All I really need is a deck of cards, And a group of friends around a table. We will slowly let down all of our guards Where we no longer live by our label. We lose ourselves to the power of the game Underneath the sky of a sunny day, And the only thing we hold that’s the same Is the thought of our next brilliant play. We will see the afternoon disappear As we collect them for one last shuffle, And maybe another round of cold beer Through the tone of “it’s not the last” muffle. Why does it need to be complicated When this cheap deck keeps us satiated.
Welcome to your nightmare. There is nothing worse than the dark shadows that lurk in the corners of our consciousness while we are unable to do anything about them. At least there are hidden doors that will lead us to safety. If we can only find them within our imagination filled with sunny days, watery depths, deep forests, and tall bookshelves. It goes deeper than the dreams we have at night; it is an introduction to the world created by Shadi Torbey, the Oniverse, a series of games produced by Z-Man games designed for solo players to immerse themselves into the various corners of his imagination.
If you have had the opportunity to play one of the Oniverse games, you know about the solo game design that scratches that itch to play a complex game when nobody else is around. Even though the box claims that the games are designed for one to two players, they are basically solo board games that are wonderful to experience time and time again. Onirim is the one that started is all off, and is the perfect one to look at when introducing oneself to the wonderful world of the Oniverse.
THEME
This is a story that is birthed in our greatest fears, hidden deep within our minds. We are the only ones that can find the doors to help us escape from this fear, and we have to duck and dodge the terrors that could easily find us. The theme of this game really comes to life as you sort through the cards and look for the combination that will allow you to escape from the terrors. Sometimes doors will appear when you do not have what you need in order to open that door, just like it happens in a dream. At other times, the key you have been holding for a long time will come into use to open up another door that you had been looking for a long time. Throughout all of this, there is the creature lurking in the darkness that is the greatest fear that we hold in our hearts. It will come out unexpectedly, and send us to another corner quickly just to escape the horror that it brings with it. All of these ideas present themselves brilliantly in this game, and it sometimes feels as if you are a part of that dreamscape in your waking hours.
Rating – 10
GAMEPLAY
At the heart of this game is solitaire card play. There is a stack of cards that you will draw one card from into a hand of five. Within that deck, there are four different suits with moon cards, sun cards, key cards, and door cards. After you have drawn a card, you have to either play it to a matrix that will give you the combination that will open the doors so you can escape your nightmare. You do this by playing three cards from the same suit in a row where you do not repeat the symbol on the card. If you cannot play to the matrix, you must discard a card. While all this is happening, you have to beware the Oniverse monsters that are lurking in the deck. If you draw one of these, you have the potential to lose all the cards in your hand to the discard pile, a key card which are more powerful than other symbols, or lose five cards you have not even seen yet. You win if you open all the doors. You lose if you make through the whole deck without opening up all the doors.
There are a couple of rules, but this is basically what is at the heart of the gameplay. It is a fun little puzzle, and after a couple of games, you can fall easily into its rhythm much like you do with any game of solitaire. The problem with the game comes when you come across a door or a Oniverse monster. You resolve the conflict that comes with one of these cards, and then you have to reshuffle the deck. During one game of Onirim you can end up shuffling the deck up to fifteen times that will pull you out of that rhythm that you are looking for in a solitaire game.
If you are looking for a more streamlined version of the game, there is an app version of the game that can include two of the expansions that come with the game. It is a little wonky when trying to discard a card, but for the most part it solves the problem of always having to reshuffle the cards anytime one of the special cards shows up. It does not have the feel of a solitaire card game, but it is a great way to experience the game especially if you find yourself waiting around and have nothing to do.
Rating – 8
ARTWORK
The unboxing experience is always a fun one, but never have I ever been more enthralled than when opening the box for Onirim for the first time. Elise Plessis, the artist for the game went beyond just supplying with pretty pictures, and cute little plastic pieces. The box unfolds all of the goodies hidden inside through various layers just like you are entering the nightmare that you will eventually try to escape. This then opens up to the two large decks of cards that includes not only the base game but all of the expansions that come with the game. There is a little plastic monster that comes with the game tat serves no real purpose but adds to the mystique of the game. I like to place it just outside of my gameplay to remind me that the monster is lurking anywhere within the confines of my adventure through the cards. The cards themselves have a surreal artwork that belongs nowhere else but the dreamland that you are about to enter. It all combines to immerse a person into the dramatic theme that goes along with this game.
