Everything including the kitchen sink... but with special attention paid to board games, Jesus Christ, my family, being a "professional" (and I use that word loosely) Christian, and the random firing of the 10% of the synapses I'm currently using.
Mike Fitzgerald's "Mystery Rummy" system gets some interesting polish courtesy of veteran designer Richard Borg - and ends up with a Western-themed game that plays quickly and with a great deal of style.
Tips & Tricks:
I think that Wyatt Earp is at it's best with 3 players.
Some folks complain about the "gunshot" mechanic - but it's a probability issue that the "rummy" nature of the game actually makes easier to figure out. The more cards that have been played to the table, the less likely a "gunshot" action is going to work.
We always use the optional "play a Photo for free when someone else melds an outlaw" rule.
Extras
I have usually lumped Wyatt Earp in with the rest of the Mystery Rummy games for these countdowns... but I didn't this time and it rose into the top 100 by itself.
This is the first of two games for Richard Borg and the first of three games for Mike Fitzgerald on this countdown.
While I didn't like Klaus Teuber's attempt to make Anno 1503 deeper via an expansion - I thought it was bloated & made the game much too long - I think his 2nd attempt at a similar game was very, very successful. And that's Anno 1701, which feels like a cross between Catan & Anno 1503.
Tips & Tricks:
There are lots of options to harvest victory points (which can win you the game) - but you can't try to do all of them.
The island tile sets are nearly identical - the brown ones are just farther from the starting point.
Extras
Sadly, this game has never been published in English - there are some translation issues but they shouldn't be an insurmountable barrier.
Not liking Catan does not necessarily mean you'll dislike Anno 1701 - give it a try!.
My hot take: I think this design informed the design of Catan: Explorers and Pirates... they share a number of very good design ideas.
This is the second of five games on my top 100 list designed by Klaus Teuber.
a dice game with opportunities to manage your risks... and a really neat movement mechanic that makes for some great board play... and a nicely done theme
Tips & Tricks:
If you can pull it off, always have a coin so you can get in on tavern runs.
Don't forget you can pay a coin to skip your turn!
Extra sailors are the key to winning - don't pass them up & don't set other players up to get them easily.
Extras:
Rum & Piratesis my favorite Stefan Feld game (though Marrakesh and Kathmandu are very good as well)... which is funny, because for most hardcore gamers, it's the one they like the least.
Nassau uses the central mechanic of Rum & Pirates as half of the game... but combines it with an ocean board that utilizes the things you pick up in the first section of the game. It has some interesting ideas but runs too long for what it is.
If you've got five players who are not prone to downtime, it's a great game. Otherwise, stick to 3-4 players on this one.
A clever puzzle of a game that incorporates deck-building, dice placement, and a nicely thought-out series of mini-expansions in the base game box.
Tips & Tricks:
Sequencing your card purchases is an important skill... working so that you group nobles together, for example, makes it much easier to spin through your deck.
It isn't necessary to throw in every mini-expansion on your first play to prove your "gamer cred" - the base game is enjoyable on its own merits.
Extras
There is an expansion (Open Doors) that adds some neat extra twists to the game. I've one play with ALL of the modules - I wouldn't suggest that. It's a bit much.
My younger son refers to Taverns as "gamer Quacks"... not sure I completely agree, but I see where he's coming from.
This is the first of two games designed by Wolfgang Warsch on the countdown. (I don't think you'll have a difficult time figuring out the other one.)
The gorgeous wooden "wonders" pieces is what drew me to the game. Imagine my very pleasant surprise that there's a solid drafting/city-building game to go along with all the pretty stuff.
Tips & Tricks:
Don't avoid loans altogether - there are times where it is absolutely worth it build a particular wonder or draft a specific tile.
You have to watch what other players are doing. Spending lots of time and resources to set up a wonder build is potentially wasted if someone else is doing it faster than are.
Extras
The Mundo expansion has some interesting new wonders to add to the game... as well as a different version of those wonders with additional complications.
There are some promo wonders I'd love to own - especially Mont St. Michel. There's also a Europa wonders expansion I have on my wishlist.
This is the third new-to-my-top-100 game on the countdown.
I've actually written an entire deeply theological post based on this song… which I fully admit is not what Paul Simon intended when he wrote and recorded it.
A great rocker of a song - with a lyric about what really matters.
