Raise your hand if you’re ready for 2020 to end? Hands up all around, yes?
Really, 2020 was a bit of a down year for most of us, but we did have a couple bright spots. The year started out with the birth of our second kiddo Sully (Sullivan when he’s crawling with purpose towards the toilet plunger). This was also the year we launched this blog!
Now as we close in on the end of 2020 we wanted to give a shout out to some of our favorite games we’ve played this year. The traditional thing to do is to list the top new releases of the year, but with 2 kids we’re still playing catchup from all those other years (decades?).
So here it is: our top 10 “new to us” games we played for the first time this year. The first 5 are our fav 2020 releases (and a few honorable mentions), the final 5 are our top “new to us” games released before 2020.
Games in both categories are listed alphabetically so we don’t hurt their feelings.
Top 5 2020 New Releases
Alright, let’s be honest: we haven’t played every awesome new game that was released this year (and there were a TON). But we did make a solid dent in our wishlist, so here are our 5 favorites.
On Mars
On Mars is the most recent heavy hitter from Vital Lacerda. It is a game about expanding and building a colony on Mars and there is a LOT going on. There is an important timing mechanic that needs to be balanced with resource management, engine building, and a dash of area control. The resulting strategy soup ensures your brain will be hurting in the best of ways!
Fun story about On Mars. This past September was our five year wedding anniversary. We had made arrangements for our kids to spend the weekend with Nana so we could have our own mini-convention, which we fondly were calling “anniversary-con”. The plan was to get to 2-3 bigger games that we hadn’t played yet. First up was On Mars, and we LOVED On Mars so much that we didn’t end up playing anything else!
Friendly tip: This game is massive! Like really big. You need a huge table to possibly even a second table to play. We did have on of the several central boards get knocked over a time or two as we precariously perched it on our tiny kitchen table and we were stacking some resources on the high chair.
Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun
Have you ever wanted to build a temple to the Ancient Egyptian gods? Then Tekhenu is for you! In Tekhenu, players are nobles seeking to build the temple and surrounding area of Ipet-Isut.
At first glance, you’ll likely notice the large obelisk coming up from the central area of the board. This is arguably the coolest feature of the game, since it’s functional as well as stylish!
Tekhenu is a game that will make you think and plan 3-4 steps ahead. You have to have a long-game plan, but keep it really flexible and reactive to how the dice change with each turn of the obelisk. It’s a tight optimization game with little room for error, but yet there is almost always something productive to do on your turn.
See our full review [HERE]
Guild Master*
Guild Master is the most unique game on this list. In Guild Master, players are competing guilds trying to be the most prosperous and famous guild around. Each turn you send out adventures to gain upgrades to your guild, recruit new adventurers, fulfill contracts, or wander to get some money.
When we first approached it, we thought this would be very luck-based and we should approach it more for the fun of the theme than the strategy. But there is a TON of strategy. Yes, you are rolling for skill checks to fulfill contracts or resolve conflicts in Guild Master. But because of abilities on cards, upgrades you can get throughout the game, and a really neat probability chart in the back of the rulebook, rolls do not feel as random as we initially thought they would be. It takes a lot of the best mechanics of an RPG and packages it as an approachable, relatively quick board game.
Guild Master is also really interactive, even at two players. You really need to be aware of what your opponent is doing and read the table so that you can either undercut their actions (by far Sarah’s favorite way to mess with Emily), or to make sure that you are not at risk of losing out on an action because someone else beat you to it.
Check out our full review [HERE]
Calico
Calico looks like a cute, cozy game about making a quilt that makes some very specific cats want to come snuggle with you. But this is a stealth brain burning game that has paralyzed Emily in thought (mostly “which strategy sacrificing decision do I make?”) on multiple occasions.
There’s a lot going on from a decision making point of view (do I go for the cat or try to complete my goal tile?) BUT this game is SO approachable. It can be taught in just a few minutes and literally the only thing you do on your turn is place a tile, check to see if cat or button criteria have been met, and then draw a new tile.
Tawantinsuyu: The Inca Empire
Tawantinsuyu was one of our most anticipated releases this year and it did not disappoint! Tawantinsuyu is a worker placement “do stuff get stuff game” which we always enjoy (gimme gimme).
