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? Or will shit, real confusion take Shane by surprise?
Speaker: Let the countdown swing!
Speaker: Hello and welcome back to our top 100 countdown. We are at the end of the line, the top 10 of all time. And this is take two. But before we get to why it's take two, are you doing, Shane?
Speaker: I'm fantastic, thank you. Fantastic for a wet Sunday morning. And yeah, this is take two. so it's ah But it is our top 10, and mine has changed since the last time I gave my top 10. So I'm glad that we do these at least every year, because whilst there might be not many major shifts in your top 10, there might be one or two that may enter, may drop out.
Speaker: I mean, it's a it's it's a good way of doing it. It also like solidifies picks that like they might have jumped straight to your top 10 and then after a year or two, you're like, eh, I've kind of cooled on that game. Or maybe it's gone higher again. like Maybe it's it's showing legs. like For example, um again, it was in my top 20 Thunder Oat Vendetta, which was in my top 10 the first time I played it. I'd only played it once and it made my top 10.
Speaker: And it's stuck around and it's still in my top 20. So it's a good game, but it's it's been bumped out of the top 10. So what's going to happen next year with the games that have leapfrogged it? and yeah Where's it going? Fall back to that sort of thing. so and like And you did right, because even like I was away for work and I was walking walking somewhere and I had another gentleman asking me questions about board games.
Speaker: And he said, oh what's a good one I can get for for for my family, for young kids? And instantly I went, okay, how young? Yep, this age. Ticket to ride. Just grab ticket to ride.
Speaker: Go and get it. It teaches you good strategy, teaches little bit of math. And, you know, the ticket to ride potentially could matt could have made my top 10 because I love that game.
Speaker: But yeah it didn't. But, yeah, it was the first one that came on my mind. So... Yeah, it's always in there somewhere. I think mine was in top 20 as well, so for Ticket to Ride. So, yeah, classic. And, you know, it's interesting as we develop these huge collections of games. Like, think we both got, you know, at least 300, maybe over 400 games. I wonder whether...
Speaker: um i wonder whether If I was getting into the hobby now and I picked up, like I did with Ticket to Ride, picked up something, one of these games that sort of have been introduced to me in the last year or two, would I fall in love with it like I love loved Ticket to Ride? And would I be talking about it in 10 years as as yeah as nicely as I do about Ticket to Ride? Or is it just one of those special, I mean, yes, Ticket to Ride is one of those special games, but... who's to say that the reason that none of the the newer games or not none but a lot of the newer games since then don't reach that as heights is because when I owned Ticket to Ride I owned Ticket to Ride it's all I played I didn't have 400 other choices to go with so the dilution of games might actually mean that we're missing out on what the next Ticket to Ride is yeah interesting you mentioned you know three to four hundred board games each it's um
Speaker: Knowing what we know now, would we have 300 to 400 board games each? So anyone new to the hobby, I would probably recommend don't go down the rabbit hole. um But just find the ones you really like.
Speaker: Or find a good gaming group who has already gone down the rabbit hole. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that gaming group then get to the point where they're like, okay, no, you have it. don't need You've got that one. I don't need it.
Speaker: yeah I know I've said it before, but um I heard it on the Dice Tower Hot Takes where they said the more people in the gaming group that own the game, the less that game gets played. Because everyone wants to try something different. Everyone wants to teach a game.
Speaker: So if everyone owns Brass Birmingham, no one's playing Brass Birmingham because everyone knows how to play it. Yeah. yeah It's nuts. ah So, yes, ah take two, because we had Martin Wallace on and we recorded our top 10 a while ago now, actually. um And unfortunately, it was just an awful connection.
Speaker: We had major delays. it was a good five to 10 second delay between him speaking and us hearing him and vice versa. So the conversation just didn't flow at all. It was actually a couple of games of his top 10 that we didn't even hear the name of.
Speaker: um And then we could finally talk about it because we could see that he'd stopped talking. And we're like, we don't even know what game we're talking about. So it just it just didn't work. And it's a real shame because Martin was lovely and gracious with his time. And we're really thankful that he came on and did what he said was his first ever top 10.
Speaker: ah So we are going to, i was able to pull apart his recording and get his top 10 and we'll just insert them in as we go. But this top 10 is just Shane and I's top 10. So we're just going to talk about our picks and then we'll just slot in Martin's picks along the countdown.
Speaker: And it was, it's a real pity because it was, it was great to hear what Martin thought of our games in our top 10 as well. Yeah. yeah um And, you know, it it was no, no surprise where we knew what his number one was going to be. um And yeah, we were back on correct. But um but no, thank you, Martin. We do appreciate appreciate you coming on and you you are a doyent of the board gaming industry and look forward to catching up with you again soon.
Speaker: Absolutely. And yeah what surprised me, because I don't really, i haven't done a lot of gaming with Martin, I think one or two gaming events in Brisbane, um but haven't spent as much time with him as a lot of the people in Brisbane who listen to the podcast and yourself have.
Speaker: So it was interesting to hear that yeah I had a couple of crossovers with him, even within the top 10, but also just in general, it's And whenever you listen, like even when we had Phil and Pastor Nikon and they were talking about their games, all I could hear was, I need to play games with these people because we have similar techs. So it was interesting to hear that a designer that's been around for you know one of the most revered designers in the world still has games that are you know newish games to his list.
Speaker: Also games that are 30 years old in in the list as well. So it was it was a really good mix of games and not as eclectic as I probably you thought it was going to be. So, yeah.
Speaker: And, you know, it was a big surprise for me and you that he's never done a top 10 before. Yeah, yeah. He's done plenty of top fives, he said, because, you know, jumps on Ben Maddox's show, five games of Doomsday. And um so it was a bit of a privilege to hear Martin's first ever top 10 on a podcast. um yeah So listeners enjoy it when when he's when he' saying those games.
Speaker: So I think the order of operations will go that we'll actually play his first. So that way the episode finishes with our number ones. um So we'll just quickly cut to Martin's number 10.
Speaker: Okay, so my number 10 is The Gang, the cooperative poker game. um And the reason it's here is I'm not a massive fan of cooperative games, but for me, this one is just fun. It's a really good game when you've got 10 minutes to kill, when you've got people who might not be that much into more complex games. And there's always a moment of hilarity when somebody stuffs up.
Speaker: Okay, well, we'll just get cracking on with our top ten. Where do we want to go here? we want to kick it off or do you want to finish off? Let me finish today. All right, too easy. Well, let's get straight into it with my number 10 then, and this is a former number one.
Speaker: It is a game that I've talked about a lot on this show, a lot on any show that I've ever been part of, any podcast I've ever been part of, right up, right back to the very first episode of a podcast I ever recorded in the board game hobby where I made this my Swear on Earth game.
