Ranking My Horror Games

16: Lucidity: Six-Sided Nightmares

This one I think suffered for me for several reasons. The biggest reason that it’s my bottom one is that it doesn’t evoke a horror theme. It’s a push your luck die game with dark artwork and that’s really about what it is. I was hoping that it’d be something that gave more theme. Between the lack of a horror and a below average rulebook, the game play wasn’t interesting enough to make me like the game.

15: Arkham Horror: Final Hour

There are a lot of different Arkham Files games put out from Fantasy Flight games. This is the only one that I don’t like. Not because it doesn’t give you some horror feeling, it can do that. The monsters or cultists come out and you feel that they are rushing around the board. But the game play is just uninspired. The story of the game is limited but just ends up with a pretty random guess at the end. The whole of the game just feels too random.

14: Arkham Horror 2nd Edition

Arkham Horror 2nd Edition is a fantastic game, except for one thing which made it leave my collection. The game is just too long. I am fine with a long game, but that means it won’t get played often and Arkham Horror 2nd Edition is a very long game. But it tells a story as you take investigators around and try and defeat monsters, close portals to other realms and manage your sanity. Great massive game that it low because of how big it is.

13: Dead of Winter

Dead of Winter, not that long ago, would have been much higher on my list. I again like Dead of Winter, but there is no such thing as a fast game of Dead of Winter. They give you short games and that is still a couple of hours. But it’s a zombie game where you are dealing with zombies, but also dealing with the other players and trying to figure out if someone is a traitor. And the Crossroads cards that give you tough decisions are great.

12: Zombie Dice

It has a horror theme, though that doesn’t come through. You are zombies who are out to eat brains. But in reality, this is a little push your luck game to see if you can get to the number of brains needed first. It’s basically like a Farkle or something like that, but with zombies, runners, and shotgun blasts. I play it regularly, or at least a few times a year, during game nights while waiting for people to show up.

11: Deranged

Deranged was one of the highlights of GenCon 2019. Deranged has you trying to escape a cursed town, but the only way to do that is defeat monsters and solve your own curses. And you hope that no one becomes deranged when it becomes night time. Someone will, but you hope that it won’t be you. It’s a good game where it feels like you’re only doing your own thing, until you become deranged. I really like how you use the cards in the game.

10: Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Another Arkham Horror game, this time the living card game. And I really enjoy this game, I just need to figure out a way to play it more often. There is some set-up to the game with the cards you need to pull out. But the amount of storytelling that it can do just with cards is great. Sometimes the location cards might be a house, or a town, or whatever the story needs. And the different monsters and decks you combine makes a great experience.

9: Village Attacks

I never know where to place Village Attacks. I really like this game. However, I am still waiting on a Kickstarter from 2019, with limited communication, to get my copy. I want at least there to be more updates. I know the company, it is not their fulltime job and they had another game as well, but tell me more.

Anyways, enough about that part of it, Village Attacks is a tower defense game. But instead of being the good guys, you are the monsters in your castle overlooking the village, and the hordes coming are the villagers. You just want a nice peaceful evening, and here they come with torches and pitchforks to ruin that. The game has dark horror artwork, but feels much lighter as you play it.

8: Not Alone

One versus all works pretty well for horror. Or sometimes games with hidden traitors. Not Alone is a horror game where the all have crashed onto a planet and they are waiting for a rescue ship to come pick them up. But the planet is out to kill them, and that is what the one is doing. The crew of the ship can discuss what they want to do, but the planet can always here them. The horror theme isn’t too strong, but as the planet and the monsters on the planet player, it’s always fun to try and guess where the crew is going and ruin their fun.

7: Apocrypha Adventure Card Game

To just set the stage for this game, it has a card called a basket full of razor blades and the picture is a basket full of apples. It plays into that dark stuff a lot, but also is a very fun game with a very bad rulebook. This is the same system as the Patherfinder Adventure Card Game. But instead of it being epic fantasy, this is a dark world where you are “saints” who can see the horrible things happening actually in the world. So it’s a deck building, card management sort of game.

6: Unfathomable

Another Arkham Files game, though this one is different. It reimplements the Battlestar Galactica game from Fantasy Flight with the Arkham theme. You are sailing across the ocean and Dagon, deep ones, and others are attacking you. Plus, some of you might be cultists who don’t want the ship to actually make it there. Really fun game, takes what makes BSG good with all the expansions and puts it into a single game.

5: The Night Cage

The Night Cage is an abstract game, but one that plays with horror well. Firstly, the theme is amazing for an abstract, you are all crawling through tunnels, unable to pass each other, looking for keys and then a portal to escape. But there are monsters that pop-up. And as you build out the labyrinth, it all shifts around you, so as you lose sight of what you’ve explored, it will be different coming back. And all the while, tiles are getting reduced as a melting candle, until they run out and your candles start to go dark.

4: Final Girl

If you are going to do a horror theme, why not make the different scenarios called Feature Films? That’s what Final Girl from Van Ryder Games does. In this you play as the final girl, the last survivor in a horror movie trying to rescue the innocent bystanders, find weapons, and take out the serial killer. All the while, the killer is stalking you and the bystanders. Really fun game, and a good system that allows them to play around with theme so much.

3: Spire’s End

Spire’s End is a solo or two player story driven game. I played it on Malts and Meeples, which you can see below. But this game plays through a deck of cards, and you fight monsters, try and find keys and explore through this deck. As you go, you flip out cards or discard them, never being able to go back in the story. It’s a really cool system with even better artwork. And the storytelling in the game is good, and I’ve played a few times now, and there is still more story to explore.

2: Betrayal at House on the Hill

Not my number one, but only because of how random the game can be. Now, that randomness makes for some amazing moments, it also makes for some haunts that aren’t so great. In Betrayal you are exploring a mansion, building it out as you go. You find items, uncover omens, and eventually a haunt will happen. Then one person in the group will be betray you and the game changes up. I rarely have had a bad game of it, but it can go wrong. Just very thematic for a horror game.

1: Mansions of Madness

My top game with a horror theme is Mansions of Madness. Another in the Fantasy Flight Arkham Files line-up of games. This one is app assisted which is nice, because it can tell more story than some of the others. Though Arkham Horror: The Card Game does a good job without an app. But it takes care of a lout of the housekeeping for you with the game. And it can pop up monsters in more surprising locations and ways to really fill out what is happening.

I really like that sometimes you might be in a mansion, solving puzzles, and fighting cultists. Other times you are in a town and there are monsters coming out of the deep and once you know enough your goal is to get away. And if I play the same scenario twice, well, the app is going to change up some things.

Final Thoughts

I need more horror games, what are some really good ones. On my shelf I have Nemesis that I need to play since it is supposed to be Aliens the board game. And that sounds like a great game to play. I don’t need horror with blood and gore, though, I don’t mind that. But I want horror where it feels creepy, different, and like a good horror film.

I think that the only ones on my shelf to be played are Deep Madness, Nemesis, and The Faceless. So I know there are more out there that I really need to get to.

What is your favorite horror themed board game?

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Ranking My Sci-Fi Games

16. Star Wars: Destiny

I don’t dislike Star Wars: Destiny, I just find that I have room for one collectible game in my life. And right now that is Magic: The Gathering. Destiny is fun, though, because it is cheaper to play. And I know someone who has a bunch of cards (they bought all of mine) so I can play it if I want that way. But it’s a good head to head game.

