Board Game Friday: My Top 50 Games of 2023 (#30 - 21)

Welcome to my Top 50 Board Games of 2023!  

As we move into the third week of my countdown of the best board games of 2023 (as played by me), we start to get to the truly great stuff.  If you missed either of my previous posts in this series, here are games #50 - 41 and then games #40 - 31.  

#30:  Unmatched:  Houdini vs. Genie

I'm a big fan of the game system known as Unmatched but ranking the individual boxes that I own was fairly challenging.  One of the biggest draws to Unmatched as a whole is that you can mix-and-match characters from all of the various sets.  That being said, I did try to rank the various Unmatched games on their own merits as well as how well I found them to integrate with the other characters.  For me, Houdini vs. Genie was one of the less interesting pairings - and with only two characters in the box I don't think most people would be content to just own this particular game.  

#29:  Orichalcum

One of the surprise hits for me of the last year or so, Orichalcum is a fast-paced exploration game where the winner is the first to reach five points.  With plenty of interesting decisions that play out over a relatively quick runtime, Orichalcum is one of those rather rare games that I'm willing to instantly restart and play again.  

#28:  Unmatched:  Jurassic Park:  Dr. Sattler vs. T-Rex

My first-ever Unmatched game was this one and it is the game that made me fall in love with the Unmatched system as a whole.  You wouldn't think that T-Rex versus Dr. Sattler would make for a fair fight but it turns out to be a very fun match-up no matter which character you are playing as.  If anything, this game is probably ranked too low on my list but not everything could fit into my Top 25!

#27:  Draftosaurus

A wonderful family-weight drafting game about picking dinosaurs and then placing them on your individual player board.  With plenty of different scoring options available, Draftosaurus can be won in a number of different ways.  This game is a great introduction to the game mechanic of drafting - and the little dino meeples are perfect for kids to enjoy (and adults) as they populate their parks.  I wrote a full review of this game earlier in the year if you'd like more information on it.

#26:  Unmatched: Little Red Riding Hood vs. Beowulf

Another Unmatched game on the list, and once again it's a two-character only box.  This particular set gets the nod over Dr. Sattler and T-Rex mostly because I find Little Red's picnic basket mechanic a fun puzzle to work out while playing the game.  

#25:  Ticket to Ride: Europe – 15th Anniversary

I know that a lot of Ticket to Ride fans say that the Europe map is the best version out there but I disagree.  While I do have a lot of fun with the Europe map, I find that there are a couple of things that hold this particular game back from being truly great.  The biggest drawback for me is the tunnel idea, I don't enjoy the unnecessary "luck" element in the game, there's already enough luck involved in the system as it is.  Secondly, I don't love the train stations either.  It takes a lot of the "edge" off of the game - good for children I guess but even my five-year-old son rarely uses a station when we play.  

#24:  Bärenpark

Lay tiles and race for the best scoring bears, that's the essence of Bärenpark.  The catch is that the tiles you lay on one turn are what give you your next batch of tiles to lay on future turns.  Do you race to get the highest scoring bear statue at the overall expense of filling up your entire park as efficiently as possible?  Are you at the point where you must have the one tile, even if it isn't quite going to cover up the icons you want covered?  Bärenpark has lots of fun decisions in what is a lighthearted family game.

#23:  The Quacks of Quedlinberg

Quacks, as it is affectionately known, is a bag builder with a lovely amount of press your luck.  Ostensibly, the game is about building up a huge pot of ingredients without causing those ingredients to blow up in your face.  The more ingredients you fit into your pot, the higher your score (and income) for that round (again, assuming your pot doesn't explode).  I like this game enough that I picked up the rather pricy "geekbits" for it and honestly, those bits make the game 10x more fun to play.  I'm a sucker for nice components - but even without those this is still a Top 25 game in my mind.

#22:  Fun Facts

When I did my Pub Meeple rankings, Fun Facts was one of those games that simply felt like it ended up ranked too high on my list.  That being said, it is a fun party game - especially with people you know (like family) so perhaps it's high ranking is deserved after all?  I definitely need to give this one another spin to see if it holds up, but my plays during last year's holiday break were definitely positive.

#21:  Cascadia

Cascadia is a lovely little game that combines tile placement and drafting.  The best part of the game though is that it is super easy to scale up (or down) the overall difficulty based on the people you are playing with - and at all difficulty levels the game is still super fun.  As with many of the games on my list this year, this is another game that my son has enjoyed playing with me.

Phew, that's a lot of games but now we reach the point where we are up to my Top 20!  Join me next week when we look at games #20 - 11 and then the week after where we uncover my Top 10 games for 2023!  See you then.