The perfect 20 game collection 

Wow, I really liked the "out of contention" component of this video, idk if I've seen that before, wonderfully done, sir!

SPOILER ALERT: Here's the complete list: @1:15: Favorite Game of All Time: Spirit Island @2:08: Engine Builder: Terraforming Mars @3:18: For Playing with Your Scumbag Friends: Battlestar Galactica @4:32: Easier Co-operative Game: Thunderbirds @6:13: 2-Player War Game: Star Wars Rebellion @7:50: Sentimental Favorite with Replay-ability: Arkham Horror 2nd Ed. @9:38: Similar Space as Arkham Horror, but Different: Arkham Horror - The Card Game @11:13: Significant Other's Favorite Game: Obsession @12:22: Favorite Abstract Game: Azul @13:25: Popular Favorite: Brass Birmingham @14:47: Dungeon Crawler: Imperial Assault @16:17: Simple Abstract: Santorini @17:35: Best Actual War Game: Paths of Glory @19:23: Whimsical: Junk Art @20:53: "Event" Game for a Special Occasion: Dune (2019) @21:57: Game for Everyone: Sushi Go Party! @23:17: Space Exploration: Leaving Earth @24:55: Light Co-operative Game: The Crew - Mission Deep Sea @26:27: Worker Placement and Adorable Animals: Everdell @28:02: Deck Building that's also Dudes on a Map: Tyrants of the Underdark

I literally feel the love you have for games

One of the reasons I love your content is that you always provide options for those who want them. This is so good to see that although you like Everdell most, there are several games you could recommend for those who for some reason do not like it or cannot get it.

1 Great Western Trail 2 Glen More II 3 Targi 4 Castles of Burgundy 5 Dune 6 On Mars 7 Bus 8 Antiquity 9 Cacao 10 Skull King 11 Watergate 12 Azul 13 Welcome to 14 Gaia Project 15 Android Netrunner 16 Blood Rage 17 Inis 18 Clank! 19 Amun Re 20 King of Tokyo

I have never enjoyed a video about games more than this one. Not just the games you selected, but the honorable mentions brought back so many memories. Some of the more exotic games are in my own collection, and seldom mentioned by other reviewers. I am really into themes and mechanics. So board games are a natural for me. Thanks for taking the time to create this experience.

You really have a gift for clear and condensed presentation. This just hit home further how talented you are at analysis navigating the minefield that is board game scene. Also hits close to home because I too was suddenly and excruciatingly ill and couldn’t work. I thankfully got better but my newfound love of board games remained. All the best

Superbly done and entertaining from start to finish. I really enjoyed learning about your personal experiences and why this hobby means so much to you.

What a good idea for a video, 3MBG. And who better to offer guidance? Kudos for the 'elimination mechanic', showing us which games were, by implication, culled from your collection by means of the inclusion of another. (That is, they would be if you actually did this.) Fully expected Thunderbirds, because I know your affection for it. Was glad to see Obsession, Azul, Santorini, and Crew - MDS. You're right about Paths of Glory being under-publicized. I do remember telling you how I admired a 1957 film by the same name.

This was a great idea and a fun exercise for me, I have a couple repeats of games that do similar things, but I feel like this list covers all the categories I need and includes family favorites and personal game group favorites that I just could not ever part with: Twilight Imperium - big event Root - war game Dune Imperium - deck builder / worker placement Blood Rage - DoaM Terraforming Mars - engine builder Return to Dark Tower - hybrid dungeon crawler LotR Journey's in Middle Earth - dungeon crawler / campaign Eldritch Horror - coop horror / adventure Wingspan - engine builder Everdell - worker placement Heat Pedal to the Metal - Race game Cascadia - tile laying Marvel United - coop / family Horrified - coop / family Villainous - competetive / family Quack's of Quedlinberg - bag builder / family Camel Up - party / family Dixit - party / family Just One - party Love Letter - filler

Santorini is in my top ten for the reasons you shared, but I do play with the powers every time. It’s hilarious when you play someone with a power you think is op because they win, maybe even quickly, but then you play a second game swapping the powers and they win again with the power you had. The variety and variability skyrockets with the powers. I’ve done a “campaign” where we split all the gods in half and then battled, the winner “capturing” their opponents god. If a rulebook matchup said the two gods shouldn’t face, we just flip the next one, it was a fun one.

Wanted to thank you for including Tyrants In The Dark. It’s a great game with a solid fan-made solo variant by Michael Kelley. I’ve only recently picked it up, but it’s quickly racked up quite a bit of table time. Dig your channel and all that you do. Keep up the great work!

