MOST Underrated Board Games A to Z!

Today we're talking about the most underrated games A to Z. Every letter of the alphabet gets one game that we think doesn't get enough love! What are some games you think are super underrated?
If you like what we do consider supporting our Patreon! and now you can sign up for an annual membership! Learn more at:
/ thebrothersmurph
Also make sure to follow us on twitch! Come watch us play games live! twitch.tv/thebrothersmurph
----Channel Sponsors-----
Find older games brought to life at Restoration Games and Peep out Fireball Island!!
Restorationgames.com
Check out some awesome games with really rad mixes of digital and analog board games over at Lucky Duck Games
luckyduckgames.com/
And for any and all information on board games you gotta check out Board Game Geek! Seriously everything is there!
boardgamegeek.com/
Looking to get something from the Board Game Geek store? This affiliate link will take you there and will help us a bit while you get some sweet upgrades
for your game nights!
boardgamegeekstore.com/?aff=3
Join our discord: discord.thebrothersmurph.com
Get Merch at TheBrothersMerch.com
And lastly make sure to check out our award nominated podcast This Game is Broken! You can find it anywhere you get podcasts!
Also check out our podcast youtube channel as well!
#boardgames #top10

[@TheBrothersMurph]

What's a game you think is super underrated?

[@portwills]

Legendary Encounters: X-files. It was overshadowed by Marvel and Aliens, but for anyone who’s a fan of x-files it’s so underrated.

[@Mentat1231]

So, I definitely can't do A-Z, but I feel really strongly about each of these (they're all in my top 70, and they don't get nearly enough love): Among the Stars (the spacial, city building thing + 7 Wonders + space... It's awesome!) Biblios (such a smart auction game) Century: Sand to Sea (the combo of cards and boats is like chocolate and peanut butter; it's in my top 10 games ever) Dark Moon (at the right player counts, this is unforgettable) Eclipse: Second Dawn (better than TI; fight me) Funkoverse (so much fun, and so inviting to non-gamers) Glass Road (overshadowed, understandably; but really cool card play + a great resource wheel mechanism) Hats (really smooth, fun card game with the Alice I.P.; gorgeous cards) Kashgar (why does no one talk about this game?? It's such an innovative and fun take on sort-of-deck-building) Notre Dame (a top 5 game for me; I have no idea why this isn't higher on people's Feld lists) Raptor (the best 2-player-only game ever; such a treat, but no one ever talks about it anymore) TOKAIDO! (Next person who says "just takes the next space" needs to try that against me and get (very peacefully) destroyed) Yamatai (it's beautiful and super fun; Bruno's design style really shines in this one).

[@dougsmith6175]

Treasure Hunter by Richard Garfield. Lightweight card drafting that isn't crazy long even with 5 or 6 players. My kids love it. - - Xi'an: The Terracotta Army is underrated too.

[@cashliam]

Riverboat, Citrus

[@benleague3115]

Kim Joy's Magic Bakery.

[@iamdinosaur4245]

Wow, guys, you’ve upped your b-roll game! That’s awesome! As a visual learner, it help me understand what you are describing. Makes me more exited to try the games you’re talking about 😊

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Gotta have that supreme b roll! Glad you like it :)

[@Blackwolf9]

Love Llama Land and Circadians, still rocking the 1st edition of the latter. Glad to see they added a official end game to Origins in the new expansion!

[@mikaeki5245]

My picks: - Aber bitte mit Sahne - Break the Code - Crown of Emara - Dokmus - Escape! - Forum Trajanum - Glass Road - Heaven & Ale - Isle of Skye - Jump Drive - Kariba - La Granja - Masters of Reneissance - Next Station: London - One Key - Pakal - Quest for El Dorado - Riverboat - Shipwreck Arcana - Troyes Dice - Under Falling Skies - Valley of the Kings - Walking in Burano - eXcape (a small cheat) - Yokohama - Zak Pak

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Love it!

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

It was almost a given that when you got to F there would be a Friedman Friese game. He has like 90% of the letter's titles.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

He dominates the letter for sure!

[@bestatstartrek2179]

You guys did a great job on this list. Was cool seeing some games I haven’t seen before on this list.

[@lilyplaysboardgames9459]

Love the idea of the video! Great job! For me very underrated games are Minigolf designer, Dungeon decorators and Sierra West :)

[@krazykorean42069]

Great list! Thanks for the video!

