T2R Europe is all about routes to win. The trick is to use your stations by baiting opponents to block you and then BAM! Deploy a station, and they've helped you complete a route. (I'm a T2R Europe fan as it's the game that got me into the modern era of board games)
Original ticket to ride was one of our favorites that got us into it. I wonder if I expected Europe to play the same way, I was use to, and it was just so different, so it hasn’t felt as good to me. - Michael.
Wingspan and Spirit Island are great picks for this list! Definitely give Cosmic Encounter another go with a different group. It is player dependent but it's a timeless classic and fantastic with the correct group.
That's a fair point, but it makes wining less fun imo. This is why I don't like Munchkin anymore. Why take the lead if it puts a target on my back? "I'll just wait for someone else to and gang up on them ", is what goes in my mind lol.
Hard disagree on Spirit Island being overrated. The game is basically a sandbox where a playgroup can self balance their experience. You can pick harder spirits if you find it easy, or pick easier ones if you find it hard. Use different adversaries or none at all, same with scenarios. Play with some hugely synergistic spirit combos, or ones which seem to make no sense. The game has so many ways to tailor your experience. That also leads to huge replay value. Calling it overrated because you aren't into coop board games/ have different tastes in game complexity you enjoy makes little sense to me. It just hurts to think that people might see this video and think "oh, maybe I won't try this game after all if it's overrated". My bias as a fan of this game is showing though, of course. A few other notes. Imo, you're leaning a bit too hard toward algorithmic content slop with a video like this - long and a bit lacking in nuance with clickbait tile. Would be excusable if it was more entertaining, but right now it's just a bit too dry. In the end, way too long and slow for what it's worth.
Thanks for the feedback. We actually agree with you a lot on Spirit Island. We both like the game. I think it is a good game 7/10, but the feeling like you are losing and the stress it causes hurts it for me a bit. I also think it overstays its welcome because of that. I think if it was a faster game it would be an 8 or 9 for me. Because of my issues with it I don't think it is the 11th best of all time. Also the other notes are great feedback. You have any suggestions on how to make it more entertaining?
Magic the gathering = The person who spends the most $ is most likely the winner. The #1 reason I stopped playing trading card games and went into board games is because of this. I'm not wealthy and can't spend hundreds on decks every couple of months when a new set comes out.
New to your channel and love it! Blood on the Clocktower is one of my favorite games, so I'm going to have to disagree with you about it being "just like werewolf", because I think everyone having abilities really helps the game and makes it more fun for everyone playing. I do agree with you that is SUPER EXPENSIVE.
You have to admit it definitely replaces Werewolf though, because one thing for sure is that it does do everything that Werewolf does but better. I don't think it was on my list. I think its a good game, but I'm kinda getting tired of social deduction games lately, so that might be why I don't think it is great.
Nice video, very interesting opinions. A little bit of feedback: There's an audience for pretty much everything and just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean it's popularity should be lowered (there are a few things that are universally bad, but of course those wouldn't even make anyone's list), so the use of the word 'overrated' kinda implies everyone else is rating those games higher than they should, which doesn't paint you in a good light and invites negative engagement. Specially when you really don't give compelling reasons on why the game should be rated less than they actually are (come on, you not enjoying cooperating with other people is not a good enough reason to say a game should be rated lower, that's a 'you' limitation).
Thanks for the feedback. Most of the games on our lists we actually enjoy and think they are good games. We just don’t think they are as good as the majority of others do. Some games we didn’t give enough of an explanation, but some I think we did alright. We definitely are still new and need to keep learning and improving though. And yeah we know it invites negative engagement, but it helps us show personality and grow to be better. - Michael
After watching your top 10 games of all time, I can see why you guys chose these games. To each their own, honestly. Janela sounds like she likes light rules and theme, while Michael likes mid to heavy games.
I’m not sure how Janela did her list, but I went by the overall rating of games on BGG and all of them are in the top 300. One is ranked 2nd. I don’t think they should be rated that high, so to me they are overrated. Also most of the games I think are ok or even good. Only one game I didn’t like. We should do a list of games we don’t enjoy, that’s a great idea, but I think you be surprised to hear most of the games on this list will not make the other. Hope this makes sense lol. - Michael.
