Board Game Top 100 – 1

1 – Ethnos

In Ethnos, players take the roles of future kings and queens vying for control of the various regions that comprise the war torn lands of Ethnos. The theme in Ethnos may seem very “war-gamey,” but Ethnos isn’t like that. Sure, you place troops into areas on the board hoping to establish a strategic advantage, but the game is nothing like, Risk. It’s more like, Ticket To Ride.

Ethnos is an area control game, but at its core is set-collection card play. Players begin play with one card in hand. On the table are a number of face up cards and a draw pile. On your turn you can either take one of the face up cards or take the top card from the draw pile. Your goal is to create a set from the cards in your hand. Cards have two features: a race, and a nation.

Nations match those on the board. Each Nation has a distinctly colored boarder and a suitably obtuse fantasy name to define it. The colors of the cards match the nations (the name is there too for the colorly impaired.) There are 6 different nations and 6 different matching suits in the appropriate colors on the cards. There are 12 different races, but you only play with 6 each game, chosen randomly. (This creates a lot of variability and replayability.)

A set is any selection of cards that feature either all the same nation, or all the same race. Creating a set is that simple. Playing your collected set, is where things start to get really interesting. First, you need to choose one card to represent the “leader” of your war band, and place that card on top. (The sets that you play represent war bands.) When you choose your leader, you need to take into account the leader’s race and nation.

Ultimately, you want to place armies in nations on the board. You can only place your armies in the nation that matches the nation of your leader card. So, this is one thing you must consider. Secondly, every race has a unique racial ability. The racial ability on your leader card will trigger when you play your set. So, this is also important.

Finally, once you play a set, all the other cards in your hand that are not part of that war band are immediately discarded down onto the table face up so that other players can draw them. Yeah, you heard that right. In many set collection style card games there is a tendency among players to hoard cards while they try to construct the perfect combination before finally making their move. Here, you have to balance that tendency with the knowledge that anything that you don’t use, you will lose, and what’s worse, your opponents will benefit from the wealth of partial sets that you started but weren’t able to finish.

This little twist on the “set collection” card mechanic sets Ethnos apart from its peers. It’s kind of “push your luck” but not really. You have to ask yourself, “How far am I willing to go?” How much is it helping you to draw one more card, versus how much is it potentially helping your opponents? One final aspect of this is that there is a hand limit. If you have reached 10 cards in your hand, you have to play a set.

The game is played over three eras. At the end of each era, scores are tallied based on who was the strongest military presence in each nation on the board, as well as additional points for playing larger sets of cards. Eras (rounds) can end unexpectedly, but you do get a warning. At the bottom half of the deck, three dragon cards are shuffled in. When the third dragon card comes out, the Era (round) is over. The dragon cards add an interesting bit of tension as players try to accomplish everything that they can before the round is scored.

All of these elements come together to create a very engaging and enjoyable game play experience, and I haven’t even touched on the powers of the different races yet. The races all provide important changes or exceptions to rules, and the variable combinations of these ensures that every game of Ethnos feels different.

Centaurs allow you to immediately play a second war band before discarding all of your cards.

Dwarves allow you to count your band as if it is one card larger during end of round scoring. (At the end of each round, large bands are worth substantial points.)

Giants give you bonus points if you have the largest band with a giant for its leader.

Merfolk add an extra board, their own little undersea kingdom, that you advance on every time you play a band with a Merfolk leader, adding an additional way to gain victory points.

Minotaurs allow you to place armies on the nations on the board with smaller sets of cards. (Normally in order to place your army on the board, you must play a set with a number of cards greater than the number of your armies that are already there. So, if you have 3 armies in a nation, you must play a 4 card band in order to place another army there. Minotaurs reduce this requirement by one.)

Unlike other races, Skeletons can never be the leader of a band, but you can add them to any band regardless of their color or race.

These are only some examples. There are 12 races total, but you only play with 6 at a time. The information about each race is printed on their cards. So, it’s not a problem learning what each one does. The combined special powers of each race creates variability of play and layers upon layers of options. This makes Ethnos a truly engaging game play experience.

It’s fun. It’s fast. Its core mechanisms are simple yet engaging. It plays differently every time. Ethnos is just marvelous. It is my favorite board game.

Board Game Top 100 – 1

1 – Ethnos

In Ethnos, players take the roles of future kings and queens vying for control of the various regions that comprise the war torn lands of Ethnos. The theme in Ethnos may seem very “war-gamey,” but Ethnos isn’t like that. Sure, you place troops into areas on the board hoping to establish a strategic advantage, but the game is nothing like, Risk. It’s more like, Ticket To Ride.

