So yes, if you are feeling burned out by constantly playing new games ever week..... how about no? And if that's working out for you, cool, you'll probably be back at this video in a few years time telling me you wished you had listened. Because the churn and burn that currently defines the influencer meta within board gaming is unsustainable, unhealthy and ultimately hollow. Play your games! And let me know what your forever games would be.
It would be Spirit Island if my gaming mates didn‘t hate it. Played it with 8 different people and no one liked it, so i sold it with everything pimped, promos and expansions. 😭 Root is another game where i think i could play it a lot until it gets stale. Same for Cthulhu Wars.
Santorini - 5:40 Dominion - 7:43 Netrunner - 12:53 Arkham Horror - 14:08 Sentinels of the Multiverse - 16:42 Spirit Island - 19:13 Dueling Games - 22:08 Filler Games - 23:58 Diplomacy-like Games - 25:38 Engine Building Games - 28:45
My Forever Replayable Games (w/Expansions ofc). --- Neuroshima Hex 3.0 wArmy Expansions. (the iOS app is even better too!) Manhattan Exodus: Proxima Centauri (Revised) with Expansions! Le Havre El Grande Diplomacy Cosmic Encounters Alhambra For Sale (w/Variants) RISK ROOK Hearts President&A**h*le Big2 Poker
‘“Board games are not pizza.” With that statement and 34 minutes to explain that distinction, you created one of the most important and entertaining game lists of all time. We don’t give enough credit to the cumulative shared experiences of playing the same game together over and over. A game does not need to be a legacy or campaign game to create its own narrative arc and rich storylines. Games are not meant to be played once and discarded, if they are games worth playing.
When I started in the hobby a few years back I frantically collected a whole bunch of board games, looking for new and fresh experiences. Now that I have a decent collection, I've started appreciating the depth of repeat plays. I'm careful with adding games to my collection now, because trying a new thing means I don't get to repeat play a game I know and love.
Agree. Fully. But... we LIKE pizza, and really want 'our taste' I mean this in jest- Pizza isn't fast food to me, except cheap ones like Dominoes. 😆😂 But the main point? Yes. Absolutely. Consuming games just to say you played them isn't actually *fun*
My wife and I have been playing Terraforming Mars for about a year and a half now. This week we ended up playing a 2.5 hour game, totally different than before. We finished and said to each other, “Okay, NOW I’m starting to get this game.” So deep. Great video
I have a few friends I get together with every week to play strategy games. We played TM for ~3 years every week. Still take it out now and then. Easily 150+ games played.
Met a guy at a meetup that claimed he never plays the same game twice. Blew my mind. I asked if he never listens to the same song twice or go to same restaurant twice.... Most games can't be fully explored in just 1 play.
One of the fun things about playing "kitchen table" Magic the Gathering, that is, just with your friends in a casual setting, is you don't really *need* to buy the cards. You can just print out slips of paper and slide them into card sleeves in front of real cards and, ta-da, you have new cards to play with! Fans call it proxying, whole Wizards of the Coast calls them playtest cards, and has no problem at all with their use. They even encourage pro players to do this to get a feel for how the new cards play before they're released. Proxying is fully fine and 100% legal as long as: 1. You're not trying to use them in an official tournament where real cards are required. 2. Pretending they're real cards in order to counterfeit them. 3. Sell them, even if it's obvious they're not real cards. I do it all the time with friends and even strangers who play Commander. I also have my own self imposed limits, but I share what I have made with everyone before play begins to make sure they're ok. I have some decks of 100% real cards just in case someone feels uneasy about it.
This is how I played my first ever games of Magic. My friend had gone to a con where they were giving away cards in the con bags and she gathered them from anyone who did not want theirs, made a deck and then came home and played it with me online, telling me what every card was/did. We were both drawing from the same deck, played multiple games and had s much fun I looked up where the nearest game store was and showed up the next morning when they opened to buy some-and they’d never heard of it. So I made up cards on index cards while I waited to figure out how to purchase my own. It I had not thought about doing it since.
You don't even need proxies, you can buy used cards dirt cheap. People sell weaker cards or "repacks" of their unused cards for a fraction of the price. If you don't mind playing older expansions, where the only difference is you can't participate in standard tournaments, then those cards are way to go.
You highlighted some points that really hit home in our game group. One of my friends is constantly collecting and learning new games. While I enjoy new experiences, starting from scratch every time is not only draining, but also leaves a lot to be desired. It’s unfulfilling not being able to experiment in a game through diving deeper and seeing what it really offers.
We also play often games with a friend who always plays néw games with us that he brings along. Not ever have we played a game 2 times, and we have played many many games. The thing with this is: often you need to play a game first just for learning purposes. To learn what the game is actually about. Only then, you can start playing a competetive game, because you now know what the dynamics of the game are. However, because we only play the game once with no returning back to it, it feels empty. It leaves us with only an opinion as 'hmm, that game was interesting' and pooof, that's it. The 'let's replay this another time' does not happen. A typical thing is: he always has played the game minimal one time, before he plays it with us. So HE knows what to expect from the game, giving him also an edge. The only advantadge is that we don't have to invest money into the game.
This is what i mean by shallow experiences. It's like learning the bare basics about something before rocketing on to the new thing. Like Speed dating endlessly, and never actually getting to make out, lol.
One of my wife and I’s forever games is Carcassonne. At first it seemed pleasant enough. Build some roads, some cities, lay down a farmer here or there. All is well. After repeated plays though, we discovered it’s “knife fight in a phone booth” competitive nature. Cutting in on each others cities. Strategically blocking each other. And the vicious fight for farmland. Now we love it. We’ve tried expansions and spin offs, but always just return to the regular base game. We never grow tired of it.
Love this message! Im still super new to the hobby and went from literally finding Dominion on the side of the road in a free pile as my first board game, to haveing maybe 20 board games of different sizes and feeling like my “forever” collection will be around 40 even though I havent savoured what I have now. Im doing a full year of no spending on new games to play what I have on repeat and that feels so expansive! Your voice in the gaming content scene has really rung in my ears. Im excited to grow old with a dear collection. I also notice when Im not on BGG or youtube I tend to have less cravings, so growing old with a collection will also mean growing AWAY FROM the only hype sphere. Cheers from BC
What an impactful message at the beginning of your video. You've just earned my great respect. I've always loved playing board games since I was little, and recently I started a board game hobby as an adult, buying so many games in such a short period of time. I began this journey at the start of the year and now own around 65 different games, not including the expansions. Heck, I haven't even played some of them yet because I rushed to buy so many so quickly. Watching your video, especially this one, really made me reconsider what I'm getting myself into. I don't want to end up like one of those "skipping stones" bouncing across the vast ocean that has much depth beneath it. I've already subscribed to your channel; you are one of the few board game reviewers I find truly authentic and genuine, offering crucial advice to someone like me who wants to make this a serious hobby. Thank you!
Thank you very much. I always say that games are to be played and games should be fun and engaging. Anything in the hobby that takes away from that is a distraction. Collecting tons of games and not playing them, well, that's the opposite of what the hobby should be in my mind.
Your commentary about going deep vs. wide with games made me realize that we treat each other like that, too, sometimes. Your video made me realize I should cherish the core people around me more, and go for more depth in those few relationships. Thanks. 🥂
My forever list - Castles of Burgundy (over 3000 plays and I'm not tired of it), Grand Austria Hotel (infinite combos), Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers (my favourite in the series), Mottainai (my favourite card game), Targi (best 2 player game), Balloon Cup (another great 2 player game), Rose King (chess like 2 player game), Saint Petersburg (replaces splendor for me), Kashgar (my favourite deck builder with a twist), Oregon (another great but rare tile laying game), The Voyages of Marco Polo (classic euro - around 200 plays for me), Port Royal (press your luck at it's best), Through the Ages (app version, also like the tabletop on occasion), dice games (because they are quick and fun) - Way of the Dragon, Can't Stop, Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age, Skyline, Spexxx, Zooloretto the Dice Game.
For me, Root hits so many of the points you mentioned and is my most loved forever game. Variable set up, expansions that make it feel like a living game, storytelling, evolving metas. You may never play the same combinations of faction, map and deck twice. And even then different players may play the same faction in different and surprising ways. You could play 50 games and still be discovering new interactions.
In particular, Root hits many of the points brought up when he talked about Dune. Root might "feel" like there's stronger factions, but over time a group knows the danger signs and knows who needs more pressure on them and when, so it self balances through experience. That's completely missed, if you haven't played repeatedly. It also has a fairly great online community, like Catan. And a podcast with 70+ episodes (last I checked).
I too foam from the mouth for the glorious ROOT why would I need to play 1000000 games when I have ROOT (and betrayal and other fun stuff Root is not the only good game) ROOT IS THE ONLY GAME YOU NEED REPLAY FOR 10000 YEARS I LOVE ROOT
I have a hard time with it but I've only been able to play 2 person. Something is not right or I am misunderstanding the gameplay and rules. Can you recommend a good tutorial?
@civrn368 Two person root is.. unfortunately going to be a nonideal experience. Aka, it sucks a bit lol. You'll need hirelings, or npc factions to fill up the board. Woodlands War Machine was the podcast I recommended, for in depth strategies. I learned by watching tournament games, search "Root winter tournament"
@@civrn368root is just not as fun with 2 players, put simply. There’s an expansion (marauder expansion) that adds rules to make 2 player games more interesting, but most people agree root is best with 4 players.
