Top 10 Board Games of 2025! | The Year of Hidden Gems

What is up everybody? Welcome back to the channel. I'm Mike >> and I'm Tim >> and you're watching Tabletop Turtle. But specifically, you're watching the top 10 games of 2025. These are the best games. This is a This is a good year. Lots of things happened. We got married and stuff, but marriage means nothing in comparison to the 10 best board games.

I would put this back. [laughter] >> Good idea. >> 25. And at number 10 is my current favorite dwarf game, Covenant. Covenant is a dwarven euro where you place workers to dig tunnels, build structures, fight monsters, and ship resources on a shared contracts while navigating a dense underground labyrinth of upgrades and bonuses.

This game is perfectly designed for individuals who just want to be like just bathed and like swarmed with with combos and like chaining events and just rewards. This is the kind of game you play when you want to feel smart and no matter what decision you make, you're you're just going to feel smart because a bunch of things are going to start triggering and you're just going to be rewarded with a crap ton of resources.

It has that same dwarf mechanic or same upgrade mechanic as Kverna where you can take your workers and they get sort of progressively stronger as you upgrade them which allows them to do like more actions and more stuff like again just comboing and chaining. >> Upgrading your action slot though that is kind of cool that I really did enjoy.

It's the kind of game you just play to feel good, to feel smart. You know, like a long day of work, you're like, I want to feel smart. And this is the kind of game you play because no matter what you do, you're just getting stuff. You never it never feels like you're making a bad decision in Covenant.

Everything feels like a good decision. But of course, it's a it's a double-edged sword because, yeah, you get all this stuff and you this action combos and chains to this action. But I do find that when you are playing the game, you just kind of sometimes get lost. You get lost in your actions where if like a person starts talking to me while I'm taking my turn, I either have to tell them to shut up and wait or if I start talking to them, I'll be like, I don't I don't remember what the hell I was doing.

>> That's not a game problem. That's a mic problem. >> That could be my my problem. >> So, don't worry about that one. [laughter] The actions themselves, they're they're relatively simple. You know, you you you build, you dig for resources, you reveal new tiles, you get some exploration going. The whole thing, like I said, just feels it feels very fulfilling.

And but ultimately, it is mostly just a race up certain uh uh tracks. It is a Euro after all. >> But the actions themselves are pretty smart. Like Mike is right about the gaming, you feel smart, but it's really well designed so that no matter what kind of area you choose to focus on, you can still do really well in the game focusing on those areas.

You don't have to compete for the same exact tracks, which I like. I like when it's balancing game have the same strategy and you can still have a good time. >> Yeah, it's a little sandboxy in that way. It is not a game that forces you. Okay, you have to do this one thing, you have to do this one thing.

You can kind of pick and choose. And I I don't know. I'm trying to give strategy advice, but I'm not think I'm very good at it. I'm not very good at this game. So, I'll just stop right there and say it's a great game. That's why it's in our number 10 spot. My number 10 spot. >> And at my number 10, Eterna.

>> Eterna is a historical Euro game from Martin Wallace where players manage rival Roman cities, expanding influence, erecting buildings, and trying to maintain control as revolts threat to tear everything apart. I love that this game directly follows Covenant because I feel like it's like the antithesis of Covenant.

This Do you know what I mean? Well, because like >> No, I do not know what you mean. >> Okay. Well, for for for Covenant, it was very like do what you want. Go here, go there, get here's a bunch of rewards. That is not a That is not this game at all. >> No, >> it is like super structured. It is like classic Martin Wallace.

>> That's why I love it. Um I This sounds so bad. I love how punishing this game is. I know he like I know you you knew that too. I don't know. I just really like when you have to do something and you do something properly and if you don't do it or you do certain things and you get punished for and like the consequences.

I like that structure and I I wish more games had that. Even there's one uh game we play where I did really really badly and I had like negative 25 or something. It was it was really bad. But still I just I like that the game guides in certain directions. I like the types of problems that you're looking at and like decision space that you have the options to choose from.

And I like how you interact with other players as well because like you're actually fighting for certain spots and I don't know every um decision and option in this game I really enjoy. >> Yeah. And the negativity that's in this game >> punishing you I enjoy too. >> Yeah. The punishing it's it's here but it's controllable.

This isn't this isn't like you you roll the a dieice and it's like oh I guess this crap happens to me. No, you saw stuff coming. You you can plan and mitigate for all of the negative stuff that's your way. Not luck based at all. Most Martin Wallace games aren't like anything that you suffer is is a is a hell of your own choosing.

>> I truly believe in karma. [laughter] >> But but it is fun to screw with people too because in there's not like there's no take that in that in this game, but there are buildings that you can recruit that can sort of like lower down your revolt uh meter because if your revolt gets too high, you suffer a ton of penalties.

And sometimes if you can see somebody do trying to get that, you can sort of scoop it before they scoop it. Or if you if you look at because it's also an area control game. If you see that an individual doesn't want to win all the areas because you don't want to win all the areas because you take negative stuff for that too.

You can sort of like seed the area majority to somebody else if you're smart. >> So >> if you're smart, >> there's lots of ways to mess with people. So I I really appreciate this game. And like brass, it's a very tightly structured game. It's a very classic era in that to me where it's just like >> you reap what you sew, you know, like you need to be strategic and methodical about it.

At the same time, like for us, we really enjoy those types of games. Really enjoy when you get to plan it all out and you see your great plan come to fruition. You see when your opponent falls into your traps or like when you kind of bait them to places and I don't know, just everything on this game was super satisfying to me.

That's the right word satisfying. It felt like like truly like like caramel, like you did the right things, you got the right rewards. This would definitely be up on my my runner up. This is not on my list, but it pretty close. Oh, and check out if you want a full review because we go in much more detail.

We did a full review of this video. It's on this channel. That's the channel you're watching right now. Do watch it right now, but not right now. Finish this and then watch it. And at number nine is I can't tell you because it appears later in Kim's list, so it's a secret for now. >> And at my number nine, it's Aspens.

Aspens is a two-player abstract strategy game where you're placing trees on a shared hex map and trying to wall your opponents off from juicy scoring areas. You're essentially growing little forest in specific directions based on dice rolls that represent the wind. This is a game that came so close to meeting my my my top 10 list cuz it's just it was the hidden gem of packs.

