What Board Games Are Leaving?

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

Sentinels of the Multiverse

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

Dice Throne Adventures

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

Merchant’s Cove

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

Uno

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

Phase 10

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

Chess

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

8-Bit Box

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

Karuba: The Card Game

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

Cat Cafe

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

The Drink

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

Upcoming Streams

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

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

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The Collection

Numbers

A’s – B’s – C’s – D’s – E and F’s – G and H’s – I, J and K’s – L’s – M’s

N, O, and P’s

Not Alone

I am always looking for big group games that aren’t just light party games. And Not Alone definitely hits that where it has a one versus all. And I really like the one versus all aspect to it. I have a lot of fun playing both on the monster side and the crew member side. I think that I prefer to play as the monster as I keeping track of what everyone is playing down is a lot of fun and offers an interesting challenge. I also like that as the crew, though, you can talk amongst yourself, but the monster player always has to be able to hear it. So you can plan, and planning isn’t bad, but it lets the monsters know some of what is going on.

Status: Played

Onirim

Onirim is my go to solo game for one simple reason. It’s really small and doesn’t take up much table space. It was also the first game that I played solo, if I remember correctly. I’m not counting when I was a kid and I’d take stuffed animals through a game (can you tell I like board games). This game’s puzzle is really interesting, and I like the odd artwork that it has. If someone is looking for a solo game to try, this would be what I recommend first.

Status: Played

Pandemic

This is just base Pandemic, not the Legacy versions, which will be coming up next. Pandemic is a great game. It’s a gateway game that tells a story each time you play it, and while there is certainly a fair amount of mechanics too it, it is still an experience. I like in a cooperative game how you don’t have enough time to do everything. That’s really important because it keeps the tension for the game high and the replayability high because there is always more to do.

Status: Played

Pandemic Legacy (Seasons 1, 2, and 0)

I love Pandemic Legacy in each version that I’ve played. In fact I’ve played Season 1 twice and had a blast with it the second time that I played it as much as the first, and that was playing it solo. Pandemic Legacy games, while you can’t play them again once they are done, are just such amazing gaming experiences. They add in story to the game of Pandemic, and definitely have an evolving ruleset that you need to remember. If I could go back and play it again for the first time, I would because the twists and turns, while not that shocking always, are really good. And I’m excited to go and play Pandemic Legacy Season 0 sometime soon.

Pandemic Legacy Season 1 and 2: Played
Pandemic Legacy Season 0: To Be Played

Papillon

The second butterfly game on the list, this one also has you building a garden and amazing looking 3D flowers. This is an area control/area influence game, a drafting game, and just has a great table presence. I had a lot of fun punching out everything and putting it together. I picked this one up because when I can get it played, it’ll sell itself with the 3D flowers and with the butterflies that are on clothespins.

Status: To Be Played

Parade

A small game, this one is a great filler that has some strategy to it. In it, with it’s pasted on Alice in Wonderland theme, you are trying to get the fewest points possible. But you are taking cards that are lower number or the same color as the one that you play down, but only so far along the path. It’s an interesting puzzle that has a mechanic that I really like. If you end with the most of a color, those cards are worth 1 point each, instead of face value. So you can shoot the moon a bit in a color, as long as you don’t get too many and end up with a low score. So it adds in good strategy to what is a small game.

Status: Played

Patchwork Doodle

I love roll and write games (or flip and write) and this one is an interesting game about making a quilt. What is really interesting is that you score points based off of the largest solid square you’ve made in your quilt. So compared to some polyomino style flip and writes, this one has you really wanting to keep things tightly packed together. And you are moving around placing the different shapes to build your quilt in less of a flip and write way and more of a rondel, which is unique as well.

Status: To Be Played

Phase 10

A mass market game hits the list again. Phase 10 is a game that kind of has that got me into the hobby and one that I grew up playing. I know this game has issues, mainly that someone could get stuck on Phase 1 for 10 rounds, and lose the game just like that. Now, that’s almost impossible, but it could happen, and that’s no fun. The game that I don’t own, Five Crowns, does something similar to Phase 10 but fixes that problem. I still have it in my collection though because it’s a classic and it’s easy to pull out and teach.

