Definitely Tak. It's in the same category as Santorini with abstract strategy, but it's WAY deeper. And also super simple. Also, it's easy to get into since you can play online at playtak and there is a great community around it for casual and competitive play.
There are many of my favorite games on your list. Some obvious omissions are Parks, Cascadia, Harmonies and Barenpark. Since you included a few bigger games like Castles of Burgundy, then I would also have added the classic, El Grande :-)
Foundations of Rome. 3 simple actions to choose from but a lot of strategy on how to optimize placement of buildings based on how the game is developing, what is surrounding your buildings, etc.
I love seeing everyone's list. Games like these are the only ones I can get my family to play with me. If the rules take more than 10 minutes to explain, it's not making it to the table.
Arboretum is one of my favorites! The rules for gameplay are indeed simple. I do find that for new players, it's hard to remember all the scoring rules. It's not that complicated, but I do wish there were little player aid cards included in the game.
Interesting list. Everything you mentioned about Chess is much more true for Go. That is in fact my number 1 game of all time. And that despite I am more a Themer. (Terraforming Mars, Wingspan, Scythe, Sleeping Gods etc.) Go has the simplest 3 rules, but only in 2016 was a AI able to win against human. It is THE most complex game out there.
@@antondudko2385 Ragnrocks has definitely a territorial aspect, but it is an soo much easier game. Strangely enough with all the different power cards it has so many different rules and modes. The deepness, and complexity of Go is unrivaled. I play Go for over 35 years and I call myself still only a beginner.
I'll say no on Castles of Burgundy. I think when we play a game a lot we forget what it's like to learn it. I teach a lot of games and think I do a pretty good job of it, but I taught this to some new folks sometime in the past year and it felt like a medium/medium-heavy game with the things I felt like I needed to explain. I'm sure someone else would do a better job, but I think it's wrong to say Castles is a rules-light game. But-great video! I haven't tried Santorini or Unmatched or Arboretum even though I've known about them, and this makes me want to now.
agreed. Especially with every yellow tile meaning something different you have to look them up every time when you haven’t memorized them yet. I would still consider those rules.
All the tiles having different rules completely knocks it out contention for me. If at any point during the game you have to take a look in the rulebook to remember what you are supposed to do then it doesn't meet my definition of "easy to teach".
My first thought when I saw the topic was Blitzkrieg. It’s so quick and easy to teach, never have to look at the rulebook, but I’m always shocked how much though goes into each decision made in the game. It feels like it would be stale since the board doesn’t change game to game, but somehow it always feels dynamic and interesting.
I can't believe I've finally found Le Havre getting the recognition as the king of light rules/heavy strategy! Concordia always rules the discussion, and it certainly deserves to be high on the list, yet nobody seems to remember Le Havre even exists when talking about this. But it's absolutely my pick for #1 and always has been.
I was surprised at Bloody Inn - just picked that up because you said so, and i really had to sit back and plan out what i wanted to do. Turns and rules are simple - basically pick one thing to so with one card on your turn, try to bank points. But man.... so many agonizing decisions that all knot together - 7 dead cops later and I'm just shoving bodies under my neighbor's barn cause I have too many things to do and not enough turns to do them. That peasant mechanic - brilliant.
Solid list. I’d add Finca, Hive and most Reiner Knizia games. Le Havre is one of Uwe’s heaviest games according to BGG. I guess because despite the simple rules it gets REALLY crunchy if you want to do well, i.e. make as much money as possible.
Excellent idea for a list and good choices! Totally agree that Arboretum is a brain melter, it just looks so sweet and innocent. Santorini is an absolute gem. Anyone who likes abstract strategy should own Santorini. Can't agree on CoB however, it has a good amount of rules and concepts to learn IMO. Thanks for the list!
Great list. I've seen Santorini and always passed it up, but after seeing this, I'm giving it a try. I like that it's a short game and it is easy to learn, challenging to play. Thanks for the list👍
No Reiner Knizia? High Society, Schotten Totten, Through the Desert, etc. He is the king of cleverly simple games that make you hate yourself and this is why we love him.
