Welcome back to this continued trip through my favorite 100 games, today we move past #70 and into the 60s. Some great strong titles here and they only get better...
#70
CASTELL - What first got me interested in this game was the very unique theme, following the tradition of Castell from Catalonia, it is a festival in which people building human towers of upto 10 people high. You run a castell team going from region to region showing off your balancing skills, to that end the game uses a clever set collection method in which you stack your team members from higher value upto lower values. Such an awesome surprising game for me and nothing matches building up your tower to score the best performance.
#69
GENTES - Here is a euro game that follows developing civilizations, players grow their population and build temples across the map. This one features a clever time themed action selection mechanic - time is a resource. Each era you only have some much time to spend on actions, these actions have varying time costs. Players are faced with the puzzle of how to balance what actions you want to take and what time you have left each era into doing them.
#68
PANDEMIC LEGACY: SEASON 1 - The grand daddy of all co-op games Pandemic gets the Legacy treatment. Legacy games are ones that evolve over the play through, players will make decision that could permanently change the game world. Cards get torn up. Stickers get placed on the board. A story evolves. Has such a great experience playing through this one, although I won't be playing it again it stands solidly in my memory.
#67
GAIA PROJECT - A little cheat here, as I feel I could squeeze Terra Mystica into this spot as well. I put Gaia Project here as I prefer the game board as it is more open for the players, also I prefer the sci-fi theme that this one takes. Players compete for control of planets to build up their races for domination of the game.
#66
JUST ONE - This is by far my favorite party game, the clever co-op nature of this word guessing game puts it above Codenames. It is so easy to explain and has a nice player count. It has great moments of trying to come up with clue words that everyone else isn't giving to the guesser.
#65
7 WONDERS DUEL - This two player only implementation of it's bigger brother gives us a great twist on drafting. There is an awesome back and forth between players as one pushes toward a military victory are you letting the opponent push forward in science. The first expansion really opens this game up more and gives you many more options in your quest for victoy.
#64
KEYFLOWER - A fantastic blend of worker placement, auction and tile laying this game is so clever. Each season players use workers to either bid for tiles to improve your personal tableau or you can place them as workers on the tiles up for bid or as workers in your opponents villages. But one clever restriction if a certain color meeple has already been used, you have to use the same color. SO in turn each meeple becomes a form of resource, but players keep how many they have of each secret, leaving a great tactical selection each round knowing you can lock someone out completely if they lack that color.
#63
ORLEANS - Taking a twist on worker placement bty building up a bag of workers from which you draw them out of each round. Players build up this bag with farmers, merchants, priests and you need certain combos of them to do certain actions. This game cuts down on time by having a simultaneous part of placing these workers and then in turn you trigger the actions you wish to. Also is a great looking production from TMG as always.
#62
CLANS OF CALEDONIA - Heavily influenced by Terra Mystica comes this game in which clans compete to build up their production of goods across the farming lands of Caledonia. So that they may trade and export the goods to become the most prestigious. This game offers a great strategic challenge as you build up your economy across the modular boards, each clan can have unique powers to further from your decisions. Such a great game.
#61
WESTERN LEGENDS - Have you wanted to be an outlaw in the Wild West on the run from the law, robbing banks and rustling cattle? Or do you long to be that lawman hunting down the outlaws? Or does your idea of the Old West having you working hard mining for gold, before gambling your money away at a poker table? If you answer yes to any of those questions then this sandbox game is the one for you, such great emergent gameplay as players build their own stories across the plains of the West.
NEXT STOP: Hoping to be back tomorrow to round off the first half of this Top 100. See you then!
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