January 17, 2026 – Updated for 2026

It’s time for another update to the Top 100 lists. For our Episode 500, we did a full redo and featured ten games per episode for 10 weeks. The below lists have been updated from that episode, plus a few recent changes out of the 2025 releases.

Anthony’s List

Chris’s List

Both of these lists were built independently of one another, so it’s a lot of fun to see where they match up and where they don’t. If you’re interested, you can also view the lists from 2015 when we did our original Top 50’s for episode 100. Anthony’s is here, and Chris’s is here.

Anthony’s Top 100 Games of all Time (2026)

 

100. Grand Austria Hotel

A game that has flirted with my top 100 list for the better part of a decade finally makes it over the top thanks to the 2021 Let’s Waltz! expansion, which smoothed out a number of mechanics, introduced a wonderful solo mode, and made the game more replayable and engaging than ever before. Gather your guests, cut some cake and have a ball with this all time classic euro.

99. At the Gates of Loyang

Somehow feeling both perfectly like a Rosenberg game and not at all like a Rosenberg game, At the Gates of Loyang is tight, clever, and full of interesting mechanics that offer replayability.

98. Atiwa

Uwe Rosenberg is known for his ability to rework, restructure, and reimagine the same 2-3 core mechanics in a hundred different ways. Atiwa isn’t new in that regard, but it offers something interesting in its exploration of the conservation efforts in Ghana, and how people have learned to live in harmony with nature. Plus, bat meeples!

97. Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth

This mashup of Descent and Mansions of Madness, set in the intrigue-laden fields and caves of Middle Earth is immensely satisfying to play. A thrilling puzzle that works extremely well with the app, this has been a mainstay on my table since its release.

96. Marvel United

Chibi Marvel characters facing off against their greatest villains? Yes please! Three full sets and three shelves of my house later, I’ve yet to put even a minor dent in all of the possible combinations of characters in this superb family-friendly coop, nor have I painted nearly all the characters I planned, but boy do I love it.

95. The Lord of the Rings Trick Taking Game: Fellowship of the Ring

I’ve had one of several versions of “The Crew” on my list for the last few years, but that changed in 2025 as The Lord of the Rings Trick Taking Game: Fellowship of the Ring (and subsequently The Two Towers, and presumably, next year, Return of the King, released. The best cooperative, storytelling spin on the trick taking genre out there, period.

94. Iki

Iki is a rondel-based game in which you move around the market of Iki, attempting to level up and retire different artisans. It’s fairly simple at its core, and incredibly beautiful, evoking Ukiyo-e, woodblock style artwork of the time, and one of my favorite board game covers of all time. Fortunately, the Sorry We Are French rerelease finally made it widely available.

93. Bunny Kingdom

I’m not a huge fan of area control games (as you can see from this list of 100 games, very few of which utilize this mechanic). Really, any game that involves me spending time doing things, only for my opponent(s) to undo it immediately, doesn’t work for me. Which is why I love Bunny Kingdom. It’s a control(ish), but mostly it’s a tableau builder with hidden values. And it’s cute!

92. Tramways

My favorite of Alban Viard’s small city series of games, Tramways isn’t much to look at but has a brilliant puzzle core and an auction-driven deck-building component I’ve still yet to see in other games that force careful consideration of what you play and what you buy.

91. Shakespeare

It might be the artwork, or the way the game works to integrate clever theming into the actor and artisan cards, or maybe I just like anything to do with Shakespeare – whatever the reason, this quick and yet relatively thinky Euro is a favorite that keeps hitting the table.

90. Star Wars Shatterpoint

While the slow, depressing shift from board game giant to miniatures and cooperative LCG crafter hs been sad to see, Fantasy Flight Games and the offshoot Atomic Games, which took over the miniatures, have crafted a real winner with Shatterpoint, a tactical skirmish take on the Star Wars universe.

89. Merv

Fabio Lopiano is quickly becoming one of my favorite designers, if nothing else because he has an uncanny ability to weave complexity into a streamlined package, resulting in games that can be played in less than 2 hours but feel like a serious, heavy duty experience. Merv is another one of those games, tasking players with being as efficient as possible with their limited 12 actions.

88. Harmonies

I do love me some strategic abstract games. Cascadia, Calico, Framework. Some of my favorites, so I was primed for Harmonies to hit my list when it released last year. Beautiful artwork, dozens of possible scoring conditions, and a tight, contentious decision space. Wonderful game.

87. Nusfjord

Uwe Rosenberg has made a lot of very good games, but Nusfjord remains one of my favorites because it boils down so much of what works in his sprawling worker placement games and makes it work in a tighter, shorter, more accessible package. 5 player Rosenberg in 90 minutes? Yes please.

86. Paperback

The ultimate word game, paperback seamlessly melds deck building and word game mechanics, creating a version of Scrabble anyone can play. The 10th Anniversary edition adds several new modes and cards, including a full revamp of the solo modes with new options.

85. Dominant Species: Marine

Dominant Species: Marine is a master class in modernizing a classic game, streamlining mechanics, introducing new ideas, and making it more accessible for a larger overall audience. I’ve played Marine more times in the last few years than I did Dominant Species in the previous five, if only because it’s so much easier to get the table.

84. Carpe Diem

Stefan Feld released two games in the same month when Carpe Diem came out, and I thought this was going to be the lighter of the two. It was, but it’s also much better than Forum Trajanum and one of his all time best games. Highly recommended for fans of Feld in general or for tableau puzzle building games.

83. Lisboa

Lisboa takes everything I love about Lacerda’s designs and channels it into a sublime 2-3 hour experience of rebuilding a broken city. Complete with many of his trademark mechanics, including follow actions, and another beautiful board from Ian O’Toole, this is a prize in my collection.

82. Barrage

For a long time, Barrage was marred by a lackluster Kickstarter campaign and bad components. I literally could not play my copy for the first nine months I had it, while I waited for the replacement wheels. But when I finally did get it to the table and explored the depth that this game has to offer, I quickly discovered there is an immense amount of complexity and decision trees in here to appreciate. Barrage is hard as nails, but it’s worth the brain burn for how it all comes together in the end.

