Top 10 Food Board Games

10. Diced Veggies

This is a pretty simple game. And a lot of them that I own really do fall into that category. But Dice Veggies is a board game where you are completing recipes. To do that, you need to slice off veggies from a big block of dice. But the rule is that the veggies can only be up to, I believe, 10 total on their pips. So you might want to try and get a bunch at once, but you can’t get the color you really need because the value is too high.

The big selling point on this game is the chopping off the dice. You get a cardboard cleaver that you use to make you cut. The rest of the game is pretty light, though they try and add in a little bit with some modifier cards that you can use or bonus cards. But I like the game for what it is. It’s a silly little filler or family weight style game that is easy to get to the table.

9. Coffee Rush

Next up for our food themed games we have Coffee Rush. This is one that I have been enjoying on BGA. And you can find my review here. Coffee Rush is another order fulfillment game, this one though works with an interesting central mechanism. You move around a central board to collect ingredients and how far you move is limited each turn. Plus how you move, at least at the start of the game, is limited as well.

But you unlock more that you can do. However, there is a cost to that, if you want to unlock more to do you need to spend points that you already have. And in a game where the points are tight, it’s a very good decision.

Plus, this game comes with amazing artwork and coffee/tea cups where you make you drink. Not just that, but the ingredients that you collect are 3D as well, not just cardboard tokens or wooden cubes. This is a great one for your coffee fanatics in your life.

8. Cafe Baras

But Coffee Rush isn’t my favorite of the coffee or tea themed board games. I like a few better than it including Cafe Baras. The theme is really what gets me for this game, you are capybaras running a coffee shop, get it, Cafe Baras?

This game is from the same company as Dice Veggies, but I like Cafe Baras better. There is a bit more going on as you gather in different menu items that are going to score you points. And you are grabbing them so that you can then grab customers and score them for points. Sometimes you just grab a customer to get more money to get more items for your menu. Other times you try and hold off so you can get them as repeat customers.

This is another pretty simple game. But with a theme that is a ton of fun and very good artwork, it’s a nice accessible game. It is going to feel like a set-up for people who don’t play too many games, but not so complex and not too much reading to learn and play the game.

7. A Nice Cuppa

A Nice Cuppa is one that I played on the Malts and Meeples YouTube. If I didn’t play at night time, I might have had a nice cuppa Earl Grey tea with it. But this is a solo game where you are seeing if you can get the steps of making a cup of tea in the right order. But that’s harder than you think because the actions available to you are limited. I could say more about this one, but if you want to learn more, please checkout the video down below.

6. Vegetable Stock

Vegetable Stock is one that I debated about putting on the list. It is less about eating food, but it is about food. In Vegetable Stock you are manipulating the vegetable stock market trying to grab as many points as you can. As you see, like Cafe Baras and Diced Veggies, it’s another play on words.

The game is simple and I really like it for that. You play out a few rounds of drafting cards with the first player switching each round to draft. To draft you deal out one more card than there is per player. The last card is used to adjust the market. Any veggie symbols push the value of that veggie higher. But if you get too high it is going to bust and go back down to one. So are you able to balance that or bust something early and get it pushed back up by the end of the game.

5. Matcha

Matcha is probably the least known game on the list, this or A Nice Cuppa since that is solo, but Matcha is a two player trick taking and set collection game. You gain resources by winning tricks. But it’s not a standard trick taking game. You don’t play out a card to a single trick. Instead you play out I believe it’s four tricks at once. And where you add cards and how tricks are won is determined by the spots the cards are played. It’s a clever and enjoyable trick taking game.

Now, I do want to add in a caveat here. I like this game a ton. However, the rules are not great for the game. I think that they are overwritten and because of that it causes a bit of confusion as you learn the game. So if it sounds interesting to you, see if there is a how play video out there to learn from, it’s going to be easier than the rules.

4. Point Salad

Now we are to one of two board games that I’m sure everyone assumed was going to be on the list. Point Salad is one of the most popular board games with a food theme. Now, I don’t actually own the regular version anymore. I own the Eevee version because it’s Eevee and the theme is more fun. But Point Salad is a great food game.

Point Salad is an open drafting food game. What do I mean by open drafting? In an open drafting game everyone sees the cards available to take. But it is does something clever. On the back of the cards is scoring. So on your turn you either take two vegetables form six to add to your tableau of veggies, or you take a single scoring card. If you take veggies the scoring cards on top of the deck flip down. And now those are gone from the game.

