In keeping with the spirit of end-of-the-year lists, I offer here a short, five-entrant list of favorites reviewed on these Examiner pages in 2011 (links to the original reviews are included at the end). This shouldn't be viewed as a "Best of 2011" list, because I've yet to play (or not played enough of) some of the more outstanding candidates from this year's crop, including Urban Sprawl, Dominant Species (released actually in 2010), Eminent Domain, and A Few Acres of Snow. There are others. It is, however, a list of the games that in 2011 rose to the top of (or remained among) my personal favorites, which has a way of being more about me than any relative value assigned to them. Tastes in games, as I'm fond of reiterating, are deeply personal. They're a little like taste sensations; not experienced the same way across a broad spectrum of gamers, to which any perusal of any given game's entry on BoardGameGeek will attest.
The oldest of this bunch is Tyranno Ex, a 20-year-old game from Avalon Hill. It's what's commonly known as a "dice fest," which normally would not be among my favorite 'flavors.' but it has a certain epic quality to it. The journey is long, but satisfying. One's investment in the fortunes of chosen species of dinosaurs throughout the game has a way of engaging a 'fan' switch. You end up rooting for the survival of your chosen animals; you become, in a way, attached to them, as they advance along a scoring track to eventual extinction, earning, hopefully, enough points along the way for you to win the game.
I've enjoyed Wolfgang Kramer's (and Michael Kiesling's) Asara (Rio Grande Games) this year. I taught it for a week at the World Boardgaming Championships in August, and while I've heard the dissenting voices, complaining that it lacks a certain depth, I, for one, occasionally appreciate a game that doesn't overly tax the brain cells. You do what you can do with this game; you have a set of definable (and easily graspable) tasks, and whoever performs these tasks most efficiently will win the game. End of story.
In a strictly two-player category, Triumvirate (Indie Boards and Games) has grown on me. It's a trick-taking card game with a little twist; as a player, you personally, do not benefit from taking (or not taking) a trick. Instead, one of three emperors, represented by three colors, take (or do not take) a trick. You, then, gamble on which of the three emperors is going to be ultimately successful. It can actually be played with a reduced (down to 27), standard deck of cards, but it's a small-box card game at a reasonable price. It's a tad over-produced, with more components than are strictly necessary, but it's an engaging exercise that'll alter the way you perceive of taking tricks in a card game.
You'd have to put Gubs (Gamewright Games) in a silly category. It's a very typical Gamewright game. Easy to teach and learn, simple mechanics, elusive goal. It's a card game in which you attempt to be the player with the most 'free' Gubs (imaginary animals that look like a cross between a frog and a lobster) on display in front of you when the game ends. You use cards to protect your Gubs, while opponents use other cards to take them away from you or move them out of the game altogether. There are random events in this game with devastating effects, and there's a degree of "take that" to the game play. Aggression is rewarded. As with most Gamewright offerings, it combines imagination and fun, and is really the only game on this short list that can truly be identified as a gateway game (Asara might be considered one, as well, but it has just a touch more task depth).
Time for a drum roll, as I select the latest game to enter my personal favorite list - Bootleggers (Eagle Games). It's the second oldest of this bunch, having been released in 2004. Like Tyranno Ex, it's something of a dice fest, and like Asara, it's one of those games where you do what you can do, and hope for the best. Like Gubs, it has a lot of inherent "take that" mechanics. But beyond all this, it has a way of coalescing a group of gamers into a band of buddies. It's competitive in a really fun sort of way that makes words like revenge, betrayal, and ruthlessness almost palatable. And, as mentioned in my review here four days before Christmas, the experience is enhanced by deliberate play-acting; utilization of Mob lingo by legendary characters like Edward G. Robinson ("You'll play this, see? And like it, see?").
For those who've made it this far, I'd like to end this year with a fervent "thank you" to the thousands of you (or smaller group that has returned numerous times) who've checked in with me from time to time to read any and/or all of my 22 entries this year, or any of those published in the three years I've been writing about games for these Examiner pages. I'm continually surprised by the numbers that actually take time out to read what I've written. They're (you're) the backbone of support, without which I don't imagine I'd spend a lot of time doing this.
Thanks, again, and have a happy and prosperous New Year.
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