10 Good Games That You Should't Play On BoardGameArena

[@tiford184]

Ark Nova is an incredible implementation imo. Speeding up the breaks and upkeep and keeping track of the score are huge timesavers

[@HardlyDOTA]

I strongly disagree with you regarding Ark Nova. Several reasons why I prefer to play it on BGA - speed, in my experience it’s too slow face to face, mistakes - one of my biggest reasons to prefer BGA is where a game is prone to errors, as you said it’s an excellent implementation. I’m not a huge Ark nova fan, it’s probably a high 7 out of 10 for me. But I’ve played it almost 40 times on BGA. I’ve played it once face to face. For me BGA adds a lot for this game. If I was to name my top BGA implementations, this is probably number 1. But each to his own I guess - everyone’s opinion is valid.

[@robertsilver6181]

Akropolis is a huge surprise being on here, I think it actually makes it way easier to track what opponents are doing and the scoring being done for you alone is worth playing on bga

[@legolasegb]

Alex, can I just say, I appreciate you putting the game titles in your video timeline! Also, I totally get why Ark Nova is on your list, saw it coming a mile away. I still love the BGA implementation of it, though.

[@sapien01010]

For me, ports I'd rather not play on BGA fall into one of three categories: 1) Doesn't capture the vibe of the table (e.g. The Crew) 2) Is too literal (Tapestry, with its upside-down and sideways tracks) 3) Doesn't include an expansion I've come to view as essential (Lost Ruins of Arnak)

[@vendolis]

I have to agree with a lot of comments about Ark Nova. It is currently one of my favorite games, but only because of BGA. In person it takes way too long. While you can have a 2 person Ark games in 30-45 min with a fast player, It takes several hours in person and it gets worse when you play with more people. The other thing is, that they just introduced a more balanced set of maps, which is easy for a digital implementation, but rather hard for the hard copies. The one thing that I miss is a good representation of the scoring track though. Opening the track helps, but its not in your face as it is on the board.

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

#1 Puerto Rico. If you play Puerto Rico on BGA, you will hate it.

[@olivierjodoin2283]

I hate the interface on BGA for Akropolis for placing and rotating tiles. We played a 4p game and were not done after 1h. Our turns would go like this: Spend 5s deciding what to do, followed by 45-60s trying to fight the interface to execute what we want to do. Manipulating tiles is so much cleaner in the Isle of Cats implementation.

[@JasonPX]

Totally agree on DEI. Maybe my favorite Dudes on a Map game. I played it for the first time on BGA a couple days ago and it does not do the game justice versus the table presence of playing in person. Felt more like chess than the immersive experience I'm used to with that 3D tile system. Plus the drones get in the way of scrappers under them...

[@MrKidtendo64]

I have to admit that playing Earth on BGA, asynchronously actually ruin the physical copy for me. Since there's very little player interaction to begin with, playing my turn and coming back to it eventually, has been my excuse to play it more online lol

[@heathwashburn194]

Enjoying Ark Nova on BGA actually got me to buy it.

[@larrytedmcbride]

I've already bought it and was going to use BGA to learn how to play it :D

[@scorpian223]

Love Ark Nova on BGA, though I understand your reservations. I feel like if you have played it a bunch, it's even easy to play on mobile. I wish I had more opportunity to play in person, so I am glad it is offered on BGA and runs smoothly.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

3:41 What I would like to see, along with the number of plays on BGA is the number of people who have played it... That way, we can get a ratio!

[@robertsilver6181]

Abyss doesn't work async because of everyone deciding to spend the pearl on your card you're drafting

[@Kasper8421]

I like playing Ark Nova on BGA. It saves so much time at each break (gaining income, replenishing universities/continents, etc). My only complaint with the BGA version is how difficult it is to track the scoring. It makes it hard to gauge how many turns I have left near the end.

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

Canvas on TTS is so good that I backed the Kickstarter after trying it on TTS.

[@franciscocarranza9941]

I disagree with several of these. I enjoy async games of Ark Nova, Blood Rage, Earth, Innovation, and Akropolis. Skull for sure is better in person, and I would add Heat, For Sale, Incan Gold, and No Thanks. There are also games that have low-resolution card text that lessens the experience, namely Through the Ages, Yokohama, and Libertalia.

[@TheMorlin]

Can we get a link to the best games video?

