It’s been a couple of years since we’ve done a Top 50 Blog for Zatu, so this year I decided to take on the task of getting as many bloggers as I could muster to send me their top 20 games lists. These lists were input into a magic machine (google sheets) and pivot tables were created to help give me a definitive (of sorts) Top 50 list! Over 400 games were put forward for the list, which has seen a fair number of changes since our last edition. A huge thanks to all the Bloggers who helped me pull this together and I hope you enjoy reading about some of our writers’ favourite games.
1. Ark Nova – Imogen Usher
I don’t think I will ever tire of playing Ark Nova, although it’s not necessarily an easy game to get to the table. The setup takes time, and the playtime is long. At first it does look complicated and fiddly with multiple boards brimming with iconography, but once you get going and things start to fall into place, it’s perfection.
Players are designing and managing a modern zoo balancing entertainment, science, and conservation. You’ll juggle five core actions (Build, Animals, Cards, Association, and Sponsors) to expand your zoo, play animals, and fund global conservation projects. The rotating action-card system, where card abilities grow stronger the longer they’re left unused, creates a brilliant sequence of planning, patience, and payoff.
Every play feels fresh with over two hundred animal and sponsor cards, multiple zoo maps, and variable conservation goals. One game you might focus on reptiles, the next on the wildlife of a specific continent, or dive into the Marine Worlds expansion, which adds even more variety without complicating the core experience. Even for those uneasy about real-world zoos, the heart of the game lies in conservation and education, not profit or entertainment. It can be difficult to win without some focus on the conservation projects.
It’s not just our favourite, Ark Nova currently sits at number three overall on Board Game Geek and was the second most played game in September. That’s remarkable for a heavyweight game that’s neither new nor quick to set up. However, people keep making the time to play because Ark Nova is endlessly replayable, deeply satisfying, and absolutely worth the time investment. It’s a modern masterpiece that proves thoughtful design can make even the most complex games utterly addictive
2. Wingspan/Finspan/Wyrmspan – Ian Paczek
The three games (so far!) in the series are Wingspan, Wyrmspan, and Finspan. They have similar mechanics, but they each have their own idiosyncrasies. However, it definitely makes learning Wyrmspan and Finspan easier if you have already learnt and played Wingspan. What they have in common is that they are each played over four rounds. The three games all have cards – bird cards, wyrm cards plus cave cards, and fish cards. They also all have eggs.
Wingspan, the grandaddy of *-span games, the one that started it all and the most developed of the three with several expansions and a big box (“the Nesting Box”). There’s also an app, which will scan a card and play the song of that particular bird.
In Wingspan, the object is to play bird cards and score points. Laying eggs, tucking cards, caching food, and meeting the round objective all score points. Birds are played to one of three different habitats – forest, grassland, and wetland. Activating a habitat on your turn will activate all of your birds in that habitat too.
Wingspan is best described as a tableau builder crossed with an engine builder and a resource economy to manage on top. It’s great fun and very competitive as players scramble for the best cards and the resources to play them. Each round you give up a player token to score the round’s objective. Thus, the number of turns you take decreases each round.
Wyrmspan introduces the idea of cave cards. The habitats of Wingspan are replaced by cave systems that have to be prepared – by playing a cave card – before a dragon can be hatched there. There is also a dragon guild, which provides bonuses on a rondel that players move around. Turns are governed by coins and, while you start with 6, it is possible to gain more temporarily. Unlike Wingspan, you don’t give up a player action token to score the round.
In some ways, Finspan is the simplest of the three games. There are three dive sites, which replace the three habitats and three cave systems. Finspan introduces young, which hatch from eggs, and schools, which form from three young. Like the other two games, you score from cards, eggs, tucked cards, objectives, and now young and schools.
All three games are excellent, well produced and have lots of replayability.
3. Terraforming Mars – L.N Hunter
Terraforming Mars is one of my favourite games with its mix of card drafting, engine building, and tile placement. It’s by no means the only game occupying that space: Ark Nova and Underwater Cities, to name but two. However, the Terraforming Mars theme calls to me, perhaps because I grew up with programmes like Space 1999 () and Blake’s 7. It’s sometimes remarked that the game’s artwork is so-so, but I find it quite appealing—again, perhaps because of the TV of my youth!
Gameplay is fairly straightforward: buy and play ‘project’ cards along with placing tiles on a shared map, aiming to terraform the planet by increasing temperature, water and oxygen levels while maximising your own score. I like the trade-off between racing to the finish vs taking time to maximise points, which requires keeping an eye on what other players’ strategies appear to be.
While some people enjoy the slow early stages of the game where everyone’s juggling incredibly limited resources, I prefer to get going more quickly, so always include the Prelude expansion, which kickstarts the game via a couple of fairly powerful project-like cards.
There are several other expansions, all of which work fairly well together, though I do find them a bit of a mixed bag—some add interesting mechanics, whereas I find others add little more than extra game time. (If you want to find out more about the whole game universe, check out Navigating Mars elsewhere on this blog.)
I also like that some of the cards in the game are labelled ‘corporate era’ (i.e., increased difficulty), and when my group wants just a quick Mars fix, we can remove or ignore those cards, which also adds to the game’s popularity here.
4. Lost Ruins of Arnak – David (board)
The first thing that attracted me to the game was the theme and the look. The idea of being an explorer in a beautiful and mysterious land was so appealing. I first tried it at a board game café, knowing very little about the game. However, I was soon hooked and had to purchase it for myself.
The mix of mechanisms work so well and are held together by the theme. Deckbuilding, moving up tracks and worker placement are some of my favourite mechanisms. Combine this with exploration, multiuse cards and beautiful aesthetics and this game becomes the perfect package.
Lost Ruins of Arnak gives you a real sense of progression. As you build your deck and move up tracks you find yourself able to have bigger and bigger turns. Gaining item cards that give you free actions and allow you to draw additional cards leads to satisfying combos.
The game also offers you different paths to pursue. You can focus on moving up the exploration track or exploring more sites to gain idols. Perhaps you concentrate on obtaining artifacts and item cards for victory points. Or maybe defeating guardians for their end game points and one-off abilities to help you on the path to victory. This decision space provides plenty of replayability and encourages players to experiment with different strategies.
Adding to the replayability is the additional content now available. The expedition leaders add asymmetric abilities, whilst the Missing Expedition adds a campaign for solo of 2 player co-op as well as two new leaders to try. Twisted Paths is the latest expansion offering new maps and gameplay.
Lost Ruins has so much to offer and so much to explore. It looks beautiful, plays smoothly and gives the player a real sense of achievement. It creates a deep and satisfying puzzle in a game that never outstays its welcome.
5. Brass Birmingham – Ben Ying
Brass Birmingham is one of those rare board games that perfectly blends strategy, theme, and tension into a deeply satisfying experience. Every session feels like a journey through the Industrial Revolution, where clever planning, tough decisions, and timing determine who rises to the top. What I love most about Brass: Birmingham is how elegantly it balances complexity and clarity. The rules are rich and it does take a little bit to pick up and get used to, but once you are familiar, you’re hooked and keep coming back for more!
I love the long-term vs short-term decision making in the game, the thrill of flipping your goods right before your opponent, the anguish when everything has been set up just right, only for your opponent to thwart you by taking the last beer! The game constantly tests my ability to plan ahead—building canals, connecting cities, and developing industries while anticipating how others might block or benefit from my network. It’s not just about building my own empire; it’s about reading opponents and finding the most efficient path within a shared economy. That dynamic interaction makes every playthrough unique.
Most of all, Brass Birmingham delivers a sense of intellectual fulfillment – bringing out deep strategic thinking while still being a social experience. It’s challenging, but never frustrating; competitive, but never arbitrary. Win or lose, I always feel like I’ve learned something new about efficiency, timing, and opportunity. It’s a game that rewards patience, precision, and creativity—a true masterpiece of modern board gaming.
