Top 100 Games – 100 – 91

100 – Silver

Silver I believe has been on the list every year that I’ve made it. Last year it was on the list at #84 and now it is barely hanging out with #100. A lot of that is that I just haven’t played it recently. If I were to play it more, it might move back up.

But in Silver you are trying to get the fewest points possible in your village. The trick is that you have five cards, all face down, to make your village and you don’t know what they are. You look at two to start the game and then after that, you play down cards that allow you to look at and swap out your cards, or your opponents. Until someone calls for a vote and you see who is lowest. But that can only be done if you’ve got fewer than your five cards, which you can do if trade in two cards of the same number on a turn.

Overall a solid fun time. It’s one of the more take that sort of games on the list. You can put high number cards into your opponents village or steal cards from them. But it’s fast and offers a ton of variety, so I appreciate it a lot for that.

Buy on Miniature Market

99 – Merchants Cove

This one was much higher last year at #79. I played a lot of new games this past year, which is why we’re seeing some drop. Merchants Cove also suffers a little bit by being a really big game to table for a game I prefer to play with two players.

But the game does a ton of cool things. Each player has a mini game that they are doing, whether it’s a roll and write, spin and move, or playing with marbles. All of these mini games gives the players goods that they can then sell. And you want to sell for as much money as possible as the merchants come into the docks along the cove.

Each mini game is quite light, and how the merchants come in is about the most player interaction, quite indirect that there is in the game. But I found each mini game to be fun, and there is some strategy and puzzle for getting the merchants into the boats you want them in and getting those boats to the dock. Downside is for being light, it takes a while to play.

Buy on Final Frontier Games

98 – Quadropolis

New to the list in 2022, Quadropolis is a city building game from Days of Wonder. It’s not a heavy game but it does a lot of very interesting things. And that’s what really stands out to me about this game and got it to the list. Just how you get your buildings for your town and how you can place them in your town is really interesting.

You have tiles that you place along the edge of the board where you are getting the city buildings. It tells you how far in, the third tile for example, that you need to go and take that tile. So there is interesting strategy there. Plus, because I put down a three, now on my city board, I can only place in a row or column with a three.

Since you score points by where you put buildings, the whole placement puzzle becomes really interesting. What you do on your turn is very simple, pick up a tile and place it onto your board. But there is a good amount of thinking that goes into what tile you pick and how you get to pick it so you can place it where it’s best for you.

Buy on Amazon

97 – Small World

Dropping from #75 last year, Small World is one of the few classic games, or modern classics left on the list. Ticket to Ride, Catan and Carcassonne are all off the list now. But Small World sticks around because of the variability to it. The combos or the races and powers make the game stand out.

This is a game that I describe as Risk, but fun. Small World has you conquering areas to score points over a number of rounds. But the board is so small that conflicts will happen. And when conflicts happen, you might get wiped off the board, nearly. So instead of being out of the game or in a horrible position, you go into decline and get a new race and power combo and come in and wreck everyone.

This is something that’d be a fine game if it wasn’t, though for the races and powers. Those combos really give each game a different feel. You might be flying giants or underworld halflings or wealthy tritons. And different combos each game mean that you’ll never play the exact same game.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

96 – Hero Realms

Another new to the list game, Hero Realms is one that I got to play for the first time at Gen Con this past August. Since then, I bought it and I have played it a whole lot more. There is an app for it as well, which is great. Hero Realms is a deck building game and one that pits you head to head against your opponent trying to knock down their life.

Like most deck building games, it works with factions and those factions play off the other cards in their faction. Some factions are better at maintaining your health, others are about getting more purchase power, others are all about combat. So you can really tailor how you build, but you need to build fast.

Hero Realms is not a deck building game that takes a while to build up your purchase power. You can buy powerful cards fast, and when you hit for 10-15 damage a turn after four turns, the game is going to be over fast. So it’s very much a race to build up as fast as you can, and because of that one you can play a few times in a row.

Buy on Amazon

95 – Ascension

Another deck building game, Ascension is my introductory deck builder. It does a lot of things well, gives you fun factions and combos that play off of each other while being fairly basic. Down from #53 last year, that is again because I haven’t played it as much recently. And probably because I played the app a ton for about a year or so, and it’s a solid app.

Ascension does what you expect a deck building game to do. You buy cards, and factions cause combos to happen. But as compared to Hero Realms, you fight monsters not your opponent and that fighting, which isn’t in Dominion, I think makes the game more fun. It’s, unlike Dominion, not about ramping purchase power only. You need to fight, but it’s not only about the fighting. You get points for killing monsters but also for the cards you buy. So it’s a nice blend of scoring.

