My Top 10 Closed Drafting Board Games!

Hey friends, it is Jenna. What is up? And welcome back to the board game garden. And welcome to the mechanism video for this month or the past month, which was April. It is now a few days into May and I'm trying to get this video up as soon as possible because I've tried to thus far this year um upload these videos on the first of every single month, but sometimes some months just doesn't happen and this month is that case.

I'm a little bit behind, but I'm finally getting to it. And I'm super excited to talk about all the games in this video because today we're going to be talking about my top 10 favorite closed drafting games. So, these are games that incorporate closed drafting into them in a pretty big way. I do know that closed drafting is a mechanism that is sometimes put into um like heavier games as a way to draft things at the beginning of the game, but these are games that close drafting is a big part of the game.

And it is something that you are doing consistently throughout the entire game um rather than just at the beginning of the game to kind of set up your hand for the game or stuff like that. So yes, super excited to talk about this because closed drafting is one of my favorite mechanisms. If you guys don't know what closed drafting is, it is basically where you get a hand of cards.

You're going to choose one and then pass the rest to the player on either your left or your right. You're then going to get some more cards from a player that's passing them to you. You're going to choose another one. You're going to pass. It's kind of like a pick and pass. That's another way of saying it.

Rather than close drafting. Um, but yeah, it's a great way to draft cards or draft other things. There are games like Drafttosaurus where you are close drafting um like meeples, dinosaur meeples, which I haven't actually played that one in person. I've only ever played it on BGA. Um but you can also draft dice like this.

You can draft a bunch of different things. But I believe that every single one of the ones that I have here, you are drafting cards. So yes, if you guys are interested in hearing about all of my favorite and my top 10 favorite clothes drafting games, then just keep on watching. Give this video a big thumbs up if you enjoy.

Also, hit that subscribe button down below if you've yet to do so. We'd love to have you here in the garden. Comment down below some of your favorite closed drafting games. I would love to know. I'm always looking for new ones, and there are some that I actually have that I haven't played yet. I have some that I've only played once.

Um, which after this intro, I will go into some honorable mentions of some that I really enjoy, but I've only played them once or twice. So, I want to play them more in order for them to maybe get into this list. But all of the games that I'm talking about today, I've played all of these quite a bit, and they are my current favorites.

But without further ado, let's get into my top 10 favorite closed drafting games, shall we? All right, so like I said, I am going to give you guys some honorable mentions. This is going to be a quick little list of some closed drafting games that I have really enjoyed, but I've only played them once or twice.

So, the first one that I want to mention is Stonespine Architects. This is from Thunderworks Games, and you are drafting these cards to build up this labyrinth. You are an architect. Um, and you are building up this labyrinth. You're placing things into your labyrinth in order to um get victory points in different ways.

I've only played that one twice, so I really want to play that one more. I also want to play it solo. I haven't played it solo yet. Um, but it implements this fun um market as well with the closed drafting, and I've really enjoyed that one. So that is one um Stonespire Architects. Another one is Shipwrites of the North Sea Redux.

So this is Shipwrites of the North Sea that they have redone. This is from Garfield Games and I have only played this one twice so far and both times I've played it have only been solo. So, I actually haven't played this at like a multiplayer count, which I really would love to because most of the time I will say that closed drafting games are better multiplayer because most of the time when you are playing a solo game that has closed drafting, it doesn't actually give you the feel of closed drafting for the most part.

Most of the time in a solo closed drafting game, you're going to get a hand of cards, you're going to choose some, then discard the rest. You're going to get another hand of cards. You're going to choose some, you're going to discard. So, I guess it does give you the feel somewhat, but you don't have that interaction of like, do I want to keep this in my hand and like will it come back to me?

Um, will other players potentially get it? Is this a card that maybe I want to take away from the player that I'm just going to pass this card to? Things like that. So, when you play a closed drafting game solo, you don't really have those um kind of feelings within the game and within that mechanic.

So, uh yes, Shipwrites of the North Sea Redux. I would really love to play multiplayer cuz I've really enjoyed that one solo. Another one that I would love to play um more and I would love to play solo is a game called Kavango or Kavango. I just recently got a physical copy of this one and I've only played this one once multiplayer and I really enjoyed it and I would love to get that one to the table more and play that one more and I could see that one getting into this top 10 eventually.

