Dale Yu: Sweet Sixteen List for 2007

What better way to end the year than with a list of what I consider to be the best games of 2007 for me!  I’ve enjoyed being able to share my thoughts with the world on this blog, and I hope that you readers have enjoyed it as well!  The main eligibility criteria for this list are: 1) the game was new TO ME in 2007 and 2) I have played the game enough to make a decision about it.  I alone am responsible for all nominations for the awards, and I serve as the only judge.  You, of course, are welcome to make your comments below!

Dale Yu’s 2007 Sweet Sixteen List

Before I get into the list, I will note that there seems to be a preponderance of games from the Essen crop and not as many from the earlier part of the year.  At first, I was concerned that this might represent a “Johnny Come Lately” syndrome as I’ve been playing more of the Essen games recently – but after a careful look back at the games from early in the year (primarily seen in my Gathering of Friends reports), there just weren’t many games that caught my eye.  I played 15 new releases at the Gathering and only two of those made the final cut by the end of the year!  Though it is much too early to say this with any certainty, I do think that the 2007 Essen cohort of games is the best in recent memory, and for this reason, games from Essen take up most of this list as well.

1. Agricola

Not surprisingly, Agricola is my #1 game of the year.  In fact, it is currently my #1 Overall game, eclipsing Age of Steam!  I have played the game more than 50 times in 2007 which is all the more impressive considering that I have owned it only since October 17!  I have already gone on ad nauseum about the game itself in my review, so I won’t spend any more time describing the game itself.

Agricola is the game of the year due to its versatility. It plays anywhere from one to five players well.  There is both a simplified family game which even a beginning gamer can grasp as well as a more complex version (using the cards) that should satisfy even the most veteran gamer.  The replay value of the game is nearly infinite given the large number of cards included in the game.  [This replay value will be further increased as expansions to the game are already in the works—keep your eyes posted here for more details on this!] As a result, though I would never consider Agricola to be a “gateway game”, it can be suggested for almost any other gaming situation.

2. Amyitis

This game was my “hit of the show” as I was leaving Essen, and it is still clearly above the rest of the Essen games (not named Agricola) in my opinion.  Amyitis is one of those games where you want to do more things each turn than you are able to do—thus, you have to carefully plan out your turn.  To make things more tense, your opponents can also beat you to the punch so you have to keep an eye out for them as well.  I also like the fact that there are multiple ways to score victory points in the game, and so far, it does not seem that any path is dominant over the rest.  To be honest, I don’t think that there are any unique mechanics introduced in the game, but everything just works well together here.

3. Qwirkle

This is my surprise hit of the year.  I didn’t know anything about Qwirkle until I read about it one of my mailing lists.  It can be seen as a Scrabble variant which uses colors and shapes instead of letter.  Admittedly, it doesn’t sound like a lot of fun from that description—and that’s what is so great about the game!  It’s a blast to play and still provides some strategic challenges.

The appeal of this game to me is that it is a great gateway game.  The game is made up of colorfully-painted wooden blocks.  It is visually appealing even to the non-gamer.  Furthermore, the game can be explained in about three minutes as there are really only about four or five rules.  I have played the game with kids as young as 7—and almost lost to them!  The game itself lasts 15-20 minutes, and usually there is a request to play it again afterwards.

The only shortcoming of the game (IMHO) is that there is no scoring mechanism included in the game.  Someone has to tally the scores with pen and paper.  I have placed an old four-track Cribbage board in my box which serves as a nice scorekeeper and allows each player to peg his own points.

4. Giganten Der Lufte

Giganten Der Lufte is the new Queen release by Andreas Seyfarth.  I’m a sucker for dice games, and this one hits the spot for me.  It is similar in nature to To Court The King in that you roll dice and try to collect cards which will modify your future rolls.  I prefer Giganten der Lufte because it uses three different types of dice which adds a bit to the strategy.  The game takes no more than 20-30 minutes, and it always generates cheering/jeering as players push their luck to get the cards they want.

5. Castle Builder (prototype)

I wish I could tell you more about this game, but I can’t.  It’s a prototype in development, and I’ve been fortunate to be amongst the early playtesters.  Perhaps when the game is closer to being finished, I’ll be given permission to write more about it.  Depending on how the game development goes, this has the potential to make my All-Time Top 10.

6. Gipsy King

I bought this game as an afterthought.  I was just about to leave the exhibition hall on Saturday for the last time when I ran into the Cwali booth (literally).  I had just packed my bags and I figured that I had space for one more small game, and Gipsy King happened to be the right size—though in retrospect, not the right weight, as I ended up carrying the wooden bits home in my jacket pocket…

Gipsy King is a tight area control game which uses an interesting turn order mechanic to spice things up.  Essentially, if you pass on placing a piece on your turn, you will move up in turn order for later rounds.  Thus, this becomes a game about timing your plays well, and that concept really appeals to me.  I’ve also heard that this is an excellent two-player game, though I have yet to play it with only two.

7. Hamburgum

This is the third game from Mac Gerdts to use the rondel mechanic, and it is my favorite one of the bunch by far.  It is a quick moving affair that does not have the same direct player conflict as in the other rondel games, Antike and Imperial.  The game also has the additional bonus of having a two-sided board to help increase the replay value of this great game.

8. Age of Steam: Netherlands

This Age of Steam variant map allows SEVEN players to play on a single map!  Yes, it’s as crazy as it sounds… I got in two games of this at the Gathering of Friends, and it’s a hoot.  It may be the only game I’ve ever seen where a player went the entire game without taking a share.  Furthermore, that player, Luke Hedgren, managed to win the game! 

9. Age of Steam 3.0 (prototype)

Again, not much I can say about this one as it is a prototype.  It is currently in development by Mayfair, and it is shaping up to be a great game. 

