Back in 2020 I decided to do a top 25 games as a countdown to Jul over on Instagram. That was a fun experiment. This year I’ve decided to revisit it in a more… scientific manner.
Methodology
I copied the names of all the games I’ve ranked 9.0 or higher at BGG and fed them into the ranking engine of the PubMeeple. For those unfamiliar with this fabulous tool, it basically takes any list of things you want to rank and propose them in one-on-one battles for you to pick a favourite. It keeps doing this until it can rank them all. This is an interesting way to get a snapshot of one’s taste at any moment. But, also, excruciatingly hard. I tried to think of ideal scenarios for each of the games in question – player count, play time, expansions, … – and answer with that in mind.
So, lo and behold, an estimated 169 comparisons later, the list was ready.
General Comments
- Last time I did this I only ranked my top 25 games, so, obviously there are lots of games flagged as “N/A”s. “NEW” are games that are new to me since last time I made this list (2020).
- There has been a lot of turbulence here – possibly a lot to do with the above mentioned methodology change.
- This is very much a snapshot of my taste just now. Tonight. Tomorrow it will be different. Probably. A bit. (Not that I’ll update it. (Not until next year, at least…))
- All of these games are absolutely amazing.
42-50
| Rank | Item | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 42 | Terramara (2019) | N/A |
| 43 | The Crew: Mission Sous-Marine (2021) | NEW |
| 44 | 7 Wonders Duel (2015) | ↓20 |
| 45 | Ecos: Continent Originel (2020) | NEW |
| 46 | Russian Railroads (2013) | N/A |
| 47 | Suburbia (2013) | ↓25 |
| 48 | San Juan (2004) | N/A |
| 49 | Dominion (2008) | N/A |
| 50 | Splendor (2014) | N/A |
I was surprised to see how 7 Wonders Duel and Suburbia dropped like stones in this ranking. Of course there are lots of really, really great games higher on the list, but still. For Suburbia it probably has something to do with the fact that I haven’t really played it for years… 7WD, though… Not sure. I guess I just like the games higher up better…
33-41
| Rank | Item | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | Wingspan (2019) | N/A |
| 34 | Paleo (2021) | NEW |
| 35 | Caverna: The Cave Farmers (2013) | N/A |
| 36 | It’s a Wonderful Kingdom (2021) | NEW |
| 37 | Go (-2200) | ↓23 |
| 38 | Everdell (2018) | NEW |
| 39 | Evolution: Climate (2016) | N/A |
| 40 | Puerto Rico (2002) | ↓17 |
| 41 | Les Petites Bourgades (2019) | N/A |
This part of the list has the first of my most recent coup de coeurs – Paleo. Great, great coop game. Both of the games dropping on this list – Go and Puerto Rico – has a lot to do with the fact that I haven’t played them for years. (Spoiler alert: I’ll get back to Puerto Rico later in this countdown…) Everdell is here in spite of the fact that when I was (finally) introduced to it this summer I was fooled by a fool in the last round of the game…
25-32
| Rank | Item | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Terra Mystica (2012) | N/A |
| 26 | Underwater Cities (2018) | NEW |
| 27 | Dune: Imperium (2020) | NEW |
| 28 | Expedition to Newdale (2020) | NEW |
| 29 | Viticulture (2014) | ↓12 |
| 30 | Cascadia (2021) | NEW |
| 31 | Heat (2022) | NEW |
| 32 | Welcome to the Moon (2021) | NEW |
HEAT is the another huge recent (post-Essen) hit in the household. The third recent hit here is Cascadia – a sweet, sweet (and potentially mean) puzzler that seems to have a lots of replayability. The big surprise drop here is Viticulture. I don’t get to play it that often, and that is probably part of the reason, but I did play a great round of it a couple of months ago… Well… This is the way.
Ah, and the cover image for this post is a collage I made of my 100 last played games using the ever so handy BG Stats app.
