Catch Up on the Top 100 Games

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50 through 41
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20 through 11

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition – 10 through 1

10. Rebel Princess Deluxe Edition

Published By: Bezier Games
Designers: Daniel Byrne, Jose Gerardo Guerrero, Kevin Pelaez, Tirso Virgos

Buy Rebel Princess Deluxe Edition

The top trick taking game on my list is Hearts. Well, not completely Hearts, it’s Hearts with shenanigans and that is the element that makes it amazing. If you are familiar with Hearts, you know you don’t want to win the hearts because they are worth points. In this game, you are doing the same thing, but as princesses trying to dodge the proposals of the princes and of course the very dangerous frog princes.

But let’s talk about the shenanigans because that is where the game separates itself from Hearts. In Rebel Princess you each get a princess with a special power. It might be to force someone to lead a suit, or you take over the lead of a trick even if you didn’t win the previous one. They are once per round. The bigger shenanigans comes from the rule for each round. It tells you how to pass cards, but also then something special that round, like the number furthest from the led card wins the trick, to make the trick taking different.

9. Zenith

Published By: PlayPunk
Designers: Gregory Grard and Mathieu Roussel

Out Of Stock Currently

Zenith is the new one on the list, and it blew me away on BGA so much that I knew I needed to pick it up when it came out. Zenith is a two or four player, but really two player game where you are having a tug of war over different planets. When you get influence on a planet all the to your side, you get a token, and you win with three from one planet, four different ones, or five total.

But let’s talk about winning influence. The simplest way is to play a card down on your side of the table, that’ll move it one towards you and give you some other bonus. But to do that you need to pay the cost, so sometimes you need to do other actions to get more money. One of them is to discard a card for a bonus. Depending on the type of card, you get a different bonus for it, and you gain the leader token which means you get an extra card in hand. Finally there is technology which you use to gain bonuses but also move influence on planets.

8. Slay the Spire: The Board Game

Published By: Contention Games
Designers: Gary Dworetsky, Anthony Giovannetti, and Casey Yano

Buy Slay the Spire: The Board Game

You know that I love Slay the Spire the video game and the same is true for the board game. In the board game it’s the same thing as the video game, but everything is scaled down. This is a very smart decision because I don’t want to do a lot of math, but I still want to play the same game I love. So you climb the tower, you fight normal and elite monsters, and you rest and add cards, everything that you love about Slay the Spire the video game.

But there is an extra twist for the board game as well. In the board game you also can play it cooperatively. And I love that for the game because there is no reason that you shouldn’t be able to. It levels up how much health the boss has, and each character gets their own row of normal monsters to face. The cool thing about that row is that I can help you attack your row if your monsters are attacking for too much. Or you can help with mine, but whichever row you attack, you get attacked by your row. So there is a strategic puzzle to figure out as a group.

7. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Published By: Portal Games
Designers: Jakob Lapot, Przemyslaw Rymer, and Ignacy Trzewiczek

Buy Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

I might be the person in the world like Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game the most. But I think it is worth talking about and I think at least the core box is one that more people should play. The core box is a series of intertwined cases that you need to figure out the leads and what to track down. The best way, and I mean this as compliment, I can describe the game is that it’s like NCIS or CSI but fun because you are the detectives.

The game has so much going for it. You need to figure out what lead you want to track down, you need to take evidence to the lab and get your results, or you need to spend resources pressing people for more information. All of that is going to cost time, so you need to get it done before time runs out.

And all the cases are different. Even in the core box where they link together, they are all unique. And the one off cases are all different as well and set in different time periods or different locations. Even the Batman version of the game is a ton of fun.

6. Dice Throne

Published By: Dice Throne Inc.
Designers: Nate Chatellier, Aaron Hein, and Manny Trembley

Buy Dice Throne

Dice Throne is probably always going to be game in my Top 10. Mainly because they keep on coming out with more Dice Throne and I keep on buying it. But the game is a great plug and play game that can be described as battle Yahtzee. But that is not fair to the game because Dice Throne is more than that. Yes, it uses the Yahtzee style rolling to deal damage to your opponent, but the cards, and dice manipulation and how you work that together is where the game is so fun.

Plus, each character in the game is unique and does something different. Whether that is with Marvel and Gambit who has his aces that he can play, Doctor Strange who has spells that he can cast, or Scarlet Witch who can swap out the dice that her opponent roles. Or it is unique for the non-IP characters as well with the Gunslinger having a showdown type of defense, the Treant having sapplings that do unique things, or the Pyromancer building up their flames.

5. Aeon’s End

Published By: Indie Boards & Cards
Designers: Jenny Iglesias, Nick Little, and Kevin Riley

Buy Aeon’s End

I love deck-building and Aeon’s End is my favorite mainly deck-building game. I put it that way because I have another game that uses deck-building, but it is less of a deck-building game. This one is great because it gives you a boss battler as well as you play the game. You need to cast spells to deal with the bosses actions, minions, and hopefully knockdown the boss, the nemesis, if you can.

The game does a couple of fun things. Firstly, I like the turn order in the game, though I will say, I think that it makes it a two player game. The turn order is randomly drawn from a deck, so you might go twice in a row, if you have two of your number in there, or you might have the nemesis get multiple turns in a row. It keeps the game feeling tense and stressful. But I think it works best as a two player game because otherwise you might have a long time between turns.

Then the deck of cards. As you add cards and you need to draw again, you don’t shuffle the deck. Instead you just flip it and you draw from that. If you are smart, you can set it up so that you are drawing a strong hand. It is tricky, but it’s also a ton of fun when you get it right.

4. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Published By: Czech Games Edition (CGE)
Designers: Elwin, Min

Buy Lost Ruins of Arnak

This is the other game that has deck-building, but it’s less of the game. Lost Ruins of Arnak is a deck-building, worker placement and resource management game that I just love. The theme really helps sell me on the game where you are exploring the jungle and trying to become the most famous explorer. Yes, that theme is hiding behind the mechanisms in some ways, but it’s there.

The game is really a great puzzle as you need to figure out how to explore new locations, defeat those monsters, and go up a research track. But they do it thematically in some areas, and I love that. You can buy new gear with money, but when you do that, it goes to the bottom of your deck of cards. Why, because it needs time to ship over. But if you buy a relic, that’s there, and you can use it immediately. Or on the research track as you advance, you need to discover, magnifying glass, before you can write about it, journal.

And the Expedition Leaders makes the game even better. It means that each player is starting at a unique spot. And it helps shape how you want to solve the puzzle. I thin the game is a 9 for me without this, but with it, and it’s an easy addition, it’s an easy 10 and in my Top 10 of all time.

3. Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon

Published By: Awaken Realms
Designers: Krysztof Piskorski, Marcin, Swierkot

Buy Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Now a game that has been in my Top 10 for a long time with Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. I still think this game has the best story and writing of any game that I’ve played. It does an amazing job of weaving together a narrative over three different campaigns. And you want to explore and read all the story. It’s so good and the storymode fixes the issue, that even though the regular game is a grind when it comes to resources, this is still a game that I love.

I think that the game works so well too in what you are doing. The combat and diplomacy checks you come across offer interesting puzzles of card play. And then when you go to a new card and you find new choices, it’s really interesting. I also should mention with combat, I like how you sometimes just want to runaway. A combat is going to be too hard for you and instead of taking a ton of damage, if your draw bad cards, you should just run.

As an aside, I can’t wait to play the new game in the series. But it’s being waited on because of other campaign games to play. I’ve heard it is less grindy, so if you are worried about that in the base game, maybe check out that version.

2. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Published By: Fantasy Flight Games
Designers: Nate French, MJ Newman

Buy Arkham Horror: The Card Game

At number two is a return to glory in some ways. I think that Arkham Horror: The Card Game was in the Top 3 or so when I first started the list. But it is back here because I’ve gotten to play more over this past year. I’ve done the story in the core box and started on another one. And I built my own character for that which is fun to do as well.