My list games that got many plays and still don’t feel boring and fresh: 1- spirit island 2- Cthulhu wars 3- Too many bones 4- Gaia project 5- KDM 6- black rose war (now renaissance) 7- Voidfall 8- Eclipse 9- insert your favorite lcg (lotr for me) 10- castle of burgundy / mage knight
In my friend group, Ra is easily our forever game. We also enjoy poker and there are some overlapping strategies. We have a goofy “trophy” that goes home with the person who pulled the most Ra tiles which they have to display on their desk at work until the next session. Love it!
With the added bonus of ridiculously simple rules (with the majority presented to players in their hand of cards), yet has enough meatiness to engage gamers who prefer the heavier / thinkier end of the gaming spectrum.
Fantastic video and perspective! Sharing to my game groups. Thanks also for throwing some love to Catan. I'm many hundreds of plays deep in my forever game and it still delivers great experiences.
I love your philosophical videos! It is so refreshing to listen to someone who takes the time to think and ponder the things going on in their profession. Please don’t ever stop.
I have an addition: Ravine. It's a simple to understand game that we take with us on trips. We can teach it to people in a few minutes, and often get engrossed for hours. The replay value is high, and different strategies evolve every playthrough. Children are engaged and elderly people can still grasp it and have a great time.
glad to see Twilight Struggle getting some love here. I've played over 300 game of TS in the last three years because I've discovered there is a sizable community of players worldwide who share the same passion for the game I do. There is an online community which organizes tournaments and leagues which allow me to face some of the very best players in the world. Even after 300 games, I still feel like there is so much more to learn about the game because of all of the subtle nuances in game play which can mean the difference between victory and defeat. It is truly my forever game
Unlike most people I've actually read the rules to that game, and no. No damned way. Not even as a joke. It's essentially an incredibly complex accounting exercise, like doing taxes for a million people at once. A thrice damned game
Really well done commentary here. As someone who chased new games for over a decade, in recent years I've cut back on game news and reviews so I could slow down and appreciate the games I already have in my collection. Not seeing weekly news about "the new hotness" eliminated the constant FOMO I was under for years and I do not miss it. To each their own, but I definitely appreciate this video and what it's talking about. 😊
Spirit Island is our forever game. Since it has entered our lives 2 years ago, it has monopolized about 50% of our game night plays. My brother-in-law owns everything for the game (all content as well as inserts and stuff). He must have over 300 plays of it. I'm at nearly 90 plays. We play it digitally too, so I decided not to buy a physical copy. I still wanted a physical forever game for myself, one that I could play solo or with others. I finally purchased the core box of Marvel Champions last November. Now 😅at over 50 plays. I now consider it my second foever game. I play mostly solo but my son has started playing with me recently and it's a blast.
Thank you for this video! Part way through I paused the video and played 3 games of Dominion on my phone app, using sets I've already played dozens of times. It's definitely a forever game based on the quality of the core mechanisms, not just the variety.
My forever game... D&D. ;-) Yeah, I know it is a TTRPG and not a board game, but it is the game that I never tire of and have played for 40+ years now... and with some of the same people from back then. Best game I ever discovered. :-)
I'm learning that (good) deckbuilders really hold up to repeat plays over a long, long time - I recently picked up Legendary Alien and can see that staying in my collection forever. Great video!
I love playing backgammon. I've been playing asynchronously on BGA with the same fellow for something like four years now (since the beginning of the pandemic). As soon as we finish one game, we fire up the next one. We've played upwards of 400 games.
I 100% agree with this. It has become even more my forever game with the discovery of the spirit island discord and Spirit Island on Table Top Simulator
What a great list! Board games are not Tik Tok videos... To be clear, I own just over 200 games, not counting expansions... So about galf the size of yours and built over more than a decade of fits and freezes. But I'm always wishing i had time to play more, even solo. The games that get played the most are ones that seem to never get old: Guillotine, Sushi Go, Air Land & Sea, Love Letter, Battle Line, Hive, War Chest, Santorini, Lost Cities, etc. Games where the core mechanics are simple, but deep, and satisfying. Sometimes, its kust fun to draw cards snd set collect trying to complete routes for rail lines across Europe.
This is a great video and is much appreciated! This topic is something that I've spent the last 18 months or so thinking about. There definitely are games that could be (what I would call) "lifestyle" games, that you can play over and over and appreciate the depth, but can just be enjoyed as a one off on a game day as well. Depth and a smaller collection has been something I've been pushing into for a while now, and I feel this video is close to that same idea. I also appreciate that for many of these you gave a rubric of "insert this type of game here". It is not a particular game but a particular type of game. Great thoughts and video. Thank you.
Across multiple board game groups, the game from my collection that is universally beloved and demanded is Valeria: Card Kingdoms. When I first played it I thought immediately "I must have this" and everyone I've introduced to it has thought the same thing. It once got played 18 times in a 10-day period. I think it's a mix of: huge variability; characterful art; constantly rewarding mechanics; and no-one knows who's going to win until the end.
Interesting. I've honestly not seen that one played. Taught Dan and the lads Kemet last night, he enjoyed the giant monsters and the overall mummies alive theme.
Whilst I find the theme bland and derivative, I absolutely agree on the gameplay. It takes the basic premise of Machi Koro, but offers rewards up on both dice individually AND combined. Throw in some additional VP targets to aim for, and it's super easy to learn, plays fast and engages all the table on every turn, but has plenty of setup options and routes to victory.
Great video!!! My wife and I took three years to complete Gloomhaven. Absolutely loved the card combos for abilities that constantly changed by leveling up and by unlocking new characters. And we still play the game on digital as well. Thanks for your thoughts from an old grognard who still plays ASL
I couldn't agree more! One of my pet peeves is having to play with expansions, when we have only played the base game once or twice. I some tease my friends that the hobby isn't playing board games, the hobby is buying new ones.
I saw the title of the video and thought: “Oh you mean Spirit Island!” With just the basic set, you have years of gameplay. Amazing both single player, and multiplayer! Incredibly challenging! So many tastes in it!
One of the best videos you've ever done. YES YES YES! I love what you have said about MTG and especially Netrunner. I have tens of thousands of games of MTG played in my lifetime. Android Netrunner is the better game...hands down. I just wanted to throw out 3 things: 1. Legend of the Five Rings the LCG is also VERY good and leans into the same awesome as NR where the game is more about the playing than the cards you put into your deck. 2. For MTG: look into building a cube or playing Commander. Both are great ways to just have a small group of cards and amazing play experiences. The cube is not just a random assortment of cards. I have one and it is my nostalgia from when I was HUGE into it from 94 to 01. The cards in there are some of my favorites and now we can draft and play sealed deck tournaments with them. 3. I love you talking about having your game nights for all beloved games. I think there is room on your channel for revisiting these games with the perspective of time and plays under your belt! New people enter the hobby every day. Sorry for the book I wrote here :D
Loved your intro words 🙏 I'm in the hobby since 20 years and most of my favourite games been published even before that. I appreciate the simplicity but immense depth of a few older games 😎
You're so right. I have about 200 games and I'm trying hard to play the games I have, plumbing the depths, instead of skimming the surface. That's where the real value lies.
I would like you to know that I have been in this hoddy for at least 16 years now. I have played hundreds of games, I have sold 3x more then I currently own which is at least 170. This video is the first I have seen of your content and I am now a sub. You got the nail on the head. I have missed how it was when I was a kid and we play clue over and over again, or chess with my Dad till I finally figured out how to win. Games should not be treated like a buffet or all you can eat. We should look at them more like a chess, something worth mastering.
Already getting there myself. I don't mind playing a new game, but if asked directly "would you rather play x or y" where x is a game i have played before and enjoyed and y is a new game, i'm leaning x most the time...with the exceptions to this rule being a classic i haven't had yet or a game reviewers i tend to agree with recommending it.
This is probably my favorite of your “topic” videos. I intentionally keep a very small curated collection (~40 games) for this very purpose - so I can play my favorites all the time. If I do add games to the collection, they’re always forever games.
My wife and I play War of the Ring and Star Wars Rebellion a couple of time every week. She is always shadow in WOTR and I am always Empire in Rebellion. We love it.
In response to number 9, my group’s game used to be Axis and Allies, the original. That was 20+ years ago that we were together. Over the years the group split up and lost contact with each other. I have a new playgroup (three of us) and we tend to gravitate towards short games but on occasion we pull out a long strategy game. We have even played Axis and Allies a few times.
I'm in the minority, but Europa Universalis Price of Power is one of my forever games too. It's always satisfying seeing your country grow ans facing the struggles, internal and external, and the action system tickles something in my brain. I love it. I've played hundreds of hours of it and had a 15 hour marathon last year. It's definitely not for everyone though and needs one person to learn the rules inside out to be able to teach it.
Can't believe you immediately promise me board games that would help me survive the inevitable heat death of the universe and oh so quickly pull the rug on me. For SHAME!
Great list! For me Neuroshima Hex is a forever game, combining the feeling of a classic strategy game like chess with the asymmetry of unique warring factions. There is a TON of content out there, though there is plenty of replayability in the core set. I'd also put Memoir '44 up there with so many variable battles and content available.
This. What we all need to hear. Stop chasing new games and ignoring the solid ones. The only variability concept I would add is the type of game that encourages more variability in how players can interact with each other. Like Root, for example, and there are many others.
