I wrote last week about how I thought my gaming preferences were shifting away from games that tend to be top-ranked, but I think there’s more to that story than I’d originally anticipated. To truly test my claim, I set out to BoardGameGeek’s top 100 games list — all voted on by users, all subject to biases, and all the usual caveats — and found that I do love a good number of games that occupy those top spots.
So, here I am. These are ten of my very favorite games in BGG’s top 100 list, ranked there as of Monday, January 15. (They could well move! I really enjoy this BGG Top 100 website and accompanying newsletter — do check it out.)
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, ranked #2
Pandemic was the very first cooperative board game I played, and it still holds a very special place in my collection. The strategy, the coordination, the communication: It all combines into a game that I love to break out. We’ve made great friends playing Pandemic, and the Legacy games were a not insubstantial part of that.
Pandemic Legacy is basically Pandemic with a campaign and a story. Because of that story, I won’t go into too much detail, but there’s one particular instance that stands out in my mind. We played all of Season 1 with a couple friends of ours, and after one particularly jarring story event, the mood in the room just dropped. Not in a “that’s not fun” way, rather in an emotional sense. When a game can provoke that level of emotion, when everyone in the room feels it strongly, you know you’ve got a great game on your hands. I love this game, and some day, I’ll replay the campaign.
Seasons 0 and 2 were both spectacular in their own right, but Season 1 produced some of the absolute best gaming I’ve ever experienced.
Designed by Matt Leacock.
Spirit Island, ranked #11
While Pandemic was the game to launch me into cooperative board gaming, Spirit Island is very much our go-to these days. It’s a game with some real heft to it, owing to each player having a different role and subsequent set of abilities.
In Spirit Island, you’re playing as a spirit of the island (hence the name, I suppose) fighting against invaders, who will explore, build and ravage the land. Everyone impacts the island in roughly the same way, defending the native people and the land from damage, fighting against the invaders, and moving things around in such a way as to provide protection and strategic advantage. But the ways in which you do that are different; you might play as a spirit able to inflict large amounts of damage, or perhaps you’ll play as one who can control the location of things on the board.
Understanding your role and how you can impact the game state is key, and that means you’ll also need to understand on a high level how each of your teammates can do the same. Each game, as a result, will require you to assess the game’s strategy anew — at least until you’ve got a lot of plays under your belt.
Designed by R. Eric Reuss.
7 Wonders Duel, ranked #18
One of the greatest modern two-player games, 7 Wonders Duel takes the feeling of a seven-player drafting game and compresses it down to something perfect for two players. Rather than drafting from a hand of cards, you’ll draft from a pattern of face-up and face-down cards. There’s a great push-pull with what you allow your opponent and what you fight for yourself. Every decision matters in this one — and if you allow your opponent too much, they’ll run away with a victory.
Designed by Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala.
Root, ranked #30
One of the big hits of the last five or so years, Root was an impressive design. It's a fully asymmetric game, with each player not just looking to achieve different goals to earn points, but each player instead having a different approach to the game entirely. You might play as the Marquise de Cat, who will attempt to maintain control of the board, or the Eyrie Dynasties, who will flood the board with their birds. Perhaps you’ll be the Woodland Alliance, attempting to incite a revolution, or the Vagabond, looking to gain influence by working all sides of the conflict.
This isn’t a game for the light of heart — unlike Spirit Island, which shares a similar complexity, you’ll be disadvantaging yourself by helping your opponents learn the ropes, and as a result, you’re best served by explaining everything before the start of the game. It’s a great game, but it comes with a significant asterisk. There are several expansions providing even more content, and it is a tremendously fun experience, so don’t take that warning as me heeding you to avoid the game. Just know what you’re getting when you step in.
Designed by Cole Wehrle.
