Catch Up on the Top 100 Games

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61
60 through 51
50 through 41
40 through 31
30 through 21
20 through 11

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition – 10 through 1

10. Rebel Princess Deluxe Edition

Published By: Bezier Games
Designers: Daniel Byrne, Jose Gerardo Guerrero, Kevin Pelaez, Tirso Virgos

Buy Rebel Princess Deluxe Edition

The top trick taking game on my list is Hearts. Well, not completely Hearts, it’s Hearts with shenanigans and that is the element that makes it amazing. If you are familiar with Hearts, you know you don’t want to win the hearts because they are worth points. In this game, you are doing the same thing, but as princesses trying to dodge the proposals of the princes and of course the very dangerous frog princes.

But let’s talk about the shenanigans because that is where the game separates itself from Hearts. In Rebel Princess you each get a princess with a special power. It might be to force someone to lead a suit, or you take over the lead of a trick even if you didn’t win the previous one. They are once per round. The bigger shenanigans comes from the rule for each round. It tells you how to pass cards, but also then something special that round, like the number furthest from the led card wins the trick, to make the trick taking different.

9. Zenith

Published By: PlayPunk
Designers: Gregory Grard and Mathieu Roussel

Out Of Stock Currently

Zenith is the new one on the list, and it blew me away on BGA so much that I knew I needed to pick it up when it came out. Zenith is a two or four player, but really two player game where you are having a tug of war over different planets. When you get influence on a planet all the to your side, you get a token, and you win with three from one planet, four different ones, or five total.

But let’s talk about winning influence. The simplest way is to play a card down on your side of the table, that’ll move it one towards you and give you some other bonus. But to do that you need to pay the cost, so sometimes you need to do other actions to get more money. One of them is to discard a card for a bonus. Depending on the type of card, you get a different bonus for it, and you gain the leader token which means you get an extra card in hand. Finally there is technology which you use to gain bonuses but also move influence on planets.

8. Slay the Spire: The Board Game

Published By: Contention Games
Designers: Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano

Buy Slay the Spire: The Board Game

You know that I love Slay the Spire the video game and the same is true for the board game. In the board game it’s the same thing as the video game, but everything is scaled down. This is a very smart decision because I don’t want to do a lot of math, but I still want to play the same game I love. So you climb the tower, you fight normal and elite monsters, and you rest and add cards, everything that you love about Slay the Spire the video game.

But there is an extra twist for the board game as well. In the board game you also can play it cooperatively. And I love that for the game because there is no reason that you shouldn’t be able to. It levels up how much health the boss has, and each character gets their own row of normal monsters to face. The cool thing about that row is that I can help you attack your row if your monsters are attacking for too much. Or you can help with mine, but whichever row you attack, you get attacked by your row. So there is a strategic puzzle to figure out as a group.

7. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Published By: Portal Games
Designers: Jakob Lapot, Przemyslaw Rymer, and Ignacy Trzewiczek

Buy Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

I might be the person in the world like Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game the most. But I think it is worth talking about and I think at least the core box is one that more people should play. The core box is a series of intertwined cases that you need to figure out the leads and what to track down. The best way, and I mean this as compliment, I can describe the game is that it’s like NCIS or CSI but fun because you are the detectives.

The game has so much going for it. You need to figure out what lead you want to track down, you need to take evidence to the lab and get your results, or you need to spend resources pressing people for more information. All of that is going to cost time, so you need to get it done before time runs out.

And all the cases are different. Even in the core box where they link together, they are all unique. And the one off cases are all different as well and set in different time periods or different locations. Even the Batman version of the game is a ton of fun.

6. Dice Throne

Published By: Dice Throne Inc.
Designers: Nate Chatellier, Aaron Hein, and Manny Trembley

Buy Dice Throne

Dice Throne is probably always going to be game in my Top 10. Mainly because they keep on coming out with more Dice Throne and I keep on buying it. But the game is a great plug and play game that can be described as battle Yahtzee. But that is not fair to the game because Dice Throne is more than that. Yes, it uses the Yahtzee style rolling to deal damage to your opponent, but the cards, and dice manipulation and how you work that together is where the game is so fun.

Plus, each character in the game is unique and does something different. Whether that is with Marvel and Gambit who has his aces that he can play, Doctor Strange who has spells that he can cast, or Scarlet Witch who can swap out the dice that her opponent roles. Or it is unique for the non-IP characters as well with the Gunslinger having a showdown type of defense, the Treant having sapplings that do unique things, or the Pyromancer building up their flames.

5. Aeon’s End

Published By: Indie Boards & Cards
Designers: Jenny Iglesias, Nick Little, and Kevin Riley

Buy Aeon’s End

I love deck-building and Aeon’s End is my favorite mainly deck-building game. I put it that way because I have another game that uses deck-building, but it is less of a deck-building game. This one is great because it gives you a boss battler as well as you play the game. You need to cast spells to deal with the bosses actions, minions, and hopefully knockdown the boss, the nemesis, if you can.

The game does a couple of fun things. Firstly, I like the turn order in the game, though I will say, I think that it makes it a two player game. The turn order is randomly drawn from a deck, so you might go twice in a row, if you have two of your number in there, or you might have the nemesis get multiple turns in a row. It keeps the game feeling tense and stressful. But I think it works best as a two player game because otherwise you might have a long time between turns.

Then the deck of cards. As you add cards and you need to draw again, you don’t shuffle the deck. Instead you just flip it and you draw from that. If you are smart, you can set it up so that you are drawing a strong hand. It is tricky, but it’s also a ton of fun when you get it right.

4. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Published By: Czech Games Edition (CGE)
Designers: Elwin, Min

Buy Lost Ruins of Arnak

This is the other game that has deck-building, but it’s less of the game. Lost Ruins of Arnak is a deck-building, worker placement and resource management game that I just love. The theme really helps sell me on the game where you are exploring the jungle and trying to become the most famous explorer. Yes, that theme is hiding behind the mechanisms in some ways, but it’s there.

The game is really a great puzzle as you need to figure out how to explore new locations, defeat those monsters, and go up a research track. But they do it thematically in some areas, and I love that. You can buy new gear with money, but when you do that, it goes to the bottom of your deck of cards. Why, because it needs time to ship over. But if you buy a relic, that’s there, and you can use it immediately. Or on the research track as you advance, you need to discover, magnifying glass, before you can write about it, journal.

And the Expedition Leaders makes the game even better. It means that each player is starting at a unique spot. And it helps shape how you want to solve the puzzle. I thin the game is a 9 for me without this, but with it, and it’s an easy addition, it’s an easy 10 and in my Top 10 of all time.

3. Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon

Published By: Awaken Realms
Designers: Krysztof Piskorski, Marcin, Swierkot

Buy Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Now a game that has been in my Top 10 for a long time with Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. I still think this game has the best story and writing of any game that I’ve played. It does an amazing job of weaving together a narrative over three different campaigns. And you want to explore and read all the story. It’s so good and the storymode fixes the issue, that even though the regular game is a grind when it comes to resources, this is still a game that I love.

I think that the game works so well too in what you are doing. The combat and diplomacy checks you come across offer interesting puzzles of card play. And then when you go to a new card and you find new choices, it’s really interesting. I also should mention with combat, I like how you sometimes just want to runaway. A combat is going to be too hard for you and instead of taking a ton of damage, if your draw bad cards, you should just run.

As an aside, I can’t wait to play the new game in the series. But it’s being waited on because of other campaign games to play. I’ve heard it is less grindy, so if you are worried about that in the base game, maybe check out that version.

2. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Published By: Fantasy Flight Games
Designers: Nate French, MJ Newman

Buy Arkham Horror: The Card Game

At number two is a return to glory in some ways. I think that Arkham Horror: The Card Game was in the Top 3 or so when I first started the list. But it is back here because I’ve gotten to play more over this past year. I’ve done the story in the core box and started on another one. And I built my own character for that which is fun to do as well.

The game is just impressive with how it uses cards in such an interesting way. I love how they become a map for the house, city, or whatever you are in. And how they use simple symbols to help you know what connects to what in the game. And each campaign feels different. I played the Arkham Nights one at a game store, and that was super unique and fun, while the base box felt like a great introduction, and the Scarlet Keys is already shaping up to be different.

I also like that each character you build is going to be good at different things. So you need to balance the party. But you might want a challenge and create a different and unique combination of characters to go with as well.

1. Frosthaven, Gloomhaven, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

Published By: Cephalofair Games
Designer: Isaac Childres

Buy Frosthaven

The final spot on the Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition is the same as it’s always been. This is Gloomhaven, or Frosthaven, or Jaws of the Lion. They are all the same game, though Frosthaven does add in a city management phase which is very fun for the game as well. This is an amazing dungeon crawler game and very worth checking out if you haven’t played a dungeon crawler before. Especially Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion as a starting point for the game.

In this game you play different scenarios and you need to figure out with your unique character how to defeat the enemies and complete the objectives. In Gloomhaven a lot of the objectives are defeat everyone. But Frosthaven adds in more variety, so you need to figure out the puzzle.

And how do you do that? You do that with playing cards from your hand. Each card has a top action, a bottom action, and an initiative on it. You pick one of the two cards to set your initiative and then generally you have a plan of which top of a card and which bottom you want to use. But, if the board changes, maybe the enemies move on you, you can adjust which top and bottom you want to use from the cards you play. And did I mention that each character is unique and feels different in how they play, because they do. And you get a try a lot of them.

Thank You For Joining The Journey

I hope that you’ve had fun with my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition. I always have fun putting together this list. And I apologize for it being a bit delayed in when the article came out as compared to the video on Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. My schedule has been weird as of late.

So with that, be aware I will be streaming as I can. I still want to go through my 101 through 200, aka the games that I still love but couldn’t crack the Top 100. And really, I love a lot more games than just 200. But that video is going to come out when it can. And it might not come out live depending on what my potential filming schedule looks like. The same with other streaming like Legendary Kingdoms and Baldur’s Gate 3. And then I have other games I want to play too, like Regicide Legacy that are going to stream well.

So all of that is to say, thank you for watching. And subscribe and click the notification bell to know when new videos come up on the Malts and Meeples channel.

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Catch Up on the Top 100 Games

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

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition – 30 through 21

30. Space Base

Published By: Alderac Entertainment Group
Designer: John D. Clair

Buy Space Base

This is a game that I should have played a long time ago. But it is one that left my collection and then I played it on BGA. Once I played it on BGA, I knew that I needed it back in my collection. Much like other games like Valeria and Mochi Koro this one is about activating spots based off of dice rolls. And then building up those spots so that you can activate more things. Space Base just ramps up in a much better way than those and offers some interesting choices and an interesting moment of when you change from money to points.

29. Symbiose

Published By: Subverti
Designers: Jeremy Partinico and Christelle Partinico

Not Available Yet

Symbiose is one of the new games on the list, in fact, I’m not sure you can get it in the US yet. But this is one I’ll be getting for sure. It’s a simple game where you try and get a two tall by four wide grid full of cards. And those cards are going to score you points based off of the other cards in the grid. But there is a simple twist that makes this work. You score your grid with the central four cards. But the ones to the left and right score your opponents to the left and right. And that is enough to make this a very fun game.