The game is just impressive with how it uses cards in such an interesting way. I love how they become a map for the house, city, or whatever you are in. And how they use simple symbols to help you know what connects to what in the game. And each campaign feels different. I played the Arkham Nights one at a game store, and that was super unique and fun, while the base box felt like a great introduction, and the Scarlet Keys is already shaping up to be different.

I also like that each character you build is going to be good at different things. So you need to balance the party. But you might want a challenge and create a different and unique combination of characters to go with as well.

1. Frosthaven, Gloomhaven, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

Published By: Cephalofair Games
Designer: Isaac Childres

Buy Frosthaven

The final spot on the Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition is the same as it’s always been. This is Gloomhaven, or Frosthaven, or Jaws of the Lion. They are all the same game, though Frosthaven does add in a city management phase which is very fun for the game as well. This is an amazing dungeon crawler game and very worth checking out if you haven’t played a dungeon crawler before. Especially Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion as a starting point for the game.

In this game you play different scenarios and you need to figure out with your unique character how to defeat the enemies and complete the objectives. In Gloomhaven a lot of the objectives are defeat everyone. But Frosthaven adds in more variety, so you need to figure out the puzzle.

And how do you do that? You do that with playing cards from your hand. Each card has a top action, a bottom action, and an initiative on it. You pick one of the two cards to set your initiative and then generally you have a plan of which top of a card and which bottom you want to use. But, if the board changes, maybe the enemies move on you, you can adjust which top and bottom you want to use from the cards you play. And did I mention that each character is unique and feels different in how they play, because they do. And you get a try a lot of them.

Thank You For Joining The Journey

I hope that you’ve had fun with my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2025 Edition. I always have fun putting together this list. And I apologize for it being a bit delayed in when the article came out as compared to the video on Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. My schedule has been weird as of late.

So with that, be aware I will be streaming as I can. I still want to go through my 101 through 200, aka the games that I still love but couldn’t crack the Top 100. And really, I love a lot more games than just 200. But that video is going to come out when it can. And it might not come out live depending on what my potential filming schedule looks like. The same with other streaming like Legendary Kingdoms and Baldur’s Gate 3. And then I have other games I want to play too, like Regicide Legacy that are going to stream well.

So all of that is to say, thank you for watching. And subscribe and click the notification bell to know when new videos come up on the Malts and Meeples channel.

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Top 10 Sneaky Party Games

10. Criss Cross

First of only two roll and write games on the list. And both of them are pretty similar in some ways. In Criss Cross you want to fill in a grid so that you score the most points in your rows and columns. This is done by filling in symbols on two dice that are rolled. The more like symbols in a row or a column, the better you do.

The twist on the game comes in that each time the dice are rolled you treat them like a domino. That means that the two faces of the dice always need to be played adjacent to each other. If you aren’t careful you might lock yourself out of being able to completely fill in your board.

The nice thing about this one is that it’s a short and simple. It is the type of game that you are apt to play a few times in a row which is a nice thing for a party game.

9. Knister

Knister is a fair amount like Criss Cross. You want to basically create Yahtzee style groups of five dice in rows and columns and on the diagonal as well. And this is done by rolling two dice and you place the combination of two wherever you want on your board.

This one I put slightly above Criss Cross for a party style game. Mainly because while both of the games are going to work great in a larger group, Knister is a bit easier to teach. Though the game itself is a bit harder to come by. But more people understand the concept of creating runs and pairs with numbers than doing so with symbols or pairs and sets. Plus there is not the domino type rule that people need to internalize.

8. PitchCar

I might have put more dexterity games on the list, but I wanted to keep it away from just being a list of that for alternative party games. PitchCar is the one I picked. It might be easier to get two copies of Ice Cool and play up to eight that way, it’s cheaper for sure. But I think that PitchCar is easier for players to understand.

This is a car racing game where to race you car you just flick it along the track. If you fall off, you go back to where you went. And when there is traffic you might run into traffic and push someone forward or off the track or into a spot where they don’t want to be.

The great thing about PitchCar is how everyone is engaged. In between your turn sure you are chatting, which is great for a party style game. But if someone makes a great shot, or falls off the track for the fourth shot in a row, everyone reacts. Especially for a great shot.

And there is a ton of PitchCar stuff you can get. If you play it a lot as a group, you can add in things like ramps and jumps, narrower tracks, or even a loop. Of course all that adds up and makes it even harder to store.

7. Strike

Strike is an obvious one for the alternative party games list. Mainly because it’s nothing more than rolling dice and taking pairs. Now, this is a game that only plays up to five. But if you want to play with more you can do like I did and buy another set of the game.

But the great thing, like some other push your luck games higher on the list, this game is simple. It is all push your luck. How many dice do you roll to get a pair? Okay, you didn’t get a pair or set of dice with the same number. Do you roll again or pass and not risk losing more dice. It has that egging people on, and those moments where you clear everything out that is exciting, or those moments where you roll a bunch of dice and somehow manage to get no matches.

6. Unlock Games

This does not need to be only the Unlock escape room style games. I think that Exit games work well as well. I will caveat this a little bit though. If you pick an escape room style game, it should be for when you need a party game at a lower player count. This one makes it on the sneaky party games list because it’s easy to get to the table and everyone generally understands the concept of puzzles and escape rooms. It’s just at higher player counts not everyone can see everything as easily.

The other nice thing is that you can scale or tailor multiple things to your group. Some of it is scaling how hard the puzzle is. They generally give you an idea from easy to hard. But you also can pick a theme. If you know you want to do this with a more casual group but they like The Pirates of the Caribbean movies, there is a pirate themed one. Or maybe they love Lord of the Rings, there is an Exit Game with the Lord of the Rings theme. It will all depend on your group.

5. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Now, a lot of social deduction games could go on the party games list. I think that most social deduction games are just party games without much actual game behind it. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is going to give you both deduction and social deduction as you try and figure out who the murder is.

But this game has a great twist on the normal social deduction games. Each player has four murder weapons and four clues in front of them. And the murder is going to, during the eyes closed time of the social deduction part of the game, pick one murder weapon and clue in front of them.

So how do the players know, the players can figure it out, with deduction, kind of, through reports sent up by the forensic scientist. Of course, the report might lead them in the wrong direction because they don’t know who the murderer is, so everyone is now suspicious.

It’s a great game to get people talking and engaging with each other. Even if it is just in the game it’s simple enough to keep things moving and works really well.

4. Fiction

People like the game Wordle online or at least they did. I don’t think it’s that people don’t like it anymore, I think that it’s more a lot of people just let it fall by the wayside. Fiction, though, is a one versus everyone Wordle style game. And that works as a party game because you can rotate who is the one. That one person is the keeper of the word. And everyone is going to be the guessers of the word.

Now, does that sound like too many guessers? Yes, it probably does. But there is a nice little twist on the game. The person who is the keeper of the word can also lie. Yup, you heard that right, they can lie. But when they lie, they need to be consistent about their lie. So as you go you might be able to track down or figure out what the lie is in what they are giving you as a clue. then when you either win or fail, you pass that keeper of the word role along and keep playing.

3. Push

The next two games are both of the same type. They are push your luck games. And both of them work well. I put Push slightly below the other one because the other one is easier to learn. But I think I like Push as a better game.

Why does Push work as a party game? I know there is an upper limit of six players, but I’ve played with more. So it works well for that larger group. And with a good party style game people need to be invested or engaged in egging others on or giving them grief. And with Push, you are invested. You want the player to stop if you might get something ideal for your collection. Or you want them to push because if they bust, well that is great for you.