Speaker: And this is TOT Wakan, City of Gods. So it is just... One of my favourite games, obviously it's in my top 10, that probably goes without saying. It was number one for a few years. It's dropped back a little bit, not no other reason, just because there's great games and it's one of them. It could very easily, if I got it out and played it today, jump further up on the list because it's just one of those things where a recency bias does jump in here a little bit, but we did have a great year of gaming earlier this year. My wife and i just played this game every Sunday for about a month, which is a sort of a theme that we've gone with um with a few different games and a couple of them that feature on this list.
Speaker: And it just sort of reinforced how good the game is when you when you get to play it back to back to back and you're getting used to yeah yeah we especially in a two-player game where both players are getting better strategically. So the game becomes even harder to win, but more enjoyable to play. And it fits that mold. I just love, i mean, i'm a fan of tracks.
Speaker: I love the the ascending abilities of the workers. So that you want to keep them out longer while they're powerful. But then they give you heaps of benefits when they ascend, but then they're, they're not very strong for a while. So you've got try and build them up and that continual chain. and And also the fact that you might go in there and go, i really want to focus on this, but then there's all these workers there. So then it becomes super expensive to do that.
Speaker: So you've got to pivot. And I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this game is the game of pivoting. It's, You can have a strategy going in, but you've got to be prepared to change on the fly. And it might not even materialize until the end of the second era that you actually know what you should be doing.
Speaker: And sometimes you don't know what you should do and you end up absolutely tanking. But I love a game that can give you that kind of variety. So TOTY Khan is my number 10. Great choice, mate.
Speaker: Great choice. Thank you. we know We know you love that game.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a classic. It is a classic. All right, my number 10. Now, I did go down the path of a little bit of death, but nowhere a near as death's framing of his choices.
Speaker: I wasn't that poetic, but I did try and give it a shot. So
Speaker: and my number 10 is Arx by Cole Whirling.
Speaker: ARX is what happens when so a space opera, a political coup and a knife fight all turn up at the same party. One minute you're in making alliances, the next you're wondering how your best friend stole your empire.
Speaker: ARX is just a fun, mean game. i love playing it. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea in our group before, so I don't know very if I'm ever going to get it out again. I hope I do. um But we played it for a month straight on every Thursday night. And I really enjoy it.
Speaker: So i just I just wanted to table more. So maybe I just need to find an ARX group. Yeah. I don't see one around me. just ah it's I mean, then again, i was my brother loves ARX as well. And he was telling me.
Speaker: about it and i'm like i don't know like i have this feeling almost all cold welly games i kind of look at and go i don't know maybe if you had the right group um so i wouldn't mind giving it a go one day but it it doesn't sell itself to me as a game that i'd like but yeah and again i do like trick taking so yeah exactly and it you know trick taking is a major part of the game and um Look, I've even got Molly House.
Speaker: And again, Molly House would have to be a certain group that you want to play that with too. um And I'm still yet to even play that. I've watched Howard play it three or four times.
Speaker: But yeah, you're right. you know His games are a certain certain group. You can play it and enjoy it. But Arcs is just real very enjoyable.
Speaker: Yeah, nice one. Okay, then we'll go straight to number nine. Here is Martin's number nine. Okay. So my number nine is Concordia, which is by my good friend, Matt Gertz, a German designer, um lovely guy, real gentleman in the industry. Um,
Speaker: concordia i i kind of feel it's um it's more of a gentle game um i suppose there is cutting people off and so on but it's just got a really good core simple mechanic it's one like one of those classic old german euro designs unlike some of the overdeveloped over design stuff that you found ni nowadays so yeah that's my number nine concordia Excellent. ah It's kind of weird having Martin just jump in there, but then we don't hear it, so we can't comment on the game, but that's fine. He he he does enough explaining. it's It's fine. He does. And, um you know, we did we did try and comment previously on on his game.
Speaker: All right, so my my number nine, I call this that the my Venn diagram game. This is a game that... It fits perfectly within my... um ah I love to travel. Travel is one of my favourite things to do. used to be a travel agent. Love it. I love planning holidays almost as much as I like going on them.
Speaker: I love Japan. Japan has the best skiing I've ever been to in the world. It's also a beautiful place outside of the ski fields. And I love board games. And this is a board game about designing a holiday to Japan. And that is, let's go to Japan.
Speaker: which is my number nine, fantastic game where half the game you are literally just planning out day by day what you're going to do. Every day has a highlight of the day, which is kind of fun, where it'll have a secondary scoring. So every card scores a certain amount of points, but then your highlight of the day has a triggering score. So if you meet a requirement, you'll get this extra bonus score at the end of each day. And I run this like I'm on the holiday telling someone about it. Like today I went to this place, and then but the highlight of the day was...
Speaker: watching a baseball game in Tokyo or whatever it is. I love that part of it. I love the story. So, yeah, you literally, first half of the game, you just design every day. And then the second half of the game, you run the days from Monday to Saturday.
Speaker: Everyone goes around the table, scores up their points, and we see who wins. It's just, it's delightful. It's a game that you can sit on the table. You can have chats. You talk about holidays. You talk about, you pull up a card and you just go, this really doesn't suit my build. But, I mean, it's, you know, visit a board game shop in Akihabara. Yeah, it's going in.
Speaker: Like you just make it work. i and that Similar to the game makers that I talked about a few games before, a few lists before. It's like, I don't care if this isn't good for my build. I'm i'm making this game. It kind of has that feel. So I love it. it's ah They're bringing out a second version. Let's go to France. I'm i'm less inept with France than I am with Japan, but I love this game that I did back it and I'm looking forward to getting it. It does add a few new elements, but um Japan, what a great subject matter. i I would struggle to think of a better place to design this type of game on. But yeah, there you go. Let's go to Japan. my number nine.
Speaker: Great choice. I enjoy playing that game with you on BGA. It's good one. nice and easy to play on BGA. Yeah. My number nine drops you into the world of Terry Pratchett.
Speaker: And it's wonderfully chaotic where everyone has a secret agenda. It's essentially civic planning, bribery, and the suspiciously suspiciously convenient accidents that happen around the table.
Speaker: And it's just great. You know, I did speak about its predecessor previously, I think that was in my top... It might been my top 20 or 30. But Discworld, Unk Morpok, is my favourite of all of those games. It's so fun.
Speaker: So, so fun. And it's funny... It's little bit mean and very enjoyable. Yeah, I've only played that once with you and I had a great time. think I mentioned it earlier in my list, like maybe in the... Yeah, yeah....100 to 80, I think. But I was saying that it's pretty good considering I've only played it once. It was a few years ago and it's actually going up my list. So my memory of it is getting better and better as far as what I think of it. So, yeah, I'd be very keen play that one again.
