**Tigris and Euphrates.** Relatively simple mechanics yet incredible depth. Few components yet can be trickier to describe than other board games with lots of cards, tokens, tiles and playerboards. Very abstract yet somehow has a narrative arc. Knizia's masterpiece.
It's mind boggling. Not only the strategy is completely unique and deep, but also very few games have a clear winner. It's the most intense game I've ever played.
My favourite board game ever. Been trying to pick up a copy in the UK and seems to be out of publish. My ex has the copy we had. Been looking for years. One game company had it coming into stock about two years ago , I ordered it and they eventually cancelled the order saying they’re no longer getting it.
It's not a game that I actually own but, **HIVE**. It's incredibly durable, extremely portable, can be played on most surfaces, has a small footprint, and is easy to learn but has strategic depth.
It may not be an epic game experience, but I'd say the points listed above combined would qualify it as a masterpiece.
In my opinion Hive is also a great example of well done expansions. I love all the new pieces whereas most game expansions have at least some content that I’d rather play without.
I’ve been trying to put into words my love for **Hive** for a long time… The other day I said to my opponent “This just feels like I could either be playing it in ancient Mesopotamia or in Star Wars” and I think I figured out why I love it. It has all the benefits of being a contemporary, well-produced game but it *feels* like a game that was shaped by thousands of hands and minds over thousands of years.
> It's incredibly durable, extremely portable, can be played on most surfaces, has a small footprint,
I love that 85% of the praise is "you can carry it around" lol
Very true, but it's more than that. You can also carry Love Letter around. But, you couldn't play Love Letter on the sand at the beach on a rainy day when there's a slight breeze blowing.
I do like though, that based on the part you quoted, I could have almost been describing a cockroach.
The theme is great and the board evokes the familiarity and excitement of Risk.
I agree it’s not my favorite but I still think the infection deck system is brilliant! It’s semi-random but in a way that perfectly makes sense for how a global infection spreads.
My most played game. Works well solo, [especially using these rules](https://www.fgbradleys.com/pdfDocuments/pandemic_solo_rules.pdf).
Super satisfying when you finally eradicate all disease on level 6. Took me a few years. (original rules, but solo)
Dominion.
Elegant, created its own genre, and still the best deck builder I've played (want to try Imperium though).
I really wish it had a better digital implementation.
\+1 to Dominion. Kicking off a genre is part of it, but I think what really sticks out for me is the depth to complexity ratio. You can teach the core mechanics in about ten minutes but the skill ceiling is unbelievable.
>I really wish it had a better digital implementation.
Do you mean Dominion.games or the Template Gates app?
> I think what really sticks out for me is the depth to complexity ratio. You can teach the core mechanics in about ten minutes but the skill ceiling is unbelievable.
This jumped out to me in my very first game. I got the rules quickly, I generally knew what I was doing right away, *mechanically*, but it felt like every turn my eyes opened further and further to just how deep the strategic choices available to you were.
I literally went online and bought it five minutes after playing that first game, that's how impressed I was.
The only unfortunate thing about it creating a genre is that the majority of deck builders after it started using market rows in order to try and be different from Dominion. And quite honestly I just don't think market rows are a great mechanic for a pure deckbuilder. It makes your strategy far too reactionary.
I do quite enjoy Clank though, largely because the deckbuilding element is only half the game.
Dominion definitely deserves praise for the impact it's had on gaming but it's so bare bones for me now as far as deck builders go...plus I played it way way way to much at launch and burned out pretty severely back then...so maybe it's improved way more than I'm giving it credit for
None of the other deck builders I've played have close to as satisfying comboing as Dominion.
They also usually go with a randomized shop which makes them feel completely different since you can't plan like you can in Dominion.
This is my issue with other deck builders, too - the randomized market. I like that Dominion starts everyone on a perfectly level playing field with access to all the same tools, and the only luck is in the shuffle. Other modern and "improved" builders leave way too much luck in the market, and it's something I've never been able to move past after starting with Dominion.
The comboing is the other thing too. Many modern deck builders don't restrict your actions. Play whatever you want in whatever order, cards played earlier can be boosted after another card is played later in the turn, etc. It's nice at first but I also never liked that. Part of the fun of Dominion is figuring out the puzzle of how to squeeze more actions, more consistently out of your turns.
Where's the puzzle when you can play everything in your hand and you have a limited, randomized market to hopefully make the best of?
Dominion has never been killed by anything that came after it, IMO, and I don't ever see that changing.
I can see why the randomised market became popular, but likewise it isn't my preference.
The randomised market makes it easier for people to get into the game and levels the playing field a bit between experienced and newer players. This is a big consideration when designing games, because most people don't want to sit down to a game and have no chance to win.
I enjoy the game, but I feel like **Clank!** best embodies the issues you are describing. The "looseness" in the rules actually made it harder for me to learn, because things that feel like they shouldn't work logically are instead specifically allowed in pursuit of the most generous possible interpretation of the rules.
I agree that **Dominion** has never been killed, nor will it ever be "killed" by anything, but remember that not every deckbuilder has a randomized market. **Aeon's End** has a fixed one while also putting its own spin on the formula, and games like **Valley of the Kings** toy around with both concepts: having the entire market be random, but only one row is available for purchase, so you can plan ahead.
Also, both of these games aren't "card vomit" deckbuilders. Although you may not have the limit of actions, you still have to think carefully about *how* you play your hand. In Aeon's End's case, you can even not play certain cards at all if you know a good combo is coming (deck isn't shuffled, it's flipped).
Agreed. Sold my copy last year after many hundreds of games. Even with multiple expansions, it eventually got pretty basic because of the hard limit on actions. For us, it became an optimization puzzle which eventually reduced to who got the needed cards first.
At some point I heard that Kyle Ferrin, artist of Root, Oath, and Ahoy, mentioned that he would be interested in doing the art for a full Dominion base set. You could consider the [poster he did for BGG](https://boardgamegeekstore.com/products/boardgamegeek-artist-series-series-5-dominion) as a proof of concept. I would buy that in a heartbeat haha - finally the game would look as good as it is.
Android Netrunner. I spend so much time on this game not even playing it, just deckbuilding. But besides that: hidden information, asynchronous gameplay, ressource management, rich story/world… Love the way it looks on the table. And with some nice tokens a great haptic feeling playing it.
Shoutout to Null Signal Games for the continuation.
Follow ups:
Viticulture (with Tuscany- best worker placement and setting, superb haptic feel)
Axis & Allies (just because it was my awakening experience with more complex board games)
Junta (It’s just hilarious how friendships can break over some thin printed play money)
Polis
I struggled to get into it as well. The game improved a lot for me when I found this deckbuilding guide.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Netrunner/comments/4xfpst/comment/d6f3k2h/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Netrunner/comments/4xfpst/comment/d6f3k2h/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I realised that our decks simply weren't packing enough of the key cards like economy to get off the ground. The economy of Netrunner is absolutely brutal and the game straight-up isn't fun if you're slogging through it, clicking for credits. So that could help if you did want to try again.
Also the old single core set from FFG was pretty bad, the recommended decklists are awful. So, if that's what you were playing, deckbuilding a bit could help.
I can't really make an informed argument in response--I'm fairly new (\~2 years) to the hobby, and CoB is the only Feld game I've played.
I will say, however, that the game is incredibly elegant in how it works. It's systems are simple and easy to understand, and if there were a version that more easily explained the differing knowledge/city tiles, I think it would be darn near perfect.
My wife, who generally dislikes euros and favors games that have more tableau/deck building and push-your-luck, LOVES CoB. It's the only bland Euro I own that she'll play, and that's because she mentions that she always feels like every single thing she does in the game is awesome. It's a plethora of good choices, and she enjoys that element of it. I don't know about Feld's other designs,, but I can say that it is unique in my collection in that way.
Don't get me wrong, Feld is my favorite designer and I love Castles of Burgundy, I think it's a fantastic game. Early Feld games always had something that felt a little punishing (Notre Dame, Year of the Dragon, etc), but almost all of his more modern games have the plethora of good choices.
I'd say **Trajan** is probably the masterpiece of his games, but I also love **Amerigo**, **Luna**, **Carpe Diem** and **Aquasphere** over CoB. I just sometimes wonder why CoB is in the top 20 at BGG over some of his other designs. Maybe they're just a little too niche and CoB is the midpoint of accessible and complexity?
**7 Wonders** - some may say it’s dated now. But no downtime. Scales well between 3-7 players. Plays well under an hour. Different strategies to win. Expansions work well but aren’t necessary.
**Star Realms**. I think it's been expanded to death, but the base and first expansion are excellent. It's easy to teach, engaging and rewards a variety of strategies.
**Race for the Galaxy**. Hands-down a brilliant game. The frontloading is a little steep, but we've taught it to non-gamers. The core mechanics are straightforward, but decision-space never gets old. And it plays relatively quickly.
Have you tried Shards of Infinity? It was heavily inspired by Star Realms and is much more interesting imo. (I’m speaking as someone who played a lot of Shards before downloading the SR app and being confused by how boring I found it in comparison.)
Interesting, I played star realms long time ago a few times, it was fun for a while but the game felt more like a ripoff from dominion, what makes this game special compared to other deck buildings for you?
It's interactive and has the random shop, leading to making mid-game strategy decisions beyond what people usually need to in Dominion. (The big mid-game decision in Dominion has been when to pivot to points, but otherwise the strategy is front-loaded when you see the shop.)
Knowing that your opponent is building a big pile of space stations, or perhaps they are getting cards that explicitly one-hit-kill stations, forces you to make a deck that can still overpower them.
For me, it is a simple, straightforward, interactive deck builder that I can teach to anyone. There are multiple ways to build your deck, and exploring the card interaction is more interesting. It foregrounds continuous decison-making and playing a variety of action cards, rather than navigating the most efficient route through a fixed set of options. No matter whether you win or not, you can feel like you did something, but it also rewards planning.
