Catch Up on the Top 100 Games

100 through 91

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition – 90 through 81

90. Wandering Towers

Published By: Capstone Games
Designers: Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer

Buy Wandering Towers.

This is just a fun simple game of trying to remember where you wizards are hiding and get them to the main tower. I like how easy it is to make it work. You play out two cards and if you have potion bottles filled you can cast a spell. The spells are simple, the cards are simple, you choose to either move a wizard or a tower as far as it says on the card. But it’s still a lot of fun because of that memory aspect and burying your opponents wizards under a stack of towers.

89. Grove: 9 care solitaire game

Published By: Side Room Games
Designer: Mark Tuck

Buy Grove.

This one is two games in one really with Grove and Orchard. I put them together because the games are very similar, though I do slightly prefer Grove. In this game you stack cards to get matching tree types to overlap. As they overlap you tick up dice that are going to give you more points. The more points you have at the end of nine cards, the better you do at the game. Grove adds in scoring cards, and that addition is what pushes it over because it’s bonus scoring, but also how many points you need to beat to win the game.

88. Via Magica

Published By: Hurrican
Designer: Paolo Mori

Buy Via Magica.

It is weird to think that drawing chips out of bag and everyone getting a cube to add to their spells, basically bingo, can make a fun game. But it is great in Via Magica. This is a simple game with powers that you get from completing spells. It’s one of two games that actually has abilities or powers from completing spells on this section of the top 10. But it’s all about drawing those chips and hoping to get the right ones. Or then being smart about the spells you take so you can always use the chips.

87. No Thanks!

Published By: AMIGO
Designer: Thorsten Gimmier

Buy No Thanks!

This section of the list has a few push your luck games on it. No Thanks! isn’t a tradition push your luck game, but it does have those elements. In particular, you need to decide when it is worth taking a card. Cards are bad, cards give you points, so you want to say no thanks to them. But you need chips to do that, so No Thanks! is a game about determining when there are enough chips on a card to make it worth taking. Because, not only a chips needed for saying no thanks, they are also negative one point per chip at the end of the round.

86. Strike

Published By: Ravensburger
Designer: Dieter Nuble

Buy Strike.

Imagine a gladiatorial battle in the Coliseum. Actually don’t, this game is all about rolling dice to get pairs and knowing when to stop if you don’t get pairs. You just want to be the last one in the game and that’s it. It’s a simple game and simple system but it is always fun when it hits the table. I think everyone just likes to make a decision to roll a fist full of dice. And if you don’t get any matches, you can always roll more dice that you held back, but beware the one because when a die lands on that side, that die is gone forever.

85. Marvel United

Published By: CMON and Spin Master
Designers: Andrea Chiarvesio and Eric M. Lang

Buy Marvel United Multiverse Core Box.

Do you want to team-up as Marvel heroes to defeat villains in a fast and easy game? Marvel United is great for that. You pick your hero, the villain to go up against, and a few locations and you are ready to play. This game is all about managing what the villain is doing, and they do some fun stuff, and then chaining off of what your superhero teammates did, because you use the last card played, to have a great turn. This is a great game to teach people cooperative game play because you can really cooperate. And there is so much for it.

84. Homebrewers

Published By: Greater Than Games
Designers: Matthew O’Malley and Ben Rosset

Buy Homebrewers.

I like brewing beer, I did it for a long time. I’m not sure it’s hobby I’m going to return to. But I can still get my beer brewing fix with Homebrewers. This is about brewing the best beers you can. You brew a beer and you go up on a track, then you need to deal with the spent grains, sanitize, get more grains and brew again. All of that is like homebrewining.

But then the game offers different ingredients you add to your brewing. And these cards stick around between brews. So if you brew a porter with almonds, you now always will. And those ingredients give you brew something special that might be more money, or it might be that you move up on another beer. At the end, you just want to be the best homebrewer out there.

83. Chronicles of Drunagor: Age of Darkness

Published By: Creative Games Studio
Designer: Eurico Cunha Neta

Buy Chronicles of Drunagor.

I love my big campaign games. And Chronicles of Drunagor is no expection. It is just lower on the list because one of them has to be and it is one that I haven’t played a ton of. There is so much in the game, but I highlight three things in the video. I want to highlight one here, the activation system. You use different colored cubes to activate abilities of those colors. But when you run out of cubes or need a specific ability, you need to pull back those cubes. Then you cover up a spot so you can’t use it. It’s a unique system that I find a lot of fun.

82. PUSH

Published By: Ravensburger
Designers: Prospero Hall and Brian Kirk

Buy Push Here.

I like simple push your luck games, and PUSH is my favorite of them. This one is just push your luck, but as compared to other simple push your luck games, this one offers just a few choices. Mainly you create three stacks of cards on your turn. But those stacks can’t have the same color or number in a single stack, aka you can’t have two blue cards in a stack. Well, that is easy enough, you could stop early. If you do that, then other players could push their luck for more points. And then there is the die, if you have the roll the die, you might lose cards. It’s all about balancing that risk for points.

81. Potion Explosion

Published By: Horrible Guild
Designers: Stefano Castelli, Andrea Crespi, and Lorezno Silva

Buy Potion Explosion Here.

If you want a game that feels like app game, Potion Explosion definitely meets that need. It is one of those games where if like colors are touching they explode, or in this case, you get them. And it’s all about chaining together colors of marbles the best you can, and then you use them to complete spells. And those spells give you points that you need to win the game, but they also give you one time abilities that you can use to chain together more marbles and complete more spells. This game is just tactile and fun.

Join Next Week

Just as a reminder, I am streaming my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition every Wednesday night at 9 PM Central Time. The next few videos have their links up, so you can click notify on them to know when I go live. Or you can subscribe to the channel and click notify to know whenever a new video comes out. Currently I am playing through Legendary Kingdoms on Monday and then my wife and I are playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on Fridays. So join us for those videos.

And thank you for checking out the video and articles. Let me know what your favorite game from this chunk of 10 is and which one you would love to get played.

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Catch up on my Top 100 Games (of all Time) 2023 Edition:

100 through 91

90 through 81

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition – 80 through 71

80. So Clover!

So Clover! is a cooperative party game where players are working together to solve a puzzle. Of course, the puzzle is only as good as the person who created it. Now, that might sound mean, but everyone is put into the position of creating the puzzle.

Each player is given a two by two grid of cards that have words on each side of the card, top, bottom, left, and right. On each of the sides of that grid you’ll have two words. So each player writes down a word the best that they can which connects the two. So if you have “hot” and “dog” you might put down “ketchup” for example. Then the cards are removed and players need to try and put it back together.

