YORKTON - And so the calendar turns to a new year and that means it is time to look back on the games played for the first time, and determine our personal top-five.
It is never an easy process, but it is a fun one, so let’s get started.
Guilder Adam Daniels
To start some honourable mentions this year of games I enjoyed but just didn’t make the list.
Union Stockyard was worker placement game about becoming the best stockyard in Chicago in the early 1900’s. For me the theme and the historical information did a lot of heavy lifting for this game, but it was still fun to play.
Flesh and Blood is a TCG the group got into this year that was fun and scratched the TCG itch for a gamer who grew up playing Magic.
Tripped was a game that when I played it felt like if Pandemic and Ticket to Ride had a love child and it worked. In Tripped you are trying to have the ultimate road trip all over North America and end up back where you started. It was simple and worth a evening on the gaming table. Bird Dog was a trick taking card game for three people that was a blast to play.
Reforest is very chill card game about planting different vegetation to create a ecosystem. It’s a very simple card drafting game that has amazing art, and teaches a little bit about what plants you are growing. This isn’t the most complexed game out there, but it is fun and was an enjoyable time.
Waggle Dance is a worker placement game that makes the list because it is a game that I enjoyed. In Waggle Dance you are bees in a hive trying to make honey. Worker placement games have always been a genre that just never clicked with me. However Waggle Dance was fun, you roll dice and place the dice on actions you wish to take that turn, with the goal of making honey for the beehive. This one is worth a try for anyone who likes Bees or worker placement games.
Earth makes the list as a tableau and engine building game. Each turn you choose to do one of four actions. What makes this game enjoyable is that even when it is not your turn you are still doing something, because whatever the active player does you can do the same thing. There is no sitting around waiting for your turn. The game itself is trying to build thriving ecosystem on an island. The cards in the game look nice and building your island is a fun time.
Tile laying games has always been one of my favourite genres of games. So, when Aridnyk ended up on the table it was a pleasant surprise. The game is about laying tiles to appease the spirits of Ukrainian folklore which makes for a great gaming experience. The theme and the art make this one a great time to play. The set we played even came with cards that had Ukrainian text, which I thought was cool even though I couldn’t read the text.
Mork Borg was the most fun I had playing games this year. RPG’s might be my favourite genre of game out there. Mork Borg is a simplified rule set that doesn’t get bogged down in too many rules. The rules themselves are simple and straight forward and easy to teach to players who have never played an RPG before. It’s the world of Mork Borg that drew me too the game, it’s a dark and depressing world and every day the GM rolls for apocalypse. I had a blast playing Mork Borg. The only problem with it, is the same with all RPG’s getting a group of people around the table to play.
Guilder Trevor Lyons
This will be a little different from the top-five games I have given in the past. I’m going to list four games that are low cost and accessible to most people and then two other cool games.
Hockey – A game played with a standard 52 deck of playing cards. Each deck play through is considered a period in hockey. Deal out five cards to each player. Each player plays a card, if they match, it’s a breakaway. If the second player matches again, then it’s a goal. At the end of three times through the deck, tally the goals with the winner having the most! This game is very good, if a little slow. You can change it up by adding, 9-9: Gretzky Scores!, 6-6 Lemieux Scores!
Canadian Salad – Another game played with a standard deck of cards. It is a trick taking game for four players, but can play 3 to 6 players. In a four player game, all cards are dealt to the players (13 cards each). There are six rounds to this game, and each round has a specific theme, no tricks, no hearts, etc. The object of each round is to score the least amount of points. At the end of the sixth round, all points from the six rounds are added up and the player with the most points loses. This game sounded complicated when listening to the rules, but as soon as you started playing, you caught on quick. It was a little tricky remembering that you don’t want to take any tricks.
Bird Dog – This is the first native three player card game that I’ve seen. This game uses just a part of a deck of cards, 9-10-J-Q-K-A of each suit. The dealer deals seven cards to each player, with the last three cards being placed face down and used to determine trump for the hand. This is a quick game along the lines of Euchre. To win the game, win tricks. Sounds easy right? Well to score points, separate all the face cards from your tricks and score one point for each pair. Also if you said NIL to tricks and scored any, then it’s -3 points, otherwise you get three points. To win the game you have to collect 11 points. We found that it was a lot trickier to score points.
Mork Borg – A nice, relaxing RPG…kinda. Lol. It is a very open, dark fantasy RPG with very few rules. You can do pretty much anything you would like and the Game Master adjudicates what happens and what dice to roll to see what happens. Comparing this game to Dungeons and Dragons, D&D is easier to stay alive, has classes like fighters, clerics, wizards, etc. In Mork Borg, you are just an average person trying to survive the apocalypse.
Union Stockyards – A fun worker placement game that emulates the 1900’s in Chicago. You place your meeple’s, one at a time, on a space on the board, according to what you would like. You play one of the big five packers of the day. You process meat, develop tech and battle unions.
Develop, sell, and deal with the union in this exciting game. The packer with the most wealth wins the game. The developers did lots of research for this game and one of the features that I love about it.
Next week two more ‘guilders’ offer their top-fives of 2024.
