10 Board Games We’ve “Cooled” On | The Games We Feel Differently About Now
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0:00 Overview
0:49 Winter Kingdom
4:33 Aeon’s End
7:50 Nidavellir
13:07 Seasons
17:25 Dominion
22:59 Teotihuacan
28:50 New York Zoo
33:11 Twice as Clever
38:05 The Castles of Tuscany
42:38 7 Wonders Duel
What are some games that you have liked less the more you've played? Or just simply feel differently about now than you originally did?We're super curious, let us know in the comments!
marvel champions lol
No Thanks! because it's not so much a game that you play with a few people as it is a number themed cardboard event that takes place on a table where you and a few people happen to be sitting. There's so much luck involved that there's only so far that experience and skill can take you.
7 Wonders: Duel!? Blasphemy!
I think you need to stop playing board games online, these digital plays seem to be ruining great games for you. Besides, board games are meant to be played on a table and not a computer.
Loved the discussion 😉
I agree with Dominion. There are so many other deckbuilders that have come out since that improve on the formula. However, I still think Dominion is good, but I just don't want to sit at the table and go through a game of it. The app (which I believe is still in Beta) is amazing. It gives you the full Dominion experience, in about 10 minutes. And the AI is really good as well. Highly recommend looking at the app when it comes out.
I think you explained your thoughts about Nidavellir well, but I still love it. For this reason, I try not to play it too often so that I don't get tired of it. But I do agree with you about the high scores. What I have been planning to try out for my next game is a ranked scoring system where each colour is a category plus a coin category and a "white" category for the extra dwarves: in a 3p game, each colour gives 3/2/1 VP to whoever would get the first/second/third points in each category as long as they have at least 1 VP. Then it doesn't help my score so much to have 12 green cards when the second player only has 3. It will change the strategy, but I'll see how much of a difference it makes.
Regarding Dominion, I love deckbuilding as a mechanism. Other games do it differently by adding things like a board or whatever. But they're not better to me. Just different. When I want to simply build my deck and not worry about anything else . . . I still love Dominion for that. And I'm glad my friends agree with me.
100% agree with 7 Wonders Duel. I absolutely do not see how this game has the rating it does.
That’s a lot of online plays. I think its a fun way to play a game every once in awhile but I think the fear of jamming out games too much on there can lead to a lot of this
I fully agree with your opinion of Winter Kingdom, it adds too much complexity to a game that I believe in my opinion wasnt needed. My question to you is do you think if winter kingdom was the initial game would your opinion have changed?
Where is the full mutant genesis review!!!
I've just borrowed seasons from my sister and we are enjoying it still atm, but we still need to add the next cards in and have an expansion so I think we have a few bits to explore.
We also enjoy lords of xidit but don't pick it that often to play.
Quacks of quedlinberg is the game that isn't being picked from our shelf but I've bought the witches expansion for Christmas so hopefully will make us want to play it more often again.
As we build our collection we find ourselves asking … what would We rather play? We have culled a number of games as new games come in. We have really tailored our interests.
I bought the Dark Souls card game and was so disappointed in the art. They have breathtaking art in Dark Souls games and yet they had super dark, blurry art on cards. Ruined whole game for me, even though mechanics awesome
7 Wonders Duel is so incredibly overrated.
Great to hear your thoughts. +1 to the follow up list of games that you didn’t initially like, but that have grown on you over time.
Seeing Nidavellir on your list breaks my heart. 😂
Great list.
Great list! Not that I agree on everything, but I understand! My thoughts:
AEON’S END: The theme didn’t really appeal to me from the get-go, and I don’t generally gravitate to combat as a game mechanic, so this didn’t thrill me on my first play. It was fine but I could die contentedly not having played it again. 😂
SEASONS: I heard of a fan expansion for Dominion that brought the Season mechanic and that got me super excited to try the original game. I tried Seasons on BGA and I think my expectations were too high. It’s one of those games that I may have tried too late in my gaming life, so I was underwhelmed.
DOMINION: This was my gateway game so I’ve definitely never cooled on it! But I understand how people could. Over 50 plays since 2019, and hopefully more in the future! Doesn’t come up often (it’s heavy to lug my collection around!) but I always appreciate when it does come out!
DOPPELT SO CLEVER: I quite like this one. I’ve played the original more, but this one is a great added challenge. Never liked CLEVER HOCH DREI, because this one is better for scores and power-ups, and the original is better for action combos, so it never had a niche for me. But the first two games I’d play any time, despite GANZ SCHÖN CLEVER being my most played game of the last few years.
7 WONDERS DUEL: I like a lot about this game, but my second game of it was a bad experience: my card choice forced my opponent to take military cards, which caused them to win the tug of war and kill me. Before that moment I wasn’t convinced about an instant-win mechanic in a point salad game, but after that moment I knew it felt wrong. It’s the same issue I have with AGRICOLA (sorry, Carlo) … I don’t like having the illusion of a choice of strategies if there’s actually no choice and I have to go a certain way in order to not lose.
Haven’t played the other games you mentioned.
It's great to hear how your opinions shifted over time/additional plays. New York Zoo is just a touch too fiddly, I liked it but sold it when I basically figured out I never really felt like playing it.
My takeaway from this discussion is that if you play any boardgame online the risk of burnout is exponentially higher. In my own case I can name three games I have no interest in because I played the app or wandered into on BGA.