81. Lorenzo il Magnifico

I love dice placement as a mechanism, but it can be challenging to mitigate and manage the rolls…unless everyone has the same dice! Lorenzo is an almost punishingly tight tableau builder that offers endless permutations, made even more engaging by an expansion loaded with additional content.

80. Botanik

I don’t table many strictly two-player games beyond staples like Patchwork and 7 Wonders Duel, so new ones have to really stand out. Botanik did. Franck Dion’s surreal art hooked me, and the design from Frank Crittin, Grégoire Largey, and Sébastien Pauchon delivered.

It’s a fast tableau-builder that blends set collection and tile drafting in a way that feels perfectly tuned for two. At around 20 minutes, it moves quickly without feeling light, constantly asking you to read patterns, plan ahead, and squeeze points from shifting options. It’s one of the most satisfying plays I’ve had all year.

79. Black Angel

After years in development, Black Angel ended up as one of Pearl Games’ most ambitious designs. It borrows the core dice system from Troyes, mixes in the space-hopping board gimmick from Solenia, and piles on a lot more, so the first play can feel a little disjointed. But it hooked me fast. With each game, the connections became clearer, and I started to see how elegantly the cards, ship missions, and tech tiles feed into one another. It’s one of my favorite big euros of the year, and it kept hitting the table right through the end of it.

78. First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express!

Some call it Russian Railroads the card game. That’s fair, but it’s also so much more. This tableau-building race for points is loaded with clever decisions in a relatively short time frame and comes with several modules to keep it fresh.

77. Manhattan Project: Energy Empire

Energy Empire is a very different game from its namesake, tasking players with managing the pollution afflicting the world from energy production. A tableau builder in which you attempt to manage your workers enough to acquire and activate a range of powerful abilities, Energy Empire is a clever puzzle hidden behind an accessible euro.

76. Clinic Deluxe

Clinic languished for years in its original, low-fi production, but the Deluxe version from Alban Viard, featuring artwork by Ian O’Toole brings it to the masses and boy am I glad it did. With dozens of modules, a subversive look at the healthcare industry, and puzzley gameplay, Clinic is a must have.

75. Cat in the Box Deluxe

I used to hate trick-taking games, mostly because the first few I tried after getting into the hobby were duds. Turns out, when the design is solid, trick-takers can be tense, brainy, and surprisingly social in a way few genres match. Cat in the Box pushes that even further. It may not have the endless replayability of the all-time great trick-takers, but its paradox system is genuinely brilliant, blending self-bidding with a board-driven layer that twists your decisions into knots and makes every hand feel like your brain is doing cartwheels.

74. Fields of Arle

Uwe Rosenberg has a lot of sandbox games, but this is one of the best. Broken into seasons that correspond to different action options, you must carefully plan and manage your actions over the course of several years against 1 or 2 other players. The Tea and Trade expansion makes it longer, but also much better.

73. Gaia Project

Everything I loved about Terra Mystica but better. Gaia Project has the same tight, finely tuned euro gameplay of the original, but with more variability, better balance, and a cool space theme. The only way this gets bumped is if they somehow bring the same to Terra Mystica.

72. Texas Showdown

Who would have thought I’d be a trick-taking guy? But here we are, thirteen years after initial reviews of Chronicle and Poison, and I have multiple trick takers on my top 100. Texas Showdown is a brutal, clever game with a race to the bottom, and I love it.

71. Arcs

I backed Arcs on Kickstarter sight unseen for two reasons: Root and Pax Pamir (Second Edition). With Cole Wehrle behind it, I expected a tightly designed, highly interactive game that pushes players out of their comfort zone—and it delivered.

Is it as great as Root? Not quite (few games are). It’s a bit overstuffed, with lots of layers and a teach that can be a slog. But its card-driven management, area control, and smart press-your-luck objective scoring combine into a brutal, backstabbing puzzle.

70. Council of 4

This game has two very different looking versions, but CMON thankfully kept the core gameplay the same. One part ticket to ride, and another part engine building euro, players pay to place houses around the map and chain bonuses off one another in a quick 60-90 minute game. One of my favorites of the last few years, Council of 4 is a home run.

69. Azul Summer Pavilion

My favorite version of Azul and the go-to version we play in my house these days. Azul is an all-time great abstract game, one of the best multiplayer set and tile laying games, and it can be so mean with the drafting mechanic, but it allows for creative play, and is accessible and fun at all ages. Such a fantastic design, and Summer Pavilion’s bonus tile system adds a fun new layer to the formula.

68. Barcelona

Barcelona is one of Dani Garcia’s early designs, and it does a lot right. Fair warning, though: it’s pure point salad, very much in the “everything you do is points” vein. If that’s your thing, it’s deeply satisfying, with a forced building mechanism that gradually shapes the city map and a flexible action-selection system that keeps turns dynamic. It’s polished, well-balanced, and one of my biggest surprises of the year

67. Fantasy Realms

This has become my go-to filler, and is always in my bag when traveling, because it offers quick, easy decision-making, always plays out differently, and is so random that there’s no way to be truly “good” at the game, but you can certainly get close. The app is a must to speed up scoring, but even without it, there’s a lot of fun to be had here.

66. Faiyum

Friedman Friese created Power Grid, one of the great all-time euro games, and while it’s fallen from my list over time, I still greatly enjoy and own many maps for Power Grid. But I didn’t love many of his other games until Faiyum came out. Mixing a clever card and deck mechanic (similar to Gerts’ in Concordia), and a sprawling map board, Faiyum has plenty of depth and play options to explore, and I have come back to it several times since my first play last year.

65. Tzolk’in The Mayan Calendar

Corn? We got your corn. Tzolk’in jumps out most because of its massive, beautifully molded wheels. It’s a fantastic game of thinking ahead, building an engine, and making sure all those workers remain fed.