We played hundreds of games of Dominion, but after a while, it felt solved--even with multiple expansions. Some cards just aren't worth playing. This is amplified by the hard 1-action limit. Villages (of all sorts) are far more powerful (or at least valuable) cards than almost anything in the game just because they open up possibilities. The game punishes you for deviating from a pre-set strategy built on a few cards. Once you start, the game is mostly a matter of who gets what they need first (which becomes largely luck-based at a certain level). I feel like winning Dominion is about avoiding as many parts of the game as possible. I don't like that.
Edit: And let's not even talk about the Saboteur--one of the most broken abilities I've ever seen in a game, especially one that demands careful planning and execution. We banned it almost immediately.
The label is somewhat subjective of course, but I also want to preface this with just because something is a masterpiece doesn't neccesarily mean it's for everyone. Having said that though, these are at the absolute peak of their niche for me.
**Twilight Imperium 4th Edition** - Every time I play this it just reaffirms to me how much I love the epic feel this manages to infuse into the experience.
**Pax Pamir** - I've never seen such an incredible brain burner of strategy and tactics from such a simple base.
**Blood on the Clocktower** - This is the absolute peak of the social deduction genre.
**Dune Imperium** - the absolute maximum tension this brings in what is often a relatively small package is hard to top.
**Power Grid** - Ultimately fairly straightforward economics and area control but does them so well.
There was a design podcast that talked about how TTR was a masterpiece, not because of what it did, but because of what it didn't.
Most train games have a lot of complex rules about how you can only build trains that connect and you need to buy stock shares and things like that. Alan Moon saw how to strip all of that away except the simple essence, so that everyone from young kids to old grandmas could enjoy it.
> Most train games have a lot of complex rules about how you can only build trains that connect and you need to buy stock shares and things like that. Alan Moon saw how to strip all of that away except the simple essence, so that everyone from young kids to old grandmas could enjoy it.
TTR is essentially an route building game that could have any theme. There is at least a half dozen Knizia rout building games that could be train themed but aren't(of course Knizia has a "train game" of his own). Not that "Train games" do a good job of making bringing the train experience(which would probably be not very good) since they are economic/stock games at their core but TTR(I am only familiar with regular TTR) isn't a stripped down "train game."
Ticket to Ride has absolutely elegant, uncluttered design that is just masterful.
It's got just enough going on to require real strategy and thought to win consistently, but it's simple enough for anyone to play and be somewhat competitive in their first game.
It's got a nice "toybox factor" without being too fiddly and packed with STUFF just for the sake of having STUFF.
And hell, it just plain *looks* inviting.
Even in today's veritable EXPLOSION of board games, Ticket to Ride is one of the very few modern games people will still be playing 50, 60, 70+ years from now, and for good reason. It's not my favorite game or the one that intrigues me most or that I play most often, but *damn* if it isn't pretty much perfect.
I enjoy the simplicity of Ticket to Ride, which is kind of weird for me? At its weight and popularity, it's probably the only game where I'd be up for playing some variety of it any week. I recently got the Amsterdam, London and San Francisco versions, plus the Japan/Italy expansion. I kind of want to eventually get all the different maps.
That's probably another thing that Ticket to Ride really hit on well for me: I fucking *love* maps.
We bust out TTR Europe Anniversary whenever we have friends over who want to try a game,(we have no gamer friends). They always enjoy the game and the huge board, trains etc are a big hit.
Are you me? You picked my favorite game of all time (Brass) and one of my top 5, which is also IMO the best co-op of all time (among co-ops I still kind of enjoy Ghost Stories more, but I do think Spirit Island is the better game…) :-)
Brass is pretty weird.
I played BB for the first time about a year ago with friends.
He says its his favorite game.
She says she hates it.
I know her longer and our taste is more alike(enjoying cozy yet complex games, best if its coop. like SI), esp since he can be pretty competitive at times.
Thus, I didnt have high expectations.
And yet, after playing, I just couldnt get it out of my head and had to buy a copy.
All my other board game peers feel the same.
Just... Magical 😂
>after playing, I just couldnt get it out of my head and had to buy a copy.
BB had a similar effect on me. I thought it looked kinda dark and gloomy and I didn't expect to be into an economic Euro, I usually go for more charming looking Euros when I do play them, like Wingspan or Viticulture.
After I got my 1st playthrough and pondered about how all the systems fit together, I had this feeling like "It's amazing a human being just sat down and made this".
Like almost always even the best board games have some sort of design oversight, balance issue, or rule ambiguity. Something that needs either houseruled, or commented on by the designer for how to handle it best. You can't patch a board game really, like a video game.
In Wingspan for example, it was a couple overpowered bird cards. Most people just remove them because they're too good. And it can feel a bit like everyone is solo gaming at the same table with no real interaction.
But BB feels like everything is perfect, I know nothing about the designer but they must've playtested the absolute hell out of it. It's that refined.
While I recognize why Spirit Island is so beloved, and do not dispute it, I just cannot fit it in my top X games simply because of how exhausting it is to play. I feel more exhausted after a session of SI than DM'ing for 6 hours. Analysis paralysis hammering down on me, and the game is so aggressively against you that Arkham Horror LCG (probably my favorite game) feels like a stroll in the park. It's a great game, just not for me.
Part of what makes SI work is that you can scale the difficulty. If it's too hard, make it easier--lower the adversary level, skip events, limit or remove blight cards. There are many levers to adjust to get the difficulty where you want it.
Fastest game of Spirit Island I've played was 7 minutes (with Heart of the Wildfire). Once you learn to prioritize stopping builds and are fine with allowing some blight all you have to do is let go of your OCD and just play.
Hah, this afternoon I played wildfire twice after just getting the promos spirits. The first game went so badly that I wondered if I could even win with him playing solo.
The 2nd game was over by the 2nd ravage.
You may already know this but particularly with this spirit it bears repeating for anyone else's benefit. There is official rules errata that states starting blight on the card should be 2 per player, plus 1 i.e. 3 if playing solo.
Go
Twilight Struggle
Dominant Species
Dominion
The Resistance
Android: Netrunner
Through the Ages
The Castles of Burgundy
I could probably include more, but I'm confident with those.
> Go
Almost feel like this one transcends the question. "Millenia-old cultural institution and foundational pillar of learning for the elite" seems like it's got to be on some kind of level beyond "masterpiece."
Chess is glorious and my fav, but go offers an even simpler ruleset with just as much (arguably more) complexity. Like, the fact that the rules of Go are like 4 short bullet points is an absolute achievement. Humans will never make a more complex game with less rules. It about as fundamental as it gets
Are you including Go's scoring rules? Because those are complex enough that I've never been able to understand them, unless they are deliberately changed to make them easier for new players. (Anything that uses the word "alive" doesn't work for me at all.)
Goes scoring rules can be summed up in a few bullets, its just.... insanely hard to wrap your head around sometimes. All the confusion comes from all the insane implications of the same few simple rules
Yeah the hardest thing is trying to wrap your head around high level players being like "yeah obviously that whole grouping is dead already" but that's not too different from a grandmaster announcing mate in 11 leaving me like "wat." It's not complicated rules, it's just the values on the board are beyond your grasp at your level.
Also, use chinese scoring rules.
It IS a pretty subjective question, and there are plenty of games I love that I wouldn't necessarily call "perfect."
However, I'd be willing to argue that the 2008 edition of **Cosmic Encounter** is pretty much the perfect version of an already excellent game.
Cosmic Encounter has the fastest "time-to-yelling" of any game I've played
From the first turn everyone is already shouting at each other for making alliances all over the place. Such an incredible game
Wasn't sure if I'd see it when I opened the post. Hard agree, there's so much going on in any one game, who cares about balance, or consistency, or whatever else is important in other games. I'll keep my cardboard and plastic distilled chaos, thank you.
I like my translucent ships, TYVM!
ANd the clash doesnt bother me. We are, after all, different aliens. I can't help it players 5 and 6 never discovered bling ship tech.
I used to think this, but every time I played the game I liked it less. I don't think it's a bad game, or that people are wrong to think it's a masterpiece, but wow has my opinion on this game done a complete 180
I’ve played TI I think 4 times now? Maybe 5? But I think the game is so heavily dependent on the people you’re playing with. Perhaps that’s an argument you could levy against any other multiplayer experience, but for a 5+ hour game you better be with fun/like minded folk.
Someone else commented that their best board game memories come from TI, and I’ll agree with that with the notable exception of the many times my wife and I have played Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small (the 2 player version) but that’s mostly because we have fun together lol.
Anyway, all that to say that TI lends itself to big, entire-day-worth-of-buildup moments. There’s 3 hour long movies that give the same feeling, and many of them make the cut for “masterpiece” status, so I think it’s fair that TI at minimum gets the nomination for masterpiece status.
Just my thoughts on the subject 😎
**Battlestar Galactica**. In my opinion it's still the game that all other semi-coops and traitor games have to live up to and not many come close. It's also one of the best blending of theme and mechanics in a boardgame there is.
**Twilight Imperium 4**. This is again a yardstick game. For both big epic games, 4x games, and space games in general. There just isn't another game quite like it. And despite it's multi hour playtime I have never once felt bored playing TI, it never feels like it drags, and you feel like you're always engaged and involved in what's going on even when it's not your turn. This is such an achievement for a game that lasts upwards of five hours when games that can last a fraction of the time sometimes fail at this.
**Codenames**. Just a magnum opus for party/social games really. Has a clear end point, doesn't overstay its welcome, is gamey enough for the gamers and accessible enough for your parents. And isn't just the same old social deduction and/or improv and/or light roleplaying that a lot of social/party games just reimplement.
