it is possible that the premiere of the TV series “Masters of the Air” has influenced this year's rise of RAF, Skies Above Britain and B-17 Queen of the Skies, so with have a influence from other culture spaces on what the players put onto their tables during the year

I think you made a mistake at 7:21 because I don't think Rachel could've been able to take the Vault plan because she should've spent a mint to be placed on the Supplier card. Right?

Thanks for overview and the fun conversations. Are we able to download the list somewhere ?

The insights were great, thanks again Liz!

There are no COIN series games in the top 200. As a Fire in the Lake fan, that seems wrong.

More great lists ... thanks! (FYI: The volume level for the video is a bit low.)

I am a little behind in my viewing ... thank you for doing these lists!

20:50 Liz, I totaly feel with you on this one, but i think it is just our fomo whispering into our ears. To try out games (esp. at games we are unsure of), the base box is all we need and even if we start liking/lovin' it, the replay value will be more then enough for weeks and month to come.

Very excited to see this one, Liz! I'll be curious how many I have on my shelf. I think Marceline lost some solo cred admitting to not having played Mage Knight 😅

50:50 lol, Cascadia is the first thing that popped to mind as best first solo game. Would definitely be my recommandation leagues before anything else. If you play the solo scenarios, its not a BYOS anymore, you need to beat the threshold. And it's a nice difficulty progression.

My Ratings for the Top 10 looks like this: Marvel Champions 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Lord of the Rings 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Final Girl 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🔪 Too Many Bones 👍🏼👍🏼🦴 Dune Imperium 👍🏼 The rest are 👉🏼 for me cause I haven't played them yet.

This is a fun team to watch, thank you Liz!

Great panel. Thank you so much for this! ❤

Sleeping Gods is a masterpiece of narrative gaming 👍👍 Also love for Nusfjord, Nemo's War, Hoplo, Earthborne Rangers, and Imperium. Thanks for hosting this!

"Witchcraft" IS a better game than "Resist!", in terms of richness of decisions, range of strategic choices, and so on. It definitely deserves a high slot. And yet somehow "Resist!" has not left my collection, because it delivers a kind of hard poignancy, a thematic gut punch, that its successor can't match (even with the latter's awesome feminist sensibilities). "Resist!" will be remembered as a step jump for historical game experiences.

I never could get even remotely interested in Wingspan, but somehow Wyrmspan became a must-have for how it plays (not due to dragons or the lovely art). I think it's great at two-player, and now with Mike's commentary I will have to try it solo! For me, it's strange I haven't already; I'm one of those oddballs who likes both Tapestry and Expeditions (with expansion) as solo games.

Looks fun, but I can see myself as Friday thinking: " This guy's an idiot and a jerk. Let's just get him killed off quick." LOL. I'd actually enjoy that option as well 🤷‍♂️

My thumb votes: Spirit Island 👍👍 Mage Knight 👍👍 Marvel Champions 👉 Arkham Horror 👍 Too Many Bones 👎 Lord of the Rings 🤷‍♂️ Final Girl 👉 Dune Imperium 👉 Imperium Classics 🤷‍♂️ Ark Nova 👍

I can’t tell if he was having drinks or just getting tired, but Mike seems to have reached peak silly goose by this third installment. Thanks to you all for the entertaining videos! Even though the top 10 lacked surprises, I really liked the simultaneous thumbs and subsequent discussion of it. Also thanks to Kevin and the proactive community members who kept this great tradition alive.

Enjoyed hearing from y’all over the past three videos. As far as first solo games, I think the Emissary, which was the precursor to For Northwood, is a great option because it uses a regular deck of cards, has a hard win-loss condition as opposed to BYOS, and isn’t a huge step from solitaire games most people are already used to. But like Dereck said, it really depends what the person is into; my first real solo game was Marvel Champions, which was great for me because I enjoy the theme, it’s not too complicated to learn, and it can produce a lot of drama and tension that people might not be aware is possible when playing solo.

NIGHT WITCHES??!! What? Ian O'Toole? What?? Do tell . . .

These videos make me want to be a part of the solo community. I've been playing solo but you all make me feel a part of it just by watching

You're doing a fantastic job, all four of you. Thank you for your impressions! To Dereck : Who care if people disagree with your choices and tastes? I think this top 200 is a testament to how diverse solo boardgaming is and how different people's tastes are. From your thumbs up/down I saw that you and I have very different tastes, and that's fantastic, man!

Great discussion, so many games I need to try! Interesting that my tastes don't align with any one of you specifically, but rather a mix of all.

Thank you all for having this discussion to view!

Agree with Derek's love of Nemesis solo.