64. Skymines

Mombasa was on this list a long time ago, and for good reason. It’s a stunningly designed game—combining stock-holding gymnastics with a clever deck management mechanic and a bunch of tracks to manage throughout a tight euro experience. But the theme was a turnoff, so when Pfister finally moved the game to space, I was all instantly on board. Now it’s back on the list.

63. Dorfromantik

I first played Dorfromantik as a PC game a couple years ago, and immediately thought, “This is already a board game.” Turns out I wasn’t alone.

What’s impressive is how cleanly it translates. Unlike a lot of digital-to-table ports, it doesn’t rely on heavy tracking or messy RNG, so the Pegasus Spiele co-op feels almost like a 1:1 recreation, and it even won Spiel des Jahres. After my first play last spring, I called it a genre masterpiece, and finishing the full campaign solo and with my family only confirmed it.

62. The Battle of Five Armies

Promoted as a lighter, more tactical approach to the War of the Ring formula, this combat-heavy game of Orcs, Dwarves and Elves is nearly as satisfying, with a unique spin that makes for regular playthroughs.

61. Star Wars Unlimited

Once I got to college and really understood how hard it is to earn money—and hold onto it—I stopped sinking cash into CCGs and mostly avoided them for all the usual reasons. But at PAX in 2023, my son wanted to try the new Star Wars: Unlimited, and we both immediately fell for it. It’s fast, straightforward, easy to learn, and customizable in a way that doesn’t require spending a small fortune (unless you’re chasing tournament play, of course). The starter decks were some of the best I’ve ever seen for a new CCG, and with three different starter sets released, we had tons of combinations to mix, match, and keep the game feeling fresh.

60. Arkwright

One of the heaviest, most feature-rich games on my shelf, and at the same time, one with a singular focus that is unforgiving and at times brutally cutthroat – Arkwright is a heavy gamer’s game and one of the best long-form experiences I’ve had in recent years.

59. Oranienburger Kanal

Oranienburger Kanal is the less accessible one, stuck in a small Spielworxx print run, paired with bland art, and priced high for a 1–2 player game.

But on the table, it’s a revelation. It takes what I love about Cave vs. Cave and makes it richer with varied road types, multiple ways to trigger locations, and a huge range of deck options. It’s excellent as a tight two-player duel and just as satisfying solo, with enough crunchy choices to make every turn its own little puzzle. I’m already hoping for more decks and a bigger expansion down the line.

58. Dune Imperium

Dune Imperium was a very good game when it was released, and I liked it. But I didn’t love it, at least not to Top 100 of all time levels. But with the twin releases of Rise of Ix and Immortality expansions in 2022, Dune Imperium grew and expanded and incorporated so many new ideas and ways to play that it’s become almost an entirely new game and experience for me, and one I am eager to get to the table as often as possible now.

57. Star Wars The Deck Building Game

When Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game was announced, it felt like a quick Star Wars cash-in from Fantasy Flight. Maybe it was. The card pool is pretty lean, but what’s there is tightly tuned, easy to teach, and a genuinely fun two-player duel that’s been a hit with my kids and friends.

It clearly shares DNA with Star Realms (shared market row, base attacks, that escalating arms race), but it adds enough twists to stand on its own, especially the ability to snipe cards from the buy row and the system effects that trigger when one of your locations gets destroyed. I wish more content were coming, but even as-is, this one has serious staying power.

56. Obsession

Obsession is a game of Victorian families trying to work their way up the social ladder. You’ll take actions from a tableau of tiles that require payment in family members and guests, combined with servants. The theme is deep in this game, and the gameplay options are intricate.

55. The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Age

This one sat on my shelf for months because learning it was a project, but once it hit the table it jumped straight into my Top 4.

It’s Chip Theory’s next step beyond Too Many Bones, blending Elder Scrolls exploration with a ridiculously deep character-building system—races, classes, skill lines, dice, and leveling paths. The only real caveat is solo balance: it wants you to run two characters, which is doable but slows the pace. Still, it’s a beast (in the best way), and I’m excited to play it multiplayer.

54. Caverna

The ultimate farming-based worker placement euro, Caverna takes what makes Agricola a success (even if I don’t like it) and refines it into a brilliant game that scales from 1-7, has awesome components, and allows you to stay underground if you’re truly tired of sheep and pumpkins.

53. The Guild of Merchant Explorers

This quickly became one of my favorite drop/flip/roll and write type of games, up there with Tiny Towns at first and now surpassing it due to the number of plays it gets. The clever way it weaves simultaneous action with individual growth in the form of multiple explorations, and the opportunity for expansion here feeling nearly endless: this is a truly great game, and I’m excited for more.

52. City of the Big Shoulders

City of the Big Shoulders is a deeply satisfying heavy euro that blends 18xx-style stock play with Arkwright-style workers and production, plus a clever twist on worker placement. The expansion is basically essential, adding a wider range of asymmetric companies and nicer paper money. If you can snag both, it’s one of the best heavy-game experiences of the year.

51. Food Chain Magnate

Funny story about Food Chain Magnate. I hated it the first time I played. I got my but whooped so bad that I was checked out and angry by the second hour of the game…of four. But I spent the next two days thinking about nothing but this game. I had to play it again, and since then it has become one of the event games we turn to up there with TI4.

50. Concordia

I’ve been a fan of Concordia for years, but the recent implementation of so many new maps, the Venus mechanisms and team based play make this an all-time great and one of the best games from Mac Gerdts.

49. Skull King

My favorite trick-taking game (that isn’t cooperative), Skull King, is the kind of game you can sit back and play over and over again for hours with the right people. There are other games with similar mechanics, but this one still does it best.

48. Gentes

Stefan Risthaus makes a second appearance on my list with a clever spin on civilization building that is both elegant and incredibly deep in strategic decision making.

47. Suburbia: Collector’s Edition

We talked about this on Episode 94 and I just can’t help but love the city-building mechanics in Suburbia. They’re clean, they’re strategy-laden, and the game is infinitely replayable. Castles of Mad King Ludwig drags too much for me to switch teams at this point – love this game.