Um, that one you are drafting animal cards and you're building up this animal reserve or sanctuary and you are getting different animals based off of the animals that you already have in your sanctuary. You're getting these different cubes from uh completing these different objectives and so on and so forth.

And you're going to be able to place those cubes into different parts of your reserve or your zoo um in order to be able to draft more of those animal cards cuz some of those animal cards have specific um things that you need based off of those cubes. So uh yes, Kavango has been really fun. Um another one that I really want to play more is Moon.

This one is from Sinister Fish Games and it is the third in the little trilogy of um Villagers, Streets, and Moon. So, that one I would love to play more. I've only played that one once solo, and I would love to play that one more solo as well as multiplayer. Um, it is space themed, which I don't love space, but I really enjoyed that one when I did play it.

So, that's another one that I would love to play again. And then lastly for honorable mentions, I wanted to mention one that I actually played like five or six times when I went to Canada Plays a few weeks ago. And this game is called Three Chapters. And I really, really, really want to get a physical copy of this one.

Um, it is from Amigo. And this game is a mix of clothes drafting, trick taking as well as I guess a little bit of like tableau building. Um, a lot of people say that it kind of gives you the feel of Seven Wonders or like a closed drafting game, a trick taking game, and then uh what was it? Fantasy Realms or Star Realms, which I've never played either of those games.

Um, but it kind of is just like one of those games where you have cards in front of you and they're going to be getting you victory points based off of the other cards that you have. Um, and like, you know, finding the cool synergies between the cards. Uh, but yeah, Three Chapters was absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait to get a copy of that one because it was so easy to play.

It was so much fun. It had some amazing fairy tale kind of uh characters in it, like all of the ones that we know and love. And honestly, I probably should have included three chapters in this list. I just felt a little bit weird including a game that like I just recently played. Yes, I did play it many, many times, but it was in a short span of time.

And uh yeah, I do think that eventually once I have a copy and I've played it and introduced it to more people, it would definitely be in this list. So, yes, those are all of the different honorable mentions that I wanted to start off the video with. But yes, let's get right into my actual top 10 closed drafting games.

All right, so starting with number 10. This is a small box card game that I've had in the collection for a really long time. And I just absolutely love this game. It is a fairly simple game and that's why it's a little bit lower on the list. Uh, but I've played this game so many times. It is one that I will never get rid of and it's one that I will always play if anyone ever asks.

Um, but my number 10 is a game called Oh Hanami. So this is a closed drafting game through and through. That is the really only mechanism you have here. I guess you are building out a tableau of cards as well. But basically in Ohanami, you're going to have a hand of cards and they are going to be different parts of your zen garden.

Basically the theme of the game is that you are building out a zen garden and you want your zen garden to be the best and score the most victory points. Um, but there are different uh suits of cards, I guess. So there's green cards, blue cards, pink cards, and gray cards. And each of them are different parts of your garden.

So the pink are the cherry blossoms, the green are the, you know, plants. The blue is the water and like the waterfalls, and then the gray is the rocks in your garden. So you are drafting those cards. You're going to be drafting two every single turn. So you're going to get a hand of cards. You're going to pick two of those cards.

And all of the cards have numbers as well um on top of the color. And the numbers are going to be um I think it's 1 to 120. And basically you are creating three columns or I guess yeah columns of cards that are going to be ascending or descending however you look at them. And basically you're building out these three columns of cards um by placing the numbers um in ascending or descending.

And once you have two cards kind of next to each other, um even if they're not consecutive, so you know, 86 87, um if it was, you know, 86 and then you might have to place a 100, you wouldn't be able to then place any of the other numbers in between. So once you have placed two cards beside each other, you're kind of blocking off those other numbers from being able to be played.

So you're trying to grow out these and avoid not being able to place a number. But yes, like I said, Ohanami is one that I've had in the collection for a long time. It's one that I can never see myself getting rid of because it's just so wonderful. I love the theme. I love the look of it. Um I love the game play and it's always one that I'm willing to play.

