How To Play First-Class Letters

First-Class Letters is a word game played over seven rounds. The goal is to create the words that score the most points while following a few rules that sound simple but aren’t always as easy to complete to maximize your score.

Before the Game

Before the game the three brown dice are rolled. And those are going to be letters that seed three spots on your sheet. When you fill in those spots, the words you play there must start with those letters. This matters, as well because you put them in alphabetically. Any word that you play that isn’t in alphabetical order is not going to score at the end of the game.

The Rounds

Each round is the same, and there are seven in the game. You roll all four dice this time. The red die is going to be a letter that you are not allowed to use in your word. You u se that letter and your word is going to score you no points.

The other three are letters that you want to use in your word. Every time you use one of those three letters you get a point. And if you use all three of them your total points are doubled for that word. So it is possible to use a letter multiple times, and if you do that, it will score you one point each time.

Once you write your word, the first person to do so flips the timer. That is how much time, about 40 seconds I believe, that players now have to get a word written. And it is time for the player who flipped it or any player to try and come up with a better word to replace the one you have.

End Game

So at the end of the game you simply tally up your points. But you also verify that each word is in alphabetical order. If it is not in alphabetical order you cross it out and you do not score points for that word. The player with the most points is the winner of the game.

What Doesn’t Work

This in some ways is still a word game. It is possible to do well enough by just writing shorter words. Especially if the letters are difficult to make a long word out of. But a good vocabulary is going to be very helpful in this game. I think that the timer does help, though to alleviate some of this. As long as that person isn’t getting that large word immediately. The pressure of the timer is going to keep them from just being able to sit there and figure it out.

What Works

The system of the game works really well. I like how there is a letter that you can’t use. I believe on that die it has A, E, I, O, Y, and S (or T I forget which). But it is a common letter for words. So that makes it trickier. Often a A or E would roll and now all I can think of is a word that has them. The letters on the other dice are a good mix of more and less common letters.

I also really like how the game puts pressure on you by locking in some letters you need to use. First-Class Letters is played over seven rounds, so the spots for rows 2, 4, and 6 are the ones seeded with a letter. And it is possible to seed it with N, R, and T. Those are good letters to have, but it makes it really narrow in there as to what letters you can fit between. So the alphabetical order is a good stretch for players as well.

The time is nice how they use it too. I like that it isn’t just a timer that runs and counts down. It is only when one player feels comfortable to flip it. Now this sometimes can be fast because I like the word I got. Another time I might not like that word, but if I flip it, because I wrote a word, it is going to put pressure on the other players. And I get time to come up with another word.

Who Is First-Class Letters For?

I think it’s for people who like a nice fast word game. A lot of the more common ones, Scrabble and Boggle, can take a while to play. First-Class Letters is a very fast game in how you play and it is a game that makes it feel more balanced as you play it than some of those do. So if you know someone who likes word games or you are that person, but it is hard to find other people to play with, this one might be a great option for that.

Final Thoughts and Grade – First-Class Letters

I like this game a lot. I enjoy a good word game. And I appreciate how simple the game is to learn and play. The instructions for the game just take a few minutes and everyone is easily able to jump in and play the game. Is it going to be a highly strategic game, no, but it even says on the box it is a party style game. So you know what you are getting into.

Now, that all said, while I really like the game, it is going to be one that probably hits the table only sometimes. Why, because it is a word game. While I think it’s more accessible, I play games at times with people are not native English speakers. So is that the right game for them, or who have different levels of comfort with spelling. But I think that kind of goes without saying for a lot of word style games.

My Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B+
Strategy (out of 10): 4
Luck (out of 10): 4

Just one last thought, this game obviously has luck depending on what is rolled. But it is not a lucky game. And there is a little bit of strategy as you fill in words and figure out where you place them. But for the most part, like most word games, it comes down to the words that you can spot/know from letters given. So it is much more player dependent than luck or strategy.

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

How To Play Paperback?

Like I said above, Paperback is a deck building game. That means that you start out with a hand of cards, in this case letters, and you draw a hand of them. You use those letters to make a word, that gives you are “score”, really purchase power, to buy more letters or point cards. The turns go around with drawing up to a hand of five, making a word and buying more cards.

The game ends when one of two things happen. Either someone has put down a 10 letter word, after 7, 8, & 9 have been completed to take the last common card. This card can be used by anyone any time. Or two of the scoring piles are gone. Then you add up the points on the cards that give you points, different than the “score” when is just for purchase power. Player with the most points wins the game.

Initial Impressions

Generally, I like this game and what it does. It rides a balance between something like Ascension with it’s ever changing market, and Dominion with it’s scoring cards that clog up the deck. I think it’s easier, less combos, to think about than either of the games, though. And unlike the Duchies and other scoring cards that clog up a Dominion deck and do nothing, these scoring cards do still give you a wild letter.

And I think that is a nice balance in the game. I like being able to play out a big word. I like using the double letters so that my hand of five can create a 7 letter word. But, it is not a game that gives you too many dead hands. In a four player game, I think there were four times where someone couldn’t buy something. Twice because we didn’t have enough wilds or vowels. So my hand is all consonants and I’m stuck. And twice because there were no low cost cards left to buy.

And I like the two different ends to the game. We went through two scoring piles. But I did play down and get two of the common cards. That means I played a seven and eight letter word before anyone else did. I almost was able to do a nine letter word, but couldn’t quite get that one.

How Is It As A Word Game?

I want to address this separately. I think that there, generally are a few, two really, types of word games. The first is the Scrabble type of game. In that game, knowing big words can be good. But Scrabble, in my opinion, is about pattern recognition and playing to optimize placement. If I know a big word, doesn’t matter if I don’t line up my “J” or “V” on the double letter score. You pick words to optimize the tile placement.

Paperback is not that type of word game. Instead it falls into the second camp. The second one is about what words you have in your vocabulary. I still need to puzzle out how the letters in my hand best create a word. But I don’t play my word off of anything else. That means that I score that word in a vacuum. Or, another way to think, what I do doesn’t matter to what word you create. Letter Jam is also in this category, but different.

Now, both types have their flaws. If I recognize patterns better than you, I win at Scrabble. If I create larger words with “harder” letters in Paperback, I win. This is an inherent problem that can arise in most any word game. Even Letter Jam, which is cooperative has some of this problem. But Paperback is up there with Letter Jam for a game that limits that.

How Does It Compare To Other Deck Builders?

That is the other thing to talk about. I compare it to Ascension and Dominion. But I do think it is a bit more than them in some ways. I say in some ways because it is about the vocabulary aspect. It requires a different skill than just deck building.

I think that it does a good job with it’s powers though. Most any deck builder, from Dominion and Ascension to Lost Ruins of Arnak and Clank! offer cards with powers. Paperback does a good job of keeping it simple. I think it is about as simple as Dominion whic just gives you more purchase power, number of buys, or action cards you can play.

But the powers on the cards work. I mentioned that if you play a seven letter word you get the common card. With a hand of five cards, you need cards with powers to let you draw more cards next hand. I think they do a good job with the cards that draw more and other powers. Other powers allow you to purchase better cards that give you more “score” to buy more cards. We didn’t get the high scoring cards, but with the right combos we could have.

