If I Could Choose Only 10 Games from the BGG Top 100
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- #Top10ofBGG100
The top 100 board games on Board Game Geek can be almost overwhelming. The way the BGG ratings work, the top 10 board games are disproportionately complex and don’t capture the full breadth of the board gaming hobby. What if you could condense all 100 of the top-rated board games to ONLY 10? Ten games that capture everything the top 100 has to offer.
In this video, I will give you my personal selection for games that best embody the entire list of all 100. Don’t confuse this as a list of “my favorite games.” It is my best effort to analyze and simplify all 100 games.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
0:00 - Introduction
0:57 - Share your 10
1:20 - My Approach (3 Criteria)
3:10 - Essential Adventure Game theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
5:18 - Honorable Mention: Horror theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
5:36 - Honorable Mention: Legacy theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
5:53 - Essential Simple Game theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
7:00 - Essential Abstract Game theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
8:18 - Essential Dice Game theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
9:24 - Essential Two-Player Game theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
11:19 - Essential Medium-weight Euro theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
13:03 - Essential Heavyweight Euro theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
14:33 - Essential Card Game theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
15:41 - Essential Exploration/Settlement Game theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
17:22 - Essential Warfare Game theperfectboardgame.com/?e=bg...
18:55 - I know I committed an injustice.
19:34 - Invitation to respond! #Top10ofBGG100
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Surprised you put Agircola as the "medium weight" Euro and Terraforming Mars as an example of a "heavy weight" Euro. Would definitely lean towards Agircola being a medium-heavy game, and Terraforming Mars being a solidly medium weight game.
For me, I would say (with your criteria in mind)
Adventure-- Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion (Also haven't played this one, but Gloomhaven is excellent)
Simple-- The Crew
Abstract-- Azul
Dice-- This is a weird category for me since I've never met anyone who loved dice specifically, but Castles of Burgundy if I had to pick. I wouldn't have this as it's own category though.
Two Players-- Twilight Struggle, and it's not close.
Medium Weight Euro-- Terraforming Mars for something more casual and random, Concordia for something slightly easier but also more serious.
Heavy Weight Euro-- Brass Birmingham. I'm suggesting this over Agricola because Brass is dripping with theme and has so much more player interaction, and in my opinion is harder and more strategic.
Card Game-- I'll say a true card game and suggest Everdell. I didn't include Ark Nova because I think it steps on the toes of Terraforming Mars, which I did have.
Exploration/Settlement-- Scythe! I would consider Scythe to be much more "exploration/settlement" oriented than War oriented. I think Terra Mystica and Gaia Project are both amazing games, but just a tad on the heavy side for your criteria.
War-- Every bone in my body wants to suggest Twilight Imperium, but since it's easily outside your criteria, I'll suggest Eclipse for something big, and Root for something small.
I really love your analysis. Games that use dice as a core mechanic just seems like a very distinct flavor to me so as I was categorizing the games, it didn’t seem appropriate to put them in another category. Nevertheless, I see your point. It is perhaps unsuitable if there are only 10 categories
@@theperfectboardgame Thanks for your reply! I stumbled on your channel a few days ago and it's the easiest subscribe of my life-- genuinely one of the best content around board games I've seen :)
@@shengshaoyi Wow. That’s a huge compliment. I don’t want to sound like I’m looking for a compliment, but it would help if you told me what specifically you liked: is it how I compare games, the Perfect Boardgame attributes, the family focus, the way I feature video of actually gameplay? Let me know so I can do more of that!
@@theperfectboardgame For sure! It's not the attributes specifically that I like, moreso that I think you get down to the specific reasons you like and dislike games very efficiently and you communicate those ideas really well. Your videos are very, very dense with information which is great.
After I finish your videos, I know whether you like or dislike a game, and I can pinpoint specific reasons you like or dislike a game. This is nice for me since I can compare it to my own experiences, even if I disagree. For example, you say you don't like "As and Bs." I love "As and Bs" for myself, and even though we disagree on that, when you say you don't like a game for those reasons, I know what you mean and I know I'll probably like it. Or when you say Puerto Rico is like an old school black and white movie and you think that's boring-- I love Puerto Rico, and super boring Euros in general, and so I know if you call another game that, I'll probably like it. It's not about whether I agree or disagree, it's about much information I gain, you know?
