I tried Kingdomino as a 3p game with friends (after our first game of Blood Rage), and it was OK. I then played with my wife the 7x7 variant and it went on to become our favorite couple's game that we played non-stop!
I recently had the exact same realization about games with "gamer" versions, and used KoT and Kingdomino as my examples! I have come to appreciate their simplicity. Great list!
Lords of waterdeep for me. A bit like you were saying with Kingdomino, when I first started gaming I was all 'Oh man this game is so simple, clearly not worthy of a REAL GAMER such as myself'. I sold it. I bought it again a year later; it's great.
King of Tokyo Dark Edition made this game grow on me. I absolutely love the artwork and the little twist of the wickedness track keeps me coming back for more.
Yeah Mike, I feel exactly the same way on Tapestry. I just really really enjoy my plays of it. I think it just got really hurt for the "Civ game" sub title. people were expecting a completely different type or experience. IMO if you just play the game for what it is, I just have a ton of fun with this one. Maximizing rounds/ages and combo creating. I thought I would dislike the capital city sudoku-ish part, but that's fun too.
Gentes is the same for me!!! And my dear Mike...I have played Tapestry 4 times and every time I could have made lunch and had someone move my pieces around randomly and have done as well...
Couldn’t agreed with you more Nick. Played so many “light” games in the last year and it has been a blast! I’ve actually played games ten times instead of once or twice and moving on. Still love heavy games but it’s much mor relaxing to play a serried of light games in the same time frame!
Totally agree with NMBR 9 and Gentes, been trying to hype both those games for while. Neither get talked about nearly as much as they should, especially for NMBR 9!
I can absolutely see how enjoying simpler things are sometimes more appealing. I love a complex, heavy game. But sometimes I don't need to have a great game made more complicated. For me, I really like Azul: Summer Pavilion, Welcome To New Las Vegas, & Century: Eastern Mountains. But even though I enjoy them all, I actually prefer the the purity of Azul, Welcome To, and Century: Spice Road Golem Edition. I return to them more often. ECOS... yesssssssss. Sorry. Just wanted to talk about ECOS because it's so good and I feel underrated, and every time I play it I like it more and more. I'm so grateful you picked that game on the cruise, cause now I've become an evangelist for it. Also, Mike coming in and putting Scythe here too, and then doubling down with Tapestry. Both in my top 10 of all time. Mike... what a beautifully crafted redemption arc. This is quality entertainment. The type that engages you and makes you route for the characters in show. What a twist. I didn't see that coming.
It's been a year, but I have a list of games that grew on me as I played them more. #5 Viticulture - I wasn't sure about this one originally. A neighbor picked it and Tuscany up and wanted me to come play. I waited about a month, then watched a few tutorials before going over to play. Turned out that it was really fun, so I bought my own copies, and then the Essential versions. Still play today. #4 Race For The Galaxy - I have to admit, the iconography initially turned me off to this game. After buying and playing the "Roll" version, everything clicked and I really got into this one. #3 Kingdomino - My biggest regret is that I waited until last week to try this. I loved it from the first play. #2 Fury of Dracula (3rd Ed) - Been playing this one since right before this edition went out of print. Always eager to get this to the table with all 5 players! #1 Carcassonne - Been playing this one for 8 years. Always a blast to bring to the table and even enjoy playing a solo variant of this one. 29 plays just this month!
The giants expansion is pretty amazing for Kingdomino. It just gives more bonus scoring options and a bit of “take that”, but it doesn’t make it any more complex. We always play with it now. Only downside is we got rid of the tile tower to fit everything in one box.
The game that grew on me the most this past year is The Networks. Played it a few times at our local board game cafe and it was just ok to me. I think it may have been the person in our game group that loved the game would crush everyone at the table. It was never even close. I did back the two player version on Kickstarter thinking that it would just be nice to have a small version of the game. In a moment of needing some retail therapy, I bought The Networks for myself and played it the family. Which was a much more lighthearted and enjoyable experience. That led to getting all the expansions as well. It is now in my Top 25 at least.
30:27 It is all about the mechanics: It’s about how you have those cards and you have to pick 2 cards - 1 top ability and 1 bottom ability. Also, how the cards have different speeds. It’s about not knowing what your partner’s speed is going to be - which is why I feel that this game makes for a very bad solo game - because you ALWAYS know the speeds of the other characters/cards, which is half of the fun as you play.
