Adam's Top 10 Board Games Of All Time | Collection Starter

[@gmanrowe]

Adam got me back into wrestling Adam got me back into films & now Adam’s got me back into board games

[@wellesradio]

So it IS that guy!

[@growhamm5859]

What did u do when he wasn’t around?😂

[@JackEFC1878]

How does someone fall out of films?

[@MoneyMatt-tf7cp]

@@JackEFC1878 not watching any? Lmao pretty simple

[@ramaya007]

Ghostbusters 2016.

[@Shavinderyt]

betrayal at house on the hill is what sparked by interest in board game culture, and it will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I'm so happy its here.

[@saucyl3477]

Same here! I just wish the rules were a little less fiddly and you didn't have to house-rule so much.

[@Josh-rd5dw]

lmaoo mine's pandemic

[@johansvanborg5870]

@@saucyl3477 that's why I threw out my 2nd ed in favour for Legacy. The haunts felt more balanced.

[@stev114]

@@johansvanborg5870 what's the difference between the two?

[@jaredgriggs9109]

I am so glad Betrayal at House on the Hill is on this list! It's one of my favorite board games. It has so much replay value.

[@OrcDragon65]

Have you played the Expansion and either of the 2 other versions? Scooby Doo Betrayal and Betrayal at Baulder's Gate?

[@PhatLayCes7825]

You're a treasure. I've been part of a board group from Huntsville, Alabama and wish we could get together more in 2020. It's amazing that we share another common hobby and good to see you're providing us with content throughout the entire year!

[@TheOneWhoReportsForDuty]

“Not sure if it’s clear by now but I love talking.” Trust me, we know. And we love your voice

[@chaosof99]

Jay and Mark's quasi cameo as "dudes on a map" made me unreasonably happy.

[@Unclekayfabe]

now i cant get Map men song out of my head

[@ryan_alexander]

@@Unclekayfabe how many men do you sing at the end?

[@nickhaynes363]

Genuinely haven’t laughed as much as I did at the “oh god they’re right next to me, oh fuck, oh god I shouldn’t have killed those people” bit in such a long time! Thank you Adam & Phenoma-Nerds!

[@3elawi]

4-5 yrs ago I was so up to date with wrestling. I watched Whatculturewrestling everyday. FF to now, Life's changed. No more time for wrestling like back in the day. I'm searching for good board games and then I see this video. "Adam? THAT'S ADAM. YOOOO ADAM. It's been a min" This guy's a legend and seeing him genuinely brought me happiness. Great to see you Adam

[@prekkoy]

this is why i love board games. adam's top 10 of all time - i haven't played any of em. i have had opportunities to play 5 of em but we've always played something different. there's so much variety and something for everyone. the community is so positive. this channel is awesome!

[@dago6410]

Never have i seen a channel with favs list so similar to mine in terms of vvibes and mechanics. Its just ixwould replace nearly everything with a similar gake bit still, gorgeous list. Zero dumb euros anywhere in sight. Love it.

[@eroc1024]

Glad I found your channel. I feel the same way about board games as you. Getting people together and having fun man. great vid

[@yousaymercy2366]

Adam plays board games. I needed this channel so damn bad... im happy to find this channel. I thought this was too niche of a crossover in interests to ever happen! Lol

[@BowersGameCorner]

Omfg. I love your wrestling content and am nerding out so hard hearing you talk about my main hobby!

[@lockdown2341]

Why did it take me until now to find out Adam formerly of What Culture has a board game channel?! Hot damn.

[@justinescoto4621]

LOL SAME! My two favourite hobbies coming together!

[@cassidymckinney299]

He works for Wrestleplanet, this is one of THEIR channels.

[@justiceshoemaker436]

Phenomenal list. Probably going to pick up at least 70% of this list. Great video, new sub here. Merry Christmas.

[@sarahannferrigan]

Me too.

[@johnathonberube6833]

You made me miss my game nights, I want to go out and get most of these as I already own Betrayal

[@sirmaffew]

When the intro was playing, I thought Betrayal HAS to be on this list. My friends and I have been playing it for years and never get tired of it. Seasons of the Witch is great too if you play it properly and go on the witch hunt. To see it at #10 right away was both validating, and interesting that there were 9 Adam considered better.

