Top 100 Games (of all time) 100 through 91

100. Ecosystem

Published By: Genius Games
Designer: Matt Simpson

Buy Ecosystem here.

I like drafting games a lot and I think that is what keeps Ecosystem on the list. It is a good drafting game with then a good puzzle as you create your tableau of cards in front of you. There are three version of Ecosystem all of which are great though I’m only going to be keeping the one that I show in the picture. That is because that one is easier to teach and learn and play. But any of the versions are pretty easy to learn and all offer their own drafting and tableau building puzzle.

99. Aquatica

Published By: Arcane Wonders
Designer: Ivan Tuzovsky

Buy Aquatica here.

Can you develop the best underwater kingdom is the theme of Aquatica. But the game is really about one central mechanism for me and that is enough to get it onto the list. I wish that the characters were more fun and diverse, but I love the card sliding. When you slide a card up to gain more resources and combo it into a big turn, it just feels good. And the puzzle of optimizing that on each turn is amazing.

It’s worth nothing that I love the puzzle in person but I find it not that great on BGA (Board Game Arena). Mainly, I think on BGA you lose that tactile nature of sliding up cards and seeing how you can work everything together. It makes a tactile thing seem a lot more mechanical on BGA and more interesting when it is in person.

98. Perolga

Published By: Rebel Studio
Designers: Michal Golab Golebiowski and Przemek Woljtkowiak

Buy Pergola Here.

Do you want to make a pretty garden? Perogla is game off set collection and creating a beautiful garden to play in. I like the action or item selection process for the game. The trowels are a fun way to do it, but also the changing extra bonus, depending on where you pick from, really adds to the game as well. Because of that, I think the game offers a bunch of different ways to score points and feels different when I play it

97. Crokinole

There is no designer or publisher on Board Game Geek to post because this game is from 1876 or around then.

Pledge for Crokinole Board Here.

I love Crokinole as a flicking game where I can build up skill. There are other higher flicking and dexterity games on the list, but Crokinole has some things I love about it. In particular that skill level that you are more apt to develop. But it is also a great game for a whole evening, you just sit around, flick discs, have a drink and chat to create a fun activity and casual time. The game is all about scoring points by getting into that center hole, but then strategy as you try and knock your opponents discs off the board.

96. Fleet: The Dice Game

Published By: Eagle-Gryphon Games
Designers: Ben Pinchback and Matt Riddle

Buy Fleet: The Dice Game Here.

Do you want a big roll and write game with two sheets? Then Fleet: The Dice Game might be the roll and write game for you. I like this one because it offers a lot of combos and a lot of paths to scoring points and possible victory. You want to get fish because that is going to give you points, but you also want to get licenses that are going to give you powers. Or maybe you are all in on the market or all in on building the different shops at the wharf. Whatever it is, there is a path for you to try and combo in the game.

95. The Castles of Burgundy

Published By: alea and Awaken Realms
Designer: Stefan Feld

Buy The Castles of Burgundy Special Edition on Miniature Market.

Can you build up the best area of Burgundy to get the most points? That’s what this game is about, getting points in any and every way that you can. Whether it is by adding to flocks or filling an area or delivering goods, you are going to get points. And the dice management in the game is what really makes it work for me. I like figuring out how I can optimize my two dice for a great turn. Or maybe I can’t do that, and now I need to figure out how to pivot to something new.

94. Comic Hunters

Published By: Arcane Wonders
Designer: Diego Sa

Buy Comic Hunters from Amazon here.

Do you like comic books and do you want to have a massive comic collection? That is Comic Hunters in a nutshell as you draft comics to add to your collection. Then you need to determine which ones get added and which ones you spend from your hand putting back into the pool. Plus this game offers multiple different drafts. That sounds like a lot to teach and learn, but it isn’t bad because it’s possible to teach just one draft at a time. And the final bonus is great Marvel comic covers in this game.

93. Dungeon Kart

Published By: Brotherwise Games
Designer: Michael Xuereb

Buy Dungeon Kart here.