Buy on Amazon

94 – Ra

Ra is a game that is on the list and then will drop off and come back on. I recently picked it up, so hopefully that’ll mean it gets more play. But it floats around because of how interesting the auction is for the game.

In Ra you are doing set collection, basically, to score points. But how you get those tiles that you collect is through an auction. And the auction is the meat of the game. When you bid on something in the auction, you use a tile with a number, not money. So if I someone has bid a 5 and I only have a 8 to bid higher, if I want it, I bid that 8 and there is no change back. But along with losing that 8 tile I get the number, left over bidding tile, in the middle. And that might take me from a 8 to a 10, or an 8 to 1. And that can determine if you want to bid or not as well.

The game is pretty simple, I feel. But the auction mechanic definitely creates a unique feel to the game. And the auction being the main focus is a lot of fun for the game.

Late Pledge on Gamefound

93 – Similo

Similo also has dropped on the list. Honestly, most will have unless they are new on the list. Similo is a party game that offers a solid cooperative experience. At #61 last year, it has moved down because party games tend to drop over time. The more you play a party game, or at least for some of them, the more they feel the same.

Similo, though, does a solid job of being different. In this game it is cooperative where one person is giving clues to the other players. Those players are trying to eliminate the wrong answers, until it’s down to two and then players pick between those. But the twist on the game is that you might have woodland creatures and use other woodland creatures to say if your creature is similar to dissimilar. And the more rounds players don’t eliminate your choice the more they need to eliminate with the clues. So you start with one and eventually are getting rid of 4 cards out of 6.

What makes it more fun, though, is taking woodland creatures, having them as the choices and then using monsters, or historical figures, or mythological creatures to give the clues. Is a bear more or less like Zeus? Or how do you keep a mummy around with the option of some woodland creatures? The mix and match part adds a lot of variety to the game.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

92 – Asking for Trobils

Another one that I got to try and Gen Con and got a solid play in, hence slipping onto the list is Asking for Trobils. Clearly new to the list with trying it this year, but Asking for Trobils is going to be a worker placement game. A genre that doesn’t show up too much on my list.

In Asking for Trobils you fly around space, go to different worker placement locations, build ships, get resources and ultimately are trying to trap Trobils. The Trobils that you are dealing with give you points for scoring at the end of the game.

I really appreciate the goofy nature of the game. But to go along with that, it’s also a fast worker placement game. There aren’t that many spots to place and when you do, there isn’t that much to do with it. Each action is simple and fast and I like that to just make a game a lot of fun.

Buy on GameNerdz

91 – Parade

Finally wrapping out this part of my Top 100, we have Parade. #65 last year, Parade is another one that I should really get played again. I like a lot how it works and how it’s this light but interesting puzzle. It’s one that gives you a bit of brain burn, though.

In Parade you are playing down cards and then based off of the number you played, you can ignore some cards, and take cards of the same color or equal or lower numbers. It’s a lot to think about as you try and get as few cards from the row as possible and as few points as possible. And that is a fun twist as well for shooting for low points.

One twist that I really enjoy in the game is that if you have the most of a color, the most cards not highest total on them, each card is worth one point each. So a 5, 6, 8, and 10 instead of being 29 points is 4 points instead. It’s one that’s been harder to find, but when you can, I definitely recommend grabbing a light card game. If it’s between prints, like it is now, probably wait to grab it until it’s cheaper though.

Buy on Amazon

Upcoming Streams

Well, Wednesday it’s more Stars of Akarios. You can click the notification bell for that one here. And join me for some planetary exploration as we have a pretty new bit of story and world to explore. We’ll see if I make a poor choice or not.

And then next Monday the Top 100 2022 Edition 90 – 81 is going to be streamed on the channel. Again, click that notification bell. And the rest of the videos through the bottom half of the list are up as well. So click on the notification bells for them. Right now the only Monday I’m not sure that I’ll be streaming this is Halloween, but we’ll see, it might be a stream just slightly later in the day.

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What Board Games Are Leaving?

This time the games were in a number of different categories that are leaving. Some of them I was very excited for but as time has gone on my excitement has waned on them. Others are just classic games that I don’t play anymore. And I think that’s one thing I’m noticing about having bought a lot of games over the years. Stuff that I don’t get to quickly, that is more likely to fall out of my current taste in games.

Sentinels of the Multiverse

This is one that I didn’t buy too long ago. I mainly bought it because it was on a great sale. I think I got the base game and something like 16 or 17 expansions for about $80. My plan is to try and sell it for about the same amount. I thought I’d give it a whirl because it looked cool, but when it comes down to superhero themed games, I’m going to pick Marvel Champions over it.

