Board 8 > Paul ranks his top 50 board/tabletop games.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Out of the classic games I like Stratego and Clue, but they wouldn't make my top 50. Thunder & Lightning has pretty much replaced Stratego for me.
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26) Dice City (2015)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179572/dice-city

Dice City is a dice rolling/city building game for 2-4 players. Players will have their own player board with 6 number coordinates across the top and 5 colours across the side. They will also receive 5 dice, one of each colour. On your turn you roll your dice and place them in the appropriate spots (for example red 3 would go on the space where the coordinates for the number 3 and the colour red meet on your board). Each space has an action and you will remove each dice from your board while doing that action. You can also do different special actions when removing your dice. You can also obtain new buildings to place overtop of old buildings, making your board different and having better effects than your starting effects. There are 3 expansions for this game so far. 2 that add gold and more cards, while the third one adds a queen board and some other things, I have yet to try that one so I'm not sure all about how it works.

I was having trouble explaining that gameplay and having it make sense, so if you're curious you can just go check out a review. It's a fun dice rolling game and I like the different options you can add to your board to make it unique.

Hint for #25
I gave a very specific hint for an earlier game on the list, and this is the only other time (that I'm aware of) where that hint would work for this spot too.
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i have seen this game before but i'll be damned if i know anything about it

as far as city building games go, i was more disappointed in quadropolis than satisfied
maybe dice city is better? dunno
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I have yet to play Quadropolis so I'm not sure which one is better.
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bumpo

Will post it in a bit
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Great_Paul posted...

Played 2 games of The Resistance: Avalon. I had played The Resistance before but it was my first time trying Avalon.

After that we played my #3. Man I love this game :)

Avalon is amazing ye. Have you played Secret Hitler?
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KommunistKoala posted...

Avalon is amazing ye. Have you played Secret Hitler?

I've heard the name before, but I haven't tried it. I actually don't know anything about it.
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secret hitler is a resistance knockoff that rethemes the teams to liberal and fascist and adds randomly drawn cards

i personally find it a vastly inferior game, but many like it more than resistance
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25) King of New York (2014)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160499/king-new-york
This spot is actually shared by King of Tokyo and King of New York, but I do like KoNY a little more. They are both dice rolling/push your luck games for 2-6 players. Players will select a monster with the goal of being the first to 20 points, or be the last monster standing. On your turn you will roll the dice and then re-roll them up to 2 times, and then carry out the dice actions. Tokyo is a little easier with half of the dice results being numbers in which sets of the same will award you points. The others being used to attack, get currency, and heal. You'll get points for being in Tokyo and will continue to keep getting points the longer you stay. But the longer you stay, the more you'll be attacked by the other monsters and risk elimination.

New York's dice have sides that let you do more such as destroy buildings/vehicles. There's also a bigger board and monsters will be in different districts of the city, with Manhattan being the one to get you points.

There are expansions that give the monsters special ability cards. These are something I always play with because it gives monsters differences when selecting them. It's too bad promo monsters don't have them, because when Dice Tower Golem is used I just have random ones hand-drafted instead.

Both games are pretty straight-forward and both good entry level games. Tokyo is definitely easier to learn so that's probably the one to teach people first, but I like the more variety NY has. Tokyo got a second edition, which is fine and everything but they decided to remove Cyber Bunny who happens to be my favourite monster in the game!

Hint for #24
This next game is a really dirty one
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I might have to look into Bear Valley.
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Why would anyone remove Cyber-Bunny
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Never played KoNY but it seems like 'the same' as KoT, but with frills.

KoT for didn't really thrill y'know? I feel like it's a game that's more fun with more people, but the more players there are, the less incentive (and less opportunity!) there is to do anything.
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24) Steam Park (2013)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/121410/steam-park
Steam Park is a dice rolling/city building game for 2-4 players. Ok well you're not actually building a city, you're building a theme park for robots. At the start of each round, players will roll all of their dice, and re-roll any of them as many times as they'd like. When a player locks in all of their dice they grab the first player marker, and the next one to finish takes the next one. Rolling phase ends when the last player to finish takes the final marker. Players who finished first get a benefit of cleaning dirt, where-as last place gets extra dirt. Dirt is very bad because players will lose points based on how much dirt they've accumulated at the end of the game. In turn order, players will do all of their dice actions. You can build rides, build stands, attract guests, play bonus cards, add space to your park, and clean dirt. Game ends after 6 rounds.

