Ravensburger has a simple card game called ‘Push’. The game scales extremely well with 2-6 , is easy to learn and has become a staple filler weight game for my friends and family. Definitely worth a look.
It keeps players interested on their opponents turns being that the outcome most likely will effect them as well. Cards are stacked into up to 3 piles and at the end of a player’s turn those stacks are chosen by opponents in turn order, the turn order for stack selection may be switched as well if a certain card is drawn. Its fast and definitely allows for some degree of tactical play. I discovered it from a Game Boy Geek video.
Wendy McIlroy I find myself banking cards somewhat often so as to mitigate the chances of a bad roll. You typically gain cards on others turns so it doest hurt so bad to bank and skip your draw turn imo. That being said, yea, that die can be mean fo sho;)
Love the new format! I appreciate how you define the difference between what you thought of and how you now think of Push-Your-Luck. Monopoly has a luck aspect-you could land on an opponents monopoly or miss it by one space-but the ability to mitigate and have some choice as to how that “luck” shakes out makes for some great moments. Quacks does great things with the mechanic: you can decide if you don’t want to continue drawing; you can build a huge bag, but it’s always going to nag you that you’ve still got that white 3-chip still in there; and even if you do bust, you didn’t just waste an entire round. It’s a great feeling when you can pull out the chip that puts you in the lead, but the sting isn’t as bad when you explode because you can still buy more ingredients to try again next round. It really makes for some great moments. Thanks for the video, Jamey!
@ Jamey re Trash Pandas- I don't think you mentioned that if you bust you do get a Consolation Prize of drawing one card from the trash can into your hand. Trash Pandas is a game we make sure to include when we host family game nights at my school. Good game for adults and children to play together. re Incan Gold- Another very good game we introduce to casual gamers. A few of us like Megaland because it has the running the level element that is similar to the main element in Incan Gold.
I would definitely put Clank in the list! Especially when one person (inevitably) goes for the rush strategy and everyone else is trying to get out in time without their cubes being pulled but with just a little more than everyone else. Then again, we all tend to think about games and sort of mentally categorize them a little differently.
Played one time where that rule was forgotten. Yeah... wouldn't recommend it. The player who had left the dungeon(due to low health) was not very happy as he had a low score. I spotted the rule and "rewinded", playing out those pulls. If I remember correctly, he ended up winning.
Great list as always! My personal Top 10 Push Your Luck Games: 10. Can’t Stop 9. Incan Gold 8. Ninjato 7. Abracada...What? 6. Costa Rica 5. Port Royal 4. Deep Blue 3. Abyss 2. Quacks of Quedlinburg 1. MegaLand Honorable mentions to: Welcome to the Dungeon and Bomb Squad Academy
King of Tokyo is a good one. It has the push your luck of all Yahtzee games deciding how to use your 3 rolls, but the main element is deciding how long you can survive "in Tokyo".
I'd suggest Mystic Vale. On your turn, you draw cards until you decide to stop, or you can see 4 or more red corruption symbols, in which case you bust and lose your turn (but gain a +1 money which you can spend whenever you like).
I love Quacks but there is a game that does push your luck better than any game I have ever played and that is Mystic Vale, which is one of my top 10 all-time games. Good list but if you haven't tried Mystic Vale, you should try it soon. There is a wonderful steam version.
Just going through my shelf shortly and by games with great push your luck elements: Boomtown, san juan, las vegas, blue lagoon somewhat, call to glory, dice town, the glasroad, Ra, im wandel der zeiten dicegame, azul, klong, wettlauf nach el dorado, hansa teutonica, orleons, bloodbowl team manager, colony, lost cities, dungeon roll, jaipur, ganz schön clever, sobek, würfel bohnanza, rapa nui, fugitive, 7 wonders duel, pick-a-polar-bear, Diamant, Kingdomino, Jump Drive, CV, Majesty, Coloretto, 111rummy, von drachen und schafen, kokoro, Abluxxen, Schöne Scheisse, Blöde Kuh, Portale von Moltar, Oh my Goods, FAIRY TALE!, pingvasion, sushigo, seventh hero, auf nach indien, port royal, star/hero realms, heckmeck.., qwinto, nochmal, GIER, argh, mammuz, tempel des schreckens, bang dice game, tiefe taschen, manhatten, cyclades, ultraquest, mama mia..poison, babylonia, Tzolkin, smallworld, glen more..vodoo prince, junkart ^.^ Strike, Nine tiles panic, celestia..