2. Flip 7

Flip 7 has many of the same attributes as Push. But it is simpler in what you do. There isn’t the three piles, you just decide on your turn to draw a card or bank the points that you have. That is as simple as it gets. But it still has the same fun of egging someone on to draw one more card. And if they manage to pull that off, then do they push their luck again. And the same goes for your turn. It’s simple but it works really well as that bigger group party style game.

1. Ready, Set, Bet!

I debated about putting it on the list at all, but if it’s on the list, it’s #1. This is a betting game where a horse race is happening in real time and players are throwing down bets in real time. It’s a chaotic time and you would think that watching two dice being rolled over and over again would keep people engaged. But every time I play the game people end up standing and are highly invested in those two dice roles.

The reason it almost didn’t make the list is that it can have a bit more going on in it. There are prop bets that players can bet on and you need to know how those work. But if you don’t want to learn how those work, that’s okay, you can do great by betting on the right horse at the right time to win big.

What Are You Playing?

Now all of these games are going to have different results for you. So I think you need to know your group. Some of them are going to be better for different player counts as well. But all of them will move you away from those more traditional party games.

Is there one that stands out that you’d love to play with your group? Let me know that down in the comment section below. Or do you have a game that you go to that aren’t traditional party games when you need a party game?

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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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Catch up on previous videos here

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60 through 51
50 through 41
40 through 31
30 through 21
20 through 10

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – Top 10

10. Aeon’s End

• Published by Indie Boards & Cards in 2016
• Defend the town of Gravehold against a Nemesis and their minions by slinging spells around

To kick off the Top 10, let’s talk about one that has been in my Top 10 for a while and one that I have basically everything for. I’m guessing I’m missing a few promo cards, but Aeon’s End is one of my favorite deck building games.

This is a deck building game, tower defense, and boss battler all wrapped into one. The name of the game in this one is variety. There are other elements I like too, but variety is huge. Each mage is unique, each nemesis is unique and the market of cards that you create is unique. Everything about the game can be mixed and matched and give endless replayability. I also like that this is a cooperative game.

And, finally, I like this game best as a solo or two player. I know that it can play more, but with the turn system, it works better at lower counts. You draw to see whose turn it is. In the deck there are two nemesis cards, and one per player at four players, or two at two players. So you get these fun moments where it swings from the players getting four turns in a row to the nemesis getting three and now things look dangerous. It makes the game feel more exciting, it just works best at two players though because of that.

Buy Aeon’s End

9. Roll Player Adventures

• Published by Thunderworks Games in 2021
• Explore the lands, beat monsters and complete skill challenges in a world that remembers what you did

Now to a really big game we have Roll Player Adventures. They took the Roll Player system, tweaked it and gave us a story and adventure game. And I think that it works really well as a game, clearly, as it’s my #9. Though, like Aeon’s End, I’ll give a caveat that difficulty changes based on player count, which, isn’t a bad thing, but it something worth noting.

In this game you play through chapters of an adventure. To do that you are fighting monsters, doing skill checks, and reading story. Whenever it’s a right or a skill check you are spending cards and resources, your health, in different stats to try and complete a dice puzzle. You need to get dice of certain colors and certain numbers into specific locations. But, the game is smart and it limits you in how much you can do that, and it is what they try and use to scale, but like I said, I think that it’s easier with more.

The story is also a lot of fun. There are games on my list that have a bigger and darker story. And I like dark stories, dark fantasy can be a lot of fun, but it’s also fun to have stories that are maybe a bit sillier at times. And, I will say, they manage to create a story where it feels like it matters and continues along with the choices that you make.

Buy Roll Player Adventures

8. Dice Throne

• Published by Dice Throne Inc. in 2018
• Fight in a Mortal Combat style tournament by chucking dice and leveling up attacks

My #8 is “Battle Yahtzee”. By that, I mean that it is Dice Throne. This is a game that is played either as a head to head battle or as king of the hill. You get a hero, or character, that you play as. And they have specific abilities that you can activate by rolling dice Yahtzee style. By that I mean you get three roles, you keep some dice each time, and you see what you get at the end.

But Dice Throne is more than just a lucky game. Yes, there is an element of luck with rolling the dice. But the game often comes down to how well you can mitigate that luck. If you manage to get off your ultimate attack, well there isn’t much your opponent can do, of course that does mean that you roll all sixes. That’s very unlikely to just happen. But with cards and your combat points you spend to play them, you are able to manipulate dice, turn them to different sides, or get rerolls to try and land those attacks.

Plus the game offers a ton of variety. The first set is more standard fantasy. But then you get into other characters like a Tactician or an Artificer who do different things. And I own the Marvel set and am waiting on the Marvel X-Men set to come as well. You pick your favorites to get, or if you’re like me, you get them all.

Buy Dice Throne

7. Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns

• Published by SunTzuGames in 2025
• Change the galaxy with a unlikely group of heroes in an epic sci-fi adventure

Now for a game that isn’t even out yet. Why do I have it on the list, because I have in my collection a prototype of the game. And I’ve even played it on Malts and Meeples. The game is basically set, through there are elements of the game that will change, but that’s mainly around components not around actual game play.

I love Rogue Angels. You know that by now because it’s on every list of Crowdfunding game that I’m waiting for. And yes, it will be again at the end of this year, most likely. This is another story, adventure, and combat game. And I really enjoy the story in it. I like having some campaign games that aren’t just another fantasy setting, and Rogue Angels gives you a good sci-fi setting. And I love how the combat, or mission element of the game works.

I want to say that this isn’t a game where every scenario is a go and beat someone up. No, this is a game where you might want to dive into combat. Or you might want to sneak through, and it all depends on the scenario. I love that for a game because I don’t always want to beat up the bad guys. And with how the game activates the bad guys, well, getting rid of the wrong bad guys at the wrong time just means you’ll be dealing with the other ones all the time.

Late Pledge Rogue Angels

6. Floriferous

• Published by Pencil First Games in 2021
• Create the best scoring group of flowers in this drafting game

Now we have the smallest game in my Top 10 list. But Floriferous was there last year and it is staying there again this year because I love what the game does. I enjoy a good drafting game, and I think that drafting makes sense in a lot of different games. But how Floriferous does it works for me because it combines drafting with building out your own scoring.

And the drafting itself is clever. You either draft a flower or you draft a scoring card from a column. The scoring cards are always at the bottom of the column, though, which matters for drafting the next column. Because the turn order for that next column is determined by the previous column you drafted from, aka, the higher you are up in the column the sooner you draft again. So yes, you need scoring cards, but that means you draft later next time.

I also want to call out drafting the scoring. I like it when a game does that because it offers a great decision point. When I draft, I might want that scoring card, but if you don’t have enough flowers, it won’t do much for me. And on the flip side, if I draft too many flowers I’m not going to be scoring anything.

Buy Floriferous

5. Slay the Spire

• Published by Contention Games in 2024
• Climb the spire, fight monsters and can you defeat them all in this cooperative deck building game

Next up is a new one to the list and it’s debuting all the way up at #5. Now it’s not the last new one to the list, there is one higher, though just barely higher. Slay the Spire is a video game that I love to play. In fact I’ve been on a kick of playing it recently. It’s a rogue like deck building game where you climb a tower.

The board game is the exact same thing. But it takes a solo video game experience and makes it multiplayer. In fact, while the solo is fun, I think that it’s even better two player or two handed. And I want to play it with more. Because you figure out a strategy of who wants to attack which enemies. Because each player has their own enemies that will attack them, but you can attack the other person’s enemies. So you might have more defense and handle it as well.

With all of that said, the game does change one thing. How some things activate is changed, so you’re not needing to keep track of “every seven turns” or “every three times you shuffle” but it makes it easy to keep track of. And they scale down everything. I like that because I don’t want to be keeping track of six enemies with 50 health each. So while the math is very much the same, the numbers are just lower.

Buy Slay the Spire

4. The 7th Citadel

• Published by Serious Poulp Games in 2024
• The Citadels are in ruins. How can you rebuild society and deal with the threats?

