Excellent list, Sam and TJ!! Foundations of Metropolis, Apiary, and Cascadia are in my top 3 tile placement games. I'm looking forward to adding more tiles to my copy of Apiary with the "Expanding the Hive" expansion for Apiary.
I caught your video while playing Diablo-great stuff! Here's my quick top 10, based on my current ranking of games I've played. I might be breaking Sam's rule about mentioning games I've already talked about, but I enjoy list-making too much to overthink it. For 'tile placement,' I’m using a broad definition: anything you place or orient that’s central to the game. So, it doesn’t have to be a literal tile (which I think Sam hinted at too). Here's my top 10: A Feast for Odin - (You're awesome, JT!) Cartographers - It's a flip-and-write, but placement matters, so it fits. Bärenpark Llamaland Akropolis - (JT strikes again!) Railroad Ink - Like Cartographers, where placement matters. Rajas of the Ganges - Lots of mechanics, but tile-laying is central. Earth - Optimal plant placement is key. Karuba Babylon - A recent pick-maybe you've seen it? Honorable mentions: Fall of the Mountain King - Ancestry card placement is cool but is just one part of this area control game. Tikal - There’s tile placement, but area control feels more central. Gorinto - Fits the 'placement matters' rule, though my gut says no. I might reconsider whether 'strange shapes' (looking at you, Cartographers and Bärenpark) should be a factor in my list.
During the Bottom 5, I thought the lighter Uwe Rosenberg game Sam was talking about was going to be Patchwork. That one is probably his lowest complexity game: 1.60 weight on BGG.
Nice lists. I would maybe add Land Vs Sea and The Isle of Cats Big Box. Also for me Carcassonne, the OG as you mentioned, is still my number 1 if you include ALL expansions like the Maps or the latest Wonders of Humanity etc.
I recently did my personal 5 and dime for polyomino and non-polyonimo tile laying games on my channel. My top 3 polyomino were: Tenpenny Parks, Isle of Cats, World Wonders My top 3 non-polyomino were: Cascadia, Beacon Patrol, Azul:Summer Pavilion I will do my top 10 overall at some point, but I have a few in my collection of each that I need to play. BTW-It's Tan-gram (they are short a sounds), not Tengrem I love Apiary, it's my #1 solo game, but I wouldn't put it in the tile placement category. It has tile placement in in but it is a worker placement game that leads to everything else IMO. I would say tile placement is the secondary mechanism for it. There are so many ways to score in it. SM isn't heavy at all. As for Harmonies all I heard about it was that it was an Azul killer. I heard no negativity against it.
@@Ian-R-Wilz Great lists!! The “negativity” for Harmonies has been mostly just “it’s meh…”, not true negativity. But I still completely disagree with them. Thanks for being here!
Agreed that A Feast for Odin is my #1 tile laying game too. But to be fair I also rate Foundations of Rome a 10/10, so excellent choices gents. For a smaller footprint game, I would consider “Sprawlopolis” a tile layer, it’s cards, but hey if minis count then so should cards lol. I think it’s my favorite of the small box tile laying games.
Enjoyed the video! I'd like a visual of a game in action for each one, I find it really helps to work out whether I might like the game or not - the box covers usually look really nice but aren't always representative of the actual game...
I think polyomino tile games where the you have to fit the pieces like a puzzle feel a lot different than tile laying games were the tiles are the same shape and their placement is influenced by other goals such as scoring. I also have to admit that I agree with Sam (ouch, that hurt) in that Suburbia was a miss for me as well. Carcassonne is an evergreen game for me, so I would have left it on the list. I haven't played Kohaku, but another really fun tile laying game where you place tiles in a checkerboard pattern for scoring is Cacao. The tiles in Cacao have four "meeples" in various distributions on the edges which determine number of resources produced and area influence depending on how they are oriented and what they are placed next to. Hive an Patchwork are fun tile games for two players. If you like polyomino tile placement, in addition to Patchwork, you might try Cottage Garden, especially if you like cute games with a gardening theme and, to a lesser extent, cats. Another good game Sam mentioned liking fairly recently and may have missed is Bonsai. So many good games in the tile placement category.
David, I’m agreed with you on Cottage Garden, as well as Spring Meadow and Indian Summer in the same series. We taught Cottage Garden at one of the recent Wenatchee game days, but Spring Meadow is probably our favorite of the three.
Ouch, this was rough, apparently tile placement isn't something I love. The Great games I consider tile placement are Carcassonne and Sub terra, guess I'm out of touch.
