the tower, fight monsters, make choices, and generally go on a weird and dark adventure. Really like this one as a solo game.

9: Super Fantasy Brawl

Super Fantasy Brawl, it’s in the name that it’s fantasy. Super Fantasy Brawl is a two player skirmish game where you are trying to complete objectives in an arena and knock out your opponents. Complete objectives, get trophies. Knock out your opponent, get trophies. The first to five wins. What I really like is the turn speed, you play up to three cards, one of each color and do what it says on the cards. And the cards you play determine who moves. Light game but very tactical in how you play.

8: Cartographers

The second game I have in the Roll Player world, won’t be the last. But Cartographers is a roll and write game where you are making a map of the land. And you get points for making it in certain ways. Forests surrounding mountains might give you a point or two, things like that. What makes it fantastical is that you put monsters on the map as well. And you don’t put your own down, you put them on your opponents board in the worst spot for them to make them score negative points.

7: Sleeping Gods

Sleeping Gods, well, you can watch me play this one I just wrapped it up over on Malts and Meeples. Sleeping Gods is a big adventure game where you, as the crew of the Manticore are transported to a new world. You want to get home, but in order to do that you must awaken the sleeping gods and all you know is that totems might help with that, not where to find them. So it’s really a sandbox game of exploring, finding quests, fighting monsters and more.

6: Roll Player Adventures

Roll Player Adventures, the final Roll Player world game, this is an adventure game set in the world of Roll Player, using mechanics or dice mechanics that feel like Roll Player, and it’s really good. I really like that Roll Player Adventures is an easy game to learn and a lighter game to play. A lot of the big adventure games can have a lot to keep track of and a lot of tokens. Roll Player Adventures has enough, but not too much. And the world you play in isn’t too dark.

5: Aeon’s End

Aeon’s End is another deck building game and the highest on the list. This is a cooperative game where you play as breach mages trying to fight off nemesis that come through. The game does two really interesting things for me. Firstly, you never shuffle your deck. So when you discard cards you can kind of put them in an order. And the other is that turn order is random. There is a deck, in a two player game, which has two activations for each character and two for the Nemesis. On a really bad draw you could go twice with each character and then two Nemesis turns, plus then shuffle that up again and two more Nemesis turns.

4: Lords of Hellas

Lords of Hellas is fantasy in the future, or mythology in the future. It’s a cyber world of Greek gods. An odd setting with some amazing miniatures and mechanical creatures. But a really good game with some rough edges and a lot of ways to win. To me that is one of the best parts of the game where you are able to win in a number of different ways. You might fight monsters or build and control a monument or take over areas, how you play is up to you and the powers you have.

3: Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Tainted Grail, if Roll Player is light fantasy or happy fantasy, Tainted Grail is very dark fantasy. The world of Avalon is falling apart, the Menhir that drove back the wyrdness are failing and you aren’t sent out to stop it. You are sent out to find out what happened to the people who are better equipped to do this than you. But the story in Tainted Grail is amazing and one that I highly recommend people track down, which can be hard. Also know that this is a survival game with a ton of story, if you want the story, play in storymode, I am.

2: Dice Throne

Odd one to put on the list but Dice Throne is very much fantasy. It is fantasy head to battling in almost a Mortal Kombat type setting but it is still fantasy. My Pyromancer is going to blast your Barbarian with fire or then there is a Seraph or a Treant or a Gunslinger, all sorts of things, and you can take any of them up against each other. I’m so excited, it isn’t that far out to when Marvel Dice Throne will be delivered, several months but not that far. And Marvel Dice Throne is compatible and can be played with everything else I already have.

1: Gloomhaven

Finally, my #1 game of all time, Gloomhaven, This is a massive fantasy game of dungeon crawling combat. It is amazing and what really makes it is the card play. You pick two cards to play, one will determine how fast you go. Then when you go you use the top of one card and the bottom of the others to move and attack, so you can set yourself up for some epic turns or make it flexible to cover a changing board state. And there are so many different characters that are interesting to play as.

Final Thoughts

I love fantasy as a theme. A lot of my favorite series are fantasy for books in particular. And for board games, there are a lot of games that use the fantasy theme. But when you get down to some of my favorite games of all time, the big fantasy games are hard to beat. I think that my Top 3 games are all fantasy games. And I even skipped some games, like stuff in the Lovecraftian Mythos because while they are fantasy, I feel they are more horror. Maybe I’ll do a horror game ranking soon.