The other new to the list game and debuting at #4 is The 7th Citadel. I should have put it at #7 just to make it a bit more fitting. But I love this game and you can see me playing it for some sessions on Malts and Meeples YouTube.

This is an adventure game. These Citadels have fallen and now in a dangerous and post apocalyptic feeling world, though uniquely so, you need to survive. You play as leaders of a settlement has has formed out of the 7th Citadel. And now you need to deal with some threat that is coming.

The main mechanism is the same as The 7th Continent. You spend cards to try and complete checks, fight monsters, and deal with challenges. And the cards are going to be your life. Plus you are flipping over cards and exploring areas of the map and dealing with encounters that happen. But the game gives you more direction than the 7th Continent does as the threat gives you missions to go on as you build up your settlement for whatever that coming threat might be.

Late Pledge The 7th Citadel

3. Stars of Akarios

• Published by OOMM/Open Owl Studios in 2022
• Explore space, fight battles, and unravel the story of why you were attacked

This is the one that launched into the Top 10 last year and it’s sticking around. I love this game, clearly, but it’s another one of those big campaign games, and it’s one that’s set in space. But this game feels different than so many others. I don’t know why, but it gives me the feeling of stories like Ender’s Game and Space Dandy all wrapped into one with obvious nods to other sci-fi stories as well.

I really enjoy how they created a game that is split into three different element. The one, space exploration, is a bit weaker. There is some randomness to it, and I feel like I never found anything major on it. But I love the other two element. You get to have a 7th Citadel/7th Continent style exploration on planets. But instead of playing cards for checks you roll dice. And it’s a really fun time, but the biggest part of the game is space combat.

And I wasn’t sure how much I’d love the space combat. But I really enjoy it, it’s this great tactical puzzle as you use special abilities that you can only use so much. And then you spend dice to maneuver and you need to figure out how to even get into range to shoot the enemy and ideally in a flanking position. I love sitting there looking at the dice and trying to figure out how to make it work.

Late Pledge Stars of Akarios

2. Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon

• Published by Awaken Realms in 2019
• The lands are returning to Wyrdness, you’ve been sent out to help Avalon survive, if you can

Now or one of a few campaign games that I’ve completed, at #2 we have Tainted Grail. And this is the base game and the two expansion campaigns. I love them all. I need to play Kings of Ruin as well, but I’m not sure when I’ll get to that because of, well, my #1 on the list.

But this game, let’s start off with the highest praise, has the best writing of any board game I’ve ever played. The story that it tells is amazing and for that reason we did play in story mode to be able to experience as much of that story as possible. I’ll talk about why in a little bit. This is a grim dark game, but it manages not to dwell on the darkness to the point where it’s overbearing but creates this amazing fantastical and dangerous world to deal with.

And let’s talk about that story mode and why we played that way. One of the criticisms of the game is that it’s too hard. There is too much grind and too much survival. That is what the game was advertised as, so why people thought it was bad, and not just not for me, when they got what they knew they were going to get, I don’t know. But story mode makes it easier, but not too easy. So you do need to engage with that survival aspect of the game, but you can delve into the story more so. If you find the game, get it, and I do recommend playing on story mode.

Buy Tainted Grail

1. Gloomhaven/Frosthaven

• Published by Cephalofair Games in 2022
• Battle monsters, explore lands, and build up the town in this epic campaign

Finally the number one stays the same. The #1 on the list is really Frosthaven, Gloomhaven and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. I don’t think it’s fair for them to be separate on the list. While Frosthaven does build on Gloomhaven and add in some elements like the town management, the core loop of the game is the same. I do think the added element of the town management would push it even a little bit higher than Gloomhaven for me though.

But the main part of the game is going into scenarios and trying to complete their objectives. This almost always includes killing some bad guys, and often times the win condition is kill all the enemies. Though in Frosthaven that is less often, though still the most common scenario goal.

The element that is the best about the game is the characters though. I love how every character is unique. And from the cards that you get to play, it feels that way. Sometimes you want to be that tanking character, or a fast damage dealer, or a support or healer character. And the games offer all of those.

And then the card play where you might want to go fast, so you can get in and out dealing damage quickly, or maybe you want to go slow to draw the enemies towards you, there is a lot of great strategy. I love picking cards, too, where I might plan to use the bottom and top halves in one way but then give myself the flexibility to change it. Needless to say, I love my #1 game.

Buy Frosthaven

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule. It’s not just all my Top 100 Games (of all time).

• Monday night, time varies, I play different small solo games, though I might be looking to start up a campaign again. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to be my 200 through 101 next week. After that I’m going to do some videos looking back on 2024. So expect to see my Top 10 Games of 2024 and probably Top 10 crowdfunding games I backed in 2024 as well.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

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Two Player Board Games

Lord of the Rings Duel

First one on the list is for the big Lord of the Rings fan, but you don’t need to be a Lord of the Rings fan to enjoy this game. Lord of the Rings Duel is a really fun back and forth game as players act as either the Fellowship or the forces of Sauron.

There are a few great things about this game. Firstly, it’s a two player drafting game and it works really well. It uses the 7 Wonders Duel drafting system. Plus there are a few spots in the game that you are competing over. There is area control on one board. You want to gain the favor of all the people’s of Middle Earth on another. And you can also win by getting the ring to Mount Doom, or if you are the forces of Sauron catching the ring before it gets there. Really good two player game.

Hanamikoji

Now maybe you want something that’s a bit faster but still has a really good back and forth tension. Hanamikoji is a great game for that. In this game you want to win the favor of Geisha. To do that you need to bring them gifts. Whomever has the most gifts next to a Geisha wins that Geisha’s favor. And you win the game by either winning the favor of four Geisha or 11 points worth of Geisha.

But the game has a great and simple twist to it. You only play four actions per round. And the actions you can use each of them only once. So it is a real puzzle to figure out how to use those actions to the best of your ability. And that’s what I love about the game and why it’s such a good two player game. It is easy to learn but there is a lot of thinking going on in it.

Star Wars Unlimited

I only put one TCG (Trading Card Game) on the list, and it’s my favorite right now, Star Wars Unlimited. This is such a fun game and one that I think non-Star Wars fans can enjoy. But you probably need a passing knowledge of Star Wars which makes this one a bit more focused. Star Wars Unlimited is a nice tight back and forth game without the baggage that comes with some of the older and more complex ones.

You take your turns back and forth and it moves really quickly which is great. Plus you have a leader and that leader determines some of the cards you use, but also gives you an ability and idea to build around. And I find that to be great with how it works. And you never are short on resources, well you might not be able to play everything you want, but you never go turns without being able to build up to play your more powerful cards. That is what makes the game work really well.

Star Wars not your theme, there are other solid options like Lorcana (simpler), Magic the Gathering (more complex) or One Piece (similar complexity) out there as well that might fit your interests more.

Dice Throne

Dice Throne is another consistent one on my two player board games lists. This is back and forth battle Yahtzee style of game. But each character has their own unique powers and abilities. And there are so many characters out there. You can dive in and grab 2 or go all in and get 16+ if you want. And there is even Santa vs Krampus to fit that holiday theme.

Like I said this is battle Yahtzee. But each character does their own thing. The Barbarian heals and does a lot of damage on basic attacks. The Shadow Thief can dodge damage while the Pyromancer hits you back for more damage. And you can upgrade that as well as you go, so you get stronger as you play the game and try and knock your opponent out. Or you can just shoot for your ultimate ability and do a ton of damage that way.

The game is also great because of the different themes and packs. You can mix and match anything. So if you find you like the game it is easy to add in more. And there is Marvel content for the game as well which is a theme that likely works better for most people than the general fantasy theme.

Fox in the Forest Duet

Finally we have two player trick taking which is a unique idea. But I really enjoy this version, or the competitive version, or the other competitive two player trick taking game Macha. But Fox in the Forest Duet is a cooperative game which makes it even more unique for a trick taking game.