Dice Throne Adventures

This one is only kind of out the door at this point. Again, it’s another one that I’d really like to get played. But with middling reviews for this Dice Throne expansion, that makes it into a cooperative game. I’m not that excited to try it anymore. Add in the fact that I love Dice Throne as a two player head to head battle or king of the hill fighting, it’s hard to want to try a new way to play it that’s so different.

Merchant’s Cove

Merchant’s Cove, a game in my Top 100 games, and could still easily be there this upcoming year or longer, also leaving. The reason for that is it’s a very big game, a very light game, and there’s a learning curve, but not a bad one, each time you pull out and play a new character. I love the level of production on the game, but it makes it harder to table.

Uno

Uno is not a fun game, it’s a classic game. And when I started my collection, I wanted to own a number of the classics. Now, there are other very simple games that I have that I’d play over Uno. Add in that Uno can take no time or forever to play, it’s just not worth it.

Phase 10

Phase 10 is another classic game, one that I don’t hate, but also one that I am not that likely to play again. If I do play it, it’ll be with my parents who have a copy. Phase 10 is a fine game that takes too long because it doesn’t progress. I want to replace mine with 5 Crowns. A game that does a similar thing with getting sets and runs, but with a more limited game length.

Chess

Chess is yet another classic, and one that I feel like I should have. But the game is not one that I play, so do I keep the tin around and let it take up space on a game shelf? Or do I let it go to someone who is excited to get a decent looking all wooden chess set? I think it’s smarter to let it go to someone else enjoy it and if or when I want to get a new chess set, I can always do that later.

8-Bit Box

Another game I picked up with store credit, and one that I really wanted to play when I got it. But then my interested in it waned over time because it’s learning basically a new game for each one that I’d pull out of the box. The whole 8-Bit arcade game thing, that’s pretty cool, but if it creates a barrier to entry, well, then it ends up leaving my collection.

Karuba: The Card Game

Grabbed this one from a local Goodwill, I wasn’t thinking about it, thought it was the board game. Should have been obvious that it was different. I wouldn’t mind giving it a whirl, it’s more that I’m trying to find that thrift store gem, and this wasn’t it.

Cat Cafe

Added to the pile last night from a section I’d already gone through. Cat Cafe is a fun enough roll and write game. And it has some cool things that I don’t mind with drafting dice and then a shared die that’s left. But the game feels like it should do more. And I don’t like the end game trigger. You get more points for completing towers and the first person who completes three ends the game.

The Drink

Islay Storm again for me. Finished off the bottle of this Scotch from Trader Joe’s. It’s a really good Scotch for the price it’s at, and a very peat forward Scotch. I really enjoy peat in my Scotch, so this is always a good one when I make it to Trader Joes.

Upcoming Streams

So what comes after this. Well, it’s going to be some smaller games being streamed up through the end of the month. Start of May, I want to kick off another campaign game. And I might be playing through some Perdition’s Mouth, or I have a few others that I’m considering as well.

But I do want to maybe play through more Paper Dungeons, I had fun playing two games last time. But I have a few other games, Village Green, Dinosaur Island Rawr ‘n Write, Welcome To Dino World, and others that I can play solo as well. And two of those are ones that I want to try out to see if they’ll stick in my collection.

If you want to know when I go live, you can go to the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel, subscribe, and click the notification bell. That’ll let you know when I go live or schedule a video.

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Now, I only write a back or brick about something if I am interested in it. So I was interested in my Mythwind, but I wasn’t sure that it was for me. I like games that have a pretty solid objective to them. Mythwind just growing your town wasn’t as interesting. But as it was ending, it was still on my mind. And it, along with two other games, were fighting for my back. Those games were the Skyrim Board Game and Lords of Ragnarok. And I even had backed Lords of Ragnarok but then dropped it.

Why I Dropped Lords of Ragnarok

The last article I wrote before taking a week off, needed a break and some health things came up, was about new editions of board games. You can read that article here. And I was leaning towards yes at that point in time. But I had to ask myself, what does it do different, anf for that matter, what does the Skyrim board game do different?

Lords of Ragnarok is an area control style game, I have games like Lords of Hellas, Blood Rage, and Small World all that do area control in different ways. Skyrim is an adventure game, but I have stuff like Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon and The Witcher eventually coming that are like that. Plus, I can likely get Lords of Ragnarok on the second hand market. There are a lot of backers for it, and Skyrim is coming to retail.