Yeah, I'm not sure why this game became so popular particularly. It seems like every other large fantasy dungeon crawl campaign game. And it doesn't even come with miniatures like other games of this sort. Instead it comes with standees. I used standees when I played Talisman back in the 80's and 90's.@@GaminUpWithTheJoneses
Interesting list as you have some of my favourites on there, including my best of all time in 1980 (has not aged well), and some games where I completely agree!
I hate that people can’t just play the games they enjoy, why hate on the things that other people like? Board games can be such an incredible medium we should try to bring new players in by telling them how awesome games are. Nothing is worse then seeing someone with a growing interest in board games and that one friend kills that passion by telling them the intro games like ticket to ride or catan or even monopoly that they have been playing actually suck.
Sorry you feel that way. A lot of people like to see others personal opinions, because they can relate to them sometimes, or hear something new. Most of the games we talked about we for the most part enjoy. If you listen to my part, I rated every game at least a 5/10 or better except for Micromacro. The great thing is that if you don’t like what you see you don’t have to watch. Our best video is the top 15 overrated games from 2023, and it got 170+ likes, so lots of people did enjoy it, so we did it again. Once again sorry this wasn’t your cup of tea, but I think there are plenty of people that only talk about games they like on other channels. - Michael.
Lists are always subjective and as long as you can justify it for yourself, fair play. The only 1 I thought was odd was Magic, you both seemed to be approaching it like people who take up cycling and immediately want to get a 2 grand bike and all the gear rather than just going for or a leisurely cycle with friends. Again though, you are competitive minded and I am more co-op 😂 Thanks for your views
Haha yeah thanks. The Magic thing is probably because a friend got us into it and beat up on us all the time, because we had starter decks and some boosters, and they followed pros. But you are right we are those kind of people sometimes. We recently got in to playing pool, and Michael bought expensive good quality tournament balls already lol.
There are 2 board games that for me are a league above the rest. 3 place isn't even close to those 2... and they're both on your list (Spirit Island and Blood on the Clocktower)
I am in agreement with The Quest for Eldorado. I was really excited to play it because so many people said that they really liked it. It was a decent game but way to simple and basic for how hyped it is IMHO.
Nemesis is totally over rated. If you removed all the theme and presentation of the game, you'd be left with a very poorly designed and just not fun to play game at all. The fact that you have the bag at your disposal as a tool to manage how an when aliens will pop and allow the queen to drop on turn one is just lazy game design. So stupid.
You’ve both got a long way to go with your critiques towards board games and being a board game channel in general. While you’re completely allowed to have your opinions, not liking a game because it’s “creepy” or “it’s not the 2nd best game of all time” really aren’t arguments at all. Where’s the nuance?
We’ll I can’t speak for Janela, but Pandemic Legacy is a good game, but it isn’t a great game imo, so I think being ranked 2nd best of all time is overrated. It has an alpha gamer problem, and I like competitive games over cooperative games. - Michael.
I agree these are weak arguments, of course everybody has a right to their own opinon and every game is not for everyone. However when you put yourself out there you owe it to your viewers to actually sink your teeth into the games in question and when you do that you'll have much more compelling answers. The whole it is overrated because you have to rely on other people is quite possibly the worst line of reasoning I've ever heard. I know there are some board games out there that is solo only but barring those isn't the whole reason board games exist to have fun with your family and friends and rely on them whether you compete or cooperate?
