Transcript
Speaker: Roll the dice, pack your bags, let the countdown begin Shane and Steve's top 100, who's gonna win? Will Steve crown a feast for Odin his number one prize? will shit real confusion take Shane by surprise?
Speaker: Let the countdown swing! Skidada da ba dum bam!
Speaker: Welcome to officially the best top 100 of all time countdown in the history of the board game industry. um And I don't say that lightly. that's It's very much matter of fact, according to Shane and I. fact. There's no doubt it is fact.
Speaker: Yes, yes, you can't argue. So how are you, Shane? I'm good, thank you Really good for this lovely Saturday morning. so why It's always good to kick off the weekend with your face, Steve.
Speaker: and And not only that, not only your face, mate, but, you know, the dulcet tones of Mr. Shivers is just always lovely. uh like it's so funny because and you would be the same whenever you listen to yourself back on anything recorded you just go how does anyone put up with this like at all like not just in on a podcast but in general conversation how does someone not just go man and your voice is so annoying so when people tell me that I've got a a good voice for a podcast I'm like you're kidding like you just you're just trying to wind me up I don't believe it No, you do. And um I haven't listened to an episode for a long time, but I had to listen to the last one that you posted with the jingle.
Speaker: And um throughout that episode, I was hearing myself. And like, I'm sorry, listeners. I'm terrible. And and i'm I'm hearing like little coughs. and And because I've had a gastric sleeve, I get gurgles every now and then. I can hear my gurgles. And like, oh, the poor listeners.
Speaker: So... ah Well, now you've pointed it out, everyone will notice. Yeah, yeah, go back and listen to them. They're terrible. I'm not listening to another episode.
Speaker: ah Well, I'm going to have to listen to you for the next 60 entries at least, but that's fine. I quite enjoy it. And I also think you sound great on radio, so don't, you know, we're just here to pump each other's tyres up, clearly. Yeah, that's it. Okay, thank you. i'll call bullshit later, but that's fine.
Speaker: So we're just going to jump straight back into our list here. Yeah, let's do it. We're up to number 60, aren't we, mate? We're up to number 60 and we're bringing Ingrid's countdown in this time, even though we promised it all last episode and never delivered. So get ready, Ingrid. Your ah top 10 is on the way. Thanks to Shane this time.
Speaker: So number 60, I'll start and then you can do yours and then Ingrid's and then we'll just go that way. That works? Yeah, that sounds good. right, my number 60 is a game I've owned for a very long time, one of the first games I bought getting into the hobby. It's a deck builder. It's kind of known as the classic deck builder that started it all, even though there's other deck builders before it. But the one that really brought it to light, it's a bit as high as six. I assume that was the first year I did this countdown. It's a bit as low as 126, but it sits at 60, which is exactly halfway between those two numbers, and that is Dominion. Dominion.
Speaker: Dominion. The only game of mine, actually, that's not true. My math is totally wrong there. I apologize. It's 66 and 54, so it's close to halfway. I didn't want to correct you.
Speaker: yeah No, I need to get my math right. Otherwise, my nephew will kill me. ah So the one thing about Dominion is it was Helen's favorite game for a while. And for her 40th birthday, she's now 47. So that shows how long it was ah ago. i made Helen expansion to Dominion.
Speaker: And I even went on to like BGG forums to make sure that they were balanced within the game and get and all that. So there's like the artist, which has got a picture of her doing art. I didn't follow the same art style of Dominion, so therefore this expansion has the best art of any Dominion expansion ever because it doesn't follow Dominion art.
Speaker: Yeah. So, um but yeah, no, there's the artist, there's the traveller, there's the mother, all these people and they all, yeah, so it's pretty cool. That's very nice, mate. I like that.
Speaker: um My number 60 is a recent, or not a recent game, I think it came out about two or three years ago. i remember playing very prototype, actually, seeing the prototype and playing the prototype with the designer.
Speaker: So you keep in tally, Steve. It is Martin Wallace's Bloodstones. How do do this? I just like the look of the game. um the the tiles are fantastic, those Bakelite tiles.
Speaker: um And, you know, he changed the way we look at gaming mats too with the silk cloths, I feel. um Because, you know, he's he's now gone down that path of the silk cloths. And brilliant idea because so many maps that you can put just in one box. so Yeah.
Speaker: So I don't play it as much as I'd like to play it. Again, you need the right group. you know And you need time to be to, especially if there's anyone new, you need time to be able to teach them how to play the game.
Speaker: um But we played a couple of the expansions some months back with Martin. and here at Here at my house, that was good fun. um But yeah, Bloodstones, number 60. Amazing.
Speaker: I predicted seven Martin Wallace games. I think that's the third one. I'm wondering whether I didn't predictck enough predict enough at this point. see Because I'm thinking of a few more that are coming.
Speaker: Yeah, I might have might have been one or two short. We'll see. So what about Ingrid? Ingrid's number 10. Well, Ingrid's number 10. I play the hell out of this game on BGA.
Speaker: well-designed game is Ingrid's comments. I'm currently in my second game of this game with Ingrid at the moment on BGA. And I must have admit, i when I first started playing it, because i used to play this a lot with Lauren, I've kind of forgotten how to play it, but i'm I'm slowly picking it up now. So Ingrid's number 10 is Lost Cities.
Speaker: Excellent. Classic game. Another classic game. Yeah. Good classic game.
Speaker: All right, well, ah moving straight on to number 59. Just before you do, Steve, sorry. I do need to apologise, and I don't know I apologised about this in the last episode, but I did forget one of Andy's games.
Speaker: Ah, okay, yep. And that is Carnegie. I don't know how I forgot it. um that I must have seen it. do. I do. i When I was listening back when we were doing editing, um there was a point where I went to do my next game and then I was like, oh, no, do you want to do Andy's? And he's like, no, you go ahead.
Speaker: and then we just skipped Andy's game. So that's on me. Yeah. um well have its so um i mean, I had the list. It's on me. But I i do apologize, Andy, I'm going to say it's in your top five. I'm going to say probably three.
Speaker: But we all know you love Puerto Rico. I should have put Puerto Rico as your number one, Andy. It's a very ah divisive game, it appears, with our listeners and and people we play with. Puerto Rico, it's been on, you know, it was on um Manuel's top ten. It's been, it was Andy's shit can game. it's um It's the many the many yeah views of Puerto Rico.
Speaker: Yes, ah to to our listeners, it's, Puerto Rico is to my shit rule confusion. So as far as Andy's concerned.
Speaker: Alrighty then. Well, my my number 59 game is a game that I've been playing more recently, actually, since making the list. And I don't know whether that would change many things. It'd probably get a bit of a bump up, I guess. But it's a game that's a few years old. It's a cool card game where it's one of those brain melts when it comes to scoring.
Speaker: And that is Forest Shuffle. I really like forest shuffle. I love that you can really be like, it feels like it's a very solo game when you're playing with other people because you're just trying to make whatever you make work.
