From what I've played: Caverna (your tableau and personal supply can have dozens of different pieces) Arkwright (figuring out pricing etc. is always a bit of a chore) Roads and Boats (1300+ tiny chits are a pain) Archipelago (constant crisis manipulation, laying down and standing up meeples, constant bidding and bartering) Food Chain Magnate (working out who sells what and for how much is always a pain) Innovation (constant manipulation of cards and tracking of who has what) Small City (factories etc. can be fiddly, constant movement of meeples, etc) Clinic (tiny cars, patients, doctors, etc) The Colonists (thousands of small chits to manage once again) Power Grid (constantly figuring out what you can buy, what money you make, etc) Gloomhaven (constant recalculation of health/effects) Junk Art (joke mention) A Feast for Odin (similar to Caverna, you end up with tonnes of chits to manage and have to place them carefully on your boards) Barrage (recalculating who owns what, who gets what water/power, etc) Venice (tiny boats really fiddly to move around, cubes/people fall out) Urban Sprawl (constant recalculation of roles and points/earnings) Dominations (constant referral to player aids which are on a bunch of double sided cards rather than one sheet) Terracotta Army (scoring every round takes longer than playing) Hamlet (pieces are too small and fiddly to play with) Books of Time (constant flipping back and forth when trying to figure out how to organize your books) Deal With the Devil (a lot to manage, chests are fiddly in particular, doing everything behind a screen is tough) Nucleum (tonnes of things to manage/track e.g. routes, connections, actions for other players on your turn, etc)
The one that came to my mind was Hallertau. I've been thinking of getting it out for several weeks, but then I think about trying to optimize that last turn... So far I'm consistently opting for something else.
Carson City is one I think is fiddly with the buildings income raising and falling every round but i enjoy it so much that i can overlook it. Millenium Blades is my all time fiddly but worth it game. I'd argue Teotihuacan is fiddly as is Tzolkin, the ever changing board state and more recently a fiddly game I really dig is Arborea.
Funny thing is, War room (the picture used) is actually pretty streamlined and pretty clean rules and component fiddlyness... Although I have a lot of thoughts. Agree with a lot of them! Was surprised by Dominant species. I get it, but I guess I just rate component messiness like Antiquity way rougher. Wish there were a few pics of the game in action. For the ones I don't know it was hard to imagine.
DS isn't just the constant recalculating, there is also the constant manipulation of small component on the tiles that makes it easy to displace a specie or element without notice and realize only later that you have a mistaken board state. It's not so messy that it is tedious to maintain the vigilance as for it not to happens.
I wonder if Republic of Rome wouldn't enter this category for me, I know most of its fiddlyness begins with the hard to integrate rule-book, but I think there is some level of bookkeeping on par with TTA too and yet the experience is just grandiose for me.
Clinic and all of it's madness would be my top "Fiddly but worth" games. Though, compared to this list, Clinic's fiddlienes is deff minor. Still worth the trouble though
Terraforming Mars with Turmoil expansion Nemesis Most other games that I find fiddly I wouldn't find worth it. (But yeah, I'm not into war/18xx/civilization/Splotter/Lacerda games.) I also thought about "Power Grid", but fiddly about it is only the calculations that players have to make for themself to make good decisions. Gloomhaven-style games I don't find worth it! I might agree to "Through the Ages" and "Dominant Species", but I haven't played them.
Fiddly for me means little rules that everyone forgets (or forgets how they work so that you've got constantly got to whip out the rule book).
Ah, I've been looking at through the ages on my shelf and trying to decide whether to make my kids try that one again.