This is a nice dice roller. I like the speed element and the split second decisions where you might have to decide to lock in results you aren't happy with just to avoid last place. There have been a couple times where I've decided to stick with my first result just to avoid that.

There's an expansion and an upgrade kit coming out soon I believe. The upgrade kit just upgrades some base game components, which I'm probably okay without. I am definitely interested in the expansion though.

Hint for #23
This worker placement game gives you so many workers to use
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I've played Steam Park just once. The components are quite cute and I like the reward for speed. Can be frustrating when you can't achieve your goals, but that's a Eurogame for you.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

I've played Steam Park just once. The components are quite cute and I like the reward for speed. Can be frustrating when you can't achieve your goals, but that's a Eurogame for you.

Yeah I forgot to mention how I really like the components. The 3D rides are a nice touch.
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23) Ars Alchimia (2014)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160432/ars-alchimia
Ars Alchimia is a worker placement game for 2-4 players. This game came out earlier in Japan, but was recently released in North America by TMG. In this game you start out with 9 workers, and can obtain up to 20. Each turn you can send your workers to take an order, collect resources, hire an assistant, or go transmute orders. All of these locations are cards on the board, so they change up each round. If a spot is already taken, you can take the action of that spot if you send more workers there than the amount already there (so if I want a spot that has 2 workers, I would need to send 3 or more). There are also added benefits to sending more workers than necessary, such as the added chance to obtain extra resources when collecting. Game ends after 4 rounds.

I actually came across this game randomly, and I liked the anime-style art it had so I looked into it further. It's an interesting take on the worker placement genre. The only issue I have is that there aren't enough cards so you'll cycle through them pretty quickly. Also I'm absolutely terrible at this game, I'm always second-last or last place :P

Hint for #22
This push your luck game is reimplementation of a game from the 90s
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22) Celestia (2015)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175117/celestia
Celestia is a Push Your Luck game for 3-6 players. The rules say 2 players, but no never play it with 2. In this game players will all be in a ship with the turn player being the captain. They will roll 2-4 dice based on how far the ship has gone, and on these dice are different hazards. Players will have hands of cards depicting these same hazards. Once the captain has rolled, players will decide if they would like to stay in the ship, or jump out. If they jump, they're out of the round and collect points based on how far the ship was when they jumped. If they stay the captain must play the same cards from their hand based on what they rolled. If they cannot, the ship crashes and everybody on board scores 0 points for that round. If they can, the ship progresses and the next player takes over as captain. There are other cards people can play to help the captain's roll if they're still on board, or hurt the roll if they've jumped and want everybody else to crash. Game ends at the end of a round where a player has 50+ points.

This is a great push your luck game. It's always interesting to try and determine what the captain has in their hand. They could roll 1 lightning which you'd normally feel confident staying, but for all you know the captain has everything but lightning. For a while this game was my group's most played game, to the point where we would play it almost every time we gamed. That slowed down when we started getting burned out a bit, but it's still an excellent game. It's really easy to learn and figure out too, so I think it's also a good choice for a gateway game.

Celestia is a reimplementation of a game called Cloud 9 (1999). It follows a similar format but there are some slight differences.

Hint for #21
This game was robbed of the Spiel des Jahres
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Celestia sounds awesome!
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celestia is so good.

my favorite part: the part where everyone shouts 'in!' at the beginning of early rounds - you get this vocal rhythm building and it's always hilarious when you crash on the first or second stage
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Yeah and those moments where somebody jumps out on the first stop and everyone's like "woah really? Okay then" and then the captain crashes are so good xD
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Going to look into Celestia as well.

Though I'm sad to hear it doesn't work with 2 players.
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Celestia gets better the more players you have. It's best at 5 or 6 without a doubt.

