The perfect 20 game collection
The perfect 20 game collection
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3 minute board games are J Carmichael and S Rodgers
Me: oh wow! what an insane challenge! Oh wait I only own like 30 games to begin with. My exposure to board game YouTubers is warping my perception lol
Can I just say how much we adore your content? Lots of love to you!
Anything related to Star Wars or Space is an instant pass for me. The Crew was one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had .. winning on the first turn for the first 5 missions or so.. nobody wanted to keep playing. Frosthaven is my favorite game.
I love you but you eliminated Cosmic Encounter. How….Dare…You!
Superb video, very enjoyable. Would have also appreciated your suggested best player count for each game.
the absolute madman, he did it!
Thought you were going to pick magic the gathering just out of sheer complexity and card pool
Great List Jay and one that is really hard to do. I loved you giving Tyrants of the Underdark the last spot. Nice Deckbuilder choice. It's a great game. I have the original. There's a lot of crossover with a list I did recently for my patrons, 25 Necessary Games, as a diversion from the ordinary (geopolitics, finance). Since I talk about my board game hobby a lot there was honest interest from some people thinking about trying out the hobby. I made them both a "10 games to start with list" as well.
That list was more of the… 25 games you should expose yourself to to find out what you really like. There are games on this list I don't like, Sprit Island, Puerto Rico, CE, Terra Mystica are the examples.
That list is:
Brass Birmingham
Dune
Concordia
Castles of Burgundy
Advanced Civilization
El Grande
Agricola
Terra Mystica
Spirit Island
Tikal
Five Tribes
Orleans
Puerto Rico
Any variation on Race for the Galaxy (inc. and preferably Terraforming Mars:AE)
Power Grid
Star Realms
Cosmic Encounter
Smallworld
Star Wars: Rebellion
Dune Imperium
Blood Rage
Medici
Hansa Teutonica
Sleeping Gods
Imperial
I now have to make this list for myself. It will suck to do, as I'm sure yours was.
For my dungeon crawler I would have also picked Imp. Assault (since I owned a metric shed ton of it) but I had to sell it when I, frankly, needed the money. I'd probably go with my favorite TT RPG TORG: Eternity. But for a strict boardgame the only two I own now are Too Many Bones and one of the Hexplore Its… and Hexplore It is really good. I'd likely keep that over TMB simply because the rules overhead is lighter, there are campaign books to make it more of a TT RPG, and you can put a game together in 3 hours.
20 is still alot how about 10
1. Veiled fate
2. Everdell
3. Nemesis
4. Cthulhu death may die
5. Betrayal at the house on the hill 3rd edition
6. Bloodrage
7. Blood on the clocktower
8. Catan
9. Dune Imperium
10. Terraforming mars
Let me know when the garage sale for all the cut games is going to happen 😂
I think the problem for me is when I have too many games, the more I have the less I seem to play them, especially miniature games as I want to paint them, I have streamlined my games down to about 40 games, it just gets to much owning more than that, not only for space, but to much choice, I recently sold off some brilliant games I really wanted to own, but just haven't played them.
My top 20 games would be and in no order.
1. Final girl.
2. Etherfields
3. Heroquest
4. Tainted grail.
5. ISS Vanguard
6. Zombicide black plague.
7. The great war.
8. Mirza Noctis
9. Arkham Horror LCG
10. Marvel Champions
11. Grind house
12. Mansions of madness
13. Massive Darkness
14. Dark Rituals
15. The everrain
16. Nemesis
17. Death may Die
18. Space Hulk
19. Battle cry
20. Descent legends of the dark.
Ok….. Concordia, Just One, Twilight Imperium, Terraforming Mars, Splendor, Ticket to Ride, Brass Birmingham, Parks, Viticulture, Scythe, Love Letter, Star Wars Rebellion, Carcassonne, Istanbul, Dont mess with Cthulhu, Spirit Island, Sleeping Gods, Onitama, Res Arcana, Hive….Thats the fast selection without thought but immediately after viewing yours which will provoke confirmation and recollection bias. PS Fantastic thing to do….now to the collection to only 10 then 5 then 3!!! That would be a nice FU.
damn, the everdell tokens look edible as heck. wanna eat the forbidden candies
SPOILER ALERT: Here's the complete list:
@1:15: Favorite Game of All Time: Spirit Island
@2:08: Engine Builder: Terraforming Mars
@3:18: For Playing with Your Scumbag Friends: Battlestar Galactica
@4:32: Easier Co-operative Game: Thunderbirds
@6:13: 2-Player War Game: Star Wars Rebellion
@7:50: Sentimental Favorite with Replay-ability: Arkham Horror 2nd Ed.
