My Top 50 Games (as of Jan. 1 2014) Part 5 10-1

Welcome back to my top 50 games list as of the start of 2014.  My top 10 has 6 of the same games as last year.  Even then, 4 games make their debut in my top 10.  I'd wager that there won't be another year with more than 4 new games in my top 10.  I played a lot of amazing games for the first time in 2013, and I think the amount of new games on this list reflects that.


#10 Article 27  New

Article 27 is a pure negotiation game.  Everyone is trying to get their way, but most of the time, no two players want exactly the same thing.  Each round is 5 minutes of chaotic negotiation, but oh my, what a fun 5 minutes.  I really enjoy Article 27 because the game plays quickly, but it packs a big punch in that timeframe.

#9 Star Wars: X-Wing  Down 4

X-Wing drops for a couple of reasons.  The main one is further down on this list, but the second is really the lack of support from FFG.  Production is constantly delayed, and they don't communicate with the fans.  Their tournament support is a bit lacking in comparison to another company.  The other big reason is that I want missions and/or a campaign.  Dogfights are fun in X-Wing, but they aren't everything that I want to experience in the game.  The game is still a lot of fun, but others are more fun.

#8 Incan Gold  Up 1


Incan Gold gets a bump because I played it a lot in 2013, and I really enjoyed every play of it.  It's a really fun push your luck game that I rarely win.  I usually run at the same time as someone else, run too early, or run far too late.  Still, the game is quick, and has a lot of laughs and good tension throughout.

#7 For Sale  Up 3

For Sale moves up because it's become a game I can play with anyone.  It's not a super deep game, but there are still important choices to make every turn.  It plays blazingly quick, around 20 minutes, which is the perfect filler for me.

#6 7 Wonders  Down 3


7 Wonders moved down simply because I'm playing it less.  The game is still a lot of fun, but I feel like I'm missing something when I play it.  There's still a lot to the game that I haven't delved into, so I need to get it back to the table for that.  It's a good design in my mind, with a lot of ways to win.  Adding in Leaders and Cities has given me a lot of variety, and I'd be happy with the game exactly as it is.  Of course, more wonders add variety, and another expansion might give me that little something I'm missing, so I'm not really sure.  Anyways, I enjoy 7 Wonders.  It's one of my go to games for a larger gaming crowd.

#5 King of Tokyo  New

King of Tokyo is a great dice chucking game.  I'm a sucker for any game where I get to roll lots of dice and use them to do something.  What better thing to do with your dice results than rampage Tokyo and attack the other monsters?  The game does suffer from player elimination, especially if you go out early, you can be waiting around for awhile.  Even then, KoT is a fun game to watch, so I don't mind that too much, but others might.

#4 Ticket to Ride Down 2

Ticket didn't really move down in my opinion, it's just that #2 and 3 jumped over it.  Ticket to Ride is a really fun, yet simple train game.  The game is fairly simple, with only 3 choices on each turn, but how players utilize those choices makes a huge difference in their game.

#3 Resistance: Avalon  New

I picked this up on a whim.  I played normal Resistance, and wasn't a big fan, but after watching a play through of this online, I thought it just might work.  Turns out I was right, and 50 plays in 2013 later, it's #3 on my list.  I mainly play it on Friday nights with a larger group, and we get really into the game.  We play at least 3 times every meeting, which has led to some discoveries of tells.  It has turned us all into better liars, which probably isn't the best thing in the world, but we've all promised to use those powers for good, not evil.

#2 Star Trek: Attack Wing  New


This is the aforementioned game that knocked X-Wing down.  Yes, the model quality is worse than X-Wing by a wide margin, but that pales to the enriched gameplay and missions that exist in the game. The tournament support has been fantastic, and more amazing things are coming this year.  I came into the game with a lot of skepticism, thinking it would essentially be X-Wing in Star Trek colors, but boy was I wrong.  The gameplay is so much deeper, with a lot more options in squad building and actual game play.