Like absolutely it was like this tiny little booth, small little publisher. We're like, "Oh, what's this?" We stumbled upon it, played it, loved it, loved it. It was very similar to you remember. Hey, that's my fish. >> Yeah, we love that game. I actually have some friends that say that Seph ever played and it's such an old game and this is so similar but almost like an improved version of it >> more strategy.

>> Exactly. But it's kind of like secret hidden strategy. It's one of those games that it's exactly the crossroads that we love where it's the kind of game where it's really easy to learn, easy to teach, easy to play. But if you're a more strategic player, you like more complicated games, this definitely still is up your alley.

You basically place trees based on you roll dice. there's some kind of a like overarching rule of where to place the trees, but it's not very complicated at all. And you just the strategy that I don't think it's mean, but the meanness that he likes from it is where you can block people off. You can kind of like create like a wall so they can go past that area and then it's an area majority basically that wins the game, which is really cool.

Yeah, you can certainly you can in some ways like portion off parts of the map if you're being crafty and and the other player is not paying attention to sort of be like, "Okay, only I can build in this area now because I've cut you off." Basically, you you have a choice when you're placing down your trees.

You can either spread wide and start planting your trees like outwards to try to block people off. >> Create longer paths basically. >> Yeah, exactly. Or you can increase the amount of trees in a given hex to increase the chances of spawning even more trees. Cuz when you roll this dice, if I roll a five, I have to have at least five trees in a hex to spawn even more trees beyond what I would typically spawn on my turn.

>> It's a cool decision space. >> Exactly. It's very interesting. We've never seen a game kind of do this this exact way. And this was a very like fun game to play and we fully accidentally stumbled across it, but such a hidden gem. We're so happy to discovered it. >> Yeah. And like like Kim was saying, it could be really cutthroat if you wanted to be.

It's sort of like like Hey, that's my fish. you can sort of sanction off certain portions of that iceberg to make sure nobody gets any fish but you you do the same thing in this game and I I love it for that. It's a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to trying out the expansion. >> Yeah, me too.

>> Oh, [laughter] no. Do you want to talk about like the expansions or talk about like because they have like player powers and stuff that they're releasing, right? Yeah. >> But what else do you want to say? >> I was expecting more from that. And my number eight of 2025 is Ants. Ants is a mediumheavy Euro game where players build and expand their colonies through card driven engine building, tile exploration, and worker placement.

Now, Ants is one of two pretty good ants related games. The other one was uh March for the Ants, which I also considered for the top 10 cuz I also I really enjoyed that one, too. But this one this one is is fantastic. It it's weird because it sort of feels like this hodgepodge of different mechanisms all sort of working together, but they do function well together.

There does feel to be some harmony and I think the glue that's sort of binding it all together are these cards. The card play in this game is absolutely stellar. I really like it. >> I the card I had to agree the card from the game is the my favorite part of it. The only gripe I have is cards are not all equally balanced ones.

They feel like not the most fair. like some feel like a lot more expensive than what it should be worth, that kind of thing. But this was a really fun game. >> I think it's like yeah, it's a double-edged sword because the the card play there's a lot of asymmetry to the card play and you're going to have cases where somebody's going to have a little snowball effect if they get like the perfect combinations and you're not paying attention.

>> Luck. >> It's not Well, it's not luck because it's it's a it's a public drafting area, >> but it's not as luck. It's based on because you don't like often you start the game off you start building cars with what you can afford, right? And >> Yeah. Sure. >> And that is sometimes like just random chance and what comes up >> next on the tableau on the open market that you can't predict.

No, >> sometimes you just you get the cards available there. Sometimes you don't get cards available there what you want. >> Yeah. But that's sort of what what I like about the game. I like that that you're going to feel so different. Your ant colony is going to feel have so many different powers. It's so different from the last time you played that asymmetry like really shines through through those cards.

And the interaction here is like really solid. like you have your typical euro interactions, but also there's a lot of mutual beneficial stuff. So on the player board itself, or sorry, on the main board, you're you're venturing out, you're exploring new tiles, and you might have to to fight whatever giant worms or what have you.

Uh but when you forge, any individuals who have placed ants around that foraging area also benefit. So, it's just sort of like shared resources, which is interesting because now you're sort of like you're taking that into account whenever you're exploring, thinking, well, I I don't have a lot of foragers in that area, but but Kim does, so maybe I don't want to explore that area because I don't want to benefit Kim, just me.

>> So, mutually mutually beneficial, but I will make sure to go out of my way to make sure I'm not benefiting anybody, but I want I want to be benefited. >> Great to play with him. He's fantastic. Great teammate. And there's a lot of like really clever mechanisms all sort of working together here. Like for example, you have these areas in which is going to determine what type of ant you you you have whether it's an explorer or forger or I think a digger or something.

And this this thing will sort of slide down a track so you can see like okay in turn three or whatever I'll have I'll have more ants at my disposal. And of course the you can have cards of course that can they mitigate that and sort of mess with that. And it's just another like layer of decision space that you have to take into account.

plus all the endgame rewards and victory points. It's all sort of under player control for the most part because some of the cards of course are endgame triggers and so you can sort of look for those and sort of draft those. I sort of like that. I like when a game is allowing players uh a lot more agency in controlling not only their turn but like the objective of the game.

I think I think Ants does a really good job of that. I really enjoy it. >> And my number eight, Brink. Brink is a highly interactive worker placement game with trading, exploration, researching cool ship parts, and hidden voting that sees players, you guessed it, trying to get the most victory points.

Brink is one of those like classic feeling games. I don't know how to explain it, but it almost feels katonike. Like you can tell like there's some design influence because it's just every mechanic is placed there to to encourage like maximum player interaction. Uh mostly specifically like the the trading which you very rarely see in board games these days.

And I understand why it sort of bogs down play time, but I think Brink does a does a really good job of it because you get these resources that you are forced to trade um at the end of your the end of your turn and if you don't trade them away, you don't get them. >> I actually love the trading mechanic and it was it was funny cuz we played with like our friends Mark and Al and I remember distinctly that for some reason we form like secret alliances like oh we don't want to trade with Mark and he's winning.