I truly appreciate that this isn't just a list of "10 games I've played a bunch". (Not that I expected that from you.) The points you make about how some games lend themselves more toward repeated plays because of the social aspects are incredibly important in my opinion. Dueling games (Memoir '44 is my current game in this category), easy to learn and table games (Boom-O is a longtime family favorite), and negotiation games (I play quite a few social deduction games that kind of scratch this itch, but I've been *this* close to getting Dune and A Game of Thrones to the table with a full contingent of players for years now... it'll happen eventually!). The shared experiences and the evolving narrative make these great. As others have mentioned, I think the puzzly nature of many games makes them fun to play time and time again. Spirit Island, engine builders, and many other games fit the bill here. I'd also include solid campaign games, such as Gloomhaven, as a forever game. The core game play is very good and there are hundreds of scenarios available. About 100 in the base game plus random scenarios, official solo scenarios, several official 10-scenario mini-campaigns, and hundreds of fan-made scenarios, some of which are also campaigns. Combine that with all the different characters to play and I don't think I'll ever get rid of the game.
The meta/social aspects of a forever game that depend as much on the players as the game is an interesting point. It reminds me of a picture and story I saw-- a family had played so many games of Yahtzee over many years that they had actually worn down the dice.
This is a very good video. This hobby can feel very disposable at times, which is unfortunate. I think the fast food metaphor is very apt. Outside of the designs you mentioned, for me it has been Tigris & Euphrates, Race for the Galaxy, Cosmic Encounter, and Lost Cities. They have hit the the table for many years now and have not slowed down.
Fantastic video deserving of a comment, not just to serve the Algorithm, but also for its substance. I especially liked the segment on a dueling game one plays with a particular person. It brought a smile to my face remembering many, many games of Mage Wars. Thank you for that.
One of my most appreciated videos for a long time :) I quite share the same feeling as you, and i'm really happy to see you speaking of it right here. Enjoy your games, give them time, give them space.
Arkham Horror LCG is my current obsession thanks to you and you turning me on to the guys over at PBG, really loving it and I certainly can see myself playing it over and over again!
to add to your magic the gathering point, theres a format called cube. Essentially magic has a drafting format where you open a pack, pick a card, and pass it on. A cube is a curated set of cards that you form 15 card packs out of and draft with your friends. You can proxy it, and it can be at whatever complexity or play level you want it to be. Very great way to play the game forever.
Multiple board game youtubers that I follow have recently said that they are getting tired from learning and making videos of new games over and over, and instead they want to focus more on the classics. I wonder if its a coincidence or if something happened in the game industry. Perhaps too many games are coming out nowadays, and their focus is mainly on looking attractive to appeal to the larger audience, instead of having some intellectual depth?
Great video! I loved the fact that you talked reasons to love these games outside of the games themselves. My main board game buddy is my dad, and we love complex duel type games. We've played countless hours of 2 player games with our two favorites being Terraforming Mars and Agricola.
Great video and a great sentiment. I especially liked how several of your picks are really categories- because whether it’s the two player go-to or your weekly group’s fave, you are bang-on about how building your own history with a game adds a layer to it that just keeps building over time.
Great video. MTG was my forever game until several years ago when I had to quit because the reasons you alluded to (awful company/business model, egregiously predatory). The other two that immediately came to me were Spirit Island and Agricola because the core games are amazing but the spirits/aspects/adversaries/new cards in SI adds so much variability coupled with the ability to tailor the difficulty to match your desired level, and for Agricola the plethora of interesting cards from expansion decks always keeps things fresh and forces you to adapt/play in different ways based on what was both in the draft and what you drafted. And Carcassonne is my forever 2p game with a few people including an Carlo from All You Can Board whom I always have an active async BGA game with.
I 'quit' magic in about 2015 when it jumped the shark, but I still have about 20-30 decks made up for my kids to play with their friends. In fact, we're having a magic night tomorrow night. YOu can quit the game at any time and just return to kitchen table magic.
I 'quit' magic in about 2015 when it jumped the shark, but I still have about 20-30 decks made up for my kids to play with their friends. In fact, we're having a magic night tomorrow night. YOu can quit the game at any time and just return to kitchen table magic.
It's very dependent on having a good group, but Hanabi is one of those games for me that develops over dozens or hundreds of plays. Eventually it can be "solved", but you can push the envelope of the implicit information carried by a simple clue very far, and I found it so satisfying when one of those clues organically worked.
For me this list includes Marvel Champions(similar to AHLCG) and Vindication. Even the core box of Vindication has a bunch of different modules to change up the play, but I just really like how every game I play of it, plays out differently, whether using modules or not.
While I have over 600 games in my collection and a ton of Magic the Gathering cards (wish I had discovered the board game hobby before MTG), I still have my comfort games that I will play forever. Those games will never be replaced by the next big thing or discarded like a pizza box. Magic, Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova are three of my top ten games that you discussed that I will be playing forever for sure. I love your three minute reviews, but maybe you need to share more of your insight in longer videos more often. This was such a great video!!
Cheers. The thing with the 3 minute format is its such a process that while its time consuming, its easy. For longer formats, i feel i need more to say than just the streamlined essentials of a game. So while they don't require more technical work in terms of video making, its the free brain time to have valid ideas.
@@3MBG I have created content before, so I understand what you are saying. Having said that, I wasn't implying that you should give up your bread and butter! Your three minute reviews are the best in the business and I always look to them to get a hot take on a game or several games without researching in more detail. My only point is that your insight into the hobby is deeper than most content creators and I think if you mix in more content where you take a deep dive on a subject (not that you haven't done it before, just do it more!), then I think it will make your already great channel even better. Keep doing what you do!!!
Yes to Terraforming Mars. For me a feature of timeless games is a satisfying puzzle which feels a bit different every time you play, with a good balance of tactics and strategy. Castles of Burgundy, Unfair, 51st State, It's a Wonderful World are some examples that hit the mark for me.
I have watched so many lists and reviews that it's hard to count. This was hands down the most well versed and down to earth video I have seen in the gaming community in many years. Thank you for what you do, and keep on with the quality of work, we all appreciate you!
This is part of why I play lots of deckbuilders. This doesn't apply to all of them, but well built ones have huge longevity via setup variation and analysis of gamestate. Games like War Chest and the Undaunted series will be endlessly fun to me. As for TCGs, I get why MTG is on the list, but I'd put Netrunner over it every time. Because of cost reasons and also being more interactive. I'm NOT a Netrunner head (I'm a YGO head actually) but even I can't deny that game's excellence.
I love your main point of this video. I'm a big fan of playing games over and over again. I only own 12-15 games, and move on ones I don't play more than 3 or so times after buying. Lord of the Rings LCG (solo), Arkham Horror LCG (multiplayer), Terraforming Mars, and Brass: Birmingham and Wingspan are the games I will always come back to. The two first games I've put in countless hours. I've owned LotR LCG since 2011, and still playing it 13 years later, still my favourite deckbuilder.
Just a note on Flesh and Blood, the game is very well done and plays quite differently than most other CCG's as you're not playing units on a board but as a character. Definitely take a look at it if you're curious. Of newer and less well known games the Digimon TCG is thematically well designed and has some interesting ideas(such as the resource system where your turn ends when you go negative which determines how much your opponent can play before it switches back, which creates strategy around how much to commit and timing things).
this is an awesome video. You hit the nail on the head with your opener... variability doesn't mean replayability. Variability just means different, its different, not always a good thing. Replayability means its good each and every time and stands the "test of time". Its always a good time when you play it. For my various play groups, we have a the DC deckbuilder, Arkham Horor board game, Vampire the Requiem board game, Netrunner, and Vampire the Eternal Struggle, which is actually Garfield's 2nd game after MtG not Netrunner(1996) where as VtES was 1994. Solo game - Terraforming Mars, Marvel Champions, and yes Spirit Island. All, to me, are forever games in the solo world.
Great list! Gaia project (and presumably Terra Mystica) is another chess-like one for me that has that going-deep potential over time. Variable powers coupled with perfect information that is then foiled by both my inability to Grok it all at once and those pesky other players at the table and their internal cognition. We still thrash Dominion a bunch but my netrunner buddy moved so that one doesn't get as much love as it should any more.
Excellent episode. I've been playing The Crew on Friday nights online for a few years. I'm always buying it for people. It is fabulous. Agree about Dominion - such a cool game. And I'm still loyal to Carcasonne. My first love. Knife fight in a phone box - but a phone box with relaxing scenery. I recommend the Catan card game. A great two player when you don't have a third person. We usually start the game wiht something like Quixx. You can dial someone in by copying another players lines. Another fun one is Martian Dice.
My partner and I played the short intro campaign of Arkham Horror several times over and enjoyed it a lot despite the difficulty, but introducing a third player to the first full-length campaign has made our play sessions much less frequent. I'd like to go again with just the two of us when we're done.
Thanks for producing the video. Got back into the hobby just as the pandemic started and over dosed on both retail and crowd funding games (thankfully no lemons). Found that we we're playing many games infrequently. Over the past year, are no longer receiving new games from the crowd funding platforms and we are playing the same games and getting an appreciation of what we do like and what we don't like about games. We like deck builders, area control, take that, one vs all etc. Not big on deduction games. Up to medium weight games, nothing too heavy. We have really enjoyed exploring our games Kemet (1ED), Beast, Here to Slay, Fluxx, Castles of Burgundy, Wonderlands War, Cyclades, Jaws. Depending on the mood and the company we can find something to enjoy as a group and create memories. A most recent purchase (Star Wars The Deck Building game) got in 10 plays in 36 hours and was repeated requested by my 11 year old son. Think this will become a forever game for us.
Couldn’t agree more! My husband and I love Ark Nova with the expansion. The deck is so large that it never plays the same way twice. My husband wins 99% of the time, but it is usually really close. I’m not bothered because I am always challenged, and I love working out how to make the most of my map and cards.
