ナナイロアジサイ (Nana Iroi Ajisai = The English name is still in the works)
Lorna:
Ajisai is a beautiful 2-3 player game. It plays in 15 min or so. The game is based on the colorful Hydrangea, a popular flowering shrub in Japan, well known for its delightful color and blooms during the rainy season. As the flowers change color a feeling of movement is instilled and the designer tried to capture that in his game.
In a 2 player game each player controls 3 flowers. The goal is to have the most flowers in one color. The game makes use of a “color rotation system.”
Players take turns playing flower tiles onto the board. A placed tile must result in a color change unless a white flower is placed. Each color can change the color of adjacent tiles to itself if the adjacent tile is the next color on the rotation system. For example if you place a purple tile next to blue flowers, the blue flowers will be replaced with purple flowers. In addition like in Othello, if you place a flower tile on the end of a line that matches the other end, you flip all the flower colors in between to match the end.
This week the Opinionated Gamers are publishing a series of articles ranking games in a few different ways based on data collected from many different contributors. Today’s topic is popular games that are “not for me” under the classic OG rating system. Twenty-two contributors voted on their picks for popular games that are “not for me” to come up with today’s list, including Alan How, Brandon Kempf, Brian Leet, Chris Wray, Craig Massey, Dale Yu, Frank Branham, Fraser McHarg, Greg Schloesser, Jeff Lingwall, Larry Levy, Lorna, Mario Pawlowski, Mark Jackson, Matt Carlson, Patrick Korner, RJ Garrison, Simon Neale, Talia Rosen, Tery Noseworthy, and Wei-Hwa Huang.
It was an exciting race with 118 different games receiving at least one vote (including a few games designed by OG members, such as Deduce or Die, New Amsterdam, and Suburbia). We’re nothing if not honest about our opinions here at the Opinionated Gamers! I originally proposed this article as bluntly being about “overrated” games, but my fellow OG contributors knocked me down a peg or two by urging me to change the nomenclature to acknowledge that these games are simply not ones that we like. I have a tendency to be a bit more set in my ways, but c’est la vie. The idea for this piece comes from my 2008 article “A Penny Saved,” in which I explained my 50 least favorite games, some of which still got the nod here — all these years later. If you love any of these 20 games then you’re certainly not alone because they’re widely popular, and I’m sure some OG contributors even love them, but in the aggregate, these are the popular games that we collectively most find to be “not for me.”
This week the Opinionated Gamers are publishing a series of articles ranking games in a few different ways based on data collected from many different contributors. Today’s topic is the most underappreciated games, which we understood to be games that we love and that don’t get as much widespread acclaim or attention as we think they warrant. Sixteen contributors voted on their picks for most underappreciated games to come up with today’s list, including Alan How, Brian Leet, Erik Arneson, Fraser McHarg, Greg Schloesser, Joe Huber, Larry Levy, Lorna, Patrick Korner, Mark Jackson, Matt Carlson, RJ Garrison, Simon Neale, Talia Rosen, Tery Noseworthy, and Wei-Hwa Huang.
It was an exciting race with over 110 different games receiving at least one vote. We’re publishing our Top 20 most underappreciated games here to draw attention to a few diamonds in the rough. Some of these games are actually quite popular and well-known, but just not quite as beloved as we collectively think they ought to be. Without further ado, here are the games that we think you may be overlooking and not giving their due:
This week the Opinionated Gamers are going to publish a series of articles ranking games in a few different ways based on data collected from many different contributors. Today’s topic is recent favorites, which we defined as any game learned since 2019. These are games with which we are collectively impressed and that are relatively new, but which we find ourselves especially eager to play more. Fourteen contributors voted on their favorite recent games to come up with today’s list, including Alan How, Brian Leet, Erik Arneson, Fraser McHarg, Joe Huber, Jonathan Franklin, Larry Levy, Lorna, Patrick Korner, Mark Jackson, Matt Carlson, RJ Garrison, Talia Rosen, and Tery Noseworthy.
It was a tight race with 73 different games receiving at least one vote and a few games narrowly missing the top of the charts. We’re publishing our Top 11 because… this one goes to eleven of course. But three games missed by a single point: It’s a Wonderful World, Marco Polo II, and Unmatched: Battle of Legends. I have not had the pleasure of playing any of those three games, but I’m sure their fans will proclaim their virtues below. Without further ado, the Opinionated Gamers Top 11 Recent Favorites:
On March 28th, 2021 the Osaka Game Market was held. It is the biggest board game convention in Osaka held annually. It’s bigger sister is the Tokyo Game Market which is held twice a year. The Osaka Game Market is a very traditional convention with a lot of indie creators from Japan. A lot of the games are first edition versions which are often hand-made and hand-packaged. This was the first time I had visited and it was wonderful.