Status: Played

Photosynthesis

This is an abstract tree growing game that I need to play more of. I love the way it looks on the table, you have 3D trees, and I like the that the sun rotates around the board. What drew me to the game, besides the look, is that rotating sun and the fact your trees cast shadows. So you get less points to use if your tree is being blocked from the sun by another tree that’s taller or the same height possibly. This means sometimes you end up with great turns, but if things go poorly, or I place a tree just right, you might get no points to spend on actions. It’s a mean game if you want it to be, but that’s a lot of the fun.

Status: Played

Point Salad

A point salad game is any game where you have a million different ways to score points. If you put a piece down in spot X, you get 10 points. This takes the concept and makes it into a little filler card game. On your turn you draft either a scoring card or two vegetable cards. The point card might say that you get five points per pair of tomatoes that you have. So you’ll draft a lot of tomatoes. But if another tomato scoring card comes up, I can take that, or I can draft a vegetable from that row, causing it to flip over. The game is clever, it scales well, and you do score a ton of points, especially possible at higher player counts.

Status: Played

So three letter there, but not a ton for each of them. You might be surprised that I didn’t add Q in as well. But that’ll wait for another day. What’s your favorite game starting with the letters N, O, or P? What game do I need in my collection starting with those letters?

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5. Marrying Mr. Darcy

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Let’s be honest — a good portion of my love for this game stems from my pre-existing love for all things Austen. But I happen to know from first-hand experience playing this game with non-Jane Austen fans that you don’t have to be into the source material to get a ton of enjoyment from it. The game allows for up to eight players, and you play as the ladies of Pride & Prejudice (or Emma, if you have the expansion). You are competing to (what else?) attract the attention of the eligible men of P&P, in hopes of securing an advantageous marriage. To do so, you collect cards with different types of points, such as charm, wit, and beauty. Different suitors value different things, naturally, so you’ll have to get the right combination to be attractive to the bachelor of your choice.

You can angle for any of the gents you like — however, true to canon, some matches are more advantageous than others. For example, Lizzy naturally receives the most points by pairing off with Mr. Darcy, but if she gets stuck with Mr. Collins, she’ll only get a few points. And if you don’t play your cards right (literally), your character could end up as an old maid, and you’ll have to roll the dice in hopes of getting the least dismal fate that comes with that result.

This game is quick to play through, the turns go around the table pretty fast, and it has that mix of strategy and luck that I find crucial to a good game-playing experience. Add to that the fact that the theme is one of my favorite worlds of fiction, and you’ve got a game fit for any sporting young lady or gentleman.

4. Splendor

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This lovely game first drew me to it for primarily aesthetic reasons — and no wonder. It’s an absolutely gorgeous game, with the painterly artwork on the playing cards and pieces, the satisfying weight and sheen of the gem chips (think poker chips, but with jewels on them), and the general historical feel. It’d be delightful to play just for tactile reasons alone, but the gameplay experience is well worth it, too.

The premise of the game is that you and your fellow players are gem collectors, doing business sometime around the Elizabethan era (judging by the costuming of the characters in the artwork). The object is to invest in smaller jewels in order to buy more and more precious ones, thereby becoming the wealthiest gem collector in the land. The first to 21 victory points is the winner — at first, the gems don’t cost much, and it’s easy to pocket several of them quickly. However, the gems in the early stages don’t have high point values, so in order to afford the higher-value gems and beat your fellow players to 21, you’ll have to do a lot of clever maneuvering.

Splendor also features the optimal (in my opinion) strategy/luck combo that Marrying Mr. Darcy has; it feels accessible and easy to pick up, while still being challenging enough to keep me thinking. It never feels beyond me in terms of strategy; I’m generally able to plan far enough ahead to be a real contender in the game, which I have to admit is pretty rare for me. This is one of those games I want to start playing again as soon as I finish a round — and if you know me, you’ll know that that’s about the highest praise I can give to a board game. It’s one I know I’ll keep coming back to again and again!

3. Sushi Go! Party

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I was introduced to this game a few months ago, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to love it. Yet again, the exterior of the game is what first drew me in — the artwork features little cartoony sushi characters that are just so cute that it hurts. Beyond the surface, though, this game has almost everything I love most about my favorite board games — that luck/strategy sweet spot, a really fun theme, great artwork, and fast-paced gameplay.

I’ve only ever played the party version of this game, so I can’t speak to the original, but I can highly recommend this amped-up version. In the party game, you have a board with slots for the different sushi tiles, which you can switch out to either create one of the combos given in the rule book, or devise one of your own. These tiles show which cards are in play, which the players will combine in hopes of amassing the most points. SG!P is a deck-building game, with a card-passing mechanic similar to the one in Seven Wonders. As the card hands go by, you’ll have to choose wisely in order to gain the most points (and avoid losing any) when the totals are tallied up.

As I mentioned, this game is a delight in just about every way — it’s great for smaller groups and larger ones, and can be a great warm-up or cool-down game, or just a fun one to pull out when you feel like something snappy but still low-key. It has that addictive quality I mentioned with Splendor, and so much variety and possibility that I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it (or of looking at those adorable sushi faces!).

I have to say — the only real downside (though maybe it’s an upside, depending on your perspective), is that this game makes me crave sushi like nobody’s business!

2. Lord of the Rings: The Board Game

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From the title alone, I think it’s pretty obvious why I love this game. A board game modeled after my favorite fictional world of all time? Yes, please! Better yet, it’s cooperative, my favorite style of board game. I find that working together to win against the board rather than trying to beat your fellow players is a much more enjoyable gaming experience for me — it means that even if the game gets serious or tense, the players rarely take it out on each other, and that since all players are involved the whole time, nobody’s sitting around getting bored as they wait for their turn to come around again.

In the LOTR game, you play as one of five hobbits (the four from the Fellowship, with the addition of Fatty Bolger, a character from the books who didn’t make it into the movies). Your goal, naturally, is to travel through Middle Earth to Mordor, on the quest to destroy the One Ring. You’ll travel through Bag End, Rivendell, Lothlorien, and a couple of other spots to gather supplies, and you’ll move on to play through multiple scenarios staged on several separate boards — Moria, Helm’s Deep, Shelob’s Lair, and Mordor, in the base game; you may have others if you choose to pick up certain expansions. As you go, you must succeed in a series of events to keep moving, and to keep the eye of Sauron from spotting you before you get to Mount Doom.

Though I love this game dearly, it is almost punishingly difficult to win, with several ways to go down and only one narrow path to success. Many a gaming session has ended with us getting overtaken by Sauron, spelling the end for our characters (and turning Middle Earth into a land of subjugation and despair…*cries*). But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to re-set the board and try again every time that happens. I love everything about this game — the fact that it came out before the movies and is based only on the books (and features Alan Lee’s glorious artwork), its cooperative nature, the excruciatingly high stakes that manage to be serious and exciting at the same time, the mechanics of the game, and just the undeniable feeling that you’ve somehow been transported to Middle Earth and are now personally responsible for saving it. It’s a heart-pounding, exhilarating gameplay experience, and it’s one I plan to engage in many, many more times.

1. Pandemic/Pandemic Legacy

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It’s a close call between Pandemic (and its legacy spinoff, Pandemic Legacy) and the LOTR game when it comes to my top pick, but at least for now, Pandemic wins the day. It was my first foray into the world of cooperative gaming, and there was no looking back. Finally, I’d found my type of game — the type I could enjoy playing no matter what. Put simply, it’s one of the first games that showed me just how amazing board gaming could be, taking what I thought I knew about gaming from playing the tired old classics, and completely re-forming my perspective. Suddenly, board games were a world I not only could engage with, but wanted to.

Dramatics aside, Pandemic is widely recognized among gamer circles as one of the best co-op games out there. It’s been around longer than a lot of other currently popular co-op games, and it’s no wonder that it’s stood the test of time. The object of the game is simple — keep four deadly viruses from spreading across the world for long enough to totally obliterate them, thereby saving humanity. You play as a range of different medical, tactical, and scientific specialists (such as the medic, the dispatcher, or the researcher), and you must work together to keep the diseases at bay until you can cure them and clear them out.

Pandemic is a little more strategy-heavy than some of my other choices, but because of the cooperative aspect, I can bring whatever I’ve got to the table, and even if I’m not at the top of my game, I know the other players will fill in whatever gaps I can’t bridge.

Like LOTR, Pandemic is a super challenging game — there are many ways the world can be lost to disease, and only one way to save it. But due to the pacing and tight, well-laid out mechanics, it remains a ton of fun to play no matter how many times you’ve lost. This extends to the legacy version of the game, as well. In that version, you play through 12 “months” and increasingly difficult and complex scenarios, trying to beat back the diseases under narrowing odds. You’ll almost certainly make some grave mistakes and have your best plans go awry as you play through, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling and satisfying to play. I’ll definitely be returning to the base game for many more replays, and can’t wait to see what future version of the legacy game have in store.

So there you have it — my all-time (so far, at least) favorite board games. To close out, some honorable mentions: Five Tribes, Castle Panic, Ticket to Ride, Quirkle, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Dead of Winter, and Phase 10.

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Do Classic Board Games have a Spot on Your Shelf?

I think that there is room for those game to show up still. However, it is a select few classic games that I still have on my shelf. Games that come down to random luck and die rolls, such as Monopoly, aren’t all that exciting for me to play anymore. But that is only one style of classic games; some are luck-based and some are strategy-based. On my shelf, we have more of the strategy-based games. I still own Stratego, Risk, and Scrabble. Why do I own those? Because they are generally higher strategy games. There is a downside to this, though — because they are high-strategy games, it is going to be only some people who you can play these games with.

Is This A Good Spot to Find Family Games?

Yes and no. There are a lot of Euro-style games that are going to be great for families and families with younger kids. A game like Tsuro can take over for a game like Chutes and Ladders, and would be more entertaining for adults as well. However, there are some games like Scrabble that can work as your kids get older, and Yahtzee makes a lot of sense for a fun family-time game. Classic board games also make a lot of sense if you jump into classic card games as well. Uno, Skip-bo, Dutch Blitz, and Phase 10 are great games to jump into with your kids, and ones that kids can pick up quite quickly.

What Games Should I Get?

There are a few good options, and some to avoid. You’re probably pretty familiar with a lot of them, but the best rule of thumb is to reduce the amount of luck-based classic board games you own, and find games that have more strategy. Games like Yahtzee and Scrabble have enough of both luck and strategy to make them enjoyable games to play over time. And games like Uno, Skip-bo, and other card games are pretty fast and have, again, some level of strategy with a little bit of luck.

Phase 10 or 5 Crowns are both similar card games in which you are trying to complete different sets and runs. They last quite a long time, but they are games that are easy to start playing one day and continue later, as the rounds for both of the games go by pretty quickly, even if the whole game lasts longer. 5 Crowns is probably the one that I’d recommend, as it is a bit simpler and goes faster.

Yahtzee is another really good game. The rolling of the dice creates that random luck-based aspect, so even someone who can’t do the math in their head can do really well in the game. But there are statistics and probability that go into Yahtzee, so if you want to run the numbers and come up with the best strategy, you can do that as well.

Finally, Scrabble is a great word game, and getting a basic Scrabble set is nice. You can play your standard game of Scrabble with it, as well as play Bananagrams without having to get a second game. If you only like Bananagrams, you can just get that version, but getting the base Scrabble game means that you have the flexibility to play either way. And if you don’t like Scrabble all that well because you don’t know long or rare words, remember that sometimes making multiple short words on your turn yields better results than a longer word.

What classic board games do you still have around?

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