That doesn’t sound too hard, but what happens if you have “dog” and “marshmallow”? How do you connect those two words? And that’s where the tricky nature of the game comes in. Plus, even if you got the perfect clue for that, there is a mystery card added in that the person writing the clues doesn’t know what that is. So your clue of “ketchup”, in the original example, is now way harder when randomly the new card has “mustard” on it. It’s a fun game which keeps everyone involved and working together.

Buy So Clover!

79. Small World

We go from a cooperative game to a game which is about taking your fantasy race or creatures and smashing your opponents. Of course, as you do that, they’ll be smashing you back in Small World. It’s an area control game where you are gathering gold from taking over areas and holding them. Of course, to get more areas, your friends need to take over your areas.

Now, it might get sucked getting your area knocked off the board. But unlike Risk, you don’t need to hide. Instead your fantasy race can go into decline and you can grab another fantasy race. Then with a new group of characters and a new special power, you can hop back onto the board taking over what your friends have built up.

The game is very in your face, but it makes it not bad because it is for everyone. And when you get beat down, you come back in with a vengeance. And, each fantasy race has it’s own power along with each special power to make them unique and different. So flying giants might work out great one game. And you’ll have underground halflings another time, or you might change from that into bivouacing trolls.

Buy Small World

78. Dice Forge

Now we’re onto a game that dropped a little bit. I think that this one dropped because I haven’t played it in a few years, but Dice Forge is a fun game. It’s a game where you are building out your own dice. Now, you don’t start from scratch you have basic things on your dice. But as you collect resources you can use them to buy cards, often how you get points, or add new sides to your dice.

Now that doesn’t take them from six sides to eight sides or mean that you get a new die. No, you remove the side of one of the dice you have and put a new side on it. It might give you more purchase power or more points, how you build it is up to you. And that is what makes the game fun, it’s a gimmick that really works. And there are a lot of strategies in what you can do.

Another thing that works really well is that when it’s not your turn you roll your dice. So on every other players turn you get a roll and collect resources. So it isn’t a slow build of adding sides. After a few rounds you can start to leap up in what you can buy. I also like that you decide where it goes on your dice. You might get more purchase power and ignore gold and point faces completely on the dice. Or you might load up one die so you always get something better.

Buy Dice Forge

77. Asking for Trobils

This is another one that as I talked about it, I want to play it more. Asking for Trobils is a pretty simple worker placement game of building traps to catch Trobils. All with a familiar but different sci-fi team on top of it. By that I mean that they take a ton of things from popular sci-fi culture and just tweak it slightly. You want classic UFO looking worker ships, you can do that. Or you can get Planet Express for the Serenity.

But I like how this game game is simple. What you do on your turn is place out a worker and take an action. Most of the time that is collecting a resource, like space carrots. Or you might trade in resources for credits or to get a trap that you need to help capture a Trobil. And once all your ships are out, you pull them back for at turn. But the game does add in theme with pirates or characters who you can hire that’ll help you and hurt your opponent. It’s not too in the face though, which is nice.

Buy Asking for Trobils

76. Just One

Now to another cooperative party game. I was going to say it’s the highest party game on my list, but I don’t think that’s right. I’m not sure if Just One is even my highest party game or not on the list. Just One, though, is the party game that I recommend most readily for people who maybe don’t like party games that well but have a group of people who like to enjoy them.

In Just One, one person is “it” they are trying to guess their word. Everyone else is going to write down a single word clue. And from the clues, the person is going to guess their one word. The twist to the game is that there can only be just one copy of a word for a clue. If there are two, or more, all of them go away and those clues will be lost. So you want to be creative, but if it’s too obscure, that might confuse things as well. It’s a great balance that way for the game that makes it better than other party games for me.

Buy Just One

75. Roll Player

Now we’re onto a competitive game where you’re trying to create the best RPG character. Roll Player is a dice drafting game where you use those dice to create the best character. Now, each character has certain things that they want. If you’re a rogue or a wizard, you wouldn’t want 18 strength now, would you? Or you might, but that’s not the stat that you care about the most and you get points for getting it in a range.

But it isn’t just about getting dice in the right places. Because sometimes you might not get the right number. You can also get points for getting the right colored dice in the right places. Or, you get money to buy equipment that gives you points. But some of my favorite is buying spells or traits to get your alignment to the right spot as well as to give you more control over the dice that you’re placing.

It does a good job of taking an element of making a character from the RPG and putting a fun game around it. So it’s two things that I enjoy.

Buy Roll Player

74. T.I.M.E Stories

Now another cooperative game, this section has a nice mix. I know for some people TIME Stories will be lower because they’ve played it all. I haven’t played all of the scenarios, but the ones that I’ve played I really like. TIME Stories is a time travel game where you’re an agent whose consciousness is sent back through time, or across the multiverse, or ahead in time to a point in time where someone is messing with time.

Yes, I said time a lot there. But in a lot of ways the game is like a puzzle or escape room that you can play through multiple times. And while you have to go back and collect items, because they drop you in at a point in time, that you’ve found before, the knowledge you gain stays with you. I really like how that works thematically.

Buy TIME Stories

73. Point Salad

All Eevee is the way to play this game, not really, Point Salad is a great set collection, open drafting game. And it’s really simple. On your turn you take two vegetables (or Eeveelutions) or a scoring card. And that’s the majority of the game.

What works well in the game, though, is that when you take your veggies (or Eeveelutions) those spots are refilled. And the cards that are used to refill it are the cards with scoring on them. The cards have scoring on the back and veggies on the front. So if you take from a column, there are three columns, it’ll flip down that scoring card. You can use that to get rid of scoring card someone else might need, but of course, they can do that to you. So when you take scoring and when you take veggies is an interesting puzzle for the game.

Buy Point Salad

72. That’s Pretty Clever!

Now we’re onto the roll and write game for the list. And the last one of the four Clever games to make the list. I’m not sure if Clever 4Ever will make the list, I need to play it more. But I really like That’s Pretty Clever as a roll and write game. It’s a good balance between a roll and write game that has enough in it and one that is too simple. It does give you a lot of combos to play with.

To me, I think that there might be elements of the others I like better. But in terms of being able to pull this game out and play it solo, That’s Pretty Clever! is the best. And I like that I can play it on an app but also that I can get people up and playing it quickly in person as well.

Buy That’s Pretty Clever!

71. No Thanks!

Finally we have No Thanks! a game about not getting points. You want to pass on the card, you have to put a chip on it, kind of a mini poker chip. But once you run out you can’t pass and you’ll have to take the card. Sot he game is a balancing act of when there are a lot of chips on a card, is it worth taking it?