Rating – 10
SOLO PLAY
Like a lot of games out there, Onirim markets itself as a game that is able to be played by two people but in reality, it is nothing more than a solo game. It is a great puzzle to work out, but my one complaint with it is the constant reshuffling that occurs during the game. The base game is a little easy as well, and after you figure out what to do in each situation, it presents a game very similar to regular solitaire that does not offer a lot of options in its design. The complication starts to occur when you start to add the expansions that come with the game, and it allows you to amp up the options that are available to you.
Rating – 7
EXPANSIONS/ OTHER GAMES in the ONIVERSE
Just like the box says, Onirim comes with seven different expansions. If you get the app, two of the options are available to you, and the nice thing about all of these expansions, you can mix and match them until you create the deck that you like to play the most. It also adds enough variety to the game that it will have you opening the box on numerous occasions to see if you can escape from the nightmare presented to you. This makes the game extremely fun with an great amount of replay-ability that allows it to live on long after you have bought it.
Onirim is also the introduction to the Oniverse, a series of solitaire games that Shadi Torbey claims that you can play with two people. At the writing of this blog there are eight games in total with what appears to be a new additional coming soon. Each game is another box with a great solo experience with additional expansions to the game that you can mix and match to create your own version of the game that you like best. The games do not work with each other except thematically, and they are more there own games than they are an extension of Onirim. Like any other sequels there are some better than others. I have not played all of them, but out of the ones I have played I enjoy Sylvion the best though there are some other fun ones out there.
Rating – 9
OVERALL
Onirim and its universe is a great introduction to solo board gaming. The games possess a zen-like quality to them that help you relax while presenting you with an engaging puzzle. Each box in the Oniverse has enough variety and challenge that you can build your own deck to find the complexity of the puzzle that you are most comfortable with. Though I do enjoy the app more than the actual box for the game Onirim because of the amount of shuffling involved to play the game right, the other games do not have this problem, and at the time of writing this review, also do not have apps available. It is always nice to have a box or two in the Oniverse in your collection so you can have a great solo experience that you are looking for.
I cannot claim to have come from the Pacific Northwest, but I have visited enough times to believe that it has now become a part of me. The natural beauty that this part of the world has to offer is unlike any other place in the world that I have seen. There are majestic rivers filled with salmon, elk wandering through the woods, foxes hiding in the plains, hawks flying over the wetlands, and even bear hiding up in the mountains. The place is a paradise for anyone who loves the outdoors. If only there was a way that I could bring that beauty to my table in the form of a board game. Luckily, there is the 2022 Spiel de Jahres award winning game, Cascadia, the perfect way to be transported back to the Pacific Northwest
THEME
Building a wilderness in the Pacific Northwest and populating it with animals does not sound like it would sing very well as a board game. It would feel like just something that was plastered on a game with good mechanics, but I think it was the other way around. The five environments in this game as places that are easily spotted all over Oregon and Washington, and the care given to the animals and their placement also lends itself to the care of understanding these balanced ecosystems. The ways the bears, foxes, elk, and hawks interact with their environments work very similar to how they would in real life. The animal, salmon, is the one that does not always seem to work the way that they should. Granted they do create salmon runs, but this does not always make sense when they appear in plains or mountains. Every time I have played with new people, they have questioned this choice. It is the one small hiccup in an otherwise beautifully planned theme to this game, and it is quickly forgotten once game play begins.
Rating – 9
GAMEPLAY
I love the teach of this game. It is really simple, giving people only four choices per turn. In front of them there are four environments paired up with a type of animal. They pick one of the pairs, and add it to their environment. In the course of the game, they are trying to create bigger environments because they will get points for each of the five types of environments based on how many hexagons they have connected. They will also try to place animals on those overall landscape in certain ways that will also collect a certain amount of points. If they place an animal on a single environment place, they earn a pinecone that also collects points, or the pinecones can be used for special powers during the pick phase that allows a player more options of what they can grab. That is basically all you need to know in order to play the game.
I know it sounds simple, but the choices become tough to make while playing the game. The strategy of what you want to do and when is more complicated then you think. The game also comes with four sets of cards that change how the animal placements score, allowing a fresh perspective on the game if you get tired of the base set. The game gets more complicated with each level, and I would even suspect that you could pick out cards at random to play the various animals if you wanted to mix it up even further. It just makes the replay-ability of the game nearly limitless, and it would take a lot to ever get tired of all this box has to offer.
