Welcome to a new list I will never finish! As you know, I am a board game addict. I game at least 3 times a week ( usually more). I once famously gamed 21 days in a row. There is some controversy on Day 17 but I had meeple in hand at 11:59 that day so... I hold the record for Strategicon final tables without a win ( or a second place for that matter) with 17. I also never stop humblebragging about it. So without further ado, here is the list:
Honorable Mentions
Alhambra - a classic
Snake Oil - a better version of Apples to Apples or CAH for me. Way more creative and fun
Coconuts - you make monkeys flick coconuts into cups. Why is this not in the top 10?
Guillotine - simple game, solid filler
10 Days series ( USA, Asia, Africa) - Solid short filler, not on the list because of a tragic one card from winning AJ's tourney flashback.
Viticulture - solid worker placement about wine making
Roll Through the Ages - solid dice game
Glen More - as my game groups resident alcoholic, I had a heavy whisky strategy
Bruxelles 1893 - Solid Euro
Android Netrunner - I see the hype but I don't think I can get into as some people do. Still a good game.
Transamerica - Ticket to Ride lite, solid filler
Eniment Domain
Atlantis
Forbidden Desert - Co-ops usually aren't my favorite but I like these series of games
Cash and Guns - you get to point orange foam guns at people. I always tip the gun to the side because I'm cool like that
Guildhall
Hawaii - Tom Vassel is wrong on this one
50. Augustus
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137297/augustus
Via Board Game geek
In Augustus, you vie with your fellow players to complete "objective" cards for special powers and ultimately for victory points. Each card has 2-6 symbols which you must populate with legionnaire meeples in order to complete the card. These symbols are drawn one at a time from a bag, with all players gaining the benefit equally, but interestingly, the bag contains more of some symbols than others.
So the pivotal skill you'll deploy is in making your choice of which three objectives you'll start the game with (you're dealt six) — balancing potential difficulty of completion against value of the reward — and then which of five available objectives you'll add to your plate each time you complete one of your three. The game ends when someone completes seven objectives.
So Augustus is basically a gamers version of Bingo. My mom plays bingo more than I play board games so maybe it's in my genes. But it is fun and you get to yell out "Ave Caesar". I like anytime you get to yell out something. That's like 90 percent of the fun of Sorry! Because its not the game play. Why am I hating on Sorry!? Am I becoming a board game snob?
49. Once Upon A Time
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1234/once-upon-time-storytelling-card-game
Via BGG
Once Upon A Time is a game in which the players create a story together, using cards that show typical elements from fairy tales. One player is the Storyteller and creates a story using the ingredients on her cards. She tries to guide the plot towards her own ending. The other players try to use cards to interrupt her and become the new Storyteller. The winner is the first player to play out all her cards and end with her Happy Ever After card.
Nice, fun creative game. It's a storytelling game. The fun comes in figuring out how to get the story to make sense with the ending you are given and how to play the cards. They are in the forest? How am I going to get them back to the castle? My ending has them having a feast at the castle! But the other player established that the Queen had all food banished from the land!
48. Among the Stars
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/110277/among-stars
Via BGG
Among the Stars takes place in a war-ravaged galaxy where the warring alien races have declared peace in the wake of a threat with the potential to destroy them all. An Alliance is established to build space stations throughout the galaxy in order to promote trade among the races, strengthen diplomatic relations, and defend against this impending threat. Each player takes the role of one of those races trying to build the greatest space station. Through card drafting, the players select locations, and use these to build their station, scoring victory points based on the placement. The construction lasts four years, and alien race with the most points at the end wins.
It's basically 7 Wonders with a building mechanic. I've only played this once and I'm itching to play this again. Card drafting is up among my favorite game mechanics. It adds to 7 Wonders but I still prefer 7 Wonders as you will see later. Once more people have this game expect to see me run Among the Blunders at next years con. I need to come up with a better name for the 7 Blunders version of the game.
