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Welcome back to the Zatu Top 50 Board Games Of All Time 2023!
This is the second time we’ve done this top 50 list and it will be interesting to see how it has changed from last year.
I took lists of favourite games from Zatu’s dedicated team of bloggers and combined them into one huge top 50 list. This team has grown and changed over the course of the year and this has had an impact on this list. It skews heavier than last year’s list, especially in the top spots.
You’ll be able to see whether each game has risen, dropped, or is a new entry in the cover image, but take this with a huge pinch of salt. The change in bloggers means there have been some big drops and some meteoric rises so take these positional changes as a bit of fun. Regardless, this is a list of great games, varying from lighter games perfect for people new to the hobby to brain-burningly heavy games.
To help you know each game’s complexity, I’ve included a rating: ★ = easy to learn and simple to play, ★★★★★ = a very advanced game. Different bloggers have given their reasons for loving these games, so you’ll get a wide variety of opinions.
So, without further ado let’s get started with the fun.
50. Sagrada
Complexity ★★
Sagrada is a visually stunning puzzle game where you create a stained-glass window with translucent dice. At the start of the game, you’ll choose a grid card that gives restrictions for your dice placement, and slide it into your window frame. In each round, a number of dice are rolled and then drafted by the players. Each player will take one die in turn order and then when the final player is reached, the process will repeat but in an anti-clockwise direction.
When you take a die, you place it into your grid. Any die can go on a white square, but some squares have either colour restrictions or number restrictions. Also, you can’t place a die with the same colour or value orthogonally adjacent to a die with the same colour or value. It’s tricky.
But why am I creating this pretty window? Obviously to get points. There are public and private objectives to fulfil to get points but you’ll lose points for every empty space in your grid. This can happen towards the end of the game where you just can’t legally place a die. To help with this, there are tool cards that let you manipulate the dice in a variety of ways. These change from game to game to add variety.
Sagrada is a charming and relaxed little puzzle game. At the end, you’ll be able to look down with pride at the window you’ve created and the final scores don’t really matter that much, it’s just great fun to play. It’s just squeaked in at number 50 but it’s a worthy entry in this prestigious list of games.
49. The Resistance
Complexity ★★
This game starts from the splendid paranoia of Werewolf/Mafia and cleans up its biggest problem, that players are eliminated before the end of the game. Here, everyone should be a suspect all the way through to the last mission vote. It looks, at first, as though there’s never enough information,
but that’s the beauty of it: as a rebel you have to combine people’s voting patterns with their behaviour, while as a spy you have to use your secret information without making it obvious that you have it.
The basic game is satisfying for repeated plays, but if you want variation, both the original Resistance and its Arthurian-themed version Avalon have expansions that change around the roles: a rebel knows more but has to hide that knowledge, a spy doesn’t know who the other spies are, or a
player may change sides in mid-game but doesn’t know for sure.
One word of caution: if you play every week with the same group, it’s possible to fall into standard patterns of play. Change around variant rules, and if possible, players, to avoid burning out.
This has been one of my favourite games since I first played it, and I’m glad to see it entering this year’s Top 50.
48. Paladins Of The West Kingdom
Complexity ★★★★
This is my favourite of the Garphill Games West Kingdom games. It’s probably the heaviest of the three games but it is so deliciously crunchy.
Paladins is a worker placement game, but as with the other games in the series, there’s a twist. Your workers are different colours—they have thematic names but, in our house, they are called ‘blue’ and ‘red’—and they can only go to spots that are the same colour as them or clear spots where anyone can go. You’ll place one, do the action, then it’s your opponent’s turn. This continues until you run out of workers and the round ends.
Like Lost Ruins of Arnak, this is a game where you’re trying to prolong your round for as long as possible. The more actions you take, the better you’re probably doing. There is a slight problem with the game in that you could go out of a round early and have to sit and watch while the other players take the rest of their turns. As such, I’d say I prefer this game at 2 players and preferably with someone of roughly the same skill level. This problem then disappears.
It is pretty much a multiplayer solo game and it’s up to you how you feel about that. There is a little bit of interaction on a central board but you’re mostly just looking at your own board. I love this type of game as I’m not very keen on in-your-face conflict. It’s so satisfying to have a problem and you manage to work out a way to solve it by clever placement, getting new workers along the way to help you. A great game from a great series.
47. Root
Complexity ★★★★
The game that is a staple – and often taking the top position – in almost every list of best asymmetric board games compiled, Root is a war game where you play as one of the various possible factions attempting to dominate the woodlands.
Whether you choose the invading cats, the recently dethroned birds, the insurgent Woodland Alliance or the opportunistic Vagabond, plus any of the six other factions released in expansions, your gameplay will be dramatically different. The challenge will not only be to learn how to play with each of them but also how to play against them because a different combination of tribes means the dynamics or mechanics of the board may shift significantly. The asymmetry is rich but not overwhelming: ultimately, everyone wins by getting 30 Victory Points or dominating the board, but each faction has unique ways of scoring those precious points and navigating the woods.
With an online community that is extremely passionate and engaged (and competitive), Root has earned its respect within the board gaming community. The excellent artwork doesn’t hurt it either, as some people are drawn to its style and stay for its substance. Add to that the fact that it has consistently introduced expansions that add to the game while keeping it streamlined, instead of bloating it, and the replayability factor will have you putting this on the table very often.
46. Parks
Complexity ★★
In Parks, you take the role of two hikers who walk trails, take photos, observe wildlife and visit American national parks. The game takes place over four seasons (rounds). The trails that you travel each season allow you to collect resources: sun, rain, mountains and forests. You can then exchange these for national park cards at the end of your journey. The parks have varying point values. The game comes with one cardboard camera, used as a prop to ‘take photos’ which are twenty-eight different small, printed images of scenes from national parks.
Parks is an amazing game because it is so beautifully produced. There are wooden resources for the game in two log-shaped custom trays. There are twelve different wooden wild animals, that cleverly are wild resources, that can be used in place of any of the standard ones. The artwork on the park cards is illustrated in the theme of advertising posters for the parks, depicting attractive scenes.
If you have friends or family that you are trying to introduce to modern board games, this is the perfect place to start. Parks has a simple set of rules. It is lovely to look at and the game lasts about fifteen minutes per player.
45. Cthulhu: Death May Die
Complexity ★★★
I bought this game a week ago. Since unwrapping it, I’ve played it 9 times, and each game takes about 2 hours. To say I’m obsessed is an understatement. If you told me that Cthulhu: Death May Die was a streamlined 4th edition of Arkham Horror, I’d probably believe you. Investigators face huge elder ones, disrupt rituals, and face numerous other nasty little critters all through the medium of dice-chucking.