Do you want to play Mario Kart but you also want to play a board game? Dungeon Kart is going to let you do both of those things with Boss Monster characters, special powers and spells. This is not my favorite racing game, but it is one that gives me that Mario Kart feel. And the game itself is not too slow in how it plays which I really like.

92. Ace of Spaces

Published By: Devir Games
Designer: Benjamin Amorin

Note: This game is getting an art update after less than welcoming art was included in the game. A new version to buy will be coming.

This is Balatro the board game. Now that isn’t 100% right, but there is similarities between the two. In that you want to beat a boss in this game and you do that with poker hands. In fact you do that several times. And the different bosses you defeat will give you one off or permanent bonuses. There is a bunch of luck in the game, but it’s fast to play, fast to learn, and just a good time for a solo or two player game, in particular solo.

91. Railroad Ink Challenge

Published By: Horrible Guild
Designers: Hjalmar Hach, Lorenzo Silva

Buy Railroad Ink Challenge here.

This is a great roll and write game where you are creating rail and road routes. As you create the routes the more exit points you connect, the more points you get. And longest road and rail routes are going to give you points as well. I like both the Challenge and non-challenge version of the game. But the Challenge version gives you some challenges to go for as well which just adds in a little that I really love for the game.

Join Next Week

Next week I am going to be continuing the list. The plan is 9 PM Central time every Wednesday until the list is done and you can click notify on the YouTube channel (Malts and Meeples) to know when new videos are going live. I also have put up links to some of the upcoming videos already there, so you can click notify on those. What games are going to be in my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 edition next week as I do 90 through 81.

Thanks so much for checking out the article and the videos. I hope you have fun with them. I know I have a ton of fun making the list every year.

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How To Play The Gang

The Gang is a cooperative Texas Hold’em style poker game where instead of bidding on how strong your hand is, you are trying to get the hands of all the players in order after the river. But you work off of the knowledge from how strong people think their hands are prior to the river. If you get it correct three times you win, if you get it wrong three times, you lose.

The Texas Hold’em

The Gang follows Texas Hold’em style poker when you are building up your best hand of cards. For those who aren’t familiar, I’ll cover it briefly before we get into the rest of the game. You get a two card hand. Then more cards are played out into a communal pool. They are the flop, the turn, and the river. The flop is going to add three cards and the turn and river one card each. The player with the best hand between their cards and the communal cards wins the hand.

Getting the Order Right

So let’s talk about how you get the order right. In The Gang, let’s say for a six player game, you want the player with the best hand to have the poker chip worth six when you rank hands after the river and the player with the worst had having the one.

You are allowed to discuss how strong you feel your hand is. But you are not able to say specifics about your hand. An example might be: “My hand got better with the flop.” Or another example would be “I have a scoring hand now.” You are not allowed to specify how it got better or how it is scoring just that it is.

So after the initial hand of two cards is dealt, the flop, the turn, and the river, players take chips as to how they think their hand is. This is all after the discussion. But it is just the ranking of the hand on the final round that is going to determine if your order is right.

Tie-Breaking

I thought about putting this up in the Texas Hold’em section, but let’s talk about tie breaking. When you think of a scoring hand, for example two pair, you think of that being your hand. But it is possible to have the same thing as someone else. So you use standard tie-breakers like in poker. The higher pair of the two pair is compared, if one person has higher than the other, they are ahead. If they are the same, you check the next pair.

Now let’s use the example of a single pair. If you have a single pair and someone else has that pair, how do you decide the tie-breaker? Well, in that case you look at the kicker. That is that you look at the highest single card that you use to make your hand. If those are the same, often the case if they are in the communal cards, you keep comparing until you get through your hand of five scoring cards. If it is still a tie, the order doesn’t matter because they are the same.

