SPOILER ALERT: Here's the complete list: @1:15: Favorite Game of All Time: Spirit Island @2:08: Engine Builder: Terraforming Mars @3:18: For Playing with Your Scumbag Friends: Battlestar Galactica @4:32: Easier Co-operative Game: Thunderbirds @6:13: 2-Player War Game: Star Wars Rebellion @7:50: Sentimental Favorite with Replay-ability: Arkham Horror 2nd Ed. @9:38: Similar Space as Arkham Horror, but Different: Arkham Horror - The Card Game @11:13: Significant Other's Favorite Game: Obsession @12:22: Favorite Abstract Game: Azul @13:25: Popular Favorite: Brass Birmingham @14:47: Dungeon Crawler: Imperial Assault @16:17: Simple Abstract: Santorini @17:35: Best Actual War Game: Paths of Glory @19:23: Whimsical: Junk Art @20:53: "Event" Game for a Special Occasion: Dune (2019) @21:57: Game for Everyone: Sushi Go Party! @23:17: Space Exploration: Leaving Earth @24:55: Light Co-operative Game: The Crew - Mission Deep Sea @26:27: Worker Placement and Adorable Animals: Everdell @28:02: Deck Building that's also Dudes on a Map: Tyrants of the Underdark
@@3MBG It is good to see it there. Though I feel a bit conflicted like I should upvote John Elstad's comment in recognition, but also shouldn't because it is so spoiler filled. Anyway, seeing all the categories laid out like that makes me think that you missed some important ones: Word-games: I'd go for scrabble, but you might prefer bananagrams which leads nicely into... Portable games: The Crew and Sushi Go are not quite take anywhere, though at least not the hugest boxes. I go with travel Hive as an easy carry option that only needs a flat space to play. Old games for nongamers: Chess, Draughts, Go, Backgammon - something that would work without teaching from scratch. Perhaps easiest of all; a basic 52 deck of playing cards that can be so many different games including... Gambling games: Poker and the like are popular for a reason.
This part of the video is brilliant. Not only does it show what a specific game replaces but it almost acts as recommendations. If you like this game....try these.
1 Great Western Trail 2 Glen More II 3 Targi 4 Castles of Burgundy 5 Dune 6 On Mars 7 Bus 8 Antiquity 9 Cacao 10 Skull King 11 Watergate 12 Azul 13 Welcome to 14 Gaia Project 15 Android Netrunner 16 Blood Rage 17 Inis 18 Clank! 19 Amun Re 20 King of Tokyo
Glen More II: Chronicles doesn't get anywhere near the amount of love it deserves. I think it has something to do with people simply not giving it a chance over what they see as a ripoff of Carcassonne and Catan.
One of the reasons I love your content is that you always provide options for those who want them. This is so good to see that although you like Everdell most, there are several games you could recommend for those who for some reason do not like it or cannot get it.
This was a great idea and a fun exercise for me, I have a couple repeats of games that do similar things, but I feel like this list covers all the categories I need and includes family favorites and personal game group favorites that I just could not ever part with: Twilight Imperium - big event Root - war game Dune Imperium - deck builder / worker placement Blood Rage - DoaM Terraforming Mars - engine builder Return to Dark Tower - hybrid dungeon crawler LotR Journey's in Middle Earth - dungeon crawler / campaign Eldritch Horror - coop horror / adventure Wingspan - engine builder Everdell - worker placement Heat Pedal to the Metal - Race game Cascadia - tile laying Marvel United - coop / family Horrified - coop / family Villainous - competetive / family Quack's of Quedlinberg - bag builder / family Camel Up - party / family Dixit - party / family Just One - party Love Letter - filler
And of course this is the perfect collection for me, and only me, at this particular moment in time. That's for any of the dullards out there who take exception to the title because i didn't include their favourite, or who just ask "what about the game i like!". The fun thing with this video is to do the list yourself instead of saying why mine sucks. Tell me why your rules!
What J neglected to explain about playing Junk Art when I was very very pregnant is that you're terrified of bumping the table and sending everyone's sculptures flying ... and that's when you *don't* have an extra big tummy sticking out the front!
Imperial Assault! Good choice! Very thematic game, feels like real Star Wars experience. Also, magnificent skirmish mode. Interesting, that you put Dice Throne in a Dangeon Crawler category.
The good thing about Everdell and it's expansions is that it is always Everdell plus 1 expansion. I like how they deaigned it so that you only ever play with one expansion rather than throwing everything into the game. Honestly, Newleaf is really worth a look in.
I agree, though I have mixed in Belfaire with others... But, Belfaire is not really a full expansion. I just like how it replaces the tree and adds a couple of small features.
What a good idea for a video, 3MBG. And who better to offer guidance? Kudos for the 'elimination mechanic', showing us which games were, by implication, culled from your collection by means of the inclusion of another. (That is, they would be if you actually did this.) Fully expected Thunderbirds, because I know your affection for it. Was glad to see Obsession, Azul, Santorini, and Crew - MDS. You're right about Paths of Glory being under-publicized. I do remember telling you how I admired a 1957 film by the same name.
Santorini is in my top ten for the reasons you shared, but I do play with the powers every time. It’s hilarious when you play someone with a power you think is op because they win, maybe even quickly, but then you play a second game swapping the powers and they win again with the power you had. The variety and variability skyrockets with the powers. I’ve done a “campaign” where we split all the gods in half and then battled, the winner “capturing” their opponents god. If a rulebook matchup said the two gods shouldn’t face, we just flip the next one, it was a fun one.
I have never enjoyed a video about games more than this one. Not just the games you selected, but the honorable mentions brought back so many memories. Some of the more exotic games are in my own collection, and seldom mentioned by other reviewers. I am really into themes and mechanics. So board games are a natural for me. Thanks for taking the time to create this experience.
Interesting list, and difficult to make my own. For my own collection, I'm trying to hold it to fifty, with a free game from a Famous Designer, so may end up with about sixty games. I tend to play solo, and have to add multiplayer games 'onspec', more in the hope they are good than from actual experience. Here goes. 1) Marvel Champions - many heroes, villains, encounter sets, aspects. 2) Star Realms : Frontiers - deckbuilder 3) Star Wars : Imperial Assault - just diving into this one, glad to see it on your list 4) Ticket to Ride first game I played on BGA, love the simplicity. 5) Race for the Galaxy - need to get this to the table more 6) Star Wars: The Clone Wars - may swap out for Pandemic- Fall of Rome 7) Dawn of the Zeds : Third Edition 8) Legendary Encounters : Alien Deck building 9) Zombicide 2nd Ed just started painting it 10) Antike II 11) Rurik Dawn of Kiev 12) Dune Imperium 13) Undaunted : Normandy 14) Leaving Earth - I love space exploration also, glad to hear its a good game 15) The Resistance - or Avalon, haven't played either. 16) D-Day at Omaha Beach - wargame to take up the afternoon. Maybe Enemy action : Ardennes instead for the 2 player option. 17) Hansa Teutonica - 18) The King is Dead 2nd Ed - 19) Architects of the West Kingdom 20) Junk Art - does look like fun for a group Alternates as I get some of these played - Jaipur, Just One, Targi, HEAT
Such a good list. So much overlap with some of my favourite games, that I’ve added several to my “buy list”. Here are my 20 (note: Santorini, War of the Ring, Star Wars Rebellion, and Mage Knight will likely join the list once I get them): 1. Spirit Island 2. Through the Ages 3. Brass: Birmingham 4. Terraforming Mars 5. Dune: Imperium 6. Dominion 7. Klask 8. Azul 9. Everdell 10. Race for the Galaxy 11. Agricola 12. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea 13. Cascadia 14. Robinson Crusoe 15. Cockroach Poker Royal 16. Go 17. Lost Ruins of Arnak 18. 7 Wonders Duel 19. Wingspan 20. Carcassonne
I've got 27 games, so paring my collection down to 20 would be comparatively less painful, haha. In no particular order: Spirit Island Root Bloc by Bloc Transcontinental Wise Guys Century: Eastern Wonders Skull Startups Scout Arboretum Lords of Waterdeep Farlight Istanbul Kemet Oath Concordia Sushi Go! Deluxe Cubitos Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest Ethnos
An interesting challenge. If I had to reduce my collection to 20 games, here's what I think I'd pick: 1) Cosmic Encounter - Alliances, bluffing and wacky powers, my favorite game of all-time 2) Wiz-War - Chaotic multi-player battle royale 3 Twilight Imperium 4E - Epic 4X space adventure 4) Marvel Champions - Deck customization and co-op 5) Memoir '44 - Head-to-head or epic 8-player Overlord battles 6) DOOM: The Board Game - Dungeon crawler, the best of its kind 7) Marvel United - Light, family-friendly co-op with variable difficulty 8) Radlands - Tight, beautiful, challenging head-to-head card battler 9) The Menace Among Us - Social deduction/hidden traitor, BSG in 60-90 minutes 10) Gaslands - As table-top minis games go, this is my pick 11) Summoner Wars - Card battler with incredible variety and fascinating spatial element 12) Pyramid Arcade - Need abstract games? Look no further 13) Dune - Diplomacy in space 14) Cyclades (w/ Titans) - Area control and bidding blended well 15) The Thing: The Board Game - More social deduction/hidden traitors, can never have too much 16) Horrified - Pure "Pandemic-style" co-op, clean, enjoyable, accessible 17) Raiders of the North Sea - Worker placement, one of the few that I like 18) Mission: Red Planet - Area control and special powers, clean and quick-playing 19) Long Shot: The Dice Game - Racing/betting game, one of the best around 20) LotR: The Confrontation - Stratego with special powers, amazing design
Shout-out to Santorini as well. Love its core rules. It wouldn't call the cards superfluous, they certainly create interesting mix ups, but the core rules with the nice, nice pieces shine on their own.
This was fantastic! I especially liked your out of contention picks after each game that made the cut. There are so many good games getting knocked out. But, even when the sight of a game getting cut made me balk, I could understand your reasoning.
The way I'm thinning my collection is by taking games into my board games club in school. My collection at home gradually shrinks to mine and my wife's favourite games 😊 great video. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
My perfect 20 1)Spirit island 2)Mage knight 3)Robinson crusoe 4)Hadrian's wall 5)Raiders of scythia 6) bloody inn 7) petrichor 8) tiny towns 9) search for planet x 10) turing machine 11) calico 12)vengeance roll and fight 13) long shot 14) parks 15) creature comforts 16) Dune Imperium 17) set a watch 18) lux aeterna 19) railroad ink 20) one deck dungeon
With you on: Sushi Go Party Santorini Tyrants of the Underdark Spirit Island Everdell Would have included instead: Guards of Altantis 2 - If this isn't the best strategic team game in existence, I will eat my hat. It's amazing as a team game, and you can even have a cutthroat and thinking two-player head to head game if you want to. Rising Sun - Phenomenal area control game that also brings in diplomacy, bluffing and a side order of betrayal. Fabulous Feed the Kraken - absolutely superb social deception that doesn't take hours and hours Alchemists - A glorious logic puzzle is at the heart of this euro, and it's a delight to play every single time Massive Darkness 2 - A rollicking time of a highly accessible and fun dungeon crawl that will have you taking out monsters and looting to your heart's content until the early hours of the morning. Captain Sonar - A frenetic group party experience. Enough said. Bullet - competitive or co-op, with optional real-time elements, wrapped in a puzzly game that's easy to understand. Great. Edge of Darkness - For pure "deckbuilders" - this one gets my pick due to the multitude of options available to mix and match, and the way that making cards "better" can also end up making them "worse" if they happen to get drawn onto the joint adverserial "tower" that looms over the board. Concordia - It's just a deliciously elegant design Gugong - A great worker placement and resource management game that is gorgeous to boot. Aaaaand I think I can even leave it there with a limit of 15 games!