Final Thoughts on Paperback

Obviously, this is initial impressions, but I want to give some of my preference with this game. I like it, I think it is a good word game. If I have a concern with it at this point, is that some people will struggle with some of the options that they have. I had 9 cards in hand one time, that is capable of being a lot of words.

I also wonder a bit about variety in this game. Am I likely to push for high cost cards, high cost letters, which are harder to play in hopes of getting the really high scoring cards? Or is it better to get more of the lower cost ones and fill up my deck that way. I want to experiment with that a bit more, because maybe it would be worth it.

And I do like that they offer an expansion for it. That adds in cards that have three letters on them. But they also have modules. We didn’t play with any of them, but it is just different things to get mixed in. That means that some of my concern about variety is already taken care of. Initial judgement, if you like word games, this is a fun one.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Games I Saw at Gen Con

Burncycle

One I knew I wanted to see and one that I came home with. This is a big game where humans built robots, robots took over, humans came back with a vengeance and now you’re robots trying to survive and go on missions.

It is a Chip Theory Game, so big and has a lot going on with it. But one that when you get down to it, with the chip system and everything, it doesn’t look too bad to play. It’ll be a table hog, but one with a lot of good and interesting choices. And it looks different than a lot of games. This game has two boards one where you are sneaking into a facility and another where you are hacking the system and trying to balance both of those seems interesting.

Hoplomachus: Victorum

Another Chip Theory Game, this is one that I suspect I’ll buy and I wish I’d backed on Kickstarter. Hoplomachus takes one of their original games and brings it to the table as a solo only game. And with a campaign in it. Which makes it even more interesting.

In this game you are going around and trying to defeat the minions of Pluto in this arena/gladiator combat game. You travel around build up your troops and fight to gain victories and rewards. For me, I think it could be a great game to stream on Malts and Meeples. With so many massive campaign games, this isn’t small but it won’t be as massive on the table.

Cora Quest

Cora Quest is s game that I knew I wanted to checkout for sure. Cora Quest is a family weight dungeon crawler game. Everything about this game is fun, there is story, but it’s family friendly and fun. There is dice chucking, the artwork is great. I haven’t bought it because I don’t need to yet. When my kid gets older, I could see this being an amazing introduction to dungeon crawlers and story adventure games.

Land vs Sea

I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to demo this one. I got more of a sales pitch than anything. Though, I did get the basics of the rules, which means I probably need a minor rules read and then I can play. At it’s core, Land vs Sea is a two player game about trying to close off areas of land or sea.

One player gets points when land masses are closed off, the other when sea is closed off. But you might want to close off your opponents area because there are other scoring pluses on the board. If you close off that area, your opponent scores the land or sea area, but you get the bonus points. Seems like a light and fun game. You can also play with more players, but I want to try at two first.

Bark Avenue

Bark Avenue at the same booth of Land vs Sea is another game that I got more of a pitch for than a ton of details on it. The basic idea is that you are a dog walker. And you try and get points or money by having the dogs that you walk do things on their walks. It didn’t seem like too heavy a game, and it had a very big footprint for that. Probably not one I’ll checkout later.

Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather is a small set collection game. It’s interesting in how it does it though. You are playing out birds that you are seeing. And everyone plays out birds all that once. Anyone who crosses over with a habitat checks off all of the birds. And then the previous rounds birds stick around for the next round. So there is some strategy as to where you go. The game seems light and fast, but pretty and could be a good small box game to add to a collection.

Dawn of Ulos

Ulos is the world of Roll Player Adventures. And Dawn of Ulos is an economic game set in that world. The game looks very cool on the table, but I’m not sure it’s a game for me. I like the more thematic things set in that world. Now, that isn’t to say that the game doesn’t look cool on the table. It definitely does. I just think that manipulating the different species as you manipulate the market is less interesting to me.

Paperback

Paperback, this was a very fast overview, but a game that I kind of want to try. Paperback is a deck building game where you are making words. The words that you make give you purchase power and gets your more letters and double letters and the possibility to make even bigger words. I love deck building and I enjoy word games. My wife loves words, so I think this is a solid option. And unlike Scrabble or Banagrams, it doesn’t just reward you for knowing the few great Scrabble words.

Chai

Chai is another theme that I think my wife would like. It’s a bigger game where you run a tea shop and you are collecting ingredients to complete orders and get tips. The end of the game is to have the most money. So pretty standard for a board game. The production on this one looks great, though. One I’d love to truly sit down and play and see if I like it and what I think of the weight of the game.

Red Dragon Inn 8

Finally Red Dragon Inn, I have played this one before, but I was learning about Red Dragon Inn 8: Pub Crawl. It’s more stuff for Red Dragon Inn, but it adds in a pub crawl mechanic. It just seems like it offers more options for game play without making it much more complex. I’m more interested in their dungeon crawl game that they have coming out set in the world. Because while I generally find Red Dragon Inn too long, I do like the characters and the world. And I think the length is more due to player count than anything.

Final Thoughts

There were a lot of fun games to see, and I likely could have seen a whole lot more. But I was semi-targeted in what I was doing. Though, there are also games that I probably never would have looked at, but I had a moment. Bark Avenue being the big one on the list. I generally wouldn’t have checked out Red Dragon Inn 8 either, but I know they have promo cards often if you listen. So I did that to get the card for a friend.

Out of these games ones that I’ll likely pick up will be Paperback, Hoplomachus: Victorum, and Birds of a Feather. All very similar games, not at all, but all that do stuff I like. Paperback is deck building and word game. Hoplomachus is a big campaign solo game. And Birds of a Feather is a small filler game. Which would interest you most?

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Story in Board Games

I believe that is one of the great things about modern board games, though. The fact that you can put story into the games. Or a game is very thematic that can tell a story itself. But when you look at most classic games, there might be a theme but not one that you could really engage with.

Going into really classic games, like Monopoly, Clue, Chess, and Scrabble only one of those games contains much theme. Clue gives you some of that through telling the story of a murder as you try and deduce who the killer is. But now games integrate that story and theme so much more into the games that you can play.

Two different types of story can be in board games. You likely know what they are because of the title. The first is that the game can contain narrative, your story driven games. The second is a game that has an emerging narrative to it. A lot of games can have this, something like Pandemic, which doesn’t have it’s own story, develops a story as you play along. But let’s dive deeper into those two.

Story Games

A story game is going to have an active narrative throughout the game. It can be as big as a game like Gloomhaven where you read story elements as you get into each dungeon. Or something like Spire’s End which has story on every card. But even these show examples of how different story games can be.

With Gloomhaven you end up with a fair amount of text. You read it as you go into every scenario. There might be text for the scenario as you open doors. There is text then at the end as well. Plus you have city events that add more flavor and story for the town of Gloomhaven and road events for when you travel to locations outside of the town walls. Everything adds in story.

Spire’s End, you have all of the story on the card. You flip a card and you read story. It might give you a choice, it might lead to a battle. But I think that a better example of a different type of story, in a vein similar to Spire’s End, is Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game. That game has cards with story and a website (police database) that you use. But the story, while it is almost everything in that game, doesn’t get told in such a narrative, linear, structure.

Emergent Story Games

The basic idea of these story games is that as you play, the story itself becomes clear. This might be through text, but the choices you make develop the story for the game. It doesn’t give you the option to just read through everything, like a novel, and get the story. It is only through playing the game. And there might not even been story text to read, the game might just give you choices that create theme and story.