We don't want to trade him now. We don't we don't want to give him what he wants. >> Yeah. Which is like katan. You hit seven victory points, you're like nobody trade with him. >> Yeah. It's like and I think it's just like your friends are like this too that you just end up having all these like secret things and a lot of times we play a lot of your games and a lot of the focus is like you focus on your game and your gameplay and you maximize basing your strategy and those games are the strategic heavy games >> but I really enjoy when a game allows you to be very strategic and methodical at the same time has such good interaction and doesn't let you forget you're playing with other people.

There's something about Brink that every single aspect of it felt so smart but still intuitive in a way. Even though there are three different types of ships and like they each have different placement rules and you can do different things. The way you think about the whole game is there's so many steps, so many layers, so many things to think about.

Short-term objectives, long-term objectives, like who you're in alliance with, who you're not, but all of it just still feels so like natural, intuitive, and I don't know, from what you said earlier in the game or other than the video, like it does like evoke this feel, this weird feeling, and there's some something nostalgic about it.

I just can't place my finger quite on it, but it feels like such a fun game to play. >> Yeah, because it is a fun game. It is a fun game because like even even the endgame scoring too or end of round scoring and it it has that thing where you do a secret vote. Everybody at the end of the round does a vote as to what is going to trigger and essentially what's cool is you get these these moments where I'm paying hyper close attention to what everybody else is doing and I'm thinking okay Kim's going to want to score blue and I also kind of want to score us blue so I'm not going to put too many votes towards blue.

She'll take care of that. And so I just like I like when a games are are forcing you to pay hyper close attention to what other people are doing. So a lot of times it's just like contemporary Euro design is like head on the head on the uh nose on your own board. Don't care what anybody else is doing.

But here you can't do that in break. And of course it has other cool things like it has individual player powers which can help your scoring. So for example, if I if I take this blue one, it helps towards my blue scoring but also gives me an individual player power which I always appreciate. >> Yeah.

Or like the the larger faction objectives as well. Like if you're the first one to achieve that for that faction, you get like additional powers or these individual like for the council vote, the voting element to it. You can also put up something as one of your actions early in the game to influence what scores, how much it scores, things like that.

And I think that's a really interesting way. >> Actable. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. And as well as like the ship upgrades too. There's just a lot of cool things all sort of working. >> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly what you were saying. like every detail this game just seems so like well thought through and it's and it came together really well and cohesively as well.

>> Yeah, Brink is a great game. And my number seven for this year is Unstoppable is a cooperative roglike momentum deck building game that uses the card crafting system to make your character unstoppable juggernaut that can take on whatever threatens the universe. Now, this is a game of course that you have never played because I only play it solo cuz it's only a solo game.

Actually, it's a lie. It can be played cooperatively at two players. I just choose not to play it with you. [laughter] Actually, you know what's funny? I actually think you'd like this game because it's it's made by the same designer as Mystic Veil. And it has it has that card crafting mechanic where where essentially you can slot >> upgrades in your cards, sort of like ruins as well.

But here's the kicker and here's what makes I think this is like the optimal the optimal evolution of his design of this card crafting system because here's what's really cool. you you select your upgrades for any given round and they instantly come into your hand as opposed to just going to your deck.

Usually you have to you most deck builders it goes to your discard pile. He goes right into your deck. So it asks that strategic layer of decision-m but along with the getting the upgrade, it also upgrades the enemy because on the back of every card that you draft is the enemy that you have to fight.

And so when you draft and you deal out your cards, you have to put some in your enemy row. And so your enemies actually get stronger the more you upgrade your own cards. >> That's pretty cool. >> It's super cool. >> Wait, let's go back to why you don't want to play with me. >> No, there's no because I think it's mostly like a solo player game.

We could try it, but like it it's it's only cooperative and you kind of like you kind of fight the the boss monster by yourself like tangently like beside each other and t you know what I mean? >> Let's [laughter] >> Yeah. Like I don't I don't know if this is like a two-player experience, but there's a lot going on here that's really cool.

And of course, I expressed it I I talked about a bit bit more detail in the last video uh I made on solo player. Uh I think this is Yeah, I think this is a great game and it's definitely one worth checking out. Fortunately, I think it's sold out in stores right now. So hopefully when it comes back, you can take a look at it because it's it's it's it's a really fantastic game.

Yeah. And it's just it's the extra layers. It's just like every single turn I'm feeling incredibly engaged because not only am I deciding, okay, I'm going to attack this enemy cuz when you attack this enemy, you get the enemy back into your hand and you because you flip it and it becomes now a power that you have to fight the other enemies and you can draft and you can draft the cards over here and it's not like other card deck builder games where you're just at the end of your turn mindlessly drafting and saying, "Well, I got $5.

I'll drive I'll draft the $5 card cuz it's the better card." No, here you have to be smart about the whole thing and decide like, okay, uh, I I I'll draft this one um because this one's going to be a power that I need for this round. >> Have fun playing solo. >> I will, and you will, too. >> And at mine, number seven, Tend.

>> Tend is a flip and right game that sees players building up their own farm, mining mountains, fishing, and collecting goods to send back to Zenith headquarters to study. I I will say like right off the bat, the thing I love most about this game I love most is the scratch card. This was so fun that it it I I'm like to be a logical strategic player, but I didn't really care.

All I wanted to do was scratch more of stuff off. So like every like every round you pick your action basic come out. And every round I just kept trying to find more chop and mine actions to keep scratching stuff off. And like you can get combos and everything to scratch more stuff off. Like it's there's something so satisfying about it.

>> I think it's one of the one of these games where it's like tact or like tactfully tactally the tactile. >> It's it's a really fun tactile experience whether it's like scratching the cards or like you have these and these are like they double as both a marker and a stamp so you can stamp stuff. >> It just it's a really like physically pleasing game.

There's so many small different things that you can focus on that you end up playing a different strategy based on both the cost come out for the short-term objectives and also what you like gravitate towards based on the actions that you have chosen. >> And the one thing I like is that it's not entirely sandboxy.

It's not like they just toss you into the woods and they say, "Okay, have fun. Do whatever you want." There are there's direction here because every single round these cards are going to come out and these are the actions that everybody at the table can perform. And then some of those cards, some of those actions have bonuses.

So that if you complete that action and then you also have, let's say, for example, one says like have scratched five or collected five pieces of wood that round, what have you, you'll get to do that extra action. So, and you can see these coming up. So, you can sort of plan for them. In addition to that, you of course you have the badges, which is something else to plan for, and the general objectives for the end of the game and what you're trying to shoot for.