28. XenoShyft: Onslaught

Published By: CMON Limited
Designers: Keren Philosophales and Michael Shinall

Out of Print

I love cooperative and deck building games. XenoShyft does both of those things really as well as you build up your deck to fight off monsters. On the deck building side I like how you always get money to add to your hand. That means that you are always able to buy something which is good and rewarding. The other part is I can just give you a card, you need more troops, I can give you one. It is now part of your deck, and it’s not to the discard, it is straight to your hand. A very tough and rewarding game.

27. One-Hit Heroes

Published By: Wiggles 3D
Designers: AC Atienza and Connor Reid

Buy One-Hit Heroes

This one is a theme that I like a lot with super heroes, but it is doing something different. You are heroes who are glass cannons, kind of. By that I mean if you take a hit you are out, but the game gives you tons of ways to avoid them. So you need to manage your hand and what the enemy is doing. And each enemy is different and each hero is different, so there is a ton of replayability in the box. Plus you level up, so to speak, as you play and get to add in new cards to your deck.

26. Planet Unknown

Published By: Adam’s Apple Games, LLC
Designers: Ryan Lambert and Adam Rehberg

Buy Planet Unknown

Planet Unknown is one of my favorite planet terraforming games. In this one I love how you are covering up the planet and activating locations to move up on tech, and other tracks. The tracks are such a fun part of the game. And as you play the game more you play not with the starting abilities but with special ones. They make you unique, and of course there is the lazy susan. Being able to spin that and then pick where you want to pick from is great. You can set yourself up well, or you can try and mess over your opponents plans or ideally both.

25. Paper Dungeons

Published By: MeepleBR
Designer: Leandro Pires

Out of Stock

I think that this is the highest roll and write game on the list and one of the most complex that I play. Paper Dungeons is a “Dungeon Scrawler”, as they call it, where you level up heroes and explore the dungeon fighting monsters. But there is more than that, you need to manage your heroes health, make adventuring gear and find treasure. Of course, if you make it to the boss monsters that is another way to get even more points, but hopefully not at the expense of too much health.

24. Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom

Published By: FryxGames
Designer: Jonathan Fryxelius

Buy Kingdom Legacy – note, there might be an additional tariff related shipping charge in the US.

I was not sure about Kingdom Legacy the first time I watched a video on it, but the more I watched the more I liked it. This is a legacy game of managing your deck of cards by destroying cards, leveling up cards, or even adding new cards. And as you go through, you need to decide which cards are best used for upgrading and points and when to use cards for resources to level up others. It’s a nice balance of multiuse cards, and a challenge to optimize your score.

23. Ready Set Bet

Published By: Alderac Entertainment Group
Designer: John D. Clair

Buy Ready Set Bet

I like betting and I like racing when it comes to games. Ready Set Bet somehow combines the two of them into real time fun and stand-up moments. Personally I like both parts of this game betting and being the person calling the race. As you call the race, it’s just to get into it and keep the race moving and watch everyone else stand-up. As a better it’s all about trying to make the right bets the fastest. If you wait too long the best spots are gone, and if you bet too quickly you’re more apt to make bad bets. It sounds chaotic, which it is, but it’s also so much fun.

22. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

Published By: Stronghold Games
Designers: Sydney Engelstein, Jacob Fryxelius, and Nick Little

Buy Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

Another game about terraforming a planet, Ares Expedition is a big engine building game of, well, doing a better job terraforming Mars. In this game it’s all about the action selection and how that works. I pick an action, everyone gets to do it, but I get a bonus for it. It might be a bonus of drawing more cards or a discount on building something. But then again, if my opponent(s) pick the same action, we all only do that action, and the other possible actions are skipped. So it’s always trying to guess what your opponent(s) will do to optimize your actions.

21. Hanamikoji

Published By: EmperorS4
Designer: Kota Nakayama

Buy Hanamikji

Finally is one of my favorite two player games. Hanamikoji is a game of trying to win the favor of Geisha by giving them gifts. Each one wants a certain gift and there is a limited number of them. You want to win the favor of four or eleven points worth.

But the biggest draw of this two player game is the action system. You only have four actions and you do one per turn and only once per round. They are simple actions like discarding two cards that won’t be used facedown, or putting one facedown that you’ll score. The other two offer a bit more with the “I Split, You Choose” mechanism in play, and makes you think about what cards you show your opponent for that.

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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How To Play Moonshine

Moonshine is an engine building game where you are racing to 12 points. To do this, you need to score patrons to your speakeasy by meeting their requirements. On the turn where one player gets 12 points, the game ends and whomever has the most points, as you can go over 12, is the winner of the game.

A Turn

Turns are pretty simple. You roll three dice, possibly more, and then per the rerolls that you have, you start with one on your speakeasy, and you try and get combinations to complete the patrons you have at your speakeasy. To do this you need to match symbols. The symbols are money, music, drink, and moons.

If after your roll or your opponents roll you cannot complete a patron’s requirements, you choose from two other options. First is you can choose to get a moon. If you do, you cover up a moon spot on your speakeasy or one of the patrons. I plan to talk about that more in the engine building section. The other option is that you draw patron cards and may replace one of your patrons.

Engine Building

The engine building is done in two ways. The first is with the moon tokens. When you get moon tokens from rolls or for your turn option, you place them on a moon location. These offer some benefits. On the speakeasy it is either unlocking a blue die to use or a wild symbol for money, music, or drink.

The patrons also might have one as well that you can spend into. When you spend into those, you gain that benefit for as long as the patron is waiting at your speakeasy. Once a patron is complete, they go to your speakeasy. They offer two things potentially there. The first is points, some patrons have a fixed number of points, some have no points, and others offer a variable number of points based on card color.

