Many subjects have fundamental ideas that everything builds upon. Boardgaming has many pillars, but I submit that there are 5 major pillars: Alhambra, Carcassonne, Dominion, Settlers of Catan, and Ticket to Ride.
I'm aware that this list is missing a war-game, a dice game, and a cooperative game. If you want those, I'd suggest Memoir '44, King of Tokyo, and Pandemic respectively.
Each of these games brings a little something different to the table. They introduce core concepts that other games build upon, but they are also good games in their own right.
Alhambra - A bit of set collection, understanding where you can score points, even if it isn't first place, and a reward for spacial thinking and planning ahead.
Carcassonne - Very light worker placement, multiple ways to score points, short vs long term investments, as well as learning when to work with other players on a feature and when to cut your losses.
Dominion - Deck building, learning how to maximize potential and minimize "dead" hands, teaches players when to go for more stuff, and when to switch to victory points.
Catan - How to manage resources, trading with other players and the board.
Ticket to Ride - Emphasis on route planning, adapting to unexpected changes (blocking), and balancing what you have versus what you might get.
So there you go, the 5 pillars of boardgames. Agree or disagree? Leave a comment.
Showing posts with label Dominion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dominion. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
My Top 50 Games (as of Jan. 1 2014) Part 4 20-11
Welcome back to my top 50 games list as of the start of 2014. Part 4 has a few more surprises.
5 games make their debut in the 20's.
#20 Flash Point: Fire Rescue Up 6
Flash Point is one of the simpler co-op games, but I really enjoy it. The theme flows throughout the game. There's always a certain amount of tension since fire can spark up anywhere on the map. I have most/all the expansions, so I have plenty of ways to play this game. It hasn't been right for every group, but it's a game I can teach to just about anyone and they have a basic understanding of how to play based on real life ideas.
#19 Legendary: A Marvel Deckbuilding Game New
Legendary makes its debut on this list because it has a neat twist on the co-op game. Everyone wins or loses the game together, but there is essentially an MVP on the winning side. Now technically, someone wins more, but I've played it as an MVP situation. I enjoy the variety of superheroes in the game, and how each seems to do something unique. The game rewards cooperation, but it also allows players to make their own decisions which is important in any co-op game.
#18 Hanabi New
Hanabi makes my list because it is unlike any game I've ever played. This is a puzzle game where everyone has a lot of knowledge, but no one has perfect knowledge. Discussion is very limited, every clue matters, and players have to pay attention to everything, both spoken and unspoken. A perfect game is obtainable, but it's really challenging.
#17 Alhambra New
Alhambra is an older game, but I find it refreshing and challenging even today. It just missed the cut last year, coming in at #48. I was able to play it several times in 2013, which is why it moved up drastically. I have the big box, which means I have over 20 modules which means I have a lot of replayability in the box. Alhambra is one of the few games that my entire family will ask to play. That alone makes it worth rating highly.
#16 Love Letter New
Love Letter is truly a minimalist game. It has 16 cards, and 13 cube tokens. Even though the components are low, the game packs a punch. Love Letter is played over several rounds, with the winner of each round getting a token, and the overall winner being the player to get a certain number of tokens first. The game has a good combination of luck and strategy. Sometimes there is nothing you can do, but most of the time, you're going to have some chance to win a round.
#15 Escape: The Curse of the Temple New
Escape is the most tense 10 minutes of gaming you can play. It's a realtime co-op dicefest. Players have to work together to get gems, and then get out of the temple before time runs out. If even one player is left in the temple at the end, everyone loses the game.
#14 Shadows Over Camelot Down 6
Shadows drops because of its length. I did get to play it 3 times in 2013, but each time I realized that the game takes too long for what it is. If I could get Shadows down to an hour, it would be even higher on this list.
#13 Battlestar Galactica Down 7
BSG probably wins my award for game I wish I played more but can't/don't. The game is so hard to teach to new people. It really is something you have to go through once in order to understand how to play, and even then the game is complicated. There are a lot of moving parts, and often it's too much for multiple new players to understand. As such, this game sits on my shelf looking sad.
#12 Star Trek Fleet Captains Down 5
Such a good game that I don't get to play. It's hard to have a situation where I have 1 or 2 other people who want to play a long game. Fleet Captains isn't the longest game, but it is a deep game with an immersive theme. I love Star Trek, as you'll see in my Top 10, and Fleet Captains feels like Star Trek to me, but this game has a lot going
#11 Dominion Down 7
Dominion trends down for the second year in a row. Here's my issue with Dominion right now: the game is big, it isn't easy to get new players into the game because experienced players will typically win the game running away. I have enough Dominion cards to play almost forever without ever playing the exact same game. I still enjoy the game, especially with people who know what they're doing, but I have a hard time holding myself back when I play with new gamers.
5 games make their debut in the 20's.
#20 Flash Point: Fire Rescue Up 6
Flash Point is one of the simpler co-op games, but I really enjoy it. The theme flows throughout the game. There's always a certain amount of tension since fire can spark up anywhere on the map. I have most/all the expansions, so I have plenty of ways to play this game. It hasn't been right for every group, but it's a game I can teach to just about anyone and they have a basic understanding of how to play based on real life ideas.
#19 Legendary: A Marvel Deckbuilding Game NewLegendary makes its debut on this list because it has a neat twist on the co-op game. Everyone wins or loses the game together, but there is essentially an MVP on the winning side. Now technically, someone wins more, but I've played it as an MVP situation. I enjoy the variety of superheroes in the game, and how each seems to do something unique. The game rewards cooperation, but it also allows players to make their own decisions which is important in any co-op game.
#18 Hanabi New
Hanabi makes my list because it is unlike any game I've ever played. This is a puzzle game where everyone has a lot of knowledge, but no one has perfect knowledge. Discussion is very limited, every clue matters, and players have to pay attention to everything, both spoken and unspoken. A perfect game is obtainable, but it's really challenging.