Also with Dominion - we started playing "speed dominion" where you just play your turns back to back simultaneously until the end conditions are met (yes you just trust no one is cheating) and that is ridiculous fun 🤣 Loving the channel - really enjoying the passion for playing games as a social activity and challenge
I have had countless memorable experiences with Nemesis. It's my go to. Working out the odds of survival, scanning for infection, not making it out in time, running away from Queens, redirecting the ship off to Mars or being a good little helper and assisting everyone. Love it!
Spirit Island is my group's "forever game". We don't even have Horizons or Nature Incarnate yet, but there's still many game nights' worth of unplayed content in the boxes we _do_ have, and that's not counting everyone trying out all the new spirits/team compositions they want or playing against the highest level adversaries (i.e. we haven't played many Scenarios yet, and have never doubled up on adversaries or combined them with scenarios/thematic map). I like Santorini a lot, but for me, the best abstract "forever game" is Hive. It's easy to just throw in your game bag and forget, so it's always on hand when you have need of a 2-player game. It requires no board, no cards, no bits and bobs, and thanks to the satisfyingly hefty pieces, you can play it practically anywhere. It's the perfect example of "minutes to learn, ages to master", and since the pieces themselves form the board as you play, every game state will be entirely novel within the first ten or so turns. Like many other two-player abstracts, Hive lacks the _variety_ of the typical Hobby Board Game™, but more than makes up for it with tremendous _variability._ A perfect "forever game".
I contend that spirit island is a forever game out of the main box (and with branch and claw for events and tokens, which i alwaysfeel were left out of the main game and arent real expansion content)
@@3MBGBranch and Claw was in fact left out of the base game by the design team, so you are right in feeling this way 😅 I've heard that in interviews, they removed events to finally get the game in hands of people after years of development and get some more feedback before releasing separate expansions.
Amazing video! Just recently a friend and I noticed that feeling: We still enjoy discovering new games... but we'd also like to spend more time "deep-diving" some of the games that we enjoy. We've already done that a little bit with my favorite game (Spirit Island) ... but we've spent so much time playing new games once or twice only ... it didn't feel right. So we dicded to spend more evenings on a small pool of highly replayable games: Spirit Island, Cthulhu Wars, Return to Dark Tower... and yeah ... for better or worse also Magic the Gathering. (Unfortunately where we live Living Card Games never caught on and there are regular opportunities to play TCGs. Two people in our group can have irregular working hours and the ability to drop in on a second or third game of MtG Commander has helped them getting more analog gaming time in.)
Always Great to see Sentinels of the Multiverse get love. It really is a forever game. I remember distinctly one meet up where we had a host of games available. What ended up happening is four different groups all played out of my copy of Sentinels (with expansions) some had to substitute for life counters, but they didn't care. It's that level of game.
It's technically its own house ;) It's a shed on the back of the property detached from the main house. So nice and quiet for filming and i can also keep my toddler out of there
For me it's Unfair. Something about the deck combos, the choice of attacking someone else versus doing your own thing, and all the lovely art and themes just does it for me everytime. Plus the way the tableau is built up is just lovely for me.
+1 for Dominion. I introduced it to my wife last year and she absolutely loves it. We can’t get enough because it’s so different after each new kingdom. With only 4 expansion the game has a ridiculous amount of new combos and play styles to explore. It’s great. I no longer crave the newest games. I just enjoy playing dominion with my wife because it’s always a different game and endless fun. She wins, I win it goes back and forth all the time. With a dozen expansions left to explore we could play this forever and never play the same cards twice. Plus we don’t have to learn new rules, that’s a huge bonus and welcomes repeat play. A great evening is set up a randomized dominion deck and and old fashioned with my wife. Perfect!
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game (without expansions) is still one of my favourites. I just recently managed to pick up a copy that is still in the shrink wrap. :)
Excellent content, I think your premise is solid. It was however, not what I was expecting (this is a good thing). I would like to add to the discussion that I think its more important that, rather than Games you CAN play forever, you find games you WANT to play forever. For instance, I wouldn't want to play any of the games you listed until you got to your #8 on the list, the previous 7 hold no interest to me personally, even though I recognize their popularity. I think points #9 and #10 are the consequential in that they get to the most important point. Find games you enjoy and play THEM more rather than jumping on to the next bright shiny new thing. And maybe someday you'll play a friends bright shiny new game and find your next Forever game.
It was great to hear validation in the mentality for owning and playing games! My friend group likes competitive scorechasers to best one another; not for everyone, but there are some highly replayable games for us. Interestingly, Terraforming Mars didn't quite click due to how dragged out it can get, but Earth became a massive hit and we constantly return to it for how wildly different every session is. Lords of Waterdeep + Scoundrels of Skullport is our most replayed however, and it never disappoints with how enterlaced with mindgames it becomes. Small Town gets more love than not, too. Faster sessions but still strategically deep. Even though the expansions add a healthy bit more variety, we prefer without since the base game is already quite solid.
My game group has played Brian Boru probably 100 times. We play other games every week but then, every week...we always want to play one game of Boru! You couldn't know the depth of this game ( or 1000's of others) until you've played it 10+ times.
Loved this video! I have found myself so much more interested in playing old favorites. Sure, the occasional new game is fun, but I love playing my favorites repeatedly.
I agree that there is a feeling got to get this game and all that content. For my self, I have rule of no more then 12...(13 also know as a baker dozen lol). The games will always be ruins of arnak, tyrants of the underdaek, star wars outer rim, spirit island and star trek ascendancy. These provide a good solo and player interaction. That i can pick up and play often that I truly enjoy. Great video and very helpful I would say. Keep up the amazing work that you do. I always enjoy your content and honesty.
This is such a great message. I'm sitting here wishing I'd have heard it years ago, but I don't think it would've resonated as much. I wouldn't have truly "listened" without having suffered some of those disappointments of chasing games. Instead of curating a vast collection. Curate a collection you love to play.
Well, if you look at the facebook groups out there in particular, they are full of post after post of people buying crazy amounts, saying they wont play them, and people cheering that on like its a virtue. "I just bought 30 games and don't have a group to play them with". and you'll get a ton of "one of us, one of us" type comments. So yeah, there is this very strong force out there that says "get all the things, its cool" so i get why people get swept up in it.
My forever game is Agricola. I love how subtlety deep that game is. I judge a game by how much expertise it takes to be good at it, and it takes a minimum of 5 games to start to get it. To be good, your not building just AN engine, you really need about 4 or 5, and I've had so much fun discovering new ones. Many different paths, replayablity via all the cards, plays totally different with different people. I've also played in some epic tournaments, and met a ton of like-minded nerds. Can't wait play it at GenCon this year!
So yes, if you are feeling burned out by constantly playing new games ever week..... how about no? And if that's working out for you, cool, you'll probably be back at this video in a few years time telling me you wished you had listened. Because the churn and burn that currently defines the influencer meta within board gaming is unsustainable, unhealthy and ultimately hollow. Play your games! And let me know what your forever games would be.
Haven't even watched the video yet and agree with this comment!!!
Love this ❤
It would be Spirit Island if my gaming mates didn‘t hate it. Played it with 8 different people and no one liked it, so i sold it with everything pimped, promos and expansions. 😭 Root is another game where i think i could play it a lot until it gets stale. Same for Cthulhu Wars.
Love this video... 💯 me too about replaying a core set of games. For me TI4, Scarface 1920, Mosiaic and FCM. Great work
Love this video... 💯 me too about replaying a core set of games. For me TI4, Scarface 1920, Mosiaic and FCM. Great work
I heard about a guy that played a game of jumanji for 26 years
"...What year is it!!?"
@@trojan403 Rent the movie Jumanji -- specifically the Robin Williams version.
In the jungle you must wait until the dice read five or eight
@@thelorax6059 ....yeah...they were literally quoting the movie.
@@trojan403It WAS brand new.
Santorini - 5:40
Dominion - 7:43
Netrunner - 12:53
Arkham Horror - 14:08
Sentinels of the Multiverse - 16:42
Spirit Island - 19:13
Dueling Games - 22:08
Filler Games - 23:58
Diplomacy-like Games - 25:38
Engine Building Games - 28:45
Thank you, life saver!
Thanks, i wish he used text when introducing game titles. Hard to understand what he said sometimes
My Forever Replayable Games (w/Expansions ofc).
---
Neuroshima Hex 3.0 wArmy Expansions. (the iOS app is even better too!)
Manhattan
Exodus: Proxima Centauri (Revised) with Expansions!
Le Havre
El Grande
Diplomacy
Cosmic Encounters
Alhambra
For Sale (w/Variants)
RISK
ROOK
Hearts
President&A**h*le
Big2
Poker
Just ignoring magic? Blasphemy 😋
6 nimmt is Epic, never gets old and the more Players the more fun und unpredictable
‘“Board games are not pizza.” With that statement and 34 minutes to explain that distinction, you created one of the most important and entertaining game lists of all time. We don’t give enough credit to the cumulative shared experiences of playing the same game together over and over. A game does not need to be a legacy or campaign game to create its own narrative arc and rich storylines. Games are not meant to be played once and discarded, if they are games worth playing.
Cheers. I was quite pleased with myself for coming up with the "board games are not pizza" line
Absolutely
When I started in the hobby a few years back I frantically collected a whole bunch of board games, looking for new and fresh experiences. Now that I have a decent collection, I've started appreciating the depth of repeat plays. I'm careful with adding games to my collection now, because trying a new thing means I don't get to repeat play a game I know and love.
