{"id":16777,"date":"2019-12-13T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=16777"},"modified":"2024-01-18T23:31:26","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T05:31:26","slug":"the-100-most-important-board-games-of-the-2010s","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/the-100-most-important-board-games-of-the-2010s\/","title":{"rendered":"The 100 Most Important Board Games of the 2010s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The last decade has seen more board games designed and manufactured than any other point in history. From the smallest card game to the most densely packed box of Kickstarter excess, today\u2019s tabletop world owes so much to the games that came before.<\/p>\n<p>The entries in this list have been selected for reasons as diverse as the games themselves, but efforts were made to highlight innovation, popularity, and games that had a particularly strong impact on those that followed and the industry as a whole. Please join us as we explore The 100 Most Important Board Games of the 2010s, and why they matter in 2019.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#top-100\">100 to 91<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-90\">90 to 81<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-80\">80 to 71<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-70\">70 to 61<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-60\">60 to 51<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-50\">50 to 41<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-40\">40 to 31<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-30\">30 to 21<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-20\">20 to 11<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#top-10\">10 to 1<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"top-100\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16787 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"259\" data-wp-pid=\"16787\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91-300x106.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91.png?size=528x187&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91-600x213.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 730w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 730px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 730\/259;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16787\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"259\" data-wp-pid=\"16787\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91-300x106.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91.png?size=528x187&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91-600x213.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/100-91.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>100 to 91<\/h2>\n<h3>#100: Imperial Settlers (2014)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Imperial Settlers<\/i>, a reimplementation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/ignacy-trzewiczek\/\">Ignacy Trzewiczek<\/a>\u2019s <i>51st State<\/i> (2010), is a civilization and engine-building card game in which players control one of four factions to build their empire. The goofy and inviting artwork in <i>Imperial Settlers<\/i> has certainly helped the game\u2019s appeal, in the very least to disguise how aggressive and interactive it can be for such a mechanically Euro game.<\/p>\n<p>Since its release, there have been six <i>Imperial Settlers<\/i> expansions that add more cards, new factions, and changes to gameplay, as well as a standalone game, <i>Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North<\/i> (2019). The game has also received the roll and write treatment with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/imperial-settlers-roll-write-review-empire-building-is-dicey-business\/\"><i>Imperial Settlers: Roll &amp; Write<\/i><\/a> (2019). All signs point to no slowing down for the Imperial Settlers franchise.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/imperial-settlers\/\">Read our review of Imperial Settlers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#99: A Few Acres of Snow (2011)<\/h3>\n<p><i>A Few Acres of Snow<\/i> is a card-driven wargame for two players fighting for control of North America. One player leads the French empire, the other takes charge of the British. While <i>A Few Acres of Snow<\/i> is by its nature a wargame of area control and player conflict, the main gameplay mechanism is deck-building. Players must decide the direction in which they want to lead their empire\u2014 and their strategy\u2014 by adding cards to their deck.<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/martin-wallace\/\">Martin Wallace<\/a> combined the theme and elements of a wargame with the more euro-style mechanism of deck-building, he created a special crossover appeal that would make the game attractive to those outside the wargaming bubble. <i>A Few Acres of Snow<\/i> blurred the lines of what makes a traditional wargame, opening the door for games like <i>Root<\/i> (2018) to find their own audience in the years that would follow.<\/p>\n<h3>#98: Fireball Island (2018)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07GN1F11X?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51VBGK20nbL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Restoration Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul Kar\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51VBGK20nbL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Restoration Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul Kar\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07GN1F11X?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><i>Fireball Island<\/i>\u2019s iconic moulded plastic board and marble-driven action made it a cult classic, with used copies of the 1986 original retailing for hundreds of dollars online. In 2018, the game would be brought back to life by Restoration Games, a studio specializing in updating and revitalizing games whose licenses have fallen by the wayside.<\/p>\n<p>Almost more important than the gameplay is what <i>Fireball Island<\/i> stood for: the wonder of a childhood toy, lovingly recreated into something that would still be fun for the grown-ups who remembered it. This title would become the crown jewel for Restoration Games, which has continued their relentless pursuit of retro-chic with games like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/conspiracy-the-solomon-gambit-review-ive-got-a-sneaking-suspicion\/\"><i>Conspiracy: The Solomon Gambit<\/i><\/a> (2019) and, soon, <i>Return to Dark Tower<\/i> (2020).<\/p>\n<h3>#97: Dungeon Petz (2011)<\/h3>\n<p>A heavy strategy game that contrasts cute theme with complex mechanisms, <i>Dungeon Petz<\/i> is best known as the sequel to <i>Dungeon Lords <\/i>(2009). While sequels were not unheard of in the board game industry\u2014 famous examples include <i>Elfenland <\/i>(1998) and <i>Tikal II<\/i> (2010)\u2014 <i>Dungeon Petz <\/i>was part of an early wave of board game sequels that would become increasingly more popular over the course of the decade. The success of <i>Dungeon Petz <\/i>and games like it would open the door for other well-known sequels, including <i>Caverna<\/i> (2012), <i>Forbidden Desert<\/i> (2013), <i>Gaia Project <\/i>(2017) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/altiplano-review-a-bag-building-sequel\/\"><i>Altiplano<\/i><\/a> (2017).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/dungeon-petz\/\">Read our review of Dungeon Petz<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#96: Innovation (2010)<\/h3>\n<p>In some ways, the name says it all: <i>Innovation<\/i> is a game that wasn\u2019t afraid to try new things. Released in 2010, <i>Innovation<\/i> was Carl Chudyk\u2019s second major success, proving that it was indeed possible to follow up the cult hit <i>Glory to Rome <\/i>(2005).<\/p>\n<p><i>Innovation<\/i> is a card game in which players must build a growing tableau of technologies as their civilizations mature. The game would help define what Chudyk has become known for: highly interactive decks packed full of powerful cards that can all be cleverly broken and exploited. <i>Innovation<\/i> would open the door for Chudyk\u2019s equally experimental designs that would follow, including <i>Impulse<\/i> (2013), <i>Red7<\/i> (2014), and <i>Mottainai<\/i> (2015).<\/p>\n<h3>#95: World of Yo-Ho (2016)<\/h3>\n<p>In the years since 2010, many games have begun to integrate apps as part of their play experience. Whether the app tracks your inventory, moderates your game, or checks your answers, one thing generally remains true: the focal point is not the phone, but the software behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>The same can\u2019t be said for <i>World of Yo-Ho<\/i>, which asks players to put their phones right on the board. Each device displays a different player\u2019s ship, and is moved around the board like a pawn. <i>World of Yo-Ho<\/i> is at its heart a pick-up and deliver game, with exploration and combat mechanisms tying things together.<\/p>\n<p>With its quiet Kickstarter, cutesy theme, and unabashed digital integration, <i>World of Yo-Ho <\/i>slipped by most people unnoticed. Still, the game\u2019s choices would foreshadow the innovations to come, with titles like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/chronicles-of-crime-preview-initial-thoughts-watch-out-sherlock\/\"><i>Chronicles of Crime<\/i><\/a> (2018) and <i>Beyond Humanity: Colonies<\/i> (2020) blurring the line between video game and tabletop even further.<\/p>\n<h3>#94: Speak Out (2016)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Speak Out <\/i>is not a great game. Or a good game. You could make the argument that <i>Speak Out<\/i>, designer uncredited, is not even a hygienic game. The premise: players insert a plastic mouthpiece into their mouth and struggle to articulate words and phrases around it. Their friends try to guess what they\u2019re saying. It\u2019s a party game, and a fairly unremarkable one. But what <i>Speak Out <\/i>represents is a broader strategic shift from the shareholders at game giant Hasbro.<\/p>\n<p>See, one thing that <i>Speak Out<\/i> excels at is making money (or at least it did, before sales declined in 2019). It does this by creating viral moments: something that catches attention and, whether the game is worth playing or not, will look just appetizing enough on the shelf for people to buy a copy. This has become emblematic of Hasbro\u2019s recent marketing strategy. As an example of the dragon the publisher is chasing: one of the largest successes for Hasbro this decade was <i>Pie Face <\/i>(1964), which was republished in the late 2010s to meet huge sales when videos of people getting a pie in the face began to go viral.<\/p>\n<p>Hasbro has attempted to use their flagship brands to repeat these sales successes, with titles like <i>Monopoly: Socialism<\/i> (2019), <i>Ms. Monopoly<\/i> (2019) and <i>Monopoly: Longest Game Ever<\/i> (2019) all acting as deliberate attempts to stir controversy and garner the public eye. While these will individually be footnotes in tabletop history, the broader marketing strategy they represent may have impacts that are yet to be realized.<\/p>\n<h3>#93: Camel Up (2014)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09KWZMXLX?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51s1JbcSAnL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Camel Up (Second Edition) | Strategy , Dice Game | Family Board Game for Adults and Kids | Ages 8 and up | 3 to 8 Players | Average Playtime 30-45 Minutes | Made by Eggertspiele\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51s1JbcSAnL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Camel Up (Second Edition) | Strategy , Dice Game | Family Board Game for Adults and Kids | Ages 8 and up | 3 to 8 Players | Average Playtime 30-45 Minutes | Made by Eggertspiele\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09KWZMXLX?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/top-six\/top-6-games-with-animals\/\"><i>Camel Up<\/i><\/a> is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/tag\/spiel-des-jahres\/\">Spiel des Jahres<\/a>-winning camel racing game for 2 to 8 players. In spite of winning the SdJ award in 2014, <i>Camel Up<\/i> is a fairly ordinary board game\u2014 high player count and cool components aside. So in some ways, it isn\u2019t <i>Camel Up<\/i>\u2019s game design that earns it a spot on this list, but the controversy the game stirred up after its release.<\/p>\n<p>What probably began as an innocent graphic design choice turned into a heated debate amongst board gamers around the world: was the game\u2019s title <i>Camel <\/i><b><i>Up<\/i><\/b> or <i>Camel <\/i><b><i>Cup<\/i><\/b>?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16799\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16799\" style=\"width: 525px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16799 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/camel-cup.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"207\" data-wp-pid=\"16799\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/camel-cup-300x118.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/camel-cup.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 525w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 525px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 525\/207;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16799\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/camel-cup.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"207\" data-wp-pid=\"16799\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/camel-cup-300x118.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/camel-cup.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 525w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16799\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Camel (C)up?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Regardless of all the evidence favouring the game title \u201c<i>Camel Up<\/i>\u201d\u2014 can you tell what side we\u2019re on?\u2014 many remained unconvinced. It wasn\u2019t until four years later, in 2018, when publisher eggertspiele released a stunning new version with shiny new cover art, that gamers finally agreed on the game\u2019s title: <i>Camel Up<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-love-camel-up-second-edition\/\">Find out why we love Camel Up<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#92: Burgle Bros. (2015)<\/h3>\n    <!-- error code: TL -->\n\n<p>A cooperative game by designer Tim Fowers, <i>Burgle Bros.<\/i> was an early entry in a wave of crime-themed board games that would dot the board game landscape in the late 2010\u2019s. In <i>Burgle Bros.<\/i>, players must move through the three floors of a tower, budgeting their stealth tokens carefully as they inch towards their escape helicopter.<\/p>\n<p>Fowers would go on to find success with other quirky designs like <i>Fugitive <\/i>(2017) and <i>Hardback<\/i> (2018), a spin on his 2014 hit <i>Paperback<\/i>. The wave of crime games foreshadowed by <i>Burgle Bros.<\/i> would continue with titles such as <i>Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game <\/i>(2018), <i>Chronicles of Crime <\/i>(2018), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/getaway-driver-review-or-how-to-burn-rubber-with-cardboard\/\"><i>Getaway Driver<\/i><\/a> (2019) and <i>Escape Plan<\/i> (2019).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/burgle-bros\/\">Read our review of Burgle Bros<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#91: Skull (2011)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Skull<\/i>, originally published as <i>Skulls &amp; Roses<\/i>, is the perfect bar game. A twist on <i>Liar\u2019s Dice <\/i>(c. 1500s), <i>Skull<\/i> manages to use even fewer components than the original. The game could be played with a deck of 52, or with a handful of coasters at the local bar. But in spite of its extremely high potential for reverse engineering, <i>Skull<\/i> became one of the most popular party games of the early 2010s.<\/p>\n    <div class=\"amzn-ad amzn-enhanced-links-small\">\n        <div>\n            <div class=\"amzn-product\">\n                <span class=\"amzn-product-image-container\">\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-image-holder\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51PCVqEyMaL._SL300_.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51PCVqEyMaL._SL300_.jpg\"><\/noscript>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/span>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-title-container\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" class=\"amzn-product-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B08R2BPLSN?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-title-text\" title=\"Skull Party Game - Bluffing and Strategy Game Fun for Game Night, Family Board Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 13+, 3-6 Players, 30 Minute Playtime, Made by Space Cowboys\">Skull Party Game - Bluffing and Strategy Game Fun for Game Night, Family Board Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 13+, 3-6 Players, 30 Minute Playtime, Made by Space Cowboys<\/span>\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-price\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-offer-price\">$13.99<\/span>\n                                                    <span class=\"amzn-sprite amzn-product-prime\"><\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link-box\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B08R2BPLSN?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link\">\n                        Buy Now\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<p>What\u2019s really special about <i>Skull<\/i> is that it demonstrated two things about the board game world. One: <b>art matters<\/b>. With the right coat of paint, you\u2019ll get a whole lot more eyes on your game than you otherwise might have. Two: <b>designers matter<\/b>. People are willing to support those who worked to create something, even if they could spend a little extra time and do it themselves. And much like <i>Skull <\/i>itself, that\u2019s rather beautiful.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/bluffing-game-faceoff-cockroach-poker-royale-vs-skull\/\">Find out how Skull compares to Cockroach Poker Royal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-90\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16786 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"306\" data-wp-pid=\"16786\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81-300x128.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81.png?size=528x224&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81-600x255.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/306;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16786\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"306\" data-wp-pid=\"16786\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81-300x128.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81.png?size=528x224&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81-600x255.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/90-81.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>90 to 81<\/h2>\n<h3>#90: Consentacle (2014)<\/h3>\n<p>Far and away the strangest choice on this list, <i>Consentacle<\/i>\u2019s premise is pretty much what it sounds like: an alien entity and a human being try to navigate a shared sexual encounter. Fully cooperative, <i>Consentacle<\/i> tasks players with building card combinations through simultaneous play. In spite of the extraordinarily unusual theme, <i>Consentacle <\/i>manages to do something that has arguably never been accomplished before: it explores sexuality through play in a genuinely mature, thoughtful way.