6. Everdell – Jacob Dunkley
Everdell is a beautiful tableau builder where you create a woodland city filled with different creatures and buildings in a bid to get the most points. It has an incredible table presence, with a giant tree holding the cards and scoring objectives, as well as cute wooden animal meeples to unlock in future seasons. On your turn, you will either send one of your workers out into the forest to collect resources, or play cards into your tableau which could earn you new resources, or unlock new spots to place your workers. It is charming and not too complicated to play, offering interesting decisions on each turn. As you progress through each season, you will trigger cards and gain new workers making the final round an exciting rush for the most points possible.
We played so much of the base game of Everdell, that I decided to invest into the huge complete version of the game featuring all the expansions. What I love about the game is that you can mix and choose the expansions as you need. We tend to always play with Newleaf and Bellfaire, mixing in other expansions as needed. I’m not quite brave enough to get them all out at once though.
Even just with the base game, there are so many cards and paths to victory each game, and if you don’t win, you can still feel happy in the woodland city you’ve created over the course of the game.
7. Azul (all versions) – Charlotte C
My family has a tradition whereby every Christmas we purchase a new board game and enjoy it together as a family over the holiday period. Three years ago that purchase fell to me and my choice was Azul, and from the moment we began playing, we all knew it was a good choice. To put it quite simply, Azul is a tile-placement game where players score points by creating a mosaic of decorative tiles with logic and precision.
I originally looked into Azul Master Chocolatier, Azul Summer Pavilion, and Azul Stained Glass of Sintra, and decided on the original Azul because of its originality and simplicity, given that I hadn’t really seen any reviews and I would be playing with my child, I didn’t want anything too complex or too expensive and Azul fit the bill. I love how super simple Azul is to set up and play, and how the double-sided player board means we can choose between an easier or a more difficult game, and it brings out a touch of the competitive side in all of us.
Azul is a great pick-me-up game when we want something that isn’t too lengthy or too complicated that still provides us with a bit of puzzle solving and logical thinking. I often play Azul with my young son (now 9) who loved the game from day one, and my husband too, but we recently introduced his parents to Azul and they fell in love with it so we’ll be treating them to a copy of the new Azul Duel for Christmas this year. My parents also enjoy playing from time to time, and since our purchase, one of our less-into-games friends purchased a copy of Azul Summer Pavilion. A great starter game; Azul has been a hit with everyone.
8. Scythe – Director Dan
Scythe was the board game that got me into miniature painting. It is a game that sees you lock a series of mech minis to stomp around a shared map in the pursuit of resources and area control, and those unique mechs absolutely call out to be painted! What I love about Scythe is that it may look like a big scary, ‘fighty’ game, but is actually a deep and crunchy engine building, action selection game.
Each player starts with an asymmetric set of boards that represent different factions, each of which have specific powers you need to unlock.
The puzzle of deciding what to lock, and when and which powers to upgrade first is really fun and can dramatically change the game. I encourage you to check out Scythe and if it looks scary and complicated to you, I promise that its bark is a lot worse than its bite!
9. Sky Team – Paul W
There may be bigger games out there, flashier ones, games with more mechanics and storytelling, but for me and my partner, Sky Team is simply our favourite game.
An impeccable two player co op game where you’re playing as pilot and co-pilot trying to land a plane through a variety of different challenges and little puzzles, with escalating difficulty that makes every play of it fresh and exciting.
You and your fellow pilot will roll dice behind a screen, and without discussing anything (apart from before you roll your dice), place each dice tactically on the board, as you look to safely land on the runway. Each of you is responsible for different parts of the landing, and the success or failure of your game is dependent on somehow silently coordinating with each other what you have rolled, what you can do and where you can best help.
After just a few games Sky Team somehow helps you develop an almost telepathic synergy with your partner; me and my wife have never been on the same page so much as when
playing this game!
It totally nails its theme, with the games feeling tense and difficult, like how I imagine it feels landing a massive plane through stormy weather! It comes in a lightweight box so easy for taking with you on holiday or even to the pub, and each game takes no more than 20 minutes.
I can’t describe it as anything other than a perfect two player co-op game. It continually had us coming back for more, to the point where every scenario was soon completed, and the excellent add on Sky Team: Turbulence Expansion had to be bought for more piloting excellence. Developers Scorpion Masque landed the execution of this game perfectly.
10. Patchwork – Phil
If I could keep only one two-player board game, it would have to be Patchwork. The reason is simple: it holds a special place in my heart. It was the first two-player game my wife and I bought together when we began our board gaming journey all those years ago. Even now, it finds its way to our table every year, and we always enjoy it thoroughly.
Patchwork, designed by the brilliant Uwe Rosenberg, is now over 15 years old. Yet, it still ranks among the top 200 games of all time on BoardGameGeek. Even though I lose every time we play, I love it just as much as she does. It’s perfect for two players, I couldn’t imagine playing it with more. The ability to block your opponent from getting the perfect patch is all part of the fun. There’s also a strategic layer: if the player ahead of you takes a large piece and moves far along the time track, you might get the chance to grab several smaller, cheaper pieces and start filling in your board more efficiently.
The more I play Patchwork, the more I appreciate its brilliance. It’s not just that it’s quick and easy to set up but I also love the tactical decisions involved in choosing and placing the patches, and the puzzle-like challenge of fitting them perfectly onto your board. But for me, the real joy lies in trying to beat my wife. I have managed it once or twice… but my ultimate goal is to become the undisputed Patchwork champion in our household.
11. Heat: Pedal To The Metal – Pete Bartlam
Heat! Pedal to the Metal is right enough as your classic 64 racer shoots off the line to jostle with the pack of other daring drivers to get around that all-important first corner. With the clever automata “Legends” system you will always have a full grid of 6 (up to 8 with the expansions) cars racing on demanding tracks based on Great Britain, France, USA and Italy.
This gives you ample chance to slipstream and gain a quick advantage or maybe block.
Granerud and Pedersen’s elegant design gives you easy to grasp choices between burning your engine for early advantage or holding on for maximum effect. There’s just enough luck in the draw of the cards to stop races being a foregone procession but good hand management and forward planning are justly rewarded.
The basic system with its 6 cars and 4 tracks gives a lot of replayability plus there are add-on extra rules for Weather and Road Conditions and a Garage Module so customise your car and partake in a multi-race championship.
Expansions come out at regular intervals. We already have Tunnel Vision which gives you the tracks of Spain and the Netherlands and a smart Purple car to navigate the dark tunnels whereas Heavy Rain sees a new Orange car added to the pack around the flooded circuits of Japan and Mexico. Rocky Roads is due out in 2026.
Personally I enjoy the simplicity of the base system whilst always racing against a full grid and just take the expansions for the extra cars and tracks. All the add-on rules are optional so just race it your way and put your Pedal to the Metal!
12. Harmonies – Steve (one half of Peaches and Meeples)
Board games can be beautiful, and Harmonies is up there as one of the most gorgeous little games you can buy. All the components are produced with love and care, with the tiles being painted wooden pieces, and the art on the animal cards just gorgeous to look at. This game provides you a cosy, calm, yet ‘thinky’ experience. You select animal cards, to try and score by drafting and placing your tiles in set formations or towers, which form habitats for your animals. But you also get points by placing the habitat features in sets, or of certain heights, or in the case of buildings, they have to be adjacent to a set number of other habitat colours. This means you are constantly trading off between building those really long rivers, groups of tall mountains, or scoring cards.
This is not a game you will find tense or stressful, but is a game you will constantly be reassessing life choices, when you select a card that needs certain tiles that just don’t seem to ever be available.
This is definitely one of our most played and best games in our collection. Harmonies doesn’t lack in any area, and there is plenty of replayability, but we love this game so much we can’t help but want more. Our hope is that Harmonies finds itself a small expansion of more animal cards to add directly to the game with no additional rules. That said, even if it never does get an expansion, this game will remain a firm favourite and will always keep making its way to the table.