Agree. Fully. But... we LIKE pizza, and really want 'our taste'
I mean this in jest- Pizza isn't fast food to me, except cheap ones like Dominoes. 😆😂
But the main point? Yes. Absolutely. Consuming games just to say you played them isn't actually *fun*
When TH-cam randomly suggested this video I did not expect such a comprehensive, professional and intelligent presentation. Fantastic.
That's quite flattering, thank you
@@3MBG Oh I subscribed right away. Have already watched a few of your 3 min videos. So Thank you.
My wife and I have been playing Terraforming Mars for about a year and a half now. This week we ended up playing a 2.5 hour game, totally different than before. We finished and said to each other, “Okay, NOW I’m starting to get this game.” So deep. Great video
😱 OMG... I had one play of that game and ran screaming away. Never want to play it again.
I have a few friends I get together with every week to play strategy games. We played TM for ~3 years every week. Still take it out now and then. Easily 150+ games played.
Tyler, I bought this game after your comment :) Let's see if it beats my wife's and my favourite game, which is Everdell :)
Love everdell.
This game is probably my "forever game" I've played so many times and it feels different and enjoyable every time.
Met a guy at a meetup that claimed he never plays the same game twice. Blew my mind. I asked if he never listens to the same song twice or go to same restaurant twice.... Most games can't be fully explored in just 1 play.
There are gamers… and there are collectors. They can be, but do not have to be, the same thing.
One of the fun things about playing "kitchen table" Magic the Gathering, that is, just with your friends in a casual setting, is you don't really *need* to buy the cards. You can just print out slips of paper and slide them into card sleeves in front of real cards and, ta-da, you have new cards to play with! Fans call it proxying, whole Wizards of the Coast calls them playtest cards, and has no problem at all with their use. They even encourage pro players to do this to get a feel for how the new cards play before they're released.
Proxying is fully fine and 100% legal as long as:
1. You're not trying to use them in an official tournament where real cards are required.
2. Pretending they're real cards in order to counterfeit them.
3. Sell them, even if it's obvious they're not real cards.
I do it all the time with friends and even strangers who play Commander. I also have my own self imposed limits, but I share what I have made with everyone before play begins to make sure they're ok. I have some decks of 100% real cards just in case someone feels uneasy about it.
A great way to use all those extra lands 😂👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
This is how I played my first ever games of Magic. My friend had gone to a con where they were giving away cards in the con bags and she gathered them from anyone who did not want theirs, made a deck and then came home and played it with me online, telling me what every card was/did. We were both drawing from the same deck, played multiple games and had s much fun I looked up where the nearest game store was and showed up the next morning when they opened to buy some-and they’d never heard of it. So I made up cards on index cards while I waited to figure out how to purchase my own. It I had not thought about doing it since.
You don't even need proxies, you can buy used cards dirt cheap. People sell weaker cards or "repacks" of their unused cards for a fraction of the price. If you don't mind playing older expansions, where the only difference is you can't participate in standard tournaments, then those cards are way to go.
You highlighted some points that really hit home in our game group. One of my friends is constantly collecting and learning new games. While I enjoy new experiences, starting from scratch every time is not only draining, but also leaves a lot to be desired. It’s unfulfilling not being able to experiment in a game through diving deeper and seeing what it really offers.
We also play often games with a friend who always plays néw games with us that he brings along. Not ever have we played a game 2 times, and we have played many many games. The thing with this is: often you need to play a game first just for learning purposes. To learn what the game is actually about. Only then, you can start playing a competetive game, because you now know what the dynamics of the game are. However, because we only play the game once with no returning back to it, it feels empty. It leaves us with only an opinion as 'hmm, that game was interesting' and pooof, that's it. The 'let's replay this another time' does not happen. A typical thing is: he always has played the game minimal one time, before he plays it with us. So HE knows what to expect from the game, giving him also an edge.
The only advantadge is that we don't have to invest money into the game.
This is what i mean by shallow experiences. It's like learning the bare basics about something before rocketing on to the new thing. Like Speed dating endlessly, and never actually getting to make out, lol.
Thank you for articulating what a lot of us Old Gamers have been feeling about new games. Appreciate your honesty and earnisty.
One of my wife and I’s forever games is Carcassonne. At first it seemed pleasant enough. Build some roads, some cities, lay down a farmer here or there. All is well.
After repeated plays though, we discovered it’s “knife fight in a phone booth” competitive nature. Cutting in on each others cities. Strategically blocking each other. And the vicious fight for farmland.
Now we love it. We’ve tried expansions and spin offs, but always just return to the regular base game. We never grow tired of it.
Agreed 100%. I wish it was presented in this manner more. At 2 it is very intense and quite a fulfilling experience
I have Carcassonne: Gold Rush and I love it. It is so cutthroat.
Carcassonne is my favourite game. It does offer so much.
it's an amazing game with infinite playability! hurrah!
Love this message! Im still super new to the hobby and went from literally finding Dominion on the side of the road in a free pile as my first board game, to haveing maybe 20 board games of different sizes and feeling like my “forever” collection will be around 40 even though I havent savoured what I have now.
Im doing a full year of no spending on new games to play what I have on repeat and that feels so expansive! Your voice in the gaming content scene has really rung in my ears.
Im excited to grow old with a dear collection.
I also notice when Im not on BGG or youtube I tend to have less cravings, so growing old with a collection will also mean growing AWAY FROM the only hype sphere.
Cheers from BC
What an impactful message at the beginning of your video. You've just earned my great respect. I've always loved playing board games since I was little, and recently I started a board game hobby as an adult, buying so many games in such a short period of time. I began this journey at the start of the year and now own around 65 different games, not including the expansions. Heck, I haven't even played some of them yet because I rushed to buy so many so quickly. Watching your video, especially this one, really made me reconsider what I'm getting myself into. I don't want to end up like one of those "skipping stones" bouncing across the vast ocean that has much depth beneath it. I've already subscribed to your channel; you are one of the few board game reviewers I find truly authentic and genuine, offering crucial advice to someone like me who wants to make this a serious hobby. Thank you!
Thank you very much. I always say that games are to be played and games should be fun and engaging. Anything in the hobby that takes away from that is a distraction. Collecting tons of games and not playing them, well, that's the opposite of what the hobby should be in my mind.
Your commentary about going deep vs. wide with games made me realize that we treat each other like that, too, sometimes. Your video made me realize I should cherish the core people around me more, and go for more depth in those few relationships. Thanks. 🥂
well said. I always think there's more fun gaming with a core group of friends rather than a big public group too
My forever list - Castles of Burgundy (over 3000 plays and I'm not tired of it), Grand Austria Hotel (infinite combos), Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers (my favourite in the series), Mottainai (my favourite card game), Targi (best 2 player game), Balloon Cup (another great 2 player game), Rose King (chess like 2 player game), Saint Petersburg (replaces splendor for me), Kashgar (my favourite deck builder with a twist), Oregon (another great but rare tile laying game), The Voyages of Marco Polo (classic euro - around 200 plays for me), Port Royal (press your luck at it's best), Through the Ages (app version, also like the tabletop on occasion), dice games (because they are quick and fun) - Way of the Dragon, Can't Stop, Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age, Skyline, Spexxx, Zooloretto the Dice Game.
You left off that two rivers game that you've been trying to sell forever ;)
@@3MBG haha, i'll sell it one day.
Oregon is a contender in our home too. Most underrated I feel.
still going with COB and GAH too!
Wait a minute.. through the ages has a dice game!?!? :-O Oh boy.. here I go to buy another civ game!!!
For me, Root hits so many of the points you mentioned and is my most loved forever game. Variable set up, expansions that make it feel like a living game, storytelling, evolving metas. You may never play the same combinations of faction, map and deck twice. And even then different players may play the same faction in different and surprising ways. You could play 50 games and still be discovering new interactions.
In particular, Root hits many of the points brought up when he talked about Dune. Root might "feel" like there's stronger factions, but over time a group knows the danger signs and knows who needs more pressure on them and when, so it self balances through experience. That's completely missed, if you haven't played repeatedly.
It also has a fairly great online community, like Catan. And a podcast with 70+ episodes (last I checked).
I too foam from the mouth for the glorious ROOT why would I need to play 1000000 games when I have ROOT (and betrayal and other fun stuff Root is not the only good game) ROOT IS THE ONLY GAME YOU NEED REPLAY FOR 10000 YEARS I LOVE ROOT
I have a hard time with it but I've only been able to play 2 person. Something is not right or I am misunderstanding the gameplay and rules. Can you recommend a good tutorial?
@civrn368 Two person root is.. unfortunately going to be a nonideal experience. Aka, it sucks a bit lol. You'll need hirelings, or npc factions to fill up the board.
Woodlands War Machine was the podcast I recommended, for in depth strategies. I learned by watching tournament games, search "Root winter tournament"
@@civrn368root is just not as fun with 2 players, put simply.
There’s an expansion (marauder expansion) that adds rules to make 2 player games more interesting, but most people agree root is best with 4 players.
My list games that got many plays and still don’t feel boring and fresh:
1- spirit island
2- Cthulhu wars
3- Too many bones
4- Gaia project
5- KDM
6- black rose war (now renaissance)
7- Voidfall
8- Eclipse
9- insert your favorite lcg (lotr for me)
10- castle of burgundy / mage knight
Nice one, love a lot of those ❤
This is a great list 🎉
In my friend group, Ra is easily our forever game. We also enjoy poker and there are some overlapping strategies. We have a goofy “trophy” that goes home with the person who pulled the most Ra tiles which they have to display on their desk at work until the next session. Love it!
