Before I start with a top 10 abstract games list, I should define what I’m going to take ‘abstract games’ to mean. It’s a never-ending (and pointless) debate, so I’ll cut to the chase. Here I’ll be talking about games that lack any meaningful connection between theme (if they have one) and mechanics. Rather than those that lack all randomness (such as Chess or Go) - but there are some of those on the list too.

But I won’t be talking about dice games, or tile-laying games, as they have their own lists. This is games with very simple rules, but deeper strategy as well as tactics. Where you tend to just do one simple action on a turn, but which can have far reaching consequences. But despite this, these tend to be games that will only take up to around 30 minutes to play.

I think all these games should be available. So if you’re looking to pick any of them up, please use this link to comparison site Board Game Prices to help the site out. I’ve also linked to any of my full reviews below. As well as linking to online versions of the games (where available) if you want to check them out first. No order to the list, just great games.

My Top 10 abstract games

Azul
(2-4 players, 30-45 mins, ages 8+)

Players select tiles from randomly arranged sets to place on their own board, trying to create rows and columns to score points. But what you can take becomes limited as a round goes on. Meaning other players may force you to take a colour you can’t have - giving you negative points. This need to think in two directions helped make Azul an instant classic.

Mandala
(2 players, 20 mins, ages 8+)

Mandala is somewhere between a set collection and area control game. On a turn you usually play coloured cards to the centre of the table (in one of two areas), or to your side next to one of those areas. The colours you can play to particular areas becomes limited as time goes by. And once all colours are represented in/by an area, that area is scored and some cards are won. The later you take a particular colour in the game, the more each of that colour will score. So it soon becomes a tactical cat-and-mouse affair.

Spirits of the Forest
(2 players, 20 mins, 8+)
Play online (as Richelieu) at Yucata

A grid using all 48 tiles (12×4) is randomly created at the start of the game, with 8 (of 12) bonus markers placed on some of them. Players take it in turns to take tiles from the ends of the four rows, claiming bonus tiles and also reserving tiles for later. Scoring is by majority by colour, kept interesting by the secret bonus tiles. But what really makes the game sing is the tile blocking. As you can spend a block token to get around this - but then it is gone forever.

Drawing random pieces

The Rose King
(2 players, 30 mins, ages 8+)
Play online at Yucata

Players take turns to move a single shared piece by playing a card, then placing one of their coloured pieces on the landing space. It’s not as random as it seems, as on your turn you take a card or play one - but all cards you take are placed face up. You have a few chances to flip pieces to your side, but use them wisely. When neither player can move, the game is over and large territories will win you the game.

Uptown
(2-4 players, 30 mins, ages 8+)
Play online at BGA

In uptown, you’re faced with a 9×9 grid of spaces, with each associated with a number, letter and icon. You have one of each tile (so 27), plus a single wild. Your job is to place these tiles (drawn randomly - you always have five to choose from). But to finish with as few groups of tiles as possible. You can knock other players’ tiles off the board - but only if they’re on the edges (so as not to create more groups for the opponent).

Ingenious
(2-4 players, 45 mins, ages 8+)

On your turn, you’ll place a domino-style hexagon tile onto the main board then draw another, so you always have six to choose from. There are six colours of tile halves. And you score by lining up as many as possible to your placed piece. The trick is, the loser is the player with the lowest score in their worst colour. So as well as scoring big points, you need to balance your scoring - while trying to limit your opponents weak colours.

My Top 10 abstract games: Pure abstracts

These games have perfect information, so the only randomness is how your opponent plays.

Adios Calavera
(2 players (2-3 with expansion), 30 mins, ages 6+)

You’re simply racing to get your pieces across the board. The twist is you’re playing at right angles to each other, and the distance you can move is dictated by how many total pieces are in the row as you see it (so your row is your opponent’s column, and vice versa). Can be played as a basic abstract, of flipping the tiles allows you to play with individual powers.

