Look, I play a lot of games. In 2024, that included right around 160 new games… well, new to me games. That’s pretty typical – it was approximately 145 in 2023 and 150 in 2022. (I’m privileged and blessed to have two gamer sons as well as a number of small invitational events that give me exposure to new games – as well as the review writing I do here as a part of the OG site.)

So, for the last thirteen years, I’ve intermittently published my Best New (to me!) Games list… and, when I missed a year or two, I added the missing lists to the most recent post.

• Best New (to me!) Games of 2011
• Best New (to me!) Games of 2013
• Best New (to me!) Games of 2016
  • Includes lists from 2014 and 2015
• Best New (to me!) Games of 2019
  • Includes lists from 2017 and 2018
• Best New (to me!) Games of 2020
• Best New (to me!) Games of 2021
• Best New (to me!) Games of 2022
• Best New (to me!) Games of 2023

However, before we get properly started with my list for 2024, we need to cover a few games that were excluded from the top ten list for various reasons but still warrant attention being paid to them.

Where appropriate, I’ve linked to OG reviews of the games I mention… please, take the opportunity to enjoy more of this wonderful site we call home.

Expansions of Note

Sometimes, I’ve put expansions under #10 on the list as a group… but it really makes more sense to break them out into their own category. Expansions specific to a game that appears later in the post (see: Catan Starfarers or Thunder Road: Vendetta, for example) will be dealt with under their entry.

Ancient Knowledge: Heritage

There are really two major reasons to own this well-done expansion: first, if you play with four players (which you’ll notice is not recommended by a lot of BGG users), it adds more cards to the technology piles. Second (and more important – at least to me) is that it offers two different solo systems to play Ancient Knowledge: a way to play one-off games and a way to play a campaign. The solo system is simple to administer and lets you marinate in the puzzle of saving the knowledge of your decaying civilization.

Clank! Catacombs: Lairs & Lost Chambers

My sons like to call Clank! Catacombs “procedurally generated Clank!” – and they’re not wrong – but it’s more than that. It’s possibly the best single set of cards in a Clank! Game… and there are numerous twists (prisoners! wayshrines! ghosts!) in addition to the board being semi-randomly created each game. The expansion adds more variety – both in the card deck and the tiles – that forced us to build a bigger and more complicated dungeon and struggle more with staying alive. Both are good things.

Dead Reckoning: Salt & Thunder (Saga Expansion #2)

Dead Reckoning has become one of my favorite games… and 2024 saw me continuing my solo campaign and adding the second saga expansion to the already wonderful mix of the first expansion. The two storylines pull you in different directions and – to John D. Clair’s credit – still work together quite well. (There’s also a lot more “goodies” to open and add into the game in the second saga.)

Imperium: Horizons

Yes, I know it’s actually a stand-alone game that works as an expansion. And I appreciate the updated components, the clearer rulebook, and the backwards compatibility to Imperium: Classics & Legends. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how to win a game using the new Trade module.

Terraforming Mars: Automa

Nick Shaw & Dávid Turczi have created a freakishly intelligent yet easy to administer “bot” to play Terraforming Mars against… and it not only plays the base game, but also adapts to different maps & expansions. As much fun as it is to play against the timer (classic solo Terraforming Mars), this is better. Much better.

Thunder Road: Vendetta – Carnival of Chaos

Once again, my little intrepid group of gaming friends were playtesters for Restoration Games with the Carnival of Chaos – and it wasn’t a completely smooth experience. I backed the expansion anyway due to my background of watching the stellar development on Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze… and I was not disappointed. The new expansion works on a number of levels:

• it’s a fast-moving demolition derby with high-end weaponry
• it’s a better mode for when two players want to play Thunder Road: Vendetta
• it has a fifth set of “regular” vehicles to use with the base game

New Editions

A group of games had new revised editions in 2024 that aren’t really “new to me” – but I’d feel bad if I didn’t give a shout out to them

Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition

The new edition of my long-time favorite Ascending Empires arrived just before the end of the year – and Play to Z has “plussed” the game in a variety of ways. The neoprene mats work much better than the original boards, they’ve made substantial changes to the rules/structure of the game to clarify weird bits and add depth, and the provided player boards make play much easier.