@MrRavenex alright sounds like we need to explain more. I just didn’t want the videos to be too long, so we try to do each game as fast as possible. My next one coming out is best games for 2 players, and I think I did better at explaining why I picked those games. Hopefully if we keep working at it we’ll get better. Thanks for the critique.
i disagree only on 2 games wingspan and GWT,, come on! wingspan is a really good game sometimes u just need a cozyish board game and GWT is also great,youre right u really need to compete on those special character (cowboy engineer carpenter?) tho the only thing i hate about it is the finish line mechanics i feel like players has to much control to end the game. i didnt know about micro macro winning an award! now i hate it its not a game its activity and its paper! overpriced game indeed
Micromacro won the biggest award of the year in 2021. The Spiel Des Jahres. It won board game of the year. I think it beat out Dune Imperium by the way, so that makes us even more upset. Michael here. I give Wingspan a 8/10 and GWT 7/10, so they didn’t make my list. I think Wingspan made Janelas list because Wyrmspan exists now. GWT I think she overhyped so was let down, because she loves cows.
Sorry it has been so long. I hope you guys enjoyed this! Let us know what list we should do next.
T2R Europe is all about routes to win. The trick is to use your stations by baiting opponents to block you and then BAM! Deploy a station, and they've helped you complete a route. (I'm a T2R Europe fan as it's the game that got me into the modern era of board games)
Original ticket to ride was one of our favorites that got us into it. I wonder if I expected Europe to play the same way, I was use to, and it was just so different, so it hasn’t felt as good to me. - Michael.
Wingspan and Spirit Island are great picks for this list! Definitely give Cosmic Encounter another go with a different group. It is player dependent but it's a timeless classic and fantastic with the correct group.
Awesome we definitely need to give Cosmic Encounter another try for sure.
Is there a reason not to invite everyone to help attack your target as long as they aren't winning?
That's a fair point, but it makes wining less fun imo. This is why I don't like Munchkin anymore. Why take the lead if it puts a target on my back? "I'll just wait for someone else to and gang up on them ", is what goes in my mind lol.
Completely second this comment
Hard disagree on Spirit Island being overrated. The game is basically a sandbox where a playgroup can self balance their experience. You can pick harder spirits if you find it easy, or pick easier ones if you find it hard. Use different adversaries or none at all, same with scenarios. Play with some hugely synergistic spirit combos, or ones which seem to make no sense. The game has so many ways to tailor your experience. That also leads to huge replay value. Calling it overrated because you aren't into coop board games/ have different tastes in game complexity you enjoy makes little sense to me. It just hurts to think that people might see this video and think "oh, maybe I won't try this game after all if it's overrated". My bias as a fan of this game is showing though, of course.
A few other notes. Imo, you're leaning a bit too hard toward algorithmic content slop with a video like this - long and a bit lacking in nuance with clickbait tile. Would be excusable if it was more entertaining, but right now it's just a bit too dry. In the end, way too long and slow for what it's worth.
Thanks for the feedback. We actually agree with you a lot on Spirit Island. We both like the game. I think it is a good game 7/10, but the feeling like you are losing and the stress it causes hurts it for me a bit. I also think it overstays its welcome because of that. I think if it was a faster game it would be an 8 or 9 for me. Because of my issues with it I don't think it is the 11th best of all time.
Also the other notes are great feedback. You have any suggestions on how to make it more entertaining?
Magic the gathering = The person who spends the most $ is most likely the winner. The #1 reason I stopped playing trading card games and went into board games is because of this. I'm not wealthy and can't spend hundreds on decks every couple of months when a new set comes out.
Magic the gathering is one of my favorite games. I would never ruin that by playing competitively.
Good idea haha. Our first time playing was a prerelease tournament.
I and my gf almost completed micro macro and I didn't even notice the creases lol, it made 0 impact on the gameplay
Sweet We are glad you had a great time. That’s what gaming is all about
New to your channel and love it! Blood on the Clocktower is one of my favorite games, so I'm going to have to disagree with you about it being "just like werewolf", because I think everyone having abilities really helps the game and makes it more fun for everyone playing. I do agree with you that is SUPER EXPENSIVE.
You have to admit it definitely replaces Werewolf though, because one thing for sure is that it does do everything that Werewolf does but better. I don't think it was on my list. I think its a good game, but I'm kinda getting tired of social deduction games lately, so that might be why I don't think it is great.
Nice video, very interesting opinions.