#1 Cosmic Encounter No Change

Cosmic holds on to the #1 spot, though it almost lost it to Star Trek.  Cosmic is a game I love every time I play it, and there is never a bad game of Cosmic.  I know it isn't a game for everyone, but for those people who enjoy a bit of chaos, and having to work together, but find the opportune moment to make a power play, this is the game for you.




What did I learn in 2013?
The biggest thing I learned is that there are great games coming out all the time.  My personal gaming tastes are changing all the time, and just about any game could find it's way onto my list.  My top 5 games have almost nothing in common as far as mechanics go.  I like them all for completely different reasons.  To me, that's a great testament to my desire for variety.  Stay tuned for this list next year.  I'm sure many things will change again.

My Sister's Top 25 games of all time as of January 2014 Part 2 #15-6

Welcome back to Sarah's Top 25 games. Hope everyone liked my first post. Here are my next top 10 games. I enjoy these games more, since I play them more often, and they are a bit more strategic, but still as fun.

Now, the games!


#15 Martian Dice

I like Martian Dice, since it is a simple game that only involves a combination of some luck and timing. It can also be a quick game, or made into a longer game, depending on how long you can stand trying to roll humans, chickens, and cows to gain points against tanks.

#14 Resistance Avalon

Resistance and Resistance Avalon are both good games for when you become suspicious of your game group members. Try and figure out who is really on the good side and watch yourself over think, but still have fun.


#13 Tsuro

This is a quick game that involves some strategy, but once your tiles connect with others' tiles, then craziness ensues. It is best to focus on your path and not connect soon, but it is also fun to mess up the other players' paths.


#12 For Sale 

I like For Sale because it is fun to try and buy good properties and to avoid the horrible cardboard box properties. You learn how much people are willing to bet, to win, and who you will want to invite on your next trip to Vegas.


#11 Gem Dealer 

Gem Dealer is on my list because I am good at collecting the gems. I like that the game comes with actual (plastic) gems. It makes the game seem more real. It is a quick game, like For Sale, and is good to include for a night of many games.


#10 Aquaretto/Zooloretto 

I combined Aquaretto and Zooloretto because they are too similar to have to rank separately. The major difference is Aquaretto features dolphins, whales, and penguins, while Zooloretto features elephants, monkeys, and zebras. So it all depends which species you are in the mood to try and collect!


#9 Alhambra


Alhambra is a fun city-building game. I enjoy trying to create the longest wall and get as many tower pieces as I can. It is not too long of a game. I like that you do not know when each round will end (depends on the card shuffling), which provides for a sense of urgency to try and get more points and avoid ties with other players.


#8 TransAmerica

TransAmerica is a cool game to play, if you happen to ever be tired of Ticket to Ride. It is more simple than Ticket, but can be just as fun. A lot of the game can depend on where you place your starting piece, but at any point the game can completely change, especially since you do not really know when someone will finish connecting their cities.

#7 Hanabi 


I enjoy Hanabi when I feel like challenging myself. This is one of the only co-op games I like to play, and it is nice to not have to worry too much about your cards. You get to see the other players' cards and tell them which of their cards are important to use, while you have to wait for them to tell you about your cards. The game can be stressful, but it is a fun stress. Yes, you do want to put on a good fireworks show, but if there are a few bumps along the way, it can still end well!

#6 King of Tokyo 

There is not a dull moment, when playing King of Tokyo. Players are constantly battling each other for points, powers, and health. The base game, alone, is exciting, but the expansions are even more fun. Yes, dice are involved, but the luck is quickly exchanged between players.









Any guesses on which games I have in my top 5? Comment below and we look forward to reading them!

Top 7 Games to take on vacation

It's summertime, and this typically means some kind of vacation for most people.  Of course since this is a blog about boardgames, I'm going to promote the idea of taking some games with you.  Now, a lot of what you can take depends on how you travel.  Airplanes leave very little spare space, trains give you a bit more, but car travel has its limitations as well.  Two factors play into this list - size of the box and game footprint.