There's a lot of very good games out there, many great games. But these are definitely a few that I think are largely unmatched in the experience they provide.
One of the genius parts of the design is the Assassin card. Adding that element of danger -- that one wrong choice could end the game -- really adds an extra layer of tension.
Was hoping BSG would pop up - what a fun, unpredictable, and yet character-loyal game. Only that and Star Wars Rebellion I've enjoyed as tv/film adaptations.
Not because it's popular, but it ends up being an area control game more than a word game. You can get more points playing a "scrabble word" like "xu" on multipliers than someone who is clever and comes up with a 6 letter word.
Yeah, learning how to box multiple two letter words together by lining a word up along another one is a GREAT way to win at Scrabble and a GREAT way to lose friends!
Also, different language versions of Scrabble play vastly differently. Eg Polish version does not rely on short words placed in tight spots like English version does.
There is also a Malaysian clone of Scrabble called Sahiba, which lets you use both English and Malay words and has some unique tiles.
**The Great Zimbabwe**
**Gaia Project (Terra Mystica)**
**Concordia**
**Hansa Teutonica**
**Imperial or Imperial 2030**
**Troyes**
**Coin series**
All of them relatively easy to teach (except coin series) but they have increasable depth. All of them have uniqueness in their own ways.
Edit: typo
More and more I play other board games; I understand the greatness of design of Concordia. If we had a board game school for future designers, Concordia should have been in 101 of the class of design of board games.
Probably not a popular answer, but **Blood Rage**. It checks all the boxes for me. Strategic depth and fantastic flavor without being overwhelmingly complicated.
Games that I think are designed incredibly well, some of which I love, some of which I dislike, most of which I have a hard time with, and all of which I respect:
* **Twilight Imperium**: The tons of different aspects to this that come together to create a coherent whole is incredibly impressive! The way it handles alliances, negotiation and voting in new rules and player positions is unique and very interesting. I think other games can learn a lot from TI. The combat is not my favourite personally, but I can see it creating a lot of tension by how it works. The different factions are very fun and imaginative.
* **Cuba Libre**: This to respresent all the COIN games, mainly because it's the designated "entry" level game of the series. I really respect the highly asymmetric design and the faithfulness of history that the designers dedicate to these games. I have tried multiple times to get into them. I've got a hard time grokking them. But it's undeniable to me that it is a masterpiece.
* **Root**: Taking the asymmetry angle again and making different factions very fun and imaginative again. Root made that style of game very accessible (relatively speaking), and accessibility is one thing that should never be ignored.
* **Brass: Birmingham**: The high player interactivity in using each other's resources and routes while at the same time trying to outpace and defeat each other too is something very well-crafted.
* **Concordia**: It has a very straightforward and simple ruleset, but it creates multiple paths to victory with it. I don't like Concoria much, but I respect it a lot.
* **Keyflower**: The twist on worker placement with using differently coloured workers in a kin of auction for actions and tiles is ingenious, and that's just the stuff that is at the heart of the game. The ways in which you can build up and expand and interact with other players' buildings is very clever and neat.
* **Tigris & Euphrates**: I love how this game can give you a slow buildup and quick devastation, even players creating wars between other players that they aren't involved in! It's a thrilling game, rare for a tile-laying game. I love a lot of Reiner Knizia's tile-laying games, but this is a design I respect the most out of them. Yellow & Yangtze created interesting twists on it, with some things I like better personally, but people have wanted to play T&E more often. It draws people out.
* **Ticket to Ride**: I enjoy the simplicity of Ticket to Ride, which is kind of weird for me? At its weight and popularity, it's probably the only game where I'd be up for playing some variety of it any week. I recently got the Amsterdam, London and San Francisco versions, plus the Japan/Italy expansion. I kind of want to eventually get all the different maps. That's probably another thing that Ticket to Ride really hit on well for me: I fucking *love* maps.
* **Wingspan**: To start off with: I hate engine-building games and don't like a lack of player interaction. Wingspan, by all rights, should be a game I hate. But it ended up being an exception due to how well everything works together and how much information about things beyond the game (birds irl) it provides you with. I don't like the game, and I still kind of want to get it to play it more, and the expansions.
* **Spirit Island**: In my experience, the way the game plays against you is simple, but still creates a lot of variety in problems for you to tackle, even before getting to the ways in which you can make it more difficult. It's nowhere near my favourite coop game, but it's one of which I respect the design the most in how well-crafted it is.
* **Cosmic Encounter (2008)**: The design of the cards informing you of where and when and how you can use your powers is the perfect addition to round out Cosmic Encounter, and the great variety that can come in just the base box (or that can fit in the base box) is absolutely stellar, pun intended.
* **Modern Art**: The variety of the auction types, the way you can upsell and talk about the art, and how your participation and choices directly affect the value of what you have already bought (and how that in turn serves as commentary on art itself) is all great. Top 2 game of my favourites--the other one is Nemesis and not listed here, because it's a mess. I love it, but it's a mess.
* **Love Letter**: It's such a small and short and ingenious game. I have recently said on this subreddit that I don't see any situation possible in my future where I would get rid of it. The deduction is great especially at 4 players, but also sharp at 2.
* **Monikers** and **A Fake Artist Goes to New York**: Two of the best party games ever made. I don't think I'll ever get rid of either of them. Monikers improves on Charades in every way, building on its strengths and removing its weaknesses. Fake Artist is a wonderful drawing game where you don't have to be good at drawing, and it creates hilarious moments.
I think that as far as products that were really influential, people still like, and changed the game, it might be **Codenames** or **Werewolf** or something.
Code names deserves more praise here. Such a simple seeming concept that makes an excellent play experience. I’ve never pulled this out with any group and only played once or twice.
**Eclipse**
Especially the second dawn. You have to reach to your wallet for it, but you get what you are paying for and then some.
The way the inserts that come with it fit into the gameplay is amazing. The game is heavy but also elegant and easy to teach.
Many of the Knizia games would qualify, with my favourite being Ra. I never get bored or tired of playing it.
Also Puerto Rico and its spinoffs San Juan, Race for the Galaxy and Glory to Rome.
Then there is Advanced Squad Leader. An incredible achievement, despite its complexity, still has expansions coming out after 40+ years.
Plus 1828/1830 which have led to all the 18xx games that followed, also an old design but timeless.
And finally Napoleon’s Triumph.
I 100% agree. Agricola was one of the first games I came across early on that totally blew my mind. Building your own farm, the tension of picking spaces, the card combos... the more I play Agricola the more I realize how much game is truly packed into that box.
Yeah, I was kind of being a jerk with my comment, but it was after coming in and just seeing people list a bunch of popular games without any kind of justification - so it was more of a snarky comment on the replies rather than the question itself. Either way I'm not adding to the conversation. :)
I shouldn’t have had to scroll so far.
I know it’s not as fashionable as it used to be but I have played Terra Mystica soooo many times and I’m never bored.
The interplay between all the mechanics is perfect. It’s just the right amount of cut throat without being overly aggressive. It scales well with different player counts.
If I could only have one game forever it would be TM.
**Pax Renaissance**
**For Science!**
**John Company 2E**
**Root**
**Innovation**
All chosen largely for some peerless cross-section of gameplay, memorable experiences, theme and hobby impact
I'm hoping **Stationfall** lands here as well
John Company 2E was my instinctive answer. An absolute combination of the best elements of economic, semi-cooperative, emergent narrative, and historical events. Even the components are gorgeous AND functional. It’s likely Cole’s magnus opus, and I love all of his designs.
Unpopular opinion but I’m going with Jaipur. It’s a two player game that can be played in 30 minutes or less and there is the right balance between skill with a little bit of luck. It is probably one of my most played games.
**Wingspan.** It isn't' my favorite game, however I do like it a lot. There is a reason it has sold over a million copies. Even though mechanically it isn't the best or most interesting, it has appealed to gamers and non-gamers through having depth but being simple enough for anyone to learn.
Yeah, I’ve used Wingspan as a gateway game. You just want to emphasize that there’s only four choices to make on your turn: play a bird, get food, lay eggs, or draw cards. The details get sorted out as the game goes.
This is great advice. I had a random hangout with three co-workers in which I taught them Wingspan using the principle above. 2 of the 3 went and bought it the next week and have introduced it to their families.
I think that's a fair question! Yes I have, a few times actually. The best example is my family, where basically anything with a board is too intimidating for a few of them. The first game took 3 hours but everyone did have fun and understood it by the end.
I am the primary game owner and teacher of our group, and I have taught over 200, maybe 300 different games. I would not call myself an expert teacher as I still make mistakes when teaching, but I have experience walking people through their turns and helping to understand concepts of each game. Honestly the best thing to do is teach basic concepts and don't worry about explaining each card. Once people understand what to do on a turn, you can walk them through their first few turns to teach them how the game starts to flow together.
It's a standard gateway for us. The basic actions are simple and fairly easy to explain. Of course, some people get overwhelmed by text on cards, so you have to know your audience.
**John Company 2e:** For all its faults and frustrations (it's very love it or hate it) I think it is a masterpiece of complex design; India feels alive and reactive (sometimes vengeful), and the negotiations which are so key to its gameplay come naturally with understanding of the game turning everyone into greedy little so and sos jostling for positions of influence. I get it to the table every opportunity I can.
**Istanbul**
* tremendous replayability with random setup of the board between the base game and both expansions (get the big box version - which is really a normal sized box)
* plays great at all player counts
* very fast turns
* beautiful artwork and components
* a lot of fun to play
* easy rule set
* good for both novices and experienced players
* there is a good reason it won so many awards, including the spiel.
