By: Blaze Aldrich | May 6, 2024
11 Best Board Games To Start Your Collection
Are you just starting to build your board game collection or trying to find a new amazing board game to play? Great! But I warn you, you may spend endless amounts of money & time in this hobby finding yourself in an abyss blackhole of board games. You start buying a ton of games having good intentions, but end up not playing a lot of them....Okay enough about me, here are some incredible board games that you should play because a lot of them introduce you to new board game mechanics. In addition, these games are definitely not your grandmother's games. Upgrade your game play and expand your collection with modern board gaming. These games are not listed in a particular order, but instead cover many different gaming mechanics.
11. Dominion (Deck Building)
Dominion was the first popular deck building game ever created. It still stands the test of time. A deck-building board game is a type of tabletop game where players start with a basic set of cards and gradually build and customize their deck throughout the game. Players do this by acquiring better and more powerful cards. Dominion helps introduce this new mechanic in such a seamless and simple way that creates a very enjoyable game night.
10. Catan (City Building)
Catan board game is another OG modern board game that turned Monopoly on its head. Catan was one of the first popular city builders. City building in a board game refers to a game mechanic where players construct and develop a city or settlement within game. Catan introduces players to this mechanic in an effortless way. Players roll dice, gather resources, and use those resources to build cities. Simple as that!
9. Castles of Burgundy (Dice Rolling)
If you enjoy rolling dice, The Castles of Burgundy board game is for you. The major problem with rolling dice is the luck aspect, but with Castles of Burgundy you can alleviate the luck by manipulating your dice rolls. Technically this game is a city builder as well since you are gathering tiles and building out your city "Dutchy". This top board game of all time allows players to choose from a plethora of options and choices during the game. If you can afford the special edition with 3D minis, I'd go for it! Well...I already have.
8. Lost Ruins of Arnak (Worker Placement)
There are many games that come to mind for Worker Placement Games, but Lost Ruins of Arnak board game is on the top of my list. Worker placement is a popular board game mechanic where players assign their limited pool of workers (Meeples) to various locations or actions on a shared game board. This mechanic involves strategic decision-making, resource management, and competition among players to optimize their actions and achieve game objectives. In Lost Ruins of Arnak, players are adventuring into the jungle to find different artifacts and idols to earn victory points. Such a unique spin on Worker Placement and it's also a semi deck builder. So enjoy!
7. Skull (Bluffing)
Skull where it's all about bluffing your opponent. I enjoy games where I can be cunning and deceitful, tells you a lot about my personality. haha JK. Skull is the essence of bluffing, played entirely in players' minds. Each player places a face-down card and then takes turns adding cards until someone claims they can reveal only roses. Bidding continues, with the highest bidder revealing cards. Winning means showing only roses; revealing a skull results in losing a card. Two successful challenges win the game, relying on strategy and eye contact, not luck.
6. Decrypto (Party Game)
When you have a large group of 5+ players, it's always a great idea to own at least one party game. Decrypto is definitely one of these novel board games where everyone splits up into two teams. In Decrypto, teams decode messages using hidden words and intercepted codes. Players give clues based on numbered codes, hoping teammates guess correctly to avoid failure. The game ends when a team earns two white marks (win) or two black marks (lose). This is so much fun when you think you know how other people think while they provide clues. Just to find out, you have no idea how their complex brain works.
5. Carcassonne: The Castle (Tile Placement)
Carcassonne board game made tile placement very popular throughout the gaming community and laid the foundation for other tile placement games. Carcassonne: The Castle is a two player version which is a distinctive version of this game. Tile placement is a board game mechanic where players strategically position tiles on a shared game board to achieve specific objectives, score points, or create patterns. In Carcassonne: The Castle, tile placement is confined within castle walls, limiting choices. Scoring uses heralds (paths), knights (towers), squires (houses), and merchants (courtyards with markets). Points are earned for the largest completed house ("keep") and the largest contiguous unplayed tile area at game end. Bonus tiles from the walls modify scoring, like doubling structure scores or rewarding incomplete structures.
4. Modern Art (Auction)
Do you enjoy bidding for stuff in a board game? In Modern Art engaging in art commerce can be highly profitable. Five artists have created a variety of paintings, and players must navigate the dual roles of buyer and seller to maximize profits. Each turn, a player auctions a painting from their hand, aiming to earn money when others purchase it, but risking payment to the bank if they buy it themselves. At the end of each round, painting values are determined by the number sold. The player with the most cash after four rounds claims victory as the top broker.
3. The Crew (Cooperative)
If you revel in board games where you get to work together with everyone to successfully conquer a game, cooperative games are a must. In "The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine," players embark on a space adventure as astronauts facing mysterious rumors about an unknown planet. This cooperative game features over 50 thrilling missions where players must collectively complete individual tasks. Effective communication is vital to overcome diverse challenges in space. The game's difficulty increases with each mission, focusing on playing the right tricks at the right moments rather than sheer quantity.
2. Pandemic Legacy Season 1 (Legacy)
Legacy board games are a unique genre of board games characterized by evolving gameplay and permanent changes to the game over multiple play sessions. This means ripping up cards, adding new elements to the game, and modifying the game board. Pandemic Legacy Season 1 is a cooperative campaign game played over 12-24 sessions, starting like basic Pandemic. Players, as disease-fighting specialists, must treat hotspots and cure four plagues. Each turn, players take up to four actions like traveling, building stations, treating diseases, trading cards, or discovering cures using unique abilities. After actions, players draw cards, including epidemics causing outbreaks and panic levels. Each month provides two chances to achieve objectives. Success progresses the story, while failure allows a second attempt with extra funding for helpful event cards.
1. Heat: Pedal To The Metal (Push Your Luck)
Heat: Pedal To The Metal board game is a push your luck game where players utilize their cards to race around the track as fast as possible without catching, you guessed it, HEAT! A push-your-luck board game is a type of board game where players must decide whether to continue taking risks or stop before their luck runs out and they lose everything. Push your luck is so fun because sometimes you can go further and further becoming super successful, but if you are unlucky, you can blow-up in a couple of turns.
Bonus. Junk Art (Jenga)
Do you remember Jenga as a kid, pushing each block making sure the whole tower didn't come tumbling down? JENGA! Now imagine building a tower with inapt objects that don't go very well together. Yup, that's Junk Art! In Junk Art, players use over sixty colorful wooden or plastic components in various game modes. I prefer the wooden version fyi. Players are dealt cards representing different parts. On a turn, a player offers two cards to their neighbor, who keeps one card and uses the corresponding part to build. If anything falls, play continues. The player with the tallest structure at the end wins.
Final Thoughts
All these games are great to familiarize yourself with many different board game mechanics. Once you get the hang of them all, you can go out and explore more complex and heavier games. I went from Dominion to Clank and Catan to Everdell. Either way you'll have an absolute blast playing these game changing games. I hope you find a new favorite from this list. Let us know what games you think other people should have in their collection. Happy Gaming!
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