Ranking Alexander Pfister's Board Games 

What are you favorite Alexander Pfister Games?

I felt very, very honored to be the start of your designer series. Thank you very much for covering so many of my games. As you said, there will be the expansion „The Uprising“ for Maracaibo soon. And hopefully I will be able to get rid of the theme of Mombasa in the near future, as I don’t like it either. Looking forward to your next designer series.

my pfister countdown: 12. Monster Expedition 11. Broom Service 10. Mombasa 09. Port Royal 08. Oh My Goods 07. Tybor the Builder 06. Expedition to Newdale 05. Great Western Trail 04. Isle of Skye 03. Blackout Hong Kong 02. CloudAge 01. Maracaibo (haven't played zavandor, meins, gier, wurfel-WG or broom service card game)

I really love your work! Excellent break down and insight, plus comprehensive overview of game play! Lovely work.

Congratulations on doing all those playthrough, teachings and reviews of all these games! So awesome, I was really looking forward to this video. Thank you again for covering these games over the past months, really appreciate your time and efforts you put into them. I don't own any of these games, but GWT was the first 'modern' board game I played and I was literally blown away that I talked about it for days, haha. Thanks both of you!

Well done! I love how your play and teach videos and how honest you two are. More and more games added to my play list. Thank you very much.

Only recently found your channel and became a subscriber, but I loved watching this designer series! Great work with the content you’re producing, looking forward to more!

Another great video from Before You Play :) After watching, I realized we had an Alexander Pfister title on our shelf of shame, unplayed & still NIS! So we broke it open (Port Royal), watched your playthrough video & played the game ourselves. It was a lot of fun & thanks to you guys we have one less game on our shelf of shame....yay!

You guys are killing it! This series was so good. Pfister is my favorite designer. Keep up the great work!

Thanks for that! Great video and cool project. Your concept is refreshing and intresting.

Vladimir Suchi, Stefan Feld, Bruno Cathala, Uwe Rosenberg...You have a lot work to do :)

My favorite channel for board games! Keep going guys..Greetings from Greece

I was so hype for this video! lol. I love this designer series, keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing more of these. It's just a shame they can take so long to make. I passed up on buying BHK because of the other reviews I heard, but now I want to give it a try because of you guys.

Just loving your channel. Loved this rundown and am hoping to try out some more of Pfisters games. I love these designer series and I like that now I have Hong Kong on my “want to play” list instead of the new new new. Thanks for all you do!! Can’t wait to hear who is next!!

Been looking forward to this since the series started. He's one of my favorite designers. Your analysis of the games was really great. I guess I need to try Blackout Hong Kong. Somehow I missed that one. Thanks for this great series!

Great Series! Ive recently started to realize that Pfister is one of my fave designers, with Feld being his main opponent for my shelf space, lol. Im currently playing Maracaibo, with the expansion and in campaign mode with friends, and we LOVE it! So good! (the dual layer boards made it and insta-buy) From what I can tell, you two are going to really like Skymines. Its very much like Mombasa, but with more appeal, and a few rules changes that lend to better strategizing. Best of luck, thanks for a great video and keep up the awesome work!

Loved catching up on this series. The three that stood out most to me were Maracaibo, GWT, and Mombasa (in that order), since I tend to like heavier games and don’t like a lot of luck. But I really enjoyed watching all of the games showcased! Also very excited that those three have all had the issues with their themes addressed in meaningful ways. Had no idea Pfister is such a fan of push-your-luck! Thanks for the video series, guys. Excellent stuff. :)

I purchased Great Western trail a few months ago and found your channel while searching for GWT reviews/play. I subbed to your channel at that time. I'm living in Vietnam, I have Maracaibo on order, it's on the way. I think I must pick up a copy of Mombasa to add to my collection as well. You guys are really cool. Love your channel.

Before watching...just want to say, I’ve been looking forward to this video!!! Pumped to watch!

