Buzzz Battle! - What Version Of Mountain Goats Is The Best?!

0:00 First, there was Mountain Goats, then tiny Mountain Goats, and now Mountain Goats Legacy. With all of these versions, how do you know which one's the right one for you? Well, my friends, I'm so glad you asked. Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel today. My name is Carlie, and welcome to a Buzz Battle. This is a video series where I take a handful of games that are fairly similar and battle them against each other to determine which game is the best. These three were a very obvious choice to do for a Buzz Battle because they are all very similar, right? They're all mountain kind of mountain goat games. You do very similar things, but each of these are kind of distinct in their own way. So, we're going to go ahead and kick this battle off and determine which one of these is the strongest game. Very quick before we jump into this video though, if you are new to Board Game Buzz, welcome. We're so glad to have you here. If you wouldn't mind liking, subscribing, and doing all the good stuff to support me and the channel, I would really appreciate it. But without further ado, let's go ahead and dive into the battle.

1:04 Now, this battle is going to take place over a series of rounds. Every single round, I will award one or multiple of these games points based on which one I think is the strongest in that particular round or category. The rounds are as follows. We will be ranking these games based on their art and components, as well as how easy they were to learn, how clear the rulebook was. Another round is going to be based on gameplay and mechanics, followed by replayability, and then ending on your value for money. Now, there are a couple extra categories that are sprinkled in. Um these are the sting factor and also the Queen's Choice. The sting factor are actually negative aspects that I find about these games and can actually actually take away potential points. Versus the Queen's Choice are bonus points that I award based on how well I personally like these games. Yes, those might be a little bit biased, so maybe disregard those if you don't care, but it's my channel, so I can do what I want. Now, really briefly before the battle begins, we're going to quickly chat about each one of these starting with the original Mountain Goats. In Mountain Goats, the goal of the game is to be the first to reach the top of the mountains. How you are climbing these mountains is by rolling dice. On a player's turn, you will take the dice and roll them. You can then take these dice and divide them into different groups or pairings creating different numbers. If the numbers you create match the mountains, those are the mountains that you can climb up the mountain on.

2:20 When you reach the top, you're able to collect the bonus points that are there. The higher the mountain number, the higher the points. The tricky part is once you reach the top, if there is another player already there, you actually kick their mountain goat off the mountain and they fall to the bottom. Now, this original version of Mountain Goats actually has a couple expansions, which is different from these other two. One of the expansions offers the the ability to play with up to five players, so it gives you a whole extra player color. And then the other expansion actually introduces a new mountain, basically a different way to get points with higher scoring numbers. That is one of the things that is very different between this one and the other two. However, it is important to note that Tiny Mountain Goats plays from two to four versus Mountain Goat Legacy, which does inherently play two to five, no extra expansion needed. It does inherently plays with that number of player count, whereas the original Mountain Goats only plays from two to four, just like the Tiny Mountain Goats.

3:14 We should keep a tally of how many times I say Mountain Goats in this entire video cuz it's it's going to be a lot. That's essentially how the original Mountain Goats played. Roll dice, divide your dice up into groups, which creates which creates different numbers, which then you rise up and go up those mountains trying to get the points at the top. Now enter Tiny Mountain Goats. Now, I'm not going to lie, the gameplay is almost exactly the same as the original one, but obviously it is very tiny. It takes up quite a bit less space than the original Mountain Goats does, which obviously is even tinier than the Mountain Goats Legacy. That's going to be taking up your table. Um but no, this is essentially the same exact gameplay though. You have the mountains that you're going to be rolling up. You have mini dice that you're going to be rolling, and you're going to be moving your little mini goats up the mountains trying to get the points at the top.

4:00 Now, something that I do want to say really quick is I actually really like this tiny version because the original Mountain Goats, I mean, it is a very basic game what you're doing. So, because it is a basic game, it actually fits really good with this kind of tiny theme. This is a game that can quite literally fit in your pocket. You can throw it in a purse. You can always kind of have this on you. Take it out, and boom, you can go ahead and start playing. I'm pretty sure All Play has Mountain Goats listed in one of their like 5 minutes or less learning kind of categories that they have for the game. And so, I really like how they have this tiny version cuz when I first heard about this, I was thinking to myself, "Why do we need a tiny version? Like, what's the point?" From what I could tell at the time, I was like, "It looks like the same thing. Why do we need a tiny version?" But, no, after having it, I'm actually really happy that they chose to do this, which in my opinion is a little bit of a risk to redo a game but just make it tiny. But, like, it works really good for this kind of simple gameplay. I also am obsessed with and I love the um Saibabu It is Saibabu, right? Yeah. Saibabu artwork in this game. It looks really cute and whimsical and really, really, really bright on the table. Um I don't want to get ahead of myself on any scoring here, but already I like it a lot more than the original artwork of Mountain Goats. I mean, the original artwork's fine, but it also just kind of all blends together. It doesn't really look pop off the table or look incredibly exciting, but this one does. It kind of just gives me that whimsical, fun vibe. I love the mini dice and the tiny little goats. Um but,