The other thing that patrons add is symbols. These can be symbols like money, music, drink or moons. These symbols are permanent and let you more easily complete other patrons’ requirements. Or it might be access to the blue or orange dice. It is also possible to get access to looking at more cards when you gain a new patron or three patrons waiting at your speakeasy versus just two, or additional rerolls.

What Doesn’t Work

This is one where i don’t find a ton that doesn’t work. As normal, in that case, I want to talk a little bit about luck. There is luck in this game with what you draw. Now you always draw a few cards to look at and choose one to add to your waiting patrons, but that is not always going to give you what you want. So it is possible that you just need to draw patrons again after a role.

And the other minor thing is there are a few patrons who when you gain them, they give you a moon and remove a moon from your opponents. There are not many and it doesn’t set your opponents back too far. But that is a negative player interaction that might feel tough for a player.

What Works

I like how simple this game is. The dice are easy to understand what symbols they give you. And it is easy to see what you want to roll for. I like it when a game can get to the table very quickly and is very easy to teach. There are a few symbols but those are really easy to understand after a turn or two in the game.

I also like the interactions in the game. I mention the few cards have that negative interaction. The game is also going to offer a chance to mess with your opponents on your turn when you roll the dice. But this is not too negative, they still get to take a positive action, get a moon or replace a patron, if they can’t fulfill a patron’s requirements. I like that the game isn’t purely solitaire though because you can set up your roll or pick your patrons in such a way to maybe fulfill them on an opponent role.

The engine building is Moonshine is good as well. It is simple, I liken it to Splendor. But that goes back to how simple the game is. I know how to leverage my engine pretty quickly once it gets going. And that moment of when do I stop building my engine and go for bigger points is nice. And because it is a simple engine, it keeps the game moving. Moonshine doesn’t stall out.

Who is Moonshine For?

I think this is a good game for people who like Splendor. And I think that this is a more enjoyable game than Splendor. So maybe for the people who think that Splendor is a bit slow in getting going, Moonshine offers a lot of the same engine building style, but is faster to get to it. And there is a bit more in terms of strategy, I think, than with Splendor but just a tiny bit more. So if you want to introduce someone to engine building concepts, this is a good game for that.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Moonshine

I very much enjoy Moonshine. It is a game that I already have played at least five times and have a few more games of it going on BGA. I also think it is very possible that it is a game that will start to feel similar. Your engine is not going to massively change from game to game. So it is never going to feel wildly different as you play it.

This is a bit of a negative, but it is also something to be aware of what type of game it is. Mainly, Moonshine is a great game for BGA because there isn’t too much going on. At the same time, if you want heavy engine building it is going to feel a little bit lacking and won’t stick around as long because of that. But it is meant to be an easy to get into and play engine builder, and it is great for that and for that reason I like it.

My Grade: B
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: A-
Strategy (out of 10): 4
Luck (out of 10): 5

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Legendary Kingdoms – Part 1

Legendary Kingdoms – Part 2

More Parts to Come

What Is Legendary Kingdoms

Legendary Kingdoms is a solo, though you could do it cooperatively, RPG system. In this system you are using a choose your own adventure type of game play with skill checks. And there are multiple books in the Legendary Kingdoms. The choices you make progress the story in different ways. And while sometimes you are limited, you also hit very open world points. But that’s the basics of the system.

How To Play

Legendary Kingdoms is a game where there isn’t really a “winner” so to speak. It is an open world story driven solo or multiplayer choose your own adventure RPG, in case you skipped the section above.

Characters

To start off you start with a group of four characters in your party. I am not sure if it is possible to add more characters as you go. But it is possible to have your characters die if you are reckless in battles.

Characters use several different stats. There is fighting, stealth, lore, survival and charisma as well as hit points. These stats generally range from 1 to 5 when you start the game. It is possible during the game that they might increase. But it is not a common thing and it is driven by story. It is not an RPG system where you gain experience and level up.

Checks

The main crux of the game play is split into two parts. Story, which I’ll talk about next, and checks. When you do anything in the game you complete checks. This is even the case when you are in combat, though combat checks do behave slightly differently at times.

The basics of a check are fairly simple. They are either group checks, so a check for everyone, or an individual check. A group check you will use the stats of two of the four characters versus just one for the individual. The game often doesn’t tell you what a check might be before you make it, so you need to pick your character(s) somewhat blindly based on context.

Then you roll dice. You roll dice equal to the stat being checked against. In combat you check to see how many succeed and you get that many hits and damage dealt to an enemy which is determined by the enemy’s defense. In a skill check there is a set target number you want to match or beat like in combat. But in a skill check you want to get a certain number of success to pass.

There is a bit more for combat, but I won’t go into it here.

Story

The other large element is the story in the game. Like I said, this is a choose your own adventure style of game. By that I mean, you start with a passage, read that, make a decision and go to another passage to read from. It is interrupted by combats or skill checks, but generally it is reading one part of the story or another.

What I Don’t Like

So what is it about the game that might not work for me? I think the biggest thing I note in the game is the luck factor. Yes, the better a skill is the more dice you roll. That is a nice thing int he game, it is less swinging than maybe rolling a D20 and adding a modifier. Especially because it is the value on every individual die that matters. But it is still a luck game. In Legendary Kingdoms there is not much if any die mitigation so it is just a roll.

What I Like

Firstly, I like how simple the system is to play. When I want to get the game out, I grab some dice and start playing. Yes, you need a game sheet to use, but it is not overly complex to track that. And the checks are simple to follow as well.