Ethnos is an area control game, but at its core is set-collection card play. Players begin play with one card in hand. On the table are a number of face up cards and a draw pile. On your turn you can either take one of the face up cards or take the top card from the draw pile. Your goal is to create a set from the cards in your hand. Cards have two features: a race, and a nation.

Nations match those on the board. Each Nation has a distinctly colored boarder and a suitably obtuse fantasy name to define it. The colors of the cards match the nations (the name is there too for the colorly impaired.) There are 6 different nations and 6 different matching suits in the appropriate colors on the cards. There are 12 different races, but you only play with 6 each game, chosen randomly. (This creates a lot of variability and replayability.)

A set is any selection of cards that feature either all the same nation, or all the same race. Creating a set is that simple. Playing your collected set, is where things start to get really interesting. First, you need to choose one card to represent the “leader” of your war band, and place that card on top. (The sets that you play represent war bands.) When you choose your leader, you need to take into account the leader’s race and nation.

Ultimately, you want to place armies in nations on the board. You can only place your armies in the nation that matches the nation of your leader card. So, this is one thing you must consider. Secondly, every race has a unique racial ability. The racial ability on your leader card will trigger when you play your set. So, this is also important.

Finally, once you play a set, all the other cards in your hand that are not part of that war band are immediately discarded down onto the table face up so that other players can draw them. Yeah, you heard that right. In many set collection style card games there is a tendency among players to hoard cards while they try to construct the perfect combination before finally making their move. Here, you have to balance that tendency with the knowledge that anything that you don’t use, you will lose, and what’s worse, your opponents will benefit from the wealth of partial sets that you started but weren’t able to finish.

This little twist on the “set collection” card mechanic sets Ethnos apart from its peers. It’s kind of “push your luck” but not really. You have to ask yourself, “How far am I willing to go?” How much is it helping you to draw one more card, versus how much is it potentially helping your opponents? One final aspect of this is that there is a hand limit. If you have reached 10 cards in your hand, you have to play a set.

The game is played over three eras. At the end of each era, scores are tallied based on who was the strongest military presence in each nation on the board, as well as additional points for playing larger sets of cards. Eras (rounds) can end unexpectedly, but you do get a warning. At the bottom half of the deck, three dragon cards are shuffled in. When the third dragon card comes out, the Era (round) is over. The dragon cards add an interesting bit of tension as players try to accomplish everything that they can before the round is scored.

All of these elements come together to create a very engaging and enjoyable game play experience, and I haven’t even touched on the powers of the different races yet. The races all provide important changes or exceptions to rules, and the variable combinations of these ensures that every game of Ethnos feels different.

Centaurs allow you to immediately play a second war band before discarding all of your cards.

Dwarves allow you to count your band as if it is one card larger during end of round scoring. (At the end of each round, large bands are worth substantial points.)

Giants give you bonus points if you have the largest band with a giant for its leader.

Merfolk add an extra board, their own little undersea kingdom, that you advance on every time you play a band with a Merfolk leader, adding an additional way to gain victory points.

Minotaurs allow you to place armies on the nations on the board with smaller sets of cards. (Normally in order to place your army on the board, you must play a set with a number of cards greater than the number of your armies that are already there. So, if you have 3 armies in a nation, you must play a 4 card band in order to place another army there. Minotaurs reduce this requirement by one.)

Unlike other races, Skeletons can never be the leader of a band, but you can add them to any band regardless of their color or race.

These are only some examples. There are 12 races total, but you only play with 6 at a time. The information about each race is printed on their cards. So, it’s not a problem learning what each one does. The combined special powers of each race creates variability of play and layers upon layers of options. This makes Ethnos a truly engaging game play experience.

It’s fun. It’s fast. Its core mechanisms are simple yet engaging. It plays differently every time. Ethnos is just marvelous. It is my favorite board game.