Speaker: But if you're able to look around the table, yeah that's super important because you might be throwing away a card that the next person's just like, you idiot. You just passed me 30 points, you know, like you've really got to be aware, but you can just also kind of get lost in your own little puzzle. So ah yeah And I remember that when I first started playing it, I liked it, but I was like, I can't i can't get this. I can't figure out how to get a good score. you know i um just And then I played a game with my brother and I was telling him this. I'm like, this is going to be hilarious. because and And then I scored like 400 points.
Speaker: And I was just like, okay. So it still stands as a bit of an outlier ah as far as score goes. But yeah, like I've started to figure out the combinations a bit better and added in both the expansions, which has made the game a little bit more broad, a little bit harder to sort of knuckle down on one strategy.
Speaker: I haven't tried Dartmoor and I haven't tried the new one that's just come out, but they're standalone games. But this Forest Shuffle base game's great, but then with the two expansions, which is just more cards and a couple of different styles of wildlife, it's it's great.
Speaker: So my number 59, Forest Shuffle.
Speaker: My number 59 is a game by taking notes, Chip Theory Games. So this should probably now equal Mr. Wallace's number. um It won Solo Game of the Year on the Dice Tower Awards, and it's a system it's a system card game. So, um again, it's a game that I playtested for chip theory games, so I got a very early copy that I went out and 3D, well, not 3D printed, but I went out and got it all printed up and was playing it. It was great. It's 20 strong, 20 strong system. So 20 strong Solisor,
Speaker: and so twenty strong solia Too Many Bones, Hopla Marcus, there's a whole heap of them out there at the moment. And totally recommend it. Really good solo game. A game that can set up, play within about 15, 20 minutes, depending.
Speaker: Solar Storm anyway, but you know Too Many Bones does go a little bit longer. My number 59, 20 strong. Excellent. And Ingrid's number nine?
Speaker: Ingrid's number nine. First bag builder, still love it. It's got to be Oli On. It is Oli On. Number nine. That's fantastic.
Speaker: It is a great game. I do, it does puzzle me why there's a map up the top though. I don't, I guess you're going around collecting resources, but I don't see the point in that map up the top, but anyway.
Speaker: Yeah, it's, ah I think i'm um might I'm playing a game with that at the moment on BGA. I think Ingrid's in that game. it's it's It's been a long-time favourite in i house for sure. And part of it is that it just doesn't make any sense. Like that I love, i always say it, I think I said it when I mentioned it on my list couple of episodes ago, that If you want to try and figure out what you're doing theme-wise, you can't. The game doesn't even tell you. It literally says you are venturing around southern France for victory points or something like that in in the flavor text.
Speaker: It's like we're not even trying. You're just getting victory points. Off you go. A good choice. Good choice. Yes. ah My number 58 is a another game that's a bit of a family favourite in the Chivers household. And it actually became a little bit of it randomly became a Christmas tradition to play this game.
Speaker: We used to do a ah ah championships on Christmas Day. Probably started as a way to not get everyone to just jump back onto their phones or on TV or whatever on Christmas and keep everyone connected. So we used to play the Dice Throne Championships.
Speaker: And so Dice Throne, I've got season one here, but it's the only Dice Throne. It's just Dice Throne, unlike you know what I've done with Clank, because Clanks are all different. Dice Throne is the same game, just different kind characters.
Speaker: ah So yeah, it's just fantastic, fun game where it's battle Yahtzee. Anyone can learn it. There is a few intricacies with some of the characters, which is good because if you've got those people who want a bit more of a mental challenge, you give them one of the harder characters. And if you've got a seven-year-old who just wants to throw dice and kill people, you give them one of the easy characters and away you go.
Speaker: There's so much diversity and in the characters themselves. I've kind of, it's cooled a little bit lately because I've just got too much of it. So it's that problem of it's hard to get to the table because it's like, okay, which one of the 34 characters am I going to play with now? And what ends up happening is you just go, oh, might just play something else. So ah need to get it back out, need to play it more often, but we'll probably get it out at in the school holidays that are just coming up. So that is Dice Throne, any of them. My favourite is probably the Marvel box, not because I'm a Marvel fan, because I'm not, but just because I really like how well integrated the
Speaker: the character arc is into the gameplay. So Doctor Strange has his own little invocation deck and yeah know there's all these other things like Loki is a bastard. It's great. So yeah. um and But any of them are good.
Speaker: Excellent. My number 58, I'm sure it's going be a crossover with you. If it hasn't already, i just can't remember. But it is a game that you and I enjoy playing. You play it maybe once a year whenever you're in town with a few other mates, and that is TI4.
Speaker: Just the best experience. I've talked about TI4 enough in these podcasts, but there's not many games where there's so much steam dripping out everywhere, and you're having so much fun that eight hours goes like that.
Speaker: Yeah. For sure. If you could somehow manage, and I know that we've talked about Last Light sort of doing this, but if you could somehow manage to encapsulate a game of TI4 into a shorter setting, you'd probably play it 10, 15 times a year. but Yeah, easy.
Speaker: It's just not possible. Ingrid's number eight is listed here as can't beat those multi-purpose cards.
Speaker: So this could be anything.
Speaker: Just trying to think of games that Ingrid likes. Multipurpose car. No, I've got nothing. Lagrangia. Yes, they she taught me this game. Yeah.
Speaker: I've never played it. it's It's good. I can see why it would be on someone's top ten. yeah it I feel like I've not given myself the best chance at liking the game because I have the game, but I've got the old version and I've never actually played my physical version.
Speaker: I've only played it on BGA with Shane and Ingrid. and And that's Shane K, by the way, obviously. I'm not yourself. yeah um and But there's a new fancy, fandangled, beautiful version apparently as well. So I'd like to play it physically on the table. It is one of those games where,
Speaker: Every time I get invited to a game from Ingrid, I'm about probably into round two or three before I go, right, what am i actually doing here? And to its credit, you can still make a run of it, even if you haven't really been paying attention in the first couple of rounds. So that's that's good game design, I guess.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, speaking of them game rounds that you need to, before you grok something, So just for update on Flip 7, Flip 7 tournament.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, yeah. This is what, three weeks on? This is the longest game of Flip 7 I've ever
Speaker: played. Oh, that's too good. they are We are at the end. It's coming to the end. um Currently, it's drawn between me and someone else. We're sitting on 219 each, and I've got a second chance card.
Speaker: So unless like unless someone freezes me... I'm pretty sure I'm going to win. if it's taken this long, surely everyone else is going, just let it have the win at this game
Speaker: end. And then i'm gonna go then I move up the ranks and then I've got to go through it all again. Play again. Anyway, there's my update at 57. Over to you, Steve, for number 57. then 57 is a great little party game.
Speaker: i Only got an English release um last year, but it's I've had a Japanese version since my daughter went to Japan a few years ago. And it's basically just numbers on a card. So doesn't really matter that it wasn't English. However, the little um phrases that you're trying to match the numbers to were in Japanese. So a little bit of um translate came out, but also you can just make up your own things. And this is Ito.