I love Dead Man's Draw too (also called Captain Carcass). You gotta play the tabletop version! Have you tried can't stop express? Also have you tried Push?
Ra is a great #1 choice. Port royal and quacks are definitely high on my list. I find that Incan gold is just 'ok', but I see it high on a lot of lists.
Miskatonic University is so great. I hadn't heard of it until a friend of mine brought their copy over and now it's probably my favourite push your luck game!
MEGALAND is also a great "press your luck game." You decide how deep you want to venture into the dungeon. Then upon returning home, you can use your found treasure to purchase building for your village. The buildings produce coin or other benefits. So think of it as Celestia + Machi Koro.
I really enjoy push your luck element in Istanbul, players can visit tea house to get liras. Basically you try to guess the number on the dice. I hope Ra gets reprinted soon, I am seeing it on many people’s lists but can’t find it anywhere
I like that you said clank basically made this list without including it. Clanks push your luck mechanic is the core of the game imo because everything revolves around clank, removing clank, and moving quickly enough to not die to accumulated clank. I am now going to have a harder problem not buying Ra or quacks. 😭
Tiny Epic Quest is one of my favorites, with a very strong unofficial Legend of Zelda theme. It also has almost no downtime as the dice you roll on your turn effect all players.
Costa Rica (Lookout Spiele) and Cosmic Run: Regeneration (Dr. Finn's Games) would be my top picks for underrated PYL games. Have had a great time with both of those.
Thanks for this video. I haven't tried many of these and will have to order a few (lucky many are small, cause I'm running out of space!). I'm also a huge fan of Mystic Vale.
My favorite part of the genre is the fun in watching someone else go for a very risky play. Even if it upsets the scores and I lose, I still got to see something exciting. If a more strategy-focused game, seeing someone else win by pure luck has a bigger sting of disappointment.
I tend not to like most 'pure' push your luck games. I could see liking something along the lines of Feast of Odin, though. And I enjoy Space Clank very much, which has push your luck elements at the end. In the last Space Clank game I played, I stayed in one more round to get a chance to buy more before heading out, and then right after my turn the number of cubes being pulled from the bag jumped to 7, so I went from having around 2 health loss to being around 2-3 away from dying. And if I hadn't drawn boots, I probably would have died. The last player just needed to make it to an escape hatch and probably would have won, but he stayed in too long and was knocked out. As a result, I won by 2 points over the other player to make it out. So I guess I enjoy push your luck when it is integrated into the theme and there feels like real choices on whether to stay in or not. But the more straightforward push your luck games where that is all the game is, whether it is rolling a die one more time or pulling a card to see if you bust, I never feel like I have done anything really substantial no matter how well I roll/lucky I am at staying in. I don't mind luck in games, but if that is all the game is, then I just don't find much enjoyment from that.
it's a stretch to label feast as push your luck. Just a few action spots on the board have that mechanism. At the end, most players will go there with odds on their favor for claiming what they want. It would be very wasteful and lead to low scores to "gamble" if you are going for raiding/pillaging.
For another push your luck game, Legend of the Cherry Tree by iello is good, and your game Euphoria has a push aspect with the intelligence of the workers which I enjoy as well.
