When we last left our intrepid hero (aka me), he was sharing his exhaustive list of his 100 favorite games circa early 2024. (If you read all of Friday’s post, you’ll realize that “exhaustive” doesn’t quite cover it.)
Our protagonist (again, me) invited the rest of the Opinionated Gamers team to weigh in on the list… and they did! Thirty-four O.G. writers used the standard O.G. rating system:
I love it!
I like it
Neutral
Not for me
…to register their agreement, acquiescence, and/or disagreement with the choices.
I will now stop writing in the third person as it is as exhausting for me as it is irritating for you, gentle reader.
Not Everyone Plays The Same Games
This should not have been a surprise to me, but I was struck about how many of the O.G. team had missed out on playing a big chunk of my beloved games. Only about a third of the group had played 70 or more of the games on the list… and another third had played less than half.
In fairness, I’ve been in the hobby a long time – though it doesn’t show up much in my current list, I cut my “gamer” teeth on Avalon Hill/SPI wargames and AD&D. In the mid 1990s, I was an enthusiastic participant on rec.games.board (Usenet) and devoured the content Ken Tidwell was uploading to The Game Cabinet. (Fun fact: this month is the 30th anniversary of The Game Cabinet – one of the earliest sites on the Web and probably the earliest site specifically dedicated to board gaming.)
That means that there are a number of games in my top 100 that wouldn’t be easily accessible to someone who started into the board gaming hobby in the last decade or so:
The Island of Misfit Games
So, what games had the least exposure? I’ll list the top (ahem, bottom) ten here… and attempt explanations for each of them.
Monopoly: Tropical Tycoon DVD Game – 6% (published in 2007)
Even though this version of Monopoly is designed by Rob Daviau, it has two things that keep it from hitting most tables: (1) it’s DVD-driven [and the animation/humor is very dated], and (2) it’s Monopoly. As I’m not a Monopoly hater, that isn’t a problem – but I am working on creating a non-DVD version of the game so we can continue to enjoy this.
Dungeon Alliance – 12% (published in 2018)
I’m guessing that this low placement is a combination of theme (dungeon crawl) and crunchiness (it’s a long game with lots of think-y decisions)… and the fact that the game came from a smaller publisher.
Wildlands – 12% (published in 2018)
This Martin Wallace design does not feel like Brass or Tinner’s Trail… and the miniatures/art are less inviting to some groups of gamers.
Cape May – 15% (published in 2021)
A city-building game from a publisher primarily known for its fantasy games (the Roll Player universe).
Armageddon – 18% (published in 2016)
A criminally under-publicized release from Queen Games and a theme that could be off-putting for some (post-apocalyptic survival).
Im Reich der Wüstensöhne – 21% (published in 2008)
Only published in Germany with no official translated rules. (BTW, this used to be a MUCH more common practice… causing me to become experienced with Babelfish & Google Translate to supplement my fading memories of high school German class.)
Undaunted: Normandy – 24% (published in 2019)
A two-player wargame (yes, there are rules for 4 player games in the Reinforcements expansion… but it’s really a two-player game).
Harry’s Grand Slam Baseball Game – 24% (published in 1962, re-published in 2004)
Sports-themed + twenty years since it was last in print.
Voidfall – 24% (published in 2023)
Voidfall is relatively new (the KS just delivered in the fall of 2023)… but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It has a pretty massive set-up time and three rulebooks (well, two rulebooks and one glossary).
Nemo’s War – 26% (published in 2017)
It’s a solo game… and has definite ‘old skool’ wargame vibes.
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Six games on my top 100 list had been played by all of the O.G. folks:
7 Wonders
Catan
Ra
Race for the Galaxy
The Quacks of Quedlinberg
Ticket to Ride
And five more were played by all but one writer:
Can’t Stop
Innovation
Lost Cities
The Princes of Florence
Zooloretto
The Cool Kids Table
I devised a decidedly un-scientific way to convert the O.G. rating system to points in order to “rank” these responses… the details aren’t important, but the top seven games clearly stood out from the rest. If I was hosting an O.G. game night, these would go over really well:
Can’t Stop
Showmanager
Ra
Ticket to Ride
Lost Cities
Return to Dark Tower
Great Western Trail: New Zealand
The Outcasts
On the other hand, the bottom six games would not be welcome on O.G. game night:
Wildlands
CloudAge
Imperium: Classics
Core Worlds
Monopoly: Tropical Tycoon DVD Game
The Dragon & Flagon
And Then…
…there are the games that the group found (shall we say?) polarizing.