I'm not sure that Uprising will change Mike's opinion too much Dune's solo mode since I think the only real change is the worms, I believe. It's still fairly light on deckbuilding, though I do think it's a pretty important part of it. I personally love it and I think Mike should give it a chance. But I still think Arnak is likely the better game for him.

Excellent discussion

Regarding the Dune discussion, I'm sticking with the original, no need to get more. I think a game that did a similar thing was Raider of the North Sea / Raiders of Scythia. I do prefer North Sea there due to the art style but Scythia is better value for a solo player. Ark Nova with the Arno app is excellent, the official solo is a nice puzzle but Arno takes it to the next level.

Great show, lots of interesting topics. I'll chime in on Dune Imperium. As an owner of the base game, it's exemplary of a big problem with so many titles. This game is great if you get (insert 1+ expansions here). As a solo player, I tend to avoid too many expansion cuz I hate going back and reading through multiple rule books when I go back to a game. I like the idea of what they did with Uprising, but what it really should have been is just all the expansions put together with a single rule book.

Top Ranked Games: D-Day at Omaha Beach Skies Above Britain RAF: Battle of Britain 1940 Fields of Fire Pax Pamir (Second Edition) Games Noted for Movement or Popularity: B-17: Queen of the Skies (rose significantly, moving up 18 spots to 8th place). Halls of Hegra (moved up 20 places). Atlantic Chase (newly on the list at 14th place). Other Games Mentioned: Mr. President (dropped one spot but remains in the top range). John Company (Second Edition) Legion of Honor (acknowledged as an influential game but didn’t make the current top list). Endurance (low ranking, near the 200s). Solitaire Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) (ranked 20th this year). Notable Series & Mentions: States of Siege series (no specific titles ranked high this year). Undaunted: Reinforcements/Kalisto (mentioned as better solo implementations but not strictly historical). Days of Ire / Nights of Fire (not represented on this year's list).

Sadly you can't play the digital version of Onirim on newer android phones because the devs haven't updated the app to support them. Dorf Romantik is great solo. The biggest surprise for me was the fact you can fall to get all the tiles out if you don't plan carefully. So there is a more of a game here than some reviews lead me to believe.

Kai Jensen is a national treasure... We are so fortunate to have been the beneficiaries of Chad & Kai's collaborations. I love that she is continuing to make her mark at GMT.

In what part of the game is the intelligence track used? I look for it in the manual but I can't find it? What use is it given?

I think Dorf Romantik is a perfectly solid tile layer and would recommend buying it if you can get it on sale. I don't know that I'd ever recommend playing it much higher than 2P though, and it feels like a game that's probably best solo with how light it is.

Timestamp would be super helpful too. Lot of nuggets and wisdom being shared, which others may miss out.

Really appreciate the good questions and answers in this interview. Learned so much. Thanks!

Congratulations to the winners of Zenobia II! "Judges praised the clever design, the unique and compelling theme, and the game’s original balance of organizing a labor movement all while having to work a tiring, full-time job."

And now announced as a runner-up! "Judges applauded the balance between complexity and depth, and how the gameplay engaged with the difficult theme."

And I see it's just been announced as a runner up! "Judges praised the game’s unique take on the 4X genre, action selection, and rondel mechanics, modeling exploration while vying for the Sultan’s favor."

Nice to see Sentinels of the Multiverse get a shout out. I LOVE that game! One of the BGG 1PG-ers created a fan made campaign mode and it’s totally transformed how I play the game this year.

I enjoyed playing Dorfromantik the board game solo more than playing the video game. These feel same but different. I would recommend both.

I'll make a big fat prediction - Two years after its release, Away Team: Voyages of the Pandora by John Butterfield will hit the Top 100 (this is after having done one playtest) - yes... I'm so hyped now! And Space Hulk: Death Angel is one I regret getting rid of. I only got rid of it because I felt it was too dark with little kids running around.

I found a game called Dragon Ball: Deckbuilding Game on BGG that says it’s inspired by Aeon’s End but I don’t see anywhere to get it

Totally agree with Dereck about Nemesis. Such a great game!

Looking forward to seeing the 1-50 list discussion!

There are Calvin & Hobbes and Mandalorian rethemes of After the Virus on BGG for anyone who’s not a fan of the art on the original

Thank you Liz for your respect for Onirim, also you asked about Dorfromantik, it's awesome (both games are available as apps and I play boardgames)

Dragons of Etchinstone is a neat and satisfying one-handed card game (although I use a table.) The current version does suffer from having rather small icons, and in some lighting conditions it can be hard to differenciate between blue and grey cards. If they can improve that then it should be worthy of being a top small size solo game.

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