Top Ten Favorite Board/Card Games

I have always liked board games, and I am always up for a game of just about anything. I also like top ten list, and it has been a while since I have posted one. So this seems like a good reason to post my top ten board/card games in dramatic descending order.

10. Citadels
Citadels is a fun game for a group of people. Each person takes a role every turn that gives them different bonuses and benefits. The goal is to get the most points building a city. What makes the game interesting is the roles change every turn and some of the roles like Assassin and Thief target other players. There is a lot of intrigue in this game as players try to figure out who has what role. I like this game because it has simple strategic decisions and a lot of social interaction.

9. Say Anything
This is the best party game that I have ever played. It is sort of like the more popular Apples to Apples, only much better. One player ask a question, and then everyone else writes any answer they want for that question. The question asker then secretly picks the answer they like and everyone else bets on what they picked. It always leads to a lot of laughs. I have played Say Anything with several different groups of people and it always goes well.

8. Blue Moon City
Blue Moon City is a board game relative to a card game I really like called Blue Moon. This game is kind of hard to describe. Players are trying to rebuild a city, and they play sets of cards to do so. I have only played the game with two players, but it supports four and I would love to do that sometime.

7. Pandemic
Everyone that I have taught this game to as really liked it. Pandemic is a co-operative game where up to four players work together to save the world from deadly viruses. What I really like about this game is when we lose it feels like we were about to win. When we win it feels like we almost lost. I am really looking forward to the expansion that comes out this summer.

6. Small World
This is my newest game, and I think that it raise higher. I really, really like Small World. It is technically a "war game" as the goal for the players is to take a civilization and conquer as much of the board as possible. However, the game never really feels adversarial as it is impossible to get eliminated, and players are always looking for new civilizations to get more points out of. Every time the game is played, the civilizations are random. I can not get enough of this game, and I really want to play it more.

5. The Settlers of Catan
This is one of Abigail's favorite games, and I really like it too. The Settlers of Catan is a game where players build settlements and cities on an island for points. What makes the game fun is that the players do not always have the resources they need to build what they want so they have to trade with other players. I really like the dynamic of this as each trade is mutually beneficial, but there can be only one winner so people make trades that hopefully benefit them more than the competition.

4. Stone Age
This is another game that I have only recently acquired but from my first play I really fell in love with it. In Stone Age each player has little cavemen workers that they assign to various tasks such as hunt, gather one of four types of resources, farm, or reproduce. The resources that the players get are then converted into victory points. However, there is not enough space on the board for every player to get to do what they want every turn, so players have to make the best of what they have available to them. I also really like that there are multiple paths to victory, and each one is viable.

3. Dominion
In middle school and high school I was all about the collectible card games. Sadly, those are money pits but I still really like the idea of deck building. Dominion is all about deck building. Each player starts out with three points and seven pieces of copper. These copper cards are used to buy more cards that do different things. Eventually the players get gold which can be used to buy victory points. Whoever gets the most victory points wins. What I like about this game is that the game is all about building a deck. Every game of Dominion has 10 types of cards that players can buy. However, the game has 25 total cards, this creates millions of possible combinations, so every game is different.

2. Memoir'44
Memoir '44 is a two player war game that simulates WWII battles. I like that it has a customizable board so that there are hundreds of scenarios that can be played. The game is easy to play. Players play cards to determine which units can be ordered, and combat is resolved by rolling special dice. The game mixes luck, strategy and accessibility really well.


1. Race for the Galaxy
Race for the Galaxy is my absolute favorite game. However, it is not very friendly to first time players and it is a bit hard to explain. Essentially players compete to create goods and then consume the goods for victory points. To accomplish this there are several phases each turn, but every phase may not happen as each player secretly chooses on each turn. There are a lot of strategies to Race for the Galaxy, and it is very satisfying to get one working. Race for the Galaxy also sets up and plays quick so Abigail and I play it regularly.