An example of this would be something like Western Legends. You play as a character in the wild west, and you can decide what you do. Do you become a lawman hunting down other characters who might be robbing a bank and gaining infamy. Or maybe you are running cattle up to the train and making your living that way. But when you come out of the game, you have a story of what your character did.

And then with Sleeping Gods, for example, that does have pieces of story that you can explore. But it is just pieces, little vignettes into the world. And you pick and choose the pieces of story that you go on. You can watch my game play and see the little bits of story that I messed around with, but together, all of that made a narrative of the adventures of my crew in that game. Next time I can explore in a new direction or try and complete stories I didn’t fully see.

Old Game to New Story Game

But I think that this is hard to talk about without giving some examples. Plus, I just like examples of a game that you might know to a game that has more story to it.

Clue to Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

An example for a game that I already gave here with Detective. But Detective that’s that who-done-it nature of Clue. You try and figure out these five interconnected cases, but each of them is it’s own story as well. But it takes it from Clue where it’s more purely deduction as you try and ask the right questions to eliminate information. To Detective where you want to deduce what is going on, but that is picking out elements of a story/narrative that you consider to be the best leads to go down.

I always describe Detective in a way that I think will be a turnoff for some people. But I mean it as a compliment. It’s a bit like a crime show. Yes, not the most fun thing and if you’ve watched CSI or NCIS that seems boring. But when you are the detective versus watching a detective it makes for a much more fun experience. It’s one of the better stories I’ve played in a game as well.

Munchkin to Betrayal at House on the Hill

I think you could make an argument that you end up with a bit of a narrative of what your character did and got in Munchkin, but it’s really more about everyone messing you over. And I think that is a style of game that a lot of people get into the hobby with. It’s taking Uno but instead of making it colors and numbers, you have monsters, weapons, armor, and fighting.

For a more thematic experience I’m going with Betrayal at House on the Hill (or Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate). It has a similar feeling of kicking open doors as you explore this haunted house. You find crazy bits of story or items, and omens that will eventually lead to one player betraying the rest. It gives you that sense of surprise that you get in Munchkin as you flip over a room. But has story and has tension as you know that betrayal is getting close.

Catan to My City

This one is maybe a bit of a stretch, but My City does have story to it. It is pretty light on the story, but as you play through different chapters, new things happen. And It gives you that feeling of building up your own city as you go or you own area. It’s similar to what Catan does that way, but it has those little bits of story as it adds in new mechanics.

Charterstone would also work for that, but I think My City is more accessible and for me more fun to just sit down and play. But they both offer that city element or building out your area in a way to help you the most. Charterstone maybe a bit more so because you have that resource gathering element like in Catan. But My City is just so accessible and easy to just sit down and play a few games in one sitting.

Ticket to Ride to AuZtralia

Finally, Ticket to Ride doesn’t have much theme. You could just be connecting random points together with blocks. But if you want a game that builds out routes and has some story that develops throughout the game, AuZtralia might be a solid option.

Now AuZtralia has no story on it’s own. But in a game where you face off against great old ones as you try and build up your tracks and hope that the monsters go after everyone else, that is story. Plus the game has solid and interesting mechanics as you spend time to do actions but that then means other people get to do more. But back to story, fighting a monster, having the old ones win the game potentially, all of that will create moments of story where you eek out a victory or have it snatched away from you. All while building out trains.

Final Thoughts on Story in Board Games

For me, if a game can promise and deliver upon story, I am always going to be interested. A lot of my favorite games have that story element. But not every game needs a story element to it. An abstract game like Quoridor doesn’t need to try and tack on a story, or a trick taking game like Matcha. But when there is a chance to add in theme and add in pretty artwork, I appreciate it when a game does that.

A good story for a game, even if it’s not a campaign, just intrigues me. It keeps me wanting to come back to the game over again. Even something like Homebrewers which really doesn’t have a story, I like to put one on there with the beers that I’m brewing with their odd ingredients and what that might look or taste like. So it is possible to add in your own story to a lot of games, it just depends on if you want to.

What is your favor game with story or best story you’ve come across in a game?

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

So we are going to look at a number of classic board games and see how well they hold up now. Am I still interested in playing them myself still? Or are they games that I’ve played and I’m done with now.

Uno

Uno is a simple game with simple rules. You play down a matching color or number. It is pretty typical, and really is what so many card games are based off of. Which means that there is take that, you can skip someone else’s turn, make them draw, sometimes draw four, or reverse it away from them.

This is a game that I rate pretty lowly at this point. It is an okay one growing up, but there are so many more card games that I’d play now. Something like Ohanami is just as simple and way more fun. And games can take a long time, or be over really quickly. Is there strategy, a tiny bit, but sometimes it is just luck.

Grade: 3/10

Skip-Bo

Now we move to another pretty simple card game. This one is about putting cards down in numerical order to get rid of your pile of cards. But there are Skip-Bo cards that can be used as any number. When you can’t play anymore, or don’t want to, you discard a card to one of three discard piles you have. You can use those cards to help play out more cards later, assuming the card you need is on top of the discard.

This game is generally play out everything that you can, and then wait for your next turn. But sometimes you don’t want to because you don’t want to leave your opponent(s) opportunities to play down a card from their pile. So you might pull back a little bit. And adding cards to your discard pile is also an interesting decision space in the game. I’d play this one again, though it is very light and simple.

Grade: 5/10

Dutch Blitz

Much like Skip-Bo where you are trying to get rid of all of your cards and putting them down in numerical order, you do that with Dutch Blitz as well. Except that Dutch Blitz is done in real time. You flip two cards from your pile and you can play the top one down. The game is fast and hectic, and can reach a situation where no one can play at which point you flip one card before flipping two again.

This is another one that I wouldn’t mind playing again. I likely won’t pull out my copy of the game though, because the game is just okay. It is a speed game that works for some quick entertainment. And it is again really easy to learn and play. It won’t be for everyone, though, because of that real time speed aspect.

Grade: 5/10

Yahtzee

Now, this one is going to be the highest graded game on the list. I think in 2020 it was in my Top 100, just barely, or just missed it. Yahtzee is a fun roll and write game where you are trying to get certain rolls of dice. It might be sets of numbers, or a run, or a full house, or all of the same number, a Yahtzee. And depending on what you get determines where you can place it on the score sheet.

My family and I play this one often. We kind of have it down to a science knowing what the odds are on certain rolls and what roll is the best one to go for in a given situation. It makes the game kind of silly because we can make snap decisions on what to do, when to push our luck, and stuff like that. I dropped on my list because I have played it a lot, but it is still a fun one.

Grade: 7.5/10

Scrabble

Not too far behind Yahtzee is Scrabble, another game I’d play again for sure. It is a lot of fun to try and come up with good words. But that’s not how you optimize Scrabble. It is about scoring as many points as you can with the words that you have. So if you can build off of what other people have done to create multiple words at once, that is how you do well.

And while I like Scrabble, I do think that it has diminishing returns. Or more so, skill level for the game matters a lot. Using all your letters can score you a ton of points, but that is tricky. So setting it up that your opponents can’t score well and that they’ll give you spots to score a lot is more what the game is about. Vocabulary doesn’t matter, it’s more about knowing the board and how leverage scoring.