But Mythwind

Why did i picked Mythwind, it wasn’t a game that I was sure about but now I’ve backed it? Well, because it is so different. Mythwind is a game that you don’t win, you just play more of. You explore the world, build up your town and you have characters that play in different ways.

How the characters play reminds me of Merchants Cove a game that I really love. But Merchants Cove is a one off game, you play it, win lose, done. Mythwind gives you all those characters that play differently and that you can just keep on playing with them. There is no win condition. I don’t think there is a lose condition, as I doubt your character can die. Instead you just expand your town, see the world around it and just enjoy what the game has to offer.

Do I Think I’ll Love Mythwind?

That’s the question that I’m still not sure about. I think that I’d have liked the other games for sure, but would they come off my shelf over other games? Mytwhwind is a gaming experience that I don’t know when there will be something else like it that shows on on Kickstarter or Gamefound. It’s a unique concept that looks well thought out. Not only well thought out, but basically done.

If Mythwind looked like it was a general concept I’d have stayed a long ways away from the game. It is a concept for a game that without it being mainly done already, I’d suspect would fail. It’s different enough and someone would think it’s a great idea without realizing how much they need to do in the game. But Mythwind is a polished looking product so I’m confident that I’ll get something good.

I also think that if Mythwind isn’t a game for me, there’ll be a secondary market. Normally I just sell my games to my FLGS for store credit. But for Mythwind, I probably would sell it online myself, see what I could get for it. I didn’t get everything for the game, but it’s going to be one that my guess is will be harder to track down, at least for a little while. That said, I am hoping that I like Mythwind. The concept of the game really intrigues me, so what’s why I switched my tune and backed it.

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But let’s work our ways onto the games that I did get played and see which ones top the list for the month of June.

A Gentle Rain – 5 Plays

This one got played a lot on stream last month. A Gentle Rain is really such a relaxing game. I should probably pull it out and play it again some evening. The game play is simple, but I don’t feel like I need to think much about it. A good solo only game that is a nice quick play and a chance to relax and let my mind clear.

Tainted Grail – 2 Plays

Normally this would have given me a few more plays. I count each session we play as multiple games depending on where we go with the chapters of the story. But we are on Chapter 7 now, and our first session we finished up Chapter 6, second session started Chapter 7. That means only two plays of this. And I get to play it again tomorrow. I’m still really loving Tainted Grail. it is such an epic story driven game.

Merchants Cove – 2 Plays

A new game for me this past month was Merchants Cove. It is a fun asymmetrical game where players are running their own little engine to try and score the most points possible. You can read my full review of it here. The game play just works for me. It takes a bit to play for such a light game but I like how the engines work, and I like how the different characters play. Plus there is just enough interaction with loading the ships to make it interesting, but not so much to make it feel cut throat.

Xenoshyft Onslaught – 2 Plays

A game that I always love to play, I talked about it in my Top 10 cooperative games over on Malts and Meeples.

Then I immediately got it played the day after. Xenoshyft: Onslaught is so much fun. It’s a game that I don’t win often, but I still love it. And when I play it, I want to play it again. I think t hat I’ve played this game around a dozen times and maybe won twice. But it always feels so close. And it is a fun deck building game that does some different things.

Medium – 2 Plays

Another new game for me, Medium was picked up on a whim at Target. A friend had demoed it at GenCon and thought it was fun, and I thought the concept was fun. Medium has two players trying to match up words. Or come up with the same word between two words. If it’s cat and turtle, what is the word that links the two or is between the two? Animal would make a lot of sense for that, but pasta and turtle that might take a bit more time (shell) and cat and spaceship, might be even harder. Can you match it up in three guesses, it’s fun and good for a laugh.

Homebrewers – 2 Plays

Almost forgot to add this one to the list, in fact if you saw this right away it wasn’t there. Homebrewers is such a fun game. I got to play two players again and I love it for the engine building. You get to create crazy homebrew and see who is the best brewer. Plus at the end, I always like to decide if I’d try the beer or not. The answer is basically always yes, I’d try it, but there are a number where I’m not sure if I want to drink a full pint of it. If you want a fast and light engine building game, Homebrewers is great.

Railroad Ink Challenge – 2 Plays

Yet another new game, Railroad Ink Challenge is just another version of Railroad Ink, but it adds in even more to the game. Another one that I played on Malts and Meeples, you can watch it played below. It just adds to Railroad Ink in a really fun way. You now have goals you want to complete. Can you get them done in time, how well can you score, the game is just a blast and worth checking out for a roll and write.

