My TOP 50 Board Games of All Time! (No.50-41)

0:00 after all these years I'm finally ready to share my top 50 board games of all time hi my name is Danny I'm an avid modern board gamer from Australia who lovees sharing my passion for this hobby with you my friends and my family come and join me on this journey hey Danny what's your favorite board game of all time I don't know that's a really tough question hey Danny what are your 50 favorite board games of all time now that I can answer when I started out in this board gaming hobby over 9 years ago I didn't expect to have the collection that I have now or maybe I kind of expected it but I just didn't think about it yeah I've played a lot of games over the 9 years some really really amazing some pretty mediocre and some definitely would never play again this list of 50 games are probably my top 50 most beloved games in my entire collection that I'll never ever get rid of number 50 is a game by ACC claimed Australian designer Phil Walker Harding he actually almost want to Spill the jarz for this very game and the game is imotep I love the Egyptian theme in this game and how it carries through into the mechanics basically what you're doing in this game is loading your colored block blocks onto

1:30 different boats when the boats have a certain number of blocks in them you can choose to move those boats to one of the particular Harbor ports which has an interesting um I guess offloading block mechanism there is one where you're Building the tallest Obelisk there's one where you're contributing to the building of a pyramid you can go to the market and uh one where you're kind of laying out the blocks in a tomb and connecting them together there are some really interesting micro decisions in this game do you keep trying to load your blocks onto the boat or do you decide to take control of where that boat will end up in its destination the order in which you place your blocks into the boat makes a huge impact on whether you score or not so by being first in the boat you'll be first to be offloaded if you're third in the boat you'll be third to be offloaded and that order is going to matter depending on how the pyramids are being built how the obelisks are being built and how some of the tombs are being built I've bought the expansion for this game which is in which I comfortably added to the box and it adds all these other different har ports and modules and ways to score including like a little RAC trck that you can kind of go around uh it's a beautiful game it was introduced to me by a friend who lives down south and his version was all blinged out with 3D printed components sprayed in gold and I was like what is this this is such a great game and then for my birthday my hubby got me some 3D printed boats and

3:03 um I've added them to the box and they've just really had this great visual presence on the table every time I played this game number 49 is a board game that I didn't really think I was going to like it first in fact I was never intending to get it I was buying another game and then whilst I was thinking H I'm going to save a little bit on shipping I decided to add this game to the order and because I was ordering games from America um I thought you know what I can't get this game in Australia so I'm just going to do it anyway and then you know what if I don't like it I can probably sell it but turns out I actually really do like this game mainly because it's got an interesting Twist on card playing and the game I'm talking about is tribes of the wind it has this norica of the Valley of the wind Vibe where you're playing these civilization of people as you're trying to build these fans which kind of power um the energy in your city there are a couple of elements in this game that really stands out yes the Vincent DET tradeit he's an amazing artist but what really is interesting about the game is the fact that you're playing cards that trigger off the back of other players cards so there are cards that basically say if you have more fire icons than the other players then you can generate this many resources or if you have um more Leaf icons compared to the player that sits adjacent to you you'll be able to build this extra uh terrain tile for free and so this game comes with these

4:33 cool interesting element cards that then bounce off each other and so the learning hurdle into this game was a little bit high for me at first because it was like learning all these icons but once we kind of understood what the icons meant the game play just happened really snappily and I love how this card plays intertwined with this cool puzzle that you're playing out onto your player board which is like a grid you're trying to move these little uh fans across the terrain you're trying to build um temples to get little bonuses and you're also building I guess cities which then could possibly contribute to pollution on your board the game has a really interesting post-apocalyptic environmental Focus to its theme and I really find the puzzle whilst feeling a little bit abstract is actually quite satisfying cuz if you can create the pattern that's depicted on your board you'll get one of these four powers that kind of invites an element of asymmetry into your game now when I first entered this hobby I had a huge fascination with trains in fact as a kid I kind of dreamt about owning my own set of traffic lights um I don't know why but I was just really fascinated with the idea of moving Goods people and uh cargo around and I played a PC game called Transport Tycoon which I absolutely loved Whistle Stop is one of those board games that really Taps into that pickup and deliver a mechanism but what's interesting about Whistle Stop which is my number 48 on my

