Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Top Twenty Game of 2024

It was another great year of traveling the world, and reading excellent pieces of literature. Combine this with a full time job, and you would think that I would not have enough time for another hobby, but I enjoy nothing more than sitting down with a group of friends to play a game. I have been extremely lucky in this capacity for I was able to play 72 different games over the course of the year. I have taken that list of games, ran them through the Pub Meeple engine in order to put together this list of what I consider the 20 best games I have played this year. Here is what I think those games to be, and how their position has changed from the list last year:

20. Scythe (Down 2)

This is an amazing area control, economic game set in a post-World War I landscape in Eastern Europe. The mechanics of this game are phenomenal, and it is one of the more complicated games to be found on this list. Because of its complication, it makes it hard to get to the table, and to find people who are willing to play it. It also takes at least a couple of hours to play a game. I enjoy the time that I get to play the game, but because of the limited times that I get to play it, it ranks lower on the list.

19. Smash Up (New)

This is a game that has been introduced to me a few time over the years. I usually play it once with the person that introduced it to me, and then I instantly forget about it. Well, I ended up purchasing the app this year, and I find myself drifting to it often. It can be frustrating at time with the powers that come with some of the factions that you can mash up together, but it also fun being that frustrating player that makes everybody’s life a nightmare during a game. I can see myself playing this more of the course of the next year.

18. Stone Age (New)

I don’t play many worker placement games, but this one has become one of my favorites. There are many ways that you can find those victory points to make it a fun puzzle to engage with. It also has just enough luck thrown in to make any game interesting enough to not now what will happen in the end. My favorite part is that you need to use two workers in the hut in order to make another worker. Thematically it works, and overall, it is just a fun game to play.

17. Unmatched (Down 13)

I know that this game markets itself that it can be played by up to four players, but it really sings when played by only two. The game has great asymmetric characters that are balanced well, and they keep on adding new characters are environments to bring new battles to life. It is my favorite chess match, and I am always excited to see what new characters they will bring out. I usually play it on the app, and I would love for them to add more characters through that medium, but I am still enjoying the twelve that can be found there.

16. Cascadia (New)

This was an impulse buy I picked up over the summer while hanging out in Oregon. Since I have gotten it, it has made it to the table on numerous occasions. It is relatively easy to teach, and it looks like it would be an easy game to master, but in fact, it has a great puzzle within its simple design. I also love the fact that it comes with different levels of the puzzle, so you can always challenge yourself with something a little more difficult. I can see this one moving up on the list in following years.

15. Pandemic (Down 1)

Easily one of the best cooperative games ever made, but it has one flaw with it. In order to play at the level that it is designed at, you need to have a group of people who understand the game enough and are willing to have those discussions that the game is designed to have. If you do not, what happens is that one person starts to quarterback, and it becomes just one person playing the game. I will admit it that I tend to become the quarterback, and my goal is to have fun not tell people what to do. Because of this, I usually play this game by myself, and it still brings me a lot of enjoyment as I try to save the world from various threats.

14. Dungeons and Dragons (Down 9)

Just like last year, I have to say that I know that this is not a board game, and some people will believe that it should not be on this list. To those people, I would say that any time I can get a group of friends together to laugh and enjoy the story that we unfold, it is considered a game. I am on the third year of this campaign, and it is starting to wind up. We have played together for so long together that we know each others’ characters and quirks so well that the role-playing aspect has taken over the general game play. It has been a fun group, and I will be sorry when we wrap up the story. I hope that I can find another group to play with next year that is as tight as this group. It is because of this that this game will always find a place on this list.

13. Raiders of the North Sea

I know that there are a lot of other Garphill Games out there that people are always talking about, and I start every new year vowing that I will try another one of them, but then the year passes and the only one I have played is Raiders of the North Sea. I have not even played any of the numerous expansions that can make this game a more complicated one. Despite this, I still love playing this game. I got the digital version of it to play while traveling through Iceland, and now every time I play it, I am reminded of that trip. It is a great worker placement game, and I can only see the playing of a different Garphill Game getting me to move it off of this list.