Speaker: I mention it all the time. It's, you know, whenever there's a board game day, I'm asked to bring either that one or Nancy Narkin. And it's generally this world that I take. So yeah. My number nine, this world.
Speaker: Great choice.
Speaker: So, yeah, my number eight is probably quite a dull choice, but I still enjoy playing it. in fact, I played it this weekend, which is Puerto Rico, which know that classic German Euro that introduced the following rule that many other games then copied, but never managed to successfully emulate in the way that Puerto Rico did.
Speaker: Alrighty. So that was Martin's number eight. We'll move on to my number eight, which coincidentally is a Martin Wallace game. So it's my highest Martin Wallace game. I certainly don't have any as many on my list as one Shane Tonkin does, but this one similar to Tio is a game that my wife and I have just played back to back to back over a course of a nearly, nearly three months. We did this one.
Speaker: um This is brass Birmingham. And What I noticed after doing those regular plays was when we first started, the scores were huge. They were like, actually, no that's not true. When we first started, it was like 120, 130, normal scores. And then all of a sudden, we started figuring out how to score points better. And we started scoring like 170, 180. And we're like literally checking to make sure we did everything right because it doesn't seem like you should score that many points in that game. And then we started figuring out how to stop the other person from scoring points.
Speaker: So now we kind of sit at that sort of one 30, one 40 score because we're playing better, even though we're not scoring better. yeah okay Very clever game that can make you do that. And,
Speaker: Just, I mean, it's got the route building, it's got the delivery, it's got and the the way that you, it's kind of got that good feeling when you build something knowing that your opponent needs it, so they're going to help you. And sometimes you put something out there on the hope that, ah sorry, excuse me, on the hope that they do use it and they don't, and then you're stuck with beer on the table at the end of the game or throughout the beer. But yeah, I remember there was one play in particular where I had to pick up someone from the airport and I made a move.
Speaker: I was first player and I made a move that set me up for my next round, which was, I think, the second last of the last round of the game. And as I was driving to the airport, all I could think about was what Helen was going to do on her next move. Because if she did this one certain thing, that meant that would mean that she would be the second player next round, which means I would get my Totonium before her and I'd be able to steal whatever I needed to steal first. And if she did this other thing, then that would be fine too because then she'd have to use it. And I'm just the whole time, I'm like, I've set this up so perfectly. And I literally, I can't remember anything else about that drive to the airport and back. All I could think about was brass Birmingham. So what a great game if it can do something like that. So that's my number eight. Definitely.
Speaker: It is a great game. And it's one that actually, you know, out of my game group, the four of us love playing. So whenever we're struggling to think of the game, we just go, yeah, let's play brass.
Speaker: yeah And you're right. There's another game on my list where the lower scores are generally the best games because you know that you're actually blocking people and you're doing things. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Good choice. It might be on my list. um My number eight is he's another one of my favourite games.
Speaker: designers. And this game is this, I don't know, you've only just recently played this game. It's a civilization game. We're discovering pottery can somehow lead to a world domination 10 minutes later.
Speaker: Every card breaks the rules, every turn feels unfair, and somehow it's brilliant. That's Mr. Chaddick's innovation. It's such a good card game.
Speaker: Yeah, it is. It's such a good I was blown away. like It would make my top 100 on that one play for sure. I don't know where it would sit, but man, that was fun. Yeah, fun and quick.
Speaker: Yeah. It's a game that can be over in five minutes or it can be over in 15 minutes. Well, we played, we got right to the end and went on victory points, I think, in the end. yeah The only reason we got there is because i was going to win, so Mark stopped me from winning, and then he was going to win, so I stopped him from winning. And we just, it had that kind of, almost that Seven Wonders Jewel feel where there's multiple ways to win. Yeah, there are. And you've got to try and stop whatever you can stop and try and work towards something else. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, i not at all what I thought it was going to be. Far more humorous than I thought it was just going to be as well. yeah because When you look at that box, you don't think this is going to be hilarious. um but some of them Some of the phrases on the buildings and stuff, they just just made me giggling all the way. i thought it was great.
Speaker: And it's another mean game as well. so Oh, yeah. I don't know if you played it mean. Well, you did. Yeah, you did. Okay. And I don't love mean games that much, but it's a two-player game, know, sitting across from the table from each other. It's kind of, that's what you've got to expect, you know? that You can't just, being friendly just means you're going to lose. Like, if you want to try and win the game, you've got to play, you got to be focused on what your opponent's doing and try and stop them.
Speaker: Yeah, and you you can, you know, It says on the box, go to four players. I've never, ever played at four players. yeah Never. It's horrible. Three's the max I played at. Two's best.
Speaker: Two's definitely best. I can't remember what the name of the card is. You might know, but I played a card that gave me, I got to take a level, one level 10 card for every different valued scoring card I'd already accumulated at that point.
Speaker: And I had seven of them. So I took seven of the tens. I'm just like, oh my God. And like at the time, I think i was only up to like levels, might have any been up to like level seven. So that way, if you've never played that game before, you're looking at these cards and you go oh man, these are so strong. Like these are crazy strong cards.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah and I really enjoyed it. I'm very keen to play it again. Good. Good. My number eight, innovation. Excellent. All right. We'll go to Mr. Wallace's number seven.
Speaker: um So, yeah, um my number my number seven is a really old game and I've only ever played it once.
Speaker: And which begs the question, why is it in my top 10? And it's it's not in the top 10 really for being a great game, but it's really there for being an inspiration to me as a designer.
Speaker: and And this is the original Civilization by Francis Tresham. I don't think anybody plays this anymore because it's so long.
Speaker: But it even when I played it, this is back in the 1980s, way before I became a game designer. But I remember it's one of the first games where about halfway through I went, oh, my God, this is genius.
Speaker: this This creates emergent... um behavior from a very simple set of rules and i don't i don't think francis tresham gets you enough credit for the designs he does but he for me he's the number one designer ever um he's you know He didn't do that many games, but the ones he did created whole genres. I mean, the the original Civilization created the genre of this Civilization game.
Speaker: And then the eighteen he did 1829, which then created the whole genre of ah the 18xx train game. So, yeah, Guy's genius. So that's my number seven, Civilization.
Speaker: Now, my number seven, I believe, showed up on your list not long ago. It is hard to remember because we were doing these yeah multiple sessions a week and then we've had a bit of a break between that and re-recording this top 10. So I don't recall exactly where this sat and apologies if it hasn't come up yet, but I'm pretty sure it did.
Speaker: This is a great cooperative game. Is it my number one cooperative game? No, it's not. Definitely not. But it my biggest game in my top 10, and this Cthulhu Death May Die.