A little bit of feedback:
There's an audience for pretty much everything and just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean it's popularity should be lowered (there are a few things that are universally bad, but of course those wouldn't even make anyone's list), so the use of the word 'overrated' kinda implies everyone else is rating those games higher than they should, which doesn't paint you in a good light and invites negative engagement. Specially when you really don't give compelling reasons on why the game should be rated less than they actually are (come on, you not enjoying cooperating with other people is not a good enough reason to say a game should be rated lower, that's a 'you' limitation).
Thanks for the feedback. Most of the games on our lists we actually enjoy and think they are good games. We just don’t think they are as good as the majority of others do. Some games we didn’t give enough of an explanation, but some I think we did alright. We definitely are still new and need to keep learning and improving though. And yeah we know it invites negative engagement, but it helps us show personality and grow to be better. - Michael
After watching your top 10 games of all time, I can see why you guys chose these games. To each their own, honestly. Janela sounds like she likes light rules and theme, while Michael likes mid to heavy games.
That sums us up quite well haha. Thanks for watching
I think you call this episode “gsm s we don’t really enjoy”. Most of these should not be overrated as a lot are classics or great games!
I’m not sure how Janela did her list, but I went by the overall rating of games on BGG and all of them are in the top 300. One is ranked 2nd. I don’t think they should be rated that high, so to me they are overrated. Also most of the games I think are ok or even good. Only one game I didn’t like. We should do a list of games we don’t enjoy, that’s a great idea, but I think you be surprised to hear most of the games on this list will not make the other. Hope this makes sense lol. - Michael.
Codenames
Gloomhaven
The Mind
Wingspan
Nice. Gloomhaven has been calling down for me lately, so it might be on my overrated list next year.
Yeah, I'm not sure why this game became so popular particularly. It seems like every other large fantasy dungeon crawl campaign game. And it doesn't even come with miniatures like other games of this sort. Instead it comes with standees. I used standees when I played Talisman back in the 80's and 90's.@@GaminUpWithTheJoneses
I thought it was amazing when it first came out, but now I see the flaws.
Interesting list as you have some of my favourites on there, including my best of all time in 1980 (has not aged well), and some games where I completely agree!
How is Catan not on the list...
For me it is rated outside the top 300 so it didn't qualify. - Michael
I hate that people can’t just play the games they enjoy, why hate on the things that other people like?
Board games can be such an incredible medium we should try to bring new players in by telling them how awesome games are. Nothing is worse then seeing someone with a growing interest in board games and that one friend kills that passion by telling them the intro games like ticket to ride or catan or even monopoly that they have been playing actually suck.
Sorry you feel that way. A lot of people like to see others personal opinions, because they can relate to them sometimes, or hear something new. Most of the games we talked about we for the most part enjoy. If you listen to my part, I rated every game at least a 5/10 or better except for Micromacro. The great thing is that if you don’t like what you see you don’t have to watch. Our best video is the top 15 overrated games from 2023, and it got 170+ likes, so lots of people did enjoy it, so we did it again. Once again sorry this wasn’t your cup of tea, but I think there are plenty of people that only talk about games they like on other channels. - Michael.
Another way of telling that you do not like party games or social/semi coop games
1000% agree with Janela's #1. I love the theme, but you can't really develop a strategy.
That’s a fair point. I played it at WSBG last year for the tournament and that was a mistake lol. - Michael
Lists are always subjective and as long as you can justify it for yourself, fair play. The only 1 I thought was odd was Magic, you both seemed to be approaching it like people who take up cycling and immediately want to get a 2 grand bike and all the gear rather than just going for or a leisurely cycle with friends. Again though, you are competitive minded and I am more co-op 😂 Thanks for your views
Haha yeah thanks. The Magic thing is probably because a friend got us into it and beat up on us all the time, because we had starter decks and some boosters, and they followed pros. But you are right we are those kind of people sometimes. We recently got in to playing pool, and Michael bought expensive good quality tournament balls already lol.
I love seeing the NASCAR Champions game on the top shelf.
😂 yeah that is a classic from my childhood. It doesn't fit in the shelves because of the old school Milton Bradley box size.