<\/p>\n<p>Sexuality is not new to games. From the bizarre and gratuitous <i>Kingdom Death: Monster<\/i> (2015) to the thousands of poorly armoured minis, sex and games have an uncomfortable relationship that so often boils down to the male gaze. <i>Consentacle\u2019s <\/i>rebellion against this trope may look like a quirky idea in isolation, but it\u2019s not. Over the past few years, the RPG world has begun to embrace smart explorations of human sexuality. From <i>Monsterhearts<\/i> (2012) to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/interviews\/interview-with-alex-roberts-designer-of-star-crossed-rpg\/\"><i>Star Crossed<\/i><\/a> (2019), sex is becoming an increasingly nuanced topic in narrative games. With contemporaries like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/fog-of-love-and-the-gay-option\/\"><i>Fog of Love<\/i><\/a> (2017) exploring human relationships, it may be only a matter of time until <i>Consentacle<\/i> is joined by an uprising of sex-positive peers.<\/p>\n<h3>#89: Charterstone (2017)<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/jamey-stegmaier\/\">Jamey Stegmaier<\/a>, designer of <i>Charterstone<\/i>, had a lot to live up to after <i>SeaFall<\/i> (2016) failed to meet the high expectations created by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/pandemic-legacy-the-future-of-board-gaming\/\"><i>Pandemic Legacy: Season 1<\/i><\/a>\u2019s (2015) success. <i>Charterstone<\/i> is a Legacy game of firsts: first major euro-style Legacy game and first Legacy game that could be played indefinitely after the campaign\u2019s completion. <i>Charterstone<\/i> also featured a campaign that could be played through again by using the other side of its double-sided board and purchasing a recharge pack.<\/p>\n<p>While <i>Charterstone<\/i> was met with<a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/charterstone-campaign-final-thoughts\/\"> mixed reviews<\/a> from players because of its weak story and lack of huge, exciting changes like those in <i>Pandemic Legacy<\/i>, the game still succeeded in what it set out to do. It also disproved those wondering whether it was possible to design a successful Legacy game that wasn\u2019t based on an existing board game IP. Thanks to <i>Charterstone<\/i>, Legacy games playable post-campaign have been on the rise; 2019 alone saw the release of <i>Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated<\/i>, <i>Aeon\u2019s End: Legacy<\/i>, and <i>Machi Koro Legacy<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/charterstone\/\">Read our review of Charterstone<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#88: Santorini (2016)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07K56CLQ6?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61LlLiP8X4L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Spin Master 6040700 Santorini Games, Multi-Colour\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61LlLiP8X4L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Spin Master 6040700 Santorini Games, Multi-Colour\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07K56CLQ6?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>In some ways, <i>Santorini<\/i> predates the 2010s: originally envisioned as a pure abstract game, <i>Santorini <\/i>was in development as early as 1984 but never saw wide distribution. We\u2019re lucky, then, that in 2016 publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/roxley\/\">Roxley<\/a> saw fit to revive the game for a broader audience. The updated game boasted a colourful art style and stylishly sculpted city pieces.<\/p>\n<p>While the core gameplay didn\u2019t change, the aesthetic update opened the door to a significant audience: <i>Santorini<\/i>\u2019s 2016 release would net $700,000 (USD) in Kickstarter funding and would attract several industry awards.<\/p>\n<p>Roxley would go on to publish <i>Brass: Birmingham <\/i>(2018) and republish <i>Brass: Lancashire<\/i> (originally 2007), with similar levels of care and acclaim. <i>Santorini<\/i> would become part of a larger effort to republish and revitalize out-of-print or out-of-love classics for a modern audience, with modern expectations of design and aesthetics. Other efforts on this front include those of Restoration Games, famous for <i>Downforce<\/i> (2017) and <i>Fireball Island<\/i> (2018).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/santorini\/\">Read our review of Santorini<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#87: Escape: Curse of the Temple (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Escape: Curse of the Temple<\/i> may not have secured the Indiana Jones license, but this dice-chucking game of madcap adventures captures the spirit perfectly. In <i>Escape<\/i>, players have ten minutes to gather the gems and escape the cursed temple. The game is played in real-time, with players constantly rolling dice and coordinating their efforts to get the goods and get out.<\/p>\n<p><i>Escape <\/i>was not the first real-time game, but its high-profile success paved the way for those that would follow. With highlights including <i>FUSE <\/i>(2015), <i>Kitchen Rush <\/i>(2017) and <i>Magic Maze<\/i> (2017), real-time games began to shine in the latter half of the decade. Queen Games would go on to publish a whopping 16 expansions and modules for the game, as well as the standalone adventure <i>Escape: Zombie City<\/i> (2014).<\/p>\n<h3>#86: Istanbul (2014)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Istanbul<\/i> feels like a game <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/rudiger-dorn\/\">Ru\u0308diger Dorn<\/a> has been working on for years. Dating back to 2001\u2019s <i>Genoa<\/i> (previously <i>The Traders of Genoa<\/i>) and <i>Louis XIV<\/i> (2005), Dorn has developed a unique way of having players move around a game board and interact with locations. With <i>Istanbul<\/i> he not only streamlined this movement, he focused the game around it and forced players to carefully plan out each move and action. In 2014, <i>Istanbul<\/i> won the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/tag\/kennerspiel-des-jahres\/\">Kennerspiel des Jahres<\/a> award, a nod which finally celebrated Dorn\u2019s innovative grid movement and proved to game designers everywhere that sometimes polishing your design ideas does pay off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/istanbul\/\">Read our review of Istanbul<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#85: Colt Express (2014)<\/h3>\n<p>Rootin\u2019, tootin\u2019 and shootin\u2019: the playful action programming of <i>Colt Express<\/i> won the hearts of the board game community at its release in 2014. Playing on the chaotic uncertainty of trying to predict your opponents\u2019 moves, <i>Colt Express<\/i> offered players the chance to rob a train and off a few of their friends at the same time. Taking place entirely on a fun three-dimensional train set (complete with distant cacti and tumbleweeds), <i>Colt Express<\/i> would go on to win the Spiel des Jahres prize in 2015.<\/p>\n<h3>#84: Catacombs (2010)<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s been a strong decade for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/top-six\/top-6-dexterity-games\/\">dexterity games<\/a>. Before <i>ICECOOL <\/i>(2016)<i>,<\/i> before <i>Flick \u2018Em Up <\/i>(2015), even before <i>Rampage <\/i>(now <i>Terror in Meeple City<\/i>; 2013), <i>Catacombs<\/i> was showing the world that strategy and dexterity didn\u2019t have to be mutually exclusive. Styled after a classic fantasy dungeon crawl, <i>Catacombs<\/i> used a dizzying array of cards, character sheets, and tokens to track the brave heroes in their quest against the monsters of the dungeon. <i>Crokinole<\/i> (1876) may have set the stage for feats of flicking over a hundred years earlier, but <i>Catacombs<\/i> came out swinging in 2010 as a promise of the hybrid designs that would follow.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/catacombs\/\">Read our review of Catacombs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#83: Cthulhu Wars (2015)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Cthulhu Wars<\/i> is best known for its minis. Intricately sculpted and up to a staggering 18cm (7in) tall, the minis of <i>Cthulhu Wars<\/i> could almost be better described as macros. Behind all this chrome and polish lies a surprisingly sophisticated area control game, with extremely asymmetric roles and interesting gameplay options, all in a 90 minute runtime.<\/p>\n<p>The asymmetric fun of <i>Cthulhu Wars<\/i> likely took inspiration from the influential <i>Chaos in the Old World<\/i> (2009), carrying the torch of asymmetric elder gods into the 2010s. Looking forward, <i>Cthulhu Wars<\/i> can be contextualized in a wave of increasingly elaborate games that rose to prominence for their production value, including <i>Kingdom Death: Monster <\/i>(2015) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/mythic-battles-pantheon-review-decide-the-destiny-of-the-gods\/\"><i>Mythic Battles: Pantheon<\/i><\/a> (2017).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/cthulhu-wars\/\">Read our review of Cthulhu Wars<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#82: Tragedy Looper (2011)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Tragedy Looper<\/i> is Weird with a capital W. A time-travelling deduction game that predated <i>T.I.M.E. Stories<\/i> (2015) by four years, <i>Tragedy Looper<\/i> is made all the more strange by its structure as a one-vs-many game. An evil mastermind runs the show, trapping players in a loop of tragic events that they must work carefully to prevent happening. Part <i>Letters from Whitechapel<\/i> (2011), part <i>Groundhog Day<\/i>, <i>Tragedy Looper<\/i> offered a unique gameplay experience that remains novel to this day.<\/p>\n<p>Released to English audiences in 2014, <i>Tragedy Looper<\/i> was a creation of first-time Japanese game designer BakaFire. The English edition imports the anime art style of the original, which is still a rare sight in the western market. More than just an oddity, <i>Tragedy Looper<\/i> showcases real innovation, and makes a compelling argument that the western world should be paying a lot more attention to what goes on outside its bubble of design sensibilities.<\/p>\n<h3>#81: Star Realms (2014)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Star Realms<\/i>, a 2014 release from publisher White Wizard Games, is a two-player deck-building game of head-to-head space battles. The emphasis here is on \u201chead-to-head\u201d: <i>Star Realms<\/i> is a duel, pitting both players against each other as they hack away at their opponent\u2019s health points. This was a new twist for the genre, which traditionally faced criticisms for being \u201cmultiplayer Solitaire\u201d. Drawing from both <i>Dominion<\/i> (2008) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/magic-arena-the-best-way-to-play-the-worst-magic\/\"><i>Magic: the Gathering<\/i><\/a> (1993), <i>Star Realms<\/i> would be reimagined in a series of new expansions and themes including <i>Cthulhu Realms<\/i> (2015) and <i>Hero Realms<\/i> (2016).<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-80\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16785 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"296\" data-wp-pid=\"16785\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71-300x123.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71.png?size=528x217&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71-600x247.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/296;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16785\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"296\" data-wp-pid=\"16785\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71-300x123.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71.png?size=528x217&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71-600x247.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/80-71.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>80 to 71<\/h2>\n<h3>#80: Concordia (2013)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00HFDSQP6?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51+b6YJOx7L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Rio Grande Games: Concordia, Historical Strategy Board Game, Average Play Time 90 Minutes, 2 to 5 Players, for Ages 14 and up\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51+b6YJOx7L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Rio Grande Games: Concordia, Historical Strategy Board Game, Average Play Time 90 Minutes, 2 to 5 Players, for Ages 14 and up\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00HFDSQP6?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><i>Concordia<\/i> is a game of \u2014 stop me if you\u2019ve heard this one before \u2014 trading and economic development in the Mediterranean. It\u2019s also one of the top twenty games on BoardGameGeek, an honour it still holds over six years after its release. This is a particularly noteworthy achievement because BoardGameGeek ratings are known to skew towards heavier games, and <i>Concordia<\/i>\u2019s rulebook is a slim four pages.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to <i>Concordia<\/i>, designer Mac Gerdts was known for his rondel-based designs. The rondel, a relatively rare method of action selection, offers players a wheel of possible paths for their turn. Moving a marker clockwise gave players their options: spots closer to the marker would be cheaper, while farther slots had an additional cost. Gerdts\u2019 designs became known for this mechanism, which was present in the majority of his games.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s ironic, then, that his most popular game does not contain the rondel at all. In a forum post from Gerdts a year before the game\u2019s release, he characterizes <i>Concordia<\/i>\u2019s card-driven action selection as a kind of rondel-surrogate. Players use cards to perform actions, and can then retrieve their discards with a separate turn. A player\u2019s deck also determines their final scoring conditions. This system mirrored the deck-building trends of the time, and may have inspired a similar mechanism used in <i>Mombasa<\/i> two years later.<\/p>\n<h3>#79: 504 (2015)<\/h3>\n<p>If <i>504<\/i>\u2019s claims are to be believed, this article may need a new title: <i>The 603 Most Important Board Games of the 2010s.<\/i> Experimental to the core, <i>504<\/i> uses a series of nine modules to create 504 unique permutations (9*8*7), each playable as its own standalone game.<\/p>\n<p>While ambitious, <i>504<\/i> received a mixed reception from the board game community. Lacking the tailored structure of intentional design, many games were criticized as feeling bland or imperfect. In spite of these failings, <i>504<\/i> remains a fascinating curiosity, and a brilliant attempt to create something truly unique. Its vision of modular design taken to the limit would serve as an interesting lesson to other designers looking to create a world for players to explore, and may yet serve as the jumping point for some future visionary.<\/p>\n<h3>#78: Concept (2013)<\/h3>\n<p>Much like a game of <i>Whose Line is it Anyway?, Concept<\/i> is a game where the points don\u2019t matter. Nominated for the prestigious Spiel des Jahres prize in 2014, <i>Concept<\/i> showcased real innovation in the long-established <i>Pictionary<\/i> (1985) style of \u201cI show, you guess\u201d games. In <i>Concept<\/i>, players gather around a board filled with icons. Using coloured markers, clue givers must indicate which icons correspond to a secret word or phrase.<\/p>\n<p><i>Concept<\/i>\u2019s innovation was unique: while many games ask players to draw, act, or perform, <i>Concept<\/i>\u2019s language-independent board of icons encouraged a new way to think about familiar ideas. Even more impressive is that <i>Concept<\/i>\u2019s icon-centric design managed to avoid being branded as <i>The Emoji Game<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Clever, quick, and accessible, <i>Concept<\/i> blurred the line between game and activity. <i>Concept<\/i> would become the first of many innovative \u201cI show, you guess\u201d games of the decade, including Spiel des Jahres-winning peers <i>Codenames<\/i> (2015) and <i>Just One <\/i>(2018).<\/p>\n<h3>#77: BattleCON: War of the Indines (2010)<\/h3>\n<p><i>BattleCON<\/i> is, above all else, a loving tribute. Evoking the drama and excitement of fighting games like <i>Street Fighter<\/i> and <i>Super Smash Bros.<\/i>, <i>BattleCON<\/i> pits two players against each other in card-driven combat. The game is completely open information, with players managing a small hand of cards as they face off in simultaneous play. This intentional effort to eliminate randomness is just another element in a greater effort to emulate the original fighting game format.<\/p>\n<p>In that regard, the game was successful: <i>BattleCON <\/i>fans have raved about the gameplay, characters and world that <i>War of the Indines<\/i> and its many sequels have created. In a fitting twist, <i>BattleCON <\/i>has since been adapted into a video game, available on Steam.<\/p>\n<h3>#76: Ascension: Deckbuilding Game (2010)<\/h3>\n<p>Much like a conga line is really started by the second person in it, a genre doesn\u2019t really begin until there\u2019s more than one game like it. Such was the case for <i>Ascension: Deckbuilding Game<\/i>. Just two years after <i>Dominion<\/i>\u2019s 2008 release, <i>Ascension<\/i> would tweak the formula with a dynamic \u201cmarket\u201d of runes to buy and monsters to fight, wrapped in a fun fantasy theme. <i>Ascension <\/i>would go on to produce a whole series of expansions, sequels, promos and re-releases.<\/p>\n<h3>#75: Inis (2016)<\/h3>\n<p>Celtic clans battle to rule the island: this is the story of <i>Inis<\/i>, a 2016 game of card drafting and area control. With a unique cocktail of victory conditions, <i>Inis<\/i> was the spiritual successor to publisher Matagot\u2019s earlier dudes-on-a-map hits <i>Cyclades<\/i> (2009) and <i>Kemet<\/i> (2012).<\/p>\n<p><i>Inis <\/i>also became famous for its cover art, which provoked a strong reaction (both positive and negative) from the board game community. The bold artistic choices of <i>Inis<\/i> were spearheaded by Jim Fitzpatrick, best known for his iconic Che Guevara piece. A 2018 reprint would replace the iconic cover, raising questions about the kind of art gamers were prepared to see. Nevertheless, <i>Inis <\/i>stands as a boldly experimental game, both in aesthetic and design. The game would receive a fifth-player expansion, <i>Inis: Seasons of Inis<\/i>, in 2019.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/inis\/\">Read our review of Inis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#74: Dominant Species (2010)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Dominant Species <\/i>is a curious case: released by long-time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/board-gamers-guide-wargaming\/\">wargame<\/a> publisher GMT, it combines a system of area control and worker placement in a game of warfare in the natural world. The game would mark another mainstream success for GMT following their cult hit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/twilight-struggle\/\"><i>Twilight Struggle <\/i><\/a>(2005).<\/p>\n<p>The designer of <i>Dominant Species,<\/i> Chad Jensen, passed away in 2019. His legacy lives on through his role in creating and developing the series <i>Combat Commander <\/i>and <i>Fighting Formations<\/i>, two respected wargame systems that hold an important place in the community.<\/p>\n<h3>#73: Captain Sonar (2016)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0756TZYQG?