Board Game Top 100 – 3-2

3 – Cosmic Run

In Cosmic Run, players take turns rolling a handful of 6 dice and then arranging sets from these dice to advance their player pawn rocket ships in a race against one another to be the first to land on new planets! On your first roll of every turn there is also a chance based on the values of certain colored dice that a meteor strike might damage or even destroy a planet before you can get there. So, players aren't only racing against each other, but also the fickle hand of fate! Die sets for movement are simple: a single die showing a “1,” or any pair, or any three, four, or five of a kind. Each time you roll, you only have to assign at least one die in order to roll again, but you can assign more. This means that you don’t have to create a set using the dice from a single roll. You can commit dice toward the creation of an incomplete set and hope that you get what you need before you’re suddenly out of dice and your turn is over. This is a lot of playing the odds, and reminiscent of the game play of Can’t Stop which is another game that we love. The board in Cosmic Run is made up of 5 tracks and the tracks are of varying lengths. The easiest track is the “1’s” track, and it’s also the longest track, with the smallest incremental improvement in victory points with each step along the way. The five of a kind track is the shortest track, and gives the highest awards in victory points with each step. When any player reaches the top of a track, they have discovered the planet there and the track is scored. Every player receives points based on their final position on the track at the point where the planet was discovered. The player who actually managed to reach the planet is in for a substantial bonus in points, while players lower on the track will score much less, in some cases even being penalized with negative points for lack of progress. Scoring of a track will also happen if any planet suffers three total meteor strikes. Once a planet is hit by its third meteor, the planet is considered destroyed and no one can discover it. When this happens, everyone is scored immediately based on their progress toward the doomed planet for good or ill. It’s a good idea to get part way up as many tracks as you can to avoid negative points. In addition to space travel, you can use your dice to befriend different alien races. Aliens give you powers that help you to mitigate your die rolls making it possible to roll the more difficult targets (like five of a kind.) One type of Alien is a mining race allowing you to mine for ore, which equals instant victory points. At the end of the game, sets of Aliens are also worth points depending upon how many different Aliens of each type you managed to befriend. Finally, if you don't have anything else to do, you can place a single die of any value into your personal tech tree to give yourself small one-shot benefits. Because of this, you always have options available on every turn. Cosmic Run is a fast, engaging, surprisingly strategic little dice game. It's quick to play and

Julie

and I always play at least two games every time we break it out.

2 – Quadropolis

In Quadropolis, players are each responsible for city planning, arranging the construction of buildings in 4 zones of a city as shown on their player boards. There is also a shared central board that must be set up at the start of every round, and there are 4 rounds in each game. The central board shows a selection of the possible buildings that players can add to their own personal piece of the city. You don’t need to gather resources or pay money to add new buildings to your player board in Quadropolis. The game play here is focused on how you arrange the buildings on your board, and on a unique drafting mechanism. The first thing a player does on their turn is assign an architect to draw up plans for a building. Every player has 4 architects in their employ. These take the form of illustrated cardboard pointers numbered 1 through 4. You can use each architect only once each round, so a round is made up of 4 turns per player. You use your architects to draft building plans. Do this by placing the card board pointer next to the board pointing at the plan that you want. If you place the 4 architect pointing into a row or column for example, you will draft the 4th plan in the direction that you are pointing. If you place the 2 architect pointing into a row or column you will draft the 2nd plan in from the central board in the direction that the architect is pointing. This creates an interesting puzzle for drafting the buildings that you need, but the puzzle doesn’t end there. You can’t place your archetect in a location around the central board where another player already has an architect. Also, every time a tile is removed from the board a special figure is moved to sit in that location. You can never point an architect at that figure. So, the row and column that was just used by the player before you is always blocked, but the puzzle doesn’t end there. Now that you have drafted a building plan, you must place the tile on your player board to turn it into a building. Since you used the number 2 architect to draft this particular plan, you must now find a suitable location for the new building in your city that is in either the 2nd row or the 2nd column on your player board. Ah, ha! You have to choose which architect to use based not only on which building plan you want, but where you plan to build it! Tricky! Once a building is placed it will usually produce a resource. The resources in Quadropolis are population, represented by little blue meeples, and energy, represented by little red cubes. Most buildings won’t score unless they are first activated by either a population meeple or energy cube. Which type of resource is needed depends upon the building and this is another part of the puzzle. If at the end of the game, you have excess population meeples that aren’t able to be assigned to buildings this represents over-population and will damage your score. If you have unassigned energy cubes, these represent pollution and will incur a similar detriment. At the end of the 4th round, your 16th turn of the game, you will score your city. Your score will be based on the types of buildings in your city and their proximity to other buildings. Parks, for example, score based on how many residential apartment buildings they are adjacent to. Factories score if next to a shop or a harbor. Shops score based on how many little population meeples you are able to place on top of them (up to 4 max.) Harbors score when forming a continuous line or column. The game comes with helpful player aids that show the scoring rules to help you decide how to place your buildings. The absolutely amazing thing about Quadropolis is how elegantly and simply all of these things come together. There is a lot going on here, but it all works seamlessly and intuitively. Quadropolis is easy to teach, easy to learn, easy to play. It juggles elements of a much more complex game and manages to produce something that is approachable and fun. Quadropolis isn’t complicated at all while you are playing it. Players have options and these options equate to an entertaining and engaging game play experience. Quadropolis is a family weight game with a great theme, quick engaging game play, beautiful components, and a fantastic table presence, that

Julie

and I both love.

