My Top 10 Favorite Games with Tableau Building

[@suzanne202]

I really likes when you said Wingspan helps to make sure you don't forget to take your activations. That is so true! When I play TM Ares Expedition I inevitably forget to perform some type of activation. We recently purchased Ark Nova, but have yet to play. Wingspan holds a special place in our hearts as it was the one game that brought us into the hobby. We purchased it right when my husband received a cancer diagnosis. He was so debilitated and depressed, but Wingspan helped keep his mind off his suffering. He is cancer free now, but I will always be grateful for Wingspan. It helped my husband through the toughest time in his life. So THANK YOU!❤😊 You have made an impact on our lives and we are grateful!!!

[@jameystegmaier]

Thank you so much for sharing this, Suzanne. I'm so glad that Wingspan provided joy and distraction during a difficult time, and I'm even happier that your husband is now cancer free. :)

[@whalesequence]

Adam in Wales is one of my favorite channels, I love his rating scale

[@IlanMuskat]

Race for the Galaxy is still my favourite of all time -- not just in this category but flat-out. While maintaining a laser focus on building a synergistic, engine-tuned tableau, it also forces dramatic moments of decision making while preserving an absolute parsimony of components. It's a game I admire even as I enjoy. And it provides a lot of the core DNA for many of these entries.

[@tbahr123]

Probably one of, if not my favorite mechanism right now. Love the growing sense of power and accomplishment as you build up over the course of the game. Wingspan is of course the shining example of this!

[@blackboardgaming5348]

I really enjoyed this list! I like tableau building games where the cards continue to give you benefits throughout the game, such as Everdell and Wingspan. Earth has been my current favorite.

[@jameystegmaier]

I really like that element of tableau-building games too. :)

[@andysiegel725]

Great video! Wingspan is probably my fav. I’ve really been enjoying Earth. Terraforming Mars and 7 Wonders are great. My sneaky pick into this list might be Verdant.

[@davidhitchcock6398]

Glad to see Fantastic Factories in your list! My top 3 are that one, wingspan, and teraforming mars.

[@jameystegmaier]

Nice! It's flown under the radar, but I really enjoy it.

[@kendowarrior99]

Just the video I wanted to see right now. I recently started working on a card and dice tableau builder where your tableau represents a giant mech that you're building to defend a city from incoming kaiju attacks.

[@jameystegmaier]

I like the sound of that!

[@bangazboom9925]

Ooo… I’m looking forward to this video! I love this mech. so I’m hoping to find a new fav. with your evaluations.

[@guandjs]

Love this mechanism and this is a fantastic list (plus Wingspan)! I also I love Vindication, Race/Roll for the Galaxy, the OG TMars, and Innovation.

[@rolling.reggie]

Always love hearing you talk about your favorite games within a certain mechanism. I would probably put Res Arcana higher on my list and Wingspan is my personal fave. But I just have to try EARTH now because I just keep hearing so many good things.

[@jameystegmaier]

Thank you! I think I'd really love Res Arcana a lot (I've only played it twice). I'm loving Earth, and I hope you have the chance to try it.

[@redshadow310]

One fabulous upcoming tableau builder is Josh Wood's Let's Go! To Japan. You are planning a trip drafting 18 cards and need to place 3 into each day of the week from Monday thru Saturday. Once everyone has finished drafting, you go on the trip resolving and scoring each day one at a time. It's like an engine builder where you only run the engine once. Very fun and innovative game.

[@jameystegmaier]

I backed that one! I'm excited to play it.

[@brennansmith8085]

Love the list and the discussion. Tableau building is just so rewarding :)

[@andrewqueenan2213]

Ark Nova, Wingspan, and Terraforming Mars are our absolute favorites. Wingspan is our number 1 followed by Ark Nova and then Terraforming Mars. Also, we love everdell as well. The big draw for us on these games was the theme of them specifically but the ease of play on the tableau builders is wonderful. It makes for a different game every single time.

[@b67us]

absolutely nailed it sir Ark nova is truly the best #1, followed by Wingspan for me gorgeous game, and Earth 😄

[@jameystegmaier]

We have similar tastes! :)

[@draheim90]

Agricola for sure. Hadn’t really considered it as a tableau builder but the way your cards just break every rule in the game and enhance worker placement spots for you only is fantastic, as is everything else about the game. Nusfjord as well since it’s basically Agricola-lite with some twists and interactive elements. And Ark Nova would probably be my 3rd. Can’t wait for the beta release on BGA.

[@pepearagoneses6908]

I love Peloponnes Card Game and San Juan for solo play. I haven't played them in forever though!

[@pepearagoneses6908]

And 7 Wonders Duel!

[@DRjaffy]

Race for the galaxy is hands down the best engine tableau builder. The phase selection is perfect, and the expansions cards are so varied and fun! I've played over 2,000 games of it, and it's always a blast!

[@jameystegmaier]

I'm glad you like it!