Speaker: So Eto, if you're not familiar, is a game where someone gives you a phrase or someone gives you something to rank, like favorite fast food or fast food you like.
Speaker: And you have a choice between dislike and like, and you get a number between zero and 100. So one in 100. So one means I really dislike this fast food. 100 means this is the best fast food in the world. And you've got to come up with an answer to that question based on the number that you hold.
Speaker: You put out on the table face down and then everyone has to agree on that order. And then you reveal. So similar to a lot of other games, but I love that you have these bizarre conversations about. So I played this just before I went on the the BGG cruise. And the night before I had Steve Bonicore, Jeff Anderson, Christine and Paula over for ah dinner. And we played this after dinner and one of the categories came up, which was what is the best Lord of the Rings movie or something like that, or something about the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. What ensued was a two hour argument over which version of the Hobbit movies was better than the other based on the animated version, the one that came out in the eighties and the three set that Peter Jackson's recently done. And it it was like, it was feisty. Yeah.
Speaker: As someone who had no skin in the game, i just kept on laughing. i just like, this is fantastic. And it went on and we kept playing, but every now and again they'd just come back and be like, ah i just I don't know if we can be friends anymore if you don't like.
Speaker: It was outstanding. All from a little game of Ito. So, yeah, it creates great conversations. There's like people like favourite foods or whatever and someone says cauliflower you're like, oh, that's going to be like four. But it turns out they love cauliflower and it's actually like 85 or something. and You just go, what? Who puts that cauliflower at 85?
Speaker: But, yeah, that's that's how it runs. Very good. My number 57 is a game i Lauren and I like playing together.
Speaker: um And it doesn't hit the table as much as it used to. It used to always hit the table. when And it was always Lords of Waterdeep or this game, and that's Blue Moon City. Oh, wow.
Speaker: Yeah, Blue Moon City. Lauren is a Eurogamer. What is she? Yeah. see She loves this game and she's very good at it too. So, yeah, Blue Moon City, my number 57.
Speaker: peace That's fantastic. Oh, like the way that when when I've been at your house and Lauren's been there, it's almost like it almost like we're diseased when we're playing games. But to hear that she likes Laws of Waterdeep and City, I don't know if it's coming up on your list, but i know you've talked about beer and bread before with her.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, she likes beer and bread. There's closet board gamer under there somewhere. There's another one that's coming up too that she really likes as well, and it's a Euro, so. There you go. Yeah. And what about Ingrid's number seven?
Speaker: Ingrid's number seven is a toss-up between two versions of this game, and it's the original and Queen's Garden, so Azul, The original Azul, Queen's Garden.
Speaker: I know that Ingrid likes the Queen's Garden because it's a little bit more in-depth.
Speaker: However, know, Azul is so much fun. We play that quite a lot on VGA, myself, Ingrid and Shane. I think you and you join a few of those games too. so Yeah.
Speaker: I'll happily come fourth. It's all good. I'm happy to be there. so Very nice. Another party game for my number 56. this is just a just a mental time and and another game that you can play. I mean, a lot of party get games fall into the category of you can play with anyone, but I'm running a are U OK to Play day. When this comes out, it's probably already happened.
Speaker: But this is one of the games that will definitely get played ad nauseum at that event. And it's Hot Streak. Oh, yeah. Just stupid fun. You can't go wrong with stupid fun. So that is my number 56. Good choice. My number 56 is a crossover with yourself, young man.
Speaker: i am pretty sure. And that is Gizmos. yep. That was in my last group of 10. So close. We are close. do...
Speaker: know if like playing on BGA. i think I enjoy playing it live better because, you know, you get all the marbles and it looks good. kind I haven't dropped the BGA system just yet and I can't get really good chains going like what you do. So, disnos.
Speaker: Mine number 56. Yeah, there's the the best chain I've ever got going was live, so I'm going to agree with you there. it's a You missed all the tactile nature of the game and all that. Yeah, yeah
Speaker: yeah. Ingrid's number six it is her favourite Lucerta.
Speaker: And that's it. Favourite Lucerta. I think Shane's the Kanban fan. Shane, it's the combine fan. this would be maybe on Mars?
Speaker: It is on Mars. Yeah. Well done. On Mars is in bridge number six. Can't dispute that. It's ah it's probably my favourite Lisserta too.
Speaker: Fair enough. Not mine, but that's okay. You can't all agree it can all agree on the same things. ah My number 55 is the smallest game on my list. it's And there is a bigger version of it. And my version is terrible. like It's just the worst production. And it's an Eagle Griffin game.
Speaker: Any guesses?
Speaker: Small Eagle Griffin game and it's ugly.
Speaker: the The money is literally paper. It's like like thin cardboard.
Speaker: No, no idea. No, it's for sale. So I have the little tiny box for sale with the cards and the money just shoved in. and But it's every time I see the fancy version, which is essentially the same thing except with money that's not terrible,
Speaker: I go, ooh, and then I look at the price tag and go, ah it's just a card game. I don't want to spend that. But what ah what a great little game. I've had it for years and I've really only started playing it the last few years. It's out of my shelf.
Speaker: Because of that paper money, I just went, oh, it's kind of gross. But um such a clever game where you you buy a plots of land, everything from a cardboard box to a space station and everything in between, and then you sell that land in the second phase of the game.
Speaker: And it's just a matter of how well you can sell whatever crap you've got to make more money. Simple game, easy to teach, just ah but really so really clever decisions, how how your bid is clever, when you play particular cards based on the values that are out there.
Speaker: Excellent game. So For Sale is my number 55. Very good. My number 55 is a game where what the first it yeah when I first played this game,
Speaker: It's known for the first move. Everyone has to take this move in the game as their first move. And it's the first time I played it. It's the only time I've ever seen anyone lose their shit at someone else for taking that spot. Like literally lose their shit.
Speaker: On the first turn the game. On the first turn of the game. I'm like, guys, we're we're like literally, this is the first turn and you're already arguing. can't believe it. um Anyway, i said but that happened in a different group.
Speaker: in the in our regular Thursday night board game group. Yes, every everyone wants to be first player to do this as their first turn. and But, you know, we know someone's going to take it.
Speaker: But we have great time. Everyone dogs on everyone. And that is Hansen to Tonica. Right. Okay. The whole time I'm trying to think like, is this like Houston to Dallas and Ticket to Ride? I was trying to work out what it was.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a similar thing. there's There's one spot on the board that everyone takes. Yeah. and bigger And it's it's known for that because it can kind of gives you a good kickstart at the start. Yeah, right.
Speaker: Yeah. Hanson to Tonica, number 55. Very nice.
Speaker: they're nice
Speaker: Ingrid's, let me see.
Speaker: Kickstarted the collection, got all the expansions, don't really play it anymore, but there's a special place in my heart.