47. Skull & Roses
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92415/skull-roses
I'll just have Shut Up & Sit Down describe why this game is good
http://boardgamegeek.com/video/42566/skull-roses/opener-skull-roses-fresh-pizza
46. Jaipur
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/54043/jaipur
Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan. You are one of the two most powerful traders in the city.
But that's not enough for you, because only the merchant with two Seals of Excellence will have the privilege of being invited to the Maharaja's court.
You are therefore going to have to do better than your direct competitor by buying, exchanging and selling at better prices, all while keeping an eye on both your camel herds.
A card game for two seasoned traders!
When it's your turn, you can either take or sell cards.
If you take cards, you have to choose between taking all the camels, taking 1 card from the market or swapping 2 to 5 cards between the market and your cards.
If you sell cards, you get to sell only one type of good per turn, and you get as many chips from that good as you sold cards. The chips' values decrease as the game progresses, so you'd better hurry ! But, on the other hand, you get increasingly high rewards for selling 3, 4, or 5 cards of the same good at a time, so you'd better wait!
You can't sell camels, but they're paramount for trading and they're also worth a little something at the end of the round, enough sometimes to secure the win, so you have to use them smartly.
Jaipur is a fast-paced card game, a blend of tactics, risk and luck.
Jaipur is one of the best pure two player games out there. I have logged a lot of plays on this on boardgamearena.com and for good reason. The game is about timing. When to sell your goods, it's a balancing act. The max hand size of 7 leads to people not being able to hoard. I like to take a lot of camels so I have flexibility. 2 player games don't usually get a lot of play, but if there is two of us and this is available I'd suggest it.
45. Vikings
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/27173/Vikings
Via BGG:
Vikings is a fast economic game. Despite the nominal "Viking" theme, no actual exploration or pillage is involved.
The resources in the game consist of coins and several types of ship tiles, island tiles and meeples. In each of 6 rounds, a random set of 12 tiles and 12 meeples becomes available. Players take turns buying and placing pairs of meeples and tiles. There is no direct player interaction, only indirect contention for resources during the buying phase.
The most unusual aspect of the game is the pricing wheel, which pairs meeples with tiles and sets their prices.
Vikings is a game that was a late addition to the list. Sorry Eniment Domain, Vikings took your slot. The price wheel mechanic in the game is pretty cool. On my first play I had way to many boatwains wasting space so I ended up getting lapped. But a game your lose heavily on that you want to play again, that is a signal of a good game.
44. Wits and Wagers
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20100/wits-wagers
Via BGG
Trivia for People Who Don't Know Stuff!
Not a trivia buff? It doesn’t matter! Each player writes a guess to a question such as “In what year did the bikini swimsuit makes its first appearance?” or “How many feet wide is an NFL football field?” and places it face-up on the betting mat. Think you know the answer? Bet on your guess. Think you know who the experts are? Bet on their guess. The closest answer pays out according to the odds on the betting mat. Strike it big and you’ll be cheering like you just hit the jackpot!
Wits & Wagers is a trivia game that lets you bet on anyone’s answer. So you can win by making educated guesses, by playing the odds, or by knowing the interests of your friends. It can be taught in 2 minutes, played in 25 minutes, and accommodates up to 20 people in teams.
Wits & Wagers is my go to trivia game nowadays. It is good for people that don't know trivia as well as they can guestamate numbers. I'm good with facts involving numbers and years so I'm pretty good at the game. My big hubris in this game is even locking up a win I put it all in on something I'm kind of sure on to get like a 400 plus score.
43. Say Anything
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33604/say-anything
Via BGG:
Say Anything is a light-hearted game about what you and your friends think. It gives you the chance to settle questions that have been hotly debated for centuries. For instance, "What is the most overrated band of all time?" or "Which celebrity would be the most fun to hang out with for a day?" So dig deep into your heart or just come up with something witty - this is your chance to Say Anything!
How to Play
1) Ask a question from the card you draw. Ex:
- If you could have a "BIG" anything, what would it be?