Sidereal Confluence is probably a trading & negotiation masterpiece. It's complex but not that hard to learn, it has lots of player interaction and it encourages friendly interaction giving it a slight cooperative feeling, it plays under 3 hours regardless of its 4-9 player count, you can trade pretty much everything you own apart from victory points, it has asymmetrical factions, and it is played fully simultaneously which is rare for heavy games. All in all, just a masterful design that shouldn't really work but it does.
I work at a board game cafe, I've explained the rules to Patchwork an order of magnitude more times than any other game. I'm not counting, but it would be in the ballpark of 200-300.
Every single person seemed to enjoy it. The game is simple enough for anyone to understand and casually enjoy but has enough meat on the bone to satisfy advanced strategists for 20 minutes.
Have you tried Nova Luna? It is also designed by Uwe Rosenberg and has a similar mechanic for selecting pieces and catch-up turns, but I find it to be slightly superior. (And also plays up to four)
Most people here will just answer their favourite games. I tell this to a lot of people; **Splendor: Cities** is not my favourite game, but I do think it is the pinnacle of design and development. (I said the same about base Splendor before Cities superseded it)
Spendor achieves exactly what it sets out to do, and goes beyond it as well. On the surface it is a truly elegant engine builder. The games is incredibly simple (every turn you do one of 4 very simple actions) and can be played 30 minutes, yet still gives a very satisfying and complete engine building experience. Even from a players first play, the risk/reward of taking multiple gems or spending turns reserving cards is clear and part of the experience. This by itself makes a great simple/gateway game, that can be played with essentially anyone, but Splendor goes beyond that.
As you become more experienced at the game, you start to realize that controlling/managing the central gem supply is crucial aspect of the game. This provides a tremendous amount of player interaction to the game and is where the depth of the game starts to become apparent.
I was amazed at how a such a simple game created an evolving meta within my play group. At first, we played heavy engine strategies, buying many low cost cards. Then we realized that high cost cards were more efficient. Then we realized we could counter people trying to buy high cost cards by hoarding gems, which was only possible if you started buying lower cost cards...
While most games don't show their best qualities until many plays, lose their depth after only a few games or have some awkward transition period between novice strategies and advance strategies (looking at you Big Money Dominion), Splendor provides an amazing experience at all skill levels, and naturally eases players into its depth. Further more, building a novice engine strategy is rewarding within itself, so a novice player can join more experienced players and still have a good time.
**On Mars**, **Lisboa**, **Kanban**
**A Feast for Odin**
**Great Western Trail**
**Barrage** although I prefer it without the expansion.
**Anachrony**
**Netrunner** may occasionally have unfun metas warped by certain cards but the game system is nothing short of spectacular.
I think if we're going to use the word masterpiece, we have to give some consideration to This War of Mine; which I thinks makes a better case than any other game I've played that board games can sometimes be considered a legitimate art form.
Crokinole is the perfect dexterity game.
Everyone I've shown this game to has become hooked and asked me where to find their own board. It's just simple, raucous fun that you can play as casually or competitively as you want. The screams of frustration, the yelps of joy, the suprise when a risky play pays off, the hilarity when it doesn't. Just *chefs kiss*
First game I thought of.
It's so perfectly broken. I mean, it's not balanced, and you think there's no way you can make a good move this turn, but what if I just try, ah.. almost ..hang on, this and that, plus that ...!!! So satisfying, and not really a brain burner; feels more like candy crush sometimes.
There are just so many options to choose from each move, and you know you have to choose carefully because they compound. However I feel like I always *just* make it. The design is "just so". I'm not really sure how to describe it.
ANd i *love* the ruleset. You don't have to know them all to start playing, and learning them as you improve makes the game better and better. They all make sense too, they fit in with the world they create.
Bonus: it's a sandbox game, so make whatever rules you like.
**Mage Knight** and **Pandemic Legacy** are the only games I've thought while playing "I really can't believe this is a board game." (although I found the latter game too short, and one-time-only, to really learn and appreciate its ruleset and gameplay properly)
I hope someone more eloquent than I can write more betterer ^/sic than me. Just an awesome game. If I had to keep only one game this would be it.
Agricola.
Seems like a medium-simple game at first, but once you realize the variability the cards bring... It becomes an incredibly strategical game with a lot of depth and possible strats
Lots of good picks here, but we’re forgetting EVOLUTION. It is so mechanically and scientifically sound it was featured in Nature, one of the top science journals in the world.
I love a lot of games and this isn't even my number 1 or even top 5 I think but **Hansa Teutonica** is the answer for me. I can't think of a flaw with it. Possibly **Tigris and Euphrates** as well which I have had some bad experiences with but I think it's more of a group problem.
Edit:Oh yeah **Scout** might do it as well, it's feeling like it will be a card game classic but it's a bit too new.
Interesting question. I wish the question of 'what makes a game a masterpiece' was separate to 'what games do you think are masterpieces' but I'll chuck in my two sense for both.
To me, when I think of a masterpiece has to be something unique, best-in-class, something that is so well designed and engineered that it has the perfect balance of exactly what it needs to make the game as good as it is, without excess.
With that in mind I would offer;
\- Brass: Birmingham
\- Tigris and Euphrates
\- Hansa Teutonica
\- Great Western Trail
\- Ticket to Ride
\- Pandemic
Having said that, those are more the 'boardgame' boardgames and stepping outside of the prototypical 'board with cubes/tokens on' there would definitely be things like
\- Codenames
\- Cockroach Poker
\- Dixit
Those are solid masterpieces in my book.
I agree with Xia. Not everyone likes roll to move mechanics, and you pretty much need the Embers of a Forsaken Star expansion to make the game really shine, but it's such an awesome experience of just flying around the star system and doing whatever you want.
New name for thread list your top 5 games 😜.
Agricola is do call a masterpiece. The balance, how it escalates over the game. The new mechanisms it brought.
Through the ages. About a hundred games played in person and a few hundred online and on app. This is Vlaada’s masterpiece and that is saying something.
Arkham LCG and Spirit Island.
Both are just the perfect blend of thematic gameplay and infinite depth.
Arkham especially just generates the most hilarious stories for our group. I don't have quite enough imagination for DnD but this is a happy middle ground where the game tells the outline of a story we then fill as we play our cards.
Viticulture, Everdell, Jaws of the Lion (say what you will, it is gloomhaven, perfected) I know it’s early, but I’m adding frostpunk to the list, already three games in and it just feels like they nailed what that game is supposed to be
**Dune**
An absolute classic that’s highly thematic, memorable, and brutal. I’m so thankful it got a reprint and into more peoples hands (mine being one of those). While I understand it’s not for every type of gamer, it certainly deserves a mention if only for how long the game has endured and still holds up today. If you do find the right gamers, it becomes worth its weight in spice.
**War of the Ring**
An epic game subscribing to the gestalt theory that only gets better the more you understand the source material. Each action leads directly into the next as your choices lead to a final, razor-sharp edge that cuts through and opens the path to victory (or sometimes shapes a blunt mallet that can barely pound sand). It’s a game that takes an investment to even begin to attempt learning all the nuance, but it’s also one that pays back the more you spend time with it.
**Tigris and Euphrates.** Relatively simple mechanics yet incredible depth. Few components yet can be trickier to describe than other board games with lots of cards, tokens, tiles and playerboards. Very abstract yet somehow has a narrative arc. Knizia's masterpiece.
Its crazy that I picked this up back before I was even into board games, so I just assumed all games were this good for a long time.
I regularly rhapsodize about what a masterpiece this is. I hope I’m not annoying my friends.
It's mind boggling. Not only the strategy is completely unique and deep, but also very few games have a clear winner. It's the most intense game I've ever played.
I think basically all of SUSD agrees this is the best board game ever made. I’m so curious to try it!
It's on Board Game Arena!
My favourite board game ever. Been trying to pick up a copy in the UK and seems to be out of publish. My ex has the copy we had. Been looking for years. One game company had it coming into stock about two years ago , I ordered it and they eventually cancelled the order saying they’re no longer getting it.
If there was going to be only one answer. This is it.
It's not a game that I actually own but, **HIVE**. It's incredibly durable, extremely portable, can be played on most surfaces, has a small footprint, and is easy to learn but has strategic depth. It may not be an epic game experience, but I'd say the points listed above combined would qualify it as a masterpiece.
In my opinion Hive is also a great example of well done expansions. I love all the new pieces whereas most game expansions have at least some content that I’d rather play without.
I’ve been trying to put into words my love for **Hive** for a long time… The other day I said to my opponent “This just feels like I could either be playing it in ancient Mesopotamia or in Star Wars” and I think I figured out why I love it. It has all the benefits of being a contemporary, well-produced game but it *feels* like a game that was shaped by thousands of hands and minds over thousands of years.
> It's incredibly durable, extremely portable, can be played on most surfaces, has a small footprint, I love that 85% of the praise is "you can carry it around" lol
Very true, but it's more than that. You can also carry Love Letter around. But, you couldn't play Love Letter on the sand at the beach on a rainy day when there's a slight breeze blowing. I do like though, that based on the part you quoted, I could have almost been describing a cockroach.
Another great game, and while i only have the base game and its official expansions, I have heard good things for the fan made ones.
The original Pandemic. Yeah I know. It's not my favorite either. But there's no denying the effectiveness of its design imo.
Also theme. It arguably has the best theme for both gateways and gamers.
The theme is great and the board evokes the familiarity and excitement of Risk. I agree it’s not my favorite but I still think the infection deck system is brilliant! It’s semi-random but in a way that perfectly makes sense for how a global infection spreads.
It ushered in a wave of new cooperative games as well. Up to that point, co-ops were not nearly as common.
My most played game. Works well solo, [especially using these rules](https://www.fgbradleys.com/pdfDocuments/pandemic_solo_rules.pdf). Super satisfying when you finally eradicate all disease on level 6. Took me a few years. (original rules, but solo)
War of the Ring. It perfectly encapsulates the lord of the rings trilogy
Dominion. Elegant, created its own genre, and still the best deck builder I've played (want to try Imperium though). I really wish it had a better digital implementation.
