BGG Hall of Fame

I did circle back to read their criteria. And the stated stuff makes sense. But there’s also an inevitable degree of “too big to fail.” Which is fair, I just wish they would give voice to that.

I think Ticket to Ride and 7 Wonders fall into that category. Many would argue Catan as well, though I’d argue back that it was the icebreaker that created an entire market here in the Americas and is the de facto archetype for hobby gaming outside of Europe.

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I’ve been wanting to check out the new Castles of Burgundy solo automa that came in the special edition. And watching the Concordia hall of fame induction video for Concordia made me want to play Concordia again.

I might have to setup a “tour” of the hall of fame on my table. Though, I won’t be able to visit all of the exhibits solo. Some maybe via BGA? And others play-by-post?

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Played 12 (Acquire, CE, Magic, TTR, Caylus, Agricola, Race for the Galaxy, Dominion, Pandemic, 7 Wonders, Castles of Burgundy, Concordia), previously owned 4 (Diplomacy, CE, Magic, Pandemic), currently own 0.

And I despise 7 Wonders. It appeals to analyser types, the theme means nothing, it is the antithesis of games I enjoy.

Nothing here I particularly want to play [again].

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Final Tally:

Owned & Played

  • Cosmic Encounter
  • 1830 (if you count 1889… stretch)
  • Magic (gosh I should look at these cards. Did so a few years back and sold the two most valuable ones)
  • Catan
  • El Grande
  • Ra
  • Tigris & Euphrates
  • Carcassonne
  • Ticket to Ride
  • Castles of Burgundy (on the table right now! Probably our favorite married game along with London)
  • Pandemic (never got on with it but hope to one day crack the code with someone. With Spirit Island and Burgle Bros, which I DO like, this becomes harder to justify. I like my rare first edition?)
  • Concordia

Played not Owned

  • Diplomacy (don’t like)
  • Caylus (don’t like)
  • Twilight Struggle (might one day like?)
  • 7 Wonders (culled)
  • Terra Mystica

Not Played

  • Acquire
  • Power Grid
  • Civilization

“I actually like this pretty well”

17 out of 20 not so bad as far as sampling the fruits.

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I have played
Cosmic
Catan
Magic
Ra
El Grande
T&E (on BGA)
Carcassonne
TTR
CoB
Concordia
Acquire
Pandemic
Terra Mystica
7 Wonders
Twilight Struggle
Race for the Galaxy
Dominion
Agricola
Through the Ages

Not played
1830
Diplomacy
Caylus
Civ
Power Grid

PG is probably the one of those I’d most like to play.

Personally, I’m not unhappy about Puerto Rico not being on this list because ‘problematic’ is probably too light a word for it.

Orleans is something that stands out as an omission (is it still top 50?).

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I used to own and have played all 5 of them :sweat_smile:

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I’ve been thinking about the “too big to fail” criterion. Imagine making a beer hall of fame. Does Bud Light go in? By one measure, heck no. It’s mass produced, beerish seltzer.

On the other hand, look how successful it is. It is doing something fundamentally right. Outside of China, Bud and Bud Light are the most drunk beers in the world. Maybe Bud Light understands beer better than I do?

I don’t know. There’s no fundamentally right answer to that one.

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In the case of beer it’s quite usual to have public sales figures, so you can have a “most commercially successful” list already. I think that’s less usual for games, and a lot of it probably depends on the size of the company.

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I, too, am without a strong sense of direction here.

“Hall of Fame”, as a whole, means something in English; a term of art, if you will.

But what if you focus on “Fame”? Does something have to be “the best” to be famous?

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The games that have made most money probably have been most significant to the industry as a whole, because everyone’s copied them (just as happens in the world of film).

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I would like to present: Exhibit A “Monopoly” as the “Bud Light” of boardgames.

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When it comes to Bud and Bud Light, you can sneak them into the Beer Hall of Fame through a “Legacy” wing. You put Bud there because it has been around so long and Bud Light rides through on the coattails.