12. Castles of Burgundy (New)

I know many people have this game as their top spot on their favorite games of all time, so I made the effort to try it out this year. I can see why this gets that distinction from so many people; it is a great game with mechanics that I have never seen anywhere else. It is having a little bit of a revival at this time because of a new edition that has come out which makes the game look spectacular, but the original game is just as good. The long game play makes it hard to get to the table at times, but it is always a joy when it happens.

11. Arkham Horror: The Card Game (Up 4)

I had heard that it was a great game to play with people but most people liked to play it solo. There was going to be a lot of times when I would be by myself, and I wanted a good solo experience for those lonely nights, so I picked this game up. I am glad I did. It has many different scenarios that you can play through and each of them have their own little challenge with the same rule set. The scenarios are even fun to play through more than once as the outcomes change as you go through them. This is one that will always be on my shelf, and I can’t wait to play through more stories as they come out.

10. Long Shot (New)

I bought this game for a trip that I was going to take with a group of friends, and then we didn’t go on that trip. I had this game that was supposed to be great for bigger groups of people, and now I could only play it with my wife at my house, so I needed to find a bigger group of people to play it with. This is when I brought it to the pub, and I found that group quickly. This became the game that I would always bring to the pub, and it really started to shine when we played it with eight people. I love this game, and I love how the final race becomes a crazy race that nobody knows who is going to win. It is always a hit, and I have found very few people who have not enjoyed it.

9. The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine (Up 1)

I will lump both of the Crew games together because they work off of the same mechanic, and I am still surprised how collaborative a trick taking game can be. Last year I included the Deep Sea Nine edition of the game which I do believe is slightly better. This year I hopped back to the original, The Quest for Planet Nine, because I have been playing it more often with the groupI have played with for four years, and we are at the 43rd mission. We hope to finish it in the next couple of months, and I have no idea what type of feeling that will give me. This is a great game, and it is easy to bring to the table because once people get into its addictive nature, it ends up getting played all night long.

8. Everdell (Down 1)

Everdell will always hold a special place in my heart. It was 2020, and we were stuck in our house. We needed something to do or we were going to go crazy. I had done some research on modern board games, and I had discovered this one. It was a new way of thinking about games for me, so I picked up a copy of it. Instantly, it became the thing that we did during the long evenings to help us make it through the pandemic. We might have overplayed it, and it sat on the shelf more lately than it has in the past. Still, we bring it out, and I am quickly reminded of it brilliance, especially when you add an expansion or two. It is the game that got me back into the board game hobby, and I will always appreciate the way it helped me through a difficult time of my life.

7. Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile (Down 4)

This is not a game for everybody. The rules are expansive, and it is hard to teach people how to play the game because of it. There is also the problem of the game evolving after each play as the cards change, thereby, changing the way the game is played. But I have been lucky to find a group of people to play with that is enjoying the history that we are creating with the board. When the moment of that history is dramatic, and the group is adding to creating that history, this game really sings. It is hard to get the group together to play, but it is fun every time I am able to make it happen.

6. Clank! In! Space! (New)

I know that this list does not reflect the fact that I have been getting into deck-building lately, but one deck-building game stood head and shoulders above all the others that I played this year, Clank! In! Space! I loved the way the game combines this famous mechanic with a push your luck element. I was lucky enough to play this version of the game as well as the original Clank! Both are great games, but I do like the space version better. The deck of cards is more diverse, and allows for more fun combinations. Still, if you only have the opportunity to play the original, it will still be a lot of fun.