#17 Alhambra New
Alhambra is an older game, but I find it refreshing and challenging even today. It just missed the cut last year, coming in at #48. I was able to play it several times in 2013, which is why it moved up drastically. I have the big box, which means I have over 20 modules which means I have a lot of replayability in the box. Alhambra is one of the few games that my entire family will ask to play. That alone makes it worth rating highly.
#16 Love Letter New
Love Letter is truly a minimalist game. It has 16 cards, and 13 cube tokens. Even though the components are low, the game packs a punch. Love Letter is played over several rounds, with the winner of each round getting a token, and the overall winner being the player to get a certain number of tokens first. The game has a good combination of luck and strategy. Sometimes there is nothing you can do, but most of the time, you're going to have some chance to win a round.
#15 Escape: The Curse of the Temple NewEscape is the most tense 10 minutes of gaming you can play. It's a realtime co-op dicefest. Players have to work together to get gems, and then get out of the temple before time runs out. If even one player is left in the temple at the end, everyone loses the game.
#14 Shadows Over Camelot Down 6
Shadows drops because of its length. I did get to play it 3 times in 2013, but each time I realized that the game takes too long for what it is. If I could get Shadows down to an hour, it would be even higher on this list.
#13 Battlestar Galactica Down 7BSG probably wins my award for game I wish I played more but can't/don't. The game is so hard to teach to new people. It really is something you have to go through once in order to understand how to play, and even then the game is complicated. There are a lot of moving parts, and often it's too much for multiple new players to understand. As such, this game sits on my shelf looking sad.
#12 Star Trek Fleet Captains Down 5
Such a good game that I don't get to play. It's hard to have a situation where I have 1 or 2 other people who want to play a long game. Fleet Captains isn't the longest game, but it is a deep game with an immersive theme. I love Star Trek, as you'll see in my Top 10, and Fleet Captains feels like Star Trek to me, but this game has a lot going
#11 Dominion Down 7
Dominion trends down for the second year in a row. Here's my issue with Dominion right now: the game is big, it isn't easy to get new players into the game because experienced players will typically win the game running away. I have enough Dominion cards to play almost forever without ever playing the exact same game. I still enjoy the game, especially with people who know what they're doing, but I have a hard time holding myself back when I play with new gamers.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Top 7 games to play with 3 players
3 is perhaps the most awkward number in gaming and life in general. Two people can usually agree on something, but once a third is in the mix, things get clouded. Plus the major problem with most 3 player games is that person A goes after person B. Then person B retaliates to person A, leaving person C in a better position.
This is not a comprehensive list, as other good games work well with 3 aren't here. Some that I know are Small World, Quarriors, Citadels, and Acquire.
This is not a comprehensive list, as other good games work well with 3 aren't here. Some that I know are Small World, Quarriors, Citadels, and Acquire.
#7 Tiki Topple
Yes, I am going here. Tiki Topple is best as a 3 in my opinion. Everyone gets to use their toast cards, and the round can't end until everyone has done so. Unlike a 4 player game where 1 player could use neither of their toast cards and have the round end. 2 is ok for Tiki, but there are too many leftovers and not enough dynamics. 3 is a good balance of control and making the best of what happens.
#6 Pandemic
2 player Pandemic can be a little too easy sometimes since cards are more concentrated. 4 can be a little hard since everything is spread out. But 3 is a good balance of the two. Pandemic is a good challenge at any player level, but a 3 player game gives you the right mix of voices to contribute but not too many cooks in the kitchen.
#5 Settlers of Catan
Now, I learned Catan with 5 and 6, played a lot of games at school with 4, and all of those were good, but there's a nice elegance to 3 player Catan. Trading is straightforward, you have a pretty good idea of what your opponents can and will do, and the biggest advantage, you get your turn frequently. Now, 3 player Catan does lose some of the dynamics, I'm thinking of resource variety, special building with 5 and 6,,, but the map is fairly open, and everyone will have good places.
#4 Pizza Theory
Here's a new game to me, I just got it in mid March, but the first time I broke it out, I played it 7 times. The game is specifically designed for 3 players, and it does a great job at giving players strategies to pursue that depend on others, but there are no means of direct retaliation. For kicks, it's also a game all about pizza, which is an unusual theme.
#3 Ticket to Ride (Ideally Nordic or Switzerland)
Ticket to Ride is a classic game with any player count really. It works well as a 3, since blocking isn't too horrible, but to eliminate blocking as a huge play, go for a map where 3 is an extended route set, like Nordic or Switzerland, rather than one where 2 and 3 have the same options like US, Europe, Marklin.
3 players keeps the game moving, there's very little down time, and a lot easier to go where you want than in a 5 player game.
3 players keeps the game moving, there's very little down time, and a lot easier to go where you want than in a 5 player game.
#2 Eminent Domain
Em-Do doesn't suffer from the A v B so C wins, which moves it up the list. The 3 player game feels long enough to be fun without being so long. The 4 player game feels short, and the 2 feels long, so 3 with either one or two piles works well. I personally like 2 piles just to get tech moving a little bit, but one less player taking cards does prolong the game. I suppose it depends on the strategies at play, since running out the victory tokens seems to happen more often than two piles in my extended 3 player games.
#1 Dominion
3 player Dominion has a few advantages over 2 player Dominion. There are 12 of each victory card instead of 8, yet still 4 per player. Some attack cards become more useful, Pirate Ship, Thief. Other cards become more intriguing. The choices are a little deeper, and the strategies aren't as straight forward as 2 player, specifically in the endgame. Best of all, Dominion has very little of the A v B so C wins dynamic.
The main point of this list, don't be afraid of games with 3. Sure, not everything works, but some games can be fun, or even their best at 3 players. If you have a group of 3, try pulling these games out, and see where they get you.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Keystone Games
Many people enjoy playing board games, but the main question is how to start a collection of games. Sure, it's "easy" to go out and buy 20 different games, but that costs a lot of money. A lot of people are very careful with how they spend their money these days, so I want to take a look at games that give you a lot of bang-for-your-buck, and that give you a good variety of games.
