Board 8 > eighty tabletop games, ranked

(+) Yeah! (+)

Mill Blades is kewl. I get lots of draw from it especially from ex-MTG players.
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What is your favorite role selection game? If you've never played any, then what is your favorite way to choose actions in a game?

Puerto Rico, also the only one i've played
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hard to argue against puerto rico. only played it once so it hasn't made this list, but it's the grand-daddy of this genre and felt pretty damn good to play.
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quick recap before moving on to the next game

Maybe I'll Pass
80. Secret Hitler
79. Mascarade
78. Sheriff of Nottingham
77. Good Cop, Bad Cop
76. Dead of Winter
75. Word on the Street
74. One Night Ultimate Werewolf

I'll Participate
73. Boss Monster
72. Colt Express
71. God's Gambit
70. Sushi Go
69. Qwirkle
68. Cosmic Encounter
67. Ticket to Ride

Enjoyable Non-centerpieces, Part 1
66. Settlers of Catan
65. Machi Koro
64. Zombicide
63. King of Tokyo
62. Guillotine
61. Turn the Tide
60. Coup
59. Roll for the Galaxy
58. San Juan
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tried out "not alone" this weekend

i'm not sure what i can say about it tactically yet, but it's silly and good fun in the form of hide and seek
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Enjoyable Non-centerpieces, Part 2

56. The Bloody Inn
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180593/bloody-inn

Genre/mechanics: Set collection, tableau-building, card game, hand management
Rules complexity: 7/10
Game length: 60-90 minutes
Player count: 1-4
Experience: 2 games with 3-4
First played: 2015

The Bloody Inn is a darkly comic eurogame where you play as a corrupt innkeeper trying to make the most money by running your inn very badly - specifically, by killing your guests and stealing their money. Each round, a series of guests will populate the hotel, and you get to recruit them to your hand, employ them for their powers, kill them for their money, or bury their bodies. Only by burying their bodies in your annexes can you protect yourself from the cops and make your profits permanent.

Design - TBI is hilariously macabre in its theme and art. Like so many other engine-building eurogames, TBI is designed not to let you get comfortable with your engine. There are only two actions per round and the game only going through the draw deck twice, and it also punishes you for holding too many cards in hand, and these are your only resources. As a result it's almost absurdly tight on both actions and resources so it's extra-tight.. there's no chance to build tons of cool buildings and abuse all their effects - instead, it's a dirty rush for victory points, building just enough annexes - i.e. special power buildings/spaces to bury the bodies - to bury your bodies and cover a few of your actions.

Experience - I had to teach myself, and others, how to play TBI the second time (months after I was taught it during my first play), and I think that probably ups my appreciation for the game. Also, I'm bad at long-term planning. In terms of bias

Replay - I won't be clamoring for it to hit the table, but I do want to play it at least one or two more times as a semi-centerpiece. It's off-beat and weird and there's not a lot exactly like it mechanically, and it's of course unmatched stylistically.

Bonus question - What's your favorite off-beat theme in a game?

Hint for #57 - (whoops bloody in is supposed to be #56. course correction will be coming) - Reservoir Dogs in board game form
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SeabassDebeste posted...

What's your favorite off-beat theme in a game?

Going to a conservative Christian college during the Catan boom, I was able to pick up "Settlers of Canaan" in the college bookstore. I am not sure I've even opened it, but I may have gotten my money's worth just from the chuckle its existence gives me when I see it on my shelf.

Although I think the actual winner is Deck Builder, a deckbuilding game about building decks. It's a so-so quick game but again, the pun is already worth the $5 it cost me
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SeabassDebeste posted...

Reservoir Dogs in board game form

Sounds like Cash n Guns
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If its not Cash N Guns it's Dead Last

Or Millions of Dollars
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Went to a game convention this week, picked up one deck dungeon. Also got Skull King and Diamonds because my husband is good at games and placed in the tournament. (4th place is still a place. thats how many copies they gave out)

haven't played any of the new ones ranked while I was gone.
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side note, i feel bad for board game stores

amazon undercuts MSRP by at least 20% on everything i'm looking to buy.

i'd like to support someplace local, but paying an extra $20 or $30 for a game i won't end up playing in-store feels silly
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tag
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banananor posted...

side note, i feel bad for board game stores

amazon undercuts MSRP by at least 20% on everything i'm looking to buy.

i'd like to support someplace local, but paying an extra $20 or $30 for a game i won't end up playing in-store feels silly

i'm happy to pay to play games at a store. the ones in my city just charge you $10 to sit and grab any game from their library to play

but retail is not particularly high-value-added from local game shops for me
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Yeah, I rarely ever get my games from a brick and mortar store. Usually it's from an online retailer like CSI or Amazon when they're having sales.