46. Leaving Earth

Ever want to build a rocket and go to space? Leaving Earth is the kind of seamless integration of simulation and game experience that you rarely find in the hobby, and its hand made by one guy. Hard to find and harder to beat, Leaving Earth is the hidden gem I’ve long loved that’s finally reaching the masses.

45. Sprawlopolis

It only takes 18 cards for Sprawlopolis to do what many city games cannot. With restrictive scoring requirements, mind-bending card laying mechanics, and the option for a two-player mode that makes it all that much harder, this one is always in my pocket when traveling.

44. London: Second Edition

I liked London quite a bit in its original, hard-to-find form. Martin Wallace’s ability to take a handful of mechanics and a deck of cards and weave a satisfying game from it is legendary, and London is one of the best. The second edition somehow made the game even better. It’s prettier, it’s smoother, and it’s completely card-driven, cutting an unnecessary map element to make the game that much better.

43. The Gallerist

Vital Lacerda is one of my favorite designers for how he injects theme and aesthetic into his games, taking what would otherwise be heavy, mechanically-charged games and making them into works of art. The Gallerist remains my favorite for its ability to weave the three together in such a precise, engaging way.

42. Rebuilding Seattle

When Chris spotted a game at PAX a few years ago called “Rebuilding Seattle,” I knew I had to play it. Thankfully, it was also a whole lot of fun. A polyomino puzzle in which you draft and purchase tiles to rebuild Seattle following the great fire of 1889, the game is quick, full of interesting decisions, and represents the city so well.

41. Sankore: The Pride of Mansa Musa

Sankore: The Pride of Mansa Musa—Lopiano’s spiritual successor to Merv—brings the whole crew back for another top-tier Osprey production, complete with Ian O’Toole’s artwork and co-designer Mandela Fernandez-Grandon. The result is the heaviest title either Osprey or Lopiano has released to date. The game centers on building the legendary 14th-century University of Timbuktu, nurtured and expanded under the patronage of Emperor Mansa Musa. And while it’s every bit as gorgeous as you’d expect from this team, it’s also dense in the best way—full of interlocking systems that constantly feed one another, pushing players to think holistically (and thematically) about how their choices shape the game’s evolution.

40. Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization

Probably the only game on this list to get a spot because of its app, Through the Ages is the best civilization game I own and has by far the best digital implementation I’ve ever experienced. Clever mechanics, a brilliant tutorial, and so much content in the box, this is the game to get if you want a long, involved civ-builder.

39. Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy

I didn’t love Eclipse in its first edition packaging. I don’t quite remember why, but it went very long, it bogged me down with minutia and the production was subpar (meaning cubes everywhere). I’m not 100% sure what all changed in the second edition (other than the price), but I will say that it’s now one of my favorite games of all time, with a bevy of clever, engaging, chunky decisions that remind me of Twilight Imperium in all the right ways, but in a shorter package.

38. Underwater Cities

Distilling the core tableau-building of Terraforming Mars with a worker placement twist, Underwater Cities is an immensely satisfying puzzle of a game with much more depth than most games in the genre.

37. Andromeda’s Edge

I first played Dwellings of Eldervale in 2022 and immediately loved it—a clever twist on worker placement that creates emergent stories, rewards nearly every action, and spices things up with boss-style battles. Instead of the usual “place a worker, get a thing,” the entire game flows organically from those placements. Unfortunately, I never owned a copy.

Andromeda’s Edge, designed by Luke Laurie with his son Maximus, takes that foundation and expands it dramatically. There’s more to do, more systems to manage, and a deeper puzzle to solve as you explore the galaxy. It’s bigger and more complex—but also one of the most satisfying worker placement games I’ve played in years.

36. Blood Rage

Since my first play at GenCon until now, I’ve yet to have a bad session with this one (and I’ve only won once). It’s fast, it’s combative, and it rewards actions of all types. Yes, you can get stomped out of a region you spent time building up, but you can be right back in there the next age, and if one game goes poorly, the next will be completely different. From gorgeous miniatures to carefully balanced card drafting, there’s nothing about this one I don’t like.

35. The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth

What a surprise: 7 Wonders Duel is a near-masterpiece, but it always had a bit of drag—especially the “just take points” (blue cards) approach. Duel for Middle-Earth keeps the same brilliant open-information draft and multiple win paths, but swaps points and the military track for a Middle-Earth map and a tense Ring hunt with Frodo/Sam versus the Nazgûl. It still feels unmistakably like Duel, yet the new layers make it fresher, tighter, and more exciting—and it quickly became my most-played game of the year.

34. Pax Pamir: Second Edition

Cole Wehrle revisits an earlier design and produces a beautiful, intricately crafted asymmetrical tableau builder about an important but rarely discussed moment in history. This is a tight, low scoring scramble for dominance that is immensely satisfying to playing out.

33. SETI

What’s remarkable—especially for first-time designer Tomáš Holek—is how cleanly it all clicks in SETI. It looks like a sprawling tangle of boards, tracks, and multi-step actions, but it never feels messy because the goal stays simple: explore.

Launching probes, upgrading tech, and gathering data all feed that same curiosity loop, and the game consistently rewards you for pushing farther. It even gave me that same “instant favorite” feeling I had with CGE’s Lost Ruins of Arnak. At 1–3 players, it sings.

32. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Lost Ruins of Arnak is a perfect combination of worker placement and deck building that has hit my table nearly 50 times the year I first played it, and has continued to be a regular, both solo and multiplayer.

31. Antike II

One of my favorite area control games and a Mac Gerdts rondel classic, Antike II streamlines and improves on almost every aspect of the original game. It plays quickly, with almost no downtime for players, and offers a wealth of choices each time I play.

30. Heaven & Ale

This game has grown on me like few games have, a delight every time I’ve played. From the right nature of resources to the agonizing decision of where to place newly purchased tiles on my player board, brewing beer has never been more stressful (or fun!)