The goal here is to give you some ideas for games that give you different play experiences, work for a good player range, and don't cost all that much money. Consider this the starter set of games. It can be expanded, games can be interchanged, but these are good ones to start with, and games that will give you a good collection.
Now, not every category is relevant to every person, nor is this list comprehensive, but I feel it's a good place to start.
The Short Family Friendly Game
We need a game or two that is short enough to play while dinner is close to ready, or a game before bed on a weekday. Some good suggestions: Incan Gold, Can't Stop, No Thanks!, High Society.
For this, I recommend Tiki Topple. The production quality here is excellent, and the game plays in under 30 minutes, typically closer to 20 minutes, but can be made shorter or longer by changing the point total to win. For more on Tiki Topple read my spiel on it in the Top 42 list.
Party Game
Every gamer needs a good game they can pull out with a large group of people and have a good time playing. It shouldn't be too long, and certainly not complex, but it should be something to get people talking.
Here, I offer a few suggestions. Apples to Apples is a good one to get people talking. Werewolf or Mafia is great with a group of people who know each other, also great for a large group. Tumblin' Dice is a lot of fun, but it's rather expensive, so it loses out on the Bang-for-your-buck aspect. Wits and Wagers works well for a more intellectual gathering. All of that being said, if you have to own just one party game, Say Anything gives you the best bang for your buck. It's ~$20, you can find it in most Targets and Toys 'R Us, as well as various online stores, and it was designed to get people talking about the questions. It's a great way to get to know other people in a fun and creative way.
Co-operative game
I think that a lot of people view boardgames as only competitive endeavors, but there are dozens of games where players are required to work as a team in order to achieve victory. I own several of these games, and I enjoy the ones I have for the most part, but the best one in terms of Bang-for-your-buck is Forbidden Island. It's the cheapest co-op game I own, but it's also on the same level of fun as the rest.
Some other co-op games that would be good for a collection, Pandemic, Space Hulk:Death Angel the card game, Defenders of the Realm.
Team game/co-op with a Traitor
Sometimes you don't just want to work together as a team, winning and losing together, so here's a category for you. For me, three games really stand out for this category: Shadows Over Camelot, Battlestar Galactica, and The Resistance. This category boils down to what you want out of the traitor mechanic. The Resistance is the shortest game, and you're trying to figure out who's against you, so they can't hurt your ability to win. I don't own the Resistance, but it seems like a good time. Shadows Over Camelot is a great theme implementation. The game boils down to finding the one traitor, if there even is one, and deciding when to win certain quests, and what can be lost. Battlestar is pure theme, with some decent mechanics. It's probably the most balanced of the games with traitors, but there's still a lot of luck. My advice would be to get The Resistance. It has a good player range, and it's the cheapest game of the three here.
Dexterity Game
Here's a category where even the best strategy can be mitigated by how well you can do some physical task. The best known game in this genre is either Crokinole or Pitch Car, but both of these get fairly expensive. So let's take a look at some less expensive dexterity games. Catacombs blends flicking with strategy, but even then it's a bit expensive. Pitch Car Mini is another good option, still pricy, but feasible. Ultimately this category comes down to 2 games for me - Bisikle/Roadsters and Sorry Sliders/Sorry Sliders 2. Roadsters has the better quality components, but Sorry Sliders 2 just seems more fun. There's a lot more you can do in terms of hazards and track arrangement with what comes in the box.
Therefore, the pick for dexterity game is Sorry Sliders 1 or 2.
Random Skills Game
This is for those games that involve some kind of skill that isn't normally seen in games, but that people use in life sometimes. These typically aren't high strategy games, but they have their place on our gaming shelves. Two games come to mind for me: Dixit and Aargh!Tect. Dixit is a game about telling a concise story as a clue so that at least one, but not all, players can figure out which card is yours. You also have to figure out other players' clues when you aren't giving them. This isn't all that abnormal, but the story-telling aspect isn't seen often. Aargh!Tect is unlike any other game I've ever seen. There are two teams competing to arrange pieces to form the building that the manager has. The manager has to give directions to the builders, but the manager has an inflatable club, and can only use caveman language and certain motions. When players get it right they get 1 tap from the club, but when they get it wrong, it's 2 taps.
If cost wasn't an issue, Aargh!Tect would be my choice based on the experience alone. You grow to fear the club coming down on you, but it's all in good fun. Dixit is the cheaper option, and probably better for some groups, so it's really up to you.
2 Player Only Game
There are a lot of 2 player games on the market, and many of them are good games. These aren't my forte since I rarely play only 2 player games, but I have a few I like, and some others I know enough about to recommend. I have four 2-player games that I play every so often: Memoir '44, Mr. Jack, 1960:The Making of the President, and Twilight Struggle. All three games have good parts and drawbacks for me. If you like political games, either 1960 or Twilight Struggle is a good call depending on if you want to focus on US Politics or Global Events of the Cold War. Mr. Jack is good if you're looking for a deduction game, but it lacks great replayability in my mind. Memoir '44 is a good WWII game with pretty good mechanics, and a ton of expansions. From what I've heard, Lost Cities the card game is a great two-player game. It's been described as a great couples game. So even though I haven't played Lost Cities, I'm going to recommend it as the 2 player game to own.
Introduction Game
There are three big games when it comes to intro style games, and I don't think you can go wrong with any of the three. Those three are of course Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. They're all good games, but if I had to pick one that works to teach people about hobby boardgames, I'd have to choose Ticket to Ride. Your mileage may vary of course, but the variety of Ticket maps gives players more options.
Advanced - non brain-burning Game
I suppose we can call this category the next step games. There's a lot of games that could fit in here, but I'll give you a few of my favorites. Small World and 7 Wonders both fit here. Yes, I know a lot of people say 7 Wonders could be an intro game, but I really think it's a next level game. Kingsburg would also be a good fit, though it has a fair amount of dice, it also has strategy. Any of these games would work well depending on your predilections, but my choice here is Cosmic Encounter.