One in a while I'll support my local store when they're having sales, but their prices are usually way too bloated to consider it.
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We did get One Deck Dungeon from the local seller who was at the convention, but part of it is because Amazon ships the first edition, which is basically so difficult its nearly unplayable. Besides, we like buying locally.

Our city (which shall remain nameless due to some circumstances I have had in the past) has a great gaming community. We love supporting it.
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57. Ca$h 'n Guns
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155362/cah-n-guns-second-edition

Genre/mechanics: Take that, bluffing, set collection
Rules complexity: 1/10
Game length: 20-30 minutes
Player count: 4-8
Experience: 10+ games with 5-8 players
First played: 2016

Ca$h 'n Guns is a game where you play as successful, armed robbers divvying loot. The game is played over eight rounds, and in each round, you compete for the best share of the loot. The primary mechanics of the game are the simultaneous "hold-up" phase - in which you point your gun at a fellow player (with a real or fake bullet) - and the subsequent "courage" phase, in which everyone simultaneously decides whether to drop out (losing out on the loot) or stay in (and risk getting shot).

Design - I love everything about this game's design. Any discussion here has to start with the foam gun you're given. There's something viscerally pleasing about pointing a foam gun (and rapidly! - as everyone does this at the same time). Your character is represented by a super-cartoonish cardboard cut-out, and when you drop out or a round (or are shot), you have to knock it over. Staying in requires you to declare you are staying in by yelling, "BANZAI!" Also, the entire flow of the game is written handily on the back of the Godfather piece, and the Godfather is supposed to narrate the game. Perfect component.

Experience - Somehow, this game usually doesn't quite hit the spot. And that's probably because of the people I've played with. Whine incoming, but the flow of the game is extremely simple, and the rules requiring you to knock down your character and lower your gun are intuitive, and the steps are written right on the back of the Godfather's card. So it can be extremely off-putting to have to remind the Godfather player each round to narrate the phases, or have to remind people to put their guns down, or to remind people to shout 'BANZAI!' if they're staying in.

Which isn't to say that it's not fun with the right group. My average game hasn't been very good, but I've had a few games that flowed the way it's supposed to, with lots of guns being pointed at one person, complaints about "WHAT?! Why would you shoot a real bullet on round one?!" or people going from zero wounds to dead in a single ill-advised round.

Future - I actually own CnG, and I have a vested interest in reaching the point where I can reliably pull it out for a solid game or two on a game night. It's gonna come out again, I just need to get people used to it enough where it's effortless. Hopefully.

Bonus question - What are your favorite props in tabletop games?

Hint for #55 - devil and the white city
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I played with someone who bought a lot of fake guns basically to just use for that game and it definitely made it more fun.

It's a lot of fun when people get into character but it's a game that very much depends on the pace being quick.
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That sounds pretty cool
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I love Cash n Guns. It's quick, it's easy to learn, and it always grabs attention at a convention or cafe. It does get old though which is why I recommend Millions of Dollara as a more mature evolution.

My favorite props are the "bundles" of cash in Millennium Blades, the easels and artworks in The Gallerist, and your personal chest and doubloons in Merchants and Marauders :D
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There's a party game I like (about tournaments!!) called Party Playoff that has a free-standing hand-shaped spinner that spins very nicely

when I was a kid my mom took all the girl figurines out of X-Men Under Siege because they were too sexy; I got them back as an adult so now they are just kinda hanging out waiting to be reunited with the box

I don't play a lot of games with fancy props
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Alanna82 posted...

Went to a game convention this week, picked up one deck dungeon. Also got Skull King and Diamonds because my husband is good at games and placed in the tournament. (4th place is still a place. thats how many copies they gave out)

haven't played any of the new ones ranked while I was gone.

I won a beta version of One Deck Dungeon at Gencon in 2015 and still haven't played it yet, lol.