Viticulture grows on me. I actually got it because of the Brothers Murph my wife has really grown on it she loves it but it never was a game that I was cold on, but every time I play another worker placement game, I always think about Viticulture like “that’s what I want to play right now” because the mechanics are so clean and the theme is so perfect for what it is.
I'm the opposite. I liked Viticulture when I first played it but once I played more complicated work placements I sorta stopped playing. I haven't played it with the expansion though!
I doubt you have enough to make a top 10 list, but I think it would be neat to see a video from you guys about games you initially played incorrectly (like TMP Energy Empire), what you did wrong, and how the experience changed when you did it the right way. My group has multiple stories like this- most notably Endeavor: Age of Sail, in which we misunderstood an important rule for about 5 plays. I initially didn't like the game very much at all, and it's still not my favorite, but now I'm actually willing to play it!
Oh gosh we have SO many games that we have played wrong and for like a very long time. There still are many I’m sure we aren’t aware of that we play incorrectly to this day. It’d be interesting to see if we could remember enough for a list!
Some games that grew on me: Abyss: This one had a weird progression for me. I liked it at first. Then I started to feel like maybe I'd seen everything there was to see in it and I started to think about getting rid of it. But then play after play just knocked it out of the park for me and the people I was playing it with. And that was before expansions. Throw those in and now this is one of my favorites. Blood Rage: Needed a few plays of this to overcome the expectations that it's a dudes on a map or area control game. It has elements of those but is a card drafting game. Once I got that into my head and started to repeat and mix/match drafting strategies in different plays, this one became a LOT more fun for me. It has a pretty good meta, too. Knowing that someone is going for Loki and trying to react to it appropriately is just fun. Cry Havoc: This one continues to get better and better. Half the challenge of the game is trying to figure out how to play as your faction even remotely effectively, which is harder to do than it is in a lot of other games depending on the faction. But once you start to get familiar with a team, start to mix and match their powers, and get more plays under your belt, this one just keeps getting better. Now that I know what I should be trying to do as the robots, I'm always a little disappointed when I don't get to use them in a game. My first attempt at playing as them was rooooough. But then knowing that each faction does have potential if you can find it is pretty rewarding. I've never played as one of the factions, and kind of like knowing that there's still more to learn (or I have a team to fall back to if I'm playing with new people). Ethnos/Libertalia: The ideal way to play both of these games is "I really like/dislike this faction/character... now how does it fit into this combination?" This is probably more of a thing for Libertalia but is there to a lesser degree in Ethnos. The first couple of times you use each faction or character, the games are ok. You can make logical decisions about where/when they might work. But the games knock it out of the park when you enter a game knowing you had a killer game with a specific faction or character, wanting to repeat it, but then having to figure out how to do so with a different combination of board state/other cards in your hand. And the more you develop that with multiple characters/factions, the more fun the games get. Space Base: I thought Space Base was ok at best after my first play of it. But I kept getting it to the table because it fit into game nights when the main game was done and we wanted to play something else that was beefier than a filler, but not quite a BIG game. This one is quick to setup and teach, and easy to remember the rules, so it kept being the game for those scenarios. I don't even really know what changed about it in that time, but I just started looking more and more forward to playing it. My play style has evolved a LITTLE (in that I actually remember to try to get points, now) but I didn't tap into any deep hidden strategies or anything. I think this just accomplishes what it wants to do so perfectly and once you know exactly what that is, you can kind of just ease into a game of it so easily and it feels comfortable and relaxing.
Tapestry also grew on me, to where it was my favorite at one point, but it isn't great at two players, so it's dropped a bit. But the amount of just fun exploring of the possibility space that that game allows you to do...! And The Bloody Inn. The more I've played that game, the more the brilliance of the design becomes apparent. It's just fun.
39:34 Ok, with regard to Kingdomino vs Queendomino, it seems to me that you are thinking about it wrong: Let me ask you something: What if Kingdomino never existed? What if they had only released Queendomino? If that was the only game they had intended to make. In that case, you would not be able to compare like you currently are doing. Would you just be saying that Queendomino is just not a game for you? Or is there something which attracted you to the game in the first place?