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51oywTmBBwL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Sonar Game, Multicolor (43227-1996)\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51oywTmBBwL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Sonar Game, Multicolor (43227-1996)\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0756TZYQG?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>Though it shares some DNA with <i>Space Cadets <\/i>(2012), <i>Captain Sonar<\/i> is a unique creature. At full build, two teams of four people face off. Each player is equipped with their own job in the submarine they pilot together. The game is played in real-time, with players calling out directions and desperately hunting their rival sub in a cat-and-mouse chase to take their opponents down.<\/p>\n<p><i>Captain Sonar<\/i>\u2019s radical asymmetry and full commitment to its theme caused waves in the board game community, attracting a host of awards and nominations including a Golden Geek for Most Innovative Game of the Year. Raucous enough for a party game, but focused enough for real strategy, <i>Captain Sonar<\/i>\u2019s boundary-breaking boldness has earned itself a place in board game history.<\/p>\n<h3>#72: Blood Rage (2015)<\/h3>\n<p>Designer Eric M. Lang has made a name for himself in the world of miniature-driven area control games. Shooting into the spotlight with his 2008 game <i>Chaos in the Old World<\/i>, Lang\u2019s success would be cemented with <i>Blood Rage<\/i>. A tale of warring vikings, <i>Blood Rage<\/i> offered players a chance to jump back into Lang\u2019s unique brand of aggressive gameplay in a richly thematic game world.<\/p>\n<p><i>Blood Rage<\/i> would peak at position 15 on BoardGameGeek\u2019s best-of-all time list, and would garner a number of awards (including a recommendation from the Spiel des Jahres committee). The success of <i>Blood Rage<\/i> would lead to another Lang mega-hit, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/rising-sun-review-a-tale-of-two-tokens\/\"><i>Rising Sun<\/i><\/a>, in 2018.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-love-blood-rage\/\">Find out why we love Blood Rage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#71: CO\u2082 (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>In <i>CO\u2082, <\/i>you are not a wizard, or a spaceship, or a merchant. You are not a detective, or a knight, or a god. No, in <i>CO\u2082<\/i>, you are something far more important: the barrier between hope and climate disaster. Players take on the role of energy company CEOs, working towards a greener world shaped by government policy. While the 2012 release of the game was competitive (with everyone losing if the carbon levels get too high), a 2018 re-release (<i>CO\u2082: Second Chance)<\/i> would see the game repackaged as a fully cooperative experience.<\/p>\n<p>While <i>CO\u2082 <\/i>is not the only serious game on this list, it is one of the few that feels uncomfortably present-day. <i>CO\u2082 <\/i>finds good company in other games unafraid of keeping things heavy. These include <i>Freedom: The Underground Railroad<\/i> (2012), which tasks players with strengthening the Abolitionist Movement, and <i>&#8230;and then we held hands<\/i> (2015), a game about a failing relationship. While all of these games deal with serious themes, they are ultimately stories of hope. After all, you could end up saving the day\u2026 if you play your cards right.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-70\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16784 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"283\" data-wp-pid=\"16784\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61-300x118.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61.png?size=528x208&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61-600x236.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/283;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16784\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"283\" data-wp-pid=\"16784\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61-300x118.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61.png?size=528x208&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61-600x236.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/70-61.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>70 &#8211; 61<\/h2>\n<h3>#70: High Frontier (2010)<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s been described as a mad scientist\u2019s game: the kind of thing you might get if you disassembled an astrophysics textbook and stitched it back together. <i>High Frontier<\/i> explores the world of rocket science extremely faithfully through play. This comes as no surprise\u2014 Phil Eklund, the game\u2019s designer, is an aerospace engineer. With a massive living rulebook constantly under revision on Google Docs, <i>High Frontier<\/i> is an absolute beast to learn and teach. For Eklund\u2019s fans, this is just another game in a long series of thoroughly researched and faithfully translated titles.<\/p>\n<p>Outside of <i>High Frontier<\/i>, Eklund gained notoriety in the 2010s for his <i>Pax<\/i> series, including <i>Porfiriana<\/i> (2012), <i>Pamir<\/i> (2015), and <i>Renaissance <\/i>(2016). In 2020, Eklund is poised to release <i>High Frontier 4 All, <\/i>with the goal of opening the system to new modules, additions, and remixes from <i>High Frontier<\/i>\u2019s active community.<\/p>\n<h3>#69: Secret Hitler (2016)<\/h3>\n<p>Fascists, liberals, and the titular Secret Hitler. A social deduction game set in 1930s Germany, <i>Secret Hitler<\/i> is an unabashedly political game of bluffing and sacrifice. The game\u2019s central mechanism, a team-based good-vs-evil story, shares a lot of DNA with predecessors <i>Werewolf<\/i> (1986) and <i>The Resistance<\/i> (2009).<\/p>\n<p>In spite of its goofy title, <i>Secret Hitler<\/i> offers a surprisingly nuanced narrative of power through play: while the liberal players are trying to rout the fascists, passing fascist policies is rewarded in-game with new powers. Of course, it\u2019s no surprise <i>Secret Hitler<\/i> is politically charged: the game\u2019s co-designer, Max Temkin, was a lead developer of the equally infamous <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i> (2011).<\/p>\n<h3>#68: Viticulture (2013)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B018GRSLK4?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51i8jy-jWKL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Stonemaier Games: Viticulture Essential Edition (Base Game) | Create The Most Prosperous Tuscan Vineyard | Wine Themed Strategy Board Game for Adults and Family | 1-6 Players, 90 Mins, Ages 14+\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51i8jy-jWKL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Stonemaier Games: Viticulture Essential Edition (Base Game) | Create The Most Prosperous Tuscan Vineyard | Wine Themed Strategy Board Game for Adults and Family | 1-6 Players, 90 Mins, Ages 14+\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B018GRSLK4?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><i>Viticulture<\/i> tells a story of wine-making families in the hills of Tuscany. A worker placement game, <i>Viticulture<\/i>\u2019s gameplay is defined by its innovative two-part round structure, as well as its marriage of card play and action drafting (drawing parallels to 2007\u2019s <i>Agricola<\/i>). The game would establish designer Jamey Stegmaier as a force in the board game community, rising to prominence in tandem with his other 2013 release <i>Euphoria<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, <i>Viticulture<\/i> would be tweaked and republished with the Greatest Hits-style <i>Viticulture: Essential Edition <\/i>(2015), which pulled in parts of the <i>Tuscany<\/i> expansion (2014) and modified the card pools available in-game. Stegmaier would go on to design and publish some of the most influential games of the decade, including mega-hit <i>Scythe<\/i> in 2016.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/viticulture\/\">Read our review of Viticulture<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#67: Friday (2011)<\/h3>\n<p>For many folks outside the board game community, the idea of playing a board game alone sounds crazy. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/table-for-one-why-play-solo\/\">solo gaming<\/a> has slowly been breaking out of its stigma. Today, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/top-six\/top-6-solo-games\/\">more and more games<\/a> are being released with rules and AI opponents that create an exciting solo experience.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2011, this was a little more unusual\u2026 but designer Friedemann Friese has never shied away from \u201cunusual\u201d. <i>Friday<\/i> is a one player deck-building game set in the world of Robinson Crusoe. The player weighs their decisions carefully, choosing their battles and deciding when it\u2019s better to run. <i>Friday<\/i> culminates in a kind of boss battle, with the player pitting their carefully honed deck against a ship full of pirates in a last-ditch attempt to get Crusoe off the island and back home.<\/p>\n<p>In the years since <i>Friday<\/i>, Friese hasn\u2019t stopped innovating. From wild experiments like <i>504<\/i> (2015) to twists on the Legacy format in <i>Fabled Fruit<\/i> (2016), Friese\u2019s oddball approach to game design is sure to yield more surprises and delights in the decades to come.<\/p>\n<h3>#66: Keyflower (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>A game of workers, auctions, and village building, <i>Keyflower<\/i> was the breakout hit in the long-running <i>Key<\/i> series from designer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/interviews\/interview-with-richard-breese-founder-of-rd-games\/\">Richard Breese<\/a>. <i>Keyflower<\/i> is well known for its unique worker placement mechanism, asking players to outbid each other to take actions and claim tiles. This spirit of innovation is not unusual for the <i>Key<\/i> series: 1998\u2019s <i>Keydom<\/i> was one of the first worker placement games to ever be developed.<\/p>\n<p>The series has continued to produce hits, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/key-to-the-city-london-review-sebastian-bleasdale-richard-breese\/\"><i>Key to the City: London<\/i><\/a> (2016) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/keyper-review-new-country-for-old-workers\/\"><i>Keyper<\/i><\/a> (2017).<i> Keyflower<\/i> has since been re-imagined as a card drafting game, <i>Key Flow<\/i> (2018), which received favourable reviews for its streamlined design.<\/p>\n<h3>#65: Brass: Birmingham (2018)<\/h3>\n<p>In 2007, designer Martin Wallace released <i>Brass<\/i>: a complex game of economics and network building that showcased Wallace\u2019s expert understanding of industrial gameplay. Widely praised upon its release, <i>Brass<\/i> prompted comparisons to Wallace\u2019s own <i>Age of Steam<\/i> (2002) and Friedemann Friese\u2019s <i>Power Grid<\/i> (2004).<\/p>\n<p>Eleven years later, <i>Brass <\/i>would be given a full aesthetic overhaul from publisher Roxley, who had seen success two years earlier with a similar facelift for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/santorini-review-playground-of-the-gods\/\"><i>Santorini<\/i><\/a> (1984, 2016). The original <i>Brass<\/i> would be republished as <i>Brass: Lancashire<\/i> (2018), and a sequel would be developed with it, <i>Brass: Birmingham<\/i> (2018). <i>Birmingham<\/i>\u2019s remixed design would go on to win that year\u2019s Golden Geek Award, entering the top 5 board games of all time on BoardGameGeek.<\/p>\n<p>Roxley\u2019s zeal for finding new life in classic designs would mirror similar efforts happening across the board. With publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/z-man-games\/\">Z-Man Games<\/a> releasing updated versions of Reiner Knizia classics like <i>Tigris &amp; Euphrates<\/i> (1997), <i>Samurai<\/i> (1998) and <i>Through the Desert<\/i> (1998), it\u2019s heartening to see the industry celebrating its roots as it continues to move forward.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/brass-vs-brass\/\">Read our comparison of <em>Brass: Birmingham<\/em> and <em>Brass: Lancashire<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#64: Risk Legacy (2011)<\/h3>\n<p>According to Rob Daviau, designer of <i>Risk Legacy<\/i>, it all started with an off-hand comment about <i>Clue<\/i>: why do these people keep coming back to this mansion with no memories of the murders that came before? It was then that Daviau wondered: what would a board game look like if there were lasting consequences from gameplay? What would it look like if a game remembered?<\/p>\n<p>From this simple idea came an entire new genre of games: the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/spotlight-on-legacy-games\/\"><i>Legacy<\/i><\/a>. From his position in-house at Hasbro, Daviau was able to pitch and develop a twist on the classic Americana game of world warfare: <i>Risk<\/i> (1959). Players would put stickers on the board, permanently changing locations. The game revealed new secrets during play, offering boxes to open in the process. <i>Risk Legacy<\/i> was not a perfect game, but it was a whole new way to play\u2014 and it caught on. <i>Risk Legacy<\/i> would go on to inspire games like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/charterstone-review-greengully-needs-you\/\"><i>Charterstone<\/i><\/a> (2017), <i>SeaFall<\/i> (2016), and, of course, the titan that is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/pandemic-legacy-the-future-of-board-gaming\/\"><i>Pandemic Legacy: Season 1<\/i><\/a> (2015).<\/p>\n<h3>#63: Clank! A Deck-Building Adventure (2016)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01KAC6268?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51KcL-akpoL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Renegade Game Studios Clank! A Deck Building Adventure!\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51KcL-akpoL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Renegade Game Studios Clank! A Deck Building Adventure!\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01KAC6268?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><i>Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure<\/i> is famous for taking the deck-building genre to new thematic heights. Players take on the role of roguish adventurers stealing treasures from a dragon\u2019s lair. <i>Clank!<\/i> offered players a full-sized board to explore and plunder: a fun twist on a mechanism that, by 2016, had firmly established itself in the collective imagination.<\/p>\n<p><i>Clank!<\/i> was met with a host of awards and solid sales figures for publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/renegade-game-studios\/\">Renegade Game Studios<\/a>. The game\u2019s success would result in a whole series, including sci-fi adaptation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/clank-in-space-review-galactic-grifting-and-modular-mayhem\/\"><i>Clank! In! Space!<\/i><\/a> (2017) and the campaign-style <i>Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated <\/i>(2019).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/clank\/\">Read our review of Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#62: Mansions of Madness: Second Edition (2016)<\/h3>\n<p>In the original <i>Mansions of Madness<\/i> (2011), players took on roles familiar to anyone who\u2019s played a game of <i>Dungeons &amp; Dragons<\/i> (1974): one person plays for the monsters, and everyone else bands together as the heroes (or in this case, perhaps victims). With dice, minis, and cards galore, <i>Mansions of Madness<\/i> was very much in the wheelhouse of publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/fantasy-flight-games\/\">Fantasy Flight Games<\/a>. But something very interesting would happen for the next edition, released just a few years later. <i>Mansions of Madness: Second Edition<\/i> did away with the Game Master entirely, transitioning to a fully cooperative experience. How did it do that? With an app.<\/p>\n<p>This move may appear insignificant, but it marked a big change in the way that people thought about games: a major release, from a major publisher, had transitioned to app-only. While fans of the original expressed some concerns, the update would both streamline and amplify gameplay significantly: setup was cut down to virtually zero, items could be randomly seeded across the map, and scenarios would become customizable in a way that they weren\u2019t before. Fans that initially objected found themselves charmed by the thematic integration and ease of access.<\/p>\n<p>While it remains to be seen how far the industry will go to integrate analog and application, <i>Mansions of Madness: Second Edition<\/i> endures as one of the most prominent examples of how our world is growing ever more digital.<\/p>\n<h3>#61: A Feast for Odin (2016)<\/h3>\n<p>Uwe Rosenberg, designer of <i>A Feast for Odin<\/i>, has a long history in board games. From his family card games of the late nineties to the incredibly influential <i>Agricola <\/i>(2007), Rosenberg\u2019s re\u0301sume\u0301 is diverse. In 2014, Rosenberg would find a new fascination in designing <i>Patchwork<\/i>: Tetris-like shapes called \u201cpolyominoes\u201d. These tiles would become a favourite riff of Rosenberg\u2019s, appearing in games like <i>Cottage Garden<\/i> (2016) and <i>Indian Summer<\/i> (2017).<\/p>\n<p><i>A Feast for Odin<\/i>, then, is Rosenberg\u2019s polyomino symphony. One of the most complex games to emerge from the polyomino craze of the mid-2010s, <i>A Feast for Odin <\/i>combines the worker placement of <i>Agricola<\/i> with an elaborate system of tile placement. The game featured a staggering 61 action spaces for workers, with a dizzying number of options for players to pursue. This was not unheard of for Rosenberg, who had designed the similarly vast two-player exclusive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/fields-arle-review-uwe-rosenberg\/\"><i>Fields of Arle<\/i><\/a> two years earlier. Still, <i>A Feast for Odin<\/i> remains one of Rosenberg\u2019s most elaborate designs. The game would see an expansion, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/a-feast-for-odin-the-norwegians-review-another-day-another-feast\/\"><i>The Norwegians<\/i><\/a>, two years later.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/a-feast-for-odin\/\">Read our review of A Feast for Odin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-60\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16783 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"324\" data-wp-pid=\"16783\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51-300x135.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51.png?size=528x238&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51-600x270.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/324;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16783\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"324\" data-wp-pid=\"16783\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51-300x135.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51.png?size=528x238&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51-600x270.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/60-51.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>60 to 51<\/h2>\n<h3>#60: Coup (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>A sequel to the incredibly influential <i>The Resistance<\/i> (2009), <i>Coup<\/i> brought bluffing to the forefront in a vicious game of player elimination. Using its 15 minute playtime to its full advantage, <i>Coup<\/i> makes every interaction high-stakes: sometimes it only takes one mistake to be blasted out of the round. The success of <i>Coup<\/i> would lead to two major expansions, and further development of the Resistance universe with games like <i>One Night Revolution<\/i> (2015).