6:04 list is the fact that you're placing tiles to try and lead your trains across this map and the hex tiles that you place are going to connect the railroad lines in certain configurations they might be able to make you progress from uh right to left or they might be able to loop back around to different stations and spots you've been to before and so if you land at a spot which has a colored CBE Cube you get to load it on and pick it up and then you get to deliver it at your final destination however there are a couple of twists as always with these sorts of games first of all there's all these cool different little stations where you can offload your call and get little bonuses there's uh different ways to score and trade in your goods but you're ultimately trying to get to the other side of the board before the other players and offload a certain combination of goods to get high impact victory points your train once it gets to its destination then gets placed in kind of like a holding Bay we can get different bonuses kind of carving out the landscape or the tracks as you're going so it really has that feeling that you're delivering Goods you're making connections and then you're creating these really cool combos in fact there are some games we just literally looped around and around and around just to try and get the same resources each time to get some cool Combos and the game kind of finishes once a player takes all their trains to the other end number 47 is a game all about planning a trip to a very popular country and that is Japan

7:37 let's go to Japan is all about planning a holiday itinery to the city of Tokyo and Kyoto you'll be visiting all the different beautiful restaurants some of the landmarks and dabbling in some of the cultural experiences there you'll also be taking a high-speed train jetting back and forth from Kyoto and Tokyo in the most minimal amount of time possible to try and maximize the amount of joy you can get on your trip what I like about this car drafting game is that you're trying to fit everything into a place where you can satisfy the number of uh requirements for that card to get the scoring bonus but also trying to configure it in a way that isn't going to feel random you're trying to it's almost like you're planning the trip throughout the game and at the end of the game when you score you score based on the day of the week and how it all fits into sequential order kind of feels actually like a programming game where it's like okay day one you've got these icons this is what you're doing this is how you scoring and then it flows into day two and so forth it is just quite a cool thinky game that requires you to think logistically about everything it's like well if I'm in Tokyo and I get these icons from this other card maybe it should stay in Tokyo a little bit longer and synergize those icons so I can get maximum victory points points at the end of the game by placing you know three cards per column you can kind of configure an interesting game strategy and when you get a certain

9:09 level of icons in your Tableau you can then get these all these cool bonuses and so I really like actually the most interesting part of this game is picking the cards and placing them but then seeing how all your plans come to fruition and seeing where your trip is going to end up being the happiest trip ever or one that you think maybe we won't do those things again now something that you may not know about me is that I studied a degree in microbiology in fact I studied bacteria viruses fungi and it was something that really fascinated me things that grew at a molecular level open my eyes to this world where there are synergies right beneath our very feet and so when a quirky game comes along that kind of explores this idea of food chains and food webs I definitely have to give it a go the game Gods love dinosaurs does this in such a family friendly yet quirky way Gods love dinosaurs is basically a domino placing game and it's got a whole element of interesting animal to animal interaction players are going to be drafting these uh Domino tiles which actually are two hexagons connected together and they're going to be placing those tiles into their Tableau once one of of the columns on the main marker board clear whichever animal is in that empty column that animal is going to trigger there are three kind of base level animals there's the Frog the rat and the bunny and when

10:40 they get triggered they expand into a Terrain that is of their desired choice so frogs for example will duplicate into the Wetland terrains and so then you've also got Predators the cougar and the eagle and they move in very different ways for example the eagle moves three hexas in a St line and when they activate if there are other lowlevel base animals in front of them they'll actually eat them and then replace those animals with one of their own so if there's a little frog in the way the eagle will eat the Frog and place another Eagle in that hex space and so you've got this idea of Predator versus prey now you might be thinking where do the dinosaurs actually come into the game well at the beginning of the game you start with this nest and basically dinosaurs when they're activated actually stomp around five different hex's eating as much as they can and at the end of the game points are only scored for dinosaur eggs and dinosaurs yes that's the only way you're going to score and so it creates for this interesting apex predator style strategy where you're trying to get those bigger predators to eat everything so that when you have dinosaurs they can eat a lot as well and they can also reproduce it's an interesting exploration of hierarchy animal relationships in such a simple and easy to teach game number 45 is by a designer that's already appeared on my list and it's not Phil Walker Harding actually it is Josh Wood Josh Wood's