15: Firefly: The Game

This is a game that I really need to give another chance. Again, I don’t dislike this game, it’s just that I kind of played it once. Everyone was learning and nothing was going that well for us in it. And it just got longer and longer without making progress. But I see how the game works and I think there are some cool elements there. And I know there are people who really like the game. So I want to try it again and set aside the time and group to really play it.

14: Legendary Encounters: Firefly

Much like Firefly: The Game, Legendary Encounters Firefly is one that I’ve had fun with, but I want to play more. I really like the show, and I think that the Encounters version of Legendary works better than the Marvel version. And it also falls into the category of I know someone who owns the game, so I could pretty easily play it again if I wanted.

13: Cosmic Encounter

Cosmic Encounter is one that I had in my collection, I really enjoyed, and I traded away. Mainly because I don’t think I can get it to the table all that often. Cosmic Encounter is a really silly negotiation game that works when people lean into that negotiation. There is strategy to the game, but you need to lean into that negotiation to make it work. So it just limits who I can play it with, but I’d never turn down a chance to play Cosmic Encounter.

12: Cry Havoc

Cry Havoc was high on my Top 100 a few years ago, and it dropped down and I sold it. Again, a game that I really enjoy and I would play any chance I could. But it’s an asymmetric game so it is a bit harder to teach and play. With that, I prefer Root to it which is in the same family of asymmetric games. But this is a fun area control game with a cool combat mechanic that is simple but different.

11: Star Wars: Imperial Assault

More Star Wars on the list. Imperial Assault also left the collection only because it is a campaign game. Campaign games are harder to get to the table for sure and Imperial Assault is not exception. I want to get it back sometime and play it. I liked the app that you can use with it to play fully cooperatively. And I like that it feels like a Star Wars adventure.

10: Shadowrun Crossfire

I almost didn’t add this to the list, I don’t know where I want to put Cyber-Punk. But Cyber-Punk is Sci-fi. Shadowrun Crossfire is a game of deck building and defeating challenges, getting XP, and leveling up your characters slowly. That’s the big knock on the game that you don’t level up fast enough, but people house rule around that. It is one I need to dive more into the game, I think you can play it solo, even if it is multi-handed solo gaming.

9: Gravwell

Gravwell is an abstract game with a space theme put on top of it. In particular Gravwell has you getting passed through a wormhole that is closing and now you use different elements to try and escape back. But the different element either pull you towards the nearest object, push you from it, or pull them towards you. It’s a fun little puzzle that keeps it close until someone can get the right cards to make it to the end.

8: Star Wars: Rebellion

Star Wars in a box, as people like to call it. Star Wars: Rebellion has the Rebels trying to undermine the Empire and complete missions. The Empire is trying to figure out where the Rebels secret base is. All while building up troops and skirmishing as you go. It’s a massive two player game, but an amazing one. If you have the time it is worth sitting down with an getting that original trilogy Star Wars feel.

7: Under Falling Skies

Under Falling Skies is Space Invaders meets Independence Day. This is a solo game about fighting off waves of alien ships and researching the mother ship in order to beat the game. I have yet to beat the game, but it is a lot of fun. But I always feel like I’m getting close. I also really like that high numbers make some ships descend faster but are more useful to research or blow up ships. It’s a clever system and a pretty big little game.

6: Galaxy Trucker

I normally don’t like real time games but Galaxy Trucker is an exception. In Galaxy Trucker you build out your cargo ship as fast as you can. Then you sit back an watch it get blown up. Well, ideally not blown up, and ideally you pick up cargo along the way. You deal with asteroids, space pirates, and come across planets full of goods along the way. It might be too chaotic for some, but I really like it.

5: Battlestar Galactica

BSG (Battlestar Galactica) is a massive game of survival when you might have hidden traitors among you. The Cylons are aboard the ship and you might not even know you are one. This is a massive three hours deduction, survival, even a bit of social deduction game. You try and figure out who is a Cylon and if you can get them off the ship in time before they mess everything up. But that’s way easier said than done.

4: T.I.M.E Stories

TIME Stories is almost any setting. There is Ancient Egypt, a land of dragons, pirates, zombies taking over a town, an asylum, you name it. But the core conceit of the game is that you are launching out, sending your mind back in time from the future, to deal with these problems, where time is changing. The concept is amazing, and I have liked each adventure I’ve gone on. I wish it had more of a story running throughout, but the different missions all feel unique.

3: Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns

Rogue Angels isn’t even out yet, I have only played it on TableTop Simulator (TTS) but it is amazing. You can watch my play through of it here with the designer, Emil Larson. The game just works, it is a dungeon crawl style game in space. But it isn’t a dungeon crawl game where you just go in fight the monsters and leave. You make important decisions. And you upgrade your character as you go. There is so much I like about this game. When I get a physical copy, I suspect it’ll move up higher.

2: Clank! In! Space!

Clank! In! Space! is a deck building adventure game where you are breaking into a spaceship, trying to be as quiet as possible so you don’t Clank about. But to move faster, defeat more bad guys, and generally win the game, you will need to Clank. Plus there is a push your luck element where you want to get as far in as you can to get the best treasure. But the longer you are in the ship, the more clank and damage you can accrue.

1: XenoShyft: Onslaught

XenoShyft is a tower defense deck building game with some amazing cooperative elements to it. Mainly, I can buy a card and then give you that card if you need help. You only have two troops to defend your side of the base in your hand, I can help you get more. I can even drop in a paratrooper in the middle of fighting a wave of bugs. Add in that you always get money, that’s even better. I rarely defeat the waves of bugs, but it’s so much fun to try.

Final Thoughts

I own a fair number more Sci-Fi themed games that I need to try. Middara blends Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Nemesis is basically Aliens the board game. And I just realized that I missed Not Alone on the list, probably top 6-7. But I still think there are more fantasy games out there that look interesting.

Some that I don’t own that I really should try are the different Dune games. I own the one based on the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game system which I need to carve out a weekend chunk of time to play.

What are your favorite board games with a Sci-Fi theme?

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Group Games Rankings

45: Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity, or CAH is one that I enjoyed the first couple of times that I played it. But it is not that great for two reasons for me. One, the humor is hit or miss in the game. And I know that it’s meant to be this dirty humor and I appreciate some of that, but it gets boring. And secondly, whenever someone wants to play it, it goes on too long. CAH is a game that works if you play 6-7 rounds. After that the jokes and terms have diminishing returns. And I feel like most CAH games go twice as long as that.

44: Guesstures

Guesstures is a game that I grew up playing, and honestly, I don’t remember it too well. Which says something about it. But charades, meh. That’s where I’m at with it. It’s an old party game and one that I don’t want to go back to.

43: Concept

If you watched my video on games that I dislike that I’m probably wrong about, Concept is an obvious one. But for me it didn’t work. Like I said in that video, it just feels like it’s a lot of staring at the board. And because the word can be anything, it just feels too broad and sucks the fun out of what is a cool idea. Concept is better in concept than it is on the table.

42: Magic Maze

Already on another list quite low, it’s even lower here because I think it suffers with more people. It’s a real time game which is a strike against it in my opinion. Plus, there is no communicating, and you’re working cooperatively. So if someone misses that they are the person who needs to move a figure, it just gets frustrating. Plus, real time games are just too stressful to be that fun for me, and too stressful to want to play them all that often.

41: Catch Phrase!

