Theme Week: Top 10 Lists: Board Games

Welcome to my latest Theme Week:  Top 10 Lists.  As you can probably guess, each Theme Week post will consist of a Top 10 list, but the subject matter will vary widely from list to list.  I hope you enjoy reading the lists as much as I've enjoyed putting them together.

Today's Top 10 List consists of board games (and card games) that I both own and love.  I'm a huge fan of board games in general so I have a lot of games to choose from.  I'd probably have 4x or 5x more board games if only I had more people around me to play them with me!  That said, I do teach a course at my college called The Mathematics of Games and Gambling and some of the games on my list have made an appearance as course material for that class!

Note:  First, I must say that this list is definitely subject to change!  I actually have a number of unplayed games in my possession (more on that later on), but any one of those could result in a shifting of the rankings you see here.  Also, I've included Amazon.com links to all the games that I could, both for sales purposes but also so that you can click through and get more information about any game that piques your interest.

Top 10 Lists:  Board Games (that I own):

#10.  San Juan:  

San Juan is, I believe, a lighter version of the board game Puerto Rico.  I've never actually played Puerto Rico but I have played many, many rounds of San Juan over the years.  The game is played over a series of turns with each player taking on a different role each round.  Each role has a special benefit for the player (and sometimes for the other players as well)!  The goal of the game is to accumulate the most victory points by the time someone builds their twelfth building.

When I was younger, my brother and I used to play this game any time we lost power in the summertime.  It became a sort of joke, but yet something that we did (we lived out in the country so losing power was fairly common).  Although that was many, many years ago now, San Juan holds a special spot in my heart for all of the good memories it gave me.

For what it's worth, I recommend bumping up the end game condition to fifteen buildings rather than twelve.  Doing so makes the game a few turns longer and allows a few other strategies of winning to have a fighting chance (such as accumulating statues that offer lots of points but no other tangible benefits).

#9:  Isle of Skye:

Isle of Skye is the first game on the countdown that I've actually used in my Games and Gambling class.  In fact, I originally bought this game specifically for that course - but since then it's become a favorite of my own to play.

The draw of Isle of Skye is two-fold.  First, the game is ostensibly a tile-laying game but in this game you have to set prices for your tiles and then buy other people's tiles.  Any tiles that aren't purchased from you are tiles that you have to buy for yourself (so setting prices super high can easily backfire).

The other interesting aspect of Isle of Skye is the scoring mechanism.  There are a wide variety of possible scoring goals in the game (16 in all) but for any one game only four such goals will be in play.  This helps to add lots of replayability to the game which is a great way to get me to play the game multiple times.  It's also fairly easy to teach and yet has some fairly deep decision making (which makes it perfect to play with a wide range of people).

#8:  Forbidden Island

Forbidden Island is a cooperative game (all players win together or lose together) with the goal of collecting four treasures and then escaping a sinking island via helicopter.  Each player controls a pawn of a different color and each player gets a specific ability depending on their character.  The game requires you to collect cards and move about an island while keeping as much of the land from sinking as possible, for as long as possible.

Forbidden Island is a great co-op game and personally, I think I prefer it to some of the more famous co-op games (such as Pandemic or Flashpoint, two other games that I own but that didn't make my Top 10 list).  Forbidden Island also has a couple of closely related games:  Forbidden Desert (which I don't own and haven't played) and Forbidden Sky which I recently bought and played.  Forbidden Sky is fun enough but I think the elegant simplicity of Forbidden Island is still superior to the slightly harder, slightly clunkier Forbidden Sky.  That said, if you are interested in a harder coop game than Forbidden Island, Forbidden Sky might be right up your alley.

#7:  One Deck Dungeon

One of my coworkers and I both love to play board games, but he usually is only interested in playing co-op type games with some sort of RPG elements.  The trick is that there's usually only two of us playing such games which rules out any game that requires a "dungeon master" type role.

One Deck Dungeon is a lovely little box game that allows either one or two people to work cooperatively to defeat three levels of a dungeon plus a final dungeon boss.  As players work their way through the floors of the dungeon, they'll slowly level up their character's abilities and, hopefully, be strong enough to take down the final baddie.

