What Board Games are Leaving?

There’s no chance that I’m going to remember all of them. Mainly because, like I said, there are 17 games on the pile to get rid of. And surprisingly, there are several from my Top 100 games of all time. I won’t go into detail on why they’re leaving, I do in the video, but most of the time it is because I have others in the same genre or style that I will always play over it.

Claim

Two player trick taking game. I enjoy it, it can be a little bit swingy, but the game plays fast. So that randomness or the luckiness of the game doesn’t bother me much. It is more that for two player trick taking games, I now prefer Fox in the Forest and Fox in the Forest Duet.

Hanabi

Hanabi is a game with a fun concept. You have a hand of cards and you are trying to get them played out in order. But you can’t see you hand of cards. You only get and give clues. I like it for that, but it’s one I’ve played 10-15 times, I don’t pull it off the shelf anymore. For a game where you don’t know what is in your hand, I prefer Letter Jam now.

Skulk Hollow

Skulk Hollow is consistently in my top 100 games of all time, and I suspect it might stay for a while. But it is leaving my collection. Not because I am getting Maul Peak, the sequel, but because it just doesn’t get played. If I want to play a two player game, I pull others out first.

Tsuro

Tsuro is the poster child for, I liked this game, but I’ve played it enough. It’s a good filler game that can play a lot of people. But I went through a number of games like that. So Tsuro can find a new home.

The Terrifying Girl Disorder

The Terrifying Girl Disorder, I picked this one up because of the title and the artwork. And both still are still intriguing to me. But it’s been a long time on my shelf and I have yet to play it. It is one that I wouldn’t mind getting to the table sometime before I get trade it, just to see, but not enough to make sure it happens.

Call of Cthulhu: Living Card Game

I got this one recently, and now it’s leaving. It’s not because I’m not curious about it. I like the idea of a living card game around the Call of Cthulhu theme, but I already have Arkham Horror LCG and Marvel Champions LCG, I don’t want to try and track down old things for it. So as much as I’m curious about it, I know I will get sucked in.

Shadows of Kyoto

Shadows of Kyoto is another in the Hanamikoji themed game. But this one has more of a Stratego feel. And honestly, that’s why I’m getting rid of it. The whole hidden thing, trying to find your opponents, or maybe take them out, it’s not as interesting. And it’s two player, so why play it over Hanamikoji if I want a two player only game?

The Grimm Masquerade

Hidden role game that I find to be a good amount of fun. What I don’t love as much as that it’s a bit long. If I want to pull out a game where we’re trying to figure it out, then I am going to play two games of Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, if not three. And that’ll take the same amount of time and is just more fun for me. It’s a situation where I have another game I’ll always pick first.

Inbetween

Inbetween is another two player only game. You can see that I’m clearing out a number of those. One that I wanted to play because it had a Stranger Things-esque theme to it. But two player push and pull game as you fight over characters one to the “upside-down” and one to the “real world”. So, I could play it, but I don’t feel like it over Hanamikoji.

MonsDRAWsity

MonsDRAWsity is a party game that I picked up cheap, learned the rules to it, and then I realized that I wasn’t going to enjoy it as much. It is a party game of drawing what you think a character looks like based off of a description. That’s fun, but then voting on which one looks closest, that is way less fun. Any party game where it’s a vote or picking a favorite, it’s hard to keep those in my collection.

7 Wonders Duel with Pantheon

Yet another two player game. 7 Wonders Duel is just a game that’s been on my shelf for too long. I know it’s supposed to be a very good game. But the theme isn’t that interesting to me, I think 7 Wonders is just okay at best. And I have Truffle Shuffle that works for two person drafting, same with Ohanami.

Quiddler

A word game that has a 5 Crowns type feel to it as you build out bigger and bigger words or multiple smaller ones. It’s a fine word game, but like most word games, the bigger vocabulary, the better you do. It’s one I’ve played, had fun with, but I’m not going to pull it off the shelf again.

I think that’s 11 total games, so I’m missing six from the list. I guess that’s a sign that I’m not that interested if I don’t remember them. I’ll add them on in a separate article when I can look at them again.

