Tag: Tabletop Games

Top 5 Board Games By Indigenous Designers

5 Tabletop Games by Indigenous Designers

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Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Geekly Gang! We’re celebrating the day by discussing five board games designed/published by indigenous designers or publishers. Some of these games I’ve seen at my local game shop. I may have played a few of these. The rest I need to try. Regardless of which group these games belong to, I wanted to highlight games designed by indigenous board game designers. Here is Geekly’s list of five board games by indigenous designers.

Wolves (Coyote & Crow)

Wolves by Kenna Alexander was one of the first games that came to mind when I came up with this list. Publisher Coyote & Crow employs a variety of indigenous artists. All of Coyote & Crow’s releases show their native roots. Wolves is no exception.

Wolves features semi-cooperative play. Players must balance personal goals with the needs of all at the table. This is a trend in board games designed by indigenous designers. Culturally, indigenous people don’t tend to seek the all-out destruction of their neighbors. Semi-cooperative play is difficult to pull off well, but Wolves does a great job of walking the balance between players working toward personal and community goals. Each player takes on the role of a community leader. Resources are slim, and everyone must survive through a harsh winter. If any player fails to accommodate their community, everyone loses. I love the art, the design, and the concept.

You should give Wolves a play and keep publisher Coyote & Crow on your gaming radar if it isn’t already.

Burn the Fort (Indigenous Action)

Anti-colonialism is another trend in indigenous board games. No game represents this trend more than Burn the Fort by Klee Benally. The game’s name says it all. Players take the role of a historic warrior fighting to stop the colonial invasion of their lands. Players gather resources, trade with other players, and acquire the means to burn the titular fort.

Like Wolves, Burn the Fort features semi-cooperative play. At the start of the game, everyone starts in an alliance, but alliances can be broken. Players can choose how much they want to contribute to stopping colonial forces, but with each wagon that reaches the fort, the train moves toward the Golden Spike that will ultimately spell doom for everyone. Burn the Fort also offers something of a history lesson. I like games that can make history fun to learn. A brief background accompanies each historic warrior. Excellent.

While other games by indigenous designers feature maintaining balance, Burn the Fort puts the ideas of exploitation and expansion front and center.

Winter Rabbit (Absurdist Productions)

If you want a Native American board game steeped in folklore, look no further than Winter Rabbit by William Thompson. Set in the world of traditional Cherokee animal stories, Winter Rabbit has players take on the role of the animals. Ever the trickster, the Rabbit decides he doesn’t want to work. Instead, he confuses everyone else so he can take all the resources for himself.

Winter Rabbit features an interesting hidden worker placement mechanism. Villagers are drawn from a bag. The active player knows whose villager they have drawn and can choose where to place it; none of the other players knows this information. When resources are produced, everyone gets one, but those with villagers present gain additional resources. Rabbit villagers do not produce resources. When one of these appears, the resources are diverted to the Rabbit Burrow. I told you the Rabbit doesn’t want to work.

I’ll be honest. I borrowed a lot from the publisher’s description of Winter Rabbit. I wrote this post months before its release, and my copy is on its way. I can’t wait to play Winter Rabbit. It looks amazing.

Nawalli: The Aztec Card Game (Studio Tecuanis)

NAWALLI by Gonzalo Alvarez and Will Rogers is a creature battle card game based on Aztec mythology. You take on the role of a shapeshifting sorcerer known as a Nawalli to summon Nawals. The game has four partially pre-built decks, ready for customization. Each deck represents Aztec gods from the four directions: Tezkatlipoka, Tlalok, Ehakatl, and Xipe Totek. As you can see, NAWALLI dives into Aztec mythology.

NAWALLI features gorgeous art by Gonzalo Alverez. Many describe the game as a Mesoamerican Pokémon. NAWALLI could only have come from someone with intimate knowledge of Aztec culture and mythology. The images recreate the traditional Aztec style. The look of NAWALLI catches the eye. There are many dueling card games, but NAWALLI’s vibrant art and theme set it apart.

Nunami (Thomassie Mangiok)

We end this list with the self-published Nunami. While Wolves featured balance between one’s neighbors, the Inuit board game Nunami promotes the healthy cohabitation of humanity and natural elements. Nunami’s triangular cards heighten the game’s dynamic terrain management.