13. Viticulture – Director Dan
Viticulture was the very first worker placement game that I played and so has a very fond place in my heart. But it’s not just nostalgia that makes this reach so high in my list of top games. Viticulture sees you set up your own vineyard but planting vines, harvesting grapes and finally making wine in order to fulfil orders. Not to mention a whole host of visitors that can offer all sorts of bonuses. But what makes this game shine is the fact that you must place your workers in season order and if a worker is used in spring, it can then no longer be used for the rest of the year. This creates a really interesting decision space as you figure out which workers to lose early on and which to keep for later.
Not to mention the introduction of the ‘grande’ worker, a special piece that can go to a worker placement pace even if there is another player there! This game drips in theme and because of this it is incredibly easy to teach but offers lots of depth. Finally, it is a great excuse to crack out the cheeseboard and pop open a chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc!
14. Spirit Island – Josh Potter
Spirit Island is the best combination of everything I love about board games. Its design is flawless, providing a rich – and very challenging – game where every single decision matters. Unlike many complex games in which competitive decision-making can divide players of different experience levels, its cooperative nature turns the game into a collective challenge of sink or swim. And because each spirit is unique, the game each player is playing has subtle differences that forces a sort of true cooperation among players. No single spirit leads the charge.
And the theme. Oh, the theme. I love a board game with a good theme and Spirit Island incorporates its theme into every aspect of the game. From the white plastic pieces that represent the colonizers; to the wooden mushroom-like pieces that represent the local inhabitants; to the grey blotchy circles that represent wasted land. It makes you feel like you’re in the fight. Even the mechanisms of the individual spirits make you feel like you’re inhabiting that specific spirit. Lightning feels like lightning. Thunder feels like thunder. The spirit of nightmares – the most complicated spirit in the base game – feels like the spirit of nightmares (I would assume. I’ve never actually inhabited the spirit of nightmares).
I love this game. But now, there is a public service announcement about this game that I must add. And it is this: this is a complex game. It is not a light game and it is not a short game (expect at least two hours).
It is an investment. And the last thing I would want is you picking it up thinking it will be a walk in the park. But if you’re looking for a meaty game, something that gives as much as it asks, then this will be a phenomenal game.
15. Cascadia – Hector Scott
Cascadia is undoubtedly the best-looking game in my collection. The great outdoors theme is ruggedly endearing, and the gameplay simple, but with adequate strategy to make it interesting. Piece together your tiles to make the largest tessellating group of each type of terrain (mountain, forest, prairie, wetland and river), while at the same time scoring for groups of animals (bear, elk, fox, hawk and salmon). Each turn, you choose from one of four available hexagonal tiles, and one of four animal tokens.
So far, so easy. Herein lies the rub. What strategy do I go for? Do I pluck for long runs of salmon, or am I better off trying to triangulate my hawks? And will the tile and token draw go my way? Sometimes I like to conurbate my foxes, which is as tricky as it sounds, but the risk can yield great rewards, both in terms of points, and the smug satisfaction of knowing I’ve played a blinder.
I love the animal part of it, but it’s the tiles that draw most of my affection. Each hex is either one, two, or three terrains, and unlike many games, you don’t have to join the same type together. But man, it feels weird if you don’t. It might be the sensible choice to stick forest next to mountain, because it has the bear icon on it, and if—if, if, if—you draw a bear token, you can complete your group, but it doesn’t sit right with me.It ruins the aesthetically pleasing nature of the game. And I can’t think of any other game that does this to me, calming down my competitive urges in pursuit of pretty patterns. It is still a game though, with a winner and losers. Each play of Cascadia is close.
There are no wild winning margins. And that makes it all the more lovely.
16. Apiary – Ian Paczek
Apiary is a game about bees in space. It’s worker placement – actual workers, not meeples or anything, these are bees! Well, they’re dice, shaped like bees that can rotate to show a number from 1 to 4 uppermost. This is the power of the action, the more junior workers are weaker, while the more mature are stronger.
There are many ways to gain victory points in the game – filling your player mat with tiles, building tiles (farm, recruit, development, and carving), planting seed cards, hibernating your workers, and by gaining the favour of her majesty. There are a few other ways to pick up extra points too. This means there are a lot of things to watch and balance – focus too heavily on one particular area and you’ll drop the ball elsewhere. There are five resources in the game, three basic (pollen, water, and fiber) and two advanced (wax and honey).
The game ends when the hibernation comb is full of hibernation tokens or one player places their seventh and last token. The hibernation comb awards points by sector majority, so there’s a mini area control race happening there.
Apiary is a super fun game with engine-building, worker-placement, resource-management and lots of player interaction. You compete for actions, tiles, resources, and spaces, plus workers can be bumped by opponents and even your own workers. It’s very easy to pick up since the core mechanic is worker placement, but there is plenty of crunch to it once you understand the game. Top tip – keep on the queen’s good side.
17. Mysterium – David Newman
The concept of Mysterium is fairly simple: one player takes the role of a murdered ghost who must give illustrated cards (‘visions’) to the other players in order to guide the players to a different possible version of their demise (culprit, location and weapon) before a final vote to see if the players can identify the correct scenario and avenge the ghost.
As a huge fan of murder mysteries across all media, I couldn’t help but be charmed by Mysterium’s deep love for the genre. The Gothic art-style of the location cards, the murder suspects harkening to literary archetypes and even the design of the pieces highlight how Mysterium is as much a love letter to the 1920s Golden era of detective fiction as a board game.
Beyond the setting, the gameplay itself is delightfully easy to pick up and you can feel like a veteran after only a few short rounds. That doesn’t mean it will quickly run out of novelty though. Since the heart of the game lies around the unspoken communication between the ghost and the other players via interpretation of vision cards, the variations in cards, players and even the player’s mindsets depending on occasion yield an almost endless supply of experiences and outcomes. As a result, whenever I go to a board game evening, Mysterium is the first game I reach for.
And so, to give a summary befitting an Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery (just imagine me narrating this from a comfortable armchair in an opulent library please), Mysterium represents a straightforward premise executed to perfection with a beautiful art-style, emphasis on sharing the experience with friends and massive replay potential. For all these reasons – and so many more – Mysterium is more than deserving of a place in the pantheon of top board games.
18. Dune Imperium/Uprising – Hector Scott
For the tabletop games of Dune: Imperium and Dune: Imperium Uprising, the designers faithfully transported the world of Dune from the book and films. Not that you need to have read or seen it to enjoy the game, but for those who have, the theme is epic. Uprising is like the well-rounded little brother who has avoided the flaws of his elder sibling, and provides a more nuanced experience. It’s a standalone game, rather than an expansion, and if you’ve played one, you can play the other. Below, I’ll talk about a singular game, but it could be either of these. Reader’s choice.
With a mix of worker placement, deck building, and combat, there are several ways to win. But it’s not a point salad of a game where you never really know what’s going on. First to ten wins. So it’s tight. And you can clearly see what everyone is up to. Blocking others becomes an essential part of the game. Good players keep track of the cards in their deck.
Better players keep track of the cards in everyone else’s deck. Moves are planned turns ahead. A game of skill, then. Yes, but with just enough luck to stop the top players winning every time. Some advice I received when learning the game was to figure out what others are doing and do something different. If you’re following the same strategy as the person to the left of you, they’re going to block you three turns out of four. If someone’s prioritising combat, work toward gaining Alliances. Or go heavy on Technologies and Intrigues. This may make no sense if you haven’t played the game, but all you really need to know is that carefully considering every move is vital. Mistakes are punished, and while frustrating for someone as blunder-prone as me, it makes you a better gamer, and keeps your mental faculties sharp.
If you like a game with interaction, tactics, planning, and wicked combinations, then you need to play Dune: Imperium or Dune: Uprising. I warn you though, it’s addictive. Like a fruit machine. You’ll get oh-so-close, and need to play again. And again. And once more, until the win comes, followed by a crushing loss. Repeat ad-infinitum.
