How To Play Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archive

This isn’t the full details, like I said, it’s a first impression. And along with that, I need to try competitive mode still. But the basics of the game generally remains the same. In this game you are building out your heroes grand adventure in three different acts. You cast runes to test your skills and complete challenges to get story elements.

To do this you cast three basic runes that can give you 1 or no points for a check. And you cast runes based off of skills on the card. Those are your standard Dungeons and Dragons stats. So you can cast up to three runes of each type which can give you more points and better points since it is a skill you are good at.

In the cooperative game you are trying to get your characters levelled up to cast runes against Odium at the end of the game. Odium has hit points and you remove them throughout the game in various ways. Mainly if you get cards with radiant symbols. But if you fail checks it can also add more onto him. So you all work together to make sure you pass checks and can take out Odium in the end by casting your best runes.

What Doesn’t Work

Right now I think the weakest thing is that the story, while there, could be there more. When I play, I want to really tell a story of what I am doing. And I think that is something the game can encourage. It is almost a backstory generation for an RPG campaign. Especially if you are starting higher than level 1. I also know know that for some people that won’t work, telling more story. But I’d probably implement some story time in my game as the cards really lead you.

The game is also very light. This might be more for whom it is for, but the combination of light game play and the casting of runes, epic fantasy artwork, it feels off slightly. You almost expect the game to be more strategic looking at it, but it is very casual in what it does. And in the competitive version, it will have some take that, which might turn some players off as it doesn’t match the theme that well.

What Works

I enjoyed the cooperative game play quite a lot. I thought that Odium was an interesting villain and while what he does is fairly simple. And you can change him up with one of several cards that you assign to him at the beginning. We played on one that I think is a harder one and managed to win. But that is because we leveraged our cooperation a lot we were able to win.

I also think the game played well as cooperative because had less downtime. This is a lighter game, as I said, so downtime isn’t a major issue. You have a limited number of choices so you pick one and go with it. But in cooperative you help other players. I play a card and it improves your chances of completing your challenge. Competitive it’d be more take that and playing cards on yourself.

The light game play is also nice. Again, it helps with downtime. But it also made it pretty easy to pick up. I think the rules are solid. And I think you could get down to it and get playing fast. More teaching would occur during the game but it is easy enough that you could do that. And because of the great artwork, I think it’s a nice game to draw people in.

Let’s finish with the artwork. It is amazing. It helps that I know the characters. But even if you don’t, the artwork is gorgeous. And it is likely going to make you want to reach the books to find out what everything means. But the qualify of the game is very solid overall. The player board is a bit thin, but cards are nice, runes are nice, and cardboard tokens are nice.

Who Is It For?

This is more of a gateway game than I was expecting. I think that people who are familiar with a few games or a few concepts would be able to pick up this game. I might not pull it out over something like Catan or Ticket to Ride, but it is close to that. And, in all fairness, I might pull it out over them because of how much I’ve played those two.

If you are looking for a highly strategic game, there are elements of strategy. But it is not going to wow you with the strategy in the game. This is more about the artwork and that lighter game play than heavy decision making.

Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archive – First Impressions

I had a good time with the game. I want to try it as a competitive game. But I suspect I will prefer it cooperative. A game like Call to Adventure could rely too much on take that, I think, in competitive mode. And to be trying to set yourself up for that one perfect card or toss and have someone mess with it is not that fun.

I also wonder about staying power for the game. The game is likely to stay in my collection because it’s Stormlight Archive versus it being a highly replayable game. There are elements that change it up, but is it enough. Granted, Brandon Sanderson is writing more books in the series, so it could be one that comes back and works out just fine with another expansion in two years. Overall, it is a fun game that I think is a bit lighter than I’d life if I didn’t love the theme.

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How To Play Ramen! Ramen!

Ramen! Ramen! is a pretty simple game with how it plays. On your turn you will add ingredients to two of the three ramen bowls. Your goal is to collect bowls to score which is done by either getting the total of the cards to be 14 or higher. Or to get all seven ingredients into one bowl.

The trick to the game is that you can only place one ingredient per bowl. So if I put down the 6th ingredient into a bowl, I am doing that off of the assumption that you don’t have that 7th ingredient type. If you do, you can score that bowl. Much of the game is trying to set it up so that your opponent will give you an bowl with a number of ingredients in it.

The game ends when all of the cards have been played out. Players then score each bowl separately based off of the number of different ingredients in it. The more ingredients the higher the scores, and the total of all the bowls that is highest is the winner of the game.

What I Don’t Like?

Firstly, I should say, I have only played this game at two. I am not sure that I would want to play it at the full four. Part of the fun of the game at two is that I can really try and set you up to give me something. At a higher player count, it is going to be more random than that. Maybe at three players I can keep stuff far enough from being scored that it could come back to me, but that’s questionable. And at four players, I’d just be worried about not setting up the person after me. So I think this is probably best at a two player game.

That’s not a major complaint, though it does fight against other two player games. And not a major complaint either is that the rules are a bit odd for the game. The game is very easy to play and understand. But when you end your turn, you replenish your hand. That is normal. To do so, you take one card from a face up group of cards, flip out another card to that group so it’s back to four. And then you draw blindly from the top. They turn that end part into three steps. You could just pick a card and draw off the top then flip out a card. It’d be the same thing and easier to remember.

What I Like?

Ramen! Ramen! plays fast, and I like that. The turn angst isn’t there that much. You have three bowls and four cards. And you will only use two of the cards. So there is some decision space, but it’s not too overwhelming. Once we learned the game better, it slowed down slightly, but generally that was not much and just on a few pivotal turns where we were trying to give your opponent as few points as possible.

I also find it interesting how defensive this game is. And I kind of enjoy it. I don’t like playing other games, Magic The Gathering, for example, defensively. But since Ramen! Ramen! is so fast and simple to play, I like it better here. When I pull off a play that makes my opponent get way less points than they were hoping that’s fun. Or when I can set it up so that my opponent can’t help but give me bowls, that is fun. It’s a much simpler version of Hanamikoji that way.

