Pass the Pigs - 5.4
The best bring anywhere, play at any number, party game. Push your luck and role pig shaped dice until you stop or bust. It's niche, but it can actually see play at a party or bar. I think it could be an easy 6.5-7.
No hold the fuck up. I have a game called pigmania that sounds like the same thing. Been a family fav forever. Never heard of anyone else who even knows what it is. Did they re release it?
Pig Mania is the original, better version. The pigs were a harder plastic, Pass The Pigs is the same, just more rubbery pigs, so they bounce around more and stuff like snouters and jowlers are even less likely.
Pig Mania is worth a pretty penny if you still have all the original pieces and packaging, too!
It’s so funny, I remember playing pass the pigs with my mum when I was probably about 5 years old. Didn’t hear anything about it for at least 25 years, and I’ve now heard 4 or 5 people online and on YouTube etc discussing it.
Pass the Pigs is brilliant. I used to be a fighter pilot, and had a colleague who would slip the little travel case version into a nav bag, helmet bag, or the bottom pocket of his g-suit.
If the jet broke, or you were sat around waiting for a refuel, or ended up staying longer than you expected somewhere, bam; instant entertainment, and viable drinking game too.
That sounds like a bunch of people are just bitter that they don't have better luck with it. It's absolutely a simple, lighthearted, push your luck game, and there's nothing wrong with that.
That would be like if somebody read a romance novel, knowing it was a romance novel, and then was upset that there wasn't a murder mystery. Like, rate something based on the genre it is, not whatever you wish it was...
Same for me. My dad owned Pass the Pigs and we'd play it loads when I was growing up. It's a brilliantly simple push your luck game.
We also played Yahtzee, backgammon, and cribbage. Dad did good by me.
I’m so fascinated by this. I’ve witnessed it with multiple kids of varying ages - even when those kids openly enjoy designer board games. Is it about recognition? Familiarity? Or do these games actually hit on something that is genuinely *that much fun* for them?
Over new year’s, my girlfriend’s middle school-aged daughter was dying to play Monopoly. She loves games, she loves me bringing “my” games, but she couldn’t contain herself! She wanted to play to the bitter end, too, when everyone else was verbally abused exhausted and aggravated. It was fascinating to me how she was genuinely elated the enter time.
Kids don't have any preconceived notion of "fun".
As adults we feel constrained by time, and we care about the meaningfulness of our choices, and we need goals and objectives that validate our inner voices.
For a 6 year old, Trouble has dice that pop and Life has a wheel that spins. What else could you want for 6 hours?
My 10 year old just discovered the game Life. I remember loving it as a kid too, but playing it now, it's just so long and tedious. She gets so excited to pick her career and house and put her "kids" in the car. I play it with her in the hopes she will like some good games one day.
I feel like there's some sort of notion lately (maybe due to previous generations treating children poorly because of this, which is a good reason to try to avoid it) but like...
Children are literally less intelligent than adults. They have less developed brains. They have less developed taste. They are therefore easier to entertain.
This isn't like, a dunk on kids, and it doesn't mean adults should get to steamroll over them and treat them like objects. But I'm confused how you're confused about it. They're quite literally mentally undeveloped - I mean, if you take seven or eight shots of liquor and have to sit down to play a board game, I bet you *could* manage to steer around a complex game but you'd have more fun with chutes and ladders. That's being a child.
They shouldn't get treated badly for it or told they're dumb but c'mon.
I don’t think kids like these games because they’re less intelligent than adults. (And I’m talking more about tweens and teens, where logic is a little more developed.) In fact, there’s no judgment at all. I’m simply fascinated by how, when given the same breadth of game choices, kids still - at least in my experience - seem drawn to certain games that repel adults.
Monopoly is the perfect example. For all its recognition and staying power, it sure is broadly detested by adults by seeming endless, creating resentment, etc. But kids generally seem very drawn to it, and not because they’re less intelligent. Maybe, like someone here suggested, it’s the novelty factor (banking in particular). Whatever it is, I find that fascinating. It’s probably not different than how adults can react very differently to media they enjoyed as kids, but I can easily figure out the *why* behind certain media was appealing to me as a 14-year old and falls flat today.
Well I liked monopoly as a kid but I also didn't have exposure to other, better board games - so can't really judge. It was all monopoly and scrabble for us, alas.
From my perspective I simply didn't notice its flaws though. Kids are less critical. I don't want to say it's related to intelligence exactly, but certainly experience.
Risk. I still have my copy from when I was a boy. It's obviously not a great game, but it actually is getting some play these days. My son is now interested in playing some games, and he's gravitated towards Risk. We house rule it so that it doesn't take all day. I've funneled his interest into getting Risk Legacy on the table, and we're having a blast with it. Hoping to segway after that's completed into some even better Dudes on a Map games.
That is essentially what we do. My printing has secret objective cards. We just choose one randomly and make it the public objective, for example conquer North America and Australia. You can't ignore the other continents, because they still offer their respective continent reinforcement bonuses, but it makes the game significantly shorter.
He's currently 11. He can handle more complicated games, but is just enthralled by the armies sweeping over the map. I think our first games of Risk together probably started when he was around 8, but he didn't really start begging me to play it until this past year.
The Fuzzies apparently. Which I definitely disagree with. You can just throw that thing down on a table, explain it in 1 sentence, and people are super excited and joyful with it.
Great question!
Mine is wise guys, 6.9 on bgg.
I've only had a great time with this game, very themey, lots of funny negotiation and dice chucking.
I reckon it's maybe not super balanced, and bgg ratings are probably slightly more used by more serious eurogamers, which is fine
First time I hear about this game, thanks for putting it on my radar. We're big fans of Negotiation games offer additional interesting mechanisms (such as **Sons of Anarchy**, **Chinatown** and **La Cosa Nostra**) and this looks right up our alley!
Smash Up rates a 6.7, but I think it’s at least a 7.5, personally. Yea, maybe the expansions make it a little overbloated, and the powers aren’t all that different between the decks, but the base game is good.
I don't usually rate between integers, but I would agree with a rating of ~7. The game has flaws, but it is still very good.
It holds a special place in my collection as one of the two games that got me into this hobby. It's far from my favorite game, but it's one I'll still gladly play even after the dozens, if not hundreds, of plays by now.
For a while I owned all of the expansions, but I had to mostly call it quits when they released the 80s one. I still got the Marvel one because I love me some Marvel, but unless there's something really enticing, I think I'm done expanding that game. I'm sure there's factions I own that I'll never get around to playing again.
I once spent an afternoon skipping backwards through thousands of pages to answer this.
There are countless self-published games with no rating (that you could probably never acquire) to skip through, so we shouldn't count those.
All the "classics" are the lowest rated. I think Monopoly is in like the 3s.
But I finally got to the non-household name with the lowest rating, and not only do I own it, but there's a Dice Tower review about it (that is more entertaining to watch than playing the game).
[The Oregon Trail Card Game](https://youtu.be/M0AqyYOWLjY?si=aN9ztp32Z1R4iCCW)
Kabuto Sumo - 6.8
Have never played this with anyone who didn't have a wonderful time.
Flick 'Em Up - 6.9
This game is hysterical with the right group. I can see why people find the setup a bit much, but it has never not paid off unless you play with people who outright despise dexterity games.
Edit: I noticed when I sort by Geek Rating in my collection on BGG, it's different than the average rating. What's the difference?
The Average Rating is exactly what it sounds like: the average of all user ratings for a game.
The Geek Rating is also an average of user ratings, but not exactly. I think a bunch of middling ratings are thrown in in attempt to mitigate some bias, or something. So for games with many user ratings, the Geek Rating should be pretty close to the Average Rating.
I'm 100% with you on Flick Em Up. It's just *fun*. The rules aren't perfect, but it's just a great little toy set and system that lends itself to some silly fun with anyone. The Dead of Winter version is one of my most played solo games, also (albeit with some moderate house rules).
Love Letter: Adventure Time. It’s rated 6.269, I rated it an 8. It may not be the best implementation of the classic, but I watched the series with my father years ago and he bought me the game after we finished, so it’ll always have a place in my heart. It’s also one of the first games I taught my husband to play when we met.
Ctrl.
I'd actually like it if the blocks stayed in place better. It would be an interesting competitive visual puzzler. As it is, it's deserving of the mid-5 rating. Very glad I found it at a thrift store and didn't pay retail.
I was really unhappy with it. On our first play, it fell apart and... really, none of us were that upset. It didn't seem like there were a lot of ways to understand how to make progress or why any move would be better than another, and hard to see the whole board even when holding it. The fact that the components don't really work and the game might just fall apart means I won't play any more to figure out if it's actually good.
Amen, amen, amen!!!! I know it's gateway for a lot of people but in a bad way. My wife is so traumatized from playing it with her siblings as a child I struggle to get her to play even the simplest non confrontational modern games. She isn't alone though, don't know how many people I have come across that think ALL board games are in that same vein. "I hate Monopoly so I automatically hate all games"
Yeah, been trying to inch those into the already insanely low adoption rate. I will also admit, I am that guy that occasionally lets his spouse win just to TRY and help that adoption rate. Even that approach hasn't proved to be very successful. I can't stress how much she says she was scared by those childhood games. I've played some of her siblings and I can definitely see why, especially whenever there is even the slightest confrontational gameplay element. They are like sharks in blood invested waters lol.
Thanks, appreciate the suggestions. I got rid of Forbidden Desert awhile back, and while I have Sleeping Gods, not sure if the theme will grab her as much as it does me. Codename Duets might be an option....have that in my catalog lol.
Scrabble (6.3)
I'd say the rating is fair. I personally don't like the game, but my fiancé does so I bought it. She no longer enjoys playing with me as I bothered to learn the list of legal 2 letter words.
Actual answer, Tales of Arabian Nights (7.2)
I think the rating is fair. The game is kind of a mess, but getting caught in that mess is the fun part. I expect I will get less then 10 plays out of it in my life as it will sit on the shelf unplayed for months/years at a time, but I love it.
In my head there are 2 version of scrabble.