Nunami, like NAWALLI, features traditional Inuit artwork set against a stark white or black background. Nunami may be the most abstract game on this list. Players influence a region (hexagon base) with the cards they play. Some cards will cause another to flip facedown. The first player to reach four points wins. Nunami plays the fastest of any of the games on this list. If you want a quick play, Nunami may be for you. Even though Nunami plays more like an abstract game (think Chess, where there’s no story reason why a Knight moves in an L pattern), players attempt to achieve balance. In this case, a balance between man and nature. That sounds like a Native American theme to me.

These are five board games by Native American designers that I wanted to highlight today. What are some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Tabletop Games From 2003

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another Top 5 Tabletop Games throughout the years. Today’s list features the best games from 2003. Unfortunately, 2003 gets sandwiched between two of the better years for board games, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a handful of standouts this year. Almost every year has at least one or two stellar games. We’ll talk about 2003’s board game list soon, but let’s review the ground rules for which games make these lists before we begin.

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.

5: Reiner Knizia’s Amazing Flea Circus (2003)

Amazing Flea Circus is by no means one of Reiner Knizia’s best small card games. I much prefer Don’t L.L.A.M.A., but Amazing Flea Circus still deserves an honorable mention, because few games from this year have seen as many printings and editions. It’s a simple but fun game. Sometimes, that’s all you need. Spoiler Alert: Amazing Flea Circus won’t be the last we hear from Reiner Knizia on this list.

4: Coloretto (2003)

In Coloretto, players collect colorful chameleons. The rules are simple. Either add a card to a row or collect all the cards in a row. A row can only contain three cards, so eventually, players will be forced to claim rows. Players gain points for up to three colors. Each color beyond the first three costs players points. Wild (or Joker) Chameleons count as any color and +2 cards always help.

Coloretto proves you don’t need a complicated rule set for an engaging game. One can see its influence in games like River Valley Glassworks, where one only scores points up to a certain number of colors. Coloretto’s main game mechanisms center around set collection, but set collection works. I wouldn’t be surprised if Coloretto’s success as a set collection didn’t spawn other games that use a similar mechanism. Ticket to Ride (released the next year) also uses a similar system.

3: Yinsh (2003)

We’ve mentioned the GIPF Project series of abstract games on more than one of these past best of year lists. Yinsh is the highest-rated of these games. In fact, Yinsh is still a Top 5-rated abstract game on BoardGameGeek. The board game resembles the cover art (above). Like Othello, discs are dual-colored. Players try to make a chain of five discs in their color by jumping over discs with their rings, flipping over the disc. As soon as a player gains a chain of five discs, they discard one of their discs. The first player to discard three of their rings wins.

Yinsh has a clever, built-in balancing mechanism. Getting rid of a ring means a player gets closer to victory. But you’re making yourself weaker, because you have fewer rings. Brilliant! There’s a reason the GIPF Project is the highest regarded abstract game series. And Yinsh earns its place among the best.

2: Amun-Re (2003)

The top two 2003 games could be flipped. I went back and forth with these two titles. Both are great, but in the end, I chose the 2003 Spiel des Jahres winner as number one. Amun-Re was up for the Spiel as well. I’m telling you, it was close. Amun-Re is yet another Reiner Knizia board game to make one of these lists. It’s like Knizia makes a heap of great board games. In Amun-Re, each pharaoh wants to build the most pyramids. To accomplish this, they must first acquire a province where they can trade and farm. With their profits, they can buy new provinces and building-stones to erect pyramids. For all their actions, players must make clever use of their power cards and always offer appropriate sacrifices to Amun-Re.

Love the theme. Evidently, Reiner Knizia loves an Egyptian-themed game, because Ra also made one of these lists. I believe Amun-Re may be the only pyramid game Knizia ever designed. To be fair, I’ve lost track of every Knizia game. The man has forgotten more about board games than I’ll ever know. But Amun-Re holds another distinction; it’s one of Knizia’s more complex games. The two games on this list may be the polar opposites of what Knizia can do as a designer. Amazing Flea Circus is one of Knizia’s least-complicated games. Amun-Re is one of his most complicated. Both can be a lot of fun. And both came out the same year. Crazy!

1: Alhambra (2003)

In Alhambra, players are acquiring buildings to be placed within their Alhambra complex.

