BGG Top Games – 4501 – 4600

We have reached the midway point of the 4000s in the Boardgame Geek game rankings, and we have also hit another milestone.

I have not played or do not own any of the games in this century.

I know I said originally that I would probably stop when I hit that point, but I have looked ahead and there are some good centuries coming up.

Not to mention the fact that there are some interesting tidbits in this century that I would like to play, or will be playing eventually.

So there is that.

Not to mention the fact that I’ve been encouraged to keep going by friends of mine.

But yes, I am going against what I have said before.

Exactly.

Before I get into the nitty gritty of this post, though, we have our experiments to look in on.

The Game Makers (published by Bezier Games) was at #3078 when last week’s post went live.

As I’m writing this on last Thursday, it’s currently at #3071.

Not much of a change in one day.

Today it’s #2991, so it’s broken into the top 3000!

The other experiment is Wingspan Pocket, a game that I can’t wait to arrive because it’s bundled in with some other pre-orders I’ve done and I’m waiting for them.

When last week’s post went live, it was at #2023. Almost in the top 2000!

One day later, as I write this, it’s at #1993.

Now, it’s at #1783.

Can you say “Top 100, here we come?”

I knew you could.

As I said, I don’t own or haven’t played any of these games, so let’s just get into the ones I find interesting to talk about.

Including one new game that I’m sure will also be rising up quickly, and one that I could play as early as this week (so actually I will have already played it by the time this posts) if Abi comes to game day!

(He didn’t come, so I still haven’t played it)

Keep in mind that these rankings could change by the time you read this, if you’re reading this in 2 years and celebrating the imminent arrest of Donald Trump.

Your favourite game may not be on here anymore!

Hopefully it’s gone upwards and not downwards.

With that, let’s begin.

Let’s first go into the game that I might have played this weekend (though I doubt it) prior to this post going live, and the one that I predict will move at least somewhat higher than the rank it’s at now.

It’s also the sequel (aka standalone expansion) to one of my Top 50 games of all time.

FlipToons Season 2 (#4506 as I wrote this and and moving upwards because it’s now #4395!) is the second game in this wonderful card-flipping game where you are trying to achieve the most fame.

The sequel to FlipToons, this has the same mechanics but with different cards that have wildly different effects from the first game.

You are still flipping 6 (maybe more if you have the right cards for it) cards into a 2×3 grid, totaling up your Fame, and buying cards or getting rid of some, to then repeat the same process again and again.

Until somebody hits 30 Fame, in which case the endgame is triggered.

You do one more flip and whoever has the most Fame in that flip wins!

That might not be you if you were lucky to get 30 in that earlier round, and this time your flip sucks.

This game includes aquatic creatures, which add a bit of a different dynamic to the whole thing, or at least it sounds like.

The set also has different starting cards.

There are rules for combining the two sets. It will be interesting to actually play it.

I will have to buy this one, though hopefully I will get it played before that.

Another note of interest, because I was flabbergasted at how four different versions of this game have four different BGG entries, is Cosmic Encounter (#4575)

This is the 2000 version of the game.

There is also a 1977 version (the original!) at #1761, a 1991 version at #3092, and the big hit version that apparently everyone is playing, from 2008, that is at #233 (which is why I say that everybody is playing that one).

I’ve never played any of them, but I know the game is enormously popular.

Hell, it’s one of Tom Vassal’s favourite games!

(Not that it means anything, but still…it gets talked about!)

Reading about it, I don’t really know how I would feel playing it.

It’s chaotic, with some negotiation in it, but it supposedly plays in 60 minutes (though the “popular” version says 60-120 minutes, so maybe your mileage may vary?).

I don’t know why these four are different enough to be listed separately.

I also don’t know why I missed the original two when doing those centuries!

But colour me intrigued.

Now we get to a game that is very controversial.

Catherine: the Cities of the Tsarina (#4583) is a relatively abstract game about Russian expansion in Catherine the Great’s reign.

It was published in 2022, the same year that the Russian army slammed into Ukraine and attempted a 2-day take-over of the country that has now resulted in 4 years of horrific warfare, Russian war crimes, and many other atrocities.