In the same way, you can add Monopoly and other classic mass-market games into the Board Game Hall of Fame.

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I think this is the way. There is a separate wing of the museum to honor the history of board gaming without, necessarily, saying you think “Monopoly”, as a game, is as good as “Ticket to Ride”

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I can’t say much about older games. I haven’t played any of those enough to include them in my Hall of Fame. So here would be my personal candidates mostly based on how much impact the game had on me and or mine → at the time)

90s
  • Catan–as much as I dislike it now… this has to be on the list
  • T&E (stand in for all Knizia tile layers, various of which I have played and this one has to be the most famous even if I haven’t played it as much as f.e. Ingenious)
  • Ra (stand in for all of Knizia auction games)
  • El Grande
  • Bohnanza (very personal choice)
  • MtG
  • RoboRally
  • Gipf Project (Yinsh is my fave)
00s
  • Pandemie (this includes the whole franchise and legacy iterations)
  • Carcassonne
  • Agricola (Over Caylus b/c of the many sequels Rosenberg has created–Rosenberg farming is its own subgenre now)
  • Dominion
  • Race for the Galaxy
  • Ticket to Ride
  • Dixit
  • Resistance–I don’t even like it much these days but it is certainly an evolution from basic Werewolf
  • Arkham Horror–this game has so many spawns… it has to be included.
  • Power Grid–I haven’t played this much. But I have played quite a few 2F games over the years and one needs to be in. So why not the most successful one
2010-2015
  • 7 Wonders (including the success of the Duels)
  • Castles of Burgundy
  • Terra Mystica–my personal longtime #1 game (no more)
  • Concordia
  • Through the Ages
  • Patchwork
  • Codenames
  • Zombicide–I know it’s considered a terrible game. But from play time alone this one is worth the entry and we had so much fun with this. CMON has over-franchised this …
  • King of Tokyo
  • Tash Kalar (edited in. Was missing way too great to not be here)

And coming up but not old enough (yet).

2016-2020
  • Terraforming Mars
  • Spirit Island
  • Everdell
  • Azul
  • Pax Pamir 2
  • Die Crew
  • Space Base
  • Clank! (whole franchise!)
  • Just One
  • Sprawlopolis
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As aa British fan of NFL, the Hall of Fame debates are something I find pretty hard to understand. ‘Fame’ is a very specific word, like ‘valuable’ in US Sport/ Culture which I don’t think is used in the same context in Europe.

I don’t think there is anything on the BGG list that is egregiously awful. I don’t like Catan but it is probably the biggest gateway game in the hobby and most people who go on BGG will have played it; same as TTR.

Monopoly is probably the most played (and sold) game and would be on a non hobby site Hall of Fame, but BGG is for people who are niche enough to play boardgames and go on a website about their hobby.

I reckon if you played all 25 games you’d have a fairly good idea of the modern hobby, and why when we say we’re tabletop gamers we’re not talking about Chess or Monopoly.

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The difference being, most people have two copies of Monopoly somewhere in their house but never actually play them. When you buy a Bud Light, you do actually drink it.

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Absolutely. Taste does play a role. And that is fine. We’re talking about art after all. I think they did a pretty good job. I don’t find myself disagreeing about the inclusions. And as for exclusions… there is only so much space.

My personal one would be a little different (see above). As would everyone’s.

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See that’s the mistake: buying Bud Light.

I mostly drink craft beer these days. I guess that would be equivalent to hobbyist games.

We have the equivalent of TTR/7 Wonders beer in the basement from the last party… that one might come in at the bottom of my beer Hall of Fame. It’s a solid beer that even our real “hobbyist” craft beer aficionados will still drink…

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Some random jerk’s HoF | BoardGameGeek

Oh great! Someone made a HoF so I don’t have to.

On 2nd thought: This list is better than whatever I would make.

I don’t think this list would replace BGG’s. It’s just different thoughts from different juries.

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I was definitely eyeing Memoir 44 for the whole C&C family and accessible map-based dueling. Glad to see others eyed it as well.

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