Blokus
(2-4 players (or specifically 2 with Blokus Duo), 20 mins, 6+)

Players start with an identical set of Tetris-shaped pieces and a large empty game board. Taking it in turns, they build outwards by joining their own pieces by corner - so no two of your pieces can touch side-by-side. This cleverly leaves ways for other players to breach your defences. Because the plan is to place as many pieces as possible - so the further you get around the board, the better your chance of winning.

DVONN (from the GIPF series)
(2 players, 30 mins, 10+)
Play online at Boite a Jeux

In DVONN, players begin by strategically filling the board with their pieces. They then take turns moving their pieces (putting them on top of others) to gain control of stacks. These stacks can then move as far as the amount of pieces in them, which gives the game a great arc as your options begin to shrink. Most controlled pieces wins.

Patchwork
(2 players, 30 mins, 6+)
Play digitally on the official app (Steam, Google, Apple)

This another Tetris-piece game, but this time you’re trying to fill your individual board with pieces. The tension comes from what pieces you buy and more specifically what you then leave available to your opponent. Some pieces have currency, which you need to buy more pieces. So limiting your opponent’s piece/currency opportunities can win you the game.

The Mandala Stones board game is an abstract family game for 2-4 players that takes about 30 minutes to play. It is listed for ages 10+, which is probably about right. But younger gamer kids should be OK, as you can walk through the rules easily (there is one hidden component per player which you could leave out).

There have been some lazy comparisons of this game with Azul, but the games don’t feel similar to me. Yes, you’re collecting coloured pieces to make sets to score points. But while your choices are tactical due to an ever-changing array of choices, the strategic side is far less interactive. It feels thinky but in a different, less interactive way.

The most striking component is a bag of 96 colourful Bakelite ‘stones’ (cue the lazy comparisons mentioned above). You’ll also find two boards, four thin cardboard player boards, plus a small handful of cards, wooden tokens and cardboard chits. The stones are lovely, while everything else is functional. For less than £30 (various sources via comparison site Board Game Prices) I’d say it’s very good value for money.

Teaching the Mandala Stones board game

During setup you’ll empty the bag of stones by randomly placing them in stacks of four on the board. They come in four colours, and each piece is adorned with one of two patterns. Between these stacks sit four wooden pieces (‘artists’), each of which also carries one of the two patterns. The four colours, and two patterns, are all equally weighted.

On a turn you’ll do one of two actions. Usually that will be taking stones from the main board and placing them on your player board. To do this, you first move an artist from any spot to any other vacant spot. There, you collect any of the four surrounding stones (in clockwise order) - as long as they have the same pattern as the artist, and are not ‘guarded’ by another artist. No matter many stones you take (1-4), you choose (an empty) one of five spaces on your player board in which to stack them (in the order you picked them).

Scoring

Alternatively, you can choose to score. Or, if all five of your player board spaces have at least one stone on them, you have to. You can score in one of two ways. Option one is to take one stone from each player board stack (of your choice) and score a point for each stone. This is a bit crap, but you may do it to set up a more lucrative ‘option two’ next time.

Option two lets you score each stack that has the same-coloured stone on top. You still remove these stones from the top of each stack. But you score each differently, depending on which pile it was removed from. So, one stack scores a point for each different coloured stone it its stack. While several others score depending how high the stack was when you removed the stone. Doing this well can score 20 points or more. Quite the difference.

Either way, the pieces you remove are placed on a central board. Some spaces here also give bonus points, so good/lucky timing can be lucrative. While it also acts as a game timer. Once X stones are placed on the main board, depending on player count, the game is over.

The four sides

These are me, plus three fictitious players drawn from observing my friends and their respective quirks and play styles.

