Top 100 Games: 80-71
Here’s the next 10 of my Top 100. This list is numbers 80-71. If you missed the last 10 you can see them here, Top 100: 90-81.
80. Planet Unknown
2025 Rank: New to List
Designer: Ryan Lambert, Adam Rehberg
Publisher: Adam’s Apple Games
Player Count: 1-6
Planet Unknown would have been on my list for many years now. However, I only got a chance to play it for the first time this year. This game is also likely to move up the list as time goes on. It has one of my favorite mechanisms in a game: simultaneous play. Most of you that have played games with me know I don’t like waiting for my turn. In games like Planet Unknown, it is everyone’s turn all of the time. This makes the game move much faster and also allows it to scale to higher player counts very easily. I do think the game is much better with the asymmetrical planet boards. So those of you that have played it and enjoyed the introductory game should try the extra planets to get a better experience.
79. Arboretum
2025 Rank: 159
Designer: Dan Cassar
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Player Count: 2-4
Arboretum can play up to 4, but for the purposes of this list, it is a two-player game. I will not play this with more than two, and if I had to rank it as a 3-4 player game, it would be much lower. At two players, this is one of the most cutthroat card games out there. Because of the way the game scores, it forces you to hold cards in your hand that you otherwise would play or discard. You need to hold them in your hand in order to score the cards you lay out in your arboretum, but you also want to hold the cards your opponent needs. The separate discard piles for each player mean that any card you get rid of is available for your opponent to take on their next turn. This game isn’t for everyone, but if you like small, easy-to-learn card games that pack a punch, this is one of the best.
78. Comic Hunters
2025 Rank: 56
Designer: Robert Coelho
Publisher: Arcane Wonders
Player Count: 2
Another game that has fallen down the list because it doesn’t get played. Comic Hunters is a drafting game with a comic book collecting theme. I don’t have much of a connection to the comics themselves, but the artwork on the cards is extraordinary. Anyone who has collected comic books in their life will instantly recognize those represented in the game. The game itself goes through 3 rounds of drafting, each round being a different style of draft. You are trying to collect comic books that score for each of the different categories throughout the game. This is a game that even if you don’t win, it’s cool to see the collection you have amassed during the game.
77. Cartographers
2025 Rank: 121
Designer: Jordy Adan
Publisher: Thunderworks Games
Player Count: 1-100
I guess I lied in my earlier post about Welcome To.. being my highest rated roll/flip and write because here we are with Cartographers. In Cartographers, you are drawing out a map using the shapes turned over each round. Each card will have a different shape and type of landscape. These landscapes will score differently depending on the scoring cards for that specific game and which round of the game you are currently playing it. In addition to the landscapes, there are monsters. These monsters will be drawn onto your map by your opponents and will score you negative points if they aren’t dealt with. The game has a few expansions and a collectors box which we have in the mobile library.
76. Duel for Cardia
2025 Rank: New to list
Designer: Faouzi Boughida, Mathieu Rivero
Publisher: Asmodee
Player Count: 2
One of the new two-player games that have knocked some of the older ones down the list this year. I love how simple this game is, but the mind games are what make it work so well. All you do on your turn is choose a card from your hand to play, as does your opponent. The player that played the higher-valued card wins the ring; however, the other player gets to use the power on their card. If you win 5 rings, you win the game. The card powers do all sorts of things like increase or decrease the value of a card, or allow you to win ties, or even just outright win the game. It comes with two different sets of cards to play with and some cards that add extra rules to each round to change up the game a bit, but honestly, the base set with no extra stuff is really fun. It’s refreshing to play a simple little game that feels bigger than it is on the table.
75. Whitehall Mystery
2025 Rank: 104
Designer: Gabriele Mari, Gianluca Santopietro
Publisher: Asmodee
Player Count: 2-4
Another one of my favorite styles of games is the 1 vs. all type. In Whitehall Mystery, one player plays as Jack the Ripper, and the rest of the players are the police trying to stop him. The Jack player will be trying to get to 3 points on the map without getting caught. The police are trying to cut him off, locate him, and arrest him before he can do that. The Jack player has several special abilities to help him get out of trouble, and each police officer has its own special power that lets them contribute in different ways. The game creates “stand-up moments” for the police as they are searching and trying to arrest and silent tension for the Jack player as they are trying to find a way to escape. One of the simplest versions of this style of game that everyone should give a try.
74. Take Time
2025 Rank: New to List
Designer: Alexi Piovesan, Julien Prothière
Publisher: Libellud
Player Count: 2-4
Take Time takes the concept of The Mind, a small mental card game, and makes it an actual game. The players are attempting to play cards around a clock in the correct order, but they cannot communicate at all once the first card in the round has been played. Each scenario adds a rule or two that makes the game more than just playing cards in order. Some might have to be a specific color, or add up to over or under a specific value, or areas of the clock may need a specific number of cards played in them. The more you play, the better you get at the game, but also the harder those specific rules become. If you get a good group together that is really in sync with how the game should be played, it is a blast.
73. Unstoppable
2025 Rank: New to List
Designer: John D. Clair
Publisher: Renegade Games
Player Count: 1-2
Unstoppable is a solo or two-player card crafting game. The game is by one of my favorite designers, John D. Clair, and uses his invention, card crafting. In Unstoppable, you are playing cards to defeat enemies and eventually make it to the boss to defeat them. However, unlike other card games, you don’t just draw cards from a deck into your hand. In order to get more cards, you must defeat enemies. Those enemies become cards in your hand that you can use to defeat more enemies. You can also buy upgrades to cards to make them stronger, but those upgrades also make the enemies you need to defeat to get that card stronger. It is a neat concept that I really enjoyed. This is getting a reprint in the Dungeon Crawler Carl universe, and I think it is going to be amazing.
72. Barenpark
2025 Rank: 75
Designer: Phil Walker-Harding
Publisher: Lookout Games
Player Count: 2-4
Barenpark is a tile-laying game with Tetris-like pieces. The goal is to build the highest scoring park filled with bears of different types. Each type of bear comes in different shapes, and where you place them in your park determines which tiles you will be able to place in the future. You will be expanding your park to add new areas and eventually add even more bears. It’s a simple game that always seems to go over well with new players, but still keeps the veteran gamers entertained.
71. Chronicles of Crime
2025 Rank: 68
Designer: David Cicurel
Publisher: Lucky Duck Games
Player Count: 1-4
Probably one of the most innovative games of the last 10 years. Chronicles of Crime is a game about solving a specific crime scenario. Instead of feeding you the information about the crime through a book, this game uses an app and QR codes on cards. You will scan a card that might be evidence and then scan a person to ask them about it. Then the game will tell you what the person knows about the piece of evidence or location or another person, or whatever you decided to scan. Your goal is to solve this crime as quickly as possible, but each card you scan costs you time in the game. The game may also change as you are playing: the killer may strike again, evidence may be tampered with. It’s a fascinating system and blows people’s minds the first time they play it.