This one maybe should be lower, I’m very done with Catch Phrase. the concept is not too bad in trying to go fast and get people to guess words. But like a lot of party games the variety was lacking in what you did. I know we played it enough growing up that you’d almost memorize the cards and take reduces the fun even more.

40: Tsuro of the Seas

Tsuro of the Seas again isn’t a bad game in concept. I like the game it’s based on more and it’s higher on the list. Tsuro of the Seas promises to add in more by adding in dragons. And those dragons move around removing tiles and changing up the map and you need to avoid them and the other players. The issue is that it takes a pretty fast and simple game and makes it longer. So while I wouldn’t say no to playing it again, I would prefer to play the original.

39: Spot It!

Spot It! is another game that I’m probably wrong about. Granted, Spot It! is a very simple game. You have a card and you want to be the first to match what you have on your card to what is flipped. It’s a fast little filler that works well with almost all ages. And I think there are other ways to play as well. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to get it, it’s just not for me really.

38: Apples to Apples

Apples to Apples is CAH but clean. So, this again falls into the category that it sticks around too long. But it’s a bit more fun for me. And I think if you can cut it short so that you only play so far it can work. The rules as written, it takes it past the length a good party game should go, as most party games have a problem with. Plus this one you can play with anyone and there’ll be some good laughs.

37: One Night Ultimate Vampire

We’re coming up on a run of social deduction games right here. And I know that I like them less than most people do, so take this part of the list with a grain of salt and know your group. But One Night Ultimate Vampire was the most disappointing of them that I’ve played. It’s fairly basic, and it gives you the least information to go on, it feels, because it’s only one night. So stuff happens while people’s eyes are closed and then you just accuse randomly after some random talking, so there’s no real point. I’m sure people find more strategy than I do, but it doesn’t work for me.

36: Secret Hitler

Another one, like I said t here is a run of them here. Secret Hitler is better, and in terms of mechanics, it is one of the more interesting. One person gets three things, could be fascist laws or liberal laws to enact, they pass two to another player and that player picks one of those two. So it’s a double blind sort of thing, and then people discuss who is lying and who the next chancellor should be.

But for me it’s the theme, the theme kind of works for the game, but it isn’t needed for the game. You could have picked something better, and then they made it possible to be political in the US, which works, but also just isn’t what game nights are about.

35: Werewords

This one I like better than some but also disappointed me more than most social deduction games. I watched a play through of the game and I thought, this might be a social deduction game that works for me, it has more than just accusing randomly. But it is still pretty random. Yes, you can see how good the questions someone asked were, but it’s fairly random still. And the addition of twenty questions, it’s just okay.

34: Donner Dinner Party

Now we go back to more traditional social deduction. Donner Dinner Party is about cannibalism and it’s an odd theme. Who is the cannibal is the game that’s basically going on. But it does some decent things where the party leader adds in a random card, and everyone puts in the food they found blind. It works for hiding information but still giving something to talk about. But still, if you and I both claim we put in the squirrel, one of us is lying and no one knows whom. So sometimes just keeping a mouth shut is better or it’s still very random.

33: The Resistance

The Resistance and this kind of includes Avalon, though I like the Resistance “theme” better is a nice simple game. I feel like it distills a lot of what many social deductions games do, but it keeps it simpler. I like the speed that this one plays, and people slowly talk more about things. And I like that this one doesn’t expect you to start talking with little information at the start like a lot of them do. I don’t love this game by any means, but it’s the best of this group.

32: DICEcapades

I just got rid of DICEcapades, and I kind of miss it. It’s odd, but it wasn’t one that I was going to play again. I like the random challenges it made you do like stacking dice, or adding up dice really quickly, or stuff like that. But then there was a trivia section, and the trivia is bad. Not that it’s too hard, it often isn’t, but it’s a you know it or you don’t. Everything else is silly and fun, that part is just boring.

31: Farkle

Farkle is a nice beer and pretzel style of game. By that I mean you can take it to a bar and not pay that much attention and have something to do. As a bigger group game, though, it just takes a long time. The rules are simple and push your luck is fun, but when people just bust over and over and over again, or there are a bunch of people between your turns, it’s less interesting.

30: Bring Your Own Book

One of the earlier games I backed on Kickstarter, I thought the concept of Bring Your Own Book was interesting. You basically play Apples to Apples, but with picking something from a book. The issue is not all books are made equal. Having a computer programming text book sounds like a funny thing but it isn’t as good as a novel. And you need to know your book. Otherwise, you are just flipping too randomly through it. Good sounding idea, turned out to be just okay as a game.

29: Cthulhu Fluxx

Fluxx (and the versions of it) are a lot of people’s gateway games, or one that they play early on. It’s a fun little game that has one thing I don’t like about it. It can be a great time as you play it quickly, or it can take forever. If the game could last 20-30 minutes, it’s great, when it goes longer, it becomes boring. Though, there are ones that are fun themes and plays on the rules. Cthulhu Fluxx also adds in a way for everyone to lose, which is actually okay.

28: Codenames

Now, this is another one I’m likely wrong on, at least according to most people, but I do have a version of this I like better. The concept is good, and I’ll gladly play it, giving clues to get people on your team to guess words faster than your opponent can. That’s a simplification of it because it’s done in turns, but the word one I don’t love. Mainly, it’s too quiet, and you just don’t feel clever that often as the clue giver.

27: Telestrations

Telephone Pictionary is how I originally knew abut the game. Telestrations is just a version of a game that existed and was turned into print. It’s a fun game as you go back and forth between writing and drawing and see how close or far from the original phrase it was. It’s not really a game, but it’s a great party activity. Play a round of this with a bigger group or as people who up, it’s a good time.

26: A Fake Artist Goes to New York

Another drawing game, didn’t plan on having them back to back, but A Fake Artist Goes to New York is another social deduction type of game, kind of. One person doesn’t know what to draw, everyone else does. So the one person is trying to fake their way as they add to a picture. Concept is fun, and it’s an enjoyable time, but also one of those that seems to stick around too long for me. I’ll gladly play two or three rounds, but I don’t need more.

25: Zombie Dice

Zombie Dice is kind of Farkle like in that you’re pushing your luck as you try and get brains. All the time you’re trying to avoid shotgun blasts. This one I like better than Farkle because the end game is faster and then bad luck that happens is kind of funnier. Pushing your luck with no shotgun blasts and then rolling three on green dice sucks, but it’s also absurd. Just giving the concept a theme is fun.

24: Balderdash

Again, I have two similar games right next to each other, though Balderdash is nothing like Zombie Dice. Balderdash is a game where you make up what a weird law is, what an acronym stands for, what a definition might be, or more things. And then you try and guess the right answer and hope people guess yours. This generally doesn’t end as a game but devolves in a fun way into in jokes for that session and a lot of laughing.

23: Liebrary

Liebrary is very similar to Bladerdash. Instead of a definition or an acronym, you’re given the plot of a book and need to write the first sentence. It’s again really goofy and while it’s easier to know what the right one is a lot of the times, it can provide so many good laughs. And then when everyone things that a line is too crazy and it turns out to be true, that’s even better.

22: Unspeakable Words

Unspeakable Words is a Cthulhu themed spelling game where you are trying to make as big words as possible but you might also be going insane. Though, if you go insane, now you don’t have to make real words anymore. It’s goofy and simple, one that I played a bunch and then moved on from. But it’d play it again as a good little filler.

