10 Classic Games (That Are Actually Good)

[@NoRollsBarred]

ADAM: For uncut Board Game Club episodes, exclusive Clocktower eps, access to our Discord and MORE, join NRB's Patreon www.patreon.com/NoRollsBarred

[@seandunne9048]

I really want to see Sully vs Dom in chess 😁

[@falcon8752]

I wonder how you feel about Shogi? same spot as Chess?

[@JakeJonRoberts]

Luke's actually good videos were the best stuff on the channel. Please make more of them.

[@RobertJW]

I don’t remember where I found this story but I vividly remember the story of the Stratego player who was so good that he could turn his flag around at the start of the game, say “Here it is, come and get it” and then consistently win anyway.

[@kotoasty]

Jon Bois Rickey Henderson video?

[@RobertJW]

@@kotoasty YES!

[@HydroxideAnt]

I loved the Actually Good series so much! Worth the watch for sure :D

[@harveyholmes9533]

Fun thing I noticed when Adam knocks over the Jenga tower at 2:40 they have little notes on the bottom which means we’re probably getting ‘Dares Jenga’ with him and Sully in that series which should definitely be called House Rules which started with the guess who game

[@scotta2896]

Luke saying "I actually liked making Actually Good" while sitting at his desk in his Hook shirt with a sad face was heartbreaking... I loved your series, Luke! There are dozens of people in the comments who did as well and we'd be happy to get more of them!

[@martayharmay]

You really need to let Luke do one more Actually Good on Risk, and explore the variants. The Star Wars one where the board is a TIE fighter IS actually good!

[@AgusSkywalker]

That's because it's not Risk but a remake of "The Queen's Gambit" to which Hasbro put the Risk brand just because. However I do enjoy the real Star Wars Risk where you can control the Empire, the Rebels or the Hutts to control the galaxy. More modern versions of Risk have a more reasonable win condition which fixes the length of the game (the biggest problem in my opinion) but they still rely on an archaic fighting system that rewards luck much more than strategy.

[@dhirajpallin2572]

RISK was one of the few pre-80s games that I actually enjoyed. We always played Mission RISK though with the secret objectives. World Domination RISK is a waste of time.

[@Mooshoojr]

I didn't realize how much I missed Actually Good until Adam brought it up for this video.

[@MikeHughey728]

I miss Actually Good. I miss a lot of "classic" NRB content that went away. Like Collection Starter, glad it's back. Watching other people play games instead of me is fine, but I personally prefer informative content helps me make my own game nights better.

[@neilbiggs1353]

I think a problem with 'Actually Good' is that there was only a limited range of titles to work with - even then I thought they were wrong about Scrabble as I'd say their justification for Chess in this video works just as much for that title...

[@vkeb2leretour]

We want more "actually good" episodes! That series was so fun!!

[@GeniusLad32]

"Actually Good" was really good. Loved Laurie's explained too

[@clairematthews4535]

This vid got me all nostalgic for the Actually Good series and other early NRB/Phenomanerds content, I’d love to see those series brought back, plus more of Luke generally. Also, fun fact re cribbage, I believe it’s where we get the term “level pegging” from, though I’ll admit “one for his nob” is undeniably funnier!

[@hendrixjcs10]

The actually good series was actually good as one episode on UNO, it re-sparked my love for the game and made me create a group with my friends called “The UNO Squad”. Been at for a year and a half now, best of times.

[@Jamjamsart]

god i need an UNO squad... no one ever wants to play anymore, and i even have a Minecraft version of UNO.

[@neilbiggs1353]

I actually prefer a version of Uno played with regular playing cards. We called it Blackjack at school, but it may be known instead as Switch (it's essentially a Crazy Eights variant). It had one big change where we could lay down runs of cards where either the cards were of the same suit and consecutively numbered (wrapping around king to ace and vice versa), or were the same value but in a different suit. What it meant was that people could get hit with a huge pick up, but with smart play, they'd often be able to get back in to contention.

[@navidimtiaz2838]

Favorite classic board game got to be Monopoly, Adam. And more "Actually Good" videos please. Idk the algorithm but I personally enjoyed watching those.