Speaking of checks, I like how combat is just a bit more complex, but not too complex. If combat were as simple as it is for a skill check, it might feel way to lucky. But I like how you have armor and that armor might block attacks. And I like that as characters you get to go first and then the enemies go. There is no initiative system it is just nice and simple that way.

Another thing that stands out to me is that the writing is solid or slightly better than that. With a choose your own adventure it is very possible that it could be too generic because you don’t know how someone is getting to a situation. This one is just enough on rails that they can create a bigger story. Now it is at the point where I am in an open world point, so I want to know how the story is going to go. But I like the story a lot thus far, and I think there is some good interesting writing and plot happening.

Who Is Legendary Kingdoms For?

This is tough one to say. I think people who like a good RPG might enjoy this game. In particular maybe a video game RPG player who is looking for a way to spend less screen time. It is going to give you that RPG itch but not be too much. And it is something for an RPG fan who maybe wants to play more but can’t work it into their schedule. This is a game that is easily playable in an evening for thirty minutes and then putting it down and picking it up again.

Thoughts and Grades on Legendary Kingdoms

This game is a blast to play. Is it perfect, no, I wish there was maybe a way to add a bonus to a roll from time to time, just for those really important ones. And maybe it is the case where there might be a spell that’ll do that eventually. So there is a bunch of luck when it comes to rolling. And combat, like most RPG’s, is always a bit more time than the story. But those both are minor negatives to me.

The positives far outweigh both of those parts to me. I think that the game play is fast and fun. And I love the story elements to it. The decision of do you go further into the water or out, it is interesting. Do you spend more time pushing for treasures but potentially risking something? That is what you want from a good choose your own adventure style of game. And unlike the choose your own adventure books you might have read growing up, this one is logical. You can guess what might come next.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: C
Casual Grade: A
Strategy (out of 10): 5
Luck (out of 10): 7

Oh, and if you made it down here, leave a comment as to what direction I should go in the story.

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How To Play Rallyman Dirt

The first part of the game that might be out of the normal is you need to build the track. You build out a course that you want, the box comes with some ideas for them, and you can start to race. Though, Rallyman Dirt is different than some other racing games.

Rally Time

Let’s quickly talk about how rally racing works. Cars are on the course not at the same time, or they are staggered in what order they go in. If you get caught, that is bad. And generally, a rally is held over several races, we’ll get to why that matters here in a minute. Just know that it isn’t a mass start from a starting line, like a gam like Heat or Formula D.

Planning and Rolling

So the first player grabs their dice. The dice number 1 through 6, a red die, and two yellow dice for the first player. Following players swap the two yellow dice for two white dice. You plan out your course next. You start in first gear and then move to higher gears. The higher the gear, the faster you go. Of course, you don’t always want to be in a high gear. You reach a corner and go to fast, it is going to go poorly for you.

Once you plan out your route, you roll the dice. You either roll them all at once, or one at a time. If you roll them all at once you geta time reduction in seconds equal to the number of dice you rolled. If you roll them one at a time you can stop whenever. The advantage to rolling one at a time is that you can avoid a crash or spinout if you go out of control, mainly because you know when you will potentially be rolling enough symbols to go out of control. And the leader is at a disadvantage. The leader rolls for their dice, two yellow dice, and those have a higher chance of a crash.

Turn Order

Another element I want to talk about is how turn order works. Because it goes out of order, in some ways. In a four player game, the first player goes twice before the second player. Then the first and second player go again before the third. This is to keep you spaced out on the course.

The Finish

At the end of the race you count up the time that you took on the course, you get a tile for each gear you were in at the end of each turn that makes up your time. And then you subtract time for each die that you rolled while going flat out. The fastest time wins that leg of the rally.

Then in order from first to last, you go on a new course. I like to play three races in a row, but how many you want to do is up to you. You even can do one race, but that means one person is at a disadvantage because they roll the yellow dice. At the end of all the races, and you adjust the order each time, the person with the fastest overall time is the winner.

What Doesn’t Work

I think that people will find it out, and I agree it kind of is, how the turn order works. But that is somewhat to simulate how a rally race actually works. But it is also to keep cars from bunching up. If you are following the leader, you don’t want to end up accidentally blocked, and it can happen. So you need to strategize your turns. Sometimes moving less is okay because you just go fast for a short distance and take a small amount of time.

What Works

Time System

The timing system in the game is clever. I like how you get a tile for the gear you were in at the end of each turn. So if you are going fast, it’s a gear with less time. I think gear six, you get 10 seconds added to your time. And if you go flat out, roll all the dice at once, you maybe reduce your time by another 4-5 seconds, depending on how far you went. But then you also need to slam it into lower gears often too.

I also like how the timing system doesn’t just allow you to stick in a high gear. Sure, I could stay in gear 6 as much as possible and move one to three spots a round, but that means that I’m taking a lot of those tokens. Sometimes it’s better to slam it into a low gear after moving a long distance so that you can really push how far you go. Because a slower time but further along the track means that you are taking fewer turns to get around the track, which means fewer time tokens overall.

Coasting

And the yellow and white dice are great. They are the coasting dice. Basically dice that let you maintain a speed. But if you are the leader in the race, you don’t know what is coming up. So while you aren’t going to be crashing all the time, the yellow dice increase those odds. And because someone has been on the course before, the white dice make it easier for you.

The Tracks

One element that I didn’t mention that I like are the hazards or obstacles on the track. You might have a jump, if you meet the speed total for the jump or are one higher you clear an extra space. Too much speed and you end up spinning out. Then there is water that you need to either cross in first gear or while coasting. And there are shortcuts on the tracks. Basically corners that you can hit and drift through a little area to make it even shorter and keep your speed even faster. Plus more elements as well.

