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.
I'm as surprised as anyone that a game about distilling liquor is among my favorites - seeing as how I don't drink. But both the production and the design of the game are excellent and it's a lot of fun to play.
Tips & Tricks:
After multiple plays, I'm convinced that there is not a single path to victory... you can focus on aging spirits or putting out stuff that isn't aged or some kind of mixture. The trick is doing it efficiently.
It's easy to forget about bottle collections and objectives your first few games... but both are solid sources of points.
The trickiest thing to learn in the game is how to deal with aged spirits you don't sell prior to the endgame. (The excellent player aid card walks you through it - but it's not something that easily sticks in your brain.)
Extras
The Africa & Middle East expansion mostly just adds more variety to the game... while the Cask Strength expansion has four different modules that complicate game play.
Yes, I backed the Cocktails expansion... it's due later this year.
This is the tenth new-to-the-top-100 game on the countdown.
The drafting is similar to 7 Wonders and the tile-laying feels like Suburbia. But that misses some of the innovations that make NEOM more than just another chip off the old blocks.
Tips & Tricks:
The game uses a “bomb” draft item (Flood, Fire, Crime Wave) in each era that hurts others but denies you a turn... and the decision on whether to play or pass this can be really tricky.
The initial “seeding” draft of cornerstone tiles does more to set strategy than the similar Leaders expansion in 7 Wonders.
I know this gets said a lot in game descriptions - but there really are multiple pathways to victory.
Extras
The game is designed for 3-5 players... but the addition of a Fields of Green-like 2 player variant (that works well) and a solo packet variant (that I love) expands chances to get it to the table.
My initial rules read of NEOM (prior to seeing the game) made me think it would be an interesting but difficult to play 7 Wonders knock-off. I’m happy to say that the first day I taught/played (a few weeks after Essen 2018), I was proven wrong… and ended up playing it 3 times in one day. As soon as it became easily available in the U.S., I jumped on a copy… and it’s now in regular rotation here at Chez Jackson.
Solo play: I typically play 2-3 games of this at a shot… since once you’ve got it laid out, it’s easy to reset and try again. I’ve defaulted to play with all the tiles in, which offers more variety and some interesting decisions since you know that you can (sometimes) wait for the tile you need.
It's a very-straightforward tile-laying game that can be give a lot of layers (esp. by using the expansion) or kept simple, straightforward, and very family-friendly with the base game.
Tips & Tricks:
Like many game where players draft from a common pool, timing is extremely important.
As well, this is a game that rewards the Tetris-y spatial skills of looking at a piece and being able to mentally flip it about to find the optimal placement.
The addition of the goals (both from the base game and the expansion) vary up the mental puzzle really well.
Extras
The storage solution in the base game is, well... not very good. I love the Folded Space insert I bought that fits both the base game and The Bad News Bears expansion into the box.
The expansion adds extra goals, an additional piece of land per player for building, grizzly bear enclosures, and tramways. I think the tramways here are much better implemented than in the designer's Cloud City game.
Michael Schacht takes the central game mechanic from his card game Coloretto & develops it into a full-fledged board game with delightful artwork & theme. And then, if that wasn't enough, he keeps expanding that world (thanks to the SdJ win) in some very intriguing ways.
Tips & Tricks:
I didn't like Zooloretto particularly the first time I played it... that, as you can see, has changed. (The theme drew me back in, btw.)
Lots of people like Coloretto better than Zooloretto - they're wrong, of course, but I think that's more a function of "liking a clever mechanic" versus "liking a clever mechanic in the midst of a thematic & enjoyable game".
Zooloretto spawned Aquaretto - which I also enjoy. Aquaretto is the more gamer-friendly of the two - there's more potential for a new player to mess themselves over with bad tile placement.
The plethora of large & small expansions can be confusing - but I like how you can tailor the game to your personal tastes.
The game is best with 3 or 4 players... 5 has a little too much downtime (if you're using any expansions) and 2 is bland.
If you're going to play Zooloretto & Aquaretto together, you should only play with 3 players... or with Michael's 6-player partnership variant.
Extras
I wrote an extensive post about Zooloretto & the various expansions entitled Renovating Your Zoo(loretto) for this blog.
I translated the Big Boss variant from Michael Schacht's site - it's used w/the Zooloretto: Boss expansion.
One of the proudest moments of my life - my son, Braeden (who was 7 at the time), created a really great variant idea for Aquaretto - and Michael Schacht published it on his website! Check out the Touch Pool...
The picture above shows a game with all the expansions in (the white meeples are workers from Zooloretto: Boss).
This is the second of two Michael Schacht designs on my top 100 countdown.
A civilization-building game that plays in under an hour with an evolving set of technologies to power your development.
Tips & Tricks:
Pay attention to the order in which the events are coming as well as their effects.
Each player starts from a slightly different position - don't waste that bump by ignoring how it helps you.
You are unlikely to be able to both build the highest level monuments and recruit the highest level leaders - so specialize in one of those.
The one rule I consistently forget - you do get to purchase a technology card at the end of the final round. (You never use it - but it does count for points and card type scoring.)
Extras
I like the solo system a lot - at least once you start adding to the difficulty level. Once the game is set up, it's easy to reset and play again - which makes it like a bag of potato chips for solo gaming.
This is the ninth new-to-the-top-100 game on the countdown.
A pile of clever mechanisms interlocking create a compelling set of puzzles... but that would just be mish-mash if it wasn't for the excellent production and graphics to accompany it.
Tips & Tricks:
The cardinal rule of these kind of games - you can NOT do everything. Make good decisions about what you will and will not try to focus on. (A little bit of everything is a risky strategic choice.)
You need to invest some energy early on in building your income, especially when playing just the base game.
Often, early point-scoring to get you past the first threshold will allow you to choose the best spot on one of the goals... and that will give you a clear picture of what to chase through the mid- and end-game.
Extras
The Space Agencies expansion is really good - it not only adds new alien species but also a TM: Prelude-ish way to have asymmetric starting positions.
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
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