My Top Games of 2024 - 34 at 34

by Josiah Matson

The Year's They Keep On Turnin'

I once got a game that was *THIS BIG*!
Last year, I started a Geeklist tradition of choosing the top number of games based on my age. Last year it was My Top 33 at 33 and it was with every intention of posting this list before my next birthday that I curated my next list over the last year. I began working on the list probably mid-October, but as I got busier and busier, I didn't manage to get the list done and put it off again and again.

As the year continued to creep by, I realized that I was getting dangerously close to my birthday in December and that I still had yet to post the list. I'm cutting it rather close even now as it's going live on the 20th, only nine days before the big day and I realized that I should probably plan this out a bit better next year.

I had fully planned on a review this week, but as I wanted to also get this geeklist and accompanying blog post out, this Friday is once again a bit different than I usually have. I thought that I'd put together the definitive list as well as a link to the geeklist below and offer a few thoughts on how the list changed and altered over the year as I was building it.

Listing Out My Favorites

Stand tall in the midst of trials, as it will drive your enemies crazy.
I feel like I've done this before, but then as I looked through past posts, I came to the understanding that I had done a few posts about my favorite solo games, but never including multiplayer games on that list as well. It was due to a serious sense of deja-vu that I had to go back, and it was only after I confirmed that I wasn't recycling content (*phew*) that I was happy to continue working on this post.

For those who are interested in checking out the Geeklist, it can be found here when it goes live. It theoretically should be live by the time this post is live, but then again, I put it off for two months so what's another week?

If you're like me, you'll want to read through the various reasoning why each game sits on what location on the list and that's what this geeklist is for. For everyone else who is just here to read this blog and thinks that I'm insane for even suggesting that you click a link to go to another page (I know I'm nuts, you don't have to rub it in), the list is below:

#34 - Cartographers Heroes: Collector's Edition
#33 - Dead Man's Draw
#32 - Magic Maze
#31 - The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
#30 - Cascadia
#29 - Lost Ruins of Arnak
#28 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf
#27 - Gizmos
#26 - Lords of Waterdeep
#25 - Welcome to the Moon
#24 - Expeditions
#23 - Arcs
#22 - Marvel Champions: The Card Game
#21 - Tales of the Arabian Nights
#20 - Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
#19 - Terraforming Mars
#18 - Dead Cells: the Rogue-Lite Board Game

Let's take a bit of a break at the starting line before moving on to the next half of the list.
#17 - Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Collector's Edition
#16 - Lands of Galzyr
#15 - Welcome To...
#14 - Everdell Duo
#13 - Unmatched Game System
#12 - Heat: Pedal to the Metal
#11 - Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure
#10 - Everdell: The Complete Collection
#9 - Clank! Catacombs
#8 - Wyrmspan
#7 - Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure
#6 - Thunder Road: Vendetta - Maximum Chrome
#5 - Ark Nova
#4 - Dorfromantik: The Board Game
#3 - Obsession
#2 - Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated

Are we surprised that this imposing monolith is my favorite game of the year?
#1 - The 7th Continent

Adjusting and Readjusting

Games sometimes need some revision and adjustment, just like my plays of Lost Ruins of Arnak.
As I worked through my rankings on Pub Meeple, which is far more helpful that I ever expected it to be, I found that there were a few games here and there that ended up further down the list than I thought they should have been. This final tallying of the games often resulted in those games being bumped up the list in favor of other less desired games moving down in the rankings. For instance, I found that Cascadia fell off the list and was pretty far down at #64, but after some serious thought, I knew that it needed to make it in the list, at least in the top 30 or so, hence why it's on this list.

I do enjoy the head to head comparison, but I think that sometimes it ends up with games ending up lower than I meant them to be due to them falling behind games that weren't necessarily well-compared to them. So this after-revision is important as it allows me to look at the games and make determination with an overall look of the games list rather than just a single one on one comparison. Look at the overall list of games and being able to determine where I think certain games should fall is much easier once the list has been generated.