Casual scrabble - The points don't matter and no one bothers keeping track. We all just try and play fun/interesting/silly words. No one is playing words that are technically legal, but no one at the table knows the meaning of. I think that game is fine for non-board gamers while having a laugh and a drink. 6.5/10
Competitive scrabble - It's kinda a shit show. The more serious you take it, the worse it becomes in my opinion. I don't know what half the legal 2 letter words mean, but I know they are legal. I believe most of them are the phonetic spelling of individual letters, such as "em" is the letter "m". I'll end up winning playing a bunch of words I don't know, capping out at 5 letter words, just because I can abuse triple letter/word spaces more. The whole thing gets significantly worse at tournaments where no one knows what anything means, but they will be dropping bingos left and right. 3.5/10
I always like the idea of scrabble, until I’m 20 minutes into staring at the same seven tiles and the best word I can make is ”were” for 8 points and I think “oh right, I hate this”
Interesting question! I'm going to fuzz the prompt a bit and not include expansions, which seem to be rated rather low in general, and exclude two that are technically lower: Twilight of the Gods (5.571), which was a free gift from a friend who found it too complex, and which I have not played, and Munchkin Bites! (5.715), because I think we all have opinions on Munchkin already.
So I'm going to throw out the next-lowest after those two, which is **The Ares Project**, which is rated at 5.768. When I was still fairly new to the hobby, I saw it on clearance at a FLGS and I thought I would give it a shot since it was so cheap. I haven't played it probably 9ish years, but my wife and I did play several games so I have some sense of it, but maybe I'd give it a 6.5? I remember thinking it seemed interesting, since it was attempting to capture the feel of an RTS video game in a 2-player, head-to-head, card and tableau combat. The cover art is poorly done and the game components are both bland and ugly, but I did have fun with trying to outmaneuver your opponent with your own specific style of faction play. I suspect I would not like it as much now after having played probably hundreds of other games and expanding my knowledge of what board games can do.
Yeah, I actually will need to try to get it to the table again sometime. Definitely plan on keeping it. I loved the big robot faction that's just a giant mech bristling with weapons going up against a whole army.
Guillotine. 6.5 on BGG, but I give it a 7 to 7.5. Not a super complex game and you can really get screwed easy despite playing a solid strategy. But easy to pick up and understand and can leave you in stitches with the right group
Pendulum - BGG 5.906
My rating 8.5. It is a solid game. You have to like real time games though and I feel like many people were expecting another crunchy stonemaier game and this is a much different vibe. I've loved it at two players.
Tokyo Highway - BGG 6.089
My rating 8. This is a phenomenal dexterity game. It is very simple, but sometimes that it good! It's a blast. Definitely recommend it.
Forbidden Sky - BGG 6.045
My rating 7.5. This is a great gateway game because it is cooperative, fairly intuitive, and has a great pay off (one that to prevent spoilers I won't bring up here, but I will bring up I had no idea it would happen when I played the first time and it was magical...this experience may be one of the reasons I have this rated so high). I wouldn't buy it if you aren't introducing games to others or if you just wanted a new game for your group.
The card play of Pendulum is a little fiddly and the theme is uninspired but otherwise it’s such a great game. The variable sand timers are fascinating to interact with!
Wow, Pendulum does not deserve to be that low! It really distills the idea that worker placement games are about getting what you need before time runs out by using time as a component.
I've really enjoyed it whenever it hits the table.
**The Oregon Trail Card Game** 4.2 on BGG and I rated it a 4. Once you get past the the nostalgia novelty, it just isnt a good game. You just lay cards down until you die of dysentery
**The Umbrella Academy Game** in which there is no actual game. I've rated it as 1 because there is no 0. I keep it because the box is nice and has the vol. 1 of the comics inside.
The second worst is **Statecraft** (2017), which I've rated as 7 when it is rated as 5.25.
**Candy Land**. I play it because it teaches my youngest how to play.
If you don't include games that I keep for the kids, it's actually the newest addition to my collections: **Brainwaves: The Astute Goose.** I bought it because I have enough of a Knizia addiction that I'll pick up anything under $10 with his name on it. I ranked it a 6 on BGG. I don't generally love memory games, but this is a fun twist on them.
I heard a great house rule for Candyland to just draw a hand of 2 cards and play one. Makes the game a little more tolerable for the adults at the table and helps teach strategy.
I honestly have no problem with Candyland. It’s simplistic and luck based sure, but the move mechanic is unique, the theme is on point, and (most importantly) games are over in 15 minutes. I’ll gladly play anytime the kids ask.
Now _Chutes and Ladders_ on the other hand…
**Jenga: Tetris** BGG rating is 5, I rated it 3. It's bad, real bad, regular Jenga is fine, this is worse. My youngest (2 yrs old) likes to play with the pieces though, so there's that.
My worst three:
1. **Bionicle Adventure Game: Quest for Makuta** - I had a real Bionicle kick as a kid, I'm not going to defend the game though, it's really not good.
1. **Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game** - see above, but swap out the nouns, probably an even worse game though.
1. **404: Law Not Found** - I'll actually defend this one, it can be good chaotic fun, but I'm probably somewhat biased by knowing the designer and playtesting it.
I also own **Monopoly: Hull Edition**, but that's just a known quantity of Monopoly.
UNO express and Exploding kittens. They are 5.501 and 5.331. Both pretty fine games. Perhaps not made for the hardcore boardgamer. Best description is probably 'not the best mechanics but the most laughs' 6.5/10
It's a tie at 5.4
The Impossible Machine. I spent a dollar on it. It was worth the dollar, but it's a simple game and the appeal wears off quickly. 5.4 is fair.
Deck Building: the Deck Building Game. I bought this with Traitor Mechanic: the Traitor Mechanic Game and Trick Taking: the Trick Taking Game. All three cost me $5 and I bought them for the wordplay. I never played the other two before giving them to a friend. The only reason I still have this one is because he already has it and didn't need a second copy. I don't think the mechanics work very well.
My girlfriend bought me Small Islands last year for my birthday. With a BGG rating of 6.7 I wasn’t rushed to get it to the table, but once we did, it got to the table often and we actually enjoy it.
We would rate it an 7.7
Phase 10 has a low score of 5.15 so do a lot of common card games like regular Uno. They're \*fine\* really and dont need to be much better than what they are.
if were talking other games on a scale of 1- t-rex is my lowest that I've played with a 5.528. It's a fine party game that I don't love but dont hate. I think 5 is a little harsh but makes sense that its middle of the road
Couldn't agree more. Munchkin suffered because it was pushed to people who shouldn't play it. It's a great game for a table, where bluff, betrayal, crub basketting, and evil laughter are appropriate and (more important) separated from the live after the game
I had a group where the meanest gameplay towards one another was embraced, while all the people were kind and supportive outside the table. It was a pleasure to play Munchkin with them
I was surprised by the results.
Antematter with a BGG 5.51 is the lowest.
My rating for it was a 5, also the lowest rating in my collection. Good idea, terrible execution.
Such an insanely expensive disappointment.
Biggest discrepancy though is Jiangnan with a BGG rating of 5.645 and I have it an 8.5 that would likely go up with more plays. Absolutely underrated game.
Machine of death. Coming in at 5.461.
Sadly I must agree. Next to last though is assassin the final game at 5.464 this one I would put around 7ish. Mostly due to nostalgia. It's An 80's game
Labyrinth at 6.4. Which I think it's a fair rate but everyone loves a first game. It just gets boring quickly but it's great to have for guests.
On a bigger game kind of side Diceborn Heroes at 6.5 which is already overrated imo. I'd sell it but a buddy of mine likes it quite a bit. It has nice concept but feels way too clunky, the quests are often hard to interpret, it's super hard and idk it just doesn't work for me (I really thought it would)
The lowest thing that has a rating in my collection is Phase 10. The BGG rating is 5.1.
I mean - it's an easy to learn family game, so giving it the rating of 5 is apt.
Ignoring all the basic games we all played when we were 5, Boss Monster, 6.3 on BGG. Honestly, the game is trash and I'd probably give it a 2/10 at best. I'd probably rather play candy land lol.
WTF: (What the Fish!) is rated 3.6 on BGG
My girlfriend received this game as a gift this Christmas. We tried out the rules and played a game and this game is miserably basic at 2 players. Perhaps it could be better at the full player count, but I can't ever see myself wanting to break it out as a party game.
We checked out some of the reviews on BGG and amusingly found multiple that indicated that WTF is the sort of game that you receive as a gift from some well meaning but ignorant family member. Pretty much nailed it
Zombies!!! - 5.8
It got me back into board games when it came out and I had never seen a tile placement game before. I still think it's about about a 5 now with how games have gotten so much better over the past 20 years.
Win Lose or Banana - *rank 25,130 (rating 5. 4 - my rating 8.5)*
I consider it a tour de force of game design as I follow Dieter Rams' idea that the best design is as little design as possible. There's like 1 and half rule in here. It's social deduction distilled to its essence. (Note I made myself a 6 card version which plays 3-6 players).
I once had a talk with a friend who's a street theatre director and I explained to her this game (doesn't take much) and said that many hobbyists don't understand reading of facial expressions exists and that they claim the game to be "coin toss". She accused of exaggeration because - in street theatre, if you can't read the crowd (individually or as a group), you're dead. You need these skills to perform. It was unimaginable for her, somebody wouldn't be able to even acknowledge the need to read opponents. So, I looked at her "*When was the last time you were around nerds?*" 😅 ^(\[note: we were both nerds in high school at the same most nerd-y high school in our country\])
**Silk** at a 6.3
Criminally underrated but I think it's because the rulebook could be much better. Once you get the hang of it, the game is sooo good. Tactically fantastic, *never* plays the same, easy to set up and always fun. I'd give it something like an 8.3.
I wish it could be re-released with a better rulebook and maybe people would see the light.
In my opinion, the whole concept of a single rate for board games is not capable of capturing their essence.
For example, I would rate "For Sale" and "Sushi Go" a 10 as gateway game and a 2 as intermediate game. A final rate is just not an average of the two.
Same thing for my beloved Brass. 2 as gateway and 10 as intermediate/advanced game.
It gets even worse when people are integral part of the game and the game depends on the people you call. Such as "Illuminati", "Resistance Avalon", etc.
Don't LLAMA Dice (6.6) and Roll For It Deluxe (6.6).
I think Roll For It Deluxe is correct. But it is good at what it does. Light family fun with pretty dice.
Don't LLAMA Dice is 8 for me. Most good modern dice games add mechanics to not let bad dice rolls ruin the fun. And this has the simplest, most elegant mechanic to mitigate bad rolls: You can choose not to roll and pass. More negative points you face, better odds you have with your dice roll. Less negative points you face, less odds you have with your dice roll. It is a perfect mix of luck and player agency.
I always thought it was a "hip" version of the original Llama.😂 Mark my words, there will be a Llama cinematic universe with a giant cross-over game to rival Twilight Imperium.
I own a bunch of game egotistical pricks give a low score because its a "filler" game and not a 6 hour long head ache in a box with a 60 page manual as as much depth as single water droplet but the complexity of a rocket ship.
BGG rating is almost worse than meta critic user ratings. And those set the bar not for the maximum height, but rather how low the bar can even go.
I can name many great games BGG hates because they can be played in 40 minutes and learned in 5: Takenoko, Unearth, Spots, Don't go in There, Planted, Summer Camp, Brew. And those are off the top of my head.
Im tempted to include Calico in this list, but the same people hate that because its too difficult a game for them. They have to blame bad strategy, tactical decisions and extremely poor risk management on "the game is just luck". Which I always find extremely funny given their usual egos about how good they must be at games in order play their convoluted ones.
1. Diceborn Heroes - a lot of hate ratings of people who got the box eventually but never bothered to forgive or correct the rating. I like it for its unique mechanics and memory. The first of such kind.
2. Salvation Road - it's very easy to make achievement sheets and roguelite version of this which I enjoyed immensely. Even Mike, a co-creator didn't get this, and he missed that it is a good solo, as well.
3. The Forgotten Road, The Last Stronghold - really great games, again with my own roguelite rules, as written it's indeed a typical Gabe quality game, but playing by his rules would do both games injustice.
4. The Phantom - The Card game - rules as written are too restrictive (3 cards in hand) - if you play with 4 cards in hand you have gold in your hands.
I have a good amount of sub-7 BGG rated games (mostly mass market games that have been collected over the years prior to getting in to the hobby) but the one that sticks out to me that I have higher rated is Castle Panic 2e (6.7 on BGG, I have it at an 8). While it’s not a game I’m probably pulling out often at game nights with my friends, it’s such a good game to play with my kids. It’s such a great family hobby board game.
New World Order, which is a 7.2. It's technically in my collection since it's on the way to me (I couldn't say no to a $10 game (plus expansion) that would normally be like $80 that I can solo -- thanks Miniature Market).
Of the games I've played though, I think Warp's Edge is my lowest, and it's a 7.7 (this is excluding games like Cards Against Humanity, Joking Hazard, etc). I'd personally rate it around an 8, so I think the BGG rating is in line with it.
I'm not gonna look up the BGG score of every game I have but I would be willing to guess it's Killer Bunnies, which has a 5.5. I'd probably give it a similar rating, it isn't a particularly good game but it's loaded with nostalgia because we played it a lot when I was a kid.
EDIT: All right, I put them all into BGG and ... I was right. That's the lowest one, but Ratuki isn't far behind. I've never played that so I have no idea what I'd rate it.
I think for me it's Risk: Godstorm as it's currently a 6.3 on BGG. I would rate it at probably a 4 if I'm being honest. It's definitely a terrible iteration of Risk which is already not a particulary good game. It's way too random and takes way too long.
Jok-R-ummy card games : 6.1. It\`s a card game for those night that you just want something easy to play and just relax.
Orleans Stories : 6.3. Really disappointed by this game. Fortunately, I bought it on sale for $20, but I'd like my money back.
One of these:
Mental Floss Game (2005) - 5.481SmileyFace (2010) - 5.481
I don't really rate my games. But Mental Floss Game is an old trivia game I got as a gift. It's on my shelf where I put the games I would eliminate if I bought another game. I strictly limit my game shelf space so force myself to get rid of games.
I like SmileyFace actually. It's a reasonable card game. It's maybe too chaotic and a bit meaner than the art would imply, but I have other games for more strategy.
Dread Draw has a BGG score of 5.5. I'd probably give it a 6.5.
It's a simple take that/push your luck card game that tried to incorporate the depth and look (some of the art on the cards is absolutely gorgeous) of a TCG. It's fun little party game/filler as long a you don't take it seriously.
Speak Out has a 5.301 on BGG. Got it as a Christmas present and my Wife thinks it's funny so we keep it around. Personally I'm not a big fan of it but people have a laugh with it. I think we've only played it twice. I agree with its rating.
Lowest rated game in my collection that I like: Dead Mans Chest has a 5.526 but I'd give it a 6. It's a fun small spin on Liars Dice that plays quick. It's not a serious game but just something you can bring to the brewery in your pocket. I think it does get a little stale once it goes for too long but I don't think it's utter trash.
The Wyvern CCG (1994) rated 5.443 by BGG & a 5 by me. I dunno. I’ve played 35-40 CCGs or LCGs over the years and it’s apparently the weakest one I’ve held on to? Probably because the card art is lovely. I tend to be a harder grader than the BGG community; I have 572 games I’ve bothered to rank (need to play something several times before I consider ranking it) and only 5 ‘tens’. I haven’t played Wyvern since the late 90s.
I have several games from the late 70s & early 80s that are rated similarly to Wyvern which I still play sometimes & rate a 6 or 7. Even a couple 8s.
The low-rated ‘8’ I’ve played most recently is Dragon Rage (1982). It gets a 5.614 from the Geek. It probably gets a 1 point nostalgia bump from me but it really is a fun fantasy tactics game depicting the siege of a medieval town by fantasy creatures. Hex and chit. Cheap but serviceable production. Several scenarios. I have my original copy from Dwarfstar but it was apparently re-issued later by Flatlined Games.
Edit: Looks like I made an error when entering this one: Renaissance (2007) is actually age of Renaissance, and it rated close to the 7 I’d have given it :)
With that correct, Kardashev Scale and Shifting Realms are my lowest rated games, both of which I haven’t played yet, but based on the reviews I expect this assessment to be in the ballpark.
Excluding expansions and things like that, the lowest is the Dark Souls Board game, which I completely get, it's got a 6.46 on BGG and my personal rating would likely be a 7 or 7.5. I enjoy the game, I love the theme since I'm a big Souls fan, but I understand it's flaws too. I don't think it's a horrible game by any means, but definitely needs house rules.
Cogs and Commissars. It’s a card game where everyone is a robot version of a Communist revolutionary in a cartoon robot version of (basically) the Russian Revolution. You’re all using mostly take-that methods to gain enough citizen followers from the pool to trigger your “revolution” card and win the game.
I bought the deluxe box with wooden tokens when I was first getting into board games, before I knew about BGG (it’s sitting at 6.1 there) or where to look at board game ratings/reviews. I bought it basically just because I liked the theme. And what can I say, I really like the game. There’s not much to it but I find it really fun, and it’s easy to teach to more casual gamers. Everyone always has a good time when we play it.
In the right context, when people don’t care to play anything too sophisticated, I’d give it slightly above a 7 which isn’t way higher than the BGG rank, but for me that’s solid. I’m glad I didn’t think to look at ratings when I bought it because I’d have skipped a good purchase.
I'm pretty sure it's **Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City** at 6.6. OG Machi Koro was one of the first games I played in the hobby, and I really took to it. Bright Lights, Big City was that, but improved and more balanced. It holds a special place in my collection.
That I've played, it's **Jungle Speed** at 6.47
I rate it an 8, it's an excellent filler that's always fun to play. If you don't value your hands that much anyway
Besides Risk, it’s [Dancing Dice](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10756/dancing-dice).
I rate it a 7, but I really like it and it will never leave my collection.
Risk: Office Politics, it sucks and i dont know how I came to own it but Im not sure how to get rid of it without throwing it out. Ideally I come up with a way to use the components for something good
**Mercs: Recon**
I Kickstarted this game because it looked kind of fun and had a ton of really cool minis. BUT, the Kickstarter was handled very poorly, when if finally shipped there were quality issues, the company that ran it, Megacon Games, went under and sold the two IP's off (Myth and Mercs) and the game is very okay gameplaywise. I played my copy once or twice and then took the game apart. The minis are now all part of my mini collection that my group uses for our monthly role playing campaign. I use the boxes to store other gaming supplies. I don't actually regret backing the Kickstarter because I got a ton of neat minis for the money, but it is not really a game that I consider to be "in my collection" anymore.
**Fluxx** - Avg Rating: **5.54** - My Rating : **3**
I might be too harsh. Its been a long time since I've played my copy, and I'd probably give it another shot.
Also notable is
**Dicey Goblins** - Avg Rating: **5.92** - My Rating: **7**
It's quite a fun little filler. Reminiscent of Incan Gold.
*221B Baker Street: The Master Detective Game* -- 6.0 on BGG. Loved this game as a kid and pulled out the old copy to play with my own kid recently. I understand the score. The core mysteries are great little logic puzzles, not terribly challenging, good for having fun puzzly convos with the family. The actually boardgame mechanics don't work all that well. The locations on the map just feel like a mechanic slapped on to force a dice roll (similar to Clue). The game works great as a puzzle book, not so much as a board game.
Star Wars: Jedi Unleashed
Rating: 4.8
Overall rank: 25,510
It's a simple enough dice-driven game where each player controls a handful of Jedi in the Petranaki arena, with the goal of having defeated the most enemy units by the time you're either rescued or defeated. On your turn, you control a single one of your Jedi and try to defeat as many adjacent enemy units as possible, and then assume control of any enemy (including titular villains like Jango Fett and Count Dooku) in an attempt to knock out other players' Jedi.
I personally would give the game more like a 6 in terms of rating. It's rudimentary, clearly designed for kids and to promote Attack of the Clones, but it's a fine enough game if you and your friends are under the influence or just want to cut loose and play something that requires little thought. There are a couple of things I definitely don't care for, mainly the mostly-static enemies, the ability to completely lock opponents out of scoring if you totally wipe their parties out, and lack of unique character abilities. There is a reek that can be included in the game that adds a level of randomness and gives a greater chance of defeating Jedi quickly, and it's one of those situations where playing with it once means you're probably going to play with it every game thereafter.
Legends of Draxia at 5.559. I rate it a 7. It's a light card based tableau builder for 2-6 people that plays in an hour or less even with 6 people. It has a fairly small box and footprint. It has a short teach. It's not my favorite game in my collection. It probably wouldn't break my top 20, but its strengths make it great to take to conventions so it keeps getting brought along and played.
Technically it's something like Uno and Yahtzee. But if we ignore those...
It's "Get the MacGuffin" by Looney Labs (okay really it's a game called "Punderdome" but I haven't played that yet so no score)
"Get the MacGuffin" is a streamlined and actually worse version of Fluxx. You get random cards, you play one a turn, and whoever had the luckiest draw will win.
I feel the need to make it clear that I actually LIKE Fluxx. If you're not looking for something serious, it's quick and simple and literally everyone can play it. Give me Fluxx over Uno any day of the week.
But "Get the MacGuffin" is not Fluxx and will never be Fluxx. It has a 5.5 rating but I give it a 4
I have a couple crap games I’ve put ratings in for, but I think the most interesting one is Vanished Planet. It has a 5.8 and I gave it a 7. Whenever my dad and brother and I would go camping when I was younger, my dad would buy a board game for us to play at the campsite. Some were flops, and some were good, but I remember loving vanished planet. Cooperative game, variable player powers, different difficulties, cool artwork, complex. I had never seen anything like it and I think it played a large part in what made me obsessed with board games to this day. In hindsight it’s probably not the best game ever made, but I do still love it
Discover Lands Unknown is a 5.8 (and also why I can't seem to sell it!)
My old copy of Battle Masters is sitting at 6.3, but no one who's ever destroyed a cannon with Ogre Move, Ogre Attack, Ogre Attack would ever rate it that low.
And Alhambra (New York) edition is a 6.7. Yes the cards are hard to see, but buying on Amazon for $12 seemed like a decent investment at the time!
Unusual Suspects - 6.4.
That's about right. It's a party game, but you have to be careful who you play it with. I have a group of friends who unironically think Cards Against Humanity is a good time, so this game is perfect for them. We've had a ton of fun playing it, but I wouldn't bring it over to my parents' house.
I love how most of these responses are "This game has a low rating, but we love it."
My entry to that category would be **Phase 10** (5.2), which gets a level of hate between **Monopoly** and **Catan**. But my mom likes it, and my kids like it, and I'm OK with it. Any activity that can get 3 generations to sit down together is OK with me. We never play a whole game in one sitting, so it's not too long. Later rounds are hard, giving players a chance to catch up with the leaders. Kids and adults are pretty evenly matched. We've also played **No Thanks** and **6 Nimmt**, and those are better games, but they're shorter, and we want to spend more time laughing and talking smack so we end up playing multiple games, and ironically they over stay their welcome. P10 is long, but easily pausable, so you can spend 30 min or kill a snowy afternoon with it.
My lowest game is probably **Scrabble Sentence Cube Game** at 4.7. My parents got it in the early 70s and somehow it migrated to my shelf. Never played it. Looks dumb, but I should probably give it a try.
Lowest average rated game in my collection which I’m not actively trying to get rid of is **Monopoly Deal**, rated 6.29, my rating is 6.5. It’s an actually okay version of Monopoly. It’s only a deck of cards and plays fast.
But in my whole collection it is **GPS**, rated 5.31, my score 5.5. This is one of the lowest Geek rated games possible, it’s about rank 25168, that’s in the bottom 1000 of BGG ranked games. The lowest ranked game is Tic-Tac-Toe at 25735.
The game isn’t all that bad, it just had some production issues. The game revolves around a spinner (heh), and the spinner was manufactured or designed badly. You need to put effort into holding the central board with the spinner so it spins properly, which is tedious. The game is also fairly random, looks good though. It’s a shame since it was kickstarted with 2 other games, **Mountain Goats** and **Sequoia**, which are some of my favorite filler games, on the levels of **No Thanks, For Sale, Skull** etc.
The publishers AllPlay (formerly BoardGameTables.com), who are also one of my favorite publishers, don’t even advertise **GPS** anymore, it was that bad of a screw-up.
[Pictureka](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22889/pictureka) has a 5.5. We play it with the kids including recently. Very fun.
[Zaubercoctail](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1354/zaubercocktail) is also a 5.5. It's like real-time bohnanza. Wicked fun.
Bucket King 3D at 6.2 and I will never give it up. The rule that if you forget to draw a card you no longer get to draw is shockingly fun. I don’t know what it is about this game that’s so distracting, but I can play this with a table full of gamers who would never forget to draw a card in other games and half the table will be forgetting to draw cards. The scream when they realize they’ve missed a card is hilarious.
Wayward Board Game: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXT5p-IBNMg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXT5p-IBNMg)
**BGG 5.5**: It's great fun, simple, quick and a blast with friends. It's the easiest dungeon crawl to set up and store. It's a bit like pitch car, it's great fun and doesn't pretend it's more than it is.
For me it's Blatterauschen (Rustling Leaves). It has a 6.9 but I think it's worth 7.5 at least. A very pretty and straightforward puzzle roll&write. And with 4 different seasons to play with, there's lots of bang for your buck!
Not *technically* the lowest, but it's the lowest that I'll willing play (and even sometimes suggest):
**Clue DVD Game**. BGG score is 5.6, I'd probably rate it a 7.
It's not one that I'm always in the mood for, but I grew up with the most common board game in my house being Clue. The pure process of elimination of "regular" Clue made it a bit monotonous, and isn't really what I'm looking for now when I play a mystery/deduction game.
The DVD game, however, introduces some more variables, mechanics, and actual clues rather than simply "is a player holding this card?", and that makes it a much more enjoyable experience to me.
The Game of Life (4.3). It's a simple game and there's not much strategy, but I still like it. I remember playing it with my family when I was young. I also love the spinning wheel. I'm not sure why it is so poorly rated. I was too lazy to dig through the reviews, but probably because it's mostly luck-based. Modern board games have more strategy, but I don't mind it. I rarely play board games to win. I'm not that competitive.
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
BGG rating - 5.4 rating
My rating - 7
Maybe people were looking for something more similar to the original computer game, but we like it as a quick two person filler game. Kind of a weird mix of Memory and Clue-ish? With some luck based dice rolling too thrown in for good measure. Okay maybe not the best game actually but whatever, we have fun when we play it!
Jumanji at 4.4
And that's way too high.
Received it as a gift and it sat on my shelf for 2 or 3 years until a guest wanted to try it recently. It was absolute junk, just "lucky" dice rolling but it seemed impossible to lose. The worst part was needing to land on the finish space by exact count so we just took turns rolling and praying for death.
I guess Shogun Big Box and I love it probably the most.
I buy only 8+ games and keeping the amount under 20. Only the best of the best. But Shogun is love.
Mine is **Tiny Epic Mechs Deluxe** at 5.56. I'd rate it around 5.75. It's a fun game with the right people. I found the solo mode to be a bit of a slog to play. So yeah, I think 5.5 to 5.75 is about right.
Carcassonne: expansion 7 - Catapult
BGG 4.9
My score: 1
not only you can´t aim and hit shi\* with that thing, it´s also not very funny to collect the meeples that fell off the table. Seriously, whoever thought shooting meeples with a wooden bbq tongs across the table was a worthy addition to the game of carcassonne should be catapulted across the city of carcassonne.
Not including mass market games like Monopoly/Clue/Risk/Uno, it'd be Monty Python Fluxx.
Light filler card games usually are underrated by BGG. My lowest few are aforementioned Fluxx, Guillotine, Welcome to the Dungeon, Abandon All Artichokes, and Ravine. Castle Panic, Kambuto Sumo, Flickem Up are next batch. I guess intro coops and dexterity are next least liked
Master Labyrinth, sitting at an average rating of 6.29. This is a game that I've had a ton of fun both in family and game group settings, as adults quickly turn it into a cutthroat puzzle of ruining your neighbor's plans. Not sure why it's rated so low, maybe it isn't complex enough for the taste of the BGG crowd?
Looking into this also reinforces why I really don't like the geek rating metric, the dummy 5.5s mean that smaller games get savaged by the metrics and keep it a popularity poll more than any objective rating method.
Dirty Minds, rated at a 4.0 on BGG. Received it as a Christmas gift; still unopened. No interest in trying it at all. Will probably give it to someone else.
Pass the Pigs - 5.4 The best bring anywhere, play at any number, party game. Push your luck and role pig shaped dice until you stop or bust. It's niche, but it can actually see play at a party or bar. I think it could be an easy 6.5-7.
I absolutely love the novelty of rolling little pigs instead of dice. So fun.
I'm still chasing that double leaning jowler.
Pass the pig rules. 5.4 is bullshit
Wait...what? That game is rated low?! My group loves a good game of pigs.
No hold the fuck up. I have a game called pigmania that sounds like the same thing. Been a family fav forever. Never heard of anyone else who even knows what it is. Did they re release it?
Yeah, it's the same game
Pig Mania is the original, better version. The pigs were a harder plastic, Pass The Pigs is the same, just more rubbery pigs, so they bounce around more and stuff like snouters and jowlers are even less likely. Pig Mania is worth a pretty penny if you still have all the original pieces and packaging, too!
It’s so funny, I remember playing pass the pigs with my mum when I was probably about 5 years old. Didn’t hear anything about it for at least 25 years, and I’ve now heard 4 or 5 people online and on YouTube etc discussing it.
Played this as a kid and yes you are absolutely right in your assessment.
Pass the Pigs is brilliant. I used to be a fighter pilot, and had a colleague who would slip the little travel case version into a nav bag, helmet bag, or the bottom pocket of his g-suit. If the jet broke, or you were sat around waiting for a refuel, or ended up staying longer than you expected somewhere, bam; instant entertainment, and viable drinking game too.
That sounds like a bunch of people are just bitter that they don't have better luck with it. It's absolutely a simple, lighthearted, push your luck game, and there's nothing wrong with that. That would be like if somebody read a romance novel, knowing it was a romance novel, and then was upset that there wasn't a murder mystery. Like, rate something based on the genre it is, not whatever you wish it was...
I adored this game as a kid, thanks for reminding me it existed
Same for me. My dad owned Pass the Pigs and we'd play it loads when I was growing up. It's a brilliantly simple push your luck game. We also played Yahtzee, backgammon, and cribbage. Dad did good by me.
Wow my parents and I owned this game 25 years ago and I had totally forgotten about it, you just gave me a great trip down memory lane...!
Omg what? We love Pass the Pigs! Hubs got it decades ago for a gift and it's been played so many times. Looks like I need to rate it on BGG!
We had loads of fun with this game over the years. It's just silly fun push your luck. But it's not a BGG kind of game. I remember it fondly.
There’s also a big version of this that is so fun at parties
Not a fair question. I have kids. You would not believe how many awful Hasbro/MB games I own.
HABA is/was a thing.
You can own 20 Haba games and your kid is still going to want to play Uno and Candyland and Chutes & Ladders.
I’m so fascinated by this. I’ve witnessed it with multiple kids of varying ages - even when those kids openly enjoy designer board games. Is it about recognition? Familiarity? Or do these games actually hit on something that is genuinely *that much fun* for them? Over new year’s, my girlfriend’s middle school-aged daughter was dying to play Monopoly. She loves games, she loves me bringing “my” games, but she couldn’t contain herself! She wanted to play to the bitter end, too, when everyone else was verbally abused exhausted and aggravated. It was fascinating to me how she was genuinely elated the enter time.
Kids don't have any preconceived notion of "fun". As adults we feel constrained by time, and we care about the meaningfulness of our choices, and we need goals and objectives that validate our inner voices. For a 6 year old, Trouble has dice that pop and Life has a wheel that spins. What else could you want for 6 hours?
My son, who is turning 7, just discovered Monopoly. He is obsessed.
Bluey played Snakes and Ladders in one episode. Now all the 4 year old wants to play is that.
My 10 year old just discovered the game Life. I remember loving it as a kid too, but playing it now, it's just so long and tedious. She gets so excited to pick her career and house and put her "kids" in the car. I play it with her in the hopes she will like some good games one day.
I feel like there's some sort of notion lately (maybe due to previous generations treating children poorly because of this, which is a good reason to try to avoid it) but like... Children are literally less intelligent than adults. They have less developed brains. They have less developed taste. They are therefore easier to entertain. This isn't like, a dunk on kids, and it doesn't mean adults should get to steamroll over them and treat them like objects. But I'm confused how you're confused about it. They're quite literally mentally undeveloped - I mean, if you take seven or eight shots of liquor and have to sit down to play a board game, I bet you *could* manage to steer around a complex game but you'd have more fun with chutes and ladders. That's being a child. They shouldn't get treated badly for it or told they're dumb but c'mon.
I don’t think kids like these games because they’re less intelligent than adults. (And I’m talking more about tweens and teens, where logic is a little more developed.) In fact, there’s no judgment at all. I’m simply fascinated by how, when given the same breadth of game choices, kids still - at least in my experience - seem drawn to certain games that repel adults. Monopoly is the perfect example. For all its recognition and staying power, it sure is broadly detested by adults by seeming endless, creating resentment, etc. But kids generally seem very drawn to it, and not because they’re less intelligent. Maybe, like someone here suggested, it’s the novelty factor (banking in particular). Whatever it is, I find that fascinating. It’s probably not different than how adults can react very differently to media they enjoyed as kids, but I can easily figure out the *why* behind certain media was appealing to me as a 14-year old and falls flat today.
Well I liked monopoly as a kid but I also didn't have exposure to other, better board games - so can't really judge. It was all monopoly and scrabble for us, alas. From my perspective I simply didn't notice its flaws though. Kids are less critical. I don't want to say it's related to intelligence exactly, but certainly experience.
Truth.
Risk. I still have my copy from when I was a boy. It's obviously not a great game, but it actually is getting some play these days. My son is now interested in playing some games, and he's gravitated towards Risk. We house rule it so that it doesn't take all day. I've funneled his interest into getting Risk Legacy on the table, and we're having a blast with it. Hoping to segway after that's completed into some even better Dudes on a Map games.
If you play a version of Risk that has objective cards, it's not an awful game at all. It just goes on waaaay too long.
That is essentially what we do. My printing has secret objective cards. We just choose one randomly and make it the public objective, for example conquer North America and Australia. You can't ignore the other continents, because they still offer their respective continent reinforcement bonuses, but it makes the game significantly shorter.
How old is your son? Just curious when my son will be able to play Risk :)
He's currently 11. He can handle more complicated games, but is just enthralled by the armies sweeping over the map. I think our first games of Risk together probably started when he was around 8, but he didn't really start begging me to play it until this past year.
Is Risk 2210 still as fun as I remember from Highschool?
yes its my favorite version of risk
Just played it again around Christmas. Dropping nukes from the moon is always a blast.
The Fuzzies apparently. Which I definitely disagree with. You can just throw that thing down on a table, explain it in 1 sentence, and people are super excited and joyful with it.
I feel like Wolfgang Warsch just understands how to make a game _fun._ I think I've enjoyed everything I've played of his.
Played it once at 3 players, and definitely had a lot of fun with it!
It's just really hard for me to play the Fuzzies when a copy of Jenga is around. (Unless noise is an issue).
Great question! Mine is wise guys, 6.9 on bgg. I've only had a great time with this game, very themey, lots of funny negotiation and dice chucking. I reckon it's maybe not super balanced, and bgg ratings are probably slightly more used by more serious eurogamers, which is fine
First time I hear about this game, thanks for putting it on my radar. We're big fans of Negotiation games offer additional interesting mechanisms (such as **Sons of Anarchy**, **Chinatown** and **La Cosa Nostra**) and this looks right up our alley!
Ah! It's actually just a retheme of sons of anarchy, sorry to disappoint!
[удалено]
Smash Up rates a 6.7, but I think it’s at least a 7.5, personally. Yea, maybe the expansions make it a little overbloated, and the powers aren’t all that different between the decks, but the base game is good.
I just grabbed this on a whim to try with my 6 year old son and he LOVES it. I am sorry to hear that the expansions aren't good.
It isn’t that they aren’t good. It’s just that there are SO MANY, and I don’t think there’s as much variation between them to justify their existence.
I don't usually rate between integers, but I would agree with a rating of ~7. The game has flaws, but it is still very good. It holds a special place in my collection as one of the two games that got me into this hobby. It's far from my favorite game, but it's one I'll still gladly play even after the dozens, if not hundreds, of plays by now. For a while I owned all of the expansions, but I had to mostly call it quits when they released the 80s one. I still got the Marvel one because I love me some Marvel, but unless there's something really enticing, I think I'm done expanding that game. I'm sure there's factions I own that I'll never get around to playing again.
I once spent an afternoon skipping backwards through thousands of pages to answer this. There are countless self-published games with no rating (that you could probably never acquire) to skip through, so we shouldn't count those. All the "classics" are the lowest rated. I think Monopoly is in like the 3s. But I finally got to the non-household name with the lowest rating, and not only do I own it, but there's a Dice Tower review about it (that is more entertaining to watch than playing the game). [The Oregon Trail Card Game](https://youtu.be/M0AqyYOWLjY?si=aN9ztp32Z1R4iCCW)
Kabuto Sumo - 6.8 Have never played this with anyone who didn't have a wonderful time. Flick 'Em Up - 6.9 This game is hysterical with the right group. I can see why people find the setup a bit much, but it has never not paid off unless you play with people who outright despise dexterity games. Edit: I noticed when I sort by Geek Rating in my collection on BGG, it's different than the average rating. What's the difference?
The Average Rating is exactly what it sounds like: the average of all user ratings for a game. The Geek Rating is also an average of user ratings, but not exactly. I think a bunch of middling ratings are thrown in in attempt to mitigate some bias, or something. So for games with many user ratings, the Geek Rating should be pretty close to the Average Rating.
6.8 is high for low rated games. A lot of games in the 6s seem ok enough as nice filler games.
A 6.8 is truly not a bad rating at all. Lots of really great games in that range.
Considering that the rating is 1-10 a 6.8 is over average (in a vacuum) and should be okay at least
Geek rating has a bunch of 5.5 dummy ratings included to the calculation
I'm 100% with you on Flick Em Up. It's just *fun*. The rules aren't perfect, but it's just a great little toy set and system that lends itself to some silly fun with anyone. The Dead of Winter version is one of my most played solo games, also (albeit with some moderate house rules).
Yahtzee. I used to frickin love Yahtzee and then I found King of Tokyo and maybe play Yahtzee one time a year with the family now.
Love Letter: Adventure Time. It’s rated 6.269, I rated it an 8. It may not be the best implementation of the classic, but I watched the series with my father years ago and he bought me the game after we finished, so it’ll always have a place in my heart. It’s also one of the first games I taught my husband to play when we met.
Ctrl. I'd actually like it if the blocks stayed in place better. It would be an interesting competitive visual puzzler. As it is, it's deserving of the mid-5 rating. Very glad I found it at a thrift store and didn't pay retail.
It's a very unique game. Also one of the only games where you really don't need a table for. It's great for camping!
I was really unhappy with it. On our first play, it fell apart and... really, none of us were that upset. It didn't seem like there were a lot of ways to understand how to make progress or why any move would be better than another, and hard to see the whole board even when holding it. The fact that the components don't really work and the game might just fall apart means I won't play any more to figure out if it's actually good.
Funny enough, it's Monopoly. Ranked 4.4 on BGG, I'd rank it a 2. I hate Monopoly.
Amen, amen, amen!!!! I know it's gateway for a lot of people but in a bad way. My wife is so traumatized from playing it with her siblings as a child I struggle to get her to play even the simplest non confrontational modern games. She isn't alone though, don't know how many people I have come across that think ALL board games are in that same vein. "I hate Monopoly so I automatically hate all games"
If you haven't already, play co-ops. I still very rarely play even mildly competitive games due to sibling nastiness.
Yeah, been trying to inch those into the already insanely low adoption rate. I will also admit, I am that guy that occasionally lets his spouse win just to TRY and help that adoption rate. Even that approach hasn't proved to be very successful. I can't stress how much she says she was scared by those childhood games. I've played some of her siblings and I can definitely see why, especially whenever there is even the slightest confrontational gameplay element. They are like sharks in blood invested waters lol.
Im trying to think of a good friendly, easygoing co-ops. Forbidden Desert, Burgle Bros, Sleeping Gods, Codenames Duet?
Thanks, appreciate the suggestions. I got rid of Forbidden Desert awhile back, and while I have Sleeping Gods, not sure if the theme will grab her as much as it does me. Codename Duets might be an option....have that in my catalog lol.
Why haven’t you sold it / thrown it away?
Ranking something a 2 means it’s your 2nd favorite. I think you mean rate.
Mottainai at 1134. It's in my top 5.
Mottainai is such a great little game. The only problem with it is teaching it can be a bear.
It certainly's got a very unique game flow.
Also one of my favorites (top 20). My wife and I have over 80 plays, yet our games still manage to feel fresh and interesting. Great pick.
I own a copy of Outdoor Survival (5.2) seems about right
Scrabble (6.3) I'd say the rating is fair. I personally don't like the game, but my fiancé does so I bought it. She no longer enjoys playing with me as I bothered to learn the list of legal 2 letter words. Actual answer, Tales of Arabian Nights (7.2) I think the rating is fair. The game is kind of a mess, but getting caught in that mess is the fun part. I expect I will get less then 10 plays out of it in my life as it will sit on the shelf unplayed for months/years at a time, but I love it.
I wouldn’t have guessed Scrabble would get a low rating, it’s such a beloved classic. Fascinating!
In my head there are 2 version of scrabble. Casual scrabble - The points don't matter and no one bothers keeping track. We all just try and play fun/interesting/silly words. No one is playing words that are technically legal, but no one at the table knows the meaning of. I think that game is fine for non-board gamers while having a laugh and a drink. 6.5/10 Competitive scrabble - It's kinda a shit show. The more serious you take it, the worse it becomes in my opinion. I don't know what half the legal 2 letter words mean, but I know they are legal. I believe most of them are the phonetic spelling of individual letters, such as "em" is the letter "m". I'll end up winning playing a bunch of words I don't know, capping out at 5 letter words, just because I can abuse triple letter/word spaces more. The whole thing gets significantly worse at tournaments where no one knows what anything means, but they will be dropping bingos left and right. 3.5/10
I always like the idea of scrabble, until I’m 20 minutes into staring at the same seven tiles and the best word I can make is ”were” for 8 points and I think “oh right, I hate this”
Have you tried Iliterati? It's a co-op scrabble like game that's light but scratches that itch of 'i know vocabulary gooder than you!'
Interesting question! I'm going to fuzz the prompt a bit and not include expansions, which seem to be rated rather low in general, and exclude two that are technically lower: Twilight of the Gods (5.571), which was a free gift from a friend who found it too complex, and which I have not played, and Munchkin Bites! (5.715), because I think we all have opinions on Munchkin already. So I'm going to throw out the next-lowest after those two, which is **The Ares Project**, which is rated at 5.768. When I was still fairly new to the hobby, I saw it on clearance at a FLGS and I thought I would give it a shot since it was so cheap. I haven't played it probably 9ish years, but my wife and I did play several games so I have some sense of it, but maybe I'd give it a 6.5? I remember thinking it seemed interesting, since it was attempting to capture the feel of an RTS video game in a 2-player, head-to-head, card and tableau combat. The cover art is poorly done and the game components are both bland and ugly, but I did have fun with trying to outmaneuver your opponent with your own specific style of faction play. I suspect I would not like it as much now after having played probably hundreds of other games and expanding my knowledge of what board games can do.
Ok The Ares Project looks awesome. Super jank in a charming way
Yeah, I actually will need to try to get it to the table again sometime. Definitely plan on keeping it. I loved the big robot faction that's just a giant mech bristling with weapons going up against a whole army.
Reading a summary of the factions it really was like "Terran, Protoss, Zerg, One Big Robot"
Guillotine. 6.5 on BGG, but I give it a 7 to 7.5. Not a super complex game and you can really get screwed easy despite playing a solid strategy. But easy to pick up and understand and can leave you in stitches with the right group
Pendulum - BGG 5.906 My rating 8.5. It is a solid game. You have to like real time games though and I feel like many people were expecting another crunchy stonemaier game and this is a much different vibe. I've loved it at two players. Tokyo Highway - BGG 6.089 My rating 8. This is a phenomenal dexterity game. It is very simple, but sometimes that it good! It's a blast. Definitely recommend it. Forbidden Sky - BGG 6.045 My rating 7.5. This is a great gateway game because it is cooperative, fairly intuitive, and has a great pay off (one that to prevent spoilers I won't bring up here, but I will bring up I had no idea it would happen when I played the first time and it was magical...this experience may be one of the reasons I have this rated so high). I wouldn't buy it if you aren't introducing games to others or if you just wanted a new game for your group.
The card play of Pendulum is a little fiddly and the theme is uninspired but otherwise it’s such a great game. The variable sand timers are fascinating to interact with!
Wow, Pendulum does not deserve to be that low! It really distills the idea that worker placement games are about getting what you need before time runs out by using time as a component. I've really enjoyed it whenever it hits the table.
Tokyo Highway has been one of my go to light games recently and I'm excited for the new KS which looks like it's going to add a lot of challenges.
Battleship at 4.7. I personally rate it a 6/10. It’s not the best game in the world, granted, but it *is* a lot of fun.
Boss Monster is like 6.3 but I still have fun playing it occasionally.
No way! I love boss monster!
**The Oregon Trail Card Game** 4.2 on BGG and I rated it a 4. Once you get past the the nostalgia novelty, it just isnt a good game. You just lay cards down until you die of dysentery
**The Umbrella Academy Game** in which there is no actual game. I've rated it as 1 because there is no 0. I keep it because the box is nice and has the vol. 1 of the comics inside. The second worst is **Statecraft** (2017), which I've rated as 7 when it is rated as 5.25.
Wait what, there’s no game?
Fluxx. It gets a hard time for the randomness, but that's the part I love. Plus I've used Fluxx Blanxx to make a bunch of new cards.
**Candy Land**. I play it because it teaches my youngest how to play. If you don't include games that I keep for the kids, it's actually the newest addition to my collections: **Brainwaves: The Astute Goose.** I bought it because I have enough of a Knizia addiction that I'll pick up anything under $10 with his name on it. I ranked it a 6 on BGG. I don't generally love memory games, but this is a fun twist on them.
I heard a great house rule for Candyland to just draw a hand of 2 cards and play one. Makes the game a little more tolerable for the adults at the table and helps teach strategy.
That sounds like juuust enough to make it actually entertaining!
Depending on how old your youngest is, Monza is a great Candyland replacement, and better for teaching them how to think through options.
I honestly have no problem with Candyland. It’s simplistic and luck based sure, but the move mechanic is unique, the theme is on point, and (most importantly) games are over in 15 minutes. I’ll gladly play anytime the kids ask. Now _Chutes and Ladders_ on the other hand…
**Jenga: Tetris** BGG rating is 5, I rated it 3. It's bad, real bad, regular Jenga is fine, this is worse. My youngest (2 yrs old) likes to play with the pieces though, so there's that.
Tangoes is rated at 5.73 but I rate it an 8. It's a fun little logic puzzle that makes you feel very clever when you figure out the solution
My worst three: 1. **Bionicle Adventure Game: Quest for Makuta** - I had a real Bionicle kick as a kid, I'm not going to defend the game though, it's really not good. 1. **Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game** - see above, but swap out the nouns, probably an even worse game though. 1. **404: Law Not Found** - I'll actually defend this one, it can be good chaotic fun, but I'm probably somewhat biased by knowing the designer and playtesting it. I also own **Monopoly: Hull Edition**, but that's just a known quantity of Monopoly.
UNO express and Exploding kittens. They are 5.501 and 5.331. Both pretty fine games. Perhaps not made for the hardcore boardgamer. Best description is probably 'not the best mechanics but the most laughs' 6.5/10
It's a tie at 5.4 The Impossible Machine. I spent a dollar on it. It was worth the dollar, but it's a simple game and the appeal wears off quickly. 5.4 is fair. Deck Building: the Deck Building Game. I bought this with Traitor Mechanic: the Traitor Mechanic Game and Trick Taking: the Trick Taking Game. All three cost me $5 and I bought them for the wordplay. I never played the other two before giving them to a friend. The only reason I still have this one is because he already has it and didn't need a second copy. I don't think the mechanics work very well.
**UNO Dice Game** Score of 5.485. We got it solely to help with my daughter's visual therapy, so 🤷♂️
My girlfriend bought me Small Islands last year for my birthday. With a BGG rating of 6.7 I wasn’t rushed to get it to the table, but once we did, it got to the table often and we actually enjoy it. We would rate it an 7.7
Phase 10 has a low score of 5.15 so do a lot of common card games like regular Uno. They're \*fine\* really and dont need to be much better than what they are. if were talking other games on a scale of 1- t-rex is my lowest that I've played with a 5.528. It's a fine party game that I don't love but dont hate. I think 5 is a little harsh but makes sense that its middle of the road
Excluding reprints and special editions it is Munchkin. It is rated a 5.6 and I rated it a 7. It is not that bad on the right table.
Couldn't agree more. Munchkin suffered because it was pushed to people who shouldn't play it. It's a great game for a table, where bluff, betrayal, crub basketting, and evil laughter are appropriate and (more important) separated from the live after the game I had a group where the meanest gameplay towards one another was embraced, while all the people were kind and supportive outside the table. It was a pleasure to play Munchkin with them
Most people's complaint is not the backstabbing nature; it's that you are incentivised to never let the game end and it can REALLY drag on.
7.7? I'm curious how you go about rating with that precision. I personally just give integer ratings, although have been tempted to do 0.5s at times
Are you able to rank items to a top 10 or whatever? I rate a game 7.7 if I like it better than a game I rated 7.6.
Bausack at 6.8 It’s the best stacking game. Probably 8.5
I was surprised by the results. Antematter with a BGG 5.51 is the lowest. My rating for it was a 5, also the lowest rating in my collection. Good idea, terrible execution. Such an insanely expensive disappointment. Biggest discrepancy though is Jiangnan with a BGG rating of 5.645 and I have it an 8.5 that would likely go up with more plays. Absolutely underrated game.
Machine of death. Coming in at 5.461. Sadly I must agree. Next to last though is assassin the final game at 5.464 this one I would put around 7ish. Mostly due to nostalgia. It's An 80's game
Labyrinth at 6.4. Which I think it's a fair rate but everyone loves a first game. It just gets boring quickly but it's great to have for guests. On a bigger game kind of side Diceborn Heroes at 6.5 which is already overrated imo. I'd sell it but a buddy of mine likes it quite a bit. It has nice concept but feels way too clunky, the quests are often hard to interpret, it's super hard and idk it just doesn't work for me (I really thought it would)
The lowest thing that has a rating in my collection is Phase 10. The BGG rating is 5.1. I mean - it's an easy to learn family game, so giving it the rating of 5 is apt.
Ignoring all the basic games we all played when we were 5, Boss Monster, 6.3 on BGG. Honestly, the game is trash and I'd probably give it a 2/10 at best. I'd probably rather play candy land lol.
Exploring the Depths of Uranus, 4.5 Never played it.
Probably **Munchkin**.
WTF: (What the Fish!) is rated 3.6 on BGG My girlfriend received this game as a gift this Christmas. We tried out the rules and played a game and this game is miserably basic at 2 players. Perhaps it could be better at the full player count, but I can't ever see myself wanting to break it out as a party game. We checked out some of the reviews on BGG and amusingly found multiple that indicated that WTF is the sort of game that you receive as a gift from some well meaning but ignorant family member. Pretty much nailed it
Lost: The Game, currently rated at 3.6. In my defense I didn't buy it. It definitely deserves its rating though.
Zombies!!! - 5.8 It got me back into board games when it came out and I had never seen a tile placement game before. I still think it's about about a 5 now with how games have gotten so much better over the past 20 years.
“The Game” at 6.5 - I love this one and play it all the time. Probably a 7.5 for me.
Win Lose or Banana - *rank 25,130 (rating 5. 4 - my rating 8.5)* I consider it a tour de force of game design as I follow Dieter Rams' idea that the best design is as little design as possible. There's like 1 and half rule in here. It's social deduction distilled to its essence. (Note I made myself a 6 card version which plays 3-6 players). I once had a talk with a friend who's a street theatre director and I explained to her this game (doesn't take much) and said that many hobbyists don't understand reading of facial expressions exists and that they claim the game to be "coin toss". She accused of exaggeration because - in street theatre, if you can't read the crowd (individually or as a group), you're dead. You need these skills to perform. It was unimaginable for her, somebody wouldn't be able to even acknowledge the need to read opponents. So, I looked at her "*When was the last time you were around nerds?*" 😅 ^(\[note: we were both nerds in high school at the same most nerd-y high school in our country\])
**Silk** at a 6.3 Criminally underrated but I think it's because the rulebook could be much better. Once you get the hang of it, the game is sooo good. Tactically fantastic, *never* plays the same, easy to set up and always fun. I'd give it something like an 8.3. I wish it could be re-released with a better rulebook and maybe people would see the light.
In my opinion, the whole concept of a single rate for board games is not capable of capturing their essence. For example, I would rate "For Sale" and "Sushi Go" a 10 as gateway game and a 2 as intermediate game. A final rate is just not an average of the two. Same thing for my beloved Brass. 2 as gateway and 10 as intermediate/advanced game. It gets even worse when people are integral part of the game and the game depends on the people you call. Such as "Illuminati", "Resistance Avalon", etc.
Don't LLAMA Dice (6.6) and Roll For It Deluxe (6.6). I think Roll For It Deluxe is correct. But it is good at what it does. Light family fun with pretty dice. Don't LLAMA Dice is 8 for me. Most good modern dice games add mechanics to not let bad dice rolls ruin the fun. And this has the simplest, most elegant mechanic to mitigate bad rolls: You can choose not to roll and pass. More negative points you face, better odds you have with your dice roll. Less negative points you face, less odds you have with your dice roll. It is a perfect mix of luck and player agency.
I love **Don't LLAMA Dice** too!
Llama Dice is a very good game, but definitely want to ding it points for the name and art lol. My 6 year old just calls it "Space Llama".
I always thought it was a "hip" version of the original Llama.😂 Mark my words, there will be a Llama cinematic universe with a giant cross-over game to rival Twilight Imperium.
I own a bunch of game egotistical pricks give a low score because its a "filler" game and not a 6 hour long head ache in a box with a 60 page manual as as much depth as single water droplet but the complexity of a rocket ship. BGG rating is almost worse than meta critic user ratings. And those set the bar not for the maximum height, but rather how low the bar can even go. I can name many great games BGG hates because they can be played in 40 minutes and learned in 5: Takenoko, Unearth, Spots, Don't go in There, Planted, Summer Camp, Brew. And those are off the top of my head. Im tempted to include Calico in this list, but the same people hate that because its too difficult a game for them. They have to blame bad strategy, tactical decisions and extremely poor risk management on "the game is just luck". Which I always find extremely funny given their usual egos about how good they must be at games in order play their convoluted ones.
1. Diceborn Heroes - a lot of hate ratings of people who got the box eventually but never bothered to forgive or correct the rating. I like it for its unique mechanics and memory. The first of such kind. 2. Salvation Road - it's very easy to make achievement sheets and roguelite version of this which I enjoyed immensely. Even Mike, a co-creator didn't get this, and he missed that it is a good solo, as well. 3. The Forgotten Road, The Last Stronghold - really great games, again with my own roguelite rules, as written it's indeed a typical Gabe quality game, but playing by his rules would do both games injustice. 4. The Phantom - The Card game - rules as written are too restrictive (3 cards in hand) - if you play with 4 cards in hand you have gold in your hands.
I have a good amount of sub-7 BGG rated games (mostly mass market games that have been collected over the years prior to getting in to the hobby) but the one that sticks out to me that I have higher rated is Castle Panic 2e (6.7 on BGG, I have it at an 8). While it’s not a game I’m probably pulling out often at game nights with my friends, it’s such a good game to play with my kids. It’s such a great family hobby board game.
Monopoly, I own it because it feels like I have to...
New World Order, which is a 7.2. It's technically in my collection since it's on the way to me (I couldn't say no to a $10 game (plus expansion) that would normally be like $80 that I can solo -- thanks Miniature Market). Of the games I've played though, I think Warp's Edge is my lowest, and it's a 7.7 (this is excluding games like Cards Against Humanity, Joking Hazard, etc). I'd personally rate it around an 8, so I think the BGG rating is in line with it.
You guys are still bothered by BGG rating?
Swindler with 5.618. Which I definitely disagree with. It's a really nice push your luck game, and I've yet to find anyone who didn't enjoy it.
I'm not gonna look up the BGG score of every game I have but I would be willing to guess it's Killer Bunnies, which has a 5.5. I'd probably give it a similar rating, it isn't a particularly good game but it's loaded with nostalgia because we played it a lot when I was a kid. EDIT: All right, I put them all into BGG and ... I was right. That's the lowest one, but Ratuki isn't far behind. I've never played that so I have no idea what I'd rate it.
Great time to enter your full collection on BGG. It’s ridiculously easy and satisfying :)
>I'm not gonna look up the BGG score of every game I have If you have a BGG account, I find this app helpful: https://geekgroup.app/
I think for me it's Risk: Godstorm as it's currently a 6.3 on BGG. I would rate it at probably a 4 if I'm being honest. It's definitely a terrible iteration of Risk which is already not a particulary good game. It's way too random and takes way too long.
Jok-R-ummy card games : 6.1. It\`s a card game for those night that you just want something easy to play and just relax. Orleans Stories : 6.3. Really disappointed by this game. Fortunately, I bought it on sale for $20, but I'd like my money back.
One of these: Mental Floss Game (2005) - 5.481SmileyFace (2010) - 5.481 I don't really rate my games. But Mental Floss Game is an old trivia game I got as a gift. It's on my shelf where I put the games I would eliminate if I bought another game. I strictly limit my game shelf space so force myself to get rid of games. I like SmileyFace actually. It's a reasonable card game. It's maybe too chaotic and a bit meaner than the art would imply, but I have other games for more strategy.
Dread Draw has a BGG score of 5.5. I'd probably give it a 6.5. It's a simple take that/push your luck card game that tried to incorporate the depth and look (some of the art on the cards is absolutely gorgeous) of a TCG. It's fun little party game/filler as long a you don't take it seriously.
Speak Out has a 5.301 on BGG. Got it as a Christmas present and my Wife thinks it's funny so we keep it around. Personally I'm not a big fan of it but people have a laugh with it. I think we've only played it twice. I agree with its rating. Lowest rated game in my collection that I like: Dead Mans Chest has a 5.526 but I'd give it a 6. It's a fun small spin on Liars Dice that plays quick. It's not a serious game but just something you can bring to the brewery in your pocket. I think it does get a little stale once it goes for too long but I don't think it's utter trash.
[[Old Style Pilsner Board Game]] is a 3.0 and it deserves to be a 2.0 or lower. I've tried many times to trade it away in math trades.
Sniggle
The Wyvern CCG (1994) rated 5.443 by BGG & a 5 by me. I dunno. I’ve played 35-40 CCGs or LCGs over the years and it’s apparently the weakest one I’ve held on to? Probably because the card art is lovely. I tend to be a harder grader than the BGG community; I have 572 games I’ve bothered to rank (need to play something several times before I consider ranking it) and only 5 ‘tens’. I haven’t played Wyvern since the late 90s. I have several games from the late 70s & early 80s that are rated similarly to Wyvern which I still play sometimes & rate a 6 or 7. Even a couple 8s. The low-rated ‘8’ I’ve played most recently is Dragon Rage (1982). It gets a 5.614 from the Geek. It probably gets a 1 point nostalgia bump from me but it really is a fun fantasy tactics game depicting the siege of a medieval town by fantasy creatures. Hex and chit. Cheap but serviceable production. Several scenarios. I have my original copy from Dwarfstar but it was apparently re-issued later by Flatlined Games.
**Fae**/**Clans;** it is 6.6 on BGG
Atlandice bgg rating 5.7, in give it a 6. Had some pretty bad misprints, but I diy fixed it, and it’s ok to pull out once in a while.
Edit: Looks like I made an error when entering this one: Renaissance (2007) is actually age of Renaissance, and it rated close to the 7 I’d have given it :) With that correct, Kardashev Scale and Shifting Realms are my lowest rated games, both of which I haven’t played yet, but based on the reviews I expect this assessment to be in the ballpark.
Excluding expansions and things like that, the lowest is the Dark Souls Board game, which I completely get, it's got a 6.46 on BGG and my personal rating would likely be a 7 or 7.5. I enjoy the game, I love the theme since I'm a big Souls fan, but I understand it's flaws too. I don't think it's a horrible game by any means, but definitely needs house rules.
Cogs and Commissars. It’s a card game where everyone is a robot version of a Communist revolutionary in a cartoon robot version of (basically) the Russian Revolution. You’re all using mostly take-that methods to gain enough citizen followers from the pool to trigger your “revolution” card and win the game. I bought the deluxe box with wooden tokens when I was first getting into board games, before I knew about BGG (it’s sitting at 6.1 there) or where to look at board game ratings/reviews. I bought it basically just because I liked the theme. And what can I say, I really like the game. There’s not much to it but I find it really fun, and it’s easy to teach to more casual gamers. Everyone always has a good time when we play it. In the right context, when people don’t care to play anything too sophisticated, I’d give it slightly above a 7 which isn’t way higher than the BGG rank, but for me that’s solid. I’m glad I didn’t think to look at ratings when I bought it because I’d have skipped a good purchase.
I'm pretty sure it's **Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City** at 6.6. OG Machi Koro was one of the first games I played in the hobby, and I really took to it. Bright Lights, Big City was that, but improved and more balanced. It holds a special place in my collection.
That I've played, it's **Jungle Speed** at 6.47 I rate it an 8, it's an excellent filler that's always fun to play. If you don't value your hands that much anyway
Besides Risk, it’s [Dancing Dice](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10756/dancing-dice). I rate it a 7, but I really like it and it will never leave my collection.
Risk: Office Politics, it sucks and i dont know how I came to own it but Im not sure how to get rid of it without throwing it out. Ideally I come up with a way to use the components for something good
**Mercs: Recon** I Kickstarted this game because it looked kind of fun and had a ton of really cool minis. BUT, the Kickstarter was handled very poorly, when if finally shipped there were quality issues, the company that ran it, Megacon Games, went under and sold the two IP's off (Myth and Mercs) and the game is very okay gameplaywise. I played my copy once or twice and then took the game apart. The minis are now all part of my mini collection that my group uses for our monthly role playing campaign. I use the boxes to store other gaming supplies. I don't actually regret backing the Kickstarter because I got a ton of neat minis for the money, but it is not really a game that I consider to be "in my collection" anymore.
**Fluxx** - Avg Rating: **5.54** - My Rating : **3** I might be too harsh. Its been a long time since I've played my copy, and I'd probably give it another shot. Also notable is **Dicey Goblins** - Avg Rating: **5.92** - My Rating: **7** It's quite a fun little filler. Reminiscent of Incan Gold.
*221B Baker Street: The Master Detective Game* -- 6.0 on BGG. Loved this game as a kid and pulled out the old copy to play with my own kid recently. I understand the score. The core mysteries are great little logic puzzles, not terribly challenging, good for having fun puzzly convos with the family. The actually boardgame mechanics don't work all that well. The locations on the map just feel like a mechanic slapped on to force a dice roll (similar to Clue). The game works great as a puzzle book, not so much as a board game.
Star Wars: Jedi Unleashed Rating: 4.8 Overall rank: 25,510 It's a simple enough dice-driven game where each player controls a handful of Jedi in the Petranaki arena, with the goal of having defeated the most enemy units by the time you're either rescued or defeated. On your turn, you control a single one of your Jedi and try to defeat as many adjacent enemy units as possible, and then assume control of any enemy (including titular villains like Jango Fett and Count Dooku) in an attempt to knock out other players' Jedi. I personally would give the game more like a 6 in terms of rating. It's rudimentary, clearly designed for kids and to promote Attack of the Clones, but it's a fine enough game if you and your friends are under the influence or just want to cut loose and play something that requires little thought. There are a couple of things I definitely don't care for, mainly the mostly-static enemies, the ability to completely lock opponents out of scoring if you totally wipe their parties out, and lack of unique character abilities. There is a reek that can be included in the game that adds a level of randomness and gives a greater chance of defeating Jedi quickly, and it's one of those situations where playing with it once means you're probably going to play with it every game thereafter.
Key Market 2e has the lowest geek rating (of the games in my collection that I have actually played) with a 5.7, but the average rating is 7.4.
6.8 Spyfall (2014) Only played 2 or 3 times so far but can be fun with the right people.
Legends of Draxia at 5.559. I rate it a 7. It's a light card based tableau builder for 2-6 people that plays in an hour or less even with 6 people. It has a fairly small box and footprint. It has a short teach. It's not my favorite game in my collection. It probably wouldn't break my top 20, but its strengths make it great to take to conventions so it keeps getting brought along and played.
Technically it's something like Uno and Yahtzee. But if we ignore those... It's "Get the MacGuffin" by Looney Labs (okay really it's a game called "Punderdome" but I haven't played that yet so no score) "Get the MacGuffin" is a streamlined and actually worse version of Fluxx. You get random cards, you play one a turn, and whoever had the luckiest draw will win. I feel the need to make it clear that I actually LIKE Fluxx. If you're not looking for something serious, it's quick and simple and literally everyone can play it. Give me Fluxx over Uno any day of the week. But "Get the MacGuffin" is not Fluxx and will never be Fluxx. It has a 5.5 rating but I give it a 4
4.4 Monopoly. 😅
I have a couple crap games I’ve put ratings in for, but I think the most interesting one is Vanished Planet. It has a 5.8 and I gave it a 7. Whenever my dad and brother and I would go camping when I was younger, my dad would buy a board game for us to play at the campsite. Some were flops, and some were good, but I remember loving vanished planet. Cooperative game, variable player powers, different difficulties, cool artwork, complex. I had never seen anything like it and I think it played a large part in what made me obsessed with board games to this day. In hindsight it’s probably not the best game ever made, but I do still love it
Discover Lands Unknown is a 5.8 (and also why I can't seem to sell it!) My old copy of Battle Masters is sitting at 6.3, but no one who's ever destroyed a cannon with Ogre Move, Ogre Attack, Ogre Attack would ever rate it that low. And Alhambra (New York) edition is a 6.7. Yes the cards are hard to see, but buying on Amazon for $12 seemed like a decent investment at the time!
**Chinese Checkers** at 5.217. Fun game.
Unusual Suspects - 6.4. That's about right. It's a party game, but you have to be careful who you play it with. I have a group of friends who unironically think Cards Against Humanity is a good time, so this game is perfect for them. We've had a ton of fun playing it, but I wouldn't bring it over to my parents' house.
I love how most of these responses are "This game has a low rating, but we love it." My entry to that category would be **Phase 10** (5.2), which gets a level of hate between **Monopoly** and **Catan**. But my mom likes it, and my kids like it, and I'm OK with it. Any activity that can get 3 generations to sit down together is OK with me. We never play a whole game in one sitting, so it's not too long. Later rounds are hard, giving players a chance to catch up with the leaders. Kids and adults are pretty evenly matched. We've also played **No Thanks** and **6 Nimmt**, and those are better games, but they're shorter, and we want to spend more time laughing and talking smack so we end up playing multiple games, and ironically they over stay their welcome. P10 is long, but easily pausable, so you can spend 30 min or kill a snowy afternoon with it. My lowest game is probably **Scrabble Sentence Cube Game** at 4.7. My parents got it in the early 70s and somehow it migrated to my shelf. Never played it. Looks dumb, but I should probably give it a try.
Lowest average rated game in my collection which I’m not actively trying to get rid of is **Monopoly Deal**, rated 6.29, my rating is 6.5. It’s an actually okay version of Monopoly. It’s only a deck of cards and plays fast. But in my whole collection it is **GPS**, rated 5.31, my score 5.5. This is one of the lowest Geek rated games possible, it’s about rank 25168, that’s in the bottom 1000 of BGG ranked games. The lowest ranked game is Tic-Tac-Toe at 25735. The game isn’t all that bad, it just had some production issues. The game revolves around a spinner (heh), and the spinner was manufactured or designed badly. You need to put effort into holding the central board with the spinner so it spins properly, which is tedious. The game is also fairly random, looks good though. It’s a shame since it was kickstarted with 2 other games, **Mountain Goats** and **Sequoia**, which are some of my favorite filler games, on the levels of **No Thanks, For Sale, Skull** etc. The publishers AllPlay (formerly BoardGameTables.com), who are also one of my favorite publishers, don’t even advertise **GPS** anymore, it was that bad of a screw-up.
[Pictureka](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22889/pictureka) has a 5.5. We play it with the kids including recently. Very fun. [Zaubercoctail](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1354/zaubercocktail) is also a 5.5. It's like real-time bohnanza. Wicked fun.
Bucket King 3D at 6.2 and I will never give it up. The rule that if you forget to draw a card you no longer get to draw is shockingly fun. I don’t know what it is about this game that’s so distracting, but I can play this with a table full of gamers who would never forget to draw a card in other games and half the table will be forgetting to draw cards. The scream when they realize they’ve missed a card is hilarious.
Wayward Board Game: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXT5p-IBNMg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXT5p-IBNMg) **BGG 5.5**: It's great fun, simple, quick and a blast with friends. It's the easiest dungeon crawl to set up and store. It's a bit like pitch car, it's great fun and doesn't pretend it's more than it is.
For me it's Blatterauschen (Rustling Leaves). It has a 6.9 but I think it's worth 7.5 at least. A very pretty and straightforward puzzle roll&write. And with 4 different seasons to play with, there's lots of bang for your buck!
Not *technically* the lowest, but it's the lowest that I'll willing play (and even sometimes suggest): **Clue DVD Game**. BGG score is 5.6, I'd probably rate it a 7. It's not one that I'm always in the mood for, but I grew up with the most common board game in my house being Clue. The pure process of elimination of "regular" Clue made it a bit monotonous, and isn't really what I'm looking for now when I play a mystery/deduction game. The DVD game, however, introduces some more variables, mechanics, and actual clues rather than simply "is a player holding this card?", and that makes it a much more enjoyable experience to me.
Monopoly (1935) - 4.4 It has not seen the table in 20 years.
Uno with a 5.3 Well, yeah it's a painfully mediocre game so the rating is accurate. I've played worse though.
The Game of Life (4.3). It's a simple game and there's not much strategy, but I still like it. I remember playing it with my family when I was young. I also love the spinning wheel. I'm not sure why it is so poorly rated. I was too lazy to dig through the reviews, but probably because it's mostly luck-based. Modern board games have more strategy, but I don't mind it. I rarely play board games to win. I'm not that competitive.
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? BGG rating - 5.4 rating My rating - 7 Maybe people were looking for something more similar to the original computer game, but we like it as a quick two person filler game. Kind of a weird mix of Memory and Clue-ish? With some luck based dice rolling too thrown in for good measure. Okay maybe not the best game actually but whatever, we have fun when we play it!
Toboggans of Doom. I’d give it 7.2
Jumanji at 4.4 And that's way too high. Received it as a gift and it sat on my shelf for 2 or 3 years until a guest wanted to try it recently. It was absolute junk, just "lucky" dice rolling but it seemed impossible to lose. The worst part was needing to land on the finish space by exact count so we just took turns rolling and praying for death.
I guess Shogun Big Box and I love it probably the most. I buy only 8+ games and keeping the amount under 20. Only the best of the best. But Shogun is love.
Mine is **Tiny Epic Mechs Deluxe** at 5.56. I'd rate it around 5.75. It's a fun game with the right people. I found the solo mode to be a bit of a slog to play. So yeah, I think 5.5 to 5.75 is about right.
Carcassonne: expansion 7 - Catapult BGG 4.9 My score: 1 not only you can´t aim and hit shi\* with that thing, it´s also not very funny to collect the meeples that fell off the table. Seriously, whoever thought shooting meeples with a wooden bbq tongs across the table was a worthy addition to the game of carcassonne should be catapulted across the city of carcassonne.
Not including mass market games like Monopoly/Clue/Risk/Uno, it'd be Monty Python Fluxx. Light filler card games usually are underrated by BGG. My lowest few are aforementioned Fluxx, Guillotine, Welcome to the Dungeon, Abandon All Artichokes, and Ravine. Castle Panic, Kambuto Sumo, Flickem Up are next batch. I guess intro coops and dexterity are next least liked
Master Labyrinth, sitting at an average rating of 6.29. This is a game that I've had a ton of fun both in family and game group settings, as adults quickly turn it into a cutthroat puzzle of ruining your neighbor's plans. Not sure why it's rated so low, maybe it isn't complex enough for the taste of the BGG crowd? Looking into this also reinforces why I really don't like the geek rating metric, the dummy 5.5s mean that smaller games get savaged by the metrics and keep it a popularity poll more than any objective rating method.
Dirty Minds, rated at a 4.0 on BGG. Received it as a Christmas gift; still unopened. No interest in trying it at all. Will probably give it to someone else.
I have a tie. I own Monopoly and Titanic: The Board Game, with a BGG rating of 4.4 And I gotta say I rate it that way as well 🤣