Speaker: EMD. Yeah, it's just so much fun. it's It's a game that packs a story every time. packs it And what I mean by story, not like the story in the in the game, the story that follows afterwards, that you tell people about. go, this is what happened when we played. And you know I can't believe when when yeah this event happened and we had to deal with that. and Just the idea that if you want to get good in your in in the game itself, then you've got to just go a little bit crazy um or even a lot crazy. And you've got to just manage how insane you're going.
Speaker: Because when you start going insane, you start to think you can do things that you probably normally couldn't. So it kind of makes sense that you get stronger powers when you're going a little bit insane. So yeah I love it. There's so much about it. We've we've talked a lot about it, but.
Speaker: just it's I think to me, it's what it is to me to what like Zombicide is to Zombicide fans. It's just throw on the table, have a laugh, have a lot of fun.
Speaker: um win or lose, it doesn't really matter. Losing is rare, i would say, especially at two. Maybe in higher player counts, it's a bit more frequent, but at two players, it's rare. But when it happens, you just get flogged. like You either get flogged or you win in this game. like And sometimes you'll scrape in and get a scrape in victory, but Yeah, or you're you're dead on the third turn.
Speaker: I love it. Cthulhu Death May Die is my number seven. It's also my highest Rob Davio game. And spoiler alert, if we're counting him as a designer, he would be my most games buyer designer on this list. Oh,
Speaker: ah but mainly because he's been involved in every legacy game that I've mentioned and Return to Dark Tower. I haven't got a single game on my list that is just a Rob Davio game, including this one. Obviously, there's Eric Lang and a few other people on this one as well. but So I don't know whether we include him or not, because he's but his name's on more boxes than anyone else on my list.
Speaker: Yeah, no, fair call. Fair call. I mean, I was way off, so. I was way off my call on yours, so. on your I knew was going after, like, the top 50. Yeah. ah
Speaker: My number seven is one of those games where you know you're in the best game of it when you're scoring and you win the game 17 to 13.
Speaker: But you can also win the game 100. I think on this game is about 133 to 80. I'm currently in quarterfinals. to i um currently in the quarter finalals in this game, and, you know, it's a nice, relaxing tile puzzle game. You're right. is Laying tiles, decorating a palace, then someone takes that blue tile you're after, and suddenly it's the most passive-aggressive game in the table. Azul.
Speaker: Azul by Michael Kiesling is brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I've played it a lot. A lot. And well over 400 games in this game.
Speaker: Only because of PGA. And even to make the quarterfinals last night, only had 12 hours left to play the game. And there was another person in another country. was They had something like 32, like I said, over a day to go on it.
Speaker: So thought, oh, no, they might kick me out. Yeah, they might tie me out and pick me out. But then, thankfully, as i was looking at last night, I made my move.
Speaker: Next thing you know, this person's online and makes their move. And I'm like, okay, you're screwed. I just went, bang, bang, bang. It
Speaker: was great. It was so good. And the one, yep. Now we're in the quarterfinals. That's awesome. It's a... It is a game that but when Martin actually disagreed with you, when we we this is one of the few conversations that we could actually figure out when we had Martin on the on the chat. And he was saying that he doesn't like it at two.
Speaker: And I'm like, it's best at two. This is this is the meanest two-player game out there. And at four, it's it's sort of mean. But at two, it's mean. It's mean.
Speaker: Yeah. Great choice. and No surprise that that's high up on your list.
Speaker: all right we move on to our number sixes okay um so my number six is another japanese game um but i can't remember the designer's name um but it's scout the card game um which i'm sure everybody's played i just find it to be again a really neat kind of almost entry-level card game with a ah wonderful twist um of this, which way do you play your cards?
Speaker: um And even though you can argue that there's some luck in it, well, there's quite a lot of luck in it in in what you were dealt, you still have that feeling of control and that you can plan how you try and get rid of your cards, how you can create sets with your cards. I just think it's a wonderfully innovative card game.
Speaker: All right, so my number six is a game that I learned on the cruise that I went on earlier this year and then found a copy out of Japan for a price that I'm not willing to divulge here on podcast. But let's just say it wasn't it wasn't in a bargain bin.
Speaker: ah But I did get it and I'm glad I did. And it's paid for itself over and over again. It's a game that Helen loves. And it's the game that I said, when we're going, we're going overseas at the end of the year. And I said, I probably can only take one or two games. Which one should I take? And she's like, take Eternal Dex.
Speaker: So Eternal Decks is my number six. Just a tremendous card-playing game where it it is cooperative. It is ah a game where there are multiple different scenarios, but initially I only played the first scenario, probably the first seven or eight times I played, and it's just great on its own. Each of the scenarios you could just play as their own game, but then there is a loose story along, but the story doesn't really mean anything. The game itself, the the the gameplay itself is what endears this game.
Speaker: It's just this delightful mix of having to play cards in a particular order, but also having to meet the requirement that changes regularly along that line. Once you play a card, it is gone from the game for the whole round. You've never seen that card again.
Speaker: So you've got to really pay attention to not only what you're playing, but what has been played by you and your partner. when When someone gets a new deck, you've got to have a look at what's ah in their deck so you know exactly what to avoid, like what the other person may or may not have in their hands. Whenever you take a new deck, they've got to put a new stipulation in, like you can no longer play eights or you can no longer play blue or whatever else. So then you've got to look at every other deck that's already out and go, how which one's going to hurt us the most here?
Speaker: Every decision requires like full table communication and understanding. I've never played a cooperative game that requires that much pre-planning and and conversation, which is probably why it's so high, just because you you're engaged every single, every facet of the game is engaging. so yeah an Eternal Dex is my number six. Still get to play it.
Speaker: There's a new Eternal something coming out though, isn't there? Eternal Sevens. I've already got it. It's good. It's different. it's not this It's a similar, wouldn't say theme, but similar idea where there's there's powers and whatnot that you can trigger. It's a much simpler game. It's ah it's ah based on an old Japanese card game called Sevens where ah you're basically playing out cards like someone plays seven and then you have to play an eight or a six on either end of that. And then you then the next then you sort of play down or up.
Speaker: Oh, okay. It's a variation on that, very different, like much more gamery than that, but that's the that's the base of the game. Good
Speaker: choice. Looking forward to playing it one day. um My number six. um Now, this game could be played really brutal, but I've ahve really never really played it with that mindset. I don't know why.
Speaker: um But it's all about, you know, booming Chicago. players deal companies, manipulate the markets, occasionally discover that capitalism is just a multiplayer solitaire with enemies.
Speaker: um So spreadsheets could trash talk if they looked like this. My former number one, now number six, City of the Big Shoulders.
Speaker: Nice one. And you've got the new version, yeah? Yeah, I've got the new version with the solo variant. I'm still yet to pull it out and even have a look at it, to be honest with you. But I do love this game.
