My Top 10 Board Games

By: Wing & Nguyen

This list was not ranked using high-tech statistical analysis, but rather features our opinions and feelings towards some of the board games we played before. Wing and I are just casual gamers, we are not a professional/hardcore board game reviewer. This list of board games, I believe be great for people who are new to board games or ease into the world of board games!

dixit 10) Dixit (2008)
This board game was created by Jean-Louis Roubira and looks beautiful thanks to Marie Cardouat. In this game, players take turns to be a storyteller. As the storyteller, he/she uses a sentence/lyric/a word to describe one of their 6 cards. Then, without showing the cards to other players, the storyteller puts out one card faced down. Each player selects the card in their hands that match “perfectly” the storyteller’s sentence/lyric/ a word. The storyteller shuffles all the cards and the players try to pick the storyteller’s card. It is really fun because it forces players to constantly re-evaluate the importance of cards as the game is played out.

Luck: 3/5
Strategy: 3/5
Game Design: 5/5
Players: 3-6
Rating: 3/5 Stars

9) Ticket to Ride (2004, 2005)
Alan R. Moon’s Ticket to Ride is a type of game where players are given train cards (in order to create rails) along with destination card(s) in which you need to know where to go from point A to point B. Players are required to plan out where they will spend those resources. Don’t be too obvious placing the rails or else the other players will block you!

Luck: 2/5
Strategy: 3.8/5
Game Design: 2.5/5
Players: 2-5
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

8) Settlers of Catan (1995)
An indie game-gone-viral, Settlers of Catan is a game that tests the strength of alliances and the disaccord between rivals. There are quite a few ways to win the game, but overall, players who attain a certain number of points first win the game. Players can place roads throughout the game to gain points and build cities or settlements. Settlers is a great example of a modern resource placement game type and is a must-try for all budding and seasoned board game fanatics!

Luck: 2/5
Strategy: 3.5/5
Game Design: 2.5/5
Players: 3-4 players
Rating: 3.2/5 Stars

tokaido 7) Tokaido (2012)
Does anyone like travelling? Well, Tokaido, designed by Antoine Bauza, is a game where players are travellers crossing the East Sea route in the Edo period of Japan from Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo). Each player have a unique character card with special abilities (e.g., The Geisha, The Messenger, The Artist, The Ronin, The Merchant, etc) and during your travel, the player will meet people, visit temples, visit banks, visit hot springs, eat wonderful meals, shopping, great panoramas and gain points according to the ability of the character. When everyone reaches the end of the road (Edo), the player with the best and most interesting travel journey wins (it is a point system game).

Luck: 2.5/5
Strategy: 4.5/5
Game Design: 5/5
Players: 2-5 players
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

coup 6) Coup (2012)
Think you have a poker face? Are you great at telling a white lie? If so, you have got to check out Coup! Coup is a bluffing game where you try to remain in the game the longest to survive. In the beginning of the game, each player is dealt two character cards. Each character card has a special ability which allows the player to gain coins faster, peek under the deck, switch their character card, and much more. Of course, there are only a limited amount of characters in each deck, so players may have to bluff their way through. However, be careful! If another player calls you out on your bluff and you were bluffing, you will lose your character card.

Luck: 2/5
Strategy: 4/5
Game Design: 3/5
Players: 2-6 players
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

sushigo 5) Sushi Go!, Sushi Go Party! (2013, 2016)

You guys love Maki, Sashimi, Nigiri and so forth? This card game created by Phil Walker-Harding is the game for you! In this game, individuals are eating at a sushi restaurant (its more like eating along the conveyor belt lol) and are trying to grab the best combo of sushi dishes. Players can try to take the type of sushi your opponents want in order to ruin their opponent’s combo…or should I say “meal”. This game is basically a combination of your love for sushi and counting cards. It is great for kids!

Luck: 2.5/5
Strategy: 4/5
Game Design: 5/5
Players: 2-5 players
Rating: 4.6/5 Stars

Avalon 4) The Resistance: Avalon (2012)
Don Eskridge’s bluffing game give players hidden roles (e.g., Good vs., Evil). Players must use these secret roles in order to achieve/complete the five missions. No joke, this game can ruin your friendships! Player gives up about their role through completing or not completing their missions. This game is fantastic for everyone because it causes players to evaluate and re-evaluate their friends and the situation at hand.

Luck: 4/5
Strategy: 4/5
Game Design: 3.5/5
Players: 5-10 players
Rating: 4.6/5 Stars

3) Patchwork (2014)
The creator Uwe Rosenberg made a two player game that focuses on making the most pleasing looking (high scoring) quilt on a 9×9 board. This game is challenging in my opinion, near the end of the game I thought I would beat Wing, but I was wrong LOL! This is a great game for competitive couples! 😉

Luck: 3/5
Strategy: 4.5/5
Game Design: 2.5/5
Players: 2 players
Rating: 4.6/5 Stars

2) Codenames (2015)
Vlaada Chvatil’s Codename is a deduction game, where two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents and the spymasters are given small amounts of known information (a number and a word related to their agents) to convey this information. It is up to the spymaster teammates to use the information provided by their spymaster to narrow down what they think the agent will be. This type of game is for everyone, it is essentially a more interesting and competitive charade game!

Luck: 2/5
Strategy: 4.5/5
Game Design: 3/5
Players: 2-8 players
Rating: 4.7/5 Stars

1) Forbidden Desert (2013)
Matt Leacock’s cooperative board game is all about teamwork. Every player works together as a team in order to complete the mission or fail together; it’s that simple! This was the first ever cooperative game I (Nguyen) have ever played. I’m known to be a competitive person who loves facing the odds/challenges (e.g., 1vs.1 or 1 vs. All); therefore, I thought I would hate cooperative games. Lo and behold, Wing bought this game and I have loved it ever since! This game is very simple to learn and it is very challenging! It is great for date nights!