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, ranked #36
I was a bit surprised to see The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine ranked lower than Mission Deep Sea, but here we are. This cooperative trick-taker may be a sequel, but it stands well on its own merits. In Mission Deep Sea, you’re traveling the depths of the ocean, fulfilling missions selected from a substantial deck of options. Unlike its predecessor (which we’ll discuss shortly), a round could look very different depending on the mission cards drawn, which provides varied gameplay experiences. You could even ramp up the difficulty beyond the game’s constraints, though I’m not sure you’d have the best time.
Designed by Thomas Sing.
Cascadia, ranked #45
This award-winning tile-laying game is fully immersed in the world of the Pacific Northwest, and it’s just such a lovely little game — but all that betrays a hidden bit of complexity that makes the game fun repeatedly. I love building my habitat with terrain tiles, placing animals on them, and trying to meet varied scoring objectives. But it’s a tough one.
Designed by Randy Flynn.
Power Grid, ranked #60
I think Power Grid is the first modern board game I declared as my favorite game, and while I’m not sure it holds that same title these days, I still think it’s an absolutely fantastic game in its own right. In Power Grid, you’re building out, well, a power grid (the name describes the thing. Love it.), providing electricity to cities across a map.
The game’s auction system is clever, but I live for the network building and resource management side of this. That said, I’ve had some games where my calculations were totally right, but I didn’t account for the humans opposite me, and my plans fell apart. While that feeling alone isn’t the best, I love that this is a game that forces you to account for others’ actions.
Designed by Friedemann Friese.
The Quacks of Quedlinburg, ranked #61
What a good game this is. I can’t say enough good things about Quacks, which remains one of my very favorite games to introduce folks to. It’s a game all about making potions and not exploding (or, in many cases, accidentally exploding). I love the push-your-luck feel that really tempts you to draw one last token, even though you know exactly how risky it truly is. But when everyone’s taking simultaneous turns, you can see just how successful your neighbor has been, and you’ll want to beat them.
Designed by Wolfgang Warsch.
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, ranked #68
I’ll keep this one short, but I do think I prefer The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine to its follow-up. The mission structure is tight, and it’s a perfect introduction to trick-taking. And it’s cooperative! Wild.
Designed by Thomas Sing.
Azul, ranked #74
Azul is lightning in a bottle. It’s a game that, by all means, wasn’t destined to be a runaway success. It did, however, have the elements of being a great game: It’s a thought-provoking game, but it’s not overly complicated. It’s got beautiful tiles, but the production isn’t lavish. It’s full of impactful decisions, but it doesn’t force you into analysis paralysis. This is a game that strikes incredible balance, and I love it for that.
Designed by Michael Kiesling.
7 Wonders, ranked #89
I know I talked about 7 Wonders Duel above, but unlike so many two-player iterations of games that have been published since the success of 7 Wonders Duel, these two games feel quite different. This is a great large(-ish)-group drafting game, playing quickly and easily. Getting seven people around a table for 7 Wonders feels a bit like getting five players around the table, which is a real accomplishment for the game.
There are perhaps too many expansions for 7 Wonders, few of which I think are genuinely important additions to the game, but that’s not the fault of the base game. This remains one of my favorite games that plays seven players but still has a bit of meat to it.
Designed by Antoine Bauza.
Honorable mentions
Heat (#47) — Honestly, I still think Flamme Rouge is better! I guess that’s not Heat’s fault, and I wonder if I just need to give it more of a chance. I probably do.
Agricola (#50) — I love Agricola! But at the same time, I also hate it, It’s such an anxiety-inducing game, and not in a way that’s endaring.
Sleeping Gods (#52) — This would probably make my top 10 if I’d played it more. But I haven’t, and I should.
Race for the Galaxy (#76) — A great tableau-builder, but is it still top of the heap? I’m not sure, for me.
Inis, (#97) — I love Inis, but it’s hard to beat out everything here.
Thank you for reading Don’t Eat the Meeples! I’ll see you back here next week for something different than this. What will it be? You’ll have to wait and see. And I’ll have to wait and write. Hmm.