So, it's not it's not directionless. Cuz a lot of these types of games it does feel like you just do whatever you want and I find that particular usually I find that a little >> it's either extremely do whatever you want or you can you have to do this one thing or else you're going to lose the game for sure.

This game is like it has a really good control where it's not overly controlling. It's enough of it ste force that you have to go that way. It's a really well balanced game very tactally immersive. But I will say there's like no interaction in this game beyond the neighborly award which you basically have a card on both sides of your your tableau and you can give uh the corresponding resource to the person to your right or the person to your left and then they'll get that resource for the next uh round.

That's the only interaction >> and you get a good bonus for giving away something. >> The one problem I have with the game though is that it's very expensive and the box is mammoth. It's mammoth. At some point, I'm gonna go we're gonna go through a lot of those cards and we're just gonna end up with a gigantic empty box.

>> This is This is not even all the papers that come into it. >> It's too much. It's just too much for for a writing game. If I wish they could find a way to bring down the cost or if if you know of like cuz we have the like the big deluxe edition. I would recommend getting like the small scaled down versions.

You don't need this much stuff. You just don't. You don't. You're going to get the full experience with a smaller box, but other than that, it's a great game. >> Yeah, it's a great experience. Absolutely. >> Yeah. At number six is Moon Colony Bloodbath. >> Moon Colony Bloodbath is a chaotic engine builder and engine losing card game where players attempt to build and sustain a moon colony while navigating a series of absolute destruction and death.

This is just an incredibly unique game and that's that is partially why it's on this list. I I can't think of any other game except for maybe Galaxy Trucker that has any feeling remotely close to this one. If you're not familiar, you essentially are building a tableau. But what's unique is that you go through the round constantly like getting these cards flipped that'll rotate each new round.

And they're just bad stuff. You are just being pummeled relentlessly throughout this entire game. I don't know. I don't You don't like this game, do you? >> I actually love this game, but I think you're saying it all wrong. Why? This is >> That's exactly what happens. >> A party game. >> It's not a party game.

It's a party game with all the serious game mechanics that that's kind of the crazy part of this game. It feels like you're playing a party game cuz it's so fun, so wild, and it feels like it goes by so quickly and also because it's a bit of like a craziness when things come up and like stuff is like going wrong.

So, it feels like a party game, but it's a party game. It's the kind of game where like if your friends aren't serious gamers, >> but you want a more serious game, but you want the fun and excitement of a party game, this is it. This is the one you bring out. And it's cool, too, because like it is a tableau builder.

It's an engine builder. But what's cool is that you get the reward of constantly having to rebuild your engine every single like couple of rounds. >> You're bad at the game. >> No, it's just going to keep because what's going to happen is you're just your engine's going to get destroyed. But that's okay because like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, you get to rebuild it.

And that's kind of it's kind of fun to see like, you know, over the course of a single game developing multiple different engines. And I could see a lot of people bouncing off this game and hating it because like I cannot well like Galaxy Trucker, it's tough to build your engine and then just see things get just like destroyed.

But you can plan for everything. Everything you see is in that deck. It's just a different order in which they appear. So it's not like everything is completely random. You're aware and you can adapt to whatever negativity is coming your way later. >> It's almost a very punishing game. like you can't go into it expecting a typical euro where you're kind of building up where like it's just continuous flow, right?

It's kind of like starting a business. It kind of like those ups and downs and you got to go with the flow. And I don't know, I don't feel like I think if you're if you're good, you won't have your whole engine destroyed. You need to rebuild it from scratch. But it's you have to account for all the negative negative things that will come up.

So you have to plan in advance for it. And you could take a little bit of a loss here and there, but you shouldn't be rebuilding everything from scratch. you know, you you might die throughout the game. You might lose very quickly. >> Yeah. Moon State Moon Blood Bath is definitely one of the most unique entries on this list and perhaps one of the most unique games uh released this year.

It's an awesome game. Definitely check it out. >> Absolutely. And my number six will be coming later in this list. >> And at number five, well, you're going to have to wait. >> And my number five >> And my number nine >> is Galactic Cruise. Galactic Cruise is a heavy economic euro where players manage rival space tourism companies, build ships, attract passengers, and schedule flights across the stars.

It said a lot that Galactic Cruise kind of feels like a Lerta game. And as you're playing it, you kind of see it. It even has the gallerist like kickout action where if you place your action pawn, you can choose one of the two actions in which it's it's available on, but also if you've upgraded to the left or to the right using your cogs, you can also take the action from the the periphery on the left or the right.

Uh it's it's it's a really well-made game and it's one of those games where it feels like you get to develop your personality throughout the game instead of just being like here's your faction ability, this is who you are forever. Here it's just like you can get your upgrades. Um, you can get your cards, which we'll come to back to later.

Oh. Um, when you ship off the dudes into space, the visitors, you actually get abilities that you're going to have that are unique to you. And all this stuff just makes the game so incredibly variable between plays. It's it's a it can be very overwhelming when you first time you play, but the more you play and play and play, and I've been playing it a lot online as well, the more you see how unique the game is and how fun the game is.

>> I have to say, I really like how kind of like balanced this game is. there's no element of like luck or randomness to it. It does really feel like like a true like strategy game where you can really plan what you're doing and execute on it. Um, additionally what you said about like building your personality throughout the game.

I think there are a lot of games out there right now that like the only way to add like interest and element to it is having unique player factions, right? Unique abilities. This game does it differently where you can build your abilities as time passes and you can choose whether you want to go really hard on single space or invest in your abilities and invest in like making your future a little easier.

And each of the abilities too I would say is actually unique and powerful. A lot of games when you get like bonus powers it's like very small one like won't make a big impact. This game I actually feel like it's really well balanced that you can really see the big impact of it. I do like how overpowered some of the cards are.

It really does feel like really special when you do acquire some of them. >> These cards are ridiculous. They're ridiculous. But they feel Yeah, they feel good when you're the one acquiring them, but some of them are really really good and then some of them are kind of like blat. >> Yeah, but I think like you need some level of imbalance so it makes the game more exciting and fun.

If everything's just overpowered, it kind of feels like the game feels too easy, >> right? Like >> feels monotone. If everything's the same, it just feels homogeneous and monotone. That's >> you need suddenly griff happy. >> Yeah. And that's why all the cards are in a public draft rather than just like coming out randomly in a random and get shuffled out randomly.