18:32 Totally with you! I am meh on pure deck-building, too. To me, it has to be deck-building with a board.
Seems like you’ve cooled on many of these games simply because you’ve played the digital versions too much…
7 Wonders Duel really needs the Pantheon expansion to keep it fresh as it makes it less predictable. Also, it’s never really a good idea to set out for a science or military victory, play for points and only look for those should you notice an opportunity during the game.
Seasons is amazing. Love, love, love it!
You guys, your Dominion discussion was weak AF. First of all, you MTG as though it’s a “deck builder”. Games where you construct a deck before you play are called deck construction games. Secondly, Dylan didn’t specify which Dominion expansions he’s played. Have you played Intrigue, Seaside, and Prosperity?
That’s funny you came got that conclusion regarding T’zolkin vs teotihuacan because my buddy and I had the reverse conclusion with almost the same points, to the point We’re fine never playing T’zolkin again.
Everdell is one that I’ve really cooled on, I wish I was more interested in it, but I feel like I’ve seen all Is there is to see out of the base game in six plays or so
39:44 Now, How would you compare Tuscany to CoB: TCG (The Card Game)?
I do not like the card game – it doesn't do anything for me… For example, it takes up pretty much the same amount of space as the board game – and I find the board game better in every way – to the point where I would just much rather play the board game EVERY TIME, in comparison to the card game.
So if I want a different experience, I would play the dice game – or maybe I would play Tuscany.
For me, 7 Wonders (Regular) is my #1 game which I had cooled on. I started out not knowing what I was doing – and so I had just started matching resources which I could use to buy random cards and nothing else. I enjoyed the game for quite some time – when I had first started going to my Game Nights – and that game was a staple for the group, especially when we had 6 ot 7 players.
Then, as I started getting to know the game and the strategies, the more I thought about strategy and the less I enjoyed the game each time I played it (and also, the game seemed broken to me, but I will leave my rationale concerning that for another day). So the bottom line is that I both enjoyed the game AND played my best at it the 1st time I had played the game…
And that is my #1 game I had cooled on – 7 Wonders.
I’m afraid that playing games in BGA would make me get sick of games. Playing repeatedly with people who are really competitive, I would either get frustrated losing or get bored realizing the repetitious strategy for winning. Eventually the rhythm of a games gets solved and the natural discovery of playing the physical copy turns stale. Maybe I am over exaggerating though.
Deck building I agree with – in our household we've noticed it has to have a random market to stay "fresh". Fixed market gets stale quickly. So games like Clank!, DC DBG, etc will always get more love from us over games like Aeon's End & Dominion (even though, strangely, the concensus among the wider community is quite the opposite!)
Totally agreed on your comments of Aeons End. Not a fan of co-op especially due to my play of Aeons End. Played 4p and had a weak-ish player amongst us, lost the first 3 games and finally won the 4th. Definitely wasn’t a good experience when 1 weak player costs the whole game for all others. Totally understand the issue you mentioned on the player count. Issue was with us and not the game but doesn’t change that bad experience of so much time playing a losing game through no fault of your own play skills. That’s likely why I generally prefer competitive over cooperative games.
As for Seasons, wow! Exactly!! It’s a lot more limited than it appears. Not as fun as it somehow promises to be. Your decisions isn’t as meaningful and you’ve not as much control on your game.
Can’t really agree with your choice of Dominion although I can’t fault your reason. There are times I love mixing up deck-building with other mechanics and yet there are times I just love a pure deck-building. I love mixing up simple games like Dominion in between sessions I go on Tekhenu / Gaia Project.
Oh no! You can’t cool on Teotihuacan! It’s too good a game!! 😂. The Late Preclassic Period and the Expansion Period does so much more. Your pyramid strategy isn’t anywhere near the dominant strategy unless you only have the base game which then would make your comments valid. It’s akin to saying A Feast for Odin is stale and you’ve not ever played with Norwegians expansion. Unless, you’ve played with the 2 expansions I mentioned and still felt this way?
New York Zoo… hahaha, exactly! Fully agreed!! Prefer Barenpark for the simplicity of a good polyomino from the 1st time I played New York Zoo. Even though I have no issues with the rules part of New York Zoo, doesn’t change my thoughts and fully aligned to yours! I didn’t cool on New York Zoo as your current thoughts was my initial thoughts to start with. 😊
Amongst the Clever series, I feel that just the basic That’s Pretty Clever is good enough. Your comments are so real! I would like to play this say maybe a few time a year. No, I wouldn’t play this too often so I don’t get to your experience of not enjoying the game as much. 😅
Surprised me a little on 7 Wonders Duel being brought up. Can understand what you’re saying. It’s still a fun game, but yeah, don’t over-play that game to keep the game awesome. Generally that’s how I deal with games especially light strategy games. Don’t play them too often. 😇
this series is fantastic, it is good to hear why people cooled on certain games. Please keep this a recurring series
I love this series, but like many others have said, I think online plays is a cautionary tale. Not to say we shouldn't play board games online, but rather it's easier to binge on a game because of less overhead.
Just curious, what are your current top 10/15 two player games? I still love 7 Wonders Duel, but what do you think is better that’s out there?
Carlo, I'm struck by your list, because I feel like I tend to have similar preferences to you, and some of your games mentioned here are either ones that I myself cooled on (Seasons) or ones I am considering culling myself (7 Wonders: Duel and Teotihuacan). Perhaps I'll have to sell them!