It's *probably* my favorite game of GenCon last year.
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muddersmilk posted...

Though I'm sad to hear it doesn't work with 2 players.

The only time I've ever tried it with 2, we both just kept jumping out for points right away leaving the other player to crash. We ended up just playing something else because the game was going nowhere.
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Steam Park is great, one of our favorites.
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Shaduln posted...

Steam Park is great, one of our favorites.

I remember you mentioned it once and I had slightly heard of it so I asked you and you said good things so I got it soon after.
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21) Splendor (2014)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148228/splendor
Splendor is a set collection card game for 2-4 players. On your turn you can do one of three things. Obtain gems of 3 different colours or 2 of the same colour, buy a card by paying the required gem cost, or reserve a card to purchase later and taking a wild gem. Cheaper cards are worth 0 points, but every card has a gem at the top and when you buy a card you get a permanent discount on that gem for the rest of the game. So if you had 2 red cards and a blue card, every card would then cost you 2 less red gems and 1 less blue. There are also nobles to obtain by being the first to have a certain set of colours. They each award 3 points so it's a race to get them. Game ends when a player gets 15 points.

From what I've seen, this game is quick to learn but takes time to master. It's all about learning to build your engine the quickest, so you'll eventually be able to just take cards without wasting turns taking gems. This game was a Spiel nominee, but ultimately lost to Camel Up which btw I've played and didn't like.

A while back Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower started talking about a top secret game called Caravan that he described as a "Splendor Killer". We've recently learned more about this game, it's official name is Century: Spice Road and will be the first in a series of games. Will it kill Splendor? Well Splendor has announced an expansion so we'll see.

Hint for #20
This game was so popular that started a genre
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I like Splendor, but it feels like there's a distinct bias towards the first player that you can't really do anything about

nothing game-breaking, but it's definitely there
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splendor is a fun, light game, but I don't find the decision making particularly interesting
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th3l3fty posted...

I like Splendor, but it feels like there's a distinct bias towards the first player that you can't really do anything about

nothing game-breaking, but it's definitely there

They do have the equal # of turns rule which helps. Where if the player who went last gets 15 points, it's over. But if the player who went first gets 15 points, every other player gets one more turn.
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splendor is almost certainly my most played eurogame - it's the only one i've bought besides settlers of catan, and there's absolutely zero question in which one gets played more.

it's extremely economical in terms of setup and components and terminology - can be played by colorblind people and people with reading disabilities, and the only real source of luck lies in the card you expose when you take one off the board. the chips are of a wonderful weight and add an extremely satisfying tactile element.

the biggest downside to me of splendor is that it can be really silent. the right group can ameliorate this, though. also: WHY IS THE BOX SO BIG.

re: first player bias - competitive data suggests that going first is a disadvantage at high-level play
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1629901/analyzing-splendor-strategies-7000-game-plays

the next game has to be dominion, right?
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SeabassDebeste posted...

also: WHY IS THE BOX SO BIG

Yeah I've always wondered this too. Maybe they wanted room for an expansion? But then that would mean getting rid of the insert, which is actually a pretty good one.
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Next one is Dominion.
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Was going to guess dominion.

Splendor is a great game that I had never played until I demoed it my first time contracting with FFG/Asmodee. Bought it at that convention because it was that good. I can even get my parents to play it, which is unusual for a board game.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

re: first player bias - competitive data suggests that going first is a disadvantage at high-level play
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1629901/analyzing-splendor-strategies-7000-game-plays

huh, interesting

going first tends to be an advantage in the games I've played, but none of us play it more than casually
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20) Dominion (2008)
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion
Dominion is a deckbuilding game for 2-4 players. In this game there will be 10 sets of 10 cards face up. There will also be money cards and victory point cards. Players will start with the same 10-card decks. On your turn you can play one action card and buy one card. Action cards can do many things such as generating money, drawing cards, and getting more actions. Any cards purchased will go to your discard pile. Once you play your cards and buy what you can, you'll discard any remaining cards and draw back up to 5. Once your deck runs out you shuffle your discard pile and it becomes your new deck. Game ends when 3 piles are depleted or all of the 6VP cards are gone.