Great video and great list. Arkham Horror the Card Game has nearly infinite replay ability once you have 4+ campaigns and 30+ investigators in your collection. It is hundreds and hundreds of hours of fun.
Nice to hear your reasoning for each choice, and to see what that choice forced out as well. Really well done. My 20 as at this moment of time, bearing in mind I am a solo player who enjoys playing multi-handed where no solo mode exists (and sometimes even when it does). Small footprint 1. Pocket Landship (free trial version) - is a PNP on BGG. 2. Rollway Station - is also a free PNP on BGG 3. Volfyirion 4. Knightmare Chess (requires a chess set obviously) - this is the only one I haven't soloed but it is so bonkers I just have to keep it for the odd occasion someone wants to play. Larger footprint - thinky games that won't hurt your head too much 5. Wingspan 6. Fields of Green 7. Alubari - A Nice Cup of Tea 8. Expedition: Northwest Passage 9. Silverton 10. CO2 (First Edition) 11. Obsession 12. Nusfjord Brain burners - to me anyway 13. Leaving Earth 14. Yokohama 15. Pax Pamir 16. Labyrinth - The War on Terror Table hogs - most have been acquired fairly recently and are currently unplayed but I really want to have the time and space to get into them. 17. Great Wall - I have played this one 18. Middara 19. Xia - Legends of a Drift System 20. Hegemony
1) Great western trail New Zealand 2) mage knight 3) 18OE 4) Madeira 5) pendragon 6) lotr LCG 7) age of innovation 8) Lisboa 9) castles of mad king Ludwig 10 love letter 11) battlestar galactica 12) codeword Cromwell 13 the convicted 14) hornet leader 15) stockpile 16) oathsworn 17) legendary kingdoms 18) long shot: the dice game 19) through the ages 20) rococco
Fun exercise. Been in the hobby for nearly 20yrs. Played 500+, owned 300+, and currently have 16 base games. I could see this number comfortably being 10 or less. • Agricola Master of Britain • COIN Tribe: Boudica’s Revolt • Commands and Colors Ancients • Conquest of Paradise • Crokinole • Fresh Fish • Indonesia • Pax Porfiriana • Undaunted North Africa
1. Spirit Island 2. Raptor 3. Hive 4. Riftforce 5. Godtear 6. Dice Throne 7. Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn 8. Quantum 9. Vagrantsong 10. Star Wars: The Clone Wars I’d list ten more but that’s all I’ve kept so far. Still kinda new but trying to curate some variety and the ones at the bottom are newer to me.
You and Steph's Azul problem is EXACTLY the same as my wife and I in Ticket to Ride games - she has like a 75% win rate against just me, but when there's 3-5 players, I win more than not and I think she's maybe won 1 or 2 times total. Great list, thanks for sharing! Made me go look at my collection of about 80 and wonder what I'd take
My list would include: Ankh (dudes on map plus fab card strategy), Targi (small box, so smooth to play, deep enough), Segikahara (my war game, with hidden movement on top), Innovation (Civ plus combos, wild but thinky), Radlands and Keyforge (2 player battlers, one is the ultimate, the other in-a-box), Paris La Cite de La Lumiere (the perfect polynomial game where the polynomial mechanic is actually thematic, and so cut-throat for such a pretty game), Pax Porfiriana / Pamir 2nd Ed (economics, politics, and so very clever), Tigris & Euphrates (the best area control game bar none, a classic that twists the area majority mechanic to new heights)…. Sorry can’t get to 20 in a chat window, lol!
Ok..... Concordia, Just One, Twilight Imperium, Terraforming Mars, Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Brass Birmingham, Parks, Viticulture, Scythe, Love Letter, Star Wars Rebellion, Carcassonne, Istanbul, Dont mess with Cthulhu, Spirit Island, Sleeping Gods, Onitama, Res Arcana, Hive....Thats the fast selection without thought but immediately after viewing yours which will provoke confirmation and recollection bias. PS Fantastic thing to do....now to the collection to only 10 then 5 then 3!!! That would be a nice FU.
Wanted to thank you for including Tyrants In The Dark. It’s a great game with a solid fan-made solo variant by Michael Kelley. I’ve only recently picked it up, but it’s quickly racked up quite a bit of table time. Dig your channel and all that you do. Keep up the great work!
Making a list like this would be impossible for me. My tastes change back and forth constantly throughout the years. A game I'm tired of now, I could get back into and play repeatedly in a few months.
One of your best videos! Plus I like the fact we really get to know you and yours better. Definitely would be fun to sit down and do a game night with you and your friends.
Fun exercise. The two picks of yours that stood out to me - and I would likely pick them as well - are Obsession and Sushi Go Party. There might be one or two more, but I especially like those ones out of picks I doubt would be on too many similar UA-cam lists.
Leaving Earth is my favorite game of all time and how I found your channel. I actually clicked on this video solely to see if you'd chosen it for this list because NOTHING scratches that same itch. Cannot recommend it enough to anyone it sounds interesting to.
You really have a gift for clear and condensed presentation. This just hit home further how talented you are at analysis navigating the minefield that is board game scene. Also hits close to home because I too was suddenly and excruciatingly ill and couldn’t work. I thankfully got better but my newfound love of board games remained. All the best
@@3MBG you live long enough to mourn the loss of the old you whilst simultaneously being appreciative for every chance you get living this newfound second life. I’ve learned a lot in 3.5 years. I’m sure there’s still more to go and more to grow. Cheers to you too mate
In alphabetical order: 1. Andean Abyss - first COIN I've played 2. Brass Birmingham & Lancashire - only played Lancashire and never won but love it so much I am 100% convinced I will love Birmingham as well 3. Cartographers - my wife enjoys it a lot and my bad drawing makes it fun for me as well 4. Catharsis - surprisingly good, although I only have 2 plays so far 5. Eldritch Horror - I hate it, it frustrates me so much.. and I've only won until I found out how wrong was I calculating how many dice should be thrown.. have everything and will probably keep it forever :D.. for the times when I am too happy for my own good 6. Escape Plan - just a great game 7. Forbidden Stars - played only once with 4 people. We didn't finish the game, gave up on the 4th hour. I have a spanish copy and I put translations in the card sleeves :D. I also have 2 big fan expansions, waiting on the third to be finalized and someone to make it available as a groul order or something. Not sure if I'll ever get the group to regularly play it but I adore the design so much.. I also love the 40k universe. Also waiting on the Redux.. hopefully the IP will be good. 8. Infinity - a bit too complicated and I don't enjoy metal minis (I don't paint so that's partly the reason). Love the universe, love the reaction system and I have the N4 and Code One rulebooks. I have every intention to start playing regularly with my wife and with 40k/Necromunda proxies, we'll see how playable it is this way. 9. It's a Wonderful Kingdom - didn't look like something I'd enjoy at first. How wrong was I.. 10. Kingdom Death: Monster - have not played much as I got it relatively recently. I like the boss battler genre a lot, Oatshworn was great, Vagrantsong is nice, I liked the Dark Souls and Monster Hunter World boss battles. Oathsworn was a one time experience for me and I passed it along. I added KDM in this list for 2 reasons - I played a couple of games and I enjoyed them a lot. The universe is brutal and I like this kind of fantasy horror. I do not think it is the best boss battler out there however. I am almost completely sure that Aeon Trespass will be better. I just have not tried it so I am putting the one I have. 11. Leaving Earth - really nice game. Looking forward to the next game from Joe Fatula. I believe it was Moon Landing related. 12. Letters from Whitechappel - all time favourite for me and my wife. I think I win quite a bit more than her but we still enjoy it. I bought and tried pretty much all hidden movement games I could find just because we loved LfW. It is still the best for us from the ones we tried, but we do have quite a few waiting for table time so it may get replaced as best hidden movement game ever at some point. 13. Mage Knight - pretty awesome design 14. Nemesis - really enjoyable I think but I need a bigger group to actually enjoy it 15. Rococo - very nice game and the deluxe edition looks awesome 16. SHASN - unexpectedly good and very nice looking game. Looking forward to Azadi. 17. Spirit Island - needs more plays but based on 2 plays I knoe it is good enough for me to put it in this list 18. Star Wars Rebellion - very enjoyable. Probably would have enjoyed it even more if it was slightly shorter. 19. Twisted Fables - I've seen people say it is not very well balanced. No issue for me and my wife thought, we just enjoy the design (both game and graphic). Probably our favourite card game right now. 20. Watergate - short and engaging Additional notes: 1. Would love to try the Pax games and I think at least one of them would get a spot in the list. I know about the controversies around their designer, but I just ignore his essays and enjoy the game design (played a few of his games, not the pax games though, they are still waiting on my shelf) 2. Android Netrunner/Nisei, Star Wars LCG and Arkham Horror LCG have a chance od entering the list. Love the universes and the games seem to be very interesting in mechanics. Only played Arkham Horror LCG of them and haven't decided yet if I like it that much or not
A COIN would have made my list, but i've been reluctant to talk about them much as my game is part of the series. My one would likely bump Dune out of my 20 ;)
@@3MBG your game can't come out soon enough.. really looking forward to it. I decided I want to try every single COIN even before you announced it :). I tried a few of the games and the like/dislike ratio is about 1:1. I appreciate the amount of differences these games have. Pendragon i.e. was too complex for my liking and the theme was not my favourite so it went out of my collection. I'm also quite interested to see how Gandhi implemented a peaceful faction. I'm curious to see how The Troubles will come out. I know it was originally supposed to be GMT but currently it is Compass Games who will publish it.
I thought it would be funny to make a list of 20 games that 3 Minute Board Games threw out, 1 from each category. Ark Nova, Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, Pandemic, Scythe, Outer Rim, Too Many Bones, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Century, Yokohama, Gloomhaven, Between Two Cities, Pavlov's House, Cartographers, Perseverance, King of Tokyo, Beyond The Sun, Forbidden Island, Alien Frontiers, Kemet. That's 19, because Spirit Island didn't throw anything out, so I guess I'll add Castles of Burgundy. Or, I would be pretty happy with all of the games that Obsession pushed out for you.
Great video as always! It could be fun to do some "perfect collection" based on space restrictions. Since, usually the most frequent storage solution is Ikea Kallax-style bookshelves it would be fun to try to restrict yourself in a 2x2, 2x4 and 4x4 shelves 😅
I loved Everdell so much (I played it originally a bunch on TTS) that I got the complete collection that was like 200 bucks. I haven't gotten to all the expansions cause I really wanna taste each one and get a feel for em. The one that adds the market nad the flower festival I always play with, it just adds stuff that totally can slot into the base game. I love when certain expansions feel like that. A number of games I have have an expansions that is like "Well I'll just never not play with it!" Ah Arkham Horror. That was really my first modern board game. I wasn't into board games at the time in like...2012? But I was really into a website at the time called Thinkgeek. It was an online niche and mainstream nerd shop. I got it just solely based on the fact I was obsessed with Lovecraft at the time; Played a bunch. Got all the expansions for it and fit em into the original box (except the tokens and whatnot) and played the hell out of it. So good.
Superbly done and entertaining from start to finish. I really enjoyed learning about your personal experiences and why this hobby means so much to you.
Great stuff. I think about a list like this for myself quite often. Twilight Imperium War Of The Ring Hansa Teutonica Yinsh Freedom: Underground Railroad Brass Birmingham Catan: Starfarers Letters From Whitechapel Clash Of Cultures: Monumental Edition Imperial Fleet: The Dice Game 1175: Rebellion Eclipse Champions Of Midgard Clockwork Wars The Grizzled Viticulture No Thanks Camel Up Nations: The Dice Game
@@3MBG it’s about 15 minutes per player, has great decisions, and feels like you’ve built a civ at the end. The quickest civ game I know of that is also good. A masterpiece.