I love that push and pull of when you grab your scoring cards versus when you just grab veggies. Too many scoring cards are not enough veggies, you won’t score well. Too many veggies and not enough scoring cards, likely the same case. But there are ways to get around both, but you need it play out perfectly.

3. Fromage

Now we have the cheesiest game on the list, Fromage. Yes, this is a game all about cheese and it uses some awesome mechanisms as you play that I don’t see in many other games. It’s a worker placement game about making cheese. The more cheese you make the better you’ll do in the game. But let’s talk about the unique element of the game.

The main central element of the game is this big wheel, not of cheese but locations where you make your cheese. And that wheel turns each round of the game. Now each round you can use two workers on the board and then potentially your other one, or a couple of them, on your player board as you unlock things. But on the main board everything has a timer. That timer is how long it takes to get back your worker. It is easy to tell that timer though, because when you wedge of cheese worker is pointed back at you, you get it back.

That element is so clever in the game. And the game does a good job of scaling itself for player count. You swap out board parts for each wedge of the board. And, I forgot to mention this, the board is modular. Yes, there are only four modules that make up the whole wheel. But how those go together changes up what comes after each other. I’d love to see this in more board games.

2. Homebrewers

Next up a game that I love to champion. We have Homebrewers a game about homebrewing beer. I love beer and I love homebrewing beer, so it’s a game made for me. But I also love engine building and Homebrewers is a fun engine building game.

In this game you want to be the best homebrewer, not surprise there. So your goal is to be the best at brewing four different styles of beers to gain medals and points as Summerfest and Oktoberfest. But as you brew, you gain ingredients. These ingredients modify your beers. They might give you more money or raise up how good you are at brewing that beer faster or an adjacent beer.

One of the elements that I love at the end of the game is you have a bunch of wild beers. Since I love beer, I always think, would I drink that beer? The answer is basically always, yes, I’d drink it once. But sometimes the flavors are a bit out there.

1. Sushi Go Party!

Finally, at number one, we have Sushi Go Party. This is my favorite food themed game that is all about drafting the best meal possible. Everything is going to score you points, potentially, as you draft them. And most of it is pretty simple set collection. Sometimes, though, you get a card with a special power that is going to let you break the rules and swap what you are drafting.

One element that I love about Sushi Go Party is how you tailor it for your group. I make really mean drafting combinations sometimes. When I say that you score points, it’s possible to score negative points. Or I can make it really friendly so that everyone is getting a ton of points. That to me separates it from the base Sushi Go where the game is going to be the same every time. This is one that I really recommend people checkout just for a fun time.

Final Thoughts

Now, I am sure that people are noticing a few missing board games. Food Chain Magnate is a food themed game that just isn’t interesting to me. It’s too big and too much going on that I don’t want to learn it, play it and then need to play it a few more times. Also Vihnos or Viticulture are likely ones people might note as well. I am actually interested in playing both.

I did on my list have a few board games that I didn’t put on there. Fruit Picking is a fun one. I like the mancala style mechanism of the game. Cacao is a chocolate creation game, I guess you could call it, and it’s fun with it’s tile placement element to it. And Charcuterie is another one. I like Charcuterie, the game and the food style, but it’s a super light game that I’ll gladly play but probably am not that apt to pick myself.

What are your favorite board games with a food theme? And which is your favorite of the 10 Food Board Games I listed?

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May Board Gaming

Paper Dungeons – 10 Plays

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

Biblios – 4 Plays

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

Village Green – 4 Plays

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

Icecool – 3 Plays

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

Matcha – 3 Plays

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

Tainted Grail – 2 Plays

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

The Quacks of Quedlinberg – 2 Plays

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

Quadropolis – 2 Plays

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

Incan Gold – 2 Plays

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

PitchCar – 2 Plays

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

Qwixx – 2 Plays

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

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong – 2 Plays

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

The Table Is Lava – 2 Plays

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

Similo – 2 Plays

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

Destinies – 1 Play

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

Atlantis Rising – 1 Play

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

Drawn to Adventure – 1 Play

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

Terraforming Mars – Ares Expedition – 1 Play

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

XenoShyft Onslaught – 1 Play

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

Canvas – 1 Play

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

The Fox in the Forest – 1 Play

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

So Clover! – 1 Play

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

Just One – 1 Play

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

No Thanks! – 1 Play

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

Year to Date

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

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The Criteria

When making this list a few things need to be considered, though. Mainly how long a lunch you get, if it’s an hour, that opens up more games. But lots of times, I think people get 30 minutes. So that’s where I want to keep my game lengths. Even if you get an hour, you need to prep food generally.