21: Flapjacks & Sasquatches

Another one that kind of falls into the filler category is Flapjacks & Sasquatches. You are trying to cut down trees and playing out different things to do that. There’s some take that, it’s kind of in that weight of a Munchkin, which isn’t on the list because I don’t consider it a big group game or it’d be very low, and Fluxx. This one I feel like is just more enjoyable and less in your face take that. Though, when it does have that, it is in your face. Plus just sillier in a different way, where Munchkin doesn’t feel that unique.

20: Tsuro

Now we’re onto Tsuro. I had Tsuro of the Sea lower, and this one works better. Firstly, the timeline is set. There are only so many tiles and it’s unlikely you’ll play all of them. Plus there is more strategy in the game while still being lighter. You just plan out how you are going to do move and nothing will break that up. But you also can manipulate it so that you might be able to take out another person. Though, now I’ve played it enough that it’s low on my list to play again, it is one that’s unlikely to leave my collection because it’s so easy to play.

19: Second Chance

Like Tsuro, Second Chance is another one that is super easy. I’m not going to remove it from my collection because it is easy, but I’ve played it enough that it’s not one I gravitate towards. It’s basically fitting Tetris shaped pieces into a board, it’s a roll and write, and then trying to end with the fewest open spots left. It’s very lucky, but it is also a relaxing game to play.

18: Coup

Coup is another bluffing game, but it’s not social deduction really. People can claim that they have whatever role they want and then take that action. But will someone call them out on if they truly have that role. If you guess right and they don’t, they lose a role, if you are wrong, you do, and the goal is to be the last one standing. Though, if you don’t ever call someone out, I think it’s that you can collect points to win. Clever game, and simple enough to play.

17: Scattergories

Another classic party game, Scattergories is one that I enjoy a lot. It’s a good one in that everyone probably has played it, because it is a classic. Though, maybe newer gamers haven’t. And it is a party game that led to others on the list. You’re just trying to come up with an answer to a prompt that might be a boys name or thing found at a beach and they need to start with the letter J. And you just don’t want to overlap. So do you take the obvious one in hopes that other people will avoid it, or go with something more out there?

16: Criss Cross

Another roll and write, and one that I still quite enjoy, but because of it’s simplicity it’s just dropped a bit. But it’s a great one, because of it’s simplicity for a bigger group. You just need to be able to see the dice. And you are trying to get the same symbols adjacent to each other in rows and columns. But you also need to put the two dice rolled right next to each other. So it’s a bit of a puzzle as you fill in your board. A good one, just one I’ve played a lot.

15: Codenames: Pictures

Now, the preferred version of Codenames for me, Codenames: Pictures. I like this one better because it gives you more of a chance to be clever. The images are so weird that you can come up with interesting ways to exclude some images or to connect others. And people discuss it more around the table. Can still suffer from silence sometimes but generally it plays with more energy.

14: Stipulations

And now another game that I’d put in the same category as Liebrary or Balderdash. The pick something and create an answer. But it also has some Apples to Apples where someone is picking their favorite answer. This one is more fun though because you have control over it. You write down a stipulation for something like the dream job of being a baker, but everything you bake is poisoned, some stipulation like that. It can overstay it’s welcome, but I try and keep that from happening.

13: Hues and Cues

Hues and Cues is a party game all about colors. In it you try and get someone to land on your color and get a lot of people close, as the clue giver to score points. And as the guessers, the closer you are the more points you can score. It’s a clever game where you give a one word then two word clue and then reveal the location. And it is one that works pretty well via Zoom.

12: Wits & Wagers

Wits & Wagers is my favorite trivia game, maybe the only one that I like. The main reason is that you don’t need to know the answer to do well. You just need to know who might know the answer and bet on their guess. Because it’s Price is Right rules, closest without going over. And all the numbers are numeric, so generally people can ballpark it. This one just works for trivia and plays fast and everyone is playing the same game, no one is putting down the right answer because it’s their turn to.

11: Not Alone

Now, we move away for a moment from party games. Not Alone is a one versus all game. The one is a monster who is trying to stop the crashed astronauts from getting off the planet. And everyone else is those astronauts waiting for a ship to pick them up. They can go anywhere they have a card for and can even discuss it, but the planet or monster is listening all the time. The idea is clever, the game play is pretty simple, and the whole thing is fun as the monster or the astronaut.

10: Medium

Now we’re back to party games. Medium is about matching words with your partner for that round. But to do that you both put down a card with a word on it and you try and say a word linking them and match up. If you don’t match, then you do it again with the words you just said. And if you don’t again, you get one last chance, and hopefully you’ve narrowed it in. It is good for laughs and everyone is thinking of the word that they’d have said as well.

9: Just One

Just One is a cooperative party game, not the last one on the list. It works really well with almost any group because the concept is simple. One person is it and they pick a random word from a list that they can’t see. Everyone else writes a one word clue. But if any of those clues duplicate, both copies of it are gone. Then with the remaining clues the person who is it needs to make a guess. There are rules to make it trickier, but generally we play it simply so that you feel like you can guess. I’ll let you find out on your own what the actual rules are.

8: Sushi Go Party!

And away from party games, Sushi Go Party! is a card drafting game. And a set collection game, or a set not collection game but mainly a drafting game. I really like it with larger groups because it doesn’t change how fast it can play. And it feels like there is more substance, because there is than a lot of other bigger group games. It’s one that won’t ever leave my collection because of how simple it is to get to the table and play and the variety it can have.

7: Cross Clues

Cross Clues is the second to last party game on the list and second to last cooperative one. This is kind of like just one, but instead of guessing one word from a bunch of clues, you’re trying to get people to guess a combination of two clues with just one word. I really like how this doesn’t have turn structure as well, whenever you have a clue for your intersection card, you can give it. Makes the game faster and keeps everyone involved at all times.

6: Similo

The final party game on the list, Similo is a blast to play. It might drop over time a bit, but when you have a lot of sets you can get a lot of weird things. One person is a clue giver who is trying to get people to guess their card from a group of 12. But they can only say if it’s similar or different from a card they play from a hand. And everyone else must eliminate one, then two, then three, then four, then one to win. It’s not too bad when you’re using animals to eliminate animals, but animals in hand to eliminate historical figures, now that’s interesting.

5: Welcome To…

Welcome To, the second highest roll and write on the list though I just realized I forgot Cartographers, is a great game, so is Cartographers for a big group. Each person is using the same poll of flipped cards and going for the same scoring objectives. So all you need is to be able to see the cards. And game plays differently every time because of how things come out. I need to play with more of the maps though.

4: PitchCar

One of two dexterity games on the list, this one is a racing one where you and up to 7 other people, maybe 9 if you get an expansion (so 10 total) are flicking cars to race them around the board. It’s silly fun as cars fly off the track or bank nicely around curves. And when someone has a good shot, you cheer. Grand old time and a silly game but in the best way.

3: Railroad Ink

Finally roll and write is Railroad Ink, and this is a bit of a cheat, as is my #1 because you technically need two sets. Thankfully Railroad Ink or Railroad Ink Challenge were released two boxes at a time. So you can play up to eight if you get both of them. It’s a route building roll and write, and with the challenges it just adds that little bit more. But I like challenges better for that more, it gives you direction when you don’t know what you want to do.

2: Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

And super high on the list is a social deduction game. I love Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, why, because you aren’t just guessing randomly at the beginning. A murder has happened and everyone has four clues and weapons in front of them. The murder picks on of each of their own and the forensic scientist knows what they are. But no one else does and the forensic scientist can only send up reports. But with that first report you can start guessing, because it’ll be meaningful, and that’s immediately when the game starts. So great and always memorable accusations.