- What's the most important invention of the last century?
- Which website would be hardest to live without?
- What's the best activity for a first date?
- What's the worst thing to say to a cop after getting pulled over?
2) Everyone else writes an answer and throws it face-up on the table as fast as possible. No duplicate answers are allowed!
3) Secretly choose your favorite response using a genuine state of the art SELECT-O-MATIC 5000 (see pictures).
4) Everyone else has two betting tokens to bet on which answer you chose. They can bet both tokens on one answer or split them between two different answers (just like in Wits & Wagers).
Who Will Like This Game?
Say Anything is a pure party game. It was designed to get a party started as quickly as possible by prompting people to talk about interesting things and to make ridiculous statements. Although it was designed by the makers of Wits & Wagers, it is a much lighter game. Wits & Wagers can be played strategically or as a boisterous party game, but Say Anything can only be played as a pure party game. If you are looking for great social interaction and lots of laughs, then you will probably enjoy playing Say Anything.
Second game in a row that I own and with good reason. This party game, as with most party games, is great with the right group of people. Of all the games that share the Apples to Apples mechanic this is one of the best. Well Dixit is better but slightly. Spoiler Alert: It's #42!
42. Dixit
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/39856/dixit
One player is the storyteller for the turn and looks at the images on the 6 cards in her hand. From one of these, she makes up a sentence and says it out loud (without showing the card to the other players).
Each other player selects the card in their hands which best matches the sentence and gives the selected card to the storyteller, without showing it to the others.
The storyteller shuffles her card with all the received cards. All pictures are shown face up and every player has to bet upon which picture was the storyteller's.
If nobody or everybody finds the correct card, the storyteller scores 0, and each of the other players scores 2. Otherwise the storyteller and whoever found the correct answer score 3. Players score 1 point for every vote for their own card.
The game ends when the deck is empty or if a player scores 30 points. In either case, the player with the most points wins the game.
The base game and all expansions have 84 cards each.
Dixit has this reputation for being the most respected party game. Hardcore gamers like Dixit or at least respect it. It has great original artwork that can be interpreted in many different ways. It also tests peoples minds and creativity. I usually lose by saying some obscure pop culture reference that I think one person would know then nobody gets it.
41. Luna
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70512/luna
Via BGG
"The end of her regency is nigh. It's time to clear the way for a new bearer of the burden. She will keep a wary eye on the novices representing their Orders and trying to win her favor. Eventually, she will have to come to a decision. Which Order will prove itself worthy to decide on her successor? There will be a new Moon Priestess and she will bear the title: LUNA."
"LUNA" is the title of the Moon Priestess, and before her very eyes, each of the up to four Orders competes for the right to decide on her successor. The players are the heads of the Orders who try to convince the Priestess of themselves. Over the course of six rounds, they need to collect as many influence points as possible by skillfully placing their novices to achieve that goal.
The players move their novices over seven islands surrounding a temple island. The novices are placed according to the "worker movement" principle, i.e. they aren't placed at the beginning of a round, but instead start where they ended the round before. Thus, novice movement is an important part of a round: Only if you're in the right place at the right time, you'll gain the deciding influence points. You'll have to build new shrines, work at the temple, and participate in the Priestess' divine services. But don't forget to recruit additional novices or win the favor of the local Priests; these are vital means to prepare and combine the diverse actions.
LUNA: In the Domain of the Moon Priestess is a challenging tactical game with strategic and interactive elements that takes about 20-25 minutes per player. The different placement of the islands and novices at the beginning of the game creates a different feeling each time you play and opens up new strategies.
Luna is my least favorite Feld ( that I've played). And it's number 41 favorite game ever. I am such a Feld fanboy. Point salad is my favorite kind of salad. They are many different ways to get points, the mechanics are pretty cool in this game, but not as interesting as some other Felds that I'll get to in the future. I like it and would totally play it but I'm not like heavily push it like the others.
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