29. Nucleum

Nucleum is a dense, idea-packed euro that feels almost overstuffed, but somehow lands as exactly the right kind of “more.” The expansions have been excellent, and the steady stream of new content keeps the puzzle fresh without diluting what makes it work. My favorite part is the technology boards, where the upgrade paths create the most interesting long-term planning and the biggest payoff moments.

28. Nippon

Nippon is one of my favorite economic euros, a tight and rewarding design that delivers real strategic depth without feeling dry. What sets it apart is its clever spin on area control: you are not just competing for space on a map, you are building economic development that creates and reinforces your presence through production, investment, and timing. The systems interlock in a satisfying way, so money, workers, expansion, and scoring all push and pull on each other every turn. If you like heavier euros with strong economic tension and meaningful competition, Nippon is an easy recommendation. I am also really looking forward to the new version and what it adds.

27. Star Trek Captain’s Chair

It’s a streamlined, two-player (or solo) take on Turczi and Buckle’s Imperium system, locked into a cohesive sci-fi setting. You choose one of six captains, build a crew, explore, and grow a tableau where cards pull double duty and stick around with ongoing triggers.

The teach is surprisingly easy—the depth comes from how your engine develops, not from dense rules. It’s my most-played game of the year, with solo runs still taking 90–120 minutes. I’m not even a huge Trekkie, but the theme fits, and it’s a real Top 100 contender for me.

26. On Mars

Every Vital Lacerda game is a near-instant chance for the Top 100, and On Mars made it quickly. It’s the heaviest, most thematically rich and engaging game Lacerda has made (still), and is my highest rated for good reason.

25. A Feast for Odin

Uwe Rosenberg is the master of worker placement games, one of my favorite genres of games, and A Feast for Odin is the biggest, most audacious, and most puzzley of the bunch. Hence it’s spot here on the list. It’s big, it’s long, and it’s loaded with so many decisions that I still find new things to do in it to this date.

24. Kemet: Blood and Sand

Kemet was one of my favorite dudes on a map game for a long time, but there were issues with it. It wasn’t quite as “fun” as Blood Rage, in a raw mechanical way, there was some bloat with the expansions mixed in, and the end game would give me a headache. Blood and Sand addresses almost all of this and turns out one of the best dudes on a map experiences out there (even if it is one of the worst rulebooks).

23. Mage Knight Ultimate

Built for 1-2 players, Mage Knight is the pinnacle of solo gaming. This is a brilliant, tactically rich, adventure-driven puzzle of a game full of crunchy mechanics and thematically-rich gameplay. I love Mage Knight, Star Trek Frontiers for re-envisioning it in a slightly easier box, and everything in between.

22. Spirit Island

Like a lightning bolt, this game crashed into my top 10 the year it came out, instantly blowing my preconceptions about cooperative games out of the water. At once an engaging social commentary and a blisteringly difficult cooperative game wrapped in a shell of euro-driven mechanics, there are few games as well-conceived and executed as Spirit Island.

21. Nations

Nations makes the list for a couple of reasons – first it’s a great civilization game. More than that, though, it allows players to progress through the game in the way they feel best fits their needs and the replayability is incredibly high. Combine that with solid solo play mechanics and this is a strong favorite in my collection.

20. 1889 Shikoku

Heading into COVID, I was on an 18xx hot streak, getting into a groove with a genre I never thought I’d really enjoy. Since then, the realities of moving across the state and not having a regular group mean I’ve pared away all but two of my 18xx games, but Shikoku remains my favorite. It’s smaller, cleaner, and easier to teach, and it perfectly captures what makes this genre so much fun to play.

19. Teotihuacan

A beautiful production, loaded with interesting decisions and a clever rondel-driven worker upgrade system, Teotihuacan jumped right into the upper tiers of mid-weight euros for me.

18. Imperial Settlers

Imperial Settlers is a messy, clunky, joyful civilization game that clicked with me the first time I played it. I have everything ever released for it, along with a ton of great memories of sitting with my son (only 3 at the time) playing on a Saturday afternoon.

17. Brass: Birmingham

One of the many blemishes on my list of games played for years, I finally experienced Brass this year, which instantly shot into my top 10, until I played Birmingham, the revised edition from Roxley Games, which is sleeker and offers a slew of new interesting decisions in the same compact, tightly designed package.

16. Dune: War for Arrakis

The hobby keeps growing, but it also loops through endless reskins, remakes, and reimplementations. That’s not inherently bad—board games can iterate quickly and cheaply, and new permutations can still feel fresh.

That’s why I was excited when CMON announced Dune: War for Arrakis, a new take on the War of the Ring formula from the same designers, Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello. It’s an epic, deeply asymmetrical two-player battle (four “technically”), bringing back the dice-action system and swingy character cards—while still feeling distinctly Dune, from Fremen sietches and hidden movement to the ever-present threat of sandworms.

15. Star Wars Rebellion

It’s big, it’s epic and it’s Star Wars. What more do I need? Turns out, a bit of time as well. I haven’t gotten nearly as much time with this game as I would like, otherwise, I’m sure it would be higher on the list, but even still, nothing quite compares to Star Wars in a box.

14. The Castles of Burgundy

Stefan Feld’s best game, and most popular. It’s a boring answer to that question, but remains the case after 60+ plays for a reason. With new editions of the game, solo and cooperative play, and multiple digital versions, there are no excuses not to play The Castles of Burgundy.

13. Age of Innovation

Age of Innovation is the best version of Terra Mystica for me. It keeps the classic feel but fixes the friction points with sharper asymmetry, more engaging upgrade tracks, tighter map interaction than Gaia Project, and a built-in automa that works right out of the box. None of the changes sound huge on their own, but together they add up to something special. A genuine masterpiece.

12. Terraforming Mars

It’s ugly to look at, can drag on for far too long, and the deck of cards is a little large with all the extra stuff, and yet I love it. Terraforming Mars has immense, constantly growing depth – the kind that has made it my most played game of both 2016 and 2017, and remains a top play to this day, both digitally and physically.