1. Icecool

Finally, Icecool. This is a bit of a cheat, like I said, because you need Icecool and Icecool 2 to play with 8 people. But when you do, it’s a blast. Flicking the penguins around is great. And the whole racing away from the hall monitors who are out to catch you and get through the doorways to get your fish, it works. Like PitchCar when someone makes a great shot everyone is excited. And you can sometimes plan a great shot.

Final Thoughts

Big group games are interesting for me. I often play them because we have 6-7 people on a game night, but generally they aren’t my favorite. Of those 45 game that I’ve played, plus Cartographers that I missed, maybe 14 are in my Top 100. That’s a lot, but also there are 45 games on that list so I’ve played a lot of them as well.

I think it’s that a lot of the party style ones aren’t that interesting, or try and copy other games too much. And I think it’s also because I don’t like social deduction that much. I’ll play those games but I won’t pull them off the shelf myself.

But what are some of your favorite big group games?

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Ohanami

Ohanami is probably the easiest game on the list and the most traditional. You are playing cards down in order, but it has a twist on that. In Ohanami you draft two cards from a hand and add them to any of three columns in front of you. The cards must be higher, or lower than the number at the bottom of top of the column. Basically you’re creating three numerical columns.

But the twist comes in, besides drafting being new to some people, in how the scoring works. You draft three hands, each hand you score different things. But the same things. So the first hand you score blue cards, next, blue and green. So even though blue cards are worth only three points, if you can score them all three times, you got nine points. Get a blue card that last round, and you only score three points for it. So there is strategy of what you draft and when you draft it. That’s the general twist, but it’s still a very easy game to play.

Claim

This is a trick taking game for maybe that person who likes trick taking but wants more. While it generally follows the standard trick taking focus of higher card beats lower card and following suits, Claim does a lot of things differently. In particular that you play two hands. The first hand, you are trying to win tricks to win cards for your second hand. You either are trying to win a face up card with a higher value, or lose a trick to get the card off the top of draw pile of the face up card is low. Then you use those cards to win majority in the different suits.

This game has a fantasy theme. That means it might not work as well for everyone. But it also is a theme that allows the game to have powers. If, for example, you win a trick that where you led dwarves, the person with the lower dwarf value takes the cards. You still lead the next trick though. Or a knight will always beat a goblin, if you can short suit yourself.

A lot of trick taking games can take too long when they try and be clever, but Claim does not fall into that trap. The game still plays very fast, and there are multiple sets so you can try a lot of different combinations of suits and powers if you want. This game also would be a great stocking stuffer.

Point Salad

This game has a goofy name, but it is about making a salad, so it makes sense. In Point Salad, you are collecting different vegetables to make a salad that is worth the most points. This is done by drafting two vegetables from a tableau in the middle of the board to add to your own tableau.

Point Salad, again, does something different, though, in how you score at the end of the game. As well as drafting vegetables you also draft cards that will score, for you. So I might draft a card that says per every two onions I have, I get five points. Now, I am going to be drafting as many onions as I can. I might get another scoring card that says, every onion and tomato pair is worth six points, so now if I can get tomatoes, my onions will help me score even more.

While that might sound like there is a lot to keep track of, there really isn’t. Either you pick a scoring card or two vegetable cards. The game works well at all player counts, and it is one that is easy to shuffle up and play a number of times in a sitting, especially in smaller groups.

Parade

This is a game where you don’t want to get cards, but how you get cards is done in a very cool way. You play from a hand of cards to a big line of cards. The number on the card determines how many cards you can ignore. After that you take any card that matches the color of the card you took, or is lower in value.

But you don’t want cards, so you need to plan out your turns to get as little as possible. You score the point value of the cards you have at the end of the game. Unless you have collected more of a color than anyone else. Those cards are worth a point per card instead of face value. So you can push for a lot in one color to try and score as little as possible that way. Lowest score wins.

Not Alone

This one is going to be very different for people who know card games. This is a one versus all game where a spaceship has crashed onto a hostile planet and the planet is trying to kill them. The one person plays the planet and the monsters and things on the planet. The other people are playing the crew members who are trying to survive long enough for a ship to be sent to rescue them.

It’s a really fun game of cat and mouse. And it is just done with cards. The crew can go to different locations, based off of cards that they play. And the person playing the planet/monster can go to one location to try and stop the players from activating the ability at that location and dealing them damage. I like that the players can discuss what they want to do as much as they want, but the person who is the planet needs to be able to hear them.

Honorable Mentions

There are obviously a ton of card games out there. Something like Medium is a good card party game where people are trying to guess the same word between two prompt words. Or Marvel Champions is a card game, it is just a much bigger and more in depth super hero game. Hats is a fun puzzle of a game where you are collection sets of hats and trying to manipulate it so you score lots of points.

And that’s barely scratching the surface. Do you have a go to card game as a gift?

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The next 10 are going to be on Wednesday at 8 PM Central Time. You can join me over on Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel. You can flick the notification bell, here, to know when I’m going live. I hope that you can join as we get higher into the Top 100 list.

100 Through 91

90 Through 81

80 through 71

70 through 61

60 through 51

50 through 41

Top 100 Board Games – 40 through 31

40. Not Alone

This is a one versus all game, and normally I don’t gravitate towards that type of game. The one is either playing a different game orrunning the game. But in Not Alone, while the game they are playing is a little bit different, it is a lot of fun. The one is the planet trying to kill off the crew of a crashed spaceship before they can be rescued. Everyone else is trying to survive and signal the ship to get there faster. The group can discuss but it must always be done so that the one can hear. The card play works well, the game play fast, and overall a fun time as crew or planet.

Not Available

39. Downforce

I think this is the highest racing game that I have on the list, or at least racing themed game. Downforce has you bidding to get cars and race them around the board, as well as bet on who you think is going to win. The game actually is more about. how well you can tell early in the game who is going to win? because the betting is where you make the most money.

The card play in the game is very clever as well. You play down your cards and you have to move every car on the card in order from fastest to slowest. This can create bottlenecks and strategic card play. The game feels like a racing game, but it doesn’t take too long. Some racing games can feel more drawn out but Downforce doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. And keeps you engaged as other people are moving all the cars as well.

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38. Sushi Go Party!

Another good big group game, in fact all of these games work best, thus far, towards their higher player counts. Sushi Go Party is a drafting and set collection game as you build out your ideal meal to score points. All the cards score in different ways, and Sushi Go Party allows you to swap around the cards that you use every game. It means that you can create some very unique combinations that either give a ton of points or can cause people to go negative in points. And you can really tailor it to your group.

Buy On Miniature Market

37. Roll Player

A dice drafting game, in Roll Player you create a Dungeons and Dragons, or RPG character. The whole game is about how well you can build your stats for the character. I really like how the game works and I really like building up D&D characters. My one knock on the game is that you don’t do anything with the character, you just build it. Monsters and Minions expansion is supposed to help with that. Plus then Dice Throne Adventures is coming which I know helps with my issue.

When it comes to this or Sagrada, I do think that there is enough difference between to the two to keep both. Sagrada is more family friendly in how it plays in that it is easier to play. Plus the theme is much less nerdy, not that a nerdy theme is bad. Roll Player with creating a character for an RPG, that is a theme that specific groups will enjoy better but also one that some people won’t be interested in at all.