Speaker: Number five. Yeah, you just be plucking from the air to guess this one. And that is Mansions mansions of Madness. Right. yeah this ah Yeah, this doesn't seem to fit on Ingrid's list. So everything you said makes sense, right? Like it's, you know, one of the first games, special place, like it sticks there. I like i like it.
Speaker: It's like Euro, Euro, Euro, Mansons of Madness.
Speaker: I love it. All right, speaking of theme, and this is kind of a Euro, though, but this, my number 54, is a really cool card drafting game that really...
Speaker: Elevated card drafting from Seven Wonders Duel was always like the the the the amazing card drafting game with that's the pyramid system and whatever else. But then Comic Hunters came along and, yeah man, I love the drafting in this game. It's like the theme, take it or leave it, I quite like the theme of collecting comics better than playing um playing heroes because that, know, playing heroes, that's the story of every movie, right? But just being a comic book collector is kind of cool. and But the theme wouldn't matter. It's just the the mechanisms. that that the The slide puzzle draft is my favorite. But then yeah the fact that you can go to the secondhand shop and buy all anything from the discarded cards, like that's so cool.
Speaker: And you're just trying to build the best collection. So Comic Hunters, if you haven't tried it, it's great. It's disappointing that the Spin Master got their hands on the English release and did a terrible job. It's it's a horrendous production, but the game itself, I mean, it's not ah not as bad as For Sale, but but ah but yeah, not great. And it could have been so, if if the production was better, this game would have been a massive hit.
Speaker: I really think it let it down. But Comic Hunt is great. ah ah you You taught me that game one day on the game day and I liked it. But you're right. It's like bits of paper, bits of cardboard. it's It's like they really just wanted to get it out quickly versus take the time, really produce it properly. And it was, there's things that don't even make sense. Like it was a remake of a Brazilian produced game.
Speaker: And the Brazilian produced game is better quality. But there's also things like they misprinted one of the rules on the board. ah How do you get that wrong if you're copying someone else's design? yeah How does the second printing get it wrong? I don't understand.
Speaker: that yeah, so there's problems. But I really hope one day they bring out a nicer version. But it's such such a clever system. So Comic Hunters 54. Good choice. And I loved your comment. It's said by no one ever.
Speaker: Comic book collecting is cool. ah The idea of comic book collecting is cool. I look at your wall and go, I can't afford this hobby. Or I can't afford another hobby like this, I should say. yeah ah It's because I get the total different reaction. Sometimes if I'm in a meeting and I'm in my office here and i forgot to tell I forget to turn my background on as I quickly come in, they're like, Shane, are you a nerd? Yeah.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. Just kill that. answer Yeah, of course I am. It is funny. I have the same argument for comic books as I have with every other hobby that isn't board games, like why I haven't gotten to D&D, why I haven't got into magic, why I haven't got into scuba diving.
Speaker: I just can't afford to have another one of these expensive hobbies. I've got board games and that's it. I don't want anything else that's going to sink my money into. No, board games, comic books for me and record collecting and my latest...
Speaker: Disc Golf. Well, we'll move on. Oh, hello. All right. Yeah. Number 54 for me is my favorite Thunderworks game by A Country Mile.
Speaker: um And I have the expansions, although really, to be honest with you, the base game is perfect. And that is Roleplayer. Nice, yeah.
Speaker: Awesome dice rolling game and character building. And I like the fact that they you know they they brought up their larger game where you could take that character through what was yeah then a whole heap of scenarios.
Speaker: I never brought that one. But yeah, role player at my number 54. Cool.
Speaker: Ingrid's four? Ingrid's four is going to be a crossover with you. Yeah. obsessed with this game for a while, occupied my thoughts and dreams, which strategy is the best?
Speaker: So, if you throw that to me, I'll cross that with me. so it's something that I like a lot. Uh, is it Tio? No.
Speaker: Ah, of course. Number four. face roing of course number is Yeah, yeah i yeah. I mean, they both do the same thing, right? Like where you just you just go into a game and go, what am I going to do this time? See what works.
Speaker: Yeah, what a game. What a game. I'm actually playing a game right now doing something totally different. So that's just, yeah. I'm very i'm um'm nervous about this new version that's coming out too, The Danes.
Speaker: At first, I was like, I can't wait. This is gonna be the best thing ever. But... From what I've seen, I'm just, I'm not sure. Hey, like, it just looks like a Feast for Odin.
Speaker: And they've added all this extra stuff in. And it's like, it's not a campaign. it's It's something else. Like, you add little bits and pieces in here and there. And I just like, don't know. it's It's not a legacy. It's like, don't know. I haven't gone deep enough into how it works. But to give you an example, it's coming in a box about the size of Gloomhaven.
Speaker: Oh, God. Yeah, and I'm just like, I i don't think i don't think A Feast for Odin needs a box the size of Gloomhaven. It's a pretty solid game. like It has been a pretty solid game. It's in the top 30 on BGG and has been for like 10 years.
Speaker: So as much as I love new things coming for games that I love, I'm worried that they might have just gone a little bit too far with this one. So I'm keeping an eye on it, following it on BGG, and um ah just I don't know. I don't know whether it's going something that I'm going to jump for. but I mean, Feast for Odin, up until now, anything Feast for Odin, I'm like, yes, I'll take expansions, I'll take mini expansions, whatever. it'll be interesting to see what it's like.
Speaker: But great choice, Ingrid. No no arguments from me. Oh, well, the argument that it's 3-2 high, maybe. 3-2 low, maybe. I don't know what's coming. Speaking of games that should be at the pointy end of the the of the scale, ah did you want to such just throw something else in there? no, no, definitely not. Over to you, mate. 53, I think, we're right? 53. games that once were on the top of the pile and are still great games that just never get played anymore because I played the game far too many times.
Speaker: It's another one for your count. It's a Jamie Stegmaier game and it's Scythe.
Speaker: So Scythe has its peak at number one and had that peak for about three or four years. And then it's gradually fallen away. Last year it was 50, so around the same score as this time around.
Speaker: it's I played it this year, which was great. I played it with Manuel, who mentioned it as one of his... ah games that just missed his list because he'd only played it the once. So that was really good to see that it still holds up as a game when people learn it, that they just go, oh, wow, this is really cool.
Speaker: And yeah, maybe that can breathe some life in it. We have talked about potentially doing a Fenris campaign up here. So we will see. But yeah, it's just, I've played it, The physical version I've played over 100 times, nearly 150 times.
Speaker: So I've not played any other physical version of any game as many times as that. So it's clearly a standout game for me. It was why it was my number two on my most important games to me list. But if it's today, I'm rarely choosing it to play. So 53 is a good place for it to land.
Speaker: Very good. What's that, your number? 53. No, no, is that your number two? Oh, no, Stegmaier. So I just, Tapestry was in the last group. So think that's it so far for Jamie.
Speaker: Yep. My number 53 is a game where I have everything for And they've done multiple versions of this game. They've done it in space.