Board Game Top 100 – 3-2

3 – Cosmic Run

In Cosmic Run, players take turns rolling a handful of 6 dice and then arranging sets from these dice to advance their player pawn rocket ships in a race against one another to be the first to land on new planets! On your first roll of every turn there is also a chance based on the values of certain colored dice that a meteor strike might damage or even destroy a planet before you can get there. So, players aren't only racing against each other, but also the fickle hand of fate! Die sets for movement are simple: a single die showing a “1,” or any pair, or any three, four, or five of a kind. Each time you roll, you only have to assign at least one die in order to roll again, but you can assign more. This means that you don’t have to create a set using the dice from a single roll. You can commit dice toward the creation of an incomplete set and hope that you get what you need before you’re suddenly out of dice and your turn is over. This is a lot of playing the odds, and reminiscent of the game play of Can’t Stop which is another game that we love. The board in Cosmic Run is made up of 5 tracks and the tracks are of varying lengths. The easiest track is the “1’s” track, and it’s also the longest track, with the smallest incremental improvement in victory points with each step along the way. The five of a kind track is the shortest track, and gives the highest awards in victory points with each step. When any player reaches the top of a track, they have discovered the planet there and the track is scored. Every player receives points based on their final position on the track at the point where the planet was discovered. The player who actually managed to reach the planet is in for a substantial bonus in points, while players lower on the track will score much less, in some cases even being penalized with negative points for lack of progress. Scoring of a track will also happen if any planet suffers three total meteor strikes. Once a planet is hit by its third meteor, the planet is considered destroyed and no one can discover it. When this happens, everyone is scored immediately based on their progress toward the doomed planet for good or ill. It’s a good idea to get part way up as many tracks as you can to avoid negative points. In addition to space travel, you can use your dice to befriend different alien races. Aliens give you powers that help you to mitigate your die rolls making it possible to roll the more difficult targets (like five of a kind.) One type of Alien is a mining race allowing you to mine for ore, which equals instant victory points. At the end of the game, sets of Aliens are also worth points depending upon how many different Aliens of each type you managed to befriend. Finally, if you don't have anything else to do, you can place a single die of any value into your personal tech tree to give yourself small one-shot benefits. Because of this, you always have options available on every turn. Cosmic Run is a fast, engaging, surprisingly strategic little dice game. It's quick to play and

Julie

and I always play at least two games every time we break it out.

2 – Quadropolis

In Quadropolis, players are each responsible for city planning, arranging the construction of buildings in 4 zones of a city as shown on their player boards. There is also a shared central board that must be set up at the start of every round, and there are 4 rounds in each game. The central board shows a selection of the possible buildings that players can add to their own personal piece of the city. You don’t need to gather resources or pay money to add new buildings to your player board in Quadropolis. The game play here is focused on how you arrange the buildings on your board, and on a unique drafting mechanism. The first thing a player does on their turn is assign an architect to draw up plans for a building. Every player has 4 architects in their employ. These take the form of illustrated cardboard pointers numbered 1 through 4. You can use each architect only once each round, so a round is made up of 4 turns per player. You use your architects to draft building plans. Do this by placing the card board pointer next to the board pointing at the plan that you want. If you place the 4 architect pointing into a row or column for example, you will draft the 4th plan in the direction that you are pointing. If you place the 2 architect pointing into a row or column you will draft the 2nd plan in from the central board in the direction that the architect is pointing. This creates an interesting puzzle for drafting the buildings that you need, but the puzzle doesn’t end there. You can’t place your archetect in a location around the central board where another player already has an architect. Also, every time a tile is removed from the board a special figure is moved to sit in that location. You can never point an architect at that figure. So, the row and column that was just used by the player before you is always blocked, but the puzzle doesn’t end there. Now that you have drafted a building plan, you must place the tile on your player board to turn it into a building. Since you used the number 2 architect to draft this particular plan, you must now find a suitable location for the new building in your city that is in either the 2nd row or the 2nd column on your player board. Ah, ha! You have to choose which architect to use based not only on which building plan you want, but where you plan to build it! Tricky! Once a building is placed it will usually produce a resource. The resources in Quadropolis are population, represented by little blue meeples, and energy, represented by little red cubes. Most buildings won’t score unless they are first activated by either a population meeple or energy cube. Which type of resource is needed depends upon the building and this is another part of the puzzle. If at the end of the game, you have excess population meeples that aren’t able to be assigned to buildings this represents over-population and will damage your score. If you have unassigned energy cubes, these represent pollution and will incur a similar detriment. At the end of the 4th round, your 16th turn of the game, you will score your city. Your score will be based on the types of buildings in your city and their proximity to other buildings. Parks, for example, score based on how many residential apartment buildings they are adjacent to. Factories score if next to a shop or a harbor. Shops score based on how many little population meeples you are able to place on top of them (up to 4 max.) Harbors score when forming a continuous line or column. The game comes with helpful player aids that show the scoring rules to help you decide how to place your buildings. The absolutely amazing thing about Quadropolis is how elegantly and simply all of these things come together. There is a lot going on here, but it all works seamlessly and intuitively. Quadropolis is easy to teach, easy to learn, easy to play. It juggles elements of a much more complex game and manages to produce something that is approachable and fun. Quadropolis isn’t complicated at all while you are playing it. Players have options and these options equate to an entertaining and engaging game play experience. Quadropolis is a family weight game with a great theme, quick engaging game play, beautiful components, and a fantastic table presence, that