Speaker: I play it a lot on BTA. let' you know It takes all the math out of it for you.
Speaker: Yeah, it is one of those weird things, though, that I actually prefer it on the table because of the weird maths. I love that it... um I still go back to that time we played it at Vault Games. We had Def, you, me and DG playing.
Speaker: And I just, know, Def is a maths whiz. I consider myself pretty good with maths. You work in a bank and do like, you know, high level stuff there. And then DG was like, works in accounting for the city council of Brisbane or something, or some high up level job there.
Speaker: And all four of us had a different result at the end. Yeah.
Speaker: Great game. City Big Sheldon. All right. ah Top five time. Let's kick it off with Marlon.
Speaker: So, yeah, so my number five is another classic, going to say old German game, but it's it's not really a German game. It's um the Dice Game Bluff, which is based on, oh, God, what's the original name?
Speaker: It's like the Peruvian dice game. um But um somehow, anyway, it got reimagined as Bluff by Richard Borg. Not Richard Berg, but Richard Borg.
Speaker: um And this is one of the first games I played when I got into Euro games. So this would be back in the ninety s And it's it's just such a laugh. It's just such a fun game to play. It's another good introductory game to get people into the hobby. And it it's great playing it late at night when people are trying to sleep and you can rattle your dice and bang them on the table and just annoy everybody in the room.
Speaker: So my number five is Bluff. All right. So this will be the second former number one in my top 10. ah And this one is a Uwe Rosenberg game. There can be only one, and that is A Feast for Odin.
Speaker: Just a tremendous game with multiple options. But funnily enough, every time I play it, I've kind of got to force myself to do a different strategy because I kind of do the same thing each time.
Speaker: And that works well. but there's so many other things you can do in this game and i i used to think i was good at this game because when i first played it i was scoring like nine points if i'm lucky you know low maybe getting up to 30 on a good game and then suddenly something clicks and i'm scoring over 100 and then i scored like 150 or something and i'm thinking wow i'm i'm really good at this game so then i went and entered a tournament on bga And I got flogged by lots more points. I even went itt back and watched a guy I played against, watched from his perspective, his game on BGA.
Speaker: And I still don't understand what he did. Like I looked at it and I went, yeah, but that's what I do. and Somehow he scored 50 more points than me. So there's so much depth to this game that I still don't understand and still gets regular plays.
Speaker: Oddly enough, because of that depth, I'm not backing the Danes, which is currently on Kickstarter now. Because i don't, I've never played, played Feast Rodin over a hundred times.
Speaker: I've never played a game of that and gone, gee, I wish I had more choice. Yeah. Like, never. So um I'll worry about grokking Feast for Odin over the next however many hundred plays it'll take.
Speaker: And then maybe after that I might pick up a copy of The Danes if I feel so inclined. But it almost, it scared me off the fact that it came in a box that was nearly triple the size with more content.
Speaker: I just, like, no, that's not what this game needs. This game has enough. Like, I don't know if it needs anything. so Obviously, I don't think that because it's my number five game of all time, a Feast for Odin by old man Uwe Rosenberg.
Speaker: Well, I think you're not the only one thinking that too. A lot of the the media around the the New Danes board game is that that it's not required. They're still... Feast for Odin still as good. I don't know what you mean around you've got to try and think of a different strategy and not continue doing the same thing over and over again. and But there there are games where...
Speaker: you can break them as well. Like, so, for example, I think I broke Friday. Okay. i It took me forever to win, but then once I worked out what you need to do on Friday, I could win every time.
Speaker: Yeah, okay. I ended up selling that. And then, gosh, I'm clever. Yeah, yeah. There's a strategy. Definitely a part to victory there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, I was scoring well over 300 every game I played in that game.
Speaker: So... So the one thing I will say yeah in in in A Feast for Odin's defense, I guess, is that when you first play it, you look at the you look at the islands and you go, no chance. I don't know how anyone gets those islands. And then all of a sudden when you get good, you've got four islands on the go and you're covering your board and everything. I played a game recently with three other very experienced players and I decided I'm not going to get any islands. I'm just going to see how I go not buying a single island.
Speaker: And I beat everyone by like 40 points. So even the original strat that you run with has merit. like Obviously your score points in other ways, but it blew my mind. And even the other people I played with, they're like, how did you win? You didn't have a single island. I'm like, yeah, know. I had a heap of huts, but I had no islands.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, the hut strategy. and So my number five is a very peaceful game. It's new to my list. or new to my top 10, and it's jumped in at number five. And I've really got to think about my board games group here on a Thursday night. I thank them because they brought me back into this game. I hated this game, didn't never want to play it again.
Speaker: And no, it's not shit, real confusion. um It's obsession a very... It's definitely not obsessive.
Speaker: Oh, far out. um But this is about trading and expanding across the Roman Empire. Nobody can attack you, yet somehow everyone spends the entire game quietly ruining your plans while smiling politely.
Speaker: um And that's Concordia. Concordia is excellent, excellent, excellent. So simple. Play card.
Speaker: Do its action. Move on. That's simple. Yeah. Really good. Really, really good. My number five. I don't know if you're in the game that I'm playing at the moment.
Speaker: um I got invited to a game because i'm I'm not the biggest Concordia fan, but I've had good experiences and bad experiences with it. And um I'm in the middle of a game at the moment. And the last time I played a game at Concordia on BGA, i just, I stopped caring. is's probably the better way because I don't know the game. So I'm just sort I'm just clicking buttons. This time I'm really trying to,
Speaker: actually play the game how it's supposed to be played oh yeah you're in the game yeah um like trying to actually think out my turns um i don't know whether that's making me enjoy it anymore but i'm interested to see how it ends up at the other end like whether i'm actually going to be competitive or not because it's yeah it's it's definitely a game that lends itself to if you know how to play you what order to do things it definitely helps and i know i made one very big mistake early but that's i seem to have rectified that but Yeah, um jury's out for me on Concordia. Obviously, it's highly revered.
Speaker: um I just, yeah, a couple of bad experiences early made me never want to play this game. But then people talking about how good it is has changed that a bit. Yeah, it's good fun.
Speaker: My number five. All right. So let's get to the final four. Okay. So my number four is another German Euro. The first time I played this, I was not blown away by it. I actively didn't really care for it, but then I persisted with it and I got over the hump.
Speaker: And for a while, it was my favorite game, um which is the classic Terra Mystica. Yeah. which everybody's going to be familiar with.
Speaker: ah And it's interesting. For a while, I did prefer the Gaia Project, but then I've actually reverted back to preferring Terra Mystica now, just because there's a few less lumps to it.