For those who miss the original rules, they’re right there in the rulebook (and the back side of the player boards work for classic). And they’ve even included a solo campaign (which I have not touched… yet.)

DC Super-Skill Pinball: Harley Quinn Ball

Geoff Englestein’s Super-Skill Pinball series is a lot of fun – and my younger son is a huge fan. We gave him Harley Quinn Ball for Christmas… and it’s an excellent addition to the series. The Joker Tower table is an amazing piece of design – for me, it’s one of the best tables in the series.

Nexus Ops

The new edition of Nexus Ops from Renegade Game Studios has the cool miniature aliens of the original edition but improved quality artwork and production, as well as the additional variants from the FFG editions.

And the Monolith is a molded piece rather than a folded thin cardboard hexagon. Finally.

Undaunted 2200: Callisto

The newest entry in the Undaunted series takes us into space for a ground war between an evil corporation and the oppressed miners. The presentation is really nice here – including 4 double-sided mounted map boards – and the underlying game system is incredibly solid as always. My only gripe so far is that the solo book is perfect-bound, thus making it difficult to lay flat and use in solo play.

Unmatched: Slings & Arrows, Steel & Silver, and Realms Fall

There were three excellent boxes in the Unmatched series released this year… for English majors, a box themed around Shakespeare & his characters, and for fans of fantasy horror, two boxes in the Witcher IP. I was especially happy to see the return in the most recent boxes to two maps per box.

Honorable Mentions

Here are ten more games that deserve a mention – but that didn’t quite make the top ten cut. They are in alphabetical order.

• A Gentle Rain – A calming solo game that does exactly what the designer (Kevin Wilson) set out to do… create a peaceful game space.
• Canopy: Evergreen – The box art gives the vibe of “hey, Cascadia won awards and sold a bunch of games, let’s go that way” – but the drafting gameplay was a lot of fun and not reminiscent of Cascadia at all. (I’m already on the record as thinking Cascadia is just ok.) I think it would be a great family strategy game – maybe not someone’s first “Euro” game, but an excellent stepping stone into things with more variety & decision-making.
• Captain Flip – My plays online were kind of meh… but in-person this is a simple & enjoyable family game.
• Forbidden Jungle – The fourth game in Matt Leacock’s Forbidden line of cooperative games… the production quality is excellent and the puzzle/challenge at the heart of the game is tricky in all the right ways.
• Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar – My younger son & I played through the entire legacy campaign this summer and had a wonderful time with it… but I think it’s probably at its best as a two player game.
• Lockup: A Roll Player Tale – I did not have “game about gangs in a fantasy prison” on my bingo card as something I’d enjoy this much… but I have.
• Pixies – Adorable art combined with drafting/hate drafting. The hardest thing non-gamer friends have had trouble with is scoring correctly.
• SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD – A nicely produced GMT game about space exploration & expansion that in full mode is actually three interlocking games. Solid solo design as well.
• Spy Guy: Pyramid – This newest entry in the Spy Guy series of games is an absolute hoot in the “Where’s Waldo? with a timer” vein. The 3D pyramid (plus all the little ways the game hides some of the pictures) is very cool. It looks like a kids game – but worked fantastic with four adults.
• Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game – I’m still working on my review of this think-y zoo simulation… the bits are stunning. I’m a sucker for zoo-themed games (Zooloretto, O Zoo le Mio, Habitats, Ark Nova, etc.)… and Zoo Tycoon is the closest to a zoo management computer sim of the bunch.

Back From The Dead

I could not in good conscience count Heroscape as a new game to me – I’ve been playing it since Hasbro released it into the world in 2004 – but any self-respecting coverage of new games in 2024 cannot ignore the reemergence of this spectacular miniatures/board game.

I reviewed both new waves for the OG (Wave 1 in August 2024 and Wave 2 in October 2024)… and the next release of figures and terrain is on its way in February. In short, the team at Renegade Game Studios has not only resurrected a deeply loved “classic” game system, but also has done it with excellent support and thoughtful decisions on how to package and release the game back into the wild.