The good thing about Everdell and it's expansions is that it is always Everdell plus 1 expansion. I like how they deaigned it so that you only ever play with one expansion rather than throwing everything into the game. Honestly, Newleaf is really worth a look in.

The way I'm thinning my collection is by taking games into my board games club in school. My collection at home gradually shrinks to mine and my wife's favourite games 😊 great video. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

One of your best videos! Plus I like the fact we really get to know you and yours better. Definitely would be fun to sit down and do a game night with you and your friends.

And of course this is the perfect collection for me, and only me, at this particular moment in time. That's for any of the dullards out there who take exception to the title because i didn't include their favourite, or who just ask "what about the game i like!". The fun thing with this video is to do the list yourself instead of saying why mine sucks. Tell me why your rules!

This was fantastic! I especially liked your out of contention picks after each game that made the cut. There are so many good games getting knocked out. But, even when the sight of a game getting cut made me balk, I could understand your reasoning.

You had me at "Thunderbirds." Never letting go of that one.

Interesting list, and difficult to make my own. For my own collection, I'm trying to hold it to fifty, with a free game from a Famous Designer, so may end up with about sixty games. I tend to play solo, and have to add multiplayer games 'onspec', more in the hope they are good than from actual experience. Here goes. 1) Marvel Champions - many heroes, villains, encounter sets, aspects. 2) Star Realms : Frontiers - deckbuilder 3) Star Wars : Imperial Assault - just diving into this one, glad to see it on your list 4) Ticket to Ride first game I played on BGA, love the simplicity. 5) Race for the Galaxy - need to get this to the table more 6) Star Wars: The Clone Wars - may swap out for Pandemic- Fall of Rome 7) Dawn of the Zeds : Third Edition 8) Legendary Encounters : Alien Deck building 9) Zombicide 2nd Ed just started painting it 10) Antike II 11) Rurik Dawn of Kiev 12) Dune Imperium 13) Undaunted : Normandy 14) Leaving Earth - I love space exploration also, glad to hear its a good game 15) The Resistance - or Avalon, haven't played either. 16) D-Day at Omaha Beach - wargame to take up the afternoon. Maybe Enemy action : Ardennes instead for the 2 player option. 17) Hansa Teutonica - 18) The King is Dead 2nd Ed - 19) Architects of the West Kingdom 20) Junk Art - does look like fun for a group Alternates as I get some of these played - Jaipur, Just One, Targi, HEAT

Really fantastic distillation down to 20 top-tier games. While I haven't played every game on this list, there's quite a lot of overlap with my own collection and I'm very intrigued to try everything suggested here when the opportunity arises.

Great video and great list. Arkham Horror the Card Game has nearly infinite replay ability once you have 4+ campaigns and 30+ investigators in your collection. It is hundreds and hundreds of hours of fun.

I got 3 on your 20 and it's great and rare! Usually we only share 1 or 2 games (on the thousands) with the youtuber's lists!

Wow, that must have taken a loooong time to put together. Magnificent collection. I'm off to look at mine now...

This is a fantastic video, loved every second of it. Great choices. So glad to see Arkham Horror The Card Game in here (my number 2 game of all time, after Netrunner)

great video, loved the format. Not everyone is lucky enough to have an expansive collection. 20 seems like a more achievable-sized collection.

Shout-out to Santorini as well. Love its core rules. It wouldn't call the cards superfluous, they certainly create interesting mix ups, but the core rules with the nice, nice pieces shine on their own.

Such a good list. So much overlap with some of my favourite games, that I’ve added several to my “buy list”. Here are my 20 (note: Santorini, War of the Ring, Star Wars Rebellion, and Mage Knight will likely join the list once I get them): 1. Spirit Island 2. Through the Ages 3. Brass: Birmingham 4. Terraforming Mars 5. Dune: Imperium 6. Dominion 7. Klask 8. Azul 9. Everdell 10. Race for the Galaxy 11. Agricola 12. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea 13. Cascadia 14. Robinson Crusoe 15. Cockroach Poker Royal 16. Go 17. Lost Ruins of Arnak 18. 7 Wonders Duel 19. Wingspan 20. Carcassonne

Fun exercise. The two picks of yours that stood out to me - and I would likely pick them as well - are Obsession and Sushi Go Party. There might be one or two more, but I especially like those ones out of picks I doubt would be on too many similar RU-vid lists.