Great list, love the choice of beer and bread. One of my favs that would fit on this list is The Estates. Really fun auction city building game, the rules are light and intuitive.
I’d say The Quest For Eldorado. Super simple, the rules are on your player board! Great decisions and replayability. Would you consider Orléans eligible for this list?
I looooove this type of games! Less rules, high depth! I am always looking for Top 10 videos of this kind! The problem with the "many rules" games is that you will forget the rules in a month and then you don't want to touch that game again because you know you have to learn again the rules!!! I really wish more games would be like Concordia! You can play it anytime without looking into the rule book 😄
Great list ! Mind would be : (no specific order) 1) Mangrovia 2) Arboretum 3) Glass Road 4) Bloody Inn 5) Photograph (wind the film) 6) Five Tribes 7) Ethnos 8) Glory to Rome 9) The Crew 10) Hansa teutonica
Loved the list, I'm excited to go check out Beer and Bread! One game that I've really loved for its simplicity is Tiny Towns - pick a resource and match them to build a building!
Some of the simplest games I have are also easily some of the best and my most enjoyable to interact with my friends. Zoo vadis, the crew, Whitehall mystery, the king is dead, battle line, Azul. So easy to teach, you don't get hung up on "well that's not a valid move because you can't move that piece into a space containing that piece". You just hop in and the complexity all comes from playing the people across from you
I am new to this board game thing and not playing board game but playing board APP. Game looks complicated by looking at the board. I think I will try this game.
Khet. It's literally referred to as laser chess. Super simple, super strategic. I recommend playing it with a chess clock to keep games short. I will also say, I think Unmatched is actually best in a 2v2 setting. It's a lot more forgiving for new players because players can dip in and out easier.
Great video guys! honestly suprised that weather machine didn't make the cut. maybe honerable mention. LOL All jokes aside love the content. My favorite board game channel for sure
In my opinion, Reiner Knizia has this category mostly down to a tee. Especially his auction games, like Modern Art, or Ra. The rules are pretty simple, but it's still basically impossible to tell what a given auction lot is worth. And there will be 3-4 other players struggling with the exact same issues. Trying to determine whether you want to use whatever limited resources you have this time, or hope for something better down the line. They massage my brain wonderfully.
Really love the list and that Arboretum, Concordia and Beer&Bread are on it - they totally deserve it! However, if you want a game with super lightweight rules and really heavy complexity, try Curious Cargo: the best headache of my life!
Thanks for the ideas and game suggestions! within this list I feel Unmatched is exactly what I'm looking for. I began watching with Neuroshima Hex in mind. It's asymmetrical, teach as you go, has luck of the draw mechanics with chess-like tactics.
For me, it has to have a shorter teach and simpler rules to be considered "rules light". So here's my list of five games, in no particular order, because ordering is hard: -Land vs Sea -Hive -Azul -Thurn and Taxis -Cascadia
Ticket to ride is my most played game with various groups and family for this very reason, literally 2 options for the turn, a selection of objectives and the rest is strategy. Probably played over 100 times in the past year or so and that's all on the Europe map, once you start adding the new maps this game is infinite fun
I love these types for games so I added a few of these to my wish list. So may good games out there! I think Cascadia and Photosynthesis also fit the bill very nicely. Both are great games!
I don't agree with you about #5 CoB being a game with simple rules. I only played it for the first time recently when I received the new edition and from the moment I started unpacking it I did not see this as being simple. You mentioned the monasteries being complex - yeah, they are! But the rules required careful reading and even in our first game we had questions, we played some rules wrong (i.e. how often mines generate income) . . . there are a LOT of rules to unpack. Today, I love the game and I look forward to playing it as often as possible, but I will always remember the learning curve I had to get over to play this game. In my opinion, it is misleading to put it on this list. But I agree with many others you have here.
I really liked this list!! I'll add Bonanza, Trajan (I feel that Stefan Feld makes a great job at this type of games) and Sea Salt & Paper, one of my recent favorites.