Increasing the Challenge

So it is possible that you’ll find it gets too easy over time. So the game offers ways to make it more challenging or easier. One being positive and negative modifier cards. So if you win one round you flip a negative modifier card, such as a single player must take the one for the first three rounds of discussion. Or it might give you an extra card for your hand if you lost the previous time. This is going to add just a little twist to what the game is already doing.

What Doesn’t Work

The game can skew a bit easy at times. This is something that you can control with how much communication you allow. If you keep that to very general terms it is going to be more difficult. If you reference previous hands or things like that, it is going to be a bit easier. Also player count is going to make it harder or easier depending on how many players you have, the more the harder.

The other thing, and this more of a to be aware of, some knowledge of poker and Texas Hold’em does help. In particular with knowing how strong a hand is in Texas Hold’em can be important. A good pair might be the best overall hand. The game does give you a cheat sheet to know the ranks of hands but if you are a poker novice, this is going to be a notable learning curve.

What Works

The game is fast to set-up and play. While the discussion at times can take a bit, it isn’t generally that long. Because you care about getting it right at the end, only after the river is the discussion highly important. But for getting the game to the table, it is shuffle up and deal cards and that’s about it to get it to work. Especially if the players have played the game before, it is going to instantly get to the table.

The cooperative nature of the game works as well. That was my big concern going into the game. But I like how it works and the challenge of ranking the hands is good. We got better at it as we played. It is common, though, to end the game with a discussion around how strong you feel a hand is and for two players to have extremely close hands. That challenge works well for the game.

I also like the benefits if you fail or the negatives if you pass. And I think I could see even making that more challenging by playing on some of the harder modes. But they offer just a little twist or variety to what is happening in the game. Is it needed for the game, probably not if you don’t play too many times in one sitting. As the group changes, the dynamic is going to change. But with a group playing a few times in a row, it adds in some good variety.

Who is The Gang For?

I think The Gang is a good game for a mixed group of board gamers and maybe poker players or cards players. If you play a lot of cards, you probably have dabbled with poker of some variety. The trickiest part is going to be if you play with someone who doesn’t play poker. And by that I mean more hasn’t played poker. I don’t play poker often, but I know how it works as I’ve played some. But if it is completely new, maybe play a couple of hands of real poker first to get them familiarized.

Final Thoughts and Grade on The Gang

This one is interesting for me. Firstly, I want to say that I really like what it does for a cooperative poker game. And you will find that I rate it highly. However, on the flip side, I think it is a game that I want to play only so often and with varying groups. If I play it with one group over and over again, I suspect I will want to play it on the hardest difficulty. But I want to play it again, so there is that.

The other thing is that I think people who like The Gang are going to like it a lot. The people who doesn’t like The Gang, it is going to be a strong dislike of the game. Mainly because it is cooperative, limited communication, and poker. Somewhere in that combination there is a chance for a lot of players to dislike it. You might dislike cooperative games. Or you might dislike games where it limits what you can say. Or you might dislike the luck of poker. But if you are cool with all of those things, then it is a very good game.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: B-
Strategy (out of 10): 0
Luck (out of 10): 2

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It was pretty obvious before Gen Con that one of the biggest games there was going to be Ace of Spades from Devir Games. This is a solo or two player boss battling poker card game. Why was it obvious, a fun horror western theme. You beat monsters with poker hands, Balatro style. And Devir is a popular company. Turns out that you could pre-order it as well, which I did and it came during Gen Con for me. Which means, it was maybe easier to get online than at Gen Con. But is Ace of Spades worth the hype?

How To Play Ace of Spades

Like I said this game is a boss battling game. Each round you face off against a different boss and it doesn’t give you breaks. To beat a boss you need to play out poker hands. Each hand must have five cards played, when solo, from a hand of eight cards. Each hand is going to do an amount of damage, and face cards and aces increase the damage.

When you defeat a boss, you get a special power from them. Some powers are one time, but every third boss is going to give you ongoing power. An example of a power would be that all your hearts count as diamonds for a hand. Or for an ongoing ability that every time you play a straight it deals more damage, or when you play a queen it does more damage.