Ark Nova
Fresco
Innovation
Race for the Galaxy
Suburbia
Terraforming Mars
The Really Good News
I won’t go into specific detail about O.G. team member answers here – but I do want to note that some of the gamers I most enjoy sitting across the table from (and make a pilgrimage to spend time with on a regular basis) rated the absolute lowest in matching my top 100 tastes.
Here’s what that says to me – we enjoy playing together more than we obsess about playing exactly the right game. We find that games or styles of games we don’t particularly enjoy can be delightful when you’re playing with friends.
That’s why I love this hobby – at its best, it’s a chance not only to play some brilliantly designed games, it’s a chance to hang out with some (as our British friends would say) brilliant people.
Nearly a quarter of a century ago, I took a couple of local gamer friends with me to Gulf Games 3. We had an amazing time… and as we got in the car to drive home, my friend Buster looked at me and said: “You guys like to win, but you love to play.”
All these years later, that’s still the way I roll.
Thoughts From Other Opinionated Gamers
Talia Rosen: It was really fun to look through Mark’s Top 100 games and rate them on the O.G. scale, but the thing I was personally most struck by was how many of his Top 100 games I had never played. Of course there were the classics like Can’t Stop and Princes of Florence that I had played many times, but then there were many seemingly oddball games like the Monopoly DVD game that I’ve never even seen, let alone played. I suppose it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise since my own Top 100 has lots of games that almost all other O.G. members do not like (such as Dominant Species, War of the Ring, and Before the Wind). My biggest takeaway from Mark’s list is that I want to try a bunch of these games with him! That’s the way I fell in love with War of the Ring, Through the Ages, and Antiquity… by playing them with fans of those games. I’m sure if I had an opportunity to learn Monopoly DVD or any of those other “misfit” games from Mark that it would be an absolute blast. What a fun and fascinating list!
Larry: Mark and I always joke about how different our tastes in games are. I like heavier games, whereas he goes by the monitor “Fluff Daddy” (because, at least in the past, he tended to prefer lighter stuff). So I wasn’t sure if I would match up too well with his favorites, but I was pleasantly surprised that we really weren’t at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Of his top 100, 9 were “Loves” for me, while only 3 rated as “Not for Me”, so that’s pretty good. Most of the games are somewhere in the middle, but that’s due more to my rating style–I don’t give very high or very low ratings to too many games. One thing that I’ll note–the top 7 games he cites as the ones that the OGers like the most are, at least in some cases, the ones that are the least objectionable. From my point of view, I’m always up for Can’t Stop and while I haven’t played GWT: New Zealand yet, I’d love to learn it. But of the others, they’re “sure, I can play that”, but I wouldn’t be enthusiastic about any of them. Again, with the exception of GWT, these are pretty light games, so that’s part of it. But for the games that I really love, I’m probably better off with a subset of the OGers, rather than the whole group. And that’s fine; I like playing with all these guys, so it’s always fun, regardless of the game. Well, maybe not Rum & Pirates! ;-)
Mary: I enjoyed going through Mark’s list of games – some brought back memories and/or reminded me how much I need to dig out and play old favorites. There were quite a few that I had played but it was so long ago that I didn’t remember if I liked them or not (I rated them “never played” since they would basically be new to me if I tried them again). I love half of the polarizing games; I think I was neutral on two and didn’t care for one. The outcasts were either not for me or I hadn’t played.
It wasn’t all a dream… there’s really more Heroscape coming.
Yes, I’ve already told you all about the stuff that’s coming in August 2024 (just 2 short months away!!!) – and now we know something about the plans of the good folks at Renegade Game Studios past that initial splash.
And while there aren’t any new master sets (yet), there’s still some nifty things on the way in October 2024. RenegadeCon (a virtual press conference about Renegade’s upcoming games) was held yesterday – and Jordan Gaeta & Lee Houoff shared all about the next wave!
The boardgames of Mad King Ludwig continue to shrink. First we had Castles of Mad King Ludwig where players auctioned tiles, placing them to build their own personal castle. Next came the Palace of Mad King Ludwig (reviewed here) where all players work together to finish only a single castle. Now, there isn’t any building at all, only the blueprints. In Blueprints of Mad King Ludwig, players simply draw out their dreams on a piece of paper, in the hopes of catching the king’s eye and his favor. Players are still placing funny shaped rooms into a castle area, but gone are the auctions and money shenanigans of the original Castles of Mad King Ludwig. This slims the game down and keeps it moving at a quick pace. Your opinion of this “flip and write” game will depend on whether you are willing to give up the greater strategic depth of money auctions and associated shenanigans for a faster-paced and shorter over-all game.