I also want to keep the player count lower. Generally you don’t end up with a ton of people who want to play a game. Or at least you don’t start that way. At the one office, I would sometimes start a game of Dominion or Power Grid one lunch and it’d carry over to the next one. But there are other smaller and faster games that work well. And games where you don’t need the whole office to play.

Plus, a game needs to be portable. Even if you could get through a session of Gloomhaven in one sitting, it is too big. So something that fits into a backpack, laptop bag, or whatever you use, that is going to be important.

10 Lunch Break Board Games

In no particular order.

10. Floriferous

Floriferous is a drafting set collection game that could be playable at lower player counts in 30 minutes or less. In this game you draft flowers to get combinations which then give you points. The flowers might have bugs on them, or be certain types or colors, all which can score points. Assuming you draft enough scoring cards as well.

So that is the first fun thing of balancing drafting scoring with drafting flowers. The other interesting thing is how turn order works. The higher you draft a card from a column, the sooner the next round you go. It means that sometimes you might want to take a less ideal card just to go sooner now.

9. Matcha

Matcha is my trick taking game. I could have put a few on here, Fox in the Forest would work here as well. But Matcha is my pick, just because it’s a solid two player option as well, and I think that it probably plays in a shorter time frame. It is interesting too because of what takes precedence of number or color that you are trying to get to.

It also adds in a bit of set collection as well. You are trying to get either different items or all the same or completely don’t match every time. I think that it’s interesting to shoot the moon that way. I like it when a game gives you options for scoring and winning. And Matcha does that so that as you play you don’t fight over the exact same thing.

8. Love Letter

If we’re talking about a really small game, Love Letter is going to be a great option. Technically it does have a certain point that you need to get to. I think it’s one person wins a round four times. In a larger player count game that could take a while. But it’s super small and easy to learn.

This is one that I haven’t brought in or played in ages. But it is pretty welcoming for what a lot of players know as a game. It is smaller than most likely what they’ve played before. The whole element of guessing what someone else has, the few cards, it just feels familiar.

7. Cribbage

But speaking of familiar, we have Cribbage. Cribbage is going to be familiar to some people as it’s been around and available for ages. I need to actually play with my nice Cribbage board. But the game play is fast, and while I do think the rules, or at least scoring, can be a bit tricky for some people to wrap their head around, it is not that complex as to what you are doing.

Now, this might not be as modern a game as you’d be thinking for the list. But in terms of classic card games, I feel like it’s a good one for lunch. The ability to just sit around, chat, and play is very high with the game.

6. On Tour

But now into a more modern game, On Tour, which I played on Wednesday is a solid roll and write game. In it you are playing as a manager for a bad trying to create a path for the band to take a tour on, or something like that. Basically, you want to get numbers in sequential order to make a path around the United States or Europe.

This is limited by cards that are flipped each round and the dice as they are rolled. The cards determine where you can play the two number combinations on the dice. However, if you use East once and have no way to use East again, unless there are two East cards. It’s a clever system that offers fun choices that are tense but never too hard.

5. Hanamikoji or Jixia Academy

This one I put down both versions of the game because some people might not want a game with Geisha at work. But really this is a nice two player tug of war game where you are vying for favor or Geisha by trying to give them gifts. But to do that, you take four different actions.

The actions are what is so cool about the game. Each player, and it’s a two player game, has the same four actions. So you each will take them each once, but when to do that is always a question. And the actions make you have tough decisions. You might be showing your opponent 3 cards and they pick one to take. So how do you create a combination so that you get what you want?

4. Qwixx

Qwixx is going to be up there with the simplest games on the list. It is a roll and write where you are just trying to get numbers in order on different colors. The more numbers you get, the more points you get. But when you skip a number, you can never go back. So if I go from 3 to 7 in red, that means that a red 4, 5, or 6 will never a useful for me.

And the game has an interesting end. It ends when either someone can’t place a number or cross out a number for the fourth time. Or when two dice come locked. The dice become locked, so that no one can add to that row, when you have five numbers crossed off in a color. Then you need to roll a 2 or 12, depending on the color, to clock that row. It’s a cool little element that makes you think about how you push your luck.

3. Ohanami

Ohanami is a card drafting game where you get more points the more cards you have a certain colors. But you also need to be putting the cards into three columns. And the cards you draft need to be higher than the highest card or lower than the lowest, on a given column to be able to be placed.

This game is really nice as casual at 4 players. The randomness of what you draft is interesting. At two players it is fairly cutthroat. In either case, it plays fast. That means that you can get it in during lunch, and it is just a deck of cards and a score sheet.8 Either way or player count is fun, but some people will prefer the more casual.