Grade: 6.5/10

Clue

Another one that I don’t mind, are there better deduction games that don’t having you roll and move, for sure. And it sucks if you get stuck without being able to try and find out information, but the game is still interesting. And when you play, you start to realize how you can get information not on your turn. How you can create scenarios where it is meaningful information to help you narrow down things quickly.

This is like Scrabble. There is the game you are playing that you can play easily. Then there is the game that you can play which will get you the win. So you need kind of the same level of skill for players, otherwise some players will have a distinct advantage as they play. And the roll and move and potential dead turns isn’t fun.

Grade: 6.5/10

Monopoly

Monopoly is a classic game of too long game play and not enough interesting choices. You roll the dice, you move, you buy the property, if you can, and if not, it goes up for auction. That is a rule that no one remembers, though, and that makes Monopoly take forever. And even with that rule the game is way too long for the decisions that you make.

Maybe if the game played faster it’d be better for me. But it isn’t that, and never will be. Yes, it is extremely popular because everyone knows it. And there is a Monopoly for everything. So if you want a copy, it is a game that people know how to play, even if they don’t know the actual rules.

That is the one thing cool about Monopoly. People know how to play the game, not because people read the rules. Monopoly’s rules are an oral tradition at this point. That means that rules might vary from teacher to teacher. It doesn’t make the game any better, but it is interesting.

Grade: 1/10

Life

While I do like Life better than Monopoly, Life has less decision making space than Monopoly. In Life you spin a spinner and something happens to you. Never versions offer some choices. Like what house you buy, you draw two and buy the cheaper. Why, because how much money you have at the end of the game is what determines if you win.

Why do I like it better than Monopoly, all be it barely, because it tells a silly story. You spin and move, sure. But you spin and move and get a job, a house, a spouse, kids, and a lot of other random things that happen. So at the end of the game, you have a story that you can tell about your family. Is it a dumb game, yes, but it is silly as you play.

Grade: 2/10

Rummikub

Now we come back to another game that I generally like the puzzle of. You create sets of tiles based off of number without repeating colors or runs in colors. The game play is pretty simple. You build off of what is already out there, and draw a tile each turn. Your goal is to get rid of all your tiles. But if you can puzzle out a way to move those sets around into runs or vice-a-versa, that is so much fun.

Rummikub really gives you a way to feel clever. Now to do that it is basically causing every player at the table to have analysis paralysis. Especially late in the game when there are a ton of tiles on the table. But it is a simple game and easy to teach. And it feels enough different from a lot of classic games that it works.

Grade: 5/10

Set

Finally we have Set. This is a game where skill matters a ton. Some people are good at pattern recognition and others aren’t. You are looking at a 3×4 grid, I think or maybe 3×3 and looking for a set of three cards that match up some way. They can be completely different in every way. Or they need to match exactly one thing. or they need to match all but one thing. It is tricky to explain without the cards.

This is a game that I kind of like. It’s tricky, I like it because I am very good at pattern recognition. It isn’t a great game, but it is one that works for a wide audience. Though, sometimes that audience will get stomped.

Playing Set growing up, I’d generally play with two cousins. I forget how many possible sets you can get, but on average, I’d probably have 70% of the sets, my other cousin would get 28% of them, and the third player would maybe get one. And that was his goal in those games, get a set. So, Set is not a game that everyone will be as good at.

Grade: 5/10

There we have it. 10 Classic Games with a quick review on all of them. Are there any games from your childhood that you still play? Are there any that you won’t play? Let me know in the comments below.

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Medium

This is s party game that you really don’t need to teach how to play the game, the game is that simple. You just start playing it. Each player has a hand of six cards, one person plays down a card and the person they are paired with plays down a card. Then you need to come up with a word between those two.

So if the words were muffin and scone, it might be breakfast. It’s not between, but it’s what links both. But then if the guessers, the people who played the cards, guessed breakfast and pastry, now they need to come up with a word linking or between those. You take points depending on how many times it takes you trying to match up. And you can try up to three rounds.

The game offers a good challenge as you try and match up with someone, but also good laughs. Plus, the number of times I pick between two words and the other person picks the other, it’s way too high. But it’s a concept so simple that everyone can play and have fun with it.

Cross Clues

If you want something more challenging, Cross Clues offers that. It is two axis of cards with words on them. So rows numbers 1 through 5 and columns A through E. Each of those is matched up with a word, and players each of a card that is one of those axis.

An example of play would be that I have A3, the word on A is stick the word on 3 is wind. I might give the clue, and only a one word clue, kite. But maybe B’s word is tail, do I want to give that clue and have people choose between those two?

It’s a clever game that can be timed, which would make it very hectic. I prefer without a timer and just enjoy it more that way. It’s a good one though, because everyone is a clue giver. No turn orders, whenever you come up with a clue, you say it and players come to a consensus and guess on it. So it’s a cooperative party game.

Wits & Wagers

Maybe the people you play with like trivia. Wits & Wagers is the best trivia game that I have found. Why, because you don’t need to know trivia. You need to know who, in your group, might know the answer. Wits & Wagers is a trivia game where everyone answer is a number. And like Price is Right you’re trying to guess the closest without going over.

But what works really well is that you guess, the numbers are sorted, and then you bet on what you think the right answer is going to be. The closer to the middle of the group the better the odds. The further the worse they are, but if it’s the closest without going over, you can make a lot of money.

The concept is very simple but it feels better. Trivial Pursuit, Dicecapdes, or Cranium, if you don’t know the answer, you fail. And that isn’t fun. But betting on what answer is closest, that means you don’t need to know. It makes it so you n ever feel like you are out of the game.

Tsuro

Maybe you want less of a party game, but a game where you can plwty it with a big group. Tsuro is a very simple game, the way of the path. You are just putting down tiles to make a path, and following that path, as you do. Your goal is to be the last one on the board and to avoid hitting any other pieces.

This game works well because you can play with up to 8 people and it plays fast. There are some interesting decisions to make, though, in the game. Do you stay away from people or try and get close to them and knock them off the board? And it’s one that even with eight, you will probably play, then shuffle up the tiles and play again.

Welcome To…

A roll and write game for the list, this is by far the heaviest of the games. But it can play an infinite number of people. You just need a way for them to be able to see everything. This game is about building your perfect town. You put down house numbers, build fences, parks, and pools, and advertise your neighborhoods to get the most points.

It is a theme that people can get into. And it’s a game that is pretty easy when you get into it. You, on every turn, put down a house number and a second card that will have another ability. There are three pairs of cards you look at each round. And it’s just a race to see who can get the most points. The game ends when you can’t put down a house number enough times, you fill in all the house numbers, or someone completes the four building goals.

This is one that I’d recommend if you have a bit more of a gamer family. Like I said, the most complex on the list, though not too bad once you get into it. There are just some minor rules that make it a little bit harder. I do have easier roll and write games that I could recommend, Second Chance can also play with a lot of people, but Welcome To… is just more engaging.

Honorable Mention Board Games

There are so many of them, but a lot of not so great games as well. If you want something more color bases, Hues and Cues is great. It is trickier, and not color blind friendly. If you want Apples or Apples or Cards Against Humanity, but with more variety, Stipulations is great. I didn’t put down any Mafia or Werewolf type games, but Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a good big group game in that style that I really like.

Or if you have a smaller group, there are other games you can pick as well. But that’s going to be more focused on gateway games. Plus there are classic games that can still be fun. Scrabble and Clue, I like them both still. But for some you need to make sure, like Scrabble, you’re kind of on the same level of knowledge.

