Top 10 Most Influential Board Games Ever

[@Shelfside]

As commenters pointed out below, Risk Legacy did come before Pandemic legacy! I still stand by Pandemic Legacy being the one to propel the "legacy" thing up, and Risk Legacy didn't sell nearly as well anyways. As Daniel corrects me, Deliverance does not have a monster AI deck, you roll from preset actions. -Ashton

[@retronymph]

I think you're absolutely correct. If you strike Risk Legacy from the timeline, but leave Pandemic Legacy, nothing about the board game industry really changes. The inverse? That would be a very different landscape.

[@Illianor123]

Risk Legacy paved the way for Pandemic, which then exploded the idea. I think it fits the rules.

[@toaofpi]

As soon as I saw the video title, I knew Dominion was going to be on there. I haven't played it myself, but I can't deny how important it is to the deckbuilding genre as a whole. Thanks for the video!

[@felixfifeauthor]

Great list! I agree bout Bridge being most influential card game. I think Poker takes the top in us culture, including the betting/gambling mechanic which adds a unique element since the stakes can change hand to hand. Bizrre you can win big on a worthless hand, and lose big on a powerful one. Incredible game. Another important influential game mechanic is the 'race' game: Sorry, Pachisi, and Backgammon still played by millions in the Middle East. Monopoly is probably a variation of this with the added commerce/trade element. Racing to Purchase the most properties.

[@Unattended_Elk]

Surprising to not see Worker Placement represented, I was expecting a tie in to your previous video around every corner of this one

[@Shelfside]

I was surprised too!

[@MichaelSillion]

Yes there are no action selection game like worker placement and rondel selection here. I would say that Puerto Rico has influenced the most of my top 50 games today with its worker placement mechanics.

[@Awol991]

Monopoly is influential for making people move to other games.

[@wheresmymumy]

I would say MtG as a lasting effect on boardgames regarding key words and mechanical things like , tapping a card to use it's effect , when it enters the battlefield effects , the concept of a turn structure ( this one may be a stretch). I am the annoying person in my game group that says a lot while playing board games " that rule works like in magic ".

[@Shelfside]

oh, tapping is a really good one I didn't remember. Also maybe stuff like battlecry? Thanks for sharing :D -Ashton

[@highfovguy6791]

I'd argue Risk Legacy inspired legacy games the most, but I also find the mention of Pandemic inspiring Eldritch Horror when Arkham Horror 2e was a hugely popular co-op game in 2005 and even first came out in 1987; so I'd argue Eldritch Horror's predecessor was likely more of a an inspiration on itself.

[@igelkott255]

I agree, Arkham Horror should have been the popularization/inspiration of the coop game. It's also weird to mention Ghost Stories when it came out THE SAME YEAR as Pandemic. There 's no way that Pandemic could have inspired Ghost Stories.

[@jvomkrieg]

@@igelkott255 The first Arkham horror came out in 1989. The remake was 2005 and was a mega hit, 3 years before pandemic. Yep. Pandemic stealing some glory again

[@tobyr21]

Monopoly might even be more influential than you imagine. Many years ago it inspired many knock offs (improvements!) that have been lost to history. In the 1950s, I remember enjoying Boom or Bust and Easy Money.-Toby

[@alholm6470]

Monopoly is the biggest roadblock to getting most people I know into board games. RANDOM

[@johnjones6115]

"1900s board games." *cries in GenX*

[@Edu-qv4lq]

Interesting that you didn’t mention an influential game for one of the most common and popular mechanisms: worker placement. I always describe worker placement to non board gamers as picking options from a menu.

[@Shelfside]

That one was top of mind when thinking of mechanics that didn't make it. But what would be the game- agricola, Lords of waterdeep, stone age? None of these particularly stand out as much as this top 10 list games haha. Cheers! -Ashton

[@Edu-qv4lq]

@@Shelfsideprobably Agricola. Worker placement is a weird mechanic. It only works because of the limitation into how many workers you can place and who places them first. Moves conflict away from direct confrontation to passive aggressively limiting your opponents options.

[@holgerchristiansen4003]

@@Shelfside I would chose Caylus as the one that made Worker Placement a big thing. It was also earlier than Agricola, Village or Lords of Waterdeep

[@legolasegb]

When I saw worker placement, I immediately thought Stone Age. That was my first WP, anyways. Agricola is a gamer's game, and I feel like it really explored and opened a big horizon for the endless possibilities...of ways to feed your family. ;-)

[@liquiddude9855]

@@Shelfside Puarto Rico is THE definition of a worker placement game. Agricola is just more casual and better know.

[@scramsby]

Per your comment about Go, I think many agree that Reiner Knizia's "Through the Desert" is essentially a multiplayer Go variant. Not top of the charts these days, but it's somewhat of an evergreen.

[@robertthurman9866]

Great video. I can't really argue with any of it. Worker placement is represented in a lot of the games. Worker placement seems to be a mechanic that was added to other types of games more than being a mechanic unto itself. I think Carcassonne was the first use of a "meeple" and gave bonus for placement, but it was primarily a tile placement game.

[@TheSchaef47]

Imo the original worker placement game was Caylus, but compared to more modern games, I don't care if I never play Caylus again. Uwe Rosenberg did it so much better, and I love when it's mixed in with multiple mechanisms, like in Dune: Imperium.

[@Crovax75]

Great stuff! Really informative and fun to see influences. There are way too many mechanics now to hit in a top 10 I suspect, but this was just a really enjoyable watch. Cheers!