Awesome stuff! I was waiting for this video!!!

I really loved seeing the final ranking, thanks for doing this series. I have not played Mombasa yet, but I snagged a copy and look forward to trying it some day. My top games are Maracaibo, Great Western Trail, and Blackout Hong Kong. I just got cloud age and have yet to play it, I was also hoping it would be heavier.

This series has been epic! Thank you for going through all the games. My favourite is GWT, but I have yet to try Maricaibo or Mombasa. I do have a soft spot for Broom Service, but not with 2 players. Can't wait for your next series like this!

Loved this series, loved this conclusion. Bring on Uwe!

nice video series! I've only played GWT, which I liked, and Isle of Skye, which I loved! I immediately got a copy of Isle of Skye. now I'm waiting for GWT: Argentina and Skymines! watching from Ireland! Best!

Watching through this designer series led me to get my hands on Monster Expeditions and Blackout Hong Kong (so far) and to keep my eyes open for a few others to try. I already have Mombasa (love it) and GWT, though i havent gotten that one played just yet. Thank you for all your work.

Love these series its a love letter to the designers for doing them. Im also learning alot about how the game designers differ and what makes them special

Awesome series you guys. I really appreciate the work and time you put into this. Alexander Pfister has very quickly become an almost instant buy for me...(except for Monster Expedition that's just not my cup of tea) I think my favorite is also GWT though. Something about that mix of mechanisms and the smoothness just tickles my bone entirely. But I too thought that Blackout is quite underrated. Although number 2 definetly has to go to Maracaibo. Can't wait for the expansion. Thanks so much for your work! And I'm really looking forward to the next project!

That was awsome. I was really waiting for that. My fav are GWT and Maracaibo. For sure I am gona try BHK. Great job! Thank you.

Loved this series! Thanks to you two. You both deserve a little break. Can’t wait to hear who the next designer is.

great list!

This is great content. Keep it up!!!

Great review :) I’d be interested what you’re rankings would be for just at the 2 player count.

Thanks for the list full of comments and insights. I'm a big pfan of Pfister's games, especially Mombasa and Maracaibo. Bring on the Uprising expansion!

Thank you very much for covering Pfister.

Great series as usual-- very excited to hear who the next designer is! Not sure if he has enough games, but a Turczi series could be cool, especially with excavation earth just delivering (which I think is a sleeper hit!).

I just bought Port Royal, Oh My Goods and Skymines (Mombasa in space) are on my wishlist. Thanks for all the job you do for board games universe 😉😁

Great series you guys! Have not played all the pfister games, but Maracaibo is still outstanding after 22 plays!!

Share your #1 Monique, but I’ve still not played GWT. Thank you for the great series! And while I wasn’t drawn to CloudAge, as it looked too light for my taste, I can see why it falls the way it does on each of your lists. It’s nice to have a refreshing take on these games and see how they stack for each of you against a new release such as that. Does a great job of removing the “cult of the new” aspect from CloudAge and gives it a fresh perspective. Also doubles down on why your channel is doing great work for the hobby at large. Look forward to the next series.

Love Alexander Pfister games! He’s one of my favorite designers. We play the UK version or Port Royal with the expansion, but we just play with the cards only. We also play with the rule that you must have a contract to win. Great lunchtime game. It’s the most fun with 3-5 players.

Gotta love Monique’s face when Naveen listed GWT at #4. Great list guys and glad to hear both of your tales on the Pfister collection.

My list looks like this: 1. Great Western Trail That's the whole thing, I haven't played any others yet somehow! I need to get on that pronto, thanks for helping me prioritize which ones I might like to try next.

I’ve only played Maracaibo (only at 2p) and I love it! I just bought Blackout Hong Kong today and am looking forward to it! Thanks for doing this series!

Hellooooo 🤩

Congratulations on finishing another series!