I tried playing Cash n Guns, but even as a light, silly party game I just couldn't get into it. I am not offended by guns, but I just didn't care for pointing guns at other people - even if they are incredibly fake little guns.
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Simoun posted...

I love Cash n Guns. It's quick, it's easy to learn, and it always grabs attention at a convention or cafe. It does get old though which is why I recommend Millions of Dollara as a more mature evolution.

haven't heard of this game, i might look into it

cyko posted...

I tried playing Cash n Guns, but even as a light, silly party game I just couldn't get into it. I am not offended by guns, but I just didn't care for pointing guns at other people - even if they are incredibly fake little guns.

i'm not a huge fan of certain 'edgy' things (the deliberately 'oh so funny' stuff from cards against humanity) but i think the gun-pointing in cng is pretty great - the lightheartedness is important here
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55. World's Fair 1893
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178336/worlds-fair-1893

Genre/mechanics: Set collection, card-drafting, area control
Rules complexity: 6/10
Game length: 35-45 minutes
Player count: 2-4
Experience: 2 plays with 3-4 players
First played: 2017

There's a wheel at the World's Fair of 1893, and there are cards surrounding it - some in each of five sections. On your turn, you place a worker in one of those sections and take the cards there. Cards repopulate but not all at once, and then someone else can place a worker anywhere (including where you already placed one). Throughout the game, there is scoring based on the relative amount of influence you have per area, and at the end of the game, you score based on the selection of cards you've accumulated.

Design: World's Fair is a very pretty-looking card, with bright colors. Placing a worker and taking cards is very intuitive and it feels good to take as many as you can (even though tactically, you'll often want to do something different). One of the best mechanics is that the game advances when people take Midway tickets - as someone who often rushes games toward their conclusion, counting the train tickets is very satisfying for me. Every card represents an actual exhibit at the fair, and at the bottom, there is a description of it.

Experience: And here's one of the games that I could describe to you the least. I had to look up the rules again, because it's a very short eurogame that's pleasant but doesn't stick with you a lot. Sadly, one of my clearer memories of the game is that despite the possibility for real thematic richness - and the flavor text printed right on the card - you can literally play the game themeless. And for me, that was my experience. It's still mechanically a reasonably interesting eurogame, but I just didn't wind up finding my experience memorable.

Future - It's a quality game, maybe the most soundly designed game thus far. Will definitely want to play it again.

Bonus question - I can't think of a question directly related to WF1893, so what type of genre of games is your favorite? What genre do you wish you could play more of?

Hint for #54 - You might get PTSD from playing this game. Or just learn what PTSD is like.
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Addicted to deckbuilders, but I'd like more experience with worker placement
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Tom Bombadil posted...

Addicted to deckbuilders, but I'd like more experience with worker placement

I think you mean you're
Addeckted
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I love a game with unique mechanics, beautiful components, and amazing theme not necessarily all at once. I know its a vague answer but as long as the game's defining feature stands out I'm all over it.

What I wish I could play more of though are those RPG types like Descent or Battlestations. As the GM of course. I get this unnatural high from seeing people use the power of friendship to work together.
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in response to an earlier game on the list, I played Good Cop, Bad Cop for the first time last night

we played with 5 people, which seemed to cause some issues with the imbalance of teams, because whichever side had 3 members had a clear advantage in the games we played. that may have been better had we been playing with an even number. I didn't hate it, but I would definitely never pick it over regular Resistance or anything.
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54. The Grizzled
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171668/grizzled

Genre/mechanics: Cooperative, card game, restricted communication, pattern-matching
Rules complexity: 4/10
Game length: 30-40 minutes
Player count: 3-5
Experience: 3-5 plays with 3, 5 players
First played: 2016

In The Grizzled, you play a member of a World War I troop, trying to gt through a deck of Trials. At the start of a hand, the Leader declares the difficulty level of the mission, and then the players try to play those Trial cards out without ever facing three of the same element. (Each card has at least two elements on it, which represent traumatic psychological conditions.) Facing three means losing a mission and having to do more cards; if all cards are played successfully then you advance toward draining the deck.

Experience - I've played The Grizzled in two separate settings. The first time, there were three of us. It took a few tries to get used to it, but eventually we pushed through. Satisfying experience, albeit with lots of laughing during the support phase as we pretty flagrantly broke the rules on being silent/vague ("GEE I THINK I COULD USE SOME HELP"). The second time I played, there were five of us, and the difficulty level was just insane in comparison - we were getting absolutely shredded by the deck and the volume of cards we have to play.