The chips themselves are worth -1 point, so if you have a lot of them, you’ll counter some of the higher points. Or you can use them to avoid getting other higher cards when someone else might be stuck taking it. I really enjoy how each group sets this market, how many chips is enough to be worth taking a card that has a 30 on it, is it 10 chips or is it 20? That depends on the group you play with. You also can create runs which only score the first card in the run. But there is also a chance that the card you need in that run might not be in the round, so there is a push your luck element there as well.

Buy No Thanks!

Upcoming Streams

I’ll be doing more of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition on next Wednesday and Wednesdays for a little bit. That is always going to be at 8 PM Central. Next week it’s going to be 70 through 61 and we’re getting close to the half way point which always seems like it’s faster than I expect.

And then I also stream on Mondays at 9 PM Central time. That is going to be for smaller solo games. I’m hoping to do Number Drop next week after opening up some Doctor Who Magic the Gathering packs last Monday. So what I stream on Monday is always all over the map.

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This year we are digging deeper, or being a bit more thematic, depending on how you look at it, but what are the Top 12, you know 12 days of Christmas, for each category. I’m going to get through them all quickly over the next two weeks, so join with me on making your list and checking it twice.

Board Game Holiday List – Top 12 Stocking Stuffers

List is in no particular order.

12. Orchard

Orchard is the only solo only game on the list and a fun one. The game is pretty simple, you are taking two cards and stacking them onto an existing card. Where you cover up a card, matching fruit trees, you place a die. And the more layers you can get, the higher that die value goes. But because you are getting random cards, it makes it tricky to layer them too deep. Can you create patterns that are easy enough to build on. Because you can “cheat” twice, but that blocks off those non-matching spots from being built on.

Orchard is a great little solo game. And it does two things that I like. Firstly, it does make you think, because you want to figure out good ways to stack the cards and cover up parts of the other ones. But at the same time, you are limited in options, so you can’t over think it too much. And it is a fast game. You play out nine cards total, so you can sit down and play a number of times in a single sitting.

11. No Thanks

No Thanks is more of a classic game in terms of how long it’s been around. But it’s one that holds up really well. It is a push your luck game of trying to get cards with the fewest points possible on them. You have chips which you can use to say “No Thanks” to a card, so a 22 is flipped you pass on it, but then everyone else does too, and you keep on putting chips on it until someone takes it.

Why would you take it, a few reasons. You might be getting low on chips. All the chips on it come to you so that means you can pass on higher numbers. Or because there are enough chips on it, because chips are worth -1 points to your total at the end of the game. If there are 11 chips on it, now that 22 is only worth 11 points, when you take it. Also, it might be part of a run. If you have the 20, 21, and 22, you only score the first number of a run. So getting the 22 doesn’t change the fact you’re scoring 20 points, plus you got some chips.

It’s a light game, but really fun to play. And it is an easy one to pick up as well, which I really enjoy. Of course, it also comes in a really small box, just some chips and cards, so easily fits into a stocking.

10. The Crew: Deep Sea Adventures

The Crew, either version, is a great option, as it and the next one are both cooperative trick taking games. This works best if you are playing with more than two, the one is a two player game only. But The Crew: Deep Sea Adventures, is going to give you a series of challenges. It starts out easy and then builds up over time as you level up doing better, the challenges become harder.

The first game you might have something like, the person who takes the challenge needs to win the green four. That is pretty easy, but requires some thinking. It becomes trickier a few challenges down the road when a person needs to win the green four. Another person can’t win any pink tricks, and maybe a third person can’t win the first two tricks. How do you figure all of that out at once with limited to no communication.

9. Fox in the Forest Duet

The Fox in the Forest Duet is also trick taking, but for two players. Limited communication, you are trying to move a fox around a board and pounce on leaves. How far the fox moves is based on the difference in fox paws of the winning card to the losing card of the trick. And the fox always moves towards the winner. If you can collect all the leaves in three hands, you win the game.

Again, this works because of limited communication. It also works because if you go off the board, you block off a space on the board. Now you are even more limited in where you can move. So any mistake might push you off the board again, and too many times you lose. But until then the board becomes even tighter. That might seem very challenging, but you also can manipulate the trump suit and other aspects of the game with powers on the cards. So can you get that balance right?

8. Similo

Similo is one of two party games that work well as a stocking stuffer. In Similo one person is a clue giver to get you to narrow in on their card and eliminate the ones that aren’t their cards. But it’s not as easy as you think. If you get one pack, say historical figures, you are using other historical figures to say if your card is or isn’t like other historical figures.

And the first round isn’t too bad. The other players just need to pick a game to eliminate. But the next round it’s two, then three, and finally four. And by the time you eliminate four that is going to only leave two options. And the clue giver can just play down a card to say if their card is or isn’t like that figure. It can get even more challenging. Maybe you have historical figures out on the table, but now you give clues with animal cards. Is or isn’t Bonaparte like a bear?

7. Floriferous

Floriferous is one of a few very pretty games on the list. This is a drafting game and a bit bigger because of how it works. Now, don’t worry, it’ll fit in a stocking just fine, but in terms of what you are doing, you’ll need to think more. The game is set-up in columns and players are drafting a card from a column at a time. That might be a flower card, or it might be a scoring card. Say, a card that says I get 1 point per daisy at the end of the game. Each time you take a scoring card you pass on a flower, and vice versa.

Plus, there is one really cool mechanic in the game. The drafting isn’t too different from something like Point Salad, just missed the list, but as you draft you place your color on the column where you took the card. The higher on the column, the sooner you’ll be drafting next round. So maybe you take a flower that is just okay for you because the next scoring card is perfect for you. Or do you hope that you can draft it later? The game can be a bit mean, but mainly it’s pretty.

6. Arboretum

Arboretum on the other hand is a very mean game. You are picking up cards and then building out numerical rows of trees. It really only matters that you start with a low number of a tree type and end with a high number of that tree type. As long as the number in between count up, you are going to be doing great. But, of course there is a twist.

To score a type of tree you need to have the highest point value of that tree remaining in your hand at the end of the game. If you don’t, well, then you don’t score any points. So you have to hold onto cards, which means that you might not get as many points but you do that to guarantee that you can get any points. That is where the game is mean, you might have a great collection of trees of one type, but if I have the most at the end of a game, you can’t score it.

5. Medium

The other party game on the list, Medium is in the biggest box out of all of these games, or at least the squarest box. In Medium you try and get the most points by matching words with the other players, on your round. But it’s not as easy as guessing what word they’d write down to a question. Now, instead you both play out a word, well, let’s give an example.

