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5 Underrated Underused Spider-Man Villains

5 Underrated/Underused Spider-Man Villains

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Happy Monday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with a new entry in an older comic book series: Underrated and/or Underused Villains. Today, we focus on Spider-Man’s overlooked rogues’ gallery. The webhead has plenty of villains to his name, so it makes sense that a handful of villains may qualify. Notice how this list isn’t titled a Top 5. Numerous characters could make this list. If you don’t see your favorite underrated Spider-Man villain on this list, comment who would add.

The characters on this list may lean more toward underrated rather than underused or vice versa. Spidey has a wealth of villains, so we have more than one honorable mention. Let’s get to our list of five underrated/underused Spider-Man Villains.

Honorable Mention: Tombstone

I cheated with Tombstone. He shows up plenty in the comics, receives great adaptations in other media (I can’t wait for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s second season), and seldom gets overlooked as one of Spidey’s better second-tier villains. But I wanted to mention Tombstone. I love this character. One can never have enough Tombstone stories. I can’t wait to see Marvin Jones III (also known as Krondon) portrayal of Tombstone in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Brilliant casting. Krondon also provided Tombstone’s voice in the Spider-Verse series of animated films. I can’t wait.

Honorable Mention: Beetle

Beetle meets the criteria for underrated and underused. His redemption story (told through Thunderbolts) is wildly underrated; I’d love to see a Beetle redemption story in the MCU. Abe Jenkins (the original and most famous Beetle) seldom gets used in media outside comics, and the comics haven’t featured him recently because he’s dead. But no one stays dead in comics forever. Oddly enough, Tombstone’s daughter, Janice Lincoln, has taken the mantle as the new Beetle. So, there’s a chance we could see Janice in the MCU.

No version of Beetle is primarily a Spider-Man villain, and that’s why they make the honorable mention list. Beetle threatens the larger MCU, giving preference to Iron Man and Spider-Man. Abe’s origin story was reworked a bit and used as Mysterio’s backstory in Spider-Man: Far From Home. He craved respect and recognition, so he stole tech, made a super suit, and terrorized the normies. When he joined the Thunderbolts, originally pretending to be a hero, he found the respect and recognition he always craved as a hero, so he became one. Ah! What could’ve been in the MCU? Beetle is certainly one of the most criminally overlooked Marvel villains. But his freelance villainy causes him to just miss the list.

Honorable Mention: Hammerhead

A third honorable mention? Yeah, Spidey has a ton of fantastic villains. We could’ve made a list of 20 underrated/underused Spider-Man villains. Let us know if you’d like to see a second part to this list.

Hammerhead has some of the worst adaptations for a Spider-Man villain. Outside the comics, media portray him as an underling. That isn’t true. Hammerhead is Kingpin’s rival, an equal in every sense. Readers of Spider-Man comics know this, but anyone who only consumes Spidey content outside the comics will wildly underrate Hammerhead as a villain. And Hammerhead has one of the most tragic childhoods among Spidey villains. I won’t spoil it. It’s brutal. There’s a reason Hammerhead’s skull has been replaced with adamantium. Yikes!

Hammerhead just misses our list because he may soon get a good adaptation. Rumors of Hammerhead joining Spider-Man: Brand New Day abound. I’m writing this early and before the second season of Daredevil: Born Again, and there’s a chance Hammerhead could become the Kingpin rival he was always supposed to be. We’ll have to see.

That wraps up our honorable mentions. Let’s see who made the proper list.

5: Doppelganger

Sure, Doppelganger has low intelligence. He barely says more than one word, but Doppelganger has a ton of potential, inside and outside of comics. Doppelganger hails from the dimension of manifestations. The Magus created all of the doppelgangers–they created a doppelganger for everyone in Marvel Comics (kind of like the Bizarros in DC Comics)–to combat their counterparts. Spider-Man’s doppelganger was the only one who made it to Earth 616 (Marvel’s main timeline). Lost, Doppelganger didn’t know what to do and attacked Spider-Man. It was defeated. But Doppelganger was rescued and adopted, in a way, by Shriek. Doppelganger only hates Spider-Man because the one it calls “Mother” (Shriek) hates Spider-Man. Despite its villain status, Doppelganger has conducted heroic deeds, and that’s interesting.

Within Marvel Comics, few creative teams have explored Doppelganger, but when they do, those stories slap. There have been rumblings of a potential Doppelganger sighting in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but unlike Hammerhead, I doubt Doppelganger will get a good story. Fingers crossed.

4: Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin fits the bill of an underrated Spider-Man villain, but he also poses a good question. Can someone be overused and underused at the same time? When Hobgoblin makes it into a Spider-Man story, he dominates for a few years, and then he disappears for almost a decade. And the pattern repeats. Most creative teams who include Hobgoblin in a story are passionate about the character. That’s why Hobgoblin dominates the storylines. This shields Hobgoblin from a lot of “bad” storylines. In fact, Hobgoblin is one of the few Spider-Man villains on this list, and in the honorable mentions, without an awful story.

One does need to establish a Green Goblin before introducing Hobgoblin. Typically, Hobgoblin “borrows” Green Goblin’s gadgets and rebrands them. The Nineties Spider-Man animated series is the only exception I can think of when Hobgoblin appears before Green Goblin. It helps that Mark Hamill voiced Hobgoblin.

Honestly, I like Hobgoblin’s aesthetic more than Green Goblin’s, and I love the purple and green combination. Heck, those are Geekly’s colors. It must be Hobgoblin’s outfit, his more demonic and unhinged look, and that’s ironic. Green Goblin always has some form of mental illness, but usually, Hobgoblin has full control of his mental faculties. That can give Hobgoblin a more sinister vibe. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

3: Chameleon

Chameleon is Spider-Man’s first villain. In his first tale, Chameleon dresses up as Spider-Man to frame him for stealing government plans. This happens a lot for Chameleon. He frames Spidey for crimes he didn’t commit, but Chameleon is more of an espionage character. He has an awesome backstory. Without Chameleon, we may not get as fleshed out a Kraven the Hunter. The two are half-brothers. But Spider-Man creators miscast Chameleon. So, Chameleon may be more of a misused villain than an underused villain, but he is also underused.