Design - There's a lot that's clever about The Grizzled, and being ranked here is no shame. I like the support system, I like the base mechanic of playing cards to form a very pretty image, I like the way that it approaches war missions from a non-violent and more psychological angle. You don't take wounds, but rather 'traumas' to indicate mental scars - they may dictate how you play your cards by preventing you from passing, or they may stop you from talking.

But I do have a huge problem with its scalability. I don't mind a difficult game, but difficulty scaling with number of players is really blah and makes me feel like "If we wanna win, our best bet is to lose a player or two."

Future - Might be a while before this gets to the table again, but it's an attractive enough game that I'd be interested.

Bonus question - What's your favorite WWI-themed game?

Hint for #53 - Physically separate yourself from the others
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The Mana Sword posted...

in response to an earlier game on the list, I played Good Cop, Bad Cop for the first time last night

we played with 5 people, which seemed to cause some issues with the imbalance of teams, because whichever side had 3 members had a clear advantage in the games we played. that may have been better had we been playing with an even number. I didn't hate it, but I would definitely never pick it over regular Resistance or anything.

Six people is probably a best number to play it at, since it gives you good odds of even teams and you'll still get to go relatively often. Eight is way too many and an odd number is imbalanced. Though with six, with the right distribution of cards, it's possible to have one agent/kingpin versus five people on the other team.

Granted, the fact that the game just rolls with the lack of balance is probably a good hint that it's not meant to be taken seriously. Easier to handle this at low numbers, of course.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

Bonus question - What's your favorite WWI-themed game?

The Grizzled! (Also happens to be my third favourite game overall)
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I've always seen the difficulty of The Grizzled at higher player counts as more of a feature than an issue

it just makes winning with 5 that much more satisfying
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if being difficult at 5 is a feature then shouldn't being easier at 3 be a bug?

my point, i guess, is that i'd rather choose my difficulty level by means other than player count

i think that co-op games being more difficult at higher player counts isn't anything new (there will be a few higher up on this list), but none of them suffers this badly i think
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53. Two Rooms and a Boom
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/134352/two-rooms-and-boom

Genre/mechanics: Hidden role, team vs team, real time, social deduction
Rules complexity: 2/10
Game length: 10-20 minutes
Player count: 6-30
Experience: 10+ plays with 8-12
First played: 2015

2RaaB is about terrorists who hold a group of people hostage, in an attempt to kill the President. At the beginning of the game, you are dealt a hidden card that assigns you both a team and a role (including a Bomber and President). Then, each player is randomly assigned to one of two different physical rooms. It falls upon the members of each room to elect a 'leader' of that room, and after a set amount of time, the leaders exchange a hostage. At the end of a set number of such exchanges, the bomb goes off. If the Bomber and the President are in the same room, then the bombers win, and vice versa if they are in different rooms.

Experience - Perhaps my biggest problem with 2RaaB is the number of people that are needed! Playing with eight basically sucks, because a 2-and-2 distribution in each room - which is both likely and easy to suss out - can result in the same team controlling both rooms and everyone clamming up. It's also not exactly the game's fault that we didn't get to play with every single one of the silly roles, but I did enjoy the clown faces and the investigator roles, along with the roles that prevented you from showing anyone your card... as long as people still did show their cards. Sadly, not showing your card can be pretty strong.

Design - It's whimsical, lighthearted, and short. The only barrier is literally physical; you need a bunch of people and two separate rooms. But this accomodates many players quite well!

Future - My gaming groups rarely get this big, and at meetups, I'm almost certainly not coordinating that type of crowd at a meetup. The person who owned this game has moved away... but I'd totally be up for it again. Great game to play 2-4 times in a row when the crowd *is* too big.

Bonus question - What's your favorite massive-player-count game? How many people do you have that you'd conceivably want to play board games with?

