Catch up on previous videos here

100 through 91
90 through 81

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – 80 through 71

80. Flamecraft

• Published by Cardboard Alchemy in 2022
• Deliver on the most goals and score points as you play out adorable little dragons who help around the town

This game immediately grabs you with the artwork. The dragons are amazing, and Sandara Tang gives each of them such great personality. Beyond that the game is simple but fun, you go to a location and are either activating the cards and dragons there, or adding some, or spending resources to complete goals. As the locations get more and more dragons the more powerful they become. It’s a great ramping mechanism for a simple game. Though the game is not fast one, which might be my only knock on it.

Buy Flamecraft

79. Just One

• Published by Repos Productions in 2018
• Work together to get the guesser to the right answer with just one word

A party game on this section. I’m not sure, I expect that there are two more party games on the list, but we’ll see. I honestly have forgotten. But Just One is a great cooperative party game. One person is the guesser and everyone else needs to write down a one word clue to get the guesser to guess their one word. Sounds simple, right, but if you double up with anyone, now both those words are gone. That means that an easy clue can become very hard very fast. So you want to be obscure with your clue, but not so obscure that it won’t lead the person to the right answer.

Buy Just One

78. On Tour

• Published by BoardGameTables.com (AllPlay) in 2019
• Create the best route for your band to tour the map going from low to high numbers

This one is a fun roll and write. While I love a ton of roll and write games where they have a lot of combos, this one is a different type of puzzle. In On Tour two dice are rolled and players each place the numerical combinations on two spots on their board. But there are rules as to where they can go. And you may want to watch the city to gain bonus points, but if it won’t connect well to your route, is it worth it to push your luck?

Buy On Tour

77. Mythwind

• Published by Open Owl Studios in 2023
• Build up your settlement and play your mini game in this cozy gaming experience

Open Owl Studios went into making Mythwind with the plan of making a cozy game. So something that works well like a Stardew Valley or an Animal Crossing. They do that by creating a peaceful story world to play in, there are interesting elements to it though. And then each person plays their own little minigame. I demonstrate what the minigame for the farmer looks like. And One Stop Co-op Shop and Meet Me At The Table play some of the other ones. It’s just a unique feeling game that is fun, and relaxing to play.

Preorder Mythwind

76. Betrayal at House on the Hill

• Published by Avalon Hill in 2004
• Explore a haunted house but beware, someone is going to be come the traitor

This is a game that I still love though I haven’t played it in a few years. I fully recognize that the game has issues. When you sit down to play you know that the haunt may not work as planned because either the traitor is going to be overpowered or the other survivors will be. And the haunts themselves have janky rules. But I still love the game anyways because it’s thematic, silly, and just a fun time.

Buy Betrayal at House on the Hill 3rd Edition

75. Clever 4Ever

• Published by Schmidt Spiele in 2022
• Another combotastic game in the Clever line of roll and writes

I don’t know what else to say about this one. Clever 4Ever offers a ton of fun combos and a few different feeling sections of your sheet. How Wolfgang Warsch keeps on coming up with different and interesting ways to handle rolling five dice, using one, getting rid of lower ones and then rolling them again, I don’t know. But he does and this one is great, I especially like the sections where you can fill in different shapes depending on the number rolled. That element really feels different.

Clever 4Ever is either new to my Top 100 Games (of all time) this year or it just made the cut last year. I know I hadn’t had the game for long.

Buy Clever 4Ever

74. SpellBook

• Published by Space Cowboys in 2023
• Learn spells and feed your familiar to get the most points

This is a really simple game. All it is when you boil it down is set collection. You collect materia, you get enough of a color, you learn that spell. Then you use that spell you learned to collect more materia or learn new spells easier. Each spell you learn gives you points, or you can just feed the materia to your familiar for more points as well. The is fast, and there is a fun puzzle as to how you can optimize your spell usage as you get into the game.

