Here's a time index (if some want it): 1:32 3:31 4:45 6:24 8:25 9:41 13:03 14:44 17:20 I love your #9! I have yet to learn more about most of the others, so this is a great top 10 for me! Hmm... No Feast for Odin, Steam Works, The Colonists, or Cottage Gardens. Though I might sorta know why... Maybe. Mmmaybe not. Hmmmm... :-)
Good list. It made me look at my modest library and see how many tile laying games I have, 6. 6)Between Two Cities, this is only meh for me and is probably my second least favorite game in my library. 5)Karuba, I have only played this a couple times with just two players and it was fun, but oddly for a multiplayer solitaire game it kinda felt like it needed more players. 4)Eruption, has proven to be a fun light hearted take that gateway game. 3)Indigo, I enjoy this path tile and it looks great. 2)Carcassonne: South Seas, this is the Carcassonne game I enjoy most and is one of my favorite games. I really like how score is kept with buying the ship tiles with the different resources instead of a score track. I also like how colorful and pretty it is. 1)The Castles of Mad King Ludwig, this is my go to gateway game. I know a lot of people compare CMKL to Suburbia and think that is wrong. Suburbia is one of the best next step when new people want to try something thinkyer. But CMKL is a gateway game, the concept of adding rooms to a building is something almost anyone can grasp, the same with its economy. The Castles of Mad King Ludwig is by far and away the most successful gateway game I have used to introduce new people to board games. People who thought Ticket to Ride was too mean, or that Carcassonne was to complicated, and loved The Castles of Mad King Ludwig. Last there were a few games that you could almost call tile laying even though it isn't its main mechanism: Carson City Glass Road Mexica - the pyramids are just fancy tiles Happy Pigs
Hmm. I think I would choose Alhambra for the best TL. In Suburbia no matter how I try I always forget to add or subtract something because of that hidden restaurant on the other end of table. And the income/reputation markers are so bumpable:) And another great absentee on the list is Castle of Burgundy. I know - lots of it is dice throwing but the core and heart is the tile laying.
yeah, i used to put links in, but it was a lot of work and maintenance to revisit vids to add links and stuff. and it's so easy for folks to simply type rahdo (gamename) in the search bar a the top of the youtube page, i figured people can find stuff that way :)
I found a copy of Walnut Grove a week after you posted your run through on it, got it but it's still sitting on my shelf. This video is reminding me to get it on the table. I also bought Glen More, Carcassone Castle and Suburbia on your recommendations- love them all! Tile laying is my absolutely Favourite game Mechanic. Got the love from playing a tile laying game call Maori. Wonder if you have heard of it?
My wife and I have both Walnut grove and Citrus.Both good games . I thought about getting Glen More but didn't because of the German language issue.For us (even though it is still super light) we also keep Ca-Cao with The Volcano and Chocolatl expansions around as a gateway tile laying game. The Cocolatl expansion brings the complexity up to a 2.50 on the geek, so it reaches the upper level for fillers.
Now, I'm a little surprised Keyflower isn't on this list, but I imagine you have your reasons. I LOVE tile laying games myself, especially small ones like "This Town Aint Big Enough For the Two to Four of Us." There was also this very interesting game called "Crows" that I don't play enough and it's kind of this "chain reaction" kind of game where you build up the tiles and figure out where the crows are going to go so that you get all the 'shineys' at the end of the turn. And it had these ADORABLE little wooden Crows that... I must admit... was partially why I bought the game. ALSO, I'm just thinking, would Betrayal At The House On Haunted Hill be considered a tile laying game... Probably not, but it was an idea.
Much love to Glen More. My first Rahdo video too. It convinced me it was worth the German version. Only 10% needs to be translated since most of it is icon driven.
I may be wrong about this, but I think rio grande games did actually release the falcon expansion for Carcassonne the castle. You can't find it anywhere, but I seem to remember there being a physical copy available because I was going to buy it but it went out of print. And I remember being pissed that I missed it when it was for sale. However, maybe it was only announced and so I had it listed as a want. And it nev r actually made it into the store even though it was listed on the website.
I remember you mentioning on your runthrough of that game that Galaxy of Trian had completely replaced Carcassonne for you, surprised not to see it on the list.
I can't find glen more or carcassonne castle anywhere. Akrotiri just came available though so at least I was able to pick that up. I really need to try suburbia
carc castle has been out of print for years and likely won't get reprinted sadly. so you have to buy a used copy (best place for that is boardgamegeek.com or ebay.com). glen more english version is out of print as well, but as i understand it, it's not too hard to get a german edition. however, supposedly it's going to be getting a 2nd edition sometime this year or next year if you can wait...