@9:38: Similar Space as Arkham Horror, but Different: Arkham Horror – The Card Game
@11:13: Significant Other's Favorite Game: Obsession
@12:22: Favorite Abstract Game: Azul
@13:25: Popular Favorite: Brass Birmingham
@14:47: Dungeon Crawler: Imperial Assault
@16:17: Simple Abstract: Santorini
@17:35: Best Actual War Game: Paths of Glory
@19:23: Whimsical: Junk Art
@20:53: "Event" Game for a Special Occasion: Dune (2019)
@21:57: Game for Everyone: Sushi Go Party!
@23:17: Space Exploration: Leaving Earth
@24:55: Light Co-operative Game: The Crew – Mission Deep Sea
@26:27: Worker Placement and Adorable Animals: Everdell
@28:02: Deck Building that's also Dudes on a Map: Tyrants of the Underdark
I'd pick 20 games with the biggest boxes possible, pour out their contents and fill them with 100 games…. 🤣
Although I own only 28 games, here is My personal list (I include all expansions I own as part of any individual game)
7 wonders, Ark Nova, captain sonar, carcassone, cascadia, clank, cosmic encounter, cribbage, dominion, dune imperium, lotr lcg, the resistance, root, tapestry, terraforming mars, terraforming mars: ares expedition, through the ages, QE, twilight imperium (don’t own it but i know id love it) welcome to…
I like how you included games that are excluded by choosing a game to preempt the questions in the comments like "what about this game?" 😊 great collection!
The way I'm thinning my collection is by taking games into my board games club in school. My collection at home gradually shrinks to mine and my wife's favourite games 😊 great video. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
1. Brass Birmingham
2. Lord of the Rings LCG
3. Power Grid
4. Wingspan
5. Terraforming Mars
6. The Game
7. Nemesis
8. Decrypto
9. Spirit Island
10. Rummikub
11. Inis
12. Avalon
13. Race for the Galaxy
14. Ticket to Ride Europe
15. Twilight Imperium 4th Ed
16. Terraforming Mars
17. Terra Mystica
18. Survive!
19. Clank!
20. 6 Nimmt
I am still angry for not getting Thunderbirds in a sale for 25€. Now it is so hard to get. No Twilight Imperium? It is so special that I‘d make a 20 + 1 list nit to have to get rid of it.
With you on:
Sushi Go Party
Santorini
Tyrants of the Underdark
Spirit Island
Everdell
Would have included instead:
Guards of Altantis 2 – If this isn't the best strategic team game in existence, I will eat my hat. It's amazing as a team game, and you can even have a cutthroat and thinking two-player head to head game if you want to.
Rising Sun – Phenomenal area control game that also brings in diplomacy, bluffing and a side order of betrayal. Fabulous
Feed the Kraken – absolutely superb social deception that doesn't take hours and hours
Alchemists – A glorious logic puzzle is at the heart of this euro, and it's a delight to play every single time
Massive Darkness 2 – A rollicking time of a highly accessible and fun dungeon crawl that will have you taking out monsters and looting to your heart's content until the early hours of the morning.
Captain Sonar – A frenetic group party experience. Enough said.
Bullet – competitive or co-op, with optional real-time elements, wrapped in a puzzly game that's easy to understand. Great.
Edge of Darkness – For pure "deckbuilders" – this one gets my pick due to the multitude of options available to mix and match, and the way that making cards "better" can also end up making them "worse" if they happen to get drawn onto the joint adverserial "tower" that looms over the board.
Concordia – It's just a deliciously elegant design
Gugong – A great worker placement and resource management game that is gorgeous to boot.
Aaaaand I think I can even leave it there with a limit of 15 games!
Love the longer vids.
Anachrony
Ark Nova
Civilization New Dawn
Clank Catacombs
Dead of Winter
Fallout
Fantasy Realms Deluxe
Firefly
Lords of Waterdeep
Lovecraft Letter
Nemesis
Raiders of Scythia
Scythe
Spirit Island
Star Wars Rebellion
Sushi Go
Talisman 4th Edition
Terraforming Mars
Tiny Epic Galaxies
Wingspan
Great video ❤
Great interesting list, thank you.
This just goes to show, how vast and accommodating to various tastes a boardgame world is: due to my main gaming group’s preferences I can’t fathom an “essential 20” without a hidden movement and a push-your-luck game.