Hint for #52 - a game that's been mentioned in this thread for its near-identical implementation of a distinctive mechanic
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played it at a convention and had a blast (heh) but yeah hard for me to ever play it otherwise cause my group ain't big enough
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The last time I played was in 2016 at Gen Con when we stayed with the friend owned the game and moved away. Had 10 or 12 people in the AirBNB. makes me sad to remember how long ago it was!
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52. 7 Wonders
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68448/7-wonders

Genre/mechanics: Card-drafting, tableau-building
Rules complexity: 6/10
Game length: 30-45 minutes
Player count: 3-7
Experience: 5-10 plays with 5-7 players
First played: 2015

7 Wonders is a drafting game in which you take a hand of cards, choose one to play, and then pass the rest. The cards you play have costs in coin and resources (which you must be able to pay, or else trash the card for money) and benefits (victory points, coin, resources). You get dealt a fresh set of cards three times through the game, after which you score based on your tableau of cards played.

Experience - My first play of 7 Wonders was brutal. So brutal. It was my first eurogame outside of Catan (which I'd learned years earlier), and the number of rules and symbols was absolutely obscene. (Science still confuses me!) I felt way behind and had no idea what to do, and the passive-aggressive interaction felt... passive-aggressive and weird. I literally didn't have any idea what was happening across the table from me. Oh, and the game ended with an anticlimactic, solo-ish addition exercise.

I've played it a few times since, and it's almost bizarre looking back at those initial experiences. Decoding symbols still takes effort, but the idea of "this card costs what's printed in the upper left corner, and *usually* that will illustrate a type of resource" has become second nature to me. Now I look at the game not really as a deep thought game, but still as something nice that plays a lot of players, lets you dig a little bit and feel accomplished, and goes very quickly. And the fact is, I no longer even give a shit about what someone else across the table does - I'm just way more comfortable with "multiplayer solitaire" and point salads now (though 7W of course offers some interaction).

Design - I've covered most of the biggest draws of 7W already. Should give a few bonus points for the wonder system - which very slightly distinguishes player mats from one another; the trash mechanism (which always gives you a minimum victory point threshold each card should try to match) and the way military works (you oppose only your neighbors, but a player who loses military loses less than the winner gains).

Future - Not sure how much this will hit the table as the main person who owns it moved. But it might be a useful game to have in my collection to fill that 5-7 player count zone when we're not looking for a party game.

Bonus question - Which game for you had a steep learning curve that was mostly related to your entry-point in the hobby?

Hint for #51 - I wanna go on vacation.
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7 Wonders is v. good. That seems way too low imho
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I always though 7 wonders was alright, enjoying that you could play with 7 people.

Then I played in a tournament of it and learned how much more fun it is with 4 or mayyybe 5 people. You actually care about what everyone is doing rather than just your neighbors and lose that feeling of solitaire
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SeabassDebeste posted...

Hint for #51 - I wanna go on vacation

Tokaido?
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one of my favorite things about 7 Wonders is how different the game is at different player counts

I actually find the game best at either 3 or 7 (8 with Cities) - with 3, you actually have to worry about everyone else; with 7, you have to worry significantly more about yourself due to the potential of getting locked out of resources, but every non-guild is represented multiple times (one palace in a 6 player game 'the worst')
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Great_Paul posted...

SeabassDebeste posted...

Hint for #51 - I wanna go on vacation

Tokaido?

Yeah, it has to be Tokaido.

7 wonders is a mainstay for me because, well, Magic players love to draft.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

Bonus question - What's your favorite massive-player-count game? How many people do you have that you'd conceivably want to play board games with?

I think my max is 5 for the gamer player count and 6 to 8 for the casual kind. My favourite to play with lots of people is definitely Argent or Kemet. Just pure chaos and variety clashing every which way.

But the dream game I wanna run is Danganronpa the card game. It plays up to 12 and its like Mafia/Werewolf with distinct differences akin to the videogame:

- Each student has an ability unique to danganronpa such as being able to protecc girls or extending discussion time by 3 more minutes

- There is no trial if there is no murder, but class discussions still occur.

- There is only 1 killer in the "mafia" faction. And his goal is a kill quota instead of the usual Mafia goal.

- Suicide is a viable move. If the killer gets away with killing himself, he can win.

- Each student is also armed with items that act similarly to the truth bullet skills in the videogame.

But alas, I don't know alot of people irl to make it really work. So it remains a nice game to just own and fawn at.

SeabassDebeste posted...

Bonus question - Which game for you had a steep learning curve that was mostly related to your entry-point in the hobby?

Our steep curve game WAS our entry point game. Arkham Horror. Our first game took twelve hours and we still played it wrong. 3 years and every expansion later, we wuz slayin' Cthulhu is 4 hours flat.