>> Are you picking you picking it blind from a deck or something? >> Yeah, exactly. So you like you can fight over and be like, "Okay, I want to make sure I get that action first." But the cards are busted. They are busted. But they're another way to add an individual identity to yourself. >> Yeah. Everything on this game just felt really smooth and some of the games that make you feel really smart to be able to do it well.

>> Absolutely. Great game. Galaxy Trucker, Galactic Cruise. [laughter] >> Close enough. >> Yeah. And coming in number four, >> and my number six, >> Recall. Recall is a heavy sci-fi Euro game about rebuilding civilization through efficient action sequencing and smart engine building. And there is some sort of theme here, but who cares?

Just Just get points, my dude. >> I said this is the kind of game where if you don't know it well, the first play is a wash. Definitely, it's a wash. >> Usually, >> don't don't even think about it. Don't worry about it. the next play, you have to go into this game first turn with the strategy or else the whole game is going to like you're going to suffer.

Like you need to like right away know what you're doing and start really like clawing for those resources to make this feel like a super satisfying game. But when you do get to that point, I loved it. >> Yeah, recall fantastic. Recall is one of those games where you finish your game and then directly after maybe even a day later even though there's like not really any theme whatsoever, you're still like it might pop into your head and be like, you know what, >> play again.

>> If I would have just did this action better or this done this instead, I would have made more points. At least that's the way I felt and I was like, I want to play again. And that's just one of those this game >> and it was right at the end of the first game. I was like, I want to play again. Like now I know what I'm doing.

Like I want to play again. >> I think it's just like it's a combination of so many different factors. the fact that like Galactic Cruise, you're building your own personal identity. There's just so many things here that you can customize and where at the end of the game, you are just completely different from everybody else.

The the general premise and structure of the game is hinges upon these like keys that you essentially physically slot into your board. And these keys, well, they're all upgradeable. And and the slots that you put them in, well, they're also upgradable. You just there's just every single thing you do.

And even though the game is just like fundamentally moving up so many different tracks, it just feels it feels it feels good. This is like Euro game reaching its zenith and it's a very well-made game. >> Yeah, it's it's peak euro uh experience. It's one of those like you reach certain point the track, you unlock this and this and like we both had it so many times, so many different games where like you get to some level and you're like I have this combo.

I know I'm going to do my next turn. It's going to be freaking awesome. Watch me do it. And that's how you know like a game will like check the box for us in some way was when we start showing off the other person like watch my turn. Watch my brilliance of like how I did this. >> You really care. >> My you do this a lot.

You like watch my watch my turn. And I'm like I don't care. Good for you. Like that's nice. >> You're like a kid putting up like artwork on the fridge and you're like look mom and dad. It's like this really crappy drawing. >> Yeah. And they're like yeah that's lovely. My talented child. >> Yeah. And even like the tracks that you move up here on the side, they they they build towards a certain alien faction.

Yeah. And then eventually that alien faction gets revealed and then you can utilize there those powers provided you've moved further up that track. Just just further emphasizing the fact that you carve out your own identity. And the alien powers, they're not they're not quite like SETI, like they're not as o they're not as like complex as the ones in SETI.

are a little simpler to understand, but they still offer enough variability that they feel interesting and they they sort of spur you forward to keep researching. >> And even though you do like your rate of growth is like faster as you as you progress on the game, I still feel like the game is never easy.

There's no point where you're like it's a stroll win. It's like a complete gospec. It's always like a struggle. >> Especially since it's like it's a really tight deadline. >> Yeah. It's called the thing. So few actions in your whole game. >> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. like you're you're functioning on like what is essentially like only a few actions throughout the course of the entire game.

Sort of like the white castle, you know, that really tight balance where you're like, "Okay, I need to make sure every single action counts." >> Yeah. It's like like it says 13 rounds, but it really does feel like it's not enough. It's It's not in It's enough to go up a little in different places, but it's not enough where you can slowly explore the whole game.

Every game feels like it's a whole mamm of a challenge, but very tightly compact. And so the whole game you just I I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. The whole time the whole game you're kind of stressed like it's so much I want to do and it's so little time to do it. And for both of us that that kind of anxiety is exciting.

Um I don't know how you feel about it, but >> it's satisfying. >> Yeah, it is. We like the challenge. Exactly. Even if you fail, it's so it feels like, oh, like I was so close to this thing and I I hit it, but then I want to play again. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, Reco is a is a great game. Great game. I think it's better than Revive.

I don't think it's like significantly better, but it's definitely better. Would you need to own both? I don't know. Maybe not. They are different games. They're definitely different games. So, if you played the crap ton of Revive, definitely check out Recall. And if you don't own either, we recommend Recall.

>> Yes. Agreed. And coming in at number four, it's Kenfire Council. Kinfire Council is a worker placement game where players attempt to rebuild the city by collecting resources, upgrading buildings, all while dealing with a nefarious cult who is attempting to ruin the city and get in the player's way.

Kinfire Council is like worker placement to the absolute extreme. We're looking at like what is it 20 different spots to place your workers and of those 20 spots, they're all upgradable. And on top of all that, there are two different places, two different selections on each action. Like it's it's ridiculous.

It is a ridiculous game, but but it is enjoyable. >> And all the different walk spots like different kind of in my head like shops in the village you can go to to do different things. So, I don't know. It feels very like like a like you're going in this adventure in this game. >> Yeah, I guess a little bit.

And like the worker placement spots themselves are all relatively simple. So visually it looks incredibly overwhelming, but this but the spots themselves are all like >> resource collection. >> Yeah, it's a lot of resource collection. >> Pretty not basic, but there is a variety of like what you can go for.

You can go for trading stuff or collecting resources. I don't know. I do enjoy like a lot of this the way the game is like all plays out. You have so many avenues to choose from. It doesn't feel boxing or like restrictive at all. >> I have a special soft spot for worker placement games that have workers that have like different abilities.

I always love that. Like you can upgrade your workers in this game and you know you can upgrade them to a spy which can share spots with other players or you can upgrade into a guardsman which will arrest some of the cultists or a noble who won't have to pay taxes on the the buildings that I said like at the start you that you can upgrade essentially and if you upgrade that building you in essence own it and then other players have to pay you.