Speaker: Gaia Project is just a little bit too complex for me now. It's probably my aging. So yes, my number four is Terra Mystica. All right. So my final my number four is a game that think entered the list either last year or the year before, and it's sticking around. I think it's always been in the top 10, this one.
Speaker: I got to play this game when I came to actually, in between recording the top 90 and the top 10, I actually got to visit, come down to Brisbane and play some games, which was amazing.
Speaker: delightful uh and this game was one of the games we got to play and we got played with a new expansion which i didn't use at all i didn't touch any of the new components but it was there and this is distilled by paverson games dave beck and that was with a game with nick and phil and it was just it was lovely to play it on the table with people who already know how to play it so i didn't have to no one had to do a teach We just went and, geez, it's a great game. It's just every time I play this game, there's a point where I'm just, I'm so, you get frustrated because you yeah yeah put together a mix and you have to have it go a certain way and it doesn't, so you get angry, but then that's on you because you didn't,
Speaker: you know, put enough ingredients in your in your mix. And all I wanted to do in this game early was make a moonshine so I could get some money, but I kept on not drawing out the bloody sugars card. So I kept on making vodka.
Speaker: I ended up having, I think i had five vodkas on the go in this one, which is not a good strategy and shock or I didn't win the game, but just loads of fun. And it's good. It's really good on BGA, but it's just, it's amazing on the table. And every time I play it on the table, i outscore anything I've ever done on BGA. just because it's all visual, it's all there in front of It's much easier to make good decisions, I think. And you pay more attention to things like the the goals and rewards and stuff like that when you're when you're physically there. So, yeah, Distilled is my number four. Great game.
Speaker: I need to play it again. ah really do. And we do have a board game retreat coming up in November where myself, Nick, Andy, and... indian Phil, I'm heading away, so I'm sure it's going packed.
Speaker: Nice. What I might do is play it very early on in the in the day when I'm not distilled myself. so Yeah. You could LARP it. It might be an interesting end of the game if you're a live-action role-player distilled. Good choice.
Speaker: My number four is a game, again, you played it when you were down. um Such a good game. Again, one of the ones where I have to always bring it along when Shane and Ingrid are coming along.
Speaker: So you're collecting favours, you're shaking down businesses, you're stashing cash in your suitcase, and then it's basically family values but with extortion. And that is The Godfather, Corleon's Empire by Mr. E. Lang.
Speaker: yeah My favourite in these games. It's fantastic. Really good game. yeah think I think lost that game by about two or three dollars. Yeah, yeah. it was It was a really good experience and first time I've ever played it, obviously. And um I might not have won, but I felt like I had the coolest turn in that game. You did a great turn.
Speaker: A great turn. Yeah, setting up a carbon. I think I killed maybe nine people or something. Yeah, it would have been at least nine of us all gone. Yeah. You wiped the board and i was like, oh, there goes any chance of me doing anything this way. Yeah.
Speaker: i mean it was yeah It was really good fun. Glad to have finally played it after hearing you talk about it for so long. Yeah, and how how nice are Phil's painted pieces too? They look great.
Speaker: Yeah. ah do I do want to actually, that might be my next painting exercise is painting all my pieces up. You can make it really surreal and paint them all like um like clowns and just just throw people off.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, you could. It might ruin the feeling of the game maybe a little bit. Just imagine like Crust of the Clown walking into a store with a baseball bat or something. Yeah. I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know what you think of that.
Speaker: No, you've just got me thinking too. Imagine you could almost have it as like a Batman Gotham City. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have all the different factions, Joker, Penguin.
Speaker: Riddler all vying for Gotham.
Speaker: Anyway. All right. Well, it is time for the top three. Let's go to Martin's choice. ah My number three is also a plug. So this is a bit I shouldn't do this because normally when I do these things, I don't pick my own games.
Speaker: So yeah, my number three is a game that's not been published yet, um which is Casus Belli. And the reason it's on the list is because even though I've spent ages playing it, I still like it, which very often is not the case when you design your own games. Usually by the end of the development process, you never want to play that game again.
Speaker: um but what's interesting with casus belli which is a deck building space empire game every time i play it it creates a different story and i'd like to say i did that deliberately but it's like no that just happened accidentally it's just like wow this game tells stories how did you know how the hell did that happen so yeah my number three is casus belli Now, this is Martin's choice was interesting. I know we said we're not listening that back to these, but I do remember what Martin's choice was. And the reason I remembered it was because, just like us, he also has a Martin Wallace game in his top 10.
Speaker: That's right. That's right. Capabelli? Cassabelli. Cassabelli. Yeah, Cassabelli. So that was Martin's number three upcoming game of his. So looking forward to tabling that one when it comes out.
Speaker: My number three is all about getting onto the podium, preferably on the top step. It is a racing game that does it better than any other racing game. And that is Heat, pedal to the metal.
Speaker: A game that is honestly as good solo as it is with seven people, which is a ridiculous thing to say. But the Automa or whatever you want to call it in this game is so simple.
Speaker: so competitive, it just means that you can, doesn't matter what player count, you can always pull out heat and have a great game of it. And it's very hard to think of another game that can do that. So the races are fun. The strategy is way deeper than you actually give it credit for initially.
Speaker: they're Playing the championships over like four four races yeah as one game, it's that's excellent. It's really good on BGA. i think they're about to release an app for it on Steam and iOS, which...
Speaker: It's fine, but it's that good on BGA that I don't even know if I'd bother. I just happily play it on BGA and play it live. We've gone all out and got some custom mats done. So I've got, know, I've got the Adelaide F1 circuit. I've got Bathurst.
Speaker: um I've got MagniCores, Silverstone, Monaco, I've got Monza, all the classic courses all printed out. So the base courses are fine.
Speaker: Actually, the base courses are probably better a better game, but it is cool just to pull out yeah Melbourne when the Australian F1 Grand Prix is on them and race around Melbourne. yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Great choice. three is Heat Pedal to the Metal.
Speaker: Well, my number three... is almost a crossover with Martin. Only because it's a Martin game. ah So, you know, you are it's basically industrial revolution in a box.
Speaker: So, building factories, you've already spoken about it in your top 10 developing industries. Then you spend the next three hours discovering that coal is somehow more important than your actual strategy.
Speaker: So Brass Birmingham is my number three. crossover with you for your top ten. I love the game. resist It was very hard for me to that's at the start, get into it.
Speaker: But then I remember one night playing it with DG at a board game night, and it just clicked for me. And I went, oh, okay, this now makes complete sense. And then I spent the next half of the game just playing catch-up.
Speaker: But then I just knew my strategy and how to make it work. um Yeah, I love it. Such a good game. To the point where I ended up going and printing out all these blinged-out pieces for it and boats and, you for the canals, cetera. All in different colours. It's great.
