10 Board Games to Start a Collection
Before You Play
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Join us as we discuss 10 board games we recommend if just starting your collection.
*World Series of Board Gaming* Link –
JUMP:
00:00 – Start
00:50 – World Series of Board Gaming
03:14 – Runner Ups
06:57 – 10
09:19 – 9
12:10 – 8
14:56 – 7
17:36 – 6
19:35 – 5
21:35 – 4
24:38 – 3
27:48 – 2
30:28 – 1
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05.06.2023
Nice.
My list:
1. Ticket to Ride
2. For Sale
3. Alhambra
4. Stone Age
5. Splendor
6. Ra
7. Istanbul
8. Cascadia
9. 7 Wonders
10. Survive
International Tabletop Day used to be so great. Haven’t heard a peep about it in years. It needs a revival.
Love this list! I'm still pretty new to board gaming and haven't heard of a handful of these. I'll check them out 🙂
P.S. You guys are awesome
Bruh, Two Rooms and a Boom is nowhere to be found. Really wanted it for my officemates.
You've never played Stone Age?!? It's like I don't even know you anymore! jk
Yep, thats the list. As a newbie in the land of boardgames I started with most of the games mentioned here. except for a few i did not like which are apparently the most popular…..Azul and Wingspan.
If I had to make a top 10 list with honorable mentions it would be. Clank, Paint the Roses, Love Letter, Ruins of Arnak, Just One, Ark Nova, Fallout Shelter, Bargain Quest, Sheriff of Northingham and Cascadia.
Honorable mentions would be Scout, Red Dragon Inn, Cockroach Poker, Bang, No thanks, King of Tokyo, Hive Mind, 6 Takes and Concordia.
My list (and what I’ve found has worked well for new players), in no particular order:
Carcassonne
Ticket to Ride (or Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries for 2-3 players)
Monikers
Just One
Concordia
The Crew
Codenames
Chinatown
Pandemic (any version)
Cockroach Poker
We have 4 kids and these are our top 10 games to get them started (3yo – 5yo).
– Hoot Owl Hoot
– Monster Match
– My First Castle Panic
– My First Carcassonne
– Dragomino
– Quacks and Co
– Ticket to Ride First Journey/Ghost Train
– My First Stone Age
– Catan Junior
– Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters
Good next step games (5yo – 7yo):
Roll For It, Similo, Andor Family, My Lil' Everdell, Sleeping Queens, Dragonwood, Dragonrealm, Lanterns, Dixit, Draftosaurus, Coloretto, King of Tokyo
I'd toss Distilled into this list. It's a strategy game with push-your-luck elements where you are trying to get the most recognition for your distillery that takes place over 7 turns by making recipes using market-style drafting. It just came out this year, and it's been a big introduction to heavier games for our collection (it's kind of medium-heavy, so not too overwhelming).
Awesome list guys! I have 6 out of the 10 games on this list. Guess Im on the right track.
Great list. I didn't have a great experience with Arnak, so that's probably my one disagreement. Some of the early games I was brought up on were Rise of Augustus, Survive, Excape, Carcassone, and Ticket To Ride. All great 'starting out' games. Also, I'd throw a trick-taking game in there too – Skull King. Probably my favorite, because of the mix of bidding and card play.
Hey great video! Man I LOVE Lost Ruins of Arnak! Feel the need to add my two cents.
1. I usually suggest the Century games for a great place to start a collection. The 3 games alone are good representations of their genres, but also their combinations are a great exploration of modern trends of combining mechanisms. These games aren’t GREAT, but always a good time.
2. Long time owner of Lords of Waterdeep. Really enjoy the game, but the intrigue cards “take that” aspect always kinda annoyed me and lead to kingmaker situations. However lately, I’ve been playing 2 player with a buddy using the app, and it’s now my preferred way to play! Its nice to have an obvious target for these cards, rather than someone feeling targeted due to arbitrary whims.
One game I would like to add to the list is Phillip Walker Harding's Super Mega Lucky Box. The rules are easy (it's basically bingo) and it introduces the idea of engine building and there is some good strategy as well. It also takes about 30 minutes to play.If you are looking for minis war game that is easy to learn, I would suggest Memoir "44.
Just buy them all… I have a problem…
Great list!!! Love the channel and your energy together. Flamecraft…I feel like the publisher did a whole lot of paid content contracts, thought this immediately after the second play. The hype was way too much for an okay (and that's….yeah) game.
I don't get how games like 7 Wonders, TTR, and Carcassonne are not still on your '10 Board Games to Start a Collection' list. It's so weird to just throw out a great list of 10 "runner up" games. And choosing Flamecraft (which is still a great game) as your worker placement game for the list just seems kinda…meh? There are much better WP games out there, but more power to you.
Never played Carcassonne!?!? It was one of my introductions to the hobby and the first game that really clicked with me and my wife, still one of our all time favourites
Great list, definitely missing Isle of Cats, all our family love that one. We also enjoy Grand Austria hotel, most friends and family get to grips really quickly with it. Our Party game is Sequence such a good table talker interactive game especially with more players.
The games that really got me into the hobby:
– Ticket to Ride (Europe)
– Atlantis Rising
– Plunder
– Everdell
Party games:
– Exploding Kittens
– Codenames
your 10 game bonus list…i was shocked Lords of Waterdeep was not on it…and then you added it. Its still one of the best pure worker placement games. My wife and I love it.