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Ranking My Solo Games

So, one thing that I haven’t talked about when ranking is how I rank them in each category. And that’s somewhat because this is the category that needs this explanation. In a lot of them, I can just pick my favorite game, which game is my favorite roll and write. Here, I am trying to factor in a combination of what my favorite is, but also what my favorites for solo are. So if something is harder to get to the table, I might rank it lower.

I think that is important because solo gaming is a different beast. I think that some very complex games might be high on the list, if I could leave them set-up all the time. So I could go and play them for thirty minutes to an hour in an evening every evening. But when it takes twenty minutes to set-up, that isn’t an option.

28. Sword Art Online Board Game: Sword of Fellows

This might be the worst game in the group, and I still own it. I have played it solo a few times and it’s a fun push your luck sort of game. But when you’re controlling three characters, or two, it isn’t as fun. And the theme of the game, Sword Art Online doesn’t come through.

27. Legacy of Dragonholt

I think I I had streamed Legacy of Dragonholt, which I had thought about doing, I might put this higher on the list. The game is fine, the mechanics are solid, but the writing on the story was just fine. And when the game play is solid and the story is fine, it wasn’t going to stick. I’d love to see Fantasy Flight use some of their IP’s and create a story in this vein. Or even an Arkham game that uses the same mechanic.

26. Second Chance

Second Chance is easy to get to the table, but the game plays out the same every time. And with roll and write games, when I play them solo, I prefer that I can then compare a score, or something like that. Second Chance you just see how well you do. Sure, you can use the empty spaces as a score, but it’s not that interesting solo.

25. Criss Cross

This one is also one where you can just see how well you can score. I have it lower on the list, even though it is easy to play, because I have played it a lot. I don’t think I’d pull out Criss Cross to play solo again. Other roll and write games, yeah, those are higher on the list, but Criss Cross I’ve played a lot.

24. Marvel Battleworld

This one is easy to play and has high toy factor. But it is barely a game, the rules allow you to play some sort of game, but they aren’t that clear. You really play Marvel Battleworld to open up the little “Thanos Stones” to get new heroes and do the blind buy. It’s not a great game, but fun toy value.

23. Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension

Gravwell is a game that generally would be higher in my Top 100 games but drops so solo, not because of set-up, but because the game is much more random solo. It feels like mechanically the game isn’t as good. So I don’t want to play it solo all that often. I’d play it with people, but solo is just okay.

22. Floor Plan

Floor Plan is another one where the solo seems added on and not fully planned. You get a certain number of rolls for solo play and see how well you do. But it lacks the tension of racing to complete different features that people want.

21. Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

This one I played through solo on Malts and Meeples, and it is a blast to play that way. Technically, it doesn’t have a solo mode, but no information is hidden, so you can easily play solo. But I wouldn’t play it solo again after doing that once. I would play it for the third time because the story and game are fun.

20. Marvel United

I was a little bit surprised that this one was lower on the list. But I prefer to play it with others. It again comes down to a solo mode that is okay. And you can play it solo like you’re playing multiple people, and it’s good. But the game is more fun with more players and working together cooperatively and discussing how you can set up the next player.

19. Tainted Grail

This is fun solo, and I’d love to have it higher on the list, but even three player, the game is a beast to get to the table. I’d maybe come back to it solo if I could leave it set-up. And I’d love to explore it again that way, which maybe I eventually will. But right now, three player play is great.

18. Onirim

Actually just got rid of this game, but I really enjoy Onirim and I still own the app. Onirim is a nice little puzzle of a game with a lot of shuffling. And I feel like the decision space is good. But as I get more solo only games, that are higher on the list, I know that I’m going to play it less and less. So the app is good enough for me, for now. I can always pick it up again.

17. A Gentle Rain

The first solo only game on the list. I think technically you can do two player, but it just means you split up half of the stuff, which means it’s less fun. The game is simple, but it is very relaxing to play. And for me, that’s nice. It comes in a small box, but plays large, in area, on the table. I wish it played a little bit smaller, so it was more portable.

16. The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

Now back to a bigger game, The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, I like to play that one at two best. But three is good as well. And the game while having a lot of cards, is pretty fast to set-up and get to the table. I think it works best as a game in general, if you know the books. The theme is there, but it’s hidden behind mechanics.

15. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

One that I’d love to play solo more. And I think the game works really well solo for keeping the game moving. But Arkham Horror: The Card Game, it takes effort to get to the table. There are a lot of cards, and setting up each scenario takes time. I’d love for a faster way to get it to the table so I could play it more often because the story is good.

14. Doppelt So Clever

We’re going to see a lot of roll and writes now. Which makes sense because they are easy to get to the table. Doppelt So Clever is on the lower end because while it is easy to play, it is less satisfying than some. Mainly because I feel like I’m not doing as well as I should be. That is a function of the game and scoring sections, but still, it’s less fun.

13. Deadly Doodles

Deadly Doodles is a dungeon crawler roll and write, kind of. I’d say it is a more like D&D where you go diving into a dungeon, get some treasure and be done. Maybe more of a classic thing, here you find treasure, get weapons and fight monsters. Very simple game, but a fun one to play solo.

12. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Now back to a living card game that is easier to get to the table. Marvel Champions works very well as a solo game. I prefer it two player, but either works. You play as a hero trying to stop a villain and thwart their evil scheme. Deck construction is fine, but I just like that this is a mechanically fun game, simpler than Arkham Horror, but still thematic game.

11. Welcome To…

Back to roll and writes, Welcome To is a game that works as a solo game. Though, I will say that it is better with more players. And I’m not 100% sure, they might have improved the solo mode in a small pack. But base solo mode is go through the deck and eventually hit a point where it ends and see how well you did. It works, and the game play is still a lot of fun, just the overall experience doesn’t feel as robust.

10. Aeon’s End

Some people might disagree with me. You need to control multiple characters, I recommend only two. But I think this is fairly fast to get to the table. Use the randomizer, pick the market, grab two breach mages and a nemesis and get going. There is more than that, and there are tokens, but Aeon’s End is easy to control two at once. I think that’s a thing for a lot of bigger games, they might be better controlling two characters, but is that easy.

9. Clever Hoch Drei

The third of the Clever roll and writes, and the middle one on my list. It’s a good solo game and this one lets you feel like you can do everything. It is more rewarding than Doppelt So Clever, but almost too rewarding. You can do everything, like every track will be filled in a lot at the end. You can optimize it still, which is what I love about the game. But huge points.

8. Ganz Schon Clever

Last of the Clever trilogy or first if you read top down, Ganz Schon Clever is just fun. I still play it on the app. And I love the game two player. I think that it helps improve the game play and is less lucky than solo while still getting all the rolls and all the rounds. But at any player count, I always want to know what is going on during your turn. And the combos, it feels like the right amount.

7. Metro X

Metro X is a roll and write that has a great puzzle. It isn’t one that has many combos, but the game play feels so tight and restrictive. You try and complete routes, and as you fill in one route, it might help another route. But since you are filling in 4 spots, if you now only can do three before you hit a filled in spot, is that optimizing what you do. The game’s puzzle feels tense from the start.

6. Spire’s End

New to the list and new to me. When I did my cooperative games, I couldn’t put this one on the list. Since it technically is cooperative, though, it just splits it up so that a person controls each of the characters. I’ve even heard of three player with one person being the dungeon master. But Spire’s End, and I’ll talk about it more in the future, is a story driven game where you take characters into a spire for some reason. And you fight monsters in there, but game play is simple and smart.

5. Sleeping Gods

Hey, this is the one that I’m playing right now. You can what last nights stream here. For some people this might seem like a lot because there are nine crew you are in charge of. But you always control them as a group and I think makes it easier. Plus this game is so story focused that if you miss a mechanic, I don’t feel bad about it.

4. Super Mega Lucky Box

One that when I played it the first two times I thought might leave my collection quickly. But no, I really like this game. It’s basically binge, you draw a card, cross of a number. So roll and write mechanics with bonuses when you fill in rows and columns on your card. The game is very fast and so much fun. And there is depth to how you try and get combos working in the game.

3. Railroad Ink & Challenge

Another one that works well solo because you are just trying to beat your previous score. I like either version, so I think that Challenge adds some good stuff to the game. It’s mainly about connecting routes of rail and road. This one also has a strong puzzle to it and the right amount of luck, I feel. The app is a lot of fun too.

2. Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game

Another true solo game, Orchard is amazing. Orchard is all about laying cards on top of each other and growing fruit. It hits that great spot of simple but interesting. The combination of layering cards, creating a few dead spots to try and score more, it’s interesting. And I can knock out games so fast while watching something from sports to cooking shows. If I don’t need to pay complete attention, Orchard is great.

1. Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade

Finally, Pinball. I love Super-Skill Pinball, I haven’t played multiplayer yet. But the roll and write works as a pinball game. It is maybe the most thematic roll and write game that I own. And there are a lot of boards, pinball machines, you can play on. The production quality is high and game play is so much fun, and I’ll 100% be getting the Star Trek version when it comes out.

Final Thoughts

Solo gaming is something I want to do more of. And I know it’s goin to be a way to help me get through my goal of getting under 100 unplayed games in 2022. Right now, the number sits around 130, and when I can learn and play it solo, it helps. I’m curious to see how two, Village Green and Floriforous play solo. Mainly because it’d let me learn the game to make it easier to teach to others, if I’ve played it.

What are your favorite games to play solo?

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The Roll And Writes

19. Second Chance

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

18. HexRoller

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

17. Cat Cafe

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

16. Criss Cross

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

15. Yahtzee

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

14. Floor Plan

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

13. Deadly Doodles

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

12. Patchwork Doodle

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

11. Doppelt So Clever

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

10. Clever Hoch Drei

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

9. Super Mega Lucky Box

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

8. Metro X

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

7. Ganz Schon Clever

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

6. Welcome To…

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

5. Sonora

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

4. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

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

3. On Tour

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

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

2. Railroad Ink/Railroad Ink Challenge

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

1. Cartographers

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

What is Your Favorite?

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

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

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Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game – 16 Plays

No surprise here that Orchard was my most played for the month. I suspect it’ll have another strong showing this year. But it still holds up after all of the plays. The choices are interesting in the game, and it’s the right level of light but challenging as you play it. This is my solo game of choice for sure right now.

My City – 6 Plays

One of four new games to the list, and this one got played a lot of times. My City is one I’ve wanted to play for a while because it seemed like a good, light, legacy game. And thus far it has been. The play is simple, flip over a card and everyone places their matching tile like it onto their board. But the game is adding in more challenges as you go. I think of it as a legacy-lite game. With legacy I want story, and this one doesn’t have any. But the game play is so fast that it was easy to table.

A Gentle Rain – 4 Plays

Another solo game on the list. I didn’t enjoy A Gentle Rain as much my last few plays. I think that the game is still good, but there is definitely a limited decision space. This one is less when I want a distraction for my brain, and more something fairly mindless to do. I definitely want that at times, but there are a number of other games I’m looking at trying solo. So A Gentle Rain, I expect, will see less play in 2022.

Kohaku – 3 Plays

Another one of the new games, Kohaku is a tile selection and laying game. You draft each turn a tile with a koi fish and one with a scoring objective. It was a lot of fun, and the game looks amazing on the table. You can read more about Kohaku here. It is a nice game, simple and easy to play, but feels like good decisions.

Super Mega Lucky Box – 3 Plays

Yet another new to me game, this one is a 2021 release, which I believe Kohaku is as well. This is a very simple roll and write game, Like Kohaku you can find an article already on it here. I actually got it to the table a few more times yesterday, and it is improving for me. The game play is so fast, that I can knock a game out in minutes. And it is one that fills that spot with solo game play where it it requires just enough brain effort to feel like a good refreshing activity.

Tainted Grail: The Last Knight – 2 Plays

I forget what chapter of Tainted Grail: The Last Knight we are on. But we are making our way through it and I am still enjoying the game a lot. Tainted Grail is one of those games that is just a bit messy but also so thematic that the mess makes sense and is just enjoyable. And I feel like three is a great spot to play it at where we can all work together, and make decisions together. And the game keeps moving along well, granted, we do party up most of the time.

Just One – 2 Plays

I did play this one previously this year, but it has been a while. Just One is definitely, after these plays, one of those good party games that easily gets to the table. And it is always a good time. A simple game where one person is it and trying to guess a single word based off of one word clues. But any duplicate clues are thrown out. And it is a party game where everyone is working together. One that works really well.