"Why does a simple game have to be under produced?"...PRICE!!!!...Mr. Moneybags. We all don't have a Fortune 500 TH-cam channel. Or access to a neverending Inventory .... (Gamer Snob...geesh)
...& where's Carpe Diem, Dice Theme Park, N.Y. Zoo, Overboss,....THE COLONISTS for crying out loud.Even Origins: First Builders; a stretch but point of game is buying Building Tiles to form City Districts.
Too many good tile placement games to mention them all, many of which could be Time Honored Tuesdays candidates. Kingdoms/Beowulf the Movie, King's Gate, Alhambra, Seeland... Even Neuroshima Hex has reached the age of consent. I thought Streetcar was the oldest tile placement game we had (the production quality is pretty low), but Gardens of the Alhambra (fun, but setup is fiddly) is our oldest (1993). Castles of Burgundy is one of our favorites, but the tile placement in it is almost inconsequential so it doesn't really count. Not surprised Sam didn't include and 18xx games though. ;)
NY Zoo is very fun but just didn't make it in the 10. Dice Theme Park and Hospital are great fun but I left them out because they are only 1/4 tile placement. Cheers, JT
Two really good top 10 lists.
Thanks!
JT
Thank you for the video and see you next week.
Woohoo, are you coming to visit? 😜
JT
@@Oaklestat 🙃I wish.
My favorite tile placement game currently is planet unknown.
Oh, good pick!
Thanks, JT
Excellent list, Sam and TJ!! Foundations of Metropolis, Apiary, and Cascadia are in my top 3 tile placement games. I'm looking forward to adding more tiles to my copy of Apiary with the "Expanding the Hive" expansion for Apiary.
I'm looking forward to the Apiary expansion too.
Thanks, JT
I caught your video while playing Diablo-great stuff! Here's my quick top 10, based on my current ranking of games I've played. I might be breaking Sam's rule about mentioning games I've already talked about, but I enjoy list-making too much to overthink it.
For 'tile placement,' I’m using a broad definition: anything you place or orient that’s central to the game. So, it doesn’t have to be a literal tile (which I think Sam hinted at too).
Here's my top 10:
A Feast for Odin - (You're awesome, JT!)
Cartographers - It's a flip-and-write, but placement matters, so it fits.
Bärenpark
Llamaland
Akropolis - (JT strikes again!)
Railroad Ink - Like Cartographers, where placement matters.
Rajas of the Ganges - Lots of mechanics, but tile-laying is central.
Earth - Optimal plant placement is key.
Karuba
Babylon - A recent pick-maybe you've seen it?
Honorable mentions:
Fall of the Mountain King - Ancestry card placement is cool but is just one part of this area control game.
Tikal - There’s tile placement, but area control feels more central.
Gorinto - Fits the 'placement matters' rule, though my gut says no.
I might reconsider whether 'strange shapes' (looking at you, Cartographers and Bärenpark) should be a factor in my list.
Hey JT! Quadropolis is in my top 10 games period. Good pick!
It is really good!
JT
Champions of Midgard for Viking Euro game too 💪🏽
@@kikkoarceo353 Great game!!! But I’d say it’s more of a hybrid, since it relies so heavily on dice rolling.
I'm in favor of putting it on every list.....Cheers.
JT
During the Bottom 5, I thought the lighter Uwe Rosenberg game Sam was talking about was going to be Patchwork. That one is probably his lowest complexity game: 1.60 weight on BGG.
@@pluvia33 I stand corrected! I’ve never played Patchwork before, so I wasn’t aware that it was by him.
Nice lists. I would maybe add Land Vs Sea and The Isle of Cats Big Box. Also for me Carcassonne, the OG as you mentioned, is still my number 1 if you include ALL expansions like the Maps or the latest Wonders of Humanity etc.
Rock on. Thanks. I have not played Isle of Cats yet.
JT
I recently did my personal 5 and dime for polyomino and non-polyonimo tile laying games on my channel.
My top 3 polyomino were: Tenpenny Parks, Isle of Cats, World Wonders
My top 3 non-polyomino were: Cascadia, Beacon Patrol, Azul:Summer Pavilion
I will do my top 10 overall at some point, but I have a few in my collection of each that I need to play.
BTW-It's Tan-gram (they are short a sounds), not Tengrem
I love Apiary, it's my #1 solo game, but I wouldn't put it in the tile placement category. It has tile placement in in but it is a worker placement game that leads to everything else IMO. I would say tile placement is the secondary mechanism for it. There are so many ways to score in it. SM isn't heavy at all.