If I play out the word “stick” and you put out the word “wind”, we need to come up with a word, and the same word that links those two together. I might say “kite” if you say “kite” we both get a point tile from the highest point section. If I instead say “rustle” and you say “kite” now we try again with the new words. It’s a great party game that leads to a lot of laughs.

4. Ohanami

Ohanami is another drafting game on the list, but this one is more simple than something like Floriferous. In that one you think about how or when you are going to draft next round and when to draft scoring. Here you are just drafting two cards at a time to put them in columns in numerical order. You can only ever add to the top or bottom of a column though.

There are two areas that this game offers some really interesting fun. The first being the scoring. In the first round only blue scores and only a few points. But any blue you get scores each round those few points. Green scores more but only the second and third round. And grey only the last round. And finally pink only scores the last round, but the more you have the higher that they score.

The other area is when you “flip” columns. Now you don’t flip over the cards, but you want to keep numbers close together. But as one columns low gets closer to to another columns high when do you make the jump so that instead of going up 40, 42, 43, do you jump it up to 52 or even 62 going past a 60 in another column so you can optimize your points. Wait too long, you will score lower, do it too soon, you might lock yourself out of being able to play certain numbers.

3. Hero Realms

Hero Realms is another bigger game on the list, only in the number of cards that the game has. Size wise, it’ll easily fit into a stocking. Hero Realms is a deck building game and a head to head fighting game. You buy cards to either get money to buy more cards or to deal more damage to your opponent. Your goal, get them to zero health.

One thing I really like about Hero Realms is how quickly it ramps. You can play a strategy where you gain a lot of life to keep from dying, but you don’t take long to buy powerful cards. So even with health starting at 50 or 60, you can deal out 10-15 damage by turn five. And when you can deal 20% of someone’s life total in a turn, you need to build up fast.

It doesn’t do a ton unique. If you can combo factions you can get more money or damage. We see that in a lot of deck building games. But for a small one and a good two player one. Hero Realms is tough to beat. And I haven’t played Star Reams to compare.

2. Silver

Silver I think makes the list fairly often. This is a bluffing game, kind of, mainly it’s a hard to explain game. In Silver you have a village of cards in front of you. You know what two of them are to start the game. And you need to manipulate them to get as few points as possible in your village.

The fun bit comes from each card having it’s own power. It might be allowing you to peak at another card. Or it might be giving your opponent a higher value card into their village. The whole thing is that tricky puzzle to figure out. And the round doesn’t end until both 0 cards are face up in a village or someone calls for a vote.

To call for a vote you need to have less than your five cards in your village and the only way to get rid of a card from your village is to trade two of the same number. So there is some sneaky strategy with that as you might trade out two lower numbers for a slightly higher number if you can then trade out even more next turn. How you do that with all the cards is a lot of fun.

1. Age of War

Finally we have Age of War. This one is a die rolling game that has been out for a while. But it’s a good little game of set collection, push your luck and trying to get as many points as you can. In Age of War you roll dice to get symbols that match those on different castles. If you match all of the castle that you are going for, then you get to take it. However, even when you take it someone can steal it from you, it is just a bit harder.

But if you get all of a type of castle though, red, green, etc. you flip them over. That makes them worth slightly more points. But the big thing, is once they are flipped, they can’t be stolen. So that means that you end up with direction as to what you want to do in a good way. And it also means that you might really want to “fight” someone else on your turn to get their castle that’d complete your collection, of course they might do the same to you.

Happy Holidays

Hopefully this list gives you some ideas. There are a ton of good small box games out there that work wonderfully for stocking stuffers. I could have picked probably 12 roll and write games which is why I haven’t done that. Since I can pick 12, well that is going to be the next list that I create. A lot of those will work on both lists but it’s fun to split them up.

Let me know what sort of game lists you want to see covered. And my goal is to do a good 8-10 of them so you have a ton of options, probably around 100, for different games. But depending on who you are buying for, or asking for a gift from, you’ll be able to find a list that works for that.

Happy Holidays!

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100 through 91 here.

90 through 81 here.

80 through 71 here.

70 through 61 here.

60 through 51 here.

Top 100 Games 2022 Edition – 50-41

50. No Thanks!

No Thanks is a small box game with a lot of fun to it. I think that it is almost a small box classic at this point in time. In this game you try and get as few points as possible by saying “No thanks” to cards by putting tokens on them. But run out of tokens you can’t pass and you need to take whatever number comes your way. So it’s a balance of how many tokens, which are -1 point each, are worth it to take a higher number to avoid taking a really high number?

Buy on Amazon

49. Sagrada

Sagrada has been higher on my list before. I think it’s just dropped a little bit because I hadn’t played it in a while, but I’d also just played it a lot at the start. I still really like Sagrada and the dice drafting. It is also one of those games that I was talking about. It is a relaxing game for me to play. I like the puzzle of drafting and dice placement.

I really like the game as a teaching game as well. I can tailor the difficulty to of the game to different groups. There are expansions you can add in to ramp things up. Or you can up the difficulty with the scoring things you can add in or the tools that you can use. It means I use it often as more of a basic game to teach people and get to the table. I want to mix in more of the things soon.

Buy on Game Nerdz

48. Ready Set Bet

Ready Set Bet is a game that I got to play and learn at Gen Con this year. Ready Set Bet! is a real time horse racing and betting game. And it just has infectious excitement around it as you play it. One person is calling out the the races while everyone else is trying to get their bets. There is a hectic nature to it, but because there is the excitement of how the horses are doing, I feel like compared to a lot of real time games, it is much less tense. And it’s just a game about how well you can do with getting your bets in.

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47. Arboretum

Another one of the really pretty games, Arboretum is not one of the nice games though. It’s a mean game of trying to get your trees in a row. What makes it so challenging is that you need to play out cards of tree types. But to score those trees you need to have the most, value wise, of those trees left.

So, you can hold trees, high value trees, in your hand to keep your opponents from scoring. That can block them from scoring, which is very much part of the game. You also then need to consider keeping enough in your hand of trees so you can score yourself. It is a very interesting and mean balancing act.

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46. Ohanami

Back to a more relaxing game, Ohanami is a game all about collecting different things like stones or plants to give you points. All of the artwork is beautiful in the game. Though, sometimes I don’t look at it that much, at least not until I play out my cards.

