What makes for a great board game? Well, as you can see, I’m amenable to almost any subject matter and weight. Different gaming sessions and different audiences want different things, usually on the same game night! My favorite games tend to be midweights, but some of my best sessions have been with lighter fare because i’m playing with someone new. However, if I had request(s) for any board game designer it would be this:
Tell me how to play your game.
In this day and age, there’s no good reason to have a bad rulebook, and I cannot tell you how many games haven’t made it to the table because I opened the rulebook and said ‘nope, this is too much’. Also, don’t be too cute with your rulebook. I recently played Age of Comics, and the rules – while appreciably short and sweet – are also written with what feels like no kerning whatsoever, which meant that looking for simple rules gave me a headache. There are great rulebooks out there. Crack one open and copy it!
Make a youtube video.
Learning the basic rules from a Youtube video is by far the best way to learn a new game, and a lot of the people out there are really good at making these videos. When I want to learn a game, I reflexively look for a video by Rahdo or Rodney at Watch It Played but there are several people who are good at it. Pay someone to make this video for you! Also, if this video is longer than, say, 25 minutes, your game may be too complicated.
Clearly label/call out expansion content
This is mostly for kickstarters and the like, where additional modules and add-ons might be included with the core game but, for the love of god, tell me what they are. Nothing’s more frustrating than being told that there should be 20 meeples, discovering there are 26 meeples, and then trying to read through the whole booklet to figure out which ones are for some random expansion module you don’t want to play on the first playthrough… while a whole table sits idle doomscrolling while waiting for you. And while we’re at it, put a damn symbol on expansion cards and the like so they can be removed if you want to play without the expansion for a simpler game or because it turns out the expansion sucks. It’s 2023! there’s no excuse to keep doing this wrong, The Hunger: High Stakes!
I realize this sounds like a bunch of nitpicking but it’s really not. There are too many games out there for me to waste hours trying to figure out how to set up and play a new game before I can even figure out if it’s fun. Respect our time!
Previously: 100-91 90-81 80-71 70-61 60-51 50-41 40-31 30-21
20. Magic the Gathering
“Cast spells and summon fantasy monsters in the original collectible card game.”
Released: 1993
Designer: Richard Garfield
Players: 2+
Estimated Time: 20 mins
Last Year: 16
I go in and out of Magic phases, and I’ve generally been ‘out’ since the two rugrats have been born. Young kids make it hard to excessively go to Friday Night Magic without earning spouse aggro, and even online options are difficult when you frequently have to put down your iPad and leave an opponent hanging because your younger has started unleashing his crayon Michelangelo on the living room wall. And yet…
Magic remains the gold standard of collectible card games. Players play as two wizards dueling against each other by casting spells and summoning creatures. 2023 represents the thirtieth anniversary of Magic, and in those thirty years, it’s become a master class on how great games can continually refine and reinvent themselves to remain relevant. Of particular note, in recent years a new format named “Commander” has become dominant in non-competitive play, as it provides a large multiplayer format and only allows one of each cards in a deck, resulting in crazy, unpredictable games where all of those ‘filler’ cards that normally go unplayed finally get to see the light of day.’
In one of the weirder things to happen to Magic, they have started doing special IP crossover sets called ‘Secret Lair’, which includes sets for Doctor Who, Walking Dead, and Jurassic Park, as examples. These sets are a small handful of cards that aren’t playable in ‘standard’ Magic. Personally, I’m not a fan of them but I will note that this strategy led to a full set of Lord of the Rings cards, which came out in 2023 and was pretty awesome.
19. Wayfarers of the South Tigris
“Explore the waterways, map the land, and chart the stars in medieval Baghdad.”
Released: 2022
Designer: S J Macdonald, Shem Phillips
Players: 1-4
Estimated Time: 60-90
New to List
Shem Phillips and Garphill Games have been on a tear. They released a trilogy of one great and two okay great games in the North Sea trilogy (Raiders of the North Sea, which just missed the list) and then significantly upped their game for the West Kingdom trilogy (one of which we will see soon). Wayfarers of the North Sea represents for them the first entry in an all-new trilogy, which has more of a persian/middle eastern theme. And early indications are that this whole trilogy is the heaviest stuff Garphill has done yet.
The core of the game is a die placement game. Players will have 3 dice, which they will roll randomly, and then on their turn they can place a single die, which corresponds to various actions. But WHAT those actions are is fiddly, and can be changed as players advance in the game.
