Oh, I forgot to mention that these are games that are not in the top 300

Me+Wife play this every now and again. It's a good little game if you're in the right mood, though she's never beaten me and I think it's losing a little appeal for her...

You should edit the GeekList description to that effect.

You mention that these games are overlooked by the public, which is why they're underrated. Hellas in particular has 761 ratings... hardly overlooked! It seems to deserve the ranking that it has.

You are right, Ryan. It pretty much ensconced with its rating. I am just a little suprised it's not ranked a bit higher

Me, too. I think this is a great little game in a small package.

Only complaint is the "topply" soldiers--need wider bases.

But as a game, it's good on concentration factor, balance, length, and replayability. Deserves more respect.

There are a number of Dungeoneer games. They are all the same system, with different locations and enemies. For the price, these give a lot of enjoyment.

I enjoy this series, and own three of the sets. I have, however, yet to win a game.

6.6? Works for me.

I find that the dungeon doesn't look that great when laid-out, there are a lot of cards that have several duplicates, there are a good number of rules issues, and the little cardboard heroes are less than excellent components.

It is not exactly cheap for a fairly small pile of cards either.

All that said, I agree that the game is ok. Still, if it was getting an 8+ I would consider that certainly over-rated for my taste.

Can't say I liked this one....my son was into it, but I found it dull.

Not a great two player game. It's much more fun with 3+.

AAhhh... don't forget that totally emersive feeling into the twilight universe. Really amazing

I would recommend the second edition over the third, as it has better art. I would also say that this is a great two-player game, and, I suspect, also a great multi-player game. Fast, fun, with a great combination of tactical play and luck.

I definitely prefer the art of the second edition, its more... serious? I'm not left thinking I'm playing Munchkin lost in space.
On a less serious note, Mag Blast is a great game to get the older relatives to play: For example, my aunt, priceless gaming moment was listening to her making laser noises

Now there's a new travel edition of SIAM. Beautiful and cheaper :-)

Thanks for this. I've enjoyed Abalone in the past and this looks to be a lightly themed and refined version.

I did a little research on the publishers site about the differences between the Travel, normal, and deluxe versions. It's pretty much just a size issue as far as I can see. Though the figure quality might be a little better in the deluxe based on the images on their website (I'm not sure if that's actually the case though).

http://ferti.free.fr/games/siam/index-e.php

I've only managed to get this to the table once, and it was with two players. We enjoyed it, but wondered if it would be better with more than two. Any thoughts? I'm sure that with three or four it's more chaotic, but it seems like that would be good in a game like this.

Actually I bought this one as a two-player game. The german critics thought, that there is not much strategy left with more players, as the map changes too much. I agree, but with two or three players it's ok.

The problem with more than 2 players is reaching the point of Foregone Conclusion -- invariably where toward the end of the game, if Player A does Action 1, then Player B will win... Otherwise, if Player A does Action 2, then Player C will win...

I think this game is only playable with three, but it's too caotic...

I never thought of trying this two-player

IMHO 2 is the sweet spot. Things get chaotic with more and it becomes impossible to strategize.

I agree with you on this one.

Great game.

This is a very good game, but feels very heavy wth just 2. I prefer it with more to avoid brain pain.

This one is a good 3 and 4 player game, but is best with 2. The fact that your opponent can be any of 4 other colors, as well as the fact that he is not any of the 3 other colors allows for some great subterfuge.

This would have been my recommendation too. It's a really nasty game. You can play it on a gut level or you can put a lot of brain power in your moves. Nice theme and screw your opponent stuff. But only if your SO can handle getting her temples kicked down over and over again ;-)
We play it with the variant, that you can use two cards of any color to travel.

This is a great 2-player game that goes unnoticed by most people.

I like the game alot though I don't get to play it much. It's one of the better Kosmos 2-player series games IMO.

Babel is fun to play, but it struck me as odd that there are five suits of cards in this game that is ostensibly about building temples--and four of the five suits are much better at tearing them down.

The Persians are the only tribe whose special skill is actually building temples--they can do it faster. The other four suits subvert your builders and get them to switch sides, or kick them completely off the game board, or steal one of your temple levels, or nuke an entire temple.

Okay, the guys who steal a temple level might be given credit for helping build your temple faster, but they do it by stealing your opponent's temple level and pissing him off! With nasty little builders like these working on it all the time, it's no wonder the Tower Of Babel collapsed!