Great list! Good to see finally see your face Jarrod after so many 3 Minute videos. I like how you offered other options in each category as well. Thanks for the video.

That was a good list. I liked that you went for variety and all gamers situations.

Quite a different top 20 from what I would choose! You've given me a few games to look into!

Most of your alternative picks would be on my top 20.great job, thanks!

Great video, Jay! Not gonna give a whole list but there are a few crossovers from yours that are on my list. War of the Ring and Rebellion (surely there's room for both). Unfathomable or maybe Dead of Winter ( Argh, I've yet to get a group to table either one with but I dream). Arkham Horror 2nd Ed. Absolutely. I have Dune and Tyrants of the Underdark but haven't table either yet 😔. Also I could never get rid of a game that I've painted. Nemesis (all of it). Kemet Cyclades A Touch of Evil Burgle Bros. 2 Level 7 Omega Protocol Defenders of the Last Stand 😜

Fun video. I found the "games out of contention" section quite interesting. I was pausing to see them.

Nice to hear your reasoning for each choice, and to see what that choice forced out as well. Really well done. My 20 as at this moment of time, bearing in mind I am a solo player who enjoys playing multi-handed where no solo mode exists (and sometimes even when it does). Small footprint 1. Pocket Landship (free trial version) - is a PNP on BGG. 2. Rollway Station - is also a free PNP on BGG 3. Volfyirion 4. Knightmare Chess (requires a chess set obviously) - this is the only one I haven't soloed but it is so bonkers I just have to keep it for the odd occasion someone wants to play. Larger footprint - thinky games that won't hurt your head too much 5. Wingspan 6. Fields of Green 7. Alubari - A Nice Cup of Tea 8. Expedition: Northwest Passage 9. Silverton 10. CO2 (First Edition) 11. Obsession 12. Nusfjord Brain burners - to me anyway 13. Leaving Earth 14. Yokohama 15. Pax Pamir 16. Labyrinth - The War on Terror Table hogs - most have been acquired fairly recently and are currently unplayed but I really want to have the time and space to get into them. 17. Great Wall - I have played this one 18. Middara 19. Xia - Legends of a Drift System 20. Hegemony

Great video as always! It could be fun to do some "perfect collection" based on space restrictions. Since, usually the most frequent storage solution is Ikea Kallax-style bookshelves it would be fun to try to restrict yourself in a 2x2, 2x4 and 4x4 shelves 😅

Fun exercise. Been in the hobby for nearly 20yrs. Played 500+, owned 300+, and currently have 16 base games. I could see this number comfortably being 10 or less. • Agricola Master of Britain • COIN Tribe: Boudica’s Revolt • Commands and Colors Ancients • Conquest of Paradise • Crokinole • Fresh Fish • Indonesia • Pax Porfiriana • Undaunted North Africa

An interesting challenge. If I had to reduce my collection to 20 games, here's what I think I'd pick: 1) Cosmic Encounter - Alliances, bluffing and wacky powers, my favorite game of all-time 2) Wiz-War - Chaotic multi-player battle royale 3 Twilight Imperium 4E - Epic 4X space adventure 4) Marvel Champions - Deck customization and co-op 5) Memoir '44 - Head-to-head or epic 8-player Overlord battles 6) DOOM: The Board Game - Dungeon crawler, the best of its kind 7) Marvel United - Light, family-friendly co-op with variable difficulty 8) Radlands - Tight, beautiful, challenging head-to-head card battler 9) The Menace Among Us - Social deduction/hidden traitor, BSG in 60-90 minutes 10) Gaslands - As table-top minis games go, this is my pick 11) Summoner Wars - Card battler with incredible variety and fascinating spatial element 12) Pyramid Arcade - Need abstract games? Look no further 13) Dune - Diplomacy in space 14) Cyclades (w/ Titans) - Area control and bidding blended well 15) The Thing: The Board Game - More social deduction/hidden traitors, can never have too much 16) Horrified - Pure "Pandemic-style" co-op, clean, enjoyable, accessible 17) Raiders of the North Sea - Worker placement, one of the few that I like 18) Mission: Red Planet - Area control and special powers, clean and quick-playing 19) Long Shot: The Dice Game - Racing/betting game, one of the best around 20) LotR: The Confrontation - Stratego with special powers, amazing design

Great interesting list, thank you. This just goes to show, how vast and accommodating to various tastes a boardgame world is: due to my main gaming group’s preferences I can’t fathom an “essential 20” without a hidden movement and a push-your-luck game.