Buy SpellBook

73. Century: Golem Edition

• Published by Plan B Games in 2017
• Get crystals, upgrade crystals and get golems to give you points

Another engine building game. Century: Golem Edition again, like SpellBook, has quick snappy turns. In this game it’s all about hand management and using those cards in hand to get more and upgrade crystals. Then you use those crystals to grab Golems that are going to score you points. But you literally just play a card, trade crystals for a golem, pick-up all your cards, or buy a new card. One of those things on a turn and the game just flies.

Buy Century: Golem Edition

72. New Frontiers

• Published by Rio Grande Games in 2018
• Build out the grandest space empire by doing the best action for you

New Frontiers is another engine building game. In New Frontiers you are doing it at a space level though, colonizing new planets, getting new technologies, fighting and conquering planets. All of that done through action selection where what action you pick gives you a bonus. But, everyone else is going to follow along with that action as well. So what is the best action for you and maybe not a great one for other players? I believe that New Frontiers is new to my Top 100 Games (of all time) as well though it isn’t a new game.

Buy New Frontiers

71. Meadow

• Published by Rebel Studio in 2021
• Create a beautiful tableau of nature through tricky card drafting

Meadow is another gorgeous game. I start out and end this section with beautiful games. In Meadow you want to score points by playing out creatures, taking pictures, and gaining trinkets. But to do that you need to build up your meadow from the land type up through bugs and maybe eventually all the way into deer, foxes, or other creatures. How you pick the cards you get is great. You use a fence post that tells you how far into a row or column you are picking. So you need to determine the best spots to play to get all the cards that you want and hope no one blocks you.

Buy Meadow

Final Thoughts

Firstly, let me know what your favorite of these games are. I obviously enjoy all of the tones in my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition, so Meadow needs to be my favorite. But in terms of easily getting it to the table, I’m kind of feeling a big old stream and playthrough of all the clever games on Malts and Meeples. And let me know if there is one that you would want to get played as well that you haven’t tried in my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition.

Join me next week for the next batch of games in my Top 100 Games. It’ll be starting around 9 PM Central on Wednesday if everything goes as planned. You can subscribe and click the notification bell to get notified when the video goes live. Thanks so much for watching.

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Top 5 Allplay Games

5. Chomp

This one is just a fun little game. I like the simplicity of picking a car and trying to create dinosaur herds. Of course you need your dinosaurs not to die off, so that is a whole element of the game. But the game is, like so many Allplay games, fast to play and easily to follow and learn. That’s a hallmark of their games, and I won’t mention it again because it’s true for all of them on the list. Chomp works because it’s a fun system with fun cards and a fun theme. It’s not the thinkiest, but not all games need to be.

4. Mind Space

Next up is Mind Space. One area that Allplay has only a couple of forays into is roll and write games. But The ones that they do are a lot of fun. Mind Space is about mapping your mind, though the theme doesn’t really matter. It’s about putting various colors onto the board to score points. Of course there are rules as to how you place and you get bonuses as some points in time.

One element that I really enjoy about the game is the flowing system of cards. Shapes hop onto the flow and then each round progress one spot further down. So you know that a shape might be getting close to going off the flow so you need to grab it now if you need that color. Of course, you also need to hope that the color you want is the one rolled there.

3. Mountain Goats

This one I need to play my physical copy, but I love playing it on Board Game Arena. The game play is simple, you just roll dice and climb up paths with your mountain goats. When you get to the top, you get points. When another mountain goat gets up to you, it bumps you back down.

This is just a filler game, but it’s one that’s fun. And I said I wasn’t going to mention it again, but that’s what Allplay does well. I think it works especially well here in Mountain Goats because there’s the excitement of how long can you stick at the top and keep getting points before you get knocked down. And you can stay up longer, because it’s a longer climb on smaller points, but of course, it might be better to grab the big points instead.

2. River Valley Glassworks

This one is new as of this year. But I really like River Valley Glassworks. I think that it works as a solo game. And I think that it works at two or at four or at five. Every player count works well. And that is not something that can be commonly said about games. Most of the time they find a spot they work the best, and there might be an ideal, but there isn’t a bad player count.