Another reviewer I like is JonGetsGames, and I really like him for a similar reason. He goes through clear points about what he likes and doesn't like about games:th-cam.com/video/b7ejiA0yk2A/w-d-xo.html.
And as a personal preference, as someone who likes heavier Euros, I appreciate how you seem to be the same. Also subjectively, I think your videos are generally well written and well filmed, and the production quality is high!
As a final note, something that literally no board game reviewer does-- tell me what player counts you played at! Terra Mystica at 2 and Terra Mystica at 5, for example, are totally different games. Knowing this information definitely helps me understand your preferences better for games we've both played before.
Thank you so much for the feedback! Maybe my videos are dense because I get Board easily while watching TH-cam. I’m always thinking, “Get to the point!” So when I edit, I (try to) remove anything that doesn’t “get to the point”. Anyway, I really appreciate the feedback. I will try to keep it up. Have you played Revive? It’s a little “As and Bs” but even I really like it! I picked it up at Essen, I guess it hasn’t hit retail yet, but keep your eyes peeled for that one.
I really like Scythe but calling it a "warfare" game is not going to do you any favors. I've tried teaching it to a bunch of players and the ones that like it are the ones that enjoy engine building first. People that like war-ish games didn't generally because the art and descriptions make it seem like an actual wargame when that part is very minor to the actual gameplay and usually not a good idea.
You are not alone in that opinion. Someone else wrote similar comment, saying it should be called a “threat of war” game. That is indeed more appropriate.
The threat of combat is very interesting though, in a more euro style game. It’s just misleading to those who think it’s a war style game instead.
I'll try to do what you did but I have to put my favorites in:
1. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion (Coop Campaign style)
2. Brass Birmingham (Economic)
3. Ark Nova (more popular than Terraforming Mars)
4. Maracaibo (Pfister)
5. Castles of Burgundy (Gateway)
6. Terra Mystica (Cult of the old)
7. Android Netrunner (2p, LCG)
8. The Gallerist (Lacerda)
9. Root (Wargameish)
10. Race for the Galaxy (Quick / Card)
That's pretty hard to pick... Half of these aren't even my favorites out of the top 100 but I think pretty representative of them.
“CULT OF THE OLD!” I’m going to let that term wrinkle my brain for use when I next advance on the cult track. Thank you for your list and categories. “Gateway” is a great category and COB an excellent representative.
This is a lovely and nicely structured list; I think a person entering the hobby would absolutely be well-served by these 10 games. That being said, I'm surprised you chose Scythe as your "Warfare Game". I love Scythe and think it's brilliant, but I usually warn new players that it isn't really a war game, but rather a "threat of war" game. It has been my anecdotal experience that the people who like Scythe the least are those whose expectations were not met by a game featuring giant mechs on the box art!
If I had to pick an alternative Warfare Game, I'd likely pick from the list of Inis, Rising Sun, or (most especially) Root.
This is an excellent comment.
I love your instinct. When you mentioned Inis, I thought, “Of course!” … but then I checked the top 100: Inis is no longer there! Disappointing, right?
Personally, Root is also more interesting to me, but I wanted games that were more accessible and I favored some games just because they were easier to learn the rules.
Finally, I think you hit the nail on the head when you called it a “threat of war” game. Many of the other war games (TI, Eclipse, Dominant Species…) are epic in duration. Blood Rage is good for a gage with actual combat, but I don’t really like how unpredictable it can be. I landed on Scythe because it is elegant in its design and because the non-war elements of the game embody the what I think most of the top 100 are about.