I like how you included games that are excluded by choosing a game to preempt the questions in the comments like "what about this game?" 😊 great collection!
It was mostly to show my internal thought process, but yes, it has also worked to stave off many of those comments and make the overall tone in the comments brighter!
Star Wars: Imperial Assault is one of my three favorite games, and I rarely hear it mentioned in most lists of recommended games. Sadly, I've only played the initial campaign once, but it ranks as one of the best gaming experiences in my life. (I eventually bought everything for it -- all of which I actually painted a few years back.) I also enjoy (and own) a few of the others mentioned in this video.
Interesting challenge, looking over one's collection & selecting a top 20 to keep. Here's my two cents worth (in no priority order): (1) Dark Ages (Holy Roman Empire), (2) Dark Ages (Charlemagne), (3) Downfall of the Reich (Do It Games), (4) Star Wars Rebellion (with the expansion set), (5) Europa: For Whom the Bell Tolls, (6) Britannia, (7) Twilight Imperium IV, (8) Where There is Discord, (9) Thin Red Line, (10) Horus Heresy (GW), The Horus Heresy: Burning of Prospero (GW), (11) Legion of Honour, (12) Hellenica (Mr B Games), (13) The Dark Summer (GMT), (14) Thirty Years War (GMT), (15) Battles of Westeros, (16) Commands & Colors, Napoleonic, (17) History of the World, (18) Paths of Glory, (19) A Distant Plain, and (20) Europa Universalis: The Price of Power. If 20 is all I can keep, that's my list.
Lesley, I have two copies of HOTW and I would never sell either of them. The game works solitaire or with fellow gamers. What helps my gaming a lot is 2nd Edition of Stuka Joe's card play system (from GMT Games); can't recommend highly enough what Jose has done producing that system for us gamers; man's a genius. But to add to your dilemmas, with my list above, I just took delivery of two kickstarters and, tragically, if forced to cull to 20 games, both 'Homeworld Fleet Command' (with all it's shortcomings acknowledged) as well as 'Dunes of Arrakis', both would go on my shelf. The games then needing to be sold would become (14) Thirty Years War and (18) Paths of Glory. Of course, despite being 60yo, I would be sobbing having to dispose of either. Both are excellent games.
I stay around 104 games (not counting expansions), since that's 2 games a week per year. Went up to 300 hundreds twice, not anymore, i found my core games
Excellent. That was the level i was at before i stared the channel. literally 104 games as well, all played and no game stay unplayed longer than 2 weeks. If i quit reviewing, i think i would work back down to that level for sure
Of course, 3MBG format is great. It is not quite fair to recommend games that cannot be attained, but the fantastic "out of contention" makes up for that completely. If you don't like this, get that. Awesome. Looking forward to seeing a few run throughs of these scoundrels in these games in your channel. ^.^
Great interesting list, thank you. This just goes to show, how vast and accommodating to various tastes a boardgame world is: due to my main gaming group’s preferences I can’t fathom an “essential 20” without a hidden movement and a push-your-luck game.
Star Wars Rebellion is a hidden movement game (The empire is hunting the rebel base which can move) and leaving Earth is totally a push your luck game. You can test everything thoroughly, and have safe rockets and come last. Or push them into service without proper testing and hope they don't explode.
I think this is my favourite video you have done. It was particularly interesting to see the games you would sacrifice in a particular category. Several of your picks were ones I would have chosen--which probably has something to do with my purchasing some of them after you raved about them! I own Leaving Earth because of you, though I still have not played it... Winter is coming, so the time is ripe to get it out. For me: Ticket to Ride, Root, Brass Birmingham, Spirit Island, Pandemic, Carcassonne Hunters and Gatherers, War of the Ring, Pax Porfiriana, Telestrations, Galenus, Hansa Teutonica, Sitting Ducks, Kanban, Leaving Earth (even though I have not played it yet), Captains of the Golden Age, Imperial, Scythe, Upon a Salty Ocean, and CO2 Second Chance. The thing is, the list would also depend on what I have access to. I am inclined to hold onto games that no-one else owns or that are hard to get. The local cafe, for example, has Dune Imperium, so I don't need to own it.
Yep, there were definitely games that didnt enter contention at all because friends own them. One reason none of the garphill games made the cut i expect.
Really fantastic distillation down to 20 top-tier games. While I haven't played every game on this list, there's quite a lot of overlap with my own collection and I'm very intrigued to try everything suggested here when the opportunity arises.
Great list! Good to see finally see your face Jarrod after so many 3 Minute videos. I like how you offered other options in each category as well. Thanks for the video.
DUUUUUDE! Arkham Horror 2nd is my all time favorite game. It took me a long time but I finally finished the whole collection early this year and now I'm plotting out prints to make a box for everything (woodworker in my free time)
Oh nice. One of the guys in my group is an avid woodworker, he made the table im sitting at for me. And you know what, he also made a big box for all his arkham stuff ;)
Great video, Jay! Not gonna give a whole list but there are a few crossovers from yours that are on my list. War of the Ring and Rebellion (surely there's room for both). Unfathomable or maybe Dead of Winter ( Argh, I've yet to get a group to table either one with but I dream). Arkham Horror 2nd Ed. Absolutely. I have Dune and Tyrants of the Underdark but haven't table either yet 😔. Also I could never get rid of a game that I've painted. Nemesis (all of it). Kemet Cyclades A Touch of Evil Burgle Bros. 2 Level 7 Omega Protocol Defenders of the Last Stand 😜
Wow! What a great exercise! I've been thinking about how much I need to cull my collection (about 200). I had set my sights on 50 -- that's a different game every week with two weeks off. Then I thought, well, what about the warm-up? So 50 big games, plus 50 small games. And now I'm back to 100, which in the grand scheme of things isn't that much less than 200, and oh god help me I have a problem.... :)
1. Brass Birmingham 2. Lord of the Rings LCG 3. Power Grid 4. Wingspan 5. Terraforming Mars 6. The Game 7. Nemesis 8. Decrypto 9. Spirit Island 10. Rummikub 11. Inis 12. Avalon 13. Race for the Galaxy 14. Ticket to Ride Europe 15. Twilight Imperium 4th Ed 16. Terraforming Mars 17. Terra Mystica 18. Survive! 19. Clank! 20. 6 Nimmt
That's a great list! Mine is probably something like this at the moment in no particular order: 20. Heat 19. The Game 18. Scout 17. Ra 16. The Thing: The Board Game 15. Kanban EV 14. War of the Ring 13. War Chest 12. Tigris & Euphrates 11. Clank! Catacombs 10. Castles of Burgundy 9. Fields of Arle 8. Feast for Odin 7. Whitehall Mystery 6. Food Chain Magnate 5. Concordia 4. Barrage 3. Bohnanza 2. Carcassonne 1. La Granja
@@3MBG I luckily got one as part of a group buy in NZ, it's so good! If it still hasn't arrived by Wellycon I'll bring it along for you to try if you like!
This is a fantastic video, loved every second of it. Great choices. So glad to see Arkham Horror The Card Game in here (my number 2 game of all time, after Netrunner)
Santorini hasn't been hitting the table lately, I suspect because it's enormous compared to tighter 2p games like Onitama and Hive, but it's one of the first (smallish) modern board games I got properly into and holds a special place in my heart. I do think that the golden fleece in the expansion is an excellent idea for playing a balanced and even more positional game and may even be my preferred game mode. I totally agree with your take on the Pantheon edition and solo/co-op Riddle of the Sphinx expansion. "Why do this?" Based on the price point and thoughtlessness of ROTS, I think it was a cash grab. I would have liked the more balanced god powers and prettier pieces, but it just wasn't worth ~80USD (IIRC) to me, plus expensive shipping to Canada. Maybe if it makes it onto a FLGS shelf for 50CAD I'll think about it, but even then it doesn't seem to add enough, especially if my groups don't play that one often. Thank you for the video, it was a very interesting list and has made me add games to my to-play list, which I hope to do at a board game café. I did take some slight offense to Nemesis being cut out due to BS:G, but that's mostly because I can pull Nemesis Co-op mode out with any group of people for an utterly incredible narrative and thematic experience that everyone can enjoy if they don't mind the time-to-play, so I don't usually think about it as a hidden identities/betrayal game.
1) Spirit island 2) Arkham TCG 3) Pandemic Legacy Season 2 4) Dice Throne 5) The Game 6) Incan Gold 7) Revolution 8) Terraforming Mars 9) Betrayal at the House on the Hill 10) Trial by Trolley 11) Magic Maze 12) Mysterium 13) Arkham Horror 14) Ticket to Ride 15) Hanabi 16) Skull 17) Agricola 18) Dominion 19) Smash Up 20) Pandemic Legacy Season 0
Tough one, but probably: 1. Xia 2. Agricola 3. Pandemic Clone Wars 4. Star Wars Armada 5. Sushi go party 6. Tichu 7. Glen More II 8. Fields of Fire 9. Fire at the Lake 10. Enemy Action Ardennes 11. Distilled 12. Tiny Epic Dungeons 13. Isle of Cats 14. Dead of Winter - Long Night 15. Wingspan 16. Imperial Assault 17. Xenoshyft Dreadmire 18. Wizards 19. Nemesis 20. Clash of Cultures No particular order...
I have not played all of the games you have on your list, but it looks like a great list and many of them I agree with. If I do not pick Chess and Dungeons and Dragons which are actually two of my favorite games, I would choose. My top 20 would be (not in order): 1. Codenames. I have not played Dixit yet but will soon and some say it is better. 2. Hero Quest. I have not played Gloomhaven yet which may be better. 3. Spirit Island 4. Azul 5. Arkham Horror Second Edition 6. Brass Birmingham 7. War of the Rings 8. Carcassonne 9. Scruples 10.Orient Express, I have not played Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective which I hear is good. 11.Merchant Marauders. I have not played Dead Reckoning or Maracaibo. 12.Castles of Burgundy 13.Ticket to Ride 14.Scythe 15.Gaia Project 16.Pandemic Legacy 17.Santorini 18.The Quest for El Dorado 19.Heat Pedal to the Metal 20.The Lost Ruins of Arnak
I wasn't as strict on games replacing others but I did want to hit a bunch of bases. Here's my 20: Cosmic Encounter (beer & pretzels as well as infinitely variable) The Crew: I keep both the OG and the wet one in one box so keeping both :P (Light coop, card game) Marvel United (infinitely variable, light coop) Root (war game, highly replayable) Cthulhu Wars (cthulhus on a map, this is my "bling" game) Heat: Pedal to the Metal (Race game, modular play modes) Dominion (deckbuilding, infinitely variable) Eclipse (this is my 'event' style game) Gloomhaven (I was deciding between this and Massive Darkness 2 for my dungeon crawler and decided I wanted to keep a campaign game) Time's Up (my favorite party game!) New Angeles (negotiation, semi-coop, I think this game is singular in what it does) Power Grid (economic, medium weight, expandable) Radlands (this is my M:tG / Netrunner replacement) The Quest for El Dorado (family weight game, deckbuilder) The Resistance (social deduction; very light weight can teach to anyone) Roll for the Galaxy (this is my engine builder of choice) Spirit Island (This is actually my solo pick. Beat out Final Girl as it plays 1-3 just as good) Tapestry (my 'guilty' pleasure game. This doesn't specifically fit any holes other than I find it a joy to play) Viticulture (this one goes from lightweight to medium to coop and I enjoy all three ways to play) Xia: Legends of a Drift System (My sandbox game. Beating out Star Wars Outer Rim) I think you were right about Arkham: lcg and I may make room for that if I actually had to go down to 20 which is amusing as its a game I'm actively thinking about getting rid of. I love it as a solo game but tend to not play it with the game group as the deckbuilding doesn't lend itself to group play imo. Truly an amazing game and if I were making room for a lifestyle game it'd def hit the 20; probably over Quest for El Dorado as that ones a bit redundant.