The game is simple, put down a piece of glass and collect adjacent glass. But it’s so much more than that as you need to plan out your scoring attack. You score columns and rows. But which you focus on, and how much you focus on both is the question. And the scarcity of glass colors as well is fun. Plus the shapes mattering to collect glass and colors matter when placing it on your board. There is a bunch going on for a fast game.

1. On Tour

My favorite is the other Allplay roll and write that I can think of. And this one is about making a route, low to high, for your band to travel. It’s a fictional band, but you’re basically trying to place dice combinations, 1 to 100, on your board so that you can make a pathway that is always getting higher. The concept is simple, but the game play and execution is a ton of fun.

It’s one of those games, too, that I like where at the beginning you feel like anywhere works. You place a number do, you feel like you can connect it. At the end of the game as decisions become tougher, you also have fewer spots to play. So it’s that nice balance of when the game could lock up, you already find yourself limited in options.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoy Allplay for the most part. A few games I find just to be okay. Kabuto Sumo is an okay game. Big Top, I think I could have fun with that, but it wasn’t my favorite. But games I like such as Pollen, Dandelion and others miss the list. And there are still others like Couture and Ghosts of Christmas that I want to play really badly. Or a whole mess of trick taking games as well from them.

Of course, not all their games are going to be for everyone. But for me, they are very consistent. And I think that consistency is going to tell you if you’d like them or not. Because once you play one or two, you’ll know what type of games they are. And you will find out if Allplay is a company for you.

What’s your favorite Allplay game?

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The Criteria

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

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

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

10 Lunch Break Board Games

In no particular order.

10. Floriferous

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

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

9. Matcha

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

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

8. Love Letter

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

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

7. Cribbage

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

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

6. On Tour

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

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

5. Hanamikoji or Jixia Academy

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

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

4. Qwixx

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

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

3. Ohanami

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

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

2. Super Fantasy Brawl

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

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

1. Village Green

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

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

Final Thoughts

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

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

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

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The Game – On Tour

On Tour is going to be another roll and write, and a pretty straight forward one at that. In it, you are just trying to build out the best possible route for your band to tour. To do that, you need to plot a course around the states in the United States so that you have a path going from low to high. You are limited, though, as to where you can put your stops though, based off of location cards flipped each turn.

I knocked out two games of this in about an hour while chatting as we went. So without that, I could probably play a game in 10-15 minutes. And with the app, which there is a solid app, it is maybe 10 minutes to get through a game. If you want a high quality production roll and write but one that isn’t to challenging, On Tour is quite good.

The Drink

Nothing fancy this week, though, I guess I ended with a more interesting drink. The first was an Old Fashioned, nothing special about that. I drink those quite often. The second drink is Copper & Kings Cr&ftwerk Brandy which was aged in Oskar Blues Imperial IPA Barrel. I normally don’t have brandy, but I find that Cr&ftwerk, and in particular the IPA Barrel finished one, is nice for sipping.

Upcoming Streams

So, next week we are getting into a new schedule. In particular, we are going to be starting our new campaign game with Pathfinder Adventure Card Game in it’s newest edition. I am curious to try it and compare it to what I’ve played of the original game. And I do own some of the original game that I could play and stream as well.

But beyond that, I talked about some things that I wanted to do. In particular, that I want to stream every Monday, if I can. It’ll go between a conversation and maybe light game play like last night. To a Top 10 list, or maybe coverage of Kickstarters and Gamefound. To be determined on everything that it might be. But I want to start doing more coverage so that I can help Malts and Meeples grow more as well as Nerdologists.com. Let me know what type of content you would want to see?

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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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The Roll And Writes

19. Second Chance

If you want to play about the most accessible roll and write I’ve played, Second Chance is that. It is very simple, flip two cards, everyone fills in one of those two shapes on their board. And you try and fill in as much as possible. If you can’t play either, you get a second chance card you can use. If you can’t use it, you are out of the round. So extremely simple, but works well. And it is fun to doodle and fill everything in.