You start the game rolling just three dice, and these dice can cause you to lose some of your sanity. Not good because if you become insane you die. If everyone dies you lose the game, funnily enough. So going insane is bad. Well, not completely. As you go further down the insanity track, you will unlock new player powers. As time goes on, these powers become ridiculously powerful with you rolling a tonne of dice, gaining the ability to discard Mythos cards (they’re bad), or even coming back from the dead.
It's got a tonne of replayability as you can mix and max the Elder gods with the scenarios to provide different play experiences.
In my last game, I was the final character alive and I was nearing insanity. I wouldn’t get another turn. My body was on fire, but I still managed to sneak past a big gang of cultists, slitting their throats as I slinked past. I entered Cthulhu’s domain on my last turn. I had to knock an unassailable 10 wounds off him to win the game. I’d maxed out one of my powers so I knew I’d knock off at least 5 wounds, but would I be able to get the final 5 wounds on 6 dice without taking another hit to my sanity? Amazingly enough, this final roll ended with a stand-up moment of lucky luck as I lopped off Cthulhu’s head with my trusty axe.
It’s a masterpiece of thematic gaming.
44. Zombicide
Complexity ★★★
The ultimate post-zombie apocalypse survival game. Zombicide sees you pit a team of survivors on a mission to ultimately escape the zombie hordes. They are relentless, they do not stop coming. As the game progresses the intensity and quantity of Zombies keep increasing. Does your team have what it takes to make it out, alive?
Zombicide is a game for 1-6 players in its classic box set. It is a cooperative game where players control a unique character and must work as a team if they want to survive. Each character brings a set of unique skills to the game, can you pick a team that has all the right attributes to escape?
There is no defeating the Zombies, they just keep coming back, again and again. The only option you have as a playing team is to complete your objectives as quickly as possible and get out. It’s been around since 2012, it is a classic now and recently re-released in 2nd edition format with many game improvements. It will continue to regularly feature on our tabletop.
43. Blood Rage
Complexity ★★★
In Blood Rage, your Viking clan competes for glory over three ages before Ragnarök consumes Midgard. This game oozes Norse mythology and slathers it into every mechanism. Your task is to use drafting and play cards to summon warriors, boats and monsters to pillage and dominate provinces. This will gain rewards and help you to succeed in quests. You can gain glory even when members of your clan die an honourable death and pass to Valhalla.
The artwork and graphic design are phenomenal. The game box, rule book, miniatures, cards and game boards all have thematic art by Adran Smith which just adds to the immersive feeling of the game. The clan and monster miniatures look even better when painted.
Blood Rage is a game that requires clever management of rage (currency) and cards to achieve your objectives. All players start the game with their clans equally balanced, but you increase these abilities as the game progresses. This game plays very smoothly and is easy to teach to even novice gamers. There is some in-game scoring but most of the glory (points) are gained at the game end. This leads to an awesome feeling of increasing tension as the game progresses.
42. The Red Cathedral
Complexity ★★★
Every time I play The Red Cathedral, I love it a little bit more. And every time I pack it away, I can't believe so much game fits inside such a small box.
The Red Cathedral is a rare breed - a medium-weight Euro game that can be played in under an hour at 3 players (and not much more at 4).
There are only 3 actions. The one you'll be doing the most involves a dice rondel where you move a die a number of spaces (equal to the pips) to gain various resources and then re-roll it (and any others in that space), which means every turn sees you pivoting to take advantage of a new situation. The other two actions are simply claiming a piece of the cathedral you want to build or delivering the required resources to a piece of the cathedral. And that's it!
The game ends when someone finishes their 6th cathedral section and then the cathedral itself becomes a little area control game for scoring. It's so deceptively simple but every action is vital and the player who can pick out the right racing line will always take the win. Highly recommended!
41. Betrayal At House On The Hill: 3rd Edition
Complexity ★★★
Betrayal at House on the Hill isn’t a game for everyone. You have to put up with some vague rules, player elimination, and broken scenarios. But even so, if you love the Scooby Doo-esque theme—and who doesn’t—this may well be a game that you end up loving.
It starts as a cooperative game, with you and a few other fresh-faced investigators exploring a haunted mansion, uncovering eerie rooms and ominous omens. At times, you will have to complete a haunt roll and if you fail at this the haunt will happen. This results most likely with one player turning into a traitor and fighting against the other players who will try to stay alive long enough to complete their mission.
This edition of the game does streamline the rules and is just as thematic as the previous instalments. For an even more immersive experience, you could even try the legacy version of the game. So if the sound of a thematic dice-chucker set in a creepy mansion with the threat of a traitor appearing at any moment appeals to you, give this one a go. You could end up falling in love with it. And saying, “I’d have got away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling kids,” more times than is good for your own sanity. A definite guilty pleasure.
40. Dwellings Of Eldervale
Complexity ★★★
In Dwellings of Eldervale, your faction strives to become the most powerful in the realm. At your disposal, you have workers, a warrior, a wizard, and a dragon. Your task is to build dwellings and gain mastery of elemental powers. This game includes various mechanisms, such as area control, card play and resource management that are blended so seamlessly that this fairly complex game becomes intuitive very quickly and the gameplay just flows.
This game was originally launched via Kickstarter but is now available through retail outlets. All editions come with custom game trays which make set-up quick and easy. They also help your decision-making during play by displaying your resources so clearly. Dwellings of Eldervale shows signs of being play-tested and honed until all the sixteen available factions, enemy monsters and routes to victory are well balanced.
The game board is composed of hexagonal tiles which are randomised for each game and change for different player counts. There are eight different elemental powers: Earth, air, chaos etc, from which you choose a selection determined by the number of players plus two. You will play the game many times before you see all the factions, tiles, monsters, and elemental adventure cards. All versions of the game come with three mini-expansions. The solo version plays smoothly. Dwellings of Eldervale is fairly pricey but is great value.
39. Cockroach Poker
Complexity ★
Cockroach Poker is a bluffing game with creatures that no one likes, designed by Jacques Zeimet. Players spend 20-30 minutes testing the other players' ability to spot deception from their friends.
I slide a creature card facedown across the table stating, either truthfully or not, that this card is one of the 8 possible creatures. You then have to decide to either accept the card or to pass it on to another player with your own statement. Accepting the card means deciding whether you believe me or not, picking up the card and accepting the consequences. If you are wrong about your judgement, then the card ends up in front of you, and if you are correct then the card ends up in front of me. The first person to collect 4 of the same creatures in front of them loses.