19. The White Castle – Sam de Smith
The White Castle is one of my absolute favourites, sharing some DNA with another Devir cracker, Bitoku: roll and choose dice, place them and advance your plans. It’s interesting, though, that Bitoku is weighted in the top end whilst TWC is seen as lighter: more compact, certainly, but actually a lot more reactive and a lot more things to take care of. Though Bitoku is a lot of setup, once you know how to play and pick a strategy, it’s actually relatively straightforward. TWC, meanwhile, requires an awful lot of thought and planning for a game with only 3 turns and 3 actions per turn.
The reason for this is that it is all about setting up chains of actions; this is NOT a game for players prone to action paralysis! Each turn, you alternate placing one colour of die: these can either be placed in parts of the castle and grounds to activate abilities (randomly determined at the start of the game) or, at a cost, activating Courtier, Gardener or Warrior. Taking the lower value die activates your Lantern (typically generating resources), but you must pay a coin to change the value on the face if you need it to match a higher value (for example, you need a 6 to activate your meeples), whilst using a higher value recoups coin. Train your warriors, sculpt beautiful gardens, and advance your cause politically through the levels of Hijemi castle to curry favour with the Daimyo across the seasons to gain the greatest Honour!
The art is beautiful and evocative of Edo Japan; the buildable bridges are adorable; and the iconography, though dense, is very intuitive. The order of performing actions is not always obvious, and you really do have to plan your turns, but the spawn and I really got into it. And if you want even more TWC action, the Matcha expansion takes it to 4 turns of fiendish planning!
20. Star Wars Rebellion – Neil Parker
Some games really capture a theme well and I regard Star Wars Rebellion as one of them. It is a popular game and it still holds up as a competitive challenge with compelling gameplay, wonderful miniatures and a surprising degree of replayability.
It is clear from the miniatures on the board that the Empire is in a very dominant position from a strategic military position, but the game is clever in that whilst this is important and should be leveraged by the Empire player, the Rebels can and should operate with a plan to maintain their secrecy whilst completing their objectives. Sure, there are moments when the Rebels can give the Empire a bloody nose, but it’s not a strength to rely upon, but rather they should plan for distractions or decisive strikes when needed. I love the challenge. As the Empire you get to play with decent miniatures and the ships feel chunky, which is an important tactical feature to the game for me. I feel like playing the Imperial March as I’m moving the pieces searching for the Rebel base and squeezing them to submission.
As the Rebels, I imagine key moments and characters from the original trilogy and Rogue One where the Rebels use cunning and heroism to win decisive actions, made all the more precious given the odds against them. Despite those odds, you too can forge victory. So, if you like an asymmetrical battle style game, then this will fit the bill. If you like Star Wars, I’m sure the look and gameplay will reward you with an excellent game that immerses you in the setting. It’s no wonder Star Wars Rebellion remains a popular game. The Force is strong with this one.
21. Ticket to Ride – Steve Conoboy
There’s a whole bunch of little trains that you place across a map of the world. If you don’t believe that this equates to one of humankind’s greatest creations, then I have no idea what we’re all doing here.
I can go into other reasons why it’s great if you need them (seriously, why?). It’s ridiculously easy to learn – a bonus for rulebook numpties like me. It’s an easy teach, great when you have a family full of chattering lunatics. The simplicity belies a lot of tactical decisions and attempts to obfuscate the routes you actually want to complete – there is nothing more horrifying/delightful than having the final leg of your super long route blocked by an observant competitor. The map and card art is lovely and evocative. There are approximately 22,453 variations of Ticket To Ride available (count may not be accurate), so you can either find the one you like or collect them all like a normal person. These are all excellent reasons to play an excellent game.
There’s loads of different variants for a reason: the basic gameplay works perfectly. If you’re really keen like me, there’s an anniversary edition of Ticket To Ride Europe that comes with tins for each player’s extra special edition trains. That’s right. You get a tin of trains each. Oh boy.
22. Great Western Trail (Jacob Dunkley)
There is a phrase about the journey being more important than the destination or something along those lines, and there is something about the journey you take in Great Western Trail that always appeals to me. It’s one of those wonderful games that although from the outset looks completely overwhelming and complicated, once you take the time to learn its icons and the flow of the game, you’ll find something very approachable and easy to understand.
Winning however is a different animal altogether, and although I don’t think I’m very good at Great Western Trail, there is something about taking the path, gaining new workers, placing buildings and adding cows to my deck that always feels comforting and familiar even if I haven’t played the game in a while.
There are many routes to victory, which is something the game excels in, whether you want to place lots of buildings along the trail, employ more engineers to push your train as far forward as possible, or gain new cowboys to go heavy on purchasing cows – they all feel viable and possibly can help you win.
I only have the second edition of this fantastic game, along with the Rails to the North expansion, but now there are two other versions in Argentina and New Zealand, (with sheep!) alongside a lighter version in Great Western Trail El Paso, it feels like there is a version for anyone who might want to explore this wonderful series of games.
23. Root – Wizzywig
When unfamiliar gamers come over and check out the game shelving in the house, they often assume all the wrong stuff about this game. It may involve cute woodland critters, it may talk about things like “alliances and friendships”. This game is a straight up war game! A wolf in sheep’s clothing doesn’t seem to quite do it justice.
There are four main factions in the base game (I only own two expansions) and many more released in various expansions. Each are wildly different in turn actions and victory conditions.
This isn’t the game to pick up for a one off game night, you need repeat plays with one faction. To get the most out of this game you need four players and they need experience of the faction they are playing, not the easiest thing for most people but when you get the right play group, this game shines so bright. I have also got the app and so have most of our play group which helps keep you sharp until the next woodland skirmish.This game for me sits right in the middle of the Venn diagram with great strategy, amazing table talk/deals and unique factions and abilities. I’m always down for Root!
24. 7 Wonders Duel
Two player games are great, but let’s be honest, sometimes they lack a bit of depth or strategic weight compared with bigger games. 7 Wonders Duel completely breaks that pattern. It’s compact, well designed and packed with strategy that keeps me coming back. On top of that, the rules are simple to teach and setup is quick. It really has everything you want in a two player game.
In 7 Wonders Duel you face off against your opponent to build your own civilisation. You take turns selecting cards to expand your empire and gather resources, and there are several ways to win. You can focus on science, dominate through military power or simply score the most points by the end of the game. Despite only having to watch one opponent, it’s still easy for them to run away with one of the immediate winning conditions. If you take your eye off the military counters, it’s not long before they amass a small army and are just one move away from wiping you out. The same goes for science victories. These looming threats mean you can’t always take the cards you want, because your opponent could claim victory at any moment.
What I love is how the game builds on previous ages. Resources you collected early may not give points directly, but they allow you to choose cards more freely later on without paying extra. If you’re lucky, you can chain buildings together and build them for free, which is brilliant but also risky, because if your opponent notices, they might snatch the cards before you do.
The expansions make this game even better. With Pantheon and Agora, 7 Wonders Duel becomes a must-have for any collection, opening up new ways to play and even a mode to combine them all, because why not add Gods and politics to your civilisation? The only downside is the tiny cards, but with small hands that suits me just fine. Seven wonders? This one might just be the eighth.
25. Catan – Ben Ying
Settlers of Catan will always hold a special place in my heart because it’s the game that first made me fall in love with modern board gaming. There’s something timeless about the mix of luck, strategy, and human interaction as we haggle over sheep and wheat that makes every session so much fun. It’s one of those games where no two plays ever feel the same—the board changes, the dice keep things unpredictable, and the players’ trades and alliances (or ended friendships) give each game its own story.
What I really love about Catan is the balance it strikes between planning and adaptability. I can map out the perfect starting spots, think about resource diversity, and try to optimise my expansion—but then 12 gets rolled 3 times in a row and suddenly I am forced to trade with the bank at 4:1! I love that sense of constantly having to adjust and rethink my strategy. It keeps me engaged from the first settlement to the final longest road.