#7 A Standard Deck of Cards.

Yes, I am going here. Vacations don't have to be all about games.  A deck of cards gives people a lot of options, many games to play, and common ground for all ages.

#6 Forbidden Island

Here's a fun family activity.  Working together is a good thing to have in a vacation game.  The theme of treasure hunting is fun for all ages.  

#5 Tiki Topple

I've talked a lot about Tiki Topple.  I know the box is a little big, but if you really want to slim it down, put the tikis and pawns in a bag, then grab the board and cards.  You could even play without the board if you want to save more space.  Also, you can play with 2-4 players, which is a good mix.

#4 No Thanks

The only reason this isn't #1, is because there are cards and chips, and the chips could get lost.  Besides that, No Thanks is good fun. It's maybe a little mathy for some people, but it's playable in about 10-15 minutes.  

#3 Mafia/Werewolf

If you're in a big group of any kind, I'm thinking large family gathering with 10+ people, this is the game for you.  The best thing, you can play it with a standard deck of cards.

#2 For Sale

2 decks of cards and a bag of tokens.  Can't get much simpler than that.  It plays 3-6 players, in around 20 minutes.  The best part, it's incredibly easy to teach non-gamers.

#1 Coloretto

Here's a fun card game that doesn't take tons of space.  The box fits in your hand, plus with only cards, it's hard to lose any pieces.  It plays 3-5 players which is great for those family trips.  The game is short and simple, which makes for an ideal quick game on vacation.

There are a lot of games you can take on vacation.  Try to pack a game on your next vacation.  Don't go overboard and pack 10 games.  Ultimately a vacation is about spending time with people and exploring a different area than home.  

Top 42 Part 3 (28-22)

Thanks for coming back. Previous parts can be found Part 1 and Part 2

#28 This Game is Bonkers!

I did a larger review of Bonkers in my Mousetrap post for Not in Candyland, so I'll just talk briefly about it.  Bonkers is a fairly quick game all about dice rolling and then movement, but rather than have a preplanned board, the players set up what different spots do.  Some will involve advancing your piece, others going to Score, while others let you roll again or exchange tiles.  The players build the board, and this has appealed to me since the first time we played.  Sure, most moves are fairly obvious, and there's tons of luck, but Bonkers is a game that everyone has fun playing, and you don't really care if you win or lose.

#27 Kingsburg

Kingsburg is a Dice Management game, meaning that you roll dice, and use them to get different resources which in turn you use to build buildings.  These buildings give you points, and points are how you win the game.  The interesting part of the game is the advisor track.  Each advisor has a number - 1-18, and different things associated with them, anything from 1 victory point, to 4 stone, or one of each resource and a point.  Obviously, the higher the number the better the item, but you have to use your dice.  Each player rolls 3d6, and the low roll gets to place on one advisor with one or more of their dice.  That's the strategy to this game - how to make what you roll work best for you.  It isn't always as simple as taking the highest advisor possible, sometimes you have to break up your dice, but in breaking them up, you run the risk of someone else blocking you.  There are also a lot of different buildings you can go after, and with different ones doing unique things many strategies exist for building order.

#26 Race for the Galaxy

RftG is a card based empire building game.  At the start of a turn, each player selects a phase that will be played by all players this time, with the selector of the phase getting a bonus.  The neat part of the game is that the cards in your hand are the developments you can make, the planets you can settle or conquer and the way you pay for those things.  Games don't take all that long once you know how things work.  There are several different strategies which all seem to work well depending on your cards and what you opponents attempt.  I traded away my copy, since I don't play on my own, but my gaming family still has their copy, so we can play it if we want.  I do play a fair amount with the free download against an AI, and this program now supports online multiplayer.  It's a  well designed game, which gets it high on this list, but a long learning curve and a lack of interaction keep it down at 26.