The goal here is to give you some ideas for games that give you different play experiences, work for a good player range, and don't cost all that much money. Consider this the starter set of games. It can be expanded, games can be interchanged, but these are good ones to start with, and games that will give you a good collection.
Now, not every category is relevant to every person, nor is this list comprehensive, but I feel it's a good place to start.
The Short Family Friendly Game
We need a game or two that is short enough to play while dinner is close to ready, or a game before bed on a weekday. Some good suggestions: Incan Gold, Can't Stop, No Thanks!, High Society.
For this, I recommend Tiki Topple. The production quality here is excellent, and the game plays in under 30 minutes, typically closer to 20 minutes, but can be made shorter or longer by changing the point total to win. For more on Tiki Topple read my spiel on it in the Top 42 list.
Party Game
Every gamer needs a good game they can pull out with a large group of people and have a good time playing. It shouldn't be too long, and certainly not complex, but it should be something to get people talking.
Here, I offer a few suggestions. Apples to Apples is a good one to get people talking. Werewolf or Mafia is great with a group of people who know each other, also great for a large group. Tumblin' Dice is a lot of fun, but it's rather expensive, so it loses out on the Bang-for-your-buck aspect. Wits and Wagers works well for a more intellectual gathering. All of that being said, if you have to own just one party game, Say Anything gives you the best bang for your buck. It's ~$20, you can find it in most Targets and Toys 'R Us, as well as various online stores, and it was designed to get people talking about the questions. It's a great way to get to know other people in a fun and creative way.
Co-operative game
I think that a lot of people view boardgames as only competitive endeavors, but there are dozens of games where players are required to work as a team in order to achieve victory. I own several of these games, and I enjoy the ones I have for the most part, but the best one in terms of Bang-for-your-buck is Forbidden Island. It's the cheapest co-op game I own, but it's also on the same level of fun as the rest.
Some other co-op games that would be good for a collection, Pandemic, Space Hulk:Death Angel the card game, Defenders of the Realm.
Team game/co-op with a Traitor
Sometimes you don't just want to work together as a team, winning and losing together, so here's a category for you. For me, three games really stand out for this category: Shadows Over Camelot, Battlestar Galactica, and The Resistance. This category boils down to what you want out of the traitor mechanic. The Resistance is the shortest game, and you're trying to figure out who's against you, so they can't hurt your ability to win. I don't own the Resistance, but it seems like a good time. Shadows Over Camelot is a great theme implementation. The game boils down to finding the one traitor, if there even is one, and deciding when to win certain quests, and what can be lost. Battlestar is pure theme, with some decent mechanics. It's probably the most balanced of the games with traitors, but there's still a lot of luck. My advice would be to get The Resistance. It has a good player range, and it's the cheapest game of the three here.
Dexterity Game
Here's a category where even the best strategy can be mitigated by how well you can do some physical task. The best known game in this genre is either Crokinole or Pitch Car, but both of these get fairly expensive. So let's take a look at some less expensive dexterity games. Catacombs blends flicking with strategy, but even then it's a bit expensive. Pitch Car Mini is another good option, still pricy, but feasible. Ultimately this category comes down to 2 games for me - Bisikle/Roadsters and Sorry Sliders/Sorry Sliders 2. Roadsters has the better quality components, but Sorry Sliders 2 just seems more fun. There's a lot more you can do in terms of hazards and track arrangement with what comes in the box.
Therefore, the pick for dexterity game is Sorry Sliders 1 or 2.
Random Skills Game
This is for those games that involve some kind of skill that isn't normally seen in games, but that people use in life sometimes. These typically aren't high strategy games, but they have their place on our gaming shelves. Two games come to mind for me: Dixit and Aargh!Tect. Dixit is a game about telling a concise story as a clue so that at least one, but not all, players can figure out which card is yours. You also have to figure out other players' clues when you aren't giving them. This isn't all that abnormal, but the story-telling aspect isn't seen often. Aargh!Tect is unlike any other game I've ever seen. There are two teams competing to arrange pieces to form the building that the manager has. The manager has to give directions to the builders, but the manager has an inflatable club, and can only use caveman language and certain motions. When players get it right they get 1 tap from the club, but when they get it wrong, it's 2 taps.
If cost wasn't an issue, Aargh!Tect would be my choice based on the experience alone. You grow to fear the club coming down on you, but it's all in good fun. Dixit is the cheaper option, and probably better for some groups, so it's really up to you.
2 Player Only Game
There are a lot of 2 player games on the market, and many of them are good games. These aren't my forte since I rarely play only 2 player games, but I have a few I like, and some others I know enough about to recommend. I have four 2-player games that I play every so often: Memoir '44, Mr. Jack, 1960:The Making of the President, and Twilight Struggle. All three games have good parts and drawbacks for me. If you like political games, either 1960 or Twilight Struggle is a good call depending on if you want to focus on US Politics or Global Events of the Cold War. Mr. Jack is good if you're looking for a deduction game, but it lacks great replayability in my mind. Memoir '44 is a good WWII game with pretty good mechanics, and a ton of expansions. From what I've heard, Lost Cities the card game is a great two-player game. It's been described as a great couples game. So even though I haven't played Lost Cities, I'm going to recommend it as the 2 player game to own.
Introduction Game
There are three big games when it comes to intro style games, and I don't think you can go wrong with any of the three. Those three are of course Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. They're all good games, but if I had to pick one that works to teach people about hobby boardgames, I'd have to choose Ticket to Ride. Your mileage may vary of course, but the variety of Ticket maps gives players more options.