[@DRjaffy]

@Stonemaier Games I read this and felt like a jerk 😅 I should've said my favorite. Thank you for politely tweaking that. I loved your list, and agree with wingspan and earth! My wife and I play a game of wingspan almost every night together! Even though I've probably hit 200 or so games of wingspan, I just finally blacked out two nights ago with 15 birds (felt great!). I'm crazy excited to try expedition when it comes out!

[@jameystegmaier]

@@DRjaffy It's okay! I appreciate you sharing your enthusiasm for the game. :) I had fun revisiting it at Geekway.

[@randito2387]

Wayfarers of the South Tigris makes a beautiful tableau where the cards fit together to build a snapshot of your kingdom.

[@joerihessels8230]

Great picks Jamey! I would add that the Pax series of games are also great (highly interactive!) tableau building games. What I do like in these games is that your tableau is in flux, as cards are often removed from your tableau (by other players or by you). Pax Pamir 2e would be the best place to start

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks Joeri! It's interesting that you like unbuilding your tableau. :) Here's my video on Pax Pamir 2e: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jH3QpaN6pruqfrc

[@joerihessels8230]

@@jameystegmaier I like that you continuously have to shift your strategies, it makes the game very dynamic. With the other tableau builders your strategy is much more set in stone and there is less space for creativity (in my experience)

[@matthewr9578]

Wingspan is definitely my #1. Race for the Galaxy and Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition are probably next. Really looking forward to trying both Earth and Ark Nova.

[@MegaSNES64]

I love Fantastic Factories, next to the tableau building it uses dice in clever ways.

[@axétério]

Agree that tableau building games excel when they make feature to help remember what cards will activate

[@gravecac9522]

Great list. Seven Wonders and Ark Nova are favorites of mine. I would add Furnace and Its a Wonderful World to my list. Furnace added an interesting element in their recent expansion where you could bid on a manager who could modify cards in your tableau and be changed from round to round.

[@jameystegmaier]

That's a great point! I like both of those games.

[@janwillem_vl]

Thanks for the video! When it comes to tableau building, Citadels has to be one of the earliest examples of (lightweight) games using this mechanism. The tableau building in Agricola is very cool, although it's not as central to the game as worker placement of resource management. My personal favorites are Ark Nova and Terraforming Mars. I also like Maracaibo, Nations, Port Royal, Imperial Settlers and it's a Wonderful World.

[@jameystegmaier]

That's a great point about Citadels! I'm glad you mentioned Nations too.

[@mSalmeen10]

Probably my favourite mechanism. My favourite tableu builder is imperial settlers (both games).

[@bushibayushi]

Innovation, Pax Renaissance, Race for the Galaxy

[@frejkster]

Terraforming mars also has some gatekeeping. There are certain cards that rely on number of acquired tags, i.e. Power or science. E G. : to build this structure - You need 2 "Power tags", essentially two other structures.

[@ertai222]

I want to try earth but it's hard to find atm. Sold out at a lot of places. Looks a lot like Race for the Galaxy.

[@saschameyne1939]

Great video, thanks! I like a lot of these games very much. Question about the honorable mentions, Jamey. What is card-driven tableau building about Caverna? I see a tableau-building aspect for the cave tiles, so maybe this is what you meant?

[@jameystegmaier]

I was thinking of the occupation cards (though maybe confusing it with Agricola)

[@saschameyne1939]

Ah alright, that clarifies it. But you are right, occupation cards are in Agricola.

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

My top 3: 1. Terraforming Mars, 2. Ark Nova, 3. Wingspan. A comment: I've decided that I really dislike Ares Expedition. I do love the tableau building in it, but I find the simultaneous action selection to ruin the experience for me. I personally disagree that it's a design "win" to have another player's choices affect your own game - sure, it sometimes results in a boon for you but also often results in dead turns or irrelevant turns. I'd much rather be in complete control of my turns. I also find that it's completely chaotic - people are doing things simultaneously and so you can't really enjoy the engines other people are building. Part of the fun of Ark Nova or Wingspan or Terraforming Mars is watching how differently other people's games are unfolding. Ultimately I've concluded Ares Expedition strips away too much of what I love about Terraforming Mars. (I do love the graphic design in Ares Expedition though.)

[@lelandrighter6797]

Hey Jamey. I have some questions regarding the term "tableau building." Does tableau building only refer to permanent spaces where cards (and thereby abilities) are added during the course of the game? Or can it refer to any permanent space where things are added or taken away to give the player more upgrades, actions, reactions, etc? I was under the impression something like Scythe would loosely fit under the term "tableau building." But the inpression I'm getting now is that it does not. If they are different, what would the "perment fixture mechanism" of something like Scythe be called to make it distinct from something like tableau building? Thanks for any help! Your videos are always super informative!

[@jameystegmaier]

That's a great question. I consider Scythe an engine-building game, as you're improving your ability to take actions by removing/shifting tokens, but the only aspect of it that I would consider in the tableau-building category is the Factory cards (and you can only gain 1 of them, so it's barely a tableau).

[@vincenzocappiello6786]

Hi Jamey! I would probably add a tableau building games that doesn’t use cards: Heaven & Ale!