[@inspired2game]

Love your take on the challenge! Great video!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Thanks so much!

[@rolling.reggie]

Have to agree J is a lifestyle game. Can never just play once. So happy you boys did the challenge and appreciate the Underrated picks 🤘🏾

[@andrebroa9642]

Bought Yukon Airways almost 2 years ago because of you guys! and now it's one of my favorite games

[@TheBrothersMurph]

That’s awesome!

[@dreadknot69]

25:56 - I have that exact pen! My daughter bought it for me and it came with a dragon notebook. Still use it to this day.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

That’s awesome!

[@Kojimalosophy]

Man! This was a really enjoyable video to watch! Good stuff, thank you guys for making this content, loved it!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Our pleasure!

[@jamescartwright1150]

Murph-tastic list. Some interesting games on there I'll have to check out. Nice to see Circadians getting some love it's a great game and I'm looking forward to the expansion.

[@tylert.5357]

Thanks for the fun video. A fun take on the A to Z (zed) challenge. I just gave away Unearth, it was always bypassed for other games. This video brought back interest for games that I have forgotten about ( Ecos, Miyabi and Circadians). Really fun, thanks fellas.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Cheers!

[@BoardGameNook]

I split and you choose is such a neat concept! It doesn't work for every gaming group but does offer a unique experience for those groups it does. To date New York Slice is our favourite game that highlights this mechanism! Good choice for "N" :D

[@benleague3115]

We have 3 Honga pups. They want to be paid attention to....all the time....always.....forever.

[@itsGabrielaCristina]

Speaking about underrated games, I found a second-hand copy of Castell based on your recommendation and I have been loving it. Wow what a cool theme and integration of mechanisms

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Oooh fantastic good find

[@sirvliam]

Always so glad to see love for Circadians and Unearth, big fan of both. Sticking with C I’d say Coloma is way underrated, it has a lot of unique elements that make it feel unlike many other games and it plays so well at higher player counts which makes it a really nice part of a collection.

[@glennwilson3045]

After certain gateway games, Unearth was the game that hooked me in to this hobby. Played Ginkgopolis, buying it half price, after your recommendation, it was incredible, the way it works is amazing

[@TheBrothersMurph]

So glad you liked it!

[@AhJong0]

Good shout for Illusion and P is for Pizza. I work in a board game cafe as a guru and those are my top 2 ‘Christmas day games’ (games you can play when you are full of food/tired/drunk/playing with elderly relatives).

[@juddpth]

stacking polyomino games got a lot of mentions (gingerbread house, llamaland, miyabi). I wonder why these ones don't get as much love as they should?

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Not sure!

[@shonx1462]

For Gingerbread house, in my head you're not just killing the fantasy creatures, you're building that house of sweets to attract them and then making (Brother's Grimm style) then using them to create more sweets that you feed back to other fairy tale creatures to lure them. Gotta go full dark Xmas. I play the app for Xenoshyft now and again. Not a deck builder but I like how Set a Watch does this style of horde-line battler better.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Yaaassssssssss

[@jerodicus]

Traded for Gingerbread House at this past Strategicon due to yallz recommendation and brought it to my local game group. It was a hit! It’s in contention for our top 3 new games we played this year.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

That’s awesome!

[@sdpam3463]

I love this “just have a good time list”!

[@srpad]

A few underrated games we really enjoy: Corrosion (a really different engine building game), Funfair (a lighter, friendly version of Unfair), In the Hall of the Mountain King (a really cool cascading resource mechanism), Sheepy Time (a really fun push your luck game with great combos).

[@eVanDiesel]

Grayson and I have been A to Z-ing for 2 years now!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

The best a-z duo right there!

[@JJ_TheGreat]

13:21 Good to know what that game is! I saw it in Lookout Spiele’s catalog on their website, but I didn’t know anything about it - never heard anything about it. It IS so far under the radar!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

I know and folks should get it!

[@academychamploo758]

I just played Improvements of Polis (the old version of Khora) here in Japan. Apparently it was created and developed by a board game club at Keio University (Head Quarter Simulation Game Club). I was at my local game cafe, which is filled with 99.5% games in Japanese. I was shocked that this game had English and Japanese on EVERYTHING! It was really enjoyable!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

That’s awesome!

[@MCJesse-hu4ru]

I'd like to add Calimala, Ulm and Santa Maria to this list. Love 'em!

