Day 11 of our Christmas Giveaway!!
Our #1 Favorite Game is here!!!
And now that the list is complete I've got a couple of fun stats for you -
Most Liked Game-
Quacks of Quedlinberg
4 of 7, although if Skyler had finished his list I'm sure it would have been 5!
Highest Average Rating-
Arkham Horror The Card Game
Rated #1 by Joey & #2 by Chris, it was the highest rated game with more than 1 entry.
Staff with most overlap between lists-
Jordan (Me!) & Zach (My Brother!)
Crossover Chart!
How many times we had the same game on our lists as another person.
| Zach | Jordan | Skyler | Will | Spencer | Joey | Chris | |
| Zach | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Jordan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Skyler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Will | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Spencer | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Joey | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Chris | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
And now, onto our #1 Games!
Let us know which ones you love (or hate!) in the comments for your entry to tomorrows giveaway.
Top 12 Favorite Board Games
Number 1
Jordan Bird
1 - Sidereal Confluence:
Trading and Negotiating in the Elysian Quadrant
Alright, this is where I had to jump off the Holiday Train, because regardless of what time of year or who I am playing with, Sidereal Confluence is always my number 1 game!
It's a bit heavy, takes a bit of time, and you need 6+ players to really get into it.
And despite all of that, it is still my absolute favorite game!
In Sidereal, each player is playing as their own Alien Civilization, using planets as resources and technology as their engine to develop new and advanced techs for the entire galaxy.
Because the galaxy is at peace, when you develop a new tech you'll end up sharing it with the other players - but you'll also get to claim the victory points for being the civilization that created the new technology!!
The best part of Sidereal is that the entire game is played with everyone playing at the same time - no turns!
During the trading and negotiating phase, each player is wheeling & dealing with everyone else, trying to swap their cubes for other cubes, getting all of their resources lined up and ready to use so they can get their engine going.
Then in the research and development phase, you turn your attention to all of the technology and planets that you've acquired, converting brown cubes to blue, then blue into large yellow cubes, then large yellow cubes into golden octagons, which you'll then use to finally research a new Technology card, bringing you a temporary advantage and victory points!
Yes, there's a lot going on, but even when you've been playing for 3 hours straight, you never feel like it's been too long of a game, because you're always involved in a trade or running your engine - all in the name of galactic peace, of course.
Jordan's favorite memory of this game:
The first time that I ever played Sidereal, Zach and his friend Taylor were playing as well. The start of the game was a bit bumpy, with everyone trying to figure out how their Alien Civilization was supposed to play and what trades were fair, but about halfway through everyone had gotten the hang of things and it was starting to get pretty intense. Trades were more difficult because no one wanted to give another player an advantage, and scores were pretty close.
Throughout the whole game, Zach had been a bit less than nice to Taylor, relying on their friendship to get slightly lopsided trades and pointing out when Taylor was giving up an advantage to other players. Meanwhile, I had been playing it fair with Taylor, making trades based on future favors and giving him an extra cube here and there to keep us on good terms.
Then, as is often the case, it all came down to the final round.
Zach was winning and I was one cube short of beating him.
Not only was I one cube short, I needed to use every other cube I had to research a new tech and beat Zach, which made trading impossible.
Luckily I had Taylor to rely on.
All I had to say was "If you can give me an extra cube, Zach will lose" and my ally came through, dashing Zach's dreams of glory.
It was perfect :-)
Recommended for anyone who loves:
Card Games - (Scum, Dalmuti, Uno, etc...)
Strategy Games - (Stone Age, Agricola, Terra Mystica, Scythe, etc...)
Deck Building Games - (Dominion, Legendary, Mystic Vale, etc...)
This game is great for:
Board Game Night
Holiday Get Togethers (with other gamers!)
Zach Bird
Zach's favorite memory of this game:
top kek
*For anyone as tech illiterate as myself, google says that kek is a variation of lel which is an intentional typo of lol - apparently you have to be under 30 to talk to Zach.
Recommended for anyone who loves:
Family Games - (Catan, Ticket to Ride, etc...)
Card Games - (Scum, Dalmuti, Uno, etc...)
Party Games - (Telestrations, Code Names, Apples to Apples, etc...)
This game is great for:
Family Game Night
Board Game Night (Friends/Other Gamers)
Holiday Get Togethers
Skyler Hanks -
Hopefully we'll have a catch-up article that is just Skyler's Top 10!
Will Sawyer
Oh boy, where do I even begin with Cosmic Frog. The aesthetic is what initially caught my eye. You play as a giant, interdimensional, frog gods, that have come to harvest and preserve the shattered remains of the world in which their worshipers had resided (there's an entire page of lore for all of this in the rulebook, by the way). This comes with an 80s Acidwave theme that gives it a psychedelic undertone with artwork that I legitimately want to tattoo onto my body.
The gameplay is unique as well, instead of being turn-based, there is a single Action Deck that has each Action Cards for each player shuffled in, flipping over the top card of the deck to decide who can take an action for that turn. This makes planning ahead very difficult, as you don't know exactly when you'll get your next turn. You could get multiple actions in a row, or you could be evenly spread out through the deck.
Additionally, having played the game four times in the span of a week, I still don't know what the best strategy is. I thought I had figured out that it's best to go for syphons which regain resources for you, but syphons are bad for scoring at the end, making them unfavorable in the long run. There is definitely a lot of RNG that needs to be accounted for, which makes planning ahead even more difficult. You need to learn to roll with the punches in this game.
Ultimately, the uniqueness of Cosmic Frog is what grabs me. The whole experience is like nothing I've played before, and it also happens to be extremely fun.