2. Super Fantasy Brawl

This one is pushing it game length wise. That said, it is doable as long as you can get it set-up fast. Super Fantasy Brawl is a head to head skirmish game with a big table presence. The minis are big, the board is big, but the game play is simple. It is one of those games that has depth and simple game play.

You are just playing down cards of three colors each round. And then you activate the hero on that card with the action on that card. You do that to try and knock out your opponents characters, who can respawn and position yourself to complete objectives. You can play it with mainly just punching, but objectives will hep you get the win.

1. Village Green

Finally, Village Green, another smaller card game. Here you are competing to have the best village green by laying out cards in a 4×4 grid. The top and left edges are scoring cards that you draft and play. The middle and lower and right are your village green.

What I like about this one, and it’s one that I’ve played on stream, is that you need to think about columns and rows for scoring. As you add cards to the top row and the left column, you need to think about how they intersect so you play the best green cards you can. But you can’t just play green cards anywhere. They need to match flower or color to get onto the board of something adjacent to it. Probably 2 player only for work lunch, but a nice thinky game.

Final Thoughts

One game that I thought about for the list but didn’t put on is Magic: The Gathering. I’ve really enjoyed Magic over work lunches. But it isn’t a 30 minute game. It is an hour, especially with more than two. But it is an option as well. I also think that Magic is much more intimidating to try and get someone to play. There is a lot going on if you aren’t that familiar with board games.

And, like I talked about before, you can play bigger games. At that one job we’d have Power Grid or Dominion set-up for two days. But that depends on the business and break room. When you play a game like that you need something that won’t be disturbed. And a lot of offices, especially with bigger companies, will need that space to be used by a number of people.

But let me know if you’ve introduced co-workers to board games. Which ones do you find work well for a lunch break game?

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Simple But Deep Board Games

10. Black Sonata

One of two solo games on the list. Black Sonata is about figuring out who the “dark lady” was in Shakespeare’s sonnets. But it is really fascinating because it is a solo game where the dark lady moves around in basically a hidden movement sort of way by an AI deck of cards.

What you do as a player is try and get ahead of the dark lady so that you can look for her, and basically find out clues about who she is not. So your turns are pretty simple. You move, or you search a location. But figuring out that pattern of where they are going is challenging. And then it is a Mastermind style puzzle, or so it feels, to figure out who the lady is. I really enjoy that puzzle aspect, but simple game to hit the table.

9. Century: Golem Edition (Or Spice Road)

This one is not a cheat having two games on it, Golem Edition and Spice Road are the same game. I prefer the Golem Edition because it looks better, and I like that. But this is a game that is about building up an engine of cards in your hand. But how you play is extremely simple. Mainly because you do a single action on your turn.

On your turn you pick up the cards you’ve played, you get a card, you play a card, or you get a golem. You never complete more than a single action a time. And turns fly because of that simplicity of all the actions and the single action. But when you get a card, how much you pay for it, how it works into your engine, all of those things make a very rich but simple game.

8. Quarto

This, I get is one that has depth to it but not one that I like. The game is pretty simple, you are trying to get four in a row. But you pick what piece your opponent is going to play. So you want to give them something that’ll set-up you with the options that they have left to give you. It’s a cool idea that I enjoyed the couple of times that I played it, but it didn’t grab me enough.

Still, for a lot of people, this is going to give them that feeling of outthinking their opponent in a game. Basically making your opponent give you a win. But all you are doing is either placing a piece of picking one for your opponent to place.

7. Potion Explosion

This one is maybe one of the less simple on the list. But what you do on your turn, or at least on every turn is very basic. You pull a marble and then any like colors that hit. Then you put them into a potion, trying to complete them. That is very simple and fun action for a turn.

But where the game is more complex or offers interesting decisions is when you get your potions done. Now they give you powers, and how or when you use a power offers great decision making space. Especially when you can chain a few potions together to complete a potion and then use that potion to complete another potion. It offers that nice combo and cleverness feel a game with depth in it’s decision making should give you.

6. The Fox in the Forest

I could have a number of trick taking games on the list. Matcha, The Fox in the Forest Duet, and others, but I just put The Fox in the Forest on the list. This is a two player trick taking game where you are trying to take some tricks, but not too many. Because if you “shoot the moon” you get no points. And if you just get a few tricks, but slightly too many, it reduces your points a lot.

It becomes a question of how you can give your opponent just enough tricks so that they score poorly and you can score well. Or to trick them into taking all of the tricks. And since it isn’t a one and done sort of game, it allows you to develop more strategy based off of your opponent as time goes on.