Yeah this game is crazy popular, spawning 12 (or something) expansions and recently a second edition. I understand the dislike some people have about lack of theming and the fact that it's just play cards and buy cards, but I really like that. It's fun to get a random setup and plan out what cards to get first to plan out how you're going to do the rest of the game.

I'm also accepting recommendations for expansions to get. Right now I have Dominion and Alchemy. Why do I have those and not the big box? Well I got Dominion from a friend for a good price since he didn't play it much, and I got Alchemy randomly from a different friend for Christmas. I've also played one game with cards from Guilds/Cornucopia because someone I know brought his big box and double pack of that out one night. That's the extent of my Dominion experience.

Hint for #19
I'm super excited for this game's upcoming expansion which is said to be coming to Kickstarter very soon
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I can't play base Dominion anymore

Intrigue, sure, but no thanks to the base set
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prosperity is super-fun - introduces a bigger-than-gold currency (platinum) and a bigger-than-province victory point (colony) - and most of the kingdom cards kind of gear you toward getting those
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I have thought about Prosperity since it seems to be well-received and I'm 2/3 of the way to having the sets from the big box anyway.
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I actually like Ascension far more than Dominion because the latter gets too hive mind-y at lower levels of play (which is where my group is) plus having a pool with 3 attacks and no defenses is miserable. The center-row mechanic introduces more variation in strategy from game to game.

But I still respect Dominion as the grandfather of a great genre.
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I just can't do dominion anymore. I love drafting games, but I need more to it. Like Trains. Trains is fun.
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Excuse me, not drafting. Deck building.

Of course then there is dice building like Roll for the Galaxy.
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Splendor is supposed to be a good puzzle, but IMO flipping a card for the next player adds a ridiculous amount of unfair luck to the game. That said, it's still pretty fun and that simplicity is great.
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damn. 19 spots too low
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i always recommend seaside as the first expansion of choice, but adventures is really rad and if you can handle the complexity it shakes up things in a lot of good ways
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I think seaside is sort of annoying to play IRL. although it's far less annoying than alchemy, which simply put shouldn't be played anywhere but online

my fave expansions are actually dark ages and hinterlands but they're both kind of more advanced, prosperity is probably like my favorite go-to first expansion

RIP that one really good dominion site

I love Splendor, it's one of the first games I got when I started getting into board games. I even think it was someone on this board that recommended it to me.

It has quickly become a favorite at my place, and it works really well, and differently, with 2-4 players. I don't think I'll forget the evening when we played it five times in a row because one of my friends desperately wanted to win a game of Splendor for once. she didn't
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trdl23 posted...

I actually like Ascension far more than Dominion because the latter gets too hive mind-y at lower levels of play (which is where my group is) plus having a pool with 3 attacks and no defenses is miserable. The center-row mechanic introduces more variation in strategy from game to game.

But I still respect Dominion as the grandfather of a great genre.

the center-row mechanic of ascension is probably my least favorite part of it, alongside the fact that victory points are given for otherwise useful cards - these feel like worse mechanics compared to dominion!

Paratroopa1 posted...

RIP that one really good dominion site

i've played dominion far more online than in person, which is part of the reason i don't know the sets - if you've bought them all (as my friend did), then the cards you get can be a medley from different sets

th3l3fty posted...

going first tends to be an advantage in the games I've played, but none of us play it more than casually

yeah, i'm f***ing terrible at splendor despite owning it - i wouldn't be able to tell you anything like that without a forum thread!
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Paratroopa1 posted...

RIP that one really good dominion site

is there any other alternative?
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SeabassDebeste posted...

the center-row mechanic of ascension is probably my least favorite part of it, alongside the fact that victory points are given for otherwise useful cards - these feel like worse mechanics compared to dominion!

Depends on what you're playing for.

Higher skill ceiling and long-term strategy? Dominion.

Higher variance and more dynamic gameplay/counterplay? Ascension.
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Next one up in a little bit
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