[@thetenorguy1]

Nice @Foster The Meeple reference at the end there

[@ericrobers8199]

For the letter 'X' you might want to try Xenon Profiteer. It's a really nice card drafting/ contract fulfillment game.

[@hoolio197900]

Not histrio! I figured ecos and gingy house. Thanks for the video and list

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Histrio is always in our hearts don’t you worry!

[@BDrisco1982]

Thank you guys. This was great. An underrated game I think is Dig Down Dwarf. Yahtzee style rolling to acquire gems which have different powers/point values and you can spend them to help you get more gems in future turns. But the gems are also your VPs.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Very cool!

[@OrangeCrushD84]

What do you mean? Obviously when you added the hand movements, Mike immediately transformed into the freestylist 🤣 New video, must freestyle about games that just make you get in your feels lol

[@JonathonV]

Great list! Thanks for the video! Here’s mine: Acquire - Given its age, and that Hasbro is its publisher, this game is surprisingly fun! Black Angel - Great story, beautiful components, and just the right complexity. Corrosion - So many negative reviews on this game but I thought it was great! Theme wasn’t really there but the engines are cool! Da Vinci Code: The Game - Also called Coda (and not related to the Dan Brown franchise), this is a simple, cute deduction game that will fill 15 minutes. Ecos: First Continent - Crossover! Great bingo-style game that’s easy to bring to the table. Fuji - Warsch’s lost masterpiece. Tragic but beautiful theme, and the gameplay is simple to understand but very difficult to execute. Gentes - Such a neat action selection mechanism. I think this suffers from its bad cover art. Hadara - Why do people not love this game? My group vastly prefers this over other drafting games like 7 Wonders. Import/Export - Got flak for being a hybrid of Container and Glory to Rome, but since both of those are hard to get, why not? It works! Jamaica - Super underrated dice racing game. In the lending library of every game café, but no one ever picks it up. Kashgar - Very cool game but with order fulfilment, a neat spin on deckbuilding (choosing between your three card queues), and a variable economy. Also has the curse of bad cover art. Legendary Forests - Cute little filler that was released amongst a sea of similar games and got lost. Master Labyrinth - 30+ years after it comes out, this game is still great, with such a simple but clever main mechanism. Massive improvement in replayability over its more popular non-Master edition. Noria - Gorgeous art. A great game where the players control which strategies are worth points. Very unique! Ora et Labora - Lost amongst all the big Rosenbergs, but I like this better than Feast for Odin or Le Havre. Passtally - It does have potential for AP, or a runaway winner, but it’s light and relatively quick. A neat objective of having to create and alter paths on a board to connect your pieces and not your opponent’s. Suffers from being 2-3 players only. Quarto - This game might not count because it’s had a random huge resurgence this past year. But it’s so elegant and fun! Remember Our Trip - Another crossover! This just makes me serene and calm and content. Great game. Siena - Nearly impossible to find, and is a bit clunky at times, but I find the two separate and only loosely interconnected game phases very interesting (technically there’s three but the first two are similar). Makes you think, “That was strange. I loved it.” Tramways - A much more dense game than it appears but has a great flow and intriguing puzzly feel. Underwater Cities - Okay, so this one is pretty popular, but it’s one of my faves so I still think it should get more love. Verdant - Everyone says Calico is the best or Cascadia is the best, but for me, Verdant blows them both out of the water. Verdant has the tension of Calico with less luck, and the gameplay of Cascadia without the dull repetitiveness. I don’t know why it’s so maligned! Wild Space - One of my favourite engine builders. This game is huge in its native France but relatively unknown anywhere else. But it’s essentially “Action Combos: The Game” and I am here for it! Xidit - A slight cheat because I think it’s technically “Lords of Xidit”? But for those who don’t tend to like programming games-like me-this one has some neat counterbalancing and catch-up mechanisms that I find intriguing. Yokohama - Why is this game not on every game shelf? Why has Capstone not taken it on like they did with all the other TMG games? This is one of my favourite games of all time! So good! (If this game hadn’t started with Y, I would’ve picked Yukon Airways as well.) Zooloretto - Often overshadowed by its quicker card-only cousin, this one adds animal enclosures, which gives it some interest.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Fantastic list and thanks for adding your thoughts along with the Choices!