So that is why Ohanami is my number 10. All right, so moving on to number nine. This is actually a game that I have not played in a little bit, and it is a classic close drafting game. This is one that I have actually gotten like a fancier version of because I love this game so much and it's a game that I've had in my collection for a really long time.

Everyone knows this game and loves this game and I love the theming of this game as well and it's one that I just need to play more. Uh, but the game that I'm talking about in my number nine is Sushi Go. So, I do have the like fancier um 10th anniversary edition of it, but then I also have the uh Sushi Go Party kind of box here.

And this is such a wonderful game. I love the sushi theme of it. I actually love the tin. Um I'm not going to lie, I don't love the tin for like storage purposes because I like all of like the boxes together. Um and tins just kind of throw it off a little bit. So, typically both of these are actually up on the top of one of my shelves, and I don't think that's a good place for it because I kind of forget about it a lot of the times.

And Sushi Go and Sushi Go Party is a game that I just absolutely love. I just It's a closed drafting game that is literally all you're doing. You're picking cards. You're picking all these different sushi cards in order to score the most victory points. There are the dessert cards. There's the nigiri and the sashimi and the tempora and the wasabi and all the things that you know and love from sushi.

And I just love the art. I love the game play. It is a classic and it is wonderful. So that is why I ended up picking up this like fancier version of Sushi Go. Um unfortunately this is like the base game. So it's just Sushi Go. This here is Sushi Go Party where it gives you a lot more options for the different things that you can put into the deck.

You have some different like configurations of the menu. Um, where you can put in different desserts and you can put in different appetizers and stuff like that. And this one is just the base game of Sushi Goes. You have all the basic things, but I will add that there are some really nice components in this one.

I actually purchased this from I think it was Gen Con last year, but they have like a little squishy uh dessert thing here, which I don't really know what the use of it is. I think maybe the person that currently has the most of the dessert takes it. Um, but also my like favorite part of this is the fact that all of the cards have like foiling on the back.

So like it's like a really fancy, beautiful version of Sushi Go. and it just makes me extremely happy. So, uh you have that. You also have some like additional things at the bottom. You have some like additional desserts that were like never made for the like basic version. Um so, you have mochi and you have bubble tea and then you also have these good old pudding, but they're like really nice pretty rainbow foil.

So yeah, it has some like added things to it that just like make me very happy. And yeah, Sushi Go is wonderful. And that is why it is my number nine favorite closed drafting game. And just to let you know, for this limited edition bento box, I have number 7,517 out of 10,000 printed. So that's fun.

All right, moving on to number eight. This is one that I think I might be playing this coming weekend, which I'm very excited about because it's been a little bit since I've played this one and it's one that I've really wanted to introduce to more people. I do think that this is one of the newer releases of this group, but my number eight is a game called Fairy Ring, which I will say the there's like a really nice insert in this box, which I really appreciate.

But if you ever put the box this way, which I will say most of the time that is the way that my boxes are. I like to put my boxes vertically, not horizontally. Um, so yeah, things just like fall constantly from this box and it makes me very sad cuz the insert's wonderful. It's just, you know, you can't put it vertically.

Anyways, Fairy Ring is my number eight. If you guys have not seen this game, it is a wonderful, it's pretty light. Um, but there's this very fun uh player interaction in the game where basically you are going to be close drafting. You're going to be close drafting different mushrooms and you're going to be growing out this tableau of mushrooms in front of you and you're going to have different types of mushrooms and different um kind of heights of mushrooms cuz the more of one type of mushroom card that you place on top of one another, that mushroom is going to get taller.

And it's also going to score more when your fairy or another player's fairy lands on it because basically also on that mushroom card, there's going to be a number and that's going to be how many spaces you're going to move your fairy around the fairy ring. Which the fairy ring is your tableau in front of you as well as all of the other players tableau.

So it's this fun kind of fairy ring obviously that is created by everybody's tableau in front of them. Um, so you're going to be moving your ferry around all of everybody's cards and then wherever you land that is going to dictate how many victory points you're going to get. Um, it is going to if you land on another player's um, mushroom, they're going to get victory points.

