# Best and Worst Board Games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 13, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798 "2018-02-13T23:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/21 "2018-02-14T18:33:36Z")
Our current favorites are Gloomhaven, Fury of Dracula, and Chess. Honestly for the last month Gloomhaven is the 500 pound gorilla that has dominated our game time. Worst is any roll the die and move your token around game. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/22 "2018-02-14T19:40:11Z")
The _best_ game is roll the die and move your token around the _Backgammon_ board! šŸ™‚ It was almost six decades ago that I played _Stratego_. It was fun. Anyone else enjoy _Acquire_? (I donā€™t really recommend it though.) ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/23 "2018-02-14T20:12:13Z")
Most games are more complicated than you realise at first. Once you learn some strategy, youā€™ll understand how good the game is. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I gave my daughter my Clue tips recently: > > 1. Donā€™t just note what you know: note who has it. If I know that Alice has the knife, and I have the study, then when Alice asks if Colonel Mustard did it in the study with the knife, and Bob shows Alice a card, I now know that Bob has Colonel Mustard. > 2. Note who knows which cards. If Alice knows about the study that I have, any time sheā€™s in the study I should be sure to show her the card. Also, you might be able to draw other conclusions, but Iā€™m having trouble thinking of them. > 3. When you donā€™t know what card someone showed but can narrow it down to two, note that. I have the study, and Alice asks if Colonel Mustard did it in the study with the knife. Bob shows her a card. I write ā€œB1ā€ beside both Colonel Mustard and the knife, knowing heā€™s got one of those. If later I ask a question involving Colonel Mustard and he canā€™t answer it, I know he mustā€™ve shown the other B1 card, meaning heā€™s got the knife. > 4. Rooms are hardest to get, so focus on them early; the flip side is that if you have a choice of card to show someone, generally avoid showing them the room. > > These ar what Iā€™ve figured out. Iā€™m sure there are more tips. This is an excellent example. If you use Left Hand of Dorknessā€™ tips, youā€™ll play Cluedo (UK spelling) much better (and finish quicker.) Monopoly at first sight is a friendly family game. But once you apply the rules (e.g. when anyone lands on an unowned property and doesnā€™t buy it, it MUST be auctioned) you see that itā€™s a HUGE advantage to be the first to get a set of properties. (I played in a game once where a spouse sold properties to their spouse for $1. :smack:) Also thereā€™s a lot of luck in the game. Finally you can get situations where all players are well-off and the game drags on a long time. So my two best games are: - chess (no luck, extremely skilfull) - Pandemic (co-operative, always close) Both of these finish in a reasonable time (you can use a clock for chess), which also makes me like them. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/24 "2018-02-14T21:38:21Z")
Worst: Roll and move games in general, Monopoly in particular, if only because itā€™s a mediocre game when played by the rules and a terrible one when played with any of the profusion of ā€˜house rulesā€™ out there. Best: [Spirit Island](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/162886/spirit-island). Cooperative, minimal randomness, minimal waiting for other people, monstrous replayability, configurable difficulty, and asymmetrical player choices. Takes Pandemic and throws it in the trash as far as Iā€™m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/25 "2018-02-14T21:52:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The original gameā€™s questions were also often plagiarized. The game makers simply copied questions and answers from a previously published book, without paying the author or publisher. IIRC, thatā€™s also the origin of wrong answers: the original source(s) contained copyright traps. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/26 "2018-02-14T22:38:33Z")
I think the best games have you make decisions based on various factors. Lots of important choices are fun to make. Best: **Carcassonne: The Castle** - 2 player version of Carcassonne and much better in almost every way. \*\*Cartagena 2 \*\*- Again, much better than the original. A lot of fun and some pretty great decsion making points. Ra: The Dice Game\*\* - Sounds like luck, right? Well, there is luck, but you have to \*\*decide how to allocate your dice and it is a lot of fun. We do modify the rules a bit, though. The original is flawed. \*\* Takenoko \*\*- Just lots of fun and a great theme. Gardening and Panda managing. šŸ™‚ Worst: Risk - 'nuff said. Itā€™s just not that fun. Machi Koro - Totally broken, though I heard they fixed it in later updates. You need about half the cards to be able to win. Honestly, itā€™s terrible. Dominion - Iā€™ve only played with two players, but it was not fun at all. We played many times, but it was just a race for the best cards. Mouse Trap - the actual game is terrible ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/27 "2018-02-14T22:42:20Z")