What are some board games you grew up playing at the holidays? What games do you bring along now?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

What Do My Ratings Mean

The baseline that we should get started with is looking at what the numbers means. Obviously a 10 is the best and a 1 is the worst. However, it is more nuanced than that. I do use the half point scale as well. So right now I have everything from 10’s to 1’s, but no 0.5’s in there.

A 10 is a game that is as close as perfect for me as you can get. And I say for me, some board games are objectively good and some are objectively bad, but when rating games, so much as to do with taste. So a 10 is a game that is as close to perfect for me as you can get.

A 9 is a game that I love, and I’d always want to play it. 8 is a great game for me and I’d likely not say no to playin that game. 7, I like and I’d play, but I won’t seek it out. 6 is a decent game but I probably am not that interested in playing it often. 5 is okay and I’d play it if people want to. 4, I’ll try and recommend another game to play. 3, I don’t want to play it. 2, I actively don’t like the game. 1, I wouldn’t play that game again ever.

The Breakdown

10’s –

I have 12 games that I rate a 10. That is 4% of the games that I’ve played and rated. I’m sure that I’ve missed a few games, but likely not tens. There is also a wide variety of games in there, I have a massive dungeon crawler with Gloomhaven and then I also have a dexterity game with Ice Cool. But 67% of the games really immerse you in the story and world of the game, which I think will be a trend for these high spots.

9.5’s –

21 fall into the 9.5 category, this 7% of the game that I’ve played. We again stick with a lot of story with games like TIME Stories and Arkham Horror: The Card Game. We also get some lighter games like Sushi Go Party and The Lost Expedition and our first party game with Just One in this category.

9’s –

38 games fall into the 9’s, all the way up at 13%. I wonder if this might be one of the higher percentile groups out there. This is where we start to hit a lot of roll and writes with games like Clever Hoch Drei, Doppelt so Clever, and more. We also get a lot of games that aren’t as story driven anymore. More games like Letter Jam and Super Fantasy Brawl that give you more of a classic board game experience. We also get A Gentle Rain in this section.

8.5’s –

16 out of 283 are rated as 8.5’s. That is about 6% of my rated games. The trend holds pretty steady from the 9’s with a lot more of the classic board game experience. Another party game with Wits & Wagers makes the list. And we have a new game that I just played recently a few times with Merchant’s Cove.

8’s –

We likely have it the big number here, 50 games that are 8’s, which is 18% of my collection. So as you add up the percentages, keep in mind I am rounding up or down so it might not equal 100% in the end. But I feel like in the 8’s we get a number of games that are in that lighter category, more filler games. Things like Skull and Fruit Picking are easier to play and teach than a lot games earlier.

7.5’s –

At 20 games in the 7.5’s, we are at 7% of the collection again. While other sections have had games that were previously owned, with the 7’5’s, I definitely noticed a few more. Machi Koro, Winter Tale, Krosmaster: Arena and at least one more were in my collection and have left. It’s not because they are bad games, but I have other games that do it better. And with Krosmaster: Arena, I got rid of that before Super Fantasy Brawl, but I just didn’t have anyone to play it with.

7’s –

Sitting at 12% with 34 games out of 283, we again see a number of previously owned games. But we also see games that I grew up playing. Set, Dutch Blitz, and Scrabble all make it into this category as well as the party game Scattergories. I obviously have some level of nostalgia with these games, but at the same time, I’d still play them again right now.

6.5’s –

13 games in this number, for 5%. I think this is where we’ll start to see the numbers dropping off in terms of number of games rated in the area. It is also a lot of games that I don’t own but have played in this area. I guess that means that I buy games that I like a lot. Donner Dinner Party and Flapjacks and Sasquatches are two that I’d definitely play again, but I have games that I like better that do something similar, especially with Donner Dinner Party.

6’s –

A tick up here with 24 games which is 8%. Most of the time the whole numbers seem to have more than a half numbers ,I guess. I own a few games in this section, though some of that is nostalgia, or with a game like Splendor, it’s because I know other people who like it a lot. I probably won’t ever pull Splendor off the shelf to play myself, but I know my wife likes it, so I won’t remove it from the collection.

5.5’s –

5 games make up the 5.5’s which is just barely 2%. We are reaching the social deduction game area, I feel in the 5.5’s, and 5’s. Where I would play them again, but I won’t seek them out. They tend to be the very simple social deduction games like Secret Hitler, While that game does have a little double blind fun going on with it, the theme doesn’t interest me, and it’s just a fine game.

5’s –

Down in the 5’s we have 21 games at a whopping 7% again. Again more social deduction games like The Resistance and One Night Ultimate Vampire. These two really do what I don’t like about a lot of social deduction games, they don’t give you anything go on right away or in general much to go on at all. We also have all of Red Dragon Inn, a fun game but often is played with too many people. I think 4 is about my max for that game, maybe 5.

4.5’s –

1 out of 283 which is 0% for those keeping track at home. And it’s Seafall. I feel like it’s fair that Seafall falls into this spot by itself. It is a game that I want to like more, it is a game I can see the potential of it. It just ends up being a flop. The story doesn’t play out as it should, it is a just a bit too random, and the games are way too long. And the more you play the longer the games get. Yet, it’s just on that cusp of I’d play it again without an AP players.

4’s –

9 games or 3% of what I’ve played. This is where we get into a lot more of a mass market or mass market adjacent games. Not that there haven’t been some before, but we have stuff like Guesstures, Forbidden Island and Dominion. Yes, I have Dominion as a 4. It is a game that I’d play if you twisted my arm, but it is also a game that if you know the game extremely well you will win, and it’s not interesting enough for me to know it that well.

3’s –

You might be wondering where my 3.5’s are, the answer is there were none. Instead we have 10 3’s. That is 4% of what I’ve played. Again a lot of mass market games, and a lot of games I grew up with. This goes back to growing as a gamer, stuff like Malarky and Pit had their place getting me into the hobby, but I don’t need to go back to them.

2’s –

3 games or 1%. Monopoly falls into this group. It isn’t the worst of the worst, but it is very bad. Another super popular or at least well sold game, Exploding Kittens lands here as well.

1’s –

Finally, I have 5 1’s, or 2%. I really don’t like these games, and most people won’t like most of them. The two that will probably surprise people are Cards Against Humanity and Concept. Cards Against Humanity at one point in time I would have rated higher, but now I consider it a worse version of Apples to Apples because the jokes are created for you and often not funny. Concept is one that I know a lot of people like. It just didn’t work for me. It has this group feel to the game, but ends up just being boring.

Alright, there we have it, all the games in my collection rated. What do you think should be rated better? Or what do you think that I should rate lower?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

So, what are the requirements to make this list. The game has to have been published before the year 2000. I considered going earlier, but that seemed like it would work best. One game you’ll see missing from my list is Chess. Chess is great game, and if you get into it, you can really get into it and get good at it. I wanted to balance how good a game was with how easy it was for everyone to play it. So a game like Chess has too much of a divide between player levels to be on the list.