Who Is This Game For?

I could also put it this way. What niche might it fill for a gaming collection. Because this is very much a filler game. If you want something that has pretty simple decisions, but interesting decisions this is not a bad game. Especially if you are playing with more casual gamers.

This is definitely a game that leans more towards a casual gamer. I think that heavier gamers will find it way to light. It is also a game that is going to work well for someone getting into gaming. If they like board game and have played simpler card games, this won’t be a hard one to pick up. In fact, it is possibly a decent alternative to some of the more classic card games you find in Target and such.

Final Thoughts on Ramen! Ramen!

This is a fun game, one that I wouldn’t recommend to everyone, though. It depends on the type of gamer you are and more so on the types of people that you game with. I think that there are a going to be a number of people who find it too light.

But for me, that lightness works. I do think it’s a game that might end up getting moved on from after a bit, though. The game doesn’t change massively from play to play. But then again, either does Hanamikoji. If I wanted to keep something simpler for two players, or maybe for more, on h and, I could see Ramen! Ramen! sticking around. Or as I play it enough times it might leave like Tsuro did.

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

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How To Play Project L

Project L is a game about basically playing Tetris, or with Tetris pieces. You are trying to complete shapes by filling in pieces to it. At the start of the game, you have two pieces a single square and two squares, but you get more as the game goes along.

On your turn you have a number of actions that you can do. And you get to take three of them per round. You can pick up one of the shape cards that you need to fill in and put it in front of you. Next you can upgrade a piece, and they have different levels which determine how you can upgrade. Or you can take a basic piece. You can clear a row, or one important one is you can master. Master you can do once per turn, but allows you to put a piece in every shape that you have.

The game continues until you get down to none of the harder tiles left. After that you finish out the round plus one more. That way each person gets a similar number of turns. Then you count up points on your shapes, and most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The base game is a lot of fun, and I have more positives than negatives. However, I am concerned about how the base game will play over a lot of plays. I expect it to stick in my collection because the game is very accessible, more on that later. But for me, without the Finesse expansion or Ghost expansion which I want to get, will it be interesting enough.

The game play itself is simple, and after a handful of plays. I feel like it doesn’t change up too massively. Now, I think it can change up with different players because if I go for the higher scoring cards and push the end game faster, that will make it feel different. But if I build up a really strong set of pieces and go from there, it’s going to feel like what I’ve done before.

What Works?

The ease and time of play are great on this game. In a two player game, turns are snappy. And while there is decision space with what shapes you take, how you allocate your pieces, things like that, it isn’t daunting. I felt like I could sit down and play this game with anyone.

The game also looks great on the table. The bright colored pieces that you are fitting into the black and white cards makes the game pop. It makes it feel easy to get to the table and play. And the pieces are a lot of fun, very high quality game.

Who Is This For?

I think that this is a great game for gamers to teach people getting into the hobby. Or to teach players who gravitate towards that Splendor, Ticket to Ride, and Smallworld weight of game. I don’t know that this will work for a group of heavier gamers. It might work a few times but it won’t be one that sticks around because the decision space and strategy for the base game is a bit limited.

But more casual gamers, I highly recommend this game. Project L is a game that should be in Target and sell a million copies or at least one hundred thousand, because it is fun, it is easy to learn, and it looks great. Put this on a shelf next to a lot of games and it’ll stand out.

Project L- Final Thoughts

I think that this is going to be one that sticks around in my collection. And I think that even though it won’t be one that I always want to play. Because while the game play is fun and easy, I’m not sure the base game has the level of strategy that I want.

I am hopeful, with looking at the expansion, that will improve the game for me. This is a game that should have staying power on my shelf for a lot of people I game with. And I don’t think it is going to be a game where I will turn down playing it. I also think that the expansion is going to make that even less likely that I’ll turn down playing it. Mainly because it looks to add to the puzzle of the game.

Finally, this isn’t part of the review, but there is a insert or Game Trayz for Project L. I’m not sure if it’ll be something you can buy later, but man, is it nice. Takes what could have been a bit of a messy table and a slower set-up and makes an easy game easy to get to the table.

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

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My Farm Shop

Let’s just start out by saying that this game compares to Machi Koro, if you’re familiar with that game it’ll help with some of the mechanics. In My Farm Shop you are getting goods to then sell for coins, which are your victory points. You have 10 different areas on your board all which correspond to numbers, 2 through 12 actually with 2 and 12 sharing the same space. These are your farm plots where you can grow things, or where you get your yarn, honey, milk, or eggs. You trade in those goods to get coins, which are your points. But how it works is interesting.

On your turn you roll three dice. You use one of those dice to get a new field. These are the spots where you get your goods or coins. So you can upgrade a spot which gives you an egg to give you two balls of yarn instead. And then the other two dice will activate one of those fields, hence the 2 through 12. There are a set number of cards that go onto the board and as you finish off that pile the game ends. The player with the most points wins.

What Didn’t Work

This game generally works. There isn’t that much randomness to it really for a dice game. And while some people can have better luck, there are ways to mitigate that luck if you want to, which I’ll talk about in what I like. I do think that this game might be too simple for a lot of gamers. I’d put this at a complexity level with something like Splendor. And Splendor is a game that is still in my collection and I’ll play, but has run it’s course for me.

There is more decision space, I think, with how you build your engine up, but it’s not that much more than with Splendor. The choice you make is generally pretty obvious, which is fine. It falls into that category of a nice welcoming game, but one that might have a limited shelf life for a lot of gamers.

What Works

Let’s start with the one thing I teased, the die mitigation. I didn’t talk about it, but there are burlap sacks in the game. Another resource you can get. They are used to modify the dice just for you. So you want card #4 for your engine, but you don’t roll a four, you can reduce a five to a four or a three up to a four. Or a nine is getting activated but you really need to activate eight, so you can spend a burlap sack adjust down to an eight. It makes the burlap sacks important.