[@codym6376]

I got curious and according to Wikipedia: A boat that lands on water is a “seaplane” and there are two types. A “float plane” has pontoons or external floats that provide buoyancy and keep the plane out of the water. In some places this term is used interchangeably with sea plane. A “flying boat” does not have external buoys and instead has a fuselage shaped like a boat hull and lands directly in the water. Another term is “amphibian” for a plane that can land both on land and water.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Excellent thanks for the download of info!

[@danielmorton7577]

Remember our trip sounds like "Gaslighting: the Board Game."

[@thedoctor1325]

An interesting conversion could be Underrated/Hidden Gem vs Forgotten Favorites. I would say Castell, Isle of Skye, Ecos and New York Slice are forgotten favorites, they had their light for a good while even if recently fell by the wayside. Not sure on Miyabi, I remember it getting a lot of buzz for a while (Longer than Khora or Witchstone), but maybe it never took off. Queenz did get a release in the states however came out at a possible bad time. Honey Buzz was on Kickstarter the same year and Bees: Secret Kingdom also released. But wait there's more reminds me of FunEmployed a bit. Strange point about Phil Walker Harding games, he had hits (Cacao, Imhotep, Sushi Go, ect) but seems like recently he is moving into the hidden gem category of releases almost every release. My underated games are: Elysium Finca Hit Z Road Kokopelli Spirits of the Forest Valetta

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Thanks for sharing all these awesome thoughts! Agree about pwh🙌 seems like he kinda flies under the radar a bit these days and really not sure why

[@jacobhawk9311]

Queenz is at DT West. Nick I think you are going? You can play it again!

[@TheManofDew]

Rocky Road Ala Mode is a fantastic card game from Green Couch Games. Soooo good. 😃👍

[@markchontos4103]

Playing enough games that you can list an underrated game for every letter is such a goal

[@thetable7660]

S - Saboteur: Classic tile-laying deception game where people work together to reach the Gold with their network of tunnels but the secret traitor wins if they can successfully sabotage this goal. I like this more than something arbitrary like Resistance where the objectives are just voting based and there's less investment in what you are doing. Having tangible gameplay and a goal gives you something to focus on other than constant accusations and makes the social dynamic a natural result of this.

[@RozanovaHunter]

I think Xenoshyft is a fun co-op deck builder that gets often ignored because it was published by CMON yet has no miniatures! Also if you get a chance to tweak your title cards, Pandasaurus Games has some mixed up letters.

[@clairemack2750]

I absolutely agree about Miyabi. Every group I introduce it to are like, "Why didn't we know about this game??"

[@olivierjodoin2283]

The main issue with Xenoshyft is that it takes forever. Never attempt at 3-4 players.

[@foyoGames]

this list is All-Zat!

[@ericrobers8199]

My favorite underrated game is Masters of Renaissance.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

I would say that the most renown (by the public) T games are: Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar Tekhenu Teotihuacan

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Definitely agree

[@chadsweatt9648]

Faiyum looks available on Gamenerdz and Miniature Market

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Nice!

[@TabletopHaven]

I love Witchstone! Redonkombolicious!

[@bestatstartrek2179]

Oh by the way Witchstone is totally underrated. The hardest part of the game is remembering all your moves you get so many. Wish Reiner knizia would make more grandiose games like that one. I totally feel the theme when playing it

[@LaraBlancoSantos]

Where can I get that beanie!?

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Boardgamegeek sells them and lots of other great merch

[@richardhancock1505]

Are you in the UK? Looked like you were outside Buckingham Palace!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Indeed, I was!

[@richardhancock1505]

@@TheBrothersMurph A holiday to Britain in our winter? I thought maybe you were here for a games convention, we’re you?

[@gailwondowski3207]

Glow is definitely underrated, though I admit I love it more than it probably deserves

[@benleague3115]

But Wait sounds hilarious!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

It’s a hoot!

[@Boosyboh]

Anyone know if it will ever be released again?

[@Atlasfilms08]

This was a challenge since most games I play are straight fuego so I had to skip some letters. Amerigo Blackout Hong Kong Concept Dice Miner Ecos Flip Ships Gold West Habitats Ice Cool Juicy Fruits Karuba Lock Up Metro X NMBR 9 Origins First Builders Planet Run Fight or Die: Reloaded Super Motherload Tournament at Camelot Villagers Whistle Mountain

[@TheBrothersMurph]

That’s a good list there

[@boardtoplay]

Miyabi does not get the love it deserves, such a great puzzley game

[@ekdar123]

What's a game that starts with a number that would be on this list?