[@paigeherrmann6332]

As someone who was a bartender at a board game cafe for 2 years, the jenga thing is unbelievably real and so accurate

[@megavolnutt4629]

Please bring back Actually Good. I miss Science Guy Luke. He wore a bow tie to show how serious he was about science and everything. Did he run out of BluTack? Someone get Luke some BluTack so we can get more episodes!

[@philwatkins2800]

Playing Stratego as a little kid with my older brother was arguably the formative life moment that made me a board gamer for life.

[@TheTrout9000]

I’m new to the channel but I watched my first is it good yesterday! Loved it. Keep up the great work you lovely folks.

[@pletcho]

I actually flat out refuse to believe that the #1 entry is real. I am still waiting for Adam to say "only kidding!" even though the video is over now

[@TheWeapon33]

Same, everything else was pretty on point but Yahtzee is a boring game with no player interaction. The only thing it has going for it is choosing to X out certain spaces.

[@earthling-ad]

Some people just love 'push your luck' as a mechanic. I am not one of those people. I much prefer known variables in games. I think dice are a terrible way of introducing randomness most of the time as the odds never change, so it just isn't enjoyable when you keep rolling badly.

[@romeocasido5723]

I love the humor and charm of this channel. Best board game channel on KZbin

[@DeadHierophant]

Oh I loved Stratego! My dad used to have this really old board that he would bring out and challenge my extended family to a game of; at birthday parties, Christmases or any time the family would come together. Either that or chess. I like playing Risk - but only the variants of the game (Legacy specifically).

[@Dogggonemadd]

If this was just a long-winded way of asking if we want "Actually Good" back, the answer is YES

[@nick-playercharacter8583]

Please bring back the essay-style videos. I love them so.

[@kevindelord]

Excellent! I missed those top 10 videos so much

[@IronShaman81]

I loved the actually good as well. I'd really like to see it come back.

[@Deepdarkbasement]

I actually Really hoped for a list like this! Love to see it, and I would like to see more Actually Good please!!!

[@Tempo1337]

Actually Good was Actually Great, both here and on PFK. Miss it terribly.

[@brandonvangieson8087]

Me and my sister as kids would spend a week or two with our grandparents in the summer, which often was boring as hell. However they had exactly one board game at their place, and it was Stratego which saved the day many a year. We came up with a scoring system of points so that we could play multiple games and try to create a grand war winner, I have very fond memories of Stratego

[@t84nightfall]

I enjoyed the deep dives of Actually Good, please bring it back. Ngl, still waiting on Is the Fiend Actually Good on Parts Funknown

[@Matteracter]

I'd love if the "Actually Good" series came back.

[@Whitebeardcrewmate]

Never actually knew the rules to stratego and othello before this. Now I'm incredibly tempted to pick them up. Also I'd love to see a top 10 'dudes on a map'/war game list. Mostly cause I feel like Adam really wants to talk about War of the Ring. Maybe it could coincide with an Inis BG Masterpieces video? 👀

[@FatherTime89]

I'd like to see that just because I want to see Twilight Struggle on one of these lists. It's a really good game.

[@DasGanon]

Pente: it's like go but a bit more streamlined and you can have more than just 2 players. Also if you have the 80s style cloth board with the glass pieces it's so satisfying

[@matthewspencer9880]

Great list. Especially Stratego, Balderdash and Crib. I would add Perudo or Liar’s Dice. We also used to play Mastermind as kids which was like an analog version of Wordle with coloured pegs.

[@clairematthews4535]

Ahhhh Mastermind, I loved that game as a kid, agree it’s a classic if you’re a child of the 80’s/90’s.

[@sorceressferaly4026]

I miss "Actually Good?" and its in-depth look at "classic" games quite a bit. The series still had so many games it could analyze, and was taken from us all too soon. These lists were a great way to create content synergy with "Actually Good" as well, and I'm still hoping for a "10 Games Like Scrabble But BETTER" collection starter video! Why have you abandoned us like this, Luke? ;_; (In all seriousness, I am sad the series didn't do well enough to stay on. I miss the historical deep dives and board game cosplay too.) This is probably the first collection starter where I have played all games on the list! Love Chess and I'll pretend its cousin Shogi shares its spot, but I can't help but feel like Uno is conspicuously absent here! (Perhaps Poker would have deserved a spot as well?) I'm surprised to see Yahtzee on this list at all, considering it's a game most people I play with would equate with Monopoly. (Though mercifully shorter.) In my point of view, I'd take Cluedo or Scrabble over Yahtzee any day, but perhaps I should give the game a second chance.

