Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another Top 5 Tabletop Game List throughout the years. 2002 has more than one big name game. We’ll see some familiar names—both designers and game series—but 2002 also saw some new blood. We’ll get to the board games in a bit, but first, let’s review our list’s criteria.
1: Cultural relevance plays as much of a factor as overall quality. A game might make a list that doesn’t hold up to others of its type, but you must admit the game is everywhere.
2: Only one game from a franchise makes the list. This will become more of an issue the closer we get to games with expansions.
3: Longevity plays a role, too. A game doesn’t have to fly off the shelves today, but it had to have some widespread appeal for a decent time.
Honorable Mention: Pirate’s Cove (2002)
Pirate’s Cove has been out of print for a while; I hope it returns to print soon because it’s a great light-to-mid-weight game, featuring pirates. Who doesn’t love pirates? Players simultaneously select which island they’d like to visit. Each island allows players to upgrade parts of their ship.
But if two players land on the same island, they fight. The goal of fighting is to scare off your opponent and be the last ship on the island, so you can upgrade your ship. Ultimately, you’ll want to have the most fame. While Pirate’s Cove can be a little mean at times—I’ve picked islands I knew a weak opponent would choose—the game plays fast.
5: Mexica (2002)
That’s a clean sweep. Each one of Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer’s games in the Mask Trilogy made one of these lists. Don’t let Mexica’s ranking at five fool you. It’s a well-regarded game and a fitting end to the trilogy. Players score points (El Grande style) based upon their dominance in a district.
During the first round scoring, only districts score points. In the second round (at the end of the game), all land areas and districts score. This adds some spice to the way scoring occurs. It also allows players to recover from a weaker first round. Unlike Java, Mexica has seen a recent reprint. And I love the building play pieces.
4: Wallenstein (2002)
Wallenstein introduced—or at least popularized—the dice tower, even if its dice tower is more of a cube tower. Players place cubes at the top of the tower, and eventually, the cubes fall to the bottom, granting resources. I don’t know why more games haven’t used the cube tower. If you tear open the cube tower, you’ll find landing spots for the cubes to get stuck. Clever.
This mechanism would receive an update with two recent games: The Loop and Dead Reckoning. This adds to the mystique of this game mechanism. Every game that has used this mechanism has been highly regarded. Does the game have a cube tower? It must be great.
3: Bang! (2002)
Bang! is easily the weakest game on this list—and that includes the honorable mention—but Bang! may have the largest cultural impact. Bang! solidified the hidden role game. You know what your role is and you must figure out who everyone else is playing. The Sheriff (whose identity is known to all players and has an extra health point) wants to kill all Outlaws and the Renegade. Deputies protect the Sheriff and kill Outlaws. Outlaws want to kill the Sheriff. And the Renegade wants to be the last one standing.
Bang! has seen its share of spin-offs, too, including the even better Bang! The Dice Game, which speeds up the already brisk gameplay. And so many themed versions of Bang! the card game. There’s even a Bang! card game based on Marvel’s Secret Invasion. Eek! Bang! can be a good time. It’s thematic; you’re playing out a Spaghetti Western. I call Ringo.
2: Age of Steam (2002)
Martin Wallace and train games go togetherlike board and game. The game that claims BoardGameGeek’s top spot is Brass: Birmingham, a train game by Martin Wallace. Age of Steam is only the second time Wallace made a train game. It improves on Voldampf (2001) in almost every way.
Age of Steam set the tone for what a mid-to-heavy-weight train game could accomplish. Heck. Case in point, the only designer who could outdo Martin Wallace was Martin Wallace. Even though another Wallace train game tops BGG’s list, Age of Steam still sees play. I’ve seen countless people create new maps, keeping the game alive.
1: Puerto Rico (2002)
Puerto Rico easily takes the top spot. It’s the highest-rated game (on BoardGameGeek) and maintains a spot in the Top 100 games. But more importantly, Puerto Rico may have more influence on how games are designed today than when it was first released. Each round, players take turns selecting a role card from the display. When a role is chosen, every player gets to take the action appropriate to that role, but the player who selected the role also receives a small privilege. For example, choosing the “Builder” role allows all players to construct a building, but the player who chose the role may do so at a discount. So much of modern board game design adapts this concept in exciting ways.
Flamecraft comes to mind. Players upgrade spaces (shops) on the board that benefit everyone at the table, but the player who made the upgrade gets an additional kickback. Having your play benefit or affect someone else’s forces to players to pay attention to what their opponents are doing. Puerto Rico turns up the ante. Everyone gets some variation of the action you choose each turn. This small twist heightens the tension of each choice. Brilliant!
Did we get the list mostly correct? Let us know which games you’d add in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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