Advanced - non brain-burning Game
I suppose we can call this category the next step games. There's a lot of games that could fit in here, but I'll give you a few of my favorites. Small World and 7 Wonders both fit here. Yes, I know a lot of people say 7 Wonders could be an intro game, but I really think it's a next level game. Kingsburg would also be a good fit, though it has a fair amount of dice, it also has strategy. Any of these games would work well depending on your predilections, but my choice here is Cosmic Encounter.
Brain Drain Game
Here's a category for those times when you want to sit down and play a game for 2+ hours and really get into it. I know these kind of games aren't for everyone, but sometimes it's nice to have a complicated game to play. I've personally only played one of these, Agricola, and I enjoyed it. So Agricola is my recommendation. Personally, I'd rather play a variety of games than one brain-burner, but Agricola is still a good one to have around. Some other games that fit the category here: Puerto Rico, Brass, Le Havre, Caylus, Twilight Imperium III. None of these games are cheap, but Agricola is reasonably priced and has a lot of replayability in the box.
Card Game
This isn't for your traditional deck of cards game, but rather for a game that is all, or essentially all cards. This includes the better CCGs, like Magic and Pokemon, Living Card Games such as Call of Cthulhu, Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, as well as deck-building games like Ascension, A Few Acres of Snow, Thunderstone, and my personal pick Dominion. The base game is very reasonably priced, and has 3,268,760 differ possible card sets. I'd say that's good variety.
Dice Game
The last thing that every collection needs is a dice game. There are many games that use dice, but this is for a game that makes dice the main or only portion of the game. There are a lot of good games that are basically just dice, LCR and Liar's Dice come to mind; but the best dice game I've played is Roll Through the Ages. It's fairly inexpensive and has a lot of variety and strategies to it.
Recap
Here's the list of my recommendations
- Tiki Topple
- Say Anything
- Forbidden Island
- The Resistance: Avalon
- Sorry Sliders 1 or 2
- Dixit
- Lost Cities
- Ticket to Ride
- Cosmic Encounter
- Agricoa
- Dominion
- Roll Through the Ages
If you wanted to start a game collection, or boil a collection down to 12 games, I think this list would give you a good variety of themes, styles, and player range (2-10).
Is this comprehensive? By no means. I don't even own 3 of the games, though I've played 2 of them.
I suppose my main point here is, when you're looking for new games, variety is key. Expansions to what you own are great, and take up less shelf space, so that gives you more of the same type of play experience.
Sorry for the short novel on building a collection, but I feel it's a necessary thing to have.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Top 42 Final Part (3-1)
Well, not bad for a 3 week journey, especially compared to the 3 month journey that was the Dice Tower top 100. It's been fun working through the list, and I hope to have fun doing it again next year.
For those who know me well, the top 3 are no surprise. I will say that the top 2 are likely to be fixed for years to come, but Fleet Captains is the one I can see taking over #2, and maybe someday #1.
As always, my list is my own, and I know it doesn't appeal to everyone, but you should know my work well enough by now to know that I am fair in my assessments, and that these games are truly great ones which I fully believe I'll be playing in 5 years and longer.
#3 Ticket to Ride
For more details on Ticket, check out my review. Ticket to Ride is a great family game. It's my go-to game for my immediate and extended family, it gets played about every other time at my gaming family, and it's a lot of fun. I love working out the best route, then reworking it as I get blocked off. It can be frustrating at times, but winning or losing this doesn't really bother me, so long as we all had a good time. I've played every official map in existence so far except for India, but that's going to happen soon. I've even tried Dice and Alvin and Dexter. The only thing I haven't played bearing the Ticket name is the card game, but what's the point in that? Sure there's luck in Ticket, but the game is very strategic, and perfect for the time length. Like I said in my review, I'm a sucker for trains, I had birthday parties at the train museum, I own a Lionel train set. Ticket is a great fit with that theme, and a classic that every hobby gamer should either own or at least have the ability to play occasionally.
#2 Dominion
Here's a game I haven't talked about much on the blog. I've spent more hours playing Dominion than just about all my other games combined. Now, that has to do with playing on BSW and now Isotropic, and those sites account for ~3000 plays. I'm also organizing a tournament online for friends, so if you're interested send me an e-mail at bitsofboardgames@gmail.com and let me know. For those of you who don't know Dominion, it's a card game where all players start with a basic deck which they use to buy better money and action cards to help them buy better victory cards. Some games are short, ~15 minutes, some are long ~1.5 hours (that's my longest, not a usual thing) but most games are fun. The random set-up of possible action cards make the game different, and I like to think that 1 different card can change the way a specific game would play out. Dominion started the whole "deck building" fad, and with the expansions still coming it doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon. It's a great blend of strategy and luck; luck from shuffling, strategy from purchases, but strategy usually wins out. I'm always happy to teach this online, just look for me on dominion.isotropic.org I play under the SN mathguy89.
#1 Cosmic Encounter
Big shock here for people who know me, or anyone who read the Cosmic review I wrote really early on. For me, this is what a boardgame should be. There's great player interaction, loads of variety, controlled chaos, the ability for players to mess with each other, and memorable games. I can't deny that it takes awhile to learn Cosmic. You'll spend the first game just learning all the phases and what everyone can actually do. The next few you'll finally see the powers interact, and realize that you shouldn't invite everyone to ally all the time. Then, one time, it will click. You'll see the game come together, powers, flares, other variants, and it will make sense. You may not win that game, you may take 50 games before you win one, but eventually you will realize that Cosmic isn't so much about winning as it is having a good time conquering the galaxy with friends and foes alike.
I'm currently in a forum game on BGG, and while it looks like I have no shot at winning, I'm still having fun and it was a great way to test out two new powers before they're printed. This is the game I look forward to playing. This is the game I read news articles about to find any hint of new expansions. This is the game I'm helping to develop the fan expansion set. For all those reasons, I can't put any game ahead of Cosmic, and I don't actually know of a game that could beat it when I really think long and hard. Sure, I play other games more often, but I've had a Cosmic only game day multiple times, and that doesn't happen with other games.
Wrap-up
First, it was a lot of fun making this list.