[@jameystegmaier]

Nice! That's a great example.

[@kevinfrank1520]

One of my favourites is Unfair. You're building each attraction for size and variety and there's a bit of spacial consideration as well.

[@jameystegmaier]

I need to play that again--it's been 5+ years since I last played it!

I love tableau building. But its so hard to get mixture i like. For example Ark nova and Terraforming mars can be excruciatingly long solo-ish game. Wonderful world and underwater cities are very slow to start and explode too much towards the end and its just running the same engine over and over again with small additions. Me and my wife love Race for the galaxy arc1, Roll ftg and New Frontier and Res Arcana. Mars Ares is OK. My wife likes it, i would rather play RftG :) We also like wingspan. I really like it with Asia player board for new action selection. Nectar makes game maybe easier than it needs to be, but i think it smooths the design well and balances actions nicely. I would love to know the design idea/goal behind re-working the actions and adding new boards. Some nice picks in this video. Ora et Labora looks interesting. Need to look into it.

[@jameystegmaier]

That's a great point about how these games have different pacing methods!

[@kenjisugawara1260]

Everdell, Nusfjord, and tie between Res Arcana and Wayfarers of the South Tigris

[@mavweirdo]

I would say that this is my favorite mechanism. My top 10: Honorable mentions: Sidereal Confluence; does have a tableau but it's not what people remember about this game. Earth; Have only played it on BGA, want to play physical copy before rating it. 10. Res Arcana 9. San Juan (OG card tableau builder) 8. Villagers 7. Valeria Card Kingdoms 6. Underwater Cities 5. Space Base 4. Everdell 3. Terraforming Mars 2. Wingspan 1. Race for the Galaxy

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks for sharing your list! I completely forgot about the tableau in Sidereal Confluence, so I'm glad you mentioned it.

[@ertai222]

I really like card based board games/games in general. I grew up with MTG, Yu-Gi-Oh, pokemon, Legend of the Five Rings, etc. My current board game collection consists of: Ark Nova Terraforming Mars Seasons Wingspan Star Scrappers Cave In or whatever it's called 😅 The Wolves Canvas Tsuro I just picked up Canvas yesterday so I haven't tried it yet but I've heard good things about it. Hopefully the fiance enjoys it as she doesn't like overly complicated games thus why she's not big on Ark Nova. She plays a lot of these games with me though because she knows i enjoy them.

[@jameystegmaier]

That's a great collection! Very focused.

[@chadstilson8804]

I’m curious if you feel Smitten would fit the Tableau Building mechanism?

[@jameystegmaier]

I wouldn't, no, as you're not doing anything with the cards after you play them.

[@123LuffyDMonkey]

i like games where you interact with other players in meaningful ways. Example in race for the galaxy you have to adapt your strategy based on what your opponent is doing , if hes just playing cards down to end the game, you might not have time to build your engine. You also have to see what your opponent wants to do on their turn so you can potentially piggy back off their action. games like wingspan have 0 such interaction. Its very much solo. Wingspan just isnt my type of Tableau building

[@jameystegmaier]

I respect your preferences, but objectively, Wingspan does not have "0 such interaction." Here are the many types of interactions and reasons to pay attention to other players in Wingspan: The dice you choose from the dice tower (and when you choose to reroll them), the bird cards you choose (if you take a face up card, you’re taking it away from your opponents), the end-of-round goals (when playing on the green side of the goal mat), and quite a few bird cards that result in other players gaining food, drawing cards, etc. If you'd like to better understand what a game with 0 player interaction looks like, see this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGWtqGZ6rdlgf7csi=9Bj3QN_M4fVad5VT

[@ertai222]

I'm surprised Seasons didn't make the list. Maybe because it's so old but it used to be one of my favorite card based board game. I guess it's not really 100% a tablou builder though more so just a card based game.

[@jameystegmaier]

I agree that you're building a tableau in Seasons, and I really enjoy playing it on BGA, which remembers all the various ability triggers for you.

[@Gmoney14]

No Hadara? This is one of our favorites.

[@jameystegmaier]

I've only played Hadara once, and I don't remember much about it. I'm glad you enjoy it, though!

[@Gmoney14]

@@jameystegmaier I think you would enjoy it. It combines tableau building with track building similar to tapestry.

[@simonjones9151]

Pax Pamir is easily my number 1

[@jameystegmaier]

That's great! What about its tableau building do you feel is so good?

[@simonjones9151]

For my tastes, I like games with high and continual direct player interaction. The tableaus of players in PP are in constant interaction with each other, and avoids the tendency in many games for tableau building to feel multiplayer solitaire with no direct interaction. PP is a rare gem in this regard. But I’d be interested in your thoughts in a game like that from your design sensibilities ?

[@jameystegmaier]

@@simonjones9151 Thanks! Here's my video about the game: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jH3QpaN6pruqfrc

[@ertai222]

Dog park looks funny. A dog walking board game😅

[@ertai222]

I really like Ark Nova but the fiance not so much so it doesn't see much play unfortunately.

[@Erril_Ferndal]

👍😃