<\/p>\n    <div class=\"amzn-ad amzn-enhanced-links-small\">\n        <div>\n            <div class=\"amzn-product\">\n                <span class=\"amzn-product-image-container\">\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-image-holder\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41UHjXzUbiL._SL300_.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41UHjXzUbiL._SL300_.jpg\"><\/noscript>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/span>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-title-container\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" class=\"amzn-product-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00GDI4HX4?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-title-text\" title=\"Coup - The Fast, Fun Bluffing Party Game for 2-6 Players. Perfect for Family Game Night with your Teens or Friends. Can you get away with your bluff? Over 1 Million copies sold!\">Coup - The Fast, Fun Bluffing Party Game for 2-6 Players. Perfect for Family Game Night with your Teens or Friends. Can you get away with your bluff? Over 1 Million copies sold!<\/span>\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-price\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-offer-price\">$14.49<\/span>\n                                                    <span class=\"amzn-sprite amzn-product-prime\"><\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link-box\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00GDI4HX4?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link\">\n                        Buy Now\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<h3>#59: KeyForge: Call of the Archons (2018)<\/h3>\n<p>With the magic of algorithms, <i>Keyforge: Call of the Archons<\/i> has done something curious indeed. Designer Richard Garfield calls it a \u201cunique deck game,\u201d or UDG: every single copy of <i>Keyforge<\/i> contains a one-of-a-kind set of cards. Each deck is stamped with its own randomly generated name. Players are expected to use their decks as-is: no custom deck-building allowed.<\/p>\n<p>For a game from the creator of <i>Magic: the Gathering<\/i> (1993), this was certainly a surprise. Garfield emphasizes that \u201cthe most important thing [about a game without deck-building] is that the deck must be playable right out of the box\u2014 and you only need one deck to play\u201d. This radical idea seems to go against the grain of the collectible and living card game markets, which can in the worst cases feel like pay-to-win experiences.<\/p>\n<p>While <i>Keyforge<\/i>\u2019s influence has yet to be fully realized, it\u2019s already on the move. 2019 brought with it <i>Keyforge: Age of Ascension<\/i>, which introduced a new pool of 370 cards. This was followed by a third age, <i>Keyforge: World\u2019s Collide<\/i>. 2020 is likely to bring with it more cards, and more interesting things to explore in The Crucible, the universe in which <i>Keyforge<\/i> is set.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/keyforge-call-of-the-archons\/\">Read our review of KeyForge: Call of the Archons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#58: Forbidden Island (2010)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B003D7F4YY?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/616v4zrplVL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Forbidden Island \u2013 The Cooperative Strategy Survival Island Board Game,2-4 players\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/616v4zrplVL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Forbidden Island \u2013 The Cooperative Strategy Survival Island Board Game,2-4 players\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B003D7F4YY?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><i>Forbidden Island<\/i>\u2019s famous tin box broke into that special category of board games: those popular enough to be sold at the average bookstore. An iteration on the <i>Pandemic<\/i> (2008) formula for a family audience, <i>Forbidden Island<\/i> made use of the familiar deck puzzle of shuffling a dangerous discard pile and placing it on top of the deck. The game spawned a whole Forbidden series, with both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/forbidden-desert-review-a-thirst-for-survival\/\"><i>Forbidden Desert<\/i><\/a> (2013) and <i>Forbidden Sky <\/i>(2018) seeing their own success.<\/p>\n<p>The popularity of these <i>Pandemic <\/i>remixes likely helped to sell the idea of <i>Pandemic<\/i> as a candidate for a Legacy game, a development that would go on to radically impact the board game world in the latter half of the decade.<\/p>\n<h3>#57: Mystic Vale (2016)<\/h3>\n<p>Designer John D. Clair had a question: what if you took the build-it-yourself attitude of the deck-builder and applied it to individual cards? In Clair\u2019s breakout hit <i>Mystic Vale<\/i>, players do exactly that. Using a deck of semi-transparent sheets, players upgrade individual cards by sliding new layers over the old. Publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/alderac-entertainment-group\/\">Alderac Entertainment Group<\/a> refers to this system as \u201cCard Crafting\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><i>Mystic Vale<\/i>\u2019s innovative spin on traditional deck-building offered a new, modular way of playing. Clair would re-use the system in both <i>Custom Heroes<\/i> (2017) and <i>Edge of Darkness<\/i> (2019). This component upgrade idea would also see use in dice games with removable die faces: <i>Dice Forge<\/i> (2017), as well as the earlier title <i>Rattlebones<\/i> (2014).<\/p>\n<h3>#56: Orle\u0301ans (2014)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B092Q184CF?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51xDpx3zEjL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Capstone Games: Orleans, Strategy Board Game, Collect Tokens to Customize Your Strategy, Multiple Paths to Victory, 2 to 5 Players, Ages and 12 Up\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51xDpx3zEjL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Capstone Games: Orleans, Strategy Board Game, Collect Tokens to Customize Your Strategy, Multiple Paths to Victory, 2 to 5 Players, Ages and 12 Up\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B092Q184CF?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>In <i>Orle\u0301ans<\/i>, players assemble teams of farmers, merchants, knights and monks to earn glory and power in medieval France. The traditional European theme may not be much to write home about, but mechanically, <i>Orle\u0301ans<\/i> was a trailblazer. Throughout the game, players draft new people (and by extension, actions) in the form of tokens, which they add to their drawstring bag.<\/p>\n<p>This system of randomization (without shuffling!) would inspire a whole host of \u201cbag builders,\u201d including <i>Orle\u0301ans<\/i>\u2019 spiritual successor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/altiplano-review-a-bag-building-sequel\/\"><i>Altiplano<\/i><\/a> (2017). While <i>Orle\u0301ans<\/i> remains the most famous example of the genre, bag building can trace its roots back to a <a href=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/image\/395648\/dominion\">fan reimagining of <i>Dominion<\/i><\/a> (2008). This shuffle-free bag system would continue to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/automobiles-review-turning-left-aint-all-that-bad\/\">inspire designers<\/a> over the decade that followed, with games like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/the-quacks-of-quedlinburg-review-walla-walla-bing-bang\/\"><i>The Quacks of Quedlinburg<\/i><\/a> (2018) and <i>Dice Settlers<\/i> (2018) continuing to iterate on the theme.<\/p>\n<h3>#55: Eclipse (2011)<\/h3>\n<p>Battles, in space! Exploring new worlds, in space! Economic calculations\u2026 in space! A sci-fi take on the civilization genre, <i>Eclipse<\/i> was an example of a truly hybrid game of American and European design. Offering players exciting moments of dice rolling and a mathematical engine to back it up, the success of <i>Eclipse<\/i> would take early steps to blur the two labels which had once so starkly defined the schools of board game design.<\/p>\n<p>At its peak of popularity, <i>Eclipse<\/i> reached the #5 slot on BoardGameGeek\u2019s list of all-time best games. The game continues to see widespread play, and a second-edition Kickstarter was successfully funded in 2018.<\/p>\n<h3>#54: The Gallerist (2015)<\/h3>\n<p>If there\u2019s one message brought forward by power duo Vital Lacerda and Ian O\u2019Toole, it\u2019s that just because your game is complicated doesn\u2019t mean it has to be ugly. Nowhere is this exemplified more than <i>The Gallerist<\/i>, a 2015 release from Eagle-Gryphon Games that paired Lacerda\u2019s design sensibilities with O\u2019Toole\u2019s gorgeous artwork. Stunning in both complexity and appearance, <i>The Gallerist <\/i>is such an elaborate piece that it feels like a cheap shorthand to call it worker placement\u2060\u2014 but much like <i>Kanban <\/i>(2014) before it, that central kernel of design makes up the backbone of the game.<\/p>\n<p>The Lacerda-O\u2019Toole duo has gone on to release a whole series of equally beautiful and intimidating games, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/lisboa-review-rebirth-from-destruction\/\"><i>Lisboa<\/i><\/a> (2017), <i>CO\u2082: Second Chance <\/i>(2018), and <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-love-the-gallerist\/\">Find out why we love <em>The Gallerist<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><i>Escape Plan<\/i> (2019).<\/p>\n<h3>#53: Alchemists (2014)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Alchemists<\/i> is an academic research simulator that just happens to be set in a fanciful world of potions and power. At once cluttered and brilliant, <i>Alchemists<\/i> combines a full worker placement game with an elaborate deduction puzzle. Oh, and did we mention the app?<\/p>\n<p><i>Alchemists<\/i> was an early adopter of app-driven tabletop play. Through clever use of randomization, <i>Alchemists<\/i> generated a new puzzle each game. Players mixed cocktails of ingredients in-app, hoping to learn enough about their composition to publish their findings. While use of the app was not mandatory, playing the game without it required a player to act as a full-time moderator, answering queries about experiments but otherwise disengaged from gameplay.<\/p>\n<p>Five years later, <i>Alchemists<\/i> remains one of the most innovative uses of apps in-game. The years that followed would see a number of games adopting digital solutions, including <i>Mansions of Madness: Second Edition<\/i> (2016) and <i>World of Yo-Ho<\/i> (2016). As we become ever more connected with our digital lives, these games mark the beginning of a trend that is unlikely to slow down anytime soon.<\/p>\n<h3>#52: Sentinels of the Multiverse (2011)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Sentinels of the Multiverse<\/i> is one of the biggest superhero games in the business. A cooperative game, <i>Sentinels of the Multiverse<\/i> pits players against a card-driven AI. And unlike its contemporary <i>Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game <\/i>(2012), <i>Sentinels <\/i>managed to garner a significant amount of attention without any licenses behind it. With a host of expansions and an impressive cult following, <i>Sentinels of the Multiverse<\/i> continues to deliver content almost a decade after its initial release.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/sentinels-of-the-multiverse\/\">Read our review of <em>Sentinels of the Multiverse<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#51: Five Tribes (2014)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Five Tribes<\/i> became famous for its innovative gameplay that drew from a centuries old source of inspiration: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/board-game-step-ladder-mancala\/\"><i>Mancala<\/i><\/a> (700). Players picked up a handful of meeples, dropping a little breadcrumb trail behind as they moved their dwindling handful across the board. The game wove together an exciting puzzle shared by all players, a bidding war to fight for the right to solve it, and the beautiful and colourful art style that Days of Wonder has become known for.<\/p>\n<p>But the game was not without controversy: in a world of growing awareness of cultural taboos and social progress, <i>Five Tribes<\/i> found itself criticized for its use of slaves as currency. Future editions, in keeping with the <i>Tales of Arabian Nights<\/i> theme, used carpet-flying Fakirs instead.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/five-tribes\/\">Read our review of Five Tribes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-50\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16782 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"309\" data-wp-pid=\"16782\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41-300x129.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41.png?size=528x227&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41-600x258.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/309;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16782\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"309\" data-wp-pid=\"16782\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41-300x129.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41.png?size=528x227&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41-600x258.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/50-41.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>50 to 41<\/h2>\n<h3>#50: Tzolk\u2019in: The Mayan Calendar (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>At first glance, <i>Tzolk\u2019in<\/i>\u2019s quirk may look like a gimmick: six gears lock together, spread across a board dotted with icons and tracks. But looks can be deceiving, as the gears of <i>Tzolk\u2019in<\/i> serve two essential purposes. First, they act as a sort of clock: one revolution of the central gear is a full game. Second, they serve to outsource a key function of gameplay. If <i>Tzolk\u2019in <\/i>were played on a traditional game board, players would have to inch forward dozens of small markers to mark their position on tracks. With the gears, a single turn of the central cog automatically updates all tokens to their new positions.<\/p>\n<p>This innovative system garnered <i>Tzolk\u2019in <\/i>significant praise, and helped fuel the success of more releases from its designers: both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/grand-austria-hotel-review-dice-drafting-and-the-art-of-hotel-management\/\"><i>Grand Austria Hotel<\/i><\/a> (2015) and <i>Newton <\/i>(2018) made a splash upon their release. With its unusual design, <i>Tzolk\u2019in<\/i> showed that<a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/top-six\/top-6-irresistibly-touchable-games\/\"> new components<\/a> don\u2019t have to be gimmicky. In the years that followed, the industry would go on to produce other fascinatingly mechanical productions like <i>Potion Explosion <\/i>(2015), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/gizmos-review-have-the-inventors-lost-their-marbles\/\"><i>Gizmos<\/i><\/a> (2018), and <i>Stonehenge and the Sun <\/i>(2019).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/tzolkin-the-mayan-calendar\/\">Read our review of Tzolk\u2019in: The Mayan Calendar<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>#49: Vast: The Crystal Caverns (2016)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Vast<\/i> is wild, from concept to execution. Masquerading as a fantasy dungeon crawl, <i>Vast<\/i>\u2019s unbelievably asymmetric gameplay gives each player a role so different from any other player that they might as well be playing an entirely different game, outpacing even the famous <i>Dune <\/i>(1979). With characters from The Knight (exploring a dungeon) to The Goblins (using guerilla warfare) to The Cave (playing a drunken <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/carcassonne-android-app-review-the-digital-french-countryside\/\"><i>Carcassonne<\/i> <\/a>of murderous tile placement), <i>Vast<\/i>\u2019s off-the-wall ideas would only meet their match with its spiritual successor, <i>Root<\/i>, two years later.<\/p>\n<h3>#48: Zombicide (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Zombicide<\/i> is a beat-\u2019em-up game of zombie survival. One of the first wildly successful Kickstarters, <i>Zombicide<\/i> raised almost $800,000 (USD) during its 2012 campaign. The success of both <i>Zombicide<\/i> and its contemporaries would pave the way for an enormous market of Kickstarter games, and fundamentally change the distribution method for many publishers. <i>Zombicide<\/i>\u2019s miniatures-focused marketing would also become a staple of crowdfunding, both for CMON\u2019s core business model and the broader Kickstarter community.<\/p>\n<p><i>Zombicide <\/i>would see continued success in a whole plague of follow-ups: <i>Zombicide: Black Plague<\/i> (2015) and <i>Zombicide: Green Horde<\/i> (2018) played with the formula and helped keep a familiar franchise fresh. The series continues to iterate with more recent entries like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/zombicide-invader-review-to-infinity-and-beyonnnnnblarghhhh-brains\/\"><i>Zombicide: Invaders<\/i><\/a> (2019). More than anything, <i>Zombicide<\/i>\u2019s lasting legacy was to propel publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/tag\/cmon\/\">CMON <\/a>into the limelight as the huge force in tabletop gaming it has since become.<\/p>\n<h3>#47: Freedom: The Underground Railroad (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Freedom: The Underground Railroad<\/i> is a cooperative game which focuses on the Abolitionist Movement, an area of history that designer Brian Mayer feels doesn\u2019t receive the attention it deserves. While a game of this nature had the potential to go poorly, <i>Freedom: The Underground Railroad<\/i> was well-received because of how carefully and sensitively Mayer handled the topic.<\/p>\n<p>Conscious choices were made by Mayer in the game\u2019s design: groups of slaves were represented with unpainted cubes. Slave catchers were deliberately not portrayed by meeples, whose playful form would be too light for the historical context. These small acts of careful design manage to abstract the game to a degree which keeps it playable, but not so much that it takes away from the tense, thematic gameplay experience. In an effort to educate, <i>Freedom: The Underground Railroad<\/i> also has a guide available for purchase online explaining how to incorporate the game into a classroom setting, as well as historical notes on all the cards, the Abolitionist Movement and important events.<\/p>\n<p><i>Freedom: The Underground Railroad<\/i> opened the doors for designers to create serious games around sensitive, underrepresented themes without necessarily making light of them. If it were not for <i>Freedom: The Underground Railroad<\/i>, games like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/this-war-of-mine-review-the-other-side-of-war-games\/\"><i>This War of Mine: The Board Game<\/i><\/a> (2017) and <i>Holding On: The Troubled Life of Billy Kerr<\/i> (2018) might not exist.<\/p>\n<h3>#46: Terraforming Mars (2016)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01GSYA4K2?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51n+hn5aZHL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Terraforming Mars Board Game-Award Winning Strategic Space Adventure Game for Family Game Night, Competitive Play&High Replay Value-Adults, Cardboard,Teens&lovers of Board Games by Stronghold Games\u202f\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51n+hn5aZHL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Terraforming Mars Board Game-Award Winning Strategic Space Adventure Game for Family Game Night, Competitive Play&High Replay Value-Adults, Cardboard,Teens&lovers of Board Games by Stronghold Games\u202f\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01GSYA4K2?