18. HexRoller

HexRoller should be just as simple, but for some reason it a bit more confusing. In this roll and write, you fill in spots with numbers trying to connect paths and fill in hexes. It gets confusing when you try and add in the straights that can score you points based off of the dice you pick. It is a good puzzle of a game, but doesn’t feel like it has that much diversity to how it’ll play.

17. Cat Cafe

Cat Cafe I think should be higher on my list. It just isn’t one I pull off the shelf all that often. It is a fun roll and write game about building cat towers to attract cats to your section of a cat cafe. And it has drafting in the game. I really like the everyone goes at once but everyone is slightly different. The die you draft determines half of your action. And there will be one die left that determines half of everyone’s action. So there is strategy in how you build things out. Plus it’s about cats.

16. Criss Cross

This one is also on the list this low, like Second Chance, because it is so simple. Now, that simplicity means that it gets played often, or did. But it also means that it isn’t as interesting as some to play over and over again. Basically you want matching symbols in rows and columns. And you need to put two dice adjacent to each other as they are rolled. More more likely symbols you have adjacent in a row or a column the more you score. I like this on also because it’s very easy via Zoom/Hangouts/Facetime, even if you don’t own the game.

15. Yahtzee

The OG roll and write game. Yahtzee still works well as a game. It is a simple push your luck rolling game to get as many points as you can. But it works. And it works well for people who want a bit more casual of a roll and write. It is another one that I don’t need to play a ton more of because I already have a lot. But it is also one that I can play with anyone. Some because they likely already have played it, and some because it is that easy to teach.

14. Floor Plan

This one has dropped a fair amount since my Top 100. I actually got rid of it from my collection. Granted, that’s to make room, eventually, for Floor Plan: Winchester Mystery Mansion. A theme that I think works better for this game. In the game you make a floor plan. It is fun because you end up with crazy houses. The downside is you end up with crazy houses. I wish the rules made it so you built more of a house. Like negative points if you didn’t have a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom all with doors. But if you want to build a crazy house, it is a lot of fun.

13. Deadly Doodles

This one is another one that I feel like moves around. I like it as a dungeon crawl roll and write. Basically, you go into the dungeon every day, fight some monsters, and get weapons and treasures. All of that in a goal to get the most points possible. The expansion makes make the game more difficult or give more options, but the base game is a lot of fun. It is another one of those games that I really like because of how fast it plays. And you get a story as you play of what is happening in your dungeon.

12. Patchwork Doodle

Now to move away from theme again, Patchwork Doodle is a very abstract roll and write. It is about trying to create the biggest quilt that you can. It reminds me a ton of Second Chance, you start with a shape and then add more adjacent to it. Patchwork Doodle, though, has more going on with it. And that little bit additional just adds enough to the strategy that it make sit more fun for me. And the big thing that Second Chance has going for it is how relaxing it is to play, I think Patchwork Doodle is just as relaxing.

11. Doppelt So Clever

One of a few combo focused games coming up on the list. Doppelt So Clever is my least favorite of the Clever trilogy or roll and writes. And it’s not because it’s the only one that I don’t own in German. It feels like it’s just the most punishing and locks you into lower scores a lot of the time. But the mechanics are great, and you do still get a lot of combos to play around with.

10. Clever Hoch Drei

Now we’re up to another Clever game. As compared to Doppelt So Clever, Clever Hoch Drei is the easiest to do well at. That means you get even more combos going, and that is because a lot of the tracks are so littered with combos you can’t avoid them. It feels good to get a lot of combos and all of a sudden what looked impossible to do is possible.

9. Super Mega Lucky Box

This is the newest roll and write on the list, and Super Mega Lucky Box is one that I wasn’t sure how high it’d get when I first played it. It is a very easy game to play. A card is flipped, you fill in that number on one of your bingo cards. But the more you play it, the more you can see how there are interesting decisions and combos as you finish off rows and columns. Whenever you finish a row or column, you get a bonus, and how you leverage those bonuses really matters for the winner of the game.

