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Mark Johnson's occasional and opinionated podcast, Boardgames To Go, now has its own blog on Boardgamegeek.

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BGTG 153 - 100 Great Games, the Top Ten! (with Stephen Glenn & Mark Jackson)

Posted by Mark Johnson

100 Great Games

13 Nov 2014

Mark Johnson

(MarkEJohnson)

United States
Santa Clarita
California

That's a Palm Pilot on the left, and a pink iPod mini on the right. Yes, I've been doing BGTG that long!

http://www.WargamesToGo.com

Mark Johnson's occasional & opinionated podcast about family strategy boardgames
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Stephen Glenn

(Stephen Glenn)

United States
Virginia Beach
Virginia

Mark Jackson

(gamemark)

United States
Goodlettsville
Tennessee

Am I a man or am I a muppet? If I'm a muppet then I'm a very manly muppet!

Stephen Glenn and Mark Jackson rejoin me (Mark JOHNson) to continue this series. In 2012, these two guys polled a number of experienced gamers (a few designers, many reviewers, all enthusiasts) for their top games, consolidated their answers, and asked to come on my podcast to count down the results. I was pleased to be part of the poll, and doubly pleased to have them on Boardgames To Go. I really like how Stephen describes this:

"a fun list to discuss over coffee & pie."

The poll was for our favorite games, not necessarily the best games. We even got to submit a top fifteen, which took the usual tough request for a top ten and gave us the breathing room for five more titles. I know in my case, it made it easier to add some very recent games to my longstanding favorites. On each podcast we're counting down a bunch of titles until we get to a final show with the Top Ten. I'll be interspersing 100 Great Games countdown episodes with my other podcast episodes.

...

At long last, here are the Top Ten! As we count them down in reverse order, we stay true to form--having a few personal grumbles about these amazing titles. At the same time, we're honestly respectful and enthusiastic for all of these games. Several of them are in our personal top ten lists, too.

Though this is the end of the list of 100 Great Games, it's not quite the end of this podcast series. We promise to come back one more time for an epilogue episode, one that shares some analysis of the overall list, considers what games only missed the list because they were released post-2012, and what our own votes were. Remember, this list is a compilation of many experienced gamers' input. By now it's pretty obvious that we each have our own personal tastes that differ somewhat. If you have topics you'd like us to cover in the epilogue, let us know.

In my poll associated with the last installment of 100 Great Games, I asked for your favorite Knizia auction game. Of the many options available Ra came out as the clear favorite. As you may have heard last time, Stephen preferred Ra, I went with Medici, and Jackson picked Traumfabrik.

Now that we've reached the top of the list of 100 Great Games, are there ones you thought we missed? Of course that will be true--everyone has different tastes. However, any game released after 2012 didn't even get a chance to be on this list because that's when the project started. Below I've put together a poll of notable titles less than two years old that might have made it onto the 100 Great Games list. It's a tough choice, but which one do you think would've made it on the list? As always, if you've got a good suggestion that's not included in the poll, write it in the comments below. Thanks.

Stephen Glenn's designer page at BGG (Balloon Cup/Piñata, 1st & Goal, You Must Be an Idiot!, Spike, Rattlebones)

Mark Jackson's personal blog

-Mark

P.S. If you want to see the original version of the list these guys made it in 2005, it's still available at 100 Great Games, 2005 Edition (THE ONE HUNDRED).

Poll

Which of these games (which were too new to be included) would push their way onto the 100 Great Games list (displacing others) if we did it again? Vote for as many as you want.

	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
1960: Making of the President	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Android Netrunner	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Dominant Species	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Dungeon Lords	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Hansa Teutonica	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Keyflower	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Sentinels of the Multiverse	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Terra Mystica	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Trajan	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Tzolkin	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Village	Probably	Maybe	Probably not
Other (comment below)	Probably	Maybe	Probably not

65 answers

Poll created by MarkEJohnson

#10 - 7 Wonders
Designer: Antoine Bauza
Artist: Miguel Coimbra
Publisher: Repos Production
Year: 2010

#9 - Acquire
Designer: Sid Sackson
Artist: various
Publisher: 3M, Avalon Hill, Hasbro
Year: 1964

#8 - Magic: The Gathering
Designer: Richard Garfield
Artists: various
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Year: 1993

#7 - Race for the Galaxy
Designer: Tom Lehmann
Artists: Martin Hoffmann, Claus Stephan, Mirko Suzuki
Publisher: Rio Grande Games
Year: 2007

#6 - Power Grid
Designer: Friedemann Friese
Artist: Antonio Dessi, Lars-Arne "Maura" Kalusky, Harald Lieske
Publisher: 2F-Spiele, Rio Grande Games
Year: 2004

#5 - Ticket to Ride
Designer: Alan R. Moon
Artists: Cyrille Daujean, Julien Delval
Publisher: Days of Wonder
Year: 2004

#4 - Tichu
Designer: Urs Hostettler
Artists: various
Publisher: Fata Morgana Spiele, ABACUSSPIELE, Rio Grande Games
Year: 2004

#3 - Catan
Designer: Klaus Teuber
Artists: various
Publisher: KOSMOS, Mayfair
Year: 1995

#2 - Puerto Rico
Designer: Andreas Seyfarth
Artist: Franz Vohwinkel
Publisher: Alea, Rio Grande Games
Year: 2002

#1 - Dominion
Designer: Donald X. Vaccarino
Artists: various
Publisher: Rio Grande Games
Year: 2008

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