Speaker: They've done an easier version. And that is Terra Mystica. It's my number 53. Yeah, nice. I enjoy it more than Gaia Project. Which is weird for me because I like space games.
Speaker: Normally I'd go sci-fi over a boring, you know, Euro. But Terra Mystica, my number 53. Yeah. Great choice.
Speaker: It's a bit of a blind spot for me. I have played Gaia Project, but I've only played Terra Mystica once and it was on Tabletop Simulator, so I haven't really played Terra Mystica. Yeah.
Speaker: Ingrid's number three is kind of in the same realm as Terra Mystica. No need to house rule anything. This is a perfect game, is Ingrid's... description of this has a very Terra Mystica theme in it and some of the actions are similar and that Clans of Caledonia.
Speaker: That's fair yep I was just watching a video from the Dice Tower where Wendy was saying that she had she listed the expansion Industria as one of her most disappointing games because she said Clans of Caledonia base game is perfect.
Speaker: And Industria didn't, made it made it bad. So, yeah, she's right. Like, it seems like that's the general consensus that it's a pretty perfect game out of the box.
Speaker: Ingrid's number three. Good choice. I still remember the first play of Clans I had with was was was with Def and his wife, Dimi, and Dimi just got the milk people and murdered us, like lapped everyone, including Def. You know, I was happy to be on the board with points and she was on like 300 and something. it was crazy. So definitely you can understand. I had similar experience with Def and Dimi where, who was at your birthday, where they taught me the game and Dimi just dumped us.
Speaker: Yeah. I feel like, you know, that whole vassal rule theory. I feel like that was been that would have been deaf teaching the game. yeah. you'd be going, well, I'm not holding anything back. Exactly right. Exactly right. And they actually taught the game perfectly too.
Speaker: Lovely cover. Yeah, yeah. My number 52 is a game that, yeah, it's it's really held its own for a long time now.
Speaker: In fact, um I literally just did my BGA turns before we got on and I played it he played my turn on this and I'm like, such a solid game. One of Helen's favourites. So it gets a bit of table time up here too and that's Nidavalia.
Speaker: Really simple game that has cool elements. It has like ah the the bidding system but then also the card collection, all the different ways of scoring.
Speaker: Yeah, love it. We'll always play it. Yep, increase the new coin value. Yep. Good game. Good choice. My number 52 is my favourite car racing game.
Speaker: So, it is a family choice as well. So, whenever the boys want a play, they either choose a certain game or this, and that is Downforce.
Speaker: yep I've had Downforce for many, many years. I've got every track, every expansion to it. So...
Speaker: It hits the table at least once a year, if not twice a year. And it's with the boys. So, go for us. Why number 52? So, to... I was at Ingrid's number two.
Speaker: Number two is for Ingrid.
Speaker: Same mechanics, just more ways to score. Samey, sure, but somehow keeps you interested. It's a toss-up between Fromage and Fromageo. Yeah, this was the one I was wondering whether it'd still make the list because it was number three, I think, when she did the list with us. And she'd just just gotten Fromageo.
Speaker: So interesting to hear that it's like ah they she treats them both the same. It's supposed to say, but obviously if it was number three, from RGO might have been the one that's pushed it up to number two. so Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: a It's a great game. I think I had it on my list like about 70 or so, like something like that. There's another game that's coming up on my list in the next slate of 10 that is made by the same designers and is a very similar game with a completely different theme but feels basically the same. And it's my favorite of the three versions, but we'll get to that next round. But I'd be interested to know whether Ingrid likes that game when it comes out. It's not officially out yet, but so it's one of those yeah ones if you've played on BGA.
Speaker: Excellent. um Over to you, mate, for your number 51. My 51 is a journeyman of a game. So this game, I played it fairly early on the hobby down at my brother's house. He had a copy of it and I played it. And at the time, I just thought Dominion was the best deck builder and you going change my mind. And we played this and I was like, yeah, sure, it's fine.
Speaker: And then I didn't play it for like four years and I just randomly started thinking about it. and thinking, I want to play that game again. And then I played it again. I'm like, this is this is really good. this is It's simple and it's fun.
Speaker: And you've got you've got to really plan out your turns. You've got to worry about what other people are doing. And it's Quest for Eldorado. So Reiner Knizia deck building game where it's basically a race game from one end to the other. And you've got to have the right people in your hand to play so you can go over water where you can or you can go through the marsh or whatever it is to try and to to get to the end before everybody else. It's that simple.
Speaker: And there's a few expansions that make it really cool. I finally own a copy now. It's taken me years to find. because it's been out of print for a while, but... um Or it's either that or it's been, like, priced kind of ridiculously. So yeah I have my own copy now. I have a couple of expansions, and Quest for El Dorado is a great deck-building game.
Speaker: I must have to look out for that, because I do like deck-builders, and a lot of people do... I hear about that game a lot from a lot of people saying it's one of their favourites. Good choice, mate. My number 51 will be a crossover with you.
Speaker: It is my third by this designer, so we're tying. Oh, hello. climate um And actually I thought this would be higher up, but I'm not going to go against the system that I went you know that i built.
Speaker: So my number 51 is Paladins of the West Kingdom. Very nice. Very nice. Yeah, really good choice of a game. I'm playing at the moment on BGA.
Speaker: Yeah, how good's that? What a great what a great addition to BGA. Yeah, awesome addition. I've kind of forgotten how to play it because played in a very long time. So I'm literally picking it up as I'm going and then going, okay, that's why I'm doing this. Yep, that's right.
Speaker: Yeah, so Paladins of the West Kingdom. um It is a solo game, let's face it. You can play it with other people, but I just enjoy playing it solo. And even when you are playing with other people, you pretty much play it solo. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, there's ah there's there's a bit of interaction, but not enough to make you bothered with what other people are doing that much. Yeah, yeah. Line number 51. Great choice. Thank very much. Garfield Games. so before you mention what Ingrid's is... Oh, I know where it is. I don't even know why. I was just having a moment of... What could it be? It's Castles of Burgundy, yeah? It is Castles of Burgundy.
Speaker: Still my number one, another perfect game. Especially with the vineyards expansion. Yeah, fair shout to the vineyards. That's, yeah, it's a good time. um Great list, Ingrid.
Speaker: And there'll be crossovers galore in there with between you, me and Steve. so ah london But really good choice and a good list. And I can't argue with your number one.
Speaker: Yeah, great game. Great game. It was one of the ones I contemplated having you having as your number one ah when we were doing our predictions, but I ended up going with Art and All Pork, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker: It will be in my top 10. I do a, most most of the people who listen to our show are in this group, but I do a yeah BGA setup group on Messenger. And every few weeks or so, i put up a poll of all the games that I'd like to play and people can vote if they want to play them. And every time I put Castles Burgundy up there, we get enough for two games. It's the only game that has that many people. Everyone just says, yep, Castles Burgundy, tick, I'm in.