The Meeples Choice Awards is an annual game award that has been voted on by a group of gamers since 1995. The purpose of the award is to select the group’s three favorite designs from the previous calendar year. The first stage of the voting for the 2023 awards has been completed and 34 games have been nominated. (Usually there are only 25 or so nominations, but this year there were a large number of games tied for the last few spots.) The group will now vote on their favorites from the nominated games and the three games which receive the most votes will be declared the winners. The winning games will be announced next Friday.
Here are the nominated games in alphabetical order, together with their designers and publishers. Congratulations to all the individuals involved!
12 Chip Trick (root) – Mandoo Games
Age of Innovation (Helge Ostertag) – Feuerland Spiele
Apiary (Connie Vogelmann) – Stonemaier Games
Cabanga! (Michael Modler) – Amigo
Darwin’s Journey (Simone Luciani, Nestore Mangone) – ThunderGryph Games
Daybreak (Matt Leacock, Matteo Menapace) – CMYK
Dune: Imperium – Uprising (Paul Dennen) – Dire Wolf
Earth (Maxime Tardif) – Inside Up Games
Evacuation (Vladimir Suchy) – Delicious Games
Expeditions (Jamey Stegmaier) – Stonemaier Games)
Faraway (Johannes Goupy, Corentin Lebrat) – Catch Up Games
Forest Shuffle (Kosch) – Lookout Games
FTW?! (Friedemann Friese) – 2F-Spiele
Great Western Trail: New Zealand (Alexander Pfister) – eggertspiele
Hegemony (Vangelis Bagiartakis, Varnavas Timotheou) – Hegemonic Project Games
Hooky (James Miller, Friends of Aseema) – Rio Grande Games
Knarr (Thomas Dupont) – Bombyx
Kutna Hora (Ondrej Bystron, Petr Caslava, Pavel Jarosch) – CGE
Magic Trick (Chris Wray) – Self Published
Nokosu Dice (Yusuke Matsumoto) – Engames
Nucleum (Simone Luciani, David Turczi) – Board&Dice
Path of Civilization (Fabien Gridel) – Captain Games
Sail (Akiyama Koryo, Kozu Yusei) – Allplay
Sky Team (Luc Remond) – Scorpion Masque
Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game (Caleb Grace) – Fantasy Flight Games
That’s Not a Hat (Kasper Lapp) – Ravensburger
The Fox Experiment (Elizabeth Hargrave, Jeff Fraser) – Pandasaurus Games
The White Castle (Israel Cendrero, Sheila Santos) – Devir
Every couple of years (or so) I blog through my top 50 or top 100 games over on my personal blog, akapastorguy. In 2022, I shared that list with our faithful readers here at the OG… and I’m back to do it again.
And today’s recap won’t be the end of this report… I’ve asked my friends here at the Opinionated Gamers to weigh in with their ratings of the game on my list. I’ll summarize all that information for you on Sunday:
Games the OG team likes the most
Games they like the least
Games that many of them need to play
But today, it’s all about my list & my preferences.
Played with review copy provided by Asmodee NA, distributor
In 1951, the Indian government commissioned the renowned architect Le Corbusier to design a new capital for the state of Punjab. Thus, Chandigarh was born. In the game Chandigarh, players in the role of urban planners are in charge of building this modern city from scratch. They will construct buildings, try to take advantage of buildings constructed by others, use the abilities of the different municipal employees, and try to position themselves in the key locations of the city, all with the aim of achieving the patterns of the plans they have chosen. Whoever scores the most prestige points wins.
Mark’s 100 vs The Opinionated Gamers
When we last left our intrepid hero (aka me), he was sharing his exhaustive list of his 100 favorite games circa early 2024. (If you read all of Friday’s post, you’ll realize that “exhaustive” doesn’t quite cover it.)
Our protagonist (again, me) invited the rest of the Opinionated Gamers team to weigh in on the list… and they did! Thirty-four O.G. writers used the standard O.G. rating system:
…to register their agreement, acquiescence, and/or disagreement with the choices.
I will now stop writing in the third person as it is as exhausting for me as it is irritating for you, gentle reader.
Not Everyone Plays The Same Games
This should not have been a surprise to me, but I was struck about how many of the O.G. team had missed out on playing a big chunk of my beloved games. Only about a third of the group had played 70 or more of the games on the list… and another third had played less than half.