Julie

and I both love.

Sabotage Sinister

This is another short Green Lantern entry with art by Joe Stanton. This one originally appeared in Green Lantern #132, September 1980. I would have been 14 at the time.

Sabotage Sinister

This is another short Green Lantern entry with art by Joe Stanton. This one originally appeared in Green Lantern #132, September 1980. I would have been 14 at the time.

Board Game Top 100 – 5-4

5 – Red7

It’s not flashy to look at, but then Red7 doesn’t need to be. A modern card game that feels like a classic, in Red7 your goal is simple: win! “But, Jeff …” I can hear you protest. “Isn’t winning the goal of every game?” Well, yes, but in Red7 this goal is much more pronounced. On the table in front of all the players is a draw deck and a discard pile. On top of that discard pile is a face up card. That card like every other in the game has printed on it: a number, a color, and a rule. Because this card is on the discard pile, all we care about is, “the rule.” That rule is the game’s current winning condition. It might say something on it like: highest card, most even numbers, or most of the same number … things like that. In front of you is a tableau of cards. You have been placing cards down in front of you during play or onto the discard pile (or both) in order to satisfy the game’s master rule. When you end your turn you must be winning according to the win condition on the card in the discard pile. So, let’s say that the card on the discard pile said, “most different colors.” Your opponent placed that card so that they would be winning. They have 4 different colors in front of them. You only have 3 different colors in front of you. By the end of your turn, you have to be winning, or you’re out. Let’s say it’s late in the game and you only have one card left in your hand. It’s a red card, and you don’t have any red cards in front of you. If you play it then you will also have 4 different colors in front of you. “Isn’t that a tie?” I hear you thinking. In Red7 there are no ties. The core rule of the game, the rule rule that starts every game, is highest card. Highest card is always the tie breaker. You lay down your card. It’s a 7. The highest numbered card in the game is 7. Great! But, you opponent also has a 7. The Red7 deck is made up of cards numbered 1-7 in 7 suits for a total of a 49 card deck. (There are 6 other “7’s” out there in addition to the one that you just played.) Remember that I said that there are no ties in Red7? When considering which card is high card, numbers are first in the hierarchy followed by suit. “But, with 7 different suits won’t it be really hard to remember which one is high?” Again, Red7 has got you covered. The suits are all colors and their heirarchy is based on a common mnemonic: ROY-G-BIV. (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.) Red 7 is the highest ranked card in the deck. Violet 1 is lowest ranked card in the deck. No ties. In our example above, you just played the Red 7, the highest ranked card in the deck. You are winning. Game play is quick and easy to understand. If you can’t win by one rule you can play a card to the discard to change it. If nothing you can do will make you win, then you are eliminated. Normally, I hate player elimination, but Red7 is so quick and it plays so well at two and three players that I don’t mind it here. In fact, I love it. Which is why Red7 comes in at number 5 of my favorite games of all time.