5. Eldritch Horror (Up 3)

This game is Pandemic on steroids with a better story it tells. It is a lot more complicated than Pandemic, and a game of Eldritch Horror is an epic adventure with twists and turns as you try to save the world from a Lovecraftian apocalypse. I have been able to move beyond the base game to play a couple of the expansions to this game, and it makes the game a lot tougher, but also a greater story. I do not mind if I lose against the game because it turns the story into this amazing tragedy that would be worthy of the big screen. It is not a game for everybody, but I will happy join in whenever it is being offered up to play.

4. Imperial Assault (Up 2)

I have always enjoyed this game, but I have always had a hard time finding people to complete the campaign with me. That changed this year. I now have a group, and we are halfway through the campaign. It is fun to see how the characters get more powerful as you move you way through it, and the scenarios are nicely balanced. It also creates a nice story in a light RPG setting that does not rely to heavily on the rules. I am excited to see how it will all end as a couple of the main baddies have already popped up, and there are a couple more exciting adventures planned. The goal is to finish on May the 4th, and I know that it will not disappoint.

3. Root (Up 6)

This is an amazing game and I am starting to feel comfortable playing two of the factions, the Eyrie, and the Marquis. I still struggle how to make the other two work in the base game, and I know that there are other factions out there just waiting to be learned. I love how well researched each faction is, and how well they balance each other out. Any game of Root is up for grabs just as long as the people playing know how to play. That is the biggest problem with this game. The learning curve is so high that getting it to the table with people who know how to play is almost impossible. But it is such a good game that when you find those people who know how to play, it becomes one of the best games you will ever play. As I learn more about this game, I can see it taking over the number one spot eventually, but for now, it will reside happily right here.

2. Isle of Sky

This is still one of my favorite games to get to the table. I always keep a bottle of scotch on hand so when it does get to the table we can play it the way that it is meant to play. I still have not gotten bored of the base game even though I have the big box version of it with all of the expansions available to me, but still the variance that happens with the base game makes me happy. It also moves at a nice pace, so there is always something to do as the game progresses. And if it ever slows down, there is always the scotch to take a sip off of.

1 Chinatown

I know that there are a lot of board game enthusiasts out there who will be surprised by this pick with all of the problems that come along with this game. It has been repackaged three times, and they still have not taken away the obvious prejudice on the board, and it would take a quick reskinning of the game to solve this problem. From my understanding, this has happened with the game, Waterfall Park, but I have not been able to play this version of the game. Until I do, I will still play this game. I never laugh so hard when playing this game, and I never end up winning. The rules are so simple, but the game play is so intense that it makes it easy to get to the table, and most people who love the act of negotiation love to play this game. I will have to hunt down that new version of the game to see if I can get over the problems that come with this game so I can continue to enjoy it guilt free. Otherwise, I still think it is too good of a game to ignore completely.

Arkham Horror, The Card Game – A Review

The ancient gods have laid dormant for thousands of years, and have almost fallen away to mythology. This has not stopped cultists, and depraved individuals from finding ways to bring them back. Because of this blind ambition, strange things have been happening around the small New England town of Arkham, and it is your job as an investigator to get to the bottom of the mystery. During your journey, you will be subjected to terrors long regulated to the darkest nightmares while battling ghouls, ghosts, and acolytes. It is a story that can only be told by the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, and Fantasy Flight’s living card game, Arkham Horror, The Card Game.

Fantasy Flight has made a few living card games, but this has been one of the more popular ones since its release in 2016. You will need to core set to play the game, and it does come with a campaign of three scenarios, but there are plenty of other scenarios available to play with the most recent one scheduled to drop in May of 2024. Does this marketing tool allow for the game to never get old? Does the Lovecraftian theme shine through? Is it a great game to play with a group of people? Does it tell a great story?

These questions are the same ones that I asked myself before I took the dive into this game, and I am here to tell you what I found out when I took that plunge.