Despite being Spider-Man’s oldest villain, Chameleon rarely shows up in other media, and when he does, it’s usually a cameo. I’m hopeful for Chameleon’s role in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s second season. This version of Chameleon has potential. It also helps that Peter Parker’s father (Spoiler: Peter’s dad is alive in this cartoon series) worked as a spy. That could play into Chameleon’s background. We need Spidey to flex his detective muscle. Mysterio triggers Peter’s tingle, forcing him to rely on his Spider Sense. A full-thrust Spider Sense for Mysterio makes sense because Mysterio envelops the area around him with illusions. I could see a low-level twinge with the Chameleon, like Peter knows something’s amiss, but he can’t put his finger on it. Chameleon’s abilities only affect himself. We need better Chameleon stories.

2: Vermin

Before making this list, I knew who would reach the top. One can rearrange or replace any of the previous Spider-Man villains on this list, but the top two are chiseled in stone. You could swap one and two with each other, but we’ll get to number one in a minute. First, we’re talking about Vermin.

Vermin may take the mantle of the most underrated and underused Spider-Man villain. Most Spidey fans (who read the comic book) would say Kraven’s Last Hunt and The Child Within are two of the top three or four stories in Spider-Man history. Vermin features in both stories. Despite those two tales occurring decades ago, Vermin shows up in few other stories. See what I mean about underused? Some Spidey fans may forget Vermin was in Kraven’s Last Hunt. Talk about underrated. Sure, Vermin was Kraven’s pawn, but there’s a killer moment when Spider-Man loses his temper with Vermin. Love this story. We covered it more in a previous post.

And then we get to The Child Within. Ah! So good. A nine or ten-year-old child wanders into the sewers and asks Vermin to accompany him home. Vermin (a rat person) takes the kid to a mansion, but the kid refuses to go inside. By this point, we realize the kid is Vermin’s inner child. The mansion belongs to his parents. At first, Vermin’s parents don’t recognize him. We get Vermin’s tragic backstory, and I’m not going to spoil it here. You should read The Child Within.

Not only does Vermin have few–if any–“bad stories,” he’s featured in two of Spider-Man’s greatest stories. Who could possibly claim the top spot over Vermin?

1: Jackal

If you were to rank Spider-Man’s most important villains (the ones necessary to tell Spider-Man’s story), the list would look like the following:

1) Green Goblin
2) Doctor Octopus
3) Jackal

Spider-Man fans who read the comics know who Jackal is and would agree with this list–for the most part. Spidey fans who don’t read the comics are scratching their heads, wondering who the hell is Jackal? That’s why Jackal is number one on this list. He is one of Spidey’s most important villains, and not enough people know him. Jackal introduced The Punisher, hiring him to take down Spider-Man (during The Punisher’s first appearance), and he’s behind most, if not all, clone storylines. And Spidey has a ton of clone stories. The Clone Saga is the longest storyline in Spider-Man comic book history.

The original Jackal, Miles Warren, was one of Peter Parker’s college professors. Warren, in his mid to late fifties, crushed on Gwen Stacy. Ew. She’s more than half your age, creeper. After Gwen died, Warren blamed Spider-Man for her death. Spidey did web Gwen’s foot, causing her neck to snap. Jackal, pointing out this detail to Spider-Man, poured extra salt into Peter’s guilt. Peter already blamed himself for Gwen’s death. What ensued was a lot of cloning, cloning of Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker, and others. Eventually, Jackal would clone himself in an attempt to achieve immortality.

Jackal’s lack of a good adaptation outside of comics reminds me of Hobgoblin’s issue. Jackal is difficult to explain without a lot of setup, like Hobgoblin needing Green Goblin to exist first. Typically, Jackal needs Gwen Stacy to exist. You may even need her to perish. Often, Miles Warren gets introduced, and we never see his transformation into Jackal. And then there’s Jackal’s age. Since Warren is in his fifties, whenever he gets introduced as a side character in a movie or show, people overlook him. Warren appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man film series and Sony’s Spider-Man adjacent movies. Blink, and you’ll miss him. I hope the MCU takes its time to introduce Jackal in the future. Gwen may soon make her debut in the MCU. Jackal may not be far behind.

That’s our list of five underrated and/or underused Spider-Man Villains. There are plenty more villains who could’ve made this list. Let us know who you would add in the comments. 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.

Top 5 Supergirl Villains

Top 5 Supergirl Villains

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here, and I’m getting excited for the upcoming Supergirl film. How about you? Let’s get ready for the DCU’s next entry at the end of the month, shall we? We know Lobo will feature in the movie. Supergirl and Lobo cross paths often enough, but I wouldn’t consider Lobo a Supergirl villain. Who are Supergirl’s top villains? Kara Zor-El and Kal-El share a lot of enemies. We’ll do our best to avoid a Top 5 Supergirl Villain list that looks too much like a Top 5 Superman Villain list. Besides, Geekly already did a list for Superman.So, who made the list of Top 5 Supergirl Villains?

Honorable Mention: Anti-Monitor

Anti-Monitor made his debut during the DC Comics Crossover Event, “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Famously, Superman held a deceased Supergirl in his arms. DC Comics made it clear that no character was safe. Heck, Supergirl would stay dead and buried for a couple of decades. No one ever stays dead for long in comics, but Supergirl was one of the ones that stuck around longer than fans expected. And yet, Anti-Monitor doesn’t quite make this list. We’re using the same logic as the Top 5 Superman Villains list. Darkseid took a lower spot on Supes’s list because he’s more of a universal threat. Anti-Monitor is that and then some. And while Doomsday went on to become a thorn in Superman’s side decades after Superman’s death, Supergirl has seldom encountered Anti-Monitor. He still gets a mention. How could he not? Even though he seldom graces the pages of Supergirl comics, Anti-Monitor was at the heart of one of DC Comics’–and Supergirl’s–iconic moments.