Another vote for\*\* Pandemic\*\*. Losing has never been as fun as in that game. Also kind of fond of [Flash Point: Fire Rescue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ONsWhGngWE) Honorable mention should go to **Betrayal at House on the Hill** and **Fury of Dracula** (good luck finding a copy of Fury of Dracula for under $150 these days sadly). ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/28 "2018-02-14T23:00:18Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I gave my daughter my Clue tips recently: > > 1. Donā€™t just note what you know: note who has it. If I know that Alice has the knife, and I have the study, then when Alice asks if Colonel Mustard did it in the study with the knife, and Bob shows Alice a card, I now know that Bob has Colonel Mustard. > 2. Note who knows which cards. If Alice knows about the study that I have, any time sheā€™s in the study I should be sure to show her the card. Also, you might be able to draw other conclusions, but Iā€™m having trouble thinking of them. > 3. When you donā€™t know what card someone showed but can narrow it down to two, note that. I have the study, and Alice asks if Colonel Mustard did it in the study with the knife. Bob shows her a card. I write ā€œB1ā€ beside both Colonel Mustard and the knife, knowing heā€™s got one of those. If later I ask a question involving Colonel Mustard and he canā€™t answer it, I know he mustā€™ve shown the other B1 card, meaning heā€™s got the knife. > 4. Rooms are hardest to get, so focus on them early; the flip side is that if you have a choice of card to show someone, generally avoid showing them the room. > > These ar what Iā€™ve figured out. Iā€™m sure there are more tips. Additional tip: Hoard your information. Whenever possible, show a card you have already shown to someone before. Also, if you ever get the chance, play the **Harry Potter version of CLUE**. It is not merely a reskinned version of CLUE. Maybe they added a bit too much (House points, Iā€™m looking at you), but they kept enough to keep the core game the same, but added a lot of twists that really capture the feeling of the books and movies. I especially like the appearing and disappearing doorways and the way the secret passages open and close and change. Makes me wonder if the secret agent version of CLUE I passed up on years ago was similarly delightful. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/29 "2018-02-14T23:01:19Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Another vote for\*\* Pandemic\*\*. Losing has never been as fun as in that game. > > Also kind of fond of [Flash Point: Fire Rescue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ONsWhGngWE) > > Honorable mention should go to **Betrayal at House on the Hill** and **Fury of Dracula** (good luck finding a copy of Fury of Dracula for under $150 these days sadly). Yes, we love **Pandemic**. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/30 "2018-02-14T23:05:42Z")
Risk isnā€™t a terrible board game. Itā€™s a pretty good computer game, that just had the misfortune to be invented before the computers that could run it. Find a computerized version somewhere that automates all of the tedious dice-rolling, and youā€™ll find that itā€™s much better. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/31 "2018-02-14T23:07:11Z")
My son got a game called **ā€˜Dark, Darker, Darkestā€™** , featuring apocalypse survivors getting around a zombie filled house (on fire). So many rules! There is even a page entitled ā€œā€¦even more rulesā€. Also, so far, even at the easiest ā€˜Darkā€™ level, it seems to be impossible. Some aspects of play appear poorly thought out. I wonder if it was really play-tested. Iā€™ve suggested we modify the rules, maybe call it **ā€˜Dimā€™** , but I think my son has given up on it, and no one else in the family wants to play it. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/32 "2018-02-14T23:22:24Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Dominion - Iā€™ve only played with two players, but it was not fun at all. We played many times, but it was just a race for the best cards. Iā€™m not a fan of deck-building games in general, but _Dominion_ is a particular bugbear of mine. > [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Also, if you ever get the chance, play the **Harry Potter version of CLUE**. It is not merely a reskinned version of CLUE. Maybe they added a bit too much (House points, Iā€™m looking at you), but they kept enough to keep the core game the same, but added a lot of twists that really capture the feeling of the books and movies. I especially like the appearing and disappearing doorways and the way the secret passages open and close and change. The house points are pointless and just serve to arbitrarily eliminate players, but the having the secret passages shift is kind of brilliant, adding a degree of uncertainty to the game and preventing players from just bouncing back and forth between corner rooms. _Clue_ is primarily a logic game with the die movement element adding a degree of randomness, but Iā€™d like to see a version of a mystery/elimination that replaces die movement with some kind of action point/resource allocation to make it more skill based somewhat akin to a resource allocation game like [_Trajan_](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102680/trajan). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/33 "2018-02-14T23:43:44Z")