Concordia gives me the best of both worlds. New maps to try out with unique mechanisms along with a core game I could (and plan to) play forever.
With the added bonus of ridiculously simple rules (with the majority presented to players in their hand of cards), yet has enough meatiness to engage gamers who prefer the heavier / thinkier end of the gaming spectrum.
Concordia is so TIGHT too! Love it!
Fantastic video and perspective! Sharing to my game groups. Thanks also for throwing some love to Catan. I'm many hundreds of plays deep in my forever game and it still delivers great experiences.
I love your philosophical videos! It is so refreshing to listen to someone who takes the time to think and ponder the things going on in their profession. Please don’t ever stop.
I have an addition: Ravine.
It's a simple to understand game that we take with us on trips. We can teach it to people in a few minutes, and often get engrossed for hours. The replay value is high, and different strategies evolve every playthrough. Children are engaged and elderly people can still grasp it and have a great time.
glad to see Twilight Struggle getting some love here. I've played over 300 game of TS in the last three years because I've discovered there is a sizable community of players worldwide who share the same passion for the game I do. There is an online community which organizes tournaments and leagues which allow me to face some of the very best players in the world. Even after 300 games, I still feel like there is so much more to learn about the game because of all of the subtle nuances in game play which can mean the difference between victory and defeat. It is truly my forever game
Love this format. Thanks for taking us through all of the games. It's clear you have a deeper understanding of each of them.
Or, you could just play 'The Campaign for North Africa' once.
Unlike most people I've actually read the rules to that game, and no. No damned way. Not even as a joke. It's essentially an incredibly complex accounting exercise, like doing taxes for a million people at once. A thrice damned game
Really well done commentary here. As someone who chased new games for over a decade, in recent years I've cut back on game news and reviews so I could slow down and appreciate the games I already have in my collection. Not seeing weekly news about "the new hotness" eliminated the constant FOMO I was under for years and I do not miss it. To each their own, but I definitely appreciate this video and what it's talking about. 😊
Spirit Island is our forever game. Since it has entered our lives 2 years ago, it has monopolized about 50% of our game night plays. My brother-in-law owns everything for the game (all content as well as inserts and stuff). He must have over 300 plays of it. I'm at nearly 90 plays. We play it digitally too, so I decided not to buy a physical copy.
I still wanted a physical forever game for myself, one that I could play solo or with others. I finally purchased the core box of Marvel Champions last November. Now 😅at over 50 plays. I now consider it my second foever game. I play mostly solo but my son has started playing with me recently and it's a blast.
Excellent choices
Thank you for this video! Part way through I paused the video and played 3 games of Dominion on my phone app, using sets I've already played dozens of times. It's definitely a forever game based on the quality of the core mechanisms, not just the variety.
My forever game... D&D. ;-) Yeah, I know it is a TTRPG and not a board game, but it is the game that I never tire of and have played for 40+ years now... and with some of the same people from back then. Best game I ever discovered. :-)
Nah, that's legit. I totally get it.
Your top 10 format is truly a notch above everything else. Love your commentary and insight on the process!
I'm learning that (good) deckbuilders really hold up to repeat plays over a long, long time - I recently picked up Legendary Alien and can see that staying in my collection forever. Great video!
Agreed. We played Star Realms so many times, the box fell apart.
i can recommend decipher's long dead star wars ccg - fan run, all cards available. its fantastic, a really well designed game
I love playing backgammon. I've been playing asynchronously on BGA with the same fellow for something like four years now (since the beginning of the pandemic). As soon as we finish one game, we fire up the next one. We've played upwards of 400 games.
Heck YES backgammon
I have this going with star realms, an ongoing game against my cousin.
Spirit Island is my # 1 forever game. I 100% agree with your assessment of it in this video. Great content as always, Jarrod!
I 100% agree with this. It has become even more my forever game with the discovery of the spirit island discord and Spirit Island on Table Top Simulator
What a great list! Board games are not Tik Tok videos...
To be clear, I own just over 200 games, not counting expansions... So about galf the size of yours and built over more than a decade of fits and freezes. But I'm always wishing i had time to play more, even solo.
The games that get played the most are ones that seem to never get old: Guillotine, Sushi Go, Air Land & Sea, Love Letter, Battle Line, Hive, War Chest, Santorini, Lost Cities, etc. Games where the core mechanics are simple, but deep, and satisfying. Sometimes, its kust fun to draw cards snd set collect trying to complete routes for rail lines across Europe.
This is a great video and is much appreciated! This topic is something that I've spent the last 18 months or so thinking about. There definitely are games that could be (what I would call) "lifestyle" games, that you can play over and over and appreciate the depth, but can just be enjoyed as a one off on a game day as well. Depth and a smaller collection has been something I've been pushing into for a while now, and I feel this video is close to that same idea.
I also appreciate that for many of these you gave a rubric of "insert this type of game here". It is not a particular game but a particular type of game.
Great thoughts and video. Thank you.
As a fanatic collector and player of AHLCG and Spirit Island, i can confirm that replayability never stops. I dont need to buy any other games
A man of distinguished tastes.
I've easily played more of AHLCG than any other game in my collection, by a wide margin
Across multiple board game groups, the game from my collection that is universally beloved and demanded is Valeria: Card Kingdoms. When I first played it I thought immediately "I must have this" and everyone I've introduced to it has thought the same thing. It once got played 18 times in a 10-day period.
I think it's a mix of: huge variability; characterful art; constantly rewarding mechanics; and no-one knows who's going to win until the end.
Interesting. I've honestly not seen that one played. Taught Dan and the lads Kemet last night, he enjoyed the giant monsters and the overall mummies alive theme.
Whilst I find the theme bland and derivative, I absolutely agree on the gameplay. It takes the basic premise of Machi Koro, but offers rewards up on both dice individually AND combined. Throw in some additional VP targets to aim for, and it's super easy to learn, plays fast and engages all the table on every turn, but has plenty of setup options and routes to victory.
Great video!!! My wife and I took three years to complete Gloomhaven. Absolutely loved the card combos for abilities that constantly changed by leveling up and by unlocking new characters. And we still play the game on digital as well. Thanks for your thoughts from an old grognard who still plays ASL
ASL is such a forever game, lol
I couldn't agree more! One of my pet peeves is having to play with expansions, when we have only played the base game once or twice. I some tease my friends that the hobby isn't playing board games, the hobby is buying new ones.
I saw the title of the video and thought: “Oh you mean Spirit Island!” With just the basic set, you have years of gameplay. Amazing both single player, and multiplayer! Incredibly challenging! So many tastes in it!
thank you for putting up a genuine, honest, and insightful video like this - it's one of the main reasons I follow your channel! 😀
One of the best videos you've ever done. YES YES YES! I love what you have said about MTG and especially Netrunner. I have tens of thousands of games of MTG played in my lifetime. Android Netrunner is the better game...hands down. I just wanted to throw out 3 things: 1. Legend of the Five Rings the LCG is also VERY good and leans into the same awesome as NR where the game is more about the playing than the cards you put into your deck. 2. For MTG: look into building a cube or playing Commander. Both are great ways to just have a small group of cards and amazing play experiences. The cube is not just a random assortment of cards. I have one and it is my nostalgia from when I was HUGE into it from 94 to 01. The cards in there are some of my favorites and now we can draft and play sealed deck tournaments with them. 3. I love you talking about having your game nights for all beloved games. I think there is room on your channel for revisiting these games with the perspective of time and plays under your belt! New people enter the hobby every day. Sorry for the book I wrote here :D
Loved your intro words 🙏 I'm in the hobby since 20 years and most of my favourite games been published even before that. I appreciate the simplicity but immense depth of a few older games 😎
You're so right. I have about 200 games and I'm trying hard to play the games I have, plumbing the depths, instead of skimming the surface. That's where the real value lies.
I would like you to know that I have been in this hoddy for at least 16 years now. I have played hundreds of games, I have sold 3x more then I currently own which is at least 170. This video is the first I have seen of your content and I am now a sub. You got the nail on the head. I have missed how it was when I was a kid and we play clue over and over again, or chess with my Dad till I finally figured out how to win. Games should not be treated like a buffet or all you can eat. We should look at them more like a chess, something worth mastering.
Funniest part is I own or have owned 90% of the the games you mentioned in this video.
Already getting there myself. I don't mind playing a new game, but if asked directly "would you rather play x or y" where x is a game i have played before and enjoyed and y is a new game, i'm leaning x most the time...with the exceptions to this rule being a classic i haven't had yet or a game reviewers i tend to agree with recommending it.
This is probably my favorite of your “topic” videos. I intentionally keep a very small curated collection (~40 games) for this very purpose - so I can play my favorites all the time. If I do add games to the collection, they’re always forever games.
Surely the idea of Variability = Replayability was introduced with Cosmic Encounter way back in the 1970s
Its a very different type of variability, variable player powers vs variable setups. But yes, as i said elsewhere, this is a fair point.
My wife and I play War of the Ring and Star Wars Rebellion a couple of time every week. She is always shadow in WOTR and I am always Empire in Rebellion. We love it.
EPIC
Dang. Good for you.
Wow! Two of my very favorites!!!
In response to number 9, my group’s game used to be Axis and Allies, the original. That was 20+ years ago that we were together. Over the years the group split up and lost contact with each other. I have a new playgroup (three of us) and we tend to gravitate towards short games but on occasion we pull out a long strategy game. We have even played Axis and Allies a few times.