#25 Wits and Wagers (and Family Version)

W&W is the better Trivia Pursuit in the sense that it's trivia, but you don't have to know all the answers.  One person takes a card and reads a question. Each person then writes down what they think the answer is on their card.  After everyone is done, the cards are revealed then organized from low to high.  Now, depending on the version, the betting rules change, but since no one has has answer right (most likely) players have to bet on where they think the answer is, as in between two different answers or higher than the highest, lower than the low, or on an exact answer.  Players then get points or chips (again, based on the version of the game).  After 7 questions in the base game, or until a certain point number in the family version, the game is over, and high score/chips wins.  Of course play can go longer depending on the players.  I've learned a lot of random facts from this game, and the great thing of W&W is that you don't have to know the answer to do well, and leads to things being more fun and less stress.  It's a great party game, and something I'd love to play in big teams.

#24 Tiki Topple

I was first introduced to Tiki Topple by an RD at college and her husband.  It was a great game to end the night, so I decided to pick up my own copy.  It's been a hit ever since.  I've given it as a wedding gift, and other game plays have lead to two people picking up their own copy.  The best use of Tiki Topple was in a Jr. High and HS game day that taught kids more about games.  In the game, there are 9 tikis which form a totem pole.  Your secret mission, is to get your 3 tikis to the top of the pole at the end of the game to score points. Each card has a tiki from each of the 3 groups of tikis on the board, meaning something starts in the top 3, something in the middle, and something in the bottom 3.  First place must end in 1st to get points, but 2nd can be 1st or 2nd, and 3rd just has to be in the top 3.  You play until you either have 3 tikis left, or all players have played their tiki toast cards.  A tiki toast card simply removes the low tiki from the round.  The rest of the game is about moving your tikis up, and trying to avoid them getting toasted.  It's really lighthearted, and rather out of your control.  It is fun to watch someone's face as you toast their Wikiwiki that they needed in 1st.  That satisfaction is short lived because your Hookipa that you need in 1st will then get toppled and toasted before you can do anything.  If you go in knowing it's a fun and random game, you'll have a good time with it, but if you want tons of control look elsewhere.  Tiki is a great random game for me, and something I love playing anytime someone suggests it.

#23 Risk Legacy

This is much more than Risk.  It's a modified campaign, and the goal isn't world domination, it's playing to a certain victory point count.  I've only played two games out of the recommended 15, but it made a great impression.  There are packets containing secret information which you open at specified times depending on game events, like eliminating a player, or playing a certain number of missiles.  The tagline of the game is "What has been done can never be undone."  Let me tell you, there are things that other players have done that I'd like to do differently, but that's the charm of the game.  We have a unique Risk board that plays differently than anyone else's, and that really cool to me.  Yes, the combat is still the same, but there are special faction powers and 'scars' which change some of that, and a lot of rules I've yet to get into, since each packet changes those rules as well.  I know I'll get 15 plays out of this eventually, since that's what the campaign is set-up to do.  That's more than most new games out there, so for the innovative ideas Risk Legacy comes in at #23.

#22 For Sale

For Sale is a pretty quick and easy to teach property game.  Each turn, you reveal one property for each person playing.  You can then bid or pass. If you pass at any time, you pay half your bid rounded up and take the lowest numbered property on the table.  The last person pays their full bid and gets the highest property.  There are only 30 properties in the game, so a 5 player game only takes 6 rounds, a 6 player game takes only 5 rounds.  After all the properties are distributed, players take their hand of cards and will use them to secretly bid on checks.  There are 30 checks valued at $0 to $15,000 with two copies of each and no $1,000.  There are checks turned up for the number of players, then each player chooses a property, places it face down.  Then all are revealed and the highest property gets the biggest check, the lowest property the lowest check and so on.  At the end, you total up your checks and any remaining bid tokens you have with the high score winning.  Overall, the game takes ~20 minutes, often less.  It works for 3-6 players, but I find it best for 5-6.  I'll play For Sale any time, and will probably play it for as long as I play boardgames.

Well, that's the first half of the list.  Hope you've enjoyed it so far.  Keep checking for more parts to the list on Wednesdays and Sundays, as well as other reviews throughout the week.