This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/boardgames by /u/lush_puppy on 2023-09-29 21:35:34.
Introduction
My wife gifted me the scratch off poster of the BGG Top 100 Games over a year ago. I took this as a calling to set out and try as many new games as I could manage over the past 18-months. I was able to notch 50+ different games. Some of these I played digitally on Board Game Arena, and others I was able to play a physical version with friends, or via my personal collection which has started growing at a concerning rate. I would like to share my findings below. I’ve included a full list in the order of how much I enjoyed each game along with notes about if I played it online or solo. Also added some superlative categories. Superlative categories include (1) Best Family Friendly Buy, (2) Best Solo, (3) Best Heavyweight Strategy Game, (4) Best Game for Couples, (5) Best Game Overall, and (6) Editor’s Choice Award. I included a write up for the winners and will add some additional notes in the comments section for Honorable Mentions.
Hopefully this write up will guide folks towards games which I consider great. Also, would love to hear if my rankings, and apparent sensibilities, point towards another game which is missing from this list. Enjoy!
Best Family Friendly Buy
“Quacks of Quedlinburg” – This was a surprise hit among my friend group. It’s a wholesome bag builder game with a fun push your luck element. The rules are pretty easy to grasp, and the theme is also family friendly. One of the best things about this game is everyone mostly acts simultaneously which makes it more pleasant to guide new players through the experience. The gameplay actually reminded me a lot of Dominion which is high praise in my mind. It hits this magical sweet spot where it’s easy for children to pick up and play, but also has enough depth to make it highly replayable for adults. My gaming group circle back to this one super often and everyone really enjoys it.
Honorable Mention: “Azul” and “Isle of Cats”
Best Solo Game
“Mage Knight” - This game is an absolute monster. It combines deck building, hand management, RPG elements, and exploration in a really satisfying package. You have to make challenging hand management decisions and defeat enemies in order to rapidly level up your character as you explore and unlock new map tiles. Ultimate goal for the base game is to find and conquer city tiles that require a very difficult combat scenario to win. Mage Knight has a hugely complicated combat system and rules. I watched about 2 hours of “how to play” videos prior to starting and still had my phone out every few minutes during the first play through: constantly checking rules clarification. In addition this was the single most expensive board game in my collection at the time of purchase ($100+). Barrier to entry is extremely high and definitely not for the faint of heart. That said, it was a very cool experience and subsequent plays were much smoother and more satisfying. I think this game would be awful as a multiplayer game because individual turns can take ages with lots of thought and calculation required. A single campaign runs 2-4 hours so it’s a big commitment, but when turns come together allowing you to overcome extremely difficult situations, well… it can be a really magical experience. Over the past couple months I’ve circled back to this one several times to try out new scenarios and difficulty levels and have always enjoyed my time at the table.
Honorable Mention: “Spirit Island” and “Aeon’s End”
Best Heavyweight Strategy Game
“Terra Mystica” - This game is absolutely amazing. I’d never heard of this game before, but after several plays it is easily a new favorite. It feels like big boy “Settlers of Catan”. I played “Settlers of Catan” to death in high school, and this felt like a wonderful progression. Basically you play on a hex map and are competing for hexes to build up settlements and towns. The game is asymmetrical, and each player represents a different mythical civilization like dwarves, giants or witches. Each civilization has a preferred terrain they like to live in and they must terraform a hex to their preferred type before building there. A mountain tile might cost dwarves 1 cost to terraform, 2 for witches, and giants can build there immediately for 0 terraforming cost as it is their preferred type already. The strategy is satisfyingly deep and luck has been completely removed. It’s definitely a complex game, but it is so well designed with visual aids that I quickly had a good understanding of how to play. Can’t recommend this one highly enough. Apparently “Terra Mystica” was a foundational inspiration for “Scythe” and its direct spiritual successor, “Gaia Project”, is also fantastic. “Gaia Project” is basically “Terra Mystica” in space with a couple of minor tweaks and improvements. Most prominent among the changes are a dynamic game board instead of a fixed map, and a reworked tech track to invest in. In the long-run “GP” is probably the better of the two games, but I personally prefer the fantasy flavor to the sci-fi flavor. Both are truly excellent and play very similarly. “GP” does have a solo mode though so it would probably be the one to buy.