The social side of Catan is what makes it truly special. The trading, the negotiations, the friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) rivalries—it’s such a great way to connect with people. I’ve had countless laughs and memorable moments from someone making a bold trade or cutting off my expansion with a perfectly timed settlement.
Even after so many plays over the last decade, Catan never gets old. The simple mechanics hide a reasonable amount of depth, and the combination of luck, skill, and interaction creates stories I remember long after the game ends. For me, Catan isn’t just a game—it’s a classic that brings people together, sparks competition, and reminds me why I love sitting around a table rolling dice with friends.
26. Sushi Go! – Pete Bartlam
Sushi Go! by Phil Walker-Harding is the hugely popular and successful pass and go card drafting game where you build a platter of delicious sushi on the table in front of you.
The original Sushi Go! Gave you 108 colourful cards in a bright collectors’ tin that was a joy to bring to the table. Why? Because it’s fun, easy to learn, doesn’t take up much space and has got lots of lovely little cartoon faced Sushi. What’s not to like? 2-5 players play a game in 3 rounds which can take as little as 20 minutes. A hand of from 7 to 10 cards dependent on player count is dealt and you play 1 card face down on your “platter.” On a shout of Sushi Go! all of these are revealed and the rest of your hand gets passed on to the player on your left and you go again until all the dealt cards are played and it’s the end of the Round. 3 Rounds of playing and scoring main Sushi are followed by your saved Desserts. And then you can play again. Which is great but not unlike Sushi it can leave you wanting more!
So I give you the de-luxe version: Sushi Go Party! An additional 73 cards – more types of Sushi; more specials like Soy, Spoon and Take-out Box and a chance to choose your own menus from the 22 menu tiles placed on the 2-level menu board and 8 wooden pawns for the scoring track.
I got this so that I can play with up to 8 players in my Boardgames group, there aren’t many quick, easy-to-play, yet thinking games for a high player count and Sushi Go Party! Is one of the best.
But it can make you hungry!
27. Carcassonne – David (well being gamer)
What is there to say on Carcassonne that has not already been said? One of the great pioneers in the modern board gaming era. 25 years old and showing no signs of slowing down.
Many many wonderful expansions to the base game that add hugely different dynamics to play. An array of different themed standalone games all with slightly different and subtle differences making them very worthy purchases.
Over 135,000 ratings given on Board Game Geek, only Catan standing higher with votes given. I could go on but I look at my list above and this game is a titan of the board gaming world. It’s incredible and I love it. The game after 25 years of play hasn’t aged at all, or if it has it’s like a fine wine and grown in quality. If someone wants a game of Carcassonne I am very much in.
The game is so simple to play. A simple tile turning game to create a map that grows each and every turn, players scoring with the meeples they play on the board. The game has a definite end point with the last tile played ending the game and the player with the highest score after the final count takes the win.
As noted, you can make this game as hard or as easy as you want with so many expansions that are interchangeable and each adding a new beautiful layer of complexity onto the game. It’s incredible how the creators have integrated so many additions to the base game and they all work so well. Players will have their preferences based on individual tastes but they all work so well and I’m in awe of that.
Carcassonne also continues to be one of the best gateway games to the hobby due to its simplicity. It sets players on their way to exploring more depths of the hobby and should take a lot of plaudits for this. I’m so pleased to see Carcassonne ranking in Zatu’s top 50, it absolutely deserves to be and I hope it remains a regular feature in all top board gaming lists.
28. Eldritch Horror – Charlotte C
I’ve always been into the supernatural and when the chance came by to purchase Eldritch Horror I couldn’t resist. I’d been into board games for a few years and this was the first “big” board game I ever played. It’s based on the world H.P.Lovecraft wrote about, but you don’t have to know anything about his stories to play. Eldritch Horror is a great choice for fans of co-op games and those who love all things monsters.
In Eldritch Horror, players work together to travel the world map, visiting key locations, solving rumours and mysteries, fighting beasts, to try and defeat the ancient monster before it destroys the world. Eldritch Horror can be played solo if you’re up for a challenge, and with a team of up to 8 if you have a great gaming group to play with. One feature I really love about this game is that the more players there are, the more monsters and clues the game spawns, meaning it scales the gameplay difficulty to the number of players so adding extra gamers around your table doesn’t make the game any easier to win. You can even scale the difficulty of the game yourself if you want to by removing the easy or the difficult cards (which are identifiable by their card front designs) from the stack before creating the game’s play deck.
Eldritch Horror has a selection of expansion sets which introduce new playable characters, new bosses to defeat, new items to use, and more. Because there are multiple expansions (and I own them all), no two plays are ever the same. It took me a few playthroughs to learn, and it’s not a game for beginners, but I love Eldritch Horror and how essential teamwork and communication are to getting that win.
29. Gloomhaven and Jaws Of The Lion – James Loves Games
Gloomhaven is more than a board game. For some it’s a way of life, or what some people would call a lifestyle game. Having played a bit of Gloomhaven digital and being looked at like I had two heads by anyone I suggested buying the physical copy with to play the 100 odd missions contained within its gargantuan box, while also being put off by the idea of building each mission from blocks like some dungeon crawling lego enthusiast, I looked into the prequel Jaws Of The Lion.
What I found was a much smaller box than the original (though still quite bulky compared to most other games), with a very gentle beginner friendly tutorial which holds the players hands as it teaches the core mechanisms of the game one by one. Rather than building each scenario from the plethora of modular tiles and parts, each scenario is played on pages of a book so set up time is a fraction of its older brother’s.
The gameplay is just as engaging as the original and the 25 missions (several of which are optional) was a much easier sell to family and friends who had been disinterested in spending several years playing the game with me. If you are interested in dungeon crawlers, hand management puzzles or legacy co-op games, this is a no-brainer. It’s insanely good value for what you get in the box and is probably my favourite game of all time. So what are you waiting for? Destroying Verming Raiders and Blood Monstrosities is only a click away, get it in your basket and you can thank me later.
30. Quacks – Grace
Quacks (formally known as Quacks of Quedlinburg) is a great game and easy to play. My gaming circle can attest that it can be played one-handed whilst juggling a crying baby, half-asleep when you’re tired or just when you wan to play something a bit different that isn’t worker placement or card drafting.
The concept is simple, pull out ingredients from your bag, place them in your potion pot (whilst trying to gain as many points as possible to buy more/better ingredients) and try not to let your pot explode! There is so much variety, even with the base game which helps make every game different and there are elements of strategy you can develop too, especially when buying potion ingredients and working out which combination works best!
For maximum enjoyment (and value for money), buy the big box which contains two expansions for even more fun and let the bubbling of your cauldron commence!
31. Galactic Cruise – Jacob Dunkley
Of all the new release games I’ve played over the past couple of years, three have really stood out to me and those are SETI, Deep Sea Endeavour and Galactic Cruise. I was shocked when I first found out Galactic Cruise was a game from first time designers and despite the games size (both the box and on the table), and amount of icons on display, there is actually a wonderful flow and simplicity in the actions of the game that are partly down to the gorgeous art by Ian O’Toole.
In Galactic Cruise, you play managers at a Galactic Cruise company, trying to outdo one another to gain the most points and ultimately become the new CEO of the company. On your turn you will be placing out workers, to gain blueprints and resources, build ships, schedule and advertise your cruise to the public. I love the way the game progresses forward, and even if you don’t win you can look at the ships you’ve built and feel proud in what you’ve achieved.
Yes it’s on the heavier side, and quite a long game, but I feel that there is something about Galactic Cruise that makes it far more approachable than it appears. I would certainly consider it to players who have played medium weight Euro games and want a step up because of just how smooth the gameplay is.
With two expansions I’m yet to try and another on the horizon, I feel like Galactic Cruise is only going to become more popular the more people get the chance to play it. Plus the variable set up of all the worker placement spots, the agenda cards and blueprints that might come up mean that you have so much replayability in the base game that I can see myself coming back to this for many years to come.
