Friday, February 17, 2017

The Top 200 Games: #190 - #181

#190: Animal Upon Animal (2005)

I own 4 different versions of this game... and enjoy all of them. It's possibly the best balancing/dexterity game for non-gamer families out there. My review of Animal Upon Animal: Balancing Bridge is here; my review of Animal Upon Animal: The Duel is here.

#189: The Secret Door (1991)

Speaking of family games, this may have weak production but the memory/cooperative gameplay is very, very good. My entry for my Kid Games 100 is here.

 #188: Lotus (2016)

A stunningly beautiful card game that manages to subvert the "don't help the guy on your left" problem by giving you an incentive to help him when it helps you.

#187: Smash Up (2012)

Sometimes the "take that" nature of the game gets under my skin, but the splicing together of factions and the card combos that ensue can make it a lot of fun. I do not recommend playing with 4 players - the downtime is too much for the weight of the game.

#186: FITS (2009)

Tetris as a board game... and since I like Tetris, this works for me.

#185: Kayanak (1999)

I'm not sure it's a great game - but I have a great time playing it. The ice-fishing mechanic(ism) at the heart of the game is just cool. My entry for my Kid Games 100 is here.

#184: Zoff im Hühnerhof (2006)

Another great dexterity game from HABA... silly but fun. And there's nothing quite like it - thematically (flinging chicken feed) or structurally. My entry for my Kid Games 100 is here.

#183: Patchwork (2014)

It’s clever, it’s pretty to look at, and the subtle interaction between players is flat out delicious. I'm reminded of another shared favorite – Flowerpower… not so much because they are the same game mechanically but the feeling you get when playing it and building your tableau.

#182: Klunker (1999)

Uwe Rosenberg creates yet another "wacky use of cards" card game. It doesn't hit the table often, but it's still a brain-twister when it does. My Game Central Station article on the game is here; my 2010 Top 100 entry is here.

#181: Small World (2009)

This has fallen a long way - I still like it better than Vinci, but I'm not playing it very often. It remains an excellent bridge game to take non-gamers into gamer territory. My review of some expansions is here; my 2014 Top 100 entry is here.




A trio of editorial notes:

  • The BoardGameGeek entry for the game is linked through the date of publication.
  • When appropriate, I've linked to content I've written about the game. 
  • For #200-#101, I'm only going to post pictures of the highest ranked game in each set.


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