60 — Pokémon in My Pocket (Zombie in My Pocket-2007)
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New in 2023
I was definitely surprised to see this so high, but the Pokémon re-theme is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. And this version has some slight differences from the original ZiMP that make it pretty interesting. It’s super light and small, though, so I don’t think it’s going to hold up long-term. But I have really enjoyed it this year. I really wish there was just a solid Pokémon board game.
59 — Scythe (2016)
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2022 #83
This one jumped up for a couple of reasons. One, I bought the app and played it more, but I also finally tried the solo mode and it was a lot of fun. Movement for the bot is tricky to get the hang of, but it otherwise worked really well and had tons of tension. Maybe this is the year we finally break out the Fenris campaign.
58 — Targi (2012)
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2022 #81
This has become one of our more played BGA 2-player games. Really satisfying and easy to play but with tough decisions. It’ll definitely get played more this year, hopefully in person this time (though the BGA version is fine too).
57 — Unsettled (2021)
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2022 #65
I had wondered if this was going up or down, and it surprised me to see it go up a little. It’s a really unique co-op puzzle, and the variety in the planets is really fun to explore. And the continued support from Orange Nebula is nice to see with new crazy ideas being thrown in.
56 — Everdell (2018)
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2022 #30
I expected this one to drop a bit. We haven’t cracked open an expansion yet, and the base game was starting to feel a bit samey. Still, it’s a fun system, and we’ve already picked out the expansion we want to try first (I forget which one). The addition of worker placement makes this, for me, the best of the card game tableau/engine-builders.
55 — Mosaic: A Story of Civilization (2022)
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2022 #31
This one is a solid empire-building game (not really civ, you only play out one era). The changes they made during the Kickstarter were great and really improved the game. We’ll have to break out the expansion this year, though that might be 2-player (it’s nasty).
54 — Cascadia (2021)
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2022 #77
This is such a satisfying puzzle. I’m surprised to see it go up, but it’s a really addictive game. And a great solo mode! Still need to try Landmarks, though.
53 — Destinies (2021)
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2022 #7
As much as I enjoy Destinies, like Mansions of Madness, it suffers from the app. It’s just not something I want to play very often. It’s a lot of fun when I play it, but I find myself wishing it was an analog game.
52 — Oak (2022)
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2022 #37
Oak is a real underdog of Euros. It came right behind the production nightmare of Stroganov, something that Game Brewers still hasn’t recovered from. But Oak is a really solid worker placement game with lots of things to do and get lost in, tight resources, and a fun theme.
51 — Heat: Pedal to the Metal (2022)
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New in 2023
I think this is the first one to really benefit from recency bias. While it’s been a bit since we played it last, it still feels fresh. I liked Flamme Rouge well enough, but this is the gamer’s version of FR with a really fun system to it. The modules look really fun, but we didn’t quite get them played this year. Next year.
Thomas P. King, author and game designer 
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