And on the topic of tracks, I like how the tracks are just hexes. That means that you build the track you want. You want only big sweeping curves to keep the speeds fast, you can do that. You want a really technical course with a lot of hazards, sharp turns, and some shortcuts, you can do that as well. Or you pick from the tracks in the book that make up a three race rally and go you from there and play those. The game gives you a lot of freedom.

Simplicity

Finally, I want to talk about the simplicity. It is easy to understand what is going on. You don’t need to spend a lot of time learning about how gears work, what all the steps are that you check or anything like that. You literally place the dice onto the track to plot out how you are going to be going. And because you can only hit each gear once per turn, you don’t play with a ton of choices. At the start, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, coast and coast is a reasonable turn that everyone will do.

But as you get further along the track and as people spin out or run into issues or try different lines, the race really changes up. What it never does, though, is bog you down with too many choices. It’s set the dice out based off of the gear you ended the previous turn in and see how far and fast you can get.

Who Is Rallyman Dirt For?

I think Rallyman Dirt is a game for people who like dice chucking, but not just dice chucking and see what happens. There are definitely some fun options in terms of strategy with how you plan out your gears, when you try and push it as hard as you can, and when you go flat out and roll and when you roll one die at a time.

If someone is looking for a very technical racing game, this isn’t going to be it. But for people who want a fun game, a beer and pretzels style racing game but one that isn’t just luck and chaos, this is going to be a good game.

I also think this is a good game for people who want a racing game. This and Heat: Pedal to the Metal offer pretty easy to understanding racing without it feeling like a kids game or a luck fest. And I appreciate that I lot, and I think a lot of people will like it for that reason.

Final Thoughts on Rallyman Dirt

I like Rallyman Dirt a lot. I think that probably comes across easily with how long the section is for elements that work. For me, I know that I like a lot of racing games. And while I already own and play a number of racing games, this one still has a spot on my shelf because it feels like it does something different. The time trial element to it is great. I love connecting a few races together as well to face a bigger challenge.

The flexibility of Rallyman Dirt is great as well. I like how I am able to set-up or race on a track that is unique or different every time. Or maybe I want to do a rally on prebuilt tracks. There is a lot of variety in that. But also with the dice play, it has the flexibility for new gamers to jump into a game. I think that with the turn structure it even helps out with that more. When I teach the game I am going to be the first player, I am going to take the bad dice. Why, because I go twice before anyone else does, so they see how turns work in the game.

Rallyman Dirt is going to easily go into a rotation of racing games for me. I know I want to play more Heat: Pedal to the Metal. And I like games that are goofy like Titans Race, Tiny Turbo Cars, and PitchCar as well for racing. But this one lands in a great spot for me. Now I need to play my heavier racing games as well.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B-
Casual Grade: A-

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Top 5 Dungeons and Dragons Accessories

5. Dice Storage

Don’t worry, we’ll get to dice later on. But how do you transport your dice. For me that is a bit of an all over the place question. I have some special cases for the metal dice or the set I got through Awaken Realms. And I keep another set in a bag that it came in. But for the bulk of your dice, and yes you’ll probably have more, what do you keep them in.

There are the classic clothe bags that you can buy. I’ve seen bags for dice that look like monsters from Dungeons and Dragons. Or, what I did, was convert a box we got that looks like a treasure chest into my dice storage. Because, what is more of a treasure than a pile of dice that you can roll. And it’s cool to open up a treasure chest when I need to grab a handful of dice to roll.

4. DM Screen

Now this one is specific to the DM. That is why I thought it could make sense to do two lists. But so many of the others work for both. But the DM screen, whether it’s the Dungeons and Dragons official one or a awesome expandable wooden one that looks like a castle, that is up to you.

As a DM, I own a screen but I don’t use it all that often. So this is one of those really fancy extra things that you maybe or maybe don’t use. But I want it on the list because it can be very useful. I think the custom ones even more useful. Those often let you customize with whatever you want on there. So the information might be the NPCs that you’ve created, the random monsters for your campaign or some campaign notes. And you really can make it work for you that way.

3. Campaign Journal

I say journal but you can use whatever you want. This is somewhere to take your notes while playing Dungeons and Dragons. As the DM, you use it for combats and keeping track of hit points and whose turn it is. Or I also add in the characters who I come up with, which I need to do a better and more consistent job of than just putting down a name. As a player, it’s taking notes on what is happening in the campaign. It might even have a spot for your character sheet.

I like something that has removable sheets. For me I run a 3 hole binder with some dividers. Why, because I can run two games at once, if I wanted. Or there is space to workshop future ideas. I also bring that notebook along at times to take notes on board games that I play or things that have RPG like elements. But there are a lot of specific and custom ones out there for Dungeons and Dragons that are awesome.

2. Minis

How I run and play Dungeons and Dragons you don’t need minis. Is it a hobby that I’d love to get into, sure, but painting minis and building terrain and battle maps is either a lot of work or a lot of money. But when you can create your character in the game, it’s awesome. It is great to have a copy of what you look like.

And now with 3D printing you can get your character. You might buy the file from some website and print it yourself. Or you might pay them to print it. Hero Forge is one that I think of which has a ton of different things that you can customize to create your character. A tiefling sorcerer with the entertainer background, you can customize your character to that if you want. That is an awesome feature. And I’d love to get a map and terrain and have my players bring their characters. But it can be pricy, so that’s why I don’t have this accessory yet.

1. Dice

You need dice to play Dungeons and Dragons. Are they really accessories? I say yes, because I don’t need as many dice as I own. And I don’t need giant squishy dice. I don’t need metal dice, I don’t need silicon dice. I own all of them. Not because you really need more than a single set of dice and maybe some extra D6. But because they are fun to play around with.