Steve Jacksonā€™s O.G.R.E. Best, hands down. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/34 "2018-02-14T23:54:08Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Iā€™m not a fan of deck-building games in general, but _Dominion_ is a particular bugbear of mine. > > The house points are pointless and just serve to arbitrarily eliminate players, but the having the secret passages shift is kind of brilliant, adding a degree of uncertainty to the game and preventing players from just bouncing back and forth between corner rooms. _Clue_ is primarily a logic game with the die movement element adding a degree of randomness, but Iā€™d like to see a version of a mystery/elimination that replaces die movement with some kind of action point/resource allocation to make it more skill based somewhat akin to a resource allocation game like [_Trajan_](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102680/trajan). > > Stranger I like deck building games myself, and I love the tension Dominion has where the cards that award the game-winning points are the cards that hold you back when playing the game (Iā€™m frequently too slow in converting from acquisition of resource-getting action cards to point-awarding territories). I recently played **Star Realms** , a two player deck builder, with my son- enjoyed it a lot. I like deck builder games, because I love Magic, except I hate investing a bunch of time building a deck, especially just to get stomped by someone who has better (or far better) cards. Not to mention organizing the whole mess. Deck building games grant parity and spontaneity that Magic lacks (unless youā€™re drafting- but then you still have to go through preliminary phases before you get to play). ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/35 "2018-02-14T23:55:46Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Steve Jacksonā€™s O.G.R.E. > > Best, hands down. Yes, great game! Wish theyā€™d make an app for that! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/36 "2018-02-15T12:01:07Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Additional tip: > > Hoard your information. Whenever possible, show a card you have already shown to someone before. Thatā€™s my second tip :). I think I phrased it pretty confusingly, though. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/37 "2018-02-15T13:02:06Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The _best_ game is roll the die and move your token around the _Backgammon_ board! šŸ™‚ > > It was almost six decades ago that I played _Stratego_. It was fun. > > Anyone else enjoy _Acquire_? (I donā€™t really recommend it though.) I really like Acquire. itā€™s by far my favorite pre-boutique era boardgame. Itā€™s missing out on a lot of the depth of modern board games, but it was probably the first game that had some sort of real combination of both strategy and luck. My favorite games are _Puerto Rico_ and _Castles of Mad King Ludwig_. Theyā€™re both euro-style games that have a great deal of player interaction. My least favorite game is probably _Talisman_, although thatā€™s only if you play games by the rules. As every board gamer knows, the true worst game of all time is _Monopoly_ played by lunatic house rules designed to draw the game out for hours. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/38 "2018-02-15T15:18:29Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > (good luck finding a copy of Fury of Dracula for under $150 these days sadly). Wow, good thing I managed to grab it at Barnes and Noble last year for 50 bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/39 "2018-02-15T19:41:01Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Best: Squad Leader in its original version. A fun, playable squad-level WWII wargame. > Worst: Squad Leader in its final version after umpteen revisions and ā€œimprovements.ā€ I donā€™t know if there is another game that has as many rules as Squad Leader came to have. Playing became a boring search through the rule book a lot of the time.All the hundreds of rules were added to cover every possible action and do things like reproduce the fog of war. About half the people I played with were rules lawyers, so that exacerbated the issue. My teenage love for Squad Leader reached its end at a specific point. The rules are incremental ā€“ modules add new rules to cover new situations. Eventually there were rules for bicycle troops, and rules for splitting off a lone scout from a squad, so there were rules that allowed you to account for a single man on a bicycle (fighting World War II). There was a rule for a shell glancing off a tankā€™s front hull and stunning the driver temporarily, causing the tank to move randomly one space. There was a rule for cliff hexes ā€“ only a few existed in all the maps. There were rules for ā€œoverrunningā€ infantry with tanks. Those rules contemplated reducing a tankā€™s inherent overrun value if one or more machine guns or the cannon were jammed ā€“ even a gunless tank had a basic hull value for simply rolling over a squad of troops trying to squash people. It was at that point we realized the rules simulated World War II elaborately enough that you could calculate the attack value of a tank falling off a cliff onto a man riding a bicycle. The absurdity of that was funny at first, but as more and more rules were added it became our wargaming groupā€™s symbol of all that was needlessly, trivially complex about wargames. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798/40 "2018-02-15T19:51:30Z")
If it counts as a board game my favorite game is Magic. I donā€™t play enough board games to have a worst. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-board-games/808798.md?page=3)