11. Clans of Caledonia

Clans of Caledonia is a mash-up of several of my favorite things – farming euros, economic games, and Terra Mystica. It’s none of these things, and yet somehow all of them, and despite the derivative description, the combination works exceedingly well. For a compact, small-production euro, this one is a keeper.

10. Marvel Champions

At this point, there are so many heroes and so many scenarios that I’ll never get through all the content in this game, but it remains my favorite LCG by a mile, and will be hitting my table for as long as I play board games.

9. The Great Zimbabwe

Move over Food Chain Magnate, this classic Splotter game has taken the spot for me, representing simple but emergent gameplay that offers nearly limitless opportunities and high levels of player engagement.

8. Slay the Spire

I’ve loved the Slay the Spire video game for years, replaying it a few times annually when I want a deckbuilder that shouldn’t work on a table. Somehow, the board game does. Contention Games and the designers turned a sprawling, numbers-heavy roguelike into a smooth cooperative tabletop campaign—scaled down, quick to set up, and deeply satisfying. It doesn’t copy the video game so much as capture the feeling of playing it, but in a streamlined, co-op form. I expected to pass on it; instead, it blew me away, and I’m already hungry for new content.

7. Watergate

This asymmetrical two-player tug of war between Nixon and the press was one of the best games I found and played at Gen Con in 2019 and has been a staple of my table ever since.

6. The Voyages of Marco Polo

From the guys who brought us Tzolk’in, The Voyages of Marco Polo is a brilliant refinement of several familiar euro mechanics. It’s a testament to how good this game is that it makes my list at such a high spot less than a year after release.

5. Cascadia

My favorite game of 2021 is an instant classic, taking a simple mechanic and streamlining it to the point of absolute elegance. It’s sleek, easy to teach, and absolutely incredible fun no matter how many times I get it to the table. This will be on the list for a long time to come.

4. Root

I liked Vast, but never played it due to how hard it was to teach and how long it could take. Root does all of what Vast did, but repackages it as a COIN-style war game and does it faster and cuter. I love Root more than I ever thought possible for such a game and with more content on the way, it has a spot in my regular rotation for years to come.

3. War of the Ring The Card Game

Just when we retire War of the Ring from the list and put it in the BGA Hall of Fame, guess what happens? Ares Games and Ian Brody roll out a brilliant spin on the formula with War of the Ring: The Card Game. Compelling, unforgiving in its requirement for four players to fully enjoy, and a thoughtful tug of war that uses the IP to its fullest, somehow another War of the Ring game makes it into the top 10.

2. Ultimate Railroads

I can’t help but salivate while playing Russian Railroads and seeing my score double then triple and balloon up into the 300s and 400s. A true snowball worker placement game, it’s so much fun. And German Railroads, the first expansion, fixes just about every problem the original had and makes it that much better.

1. Voidfall

 

Voidfall is a massive, eight-hour table-hog from Mindclash that I backed largely for Ian O’Toole’s art and ended up loving enough to keep set up for weeks at a time. The box is huge, heavy, and packed with components, and even after a dozen plays setup can take 90 minutes. The iconography is daunting at first, taking up a four-page leaflet to translate the table, but it’s consistent and ultimately makes the game playable. Despite the space-empire trappings, it’s not a true 4X; it’s a deep Euro puzzle where one action cascades into many, demanding careful sequencing. Brilliant, messy, and hard to teach, but endlessly compelling.

 

 

Chris’s Top 100 Games of All Time (2026)

 

100. Tokaido

Join me on the gentle Tokaido road in which we will visit the temples, eat great foods, purchase local crafts and paint the great vistas. The game works even better with the expansions and is great for a relaxed night at home or with the family.

99. Abyss

 

 

98. Dune: Imperium – Uprising

 

97. Dixit: Journey

Party games almost by their definition are a one time throw away event, and yet, Dixit with its fantastic art and opportunity to conjure up endless clues is worthy of being in a museum.

96. Arboretum

 

95. No Thanks!

 

94. Deep Sea Adventure

 

93. The Duke

92. Love Letter: Premium Edition

Love Letter gets a lot of hate because of its success and numerous versions, but Love Letter Premium with its large cards, additional roles, and brilliant production gives it elite status.

91. Shadow Hunters

When I think social deductions, I often want something more, and Shadow Hunters provides the real hard gameplay decisions I look for in my games. You must play with the highest player count to get all those wonderful neutrals in the game.

90. Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar

 

89. For Sale

 

88. Sea Salt & Paper

 

87. Mysterium

Dixit + Clue=A dark and stormy night of Mysterium!

86. Colosseum

 

85. Revolution!

Revolution! Bring together blind bidding and all the thematic elements of blackmail, bribes and downright force to push your control. The expansions really open up the game and replayability.

84. Khôra: Rise of an Empire

 

83. Yggdrasil

Co-ops often suffer from alpha players, but here in Yggdrasil you make your own choices and have enough diversity and challenge to keeps it at the table.

82. A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Second Edition)

The revamped and streamlined second edition of the Game of Thrones Card Game works just as well as the original with the added benefit of easier deck building and a more robust pool of cards.

81. Conquest of Planet Earth: The Space Alien Game

 

80. Antiquity

 

79. Calimala

 

78. Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy

 

77. Coimbra

From its elegant art and design to its innovative dice usage, Coimbra offers the greatest use of dice in gaming today.

76. Agricola (Revised Edition)

I never thought I would like a farming game, and yet, here I am singing the praises of Agricola. It is simply the most thematic euro game that you will ever find.

75. The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game

Fast, fun and innovative, The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game brings together the best card game for its size in price in board game history.

74. Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization

If you are looking for a serious and meaningful civilization game then Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization is the game for you. I would argue that this is the civ game more than any other that crafts a deep and meaningful story while bringing satisfying gameplay.

73. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

 

72. Alien Frontiers

 

71. King of Tokyo

 

70 Shadows over Camelot

One of the original, and still the best hidden traitor games available. Days of Wonder at the peak of their powers, and a game that everyone should play at least once (if you can find it).