Blood Rage – 1 Play

This is my #2 game of all time. And while I did have fun playing it again and it won’t ever leave my collection, I do wonder if it’ll stay at #2 come October. I like this drafting and dudes on a map game. There is a lot of strategy and a lot of fun in the game. And I got to play it four player which is pretty rare, I’ve normally played it two player. The winners both had different strategies and the two of us lagging behind were going for more of a Loki style strategy. It was fun to see all the different options, and I’m kind of ready to play it again just have some revenge.

Aeon’s End – 1 Play

Now, technically this was another new game for me. I have played Aeon’s End War Eternal several times. But now that I own everything for Aeon’s End, I finally played the base game. Aeon’s End is another deck building game that does some different things. I like fighting the giant monster, I like trying to keep the town alive, and I like how different each giant monster is. I think I will start playing Aeon’s End Legacy on Wednesday over on Malts and Meeples. Join me if you want to see more Aeon’s End there. I really think it’s a very good cooperative deck building game.

Clever Hoch Drei – 1 Play

Yup, I played all the Clever games again. They are just such nice roll and write games. And now I’ve taught a lot of people, so it makes it really easy to get to the table.

Hues and Cues – 1 Play

So Hues and Cues is a pandemic purchase. I got it because it was one that could be played via Zoom. But, I think it is more fun in person. Like most games, it is easier to just talk across the table and it helps up the silly level of the game. Sometimes you just want to play something is silly and a good time. Hues and Cues doesn’t force silliness, but gives a lot of good laughs. Plus it’s tricky to give one word clues or two to get people to guess a color. So there is lots of time to chat while playing without slowing down the game.

Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade – 1 Play

Another o ne that I played on Malt and Meeples, I won’t post the video this time. But check it out over there if you want to see how Super-Skill Pinball plays. The game is a lot of fun and gives you some good choices. The thing I always come back to with Super-Skill Pinball is that it is the most thematic roll and write that I’ve played. Does it feel just like playing a pinball machine, it’s can’t really, but the mechanics all make so much sense, and as you get combos it just works so well. And it does truly try and have a theme and ends up with a solid theme to it.

Ganz Schon Clever – 1 Play

What, more Clever roll and writes? No shock there. I still think the first is my favorite, but I can get some really great games of the third one at times.

Doppelt So Clever – 1 Play

Yes, the final Clever game. Right now I almost always play them as a trilogy. It is fun to see how well I can do across all three of them. And sometimes the answer to that question is not well at all, and other times I end up with a really high score.

Sushi Go Party! – 1 Play

I got to play this two months ago and then this month. I actually like the fact that I had some time off from it. We were playing it fairly often, but now I’m ready to play it more. Sushi Go Party is a fun drafting game, and now I own 4 different promo cards for it. So I can play with even more variety than I normally would And I will say that some of the promos are a lot of fun. Sake gives you three points but then the next card is drafted blind. That one is just goofy, but somehow thematic at the same time.

Onirim – 1 Play

Final one that got played is Onirim. Another solo game, Onirim definitely gives you a bit more to think about than A Gentle Rain, but still not too much. I think my only real knock on Onirim is that it can be a bit fiddly. While I have streamed it, I almost prefer Onirim for when I’m watching a sporting event or something like that and want to keep my hands busy. I don’t need to be completely engaged but it gives me something to do.

Yearly Stats

Half way through the year and I have 166 plays under my belt. That is 48 different games and 18% of my current collection. This month was interesting because like I said, there were some bigger games in there. Blood Rage, Xenoshyft, and Merchants Cove were all games that might have gotten played twice or might have had more games played in those evenings if they didn’t take as long.

Tainted Grail still leads the way with most plays. Followed by Deadly Doodle, Dice Throne, Ganz Schon Clever, and Metro X, so a huge game and three smaller games. But 10 games are at the 5+ plays or more for the year. And I feel like 18% of the collection played isn’t that bad. Though, I hope by the end of the year to have that pushing into that range of 1/3 of my collection played or more.

Which of my games last month do you want to play most?

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What’s The Answer?

Super simple answer is no. There is no minimum number of times. I know the first time I played Gloomhaven and Tainted Grail that I liked them a lot. Now I didn’t play them only once before giving them a review, but I could have basically done it at that point. The same with Concept, I knew I didn’t like that game after one slightly too long play of it.

Why, because those games show you how they work right away. You sit down and you play Gloomhaven, you know how the card play is going to work. Tainted Grail, you get an idea of the exploration and combat immediately. Concept, you get the concept of the game right away as well.