Second, it was a lot of work making this list.
I hope you've enjoyed reading my explanations and little talks about why each game is where it is. I can already tell that there's going to be movement next year, since I'm really just getting into the swing of my main gaming time.
Comment as to what you liked, what you didn't like, etc about this list.
Also feel free to post your own top 3-5 games as a comment here.
For those who know me well, the top 3 are no surprise. I will say that the top 2 are likely to be fixed for years to come, but Fleet Captains is the one I can see taking over #2, and maybe someday #1.
As always, my list is my own, and I know it doesn't appeal to everyone, but you should know my work well enough by now to know that I am fair in my assessments, and that these games are truly great ones which I fully believe I'll be playing in 5 years and longer.
#3 Ticket to Ride
For more details on Ticket, check out my review. Ticket to Ride is a great family game. It's my go-to game for my immediate and extended family, it gets played about every other time at my gaming family, and it's a lot of fun. I love working out the best route, then reworking it as I get blocked off. It can be frustrating at times, but winning or losing this doesn't really bother me, so long as we all had a good time. I've played every official map in existence so far except for India, but that's going to happen soon. I've even tried Dice and Alvin and Dexter. The only thing I haven't played bearing the Ticket name is the card game, but what's the point in that? Sure there's luck in Ticket, but the game is very strategic, and perfect for the time length. Like I said in my review, I'm a sucker for trains, I had birthday parties at the train museum, I own a Lionel train set. Ticket is a great fit with that theme, and a classic that every hobby gamer should either own or at least have the ability to play occasionally.#2 Dominion
#1 Cosmic Encounter
Big shock here for people who know me, or anyone who read the Cosmic review I wrote really early on. For me, this is what a boardgame should be. There's great player interaction, loads of variety, controlled chaos, the ability for players to mess with each other, and memorable games. I can't deny that it takes awhile to learn Cosmic. You'll spend the first game just learning all the phases and what everyone can actually do. The next few you'll finally see the powers interact, and realize that you shouldn't invite everyone to ally all the time. Then, one time, it will click. You'll see the game come together, powers, flares, other variants, and it will make sense. You may not win that game, you may take 50 games before you win one, but eventually you will realize that Cosmic isn't so much about winning as it is having a good time conquering the galaxy with friends and foes alike.
I'm currently in a forum game on BGG, and while it looks like I have no shot at winning, I'm still having fun and it was a great way to test out two new powers before they're printed. This is the game I look forward to playing. This is the game I read news articles about to find any hint of new expansions. This is the game I'm helping to develop the fan expansion set. For all those reasons, I can't put any game ahead of Cosmic, and I don't actually know of a game that could beat it when I really think long and hard. Sure, I play other games more often, but I've had a Cosmic only game day multiple times, and that doesn't happen with other games.
Wrap-up
First, it was a lot of fun making this list.
Second, it was a lot of work making this list.
I hope you've enjoyed reading my explanations and little talks about why each game is where it is. I can already tell that there's going to be movement next year, since I'm really just getting into the swing of my main gaming time.
Comment as to what you liked, what you didn't like, etc about this list.
Also feel free to post your own top 3-5 games as a comment here.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Top 7 Games to Play with your Significant Other
As Valentines Day approaches(it's next Tuesday as of the date of posting), our thoughts naturally turn to candlelight dinners, chocolate, and the one we love. Well, not so much in my case, but there is hope for the future. Consider this my top 7 games I'd like to play with my wife someday. I'm going to go with games that play well as 2 player, but not necessarily games that only play 2 player.
First off, some honorable mentions, but ones that didn't make it due to lack of a widely appealing theme, or me not knowing the game enough - Small World, Eminent Domain and Lost Cities.
#7 Mr. Jack
Mr. Jack is a back and forth puzzle and deduction game. It's also a 2 player only game, so the game is balanced for that. With game time around an hour, this isn't a brain burner, and it's pretty fun to pull out every so often.
#6 Carcassonne
Carc works really well as a 2 player game. It's a simple matter of outscoring one opponent, and using tiles to either help yourself, or make life harder on your opponent. If you take that to an extreme, you end up in trouble, but the occasional block should be fine.
#5 10 Days in _____
This is a full series of games in different locations. I've yet to play it myself, but everything I've seen and read about it makes it fit this list perfectly. It's all about planning a travel route in a manner similar to Rack-O. You're dealt an opening set, but you have to draw new tiles to make adjacent countries connect, or use cars and airplanes to travel to non-adjacent countries. It looks like a lot of fun, and who knows, you might just plan your next vacation this way.
#4 Agricola
Repeat after me, "This is not a weeknight game" Now, some may disagree with me, but after a long day of work, I don't know anyone who wants to sit down and play a 1-2 hour game. True, 2 player is the fastest way to play the game, but still, there's a lot of planning to this game, and every move has to matter. With that kind of cause and effect, it feels too much like work, and not the best way to relax on a weeknight. That being said, it does make an excellent Friday night or Saturday game. Lots of back and forth, tons of options, and you have the ability to take what you need and perhaps block your opponent from what they need.
#3 Dominion
This takes #3 in my book because it's has a lot of variety, and is quick to play. If you or your partner don't care for the attack cards, don't play with them. Don't like a certain card, change it out. The goal is to make it fun for both players. If you find that one of you wins all the time, try starting with 2 estates and a curse instead of 3 estates. Dominion is all about cards and coming up with a good strategy. There isn't a ton of thought required once you know the game and all the cards, but that can take awhile. Still, for a 20-40 minute two player game, it's hard to go wrong.
#2 Ticket to Ride
I'm specifically thinking Nordic Countries since the board artwork is great, but any Ticket map would probably work well. Depending on the map and the tickets, TtR can be a mostly friendly game or a brutal block-fest. I think both ways can be fun, and as long as your sig-other remembers that this is just a game, I think it's a great game to play with 2 or more people.