Can’t Stop is a great game! - But, sadly, the iPhone version is no longer available. There is a remarkably similar game here: www.rollordont.com/playonline/
@@jameystegmaier of course, after all it is subjective :) Well haven't thought about one. For sure celestia would be on it, also port royal... And maybe Etnos (I know it is not a core mechanic, but it wouldn't be the same game without the push your luck at the end of each age. So I think it is a very important part of tht game). Also dice forge has inherently a lot of push your luck (although not a core mechanic, but I like it a lot) so maybe that's also on my list. Anyway, haven't put as much thought in it as you have, maybe I was too quick to respond, sorry :D
I like the summary page at the end of the video! Thanks for continuing to provide great content for your viewers.
Ravensburger has a simple card game called ‘Push’. The game scales extremely well with 2-6 , is easy to learn and has become a staple filler weight game for my friends and family. Definitely worth a look.
Thanks for the recommendation. What is your favourite part of the game? What makes it unique?
It keeps players interested on their opponents turns being that the outcome most likely will effect them as well. Cards are stacked into up to 3 piles and at the end of a player’s turn those stacks are chosen by opponents in turn order, the turn order for stack selection may be switched as well if a certain card is drawn.
Its fast and definitely allows for some degree of tactical play.
I discovered it from a Game Boy Geek video.
Wendy McIlroy I find myself banking cards somewhat often so as to mitigate the chances of a bad roll. You typically gain cards on others turns so it doest hurt so bad to bank and skip your draw turn imo. That being said, yea, that die can be mean fo sho;)
This is my favorite Push your luck game!
Wendy McIlroy The rules do say you can bank all cards of one color in lieu of flipping cards. So your turn is banking the cards in your bench.
Port Royal is one of my favorite “push ur luck” games. I like how one can build up mitigating cards so that one can push even further.
John Webster port royal woot!
Game names on screen! :clap:
I like Megaland a lot and we play it quite often in my group.
Love the new format!
I appreciate how you define the difference between what you thought of and how you now think of Push-Your-Luck. Monopoly has a luck aspect-you could land on an opponents monopoly or miss it by one space-but the ability to mitigate and have some choice as to how that “luck” shakes out makes for some great moments.
Quacks does great things with the mechanic: you can decide if you don’t want to continue drawing; you can build a huge bag, but it’s always going to nag you that you’ve still got that white 3-chip still in there; and even if you do bust, you didn’t just waste an entire round. It’s a great feeling when you can pull out the chip that puts you in the lead, but the sting isn’t as bad when you explode because you can still buy more ingredients to try again next round. It really makes for some great moments.
Thanks for the video, Jamey!
@ Jamey re Trash Pandas- I don't think you mentioned that if you bust you do get a Consolation Prize of drawing one card from the trash can into your hand. Trash Pandas is a game we make sure to include when we host family game nights at my school. Good game for adults and children to play together.
re Incan Gold- Another very good game we introduce to casual gamers. A few of us like Megaland because it has the running the level element that is similar to the main element in Incan Gold.
You know, I think we've completely overlooked that rule!
I would definitely put Clank in the list! Especially when one person (inevitably) goes for the rush strategy and everyone else is trying to get out in time without their cubes being pulled but with just a little more than everyone else. Then again, we all tend to think about games and sort of mentally categorize them a little differently.
Agree, it definitely puts a lot of weight on that "when do I turn around?" decision
Played one time where that rule was forgotten. Yeah... wouldn't recommend it. The player who had left the dungeon(due to low health) was not very happy as he had a low score. I spotted the rule and "rewinded", playing out those pulls. If I remember correctly, he ended up winning.
Great list as always!
My personal Top 10 Push Your Luck Games:
10. Can’t Stop
9. Incan Gold
8. Ninjato
7. Abracada...What?
6. Costa Rica
5. Port Royal
4. Deep Blue
3. Abyss
2. Quacks of Quedlinburg
1. MegaLand
Honorable mentions to:
Welcome to the Dungeon and Bomb Squad Academy
King of Tokyo is a good one. It has the push your luck of all Yahtzee games deciding how to use your 3 rolls, but the main element is deciding how long you can survive "in Tokyo".