I would compare it to Century:Spice Road/Golem. It’s such a simple and quick game. You can mix the Century games up to make them more meaty, but it loses the simplicity and tight gameplay. Personally, I’m more drawn to games that are quick and light, so I totally get why they prefer King to Queen.
I literally picked up That's So Clever the other day and I was watching a BGG playthrough last night trying to figure it out. I think it'll be easy once you play it but figuring out how to teach the different ways you can score is a little tricky.
Ex Libris love! It's such a strange but wonderful game that really hits well in my family. The rules and gameplay have some slightly wonky points but it's such a fantastic game. I will have to give the solo mode a try. Man I can't wait for Nobles of the West Kingdomino! Another great video Bros, thank you.
The reason to play a game, is to have fun. It doesn't matter what it is, how good it is, how it looks, what it means, or why you are doing it. If you view the experience as worthwhile: good on you. No other opinions matter. In the same vien, nobody else matters. Its all about fun.
I've just played two each of Blue Moon City, Shaolia and Kingdomino (7x7) with a friend. So yes, KD still rocks. And also yes, Naga Raja is very underrated. Haven too, btw.
Excellent list! Thank you guys! For me, it would be Everdell, Race for the Galaxy and (please don't hate me) Cribbage. Love you guys! Keep the great stuff going, and have a nice day!
Kingdomino is your number 1, have you tried Minigolf Designer? I love it It does add a little more to the idea of kingdomino but it's not (to me) overwhelming like Queendomino.. and the theme of building a minigolf park is really fun
Miyabi is very fun, i’ve only played it 2 player, with my husband it”s fun, then I played it with a friend and she was frustrated and didn’t want to finish the game because it was certain she would lose. It is a family game with a simple rules set, but if you have more experience with this type of games, you can master it quicker.
Not a game, so much, but a mechanic. Area control. I used to really dislike games focused on area control, but over time I have come to really enjoy them. (Cereibria, Petrichor, Cuba Libre, and Pax Viking are the four in my collection now)
I played Hanabi as one of the first games when I got into the hobby, it had won the Spiel des Jahres, so it had to be great, right? I rated it a 6.Solid, but you know... Two years later I found a new gaming group where two of the players ADORE Hanabi and so I played it again, and again and again... and with each play it grew on me. Today, I rate it a 10. I know a lot of people (Tom Vasel *cough*) don't see it's staying power, but man, I've played it well over 100 times and especially with the new black powder variant, it kills. A masterpiece. I am so grateful this game is on BGA!
Oh I agree. It's downright dull with most groups. But if you find people who are engaged and want to play, it's an easy 9 possibly 10. It really is awesome. But it almost requires people to accept that it will eventually get there for them to sit down and learn the meta rules. Once you get that group, it will become a top 10 for sure. I think it requires a love for deduction though.
Totally agree this game is so player dependent but if you get the right group it just is amazing. People start speaking these double languages and it’s awesome
I have a lot of respect for games that don't throw the kitchen sink at you, "simple" games... so I get what you're saying about Kingdomino Nick. Making things simple is actually not simple, it requires effort. We have a natural tendency to over-complicate things, and designers have to work hard to simplify their games. Less is more...
My gf and I are gonna play jaws of the lion together. Are there any 2 character combos we should avoid or lean towards? I’m thinking hatchet but if 2 characters are super good together or super bad that’d be good to know going in
Personally I have loved playing hatchet and voidwarden as a pair with my friend but I honestly think it just comes down to which style character appeals to you. The voidwarden is all about manipulating others but does very little direct damage so can be a bit thinky. I love that aspect but some people may not.
Pandemic is my #1. Played it 1 time and thought it was an ok game. I didn't play it again for about 5 years. After that, I enjoyed it more and more. Now it's my favorite game.
To be honest. The expansion to kingdomino is perfect, it integrates so seamlessly without complicating the game (as Queendomino did). Would never play without it given the choice and always teach it with the expansion as if it came included.
We didn’t mind it seemed fairly typical “not does stuff to get in the way” and didn’t take up too much brain power. I’d be curious to hear more about this variant thought did you dig it?