Speaker: Yeah, it's ah i'm not I'm not ashamed to say that i I am upgrading my version to the fancy schmancy one that came out in Kickstarter earlier this year.
Speaker: um When that comes out, i've just got because I've just got the base standard edition. Obviously, I've got iron clays that I use with them, but I haven't got the deluxe brass. And we played it enough, and I thought, you know what?
Speaker: i I'll go and get the fancy schmancy. I don't know whether that's a smart move or not. I'll tell you when it arrives and how much laughter is. so yep great choice no argument for me move into the two best games ever made starting with martin's number two um so yes my number two is game that um i'd known about for years never had a chance to Yeah, so my number two is, and I was on a trip to New Zealand earlier in the year, and I went to stay with some friends in Rotorua who are an American couple.
Speaker: um And I knew that this game was one of their favorite games. So after we did a play test of one of my games that they absolutely hated, i thought, how can I pacify them? So I hey, why don't we play this game? And they both jumped to the chance to play the game because it is their favorite game. And after playing it, they gave me a copy of the game to take away because they have multiple copies because they get worn out. And this game is the card game Tissue.
Speaker: um which is, and i think it's based on an old Chinese game and then it got redesigned by a German designer. But it is it is the classic ladder game where you have to, your players, you have to have four people, you have to play a partnership.
Speaker: And, um but yeah, I love it. At the moment, whenever I get a chance, whenever it's four people, i will suggest Tishu. um It's just a really great,
Speaker: tough card game. All right, so my number two is my highest cooperative game. I was actually surprised when I was talking about Death May Die earlier. I went straight to my list and thought, is this my highest cooperative game?
Speaker: And it wasn't. And I had two more cooperative games, which I didn't think I would have had three cooperative games in my top 10. But here it is, number two, the smallest game in my top 10 by a fair way.
Speaker: It's basically a deck of cards and some chips. This is The Gang.
Speaker: There is not a game that has come out in the last few years that I want to play more than the game in any situation. Well, not any situation, obviously, with a few people. if If there's six, five or four people, I'll pull this out and have a game of it.
Speaker: If you understand poker on any level, it's great. If you're really good at poker, it can be a little bit tricky at first to understand poker. what you're trying to do. If you have no idea on poker, it's a little bit tricky at first to understand that even though a pair is at the second the second worst ranked hand, it's actually a really strong hand a lot of the time. Yeah, there's a few nuances like that to figure out. But I think the reason I love this more than so many other games and other poker variants is that It lets you, you have to read every hand. In a normal game of poker, if you've got a dud hand, you're goingnna you're going to muck it. You're going to throw it out and no one's going to know what you had. no one's going to understand.
Speaker: yeah no one's going to have to think about what your hand was. You only think about people are still in. But this, everyone's active right until the end and you've got to put yourself in the right order. And I love that. And even the new version that has up to 10 players, which I first thought, like, this game's hard enough with six. No chance anyone's going to get 10, but it doesn't play 10 players like you think.
Speaker: you There are these like X tokens whatever. I remember if they're Xs or not, but basically you can choose that token instead of a numbered token and your hand gets skipped.
Speaker: So if you and I have a very, so we've been betting very similarly and it looks like we're not sure where we sit, one of us grabs the X chip and now we just skip that person. So it doesn't doesn't we we reveal, but it doesn't matter if you're in order with the next person or not because you've been skipped, which is a really clever way to sort of fix some of those you know those moments where two people are really torn on who's stronger than the other. So it actually works up to 10 now, which is scary. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, just a tremendous game. i recently played it at the board game event that we hosted up here for RUOK Day. And I had that great thing. i bought the new deluxe version, so but we were playing with the old version.
Speaker: And this couple that were there, they they loved it. They were just lighting up. They just wanted to play it again. Straight after we'd finished, let's play it again. And we just kept playing until we won, which is a familiar strategy that can backfire.
Speaker: but um And then when we were done, they were just like, that where where can I get this game? and I'm like, you can have this one because I've got the other one over there and they were just like, are you, this is so generous and I'm like, it's about a $12, $13 game, it's not the most generous thing I've ever done but it meant a lot to them because I taught them the game, they learned it, they loved it and now they have it and it was just super cool. So, yeah, the gang, I will always be up for a game of the gang.
Speaker: Yeah, mate, that's a perfect thing to do on an RUOK day too. Yeah. Nice. Great choice.
Speaker: Mind number two is all about building energy empire, purchasing power plants, managing resources. Half the game's running a utility company.
Speaker: The other half the game's wondering why someone just paid too much for a nuclear killer reactor. um But this is a great game where you are you're trying to get to the the required number of factories as quickly as possible just so you can piss off Nick.
Speaker: Because he loves to build his engine. And that is Power Grid. Power Grid is fantastic by Mr. FF.
Speaker: I had everything for Power Grid. Literally everything. No, hang on. Not every map. I'm missing two maps. but I do have everything else. So it's going to hit the table any day soon. Well, actually, no, it's definitely coming away to the retreat because it will hit the table at the retreat.
Speaker: My number two, Power Grid.
Speaker: It um was the only disappointing thing about my trip down to Brisbane was that we were too busy catching up and chatting that we only got to play two games because Power Grid was on the pile of games that we were going to play and didn't get a chance. Still haven't played. So next time.
Speaker: next time all right well we move on to the number one the best game of all time for us and we know what martin's is yes we can actually talk about martin's number one because it was uh well we'll let him tell us so anyway so i think uh you know my um number one don't you who's who's going to take a guess
Speaker: uh what's the latest version so so it's another game the first time i played yes though it's due upriss and well i mean well no they're different it's june uprising they're different games and it's it's a weird situation because they shouldn't be two versions of the game that are so close to each other in existence, but there are. um But it's one of those that, yeah, the the first time I played Dune Imperium, I didn't really care for it.
Speaker: um I felt there was too much luck in it. But there was a guy at my games club, one of my regular play testers back then, who really got into it. And he used to play it and play it and play it. And he would win like 90% of the games.
Speaker: And it set me thinking, it's like, if he's winning most of the time, then it cannot all be luck. So I set myself the task of, I need to beat this guy, Steve, I need to beat this guy at June. So I set myself the task of playing the game over and over as many times as I could with different people until I got good enough to beat him, which I eventually managed to do. Although that's probably mostly down to luck because 10% of the games he loses anyway.
Speaker: um But it it's having played it so much, it kind of clicked with me in that it's now become a very comfortable game for me to play because I don't have to think about the rules. It's just yet set it up and off you go. And every time I play it,
Speaker: I see things that I've not seen in previous games. it it Every game plays differently, um and which is incredible. and I don't know why that is the case, but it I never get tired of this game.
