Isle of skye is great with the druids expansion in my experience but I've never played without so I'm def coming from a whole different angle. I enjoy there being more options especially if someone gets to a very specific tile you wanted before you can. The powers are fun as well so for me it's always going to be included. 😊
I love Rajas and Clank too! For Clank, my favourite it the OG with some of the map expansions also. Rajas is a little tricky to teach with the different areas and combos, so I think that is why I find it hard to bring out…but you have inspired me to do so again soon! Thanks!
7 Wonders Duel is definitely on my list. My wife doesn’t enjoy this game as much as me, so it doesn’t hit the table. We both love Targi, so play that more. Spirit Island is another title that I love but the people I typically play with bounce off of. Fortunately, I can get my fix on the app. Finally, I adore Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North. My group did not enjoy that game, but my wonderful wife will put up with a game or two a year just to scratch that itch.
Completely agree. I will play any of the other Clank! games if a group wants to (for the most part) but vastly prefer Catacombs and I hear the legacy version is great, so I want to try it at some point.
I was so surprised how much I liked Clank! Was not expecting to, and forced myself to at least learn it "before it goes to sell pile" which it didn't and won't. 😂
I really enjoyed watching this video. You make me want to try playing Tzolkein on BGA. I haven’t played it in years. Also I hope the new LOTR themed remake of “7 Wonders Duel” will notice you and Megan to try playing it again.
What puts me off pulling a game from the shelf is having several expansions in one large collector's box. Just looking at a big box of crap you need to sort through is a huge barrier to entry. Example: I sold my copy of Anachrony Infinity box, and Trickerion Collector's box, to rebuy the games (at a cheaper price) in favour of one base game box. This bumps them up the list considerably for games hitting the table, and makes setup so much less daunting. I still have expansions, but if it's a large expansion (such as Fractures of Time), I will keep it in a separate box so as to simplify setup.
I would make 2 lists for this topic. One would be like your list: games in my collection I wish I played more. The reason they don't get played enough is generally that I like them more than my kids do. 1) The Voyages of Marco Polo, 2) Concordia, 3) Simurgh, 4) Caracassonne. My other list would be games I love but I have put off buying because friends own them. These are games I often binge: I borrow them from a friend, play them a ton, then return them and don't play them again for ages: 1) Trajan, 2) Beyond the Sun, 3) Lost Ruins of Arnak, 4) Tapestry, 5) Lords of Waterdeep, 6) Anachrony. Then I'd add Yokohama and Marco Polo II as honorable mentions; I occasionally play these on bga but no one I know owns them. I will be buying Yokohama when the new reprint becomes available.
For me, when I'm excited about an upcoming expansion (like I am about Gears of Corruption right now), it makes me MORE likely to play the base game. So I've been playing Expeditions recently. Two games that I love, but hardly play are Mage Knight and Arkham Horror. I think the long play time and long set-up time are barriers for both of them.
If you like castles of mad king Ludwig, but it's a bit big, their blueprints of mad king Ludwig has a lot of similar mechanics (though is a pick a card and write), but is more of a standard size. We enjoy that one a lot!
BGA definitely effects this. I love Tzolkin, but when a friend mentioned it last weekend, it was passed over because I never set it up or teach it on that table. Also 7 Wonders Duel we play on bga to avoid set up.
Yep I love Isle of Skye, and own no expansions. My go to over Guild of Merchant explore is Blue Lagoon. Jusylt prefer it, I know they are different, but like the simplicity.
For me it tends to be the massive strategy games like Game of Thrones and Star Wars Rebellion. Really love those games, but the player/time investment can be hard to come by.
My big two are what I call event games, and that would be Catacombs and Kemet. I do play my number one game (Aeon’s End) but not as often as I’d like due to set up.
As I look at my shelf right now, my favorite game that I haven't played in years is Marvel Heroes, a great game by the designers of War of the Ring that came out before Marvel's current high level of media saturation. Another old favorite is the 2nd edition of Talisman, a meandering game that takes all day but can be a lot of fun. I did get to play the Batman version recently and thought it did a good job of streamlining the gameplay. I get what you mean about expansions -- the expansions ruined Roll Player for me, I thought they undermined the core idea of the game, that creating an adventurer is more fun than actually going on adventure. On the other hand, the expansion for Star Wars: Outer Rim made the game more interesting without making it more complicated, so it just depends on whether the expansion is designed well. Unfortunately (and I'm sure I don't need to tell you this) the market seems to pressure successful game publishers to do expansions whether the game needs them or not.
Very nice Wrexham top, Jamey ! The "away" colors I presume as they traditionally wear red. Congrats on another consecutive promotion to the third tier of "English" football (misleadingly named "League One").
Unfortunately Scythe applies to this list for me. Half because I don't have a game group who enjoy games of this complexity and half because the minis are primed for painting and I still haven't got around to painting them yet...