It did require a good half-hour or so of comparisons, since there were so many games that I had included on the comparison, and it only had gotten longer with new games that I had played over the last few months. I'm sure that it's only going to get longer and longer as I play more and more games, but I think that it will also continue to get easier. With more variety, the best of the best continue to stand out, and I'm really curious to see how much this will change from year to year, as it has already.

Time Passed and Forward Thinking

Some days, Clank! gets you and other days, you end up with six tomes and an emerald for the win.

For comparison of last years list, my top ten games were:

#1 - Magic Maze
#2 - Dinosaur World
#3 - One Night Ultimate Werewolf
#4 - Deliverance
#5 - Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Collector's Edition
#6 - The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth
#7 - Agents of SMERSH: Epic Edition
#8 - Welcome To...
#9 - Dungeonology: The Expedition
#10 - PARKS

If we take a deep dive into the current list, we find that only three of the games in my previous top 10 have made it back onto the list for this year and of those three, the highest that was managed was #15 by Welcome To... It's an interesting dichotomy to see so many great games on both lists, but also to note how much my tastes have grown and evolved over the course of the last year or so.

I also attribute it to learning more games over the course of the year and having significantly more to compare those games to. If, for example, one is only used to eating canned food and then has a chance to eat a chef-prepared meal with fresh ingredients, it will be an entirely new experience for that individual. There will be flavors and textures and other intangible items that are not able to be discussed due to the eater having never experienced them for the first time with that meal. It will take time and effort and repeated exposure to develop the ability to discern the various nuances of the meal, but as the eater becomes more familiar, they will be able to better develop their palette and provide further feedback on the quality of the meal.

The same can be said with board games. If one is only used to playing basic games with simplistic mechanics like Carcassonne or Monopoly, the first time that a board game with more intricate mechanics will be an eye opener and can often be confusing and intimidating. But, as one begins to acclimate to the various logic portions of the new mechanics and board games, they begin to see patterns amongst the various games and start to discern which games utilize the mechanics in profound or excellent ways.

I believe that it's due to my exposure of over 150 new games this year that I've been able to better understand mechanics, balance, and even strategy within games and fully develop my understanding of what I appreciate in games. While there might be some new games and mechanics that challenge the status quo of what has been previously implemented, I find that many of the games that are coming out are often reiterations of the same mechanics. When it comes down to it, often it's the theming and pairing with mechanics that speak to me and lead me to enjoy some games over others. There's been an expansion of my mindset that has led to further understanding of the realm of board games and with that expansion, further clarification of my wants and desires when playing games.

Final Thoughts

Metal coins will always be something that I'm looking to include in my games, even if it's just for aesthetics.
I have said it over and over again here on my blog, but everyone has different tastes when it comes to games and that's what makes this website so special. Something that might be a 10/10 for me might end up being a 5/10 for someone else and vice versa. I might have had an excellent first experience with a game and that lends itself to a higher rating regarding the theming and mechanics of the game whereas someone else might have had a horrid first experience and thus provide a lower score overall. Ratings are all opinion based and I will fully admit that there are more factors going into a rating than just what I thought about the game, including what is going on in my household at the time and how it has affected my overall mood.

This taste development also has to do with availability of the game and while I would love to be able to go through the top 100 games here on BGG and rate them all, the reality is that I've not played about 60% of the games on the top 100, so it would be inappropriate of me to offer ratings for something I've never experienced. There are multiple games that I'd love the opportunity to play, like Brass: Birmingham, Nemesis, or Spirit Island, but as I don't have easy access to these games, it becomes difficult for me to try them out. While board games are more and more abundant than they have been, it still also comes down to availability of time and connection with others to play those games.

I'm certain that my "Top 35 at 35" list will look different next year when I put it together, but I also suspect that I will have more of the same games on it than last year as I learn and play more games. It's a fun opportunity to go through past thoughts and experiences and see how much that I have grown in the last year. I hope that you got as much out of this as I did putting it all together.

Give me your thoughts:What are some games that originally shot to the top of your favorites list, but have since dropped significantly? Are there any major changes to your favorite games year over year, or do you find perennial favorites that pop up on your list year after year? What influences why you have certain games on your favorites list over other games?

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