You might be comfortable with the number of games you have, but think of the trees that die to hold them all up. Think of the trees!!
I love Everdell with spirecrest. It fills out the most boring part of the game and adds juice to it.
Have you take a look into High Frontier 4 All? It's the perfect niche game for space colonization / space travel enthusiasts. It's a very complex game but no game made me feel smart like this one. The feeling of grandiosity to prepare a mission (much like Living Earth) and to follow the long journey of our spacecraft on the gigantic map of the solar system, is so engaging.
The game takes place during our era with technologies that exist or that have been theorized, so we really project ourselves into a future that might be attainable one day. The game uzes theme with schematics and real technical drawings of rocket components, a realistic map of the solar system with real trajectories. With extensions, it covers space exploration (fuel, timing, hazards, racing, rescues, cargo and logistics), star colonization (colonies, space manufacturing, refueling, space stations, resource mining) , the economy based on space metals (resource control, auctions for rocket components, negotiations, engine building), contracts and objectives, epic projects and goals of humanity (exit from the solar system, construction of a dyson sphere, or a generational interstellar ship…), war (the game can turn into a wargame with betrayal, alliances, space and land battles), politics (influence scoring, bend the rules and restrictions to your advantage).
Can be played solo (great solo game!) and up to 6 (3 best), co-op or competitive. From 4h game time (basic game) to 7h (all extensions). Have 3 level of rules: Basic (almost a family game), medium (most of the rules, but still accessible) and full speed with all the details (radiation, dangers, details rocket components…)
A one of a kind experience.
No This War of Mine?
The best thing about Imperial Assault is now you don't need a Gamesmaster with the new Commander 2 app
Nice list, good luck with your game.
My list would include: Ankh (dudes on map plus fab card strategy), Targi (small box, so smooth to play, deep enough), Segikahara (my war game, with hidden movement on top), Innovation (Civ plus combos, wild but thinky), Radlands and Keyforge (2 player battlers, one is the ultimate, the other in-a-box), Paris La Cite de La Lumiere (the perfect polynomial game where the polynomial mechanic is actually thematic, and so cut-throat for such a pretty game), Pax Porfiriana / Pamir 2nd Ed (economics, politics, and so very clever), Tigris & Euphrates (the best area control game bar none, a classic that twists the area majority mechanic to new heights)…. Sorry can’t get to 20 in a chat window, lol!
Great stuff. I think about a list like this for myself quite often.
Twilight Imperium
War Of The Ring
Hansa Teutonica
Yinsh
Freedom: Underground Railroad
Brass Birmingham
Catan: Starfarers
Letters From Whitechapel
Clash Of Cultures: Monumental Edition
Imperial
Fleet: The Dice Game
1175: Rebellion
Eclipse
Champions Of Midgard
Clockwork Wars
The Grizzled
Viticulture
No Thanks
Camel Up
Nations: The Dice Game
Santorini is very cool with the basic game but it rapidly becomes boring I have found. After ten or so rounds it is simply the same thing over and over. Adding in the god powers radically changed the gameplay asymmetrically making every game different. My son and I tend to pull gods at random to play.
Santorini hasn't been hitting the table lately, I suspect because it's enormous compared to tighter 2p games like Onitama and Hive, but it's one of the first (smallish) modern board games I got properly into and holds a special place in my heart. I do think that the golden fleece in the expansion is an excellent idea for playing a balanced and even more positional game and may even be my preferred game mode.
I totally agree with your take on the Pantheon edition and solo/co-op Riddle of the Sphinx expansion. "Why do this?" Based on the price point and thoughtlessness of ROTS, I think it was a cash grab. I would have liked the more balanced god powers and prettier pieces, but it just wasn't worth ~80USD (IIRC) to me, plus expensive shipping to Canada.
Maybe if it makes it onto a FLGS shelf for 50CAD I'll think about it, but even then it doesn't seem to add enough, especially if my groups don't play that one often.
Thank you for the video, it was a very interesting list and has made me add games to my to-play list, which I hope to do at a board game café. I did take some slight offense to Nemesis being cut out due to BS:G, but that's mostly because I can pull Nemesis Co-op mode out with any group of people for an utterly incredible narrative and thematic experience that everyone can enjoy if they don't mind the time-to-play, so I don't usually think about it as a hidden identities/betrayal game.
