Friday Night Shots – Playing the BGG Top 100 Games

It’s hard to believe there is only one more week (and a couple of days) to Christmas.

So it really matters to me that you’ve decided to spend a little of your hard-earned time on this little old blog.

Sorry the posting has been a bit light! I’ve had an amazing blog year as far as stats go, so of course the last month was going to be kind of slow.

But we’re here now, so take a seat by the fire and I’ll bring some mulled wine.

That’s what they drink in those fantasy books, right?

Or something non-alcoholic if that is more your speed.

Let’s go for something light tonight.

How does talking about the Boardgame Geek Top 100 games sound?

I know I did a series of posts during the pandemic lockdowns about the BGG rankings.

They really did save my sanity during that isolating time.

But that’s been a few years now and a lot of the games have changed.

Not only that, but this time I’m only going to talk about the Top 100 and sample a few games that I haven’t played but might actually get a chance to at some point.

So I’m not going to talk about any of the legacy games, as I seriously doubt I will be playing any of those anytime soon.

I just went and counted, and I have played 53 of the top 100.

Better than half!

That could be because a couple of games I’ve played have moved into the Top 100 recently, but still.

It also means that I will no longer have to play Caylus soon, as it’s now #101!

(Just kidding, guys…I’d still like to play it).

Here’s just a small sample of the ones I might be playing sometime in the next year, starting at the top.

Lost Ruins of Arnak (#28) is a kind of deck-builder, kind of resource gathering and contract fulfillment game where you are exploring Arnak, spending resources to move up the research track, and also travelling to explore sites and perhaps defeat (not kill) guardians of those sites so you can explore them further.

There’s also some worker placement too.

It does have some deckbuilding mechanics and came out almost at the same time as Dune: Imperium, so there are a lot of comparisons between them.

But I don’t see them, really.

Maybe it’s the worker placement/deckbuilding combination that does it?

Granted, I haven’t played Arnak before on the table, but I have played it asynchronously on Boardgame Arena, so I am somewhat familiar with it!

And by “somewhat familiar,” I do mean that I suck at it.

It’s made a couple of my friends’ Top 50 games of all time list, so hopefully I get it played soon!

I mean, I own it, so I really should play it, right?

Great Western Trail: Second Edition (#30) is another game that I will probably be able to get to the table at some point.

I’ve played the original a few times, once with the expansion, and I’ve played Great Western Trail: Argentina as well.

The second edition of the base game seems like a natural, doesn’t it?

How can you go wrong with a game where you have a hand of cows?

I mean, they’re cards with pictures of cows on them. I think it would be hard to have a hand of actual cows.

I’m sure one of my friends must have it. Or maybe at one of the conventions I’ve been going to.

Another game I suck at!

But I still really enjoy it.

Kanban EV (#51) is a Vital Lacerda game about car manufacturing, and it looks amazing.

I’ve played the original on the (now-defunct) Boiteajeux site, but asynchronously.

I really enjoyed it, though like most Lacerda games, it’s a real brain-burner.

You go all the way from getting car designs to planning them, producing them, and then getting them out of the factory.

Meanwhile, you have a mean boss who’s constantly evaluating your work.

There is a lighter version of this game called Bot Factory that I have played, and really liked that one as well.

Let’s stay with Lacerda when talking about Lisboa (#57).

This is a game about rebuilding the city of Lisboa, Portugal, after the 1755 earthquake.

I don’t know a lot about it, but I do know that there are wigs!

Lots of wigs.

They probably don’t look that cool, though.

Anyway, as with most Lacerda games, you’re balancing your available actions to try to make them as efficient as possible, though it’s really hard.

Just really hard.

Anyway, at least two of my friends have this game and like playing it, so I’m willing to bet it will be played next year sometime.

And who could resist wigs?

The final one I’m going to mention is Obsession (#74), only because that one will be really easy to play next year (or who knows, maybe in one of the two weeks left this year?).

This is a game about Victorian England, where you (as BGG says) “Renovate an estate, manage servants, and pursue romance.”

And it has cards!

Yes, there’s some deckbuilding in there, so that’s definitely a plus for me.

One of my friends has this game, enjoys it, and has offered to bring it,

So it will be played at some point.

IT WILL BE PLAYED!

Ahem…sorry. The wine got to me a little bit.

There are a few more games that I might be able to play at some point, but it’s not quite as possible.

The others…well, it would have to be a convention miracle to get one of them played.

Or a massive change in life circumstances where a legacy game might be able to be played.

Have you played any of these games?

What do you think of them?

How are you as far as playing any of the Top 100?

Or do you care?

Ultimately I don’t “care” other than I find it kind of interesting and hell, I needed a topic to write about.

Ok, that was the wine talking too…

Let me know in the comments!

This post brought to you mulled wine, the number 100, and the letter T