There is a huge oversight here in the OG games department... Designers like Knizia, Colovini and Dorra mastered the simple rules deep strategy formula! Just look at games like MarraCash, Bridges of Shangri-La, Orongo -- or see Michael Schacht's many stellar designs like Mogul. Games like this will blow games like Le Havre out of the water in the rules to depth of strategy ratio
Thanks for the recommendations in this nice video! However, I do feel a ranking like this not having Chess on the number 1 spot is simply incorrect (or maybe 2, depending on whether you prefer Go). No matter whether you like or dislike Chess, it is the pinnacle of a game having simple rules versus an incredible amount of strategy.
Ha well all our lists are subjective lists based on which games we LIKE playing and chess certainly is not something we enjoy. But it does absolutely fit this description to a T.
Samurai from Rainer Knizia had very easy rules and if you play the game like he intended with the island setup then there are so many paths you can take it's mind-blowing. Even with a random setup it's strategical choices are more than some games on this list have IMHO
Glad that Santorini is here one of the most lovely strategy Game that we have You could play zodiac-clash it has a Lot of strategie too and looks awesome too
Haven’t played the first 2 so can’t comment on those and we should have given knizia some love. He is absolutely the king of this topic. It could have been all his games
For my tastes, my list would be: - Santorini (no argument there!) - War Chest - Onitmama - Air, Land, and Sea - Battle Line - Lost Cities - Guillotine - Hive (much prefer this to Chess) - Love Letter - Stratego
Just played Marrakesh (Feld) today and while it shouldn’t be on this list, once I learned the rules the game played sooo smoothly, like a harmonious balanced dance.
WOW what a list; 4 of my favorite games in it: Le Havre, Concordia, Arboretum and Crew. I just love Le Havre at 3 or 4 players game not 2 players. Also, Le Havre is the best Uwe Rosenburg in my book.
A game I wish received more attention is Kingdomino. I’m not sure I would consider it a deep strategy game. But it is a strategy game that is really easy to learn and a lot of fun. It only takes 20 minutes to play.
Good call! I got a used copy of it a while back and haven’t played but when I read the rules I was astonished by how kinda simple and easy to get into it was. Gotta actually get that played
@@TheBrothersMurph it's definitely not an aesthetically pleasing game in this modern day of beautiful games but the mechanics and gameplay is always tight and clean. It's always like you have all the information in front of you to play a perfect game and no matter what by turn three or four everything always starting going to hell..
Commenting before watching ... I'm really excited for this list! Not sure which direction it will go on but I'm always on the lookout for these types of games! (I think) guess we will see in .. 3... 2... 1...
I don’t know if I’d consider games that have multi-use cards and rules on cards to be a simple rule set. Sure the base of the game might be easy to understand, but throwing a new player or someone not too familiar with a game that has multi-use cards or cards with rules is just too overwhelming. Games with these mechanics aren’t necessarily rules light-deep strategy, the reason your thinking a lot is because you have a new rule to think about and not a baked in strategical move. I just recently played Glory to Rome for the second time and I gave the win away because I discarded a card that was need to accomplish the Forum Romanum win condition, but I didn’t know what that card did. The base of the game is not too difficult; play a card, people can follow or draw, take the action of the card type you played. Simple. But, there are like 20+ other rules to consider, for every different card. You can break most games down to simple actions, but that doesn’t mean they are rules light. That being said, Arboretum is a great choice.
The first game I thought of when I saw this list was Love Letter and surprised to not see it. And my newest game I have bought Red Rising works for this.
Have you guys played 'WARLINE: Maneuver Strategy & Tactics'? Definitely more than 4 rules (not too heavy though), but insane level of strategy right from the start. Fast games and fast reset, so good.
Pax Pamir should be on this list, another good choice would be Sekigahara. Both games have very low rules amount high depth. Then there's the no brainer, absolute obvious choice - Go. Go can be taught in 1 minute and a life time to master.
You forgot probably of the most complicated but yet the game with simple rules. Tzolkin. On your turn you can do two things, either you send a number your workers to the board or retrieve the number of your workers and then they do that action. But the mechanics of the game are so clever, to integrate that, the strategy is so deep that you can't master it in few runs.