5:32 essentially, just from a gameplay standpoint, it is very similar um to It's It's exactly the same as Mountain Goats, except there are no expansions for it. So, it is strictly a two-to-four player game. Now, Mountain Goats Legacy is going to enter the chat. This is going to be the one that is the most different out of all three of them. This is obviously a legacy game, which builds upon the original, right, gameplay of Mountain Goats with every single chapter that you move through. Now, because it is a legacy game, I don't really want to spoil too much about really anything. So, I'm going to be giving you the the B-roll that you're seeing right now is be essentially the first setup. So, hopefully that's not spoiling too much. But again, you just have to keep in mind that with every single chapter, there are new things that you will unlock, you will move through the story, and the game slowly gets a little bit more complicated each time you play. Now, another interesting thing about this legacy game is this is not a legacy game that you are ripping or tearing stuff up, and so by the end of it, you just have to chuck the game and you're done. You actually could choose, if you wanted to, to really dive in at any chapter. That's one thing you could do. There also is a version of this game, which I think it's called endless.

6:46 I think it's endless mode, where it gives you that replayability there. So, this is a legacy game that you can constantly replay, which is really, really nice, too. I It always hurts my heart when I play a legacy game,

6:56 and you just have to throw away the box afterwards, and it it it hurts my heart. It really does. So, I appreciate that this doesn't have that. Out of all three of them though, this one obviously is the biggest. It takes up the most table space, and it does inherently come with um enough components to play with two to five players. So, you're going to be moving through a little story about this little family of mountain goats. I know how I talked about I like the art in Tiny Mountain Goats a lot. I love the art in in um this legacy version of the game. Sandara Tang man, she can do no wrong in my eyes. I am obsessed with Sandara Tang. I am so obsessed with her and her artwork. I literally need to commission her to make some artwork for Board Game Buzz, because I am just obsessed with her. But no, I love the look of this on the table. It is so bright and colorful.

7:47 And even each individual little goat piece that you have is actually a different member of the family. I actually have the deluxe components for this one, too, which are beautiful. Highly recommend even just for the dice that every single player gets. Um it is such a fantastic production. 10 out of 10 on production for this one. With every single chapter that you go through in Mountain Goats Legacy, it is going to add one or two things um that you're going to add on top of essentially what the base game Mountain Goats gives you, right? You are going to be doing the same thing, going through the same motions, rolling dice, moving up mountains. There will just be more obstacles and different things that you will interact with that will change the story. Kind of like Tiny Mountain Goats. When I first heard about Mountain Goats Legacy, I didn't quite get it. I was interested though. I was a lot more interested than the Tiny Mountain Goats.

8:35 Tiny Mountain Goats, I just didn't get it. But Mountain Goats Legacy, I was confused but also really intrigued because I I I inherently like legacy games. I like changing things from from game to game. So we broke it out, we started playing it. Something that I do want to mention, um a little sting factor that I do have about with Mountain Goats. Well, maybe we should do our sting factors now. Maybe we should do that before the battle. I don't know. Maybe we'll just We'll just do it now for this one. Um Mountain Goats Legacy, I was really excited for it, but I will say that I wish that the chapters that you went through and the things that it changed, I wish it inherently changed more about about the base game. I really wish that the chapters that you move through and the new scenarios that they introduce, while they are good and fun, they didn't quite change the game enough for me to warrant wanting to constantly dive back into this game. I think it's 10 times that you play this game. Um it didn't quite have that grab factor for me personally. I did really like it and I did really enjoy it, but for me, by the time we got to game about six on Mountain Goat Legacy, like we'd played Mountain Goats, then we played Tiny Mountain Goats a couple times, then we dove into Mountain Goat Legacy, and by game six, I was very much done with Mountain Goats.

