Paste Magazine's Top 25 Board Games of the 2010s

Paste is a pretty well known place that freelancers get their start, especially in the video games writing space.

I don't agree with Shellhead that this person doesn't play games, I think that's a pretty dismissive comment. I just find it fascinating that there's a person who plays a ton of hobby games (enough to fill up a list for an outlet!) but primarily plays 30-60 minute very light games that has a fillerish quality to it.

I did my own list of my 25 fave games from 2010-2019. Only the top 3 are in order; the rest are alphabetical. Not much crossover!

the best:

1. terraforming mars
2. the new era / 51st state master set
3. pandemic legacy

the rest:

7 wonders
ascending empires
bunny kingdom
codenames
deep sea adventure
ginkgopolis
impulse
innovation
lords of waterdeep
love letter
mega civ
merchants and marauders
mottainai
nations
nemo's war
omen
pret-a-porter
qe
the mind
time stories
western legends
xia

Gary Sax wrote: Paste is a pretty well known place that freelancers get their start, especially in the video games writing space.

I don't agree with Shellhead that this person doesn't play games, I think that's a pretty dismissive comment. I just find it fascinating that there's a person who plays a ton of hobby games (enough to fill up a list for an outlet!) but primarily plays 30-60 minute very light games that has a fillerish quality to it.

I'm not saying that he hasn't played games, but I am saying that he hasn't played enough games, or at least enough types of games. I am speculating that he is playing at a game shop because of how many short/filler games are on his list. It's harder to get game shop randos to commit to a longer/deeper game. And if I were to make a Top 25 list for the 2010s and then make a My Favorite 25 list for the 2010s, it would be two different lists that recognize other tastes beyond my own. I don't think this Paste guy has played enough of the major games of the 2010s to do a legit top 25 list.

Legomancer wrote: I did my own list of my 25 fave games from 2010-2019. Only the top 3 are in order; the rest are alphabetical. Not much crossover!

the best:

1. terraforming mars
2. the new era / 51st state master set
3. pandemic legacy

the rest:

7 wonders
ascending empires
bunny kingdom
codenames
deep sea adventure
ginkgopolis
impulse
innovation
lords of waterdeep
love letter
mega civ
merchants and marauders
mottainai
nations
nemo's war
omen
pret-a-porter
qe
the mind
time stories
western legends
xia

Thanks, interesting! I'd have to sit and think about my own for awhile, maybe I will.

Paste was a music magazine before they axed their print publication. and their focus is still on music.

Instead of arguing about this list we should be arguing about Matt's list of top fantasy games that IGN published yesterday.

www.ign.com/articles/2019/11/11/the-best-fantasy-board-games

hell of a list.

RobertB wrote: It says right at the top, "This is my list." I'm surprised that the editors at Paste didn't balk at that, since it has "Top 25..." as the title, not "My Top 25..."

At least the writer is honest; IANA writer, but if that had ended up on my desk I'd have probably just ripped off BGG and taken the top 25 that met the criteria straight off of their list.

It's likely that the author didn't write the headline. Not uncommon, and he likely pitched the article and got permission to write it.

I really kinda hate 7 Wonders, but you can't take these lists too seriously. With the volume of titles coming out any single writer might have played 1-2% of them.

My comment to our game group board was "It's not my list (by any means) but I think it's a good list for people new to the hobby."

Lists are always subjective but this indicates that the hobby has grown to the point where we can all produce our top 25 of the last ten years and there would be very little crossover.

charlest wrote: Instead of arguing about this list we should be arguing about Matt's list of top fantasy games that IGN published yesterday.

www.ign.com/articles/2019/11/11/the-best-fantasy-board-games

Solid list of fantasy games available on Amazon.com. Otherwise I would say its missing Dungeon Degenerates.

charlest wrote: Instead of arguing about this list we should be arguing about Matt's list of top fantasy games that IGN published yesterday.

www.ign.com/articles/2019/11/11/the-best-fantasy-board-games

Wow, that is a good list. Fuck accessibility. While I'm not a fan of all of them, can't deny they're all solid games...

Well, and it's got my favorite game in there...

On topic: the Paste list is fine. I dislike or am ambivalent to almost everything on it, but that's not unexpected. It's clear that New Bedford, Imhotep, and Whistle Stop are his personal favorites, because those died quickly after hyped releases. I personally talked my Euro-loving friend into buying Whistle Stop at GenCon two years ago (due to hype), played it with him once, and I don't think it's been played again...

If Android: Netrunner is not on your list, you are dead to me.

If Android: Netrunner is not on your list and Wingspan is, you are dead for everyone.

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Being serious, I just don't think top lists are very interesting.