Four great board games from 2004
Let's look back 20 years at the board games that made waves.
If you asked me to write about great board games from last year, I would have real trouble narrowing down my list. Every year now, we are confronted with hundreds upon hundreds of games that are genuinely exciting, interesting, and deserving of widespread acclaim.
But here I am, writing about great games from 2004, and you know what? 20 years is a long time in the modern board game hobby. If I look back at releases from 2004, the themes are often tepid and the mechanics uninteresting. Games have changed significantly during that time, and narrowing the list becomes almost a little too easy.
There are, of course, games that didn’t make this list. I didn’t add Betrayal at House on the Hill because it’s just not my sort of game most of the time — it might be perfect for your group, but it doesn’t excite me. That’s not a knock against the game, though we could get into genuine criticism if we wanted to. I don’t think that’s particularly important, as I’m not writing here about “well-regarded games from 2004 I don’t love.” War of the Ring hasn’t seen the table (nor do I have a copy.) Memoir ’44 is similarly not present, insofar as I’m not particularly interested in games themed around war. (This is not why I haven’t played War of the Ring.) There are, too, other games I haven’t played that I know a bit less about.
All that to say, this list is short. It’s intentionally short. I’ll include some honorable mentions at the end.
Power Grid
This was probably the first modern board game that I considered a favorite. I loved everything about Power Grid: the over-use of the color green (it’s a Friedemann Friese design, and that’s just what you have to expect), the mathy finish, the auctions that were generally pretty exciting, the feeling of progression. This was the game for me. It wasn’t a new game when I finally played it; I think my first play was probably in 2012, a good eight years after its release.
There are three key ideas behind Power Grid. The first is that you’ll be bidding for power plants, and each round you have the opportunity to purchase one. The power plants available at auction become more efficient over the time, using different power sources to provide power to more cities. As you can only purchase one power plant in a round, the last player to purchase can do so without any competition.
Following the auction, you can buy resources at a rate that changes over the course of the game, with some resources, like garbage or uranium, more widely available later in the game. That purchase cost for each resource increases as players purchase more of some resources, adding even more weight to the auction phase. You can only store twice as many resources as you need to power, so hoarding at lower rates isn’t an option.
Finally, you’ll earn money for being able to power cities in a network. You also have to pay for the right to power cities, but as it’s the only way to increase your income, it’s essential you plan around your financial capability. The game puts you in a position in which you’re constantly having to balance these three concerns, and that makes for a really compelling time.
Ticket to Ride
2004’s most notable game is, without a doubt, Ticket to Ride. It remains an important part of the board gaming revolution, and it’s maybe the most recent game to have helped spur the onslaught of modern games. With plenty of expansions available, this route-building game has received plenty of attention since its release. And for good reason! It’s really simple to explain, and it holds some nice depth. It’s one of those games that reveals that depth as you play, which is why it’s generally regarded as one of the best gateway games.
The premise is simple: On your turn, you have just three options: draw train cards, draw additional destination tickets, or claim a single route on the board. You’ll start with some destination tickets, each of which shows two locations you want to build a path between. If you complete that destination ticket, you’ll gain points. If you don’t, you’ll lose points. The biggest trick here is that there’s a limit to how many players can claim a single route, so you’ll have to plan your turns knowing that at any point, you might have to rethink your plans as somebody blocks you off. That almost makes Ticket to Ride the potentially meanest of the classic gateway games — behind, perhaps, two-player Carcassonne.
No Thanks
One of my very favorite games to break out for groups not quite as invested in gaming is No Thanks!, one of the coolest small-box games I own. The premise is simple: Every turn, you’re presented with a card with a value ranging from 3 to 35, with nine cards removed each game. Taking a card means taking points, and you don’t want points. If you don’t want to take the card, you can place one of your little flat stones on it, leaving the next player to make a decision. If you take the card, you’ll get the stones on it. If you run out of those stones, you have to take the card regardless. This is a game of tense, interesting decisions, and I adore it.
Cockroach Poker
I am bad at bluffing. If I’m in a position where I could conceivably bluff, I might start laughing, whether I’m bluffing or not. Cockroach Poker is basically 100% bluffing, which I am simultaneously here for and wary of; you’re spending each turn trying to gauge if your neighbor is bluffing, and then you’ll attempt to bluff your next neighbor around the table. You can, of course, challenge, but there’s a risk — if you’re wrong, the card goes face-up in front of you. If you end up with four of the same bug in front of you, you’ll lose, and everyone else wins. This game shouldn’t work. It really does, though. (Cockroach Poker is also featured in the adorable anime After School Dice Club, which features one of the better rules teaches I’ve seen. Fun stuff! I’ll include a clip below.)
Honorable Mentions
San Juan is a card game spun out of Puerto Rico, but it’s more notable for being a precursor to 2007’s Race for the Galaxy
Memoir ‘44 is a war game that manages to not be overly complex
Antiquity is a heavy Splotter game that’s probably too much for me, though I’ve never played it — still, it’s really well regarded
War of the Ring is a mostly two-player Lord of the Rings-themed war game
The Downfall of Pompeii is a game about escaping Pompeii before a volcanic eruption takes you out
Carcassonne: The City is a two-player spin on Carcassonne that’s really difficult to pick up these days. Maybe I’ll find a copy. Hmm.
Saboteur is a game in which you’re exploring a mine looking for gold, but one of you is a saboteur. There’s still only one winner
Thanks, as always, for reading! I really appreciate your making it to the end. By the way — if you want me to send you a sticker or two to help me celebrate passing 500 subscribers here, drop me a note with your address.
Next week: I played 20-some-odd trick-taking games last weekend at TTUTCON, and you get to hear about all of them.
Cockroach Poker. Is. Great.