Ohanami is a card drafting game. You pick two cards to add to three columns. Those columns always need to be in numerical order. So you are picking cards that you can add while trying to make sure you can always add to them as you’ll draft 30 cards. What makes this one so strong is that you score different colors different rounds. So when you draft cards matters for scoring as well. It’s easy to learn and play but has fun strategy.

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45. Floriferous

Floriferous continues that beautiful game trend. And also the drafting trend that is in this section of games. Floriferous is open drafting where you can see all the cards you’ll be picking from. And all you’ll be picking from for several rounds of drafting.

Floriferous does two things that I think are fun. First you draft your scoring cards. It is like Point Salad in that way where you have a choice. You can draft cards to score with, or cards to help facilitate that scoring. But the bigger thing is that you draft cards from a column. And the higher on the column you take, the sooner you go in the next round. So there is strategy if sometimes taking a less ideal card one time to draft the perfect card the next time.

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44. Res Arcana

Res Arcana is another pretty game, but not in the same way, it is more cool fantasy artwork in the game. But Res Arcana is a very different type of game, it is a tight engine building game where you are racing to 10 points. Why is it so tight, because you have a limited number of cards, 8 that you start with, to build your engine. And while you can add a few, sometimes, you mainly are working with that limited number of cards. So who can get their engine of gathering resources and turning them into points going the fastest?

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43. Paint the Roses

Paint the Roses is another new one on the list that I first played at Gen Con. It is a cooperative deduction game. Players give clues by placing down flower tiles into the Queen of Hearts garden. The clues are to give direction so players can guess a color combination on a card, or color or shape, or color and shape combination. All the while the Queen of Hearts is coming to lop off our heads.

This game is very clever in what it does, and while I have yet to win, I really like the pressure it puts on. Each turn when you play down a tile, everyone has to come up with a guess for someone’s card. If you get it right, the queen advances slowly, if you get it wrong, she advances faster. And the further you get around the track, the faster she goes, no matter what. So can you fill it up, which will make her happy, or lose your head, which will make her happier?

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42. T.I.M.E Stories

T.I.M.E Stories has been on the list since the beginning. It is an escape room style game, but one that has more story. Now, I’ve heard that the overall story doesn’t pay off. But I really like every scenario that we’ve played through. And I think that’s one of things that’s so interesting about the game. Each scenario of TIME Stories can be really different.

In this game your consciousness is transported into the past, future, or some other dimension. And you are trying to keep the timeline in order. I would say this is a bit like that TVA in Loki. The goal is to get the timeline back to where it should be, but that isn’t always easy. The downside is, you don’t make it the first time, you go back through and do it again which can get tiresome.

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41. Twilight Inscription

Rounding out this section, we have another new game to the list. I got to learn and play Twilight Inscription at Gen Con as well. This is the roll and write version, kind of, of Twilight Imperium. It might not quite live up to that, but it is still a long and epic roll and write game.

I can’t really go through everything on it to explain how to play. More, know that there are four different boards. And on your turn, you pick one you want to activate. If you want to be good at war, well, you can activate that board. If you want to gather resources, or explore planets, there are boards for that. Do you need to do a bit of everything, probably, but you can pick what you want to focus on.

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Upcoming Streams

On Wednesday, I’m going to be unboxing Chronicles of Drunagor, and probably ISS Vanguard. So two big games, and with the unboxing of Chronicles of Drunagor, I am going to be picking out the two characters that I’m going to start my solo campaign with. Join me for that and help me pick out what characters I should start with.

Then next Monday I’ll not be continuing the Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition. Mainly because it’s Halloween. I foresee not having the time with taking a kid out for that and needing to do the podcast. Even without the podcast, it’ll be a busy evening, and I might want to watch a scary movie or show as well. But I’ll start up again the following week.

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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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February Board Gaming

Sleeping Gods: 3 Plays

Lots of Sleeping Gods plays, and one of five with three plays. If you want to know what the game is about, I play it weekly on Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. Still enjoying the story, and I wonder how it’s going to end for me, I’m guessing I’ll wrap it up this month.

Tainted Grail: 3 Plays

Tainted Grail is another consistent one on the list. The game is a ton of fun, and the Last Knight campaign feels different than the Fall of Avalon. It’ll be on the list for a while, we still have another one after that to play through.

Squire’s End: 3 Plays

So, I just wrote about Spire’s End. You can read that here. But this is a good solo game, one that I’m going to stream once I’m done with Sleeping Gods. The game play is simple, and the story is good, but combined together, it makes an experience that feels very unique. And I like the mechanics with resting, and how you use health to determine what attack you do.

Project L: 3 Plays

Another one that I wrote about, Project L is a Tetris like game. But it’s also an engine building game. You pick cards and then use little pieces to fill in shapes on them. When you fill in a shape then you get those pieces used back and a new shape that gives you. You eventually want to start getting points, but how can you optimize your turns and actions.

Super Mega Lucky Box: 3 Plays

Another one that I’ve played before, 12 plays in January. I can see Super Mega Lucky Box being like Ganz Schon Clever last year where I’ll play it most months. Super straight forward roll and write game but in a good way.

The Quacks of Quedlinburg: 2 Plays

I held off on playing The Quacks of Quedlinburg for a long time and even getting it. But I wish I had done so sooner because The Quacks of Quedlinburg is a fun game. It’s a good push your luck game and bag building game. Which I can see playing this one with a lot of different people.

I think with the set-up of everything and the variability in that, the game, just the base game, is going to have a lot of replayability. And the ease of play, it definitely makes it more accessible to a lot of different gaming groups.

Fleet: The Dice Game: 2 Plays

Another one that I talked about recently, honestly, shouldn’t be a surprise, there were a number of games games. Fleet: The Dice Game is a big roll and write game. I think that it is solid, I’m not sure if it’s amazing. Not because I wouldn’t play it again or it won’t make the Top 100 for me when I do that later this year. But Fleet: The Dice Game is a lot to learn, so I can mainly see it being a solo game for me.

The Fox in the Forest Duet: 2 Plays

The Fox in the Forest Duet is a two player cooperative trick taking game. And I figured I’d like it, but I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it. Trick taking is generally something that works well for me. The cooperative nature is something else that is interesting. I think the push and pull of trying to get the fox to land where you need it to is a lot of fun.

Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write: 2 Plays

Most disappointing game of the month, Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write is an okay roll and write. Mainly, it doesn’t feel like it gives you interesting choices. Even something like Yahtzee offers more choices because you can push your luck. Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write doesn’t give you that, so most, if not all the options are obvious.

Skull: 2 Plays

Skull is another push your luck game, between this and Quacks it’s something I played a fair amount. Skull basically has you bluffing to try and get people to flip over roses and not hit a skull. But then you also read what other people are doing and try and guess what you can flip without getting a skull. That’s very basic for what it is, but a good simple push your luck game.