8. Metro X

How do can you maximize your bus routes, or subway routes, is what this game is all about. But it is clever in what it does, and I really like it for that. Multiple routes might go through the same station. And you are just trying to fill in stations. But you always fill in from the first empty spot down. And you can’t skip over filled spots. It’s hard to explain, but it works well, and makes you think about how to optimally fill in your routes so you can complete as many as possible.

7. Ganz Schon Clever

The final of the Clever games, and the original. I really like Ganz Schon Clever. This is even with knowing generally how to optimize the puzzle. I always push to see if I can do a little bit better. And the app for the game works well. I might not play it as much as I used to on the app, but it is still the one I go to first when playing any Clever game. And in person, I think it’s even more fun. There is something about hoping for the perfect die rolls in person that is more compelling than an app.

6. Welcome To…

This, I think, was originally at 10 in my Top 100 Games (of all time) and clearly with five more roll and write games above it has slipped. I really like Welcome To still. It mainly has slipped because I haven’t played it recently. And while I enjoy it every time I play it, I also do think I want to start mixing in the expansion maps. I think that it’ll change up the game enough that it’ll feel refreshing. This is also a roll and write with a theme that I like a lot.

5. Sonora

This is the final one that is all about the combos. And compared to any of the Clever games, this one has more combos. Plus Sonora has you flicking discs around a board to determine how you fill in things. Each quarter of the board fills in a specific spot on your scoring sheet. And as you fill in spots you get scoring bonuses, but then, basically, extra discs that you u se as well to fill in. And that can lead to more. Sonora gives you a great rush of feeling like you can do almost everything, every time you fill in on the board.

4. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

Probably the most thematic roll and writ eon my list, Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade and the expansion(s) give the feeling of playing a pinball machine. Everything bounces in a way that makes sense, and while your flippers are limited, which isn’t the case in actual pinball, for a game it makes sense. And the boards are all so different. I really like the hacking board and the special that is on there. It can ramp a score like crazy, but will you fail because you push your luck too far?

3. On Tour

On Tour maybe should already have been in my Top 10 Roll and Writes and Top 100 Games, but I held off on ranking it until I played a physical copy. Why, because sometimes that’s different. And with On Tour, where you are making your best route for a band tour, I was worried it’d be hard to score the best route. Turns out, it isn’t that hard. But let’s talk about the game.

You make a route of low to high on states, but depending on what is rolled and cards flipped out that becomes tricky. You are limited to where you can play down the numbers. And everyone is limited in the same way. And as you fill in more and more spots, you become more limited. I think that is one thing I like best, the game becomes so much more tense at the end of the game, and each decision matters so much. But because you have fewer available spots, the game doesn’t slow down. It’s a great game arc.

2. Railroad Ink/Railroad Ink Challenge

So, in my Top 100 I had these two games separate. Now I put them together because they really can be together in that their mechanics are mainly the same. In both you build out train and road routes and your goal is to connect exits. Railroad Ink Challenge adds in challenges that you want to complete at certain points to score more points. Some people find it more complex, or too complex, but I like that it gives an additional thing to focus on. It makes my decisions faster generally as well. Really good roll and write with a very high production.

1. Cartographers

At the number one spot, not a big surprise, is Cartographers. The theme is a lot of fun in this game. I like making a map. There is player interaction as you put monsters on my board. But what really makes the game is the scoring. You score for A and B the first round and then going through rounds, in round four you score D and A, so you come all the way back around. It makes for an interesting puzzle to solve and try and optimize your points. And like most games on my list, everyone goes at the same time, so nice and fast to play, while offering great decisions.

What is Your Favorite?

I have so many that I need to play still. I own Copenhagen Roll and Write, Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write, Imperial Settlers Roll and Write, Welcome To Dinoworld, Welcome To New Las Vegas, Fleet: The Dice Game, and more on my shelf that I need to pull out. A lot can be played solo, so maybe I’ll do a big solo roll and write stream or day of playing coming up here.