5. Letter Jam

Letter Jam is almost a party word game. But it isn’t because you need to figure out how to give good clues. Let me explain, in Letter Jam everyone has a scrambled word in front of them, or the letters for it. Unscrambling wouldn’t be too bad if you could see the letters. But you can’t see your own.

Instead, you have one facing away from you that everyone else can see. And they give clues, in the form of a word, by putting down chips in front of other people’s letters to help you. For example, if I have an R in front of me and someone else has an F, O, and M, you could give the clue FROM or FORM. But one clue is better than the other because FORM could be FOAM as well. So how do you give the best clue to get people to know their letter?

And everyone needs to give clues too. So that adds to the challenge. I have a word, you have a word, and everyone does. So you need to give clues to help me, and I need to give to help you. It’s a very clever design that seems simple to start, but offers a lot of depth.

4. Floriferous

A drafting game, kind of, a set collection game, and a game where you are building up different scoring things. But how you draft is what makes this game so clever and gives it depth. Turn order for each round of drafting, since you pick from a limited set separately, is based off of the person who took the highest thing from a column the time before.

Let me explain that a bit more, in a two player game you have three rows. Two or them are flowers and one is a scoring card. The scoring card is always at the bottom. If I pick-up the scoring card, for my pick, that means that next time, since I’m at the bottom of the column, I pick last. So if there is something I really want in the next column, I would want to pick the highest thing in the column, just to guarantee I go first next time. But if you don’t get enough scoring cards, now you aren’t scoring many points.

3. Under Falling Skies

The next solo only game on the list. A few can be played solo, Under Falling Skies is a combination of Space Invaders meets Independence Day. That it in and of itself sounds pretty cool. But how does it play, what is simple about it. The game is basically rolling a bunch of dice and placing them so that one is in each column to activate things. That is pretty straight forward for what you are going to do.

The depth comes in with how you place the dice. The higher the number, the more the alien ship in that column descends. And if too many hit land you lose the game. So you need to blow them up, and you can do that by putting dice onto attack spots. But that then eats up other things you can do, and that also causes a ship to descend.

So you need to think not only about what power the die is going to give, higher means more, but also what it does to the ships. And you also still only have one die per column. And once you place it, it locks in. So if you aren’t careful, you end up placing a dice in a less than ideal spot with your last placement.

2. Calico

The top two were two that I instantly thought of. Calico is a very simple game with massive brain burning tendencies. In Calico you are making a calico quilt to get cats to sleep on your quilt. You score points by getting like colors adjacent for buttons. Patterns in certain groupings to attacks cats. And finally there are scoring tiles on the quilt that give you points based off of both pattern and color combinations.

That is a fair amount for scoring, but your turn is simple. On your turn you place a quilt tile onto your board and take one of the three available. But because the scoring overlap where you’ll use tiles for a button or cat in your quilt scoring. You really need to think through and plan out what you want to do. It’s a brain burner of a game. But I love it, and I love the limiting it puts on you, so you might be hoping for that one last tile you need to get pulled from the bag.

1. Hanamikoji

Instantly thought of this game, Hanamikoji is a simple game but such a brain burner. You want to win the favor of Geisha by giving them gifts. That isn’t that complex an idea, and the game gives you actions that you take to put gifts in front of the Geisha. But how you do that creates a fascinating puzzle of a game.

You must do all of the four different abilities. So whether that is putting one face down that you use at the end of the round, or discarding two face down that only you know are hidden, that limits what you know and your opponent. Plus then the other two actions are much trickier to figure out. You need to give your opponent the choice of one of three cards, you use the other two. Or two sets of two, they get one, you get the one they don’t pick.

And while those decisions are very tricky to make. There are so few of them that it doesn’t make the game too complex to play. You’ll just be worried about what is going to give your opponent what they need. And try and read their brain to see what it seems like they have.

Final Thoughts

I think I had about 25 games in my list that I sorted. There are some games that once I was further into them that are big games that now I realize are pretty simple. I’m going to mention Gloomhaven and Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift. These two didn’t make the list that I sort, but once you learn the core loop of the game, the card play in Gloomhaven and Rondel with card play in Perdition’s Mouth, they aren’t that difficult.

But that is only once you get to that point. Because if you play either of those games enough, you just know what the status effects do. But to get to that point with either of those games is going to take time. You need to learn the symbols and learn the game. But the core loops are simple and give great depth of game play. So they don’t quite make the list, but could fall into that category.