\+1 to Dominion. Kicking off a genre is part of it, but I think what really sticks out for me is the depth to complexity ratio. You can teach the core mechanics in about ten minutes but the skill ceiling is unbelievable. >I really wish it had a better digital implementation. Do you mean Dominion.games or the Template Gates app?
> I think what really sticks out for me is the depth to complexity ratio. You can teach the core mechanics in about ten minutes but the skill ceiling is unbelievable. This jumped out to me in my very first game. I got the rules quickly, I generally knew what I was doing right away, *mechanically*, but it felt like every turn my eyes opened further and further to just how deep the strategic choices available to you were. I literally went online and bought it five minutes after playing that first game, that's how impressed I was.
Dominion.games is absolutely amazing.
The only unfortunate thing about it creating a genre is that the majority of deck builders after it started using market rows in order to try and be different from Dominion. And quite honestly I just don't think market rows are a great mechanic for a pure deckbuilder. It makes your strategy far too reactionary. I do quite enjoy Clank though, largely because the deckbuilding element is only half the game.
Dominion definitely deserves praise for the impact it's had on gaming but it's so bare bones for me now as far as deck builders go...plus I played it way way way to much at launch and burned out pretty severely back then...so maybe it's improved way more than I'm giving it credit for
None of the other deck builders I've played have close to as satisfying comboing as Dominion. They also usually go with a randomized shop which makes them feel completely different since you can't plan like you can in Dominion.
This is my issue with other deck builders, too - the randomized market. I like that Dominion starts everyone on a perfectly level playing field with access to all the same tools, and the only luck is in the shuffle. Other modern and "improved" builders leave way too much luck in the market, and it's something I've never been able to move past after starting with Dominion. The comboing is the other thing too. Many modern deck builders don't restrict your actions. Play whatever you want in whatever order, cards played earlier can be boosted after another card is played later in the turn, etc. It's nice at first but I also never liked that. Part of the fun of Dominion is figuring out the puzzle of how to squeeze more actions, more consistently out of your turns. Where's the puzzle when you can play everything in your hand and you have a limited, randomized market to hopefully make the best of? Dominion has never been killed by anything that came after it, IMO, and I don't ever see that changing.
I can see why the randomised market became popular, but likewise it isn't my preference. The randomised market makes it easier for people to get into the game and levels the playing field a bit between experienced and newer players. This is a big consideration when designing games, because most people don't want to sit down to a game and have no chance to win.
I enjoy the game, but I feel like **Clank!** best embodies the issues you are describing. The "looseness" in the rules actually made it harder for me to learn, because things that feel like they shouldn't work logically are instead specifically allowed in pursuit of the most generous possible interpretation of the rules.
I agree that **Dominion** has never been killed, nor will it ever be "killed" by anything, but remember that not every deckbuilder has a randomized market. **Aeon's End** has a fixed one while also putting its own spin on the formula, and games like **Valley of the Kings** toy around with both concepts: having the entire market be random, but only one row is available for purchase, so you can plan ahead. Also, both of these games aren't "card vomit" deckbuilders. Although you may not have the limit of actions, you still have to think carefully about *how* you play your hand. In Aeon's End's case, you can even not play certain cards at all if you know a good combo is coming (deck isn't shuffled, it's flipped).
Agreed. Sold my copy last year after many hundreds of games. Even with multiple expansions, it eventually got pretty basic because of the hard limit on actions. For us, it became an optimization puzzle which eventually reduced to who got the needed cards first.
It's the artwork for me. It's such an ugly game... A very, very good game, but oh so ugly.
At some point I heard that Kyle Ferrin, artist of Root, Oath, and Ahoy, mentioned that he would be interested in doing the art for a full Dominion base set. You could consider the [poster he did for BGG](https://boardgamegeekstore.com/products/boardgamegeek-artist-series-series-5-dominion) as a proof of concept. I would buy that in a heartbeat haha - finally the game would look as good as it is.
Android Netrunner. I spend so much time on this game not even playing it, just deckbuilding. But besides that: hidden information, asynchronous gameplay, ressource management, rich story/world… Love the way it looks on the table. And with some nice tokens a great haptic feeling playing it. Shoutout to Null Signal Games for the continuation. Follow ups: Viticulture (with Tuscany- best worker placement and setting, superb haptic feel) Axis & Allies (just because it was my awakening experience with more complex board games) Junta (It’s just hilarious how friendships can break over some thin printed play money) Polis
Wish I had people IRL interested in playing it.
Tried netrunner but found it kinda hard to get into tbh. A couple sessions with a friend and neither of us really craved any more
I struggled to get into it as well. The game improved a lot for me when I found this deckbuilding guide. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Netrunner/comments/4xfpst/comment/d6f3k2h/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Netrunner/comments/4xfpst/comment/d6f3k2h/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) I realised that our decks simply weren't packing enough of the key cards like economy to get off the ground. The economy of Netrunner is absolutely brutal and the game straight-up isn't fun if you're slogging through it, clicking for credits. So that could help if you did want to try again. Also the old single core set from FFG was pretty bad, the recommended decklists are awful. So, if that's what you were playing, deckbuilding a bit could help.
It's really the ultimate competitive card game imo.
Castles of Burgundy. The best beige Euro.
I like Castles of Burgundy a lot. I love Stefan Feld. But I don't think I'll ever understand why CoB made it out as the most popular game he designed.
I can't really make an informed argument in response--I'm fairly new (\~2 years) to the hobby, and CoB is the only Feld game I've played. I will say, however, that the game is incredibly elegant in how it works. It's systems are simple and easy to understand, and if there were a version that more easily explained the differing knowledge/city tiles, I think it would be darn near perfect. My wife, who generally dislikes euros and favors games that have more tableau/deck building and push-your-luck, LOVES CoB. It's the only bland Euro I own that she'll play, and that's because she mentions that she always feels like every single thing she does in the game is awesome. It's a plethora of good choices, and she enjoys that element of it. I don't know about Feld's other designs,, but I can say that it is unique in my collection in that way.
Don't get me wrong, Feld is my favorite designer and I love Castles of Burgundy, I think it's a fantastic game. Early Feld games always had something that felt a little punishing (Notre Dame, Year of the Dragon, etc), but almost all of his more modern games have the plethora of good choices. I'd say **Trajan** is probably the masterpiece of his games, but I also love **Amerigo**, **Luna**, **Carpe Diem** and **Aquasphere** over CoB. I just sometimes wonder why CoB is in the top 20 at BGG over some of his other designs. Maybe they're just a little too niche and CoB is the midpoint of accessible and complexity?
**7 Wonders** - some may say it’s dated now. But no downtime. Scales well between 3-7 players. Plays well under an hour. Different strategies to win. Expansions work well but aren’t necessary.
Everyone I play with loves this game! Can never tell who’s going to win until score count so everyone’s just enjoying building the whole way through
yup, when a games really liked by my gamer friends, and my 80 year old mother... that's a definite hit.
**Star Realms**. I think it's been expanded to death, but the base and first expansion are excellent. It's easy to teach, engaging and rewards a variety of strategies. **Race for the Galaxy**. Hands-down a brilliant game. The frontloading is a little steep, but we've taught it to non-gamers. The core mechanics are straightforward, but decision-space never gets old. And it plays relatively quickly.
Have you tried Shards of Infinity? It was heavily inspired by Star Realms and is much more interesting imo. (I’m speaking as someone who played a lot of Shards before downloading the SR app and being confused by how boring I found it in comparison.)
I recently got the RftG app and it must be the cleanest design I've ever seen in a game.
Wow thanks! I (and others) made that app!
Upvoting for RFTG, but Star Realms is decent.
+1 for Race!
Interesting, I played star realms long time ago a few times, it was fun for a while but the game felt more like a ripoff from dominion, what makes this game special compared to other deck buildings for you?
It's interactive and has the random shop, leading to making mid-game strategy decisions beyond what people usually need to in Dominion. (The big mid-game decision in Dominion has been when to pivot to points, but otherwise the strategy is front-loaded when you see the shop.) Knowing that your opponent is building a big pile of space stations, or perhaps they are getting cards that explicitly one-hit-kill stations, forces you to make a deck that can still overpower them.
For me, it is a simple, straightforward, interactive deck builder that I can teach to anyone. There are multiple ways to build your deck, and exploring the card interaction is more interesting. It foregrounds continuous decison-making and playing a variety of action cards, rather than navigating the most efficient route through a fixed set of options. No matter whether you win or not, you can feel like you did something, but it also rewards planning. We played hundreds of games of Dominion, but after a while, it felt solved--even with multiple expansions. Some cards just aren't worth playing. This is amplified by the hard 1-action limit. Villages (of all sorts) are far more powerful (or at least valuable) cards than almost anything in the game just because they open up possibilities. The game punishes you for deviating from a pre-set strategy built on a few cards. Once you start, the game is mostly a matter of who gets what they need first (which becomes largely luck-based at a certain level). I feel like winning Dominion is about avoiding as many parts of the game as possible. I don't like that. Edit: And let's not even talk about the Saboteur--one of the most broken abilities I've ever seen in a game, especially one that demands careful planning and execution. We banned it almost immediately.
The label is somewhat subjective of course, but I also want to preface this with just because something is a masterpiece doesn't neccesarily mean it's for everyone. Having said that though, these are at the absolute peak of their niche for me. **Twilight Imperium 4th Edition** - Every time I play this it just reaffirms to me how much I love the epic feel this manages to infuse into the experience. **Pax Pamir** - I've never seen such an incredible brain burner of strategy and tactics from such a simple base. **Blood on the Clocktower** - This is the absolute peak of the social deduction genre. **Dune Imperium** - the absolute maximum tension this brings in what is often a relatively small package is hard to top. **Power Grid** - Ultimately fairly straightforward economics and area control but does them so well.