You play out tricks like normal, but whomever wins the trick, the fox, who is trying to collect leaves, moves towards them. But you don’t want it to fall off the board or it makes the board smaller and easier to fall off. Do that too much and you won’t be able to collect all of the leaves. But there are cards that offer ways to manipulate that that you play out as well. But can you get in sync with the person you’re playing with and how well do you know how to manipulate and fish for information in trick taking?

Final Thoughts

I love two player games. I don’t play all of mine a ton because a lot of the times I play with more. But all of the games on the list come out and get played every no and again. And I gave a handful of extra options as well in there.

Do you find yourself consistently playing games at two, then these are probably great options for you? And do you have games you already like at two players that I missed? Let me know what those games are. And let me know which ones are making your holiday list, for giving or receiving.

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How to Play Delicious

In Delicious you are trying to make your best garden. However there are rules on how you can place things in your garden. Each round you flip new cards and give tokens to them. The flipped cards either need to go on top or on the bottom section of your garden. However, each turn you decide if you want to change the position of those cards for you, or use both cards or just one card. And for each of them you can do it a limited number of times.

So once you’ve decided you fill in spots in your garden. Your garden plots are split into three areas, top and bottom for veggies and then a side area for fruit. Each spot has special rules with how you want to place your veggies for fruit. For veggies gardens are either matching, pairs, or different. And for fruit you get points for the same or different fruit in a row.

The game goes over 12 rounds where you’ll pick if you’re using both, one or switching where cards are each round. And each action has a limited number of times you can do it. Plus there are bonus areas where you can place a veggie or a fruit to add a bonus to your score. However, that takes away from placing a vegetable. At the end of the game you tally up your score from placing fruits and veggies and see who has the most.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a simple roll and write style game. Delicious doesn’t always offer the most choices, but there are some good choices in the game. Mainly around when you use both cards or not. Or when you flip cards from top to bottom for you or not. That is how you are able to focus on different areas. When you place your fruit or veggies that is pretty limited in terms of your decision making. So a fair amount of the game is luck.

Therefore, I suspect that the games replayability is going to be limited. While the tools and fruits, which I’ll talk about more in what I like, come out randomly as do the veggies, generally you understand what the options are. So as you play you likely will find a target path to go each game. With the biggest choices being around if you focus on the top plot of veggies or the bottom.

What Works?

How Many Cards

I like the choice the game does give you. While, yes, it is limited a lot of the time to what you can do, there are also interesting choices. In particular the choice of top or bottom can be interesting. But it’s really the choice of do I use one or two cards in a given around. You choose two early because you aren’t locked in, but it might mean you miss out on two good ones later. But you wait too long and now you lose the ability to use everything.

Fruits or Veggies

And I think the focus on either veggies or fruit can be interesting. And this stems from tools or fruits as tokens from the cards. You pick a card and that is always a veggie. But each card either contains a fruit or a tool. And some rounds you may play with two fruits in a round or two tools. But tools either help with veggies or with fruits. So where do you want to play with your flexibility?

When you play a tool it gives you a symbol. You fill in something you want in a row or column of that symbol. And you choose if you want to match the garden plot (top or bottom) of the card or if you use it for a fruit. And each way, either veggies or fruit is a good way to get points. So what and where you focus is another choice in the game.

Game Speed

The game is also fast once you understand it. I find that it is maybe a bit tougher to teach than the simplicity of the game might suggest. But it is not by any means a hard game to teach. Once you start playing Delicious turns and rounds go very fast. I like that every decision is being made at the same time in the game. When the cards flip you and I both are able to take our turns without waiting for one player to take a complete turn and then another.

Who Is Delicious For?

I think Delicious works well as a casual or family friendly roll and write game. It’s going to feel like just that little bit more than some of the more classic ones like Qwixx or Yahtzee, but not so much it is overwhelming. so I think it’s going to be a nice stepping stone roll and write style game. If you already know them really well and have played a lot, this is not going to be one to excite you. Unless, of course, you want to introduce people slightly more complex roll and writes.

Final Thoughts on Delicious

Delicious is a fun little game. I appreciate that Pencil First makes easy to pick-up games. I know when I pick-up a Pencil First Game it is going to be one that I can probably understand and teach really quickly. And Delicious very much is that sort of game.

The downfall for me, and why it might only stick in my collection for a bit, is the simplicity of the game. I find that the scoring between fruits and veggies is very balanced. And the top and bottom is as well. So it is possible to play a different game each time. But that is three combinations and how you balance them. I expect that I’ll find a rhythm of how I like to play. When I find that, I expect the game is going to start to feel a bit more samey. So if it stays is going to be determined by how well other people like the game.

My Grade: B
Casual Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C-

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Catch up on my Top 100 Games (of all Time) 2023 Edition:

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61
60 through 51
50 through 41
40 through 31
30 through 21
20 through 11

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition – 10 through 1

10. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Let’s start off with Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game at #10 this year. Detective is deduction game where you and your teammates are trying to solve cases. The base box comes with five cases that take about 2-3 hours each. And you’re up against the clock, in the game, to solve everything and figure out what answers you need as you get quizzed on what happened and the who, what, and why of the case at the end. Plus little details that you might have missed or you can piece together.

This is like a crime television drama. I don’t love watching those, but playing in one is amazing. You actually get to put together deduction skills and piece together what happened. Sometimes it’s easy, and other times it is hard, but it’s always worth it.

And this game does a good job using technology as you play. Part of how you get information is interacting with a computer and a database to pull up details that might already exist on the case. Or it might be details that already exist on people in the case. It really helps make Detective into a great immersive experience.

Buy Detective

9. The Great Split

Next up we have The Great Split, a new game to the list and one that does a single thing well. In The Great Split, it is primarily an “I split, you choose” game. What does that mean? It means that I have a group of cards and I put them into two groups. You pick one of those groups and I get the other one back. Then we both use them for scoring, which is what everyone is doing at the same time. So, I love the simplicity and simultaneous nature of the game play.

Plus the scoring is nice in the game as well as it isn’t too difficult or too easy. What it mainly is, is pushing up on on tracks for artwork, literature, gems, and money. And each of them is going to score in a different way. Some of them score with how well you are doing against a market or against a scoring track. Others score, the gems, with your lowest of the two gem tracks. So it’s figuring out what you want to go for, because that’s not all the scoring.

There is also contracts in the game. Those are on the tracks as well, but you have other tracks that you want to push up on. Because they make the contracts you have, loaning your art pieces out to museums and stuff like that, worth more. But if you’re pushing up on those tracks, you aren’t on the main scoring tracks, so it’s a really good balance. And all of that with very simple rules teach and very simple game play.

Buy The Great Split

8. Floriferous

Now we have Floriferous, a game that has made it’s way higher up on the list from last year. And some of that is what I redid how I thought about the list, some. I now put more stock into the games that I want to play all the time and do play often, as well as the ones that give me a great experience when I play them. Which is why there are fewer campaign games in the Top 10, though, don’t worry, their are still several.

But Floriferous is a drafting game of building up your best bouquet of flowers. But how you draft and how you know what you are scoring is what I love about the game. You lay out the cards to be drafted from at the start of the round. And then players take turns drafting from the first column of cards. Where you draft in that column then determines your drafting order for the next column. It makes for great decisions as decide to take a less ideal card to make sure you get the perfect card next column.

And then there is the scoring. A little of the scoring just exists at the start of the game. Most of what you score you need to draft. So I need to draft a card that says “2 points for all purple flowers”, for example. And I can do that, but the scoring cards are always at the bottom of the column. That means when I take a scoring card I’m going to be going last next round which is a choice, as I said above, that I really love.