This is one of the first 2-player games we bought, and it's still one of my favourites. Even though we haven't played this much lately, my opinion of it is confirmed with every new 2-player game we play. I think to myself: is this better, worse or equal to Babel? I haven't ranked one as "better" yet, only equal.

I think the problem is that it doesn't fit neatly into either category of "light 2-player games/good for S.O." or "heavier thinky 2-player games". On the one hand, it has a higher learning curve than some of the Kosmos 2-players, it's surprisingly complex and subtle, and it has a high screwage factor. At the same time, it has "moster turns", luck of the draw, and you can't plan too far ahead. So, I understand why it's rated what it is overall, even if I don't agree with that. But then, I don't care much for some of the higher-rated 2-player games, like LotR: The Confrontation.

I've only played a pre-release version of this, but I really enjoyed it. I purchased my own copy and just got it in the mail yesterday. Surprisingly good quality for such a low print run.

Gene Pool...posted by Dan Poole...commented on by Greg Pool.

Couldn't resist.

Thank goodness my folks didn't call me "Gene", or worse "Cess"

Or Mandy Lifeboats . . .

A really clever, quick-playing two player card game. I hope he does a second printing (and more).

I agree here, but the materials the game is made with are terrible my board is almost an oval now.

I like the game, although the optional Leader cards, I believe, contain grave imbalances.

Haven't had the warping problem; I thought the components were fine for the price. Have you tried putting the game on your dashboard in the sun, concave side down?

My wife and I also enjoy this game a lot. It's an area majority game with an Egyptian theme. (I love games with an Egyptian theme.) There are several winning conditions but my wife beats me everytime by being the first person to get 40 points.

Haha, Aton has a theme.

But it *is* in the top 300...

Now this is where I disagree. There is no reason that I shouldn't like this game, it is made up of mechanics that I enjoy, it has attractive bits, etc. But I can't get into it, after one round I feel like I've had more than enough.

I bought it with great expectations, but I was a little disappointed by it.
Not really interesting: the "board creation" phase is too random and with really little control or strategy, and then the "placement" phase doesn't offer any real surprise.
I really tryed to like it, but then traded it after some time.

Does it come with a parrot?

Me and my wife love this game. We bought two sets and play "Mega-Fjords" as well. Definitely under-rated.

Not any more....

Masons is awesome with two players! I love this game, it's so elegant.

Unfortunately its dropped somewhat since then...

I'm amazed this isn't in the top 100, much less the top 300.

Common and popular games get a very harsh reception at BBG. Compare the relative ranks of Chess and Go for example. There are certainly reasons to prefer one or the other, but the primary difference is: Go is rated mostly by fanboys, while Chess is rated by everyone. Checkers (which I don't care much for) and Dominos (which is kind of like rating "card games") also suffer from this trend.

It's not all about the doubling cube. Think about it: backgammon was around for hundreds of years more or less as we know it, and can trace its ancestry back to ancient times through similar games--and it showed that kind of staying power long before the recent 20th-century invention of the doubling cube.

You guys can't be serious...what an unintersting train wreck of a game....blech.

Oh no, I get it -- its all about maximizing probability potential, especially when you get a roll that is less than ideal. Which grouping do you break up and how? How can you position yourself when doing this to better your odds of capturing an opponent's piece when he/she breaks up his groupings and where is this likely to happen? How do I break my groupings in such a way that future high-probability rolls will improve my position. What is the pip count and how does it affect my play? What is the distribution and exposure and how does my enemy's home presence affect the aggressiveness of my play? Still, compared to chess and go, its simplistic. The doubling cube adds SOOOOOO much more strategy.

Looks like a cool game, but I think this might be a tad optimistic as a CDG for the non-gamer spouse, just because of the playing time. I'd try Twilight Struggle first.

I think this is a great game. I don't think it is underrated however.

caesarmom, if you like PoG, this is really a game you should try. This presents the player with the same sort of gut wrenching decisions.

hehe right...I'm sure there are thousands of non-gamer wives out there who CAN'T WAIT to play a 4 hour wargame

I'd say go for Twilight Struggle if you are trying to get your wife into gaming. SS may be simply than PoG, but it's still pretty much a card-driven wargame.

Michael Rinella
Designer, Shifting Sands