You are 100% right about Thunderbirds being the better co-op. So glad I nabbed it before leaving print

Making a list like this would be impossible for me. My tastes change back and forth constantly throughout the years. A game I'm tired of now, I could get back into and play repeatedly in a few months.

Hey buddy!!! good job!… love the work you put through this!!! … thanks :)

I've got 27 games, so paring my collection down to 20 would be comparatively less painful, haha. In no particular order: Spirit Island Root Bloc by Bloc Transcontinental Wise Guys Century: Eastern Wonders Skull Startups Scout Arboretum Lords of Waterdeep Farlight Istanbul Kemet Oath Concordia Sushi Go! Deluxe Cubitos Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest Ethnos

Ironically nice how a dark themed game got you through your hard times.❤️

You guys should do a complete 2 player collection. Would be keen on your thoughts.

I loved the list and video. Thanks!!

You and Steph's Azul problem is EXACTLY the same as my wife and I in Ticket to Ride games - she has like a 75% win rate against just me, but when there's 3-5 players, I win more than not and I think she's maybe won 1 or 2 times total. Great list, thanks for sharing! Made me go look at my collection of about 80 and wonder what I'd take

Ok..... Concordia, Just One, Twilight Imperium, Terraforming Mars, Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Brass Birmingham, Parks, Viticulture, Scythe, Love Letter, Star Wars Rebellion, Carcassonne, Istanbul, Dont mess with Cthulhu, Spirit Island, Sleeping Gods, Onitama, Res Arcana, Hive....Thats the fast selection without thought but immediately after viewing yours which will provoke confirmation and recollection bias. PS Fantastic thing to do....now to the collection to only 10 then 5 then 3!!! That would be a nice FU.

DUUUUUDE! Arkham Horror 2nd is my all time favorite game. It took me a long time but I finally finished the whole collection early this year and now I'm plotting out prints to make a box for everything (woodworker in my free time)

Love your videos. This is a great one!

With you on: Sushi Go Party Santorini Tyrants of the Underdark Spirit Island Everdell Would have included instead: Guards of Altantis 2 - If this isn't the best strategic team game in existence, I will eat my hat. It's amazing as a team game, and you can even have a cutthroat and thinking two-player head to head game if you want to. Rising Sun - Phenomenal area control game that also brings in diplomacy, bluffing and a side order of betrayal. Fabulous Feed the Kraken - absolutely superb social deception that doesn't take hours and hours Alchemists - A glorious logic puzzle is at the heart of this euro, and it's a delight to play every single time Massive Darkness 2 - A rollicking time of a highly accessible and fun dungeon crawl that will have you taking out monsters and looting to your heart's content until the early hours of the morning. Captain Sonar - A frenetic group party experience. Enough said. Bullet - competitive or co-op, with optional real-time elements, wrapped in a puzzly game that's easy to understand. Great. Edge of Darkness - For pure "deckbuilders" - this one gets my pick due to the multitude of options available to mix and match, and the way that making cards "better" can also end up making them "worse" if they happen to get drawn onto the joint adverserial "tower" that looms over the board. Concordia - It's just a deliciously elegant design Gugong - A great worker placement and resource management game that is gorgeous to boot. Aaaaand I think I can even leave it there with a limit of 15 games!

My perfect 20 1)Spirit island 2)Mage knight 3)Robinson crusoe 4)Hadrian's wall 5)Raiders of scythia 6) bloody inn 7) petrichor 8) tiny towns 9) search for planet x 10) turing machine 11) calico 12)vengeance roll and fight 13) long shot 14) parks 15) creature comforts 16) Dune Imperium 17) set a watch 18) lux aeterna 19) railroad ink 20) one deck dungeon

Great List Jay and one that is really hard to do. I loved you giving Tyrants of the Underdark the last spot. Nice Deckbuilder choice. It's a great game. I have the original. There's a lot of crossover with a list I did recently for my patrons, 25 Necessary Games, as a diversion from the ordinary (geopolitics, finance). Since I talk about my board game hobby a lot there was honest interest from some people thinking about trying out the hobby. I made them both a "10 games to start with list" as well. That list was more of the... 25 games you should expose yourself to to find out what you really like. There are games on this list I don't like, Sprit Island, Puerto Rico, CE, Terra Mystica are the examples. That list is: Brass Birmingham Dune Concordia Castles of Burgundy Advanced Civilization El Grande Agricola Terra Mystica Spirit Island Tikal Five Tribes Orleans Puerto Rico Any variation on Race for the Galaxy (inc. and preferably Terraforming Mars:AE) Power Grid Star Realms Cosmic Encounter Smallworld Star Wars: Rebellion Dune Imperium Blood Rage Medici Hansa Teutonica Sleeping Gods Imperial I now have to make this list for myself. It will suck to do, as I'm sure yours was. For my dungeon crawler I would have also picked Imp. Assault (since I owned a metric shed ton of it) but I had to sell it when I, frankly, needed the money. I'd probably go with my favorite TT RPG TORG: Eternity. But for a strict boardgame the only two I own now are Too Many Bones and one of the Hexplore Its... and Hexplore It is really good. I'd likely keep that over TMB simply because the rules overhead is lighter, there are campaign books to make it more of a TT RPG, and you can put a game together in 3 hours.

