Friday, June 6, 2014

Top 10 Games

We moved to Indiana 6 years ago. At that point if you had asked me what board games I knew how to play I'd say the typical Monopoly, Life, Scrabble, or Candy Land. Fortunately, I met one of my now best friends who changed everything.

Our best 'couple' friends Adam and Krista introduced us to the expansive world of board games that we were missing out on! So since I've been 'gaming' for about 5 years now, I think it's finally time I created my own Top 10 list.



10. Guildhall - I first played Guildhall at IndyCon I think two years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time I played. With the addition of the expansion this game can change each time you play. Basically you are trying to collect different professions to score victory points, but certain professions allow other players to steal from you, so beware :). 







9. 7 Wonders - This was one of the first games I was introduced to. It is an easy game to learn and a fun one to play! This game is played over 3 rounds and you are drafting cards with other players to build resources, construct your ancient wonder, and explore the sciences of the world!




8. Mission Red Planet - This was my very first game to play at my first IndyCon. This is a quick, easy game to learn. Exploring Mars by sending your crew on spaceships with different characters that might allow you destroy your opponents crew members! Unfortunately it's out of print and super hard to find!






 7. King of Tokyo - Oh man, it's Yahtzee meets King Kong! You each have individual monsters and you are trying to conquer Tokyo by either destroying the other monsters or getting the most points! So easy!




6. Jaipur - This is a great 'travel' 2-player game! Krista introduced this game to me a while ago and Jeremy and I finally bought it last year! You are trading good to win 'Seals of Excellence' to be invited to he Maharajah's Court! It's a short easy game to take on the go if you have some time to kill!




5. Dungeon Lords - This is not a game for beginners! It's easily a 2 to 2 and a half hour game with 4 people. But it's so in-depth and fun! I've only played it a handful of times (and won once!)! The pieces of this game are what make the game! You are building a dungeon to try to keep the heroes out! Can you dungeon and monsters defeat the heroes?!







4. Tokaido - Take a journey in Japan! The legendary Tokaido Road connected Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo). Along the way you are stopping for encounters with the locals, collecting souvenirs, visiting the hot springs and collecting the beautiful scenes! You will also visit 4 inns to rest and enjoy the Japanese cuisine! This game is really fun 2-5 players and is a good family game!








3. Lords of Waterdeep - I will admit, I had no desire to play this game, none whatsoever. I had this notion in my head that this would be a 3-4 hour game with lots of weird stuff. I was dead wrong! This is a great game! You are vying to become the Lord of Waterdeep by going on quests! The learning curve for this one is fairly simple! Jeremy and I really enjoy playing this one 2-player!





2. Bruges - this was a 'spur of moment' purchase at GenCon last year and a great one! We knew it was going fast at the Z-Man booth and if we wanted it we needed to just grab it and go! We hadn't even played it before we bought it! This is another that is fairly easy to learn and easy to teach! You are building houses and recruiting people to gain wealth and influence city!





1. Ticket to Ride - This could very well have been the first game I was introduced to! It's so simple to learn and it's the one I most often teach to 'newbies' :) Take a cross-country adventure by placing your trains from city to city across the US! This game has blown up and there are so many versions available! Nordic countries, Europe, Africa, Marklin, Asia, the list goes on! This is such a great family game and is great for the younger kids!




Honorable Mentions: There are a few more that were close to making the list, but I just couldn't get them into the top 10!
Omen: A Reign of War - another game I was hesitant to play, but really enjoy this quick 2-player game!
Carcassonne - a great beginner game!
Agricola - as much as I hate to say it, I do enjoy this game, just need to get better at it! A very in-depth but great game!