There are 2 board games that for me are a league above the rest. 3 place isn't even close to those 2... and they're both on your list (Spirit Island and Blood on the Clocktower)
It sounds like we think similarly, just not quite the same amount.
I am in agreement with The Quest for Eldorado. I was really excited to play it because so many people said that they really liked it. It was a decent game but way to simple and basic for how hyped it is IMHO.
Usually Reiner Knizia’s game are pretty simple, but I get what you mean. It feels like it’s missing something.
Nemesis is totally over rated. If you removed all the theme and presentation of the game, you'd be left with a very poorly designed and just not fun to play game at all. The fact that you have the bag at your disposal as a tool to manage how an when aliens will pop and allow the queen to drop on turn one is just lazy game design. So stupid.
Sweet! Glad we aren’t the only ones who think this haha.
I like Hive, more than Chess myself
That’s fair. I can see why some people like it more. I’m just not one of them haha. I wanna give give another chance, but just haven’t yet. - Michael
@@GaminUpWithTheJoneses Pocket adds 2 expansion pieces. I’m don’t love abstract games, but this has enough theme for me.
Yeah we have Pocket, and the expansion pieces do help
Yes. Thank you. Cards Against Humanity is the WORST game that EVERYONE wants to play when I've been at parties.
It feels reassuring to know that someone shares my thoughts.
Nice we aren’t the only ones. Haha
You’ve both got a long way to go with your critiques towards board games and being a board game channel in general. While you’re completely allowed to have your opinions, not liking a game because it’s “creepy” or “it’s not the 2nd best game of all time” really aren’t arguments at all. Where’s the nuance?
We’ll I can’t speak for Janela, but Pandemic Legacy is a good game, but it isn’t a great game imo, so I think being ranked 2nd best of all time is overrated. It has an alpha gamer problem, and I like competitive games over cooperative games. - Michael.
I agree these are weak arguments, of course everybody has a right to their own opinon and every game is not for everyone. However when you put yourself out there you owe it to your viewers to actually sink your teeth into the games in question and when you do that you'll have much more compelling answers. The whole it is overrated because you have to rely on other people is quite possibly the worst line of reasoning I've ever heard.
I know there are some board games out there that is solo only but barring those isn't the whole reason board games exist to have fun with your family and friends and rely on them whether you compete or cooperate?
@MrRavenex alright sounds like we need to explain more. I just didn’t want the videos to be too long, so we try to do each game as fast as possible. My next one coming out is best games for 2 players, and I think I did better at explaining why I picked those games. Hopefully if we keep working at it we’ll get better. Thanks for the critique.
@@GaminUpWithTheJoneses Counterpoint. Games don't have alpha gamer problems. Gamers and gaming groups do.
@gmcanally I agree that’s why I think I don’t care for coop games as much as others. - Michael.
Cards against humanity smh.
As to boardgames, to each their own. 😅
😂 were we way off from what you expected haha?
@@GaminUpWithTheJoneses I was waiting for “Dutch Blitz”. 😄
😂
Whats the problem with Targi? Targi is great!
i disagree only on 2 games wingspan and GWT,, come on! wingspan is a really good game sometimes u just need a cozyish board game and GWT is also great,youre right u really need to compete on those special character (cowboy engineer carpenter?) tho the only thing i hate about it is the finish line mechanics i feel like players has to much control to end the game.
i didnt know about micro macro winning an award! now i hate it its not a game its activity and its paper! overpriced game indeed
Micromacro won the biggest award of the year in 2021. The Spiel Des Jahres. It won board game of the year. I think it beat out Dune Imperium by the way, so that makes us even more upset.
Michael here. I give Wingspan a 8/10 and GWT 7/10, so they didn’t make my list. I think Wingspan made Janelas list because Wyrmspan exists now. GWT I think she overhyped so was let down, because she loves cows.
Wingspan is so easy to spam, its rubbish really. Long live Wyrmspan, far better game.
Haha true. I wonder how popular Wyrmspan will be.