THEME

This game drips with atmosphere. When you play, you feel completely immersed into the world of H.P. Lovecraft. It tells an amazing story full of twists and turns that will have you guessing the whole time, and overcoming the strangest encounter that only the genius of horror could have concocted. It will leave you on the edge of the mythos, not giving you all of the details, but just enough to make you wonder more about what is going on. The stories are pretty linear, especially in the core set, that only allow you one path through. Still, like all great stories, they are ones that you want to revisit to see if you can be more successful the second or third time around. Also, if you find it a little too easy, there are ways to make the experience more difficult, thereby making the story just a little darker. When I play I like to turn the lights down low and add a couple of candles to add a little extra punch to the experience. It absolutely the strength of the game, and it is the reason I keep coming back to it.

Rating – 10

GAMEPLAY

I should have been worried when I opened up the box, and saw two rule books and a campaign book. Based on other Fantasy Flight games that I have played, I should have known that there would be an intricate dance to be played with the rules of this game. Considering it is a card game, I thought that the rules would be intuitive and I would be able to easily pick them up by reading what was on the cards. This was not the case. The first game I played was spent a lot of the time combing through both of the game books to figure out what I was supposed to do. It took away from the experience of the story that I was playing through, and made the game a little frustrating to play.

With that in mind, I am glad I stuck with it. Though the rules can be a little fiddly, once I was able to figure them out, it added even more to the experience of playing this game. There is a little bit of a deck building aspect to the game, and each character that you can chose to go through the story has different attributes to help you either go through it. Some of the cards are really powerful, and each player has weaknesses that add the problems that are encountered throughout the story. Dice are also not used, but there is a bag with a variety of chips in it that can change the difficulty of the game, depending on how much of a horror experience you would like to have. I also love the make-shift game board that is created by cards, and the little book that is created by the story cards. It makes for the perfect Lovecraft experience.

However, like a good Lovecraft story, do not expect things to go well for your characters. This game is hard to win any of the scenarios that come in the core box. There is an easy challenge to the game if you need to win, but even on the regular setting, it is a challenge. This just adds to the atmosphere of the game, and there are rules presented by the game that takes into account that you characters will either die or go insane. Still, it is set up to make for a great gameplay when you eventually get into the flow of the game.

Rating – 8

ARTWORK

Like all Fantasy Flight games, great care has been taken to create atmosphere through the artwork. There is an overall consistency that comes with the artwork that is presented on the cards. It allows you to immerse yourself into the 1920s and the fictional town of Arkham. Granted, none of these pieces that you find on the various cards and books would be something that I would like to frame and hang on a wall, but I can still see that time and thought went into each painting. It comes from a place of love not just for the game, but for the source material as well.Though I do not appreciate that the beasts, and monsters that are encountered during a session of the game are drawn out, not leaving much to the imagination, it still adds a lot to the game. This would not have been the way that H.P. Lovecraft would have presented these creatures of ancient lore. Instead, he would have hinted at their presence and would have let you come up with the idea that would terrify you the most. As soon as you see the creature, it is no longer frightening. I know that does not work the same for a game as it does for literature, still the creators of this game left just enough mystery in the story to allow the feeling of reading one of his stories to seep through the experience that you get to have with the game.

Rating – 9

INTERACTIVITY

Most of the time, I like to play games because it is a way to connect with people and create a shared experience. That is not why I bought this game. I knew that there was going to be a time when I would be by myself at my home, and I was looking for something that would scratch that board game itch while also still allowing me to play myself. After doing a lot of research, I found out that this was always mentioned as one of the best solo board games out there. I thought that this would be the perfect one to pick up for myself. After playing it a few times by myself, I was starting to understand why people thought this way. It is like nestling up with a good horror story and watching it unfold in front of you while still having some choice in the overall ending of the story.

