By the way, is Gaia Project so much better than Terra Mystica really?
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I own both but while I’ve played Terra Mystica quite a bit way back when, I’ve only played a couple of solos of Gaia Project. Still there are a few big differences that come to mind.
- In space the adjacency rules that make a lot of Terra Mystica games very tight apply differently and are much easier to satisfy. But a lot of people consider this an essential element of TM which is weakened in Gaia Project
- The cult tracks in TM are pretty boring. In Gaia, they are much more interesting with very varied rewards and I think that’s much better as a game element. They also include the things that you would have to advance separately in TM like reach of your boats… or case in point space ships streamlining the options somewhat.
- The board in Gaia is modular but I never felt the TM board lacking. Also I believe one of the expansions adds a second side for variability.
- Gaia Project has a solo-mode bot that plays fine while TM only really shines at 3+ players.
Beyond this, as far as I remember the games are more or less identical except obviously that they feature different player boards for the different factions once for the fantasy land and once for SF space. So the theme is the other big thing.
I can barely get to play anyone either game these days. I think it comes down to personal preference and for many TM players nostalgia.
The BGG ratings can be explained as usual age decay I think…
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One thing I have heard is that Terra Mystica has a lot more of players rubbing up against each other in coopatition, and blocking. Yashima mentions this, but for me it is an overriding difference that makes Terra Mystica the better game.
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I think that depends on player count. Problem with TM is that you play on the same size board no matter how many players. So in a 2 or even 3 player game, people can be way spread out. In GP, the map changes sizes based on player count. At lower player counts, GP actually has more of players up in each other’s business vibe, I find.
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Good point. For me it’s a 4-player game and I probably wouldn’t bother at other counts.
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By far most of my gaming is with my husband, so even games that are at their best at higher player counts and that we’ll try to play with more people as often as possible, we are always considering how they play at two players. We own GP but not TM and the ability to have the smaller map for our two-player games was a big part of our decision. The better integration of tech tracks (or whatever they’re called) in GP over the cult tracks in TM as @yashima mentioned was another factor.
They’re both good games and I can see why some people would prefer one and other people the other. I can’t see why anyone would need to own both, but some people have far more space and money than me so maybe they can justify it.
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@Brattyjedi obvi you already have Gaia Project, but there’s a 2 player variant for Terra in BGG which closes off parts of the map. But Gaia has modular boards for this.
I agree that Terra is pretty much its best with a 4 to 5 player game. Played it with 3 and it’s a hit or miss.
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Hmm, I don’t think I’ve actually heard of On Mars so I guess I only get to #75. Hadn’t heard of Barrage either until this thread, so would not have made it much farther in any case! 
For the second challenge, I only get to page 12, unless you count playing the digital version of Onirim. If so, then 23 (as I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever played Boggle) .
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On Mars is one of those big eagly gryphon Lacerda boxes… the science fiction one where you are… wait for it… on Mars building a colony.
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Except when you, critically, aren’t.
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I got to page 42. Getting that far and stopping feels a bit disappointing in some ways. I’d got used to the next button
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Aahhh I love Boggle. As someone with English as 2nd language, I like the struggle lmao
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The first one I know nothing about is 81, Mombasa. Apparently everyone else knows about it though. And again, I don’t know Barrage, so I guess we can give that one the prize for least-known game in the top 100.
As for the second, I can get to 11 
unless you count Poker, in which case I’d end somewhere. It actually goes up after that 
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I was saved by “traditional card games” on one page, so Poker seems reasonable!
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I can’t imagine why Poker wouldn’t count. I think if it’s listed and you’ve played it, it counts.
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