[@lumensapace]

Clue is one of my all-time favorite classic board games and it makes me sad that others think it’s bad. I love that it’s a logic puzzle you’re collecting clues for. If you’ve got good attention to detail and deduction you can do consistently well.

[@BammyJ007]

Great vid. Now time for me to suggest a game that was a classic to me, honestly it's the greatest game it's We Didn't Playtest This at All. Is it random? yes. Is it fun? Yes. Can a round last 3 seconds? YES. It's a game that needs to be played to understand. I'd love to see y'all try it.

[@GeniusLad32]

I adore Board Game Club, BotC, Collection Starter, but as a new convert to board games I do love Actually Good, Explained, weird sketches and all the NRB content. I hope all these WT family references to Actually Good means we're getting a new one soon and you're trying to hype us up for it, you little bookers.

[@erikschut3301]

The actually good series was actually great

[@CulturePhilter]

Bring back “actually good” !

[@Fjedov]

Never thought I'd see Stratego mentioned on a gaming channel. I used to play this a lot with my father as a child. He's an old man now, but the childish excitement still returns when I roll up with my marshal and he gets to shout "BOMB!". It still remains one of my favourites; not too long, immensely satisfying when a long-con pays off and also a satisfying loss.

[@AddisonHughes955]

More actually good!

[@nickdejager8873]

Thoughts (in no particular order) 1) Monopoly is not a bad game. It's not a great game, I'd struggle to even call it good. But at the end of the day, most people I hear complain about it are playing it wrong. Which is like taking the tires off your car, and complaining about your mileage. 2) I also disagree the Chutes/Snakes and Ladders is a bad game. Because I don't think it can even be called a game. There is no strategy, no player thought. 3) Yahtzee I do like, but I prefer more complex variations like Dice Throne or Double Yahtzee. 4) I love Clue(do) as a game, but I do prefer to remove the dice, or remove the halls and the die roll is the number of (adjacent) rooms you can move through. 5) Chess; I have a love/hate relationship with chess, because while I do enjoy it, the fact it is a solvable game and the attitude of many chess players both leave me cold. My favorite, classics... Hnefatafl scratches the chess itch without the pretension. But it is also not so well known, so I'm not sure it counts. Chinese checkers is well known, and I enjoy it with four players best. How old does a game have to be, to be a classic?

[@caspiansvensson]

I have to look through your channel and see if you have a game of Mahjong somewhere, I'd love to watch it and learn. I never ever got how to play it but this sneak peak makes it look fun.

[@TacereMortem]

Bring back Actually Good, it was awesome

[@MrGhosta5]

For clue you're playing wrong if you're dependent on the dice rolls you should be able to infer what cards your opponents do and don't have based on their questions and responses. If they ask gun, ballroom, mr green and their opponent shows a card then you also know that they have one of those cards but not exactly which. if you already know a different player has gun and mr green, then you can eliminate the ballroom. If a player ask for the same card twice then they likely already have that card and are instead fishing for one of the other card types. If someone ask for mr green twice, then they likely have mister green and are fishing for rooms or weapons. Battleship is actually good if you know how to actually play it. Most players just fire shots randomly but their is a mathmatically ideal way to play it so that your shots have a maximum chance of hitting something.

[@PlayfulTraining]

Nice list and fun video, thanks!

[@619ck154]

It spent years playing Cribbage on holiday with my dad. I still contend it’s what made me good at strategy games

[@thebestame3582]

The actually good series was one of my favorites

[@OneThirtyH]

Bring back Actually Good !

[@Septicor]

My grandparents were heavily into card games and gambling, so they taught me everything I know about the fundamentals that I treasure with to this day, The first game I ever played in my life was Cribbage with my grandma and the first game I took seriously to learn about strategies was Backgammon with my grandpa. So it made me happy to see them on the list.