I love the mechanics of Isle of Skye, but I find others not as interested in the game. Expansion #1 Journeyman, I only played once or twice and felt it changed the game too much and added too much complexity. Ironically, just played with expansion #2 Druids and really enjoyed it! After great reviews of Guild of Merchant Explorers I bought it and after several plays, returned it. Way too fiddly with the game components, maps too small and difficult to read. Hoping they release a different version of it. Yes, Love 7 Wonders Duel, but haven’t played it recently. It will get back to the table. Thanks for sharing your list!!
I'm curious about the process (and thought process) of returning a game, especially after several plays. To whom did you return it? You played it multiple times, so is it ethical to return it at that point?
@@jameystegmaier To clarify, we played Merchants one night (2 games I think) to learn the game and before introducing the game to our regular players at game night. Decided it would be difficult because of the small maps, artwork and fiddly game components. Considered using chopsticks at one point to remove game pieces. Game night players (wide age range) would be frustrated with the experience, so we did not introduce the game. I actually emailed the company and explained why I was unsatisfied and learned they are considering some type of deluxe version with better components. So, I’m hoping for a more accessible version in the future. Purchased online through a major retailer. I hope this helps. I’ve rarely returned a game but I do the game does need to be functional.
I used to love Suburbia and hence got the big box Collectors Edition. That is so big and so full of stuff that it always takes ages to figure out what to include and what not and how to teach those selected modules and tiles to everyone else. It's a real shame.
I think there's a downside even to expansions one likes if they are consolidated into big boxes. Big boxes: 1) are harder to lug to game nights, 2) make it harder to separate out components you don't want to play with, 3) are overall more daunting for setup and tear down. I have never consolidated my [large] Scythe collection - I still have all the expansion boxes (though I've slightly rearranged what is stored where), and I've only partially consolidated Wingspan (I keep my EE cards in the Asia box to have a nice card stack for 2p games and my Oceania stuff with the base game). I get why people like big boxes and like consolidation - it makes storage easier. But: are games meant to be stored or are they meant to be played?
I think there's a happy medium there. I tend to buy most my games from my local store and I recently got my first crowdfunded game in a couple of years. Every every upgrade pack and module was in its own box and there was not much room for consolidation even taking unneeded inserts out. Just the upgraded core game with no additional modules, is in 3 boxes, and are among 4 more boxes. If just the main upgrade was just 30% taller, they could have made all the other boxes recyclable. While games are meant to be played, they also have to be stored. I appreciate when publishers have thought about the process of going between storing to playing and vice versa.
So I have thoughts, haha I kind of wonder with your own games if having to ask people to play for play testing creates some dissonance for asking others to play after? Not necessarily the case, but it came to my mind as a reason you feel less comfortable suggesting it to play. For Scotland yard, which I agree is an excellent game, I think beyond the age/appeal I think Scotland yard has a chess problem for getting played. In chess the best games and most satisfying games are when you are on equal footing with your opponent, I don't particularly enjoy chess with a much better or worse player. If my opponent is much better, I don't feel I have a chance to win, not fun. If I play a newer player who is considerably less experienced/skilled it doesn't feel very good to win because it doesn't feel like I won but that my opponent didn't really know what to do. Scotland yard can have some similar feelings because a more experienced runner can easily escape from less experienced players so the challenge for both sides seems impossible for the one side, and too easy for the other. Great list, and look forward to hearing if any of this resonates with you?
I generally avoid playtesting with friends in our gaming group for that reason. :) I love the experience of Scotland Yard even if there are different skill levels among players. I think it's just the age and awkward box size that make it a less attractive option for game nights (for us).
Umm ... all of them? It's an interesting distinction but IMHO I don't think it's a fair distinction. A game is in your top 10 regardless of how much or how little it's played. The games I play are the games that work for the particular moment. For example, I wouldn't get out Frostpunk for a casual gaming session. It's too complicated. It requires a gaming session where people actually want to play a more complex game. On the other side, I wouldn't get out Jungle Speed every party game night, because it works best as a game that's pulled out once every few games nights, then people really look forward to it and it maintains the excitement of playing it. Some games like The Crew can be played all the time because it's got a lower but more consistent energy which works well for playing all the time. Knowing that a game is your favourite is also knowing how long between games you need, and knowing that when it's finally time to play, you will love every second of it.
Having said all this will give two caveats: you can like a game but not feel the need to play it ever again, but if that's true is it one of your favourites? Like I may not play Frostpunk for 2 years but it is my favourite game, and I know that I definitely want to have it in my life and will want to play it again. My second caveat is I don't cycle through games. It's conceivable to me that if you constantly buy new games then your old games would lose their appeal, and so you'd want to get rid of them. I only buy new games when they make an impression on me and if they have a function (ie, good party game, I have people to play with, good gateway game, my favourite, artsy-experiential, etc). This means I don't ever feel a game loses its appeal, because there's nothing else to replace it.
Stonemaier games makes the top of my list! 😞 While I have the complete Stonemaier collection, we moved last year and the people that I can play games with only like light-weight games. The ones I can get in sometimes are Between Two Cities and Libertalia.