I read the title. Immediately I thought. #1 is Go, #2 is Chess. For those of you not familiar with Go, I am not talking about Go Fish, but a tile placing game from Asia that is basically chess, but way bigger, and more strategic. To give you an idea of how much so, it is pure strategy, and while human Chess was definitively beaten by strategy bots 25 years ago, AI would only become effective at Go seven years ago, and its dominance is not undisputable as it is in the case of Chess.
All good choices, congrats 🎉🎉🎉... except le havre... such a good game but easy to learn? I dont think so.... I think that even where the actions are few, if the implicances are many and must be known from the beginning... the rules are many...
What game do you think should be on the list? Oh and make sure to subscribe!
Definitely Tak. It's in the same category as Santorini with abstract strategy, but it's WAY deeper. And also super simple. Also, it's easy to get into since you can play online at playtak and there is a great community around it for casual and competitive play.
There are many of my favorite games on your list. Some obvious omissions are Parks, Cascadia, Harmonies and Barenpark. Since you included a few bigger games like Castles of Burgundy, then I would also have added the classic, El Grande :-)
Chess should definitely have gotten an honorable mention. Other than that, carcassonne and star realms 😁
The Loop is possibly also one who could be on the list.
You have a great channel with a lot of positivism! 👍🏻
Foundations of Rome. 3 simple actions to choose from but a lot of strategy on how to optimize placement of buildings based on how the game is developing, what is surrounding your buildings, etc.
I love seeing everyone's list. Games like these are the only ones I can get my family to play with me. If the rules take more than 10 minutes to explain, it's not making it to the table.
I feel like Hansa Teutonica is the most elegant design in all of board gaming and would have been my vote for number one on this list.
I'd say that spot belongs to Concordia, but HT is a great shout
Such a good game!
Hansa was on the short list and DEF could have been on this list
HT is my favorite game of all time. Good call!
Hansa Teutonica is a great candidate for this list. I totally agree.
Arboretum is one of my favorites! The rules for gameplay are indeed simple. I do find that for new players, it's hard to remember all the scoring rules. It's not that complicated, but I do wish there were little player aid cards included in the game.
Interesting list. Everything you mentioned about Chess is much more true for Go. That is in fact my number 1 game of all time. And that despite I am more a Themer. (Terraforming Mars, Wingspan, Scythe, Sleeping Gods etc.) Go has the simplest 3 rules, but only in 2016 was a AI able to win against human. It is THE most complex game out there.
@@antondudko2385 Ragnrocks has definitely a territorial aspect, but it is an soo much easier game. Strangely enough with all the different power cards it has so many different rules and modes. The deepness, and complexity of Go is unrivaled. I play Go for over 35 years and I call myself still only a beginner.
I'll say no on Castles of Burgundy. I think when we play a game a lot we forget what it's like to learn it. I teach a lot of games and think I do a pretty good job of it, but I taught this to some new folks sometime in the past year and it felt like a medium/medium-heavy game with the things I felt like I needed to explain. I'm sure someone else would do a better job, but I think it's wrong to say Castles is a rules-light game.
But-great video! I haven't tried Santorini or Unmatched or Arboretum even though I've known about them, and this makes me want to now.
agreed. Especially with every yellow tile meaning something different you have to look them up every time when you haven’t memorized them yet. I would still consider those rules.
Yup. Castles is known for having an awful rules book too.
All the tiles having different rules completely knocks it out contention for me. If at any point during the game you have to take a look in the rulebook to remember what you are supposed to do then it doesn't meet my definition of "easy to teach".
My first thought when I saw the topic was Blitzkrieg. It’s so quick and easy to teach, never have to look at the rulebook, but I’m always shocked how much though goes into each decision made in the game. It feels like it would be stale since the board doesn’t change game to game, but somehow it always feels dynamic and interesting.
Glad to see Santorini on this list. It was the first game that came to my mind when I read "Light Rules And Heavy Strategy"
I can't believe I've finally found Le Havre getting the recognition as the king of light rules/heavy strategy! Concordia always rules the discussion, and it certainly deserves to be high on the list, yet nobody seems to remember Le Havre even exists when talking about this.
