Third part of my Top 100 list. Here’s the previous part.
50–48
Qwixx — Delightful filler game with dice. I’ve made an online score sheet for the game.
Pantheon — This is the highest-ranking Bernd Brunnhofer title on my list, beating St. Petersburg and Stone Age. Is it a better game than the two, especially Stone Age? I’m not sure (the difference between Stone Age and Pantheon was just three points, so it’s not a big difference), but I’ve been playing this recently and enjoying the game: it works quite well with just two players. There are cool timing schemes in the game, and the final rounds in particular can be brutally fast: so fast that in a three-player game the third player won’t necessarily even get a move. Better time the previous round right! Clever game, if a bit unknown, and I kind of understand why – but I like it.
London — A Martin Wallace city-building game. Pretty neat, but I’m not sure this has serious lasting power. I don’t know; I had a long break and didn’t really feel like getting back to the game, but when I did, this was certainly a fun game to play. I have a feeling I’ll get a bit stuck on the strategies, reducing the long-term interest in the game.
47–46
Europa Tour — This is strictly a family game for me. We’ve been playing this a lot with my son. He’ll learn some European geography at the same time… I like Rummy games, and this is a nice example of the genre. The game works really well with two players; probably better than with four players. Might be fun to get 10 Days in America or 10 Days in Africa just to get some new geography.
Love Letter — Lovely filler. Sure this is really random, but it’s also fun. Elimination can be a fun game mechanism, this is such a short game that I’m not at all offended. This is always great fun to play.
45–44
Halli Galli Extreme — Halli Galli is good, but Halli Galli Extreme is even better. The new cards make the reaction test even more tricky – but of course also makes it harder to get the game on the table as well. Win some, lose some…
Trans Europa+ — I used to dislike TransAmerica, but I’ve come to my senses. This is actually quite good. Family game, of course, and this works well with two players as well. Actually, the game works quite well with any number of players. My son is pretty good in this, and has beaten adults in this. That’s always fun.
43–41
String Railway: Transport — The more complicated version of String Railway (which will appear later on this list). This is interesting, but few people seemed like it except me. Thus, this gets played very rarely. Shame, but I agree that it’s not quite as good as the original version.
New York Central — This is a Winsome title from 2006 and reprinted in 2010. I got the reprint, eventually got it played and then proceeded to create a pretty DIY version. I wonder why this hasn’t been republished by a bigger publisher, because this is quite the good game. Well, it’s a bit clunky, and the first-time players will be confused, but I think the game is rewarding enough to make it worth the effort.
Wabash Cannonball — Classic Winsome train game. We used to play this quite a bit when the game was new, but it has been pushed aside a bit, particularly as the guys who most enjoyed this don’t come to the game nights often anymore. But I still think this is a very good share-and-a-train game.