I'd suggest Mystic Vale. On your turn, you draw cards until you decide to stop, or you can see 4 or more red corruption symbols, in which case you bust and lose your turn (but gain a +1 money which you can spend whenever you like).
I love Quacks but there is a game that does push your luck better than any game I have ever played and that is Mystic Vale, which is one of my top 10 all-time games. Good list but if you haven't tried Mystic Vale, you should try it soon. There is a wonderful steam version.
Indeed, I've played Mystic Vale. I considered it for this list, but it didn't make my top 10.
Just going through my shelf shortly and by games with great push your luck elements:
Boomtown, san juan, las vegas, blue lagoon somewhat, call to glory, dice town, the glasroad, Ra, im wandel der zeiten dicegame, azul, klong, wettlauf nach el dorado, hansa teutonica, orleons, bloodbowl team manager, colony, lost cities, dungeon roll, jaipur, ganz schön clever, sobek, würfel bohnanza, rapa nui, fugitive, 7 wonders duel, pick-a-polar-bear, Diamant, Kingdomino, Jump Drive, CV, Majesty, Coloretto, 111rummy, von drachen und schafen, kokoro, Abluxxen, Schöne Scheisse, Blöde Kuh, Portale von Moltar, Oh my Goods, FAIRY TALE!, pingvasion, sushigo, seventh hero, auf nach indien, port royal, star/hero realms, heckmeck.., qwinto, nochmal, GIER, argh, mammuz, tempel des schreckens, bang dice game, tiefe taschen, manhatten, cyclades, ultraquest, mama mia..poison, babylonia, Tzolkin, smallworld, glen more..vodoo prince, junkart ^.^ Strike, Nine tiles panic, celestia..
I love Dead Man's Draw too (also called Captain Carcass). You gotta play the tabletop version! Have you tried can't stop express? Also have you tried Push?
I have Push but haven't played it, and I need to try Can't Stop Express.
Ra is a great #1 choice.
Port royal and quacks are definitely high on my list.
I find that Incan gold is just 'ok', but I see it high on a lot of lists.
Ra, Medici, Circus Flohcati, Pickomino. As with many mechanisms, I think Dr. Knizia does this best.
Zombie Dice was pretty fun.
I am also having fun with Miskatonic University: The Restricted Collection.
Miskatonic University is so great. I hadn't heard of it until a friend of mine brought their copy over and now it's probably my favourite push your luck game!
CV is a great game about life, where you roll your luck or get too much bad luck and bust.
Nice to the see the summary at the end. Thank you!!
I have played the heck out the Dead Mans draw app as well. Great list!
MEGALAND is also a great "press your luck game."
You decide how deep you want to venture into the dungeon. Then upon returning home, you can use your found treasure to purchase building for your village. The buildings produce coin or other benefits.
So think of it as Celestia + Machi Koro.
I really enjoy push your luck element in Istanbul, players can visit tea house to get liras. Basically you try to guess the number on the dice.
I hope Ra gets reprinted soon, I am seeing it on many people’s lists but can’t find it anywhere
That's a fun mini-game in Istanbul.
anybody else ever get the feel that maybe these lists that jamey makes are possible hints at mechanics that he could include in future games?
My kids are yelling “Welcome to the Dungeon!”
If one day you update your list, I think Wonderland’s War should make it to the top.
Deep Sea Adventure is so much fun. My 8yo and I love playing!
I like that you said clank basically made this list without including it. Clanks push your luck mechanic is the core of the game imo because everything revolves around clank, removing clank, and moving quickly enough to not die to accumulated clank.
I am now going to have a harder problem not buying Ra or quacks. 😭
Oh My Goods! is my favorite push your luck game, especially with the expansion Longasdale in Revolt.
I found that I actually enjoy push-you-luck games quite a bit.
Thoughts on Port Royal? One of my fav games!