Hanamikoji – 2 Plays

Still my favorite two player game. Hanamikoji is so fast to play and gives you such good decision making. I didn’t do great the last few plays, but I still had fun with it. Mainly because everything you do matters, every action you take matters. And most of the time, you are done after a single round, you shuffle up and play again.

Cross Clues – 2 Plays

Another game that hadn’t gotten played in a while, Cross Clues is another cooperative party game with a one word clue. Here you are trying to get people to guess the intersection of two words. This again works so well with almost any group of people. And the game play is fast, even without using the timer which would make it incredibly hectic. A good fun time.

The Reckoners – 1 Play

I got The Reckoners a long time ago. If I remember correctly, I ordered it the day my son was born as it was on a good post Thanksgiving sale. And it has sat on my shelf for a few years, waiting to get played. And now it has been played. It is a game that was worth the wait. Cooperative game play, trying to keep epics, evil super heroes in check, and then take down the big bad guy works well. I want to play it again soon, either in a group or solo.

Medium – 1 Play

This is a great little filler game. And I really like playing and teaching Medium, mainly because I don’t teach Medium before I play it. If someone else knows the game, I just start playing with them and explaining as I go along. It is so simple, like Cross Clues, trying to come up with the word between two words. But now you are matching up, or trying to, with the person you are paired up with. Great fun, and offers some good laughs and absurd word combos.

Sagrada – 1 Play

Finally a game I haven’t played in a very long time but I still love it, Sagrada. The game play is so simple and enjoyable. And this time, we played with the private dice pool to draft from. I don’t know I needed a 3 player game of Sagrada to go faster, but it works well. Definitely with four or more people I’ll be using that new thing. I still need to mix in some of the expansions as well.

Yearly Board Gaming Stats

Alright, let us see how the year ended. A total of 421 game plays were had with 77 different games, which is great. Considering that I played Orchard 116 different times, and Tainted Grail another 38, I got in a lot of different games. I had 9 games that I played over 10 times, so including Orchard and Tainted Grail, Dice Throne, Ohanami, A Gentle Rain, Deadly Doodles, That’s Pretty Clever, Metro X, and Hanamikoji. Generally short games minus Tainted Grail. And then 19 total games I played at least 5 times.

That is a great amount of gaming. And I think it is a number that I can push even higher in 2022. I think that some things, going to GenCon for example, and more in person gaming to start the year will push it clover to 475-500 range for plays. And I’m excited to try new games that will be coming in as well. So yes, I will be back with more of these recaps in 2022.

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If you are interested in catching these streams live. Every Wednesday at 8 PM Central time from now until the week before Thanksgiving I’ll be streaming. There is only one more scheduled right now but I’ll get the rest up shortly. You can click the notification bell to know when I go live on Malts and Meeples.

See the previous parts of the list below:

100 Through 91

90 Through 81

80 through 71

Top 100 Board Games – 70 through 61

70. Point Salad

A game about making a salad, this game has you getting as many points as you can. You do this by drafting either cards to add to your salad or cards to help you score your salad. The game is very easy to teach and play. And it plays differently every time, you don’t always play with all of the cards, so while the number of vegetable cards is the same at player counts, what cards are drafted and what scoring is used can change up. It’s a nice twist on drafting.

Buy on Miniature Market

69. Twice as Clever! (Doppelt So Clever)

The most complicated of the three “Clever” games. This one has you scoring points in a lot of different ways, I won’t go into detail because without context it means nothing. It’s an abstract roll and write game where you try and score the most points. It’s really based off of combos and foxes. As you score more points and fill in things in areas you unlock bonuses to fill in spots in other areas. And the foxes, they score with the number of foxes times your lowest in all areas. It’s a nice way to make you focus on everything.

Buy on Miniature Market

68. Hanabi

This game won the Spiel Das Jahres I believe, and it’s a game that still holds up. You are trying to play down cards in ascending order, but you can’t see your cards. Instead everyone else is giving you clues. But you are also giving them clues, and you have a limited number of clues you can give. The game works because of how you give clues, you can either tell people a color or a number. But you need to point to all the cards of a color or a number when giving the clue.