But if it's the same type of mushroom that you also have in front of you, you are going to get victory points as well. So, it's this cool like I'm going to use another player's mushroom, they are going to get some benefit out of it, but if I have the same type of mushroom, I'm also going to get benefits from it.

So, it's this very fun player interaction in the game. I love the theme. I love that kind of unique take on a fairy ring and you actually moving your player piece or your fairy around the entire table. It's a lot of fun. and the close-drafting part of the game with the different mushrooms. All the types of mushrooms are going to score in different ways.

And the more mushrooms that you place in front of you, the longer other players are going to be placing or moving their ferry in front of you. So, there's more opportunities for them to score your mushrooms. But then also, if you have less mushrooms, but your mushrooms are taller, if people do land on those mushrooms, they're going to score you more victory points.

So, it's this cool balance of like, do I want to make a lot of mushrooms or place a lot of mushrooms in front of me, or do I want to grow my mushrooms, maybe not as many of them, but growing them taller. So, there's that. There's also some like public objectives of like the different types of mushrooms you want to grow and how high and stuff like that.

So, yes, overall, Fairy Ring has been a wonderful, wonderful game. It was quite a surprise last year. This was a 2024 release and I've really enjoyed it uh since playing it. So yes, that is my number eight fairy ring. Moving on to number seven. This is another I believe 2024 release. Um this one I absolutely love the theme.

You guys are going to know when you see the game why I love the theme so much. Um but yeah, this game is wonderful. The game that I'm talking about is Let's Go to Japan, which Francis and I went to Japan at the end of last year, end of 2024, and we have fallen in love with Japan. We're already planning our next trip to Japan.

And I'm just so so excited to go back. But this game really just feels like you're on a trip to Japan. And actually going to Japan and then seeing all these cards and like seeing different places in the cards that I actually went to while we were in Japan and things that we actually did. It is just so cool.

And on top of that, having a gameplay that's actually very fun um and very like rewarding uh is really really nice. So, in Let's Go to Japan, I will say that this one has not as much of a feel of a traditional closed drafting game as pretty much all of the rest of them here do. Um, basically, in traditional closed drafting games, you're going to get a whole hand of cards.

You're going to choose one and then pass the rest to another player. Then, you're going to get a whole other set of cards. You're going to choose one, and you're kind of going to be uh kind of choosing until the hands of cards have diminished. Um whereas with this one, you're going through different rounds and you're going to get cards and draw cards um depending on the round.

So there could be one round where you're going to get two cards from the player um to your right and then you're going to draw two cards. So you're going to have four cards in your hand. You're then going to choose two of those four and then you're going to give the other two to the player to your left.

And then maybe after a few rounds, you're going to pick up a discard pile that the player to your right has been giving you for the last four rounds. You're going to pick up all of those and those are going to be the ones that you're choosing from. So, it's a little bit of a different feel of closed drafting than the other games that I've played in the fa in the past.

Um, but I've really enjoyed it and I haven't played this one solo yet, but I really want to play it solo. With these cards, you are building out your itinerary for Japan. So, you're building out your uh Sunday through Saturday or Monday through Sunday. I don't know how it's laid out. Um, but each of those days, you are then kind of scoring as you go through your trip.

So, you're building out your itinerary with all these cards and then at the end of the game, you're going to go through your trip and you're going to score based off of the icons that you have available and the different scoring criteria that you have each day. And it's just this very satisfying, fun puzzle of getting the certain icons that you need and different things like that in order to get the most victory points as possible.

And then on top of it with like the building your itinerary, it's just so so much fun. Uh like I said, having gone to Japan before, um it was a lot of fun. So yes, that is my number seven favorite close drafting game currently. Let's go to Japan. All right, moving on to number six. This is actually a verbanite game.

So, it is a draft and write game. And I'm not even going to explain it even more because you guys probably already know. But my number six is draft and write records. So, like I said, this is a verb and write game. So, it is a draft and write where you're going to be drafting cards in closed drafting style.

And then with the cards that you choose each turn, you are then going to be filling out your uh paper. And in the game thematically, you are building out your rock band. You have different members that you're collecting with these different cards. You also have your like schedule that you're building out and your different apps or your assets or I forget what it's specifically called in the game.

And then also your tour bus and different things. And the cards that you draft are going to allow you to do these different things on the paper. And eventually once you get multiple of your band members, they're going to be able to create harmonies that then kind of chain and give you more actions. Everything in this game um is like very chaining and giving you actions, which I just love in this type of game.

Draft and Right Records is absolutely fantastic. I've talked about it a ton here on the channel and it's one that I love to play solo, love to play multiplayer, um and also love to play over on BGA. So, yes, that is my number six, Draft and Write Records. All right, so moving into my top five. This next one is a game that I absolutely love.

I need to play this game again. I need to play this game multiplayer cuz I've only played this game multiplayer once and I really enjoyed it. So, maybe maybe I'll try to bring this to a game night sometime soon and play it multiplayer. I played this a ton solo because thankfully I have found a fan-made solo mode for this game that I've really enjoyed.

Um, but the game that I'm talking about is a game called Athenium Mystic Library, which I feel like this game doesn't really get talked about too much. So, I consider myself like a champion of this game. I love this game. It is in my top 100 games of all time. And basically, you are building out a or I guess organizing a shelf of books, which if that sounds like something, magical books specifically.

So, it's in a magical world. Um, if that sounds like something you enjoy, then I would definitely look into this one. Um, I really hope that it's still in print. Um, I did find it at my friendly local game store a few years ago, maybe like three years ago, four years ago. Um, but this game is wonderful.

You are close- drafting cards and whatever cards you choose are then going to give you specific colored books. And the books are actually like little book tiles that you're going to be placing and organizing on your shelf. And you're going to be building out different configurations of books in order to achieve these different objectives that are on the board that are actually going to be kind of moving through in like a conveyor belt style.

Um, you're also going to be able to get different abilities on those cards that you draft. You're going to be able to get victory points. You're going to be able to get magic wands, which you need the wands. It's kind of like a resource in the game in order to claim one of the objectives that are moving on that conveyor belt.

And you just want to best configure these books on your bookshelf to get those objectives. And once you've finished that objective, you can actually use the books that are already on your shelf to kind of move those around and then try to create a different configuration with the same books um to get some more objectives.

So yeah, I just think it is such a wonderful game. It has such a fun, unique theme that I haven't really seen a ton. The only other game that kind of has the same theme to this is Ex Librus, which I've really enjoyed that one as well. Um, but this one, yeah, with having the clothes drafting and like the tile laying and stuff, I just have really enjoyed it.

And I think the aesthetic of the game is beautiful. And yeah, it is just so wonderful. I cannot say anything bad about this game. So that is my number five favorite closed drafting game. Athenium Mystic Library. All right, so the next one on the list, my number four, is the only one on this list that I don't have physically.

And I'm actually quite surprised that I don't have it physically. I really need to buy myself a copy of this game. Um, I do think the reason why is because this game doesn't have a solo mode. If I remember correctly, there is probably a fan-made solo mode somewhere. Um, but the game that I'm talking about in my number four is Millie Fiori.

So, this is one that I've played a ton. Um, I've played it with some local friends. I've played it with some creator friends. Um, and I have really enjoyed this one. It is a closed drafting game. You are picking a card and then that is going to be kind of the area on the board that you're going to interact with that turn.

Um, and it's going to allow you to place these little like diamond pieces onto the board. And there's going to be a bunch of different like mini games on the board that you are placing these diamonds into in order to do different things and get points in different ways. So, I'm not going to explain all of the different spots, but it is very fun.

It's very satisfying. I really want to play it again. So, maybe I'll ask my friend Cat to bring it to a game night soon, but she has a copy of it. We've played it a ton and I absolutely love it and need to get a copy of it because it is fantastic. There's also an expansion that I don't know if I've played yet, but I think Cat has the expansion.

Maybe I have played the expansion. I don't remember. Maybe I haven't. Clearly, if I don't remember, I don't think I have. Um, but anyways, yeah, Millie Fury is fantastic. I definitely recommend. It's very satisfying. If you enjoy like mini games in games as well as closed drafting, I definitely recommend you check it out.

Uh, but yeah, that is why Millie Fiori is my number four. All right, so moving into the top three. This was hard because all three of these games are pretty high in my top 100 games of all time. I absolutely love all three of these games. Uh, so it was really hard to see like or figure out which ones uh in what order I wanted to put them, but I finally just settled on this order.