This game is beautifully simple and tests if you can tell if someone is lying to you. It builds over time to a tense ending. Once you have 3 of a creature in front of you, suddenly every decision matters and players start passing every card, so unspoken alliances start to form to pass the right creature around the table to the right person. I love lying to my friends, it’s so much fun.
38. Isle Of Cats
Complexity ★★
The Isle of Cats is designed by Frank West and has players take on the role of ailurophiles (cat lovers) sailing around your home island rescuing cats that live there before the evil Lord Vesh arrives.
Rescue as many cats as possible and place them onto your boat by luring them into your baskets with the promise of fish. Some of those baskets will be cobbled together from bits of destroyed baskets, which feels very appropriate judging by how difficult it is to get my cat into a carrier.
The cats are depicted on polyomino tiles which you will need to arrange in your limited boat space to fill the available rooms neatly. The cats come in all shapes and sizes and are either exactly the shape you are looking for or what feels like a deliberately awkward pose the cat has adopted because somehow it knows this won’t work for you but equally it knows you won’t leave it behind.
The Isle of Cats is the purr-fect example of how to implement a cat theme into your game. The cats feel like wild animals and are representative of my experience with my own cat, even in the face of certain doom, I still doubt I could get him to come inside if he didn’t want to.
37. Final Girl
Complexity ★★★
If you’re of a certain age, your youth will have been spent nipping down to the local video shop to peruse and take out the latest horror offerings: Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, or maybe even John Carpenter’s classic, The Thing. Then along comes this little solo game that homages all of these classic horror films.
Yes, I did say solo. Final Girl is a solo game that has made it into the top 50. You can play it with another person if you talk about what you’re going to do and take turns rolling the dice—this is how my wife and I play it—but it is primarily a solo game.
It’s a clever system where first of all you need the core box. This contains the cards, meeples, dice and tokens that you’ll need to play. Then you get one of the many available feature film boxes and choose your location. You can then either take the villain from that box or from any of the other boxes, mix up the components and you have your game ready. There is a lot of variability in this system.
The game is based on the designer’s earlier game, Hostage Negotiator, and works in much the same way: play a card and then roll to see how successful you are. Will you save one of the other hapless victims or will you sneak up and smack the killer about the face until death occurs? But beware, there is a possibility that they can come back!
Nostalgic, thematic, and great fun. Final Girl has already had two seasons of five feature film boxes released, and a third season is on the way. If you’ve never been inclined to play solo games and you love this theme, then this could be your introduction to this style of game.
36. 7 Wonders Duel
Complexity ★★
In 7 Wonders Duel, a 2-player-only iteration of the award-winning 7 Wonders, you’ll have the chance to bring your civilization to victory with prestigious buildings, military strength, or scientific supremacy. Over 3 different rounds, called Ages, you’ll be developing your city by drafting building cards which will provide you with multiple winning conditions to overcome your opponent (Military, Scientific or Civilian victory).
A match plays in around 30 minutes and it always leaves me with that “let’s go again” feeling. It’s just such a great competitive game, with enough strategic depth to grip even seasoned strategy gamers but approachable enough for casual players. Each match really feels and plays differently each time and it looks really good on the table!
As a huge fan of strategy games, I truly believe this is an absolute staple in the genre and a must-have in any gamer’s collection. Everyone needs a game like this! Something that is simple to learn, simple to set up and an absolute blast to play without taking much time away from your session. But, be warned, this will bring out the competitive side of both players. It’s not a friendly gaming experience. If you play 7 Wonders Duel, prepare for war!
35. Through The Ages: A New Story Of Civilization
Complexity ★★★★★
This game is an epic experience for me. Each time I play this, it feels like I’m building my own custom empire. It is a long game, but this helps build the story and there is the sense that although the game can move at a rapid pace, there is still time to plan and build and adapt your strategy according to the
availability of cards and your opponents’ strategies.
I love Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilisation for its variability of gameplay. Every game is different and although I’m more of a fan of moving armies on a board, the military aspect of this game still works. I also feel this is quite a kind game for new players. There is a lot to take in, but with good teaching, new players can still feel they can compete.
It is not surprising that this game still features as a favourite of mine. It is a testament to its depth and quality. The components are good, the variety and interaction keep you interested in the game and in our game group, it’s one of the heavier games that everyone has won.
34. Camel Up
Complexity ★
Camel Up! Cavorting camels considerately carrying clueless companions along the dusty, desert track around the peerless, paper pyramid. Who can resist the
excitement of the betting booths as you punt your precious pounds against the
vagaries of Lady Luck in the form of deftly delivered dice? Do you openly orient your oasis to deliver your dashing dromedary (or possibly brisk Bactrian, it’s hard to tell!) or block the rival runners with some desolate desert?
Its speedy set-up and turbo turn time have all players inclusively involved in the fluctuating fortunes of every mobile manoeuvre. There’s no Take-That trouble as you don’t directly drive the camels or control their canters you just try to carefully calculate the offered order of the demon dice. You also ponder the placement of your weighty wagers; early entries reap richer rewards but rapidity risks being fooled by the fickle finger of fate.
The cleverly crafted camels are a durable delight, standing and stacking solidly. All the components cohere completely and the arid atmosphere saturates the sandy scenario.
A great game to delight desert debutants and an excellent excursion to reward
racing regulars!
33. Five Tribes
Complexity ★★★
If you want a game that’s a bit different, I can highly recommend Five Tribes. Set in the Sultanate of Naqala, you and your fellow players take on this twist to a worker placement game, where your goal is to gather as much money as you can. You do this by utilising a mancala system, picking up groups of meeples, and dropping them on multiple tiles. Where your last meeple ends up, you pick up all meeples of that colour and perform the corresponding action.
I absolutely adore Five Tribes. It’s incredibly simple to play but difficult to master. The game is forever replayable because of the randomness in set-up. You see, the board is a variety of tiles which are shuffled and placed down at random, the meeples are drafted blindly from a bag and the market is a row of cards shuffled and dealt out. Perhaps what is most surprising is this game is from Days of Wonder and isn’t Ticket to Ride. I’d argue that this is a much bigger success.
32. Cascadia
Complexity ★★
I've always found Cascadia to be quite relaxing, even though it often hurts my brain.
In Cascadia, each player builds their own landscape using hexagonal tiles (showing various terrain types and animal icons) and animal discs (which populate the tiles on their respective icons).
In terms of your actual turn, it couldn't be simpler. There's a market of 4 tiles and 4 animal discs, arranged in pairs, and you simply take a pair of your choice and add it to your ever-growing landscape.