Roads and Boats is the ultimate fiddly game for me (excluding some war games)
From what I've played:
Caverna (your tableau and personal supply can have dozens of different pieces)
Arkwright (figuring out pricing etc. is always a bit of a chore)
Roads and Boats (1300+ tiny chits are a pain)
Archipelago (constant crisis manipulation, laying down and standing up meeples, constant bidding and bartering)
Food Chain Magnate (working out who sells what and for how much is always a pain)
Innovation (constant manipulation of cards and tracking of who has what)
Small City (factories etc. can be fiddly, constant movement of meeples, etc)
Clinic (tiny cars, patients, doctors, etc)
The Colonists (thousands of small chits to manage once again)
Power Grid (constantly figuring out what you can buy, what money you make, etc)
Gloomhaven (constant recalculation of health/effects)
Junk Art (joke mention)
A Feast for Odin (similar to Caverna, you end up with tonnes of chits to manage and have to place them carefully on your boards)
Barrage (recalculating who owns what, who gets what water/power, etc)
Venice (tiny boats really fiddly to move around, cubes/people fall out)
Urban Sprawl (constant recalculation of roles and points/earnings)
Dominations (constant referral to player aids which are on a bunch of double sided cards rather than one sheet)
Terracotta Army (scoring every round takes longer than playing)
Hamlet (pieces are too small and fiddly to play with)
Books of Time (constant flipping back and forth when trying to figure out how to organize your books)
Deal With the Devil (a lot to manage, chests are fiddly in particular, doing everything behind a screen
is tough)
Nucleum (tonnes of things to manage/track e.g. routes, connections, actions for other players on your turn, etc)
YASSSS! Stream Through the Ages!
The one that came to my mind was Hallertau. I've been thinking of getting it out for several weeks, but then I think about trying to optimize that last turn... So far I'm consistently opting for something else.
I have played "Through the Ages" and love it, it's a great game. And I do own a copy.
I love La Citta. When I used to play it, I created a chart with nice counters to track status for all players, made the game a ton smoother.
Carson City is one I think is fiddly with the buildings income raising and falling every round but i enjoy it so much that i can overlook it.
Millenium Blades is my all time fiddly but worth it game.
I'd argue Teotihuacan is fiddly as is Tzolkin, the ever changing board state and more recently a fiddly game I really dig is Arborea.
The best lists on yt
love these compilations ;)
Unique list. Thanks for the content!
You’re welcome…I think?😂
HOW HAVE YOU NOT PLAYING 1817 YET?!?!? It’s the bestest 😊 (1841 and 1828 could surpass but have yet to play)
Funny thing is, War room (the picture used) is actually pretty streamlined and pretty clean rules and component fiddlyness... Although I have a lot of thoughts.
Agree with a lot of them!
Was surprised by Dominant species. I get it, but I guess I just rate component messiness like Antiquity way rougher.
Wish there were a few pics of the game in action. For the ones I don't know it was hard to imagine.
DS isn't just the constant recalculating, there is also the constant manipulation of small component on the tiles that makes it easy to displace a specie or element without notice and realize only later that you have a mistaken board state. It's not so messy that it is tedious to maintain the vigilance as for it not to happens.
High Frontier with all the expansions is super fiddly!
Would have thought of Food Chain Magnate...
I wonder if Republic of Rome wouldn't enter this category for me, I know most of its fiddlyness begins with the hard to integrate rule-book, but I think there is some level of bookkeeping on par with TTA too and yet the experience is just grandiose for me.
Clinic and all of it's madness would be my top "Fiddly but worth" games. Though, compared to this list, Clinic's fiddlienes is deff minor. Still worth the trouble though
Terraforming Mars with Turmoil expansion
Nemesis
Most other games that I find fiddly I wouldn't find worth it. (But yeah, I'm not into war/18xx/civilization/Splotter/Lacerda games.)
I also thought about "Power Grid", but fiddly about it is only the calculations that players have to make for themself to make good decisions.
Gloomhaven-style games I don't find worth it!
I might agree to "Through the Ages" and "Dominant Species", but I haven't played them.
Did you consider Europa Universalis? Or is that more "rules fiddlyness"?
Great Zimbabwe is definitely a contender for fiddliness, especially towards the end 😅
Beat me.😊