I can walk into a game store and have no plan of buying any dice, but if there is an awesome set, I’ll add them to my collection. That is the pull of dice. Plus they are something that you need for Dungeons and Dragons, but not as many as you probably have. And certainly, for me, not as many as I own.

And there is more…

I didn’t want to overload the list. I mention some other things like terrain or battle maps. There are also digital battle maps that you can use. Or with dice, since dice can’t be the whole list, there are dice trays and towers that you can get and use. And there are life counters, and really so much more that you can mess around with in Dungeons and Dragons.

Do you have a favorite accessory that you like to bring to your game? For me, I love my dice the best, but if I could start to dive into it, painting minis and terrain and making some cool set pieces would be awesome for adding a bit of flair to my campaign.

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Why Play 7th Citadel?

So, as we start to think about playing this game, what is it that draws me to it? I think it’s the puzzle and story nature of the game. There are elements that I can search and explore, like in 7th Continent, but in 7th Citadel there is more story to the game. I’m going to be playing through the introductory scenario, so spoilers if you’re worried about that, but you can watch the Meet Me at the Table game below to see how that works.

The 7th Continent

This is a system that I’ve always been interested in. I thought it looked fun enough that I backed the 2nd Kickstarter of The 7th Continent, but I never got around to playing it. And I think that I let some peoples opinions sour me on the game before I got to try it.

I know that the first curse is long. And it is meant to be long and that you’ll play it several times so that you get to learn and understand the game. That said, it is a downside to getting into the game. You feel like you just explore without knowing why for the most part. And I totally understand why that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

On the flip side, I let myself be swayed away from what I like. I think that the game play around flipping cards to try and get the successes you need, that sounds fun. And I like the idea of exploring. That element of the game is big. And as I say, I like that about the game. But why not start with that one?

The 7th Citadel

As you see in the video from Meet Me at the Table, The 7th Citadel has more story. The game is very open world in what you can do, but there is more focus to it. Especially in that first scenario, it walks you through things and teaches you how to play the game. Or at least introduces elements of the game to you through story.

And from what I see in the game, it looks like it is going to have more story. Yet, it is still a game that is going to be open and free. When you play, you pick where you want to go and what you want to unlock and explore next. But there are elements to the game which are determined or influenced by the main threat. That is an interesting element of the game as well for me. I like that story continuing through it.

But the game is also similar to 7th Continent. The mechanism that drives the game is going to be the same. And, again, I like that mechanism. But it cleans up elements to it. You no longer flip a card and randomly die. Instead, now you spend life to gain back cards, so it is a push and pull risk to the game. Again, something that I like.

Bonus Content

Also, since 7th Citadel and 7th Continent didn’t take too much time to unbox I opened up a couple other things. One being the AR Vault (Awaken Realms Vault) dice that I got. And Gloomhaven Buttons and Bugs, a tiny solo version of Gloomhaven with some twists. Those were opened at the end of the video.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I play small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well. And I might do more deck construction with Star Wars Unlimited on Mondays as well or pack openings.

On Wednesdays, I play solo campaign games. I plan on playing a campaign game coming up. Right now I’m torn between two games. Well, more than that if you watched through the end of the video. The next game is the one that I just unboxed, 7th Citadel. So I plan to start playing it next week or at least do character building and then dive into the game.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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Normally I’d add in a video here of the game play. But for Unbreakable, there really isn’t much game play. It’s an established system, so less new content on it. So let’s go back to an older Rolling Solo video to show off the game system of Too Many Bones in general.

Too Many Bones: Unbreakable – Crowdfunding

So, like I said this is the point where I jumped into the game. My first experience, though with the game was the playthrough above, and then playing a bit of a demo of it at GenCon in 2019. Let’s just say that GenCon and a bit of a demo really isn’t the way to try out the game. Chip Theory Games doesn’t make light games. So while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it.

Fastforward to this crowdfunding campaign. And why jump in at this point. Well, it’s supposed to be the last bigger box expansion, possibly. But it is more because these characters sounded cool. I’ll get into them in more detail, so it seemed like a jumping in point that was nice and safe. Since then, of course, I own more and I’m ready to get it to the table.

The Level Up System

Let’s start by talking about Too Many Bones and the big thing that is really tempting about this game. As you play the game you get to level up as you go. That means unlocking new abilities or increasing stats. From what I’ve heard, often stats are just as good as abilities or better. Because survivability is important. But let’s talk about the abilities.

Each character has their own board and dice that they can use to level up. And each character levels up their own things. Let’s talk a bit about the characters here. Because that’s what is so key to the level up system.

Gale

Gale is going to use their mechanical abilities to manipulate the wind. This is all done in the standard way via the dice rolls. Generally around wind, she’s going to try and control the battle board to some extent that way, moving enemies

Figment

Figment is a time traveler. Coming to the past when the world needs them most, Figmant manipulates different elements of the game. Allowing turn order to change or messing with other elements of combat.

Compared to the original characters which were more standard fantasy tropes, Gale and Figment standout in what they can do. So their leveling paths are going to be interesting.

Campaign but Not

So, let’s talk about this as well because Chip Theory Games does this a lot as well. They create games that are campaigns but really aren’t campaigns. In this case it is and isn’t one at the same time. There isn’t that story progression that you are reading. It is the story of what your characters do, fight, and how they upgrade. But it’s not a specific narrative path. So that allows them to get it very generic and shorter.

But it is a campaign because you do level up. Your characters progress throughout the game. The whole last section that I wrote about, you can see how it would be a campaign game. Except for the fact that the story isn’t there.