• The writer: There are some great aspects to the Mandala Stones board game. But for each nice component or idea, there’s a slightly shonky one. The in-game scoring, for example, is clever and thinky. But there’s are also a set of half-arsed end-game scoring cards that feel rushed and tagged-on. While the Bakelite pieces are colourful and chunky. But the player boards and thin, bland and dull (if functional). These things make it hard to fall in love with the game, which needs to happen in such a busy market.
• The thinker: I enjoyed this one with two players. The zero-sum nature of turns means every mistake can be punished, so you need to think hard. Equally, its tactical nature means you can’t plan between turns. so only having one opponent is a godsend. With more, the game quickly lost its appeal. I was bored between turns. While poor play from others simply meant gifts for the player on their right. So with two, this is an intelligent and thinky abstract. But the game lost appeal with three and four players.
• The trasher: Not much for me here. Rather than robbing your opponents, Mandala Stones is more about making sure you don’t give out any gifts! You want to score well, of course. But what’s the point in taking a strong set of stones if it gifts an opponent an even better set? You do want to keep an eye on the central board to look out for bonus points - especially the +2 spaces. But these are unlikely to swing the game your way on their own.
• The dabbler: Oooh, lovely Bakelite stones - and so colourful! Plus, this is a great little family game. The rules are simple, except the scoring. But you soon get the hang of that. And you can just walk people through it the first few times. The game also plays quickly once set up (which does take a while). And it looks super inviting on the table. One problem is winding back turns when you’ve done something silly. As its hard to remember where things went lol. But overall, a really nice abstract family game.

Key observations

For me, Mandala Stones feels like a good two-player game stretched to 3-4 players, with a few end-game scoring cards tacked on to keep an element of surprise. This makes it a bit of a quandary to recommend. As it’s a big old box for a two-player game. But I’d genuinely flip from a 7.5ish to a 6 from the two to three player experience (as an out-of-10 rating). I wouldn’t play again with four.

The complete lack of being able to plan is akin to something like Five Tribes. But at least with that, you have a bit more to think about long-term. So you can potentially think a little more about what options you want to look out for. Not so here. So, when it isn’t your turn, it simply isn’t engaging. This changes with two players, as you’re only waiting for one player to act. While knowing what they do will directly affect your next turn.

And please believe me, the Mandala Stones board game is no Azul. Not even close. There simply isn’t any interaction - which is what makes Azul sing. Here, the reason to take stones in a particular order is purely about your scoring. And here there are barely any ways to plan for later moves - even with just two players. That’s fine if you like a good heads-down puzzle. But Azul it ain’t. Not a criticism, merely an observation.

Conclusion: Mandala Stones board game

With two players Mandal Stones is fun, fast and thinky, thanks to its cleverly implemented in-game scoring. But with three and four players it drags a little, even as a short game, because the downtime is a little frustrating. That said, if I had unlimited space, I’d keep Mandala Stones purely for the two-player experience. And if that’s the kind of abstract game you’re looking for, I’d certainly recommend it. But with my shelves already bulging, there are simply too many abstracts ahead of it in the queue for it to hold a place.

In fact, this reminds me I haven’t done a top 10 abstract games list. I’ll put that on my to-do list right now. But until then, some examples of games this isn’t beating are Azul, Kahuna, Manhattan, The Rose King, Divinare, Ingenious and Blokus Duo. In fairness, these are all classics in my book. So to be close to these but just missing out is still a pretty worthy achievement.

• Thanks to Board & Dice for providing a copy of the game for review.
• Follow this link for 200+ more of my board game reviews.

Despite plenty of progress with the COVID-19 vaccines, a lot of board gaming is still having to happen online. And luckily, thanks (I expect) to the recent purchase by Asmodee, website Board Game Arena (BGA) is adding new board games by the bucket load. The majority are free to play too, so why not check them out?

All the games below are ones I’ve only played online at BGA, so please take that into consideration when judging my ramblings. If you’ve not used the site before, after a simple signup process you either choose a game and invite friends or join a game with some randoms. There are loads of games and also options for play, such as live (where you may have just a few minutes to make each move) and turn-based (which can be as slack as a single move per few days). The games are also scripted, meaning you can’t cheat or make any rules errors (unlike sites such as Tabletopia or Tabletop Simulator).

But all these games are available in ‘real life’ to. So if you take the next step and go for a physical purchase, why not check where to get the best value by clicking through to Board Game Prices? If enough people do so over the next few years, the mahoosive kickbacks I’ll get will probably earn me a Twix. But every little helps.

* All images below are screen grabs from board Game Arena.