5: Reign

Reign only knows her name, the fact that she’s a Worldkiller, has incredible combat skills (especially swords), and Krypton has something to do with her past. This is a good set-up. Reign holds Kryptonians–and Supergirl in particular–in contempt. Reign may be one of the newer villains on this list, but she plays well against Kara Zor-El. The two have clashed a handful of times over the past decade and a half after Reign’s introduction. Reign made such an impression that she featured on the Supergirl CW show. Is it a matter of time before we see Reign on the big screen?

4: Bizarro Girl

Bizarro didn’t quite make our Superman’s Top 5 Villain List, but that was largely because he was the opposite of Superman. Supergirl has a Bizarro version, too. But Bizarro Girl differs from the original Bizarro. Bizarro Girl is a reflection of Kara Zor-El. I hope to see Bizarro Girl in the upcoming Supergirl movie–she works well in stories about self-acceptance–but I’m also okay waiting. Supergirl suffers from the loss of Krypton. Unlike her cousin, Supergirl witnessed Krypton’s downfall. Similarly, Bizarro Girl wasn’t present when the Godship (insectoid world-eaters) attacked Bizarro World. With her people believing she abandoned them, Bizarro Girl went into isolation. Her journey mirrors Supergirl’s. And it’s always fun to have some Bizarro comedy thrown in for good measure.

3: Silver Banshee

I knew Silver Banshee would make this list but had no idea where she fits. Three. The middle? Does that sound good? Silver Banshee has a couple of things going against her on this list: she started as a Superman villain, and she often flips sides and fights alongside Supergirl. Despite beginning as a Superman villain, Silver Banshee quickly became an iconic Supergirl villain. And even though she may be picking up Kara Zor-El’s laundry at the moment (Is Silver Banshee still a friendly?), she’s had several iconic fights against Supergirl in the past. One can’t tell Supergirl’s story without Silver Banshee, but she just misses out on the top two spots because she goes the way of Catwoman. Is she friend or foe? Who knows. But Silver Banshee is a classic Supergirl character.

2: H’el

While H’el could work–and occasionally serves–as a Superman villain, he works best as a Supergirl villain. This Kryptonian clone wants to reconstitute Krypton at Earth’s expense. We’ve seen this storyline work with Superman and General Zod, but H’el’s relationship with Kara Zor-El works even better. Superman views Earth as home. Supergirl still views Krypton as home. H’el’s pitch of a New Krypton tempts Supergirl into betraying her adoptive homeland. It also doesn’t hurt that Supergirl’s first encounter with H’el was him rescuing her. The two have a bond, and Supergirl can’t fully see him as a villain, which makes H’el that much more of an effective Supergirl villain. H’el’s like a toxic boyfriend. Supergirl defends him while he’s ripping the Superman family a new one. Eventually, H’el finds that one line Supergirl can’t ignore, and she springs into action.

1: Reactron

Reactron controls radiation. That makes him a formidable foe. But Reactron can manipulate radiation in any form, including kryptonite. That makes Reactron deadly to Supergirl. In fact, when Supergirl got hit with Scarecrow’s fear toxin, Reactron was who she saw. I don’t think we need more of a case for Reactron being atop a top Supergirl villains list than that, but let’s continue. Unlike some other villains on this list, Reactron was created to be a Supergirl villain. He destroyed New Krypton and kidnapped Kara Zor-El’s mother. Oh, and he killed Kara’s father, Zor-El. No wonder Reactron haunts Supergirl’s nightmares.

I can’t wait to see who the DCU casts as Reactron and how the film series plans to use him. Looking through this list of villains, Supergirl’s rogues are varied. The DCU has a blank canvas for this character. Supergirl has plenty of source material. I can’t wait to see some engaging Supergirl stories. If I had to guess, Supergirl won’t include Reactron. Maybe, he’ll get a mention. Reactron demands plenty of screen time.

That’s our list for the Top 5 Supergirl Villains. Who would you add or take away? Would you shuffle the order? 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 2001

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another Top 5 Tabletop Game List throughout the years. 2001 is the year in board games we’re covering today. While 2001 saw a lot of great games, I don’t see as many of them played as much today. And yet, 2001 in board games set industry standards and even introduced one of the most interesting game mechanisms. We’ll get to the 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: San Marco (2001)

Alan R. Moon almost makes one of these lists again—he won’t need to wait long for another entry—and while San Marco helped popularize area control and card drafting as game mechanisms, it’s since been overshadowed. San Marco won a handful of awards, but it just missed out on our list.

5: Zombies!!! (2001)

We begin 2001’s Top 5 Board List with Zombies!!!. This design by Todd Breitenstein still has its defenders today, but many Zombies!!! Fans have moved on to another game that will most likely make one of these lists: Zombiecide or Dead of Winter. You can’t deny Zombies!!!’s influence on the board game industry. It proved a miniature or standee-heavy game could make bank, solidified zombies as a board game theme (Zombies!!! was one of the first zombie games), and its use of tiles as terrain has been duplicated for decades.

Zombies!!! cornered the market for zombie board games for well over a decade. It shocked me that no other board game attempted to claim Zombies!!! throne until 2012.

4: Serengeti (2001)

Serengeti has the opposite problem of Zombies!!!. While Zombies!!! makes this list for its cultural relevance and lacks a standout game mechanism, Serengeti offers a fantastic twist for an auction and payout mechanism and often gets forgotten, in part, because it got rethemed as Don (a gangster game). Both games made the list, but just barely.