Rating – 10
ARTWORK
It did not take long to find an artist to add a little flavor to this game. Randy Flynn, the game’s designer, did not even have to look outside of the Pacific Northwest. He was able to find the renowned artist who had created the artwork for games such as Viticulture, Calico, and Wingspan. Her ability to capture the true essence of nature shines in this game. The depictions of all of the animals is absolutely gorgeous, and adds to the gameplay. Also when you eventually build your landscape in front of you, it looks like you looking down at Central Oregon from a plane. There is a nice balance between the five landscapes so one of them does not dominate over another, and when you add the animals, the colors really pop. It does take a game or two to be able to distinguish between the mountains, and the water environments, but besides that, the game is beautiful.
Rating – 9
INTERACTIVITY
This game is what I refer to as a zen game. There is a central portion of the game play area where people make their selection, and whatever you chose is added to a grid that is set up in front of you. When playing the game, you spend more time making decisions that effect nobody more than you, and the pretty design that you create in front of you is created for your own benefit. There is not much interaction with the other players except when you pick your tile and animal. Sometimes people will pick the combination that you wanted because they also wanted the same thing, and sometimes you will pick something because it will prevent somebody else from doing something really spectacular. Otherwise, most of the game is spent designing your own little part of the Pacific Northwest, and rarely do you pay attention to what somebody else is doing. There is a little bit of interaction when you tally up all of the points at the end of the game, especially when looking at the different environments. Some people will gain bonuses for having the biggest of each of the environments, but that still does not have a huge impact on how you play the game. Overall, it is the perfect game for those that do not like to be mean to other people, and most of the interaction of the game is spent enjoying each others’ company.
Rating – 7
EXPANSIONS
The reason that many expansions exist is because people want to breathe life back into a game that have loved but have grown tired of. A good expansion won’t just add new cards or extra places at the table; instead, it will add new mechanics that reminds people why they fell in love with the game in the first place. Landmarks is this kind of expansion. There are now chunky landmark tokens that can add to your board that will allow you to collect a bonus card that gives you another challenge to go after. It complicates the game a little bit, but not enough to make it confusing to anyone who has become familiar with the gameplay already.
Even with this new mechanic, it also adds new animal cards, new tiles, and allows for up to six players to enjoy the game at one time. So it not only adds new mechanics, but it gives you that little bit of extra that you want in an expansion, and it is easily one of the best expansions ever introduced to a game.
Rating – 10
OVERALL
Cascadia has become a regular at my game table, and it is easy to bring new people in to enjoy it because the rules are easy to understand but the strategy is deeper than expected. It has a beautiful table presence, and the initial box has enough of differences in it to make it replay-able without it ever getting boring. Even if it does start to get a little boring, the Landmarks expansion is the perfect addition to bring back the joy that you had when you started playing it in the first place. It is easy to see why it won the Spiel de Jahres award, and it should be a part of everybody’s board game collection because it is a very fun game.
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.
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.
Greece had always been one of the places I always wanted to visit, but it is in such a strange location in Europe that makes getting to it a little difficult by Eurorail. It became a no-brainer though when I moved to Jordan. It is a short flight to the islands, and with Spring Break being open to the world again this year, we took advantage of that fact to explore two of the islands, Santorini and Naxos. It was fun to see one of the more touristy islands, Santorini, compared to one of the quieter islands, Naxos, and get to experience them right before the Summer season started in full. It is easily a place that we will eventually come back to.
Iceland was another place that I had never been to that I always wanted to explore, and this last summer was the perfect time to do so. Covid restrictions were being loosened and we could spend the whole time outside where any exposure to it would be minimum. The funny thing about this trip is that I caught Covid right before we landed, so we were the ones that people needed to stay away from. The hike that we took on this day was absolutely beautiful, and I would have probably enjoyed it more if I wasn’t sick on this day. It was still a stunning place to visit in a country full of stunning places to see.
There are many things to do on the island of Santorini, Greece, but one that is skipped by many of the people that go there is the Akrotiri Ruins on the tip of the island. This is Greek’s answer to Pompeii. This city was destroyed by the volcano that turned the island into a ring instead of the massive mass of land that it used to be. So far, archeologists have just started unearthing the ruins that were left behind, but it is cool to see what Greek life used to be like, and imagine being a part of it.
This was one of my poems that people enjoyed a lot this year. Usually they do not make it into the top ten posts for the year, but I guess people connected with the story of Mary. I had been watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the first time in a long time over the Christmas holiday, and I noticed one part of the story that did not hold up as well as I remembered it to be. The awful life that Mary had because George Bailey had never been born is almost absurd if compared to today’s standards. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a great movie, but I’m having a hard time getting over this little part of the story.
This is the second poem of the year that ended up on the list of top ten poems for the year. I love the snow, and I have not been able to see it much ever since I moved abroad. It was a nice treat to see it early in the year, and it made for a nice inspiration for a poem. Evidently, many of you thought the same as well because it was the most popular poem of 2022.