Will's favorite memory of this game:
My favorite thing about Cosmic Frog is everybody's initial reaction to it. Everyone laughs at the absurdity of it, scratches their heads at the rules at first, then goes back to laughing as understanding sets in. Imagining the movie of Cosmic Frogs as the game plays out could be classified as a psychedelic experience in and of itself, but when everyone is explaining how they're imagining it, you realize this is a unique experience for for each individual, that you can all appreciate equally. This game has a beautiful way of uniting players, even though it's non-cooperative (though, it does come with a teamplay coop variant!).
Recommended for anyone who loves:
Territory Control Games - (Risk, Axis & Allies, etc...)
Co-Op Games - (Pandemic, Unlock, etc...)
Strategy Games - (Stone Age, Agricola, Terra Mystica, Scythe, etc...)
This game is great for:
Board Game Night (Friends/Other Gamers)
Couples / Game Night with your BFF
Joey Wheeler
This game is the most immersive and definitive Cthulhu mythos game that I have ever played or experienced. It has unique powers and deck construction requirements for each of the investigators, and the experience points mechanic is such a cool addition to a card game that mixes in a roleplaying element to the game. The narratives and mechanics in each campaign are well written and each one is unique and feels different than any other campaign.
I've been following and purchasing the game since its release 3 years ago and I have still probably only scratched the surface of the game's content. I've played through each campaign but I want to replay each one with different investigators and decks.
The game can be punishing, but what is a Lovecraft game without insurmountable odds and harsh punishment? The difficulty of the games puzzles and challenges makes it more rewarding when you do finally overcome those odds and come out of a scenario on top.
Joey's favorite memory of this game:
It is hard to talk about my favorite memory of this game without spoiling the ending of a campaign, but there was a campaign that we played where the final scenario was full of so many twists and turns that made it so memorable. The other characters that we had learned to trust through the campaign betrayed us, and we worked as hard as we could to overcome this betrayal and do our best to save the world from the cosmic power that our enemy was trying to unleash. We managed to stop the enemy, but the cost was our lives and existence. My wife was not happy about the ending but I found it to be such a well-written, bittersweet ending to our "victory" that I was thinking about for weeks afterwards.
Recommended for anyone who loves:
Co-Op Games - (Pandemic, Unlock, etc...)
Deck Building Games - (Dominion, Legendary, Mystic Vale, etc...)
This game is great for:
Board Game Night (Friends/Other Gamers)
Couples / Game Night with your BFF
Chris Fajardo
Elon Musk might send an expedition to mars in the next decade or so. But you can play today what it would take a corporation to Terraform Mars. A fantastic board game with enough cards and mechanics to make each run through a challenge and unique. You play as a massive futuristic corporation fighting to control Mars as you help to make it habitable. A true masterpiece game, with plenty of expansions that only help to improve gameplay.
Chris' favorite memory of this game:
One of the beauty of this game is the amount of information each card presents with very little reading. There is a masterwork of symbols and iconography that explain the function of an ability without the need to read through a wall of text. There are a decent number of things to remember in a turn, the simplicity of their card system eases the mental gymnastics required to play significantly.
Recommended for anyone who loves:
Territory Control Games - (Risk, Axis & Allies, etc...)
Strategy Games - (Stone Age, Agricola, Terra Mystica, Scythe, etc...)
This game is great for:
Board Game Night (Friends/Other Gamers)
Couples / Game Night with your BFF
Spencer Martin
Yedo is more than just a board game; it's an adventure. As cheesy as this may sound, I believe that this makes it stand out from other board games. When you play Yedo, which on the surface sounds like a simple worker placement game, you quickly realize that you aren't so much setting up a board as you are creating a city of crime and cunning that you then get to experience. Placing your loyal disciples on the various locations on the board becomes sneaking through the Japanese city avoiding the guard. Obtaining weapon tokens becomes arming your clan to gain favor with the Shogun. Sacrificing victory points becomes shaming your family on the short term to then, perhaps, amass enough resources to become the most powerful clan in the city. All the while avoiding the sleights of other clans trying to sabotage your efforts.
Spencer's favorite memory of this game:
My favorite time playing this game was in a game that I actually lost. I had been using all my resources to obtain victory points (and I had a huge lead) throughout the game completing small and medium orders. For most of the game I was on top of the Japanese syndicates and I had what I needed (or so I thought) to gain favor with the Shogun. But in the final phase, Joey, my rival Clan leader, fulfilled the most difficult of orders, an assassination if I remember right, and completely surpassed me on victory points. My luck turned drastically as the rest of the table fulfilled orders and gained victory points, leaving me in last place. It was interesting to see how quickly my success was overturned by the patience of more experienced players.
Recommended for anyone who loves:
Strategy Games - (Stone Age, Agricola, Terra Mystica, Scythe, etc...)
This game is great for:
Groups of players with a love for complicated and evolving game-play
NOW!
The moment we've been waiting for!!
11 Winners for Day 11
Walker Thornley
Michael Bateman
Ryan Fletcher
Clinton Cowdell
David (?)
Michael Adams
Wes Stapley
Jeremy H (Discord)
Mike S (Discord)
Jared Richardson
Bart Francis
Congrats!!
We'll have a $20 Gift Cert with your name on it waiting for you or, if you're staying in for COVID, you can call in and we'll add the credit to your account.
Make sure to visit or call soon - If your gift is unclaimed by Christmas, it'll be "re-gifted" to another winner!
Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas to you all again, we'll see you tomorrow :-)