And then boardgames became a thing in our town soon after so we immediately jumped to heavy/medium things since.
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Simoun posted...

Danganronpa the card game. It plays up to 12 and its like Mafia

!!
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Tom Bombadil posted...

Simoun posted...

Danganronpa the card game. It plays up to 12 and its like Mafia

!!

Yep. My bro acquired it in Japan a few years ago:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/170968/dangan-ronpa-12-chou-koukou-kyuu-no-jinrou

He translated the rules for me but, not every rule as I have not yet finished the games and the character cards are spoilers in themselves

Edit: huh. Apparently it plays up to 17. But im guessing its actually 16 as the one player has to be monokuma.
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i could never, ever organize 12 people IRL who've played danganronpa, lol

also, food chain magnate is available now aughhh
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51. Tokaido
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/123540/tokaido

Genre/mechanics: Set collection, linear movement
Rules complexity: 3/10
Game length: 25-40 minutes
Player count: 2-5
Experience: 3 plays across 2 sessions (one online), 3-5 players
First played: 2017

Tokaido features a linear map representing a path you can take on your vacation to Japan. It's your turn when your character is at the back of the line, and you can move to any stop you want, as long as no one else is there at the time, and then enjoy the sights/take a card/action. Your turn ends once you're no longer the last person in line. Three times a game, everyone meets up at one map point to eat together.

Design - By far the best part of Tokaido is the theme and aesthetics. Boil this down to its components - a very simplistic set collection game with incentive to grab territories to prevent opponents from being able to take the same ones - and it may or may not be rewarding. But the theme of the game tells you to take vacation and enjoy the sights and feel good about yourself... and that's exactly what you should do. It's played at a relaxed pace, and the components almsot demand more that you look at them rather than try to optimize them: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1351507/tokaido

Experience - I've only played Tokaido a few times, and it's the only game on the list where I've played with strangers online. Let's just say it's not the same in that setting, at all. My favorite part of the game: eating.

Future - Tokaido is more of a filler-ish game due to the abstraction of the theme and the short, non-cutthroat playtime. But I'd be happy to be teaching/playing it on a game night where others were intensely grinding through a nasty Euro.

Bonus question - What's your favorite relaxing game?

Hint for #50 - a game with two miniatures, where the one depicted on the box is by far the cutest and most powerful
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I love Tokaido. There's not a massive amount of strategy, but it's such a chill, laid back game, and there's just enough there to keep me engaged.

Next game Takenoko?
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the guy I know who owns Tokaido has the super fancy edition that came with painted miniatures and a soundtrack to play with it

the music improves the experience a lot more than one would think
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I adore tokaido, my gf got it for me for valentines since we had such a good time with it at pax in November.

I've been wanting to try takenoko.
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surprise, i missed this game when i compiled rankings, so just dropping it here before 50 (this is approximately where it would fall)

Bonus ranking T51. Lost Cities: The Board Game
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42487/lost-cities-board-game

Genre/mechanics: Push-your-luck, set collection, hand management
Rules complexity: 2/10
Game length: 25-40 minutes
Player count: 2-4
Experience: 2 plays with 3-4 players
First played: 2015

In Lost Cities, You have a hand of cards with colors and numbers, and each color corresponds to a road. You take a step down a road by playing a card of that color, but the next card you play of that color must be increasing (or decreasing) in value. Take many steps down a path to score points; go half-assed down a path and lose points. While players can share spots, being first to reach certain points in the path can get you rewards.

Design - Lost Cities: The Board Game re-implements the original Lost Cities, a card game (which I've only played once and does not make the list). In my eyes, it's vastly superior due to the ability to handle more players and the way that cards aren't strictly more valuable (or if they are, then at least that value is symmetric for high- and low cards, instead of strictly benefiting you for high cards). But it's an incredibly simple, push-your-luck game where sometimes you just have to decide to take a risk and embark on a path you don't know you can complete, and it can be surprisingly mean with the way players choose to deny you cards.

Experience - I've played this twice. Each full game is comprised of three rounds (with number of statues being a carry-over scored only at the end of Round 3). It's a satisfying experience comparable to playing an old-school card game like Spades, up to a certain score. Same group of people, some of my favorites to game with, but this is an entry-weight game that I think fills an excellent niche.
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