Depending on mood the 10 would change. Right now the 10 I am playing the most: Arkham Horror LCG, Spirit Island, Root, Twilight Struggle, Mombasa, Tigris and Euphretes, On Mars, Brass Birmingham, Castles of Burgundy, and Orleans
1. Adventure Game : Nemesis
2. Simple Game : Azul
3. Abstract Game : Five tribes
4. Dice Game : Castle of burgundy
5. Two player Game : 7 wonders duel with 2 expansions
6. Medium-weight Euro : Terraforming mars
7. Heavyweight Euro : Mage Knight
8. Card Game : Race for the galaxy
9. Exploration/Settlement Game : Maracaibo
10. Essential Warfare Game : Root
I understand it's difficult to do category but in medium weight there are so many good games !
Definition beetween medium and heavy is not the same for you and i. For me ark nova, terraforming, underwater are not heavy, just long but simple.
I agree. Excellent topic for a vid.
New watcher because of it. Hope to see more lists! 👍🏻
Thank you! I was drafting the content for my next video just a little earlier today, also on the topic on the BGG Top 100. Mind if the title by you? I’ve got ten ideas for the list, “If I could replace 10 games in the BGG Top 100”. What do you think of that?
@@theperfectboardgame I like it. Maybe for shock value rewording it to "10 Games that shouldn't be on the BGG Top 100" or "If I could *bin* 10 games from the BGG Top 100"?
Cheers
Mack
I see the idea of "If I could"... As a theme. I like it. Ignore me 🙂
Cheers
Mack
Thanks for the feedback. I would go with “ban” if I was listing games that I don’t think belong, but in this case I have recommendations that I think should go in their stead, hence “replace”. But titles are everything on TH-cam, so I am definitely open to suggestions!
Fun. As an alternate idea look for a 2007 BGG geeklist called “The Guaranteed to Please Collection”. It describes a mathematical approach to find the best n games out of a population of x.
Thanks for this. Great topic idea and really well executed. Obviously I have som some disagreements, but I appreciated your reasoning and learned about some games I haven't played yet. One agree and one disagree below.
Barrage is my current favorite game so love that you gave it the nod for best heavy euro. For a heavy (which it absolutely is) it is surprisingly easy and intuitive to learn. Also, it has this great quality of being fun to play even when you aren't very good yet... because what you build makes such intuitive sense, and it is so fun to move water around the board. I believe these two things - 1) relatively easy to learn 2) extremely fun to play even when you're bad - set it apart from even the best heavy euros... which leads me to my next point.
Gaia Project _is_ a top game _and_ I still prefer Terra Mystica (so put me down as an existence proof that somebody prefers TM to GP). I can't really complain too much with the choice because I love both games and I get that GP is more popular, but it also takes about twice as long to explain the rules as it is super complicated. TM also has a much faster learning curve because the consideration set / branching factor at any point in the game is much smaller -- and I know that this is absolutely one of the reasons GP is the better game in the minds of many -- I get it -- lots of hard choices is why we play heavy Euros. Still for the purposes of this video, I prefer TM as It takes new players many more plays to get a grasp of what they are supposed to be doing in GP.
All in all, great video! Thanks again. This is the first I've seen of yours and I really appreciate the thought and quality that went into it. I am a subscriber and look forward to delving into your back catalog.
Hi! Thank you for taking the time to write out a thoughtful and detailed response. I really like your analysis.
Nice video! Can you let me know where you bought your shelf behind you? It would fit my space perfectly and I have the wood/black theme going on in my room. Thanks!!
I bought it at an imported goods store. Unfortunately, I don’t think I would be able to find it again even if I went to the exact same store. It was in Virginia.
Great topic for a video, and a great list, Ben. Thanks. I haven't played all the games on your list, but have owned JOTL. It's to repetitive I think. Prefer Feast 4 Odin to Agricola. Haven't played Ark Nova, but GWT 2nd edition is great. Surprised you did not include the LCG's like Marvel or Arkham. They are great. As is Anachrony for a heavy euro.
Dude. I didn’t even THINK of listing that as a category! Not even a mention! (I’m sure I’m going to have several of these realizations.) FFO is not only more popular than Agricola, it basically exhibits every Rosenburg mechanic. However, it is more expensive and harder to learn, that’s why I dropped it. But it was a very real candidate.