Speaker: Yep. It is a really good game. Yeah.
Speaker: Good choice. Good list, Ingrid. And thank you for giving us your list. Yeah, it's great. Yeah. Full agreement. Excellent list. Mansions of Madness just seems like the crazy outlier, but i love it.
Speaker: All right. So I guess we'll just, are we going to carry on and do our 50 to 41? Just the two of us?
Speaker: um think set probably Yeah, We'll probably, how are we going for time? No, we're going all right. Yeah, we had a bit of a break there too. So, yeah, probably about 45. Yeah, we'll be good. Yeah, and like if it's you and I, we'll steam through this 10.
Speaker: Yeah. Righto, yeah. So let's crack on then with our 50 to 41. Top 50. Top 50. Here we go. 50 best games of all time.
Speaker: Unequivocally voted by me and you. So number 20, number 50, number 20 would be a big jump. Number 50 is a my favorite game that involves a lazy Susan.
Speaker: that's a pretty so That's a pretty accurate way of putting it. It's a tile placement game with tracks, and there's two things that i love, and that is Planet Unknown. When you throw in variable powers as well, so this game is great, just base game, base um company, or whatever it's called, but every single map flips over to a random map and flips over to a random company, and you can mix and match and hodgepodge them and...
Speaker: It just gives you, if you want that, you get a totally different feeling of how to play the game every time. But if you don't want that, still a great game. So never misses, Planet Unknown. and And it plays the same, it is literally one of those games where you can play the same speed, whether you're playing with two players or six players, because someone chooses something and everyone takes what's in front of them. That's it. All simultaneous. Excellent game.
Speaker: Very good. My number 50 is crossover with you, I reckon. Or will be. can't remember your last 50. and And it is a game that I enjoy playing, a lot of fun.
Speaker: um You can be really mean. You can be really nice, then really mean. um And I'd love to play it with the doyant, or whatever that word is,
Speaker: Doyen this game that this person raves about it at every convention here. If anyone walks up to him and asks him to play it, he says yes. And that is Cosmic Encounter.
Speaker: Ah, yes. Righty-hung. um yeah Really good game.
Speaker: Maybe we'll just have to go to Dostow West one year and recreate that experience. Yes, please.
Speaker: I was looking at flights to Dice Tower West for next year, actually, the other day. and I'm like, is it wrong that I want to go back to America two months after getting back from America to go to another Dice Tower event?
Speaker: And the answer was yes. I can't afford that. Both in time away from work and in finances. One day. One day. ah My number 49 is a Martin Wallace game.
Speaker: Well, it is a Martin Wallace game, however contentious that statement may be and how however legally legally correct that statement may or may not be. But to me, it's a Martin Wallace game and that is Age of Steam.
Speaker: It's the 18xx game that's not an 18xx game, but really is. And then it's not because it's beautifully produced and the mechanisms are really smooth.
Speaker: It's so brutal, so brutal of the games sometimes, but so satisfying in many other ways. And those moments where you can upgrade a piece of track that just sort of links all these weird things and works perfectly. It's just there's something something so satisfying about just placing that one little hex and going, this solves all my problems.
Speaker: yeah, Age Steam. I've got a few of the expansions. They're great. I haven't got into the real funky ones yet, but I'm looking forward to that. Like that the, what is it? the lincoln The Lincoln car and Mars and all those ones. i'd Love to try those out, but I've really only played the like this more standard, you actual real world space track ones and they're great. Age Steam.
Speaker: Age of Steam and it is designed by Martin Wallace. So the real Martin Wallace, let's call it that. And not many games have their own convention, though, when you think about it.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. In the States, when they do the Age age of Steam convention. Yeah. That's ridiculous. I love that the game Steam, was it Steam?
Speaker: think it was Steam that came out. And it was originally called Martin Wallace's Totally Original Train Game something like that. and It's got that cartoon cartoon picture of him on the front cover. Yeah. ah Very good.
Speaker: Very, very good. um My number 49 is a Stonemaier game.
Speaker: And when it came out, there was... a lot of negative press on the artwork of this game. And I actually don't mind it personally because it ah it was a copy of an original game, but they just changed it. They went from pirates to those anamorphic creatures.
Speaker: And that is Libertalia. Libertalia is a super fun game. You can play it as six players, super fast. um and you can really screw people over. Sounds like a shame game.
Speaker: Yep. Libertalia, my number 49. My 48 is a small card game that I've only spoken about on the podcast not too long ago, not too many episodes ago, and I spoke about it because I finally found other people who like it because Helen's not a big fan, and that is Fantasy Realms.
Speaker: Such a simple game. Start start with a hand of cards. You've always got the same number of cards. Throw something out, pick something up, done. When there's 10 cards that have been thrown out, game over, score your cards up. a little bit like Forest Shuffle. It's got one of those like mind melty way things score. So this card scores this because you've got that and bonuses here and blah, blah, blah. But I love that. And I'm one of those weird people who I don't want to pull out the app.
Speaker: I want to actually get the notepad out and go, this card scores this many points and this much for its bonus and calculate them all the way down. I'm one of those nerds. so But the app is cool if you want to scan everything and just have do it do it itself for you. but And sometimes I'm probably losing points. But I just like the the weird nature of how it scores. I don't want to give that up to ah to an app.
Speaker: Yeah, cool.
Speaker: My number 48
Speaker: One of my favourite two-player games. And you and I have played it a couple of times on PGA. But I do like playing it, the physical version. I've got both expansions for it.
Speaker: And I like the fact that it's got nice heavy chips that you're using. um And it's it's almost like a... you remember the old school... i'd call it... This would be almost like Battle Chess.
Speaker: Do you remember the old Star Wars Battle Chess? You used able to get back in there. I'm showing my major. Vaguely, yeah, yeah. Yeah. um But that is war chest.
Speaker: So it's not chest, but still it's very, very similar. You're going up against each other and each each one of your chips has its own powers and its own movement, its own strategies. So, um and then, you know, you've got the two expansions as well. So I don't get it to the table as much because...
Speaker: don't really have many people to play with. it's just just I don't do too many two-player game nights. But yeah, War Chester, my number 48. Yeah, really good choice. Got to finally play the physical version when I was on the BGG cruise with Raf, who's a big chess fan.
Speaker: And we liked it. It gives very similar to Undaunted feels. and So that was that was easy to get into then because it's that yeah same sort of thing where you're bolstering up and the more that you yeah bolster them, the more you've got access to and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah.
Speaker: My number 47 is my most played game. Full stop. I've played more of this game than any other game in the history of games. Wow. And that's impressive because it is not a short game.
Speaker: It's not The Crew or something like that. This Gloomhaven. Yeah, I guess. So played through the campaign multiple times. We had an online group playing with the app for a long time. The plan was to switch to Frosthaven, but then Frosthaven decided to not be available on Macs, and two of the people in the group have Macs, me included. So we haven't been able to start Frosthaven yet. So one day we will.