Beyond the Sun (2020, 2-4 players, 1-2 hours, ages 12+)

Until a few years back, spreadsheets were just for work. But not any more. I gave a positive review to the rather clever Dawn of Mankind a little while back. Beyond the Sun can be viewed as its much more serious big (box) brother. A longer playing time, more stuff, and a step up in complexity. You’re still using workers to open up higher levels of a technology tree (read: spreadsheet). But here you have the added level of using the technologies you uncover to help you colonise planets for extra benefits (and, of course, victory points).

On the plus side, everything works and comes together nicely. And there’s a surprising amount of passive interaction as you chase to be first to colonise planets and gain extra benefits. But, to coin a phrase, it’s also dry as a witch’s tit. Even during my first game I was struggling to get excited by the play. Everything looks so bland, which certainly doesn’t help. And despite the clear cleverness in the deign, it doesn’t stop there being a relatively small amount of real options. Its much more about doing those things efficiently. So, not for me - but it has been very well received by the ‘serious’ gamer community.

Caravan (2019, 2-4 players, 1 hour, ages 10+)

Near the other end of the scale we have Caravan. This is a family level abstract game with a simple rule set. But once you get going, you start to see the tactical depth on offer is more than initially meets the eye. It’s one of the most Reina Knizia games I’ve played that he didn’t design himself (it’s from Joe Huber). Move camels, transport cubes, score points. Simple. But getting them from A to B isn’t as easy as it sounds. You rarely have enough camels to get a cube to its destination in one move. But once it has started its journey, it becomes vulnerable to thieves (read: the other players).

But don’t be put off if you don’t like interaction. Because once someone steals, they can’t steal again until someone takes from them. As you hand the person you stole from your one thievery token when you take something - a simple system that works brilliantly. Some cubes look worthless early on. But each time the board is restocked, a victory point is placed on those that were ignored. So even the worst options soon change into more tempting ones. If you like route building in your abstract games, Caravan is well worth a look.

City of the Big Shoulders (2019, 2-4 players, 2-3 hours, ages 14+)

Back in the world of heavy euro games we have City of the Big Shoulders. This is an engine building and stock manipulation game , where you choose actions to gain resources and then build/run factories. The goods you produce are then sold off to grow the value of the businesses - unless you decide instead to cram the profits off the top for yourself and tank the company a bit instead. Between rounds you an all buy and sell shares in everyone’s companies, spicing up your decisions significantly. If you like stocks games that run long (a good few hours), then is definitely worth checking out.

I enjoyed my City of the Big Shoulders plays significantly more than those of Beyond the Sun. Sure, it’s boring beige rather than sci-fi spreadsheet looking. But I like running my own little engine and the stock buying/selling made you genuinely think twice about what to do. But sadly the extra hour of play time left me coming to a similar conclusion in the long run. By the end of each game I just felt tired, as if anything it seemed to get less interesting near the end of each play. And it has one of my big board game bugbears: random cards/spaces that do exactly the same thing but have different point/cash values. Who thinks that’s a good idea in a game such as this? A real amateur move in my books.

Happy City (2021, 2-5 players, 30 mins, ages 8+)

And back we flip to family games. Happy City is a cute, colourful and (relatively) simple tableau building game. On a turn you flip over some cards (into a shared market) and then buy one. Buildings variously reward you with income and victory points, or sometimes negatives. While buying enough of different types of building allows you to buy one of the special building on offer (as a bonus action). Once someone has 10 buildings (which doesn’t take long), it’s all over.

Happy City is a nice intro game if you want to teach new players about tableau building, before moving on to more complex games such as Race for the Galaxy. But the options available each turn are very limited and you can be badly hampered by poor luck of the draw. The options of different buildings are also very limited, so we found our interest in the game waned very quickly indeed. But equally it all works and we clearly weren’t the target audience. So as a cute entry level game, especially for kids, I’d comfortable recommend it.

