Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

One of the more popular detection games has been the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective series. Solving the case involves studying the various documents provided and piecing together the clues. The series includes The Baker Street Irregulars, Carleton House & Queen's Park, Jack the Ripper & the West End Adventures, and The Thames Murders & other cases.

From Boardgamegeek: "In Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, you are presented with a mystery to solve, and it is then up to you to trace the threads of evidence through the byways and mansions of nineteenth century London. You will interview suspects, search the newspapers for clues, and put together the facts to reach a solution."

Imhotep: Builder of Egypt

Imhotep is a 2 to4 player building game set during the time of ancient Egypt. Players have to ship quarried stone by barge to building sites and build pyramids, temples, obelisks and burial chambers.

There are some expansions available. Imhotep: A New Dynasty is a extensive expansion.

The Private Ships, is a small expansion consisting of a few new ships. Mini-expansion, The Pharaoh's Favors, consists of a print-and-play card available as a free download from the manufacturer.

There is also a two-player version available: Imhotep: The Duel.

Here is a good video by Rodney Smith explaining game setup and play:

Most popular board games

I've seen on Youtube a number of experienced game players putting up lists of their favourite games. Some of the games I have and some I have interest in but do not yet own.

Here are a few people's top ten lists:

Foster The Meeple: HIS - Root, Scythe, Res Arcana, Vast: Crystal Caverns, Gaia Project, Dune Imperium, Brass Birmingham, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Star Wars Imperial Assault, Mansions of Madness. HERS - Villainous, Overboss, Mansions of Madness, Vast: Crystal Caverns, Fort, Cubitos, Fantasy Realms, Wingspan, Isle of Cats, Castles of Burgundy.

Watch It Played: Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea, Watergate, Exit: Advent Calendar, Call To Adventure, Endless Winter, Maquis, Weather Machine, Spires End: Hildegard, My Lil' Everdell, and Wayfarers of the South Tigris.

Before You Play: Arboretum, The Game, The Castles of Burgundy, Yokai Septet, Alchemists, Schotten Totten, Spirit Island, A Feast of Odin, Scythe, and Kanban. And Lisboa as an honorable mention.

Before You Play (this is actually their "10 games [each] they'd never get rid of"):A Feast of Odin, Cafe, Obsession, Goa, Bruges, Parade, The Castles of Burgundy, Witness, Brass Lancashire, Scythe, Panamax, Yokai Septet, Kanban, The Downfall of Pompeii, Gingkopolis, Alchemists, CuBirds, Jack's Friends, Johari, Two Rooms and a Boom, and Adel Verplicht.

Chits&Chats: Marco Polo, Spacers, Wingspan, Root, Pandemic Legacy, Praga Caput Regni, Concordia, Hallertau, Spacers, It's a Wonderful World, The Search for Planet X, NMBR9, Azul, Tiny Towns, Macao, Scythe, and Castles of Burgundy.

Boxed Meeples: Lost Ruins of Arnak, Scythe, Pandemic, Star Wars Rebellion, Everdell, Dwellings of Eldervale, Gloomhaven, Jaws of the Lion, Yggdrasil Chronicles, Viticulture, Red Rising, Starcadia Quest, Iki, Tapestry, Teotihuacan: City of Gods, Yedo.

Trey Parker's top 10:  Summit, Sub Terra, Star Wars Rebellion, War of the Ring, Alchemists, Auztralia, Robinson Crusoe, Fury of Dracula, Abomination, Merchants & Marauders, Western Legends.

TerreDice (top 10 for couples, part 1): Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Gloomhaven, Everdell, Disney Villainous, Hive Pocket, 7 Wonders Duel, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, Tiny Epic Galaxies, Carcasonne, Splendor, Codenames Duet.

TerreDice (top 10 for couples, part 2): Spirit Island, Arkham Horror, Viticulture, Wingspan, Hogwarts Battle, Creator's Corner, Imhotep, Onitama, Patchwork, Lost Cities, Jaipur.

Mr & Mrs Boardgame (top 10 for couples): Star Realms, Raptor, Codenames Duet, Blokus Duel, Arkham Horror, 7 Wonders Duel, 5-Minute Dungeon, Azul, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, and Jaipur.

Here are a few video reviews of highly rated solo games: Totally Tabled (1), Totally Tabled (2), Sir Thecos, Man vs Meeple, Legendary Tactics, and No Rolls Barred. (Note: not all of the games reviewed in these videos are solo-only, some are multi-player games that can also be played solo.)

From a survey of the reviews above, here are the ones that are repeatedly mentioned: Robinson Crusoe, Friday, It’s a Wonderful World, Under Falling Skies, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Cartographers, the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective series, Solomon Kane, Detective: City of Angels, Overboss, On the Rocks, A Feast for Odin, Wingspan, BULLET🤍, Coffee Roaster, Imperium Classic, Cascadia, Terraforming Mars, Star Wars Imperial Assault, Micro Macro Crime City Full House, Viticulture, Ark Nova, Black Sonata, The Captain is Dead.

Of the games reviewed above (and below), the ones I’m interested in that I don’t already own are: In Vino Morte, A Feast for Odin, Goa, Bruges, Cafe, Viticulture, Dixit, Dead Reckoning, Catan: Starfarers, Foundations of Rome, and Witness. I'm also interested in a few games that I've found - Silver Bullet, Hnefatafl, and a Risk variant called Risk: Europe. A few that I have some interest in are Sleeping Gods, 1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties, Village Rails, Furnace, Endless Winter, Fury of Dracula, Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest, Keyflower, Hadrian's Wall, and Twilight Struggle. Also looking at a few of the Oink Games mini games.