I'm in the minority, but Europa Universalis Price of Power is one of my forever games too. It's always satisfying seeing your country grow ans facing the struggles, internal and external, and the action system tickles something in my brain. I love it. I've played hundreds of hours of it and had a 15 hour marathon last year. It's definitely not for everyone though and needs one person to learn the rules inside out to be able to teach it.
Can't believe you immediately promise me board games that would help me survive the inevitable heat death of the universe and oh so quickly pull the rug on me. For SHAME!
Great list! For me Neuroshima Hex is a forever game, combining the feeling of a classic strategy game like chess with the asymmetry of unique warring factions. There is a TON of content out there, though there is plenty of replayability in the core set. I'd also put Memoir '44 up there with so many variable battles and content available.
This. What we all need to hear. Stop chasing new games and ignoring the solid ones. The only variability concept I would add is the type of game that encourages more variability in how players can interact with each other. Like Root, for example, and there are many others.
I truly appreciate that this isn't just a list of "10 games I've played a bunch". (Not that I expected that from you.) The points you make about how some games lend themselves more toward repeated plays because of the social aspects are incredibly important in my opinion. Dueling games (Memoir '44 is my current game in this category), easy to learn and table games (Boom-O is a longtime family favorite), and negotiation games (I play quite a few social deduction games that kind of scratch this itch, but I've been *this* close to getting Dune and A Game of Thrones to the table with a full contingent of players for years now... it'll happen eventually!). The shared experiences and the evolving narrative make these great.
As others have mentioned, I think the puzzly nature of many games makes them fun to play time and time again. Spirit Island, engine builders, and many other games fit the bill here.
I'd also include solid campaign games, such as Gloomhaven, as a forever game. The core game play is very good and there are hundreds of scenarios available. About 100 in the base game plus random scenarios, official solo scenarios, several official 10-scenario mini-campaigns, and hundreds of fan-made scenarios, some of which are also campaigns. Combine that with all the different characters to play and I don't think I'll ever get rid of the game.
The meta/social aspects of a forever game that depend as much on the players as the game is an interesting point. It reminds me of a picture and story I saw-- a family had played so many games of Yahtzee over many years that they had actually worn down the dice.
This is a very good video. This hobby can feel very disposable at times, which is unfortunate. I think the fast food metaphor is very apt. Outside of the designs you mentioned, for me it has been Tigris & Euphrates, Race for the Galaxy, Cosmic Encounter, and Lost Cities. They have hit the the table for many years now and have not slowed down.
Fantastic video deserving of a comment, not just to serve the Algorithm, but also for its substance. I especially liked the segment on a dueling game one plays with a particular person. It brought a smile to my face remembering many, many games of Mage Wars. Thank you for that.
One of my most appreciated videos for a long time :) I quite share the same feeling as you, and i'm really happy to see you speaking of it right here. Enjoy your games, give them time, give them space.
Arkham Horror LCG is my current obsession thanks to you and you turning me on to the guys over at PBG, really loving it and I certainly can see myself playing it over and over again!
Im happy to recommend them. Justin runs a great channel and they have so much content to check out.
to add to your magic the gathering point, theres a format called cube. Essentially magic has a drafting format where you open a pack, pick a card, and pass it on. A cube is a curated set of cards that you form 15 card packs out of and draft with your friends. You can proxy it, and it can be at whatever complexity or play level you want it to be. Very great way to play the game forever.
Multiple board game youtubers that I follow have recently said that they are getting tired from learning and making videos of new games over and over, and instead they want to focus more on the classics. I wonder if its a coincidence or if something happened in the game industry.
Perhaps too many games are coming out nowadays, and their focus is mainly on looking attractive to appeal to the larger audience, instead of having some intellectual depth?
I suspect its just the constant grind of new releases. After a number of years covering them, stuff really begins to blur
Fully agree.
Great video! I loved the fact that you talked reasons to love these games outside of the games themselves. My main board game buddy is my dad, and we love complex duel type games. We've played countless hours of 2 player games with our two favorites being Terraforming Mars and Agricola.
Great video and a great sentiment. I especially liked how several of your picks are really categories- because whether it’s the two player go-to or your weekly group’s fave, you are bang-on about how building your own history with a game adds a layer to it that just keeps building over time.
Great video. MTG was my forever game until several years ago when I had to quit because the reasons you alluded to (awful company/business model, egregiously predatory).
The other two that immediately came to me were Spirit Island and Agricola because the core games are amazing but the spirits/aspects/adversaries/new cards in SI adds so much variability coupled with the ability to tailor the difficulty to match your desired level, and for Agricola the plethora of interesting cards from expansion decks always keeps things fresh and forces you to adapt/play in different ways based on what was both in the draft and what you drafted.
And Carcassonne is my forever 2p game with a few people including an Carlo from All You Can Board whom I always have an active async BGA game with.
I 'quit' magic in about 2015 when it jumped the shark, but I still have about 20-30 decks made up for my kids to play with their friends. In fact, we're having a magic night tomorrow night. YOu can quit the game at any time and just return to kitchen table magic.
I 'quit' magic in about 2015 when it jumped the shark, but I still have about 20-30 decks made up for my kids to play with their friends. In fact, we're having a magic night tomorrow night. YOu can quit the game at any time and just return to kitchen table magic.
It's very dependent on having a good group, but Hanabi is one of those games for me that develops over dozens or hundreds of plays. Eventually it can be "solved", but you can push the envelope of the implicit information carried by a simple clue very far, and I found it so satisfying when one of those clues organically worked.
As someone who has just got into board games over these past 4 years, this is my fav channel. Thank you for all your hard work and great content!
I appreciate it, thank you
For me this list includes Marvel Champions(similar to AHLCG) and Vindication. Even the core box of Vindication has a bunch of different modules to change up the play, but I just really like how every game I play of it, plays out differently, whether using modules or not.
While I have over 600 games in my collection and a ton of Magic the Gathering cards (wish I had discovered the board game hobby before MTG), I still have my comfort games that I will play forever. Those games will never be replaced by the next big thing or discarded like a pizza box. Magic, Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova are three of my top ten games that you discussed that I will be playing forever for sure. I love your three minute reviews, but maybe you need to share more of your insight in longer videos more often. This was such a great video!!
Cheers.
The thing with the 3 minute format is its such a process that while its time consuming, its easy. For longer formats, i feel i need more to say than just the streamlined essentials of a game. So while they don't require more technical work in terms of video making, its the free brain time to have valid ideas.
@@3MBG I have created content before, so I understand what you are saying. Having said that, I wasn't implying that you should give up your bread and butter! Your three minute reviews are the best in the business and I always look to them to get a hot take on a game or several games without researching in more detail. My only point is that your insight into the hobby is deeper than most content creators and I think if you mix in more content where you take a deep dive on a subject (not that you haven't done it before, just do it more!), then I think it will make your already great channel even better. Keep doing what you do!!!
Yes to Terraforming Mars. For me a feature of timeless games is a satisfying puzzle which feels a bit different every time you play, with a good balance of tactics and strategy. Castles of Burgundy, Unfair, 51st State, It's a Wonderful World are some examples that hit the mark for me.
I have watched so many lists and reviews that it's hard to count. This was hands down the most well versed and down to earth video I have seen in the gaming community in many years. Thank you for what you do, and keep on with the quality of work, we all appreciate you!
I really appreciate this. I try to keep myself pretty grounded so seeing that comes through is great. Thanks again
This is part of why I play lots of deckbuilders. This doesn't apply to all of them, but well built ones have huge longevity via setup variation and analysis of gamestate.
Games like War Chest and the Undaunted series will be endlessly fun to me.
As for TCGs, I get why MTG is on the list, but I'd put Netrunner over it every time. Because of cost reasons and also being more interactive. I'm NOT a Netrunner head (I'm a YGO head actually) but even I can't deny that game's excellence.
I love your main point of this video. I'm a big fan of playing games over and over again. I only own 12-15 games, and move on ones I don't play more than 3 or so times after buying. Lord of the Rings LCG (solo), Arkham Horror LCG (multiplayer), Terraforming Mars, and Brass: Birmingham and Wingspan are the games I will always come back to. The two first games I've put in countless hours. I've owned LotR LCG since 2011, and still playing it 13 years later, still my favourite deckbuilder.
Just a note on Flesh and Blood, the game is very well done and plays quite differently than most other CCG's as you're not playing units on a board but as a character.
Definitely take a look at it if you're curious. Of newer and less well known games the Digimon TCG is thematically well designed and has some interesting ideas(such as the resource system where your turn ends when you go negative which determines how much your opponent can play before it switches back, which creates strategy around how much to commit and timing things).
this is an awesome video.
You hit the nail on the head with your opener... variability doesn't mean replayability. Variability just means different, its different, not always a good thing. Replayability means its good each and every time and stands the "test of time". Its always a good time when you play it.
For my various play groups, we have a the DC deckbuilder, Arkham Horor board game, Vampire the Requiem board game, Netrunner, and Vampire the Eternal Struggle, which is actually Garfield's 2nd game after MtG not Netrunner(1996) where as VtES was 1994.
Solo game - Terraforming Mars, Marvel Champions, and yes Spirit Island. All, to me, are forever games in the solo world.
Great list! Gaia project (and presumably Terra Mystica) is another chess-like one for me that has that going-deep potential over time. Variable powers coupled with perfect information that is then foiled by both my inability to Grok it all at once and those pesky other players at the table and their internal cognition.
We still thrash Dominion a bunch but my netrunner buddy moved so that one doesn't get as much love as it should any more.