Railroad Ink (2018, 1-12 players on BGA (1-6 in the box), 30 mins, ages 8+)

There’s a certain joy to playing a roll-and-write game online. If you do the wrong thing you haven’t ruined your sheet. While players with an art degree can’t slow everything down while showing off their ‘talents’. Railroad Ink has the added bonus of being one of the best examples of the genre out there, too. The rules are simple. Each round, four dice are rolled. All players choose one of them and copy the symbol rolled onto their sheet. This continues until everyone has filled in about two-thirds of their sheet, with the aim of connecting roads and train tracks across the board.

Railroad Ink is the kind of game I’m always happy to play. You just noodle away doing your own thing and hope the right symbols come up when you need to bring your network together near the end of the game. There are a few extra freebies you can add to your sheet to make things work. But generally there’s a lot of luck - and worse, zero interaction. Which means I’ll always reach towards an alternative (That’s Pretty Clever, Dizzle etc) before choosing this one. And online (and with a train theme) I’d choose the much more interactive Steamrollers (over on Yucata) every time. So for me it’s close, but no cigar.

The Mariposas board game is a family/gateway game for two to five players that takes about an hour to play. It’s listed for ages 14+ presumably to cut costs (it’s expensive to get games certified safe for kids). I’d expect brighter gamer kids aged eight plus to be fine.

The game has been lovingly designed around its migrating butterflies theme, but it’s still a largely abstract gateway/advanced family game. Mariposas is all about movement and set collection, with players moving and hatching more butterflies to meet a variety of in- and endgame scoring conditions. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation.

This is a big box game with a large board, but in truth not an awful lot of components. five handy plastic containers hold 120+ cardboard tokens. Plus there are 120 small cards, 20 oversized ones, 50 wooden butterfly tokens, a custom dice and a few other wooden/cardboard bits and bobs. Looking at comparison site Board Game Prices, you can find it for less than £40. For what you get in the box, this feels pretty good value. But did it need to be this big? That’s another matter entirely.

Teaching Mariposas

The Mariposas board game is played over three seasons lasting four, five and six rounds respectively. On each of your 15 turns you’ll play a movement card, move one/several butterflies, collect flower tokens/bonus cards, and sometimes hatch another butterfly.

The board is an abstract map of North America, from Texas east to the coast and heading north as far as Winnipeg and Quebec. Or, the migration trail for the monarch butterfly. Sixteen are Waystation (city) spaces, with the rest (100 or so) showing one of five flower types. To move, you play one of your two movement cards (drawing a new one to end your turn). While largely similar, examples include moving one butterfly five spaces (so you get one pickup), or three one space each (so less distance but more stuff).

If you land on a flower space, you take a matching flower token (more on those later). City spaces instead give you a bonus card. There are 16 different bonuses, and they’re secret until a player flips one over and takes the reward. The first player to flip each also gets a random bonus flower. But this revealed where a certain item is - potentially crucial, as one way to score is by set collection via these bonus cards.

Butterflies of love

Some spaces also border a ‘hatching icon’. At these you can initially add a ‘level 2’ butterfly on the same space with your starting ‘level 1’. As you progress, you can claim pieces up to ‘level 4’ (everyone starts with 10 butterflies). And after that, evolve them again to make them twice as valuable for scoring purposes. At the end of seasons one and two, the lowest level butterflies are removed from the board. It’s the circle of life and all that.

The main part of the game is in the scoring. Or more accurately, moving to the right places to take advantage of scoring opportunities. You’ve got two strategic options: set collection and ‘getting home’. Set collection involves visiting as many cities as possible to collect cards and bonuses. Getting home means getting upgraded level 4 butterflies back to the start space before the game ends. You can do a bit of both, or lean more towards one or other.

What spices things up are three ‘season’ cards. One is always in play, and they’re slowly revealed (so you can plan a bit) as the game goes in. These largely give points for being, or breeding, (or not) in certain places at the end of/during each season. This helps the theme stay on track, but also gives players tactical headaches as they try to balance these tempting side points with their main goals. Most points wins.

The four sides

These are me, plus three fictitious players drawn from observing my friends and their respective quirks and play styles.