Just missing were the likes of Photosynthesis, Sonora, Hats, and Orchard. All of them have pretty simple base mechanics. But the optimize what you are doing and your scoring, you need to think a few steps ahead.

What are some of your favorite simple but deep games?

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124-101

100 – 76

Unplayed Board Games 75 -51

75: HEXplore It: The Forest of Adrimon

Yes, this moved up slightly. Mainly because I missed it and I didn’t want to go back and adjust it a few spots. But I do think it could be higher. HEXplore It is an adventure style game, so one that I think I’ll like. And the Forest of Adrimon is supposed to be one of the easier to get into. It has some feel like another game that will be on another list in that it’s an RPG but a board game.

74: Formula D

Racing games, I’ve really been digging them lately. And in general I’ve liked them. I have TItans Race which I enjoy as a silly racing game. And Downforce which is amazing for racing and betting. But Formula D is the most involved and I really want to give it a whirl. I think doing something that simulates racing a bit more might be cool, though possibly slower in terms of game play.

73: Arkham Horror 3rd Edition

I am surprised how far down Arkham Horror 3rd Edition is. I like Arkham Horror 2nd Edition but I got rid of it because it is too long. So I suspect I’m going to like this version of it as well, and a shorter play time. So I need to get it to the table. But I think because it is familiar and because I have games like Arkham Horror The Card Game and Mansions of Madness, I feel like I might not need to play this as soon,

72: Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar

I bought this one when it was cheap at Target. Well, the price hasn’t changed, but the version of the game now at Target is a cheaper one, and I think smaller. This is when shipping was backed up so Target bought a bunch of Restoration Games’ stock. This is going to be a good and silly time. But I just need to find the time to play it. I don’t think game play will last too long for it.

71: Everdell

Everdell for a lot of people, I’d guess, is higher on the list. I know this is a well loved game, and the tableau and engine building it looks to offer seems great. Plus then the artwork is amazing on the game. I definitely notice that I’m a big fan of engine building games, and ones where they have some of those more euro mechanics to them as well. It’s lower for me just because it is a bit less thematic.

70: The Table Is Lava

This is a silly game. The Table Is Lava has you throwing cards onto the table, placing down meeples to get points. But when you throw you try and knock down other peoples meeples which is hilarious to me. I’m going to turn off the fan in the game room when I play this one because that might interfere with throwing cards. Should just bust this one and have a good time with it some game night.

69: Star Wars: Unlock!

The last of the escape room style games that I own. It’s higher than the Lovecraftian themed one just because of theme and being three games in one box. My wife and I need to play these because we both like Star Wars. And after the Olympics and before Moon Knight comes out, it’d give us something to do for a few weeks. I’ve heard they aren’t too challenging, but it’s still Star Wars, so I’m sure it’ll be fun.

68: Cockroach Poker

And a small game in Cockroach Poker, this is almost a classic filler game, if not one, at this point. You either tell the truth about the card you pass or you lie. And you don’t want to get sets. If you call the persons bluff and they were telling the truth, you get the card. If you can call and they were lying, they get the card. Or you can peek at it and pass telling the next person who you think it is. Clever idea, seems like it should be fun with the right groups.

67: Drawn to Adventure

By the name Drawn to Adventure might sound like a roll and write, and it is a roll and write. It’s about adventuring the best that you can. And you do it over several maps. The production is great, but one thing keeps it down the list a bit. The several maps makes me wonder how long the game will take. If it’s interesting enough, it being a bit longer won’t be bad, but we’ll have to see.

66: Matcha

This is a little card game that I don’t know a ton about. But I like the tea theme and I like the aesthetic. So why so high on the list? It seems to do some things that I like, and it’s a two player game. That makes it easier to get to the table. I like set collection and hand management. It’ll be interesting to see how the bluffing works.

65: Mariposas

A couple games about butterflies on the list, but only one on this section. Mariposas is about generations of butterflies flying up north and then returning back to the south for the winter. I like the idea and it’ll be interesting to see how it goes over. The pieces are solid and the mechanics seems simple enough. It’s more about the puzzle of getting as far north as you can but then being able to go fast south again.

64: Tannhauser

A grail game for me, Tannhauser is lower on the list, just because I think it might take me a bit to learn. But I love the World War II theme of it, plus a bit of a weird world setting as well. Plus, it’s another game that Sam Healey was a big fan of, and like I said, his and my tastes generally match pretty well. It’s hard to find, though, because it’s out of print, so I’m glad to just own it.