The money in Alhambra comes in four different currencies (of different suits) and is available in the open money market. The 54 buildings of six types become available for purchase in the building market four at a time; one building is available in each of the four different currencies. On a player’s turn, a player may 1) take money from the open money market, 2) purchase a building from the building market and either place it in his Alhambra or reserve, or 3) engage in construction and re-construction projects with buildings that have been placed in the player’s Alhambra or reserve. The game rewards efficiency, as when a player purchases a building from the market for the exact amount of money, the player may take another turn.

I don’t always agree with the Spiel, but I like Alhambra’s combination of set collection (yay, another set collection game), tile laying, and area majority. Alhambra marks the second time Dirk Henn made one of these lists. Wallenstein made the 2002 list. While I like Wallenstein more (in large part because of the cube tower), Alhambra does enough to take the top spot in a weaker year for tabletop games. That may sound harsh, but you haven’t seen 2004’s list. It’s a doozy. Still, I enjoy the heck out of Amen-Re and Alhambra. I struggled with which one to place at number one.

That’s our list of the Top 5 Tabletop Games of 2003. Let us know which game you like best. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Marvel United Villains

Top 5 Marvel United Villains

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here, and today, we’ll be discussing Marvel United. Yes! We haven’t discussed this board game in quite some time, and it’s time to fix that. Marvel United’s various villains and the way they alter the gameplay are the game’s most intriguing game design elements. In today’s list, we’ll share our picks for the Top 5 Marvel United Villains.

Dishonorable Mention: Gladiator (War of Kings Expansion)

Right off the bat, we’re shaking up things with this list. While a Top 5 Marvel United Villains list is up for debate (everyone has their own taste), Gladiator may just be one of the most universally hated villains in the game. Simply put, he’s unwinnable at heroic mode, unless you use multiple heroes with lots of wild symbols, which limits the number of heroes you can even use to defeat this villain. Most games against Gladiator end with the heroes auto-losing after a couple of turns. No thanks.

While the rest of the War of Kings Expansion adds some nice variety, Gladiator as a villain is plain unfun. Fortunately, he is an antihero. I’d use him as a hero, not a villain.

5: Dark Phoenix (Marvel United Season 2, X-Men, Stretch Goals)

We’ll be seeing a ton of Marvel United Season 2 on this list. Most gamers list it as the best Marvel United Season, and I tend to agree. Marvel United X-Men rules. Unlike our previous entry, Dark Phoenix may be difficult to acquire. Difficult, but not impossible. She’s available in the Season 2 Stretch Goal box. This box includes a heap of fantastic characters. We may see another one on this list from the same box, so the hefty price tag of $80 to $100 may be worth the cost.

Dark Phoenix offers a chaotic and fun fight. She doesn’t go down easy, but at the same time, Dark Phoenix doesn’t feel unfair of a fight (ahem, Gladiator). It also doesn’t hurt that Dark Phoenix is an iconic villain. I love playing against her, reliving moments from the epic Dark Phoenix Saga. And look at that mini. Gorgeous.

4: Legion (Marvel United Season 2, X-Men, Stretch Goals)

It did not take long for us to get to another Marvel United Villain from the Season 2 Stretch Goal box. Legion may be the pinnacle of Marvel United villain design. Like in the comic book, his personality changes. Every two turns brings a new wrinkle and mechanism into the game. Sure. This gimmick functions like an intricate puzzle in miniature game form, but puzzles can be a blast.

I’ve heard rumblings that at least one DC Super Heroes United villain borrows some game design ideas from Legion. I hope that’s true. Legion’s changing personality adds plenty of spice.

3: Doctor Doom (Fantastic Four Expansion)

Doctor Doom is our third representative from Marvel United Season 2 (X-Men). Such a great set. Naturally, Doctor Doom is included in the Fantastic Four Expansion, and he makes this list for more than nostalgia reasons. I swear. Doctor Doom is a “fantastic” Marvel United villain. All jokes aside, I’ve always had tight games against Doctor Doom as a villain. The Marvel United design team made sure to tune his combination of cards so players will always be one turn away from winning or losing each game. Brilliant!

Combination doesn’t begin to describe Doctor Doom’s Threats and Master Plan cards. They work so well together, and every time a new card gets revealed, players will be forced to make tense and meaningful decisions. Doctor Doom is one of those villains you face, and you’ll know which decision caused you to win or lose.

