My Favorite Board Games

This post is similar to this one which I did for beer, in that it's very much a ranking of personal preferences based on limited experience. Over the next ten years, I expect it to change as I am introduced to new games.

Also, the title would be more accurate if I called them tabletop games to account that plenty of these games don't have boards. But not everyone knows what tabletop games are and in my head I still refer to all of these as board games.

I'm not including Scattergories, Pit, Trivial Pursuit or Catch Phrase below as I consider those party games and for a completely different audience and occasion than the games below.

Also, I haven't played a lot of games. Here are the favorite games of reddit/r/boardgames, and I haven't played any of the top 50.

Anyways, here is a ranking of the games that I own in some format or another.


17. Scrabble

I've played some good games of Scrabble. But it's slow and being good at Scrabble involves memorizing two-letter words and manipulating the game instead of being creative.

16. Monopoly

For being America's most popular game, it gets a bad rap both from casual gamers and hardcore gamers. Amongst families, it has a reputation of lasting forever and being boring. Among hardcore gamers, they think it's child's play or crap. But if you actually play by the rules of auctioning every property and not placing money on free parking, it can play quickly.

15. Clue

This was my favorite game as a kid. I loved the mystery element and that it required deduction and not luck. Also, as an adult there are advanced strategies that eluded me as a child. Unfortunately, winning is more based on luck (randomly finding the missing cards first) than deduction skills.

14. Ticket to Ride

This was the first modern game I was introduced to. I think I played it too much. Also, the fact that it's the same map every time, limits the replayability for me. Basically, to win you need to construct a route that goes from coast to coast and get route cards to match up.

13. Cleopatra

A good game with a nice twist of eliminating the most corrupt player. Has some great mechanics. Still, it feels like the same strategy every time.

12. Lost Cities

A two-player game that is not very complex. The simplicity makes it fun and easy to play but also not very deep or engaging.

11. Love Letter
10. Roll For It
9. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

I put all three of this games in the middle here for the same reason: I purchased them but have yet to play them. So this is a very temporary, approximate rating. If I ever revise this list, I'll expand on my thoughts.

8. Clue: The Great Museum Caper

This game really has nothing to do with Clue at all. It's an art heist game, which to me is really the best theme ever. The gameplay isn't perfect but it's still a cool game.

7. Settlers of Catan

I've never owned the board version or even played it, but I have extensively played a computer game version. It's the gateway modern board game for good reason. It requires strategy and a bit of luck, with multiple different ways to succeed.

6. A Duel Betwixt Us

This is a two-player game that I bought on Kickstarter. Okay, I didn't buy in on Kickstarter. I saw it on Kickstarter and then bought it on Amazon. And I haven't actually played this one yet either, but I've opened it up and learned how to play. It looks fun, perhaps a bit on the complex side.

5. Zombie Dice

This is simple and fun, mostly luck based but with a touch of strategy (when to stop, when to keep rolling).

4. Forbidden Island

This is a game by Matt Leacock, the designer of the #1 game on my list. It's not quite as good at that game, but still has interesting co-op mechanics and great replayability.

3. Scotland Yard

Along with Clue, this is a game that I grew up with. But finding people to play it with was always a problem. Well, I just recently got the Android version (4.99) and it's awesome. It's nice to be able to control all 5 detectives against an AI Mr. X.

2. Tsuro

Just got this game last month and it's awesome. The amazing thing about this game is that it's strategic enough for adults but a three-year-old can play it too. It's quick and fun. Every game is different because of the tile-based gameplay. I think it's a great game for non-gamers. Also, for what it's worth, I learned of Tsuro, Forbidden Island, Zombie Dice, Love Letter, and Roll For it through Wil Wheaton's Tabletop series.

1. Pandemic

Do you have what it takes to save humanity? I love this game. It's a co-op game. Either everyone at the table wins or everyone loses. What makes this game #1 for me? You can use cards in different ways and you have to balance priorities: finding cures and removing diseases from cities. This game is intense. With the game on the line, you could have three equally viable options to decide between. And the difference between winning and losing can be razor thin, so every decision is important.


Edit: Five days later, I got the Android version of Carcasonne and I think it's great. At this point, I might put it on par with Forbidden Island.


Wish List

The Resistance

This is basically like the very fun game Mafia, but without having to eliminate players. It looks very fun but requires at least 5 players. So...who knows if I'll ever play it.

Sushi Go

This looks like a fun, quick game that could be played by adults and kids alike. But the cards have words on them, so I don't think the boys are ready for this yet.

Escape

This is a two-player only game designed to be played in 5 minutes. Looks super cool but I don't really have anyone to play it with and I chose to get A Duel Betwixt Us over this one.

Coup

This game looks very similar to Love Letter. According to reddit, the strategy is much deeper, and they like it much better. It seems more like Mafia (in that you have to deceive the other players).

King of Tokyo

This would be a good game for the kids to start playing.