I have a lot of other interests besides board games, so I also am cutting down to just a handful: Spirit Island (with expansions), Horizons of Spirit Island, the GIPF games, Monikers, and I want to get a good Crokinole board still. There isn’t too much I really feel the need to get right now, as I don’t have regular gaming groups.
It's good to see someone else enthusiastic for leaving earth, but I also kinda feel once you've got your various technologies beyond the point of them suddenly failing, and you've worked out what you need to reach various places (essentially, solving the puzzle of the game itself), the game becomes very predictable. I felt this even more keenly when I played with friends that had never tried it before. Suddenly it was that I could just blast to the moon immediately without issue, whereas they were just getting the hang of the games principles. But I hope someone creates a more combative version based on this game as it is truly a hidden gem.
1. Wingspan 2. Terraforming Mars 3. Everdell 4. Pan Am 5. Parks 6. Dixit 7. Love Letter 8. Just One 9. Splendor 10. Azul 11. Pandemic 12. 7 Wonders 13. Welcome To 14. Rolling Realms 15. Ticket to Ride Europe 16. Little Prince Make Me a Planet 17. Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle 18. Star Trek Missions 19. Similo 20. The Crew
Star Trek missions is one of those ones i missed and it seems like it would be in my wheel house. "Star Trek away missions" should be hitting my table sometime in the next week or two as well
Nice little video. And some great oldschool games (such as BsG and Dune) If I had to have 20 games that would cover most of the mechanics/themes and players types/numbers, I would go for something around those : Flipships (or men at work) Heat (or downforce) Astro Knights The game MoW Little Town Street masters (or Cthulhu death may die) Detective Club Cascadia Guild of merchant explorers Alice's Garden Lord of the rings lcg Battle for Rokugan (or Kemet) Just One Pandemic clone wars Skull king (or Jekyll VS Hyde) Warp's edge (or Bullet) Sentinels of the multiverse DE Spirit island Molkky (wooden outdoor game from Finland) Cheers from belgium
The board games around this house... and "others"... we are mainly wargamers, so we play infinity, conquest last argument of kings, warmachine, marvel crisis protocol and Malifaux. However, what is in a war gamers "closet" that is not the pile of unrealized potential or the pile of shame. In no particular order the games that get pulled out for a board game night. Ugh we fail at the "board" games. 1. Godtear 2. Battletech (if it gets played on hex maps its a board game) 3. Super dungeon explore 4. Arcadia quest 5. Risk 6. The a-maze-ing labyrinth 7. Sword & sorcery 8. Chess 9. Backgammon 10. Dominoes 11. Shogi 12. Mahjong 13. Othello/reversi Card and chips games 14. poker 15. Crib 16. bridge 17. euchre 18. rummoi 19. Rummy 20. spades Most commonly played "board games" are crib and Godtear. Least played 16 - 20 basically only see the light of day when my parents or cousins are in town.
@@3MBG that was about the same age I was introduced to Battletech. I still have all my old models and their horrible inexperienced paint jobs done with that awful testers enamel, painted with that scrub brush they called a paint brush. with all the skills and knowledge of paint in pot goes on model... glop... Pulling them out of the display case and putting those relics on the table is always such a fun reminder of just how far we have come in 30 plus years. Today, it's washing, priming, basing with the air brush, Oil washed, oil wet blending and the joy o, acrylics. With the experience of thousands of hours with a brush in hand.
20 is still alot how about 10 1. Veiled fate 2. Everdell 3. Nemesis 4. Cthulhu death may die 5. Betrayal at the house on the hill 3rd edition 6. Bloodrage 7. Blood on the clocktower 8. Catan 9. Dune Imperium 10. Terraforming mars
20. Wingspan 19. Unfathomable 18. Thunderbirds 17. War of the Ring - Rurik 16. Arkham Horror 15. Arkham Horror the Card Game - Aeons End 14. Obsession - Castle of Mad King Ludwig 13. Azul 12. Brass Birmingham 11. Frost Haven 10. Santorini 9. Paths of Glory 8. Junk Art 7. Sushi Go Party 6. Leaving Earth 5. The crew: Mission Deep Sea 4. Everdell 1. Tyrants of the underdark
I'm new to board gaming, and my goal is to have a collection of 10 to 20 games that I would rank a 9 or 10 out of 10. So far I have Welcome to the dungeon Captain sonar Wits and wagers Quacks of quedlinburg Clank catacombs Paperback Search for planet x I also have but am thinking of getting rid of, Quest for eldorado Downforce Sushi go party Not that these games are bad but I'd rather be playing one of the other games. I don't play games often enough to get tired of a 20 game collection.
I think the problem for me is when I have too many games, the more I have the less I seem to play them, especially miniature games as I want to paint them, I have streamlined my games down to about 40 games, it just gets to much owning more than that, not only for space, but to much choice, I recently sold off some brilliant games I really wanted to own, but just haven't played them. My top 20 games would be and in no order. 1. Final girl. 2. Etherfields 3. Heroquest 4. Tainted grail. 5. ISS Vanguard 6. Zombicide black plague. 7. The great war. 8. Mirza Noctis 9. Arkham Horror LCG 10. Marvel Champions 11. Grind house 12. Mansions of madness 13. Massive Darkness 14. Dark Rituals 15. The everrain 16. Nemesis 17. Death may Die 18. Space Hulk 19. Battle cry 20. Descent legends of the dark.
Great video and very good list and I love many of them. I try hard to make my collection lean and under 50 games because gathering dust on shelfs is not a logical action for me. mine is (in no particular order): 1. Concordia 2. Imperial 2030 3. Troyes 4. Marco Polo 2 5. Le Havre 6. The Great Zimbabwe 7. Gaia Project 8. Tyrants of the Underdark (Also anyone played this with loving it) 9. Spirit Island 10. Mind MGMT 11. Arboretum 12. Brass: Birmingham 13. Hansa Teutonica 14. Cuba Libre 15. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea 16. Kings of Air and Steam 17. Ra 18. The Resistance: Avalon 19. Genoa 20. In the Year of the Dragon
Broken in a good way right ;) I think the one that got close to breaking me was when i tried building a jupiter orbital station so i could land on all the jovian moons. that took some math.... so much math
My family love playing everdell. My six and eight year old children have no issues picking up the rules. Strategy on the other hand they might need a little more time to get good at.
These are mine: Bunny Kingdom CABO Concept Cosmoctopus Discworld: Ankh-Morpork Downforce Hanabi Love Letter Machi Koro Monopoly Deal Card Game (yeah, I know, boring, but you can play it with anyone!) Pan Am Pandemic Qwixx Schotten Totten Spyfall Survive: Escape from Atlantis! Sushi Go! Ticket to Ride Welcome to the Moon Wingspan
Forbidden Stars; 1175: Rebellion; Go; Forgotten Waters; Dixit; Fake Artist Goes to New York; Catan; Merchants and Marauders; Pandemic Iberia; Ticket to ride. It's like they all lie on a spectrum between "games I don't get to play" and "games I just have for other people to enjoy". Sleeping Gods - but it's once I finish it I won't play it again, and Tigris and Eurphraties, but it's really hard to have anyone play that with me. Maybe Turncoats instead of Merchants and Marauders - buying cargo just take too long. No wait Inis has to be on this list.
Although I own only 28 games, here is My personal list (I include all expansions I own as part of any individual game) 7 wonders, Ark Nova, captain sonar, carcassone, cascadia, clank, cosmic encounter, cribbage, dominion, dune imperium, lotr lcg, the resistance, root, tapestry, terraforming mars, terraforming mars: ares expedition, through the ages, QE, twilight imperium (don’t own it but i know id love it) welcome to…
Having been building up my own ‘perfect’ small collection over the years, the spot for a great dexterity game remains unfilled. Junk Art looks like a lot of fun, but I’ve been put off by the fact that the currently available version of the game has plastic pieces - as opposed to the original wooden ones. Just wondering if your copy is the wooden one? Have you played both? Is the wooden one worth seeking out over the plastic one or is there really no difference in gameplay?
SPOILER ALERT: Here's the complete list:
@1:15: Favorite Game of All Time: Spirit Island
@2:08: Engine Builder: Terraforming Mars
@3:18: For Playing with Your Scumbag Friends: Battlestar Galactica
@4:32: Easier Co-operative Game: Thunderbirds
@6:13: 2-Player War Game: Star Wars Rebellion
@7:50: Sentimental Favorite with Replay-ability: Arkham Horror 2nd Ed.
@9:38: Similar Space as Arkham Horror, but Different: Arkham Horror - The Card Game
@11:13: Significant Other's Favorite Game: Obsession
@12:22: Favorite Abstract Game: Azul
@13:25: Popular Favorite: Brass Birmingham
@14:47: Dungeon Crawler: Imperial Assault
@16:17: Simple Abstract: Santorini
@17:35: Best Actual War Game: Paths of Glory
@19:23: Whimsical: Junk Art
@20:53: "Event" Game for a Special Occasion: Dune (2019)
@21:57: Game for Everyone: Sushi Go Party!
@23:17: Space Exploration: Leaving Earth
@24:55: Light Co-operative Game: The Crew - Mission Deep Sea
@26:27: Worker Placement and Adorable Animals: Everdell
@28:02: Deck Building that's also Dudes on a Map: Tyrants of the Underdark
Thanks for putting up a text version with time stamps!
Might add this to the description.
@@3MBG It is good to see it there. Though I feel a bit conflicted like I should upvote John Elstad's comment in recognition, but also shouldn't because it is so spoiler filled.
Anyway, seeing all the categories laid out like that makes me think that you missed some important ones:
Word-games: I'd go for scrabble, but you might prefer bananagrams which leads nicely into...
Portable games: The Crew and Sushi Go are not quite take anywhere, though at least not the hugest boxes. I go with travel Hive as an easy carry option that only needs a flat space to play.
Old games for nongamers: Chess, Draughts, Go, Backgammon - something that would work without teaching from scratch. Perhaps easiest of all; a basic 52 deck of playing cards that can be so many different games including...
Gambling games: Poker and the like are popular for a reason.
@@3MBG That's fine with me. I'm glad it's useful to you.
Wow, I really liked the "out of contention" component of this video, idk if I've seen that before, wonderfully done, sir!
Thought it was the quickest and easiest way to show my thought process
Very good idea, it also doubles as games you could recommend and if your choice isn’t one a viewer would pick, they can look at the other options.
This part of the video is brilliant. Not only does it show what a specific game replaces but it almost acts as recommendations. If you like this game....try these.
came here to say that, what a clever thing to do, and had me saying 'oh wow.... okay,' a lot!
1 Great Western Trail
2 Glen More II
3 Targi
4 Castles of Burgundy
5 Dune
6 On Mars
7 Bus
8 Antiquity
9 Cacao
10 Skull King
11 Watergate
12 Azul
13 Welcome to
14 Gaia Project
15 Android Netrunner
16 Blood Rage
17 Inis
18 Clank!
19 Amun Re
20 King of Tokyo
Glen More II: Chronicles doesn't get anywhere near the amount of love it deserves. I think it has something to do with people simply not giving it a chance over what they see as a ripoff of Carcassonne and Catan.
👍🏾👍🏻
inis is a great pick
I'm jealous that you've put Bus and Antiquity in your list since it mean you have those 2 games. They are impossible to find.. :(
I literally feel the love you have for games
One of the reasons I love your content is that you always provide options for those who want them. This is so good to see that although you like Everdell most, there are several games you could recommend for those who for some reason do not like it or cannot get it.