Floriferous: 2 Plays

Floriferous is what I’d call a relaxing game. The decision space is limited but not too limited. It feels like you do the right amount each turn. And I really like how turn order is determined. If you take something lower in a column, that means you’ll be going later. So there’s a decision that’s good, do you pick something high because you need a certain card in the next column and take a less ideal flower this turn. It falls into a nice and pretty style of game that is becoming more common.

Quoridor: 2 Plays

Good abstract game with nice pieces. I think that Quoridor works well with a lot of people, though, if everyone rushes across the board, it makes the game really odd. But, I think it works better when people meet in the middle and start blocking routes early. The game also falls apart a bit when someone is close to winning and you skip blocking them so the person before they needs to. Everyone can dictate who needs to block.

Aldarra: 1 Play

I got to play this one for the Kickstarter, you can see the play down below. And the play of another game as well. Aldarra launched and will be coming back, but I have to say, it is a fun game. It’ll feel different when it comes back at a smaller size, but that will make it cheaper which is good. It’s a nice area control game with a tight board, so you fight a lot. And you get knocked off the board, kind of, and then rebuild again. I like that Small World like feel to it.

Roll Player Adventures: 1 Play

I got to start Roll Player Adventures this month and I’m so excited. I had a chance to play this as a prototype at GenCon, as I always mention. And the game is a ton of fun, and that was my best gaming experience there. To now have it in my hands and for the expansion stuff as well, I’m so excited to play this. It takes choose your own adventure and then adds in some cool dice combat. The game isn’t that difficult, but the choices are really good.

Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Sun: 1 Play

Another one that was on Kickstarter, and I was supposed to do a live stream while it was on Kickstarter. Rogue Angels launched the same time as Marvel Zombies and Final Girl Season 2 were finishing up. So it got lost in the shuffle. It is coming back. And I still played, and streamed it with the creator. Great game, I love the story and the differences in the scenarios. It does with the scenarios, something I think Frotsthaven is going to fix from Gloomhaven, where it isn’t so much just kill everyone.

Final Girl: 1 Play

When my local game store, All Systems Go, took in a trade of Final Girl, I was so excited. This is a game that I looked at on Kickstarter, but ultimately passed on. The backers started to receive their copies and people loved it. When it made it to my FLGS, I called immediately and had them set it aside for me, and I’m glad I did. I played once thus far, as you can see, but it is amazing. I love the theme so much.

No Thanks!: 1 Play

I enjoy No Thanks! a lot. Mainly because it is another one of those simple games where you don’t have a lot of decisions to make. But the decisions you do make, mainly take a card or pass on it, it matters a lot. I won’t say much more, it is one I’ve played and talked about before, but if you want a simple but difficult game, No Thanks is really interesting.

Year Totals

So, 34 plays in February, taking that with January’s 50 plays, I’m now at 84 (well, 86 counting two thus far in March). So it’s very strong in terms of a start and I hope I can end around 500 plays for the year, or maybe even higher.

And for the secondary goal of getting through a lot of my unplayed games, 9 of my plays were games on that list. Well, kind of, I don’t know that Project L was on the list, because I didn’t have it in yet. And Final Girl got picked up in February, so it wasn’t on the list. Still, the list is getting shorter, I do believe. And I actually knocked out another one last night.

Which is the most exciting game for you, or one that you’d want to play from my February list?

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So, with that said, let’s look at the list of games. Just one extra note. I’m going to start to talk less about games that show up every month, and really focus on the new to me games, or games that are getting back to the table.

January Board Gaming

Orchard: 18 Plays

Not much to say on this one right now. It’s my favorite solo game. Super fast, but great puzzle to it. Plays super fast and I think for a solo game, it’s one that a lot of people could get into.

Super Mega Lucky Box: 12 Plays

Bingo, kind of. You fill in cards and as you complete rows and columns you unlock bonuses. I thought that the game might be too simple, but it’s a ton of fun. And it’s a super accessible game.

Village Green: 6 Plays

Another one where I didn’t think that it was going to be a great game. And honestly, the solo mode is just okay. I think that it needs a bit of tweak, more green and scoring cards available to pick from, but it’s still fun solo. Two player the game is a great puzzle of when you push for more points or when you push for the end game so that your opponent can score fewer.

Sleeping Gods: 4 Plays

Sleeping Gods is a great adventure game. You can see my play it every Wednesday over on Malts and Meeples. Last week’s audio got messed up, but if you just want a taster of the game, you can watch it below. I really like the story and open world nature of the game.

Tainted Grail: 4 Plays

Tainted Grail, still going through the Last Knight story and having a very good time with it. We’re cruising through it. Now, the advantage to that is we get through more story and campaign. Disadvantage, I don’t think we’re quite as leveled up as ideal right now.

On Tour: 2 Plays

On Tour, I’ve played this as an app before, but I like the physical version. The game play is a nice amount of choice, but not too much. And as the choices become more limited later in the game, they become tougher to make, but it doesn’t slow the game down.

Spire’s End: 1 Play

Just played around with this one a little bit. Great little story adventure game for one or two players. I think it’s mainly one player, but you can split up the characters. Easy to play, nice system for learning the game.

Catapult Feud: 1 Play

A fun game, was going to say little, but it’s simple and fairly big. You build a castle, the opponent does as well. And then you take turns trying to shoot rocks from catapults and other siege weaponry to knock down your opponents troops in the castle. There are cards too and they add to the game, but not needed.

No Thanks!: 1 Play

Great push you luck game. You don’t want points, so you can pass on a card, but you give up a chip. Those are worth negative points at the end of the game. And if you run out of chips, you are forced to take the card. There’s a puzzle to the game and a great group dynamic with it as well.

Let’s Go Fishing: 1 Play

This is a kids game. Toddler got it for Christmas, so it’s in the collection and I got a play of it. For a kids game it has a cool concept. You try and catch fish as they open their mouths. The downside is that the mechanics on this version of the game to rotate the fish are horrible. So you kind of have to help it along, but the toddler likes it.

Year Totals

So we’re up to 50 games played, over that now actually, but 50 in January. It’s a strong start. And seven of the games were ones that came off my shelf of unplayed games. That’s a fairly strong start. If I keep that up I should be good.

Though, here’s the trick with unplayed games. Right now I have Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold and Project L arriving probably on Monday. Plus some that came in via orders or picking up at my FLGS. I’m still at 135, not counter the two coming. So I need to play 35 more games plus whatever else new I get to be at 100 or less.