Eventually you reach the main boss and if you defeat him you win. Or I should say, that’s what could happen. If you lose at any point in time to a boss, aka you can’t beat them in a certain number of hands, you lose the game and need to restart.

Hands and Discards

One element of this game to keep track of is how hands and discards work. Each boss you need to defeat in a certain number of hands. Also you gain a specific number of discards per boss. So if you have a bad hand, you can discard cards from it and redraw up.

But discard also does something else. In this game you don’t reshuffle until you’ve beat a villain, that every third bad guy. Or you can use a discard to shuffle your played and discard cards back into the deck. This element is important when facing off against bosses with more health because you run through the deck faster. But it uses up an ability to set-up your deck.

What Doesn’t Work

There are two things that I think people might not like about this. Firstly is the you lose to a boss you lose the game. I could see house ruling it, if you don’t want to reshuffle, that you lose a life and can continue and you get one life. But, that said, it is very easy to say, well, I lost and just reset the boss deck and reshuffle the playing cards. That is a minimal difference in time.

The other is the luck in the game. Now, there are things that you do to help with the luck. But if you don’t like a bit of luck, you may find that it doesn’t work for you. It is luck in what you draw. And that is compounded, though becomes strategic in another way, by the fact you must play five card hands. So even if you play three of a kind you might be breaking up a future hand.

What Works

This is a really easy to learn game. I sat down and was up and running within a few minutes. It is all about playing poker hands and even if you don’t know poker they give you that poker hand information right on the game board.

It is also a quick game. I plan on streaming it soon, but I’d expect to get through a few runs to see if I can win. And that should probably be a hour or less to get through with three runs. Mainly because each run is pretty fast even if you get a ways.

Next, I like the powers you can get in the game. All of theme feel great to use. But none of them seem like they are game breaking. In fact, while the game gives you four cards for each level, they are all pretty similar. It is a deck of cards, so often times it is just for a suit that it makes it better. But there is this great tension of only using the power when you need it as things get harder and harder to take on.

The components in the game are nice as well. The deck of cards is great. And the dashboard you use is really nice. Like I said it has poker hands on there and how much damage they do, and reminders for how much damage face cards and aces do. Plus it is set-up so you can keep track of the enemies health on there as well as how many hands you have left and how many discards/reshuffles you have left.

Who is Ace of Spades For?

Now, I will caveat this by saying, I think it’ll work well with two. I have only played Ace of Spades solo. But it is a strong solo game, so I think this is a good game for someone who enjoys Balatro and board games. It is not as complex as Balatro but it makes it easier to play. Much like Slay the Spire is easier to play and scaled down numbers as a board game. So for the solo gamer in your life, this is probably a good game.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Ace of Spades

There is a lot that I like about the game. It is easy to get to the table, it is easy to learn and it is easy to play. Now I saw it is easy to play, I mean it isn’t fiddly. This is a tough game. And they give you ways to make it tougher and easier. I expect when I stream it that I’ll demonstrate it on normal and easy. In easy you don’t need to play a hand of five cards, it can be less.

Overall, I think this is a very good game and a very good solo game. It’s what I want from a solo game. The challenge is interesting, the tension is there and it isn’t a table hog. My one complaint might be that I wish there was more variety in the characters you go up against. Each level is pretty similar. I didn’t mention it but villains have something that they are strong against. Like spades, or queens, for example. That is a fun twist.

I wish that they had created more variety in that. For example, maybe a boss that is strong against spades but then is weak against queens or something interesting like that, so it might feel like more of a puzzle as you play it out. And not so much more of a puzzle, but more variety in what you face off against. And the same could be said for the abilities. Still that is a minor complaint and is ripe for expansion packs.

Have you tried Ace of Spades?

My Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B-
Strategy (out of 10): 6
Luck (out of 10): 7

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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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How To Play Knister

In Knister you are filling out a five by five grid with die rolls. Every turn two dice are rolled and then players put that combined total into one of their squares. You want to plan where you place things because as you complete rows and the two five long diagonals, you will be scoring points.