4 – Istanbul

In Istanbul players are merchants traveling around selling goods for money, and ultimately rubies. The first player to get 5 rubies wins the game. Locations provide various actions like in a worker placement game, but Istanbul is more about worker “movement” as you have to walk your worker and their assistants around the board. There are many different locations and actions available, such as: warehouses where you can fill your wagon up to its maximum with a specified good, a wainwright where you can pay to increase your wagon’s capacity (which starts the game with a capacity of only two for each good,) markets where you can sell your goods for cash, various locations that allow you to acquire rubies (usually requiring cash, or goods, or both in trade,) and mosques where you can train to learn new skills that will help you during the game. There’s even a hidden gambling den in a tea house, a post office where you can get your mail, and a jail where you can bail your ingrate in-law out (again) in exchange for a favor. Movement is a big part of Istanbul’s game play. Players are represented by a chief merchant and their various assistants. This takes the form of a stack of discs. A thicker disk at the top of the stack has the merchant’s image silk screened on it. Discs under this are thinner and match the player color, but with no image. Every time that you take a step in Istanbul you must stop and take the action of the location where you find yourself if you can, (and you want to, because maximizing your action economy is important.) In addition, when you move, you must either pick up an assistant disc at your new location, or drop off an assistant disc at the location you just left. If you can’t do one of these things, then you can’t move to that location. This movement puzzle is interesting and a big part of the game. There’s a fountain location where if needed you can call all your assistants back to you, resetting your stack. If possible it’s best to try to plan a circular path that gives you an optimum selection of actions where you can drop off assistants and then pick them back up on your second trip around, but that’s easier said then done. Then there’s that no good low life in-law that I mentioned. When you go to the jail location, (provided your in-law is there) you can move the in-law anywhere on the board and take the action. Just don’t ask too many questions about how they managed to complete the requested task. The in-law piece stays at the work location where you sent it until another player’s pawn arrives at that location and sends them back to jail. (They are honor bound to do so, but this makes the piece available to you again.) Istanbul is a fantastic twist on worker placement! Both

Julie

and I love it! As an added bonus, every time that you play, you have that song running through your head!

Board Game Top 100 – 5-4

5 – Red7

It’s not flashy to look at, but then Red7 doesn’t need to be. A modern card game that feels like a classic, in Red7 your goal is simple: win! “But, Jeff …” I can hear you protest. “Isn’t winning the goal of every game?” Well, yes, but in Red7 this goal is much more pronounced. On the table in front of all the players is a draw deck and a discard pile. On top of that discard pile is a face up card. That card like every other in the game has printed on it: a number, a color, and a rule. Because this card is on the discard pile, all we care about is, “the rule.” That rule is the game’s current winning condition. It might say something on it like: highest card, most even numbers, or most of the same number … things like that. In front of you is a tableau of cards. You have been placing cards down in front of you during play or onto the discard pile (or both) in order to satisfy the game’s master rule. When you end your turn you must be winning according to the win condition on the card in the discard pile. So, let’s say that the card on the discard pile said, “most different colors.” Your opponent placed that card so that they would be winning. They have 4 different colors in front of them. You only have 3 different colors in front of you. By the end of your turn, you have to be winning, or you’re out. Let’s say it’s late in the game and you only have one card left in your hand. It’s a red card, and you don’t have any red cards in front of you. If you play it then you will also have 4 different colors in front of you. “Isn’t that a tie?” I hear you thinking. In Red7 there are no ties. The core rule of the game, the rule rule that starts every game, is highest card. Highest card is always the tie breaker. You lay down your card. It’s a 7. The highest numbered card in the game is 7. Great! But, you opponent also has a 7. The Red7 deck is made up of cards numbered 1-7 in 7 suits for a total of a 49 card deck. (There are 6 other “7’s” out there in addition to the one that you just played.) Remember that I said that there are no ties in Red7? When considering which card is high card, numbers are first in the hierarchy followed by suit. “But, with 7 different suits won’t it be really hard to remember which one is high?” Again, Red7 has got you covered. The suits are all colors and their heirarchy is based on a common mnemonic: ROY-G-BIV. (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.) Red 7 is the highest ranked card in the deck. Violet 1 is lowest ranked card in the deck. No ties. In our example above, you just played the Red 7, the highest ranked card in the deck. You are winning. Game play is quick and easy to understand. If you can’t win by one rule you can play a card to the discard to change it. If nothing you can do will make you win, then you are eliminated. Normally, I hate player elimination, but Red7 is so quick and it plays so well at two and three players that I don’t mind it here. In fact, I love it. Which is why Red7 comes in at number 5 of my favorite games of all time.