Love this video so much! So interesting to hear you dissect his designs a bit, and talk about the different mechanisms he is using! I agree with Naveen! I’d also love a heavier game with loads of cool mechanisms! Loved Naveens comment «We talk about these games together» I just started imagining how it would be at your house if you never talked about the games you played 😂 The rules for CloudAge was not very good at letting you know how the cloud cards worked. We also played that wrong the first time!

 Didn’t know about the new rules for Oh My Goods! Will check those out, as we are not super fans of the game!

Blackout is one I really need to play again! Only played it once when it was released, but never got back around to play it again. Did you only play with 2 players? I think we did back when we played, and would love to play it with more! Loved Monique’s reaction at a specific time at the top of the list! I always love shocked reactions for picks, haha!

We just got the Journeyman expansion to Isle of SKye, so we’ll try to play that sometime during 2021! Would love to play a 4 player games of both your #1s when we can meet up in person :D 

Thanks again for this great top list and discussion! I really enjoyed it!

Nice summing up. You should look into doing a Bruno Cathal series. Not so many heavy ones but lots of shorter mid weight games.

Great series and summary video! Love so many of Pfister's games (especially the heavier ones). I need to try Black Out Hong Kong now ;-). I lose GWT a lot too but really love it (currently still by top game!). Note: Journeyman expansion for Isle of Skye really reinvents the game. We play the expansion sometimes but other times we just play the base game as the play time and complexity is very different.

Love these designer series videos.

JUST bought Maracaibo yesterday! It's supposed to arrive tomorrow and can't wait!!! It's gonna be my first Pfister game.

I would so love to see you guys do a Stefan Feld series.

Thank you for another great designer series, and looking forward to your next designer series and the 2 mini-series you mentioned. My ranking of the same 10 games you mentioned would be: 1) Great western trail 2) Blackout Hong Kong 3) Isle of Skye 4) Maracaibo 5) Mombasa 6) Broom Service 7) Cloud Age 8) Port Royal 9) Oh My Goods 10) Monster Expedition

Thank you for the series and for this video! Where does Boonlake sit in your order of preferences? Have you played it?

Excellent video, GWT is my favourite, not only Pfister, absolute number one.

Really enjoy your chemistry & banter. Naveen, since you mentioned you like rondel style mechanics, have you played Feld's Trajan and do you like it? Thanks...♥️

great finish to a very nice series. great to see Blackout Hong Kong see some love. Btw. Tybor the builder is a neat little card game with quite some depth. I also love his great 4 expert games the most: GWT, Mombasa, Blackout Hong Kong and Maracaibo. I would get a real headache if I'd have to rank them

Thanks for making this series! I’ve liked all Pfister’s games I’ve played so far (not played Mombasa, Broom service and Cloud age yet). Recently started the Maracaibo campaign and eagerly looking forward to getting together with my friends and continuing our adventures. I do think it’s slightly unfair to call Port Royal a pure push your luck game. True, it plays a big role, but through your choices you can mitigate and build a little engine. It’s my favorite filler! I like to add the contracts and play it cooperatively now and then. I have bought but still have to try The Adventure begins, the campaign for Port Royal. Also looking forward to playing through the story expansions for Oh my goods! Maracaibo is my number one over all among his designs.

Thank you for the amazing review and ranking! Just a friendly request/suggestion from my side; please list somehow the name/picture of the game when it is announced. As of now after watching I want to get to know your list again, but there is no easy overview, and I have to search per on what you mention once more. Thanks once more and good luck going forward!

Nice lists! I would rank Maracaibo and Great Western Trail highest, and Expedition to Newdale not far behind. I just got Cloudage but haven't had time to play it yet, I have great hopes for it. Looking forward to the expansion to Maracaibo!

I love that you guys use paper and pen!

Congrats on your videos! I saw that some people have already asked that, but how about a Reiner Knizia series now? At least his most famous one? Since you have mentioned liking action games, I'm pretty sure it'll be a lot of fun :)

Naveen, i agree that Blackout: Hong Kong is underrated game. I think people didn't like the look of the board and card layout and judged the book based on its cover.