63: Air, Land, and Sea

A little lane battling two player card game. I actually have this one sitting at work waiting to get played. Probably will happen next week. It’s a short little game where you deploy out troops to try and win three different theaters of war, air, land, and sea. I don’t know that it’ll be my go to two player game, but it’d be nice to have on in the mix.

62: Shakespeare

A Euro game at the middle of the list, Shakespeare is about putting on a play. You do different rehearsals, build sets, get actors, and get costumes to do the best performance possible. It’s been in my collection for a while, but I don’t want to get rid of it. Even with the fact it’s a euro, I like the theme a lot. And I( think that it’ll be a puzzle that works for me.

61: Foodies

Foodies is one of three games that I own where you roll dice and everyone can do something. Space Base, higher on this list, and My Farm Shop, already played, are the other two. I previously have owned Machi Koro, and I want to buy Machi Koro Legacy when I have a group for it. It’s a mechanic that I like, but will Foodies beat out My Farm Shop? And could Space Base beat out both of them?

60: Papillon

Another butterfly game, and this one is higher, slightly because the aesthetic is cooler. Plus, I like some of how the game works. You build out different patches of flowers, trying to close them off then place butterflies on locations And those locations are an area control/majority battle. So the game seems really cool and offers different areas to focus on for strategy. Diversify across all flowers to get some points in a lot of spot. Or go for a lot of points in a few spots.

59: Valor & Villainy: Minions of Mordak

This is another one versus all game like Descent. But this one is newer and I’m getting the campaign or legacy version of this via Kickstarter with Lludwick’s Labyrinth. I do want to try this version as well as both the villain and the heroes and see how it plays. Mechanically I think it is interesting and I like the leveling up that you do in just a single scenario.

58: Flick of Faith

Two dexterity games now in a row. Flick of Faith reminds me a bit of Sonora, but just with flicking being the focus of it versus the roll and write aspect. You flick discs trying to get control of certain spots. And you have bigger discs that are harder to knock out of the way. And then there are god powers that change up how you play the game each round.

57: Rhino Hero Super Battle

The other dexterity game is about stacking. Three on this section of the list with The Table Is Lava. And this one definitely needs the fan off as you try and be at the top of the tower, or at least the highest up when it topples over. Unless, you knock it over, and then everyone else wins. Simple game, but I like simple and fun dexterity games.

56: Doodle Dungeon

Doodle Dungeon is a roll and write game, but the biggest box I have, well, up there with Sonora, and I own the Railroad Ink big box. But this is a dungeon crawling or creating game, which I think leans into the Boss Monster side of things. We aren’t the heroes, we’re the monsters in the dungeon trying to stop heroes. I need to look into this one more, but I think it’s going to feel like a much bigger game than a normal roll and write.

55: The Bloody Inn

A game with a morbid theme but one that seems like a lot of fun. In The Bloody Inn, you run an inn. But you find out that it’s more lucrative to kill off the people staying there, hide their bodies, and take their money. Who can do that the best, and will the police crack down on you? Card game but one that the theme while morbid is also funny.

54: Wingspan

Wingspan is not a game that I thought I’d own. But a friend got an extra copy, so we traded games. And I do think that I’ll like Wingspan. It’s a tableau building game about bird watching. That theme isn’t that interesting to me, but everyone seems to love the game. Family weight plus game, it might work well for a lot of groups. I am excited to try it for that reason.

53: Welcome To New Las Vegas

Another roll and write, we have four on this chunk of the list, one more to come. And Welcome To New Leas Vegas is a harder. That’s kept it on my shelf. One thing that I like about it’s predecessor Welcome To, is that it’s easy to play. I can teach that game to basically anyone. But will this one be too hard for my group. I need to try it and see.

52: Welcome to Dino World

The other roll and write is Welcome to Dino World. I like the idea of a dinosaur park. I didn’t grow up watching Jurassic Park and the sequels, but the concept is still fun. This one looks like a good time and you can have dinosaurs escape which every good dinosaur park should have happen. Because I’ll never ask if it should be done, just if it can be.

51: Camel Up

Final game is another racing game. Camel Up is kind of a classic at this point in time. Mainly because the game is goofy. You bet on who wins and the earlier you bet on it, the more you can win. But it’s hard to know who can win. The camels, as they race, stack. And the camel on top is in the lead. But if a camel on the bottom moves, they move the stack. So a camel can get lucky, move up to land on someone and then bound ahead again when that came moves.

Final Thoughts

We definitely had a few bigger games this time. And four roll and writes. But we’re still not to the big ones yet. The top 25, for sure, will be a lot of big games. And I do think that the roll and writes will be played on this section of the list. Plus some of the games like Matcha and Air, Land and Sea should be easy to get to the table.