Speaker: So that's my number one, Dune Uprising, with the first expansion, Bloodlines. There we go. Jun Imperium. No surprise to either of us. We've both been around Martin when he's played this game.
Speaker: I don't know whether anyone else playing with Martin would consider it a great game. ah He's quite ruthless. He's very ruthless. He loves that game.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. I think it was in my, i don't know if it was my top 20 or 30, it was around there. It used to be in my top 10 for sure. so it It is a fantastic game. it just I just haven't tabled it for so long. And only recently we watched we re-watched do the two Dune movies, one and two, ready for the third one to come out. And it is one of those things where Raph watched them a couple of years ago and that got him into Dune, but then he watched it now and he's a bit older and he he understood the storyline a bit more and kept on asking questions. Oh, who's that? And I'm like, in my head, i can just picture the card.
Speaker: So that's, yeah, great game. And yeah, very keen to play to get it out and play it again soon. But that's not our number ones. Our number ones ah should come as no surprise at this point. My number one is, has this is its second year running, holding down that spot.
Speaker: ah I really hope to continue keeping it there. I'm actually moving um to the other end of the country at the end of this year, which means I will lose the group of people that play this game with me. So I'm hoping that I can establish a new group that will play this game again. This is Wonderland's War.
Speaker: The very opposite of cooperative that has you i've had three cooperative games on my list is definitely not one of them. I love... i'm not the most I'm not the biggest area control fan. I'm not the biggest attacky kind of game fan.
Speaker: This does both of those things, but I think the element of luck, the element of pushing your luck in this game elevates that to a point where, or not even so much that, that's one part of it, but the other part of it is is sometimes you don't actually want to win. Sometimes it's advantageous to lose if you are at a particular point that meets one of your quest goals or something like that. So...
Speaker: it's It's a bit cat and mousy. It's a bit like someone might load up in one area because they really need to win that area. And they're looking at you going, oh, I can't lose to you. And then you just pull out it.
Speaker: Oh, i'm ah i'm on ah I'm on a forge space. I'm going to stop. And then they're like, I just committed every unit in the game to this square because I needed to win it. And you've just stopped. Mm-hmm. I love it. it's there's There's so many layers to it. The characters, while they only have one little difference as far as their unique abilities go, they have multiple others that you can um unlock throughout the game and they all kind of sync with each other. So they they end up being slightly different at the start, but majorly different at the end.
Speaker: So it it it wards repeat plays. Yeah, just delightful. So Wonderland's War, a stunning looking game, but also just a stunning game. My number one.
Speaker: and and And, you know, once you've got it set up, you need to let it leave it there for the weekend at least. Yeah. Because it's a beast to set up and put away. so It's also not that hard.
Speaker: it's it's it It can be long, but it's not a hard game. Yeah. It's not something that's not a hard game. Yeah. It's probably, I would say mid-weight, but probably on the lower end of mid-weight as far as complexity goes.
Speaker: Yep. I agree. It's not hard. Good choice, really good choice. And I agree, it looks lovely when it's set up on the table.
Speaker: right, my number one. I've got a new number one. It's not new to my top ten, though. And it is a crossover with someone else. And it's a crossover at number one with someone else that's been on our podcast.
Speaker: um It's a game that looks as about as exciting as a tax return. But it's the one of the most... Addictive strategy games I think I've ever played. um i think I've got about two or three games of it going on in the BJ at the moment.
Speaker: I'm potentially going to get it out this weekend to play with Lauren today. and that is Councils of Burgundy, my number one.
Speaker: It was a no-brainer, really, when even when I did the list and how I did the list this time and where I saw a our city and City Big Shoulders move to.
Speaker: And then I redid the list again. Carlsberg and he was number one in both times. So that's it. It has to be my number one game. Yeah. um And I do enjoy playing it.
Speaker: It's good. Really good. it's Yeah, it's a great game. And I copped a lot of flack for having it at, like, number 33. Like, come on. You copped. Absolutely. You deserve a cop flack on that one, right?
Speaker: That's like in top 10% of games ever.
Speaker: maybe even close to top 5% of games I've ever played. Like that's still good.
Speaker: it is. It's very good game. So that's it. That is our top 100 completed. And funny story. the last couple of years we've done this top 10 or top 13, we've made it come out around about Halloween.
Speaker: And as it turns out, with all the delays, this is going to hit basically on Halloween. Halloween.
Speaker: Oh, that's good. Really good, really good list. Great list from everyone else. And thank you for all of our guests that came on and gave us their top 10 and Phil for his top 20 and Martin especially. We really appreciate him jumping in and giving his his time and his top 10 for the first time.
Speaker: Yeah, been really great with, like, when we started with Manuel and his top 10, and at that point I didn't know whether this was a dumb idea and we shouldn't have done it, and then his list was great. It was full of classics like chess and Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, but then also Wingspan and Ticket to... I don't know if Ticket to Ride Man. No, I didn't. But, like, other games, you just sort of go, yeah, how cool is this? This is, like, it's like a window into someone new into the hobby.
Speaker: And then, yeah you know... Suzanne's list, someone who lives around the corner from me and I hadn't played six of the games on her top 10 while also having her having heat number one, which was my number three or something. So clearly you have similar taste in games, but hadn't played a heap of games on her list. And yeah I mentioned before Phil and Nick just making me want to play games with them, with their lists. Obviously Ingrid did her top 10 with us last time.
Speaker: a great moment where she was texting me while listening to my countdown and she's like, oh, so agree with you about Viscounts, the West Kingdom. It's such a great game and doesn't get the plaudits it deserves.
Speaker: And I'm like, yeah, absolutely. And then five minutes later, how a dare you have Castles of Burgundy at 33? That's ridiculous. then call it poor And poor Andy, I did leave out one of his games in the top 10. I can't remember what it was now, but I think even as a joke. We did go back and fix it. Yeah, it was Carnegie. Yeah, yeah Carnegie and... um But, you know, and I think I did miss the joke that his number one was Puerto Rico, is which is his version of shit real confusion. Yeah. I can tell you right
Speaker: And even and and mi like Mick put, ah i don't want to talk about his number one, but he had NO1800 on the list, which I also got to play when I was down at my brother's house recently for the first time.
Speaker: And that is a great game. So apparently I didn't play it anything like him though, because apparently he rushes the end and our game went for a very long time. So it wasn't wasn't quite the same.
Speaker: Yeah. Those assholes that rush the ends of games, don't know. What did you say? 17 to 13 in Azul? yeah i right Well then, mate, um that'll end us for this episode. We'll be back to our usual programming next episode. We don't know when that'll be, but it'll be soon.
Speaker: Thank you. Very soon. Thank you, Shane. Thank you, everyone who's been listening to Top 100. I hope you've enjoyed it. And yeah, catch the next one. Thank you, everyone.