32. Paladins of the West Kingdom – Neil
Paladins in its own right is a decent worker placement game. There are enough actions so you don’t feel too restricted, but enough restrictions so that you still have to make meaningful choices. In some respects, the game doesn’t last long enough for me, but even from turn one I feel I can choose a decent course to follow, whilst being flexible to take advantage of opportunities or change to avoid being blocked.
As is typical of worker placement games, your opponents are playing similar strategies so the competition is there and there is a risk of being frustrated, but equally your actions can have the same effect on your opponents. Although there isn’t a significant element of player interaction, your choices will impact on your opponents, especially the degree to which you are using the central board.
I like the theme, although it’s not a conquest game, and the theme is a little artificial, but visually it is still appealing and the components are good, which is important to me for a broader game experience. On that note, I like that the game board itself is easy to navigate around and seeing what your opponents are up to is straightforward so you can track their strategies.
Overall, unlike some worker placement games where turn order and a healthy dose of luck help, I feel this is a more satisfying experience. Ultimately, that plays a lot towards the replayability of a game with me, i.e. did I enjoy the experience, does the game makes me think, win or lose, what could I do differently? For me, it is definitely replayable.
33. Rebirth – James Loves Games
Rebirth is a game from the mind of Reiner Knizia, arguably the most prolific board game designer of all time. With over 700 published games under his belt, Rebirth proves he’s still got plenty of fresh ideas in the tank. It plays like classic Knizia with simple rules, clever depth, and just the right amount of player interaction, walking the line perfectly without falling into “multiplayer solitaire” or “take that” territory.
The first thing you’ll notice is how striking this game looks. Having demoed it at UKGE earlier this year, the size and technicolour aesthetic turned the heads of passers by reliably all weekend. The colours are vibrant with lots of green and blue and splashes of yellow and pink. As you add tiles, castles and cathedrals, you feel like you’re adding to the world in a very satisfying way.
The components are very well made too, especially the aforementioned buildings, though the game doesn’t come with a way to store any of the hundreds of tiles and buildings so it’s worth buying 5 drawstring cloth bags (one for each of the different colours and 1 for the Ireland components which I’ll talk about later). Freezer bags will do if you’re more frugal like me.
The gameplay is incredibly easy to get into, having played it with gamers and non-gamers alike. The rules click after just a few turns, and it’s super accessible. We have a house rule to speed up gameplay and I wouldn’t play without it as it literally halves the game time. Each time a player lays a tile, they pick up their next one so they can consider their next move while the other players are taking their turns. I’d highly recommend this rule because if you do then you’re looking at a game that’s around 30 mins for 2 players and 45 mins for a group of 3-4.
The replayability is also one of Rebirth’s strong suits. The randomly drawn scoring goals and multiple ways to score points with your tiles mean you’ll never play the same game twice. But when you do get sick of the base game, there is a whole other side of the board with extra component pieces and rule variations called Ireland (the default side is Scotland).
If you like games that are easy to learn, beautiful to look at, have hidden depth and incredible replayability, then this one’s definitely worth your time because Knizia has knocked this one out of the park.
34. Kavango – David Ireland
Kavango is an unbelievably amazing game. I was lucky enough to try it out at the UK Games Expo in 2023 and it was an instant Kickstarter back for me. It was a huge hit. The wait for the game to arrive was hugely frustrating but totally worth it as it is a regular feature on our table. My wife and I were actually discussing today off of the back of the Kickstarter expansion launch pending that we feel it is the best game in our collection. Here is why.
A game for 1-5 players (a solo mode is available), you have to create a nature reserve in the southern African region, Kavango. A game broken out into 3 distinct rounds where you first develop your producer species, which builds into small animals and finally your large top of the food chain creatures. There are 10 turns in each round and you constantly have to make decisions on the best route to build the highest score and take the win. It’s tough in the sense that you cannot do everything you want in this game, which very much reflects real life in making those choices.
As well as drafting creatures for your nature reserve, players can complete research tasks to gain points and income, work towards habitat, poaching protection and climate goals as well as taking advantage of events and working towards an overall unique goal that each player can be dealt. It’s genius in its mechanics.
With scores knocking on 200 points plus (each animal has a score as well as building points through research and bonuses) we’ve had so many games with such close final scores, it’s incredible. That isn’t all though. The game is just hugely satisfying to play, looks visually stunning with each and every card uniquely designed and the artwork is awesome, it is a beautiful game. I cannot speak highly enough of Kavango and with the game expanding soon with the Lodges expansion, there is so much to be excited for with this game. The creators have done a brilliant job with this game.
35. Splendor including Marvel Splendor – Steve (one half of Peaches and Meeples)
Splendor, it is hard not to recommend this game to those just getting into the hobby, or even those already engulfed in the magic our wonderful hobby offers, just never got around to trying this one.
It is a great example of just how simple mechanisms in games, and rulesets that take a matter of minutes to read and digest, can great a genuinely engaging and fun game.
So what is Splendor? Essentially it’s a chip collecting and card set collection and contracts game, where the end goal is to be the one with the most points. You achieve this over a series of turns, where you either collect coloured chips, or use chips and any prior collected cards, to meet the cost of paying for a new card to add to your collection. Some cards come with points, others with jewels to help pay for other cards, and other cards come with both.
The original Splendor is themed around renaissance merchants and nobles with historic notability, but if this theme is a struggle to engage with, you could always opt for Splendor: Marvel.
That’s right! Instead of merchants and nobles, purchased with jewels, you can choose to collect all your favourite characters (and some lesser known ones which is a nice nod for the big Marvel fans out there), and rather than nobles, you can collect well known Marvel locations. The jewel chips are replaced with infinity stone chips, although the main game is essentially the same, a new end game trigger is included to represent the successful acquisition of the infinity gauntlet.
Both games are fantastic, but arguably you probably won’t need both. That said, with two distinct themes to choose from, play the one that most appeals, honestly you will not be disappointed!
36. El Grande – Sean
El Grande, I first encountered this game on a weekend gaming session, my opponents brought out an original German copy with all the cards stickered with translations so we could play it. The fact that this game from the mid-nineties is still around even in these sorts of conditions clearly indicates just how popular it is, especially faced with the Cult of the New. In fact it’s in the BGG top 100 and even earned itself a recent updated reprint!
The basis of the game is area control. Every player has one large home piece in a region, while using the rest of their pieces to spread among all the regions. The majority controls each area, regardless of whose home region it might be, and control earns you points. I won’t go over all the rules and nuances, but the best part of the gameplay I find is the player interactions to spread your control. Each round players bid for turn order using their cards, numbered 1-13. You can’t choose a number somebody already has, and you don’t get any played cards back. So you have to decide when you want to go big and when to go small – the highest cards pick first from the available actions each round but recruit the least amount of units to be available for you, and the lower cards vice-versa. The lowest number played will.also lead the bidding in the following round. With 9 rounds in the game and only scoring every 3 rounds you really need to manage your choices well!
The new reprint edition also comes with a few minor rules/cards updates and changes, and some extra variants, although I have not played this version as much to test, along with newer art and design updates, so yea I’d definitely recommend checking this out!
37. Architects of the West Kingdom – Luke
Architects of the West Kingdom is a worker placement game about building with a twist. The spots you place your workers into are open, so any number of workers can go there. The more of your own workers you place there, the more powerful the action gets, and because you have 20 workers, you can do a heck of a lot in a few turns. However, become too successful in one spot, and your opponents may start to arrest you for rowdy behaviour and send your workers off to jail. This can really disrupt your engine, especially when they get paid for it! So you may have to resort to darker deeds by heading to the black market. The game ends when a certain number of buildings and spots on the cathedral have been built.
Because the turns are incredibly snappy, the game scales incredibly well at all player counts. The solo mode is also really simple to play, but boy, does it mimic an aggressive player. Which is totally fine! It’s how the game should be played! And I like that the solo deck can be added to a two player game as well, it really changes the dynamics. If you want something that’s fairly light but has a lot going for it, I can highly recommend Architects of the West Kingdom.
