Issue 11: The best in board games of 2020
Or, at least the best of what I've played.
Hello, and welcome to 2021.
I know starting this newsletter off with “the best” and “2020” may seem a bit weird, and trust me, I feel it. It’s been a troubling year on many levels, and not being able to play in-person games with many people has been a bit draining in my enthusiasm for the year.
My wife and I played a lot more games between just the two of us — mostly in the summer and fall, really — in 2020 than in other years, and that’s been a rewarding thing, though it does mean our game choice is somewhat artificially limited by that.
Somehow, 2020 also saw us start and finish Pandemic Legacy Season 2 with some friends, and playing that while COVID-19 was only just starting to enter the public attention before it had become an imminent worry in the U.S. was a bit strange, and it was stranger still to have that same thing become a defining characteristic of the year, given that context.
With all that in mind, I didn’t play all of the games I wanted to play this year — not by a long shot. But it is a good reminder that every year, there are hundreds of games being released that I haven’t played, some of which are undoubtedly very good. I’ll highlight what I have played, and next week, I’ll highlight some of the games I’m looking forward to playing this year that were released in 2021.
Fort
This was one of my favorite games of the year, and I wrote about it at a little more length in Issue 8. It’s a nice little deck-building game with great art, a fun theme, and some smart play.
New York Zoo
The best meeples in 2020 almost certainly came from New York Zoo, which has nothing to do with the quality of the game. In a bit of a weird way, this is Uwe Rosenberg putting two of his signature mechanics together: There are polyominos, which you place in your zoo as animal enclosures. You select those from a time track. At certain points on that track, animals breed for all players, making this a neat little timing puzzle. I really enjoyed this one a lot.
Calico
If you told me that one of my favorite games in 2020 would be about matching patterns and colors on a quilt, I would have been excited for what was certainly an amazing year in games. (It was, even if playing games was harder.) I’m a sucker for beautiful puzzle games like this.
The Crew
So, I don’t really know how much this counts as a 2020 game or not, but given the English edition hit the U.S. this year, I’m going to count it. This is a trick-taking cooperative campaign game set in the outer reaches of our solar system. Like, I don’t think most of those words naturally go together, but The Crew works perfectly. It’s a little surprising how exciting this game is every time I play.
I should also note that we’ve put in some hundred or so plays of this on Board Game Arena, which has been perfect to play with friends mid-pandemic. I’d highly recommend it.
Abandon All Artichokes
I’ve written several times about this great deck-destruction game, so I’ll just refer back here to what I wrote in the last issue.
Abandon All Artichokes is a fantastic “deck destruction” game that turns the classic deck-building mechanic on its head. Instead of trying to get great cards to add some game-winning gold to your deck, you’re trying to get rid of cards. To win, you have to shed your deck completely of artichokes. Combine it with a perfect tin, adorable art, and a theme that sneaks up on you, and you’ll really enjoy this one.
Gods Love Dinosaurs
Games about dinosaurs are always cool. This is another game with a strong timing element — essentially, each type of creature (disappointing, only some of them are dinosaurs) has a specified movement pattern, and, in classic dinosaur fashion, bigger creatures eat smaller creatures — and the more food they eat, the more they’ll reproduce. If you manage to plan well enough, you’ll have a really great movement phase, adding more and more creatures to your growing world — all so they can eat each other. It’s fun.
Sonora
Flick-and-write. Who’d have thought? Good roll-and-writes thrive on finding ways to mitigate luck, and good flicking games fool you into thinking you might actually be good at flicking discs with any sort of meaningful accuracy. Merging those two ideas is a little diabolical, and I like it a lot.
Floor Plan
As a 12-year-old boy, I would often draw up house plans using some software (I can’t remember what it was, but I loved it.) My structures were always way too large, impractical, and absolutely far too expensive for a child that didn’t end up an accidental billionaire, as I’d hoped then.
Super-Skill Pinball
This is such a cool game. I didn’t know I needed a board game adaptation of pinball in my life, but Geoff Engelstein’s design is just fantastic. Roll-and-write games have a special place in my collection, and this one just rocketed its way to the top. Or at least near it. Such a cool game. Also, I haven’t taken photos of this one quite yet, so you’ll just have to use your imagination for today. Or Google. But do check my Instagram soon!
Assorted games I played but don’t have much to say about
Traintopia was a nice lightweight train game.
Santa Monica is a lovely little tableau builder
Pandemic: Hot Zone — North America deserves an award for having a colon and an em-dash in the title. The game? Well, it’s OK, but it’s no Pandemic.
Welcome to New Las Vegas is a fitting sequel to Welcome To.
Deep Vents is a nice idea, but the symbols make the game a bit hard to play.
CTRL is a really cool three-dimensional area control game.
School of Sorcery is a clever-enough two-player area control game powered by cards and dice in some neat ways.
Ripple Rush is a deceptively hard little flip-and-fill game.
Fox in the Forest Duet is a delightful two-player cooperative trick-taking game — a sequel to the great Fox in the Forest.
Games from 2020 I still need to play
I thought I’d take a brief stroll through some games that I’m really looking forward to playing from 2020. There are, of course, always games I’ll miss out on, but I want to be diligent about making sure I get back to some of these.
Pandemic Legacy Season 0, because of course I need to play it — once it’s safe to do so, we’re planning on it with some friends. I, for one, am far too excited.
Forgotten Waters is another that’s just waiting for the right group — I know I could use the online assistant, but I’d much rather get this one to the table with people around. I’ll be patient.
Mariposas, because I think the theme is delightful and the game itself looks quite nice — this one just hasn’t quite hit the table yet.
Curious Cargo is still on the shelf awaiting its first play, as is Viscounts of the West Kingdom. We just need to set aside a few hours for some more complex games. (Also, Raiders of Scythia! And Beez! And several other games!)
Joining the above are Pendulum and Tekhenu, both of which are games I’m excited for with the right group. The same can be said for On Mars, One Small Step, Godspeed, Ride the Rails, High Rise, and Tiny Epic Dinosaurs. (It’s a long list!)
We actually just received a copy of Tournament at Avalon as a gift, and I’m very excited to give it a whirl. Trick-taking games have been front-of-mind thanks to The Crew, so hopefully we can find a way to play safely with some friends before too long.
Under Falling Skies is one I’ll set aside an afternoon for myself to play, as it’s a single-player experience — I do love a good solo game now and again!
Some games on my want-to-play list: The Castles of Tuscany, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Oceans, Rallyman: GT, Blood on the Clocktower, Kanban EV, Hallertau, Paris, Winter Kingdom, The Search for Planet X, and topping that list right now: Iwari.
There are so many others, too. If you see some I’ve missed, please, let me know. I want to play every game. It’s a problem.
Well, let’s end things here. I could continue listing games from the year I want to play, but if I’m not careful, I’ll accidentally add them to a cart and order them immediately, and we can’t have that. (I need to get through a number of other games first, you see. Plus, Kickstarting games means I’m likely to have some just magically appear at my door, so I need to account for that, too.)
I love New York Zoo so much, and I'm glad you introduced us to The Crew! We loved it and can't wait to play again.