This was a great idea and a fun exercise for me, I have a couple repeats of games that do similar things, but I feel like this list covers all the categories I need and includes family favorites and personal game group favorites that I just could not ever part with:
Twilight Imperium - big event
Root - war game
Dune Imperium - deck builder / worker placement
Blood Rage - DoaM
Terraforming Mars - engine builder
Return to Dark Tower - hybrid dungeon crawler
LotR Journey's in Middle Earth - dungeon crawler / campaign
Eldritch Horror - coop horror / adventure
Wingspan - engine builder
Everdell - worker placement
Heat Pedal to the Metal - Race game
Cascadia - tile laying
Marvel United - coop / family
Horrified - coop / family
Villainous - competetive / family
Quack's of Quedlinberg - bag builder / family
Camel Up - party / family
Dixit - party / family
Just One - party
Love Letter - filler
And of course this is the perfect collection for me, and only me, at this particular moment in time. That's for any of the dullards out there who take exception to the title because i didn't include their favourite, or who just ask "what about the game i like!".
The fun thing with this video is to do the list yourself instead of saying why mine sucks. Tell me why your rules!
What J neglected to explain about playing Junk Art when I was very very pregnant is that you're terrified of bumping the table and sending everyone's sculptures flying ... and that's when you *don't* have an extra big tummy sticking out the front!
Imperial Assault! Good choice! Very thematic game, feels like real Star Wars experience. Also, magnificent skirmish mode.
Interesting, that you put Dice Throne in a Dangeon Crawler category.
I have Dice Throne adventures, even though i have not reviewed it yet and have only reviewed the core game.
How are you getting into the lategame with paths of glory? Usually my games end in one mistake resulting in supply path destruction
Experienced players?
The good thing about Everdell and it's expansions is that it is always Everdell plus 1 expansion. I like how they deaigned it so that you only ever play with one expansion rather than throwing everything into the game. Honestly, Newleaf is really worth a look in.
I agree, though I have mixed in Belfaire with others... But, Belfaire is not really a full expansion. I just like how it replaces the tree and adds a couple of small features.
@@Mentat1231 yes. Bellfaire is just a collection of modules.
What a good idea for a video, 3MBG. And who better to offer guidance? Kudos for the 'elimination mechanic', showing us which games were, by implication, culled from your collection by means of the inclusion of another. (That is, they would be if you actually did this.) Fully expected Thunderbirds, because I know your affection for it. Was glad to see Obsession, Azul, Santorini, and Crew - MDS. You're right about Paths of Glory being under-publicized. I do remember telling you how I admired a 1957 film by the same name.
Santorini is in my top ten for the reasons you shared, but I do play with the powers every time. It’s hilarious when you play someone with a power you think is op because they win, maybe even quickly, but then you play a second game swapping the powers and they win again with the power you had. The variety and variability skyrockets with the powers. I’ve done a “campaign” where we split all the gods in half and then battled, the winner “capturing” their opponents god. If a rulebook matchup said the two gods shouldn’t face, we just flip the next one, it was a fun one.
I have never enjoyed a video about games more than this one. Not just the games you selected, but the honorable mentions brought back so many memories. Some of the more exotic games are in my own collection, and seldom mentioned by other reviewers. I am really into themes and mechanics. So board games are a natural for me. Thanks for taking the time to create this experience.
Im really happy you enjoyed it that much.
Interesting list, and difficult to make my own. For my own collection, I'm trying to hold it to fifty, with a free game from a Famous Designer, so may end up with about sixty games. I tend to play solo, and have to add multiplayer games 'onspec', more in the hope they are good than from actual experience. Here goes.
1) Marvel Champions - many heroes, villains, encounter sets, aspects.
2) Star Realms : Frontiers - deckbuilder
3) Star Wars : Imperial Assault - just diving into this one, glad to see it on your list
4) Ticket to Ride first game I played on BGA, love the simplicity.
5) Race for the Galaxy - need to get this to the table more
6) Star Wars: The Clone Wars - may swap out for Pandemic- Fall of Rome
7) Dawn of the Zeds : Third Edition
8) Legendary Encounters : Alien Deck building
9) Zombicide 2nd Ed just started painting it
10) Antike II
11) Rurik Dawn of Kiev
12) Dune Imperium
13) Undaunted : Normandy
14) Leaving Earth - I love space exploration also, glad to hear its a good game
15) The Resistance - or Avalon, haven't played either.
16) D-Day at Omaha Beach - wargame to take up the afternoon. Maybe Enemy action : Ardennes instead for the 2 player option.
17) Hansa Teutonica -
18) The King is Dead 2nd Ed -
19) Architects of the West Kingdom
20) Junk Art - does look like fun for a group
Alternates as I get some of these played - Jaipur, Just One, Targi, HEAT
Such a good list. So much overlap with some of my favourite games, that I’ve added several to my “buy list”. Here are my 20 (note: Santorini, War of the Ring, Star Wars Rebellion, and Mage Knight will likely join the list once I get them):
1. Spirit Island
2. Through the Ages
3. Brass: Birmingham
4. Terraforming Mars
5. Dune: Imperium
6. Dominion
7. Klask
8. Azul
9. Everdell
10. Race for the Galaxy
11. Agricola
12. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
13. Cascadia
14. Robinson Crusoe
15. Cockroach Poker Royal
16. Go
17. Lost Ruins of Arnak
18. 7 Wonders Duel
19. Wingspan
20. Carcassonne
I've got 27 games, so paring my collection down to 20 would be comparatively less painful, haha.
In no particular order:
Spirit Island
Root
Bloc by Bloc
Transcontinental
Wise Guys
Century: Eastern Wonders
Skull
Startups
Scout
Arboretum
Lords of Waterdeep
Farlight
Istanbul
Kemet
Oath
Concordia
Sushi Go! Deluxe
Cubitos
Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest
Ethnos
A lot of fun there as well. At least 10 game i really dig a lot
An interesting challenge. If I had to reduce my collection to 20 games, here's what I think I'd pick:
1) Cosmic Encounter - Alliances, bluffing and wacky powers, my favorite game of all-time
2) Wiz-War - Chaotic multi-player battle royale
3 Twilight Imperium 4E - Epic 4X space adventure
4) Marvel Champions - Deck customization and co-op
5) Memoir '44 - Head-to-head or epic 8-player Overlord battles
6) DOOM: The Board Game - Dungeon crawler, the best of its kind
7) Marvel United - Light, family-friendly co-op with variable difficulty
8) Radlands - Tight, beautiful, challenging head-to-head card battler
9) The Menace Among Us - Social deduction/hidden traitor, BSG in 60-90 minutes
10) Gaslands - As table-top minis games go, this is my pick
11) Summoner Wars - Card battler with incredible variety and fascinating spatial element
12) Pyramid Arcade - Need abstract games? Look no further
13) Dune - Diplomacy in space
14) Cyclades (w/ Titans) - Area control and bidding blended well
15) The Thing: The Board Game - More social deduction/hidden traitors, can never have too much
16) Horrified - Pure "Pandemic-style" co-op, clean, enjoyable, accessible
17) Raiders of the North Sea - Worker placement, one of the few that I like
18) Mission: Red Planet - Area control and special powers, clean and quick-playing
19) Long Shot: The Dice Game - Racing/betting game, one of the best around
20) LotR: The Confrontation - Stratego with special powers, amazing design
# 15 Thing … Ooh ‼️
Whole list is coo. 👍🏾👍🏻
@@yournostroleeoleeolees. Thanks!
Shout-out to Santorini as well. Love its core rules. It wouldn't call the cards superfluous, they certainly create interesting mix ups, but the core rules with the nice, nice pieces shine on their own.
This was fantastic! I especially liked your out of contention picks after each game that made the cut. There are so many good games getting knocked out. But, even when the sight of a game getting cut made me balk, I could understand your reasoning.
The way I'm thinning my collection is by taking games into my board games club in school. My collection at home gradually shrinks to mine and my wife's favourite games 😊 great video. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
My perfect 20
1)Spirit island
2)Mage knight
3)Robinson crusoe
4)Hadrian's wall
5)Raiders of scythia
6) bloody inn
7) petrichor
8) tiny towns
9) search for planet x
10) turing machine
11) calico
12)vengeance roll and fight
13) long shot
14) parks
15) creature comforts
16) Dune Imperium
17) set a watch
18) lux aeterna
19) railroad ink
20) one deck dungeon
You had me at "Thunderbirds." Never letting go of that one.
With you on:
Sushi Go Party
Santorini
Tyrants of the Underdark
Spirit Island
Everdell
Would have included instead:
Guards of Altantis 2 - If this isn't the best strategic team game in existence, I will eat my hat. It's amazing as a team game, and you can even have a cutthroat and thinking two-player head to head game if you want to.
Rising Sun - Phenomenal area control game that also brings in diplomacy, bluffing and a side order of betrayal. Fabulous
Feed the Kraken - absolutely superb social deception that doesn't take hours and hours
Alchemists - A glorious logic puzzle is at the heart of this euro, and it's a delight to play every single time
Massive Darkness 2 - A rollicking time of a highly accessible and fun dungeon crawl that will have you taking out monsters and looting to your heart's content until the early hours of the morning.
Captain Sonar - A frenetic group party experience. Enough said.
Bullet - competitive or co-op, with optional real-time elements, wrapped in a puzzly game that's easy to understand. Great.
Edge of Darkness - For pure "deckbuilders" - this one gets my pick due to the multitude of options available to mix and match, and the way that making cards "better" can also end up making them "worse" if they happen to get drawn onto the joint adverserial "tower" that looms over the board.
Concordia - It's just a deliciously elegant design
Gugong - A great worker placement and resource management game that is gorgeous to boot.
Aaaaand I think I can even leave it there with a limit of 15 games!
I have edge of darkness on my shelf after picking it up 2nd hand super cheap at wellycon last year. Really need to get to it
👍🏻👍🏾
Great video and great list. Arkham Horror the Card Game has nearly infinite replay ability once you have 4+ campaigns and 30+ investigators in your collection. It is hundreds and hundreds of hours of fun.
Nice to hear your reasoning for each choice, and to see what that choice forced out as well. Really well done.
My 20 as at this moment of time, bearing in mind I am a solo player who enjoys playing multi-handed where no solo mode exists (and sometimes even when it does).
Small footprint
1. Pocket Landship (free trial version) - is a PNP on BGG.
2. Rollway Station - is also a free PNP on BGG
3. Volfyirion
4. Knightmare Chess (requires a chess set obviously) - this is the only one I haven't soloed but it is so bonkers I just have to keep it for the odd occasion someone wants to play.
Larger footprint - thinky games that won't hurt your head too much
5. Wingspan
6. Fields of Green
7. Alubari - A Nice Cup of Tea
8. Expedition: Northwest Passage
9. Silverton
10. CO2 (First Edition)
11. Obsession
12. Nusfjord
Brain burners - to me anyway
13. Leaving Earth
14. Yokohama
15. Pax Pamir
16. Labyrinth - The War on Terror
Table hogs - most have been acquired fairly recently and are currently unplayed but I really want to have the time and space to get into them.
17. Great Wall - I have played this one
18. Middara
19. Xia - Legends of a Drift System
20. Hegemony
Xia, there's one that i miss from my collection and i really have nothing in there like it.
1) Great western trail New Zealand
2) mage knight
3) 18OE
4) Madeira
5) pendragon
6) lotr LCG
7) age of innovation
8) Lisboa
9) castles of mad king Ludwig
10 love letter
11) battlestar galactica
12) codeword Cromwell
13 the convicted
14) hornet leader
15) stockpile
16) oathsworn
17) legendary kingdoms
18) long shot: the dice game
19) through the ages
20) rococco
I got 3 on your 20 and it's great and rare! Usually we only share 1 or 2 games (on the thousands) with the youtuber's lists!