Buy on Miniature Market

67. Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game

Most social deduction games are little, this one is big. In it you’re trying to get the Galactica to Earth after Cylon attack. But the Cylons, while most are toasters, some look like people. And some of the Cylons might not even know they are Cylon. This game works because it’s a game with the social deduction and hidden traitor aspect to it. Can you read who is the player or players who are suspicious? It’s a long game but an epic experience. I could see this getting replaced, though, by Unfathomable for me.

Not Available

66. Cross Clues

A game with a grid and a cooperative party game. This has you coming up with clues to get people to guess your junction on the grid. Clues can only be one word and need to tie together two words on the axis. So if it goes ABCD on the top and 1234 on the side, you might have A3 which gives you the words Kite and Cat. What one would would you give to get people to guess A3? Maybe tail? But what if B3 is Dog and Cat, would people think you mean that? And everyone is trying to come up with a clue to give. Fast paced and a lot of fun.

Buy on Miniature Market

65. Parade

Parade is an abstract game where you are creating a line-up of characters from Alice in Wonderland. It’s not that the theme is great on this one, it is that the game play is a lot of fun. You are playing cards from your hand to the parade. The number on the card determines how many cards you skip over. Then the number and color tell you what cards in the rest of the parade you will take, low numbers or cards of the same color. You want low points but if you have the most of a color instead of being face value for points, each card counts as one point, so some really good choices.

Buy on Miniature Market

64. The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, besides having a very long name, is an interesting game because it has theme. But you bring the theme to the game. What the game does, with the scenarios being books, how the characters play, the investigations and the bad guys all are thematic, but the story doesn’t emerge unless you know it. Then the game makes more sense as you overcome obstacles, gain advantages, solve cases and defeat villains. It’s a solid mechanical game that’s great for Dresden Files fans.

Buy on Miniature Market

63. Hats

Another abstract Alice in Wonderland themed game. In Hats you are trying to collect the hats that are worth the most points. But to do that, you are taking cards off of the table at the Madd Hatters tea party. The cards you play out from your hand have to go to the table and the ones coming off the table are your scoring. Each spot at the table scores a different number of points. If there are two hats of the same type on the table at the end, hats of that type are worth the lowest. It’s a good abstract puzzle of a game.

Buy on Amazon

62. Deadly Doodles

Another new game to the list, Twice as Clever! was the first. Deadly Doodles is also a roll and write game. In it, you are delving into a dungeon to fight monsters, find weapons and get treasure. The game in it’s base is a pretty simple roll and write game. But you can make it more complex with Deadly Doodles 2 and the different dungeon types in there. You do need both of them to be able to play those more complex dungeons. But it’s a nice one to stream and a good solo or group roll and write game.

Buy on Miniature Market

61. Similo

Another party game and another cooperative party game and another new game. Similo was a game I knew about but wasn’t interested in until I saw Horrible Guild play it on their channel. Similo is a game of giving clues to get players to narrow it down to one thing. The trick is that the clue giver can only tell you if their card they play down is or isn’t like the target card. And you have to eliminate more as you go on. What makes this so much fun is that you might be using mythical figures to get people to guess animals, or the other way around. Good simple party game to start a game night.

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The Next Ten

Like I said at the beginning the next ten are going to come out on Wednesday. The streams are always at 8 PM Central Time and you can click the notification bell for it here. And you can always subscribe and click the notification bell on the channel as a whole. I hope that you can join me then.

Monday streams will start coming back probably after the Top 10 list is done. Though, if I decide to do some solo gaming some Monday, maybe I’ll have a surprise stream and just go with that. Let me know what small solo-able games you want to see me play.

What is your favorite game from this group of 10, and which one do you want to play most?

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Marvel Champions Drax

Now, this is a bit of a standard first one and generally why I write these articles. Monthly Marvel Champions comes out with something new and in this case, they are continuing to build off of the Galaxy’s Most Wanted expansion to add in more of the Guardians of the Galaxy. We now are able to play as Rocket, Groot, Gamora, Star-Lord, and Drax. And Nebula is coming. More characters is always fun and always reminds me to pull the game out and play more.

Doodle Dungeon

The other game I picked up at my FLGS was Doodle Dungeon. This is a new game from Pegasus Spiele, and looks like a lot of fun. This game reminds me of Boss Monster and a Roll and Write smashed together. In Doodle Dungeon you are making a dungeon. But unlike Deadly Doodles where you an adventurer delving into the dungeon, here you want the dungeon to win. The hero must die, they shouldn’t kill your monsters and of course not steal your treasure.