38. The Castles of Burgundy – Wizzywig
The first time we sat down to play this I was extremely nervous and hesitant, although I own the second edition the iconography and interactions between buildings and monastery tiles can be intimidating to newer players.
But I had nothing to fear, this game is a classic for a reason. There is another edition of the game now out with miniatures and extra expansions, and I must say the look and graphic design of the game is better than the one I own.
By the time we got to the second phase everyone was on board and eagerly watching as other players rolled their dice and selected their actions. The appeal for me comes from the open sandbox type feel but with a couple of restrictions to make you scratch your head and try to calculate which move/tile will be better for you in the long run.
I have played this solo, with 2 and up to 4 on player counts, and although it may drag a bit at 4 if people are playing for the first few times it’s still a blast. Each play is different without the need for asymmetrical powers or abilities. I cannot recommend this game enough to new players and to more experienced board gamers who have yet to pick this up.
It is always on my short list of games to take with me on holiday or for game nights.
39. Pandemic including Pandemic Legacy – Paul W
Pandemic was already a spectacular board game, that soon achieved iconic status after its release in 2008. But somehow Matt Leacock and his team found the perfect way to blend the legacy format into their game, with the excellent Pandemic Legacy.
I am currently halfway through season 1 of Pandemic Legacy, and I can honestly say it has provided me with some of my favourite board game moments of all time. Like any great legacy game the reveals of new cards, mechanics or story beats, the unfolding narrative that reveals itself in front of you, the unique to your groups moments that happen each and every time you play, whether you win or lose, feels genuinely special, something that you share with your fellow players and talk about it for ages long after the game has finished.
Pandemic was a game that perfectly fit the legacy genre, but it took an expert to craft and skill to seamlessly blend it into an already great game. Your first play will feel very much like the standard game, a difficult, nail biting game but one where if you understand the nuances of it and work with your teammates, you can win, and feel oh so smart doing so. Then the legacy kicks in, and everything is amped up a whole lot. I won’t reveal any spoilers but some of the new elements Pandemic Legacy introduces feel so thematic, the unique narrative that is built, it’s honestly something that I haven’t gotten out of any other game, legacy or otherwise. It feels like they have perfected the formula.
Like any legacy game it can be hard to organise and finish, but Pandemic Legacy will simply get anyone into board gaming. And if you somehow finish it, there’s always Season 0 and 2!
40. Ra – Ian Paczek
Ra is a clever auction game with a few twists and Egyptian theming. Each player has three sun disks, which are used to bid on tiles that are drawn from a bag. The winning disk is surrendered in exchange for one in the centre, which will be used in the next round of the game or contribute to final scoring in the last round. The starting sets of disks are all different and arranged like non-transitive dice, so the player with the strongest disk is less likely to win the other auctions.
Once a player has used up all their sun disks on winning bids, they drop out of the round. Bidding continues until all players have used all their sun disks, so it can be that the last player to finish bidding has some uncontested chances of good tiles.
On a player’s turn, they have the choice of either drawing a new tile from the bag and adding it to the display to be auctioned or grabbing the Ra symbol and calling an auction. So, there is a “push your luck” element to the game. Scoring in the game is by collecting sets of the various tiles that players bid upon. Some tiles are scored at the end of each round and others are only scored at the end of the game. Some tiles stick around and others are wiped after the end of round scoring.
A big part of the game is in preventing other players from completing their sets – as such it really is a game of de-Nile!
41. Earth – Sophie Jones
I remember when Earth first released, the buzz surrounding it was electric and I was convinced it’d never live up to the hype. Thankfully, I was wrong. Years later, Earth has more than earned its place in our top 50 list.
Earth is a tableau engine builder where you collect and play cards to create a thriving ecosystem. You construct a 4×4 grid, and each placement matters because when you activate card abilities, they resolve from left to right. Some cards allow you to grow shoots, while others let you add growths topped with coloured canopies, adding a striking 3D element that makes your tableau feel alive.
If a card doesn’t fit your plan, you can compost it for points, so nothing is ever wasted. On your turn you choose an action, such as drawing cards, and then activate certain coloured card abilities to trigger combos and bonuses. There are also community objectives to work towards, offering extra rewards and encouraging players to aim for certain synergies.
Even when it’s not your turn, you can activate abilities based on the active player’s moves, keeping everyone engaged with very little downtime. This means the game avoids the long waits and overthinking that can bog down larger strategy games.
Earth is wonderfully forgiving, full of ways to score points and experiment with strategies. Every playthrough feels fresh, and invites new ways to approach the puzzle. With the expansion there’s even more to play around with! Fans of Wingspan or Ark Nova will see familiarities here, but Earth stands on its own, offering satisfying depth without feeling like a slog.
42. Unmatched – Luke Pickles
Do you remember the playground games of “who would win in a fight?” Superhero or figure of myth? Cryptid or dinosaur? Protagonist from Shakespeare or… well, Shakespeare himself? Well, we can answer that question with the Unmatched system. Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two to four players (although I think it’s best at two). Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Combat is resolved quickly by comparing attack and defence cards, and may have special abilities which can trigger during and/or after the fight.
So many sets have been released at this point, and a whole bunch of intellectual properties have been given the Unmatched treatment. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jurassic Park, Marvel, The Witcher, and many more are expected to come out in the future. There’s even the option to play the cooperative version of Unmatched Adventures. This allows you to face either a bunch of cryptids, or villains of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles world. There are so many combinations of play, and different match ups, which is something I absolutely adore. Let battle commence!
43. Jaipur – Sophie Jones
Whenever I think about culling my board games because the shelves are full, there is one game that never leaves my collection: Jaipur. This two-player gem has been part of my collection from the very beginning and still makes it to the table. You collect goods from the market, building sets of items like leather, tea, and gold. Each has a different value, and with only one action per turn, every choice matters.
On your turn, you can take cards from the market or sell goods. When collecting, you can take a single good, which is replenished from the deck, or multiple goods, but then you must swap them with cards from your hand or with camels. Camels are the fun quirk of the game. They sit outside your hand limit and can be swapped with goods in the market. Players cannot take just one camel; they must take all of them. Using camels wisely can force your opponent to take a market stacked with them, leaving you with plenty of new items to choose from.
Selling goods is how you score and requires a set in hand. Each good earns a token, with more valuable items like gold and silver bringing bigger rewards. Selling three or more of the same type also earns a bonus token with a hidden value, keeping both players guessing. Some goods must be collected in pairs before selling, adding another layer of challenge. At the end, the player with the largest camel herd scores an extra five points, which can sometimes decide a close game.
Jaipur is compact and played in just three short rounds, making it easy to get to the table. The camels can swing the market in your favour or disrupt your plans, adding a sense of mischief. The mix of luck and strategy keeps every turn exciting while still giving players a sense of control. Jaipur is an instant classic for two players. It’s fast, engaging, and endlessly replayable.
44. Agricola – Imogen Usher
Worker placement is my favourite genre, and while there are countless great examples available now, Agricola continues to stand the test of time by implementing the core mechanics perfectly. Released in 2007, it is one of the oldest games in my collection, and still one of the most played. Set in 17th century Europe, players take on the challenge of running their own farm. Each player is growing crops, raising livestock, and must manage their resources carefully to make sure their family and workers have enough to eat. As the household expands, players can upgrade their home and use occupation and improvement cards to unlock new advantages and help their farm thrive.
What makes Agricola really sing for me is how perfectly the theme is integrated with the mechanics. Every decision feels purposeful and important, creating just the right amount of tension. Building fences to contain animals, leaving room for breeding, and planning ahead for harvests all contribute to a deeply satisfying sense of progression. Expanding your family brings both opportunity and pressure; more hands to help, but also more mouths to feed.