[@kingdomheartsbeast]

Definitely saving all of these to a list to eventually buy.... thank you lots! Personal favorites are four souls (not that good but emotional connection), unearthed, boss monster and lucidity

[@NoRollsBarred]

ADAM: If you want to buy any of the games in this video, consider using our Amazon links to help out the channel! 10. Betrayal At House On The Hill - US: amzn.to/3nyd3sd // UK: amzn.to/38dPEFW 9. Deception - Murder In Hong Kong - US: amzn.to/36yJLT3 // UK: amzn.to/2HYnc17 8. Unmatched - US: amzn.to/3rbqbWa // UK: amzn.to/3reGaTk 7. Inis - US: amzn.to/2K9KAun // UK: bit.ly/3h67b6T 6. Chinatown - US: amzn.to/3p6PEyb // UK: bit.ly/34qebGC 5. Crokinole. - US: amzn.to/3h0hp8S // UK: amzn.to/34uNKzw 4. Blood On The Clocktower - Can be played online using Discord and this link: bra1n.github.io/townsquare/ 3. Whitehall Mystery - US: bit.ly/3h1c5lH // UK: bit.ly/3gZoir8 2. Mansions of Madness - US: amzn.to/3nisDrb // UK: amzn.to/2TM4ixm 1. Cosmic Encounter - US: amzn.to/2KzkkJz // UK: amzn.to/3p4Ljvy

[@aaroncollins6411]

Way to snub Canada.

[@arkonnen7]

where to preorder clocktower app.crowdox.com/projects/pandemoniuminstitute/blood-on-the-clocktower

[@hazmasterflash]

Oh my god, was not expecting Blood on the Clocktower here, that's amazing, I love it. Been close to it for ages and seeing it here just blows me away (Started when it was still being playtested, even been on stream with The Pandemonium Institute's Australian stream www.twitch.tv/thepandemoniuminstitute)

[@voidstrudel]

Alternatively, buy it at a local store instead of making Jeff Bezos even richer.

[@283leis]

I just wish Betrayal wasnt so damn expensive...

[@AngryCheezburger303]

Our tastes are so similar it's crazy, I'm just going to try the few games on this list that I haven't played yet, by this point I'm sure I'll love them too

[@dippdopp]

Would love to see what Adam's top 10 is nowadays, so many board games played since this video 😄

[@austinmarshall5102]

Awesome! We share the same number 1. Nothing beats a good game of cosmic. Btw, if you like negotiating and haven't tried Sidereal Confluence I'd highly recommend. Pure negotiating mixed with asymmetric alien powers

[@robertsweeney7040]

I loved Cosmic Encounters from the 70s with the dozen or so expansions...I should look at this again!

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

In my opinion, it's as good as it ever has been. Such an amazingly good time!

[@sirpoupadou]

Great list! I had cosmic encounter on my maybe list for ages, might have to take the dive 😊

[@Styrophoamicus]

Last time I heard Adam was from his WhatCulture days. Good to have him back.

[@TrentonTrentoff]

He’s on Wrestletalk, been making the same kind of content as old WhatCulture

[@sarahannferrigan]

Loving the look of Inis (pronounced 'Inish'). I'll definitely be on the lookout for it. Happy New Year

[@kennethossont2905]

Like Adam I am a compulsive buyer and I hate having money so I buy tons of games because I love them.

[@jeremywagoner422]

I decided to start a board game night with my family. The first game is Disney Villainous. it was fun.

[@debramyers9457]

Please make a top 10 RPGs. There are more than just D&D.

[@EmmaBonn96]

Misspent youth is a favorite long form for me Great combat mechanic that means so much more than health points

[@Dazz3rz450]

This would be amazing, I imagine World Wide Wrestling would be on there as well given the series on parts funknown that the team are a part of, would be great to learn of more

[@owenmccullor5063]

Outbreak Undead is a great fantasy for those in love with zombie movies/games

[@MultiClassGeek]

Best Friends (basically Mean Girls: the RPG) has the best CharGen ever.

[@harrymasononvacation]

Savage Worlds is one of my favorite systems for its ease of use. Plays well with tabletop minis as a skirmish game as well.

[@Immafuggin182]

Betrayal is amazing and the Legacy version is excellent!

[@zac5855]

I discovered Betrayal this year and it’s my favourite! Always pick Father Rhinehardt

[@OrcDragon65]

Love the cast of characters, everyone always finds that One they need to be every time. I'm an Ox Bellows myself, girlfriend always goes with Zoe.

[@kevin_parkerson]

Inis is my absolute favorite game, love that its getting more and more attention!

[@candoganozkan8100]

Map Man reference by Blampied? I love it.

[@hippiesrule1000]

With all the expansions of Cosmic Encounter, you should also mention that you have a grand total of 196 different aliens to play as. That's a LOT to choose from with a LOT of replayability.