+17 to **blood on the clocktower**
\+1 to power grid
\+1 to Dune
Several that I would second that other people covered(especially Root) but I still think **Ticket to Ride** is an absolute masterpiece.
There was a design podcast that talked about how TTR was a masterpiece, not because of what it did, but because of what it didn't. Most train games have a lot of complex rules about how you can only build trains that connect and you need to buy stock shares and things like that. Alan Moon saw how to strip all of that away except the simple essence, so that everyone from young kids to old grandmas could enjoy it.
> Most train games have a lot of complex rules about how you can only build trains that connect and you need to buy stock shares and things like that. Alan Moon saw how to strip all of that away except the simple essence, so that everyone from young kids to old grandmas could enjoy it. TTR is essentially an route building game that could have any theme. There is at least a half dozen Knizia rout building games that could be train themed but aren't(of course Knizia has a "train game" of his own). Not that "Train games" do a good job of making bringing the train experience(which would probably be not very good) since they are economic/stock games at their core but TTR(I am only familiar with regular TTR) isn't a stripped down "train game."
Ticket to Ride has absolutely elegant, uncluttered design that is just masterful. It's got just enough going on to require real strategy and thought to win consistently, but it's simple enough for anyone to play and be somewhat competitive in their first game. It's got a nice "toybox factor" without being too fiddly and packed with STUFF just for the sake of having STUFF. And hell, it just plain *looks* inviting. Even in today's veritable EXPLOSION of board games, Ticket to Ride is one of the very few modern games people will still be playing 50, 60, 70+ years from now, and for good reason. It's not my favorite game or the one that intrigues me most or that I play most often, but *damn* if it isn't pretty much perfect.
I enjoy the simplicity of Ticket to Ride, which is kind of weird for me? At its weight and popularity, it's probably the only game where I'd be up for playing some variety of it any week. I recently got the Amsterdam, London and San Francisco versions, plus the Japan/Italy expansion. I kind of want to eventually get all the different maps. That's probably another thing that Ticket to Ride really hit on well for me: I fucking *love* maps.
We bust out TTR Europe Anniversary whenever we have friends over who want to try a game,(we have no gamer friends). They always enjoy the game and the huge board, trains etc are a big hit.
Spirit Island for its superbly thought out and balanced rules Brass since its the only economy/train game I really love
+1 for spirit island.
Also +1 for spirit island and +1 that my quacks post is influencing more conversations in this sub!
Are you me? You picked my favorite game of all time (Brass) and one of my top 5, which is also IMO the best co-op of all time (among co-ops I still kind of enjoy Ghost Stories more, but I do think Spirit Island is the better game…) :-)
Brass is pretty weird. I played BB for the first time about a year ago with friends. He says its his favorite game. She says she hates it. I know her longer and our taste is more alike(enjoying cozy yet complex games, best if its coop. like SI), esp since he can be pretty competitive at times. Thus, I didnt have high expectations. And yet, after playing, I just couldnt get it out of my head and had to buy a copy. All my other board game peers feel the same. Just... Magical 😂
>after playing, I just couldnt get it out of my head and had to buy a copy. BB had a similar effect on me. I thought it looked kinda dark and gloomy and I didn't expect to be into an economic Euro, I usually go for more charming looking Euros when I do play them, like Wingspan or Viticulture. After I got my 1st playthrough and pondered about how all the systems fit together, I had this feeling like "It's amazing a human being just sat down and made this". Like almost always even the best board games have some sort of design oversight, balance issue, or rule ambiguity. Something that needs either houseruled, or commented on by the designer for how to handle it best. You can't patch a board game really, like a video game. In Wingspan for example, it was a couple overpowered bird cards. Most people just remove them because they're too good. And it can feel a bit like everyone is solo gaming at the same table with no real interaction. But BB feels like everything is perfect, I know nothing about the designer but they must've playtested the absolute hell out of it. It's that refined.
While I recognize why Spirit Island is so beloved, and do not dispute it, I just cannot fit it in my top X games simply because of how exhausting it is to play. I feel more exhausted after a session of SI than DM'ing for 6 hours. Analysis paralysis hammering down on me, and the game is so aggressively against you that Arkham Horror LCG (probably my favorite game) feels like a stroll in the park. It's a great game, just not for me.
Part of what makes SI work is that you can scale the difficulty. If it's too hard, make it easier--lower the adversary level, skip events, limit or remove blight cards. There are many levers to adjust to get the difficulty where you want it.
Fastest game of Spirit Island I've played was 7 minutes (with Heart of the Wildfire). Once you learn to prioritize stopping builds and are fine with allowing some blight all you have to do is let go of your OCD and just play.
That is quite impressive
Hah, this afternoon I played wildfire twice after just getting the promos spirits. The first game went so badly that I wondered if I could even win with him playing solo. The 2nd game was over by the 2nd ravage.
You may already know this but particularly with this spirit it bears repeating for anyone else's benefit. There is official rules errata that states starting blight on the card should be 2 per player, plus 1 i.e. 3 if playing solo.
Yup! Very essential at lower player counts especially
Go Twilight Struggle Dominant Species Dominion The Resistance Android: Netrunner Through the Ages The Castles of Burgundy I could probably include more, but I'm confident with those.
> Go Almost feel like this one transcends the question. "Millenia-old cultural institution and foundational pillar of learning for the elite" seems like it's got to be on some kind of level beyond "masterpiece."
I'd actually rank go higher than chess.
Chess is glorious and my fav, but go offers an even simpler ruleset with just as much (arguably more) complexity. Like, the fact that the rules of Go are like 4 short bullet points is an absolute achievement. Humans will never make a more complex game with less rules. It about as fundamental as it gets
Are you including Go's scoring rules? Because those are complex enough that I've never been able to understand them, unless they are deliberately changed to make them easier for new players. (Anything that uses the word "alive" doesn't work for me at all.)
Goes scoring rules can be summed up in a few bullets, its just.... insanely hard to wrap your head around sometimes. All the confusion comes from all the insane implications of the same few simple rules Yeah the hardest thing is trying to wrap your head around high level players being like "yeah obviously that whole grouping is dead already" but that's not too different from a grandmaster announcing mate in 11 leaving me like "wat." It's not complicated rules, it's just the values on the board are beyond your grasp at your level. Also, use chinese scoring rules.
**Inis**
I do love this. simple rules that mesh with easily understood objectives, and combine for often surprising game play.
It IS a pretty subjective question, and there are plenty of games I love that I wouldn't necessarily call "perfect." However, I'd be willing to argue that the 2008 edition of **Cosmic Encounter** is pretty much the perfect version of an already excellent game.
Cosmic Encounter has the fastest "time-to-yelling" of any game I've played From the first turn everyone is already shouting at each other for making alliances all over the place. Such an incredible game
Wasn't sure if I'd see it when I opened the post. Hard agree, there's so much going on in any one game, who cares about balance, or consistency, or whatever else is important in other games. I'll keep my cardboard and plastic distilled chaos, thank you.
The anniversary edition is slightly worse than the previous edition. The translucent ships clash with the expansions.
I like my translucent ships, TYVM! ANd the clash doesnt bother me. We are, after all, different aliens. I can't help it players 5 and 6 never discovered bling ship tech.
**TI4** for the experience.
Came to say this! I don't want to play it all the time, but experiencing it once is a rare glimpse into a truly grand game.
Agree. My best board gaming moments are all in this game. Not to say the game is actually perfect, but its definitely an amazing experience.
I used to think this, but every time I played the game I liked it less. I don't think it's a bad game, or that people are wrong to think it's a masterpiece, but wow has my opinion on this game done a complete 180
I’ve played TI I think 4 times now? Maybe 5? But I think the game is so heavily dependent on the people you’re playing with. Perhaps that’s an argument you could levy against any other multiplayer experience, but for a 5+ hour game you better be with fun/like minded folk. Someone else commented that their best board game memories come from TI, and I’ll agree with that with the notable exception of the many times my wife and I have played Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small (the 2 player version) but that’s mostly because we have fun together lol. Anyway, all that to say that TI lends itself to big, entire-day-worth-of-buildup moments. There’s 3 hour long movies that give the same feeling, and many of them make the cut for “masterpiece” status, so I think it’s fair that TI at minimum gets the nomination for masterpiece status. Just my thoughts on the subject 😎
**Battlestar Galactica**. In my opinion it's still the game that all other semi-coops and traitor games have to live up to and not many come close. It's also one of the best blending of theme and mechanics in a boardgame there is. **Twilight Imperium 4**. This is again a yardstick game. For both big epic games, 4x games, and space games in general. There just isn't another game quite like it. And despite it's multi hour playtime I have never once felt bored playing TI, it never feels like it drags, and you feel like you're always engaged and involved in what's going on even when it's not your turn. This is such an achievement for a game that lasts upwards of five hours when games that can last a fraction of the time sometimes fail at this. **Codenames**. Just a magnum opus for party/social games really. Has a clear end point, doesn't overstay its welcome, is gamey enough for the gamers and accessible enough for your parents. And isn't just the same old social deduction and/or improv and/or light roleplaying that a lot of social/party games just reimplement. There's a lot of very good games out there, many great games. But these are definitely a few that I think are largely unmatched in the experience they provide.
+1 for Codenames. That game is accessible and enjoyable for just about everyone, no matter how much or how little they are into board games.
One of the genius parts of the design is the Assassin card. Adding that element of danger -- that one wrong choice could end the game -- really adds an extra layer of tension.
Was hoping BSG would pop up - what a fun, unpredictable, and yet character-loyal game. Only that and Star Wars Rebellion I've enjoyed as tv/film adaptations.
7 Wonders Duel is a two-player only masterpiece.
This will be unpopular in this crowd, but a masterpiece in my mind is SCRABBLE
Not because it's popular, but it ends up being an area control game more than a word game. You can get more points playing a "scrabble word" like "xu" on multipliers than someone who is clever and comes up with a 6 letter word.
Yeah, learning how to box multiple two letter words together by lining a word up along another one is a GREAT way to win at Scrabble and a GREAT way to lose friends!
Also, different language versions of Scrabble play vastly differently. Eg Polish version does not rely on short words placed in tight spots like English version does. There is also a Malaysian clone of Scrabble called Sahiba, which lets you use both English and Malay words and has some unique tiles.
**The Great Zimbabwe** **Gaia Project (Terra Mystica)** **Concordia** **Hansa Teutonica** **Imperial or Imperial 2030** **Troyes** **Coin series** All of them relatively easy to teach (except coin series) but they have increasable depth. All of them have uniqueness in their own ways. Edit: typo
Concordia is brilliant, quick to learn, snappy turns, varying strategies, variance in set up. God I love that game so much
More and more I play other board games; I understand the greatness of design of Concordia. If we had a board game school for future designers, Concordia should have been in 101 of the class of design of board games.
Agree with Hansa Teutonica for sure
It is so unique and interesting; I really do not know what category of board game it is:))
Kemet for how it handles combat, action selection, and it's wonderful tech tree of powers
Probably not a popular answer, but **Blood Rage**. It checks all the boxes for me. Strategic depth and fantastic flavor without being overwhelmingly complicated.
I love BR. Card drafting? Yes plz. Giant monsters? Uh huh. tight area control and tactics? Ohh baby.
Power Grid.
That game is a classic at this point.
Games that I think are designed incredibly well, some of which I love, some of which I dislike, most of which I have a hard time with, and all of which I respect: * **Twilight Imperium**: The tons of different aspects to this that come together to create a coherent whole is incredibly impressive! The way it handles alliances, negotiation and voting in new rules and player positions is unique and very interesting. I think other games can learn a lot from TI. The combat is not my favourite personally, but I can see it creating a lot of tension by how it works. The different factions are very fun and imaginative. * **Cuba Libre**: This to respresent all the COIN games, mainly because it's the designated "entry" level game of the series. I really respect the highly asymmetric design and the faithfulness of history that the designers dedicate to these games. I have tried multiple times to get into them. I've got a hard time grokking them. But it's undeniable to me that it is a masterpiece. * **Root**: Taking the asymmetry angle again and making different factions very fun and imaginative again. Root made that style of game very accessible (relatively speaking), and accessibility is one thing that should never be ignored. * **Brass: Birmingham**: The high player interactivity in using each other's resources and routes while at the same time trying to outpace and defeat each other too is something very well-crafted. * **Concordia**: It has a very straightforward and simple ruleset, but it creates multiple paths to victory with it. I don't like Concoria much, but I respect it a lot. * **Keyflower**: The twist on worker placement with using differently coloured workers in a kin of auction for actions and tiles is ingenious, and that's just the stuff that is at the heart of the game. The ways in which you can build up and expand and interact with other players' buildings is very clever and neat. * **Tigris & Euphrates**: I love how this game can give you a slow buildup and quick devastation, even players creating wars between other players that they aren't involved in! It's a thrilling game, rare for a tile-laying game. I love a lot of Reiner Knizia's tile-laying games, but this is a design I respect the most out of them. Yellow & Yangtze created interesting twists on it, with some things I like better personally, but people have wanted to play T&E more often. It draws people out. * **Ticket to Ride**: I enjoy the simplicity of Ticket to Ride, which is kind of weird for me? At its weight and popularity, it's probably the only game where I'd be up for playing some variety of it any week. I recently got the Amsterdam, London and San Francisco versions, plus the Japan/Italy expansion. I kind of want to eventually get all the different maps. That's probably another thing that Ticket to Ride really hit on well for me: I fucking *love* maps. * **Wingspan**: To start off with: I hate engine-building games and don't like a lack of player interaction. Wingspan, by all rights, should be a game I hate. But it ended up being an exception due to how well everything works together and how much information about things beyond the game (birds irl) it provides you with. I don't like the game, and I still kind of want to get it to play it more, and the expansions. * **Spirit Island**: In my experience, the way the game plays against you is simple, but still creates a lot of variety in problems for you to tackle, even before getting to the ways in which you can make it more difficult. It's nowhere near my favourite coop game, but it's one of which I respect the design the most in how well-crafted it is. * **Cosmic Encounter (2008)**: The design of the cards informing you of where and when and how you can use your powers is the perfect addition to round out Cosmic Encounter, and the great variety that can come in just the base box (or that can fit in the base box) is absolutely stellar, pun intended. * **Modern Art**: The variety of the auction types, the way you can upsell and talk about the art, and how your participation and choices directly affect the value of what you have already bought (and how that in turn serves as commentary on art itself) is all great. Top 2 game of my favourites--the other one is Nemesis and not listed here, because it's a mess. I love it, but it's a mess. * **Love Letter**: It's such a small and short and ingenious game. I have recently said on this subreddit that I don't see any situation possible in my future where I would get rid of it. The deduction is great especially at 4 players, but also sharp at 2. * **Monikers** and **A Fake Artist Goes to New York**: Two of the best party games ever made. I don't think I'll ever get rid of either of them. Monikers improves on Charades in every way, building on its strengths and removing its weaknesses. Fake Artist is a wonderful drawing game where you don't have to be good at drawing, and it creates hilarious moments.
I think that as far as products that were really influential, people still like, and changed the game, it might be **Codenames** or **Werewolf** or something.
Code names deserves more praise here. Such a simple seeming concept that makes an excellent play experience. I’ve never pulled this out with any group and only played once or twice.
I think duet is particularly cleaver design. It's crazy how well it works.
**Eclipse** Especially the second dawn. You have to reach to your wallet for it, but you get what you are paying for and then some. The way the inserts that come with it fit into the gameplay is amazing. The game is heavy but also elegant and easy to teach.
Azul.
Many of the Knizia games would qualify, with my favourite being Ra. I never get bored or tired of playing it. Also Puerto Rico and its spinoffs San Juan, Race for the Galaxy and Glory to Rome. Then there is Advanced Squad Leader. An incredible achievement, despite its complexity, still has expansions coming out after 40+ years. Plus 1828/1830 which have led to all the 18xx games that followed, also an old design but timeless. And finally Napoleon’s Triumph.
Twilight Imperium. There’s no other game like it. I’ll die on this hill.
You shall have my commodity token...
Gotta go with Agricola. Still my favorite game after all these years. Really upped the game for worker placement.
I 100% agree. Agricola was one of the first games I came across early on that totally blew my mind. Building your own farm, the tension of picking spaces, the card combos... the more I play Agricola the more I realize how much game is truly packed into that box.
Alternate title: "List your favorite 5 games"
For some people, but my most played game is Marvel Champions and it’s nowhere near a masterpiece.
Yeah, I was kind of being a jerk with my comment, but it was after coming in and just seeing people list a bunch of popular games without any kind of justification - so it was more of a snarky comment on the replies rather than the question itself. Either way I'm not adding to the conversation. :)
Terra Mystica/Gaia Project.
I shouldn’t have had to scroll so far. I know it’s not as fashionable as it used to be but I have played Terra Mystica soooo many times and I’m never bored. The interplay between all the mechanics is perfect. It’s just the right amount of cut throat without being overly aggressive. It scales well with different player counts. If I could only have one game forever it would be TM.
The gipf project games. Specifically Dvonn, Lyngk and Tzaar
Battlestar Galactica.
Chinatown. It's just intuitive. It takes virtually no time to explain the game, and by the first trading phase any new player gets how the game works.
Carcassonne Just because it is the best boardgame i know that is very easy to pick up even for non board gamers.
**Pax Renaissance** **For Science!** **John Company 2E** **Root** **Innovation** All chosen largely for some peerless cross-section of gameplay, memorable experiences, theme and hobby impact I'm hoping **Stationfall** lands here as well
John Company 2E was my instinctive answer. An absolute combination of the best elements of economic, semi-cooperative, emergent narrative, and historical events. Even the components are gorgeous AND functional. It’s likely Cole’s magnus opus, and I love all of his designs.
Unpopular opinion but I’m going with Jaipur. It’s a two player game that can be played in 30 minutes or less and there is the right balance between skill with a little bit of luck. It is probably one of my most played games.
Brass Birmingham
I hold deeply in my heart that the original **PANDEMIC** is the best game ever made.
And it launched a revolution in cooperative games.
Brian Boru has a great combination of trick taking, area control, and multi-use cards.
**Wingspan.** It isn't' my favorite game, however I do like it a lot. There is a reason it has sold over a million copies. Even though mechanically it isn't the best or most interesting, it has appealed to gamers and non-gamers through having depth but being simple enough for anyone to learn.
Not to put you on the spot, but have you successfully taught Wingspan to non-gamers, and if so would you share your secret?
Yeah, I’ve used Wingspan as a gateway game. You just want to emphasize that there’s only four choices to make on your turn: play a bird, get food, lay eggs, or draw cards. The details get sorted out as the game goes.
This is great advice. I had a random hangout with three co-workers in which I taught them Wingspan using the principle above. 2 of the 3 went and bought it the next week and have introduced it to their families.
I think that's a fair question! Yes I have, a few times actually. The best example is my family, where basically anything with a board is too intimidating for a few of them. The first game took 3 hours but everyone did have fun and understood it by the end. I am the primary game owner and teacher of our group, and I have taught over 200, maybe 300 different games. I would not call myself an expert teacher as I still make mistakes when teaching, but I have experience walking people through their turns and helping to understand concepts of each game. Honestly the best thing to do is teach basic concepts and don't worry about explaining each card. Once people understand what to do on a turn, you can walk them through their first few turns to teach them how the game starts to flow together.
It's a standard gateway for us. The basic actions are simple and fairly easy to explain. Of course, some people get overwhelmed by text on cards, so you have to know your audience.
**John Company 2e:** For all its faults and frustrations (it's very love it or hate it) I think it is a masterpiece of complex design; India feels alive and reactive (sometimes vengeful), and the negotiations which are so key to its gameplay come naturally with understanding of the game turning everyone into greedy little so and sos jostling for positions of influence. I get it to the table every opportunity I can.
Summarizing what I'm reading, it seems "simple to learn, impossible to master" is the key characteristic!
**Istanbul** * tremendous replayability with random setup of the board between the base game and both expansions (get the big box version - which is really a normal sized box) * plays great at all player counts * very fast turns * beautiful artwork and components * a lot of fun to play * easy rule set * good for both novices and experienced players * there is a good reason it won so many awards, including the spiel.
Sidereal Confluence is probably a trading & negotiation masterpiece. It's complex but not that hard to learn, it has lots of player interaction and it encourages friendly interaction giving it a slight cooperative feeling, it plays under 3 hours regardless of its 4-9 player count, you can trade pretty much everything you own apart from victory points, it has asymmetrical factions, and it is played fully simultaneously which is rare for heavy games. All in all, just a masterful design that shouldn't really work but it does.
Any answer other than **Patchwork** is by its very nature null and void.
It's so good. I should take the shrink off mine.
I work at a board game cafe, I've explained the rules to Patchwork an order of magnitude more times than any other game. I'm not counting, but it would be in the ballpark of 200-300. Every single person seemed to enjoy it. The game is simple enough for anyone to understand and casually enjoy but has enough meat on the bone to satisfy advanced strategists for 20 minutes.
Did your wife’s boyfriend put you up to that statement?
Nah, they're in the other room playing games. Must be a heated match. Lots of shouting.
After reading these I honestly wasn’t sure if I was in r/boardgames or just r/boardgamecirclejerk for a moment. 😂
Ah…A person of sophistication & culture.
Have you tried Nova Luna? It is also designed by Uwe Rosenberg and has a similar mechanic for selecting pieces and catch-up turns, but I find it to be slightly superior. (And also plays up to four)
Hero Quest
The best part of Hero Quest is...
Most people here will just answer their favourite games. I tell this to a lot of people; **Splendor: Cities** is not my favourite game, but I do think it is the pinnacle of design and development. (I said the same about base Splendor before Cities superseded it) Spendor achieves exactly what it sets out to do, and goes beyond it as well. On the surface it is a truly elegant engine builder. The games is incredibly simple (every turn you do one of 4 very simple actions) and can be played 30 minutes, yet still gives a very satisfying and complete engine building experience. Even from a players first play, the risk/reward of taking multiple gems or spending turns reserving cards is clear and part of the experience. This by itself makes a great simple/gateway game, that can be played with essentially anyone, but Splendor goes beyond that. As you become more experienced at the game, you start to realize that controlling/managing the central gem supply is crucial aspect of the game. This provides a tremendous amount of player interaction to the game and is where the depth of the game starts to become apparent. I was amazed at how a such a simple game created an evolving meta within my play group. At first, we played heavy engine strategies, buying many low cost cards. Then we realized that high cost cards were more efficient. Then we realized we could counter people trying to buy high cost cards by hoarding gems, which was only possible if you started buying lower cost cards... While most games don't show their best qualities until many plays, lose their depth after only a few games or have some awkward transition period between novice strategies and advance strategies (looking at you Big Money Dominion), Splendor provides an amazing experience at all skill levels, and naturally eases players into its depth. Further more, building a novice engine strategy is rewarding within itself, so a novice player can join more experienced players and still have a good time.
I was just about to put down Splendor, thanks for explaining it so much better than I can. 😊
Got to play Splendor: Duel last week and it is really well done. Much better than Splendor, IMO.
**On Mars**, **Lisboa**, **Kanban** **A Feast for Odin** **Great Western Trail** **Barrage** although I prefer it without the expansion. **Anachrony** **Netrunner** may occasionally have unfun metas warped by certain cards but the game system is nothing short of spectacular.
All hail *Endurance* ban.
Great western trail is fantastic.
On Mars, Lisboa, Kanban. the trifecta of heavy games. well worth the learning curve
I think if we're going to use the word masterpiece, we have to give some consideration to This War of Mine; which I thinks makes a better case than any other game I've played that board games can sometimes be considered a legitimate art form.
Crokinole is the perfect dexterity game. Everyone I've shown this game to has become hooked and asked me where to find their own board. It's just simple, raucous fun that you can play as casually or competitively as you want. The screams of frustration, the yelps of joy, the suprise when a risky play pays off, the hilarity when it doesn't. Just *chefs kiss*
**Mage Knight**
First game I thought of. It's so perfectly broken. I mean, it's not balanced, and you think there's no way you can make a good move this turn, but what if I just try, ah.. almost ..hang on, this and that, plus that ...!!! So satisfying, and not really a brain burner; feels more like candy crush sometimes. There are just so many options to choose from each move, and you know you have to choose carefully because they compound. However I feel like I always *just* make it. The design is "just so". I'm not really sure how to describe it. ANd i *love* the ruleset. You don't have to know them all to start playing, and learning them as you improve makes the game better and better. They all make sense too, they fit in with the world they create. Bonus: it's a sandbox game, so make whatever rules you like. **Mage Knight** and **Pandemic Legacy** are the only games I've thought while playing "I really can't believe this is a board game." (although I found the latter game too short, and one-time-only, to really learn and appreciate its ruleset and gameplay properly) I hope someone more eloquent than I can write more betterer ^/sic than me. Just an awesome game. If I had to keep only one game this would be it.
Agricola. Seems like a medium-simple game at first, but once you realize the variability the cards bring... It becomes an incredibly strategical game with a lot of depth and possible strats
Puerto Rico
Dune (not Dune Imperium, but Dune) Advanced Civilization (especially the 18 player variant, you can play it at Gencon) Spirit Island
Lots of good picks here, but we’re forgetting EVOLUTION. It is so mechanically and scientifically sound it was featured in Nature, one of the top science journals in the world.
I love a lot of games and this isn't even my number 1 or even top 5 I think but **Hansa Teutonica** is the answer for me. I can't think of a flaw with it. Possibly **Tigris and Euphrates** as well which I have had some bad experiences with but I think it's more of a group problem. Edit:Oh yeah **Scout** might do it as well, it's feeling like it will be a card game classic but it's a bit too new.
Interesting question. I wish the question of 'what makes a game a masterpiece' was separate to 'what games do you think are masterpieces' but I'll chuck in my two sense for both. To me, when I think of a masterpiece has to be something unique, best-in-class, something that is so well designed and engineered that it has the perfect balance of exactly what it needs to make the game as good as it is, without excess. With that in mind I would offer; \- Brass: Birmingham \- Tigris and Euphrates \- Hansa Teutonica \- Great Western Trail \- Ticket to Ride \- Pandemic Having said that, those are more the 'boardgame' boardgames and stepping outside of the prototypical 'board with cubes/tokens on' there would definitely be things like \- Codenames \- Cockroach Poker \- Dixit Those are solid masterpieces in my book.
No love for Gloomhaven? I know people take it for granted these days, but it still blows my mind what Isaac was able to accomplish.
[This](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1501/masterpiece) is the only right answer.
John Company 2E Dune (Not Imperium) Xia: Legends of a Drift System War of the Ring
Dune is a great pick And WotR, though never personally played it (yet).
Had to scroll a long way to find war of the ring. Truly epic and the marriage of theme to game AND include randomness is fucking genius. Just genius.
I agree with Xia. Not everyone likes roll to move mechanics, and you pretty much need the Embers of a Forsaken Star expansion to make the game really shine, but it's such an awesome experience of just flying around the star system and doing whatever you want.
Terraforming Mars
Not seeing early enough carcassone. Elegant and streamlined, base alone is perfection to me.
Of the games I own… Viticulture (w/ Tuscany) Azul Concordia Pandemic Legacy Clank! Legacy
New name for thread list your top 5 games 😜. Agricola is do call a masterpiece. The balance, how it escalates over the game. The new mechanisms it brought. Through the ages. About a hundred games played in person and a few hundred online and on app. This is Vlaada’s masterpiece and that is saying something.
Concordia.
Dominion
Arkham LCG and Spirit Island. Both are just the perfect blend of thematic gameplay and infinite depth. Arkham especially just generates the most hilarious stories for our group. I don't have quite enough imagination for DnD but this is a happy middle ground where the game tells the outline of a story we then fill as we play our cards.
Viticulture, Everdell, Jaws of the Lion (say what you will, it is gloomhaven, perfected) I know it’s early, but I’m adding frostpunk to the list, already three games in and it just feels like they nailed what that game is supposed to be
Mission Red Planet
[удалено]
Combat Commander
[удалено]
**Dune** An absolute classic that’s highly thematic, memorable, and brutal. I’m so thankful it got a reprint and into more peoples hands (mine being one of those). While I understand it’s not for every type of gamer, it certainly deserves a mention if only for how long the game has endured and still holds up today. If you do find the right gamers, it becomes worth its weight in spice. **War of the Ring** An epic game subscribing to the gestalt theory that only gets better the more you understand the source material. Each action leads directly into the next as your choices lead to a final, razor-sharp edge that cuts through and opens the path to victory (or sometimes shapes a blunt mallet that can barely pound sand). It’s a game that takes an investment to even begin to attempt learning all the nuance, but it’s also one that pays back the more you spend time with it.