High Quality

Finally, let’s wrap up by talking about how nice a game that Chip Theory Games makes. Everything that they do is very high quality. They don’t give you a dual layer or single layer cardboard player board, no, it’s a neoprene mat. They don’t give you generic dice that you need to match up to something, custom dice all the way. The poker chips for most things aren’t cheaper quality and even the more basic health chips are really nice.

Everything about the game is quality. And that has stayed consistent across all of their products. Now, that seems like a lot and it does make the games expensive. But they started that way and because it has stayed that way, nothing is incompatible which means that you can play with a lot of different characters that they have put out in Too Many Bones.

Final Thoughts on Too Many Bones: Unbreakable

Is this just an excuse to get into a game that I liked, possibly. But it is a game that I want to dive into. There are a lot of very cool elements and I want to explore this world. I know people love it as a solo game. So I want to explore it as that. I want to play it with friends, I want to see how all the different gearlocs play that I have.

I know that for a lot of people it is a lifestyle game. And I know that it isn’t the easiest game to learn. But I’m excited to dive into it and see all that it has to offer.

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The Game – Lands of Galzyr

Let’s talk about the skill system this week. It is one of the core elements with how you roll your dice. And the dice are the main core element to the game. Most everything else is story focused. So how you setup your skills matters and determines a lot of what you do.

Each character is going to have a balance of how they start with their skills. Bumir was very sneaky, combative, and good at survival to start. And since then I’ve progressed him a few times. Though, only with the combat trait, or what was originally the combat trait. I now have him focused on sneaking, perception, and survival.

But it is important to think about how you space everything out in the game. I’m not sure what the ideal would be. Four spots with one each, two spots with two each. If those two spots are opposite each other, that means for every roll you get two good dice. And for two of the roles you get two really good dice. But with four different ones you are never as strong in a single thing, but consistently better in everything.

Now, optimally, I think you would play either of those configurations if you can, probably the one in any skill. It makes it harder to get a hard, but a lot of the time your options have a medium which would make a lot more accessible. But I like having something I’m really good at it. It makes three skills more likely for me to use. And I think that setup makes it more interesting.

Multiplayer

I do want to mention multiplayer. Clearly I’m playing this solo with one character, I could do player multi-handed, but that wouldn’t be as fun and would get through more of the story for me. But in multiplayer you might consider focusing on two skills because other players might have the other skills.

Now, if it’s competitive, you might get someone to partner with you or you might not. So there is a risk there. Cooperative you are much more likely to play in a group and optimize what you are doing. That way all players will be able to partner and hopefully get the best results that they can.

Upcoming Streams

So, next Wednesday, I don’t have the link up yet, I’ll be playing more Lands of Galzyr. I’m excited as we turn the leaf into a new year to see what happens. I don’t expect the game to change much, but it might add in a new event for me. That’ll be at 8 PM Central time.

And on Monday, different time than normal, 8 PM Central, I’ll be streaming another solo game. Maybe I’ll do more One Card Dungeon game play. But I’m hoping to have a new solo game ready to play around with by then. We’ll have to see.

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How to Play Strike

Strike is a very simple game, where you are rolling dice and trying to get matches. But the numbers on the dice go from 2 through 6. The 1 is a strike, if you roll that, the die is gone forever from the game. If you are the last person standing with dice, you win the game.

The first person in the game, or if anyone rolls dice and clears out the dice tray, has to roll all of their dice. Otherwise you can push your luck by rolling any number of dice at a time to see if you get matches. If you do, you take the matches. If you don’t, you can either stop, leaving the dice you rolled in the tray or you can push your luck and roll in more dice trying to get a match. And that is the game, very simple and fast.

What Doesn’t Work?

Now, I say that the game is fast, and having played it a handful of times now, it consistently is. Because you can roll and strike and lose dice means that the pool is always dwindling of total number of dice. It is possible that it’d take a while to play because you are just rolling a die, getting a match, and no one is really building up a big dice pool.

It is also possible that your very first roll of the game that you are out. In a five player game you have five dice, there is no guarantee you get a pair. Even in a two player game with a lot more dice, there is no guarantee. You get enough strikes you are just out of the game.

What Works?

Now, I said that the game could go on for a while or you could just be out of the game, both are true. But the game works well and counters both of those, generally, by having great speed to the game. Turns are fast, you are invested in each roll of the dice, and it works that way. So through a handful of games I have yet to see the game take too long

It also reminds me of Icecool or PitchCar where you get excited when someone has a crazy roll. So it is a good group game that way where it’s less about winning and losing than it is about the fun of the game. Especially in something that is luck heavy you want to have people excited during the game.

Who Is It For?

I think this is a good filler game for a game group that is okay with randomness. Strike is just randomness as you play it. You roll your dice, you can knock into other dice and change their faces and you hope to get a match. There is no dice mitigation or anything like that. So if you want strategy or control, Strike will not be for you. If you are fine with some random dice chucking and a quick fun time, Strike works well.

I also think on the luck side that even if you don’t have deep strategy players it might not work. There are some people who will get frustrated by the fact it is random. So when the dice are rolled it feels like, because it is, that the game is deciding for them. The question with Strike is if you can handle losing because of a bad die roll or not?

Final Thoughts on Strike

I really enjoy when I play Strike. It gives some good laughs when someone rolls a handful of dice and it fails. It also gives great moments when someone rolls 3 dice and manages to clear the dice tray. Or when you bump a die and now the die you rolled and the die match.

And even the moments where you roll 6 dice and you come out with one match or no matches, those are fun. Because you know it is just random as you go. At the same time, and I talk about this in the who it is for, it does limit the game. Sore losers or people who want so much strategy, it won’t work for them. But if you can embrace the absurd it is a fun time.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C-
Casual Grade: B+

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