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SABG Top 50 List
Brian Bankler
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0607
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8
After seeing Tom Vasel's Top 200 (and Snoop's Top 100, and the Hundred, and ..., and ...) I thought about Posting my Top 100. But, well, my ratings are pretty up to date. There are a few games that I rate highly because of nostalgia, and a few lower rated games that I should bump up, but for the most part my Top 100 would be games I rate 8 or higher. Boring.

So I stole a cue from "The Hundred" and asked all of the San Antonio Board Gamers to send me their Top 20 games (in ranked order). A #1 vote is worth 40 points, and a #20 vote is worth 21. [So, appearing on two lists is worth slightly more than being on top of one list].

How small (10-20) person groups tastes play out is interesting. Most of the games on this list are common appearances in the group (and on BGG), but others are surprising, and a few omissions surprised me as well!

The San Antonio Board Gamers normally meet Monday Nights (at a game store), but often people will host a game night on Friday, or a day on Saturday. San Antonio isn't one of those cities that has a game group for every night of the week, but you could usually get in three sessions a week. And Monday's "Game Night" often starts at 4pm, and sometimes as early as 10am.

Unlike most lists, I'm going to start with the #1 game and work down. I find that the best games are usually pretty reasonable choices, and it's always the "just made the cuts" that are interesting!

14 voters submitted lists, with 163 unique games.

You can read our blog at http://saboardgamers.blogspot.com/. Stop by if you are in town!
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Posted On: 2007-09-28 10:15:05
Edited On: 2007-10-09 10:48:30

1 , 2 , 3  Next »  

1. Power Grid [Average Rating:8.25 Overall Rank:3]
Brian Bankler
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0607
Power Grid shows up on half the lists to take first place honors. Runaway first place honors.

7 Voters, 244 pts.
3 Comments [Hide]
Posted On: 2007-09-28 09:51:47
Edited on: 2007-10-03 22:23:51
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The Doctor is In
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For me it wasn't even the best in the economic/networking genre that I lump it into. I have Age of Steam and Indonesia well above this one, but as usual I am an outlier.
Brian Bankler
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0607
I do like Aos (and Indonesia), but I've played Power Grid an order of magnitude more often. Even if I only count FTF games, I've still played 3-5x as much. If I stopped playing it because of Indonesia, then it would be cut of the list.
Sean Tompkins
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05060708
Well, I'm glad this game made the top - it's easily my favorite game. Maybe now that the Atollus Moduli stuff has been acquired by Brian we can break out a game of it...
2. San Juan [Average Rating:7.54 Overall Rank:51]
Brian Bankler
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0607
A quick game to start or end a session. Still, San Juan isn't played that often, and I'm surprised its so high (even though I put it on my list).

6 Voters, 196 pts.
1 Comment [Hide]
Posted On: 2007-09-28 09:55:47
Edited on: 2007-10-09 10:00:43
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Sean Tompkins
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This beats out Puerto Rico in my book just because it's so accessible. I can teach it to non-gamers and have a quick game where everyone wants to immediately play again, or I can play this with gamers and see deep strategy develop (and I get smoked...). It's not as deep or as complex as Puerto Rico, but it takes significantly less effort to play - that counts for something. Tastes great, less filling...
3. Puerto Rico [Average Rating:8.37 Overall Rank:2]
Brian Bankler
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0607
Another "We don't play often so I'm surprised its so high" (but not nearly as much as San Juan. I guess more people would like to see it more often.

This brings up an interesting point in group dynamics. How often a game gets played is determined not by the vocal proponents, but by the opponents. We have one or two people who veto Puerto Rico, so it doesn't get suggested when they are around. (This applies to a fair number of games on the list).

5 Voters, 172 pts.
3 Comments [Hide]
Posted On: 2007-09-28 09:52:02
Edited on: 2007-10-09 10:01:16
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David Fair
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0405060708
Quote:
How often a game gets played is determined not by the vocal proponents, but by the opponents.

Wow, how very, very true. I had never thought about it but that really is a big reason why some games just don't get played in our circle enough.

But now that we know this, what do we do with that knowledge?
Dennis Ugolini
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Quietly "correct" the vetoers.

Oh wait...that's me....
Brian Bankler
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I mainly just wait until they are not around to suggest it. (Compare this with Michael's "Let's convince Amy she likes what she hates" strategy).
1
4. Tigris & Euphrates [Average Rating:8.12 Overall Rank:5]
Brian Bankler
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0607
(Tied with Puerto Rico)

This one surprised me. Not that it's a bad game, but that I've only seen it played once or twice over the last full year. I guess that will be changing now that this list has been published!

5 Voters, 172 pts.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2007-09-28 09:58:24
Edited on: 2007-10-09 10:02:00
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5. War of the Ring [Average Rating:7.99 Overall Rank:12]
Brian Bankler
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0607
Just barely behind the Puerto Rico/ Tigris & Euphrates tie....

There's a reasonable contingent of Wargamers, so its no surprise that the leading hybrid Wargame/Euro/Ameritrash (however you want to classify it) appears.

5 Voters, 171 pts.
0 Comments
Posted On: 2007-09-28 09:53:20
Edited on: 2007-10-09 10:02:30
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6. BattleLore [Average Rating:7.87 Overall Rank:24]