I love Maracaibo and still need to play Mombasa. It's been on my to play list for a while now.

This is a good topic. He comes out with so many games, you can make an annual update!

Ohlala, you'll HAVE TO try the Journeyman expansion for Isle of Skye, it totally transforms the game! And a big thank you for these designer series

Did you play Oh My Goods with any of the expansions? Imo the first expansion greatly improved the game by adding events and making the game a fixed number of rounds. It also has a cool little campaign!

Very interested in Blackout Hong Kong after watching your play through!

I loved those series! My top 5 Pfisters 5. Broom service 4. Isle of skye 3. Blackout HK 2. Great western trail 1. Mombasa

I first watched this video sometime in 2021. I think that at the time I had only played Port Royal and maybe Great Western Trail. However, I've since played Isle of Skye and bought and played Mombasa (I think that I found the last retailer in Australia with 1 copy left), Black Out Hong Kong and Oh, my goods! I think that my rankings are: - Great Western Trail - Mombasa (based on 1 play, I reckon this will end up as my favourite Alexander Pfister game) - Black Out Hong Kong - Port Royal - Oh my goods - Isle of Skye For me the big box game are far superior to the other 3. I'd like to thank Naveen in particular, as I've ended up buying 2 games that he's particularly highlighted in the past (Mombasa, in this series) and also Schotten Totten. Your game tastes very much align with mine, where mechanics are more important than themes.

I have to try out Blackout: Hong Kong. I've seen it at a couple local game stores on the clearance shelf so I thought the game might not be that good. I'll definitely try it out. Hopefully it's still on the shelf! BTW, I am a huge Great Western Trail fan. My best friend and I play it about once every month, maybe more. I have fun playing it even if I get stomped. Great series, you two! I'm jealous! I wish I had some friend(s) that would do a whole series with me.

My top 5 (of the ones I have played): 1) Maracaibo 2) Oh My Goods (especially with the Longsdale expansion) 3) Great Western Trail 4) Mombasa 5) Isle of Skye

Oh I hope it would be Valdimir Suchy :)

Thanks for pour vidéo, very well done, makes me wanna try Maracaibo ! I've just read thé rules, and actually your first can't have a master builder as i understand it, cause it IS specified that your strating hand countains only A cards and the b pile IS shuffled afterwards

Very interresting video, it was nice to watch. It would have been nice to but the game cover on screen as you talk about them.

My wife and I love Maracaibo. I really would like to give Mombasa a try. Look forward to watching the Uwe series, Feast for Odin is a fantastic game.

Very good list. More games to Check out. Consider Adding Vlaada Chvatil to your list (for later)

I'd be curious if you ever do a Shem Phillips series what your thoughts are on Viscounts vs GWT. Both have that rondel/deck building thing going on....

You made me buy Broom Service and I'm glad I did. I can play it with my family of four and it has little to no down time. We tried Great Western Trail (I bought it because of the hype, but we didn't like it at all). One day I'll be able to pull Root or Starcadia Quest or 1775/1754, but we'll see...

Hey, guys! I really appreciate your work. I’m not sure you knew but as it turned out you have many Hungarian (as myself) followers. There’s a publisher group called Mindclash Games with games like Anachrony, Trickerion, Cerebria. I wonder how you would rate these games. Best wishes from Hungary

Just played Maracaibo for the first time. We really like it. I had 4 master builders in the first hand and have to agree that they are very (over)powered.

I would love to see a Martin Wallace designer series!

I finally managed to get my hands on Isle of Skye today in a trade for some beers & cheese from my local game store. To the table!

Awesome video! I vote for either Simone Luciani or Uwe Rosenberg for your next series.

It may have been mentioned already, but Mac Gerdts is pretty much the inventor of rondels. Even his more recent design of Concordia functions as a personal rondel using a hand of cards. Great overview!