Really like how you gave other options in addition to your favourite. Bit surprised you didnt have any detective/deduction/mystery games in that list yet with only 20 games, cant have them all :-)

I think this is my favourite video you have done. It was particularly interesting to see the games you would sacrifice in a particular category. Several of your picks were ones I would have chosen--which probably has something to do with my purchasing some of them after you raved about them! I own Leaving Earth because of you, though I still have not played it... Winter is coming, so the time is ripe to get it out. For me: Ticket to Ride, Root, Brass Birmingham, Spirit Island, Pandemic, Carcassonne Hunters and Gatherers, War of the Ring, Pax Porfiriana, Telestrations, Galenus, Hansa Teutonica, Sitting Ducks, Kanban, Leaving Earth (even though I have not played it yet), Captains of the Golden Age, Imperial, Scythe, Upon a Salty Ocean, and CO2 Second Chance. The thing is, the list would also depend on what I have access to. I am inclined to hold onto games that no-one else owns or that are hard to get. The local cafe, for example, has Dune Imperium, so I don't need to own it.

Sekigahara is very underrated when it comes to realistic 2 player war games

I literally cheered when you brought out Thunderbirds.

My list would include: Ankh (dudes on map plus fab card strategy), Targi (small box, so smooth to play, deep enough), Segikahara (my war game, with hidden movement on top), Innovation (Civ plus combos, wild but thinky), Radlands and Keyforge (2 player battlers, one is the ultimate, the other in-a-box), Paris La Cite de La Lumiere (the perfect polynomial game where the polynomial mechanic is actually thematic, and so cut-throat for such a pretty game), Pax Porfiriana / Pamir 2nd Ed (economics, politics, and so very clever), Tigris & Euphrates (the best area control game bar none, a classic that twists the area majority mechanic to new heights)…. Sorry can’t get to 20 in a chat window, lol!

I know I’ll love this content before I even watch it. Thanks J!

What a coincidence, that’s exactly what I’m doing. A 20 games collection! Thanks for the video

Great video idea. Love the mental exercise.

1. Spirit Island 2. Raptor 3. Hive 4. Riftforce 5. Godtear 6. Dice Throne 7. Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn 8. Quantum 9. Vagrantsong 10. Star Wars: The Clone Wars I’d list ten more but that’s all I’ve kept so far. Still kinda new but trying to curate some variety and the ones at the bottom are newer to me.

Really enjoyed your list. I'd have swapped out a couple and added Legendary Encounters Alien and Ghost Stories.

I thought it would be funny to make a list of 20 games that 3 Minute Board Games threw out, 1 from each category. Ark Nova, Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, Pandemic, Scythe, Outer Rim, Too Many Bones, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Century, Yokohama, Gloomhaven, Between Two Cities, Pavlov's House, Cartographers, Perseverance, King of Tokyo, Beyond The Sun, Forbidden Island, Alien Frontiers, Kemet. That's 19, because Spirit Island didn't throw anything out, so I guess I'll add Castles of Burgundy. Or, I would be pretty happy with all of the games that Obsession pushed out for you.