To get points you need to complete certain scoring objectives for the rows or columns. Generally things like pairs, straights, three of a kind, full house and other things familiar with poker and Yahtzee. The harder it is to get, the more points you get at the end of the game. Also, like I mentioned, you score for the two five long diagonals. But they score double as compared to a row or column.

You keep on rolling until you roll twenty-five times and then you see what score you get. I don’t think I mentioned it, but each player uses the same die roll. So the game moves along quickly as everyone plays at once.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a simple game with limited strategy to it and a good amount of luck. So for anyone wanting a game that has a good amount of strategy, that isn’t going to work for them. The luck really does come in because while seven is the most common number, we all know that you can end up with a random die combination that gives you three twelves and only two sevens. So you really are at the mercy of the dice.

What Works

Now, to say what works, it’s the luck that works in the game as well as it doesn’t. It just depends on the person. But as you roll everyone is adapting to what comes up. And you all are hoping, at the end of the game, that certain numbers pop up. So that’s one of the fun elements of the game, and something that I think will work well in person, probably better than it does on BGA.

The game is also fast. Any time you play a game where everyone goes at once the game is as fast as the slowest player. The nice thing is with the luck and limited decision making no one can spend too much time. At least, if they do spend to much time, it’s game they shouldn’t and it’ll tell you a lot about that player. And as the game goes on you know faster where you want to place something because there is always an obvious better spot. And at the start of the game it is more random.

Who Is Knister For?

This is what I consider a “holiday” game. It’s like others that I have brought home to play with my parents or siblings. It is easy to learn and easy to play and easy to chat around. It isn’t going to be for someone or groups who want a serious gaming night. Knister is a simple game that is going to be too lucky for them.

My Final Thoughts on Knister

Knister reminds me of other games. I mention Yahtzee and Poker, but it also reminds me of Criss Cross. The nice thing about Knister is that it’s simple to play and I think simpler than Criss Cross. There you use two dice like dominoes to place on your board. And it is not that difficult to end up with an open two spots if you aren’t careful. Knister removes that from the equation. The downside is that Criss Cross is faster because there are fewer rolls.

Is this going to be a game that I play all the time, no. I think like Criss Cross it is going to be one that I play sometimes but will play in waves. And I think it’ll be a regular for taking up for the holidays. I also think that it’ll work well with my game group as kind of that kick off a game night or end a game night. Plus it doesn’t really have an upper end for players. So that makes it easier for those big group events as well.

My Grade: B-
Strategy: D+
Luck: A-

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Balatro – Unlocking Process

Let’s talk a bit about the leveling up that you do in Balatro. It is in some ways like Slay the Spire and in other ways it isn’t. Mainly both of them allow you to unlock additional cards and kind of characters as you go.

Let me explain the character element first. In Slay the Spire there is The Watcher who is able to be unlocked. It’s a new character that changes up how you play the game. A lot of the elements, still the the same, but some are different. In Balatro you unlock new decks of cards. Again most of the game is the same, but some elements change up. So that is what I mean by that.

And then for the cards, in Slay the Spire you unlock character specific cards and relics to add to your game. That isn’t an element of Balatro that anything is specific, but you unlock more jokers as you go. So as I play, I find more and varied jokers popping up to tweak how I play my hand. It might push me to playing more pairs, straights, or flushes depending on what I get. So it is part of how I can craft that I want to do to generate points.

I like both ways of leveling up in Slay the Spire with it being more specific to a character or Balatro with it being general to future plays. I think Balatro does fall a tiny bit short in the leveling up area because no matter the deck that I play, I generally find similar strategies. You can see that in the game play, flushes were how I went and what made sense for me to play.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I play small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well. And I might do more deck construction with Star Wars Unlimited on Mondays as well or pack openings. Right now it’ll be more Slay the Spire.