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36. Homebrewers

Homebrewers is a nice and fast engine building game. In it you compete to be the best brewer of beer at Summerfest and Oktoberfest. Mechanically this is a pretty simple engine building game. You roll dice and can trade them around to determine what actions you get to take in a round. You can brew, sanitize, add ingredients to your pantry or beers or use them to get an advantage.

For me the theme of brewing makes this game very appealing. I homebrew my own beer and it’s fun to come up with crazy ingredient combinations. Would I want to drink a full point of a smoked oyster porter, most certainly not, but I’d try it. And at the end of the game I like to look and see what is the best one that I’ve created, even though that doesn’t determine the winner.

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35. Clever Cubed

The only roll and write on this section of the Top 100 games, Clever Cubed, or Clever Hoch Drei, is part of the Clever trilogy of games. This one follows the same standard as the others with rolling dice, taking one and discarding all the ones lower. But this one gives you the most points as you play. It’s fun because the pink section really lets you lean into combos, filling in lots of other spots on the board. Yes, the game is themeless, but I really enjoy the puzzles that the Clever games bring.

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34. The Night Cage

If you want a game for Halloween, The Night Cage might be an ideal one for you. You are trapped, as a group, in an ever changing labyrinth that you can only crawl through. You only illuminate the spaces directly around you and if you go backwards to where you were before, the labyrinth will have changed. Plus there are monsters in there, and you need to avoid them if you can. You all are searching for keys and then a portal to be able to escape, but all of you need to find a key and get to the same portal to activate it. All this as your candles burn down.

This is really kind of an abstract game, but it is still thematic as you deal with the monsters and search for keys. The game also has a really nice tile holder which looks like a candle that is burning down, so as you put more tiles onto the board, the more that the candle will have burned down. It’s a very easy game to play, but it has an amazing tension as you get further into the game.

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33. Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game

I talk about Orchard fairly often, and I backed it’s successor Grove on Kickstarter recently. It’s still up for backing if you want to check it out. But Orchard is a great solo game. It’s a game that has you stacking cards and matching up fruit tree symbols to grow as much fruit as you can. The more you overlap cards, the more points you’ll get from the fruit you grow.

Orchard is an extremely fast play and generally I’ll play it several times in a single sitting. It also has a little footprint and easy set-up and pick-up. The game isn’t too mindless, but I call it a good mental reset game. I always feel like can refresh my brain and distract myself for a little bit while I play to then have fresh eyes to look at some work problem again.

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32. Ohanami

Ohanami is a very simple game. You draft two cards and then you put them into three columns split up however you like. But you always need to put down higher or lower numbers. The game is a lot of fun at it’s high player count of four or low of two and changes a lot as you play between those two. At two players it is much more strategic. At four players you only see two cards from that original hand come back to you. So drafting changes up greatly at higher player counts.

But there is also the scoring that keeps the game interesting. You draft over three rounds and score at the end of each. The first round you score for blue cards, the second blue and green, and the final, blue, green, grey and pink. Blue cards are worth less overall, but if you get them early, they can be the most lucrative to have drafted. So while the game is very accessible to any type of gamer, it isn’t too simple for heavy gamers.

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31. T.I.M.E Stories

The biggest game on the list T.I.M.E Stories is a campaign style game but also an escape room. You work together to try and figure out how to stop timing from being changed off of the proper flow that it’s supposed to be going. Your consciousness is sent back in time or across timelines so that you can investigate. If you can’t get it done in time, you can always restart armed with the knowledge that you now know.

I know that some people don’t love every scenario, and the scenarios aren’t always consistent. The game also promises are story throughout it linking each different scenario, and that doesn’t really exist. But the game is a lot of fun for me. I don’t mind going back and taking another run at things. The stories have all been enjoyable, some more so, but I’m always ready to see what the next puzzle or scenario is going to be when I finish playing.

Buy on Miniature Market

The Next 10

If you want to catch any of the remaining Top 10’s live, you can check them out and my normal streams on Wednesday at 8 PM Central time. If you subscribe and click the notification bell you’ll know whenever I go live or upload a new video to Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. When I’m not doing my Top 100, you can find me on Wednesday playing board games solo on the YouTube channel.

Now, I did say I wanted to talk about my streaming times. Through the Top 100 list, I am going to keep my 8 PM Central time on Wednesdays for streaming. However, this might be changing. A channel that I like to watch and be part of their live chat, the GloryHoundd channel is adjusting their schedule. And I know I have crossover viewers from their channel. If they take that 8 PM Central Wednesday spot, I might look at making my main streaming day on Monday. Be aware that change may come.

But what game do you like best out of this part of the Top 100? Are there any that you want to get to the table that you haven’t played in this bunch?

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Not Alone

You play as the crew of a spaceship that has crash landed onto a planet. You need to survive long enough, signaling the rescue ship to come and get you. But there is something on the land. You are not alone and there is a monster, maybe even a planet that is trying to kill you. Will you be able to survive long enough or will the player who is the monster and the planet finish off the crew members first?

This game works well because as the crew you have a good tension. You are playing down cards to go to different locations all separately from one another. You can coordinate but you need to talk so that the person playing the monster can here you. Will you try and lead them astray as to what you are doing or not? Plus, the monster can always see all the cards you’ve played. And for the monster, can you surprise them and catch a lot of them at once?

Nemesis

Another space horror game, in Nemesis, you are playing what is basically Aliens. There is an alien infestation aboard your ship and you need to deal with it. But you also need to get back to Earth, but only if there aren’t aliens on the ship. And some players will have different objectives. It might be to have another character die even. But you can’t kill, you need to let them die without it being too obvious.

A massive game, Nemesis really focuses on getting a lot of theme into what you do. It’s cooperative, but every time an alien pops up, every time you have to roll for noise to see if you might stumble across one, it could be the queen. Or you might not have ammo for your gun anymore. But you need to press on because you have to find the right room to complete your objective.

Night Cage

You awake to find yourself in a mysterious labyrinth with nothing but a candle. You can’t stand up and if you come across anyone else you can’t get past them. All you know is that there are monsters, keys you need to find to escape and portals to escape from. As you crawl around, the labyrinth twists and disappears behind you when your candle can no longer light it.

Night Cage is the game I immediately thought of for this list. It has horror in spades for such a simple game. You are moving around a grid board placing out tiles for the labyrinth around you that you can see. Every time you remove comes from a stack that is a candle burning down. It is a game that is a race against that candle trying to find a key for everyone and then a way to get them all to the same portal so they all escape. This game really needs to be played in candle light.

Deep Madness

Your submarine submerges as you listen to the message play again. It’s garbled but you can tell something has happened, something very bad. The research facility on the ocean base hasn’t been responding and you and your team are being sent down to find out what has happened. You aren’t sure what you’ll find, but you hope, beyond hope, that it won’t be too bad.

Deep Madness takes the horror to the bottom of the ocean. This cooperative game has you searching through an ocean floor base, fighting monsters, and working together to get what you need to defeat the scenario and possibly get off of this base. This one would be harder in candle light because you need to see everything that is going on, but is still thematic to filled with monsters who are out to get you.

Why These Board Games?

Because I think they provide horror. I am going to do another list coming up here soon for games that give you more of that campy Halloween feel. There games are going to be horror which is something that board games don’t do all that well. Now, you need to provide some of your own suspense and I think doing a proper setting and proper look can create that.