The trick is that each animal scores in a different way (biggest contiguous group, a point for every different animal type it's touching etc...) so you really have to plan each placement and then cross your fingers for the perfect combination down the line.
Add to this you score points for each of your biggest groups of the various terrains and the fact that there are alternate scoring conditions for each animal and it feels like this game perfectly sums up the old saying - easy to learn, hard to master.
Also, the art by Beth Sobel is amazing, which is always a bonus.
31. King Of Tokyo
Complexity ★
Pretty much everyone has played Yahtzee. Now how about we take that dice-chucking action and throw in some huge monsters wrecking the city of Tokyo? Sounds good to me.
At any one time, someone’s monster will be the King of Tokyo and will stand proud in the centre of the board. On your turn, you’ll roll 6 dice that show either points, health, energy, or attack power. You have a total of three rolls where you can save any previously rolled dice and just roll the others. Health lets you recover health, energy gives you power to buy cards that give you special powers, and attacks let you hit the person who is currently King of Tokyo. The latter is by far my favourite thing to do. Godzilla will tear you apart!!! Ahem. You may have noticed that I forgot to mention the points. Well, they give you, erm, points. In all of my games of King of Tokyo, I have never taken points. I don’t win often, but just let me smash!
As you may have guessed, King of Tokyo is light-hearted fun. Yes, players get eliminated as the game goes on, but even when you’re out, it’s still entertaining to watch. If you want to add more game to it, you can get the Power Up expansions which add specific cards to each monster. There is also a very cool dark version of the game and a cooperative version. Lots of opportunities to use my death ray on that pesky giant penguin…
30. Nemesis
Complexity ★★★★
The Crew awoke in deep space on the ship Nemesis, something was wrong, but what? Everyone disembarked from the sleep pods to find the crewmate’s corpse on the floor, their imminent danger now apparent…In Nemesis 1-5 Players can take on the roles of ship crew members in a semi-co-operative survival game, aiming to complete one of 2 secret objectives, personal or corporate, while also avoiding deadly intruders, malfunctioning rooms, random fires and most importantly ship mates who are trying to kill them, whether for a bounty or just a grudge, it doesn’t matter don’t hang around to find out!
This description may make you think of many space films, Aliens, Life, Prometheus, etc and they can all be seen as inspiration for the game. After being attacked by an intruder you might need to scan yourself for any alien infections or try to climb into an escape pod to get off the ship as one chases you through the closing door. The game always feels very thematic and tells a story, it leaves you talking about it for hours after. Like the time the Soldier bravely took on the Queen and defeated her in combat, only to be slain by an infant he stumbled across on the way to the exit, or the time when all the players worked together seamlessly and managed to get the ship back to Earth safely with everyone on board, only to find out a secret traitor had actually sent everyone to Mars where they all lost the game while he left the winner!
Nemesis is a fantastic story and narrative game and always feels tense, the system builds the enemies through the game meaning the danger slowly increases throughout and gives a tense finish. For those groups who don’t like the sound of backstabbing there are options to play it full co-op, but where’s the fun in that?
29. It’s A Wonderful World
Complexity ★★
Don’t let the title of this game fool you. Nat King Cole isn’t a character, and it’s certainly not going to rival Disneyland as the happiest place on earth. It’s a Wonderful World is effectively a dystopia of the highest order. But that’s okay because you are an Empire and you are going to draft the world better. Or maybe not. Either way, the future is coming and it’s yours to shape.
It's a competitive card drafting, engine-building game that is simple to learn but a devil to master. Each round you’ll be picking and passing on cards that depict building types. Once you have a complete hand, your job is to decide whether to recycle each of them for resources or construct them using the resources you have for ongoing and one-time bonuses and/or end-game VPs.
A brilliant game of trade-offs and decision dilemmas, playtime is fast, and smooth, and there’s never enough time or resources to build everything you want. With a synapse-sizzling solo mode plus a number of available expansions that add campaign modes and even more challenging drafting decisions, this game went straight into our top 10 after our first game.
28. Rajas Of The Ganges
Complexity ★★★
A worker placement game with dice in which you build buildings and markets while sailing your boat along the Ganges trying to be the first player to make your game and money tracks intersect. I have for a long time been a huge fan of Rajas of the Ganges - The Dice Charmers but only got around to acquiring its larger sibling this year and even though I dearly love the former, I find the full game to be a much more satisfying experience.
On your turn, you take one of your available workers (with the option to unlock more later) and choose your spot by spending one of the appropriately coloured and numbered dice, potentially along with money. Fame is primarily gained through building up your province with buildings, and money through selling goods from your province at the market. It looks like a lot to take in at first but this isn’t a particularly long or complicated game with lots of satisfying decisions to be made.
The art is bright and thematic, the dice are beautifully coloured and feel good to throw and I haven’t even mentioned that the first player token is a 3d elephant yet! I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Rajas of the Ganges or The Dice Charmers as a potential for your collection.
27. Unmatched
Complexity ★★
I don’t normally like two-player duelling card games. I’m a bit of a care bear and would rather be making points than removing health from another player. And yet in Unmatched, I can play as the Jurassic Park T-Rex and munch on Medusa’s slithery head. That sums up Unmatched: it’s fun.
Each game takes about half an hour and is simple to learn. On your turn, you can draw a card and move, you can play one of your event cards, or you can attack the other player. That’s it. There aren’t any keywords to learn. Movement on the board and line of sight issues are a doddle. It borrows the system used in the old Fantasy Flight Game Tannhauser, where each space is colour-coded. Is your opponent in a space that shows the same colour as yours? Yes? Then you can see them. It’s all nice and simple. Yet, it can be a very thinky game, where your knowledge of your opponent’s deck is key. Will they play a feint card nullifying your stunningly great card power? Do they even have a feint? Or are they saving it for later? It’s a great mind game.
There are loads of great sets of characters available for you to mix and match. How about Sinbad vs. Buffy? Daredevil vs. Sherlock Holmes? Or even Bruce Lee vs. Houdini? There’s also a cooperative set coming soon. There’s never been a better time to get into the wonderous game system that is Unmatched. Now where’s my T-Rex? Little Red Riding Hood’s giving me an evil glare and looks like she’s up for a good scrap…
26. Heat: Pedal To The Metal
Complexity ★★
As someone who primarily plays games at two players, my board game collection has always been lacking a racing game. Unicorn Fever and Full Throttle are both betting games rather than racing and so didn’t count. And then along comes Heat: Pedal to the Metal—let’s just call it Heat from now on, shall we?