I also like that early in the game you can always activate everything. At the end you might have a dead turn, but for the most part what you start with just gives you stuff. Even later in the game, you need to decide how to spend those burlap sacks to try and optimize your engine. So you are always paying attention. If you aren’t rolling the dice, those other two dice still do activate what you have.

The game speed is also very nice. Now, I’ve only played this at two players, it will be longer with more people, but I don’t know it’ll be that much longer. Plus since you are always engaged it makes the game more interesting. And with more people points will be higher because you’ll activate more things, which will be satisfying because it’ll push the points higher. I like it when a game might be longer but rewards you by allowing you to do more.

Final Thoughts on My Farm Shop

This game isn’t going to be for everyone. When I say that it is light, it is a very light game. This is one that I think my wife will like, I think I can play with my parents, and it’ll go over well. The game is easy to teach and easy to play. That said, for heavier gamers, this game is going to be too light. For me, I can see this one getting played with the right groups. It’s also a nice filler sort of game when you don’t want too simple a filler.

Overall, it is a good game. It is also a good game at a good price. There are a fair amount of pieces in the box without it having a $50 price tag, which you’d expect for a box that size. I think that for a casual game night this will be a hit.

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

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Heavy vs Medium vs Light Weight Games

Let’s start with something that I’ve talked about before, but I want to talk about it in a different way. I want to talk about it from the point of view of an experienced gamer. This came up in a conversation last night when talking about Catan and how influential Catan was and whether or not Catan is a good game. But it applies to game weight as well. When I first played Catan, and for a lot of us this will be the case. As we play more games, now Catan feels much lighter, much more random, much more mass market.

And Catan goes from when we first played it, a medium weight game, into a light weight game. And that is because of our shifting perceptions of gaming. At this point in time, I could learn and teach Catan for the first time in a few minutes, the game isn’t that complex for me. However, when I was learning it back then, it was different. There wasn’t the oral history and teaching of a game that naturally occurred with Clue, Monopoly or Uno. And Catan is more complex or as complex as those games.

What’s the Point?

I do have a point with all of that, I think that often as people in the gaming hobby versus people getting into the gaming hobby, weight can vary drastically. For example, I play a ton of games but a war game that is a 2.5 is going to feel way heavier to me because it is outside of game types I know how to learn. But for a war gamer, a war game with a 2.5 out of 5 weight wouldn’t be hard to learn.

So weights of games change depending on the experience level of the gamer. The more that you play, the lighter games will become, because the more you will know how games work and how to learn games. To pull another example of how this works, Gloomhaven is not a complex game to me, at least in how it plays. But for even a lot of experienced gamers, that is a lot to learn. So be helpful to new players and try and understand their weighting and understanding of games.

Family Weight/Gateway Games

Now a good way to get around those light/medium/heavy debates is by calling a game family weight or gateway. These two can be slightly different as an older group of people can probably handle something slightly heavier, but there will be overlap.

A family weight or gateway game is the one that you’d take to play with your family. Can you teach the game to your parents, aunts, uncles, or maybe they’re gamers, so some other group of non-gamers easily. Where the difference between family and gateway could arise is that family is going to imply for most people it’ll be a topic/style/text that is family friendly as well.

These are the games like Catan though, the ones that I might find to be super light now. So I don’t need to say that it’s a light game or an easy to learn game, because it might not be. I can call it a gateway game which makes it feel friendlier when someone is learning. Calling it light and someone not getting it makes them feel inferior, but the nomenclature of gateway, that has a very different feel.

Filler Games

Next we go onto filler games. What is a filler game you might ask? That’s a game with a quick to the table and play time. It is a game you can pull out of the box and get played with a number of people in a few minutes while waiting for another game to wrap up or more people to show up. These games don’t always add in a ton of strategy to them, instead they are meant for making fast decisions and getting onto the next turn. These games are often so fast that we don’t really consider them in gateway or family weight categories because it’s less about playing it to teach new people.

What About More?

Well, there are a lot more types of games out there. I talk about a lot of them over the years and they can be found over here and more topics on board games. I think that there is a lot of interesting game types to talk about and I can dive into them more.

But this topic of game weights and kind of the different types of lighter games as interesting to talk about. I skipped party games because I tend to think people who are looking for light or gateway games have already played a lot of party games. And there is certainly a wider world of games that can be jumped into as people play more games.

I also wanted to talk about it this because I do see people often encouraging new players to get bigger and more complex games. I think it’s a good reminder for myself and for other more experienced board gamers to remember the board games that we started out with. Even if Catan wasn’t our gateway game, we all had some game like that which we started with.

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A card game is a board game!

Let Me Explain

The easy way to talk about this is to talk about sets and subsets. This is a nerdy topic and something that I know well from the math courses I’ve taken and the computer programming I’ve done.

Let’s say that we’re talking about some numbers here, 1, 2, 3, …, 10. So our whole set of numbers is one through ten. In that, I can create a smaller set of numbers, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, so all of the even numbers. Those are evens but they are also still numbers.

This is how it works for board games as well. I have all my board games, Gloomhaven, Ticket to Ride, Uno, Skip-bo, Catan, and Splendor. That is my set, board games. Within board games we have subsets. Ticket to Ride, Catan, and Splendor would fall into a subset of gateway games. Uno and Skip-bo, those are both what type of game, a card game.

Why Not Just Call The Set Games?

Well, we can, we can call the whole set games and then we bring in some other things. Video Games, those are games, Role Playing Games, those are games. And then becomes subsets of what is known as a game. Then, since we’re dealing with mostly analog where there are components needed, I create a subset known as board games.

Now, an RPG is mostly analog and you have things that you need, paper, pencil, dice, so why a separate category for them?

Board Games are a subset separate from an RPG because with a board game you get everything in a self contained box or shipment. In an RPG, I buy stuff separately, I don’t get my dice that I need for the game because I bought a book or put together a character. The pencils don’t come with anything. With a board game I get everything all at once. I don’t have to buy separate trains for Ticket to Ride, I don’t buy a pack of Wild Draw 4’s for Uno. Those all come in the game.