Agreed on Glen More.....pulled the trigger on the German version, with cheat sheets, but just stays on the shelf with it. Hopefully the English version is out soon or better, just get this on out first ;-) Btw, you ar blasting this top 10's in time. You used to take 45 minutes, now you are down to just 20 minutes.
Isle of Skye is probably one of my favourite games last year. Great pick. Meanwhiles Glen More is out of print ... and I've been dying to get it. Waiting on that reprint. Also, would Castles of Mad King Ludwig count as a tile laying game? Because that one would be MY number one.
Hmm ... I'm not sure why Ludwig wouldn't feel like a tile layer to you, Rahdo ... is it the non-uniform size of the pieces and the absence of a more or less regular grid structure to the playing field? It's also interesting considering how you praised the "set price and buy" mechanism of Isle of Skye that Ludwig exemplifies. (Or maybe three Bezier games in the top 10 was too much?) BTW, I agree with everything you said about Glen More. My only gripe with Glen More is that often a player doesn't have the opportunity to make much use of the very coolest, long-term combos as the late-game phase tends to end rather abruptly. Still, for me this problem is not as bad as in Race for the Galaxy; in my experience, it's frustrating to try build up just about any combo, as there's always someone who tries to "race" through the deck and burn too many cards as production goods ...
yes, the non-uniform size and more importantly the fact that they don't all lie flush against each other. it's a castle building simulation, not a tile layer, it feels to me :)
I'll note that Glen More is getting a reprint largely because the Kickstarted Lunarchitects game that reimplements it spurred interest and discussions over rights and permissions and resulted in the announcement of said reprint. Now it's a race to see which actually gets printed first.
Suburbia is definitely my favorite tile-laying game too. Their first expansion adds a perfect amount of fun for the complexity. the 5-Star expansion kind of diverged from the overall theme and probably tried too much.
I know I've been watching a lot of rahdo's videos over the past year because I started ticking off in my head what I thought some of your picks would be
+Daniel Nilsson Keyflower can get away with being a tile layer more than Castles I think. Then again, Keyflower is such a mutifaceted game with so many driving mechanisms. Bidding, tile laying, wp, set collection, etc.
Any comments on how recent games up to the end of 2019 may have changed your Top 10 list? Would you for example class Azul as a tile-laying game, or is it a token-drafting game?
if i were to make this list today, it would probably look something like 10. Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig 9. Galaxy Trucker 8. Suburbia 7. Habitats 6. Capital (Warsaw City of Ruin) 5. NEOM 4. Subdivision 3. Vikings 2. Isle of Skye 1. Glen More
oh wow, when i did the runthrough for it a few years ago, a bunch of folks complained that it wasn't available anywhere... i wonder if another print run has happened since then?
+rahdo actually there is a syntax error at line 112 of some php script(rahdo-video-list) preventing me to see the ranks. the error occurs on my android phone.
hmm, yeah sometimes boardgamegeek doesn't reply to outside queries well. looks like now is one of those times. here's another way to look at the same ranked game list: www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/rahdo?sort=rating&sortdir=desc&rankobjecttype=subtype&rankobjectid=1&columns=title%7Cthumbnail%7Cstatus%7Cpostdate%7Crank%7Crating%7Cbggrating%7Cavgrating%7Cnumvoters%7Ccommands&geekranks=%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09Board+Game+Rank%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09&excludesubtype=boardgameexpansion&own=1&objecttype=thing&ff=1&subtype=boardgame :)
I guess you don't much care for abstract tile laying games such as Blokus Trigon or Chaos Tiles. CT has an interesting mechanism "claim your color." If you claim too early you may be left with a dud, but wait too long and someone else will beat you to it. I hope you will check it out.
No love for Alhambra? Granted it is on them lighter side than most of these games (which I own 7 of!) Alhmabra makes my list probably around the 9 or 10 mark.
Hi from Russia! I love your chanel - it looks like best way to understand is game good for me or not. And what would be that list if cards that worked like tiles would be counted as tiles? Like Bear Vallay (where cards are actualy acting like tiles)
okay, so walnut grove and Glen More. I'll look them up, never heard of them. Suburbia = you forgot that itt has almost no interaction, it's for autists. And it takes hours without much evolving. And before you disagree ask yourself how long did i have to wait for the other players to finish. Too much downtime man. Finally yes its gorgeous but it's too expensive.
Here's a time index (if some want it):
1:32
3:31
4:45
6:24
8:25
9:41
13:03
14:44
17:20
I love your #9! I have yet to learn more about most of the others, so this is a great top 10 for me!
