by Kyle King
I really got into the hobby around March 2017 when I received Small World, Lords of Waterdeep, and Betrayal at House on the Hill for my birthday. I had played games before, but didn’t start buying and really playing until around this time. In June 2017, I downloaded BG Stats and started recording my plays. On July 16, 2019, I hit 100 unique games played. This is my ranking of those games.I’m putting the number of plays for each game so that you may see at what point my judgment is coming from. Sometimes a game needs multiple plays, sometimes one is enough.
90. Qwirkle - 1 Play (recorded, but many more than that) – I am bad at this game. My wife always crushes. It’s just shapes and colors? No. It’s crap and garbage. Now, this game isn’t low because I’m bad. I swear. I’m not THAT bitter. This game just doesn’t do anything for me. Is anyone ever excited to play Qwirkle? This game is now blocks for my daughter to build towers with. Congrats Qwirkle, you’ve staved off elimination with toddler immunity.
89. Meeple Circus - 1 Play – I played this at Origins this year. I had this game built up so much in my group as this game we had to get. I just never wanted to spend $50 on it. I would try and make bets where the loser had to buy Meeple Circus. I just had to stack an elephant meeple on a tiger on a strong man. But man, it was underwhelming. I think if I was given this game, I’d play it for stupid fun about once every 6 months, but this is definitely not worth spending money on.
88. Blokus - 1 Play (recorded, but many more than that) – I’ve said “Don’t talk shit about Blokus” more than once to my friends. This game is fine, I’m actually probably more willing to play it than other games above it. It’s just not exciting. Blokus is green beans. There’s nothing offensive about it, but I’m never going choose put it on my plate. Please don’t @ me about green beans.
87. Dominion: Intrigue - 1 Play – This went over so well I don’t even remember playing it. I’ve played regular Dominion too (that’s obviously higher up). I must’ve just had a bad experience with these sets of cards. I dunno. Just play base Dominion
86. Covert - 2 Plays – Both these plays were at 2 players. I wonder if this would be better at more players. My friend bought this game, we learned it on the spot and he’s never brought it up again. He’s left all of his games at my house…except this one. Sometimes I wonder if this game is Covert is actually a spy and it’s ran off to do its next spy thing, but more than likely it’s in the trash can.
85. Smash Up - 1 Play – I played this game on the tail end of a decathalon (10 games in a day) and it was the only game that divulged into a quasi-argument. Possibly because it had been 14 hours with the same people, but that just left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t get offended by being attacked in other games or take that, but something happened that game. I could see this game being fun. If I owned it, I bet it would rise up.
84. Five Tribes - 8 Plays – I put this game in my 10x10 this year and due to this, Five Tribes has fallen about 50 spots. Players with AP kill this game…absolutely kills it. This game should’ve come with a sand timer. If you don’t make a move in 30 seconds, you lose a billion coins. You may remember from the last 10 that VARIABILITY DOES NOT EQUAL REPLAYABILITY. This is the poster child. Set up is always different, different djinns, market row…ton of variability. The optimal strategy stays the same though. Don’t bid high, something will be there for you. Go for green and set collect as much as possible. As soon as I’m finished with my 10x10, this game is going gone.
83. Risk - 1 Play (recorded, but many more than that) – This is what I did in high school. My friends would come over every Saturday and we played Risk. I loved Risk so much. It felt like war. I don’t get the whole “I don’t like game X because it didn’t make me feel like a coal miner.” It’s a board game! You’re pushing around cardboard and plastic! But Risk did make me feel like a war strategist. It just doesn’t hold up now that I’ve played other games. It’s too long. It’s too luck dependent. It’s too king-making. And if anyone is going to be king-making, it’s going to be me (my last name is King and I’ve made 2 Kings).
82. Risk Legacy - 8 Plays –Qwirkle It ends faster? This is hurt because I played Pandemic Legacy before this game, but man, there’s not much to it. I expected story. I expected wholesale changes every game. This just doesn’t deliver. Only 7 more plays to go…oh my gosh…7 more plays.
81. 12 Days - 12 Plays (that’s weird) – On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…would you look at that? It’s…it’s another 11. Who would have thought? This is the 5th 11 I’ve been passed. I love Christmas. I’m like a 10 year old at Christmas. I like getting gifts, I like giving gifts, I like the songs, and I like the movies. And I do like playing 12 Days around the holidays. But the game ain’t great, folks. But its 15 minutes and it’s got a fun theme and it’s a little different than other stuff I’ve played. Five Tribes, you were beaten out by a card game that can be played 3 weeks out of the year.