"And all those lies that mattered most to me / Were draining me dry making a ghost of me / And if the house burns down tonight / I got everything I need, everything I need / There’s a fire coming that we all will go through / You possess your possessions or they possess you / And if the house burns down tonight / I got everything I need when I got you by my side / And let the rest burn"
#48: Hard to Get (Rich Mullins - 1998)
I have always appreciated Rich's honesty and faith, his humor mixed with seriousness. This is the guy who walked into the Christian bookstore I worked at looking for Frederick Buechner books... and then told me that he "punished" bad audiences by refusing to play my favorite song of his, "Elijah".
The week before he died in a car accident (in September of 1997), Rich Mullins sat down in an abandoned church with a cassette recorder to make a demo of the nine songs that would eventually become The Jesus Record. "Hard to Get" is a plaintive psalm both questioning God and leaning on faith in Him.
"What I really need to know / Is if You who live in eternity / Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time / We can't see what's ahead / And we cannot get free from what we've left behind..."
Shari & I got married in 1990… and we had this very new song sung at our wedding. It was the first time we'd heard it used as part of a ceremony - it would not be the last. It still does an amazing job of saying what we feel and believe about our relationship.
This should have been a hit single - of course, seeing as it centers around a weird metaphor for the love of God, maybe that was unlikely. But, man, what a song.
There are four songs from a single album on this list - this moody rocker has the best 2nd verse lyrics ever.
"She said / It's like walking through fire / It's like shedding your skin / You throw your clothes out the window / You face the person within / It's like dying in public / It's like learning to fly / Leaving the world behind you / It's like being born twice"
Andrew Peterson has recorded three thematic albums around the death & resurection of Christ - this worship song from "Resurrection Letters, Vol. 1" brings me to tears every time I sing it in church or hear it playing…
Smoosh Dungeonquest and Ascension together and you'd get something close to this fantastic deck-building dungeon crawl... with the very clever “clank” mechanic binding the two together and acting a game timer and source of tension - that's the base game of Clank! Then add in a randomly generated map plus a variety of other smart decisions, and you've got Clank! Catacombs
Tips & Tricks:
While there is a lot of witty color text, it’s small and doesn’t make the cards more difficult to read.
The graphic design of the cards is really smart – they have used consistent iconography and clear text instructions to make it easy to understand what the card does for you, even when you add in the expansion cards.
The procedurally generated map means that players have to adjust their preferred strategies for the reality of the dungeon they've entered. (Yes, I realize that it's not a real dungeon. That's what happens when you're trying to write about fantasy stuff.)
Extras
Both expansions for Clank! Catacombs work well. While I don't think Underworld is strictly necessary, I'm glad I have in my set. Lairs & Lost Chambers, OTOH, really expands the game options and the variety of cards/tiles.
You can read my Welcome to the Clank-iverse overview of most of the expansions available for the original Clank!... and includes Kulkmann's homebrewed rules for a Clank! campaign. (I say "most" because Adventuring Party appeared after I wrote the article.)
Clank! In! Space! is excellent as well... with a slightly higher rules overhead.
My boys and I loved Clank! Legacy. It is longer per game by about 50%, but we had a blast.
I still love the original Clank! - it landed just outside the top 100 (well, #108).
The Clank! expansions have been packaged well in appropriately sized boxes... and have all been worth their cost as far as enjoyment and variety goes. (Better than you can say for some franchises - I'm looking at you, Adrenaline: Team Play DLC and Carcassonne: The Catapult.)
There's actually a really nice free app from Renegade that has a solo mode for Clank! which works well.
This is the first of two games on the countdown from designer Paul Dennen.
A fast-moving game of space conquest with built-in variety and room for great tactical play. And I love the cover art.
Tips & Tricks:
Thanks to the modular board format, the game works like a charm with 2, 3 or 4 players.
The combat system is pro-attacking... wise players will take advantage of this to slow down opponents, even if it doesn't directly benefit your plans for placing quantum cubes.
Learning how to use the "free" ship powers is the key to playing well. They are easy to overlook in your first play.
The technology cards may seem out of balance at first - but each card can be very helpful when paired with the right strategic and tactical play. I'm constantly finding new ways to combine card powers and ship powers.
When I say "fast", I'm not kidding. A long game of Quantum lasts an hour.
Extras
I haven't written much about Quantum - which is really too bad. It's a great, great game.
The Void expansion - which was available through the BGG shop - is a nifty addition to the game.
follower of Jesus, husband, father, "pastor", boardgamer, writer, Legomaniac, Disneyphile, voted most likely to have the same Christmas wish list at age 58 as he did at age 8