Hmm... No Feast for Odin, Steam Works, The Colonists, or Cottage Gardens. Though I might sorta know why... Maybe. Mmmaybe not. Hmmmm... :-)
Good list. It made me look at my modest library and see how many tile laying games I have, 6.
6)Between Two Cities, this is only meh for me and is probably my second least favorite game in my library.
5)Karuba, I have only played this a couple times with just two players and it was fun, but oddly for a multiplayer solitaire game it kinda felt like it needed more players.
4)Eruption, has proven to be a fun light hearted take that gateway game.
3)Indigo, I enjoy this path tile and it looks great.
2)Carcassonne: South Seas, this is the Carcassonne game I enjoy most and is one of my favorite games. I really like how score is kept with buying the ship tiles with the different resources instead of a score track. I also like how colorful and pretty it is.
1)The Castles of Mad King Ludwig, this is my go to gateway game. I know a lot of people compare CMKL to Suburbia and think that is wrong. Suburbia is one of the best next step when new people want to try something thinkyer. But CMKL is a gateway game, the concept of adding rooms to a building is something almost anyone can grasp, the same with its economy. The Castles of Mad King Ludwig is by far and away the most successful gateway game I have used to introduce new people to board games. People who thought Ticket to Ride was too mean, or that Carcassonne was to complicated, and loved The Castles of Mad King Ludwig.
Last there were a few games that you could almost call tile laying even though it isn't its main mechanism:
Carson City
Glass Road
Mexica - the pyramids are just fancy tiles
Happy Pigs
Thanks Rahdo for another great list. I am however surprised that Keyflower didn't make it.
Hmm. I think I would choose Alhambra for the best TL. In Suburbia no matter how I try I always forget to add or subtract something because of that hidden restaurant on the other end of table. And the income/reputation markers are so bumpable:)
And another great absentee on the list is Castle of Burgundy. I know - lots of it is dice throwing but the core and heart is the tile laying.
I love your reviews, would be amazing if you could show bits of the games when you do these list.
i did that in the first few top10s iirc, but it makes the video take way way way way longer :)
yeah, i used to put links in, but it was a lot of work and maintenance to revisit vids to add links and stuff. and it's so easy for folks to simply type
rahdo (gamename) in the search bar a the top of the youtube page, i figured people can find stuff that way :)
I found a copy of Walnut Grove a week after you posted your run through on it, got it but it's still sitting on my shelf. This video is reminding me to get it on the table. I also bought Glen More, Carcassone Castle and Suburbia on your recommendations- love them all! Tile laying is my absolutely Favourite game Mechanic. Got the love from playing a tile laying game call Maori. Wonder if you have heard of it?
Hee hee, I laughed at loud at the thumbnail for this video, good call. :) I love wordplay.
many people are missing the fact that galaxy trucker is Hilarious!
My wife and I have both Walnut grove and Citrus.Both good games . I thought about getting Glen More but didn't because of the German language issue.For us (even though it is still super light) we also keep Ca-Cao with The Volcano and Chocolatl expansions around as a gateway tile laying game. The Cocolatl expansion brings the complexity up to a 2.50 on the geek, so it reaches the upper level for fillers.
Now, I'm a little surprised Keyflower isn't on this list, but I imagine you have your reasons.
I LOVE tile laying games myself, especially small ones like "This Town Aint Big Enough For the Two to Four of Us."
There was also this very interesting game called "Crows" that I don't play enough and it's kind of this "chain reaction" kind of game where you build up the tiles and figure out where the crows are going to go so that you get all the 'shineys' at the end of the turn.
And it had these ADORABLE little wooden Crows that... I must admit... was partially why I bought the game.
ALSO, I'm just thinking, would Betrayal At The House On Haunted Hill be considered a tile laying game...
Probably not, but it was an idea.
Much love to Glen More. My first Rahdo video too. It convinced me it was worth the German version. Only 10% needs to be translated since most of it is icon driven.
I may be wrong about this, but I think rio grande games did actually release the falcon expansion for Carcassonne the castle. You can't find it anywhere, but I seem to remember there being a physical copy available because I was going to buy it but it went out of print. And I remember being pissed that I missed it when it was for sale. However, maybe it was only announced and so I had it listed as a want. And it nev r actually made it into the store even though it was listed on the website.
as i understand it, files were released so people can make their own copies, and some people have made some near perfect ones. i wants!
I remember you mentioning on your runthrough of that game that Galaxy of Trian had completely replaced Carcassonne for you, surprised not to see it on the list.
well, it was more that i would play trian over carc any day, and i still stand by that. but still, trian isn't good enough to make my top 10...