The Drink

Just a cream soda and Orange Jameson mix again. Still a very good drink that goes down easily. One that I’d recommend. Though, as we were talking about in the chat yesterday, it’s not nearly as good straight. It’s a whiskey that I’d say needs to be mixed.

Upcoming Streams

I think Part 7 is going to be the end of going through my collection. And I want to do that on Wednesday. When we’re going to get back to playing some games. Probably some more roll and writes, or smaller solo games for a little bit before diving into the next campaign. But right now, I’m guessing I have 30-40 games and expansions that I’m getting ready to cull.

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.

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

124-101

Unplayed Board Games – 100 through 76

100: KeyForge: Call of the Archons

KeyForge has been on my radar for a little bit, mainly because the concept sounded interesting. It’s almost a TCG (trading card game) but you can’t build decks. All of them are prebuilt but also are different. And it’s a two player head to head game, take out monsters, get keys, and first to a number wins. They were on sale around Christmas, so I figured it was time to pick up a few decks to give it a try.

99. Vault Wars

This is one that I backed on Kickstarter because I find the concept funny. And I suspect that the game play is going to be easy enough to get it to the table with my gaming group. Vault Wars is basically fantasy Storage Wars. You bid to get the best vaults to get you the most points or money by the end of the game. I hope it’s a goofy good time.

98. Mage Knight

Probably should be higher on the list, but I’m intimidated by the rules for this game. It is notoriously hard to get to the table and learn. But it’s also supposed to be one of the best solo games out there. And while big solo games can be tricky to get tabled for me. I feel like I need to give it a try.

97: Shadows of Kilforth

This one I bought because Rolling Solo did a play-through of the predecessor to this game, Gloom of Kilforth. It’s a fantasy game and one that kind of has a story emerge as you go. But you play as a hero going out into this dark fantasy world, fighting monsters, getting cards of companions and equipment to see if you can defeat the boss in the end. I like the ideas of the game, I just need to play it.

96. Sentinels of the Multiverse

Sentinels of the Multiverse is on the list for an odd reason, or this low on the list for an odd reason. In 2020 at the Holidays Greater Than Games had a crazy good sale for Sentinels stuff. So I got all of it, or most of it. And I think I paid $75 for all of it. So very cheap. But now I have all the stuff, and it’s a bit intimidating to pull off the shelf. I just need to do it and play it. Because super heroes and super villains are my jam for board games.

95. Narabi

This is a little card game that is hard to explain. You are trying to get all the cards into ascending numerical order. But with that, each card is only allowed to move in a certain way, or has a movement rule on it. So it becomes a puzzle where you can share limited information to swap cards around to see what they can do, until you get it into order. A cool puzzle of a game idea where you see how fast you can do it.

94: Quadropolis

This is an older game that I just got. But Quadropolis is one I’ve had my eye on. It’s a city building game that looks simple but intriguing. I really like the mechanics of how you determine what tiles you can get to add to your city. And Days of Wonder, while not everything is a smash hit for them, has made some of my favorite accessible games like Ticket to Ride, Small World, and Five Tribes.

93: Jamaica

Jamaica, when I heard about it, I knew I wanted to try. But it is not a game that has always been easy to get. When Fantasy Flight Game Center, now GameZenter, was clearing off their demo wall to rebuild it better, it isn’t better, they sold the games. So, I need to do a piece count and then play this, but it’s a pirate racing game, that sounds like a fun time, assuming the pieces are there.

92: Heaven & Ale

Normally I don’t get Euro Games, but again, a sale. Also, one of the reviewers I follow, Ryan from Man vs Meeple, is a big fan of this game. So that recommendation and a euro game about brewing beer, I was interested. And I say that I normally don’t get euro games, I don’t, but I don’t dislike them. So I need to do my best monk brewing beer impression sometime soon.

