Happy Valentine's Day!
Today I see out the bottom half of the Top 100, let's work our way to #51...
#60
WITNESS - A totally unique deduction puzzle game which takes the Telephone game to the extreme. Each player is given part of the information needed to solve a puzzling case, but to spread that information around the table you have to whisper to your neighbor, who then in turn pass it onto the next person. This game has to be played with exactly 4 people, but offers a great take on what for the most part in the early cases would be easy to solve logic problems and makes them challenging to get.
#59
CROKINOLE - I am bad at dexterity games in general, my flicks often fly off in the wrong direction and my balancing skills aren't what they used to be. But this Canadian pub game is a classic, it's shuffleboard but all the players can sit around the same table. Yes this could be considered to be a push into a list of 'board games' but that element of being together at a table, laughing at how bad we all are at flicking discs and cheering on everyone else when they hit that perfect shot, makes all my excuses for me.
#58
TROYES - I love clever dice drafting and Troyes has it. Each round players roll their personal pool of dice so that you can choose actions to complete around the board, the twist here is that other players can use your dice if they want for a cost. Yes you do get compensated when that juicy '6' you just rolled gets purchased from you, and oh how you had plans for that one! But often that is a minor inconvenience as the tactical nature of this euro game shines out. It plays a good quick clip and once you get the hang of it turns are smooth.
#57
AQUASPHERE - One of the more theme filled Felds, or as theme filled as he can get. Players are controlling robots on an underwater survey station, programming them to do their bidding to score the oodles of points you can gain. There is a great puzzle to how you choose actions as you are limited by what you choose each round based on the order they are placed, it's hard to explain but just know you won't be able to do everything you want to do and that's okay. Feld is a master of creating games that have this feeling of combos and rewarding deluges of points and this is no exception.
#56
SKULL KING - A good old trick taking game, taking it's structure from the parlor game 'Oh Hell' Skull King has you bidding for how many tricks you think you will win each round. Get that bid correct and you score well, get that bid wrong and you are losing points. There is a great balance and I love the feeling of trying to win just that right amount of tricks, then finding ways to lose tricks as well. This is an amazing family level game and always enjoyable.
#55
RUSSIAN RAILROADS - A modern classic in the worker placement genre. Building up your rail empire in Russia has never been so much fun. The game has a satisfy escalation of points gaining as each round you will gain more and more, as you spread the extent of your rail empire out on your personal board. The straight forward gameplay of placing workers makes it easy to understand how to play, but the choice of what to do is a different feeling. The expansions to this add great variety and I'm looking forward to the big box coming later this year with everything in one place.
#54
ALHAMBRA - Speaking of modern classic, this is a staple game, coming up on 20 years old Alhambra will always be a go to game when bringing a new person into the hobby, especially if they mention loving Monopoly. Get money, get buildings, score points. The tile laying as you build out your Alhambra always has a nice feeling of growth, with fun back and forth with opponents as you try to be the one monopolizing the gardens.
#53
AQUATICA - Such a clever design, the unique nature of the engine building in this one grabbed me as soon as I saw it. Players compete the claim depth cards to placing into their player board, then you must exploit those depths through a combination of playing characters cards from hand and then triggering powers on the depths to combo turns. Each game has unique goals that have to be completed to end the game, players race toward these goals to become the lord of the depths.
#52
YEDO - Yes this can be a brutal game, and I do need to get myself a copy of the new beautiful deluxe edition, but Yedo's blend of worker placement and bidding comes across as a great thematic tie in. Send your clan members out into the city to exploit the different areas for resources and also to complete missions as you seek to appease the Shogun. The brutal part of this games comes partly in the form of the night watch who can arrest your clan members and your opponents can give them a helping hand in doing so. Then you also have to watch out for those event cards that can shut down areas of the map. This game is not for the light hearted but can be so rewarding if you can take the heat.
#51
THE QUACKS OF QUEDLINBURG - Some games are just pure fun. Sure you can trying to balance out a plan in Quacks, but the great push your luck nature of pulling ingredients from a bag to make the best potion without blowing up is simply awesome. There is a huge amount variability in this as well with many different ways the ingredients can be setup to act each game. This is another great family round the table together experience.
NEXT STOP: We enter the Top 50..
No comments:
Post a Comment