Still, the game is marketed as a game of one to four players. I was able to pull it out a couple of times to see how it plays with these higher player counts, and the problems with the rules start to surface even though I tried to explain all of the rules before we got started. There is a lot of different rules in this game, and the struggle I had during my first couple of plays was also there when I played with friends. We spent more time combing through the rule book rather than enjoying the story that was playing out in front of us. Still, after we got a hang of the game, the fun I was having while playing solo was able to be achieved with a group. It add a little bit more mystery to the game because I did not know what the other players were going to do when it was their turn, and the surprise of seeing cards being played that I had never seen before. The small decks that each player makes for the perfect environment for cooperative play. We were really able to talk through things to come up with the best course of action, and nobody ever ended up quarterbacking the game.

Still, like most cooperative games, I do think this game plays better solo even though this is one of the better cooperative games that I have come across.

Rating – 8

EXPANSIONS

As of the writing of this article, there are nine campaigns out there to expand this game as well as many stand alone scenarios. Each campaign opens up a new story with dark twists and turns, and new game mechanics designed for each terrifying tale. Some of the campaigns come with new investigators that you can add to the mix with older campaigns to add some twists to stories you might already be familiar with. They can cost just as much as the base set, and it is required to have the base set in order to play these other campaigns. At first, you had to be each scenario separately, but Fantasy Flight has since gathered up the stories that work together and put them in a single box, making it easier to collect a complete campaign.

Even with the ease that Fantasy Flight has made to experience another story in the realm of H.P. Lovecraft, there are two complaints that I believe I need to address at this time. The first being the cost. Each expansion is like going out and repurchasing the game. Though some of the expansions have great re-playability, it is sometimes hard to justify buying another expansion just so I can play the game again.

The other problem I have with the expansions is the packaging. I do believe that Fantasy Flight is in the process of fixing this problem by putting the expansions in smaller boxes, but there are some boxes out there that only a third of the space is used for the expansion. This seems like a little bit of overkill.

Despite these two flaws, the expansions are still a lot of fun to play. They always breathe new life into the game, and make it worth playing again.

Rating – 9

OVERALL

Arkham Horror, the Card Game is a great atmospheric game especially for those who enjoy the stories created by H.P. Lovecraft. It places you right in the middle of his universe, and you get to feel all of the horror and confusion that his tales created. The artwork helps to add to the atmosphere, and each scenario is fun to return to. I prefer playing by myself, but it is still fun with a group of people. Despite the rules being hard to understand the first time around, once you are able to figure them out, it makes for an enjoyable game experience. This is easily one of my favorite games, and I hope they continue to add content to it so I can find new ways to enjoy it.

Rating – 4.4 Stars out of 5

Top Twenty Games I Played in 2023

The year 2023 was the first year that I kept track of the games I played throughout the year. I took on this challenge because I have always loved to see what other people who enjoy the hobby have considered their favorite games at the end of the year. I had played a total of 55 different games that ranged from simple card games like Mississippi and Hearts, to digital games I have found as apps that I can play while I travel around the world, to table top games that I have enjoyed with my friends and family. I used the ranking system on the website Meeple Pub to come up with this list and made minor adjustments after I saw the results. It is a subjective list of games that I have enjoyed, and I understand that my tastes in games might not be the same as other people. I would still love to hear what you think about the list, and if you have any recommendations for me to hunt down and try next year as I start the list all over again please tell me those games in the comments below.

In the meantime, please enjoy the list of my top twenty games I played in 2023:

20. Lords of Waterdeep

This is one of the older games that appears on this list. It first came out in 2013, and is a simple worker placement game that takes place on the Sword Coast in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. Though there have been many other worker placement games that have come out since its arrival, this game’s simple design is still fun to play today. The stories it tells are definitely in the Dungeons and Dragons universe, but they do not tell the stories like other games will. The challenges are more there for fan service than anything else, but it is still does not take away from the overall game play.

19. Sushi Go Party

This is the perfect filler game. It only takes a couple of minutes to explain how to play, and once you get started playing, the fun is endless. I prefer the party version of this game to the regular card game because there is enough variety in the box to allow the game to change to make it more challenging for people who have played it a few times, or just basic for beginners. The artwork is a lot of fun, and I love the pass mechanic. It helps to feed into the theme, and it makes me feel like I am at a sushi restaurant in Japan where you sit there and watch the sushi go by, taking only what you want to eat. Its quick game play makes it a must own for anyone who likes to play board games.