That is why I put card games as a subset of board games and board games as a subset of games.

So Why Is This A Question?

This is a question because I see a lot of new gamers, people who are super excited about board games but will turn up their nose at card games. This goes back to how people limit themselves as gamers. I have talked about that a lot in this article, Why Limit the Board Games You Play.

I won’t touch on everything again from that article, about how elitism in the views of certain types of games can hurt people joining into the hobby, but also hurt yourself from finding great games to play. This is the same here, people who separate the two, they are keeping great games from themselves.

Marvel Champions, a game that is in my Top 10, that game is just cards. That game offers amazing decisions. It gives you challenges to beat the bad guy and to deal with the threats showing up. Building the character is fascinating, and playing the different aspects changes up every superhero. But there is no board. It is a still a board game, but if someone can’t get past that there is no board, they, in my opinion, are missing out on a great game.

So How Do We Counteract This?

Firstly, be willing to try new games or different games. The more that we play all sorts of games with all sorts of people, the more acceptable that card games are board games will become. It also opens up eyes that card games can offer a ton of challenges and there are a ton of options out there.

What we are fighting against, and what people who make the distinction between card games are board games is mainly the people who think of Uno, Skip-bo, or anything with a deck of cards. They think that card games means something that they played as a kid with their Grandma. And those games have a place, but people who want to grow as gamers will often look down on them.

Secondly, refer to all games as board games. It doesn’t matter if it’s Yahtzee with everyone having their own sheet or Skip-Bo with a deck of cards. We want to change the perception, change how we talk about them. The more common the wordage is used, the more common it will be.

Finally, if someone is going to thumb their nose at a game without a board, remember that is their loss. Don’t feel like it is less because they do. Instead, just play the game, enjoy it, and if they want to miss out on a fun time, that is their issue. And if they see people having fun with a “card” game, they will probably start to be more interested in them.

What do you think, is a card game a board game? Is it a subset of that larger group?

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Pros

• Solid Price for Deluxe
• Can Get Everything
• Cooperative Game

Cons

• Game Can Be Really Easy
• Shipping to some locations

The Page

Fireside Games has done a very good job on this page. I feel like they have some advantage with that because this is a game that already exists. I first found out about this game when it was on Wil Wheaton’s TableTop show. I fact, I was so interested in the game, I picked it up. You can see my TableTopTakes review here.

Let’s talk about the upgraded pieces, because those are a big deal. That is what is selling this campaign, because the base Castle Panic, that hasn’t been hard to find. The plastic monsters look cool, or the wooden tokens. Mainly I am noticing the updated art. The art on the original Castle Panic has okay art, but this one, it has much better looking art. It isn’t serious art, but it is a good for a light cooperative game you can play with your family.

The Game

The game itself is a good time. This is one that I have in my collection, though, I haven’t played it in a while. Why is that, it is because the game is easy. Castle Panic is a cooperative game that is meant for families. I think I have played it around ten times, and I probably have beat it nine of those times. That is too often for me to win a cooperative game.

So why is it still in my collection? Castle Panic is a step above kids games. This is on par with games like Ticket to Ride, Catan, Splendor and more of those family-weight games. So I’m keeping it in my self for when I can pull it out to play with my kid as he gets older, but also for people who I am maybe introducing board games too. Pandemic would have been my go to cooperative game, but some people might prefer the theme be a little bit different and a fantasy tower defense is different.

Back or Brick

Is this a Back or a Brick for me? This is a Brick. Now, would I recommend this game to new gamers, I would. This is a fun cooperative game. However, I don’t know what I’d recommend this fancy version. Unless someone loves the game, I don’t see the value in it. The cost is very good and shipping to continental US is great. However, for more serious gamers who are playing more complex games, unless you know you like it or know you have a group, I don’t recommend this. It is clearly doing well, but it is a specific audience that I would recommend it for.

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The Collection

Numbers

A’s – B’s – C’s – D’s – E and F’s – G and H’s – I, J and K’s – L’s – M’s – N, O, and P’s – Q and R’s – S’s

T’s

T.I.M.E. Stories (and Expansions)

I love this game, it is really well made in what I’ve played through of the expansions with each different scenario pack feeling it it’s something new. I’ve heard that some aren’t as strong as others, but through four of them it’s been really interesting. This reminds me of Assassin’s Creed in some ways, though depending on the scenario, less about fighting. And they have done a lot of weird things, from dragons to ancient Egypt to zombies.

Status: Played

The Table is Lava

We all know the rules of the floor is lava, don’t touch the floor. But with this, you have meeples and you are flicking cards. You flick them onto the table, and if you hit someone else’s meeples you can knock them over or knock them onto the table, which is lava, of course. But you get points if your meeples are standing up and less if they are laying down, so you have a lot of different ways to score, but also some strategy in how or where you toss your cards, because you could go to knockdowns or you could try and keep it separate so you are less likely to have meeples knocked off. It seems like silly fun.

Status: To Be Played

Tainted Grail

I love my Awaken Realms games. Tainted Grail is a massive grim dark Arthurian legend and it’s really hard. I like the fact that it’s hard, I like that the combat has you running away fairly often and that you are fighting for survival, what they advertised the game as. The story in this game is really good, and I’ve played through the first chapter multiple times and I always find something new that I haven’t done before and places that I’d love to get to, except for the time that we have left on the Menhir. I’m excited to get back to this after Christmas.

Status: Played

Takenoko

Sometimes you want a game that is just a fun time, and Takenoko with it’s fat bamboo eating panda definitely is that. This game looks family weight but has a little bit more going on as you are putting out tiles, growing bamboo, eating bamboo and more. It has some random elements with the dice, but overall is a really fun time with a lot of good decisions to make. When do you want to water a spot so it starts to grow, does it help you more than the other players by doing that, when you want to move the panda and do you want to get more panda, gardener, or tile scoring cards?