5 – Balderdash

I’m starting with a party game that might not have made it to the list in it’s original form. Balderdash, when it came out, just had you writing down definitions of words, or what you thought they were and then players voting on which one they thought was right. Since then, they came out with Beyond Balderdash, which is now just what Balderdash is which added in acronyms, weird laws, and movie synopsis. The game is still a lot of fun, mainly because it eventually becomes less of a game and more of a silly activity where people use in jokes from previous rounds and keep those jokes going.

4 – Cribbage

Cribbage is the only pure card game on the list. I like it quite well, in particular in a bar setting. It’s small, not many pieces, and easy enough to teach. There are definitely some complexities to the rules, but I can generally get through them in a pretty quick time frame. I’m sure there’d be some debate about a more experienced player beating a less experienced one more often than not, and I’d agree, but it’s not a massive difference. And once you’ve played a hand or two, you have the general idea.

3 – Clue

Probably up there with Monopoly in terms of games people think of when they think of classic board games. It, unlike Monopoly, made my top 5. Clue is a lot of fun and I like that it gives you real choices in the game as you craft your accusations. As a kid it took me a bit to get all the subtlies down of game, but now it’s still fun to play once in a while because of the deduction aspect and how detailed you can keep track of notes and how you reveal or don’t reveal information to other players. It’s just nice and clever in how it works. Not one I’d play all the time or want to play all the time but one that hits the table every few years.

2 – Scrabble

It’s close between my top two, but Scrabble comes in at number two. Scrabble is a word game that can be about the big words that you know, but is more about optimizing your points and blocking other players for being able to get large amounts of points. I say that with Scrabble (or Banagrams though I prefer Scrabble) my ability to recognize patterns quickly helps me a lot. And of course knowing all the two letter words that the Scrabble dictionary accepts (I don’t know them, helps a ton as well.

1 – Yahtzee

Probably not a huge surprise that the game at the top of my list is basically a roll and write game. Yahtzee is a game that I might have played too much at this point, because it’ll basically play itself. There is some strategy to it, when to push your luck on the top, how risky you want to be. Otherwise, once you’ve played it enough, you can figure out the probabilities and you adjust your rolls accordingly to it. But I do like this one as a game that you can play and just chat while playing because there are some push your luck moments or exciting moments of getting Yahtzee, but it doesn’t have the most thinking at all times in the game.

There are other older games that I could put on the list as well. I kept Quoridor off of the list because it’s less known, but a good one, just not one that people grew up with for the most part. I personally really like the game SET, but I left that one off because I like the game SET, it’s a pattern recognition game that I’m good at. What are some of your favorite classic board games?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Gaming Resolutions

A lot of people do board gaming goals for a year, I think the most common that I see is the 10 by 10 goal. This one is straight forward, you pick ten games from your collection that you want to play at least ten times during the year. Or there will be other derivations of that, some people have done 100 by 1, so play 100 different games in a year, or 20 by 5, or some other thing like that.

I’ve also heard of resolutions such as playing all the unplayed games in ones collection in the year, so that they’ve played all of their games. Or play through their full collection. The Brothers Murph actually played through the whole collection in a week, which was insane because that was 200 or so games that they made it through. Granted, some of the smaller games they probably know so well that they played in five minutes, but still, that’s a lot of games with set-up and tear down.

My Resolution

For myself, I want to play games equal to the number of days. Now, I don’t plan on playing on game per day, that seems like a lot and there are just going to be some days where I might not get in any games. Instead, I want to play games 365 times this year, and I’m off to a good start with it.

To help myself keep track I picked up the BG Stats app which I’m going to be using, and have been using this year. It’s a nice app that I’ll talk about more in the future as I use it more and mess around with the features more. In fact, it actually gives you a lot of the challenges ($0.99 add-on purchase) to keep track of things like that and as a challenge itself. Right now I’m sitting at 26 plays in 27 days, but more on those soon. Another nice thing is that it connects up with Board Game Geek, so I didn’t have to enter in my collection again.

The Plays

So, why am I talking about this, because I want to talk about what I’ve played in each month. Generally one of the first days of each month I will go back and look at what I played the previous month and see how well I am doing on the goal as a whole. I think it’ll help me keep track of what I’m doing and what I’ve played, and it might also be interesting for you to see what games have gotten to the table. So next Monday, expect to see a post on that.

It also does a few other fun things that I’ll be talking about beyond the games themselves. I’m going to look at stats surrounding the types of games I’ve played, so how many solo or how many in groups, the group size, etc. I am still getting used to all the stats that I want to keep track of in it, but I think that it’s going to be fun.

So Why The Goal?

Last year, as I said, my gaming was down. Obviously with a pandemic and not being able to get together in larger groups, like for a board game night, that made it way more difficult to play games. Also, the motivation to play games solo just wasn’t there as well. Thankfully throughout the year I did get back into gaming some more. I know that the start of this year especially when we can’t be outside in Minnesota, there is going to be not that much chance to play games. Once it gets nice sure, we can play outside and hopefully we’ll be getting vaccinated by then as well, one of the gaming group already has had their first round of the vaccine. So this is for me to not fall back into not playing games. I have a big game collection, 232 base games, and over 300 with expansions added in. Now, a lot of those have been played and have been played prior to me keeping stats, the app says I haven’t played 180 or so of them, but it’s less than that since I don’t have played of Clue, Scrabble, Ticket to Ride, and more even though I have played them, just not since I started keeping track of gaming on BGG and now BG Stats. But still, I want to get through more of them and this will help me do that. And even if I just played a handful of games solo this year and eventually can play in groups, I’m just excited to play more games and a little challenge motivation never hurts.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

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 – Q and R’s

S’s

Sagrada (and Expansions)

I wish that I had backed Sagrada on Kickstarter, not because there is anything special with that edition really compared to what I have, but because I like the game that much. This dice drafting game just works and looks amazing on the table. The theme of stained glass windows appeals to most everyone, even non-nerdy gamers. And the concept of taking a die and placing it into your stained glass window makes sense. Add in that the dice look amazing in the windows because they are translucent, it sells the game even more on the table.

Status: Played

Santorini

I don’t always love abstract games. But Santorini looks great on the table, and that counts for a lot in a game, in my opinion. Especially for a game that is abstract. The simple game play helps the game be even more appealing. You are just moving a piece and building a level. The goal is to make it to the third level of a building, which is simple enough. And when the game becomes too simple, you can add in god cards which give players powers.

Status: To Be Played

Say Bye to the Villains

I like extremely tough cooperative games. Say Bye to the Villains fits that mold perfectly as I have yet to win it. But for me, I don’t see that as a negative, mainly because we are always close to winning. None of the games feel like we’re too far away which is saying something considering how many times I’ve played it. It also helps that the game play is simple enough. You are just playing cards that eat up time, and the game isn’t too long either. For some people it would be a negative, but for me, it’s a good thing. It feels like there’s always just one more thing to do in the Say Bye to the Villains than you have time for.

Status: Played

Scattergories

I have a game from 1988 on my list. And yes, I play Scattergories still. Scattergories is a party game that works well since it depends on the players creativity but not on in-jokes. It also works well over Zoom which has gotten it played several times this year. The game is simple and everyone understands what is going on when played. Scattergories isn’t a game that I’ll pull out all the time, but people have fun when it is pulled out. And it’s a game that everyone knows because it’s been around so long.

