BGG Top Games – 2901-3000

It’s another week, and another century of ranked boardgames from the Boardgame Geek rankings.

I figure I’m going to keep doing this until I run into a century where I have literally played none of the games (even then, if there’s something interesting in it, I might still do it) or until some of you start begging me to stop.

Think of it like the Gong Show.

Except I’m not wearing a paper bag over my head.

(Editor – “Wow, you have dated yourself before, but you’re really doing it hard this time”)

So far, I’m getting really good discussions from these posts, and they’re fun to write!

Even when they’re a bit lackluster, like last week, there was still some good stuff in there (like rediscovering that Amun-Re session report, from which I’m still laughing).

Speaking of the rankings, I have a Top 100 update, as I have now played 59 of them!

I’m slowly making progress, though there are some games that I will not be playing unless some major changes happen (like any of the legacy games).

Back to this century, though, we’ve finally hit the 3000 mark, and we’re still going strong.

Can we continue to 6000?

Who knows?

As usual, the list I’m getting this from is here, though it can change over time. These rankings are close!

This week, I’ve played 8 games and own (or previously owned) 5 of them. All of the owned ones I have played, so no Shelf of Opportunity here.

Let’s not blather any more about this, as I’m just about up to my 300 word introduction limit.

So let’s begin!

The first game of note in this century is a game that I’ve played a ton.

In fact, you’ll see this game again when I do a post about my most-played games (which is coming up at some point).

Würfel Bohnanza (#2910) is a dice-chucking game that is so much fun.

For me, at least, as I know some people who don’t like it.

It was also one of my first reviews, 5 months after I started this blog (so yeah, “one of”). So be kind. I’ve matured a lot in 8 years.

Some would hopefully say.

Anyway, in this game you are rolling dice Yahtzee style, but in this case you have relatively unlimited rolls.

What do I mean by “relatively?”

You always have to keep at least one die from your roll, and you can’t reroll what you’ve already kept.

You’re harvesting beans to fulfill your contract card and get coins.

Each die has a different coloured bean on each side, and you are trying to match the beans with the contracts.

So above, you’d need either two brown beans or two purple beans, with the next one needing an orange, a purple, and a yellow. A die can fulfill multiple requirements.

The cool thing is that everybody’s involved for the most part, because each time you roll, other players can use what you just rolled (not your kept dice) to fulfill their next contract space as well!

The contracts get harder as you get near the top, so beginning with the third space, you can just turn it in for a coin (or more) rather than continue it.

In the above picture, once you’ve reached the “2 red” level, you can turn it in for a coin and start your next card.

Or you can keep going to the two green (2 coins) and so on.

If you finish the whole card, you’ll get 4 coins, though!

First one to 13 coins wins immediately.

This one I enjoy immensely and it’s a shame that it’s this low in the rankings.

I think it’s hard to get in North America, though I’ve heard it might be finally making its way over here soon.

Let’s hope!

Staying very light, but way down in my estimation (and I know that’s just me, as some of my friends really like this game) is Second Chance (#2927)

This one is a flip and write about filling in a 9×9 grid using the cards that are flipped.

Each player has a different starting card with different shapes already marked off, so it’s already asymmetric.

Then cards are flipped with shapes that you must then fill in on your grid.

Each turn two of them are flipped, and you choose one to use.

If you can’t fit either shape into your grid, you get a “second chance” and flip a card just for yourself.

If you can’t fit that one into your grid, you’re out of the game.

The game goes until everybody’s eliminated, the deck runs out, or somebody fills in their grid.

If everybody is eliminated, whoever had the fewest empty spaces wins.

I am a spatially-challenged person, so these Tetris shape type games just burn me out completely.

Trying to picture how these shapes will fit, and what room to leave for future shapes, is so foreign to my brain that it might as well be Cleveland.

So no, this is not a highly-ranked game by me, but you might like it!

Another game that I own and have played a couple of times is Commands & Colors: Medieval (#2932).

This is another game that should not be down this far, but I do understand that wargames don’t get as much general love on Boardgame Geek as “regular” games do.

This game was in my Top 50 in 2024 and fell out because I haven’t played it since then, but I still love it and the concept of the whole Commands & Colors series of block wargames.

The “Medieval” part of the name is a bit of a misnomer, as the scenarios in the box are from wars between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanids, which happened way before medieval times.