Um, but yes, my number three is a pretty big box. Um, but this one is kind of an equal amount of both clothes drafting as well as tile placement. um which you might already know what that is. But my number three is The Aisle of Cats, which I surprisingly have not gotten any of the expansions for this.

I should really look into getting some of the expansions because this is one of my favorite games. I love the aisle of cats. Um, like I said, this is a kind of balance between closed drafting, as well as tile placement, specifically polyomino tile placement, which is another one of my favorite mechanisms in games.

So, having both of those mechanisms here just h makes me love this game so so much. You guys will probably see this on my top 10 tile placement games as well, so be prepared for that. But yeah, I think I actually prefer the aisle of cats, like this big base game, rather than the flip and write version of it because I love the closed drafting in the game so much.

So in the uh Isisle of Cats Explore and Draw version, you are kind of picking what you want from an open display. So, you kind of are I don't think it's technically drafting because you're not taking the cards, but you are picking what you want based off of a tableau of cards. Whereas in this one, you are doing that closed drafting and picking your cards that way, which I personally prefer because I just love closed drafting.

But yeah, in the game you are doing a closed drafting phase where you're going to be picking a card and then uh giving them to the other player, picking a card, passing it, picking a card, passing it. And these cards are going to be uh cat baskets. There's going to be different objectives, whether that be a public objective or personal objective.

Um, there are other cards that you're going to be able to play in order to get fish, which fish are going to be the way that you're going to be able to lure the cats with the cats are uh polyomino tiles. And then you're also going to get treasure cards as well, which is going to give you um treasure tiles that you're going to be able to place into the boat because ultimately in the game, you're trying to save cats from an island and you're trying to fit as many cats onto your boat as possible and you're trying to create groups of the same colored cats or families of the same colored cats.

And yeah, so once you're finished with that drafting phase, you are then going to be able to pay for these different cards with those fish. Um, you're going to be able to get the baskets. What the amount of baskets that you have is the amount of cats you're going to be able to draft of those like tiles and then the different objective cards you're going to be able to buy in order to uh like score at the end of the game.

Like I said, you have the public ones and the personal ones. And yeah, I just love this game so much. If you have not heard of the cats already, then you should definitely look into it cuz it is wonderful. And that is why it is my number three favorite close drafting game. All right, so we are on to number two.

So, both of these games, my number one and my number two are absolutely fantastic. I've played both of these a ton, but I do think that I have played and I've had number one a little bit longer than number two, and I have a little bit more nostalgia and like sentimental kind of connection to number one.

So, you guys will probably know that right when I show you number two. Um, but my number two favorite clothes drafting game is It's a Wonderful World. So, I've had this one for quite a while, and this is one that I have loved time and time again. This is, I believe, in my like top 20 or top 30 games of all time.

And this one obviously has closed drafting, but then there's also some tableau building and engine building. There's quite a bit of engine building in this one because you are basically drafting these cards that are different um like buildings, constructions, um and you're going to be placing them into a tableau that once you are finished with that drafting phase, you're going to have a bunch of those cards in a line.

And then you're going to choose which of those cards you actually want to build and which of those cards you want to recycle for the kind of resource that they have on them. So, I guess this has a little bit of like multi-purpose or multi-use cards as well. Um, but basically each building or each card is going to have a specific um amount of cubes and different colors that they are going to need in order to be successfully constructed.

And then once you've constructed them, they are going to be added into your production line. So once you are finished deciding which cards you want to construct, which cards you want to recycle for the different resources, you are then going to produce. And all of the cards that you've constructed thus far are going to produce different colored cubes.

You're going to go through and see who has um the most production of each of those different colored cubes. You're going to get some different tokens that are going to get you victory points at the end. Um, but once you're finished doing that, all of the cubes that you've produced, um, you are then going to be able to place onto your different buildings in order to then construct those, add them to your production.