But it's absolutely my pick for #1 and always has been.
Le Havre for life
I have had Concordia sitting here for a year, untouched. You've convinced me it's time to give it a go!
try it, its amazing 😉
Right there with you on Unmatched - first thing I thought of was Little Red. She broke my brainium trying to plan out her basket bonuses.
I was surprised at Bloody Inn - just picked that up because you said so, and i really had to sit back and plan out what i wanted to do. Turns and rules are simple - basically pick one thing to so with one card on your turn, try to bank points. But man.... so many agonizing decisions that all knot together - 7 dead cops later and I'm just shoving bodies under my neighbor's barn cause I have too many things to do and not enough turns to do them. That peasant mechanic - brilliant.
Love this topic. My favorite type of game is simple to learn hard to master.
I would add - Cascadia, Mandala, Battleline, Jaipur, Targi to the list.
How in the heck did Hanamikoji not make this list? I think I bought it because y'all said it was one of the best at this.
Solid list. I’d add Finca, Hive and most Reiner Knizia games.
Le Havre is one of Uwe’s heaviest games according to BGG. I guess because despite the simple rules it gets REALLY crunchy if you want to do well, i.e. make as much money as possible.
Excellent idea for a list and good choices! Totally agree that Arboretum is a brain melter, it just looks so sweet and innocent. Santorini is an absolute gem. Anyone who likes abstract strategy should own Santorini. Can't agree on CoB however, it has a good amount of rules and concepts to learn IMO. Thanks for the list!
I agree. It may only have four possible actions per dice but I feel like there are a few too many rules for this list.
Great list. I've seen Santorini and always passed it up, but after seeing this, I'm giving it a try. I like that it's a short game and it is easy to learn, challenging to play. Thanks for the list👍
There's a mobile app for Santorini that is pretty good if you want to test it out first.
@@lanethomason6000 Thanks!
Almost any Knizia game fits this as well. My favorites are Ra and Quest for El Dorado
Funny thing is we hadn't played Ra, but we DID play Ra the day this video came out, and it definitely could have made this list
Tigris and Euphrates is an excellent example of this.
@@jonsparks3152T&E is the least good example of easy Knizia games, being his heaviest game. There are so many other great ones, though.
No Reiner Knizia? High Society, Schotten Totten, Through the Desert, etc. He is the king of cleverly simple games that make you hate yourself and this is why we love him.
We were joking that this entire list could be his games. He definitely is the king of that.
Great list, love the choice of beer and bread. One of my favs that would fit on this list is The Estates. Really fun auction city building game, the rules are light and intuitive.
I’d say The Quest For Eldorado. Super simple, the rules are on your player board! Great decisions and replayability.
Would you consider Orléans eligible for this list?
I looooove this type of games! Less rules, high depth! I am always looking for Top 10 videos of this kind! The problem with the "many rules" games is that you will forget the rules in a month and then you don't want to touch that game again because you know you have to learn again the rules!!! I really wish more games would be like Concordia! You can play it anytime without looking into the rule book 😄
'Brew the best bread and bake the breast beer'
- Murph Brothers, 2023
Great list ! Mind would be : (no specific order)
1) Mangrovia
2) Arboretum
3) Glass Road
4) Bloody Inn
5) Photograph (wind the film)
6) Five Tribes
7) Ethnos
8) Glory to Rome
9) The Crew
10) Hansa teutonica
Mangrovia, nice! 🎉
Loved the list, I'm excited to go check out Beer and Bread! One game that I've really loved for its simplicity is Tiny Towns - pick a resource and match them to build a building!
Some of the simplest games I have are also easily some of the best and my most enjoyable to interact with my friends. Zoo vadis, the crew, Whitehall mystery, the king is dead, battle line, Azul. So easy to teach, you don't get hung up on "well that's not a valid move because you can't move that piece into a space containing that piece". You just hop in and the complexity all comes from playing the people across from you
So glad to see Concordia on this list. One of the few games you never need to look at the rule book.
I am new to this board game thing and not playing board game but playing board APP.