Heat is an excellent racing game–I’m actually surprised it isn’t a lot higher up on this list, it’s certainly been getting a lot of attention. It can play up to 6 players and it does this beautifully. The races are tense with some exciting moments where you can push your luck. It feels like a race and the game moves along at a fair old clip. You’ll be playing cards from your hand, going up and down gears to determine how many cards you can play, slowing down for corners, and gunning it down the straights, throwing in the odd boost for good luck.
So why is this still a great game at 2 players? Well, there are AI-controlled cars so you can always play with a full complement of 6 cars if you like. These cars are very easy to run, and it takes no time at all to move the other 4 cars if you’re playing at 2. They behave like real drivers, slowing for the corners, sometimes lagging behind, and at other times, blasting away from you.
The base game is amazing. It’s as if they’ve already included a couple of expansions for your pleasure. There really is a tonne of content: 4 tracks to race on, different modules including a championship mode, plus there’s a cheeky little space for two extra cars. Maybe an actual expansion will be coming at some point…
25. Concordia
Complexity ★★★
This is an excellent, easy game to enjoy. It has a civilisation theme which I find appealing, yet equally there are other good mechanics involved that add dimensions to this game to make it a better play experience. I enjoy the asymmetrical aspects of the game with the victory conditions that means
that all players can feel they can pursue their own agenda, yet at the same time presence on the gameboard also matters, which is something I like to see in games.
Responding to other player actions helps keep the interaction going in Concordia and it is easy to follow other players’ actions. You also can’t ignore other players and that keeps you focused with little downtime. All of these are significant as to why I always enjoy playing this game.
It is appealing to play, has enough components to play with helps the tactile experience and given how easy this game is to set up and teach, with its flavour and depth, it’s no surprise I continue to enjoy playing this.
24. Pandemic
Complexity ★★
Pandemic is the game that popularised cooperative board games. Without it, we wouldn’t have many of the fantastic games on this list. Okay, so it’s an important game, but is it still any good fifteen years after its original release?
In Pandemic, you are part of a team combatting the outbreak of a global pandemic. Where have we heard something like that before…? You take it in turns to move around the world, tackling the virus, and stopping major outbreaks that could eventually lead to your downfall.
The most inspired thing about Pandemic is the way that the cities that are problem spots are represented by cards in a deck. In the first stages of the game, there won’t be too many of these. But each time there’s an epidemic, you’ll add a new city card to the previously infected city cards, shuffle them, and put them back on top of the deck. In this way, hot spots develop and the virus gradually spreads around the world. It’s an elegant system.
Tired of the base game of Pandemic? Well, how about you throw in some modules from the expansions? Or maybe try one of the standalone Pandemic games such as Pandemic: Iberia? And if you want a really immersive experience, you could try one of the three Pandemic Legacy games. So, yes, it’s still an excellent game.
23. Marvel Champions: The Card Game
Complexity ★★★
In Marvel Champions, you and up to three friends will choose heroes to cooperatively play together to take down a range of villains from across the Marvel universe. It takes around an hour to play, although some of the future scenarios are more complicated and you can choose to play through a number of different campaign boxes with a number of linked scenarios.
Marvel Champions is my most played game, and I somehow have amassed every expansion and hero pack that has been released so far along the way. Although it can be played at higher player counts, I play 90% of the game solo playing as either one or two heroes, enjoying solving the puzzle that each different villain brings.
Each turn your cards in hand can either be used to play for their effects or as resources to pay for the costs of the played cards and it is these decisions that keep me coming back. Knowing that in the early stages, I might have to sacrifice some high attack cards to build my character's upgrades, supports and allies up to allow for devastating combos later in the game.
Unlike many other card games, this is a Living Card Game as opposed to a collectable or trading card game which means when you buy a hero pack or campaign box you know exactly what you’re getting and the modular nature of the game means you can build your own decks and scenarios to ensure longevity. They’ve just released an X-Force expansion, and have a Deadpool hero pack on the way. I can’t wait to see where they go next!
22. Viticulture
Complexity ★★★
Wait a minute. Viticulture, a game about the wine-making process, was originally released 10 years ago. So how has it made it onto this list as a new entry? I’ve got an idea, but I’ll come back to that later…
Viticulture is a great worker placement game. You take one of your workers, put it out on a spot, and take that action. This may be planting vines, harvesting your fields, or turning your grapes into wine, amongst many other things. Your Grande worker can go to an already occupied spot and take that action again. It’s a very thematic game that plays well at all player counts.
But what has brought it back into people’s minds? I suspect it may be the latest expansion, Viticulture World, that turns Viticulture into a cooperative game. Normally these expansions aren’t that great, but Viticulture World is excellent and gives a new lease of life to Viticulture. It has a lot of replayability and works incredibly well as a cooperative game. I will still play it competitively but now I’ve got the option to enjoy the game in a more friendly way too.
21. Undaunted Normandy
Complexity ★★
Undaunted games by David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin started in 2019 with Undaunted Normandy, using an innovative deck-building system recreating the heroics and uncertainties for individual soldiers in skirmish level World War II. It’s gone from strength to strength via Undaunted: North Africa, Undaunted: Reinforcements and the pinnacle, mega game, Undaunted: Stalingrad. The latest Undaunted: Battle of Britain sees combat leave the ground and Undaunted 2200 Callisto sees it leave the Earth in a sci-fi future game!
Undaunted players have a Supply Deck of all their troops. From this, they have a Starting deck they can draw from and use to provide actions for their units.
Casualties result in cards being withdrawn, and if there are no more left for a counter type that unit is routed. Units move and fight across large terrain tiles until victory conditions are met.
Undaunted: Stalingrad is the series peak with a resettable campaign of 15 scenarios which sees fighting men survive and upgrade or lose and get replaced by raw recruits, whilst the city gets fortified or crumbles to ruins around them. With the evocative scenario settings for each side, you get deeply drawn into the visceral struggle between Uri and Max for control of the doomed Volga capital.
20. Spirit Island
Complexity ★★★★
Spirit Island is a very thematic cooperative game about defending your island from Invaders coming across the seas to colonize it. In their eagerness to conquer, the invading forces harmed both the native population and the environment perturbing the balance of Nature. The twist of the game is that players take the role of Spirits of the land awakened to defend the balance from the Invaders' threat.
The cooperative gameplay and the semi-random mechanic leading the Invaders' actions create a game mechanic deep enough to push players to think carefully before taking any action. Each Spirit is also characterized by unique powers that not only provide a very asymmetric game but also allow a good learning curve session after session.