There is so much going on in this game and it is so satisfying to execute your plan. One thing that wasn’t obvious to us in our first play of Tawantinsuyu was that you have a lot of control over the pacing of the game. Within some limits, you can choose to speed up the end or slow it down depending on how it fits with your strategy. The depth, decision space and seeing how all the pieces fit together made this super fun, and the solutions for scaling to 2-player worked really well for us.
New to Us in 2020
And now on to the games we played for the first time in 2020 that were released in 2019 and earlier!
Brass: Lancashire
We played, and loved, Brass: Birmingham many times prior to 2020. However, we put off trying the spiritual successor Lancashire because Birmingham was so good and we didn’t feel like we had explored everything the game had to offer yet.
This was the year we finally got to playing Lancashire, and we loved it. (And, well, controversial hot take time) To us, Brass: Lancashire is more fun at 2 players than Birmingham. The two player community variant included in Lancashire is by far our favorite way to play 2 player Brass (not the official 2-player version). You see a lot of disagreement in the BGG forums and wading through community voting about which is better, but to us one of the most important aspects is that we can play together. If you play a lot of 2 player games, give the 2 player variant from Lancashire a try.
See our full review comparing Lancashire and Birmingham [HERE]
Mandala
Mandala is a quick playing, abstract card game for two players. Full disclosure: Mandala is currently between print runs and pretty much impossible to find. After a long wait, it was finally just reprinted this fall!
Earlier this year we included Mandala among our top ten games to play during the kids’ naptime, and it remains at the top of our quick and light favorites. It’s thinky enough that we feel challenged while remaining straightforward and quick. It is one of our top nap time picks because it offers simple, yet deep strategy with a surprising amount of tactics.
Orléans
Orléans was a game we were pretty skeptical about heading into. It doesn’t particularly stand out in a field of games that’s flooded by medieval European themes with cartoony artwork. We were also skeptical about the bag building element after hating another bag building game years ago.
When our friends got Orléans and insisted on playing, our doubts were gone. After a single play it became a must buy for both of us and skyrocketed up to one of our favorite games. Why? It’s engaging, fun, and more interesting than it seemed at first. And, dammit, there’s something thrilling about pulling exactly the right workers out of those soft, high-quality bags.
See our full review [HERE]
Teotihuacan: City of Gods
The first published game of the “T games” from Board & Dice,and further proof that if your heavy Euro-style game isn’t set in medieval Europe, it better start with a “T” (Teotihuacan, T’zolkin, Tawantinsuyu, Tekhenu…).
Teotihuacan is a constant war between “Omg look at all the stuff I have!” and “OMG I need stuff I don’t have”. To that end, it’s fairly easy to get resources, but having the right amount of the right resources to fully maximize each action space is incredibly challenging. Do you hold off on doing an action you need to do for your long term plan until you can maximize its potential? Or do you just go for it now and know that you’ll have to make up for not fully optimizing down the line? Decisions, decisions.
This game was great at 2 player, and the mix of planning ahead and adjusting strategy made it super satisfying to successfully execute your strategy. Even though it relies on dice, it’s similar to Tekhenu in that you have a TON of control over your strategy and there’s very little luck that can’t be incorporated.
That's Pretty Clever
If the idea of Roll & Write games give you flashbacks to Forced Family Fun Night and playing Yahtzee you’re not alone. Flashback to watching your brother roll ANOTHER frickin’ Yahtzee while you’re stuck on endless garbage rolls and you might be as resistant as we were to Roll & Writes as a genre. But modern versions have found great ways around the luck factor to give the players more control over the outcomes without taking away the fun factor. That’s Pretty Clever (Ganz Schön Clever) is a great game that balances the breeziness of luck-based games while offering enough control over the outcome to make it a challenge.
This is another one of the games we now bust out when we want something fairly light and quick, but still just challenging enough to be fun. And there’s something so satisfying about checking off little boxes and a bit of action chaining.
Honorable Mentions (Since We Can't Choose)
Honorable Mention - Fort (2020)
In Fort you are kids hanging out playing with toys and eating pizza all while building the coolest fort around. It features a unique twist on a deck building and hand management that make it stand out from other deckbuilders.