I would love to find a copy of Walnut Grove!!
my favorite tile laying game right now is Lanterns: The Harvest Festival
JoJowiththeYoYo Maybe it's too gateway but I love that way as well. :) My friend and I love that game.
Thanks for listing your games in comments. Makes it easier to shop!😉👍🏻
I can't find glen more or carcassonne castle anywhere. Akrotiri just came available though so at least I was able to pick that up. I really need to try suburbia
carc castle has been out of print for years and likely won't get reprinted sadly. so you have to buy a used copy (best place for that is boardgamegeek.com or ebay.com). glen more english version is out of print as well, but as i understand it, it's not too hard to get a german edition. however, supposedly it's going to be getting a 2nd edition sometime this year or next year if you can wait...
rahdo thanks for the heads up! I'll keep an eye out for the German version
Agreed on Glen More.....pulled the trigger on the German version, with cheat sheets, but just stays on the shelf with it. Hopefully the English version is out soon or better, just get this on out first ;-)
Btw, you ar blasting this top 10's in time. You used to take 45 minutes, now you are down to just 20 minutes.
Why? Just play it'
Yeah I should ;-)
+Marlon Kruis After a few games you'll know what every tile means
When doing reviews like this could you give the number of players, as I am mostly looking for solo player games. Thanks and keep it coming..
Isle of Skye is probably one of my favourite games last year. Great pick.
Meanwhiles Glen More is out of print ... and I've been dying to get it. Waiting on that reprint. Also, would Castles of Mad King Ludwig count as a tile laying game? Because that one would be MY number one.
damn your avatar, totally tricked me!
ludwig i suppose it a tile layer, but it really doesn't quite feel like it to me
Hmm ... I'm not sure why Ludwig wouldn't feel like a tile layer to you, Rahdo ... is it the non-uniform size of the pieces and the absence of a more or less regular grid structure to the playing field? It's also interesting considering how you praised the "set price and buy" mechanism of Isle of Skye that Ludwig exemplifies. (Or maybe three Bezier games in the top 10 was too much?)
BTW, I agree with everything you said about Glen More. My only gripe with Glen More is that often a player doesn't have the opportunity to make much use of the very coolest, long-term combos as the late-game phase tends to end rather abruptly. Still, for me this problem is not as bad as in Race for the Galaxy; in my experience, it's frustrating to try build up just about any combo, as there's always someone who tries to "race" through the deck and burn too many cards as production goods ...
yes, the non-uniform size and more importantly the fact that they don't all lie flush against each other. it's a castle building simulation, not a tile layer, it feels to me :)
I'll note that Glen More is getting a reprint largely because the Kickstarted Lunarchitects game that reimplements it spurred interest and discussions over rights and permissions and resulted in the announcement of said reprint. Now it's a race to see which actually gets printed first.
+werewolfkai Am pretty sure Lunarchitects will be first. Kickstarter is over and done with and I believe backers will be receiving their copies.
Expedition Northwest Passage!
Suburbia is definitely my favorite tile-laying game too. Their first expansion adds a perfect amount of fun for the complexity. the 5-Star expansion kind of diverged from the overall theme and probably tried too much.
I need to play that game. No more to it.
LOve Love Love Suburbia. My favourite city building game. :)
wow, subdivision ahead of quadropolis... I've got an in on a good price on subdivision, I think I'm going to pick it up.
I was sure that keyflower was going to be on the list if not #1. Admittedly I forgot about suburbia despite playing it last weekend.
i talked about why games like burgundy and keyflower didn't quite fit this list in the opening of the vid :)
+rahdo I figured you considered it auction first. or something like that
I know I've been watching a lot of rahdo's videos over the past year because I started ticking off in my head what I thought some of your picks would be
Though I was surprised that you didn't wedge in Castles of Burgundy or KeyFlower as tile laying games. Mainly because they're not the main mechanisms?
yup :)
+Daniel Nilsson Keyflower can get away with being a tile layer more than Castles I think. Then again, Keyflower is such a mutifaceted game with so many driving mechanisms. Bidding, tile laying, wp, set collection, etc.
Any comments on how recent games up to the end of 2019 may have changed your Top 10 list? Would you for example class Azul as a tile-laying game, or is it a token-drafting game?
if i were to make this list today, it would probably look something like
10. Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig
9. Galaxy Trucker
8. Suburbia
7. Habitats
6. Capital (Warsaw City of Ruin)
5. NEOM
4. Subdivision
3. Vikings
2. Isle of Skye
1. Glen More
I love the Vidio Image ;3
I love the video recommendations more lol. Construction videos.