Which of the games that I’ve played thus far would you want to play? What is your favorite?

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How To Play On Tour

On Tour is a simple route building game. You roll two dice, and get two numbers. Let’s say a seven and a two. So on your board you put down 27 in one spot and 72 in another. And you try and build up a route as long as possible connecting numbers in ascending order.

There are two things to know about how you do that. Firstly, you connect your route at the end of the game. So that means you don’t need to put those numbers next to existing numbers. And secondly, and as importantly, there are three cards flipped per roll. This affects where you can place the numbers. In the maps, US and Europe, it is split into North and South, and East and West.

Each of the cards also has a location on it. Generally a country or state depending on the map. And if you put the number in that specific location, you get to circle it as well. What do circles do? Well, they get you a point if you route goes through there. So let’s talk scoring. You get one point for each stop for your band. If the location is circled you get an extra point. Most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The game play might be too simple for some gamers. I personally like it because it kind of has a push your luck to it. But All you do is flip cards and roll a die to figure out a route. There are no combos, there is no clever game play. So for some gamers, On Tour is going to be too simple.

I also think for some people the route connections at the end might be tricky. There is a limited number of spots that you can go, so that helps. But you look at your board full of numbers and it can be hard to find all the connections and what is your longest. I think it is useful for a second player to look at it and see what they can find.

What Works?

On Tour plays in a great arc. What do I mean with that? When you start the game, you push for things, like maybe pushing to get more circles. And as the map tightens up, the tensions increases. Towards the end you need specific numbers, and about half way through the game, you know where you’ll need them. So the game feels like the tension is growing as you play it.

I also think that the simplicity of the game works. Like I said, for some people who really want combos, the game will be too simple. But the game plays in a very smart way. It gives you this balance of risk and reward, like of like No Thanks that I wrote about yesterday. It really asks you how much you want to push your luck. Because a shorter route will score you more points than the player who pushed for a long route but missed one connection they needed.

This game also plays fast and scales well. It is, like many roll and writes, a game where the difference between solo and multiplayer doesn’t exist. What I do on my board doesn’t affect what you do. But we all play at the same time, so that means the game moves along really well. Yes, choices can be hard and slower in the middle of the game, but they are still limited well by the cards and dice, so even then it doesn’t take too long.

On Tour Final Thoughts

I really enjoy On Tour. Clearly if I own the app and I still wanted to own the game. And I think for a lot of people On Tour is going to work very well. It falls into that category of Railroad Ink for me. It is a challenging game, but it also isn’t too complicated. The difference is in Railroad Ink you need to think about four dice placement, and in On Tour, it’s just two numbers. So the options are more limited in On Tour.

I also think that a lot of people will like how fast the game plays, it really moves along quite nicely. But it doesn’t feel like it is too short, it feels like it’s the right length and really does give you that arc of game play. Where the tensions builds towards the middle of the game and into the end game. But the game itself doesn’t drag out too long. No one can optimize their last few placements or turns, because the game limits them.

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

I think this game probably skews a bit towards the more casual gamer. But I can see gamers liking this one as a palate cleanser between games. It is fast enough to be a filler, but for some groups it’ll be big enough to be the main course. For me, I know it’s a roll and write that won’t be leaving my collection.

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How To Play No Thanks

No Thanks is a bidding and bluffing game where you are trying to score the fewest points possible over a set number of rounds. And the players set how many rounds they want to play. In a four player game, we played four rounds.

Each turn someone is the first player, they flip over a card, and decide if they want to take it. The cards range in number from 3 to 35. But there are 9 removed from the deck. Lower number cards are obviously better. But each player also starts with eleven chips. These chips allow you to say no thanks to a card and pass on it. But if you don’t have a chip, you must take the card. Whenever someone feels like there are enough chips on the card, and it is their turn, they can take that card and the chips.

Once all cards are gone through, players count up their points. Cards are worth the value printed on them. Unless, they are part of a run, then only the first card in a run is worth points. So, a run of 10, 11, and 12 is only worth 10 points. And any chips you have left are worth -1 point per chip. Fewest total points at the end wins the game.

What Doesn’t Work?

Honestly, this game is so simple that it works very well. I do think that some people can “crack” the game faster than others. For example, three of us were close in score and my wife had a much higher score. This comes down to just how people value the cards and chips. But that is a lot of what is good about the game too, so I’ll talk about that later.

I could also see some players getting frustrated with bad luck. In the game you remove nine cards, like I said, so it’s very possible that a player is shooting for a long run only to have a card missing in the middle. That increases scores fast when you can’t complete a long run. But that is a known part of a game and part of the pushing your luck in the game.

What Works?

Let’s start by talking about the valuation calculations that everyone is doing. I really like that aspect of the game. If I have a 32 and 33, taking a 34 is zero points for me. But for everyone else, that is 34 points. So I can make a decision to pass on it assuming it’ll come back around to me. Now, in a four player game, I get three additional chips. But then I let it go around again. Will it come back around, do players have chips left? It’s a judgement that I need to make to milk as much value as I can.

That piece of the game is fascinating to me. And it is tricky to get the value right. And sometimes you need to push your luck. If I already have the 32, and the 34 has 10 chips on it, do I take it risking that the 33 won’t be in there. If the 33 is in there, I now have 10 more chips to bid, a good chance I’ll get more chips with the 33, and then would only be scoring 32 points on those chips. But if it isn’t in the deck, now I have 66 points, with chips left to offset that scoring.

I also really like the speed of the game. The decision space is interesting. And the table talk is interesting, but the game still moves fast. Once in a while you reach a tough decision, but only two options exist. You either pass and put a chip on the card, or you take the card. So it moves around the table very quickly. And I think it’d scale well, as well. You just get less chips to start out with, which would change up how you value your chips.

No Thanks – Final Thoughts

This is a game that kind of seems like it shouldn’t work. The market value that is being created for each card depends on the group. Sometimes, depending on the card, the chips are more valuable to lose than others. So it might not work for some groups. But for myself, and the groups I play with, I think it will work most of the time. Because the game is an interesting bit of push your luck and bluffing as you go.

And while I think for some people the depth of No Thanks will be trickier to grasp, how to play it is so simple, and it can still get to the table easily. Even if people aren’t playing optimally, they can still understand what is going on. And it is still fun, because this game encourages table talk. Playing, we goaded players into taking cards, and talked about our decision making. it might not be ideal, keeping stuff hidden might be better, but it’s so like, we played it for fun.

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

Have you played No Thanks? If you have, what do you think of it?