The game is basically a dice rolling game where each player rolls specifically colored dice depending on their current stats.  Then, using the dice each player rolled, players work to fill up boxes on the enemy cards, ideally covering each box so as to not take any damage.  Defeated enemies then become useful for future stat boosts, equipment/ability changes, or other upgrades.  The game is incredibly simple to teach and plays fairly quickly - but beware, it can be absolutely brutal, even for experienced players, if you get a bad starting draw!  The other nice thing about the game is that you get your own character sheet which you can then carry over to the next game.  Depending on your success in previous dungeon dives, your character will slowly get stronger and stronger - a vital thing to have happen because the box comes with a bunch of different dungeon bosses, some of which are quite challenging for even the most highly tricked out adventurers.

One Deck Dungeon also has a stand alone expansion called Forest of Shadows which I recently bought.  While Forest of Shadows is fine, it's basically more of the same - the only new mechanic introduced was poison which didn't seem to be overly interesting in our play sessions.  That said, I'd recommend buying whichever version of One Deck Dungeon you can find for cheapest (both boxes contain everything you need to play the game).  You can combine the cards from each box into one deck if you want but I don't see the draw in doing that unless you want to expand the game to include three or four players at once.

#6:  Rage

For a number of years, my wife and I got together with another couple and played card games every Sunday morning.  Our gaming ritual had us starting with either 500 or May I? (depending on whether or not other people were also playing with us) and then moving on to Rage.  I reviewed May I? on the blog awhile back and while the game isn't awful, I was always looking forward past the game to when we could start Rage.

Rage is a trick-taking card game played over a series of rounds.  At the start of each round (after cards have been dealt), players must bid on the number of tricks that they will take.  If they get their bid exactly right, they score a large bonus.  If they miss, they simply score the number of tricks then end up taking in the round (thus if you overshoot your bid you still have reason to keep taking tricks to mess up other people as well).  That's all fairly standard fare though.  The game gets its name (and fun) from the special cards included in the deck.  For the most part, the deck contains numbered cards in six different colors - but there are also black cards that throw everything off.  At the start of the round, you know what color trump is - but trump can change at a moment's notice (or even disappear altogether) depending on whether or not any of the special black cards are played during the round.  It's quite common to be winning a trick and then have someone change trump mid-way through the trick ruining both your chances and someone else's chances.  Trust me, rage will occur (but so will laughter)!

#5:  Codenames / Sheriff of Nottingham

I had to cheat here as Codenames and Sheriff of Nottingham are completely different (and unrelated) games.  That said, they both fill the same niche of "party games" that needed to be represented on my list and I simply couldn't decide which belonged on the list.

Codenames is a team based party game where the goal is to have one person give clues to the rest of their team in order to locate a series of spies.  At the same time, the other team is doing the same thing but both teams are trying to avoid having their teammates guess the one "bad" character which results in an automatic loss immediately, no matter what the score was.  Codenames is an intense little game, but it's usually played in almost complete silence as people study the cards which means it's not right for every sort of party!

Sheriff of Nottingham is also a party type game but there are no teams.  Sheriff is a game where players try to smuggle goods and contraband past the sheriff.  Get caught and you pay heavily but get through and riches could be yours.  The basic gimmick here is that you put cards (representing goods and contraband) into a little pouch.  Then you declare what you are sending through customs (the sheriff is played by one player, a role that changes every round).  If the Sheriff believes your (or takes your bribe), you get through and you get all the cards in your pouch.  If the Sheriff thinks you are lying, he or she can choose to open your pouch and investigate.  For every card you were lying about, you lose the card AND pay the Sheriff a fee.  However, if the Sheriff was wrong and you were totally honest, then the Sheriff owes you for each card in your pouch.  It's a great game full of lies and bluffing - and it's been a big hit in my Games and Gambling class with almost every single student who has played it.  The game is sure to get lots of laughs along the way as well which makes it an ideal party game.

Personally, I give the edge of the better game to Sheriff of Nottingham but I do like the team aspect of Codenames (for example, in a couples battle).  Sometimes you want a team game so that you can include non-gamers who might not want to play on their own against more experienced players which makes Codenames ideal for those sorts of scenarios.

#4:  Love Letter

The original Love Letter game (which is what I linked to) is a small game and I do mean small.  In fact, the full deck contains a mere 16 cards - but oh my, how delightfully tricky those 16 cards can be.  Ostensibly, the game is about trying to get your love letter delivered to the Princess but the story doesn't matter.  What matters is that Love Letter is a knockout game where you try to either A) knock out everyone else in the round or B) have the highest numbered card when the round ends (when the deck is exhausted).