So, it's this big kind of construction circle or continuous loop of like getting the resources, placing them, getting the specific constructions in order to produce more resources. And then, yeah, it's very fun. Each of the different cards are going to give you different victory points at the end of the game and different ways to score as well.

based off of all the other cards that you have constructed, so on and so forth. And I just think it is a fantastic game. It is so satisfying and a lot of people in my life really enjoy this one. So yes, that is why It's a Wonderful World is my number two. And we have finally come to my number one favorite closed drafting game, which considering this game I think currently is my number four or five favorite game of all time.

Uh you probably if you've watched the channel, you have known this from the beginning of this video, but this game I have loved for so long. It was one of the games that got Francis and I into the hobby. It's one we've played with my family, with Franc's family, with friends. It is just one of those games that we can easily get out with so many people in our lives and have loved playing with so many people.

And then additionally, I have loved really diving into the strategy in this game. Um, I'm going to stop yapping about and actually show you guys. Um, but the game that I'm talking about and my favorite closed drafting game of all time is Seven Wonders, which yes, I still have the very old version, which considering this is one of my favorite games of all time, I think I might invest in maybe getting the nicer version or like the more updated second edition I think it is, of Seven Wonders.

Um, but this is the only game, fun fact, in my collection that I have fully sleeved. Yes. Uh, because in this game you are shuffling the cards quite a bit. You are, you know, holding the cards quite a bit cuz it is a closed drafting game and we play this pretty often. So, yes, it is the only one in my collection that I have actually invested in sle.

And I also have I think all of the expansion aside from the Babel expansion. Um, but we have cities, we have leaders, um, and we also have the last one that starts with an A that I forget. But, um, I think there's actually another one, too. How many expansions for this game do I have? I don't even know.

But anyways, Seven Wonders is absolutely fantastic. And another thing that I actually found out just recently when I opened the Sushi Go 10th anniversary thing, um, Phil Walker Harding, the designer of Sushi Go, he actually put a note in the 10th anniversary of the Sushi Go, um, that mentioned that as he was designing Sushi Go, he was mainly inspired by Seven Wonders as well as another closed drafting game that I do have that I haven't played yet called Fairy Tale.

That's another like older closed drafting game. And he was actually inspired by both of those games when he was creating Sushi Go. And I did not know that. But uh yes. Anyways, Seven Wonders is a closed drafting game. There are a bunch of different color cards that are going to do different things. And basically, you are just building up your kind of I don't even know area of cards.

I'm sure there's like a specific civilization. Is that the word? you are building up your civilization with like science which are the green cards. You have your resources which are the gray and brown cards. You have the blue cards which I think are like buildings if I'm correct. Um and you're also completing your wonder which you're going to be able to forfeit a card that you draft from the closed drafting in order to build the wonder once you have the specific resources to do so.

And yeah, there's just something about this game. It is a classic, so I'm not going to get too much into the gameplay because I'm sure most people know how to play Seven Wonders, but there's just something about this game. And it's a game that I have actually devoted a lot of time like researching strategy for, which that doesn't often happen with games.

There are a few games in my collection that I have done that with. Seven Wonders and also uh The Castles of Burgundy. I've really devoted time to actually playing them a lot and figuring out the best strategy for them and trying to be pretty competitive with it, which I have really enjoyed, and trying to like master the game, if you will.

Um, but yeah, Seven Wonders is just absolutely fantastic, and it just holds a really special place in my heart. Not only do I love the gameplay, but I've also loved the memories that I've made uh playing this one. So yeah, that is why Seven Wonders is my favorite closed drafting game of all time currently.

All right, friends. So that is going to be everything for today's video. Those are all of my favorite closed drafting games currently. Like I said, I have a ton of closed drafting games that I still want to play. I still want to try. I still want to play more. And this list will probably change in the future.

But as of right now, this is my current top 10 favorite closed drafting games. And all of these games make me so happy. And hopefully this video made you guys happy and you enjoyed. If you did, please give this video a big thumbs up. Also, hit that subscribe button down below if you've yet to do so.

We'd love to have you here in the garden. Comment down below, like I said in the intro, any other clothes drafting games that you guys recommend I try out. Any that I'm missing that I just don't know of, please let me know. Uh, but yeah, I love you guys so, so much. Remember, you are somebody's reason to smile.

And I will see you in the next board game video. Bye, friends. [Music]