9:57 Because it really is kind of the same thing that you're doing from game to game. You're still rolling the dice, you're still moving up the mountains. Yes, there might be different things that you interact with, you go for, different ways to to change your strategy just a bit. And maybe this is because I typically prefer more complex games anyways, and this one is kind of more on the basic side. I just was hoping and looking for really big changes like game one. I'm wanting big changes that even just go further and further. It kind of took me to game five and six to introduce changes that was like, oh, that's that's that's really interesting. That's really going to change the way I I approach the board. Not really. It kind of fell a little bit flat for me personally. I just kind of felt like I was playing Mountain Goats while thinking about one more small thing that I could do. That's that's kind of what I walked away from all of my sessions of this game feeling. So, I am going to give Mountain Goats Legacy a little bit of a sting for that. I wish that there were bigger changes that happened way earlier in the Legacy game that really changed the way that I approached the board. I know that's super general. I wish I could go into more detail, but because it is because it is a Legacy game, I really don't want to spoil anything for you if you are at all interested in this one. But hopefully that kind of gives you a general idea of the differences between all three of these games. Before we go into our official buzz battle though, I do want to say I do recommend each of these games. I do think that Mountain Goats is inherently a good game. But let's dive into our battle really quick

11:28 and chat about which one I personally think reigns supreme. Round one. This first round is all about artwork and components. Now, unfortunately, right off the bat, I think we all know that the original Mountain Goats is not going to win. I I'm sorry to say it. It's just It's just not. I was really debating It was a really hard choice between Tiny Mountain Goats and Mountain Goats: Legacy. But for me, I think Mountain Goats: Legacy is the one that absolutely gets the point for this round. I love the Sandara Tang artwork. And not only is it on the cover and on the cards, but also in the storybook that you're going to be reading through. I love love love her artwork and it just It really bring It really brought the game to life for me where this Mountain Goat this version of version of Mountain Goats I've had it for a while and I just I genuinely haven't pulled it off the shelf a lot because I feel like I tend to overlook it beast on the art. It just kind of blends in. There's nothing really unique about it. It just kind of looks like a standard game. This game gives me all the bright, colorful, beautiful vibes that I always wanted for this game. So, yes, Mountain Goats: Legacy absolutely gets the point for round one.

12:38 Round two. This next round is ease of learning and how clear the rulebook is. And honestly, it's going to be a tie for all three of these. All three of these are going to be awarded points for this and here's why. These are all obviously All Play games all from All Play. And if you know anything about All Play, they always have really good, clear, concise rulebooks. There's really only been a couple of games that I've kind of have slight issues with the rulebook with All Play, but even that it's like very minimal things. This game because it is very clear and concise, the rulebook for all of these are so easy. This truly is a game that you can teach in 5 minutes or less, including Mountain Goats: Legacy. If you're able to get it set up, you can very quickly read through the rules of how to get started in the first scenario. And then when you move to the next chapter, it very clearly lays out what you need to do to set up for the next chapter, how you can save previous chapters if you don't want to play the next one right away. It lays everything out very clear. I did not have an issue with this rulebook personally. So yes, all three are going to get points. This might have been a little bit of cheap because they're all from the same publisher, but you know what? It's fine. It's fine. They all get a point for round two.

13:46 Round three. Next up is gameplay and mechanics. Now this one is kind of tricky because they all essentially kind of have the same gameplay, the same mechanics. I am going to be giving the points though to the legacy version of the game obviously because it is it does have that variability, right? Based on who you're playing with, you really could just take out this game and just play the base version. Or if you're feeling like you want to throw in kind of some more complicated stuff, more things you have to think about, you can skip ahead a couple chapters, you know, after you've played it, and mix in those. You can go back and revisit your favorite chapters and completely just dive into it again. So it is a touch more complicated again. For me personally, because I kind of tend to lean a little bit more towards heavier games for the most part, it's really only a touch more complicated. Um you still are kind of doing inherently the same basic game as Mountain Goats, but because it has that that um replayability aspect, that variability aspect, absolutely absolutely going to be giving the point to Mountain Goats Legacy. Round four.