2: Juggernaut (Marvel United X-Men Core Set)

The X-Men set is four out of four on this list. Yowza! See what I mean when I said the Marvel United X-Men was a banger? Juggernaut makes this list–and almost tops it–because he makes a phenomenal introductory Marvel United villain. And he happens to be included in the Marvel United X-Men Core Set. Unless you really want Avengers in your game, I almost always suggest picking up the readily available X-Men Core Set. This makes Juggernaut one of the easiest villains on this list to add to your collection.

Juggernaut makes a great introductory villain because he’s thematic and fun. He charges around the board, headbutting people. Juggernaut behaves like you’d expect Juggernaut to behave. His ruleset is on the simpler side, but he can be challenging. Marvel United found a way to make Juggernaut easy to play and rewarding to defeat. I’ve never had a table dislike Juggernaut, and he just may be one of my most commonly played Marvel United villains.

1: Sinister Six & Assembled Sinister Six (Return of the Sinister Six and Maximum Carnage Expansions)

I’m double-cheating with our top entry. First, the Sinister Six is a supervillain team. Second, I’m picking two expansions here. Return of the Sinister Six was a KickStarter exclusive all the way back in Season 1, but plenty of stories carry this expansion, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Maximum Carnage was released in Season 3, but the modular Sinister Six add-on was only available in the KickStarter exclusive variant of the expansion. I picked up the Maximum Carnage expansion via retail, so I have a method of adding the modular Sinister Six.

Above is a picture of Carnage’s puzzle piece that can be used in the modular Sinister Six. Using the Marvel United wiki, I took images (and real-world measurements) and printed out my own copy of each puzzle piece of a modular villain at my local library. There are some unique cards you won’t find in a retail copy of Maximum Carnage, so you’ll need to print out those as well. Both are easy to find and download.

I love both iterations of Marvel United’s Sinister Six. Featuring the Sinister Six’s founding members, Return of the Sinister Six provided Marvel United’s first supervillain team. Like Legion, The Sinister Six functions like another intricate puzzle. But once you’ve figured out the puzzle, it may be time to move on to the modular Sinister Six. This version of the Sinister Six includes every villain who has ever joined the Sinister Six, so that static puzzle becomes an ever-changing puzzle. The first Sinister Six holds a special place in my heart (and you’ll need them to fill out your roster of every Sinister Six member), but the modular Sinister Six is clearly the best Marvel United villain. Fun, adaptable, and never boring.

Did we get the list right? Let us know who your favorite Marvel United villains are in the comments. Thank you for reading, wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Superhero Theme Board Games

Top 5 Superhero Board Games

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another Top 5 list, and this one’s a little bit of an update. I shared a similar list over a decade ago. Yikes! It may be time for an updated list. Board games fall in and out of favor, and a decade is a long time for a board game. I’ll share a game’s previous rank in parentheses to show how far a game fell or rose over the past decade. Thousands of new board games are released each year and plenty of them have superheroes as their theme. Let’s see which games made our list of Top 5 Superhero Board Games.

Honorable Mention: DC Deck Building Game & Marvel Legendary (Previously #2)

During the deck builder boom, the superhero game genre saw a ton of deckbuilding games. Every board game theme saw a ton of deckbuilding games. Heck, I backed a Care Bears Deck Building Game last year. Eek! And of course, Marvel and DC Comics received the deckbuilding treatment. Both games have their strengths, weaknesses, and supporters, who will rough you up if you say the wrong thing about their game of choice. For me, I prefer Marvel Legendary’s flow. It held our second spot over a decade ago, but recently, I’ve played Marvel Legendary with 5-players, and never again. It’s borderline unplayable. The DC Deck Building Game offers more of a story. Players feel like they’re playing as a character, but the rules can get clunky.

Again, I prefer Marvel Legendary’s flow, but DC Deck Building Game presents a fun alternative with more of a story.

Honorable Mention: The Reckoners

The Reckoners didn’t quite make the list for one simple reason. I have yet to play it. I’ve watched demos and caught others playing this game, so I know it’s a good one. The Reckoners even has a great score on BoardGameGeek. I had to mention this simultaneous play, fast-action romp of a game. But I haven’t personally played The Reckoners. I could easily see this dice chucking game claim one of the top five spots in the coming years.