Spirit Island excels in replayability due to the amount of Invaders, scenarios, Powers and Spirits that are included in the base game. Moreover, the game can be expanded further by buying any of the four available expansions that will also add a few new interesting rules to the game. Overall, Spirit Island is an amazingly deep and challenging game for a group of players looking to test their abilities.
19. Space Base
Complexity ★★
What Science-Fiction fan wouldn’t love a game where you race to put together the ultimate fleet, dominating the galaxy and destroying your friends to earn those valuable 40 victory points declaring yourself galactic emperor.
Your start-up fleet is numbered 1 through 12 and each has different bonuses. How do you get these bonuses? Roll two D6 dice and use the individual rolls or combined roll to activate that spaceship's power. There is a strategic choice when purchasing new ships to complete upgrades as old cards are turned over and provide new bonuses activated by the dice other people roll.
Speaking of rolling dice… I absolutely love a good dice game so this is rolling right up my alley, just like how all those well-chosen ships within your space fleet enable the money to roll in… buying more ships… and more… and more! Not to mention the passive reward mechanism meaning when your opponents roll their dice on their turn you can benefit with your upgraded cards. Plan ahead, picking ships on high probability dice rolls or risk high for big rewards at the top end of your fleet. You can even cluster upgrades with powers that also activate other cards so you can really gloat when it’s not even your turn and you rake in the galactic dosh!
18. Ticket To Ride
Complexity ★★
There are a few games that I use when I’m introducing board games to new people and Ticket to Ride is certainly on that list. It is Rummy-esque with you mostly either drawing cards or playing coloured sets to claim routes and add trains to the board. It’s a simple game.
But it can also be very cutthroat. You are trying to fulfil your tickets which show the places you have to link together on the board with your coloured trains. Some of these routes are pretty long and you can easily be stitched up by other players claiming parts of the route you need. One version of the game, Ticket to Ride Europe, makes the game a little friendlier, by giving you the chance to add stations, letting you use other peoples’ routes.
There are many different versions of Ticket to Ride. There are even versions for children, such as Ticket to Ride London. My favourite would have to be Ticket to Ride Marklin, but for people new to the hobby, I’d start with either the original Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe.
Ticket to Ride is a satisfying and comforting game. It brings back the nostalgia of playing card games in your youth but pulls it forward into the modern age with great components and art. Without a doubt, a modern classic.
17. Gloomhaven: Jaws Of The Lion
Complexity ★★★★
Gloomhaven is a beast of a game. It weighs more than a small family car, and the campaign lasts longer than something that lasts a stupid amount of time. Okay, that might be hyperbole, but Gloomhaven is a dauntingly large game. So daunting, that the designer released a smaller friendlier version that eases you into the game and works perfectly as a tutorial. That game is Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion.
This version not only teaches you the game but also makes setup easier with a handy dandy map book. Plus, the characters can all be used in regular Gloomhaven too. This cooperative game is a dungeon crawler, where you fight your way through a big gang of nasties, but whereas you may normally expect to be rolling a tonne of dice in this type of game, here you play two cards. Yes, two cards. You take the top action from one card and the bottom from the other. Added to this is the fact that your slim deck—normally about 12 cards—is also your health. Lose too many cards and you die.
If you’re new to modern board games, I would probably look elsewhere. There are many more welcoming games in this very list that may suit you better. Yes, Jaws of the Lion is simpler than its older sibling, but it’s still fairly complex and brain-burny. But if you’re in for some puzzly hack and slash action then this game may well be for you. If you enjoy it, you can then take on Gloomhaven and even the sequel Frosthaven. There’s certainly plenty to go at.
16. Earth
Complexity ★★★
Released just this year, Earth has shot into the top 50. It’s an engine-builder that has been compared to both Wingspan and Terraforming Mars. On initial inspection, it all looks very complicated, but it’s very easy to learn and flows incredibly well.
My favourite aspect of this game is that there is very little downtime. On your turn, you pick one of four coloured actions. Let’s say I pick the red action that gives me more soil. I get to do the full action, but every other player gets to do a weaker version of the same action. After this, all of the players work through their tableau of cards and fire off any cards that have a red ability. It’s very satisfying.
There are lots of paths to victory too. Will you gain most of your points from growing shoots, fulfilling objectives, or getting tonnes of compost? Earth is one of those games where you get to the end, work out who has the most points and see who the winner is, and it doesn’t really matter that much because you’ve had such a great time playing it. A well-deserving new entry.
15. Sleeping Gods
Complexity ★★★
In Sleeping Gods, you control Captain Odessa and her crew, who get mysteriously dragged into a strange world on their ship, the Manticore. In this world, adventure awaits you at every corner and it is up to you and your teammates to work together exploring islands, meeting new characters and searching for ancient totems that may allow your crew to return to the real world.
Along the way, you will engage in well-thought-out missions and intricate combat, collecting experience which in turn will allow you to unlock new abilities and items for your crew. To support this, the game is accompanied by a well-written, detailed storybook and I guarantee you that one playthrough is not enough to scratch the surface of this rich and beautiful world. To top all this, your choices will also influence the characters throughout play and the ending of your campaign (13 different ones!), which adds amazing replayability value.
Overall, Sleeping Gods is a beautifully written and well-designed campaign that feels refreshing and rewarding to play. The story is mysterious and engaging, the combat is challenging and I loved sailing through the world atlas, which really gives you that feeling of an open world just begging to be explored. Highly, highly recommended!
14. Splendor
Complexity ★★
Gems galore! Splendor is indeed a splendid example of a gateway game that has enough crunch to keep players of all experience levels gripped to the end! Another engine builder, here you are collecting jewels to pay for cards that reward permanent resources which, yep, you guessed, it, enable you to gain even more glorious gems! The more permanent jewels you can collect, the cheaper new cards become, and the more nobles you can visit for one of the VP bonuses!
Underlying this simple-to-learn but tricky-to-master drafting game is a race – 2 to 4 players vie to be first to grab the best cards (reserving being possible if you can’t afford a specific one on your turn), first to gain nobility bonuses, and ultimately first to smash the end game triggering VP total. We enjoy Splendor because, whilst it might take a few turns to get our engines turning, with a few permanent gems in our possession, we are each soon cranking out sparklers turn after turn! Plus, we now have Splendor Duel too which is a brilliant re-implementation of the OG but made synapse sizzling for two!
13. The Castles Of Burgundy
Complexity ★★★
I’ve always liked The Castles of Burgundy ever since my first play. But—and here’s the big ‘but’—it’s never been a looker. This lack of production values always left a little taste of disappointment.
And yet now a beautiful new production of the game has been released by Awaken Realms and it’s stunning. I suspect the release of this version has propelled this older game up to the heady heights of number 13, unlucky for some, but not for this game.