18. Scythe

Most of the time when I get to play this game, I play it through the app on my tablet. It is fun, but it is a lot more fun when I get to play it with a physical copy of the game and a group of people. This game actually plays better at a higher player count which makes it hard to get to the table. The complication of the game also does not fare well for those that do not like more difficult games. A lot of these thing play against me ever getting to play the actual game, hence the app. Still, it is a great game that combines area control, and resource management wrapped up in a theme that you will never find anywhere else. The artwork for this game is also outstanding, and it makes me want to try out the new game from Stonemaier Games that is set in the same universe, Expiditions. It will definitely be one that I will be on look out for in the new year because of the way I enjoy playing Scythe.

17. Sagrada

Who would have known that dice could be this fun? This puzzle is a great one to play and it looks absolutely beautiful when it is all finished. This is another one that I play as an app more than with live people, but it works really well on the app. Either way it is a challenge to make a stain glass window for the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona. The drafting process works really well, and it is fun to try and complete the puzzle while collecting points. I never tire of its mechanics and it will probably stay this high on my list for years to come.

16. Wingspan

For many of the people I play games with, this would be in their top three. This is a beautiful tableau builder whose collection of cards can create an amazing engine that is fun to watch in action when everything gets triggered. It is also fun to read about all the birds and learn more about the ones who can be found in the Western hemisphere of the world. The problem comes for me, when people come over to play games at my house, they always want to play Wingspan, and that does not allow me to play other game I have as much. They play it once in a while; whereas, I play it all the time. It seems to be the only game I get to play. It would probably rank higher on my list if I didn’t play it as much.

15. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

I bought this game because a lot of reviewers claim that it is one of the best solo board games out there. I knew that there was going to be a period this year where I would be on my own for awhile, and this would scratch that board game itch when I couldn’t get people over to my house to play a game. The rules are a little bit fiddly, and take a couple play throughs to figure out. Because of this, I have not played it much, but the last time I played, I figured out those rules, and I started to see why people love it so much. I expect this to land much higher next year. It is atmospheric, and probably one of the best story telling games I have experienced.

14. Pandemic

This is the first game I will open up as an app when I am traveling, and I have wasted a lot of time trying to save the world from the deadly diseases out there. Not only will I play the app, but I also have a physical copy of the game that I will pull out from time to time to try my hand at saving the world. Even though this is a cooperative game designed to play up to four people, I find playing it by myself more fun. I do enjoy playing when I have somebody to play with that knows how to play, but that is hard to do. Most of the time when I play with other people, I find myself quarterbacking, and taking over the game. I love the game, and it’s an amazing cooperative game, but the quarterbacking aspect of the game is its biggest flaw, and the reason that it falls down here on the list.

13. Raiders of the North Sea

I have only played the base version of this game. I know that there are some expansions to this game that makes it more complicated to play, but I have not taken the leap yet to try these out. That aside, it is still one of my favorite worker placement games out there. I love the way that you take a worker and place a worker in the village. It means that some times certain actions are not available to you. I also love the dual aspect of the cards, and though you might have a lame fighter, they can be used in other ways to achieve victory. It creates one of the most thematic worker placement games out there, and the tension in this game works well to tell a great story.

12. Carcassonne

This is easily one of the oldest games to appear on this list. It has become a modern classic in the board game hobby. Its premise is pretty simple as players work together to create the landscape of the French region of Carcassonne during the medieval period complete with roads, towns, plains, and abbeys. It creates the perfect puzzle on your table top, and there is something satisfying placing that perfect piece that completes one of the features that you are working on. It is pretty easy to teach as well, and is one of the perfect gateway games to get more people into the hobby.