One last note before we get started. We’re not including games with a superhero theme if they’re part of a system that didn’t originate with superheroes as its theme. So, systems like Unmatched, which have plenty of superhero options, won’t make the list. And other games like a Marvel Monopoly or 5-Minute Marvel or even a Marvel Codenames, won’t make the list. Funnily enough, that would disqualify Marvel Legendary. The Legendary series of deckbuilding games began with horror franchises like Alien and Predator, which are fantastic by the way.

5: Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition (Previously #1)

Honestly, Sentinels of the Multiverse may have been our number one over a decade ago, but if it wasn’t for a definitive edition, it may have dropped to an honorable mention. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the original, but the original Sentinels had a lot of glut. Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition trims the fat and even fixes some rules issues. Sentinels still offers a unique gaming experience. It’ll always hold a special place for me. But if I’m playing Sentinels, I prefer the Definitive Edition.

The quality of life changes make all the difference. Reminder tokens are just the tip of the iceberg. If you have yet to purchase Sentinels and you’ve always wanted a copy, I’d buy the Definitive Edition. It accomplishes what its name suggests.

4: Batman: Gotham City Chronicles

Relive some of Batman’s most iconic stories with Batman: Gotham City Chronicles. This game’s asymmetric play (the villain player’s turn differs drastically from the hero players’ turns) is a joy. Hero players use dice to control their characters. I like a good dice chucker, and playing as a hero in Batman: Gotham City Chronicles is a fun dice chucker. But I love how the villains’ turn works. The player controlling the villains controls them with a villain deck and an ever-shifting river of villain tokens in the “River.” Activated villains during a turn move to the end of the river, and the further down a villain is from the front of the river, the more action points it costs to activate the villain. This takes careful playing by the villain player. While you could activate Joker on turn one (typically, he begins at the end of the river), it may serve the villain player best to activate a different villain. Maybe Harley Quinn.

Character models are ripped straight from comic book panels. Batman: Gotham City Chronicles even offers a website with uploaded content to take your game further. Is there a new Batman tale you’d like to relive? There may be a fan-created or even a Monolith-designed campaign for that story. Batman: Gotham City Chronicles is a blast to play, but it may be one of the more difficult games to acquire from this list.

3: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures: City Fall and Change is Constant

While I just praised Batman: Gotham City Chronicles for its asymmetric play, Gotham City Chronicles took a lot of inspiration from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past. The game began to show its age, so IDW updated Shadows of the Past with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures series. Both boxes are standalone games, but you can combine the two for double the heroes in a half shelf fun.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures edges out Gotham City Chronicles because it lowers the barrier of entry by just enough to make the game more accessible. TMNT Adventures is by no means a simple game. It offers almost as many story options as Gotham City Chronicles, and you can even customize your heroes, taking advantage of a map’s terrain. I’ve played the opening scenario for this game numerous times and love it. I’ve never progressed that far in the game’s story. I may need to rally my gaming group to finish a campaign.

2: Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Spoiler alert: Marvel takes the top two spots in this list. I can see people flipping the two games at the top of this list. Some will like Marvel Champions more than the next title, but I like the next title slightly more than Marvel Champions. Clearly, both opinions are valid. The two games top this list. I love Marvel Champions’ inclusion of alter ego play. I rarely see superhero-themed games include anything about alter egos. When you play Spider-Man in Marvel Champions, you’ll have to balance his exploits as Spidey and finish his homework as Peter Parker. Brilliant!

Since Marvel Champions is a living card game by Fantasy Flight Games, it offers plenty of story and deck customization. I’d advise players to become familiar with Marvel Champions’ base rules before fiddling with deck construction, but that is another option. If I didn’t go all in with Marvel United (our next entry), I may have done the same with Marvel Champions. My only concern is that I rarely feel like I’m doing what the card says. Usually, I’ll say to my teammate that I have X-amount of blue, and they’ll respond with I have a X-amount of green, and we’ll deal with threats based on color/number. Despite this, Marvel Champions is a lot of fun and deserving of the second or even top spot.

1: Marvel United/United Game System

I love Marvel United. It edges out Marvel Champions for me because it’s easier to onboard players and remember how to play the game. Few games on this list can boast that. I’ve played a lot of Sentinels of the Multiverse, but I’d have to refer to the rules a few times if I were to break out the game again. Marvel Champions has a ton of fiddly rules. I don’t need to do consult the rulebook with Marvel United. The graphic design is perfect. You could look at the symbols and guess what the game wants you to do. Other games on this list function like modern video game consoles in that one must log in, download software, and register products before playing a game, while Marvel United is plug-and-play.