• The writer: I had a lot of fun initially exploring the Mariposas board game. The hatching mechanism works nicely and gives you a few decisions, while there are three clear routes for points. The theme is nicely integrated, the artwork pleasant and the rules simple. However, once you’ve explored these things over four or five plays, there’s little to bring a gamer (with no interest in the theme) back to the table. But I’d happily play any time.
• The thinker: There’s nothing here for me. The strategies available are incredibly basic and clear from game one. Movement cards seem to make little to no difference, as you can always get what you want - you may just have to wait a turn. The way the board slowly reveals itself gives a nice tactical element. But that’s not enough to hold my interest.
• The trasher: I can’t think of many titles that have less interaction than the Mariposas board game. However, it has its moments tactically. The revealing of location cards can be of key importance if one of more players are looking for sets. So you may need to leave butterflies in strategic places just in case something useful is revealed. But that’s not enough for me.
• The dabbler: Loved it! It’s gorgeous to look at. And the rulebook has an interesting page of information about monarch butterflies, so there’s a small educational element. The rules are simple to pick up and as its wholly non-aggressive you can play with movement cards open to help teach younger players what to do. It’s the perfect length to hold the attention too, especially with the two scoring rounds that interrupt the game at regular intervals. And the slight variation from the seasonal score cards adds a little wrinkle to each play. A really good family game - but on the ‘once a month or so’ pile, rather than the ‘once a day/week’ one.

Key observations

For me, production seems to be a recurring issue for AEG games right now. They always get a lot right, but the overall package often falls short. In the Mariposas board game the theme is integrated well and the rulebook has some nice extra info. But why aren’t the flowers named? And if you’re not worried about naming them, why then make some of them hard to distinguish? “Can you pass me a pink one? No, not that pink one…”

Then there’s size. The board is massive, making the game hard to set up so everyone can reach things. There’s a lot of dead space, both on the main board and in the box. Which, like recent AEG release Inner Compass, leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Why not reduce it from full to medium sized, and take a few quid off the price tag/shelf load? Especially as the game has crossover appeal to a wider audience - thanks to both the theme and the success of designer Elizabeth Hargrave’s recent success with Wingspan. Bigger isn’t always better, especially when it pushes the price - and expectations - up.

Gameplay

Mariposas detractors point to a lack of agency and depth of strategy. This isn’t necessarily a valid criticism, as many games lack these traits. But the question seems to be, then: what do you do? The game very much lacks direct competition, so it isn’t a game where the rules get out of the way in order to let you duke it out. Nor does it have elements such as push your luck, as the elements of randomisation are mild in that respect. So no, it is not for everyone. I’d describe it is a pleasant, enjoyable experience. And I don’t see it’s claiming to be anything more. Unlike Wingspan, which took some great mechanisms from great games and made a tedious one out of them (other opinions are available!).

More worrying is that a low player count does weakens one of the game’s two strategies. You’ll either be trying to collect card sets or get butterflies home. With just two players, it is harder to flip as many cards, or as quickly - so the collection strategy is clearly weakened. I’ve found that fixes itself with three players (and feels perfect at four). But why not print a smaller map on the flip side of the board for two players? It’s a genuine problem, as if you take away one of two options to score points you’re not left with much after a few plays. The question then is, are these ‘gamer’ problems? And the answer is probably yes. I can still see families - especially ones in tune with nature - getting a real kick out of Mariposas.

Conclusion: The Mariposas board game

I really looked forward to getting Mariposas. I liked the look, the interesting/different theme and the sound of the race and collection elements. And my first three or four plays bore out that interest and everyone I played with enjoyed the experience. However, in post play discussion, none of the gamers added it to their wish list or could see themselves requesting it later. While equally they’d all be up for another game some time.

But is this a problem for the current ‘one and done’ gamer? Generally, the trend is to briefly explore a game before discarding it for the next shiny new release. So if, over five or six plays, the buyer has enjoyed it - haven’t the designer and publisher given the customer what they wanted? Especially as here, thanks to a strong theme, the game is sure to find a solid family niche of players who will love keeping it on their shelves.