Players bid for African art (sensitivity may be the reason the game got rethemed) with the local currency “Hongo.” Players may not bid a number whose “ones” digit matches the number on any card they previously won. The payout mechanism is that players owning a card whose number matches the “one” digit gain a share of the bid. Serengeti has this nice push-pull of wanting to acquire lots, but it matters when you obtain the lot, because you stand to gain a kickback every time someone else gains a similar lot. It’s no wonder Serengeti won several awards as the best card game of 2001.

3: Evo (2001)

I struggled figuring out where I should place the next three games. You could invert the rankings of all three of the next three games, and I’d agree with you. Regardless, I had to put these games in some order, and we begin with Evo. You control the survival and evolution of dinosaur species named Dinos. Guide their migrations, perfect genes to develop and mutate your Dinos, and push out other creatures to become the “dominant species.”

Another board game would be released over a decade later, Dominant Species, which owes a lot to Evo. But Evo is more streamlined than Dominant Species. I’ve heard people talk about Evo, and that’s another vote for it to climb higher on this list. Evo was nominated for a lot of awards, won a couple, and is highly regarded. Why didn’t it land higher on this list?

2: Zendo (2001)

Zendo has the innovative game mechanism I mentioned at the beginning. Zendo is a game of inductive logic where one player, the Moderator, creates a secret rule (like a structure must consist of at least two pyramids) that the rest of the players figure out by building and studying configurations of the game pieces. The first player to correctly guess the hidden rule wins.

Zendo uses Looney Pyramids and was originally released as part of a group of games that could be played with Looney Pyramids in 2001. Zendo was later released as a standalone game in July 2003 and promptly won multiple awards, including the 2005 Mensa Select. Zendo makes its players think creatively. Its bizarre game components make it stand out.

1: TransAmerica (2001)

TransAmerica is yet another board game on this list to win multiple awards. TransAmerica was even nominated for the 2002 Spiel des Jahres (German game of the Year)—I still don’t yet know how the Spiel des Jahres committee determines when a game is eligible—and just barely missed. Like Zendo, TransAmerica earned the 2003 Mensa Select. But TransAmerica takes the top spot on this list because it combines accolades with cultural relevance. Train games were nothing new, but TransAmerica streamlined train board game mechanisms. Something we’ll see with a future number one game.

Each player has a set of five cities strung across the United States that need to be connected by rail. Players begin by placing their station on an intersection on the map, then take turns placing one or two rails each turn on the lines of the map. Initially, players can only be adjacent to their station or on a line that touches their station, but once one’s network connects with another player’s, one can place their rails anywhere along the combined network. I love how TransAmerica rewards players who know when to connect their networks with another player’s. Can you take advantage of others’ rails more than they can benefit from yours? TransAmerica boasts a short play time, perfect for players new to the hobby.

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.

5 Great Approachable War Board Games

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We wish you a meaningful Memorial Day, Geekly Gang. Hey, hey, Kyra Kyle here. We’re recognizing the holiday today with five great, approachable war board games.

There are a lot of caveats in this post’s title. First, board games set in wartime tend to have steep learning curves. The Campaign for North Africa: The Desert War 1940-43 holds the Guinness World Record for the most complicated board game in history–and the longest rulebook. We’re going with “approachable,” meaning easy to learn. True wargamers may scoff at that. Second, we’re not calling this list a Top 5, because wargame enthusiasts tend not to stop at the game table with fighting wars. Don’t hurt us. And then I set numerous guidelines that made compiling this list difficult.

I didn’t want any games set in the same conflict. Check. I wanted to limit myself to one game per series, so I couldn’t name every Commands & Colors game on this list. Spoiler: A game from the Commands & Colors series will make this list. Although I may have fudged that last guideline just a bit with the fifth and fourth entries. I also wanted to include board games that should still be in print. And I may have fudged that one, too. Drat! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this list of five great approachable war board games.

5) 878 Vikings: Invasions of England (2017)

I love Academy Games’ use of asymmetric player powers in 878 Vikings: Invasions of England. The company has been a fave for my family ever since we played Freedom: The Underground Railroad, another must-play historical board game. In 878 Vikings: Invasions of England, players control the invading Vikings or the English nobles who are trying to withstand the invasion. Viking players either play as Norsemen Viking freeman or as the fearless Viking shock troops known as Berserkers. The English play as the Housecarl, the Kings’ household troops, or as the Thegns who were regional noble Leaders. The English players will also be able to call up the peasant levies, called the Fyrd, to defend their cities.

878 Vikings: Invasions of England is one of the newer games on this list, and it’s set the furthest in time. 878 is the year the game is set. It took me a few times before I stopped equating it to the 300 Spartans who defended the west from a massive Persian army. 878 Vikings: Invasions of England claims the fifth spot, in part, because it may be the most complex of the games on this list. Still, it’s a great play.

4) 1775: Rebellion (2013)

1775: Rebellion is another Academy Games title. I don’t believe it’s from the same series as 878 Vikings, but the two games have the same design team. Similar to 878 Vikings: Invasions of England, 1775: Rebellion features asymmetric play. In 1775: Rebellion, players take the roles of the American Continental Army and Patriots against the British Army and the Loyalists. Each side tries to control the colonies, provinces, and territories. They call on the aid of Native Americans, as well as the German Hessians and French Army to successfully birth a revolution or quell the rebellion.

My oldest daughter played 1775: Rebellion at Nuke-Con several years back, far closer to its original release, and won as the British Army. So, one can change history with this game. My daughter (a teenager at the time) gloated the entire convention. While not the lightest game on this list, 1775: Rebellion is a good jumping-off point if you’re trying to get into war board games.

3) Resist! (2022)

We go from one of the oldest games on this list to the newest game, Resist!. I love Salt & Pepper Games’ stable of titles. This is one of the up-and-coming board game publishers. Salt & Pepper Games produces fantastic small games. In fact, they can put a lot of game into a small package. Resist! is no different.