@@TheBrothersMurph Yeah, after our first play we thought that the bot had too much power and got too many points. Here's the variant we used which made it much more fun www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2547464/2-player-friendly-rival-plus-5-rounds
Acquire grew on me. I still don't like its capitalistic theme or that the game rewards you most for making mergers (thus, consolidating market power and throwing a bunch of now redundant workers out on their ass), but after a few plays, it is a pretty solid game as long as I can put its theme out of mind.
When I first played Steam, I did not enjoy it very much. I thought too many things were stripped out of Age of Steam, but Martin Wallace was doing it because he did not have the rights to his earlier and superior design. While I still think Age of Steam is a much better design, I will happily play Steam now.
@@adamrosenquist9531 if you have a chance to play at a game night or convention definitely give it a go it’s so so fun but totally agree ya gotta know if you like it because they ain’t cheap
Villainous is just not a game that thrives with any sort of downtime. Villainous is a dueling game that can handle 3. There's a lot of luck, and it can drag at the end, but it feels great for a quick 2p game.
Tapestry (and other SM games for that matter) have a very vocal minority of people that spread "the hate" on the game, and if it were for that people wouldn't like it at all. Is it great, perfect? No. Is it fun? Definetely yes. It's super accessible, fast, it has enough to explore in a one hour game. The randomness of the cards is my only gripe with it.
Yeah we always do draw 2 tapestry cards keep one to help with that and it’s nice. We do the same with viticulture as well. Just to mitigate some of the bad card luck
I didn't like King of Tokyo so much that I wouldn't buy it, I loved the concept. The colorful artwork threw me off for the theme, and I hated that 1's and 2's were useless. Note: I refuse to buy expansions to try to make a bad game, to me, good. Then came the dark edition that has the wickedness track to give you a reason to keep the low numbers. The artwork is so much better to me. I bought it the week it came out and still love it.
7 Wonders - Always knew this had a lot of hype. Played the game, but it never seemed to came to any meaningful conclusion. Confusing scoring (only one of us at the table knew what was going on). Bizarre point tokens going around, coin costs, wasn't sure, am I supposed to build the wonder or not? I can't complete everything, sometimes nothing in later rounds, then bam, the game is over. What? What was that? But after a few plays I started to see how the connection of the cards worked, on how different types of colours (or suits) could be combined and how there were a few ways to use the money and buildings and trade with other players, hate drafting, etc and so it didn't become solitaire rummy. I still think science is a tad overpowered and one poor player can sort of spoil the game (by ignoring the science cards and not blocking), but with the numerous expansions there's enough variety. Components are excellent, but I house rule with 4 coins instead of 3.
I watched this with a less-informed gamer. On future lists, it might be helpful to work in a description of the games for people who haven't heard about them. I'm sure you could trim up some other stuff to avoid making the video longer in the process.
Truth we usually try to explain the game a bit more and for whatever reason on this one as we talked we did that less but that’s a great reminder thanks!
Few boardgames are good with more than 4 players. 4 players is the magical limit to SO many board games. Some even 3 maby. It's real sad that many games tell you you can play with 5+ players when really they don't work well at all. They just want the game to be high on the market for many game groups but end up butchering their game for many that unfortunately get to try it with a bad optimal player limit. Some games thrives with high player population tho and can only be truly enjoyed with a higher player group. I'm thinking Cosmic Encounters and games like Mysterium and sheriff of nottingham. Also games like secret hitler etc.
super fan of Rajas of the Ganges, Eternal Palace looks the same. love games with simple rules but complex gameplay, supporting #spaceplague on KS, it’s funded, seeing if more goals can get unlocked including Solo, so spread the word on the campaign
28:19 Sorry, but I have to disagree. I think that my making this a gateway game for people, you are doing them a huge dis-service. Because going forward, they will be expecting all games to be dicefests. I would start people out with a light game which actually has strategy which the players can control - and then after introducing the game to them, continue to play (that same game) with them and eventually they will start to see what kind of decisions the game has. This is why I think that Catan is one of the best gateway games - it is the perfect introduction for somebody to MODERN BOARD GAMES/GAMING. Yes, it is not a perfect game - it has its flaws (it has dice rolling too) - but ALL games do. However, it also has strategy to it. King of Tokyo on the other hand has very little strategy.