[@TheBrothersMurph]

We were trying to think of one! Ten could be an answer but it’s written out so we skipped it haha

[@dougsundseth6904]

7th Sea CCG. Swashbuckling fun and excellent for multi-player.

[@thetable7660]

I think But Wait There's More sounds a bit too close to Snake Oil and Funemployed, so with improv games tending to play with a certain kind of gaming group it's probably going to remain quite obscure. Terrible Candidates is another that gets ignored.

[@Straddllw]

Underrated For me - as in don’t hear it talked about much: Abyss, Bangkok Klongs, City of Horror, Dogs of War, Elysium, Fields of Green, Glassroad, Hacienda, Illusion (crossover!!!), Jungle Speed, Khronos, London 2E, Murano, New Frontiers, Oasis, Pan Am, QE, Riverboat, Signorie, Tragedy Looper, Ulm, Versailles, Waggle Dance, Xenoshyft (crossover again!!!), Yokohama, ZhanGuo.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Very nice very nice

[@Straddllw]

@@TheBrothersMurph looks like Dogs of War is searching for a new publisher. Meanwhiles Elysium is soooo underrated it needs a reprint and an expansion. Would love myself some Aphrodite cards.

[@Straddllw]

Also some real oldies that are not Knizia games but play like Knizia games: Bangkok, Hacienda, Khronos, Oasis. Nobody talks about these old style of euros. But yea they’re quite old.

[@kenjisugawara1260]

CoB the dice game!

[@tyleryoung3158]

Gosh, there are just TOO many games. Some other under appreciated ones are: Agility, Blokus, Blue Lagoon, Coloretto, Slide Quest, Trash Pandas, and Uglydoll Card Game. And the Taco Bell Party Pack game.

[@MidwestMeeple]

Watching 🎉

[@JJ_TheGreat]

36:20 Isn’t it ta-wan-TIN-su-yu?

[@TheBrothersMurph]

My understanding is that the emphasis is usually placed on the penultimate syllable, unless otherwise noted in the word, but as not a native Spanish speaker, I wouldn’t have anyone quote me on that

[@FostertheMeeple]

If Mike doesn't get a rap record deal tomorrow, I'll be shocked! Later Daysssss 🤗

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Changing my performing name to later days

[@monicamurphy6552]

Just Desserts

[@brandonmarkwell6613]

float plane

[@TheJoschi8]

You missed Ä, Ö and Ü again

[@peterkarlsson1825]

Å

[@flickingbollocks5542]

Ăåäããâáàh wellĺľ ñňńevèêěęėëéř mìîıïínď...

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Oh no!

[@flickingbollocks5542]

*ZED* *MechanISM* Regards from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (where English was invented) 👍🤣😁

[@TheBrothersMurph]

We’ll give you the zed but mechanic is fine. Regards from America where English was perfected ;P

[@flickingbollocks5542]

​​@@TheBrothersMurph Dumbing down isn't perfecting. Me Mammy was a Murphy from Ireland 🇮🇪

[@sarahschira9105]

ZED

[@shawns3911]

Inheritors for I and Joraku for J

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Noice!

[@PentaHousen]

Khora is so luck dependent. Try to be euro game, but this mechanic for Rolling Dice is just the worst....

[@TheBrothersMurph]

I do really like khora but can agree I don’t really like the dice part. You can manage not rolling what you need however so it’s not completely luck based

[@PentaHousen]

@@TheBrothersMurph well then... Instead of Rolling we should just set number. My big issue is that Rolling 6 all time gives you huge advantage and you feel frustrated rolling this 1 beeing forced to do subpar action or think how to cut your loses.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

To me, it sounds like for your “A” game that you are calling it “Ohio”, lol 😆

[@TheBrothersMurph]

The way you pronounce that word is honestly not far off from that haha

[@fuzzmaster4157]

Smash up is indeed crap 😂

[@JJ_TheGreat]

17:27 LMAO 🤣The only reason this game is on your guys’ list is because this was the game which helped make your careers as content creators! Admit it! 😉

[@TheBrothersMurph]

100% haha

[@jonathanleach383]

have you guys tried frostpunk yet?

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Naw haven’t come across that one yet