[@greatmangreyyellow]

Man, a lot of these look awesome. Have some new games to try out

[@CATONWATERMELON2]

during Blood on the clocktower, I rewinded it by accident in such a way that made Adam say this: "Or you could be on the bad red team, including the Butler. F*ck the Butler."

[@arkonnen7]

Yes for Clocktower! Well done Adam you know what is good

[@sirpatrickofgoober6603]

I love this channel! Very funny, surgical dissection of the games, great delivery. A fab blend of information and entertainment.

[@michaeljones7465]

A board game can be board or table! Darts & snooker are board games & should always appear on these lists, as they are more popular.

[@depalapili-pala4859]

I feel you Adam, I started playing magic the gathering about a year and a half ago and now I have like 9 commander decks and a modern deck and a pauper deck and my wife has 3 commander decks and 2 full binder full of cards and....... You have chosen wisely. Great fun though!

[@FrederikDeDeyne]

I’d love to see you roleplay in a d&d oneshot, Adam

[@PTaylor1087]

Really loved this video! Also Adam I’d rather endearing as he narrates this video. Wanna give it a double thumbs up! How did I miss this?

[@garthantash]

To pick one game as my favourite, Discworld: Ankh-Morpok (rereleased as Nanty Narking after losing the license). This particular game is as close to perfect a board game as I have ever played. It is a joy to play every time, sneaky hidden roles, an escalation of chaos and a feeling you are nearly always *this* close to winning (a feeling everyone at the table has) until someone can seal the victory. It is a perfect 4 player game.

[@christinazito7438]

Just added cosmic encounters to my wishlist! Thanks!

[@afalcon99]

Wonderful list have played three of these, Adam. I have to ask if you collection include my all-time favorite: Red Dragon Inn.

[@nickvandam1214]

I just bought a copy of Cosmic Encounter and can't wait to get it to the table, thanks for the list!

[@ishoottheyscore8970]

Some of my favourites: BattleCon - a 2 player fighting game with perfect information, and where each character has their own special abilities. There is a (mostly) common set of 6 moves, and each character has their own unique move. Where they vary is that each character has their own sets of styles, so a strike or grasp from KIng Alexian is very different to the same move coming from Hikaru. Alas the online version hasn't really taken off, but it's still a very good way to see how the game works and see a few of the characters (BattleCon Online on steam) Evolution: Climate - A really vicious fight over food as each player adapts their species to try and get the advantage. You can build to aggressively consume food, but that might leave your species vulnerable to carnivores... The climate rules then add a further layer of complication as some climates favour smaller creatures or ones with particular traits! Northstar have made a similar game with Oceans where the traits are much wilder and more diverae, but I feel like the more limited set in Evolution makes for a more strategic experience. Paperback - a word game done right. I don't usually like deckbuilders as I get no sense of theme from them. Since word games are pretty abstract by their nature, the very clean abstract deckbuilding mechanic just makes for a terrific game where you have this interesting dilemma between buying cards for your engine, and buying the scoring cards you need to win, and each letter you buy from the market also has it's own special powers like drawing more cards for your hand next time Above & Below - A wonderfully bucolic game. You build your village, go on adventures, in a very pretty euro resource collecting game. It's maybe the most relaxing game I know Dead Of Winter - zombies done right, a game about the tensions between groups of survivors in the zombie apocalypse The Bloody Inn - an incredibly tight and macabre game based on true events! You play a member of a family who own an inn, and try to be the one who makes the most money by killing guests and stealing their money... Hannabi - Maybe my favourite game to show some of the surprising things you can do by changing conventions. Each player has a set of cards that they hold face out, relying upon other players for clues as to what they hold, but with only a limited number of clues, you sometimes have to risk discarding a card to get a clue back for another player

[@MrBrknsyt]

Adam... I am thankful you added a picture of Geek and Sundry. Before phenomenerds, they were my board game youtube channel. I hope you can become like them and I was very sad that Will Wheaton didn't continue the series.

[@mariahanover9335]

I know you're afraid to get into Magic, but Commander is one of the most satisfying multiplayer experiences you'll ever have. A war strategy game with 20,000 unique pieces that involves building your own combos, politicking, and sometimes inventing a new way to win on the spot a la cards like Door to Nothing Nothingness or Maze's End. For $18 per person, it's an amazing game to get into that's never boring.