Speaker: But, yeah, it's just such an immersive game, a game that... I've literally had game groups dedicated to this particular game and and stories that will live forever. And I know you've had some emotional connection to the game, which is very hard not to have with this style if you get a game group together for different reasons. But, yeah, still a solid game. It's still my favourite dungeon crawler. So, yeah, Gloomhaven is 47.
Speaker: Has been number one in the past. Good choice.
Speaker: My number 47 again, I thought this would be higher, but it's not. It's not. It's come out, multi-use co-play. Very hard to get. The copy I have is the ugly copy everyone says it's really ugly. Oh wow, yeah, this is low.
Speaker: I know. It shocked me too. But that is Gloria Roan. you go.
Speaker: I'm not going to argue with my system. I'm sure that there's more Carl Chattuck to come though, be my guess. ah potentially Potentially, yes, it could be. um but ah you know Even something maybe quite innovative. even even when i did Even when I did this twice, I had to double check where Glory to Rome was, and it was around in the forties to 50s. So I thought, okay, well, the system is telling me, Shane, you don't like it as much as you think you do.
Speaker: ah So 47, let's face it, there's 50 awesome games coming up. so Yeah, I mean, some of these games, like I've just mentioned in the last 10, I've mentioned Gloomhaven and Scythe. So yeah, there's there's some quality games.
Speaker: I even did buy just recently a Kyle Chuddock game called Ukronia. And it's technically an introduction to Glorita Rome system.
Speaker: So its good it's not as in-depth as Glory to Rome. So I thought I i' bought that so that I can teach people this system first and then take them to Glory to Rome.
Speaker: Fair enough. My number 46 is the Ben Rousset game that I've been hinting at, the one that's made by the same people who made Fromage, and also Bizarrely Planned Search for Planet X.
Speaker: ah This one, I'm waiting. I'm expecting a box to arrive very shortly with this game inside it. It was kickstarted a while back. But it's been on BGA and it's actually really, it's been really great because i'm ready I'm ready to go. soon as the box comes, I don't have to learn the rules. I can just set it up and go. And I i already know that I love the game.
Speaker: And this is The Game Makers, a game about making games. and then like very so If you like Fromage, you're going to like this game. It's it's very similar ah style of game. eat like A bunch of little mini things that you're doing to earn victory points, very similar to Fromage. We've got the four sections.
Speaker: So, like said, I'd be interested to see what Ingrid thinks of it when when she gets a chance to play it. but And the theme's cool. ah look I'm not always a sucker for theme or for production quality. But the fact that I'm going to have a deck of 300 board games to build So when you choose which ones you're going to build and which ones you're going to use as resources and you look at it and you go, well, I've got shit real confusion or Feast for Odin. I don't care if it's good for my points. I'm building Feast for Odin and I'm ditching shit real confusion. You know, like the meta of the game makes just makes it so much fun. So yeah, the game maker is definitely worth checking out if you haven't yet, either on BGA or when it starts hitting Australian shores in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker: is Seriously, is shit real confusion in that game? I haven't seen it. um I don't know. See, when you kickstart it, you get a whole bunch of bonus decks of games. I don't know whether those bonus decks are on the BGA version or not.
Speaker: But what I'm going to do, I've got this cool idea when I get the game, I'm going to go through every single card and I'm going to make a stack of the cards that i' of games that I've played, a stack of cards of games that I own and haven't played, and then a stack of cards of games that I just haven't played and just sort of get a bit of a gauge of where I am as far as the game is concerned with. And I thought that'd be a pretty cool thing to do. Yeah, nice. Very nice. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, if shit real confusion was in there and I owned that game, I'd use it as a firelighter for my See, multi-use cards.
Speaker: My number 46 is a crossover with you. um It is... It's not my favourite bag builder. And that is Crackself Quedlinburg.
Speaker: Not many games that I've been able to teach this game and then by the end of it, everyone's buying it and searching for it. So, really good game. Quats of Weckenberg, one number 46.
Speaker: No arguments from me. Another great choice. And yes, also not my favourite bag-billing game either, but I'm interested to know what yours Yeah. Yeah. yeah yess Curious. Interesting. Curious. ah I believe this is my first of the West Kingdom game.
Speaker: And it for a long time, was my favorite of the West Kingdom games. But it is no longer and probably hasn't been for a few years. But it is the most accessible of the three. And this is Architects of the West Kingdom.
Speaker: Not many good worker placement Euro games that you can pull out with five or six and have a great time and still be done before the sunrise. This is one of them. And in fact, it's so good that in that environment that it's almost exclusively for me a four or five player game.
Speaker: and And it also doesn't really work very well on BGA because of that. You're doing very short turns. Yes. So that means there's a lot of stoppages if you're waiting for people to have their turns. But, I mean, I've got a game of it going now on BGA because I was like, I'll give it another shot.
Speaker: But fantastic game. All the expansions are great, but they're not needed. The Artisans expansion I would always play with. The second expansion, which can't remember the name off top of my head, it's great, but...
Speaker: You can take it or leave it as far as playing the game regularly goes. But, um yeah, just it's clever. The player power is excellent.
Speaker: It really elevates the game if you use the unique player powers. So Architects of West Kingdom, Shem Phillips and SJ MacDonald is tremendous. Can't disagree with you.
Speaker: Can't disagree with you. My number 45 is... So when you talk about those experience games, this is probably my favourite experience game.
Speaker: Only if it's taught and narrated by a certain person, and name's Troy. And that is Nemesis.
Speaker: If anyone ever is at a game day and Nemesis is set up by Troy... recommend everyone get around that table. He just immerses you in that space theme and and the way he narrates every every move that's going on.
Speaker: It's just super, super fun. So Nemesis is my number 45. Only because of experience. Just the experience you get. I think I remember, was i don't know if it was you or maybe when it was we were doing the chinwag, it might have been Dave or G-Money were saying that They weren't even sure if it was a good game.
Speaker: They just loved playing the game with with um so Troy. yeah Yeah, great. It is good.
Speaker: All right. My number 44 is a game that was was part of one of the two games that really caused the the drop of Terraforming Mars. And this game is the quick one. And that is Earth.
Speaker: So Earth is a fantastic little tableau building game that is simultaneous play. There's a bit of a theme I've just really picked up on that the games that have sort of pushed up on my list are the ones that are either simultaneous play or they're small, like they're The idea of like three and four hour long games, yeah while I love a lot of three or four hour long games,
Speaker: I'm really not gravitating towards them anywhere near as much as I am the 60 to 90 minute games or even the 30 minute games. And this one it really does pack a punch for what is essentially like a 60 minute game. You feel like you're doing a lot. Your turns just lovely cascade, lovely cascading of turns where the start start of a game, you're doing one thing and you're getting one benefit and you move on. And by the end of the game, you take you choose an action space and you might have like seven cards that trigger.