On Wednesdays, I play solo campaign games. I plan on playing a campaign game coming up. Right now I’m torn between two games. Well, more than that if you watched through the end of the video. And that is more of The 7th Citadel. I plan to keep playing through The Drums of Desolation for a while so join me for that.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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There is an issue fixed with what the screen decided to display at the 17 minute mark or so. The screen for the game was not updating even though I was playing the game.

Balatro Game Play

I think what keeps Balatro sticking as a game that I come back to is mainly the upgrade and unlock system. I like the fact game play, but without the system, I’m not sure how much I’d play it. Getting a new joker or deck unlocked is what I’m pushing for. Not because that is always going to make it easier, it might not show up on a future run, but because it offers more possibilities.

Especially with the new jokers that come up. The decks you need to plan on which deck you are going to play. But with a joker, it might come up whenever which could make what you play even better. Like I just unlocked a joker that improves my heart flushes. Well, combine what with the one that already gives you a bonus for playing a heart, and you can create some very strong combinations.

What element of the game seems the most intriguing to you?

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I stream at 9 PM Central. That is sometimes a bit hit or miss, but that’s the goal. And I do small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well.

On Wednesdays, I play solo campaign games. Right now the plan is to switch over to Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies starting next week. See that came hit the table and how it compares to the original Sleeping Gods from Red Raven games. And let me know which campaign games look interesting and you’d want to see played from the list here.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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Find out more on how to play Balatro here.

Balatro vs Slay the Spire

So, my game for a while to randomly play on my computer has been Slay the Spire. Balatro is now here and the question is, will it replace Slay the Spire, or is it even the better game? I plan on doing a full article on this, but let’s highlight some areas where it is better and maybe isn’t.

Balatro’s biggest advantage is that a run in the game is faster. Each round is a few hands versus potentially quite a number of turns. Granted, you want to limit that in Slay the Spire. But it also is more of a question as to what cards I play in what order for Slay the Spire. So that adds to the length of the game because it isn’t just click and play.

Though, that’s also a negative for Balatro. Balatro’s game play is simpler. And that enhances how quickly you can play it. But it also means that more game plays feel the same. Often times I find myself drifting into similar strategies even if I started going for something different. The cards and the Jokers tend to lean themselves in particular directions.

So, I think that Balatro right now will get played more. That stems from Slay the Spire previously being played a lot. And that Balatro is a faster game. It is close, though, and I like Slay the Spire better. But, a quick game often beats out a better game for more game plays. The fact I often play a run in 30-40 minutes versus an hour or hour and a half with Slay the Spire is a big difference.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I stream at 9 PM Central. That is sometimes a bit hit or miss, but that’s the goal. And I do small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well.

On Wednesdays, I play solo campaign games. Right now the plan is to switch over to Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies starting next week. See that came hit the table and how it compares to the original Sleeping Gods from Red Raven games. And let me know which campaign games look interesting and you’d want to see played from the list here.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
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Pros

• Price Point
• Print and Play
• Using a Deck of Cards
• Another Roll and Write
• Solo

Cons

• Another Roll and Write
• Looks Like a Lot Going On
• 4 Player Max

The Page

I’ve backed a lot of Print and Play roll and write games. And while this is not only a print and play, this page is clearly done by someone who is more than just that. The layout of the page is nice, and the graphic design works well.

And, because Fliptown is just a roll and write game with no minis, you get to the game play immediately. That means that I can scroll only a little on the page. I really appreciate that.

And there is more thought than that to the page. But it’s more thoughts to the game. In particular, a custom deck of cards, dry erase boards. Those are things that I kind of expect now in a roll and write game. I have a laminator when a roll and write doesn’t come with dry erase, but that should be standard at this point. Yes, it might cost a little bit more, but also, you don’t need to print a stack of 100 sheets.

The Game

The game itself, I will say it looks intense and like there is a lot to do in the game. The board is basically split into four parts. And you can maybe guess why that is the case. It’s split into four so that you use a part depending on the suit that you pick. That makes sense and is going to give the roll and write more of a thematic feel.