Excellent episode. I've been playing The Crew on Friday nights online for a few years. I'm always buying it for people. It is fabulous.
Agree about Dominion - such a cool game. And I'm still loyal to Carcasonne. My first love. Knife fight in a phone box - but a phone box with relaxing scenery.
I recommend the Catan card game. A great two player when you don't have a third person.
We usually start the game wiht something like Quixx. You can dial someone in by copying another players lines. Another fun one is Martian Dice.
My partner and I played the short intro campaign of Arkham Horror several times over and enjoyed it a lot despite the difficulty, but introducing a third player to the first full-length campaign has made our play sessions much less frequent. I'd like to go again with just the two of us when we're done.
Thanks for producing the video. Got back into the hobby just as the pandemic started and over dosed on both retail and crowd funding games (thankfully no lemons). Found that we we're playing many games infrequently. Over the past year, are no longer receiving new games from the crowd funding platforms and we are playing the same games and getting an appreciation of what we do like and what we don't like about games. We like deck builders, area control, take that, one vs all etc. Not big on deduction games. Up to medium weight games, nothing too heavy.
We have really enjoyed exploring our games Kemet (1ED), Beast, Here to Slay, Fluxx, Castles of Burgundy, Wonderlands War, Cyclades, Jaws. Depending on the mood and the company we can find something to enjoy as a group and create memories. A most recent purchase (Star Wars The Deck Building game) got in 10 plays in 36 hours and was repeated requested by my 11 year old son. Think this will become a forever game for us.
That star wars deck building game is a little gem isn't it. I gave it my best small box game award
@@3MBG Impressive, most impressive.
Yes, Netrunner is one of my all-time favourites.
Also Games like Dune, Scythe, Terraformig Mars, Carcassonne...
Couldn’t agree more! My husband and I love Ark Nova with the expansion. The deck is so large that it never plays the same way twice. My husband wins 99% of the time, but it is usually really close. I’m not bothered because I am always challenged, and I love working out how to make the most of my map and cards.
Also with Dominion - we started playing "speed dominion" where you just play your turns back to back simultaneously until the end conditions are met (yes you just trust no one is cheating) and that is ridiculous fun 🤣
Loving the channel - really enjoying the passion for playing games as a social activity and challenge
Lol, that sounds crazy and chaotic. A loy like "baby dragon bedtime", and actual real time deck building game.
I have had countless memorable experiences with Nemesis. It's my go to. Working out the odds of survival, scanning for infection, not making it out in time, running away from Queens, redirecting the ship off to Mars or being a good little helper and assisting everyone. Love it!
Its a great game, it really is.
Spirit Island is my group's "forever game". We don't even have Horizons or Nature Incarnate yet, but there's still many game nights' worth of unplayed content in the boxes we _do_ have, and that's not counting everyone trying out all the new spirits/team compositions they want or playing against the highest level adversaries (i.e. we haven't played many Scenarios yet, and have never doubled up on adversaries or combined them with scenarios/thematic map).
I like Santorini a lot, but for me, the best abstract "forever game" is Hive. It's easy to just throw in your game bag and forget, so it's always on hand when you have need of a 2-player game. It requires no board, no cards, no bits and bobs, and thanks to the satisfyingly hefty pieces, you can play it practically anywhere. It's the perfect example of "minutes to learn, ages to master", and since the pieces themselves form the board as you play, every game state will be entirely novel within the first ten or so turns.
Like many other two-player abstracts, Hive lacks the _variety_ of the typical Hobby Board Game™, but more than makes up for it with tremendous _variability._ A perfect "forever game".
I contend that spirit island is a forever game out of the main box (and with branch and claw for events and tokens, which i alwaysfeel were left out of the main game and arent real expansion content)
@@3MBGBranch and Claw was in fact left out of the base game by the design team, so you are right in feeling this way 😅
I've heard that in interviews, they removed events to finally get the game in hands of people after years of development and get some more feedback before releasing separate expansions.
Amazing video!
Just recently a friend and I noticed that feeling: We still enjoy discovering new games... but we'd also like to spend more time "deep-diving" some of the games that we enjoy. We've already done that a little bit with my favorite game (Spirit Island) ... but we've spent so much time playing new games once or twice only ... it didn't feel right.
So we dicded to spend more evenings on a small pool of highly replayable games: Spirit Island, Cthulhu Wars, Return to Dark Tower... and yeah ... for better or worse also Magic the Gathering. (Unfortunately where we live Living Card Games never caught on and there are regular opportunities to play TCGs. Two people in our group can have irregular working hours and the ability to drop in on a second or third game of MtG Commander has helped them getting more analog gaming time in.)
Always Great to see Sentinels of the Multiverse get love. It really is a forever game. I remember distinctly one meet up where we had a host of games available. What ended up happening is four different groups all played out of my copy of Sentinels (with expansions) some had to substitute for life counters, but they didn't care.
It's that level of game.
Wow, your game room is amazing! I love these long format videos. Please keep them coming.
It's technically its own house ;)
It's a shed on the back of the property detached from the main house. So nice and quiet for filming and i can also keep my toddler out of there
For me it's Unfair. Something about the deck combos, the choice of attacking someone else versus doing your own thing, and all the lovely art and themes just does it for me everytime. Plus the way the tableau is built up is just lovely for me.
+1 for Dominion. I introduced it to my wife last year and she absolutely loves it. We can’t get enough because it’s so different after each new kingdom. With only 4 expansion the game has a ridiculous amount of new combos and play styles to explore.
It’s great. I no longer crave the newest games. I just enjoy playing dominion with my wife because it’s always a different game and endless fun. She wins, I win it goes back and forth all the time. With a dozen expansions left to explore we could play this forever and never play the same cards twice. Plus we don’t have to learn new rules, that’s a huge bonus and welcomes repeat play.
A great evening is set up a randomized dominion deck and and old fashioned with my wife. Perfect!
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game (without expansions) is still one of my favourites. I just recently managed to pick up a copy that is still in the shrink wrap. :)
What a find! I just sleeved the skill cards in my copy to hopefully keep them unmarked for the rest of my lifetime. Definitely a forever game.
@@twentysides I have a Trademe alert for anything Battlestar and Firefly. Highly recommended.
How much?
@@luckymikemadziar Just over NZ$250 from memory. Totally worth it. :)
That was a refreshing take on where the hobby has got to and how to take back control. Very good watch, thank you.
Excellent content, I think your premise is solid. It was however, not what I was expecting (this is a good thing). I would like to add to the discussion that I think its more important that, rather than Games you CAN play forever, you find games you WANT to play forever. For instance, I wouldn't want to play any of the games you listed until you got to your #8 on the list, the previous 7 hold no interest to me personally, even though I recognize their popularity. I think points #9 and #10 are the consequential in that they get to the most important point. Find games you enjoy and play THEM more rather than jumping on to the next bright shiny new thing. And maybe someday you'll play a friends bright shiny new game and find your next Forever game.
It was great to hear validation in the mentality for owning and playing games! My friend group likes competitive scorechasers to best one another; not for everyone, but there are some highly replayable games for us.
Interestingly, Terraforming Mars didn't quite click due to how dragged out it can get, but Earth became a massive hit and we constantly return to it for how wildly different every session is.
Lords of Waterdeep + Scoundrels of Skullport is our most replayed however, and it never disappoints with how enterlaced with mindgames it becomes.
Small Town gets more love than not, too. Faster sessions but still strategically deep. Even though the expansions add a healthy bit more variety, we prefer without since the base game is already quite solid.
My game group has played Brian Boru probably 100 times. We play other games every week but then, every week...we always want to play one game of Boru! You couldn't know the depth of this game ( or 1000's of others) until you've played it 10+ times.
Loved this video! I have found myself so much more interested in playing old favorites. Sure, the occasional new game is fun, but I love playing my favorites repeatedly.
Love your long form. Thanks for the reminder to hold on to the designs we love.
I agree that there is a feeling got to get this game and all that content. For my self, I have rule of no more then 12...(13 also know as a baker dozen lol). The games will always be ruins of arnak, tyrants of the underdaek, star wars outer rim, spirit island and star trek ascendancy. These provide a good solo and player interaction. That i can pick up and play often that I truly enjoy. Great video and very helpful I would say. Keep up the amazing work that you do. I always enjoy your content and honesty.
This is such a great message. I'm sitting here wishing I'd have heard it years ago, but I don't think it would've resonated as much. I wouldn't have truly "listened" without having suffered some of those disappointments of chasing games. Instead of curating a vast collection. Curate a collection you love to play.
Well, if you look at the facebook groups out there in particular, they are full of post after post of people buying crazy amounts, saying they wont play them, and people cheering that on like its a virtue.
"I just bought 30 games and don't have a group to play them with".
and you'll get a ton of "one of us, one of us" type comments.
So yeah, there is this very strong force out there that says "get all the things, its cool" so i get why people get swept up in it.
My wife and I play Shadows of Brimstone a lot. When we want something more episodic, we typically pull down Zombicide.
My forever game is Agricola. I love how subtlety deep that game is. I judge a game by how much expertise it takes to be good at it, and it takes a minimum of 5 games to start to get it. To be good, your not building just AN engine, you really need about 4 or 5, and I've had so much fun discovering new ones. Many different paths, replayablity via all the cards, plays totally different with different people. I've also played in some epic tournaments, and met a ton of like-minded nerds. Can't wait play it at GenCon this year!
Spirit Island, Pandemic, Dice Masters, Concordia, Magic and Legendary are my favorites.