My Favorite Games of All Time (40-31)

Welcome to this week’s gaming post! I’ve discussed my favorite gateway, medium-weight, and heavy-weight games, and now it’s time to unveil my all-time favorites. This is the first in a new four-part series where I’ll be discussing my top 40 games as of this moment. While this is the first time I’m disclosing my list, ranking my games has been something I’ve done for many years now. I usually use Pub Meeple’s ranking engine initially and then massage it slightly, which is always a fun experience as the ranking engine pits games head-to-head, which often leads to tough choices when you’re comparing two very dissimilar games. So without further ado, let’s jump into the games.

Honorable Mentions: Star Wars: Rebellion, Endless Winter: Paleoamericans, Kanban, Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition, Distilled

First on the list is one of the newest games to my collection, Heat: Pedal to the Metal. In this hand-management, car racing-themed game, players compete to have their car be the first to cross the finish line, while also managing the heat in their engine to avoid spinning out. This is my favorite racing game at the moment, and I still have so much content I’ve yet to explore in Heat.

This year, I finished the excellent Rise of Fenris expansion for Scythe, and I discussed some of my spoiler-free thoughts on the experience here. The artwork and components are some of the highlights for this engine-building game. While I’m usually not a fan of direct conflict in board games, I really enjoy how it is handled in this game, with the threat of conflict acting as more of an influencer rather than fights themselves.    

I love the large, chucky dice in Rajas of the Ganges. A mechanism Ark Nova would later popularize, in Rajas, players try to increase their wealth and fame until the two tracks cross, triggering the end of the game. I love the amount of variety in this game, and I love the satisfying puzzle of managing your dice.

Another recent addition to the collection was Nucleum. It has surprised me how much it has stuck in my head. In this heavy, economic-euro, players are tasked with placing tiles on a large map, with the goal of energizing buildings. The multi-use tiles are the highlight for me, and it makes the gameplay feel smooth. I also recently published my lengthy thoughts on the game here, and I recommend checking them out if you’re still on the fence with this game.  

The king of pure deck-building, Dominion, is still incredibly enjoyable given how easy it is to jump back into and have each game feel unique. While my collection of Dominion is relatively small, there are so many expansions for this game at this point to further increase the amount of variety and replayability.

The theme really shines through in this Portuguese wine-themed game where players are competing to build the best wine making business. The art and components in Vinhos are outstanding, and the theme makes the game feel less complex than it is. While I own the 2016 deluxe edition of the game, I actually prefer playing the game using the slightly updated 2010 original version released with the deluxe edition, as I really enjoy the interesting bank mechanism.

I love when I’m able to combo actions together in Praga Caput Regni. I was able to get this to the table relatively recently, and I was surprised how well the game worked even with four players. While you want to specialize in certain areas, the mechanisms still feel intertwined, and the big turns feel incredible satisfying. The only thing I wish the game had is a built-in solo mode that’s not beat-your-own-score, so that I would have an excuse to bring it out more often. 

Building off the rondel mechanism from Great Western Trail, Maracaibo sails through 17^th century Caribbean. I love the multi-use cards, the three influence tracks, and the tension of deciding how fast or slow to end each round. I recently discussed my thoughts on the game here, and probably the key reason this doesn’t get to the table more often is that it tends to run a bit on the longer side with higher player counts.

In my recent review of The White Castle, I discussed how I felt that the game didn’t do anything truly innovative. However, what I was surprised about is how fast I was able to get games played considering its medium complexity. The White Castle lets me play a fairly thinky game with plenty of interesting choices, without needing a ton of components or a long runtime. The box is even one of the smallest on my shelves, although I will reiterate that I do wish the box had been slightly larger to avoid the challenge of getting everything back in.  

While people are normally initially attracted to the charming artwork in Everdell, there’s still a pretty solid game under the hood. While there’s plenty of expansions and multiple spin-offs, I personally prefer playing just the base game. If I’m looking for something heavier, I’ll lean towards other games, but when I’m looking for something not too heavy but still creates interesting decisions with a light theme, then I’ll easily bring this one out.

With that, I’ll wrap up my favorite 40-31 games of all time, and stay tuned for the next batch! I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the games I’ve mentioned, future content, or format in the comments section below, and let me know what your favorite games are. Happy gaming!

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