Fun exercise. Been in the hobby for nearly 20yrs. Played 500+, owned 300+, and currently have 16 base games. I could see this number comfortably being 10 or less.
• Agricola Master of Britain
• COIN Tribe: Boudica’s Revolt
• Commands and Colors Ancients
• Conquest of Paradise
• Crokinole
• Fresh Fish
• Indonesia
• Pax Porfiriana
• Undaunted North Africa
1. Spirit Island
2. Raptor
3. Hive
4. Riftforce
5. Godtear
6. Dice Throne
7. Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn
8. Quantum
9. Vagrantsong
10. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
I’d list ten more but that’s all I’ve kept so far. Still kinda new but trying to curate some variety and the ones at the bottom are newer to me.
You and Steph's Azul problem is EXACTLY the same as my wife and I in Ticket to Ride games - she has like a 75% win rate against just me, but when there's 3-5 players, I win more than not and I think she's maybe won 1 or 2 times total.
Great list, thanks for sharing! Made me go look at my collection of about 80 and wonder what I'd take
Steph thinks i'm better at games when there are more variables, but shes better where the focus is more defined. It certainly tracks with our results
My list would include: Ankh (dudes on map plus fab card strategy), Targi (small box, so smooth to play, deep enough), Segikahara (my war game, with hidden movement on top), Innovation (Civ plus combos, wild but thinky), Radlands and Keyforge (2 player battlers, one is the ultimate, the other in-a-box), Paris La Cite de La Lumiere (the perfect polynomial game where the polynomial mechanic is actually thematic, and so cut-throat for such a pretty game), Pax Porfiriana / Pamir 2nd Ed (economics, politics, and so very clever), Tigris & Euphrates (the best area control game bar none, a classic that twists the area majority mechanic to new heights)…. Sorry can’t get to 20 in a chat window, lol!
Lol, fair enough. Of those Pax Pamir is the big missing one in my game experience. I really need to give it a try some time
You are 100% right about Thunderbirds being the better co-op. So glad I nabbed it before leaving print
Ok..... Concordia, Just One, Twilight Imperium, Terraforming Mars, Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Brass Birmingham, Parks, Viticulture, Scythe, Love Letter, Star Wars Rebellion, Carcassonne, Istanbul, Dont mess with Cthulhu, Spirit Island, Sleeping Gods, Onitama, Res Arcana, Hive....Thats the fast selection without thought but immediately after viewing yours which will provoke confirmation and recollection bias. PS Fantastic thing to do....now to the collection to only 10 then 5 then 3!!! That would be a nice FU.
Wanted to thank you for including Tyrants In The Dark. It’s a great game with a solid fan-made solo variant by Michael Kelley. I’ve only recently picked it up, but it’s quickly racked up quite a bit of table time. Dig your channel and all that you do. Keep up the great work!
Making a list like this would be impossible for me. My tastes change back and forth constantly throughout the years. A game I'm tired of now, I could get back into and play repeatedly in a few months.
great video, loved the format. Not everyone is lucky enough to have an expansive collection. 20 seems like a more achievable-sized collection.
It does, anyone in an apartment for example would be pushing to have more. Plus, a lot of game time in 20 games if you replay them ;)
One of your best videos! Plus I like the fact we really get to know you and yours better. Definitely would be fun to sit down and do a game night with you and your friends.
Wow, that must have taken a loooong time to put together. Magnificent collection. I'm off to look at mine now...
Fun exercise. The two picks of yours that stood out to me - and I would likely pick them as well - are Obsession and Sushi Go Party. There might be one or two more, but I especially like those ones out of picks I doubt would be on too many similar UA-cam lists.
Fun video. I found the "games out of contention" section quite interesting. I was pausing to see them.
Leaving Earth is my favorite game of all time and how I found your channel. I actually clicked on this video solely to see if you'd chosen it for this list because NOTHING scratches that same itch. Cannot recommend it enough to anyone it sounds interesting to.
Its so good right! Lol ;)
You really have a gift for clear and condensed presentation. This just hit home further how talented you are at analysis navigating the minefield that is board game scene. Also hits close to home because I too was suddenly and excruciatingly ill and couldn’t work. I thankfully got better but my newfound love of board games remained. All the best
Cheers Billable. Im not sure anyone who hasnt been quite that sick gets just how lonely it can be too. Glad we both got better
@@3MBG you live long enough to mourn the loss of the old you whilst simultaneously being appreciative for every chance you get living this newfound second life. I’ve learned a lot in 3.5 years. I’m sure there’s still more to go and more to grow. Cheers to you too mate
In alphabetical order:
1. Andean Abyss - first COIN I've played
2. Brass Birmingham & Lancashire - only played Lancashire and never won but love it so much I am 100% convinced I will love Birmingham as well
3. Cartographers - my wife enjoys it a lot and my bad drawing makes it fun for me as well
4. Catharsis - surprisingly good, although I only have 2 plays so far
5. Eldritch Horror - I hate it, it frustrates me so much.. and I've only won until I found out how wrong was I calculating how many dice should be thrown.. have everything and will probably keep it forever :D.. for the times when I am too happy for my own good
6. Escape Plan - just a great game
7. Forbidden Stars - played only once with 4 people. We didn't finish the game, gave up on the 4th hour. I have a spanish copy and I put translations in the card sleeves :D. I also have 2 big fan expansions, waiting on the third to be finalized and someone to make it available as a groul order or something. Not sure if I'll ever get the group to regularly play it but I adore the design so much.. I also love the 40k universe. Also waiting on the Redux.. hopefully the IP will be good.
8. Infinity - a bit too complicated and I don't enjoy metal minis (I don't paint so that's partly the reason). Love the universe, love the reaction system and I have the N4 and Code One rulebooks. I have every intention to start playing regularly with my wife and with 40k/Necromunda proxies, we'll see how playable it is this way.
9. It's a Wonderful Kingdom - didn't look like something I'd enjoy at first. How wrong was I..
10. Kingdom Death: Monster - have not played much as I got it relatively recently. I like the boss battler genre a lot, Oatshworn was great, Vagrantsong is nice, I liked the Dark Souls and Monster Hunter World boss battles. Oathsworn was a one time experience for me and I passed it along. I added KDM in this list for 2 reasons - I played a couple of games and I enjoyed them a lot. The universe is brutal and I like this kind of fantasy horror. I do not think it is the best boss battler out there however. I am almost completely sure that Aeon Trespass will be better. I just have not tried it so I am putting the one I have.
11. Leaving Earth - really nice game. Looking forward to the next game from Joe Fatula. I believe it was Moon Landing related.
12. Letters from Whitechappel - all time favourite for me and my wife. I think I win quite a bit more than her but we still enjoy it. I bought and tried pretty much all hidden movement games I could find just because we loved LfW. It is still the best for us from the ones we tried, but we do have quite a few waiting for table time so it may get replaced as best hidden movement game ever at some point.
13. Mage Knight - pretty awesome design
14. Nemesis - really enjoyable I think but I need a bigger group to actually enjoy it
15. Rococo - very nice game and the deluxe edition looks awesome
16. SHASN - unexpectedly good and very nice looking game. Looking forward to Azadi.
17. Spirit Island - needs more plays but based on 2 plays I knoe it is good enough for me to put it in this list
18. Star Wars Rebellion - very enjoyable. Probably would have enjoyed it even more if it was slightly shorter.
19. Twisted Fables - I've seen people say it is not very well balanced. No issue for me and my wife thought, we just enjoy the design (both game and graphic). Probably our favourite card game right now.
20. Watergate - short and engaging
Additional notes:
1. Would love to try the Pax games and I think at least one of them would get a spot in the list. I know about the controversies around their designer, but I just ignore his essays and enjoy the game design (played a few of his games, not the pax games though, they are still waiting on my shelf)
2. Android Netrunner/Nisei, Star Wars LCG and Arkham Horror LCG have a chance od entering the list. Love the universes and the games seem to be very interesting in mechanics. Only played Arkham Horror LCG of them and haven't decided yet if I like it that much or not
A COIN would have made my list, but i've been reluctant to talk about them much as my game is part of the series. My one would likely bump Dune out of my 20 ;)
@@3MBG your game can't come out soon enough.. really looking forward to it. I decided I want to try every single COIN even before you announced it :).
I tried a few of the games and the like/dislike ratio is about 1:1. I appreciate the amount of differences these games have. Pendragon i.e. was too complex for my liking and the theme was not my favourite so it went out of my collection. I'm also quite interested to see how Gandhi implemented a peaceful faction.
I'm curious to see how The Troubles will come out. I know it was originally supposed to be GMT but currently it is Compass Games who will publish it.
I thought it would be funny to make a list of 20 games that 3 Minute Board Games threw out, 1 from each category.
Ark Nova, Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, Pandemic, Scythe, Outer Rim, Too Many Bones, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Century, Yokohama, Gloomhaven, Between Two Cities, Pavlov's House, Cartographers, Perseverance, King of Tokyo, Beyond The Sun, Forbidden Island, Alien Frontiers, Kemet. That's 19, because Spirit Island didn't throw anything out, so I guess I'll add Castles of Burgundy.
Or, I would be pretty happy with all of the games that Obsession pushed out for you.
That's not a bad list either is it. It covers a lot of bases.
1. Frosthaven
2. Jaws of the lion
3. Nemesis: lockdown
4. Everdell
5. Root
6. Cosmic encounters
7. Star wars deck-building
8. Marvel united
9. Zombiecide
10. Arkham horror
11. Betrayal
12. Ultimate werewolf
13. Castle panic
14.Chronicles of crime
15. Harry potter battle of hogwarts
16. Plunder
17. Horrified
18. Mansions of madness
19. Sub terra
20. Above and below
Great video as always! It could be fun to do some "perfect collection" based on space restrictions. Since, usually the most frequent storage solution is Ikea Kallax-style bookshelves it would be fun to try to restrict yourself in a 2x2, 2x4 and 4x4 shelves 😅
Im thinking that might be a fun idea next time i restack te whare kemu
I loved Everdell so much (I played it originally a bunch on TTS) that I got the complete collection that was like 200 bucks. I haven't gotten to all the expansions cause I really wanna taste each one and get a feel for em. The one that adds the market nad the flower festival I always play with, it just adds stuff that totally can slot into the base game. I love when certain expansions feel like that. A number of games I have have an expansions that is like "Well I'll just never not play with it!"
Ah Arkham Horror. That was really my first modern board game. I wasn't into board games at the time in like...2012? But I was really into a website at the time called Thinkgeek. It was an online niche and mainstream nerd shop. I got it just solely based on the fact I was obsessed with Lovecraft at the time; Played a bunch. Got all the expansions for it and fit em into the original box (except the tokens and whatnot) and played the hell out of it. So good.
Superbly done and entertaining from start to finish. I really enjoyed learning about your personal experiences and why this hobby means so much to you.
Great stuff. I think about a list like this for myself quite often.
Twilight Imperium
War Of The Ring
Hansa Teutonica
Yinsh
Freedom: Underground Railroad
Brass Birmingham
Catan: Starfarers
Letters From Whitechapel
Clash Of Cultures: Monumental Edition
Imperial
Fleet: The Dice Game
1175: Rebellion
Eclipse
Champions Of Midgard
Clockwork Wars
The Grizzled
Viticulture
No Thanks
Camel Up
Nations: The Dice Game
I have nations, but not the dice game, how is it?
@@3MBG it’s about 15 minutes per player, has great decisions, and feels like you’ve built a civ at the end. The quickest civ game I know of that is also good. A masterpiece.
👍🏻👍🏾
You guys should do a complete 2 player collection. Would be keen on your thoughts.
I like how you included games that are excluded by choosing a game to preempt the questions in the comments like "what about this game?" 😊 great collection!