1. Wingspan
2. Terraforming Mars
3. Everdell
4. Pan Am
5. Parks
6. Dixit
7. Love Letter
8. Just One
9. Splendor
10. Azul
11. Pandemic
12. 7 Wonders
13. Welcome To
14. Rolling Realms
15. Ticket to Ride Europe
16. Little Prince Make Me a Planet
17. Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle
18. Star Trek Missions
19. Similo
20. The Crew
Nice to hear your reasoning for each choice, and to see what that choice forced out as well. Really well done.
My 20 as at this moment of time, bearing in mind I am a solo player who enjoys playing multi-handed where no solo mode exists (and sometimes even when it does).
Small footprint
1. Pocket Landship (free trial version) – is a PNP on BGG.
2. Rollway Station – is also a free PNP on BGG
3. Volfyirion
4. Knightmare Chess (requires a chess set obviously) – this is the only one I haven't soloed but it is so bonkers I just have to keep it for the odd occasion someone wants to play.
Larger footprint – thinky games that won't hurt your head too much
5. Wingspan
6. Fields of Green
7. Alubari – A Nice Cup of Tea
8. Expedition: Northwest Passage
9. Silverton
10. CO2 (First Edition)
11. Obsession
12. Nusfjord
Brain burners – to me anyway
13. Leaving Earth
14. Yokohama
15. Pax Pamir
16. Labyrinth – The War on Terror
Table hogs – most have been acquired fairly recently and are currently unplayed but I really want to have the time and space to get into them.
17. Great Wall – I have played this one
18. Middara
19. Xia – Legends of a Drift System
20. Hegemony
Great video as always! It could be fun to do some "perfect collection" based on space restrictions. Since, usually the most frequent storage solution is Ikea Kallax-style bookshelves it would be fun to try to restrict yourself in a 2×2, 2×4 and 4×4 shelves 😅
great video, loved the format. Not everyone is lucky enough to have an expansive collection. 20 seems like a more achievable-sized collection.
One of the reasons I love your content is that you always provide options for those who want them. This is so good to see that although you like Everdell most, there are several games you could recommend for those who for some reason do not like it or cannot get it.
Tough one, but probably:
1. Xia
2. Agricola
3. Pandemic Clone Wars
4. Star Wars Armada
5. Sushi go party
6. Tichu
7. Glen More II
8. Fields of Fire
9. Fire at the Lake
10. Enemy Action Ardennes
11. Distilled
12. Tiny Epic Dungeons
13. Isle of Cats
14. Dead of Winter – Long Night
15. Wingspan
16. Imperial Assault
17. Xenoshyft Dreadmire
18. Wizards
19. Nemesis
20. Clash of Cultures
No particular order…
Leaving Earth is my favorite game of all time and how I found your channel. I actually clicked on this video solely to see if you'd chosen it for this list because NOTHING scratches that same itch. Cannot recommend it enough to anyone it sounds interesting to.
That's a great list!
Mine is probably something like this at the moment in no particular order:
20. Heat
19. The Game
18. Scout
17. Ra
16. The Thing: The Board Game
15. Kanban EV
14. War of the Ring
13. War Chest
12. Tigris & Euphrates
11. Clank! Catacombs
10. Castles of Burgundy
9. Fields of Arle
8. Feast for Odin
7. Whitehall Mystery
6. Food Chain Magnate
5. Concordia
4. Barrage
3. Bohnanza
2. Carcassonne
1. La Granja
Such a good list. So much overlap with some of my favourite games, that I’ve added several to my “buy list”. Here are my 20 (note: Santorini, War of the Ring, Star Wars Rebellion, and Mage Knight will likely join the list once I get them):
1. Spirit Island
2. Through the Ages
3. Brass: Birmingham
4. Terraforming Mars
5. Dune: Imperium
6. Dominion
7. Klask
8. Azul
9. Everdell
10. Race for the Galaxy
11. Agricola
12. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
13. Cascadia
14. Robinson Crusoe
15. Cockroach Poker Royal
16. Go
17. Lost Ruins of Arnak
18. 7 Wonders Duel
19. Wingspan
20. Carcassonne
Excellent video and excellent presentation! I have always liked your videos and your friendly attitude towards the people. I have 34 games in my collection so I made a list of 15 games which I would keep if forced to keep less games.
6 nimmt!