Of course, I haven’t played JOTL, but in defense, much like Legends of Andor (which I named but is not a top 100 game) the repetition and learning structure actually helps people learn the game. As someone who is critical of these kinds of games, I think that is an essential characteristic.
agree with JoTL , its too repetitive.
Not sure why is it too high in BGG, I assume people value cost/gameplay than actual fun.
Also I kinda agree that repetition is good for people to learn the game, but repeting it for 50 hours is boring
This was a really fun video.
I hope to see more people following you and doing this!
I gotta say I was surprised to see Tzolkin mentioned as an abstract game.
Yeah, I thought that would be an issue. Let me try to justify myself: what I mean by “abstract” is actually this: Most games on the top 100 have a rich theme. Occasionally, I play games where the theme really doesn’t come through. I used to be critical of these “slapped on theme” games, but often, in lieu of a great theme, they have fascinating mechanics that really make the game. That is this category.
Technically, the ONLY abstract game is Crokinole. Even Azul “has a theme”. But I don’t think Azul would better fit into any other category. As I added more into the category, Five Tribes was my favorite.
@@theperfectboardgame That makes sense. 😁 Tzolkin does have a really interesting mechanic.
The abstract category is a kind of hard one for me to come up with really great examples myself. I really only hear it thrown around for Sagrada and Azul and not much else.
I've never played Five Tribes seems like I've got to fix that.
I've only played a quarter of the BGG top 100 so there's still a lot there for me to explore. I kind of take the BGG top 100 with a grain of salt.
I don’t put a lot of stock into it either, but it provides a great baseline to have a discussion about games.
@@theperfectboardgame Agree with OP that Tzolkin is a stretch as an abstract -- and your response makes sense but I still wouldn't put it in abstract. Puerto Rico is very nearly as abstract as Tzolkin, IMO. It's hard to draw a line though I will admit.
I really like your list. Thou, I would change the adventure game for Sleeping Gods and the war game for Twilight Imperium/Eclipse/Root.
Thank you. I actually really like your suggested alternatives! I’m trying to remember why I didn’t suggest TI or Eclipse. I might have been thinking they were a bit intimidating to learn and a commitment to play.
Thinking of IP games as a whole category on it's own seems like a disservice to those games. Like, Dune: Imperium might please *some* people because they like Dune, but it pleases a *lot* of people because its a medium-weight worker placement deckbuilder combo.
It could be, but I really think Dune is the exception and not how people feel about most IP games.
WO‼️😤….
TEN SECONDS OF INTENSITY…
16:57 - 17:07 ….
… I AGREE
TERRA MYSTICA IS BETTER ‼️
…. LOVE THIS CHANNEL ‼️‼️
BEST PLACE FOR GAMES RECOMMENDATIONS
I need to rewatch your intro to this list but this seems like a "my favorites on the top 100 BGG list" not really a "recommendation" list. How can you "recommend" Ark Nova as an essential card game?
No, it’s not. I am trying curate a list that embodies the top 100 and make sure the games in the top 10 are accessible. Ark Nova does a great job of capturing the flavor of games like Terraforming Mars or Underwater Cities.
But I also really like Ark Nova. Are you saying the game is overrated? It certainly is highly dependent on luck, but the game play is more fluid and I think that makes the luck bearable.
@@theperfectboardgame No I suspect it's an amazing game (I love Terraforming Mars), I just have the impression that it is probably quite heavy and LONG. For an essential card game I'd go with something a good bit lighter and quicker playing.
Games I enjoy on the BGG top 100:
Terraforming Mars
Eclipse: second dawn
Puerto Rico
Quacks of Quedlinburg
Pandemic Legacy
Gloomhaven
Games that I’d rather play than the rest of the BGG top 100:
Chinatown
Ra (25th century games version)
Furnace
King of Tokyo
"Games that I’d rather play than the rest of the BGG top 100:" I love that. Thank you for sharing.
I don't understand how Five Tribes is abstract??
Strictly speaking, every game is an abstraction of something in real life, but when I distinguish a game as being “more thematic”, what I am really saying is that something about the gameplay can be explained or rationalized by using the theme as a tool. The most thematic element of Five Tribes is probably the djinns, but even their benefits are rather arbitrary.