If you’re looking for an interactive game with quick set up and a low barrier to entry, definitely try Fort! Check out our full review [HERE]
Honorable Mention - Oceans (2020)
Oceans is a gorgeous game, maybe even the game with the best art on this whole list. In fact, it’s one of the few games we would likely consider buying just for the artwork. Oceans very well may be the ying to Fort’s Yang. Where Fort is controlled and calculated, Oceans is an engine building game that allows you to create huge action chains that have you laughing maniacally while everyone else at the table (not so) silently plots revenge.
We should note: our game group chose to be aggressive with everyone playing a predator strategy, but Oceans can also be SUPER chill if your game group prefers that.
Honorable Mention - Ragusa* (2019)
On the surface, Ragusa may appear to be an unassuming euro game. It has all the hallmarks of the typical euro: worker placement, goods production, selling goods, and an evolving market based on demand. And then it throws it all on its head with some clever twists.
Ragusa is a different sort of worker-placement game with unique mechanics that makes it refreshing to play. We always say that a sign of a good game is one that you want to discuss afterward to figure out what worked and what didn’t work. This is definitely one of those games, and we haven’t found one strategy that overpowers all others.
We do slightly prefer Ragusa at 4 players vs 2 players, but it’s still great either way!
See our full review [HERE]
Honorable Mention - The Estates (2018)
The Estates is an auction game of real estate development and it has a reputation for having the potential to be quite cut throat. As a couple that primarily plays 2 player we only had one very specific board gaming couple we knew we could play such a cut-throat game with and still remain friends at the end. And 2020 was the year that we finally made that happen. It was everything we had all dreamed of. Sarah, and our friend Kyle, both loved it. Both enjoy auctions and some good ole meddling with each other…usually. Emily and our friend Brittany both mostly tolerated it. So overall a win!
The Estates is one of the most interactive strategy games we have ever played but it is definitely not for everyone. It’s extremely aggressive, so be warned! But a bottle of wine (or two) and everyone was having a grand old competitive time.
*Game was given to us for review purposes from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. See our review policy [HERE].
Well, if you made it this far you know we had a pretty busy year! We are so grateful to everyone who has reached out and enjoyed our content, and we hope to continue to grow and engage in this community in 2021!
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Great list! You have some rather meaty entries in there, and I love it 🙂 Must certainly agree with you on Tekhenu, Tawantinsuyu, Brass and Teotihucan. I still need to get On Mars to the table. It is an intimidating sight, to be sure.
My list would look something like
Aquatica (deck building is my favorite mechanism)
The Magnificent (dice drafting is my other favorite mechanism)
Yukon Airways (more dice drafting – this is a real gem)
One Small Step
It’s a Wonderful World
Tekhenu
Honorable mentions go to Fort (yes, this is crazy fun) and Gods Love Dinosaurs.
If you haven’t given Paladins or Viscounts of the West Kingdom a try, I would recommend both of them. Start with Paladins.
Thanks Bob! You’ve got a great list there too! So many games we have on our wishlist but haven’t had a chance to play. The Magnificent has been mentioned a few times lately so that is definitely one we need to try out! Haven’t heard of Yukon Airways before so it’s always great to have new games to research, so thanks for brining it to our attention!
Y’all nailed it with Guild Master. It won my game of the year award! (well it may or may not have been tied with Court of Miracles)
We were surprised at how well it played at 2 player! Since it has so much interaction, we thought for sure it would feel like it was missing something when scaled down, but it actually was great! Theme integration was spot-on, too, which is tough to accomplish and definitely added to the “fun factor”.
So glad you liked Tawantinsuyu. I’ve seen some mixed reviews on it, but I can remember where I was more excited to play it after unboxing it. And for fans of Ragusa, keep an eye out for Merv, Fabio Lopiano’s next game.
We really enjoyed it, though it took a “learning” game or two to get the hang of it. We are planning on doing an in-depth review in the next couple of weeks, so this is maybe a spoiler alert that we really enjoy it! We do have Merv on our wishlist, it looks awesome! We’re excited to try it (hopefully soon)!