For folks with bins full of figures & terrain in your closet, the new stuff is an excellent addition to your collection – and for folks who are new to the system, Renegade is building out the world in interesting ways & with great support for lore and organized play.

Best New (to me!) Games of 2024:

While I’ve put the following games in a countdown order, there’s a lot of flexibility in the ratings… with the right crew of people, I’d be happy to play any of them.

#10: River Valley Glassworks

I love sprawling adventure games, crunch-y/think-y puzzle-y games, and systems with tons of miniatures (see Heroscape above). But there’s always a place for a really solid family-friendly, particularly with nice production.

And that’s where River Valley Glassworks comes in. The game has some of the same feel as Azul but the scoring is more interesting. It’s short (the longest game we’ve played landed at about 25 minutes) and yet still offers interesting decisions.

There is also a box of variant scoring rule cards that I think will extend the life of this game and allow folks to craft exactly the experience they want.

#9: Fishing

Friedemann Friese’s designs are not always successful – but they are always interesting. The ones that work, however – wowsa. (See Friday, Power Grid, Famiglia, Fauna, etc.)

Fishing works like a charm – mixing a trick-taking game with the seeded deck mechanism he used in Fabled Fruit & the Fast Forward games turns out to be a winning combination… and forces players to think carefully about how to play not only the hand they’re in but what they are setting themselves up for in later hands.

#8: SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

I’ve only had a single chance to play SETI… and still, it’s living rent free in my head. I love the combination of exploration and area control, along with the wide variety of ways to accomplish your objectives. I’m not sure adding a fourth player to the game would have made it better – it seemed incredibly solid at three players.

#7: The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth

I’m a big fan of 7 Wonders Duel, so I was a little curious on whether I’d enjoy this stand-alone spin-off. I shouldn’t have worried – the designers made a number of tweaks to the original game system to highlight the theme… and then complemented that with a really classy production.

While we haven’t seen a win on the “ring” track yet, the threat of one has driven a couple of our games. The most common mistake is forgetting about the keeps – which act as a replacement for the wonders from the original design.

#6: Roll Player Adventures

I avoided backing Roll Player Adventures when it first came out – as much as I enjoy Roll Player (once you add the Monsters & Minions and/or Fiends & Familiars expansions in) and Cartographers, it was just too pricey. So when I received it as a Christmas gift last year, I was jazzed.

But not as much as I was to play the game – this is a lovingly designed fantasy “choose your own adventure” system that covers some of the same ground as Legacy of Dragonholt (previous successes & failures affect future events) but also involves a clever dice manipulation mechanic.

We’ve played both solo and two-player… both experiences were/are excellent.

#5: Magic Number Eleven

I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that Magic Number Eleven is the best “fast” (30 minutes?) soccer match game since my beloved Streetsoccer. I am impressed with how it uses a tile-laying-like mechanic to simulate the build-up of soccer play. There’s enough randomness to feel like an actual soccer game (I got a penalty trying to stop an overwhelming attack – then my goalie managed to block the penalty shot!)… but not so much that it overwhelms intelligent play.

Well, I might want to note that I’ve yet to win a game of it… which may be a by-product of my bad play or possibly my love for the beleaguered Tottenham Hotspurs. Or both.

#4: 3 Chapters

Let’s start with the bad news – 3 Chapters doesn’t yet exist in English. But my two plays with a German copy were enough for me to put this one at #4… and more than enough to push it to the top of my wish list as soon as an English version becomes available. (According to chatter on BGG, that should be in May… just in time for my June birthday!)

The game is a great mix of drafting, trick-taking, and combo-building with a fairy tale theme. Hence, the title – the first chapter we draft cards 7 Wonders style. The second chapter is a short trick-taking game using the cards we drafted. The final chapter is laying out those cards and scoring the combos we’ve built… sometimes fueled by our actions during the second chapter.

And it’s short enough to play again almost immediately.