Let me know what your favorite is down in the comments below. Or you can let me know on Twitter or Facebook as well.

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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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Crowdfunding Games I Wish I’d Backed

I don’t have too many requirements for what can go on the list. The one that I do have is that the game is out, or at least production copies are close, there is one exception to my list, I think. But generally the game needs to be out. I missed these games and now I wish I had them because the game looks good. There are some games, Arkeis, for example, that I really am interested in, and I wish I’d backed it, but I don’t know enough about it still to say for sure.

Also this is a fairly long list, though some will surprise you on the list. You’ll have to see what they are, but let’s get into the list.

Final Girl

This one is going to be an interesting one, because I am going to back it. But I just said I’m sad that I missed it. I am because now we are onto season two. So that probably means that I’ll be getting more for the game, and clearly I need even more of a game that I already don’t own.

Final Girl is kind of what it sounds like. You are the trope of the final girl in the horror movie. Can you survive the serial killer and escape? Can you rescue others, or will you truly be the last one standing? I love that theme, especially since those Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th type of movies are my favorite for horror movies. This one I don’t know why I passed it by the first time, I won’t this time.

Unsettled

Another one that is coming back to crowdfunding, I believe Kickstarter. This is a planet exploration puzzle. It reminds me, in some ways of TIME Stories, but in space instead of this weird time travel mechanism for the game. So it’s modules that you explore to try and complete objectives. The game sounds really cool.

They are coming back to Kickstarter so that they can drop some more planets into the game. That is something that is great about this game and system, that I can tell, they’ll always be able to add in more planets. And from what the reviews have said, this has some really good writing with it as well. So while not a big campaign game like ISS Vanguard which I did back, this is going to give me a lot of planets to explore as well.

Solomon Kane

Now, this isn’t my exception, but you can watch on Malts and Meeples me unboxing Solomon Kane. Well, that’s because I bought it on eBay. I wish that I’d backed this on Kickstarter. I think that Mythic Games brought it to Kickstarter when I wasn’t checking as much. And by the time I heard about it, I think it was too late, or I didn’t know about the late pledging of things.

This is one that I still need to dive into my copy of it. It was an option to stream when we chose Sleeping Gods instead. And it is very possible that I will stream it later this year. Because, while it is kind of a campaign, it is shorter stories that are campaigns. That is similar to how Roll Player Adventures is doing their campaigns as well. I like that because it means that I am not signing up for 100 hours of game play.

Vampire the Masquerade – CHAPTERS

Here’s the cheater one, this one isn’t out yet. So why is it on the list, because Quackalope has a very polished looking almost production copy that I’ve watched played. I’ll add the video below. But the game looks right up my alley. It has tactical elements for combat where you need to think about positioning. But it is so much more about story, and I love a good story in a game.

Not to mention that the whole world of Vampire: The Masquerade sounds interesting to me. This world of vampires, but not vampires who are ripping peoples necks out. This is about the intrigue and codes that they have, and being subtle about the hunger and when and how you get your blood. And the different clans and how they interact amongst each other in a struggle for power.

Maximum Apocalypse

This is an interesting one because I’ve again, had a chance to get it. And not just a chance, two chances, and then there is more of a campaign version of Maximum Apocalypse as well that I could have gotten. So why do I regret not getting it, but also haven’t pulled the trigger? This is a survival post apocalyptic sort of game, or during the apocalypse. And it’s done with random tiles that you are searching and different objectives to complete. Plus you have a lot of different apocalypses you can play in.

So theme is great for me. Game play looks like a lot of fun. It just hasn’t caught my attention quite enough. And now, and this is a bad reason, there is a lot of it. And I’m going to want to own all of it. That is a bad reason not to get it. I can get a little bit and if I love it I can get more. I do that often with games. But this one, stuff like the Kaiju expansion I really want, but isn’t part of the base box. So I haven’t bitten on it, yet.