Status: Played

Scrabble

If you thought Scattergories was old, think again. I have Scrabble in my collection as well. Scrabble being published in 1948 might make it the oldest game in my collection. I still enjoy playing Scrabble, though. I prefer regular Scrabble to the “quick” Scrabble or Banagrams. The main reason is that Scrabble has more strategy and tactics than those do. In Banagrams it is purely pattern recognition and while I am good at it, it isn’t as fun. I prefer to think about how I might be setting up my opponent in Scrabble and the strategy that comes with that.

Status: Played

SeaFall

I wanted to like SeaFall so badly. And it’s funny that I do have a copy of it still. I was gifted a copy that a friend got for cheap. SeaFall promised that it was going to be an epic seafaring game where the story unfolded as you explored. Instead, we got a story that was a mess and complicated but only because it didn’t unfold in order. Compared to other Legacy Games, story happened much more randomly and the games themselves took too long. I wanted a game that told epic punchy story about adventure on the high seas. And, I think that is possible within SeaFall, how the story works, though, needs to be reworked.

Status: Played

Second Chance

I like flip and writes as I’ve said many a time before. Second Chance is a simple flip and write. You try and fill as much of your square as possible and that’s it. To do that you are putting in polyomino like shapes onto your board. If you can’t place one of the two shapes, you get a second chance card, a card only you can use. If you are able to use it, you stay in the game and continue playing. If not, you are out and count up the empty spaces you have left. The game is that simple. But it works well because it gives a chance for people to be creative in how they fill in the shapes. You doodle on them so you can tell what is filled and what isn’t, or create patterns. And that part of the game is really a lot of fun. Plus, the game works for everyone since it is so simple.

Status: Played

Sentinel Tactics: The Flame of Freedom

Honestly, I ordered this game on accident. I thought I was ordering another expansion for Sentinels of the Multiverse, but I ordered Sentinel Tactics. Thankfully I ordered a standalone game, not an expansion for Sentinels Tactics. Sentinel Tactics still takes place in the Sentinels of the Multiverse world, but is a tactical game, as the name implies. You move chits around a modular board playing through scenarios that have you trying to beat a villain. I hope it’s good, I know one person who said it was interesting, if not, I got it on a steep sale, so I can always use it to get store credit at my FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) for a game I want.

Status: To Be Played

Sentinels of the Multiverse (and Expansions Galore)

What, this game comes after Sentinel Tactics alphabetically, who’d have guessed. I picked up the base game used from my FLGS. Sentinals is a game that I’ve wanted to try for a while because of the superhero theme. Then when Tom Vassal played it on a What’s Appening stream for the Dice Tower, I decided it looked good enough to pick up. Then, Black Friday rolled around and Greater Than Games had a massive sale. So I picked up a ton of expansions for it, almost a literal ton. I believe it was 17 expansions for it, plus Sentinel Tactics. I still need to get it to the table, and I plan on starting just with the base game, but I love the superhero world and the comics that come with some of the boxes.

Status: To Be Played

Shadowrun Crossfire: Prime Runner Edition

I picked this one up recently as well. Shadowrun Crossfire first came onto my radar when I played it at Fantasy Flight Game Center off of their demo wall. I knew when I played it that I’d pick it up eventually. I really like the world of Shadowrun. A world where big corporations are running things, and hackers go on runs to try and get data and take them down. The cyberpunk setting works really well for me. I know there are some knocks on the game with how slowly characters level up, but I am still excited to play through it’s campaign.

Status: Played

Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops (with Cooperative Expansion)

This game was a bit of a mess getting it from Kickstarter. The shipping company messed up royally, and while we did get cool extra boards, the creators who were doing updates were not professional about everything. I don’t have any issue with the publisher Catalyst Game Labs, but with Lynnvander Studios, I’d be hesitant to back any of their projects again. The game looks amazing and has a great cyberpunk aesthetic, though, so I am excited to play it. And the game comes in a massive box, where even the box looks awesomely cyberpunk.

Status: To Be Played

Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients

I have some beefs with this game, though it is still on my shelf. The main beef I have is that it sucks to put together. All the little minis come in a lot of pieces and are not easy to put together. This sounds like it’s been rectified to some extent in other prints of this box. However, the game itself is a lot of fun. It’s a weird west game where you are pushing deep into a mine to try and complete objectives. But there are monsters in there, and you might stumble into a whole other world if you aren’t careful. I want more time to play it, but I have to reassemble my minis first, which might be a good winter project, assuming I remember how they go together.

Status: Played

Shadows of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game

I have mentioned a few places that have caused me to pick up games and Shadows of Kilforth is one of those game. This fantasy game with an Eastern flare to it, was one that I saw the original, Gloom of Kilforth played on the Rolling Solo channel on YouTube. The game play looked interesting, so when a sequel showed up on Kickstarter, it felt like a good game to back. I still think it will be, I just need to get it sorted and ready for the table. This game is one that I should be able to play solo on Malts and Meeples in the new year sometime.

Status: To Be Played

Shakespeare

I’m ashamed of how long this game has been on my shelf without getting played. My wife picked it up for we as a gift, and as a game that she’d also like the theme of. But it’s euro game, so I don’t get those off my shelf as much. I am interested in it as I like the theme of putting on a play. Getting costumes, actors, sets, and more ready sounds like a lot of fun, I just haven’t played it yet. I am excited to try it still, I just need to sit down and learn the rules so we can get it to the table.

Status: To Be Played

The Siblings Trouble

I picked this one up off of Kickstarter because of how much I had enjoyed Lift Off! from the same design and company. This one is a light RPG like game that is targeted for families with kids. It is meant to be a way to get that RPG feel without having as much of a ruleset as something like Dungeons and Dragons does. I’m waiting until the toddler is old enough to play it with us because the game looks very cute.

Status: To Be Played

Silver: Amulet (and Coin, Bullet, and Dagger)

Silver: Amulet was a game that I got to try at GenCon in 2019. The game has a puzzle feel to it as you are trying to score the fewest points in your village. The twist comes with being able to swap out two cards for one card, if the cards are the same number. Add in a lot of powers on your cards, and you have an interesting puzzle. And then to top that all off, you don’t know what most of your cards are at the start of the game. The amulet, coin, bullet, and dagger all do different things, so depending on which version you play there will be a unique special power. And the cards you play with between the games can be mixed together, you just need one set of each number to make it work.

Status: Played

Silver & Gold

Roll and write, you know the drill. I like them, and this one does something cool. You fill in spots on cards, which seems bad. But the cards are dry erase, so you can play with them over and over again. It is a clever twist as you start to do set collection with them and score points off of which ones you have filled in. You still make combos though. If you cross of a treasure spot, that allows you to fill in another spot on any of your cards, and there are palm trees that are worth points as well. Super small sized game, but looks to pack a lot of game into it.

Status: To Be Played

Skip-Bo

The section of old games apparently. Skip-Bo is a classic game that I grew up playing less than I’d want in some ways. Fairly often for a simple card game Uno would be the game picked. But Skip-Bo had more interesting game play to it than Uno does. I like figuring out how to place your discards in the most optimal way possible, and sometimes stopping early to try and lock an opponent from being able to play easily. Now, the game can drag because of poor card draw, but it is generally quite fast.

