BGG Top Games – 1101 Through 1200 – Thoughts

Last week’s post talking about some of the games just outside of the Top 1000 on Boardgame Geek seemed to be a big hit.

Maybe not in terms of visitors to this site, but with friends of mine, sparking some discussion.

In the hopes of maybe converting that into more blog hits, let’s try the next batch!

This series of posts has been inspired by the This Game is Broken podcast, who recently did a game where they guessed “higher or lower” rankings of various games ranked between 1000 and 2000 on BGG.

Today we’ll be talking about those games ranked 1101-1200, keeping in mind that these rankings are ever-changing and some of these games may not be in this range if you’re looking at this post in the far future.

Like Saturday.

This is just going to be some random thoughts about some of the games; games I’ve played and games I haven’t and really want to.

So this post doesn’t become as long as War & Peace, let’s begin!

Surprisingly, I’ve actually played more from this grouping than I have from the last one.

I’ve managed to get 24 to the table so far, which if I do my math correctly is almost a quarter!

I only own 8 of them, though.

There are a couple of gems in there but also some real duds, at least in my opinion (somebody out there must like the game).

Linko (#1160) is a card game by the wonderful Kramer & Kiesling duo who have designed so many great games.

This is a card game where you lay out cards of the same value and, if you lay out the same number of cards as your opponent has already done, but with a higher value, you can steal those cards to your hand!

Ah, screw it. Let’s just blurb this one:

“you take turns playing number cards, and the more cards of the same number you play, the better as cards score points at the end of the game. If someone else plays the same amount of cards with a higher number, however, your cards get nicked! Stealing cards can be good, but if you can’t use them later, and end the game with cards in hand, they’ll cost you points.”

If you don’t want them in your hand (they will cost you points if you don’t play them), you can just have your opponent take them back into their hand (or discard them and draw the same number of cards). If you take them, your opponent will draw the same number of cards.

So it is a stalemate as far as potential lost points, except that you now have a nice set of 11s (or whatever).

My one play of this game was in 2018 and I don’t have fond memories of it.

In hindsight, it might be because I played it 2-player?

The BGG Community says that the best player count is 4, so it might really suck at 2.

It did for me, hence my 4 rating.

I’d play it again just to see if that’s changed, though.

A much better game (my highest ranked of the bunch) is Thunder Alley (#1114), the GMT stock car racing game with a really cool premise.

You’re doing 2 or 3 laps around the track, but you move in very interesting ways.

You control a number of cars on your team and each turn, you can activate one of them that hasn’t already been activated.

The card you play will give a type of movement, and depending on that type, you move the cars linked to you as well (Solo movement is the only one where you move by yourself)

You might want to keep some of your other cars in the pack, but you will also be moving other players’ cars.

But they’ll be moving you too!

Getting away from the pack is not a good thing because you will never benefit from this type of movement.

Your cars will have wear and tear that you’ll have to keep track of and events may happen that will benefit you, or be catastrophic.

You go until all cars have crossed the finish line on the last lap, but the winner/losers are determined by the total points gained by all cars on your team.

If one of your cars finished first but the others were at the back of the pack, somebody else is going to win!

I have only played this game once but I really want to get it back on the table again. Maybe this post will help.

There are so many other good games on this list, but I would be taking up a lot of space talking about them.

And I already have! That’s because I’ve actually reviewed a few.

Ecos: First Continent (#1145) was reviewed very recently (click the link for that) and is a great world-building, tile-laying, Bingo game.

Resist! (#1154) is a wonderful solo card game which I reviewed.

Smash Up: Science Fiction Double Feature (#1140) is a nice expansion for Smash Up, but it also plays 2-player standalone, which is why it’s ranked as a game.

Cat Lady (#1148) is also a fun lunchtime card game of set collection.

World’s Fair 1893 (#1175) had the dubious honour of being my first ever review on this blog! It’s a great area majority game that I really need to get back to the table.

How about Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition (#1186)? This cooperative superhero card game where you band together to take down the bad guy doesn’t get played enough. I played it enough to review it but haven’t been able to get the first expansion to the table (and the second one is in Kickstarter limbo right now)

Finally (wow, that’s a lot of reviews!), there’s Majesty for the Realm (#1193), a really cool card-drafting game where you are trying to build up your kingdom to get the most money.

This has now been reimplemented by Middle Ages, which I think is actually an even better version of it (it’s a tile game, not a card game), but the rule changes are actually very good.

Wow, that’s a lot of words about games I’ve played.

One more, because I want to do something I rarely do on this blog.

Criticize a Garphill game.

I played Explorers of the North Sea (#1188) once at a convention (at 2 players).

It did not go over well, with either me or my opponent.

In the game, you are vikings exploring the world, discovering lands to conquer, building outposts, trading livestock, etc.

Players place tiles down on the world, so you are cooperatively building the world (just like Ecos) and you are trying to build to your own benefit.

Though others can take advantage of what you’ve placed.

Maybe it was the player count, but the game just wasn’t that interesting for either of us.

It’s too bad, because I love Raiders of the North Sea.

An honourable mention for “games I’ve played” is A Study in Emerald (#1192), a game which I haven’t played but I’ve played the second edition which changed a bunch of things.

With that done, let’s talk about a couple of games that I’d love to play but haven’t been able to yet.

The king of this category has a big fanbase among some of my friends.

Here I Stand: 500th Anniversary Edition (#1181) is a monster game about the religious wars of the Reformation in Europe from 1517-1555.

It looks so cool! Each nation’s path to victory is different, strategic card play.

I could be in heaven!

I might literally be after sitting there for 8-12 hours (BGG says 3-6 hours, but is that really accurate? Clio? Michal?)

It also has negotiation in it, a skill that I am terrible at.

I keep saying I’m going to try this at a convention, and then the allure of playing 2-3 games in the same time frame just keeps me away from it.

One day I will break down and do it, though.

Virgin Queen (#1123) is also higher on the list and is the sequel to this one (and the 500th Anniversary edition actually incorporates a couple of things from Virgin Queen).

If I was going to play a game like this, I would probably take either one.

Point City (#1127) is another game I would like to play at least once, just to see what it’s like.

I’m a big fan of its predecessor, Point Salad, which is a quick and easy to teach game of card drafting, set collection (you’re collecting veggies! Your childhood self is probably glaring at you right now) and meeting scoring card goals.

Point City is also a card drafting game but it’s also a kind of engine builder.

I’ve heard from some people that it’s not as enjoyable as Point Salad, but I’d love to make that judgement for myself.

Not enough to buy it since I’m buying so much other shit right now.

But I’d love to play it.

One funny thing with this list before I leave it.

Bridge, the classic card game, is actually at #1104! And it even has a box cover on the page.

Who knew it actually had its own edition that wasn’t just a set of playing cards?

(Does Google search. Oh wow! There are a bunch of “kits” for it!)

Would you buy your own Bridge set? How much more would it cost than just a regular deck of cards?

I guess those were things back in the day.

What have you played, or do you own, in this set of games?

Any that you would love to play?

Or refuse to play?

Let me know in the comments, and be back here next week for the next installment (this is fun!)