91. Silver & Gold

Silver & Gold is a roll and write game, another one that I need to try. And one that I think will be a lot of fun, because you get to fill out cards throughout the game. So like Super Mega Lucky Box, you get to use dry erase markers on the cards. And it has this treasure hunting theme, but is more of a shape filling in game. I think it looks like one that is easy enough to learn but still interesting to play.

90: This War Of Mine

I’m intimidated by this game, much like Mage Knight. I’ve heard it it hard to learn. But more than that, this is a game about a fictional war and trying to survive in it. The concept is cool, but also a dark concept. And it’s tough to want to sit down and play a game with story that you know you probably won’t survive. Especially if it’s a harder game to learn and get to the table. But the concept sounds very intriguing and different to try.

89: Boomerang

Not the last time you’ll see a Boomerang on the list. A roll and write game. Won’t say too much about it, looks like a good puzzle of a game, like the one you’ll see coming up. This version just doesn’t look at nice as the other.

88: Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Descent is an interesting one, and this isn’t the big box version of the game that just came out. This one has been out for a little while. But it’s interesting as I do want to play the game, but I mainly got the game so I could practice painting minis. That is something I that I need to get back to doing, and we’re getting close to the point where I might be able to prime them outside. But I do want to try the game, because fantasy dungeon crawl, I like those.

87: MonsDRAWsity

We go from a big fantasy game to a small fantasy game, a party fantasy game. MonsDRAWsity, has one person a monster that they look at and then describe. Everyone else draws the monster. And I believe, the person with the closest drawing wins. It’s a drawing party game, but one that looks silly and fun.

86: WWE Legends Royal Rumble Card Game

Speaking of silly and fun, I’m a professional wrestling fan. It’s true, I mainly just watch the pay-per-views with a group of friends. And the Royal Rumble is the best one. This one is a take that style game where you try and be the winner of the Royal Rumble. Your guy gets tossed out, you get a new one, and the last one standing wins. Clearly I already know the group I want to play this with.

85: Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops

I really like the world of Shadworun. This cyber-punk future where corporations run everything. And you go on runs, hacking into systems, and exposing dirty secrets, great idea. And I’d love to play in a Shadowrun RPG campaign. This is a board game version, and it’s about setting up for a run. I have a massive box of stuff, but how the runners of the Kickstarter handled distribution, there were lots of problems, I’m less excited to play it.

That’s probably not a great reason not to play it. I think that it looks like a fun game. I still love the theme. It’s just harder to get into wanting to play it. Though, I did get the cooperative expansion, so maybe that’d be an easier way to get it to the table.

84: Boomerang: USA

I told you Boomerang would be back. The first, more logically, it set in Australia, but using the system, the designer made more versions. This version just looks nicer than the version I own of Boomerang. Either way, I need to play one or both. And then decide which one I want to keep, if I keep one, because I doubt I’ll want both of them.

83: Palm Island

I don’t know why this one is still on the list. Mainly I think because I play Orchard most of the time when I want a small solo game. Palm Island is a solo game that fits in the palm of your hand. It’s a resource management style game, if I remember correctly. You are trying to build up your engine to get more cards flipped around to flip more cards. I need to give it a whirl.

82: Blueprints

Blueprints is one that my FLGS recommended to me. It’s an abstract game about getting dice to build buildings. This falls into that category of a game that looks like it’ll be an interesting puzzle every time you play it. And I like those games where there is a good puzzle to it. Will the puzzle last a long time for me, we’ll have to see.

81: Specter Ops

Specter Ops is a hidden movement board game. One player is infiltrating a base to get to different objectives and then get out. The other player(s) are trying to figure out where they are and take them down. I like the concept and the theme of the game. This one is just the matter of learning both sides so I can teach it.

79: Crash Octopus

From the company that made Tokyo Highway, a dexterity game that I love, Crash Octopus is another one. This one is about flicking treasure to your ships and balancing the treasure on them. It seems like a silly game and one that will, like Tokyo Highway, look cool on the table. I want to see if it works as well as Tokyo Highway does for my gaming group.

78: 6 nimmt!