Buy Floriferous

7. Planet Unknown

Next up we have Planet Unknown a terraforming, polyomino laying game. And it’s one that is not that hard to teach, if you have the game in front of you. But it does some very cool things, which I’ll get to in a second here. But the game is about filling up your planet with tiles, clearing out meteors that have hit your planet, and building up on various tracks of nature, water, technology, rover mobility, and civilization.

The game is able to be played in two ways. The first way is a simple generic way where everyone has the exact same thing. I think it is a solid system if everyone is learning the game, and you have new to gaming people in there. But once people know the system at all, flip over the boards and the groups going to the planets. That is when the fun begins as everyone is working a little bit differently and has their own ways and timings as they go up the tracks while still playing the same game.

And the one thing I haven’t touched on yet is how you pick your tiles. There is a lazy susan in the middle with all of the tiles on it. And on your turn, you turn the lazy susan to the side you want facing you so you get the tile that you want. It’s a tough decision, and then everyone else takes from the side facing them. Or at least kind of facing them, because they’ll have a marker, placed at the start of the game, that determines where they take from. I love that mechanism as I can get what I want, or I might choose to mess with you.

Late Pledge Planet Unknown

6. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Then we have Lost Ruins of Arnak. And this one I do want to specify that it is a top 10 game for me with the first expansion. The second expansion definitely keeps it up this high as well, but the first one is needed, in my opinion. It takes Lost Ruins of Arnak from a fun game to one of my top games of all time.

So how does it play, and why do I like the expansion so much. Well, at it’s heart, The Lost Ruins of Arnak is a resource management game of going out, collecting resources and turning them in to move up a research track. But there are a number of twists with it as well. Because I also am building up a deck of cards that let me do more actions or power up the actions that I do take. And I love that aspect to it.

So let’s talk about what the expansion adds and why I think Expedition Leaders is very important to the game. In Lost Ruins of Arnak, base game, everyone has the same camp, same workers, and same starting deck of cards. And there are two tracks which you can go up on. It’s fun. But Expedition Leaders says your camp, your cards, how many workers you have, all of that can be unique now. Because you have a leader that makes you unique and I really love that.

Buy The Lost Ruins of Arnak

5. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is the next game on the list coming in at #5. And it is one that I haven’t played in probably eight months. I really need to get it back to the the table. But I love this engine building game and another game about terraforming a planet, but this time, I’d say, it’s way more about building up that engine to generate more resources and points.

The game, like I said, is about building up that engine and determining when to activate everything, and when to pick an action to do based off of what you think your opponent is going to do. How does that work? Well, the game has five actions and the actions that are played out by the players that round are the ones that are going to happen.

The actions also fire off in a particular order. So if I pick research it’s action #5, so it’ll go last. Someone else might pick activating actions, and that’s #3, so it goes in that order. Which ever one you pick, you get a special bonus for it, while your opponents get whatever the basic action is (which you do as well). So it’s about trying to not match with your opponents to get more actions done and to figure out what benefits you the most. Of course, if everyone is doing that, well, then no one might pick that one action everyone wants.

Buy Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

4. Stars of Akarios

Now we’re onto one of the big campaign games. And you can see game play for this one on Malts and Meeples. Stars of Akarios is a game that I absolutely enjoyed all that I did. Some parts are better than others, but as a whole, I think the game is a ton of fun. It’s a big space adventure that gives me vibes from Enders Game and Space Dandy, two really different things, but it works for this game.

The game is split into three parts, but we’re going to talk about two of them. First part is planetary exploration. This has a 7th Continent type feel to it with flipping over locations and interacting with places. Plus there is a lot of story that you can find as well for the different planets. There are skill checks and things like that, but a lot of it is story and the choices you make in that story unlocks new things that you can do.

The main part of the game is tactical space combat. It’s about using your dice to flank and out maneuver the enemies so that you are in the right spot for a big hit and they can’t hit you back. I adore the puzzle that this game provides in this space combat. It is good enough to just be a game by itself, but the story and the world/universe that is being built in the game is just amazing. I can’t wait to get back to it, and maybe it’ll be a campaign game that I come back to and try and play through solo sometime.

Buy Stars of Akarios

Note the 1.5 version of Stars of Akarios is coming out. There should be a late pledge available soon.

3. Dice Throne

Next up is Dice Throne. I believe that my #2 and #3 flipped spots from last year. Dice Throne is a battling game of taking characters up against each other and rolling dice, Yahtzee style, to deal damage. You get a better roll, like a large straight or all sixes and you get to do more damage.

The game really shines in two areas. The first is how they manage to make all of the characters feel different. I have Marvel Dice Throne pictured here, but in the video I have Dice Throne Season 1 and I figured out coming soon there will be 35 different characters. And all of the characters do feel different. They come with different tokens that change up how they interact with the enemies or how they ramp up to deal more damage themselves.

And then there is the card play in this game. What doesn’t make it just pure dice chucking are these cards. Some of them are upgrades to your attacks that offer better results and more damage when you roll them. Other times, and I’d say most often this, it’s about getting better results on your dice. You don’t want to end up being stuck doing nothing if you try and shoot the moon and go for all sixes. So you keep cards to manipulate the dice. It’s a great system that offers more depth than you’d think from the initial description.

Buy Dice Throne

2. Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon

Now we have Tainted Grail at #2. This one moved up, I think, because I made it through all three campaigns, wrapping up the third one this year. And all of them offer something unique and fun that is really enjoyable to play. I love how you start in the middle with the first campaign and then the second takes place 500 years later and the first 500 years before it. It offers a lot of interesting storytelling, which the writer really takes advantage of.

The game play is also pretty slick once you get into it. The combat and diplomacy checks are done through card play. And while that is an important part of the game, it’s not too hard to build up something that is powerful enough. Or players with specialize in different areas. One element about the combat that I really like is that you need to pay attention is to the enemies attack. How much damage you deal determines the enemies attack. If you aren’t careful, you’re going to take a lot of damage.

But the game really shines around the exploration and survival aspects of the game. I think it’s best on story mode because the story is so good. But you always need to be keeping track of the menhir that you have lit. Because if they go out, then you start to lose parts of the map as the wyrdness takes over. And that limits where you can explore. And as I said, exploration is the best part of the game. It is a chance to dive into that story. So it’s a balance of story, resource gathering, and then just surviving that makes Tainted Grail work so well.

Buy Tainted Grail

1. Gloomhaven

My #1 hasn’t changed, it’s still Gloomhaven. Though, you can say that it is Gloomhaven, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, and Frosthaven all rolled into one. Jaws of the Lion might be a game that I show off here on Malts and Meeples. And I’m now playing through a campaign of Frosthaven.

This is a classic dungeon crawling game where you go into a scenario and need to tactically move around and kill all the bad guys. Or at least that’s the objective in a lot of base Gloomhaven’s scenarios. The other ones offer more variety. But it’s also a game of leveling up your characters, unlocking more abilities, and then eventually retiring and getting a whole new character to play with.

And getting those abilities and playing them out is where the game is amazing. You play out two cards from your hand each turn. They have abilities on the top and bottom. And you’ll activate one of the top abilities and one of the bottom ones. Plus you need to figure out where in initiative that you want to go as well.

And the variety in them and how different the characters are is impressive. It’s like a lot of the games in my Top 10, I like the variable player powers and variability in what you are doing. Gloomhaven and all the following games offer a ton of that. And it’s sad to lose a character to retirement that you’ve spent time with, but exciting to unlock something new. This is just an amazing game that deserves the love it gets.

Buy Gloomhaven

Thanks for Joining Me

Thank you for joining me as I went through all of the games on this list. I really have fun doing this every year. And I hope that you have fun watching along. I appreciate everyone who has been in the chats and watched the videos. It means a lot to me to see that people are enjoying it. Let me know what some of your favorite games are.