Honorable Mention - “Twilight Imperium (4th Edition)”
Best Game For Couples
“Welcome To…” - This category could best be described as ‘which game will my wife actually play with me’. “Welcome To…” is the easy favorite even though it lands outside the BGG Top 100. We played this more than any other title over the past few years and still enjoy sharing a bottle of wine and playing this one for a relaxing evening. “Welcome To…” is a flip and write about designing the best neighborhood. Player interaction is almost non-existent, so it’s more like simultaneously solving the same dynamic Sudoku puzzle and then checking at the end to see who did it better. This is ideal in my household as my wife doesn’t enjoy any games which are “mean”. At $20 this is an easy recommend for some good bonding time. I’ve sent copies to several of my married friends and they’ve all seemed to enjoy it as well.
Honorable Mention - “Patchwork” and “Dominion”
Best Game Overall
“Spirit Island” - This is a top contender for my favorite game of all time. Thematically, artistically, strategically… it just checks every box. In this game you take on the role of a Spirit god trying to repel colonial invaders from your island. It can be played solo or cooperatively with up to 4 teammates. All the game mechanics are super satisfying and even the random elements seem fair and balanced. The box comes with a heap load of different scenarios and possible spirits to play as, each with unique powers and abilities. Each spirit feels so different and I love how their powers often align thematically (for instance the ocean spirit’s attacks mimic tides ebbing in and out.) So much to love and admire with the design. I think the game is at it’s best with 2 players as it is fun to see how the different spirits can support and play-off one another. However, I find this one difficult to play 2-handed and will usually feel burnt out after doing so. Usually I can’t stand cooperative games that don’t have an abundance of private/hidden information for each player. “Spirit Island” is the rare exception because there is just enough going on to make quarterbacking untenable. In short, this one is amazing solo, amazing with a group, and comes with loads of replayability standard.
Honorable Mention - “Dominion”
Editors Choice Award
“Dominion” - I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I absolutely love “Dominion” (2008). The base game which I own is ranked criminally low on BGG. I’ve played that version to death, and have had the pleasure of playing the expansion “Dominion: Intrigue” (2009) a bunch also. For my money this is the premier deck building game, and it will always have a place in my heart. The box comes with a huge variety of different card stacks, and you select just 10 stacks to form the pool from which you can build a deck each game. The game seems endlessly replayable because the power level of each card fluctuates wildly game-to-game based around the other cards included and the synergies therein. The cards’ power levels also vary a lot based on the number of players making for varied experiences when playing 1-vs-1 in contrast to larger group games. This is easily my favorite game of all time and one that I have been always eager to play for several years.
Honorable Mention - “Everdell”
Total List Ranked by My Preference
| Game Name | Physical/Digital/Both | Solo or Group |
|---|---|---|
| Spirit Island | PHYSICAL | Both |
| Dominion: Intrigue | PHYSICAL | Group |
| Mage Knight Board Game | PHYSICAL | Solo |
| Twilight Imperium (4th Edition) | PHYSICAL | Group |
| The Quacks of Quedlinburg | PHYSICAL | Group |
| Everdell | PHYSICAL | Group |
| Aeon’s End | PHYSICAL | Solo |
| Ark Nova | PHYSICAL | Group |
| Terra Mystica | DIGITAL | Group |
| Gaia Project | DIGITAL | Group |
| Azul | BOTH | Group |
| Codenames | PHYSICAL | Group |
| Too Many Bones | PHYSICAL | Solo |
| The Isle of Cats | BOTH | Both |
| Sleeping Gods | PHYSICAL | Solo |
| Great Western Trail | DIGITAL | Group |
| Welcome Too… | PHYSICAL | Both |
| Viticulture Essential Edition | DIGITAL | Both |
| The Castles of Burgundy | PHYSICAL | Both |
| Dune: Imperium | PHYSICAL | Solo |
| The Voyages of Marco Polo | DIGITAL | Group |
| Wingspan | PHYSICAL | B… |
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/16vl390/my_rankings_of_bgg_top_100_titles/