So on a round it looks like every player goes at once, and important thing for me in a roll and write. They use the three cards that are flipped over. One for the suit, the part of the board you go to. Another for the number, which will be what you activate. And the final one is building up a poker hand? I don’t know what the poker hand is for.

Back or Brick

I really like my roll and write games, so Fliptown is a Back for me. And I think that it can be a good back especially if you do the print and play version. I did bump up my pledge to a physical copy though. The reason, I love my roll and write games.

But for $5, you can print everything off, you just need a standard deck of cards for the random element. That is an amazing deal. I’m a big proponent of print and play roll and write games. Granted, I need to print off several of them and start to play them. But for $5, I get a game where I can help support someone’s passion project. And while Fliptown is bigger and I expect to see it in retail, if you just want to try sooner, that $5 pledge level is amazing.

Is Fliptown a Back or Brick for you?

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As a quick recap, this is the story about a socially awkward girl who feels like she’s different than everyone else and can’t have fun, but then she meets a new student at her school who pulls her into adventures which ends up with them finding their student council president working at a board game store and they start to learn about board games.

In episode #2, they are back in school and excited to try out a new game that their student council president has brought with her. But they notice that another student is staring at them. So Aya, the new student, invites him to join in playing the game of Cockroach Poker. She doesn’t realize that he’s interested in her and that’s why he was watching them, and she’s not that great at bluffing, which is needed for cockroach poker. Then, in the end, Aya reads it all wrong and thinks that he’s interested in Midori, the student council president, which confuses him even more.

Let’s talk a bit about the episode before I talk more about the game and some thoughts on that. I think that the anime still hasn’t hit it’s pace. It’s very much a slice of life anime, but it’s kind of a background slice of anime. It isn’t one that leans too heavily into the humor that you can get from a lot of slice of life anime, so you don’t have to fully follow to catch all of the jokes. This is definitely a weakness of the anime, because you can miss some of what is going on in the show, because it isn’t attention grabbing enough.

On the other hand, I think that it is doing a good job of showing off what I love about board games. It branches out and brings people who might not be together into a single group. To me, that’s one of the things that I love about board games. And I think it does a good job of showing how board games can help you process with real life things or, in the case of this episode, how real life things can influence how you play a board game, because the guy was trying really hard not to beat Aya or cause her to lose anyways, and how playing with someone you like can affect how you play a game.

Let’s talk some about Cockroach Poker. It’s a gross sounding game, and you have bugs that you are playing and lying about. Or you might be trying to tell the truth. But on a person’s turn, they are playing a bug card face down and then telling another player that it is either the bug that it is, or lying about it and saying it’s another bug. The person then either guesses that you are lying or not, or if they don’t know, they pass, look at the card and then present it to another player, either saying the same bug or a different one. But if you are caught lying or called out for telling the truth, you get the card in front of you, but if you are telling the truth and the person thought you were lying or vice-a-versa, they get the card. You are trying to not be the first person to get four of a single bug, or one of all eight bugs. This game actually seems pretty interesting to me in terms of a bluffing game. It’s a simple enough one and easy to teach. That said, I feel like bluffing games have a limited appeal, because while most people can understand the concept of bluffing, if you aren’t good at bluffing, it makes a game like this harder to play. I’m okay at bluffing, generally better after two drinks, but I don’t think this game would be everyone’s cup of tea.

Overall, I’m still thinking this anime has more that it can offer. I do really enjoy that it’s teaching about board games and bringing them into the public eye more. Now, it is anime, so it is fairly niche, but overall, I’m sure that it’ll introduce more people to the variety of games that are out there and they have done a good job of having simple but different games than people would know. I’m hoping that it can build into more of an anime with a bit of a story instead of being so separate, I know that’s not what all slice of life anime does, but I think this would benefit from it, because it isn’t quite funny enough just to have completely stand alone episodes.

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