69. Fresco

Amongst all the Queen Big Box games, Fresco is above them all. Not only does it offer interesting worker placement and resource management, but the multiple “queenie” expansions add several more drops of complexity and thematic color.

68. Rivet Wars: Eastern Front

Rivet Wars: Eastern Front is a fantastic two-player tactical war game that with its enormous Kickstarter expansions offers a ton of options for gameplay including planes that hover above the battlegrounds. It’s a quick-playing objective-based game that even when you lose, you smile at the fun gameplay and miniatures.

67. The Palaces of Carrara

 

66. AquaSphere

 

65. AuZtralia

Cthulhu in Australia. It doesn’t sound like it should work, especially not with a theme that historically hasn’t hit with me, but Martin Wallace’s clever spin on the genre works across so many levels.

64. The Quacks of Quedlinburg

Press your luck games are typically left to lighter game fair, but The Quacks of Quedlinburg offers a new way on an old mechanic but bringing in bag building and dynamic combos with a colorful palette.

63. Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game

 

62. Mission: Red Planet (Second Edition)

The recent reprint of Mission: Red Planet (Second Edition) comes with upgraded components, artwork, and truly necessary rule changes. The role selection and area majority mechanics work really well together and it’s a great deal of thematic fun.

61. Small City

Building your Small City is going to take careful economic planning, employing the government officials and a complete disregard for polluting your opponent’s city. Challenging and complex, but welcoming all the way through, it’s a fantastic game.

60. Castell

Who thought the Catalan tradition of building human towers who make such a great game? But, it does! You choose and build your tower of castellers to meet the goals of the city that is requesting the performance all the while trying to hit specific public goals and managing a special ability wheel. Great production.

59. Carson City: Big Box

Carson City does something remarkable in that it brings thematic realism and meaningful player interaction in a worker placement game. I have chosen the Big Box version here because the game really shines with the high-quality components and numerous player roles.

58. Smartphone Inc

Stark in its look and application, but complex and engaging in its interaction with other players, Smartphone Inc. makes all other economic games seem disconnected and cluttered. It’s a rare and brilliant gem in 2018.

57. Dinosaur Island

Dinosaur Island should be just a collection of ridiculous miniature dinosaurs and Jurassic Park references and yet, with its streamlined gameplay and endless replayability, this is a game that has earned a worthy place at the table.

56. Orléans

Orléans is a fine bag build game, but what really makes it shine is its expansions that give the game real depth with additional technology and new boards that make dismissing your workers truly valuable.

55. Arcadia Quest

With endless cute chibi fantasy characters and a rock-solid design and gameplay, Arcadia Quest dominates dungeon-crawling campaign player vs player games.

54. 7 Wonders Duel

7 Wonders Duel simply does the impossible by taking a modern-day classic and make it far better and streamlined. Add the expansion for more player interaction and special abilities.

53. BattleLore: Second Edition

Memoir ’44 + the fantasy realm of Terrinoth= Two-Player BattleLore (Second Edition) Fun!

52. Clinic: Deluxe Edition

Clinic languished for years in its original, low-fi production, but the Deluxe version from Alban Viard, featuring artwork by Ian O’Toole brings it to the masses and boy am I glad it did. With dozens of modules, a subversive look at the healthcare industry, and puzzley gameplay, Clinic is a must have.

51. Citadels

Citadels are the best secret role game in tabletop. How can I say that? Well, because the selection and target of a role are chosen based upon on your direct build success and not that another player seems to have a thing for full moons.

50. At the Gates of Loyang

Somehow feeling both perfectly like a Rosenberg game and not at all like a Rosenberg game, At the Gates of Loyang is tight, clever, and full of interesting mechanics that offer replayability.

49. Cuba

Cuba allows players to build out a flush landscape and dynamic economic engine that is beautiful and complex in its application. Sadly this gem is out of print but still holds a highly relevant place with gamers.

48. Kingsburg

Pure and straight forward dice placement and resource management keep Kingsburg a perennial classic. The new reprint includes the expansion that is out of print and it fills out a good game to a great time for all gateway gamers.

47. Quantum

Quantum is a streamlined 4X in space game that utilizes dice to represent the ever-changing power of your fleet. Modular game tiles and numerous technologies allow for a vastly different gameplay each and every time.

46. Saint Petersburg (Second Edition)

One of my first and meaningful euro engine builders was Saint Petersburg. It’s a classic for its “simple to learn, lifetime to master” quality, but it has stood the test of time with its numerous paths to victory. A must play.

45. Rising Sun

Massive and beautiful in every way, Rising Sun has dominated 2018 and every table in its wake. And yet, it’s gameplay is well thought out and simple to follow. Numerous paths to victory and expansions make this game a rising hit.

44. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

 

43. Obsession

Obsession allows you to take the role of a family seeking to rise in the social structure through the use of elegant deck and tableau building with a dash of worker placement. It seems all very complex but somehow works so simply that this newcomer is sure to rise in its reputation.

42. Cyclades

The battle of the Greek isles has never been more fun than with this bidding style war game that allows you to employ the blessing of the Greek gods. The expansions that followed the base game really open the game and literally transform the landscape of the battles on the isles.

41. The Castles of Burgundy

 

40. Trickerion: Collector’s Edition

Presto Chango! Trickerion: Legends of Illusion makes worker placement fun and fantastically complex! Wondrous art and graphic design allow for deep and meaningful gameplay that deserves numerous gameplay.

39. Caverna: The Cave Farmers

Uwe Rosenberg could have easily let be Agricola be his magnum opus of tabletop farming, but he went back to the farm and allowed for the cards to now be open information tiles and feeding your people to be reasonable. Multiple paths to victory and specialization are just two of the fantastic reasons to play this game.

38. 7 Wonders (Second Edition)

Elegant in design and accessibility for all gamer levels. 7 Wonders brings civilization-building to life with brilliant card drafting and tableau building. The expansions open the game up to deeper direct player interaction.