But if you get the nobleman then you don't. It's just it's another sort of layer of complexity that's makes the game much more enjoyable. >> Yeah. every element of this game. I think it's like kind of a tread now on all this is that all these games are where you see basic full game mechanisms and every single avenue of those mechanisms have been like upgraded in a way like we now see like more optionality with each one of those and and a lot of these optionalities isn't isn't necessarily just like arbitrary.

It's unique powers unique to like the theme of the game or the way the game is played or the way you use that ability. And so I feel like now you have if you understand basic placement games, you now have the ability to be a lot more immersed in the theme of this because each of those um basic mechanisms now have more options to them.

>> Yeah, absolutely. >> And I think for me too, like every game on my list, I'm able to be fully immersed in the game. I'm someone that even video games, I'm not someone that can easily get fully immersed into the show or the story, the narrative. And so I need something that's complicated, complex enough that gets my brain fully working and twisted up in the questions of this very moment versus being like, uh, it's either A or B and let's randomly make a choice, right?

I want something where I really feel like I can get invested and see long-term results from. And this game definitely gives me that that satisfaction. >> Yeah, absolutely. So Kinfire Council, great worker pros game. Definitely worth checking out. And coming in at number three, The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era.

Elder Scrolls: Betrayal: The Second Era is a cooperative dungeon crawl style adventure where you and your party of heroes roam around Tamreel, upgrading your hero and chucking handfuls of dice in big tactical battles. Now, I have only played this game solo. It is a cooperative experience. You I don't know if you're going to enjoy it.

Would you Are you actually interested in playing this game? >> Yes, we talked about this literally last year. I settled to play this game. >> Okay. Well, I've been playing solo. I just amazing. >> Story of my life. >> And best part is I've been playing solo two-handed. And if you don't, you know what two-handed means?

It means I play both. I play both characters. So, it's like you're there, but you're not there. We We'll play We'll play together. And I said, I didn't think you'd like it. It is a It is a fantastic game. I'm actually trying to put together a list of my favorite dungeon crawlers, and this this game's like right near the top.

It's like this or Jaws of the Lion. Actually, let me know in the comments section if you can think of any like really great dungeon crawlers and just list them so I can play them and then make that list. But >> without me, [laughter] >> without Kim. No, we'll we'll put this together eventually. But yeah, this is just it's a fantastic dungeon crawler game.

And I think what excites me the most is the character building. It's the fact that like the characters are just so incredibly unique. And because it's only like a three round structure or threeact structure where it's a campaign game that you play it three times and then you're done. You sort of move around in this campaign map and all all the campaigns are are are different like you have Skyrim and Morowind and yeah.

Oh, I was talking about the character building. Sorry, I'm getting rantish here. The character building is so well done because essentially what you do is the way your abilities work is if you if you decide to upgrade one ability, you are doing it at the cost of another ability because they two abilities will essentially share the same row.

It's just I don't know, it's just a really well-made game and it's just a really well-made way to build your character that just makes every single play feel drastically different. And the dungeon crawling itself really well done. The combat is great. It's very tactical. You're constantly maneuvering on the map and trying to get the right positioning.

It's just and there's not there's there's a good amount of status effects to make the game interesting, but not so much that you get bogged down in sort of like minutia on the campaign map. Like moving around the campaign map and exploring new areas, it's the kind of game that just doesn't waste your time like a lot of gigantic overly bloated campaign games.

>> I like efficient games. [laughter] >> Did I sell it? Did I just sound good to you? >> Great husband. you know like you would enjoy something so let's not give you the option to play it. >> I was putting together like really quality solo games and I was like I want to I think this is a good quality solo game and so that's why I started playing it as but we will play it together.

It is a fantastic game and that's why it's that is why it's my number three >> and in my number three >> and it's going to be my number two is Luier. Luier is a hidden information worker placement game where players send their family out to craft instruments, recruit patrons, repair instruments, and help facilitate symphonies, all to become the most prestigious luier around.

I really, really like it. I think there's something about the worker placement and how the worker placement is hidden, right? So, we all essentially place out our workers and they're numbered, I think, one to five. And then after you've done that, and here's the best part. I don't know why this isn't replicated in other board games.

But when it becomes your turn, instead of everything being revealed and you're just activating in a sort of sequence as indicated on the board, which is what you do in almost all of these games, instead each player gets to activate which area they want to activate. So, not only am I sort of anticipating what numbers people put out where, but now I'm trying to figure out which ones are more pivotal for them to activate first.

It's just this extra layer without adding so much complexity to the game to bog it down and make it complicated. It's just an extra layer of strategy that I have to think about and engage with other players with. It's just >> it's one decision that they pass off to players instead of setting in the rules and and it allows for extra complicated strategy.

You don't have to think of it so complicated. to decide which one you want to do first. Sure. >> But it allows for you to be extra crazy. >> And the game is like it's relatively straightforward and it feels fairly intuitive. Like you go and you put your worker out and you can, you know, build instruments and get your patrons.

And the patrons are really cool because in essence, they're just contracts that you have to fulfill. But what's interesting about them is that they have a sort of expiry date. And every single round you'll you'll move across this little disc. And the further it goes, the more resources they'll bestow upon you, which is an interesting push and pull to it because if you let it go too long, they'll disappear.

But if you if you time it just right, they'll give you the best stuff that they can be. And then when just before they leave, you fulfill the contract. It's just another layer of decision-m that I really really appreciate. And the part that that plays into the instruments is that they all have different like instrument like families that they're correlated to.

Yeah. And it may not be related to your like overarching strategy of what you're aiming for. And I like how like every single like turn of yours is so tight. So you always have to plan like what you said about which one to go first. That actually makes a huge difference in how whether or not you actually finish repairing the instrument or building the instrument before you have to perform that specific one.

Every point you see is so pivotal >> that it it becomes like you're so not on edge, but you're so like >> you're you're keeping so much track of what everyone else is doing too, which that doesn't really happen in most games in my opinion. Like you don't Yeah. You don't really care what everyone else is doing, but for this game, you really care what everyone else is doing at all times.

And there's so few options in each market that when someone takes one thing, it is like 99% likely going to be the one that you wanted as well. >> Yeah, it can be pretty devastating. You're competing not just on the places on the board, but you're competing on what get activated. And you're competing for the chairs like who gets to to pick first chair, which gives you huge endgame victory points.