4 – Istanbul

In Istanbul players are merchants traveling around selling goods for money, and ultimately rubies. The first player to get 5 rubies wins the game. Locations provide various actions like in a worker placement game, but Istanbul is more about worker “movement” as you have to walk your worker and their assistants around the board. There are many different locations and actions available, such as: warehouses where you can fill your wagon up to its maximum with a specified good, a wainwright where you can pay to increase your wagon’s capacity (which starts the game with a capacity of only two for each good,) markets where you can sell your goods for cash, various locations that allow you to acquire rubies (usually requiring cash, or goods, or both in trade,) and mosques where you can train to learn new skills that will help you during the game. There’s even a hidden gambling den in a tea house, a post office where you can get your mail, and a jail where you can bail your ingrate in-law out (again) in exchange for a favor. Movement is a big part of Istanbul’s game play. Players are represented by a chief merchant and their various assistants. This takes the form of a stack of discs. A thicker disk at the top of the stack has the merchant’s image silk screened on it. Discs under this are thinner and match the player color, but with no image. Every time that you take a step in Istanbul you must stop and take the action of the location where you find yourself if you can, (and you want to, because maximizing your action economy is important.) In addition, when you move, you must either pick up an assistant disc at your new location, or drop off an assistant disc at the location you just left. If you can’t do one of these things, then you can’t move to that location. This movement puzzle is interesting and a big part of the game. There’s a fountain location where if needed you can call all your assistants back to you, resetting your stack. If possible it’s best to try to plan a circular path that gives you an optimum selection of actions where you can drop off assistants and then pick them back up on your second trip around, but that’s easier said then done. Then there’s that no good low life in-law that I mentioned. When you go to the jail location, (provided your in-law is there) you can move the in-law anywhere on the board and take the action. Just don’t ask too many questions about how they managed to complete the requested task. The in-law piece stays at the work location where you sent it until another player’s pawn arrives at that location and sends them back to jail. (They are honor bound to do so, but this makes the piece available to you again.) Istanbul is a fantastic twist on worker placement! Both

Julie

and I love it! As an added bonus, every time that you play, you have that song running through your head!

Board Game Top 100 – 10-6

10 – Sentient

Entering the top 10, we have: Sentient. In Sentient players roll a set of differently colored dice and then place those dice according to their color onto their player board. The core of the game play is in drafting cards to set between the dice in various positions on your board. The cards score points based on the values of the dice next to them, but cards will also alter the values of dice as they are placed, sometimes increasing a die, and sometimes decreasing a die’s value. You have to plan carefully to get the most benefit from each card as you place it, without harming the value of a card that you’ve already placed. Sentient is challenging, thinky fun!

9 – Archaeology the New Expedition

Archaeology is a simple set-collection card game. Gather cards into your hand looking for sets to score for points. The cards represent the different treasures that an archaeologist might uncover during a dig. Selling these treasures to a museum is thematically what you are doing when you “bank” a set for points. But, you won’t want to do that too quickly, because larger sets score higher than lower sets. There is however, a catch. Mixed into the draw pile of treasures are sandstorm cards. When a sandstorm card comes out, you lose a substantial portion of the cards in your hand. You don’t want that to happen. Cards lost in this way go to the center of the table. This is a market. Anyone can buy cards from the market by swapping cards from your hand for the one’s on the table that you want, and every card has a monetary value for this purpose. Set collection and press-your-luck are two of my favorite game mechanisms. Archaeology is one of

Julie

's favorite themes. All in all this one real favorite.

8 – Century Spice Road

In Century Spice Road players collect cubes to buy cards to get more cubes. The clever stuff here is the way cards play off each other and how the card play works. Instead of a deck-builder, Century Spice Road is a “hand-builder.” Cards that you buy go directly into your hand. When you play a card it leaves your hand and it’s gone. You don’t get it back until you use one of your turns to “rest.” When you do this, all the cards that you have played and all the cards that you have purchased throughout play return to your hand. Now, you can perform any of these actions because all your cards are available to you all at once. Planning your hand so that you can play several turns in a row without having to rest is key to winning the game. It’s simple, but very engaging. Ultimately, you want your engine to produce enough resources to allow you to buy special cards worth points. Some of these cards have bonuses above them in the form of gold and silver coins. The coins are real metal and a favorite game component.

7 – The Quacks of Quedlinburg

In The Quacks of Quedlinburg, players brew and sell potions to make money to buy better ingredients to make and sell more potions, all for victory points. Potion brewing takes the form of pulling ingredients (tokens) from a bag and placing them on a track on your player board. The track is shaped like a bubbling swirl inside your player board which is shaped like a cauldron. One ingredient in your bag is a dangerous sort, and if you pull out too many of these your potion will explode. Having a potion explode will limit your options, but isn’t the end of the world. The game does a great job of balancing the risk and reward. All the different ingredients have special powers that will effect your progress through the game. Some will help you avoid explosions, some will grant you bonus victory points, many help to fill your cauldron even faster, because the more full you can make your cauldron without it blowing up, the more points you will get. Obtaining the right combination of ingredients for you bag is a big part of the strategy of the game. The Quacks of Quedlinburg is wacky push-your-luck fun.