Which game would you want to play on this section of the list? Which one should I play first?

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This is going to be a list article, with all my unplayed games ranked. But before I dive into that, I want to talk about some of the terms that I just used. Mainly shelf of shame and shelf of opportunity. They are the same term phrased in different ways. Let’s dive into them and then the big list of games to play.

Shelf of Shame vs Shelf of Opportunity

This is a term that I’ve heard thrown around for a few years now. The idea that games on your shelf have this title. First off, I think this is kind of silly. Games that you haven’t played don’t have a special spot in existence. Now, maybe they do have a special spot on your shelf, but they aren’t held in any sort of light. They are just a board game.

But the first term I heard is Shelf of Shame. The idea behind this is that you feel bad since you haven’t played all your games. This is silly. I go back to my talk about collection versus a hobby. Know what you have on your shelf. For me, board games are a collection and a hobby. That means it’s fine to not get to every game quickly. They are part of my collection. But I play them, as they are part of my hobby as well, and hobbies get used or worked on.

Then came the term Shelf of Opportunity. Shelf of Shame is very negative, and opportunity sounds much better. But I, again, find this not much better. Yes, they are games that you play eventually. And yes, it spins it in a positive light. But both terms keep a focus on the fact the games aren’t played.

What Do I Call Them?

I call them what they are. Board games to be played. A board game is just an object. In labeling them either way, it places power on that object. Yes, one puts it in the light of a game being an opportunity for something new, and new exciting opportunities are good. But it leaves the pressure on actually playing the game.

Like I said, I play games. I buy games. Board Games are a collection and a hobby for me. I own games that might take a long time to get played. Campaign games where I play one at a time or two, and I am already playing two. Those wait for when I have time, and that is okay. I feel like the label places a cloud, no matter what label, over the games, and in the end of the day, games are just games.

If I never play a game in my collection and it collects dust for five years. I shouldn’t feel bad about leaving that opportunity out there. I most definitely shouldn’t feel shame. It is a game and I play games. So I play other games and not the game that is sitting there. I am still enjoying the hobby without playing every game I own.

So Why Write This Out?

I gave myself a challenge at the beginning of the year. Not because I feel guilt about games that I haven’t played. But because it is fun to play games. And I want to play games, I want to experience new games, and I want to cover new games.

For me, my challenge isn’t to get all the games off the shelf. It isn’t because I feel like I miss out on an opportunity. And I care not about shame from it. For me it’s about trying new things and almost making a game out of it. If I don’t make it by the end of the year, I don’t care. I play these for fun.

Unplayed Board Game List

Let’s Talk About the List

124 Games on it, and my goal is to get it down below 100 by the end of the year. You add in a bunch of Kickstarter games coming in, and you can see why it is a big list and also a challenge. And of course, then, there are campaign games on the list. If we look at campaign style games, I think we’re sitting at 14 on the list. And that is a lot of games to play through a campaign of, so that isn’t going to happen. Though, with Sleeping Gods coming off the list to start the year, it will some over on Malts and Meeples.

There are also some kids games on the list. Right now, I don’t think I will play those this year. Monza looks fun, but the toddler isn’t quite ready for it. But the toddler is also three, so who knows, maybe by the end of the year, we can play those games a bit more. But right now I’m not expecting to.

I also think it’s important to note that a lot of big games are at the top. Those are the ones that I’m most excited to play and cover. And some of them should be getting played soon. Probably after this weekend I’ll be lining up a time to get started playing Roll Player Adventures.

To go along with that, there are a lot of solo games as well. I could play, in the top 20, around 75% of them solo and some of them are solo only games. So I need to start knocking those out first, because they are high on my list. That won’t be how I get under 100, though.

Final Thoughts

I think that it is fine to challenge yourself to play your unplayed games. I think it is fine to limit how many unplayed games you own. When that becomes the focus or the obsession, I think that is when we start to lose the focus on what we are doing. Or when tie to it other emotions, like shame.

When I see people post about clearing their shelf of shame, I am sure it feels good for them. But on the flip side, in the comments, you see people feeling guilty about their unplayed games. I am not that way. I don’t feel guilt over that. And you shouldn’t either.

This is an odd article, I wanted to talk more about the games, and I will soon. But before I could do that, I think it is import to talk about the shame or guilt that can be thrown around in the hobby. Not always intentionally malicious but always harmful.

Also, let me know what game you think I need to try first. What is your favorite on the list that I have too low, or that you know I would like or should try?

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