Have you tried anno 1800?
I haven’t, but also, it’s not currently on the top 100 so I didn’t consider it. I’ve heard some great things about Anno 1800
heh the only one on your list that i agreed with was twilight struggle. hell of a game! The others are not my style of game at all.
Do you like many of the games in the top 100 or just not the 9 others I chose?
@@theperfectboardgame oh yes, top 100 games i like are Viticulture, Concordia, Power Grid, Architect of the West Kingdom, Eldritch Horror, Grand Austria Hotel, and Brass Birmingham to name some
Nice!
Just for a short comment I wanna say that in my book also in my friends opinion PAX Pamir second edition is the best board game ever. I have multiple reasons to say that, and I will tell you those.
Do go on. To be honest, I have never played Pax Pamir, I did take a closer look at it before I made this list. Ultimately, I decided I should list games I have a lot of experience with, so I didn’t try it before posting this video. I want to hear why it belongs on the list.
@@theperfectboardgame
I'm writing this after 2 years of playing Pax Pamir Second Edition.
1. The actions are easy, but the game is deep and highly strategic. It is difficult in the right way. Unlike board games, the designer wants to make the game more complex in the wrong way, like Brass.
2. Infinite replayability.
3. Setup the game is fast.
4. The game plays in 4 rounds(Dominance checks). Let's say you are playing with three other players. If you were 4th in all three first dominance checks, no worries. You can win the game in the last dominance check. So have your strategy till the end of the game.
5. Lastly, the chance percentage in this game is meager and close to zero. This board game is based on your strategy, and the luck factor will not help you.
Tip: Play it in four or five players(4 is the best). It's not engaging in 2 and 3 players.
In my book, Pax Pamir Second Edition is a masterpiece.
Pretty good I'd put eclipse on it for me
I wanted to list Eclipse, but because it’s about $200, I wanted to restrict my 10 to games that were more accessible price-wise. Eclipse is phenomenal, my favorite of any game that would be described as “epic”.
Crossed another game off the top 100 Playlist last night, Cascadia. Some recency bias for sure, but Cascadia as of now it is replacing Azul and Kingdomino for me in my "intro new people to modern games" category. Very low reliance on reading so you can get some younger players into it. Game moves pretty fast as well.
Cascadia is a great “intro new people to modern games” game, but I have a bit of an anti-recency bias: I am more critical of new games because I want to see something NEW about them. Cascadia just feels like a mash up of other great tile placement games. That doesn’t mean I think it’s bad. In fact, maybe I should have put it on this list BECAUSE it combines elements of other games. I could have used Cascadia instead of Five Tribes. (I would classify Cascadia as “abstract” for sure.)
The Crew restricts talking. I wonder if Scout is a better simple game.
Scout is very clever and fun, but competitive, so I would not replace The Crew.
Those kinds of lists are SOOO SUBJECTIVE! So sorry but we all disagree with each other! You can only give your list to newcomers but as soon as we played for years it's: This one NO and this one YES whatever the choice of the player in front of us! And this separaration between the players will grow and grow with the enormous number of new games each month and will split us all like the galaxies in the universe LOOOL!
True facts.
Terramysticsma has a better theme than Gaia Project
Scythe isn’t a warfare game. You lose all board game credentials 😮!
Yes. I don’t blame you, but my intention is only to capture the essence of the top 100. Scythe is a euro with elements of the tension in war games, but choosing this was a compromise.
@@theperfectboardgame I hope you didn't take my comment too seriously. I don't think of scythe as a wargame, but my comment was tongue in cheek too.
@@dcrbdh I appreciate it. I saw your comment as a chance to clarify, not necessarily for you, but for other people reading the comments.
Who cares about the top 100 of a profit driven conglomerate?
Via advanced search you can find out the real top 100, not the advertised one.
Or are you a paid bgg fanboy?
On the contrary, I built my own board game rating app. How do you access “the real top 100”? What filter do you need to use?