Status: Played

The Terrifying Girl Disorder

Japanime Games makes weird games that definitely have a bit of an anime feel to them even if they aren’t about an actual anime, and this is one of those games. I picked it up because it was on a sale and it looked weird. From what I remember about it, you are picking cards, almost drafting them, to get sets for the girl that you have, but that can change who you have. It is a weird game and sounds like it either will be an interesting game for some people, or that it might be a bit too much game for how small it is.

Status: To Be Played

That’s Pretty Clever

Roll and write, you know the drill. But this roll and write has the distinction of being the one that really started the roll and write craze we’re in now. Ganz Schon Clever, as it’s known in German, is a good comboing roll and write game that has a lot of interesting scoring to it. The sequels then use that and build upon it, but they are their own separate games. That’s Pretty Clever introduces one of the best ideas that I’ve seen, of foxes, these are points where if you can get them can score you a lot of points, but they only score the lowest point total of another section, so if I don’t do well, let’s say in the yellow section and get zero points, foxes are worth nothing. This forces you to diversify as you go.

Status: Played

This War of Mine

Probably better known as a video game, this war of mine is another Awaken Realms game, one of the earliest ones that they did. It is based off of the IP of the video game, and is about trying to survive in a war torn world. From what I know of the game, it’s extremely dark, depressing and hard to in. Now, not all Awaken Realms are like that, but I always expect that an Awaken Realms game will have some elements to it that are punishing. This one I want to try solo and just play in short bits because of the darkness of the theme.

Status: To Be Played

Ticket to Ride

It’s a classic gateway game for a lot of people. This one is all about collecting cards, putting down trains and completing routes. What makes this work so well as a gateway game is that you do one of a few things on your turn. You either take train cards, play down trains, or you take routes. That’s it, you don’t do more than one of those things on a turn. It makes the game easy to teach an very accessible. The game also is based around connecting those routes which is an idea that is really easy to grasp, because we’re all familiar with a road trip of going from point A to point B, with Ticket to Ride it’s just about how you get there.

Status: Played

Tiny Towns

This game has been a pretty popular one this year from AEG and last year. It is a simple cube placement game with a bit more depth than it’d first seem. What makes this really interesting for me is the picking of the resource and how I can use that to my advantage at times or to hurt someone else. Now, I don’t think that hate picking is a viable strategy, but if I see that my next opponent has a brick and wood for building a house, or straw, whatever it is, and I just have a wood, I might pick brick so that they are likely to pick straw and we both get houses, but now they have an extra brick they have to work with. And there are a ton of combinations or buildings that are really fun to work with.

Status: Played

Titan Race

Another fun filler type game is Titan Race. This one is again really easy with dice drafting and racing either across the same board three times or across three different boards once each. The game is fast and easy to learn, and each racer having their own powers is fun. What I also like about the game is that even when you are knocked down to 0, you just lose a turn and you get going again. But what is the most fun is knocking people around, being able to drop a trap right in front or someone or push them into lava, it’s great. And even though there is the take that feel to the game, since it’s so fast and so silly, people aren’t likely to have their feeling hurt.

Status: Played

Tofu Kingdom

I bet you didn’t know tofu had a kingdom. This is a bluffing game where players can either lie or tell the truth depending on what cards they have in their hand and the person who is Prince Mochi is has to try and guess who has Princess Tofu in their hand. It seems like one of those silly little games, almost social deduction, with a little bit of deduction thrown in. What is nice is that it plays a pretty large number of players. I’m curious to get it to the tale once we have people playing in person again, because it seems best at a higher player count.

Status: To Be Played

Tokyo Highway

Dexterity games are a ton of fun for me. I like them because late in a game night, you might not want to sit down and play something too meaty. Instead, you can grab out a game and try, in your tired state, to balance roads and place cars on them. Tokyo Highways is one of the most aesthetically pleasing games to see played. When you wrap it up, it’s almost a piece of artwork, which is crazy to say for a board game. And the rules are simple enough, if your road crossed over or under another road, you get to put a car on your road, the first person to get all their cars out is the winner. But you only have a limited number of discs to raise or lower your road, and without special discs you can’t raise or lower than more by one. It’s a lot of fun and tense, but so pretty that it’s calming.

Status: Played

Tsuro

This is another of the high player count but not a party game games. It’s actually one of the most played in that category for me. Tsuro, the way of the path, is about using your tiles to keep yourself on the paths as long as you can, and outlast everyone else. I think this game plays best at the higher player counts where you can knock out a game or two fast and then move onto something bigger. I’m a little bit played out of this game which is why I’ve added more games of similar player counts to my collection, but it’s still a good one when you need something fast.

Status: Played

Twice as Clever

The follow up to Ganz Schon Clever (That’s So Clever), this game takes the foundation that you get in That’s So Clever and builds upon it. Twice as Clever is by far, I’d say, the most challenging of the three games to play. You have to think a lot about all the sections because the scoring is quite different. I do like pieces of it though, the pink track is great, the grey/silver area is really interesting to think about. The yellow area is hard to rock, but if you can, you can get a lot of points and some good bonuses. It, like That’s So Clever, is all about getting as many combos as possible and getting to those foxes so you can score the most points off of them, but not forgetting to get points in every area.

Status: Played

That’s it for the T’s, definitely less than there were of the S’s, but that’s fine, I have a lot of games as it is. What is your favorite game that begins wit the Letter T? Is there any that I’m missing from my collection that you’d think I’d like?