I don’t think the first time I heard about 6 nimmt! was from an anime, Afterschool Dice Club, but that is where I learned the most about it. This is a card game about trying to avoid taking points. I picked it up on sale when I got No Thanks! and both of the games kind of fit into that same mindset of figuring out clever play. I hope that this one works as well for my group as No Thanks! did.

77: InBetween

Two of the last three I got because of Sam Healey liking them on the Dice Tower. His and my tastes in game often overlap because we both go towards bigger, Amerithrash style games. The two on this part of the list are not that. InBetween is a two player game that feels, from what I can tell, like Stranger Things. One player is trying to get everyone to one side, while the other player is trying to flip them into the “upsidedown”.

It’s not actually a Stranger Things game. But the theme definitely has that vibe to it, and I think it came out about the same time. So theme wise, I like it. And as a two player game, I should be able to get it to the table.

76: Heroes of Terrinoth

This is another game that I saw on Rolling Solo’s YouTube channel. And it also looks good, card play game from Fantasy Flight, I liked how you level up in the game. And I like that you can pick from a variety of heroes. It isn’t a dungeon crawl game, but it almost has that feel. You pick a scenario, you can move between places, and you fight monsters. Plus you level up to improve how you can do things, which was cool.

75: Codinca

The final Sam Healey recommended game on this part of the list is also small, and it’s abstract. So that’s probably why it hasn’t gotten played. I’m bad about playing my abstract games, even though I normally like them. Codinca is a game where you want to create a pattern.

Final Thoughts

We’re still not into a ton of the big board games. But I do think this will be a section where I can get a lot of games off of the list. Stuff like Boomerang USA and Boomerang, Silver & Gold, Codinca, and Blueprints, all of those shouldn’t be hard to table.

On the flip side, I’m also going to be a bit surprised if I do get This War of Mine or Mage Knight to the table as part of clearing off games. I am very intimidated by both of those rule books. And I’m generally the one learning how to play the games so I know I can. But those two look like beasts to learn and with not great rule books, probably tough to get rules right.

Which one should I play first?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

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?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Marrying Mr. Darcy – With Zombie Expansion

If you aren’t familiar with it, there is a book called Pride Prejudice and Zombies. This takes the story of Pride and Prejudice and turns it into a zombie book while keeping the snark intact. There is also a movie on the book that is highly entertaining as well. But Marrying Mr. Darcy gets you playing as one of the Bennett sisters or other main characters trying to get enough wit, beauty, charm, or whatever it might be to get your perfect suitor. There is a small expansion for the game that adds in zombies.

This game is a lot of fun to play and is quite silly to play. It also handles a pretty large group. The game play is very simple but there are some good laughs in it as you play and decide if you want to get turned into a zombie yourself. The zombie expansion doesn’t add in all that much, and really doesn’t add to complexity, which makes it a nice easy option for Halloween.

The Bloody Inn

The Bloody Inn is an interesting one to put on the list because I haven’t played it yet. It’s theme also isn’t spoopy. You run an inn and it turns out that it’s more profitable to kill off the people who who up and hide their bodies and steal their stuff. But if you aren’t careful the police will show up and now you have to deal with them. The theme is just too absurd to be really horrific. Thus it makes it onto the spoopy list. You’re going to be telling stories about how you stuffed a body under a rug as the police showed up.

Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger

You are a paranormal detective, as a group, going through this cooperative game. It is very much a choose your own adventure with a little game on top of it. You collect items, go into crazy rooms, probably die, and then continue on further into the story trying to figure out everything that is going on. This one barely qualifies as a game, but it’s a lot of fun.

The best way, I’ve found, to play this game is to just pass around the cards. So each person gets to read and gets to make decisions. You can make them as a group or discuss them, but the reader is the person who has the final say on what you do. It’s fun to just be surprised what happens when you’re not the reader.

Gloom

This one falls into the category with The Bloody Inn, if you actually think about it, it’s kind of horrific, but really it plays as spoopy fun. In this game you have a family and you are trying to get them to die as miserably as possible so you have the fewest points. You are playing cards on your own characters and narrating the miserable things that happen to them. And then you give your opponents good things, or at least maybe less miserable so they aren’t as negative in their points.