[@goatthulu6662]

not sure if this the correct title, but in the 90s a friend of a friend brought over "Republic of Rome" where each player plays a political faction in the Senate trying to get commercial concessions, public offices, governorships, etc. What made the game great was not only are you trying to outmaneuver everyone at the table, but the game itself was trying to defeat you all as well. Foreign wars, natural disasters, etc. Truly one of my favorites of all time.

[@thedoif2540]

3:40 omg I’m not alone!!! My poison of choice is comics. Last year I had two shelves of trades. Now I have 5.

[@BlubberyChimp]

Love you guys

[@TristanBailey]

Never played CE or BHOtH and so many new ones to me on this list. Very solid 10.

[@lucimitchell7273]

I loved playing the original mage knight tabletop game! I was the only girl who played after school in my towns library. And I still have all my pieces 😊

[@jacobhumphrey3535]

Gotta throw a shout out to Takenoko. It's fun, cute, deeper than it seems, and just a grand ole time.

[@leosalcedo3384]

Love your hilarious commentary! Love your channel!!

[@soyamye6203]

Happy Christmas!😊

[@jdixon390]

No.10 is so good, we played it last year at Christmas Good stuff

[@FearNLoathing0]

Think I might try a few of these, I'll have to check out my local!

[@midasandre]

what a cool list! my favourit game is cosmic encounter too and i need to check out the another games. :)

[@OrcDragon65]

Love Adam, Love Betrayal, Love that Adam Loves Betrayal! Like the number one on his list, whenever my friends get together there is always a vote for House on the Hill.

[@christofferknight8567]

i remember a late 1960s game ( possibly 1968) called war lord. games wrkshop in early 1980 brought out there version (with a cropped board ) it was a game of area control and neuclear distruction. having a curious attack / defense system in guessing opponents dice pips, to defeat invading armies. once a war head was detonated the knock on effect on other adjacent warheads was devistating ....................liked alot

[@Emsworth377]

Love the map men reference.

[@jasondowney9424]

Amazing content as always. Doing all that I can to get this channel up to 40k.

[@ajburgess6843]

I always love seeing other people's top ten I've played a few of these but would never put them on my list if I were to make one.

[@michaeljones7465]

A board game can be board or table! Chess, connect 4, darts, pool, snooker, subbuteo & table tennis should be on these lists, as they are more popular.

[@Dave_VanDam84]

Gale force 9's Spartacus game is my favourite of all time. Had to get all the expansions n promo cards, it's amazing!

[@grog3514]

I agree. Great game. Doesn't get enough attention. I can't think of anything better to play with the guys on a friday night. Lots of backstabbing and building your gladiators and betting...

[@jeremiahcurtis3067]

A lot of these games sound awesome. Picking ten games that are my favorites would be difficult, but Legendary Encounters: Alien and the Warcraft Board game are definitely up there

[@doormatt72]

my personal favorite is probably 7 wonders. i love that game. i've played it actual hundreds of times. new sub here. i randomly thought of you adam, who i always used to love watching at whatculture and cultaholic, and decided to see if there were any recent videos by you. i'm thrilled to see you back on youtube, and it led to me subscribing on the very first video i've watched here. now i suppose it's time to check out some other videos on the channel. =)

[@jacobhibbard6405]

Okay but why is Adam always there when I start getting into a new thing. In 2015 I discovered pro wrestling and watched whatcuture wrestling religiously. Now I’m getting into tabletop games and Adam’s there starting a new channel.

[@scotthamilton9515]

Support Phenoma-nerds! Give 'em a subscribe! Thanks to all the team for still managing to start a new channel and bring out such great content in the hellscape that was 2020!

[@whatboardgame]

Great list. Great video.

[@ace.fury.]

Considering that all of Adam's board game suggesions have been the greatest purchases ever, I would trust the Bard of the Board with my life. Not to be confused with the Lord of the Board, for whom I will respond, "How high?" when asked to jump.

[@michaeljones7465]

Crokinole is similar to a game I invented in 1987, but couldn't get backing! You flick marbles around a rectangular board or table & where they rest decides where you play them from. The objective is to score points by flicking marbles at one of ten pins positioned on the board/table sides & corners. A direct hit is worth 1 point & a rebound off the edge of the playing area is worth 2 points. The game lasts for 1 hour & the winner is the player with the most points.

[@Lordbeanis]

Good list, I have played 6/10 of the games. If you have never played Gloomhaven I recommend it. Its my favorite game of all time, so much so that at one point I was playing in 3 separate campaigns at the same time.