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

100 to 91

90 to 81

80 to 71

70 to 61

60 to 51

Plus a few notes on how I’ve put together the list:

• These are my favorite, you want what people consider best, see the Board Game Geek Top 100
• If a game you love isn’t on the list, it might be be coming, I might not have played it, and if I have, it’s 101
• If a game looks cool, I have links to buy it from CoolStuffInc or Amazon, or you can grab most at your FLGS
• There are a few games, Destiny 2 Player versus regular Destiny where if they are basically the same thing, I only do one of them

50. Onirim

I think this is the purely solo game on the list and it’s dropped a little bit, but I’m still enjoying it a lot. The app is great for playing this game, but I do like the physical one as well. In this game you are trapped in a nightmare and trying to escape, to do this you are trying to find eight doors. This is done by playing down cards in a row where you are trying to get three cards of the same color in a row, when you do you find a door. But there are nightmares in the deck that are trying to stop you, you have a few different ways you can deal with them. I think that’s where the game really is interesting, because there are powerful key cards that can just get a door in without any hassle, but they are also be used to deal with a nightmare. Or you could discard cards off the top of the deck, but that might get rid of a key. Or you can discard your hand or put a door back into a deck. There’s a good amount of strategy in what seems like a small and random card game.

Last Year: 36

49. Stipulations

One of my top party games, this is one that I’m glad I backed on Kickstarter, but glad that I didn’t back the “adult” version of it. In this game a person picks from four different categories, you might have a superpower, an occupation, lifetime supply of something, or a fulfilled dream, but then, everyone writes a stipulation for it, and you pick your favorite. This game works really well because you can tailor it for your group. If it’s a bunch of college friends drinking, you can make it as adult or dirty as you want, if it’s Christmas with your great aunt and 10 year old cousin, you can make it clean. And it can just get silly, like most party games and eventually people end up writing down weird stuff or reoccurring jokes. It’s really the same concept as a Cards Against Humanity or Apples to Apples, but it’s much more replayable because you aren’t using cards to answer/fulfill the prompt, which means you can change up your answer for a stipulation for the superpower of flight from “But only when you fart” to “But never more than 6 inches off the ground.” and the prompt will feel different when you play.

Last Year: 42

48. Silver

This one wasn’t ranked last year because I hadn’t played it much, it was just one time at GenCon where I kind of got the rules. But I’ve played it a lot since, I’ve probably played the physical game 10-15 times this year, and Silver Bullet expansion 3 times, and the app who knows how many times, but a lot. I am really enjoying this game now and the standalone expansion(s) – I have two, but only played one. In this game you are trying to get your village of 5 cards down to the fewest points possible. The trick is your cards are face down and you only know at the start of a round what two of them are. Cards have values from 0 to 12 and each card has a special power. You can use them for a power, or you can swap out cards with what you’ve drawn or is on top of the deck. If you have two of the same number you can trade in those two for one card, which allows you to get down in cards and lower the number of points you can possibly have. There’s some luck with the game for sure, but overall it’s a very fast and fun game that is a bit mean with a bunch of take that cards, especially in the Silver Bullet expansion, but still a lot of fun.

Last Year: Not Ranked

47. Wits & Wagers

Another party game on the list, this time it’s Wits & Wagers which is a classic party game at this point. In Wits and Wagers you are putting down a best guess or a random number, so some trivia question, it might be something like “How many goals did Pele have in his professional career?” Everyone writes down a number, you sort the numbers and then you bet on who you think was the closest without going over. If you’re right you get more chips to bet or to save because however much money you have at the end is your score. This game works well because you don’t need to know anything about soccer. I know a fair amount, so if you’re playing with me and know that, you can bet on my guess even if you guessed either 10 or 10 million for your number. So you get to play the people and think about who might know an answer, or at least have a better clue than you. The answer, by the way, is over 1,000 for goals by Pele, just in case you get that question sometime.

Last Year: 68

46. Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

This one has dropped a bit for me as you can see. I do really enjoy this game a lot, and I would gladly play it, the only reason I don’t play it more is because it’s a bit of a longer game. This is a game about surviving the zombie apocalypse, for a scenario, with everyone having their own goals, and potentially having a traitor in your midst. This is one of those semi-cooperative games where it tries to make everyone look guilty to help hide the traitor. That is one slightly issue that I have with the game, if you beat the scenario, and a lot of them are hard just purely cooperative, you still don’t win unless you get your secret objective. But the rest of the game works really well, and I consider it a half win if you beat the the scenario. This game also has a thing called Crossroads cards, which is why it has crossroads in the name. These cards offer you tough choices that you’ll have to make during the game and are one of the highlights of the game. We have a house rule for them where instead of drawing one and seeing if it happens on someone’s turn, you draw two and if one of them happens, you do the crossroads event. It just highlights that fun part of the game more. Overall, a really enjoyable game that is just tricky to get to the table all the time because of it’s length.

Last Year: 18

45. Ascension: Deckbuilding Game

For a lot of people Dominion is their gateway or introduction to deckbuilding, but I don’t like Dominion, so for me, Ascension is the one that I’d use. This is a pure deck building game where you are getting cards and adding them to your deck to buy more cards and fight monsters. Why I like this one so much better than Dominion is that Dominion has a fixed Market, so if someone can spot the ideal combo before the game starts, they’ve probably already won. Whereas Ascension has an ever changing market. Whenever a card is bought or a monster is killed in the market row, a new card is flipped out, and it might be the perfect card for you, or it might be another monster, or who knows what. So you have to be able to adjust a bit more on the fly and you can pick some really good strategies and just stick with them, but depending on how the cards come out, you might have to still adjust even if you have you ideal strategy started. For me, that’s what I like in a game and why I am less of a Euro gamer and more of a Amerithrash gamer, which Ascension feels like compared to Dominion.

Last Year: 46

44. Cry Havoc

Cry Havoc is an asymmetrical game where the players have different ways of building up their point totals. And it’s also a unique game with a bit of deck building and some really interesting combat. I like this game as it has some area control, some diceless combat, and really different strategies for the different factions. In this game you’re trying to control crystals which will give you points at the end of a round, to do that you need to take over areas, battling for the crystals there. The combat is diceless as I said, but it has an interesting flow to it, first the attacker will place their troops on the area majority, kill, or capture spots. Then the defender will, and it basically goes along the lines of, check majority, check kills, check captures, and if you kill someone who would capture one of your pieces that won’t happen. But you have cards in your hand that you use both to do actions, but that can influence combat as well. So maybe it’s a close fight and we’re tied for majority in area control, I could play a card to move someone up there if I’m the attacker so I can take the area, but maybe my opponent will do something to change that. The combat is different but really enjoyable.