37. Rebuilding Seattle

 

36. Rococo

Rococo doesn’t get the love it deserves and it’s a terrible shame. The opulence of the time it depicts has turned off many from what is a card management area majority game.

35. Kemet: Blood and Sand

34. Andromeda’s Edge

 

33. The Voyages of Marco Polo

The Voyages of Marco Polo accomplishes what few games ever do, asymmetrical powers that always feel balanced in the game. Dice placement is tight but fun and the expansion really opens the game up.

32. Concordia Venus

 

31. Suburbia: Collector’s Edition

Tableau building and resource management really hit home in this thematic interpretation of building up a Suburbia. At the game’s end, I often wonder if the real-life suburbia that followed my success or failure in the real world.

30. Barcelona

 

29. Small World

Stellar production and slick design make this area control game sing with endless combos or race and special powers. Small World scales perfectly to any player count and is a joy to play whether you are a hardcore gamer or new to the hobby. Wonderful expansions that are all “Must Buy.”

28. Villagers

A wildly unique supply chain management game that fits in a tiny box. The wooden coins and the expansions are a must for every game.

27. Scythe

Scythe is (as I predicted) a game-changer for the industry. It incorporates stellar artwork and a mashup of great euro and Ameritrash gameplay. And yet, it only truly shines with the Rise of Fenris expansion that makes Scythe a fully realized gameplay experience.

26. Last Will

After years of building complex eurogame engines, Last Will comes in and forces you to deconstruct it. It is a simple idea but a truly mind frying experience that has you laughing all the way to the poor house and victory.

25. Blood Rage

Blood Rage was and continues to be a game like no other. It expertly provides a dynamic Ameritrash/Euro experience with multiple paths to victory that embodies the “a minute to learn, a lifetime to master” goal.

24. Spirit Island

Dreamlike in its presentation and yet, pragmatic in its strategy, Spirit Island has you taking up arms against the colonists that are corrupting your lands. Having the NPC of the native people join your cause, as well as your fellow spirits, makes this co-op game a joy to behold. Spirit Island can be complex and take a good long time to finish, but if you have a quiet space and a good team, you are going to love this game.

23. Runewars

When I think of epic fantasy battles, there is no better than Runewars. The opportunity to expand with a race, build troops and utilize your heroes special abilities makes this feel like an old school real-time strategy game.

22. The Prodigals Club

If destroying your financial future wasn’t enough in Last Will, The Prodigals Club comes by and does you one better by destroying your social standing as well. What is strangely beautiful about this game is that it can, in fact, play with Last Will, so you can have your cake and lose it too!

21. 878 Vikings: Invasions of England

Two to four players can enjoy the fantastic realism of strategic decisions that make 878: Vikings – Invasions of England so dynamic. Dudes on the map have never been this intense or this fun.

20. Roll for the Galaxy

Stellar production and engaging dice resource placement make Roll for the Galaxy one of the greatest civilization games in space ever.

19. Lorenzo il Magnifico

This tight tableau builder offers a robust experience right out of the box, but with the addition of the expansion, becomes a brilliant game through and through. One of the best euros ever made.

18. Bora Bora

Colorful and vibrant in its gameplay, Bora Bora shrinks down and makes sleek the build of a civilization with a bit of help from the gods and your best men and women.

17. Watergate

Two player asymmetrical games don’t always work, or they do and take hours, but Watergate gets the formula down with quick, accessible games that only take 20-30 minutes and are always tense.

16. The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth

 

15. Feudum

Never has there been a more wondrous and inspired thematic area control game that with one simple pull of the guild, starts a fantastical chain of events that will lead you to rule or whimper away. Feudum is a deep and complex experience.

14. Mare Nostrum: Empires

Mare Nostrum: Empires is what happens when wargamers, euro gamers and a splash of Ameritrash hits the world of Mediterranean mythology. Epic in every way, with multiple paths to victory that have nothing to do with conquest, makes this a truly unique and dynamic game.

13. Freedom: The Underground Railroad

 

12. Shipyard

Rondales for days and I could not be happier! I love the way you select your end bonuses and how you are actually putting together pieces of a ship make Shipyard everything you could ask for in a heavy euro.

11. Star Trek: Ascendancy

Star Trek Ascendancy boldly goes for a three-player base game of galactic stakes that reflects the core attributes of each species. And yet, the game only really opens up with the expansion races that allow for different gameplay options and effects.

10. Dominare

Dominare is an often overlooked game in the Tempest story, but it is simply the best of all of its chapters. Card drafting and tableau building with the additional challenge of timing their triggering events in this area control game is fantastic.

9. The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire

The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire brings us the hard fact that the actions that are quick and easy, often bring the longest-lasting damage to our success. Power up your empire with dice, but be careful as power has a price. Multiple technologies offer endless replayability and fun to the table. Out of all its many iterations, this is the best of the “Projects”.

8. First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express!

What a sincerely delightful and innovative train building game that offer the most diverse number of opportunities for replayability right down to a murder mystery. The wonderful building of your train that expands across your table is a sight to be seen.

7. Underwater Cities

Underwater Cities seemingly takes everything great and not so great from the popular Terraforming Mars game and makes it better in almost every way. Personal boards in which you build up your plans and technologies that follow a logical progression that makes this game a refined gem that will certainly be a modern-day classic.

6. Bruges

Stefan Feld has many wonderful designs, but Bruges with its multi-use cards and multiple point salads to victory can’t be overstated. A “Must Have” expansion fills out the dice rolls in a very satisfying way.

5. Dominant Species: Marine

 

4. Star Wars: Rebellion

Star Wars: Rebellion is simply the best and greatest Star Wars in a box that board gaming has ever had. Period. Along with a worthy expansion, even non-Star Wars fan will enjoy the hidden movement, battles, and fantastic production.

3. War of the Ring: The Card Game

 

 

2. Lisboa

Lisboa is an elegantly crafted game about the rebuilding of this famous Portugal city after an earthquake, fire, and flood. Beautiful artwork and intense card play make this a heavy game every gamer should play.

1. Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory