Top 100 Games (of all time) – 20 through 11

20. For Northwood! A Solo Trick-Taking Game

Published By: Side Room Games
Designer: Wilhelm Su

Buy For Northwood!

A solo trick-taking game seems like it shouldn’t work. But For Northwood! works really well. It’s a simple trick taker, you need to follow suit if you can. But the twist is that you need to win a specific number of tricks each time. You play over eight rounds and need to win between 0 and 7 tricks, exactly. That sounds impossible, but you get powers that help you manipulate your hand. It’s always a question of, which one do you go for, in terms of tricks to win, and as you get further along, can get manipulate your hand to make it work.

19. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Published By: Fantasy Flight Games
Designers: Michael Boggs, Nate French, and Caleb Grace

Buy Marvel Champions

I love Marvel and this is the game that gives me the Marvel feel to it. You are a superhero and you want to stop the bad guys scheme and defeat them. But, thematically, when you are in your hero form the bad guy is going to fight you and you take damage. So you need to manage going between your superhero and alter ego form so you don’t get hit. Of course as your alter ego, the villains are going to be scheming away. And you can create all sorts of fun combinations of heroes and villains to face off.

18. Floriferous

Published By: Pencil First Games
Designers: Eduardo Baraf and Steve Finn

Buy Floriferous

This game is one that I think is really overlooked in the gaming community. It’s a clever drafting game that does two very interesting things. The first thing is how scoring works. You don’t have much scoring that just happens, instead you draft your scoring cards. So there is always a choice between, do I draft more flowers or do I draft scoring cards. The other is how the drafting works, and this it maybe a bigger twist. You draft from a column, how high you are in the column determines when you draft next round. So it’s very possible you want to draft a less ideal card to get a perfect card.

17. Stars of Akarios

Published By: OOMM (Open Owl Studios)
Designers: Brendan McCaskell, Jonathan Thwaites

Buy Stars of Akarios

I love my big campaign games, and Stars of Akarios is one of my favorites. This one works so well for me with the tactical space combat, the planetary exploration, and a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The tactical space combat really shines in the game as you use your dice to position your ship, attack, and avoid the enemies the best you can. And the exploration is a bit like The 7th Continent/Citadel where you flip over cards and create a map and really explore as you go.

16. Clank!: Catacombs

Published By: Dire Wolf
Designer: Paul Dennen

Buy Clank! Catacombs

While i just did sell all of my other Clanks, this Clank! Catacombs spot is for all of them. Clank! is a push your luck game where you build up a deck of cards to get into a catacombs, in this case, and get out with the most points and best treasure that you can. Of course, if you are too noisy doing that, you clank, and when the enemy activates it might knock down your health. So it’s this push your luck in making noise, and going deeper. I like, too, with Clank! Catacombs, the map gets built as you go, so the board really is different every time.

15. Roll Player Adventures

Published By: Thunderworks Games
Designers: Keith Matejka, James William Ryan, and Peter Andrew Ryan

Buy Roll Player Adventures

Another big campaign game here with Roll Player Adventures. This one is all about dice manipulation and a fun story. I had a great time playing through the first campaign, and the additional one that I have, I need to get to the table. The system works well, though I will say, with four players it becomes a bit easier than at lower player counts. But the simple map movement, the story, the skill checks and of course combat and leveling up make this a fun time.

14. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game

Published By: Office Dog
Designer: Bryan Bommueller

Buy The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game

I like trick-taking games. Not a ton make it to my Top 100 games mainly because a lot feel similar. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is one that is different. Yes, it leans into a lot of standard things, but it’s also cooperative and story based. There are other cooperative ones out there, but the story based feels unique. Especially because this closely follows the books, so you get to chapters with Goldberry and Tom Bombadil as required characters which is fun. And the cooperative elements are challenging for the game.

13. Pirates of Maracaibo

Published By: dlp games
Designers: Ralph Bienert, Ryan Hendrickson, and Alexander Pfister

Buy Pirates of Maracaibo

The second of three new games on this part of the lit in a row. Pirates of Maracaibo is a pirate resource management game. I normally would want it to have more adventure, but this one is a ton of fun. I love building up my ship and seeing what strategy of building up ship, getting treasure, exploring, and competing quests can lead to victory. And it is great because all of them feel good to do. It isn’t a game where I feel like I need to go one way, though, I think some ways are more consistent.

12. Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game

Published By: Brotherwise Games
Designer: John D. Clair

By Mistborn The Deck Building Game

Another deckbuilding game on the list here with Mistborn. And I like Mistborn just a bit better than Clank! because of a little more pure deck building. But also it has a lot of fun elements to the game. It leans into Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn world and let’s you burn metals to play cards. I also like the turn track, you always bump up in power as you go up the track. This makes for a really great experience of feeling like the game is ramping up.

11. Sleeping Gods

Published By: Red Raven Games
Designer: Ryan Laukat

Buy Sleeping Gods

The final game on the list is another big one, though not a campaign game. Sleeping Gods is a sand box story game where you are dropped into an unknown world and need to find and deal with totems. Of course, it’s a new land, so you don’t know where those are. And there are monsters and other interesting things to deal with. You need to control 9 crew, but really, it’s one turn and you just need to remember a few key abilities as you play. So it sounds like a lot, either cooperative or solo, but it’s not too bad.

Join Next Week

Just as a reminder, I am streaming new videos most Wednesdays. Let me know what you want to see me play next on Wednesdays after this list is done. You can subscribe to the channel and click notify to know whenever a new video comes out. Currently I am playing through Legendary Kingdoms on Monday and then my wife and I are playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on Fridays. So join us for those videos.

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

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Top 10 Games to Buy at Gen Con

Honorable Mention: Pirates of Maracaibo: Commanders

Is this 11 games, no it is not. Why, because Pirates of Maracaibo: Commanders is an expansion. So it doesn’t count as a game. No, more so you know if you are interested in this based off of if you like Pirates of Maracaibo or not. There are some new things like commanders that give you an asymmetric starting point. Plus there is rum as a new resource because it should have always been there. There are mix and match explore tracks. And there are now cannons and things you can fight with cannons. It adds a little bit, but not too much in my opinion.

10. Buffet Boss

So the list officially starts with Buffet Boss. This is a stacking game. I believe you draft things from a buffet and then you stack them on edge on your plate and you see how high you can stack them. The higher you get, the more satisfied you are with the buffet. Of course, if you get too much that isn’t good because they won’t balance or they will topple over. This sounds like a silly fun game.

9. Cat Tower

The next game on the list is another dexterity game and the last dexterity game. Cat Tower is a game where you work cooperatively to get a cat as high in the tower as you can. But the edges of things that you use to balance aren’t always even, some might even say that the tower is a bit cattywampus. The story of the game is sweet though and the game play looks fun.

So, if you want to know the story, and this is just the theme of the game not how it is plays, the cats mom has died. And the cat wants to build a tower up to heaven to find their mom. It’s a sad but sweet theme.

8. Trinket Trove

Trinket Trove is a set collection bidding game. This one has cute artwork, but let’s talk about how the game works Because that is what draws me into this one. In Trinket Trove a number of cards are flipped over that you bid on. And you bid with the cards in your hand to get them. So you are giving up something that you might need. The more cards you bid, the sooner you pick. But, and here is the twist, when you bid, the cards you bid are now a new pile of cards for people to take. So it is a great puzzly sounding time with a simple game but fun strategy.

7. Koi

Koi is on my Gen Con list just because it is pretty. If you can’t guess, Koi is about Koi and building a Koi pond. And this game looks great. I assume that each element of the Koi pond score in different ways. But there are elements like arches that you add to your pond, fish that you add and more. And it is a 3D presence to the game which I’m not sure is in every version of the game but I hope so. This is one just from an aesthetic point of view that I want to track down.

6. 12 Rivers

I feel bad about 12 Rivers being outside of my Top 5 on this Gen Con list because I think it looks really intriguing. Some of that, though, is that I mainly know the board. The board is this 12 marble track where there are spots for players to put their blockers. And then you release all the marbles. As the marbles travel down the rivers they hit a blocker. If you block early you might get a specific marble, you could get blocked too if you aren’t high enough. Or further down more will make it to you, but it might not be the ones you want.

That physical element of the game is what gets me. I love Potion Explosion for that. And this one gives me that same toy feel for the game. I hope that the rest of the game is good to go with it and that the game isn’t just all that.

5. First-Class Letters

First-Class Letters is a roll and write word game, and I like roll and write games. In this game you roll four dice. All the players need to find words that use three of those four dice and that don’t use the other one. The more of the letters you use, the more points you get. And you need to put them in alphabetical order. So that is going to be pretty easy the first few times, but, there is more. You also seed the first letter of three of the spots, in alphabetical order, so that is going to limit you more. I think this sounds simple but like a ton of fun.

4. Tricky Kids

Tricky Kids is a trick taking game that looks like it’s for kids. But I’m not 100% sure that it is. In this game you play three hands of seven cards each. And each time you need to assign the values to your cards. Yes, this game there are suits on the cards but no numbers. So you divvy up 21 points between them as you start playing. And yes, you want to win tricks, but when you win tricks you get tokens. And you know what the tokens are and when they are showing up. It sounds like a simple but very fun big twist in trick taking.

3. Slam Throne

Slam Throne could be my #1 on this list. But I think you’ll see why the other two beat it out. This is Dice Throne but pogs. Dice Throne teased and joked about this for years on April Fool’s Day. But it is finally a reality now. You play pogs with powers and abilities and try and take out your opponents stack before they take out yours. This sounds dumb and goofy and 100% a good time. I wish I was going to be at Gen Con because I expect this one to sell out. I asked for a friend to grab it for me, I hope they don’t stand in line early, I can always get it later.

2. Tag Team

Tag Team is a weird game because it gives me Dice Throne vibes, but it’s also auto-battler. So let’s talk about how this works. An auto-battler is a game that when it comes to fighting the fight just happens.

You start with two characters and one card for each character. You both flip over the cards and check what they do. Then after you play out those two cards, you draw three more and pick one to add to your cards. You add it without changing the order of the others. But you add it to the top, bottom, or middle and then you go again. So you start to figure out where to put a block for a big attack. But maybe your opponent thought you would so they changed that with how they added their card.

I love how it works and I love the head games for it. But it isn’t just all head games. As you pick between those three cards, you create strategies and synergies as you play. And the game comes with a ton of characters. I can not way to get this in my hands, I have it pre-ordered.

1. Ace of Spades

The final one on the list is Ace of Spades. This one is getting great reviews 8’s and 8.5 from the Dice Tower and they all really liked it. It is a solo or two player boss battling game. Now, I like a good boss battler, but this one is different with a weird west theme, but let’s talk about how it works.

You face off against monsters and bad guys and you want to take them down. How do you take them down? Not by rolling dice but by playing out poker hands. And each type of hand is going to do some damage. Better hands will do more damage. As you progress the enemies you face start to have powers and abilities that they use against you. But when you beat them, you get one time or ongoing powers as well.

The theme of this game is a ton like Balatro. But it is going to be simpler than that because Balatro changes cards and I’m glad it’s not a Balatro legacy game, though that could be cool. This is one that I’d wait in line for at Gen Con. But it is available to pre-order from Devir, so I just did that today.

Final Thoughts

Oh how I wish I was going to Gen Con. If you are, let me know about some of these games. And let me know which of these games are the most interesting to you. I also remind myself that all of these games will be available at retail at some point in time. So even if I don’t get them, like I said, I expect Slam Throne to sell fast, I will get it eventually. And I am really excited to try all of these games and give you reviews in the future.

What game tops your list that you are anticipating?

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Top 10 New To Me Board Games of 2025

10. Schadenfreude

One of the few games that I didn’t play first or only play on Board Game Arena (BGA). Schadenfreude is a trick taking game but one with some weird rules. You want to be second in the game. If you win the trick you aren’t getting the points. Instead whomever comes in second gets the trick and scores their card and any that don’t follow suit. Some cards are going to give you positive points and some are going to be worth negative points.

But what I really love beyond that with the game is that as you get points you are trying to get as close to 40 total points as you can. This is something that might take a few hands. But the game is over in the hand where someone goes over forty points. If you go over forty points, you lose the game, you can’t win anymore, instead it’s the person who is the closest without going over who is the winner of the game. It’s a neat little twist on trick taking.

9. Pirates of Maracaibo

The biggest of the board games on the list just in terms of what is going on, Pirates of Maracaibo is the first of three games that I just always have a game of going on BGA. That’s because I constantly play it with one other person and it’s just always going. I love it when I come across someone who wants to keep playing a game so I can really learn it.

Pirates of Maracaibo is all about being a pirate, getting treasure, hiring crew, upgrading your ship, and exploring lands. There is a lot going, but almost all of it is pretty simple to learn and play. There are a few things that I want to get better at with the game, and that one person, I still haven’t beaten them. But I have gotten close so I think I will one day. But the game, when you know it, is thinky but fast to play and I really enjoy the theme and different strategies in the game.

8. Space Base

I owned Space Base and then I sold Space Base, why because I wasn’t playing it. I like to try a game before I sell them, but I just wasn’t playing it. And I had played games like Machi Koro and Valeria and those were fine. Then I played it on BGA and now I love it. I love it so much that I got it back into my collection and I have played it already.

The game is roll dice, activate spots, get income, buy cards and upgrade those spots. But I really like how as you play, you improve what you do on your opponents turn. When you upgrade a spot, the old cards flip vertically and now they activate a different ability on your opponents turn. And it is a race to see who can get points the fastest.

There are some trickier cards to teach in the game. But I think you can teach them as they come up. And once you know the handful of basic cards, the game is easy to play. And I like it a bunch more than Machi Koro which is fun, but feels slightly limited. This one feels like it was created with more purpose.

7. Symbiose

The second of three games that I have a standing game on BGA. Symbiose reminds me of games like Silver or games that I grew up playing with a deck of cards. In those you start with face down cards and you want to get rid of them and get rid of points. In this case, you start with face down cards and you want to build out an optimized scoring set-up.

I love how scoring works in this game. It’s a two by four grid, so two high and four wide. And the middle four cards, the middle two in each row, they are the ones that score for you. So the scoring on the bottom half of the card is what matters. And they score your whole grid. But to the left and right, those score your opponents to your left and right. So you need to decide when you flip those cards over and swap them. It’s simple but such a fun game.

6. The Guild of Merchant Explorers

I thought at one point that The Guild of Merchant Explorers could end up as #1 on this list. It is the game that I have played the most thus far this year. And that is because I love it on BGA. I often set-up a number of two player games because they go really fast and you don’t feel like you lose anything. Plus I play with a group of two others where we just have a standing game. So when one game ends a new one begins.

Watch me play it below and see if it’s for you. But I love how simple it is once you know how the game works. I think it’s even a very simple teach.

5. Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom

You saw me play through this on Malts and Meeples. And you can catch-up on that and watch it down below. This is a solo legacy game where you want to build out the best kingdom possible. You flip out cards and then you spend those cards to upgrade other cards. It’s all about managing your deck and setting it up so that you gain stronger actions. Of course there is a lot that you want to manage and you decide what scoring and what paths you go down in the game. I already bought another copy to play it again.

4. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game

Do you love Lord of the Rings, this game is steeped in theme. Do you love trick-taking? Well this one is cooperative and pretty different in how it plays. Because you play through The Fellowship of the Ring with different characters depending on where you are in the book. And each character is going to want to win tricks in a different way, maybe a certain number of tricks, maybe a certain suit. So it is very tricky and changing and works really well. I want to dive into this more with a group of people.

The one thing I will say is that I think that The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is not an introduction to trick taking. It is a very good game, but because there isn’t communication you need to have some idea of how trick taking works. It is too easy, otherwise to just repeat the same chapter over and over again. Because like a game like Euchre, you want to tell your teammate, in this case everyone that you have or don’t have.

3. Zenith

Zenith is a great two player game where you are battling for favor on planets. But there is more going on with it than just that. I really like how you battle for one of three different planet victory conditions. You can gain favor three times from one planet, once from four different planets, or five total favor tokens. But you do that by card play to gain favor, going up a technology track, and then spending cards to manage other things like gaining more income or more cards on your side of the board.

I really feel like every time that I play Zenith the game is different. And that is what I love about it so much. I don’t feel like I found a strategy that is going to work every time. I sometimes go for all favor from a single planet by playing cards. Or I might try and get a lot of technology/research done and manipulate the board that way. But the game is really good at making you adapt as you go and it is tense as you battle for favor with your opponent.

2. Clank! Catacombs

The last two are kind of “cheats” so to speak. Clank! Catacombs is just a new version of Clank a game that I already know I love. This push your luck deck building game is really now just modular. The game does change in a few other ways but it is mainly that it now adds in a modular board. And I like that element that the game is going to be different each time you play it. In base Clank you might find your optimized path and strategy. Here the game is going to be different each time. And you decide how it is going to be different based off of how you explore it.

1. Marvel Dice Throne: X-Men

It’s almost unfair to have this on the list. I know that I love Marvel. And I know that I love dice Throne. So of course I love the combination. But it’s still new to me this year and I still really enjoy it. Plus I get to play as Gambit which is always a win for me. I won’t spend much more time on it than that because you know what Dice Throne, battle Yahtzee with special powers and cards. But yes, the new X-Men stuff is good. And I’m excited for even more of it to be coming in.

The Whole List

Thoughts on the Board Games Outside of the Top 10

I like most of the board games that I’ve played new this year. I think that beyond maybe the bottom 11 of them I want to play most of them again. Karvi is an interesting one and it’s on that edge. I played it once and I need to play it more. But I’m not 100% sure that I understood everything and I messed up my first play. There is an interesting track where you go around and take your actions. But you can go as far forward as you want. I didn’t understand where the starting point . So I’m not sure if it is a game that I’ll love or not.

But just outside the Top 10 I want to highlight a few board games. I just wrote my review for Scratch & Catch, which is #17 and I think the game is a really fun filler game. I like the different strategies and plans that players can have in the game. Also Knister and #13 is such a simple roll and write game, but while it is very lucky, as a lot of roll and write games are, I think it’s a very good one to play.

And one final one because I’m not sure where it will and is Apiary. Right now it is sitting very much in the middle at #36. But I think it could rise. I also think it could drop. I just don’t know because I need to play it in person. And when I play it in person that means that I need to learn the rules better so I can teach it. And it feels like a game where nothing is too complex but there is a lot going on. So that is a bit intimidating for the teach.

Final Thoughts

My goal at the start of the year was to learn 50 new board games. I’m well past that at this point. And I plan now to shoot for 100 new board games. If I keep up a pace of 1 per week I won’t quite make it there. But already this week I learned three new board games, all of them on the list. So it isn’t like I’m running behind on that and running behind on learning new board games.

That is a new game that you really have loved this year? It doesn’t have to be from 2025, it just needs to be a new game for you. Let me know that down in the comment section below.

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As normal, I am using Pub Meeple to do my rankings. You can find their ranking engine here.

Ranking New Games 35 through 5

35 – KADO
34 – Gold’n Crash
33 – Castellion
32 – Harmonies
31 – Pokemon Old Maid
30 – Karvi
29 – Panda Spin
28 – Unsurmountable
27 – Stalk Exchange
26 – The Royal Limited
25 – At the Helm
24 – Ancient Realm
23 – SpaceShipped
22 – ROVE: Results-Oriented Versatile Explorer
21 – Ext: The Game – Lord of the Rings: Shadows over Middle-earth
20 – Circus Flohcati
19 – A Nice Cuppa
18 – Toy Battle
17 – PUSH
16 – Knister
15 – Luxor
14 – Crafting the Cosmos
13 – The Architects of Amytis
12 – 6 nimmt!
11 – Imhotep
10 – Pyradmido: Forgotten Treasures
9 – One-Hit Heroes
8 – Fromage
7 – Schadenfreude
6 – Symbiose

Quick Thoughts

There are a lot of great games in this section. Everything from Old Maid up I’ll gladly play. And I mainly will gladly play old maid because my kid likes it. Also, I realized I have played old maid before growing up, but I never ranked it. So maybe shouldn’t be on the list.

There are some games where I wonder if they would move higher in other circumstances. Panda Spin, for example, at 29 feels low. But it’s also just okay on Board Game Arena. Would it be a better game in person. The downside of that one is downtime as you might not be able to partake in tricks. But that downtime would be way less.

Also there is a huge clump of Button Shy solo games there in the middle. I like those games. There weren’t any where I thought they were actively annoying or not that great to play. At the same time, there are some that are better than the others, and because it’s just 18 cards, they all fall into that similar feeling category, especially the ones that I’ve played on Malts and Meeples thus far.

Top 5 New Games of Q1

5. Pirates of Maracaibo

This game is great. I love everything that is going on in it and I also love how fast the game is. I wrote up a review of this one already and you can read that here. Just a quick recap, there is a lot going on, but the turns are simple. And there are a ton of ways to explore scoring. I like being able to spend time figuring out new ways to score. And each way to score really does feel good, but you can’t only focus in on one, most likely, you are going to need to get a few working together to do well in the game.

4. The Guild of Merchant Explorers

The next one is another one that I’ve done a review on already. You can read my review for The Guild of Merchant Explorers here. This one I love because I can play it so quickly at two players on BGA, as long as the other player is active. And it is a different puzzle each time you play as you get unique cards for each era. And the scoring objectives, which can easily swing the game, help give the game that more variety as well.

3. Zenith

Yes, another BGA game with a review, but the final of the BGA games, is Zenith and you can read the review here. Zenith is a very fun two player game. And while there are other two player games on the list, the lowest at 34, Zenith stands above with the variety of ways to win the game. It really feels like such a great back and forth two player battle. And that tug of war element where you are trying to get the planets to your side and figuring out how to do that best is great.

2. Clank! Catacombs

Next we have Clank!: Catacombs. We already know that I love Clank in all it’s forms. I’ve streamed the digital app this year as well, but Clank!: Catacombs is probably the best version of Clank!. And that’s really driven by the fact that the game is going to change every time. You don’t know how the tiles are going to come out, and you could decide to build things so it goes off into the distance. That is going to make it more replayable without any expansions, and I think it also makes it easier to have expansions.

1. Marvel Dice Throne: X-Men

The final one is another game that I’ve kind of already played, much like Clank!, but it’s Marvel Dice Throne: X-Men. And this one is great for me because it has two of my favorite players. Beyond that, it is still just more Dice Throne, and I love Dice Throne. I need to pull out my other Marvel characters and have everyone battle together and see who comes out on top. That’s another great thing about Dice Throne, it’s really built for a tournament or competitive play. I wonder if there are any shops around me who are doing the Dice Throne league, that could be something fun to join.

Final Thoughts

That’s all of the new to me games that I’ve played this year. And I know that I’m going to play even more. I am trying to learn new games each week on board game arena and I’ve done a very good job of that thus far. It might become harder later, but I think that I can do it.

Based off of these games, are there any that I should be looking out for in 2025 to tryout? Obviously these aren’t all the games that I’ve played, so I might have played your suggestion already. But let me know those down in the comments. And let me know which games you’ve tried for the first time this year?

Looking around me, I have games like Knarr, Finca, Thunder Rolls, Bomb Busters and a whole lot more that I’ve had come in this year. And there are kickstarters as well, like Dragon Eclipse, Lore, Star Realms, Andromeda’s Edge, and The Dark Quarter that I need to get played as well. So I’m at no shortage of games to get played. And I hope to get a lot of those games played this year, plus the oh so many more that have been on my shelf of opportunity for even longer.

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How to Play The Pirates of Maracaibo

Firstly, this isn’t going to be an 100% overview of everything. There are some solid videos on that. And I’ll link one of those down below because there is a lot going on in this game. The basics of the game are pretty simple. Collect the most points and you win the game after three times sailing in to Maracaibo.

Movement

To do that, your general turn action is going to be pretty standard in everything that you do. You move your ship from left to right, and you always need to move at least one column right towards Maracaibo. You can move it up to three spaces, but, like I said, one needs to be to the right and it can be up and down in the columns as well.

Then you end on a spot. The spots offer various different things. There are upgrades of three types, goods, ship, and crew that you can add to your ship. Those will give you either an immediate action or an ongoing bonus. If you buy that card, you add it to your tableau and a new card replaces it.

Or the spot might be an adventure spot, I guess I’ll call it. This allows you to place an upgrade cube on your ship and then you take an action or grab some money, depending on what the options are. This card, however, doesn’t leave it’s spot. And we’ll talk about what those actions can be in a second.

Or you might land a spot that is a residence of sorts. These have a cost associated with them, but they will give you a scoring bonus if you take certain actions in the game.

Location Actions

There are a number of location actions, but generally, they are limited to a few things. So we’ll cover the most common ones here.