Other games, it will take longer. That’s why I’ve started doing the Beyond the Box Cover articles as well. Something like Isle of Cats, there is a lot to explore in the game and mess around with. I want to make sure that there isn’t just a better strategy than others. I also want to figure out how much the drafting will swing things. Or Railroad Ink. I can tell you how much I like the base game, but I need to play with the expansions that come in the box.

But Story Games Need the Whole Story

This is another thought that is thrown around as to why you need to play more. I’ve read a ton of books, I’ve played a number of story games. I can tell when sitting down if I will like a story. Now, the story might underwhelm or surprise me, but I have a general idea. And no, I don’t need to know how the story ends. The end of a story can dampen how much I like that story, but unlikely to flat out ruin it.

For example, not in board games, I think that the story in the Witcher TV show is alright at best. However, I want to see that second season because there are elements that I like and I really like the world. In board games, the story in Gloomhaven is solid, nothing amazing, but the rest of the world and the game play itself mean that I absolutely love that game. And with a game, so much of how well a story works is the tone it sets with the mechanics. And I don’t need to critique a whole story to know if I like the mechanics.

But You Need to Play All the Content

Again, I’ll disagree with this premise. I think that playing a lot of the content is probably smart. Again, that’s why I do the Beyond the Box Cover. However, some games, Merchant’s Cove for example, I can give a review on without playing the whole thing. Why, because I can see other people playing characters with me, and I get the general idea of the game as a whole. I still want to play those other characters, but I don’t need to, to know about the game.

In fact, Merchant’s Cove is a great example, I really liked playing the Innkeeper. I want to try the other characters, but I know I can go back and play the Innkeeper again and still enjoy the game. So who knows, maybe I’ll hate the Blacksmith, that’s fine because if I don’t want to play one out of 8 characters, I still have a lot to play.

And again, I know that I like the mechanics of the game, and in particular the ones that go across all characters. I like the loading meeples onto ships. I like the townsfolk that you can recruit. The scoring of with making and selling goods, I like. I like the corruption. All of those things in Merchants Cove work across the board.

Why Do People Push Back?

I think in the end, we have to talk about why people push back. It’s because people forget that a lot of this is opinion. Tom Vassel talks about this a lot when he doesn’t like something. Just because he doesn’t like a game doesn’t mean that someone won’t have it as their favorite game. A board game review is an opinion of the reviewer.

So why do people make a big deal about it? This tends to happen when people have a low opinion or a really high opinion. Though, there is a third category of people who push back, and that is if a game is too popular. I can find myself falling into the trap of that where I won’t play a game because it is too popular. Now, I will play it, but I won’t buy it. And I tend to be more hesitant.

Basically if we have a strong emotion towards a game, whether love or hate or annoyance of it being everywhere, we will have higher standards for reviews. We are going to want people to agree with us. So we push back on it because we think if they play it more or they must have played it wrong, and that’s why they do or don’t like the game.

So What’s the Point of Reviews?

The point is that you can find people who review whom your tastes match up with. And a good reviewer talks not only about their feelings around a game, but also the mechanics and what does and doesn’t work for them. That means you get not only an idea of the flavor of the game but how the game works.

For example, I know that when he was on the Dice Tower, Sam Healey and my taste matched up pretty well. So I could generally know if he liked a game, then I’d like the game as well. He’s no longer on the Dice Tower, had to move away, so now I don’t know who I would put in that realm. But now I also know my tastes better, so I tend to go more with thoughts off of playthroughs.

Who is that reviewer for you whom you like their reviews? Is there any channel or reviewer who is the best for you or maybe you know is the opposite of your tastes?

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What Do My Ratings Mean

The baseline that we should get started with is looking at what the numbers means. Obviously a 10 is the best and a 1 is the worst. However, it is more nuanced than that. I do use the half point scale as well. So right now I have everything from 10’s to 1’s, but no 0.5’s in there.

A 10 is a game that is as close as perfect for me as you can get. And I say for me, some board games are objectively good and some are objectively bad, but when rating games, so much as to do with taste. So a 10 is a game that is as close to perfect for me as you can get.

A 9 is a game that I love, and I’d always want to play it. 8 is a great game for me and I’d likely not say no to playin that game. 7, I like and I’d play, but I won’t seek it out. 6 is a decent game but I probably am not that interested in playing it often. 5 is okay and I’d play it if people want to. 4, I’ll try and recommend another game to play. 3, I don’t want to play it. 2, I actively don’t like the game. 1, I wouldn’t play that game again ever.