[@starshocker]

I do love a good Yahtzee. Rolling those dice to my frustration sometimes feels like a blast. And I think Go or Chess would wreck me totally but I'm loving it. So many good classic games out there, that it's getting harder and harder to pick one out.

[@hillrp1]

I assume that the illegal position on the chess board was deliberately there to bait out nerdy comments: Mission accomplished. I couldn't not notice it

[@nick-playercharacter8583]

Love playing Yahtzee with the family. It just never gets old.

[@joeshufelt]

I just watched all the Actually Good series. It is among my favorite content across the entire internet. I would Patreon fund more of those.

[@sideshowdayv]

Wouldn't mind seeing more of the essay style content

[@SheezyBites]

Scrabble is good if you know an ungodly amount of words, carefully snaking around the board being careful where you put common letters so your opponent can't get a triple word is great... But Renature does almost all of that without the need for eating a dictionary so I'd always just recommend that instead

[@callmeperch]

Excellent list!! I'm a Yahtzee stan. It's one of my family's favorite games and I love converting new people who have heard of it and assumed it was boring. The tension and tough decisions definitely make it compelling! I have scorecards from when I barely knew my numbers so it's definitely approachable too. Glad to see it mentioned here!

[@lukeblackman6508]

Stratego is a childhood favorite as my dad and I always played it together

[@statsy150]

I actually really like risk and clue, but probably mostly for the versions I play. For clue I have the pocked version which makes traversing room much quicker and there are also many side doors for faster movement and you usually only spend 1/2 turns in the hall. Risk I usually play with objectives mode: unless you get the eliminate x from the game objective all the others are pretty fun and quick to achieve, I don’t think I’ve ever played games that lasted more then 90 minutes. So yeah just sharing opinions

[@Jarkeld]

Visual metaphor for intelligence and smart people - dyed blonde hair and giant teeth.....like Blair! EDIT: Also, Luke's "Actually Good?" series was wonderful. Would love to see him do more, but I know sometimes being a full time D-A-D can be difficult, in addition to his main job.

[@illithidlore]

We need a playlist of Lovecraft games!

[@anachronologist2017]

Yahtzee is so elegant in it's simplicity. It's basically Poker with dice, and everything about that is just pure serotonin My personal pick is RISK. I've never played a bad or unfun game of RISK, and it's super simple to learn but hard to master

[@yoshireynolds]

That was actually good

[@Direwolf0702]

Monopoly is actually good. Well designed satire that perfectly encapsulates the creator’s objectives. I will not put up with your nonsense.

[@looktothefuture84]

I'd actually like to play Monopoly, all these years later, with the *proper* rules...

[@zacharythomas8105]

Glad to see the top. 10's back😁

[@deathmauler181]

Monopoly is the greatest

[@meloncornets3034]

I started playing mahjong because of the anime "Saki". Although I'm only good at the basic style, I'd love to learn the other styles.

[@lucimitchell7273]

I love playing cribbage! My family would play it using a set of dominos. Whenever my extended family got together, 5pm would be designated as “booze and bones” time. Which usually consisted of my underage cousins and my siblings playing while our drunk parents tried to give us advice, and scold us for bad moves. It was awesome and entertaining (especially when grandpa started cussing) 🤣

[@therealhawv]

Yahtzee is a family tradition here. We play it every New Years Eve just before midnight. But my favorite “classic” game is the one Adam refuses to play with The Dom Allen: Diplomacy.

[@frruy3892]

My favourites would be Chess and Go: Glad to see them both making this list! Oh, and speaking of chess: Would anyone care to explain how in the chess fragment, those bishops ended up on g1 and g8? After all, I cannot possibly imagine someone at NRB talking about chess without knowing how to set up the game...

[@hailhydra91]

My father and I played Stratego so much (as a 1970s-80s kid). I honestly didn't know that it is as old as it is.

[@hailhydra91]

We also played a lot of backgammon and cribbage, although it's been so long, I've forgotten how to play both of them.