In fairness, I’ve been in the hobby a long time – though it doesn’t show up much in my current list, I cut my “gamer” teeth on Avalon Hill/SPI wargames and AD&D. In the mid 1990s, I was an enthusiastic participant on rec.games.board (Usenet) and devoured the content Ken Tidwell was uploading to The Game Cabinet. (Fun fact: this month is the 30th anniversary of The Game Cabinet – one of the earliest sites on the Web and probably the earliest site specifically dedicated to board gaming.)
That means that there are a number of games in my top 100 that wouldn’t be easily accessible to someone who started into the board gaming hobby in the last decade or so:
The Island of Misfit Games
So, what games had the least exposure? I’ll list the top (ahem, bottom) ten here… and attempt explanations for each of them.
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Six games on my top 100 list had been played by all of the O.G. folks:
And five more were played by all but one writer:
The Cool Kids Table
I devised a decidedly un-scientific way to convert the O.G. rating system to points in order to “rank” these responses… the details aren’t important, but the top seven games clearly stood out from the rest. If I was hosting an O.G. game night, these would go over really well:
The Outcasts
On the other hand, the bottom six games would not be welcome on O.G. game night:
And Then…
…there are the games that the group found (shall we say?) polarizing.
The Really Good News
I won’t go into specific detail about O.G. team member answers here – but I do want to note that some of the gamers I most enjoy sitting across the table from (and make a pilgrimage to spend time with on a regular basis) rated the absolute lowest in matching my top 100 tastes.
Here’s what that says to me – we enjoy playing together more than we obsess about playing exactly the right game. We find that games or styles of games we don’t particularly enjoy can be delightful when you’re playing with friends.
That’s why I love this hobby – at its best, it’s a chance not only to play some brilliantly designed games, it’s a chance to hang out with some (as our British friends would say) brilliant people.
Nearly a quarter of a century ago, I took a couple of local gamer friends with me to Gulf Games 3. We had an amazing time… and as we got in the car to drive home, my friend Buster looked at me and said: “You guys like to win, but you love to play.”
All these years later, that’s still the way I roll.
Thoughts From Other Opinionated Gamers
Talia Rosen: It was really fun to look through Mark’s Top 100 games and rate them on the O.G. scale, but the thing I was personally most struck by was how many of his Top 100 games I had never played. Of course there were the classics like Can’t Stop and Princes of Florence that I had played many times, but then there were many seemingly oddball games like the Monopoly DVD game that I’ve never even seen, let alone played. I suppose it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise since my own Top 100 has lots of games that almost all other O.G. members do not like (such as Dominant Species, War of the Ring, and Before the Wind). My biggest takeaway from Mark’s list is that I want to try a bunch of these games with him! That’s the way I fell in love with War of the Ring, Through the Ages, and Antiquity… by playing them with fans of those games. I’m sure if I had an opportunity to learn Monopoly DVD or any of those other “misfit” games from Mark that it would be an absolute blast. What a fun and fascinating list!
Larry: Mark and I always joke about how different our tastes in games are. I like heavier games, whereas he goes by the monitor “Fluff Daddy” (because, at least in the past, he tended to prefer lighter stuff). So I wasn’t sure if I would match up too well with his favorites, but I was pleasantly surprised that we really weren’t at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Of his top 100, 9 were “Loves” for me, while only 3 rated as “Not for Me”, so that’s pretty good. Most of the games are somewhere in the middle, but that’s due more to my rating style–I don’t give very high or very low ratings to too many games. One thing that I’ll note–the top 7 games he cites as the ones that the OGers like the most are, at least in some cases, the ones that are the least objectionable. From my point of view, I’m always up for Can’t Stop and while I haven’t played GWT: New Zealand yet, I’d love to learn it. But of the others, they’re “sure, I can play that”, but I wouldn’t be enthusiastic about any of them. Again, with the exception of GWT, these are pretty light games, so that’s part of it. But for the games that I really love, I’m probably better off with a subset of the OGers, rather than the whole group. And that’s fine; I like playing with all these guys, so it’s always fun, regardless of the game. Well, maybe not Rum & Pirates! ;-)
Mary: I enjoyed going through Mark’s list of games – some brought back memories and/or reminded me how much I need to dig out and play old favorites. There were quite a few that I had played but it was so long ago that I didn’t remember if I liked them or not (I rated them “never played” since they would basically be new to me if I tried them again). I love half of the polarizing games; I think I was neutral on two and didn’t care for one. The outcasts were either not for me or I hadn’t played.
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