11. Fort

This is the first game to appear from one of my favorite publishers, Leder Games, and easily the least complicated. I first got this game to take with me on my travels so I could play more complicated games with my wife, and the first couple of plays were not as satisfying as I had hoped it would be. I enjoy the mechanics of building a deck by pulling kids from other people’s yards, and how this makes the cards move around the table, but in the end, it is a race to see who can build their fort the fastest. This was until I added the Cats and Dogs expansion. Now, I will not play the game without either cats or dogs or both of them. It changes the game quite a bit, and allows winning conditions to happen that don’t necessarily have to do with building the fort the fastest. If you are ever considering getting this game, make sure you have that expansion because it turns the game into one of my favorites out there.

10. The Crew: Deep Sea Mission

Just everybody who adds the Crew to their list, there is a little bit of cheating going on. When I created this list using Pub Meeple, I had put both versions of this game on this list because their game play is a little different. Both of them appeared on the top twenty games of the year, so I did not think that it was fair to include both. I combined them under one entry, and included the Mission Deep Sea as my favorite between the two. This could be the best cooperative game ever created. It combines the trick taking mechanic with limited communication to get rid of the quarterbacking problem that occurs with other cooperative games. I love playing both versions of this game, and you cannot go wrong with either one. When I do start playing, the group I play with is always saying one more round, and we keep on saying that until late in the evening. It is completely addictive, and I have not met a person who does not enjoy playing this game.

9. Root

This is the second game from Leder Games to appear on this list, and the first one that is designed by my favorite designer, Cole Wehrle. He is doing things with board games that no other designer is doing, and he creates new experiences with each game that makes the rumor of a new game from him an exciting prospect. The only problem is that his games are complicated, and there is a high learning curve needed in order to understand how to play his games. Root probably has the highest learning curve. The asymmetric design of this area control game creates amazing game play (I enjoy playing the Eyrie the most), but makes it really hard to teach others how to play the game. Still, if you can find a group to play this games with, it will easily become one of your all-time favorite games. I just wish I could get it to the table more often because I really like to play it.

8. Eldritch Horror

This is the last of the cooperative games that made the list, and though I do not believe it is the best cooperative game ever made, it is the one I enjoy playing the most. It is a little complicated, and the rules are a little fiddly. However, the engine that is used to run this game is amazing, and it creates a great storytelling adventure every time I have played it. Because of the complication of the game, there is no one who can run the whole game, so it takes away the quarterbacking problem encountered in other cooperative board games. The rolling of the dice that the players have to do for each encounter makes it feel like you are a part of the game every time. I think it plays best at three or four people, but I did enjoy the time I played it with eight people this year. It is a long game though, and because of this extensive game play, it does not get to the table as much as I would like it to. Still, it is an unforgettable experience every time that it does.

7. Everdell

Everdell will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first modern board game that I got during the Covid pandemic that got me back into the hobby. It is also the first worker placer game I ever played even though I was familiar with the resource management aspect due to other games such as Catan and Warcraft 2. Still, this was the perfect game to take me through the pandemic. The artwork is beautiful. The game play is challenging enough, but also relaxing enough so it does not cause stress while playing it. My favorite aspect of the game has been its expansions. At this time, there are a total of five expansions, and I own two of them, Spirecrest, and New Leaf. Both of them have added new mechanics to the game, and have given a breath a fresh air to Everdell any time I feel like the game is getting stale. It is not just nostalgia that keeps this game this high on my list, but also the fact that it knows how to reinvent itself.

6. Imperial Assault

I love this game, but at this time, I have not found that group to play it on a regular basis. It is a great dungeon crawler with a fun campaign mode that tells a great story in the Star Wars universe. The rules are really simple, and it comes with a tutorial scenario that makes learning the game easy. I wish I could get it on the table more often because when I have played through the campaign I have had a lot of fun. Just like other games on this list, I will continue to push it on my friends in the hopes that one day I will be able to play through it again, and maybe even experience some of the other campaigns that are available for it. There is also a solo mode that can be played through an app that I might try this year if I cannot get others to join me in its experience.