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>With the success of the science-realism film <i>The Martian<\/i> (2015), an eager audience was primed for their own exploration of Mars. These fans would get their wish in the form of <i>Terraforming Mars<\/i>, a tableau-building and area control game set in the not-so-distant future<i>.<\/i> Combining challenging card play and the communal development of a Mars board, <i>Terraforming Mars<\/i> was lauded by the board game community. As of 2019, the game sits at the #3 best game on BoardGameGeek.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, <i>Terraforming Mars<\/i> is neither the only high-profile terraforming game, nor the only successful Mars game: <i>On Mars<\/i> (2019), <i>Terra Mystica<\/i> (2012), and others would keep the game in good company. With five expansions since its 2016 release, <i>Terraforming Mars<\/i> has quickly built a whole franchise of astro-development.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/terraforming-mars\/\">Read our review of Terraforming Mars<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#45: Spirit Island (2017)<\/h3>\n<p>Mechanically, <i>Spirit Island <\/i>is best known for elevating cooperative games to a new level of asymmetry during a decade in which divergent starting conditions have become more and more popular. But this is not <i>Spirit Island<\/i>\u2019s most impactful design choice.<\/p>\n<p>In a world increasingly aware of the legacy of colonialism, many games have faced criticism for their victory condition of <i>wash over and conquer this land<\/i>. This dismantling of colonialism reaches all the way up to board game titan <i>Catan <\/i>(1995), which quietly removed the word \u201csettlers\u201d from its title in 2015. In this light, <i>Spirit Island<\/i>\u2019s choice to position players as indigenous spirits defending against their island\u2019s invaders is all the more pertinent. As the board game world reconsiders the cultural context of traditionally \u201csafe\u201d themes, it will be interesting to see how <i>Spirit Island<\/i>\u2019s bold choice inspires designs in the future.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/spirit-island\/\">Read our review of Spirit Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#44: T.I.M.E. Stories (2015)<\/h3>\n<p><i>T.I.M.E. Stories<\/i> calls itself a \u201cdecksploring\u201d game, which is not far off: players use time travel to wade their way through a one-use deck of cards that makes up the adventure. Capitalizing on the 2012 re-release of the 1981 classic <i>Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective<\/i>, <i>T.I.M.E. Stories<\/i> was an early experiment in what would become fairly common in board games: a deduction game that, once played, wouldn\u2019t be playable again\u2014 at least, not for the same group.<\/p>\n<p><i>T.I.M.E. Stories <\/i>established a system of play that it would use to release a whole host of sequels. Each sequel constitutes its own adventure in the <i>T.I.M.E. Stories <\/i>world, incentivizing players to explore follow-ups at a lower cost than the original game.<\/p>\n<h3>#43:\u00a0 Disney Villainous (2018)<\/h3>\n<p>Have you ever wanted to be a Disney villain? Well, maybe not\u2014 but that\u2019s exactly what you\u2019re asked to do in <i>Disney Villainous<\/i>, a game of evil vs. evil set in the world of Disney. With each player acting as a different villain, <i>Villainous<\/i> offers a surprisingly sophisticated asymmetric design, with thematic objectives specific to each character. But how did the board game world end up with a genuinely good game with a major recognized license?<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, design team <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/prospero-hall\/\">Prospero Hall<\/a> (formally an initiative of Forrest-Pruzan Creative) began quietly securing high-profile licenses. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/bob-ross-the-art-of-chill-happy-little-trees-means-happy-little-life\/\"><i>Bob Ross: The Art of Chill<\/i><\/a> (2017) to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/funkoverse-strategy-game-review-play-that-funko-music-fight-toys\/\">Funkoverse Strategy Game<\/a> (2019), the reach of Prospero Hall continues to grow. While they\u2019re not all winners, it\u2019s certainly refreshing to see the growth of thoughtful game design paired with a healthy dose of pop culture.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/disney-villainous\/\">Read our review of Disney Villainous<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#42: Suburbia (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>Some folks use board games as a way to escape the real world. Adventure, horror, mystery, it\u2019s all there for the taking. Others? Others may prefer to dive into something a little more mundane.<\/p>\n<p><i>Suburbia<\/i> is a game of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/category\/city-building-board-games\/\">city building<\/a> and tile placement. Players take turns drafting buildings to add to their growing vision of suburban life. The game was a hit, entering the BoardGameGeek top 50 in October of 2014. <i>Suburbia<\/i>\u2019s success helped to grow Be\u0301zier Games, the once-small studio responsible for its release. The game would later be re-imagined as <i>Castles of Mad King Ludwig<\/i> (2014), which acted as a somewhat wackier sequel to the original game (and would later be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/boardgame\/two-castles-mad-king-ludwig\/\">remixed again<\/a>). <i>Suburbia <\/i>would also find a second life as <i>Suburbia: Collector\u2019s Edition<\/i> (2019), which consolidated several expansions and updated the artwork for fans of the game.<\/p>\n<h3>#41: Lords of Waterdeep (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Lords of Waterdeep<\/i> was far from the first worker placement game. It was not the game which invented the genre, nor is it the most famous example. What it <i>does<\/i> represent is a certain watershed moment: with <i>Lords of Waterdeep<\/i>\u2019s well-known setting, simple gameplay, and overwhelming popularity, it brought worker placement to a new level of public awareness and interest.<\/p>\n<p>Based in the world of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/dnd-the-players-the-stories-the-games\/\"><i>Dungeons &amp; Dragons<\/i><\/a> (1974), <i>Lords of Waterdeep<\/i> pares worker placement down to a level of accessibility that wouldn\u2019t be surpassed until <i>Mint Works<\/i> (2017) five years later. While the game has occasionally been criticized for its mild gameplay juxtaposing its adventuring theme, its enduring popularity has garnered a number of game industry awards, a critically lauded expansion, an iOS release, and an appearance on Wil Wheaton\u2019s \u201cTabletop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/lords-of-waterdeep\/\">Read our review of Lords of Waterdeep<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-40\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16781 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"322\" data-wp-pid=\"16781\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31-300x134.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31.png?size=528x236&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31-600x268.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/322;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16781\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"322\" data-wp-pid=\"16781\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31-300x134.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31.png?size=528x236&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31-600x268.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/40-31.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>40 to 31<\/h2>\n<h3>#40: Mechs vs. Minions (2016)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Mechs vs. Minions<\/i> is a cooperative programming campaign game. It features ten missions in sealed, individual envelopes, giving the game a Legacy feel.<\/p>\n<p>Riot Games did the seemingly impossible when they published <i>Mechs vs. Minions<\/i>. Here was a video game developer looking to publish a board game based on their popular MOBA game <i>League of Legends<\/i>, with a design team that didn&#8217;t originally include any prominent members of the board game industry. The game would really take shape when Riot reached out to Tom Vasel (of The Dice Tower) and Quentin Smith (of Shut Up and Sit Down), who provided direction that would help transform the game into the campaign it would become.<\/p>\n<p>Now equipped with a strong manufacturing partner (Panda Games) and a diverse group of in-house developers, the team promised a high production value, awesome minis, and a fun gameplay experience, all for the relatively affordable price of $75 (USD). The result, to the surprise of many, was a huge success. Three years later, <i>Mechs vs. Minions <\/i>remains Riot Games\u2019 only foray into the board game world&#8230; for now.<\/p>\n<h3>#39: Machi Koro (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Machi Koro<\/i> is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/category\/city-building-board-games\/\">city-building<\/a> game that uses <i>Catan<\/i>\u2019s famous system of resource distribution: roll, gain, build. Best known for its cute and colourful minimal aesthetic, <i>Machi Koro<\/i> entered the collective imagination of board gamers when it debuted at the Spiel convention in Essen circa 2013.<\/p>\n    <div class=\"amzn-ad amzn-enhanced-links-small\">\n        <div>\n            <div class=\"amzn-product\">\n                <span class=\"amzn-product-image-container\">\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-image-holder\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51oLL9PPplL._SL300_.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51oLL9PPplL._SL300_.jpg\"><\/noscript>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/span>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-title-container\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" class=\"amzn-product-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09B6R9TL2?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-title-text\" title=\"Pandasaurus Games Machi Koro 2 Board Game | City Building Strategy Board Game | Fast-Paced Dice Rolling Game for Adults and Kids | Ages 10+ | 2-5 Players | Average Playtime 45 Minutes | Made\">Pandasaurus Games Machi Koro 2 Board Game | City Building Strategy Board Game | Fast-Paced Dice Rolling Game for Adults and Kids | Ages 10+ | 2-5 Players | Average Playtime 45 Minutes | Made<\/span>\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-price\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-offer-price\">$29.95<\/span>\n                                                    <span class=\"amzn-sprite amzn-product-prime\"><\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link-box\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09B6R9TL2?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link\">\n                        Buy Now\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<p><i>Machi Koro<\/i>\u2019s story is an interesting one: the game was originally distributed by Japon Brand, a collective of independent designers from Japan. While American consumers would have to wait for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/pandasaurus-games\/\">Pandasaurus<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/idw-games\/\">IDW Games<\/a> to pick the title up for broader distribution, <i>Machi Koro<\/i>\u2019s popularity represented an important landmark: designs from outside the bubble of the western world were finally making their way in. Western consumers would later be treated to a number of interesting Japanese designs, including titles from publishers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/oink-games\/\">Oink Games<\/a> and Saashi &amp; Saashi.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/machi-koro-5th-anniversary-edition\/\">Read our review of Machi Koro 5th Anniversary Edition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#38: Azul (2017)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B077MZ2MPW?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61N5Hys8OaS._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Azul Board Game - Strategic Tile-Placement Game for Family Fun, Great Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 8+, 2-4 Players, 30-45 Minute Playtime, Made by Plan B Games\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61N5Hys8OaS._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Azul Board Game - Strategic Tile-Placement Game for Family Fun, Great Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 8+, 2-4 Players, 30-45 Minute Playtime, Made by Plan B Games\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B077MZ2MPW?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>Tile placement: it\u2019s not just a mechanism anymore. <i>Azul<\/i> is a very meta example of the genre, asking players to build beautiful mosaics of ceramic tiles. Players take turns drafting tiles and placing them into their player boards. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/top-six\/top-6-irresistibly-touchable-games\/\">thick plastic tiles<\/a> were widely praised by the board game community as an example of high production values in a game that could easily have just been cardboard.<\/p>\n<p><i>Azul <\/i>would go on to win a Spiel des Jahres award in 2018. The game was an early success from studio Plan B Games, which would later release <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/reef-review-building-an-octopus-garden\/\"><i>Reef<\/i><\/a> (2018) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/tuki-review-building-messengers-of-the-north\/\"><i>Tuki<\/i><\/a> (2019). <i>Azul<\/i>\u2019s success resulted in spin-offs and sequels like <i>Stained Glass of Sintra <\/i>(2018) and <i>Summer Pavilion <\/i>(2019).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/azul\/\">Read our review of Azul<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#37: The Mind (2018)<\/h3>\n<p>Few designers have risen to prominence quite so quickly as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/wolfgang-warsch\/\">Wolfgang Warsch<\/a>. Creator of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/the-quacks-of-quedlinburg-review-walla-walla-bing-bang\/\"><i>The Quacks of Quedlinburg<\/i><\/a> (2018)<i>, <\/i><i>That\u2019s Pretty Clever<\/i> (2018)<i>, <\/i>and <i>Subtext <\/i>(2019), Warsch has made a name for himself in the world of fresh-feeling family weight games. One of his more unusual designs is also one of the best-known: <i>The Mind<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>A cooperative card game, <i>The Mind<\/i> deals players a hand of cards (with values from 1-100) and asks them to play the next card in ascending order. The unique twist of <i>The Mind<\/i> is that players cannot speak. The resulting mind-game is so simple that it can be explained without words. This pared-down take on cooperation asks players (and designers) what it really means to communicate, and answers that question in its own fascinating way.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/the-mind\/\">Read our review of The Mind<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#36: Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (2014)<\/h3>\n<p>Coming in a little late on the zombies fanaticism of the 2000\u2019s to 2010\u2019s, <i>Dead of Winter <\/i>might have been forgotten if not for the unique twist it brought to the genre. Sure, you might die from zombies\u2026 but you\u2019re just as likely to die from the cold.<\/p>\n<p><i>Dead of Winter<\/i> was the first in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/plaid-hat-games\/\">Plaid Hat<\/a>\u2019s series of Crossroads games: a curious new card-based mechanism that brought variable story elements into a genre that begged for organic theme. Between this innovation and its famous traitor mechanism, <i>Dead of Winter <\/i>made a big splash in what many people thought was an already well-worn genre.<\/p>\n<h3>#35: Century: Spice Road (2017)<\/h3>\n<p>A game of merchants and the spice trade: drawing heavy inspiration from the influential <i>Splendor<\/i> (2014), <i>Century: Spice Road<\/i> turned the simple engine-building formula into a card-driven game of creation and conversion. <i>Century: Spice Road <\/i>is a smart, fun game of resource management, but <i>Century: Spice Road<\/i> doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum.<\/p>\n<p>In the years that followed its release, publisher Plan B Games would go on to release two sequels to <i>Spice Road<\/i>. <i>Century: Eastern<\/i> <i>Wonders <\/i>(2018) and <i>Century: A New World<\/i> (2019) kept the setting and weight of the original, but were very different games.<\/p>\n<p>What is particularly interesting is that all three games in the series could combine into new games when played together. All three two-game mashups, as well as the full trio, worked as unique entries with their own rules. While it isn\u2019t unheard of for standalone games to integrate with titles that preceded them, the <i>Century<\/i> series stands out for the diversity of its puzzle pieces and the strength of each game on its own.<\/p>\n<h3>#34: Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>The 2010s were a great year for fans of <i>Star Wars<\/i> and board games. With landmark titles like <i>Star Wars: Imperial Assault<\/i> (2014), <i>Star Wars: Armada <\/i>(2015) and <i>Star Wars: Rebellion<\/i> (2016), it was a land of plenty for fans of the series. But before these titles, in 2012, came the start of a miniatures game that would set the bar for those that followed: <i>Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><i>X-Wing<\/i> marked a major release of a huge license in a long-standing genre of geeky fun: miniatures. Drawing from contemporary board game sensibilities, <i>X-Wing<\/i> offered attractive, pre-painted models right out of the box. The message was clear: <i>X-Wing<\/i> was not just a painting project, but an active game with a focus on play. With fourteen waves and fifty-eight starships, <i>X-Wing<\/i> became an expansive property before being re-launched as a second edition in 2018. While Fantasy Flight hasn\u2019t announced its plans for the series as we enter the 2020s, it\u2019s a safe bet that fans will discover new gems in the years to come.<\/p>\n<h3>#33: Food Chain Magnate (2015)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Food Chain Magnate<\/i> is a cutthroat game of 50s-era fast food franchises fighting over customers and profits, all in a race to grow their business and make a quick buck. Perhaps it\u2019s ironic, then, that <i>Food Chain Magnate<\/i> is also the single largest success from a tiny Dutch game company that only ever wanted to make their niche economic games for a small cult of die-hard fans.