Here's the video in which I briefly talk about Port Royal: ua-cam.com/video/RbTW3tqPB14/v-deo.html
Tiny Epic Quest's night phase is completely a press-you-luck design that builds tension and works very well.
Tiny Epic Quest is one of my favorites, with a very strong unofficial Legend of Zelda theme. It also has almost no downtime as the dice you roll on your turn effect all players.
Costa Rica (Lookout Spiele) and Cosmic Run: Regeneration (Dr. Finn's Games) would be my top picks for underrated PYL games. Have had a great time with both of those.
I'll second the Cosmic Run: Regeneration recommendation
Thanks for this video. I haven't tried many of these and will have to order a few (lucky many are small, cause I'm running out of space!). I'm also a huge fan of Mystic Vale.
Love the new format ( still prefer the old room though)!
My favorite part of the genre is the fun in watching someone else go for a very risky play. Even if it upsets the scores and I lose, I still got to see something exciting. If a more strategy-focused game, seeing someone else win by pure luck has a bigger sting of disappointment.
I love push-your-luck games and Pairs is the absolute best. Dead Man's Draw comes second.
I tend not to like most 'pure' push your luck games. I could see liking something along the lines of Feast of Odin, though. And I enjoy Space Clank very much, which has push your luck elements at the end.
In the last Space Clank game I played, I stayed in one more round to get a chance to buy more before heading out, and then right after my turn the number of cubes being pulled from the bag jumped to 7, so I went from having around 2 health loss to being around 2-3 away from dying. And if I hadn't drawn boots, I probably would have died. The last player just needed to make it to an escape hatch and probably would have won, but he stayed in too long and was knocked out. As a result, I won by 2 points over the other player to make it out.
So I guess I enjoy push your luck when it is integrated into the theme and there feels like real choices on whether to stay in or not. But the more straightforward push your luck games where that is all the game is, whether it is rolling a die one more time or pulling a card to see if you bust, I never feel like I have done anything really substantial no matter how well I roll/lucky I am at staying in. I don't mind luck in games, but if that is all the game is, then I just don't find much enjoyment from that.
it's a stretch to label feast as push your luck. Just a few action spots on the board have that mechanism. At the end, most players will go there with odds on their favor for claiming what they want. It would be very wasteful and lead to low scores to "gamble" if you are going for raiding/pillaging.
Would you count Formula D as a push-your-luck game?
From what I've heard, I think so? But I haven't played it.
the grizzled!!!! best push your luck game ever made!! so much tension!!! so many hard choices and suffering!!😰
For another push your luck game, Legend of the Cherry Tree by iello is good, and your game Euphoria has a push aspect with the intelligence of the workers which I enjoy as well.
Thanks for the heads up! I'll need to check that out.
Can’t Stop is a great game! - But, sadly, the iPhone version is no longer available. There is a remarkably similar game here: www.rollordont.com/playonline/
If you love Dead Man’s Draw you’ll love Push the card game!
Thanks! I actually just talked about Push last week: ua-cam.com/video/qe0VRrj1eZ0/v-deo.html
You must haven’t played Port Royal yet! It’s the best in the filler league by far 😂
I have! I actually mention it in the video. :)
Jamey Stegmaier yes! I commented right after you mentioned the #1 😅Respect your choices
I agree. Port Royal deserves a spot on every push your luck genre list. Think it is much better than for example Celestia (which I also like).
@@bartdierickx5150 But...I don't like it as much as these 10 games. This is my list! :) What's yours?
@@jameystegmaier of course, after all it is subjective :)
Well haven't thought about one. For sure celestia would be on it, also port royal... And maybe Etnos (I know it is not a core mechanic, but it wouldn't be the same game without the push your luck at the end of each age. So I think it is a very important part of tht game). Also dice forge has inherently a lot of push your luck (although not a core mechanic, but I like it a lot) so maybe that's also on my list. Anyway, haven't put as much thought in it as you have, maybe I was too quick to respond, sorry :D