Upcoming Streaming

And join me for future upcoming streams. I made a comment that my Monday streams might be changing. We’ll have to see on that, it might just be less often, or it might move to a different night, it depends on some variables as I look at the new year. Right now, though, that it’s changing. I plan on streaming Monday nights at 9 PM Central. I won’t have some on the 25th of December, I will be around next week.

Then on Wednesday, I generally stream a campaign game. I won’t be doing that this upcoming week. And I’ll be missing the following week. But as I start 2024, I plan to stream Rogue Angels. A game that I think will be in my Top 100 starting next year. One of my rules was that I needed to have played a physical copy. And thus far I only have played it digitally. Now I’ll be able to play it in person, which I’m really excited for. So join me for that starting in 2024. And Wednesday streams start at 8 PM Central time.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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There is more thought into this list than what’s my Top 10. My Top 10 games of all time, some of them might make the list, but others not because it might seem overwhelming to me as a teenager. Or it might be a theme that I like more now as compared to what I did back then. So there’s taking all of that, or even complexity of rules, into consideration.

Top 5 Board Games I Wish I Had As A Teenager

5. Betrayal at House on the Hill

This just missed me being a teenager and I definitely played it later. But I think that younger me, like older me, would have enjoyed this game a lot. The whole idea of exploring a board that is always changing would have been cool. I was used to playing weird giant games of Catan, so the modular element as you build as you go I think I’d have liked.

Plus I’d have liked the competitive switch of the game. You are working together but really you want to get what is best for you. So how can you do that quickly for when the haunt comes. And while the haunts themselves likely would cause debate, I’d have been cool with the not well written haunt directions.

4. Pandemic Legacy

Pandemic Legacy probably would have blown my mind. A cooperative game would have done that but also then with it being a legacy game. Being able to adjust the board as we go and that changing the game, that’d have blown my mind. It kind of still did when Pandemic Legacy came out as that was my first legacy game.

And I’d have liked the story that went along with the game. I didn’t have games that really had story with them. But I was a teenager who read a lot. Authors like Robert Ludlum were part of what I was reading with all of these crazy political plots and others as well and Pandemic Legacy would have been a lighter version of that with a game and I always loved games.

3. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion/Gloomhaven/Frosthaven

This isn’t my final three games. But I do have all of them on the list. I think as a 15 year old getting Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, I’d have loved it. And then Gloomhaven and Frosthaven are games I’d have saved up money for. But I don’t think I could have jumped into either of the bigger boxes. Instead Jaws of the Lions with it’s tutorial would be an amazing starting place. And I would then want more, which I think would have kept me busy for a long time.

And I’d have played Gloomhaven solo but also, likely at the same time, gone through it with friends. I wouldn’t have had the consistent schedule on the calendar as an adult who can drive. But one Saturday a month have a friend over and my brother as well we’d play probably 4 scenarios in a day and go late into the night. And then more often as I got a drivers license.

2. Ice Cool

Completely different end of the spectrum here, Ice Cool would have been amazing. I’d have messed around with it more to come up with my own builds. I definitely would have wanted to get Ice Cool 2 as well. But this is just a simple flicking game, but that toy factor and fun factor would have made it great for holidays, still does, and playing with my cousins. It’s really the toy factor on this one that would make it great.

1. Dice Throne

Finally we have Dice Throne, so only my Top 2 games out of my Top 10 made it onto the list. And one even with the caveat that it’s only going through the tutorial. Dice Throne would have been amazing, though, it’s battle Yahtzee. I could have put King of Tokyo onto that list as well. But I think I’d have really loved, and clearly still do, that idea that I pick my own unique hero that I get to play with. That’s not something that shows up in a ton of other games, otherwise.

And the one versus one is nice with the game, or bigger groups. I don’t think that I’d have used this as a family game, play 5 people, but it’d have been three player battles a lot. Or I think I’d have played it solo, not as Dice Throne Adventures, but just running two characters to learn them and their strategies really well, because, well, I had time to do that more than I do now.

What Would You Have Wanted To Play?

It’s a fun question to ask. There are so many more board games out there now than when I was a teenager. And I think I could come up with a huge list for it. I only had two campaign games, one pretty standard and one much more complex. But I think if I got into Gloomhaven young enough I’d have started learning and looking at other more complex games.

When I was growing up as a teenager though, the games I played were Catan, Ticket to Ride, and then more classic games like Phase 10, Yahtzee, Skip-Bo, Rummikub and more like that. What games do you think you’d have loved as a teenager?

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And catch up on any you’ve missed before:

100 through 91 here.

90 through 81 here.

80 through 71 here.

70 through 61 here.

60 through 51 here.

50 through 41 here.

40 through 31 here.

30 through 21 here.

20 through 11 here.

Top 100 Games 2022 Edition – 10-1

10. Roll Player Adventures

We know that I like my big box adventure games, and the more that I play Roll Player Adventures the more that I like the game. It might even be higher now after having played it a couple more times since making the list. But Roll Player Adventures is a choose your own adventure style of adventure game tied in with dice manipulation.

The game takes a world that didn’t exist too much in Roll Player and creates a greater and more interesting story around it. And the story is just fun, some of the backstories are a bit heavier, but the main story is a great and lighter fantasy experience. And beyond the story, I really like the dice manipulation that can go on. It can be a bit easy, sometimes, at 4 players, but that doesn’t make it less puzzly to figure it out, it’s just that we can make it so we rarely miss a challenge.

Buy from Thunderworks Games

9. Mansions of Madness

Mansions of Madness has consistently been in the Top 10, and it’s going to stick around, I’d guess, in my Top 20 at least for a long time. I really like that it’s a story driven game, but one without a campaign to it. Though, I do want a campaign from time to time with the game. But each scenario is something completely different as you try and solve a mystery, stop a ritual, or maybe just get out of a town.

Mansions of Madness also offers such good game play. It is more of a die chucker, but it implements puzzles and monsters, and so much through an app system that doesn’t take over the game, but supports it in the play. It takes something that’d need to be one versus all and turns it into a cooperative experience.

Buy on Miniature Market

8. Xenoshyft Onslaught

Xenoshyft is the next game in the Top 10. This is a deck building game of tower defense as you fight off waves and waves of bugs. I really like it because it does a couple of things that make it feel different for a cooperative game and for a deck building game.

Firstly, it handles the currency really well. Every round you need to have troops and money to buy more, so you get money at the start of each round. You draw your hand and you take a money so that you always can buy something. Plus, you can then trade in money, in future rounds to go from having 3 1’s in the deck to 1 3 in your deck of cards. So you keep the deck lean.

The other thing is how much interaction there is. You don’t have enough troops to defend your side, not a big deal, I can give you an extra I have in hand. Or you can pass a weapon over to me if you have extras. And I can use a stim pack on your guy or you can toss a grenade on my side to take out my bugs. It is very cooperative in what you do, which I really like.

Buy on Amazon

7. Stars of Akarios

Stars of Akarios, you can watch game play of that on Malts and Meeples but it’s one of my top gaming experiences for 2022. I love this game so much which is how it can make it so high. The story is just fun, and the different game modes for the most part work really well.

The game really shines with it’s tactical space combat. It is such a good puzzle as you roll dice and then need to figure out how to use those dice to activate abilities, get in position for attacks and blow the enemy ships out of the sky. That is a puzzle every turn as you activate and then the enemies go so by the time you come around, they might be flanking you and you need to scramble to be able to target them again.

Plus the planetary exploration works well. And it’s a lot of fun with a 7th Continent type of vibe to it as you explore and open up a map and a whole world as you discover new things. It’s a bit more fiddly, but there is a lot of story to discover there. And they do a good job of giving you different things that you can play around with, different story elements or mechanics on the various planets.

Buy from OOMM Games

6. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Detective made the list last year in a big way and some of that was because it was one of the gaming experiences that worked really well during COVID. But also because it is legitimately a really fun game of deduction as you try and figure out which paths to go down to solve cases. I’ve liked all the different versions that I’ve played and I have a lot more of Detective to play.