I’d focus on a few things to create that tension. Firstly, keep it darker. Some of these games you can’t go too dark, I’d say Nemesis and Deep madness would be hard if it were too dark. But the Night Cage, you’ll be able to get quite dark with that. Either way, leverage less than normal light and less than normal light sources. Maybe you have a lamp on in the corner to give enough light but the rest of the table has candles around it.

Also think about the ambiance in terms of sound as well. Play spooky music, not Halloween party spooky music, but the stuff at a good haunted house, where doors creak, crows call out, and everything feels like it’s just off. There is enough noise to make it obvious, but still just quiet enough that everything feels out of place when there is a bigger noise.

Which of These Board Games Would Hit Your Table?

Right now the one I really want to get to the table is Night Cage, while the game play is fairly abstracted the tension of the game is a lot of fun. It’s a really enjoyable experience with the lights on, and I can see how in candle light the tension of slipping a tile, figuring out where to put it, hoping it isn’t a monster, it works so well. The candle slowly getting lower and lower as it goes.

Let me know your horror games that you love in the comments below.

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Descent: Legends of the Dark

So, Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower for a few years now has been predicting that we’ll get a Descent 3rd Edition. Well, he was almost right, but Descent: Legends of the Dark isn’t truly a third edition. This is more like a Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth or Star Wars: Imperial Assault sort of game. By that I mean it has a nice campaign element to it and uses an app to help facilitate the game.

One thing that kept me for a long time from getting Descent 2nd Edition was that it was one versus all. Now, I’ve come to like that a bit more that I thought I would, at least in Not Alone, but it feels harder to get to the table. It’s all cooperative and app assisted now. And that intrigues me because it’ll be easier to get to the table.

Plus, the app isn’t the same one that they’ve used for Imperial Assault, Descent, Mansions of Madness, and Journeys in Middle Earth. This is a brand new app. With games like Chronicles of Crime, Forgotten Waters, and Detective using apps, Fantasy Flight needed to up their game. This seems to do that.

This, however is a massive and expensive game. I hope that it’s awesome as it looks cool and game play looked fun. But it’ll be played when it comes out just to mess around with the app for sure.

Similo

This is the one that I was least sure about ordering until I have been watching it played a lot. Horrible Guild over on their YouTube channel plays it fairly often. It’s a pretty straightforward game. There is one person who is it and that person has one of ten people or creatures that they are trying to get the other players to guess. They put down a clue that is either similar or different. First round, player eliminate one, next round two. And that goes up through round four which leaves two left. Then with one final clue players need to try and guess which one it is.

Similo looks like a good and simple party game. And it’s another cooperative party game. Yes, one player is playing a different game, kind of, as the clue giver, the game play looks really fast. And you can get some fun combos. Putting down wild animals and trying to get people to eliminate the right ones by giving clues with myths will be tricky.

Railroad Ink Challenge (Yellow Box)

So I just picked up the green box of Railroad Ink, and this will give me all the small boxes. I am excited to get in more Railroad Ink, in fact, that might be what I stream on Wednesday. The base game of Railroad Ink is fun, but I might prefer challenge. Mainly because challenge offers more challenges. While the original is more route connecting, this one keeps that but also gives you goals to work towards.

I don’t need to say that much more on this you can see some other thoughts all around the site. Here is the Railroad Ink Challenge app article. And here is my Beyond the Box Cover review of the base game. Plus my Back or Brick article, now I wish I had backed. Needless to say, I really like this game a lot and I know it’s one I’ll play often.

So that’s all the games, good thing I made some room with the games I’m getting rid of. But let’s see what game you want to play from all of those?

For me, I think I want to play Descent: Legends of the Dark the most, but all of them seem fun. And Similo might get played first at a game night.

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A new order from Miniature Market has come in yesterday, the one that I talked about in last Fridays Point of Order. So since it made it in time and I wasn’t sure what I was going to stream, let’s see what I picked up. There was one new game and a grand total of 6 expansions in that box, though only expansions for two different board game systems.

The Games

Downforce

I want to play more racing games, and Downforce is one that has been on my radar for a long time. There is just something about a good racing game that seems so much fun to me. Pushing my luck, betting on the winners, that just sounds fun. And Downforce is an interesting game when it comes to that area. It isn’t your standard dice chucking racing game, but instead it’s a game that has you betting on the winner and hoping you invested smartly in the cars that you own based off of the cards you have. I also love how the movement works via card play. The fact that you play a card that moves multiple cars potentially really adds to the strategy of the game and the speed of the game.

Not Alone: Sanctuary

The first of the expansions, this one is just something fun and different in terms of the games I have in my collection. Not Alone is a pretty simple one versus all game. One person playing the planet and trying to take out crew members from a crashed ship as quickly as possible before they can be rescued. That is a ton of fun. And it is good for large groups. You play with up to eight people with seven people controlling the crew and one person being the monster. Being a crew member is fun, but I really like being the monster who is stalking everyone. It is a good game of cat and mouse that offers more choices than most large group games.

Aeon’s End Expansions

I’m getting close to having everything for Aeon’s End. I backed the last Kickstarter and from what I can tell, there are two more small box expansions that I need to pick up. I use need loosely, it’ll take me a long time to get through all of this content. But I really like Aeon’s End a lot, so I could see just taking time over a few years and getting through all of the content. Plus they are putting out more story driven content now for it, including two legacy games, so I am all for that. These expansions don’t add to that, but they generally add in more nemesis or mages to play with as well as some new cards. I really just like the concept so much of not shuffling your cards in a deck building game.

The Beer

So, I don’t think I mentioned the name of the beer, which was a mistake on my behalf. It is Spray Tan Sour from Outstate Brewing in Fergus Falls, MN. It is a small brewery with super local distribution of it’s cans. What I like about it, is that it has a nice fruit to it with pomegranate and cherry, but they mainly keep it from being too tart. The issue with some sours is that they can be too punch in the mouth sour, whereas as this one is the type I want to drink on a warm day while sitting outside. I won’t need a spray tan when drinking it. What is your favorite sour beer?

Which of those games sounds the most interesting to you? Do you have any of that you’ve enjoyed?

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From the Miniature Market Sale

Aeon’s End Expansions

We’re starting with something that wasn’t even on sale. This is just more of the small box expansions for Aeon’s End. I love this game, and I think it’s going to be one that I just start playing through all the content I have here coming up soon. The cooperative card play and deck building is fun. All the different mages are really good. And the Nemesis can play so differently.

But I got a lot of different expansions for it:

• The Void
• The Depths
• Shattered Dreams
• Buried Secret
• Into the Wild

Downforce

I’ve been enjoying racing games and the concept of racing games recently. Downforce has actually been on my radar for a long time, because it’s a different type of racing game. I have Formula D which is a big racing game with a lot of dice rolling. I have Camel Up which is a light racing game, and Downforce is more like that. In Downforce you bid on cars that are your car, but you also bid on other cards during the race. What is interesting about the race is that you spend your cards to move all of the cars, not just your own. So I play a card that moves green and blue forward five, red forward three, and pink, purple, and brown forward two (all colors are made up). It’ll tell me what order to move them forward in.

And you bid multiple times during the race. The better you do early, the more points you get at the end. But with the cards in your hand, you know some of what is going to happen. So you can manipulate it potentially to your advantage. Seems like a fun, light, different type of racing game.