Game looks complicated by looking at the board. I think I will try this game.
Great list, I think Sea Salt Paper would make this list as well.
Khet. It's literally referred to as laser chess. Super simple, super strategic. I recommend playing it with a chess clock to keep games short.
I will also say, I think Unmatched is actually best in a 2v2 setting. It's a lot more forgiving for new players because players can dip in and out easier.
Great list, I like a lot of these games. I'll add Azul, Akropolis, It's a Wonderful World, and Land vs Sea.
Great video guys! honestly suprised that weather machine didn't make the cut. maybe honerable mention. LOL All jokes aside love the content. My favorite board game channel for sure
I absolutely love Mythic Mischief. I also have had Santeria on my to buy list but have not pulled the trigger, now I think its time. 😊
A lot of unexpected games on that list, I really like those kinds of games. Another good one I would add is Azul (and its variants).
In my opinion, Reiner Knizia has this category mostly down to a tee. Especially his auction games, like Modern Art, or Ra. The rules are pretty simple, but it's still basically impossible to tell what a given auction lot is worth. And there will be 3-4 other players struggling with the exact same issues. Trying to determine whether you want to use whatever limited resources you have this time, or hope for something better down the line. They massage my brain wonderfully.
Concordia becomes even more varialbe with just one extra resource of salt from Salsa expansion
Really love the list and that Arboretum, Concordia and Beer&Bread are on it - they totally deserve it! However, if you want a game with super lightweight rules and really heavy complexity, try Curious Cargo: the best headache of my life!
Cool! Now can you do a video on “Top 10 Games with Heavy Rules & Light Strategy”? (Just for a joke, maybe)!
Thanks.
War Chest was my first thought.
Great video, thank you!
Thanks for the ideas and game suggestions! within this list I feel Unmatched is exactly what I'm looking for. I began watching with Neuroshima Hex in mind. It's asymmetrical, teach as you go, has luck of the draw mechanics with chess-like tactics.
For me, it has to have a shorter teach and simpler rules to be considered "rules light".
So here's my list of five games, in no particular order, because ordering is hard:
-Land vs Sea
-Hive
-Azul
-Thurn and Taxis
-Cascadia
a must have and the must added game for this list is "THE KING IS DEAD 2nd EDITION"
Ticket to ride is my most played game with various groups and family for this very reason, literally 2 options for the turn, a selection of objectives and the rest is strategy. Probably played over 100 times in the past year or so and that's all on the Europe map, once you start adding the new maps this game is infinite fun
Ticket to Ride is so great for this!
Great list, thank you! I love Concordia and Le Have. A more recent favorite like this is Guild of Merchant Explorers.
I love these types for games so I added a few of these to my wish list. So may good games out there! I think Cascadia and Photosynthesis also fit the bill very nicely. Both are great games!
Only games I like on the list are Concordia and Unmatched. Good video though guys.👍 Enjoy the content, even if our tastes differ.😊
Great topic! I love Santorini and will have to take a look at Mythic Mischief. Another great abstract is Warchest.
I don't agree with you about #5 CoB being a game with simple rules. I only played it for the first time recently when I received the new edition and from the moment I started unpacking it I did not see this as being simple. You mentioned the monasteries being complex - yeah, they are! But the rules required careful reading and even in our first game we had questions, we played some rules wrong (i.e. how often mines generate income) . . . there are a LOT of rules to unpack. Today, I love the game and I look forward to playing it as often as possible, but I will always remember the learning curve I had to get over to play this game. In my opinion, it is misleading to put it on this list. But I agree with many others you have here.
I really liked this list!! I'll add Bonanza, Trajan (I feel that Stefan Feld makes a great job at this type of games) and Sea Salt & Paper, one of my recent favorites.
Love bohnanza! Bohnanza is the favourite gateway game for my wife and I to teach guests
Love Arboretum! Scoring confuses new players, but it's so good.