The Breakdown

10’s –

I have 12 games that I rate a 10. That is 4% of the games that I’ve played and rated. I’m sure that I’ve missed a few games, but likely not tens. There is also a wide variety of games in there, I have a massive dungeon crawler with Gloomhaven and then I also have a dexterity game with Ice Cool. But 67% of the games really immerse you in the story and world of the game, which I think will be a trend for these high spots.

9.5’s –

21 fall into the 9.5 category, this 7% of the game that I’ve played. We again stick with a lot of story with games like TIME Stories and Arkham Horror: The Card Game. We also get some lighter games like Sushi Go Party and The Lost Expedition and our first party game with Just One in this category.

9’s –

38 games fall into the 9’s, all the way up at 13%. I wonder if this might be one of the higher percentile groups out there. This is where we start to hit a lot of roll and writes with games like Clever Hoch Drei, Doppelt so Clever, and more. We also get a lot of games that aren’t as story driven anymore. More games like Letter Jam and Super Fantasy Brawl that give you more of a classic board game experience. We also get A Gentle Rain in this section.

8.5’s –

16 out of 283 are rated as 8.5’s. That is about 6% of my rated games. The trend holds pretty steady from the 9’s with a lot more of the classic board game experience. Another party game with Wits & Wagers makes the list. And we have a new game that I just played recently a few times with Merchant’s Cove.

8’s –

We likely have it the big number here, 50 games that are 8’s, which is 18% of my collection. So as you add up the percentages, keep in mind I am rounding up or down so it might not equal 100% in the end. But I feel like in the 8’s we get a number of games that are in that lighter category, more filler games. Things like Skull and Fruit Picking are easier to play and teach than a lot games earlier.

7.5’s –

At 20 games in the 7.5’s, we are at 7% of the collection again. While other sections have had games that were previously owned, with the 7’5’s, I definitely noticed a few more. Machi Koro, Winter Tale, Krosmaster: Arena and at least one more were in my collection and have left. It’s not because they are bad games, but I have other games that do it better. And with Krosmaster: Arena, I got rid of that before Super Fantasy Brawl, but I just didn’t have anyone to play it with.

7’s –

Sitting at 12% with 34 games out of 283, we again see a number of previously owned games. But we also see games that I grew up playing. Set, Dutch Blitz, and Scrabble all make it into this category as well as the party game Scattergories. I obviously have some level of nostalgia with these games, but at the same time, I’d still play them again right now.

6.5’s –

13 games in this number, for 5%. I think this is where we’ll start to see the numbers dropping off in terms of number of games rated in the area. It is also a lot of games that I don’t own but have played in this area. I guess that means that I buy games that I like a lot. Donner Dinner Party and Flapjacks and Sasquatches are two that I’d definitely play again, but I have games that I like better that do something similar, especially with Donner Dinner Party.

6’s –

A tick up here with 24 games which is 8%. Most of the time the whole numbers seem to have more than a half numbers ,I guess. I own a few games in this section, though some of that is nostalgia, or with a game like Splendor, it’s because I know other people who like it a lot. I probably won’t ever pull Splendor off the shelf to play myself, but I know my wife likes it, so I won’t remove it from the collection.

5.5’s –

5 games make up the 5.5’s which is just barely 2%. We are reaching the social deduction game area, I feel in the 5.5’s, and 5’s. Where I would play them again, but I won’t seek them out. They tend to be the very simple social deduction games like Secret Hitler, While that game does have a little double blind fun going on with it, the theme doesn’t interest me, and it’s just a fine game.

5’s –

Down in the 5’s we have 21 games at a whopping 7% again. Again more social deduction games like The Resistance and One Night Ultimate Vampire. These two really do what I don’t like about a lot of social deduction games, they don’t give you anything go on right away or in general much to go on at all. We also have all of Red Dragon Inn, a fun game but often is played with too many people. I think 4 is about my max for that game, maybe 5.

4.5’s –

1 out of 283 which is 0% for those keeping track at home. And it’s Seafall. I feel like it’s fair that Seafall falls into this spot by itself. It is a game that I want to like more, it is a game I can see the potential of it. It just ends up being a flop. The story doesn’t play out as it should, it is a just a bit too random, and the games are way too long. And the more you play the longer the games get. Yet, it’s just on that cusp of I’d play it again without an AP players.

4’s –

9 games or 3% of what I’ve played. This is where we get into a lot more of a mass market or mass market adjacent games. Not that there haven’t been some before, but we have stuff like Guesstures, Forbidden Island and Dominion. Yes, I have Dominion as a 4. It is a game that I’d play if you twisted my arm, but it is also a game that if you know the game extremely well you will win, and it’s not interesting enough for me to know it that well.