Mars Open

You’re going to see a lot of big games on the list. We know what I like my big campaign games, but this is a small game. And I don’t actually remember what kept me from backing this one. And I keep on looking at it on eBay thinking I should pick it up. Mars Open is a dexterity game, basically paper football flicking, but instead of football, it’s golf. And you are play some holes and low score wins.

That game sounds hilarious to play. I have to imagine that I’d be bad at it, but I’m okay with that because it’ll be a good end of game night game. It reminds me of PitchCar as a game where when someone has a crazy good shot, everyone is going to be excited for them.

Horizon Zero Dawn

This one I’m glad I didn’t back, but I also wish I had. The minis in the game are amazing. And the core box has a lot of cool things. but it has a limited number of things. I likely would only have backed the core, and while people seem to like the game, the general consensus is that you need more. The base box gives you a good gaming experience, but not enough to come back to and feel like it’s different.

That said, there isn’t only the base box, there is a lot more. And if you went all in on everything, there is going to be a ton that you can play. Plus the theme, I love the theme. I haven’t beaten Horizon Zero Dawn, but I need to get back to that game. Honestly, too many video games to get through right now. But in terms of setting this is one of the coolest.

Graphic Novel Adventures

From Van Ryder Games, these are basically mini choose your own adventure in graphic novel form. But they are more than that, it’s not just flip through and read stuff, you have a character and you have stats. That is going to determine how well some things go for you. And they put so many themes into the different graphic novels. Pirates, Sherlock Holmes, and werewolves just to name a few. And I own one, which I really need to play. If I love it, they seem to do more every few years, so I can get another one. I really need to play mine.

Sea of Legends

Another one that is coming back to Kickstarter soon, or maybe Gamefound, I’m not sure. Sea of Legends is a pirate game with app assistance. To me, this looks like it’ll be similar to Merchants and Marauders, a game I like but don’t love, and then add more story into it. In Merchants and Marauders there isn’t story, it’s what you bring to the game. And while the theme is solid, I like games that have story.

Sea of Legends did start out rough with an app that was bad, issues with the rule book, and generally felt like Guildhall sent it out before they polished it. I think that there are still issues with the rule book, but the app seems to be better. And it has a whole idea, that you pick out three different things, I forget what they all are, and enter them into the app and that drives your story. So you can change them up and the story is going to change as well.

This is one that I’m probably going to either grabbed use, my FLGS has had a copy, or back when it comes back. Pirates are a theme that I love, and a generally open world game with story, I like that too. I mean, you can see me now playing Sleeping Gods, a game that I almost put on this list. I own it now, and I like it.

Wild Ascent

This is kind of a Monster Hunter style board game. Or a boss battler game, where you have a village phase and then fight a monster. Kingdom Death Monster might be the one that popularized the genre. KDM (Kingdom Death Monster) is one that didn’t make the list, but was close. I want it, but that Kickstarter was insane.

Wild Ascent does a lot of the same things, and seems like it’s a shorter campaign. KDM feels more like a lifestyle game. And while I wouldn’t mind having a solo lifestyle game that I can keep set-up all the time. Until I get a board game table, which I want to do eventually, and can get two levels and leave a game up all the time, one is about all that I can manage.

That is why I passed on Wild Ascent twice. There was a Gamefound and Kickstarter campaign, and the Gamefound one I was so tempted by. But I held off because do I need another big game that will be hard to get to the table? No, but I really really want it.

Chronicles of Drunagor

Another campaign game, and one that I did end up backing the second time around. So why is it on the list, because I was interested in it when it came out the first time. And if I had backed it then, I could be playing it now. This is another big dungeon crawl campaign game that does some really cool things.

Firstly, the terrain is 3D, meaning levels to go up and down. And when you get to a door, that door tells you what is in the next room and you set it up then. Plus the action system is really interesting. You have cubes that determine what you can activate, which is great. Because as you activate spots you start to lose what you can do. And then you pull everything back, but you cover up an ability.

The puzzle of the game just seems good. And there are a number of reviews out for it now, and they are good. So I could be playing that now, but so many games that I probably wouldn’t actually be.