The weight and complexity really hit a sweet spot for me; it’s challenging but never completely overwhelming. I love that it captures the harsh, sometimes unforgiving nature of farm life while still being engaging and rewarding. Agricola’s setup offers tremendous replayability, with multiple strategies to victory and unique card combinations that make every session feel fresh. It also scales impressively well across different player counts, with two-player games feeling just as tight as larger ones, a rarity for early worker placement designs.
For me, Agricola remains a timeless classic that blends strategy, theme, and tension into one of the most rewarding board gaming experiences that I keep coming back to again and again.
45. Thunder Road: Vendetta – Luke Pickles
Thunder Road Vendetta is a remake of the original Thunder Road, released in 1986. The new and shiny version, published by Restoration Games in 2023, is effectively Mad Max in a box. Players have their cars and choppers to race up an ever-changing landscape, rolling dice to get ahead of their opponents. What makes this more than just a race is the collisions that can occur. Whenever you collide with another car (including your own!) you have to roll the collision dice, which can send either car spinning in a random direction. This could be into a road hazard, a solid wall, or another car, triggering it all over again!
TRV is not a game which comes out a lot, but every time it does, it brings a great laugh of the chaos it can cause. It’s perfect to play at a convention because it lends itself to a loud, raucous situation. I think it works best at a higher player count because of that randomness and violence of the crashes, and it’s just something completely different in my collection. I also really appreciate that, whilst there is a player elimination element, the game is designed so that the eliminated player is not out for long. Once someone is eliminated, the end of the race is triggered, so you can enjoy the mayhem without being bored.
46. Imperium (Classics, Legends, Horizons) – Roger BW
I love Imperium. Even the frustrating games are fun.
I come to it liking the idea of civilisation games, but not the actuality: I’ve been locked into an eight hour game of Classic Civ with experts and there was simply nothing I could do that wouldn’t be immediately blocked by someone else. Imperium manages to straddle the border between being multiplayer solitaire, in which you just keep your head down and run your own civ until the game is over, and a fully interactive game in which everything you do has to have an eye to how someone else can take advantage of it. To be fair, it’s leaning more to the former: I have friends who only play solo, but my most enjoyable games have been with three or four players all trying to drag their civs in different directions but able to use each other as an occasional leg up.
Where to start? For learning the game, the civilisations in Classics are the most straightforward, but download the rulebook from Horizons because it does a better job of explaining what keywords represent (“garrison”, for example, is less “keep this region safe” and more “go out to the provinces and stop causing trouble at Court”) Legends has some slightly more variant powers (the Arthurians and Atlanteans in particular are almost playing a different game). Horizons doesn’t have many low-complexity civilisations (arguably only the Japanese, Magyars and possibly Taino), so it’s best as a later addition to your collection. For solo play, Horizons comes with bot reference cards which don’t change the rules but do make it easier at the table.
I need to play a complex civ multiple times to get vaguely competent with it, and I’ll need to shift tactics depending on the opposition. It’s still fun to go back to the simpler ones sometimes too. That’s why I keep playing, and why it’s one of my top games.
47. Arkham Horror LCG – Steve Conoboy
Akham Horror LCG changed my life. This is not an exaggeration. This is a factual statement. I can even tell you the date that change began: 04 th February 2024, one week before my birthday (you now know when to send cards and gifts, so no excuses). I spotted it tucked into a random corner of Waterstones, my wonderful Other Half spotted me spotting it, and inadvertently ruined her own life with a single purchase. I’m sure she doesn’t regret it that much…
This game can be brutal. Once things go wrong, they can spiral rapidly. I like that. It’s thematically spot-on. Your investigators are battling horrors from the edges of the universe. You should feel insignificant. You should feel fear. It’s what makes the little victories feel huge. There is no better relief that reaching the end of a scenario with all investigators alive (although it might not be a ‘win’ – be prepared for campaigns that push on no matter how successful you are, and every ending has a consequence).
There’s loads of expansions and standalones to dig into, and that’s before we talk homebrew (nuff respect to the community). Even better: Arkham Horror LCG Chapter 2 is about to launch with a whole new core set/expansion. There’s never been a better time to hurl yourself up against insurmountable odds. Come on, we can deal with a few cultists, right?
48. Castle combo – Ian Paczek
Castle combo is a simple and quick tableau building game with quite a lot of decision complexity. You are buying cards and playing them into a 3×3 tableau and trying to make each card score the maximum possible.
There are two kinds of cards – castle cards and village cards – and there is a market of three for each kind. The messenger pawn dictates which market is active. There are two types of resource, coins and keys. Coins are used to buy cards and keys can wipe a market row or move the messenger, but not both.
Each card has a cost in the upper left, shield icons in the upper right, an immediate or ongoing benefit in the middle, and a scoring condition across the bottom. Immediate benefits are usually gaining coins or keys, while ongoing benefits are a reduction on future purchases from the castle or the village or both. Scoring conditions may trigger on one or more of the six coloured shield icons being in the same row and/or column. Alternatively, some cards only score if they are in a particular position in the tableau and finally there are money bags, which score for the number of coins on them at the end of the game.
Castle Combo plays up to four people and it’s very quick to teach. Easy to learn, but hard to master. A game will take around 30 minutes and your players will probably want to have another try. There’s also an expansion that has just been released, adding twelve more cards and a new game.
49. Quest for El Dorado – Pete Bartlam
Reiner Knizia, German designer of over 600 board games, has a fame almost as legendary as the golden lost city itself and The Quest for El Dorado is for me his very best. Why? Because it is easy to learn and play, almost infinitely variable with lots of little decisions to make at every turn and most of all it’s fun.
I love exploration and treasure-hunting. As an ex-cartographer myself I appreciate the mapping a path through the untrodden jungles and unpaddled waters of a South American landscape in the footsteps of a certain fedora wearing archaeologist! To be first to reach the gates to El Dorado. And by the way Mr. Jones there’s no snakes! By means of playing cards you progress your path through the jungles, rivers and native camps. All adventurers each start with the same deck which can be improved as your journey progresses : maybe buy a super machete or a giant paddle or even a friendly aviator who will fly you into some of the deeper recesses. Not forgetting the dark caves you can explore for extra buffs.
The simple set-up sees you lay out a chain of the double-sided boards to present a tricky but not too undaunting challenge to get through. With 9 boards that can be linked in a multitude of ways you can have a different adventure every time. Several suggestions are provided but with the tips provided it’s more fun to make your own, either as an easier introduction or a cleverer challenge for your more seasoned Explorers.
It’s quick to play with interesting decisions to make each turn. There’s a bit of player interaction provided by blocking routes but there’s no real nastiness (or snakes!)
50. Forest Shuffle – Sophie Jones
Forest Shuffle is one of my favourite games because it combines a cosy woodland theme with multi use cards and set collection mechanics. Over the course of the game, you collect trees, plants and animals to grow your own forest. With so many card combinations and scoring opportunities, it quickly turns into a satisfying points fest when it’s time to total everything up. I have to admit, I’ve never actually won a game of Forest Shuffle, but that doesn’t stop me enjoying it. The rhythm of drawing cards and deciding which ones to sacrifice to play others is always tricky. You may hesitate to part with a lynx because if you use it to pay for another card, it ends up in the clearing where someone else can grab it. It’s a constant balance between playing what helps you most and avoiding giving your opponents an advantage.
Beyond the strategy, the artwork and variety of cards make it a calming and visually pleasing experience. Watching your forest grow feels rewarding, especially when you manage to beat your personal best. The tension really builds towards the end. Three winter cards are shuffled into the deck, and when the final one appears, the game ends immediately with no last turns or second chances. It creates a tense atmosphere because you never know whether to risk drawing from the deck or play it safe with what’s in the clearing.
With three expansions, Forest Shuffle is varied and has plenty of replayability. Each game feels fresh, with different routes and combinations to secure victory. The newest expansion even adds a chill solo mode, perfect for quiet evenings. Just be warned, there is plenty of shuffling involved but it’s all part of the fun.