Azul
Battle Line
Commands & Colors: Ancients
Conan
Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done
Dominant Species
Eldritch Horror
Endeavor: Age of Sail
Hokkaido
Kemet
Lords of Waterdeep
Marvel United
Nemesis
Nidavellir
In alphabetical order:
1. Andean Abyss – first COIN I've played
2. Brass Birmingham & Lancashire – only played Lancashire and never won but love it so much I am 100% convinced I will love Birmingham as well
3. Cartographers – my wife enjoys it a lot and my bad drawing makes it fun for me as well
4. Catharsis – surprisingly good, although I only have 2 plays so far
5. Eldritch Horror – I hate it, it frustrates me so much.. and I've only won until I found out how wrong was I calculating how many dice should be thrown.. have everything and will probably keep it forever :D.. for the times when I am too happy for my own good
6. Escape Plan – just a great game
7. Forbidden Stars – played only once with 4 people. We didn't finish the game, gave up on the 4th hour. I have a spanish copy and I put translations in the card sleeves :D. I also have 2 big fan expansions, waiting on the third to be finalized and someone to make it available as a groul order or something. Not sure if I'll ever get the group to regularly play it but I adore the design so much.. I also love the 40k universe. Also waiting on the Redux.. hopefully the IP will be good.
8. Infinity – a bit too complicated and I don't enjoy metal minis (I don't paint so that's partly the reason). Love the universe, love the reaction system and I have the N4 and Code One rulebooks. I have every intention to start playing regularly with my wife and with 40k/Necromunda proxies, we'll see how playable it is this way.
9. It's a Wonderful Kingdom – didn't look like something I'd enjoy at first. How wrong was I..
10. Kingdom Death: Monster – have not played much as I got it relatively recently. I like the boss battler genre a lot, Oatshworn was great, Vagrantsong is nice, I liked the Dark Souls and Monster Hunter World boss battles. Oathsworn was a one time experience for me and I passed it along. I added KDM in this list for 2 reasons – I played a couple of games and I enjoyed them a lot. The universe is brutal and I like this kind of fantasy horror. I do not think it is the best boss battler out there however. I am almost completely sure that Aeon Trespass will be better. I just have not tried it so I am putting the one I have.
11. Leaving Earth – really nice game. Looking forward to the next game from Joe Fatula. I believe it was Moon Landing related.
12. Letters from Whitechappel – all time favourite for me and my wife. I think I win quite a bit more than her but we still enjoy it. I bought and tried pretty much all hidden movement games I could find just because we loved LfW. It is still the best for us from the ones we tried, but we do have quite a few waiting for table time so it may get replaced as best hidden movement game ever at some point.
13. Mage Knight – pretty awesome design
14. Nemesis – really enjoyable I think but I need a bigger group to actually enjoy it
15. Rococo – very nice game and the deluxe edition looks awesome
16. SHASN – unexpectedly good and very nice looking game. Looking forward to Azadi.
17. Spirit Island – needs more plays but based on 2 plays I knoe it is good enough for me to put it in this list
18. Star Wars Rebellion – very enjoyable. Probably would have enjoyed it even more if it was slightly shorter.
19. Twisted Fables – I've seen people say it is not very well balanced. No issue for me and my wife thought, we just enjoy the design (both game and graphic). Probably our favourite card game right now.
20. Watergate – short and engaging
Additional notes:
1. Would love to try the Pax games and I think at least one of them would get a spot in the list. I know about the controversies around their designer, but I just ignore his essays and enjoy the game design (played a few of his games, not the pax games though, they are still waiting on my shelf)
2. Android Netrunner/Nisei, Star Wars LCG and Arkham Horror LCG have a chance od entering the list. Love the universes and the games seem to be very interesting in mechanics. Only played Arkham Horror LCG of them and haven't decided yet if I like it that much or not
No wingspan?
I'm new to board gaming, and my goal is to have a collection of 10 to 20 games that I would rank a 9 or 10 out of 10.
So far I have
Welcome to the dungeon
Captain sonar
Wits and wagers
Quacks of quedlinburg
Clank catacombs
Paperback
Search for planet x
I also have but am thinking of getting rid of,
Quest for eldorado
Downforce
Sushi go party
Not that these games are bad but I'd rather be playing one of the other games.
I don't play games often enough to get tired of a 20 game collection.
Really like how you gave other options in addition to your favourite. Bit surprised you didnt have any detective/deduction/mystery games in that list yet with only 20 games, cant have them all 🙂
And of course this is the perfect collection for me, and only me, at this particular moment in time. That's for any of the dullards out there who take exception to the title because i didn't include their favourite. But the fun thing with this video is to do the list yourself instead of saying why mine sucks. Tell me why your rules!