Last Year: 52

43. Century: Golem Edition

This, for me, is a Splendor killer, though, I still have both in my collection. Century: Golem Edition, is a fun hand building game where you are trying to create an engine of cards that is going to get your gems, and trade gems in such a way that you can score golem cards. The first person to five golems triggers end game. But where the game works, besides the amazing components and artwork, is the card play. You can build up a combo that might start by giving you three yellows, which you can turn into two greens, which maybe you can turn into a pink, which can be turned into a blue and two greens, and you can really find interesting ways to manipulate the gems that you have. The game plays extremely fast with either playing a card and doing it’s action, getting a golem, or picking back up your hand of cards being all that you do on a turn. It really does have a good amount of strategy to it, but it’s still easy to teach and to score so it might be just slightly too much for a complete game novice, but someone who has something like Ticket to Ride or Catan under their belt will be able to learn it.

Last Year: 33

42. Not Alone

There have been a number of party games on the list thus far, and while Not Alone isn’t a party game, it is one that can play a larger player count. This is a one versus all game where the all are playing crew of a spaceship who have crashed onto a planet and are waiting rescue. However, the planet and the monster on the planet are not happy that they are there. So the planet is trying to take everyone out before the rescue ship can get there. It’s an interesting game of cat and mouse, because the crew can strategize amongst themselves as much as they want, but they have to do it so that the monster can listen. So do they try and send him down a false path, or can they split things up in such a way to be able to do most of what they want. This is another hand management style game for the crew as they have various locations that they can go to, but they discard it to their own, visible, discard pile and the monster has powers that it can use throughout the game. The game has basically always been close when we play it, and it’s a pretty easy game to play, but one that has a nice tension. Probably, actually, a pretty good Halloween game as it has some horror elements to it.

Last Year: 41

41. Cross Clues

This apparently was the party game section. Not ranked last year because it came out this year, Cross Clues is a fun and challenging party game where people are giving clues so that other players can determine the intersection point between two things. To put this better, you have a spread sheet that is 5 by 5, each row and column has a header of a word, so A might be stick and 1 might be wind. If I have the card that has A1 denoted on it, I have to give a clue that will get the other players to guess A1, maybe I go with something like Kite. But maybe C is tail, now kites have tails as well as sticks as structure on them, so which do I mean. So maybe that’s not the best clue, maybe for rustle, but maybe D is cattle, so wind and cattle might make sense for that. So you have to be clever with your clues, and you are trying to get as many done in five minutes as you can, or since we’ve played it across Zoom, just seeing how many out of the 25 on a 5 by 5 grid or 16 for a medium challenge, we can get and score that. It’s a clever game that works really well, and I’m not sure how many word cards there are, but depending on how they intersect the game has a ton of replayability. Definitely a party game that everyone should checkout, in my opinion, and probably one that’d be really popular now, if it wasn’t for the pandemic.

Last Year: Not Ranked

So what from this part of the list, the beginning of the Top 50, looks most interesting to you? Any you’d put higher in your own Top 100?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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

100 to 91

90 to 81

80 to 71

70 to 61

Plus a few notes on how I’ve put together the list:

• These are my favorite, you want what people consider best, see the Board Game Geek Top 100
• If a game you love isn’t on the list, it might be be coming, I might not have played it, and if I have, it’s 101
• If a game looks cool, I have links to buy it from CoolStuffInc or Amazon, or you can grab most at your FLGS
• There are a few games, Destiny 2 Player versus regular Destiny where if they are basically the same thing, I only do one of them

60. Hanabi

Hanabi is an interesting game, because it’s a twist on a fairly simple board game concept. There are a lot of games where you are trying to put out numbers in ascending order, in this case 1 through 5. In this one, you can’t see your cards, so you have a hand of cards and they are all facing away from you. So you can give clues to your fellow players, such as what cards in their hand are a given color or what cards in their hand are a given number, but you can’t give both. And you have a limited number of clues but you can get more, you just have to discard a card to get one back. The game is an interesting push and pull of how much you know and how much you don’t. It is also a game that works well at all player counts, so that is fun as well. Cool concept, good execution and just good fun.

Last Year: 44

59. Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension

We go from one kind of tricky game to wrap your head around to another with Gravwell. In this game you are trying to escape from a black hole and get to a wormhole before it closes. To do that, you are racing against your fellow players using whatever you can find as fuel to power your ship. Now, I make that sound fairly thematic, it is quite abstract. But what makes this game is the playing of fuels, they are all elements, so you go in alphabetical order of the element as everyone plays their fuel for the round all at once. And most of the fuel, it causes you to go towards the nearest object, whether that is in front of or behind you. There are some fuels that repel you from the nearest object and others that draw the other ships towards you, so it’s a guessing game of what you think other people might have and how quickly they might be going, because maybe the person behind you will go fast and get too close so if you go towards the object you’ll get pulled towards them, or maybe they want to go a ways and will go with one later in the alphabet, so you’ll want to be pulled by the person in front of you. It’s really a game about reading and guessing what your opponents will do.

Last Year: 66

58. Photosynthesis

This is a mean game about growing trees. Which, that sounds kind of odd, but it’s mean because you can block your opponents trees from getting sunlight. Now, that doesn’t seem all that mean, except that is how you get your action points to grow trees, harvest trees for points, and plant more trees. So if the sun is positioned right and your tree is tall enough, you can cast a shadow on shorter or like height trees. It’s an interesting thing as you plan out where the trees are going to go so you’re not only going to be set-up for your next turn but will be set-up for futures ones as well. And you have to ask, is it worth it to maybe have a really bad turn if you can set-up a great turn down the line. You can plan this because the sun moves each turn around the board, and you have a certain number of times around the board for the game, so you know where it’s going to be all of the following turns as you plan. And I say that this game is mean, it’s more that it can be mean, most of the time you aren’t thinking about blocking as much as you are planning out your turn.