Now, do I need another game like this when I already have Boss Monster? Oddly enough, I had pulled Boss Monster off the shelf to sell recently because, while I think the game is a lot of fun it is a bit clutchy. The rules aren’t as smooth as they should be, and the game takes a bit to get going. I am hoping that Doodle Dungeon will work better for me.

Kohaku

This is a game that I’ve been eyeing for a little bit, mainly since GloryHoundd played it.

But what is drawing me to the game? Firstly, I like the aesthetic of the game. The tiles look amazing and different than a lot of other games. It also seems like a simple game. You draft tiles and do set collection around points, basically, and that’s it. I think this is a game that my wife will like but also one that I could take to play with my parents, or a heavier gaming group as something different. I like games to seem to offer a variety for a lot of people.

Fireball Island

Finally, we have Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar. This is a kids game, basically. Or more so now a family game. There was an original Fireball Island from the 80’s that was fine from what I’ve heard. It just had an awesome marble chute and cool 3D board. This version keeps all of that but adds in more game to it. It isn’t a roll or spin and move anymore, instead you are play cards to move.

This is one that I got to see and kind of demo at GenCon in 2019 and while I don’t know it’s a game that I will play all the time, it is fun. The game play is very simple and should work to play with the toddler in a few years, but can be played with friends now. I haven’t bought it until now because it’s a $75 game.

However, at Target, I happened to spot it on the shelf with no price. So I took it to one of the scanners and it was listed at $30. SO I definitely had to buy this game I’ve been looking at. My guess to what happened, and I’ve seen this happen before with Magic: The Gathering cards is something got entered into the system wrong. Fireball Island should be retailing at $75, like I said, but the expansions, $30. So someone, somewhere, priced it as if it were an expansion when it was the base game. This will likely get fixed soon, but if you really want to try and get it cheap, right now might work.

Which Do You Want To Play?

For me, I think the one that I want to play most is Kohaku. That one is just pretty and it’s been on my radar, like I said, for a little bit. Though Doodle Dungeon does look really cool and I already know I love Marvel Champions. I should just play some more games coming up here soon. Marvel Champions for sure because I can play it solo.

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In February, I played 8 different games, but with those 8 games, there were 21 different plays. So that would put my down by 7 plays for the month, plus I believe 1 in January, so down by 8 total. I’ve made up some ground so far in March, I think I’m only 5 behind now after a board game night where we played 5 different games, and a few games during the week as well.

So let’s look at the games that got played in February:

Deadly Doodles – 5 Plays

Deadly Doodles 2 – 3 Plays

I’m talking about these top two together because technically Deadly Doodles 2 is an expansion to Deadly Doodles. This is a dungeon crawling roll and write game. I like it because it’s simple, though the expansion adds in a lot more options on how to play it. You go into a dungeon, find weapons that you need to fight monsters and get treasure. At the end of the game you get points for the number of treasures you’ve made a path on top of, and the monsters you’ve killed and weapons you’ve found. You lose points if you don’t have the matching weapon. The game is quite light and that’s not a major knock against it, it’s nice because I can knock out a lot of games fast when playing solo. And it gives and really works with a theme as you play it. Sure it won’t be the most thematic, but it’ll be more thematic for some people than a lot of roll and write games.

Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition – 3 Plays

Another roll and write game, this one is about building out train and road connections on a map. As compared to Deadly Doodles, this one is much more abstracted, but I’m not going to give that a knock against it. This one is a much tougher puzzle than Deadly Doodles as well, the connections and just how you are trying to get the biggest network possible, it makes it a real brain burner. I need to bust out some of the mini expansions in the box as well and give those a try. That’ll be some gaming from at home that I do coming up in March here.

Metro X – 3 Plays

And my third/fourth most played game is a roll and write as well. Metro X is one that I played in January, and I really like it. I realized I was playing it a bit wrong in January, and how I played it this month, it’s definitely more challenging. I like trying to complete routes, it’s an easy to understand concept, especially with Ticket to Ride being a game that a lot of people have played. However, this adds in a great challenge as routes overlap and that can limit how much you can fill in on a given route. It’s definitely a puzzle and has some luck but is a lot of fun. I think how colorful it is, is a good selling point on the table.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon – 2 Plays

So, we restarted Tainted Grail after deciding that we wanted to move to story mode. I wish that the “how to play” scenario was something that multiple people could have played, it maybe would have helped us know our difficulty level. But It’s been a blast playing through it again. We knocked out the first chapter already, and we are going a different way than before. And we even looked at a card that I hadn’t seen before. I love this game so much and the writing in it is so much better than writing in a game that I’ve seen before.