[@MadManMcGirt]

There are a few games that are really fun to play and are hard to find. Go: The International Travel Game (1961) by Waddington I first played this game with a friend of mine who was from South Aftrica, and they bought it way back when from there. It has an inner and an out track, and you travel around the world trying to buy suveniers from the different capital cities around the world. You can only buy the suveniers with the currency of that country. There is also the game of GO which is similar to othello where you have two players one with black pieces the other with white pieces.

[@boardgamesonthemoon]

Nice to see some unexpectedly high respect for Backgammon, for a change! 👍🤜🤛✊

[@hillrp1]

Given the number one slot. Have you guys considered playing Dice Throne on the channel? It's essentially PvP roleplay Yahtzee

[@markwaddington5185]

Wonder if Adam has tried Dread a one shot rpg that uses a jenga tower. Great fun. Mega tension

[@markwaddington5185]

That would make great watch. Laurie screaming at Sully to. 'Just. Pick. One!' Or Tom, not a drop of sweat on his brow fearlessly nudging the tower. After Fiasco, I could totally see a bgc episode of it.

[@JohannaInTheCorner]

Was ready to sulk that ‘my game’ wasn't on the list... I watched th3 video and you started with it. I love being proved wrong, it challenges my assuredness.

[@TheNeonParadox]

I used to play Stratego with my grandma daily, and that's what got me into chess. Oh, also, there's only one use for celery. As 1/3 part of a sofrito base for a pasta sauce. It has no other use.

[@kyleb8117]

I love Balderdash. It's such a great time. 👍👍

[@nvc3334]

Great video. Adam really made me laugh

[@jamesahibbard]

Holy shit, crib on this list? This is the game everyone in my family plays. I love it!!!

[@preppen78]

Poor Luke locked in that cellar :-(

[@michelea2326]

Yahtzee and Othello are household favorites!!!!!

[@andrewwilson6046]

Hi, been loving the BOTC series, is it coming back or have you moved on to other things?

[@andrewwilson6046]

@@11th-lemon Can't wait for that then, we got any idea of when it'll be?

[@RenewedRS]

@@andrewwilson6046 I've been refreshing the channel daily waiting :( I wish they would just do it on zoom it's so much better imo

[@AgusSkywalker]

I like connet-4. I know it has a bad rep but its a short and fast abstract with perfect information.

[@notsosilentprotag]

I miss Actually good......😞

[@tonyramos6265]

Can please get the "actually good" series back on here and on partsfunknown please? If it helps, I'll put it on repeat, while I sleep to get the views up. And trust me, I sleep a lot. Lol

[@yeerski7]

Me, listening to the balderdash entry: "wait, is this just fibbage?" Adam: "its just fibbage" Me: "oh well then that settles that.:

[@shrapnelsponge]

I really liked the Actually good series, and watched all of them! :(

[@K3vinTuCara]

out of curiosity, have you lads played Clubhouse games on switch?

[@ArkhamInhabitant]

You should try "Cluedo - The Card Game". In this version you don't have to roll any dice, so it removes that potential for frustration.

[@WeeG860]

The Royal Game of Ur is really fun, very interesting, and very simple

[@MungareMike]

5:30 Errr... the bishop must be drunk last night.

[@nerfherder1986]

If you love Yahtzee, Adam, I would recommend Dice Throne. It answers the question "what if Yahtzee had a baby with Magic: The Gathering?" It'd be a great pick for Lord of the Board Season 2!

[@JackArcherX]

And then, when you learn the basics of Mahjong, take it a step further with Riichi. It has a rather insane amount of specific ways to score, but they encourage you to play a lot more aggressively, so it gets very tense and fun right away

[@LifeUntilLove]

This feels a bit like trying to convince someone to read classic literature "No really, playing Cribbage and Go will make you smarter and more cultured!"

[@ChronoMager]

I do love myself some Mah Jong. It's possibly in the genes?

[@roosterqmoney]

I play guess who with my 6 and 8 year old all the time. Its awesome

[@AuraXars]

While i agree with the take on risk during the intro, i have to recommend the digital version om steam/mobile called risk: global domination that has auto setups and sooo manny fun maps for those who boardgame digitally

[@Bulldog1878]

Personally chess is the greatest game ever made. However, I can't believe mousetrap didnt get a mention. Thats the ultimate family fun game