It was mostly to show my internal thought process, but yes, it has also worked to stave off many of those comments and make the overall tone in the comments brighter!
Star Wars: Imperial Assault is one of my three favorite games, and I rarely hear it mentioned in most lists of recommended games. Sadly, I've only played the initial campaign once, but it ranks as one of the best gaming experiences in my life. (I eventually bought everything for it -- all of which I actually painted a few years back.)
I also enjoy (and own) a few of the others mentioned in this video.
I got all the big boxes for IA, but not all the characters. There were a crazy amount of those they put out in the end
Interesting challenge, looking over one's collection & selecting a top 20 to keep. Here's my two cents worth (in no priority order): (1) Dark Ages (Holy Roman Empire), (2) Dark Ages (Charlemagne), (3) Downfall of the Reich (Do It Games), (4) Star Wars Rebellion (with the expansion set), (5) Europa: For Whom the Bell Tolls, (6) Britannia, (7) Twilight Imperium IV, (8) Where There is Discord, (9) Thin Red Line, (10) Horus Heresy (GW), The Horus Heresy: Burning of Prospero (GW), (11) Legion of Honour, (12) Hellenica (Mr B Games), (13) The Dark Summer (GMT), (14) Thirty Years War (GMT), (15) Battles of Westeros, (16) Commands & Colors, Napoleonic, (17) History of the World, (18) Paths of Glory, (19) A Distant Plain, and (20) Europa Universalis: The Price of Power. If 20 is all I can keep, that's my list.
Is history of the world any good? I was planning on selling it for better games tbh.
Lesley, I have two copies of HOTW and I would never sell either of them. The game works solitaire or with fellow gamers. What helps my gaming a lot is 2nd Edition of Stuka Joe's card play system (from GMT Games); can't recommend highly enough what Jose has done producing that system for us gamers; man's a genius. But to add to your dilemmas, with my list above, I just took delivery of two kickstarters and, tragically, if forced to cull to 20 games, both 'Homeworld Fleet Command' (with all it's shortcomings acknowledged) as well as 'Dunes of Arrakis', both would go on my shelf. The games then needing to be sold would become (14) Thirty Years War and (18) Paths of Glory. Of course, despite being 60yo, I would be sobbing having to dispose of either. Both are excellent games.
I stay around 104 games (not counting expansions), since that's 2 games a week per year. Went up to 300 hundreds twice, not anymore, i found my core games
Excellent. That was the level i was at before i stared the channel. literally 104 games as well, all played and no game stay unplayed longer than 2 weeks. If i quit reviewing, i think i would work back down to that level for sure
Of course, 3MBG format is great. It is not quite fair to recommend games that cannot be attained, but the fantastic "out of contention" makes up for that completely. If you don't like this, get that. Awesome. Looking forward to seeing a few run throughs of these scoundrels in these games in your channel. ^.^
Great interesting list, thank you.
This just goes to show, how vast and accommodating to various tastes a boardgame world is: due to my main gaming group’s preferences I can’t fathom an “essential 20” without a hidden movement and a push-your-luck game.
Star Wars Rebellion is a hidden movement game (The empire is hunting the rebel base which can move) and leaving Earth is totally a push your luck game. You can test everything thoroughly, and have safe rockets and come last. Or push them into service without proper testing and hope they don't explode.
I think this is my favourite video you have done. It was particularly interesting to see the games you would sacrifice in a particular category. Several of your picks were ones I would have chosen--which probably has something to do with my purchasing some of them after you raved about them!
I own Leaving Earth because of you, though I still have not played it... Winter is coming, so the time is ripe to get it out.
For me: Ticket to Ride, Root, Brass Birmingham, Spirit Island, Pandemic, Carcassonne Hunters and Gatherers, War of the Ring, Pax Porfiriana, Telestrations, Galenus, Hansa Teutonica, Sitting Ducks, Kanban, Leaving Earth (even though I have not played it yet), Captains of the Golden Age, Imperial, Scythe, Upon a Salty Ocean, and CO2 Second Chance.
The thing is, the list would also depend on what I have access to. I am inclined to hold onto games that no-one else owns or that are hard to get. The local cafe, for example, has Dune Imperium, so I don't need to own it.
Yep, there were definitely games that didnt enter contention at all because friends own them. One reason none of the garphill games made the cut i expect.
Really fantastic distillation down to 20 top-tier games. While I haven't played every game on this list, there's quite a lot of overlap with my own collection and I'm very intrigued to try everything suggested here when the opportunity arises.
I screamed at the monitor when you got rid of "War of the Ring".
That is totally fair, i had to keep one and that was by far the hardest choice in the video
Great list! Good to see finally see your face Jarrod after so many 3 Minute videos. I like how you offered other options in each category as well. Thanks for the video.
I literally cheered when you brought out Thunderbirds.
DUUUUUDE! Arkham Horror 2nd is my all time favorite game. It took me a long time but I finally finished the whole collection early this year and now I'm plotting out prints to make a box for everything (woodworker in my free time)
Oh nice. One of the guys in my group is an avid woodworker, he made the table im sitting at for me. And you know what, he also made a big box for all his arkham stuff ;)
Great video, Jay! Not gonna give a whole list but there are a few crossovers from yours that are on my list.
War of the Ring and Rebellion (surely there's room for both).
Unfathomable or maybe Dead of Winter ( Argh, I've yet to get a group to table either one with but I dream).
Arkham Horror 2nd Ed. Absolutely.
I have Dune and Tyrants of the Underdark but haven't table either yet 😔.
Also I could never get rid of a game that I've painted.
Nemesis (all of it).
Kemet
Cyclades
A Touch of Evil
Burgle Bros. 2
Level 7 Omega Protocol
Defenders of the Last Stand 😜
That was a good list. I liked that you went for variety and all gamers situations.
Wow! What a great exercise! I've been thinking about how much I need to cull my collection (about 200). I had set my sights on 50 -- that's a different game every week with two weeks off. Then I thought, well, what about the warm-up? So 50 big games, plus 50 small games. And now I'm back to 100, which in the grand scheme of things isn't that much less than 200, and oh god help me I have a problem.... :)
1. Brass Birmingham
2. Lord of the Rings LCG
3. Power Grid
4. Wingspan
5. Terraforming Mars
6. The Game
7. Nemesis
8. Decrypto
9. Spirit Island
10. Rummikub
11. Inis
12. Avalon
13. Race for the Galaxy
14. Ticket to Ride Europe
15. Twilight Imperium 4th Ed
16. Terraforming Mars
17. Terra Mystica
18. Survive!
19. Clank!
20. 6 Nimmt
Just picked up 6 nimmt in a math trade!
Azul is now better than ever since Azul mini can be transported more easily, takes less table space and is still absolutely beautiful.
But what about Azul Giant? 😏
That's a great list!
Mine is probably something like this at the moment in no particular order:
20. Heat
19. The Game
18. Scout
17. Ra
16. The Thing: The Board Game
15. Kanban EV
14. War of the Ring
13. War Chest
12. Tigris & Euphrates
11. Clank! Catacombs
10. Castles of Burgundy
9. Fields of Arle
8. Feast for Odin
7. Whitehall Mystery
6. Food Chain Magnate
5. Concordia
4. Barrage
3. Bohnanza
2. Carcassonne
1. La Granja
Heat still hasnt made it to NZ. And as a life long f1 fan i do like a good racing game.
@@3MBG I luckily got one as part of a group buy in NZ, it's so good! If it still hasn't arrived by Wellycon I'll bring it along for you to try if you like!
Ah, i think i know the group buy you speak of. CC?
@@3MBG yea that's the one
damn, the everdell tokens look edible as heck. wanna eat the forbidden candies
Squsihy squishy berries
This is a fantastic video, loved every second of it. Great choices. So glad to see Arkham Horror The Card Game in here (my number 2 game of all time, after Netrunner)
Santorini hasn't been hitting the table lately, I suspect because it's enormous compared to tighter 2p games like Onitama and Hive, but it's one of the first (smallish) modern board games I got properly into and holds a special place in my heart. I do think that the golden fleece in the expansion is an excellent idea for playing a balanced and even more positional game and may even be my preferred game mode.
I totally agree with your take on the Pantheon edition and solo/co-op Riddle of the Sphinx expansion. "Why do this?" Based on the price point and thoughtlessness of ROTS, I think it was a cash grab. I would have liked the more balanced god powers and prettier pieces, but it just wasn't worth ~80USD (IIRC) to me, plus expensive shipping to Canada.
Maybe if it makes it onto a FLGS shelf for 50CAD I'll think about it, but even then it doesn't seem to add enough, especially if my groups don't play that one often.
Thank you for the video, it was a very interesting list and has made me add games to my to-play list, which I hope to do at a board game café. I did take some slight offense to Nemesis being cut out due to BS:G, but that's mostly because I can pull Nemesis Co-op mode out with any group of people for an utterly incredible narrative and thematic experience that everyone can enjoy if they don't mind the time-to-play, so I don't usually think about it as a hidden identities/betrayal game.
I also skipped the KS. Publishers just want to make $$ with silly, overpriced expansions and KS-exclusive non-sense.
Great video. Great format. Love the games being burned in each category.
I limited myself to burning ones we have reviewed as well. I could have put more in but it would have looked awkward
@@3MBG but it is very helpful as gives a bunch of comparables. Which you do in normal reviews, which is great.
I didn’t take it as being burned just similar ones that missed out in the category because that one rose above
1) Spirit island
2) Arkham TCG
3) Pandemic Legacy Season 2
4) Dice Throne
5) The Game
6) Incan Gold
7) Revolution
8) Terraforming Mars
9) Betrayal at the House on the Hill
10) Trial by Trolley
11) Magic Maze
12) Mysterium
13) Arkham Horror
14) Ticket to Ride
15) Hanabi
16) Skull
17) Agricola
18) Dominion
19) Smash Up
20) Pandemic Legacy Season 0
"You said pandemic legacy twice"
"we like pandemic legacy"
Big blazing saddles energy there lol
Tough one, but probably:
1. Xia
2. Agricola
3. Pandemic Clone Wars
4. Star Wars Armada
5. Sushi go party
6. Tichu
7. Glen More II
8. Fields of Fire
9. Fire at the Lake
10. Enemy Action Ardennes
11. Distilled
12. Tiny Epic Dungeons
13. Isle of Cats
14. Dead of Winter - Long Night
15. Wingspan
16. Imperial Assault
17. Xenoshyft Dreadmire
18. Wizards
19. Nemesis
20. Clash of Cultures
No particular order...
I have not played all of the games you have on your list, but it looks like a great list and many of them I agree with. If I do not pick Chess and Dungeons and Dragons which are actually two of my favorite games, I would choose.
My top 20 would be (not in order):
1. Codenames. I have not played Dixit yet but will soon and some say it is better.
2. Hero Quest. I have not played Gloomhaven yet which may be better.
3. Spirit Island
4. Azul
5. Arkham Horror Second Edition
6. Brass Birmingham
7. War of the Rings
8. Carcassonne
9. Scruples
10.Orient Express, I have not played Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective which I hear is good.
11.Merchant Marauders. I have not played Dead Reckoning or Maracaibo.
12.Castles of Burgundy
13.Ticket to Ride
14.Scythe
15.Gaia Project
16.Pandemic Legacy
17.Santorini
18.The Quest for El Dorado
19.Heat Pedal to the Metal
20.The Lost Ruins of Arnak
I wasn't as strict on games replacing others but I did want to hit a bunch of bases. Here's my 20:
Cosmic Encounter (beer & pretzels as well as infinitely variable)
The Crew: I keep both the OG and the wet one in one box so keeping both :P (Light coop, card game)
Marvel United (infinitely variable, light coop)
Root (war game, highly replayable)
Cthulhu Wars (cthulhus on a map, this is my "bling" game)
Heat: Pedal to the Metal (Race game, modular play modes)
Dominion (deckbuilding, infinitely variable)
Eclipse (this is my 'event' style game)
Gloomhaven (I was deciding between this and Massive Darkness 2 for my dungeon crawler and decided I wanted to keep a campaign game)
Time's Up (my favorite party game!)