Last Year: 28

57. Five Tribes

A gateway style game that has just a bit more going on, this is also a point salad game as well. By that I mean that everything gives you points. You place a camel, you’ll get points for that tile, there’s a palm tree or a palace on it, points, viziers, points, collections of spices, points, and so on and so forth. This game uses a fun mancala style meeple movement. Whatever meeple color you decide to end up with is what you end up doing, it can be shopping, buying a Djinn, or a few more options such as just getting money. I like this game because you can set-up some great turns, and in two player, you could even find a couple of great turns in a row if you wanted or you could move stuff to set-up yourself for a good turn. You can do this because turn order is bid upon. If you find a great turn, you can bid higher for it, and while it’d have to be a really great turn to bid too high, you can go for something or block someone from getting something if you see what they are after. This game works well because you can score points in so many ways, so most of the time you can focus in on one or two of them as well, so someone learning the game doesn’t have to have a whole grasp on the strategy for everything. And for gamers, it feels like there is more going on to be paid attention to than your standard gateway game.

Last Year: 47

56. The Lord of the Rings

One of the earlier cooperative games, this game is all about getting the Fellowship to Mordor and tossing the ring into the fire. But you’re doing this by playing through the whole trilogy of The Lord of the Rings. You get gifts and cards along the way as you advance all while trying to keep Sauron’s eye off of you. There are a lot of boards in this game as you play out cards to advance upon different tracks and play through different things, it might be the mines of Moria or Helms Deep, but you are playing through the story and you can potentially get stuff along the way such as at Rivendell or from Galadriel. The game is really hard as you push your way through all of the story and the different maps. You need to balance card use so that you can make it down the main path, but some of the other paths do offer good things as well and you want to try and do them also. Overall, a fun and hard cooperative game that is really expensive in that link, but there’s a new printing coming out soon, so wait for that.

Last Year: 85

55. Small World

I’ve talked about Small World Underground already, this is just basic Small World and I like it better. I think that the game, while being slightly simpler, is easier to play and grasp onto and since I have an expansion for that, it adds in some additional fun that way as well. This game is all about rushing in with one group of fantasy creatures, beating up and getting beat up, going into decline, picking a new group of fantasy creatures, and doing it all over again. I always call this Risk but fun, and that’s because Risk can gang up and knock one person out quickly, whereas in this game, you can always come back in again so you’re never truly out of the game. And the game plays faster as well in comparison to Risk. This game works because it doesn’t take itself seriously, so you get your fun combos and even when you get beat down, who knows, maybe the flying halflings will come in and save the day for you.

Last Year: 24

54. Cat Cafe

An interesting roll and write, this one is all about attracting the most cats to you in the cat cafe. You do this carefully curating a creative collection of cat toys, beds, and food. They all score in different ways, the toy mouse will score more points for the largest group of them that you have, while the cat bed wants different things around it on all sides to score you more points. Plus, you’re also working on filling up cat trees so that they score you the most possible points for having them completed. The end game is trigger when one person completes their third cat tree. What works nicely in this game is that everyone is doing things at the same time. You draft dice, and then you, using the final dice, place something on a cat tree at the level of the number on either your drafted dice or the group die, and then an item with the other one. You have ways to adjust the numbers which works well, and you can score the cats at times as well to get you more points in game. Overall, a fun and cute roll and write that has a fair amount going on all things considered.

Last Year: 54

53. Titan Race

If you’ve ever wanted to race on the back of monsters this is the game for you. A light dice drafting, take that, monster racing game, this is all about completing three laps or the grand circuit of three maps, faster than anyone else. But while you’re doing that you’re trying to stay out of lava on some maps, make a sweet jump to move faster on other maps, or sliding across ice. All of this while jostling for position. You roll dice for the number of players and then players take turns drafting dice and making their move, and so the last player doesn’t get stuck with one die, come their turn, they pick them all up and roll them again. This game is somewhat random because of the dice rolling, but you can plan as bumping into someone deals them damage, and pushes them further forward, but might be what you need to push them into lava which will knock them out for a round, which might get you past them. The game is silly fun and a very good time for a light racing style game.

Last Year: 48

52. Potion Explosion

People are pretty familiar with app games where you try and get like colors touching, and if they do, they disappear, and if those make a like match, they disappear and so on and so forth. Potion Explosion is like that with marbles. In this game you are trying to complete potions, use their powers, and score points from them. You do this by collecting ingredients. You pull out one marble, if the marbles that hit are the same color, you get all of those color that are touching, and if that causes more to hit, you do it again. Then you can store a few ingredients for later, but you’re mainly trying to put them into potions and get as many of those done as possible. The game is nice because it has a great toy affect. It also works well because as you get more potions done, you can really start to combo stuff using the powers of the potions to have big turns. This is a game that’ll attract people to it because of how it looks on the table, and it’s basically gateway level.

Last Year: Not Ranked

51. Skulk Hollow

Generally I don’t have a ton of two player games. My wife and I do play a few two player games sometimes, but this one caught my eye when it was on Kickstarter. The company is one that I am familiar with and they always make beautiful projects, and this one seems like an interesting balance of strategy and cuteness on the board. In this game one person takes on the foxes of the forest who have built up a settlement in this town. Another is an ancient guardian that has awoken. The guardians are all trying to do something different to win the game it might just be take out a lot of foxes, or it could be placing tentacles on the board or something like that. The foxes on the other hand are all about getting to the guardian, hopping on it, and chopping away at their health, doing that can take out different actions for the guardian. The game has a good and different feel as you play it because of how the guardians change and how the different leaders can affect play for the fox player as well. It’s one that I think works well for people because it is pretty simple and it offers some good choices with how the game play works.

Last Year: Not Ranked

What’s your favorite from this section? Any that stand out, any based off of my taste that you think I should try or you think will be higher on the list?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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