And Marvel United happens to be our only game system on this list, but the system originated with the superhero theme. DC Super Heroes United releases later this year (hopefully), so we should get the chance for some awesome crossover battles between Marvel and DC Comics. Even though CMON Games has yet to announce another follow-up series, my guess would be Star Wars United. That’d be dope. Regardless of which direction the United Game System takes, the United System offers countless hours of play. The only issue I have with this game is that I never know who I want to play. I have so many characters. I placed everyone into a randomizer.

That’s Geekly’s list of the Top 5 superhero-themed board games. We’ll have to see what changes in the next ten years or so. Let us know your favorite superhero-theme board game in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Game Design Brain Dump: August 7, 2026

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another board game design brain dump. This month’s game design dump will mostly be a status update with a tip of the hat to a new productivity tool: a dry-erase calendar. I know. I know. Dry-erase calendars are old news, old tech, but it worked wonders.

New Calendar

The calendar proved necessary because I had become trapped with the idea that everything for Geekly, this blog, was easier and faster than anything else I could do for my career (both board game design and writing). The calendar has spots for weekly items, and I do use these for quite a few things, like my weekly menu (I cook for my household) and other events that occur on specific days of the week (like game design meetups and write-ins, both great resources for game designers and writers).

But the “To Do” section has given me the most focus. I write down the six to seven most important tasks and mark the two quickest/easiest tasks to accomplish first. This keeps me on task. Geekly projects don’t always top the list for quickest or easiest tasks, and I find myself finishing most projects. I do have one item listed for a specific day because that day will be the best time to attempt the project. Overall, this new calendar has streamlined my creative process. I’ve mentioned this in various posts (specifically my Autism Representation Deep Dive series), but I’m neurodivergent. The calendar limits my number of choices. So often, I’ll become paralyzed and continue with what I was working on before, which, for a time, was nothing but Geekly content. This visual reminds me of other goals and gives me a handful of options.

I’ve gushed about my new calendar for long enough. Let’s get to the game updates for this month.

Monster Chef 01 Board Game Logo

Monster Chef works as a hand management game. I’ve playtested it numerous times over the past month. The new butcher knife ability works well. I noticed the decks running out of cards far quicker than before, and added back in one extra copy of the Groceries cards for each monster. I’ve seen multiple playthroughs where gamers complained that they didn’t see enough of the Grocery card abilities. This solves both potential issues.

Monster Chef also plays at a tight thirty minutes or so. I’m happy with that approximate play time. Now, all I need to do is playtest Monster Chef at various designer meetups and conventions. Nuke-Con (in Omaha, Nebraska) won’t occur until early October. I’ll definitely have a playtest or two or three of Monster Chef planned for that convention. I’ll keep you posted if I attend any other public events before Nuke-Con.

After codifying the game’s ruleset, one of the goals I have set for myself is finishing Monster Chef’s rulebook. Oh, yeah. I see some blind playtests in the near future.

I knew Rustbucket Riots would prove more difficult to complete. It is. But I’ve made plenty of progress. Rustbucket Riots works as a bag building game. Yay! Two major issues cropped up: minions added to player bags is brutal, and gamers felt weaker than they did when the game was strictly dice-rolling (with the lock a result mechanism). Both problems were easily fixed. I lowered the number of minions added by boss robots each turn. Done. That was easy. Making the players feel more powerful was a little difficult to pinpoint, but I’m tackling the issue in two ways. First, increase the number of tokens players grab from their bags each turn. This was easy enough. But drawing fewer tokens was only part of the problem.

When players could reroll dice (dice rolling mechanism), Rustbucket Riots players had more control over their results. Do you really need to roll a Jump result? Reroll any dice that don’t show Jump until you lock in every result. Pulling from a bag is a little trickier. The tokens you pull are the tokens you pull. So, I added a mechanism that allows players to trade in any two tokens for a token of their choice. You’ll need to pull more tokens from your bag, but as I mentioned, players will be pulling more tokens from their bags.

I’m excited by the direction Rustbucket Riots is taking. Now comes the long road of balancing the mechanisms so most games conclude with a tight outcome. Fingers crossed.

That’s all I have for this month’s game design brain dump. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Tabletop Games from 2002

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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.