Speaker: So you just, it's that beautiful thing. And you know, I love this where it's like, I do this, which means I can do that, which means I can do this. yeah Like I love that in games. So earth has that in spades. You can't not have an engine that builds in this game. Like even if you play terribly, you're going to still trigger a lot of things on your turns. So earth is my number 44.
Speaker: Brilliant. My number 44 think you'd call it an Ameritrash sandbox game. I have everything for it. except for all the and models and three d printed stuff, but I'm sure I could do it one day and get it all out.
Speaker: Again, it's a game I don't play that often, and when I do play it, I think the last time I played it, i played it with DG, and I know this is one of his favourite games, and again, you know, he has everything for it, and that is Western Legends.
Speaker: Just super fun. so much going on, so many choices you can do in the game. Yeah. So, yeah, can either be a good guy or a bad guy. You know which one I always play.
Speaker: i love that you can just, like, you can make amends. You can you can be bad. you can be like, oh I'm going to be good now. you trust me? could did do you trust me so Well, speaking of small games that don't play very long, Expressions is my number 43.
Speaker: Fantastic little card game. Definitely plays better in person. i Just a really good mind-melty, thinky game. Not a party game, just a small card game that really just brings the group together. It's a cooperative game and it really, you you celebrate when you when you nail it. So...
Speaker: definitely check it out if you haven't it's pretty not the easiest game to get but uh definitely underrated i guess uh in that is expressions my number 43 very good great choice
Speaker: um my number 43 is very similar very similar in this one um again card game It's meant to be quick, card game, but if you're playing turn-based at six players on on VGA, that's proven that it's gone for three weeks.
Speaker: Flip 7.
Speaker: Again, one of the those card games where I've played, I've taught people at work, they've gone and instantly purchased it. And it it brings people into the hobby. so For sure, yeah. And yeah, Flip 7, my number 43.
Speaker: Hopefully the game will end today. Isn't it good that there's a game now that is like competing with UNO for bringing people into the hobby that isn't UNO? Like it's something' something different, but it's so accessible.
Speaker: My number 42 is another tile placement game. This has the benefit, though, of having beautiful wonders that you're putting out once you meet particular event ah objectives. Sorry.
Speaker: And this is World Wonders. which just, if you haven't played it yet, give it a shot. It's a fantastic game and you no one plays this game and doesn't take a photo of their world when they're done because you might have the line you might have the the pyramids on one side, you might have the gardens of Babylon, you might have ah T-O-T-Y-K-A-N. I don't think it is that actually.
Speaker: Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza. You might have them all on your board. So it's not like you're building Rome. You're building any wonder that you can fit on, which is just really cool. And it looks looks amazing. And it's a bit tricky with placement. There's a lot of times where you go, oh, I'd like to do this. Oh, but I can't because of this reason.
Speaker: yeah And it's so it is a crunchy game as well. So and it's another game that plays in about an hour. So World Wonders, excellent tile placement game. like so choice.
Speaker: My number 42 is... It's not my favourite. I think it's my second favourite two-player game. Yep, second favourite two-player game. And it's based off its big brother...
Speaker: But um it's certainly... the Big Brother is a massive Euro that I own as well, it and it has... I have everything for it. But I wanted a ah faster version of it that you could play at two players, and lo and behold, they do one, and that is Foothills.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. Foothills is a really cool two-player Euro.
Speaker: It's done within about, don't know, 45 minutes? Okay. I'm going to be the ignorant person here and ask, what's the bigger game? I can't tell you because the bigger game's on my list and it's coming up.
Speaker: Understood. I don't want to do spoiler alerts because I kind of gave away the spoiler alert because and the big brother. So if the two players are going to be in there, the big brother's going to be in there as well.
Speaker: Okay. But the big brother, yeah, it's it'll be coming up. All right. All right, so we move on to the last game of the list today, which is our number 41.
Speaker: And this is a fairly new game to me. came out in 2024, but I learned this one on the cruise. And i've got to say, it it the production quality is outstanding. It's a Grand Gamers Guild game. I'm actually playing a game with you on BGA right now. And while it's fine on BGA, you'll lose all that tactile brilliance of the of the tiles.
Speaker: And this is Kokeshi. A ladder building game. I'm guessing you have no idea what you're doing. i Can you tell? when you When you signed up for it, i'm like, okay, pretty sure I know how this is going to go. um But yeah, it's it's so cool. And and it's it's not that actually that hard to to figure out. you You want to go up a Kokeshi's track, and when you get to the end of that Kokeshi's track, you get another tile to add to their track so you can go higher again.
Speaker: If you choose the same color, you'll lose fifty points three victory points. So don't do that, Shane, in case you didn't know. and I think i've probably been doing that every time. That's not been helping you. the ah Yeah, but it's just... and You just build ladders and triggering effects. Again, i keep saying the same things. This triggers this, which triggers that, which triggers this, which triggers that. Love those games. And this does it really well.
Speaker: it did That did happen to me in the last go that i just had in that game where I triggered another one and then I triggered another one. I was like, oh, okay. yeah Don't know what I was doing to trigger them, but... That's the secret sauce when you get that. Ooh, that was fun.
Speaker: That was my 41. How about you, Shane? Last last game for the podcast. 41. Last one for today. It is a chip theory game. So I think now that's now taken over, hasn't it?
Speaker: Well, I mean, it's hard because we went designer. So Martin Wallace, chip theory games. Are they they say they all designed by the same person? No, they are. Oh, actually no, I think he does play, no he does, he does play into all of them.
Speaker: So, because there's there's multiple designers when it comes to chip theory, so. Yeah, yeah. Actually, I thought, again, this would be higher, but the list is telling me. Too Many Bones is number 41.
Speaker: So, it's just not a game I get to the table that much, to be honest with that's probably why it's so far down the list. um When you do get it to the table, you generally need to have it set up for a week. 41, too many bones.
Speaker: I mean, it's funny because it's a last episode of this this the last game of this episode, but has previously been the last game of the top tens that we've done in the past. so Yeah, it was formally number one.
Speaker: for For a while. Well, that that will do us for this episode. we will be back with counting down from our top 40, probably to 21, but depending on time, maybe the 31.
Speaker: We'll see. I can tell you that in my next slate of 10, I have two new to the list games. And both of them are based on a single play of that game, which has led me to buying and ordering both of those games that haven't arrived yet.
Speaker: Yeah. I have one game on this list that I've only played once in my next slot of 10. But I can't deny it was excellent, the play I had with it.
Speaker: But next episode, we do have a special guest attending with us We have Lucky Phil, who will be coming along, and I've asked Phil to prepare his top 20, just in case we do do do another 20. Yep.
Speaker: yep So our episode, Lucky Phil, get it ready, get it going, and... look forward having Phil on the episode. It's always fun when you join us. Yeah, so about to say, you already know now that the next episode will be more entertaining than this one.
Speaker: Yes. Okay, well, we'll catch you on our top 40. Have a good afternoon. You too, mate. Take care.
Speaker: you