But it’s still a great game!

You command your forces by playing a battle card from your hand, which will allow you to activate certain types or numbers of troops, or troops in one of the three areas the board is divided into.

Unlike the original Ancients game (which is all the way up at #250!), in Medieval you can also gain tokens that you can spend for extra dice when attacking, or a reroll or things like that.

I love the dice system in this game, where each unit rolls a certain number of battle dice when attacking, depending on how far away they are (if they even have ranged fire ability) and you are trying to roll the same symbol the unit you are attacking (or some units can hit with swords as well).

Or they may have to retreat, though circumstances in the game may make retreat optional.

The game also adds “Inspired Leader” actions that you can use when playing a Leadership card.

Each scenario goes until somebody has gained a certain number of flags (as listed in the scenario). Most of the time that’s eliminated enemy units, but some scenarios will also give you a flag for reaching a certain point on the map or what have you.

The scenarios are as historical as possible, so they aren’t necessarily balanced that well.

That’s why it’s encouraged to play two rounds of the scenario, switching sides after the first one.

Then the winner is the one who earned the most flags.

I really wish I could get this to the table more often.

I love this game to death and it’s sitting on my shelf right now.

Maybe one day it will come out again.

In yet another (though the first in a while) “standalone expansion makes the list,” there’s Smash Up: Big in Japan (#2937), an entry in the classic franchise that has some wonderful parodies of Japanese monster movies, anime fighting girls, cute collectible critters, and colourful fighters.

No, definitely not the Power Rangers!

*wink*

And I just discovered that I never actually reviewed it!

Wow, I should go back and do that.

Anyway, the factions in this one are really neat, and it’s the first (and only, unless you bought the Titan pack) to add Titans to the game.

These Titans have special abilities that will allow them to be placed on a base according to what’s on the Titan.

So Gorgodzolla requires you to have two or more Actions on a base before you can play it there (or some cards will just say you can play your Titan).

I don’t have a ton of experience with this one, but the factions are cool and the Titans (who some people say can be overpowered) add a neat dimension to the game.

Are they good for mixing and matching sets, against factions without Titans?

Maybe a little overpowered? But not necessarily.

Anyway, I enjoyed this one, but really need to get it played a couple more times so I can review it.

Still not sure how that happened.

Subastral (#2943) is actually a very good game that doesn’t deserve to down this low.

It’s a card game that has a rather unique scoring style, because you are scoring both for the breadth of your tableau as well as how deep it is.

That’s because of the biome cards that you will be taking and playing.

There’s a picture of a tableau above.

First, you will be scoring each complete row, but stopping when there’s no card there.

So above, there will be one row of 5, but then only two rows of 2 after that.

Secondly, you will be scoring your two largest columns, but ties are broken by choosing the card to the left.

You score points per card equal to the column that they are in.

So above, the red cards would score you 20 points (4 cards times the 5th position) while your second column would score 3 points (3 cards times 1st position).

You’re trying to max out the farthest right columns also wanting multiple cards in the lower positions so you have bigger sets.

It’s an fun mechanic that takes a bit of doing.

There are cards out on each of the six center areas.

On your turn, you’re going to play a card from your hand onto the matching cloud card (so 4 to the 4 cloud, 5 to the 5 cloud, etc).

Then you can take cards from any other cloud (not the one you played on). If the cloud is toward the sun from where you played, you will be placing them into your journal. If it’s toward the deck (to the left), then you will take those cards into your hand.

There will be an endgame card placed into the bottom of the deck, so you won’t be completely sure when the game will end.

When that comes out, you finish the round back to the first player, and then everybody gets one more turn.

That’s it!

Games take about half an hour, which is awesome in this case, and reminds me that I should probably take this to work for our lunch time games.

The scoring is amazing, because while the cards that come out are random (to some extent, as you are playing cards to the cloud so players are also determining what’s available for other players to take), you are still trying to balance depth and breadth.

You may end up putting a common card deep into your tableau, which can score you a lot of column points (5×5, for example), but that could make it difficult to do sets of different biomes.

The Beth Sobel artwork is amazing, as all of the biome cards are so beautiful.

This is a great game, and while it’s not in my Top 50, it was #115 on my Top 50 last time. That’s not too bad considering we’re talking about 650+ games.