While playing the game, players will end up building a beautiful panorama attached to their playerboard. On one side, they’ll place mountains and plains, which will generally unlock onetime bonuses. On the other side, harbors and seas which unlocks new dice placement location. And across the top, they’ll be building the heavens themselves – stars and planets which represent a huge chunk of your scoring.
Don’t get me wrong – Wayfarers is one of the heaviest games in my top 20. It’s heavy, it’s fiddly, it’s a bit of a hard teach, and oftentimes it feels more like a long slog for a battle of inches. But it’s also elegant, interesting, dynamic and beautiful, and there’s always a sense of pride in your final panorama. If your table likes heavier fare, take a closer look at this.
Last year, I played Wayfarers of the South Tigris after I made this list and regretted doing so too late to get it on the list. I fear that this will repeat itself with Scholars of the South Tigris which is currently on the Pile of Unplayed Shame, mocking me until we get past the madness of the Christmas season.
18.Red7
“Art is so subjective! Don’t like the color? Change the rules so you can win!”
Released: 2014
Designer: Carl Chudyk, Chris Cieslik
Players: 2-4
Estimated Time: 5-30 mins
Last Year: 77
I believe that, if you’re at a convention, any game designer worth his salt should have one game in their pocket ready to go at any given time. Red 7 is my personal weapon of choice.
The rule of Red 7 are simple. Each player has a tableau of cards that they are building in front of them, which starts with a single card. They also have a hand of 7 cards. In the center of the table, one card states the rule, such as ‘have the highest value card’. Your goal is to end your turn so that you’re winning.
As an example, if the rule is ‘have the highest value card in your tableau’ and the highest value card that anyone else has is a 5, you can play a 6 or a 7. But if you can’t do that, you can change the rules by putting out another card (each card can either be a rule or part of a tableau).
As an example, if you play a blue card in the middle, suddenly the rule becomes ‘have most cards in a row (a straight)’. All of a sudden, a hand with a 1-2-3 is a very strong hand. And if that’s not enough for you to win, you can drop one more card to your tableau (the 4 presumably) in order to extend your straight longer than your competitors.
I only have one problem with Red 7, which is that the tiebreakers are hard to internalize. In our example above, a 1-2-3 beats a 1-2 obviously, but a 2-3-4 beats a 1-2-3. And if both players have a 2-3-4, it looks at a color ranking on the ‘4’. But it’s a minor issue in a game that I genuinely think is one of the best pocket games on the market.
17. Thunder Road: Vendetta
“Crews race and shoot to be the last car standing.”
Released: 2023
Designer: Dave Chalker, Brett Myers, Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D Jacobson, Jim Keifer, Brian Neff
Players: 2-4
Estimated Time: 45-75
New To List
I’m going to say straight up – that image above shows custom terrain. The add-ons you can get on Etsy to make this game look cooler are INSANE. The cars and helicopter, though, those are stock.
Thunder Road: Vendetta is a revival of a 1986 game called Thunder Road. And frankly, the older game is barely a game. But since then, the game geniuses over at Restoration got the rights. This team has already done well-regarded updates to classic games like Return to Dark Tower and Fireball Island: Curse of Vul-Kar but Thunder Road Vendetta remains their masterpiece, one that hopes to recreate the madness of a Mad Max film.
Each player starts with three cars (light, medium and heavy) and each round, they’ll roll three dice. Each turn, players will take turns moving one of their cars that may spaces ahead. But this isn’t just a race game, it’s a game about survival. Players can get behind opponents and shoot at them, or better yet, play a game of ‘let’s see what happens’ by ramming into them – ramming pushes players in a random direction, which can often result in pinballing hilarity if you push a car into a large crowd of cars. And if someone’s TOO far ahead? You also have a helicopter that you can, on occasion, delegate in an attempt to try to slow them down a bit.
This IS a race game, but it goes mostly in a straight line. And it’s ‘endless’ – the race track is made of two boards, and when one players reaches the end of the track, everybody on the back half of that racetrack is eliminated, and that now-cleared rear portion of the track is moved to the front. But it’s also a survival game – once one player’s team is fully eliminated, endgame is triggered.
Aside from being gorgeous and thematic, it’s also relatively simple to play. One member of my gaming group has declared it a big hit with his 8-year-old daughter and her friends. And yet, this game still brings a lot to the table that more hardcore gamers can appreciate.
16. Sagrada
“Craft the best stained-glass windows by carefully placing colorful transparent dice.”