12:14 game Santa Monica is one of my favorite games and I think the interesting thing about this game is the fact that I've never really played a game where you're kind of building a horizontal Tableau in this game you're walking across Santa Monica PE you're going to the beach and then you're inviting tourists VIP and um I guess the locals to try and Dabble in all these cool events that are happening along this beach front and the fact you're building this Panorama in front of you that's kind of represented by these two rows and you're trying to move all these people to different destinations just adds a really cool geographical puzzle to the game I just love seeing the art and how all connects together I love how you know there's like a volleyball net that requires two people there cuz you need two so two to four people to play there so you're trying to get all these people into that area to score points and there's an interesting drafting mechanism to this game where if you take cards from a column with your ice cream truck you earn money if you take a column from a card a card from a column which has uh one of the the pink worker then you get to move extra there's um a whole lot of movement synergy uh that adds to this cool jeel nature to the game yes you're drafting cards you're placing them but then you got to think about how do I get all those people to the far ends of my Tableau and so you're building to the left you're building to the right and you're placing all these people out

13:44 trying to get them to where they need to go it is quite a relaxing chill satisfying experience with just enough Frills to give me that enjoyment Factor especially if I just want a cruy Euro game night game number 44 is a second entry for Phil Walker Harding on my top 50 list it is a car drafting game where you're collecting different species of plants you're playing resource cards to get resources You're Building kind of this resource engine using tools and different ways to score the pots in your I guess plant collection and you're ultimately trying to make all your plants grow and Thrive planted is one of my most played games in my collection in fact I have a really good friend when we go over to their house we often play this game first because it's so quick to play it's interactive there's really cool scoring mechanisms and I love that it gives you that satisfying feeling of playing a Euro because the components in this are outstanding without the heaviness of the rule set we know that if you're collecting um particular uh cards that allow you to get extra water when you play a double water card in front of you to help build your engine and then there are particular plant Pot types that everyone wants to collect in fact the more you play this the more familiar it becomes I think the planted theme actually for me really speaks to me I guess it could have been any other theme attached to this game and I in

15:15 fact I actually found it hard to actually buy this game in Australia even though it's by an Australian designer I think this was more a Target exclusive game in the US much like summer camp was and so I had to weigh a long time to get get a copy and thankfully one of my friends was traveling over to America and he's like do you want a copy of plant I was like yes please and he came back found some space in his suitcase and I'm eternally grateful that I now have a copy of this game game number 43 comes with a striking cover oh yeah life of the Amazonia is probably one of my favorite animal games it's got cool habitat tiles it's got wooden animal meeples a lot of them in fact and it's got a cool bag building mechanism and this is something that I haven't seen um associated with this theme of nature is bag building and trying to create a flourishing environment um a lot of people do compare this to Cascadia just mainly because each of the animals comes with like four different scoring type cards and it all depends on the configuration of the habitat that you're building or the biome that you're building but basically what you're doing is you're building up chips in your bag that allow you to allow you to build water lies to uh build forests but also earn money to I guess acquire more