[@e7venjedi]

OMG whitehall sounds amazing. I am definitely going to watch a playthrough and then see if I can justify adding it to 'the list' [of games i want to buy] :P

[@chazwozza67]

Great list

[@wuuduu609]

10:03 - its a light version of Letters from Whitechappel

[@xProjectKaosTV]

Wow I expected Nemesis to be on here

[@headphonic8]

LOL that "crockinole" looks like a simplified version of an old indian game called carrom! My family has a carrom board and I haven't played in years.

[@alterman08]

cheers... mansions of madness!!! intro me to figures and i love them

[@Shelf_Help_ca]

Stellar list

[@wcheungmusic]

Not a bad list. But as time has gone by some games are just incomparable to others as there are so many out there. Thankfully I try to take the best out of any category. Mysterium, Sushi Go, Rondo, Ghost-Fighting Treasure Hunters, Machi Koro, Everdell... Glad Betrayal made your list though :)

[@charlesberg1234]

Sorry better be here. If not. Its ok. Because this is your list and your opinion.

[@fain0077]

Absolutely love Cosmic!

[@grutto83]

I would recommend games that also have a good solo player experience because its sometime difficult to find enough people to play with or want to learn a new game.

[@ThumbsOnly]

"Unless you're the butler. Fuck the butler." *flicks it away 😂😂😂

[@benironside1264]

I haven’t bought unmatched for the same reason Adam hasn’t bought MTG. My shelves will break

[@TheAlexHopp]

Adam are there any updates to your top 10? Or is there any chance you could do a top 50? I’d love to watch that. 👍

[@lostfanatic6]

Adam, you need to try Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Hearing you talk about creating memories and experiences through tabletop along with your love of horror within the hobby, I think you would adore this game. It has completely replaced Eldritch Horror and Mansions of Madness for my choice of Lovecraftian game. You pick a character and build a deck for that character specifically to bolster their strengths and help their weaknesses. They are YOUR character. Then you start playing through a narrative/choice-driven campaign. You'll come to forks in the road where you need to decide how to handle a situation and the outcomes will effect you for games to come! And depending on how well you do in a given scenario, you earn experience points to spend on upgrading your character and their deck. Want to replace your lame handgun with a big shotgun? Is that spell just not doing it for you? Maybe you want a beefier ally? UPGRADE THEM ALL! I was initially turned off by the idea of it being a "card game" instead of a board game. I was wrong. The fact that it uses cards makes it better because with every scenario everything is different! The location, enemies, story, objectives, scenario-based rewards, etc. Doing it in card form makes this possible and means the game can go in an infinite amount of directions. It is amazing. Anyways, try it. It's fantastic.

[@Rhidcully]

Exactly my thoughts while watching the video.

[@MVGProductions]

I would love to see a list of your favorite trivia games.

[@misterman99]

Twilight Imperium 4th Edition is my all time favorite. It’s always a killer of any other plans for that day so we treat it as a special treat a few times a year. With the expansion coming out it’s gonna be even better!

[@avisian8063]

Bought it during lockdown... Not my best choice

[@fabricatedego]

Adam, I remember you telling me about Murder at the Abbey. When I met you back in 2017 in Orlando.

[@stefanopaolini6117]

Inis and Unmatched are also in my top 10! Actually top 5 :D

[@sirprintalot]

4:57 HERE'S THE MIN, AND HERE'S THE MIP

[@Tunabringer]

Map men! Map men! Map, map, map, men, men! Men.

[@unlimitedrabbit]

I feel as though Stop Thief never comes up in conversations as one of the earliest examples of the secret-movement-catch-the-criminal-you-can't-see games.

[@yoknuckleheads]

I’ve been watching Adam since what culture wrestling. Wrestling is one of my favourite things, but I definitely love board games even more. It’s so good to see this channel doing well! I’ll be supporting well into the future and excited to see what’s to come!

[@nicoharlan5703]

I bought Betrayl for my family of notable anti-nerds since my brother would be in town and we'd have four players, 5 if my cousin who only shows up when aforementioned brother is in town, and it remains under the living room table, still in the plastic, as no one wanted to make my $60 purchase worthwhile during the holidays. Cheers.

[@zeroeleven6551]

Hats off to Tom and all the Toms out there! You're great.

[@michaeljones7465]

Chess, connect 4, darts, pool, snooker & subbuteo are also board games & they should score high on any list, as they are more popular.

[@PatrickPaul1203]

Hey Adam, could you do a video on mini painting. I have such a hard time painting so small so tips from someone who just started and remembers what’s it’s like to be new to mini painting would be nice!

[@barbwirepain2120]

Adam, you could always use Tabletop Simulator. That's what me and my friends use while we are stuck apart