Released: 2017
Designer: Adrian Adamescu, Daryl Andrews
Players: 1-4
Estimated Time: 30-45
Last Year: 71
Do you like rolling dice? Do you like drafting dice? Do you like stained glass? Well, boy do I have a game for you.
Sagrada is a dice drafting game. One player will roll a handful of dice (number of players plus one) and then claim one. People will then go around the table, claiming a single die with the goal of filling a certain pattern on their stained glass window. Once the last player drafts a die, they take another die and player continue drafting until the first player drafts his second die (meaning he gets the first and last choice). Players will repeat this 10 times.
The trick is that there are significant constraints to dice placement – you have to match colors and/or numbers in your chosen pattern. You can’t put a color next to itself – same for numbers. Also simultaneously, you’re trying to achieve the GOALS of the game, which are to achieve patterns on various cards to earn victory points.
Sagrada has been a popular filler game for a very long time, because it’s simple, easy to teach and yet still very deep and fulfilling. It’s probably no surprise that they’d try to expand this, but them releasing a legacy version is somewhat baffling to me. Sagrada is a simple game that doesn’t NEED or WANT more bells and whistles, but to be honest, I haven’t had a chance to take a closer look to see if my skepticism is unwarranted.
15. Ark Nova
“Plan and build a modern, scientifically managed zoo to support conservation projects.”
Released: 2021
Designer: Mathias Wigge
Players: 1-4
Estimated Time: 90-150
Last Year: 38
Hey, honey, we’re building zoos! Ark Nova is a big, meaty game that doesn’t FEEL big and meaty, probably because the subject matter (building a zoo) is so easily accessible. Players will build animal pens (paddocks), acquire animals, try to improve the fame and reputation of your zoo, and shovel an ungodly amount of elephant dung.
The core of Ark Nova that I appreciate is the action selection mechanism. Each player has five action cards, laid out horizontally. When you use a card, you execute it, and move it all the way to the end of the line. The trick is that the strength of the card is based on what position in line its at, which means that cards are more powerful the longer you wait to use them. Even better, each of these cards can be upgraded (i.e. flipped over) to a more powerful version of the same ability. But you can’t upgrade them all, so you’ll need to decide how you want to specialize your zoo.
Fans of Terraforming Mars will find it surprisingly familiar, due largely to its scientific nature and emphasis on tableau-building (the animals you put in your zoo). Some players even go so far as to say that Ark Nova has replaced Terraforming Mars in their collection, and I guess I agree, since Ark Nova is sitting here at #15 and Terraforming Mars didn’t make the cut at all.
14. Wreckland Run
“Make your wreckland run in this solo hero series game!”
Released: 2022
Designer: Scott Almes
Players: 1
Estimated Time: 30-45
New To List
If you had told me at the start of 2023 that a solo game would break into my top 15, I would have told you that you were crazy, and yet here we are. But the truth cannot be denied – I probably played more hours of Wreckland Run than any other single game on my list this year.
In Wreckland Run, you play as a guy, just trying to humbly cross the radioactive post-apocalyptic wasteland while you repeatedly get attacked by hordes of bad guys. On your turn, you’ll roll a handful of dice. You’ll then activate them – white dice will activate your weapons, and red dice will activate various opponents. Your job is to survive 3 rounds, as ever-increasing waves attack you – always capped off by a ridiculously overpowered boss.
The real fun is that if you deal exactly enough damage to kill an opponent but no more (‘exactsies’), then you get to add that opponent to your ‘scrap’ pile. Scrapped enemies can be turned into ‘dice’ which trigger additional attacks – which allow for every increasingly awesome combotastic turns – but they can also be saved for the end of the round when you can convert that scrap into upgraded weapons for your car.
Wreckland Run comes with a 7-chapter legacy campaign, where each chapter has an envelope of cards that contains new upgrades, enemies and bosses to fight. It also comes with 4 different vehicles, all of which play radically different from each other. I do have some concerns about replayability – I’ve played through it and the 4-chapter expansion in its entirety twice now and feel like I’m done with it – but I have no doubt I got my money’s worth.
13. Chaos in the Old World
Released: 2009
Designer: Eric Lang
Players: 3-4
Estimated Time: 60-120 mins
Last Year: 45
A lot of people who make lists like this don’t like to put games that are out of print on them. Not me. Gaming greatness should be recognized. That being said, Chaos in the Old World is probably the best game out there that will never be reprinted, which is a shame, as it may be the best work that designer Eric Lang has ever done.
