50 — Village Rails (2022)
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New in 2023
This is a really engaging, tight tile-laying game (the cards are your tiles). For such a small simple game, it’s super crunchy and tough. Money is so tight. And trying to figure out how to build your area to score as many things as you can and making sacrifices when the perfect card doesn’t show up; it’s really challenging and satisfying. I wish it had a solo mode!
49 — Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition-2012)
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2022 #42
I expected this one to fall, but it moved less than I expected. The system is still really good, but the built-in campaign is pretty bland. The app for it really good, but like all the others, it also suffers for it. It’s been quite a while since this made it to the table. I have 0 interest in the new one.
48 — Glen More II: Chronicles (2019)
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2022 #32
The gameplay is really solid in Glen More, but we’ve only scratched the surface of the chronicles. We’ve picked out some more to try, it just hasn’t gotten back to the table in a while. I might try out the solo mode next year. My friend really enjoyed the solo mode.
47 — Space Hulk: Death Angel – The Card Game (2010)
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2022 #34
A classic. Honestly, the solo for it is so good, I don’t even have much desire to play it multiplayer, but maybe it’ll come out for gameday at some point. Really wish I had some of the expansions for it, though.
46 — Res Arcana (2019)
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2022 #44
Now that’s consistency. Really solid card game. I wanted to get this out for gameday (only played 2-player still), but it didn’t quite happen. Next year, for sure.
45 — Fabled Lands (1995)
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New in 2023
Another gamebook! This series is a big open-world game like an Elder Scrolls game in a book, and each book you get in the series adds new lands and stories. The system is pretty old school, but it works and keeps you focused on the story and your adventures instead of crunching on mechanisms.
44 — Lost Ruins of Arnak (2020)
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2022 #21
I’m not surprised by the fall here. As much as I love the core of the gameplay, the research track has been the part that holds it back for me. The grindiness combined with the minimum rewards just don’t do it for me. The rest of the game is great, though.
43 — Cartaventura (2021)
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2022 #12
I recently bought more of this series after giving up waiting on Kosmos to bring them to the US. The writing is still the weak point for me, but it’s a lot of fun exploring history in gamebook form (but with cards). And it’s interesting to see how a simple game made of only cards can still vary from one release to the next with a different mechanism.
42 — Delta (2023)
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New in 2023
This was a new Game Brewer game and the system for it feels so unique, and the theme and art are great. This is really high on my list to play some more next year. A shame that most people haven’t been paying attention to what Game Brewer has been up to. You’re missing out!
41 — Viticulture Essential Edition (2015)
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2022 #76
It moved up. We played it with Tuscany this year. Honestly, if someone is interested in Viticulture, they should just buy it with Tuscany. Play the base game as an intro, then add Tuscany. There really aren’t that many games that have been so heavily improved with an expansion.
Thomas P. King, author and game designer 
3 thoughts on “End of Year & Top 100 (2023)”