As for Harmonies all I heard about it was that it was an Azul killer. I heard no negativity against it.
@@Ian-R-Wilz Great lists!! The “negativity” for Harmonies has been mostly just “it’s meh…”, not true negativity. But I still completely disagree with them. Thanks for being here!
Nice way to split the list. Thanks, JT
Agreed that A Feast for Odin is my #1 tile laying game too. But to be fair I also rate Foundations of Rome a 10/10, so excellent choices gents.
For a smaller footprint game, I would consider “Sprawlopolis” a tile layer, it’s cards, but hey if minis count then so should cards lol. I think it’s my favorite of the small box tile laying games.
Cards have been accepted 😉. Sprawlopolis is very cool.
Thanks, JT
Enjoyed the video! I'd like a visual of a game in action for each one, I find it really helps to work out whether I might like the game or not - the box covers usually look really nice but aren't always representative of the actual game...
I think polyomino tile games where the you have to fit the pieces like a puzzle feel a lot different than tile laying games were the tiles are the same shape and their placement is influenced by other goals such as scoring. I also have to admit that I agree with Sam (ouch, that hurt) in that Suburbia was a miss for me as well. Carcassonne is an evergreen game for me, so I would have left it on the list. I haven't played Kohaku, but another really fun tile laying game where you place tiles in a checkerboard pattern for scoring is Cacao. The tiles in Cacao have four "meeples" in various distributions on the edges which determine number of resources produced and area influence depending on how they are oriented and what they are placed next to. Hive an Patchwork are fun tile games for two players. If you like polyomino tile placement, in addition to Patchwork, you might try Cottage Garden, especially if you like cute games with a gardening theme and, to a lesser extent, cats. Another good game Sam mentioned liking fairly recently and may have missed is Bonsai. So many good games in the tile placement category.
@@DMBrownlee thanks for the input, David!
David, I’m agreed with you on Cottage Garden, as well as Spring Meadow and Indian Summer in the same series. We taught Cottage Garden at one of the recent Wenatchee game days, but Spring Meadow is probably our favorite of the three.
@@raggededge68, Spring Meadow is one we DON'T have. Guess I'll have to go shopping. 😉
Awesome post. Hive is great. You should get that looked at! ("agreed with Sam") Thanks, JT
Some constructive feedback: please check audio levels. It keeps clipping. I think mostly with Sam’s mic. Keep up the great videos!
@@victorabaxter Thanks! I’ll go back to lowering the levels a bit in editing. Thanks for being here!
Foundations of Rome vs foundations of metropolis?
For me, Rome, just for the table presence. Thanks,
JT
Isle of Skye
Need to play!!
Thanks, JT
Ouch, this was rough, apparently tile placement isn't something I love. The Great games I consider tile placement are Carcassonne and Sub terra, guess I'm out of touch.
@@rudyjansen4242 No worries! Thanks for being here, Rudy!
@@rudyjansen4242 For what it’s worth I enjoy Carcassonne and Sub Terra quite a bit.
Sub Terra is a great pick! Thanks, JT
"Why does a simple game have to be under produced?"...PRICE!!!!...Mr. Moneybags. We all don't have a Fortune 500 TH-cam channel. Or access to a neverending Inventory .... (Gamer Snob...geesh)
@@Buschman714.0 LOL!!!…if you only knew, Eric! Thanks for being here!
You must choose, cardboard or beautiful acrylic pieces......you must!! JT
...& where's Carpe Diem, Dice Theme Park, N.Y. Zoo, Overboss,....THE COLONISTS for crying out loud.Even Origins: First Builders; a stretch but point
of game is buying Building Tiles to form City Districts.
Too many good tile placement games to mention them all, many of which could be Time Honored Tuesdays candidates. Kingdoms/Beowulf the Movie, King's Gate, Alhambra, Seeland... Even Neuroshima Hex has reached the age of consent. I thought Streetcar was the oldest tile placement game we had (the production quality is pretty low), but Gardens of the Alhambra (fun, but setup is fiddly) is our oldest (1993). Castles of Burgundy is one of our favorites, but the tile placement in it is almost inconsequential so it doesn't really count. Not surprised Sam didn't include and 18xx games though. ;)
NY Zoo is very fun but just didn't make it in the 10. Dice Theme Park and Hospital are great fun but I left them out because they are only 1/4 tile placement. Cheers, JT