Chaos in the Old World is a unique and highly strategic board game that puts players in the roles of powerful, ancient gods vying for control over the world. On the player’s turn, they will play corruption cards that allow them to spread their influence across the land. As various territories get overpopulated, they’ll get scored, and then turned to black. The war of the old gods will leave nothing but a black husk behind, as the gods war for all-important victory points.
But the game is also a masterwork of assymetric design. Khorne is the most direct, and whoever plays them will be screaming ‘Blood for the Blood God!’ a lot. Nurgle is all about spreading plague, and The Horned Rat (from the excellent expansion) will result in you leading an army of rats washing across the continent from sea to sea. The assymetry works because the counterstrategies to each god are built into the abilities of the other gods – so much so that playing this game with fewer than 4 people kind of falls apart. But with 4 (or 5 with the expansion) it’s a masterpiece.
So yeah, if you see Chaos in the Old World out there at a non-stupid price, pick it up! It’s a fascinating, funny, chaotic gaming experience, and if you don’t like it — well, you’ll have no problem at all dumping it off on eBay.
12. Amsterdam (formerly Macao)
“Deliver goods, build the city and your tableau using a unique dice selection method.”
Released: 2022
Designer: Stefan Feld
Players: 1-4
Estimated Time: 60-120
Last Year: 34 (as Macao)
Stefan Feld is my favorite designer, and Macao as my favorite of his games, even though (and I know I sound like a broken record here) it was always held back by disappointing production values – dim cards, bad templating, components without enough color differentiation. As such, I was greatly looking forward to Amsterdam, a recent reworking of Macao done as part of Stefan Feld’s city collection. I was not disappointed.
In Amsterdam, players will try to acquire businesses, ship goods to trade partners, and build tableaus of cards that will help their efforts or earn themselves victory points. Fairly standard euro stuff. But what makes the game a fascinating puzzle is the ship’s wheel.
At the start of each round, the six colored dice are rolled. Each player can choose two of those dice (players can choose the same dice!). For each die, they place the number of cubes equal to the dice number – on the spot equal by the dice number. So if the player chooses an orange 5 and a purple 1, they’ll place a purple cube in the 1 spot, and 5 orange cubes in the 5 spot. Players will then rotate the wheel, and claim everything in the ‘1’ spot.
These cubes are the core resource you need in the game, especially to play cards into your tableau, so the game is a consistent balance between short-term thinking and long-term planning. If you chase big numbers, you’ll end up with nothing in the short term, which means you won’t be able to hire workers with potentially big game-swinging effects until much later. But if you live only in the here and now, you may not ever get the really big stuff to the table.
Amsterdam is here because it receives my highest praise for any board game – it breaks your brain in interesting ways. And I can’t express how happy I am that a new, beautiful edition of the game came out so a new generation of board gamers can experience it.
11. Architects of the West Kingdom
“Will you be a virtuous or nefarious servant of the king? Build your way to glory.”
Released: 2018
Designer: SJ Macdonald, Shem Phillips
Players: 1-5
Estimated Time: 60-80 minutes
Last Year: 10
I was going to say that this is probably Shem Phillips’ finest work, but I notice that on both this and the previously mentioned Wayfarers of the South Tigris, another designer, SJ Macdonald, is listed first. So at the very least, maybe he shouldn’t get ALL the credit. At any rate, this is a fresh take on worker placement that is strikingly different and has a cool press-your-luck component. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, it’s a lot of fun to arrest your other player’s workers.
It works like this – players start the game with a TON of meeples. On their turn, they can place their meeple on a worker placement location – even one that’s already occupied. Plus, the strength of a player action is based on the number of workers there. So your first worker at the wood mill will get you one wood, and the second will get you two, and so on.
But one of the actions that your competitors can take is to arrest all of the workers of a single color at a single location. Which creates an interesting press-your-luck mechanic – yes, placing your fourth worker at the gold mine will get you the gold you need to build a high victory point building in front of you, but it’s also tempting fate, almost guaranteeing that you’ll soon need to spend a turn breaking them out of prison.
There are other aspects to the game as well, and they all work seamlessly together. There’s an alignment system, where scoundrels have access to a black market and your more noble players have access to big rewards helping the church build the cathedral. Players can acquire workers and build buildings which earn victory points or give them new powers. But really, the gem at the center of this is that worker placement system. Because arresting your opponent’s dudes is always hilarious.
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