[@Ian-R-Wilz]

I recently did this sort of list on my channel on the 5 and dime. 5 games i prefer on BGA and 10 games I prefer on tabletop. I don't know if you can use BGG plays as the caveat for tabletop only plays. Many people log their BGA plays onBGStats and those upload to BGG as plays so those plays will include BGA and tabletop. Most of my BGA list was due to player count as I really only play solo or 2p at home and I prefer some of the games I play only solo on the tabletop I prefer multiplayer on BGA. I completely agree with Canvas. It was definitely on my games I prefer on the tabletop.

[@Elamate90]

Paint the roses tracker same as the live game. To me is a deduction game where sometimes need to guess. Reading body language is kind of cheating. Personaly think its a deduction game same as hanabi, where you can give clue base on what you put down where you put it ( or where you not put it) and what other tile you can chose from.

[@successfulgeek]

Space Base also seems to play very slow on BGA...

[@palacsintaz]

Not if players turn on the auto-confirm and auto-select options. Space Base is my most played game on BGA with 187 plays. Needless to say I love it both on BGA and on the table.

[@successfulgeek]

@@palacsintaz very good to know, immediately turning that on

[@texasgal4468]

Any chance you can do the top 10 solo games on BGA?

[@nirszi]

I cannot disagree more about Ark Nova. Not only it's a great implementation (as you noted), it's also so good on the platform. I think BGA was made for games like this. On the other hand I cannot agree more on Canvas, BGA takes out all that's fun about it. DEI I only played on BGA and I found it very uninteresting. Maybe it's because of the reasons you noted.

[@RaduStanculescu]

Agreed, I have hundreds of plays of Ark Nova on BGA, it's an amazing implementation. The fact that you can also play on the same map is awesome too.

[@gamesvitae]

Teotihuacan does not translate well to BGA. I played it once and it was just too laborious to keep track of everything. Yes, the game itself has a lot going on. But the tabletop version makes it easier to see everything that is going on.

[@KidJV]

7:45 we play a lot of akropolis at home.. we i love it.. akropolis on bga is a different experience.. partner tried to play akropolis on bga mobile but the interface was too buggy..

[@thejiunit1]

Heat for me is only ok because part of it is the in person momentum/excitement as you race through. Hanabi is hilariously bad asynchronously on BGA. I think BGA ark nova explains things better than some of the cards do but I do like Marine World unfortunately. Totally agree with canvas though. Earth... wouldn't it be even slower in person if you have a slow player? That one does seem like a stretch.

[@griffglowen5555]

I’ve only played earth on BGA and only asynchronously. Maybe explains why I haven’t enjoyed it. But I love Ark Nova online - it’s so much quicker!

[@BoardGameCo]

Definitely worth trying in a different format, even real time BGA would be a drastic step of the right direction

[@Mattmeetsmeeples]

100% agree with blood rage its just not fun on BGA but amazing on the table. I also find there are some games that are fun to play on BGA but turn based messes up the strategy for me. Lot Ruins of Arnak is fine turn based but I find I do better in real time on BGA,.

[@martintomov7576]

I don't think the argument for slow players online really works against BGA. A slow player is equally bad IRL, slowing the game down for the rest. AP is real. Difference is, on BGA you have a few minutes to deal with your AP. On the table, it is not exactly the same, as you are left to sigh and frown at the slow player/s but without having any tools to speed up their game.

[@Exozik]

IRL you have your friends around the table to talk with. That's the appeal of board game IMO. Otherwise, I can play video games. But that is just me and my opinion. :)

[@martonferenci]

Ark Nova is a big outlier in this list as playing it 2 player and on the same map makes it good from average

[@billjaimez]

Ark Nova is a great game on BGA and so fast.

[@BoardGameCo]

I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[@koenwijnants6499]

Root. I love to play it in real life. The digital implementation is good, but not to understand the rules.

[@MegaSNES64]

I don’t use BGA for any game as it kills the reasons why you play board games. Video games are way better at this cause they’re natively digital.

[@Boardgaymergirl]

Oh wow Ark Nova is one of my most played and just easy to get to versus setting the game up. Meanwhile, I have the opposite view of A Feast for Odin which I would much more play in person. However, part of the perspective is thinking of grabbing a game in person would be done solo... so Ark Nova multiplayer online is a better way for me to get the game out.

[@BoardGameCo]

I think the online experience is great if you know the game well, but terrible if you don't. And let's play feast for Odin sometime!

[@Boardgaymergirl]

Hahaha for you Alex, I shall attempt Feast for Odin again. (I'm also thinking as so often I'm playing BGA on my phone also makes a difference with playing certain BGA games actually).