***** XD
Since Walnut Grove was published by Lookout, is it possible that they can reprint it under the Lookout/Mayfair partnership?
I saw a copy of Walnut Grove on the shelf in Mayfair's room at Origins. DIdn't buy since I already own the game!
Noble Knight Games has a copy as of 8-6-2016
Walnut grove is available on Amazon for $48 which is almost twice as expensive as when I got it a year ago.
oh wow, when i did the runthrough for it a few years ago, a bunch of folks complained that it wasn't available anywhere... i wonder if another print run has happened since then?
No idea. But the rulebook is terrible. I've played it wrong about 5 times before finally getting it right.
At origins it was actually on the mayfair clearance bin. (Alongside Age of industry which is CRAZY) they sold out of both of them.
What about Ginkopolis and Carson City? With your love for Troyes (Xavier Georges) I thought we might see at least one of these on the list.
both further down the list: games.rahdo.com
Galaxy truckers ia really fun when building the ships but the actual driving part could be a lot better.
Richard, are you trying to speed up your Top 10s? =)
Thanks for another great list!
i was surprised how short this was!
Tikal! Castellion! Expedition: Northwest Passage!
Have you ever played Carcassonne South Seas? I think you'd like it
Great video as always! Thanks! But... Where is Keyflower? Buhbye
i talked about why games like burgundy and keyflower didn't quite fit this list in the opening of the vid :)
Would you consider Sanssouci a tile laying game?
yup, and it would be #11 or 12 :)
Did you consider Expedition: Northwest Passage?
yup, and you can see how it ranks at games.rahdo.com :)
+rahdo actually there is a syntax error at line 112 of some php script(rahdo-video-list) preventing me to see the ranks. the error occurs on my android phone.
hmm, yeah sometimes boardgamegeek doesn't reply to outside queries well. looks like now is one of those times. here's another way to look at the same ranked game list: www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/rahdo?sort=rating&sortdir=desc&rankobjecttype=subtype&rankobjectid=1&columns=title%7Cthumbnail%7Cstatus%7Cpostdate%7Crank%7Crating%7Cbggrating%7Cavgrating%7Cnumvoters%7Ccommands&geekranks=%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09Board+Game+Rank%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09&excludesubtype=boardgameexpansion&own=1&objecttype=thing&ff=1&subtype=boardgame :)
I guess you don't much care for abstract tile laying games such as Blokus Trigon or Chaos Tiles. CT has an interesting mechanism "claim your color." If you claim too early you may be left with a dud, but wait too long and someone else will beat you to it. I hope you will check it out.
i'm curious of your top ten space theme'd games =O
well you can always check games.rahdo.com (you might have to refresh a couple of times)
No love for Alhambra? Granted it is on them lighter side than most of these games (which I own 7 of!) Alhmabra makes my list probably around the 9 or 10 mark.
Did you forget about Castles of Burgundy?
nope :)
Hi from Russia! I love your chanel - it looks like best way to understand is game good for me or not.
And what would be that list if cards that worked like tiles would be counted as tiles? Like Bear Vallay (where cards are actualy acting like tiles)
i answered this elsewhere in the comments, scroll down and you should find it :)
Hmm. No castles of mad king Ludwig?
I was gonna ask the same thing!
nope, imo it's not really a tile laying game becuase they're not uniform nor do they lie flush. it's a castle building sim, not a tile layer, imo :)
+rahdo Aren't the castle pieces that you're laying down tiles Richard? I've always categorized Lud as a tile layer.
what can i say. to me, if they're not flush, they're not tiles :)
Cardboard Fascist!! ;)
Will you talk in your next podcast about the games that didn't make the list because of the no-cards-rule? :)
oddville, among the stars and tournay were the main ones i was thinking about :)
What about seeland? ;-)
it's like literally #11 or 12 (right next to sansoucci) :)
+rahdo I love sanssouci! I bought seeland and sanssouci due to your reviews :-)
Seeland! That was gonna be mine...surprised it didn't make it in. Excellent excellent game.
Isle of Skye -Kennerspiel des Jahres 2016
okay, so walnut grove and Glen More. I'll look them up, never heard of them.
Suburbia = you forgot that itt has almost no interaction, it's for autists. And it takes hours without much evolving. And before you disagree ask yourself how long did i have to wait for the other players to finish. Too much downtime man. Finally yes its gorgeous but it's too expensive.
What about Mexican Train
Lol
how is castle of mad king ludwig not in the list....
i talked about it elsewhere in these comments :)