There's a lot of like interaction here that is not immediate like direct interaction, but it's like really >> it still really impacts you. >> Yeah, it's meaningful. It's a really good player engagement, which I really appreciate. >> And the tightness of the game makes it a lot more like exciting throughout the whole game.

There's not a lot of like downtime, boring, low energy like feeling throughout the game. Every single thing is very engaging. And at my number two, Critter Kitchen. >> Critter Kitchen is a charming worker placement and set collection game where you're adorable animal chefs competing to prepare the best dishes for various food critics.

the um the aesthetic is just really cute, but it's just such a wellexecuted game and it's and I really really enjoy it. >> Yeah, it's a really good game. Um it's all hidden information essentially because when you go to place your workers, you do so with the cards that you have behind your player board and then when you go and you place them out, like she said, the small ones will activate first and the big ones will activate last.

And what's kind of interesting is that you're sort of sussing out what other people are going to do and what ingredients they may need. So you're hyperengaged onto the activities of other players because you really want to be that player who ends up with like their their big worker on like a spot completely by themselves because they'll be able to take uh all the all the ingredients.

It's it's a really cool hidden information game that is really fun to play and because it's all simultaneous to a certain extent, it's also very fast regardless of player count. it. There is some layers of strategy, but like Mike said, it's very much about like kind of assessing out where everyone else is going, what everyone else is doing.

Um, there are some other bonus like fun elements to it. There is like this one place where every round there's a new extra worker, so you can go get extra worker instead of Exactly. So, that could be like a unique thing you can do. And there is this thing called spice. I don't know why everyone doesn't spice all their food, but spice basically adds like a multiplier to the quality of your ingredient or your dish and >> it makes it better.

You spice your your meal. >> Yeah. And a big strategy of the game is essentially determining how you want to use those ingredients that you've accur acred throughout the game. You know, do you want to use them for those end of round uh uh dish that you're serving? Uh which might be like, oh, you got to serve a burger this round or you might have to serve pasta.

Uh, and then of course adding the multipliers or do you want to wait and wait for the end game which is this sort of like big five course thing or no seven course seven course meal where it's only taking your best ingredients which you can also multiply which is for an end of game uh food critic who is always different because there's a bunch of them in the deck uh every single game which makes the variability in the strategy into the game like a lot different between plays like never and the game never really feels sy which is nice considering how pretty It's pretty light game.

>> Yeah, it's definitely not like a super heavy game, but we always enjoy games that are like light in a way. Like light as in easy understand, easy to teach, but complicated and complex in a way that allows you to think deeper about it. This something every friend that we showed this game to loves this game.

Um, and we got the expansion for it as well and adds and adds a lot of stuff, but you don't have to play with with it. And I don't think it adds like it doesn't make the game to a different game, right? >> It's a modular expansion, so you can kind of like pick and choose the things you like, but it's not necessary.

If you want just the base game, you can just get the base game. >> The base game is definitely more than enough. You have all the fun elements to it and you will this is just such a win for everybody. I think it's a classic like winner for any kind of like friend group or age group that we play with.

>> And then number one, my favorite game of 2025, The Old King's Crown. Old King's Crown is a game of card driven conquest where you play as heirs to a vacant throne, vying for control of an ancient overgrown kingdom. The Old King's Crown is a brilliant game. That is why it's my number one. And what's interesting is that this was taught to me by the guys on our Discord.

>> Oh, even better. Trader and play me. Just teach him. Okay, I see how this works. >> If you haven't joined our Discord group, do it's like over 100 people. I play on there occasionally. They play on there a lot. And this was fun. It is lively. It >> is lively. Yeah, they they taught me this game and I just had a blast and I played it a few times since then and I have just enjoyed the heck out of it.

I feel like this is going to be like this year's Arcs, which is like a game that can be not that they're similar, but that just a game that's pretty divisive where a lot of people are going to bounce off it really hard and a lot of people are going to really love it because like Arcs, it is also fairly aggressive because you're fighting >> you're fighting in three different spots, but you're only fighting with with these cards and your your pawns you place down the board.

And what's fascinating and what's better than like a lot of area majority games is there's only three spots and everybody participates in each individual battle. Oftentimes, you know, like in Roth for example, there's a battle going on. It's not your concern because you're not over there. Here, you have to play a card down pretty much everywhere.

And and each of these spots, they're definitely worth fighting for. And the cards themselves, they had so much like tactical like really good tactical play because it's not just it's not just the numbers that you're looking for to to win that area. They also have a bunch of different like abilities.

Like one card has flank which allows it so that so like if I play it there and we and somebody wins there, I can move this card to another place that hasn't been fought over yet. And so you get this like really cool strategy that goes on. >> What's that flanking? >> I don't know that they just call it flank.

[laughter] They just call it flank and that's what a dude do. Oh, and oh, or assassin. Assassin lets you uh destroy other cards within the row. So, you're always kind of like looking at what other people are doing, trying to sus out like, okay, I think the person's going to try to fight for this one.

And you're so you're just hyperengaged every single turn with with what other people are doing with the battles themselves, the upgrades. You get to upgrade yourself and like become like a a sort of juggernaut, a powerhouse as the game goes on and like develop an identity. and they're all things that you can bid on just it's just a really good game and I don't think you're gonna like it [laughter] because it's really it's also aggressive.

It's it's aggressive. >> I can be aggressive, >> but it's not aggressive so that like you don't you don't attack people or anything. You just you're just trying to win the areas and I suppose you can take uh some things from some people, but it's not it's not it's not too bad. We'll give it a go maybe tomorrow or something and then we'll we'll report back if we like it or not.

>> Well, I do like it. Not we, you mean you. I love it. I think it's a great game. This is staying in the collection cuz if we can't play with you, I'm playing it with the boys because it's just it's a fantastic game. Um, >> I don't want to recommend going out to buy right away cuz like arcs, like I said, it's it's it can be it's going to be this year's divisive game, but you you got to find a way to just hop on the Discord.

Hop on the freaking Discord. The guys that taught me the game, they'll teach you the game. They love this thing. They'll just they'll teach it to anybody. >> I like how you're just giving them work to do. Like, if you're a part of our community, I'm so sorry. You just get volunteer people. >> No, listen.