Resist! is a fast-playing, card-driven solitaire game in which you take on the role of the Spanish Maquis, fighting against the Francoist regime. Over a series of rounds, you undertake increasingly difficult missions, and completing missions earns you the points needed to win. Failing to defeat missions and enemies may cause you to lose. At the end of each round, you must choose whether to end the resistance or risk it and take on another mission. I don’t know too many board games set in the Spanish Civil War. Resist! is a great experience.

2) Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! (2021)

I recently played Rise of Augustus by Paolo Mori, and it was fun. Turns out, Paolo Mori has an entire line of fill-in-the-blank military conflict in 20 minutes. And it’s that subtitle “In 20 Minutes” that secured this game’s place on this list. Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! plays in–shock of shocks–20 minutes. That’s unheard of in most war board games, but somehow Mori pulls it off.

In Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes!, players draw tokens from a bag to determine their starting forces and to replenish their losses. Players allocate their resources to each province, gaining tactical advantages and vying for control of the republic. And did I mention this game is lightning fast? I did. Well, what if I told you Mori has multiple games in this line? I did. If you like Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes!, you should try Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes!. Blitzkrieg! didn’t make the list because of our next entry also uses a World War Two theme.

1) Memoir ’44 (2004)

Memoir ’44 is the one entry from Richard Borg’s Commands & Colors series that made this list. Borg’s simple but elegant system of unique cards (to command your troops), miniatures (or wooden pieces) on variable maps, and dice for combat distills the war board game experience into digestible pieces. I could’ve included any of the Commands & Colors games for this entry. Borg offers plenty of options for whatever conflict you’d like to recreate. And that’s what you’re doing in Memoir ’44.

My favorite part of Memoir ’44 is the history behind each skirmish. Memoir ’44 is the oldest game on this list and may be difficult to acquire, but it’s the most interactive fun you’ll have learning about World War II. One of these years, I’ll need to run a recreation of the entire war at my local game store. Ah. It’s so good.

That’s our list for five great approachable war board games. Which game would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments. If you’ve gotten this far, you’re awesome. Everyone knows it. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Board Games Better as Video Games

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. The title of this post sounds sacrilegious. It can be difficult to believe someone who rates the Dorformantik Board Game above the video game that inspired it, to also rate some video games above their inspiring board/tabletop games. I love board games. But several video game adaptations work better than the original board games. There are various reasons why a board game or tabletop game may be better as a video game, and I’ll share why I prefer the digital version to the physical version of the game. I still play some of these board games in their original form, but all the games on this list make better video games than board games.

5) Ticket to Ride

We begin with a game I play digitally and physically, Ticket to Ride. Asmosdee Digital does an excellent job translating Ticket to Ride to various online platforms. Since I have an iPad and an Android smartphone, I’m certain I’ve purchased Ticket to Ride for at least three or four of its possible platforms. Each version makes it easy to see what other players (typically AI players for me) have done on previous turns and plan future turns. Ticket to Ride’s tutorial is quick and easy, which makes sense: the game is quick and easy to learn.

The reason why I play Ticket to Ride on digital more than my physical copies is my gaming group has moved passed this classic gateway game. I could litter this entire list with digital versions of some of my favorite, classic gateway games like Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride or even Smallworld (also from Asmodee Digital), but I like Ticket to Ride’s interface just a bit more and the extra maps add an extra layer of variability without needed to store dozens of bonus Ticket to Ride maps.

I like getting in a game or two of Ticket to Ride while I wait in line or I’m traveling. I highly recommend the digital Ticket to Ride.

4) Sentinels of the Multiverse

Sentinels of the Multiverse is another old favorite. Yes. Like Ticket to Ride, my gaming groups have moved past this board game to other games of its ilk, but there are more reasons why Sentinels of the Multiverse makes this list. The game takes a while to set up and take down (this reasoning will come up again), and Sentinels of the Multiverse has a lot of cards that trigger at various intervals and during different turns, which makes triggers easy to miss.

Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game eliminates the need to remember triggers. The setup is nonexistent. Just load the game and go. While I may not own Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game on as many platforms as Ticket to Ride, I’ve put in plenty of hours playing this digital version. I think the reason why I’m reluctant to purchase Sentinels of the Multiverse on other systems is that all content for the original Sentinels of the Multiverse is available in this video game. I don’t want to buy everything again.

Handlelabra does a great job converting the original Sentinels of the Multiverse into its digital version. Graphic effects match the original art, drawing me into the game. Sentinels of the Multiverse keeps the theme going with little touches like “Meanwhile…” whenever the game waits for input. Nice!

3) Neuroshima Hex

Neuroshima Hex is another game with plenty of triggers that are easy to miss, but unlike Sentinels of the Multiverse, the setup and take-down of this game are so laborious, I don’t dare play the physical copy. The only way I’ll play Neuroshima Hex’s physical form is if someone else agrees to handle the game’s logistics. And the timing aspect for Neuroshima Hex can get tedious. Sure, timing can be something one can easily miss, just like Sentinels‘ triggers, but Neuroshima Hex runs deeper than that. It hurts more in the physical game to overlook one of your opponent’s hexagonal pieces with a faster speed than yours and a devastating ability. In the digital copy, I snap my fingers and move on. In the physical game, I’m dejected.

Neuroshima Hex‘s strategic and tactical moves are fantastic, but there’s too much to remember in the physical copy. Neuroshima Hex’s digital copy provides reminders for gamers. Games don’t take nearly as long to play, so the time investment isn’t long. The same can’t be said of the physical version of Neuroshima Hex. I even like how the digital copy incorporates the game’s lore. While playing, it’s easy to overlook Neuroshima Hex’s post-apocalyptic world, and its colorful denizens.

Portal Games and Big Daddy’s Games did a great job translating Neuroshima Hex to a digital game. Similar to Ticket to Ride, I can see information easily and cleanly. Neuroshima Hex’s digital copy even has a free demo for you to try.

2) Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven’s digital copy makes it to this list for one reason: no setup. While other factors may have factored into other digital copies of board games making this list, Gloomhaven has an unbearable setup time. Fortunately, the Gloomhaven digital copy packs everything in the original’s massive box into its programming. You won’t need to save your character from one scenario of Gloomhaven to the next because this is a video game. The game does that for you. And Gloomhaven’s graphics are fantastic.

Like most other titles on this list, Gloomhaven has an easy-to-see and use interface. The physical game’s sometimes complicated rules are explained a little better in its digital version. I’m not saying that Gloomhaven’s rules are difficult to follow, but parts of the rules can be like Sentinels of the Multiverse and be easy to miss, and players won’t need to play out the artificial intelligence of the game’s enemies. Yes. A quarter to a third of Gloomhaven is acting out the game’s enemies. You won’t need to do that either in the digital version of Gloomhaven.

And did I mention Gloomhaven’s graphics? I did? Well, they look almost as good as Baldur’s Gate 3. Okay. Maybe that went too far, but Gloomhaven’s digital game looks amazing. You also won’t need to wait for your gaming group to meet up so you can continue your campaign. Gloomhaven: The Video Game offers the perfect alternative for this sprawling epic.

1) Onirim

Onirim will take the number one spot for some time to come. It would’ve taken this spot over a decade ago if we did a list like this. Onirim is the game I replace Solitaire with on all my smart devices. At its core, Onirim is a colorful, whimsical twist on classic Solitaire, but the physical game suffers for one reason: shuffling.

And I’m a compulsive shuffler. Seriously, I’m AuDHD (Autistic and an ADHDer) and shuffling cards is a stim for me, and I think there’s too much shuffling in the physical copy of Onirim. Some cards (Nightmares) discard cards from the deck, and if you draw more than one in a turn, you’ll need to shuffle them back into the deck. Other cards (keys) allow you to search the deck for a door, and if you find one, you’ll need to shuffle the deck again. And those are the base game cards. Onirim offers a couple of expansions with more cards that will force players to shuffle.

It may sound like I hate Onirim. Far from it. I love this game; it’s the only Solitaire game I’ll play on my smart devices. But Onirim has a ton of shuffling. You won’t feel that if you play Onirim’s digital copy. Trust me. Once you start playing Onirim, you won’t want to stop playing this dream of a Solitaire game.

That’s my list for now. What digital copies of board games do you like to play? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Video Game Villains

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another Top 5 villains list. Today’s list is none other than video games. Like many narratives, villains drive a video game’s story, so let’s look at some of the greatest video game villains of all time.

5) Andrew Ryan (BioShock)

Nope. I’m not going to spoil BioShock’s Andrew Ryan plot twist. I don’t care that the original BioShock was released in 2007. BioShock is almost twenty years old. Oh, my! Still, I’ll refrain from spoiling BioShock’s ending for the handful of people who don’t know. Seriously, people mention the original BioShock’s plot twist with Andrew Ryan as readily as the plot twist in Soylent Green. Andrew Ryan is people! JK Throughout BioShock’s runtime, Andrew Ryan’s vision for society challenges the player. His charisma and philosophical ideals are why gamers return to BioShock. And his worldview can lead to thought-provoking discussions. What more could you want from a video game villain?

4) GLaDOS (Portal)

BioShock may raise questions about video game narratives (Why do you blindly follow a video game narrator’s directions?), but Portal adds wry humor. GLaDOS is at the center. This sassy AI’s dry wit and passive-aggressive comments promote unique challenges for players as they navigate deadly puzzles. Portal may be a puzzle game, and GLaDOS an AI, but both are unforgettable. GLaDOS may also be the inspiration behind The Stanley Parable’s antagonistic narrator six years later. And I’ve never heard of a game developer bringing in a voice actor at the beginning of a project. Typically, voice actors are invited well into a video game’s development. With Portal 2, Ellen McLain (GLaDOS’s voice actor) was involved from the beginning. Developer Valve only wanted to hear McLain’s voice. No need for a stand-in.

3) Ganon (Legend of Zelda Series)

Demon King Ganon is the embodiment of evil in the Legend of Zelda series. As Link’s main antagonist, Ganon first appeared in The Legend of Zelda (1986), but he can be a touch confusing. Ganondorf made his first appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), and Ganondorf is more or less Ganon as a humanoid, specifically a gerudo. No matter if he’s Ganon or Ganondorf, he is a force to be reckoned with, and his relentless pursuit of power keeps Hyrule in constant peril.

2) Kefka (Final Fantasy VI)

I could go with Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII) for this spot, but let’s face it, Kefka is Sephiroth’s blueprint. Over the course of Final Fantasy VI, players watch the characters descend into madness. And while Sephiroth attempted to destroy the planet with Meteor, Kefka succeeded. Or at least half-succeeded. Sephiroth will always hold a special place, but Kefka’s maniacal laughter lives rent-free in my head. Sometimes, you need to send in the clown.

1) Bowser (Super Mario Bros. Franchise)

We had to go with the King of Koopas, Bowser, claiming the top spot. In short, Bowser’s a classic video game villain. He’s been tormenting Mario for decades. With his massive size and fire-breathing, Bowser remains Mario’s biggest threat. No disrespect, Wario and Waluigi. Whether he’s kidnapping Princess Peach, or ah, kidnapping Princess Peach, or even kidnapping Princess Peach, Bowser is a fan favorite. Maybe, change it up once, Bowser. Sheesh! I’m still waiting for a Bowser solo game. Make it happen, Nintendo.

Did we get the list right? Who did we miss? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Top 5 Star Wars Villains

Top 5 Star Wars Villains

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Happy May the Fourth, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. We’re celebrating with a Star Wars Top 5. A great hero needs an intriguing villain. Yes! We’re continuing our Top 5 Villains Series with a Top 5 Star Wars Villains.