<\/p>\n<p>Splotter Spellen (popularly \u201cSplotter\u201d) opened their doors in 1997, making hand-crafted games they sold in VHS boxes. It was only two years later that they released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/bus-review-a-double-decker-serving-of-worker-placement\/\"><i>Bus<\/i><\/a>, arguably the first worker placement game. Their ludography includes sleeper hits like <i>Roads &amp; Boats <\/i>(1999), <i>Indonesia <\/i>(2005), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/the-great-zimbabwe-review\/\"><i>The Great Zimbabwe<\/i><\/a> (2012). Point is, Splotter has been innovating for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>So when <i>Food Chain Magnate<\/i> breached BoardGameGeek\u2019s top 25 games list in August of 2017, the level of interest in Splotter\u2019s games had reached an all-time high. Six printings later, <i>Food Chain Magnate<\/i> continues to see widespread praise\u2014 amidst occasional warnings that it\u2019s an unforgiving and calculating master. With an expansion set for release in 2019 (a rare choice for Splotter), <i>Food Chain Magnate<\/i>\u2019s presence continues to be felt.<\/p>\n<h3>#32: Great Western Trail (2016)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Great Western Trail<\/i> is a game of cow wrangling in the early American west. Notice we didn\u2019t say \u201ccowboys\u201d: in <i>Great Western Trail<\/i>, high noon showdowns are set aside in favour of travel planning and cow management. But this is exactly the kind of economy-minded thinking that the game\u2019s designer has made a name for himself with.<\/p>\n    <div class=\"amzn-ad amzn-enhanced-links-small\">\n        <div>\n            <div class=\"amzn-product\">\n                <span class=\"amzn-product-image-container\">\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-image-holder\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51P9MMEkPfL._SL300_.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51P9MMEkPfL._SL300_.jpg\"><\/noscript>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/span>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-title-container\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" class=\"amzn-product-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09L55YLJC?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-title-text\" title=\"Great Western Trail 2nd Edition Board Game - Epic Strategy Board Game for Ranchers and Adventurers! Family Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 12+, 1-4 Players, 75-150 Min Playtime Made by Eggertspiele\">Great Western Trail 2nd Edition Board Game - Epic Strategy Board Game for Ranchers and Adventurers! Family Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 12+, 1-4 Players, 75-150 Min Playtime Made by Eggertspiele<\/span>\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-price\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-offer-price\">$55.99<\/span>\n                                                    <span class=\"amzn-sprite amzn-product-prime\"><\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link-box\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09L55YLJC?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link\">\n                        Buy Now\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<p><i>Great Western Trail<\/i> is part of a series of successes for designer Alexander Pfister. Rising to prominence in 2015 with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/isle-of-skye-review-come-with-me-to-the-winged-isle\/\"><i>Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King<\/i><\/a> (2015), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/broom-service-review-a-pfistful-of-potions\/\"><i>Broom Service<\/i><\/a> (2015) and <i>Mombasa<\/i> (2015), Pfister\u2019s efforts were honoured with back-to-back\u00a0 Kennerspiel des Jahres award wins. The next year would see <i>Great Western Trail<\/i> enter the top ten of BoardGameGeek\u2019s all-time best games. Pfister has continued his pace with titles like <i>Blackout: Hong Kong <\/i>(2018) and <i>Expedition to Newdale<\/i> (2019).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/great-western-trail\/\">Read our review of Great Western Trail<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#31: Kingdom Death: Monster (2015)<\/h3>\n<p>Whether you love or hate its adults-only exploration of fantasy, violence and sexuality, <i>Kingdom Death: Monster<\/i> was a major development in campaign games. In 2016, <i>Kingdom Death: Monster<\/i> became the single highest-funded board game Kickstarter ever, offering astonishingly detailed miniatures and an elaborate campaign for players to explore. With an asking price of $250 (USD) for the base game alone, <i>Kingdom Death: Monster<\/i> took what could have been a niche game and propelled it to stunning levels of production. The success of <i>Kingdom Death: Monster<\/i> would open the door to other adults-only titles like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/cmon-limited\/\">CMON<\/a>\u2019s controversial <i>HATE<\/i> (2019).<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-30\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16780 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"313\" data-wp-pid=\"16780\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21-300x130.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21.png?size=528x230&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21-600x261.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/313;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16780\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"313\" data-wp-pid=\"16780\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21-300x130.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21.png?size=528x230&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21-600x261.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/30-21.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>30 to 21<\/h2>\n<h3>#30: Kingdomino (2016)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01N3A4070?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41jc3Pjh33L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Blue Orange Games Kingdomino Award Winning Family Strategy Board Game, 4 players\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41jc3Pjh33L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Blue Orange Games Kingdomino Award Winning Family Strategy Board Game, 4 players\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01N3A4070?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/bruno-cathala\/\">Bruno Cathala<\/a> has a way of taking the mechanisms in traditional board games and using them to create a more modern, strategic game. He did it in 2014 with <i>Five Tribes<\/i>, and again in 2016 with <i>Kingdomino<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>In <i>Kingdomino<\/i>, players select non-traditional dominos featuring different terrains and add them to their kingdom. The bigger a section of terrain, the more points it could score\u2026 but only if the section also includes crowns. <i>Kingdomino<\/i> won the 2017 Spiel des Jahres prize for its achievements in accessible tile placement, appealing to light and heavy board gamers alike.<\/p>\n<p><i>Kingdomino<\/i> can be contextualized within the larger polyomino movement spearheaded by Uwe Rosenberg in games like <i>Patchwork<\/i> (2014) and <i>Indian Summer<\/i> (2017).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/kingdomino\/\">Read our review of Kingdomino<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#29: Mice and Mystics (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>Deep in the recesses of the castle they once called home, a group of knights-turned-mice must take back their fortress. <i>Mice and Mystics<\/i> is a campaign game: over a series of sessions, players explore chapters filled with different environments, held together by an overarching narrative. A dungeon-crawler at heart, players will fight their way through the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>To speak of <i>Mice and Mystics\u2019 <\/i>influence, look no further than BoardGameGeek\u2019s top-rated game: Isaac Childres, designer of the massive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/gloomhaven-review-big-box-even-bigger-game\/\"><i>Gloomhaven<\/i><\/a> (2017), has cited <i>Mice and Mystics<\/i> as a major inspiration. Alongside <i>Descent<\/i> (2005), <i>Mice and Mystics<\/i> served as many people\u2019s first experience with a campaign board game. With a family-friendly theme and a sizeable collection of expansions, the game has been enjoyed by a wide variety of people since its 2012 release. <i>Mice and Mystics<\/i> would also see follow-ups: standalone expansion <i>Tail Feathers <\/i>(2015), and spiritual successor <i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/stuffed-fables\/\">Stuffed Fables<\/a><\/i> (2018).<\/p>\n<h3>#28: Anomia (2010)<\/h3>\n<p>Mashups of speed and word games aren\u2019t new &#8212; from <i>Boggle <\/i>(1972) to <i>Bananagrams <\/i>(2006), people have been racing to think of the right word for years. Still, <i>Anomia<\/i>\u2019s quick-thinking match-and-duel gameplay was a break-out hit that continues to enjoy widespread popularity ten years later. <i>Anomia<\/i>\u2019s take on trivia required a new level of focus and attention, commanding the same table engagement of its contemporary <i>Ghost Blitz<\/i> (2010). <i>Anomia<\/i>\u2019s commercial success would lead to an expansion of the franchise, with games including <i>Anomia: Party Edition<\/i> (2013) and the <i>Cards Against Humanity <\/i>(2011)-inspired <i>Anomia X<\/i> (2017).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/anomia-and-anomia-kids\/\">Read our review of Anomia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#27: King of Tokyo (2011)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01F46RPS4?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/518cmXUuV9L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"IELLO: King of Tokyo, New Edition, Strategy Board Game, Space Penguin Included in the Box, For 2 to 6 Players, 30 Minute Play Time, For Ages 8 and Up\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/518cmXUuV9L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"IELLO: King of Tokyo, New Edition, Strategy Board Game, Space Penguin Included in the Box, For 2 to 6 Players, 30 Minute Play Time, For Ages 8 and Up\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01F46RPS4?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>Giant kaiju monsters and a set of big black dice to match: <i>King of Tokyo <\/i>is a dice-chucking free-for-all that captured the hearts of the board game world in the early 2010s. A mashup of <i>Yahtzee<\/i>\u2019s (1956) system of dice rolling and a card-driven set of power-ups, the winning combo came as a surprise to some. More surprising still was that this creation came from Richard Garfield, father of the titanic <i>Magic: the Gathering <\/i>(1993).<\/p>\n<p>With its success, <i>King of Tokyo<\/i> would spawn a series of expansions and a standalone sequel, <i>King of New York <\/i>(2014). Garfield\u2019s foray into family-weight gaming would continue with <i>Treasure Hunter<\/i> (2015) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/bunny-kingdom-review-a-tail-of-royal-rabbits\/\"><i>Bunny Kingdom<\/i><\/a> (2017).<\/p>\n<h3>#26: Fog of Love (2017)<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/fog-of-love-and-the-gay-option\/\"><i>Fog of Love<\/i><\/a>, a game for two players, is deemed a \u201cromantic comedy\u201d board game&#8230; but anyone who\u2019s played it knows the game doesn\u2019t typically end with happily ever after. <i>Fog of Love<\/i> focuses on a romantic relationship between two characters, each created and directed by one of the players. The game plays out their relationship as they try to achieve personal and collaborative goals, all while working towards their secret chosen Destiny. This is done through scenes, a series of tests and challenges. Scenes range from Sweet (romantic and sweet experiences) or Serious (important life events) to Drama (secrets, dramatic situations, and scenes of personal change). Unfortunately many scenes in the base game play into socially constructed roles and heteronormative culture, but <i>Fog of Love<\/i>\u2019s expansions seem to be working towards a more inclusive experience.<\/p>\n<p>Mechanically <i>Fog of Love<\/i> is a solid board game, but it\u2019s when players immerse themselves in their character and jump into the role-playing side of things that it becomes something truly special. <i>Fog of Love<\/i> is such a thematic experience that players can sometimes find themselves unable to separate who they are from the characters they\u2019ve created, causing arguments between real-life loved ones. Regardless, <i>Fog of Love<\/i> is an important step into bold new themes, and hopefully a preview of things to come.<\/p>\n<h3>#25: Android: Netrunner (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>Two players face off in a duel of cards, striving for victory in the globally popular lifestyle game designed by Richard Garfield. No, we\u2019re not talking about <i>Magic: The Gathering <\/i>(1993)\u2014 though <i>Android: Netrunner<\/i> is equally beloved, albeit from a smaller group of people.<\/p>\n<p>In some ways, <i>Android: Netrunner<\/i> threw traditional card duel rules out the window: players took on vastly different roles, with different mechanisms and objectives. The game pits a powerful, dystopian mega-corporation against a lone hacker. The cast of characters was diverse, with queer representation and an even split of male and female runners. The fixed expansion pack system offered a <i>living card game <\/i>(LCG) without players having to buy endless boosters to find the cards they wanted.<\/p>\n<p><i>Android: Netrunner<\/i> officially ended in 2018, joining other cancelled LCGs from publisher Fantasy Flight. While the future of the series remains unknown, the dedicated fan community continues to manage the game. Core sets still circulate in the board game world, offering an enticing and unique experience for those looking for an engaging medium for casual play.<\/p>\n<h3>#24: Mage Knight Board Game (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Mage Knight<\/i> is everything and the kitchen sink. A quest of fantasy combat and exploration based on the miniatures game of the same name, <i>Mage Knight<\/i> is almost exhausting to wrap your head around. Combining deck-building, hex movement, action management and squadron combat, <i>Mage Knight<\/i> is ruthlessly complicated and completely unashamed of that fact.<\/p>\n<p><i>Mage Knight<\/i> has been championed for its solo play, voted #1 by the <a href=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/geeklist\/248275\/2018-peoples-choice-top-100-solo-games-100-1-and-b\/page\/4\">People\u2019s Choice Top 100 Solo Games<\/a> five years straight. The game has seen three successful expansions in the years since its release, and continues to stand as one of the most complex puzzles on offer for those who choose to explore it.<\/p>\n<h3>#23: Smash Up (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>What happens when you pit a team of pirates and ninjas against a union of zombies and aliens? These are the questions asked by <i>Smash Up<\/i>, a card game with a zany theme and surprisingly mathematical gameplay. <i>Smash Up<\/i> became famous for its variance, each game starting with players combining two unique decks of cards. These merged decks formed the basis for player strategy, and games often consisted of trying to puzzle out how to best make the faction powers complement each other.<\/p>\n<p><i>Smash Up<\/i> was a highly successful franchise for publisher Alderac Entertainment Group, with over a dozen major expansions in the years since its release. The game would also appear on Wil Wheaton\u2019s influential \u201cTabletop,\u201d attracting over a million views in 2013.<\/p>\n<h3>#22: Above and Below (2015)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B015OWCB2S?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/515KtKf8PSL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Red Raven Games Above and Below, Strategy Board Game\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/515KtKf8PSL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Red Raven Games Above and Below, Strategy Board Game\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B015OWCB2S?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>In film circles, an <i>auteur<\/i> is a filmmaker whose creative influence over a movie is so great that they are regarded as the author of the piece. Singular in direction and vision, the auteur is the driving force behind the whole production.<\/p>\n<p>In the world of board games, we have Ryan Laukat.<\/p>\n<p>At once the designer, artist, and publisher, Laukat is famous for his DIY attitude and full-project approach to game making. Nowhere is this spirit more apparent than in Laukat\u2019s narrative-driven, build your own adventure game <i>Above and Below<\/i>, which tasked players with building a village and exploring the caverns beneath it. <i>Above and Below<\/i> would foreshadow the fusion of strategy gaming and narrative exploration to come from showstoppers like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/gloomhaven-review-big-box-even-bigger-game\/\"><i>Gloomhaven<\/i><\/a> (2017).<i> Above and Below<\/i> would be followed by sequel <i>Near and Far<\/i> (2017). Laukat seems poised to continue his streak of success, with his hotly-anticipated cooperative game <i>Sleeping Gods<\/i> due for release in 2020.<\/p>\n<h3>#21: Legendary: A Marvel Deck-Building Game (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Dominion<\/i>, released in 2008, was just a little too early to make it onto this list. But its influence remains crystal clear: just four years before the release of <i>Legendary<\/i>, deck-building didn\u2019t exist as a genre; now, here it was, shining brightly from the game\u2019s title.<\/p>\n<p><i>Legendary<\/i> may not have been the first good superhero game, but it is unique in its widespread acclaim, big name license, and obvious love for its source material. These driving highlights of its conception made the game stand out as a huge example of officially licensed games getting it right. <i>Legendary<\/i> has since spawned a whole series of games from a seemingly endless parade of properties: <i>Alien<\/i> (2014), <i>Firefly<\/i> (2016), <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/i> (2017), and <i>X-Files<\/i> (2018) have all gotten their turn to ride.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-20\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16779 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"319\" data-wp-pid=\"16779\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11-300x133.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11.png?size=528x234&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11-600x266.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/319;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16779\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"319\" data-wp-pid=\"16779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11-300x133.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11.png?size=528x234&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11-600x266.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20-11.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>20 to 11<\/h2>\n<h3>#20: The Castles of Burgundy (2011)<\/h3>\n<p>While many of the entries on this list were pioneers of trends that followed, <i>The Castles of Burgundy<\/i> was in many ways an echo of what came before.