5. Dungeons and Dragons

Some people might call this game to be a cheat because it is a role playing game and not a board game. I would argue that at any time you get around a table with a group of friends and follow a set of rules that allow you to enjoy each others’ company that you are experiencing exactly what makes this hobby great. This is easily the game I have played the most this year, and always with the same group of people. It is a weekly session that I always look forward to, and as of right now we are half way through the Out of the Abyss campaign. It also adds one of my favorite aspects of table top gaming, storytelling. I could not recommend this game enough for anybody that loves the act of storytelling. It is a great form of escapism, and there have been so many times over the course of this campaign I have laughed so hard. The character I am currently playing might be one of my favorites of all time, and it is for this reason that this game ranks so highly on this year’s list.

4. Unmatched

I had always been interested in playing this game just because of its premise, bring together great characters from many different IPs, and have them fight each other in one on one combat. There are so many different versions of this game, and each character has it own unique system that makes the possibilities endless. I have only played the Legends, and Cobble and Fog versions of this game, and I have already thought of great ways to bring them together to create a competitive season where they fight each other to create a final outcome between the best two that would determine who is the most powerful of the collection. It states that you can play up to four people with this game, but it really shines when playing two player. They also have released an app that allows you to connect with people from around the world so you can scratch that itch at any time and get in a game. I can’t wait to explore this game more this year, and see what the other available characters have to offer.

3. Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile

Leder Games and Cole Wehrle pop up on this list again. This is easily the most complicated game of theirs that I have played, and also the one that is the best at telling stories. It combines a unique game play with a way to tell the history of the board contained in the box. I got this game two years ago, and I have had a few games here and there along the way. It has created a fun history of the board so far, but I had been struggling to get it on the table to continue to create that history. But I persisted in trying to get a group of people together to play this game more often and at the end of the year, I was rewarded for my efforts. I finally found the group, and we have played on a more consistent basis. The complication of the rules do not seem a bother me anymore because we are playing it more regularly, and the history we are telling is becoming richer because we are able to remember what has happened in-between each session. The games can be as short as an hour, or as long as three, but we get faster each time we play. I am glad that I have stuck with it, and it has become a favorite of mine to play that I hope to continue to play for many years to come. I would love to see where that history takes me.

2. Isle of Skye

I recently took a trip to Scotland and I wanted to bring with me a game that I would enjoy that would highlight the place I was traveling to. I found the app for the island I would spending a lot of my time at, and I tried it out. It quickly became a game I returned to again and again. I played it so much that I ended up buying a physical copy of the game with all of the various expansions. I have not played any of the expansions yet because I continuously teach people how to play the base game. Everybody who has played has thoroughly enjoyed the game, and it is one of those games that works better with a higher player count. At the same time it has simultaneous game play that you never feel like it drags when it is not your turn. I can’t wait to introduce enough people to this game so I can start introducing the expansions and see how much they change the game. It might be the newness of this game to me, but I love playing this game, and will always jump on the chance to bring it to the table.

2023’s Best Game: Chinatown

I love this game. The teach only takes five minutes, and the rules are really simple. However the gameplay is deep, and the pure negotiation aspect of this game cannot be rivaled. I have introduced it to many people, and I will say that this game is not for everybody. It is competitive, and at times, it can get loud as people negotiate for spots on the map, but every time I have played it, people have laughed, pushed to be the best business person on the board, and have generally had fun. It does have some concerns about its design, and it makes me wonder what they were thinking with some of the artwork. With that in mind, there is a re-skinning of the game that is supposed to happen this year which should solve some of these concerns. Despite that, the gameplay of this game is a blast, and it is easily the one I have had the most fun with when it is brought to the table. It is for this reason that Chinatown is my favorite game of 2023.