In alphabetical order: 1. Andean Abyss - first COIN I've played 2. Brass Birmingham & Lancashire - only played Lancashire and never won but love it so much I am 100% convinced I will love Birmingham as well 3. Cartographers - my wife enjoys it a lot and my bad drawing makes it fun for me as well 4. Catharsis - surprisingly good, although I only have 2 plays so far 5. Eldritch Horror - I hate it, it frustrates me so much.. and I've only won until I found out how wrong was I calculating how many dice should be thrown.. have everything and will probably keep it forever :D.. for the times when I am too happy for my own good 6. Escape Plan - just a great game 7. Forbidden Stars - played only once with 4 people. We didn't finish the game, gave up on the 4th hour. I have a spanish copy and I put translations in the card sleeves :D. I also have 2 big fan expansions, waiting on the third to be finalized and someone to make it available as a groul order or something. Not sure if I'll ever get the group to regularly play it but I adore the design so much.. I also love the 40k universe. Also waiting on the Redux.. hopefully the IP will be good. 8. Infinity - a bit too complicated and I don't enjoy metal minis (I don't paint so that's partly the reason). Love the universe, love the reaction system and I have the N4 and Code One rulebooks. I have every intention to start playing regularly with my wife and with 40k/Necromunda proxies, we'll see how playable it is this way. 9. It's a Wonderful Kingdom - didn't look like something I'd enjoy at first. How wrong was I.. 10. Kingdom Death: Monster - have not played much as I got it relatively recently. I like the boss battler genre a lot, Oatshworn was great, Vagrantsong is nice, I liked the Dark Souls and Monster Hunter World boss battles. Oathsworn was a one time experience for me and I passed it along. I added KDM in this list for 2 reasons - I played a couple of games and I enjoyed them a lot. The universe is brutal and I like this kind of fantasy horror. I do not think it is the best boss battler out there however. I am almost completely sure that Aeon Trespass will be better. I just have not tried it so I am putting the one I have. 11. Leaving Earth - really nice game. Looking forward to the next game from Joe Fatula. I believe it was Moon Landing related. 12. Letters from Whitechappel - all time favourite for me and my wife. I think I win quite a bit more than her but we still enjoy it. I bought and tried pretty much all hidden movement games I could find just because we loved LfW. It is still the best for us from the ones we tried, but we do have quite a few waiting for table time so it may get replaced as best hidden movement game ever at some point. 13. Mage Knight - pretty awesome design 14. Nemesis - really enjoyable I think but I need a bigger group to actually enjoy it 15. Rococo - very nice game and the deluxe edition looks awesome 16. SHASN - unexpectedly good and very nice looking game. Looking forward to Azadi. 17. Spirit Island - needs more plays but based on 2 plays I knoe it is good enough for me to put it in this list 18. Star Wars Rebellion - very enjoyable. Probably would have enjoyed it even more if it was slightly shorter. 19. Twisted Fables - I've seen people say it is not very well balanced. No issue for me and my wife thought, we just enjoy the design (both game and graphic). Probably our favourite card game right now. 20. Watergate - short and engaging Additional notes: 1. Would love to try the Pax games and I think at least one of them would get a spot in the list. I know about the controversies around their designer, but I just ignore his essays and enjoy the game design (played a few of his games, not the pax games though, they are still waiting on my shelf) 2. Android Netrunner/Nisei, Star Wars LCG and Arkham Horror LCG have a chance od entering the list. Love the universes and the games seem to be very interesting in mechanics. Only played Arkham Horror LCG of them and haven't decided yet if I like it that much or not

Great stuff. I think about a list like this for myself quite often. Twilight Imperium War Of The Ring Hansa Teutonica Yinsh Freedom: Underground Railroad Brass Birmingham Catan: Starfarers Letters From Whitechapel Clash Of Cultures: Monumental Edition Imperial Fleet: The Dice Game 1175: Rebellion Eclipse Champions Of Midgard Clockwork Wars The Grizzled Viticulture No Thanks Camel Up Nations: The Dice Game

Wow! What a great exercise! I've been thinking about how much I need to cull my collection (about 200). I had set my sights on 50 -- that's a different game every week with two weeks off. Then I thought, well, what about the warm-up? So 50 big games, plus 50 small games. And now I'm back to 100, which in the grand scheme of things isn't that much less than 200, and oh god help me I have a problem.... :)

Azul is now better than ever since Azul mini can be transported more easily, takes less table space and is still absolutely beautiful.

Leaving Earth threatened to break my brain with math, and I double-majored in math for fun....

Love the longer vids.

1. Frosthaven 2. Jaws of the lion 3. Nemesis: lockdown 4. Everdell 5. Root 6. Cosmic encounters 7. Star wars deck-building 8. Marvel united 9. Zombiecide 10. Arkham horror 11. Betrayal 12. Ultimate werewolf 13. Castle panic 14.Chronicles of crime 15. Harry potter battle of hogwarts 16. Plunder 17. Horrified 18. Mansions of madness 19. Sub terra 20. Above and below

damn, the everdell tokens look edible as heck. wanna eat the forbidden candies

I love it when you jump cut to "serious voice J"..

Nice list, good luck with your game.

My #1 game is Obsession, I was pleasantly surprised to see it made your list.