Of course, that means that this game was immediately controversial, because it’s about the spread of the Russian army westward, expanding its territory and including many Ukrainian cities.

I remember the controversy at the time, and the game apparently has not done well for Capstone Games.

In fact, it was on a massive discount at Boardgame Bliss, where I ordered it because the game itself seemed really cool and you can’t go wrong with almost 70% off.

However, thankfully it was bundled with my pre-orders that haven’t shipped yet, so I was able to cancel it after doing some reflection and remembering exactly what the controversy was about.

There is no way I want to support a theme that doesn’t take into account current atrocities that are still going on as I type this.

The game is a basic tableau-building, set collection card game, so it doesn’t need this kind of evil theme.

It’s a shame that it has this theme, as the gameplay looked really intriguing, which is why I bought it in the first place.

If this ever comes out with a reskin, I would definitely look into it.

Scorpius Freighter (#4530) is a game that I have almost bought quite a few times, but never quite pulled the trigger on it.

Nobody in my game group owns it, so I’ve also never played it.

The game has a bit of a Firefly-esque setting, in that you are a rebellious ship captain and crew in a solar system (galaxy, whatever) that has been run roughshod by a harsh government that doesn’t allow any freedom whatsoever.

Unlike Firefly, though, you’re always smuggling goods.

No “legal” shipping in this game!

Though there may be a little, maybe?

The game description on BGG is next to useless in describing how the game itself plays, concentrating mostly on the setting.

It does look pretty cool, though.

Of course, my friend Dan Thurot was lukewarm on the game, so there is that to consider.

I’d be willing to try it, though!

Give my love for Final Girl, you’d think that Last Friday (#4513) would be right up my alley, wouldn’t you?

It’s a one-vs-many game where one player is the slasher roaming around the board killing people while other players are said victims trying to survive.

Obviously it takes its inspiration from Friday the 13th, with the game taking place in a campground and the players being campers.

The blurb does sound intriguing and maybe there actually isn’t player elimination?

“Last Friday is a hidden movement, hunting and deduction board game, inspired by the popular “slasher” horror movie genre. In the role of young campers, the players are challenged to survive a long weekend of terror – while one of them takes the role of the undying psychopath hiding in the shadows of the forest. In general, the murderer’s goal is to remain hidden and to kill off each of the campers, while the campers are trying to fight back and kill the murderer before they are all killed.

The game is played over four chapters — Arrival at the Camp, The Chase, The Massacre, and The Final Chapter — and each chapter plays out differently as the hunter becomes the prey, then comes back from the dead looking for revenge.”

I would hope that if a player somehow dies in Chapter 1, they wouldn’t have to sit out the rest of the game? Since BGG says it takes 30-120 minutes?

I would be interested to see how that works.

The board looks pretty cool.

I’ve heard really good things about KuZOOkA (#4536) (WTF is up with that random capitalization?).

Ok, not necessarily good things, but that it’s cool.

I guess that counts as a good thing.

This is a cooperative game where players are all animals trying to escape the zoo, because zoos are bad (boring and stifling, at the very least).

Let’s blurb this one so that I don’t mess it up.

“There are multiple ways to escape in KuZOOkA, but you need to work together with the other animals — in secret — to pool the trash left behind by zoo visitors and develop an escape plan that makes use of these items. Each player has one of the ten animal cards with a unique power, and you play on a game board that features a path comprised of spaces in six colors, with each space having a number in it.

In each round, a number of item cards is dealt out to players, with 20-22 cards being dealt in the first round. Cards show a colored item, e.g., a red ice cream spoon or a purple scarf. On a turn, you place one of your animal tokens on the path farther than any other animal token, say, in the 1 red space or the 2 purple space, to give some indication of what you have in hand. (The first player is limited to one of the first five spaces.) The next player places one of their tokens farther down the path, and so on, with each placement giving players a chance to suggest what cards they hold in hand. A player can use their animal power once during a round.