#1 Forbidden Island
I excluded Pandemic since they are similar games as noted in my review of the two. Forbidden Island is a great 2-player game. The theme makes it accessible, and there's nothing better than teamwork for a relationship. It's relatively quick, which makes it easy to play on a weeknight after dinner, and it doesn't require too much thought, which makes it the perfect game to play with your significant other.
I hope this list inspires you to sit down and play more games with your significant other. It's a great way to bond, and a lot cheaper than dinner out and a movie!
First off, some honorable mentions, but ones that didn't make it due to lack of a widely appealing theme, or me not knowing the game enough - Small World, Eminent Domain and Lost Cities.
#7 Mr. Jack
Mr. Jack is a back and forth puzzle and deduction game. It's also a 2 player only game, so the game is balanced for that. With game time around an hour, this isn't a brain burner, and it's pretty fun to pull out every so often.
#6 Carcassonne
Carc works really well as a 2 player game. It's a simple matter of outscoring one opponent, and using tiles to either help yourself, or make life harder on your opponent. If you take that to an extreme, you end up in trouble, but the occasional block should be fine.
#5 10 Days in _____
This is a full series of games in different locations. I've yet to play it myself, but everything I've seen and read about it makes it fit this list perfectly. It's all about planning a travel route in a manner similar to Rack-O. You're dealt an opening set, but you have to draw new tiles to make adjacent countries connect, or use cars and airplanes to travel to non-adjacent countries. It looks like a lot of fun, and who knows, you might just plan your next vacation this way.
#4 Agricola
Repeat after me, "This is not a weeknight game" Now, some may disagree with me, but after a long day of work, I don't know anyone who wants to sit down and play a 1-2 hour game. True, 2 player is the fastest way to play the game, but still, there's a lot of planning to this game, and every move has to matter. With that kind of cause and effect, it feels too much like work, and not the best way to relax on a weeknight. That being said, it does make an excellent Friday night or Saturday game. Lots of back and forth, tons of options, and you have the ability to take what you need and perhaps block your opponent from what they need.
#3 Dominion
This takes #3 in my book because it's has a lot of variety, and is quick to play. If you or your partner don't care for the attack cards, don't play with them. Don't like a certain card, change it out. The goal is to make it fun for both players. If you find that one of you wins all the time, try starting with 2 estates and a curse instead of 3 estates. Dominion is all about cards and coming up with a good strategy. There isn't a ton of thought required once you know the game and all the cards, but that can take awhile. Still, for a 20-40 minute two player game, it's hard to go wrong.
#2 Ticket to Ride
I'm specifically thinking Nordic Countries since the board artwork is great, but any Ticket map would probably work well. Depending on the map and the tickets, TtR can be a mostly friendly game or a brutal block-fest. I think both ways can be fun, and as long as your sig-other remembers that this is just a game, I think it's a great game to play with 2 or more people.
#1 Forbidden Island
I excluded Pandemic since they are similar games as noted in my review of the two. Forbidden Island is a great 2-player game. The theme makes it accessible, and there's nothing better than teamwork for a relationship. It's relatively quick, which makes it easy to play on a weeknight after dinner, and it doesn't require too much thought, which makes it the perfect game to play with your significant other.
I hope this list inspires you to sit down and play more games with your significant other. It's a great way to bond, and a lot cheaper than dinner out and a movie!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Replayability
One of the key factors I look for in a game is replayability, or the ability for the game to be interesting over repeated plays. The subject is very subjective, because what defines interesting, and what defines repeated? I have to address the matters in a personal way, so my biases will not only creep in, but this article will be oozing with personal bias.
First some definitions. Interesting to me in a game means that the players have to figure out how to deal with each other's actions and figure out what to do in order to win. Specifically, players can do something that gives them the element of surprise, or do something unexpected that makes others adapt.
Repeated: a desire to play more than one game within a short amount of time. I know this is still vague, so for me, with the knowledge that I play games about 3 times a month, usually for long game days on the weekends, sometimes more, sometimes less. All of that is to say that playing a game about 10-15 times in a year is repeated.
If you take a look at my list of games played two main things stick out. First, there are a few games I have played a lot, and secondly, a lot of games I have played a few times.
Here's some of the play count list, without the game names
And for Dominion as of the Hinterlands expansion and including the BGG promo cards (total of 157 cards) there are 6,790,908,493,212,710,000,000 which is 6 sextillion, 790 quintillion, 908 quadrillion, 493 trillion, 212 billion, 710 million possible set-ups to play, which can be doubled if you want to worry about a colony game, or no colonies.
Needless to say, neither of those numbers will ever be approached in my lifetime, yet alone in games I play. Also, my apologizes to the non mathematically inclined, didn't mean to scare you with large numbers. So why those two games as my top two played? Well the answer is fairly straightforward. I like the way those games play in their simplicity (once you know what's going on), and then the things that give them variety make me want to try the different combinations. I think the lack of changing features is an aspect of why the big name games don't do well in comparison. There isn't a new challenge to figure out, or some new strategy to explore, it's all the same again and again.
Now, everything I've presented leads to the possibility of most games meeting the criteria. At first I thought that might be a problem, but I realized that the great thing about hobby boardgames is that they are vastly replayable. There are hundreds of games published each year, yet I'd wager only a fraction of them see even 10 plays.
There was a bit of an outcry over Risk Legacy, which has components for 15 game plays, and then the modifications are done. At first this bothered me, and then I looked at how many games I had played more than 15 times. For me, that answer is oddly enough, 15. Now, I expect that to nearly double by the end of the year, but still, if you get 15 plays out of a $30-$40 game, that's not bad. It comes down to $2-$3 per play for one person, which is fairly cheap entertainment.
Replayability seems to be at war with new games. I love opening a game, learning the rules, figuring out new strategies; but I realized in writing this that the true measure of a game for me is how much I play it in the long run. Carcassonne was the first game I ever owned, getting it back in 2007. Back in those days I didn't log my plays, else it would be in the 15+ category, but it's a game I'm still playing today. Same thing with Ticket to Ride, Cosmic Encounter and Pandemic, which are all games from my early days of gaming. It may take awhile to get to 15 plays, but the good ones are worth the time. It's also nice to play a game without having to reference the rulebook.