10. Key Harvest

The latest installment to Richard Breese’s Key-game series rounds out the Top 10.  It might have ended up closer to the top, but I’ve had only one chance to play it so far.  It is a clever game where you try to acquire adjacent tiles on your gameboard.  Action tiles that come up randomly cause you to keep on your toes and make tactical changes to win the game.

11. die Palastegefluster

This little game from Adlung is my other unexpected hit from Essen 2007.  It’s a hand management card game that scales well from three to six players.  The only complaint I have with the game is that some of the cards are hard to read—the King cards as well as the reference cards use 4-point text—but for €5, it’s hard to complain too much.

12. Portobello Market

One of the only games from the Spring releases to make the list.  This abstract game is one that plays extremely quickly, probably 15-20 minutes per game!  Some have complained that game ends too quickly, but I think that this is a good feature of the game.  You can possibly try a long-term strategy, but you have to defend against the other players ending the game before your strategy can come to fruition.

13. Descent

Okay, so I know that I was late to this party.  Descent isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but it’s still an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon (and evening and next morning).  It’s a bit long for the amount of game that you get out of it, but it’s still a great excuse to get together with friends for a day or a weekend.

14. Wabash Cannonball

This game was one of the new releases from Winsome Games at Essen 2007.  It’s a railway stock game, somewhat similar to the 18XX series except that it is much quicker and more streamlined. 

15. Glik

A new abstract from Poland with a Richochet Robot-like feel to it.  The game is a bit limited as it really is unbalanced with any number other than four.  Also, players in the game could possibly get shut out of game (with no way to win)—and this is something that the rules don’t deal with at all.

16. Liebe & Intrige

What Sweet Sixteen list would be complete without a game in a pink box that has you marrying off your daughters? 

Others Receiving Votes (in alphabetical order): Borneo, Card Football, Colosseum, Filou, Garibaldi, Kingsburg, Venedig, Wurfel Bingo

Not Played Enough To Be Rated (but likely would have contended otherwise):  Darjeeling, Ming Dynasty, In The Year of The Dragon, Race for the Galaxy, King of Siam

Solitaire Games

1. Agricola
2. Einfach Genial Knoblespass
3. Computer version of Einfach Genial
4. Anything on the Nintendo Wii

Two Player Game

1. Agricola
2. 1960: The Making of the President
3. Perry Rhodan
4. Mr. Jack Expansion
5. Card Football

Children’s Games

1. Mausekarrusel
2. Burg Appenzell
3. Funny Fishing
4. Pirates on the High Seas
5. Heli Hopper

© 2007 Dale Yu

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Comments:

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Re: Amyitis “Amyitis is one of those games where you want to do more things each turn than you are able to do – and thus, you have to carefully plan out your turn.  To make things more tense, your opponents can also beat you to the punch so you have to keep an eye out for them as well.  I also like the fact that there are multiple ways to score victory points in the game, and so far, it does not seem that any path is dominant over the rest.” Wow. I fell asleep just reading that, let alone actually playing the game. What’s next? A game where you auction for the right to ship goods which give you victory points? Here is my pre-order. On a more serious note (wait, was I kidding above?), it’s interesting to see what Ystari keeps cranking out of the Eurogame mechanic meat grinder. Posted by Dan Corban on Dec 26, 2007 at 09:19 AM | #

Interesting list, Dale.  It’s nice to see you include some games that haven’t gotten all that much buzz, like Amyitis and Giganten der Lufte.  I’m also pleased to see a fellow fan of Age of Steam 3rd Edition, but who knows what the game will look like if it ever gets published? I have my own list of favorites, but there isn’t much overlap with yours, since I haven’t played many of the games on your list.  There are three games fighting it out for the top spot--Agricola, Brass, and Phoenicia--and three excellent designs--Notre Dame, Caylus Magna Carta, and Hamburgum.  Then there are a bunch of other titles scrambling to fill out the top 10:  1960, Giganten der Lufte, King of Siam, Ticket to Ride: Switzerland, and Vikings.  There’s an excellent chance that In the Year of the Dragon will wind up near the top as well once I finally get my hands on it.  Plus, I still have more new games to try out.  So it may look pretty different in a couple of months! Posted by Larry Levy on Dec 26, 2007 at 01:00 PM | #

My list right now would have to include Agricola, Notre Dame, Race for the Galaxy, Caylus Magna Carta, Ticket to Ride: Switzerland, Phoenicia, Qwirkle (and I agree with Dale on this - it was a huge surprise and a truly excellent game!) and Zooloretto. There’s a fair number of new games that haven’t made it to the table for me - either I (or one of my gaming group) have them and haven’t had the opportunity to get them to the table (In the Year of the Dragon, Darjeeling, the new expansions for Mykerinos, Power Grid and Zooloretto), I have not yet received the game (Amyitis, Container (okay - Container is supposed to be sitting on my coffee table when I return home. It was apparently delivered the same day I hit the road to west Texas)), or I have not been able to get my hands on a copy of the game to try (Brass, Giganten der Lufte, King of Siam, Cuba, Hamburgum, Age of Steam 3rd Edition). There is a lot of room shifting rankings as I look back a few months from now. Thanks for the list Dale (and yours in the comments, Larry). You’ve mentioned a couple of titles that I need to take a closer look at… Posted by David Reed on Dec 26, 2007 at 05:27 PM | #

Thanks for being one of the first of the more “hardcore” boardgamers to think of Key Harvest in a more positive light. I keep reading negative things from others about the game, yet many of the same say “wouldn’t mind playing this one again”. I think it’s underrated, and underestimated. Posted by Dave Kudzma on Dec 27, 2007 at 03:49 AM | #

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