<\/p>\n<p>The most popular of designer Stefan Feld\u2019s ludography, <i>The Castles of Burgundy <\/i>is a tile drafting game in which players build their princely estates. Today, the muted palette and pacific theme of <i>Burgundy<\/i> are a quiet reminder of how much board game art expectations have changed since its release. The design, in contrast, hasn\u2019t aged a bit: with its clever dice manipulation and combos of layered actions, <i>The Castles of Burgundy<\/i> is emblematic of Feld\u2019s design genius, and remains popular to this day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/the-castles-of-burgundy\/\">Read our review of The Castles of Burgundy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#19: Terra Mystica (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/top-six\/top-6-reasons-i-love-terra-mystica\/\"><i>Terra Mystica<\/i><\/a> presents itself as a power struggle between fantasy races, but manages to get called an \u201cabstract\u201d game a lot anyway. Debuting at Essen in 2012, the game was brought to the Fair by a small new publisher (Feuerland Spiele). It was an instant hit, and was quickly picked up by Z-Man Games for global distribution. In <i>Terra Mystica<\/i>, players race to spread their civilization across the board, picking up points along the way for everything from digging to worshiping . At its core, <i>Terra Mystica<\/i> is a game of resource management and quiet optimization.<\/p>\n<p><i>Terra Mystica<\/i>\u2019s success lead to an even more popular sequel, the sci-fi themed <i>Gaia Project <\/i>(2017). The game\u2019s innovative resource distribution system also inspired the 2017 Kickstarter hit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/clans-of-caledonia-turning-whiskey-into-solid-gold\/\"><i>Clans of Caledonia<\/i><\/a>, which has seen widespread praise in its own right. With 2019 bringing a second expansion for <i>Terra Mystica<\/i>, the future of the franchise looks bright.<\/p>\n<p>Check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/general-strategies-for-terra-mystica\/\">Terra Mystica strategy guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#18: Root (2018)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07F454YF3?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51tro-RPtQL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Leder Games Root\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51tro-RPtQL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Leder Games Root\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07F454YF3?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><i>Root<\/i> is, in many ways, the spiritual successor to its publisher\u2019s sleeper hit <i>Vast<\/i> (2016). An asymmetric game of woodland creatures and warfare, <i>Root<\/i>\u2019s charming artwork and aggressive combat formed an unlikely pair that would delight board game audiences in 2018.<\/p>\n<p><i>Root<\/i>\u2019s success served to bring radically asymmetric games to a mainstream focal point. The game\u2019s accessible theme and rules eased players into a complex web of diverse objectives and mechanisms. Cole Wehrle, designer of <i>Root<\/i>, explains that this was an intentional choice: while he wanted to explore an interactive, conflict-focused strategy game, he deliberately chose a setting outside the real world in hopes of increasing accessibility.<\/p>\n<p>This vision was realized: on release, <i>Root <\/i>spread like wildfire. With impressive sales and a host of industry awards (including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/awards\/2018-diamond-climber-board-game-award-winners\/\">several wins in our own Diamond Climber Awards<\/a>), the game managed to garner both critical and commercial success. The series has gone on to produce three expansions, with a full tabletop roleplaying game in the same universe currently in production.<\/p>\n<h3>#17: SeaFall (2016)<\/h3>\n<p>Contrasting with many games on this list, <i>SeaFall<\/i> is nominated not for its success but its failure. Granted, that statement is a little cruel: <i>SeaFall <\/i>was not a total miss. But for many fans of Rob Daviau\u2019s bombastic debuts that created the Legacy genre, <i>Risk Legacy <\/i>(2011) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/pandemic-legacy-the-future-of-board-gaming\/\"><i>Pandemic Legacy: Season 1<\/i><\/a> (2015), <i>SeaFall<\/i> fell disappointingly short.<\/p>\n<p>The first entirely new property in a Legacy format, <i>Seafall<\/i> was the hotly-anticipated third release from Daviau. <i>SeaFall<\/i> was bold, introducing daring surprises and twists in a competitive game format. But it also faced complaints of balance concerns and poorly aligned incentives. Ultimately, SeaFall\u2019s downfall was likely in the huge hype that formed before its release: the game amounted to an interesting experiment, but not the messiah of Legacy gaming it was anticipated to be. When all the chips had fallen, SeaFall\u2019s critical failure may have slowed the development of the genre. If the father of Legacy games could miss the mark, other designers and publishers would have to ensure that their products were worth the long development cycles and high production costs associated with the genre.<\/p>\n<h3>#16: Hanabi (2010)<\/h3>\n<p>In 2010, the idea of a fully cooperative game was still relatively new. With early leaders like <i>Pandemic <\/i>(2008), <i>Ghost Stories<\/i> (2008) and the ahead-of-its-time <i>Lord of the Rings<\/i> (2000) blazing a trail, the formula of a cooperative game had started to form: a central board. A dangerous threat. A communal conversation to optimize the next move. <i>Hanabi<\/i> would glance at this formula, and throw it away.<\/p>\n<p><i>Hanabi<\/i> is a cooperative card game with a central twist: you can see your friends\u2019 hands, but not your own. Players are tasked with working together to play the right cards (at the right time), carefully using a series of hints under strict communication rules. The randomized deck of cards meant that <i>Hanabi<\/i> offered a new and exciting puzzle each time. <i>Hanabi<\/i> does have credit to give: its deductive system has a lot of shared DNA with <i>Code 777<\/i> (1985), a competitive Alex Randolph game from decades before. But <i>Hanabi<\/i> came at exactly the right time to change the path of cooperative games forever.<\/p>\n<p>Small, cheap, and whip-smart, <i>Hanabi<\/i> garnered a laundry list of awards (including the prestigious Spiel des Jahres). Its design would inspire a number of like-minded cooperative card games including <i>The Game<\/i> (2015), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/the-mind-review-mentalists-or-just-plain-mental\/\"><i>The Mind<\/i><\/a> (2018), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/letter-jam-review-letter-rip\/\"><i>Letter Jam<\/i><\/a> (2019).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/hanabi\/\">Read our review of Hanabi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#15: Alien Frontiers (2010)<\/h3>\n<p>In 2010, Clever Mojo games launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new game called <i>Alien Frontiers<\/i>, billed as a \u201cRetro-Future Sci Fi Board Game\u201d. It was backed by 228 people and raised a very modest $14,885 (USD). The campaign page was all text, with no stretch goals. Released today, this dice placement game may have been a tiny blip on the radar\u2026 but in 2010, it marked one of the earliest forays of board games into the Kickstarter world, which would radically change the way games got to customers. <i>Alien Frontiers<\/i> has since spawned over 20 expansions. The humble origins of <i>Alien Frontiers<\/i> would eventually lead to tabletop games making up the single largest sector of the crowd-funding giant, and left an indisputable mark in the process.<\/p>\n<h3>#14: Wingspan (2019)<\/h3>\n<p>Nearing the end of the decade, <i>Wingspan<\/i>\u2019s success seemingly came from nowhere. Here was a game by a first-time designer,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/interviews\/taking-flight-interview-with-elizabeth-hargrave-2019-kennerspiel-des-jahres-award-winner\/\"> Elizabeth Hargrave<\/a>, featuring a nontraditional theme: birds. <i>Wingspan<\/i> is a card-driven, engine-building board game in which players act as bird enthusiasts who attract different species of birds to their wildlife preserve. It\u2019s <i>Wingspan<\/i>\u2019s approachable theme, high production value, and stunning components and artwork that have charmed board gamers, families, and even non-gamers.<\/p>\n    <div class=\"amzn-ad amzn-enhanced-links-small\">\n        <div>\n            <div class=\"amzn-product\">\n                <span class=\"amzn-product-image-container\">\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-image-holder\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41+vpBhpyaL._SL300_.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41+vpBhpyaL._SL300_.jpg\"><\/noscript>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/span>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-title-container\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" class=\"amzn-product-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07YQ641NQ?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-title-text\" title=\"Stonemaier Games: Wingspan (Base Game) by Elizabeth Hargrave | A Relaxing, Award-Winning Strategy Board Game About Birds for Adults and Family | 1-5 Players, 70 Mins, Ages 14+\">Stonemaier Games: Wingspan (Base Game) by Elizabeth Hargrave | A Relaxing, Award-Winning Strategy Board Game About Birds for Adults and Family | 1-5 Players, 70 Mins, Ages 14+<\/span>\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-price\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-offer-price\">$52.00<\/span>\n                                                    <span class=\"amzn-sprite amzn-product-prime\"><\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link-box\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07YQ641NQ?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link\">\n                        Buy Now\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<p>In less than a year after its release, <i>Wingspan<\/i> won the Kennerspiel des Jahres award, had its first expansion released, and has risen to #30 on BoardGameGeek. <i>Wingspan<\/i> and its designer Elizabeth Hargrave have also received critical acclaim outside of the hobby (even being<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/03\/11\/science\/wingspan-board-game-elizabeth-hargrave.html\"> featured in <i>The New York Times<\/i><\/a>). As a woman designing board games in a male-dominated hobby, Hargrave has used her platform and recent success to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elizhargrave.com\/women-nb-game-designers\"> support diversity within the gaming community<\/a> and work towards making it<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/1J_TXmL6js3qGCtVopLnn4ybgDrXBqMKZi5sBAZ6oI9c\/edit%23slide=id.g60c4f00196_0_31\"> more inclusive<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/wingspan\/\">Read our review of Wingspan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#13: Splendor (2014)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00IZEUFIA?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/514SLEmpC7L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Splendor Board Game (Packaging May Vary) - Master The Art of Wealth and Prestige! - Engaging Gem Minding Strategy Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 10+, 2-4 Players, 30 Min Playtime, Made by Space Cowboys\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/514SLEmpC7L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Splendor Board Game (Packaging May Vary) - Master The Art of Wealth and Prestige! - Engaging Gem Minding Strategy Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 10+, 2-4 Players, 30 Min Playtime, Made by Space Cowboys\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00IZEUFIA?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>A masterclass of lean design, <i>Splendor<\/i> has built a whole-game experience on a deck of cards and a stack of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/top-six\/top-6-irresistibly-touchable-games\/\">poker chips<\/a>. <i>Splendor<\/i> is an engine-builder: as players move through the game, they become gradually more and more powerful based on the decisions they made before. The game\u2019s central innovation is its scale: traditionally, engine building was an elaborate affair taking a couple hours and a table full of components. <i>Splendor<\/i> condenses this arc into a tense game of forty minutes.<\/p>\n<p><i>Splendor<\/i>\u2019s high sales and widespread success has opened the door for other accessible engine-builders like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/gizmos-review-have-the-inventors-lost-their-marbles\/\"><i>Gizmos<\/i><\/a> (2018) and <i>Century: Spice Road<\/i> (2017). It also helped launch the tabletop career of its then-freshman designer Marc Andre\u0301, who has since penned sleeper hits <i>Barony<\/i> (2015) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/majesty-for-the-realm-review-card-driven-kingdom\/\"><i>Majesty: For the Realm<\/i><\/a> (2017).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/the-splendorificness-of-splendor\/\">Find out why we love Splendor<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#12: Exit: The Abandoned Cabin (2016)<\/h3>\n<p>Inspired by the meteoric rise of escape rooms, <i>Exit: The Abandoned Cabin<\/i> was one of the first games to adapt the popular pastime into a tabletop-friendly format. The innovative approach to game design led by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/exit-the-game-mega-review-puzzling-out\/\">Exit series<\/a> introduced one-use puzzle games that were destroyed during play. Subtle and clever, <i>Exit<\/i>\u2019s novel take on everything from its narrative to its components opened the door for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/tag\/escape-room-games\/\">many successors<\/a> that have tried their hand at duplicating <i>Exit<\/i>\u2019s success. The Exit series continued to produce critically acclaimed releases in the following years, and shows little sign of stopping as we enter the 2020s.<\/p>\n<h3>#11: Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small (2012)<\/h3>\n<p><i>Agricola: All Creatures Big &amp; Small<\/i> (popularly \u201c<i>ACBAS\u201d<\/i>) is a two-player adaptation of worker placement pioneer <i>Agricola<\/i> (2007). While the original game accomodated two players, <i>ACBAS <\/i>pared down the moving parts significantly for its small-box reimagining. This redesign would set a trend for games that would follow: titles like <i>7 Wonders<\/i> (2010), <i>Codenames<\/i> (2015), and <i>Dinosaur Island<\/i> (2017) would all see successful two-player re-releases notably different from their original game.<\/p>\n<p><i>ACBAS<\/i> remains one of the most successful games in the world of two-player adaptations, with a big box reprint including all its expansions released in 2018. <i>ACBAS <\/i>would also inspire an adaptation of <i>Agricola\u2019<\/i>s sister game <i>Caverna: The Cave Farmers<\/i> (2013) in the form of <i>Caverna: Cave vs. Cave<\/i> (2017).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/agricola-all-creatures-big-and-small\/\">Read our review of Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"top-10\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16778 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"435\" data-wp-pid=\"16778\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1-300x181.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1.png?size=528x319&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1-600x363.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 720px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 720\/435;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16778\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"435\" data-wp-pid=\"16778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1-300x181.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 300w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1.png?size=528x319&amp;lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 528w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1-600x363.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 600w, https:\/\/b1803394.smushcdn.com\/1803394\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-1.png?lossy=1&amp;strip=1&amp;webp=1 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>10 to 1<\/h2>\n<h3>#10: That\u2019s Pretty Clever (2018)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0CV7BZTKR?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51Avm3hqLOL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"CMYK That's Pretty Clever! - A Dice Rolling Board Game for Clever Thinkers\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51Avm3hqLOL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"CMYK That's Pretty Clever! - A Dice Rolling Board Game for Clever Thinkers\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0CV7BZTKR?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>Often referred to by its original German title <i>Ganz scho\u0308n clever<\/i>, this game is more than it appears at first glance. With only a handful of dice and a pad of paper, <i>That\u2019s Pretty Clever<\/i> bears the flag for one of the hottest board game trends of the 2010s: the roll and write.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/category\/roll-and-write-board-games\/\">What is a roll and write game<\/a>? Pretty much what it sounds like: each turn, players roll dice and record the results on their sheets. If this sounds like <i>Yahtzee <\/i>(1956), you\u2019re not far off. We\u2019re seeing an increasing number of roll and writes each year, with many existing franchises opting to explore roll and write adaptations: <i>The<\/i> <i>Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game <\/i>(2017), <i>La Granja: No Siesta<\/i> (2016), and <i>Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama <\/i>(2017) have all gotten in on the fun. Some so-called \u201croll and writes\u201d skip the dice entirely, relying on cards or tokens to provide randomly-generated options for players to choose from: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/welcome-to-review-roll-and-write-your-way-through-urban-planning\/\"><i>Welcome To\u2026<\/i><\/a> (2018) is one popular example.<\/p>\n<p>But even in a sea of roll and writes, <i>That\u2019s Pretty Clever<\/i> has been successful on its own merits. Nominated for the coveted Kennerspiel des Jahres prize in 2018, the game has gone on to produce a sequel, appropriately titled <i>Twice as Clever <\/i>(2019). As the decade draws to a close, the roll and write trend continues to evolve. Whether it represents a flash of trendy game design or a lasting impact on how we interact with (and use up) our games\u2014 that remains to be seen.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/ganz-schon-clever\/\">Read our review of That\u2019s Pretty Clever (Ganz scho\u0308n clever)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#9: Patchwork (2014)<\/h3>\n<p>Don\u2019t be fooled by its cozy quilt-making theme: <i>Patchwork<\/i>\u2019s landslide success was the driving force of a major design craze. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/board-game-step-ladder-polyominoes\/\">Polyominoes<\/a>\u201d \u2014 those cute little Tetris pieces \u2014 were a relatively unusual feature in board games prior to their central role in <i>Patchwork<\/i>. A lightweight departure for its big-game designer Uwe Rosenberg, <i>Patchwork<\/i>\u2019s cute theme and clever drafting system would set Rosenberg on a tile placement tear that would include <i>Cottage Garden <\/i>(2016) and <i>Indian Summer<\/i> (2017), as well as larger games like <i>A Feast for Odin<\/i> (2016).<\/p>\n    <div class=\"amzn-ad amzn-enhanced-links-small\">\n        <div>\n            <div class=\"amzn-product\">\n                <span class=\"amzn-product-image-container\">\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-image-holder\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61MF-0Duh+L._SL300_.