Potion Explosion – 2 Plays

Potion Explosion is a game that I’d bee playing on an app a ton. When I picked it up last month, I knew I wanted to get it to the table quickly. It has been a blast to play my game of it just because you can see the toy factor when it comes to how the game plays on the app, but in person it is so much better. Potion Explosion plays so simply but still offers some strategy and the table presence. I need to break out the expansion next and see how the different professors and added marbles work in the game as well.

Dice Throne Season 1: Treant vs Ninja – 2 Plays

One of my top games of all time, and I was able to get an expansion for it with the Treant vs the Ninja to the table from the Dice Throne Adventures Kickstarter. These were the only two characters that I didn’t have, and I’m really glad I have them now. I got to play once as the Ninja and once as the Treant, both times the Ninja won. But I really like how the Treant has so many interesting choices with it’s sapplings and how you grow them. Do you try to get a lot of them and use them for rolls or smaller abilities, or do you go for the big one which can do extra damage? The games were close, and I feel like I can see how the Treant will be powerful, there is just more to manage. I’ve taken the Ninja up against other characters on Table Top Simulator with the official module, but I want to see the Treant go up against more and see how well I can do with that.

Truffle Shuffle

I blame me getting this game on GloryHoundd and DrGloryHogg’s playthrough of the game. However, I am glad that I did. I got it as well as some actual truffles for Kristen for Valentine’s Day. The truffles were for her, this was for both of us, but we both liked the game. It’s a simple drafting game where you are taking truffles from a massive display and creating power hands. There are a few fun power cards in there as well, which changes things up. You trade in poker hands for coins and the person with the most coins at the end of the game wins. You draft over three rounds, each round you draft from a giant display of truffles until they are gone. There is a good twist on it where you can only put down one poker hand per turn to get coins, so you want to save up for the ones that give a lot of coins but that might mean you end up holding a smaller hand at the end of a round that you need to discard. There is a good push your luck aspect, and all the truffles look extremely tasty.

Which Was the Best?

So, my favorite out of all of these games is easily Dice Throne, I love that game. However, I don’t want to say for sure that it was the best play. I have played Dice Throne a lot before. I really liked playing Truffle Shuffle because Kristen doesn’t love all games, so finding a good one that we both like was a lot of fun. And playing Potion Explosion with the real marbles was just a blast, there is such good toy factor.

What is your favorite out of the games that I’ve played? Are there any of the February games that you want to try?

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The Unboxing

Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea: Order and Chaos

This takes the base game from four players all the way up to six players if you want. It adds in four new races, Goblins, Undead, Lizard Folk, and Lionkin. One of the main reasons that I picked this up was that the base box has pretty standard races. Order and Chaos adds in some more interesting races. Goblins might be pretty standard fantasy, but as at least playable races, the rest are fairly unique.

Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea: Pestilence

The pestilence expansion is smaller, but it is more of the same as well. It only comes with two new races to play, the Merfolk and the Birdfolk, but they are pretty unique. The Birdfolk come with an island that floats above the board. And the Merfolk come with a transparent plastic sheet that you put on the board covering up an island to make it submerged.

The Game

Since the unboxing was shorter than the previous week, I pulled a game off of the shelf to play as well. Deadly Doodles is a roll and write game that I’ve talked about and reviewed before. It has a fast solo mode, so I decided it’d be fun to play through a couple of games of it on stream and talk about how the game is played. I did poorly my first game, but the second time was a decent score.

The Beer

So, finally, but not least importantly, is the beer. This streams beer was a Chocolate Imperial Stout from Arbeiter Brewing out of Minneapolis Minnesota. I talk some about the differences between a stout and a porter or really the lack of differences that truly define it. However, the Chocolate Imperial Stout, at 9.7% ABV, was really enjoyable and had a very bitter taste to it, like a very dark chocolate. I am a big dark chocolate fan, and I like very dark chocolate, so I enjoyed the beer quite well.

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