Dicetower is one of the most viewed game review sites on Youtube. Their video of the top 100 games of all time can be found here.

For an historical perspective, this site lists the 10 most popular games of all time (rated lowest to highest): Risk, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Othello, Clue, Monopoly, Scrabble, Backgammon, Checkers, and Chess. Of course, for popularity, chess has an advantage considering that it has been around for over 1,000 years!

Update: 2022 Reviews

From Foster the Mepple's list of their favorites of 2022 (with BGG rating in brackets): Ahoy (7.6), Applejack (7.3), Creature Comforts (7.6), Dead Reckoning (8.3), Downtown Farmers Market (7.2), Flamecraft (7.6), Endless Winter (8.0), Heat: Pedal to the Metal (8.2), The Initiative (7.7), Marvel Dice Throne (8.3), Paint the Roses (7.6), Planet Unknown (8.0), Root: The Marauder Expansion (8.9), Star Wars: Villainous (7.4), Turing Machine (7.9), Unmatched: Jurassic Park - Dr, Sattler vs T. Rex (8.1), Vagrantsong (7.9), Verdant (7.5), Wayfarers of the South Tigris (8.0), and Wonderland's War (8.2). Also mention: Loose Caboose! (6.9).

From Tantrum House list of their favorites of 2022 (with BGG rating in brackets): Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Collector's Edition (8.5), Creature Comforts (7.6), Dead Reckoning (8.3), Downtown Farmers Market (7.2), Endless Winter (8.0), Foundations of Rome (8.1), Green Team Wins (7.2), The Guild of Merchant Explorers (7.8), Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest (7.5), My Father's Work (8.0), Old London Bridge (7.2), Paint the Roses (7.6), Planet Unknown (8.0), Ready Set Bet (7.7), Space Station Phoenix (7.4), Terracotta Army (7.7), Verdant (7.5),

Forbidden Island

A newer category of board games is the cooperative game where the goal is not to defeat an opponent but for all the players to win as a group. By cooperative game innovator Matt Leacock comes the popular Forbidden Island from GameWright.

From their website: “Join a team of fearless adventurers on a do-or-die mission to capture four sacred treasures from the ruins of this perilous paradise. Your team will have to work together and make some pulse-pounding maneuvers, as the island will sink beneath every step! Race to collect the treasures and make a triumphant escape before you are swallowed into the watery abyss!”

There are two variations on the game: Forbidden Sky and Forbidden Desert.

 

Here is a video showing a complete game of Forbidden Island:

Click to view video

And here is a video showing a complete game of Forbidden Desert.

This website has a list of the top 40 cooperative games. Some of the popular cooperative games are Codenames Duet, Mysterium, Spirit Island, Pandemic, Gloomhaven, The Mind, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures of the Cursed Island, and the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective series.

Mysterium

“Mysterium is a cooperative board game designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko. It blends aspects of murder mystery games and card-based guessing games. One person plays the ghost of a murdered individual who can communicate with the other players only through a series of visions in the form of illustrated cards. The other players, who take the role of psychic mediums, must interpret these cards to identify a suspect, location, and murder weapon.” - (source: Wikipedia). Although the goal is similar to Clue, the play has many more elements.

Two expansions are available: Hidden Signs and Secrets & Lies:

 

There is also a simpler, stand-alone game called Mysterium Park:

Here is a good video of the game play for Mysterium:

Click to view video

Risk

“The classic strategy board game of diplomacy, conflict and conquest for two to six players. The standard version is played on a board depicting a political map of the world.... Turns rotate among players who control armies of playing pieces with which they attempt to capture territories from other players, with results determined by dice rolls.... The goal of the game is to occupy every territory on the board and, in doing so, eliminate the other players. The game can be lengthy, requiring several hours to multiple days to finish. European versions are structured so that each player has a limited "secret mission" objective that shortens the game.”

“Risk was invented in 1957 by Albert Lamorisse,... and it became one of the most popular board games in history, inspiring other popular games such as Axis & Allies.... The simple rules but complex interactions make it appealing to adults as well as children and families.” - (source: Wikipedia)

Combat games like Axis & Allies, Memoir 44, and Undaunted have become more popular than Risk becuase of their more complex play features.

There is a good video explaining game play:

Click to view video

There are a few variations on Risk that change the game play, some considerably: Risk Europe, Risk Legacy, and Risk Star Wars. 

Firefly: The Game

Based on the cult TV series Firefly, the board game follows the theme of the show. In Firefly: The Game, players captain their own Firefly-class transport ship, traveling the ‘Verse with a handpicked crew of fighters, mechanics and other travelers. As a captain desperate for work, players are compelled to take on any job -- so long as it pays. Double-dealing employers, heavy-handed Alliance patrols and marauding Reavers are all in a day’s work for a ship’s captain at the edge of the ‘Verse.

There is a large selection of expansions for the game:

Blue Sun expansion

Kalidasa expansion

 

 

 

Firefly expansions: Esmeralda, Jetwash, Pirates & Bounty Hunters, and Artful Dodger

Vera expansion game mat

Produced by GaleForce Nine Games.