In The Castles of Burgundy, you roll a couple of dice and these let you take actions. This will mainly be taking tiles or building them. It is a point salad game where everything you do gets you some points, but it’s so rewarding. There’s some great tension as you don’t want the other players to take the tiles you need, or build all of one type of tile before you and get a juicy bonus.
This new version includes all of the expansions plus a brand-new one, but it is expensive. If you’re new to this game you can get an older version for a lot less money, give it a try, and then upgrade later if you love the game. This game is a pleasure to play and it’s great to see it in the top 50 where it fully deserves to be.
12. Azul
Complexity ★★
My husband first introduced me to Azul not long after we met and I fell instantly in love… with those azulejos. My competitive spirit combined with a love of good quality components saw this game pave its way to the top of my favourites. Azul is a game of careful choices and tile allocations maximising the amount of points you score each round until the end game condition is fulfilled.
Azul has so much strategy and forward planning required throughout. You always need to keep an eye on what your opponent might be after, being wary of them messing up your plans by stealing your desired tiles.
Move forward five years and I’m arranging to visit my cousin over a half-term break to introduce her to ‘game night’. Azul is such a light fun game which is so easy to teach that it was an instant choice to take. I was not foolish in my assumption that my interior design-loving cousin would enjoy the gameplay but beyond my wildest dreams, I did not envisage our conversation the following day where she was up early buying it online to be able to play again. I need say nothing more than that we played 3 great games that night but Azul is the only game my cousin owns!
11. Dune: Imperium
Complexity ★★★
Dune Imperium not only made me change my mind about licenced games but is one of the best games I have played in recent memory. It mixes worker placement and deck-building but what I really like about it, apart from its theme, is how tight the scoring is and the battles at the end of the round. You have to pick when to fight and when not to depending on your goals, needs and wants.
With the scoring being a race to ten, depending on what expansion or game you are playing, every hand feels vital. Siding with the right factions feels meaningful and when someone blocks your space, you want to smack them in the face. The deck-building, worker placement and combat all come together in a wonderful package that, in my opinion, sings. Do you save some cards to give you a boost in battle? Do you even want to be part of this fight? I adore it.
The presentation and components are a bit lacking in the base game and that was my only flaw with the game, luckily, there's a deluxe upgrade which is magnificent. Pair this with two expansions which only improve on an already great experience and you have a wonderfully replayable game with a magnificent theme, tight scoring, and amazing mechanics. FIGHT FOR THE SPICE!
10. Lost Ruins Of Arnak
Complexity ★★★
Grab a map, some walking boots and a trowel as it's time to go hunting for artefacts! This worker placement and deck-building game will have you exploring the island of Arnak. The aim of the game is to collect the most victory points through gear and artefact cards, research, and battling Guardians.
The mix of cards and abilities is balanced and makes each game different as you wait to see what's available. Cards are also multi-use so you can spend them to travel or gain their unique ability. The puzzle of Arnak is trying to maximise your turns in a round. As you can only take 1 action per turn, you have to think ahead to see how you can chain movement and abilities together. If you don’t plan well, your round will end, and others may get extra turns. After 5 rounds the journey is over and the points are totted up.
Arnak has well-crafted components which make it fun to play but also visually impressive. If you’re a fan of Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones, the game’s theme is an instant winner. It even includes a hat card that looks just like Indie’s!
9. Scythe
Complexity ★★★★
Scythe is one of the most evocative games out there. Absolutely redolent with
atmosphere from its, let’s face it, rather weird setting of an Agro-based economy in a post WWI, mechno-punk world, it delivers an engaging and visually stunning game.
On its table-filling portrayal of a middle European landscape, you place workers to produce goods and move your beautifully sculpted leaders and mighty mechs to explore and uncover the secrets of the mysterious laboratory. Oh, and you might fight the other factions! Combat, though, is not as central as you might think and there is a veritable buffet of point salad ways to accrue victory points.
The production qualities are through the roof. When you open the heavy box and gaze at the five individual character figures and their 20 associated, differently designed mechs, you know you are in for a treat, moving them across the beautiful artwork of the heavyweight, vibrant board. You are not disappointed as up to 5 players with their asymmetric abilities move, produce and have RPG-style encounters. A solo mode and multiple expansions add further fun.
Beyond the aesthetics is Scythe just a worker placement game? Is the Mona Lisa just a picture of an Italian Lady?
8. Everdell
Complexity ★★★
Everdell is a beautiful tableau building and worker placement game set in the dazzling Emerald Valley, chosen by a civilization of lovely critters as their new home town. Players take the role of the leaders of a group of these critters and compete to build the most thriving city before winter sets in. The aim of the game is not only to collect resources in order to erect all the buildings your
population needs but also to attract new citizens to grow your community.
During the game, players take turns to either place one of their workers to gain resources or to play a card to add to their city. There are a lot of decisions to take each turn as you compete with your opponents to obtain the resources and the cards you need for your critters to prosper. Moreover, the round duration is not pre-determined as players can pass at any time or play until they are still able to perform an action.
In addition to the exciting gameplay, Everdell shines for the amazing components and the beautiful work of art of the cards. Let's also not forget that together with beautifully designed cards, shaped creatures and resources, you also have a giant cardboard tree that stands over your gaming area creating an amazing immersive experience.
7. Wingspan
Complexity ★★★
Okay so Wingspan may not be the No. 1 game in 2023, but it will always be a winner for me! When this box of birdy beautifulness hit gaming tables back in 2019, nobody would (or could) have predicted the effect that is still being felt today. Besides being a gorgeously illustrated, chilled but synapse snapping engine building game, it drew folks into the hobby in droves. It was seen played in TV shows and opened a lot of people’s eyes to the wonder that is modern board gaming. And now with multiple expansions, the world of Wingspan has never been bigger or brighter!
Creating three distinct habitats full of unique birds with powers to match, Wingspan is all about building a solid nest in Wetlands, Grasslands, and Woods, and then watching the cascading bonuses roll in! With limited and decreasing turns per round, scoring objectives, and eggies to collect, this game has us pondering the possibilities (when not marvelling at the artwork, that is!). Being huge nature fans, Wingspan’s theme and setting are perfect for us, and its quiet competitiveness is perfect for when we want to play a game that’s chilled but still challenging.
6. Great Western Trail
Complexity ★★★★
Great Western Trail is a cattle-driven game, where you lead your cowboys up the trail and on to sell cows at the market! Along the way, you will hire workers, place buildings and pick up cows. Placing buildings allows you to maximise actions on the way to the market. Hiring workers gives you hefty
discounts and picking up cow cards improves your chances of making big money. There is a lot going on in this western adventure.