There is a huge oversight here in the OG games department... Designers like Knizia, Colovini and Dorra mastered the simple rules deep strategy formula! Just look at games like MarraCash, Bridges of Shangri-La, Orongo -- or see Michael Schacht's many stellar designs like Mogul. Games like this will blow games like Le Havre out of the water in the rules to depth of strategy ratio
You definitely aren’t wrong about anything you said but keep in mind these are always subjective lists based on our personal taste in games
Thanks for the recommendations in this nice video! However, I do feel a ranking like this not having Chess on the number 1 spot is simply incorrect (or maybe 2, depending on whether you prefer Go). No matter whether you like or dislike Chess, it is the pinnacle of a game having simple rules versus an incredible amount of strategy.
Ha well all our lists are subjective lists based on which games we LIKE playing and chess certainly is not something we enjoy. But it does absolutely fit this description to a T.
Samurai from Rainer Knizia had very easy rules and if you play the game like he intended with the island setup then there are so many paths you can take it's mind-blowing. Even with a random setup it's strategical choices are more than some games on this list have IMHO
Very cool!
Glad that Santorini is here one of the most lovely strategy Game that we have You could play zodiac-clash it has a Lot of strategie too and looks awesome too
No Go? No The King is Dead? You could have given a Knizia game an honourable mention (maybe Babylonia?).
Haven’t played the first 2 so can’t comment on those and we should have given knizia some love. He is absolutely the king of this topic. It could have been all his games
Homeworlds has about 6 rules, and very simple components, and is a fairly complex and fun 2-player game.
For my tastes, my list would be:
- Santorini (no argument there!)
- War Chest
- Onitmama
- Air, Land, and Sea
- Battle Line
- Lost Cities
- Guillotine
- Hive (much prefer this to Chess)
- Love Letter
- Stratego
Just played Marrakesh (Feld) today and while it shouldn’t be on this list, once I learned the rules the game played sooo smoothly, like a harmonious balanced dance.
WOW what a list; 4 of my favorite games in it: Le Havre, Concordia, Arboretum and Crew. I just love Le Havre at 3 or 4 players game not 2 players. Also, Le Havre is the best Uwe Rosenburg in my book.
What a great list idea. For me, my #1 would be El Grande. But you had some great choices.
21:42 “brew the best bread & bake the best beer” 😂
You did miss Dune Imperium here. So simple yet so deep.
Love this video. Hope to see another one like these
Castles of Burgundy is one of my favorite two player games. Also great with three people, but just great for two. Great choice.
Perfect video! My wife hates rules but I love heavy strategy and this is perfect.
Wow, I own and/or like 8 of the games you listed. I love few rules with high strategy.
Thanks for the video. I love MIke's shirt with the Sagrada theme.
A game I wish received more attention is Kingdomino. I’m not sure I would consider it a deep strategy game. But it is a strategy game that is really easy to learn and a lot of fun. It only takes 20 minutes to play.
I thought of skull 💀. It has like 2 rules and so many different strategies and ways to play.
Nice list. I would have gone with Container and Power Grid over Le Havre and Concordia.
Right on right on
Summoner Wars 2nd edition. Simple rules, very deep strategy and high skill ceiling.
When I watched the intro the recent games played for me that came to mind were My City and Tiny Towns.
Im jealous of your painted Unmatched minis now after having seen them in this video haha
Before I watch the video. Year of the dragon comes to mind for me
Good call! I got a used copy of it a while back and haven’t played but when I read the rules I was astonished by how kinda simple and easy to get into it was. Gotta actually get that played
@@TheBrothersMurph it's definitely not an aesthetically pleasing game in this modern day of beautiful games but the mechanics and gameplay is always tight and clean. It's always like you have all the information in front of you to play a perfect game and no matter what by turn three or four everything always starting going to hell..
Commenting before watching ... I'm really excited for this list! Not sure which direction it will go on but I'm always on the lookout for these types of games! (I think) guess we will see in .. 3... 2... 1...
Great list! I’d add “Hansa Teutonica” to he list. 👍
K2 is definitely worth mentioning in this category!
We’ve always wanted to play K2
Ra is an easy game to learn and has deep bidding strategy.
