Video Reviews

There are lots of game review video channels on Youtube and I have watched many to see if I'd like a game and to get a detailed explanation of how a game is played. This can give more information than you can get from reading the rules provided with the game. Some sites are just reviews but others have a full play through of a complete game.

Of videos that explain how a game is played, my favourite is Rodney Smith of Watch It Played.

For video reviews I go to Dice Tower with Tom Vassel, and Foster the Meeple. I also look at Shut Up & Sit Down, Before You Play, and Becca Scott on the Geek & Sundry site.

To watch a full play through I go to Will Weaton's Table Top or Becca Scott (both on the Geek & Sundry site), Before You Play, and Dad vs. Daughter. Also on the Watch It Played channel, Paula Demming does solo game play throughs. Board Game Geek, the most popular game review website, also has a video channel called Game Night that does a full play through of many games.

Co-operative Games

A recent trend in board games is for co-operative games in which all players are striving to achieve a common goal. Some of the most popular (with BGG rating in brackets) are The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine (7.8), Forbidden Island (6.8) and Forbidden Desert (7.1), Mansions of Madness (7.3), The Initiative (7.5), Mysterium (7.2) and Mysterium Park (7.1), Gloomhaven (8.6), Codenames Duet (7.5), and Betrayal at House on the Hill (7.0). The mountain climbing game Summit (7.1) is interesting because it can be played as a co-operative, competitive or solo game. The Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective (7.6) series is a popular crime solving game.

Some other highly rated games are Perspectives (7.7), The Adventures of Robin Hood (7.6), Sleeping Gods (8.1), Ghost Stories (7.3), Horrified (7.6), ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo (7.1), Paint the Roses (7.3) and Stardew Valley (7.4).

Foster the Meeple has a good video review of co-operative games. Before You Play recommends The Game (6.7).

War Games

There are a plethora of war games available today. The classics like Risk and Axis & Allies have now expanded to both simpler short games to more complex longer games. Some are two player only, some have a solo option and some are solo only. For example, two player games like Blitzkrieg!: World War Two In 20 Minutes and Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes include a solo variation, others can be played solo with additional instructions or other elements created by gamers.

The current most popular war games are the Undaunted series and the Memoir ‘44 series.

Some of the following two player games also have a solo option. The more popular or highly rated ones are (with BGG ratings) Air, Land, & Sea (7.5), Air, Land & Sea: Spies, Lies, & Supplies (7.9), By Stealth & Sea (8.0), D-Day at Omaha Beach (8.3), Enemy Action: Ardennes (8.6), The Hunters: German U-boats at War 1939-43 (7.7), Men of Iron Battles Tri-pack: Men of Iron, Infidel, Blood & Roses (8.2), RAF: The Battle of Britain 1940 (8.0), Silent Victory: U.S. Submarines in the Pacific 1941-45 (8.0), Storm Above the Reich (8.1), Shores of Tripoli.

The solo-only games are Aces of Valor (8.4), Airborne Commander (6.9), American Tank Ace: 1944-1945 (8.3), Enemy Coast Ahead: The Doolittle Raid (8.0), Fields of Fire 2 (8.3), Thunderbolt Apache Leader (8.0), Hill of Doves: The First Anglo-Boer War (8.0), Hornet Leader: Carrier Air Operation (7.9), Sherman Leader (7.6), Silent War: IJN – Imperial Japanese Navy (7.6), Target For Today: Bombers Over the Reich, 1942-1945 (8.1), Western Front Ace: The Great War in the Air 1916-1918 (8.8).

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For 2025, Zilla Blitz Youtube channel has recommendations for beginning war game players.

1. Undaunted Normandy 
2. By Stealth & Sea (solo) 
3. The Hunt 
4. Sherman Leader (solo) 
5. Gettysburg 
6. A Time For Heroes (solo option) 
7. Lanzerath Ridge (solo) 
8. Memoir '44 
9. The Shores of Tripoli (solo option) 
10. Downfall of Empires 
11. Tank on Tank Eastfront 
12. Tank on Tank Westfront 
13. Onoda (solo) 
14. Resist! 
15. Aces of Valor 
16. Louisbourg 1758 
17. La Résistance
18. Tank Clash: Western Front 
19. Worthington Pacific War 1942 (solo) 
20. Worthington French & Indian War (solo) 
21. Worthington Waterloo (solo) 
22. Worthington Europe at War 1940 (solo) 
23. Worthington War of 1812 (solo)

Field Commander: Alexander and Waterloo Solitaire are two new solo games.

Kings Cribbage

This is a tile version of cribbage with the added aspect of a Scrabble game or crossword puzzle. Players take turns putting down sets of tiles to make runs or combinations of 15 as in Cribbage. Other players then add their tiles horizontally or vertically connecting to existing tiles.

See the official Kings Cribbage website.

East India Companies

From BoardGameGeek, in East India Companies, each player manages a large shipping company that trades with far flung trading posts in India. Players must manage their ships and invest in buying shares of their own company or those of their competitors. Players must keep an eye on the fluctuating market prices. Do you invest your money in the stock market or in buying goods? Do you prefer to use fast ships with low tonnage or slower ships with larger holds? Whatever you choose, your strategy will influence those of their opponents. (BGG rating 7.5)

Rummikub

Invented in the 1940s by Ephraim Hertzano, this is basically a board game version of rummy but with a difference: tiles are used instead of cards and the lay-down is common for all players. As in rummy, you form runs of the same suit or sets of the same rank. The arrangement of tiles can be rearranged to allow new combinations with added tiles on each turn. One of the most popular games in Britain and popular around the world.

A virtual version is available as an app for OS and Android, just search in their app stores.