16:46 higher value chips into your bag once you've created a particular configuration that satisfies a particular animal those animals then migrate onto your board some animals take up only one hex space and some take up two and those animals when they reside on your board give you particular scoring powers and then there's also these insect cards and Landscape cards that kind of uh complement the scoring mechanisms and so by the end of the game you end up with this really cool biome or landscape with all these really brightly colored animals and trees and water lies um it just has a great puzzly satisfying nature to it and the fact that it's associated with bag building does make it feel a little bit different because you I think you can save one chip per round to use again but all the other chips go into your boat and then so you're kind of building this bag of bonuses and synergies and values that help you to um make your rainfor it's a lot more Lush and interesting I'm not actually a big fan of uve rosenberg's games yes I know sorry to all the uve Rosenberg fans out there there's only a few games that he's kind of designed which I'm like like oh I really love that game so you might not see too many uve rosenbergs uh in my top 50 but my favorite one of my favorite uve Rosenberg games is adawa and I think it's because the theme is not something that he would have normally designed a game around the idea in this game is

18:19 that you're basically trying to protect these endangered fruit bat species from Extinction you are enlisting the help of different people to house these bats in their homes you're regrowing some of the forests that have being cut down which is their primary habitat and you're kind of encouraging these fruit bats to kind of fly across uh Ghana and be able to deposit some of the these oranges that they eat to hopefully stimulate new growth and I think there are a couple of elements in this Euro that particularly stand out I love the location cards the fact that each location card is a grid of nine squ with different Combos and things that you can lay out into your field just means the game will feel different on a Terrain level you've also got these moving action pieces that every round they all kind of slide and you've got different combos or resources and actions that you can take every game whenever you are going through your playboard and resolving things on your playboard at the end of the round you know you're uh taking the trees you're planting the trees into your fields you're then looking at how many oranges those trees produce and placing the oranges in the trees and then you're also looking at how many oranges you got because they're going to attract the bats and then you got to feed the people in your village using goats there's whole all this cascading that kind of happens as you kind of resolve your effect and you can also build new huts and it just means that your location

19:50 cards are going to fill up really quickly and you're trying to entice as many bats as you can because that's the whole theme of the game and we finally made it to number 41 the top of this first top 10 out of my top 50 games of all time this is my favorite of the bunch and this is a game that you might not expect because it doesn't really appear in a lot of people's list in fact its sister game is one that appears on a lot of people's list and you know what I do love the sister game for all its merits and worth but this one for me is my favorite version because yes I'm embarrassed to say this it's green it's got a plant theme and it's very natury so I think that may push me over the edge for this one so the game I'm talking about is aul Queen Garden this is a game that I think doesn't get enough love I love the way they've taken the original zul game and elevated by using hexagons and this is cool because on your turn you can can decide to take um one tile of all the same color or you can take tiles that have the same pattern and put them into your storage you've also got these Garden hexes that kind of fit on your board and the cost for placing the tile is based on the number of symbols that are on that tile so this bird has two Wings you've got to pay two to play it uh you've got three

21:21 butterflies here so you got to pay three tiles to play that and investing and creating a cost of sacrificing other tiles to play this one tile means that the scoring is going to be a lot more interesting and you can score by connecting the same symbol but different colors together or you can connect the same colors together but they all have to be different symbols and so what you get is this really cool hexagonal trailing pattern that kind of circumnavigates and trails and creates Pathways across your board this is super satisfying and I just love how it gives you opportunity to score along the way but then at the end when you kind of evaluate how you've scored for each color and each symbol you can just really you get this unexpected like tension of like oh my goodness did I invest enough or should I have gone for the tiles it requires six each time I play it and you know I just love stepping back and seeing how the patterns coess together so Queen gardian is probably my favorite of the series I do have a strong appreciation for the original ISO but this one oh absolutely love this this is never going to leave my collection as well so what did you think of board games number 50 to 41 are there some games in there that you think I should have probably placed higher do you think some of them uh surprised you or do you think they're kind of apply place are some of these games games that you've played or in

22:52 your collection I'd love to hear your story thoughts and opinions and please write them in the comment section below um if you really found this video super helpful and you're if you're looking forward to my next top 10 video please uh subscribe and head over to my patreon page and support me there um I look forward to bringing you more amazing board game content soon please head over to my main Channel if you can't wait and want to check out some of my other board game videos this is Danny sna I'll see you in the next video Woo