Agreed! We literally played this for the first time an hour ago and our first thought was how it’d be a perfect game for this list
@@TheBrothersMurph I think it's great at 4 or 5 players.
Scout, God Tear, Condottiere, Kingdoms, King & Assassins…and so many more!
And of course the best game ever created; Stratego.
I don’t know if I’d consider games that have multi-use cards and rules on cards to be a simple rule set. Sure the base of the game might be easy to understand, but throwing a new player or someone not too familiar with a game that has multi-use cards or cards with rules is just too overwhelming. Games with these mechanics aren’t necessarily rules light-deep strategy, the reason your thinking a lot is because you have a new rule to think about and not a baked in strategical move.
I just recently played Glory to Rome for the second time and I gave the win away because I discarded a card that was need to accomplish the Forum Romanum win condition, but I didn’t know what that card did. The base of the game is not too difficult; play a card, people can follow or draw, take the action of the card type you played. Simple. But, there are like 20+ other rules to consider, for every different card.
You can break most games down to simple actions, but that doesn’t mean they are rules light. That being said, Arboretum is a great choice.
That’s totally fair
The first game I thought of when I saw this list was Love Letter and surprised to not see it. And my newest game I have bought Red Rising works for this.
Love Letter works for sure for this list it's just not one we enjoy much.
Have you guys played 'WARLINE: Maneuver Strategy & Tactics'? Definitely more than 4 rules (not too heavy though), but insane level of strategy right from the start. Fast games and fast reset, so good.
I think Terraforming Mars rules is simpler than Castles of Burgundy. We always have to look at the rulebook for COB to interpret the tiles.
I love simple games too:
La Havre
Concordia
The Crew Deep Sea
Castles of Burgandy
Aboretum
Santorini
Pax Pamir should be on this list, another good choice would be Sekigahara. Both games have very low rules amount high depth.
Then there's the no brainer, absolute obvious choice - Go. Go can be taught in 1 minute and a life time to master.
For me, Tigris & Euphrates is the pinnacle of this idea
Knizia in general is king of this category
Another abstract game that fits this genre is the card game, "Set". Ooh, did you say breast beer? I need to play that back. 😅
It is literally impossible to say brew the best beer without causing a controversy for ourselves haha
So I currently have EVERYTHING for unmatched…except the brothers murph official/unofficial set. 😞 how does one squire that set?
We have a pledge manager that will open up soon and you can get it there. Keep an eye out for that announement
I think Blokus is my favorite low rule high strat game
You forgot probably of the most complicated but yet the game with simple rules. Tzolkin. On your turn you can do two things, either you send a number your workers to the board or retrieve the number of your workers and then they do that action. But the mechanics of the game are so clever, to integrate that, the strategy is so deep that you can't master it in few runs.
Yeah we definitely considered adding that one. Crazy how much you can do with just those 2 options
I read the title. Immediately I thought. #1 is Go, #2 is Chess. For those of you not familiar with Go, I am not talking about Go Fish, but a tile placing game from Asia that is basically chess, but way bigger, and more strategic. To give you an idea of how much so, it is pure strategy, and while human Chess was definitively beaten by strategy bots 25 years ago, AI would only become effective at Go seven years ago, and its dominance is not undisputable as it is in the case of Chess.
Food Chain Magnate is the epitome of this. It's SO deep, but teaching the actual rules is very easy. The strategy is hard, but the rules are not.
Yeah I was really shocked by that when I first played that game
Great list. I would add Ethnos and Onitama but that just personal preference I guess
Rad!
My first thoughts were Hive and Renature.
Captivating narrative
All good choices, congrats 🎉🎉🎉... except le havre... such a good game but easy to learn? I dont think so.... I think that even where the actions are few, if the implicances are many and must be known from the beginning... the rules are many...
Hilarious intro! 4 rule Mike! 2 toes and 4 rules. lol Will that be the name of the side channel? lol
Go, Baduk, weiqi no matter what you call it it sums up your criteria.
Other games that would fit: Assembly, Five Tribes, Land vs Sea, Bites, Azul.
I love Nick’s thoughts on chess!
Your comments are never lost in translation at all. Love your comments