The game does require story telling. For some groups the game won’t work then because you do need to dive into the absurdity of the stories. Getting left at the alter and then stung by bees and chased by wild boars is all fun, but if you can narrate it well, it’s a grand old time with that horror them and also being very spoopy.

MonsDRAWsity

Another one that I haven’t played, but this is going to be party game and drawing game entry onto the list. You are all basically police sketch artists trying to get as close to what the actual monster looks like just from descriptions. IT’s a goofy premise, and one that is going to give you a lot of weird looking monsters and a lot of laughs.

If I were going to pick one game to pull out for a Halloween party, MonsDRAWsity is the one that I’d pull from my collection. some of the others would work as well, but this one is going to be maybe the lightest. Choose Your Own Adventure might be lighter, but this will keep people more engaged throughout.

Similo: Spookies

Okay, this one might also be one I bring along to a party. But for it to be really Halloween you need the Spookies which just came out. In this game one person is trying to get everyone else to eliminate the right monsters by giving clues based that the monster is either like or not like another monster. That can be trickier than you think. You might have great monsters to give a clue or a bad one, is a swamp monster similar or not to a vampire more so than a werewolf to get the right one eliminted.

I talked about this recently on my Top 100 games list as well. You can get multiple different sets of this, so you could mix in animals for the clues about the monster, or mythological figures with giving the monsters as clues. It makes the game really easy to expand and a whole lot of fun.

What Spoopy Halloween Games Do You Like?

Are there any on the list that you’d play of mine? I have a few others that just missed like Werewords which I don’t love but would work well. Or something like Silver: Amulet and it’s standalone expansions that have a werewolf theme on them without feeling like that. Definitely Silver: Amulet would be a good one as well.

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

Claim Expansion Bundle

Claim is a trick taking game that I need to get to the table. I want to get more trick taking games in general to the table, and Claim does something interesting. In it you take tricks over two rounds, the first round you are taking tricks to get your choice of cards for the next round. It uses a mechanic like The Grimm Masquerade where you might either get the card on top of the deck or one face up, and you might push your luck if you don’t like the one face up. Then you play another round of trick taking as well as set collection for the suits, monster races, to score the most points at the end of the game. This adds in some new mechanics in three smaller expansions, I’m excited to see how it can grow the game, though this is a game that I want to really dive into and explore soon.

MonsDRAWsity + Expansion

This one the theme just sold me on it. We’re all Paranormal Sketch artists who are trying to get as close to the monster that’s been described by the person who is it. This is one of those party/group type games where the points don’t matter and it’s all about the laughs that you get out of it. Compared to something like Stipulations where you need to be able to come up with ideas on the fly, I think this game will be more accessible. I also think that it will be more replayable than something like Cards Against Humanity because the people playing it are creating the jokes, and by that I mean drawings. I’m guessing that this game would even work via Zoom for a game night, depending on how fast it comes.

Shadows in Kyoto

I mentioned EmperorS4 because I picked up a game, it was on sale for $4.99, that Deep Water games is distributing. This has a similar aesthetic to Hanamikoji and is also a two player only game. In this one you are protecting your shogun. But what really interested me was the different ways to win. It almost has a Stratego type feel, but you can win by capturing two opponents agents who have some real intelligence on the enemy shogun. You can get an agent of your own with real intelligence to escape, or you can get your opponent to capture three of your agents with fake intelligence. I like the deduction and bluffing nature of this. It seems, like Hanamikoji, to require you to read your opponent which is something that I find interesting. It is going to feel abstract, but should work nicely, I think, in my collection.

Those are the three different bundles or games that I picked up. I’m excited for all of them obviously, and they’ll join Floor Plan, Welcome To…, Welcome To New Las Vegas, Claim 1 & 2, and Hanamikoji in my collection. If you haven’t checked out Deep Water games, they are definitely a company that puts out smaller games, but really interesting ones.

Which of these games would you be most interested in?

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