When you're watching influencers, you should never blind by anything that I tell you I think is good. Don't. Don't. You and I might have drastically different tastes. And because Tabletop Simulator exists, you can test out every single game. Don't blind. Don't especially this one. This one's fairly expensive.

Don't blind buy it. Go online, test it out. >> They're watching reviews. They're not blind buying. They're listening to it first. >> Yeah, exactly. But I'm just kidding. Just listen to me. Buy what I tell you to buy. [laughter] Influenced influenced >> using only um his Amazon affiliates. >> I don't think I even post that anywhere.

I don't care. I should though. But yeah, it's old King's Crown. An amazing game. I I love just about everything about it. Yeah, if you've never played it, you have to play it on the Discord. >> Except for me. I don't have to play apparently >> eventually. >> My favorite game of 2025. >> And my number five >> is Ruins.

>> Ruins is a clever and fast-paced card game that uses translucent overlays to upgrade cards, much like Mystic Veil, but ties that system to a shared deck card shedding mechanic. Ruins is just a brilliant card game that is just like the zenith of this dude's like uh card crafting mechanic. I would say this and Unstoppable to see them both come out in the same year.

It's nice to see that that that mechanic finally be realized until it's like what I think is going to be its final form. This is the lighter version of it. And I think it's done really well here. There's so many things I love about this game, but I think what I want to share first is it is so easy. This game is it is so crazy easy.

>> What do you mean by easy? Like intuitive easy, not it's not like hard, but it's not >> it's so easy to play, so easy to teach, so easy to learn. It comes in a small little box. It's so easy to carry around. You're basically trying to get rid of the cards in your hand like >> the card shatter. >> Yeah.

Um, and the interesting element to this, why you can't just use a regular poker deck for it. So, like Mike mentioned, this um, mechanic, this creativity of having a sleeve on this card is you have these additional little acrylic plastic sleeve sheet things that you can slide into it. >> They're upgrades essentially, and you have three fire symbols, which is your currency to purchase the upgrades.

And what's cool is that like the upgrades themselves, they they on any given turn in a typical card shunner, you are just like you're to make a decision. Well, I'm going to get rid of these cards, I guess, cuz that's what I have. I have two twos and you have you place down two ones, so I'm going to get rid of these.

>> I would say even less than that, you have like often like not you don't often have a lot of decisions. You have like very few cards that you can put down for that specific like hand. But because there's upgrades in this game and they're available at all times and you have the the three resources to purchase them, it's just adding more good complexity, like good layers of depth to every decision that you're that you're making.

And it's fun. It's fun upgrading these cards and you get the extra layer of of coolness is that you only get two of your own uh possession sheets that essentially you can take control of a card. Uh because >> so every round when the cards get reshuffled, it those cards come back to you like you actually own those particular cards.

>> Because if you don't, they just they just go into the ether. They're lost into the deck and other people can draft them, which is just another layer of decision-m because right because it's you're you're thinking like, okay, I've upgraded this card, but is it worth taking ownership of it because I only have two ownership >> in the whole game?

And you can't you can't like change your mind later on like that. Once it's yours, it's yours forever. >> Exactly. >> There will still be many hands where you can't play anything and that's fine. >> Yeah. But there is still luck in this game. That's what that's what's going to b some people are going to bounce out this game because there is luck.

It's just the nature of of a card shedding game. >> But it's still so much more strategy than feel like you have more control than a typical card. >> Yeah. It's not autonomy because you can buy things, upgrade the cards, and then you can choose whether or not to play those cards right away cuz sometimes like if you have really good cards or you upgrade them to really like crazy stuff.

You can play it with that hand, but you might want to save it for later and it's not really something you have in traditional card shedding game when it's just like pull the cards, you just want to get rid of everything you have in your hand. So, it just allows for more strategy. And for me in particular, I have a lot of friends and family that don't play serious games.

So this is kind of like one step up from your typical just like poker card games where this introducing them to a bit more complex stuff. It is so so so fun to play and something I can imagine teaching and giving to everybody in my life. >> Absolutely. Ruins is one of those games where we talk about where we not a big fans of light games but sometimes a light game comes around that feels like it's punching well above its the weight class.

And for such a small little package with a tight little rule set that's so simple to explain, it is a game that packs a really good strategic depth. And yeah, Ruins is a great game. Fantastic game. And those were our favorite games of 2025. I think it was a it was a good year. Wasn't the best year, but it was a good year because there were some there's some games in here which I know are going to stay in my collection for quite some time.

Yeah, I've been seeing a lot at the end of the year for some reason like the death of board games, the death of a golden age, and all these other videos that are just like purposely inflammatory. Nonsense. It's all nonsense. Listen, I understand that it's overwhelming the amount of board games that are released every single year.

And yes, there's a lot more garbage released just but that is just by nature, the fact that there's just more games in general. It is just more incumbent on you to to to weed through the crap and hopefully we can assist a little in weeding through the plethora of like really mediocre games because there are some gems there.

You just you have to find them. >> Yeah. And I I would also say that like now for the channel gives us even more kind of motivation to look at more games and new games. But if we didn't have a channel and didn't have a huge collection or the space to have it all or the or financially could afford it all, don't look at like anyone's top list of games as to I need to go get all these games.

Like that's not it's not the point of it. The point is like if there's something that stands out to you like one out of the 18 or whatever that we showed and it stands out to you, like don't even have to buy it right away. Like think about it, try it online, see if your friends are interested in in it.

Like cuz I mean for me I know Mike has a lot of solo games but for me like board the whole point of play board games are to have a social time with like friends and family and if there's one that you think would resonate with your friends and family get that one. >> Yeah. So go and test these games or don't and just play the games that you have.

Happy New Year and all that crap. Lord's looking to 2026. Hope it's going to be awesome. Thank you very much for watching. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe and all that jazz. >> All the YouTube thing >> and all the YouTube stuff and join the Discord. I see a lot of you like you're watching the videos but you're not subscribing and that's naughty.

>> Oh responding to me when I said happy new year in the discord. I was like that's my one little >> nobody responded to there's the first message she made in the discord. She's like happy new year everybody. >> It was a big deal. We were like oh my friends I was like I would finally message Discord.

>> Anything I think cuz they were having a conversation about something else. >> No it was just silent. [laughter] >> Yeah you're on blast discord people. What the heck?