6 – Chronicles of Frost

Chronicles of Frost is a deck-building adventure quest card game. Players play competitively to complete quests and score points to win the game. Each player has two quests to complete. These will require the player to go to specific places on the board (made up of cards) and spend specific resources (more cards.) As soon as one player has completed both of their quests, this triggers game end, and victory points are tallied. Players get victory points for completing quests, fighting monsters, and for the cards that they have added to their decks. Adventure Quest themed games are a particular favorite of mine and Chronicles of Frost is my favorite of these. I like how every player has their own unique goals and objectives as they adventure through the shared world. The board is built as you play, with new areas added to the game world a card at a time as the players discover them. The cards are interesting in that they all have a weaker and stronger option depending upon what skills your character has. Yes, you have characters, each with their own unique starting decks of cards and unique skills. These things come together smoothly. Chronicles of Frost provides a rich complex experience with simple mechanisms and game play. It’s excellent!

Board Game Top 100 – 10-6

10 – Sentient

Entering the top 10, we have: Sentient. In Sentient players roll a set of differently colored dice and then place those dice according to their color onto their player board. The core of the game play is in drafting cards to set between the dice in various positions on your board. The cards score points based on the values of the dice next to them, but cards will also alter the values of dice as they are placed, sometimes increasing a die, and sometimes decreasing a die’s value. You have to plan carefully to get the most benefit from each card as you place it, without harming the value of a card that you’ve already placed. Sentient is challenging, thinky fun!

9 – Archaeology the New Expedition

Archaeology is a simple set-collection card game. Gather cards into your hand looking for sets to score for points. The cards represent the different treasures that an archaeologist might uncover during a dig. Selling these treasures to a museum is thematically what you are doing when you “bank” a set for points. But, you won’t want to do that too quickly, because larger sets score higher than lower sets. There is however, a catch. Mixed into the draw pile of treasures are sandstorm cards. When a sandstorm card comes out, you lose a substantial portion of the cards in your hand. You don’t want that to happen. Cards lost in this way go to the center of the table. This is a market. Anyone can buy cards from the market by swapping cards from your hand for the one’s on the table that you want, and every card has a monetary value for this purpose. Set collection and press-your-luck are two of my favorite game mechanisms. Archaeology is one of

Julie

's favorite themes. All in all this one real favorite.

8 – Century Spice Road

In Century Spice Road players collect cubes to buy cards to get more cubes. The clever stuff here is the way cards play off each other and how the card play works. Instead of a deck-builder, Century Spice Road is a “hand-builder.” Cards that you buy go directly into your hand. When you play a card it leaves your hand and it’s gone. You don’t get it back until you use one of your turns to “rest.” When you do this, all the cards that you have played and all the cards that you have purchased throughout play return to your hand. Now, you can perform any of these actions because all your cards are available to you all at once. Planning your hand so that you can play several turns in a row without having to rest is key to winning the game. It’s simple, but very engaging. Ultimately, you want your engine to produce enough resources to allow you to buy special cards worth points. Some of these cards have bonuses above them in the form of gold and silver coins. The coins are real metal and a favorite game component.

7 – The Quacks of Quedlinburg

In The Quacks of Quedlinburg, players brew and sell potions to make money to buy better ingredients to make and sell more potions, all for victory points. Potion brewing takes the form of pulling ingredients (tokens) from a bag and placing them on a track on your player board. The track is shaped like a bubbling swirl inside your player board which is shaped like a cauldron. One ingredient in your bag is a dangerous sort, and if you pull out too many of these your potion will explode. Having a potion explode will limit your options, but isn’t the end of the world. The game does a great job of balancing the risk and reward. All the different ingredients have special powers that will effect your progress through the game. Some will help you avoid explosions, some will grant you bonus victory points, many help to fill your cauldron even faster, because the more full you can make your cauldron without it blowing up, the more points you will get. Obtaining the right combination of ingredients for you bag is a big part of the strategy of the game. The Quacks of Quedlinburg is wacky push-your-luck fun.

6 – Chronicles of Frost

Chronicles of Frost is a deck-building adventure quest card game. Players play competitively to complete quests and score points to win the game. Each player has two quests to complete. These will require the player to go to specific places on the board (made up of cards) and spend specific resources (more cards.) As soon as one player has completed both of their quests, this triggers game end, and victory points are tallied. Players get victory points for completing quests, fighting monsters, and for the cards that they have added to their decks. Adventure Quest themed games are a particular favorite of mine and Chronicles of Frost is my favorite of these. I like how every player has their own unique goals and objectives as they adventure through the shared world. The board is built as you play, with new areas added to the game world a card at a time as the players discover them. The cards are interesting in that they all have a weaker and stronger option depending upon what skills your character has. Yes, you have characters, each with their own unique starting decks of cards and unique skills. These things come together smoothly. Chronicles of Frost provides a rich complex experience with simple mechanisms and game play. It’s excellent!