With the exception of Architects of the West Kingdom im gonna have to give a strong "Disagree" for the rest of those games to start a collection with. Pretty boring games most them. I'd start with Watergate, Pandemic (Its still awesome), Viticulture, Hansa Teutonica, Alien Frontiers, Agricola, Battle Line, Chinatown, Tammany Hall. Those are EXCELLENT EXCELLENT games and games I think you'd be happy with for a few years if those were all you bought. Also…Don't buy too many games. Have a little collection of 40-50 games but that money is better spent elsewhere and many games are similar to each other with slight reskins. Learn to love the games you have. Travel and invest instead of buying a crazy amount of board games. You aren't missing out that much. Trust me.
That's a great list! ☺️
My collection most definitely does not need a party game! 😂
While I enjoyed the video overall, I strongly disliked the ad. I love the way you guys typically do sponsored content and hope that you forego this in the future.
still dont understand why Monique always waves to the people sitting three rows behind me at the start
No 2 player Games in your list? – Mandala, Splendor Duel are great 2 player game and should be in your collection. Larger player count game that are must have in the collection are i) The King is Dead (Chess like tactical game) (ii) Downforce or Heat Pedal to Metal (Racing Game), iii) Modern Art or Ra (Auction / Bidding Game), iv) Feed the Kraken (Party Game) and (v) Scout (Card game)
Splendor
This is a really good list with a good approach to variety. I would pick different games for a lot of categories, but Cascadia, Wingspan, and Just One are definite cross-overs with mine.
A game I was quite surprised not to see here is Everdell, it's got such great theme and art, is relatively approachable at a baseline, and can grow into a really satisfying midweight euro once you start adding some expansion content.
Great list ! I’ve almost played all of theme, Arboretum, Long Shot the dice game and Skull king would be a great addition as well to start a collection.
I love your channel and I love your content, but the entire problem with a list like this is that it conflates gaming with collecting.
If I knew someone just starting out, I would suggest that the rent or borrow or go to demos or play online and play as much as they can BEFORE buying anything. Get in the habit and mindset of buying once you know you will enjoy it and know you will play it.
That’s the huge difference between “games you should play” and “games you should own in your collection”. Gaming should be about having fun and connecting with people you like, not a financial burden or obligation.
Lol I can totally relate to naveen’s feeling of wingspan. I feel like that every time. The randomness problem is worse in wingspan because the cards are random, the resources are random, and the scoring conditions you get are random. Not every game with cards is as random as wingspan.
Clank Legacy felt a bit awkward to me because it’s semi-coop.
Great list many of these are in my top 25 of all time. Love Ethnos and think it’s a great recommendation. Archeos Society is a reimplementation coming and I’m wondering if it will give me the same enjoyment.
Fun list, thank you. I'd add in a small card game such as Coloretto or Parade (thanks Naveen for convincing me to buy this fab game!) The cards, rules and player actions of these games are simple but lots of depth to the games. Good player count coverage too (Parade with 2 is great, not so much Coloretto).
Nice one guys, some great games on the list, going to try a few of these this week.
Just One makes you nervous, but Decrypto doesn't? My whole team looking at me, waiting for the perfect clues. Not too obvious, but clever enough to tip them off. I don't think I've ever been more nervous in my life.
Solid list (some of my fave Gateway games on here), but ALSO: so happy my friend John taught me Flamecraft, sooooo cute and I neeeed it, but I also need those deluxe Dragon minis. ugh
Do you have a list of filler games. Quick games with example – oh my goods.
Nice list 😉. I think Trekking through history could be such a game to get into the hobby… And for me the underrated games Abyss and Brian Boru would also be on the list 😊
Great video! Thank you for this list – and I actually very much enjoyed when you mentioned more games of the same kind.
I played some games like ticket to ride or Carcassonne before, and none of them clicked much
Then someone showed me Citadels. Then and there, I became a board games fan.
😉
Years later and many games later, I still cant shut up about it.
The morał of the story business Citadels being the best gamecof all time is of course that you should teach people games you think they may like, and not games someone in a video said will be good for gateway.
Solid list!
I own most of the games on this list and have introduced my family to a number of them. Instead of Clank, we play Cubitos for the push your luck mechanic. My family really enjoys it and the expansion will likely help get it to the table more often.
I have tried some heavier games but feel like I enjoy games at the weight of Lost Ruins of Arnak best along with some of the lighter games like Space Base and Wingspan.
This hobby is such a great one in finding fun in a variety of complexities and mechanics.
I think the idea of a collection goes beyond the notion of gateway or introductory games because it implies that these games are sticking around, but as with most things we need to establish what we enjoy most and lean into them versus just having games that are popular even if we don’t enjoy the mechanics.
I do very much agree that a collection should have a variety of mechanics to create different gaming experiences. Of course someone may find that they vastly prefer one or two mechanisms to others and ultimately fill their collection with just one or two types of games. It may make it difficult to help others into the hobby but we shouldn’t spend our money on games we won’t ultimately enjoy.
Just my two cents.
Monique, I am so with you on Codenames. I agree it is highly popular (notably the BGB crew loves it), but I personally find it very "meh" and about the most overrated game there is.
I appreciate the disclaimer on the sponsored video from before
It's been 3 days and I'm still recovering from the Carcassonne revelation.
100% Recommend:
Lockup and Dice forge
2 player specific games:
Star wars the deckbuilding game
"Party Game"
Taco cat goat cheese pizza.
Have you guys played any of these?
Love this 30 game top 10 list ;). I'm just kidding, it made me laugh. Those were great examples honestly!
I think the title of this should note since the year you started.
I’d be intrigued as to how you rank some of the runner ups and your all time list of games to start your collection with.