I like how you included games that are excluded by choosing a game to preempt the questions in the comments like "what about this game?" 😊 great collection!

Wow, tough challenge. Really enjoyed the rationale for each and the others that were knocked out by each pick. A very nice variety of experiences and all really solid games as well. I'll have to look into Tyrants of the Underdark since you have it in place of Dune: Imperium and I really like Dune: Imperium. Pretty sure it would make my 20 game list along with Terraforming Mars and Arkham Horror 2e. Thanks for the video!

I just found your channel, and it is great!!!!

Nice little video. And some great oldschool games (such as BsG and Dune) If I had to have 20 games that would cover most of the mechanics/themes and players types/numbers, I would go for something around those : Flipships (or men at work) Heat (or downforce) Astro Knights The game MoW Little Town Street masters (or Cthulhu death may die) Detective Club Cascadia Guild of merchant explorers Alice's Garden Lord of the rings lcg Battle for Rokugan (or Kemet) Just One Pandemic clone wars Skull king (or Jekyll VS Hyde) Warp's edge (or Bullet) Sentinels of the multiverse DE Spirit island Molkky (wooden outdoor game from Finland) Cheers from belgium

I have a lot of other interests besides board games, so I also am cutting down to just a handful: Spirit Island (with expansions), Horizons of Spirit Island, the GIPF games, Monikers, and I want to get a good Crokinole board still. There isn’t too much I really feel the need to get right now, as I don’t have regular gaming groups.

I love what you did with "games out of contention from this pick".

Imperial Assault is a great choice as your dungeon crawler. There is a ton of content for it especially with the app

1 Mage Knight 2 Spirit Island ... That's it, that's perfection right there ha i guess i only need 2. But i do think 10 is more than enough, to mix between those 2 games. 3 Cartographers 4 Lost ruin's of Arnak 5 Long Shot: dice game 6 Forage (Orchard) 7 Codenames 8 Kingdom Death Monster (A distant wish) Truly this 8 are more than enough, but for the sake of 10... 9 The Crew mission deep sea 10 Kemet blood and sand

Great video and very good list and I love many of them. I try hard to make my collection lean and under 50 games because gathering dust on shelfs is not a logical action for me. mine is (in no particular order): 1. Concordia 2. Imperial 2030 3. Troyes 4. Marco Polo 2 5. Le Havre 6. The Great Zimbabwe 7. Gaia Project 8. Tyrants of the Underdark (Also anyone played this with loving it) 9. Spirit Island 10. Mind MGMT 11. Arboretum 12. Brass: Birmingham 13. Hansa Teutonica 14. Cuba Libre 15. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea 16. Kings of Air and Steam 17. Ra 18. The Resistance: Avalon 19. Genoa 20. In the Year of the Dragon

Great collection, great picks! Surprised about a few picks, like Dune Imperium not making the cut, or Root, but oh well ;)

Great video ❤

My family love playing everdell. My six and eight year old children have no issues picking up the rules. Strategy on the other hand they might need a little more time to get good at.

Interesting challenge, looking over one's collection & selecting a top 20 to keep. Here's my two cents worth (in no priority order): (1) Dark Ages (Holy Roman Empire), (2) Dark Ages (Charlemagne), (3) Downfall of the Reich (Do It Games), (4) Star Wars Rebellion (with the expansion set), (5) Europa: For Whom the Bell Tolls, (6) Britannia, (7) Twilight Imperium IV, (8) Where There is Discord, (9) Thin Red Line, (10) Horus Heresy (GW), The Horus Heresy: Burning of Prospero (GW), (11) Legion of Honour, (12) Hellenica (Mr B Games), (13) The Dark Summer (GMT), (14) Thirty Years War (GMT), (15) Battles of Westeros, (16) Commands & Colors, Napoleonic, (17) History of the World, (18) Paths of Glory, (19) A Distant Plain, and (20) Europa Universalis: The Price of Power. If 20 is all I can keep, that's my list.