#3: Let’s Go To Japan

Dale’s very positive review of Let’s Go To Japan convinced me to back it… and that turned out to be a very good decision. The production is gorgeous (especially with the KS wooden pieces and ceramic bowls). But any edition has the lovely art on the cards and the easy to read iconography that makes the game a breeze to teach and play.

The gameplay is as good as the production – you are drafting together vacation plans for Tokyo & Kyoto, trying to put experiences together so you don’t spend too much money and/or too much time riding the trains back & forth. It’s just gamer-y enough to satisfy gamers while being friendly to non-gamers.

A couple of extra notes: I enjoy playing it solo as well – even without ramping up the difficulty, the “Travel Agent” has beaten me when I’m not careful. I have only played one of the two expansions – Day Trip adds an extra day which is a nice change of pace but not necessary. I have not played the Passport expansion which adds player specific goals.

#2: Pirates of Maracaibo

The first time I saw Alexander Pfister’s Maracaibo played, it took a crew of dedicated heavy gamers 4+ hours to finish. (They all loved it – but it was, well, “a lot”.) So, rather than invest in the physical game, I picked up the iPad app and played multiple games against the AI. It was, still, “a lot”.

So I was hopeful that Pirates of Maracaibo would be a little more manageable. What I didn’t expect is that it would have all of the stuff I liked about the original game with all of the churn surgically removed. What’s left is a tight and enjoyable game that entranced my son (who tried multiple heavy Pfister games I love – Great Western Trail, CloudAge, Skymines – and pronounced them “your kind of games, Dad”) and has been a blast for me to play against the solo bot.

Pirates typically finishes in 60-75 minutes for two players (30-45 minutes for solo play) and every turn moves the game forward. I can’t say enough nice things about it.

#1: Distilled

I played Distilled for the first time during my 60th birthday weekend this summer… and enjoyed it a lot. When a copy was available at Gulf Games, I taught some more people the game… and enjoyed it even more. Which led to putting it on my BGG wishlist and my Secret Santa sending it to me as a Christmas gift. (Way to go, Santa!)

Distilled has both drafting & push-your-luck elements, along with a smidgen of set collecting & a bit of engine building. That can sound like a mish-mash… but it actually pulls together nicely into a very playable game. 

After multiple plays, I’m glad to see that the strategy of leaning into aging spirits (which denies you of a large income, particularly if you start early) doesn’t doom you to failure. Depending on which tasting menu you choose, a variety of tactical options are available. I like when multiple pathways are available in a game of this nature.

And, yes, as a non-drinker, it always makes me laugh a bit when I end up enjoying games about drinking (The Red Dragon Inn) or owning a bar (The Taverns of Tiefenthal or Volle Hutte) or making liquor (Distilled).

The solo system is more than just “play the game by yourself and try to get a higher score” – you’re working to accomplish a series of goals that can constrict your choices and require some careful planning to meet.

I’ve now played the game solo and with two, three, and four players – all worked very well. To add to the fun, my boys gave me the Africa/Middle East expansion box for Christmas – it’s one of those expansions that adds more variety without adding more complexity… I recommend it if you’re enjoying the game.

Five & Dime

I got curious – how many of my top new-to-me games were in my Five & Dime lists for 2024?

Dimes

• River Valley Glassworks 16
• Let’s Go To Japan 14
• Distilled 10

Nickels

• Pirates of Maracaibo 7
• Roll Player Adventures 5

So… five out of ten. That’s a decent batting average. (And, for reference, the same average as 2023.)

Looking Ahead

There are a number of games on my radar for this list in 2025… including Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread, Forsaken, Revenant, Race for the Galaxy: Xeno Counterstrike, Dungeon Alliance: Paragons, and yet another Bezier Games prototype I’m not allowed to talk about… yet.

In the meantime, let’s play some games!

I received review copies of the Dead Reckoning base game, the new Heroscape sets, Nexus Ops, the three Unmatched boxes, and Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game. The rest of the games & expansions on the list were purchased by me, belong to one of my two sons, or were played with copies owned by other OG writers.