Not Alone: Sanctuary Expansion

This is a a one versus all game that actually works well with a large number of players. The person who is the one plays as the planet and monsters on it that the all have crashed on. They are trying to survive long enough to get off of the planet. I am not totally sure what the Sanctuary Expansion adds. More locations is the most likely thing. This game is just fun, and I love the cooperative planning that can happen. It doesn’t always happen, but the all can talk about where they want to go. They must talk in ear shot of the one, but as much discussion as they want is allowed. Really excited to try some of the new expansion stuff for variety in the game.

From My FLGS (All Systems Go)

Marvel Champions: Galaxies Most Wanted

I love Marvel Champions. The game is just a ton of fun and offers so much content already. This is the second campaign box that they have put out. The first, Rise of Red Skull is a pretty simple and straightforward campaign, but the Guardians of the Galaxy focused one, with Groot and Rocket is supposed to be more complex. I am really excited to see everything that is in it. And I am really excited for the Guardians of the Galaxy to be coming to Marvel Champions.

Pitch Car

Finally, we have Pitch Car. This game has been on my radar for ages, and I was glad I was able to find it used. Pitch Car is not a cheap game, especially with expansions, because it’s all particle board and nice quality. Pitch Car is another racing game but really different from Formula D, Downforce, or Camel Up. In Pitch Car, you flick your car around the track. Everyone takes a turn flicking, trying not to fly off of the track and do amazing shots and jumps, banking off the walls. And what I picked up wasn’t just base Pitch Car.

The person had traded in three expansions as well. So I also got the long straights, the More Speed More Fun expansion, and the Stunt Race expansion. This is enough to build a pretty massive track. This will definitely be one of the first games that I get out for in person gaming. A lot of games work via Zoom, but dexterity games not so much. Pitch Car and Ice Cool will be two that are going to be a lot of fun when playing in person again.

Which Would You Want to Play?

Let me know in the comments below which you’d be most interested in playing. For me, I think that it has to be Pitch Car right now. The prospect of gaming in person is just so exciting after it being so limited for over a year. And Pitch Car, the concept and the tracks just seems like a ton of fun. It might even be a game that I take to a board game store and let people know when it is going to be there to come try and play.

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Theming a board game night can be a lot of fun. It gives people a good idea of what games might be played. It helps focus in a collection which games come off of the shelf. I know that I have enough board games where it is tricky sometimes to get them to the table, but if I theme the night, then I play games I might not get to otherwise. What I want to talk about is how to pick a theme, but before that, I think we should talk about how to pick games.

Picking the Games for Board Game Night

Now, you might just want to pick games that go with the theme ,and keeping things on brand for the theme is important. But it is easy to end up with a lot of the same types of games, if you pick something like fantasy, you could end up with four big games ready to go. A game night should provide some more diversity in what is played and that’s less because some people don’t like big games, but more because people will come in late. I am working on coming up with a methodology of what works well.

I think that starting out with a party or lighter/faster game is good to do. People will show up throughout that game, they can either sit down and chat with you while you play or hop into the game if it’s a party game as the points don’t matter. Then have some medium or heavier games to go after people have arrived. This can often have you splitting into a couple of groups, get a heavier game and a medium weight game going. Then as the games wrap up, you go back to lighter games again and pick ones that can end whenever or can be played multiple times pretty quickly as people will slowly drop out for the night. I’ve found that this strategy works well and the games played generally will give everyone something that they like, for those party game players or those heavier gamers.

Picking a Theme

Keep The Theme General

So, with that in mind, it makes a collection clearer for what themes might work. You’ll be able to see what games you have that fit a given theme. And when I say pick a theme, I mean give yourself a broad category. For examples, instead of 18XX go with games with trains. Instead of Lord of the Rings go with fantasy, instead of chickens go with animals. Give yourself enough to work with and a wider breath of games to pick from. It will also make the game night more inviting, because you might have three games about chickens, but if I hate chickens, I might not come, but add in animals of any sort, I would come for games about cats. That’s a silly example but helps make the point. A broader theme is more interesting because someone who doesn’t like fantasy except Lord of the Rings can still come to game night. I always try and say what games I’m looking at as well when inviting people.

Vary The Themes

And vary the theme as well. If you flip back and forth from sci-fi to fantasy and back with maybe a horror thrown in there, it’ll limit what games you can do. It’s fine to stretch a little bit to fit some of your favorite games into categories, but by theming you can also encourage other people to bring games as well.

Stretch The Themes

Now, I am a strong proponent of stretching the theme as well. You do want to play your favorite games, so make themes that they can get into, maybe just barely. It’s a food themed game night, what games have food in them even if they aren’t about food. If you love Agricola, you can make that work. Ice Cool is about flicking penguins who want fish. Or if you’re doing a theme about a school or learning, Ice Cool works for that, or about animals, Ice Cool again works. You can get games into a theme to give yourself more options to play, if you really try.

Theme To The Season

Finally, pick themes that go with the season. At the holidays, make it about party games, if you do it on a weekend evening like I do, that means around Christmas and New Years that people might have other parties as well. Make your game night something easy to drop into. Or in October go with horror games. In July, go with games about food or fireworks or about the United States of America. That’ll help you get variety in your themes as well.

Themed Game Set Examples

Food

• Sushi Go/Sushi Go party – This is a nice starting game, it plays fast and offers time to chat. It’s also enough that groups can continue playing if they want.
• Homebrewer, Foodies, and Heaven and Ale – This is the second wave of games that I’d use in my collection. They are bigger games with more going on, but Homebrewer and Foodies are pretty light weight and easy for someone who might not know the game quite as well to teach. The people who want to play a heavier game, Heaven and Ale covers that crowd.
• Point Salad and Ice Cool – Point Salad is a great wrap up the night game. It plays a decently large group, it plays fast. So a good one for the Homebrewers or Foodies players to play while Heaven and Ale players finish up their game. And Ice Cool plays a big number and is silly fun.

Horror/Halloween

• Zombie Dice – It’s a very simply push your luck dice game about zombies. Sure it’s not actually scary, but it has a horror related theme which is really what you’re going for more than something too scary.
• Dead of Winter, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Marrying Mr Darcy (with Zombie expansion) and Deranged – There are some lighter and some longer games in here, but it gives you a variety of options. And three of them handle a larger group of players.
• Deception: Murder in Hong Kong – Sure it’s not really a horror game but it’s about a murder which has a Halloween feel to it. And it’s a nice bigger group game where the games don’t last too long, people can leave between them and it can wrap down the game night.

Sci-Fi

• King of Tokyo – So this could fall into the next category of games, but the games of King of Tokyo are fast and the Cyber Bunny is definitely sci-fi. Plus since the game is simple, chatting with people who arrive while you’re playing is easy.
• Xenoshyft: Onslaught, Alien Artifacts, Clank! In! Space!, Cry Havoc – All of these are bigger games, though some of them are more complex and drier to play. They give a good variety from area control, a 4x-ish card game, two deck builders, but one cooperative and one not.
• Not Alone or Lazer Ryderz – Now, Not Alone is for if you still have a larger group. But you could do Lazer Ryderz in teams as well which is just becasically the bike game from Tron. A some good goofy fun with that game. Not Alone gives you more of a game but still plays a big play count.

Those are just three examples of what you could do. And that is how I’d build it from my collection. I also like it when people bring games that gives even more variety as to what to play.

Have you themed a game night? What’s your favorite theme?

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