5: Jabba the Hutt

Jabba the Hutt is a massive space slug who oozes out a living, making shady deals throughout the galaxy. He reminds me of Beelzebub, the devil associated with gluttony. Jabba is the pinnacle of excess. He moves as little as he can, forcing his servants to do most things for him. He stuffs his face all day long, smokes his hookah, and admires the woman he has on a leash. Heck. Whenever he gets bored, he’ll feed his enslaved women to the space monster in his basement. Yikes!

Jabba has an iconic design. His giant puppet–Lucasfilm pulled off this giant space slug with a puppet–impresses audiences decades after Return of the Jedi’s original release. Growing up, I had an original Jabba the Hutt figure from Jenner. Looking back, there were so many red flags with that figure. And we can’t forget Spaceballs’s Pizza the Hutt, who ate himself while trapped in his car. I can’t wait for Spaceballs 2.

4: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Grand Admiral Thrawn differs from every other villain on this list in almost every way. Thrawn originates from a Star Wars novel–The Heir to the Empire trilogy, to be exact–before making his debut in the Star Wars Rebels animated series. His story went from being canon to not being canon and then back again. And Thrawn’s approach separates him from most Star Wars villains. He’s as cold and calculating as his skin tone. He seldom uses overwhelming force. No. He’ll understand a community or culture first, before dismantling it from the inside. Thrawn’s tactics may be the most diabolical in Star Wars lore.

3: Darth Maul

Even in his debut, Darth Maul looked cool. Double lightsabers will do that. Heck. Fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jin at the same time adds to his mystique. But Maul’s story doesn’t truly begin until after the events of The Phantom Menace. Of course, Darth Maul survives being bisected by Obi-Wan Kenobi. He gains a set of robotic spider legs and eventually a set of humanoid robotic legs. Maul would become a threat to the Republic, then the Empire, and finally the Sith themselves. Some villains want to watch the world burn, and we’re here for it.

2: Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious)

Emperor Palpatine has appeared in every Star Wars trilogy of films, so far. He’s the Lord of the Imperial Galaxy and internet memes. Palpatine began his political career in the service of the Galactic Republic but soon obtained power and destroyed Galactic democracy. And the people cheered. I refuse to make parallels between Palpatine and real life. Anyway, the Emperor’s crimes are countless. Nope. This doesn’t resemble real life. Back to fantasy, Palpatine nearly wiped out the Jedi with Order 66. He killed Mace Windu, and nobody gets away with murdering a Samuel L. Jackson character. And the Emperor plunged the Galaxy into an era of darkness and tyranny.

Not bad for a meme lord.

1: Darth Vader

Could it be anyone else? Darth Vader is the height of a cool villain. Admit it. “The Imperial March” plays when you catch a glimpse of him. Darth Vader is one of cinema’s most iconic villains. Period. What’s not to like? His imposing stature, black space samurai armor, creepy breathing, or James Earl Jones’s rich voice. Darth Vader is the epitome of evil. Like many classic villains, he started as a force of good and became corrupted. And let’s face it, the Star Wars prequels primarily exist to show Darth Vader’s descent. And boy, did we enjoy the ride.

Did we get the list right? Who would you put on this list? 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 2000

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Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another Top 5 Tabletop Game List throughout the years. Today, we’ve reached the current millennium for tabletop games. The 90s shook up what it meant to be a modern board game; the first decade of the 2000s will give us numerous evergreen titles that dominate the board game landscape today. We should see plenty of familiar designers and familiar titles in these upcoming lists. We’ll get to the 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.

5: Lord of the Rings (2000)

Yes! Yet another Reiner Knizia title makes one of these lists. 2000’s Lord of the Rings is still a lot of people’s go-to board game that uses the Lord of the Rings intellectual property. It’s also one of Knizia’s few cooperative board games and may have inspired a cooperative board game boom that we’ll see in a handful of years.

Lord of the Rings follows the events of the novels to a T, which is why some gamers still consider this board game to be the definitive Lord of the Rings board game experience. And it runs fast. Gameplay is centered on advancing through a series of scenarios (that mirror the books). Players turn tiles and play cards to move forward and collect and spend tokens to avoid advancing the Dark Lord Sauron. In dire situations, tokens may be spent to call Gandalf for assistance, or the One Ring may be used to advance toward Sauron. The push-pull is thematic and tense. It’s no wonder Lord of the Rings received a Spiel des Jahres special award.

4: Java (2000)

I could’ve gone with Torres, another Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling collaborative design that won this year’s Spiel des Jahres (German game of the year), but I decided to go with the next game in Kramer and Kiesling’s Mask Series, Java. Tikal made the 1999 list. Java tends to be the forgotten game in the Mask Trilogy of board games, and I don’t know why. I love Java’s exploration.

Players take turns building the titular island, scoring victory points by setting up palace festivals at the right moment. Java ends when the players run out of tiles. It’s a simple premise, but Java’s rules may be unforgiving for novice players. Still, Java is a great addition to the Mask Trilogy.

3: Battle Cry (2000)

Wargame purists may disagree, but Battle Cry revolutionized wargames. Richard Borg (we’ll see his name again on one of these lists) took elements of wargames, combined them with miniatures, and simplified the rules, and came up with the war game powerhouse that is Battle Cry.

Borg would continue to perfect his system of card and dice combat with future wargame installments, but Battle Cry, set in the American Civil War, marked the first use of this system. Players command a variety of units: infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Scenarios dictate how many of each unit a player (one playing the Union and the other playing the Confederacy) will control. For each opponent’s unit removed from the board, a player receives one victory point. The player who scores the required number of victory points first (determined by the scenario instructions) is the winner. Battle Cry and its spiritual successors continue to divide gamers. Wargame purists, as I mentioned before, may consider Battle Cry too simplistic, but this simplicity makes Battle Cry more accessible.