Nearly all the games at the Osaka and Tokyo Game Markets are discounted as a thank you to the fans visiting the event. It could mean creators break even or not at all. So it makes these Game Markets a special event and really heart-warming. There were a lot of games at the Game Market, and I was unable to cover everything, but here is just a snippet of some of the games.
Osaka Game Market 2021 – lots of space to walk and browse
You are probably the Criminal (あなたがたぶん犯人です) by Ikagaya.
You are probably the Criminal – a doujin game
Usually there is only one crime, but in this game there are actually two acts. Find out who the murderer is and avoid being accused as the suspect yourself. Make some statements, gather some information and fabricate evidence to throw off suspicion.
This is a little Board game manga series that introduces board games. At the Osaka Game Market, there were 2 editions all handmade. These were really cute and useful. Since my Japanese skill is not that good, I can use these to practice my Japanese reading ability.
Kodoku no Rondo (コドクのロンド) (Dance with the Last One) by MadeInPocket
This game we previewed in the Osaka Game Market preview blog. We played this game over zoom, but I was able to pick up a copy at the Osaka Game Market. At the event you can get an expansion/promo card set as well. It was great to see the creator at the event.
Gagario by Saien Games.
I was excited to see Saien Games again. It has been about 7 years since I have visited their booth. This is a 2 player game made in 2015 which reminds me a little of Khmer.
I spoke with the designer for a little. I found out that most of his games are hand made, so he can only make a small quantity. If you own one of his previous games they might be collectors editions. Since they are handmade there is a chance they may go out of print. I mentioned to him that international gamers are still a fan of his games.
Moon Adventure by Oink Games
Moon Adventure (special edition)
Moon Adventure is a beautiful addition to their game line. I had a chance to playtest this and it was a lot of fun. Players are working together in space to collect resources to bring back to their ship. Players have individual oxygen supplies that they must manage, and limited space for carrying resources. Also with the added player roles, you’ll need to work together, communicate well in order to succeed your mission. This is a medium weight game packed into a wonderfully compact box.
Nessie’s True Identity by Itten
Nessie’s True Identity made its appearance at the Osaka Game Market. I played this game last year in November at the Tokyo Game Market. Everyone is a Nessie fan, who must try to guess the identity of Nessie. Each round the clue giver gives 1 hint. Players then make a guess each. If the guesses are close to the answer, the ship is moved 1 space closer to Nessie. If someone guesses the identity that round, don’t reveal who said it. Just move the ship next to Nessie. Players then vote who gave the correct answer. If the majority is correct they get a point. The new version has wonderful white boards to write on. Also the little first edition is really cute. It even fits in the 2nd edition box.
Coordinates published by Yanekan’s board game studio
As they say, never judge a game by it’s cover. This is a beautiful 2-3 player tile laying game that came out in 2019. The game has a fantasy feel to it, players roll dice and resolve that space either to get items, or an effect from a tile. Then you can use coins to purchase and add a tile to your board, or remove a tile from your board. The game is reasonably priced at the Game Market, so I picked one up.
Remain a kitten (こねこのままで) is by Mame Mame
This trick taking game is for 3-8 players. Each player has a cute kitten to take care of. It you keep picking up tricks each round your kitten will grow even longer.
Here are some extra photos from the Osaka Game Market.
MacelandiaI only like you for 3 turns – by MOTT Games (English title TBA)American Bookshop & A world where everything is a little bit Kinder by Twin Lion Do (English title TBA) Tower to the MoonDoggy Maggy & MakaryoshikaPrincess of Seasons
I don’t think there’s much doubt that the hero game on BoardGameArena is 7 Wonders. Especially in terms of reducing the noise-to-sound ratio. It turns out once you eliminate all the noise (preparing decks, shuffling, hand swapping, scoring) and the game is condensed to just the card selections, a 30 minute game is played in under 10 minutes. That’s a rather dramatic noise-to-sound ratio, leaving us a quality game that can be played as a light filler if wanted, or studied in the search for the ideal strategies and choices for any given player count, card spread, and player takes. I kind of straddle the two depending on mood.
Ed note – is that really just a giant dollop of ketchup on the top?
It can be tricky finding games that work online well with 5 players (count 7 Wonders as one of them), and a few games here were explored in the hope of finding more.