So the Mariposas board game won’t be staying in my collection. It’s a good family/gateway release that I have no problem recommending (and for 3+ players, potentially long term). But its lack of strategic depth isn’t replaced by enough (competition, interaction, push-your-luck etc) to keep this gamer bringing it back to the table.

• Thanks to AEG (via Asmodee UK) for providing a copy of the game for review.
• Follow this link for 200+ more of my board game reviews.

Earlier in the week I posted my 8th annual ‘Best board games of all time‘ list. It includes board and card games, short and long, going all the way back to the 80s. Please check that list for links to full reviews of all games listed below (plus links for online play).

This is an accompanying post looking at some of the stats around that post. Things such as number of new entries, times played, fallers and climbers etc. It won’t be for everyone! But it’s only once a year, so please forgive me. Normal service will be resumed next week.

If you like what I do here, please bookmark this link to Board Game Prices if you’re looking to purchase new games. Anything you buy will give me a small kickback, which will hopefully help pay for my annual hosting charges. You won’t pay anything extra though, so don’t worry. And it’s a genuinely useful site for comparing board game prices.

Hanging around, or not…

Just 11 games have been in my Top 40 since the beginning (eight years). Three (Race for the Galaxy, Terra Mystica and Ticked to Ride) have been ever-present in the Top 10. While four more (Concordia, Can’t Stop, Downfall of Pompeii and Ra) are Top 20 stalwarts. At the other end, Archaeology: The Card Game has been on all eight lists but never in the Top 20. Showing a filler game can hang around near the top too.

Three previous ever-presents dropping out of the Top 40 completely this year. Pizza Box Football, Thebes and Twilight Struggle. I still love all three and I can’t see them leaving my collection. They just don’t get played as much as they used to, so made way for current favourites. Twilight Struggle in particular may be back, if I get into playing it more regularly. It’s just quite an investment and needs a certain type of gamer.

The biggest drop off the list came from Codenames Duet. Which dropped right out of the 40 after five straight years in the Top 20. Don’t get me wrong - it’s a brilliant game. But it fell off a cliff for Sarah and me after we got stuck on a tough setting. You’d think we could just go back to a simpler version, but somehow we can’t seem to right now. I expect it’ll be back. And we’ve played it nearly 40 times, so I’d still highly recommend it.

Designers and publishers

With four games on my Top 40 list, Stefan Feld is clearly my favourite designer. But it has been a while since one of his games blew me away. Reina Knizia, Dirk Henn and Mac Gerdts all have two on the list. So those four guys have a quarter of my favourites between them. Thank you chaps!

The rest of the list is a who’s who of great designers, alongside a good bunch of lesser-known talent. Similarly there is a huge array of game publishers, from right across Europe and further afield. It’s a truly global hobby and it’s always exciting to get cool little games from Japan, South America and elsewhere.

That said, my list is certainly ‘white male’ biased. But I promise you, this is in no way deliberate. When I research games, I look at the rulebook - not really the publisher, designer etc. Hence why no 2020 Feld games arrived at mine this year. They just didn’t look that interesting. But an Elizabeth Hargrave design will be one of the next (spoiler alert - positively) reviewed games on the blog, despite me not liking her previous game (Wingspan) at all. So if you’re a designer of colour, for example, and think I’d like your game - please get in contact. There are so many games, I simply can’t research everything.

The Covid effect: online gaming

An impressive 23 of my Top 40 board games are now available online. Either via their own apps/Steam or on board game websites Board Game Arena, Yucata or Boite a Jeux. It has been a real lifesaver to be able to keep playing with people outside my bubble, all around the world, during the pandemic. And even as things start to open up again, I hope to continue to do so. It has been a real reminder that some of my favourite people are purely separated from me by distance. Why not spend more time with them, even if it’s ‘virtual’?

In terms of recording online plays (which I do at Board Game Geek), I only include games I play ‘live’. So that’s in real time, while chatting over Messenger, WhatsApp etc. So if I talk about having ‘more plays online’ those are turn-based games that may take weeks to play, often just checking my email and taking a turn per day. I really enjoy playing this way. It’s nice to start the day taking a few board game turns with a good cup of coffee!