QE and On Tour

So, I own half of these games now, and I wish I owned both. But it’s also one that I kind of don’t mind I don’t own it yet. I own On Tour, a great roll and write game. And one with a great app. But QE is one that I think I want to own, but for sure want to try.

QE is a bidding game where you buy companies and get points. The trick is that you are bidding and there is no set amount. So I could be 20 trillion dollars. However, the person who has bid the highest total amount of money at the end is automatically eliminated. So bidding will escalate, I think it’d be impossible for it not to, because if one person gets everything, everyone loses. how much and how crazily, who knows.

QE really doesn’t sound like it should work. But everyone who reviews it says that it does, though, often, they don’t know why. I think it might be a bit group dependent, but in the right group could be hilarious. Another one that seems like a great game night game.

Canvas

I backed the second Canvas Kickstarter and I wish I’d backed the first. Not only could I be playing it now, but I wouldn’t need the expansion. On the second Kickstarter, the option was just there to get the expansion and base game together, not just the base game. I am sure that I won’t mind having the expansion, but do I really need it.

Canvas is a game where you are painting a picture. You do that by selecting cards and layering them on top of each other. The game Gloom is one that I have which does something similar. But in this one you are creating pictures. And depending on the symbols at the bottom of the picture, you score points. The game looks simple but also like a lot of fun.

That’s The Crowdfunding Wish List

Now, I could have picked more. Lords of Hellas, wish I’d backed it, maybe, same with Deep Madness, but I own most of both of those now. Or there were games like Monumental that almost made the list. Deck building with an interesting action mechanism sounds really cool. But I want to play it more than I want to own it. And maybe once I play it I’d want to own it.

Have there been any games for you that you wished you’d backed? Do you pick up those games on eBay or hope that they get a second crowdfunding campaign? Let me know what your top game you wished you’d backed is.

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Now, On Tour is a game that I’ve only played in app form but one that I’m interested in getting a physical copy of. It’s a roll and write game where you are trying to plan out the best tour for your band across the United States. You can stop once in each state and to do so, you are putting a number of the states and you are trying to create a string of states where the numbers are increasing. That doesn’t sound too bad, but you have limiting factors as to where you can place those numbers, because you have cards that will determine what region that you can place the numbers, north, south, east or west. Along with that, the numbers can be pretty random. They are off of two ten sided dice, so each round those dice are rolled and you’re placing, if it was a 5 and 8 a 58 and 85 on the board. You can get bonus points if you place one of those numbers in on the city from the card that determines the region and it’s part of your route.

So the app itself, how is it. The App is pretty slick, it allows you to zoom on on the game board, so it works on a phone, it does all the end game scoring for you, though I have noticed that be wrong once, though, only once in 50+ games that I’ve played of it. And it gives you the ability to mark your route between places so that you can keep track of where you want to go and what numbers you need there. So I’ve only played this in the stand alone form because that’s what it was when the app launched. I know that there is some online play, but I haven’t dug into that yet. I like it because it’s so fast to play solo.

I don’t have any major negatives for the game. For me the whole game works slick as an app, and possibly better as an app. Now, obviously I said I haven’t played this in person. But with the scoring of the game, figuring out your longest and best route is not going to be easy. Just because this game, you’re going to have a ton of different options, so while you might know how the end route goes or the start, there are going to be spots where you have similar numbers by each other and circled cities that will give you the bonus points, so figuring out your path through that might be tricky. Now, with that said, I do want to get a physical copy of the game because I like the game a lot so I want to play it with more people.

Overall, if you’re looking for a good time filling app, this one fits the bill. On Tour is an enjoyable game that plays fast on the app. I will say, though, if you don’t like luck based games, this might not be the game for you. The dice rolls, while they are the same for everyone, and the card flips, give this game a high amount or randomness, because you might get the perfect roll but not be able to place the number or numbers where you need based off of the region. Since this isn’t a free app, it’s probably worth noting that before you pick it up. Personally, I like it quite well and it’s one that while I won’t play it all the time, I do always come back to it.

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