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And let’s not forget that is one of my goals. I think I own 130 or so games that I haven’t played yet. That is more than I like. Now, some of them are campaign games, they are trickier to get to the table. But by the end of 2022, my resolution, which you can find here, was to be down to 100 games I own and haven’t played. I’d love for it to be even lower than that, but 100 is the target. But let’s get to the list.

10 Games I Want To Play

10. Catapult Feud

I know, I keep on talking about this game. But I really am excited to play it. Like I said, I am even thinking about just building a castle and shooting stuff at it. And this one, even though it’s a two player game, is going to get set-up at game night and we can play as teams.

I don’t know that I need to talk about this one much. It is just building a castle and knocking it down. I can imagine setting it up and playing it multiple times during the evening. Or just having fun building a massive castle (though I can’t get too massive yet) and then knocking that down.

9. Res Arcana

This is one that’s been on my shelf for a little bit. I think I haven’t played it because the rules make it seem a bit challenging to learn. It might be a game where I need to set it up and play a hand to figure out what is going on. But it is an engine building game and a race to 10 points, I believe, So the idea is interesting to me. I like a good, fast, engine building game.

8. The Crew: Deep Sea Adventures

Another game that I really should have played. I actually just gave away the first version of the game as a Christmas gift because I really don’t need two of them. But The Crew is a cooperative trick taking game. That is an interesting concept in and of itself. And for me, trick taking is a genre that I like, but not one that I have a lot of.

How it works is that there are challenges put forth. It might be something like, I can’t take a trick that has a 1 in it. You need to get get the red three, and so on. Then, with limited communication, we have to make it work so th at we can get all of the cards to the right people. It’s a bit like The Mind, but with more of a game to it.

7. Mechs vs Minions

Now we get into a bigger game, Mechs vs Minions has been on my kind of grail game list. By that I mean a game that is harder to find but you really want to find it. Well, I got it with Mechs vs Minions. It might not be the top game on that list, that is still Battlestar Galactica, but it is on there.

This is a cooperative game where you program out what your robots do. You are mainly trying to kill waves upon waves of minions. But beyond that, each scenario has objectives as well. I think in the end you fight a giant boss, but I really don’t know. This is just a massive game that looks fun, and it isn’t a campaign game.

6. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Another game that I probably should have played sooner is Lost Ruins of Arnak. Now I am even debating about waiting until I can get an expansion for it. The expansion makes it so that you start out differently than any other person. You have a special power and I believe special cards in this deck building worker placement game. All of that sounds amazing to me, hence maybe waiting.

But like I said, this is a deck building worker placement game where you have a theme of exploring the lost ruins of Arnak. You improve your deck, gain resources, and fight guardians along the way. But like most Euro style games, this is all about getting as many points as you can by the end of the game. The theme looks to be there, and the aesthetic on the game is amazing.

5. Dwellings of Eldervale

Speaking of another amazing looking game, we have Dwellings of Eldervale. This is another worker placement game that is dripping with theme. You are exploring the lands, building out dwellings, and everything just gives you this big world that you are in. Plus, you are grabbing spells, unlocking new meeples, and getting cards that give you improved powers.

It looks really interesting. I don’t always love worker placement, but worker placement with giant monsters you can fight, I’m there for that. Plus then the engine building aspect interests me a lot. I enjoy engine building as mechanic. I like trying to make something work so I can be more efficient than you can be.

4. Under Falling Skies

This is a solo only game, well, maybe two player but really a solo game. It reminds me of the old video game Space Invaders. In that you try and blast alien ships out of the sky. Here you are doing that too, but you are doing it with dice placement. And the better a die you use, the faster the aliens are going to advance upon you. It’s really a question of when you can time out that perfect hit.

And there is a campaign in this game as well. It’s one that I might play on the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel because it’d be decent to stream. And it is a shorter campaign. That means that I can get through it quickly. Of course, though, I’m streaming Sleeping Gods first, starting tonight.

3. Destinies

Another game that I’d consider streaming is Destinies from Lucky Duck Games. This is an app assisted game where you are trying to fulfill your destiny. Originally called Time of Legends: Destinies, this game has similar minis to those in Time of Legends: Joan of Arc, it was just a legal dispute that messed up that naming.

This looks like a really thematic story driven game. You are trying to get your own destiny taken care of before the other players do. So that is a cool thing as well. Most story driven games like Destinies are going to be cooperative. But in Destinies you are trying to beat your opponent to getting your destiny first.

2. Deep Madness

Another one that I’ve considered streaming. Now, thinking about it, I think this might be one that I just get to the table solo for fun. It is kind of campaign game, but more so it’s a scenario driven game. And it is a horror themed game, which I really like. Honestly, every time I think about it I want to watch The Sphere which it reminds me of, I don’t know why I haven’t.

But to me, this game has a lot of cool things about it. You are fighting monsters. Each scenario has more of an objective to it then that as well. You might need to kill the monsters, but killing all the monsters won’t be your end objective. That is one knock I have on Gloomhaven, too many of the scenarios are just “kill all the monsters”. I like it when games can ratchet up the tension by having it be more than just fighting waves of monsters.

1. Terraforming Mars

Finally we have Terraforming Mars. And now, I could have put other games on the list for sure. I wanted to do a variety of games. And every time that I see Terraforming Mars, I want to try it out. This is a massive, and pretty ugly looking, engine building game. You are Terraforming Mars and trying to do the best job at it.

The reason, also, this one is at my top spot is because I really like Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition. I know it is the more streamlined simpler card version. But I want to see what the big brother is like of it. And I suspect that I’m going to like it a lot as well. It just seems cool with what it is and how it’ll work. And I can see myself going down a dangerous rabbit hole if I like it and getting the giant box that makes the game look better.

Which of the Games To Play First?

That’s the question as always, and let’s face it, this list, I tried to change it up some. I could have done a big box list and a smaller box list. I have games like Nemesis, Solomon Kane, Middara, Roll Player Adventures, and Heroes of Land, Air, & Sea that I want to play. I also hae small games like Blank, Matcha, 6 Nimmt, and No Tanks I want to play. So it’s not like I’m at a shortage of games. I can see some like Catapult Feud, or Res Arcana getting to the table potentially faster,. Or in the case of Catapult Feud, to the floor.

And of course, something like Under Falling Skies, Destinies, Deep Madness, or Dwellings of Eldervale could get played sooner. Why, because I can play them solo. So that makes them easier to get to the table as well. I think that I might try and learn Under Falling Skies soon here, have it be a game that I can play while putting on a football game in the background.

Which one would you want to get to the table first?

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