You can explore. There is an exploration track that all players move on. When you explore you explore a given distance, based off the card you are activating. It might be the spot you are on, or it might allow you to move a maximum number of spaces. This can be modified by any upgrades that you have. And you don’t need to move the whole distance, so you determine the spot you end on, and that gives you a bonus.

Next you can combat. The combat is not combat against other players. It is how you get treasure in the game. So you roll three dice, one yellow, one green, and one white. They each represent a different treasure type. You select one of those rolls and you spend the pips on the dice, and any bonus you might add to it, to gain gems, points, and coins, and possibly more.

I am going to stop here. There are definitely more spots where you can go and do different things. But generally, these are going to be the ones that standout as some of your bigger options.

Scoring Points

You score points in a lot of different ways in the game. At the end of the game you get points for the treasure you have and you have buried. Burying gives you a fixed number of points per treasure. The treasure in general though, each one has a “market” that goes with it and that is going to score you points.

You also score points at the end of each round for upgrades you have. Some upgrades are going to give you money, some give you points. And each round ends when someone reaches Maracaibo.

Another way to get points is by completing quests. Quests have two different scoring options. There is a easier option and a more difficult option. The more difficult option, generally just getting more of or going further on a track than the easier option. And these are scored at the end of the game.

If you want to know more, watch the video above. But that is some of the basics as to how this game works.

What Doesn’t Work

It’s not a negative so much as a beware for the game. There is a lot going on in the game. And the strategies can very greatly. So there is a lot to keep track of and think about as you play. I’ve played quite a number of games and I’m still finding strategies and realizing things that I should or could be doing in the game. And I try different strategies often in games. But it is going to feel overwhelming at the beginning and it is going to not be for some people because of that.

The game also has potential turns where you don’t do much. Now, you generally don’t do much because you ran out of money. And the game gives you money when you can’t do anything. But it doesn’t feel as good as when you can do something, obviously. So it might feel like you waste turns, and it kind of is, if you are just grabbing money and putting yourself behind the eight ball so to speak.

What Works

All the choices work in the game. I know I just said there is a lot going on in the game. But that’s more in terms of, this might look like a pirate game that you want to play, but it might not work for some gamers. We’ll talk about that more later. But the choices are fun and all of the choices, unless you get stuck gathering coins, can help progress a strategy. And you decide which way you want to go and how deep you want to go into all of them as you play.

That said, there are a lot of choices but the game is not too complex. I appreciate how straightforward a turn is. You move your ship and you do that action whether it’s explore, purchase a card, gain treasure, whatever it might be. You need to strategize in the game, but it isn’t so overwhelming that it bogs the game down because the turns are so straightforward.

The game also is a nice length. This is something that I think could get lost in it. It says it’s about 25 minutes per player, and that seems about right. So a four player game is going to take a while, but with the number of turns that happen in the game, it isn’t going to be excessive downtime, just a bunch of turns. And for a game with this much going on, there is a chance that you could end up with a lot of downtime if you aren’t careful.

Who is Pirates of Maracaibo For?

I think this is a game for people who enjoy a good thinky game. It reminds me of the weight in some ways of Lost Ruins of Arnak. And I think I think of it some because of the theme in the game. But also I think of it because that one has a bunch going on in the game, and you need to know what they are, but generally a single turn isn’t highly complicated. If you like Lost Ruins of Arnak, I think that Pirates of Maracaibo is going to be a good game for you.

Final Thoughts on Pirates of Maracaibo

So finally, let’s talk about it, is this game for me? This is one of a few games that I’ve gotten because I’ve played them on BGA. The other three being River of Gold, Cacao and Pyramido. I very much enjoy this game and I think it’s that sweet spot for me. Now, I love Lost Ruins of Arnak. I don’t know that I love Pirates of Maracaibo that much, but it’s still an amazing game.

For me it’s that depth of strategy in the Pirates of Maracaibo. And while you start out all being the same, you quickly become different as you gain cards and upgrade your ship. That is another really nice thing. I don’t feel like I’m always fighting over the same thing as another player. Sure in four players you might, so I might prefer it as a two or three player game (and you can play solo) but at three, which I’ve played a handful of times, you don’t get in the way too much. Sometimes enough that you might need to pivot on a planned turn, but never to the point where you are locked into luck in the game.

My Grade: A
Strategy: A
Luck: D

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