This last year was spent learning a lot about the Greeks, and Romans, but one of my favorite trips was to a place that many people forget about when thinking of these two ancient civilizations, Cyprus. It is a short flight from Jordan, and it is filled with ruins all over the place. One of the best places to check out is the House of Dionysus. It has mosaic floors from ancient times that are still being uncovered. They do a great job of telling old Greek stories, and are worth the time to check out.
Growing up, my family had a tradition of getting together on New Year’s Eve and playing game until we could ring in the New Year. As I grew older, my siblings kept up the tradition, and not being able to attend has always been one of the bigger regrets I have had about moving abroad. Luckily, this year was started revisiting that tradition at my brother’s house. It was fun to ring in the New Year this way, and it is amazing that this post was one of the more popular ones as the year continued.
Considering that things have started to return to normal after the couple of years of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is hard to remember that it was still going on at the beginning of the year. This made travel exceptionally difficult. Not only did you need to be vaccinated in order to travel, and some countries had not gotten up to speed with that yet, you also needed to prove that you were Covid free. I had to stand in two line in the cold of Portland, Oregon at the beginning of the year to make sure that I could travel back to my job, and this post was an exploration of what that was like.
When summer rolled around, restrictions relaxed, and I was able to enjoy my first real travel experience after a couple of years of not being able to do so. Of course, we went big by renting a camper van and driving around Iceland for three weeks. It is a beautiful country, but we were there during the coldest June they have had in thirty years. Because of this, we got to know our camper vans really well. This post has been viewed by a lot of people who are going to travel there as they wonder which camper van company will be right for them. I hope the post guides them in the right direction and they can enjoy the country the way it is meant to be enjoyed.
My first trip of the year took me to Cyprus, only an hour flight from Amman, and a world of difference from each other. Cyprus is wine country, and one of only three places in the world where you can get the rare blue wine. This was the most popular post of the year, and I can understand why. The wine is a novelty, and it sparked a lot of people’s interest. It is fun to try, but for the most part, it is just like white wine, except the process of making it turns it blue.
This was a post from a year early that is still getting a lot of traffic. Apparently people love the combination of elk and the forests of Oregon. It was a treat for me to see them instead of the typical deer that roam the ranch, and apparently a lot of other people agreed.
This was actually a post that went live at the end of 2021. I was visiting family in Colorado, and my brother and his family took me down for the opening on Meow Wolf. I had never heard of this place, and it sounded interesting. It was cool to see the craziness that it had to offer, and it took until this year before people started visiting the post.
During the pandemic, I found my way back to hobby that I enjoyed a lot when I was younger, board games. This was a game that I got for Christmas, and I was able to play it at the end of 2021. This is the review of the game, and it has apparently helped a lot of people decide if the game is right for them or not because it was regularly visited during this year.
This was one of my biggest posts of 2021, and it continued to be a favorite of people’s again this year. It tells people how to visit this cool part of the Dead Sea that is a little ways away from all of the resorts that are further up the road. It is a great day trip and I expect people to visit it often again in 2023.
It always surprises me what people connect with and what they do not. This was supposed to be a throw away post based on a bumper sticker I saw while driving through Bend, Oregon. It has endured over the years, and is always one of my top posts. It is one of the few ones that I have posted that does not even have a picture to accompany it with, but people continue to come back to it again and again even though it has fallen off in popularity this last year.
This is by far my most popular board game review. It pits two of the top board games against each other and helps people decide which one is right for them. Even though I have been able to play Wingspan more over the last year, I still think that Everdell is the better game, and I have even started to see it for sale at Target, making it an even bigger game than when this was first posted.
This is far and away this most visited post that I have. It talks about a little hike that you can take if you find yourself in Railay, Thailand. It must be the one that people go to on a regular basis to help them find the way to the bat cave because it gets visits on a daily basis. I am glad that I have been able to help people find there way there, and I hope, if you are reading this blog, that you some day make it there as well as all the other places that I write about. The world is a great place, and you should go explore all of its nooks and crannies while you still can, especially now that travel is a thing again.
Not every night needs to be the same.
We can change the routine a little bit
By playing a different kind of game.
Once you start, you won’t be able to quit.
It is not that type of competition.
The rules are not always written out
For a clearer kind of explanation,
But you need to be ready for a bout
That will match all of your wits against mine.
The game need not always choose a winner
Because there is no real finish line
When competing with this group of sinners.
You are not given a choice but to play
A game that we all play everyday.
John Collings 