3’s –

You might be wondering where my 3.5’s are, the answer is there were none. Instead we have 10 3’s. That is 4% of what I’ve played. Again a lot of mass market games, and a lot of games I grew up with. This goes back to growing as a gamer, stuff like Malarky and Pit had their place getting me into the hobby, but I don’t need to go back to them.

2’s –

3 games or 1%. Monopoly falls into this group. It isn’t the worst of the worst, but it is very bad. Another super popular or at least well sold game, Exploding Kittens lands here as well.

1’s –

Finally, I have 5 1’s, or 2%. I really don’t like these games, and most people won’t like most of them. The two that will probably surprise people are Cards Against Humanity and Concept. Cards Against Humanity at one point in time I would have rated higher, but now I consider it a worse version of Apples to Apples because the jokes are created for you and often not funny. Concept is one that I know a lot of people like. It just didn’t work for me. It has this group feel to the game, but ends up just being boring.

Alright, there we have it, all the games in my collection rated. What do you think should be rated better? Or what do you think that I should rate lower?

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Merchants Cove Overview

In Merchants Cove, each player is playing as a different merchant on the cove. You have the alchemist, pirate, blacksmith, and chronomancer in the main box. But the expansions add in an oracle, dragon rancher, and innkeeper that can be played with as well. Each of these characters is creating their own version of large and small items to sell. Each character is creating their own goods on their own boards.

There is a main board where the players do interact slightly. Mainly they interact by adding in adventurers, think merchants, to various boats, and as boats come in, that determines what goods are going to be bought at what prices. So you can keep the prices lower by spreading out where the merchants come in at or push them higher by putting a lot of the various types onto a few boats.

In the end, the person with the most points is the winner. You get points by selling your goods as well as sponsorships. But you can also push your luck to do more and better things in the game, but you get corruption which is negative points in the end.

What I Don’t Like

This isn’t really a negative, more just a statement of fact, Merchants Cove is not the easiest game to teach. The different factions all do things differently. So while I can teach you the main board, everyone needs to learn their own character. Or I need to spend time teaching each person their own character. So that does take longer than in a lot of games.

Also, I liked this game at two and at three. However, playing with three players, especially new players to the game as we all were, that takes a chunk of time. Even with players who know the game better, for a game without a ton of story or interaction, the game will last a little while. You aren’t so much engaged on your opponents turn.

What I Like

I like asymmetric games. I always find them interesting because everyone is doing their own thing. And they are really challenging to make. So while Merchants Cove might be simpler than say Root, it is easier to get to the table and extremely well balanced. And fairly often it’s what the different groups want to do that is so different. In this game it’s even how the players are doing the things. The Oracle is a roll and write, the Alchemist is basically playing Potion Explosion, the Blacksmith is manipulating dice, the Innkeeper is doing set collection. All of them are extremely different in really cool ways.

I also like that it’s a pretty simple game. Now, when I say it takes a bit to teach, that’s because everyone is doing something different. The game play for each character itself is pretty simple. You basically have six actions and two of those actions are ones that are common across everyone. So really, you have four actions that you need to learn for your character. That makes it way easier on a new player, going back to the example, something like Root.

The interaction that does happen on the main board is good as well. Sure, there isn’t a ton of it, but what there is works well. I like that I can strategize, even on a random draw where things go. Do I push people towards the black market and taking more corruption or do I try and make my small goods as valuable as possible. It is a small part of the game, but it is a major part of how you score.

Finally, let’s talk about that scoring. I really like how it works as well. It’s a multiplier system. The more merchants of a color coming in, that is multiplied by the points on the goods you’re selling of that color. So this ties directly into that interaction. You can set it up so that you have three three point small red items and five red merchants coming in, that’s 45 points. This game isn’t shy about giving you points and I like that. Or maybe you opponent has that, can you make it so that only two are coming in so they get only 18 points instead?

Merchants Cove Final Thoughts

This is a really fun game. I get why it won’t work for everyone. This is a lighter game and while there will be some variety in how you play each time and how even a character will play each time, might be a bit more limited. But for myself and my play group, I like it a lot. I think that the different characters are interesting and I’ve only seen half of them at this point. The two I played

I think for someone who wants a big looking game to play but maybe doesn’t play as big as it looks, Merchants Cove is going to be a great option. But for a heavy euro gamer, this might feel like the choices are a bit light in what you are doing. Still, the production value is amazing on the game and the play is a ton of fun, so one I definitely recommend.

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

Is Merchants Cove a game that you want to try?

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