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61MF-0Duh+L._SL300_.jpg\"><\/noscript>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/span>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-title-container\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" class=\"amzn-product-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00RCCAPPE?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-title-text\" title=\"Patchwork Board Game - A Two-Player Quilting Strategy Game by Uwe Rosenberg! Interactive Puzzle Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 8+, 2 Players, 30 Minute Playtime, Made by Lookout Games\">Patchwork Board Game - A Two-Player Quilting Strategy Game by Uwe Rosenberg! Interactive Puzzle Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 8+, 2 Players, 30 Minute Playtime, Made by Lookout Games<\/span>\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-price\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-offer-price\">$32.08<\/span>\n                                                    <span class=\"amzn-sprite amzn-product-prime\"><\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link-box\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00RCCAPPE?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link\">\n                        Buy Now\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/patchwork\/\">Read our review of Patchwork<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#8: Codenames (2015)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B014Q1XX9S?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41008tpF+SL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"CGE Czech Games Edition Codenames Boardgame\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41008tpF+SL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"CGE Czech Games Edition Codenames Boardgame\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B014Q1XX9S?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>If your non-gamer friends have heard of anything on this list\u2026 well, it\u2019s probably <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i> (2011). But gently prodded for a second example, their eyes may light up: \u201cOh, that spy game you showed us! Code Words!\u201d Well, close enough\u2014 which is exactly what you\u2019re looking for in Vlaada Chva\u0301til\u2019s wildly successful game of words, <a><i>Codenames<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The innovative design of <i>Codenames <\/i>managed to do a very difficult thing: this team-based guessing game blended strategy and casual accessibility to make a hit that took both the casual and hobby markets by storm. <i>Codenames<\/i> needs little introduction, thanks to its ubiquity. Part word game, part guessing game, <i>Codenames<\/i> targeted a corner of design that had been left to stagnate since the days of <i>Scrabble<\/i> (1948).<\/p>\n<p>Since its release, <i>Codenames<\/i> has gotten the full <i>Monopoly<\/i> treatment: going beyond the traditional remixes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/codenames-duet-review\/\"><i>Codenames: Duet<\/i><\/a> (2017; two players) and <i>Codenames: Deep Undercover<\/i> (2016; a \u201cdirty\u201d version), <i>Codenames<\/i> has been reimagined in an increasing number of different fan flavours from Marvel to Harry Potter. There\u2019s even a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/codenames-xxl-review-the-perfect-holiday-game\/\">giant sized version of Codenames<\/a> designed for larger groups. With 2019\u2019s <i>Codenames: The Simpsons<\/i> on the horizon, the surprise hit franchise shows no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/codenames-xxl\/\">Read our review of Codenames<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#7: 7 Wonders (2010)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0043KJW5M?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/616nHObtvLL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"7 Wonders\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/616nHObtvLL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"7 Wonders\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0043KJW5M?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>Card drafting, at its heart, is a pretty simple concept: presented with a handful of cards, players must choose one to keep and pass the rest of the hand along. Passed a new hand, players now select again (passing the rest), until the cards have all been distributed. Fair and intuitive, card drafting has become an increasingly popular way of mediating luck and granting players agency. Part of the driving force behind the rise of card drafting in games is <a><i>7 Wonders<\/i><\/a>, which looked at the mechanism and said, \u201cWell, what if that was the whole game?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to believe that, at the time of writing this, <i>7 Wonders<\/i> was released only nine years ago. The game has become famous for its quick runtime and broad player count, and arguably infamous for its vast array of icons. <i>7 Wonders <\/i>has inspired dozens of copycats, including the wildly successful <i>Sushi Go! <\/i>(2013). The game was also developed into a two-player sequel, <i>7 Wonders Duel <\/i>(2015), which has surpassed its predecessor on the BoardGameGeek charts at #17 of all-time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/7-wonders\/\">Read our review of 7 Wonders <\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#6: Love Letter (2012)<\/h3>\n<p>Iconic for its velvet bag and tiny deck of cards, <i>Love Letter<\/i> reignited public interest in the microgame: designs that do so much with so little. Only a year after <i>Love Letter<\/i>\u2019s release, microgame publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/publishers\/button-shy\/\">Button Shy<\/a> would release their first game. It seems to be no coincidence, either, that Chris Handy (famous for his three letter games the size of a stick of gum &#8212; <i>GEM <\/i>(2015), <i>SHH <\/i>(2015), <i>ORC <\/i>(2017), and many more) would go on to publish his first microgame three years later.<\/p>\n    <div class=\"amzn-ad amzn-enhanced-links-small\">\n        <div>\n            <div class=\"amzn-product\">\n                <span class=\"amzn-product-image-container\">\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-image-holder\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h7BQ6iY2L._SL300_.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"amzn-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41h7BQ6iY2L._SL300_.jpg\"><\/noscript>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/span>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-title-container\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" class=\"amzn-product-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07PHHBWM9?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-title-text\" title=\"Love Letter Card Game - Renaissance Strategy Deduction Game for Ages 10+, 2-6 Players, 20 Min Playtime by Z-Man Games\">Love Letter Card Game - Renaissance Strategy Deduction Game for Ages 10+, 2-6 Players, 20 Min Playtime by Z-Man Games<\/span>\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"amzn-product-price\">\n                        <span class=\"amzn-product-offer-price\">$9.99<\/span>\n                                                    <span class=\"amzn-sprite amzn-product-prime\"><\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link-box\">\n                    <a rel=\"sponsored\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07PHHBWM9?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"amzn-product-buy-now-link\">\n                        Buy Now\n                    <\/a>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<p><i>Love Letter<\/i>\u2019s charming story of the quest to win the princess\u2019s affection captured the hearts and attention of many gamers &#8212; but more than that, the simple central mechanism has been redeveloped for all kinds of licensed themes, including <i>Batman<\/i> (2015) and <i>Adventure Time <\/i>(2015).<i> Love Letter<\/i>\u2019s impact on the tabletop scene continues to be felt: in a world where big empty boxes are so often used to justify big empty price tags, we need innovators like <i>Love Letter<\/i> to fight back\u2026 one token at a time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/love-letter\/\">Read our review of Love Letter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#5: Exploding Kittens (2015)<\/h3>\n<p>Cats, cards, cartoonists, and gross-out humour. Love it or hate it, <i>Exploding Kittens<\/i> was the highest-funded game ever released on Kickstarter at the close of its campaign in 2015, and the fourth-highest funded Kickstarter across all categories. The game had exploded\u2014 if you\u2019ll excuse the pun.<\/p>\n<p>More than anything, <i>Exploding Kittens<\/i> represented an unusual entrant to the board game world: Matthew Inman, creator of the popular webcomic <i>The Oatmeal<\/i>. With this project, Inman and his two co-creators brought in a crowd of people not just within the hobby gaming world, but from a mainstream audience of casual consumers. Kickstarter was not just a place for miniatures and basement-dwellers; it had become a site where there was real money to be made, from a broad group of crowd-funding investors. The success of <i>Exploding Kittens <\/i>would also lead to more webcomic-fuelled Kickstarters, including 2016\u2019s <i>Joking Hazard<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>As of 2019, an average of seven tabletop games are funded every day on Kickstarter. Would this have been possible without <i>Exploding Kittens<\/i>? Well, sure, maybe. But it certainly made it more appetizing to try.<\/p>\n<h3>#4: Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (2015)<\/h3>\n<p>After the success of <i>Risk Legacy<\/i> (2011), publisher Z-Man Games reached out to designer Rob Daviau with an idea: what if we took the same premise\u2014 a game with real consequences and story that carry over from play to play\u2014 and applied it to the <i>Pandemic<\/i> series? Daviau says he was immediately intrigued, but was unsure at first how to adapt the Legacy format to a cooperative game. He was, by his own measure, completely unprepared for the level of popularity and acclaim that would follow.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/pandemic-legacy-the-future-of-board-gaming\/\"><i>Pandemic Legacy: Season 1<\/i><\/a> follows the story of the four diseases that could end the world. Just like the original <i>Pandemic<\/i> (2008), players have to work together to stop them. The game is linear in its progression, but gives players no shortage of secret boxes, story prompts, and advent calendar-style doors to discover new rules and surprises. After the campaign, most players get rid of their completed game.<\/p>\n<p>Reaching the top-ranked game of all time on BoardGameGeek, <i>Pandemic Legacy: Season 1<\/i> stands as one of the most successful and disruptive releases of the 2010s. In the months following its release, excitement grew about the future of the newly minted genre. On some level, these changes have come to a head: from single-use escape room games to a growing collection of campaign-focused designs, the Legacy games have indeed left a legacy behind, including the 2017 sequel <i>Pandemic Legacy: Season 2<\/i>. But with the critical challenges faced by Daviau\u2019s spiritual successor <i>SeaFall <\/i>(2016), it remains to be seen if <i>Pandemic Legacy: Season 1<\/i> was a glimpse of the future of board games, or a single shining example of a challenging type of game to get right.<\/p>\n<h3>#3: Gloomhaven (2017)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01LZXVN4P?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51bktYIazWL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Cephalofair Games: Gloomhaven, Award-Winning Strategy Board Game, For 1 to 4 Players, 60 to 120 Minute Play Time, For Ages 14 and up\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51bktYIazWL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Cephalofair Games: Gloomhaven, Award-Winning Strategy Board Game, For 1 to 4 Players, 60 to 120 Minute Play Time, For Ages 14 and up\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01LZXVN4P?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p><i>Gloomhaven<\/i> is massive: in scope, and in popularity. An enormous undertaking from designer Isaac Childres, <i>Gloomhaven<\/i>\u2019s brilliant combination of card-driven combat and a vast overarching narrative have earned it the honour of being BoardGameGeek\u2019s best-ranked game of all time.<\/p>\n<p>With a box the size of a small microwave, <i>Gloomhaven <\/i>has brought to board games the <i>Skyrim<\/i> (2011) style of role-playing: most folks will never explore every nook and cranny the game has to offer, but everyone will get a chance to direct their own path through the game\u2019s huge campaign. With an estimated 100 hours of gameplay, 95 unique missions, and 17 character classes, you have to marvel at the sheer magnitude of Childres\u2019 accomplishment.<\/p>\n<p>What else can we say? <i>Gloomhaven<\/i> is going to be the yardstick against which campaign games are judged for a long time. With a full sequel (<i>Frosthaven<\/i>) announced for 2021 and a digital adaptation in early access, it\u2019s clear that <i>Gloomhaven<\/i> is here to stay.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/gloomhaven\/\">Read our review of Gloomhaven<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>#2: Cards Against Humanity (2011)<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to overstate the impact of <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i>. The adults-only take on <i>Apples to Apples<\/i> spread like wildfire after its formal release in May 2011, becoming the top selling game on Amazon within a month. <i>Cards Against Humanity <\/i>was arguably the first \u201cadult\u201d game not to come across as cheesy. It inspired countless spinoffs, ripoffs, remixes, and reimaginings. Without <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i>, games like <i>Telestrations After Dark<\/i> (2015) and <i>Codenames: Deep Undercover <\/i>(2016) wouldn\u2019t exist. Without <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i>, thousands of people may never have revisited the world of board games, annexing the whole hobby as a leftover from childhood. But that\u2019s not all the game has done.<\/p>\n<p>Farther reaching than <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i>\u2019s design is its politics. From the beginning, <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i> made a statement about what kind of jokes you can tell\u2026 but that statement has changed over time. As criticisms spread about the game\u2019s content, its creators pruned their deck to reflect a \u201cpunching up\u201d ethos. Cards that were used to levy jokes at marginalized groups were thinned out in favour of cards mocking their oppressors\u2014 though many groups still disagree with the game\u2019s content.<\/p>\n<p>Even outside of the game itself, <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i> as a company has made many forays into American politics, from billboard advertisements to Black Friday commentary. Love it or hate it, <i>Cards Against Humanity<\/i>\u2019s influence became a part of the national dialogue\u2014 a very big ripple from what began as a small card game.<\/p>\n<h3>#1: Scythe (2016)<\/h3>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01IPUGYK6?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41QEguwEL+L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Stonemaier Games: Scythe (Base Game) | an Engine-Building, Area Control Strategy Board Game Set in Dieselpunk 1920s Europe for Adults and Family | 1-5 Players, 115 Mins, Ages 14+\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41QEguwEL+L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Stonemaier Games: Scythe (Base Game) | an Engine-Building, Area Control Strategy Board Game Set in Dieselpunk 1920s Europe for Adults and Family | 1-5 Players, 115 Mins, Ages 14+\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01IPUGYK6?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<p>In a mech-riding vision of 1920s Eastern Europe, five factions fight over an unclaimed patch of land surrounding a mysterious factory. This is the colourful world of <i>Scythe<\/i>, a 2016 Kickstarter game designed and published by Jamey Stegmaier. In <i>Scythe<\/i>, players race to gather resources and upgrade their factions, each hoping to gain enough points through their objectives to win them the game. With stunning artwork and beautiful miniatures, <i>Scythe<\/i> raised over $1.8 million (USD) during its Kickstarter campaign. (Interestingly, this would mark the final Kickstarter for the Stonemaier Games, who <a href=\"https:\/\/stonemaiergames.com\/lessons-learned-from-quitting-kickstarter-as-a-creator-part-1\/\">transitioned away from crowdfunding in 2016<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Today, there are nearly 300,000 copies of <i>Scythe <\/i>in circulation, in over a dozen languages. In the years since its release, <i>Scythe<\/i> has seen three expansions, a standalone children\u2019s game called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/my-little-scythe-review-truly-a-childrens-game\/\">My Little Scythe<\/a>, and an elaborate digital release. With one final expansion, a modular board, Stegmaier has said that the <i>Scythe<\/i> saga will end; he and his company will be pursuing other projects.<\/p>\n<p>But Scythe\u2019s legacy will live on. A high water mark for care in design, worldbuilding, and sheer production value, <i>Scythe<\/i> has demonstrated the kind of game that\u2019s possible with enough support and dedication\u2014 and, intentionally or not, has set expectations for the games to come. Stonemaier Games would go on to publish <i>Wingspan<\/i> in 2019, which would leave its own avian footprint in the board game world.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/scythe\/\">Read our review of Scythe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>So, what do you think? Are there games we overlooked that you feel changed the face of board gaming in the last ten years? Well, probably! We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll pull back the curtain for a minute: this project has been the biggest undertaking I\u2019ve ever done in the hobby, and I can really only hope that all the research, sorting, and writing was enough to make a couple people smile, nod their head, or even just think for a minute. If you liked this piece, you can find more information about me in my author page below. Kudos to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/authors\/ashley-gariepy\/\">Ashley Gariepy<\/a> for her contributions to the piece, to the whole writing team for their stellar late-game edits, and to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/authors\/andy-matthews\/\">Andy Matthews<\/a> for taking a chance on my secret (and stupidly ambitious) idea. Thanks everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Kurt<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten years is a long time in board gaming! Join us as we look back on the smart, influential, weird and crazy things that emerged from the last decade of games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":16790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[7101,4723],"coauthors":[1580],"class_list":["post-16777","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-board-game-history","tag-board-gaming-resources"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The 100 Most Important Board Games of the 2010s &#8212; Meeple Mountain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ten years is a long time in board gaming! 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