I hope this encourages you to pull an old favorite off the shelf and give it a play. I did with Pandemic this past weekend, and though we lost miserably twice (getting 8/9 starting cities all in the red area is just plain rough), we were all glad we played it again.
Comment with the game you've played the most, or a few of them for an extra entry into the Say Anything Contest. And don't forget to enter the contest, you've got until the end of the month.
There's a link at the top of the page for all the details.
First some definitions. Interesting to me in a game means that the players have to figure out how to deal with each other's actions and figure out what to do in order to win. Specifically, players can do something that gives them the element of surprise, or do something unexpected that makes others adapt.
Repeated: a desire to play more than one game within a short amount of time. I know this is still vague, so for me, with the knowledge that I play games about 3 times a month, usually for long game days on the weekends, sometimes more, sometimes less. All of that is to say that playing a game about 10-15 times in a year is repeated.
If you take a look at my list of games played two main things stick out. First, there are a few games I have played a lot, and secondly, a lot of games I have played a few times.
Here's some of the play count list, without the game names
- 207, 189, 74, 45, 45, 37
- 32, 32, 28, 27, 23, 21
And for Dominion as of the Hinterlands expansion and including the BGG promo cards (total of 157 cards) there are 6,790,908,493,212,710,000,000 which is 6 sextillion, 790 quintillion, 908 quadrillion, 493 trillion, 212 billion, 710 million possible set-ups to play, which can be doubled if you want to worry about a colony game, or no colonies.
Needless to say, neither of those numbers will ever be approached in my lifetime, yet alone in games I play. Also, my apologizes to the non mathematically inclined, didn't mean to scare you with large numbers. So why those two games as my top two played? Well the answer is fairly straightforward. I like the way those games play in their simplicity (once you know what's going on), and then the things that give them variety make me want to try the different combinations. I think the lack of changing features is an aspect of why the big name games don't do well in comparison. There isn't a new challenge to figure out, or some new strategy to explore, it's all the same again and again.
Now, everything I've presented leads to the possibility of most games meeting the criteria. At first I thought that might be a problem, but I realized that the great thing about hobby boardgames is that they are vastly replayable. There are hundreds of games published each year, yet I'd wager only a fraction of them see even 10 plays.
There was a bit of an outcry over Risk Legacy, which has components for 15 game plays, and then the modifications are done. At first this bothered me, and then I looked at how many games I had played more than 15 times. For me, that answer is oddly enough, 15. Now, I expect that to nearly double by the end of the year, but still, if you get 15 plays out of a $30-$40 game, that's not bad. It comes down to $2-$3 per play for one person, which is fairly cheap entertainment.
Replayability seems to be at war with new games. I love opening a game, learning the rules, figuring out new strategies; but I realized in writing this that the true measure of a game for me is how much I play it in the long run. Carcassonne was the first game I ever owned, getting it back in 2007. Back in those days I didn't log my plays, else it would be in the 15+ category, but it's a game I'm still playing today. Same thing with Ticket to Ride, Cosmic Encounter and Pandemic, which are all games from my early days of gaming. It may take awhile to get to 15 plays, but the good ones are worth the time. It's also nice to play a game without having to reference the rulebook.
I hope this encourages you to pull an old favorite off the shelf and give it a play. I did with Pandemic this past weekend, and though we lost miserably twice (getting 8/9 starting cities all in the red area is just plain rough), we were all glad we played it again.
Comment with the game you've played the most, or a few of them for an extra entry into the Say Anything Contest. And don't forget to enter the contest, you've got until the end of the month.
There's a link at the top of the page for all the details.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
My Top 8 Gaming Memories of 2011
#8 All of the wonderful games of Dominion online, which can be found at dominion.isotropic.org If anyone ever wants a game, my sn is mathguy89 and I’d be happy to play with you. The best of those games was watching my friend beat me for the first time, and to hear her reaction over skype. It didn’t take her long, but she’s yet to win another game against me, so she needs to try again.
#7 The Westmont departure week. With a visit from I&L, things were bittersweet. It was great to get a sendoff in gaming fashion and the friends that were there truly meant a lot. Capping things off with an 8 player game of Shadows Over Camelot was a great sendoff, even if the Mists of Avalon overtook Camelot.
#6 First game of BSG with the Exodus Expansion on January 14th. A great 6 player game with a lot of momentum swings. Zack finally got a boost as the lead pilot with the CAG title card and all signs pointed to a great semester of BSG.
#5 Risk Legacy. Without spoiling my future review let me say that if you have a regular game group and you enjoyed RISK at some point, then this is something you need to look into and highly consider buying. In our second game, one player was one die roll away from winning the game, and was then wiped off the board on the very next player’s turn which lead to player 2 winning.
#4 Watching the successful Kickstarter funding of Eminent Domain and then playing the final game 6 times in 3 game days. It’s what I was looking for in Race For The Galaxy. Also a hit with Aaron’s family and the quote “I’m going to warfare your ______(fill in the blank)” now reigns supreme.
#3 The ongoing GURPS campaign set in Greek mythos in an attempt to put back the 7 deadly sins to Pandora’s box. We never finished, but it was fun to try things out.
#2 The delayed gratification that was 2010 Secret Santa. I won’t go into all the mess that was 2010 Secret Santa, but rather I choose to focus on the good that came of it. I will simply direct you to my posting on BGG about it. BGG Secret Santa Link Santa was very generous and very humble about everything.
#1 Zackcon. 3 days of gaming from noon to midnight with appropriate breaks for food. Amazing people who loved playing as much as I did. And Kudos to Carol for learning everything and being a great sport. We also had Rockband thrown in there just to keep us from overloading on boardgames and some good pool time.
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