Status: Played

Skulk Hollow

A two player game that was on Kickstarter. Again from the same company as Lift Off! Skulk Hollow is an asymmetric two player game. One person plays as the fox kingdom and the other as the old guardian that has awakened. The fox player needs to get onto the guardian, since it is to too large to beat otherwise, and take out it’s different actions. The monster generally has it’s own objective, but can by taking out the fox leader. The game has simple card play but is very tactical in nature and the box comes with multiple leaders for the fox and guardians for a ton of replayability.

Status: Played

Skull

The first time I played Skull, I wasn’t sure how much I liked it. It had weird coasters that you played with, and it was a push your luck sort of game. However, the more I played it, the more interesting it became, how did you successfully bluff someone into picking from your pile which has a skull in it, when that will bust you if you get stuck with the bid. The bluffing is what makes this game, it doesn’t have a lot of strategy to it, but if you can bluff and read your opponents you’ll do well in this game. And the coaster shaped “cards” are still weird.

Status: Played

Small World (and Small World Underground)

Small World was one of the gateway games for me that got me into the hobby. I like how it has Risk elements, but it’s actually fun. It has a lot of attacking and defeating your enemy, but in a fun way. You aren’t rolling die like in Risk, the battles are determined just by if you have enough pieces of cardboard to beat an area. The powers and races make this game work though, because something like undead ghouls or flying halflings are just silly, and you can get some great combinations, like commando elves or flying sorcerers that can put a bit of a target on your back. Game is a lot of fun every time I play it, which is about once a year.

Status: Played

Sonora

I’ve talked about roll and writes, and flip and writes, even a draft and write, but I haven’t mentioned my flick and write. Sonora is a combotastic [blank] and write game. To start your turn you flick disks around a board which determine who much you get to put in certain areas. Some of them are simple race to completion, others have you putting pieces in like they are Tetris, or filling in dots, or closing off sections of the board. It has a ton going on, and if you get the right things, you then get more to fill in other areas and it can repeat even more. It is extremely satisfying.

Status: Played

Specter Ops

A game that I picked up used, but that was on my radar for a long time. Spector Ops is a one versus all game, but the one is hidden. They are moving around to various objectives trying to get them all. The concept is so interesting to me. I want to play both sides of it, see how well I can hide where I’m at and see how well I can deduce where someone else is going. It feels like it should be a good and challenging experience.

Status: To Be Played

Splendor

Splendor is a light and small engine building game. You are collecting gems to get cards that have permanent gems and sometimes points. And you can use those permanent gems to get even more cards which games on them and the process repeats until someone has 15 points. The game is really simple to play, the theme is not there, but that’s okay. It is meant as an introduction to engine building and it works for that. Not one I want to play all the time, but I keep it on the shelf for what it is.

Status: Played

Star Wars: Destiny

Fantasy Flight Games foray into collectible card games. It was a fun game because it wasn’t only card it was nice chunky dice as well. And I like the Star Wars theme better than say, Magic the Gathering. The issue is that the game isn’t quite as good, and people didn’t get into it as much. Destiny is now a retired game, but one that had a good following and people were sad to see leave. What I think worked well was that none of the cards were rarer than the others. So you got good stuff all the time. That was part of what killed it as well, Magic works because it has a massive secondary market for it for FLGS’s, Destiny had none.

Status: Played

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

The Star Wars dungeon crawl. This game does one thing that I really wish the Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth did, and that is that it is adjacent to the main story and the main characters. But I can’t play as Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader, those are characters who just make appearances. But out of the base box, you are still playing around the original trilogy storyline. The game also has an app, so it can be one versus all, but it can also be fully cooperative. I need to play it more because I’ve liked the plays I’ve had.

Status: Play

Star Wars: Unlock!

The unlock games are basically escape room games in in a box. And the Star Wars: Unlock! game is a game that is an escape room in a box with a Star Wars theme. I like these games because they are very puzzly and can give you an experience while you play them. I’ve heard that the Star Wars: Unlock is a bit easier than some of the other ones, but I’m fine with that as it’ll be more accessible to more people. I want to play this over the holidays, and that’s the one downside, once you’ve played an unlock game once, you can’t play it again because you’ll know how it goes, still $30 for three hour long experiences in a group isn’t bad.

Status: To Be Played

Stipulations

I talk about this game a lot, mainly because I really like it was a party game. Stipulations asks the question, what horrible thing will your friends come up with. If you have the super power of flight, what’s the stipulation, or the dream job of being a movie actor, what is the stipulation. This game does what most party games do, it ends up with a lot of in jokes, but it is a fun time and compared to something like Apples to Apples which is basically always clean or Cards Against Humanity which is always dirty, Stipulations can be tailored to those whom you’re playing with.

Status: Played

Super Fantasy Brawl

I’ve decided that I really like games that Mythic Games puts out, or at least in concept. Reichbusters looks like a fun twist on a dungeon crawl, and Super Fantasy Brawl seems like a really accessible two player fighting game. The game has chunky minis that look great, and simple but interesting card play. I like that you play three cards on your turn and those cards have to be of different colors, but each character, of the three you have doesn’t correspond to a color, so if you get a red and a yellow card for one character, you can activate that character twice, from my understanding. I really want to give this one a whirl as it has an epic table presence for a fairly simple seeming game, rules wise.

Status: To Be Played

Super-Skill Pinball: 4-cade

You know the drill, I love my roll and write games. And I like the theme on this one a ton. I like the idea of playing a pinball machine and seeing what the high score is that I can get on it. I like the mechanics of how the ball can bounce around and how it will only bounce certain ways and generally down. You are also trying to bounce it up higher and complete combos on things, just like in real pinball to get even more points. And it’s called 4-cade because there are 4 different machines that you can play.

Status: To Be Played

Sushi Go Party!

This was another early game for my collection as it was on Wil Wheaton’s Table Top show. It is a card drafting game, a mechanic that I quite enjoy, with set collection as well. The game works well, even though with new players you sometimes have someone get off on what they are drafting. Sushi Go Party! also gives you ways to change everything up, so that you can have different combinations of foods on the menu. The game has a very cute table appeal and is just a hit basically all the time.

Status: Played

Sword and Sorcery (plus Expansions)

Sword and Sorcery is a classic dungeon crawl game. This one is pure Amerithrash dice chucking fun. I like how much mitigation you have, but only mitigation in having multiple symbols to use on the dice and being able to reroll dice. My knock on this game is that it is almost a little bit too easy at times. You get great weapons for completing things and now you are hitting really hard and can take down monsters fast. Granted if you roll poorly no matter what you’ll do poorly. I wish it had a bit more of a story to it, but overall, the story isn’t too bad and the game is meant to be mainly a dice chucking dungeon crawl anyways.

Status: Played

Sword Art Online Board Game: Sword of Fellows

I love Sword Art Online, one of my favorite anime, and I’ve watched it multiple times. I am also working on a game idea based off of some of the isekai themes from it. But this game is a bit sad, the anime is big and epic, this game is tiny. it does get some things right, mainly the combat of switching in and out and not letting the bad guy go feels like it matches the theme. I need to play this one not solo, because I think it might be better that way and have less upkeep for one player. I’m hoping some day we’ll get a truly epic Sword Art Online board game.

Status: Played

So that’s all of the S’s, there are ton of them. I hope that you were able to stick it out, hte rest of the list will be a lot shorter. There are so many good games in the S’s as well and a lot that I need to play. Which one should I play first? Do I have something that seems like it’s missing to you? I’m guessing people will say Scythe, which I owned, but got rid of.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.