At some point a player will decide that instead of placing an animal token, it’s time to attempt an escape. At that point, all players reveal all cards of the color matching the location of the animal token furthest down the path. If you have more cards, you gain experience stars equal to the number depicted on that space — and with experience stars, you can purchase a higher starting experience level, which means you’ll have more cards in play, including face-up cards visible to all. If you have exactly as many cards as the number depicted, you gain experience stars as well as a universal tool card that counts as a joker. If you have fewer cards, you fail.

Shuffle all cards, then deal out the current number of cards and start a new round. If during a round you manage to reach one of the six final spaces on the track and you have at least that many cards of the designated color, you escape and win the game. If you fail to do this by the end of the seventh round, you lose.”

That does sound really cool.

I’ve never heard of this game!

It also looks very bright and colourful.

Now I join the “Abi, why did you get rid of this?” chorus.

Maybe one day.

Oh no, could this be another experiment coming?

That’s right, Cascadia: Alpine Lakes (#4528) is a new standalone Cascadia game and it’s all the way down here.

Bets on it staying here?

You’re still creating a diverse Pacific Northwest habitat with animals and landscapes, etc, but now you’re also going for height.

Yes, now you’re building up as well as out.

You’re trying to score animals in habitats, just like before, but now you’re also trying to build alpine lakes and surround them so they’re even more beautiful and, most importantly, getting you more points.

This is becoming a three-dimensional puzzle instead of just two!

It’s Cascadia, so I’m sure it’s cool.

But I haven’t seen this one in the wild yet.

I’ll be interested in seeing if it continues to jump up the charts.

Because it does look like a really neat variation on one of our go-to lunch time games.

It was #4568 when I first started this post. As I edit it on Saturday, it’s now #4528. I’m sure by the time this goes live on Wednesday, it will be out of this century.

AND I WAS RIGHT! It’s now at #4405, so not a huge jump? But it is moving steadily.

What’s that? I haven’t done a wargame yet?

Let’s correct that, and I choose this one for a couple of reasons.

First, I’ve heard good things about this and its successors from my wargaming friends.

Secondly, the tag line on BGG: “Visit tropical islands they said. Can’t trust recruiters”

That’s awesome.

Anyway, D-Day at Peleliu (#4591) is a solitaire game designed by the great John Butterfield about, well, the invasion of the Pacific island Peleliu during World War II.

You will always be playing as the Americans, making the landings on the beaches and suffering through the withering firepower of the Japanese soldiers trying to repel the invasion.

It looks amazing, but I can also tell by the look and the playtime that I would never actually get it to the table.

I mean, 180-300 minutes? I don’t have that kind of time for solo games.

Maybe one day

I understand that it is incredibly difficult to win, though.

I do love that the Japanese forces apparently are randomly set up (at least to some extent), which does add to the replayability.

I am just noting this game because I know at least a few of my friends really like it.

Finally, in keeping with the solo wargaming theme, there’s Phantom Leader (#4578), published by Dan Verssen Games.

I love the idea of these solo games where you are part of a squadron, or flight, or flotilla, or whatever, of airplanes doing missions.

The game has players join a US Army or Navy tactical fighter squadron in Vietnam.

There are a bunch of “Leader” games published by the same company, and they all are solo games with interesting aspects to them, whether they be Air Force games or maybe even tank games.

Phantom Leader adds a bit of a political dimension to the mix, which does sound intriguing.

That’s covered in the blurb.

“Phantom Leader places you in command of a US Air Force or US Navy Tactical Fighter squadron in Vietnam between 1964 and 1972. You must not only destroy the targets but you must also balance the delicate political repercussions of your attacks. If you strike too hard, your air offensive might be put on hold, strike too light, and you’ll be blamed for losing the war.”

You’re running a squadron, and each of your pilots have various skills that will help on the missions.

If you’re tasked with one kind of mission, maybe choose this group of pilots.

They will also suffer fatigue and adverse effects if you run them too many missions in a row.

The missions also have a political aspect, which is a neat addition to the genre.

I love these solo aircraft or submarines games. They’re all random dice-rolling luckfests, but the stories they tell are awesome.

A bunch of cool games in this century, even if I haven’t played any of them.

Next week will be better on the played count.

Will it be better on the “interesting” count?

Only time will tell.

Anything in this century that you like, or would avoid?

Let me know in the comments.