A thing called the internet served me up this sometime this week:
I reacted. And most of the other reactions I found were “what a terrible list, who on Earth wrote this?”
But one person said, “I’d rather have a list from some random person they found, who knows and loves games really well, than another consensus driven list that’s all the expected entries in a slightly different order. Again.”
And I thought, “Yeah. Yeah.”
So that’s us. And now I’m curious. What’s your personal top 25 list of the 10’s?
I’ll come up with some rubric to consolidate our lists as well so we can see the consensus based wisdom of the site. Maybe rank the first ten, and then it’s ok to just list after that.
I was thinking the same thing. Admittedly, seeing Concordia and Spirit Island just as runners up while leaving on things like King of Tokyo, Takenoko, and Splendor sort of explains why some people might complain about the list. But it’s all subjective. Just because I got tired of playing 7 Wonders doesn’t mean it’s not somebody’s #1 game of all time.
The really painful cuts: Nations, Star Realms, Concordia, Fox in the Forest. Brilliant games, each got nudged off for different reasons. On a different day, maybe.
And some otherwise honorable mentions:
Inis, Iki: I think these are great games but at 1 play each I don’t have enough on them to displace anything above.
Neom: I really like this but played a lot the last two years and it doesn’t have the permanence that some of the above do. I mean, 20-30 great sessions is enough for any game, but at this point I need time between sessions to let it grow a little new again.
I really liked New Bedford. What they say is basically correct. The way the buildings work has a really nice shared economy for the sort of engine building aspects and the game is focussed on the whaling. You can ace the economy but if you don’t have the whales you won’t win. The random elements are fun and stop it being too linear so the whole game is worth playing. Top notch stuff. The only note is get the expansion. It should have just all come in one box. I moved it on after a bunch of plays but I did similar with Lords of Waterdeep which you like a lot more than me. I think this is a better game with more depth and I got 20 plays to the 10 of Waterdeep
My collection lists 113 games published in the 10s. Oops.
I just went down from the top by ratings. Those in the top ten I‘ve played tens or many tens of times… this is also not some kind of balanced collection. Just some faves. Plus some nostalgia picks like Terra Mystica which will forever and ever remain the game that pulled me deeper into the hobby.
Some entries are so obvious:
Spirit Island
Terraforming Mars
Terra Mystica
Gloomhaven
Codenames
The Crew
Sprawlopolis
Hardback
Just One
Cryptid
Tash Kalar
Obsession
PaxPamir 2E
7 Wonders Duel
Leaving Earth
Menara
Nusfjord
Arler Erde
Outer Rim
Pandemic Legacy S1
Star Realms
Railroad Ink
Concept
Space Base
Wingspan
The order gets murky the further down I get the list. There are some games that might be on here if I had actually had a chance to play them more especially in multiplayer sessions.
Runners-up: Innovation (not enough plays), T‘zolkin (don‘t even own it), Concordia (not enough plays outside of the app), AFFO (two big Uwe‘s on the list that I like better), Azul 2 (I ran out of space), Roll for the Galaxy (always gets overshadowed by Race but I do enjoy this even if mostly on the app), Res Arcana (not enough plays), Formosa Tea, Kanagawa, Detective Club, Quest for El Dorado, Petrichor, Inis, Architects of the WK, Underwater Cities (3 games in this should be on the list and will be by next year).
I find the list from the article not bad. It has cohesion like I can see what types of games this person enjoys. They seem to fit together in a way. I don‘t agree with all of them but I don‘t disagree hard on any. I just don‘t know some of these games. The only one I have tried that left me really cold was Charterstone.
The start of the decade is more or less when I was getting into modern games, so the games I veel most positively nostalgic about like Flash Point fall into this period, and most of the games in my collection do too—lots of games were being produced that match my taste. This period includes such “recent”-feeling-to-me games as Air, Land & Sea and Letter Jam.
A list? That would be effectively rating my favourite games. But Flash Point, Xia, Leaving Earth, would definitely be on there.
I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again - I really like 7 Wonders, and we think it’s great at two players and don’t understand why everyone disagrees.
Also in my mind Castles of Burgundy is an ancient game from another era, and Spirit Island is a shiny modern thing. They’re only six years apart? That’s absurd.
As for the best games from this decade? Concordia, Spirit Island, Coup and Love Letter.
Okay, that top25 list isn’t bad - at least most of the games on it are very solid and popular. Family games like King of Tokyo or Takenoko aren’t “better” than some off the list, but they sold a ton.
I can’t get the BGG 2010s listing link to work, but my favourites from everyone’s lists so far:
The one game from the article that I vehemently disagree with is The Mind. But that’s because I personally have a bad time when playing it, not because I think it’s objectively bad. I also think Takenoko is pretty meh, but if I had younger children I would consider it much more favourably.
I did include Pandemic Legacy 1 on my list, even though I’m not too fond of regular Pandemic as a multiplayer game. The experience of playing the campaign was very memorable and fun, even though I’m not bothered about playing again.
Yeah, I am personally left cold by Terraforming Mars but other people enjoy it and that’s fine. There are lots in the list that I don’t own, or don’t any more—I think the only one I own now is Splendor.
Broom Service - can’t beat this classic. Unique and has a fun theme and mechanism. Quinns is WRONG because he’s taking Broom Service too seriously
Tzolkin - I still don’t understand this game!!!
Whistle Stop - it’s been years, but it’s more interesting than I thought. Very combo-y but you have to set up rail lines to connect the combos
Patchwork still one of the best Uwe games ever
Charterstone - one of the most awful game I’ve played ever
Imhotep and New Bedford - I wouldn’t put them at the top but these are way more fun than how the hype rates them
7 Wonders - our club plays this variant called “7 Blunders” where it’s the player who scored the least wins. This turns 7W upside down by stopping players from specialising and instead spreads out their tableau on different aspects.