In the original box, and the Batman box, I like how the cases are tied together as well. Each case might be solving it’s own thing, but there is an overall story that runs together. And I don’t mind at all the addition of technology into the game. The database to update with what you’ve found, and looking up information or finding matching information from previous cases is just a lot of fun and would be hard without the website.

Buy on Miniature Market

5. Aeon’s End

The last deck building game on the list is Aeon’s End. And I really enjoy this one as well because of a few different things starting with the turn order. Now that turn order might make it into a two player game only for me. Because it’d be too long between turns otherwise, but it being a random card draw from a deck of two cards for players one and two and two for the nemesis is great.

I think Aeon’s End also does a great job of giving you unique nemesis to fight against and unique mages to play as. And as the game has gone along further, the legacy version offers an amazing point to jump into the game. Plus just enough legacy goodness, the story is just okay, that you want to see what you unlock next for your character.

Buy on Game Nerdz

4. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Marvel Champions is a deck construction game, so slightly different than deck building. You are taking a Marvel hero into battle against a villain where you need to try and thwart the scheme and defeat the bad guy. All before the bad guy can either complete their scheme or knock you out.

The game does a good job of giving you that superhero feel to it. And I really appreciate how the cards flip. So you can go from Peter Parker to Spider-Man and back and that’s part of the strategy of the game because if you just stay as Spider-Man, the bad guys will beat you down. If you just stay as Peter Parker you can’t fight or thwart their schemes. So it’s a fun balancing act.

I wish that there were more campaigns or a more in-depth campaign like Arkham Horror LCG, but what they have works well. And, theoretically, it makes it easier to get to the table because you don’t need to worry about getting it back tot he table repeatedly.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

3. Tainted Grail

Next is another big campaign game that I’m nearing the mid point of the third Tainted Grail campaign, and I have Ruin of Kings ordered as well for more game play. But this is a survival adventure game where you really aren’t a hero. You are close a hero, but you all have weaknesses and rough pasts. In fact, in the base campaign there are heroes who have gone out to see what is happening and they haven’t come back. So you are the B-team sent out to see what is going on.

But that’s not what makes the game so much fun. I do like the combat and diplomacy checks. But it’s all about the story for this game. I’d read the story of our adventures as a novel because the writing is so good in what is going on. And for that reason we play in story mode, it makes it a bit less grinding, but it also means that we can explore more which means we get more of that story.

You Can Maybe Find on Ebay or Board Game Geek Market

2. Dice Throne

My number two is still Dice Throne. This is a game that doesn’t feel like it should work, it looks like Yahtzee and combat all rolled into one, but it works really well. There is someone much smarter than me who has figured out how to balance abilities and make abilities feel unique for so many characters from classic fantasy to Marvel heroes and anti-heroes to Santa vs Krampus.

I know that most people like this game only as a two player head to head battle. But I think as a game where it’s king of the hill, which incentivizes hitting the player with the most health it works well as well. Overall, this is just a nice filler game while waiting for more people to come to a game night. Or one that I’ll pull out when I do have two players and we can try all sorts of combinations.

Buy on Miniature Market

1. Gloomhaven

Finally, no change with my number one. And I don’t think with Frosthaven coming soon, it’ll get dethroned. Mainly because Frosthaven is more of that same Gloomhaven goodness from what I can tell and I’m so excited to get it to the table.

But Gloomhaven is a massive dungeon crawler that doesn’t have you chucking dice. In fact, there are no dice at all to be chucked it is all done through card play. Card play that determines your attacks, your moves, and how fast you even act in initiative order. It also is a game where with just cards, each character really feels different in what they are doing, maybe that is one of the things that I really appreciate about a game, unique characters.

Looks at Top 10, yeah, seems reasonable to say that I enjoy unique characters.

Buy on Miniature Market

Upcoming Streams

So on Wednesday I am going to be streaming Spire’s End Hildegard, the follow-up, prequel, similar but different game to Spire’s End. In fact, over the next few weeks I’ll probably stream both of them. Just so that I can play them enough and be able to review both and compare and contrast both. So look for Spire’s End and Spider’s End: Hildegard on upcoming Wednesdays.

Monday is no longer going to be the Top 100 games, the list is done. Instead, I want to stream some of the more casual solo games that I have, maybe play some of them I’ve already played before. And just use that time to get in some gaming but also be able to just hang out and chat with people as we get closer to the new year. Then starting in 2023, it’ll be time for a new campaign game.

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How to Play Marvel Dice Throne

Marvel Dice Throne is the same game as Dice Throne. So a head to head or king of the hill style battling game. In it you pit your hero against other heroes (or anti-hero with Loki) to see who will come out on top.

You do this primarily through a dice mechanic that is based off a Yahtzee. You roll dice and then re-roll up to two more times. Using the faces of the dice, either numbers or symbols, you then activate an ability to attack your opponent. Your opponent rolls a defense blocking some damage, dealing damage back, or getting tokens to activate other powers and abilities. First player to knock their opponent to zero health is the winner.

That might sound very simple and it is quite simple. But there is more going on than just rolling dice. You get combat points, your currency for the game, and cards. These cards can be a lot of different things. They can remove negative effects from you. They can upgrade abilities or give you new dice combinations to activate attacks off of. Or it can block attacks or manipulate dice. So if you plan it out well, you can possibly set-up a great turn.

What Doesn’t Work?

I don’t really have any issues with the game. I’m bummed that there are no plans for the Geek Bit upgrades, but also it’s a Marvel based game, so that would have to go through them. And I doubt that it’s worth it to do that or it might not even be possible. Otherwise I got no complaints.

I can see people complaining that it is lucky. Which it is to some level. You are rolling dice, but you end up with options to mitigate. You play cards to affect the dice, so that is the most direct way. But all the characters also can upgrade abilities. This means often that you add in new combinations you can roll. So there are ways around the dice.

What Works

Marvel Dice Throne is very good at bringing out the flavor of the characters. With Thor you manipulate Mjolnir for damage and abilities. For Loki you play out illusions. Scarlet Witch manipulates the opponents dice. And Doctor Strange launches spells. Each character is thematic in some way. I love that about Dice Throne in general how every character is different. Marvel Dice Throne keeps that going strong.

Who Is It For?

This is a game for people who like dice. They don’t hide the fact that dice are important when you name your game Marvel Dice Throne. But more than that, Marvel Dice Throne is going to be a game for people who like Marvel as well. It is a pretty casual game and that should make it more accessible to most gamers or even people who are just interested because of the theme.

Should You Get It?

This is a slightly different question than the last one. Mainly because I do think that Dice Throne is not a game for everyone. Let’s face it, even though I might rate a game or game system a 10, someone else might not like it so much.

If you think that Dice Throne, with the fantasy characters, is just fine. Marvel Dice Throne might not be for you. If you love Marvel though and you think Dice Throne is just fine, this one might be better for you. It still won’t make it a great game. Marvel Dice Throne is just another version of Dice Throne. But if you love Marvel that might move it up a bit for you and make it worth your while.

Marvel Dice Throne Final Thoughts

I love Dice Throne and I love Marvel. So Marvel Dice Throne was a no brainer for me to back. And I’ve played it six times already, like I said. I haven’t played all the characters yet, so I’m still ready to dive in more. Thus far I think that Scarlet Witch is my favorite. Doctor Strange is up there and I enjoy Black Widow a lot as well.

Thor, for me, feels a bit more standard in how he plays but I think throwing and retrieving Mjolnir could be a lot of fun if I figure out his character a bit more. And Miles Morales Spider-Man as well as Captain Marvel were cool as well. Captain Marvel is maybe my least favorite, but she can punch really hard at times.

My Grade: A+
Gamer Grade: C
Casual Grade: A

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