I think I will be playing this again soon.

I’ve played more, but that’s enough about them.

How about games that I might be interested in playing?

Sorry, Andrew, there literally aren’t any historical or war games in this century, so I can’t highlight any of them.

Undergrove (#2913) is intriguing to me because it was designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and was published by Alderac Entertainment Group.

It’s a mushroom game!

But not like Morels, which I’ve never bought, but I have the app version that really hasn’t been played much since I reviewed it.

In this case, you are a tree and trying to build the best forest around you by feeding the various fungi around your base.

Let’s blurb this because I don’t know much about it.

“In Undergrove, you are a towering evergreen with an ancient symbiotic connection to the fungi in your forest. As new mushrooms appear, your options expand for converting nutrients and helping your seedlings. Using cube conversion, tile placement, area control, and a tiny bit of engine building, you’ll need to claim the most advantageous locations and optimize your actions to leave the best legacy in the forest. The player with the greatest number of successful seedlings wins!

● Build a shared forest containing mushrooms with diverse abilities.
● Trade with the mushrooms to get resources based on the partnerships you’ve made.
● Place your seedings in the most advantageous positions to score the most points.”

I’m not going to steal any pictures from Boardgame Geek, but the pictures posted there look pretty cool!

This game never really caught on, but it looks intriguing and if somebody actually suggested it, I’d happily play it!

Wispwood (#2915) is a CGE game that I have never heard of.

And it came out in 2025!

A 2025 game that’s this far down isn’t a good sign, especially because it doesn’t seem to have gained much buzz.

It seems to be a card drafting game, along with some pattern-building because when you take tiles and are placing them in a grid, you are trying to satisfy goal cards for different layouts of your wisps.

Let’s blurb this since I have no idea what I’m talking about.

“A curious cat prowls into the forest, lured by flickering lights of all colors dancing through the trees. What are they? Oh, the wisps from the old tales! Each one sparkles with charm and mischief, carrying a unique personality. Can you guide them just right and make your forest the brightest?

Welcome to Wispwood, a magical place populated by glowing wisps. On your turn, choose a wisp tile and a shape to place in your personal grid — your very own growing forest. Each wisp has desires about where it wants to shine, and even the magical trees have preferences! You’ll aim to meet their expectations across three scoring rounds. Between rounds, the forest shifts — fading and expanding — yet the wisps you’ve already placed remain, shaping the possibilities ahead.

With each game, new goal cards redefine the wisps’ whims, ensuring your forest grows in a unique way every time. Enter the forest and explore the magic of Wispwood!”

Ok, that didn’t help much, but you are definitely trying to shape your wisp tableau based on goal cards that are out there!

It sounds like it could be fun, but I admit that the most intriguing part of this is that it’s a CGE game with virtually no buzz, so I want to see what the deal with it is.

Is that wrong?

Speaking of CGE, one game that got some buzz but still doesn’t appear to be getting much traction is Deal With the Devil (#2930).

A few friends have played it, and while they enjoyed it, they were also kind of lukewarm towards it.

It’s a secret role euro game, where each player is secretly one of roles, either a mortal, a cultist, or even the Devil himself.

It’s very much app-driven, and during the trading phase, players will trade resources, or maybe the Devil will tempt mortals with goods to get a portion of their soul, and cultists will want to give their soul to the Devil.

Let’s blurb this one too, since I don’t have any experience with it.

“But beware! Showing off how well you are doing can attract unwelcome attention and the suspicion of other players. It also may pique the interest of the Inquisition, which is eager to punish those who cannot prove their souls remain intact.

There are many dynamic strategies to experiment with across each playing. Will you sell pieces of your soul early on to boost your city-building prowess at the risk of future punishment from the Inquisition? Or will you carefully manage loan and debt repayment while waiting for others to inadvertently reveal their nefarious nature? Every choice has a consequence, and each role has its own unique strategic approach to explore.”

It sounds complicated, though supposedly it’s not.

The uncertainty of the roles sounds really interesting, though it also tells me that I probably wouldn’t be very good at it.

I would make it very obvious who I am.

Anyway, a game I would like to try, but I don’t know if I would ever get the chance to do it.

We’re getting to my word limit, so we’ll stop there.

What games in this century have you played, or would like to play?

Anything to actively avoid?

Let me know in the comments.