14:50 This next round is replayability and I know I already kind of touched on this in the previous round, but it's going to go to Mountain Goats Legacy again because this is the one out of all of these that does have the best replay value. Again, not only are you moving through the campaign, right? You're moving through the story. You when you are done, you have the ability to go back and relive any other chapter you want or you can play in the endless version or there's so many different ways that you can mix this game together and play it. So it really does give you that so much more replayability. So Mountain Goats Legacy is now up to four points. Round five. This last round is all about your value for your money, and I think this is a very important one to touch on because, especially as gamers, we you only have so much money, right? To put towards all these games. So, which one is really worth your money? In my opinion, and this this is the one that might be the most

15:45 controversial. People might not agree with me, but that's okay. Um for me, I cannot help but think that Tiny Mountain Goats is the best bang for your buck. Yes, I understand that Mountain Goats' Legacy has way more replay value than Tiny Mountain Goats does, but for me, personally, even with all this replayability, I just kind of felt like I was still doing the same game. I was going through the same motions. Yes, there were different things I could interact with, but it essentially was kind of the same game. I just can't get over how cheap Tiny Mountain Goats is. I want to say it's like $7, $9. It's way cheap um on All Play's website versus $40 for the Legacy. That's a pretty big jump. That's a pretty big price point for essentially the same game. So, for me, I think Tiny Mountain Mountain Goats is the clear winner here. You still get the same fun game. You can still break it out, play it out with your kids, or play it out with your family, and for literally, I think it's I think it is under $10, such a great such a great value. You cannot beat that. So, with the main rounds over now, let's kind of take into account some of the stingers that I chatted about. I know I've already kind of touched on this multiple times, but my biggest thing with with Mountain Goats' Legacy is I wish that there was it drastically changed the game quite a bit more, which I felt like it didn't. So, we're going to have one stinger for Mountain Goats' Legacy, and then one more stinger that I actually want to add to both Mountain Goats and

17:16 Mountain Goats Legacy is I actually wish that this was just a two to four player game. In my opinion, I would never play Mountain Goats with more than five players. I just think it takes too long. For it being such a quick and simple game, I want it to be my turn like immediately. I actually really like playing this game at two because it's just back and forth and back. Yes, there's not quite You don't quite have the same um like jumble on the mountains as you do with four players, but I think with five players, there's too much jumble and I'm waiting too long for my turn. So, that's kind of one more stinger that I have against these two, which I think Tiny Mountain Goats is perfect. Plays two to four. For me, that's kind of the sweet spot with this game anyways, so I don't feel like in the original one, I don't think you need the expansion and a Mountain Goats Legacy, I And it's nice that plays to five. I just personally would never play it to five.

18:07 So, if I've done my math correctly, which I hope I have. If I haven't, I'm sorry. That leaves us with Mountain Goats Legacy and Tiny Mountain Goats tied with two points, while Mountain Goats sadly has zero points. So, the original Mountain Goats is totally out of the running here, but we do have Mountain Goats Legacy and Tiny Mountain Goats, which are tied. Which now leaves it to me, which is my Queen's Choice Award. Now, I I also want to mention before I give this out is I don't think that what I'm going to say is probably going to be the popular opinion. This is just for me personally. Out of these two games here, I think that the strongest game is clearly Mountain Goats Legacy. I think it gives you more replayability. I think it gives you a lot more in this box. I think it um gives you way more options.

18:55 However, having said that, for me personally, the Queen's Choice Award, I would choose Tiny Mountain Goats. In my opinion, this one is actually the strongest and here's why. I would never find myself in a situation where I would want to pull this off the shelf versus just going for the quick and easy version that I can just take out, boom, we move with the mountains, we have fun, we laugh, we pack it up, we go away. I never personally want to go through another campaign of this again because it's just it wears my brain out.

19:25 Um it's not the changes that it introduces doesn't change enough about the base game for me personally. While it is a strong game and it might be perfect for you and your playing style and your your particular gaming group, like I know this would be really good for kids or families, I just I would always find myself pulling out this Tiny Mountain Goats instead. And for the price point, for the shelf space, right, this Tiny Mountain Goats is the one that's going to be remaining in my collection and I'm going to be be passing Mountain Goat Legacy on along with the original Mountain Goats. So, Tiny Mountain Goats is our winner. Now, I know I'm probably going to get a lot of pushback because I know Mountain Goat Legacy is a really hot topic right now. Lots of people are loving this game. It just didn't quite hit as well as I was hoping that it would. But please, if you think that I'm wrong, go down into the comments below and plead your case and tell me all the reasons why I'm totally wrong and full of it. I can take it.

20:22 It's okay. But there you go. There was our Buzz Battle and of course our Buzz Battle champion. If you have played any of these games, please let me know in the comments below which one is your personal favorite. And if you made it this far into the video, thanks so much for watching. If you wouldn't mind liking, subscribing, and doing all the good stuff to support me, I would really appreciate it. But until the next battle, we'll see you later.