This game is a long affair as you plot the best route up the trail. With so many ways to win, you have to strategise what will work best based on your hand of cards and what other players do. Even though the goal of getting to the market remains the same, each game feels different. It is bursting with variety and choice which boosts replayability. But with more than 2 players, the game can feel long due to this.
Finally, each player gets to choose their own cowboy and adorn him with a Stetson. I loved this touch as it set the scene for the game! Even though this game is a table hogger, it looks great as there are lots of pieces and the artwork really captures the Wild West setting.
5. Brass: Birmingham
Complexity ★★★★
Brass Birmingham is a game which takes players back to the Industrial Revolution. Over the course of 2 eras, players will build and sell goods along trade routes. The player with the most victory points, at the end, wins. What makes Brass Birmingham such a great game is its complex player interaction.
Whilst trying to secure the most points and money, you will have to use other player goods and trade routes. This makes things tricky as you try to maximise your output without giving too much away. It’s a heavy-weight euro which will have you analysing each action to boost your economic
outcome.
On top of all that, the game is lovely to look at and has great table presence. With fun wooden beer barrels, train routes and eye-catching artwork, it’s a great one to show off. Each character is also based on a real-life entrepreneur, and you can read about their impact in the game manual.
Overall, this game is sleek, beautifully made and has dynamic mechanics. It’s no wonder it made its way to the top spot on BGG.
4. Carcassonne
Complexity ★★
Carcassonne is one of the first games I played when I got into this hobby. It was at a local game group, and I was asked if I wanted to play a simple tile-laying game. It all looked so gentle. Draw a tile and play a tile to add to a sprawling landscape of castles, farms, roads, and rivers. I quite happily spent my time building up my own little area of castles, scoring lots of points along the way. And I loved it.
What I didn’t know at the time was that the other players were being very kind to me, letting me do my own thing. Carcassonne appears to be a gentle, friendly game but it can be like a knife fight in a phone booth if you want to play that way. Let’s say someone has nearly finished their huge castle and they’re getting close to scoring many points. You can’t directly muscle in on this, but if you’ve craftily claimed another piece of a castle nearby, there is a good chance that you can link your castle to your opponents and share in all of their lovely hard-earned points. It’s brutal. You can all agree to stay away from each other’s stuff though, if you want to keep the game friendly.
There are literally 57 million expansions for Carcassonne and also other standalone versions of it, which are very good, such as Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers or Carcassonne: Amazonas. But just getting the base game will give you hours of fun!
3. Terraforming Mars
Complexity ★★★
Terraforming Mars is one of the first big games I played which lasted more than an hour. I have a low attention span and often prefer to play 2 or 3 different games than spend all my time playing the same thing as I’m easily ‘bored’. However, when you’re trying to be the best corporation to
terraform Mars, time really flies by. I love how invested you get in purchasing projects to support your end goal of increasing temperature, oxygen, and the oceans in an effort to save mankind with the recolonisation of the red planet.
“Baby you make me wish I had three hands,” because with this table hog of a resource management game, you’re going to need all the hands you can get. Terraforming Mars incorporates an engine-building mechanism with high-quality cards providing a perfect mix of chance whilst also incorporating strategy and risk factor planning when managing your resources. And with expansions and promos galore this game brings a lot to the table in both components and playability.
Fortunately, the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one! But, just like waking up in the morning, the chances of you loving this game are phenomenally high.
2. The Quacks Of Quedlinburg
Complexity ★★
Quacks Of Quedlinburg is inherently chaotic and that's why I love it. I've played it with countless groups at this point, from seasoned gamers to bewildered family members, and it's never been anything less than a complete success.
At its core, it's pure push your luck - draw chips from a bag to fill your cauldron, and if you draw too many white chips, it explodes (which is, you know, bad). But it's the mechanics around this core that really bring it to life.
Each colour of chip has special rules, so what you fill your bag with can shape your strategy. There are rubies that help fill your cauldron and probably the best deck of event cards in board gaming (every card is fun and rewarding, as opposed to punishing).
The real joy, though, is that anyone can win. It doesn't matter if you've played a hundred times and have a bag full of your favourite combination of chip powers, because if you pull 4 white chips in a row and explode, you're out for the round and have to sit and watch while your grandma has the greatest turn in board game history. Hilarious.
1. Ark Nova
Complexity ★★★★
Over the year or so in which I’ve owned it, Ark Nova has worked its way up my rankings to become my current favourite game. Ark Nova is a game which, on first appearance, looks long and complicated, full of different symbols and numerous boards alongside a stack of cards about 6ft high. But even by the end of the first play, the symbols and the different interlocking mechanisms that hold this game together begin to click.
Your turns consist of using one of 5 different action cards which increase in strength if you haven’t used them or diminish once you have. There is a lot to juggle but as you slowly build up and populate your zoo, the game ramps up as a race for who can cross their two tokens on their appeal and conservation tracks to trigger the end of the game.
I’ve never actually won a game of Ark Nova against friends, which makes it an odd choice for my favourite game, but there is so much satisfaction to be had in building my own zoo up and knowing that with a deck that big I’ll never be able to play the same strategy twice that makes me keep wanting to come back for more. With a new expansion on the horizon in Marine Worlds, it’s safe to say it isn’t going to be knocked off my top spot anytime soon.
Great Games For Everyone
So there you go, 50 fantastic games for you to get your teeth into, 50 games to suit a variety of people and tastes. There really is something for everyone.
If you’re interested in finding out how this list was put together, please read on. If not, thank you for reading and we hope you discover games from this list that you love too.
How Was The List Created
The Zatu bloggers put together a list of their top 20 games of all time in order. The games were then given a point value with the number one game getting 40 points down to the number 20 game receiving 21 points.
If we’d chosen to give the top game 20 points and the bottom game 1 point, it would imply that the top game is 20 times better than the lowest game which is very probably not true. So, going with 40 – 21 means the top game is roughly twice as good as the number 20 game which seems more reasonable. This method also gave more weight to games that were on multiple bloggers’ lists.
The data were normalised so that all games from the same family were put into one entry. For example, all of the points for the Ticket to Ride games were added together and put into one entry.
All of the points for each game were then added together and ranked to create one list of 50 games. Out of interest, Ark Nova received 292 points and appeared on 8 bloggers’ lists. Whereas Sagrada, the number 50 game got 68 points and appeared on 2 lists.
Next year we hope to do this again for the third time, and it will be interesting to see how the list changes and which new games get added to it. Come back next year to find out!