2: Blokus (2000)

In Blokus, players score points by occupying the board with Tetris-style pieces(named polyominoes because they’re dominoes of irregular shape) in their color. Even today, Blokus is visually arresting. It earned numerous awards, including the Mensa Select award and the 2004 Teacher’s Choice Award. There’s no denying that Blokus has staying power.

But the reason Blokus is this high on our list is because of its use of polyominoes. While it took a decade or more to catch on, polyominoes have soared in popularity. Patchwork, Barenpark, Isle of Cats, A Feast for Odin, Planet Unknown, and many other board games that use polyominoes owe Blokus a debt of gratitude. Thank you, Blokus, for introducing this amazing board game component.

1: Carcassonne (2000)

Blokus just misses out on our top spot because the evergreen title, Carcassonne, was released in 2000. Polyominoes took some time to catch on, but tile-laying as found in Carcassonne exploded immediately, and it continues to grow today. Carcassonne has spawned numerous expansions, spin-offs, and imitators.

Carcassonne’s gameplay is simple. Draw and place a terrain tile. Station a follower on the newly placed tile (optional), but this shows you claim control of this region. And then score completed feature(s) if relevant. Carcassonne earned the 2001 Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis award. I don’t know how the Spiel des Jahres committee determines which year a game is eligible. But Carcassonne’s influence can still be felt today. Carcassonne’s core mechanisms inspired 2023’s Spiel des Jahre winner Dorfromantik, and in turn, the award-winning Dorfromantik video game that inspired the board game was also inspired by Carcassonne. Carcassonne is everywhere, people. It even crossed over into video games. And that’s why Carcassonne takes our top spot for 2000.

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.

Skyes Favorite Rob Reiner Films

Skye’s Five Favorite Rob Reiner Films

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Hello, Geekly Gang. Skye here. For months, I’ve wanted to pay my proper respects to Rob Reiner. Since March is Reiner’s birth month (March 6th to be exact), I felt this month was the best time. Most movie-goers don’t notice how prolific a filmmaker Rob Reiner was. Heck. When I discuss movies with people, they tend to forget that Reiner directed some of their favorite flicks. When I saw the list of his greatest movies, I realized how big a creative powerhouse we lost last year. I’ll do my best to honor a masterful portfolio of cinematic brilliance. With that said, let’s dive in with my favorite Rob Reiner films.

5: This is Spinal Tap (1984)

I first watched This is Spinal Tap a few months ago. It earned a place on this list for one primary reason: its impact on the “mockumentary” genre. While not the first film to invent a farcical scenario and frame it as factual (I like “F” words right now), This is Spinal Tap popularized the subgenre. If This is Spinal Tap weren’t created, we likely wouldn’t have movies and shows like Borat or What We Do in the Shadows, let alone the series of mockumentaries Christopher Guest (who stars in This is Spinal Tap) would later direct. Even though I didn’t find This is Spinal Tap to be laugh-out-loud funny, it certainly defined the “mockumentary” subgenre. It also kept me entertained by consistently throwing odd, ridiculous scenarios at me, which made me giggle.

4: When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Before I saw When Harry Met Sally, I had heard many positive things about it. As far as I heard, When Harry Met Sally was a quintessential romance. I saw what everyone meant. When Harry Met Sally combines several interesting elements in equal measure. It can be charming, awkward, funny, uncomfortable, and ultimately, satisfying. The two leads’ relationship plays out like a rollercoaster of emotion that feels incredibly personal and realistic. My favorite aspect of When Harry Met Sally is how both leads are equally likable and unlikable at the same time, but despite their flaws, I wanted to see them end up together. When Harry Met Sally is worth watching, and its high praise. It’s unforgettable.

3: Misery (1990)

As soon as I saw Misery, I had a feeling it would be one of my favorites. Adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name, the Misery motion picture focuses on similar themes regarding the difficulties of creators to balance pleasing audiences and exploring new ideas. Released in response to the lackluster readers’ reaction to Stephen King’s first fantasy novel, Misery’s story is coated in creative frustration, and Rob Reiner understands that feeling. Every scene drips with creative frustration. Misery manages to create a hostile and unpredictable atmosphere for its protagonist, Paul Sheldon, at the hands of one of fiction’s most horrifying villains, Annie Wilkes, and it’ll make you rethink what it means to be someone’s number one fan.

2: Stand By Me (1986)

Stand By Me was the first R-rated film I have ever seen. At first, I was skeptical. Soon, I realized Stand By Me‘s weight. Chronicling the experiences of four young friends going on a quest to see a dead body, it’s not always easy to watch. Based on a Stephen King short story titled “The Body,” Stand By Me does a good job of detailing the rough side of childhood and how our relationships can help us through the quagmire of growing up. There’s a reason Stand By Me is on a lot of critics’ short lists of greatest coming-of-age movies. Stand By Me connects the audience with its material through great performances, relatable scenarios, and realistic problems. Stand By Me easily takes the number two spot on this list.

1: The Princess Bride (1987)

Call me shallow, but there was no way Princess Bride wasn’t going to be my number one Rob Reiner movie. I grew up with The Princess Bride. It served as my gateway into romance, action/adventure, and comedy in a medieval setting. Reiner includes something for every viewer. Don’t like action? The movie is built around the romance between the two leads and has several comedic beats. Don’t like that mushy crap? No problem. We have André the Giant! Because of that, most viewers can find something to like in The Princess Bride. That’s why it claims the top spot.

Thank you for reading my picks for my “Top 5 Favorite Rob Reiner Movies.” I hope you enjoyed it, because I certainly enjoyed paying tribute to a truly talented filmmaker. Rest in peace. With all that said, I’m curious what your favorite Rob Reiner movies are. As always, feel free to let us know in the comments, and I hope y’all are having a wonderful day.