New Angeles (negotiation, semi-coop, I think this game is singular in what it does)
Power Grid (economic, medium weight, expandable)
Radlands (this is my M:tG / Netrunner replacement)
The Quest for El Dorado (family weight game, deckbuilder)
The Resistance (social deduction; very light weight can teach to anyone)
Roll for the Galaxy (this is my engine builder of choice)
Spirit Island (This is actually my solo pick. Beat out Final Girl as it plays 1-3 just as good)
Tapestry (my 'guilty' pleasure game. This doesn't specifically fit any holes other than I find it a joy to play)
Viticulture (this one goes from lightweight to medium to coop and I enjoy all three ways to play)
Xia: Legends of a Drift System (My sandbox game. Beating out Star Wars Outer Rim)
I think you were right about Arkham: lcg and I may make room for that if I actually had to go down to 20 which is amusing as its a game I'm actively thinking about getting rid of. I love it as a solo game but tend to not play it with the game group as the deckbuilding doesn't lend itself to group play imo. Truly an amazing game and if I were making room for a lifestyle game it'd def hit the 20; probably over Quest for El Dorado as that ones a bit redundant.
That's a very fun list. A few on there that wouldnt be good fits for me, but i can't argue with the rationale.
@@3MBG its Tapestry you can say it :P
Lol, that's the one.
I have a lot of other interests besides board games, so I also am cutting down to just a handful: Spirit Island (with expansions), Horizons of Spirit Island, the GIPF games, Monikers, and I want to get a good Crokinole board still. There isn’t too much I really feel the need to get right now, as I don’t have regular gaming groups.
Very practical. A lot of folks load up on games based on the potential of playing them. But if you dont have the groups, theres not much point
@@3MBG This is very insightful and true.
It's good to see someone else enthusiastic for leaving earth, but I also kinda feel once you've got your various technologies beyond the point of them suddenly failing, and you've worked out what you need to reach various places (essentially, solving the puzzle of the game itself), the game becomes very predictable. I felt this even more keenly when I played with friends that had never tried it before. Suddenly it was that I could just blast to the moon immediately without issue, whereas they were just getting the hang of the games principles. But I hope someone creates a more combative version based on this game as it is truly a hidden gem.
1. Wingspan
2. Terraforming Mars
3. Everdell
4. Pan Am
5. Parks
6. Dixit
7. Love Letter
8. Just One
9. Splendor
10. Azul
11. Pandemic
12. 7 Wonders
13. Welcome To
14. Rolling Realms
15. Ticket to Ride Europe
16. Little Prince Make Me a Planet
17. Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle
18. Star Trek Missions
19. Similo
20. The Crew
Star Trek missions is one of those ones i missed and it seems like it would be in my wheel house. "Star Trek away missions" should be hitting my table sometime in the next week or two as well
Nice little video. And some great oldschool games (such as BsG and Dune)
If I had to have 20 games that would cover most of the mechanics/themes and players types/numbers, I would go for something around those :
Flipships (or men at work)
Heat (or downforce)
Astro Knights
The game
MoW
Little Town
Street masters (or Cthulhu death may die)
Detective Club
Cascadia
Guild of merchant explorers
Alice's Garden
Lord of the rings lcg
Battle for Rokugan (or Kemet)
Just One
Pandemic clone wars
Skull king (or Jekyll VS Hyde)
Warp's edge (or Bullet)
Sentinels of the multiverse DE
Spirit island
Molkky (wooden outdoor game from Finland)
Cheers from belgium
👍🏾👍🏻
The board games around this house... and "others"... we are mainly wargamers, so we play infinity, conquest last argument of kings, warmachine, marvel crisis protocol and Malifaux. However, what is in a war gamers "closet" that is not the pile of unrealized potential or the pile of shame.
In no particular order the games that get pulled out for a board game night. Ugh we fail at the "board" games.
1. Godtear
2. Battletech (if it gets played on hex maps its a board game)
3. Super dungeon explore
4. Arcadia quest
5. Risk
6. The a-maze-ing labyrinth
7. Sword & sorcery
8. Chess
9. Backgammon
10. Dominoes
11. Shogi
12. Mahjong
13. Othello/reversi
Card and chips games
14. poker
15. Crib
16. bridge
17. euchre
18. rummoi
19. Rummy
20. spades
Most commonly played "board games" are crib and Godtear. Least played 16 - 20 basically only see the light of day when my parents or cousins are in town.
Battletech was the game i based my first school games club around when i was 11. Loved that game
@@3MBG that was about the same age I was introduced to Battletech. I still have all my old models and their horrible inexperienced paint jobs done with that awful testers enamel, painted with that scrub brush they called a paint brush. with all the skills and knowledge of paint in pot goes on model... glop...
Pulling them out of the display case and putting those relics on the table is always such a fun reminder of just how far we have come in 30 plus years. Today, it's washing, priming, basing with the air brush, Oil washed, oil wet blending and the joy o, acrylics. With the experience of thousands of hours with a brush in hand.
20 is still alot how about 10
1. Veiled fate
2. Everdell
3. Nemesis
4. Cthulhu death may die
5. Betrayal at the house on the hill 3rd edition
6. Bloodrage
7. Blood on the clocktower
8. Catan
9. Dune Imperium
10. Terraforming mars
Well i picked 20 because my friend Ella went from 300 games to 20 recently. So it wasn't a random choice.
20.
Wingspan
19. Unfathomable
18. Thunderbirds
17. War of the Ring - Rurik
16. Arkham Horror
15. Arkham Horror the Card Game - Aeons End
14. Obsession - Castle of Mad King Ludwig
13. Azul
12. Brass Birmingham
11. Frost Haven
10. Santorini
9. Paths of Glory
8. Junk Art
7. Sushi Go Party
6. Leaving Earth
5. The crew: Mission Deep Sea
4. Everdell
1. Tyrants of the underdark
I'm new to board gaming, and my goal is to have a collection of 10 to 20 games that I would rank a 9 or 10 out of 10.
So far I have
Welcome to the dungeon
Captain sonar
Wits and wagers
Quacks of quedlinburg
Clank catacombs
Paperback
Search for planet x
I also have but am thinking of getting rid of,
Quest for eldorado
Downforce
Sushi go party
Not that these games are bad but I'd rather be playing one of the other games.
I don't play games often enough to get tired of a 20 game collection.
I think the problem for me is when I have too many games, the more I have the less I seem to play them, especially miniature games as I want to paint them, I have streamlined my games down to about 40 games, it just gets to much owning more than that, not only for space, but to much choice, I recently sold off some brilliant games I really wanted to own, but just haven't played them.
My top 20 games would be and in no order.
1. Final girl.
2. Etherfields
3. Heroquest
4. Tainted grail.
5. ISS Vanguard
6. Zombicide black plague.
7. The great war.
8. Mirza Noctis
9. Arkham Horror LCG
10. Marvel Champions
11. Grind house
12. Mansions of madness
13. Massive Darkness
14. Dark Rituals
15. The everrain
16. Nemesis
17. Death may Die
18. Space Hulk
19. Battle cry
20. Descent legends of the dark.
There is mental load needed to learn each game. If you have 20 you play often, that just isnt a barrier at all
Look man, I didn’t get into boardgames to not spend countless hours researching, buying, and collating boxes on teeming shelves.
I suspect in a few years, if you see this comment again, it will make you feel a bit silly.
Great video and very good list and I love many of them. I try hard to make my collection lean and under 50 games because gathering dust on shelfs is not a logical action for me.
mine is (in no particular order):
1. Concordia
2. Imperial 2030
3. Troyes
4. Marco Polo 2
5. Le Havre
6. The Great Zimbabwe
7. Gaia Project
8. Tyrants of the Underdark (Also anyone played this with loving it)
9. Spirit Island
10. Mind MGMT
11. Arboretum
12. Brass: Birmingham
13. Hansa Teutonica
14. Cuba Libre
15. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
16. Kings of Air and Steam
17. Ra
18. The Resistance: Avalon
19. Genoa
20. In the Year of the Dragon
DOOD! ItYotD! Hansa! Ra! Great list!
@@ThomasLuongo Thanks :))
This is an awesome idea....I wanna have a max 50 game collection. Even that is pushing it a lot lol.
I love it when you jump cut to "serious voice J"..
Leaving Earth threatened to break my brain with math, and I double-majored in math for fun....
Broken in a good way right ;) I think the one that got close to breaking me was when i tried building a jupiter orbital station so i could land on all the jovian moons. that took some math.... so much math
It was definitely fun, but probably not something I would play too often. I prefer to estimate systems rather than do hard calculations.
What a coincidence, that’s exactly what I’m doing. A 20 games collection! Thanks for the video
I love Everdell with spirecrest. It fills out the most boring part of the game and adds juice to it.
I agree! I like all of the Everdell expansions, but I can confidently say that Spirecrest is the best of the bunch.
Ironically nice how a dark themed game got you through your hard times.❤️
Funny ain't it.
My family love playing everdell. My six and eight year old children have no issues picking up the rules. Strategy on the other hand they might need a little more time to get good at.
I love what you did with "games out of contention from this pick".
I thought it was the best way to represent the mental process i went through
Brevity baby! Wholeheartedly agree
These are mine:
Bunny Kingdom
CABO
Concept
Cosmoctopus
Discworld: Ankh-Morpork
Downforce
Hanabi
Love Letter
Machi Koro
Monopoly Deal Card Game (yeah, I know, boring, but you can play it with anyone!)
Pan Am
Pandemic
Qwixx
Schotten Totten
Spyfall
Survive: Escape from Atlantis!
Sushi Go!
Ticket to Ride
Welcome to the Moon
Wingspan
Legit bought my own first copy of love letter yesterday
Forbidden Stars; 1175: Rebellion; Go; Forgotten Waters; Dixit; Fake Artist Goes to New York; Catan; Merchants and Marauders; Pandemic Iberia; Ticket to ride.
It's like they all lie on a spectrum between "games I don't get to play" and "games I just have for other people to enjoy".
Sleeping Gods - but it's once I finish it I won't play it again, and Tigris and Eurphraties, but it's really hard to have anyone play that with me. Maybe Turncoats instead of Merchants and Marauders - buying cargo just take too long. No wait Inis has to be on this list.
Although I own only 28 games, here is My personal list (I include all expansions I own as part of any individual game)
7 wonders, Ark Nova, captain sonar, carcassone, cascadia, clank, cosmic encounter, cribbage, dominion, dune imperium, lotr lcg, the resistance, root, tapestry, terraforming mars, terraforming mars: ares expedition, through the ages, QE, twilight imperium (don’t own it but i know id love it) welcome to…
My #1 game is Obsession, I was pleasantly surprised to see it made your list.
If you flip over your box, you'll see the 3 minute board games gold medal endorsement on the back of it ;)
Most of your alternative picks would be on my top 20.great job, thanks!
Having been building up my own ‘perfect’ small collection over the years, the spot for a great dexterity game remains unfilled. Junk Art looks like a lot of fun, but I’ve been put off by the fact that the currently available version of the game has plastic pieces - as opposed to the original wooden ones. Just wondering if your copy is the wooden one? Have you played both? Is the wooden one worth seeking out over the plastic one or is there really no difference in gameplay?
Wooden one, i suspect the plastic one would not feel as nice
Imperial Assault is a great choice as your dungeon crawler. There is a ton of content for it especially with the app