Although knockout games can be a bummer, rounds of Love Letter move very quickly so even if you get knocked out in the beginning of a round you'll be playing again in no time.  Generally speaking, you can play until someone wins a set number of rounds (we usually played to the first to four wins).  It gets more intense that way as you accumulate wins - the closer you get to the goal, the more likely it will be that people will target you trying to knock you out.  Only a good mix of skill and luck will allow you to win by say a 4-2-2-2 margin.  Generally, games often come down to some sort of 3-3 tie with the last game being for all the proverbial marbles.

Love Letter is super easy to explain and play, but there is a real depth to the game.  Don't let the fact that the deck is so small fool you, there's plenty of love to be had for this game!

#3:  Splendor  (myeview)

Splendor is a light engine building game where you are tasked with building up a supply of gem mines and resources in an effort to earn enough victory points to win the game.  Frankly, the story in Splendor is kind of dumb (and pointless) but the game play and components are great!

I've already gone into the game of Splendor in fairly exhaustive review on my blog - see the link to my full review of the game next to the game's title above.  While I do love Splendor a lot, I will admit that I've grown sort of weary of the game now in that I kind of feel like I've seen and done all that the game has to offer.  At this point in time, I basically have the same strategy that I attempt to employ every game and usually that does well for me.  There is at least one expansion for the game out there (called Cities of Splendor which actually has four mini expansions in the box) but I haven't ever played with Cities of Splendor so I can't speak as to whether or not the expansion breathes enough new life into the game for me.  All that said, the only reason I'm now sort of tired of the game is that I've played it so darn much because it's a great, great little game!

#2:  Skull (my review)

Skull is the only game that I've reviewed to date that has earned a perfect 100/100 score from me.  In fact, the only thing bad about the game is the price - $20+ is a little steep considering the box basically contains a bunch of beer coasters and mats and that's it.  Luckily, you can just as easily play Skull with a regular deck of playing cards.  Admittedly, the coasters are cooler and "feel" better in hand, but the game itself works fine with regular cards.

Like Splendor, I've already reviewed Skull and written a fairly extensive rules explanation so I won't repeat that here.  What I will say though is the Skull has been a hit with my family during Christmastime game nights as well as with the students in my Mathematics of Games and Gambling class.  It's a light game and plays fairly quickly and it's virtually guaranteed to elicit laughter, cheers, and the occasional groan from players around the table.

#1:  Dinosaur Island & Totally Liquid expansion

If you've followed my blog over the years, it should be no surprise to you see that I love a dinosaur themed game.  Dinosaur Island was a game that I backed on Kickstarter which despite it's high price tag is a decision that I've never regretted (the Kickstarter version of the game comes with much nicer components and more small dinosaurs but otherwise the retail and Kickstarter versions play basically identically).

In Dinosaur Island, players are basically tasked with creating their own Jurassic Park - and yes, if you aren't careful dinosaurs can get out and wreck havoc on your visitors.  The game is a BIG game, that is to say it has a huge table footprint BUT it's not necessarily all that hard of a game to understand.

While I like the base game a lot, I would honestly say that it's the Totally Liquid expansion that boosts Dinosaur Island to the top of my Top 10 Board Games list.  Totally Liquid adds in more options (including water dinos) and new scoring options as well, some of which remain hidden from other players until the end of the game (which provides a bit more mystery and intrigue heading into the final scoring).

I fully intend to review Dinosaur Island on the blog someday, especially if this board game list generates some interest.  Obviously, Nachos Grande is a baseball card blog first and foremost, but hopefully the occasional dabble into other topics is appreciated (or at least tolerated) by my readers!

And that will do it for my first Top 10 List of the week.  I definitely severely underestimated the difficulty in putting this particular list together - both in terms of the amount of time it took to write it but even worse, the amount of time it took to actually whittle my games that I like down to a manageable number.  If you are curious, other games that didn't quite make the cut for various reasons (but could have on a different day) included games Coupe, Wizard, Jaipur, Rivals for Catan, Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City and 7 Wonders to name a few.  Also, I have a few other games that I've bought from Kickstarter but I haven't had the time to either play them, or get enough plays to accurately rank them.  Those games include Fleet, Welcome To, and Gentes.  I'm sure that if I were to ever revisit this particular Top 10 list at least some of the games would be swapped but even so I'm confident that you really can't go wrong with any of the games on my list!