Did you try Great Western Trail with Rails to the North expansion? I wouldn't recommend anyone to start the experience with it as it increases the complexity significantly, but it's great in a sense that it opens up new strategies if you're fairly experienced with the base game already. Downside: it makes the selling phase a bit longer. I consider this a great expansions because it does exactly that, expands one aspect of the game and because I feel like it gives us an option: unlike many expansions where you either always play with that or never, here I sometimes like to include it and sometimes like to play without it.

With Euro's It's all about gameplay theme and artwork might attract/detract people from a game but after you are playing you just see the gameplay. A comparison I can make is I used to play a lot of fighting games and graphics are good but after a little bit you don't even see the sprites any more. Don't know if it makes sense.

Uwe Rosenberg next! I love these series!

I really wish the next designer is Martin Wallace.

I love Broom Service! It is one of the games where I have to pay attention to where everyone is. My recommendation to all players is to always have your witches next to a cloud at the end of the round if you plan to use a fairy card next time. That way you can use your fairy no matter the order the fairy is called. This one tip has changed the fun of the experience for new players.

Can you please add an image of the game on the screen or the name of the game at the bottom you are talking, next time you do this? I like to watch and listen while I work, but sometimes I get wrapped up in work and lose track of what game you are talking about and its difficult to try to rewind to the exact moment you are talking about the game. Great video besides that love the great conversation about Pfister's games, he is one of my top designers!

Would love to see Ryan Laukat, Simone Luciani and/or Vladimir Suchy!

I have to try Blackout Hong Kong. I do really like Port Royal for an accessible, small engine building, press your luck game. Btw, Here are some Details for "Uprising" from Pfister. He had stated Q1 2021 .... Double layer ship-boards. A cooperative scenario where one can try to get rid of the colonial powers (so you supposedly play the native inhabitants). A new story. Asymmetric ship improvements. Many new cards. New Scenarios and a new virtual player.

I will tell you that I had a play at 2 players, where my opponent had multiple master builders and he still got spanked. Focusing on one thing often leads to issues on the other side. In this case he was building while I was placing cubes and exploring. I think that there is likely a major move to be made there, but then money is not easy to come by, so he can only build so many cards.

Can't decide which is best among Great Western Trail, Maracaibo and Mombasa. I also really like Isle of Skye but not as much as the heavier entries.

We like Broom Service: The Card Game as a party game, as the chaotic nature works well in that situation. But we also like Broom Service more than you do. 😜 I have heard that Blackout Hong Kong suffers from graphic design issues. Do you agree? Know of any plans for a reprint / update?

My Pfister List (not played all of them) - *Not Played* - Isle of Skye, Port Royal, Broom Service, Monster Expedition, Tybor the Builder, Cloudage, Expedition to Newdale 5. Oh My Goods 4. Maracaibo 3. Blackout Hong Kong 2. GWT 1. Mombasa

Curious if you have had a chance to play Boonlake since this series, and if so, what you thought!

For me Maracaibo is his best game by far, with an honorific mention for cloud age which pleasantly surprised me

Uwe Rosenberg is my vote for the next series!

Based on some of your comments you two might enjoy a two player game Heir to the Pharaoh from Eagle Gryphon has a deluxe version with wooden components and small expansion.

Maracaibo is my number 1 , he is one of my favourite designer’s

Is Blackout the best of his games you'd recommend if you are put off by the other themes? I can enjoy a good game with a boring theme but if I'm bothered by a theme it's hard to set that aside for me. I haven't picked one of his games because his best considered games I don't enjoy the themes but Blackout seemed like a decent alternative?

01. Great Western Trail 02. Blackout Hong Kong 03. Mombasa 04. Isle of Skye 05. Oh My Goods -- Maracaibo - I don't understand why we disliked this game after a couple of games and sold my copy... Can't explain! )) Probably the mechanics as separate sequence in previous games will remain my favorite ones and can't be touched by any game!!! ))