Climbers, fallers and new entries

Online play certainly affected the new entries for the year. Both Bruxelles 1893 and Lift Off were games I fell in love with online this year having missed their ‘real life’ releases. While Lost Ruins of Arnak was first introduced to me via publisher CGE’s online board game event. The last new entry for 2021, Remember Our Trip, came the old-fashioned way (via review). While Orbital re-entered the list after a few great plays with Sarah.

Of these, only Arnak troubled the Top 20 (at number 17). Every game above it had been in the Top 20 the year before. While only Targi (from 40+) and Fertility (from 30+) broke into the 20 from below that level in 2020. I find it interesting that, other than these, Azul is the only game holding its own that has been on the list less than five years. It supports the notion that, with so many games to choose from, recent games are struggling for a foothold in collections. While the designs themselves may also reflect an expectation of limited plays, making their games have less longevity.

The biggest fallers were The Rose King and Gnomopolis. Both of which fell from the top 20 to just above the drop line. I think this is more of a natural position for The Rose King, which is an abstract I love to play and is another that will always be in the collection. But without an expansion, I’m not sure Gnomopolis will make it into next year’s list. It’s cute and fun. But doesn’t have quite enough variety to sustain a Top 40 spot without some help.

Getting these games to the table

The games I’ve played most (plays since January 2020) are Ticked to Ride (25 plays) and Can’t Stop (20), with Race for the Galaxy, Oracle of Delphi and Thurn & Taxis also getting 10 plays or more. So that’s four of my top seven in double figures - pretty good.

Every game in my Top 40 got at least one play in that time, with most of those with the lowest plays not having a digital implementation. Some, such as Basari and Ra, really need to be face-to-face to get the atmosphere going. But I’m baffled the likes of Caverna, Bora Bora and Notre Dame aren’t on any of the digital platforms.

Outside the list, my most played games were Welcome To (nine plays since Jan 2020), Coloretto (7), Yspahan (7) and Stone Age (6). While I don’t own Coloretto and Stone Age (all those plays were online), all four games would definitely be in my top 100. I expect I’ll pick Coloretto up next time I’m in Germany. While I’ve been pondering rebuying Stone Age for a long time now. Especially as the Winter Edition adds a little bit more variety.

Most - and least - played (of all time)

As this is an ‘all time’ list, the proof in the pudding is total games played for each game. Five of the 40 I’ve played (at the table) more than 50 times - two (Ticket to Ride and Race for the Galaxy) more than 100. I’ve played half the games (21) 20 times or more, and three quarters (29) at least 10 times.

Terra Mystica is the least played in my Top five with 19 plays, with Oracle of Delphi on 24. But I’ve played both multiple times online too. Trust me, they get a good work out here!

Caverna is the only ‘old’ game in my Top 20 with less than 10 plays (8). I love it, but it’s a real investment it time to set up, play and teach. The only other two with less are Fertility (8) and Arnak (6), which have only been around for a year or so. Lower down the list, both Bruxelles and Lift Off are new to my collection (less than five plays each) but I’ve played them a lot online too. Every other game has a minimum of five ‘real life’ plays.

Game style breakdown

About half of the 40 are what I would call ‘euro games’. with the rest consisting of family and abstract games, including a few roll-and-writes. Of the euros, the mechanisms that show up time and again are worker placement, tile-laying and set collection/order fulfilment.

I was actually surprised just how many had tile placement as a key component - both euro and family games. While only a couple had a race element, despite that being something I love in a game. I think it is just hard to do well in a complex game. Maybe that needs to be my next design challenge.

Tumblin’ Dice is the only dexterity game on the list (the excellent Junk Art fell off the list, largely thanks to Covid). While there are no party games or word games, now that Codenames has also gone. Does that make me a miserable git? Very probably. But I do enjoy quite a lot of daft games. I just don’t feel the need to own them. Also, since Merchant of Venus dropped off the list, there are no ‘ameritrash’ games either. Again, I do like some of them. But they’re so expensive now for what you actually get in terms of a game. I’ll leave those purchases to others. They seem to do OK without me!