I wasn't as strict on games replacing others but I did want to hit a bunch of bases. Here's my 20: Cosmic Encounter (beer & pretzels as well as infinitely variable) The Crew: I keep both the OG and the wet one in one box so keeping both :P (Light coop, card game) Marvel United (infinitely variable, light coop) Root (war game, highly replayable) Cthulhu Wars (cthulhus on a map, this is my "bling" game) Heat: Pedal to the Metal (Race game, modular play modes) Dominion (deckbuilding, infinitely variable) Eclipse (this is my 'event' style game) Gloomhaven (I was deciding between this and Massive Darkness 2 for my dungeon crawler and decided I wanted to keep a campaign game) Time's Up (my favorite party game!) New Angeles (negotiation, semi-coop, I think this game is singular in what it does) Power Grid (economic, medium weight, expandable) Radlands (this is my M:tG / Netrunner replacement) The Quest for El Dorado (family weight game, deckbuilder) The Resistance (social deduction; very light weight can teach to anyone) Roll for the Galaxy (this is my engine builder of choice) Spirit Island (This is actually my solo pick. Beat out Final Girl as it plays 1-3 just as good) Tapestry (my 'guilty' pleasure game. This doesn't specifically fit any holes other than I find it a joy to play) Viticulture (this one goes from lightweight to medium to coop and I enjoy all three ways to play) Xia: Legends of a Drift System (My sandbox game. Beating out Star Wars Outer Rim) I think you were right about Arkham: lcg and I may make room for that if I actually had to go down to 20 which is amusing as its a game I'm actively thinking about getting rid of. I love it as a solo game but tend to not play it with the game group as the deckbuilding doesn't lend itself to group play imo. Truly an amazing game and if I were making room for a lifestyle game it'd def hit the 20; probably over Quest for El Dorado as that ones a bit redundant.

Would love to play Leaving Earth! It’s sadly been so out of print for a while. I wonder if it will ever be printed again??

Of course, 3MBG format is great. It is not quite fair to recommend games that cannot be attained, but the fantastic "out of contention" makes up for that completely. If you don't like this, get that. Awesome. Looking forward to seeing a few run throughs of these scoundrels in these games in your channel. ^.^

That's a great list! Mine is probably something like this at the moment in no particular order: 20. Heat 19. The Game 18. Scout 17. Ra 16. The Thing: The Board Game 15. Kanban EV 14. War of the Ring 13. War Chest 12. Tigris & Euphrates 11. Clank! Catacombs 10. Castles of Burgundy 9. Fields of Arle 8. Feast for Odin 7. Whitehall Mystery 6. Food Chain Magnate 5. Concordia 4. Barrage 3. Bohnanza 2. Carcassonne 1. La Granja

Great video. Great format. Love the games being burned in each category.

Santorini hasn't been hitting the table lately, I suspect because it's enormous compared to tighter 2p games like Onitama and Hive, but it's one of the first (smallish) modern board games I got properly into and holds a special place in my heart. I do think that the golden fleece in the expansion is an excellent idea for playing a balanced and even more positional game and may even be my preferred game mode. I totally agree with your take on the Pantheon edition and solo/co-op Riddle of the Sphinx expansion. "Why do this?" Based on the price point and thoughtlessness of ROTS, I think it was a cash grab. I would have liked the more balanced god powers and prettier pieces, but it just wasn't worth ~80USD (IIRC) to me, plus expensive shipping to Canada. Maybe if it makes it onto a FLGS shelf for 50CAD I'll think about it, but even then it doesn't seem to add enough, especially if my groups don't play that one often. Thank you for the video, it was a very interesting list and has made me add games to my to-play list, which I hope to do at a board game café. I did take some slight offense to Nemesis being cut out due to BS:G, but that's mostly because I can pull Nemesis Co-op mode out with any group of people for an utterly incredible narrative and thematic experience that everyone can enjoy if they don't mind the time-to-play, so I don't usually think about it as a hidden identities/betrayal game.

Leaving Earth is my favorite game of all time and how I found your channel. I actually clicked on this video solely to see if you'd chosen it for this list because NOTHING scratches that same itch. Cannot recommend it enough to anyone it sounds interesting to.

Superb video, very enjoyable. Would have also appreciated your suggested best player count for each game.

I love that thunderbirds made the list

Personal list of 5 hard hitters: Spirit Island Mage Knight (works solo+coop+pvp+teams!) Terraforming Mars Archipelago (meta/backstabbing/co-competition) Ecplise 2nd dawn of the galaxy

It's good to see someone else enthusiastic for leaving earth, but I also kinda feel once you've got your various technologies beyond the point of them suddenly failing, and you've worked out what you need to reach various places (essentially, solving the puzzle of the game itself), the game becomes very predictable. I felt this even more keenly when I played with friends that had never tried it before. Suddenly it was that I could just blast to the moon immediately without issue, whereas they were just getting the hang of the games principles. But I hope someone creates a more combative version based on this game as it is truly a hidden gem.

You truly are a fantasy flight lover. (me too)