[@Peter-ht7mb]

Risk legacy came out several years before Pandemic Legacy, so that was the game that didn't Influence anything 😅 I would actually disagree to some extent though - IMO every game that has a campaign mode (doesn't have to be legacy) is influenced by those games, especially games not typically campaign - specifically the rules changing from game to game and secret envelopes for campaign mode.

[@silvermknight]

Wanted to say that as well.

[@robertthurman9866]

Risk Legacy was not a big seller, or was Seafall that followed. Pandemic Legacy shot to #1 and stayed there for a log time. It was the Pandemic Legacy that was the influence, not the prior games.

[@Shelfside]

Well snap. Time to make a pinned comment about that Pandemic legacy not being first. But Pandemic legacy was the one that really shot off this whole legacy thing into massive appeal! -Ashton

[@jcw59able]

Risk Legacy and Pandemic Legacy both have Rob Daviau as a designer too

[@mazvirataaja9397]

I would have thought a game like Dixit, or codenames would be there. I have played si many games, where you’re trying to hint at your card to the right people.

[@ParlorPunch]

Great content, thanks for all the hard work!

[@VampguyN85]

Man, hero quest was a part of my childhood along with 3rd edition MtG. Besides Monopoly and Risk. Dad always won at Risk. Are Sorry and Parchisi worker placement? Those would have been my earliest. Dad has a bridge group now that he is retired. I always associated it with retired people and elderly couples lol.

[@michaelhollingsworth6778]

Catan, what does it do well and have other games copied it? I think Catan does the "it is always my turn even when it isn't my turn" very well. I'm not sure how many games have successfully copied that mechanic.

[@wmarclocher]

6:02 I was wondering if Volko Ruhnke's COIN (Counterinsurgency) mechanic (like in Cuba Libre) was going to make it into this list. (BTW C.L. rule book is only 20 pp w/only 11 for rules not counting the "playbook" which is just guided playthroughs of the games.) 😍

[@Aigis31]

I agree with this list. I appreciate the honorable mention to HeroQuest! It's still my favorite board game. It's such an approachable and enjoyable dungeon crawler!

[@davidt4233]

Nice list. Surprised not to see Mage Knight. Came out in 2011 and combines hand management, deck building, multi use cards, asymmetric powers, etc....Agree with Chess, MTG, Risk, and most of the list.

[@PsychicLord]

For 18xx, it has to be the late Francis Tresham's 1974 title 1829. This was over 10 years in the making and way ahead of its time. Francis's games were the inspiration for many other titles including Civilisation.

[@Shelfside]

ooh, thank you for this. Yep I would have no idea :D -Ashton

[@jdogbemple1]

Poker, Ticket to Ride, D&D, Love Letter, Yahtzee would be one’s I would add. But most of these are on my list too.

[@TrueMiz]

D&D was pretty big, but doesn't actually meet the criteria here, war games were massive before d&d. D&D didn't set the framework for it's genre, it only brought forth it's popularity

[@tobyr21]

Two things about monopoly: (1) The game remained "pure" for many years, until someone persuaded the company controlling it that they should license many, many localized variations. I believe that person was: Bernie Tenenbaum. (2) In the 1950s, Monopoly inspired other games where you went around the outside of the board and built properties. These knockoffs were, more than Monopoly, ral games of skill, but they did not last. I enjoyed two of them: Easy Money, and Boom or Bust. -toby

[@batmansmk]

What about yahtzee like where we need to build a particular suite? Poker, king of tokyo, dice thrones, too many bones, …

[@AdvayBasavaraju]

Great list! Interested to see how your list might change in the future depending on what genres the mainstream scene drifts towards.

[@icaruspandas]

I still love Cosmic. I understand the criticisms, but imo you have to go in with a certain mindset. Cosmic is NOT a game that is perfectly balanced, it was never intended to be, it is a game filled to the brim with complete bullshit, but trying your hardest to play around the bullshit is what makes the game so fun. I don't usually go into a game of Cosmic tryharding to win, I'm there to have fun and create some lasting memories with friends. Cosmic gives you all the tools required to do that, and as such many of my best board gaming memories comes from it. ALSO Jack Reda is the MAN, still creating new expansions to the game (the last expansion was a banger imo, adding a campaign, new mechanics, new aliens, and QOL updates for older aliens), and is still actively creating content for the game as well. I will always cherish Cosmic I'm glad it's getting the respect it deserves :) I feel like Catan probably should have been on the main list. I know mechanically speaking it's a pretty basic euro, but it's the first BIG one to really explode especially outside Europe. I have a hard time imaginging other games come out without Catan's influence.

[@douglaspearson4853]

Here are some of mine not on your list, Panzer Blitz because it 1sttook Avalon Hill games from 4 page rules to multi page rules it was a more complex game, 1st time I saw silhouettes instead of Military icons, Box was a shelf box and not a flat, multi Geo-morphic boards and multi situation cards. Squad Leader was the 1st game were you read rules play a Scenario read, more rules play the next Scenario Advanced Squad Leader The most detailed tactical game I ever played. Dungeons & Dragons, The Command & Color Series, Columbia Block games Quebec 1759 for the fog of war & loss management. Legendary Marvel that led to a big series. Shadows Over Camelot I believe 1st to have hidden traitor. We The People 1st Card Assisted Games. BTW Risk was my 1st war game

[@TheSchaef47]

I love trick-taking games, which is why Cat in the Box and Skull King were instant buys for me after one play.

[@albertolopes829]

Excellent video!

[@ashtonwu7760]

Thank you!!

[@suntzu6122]

lol how t f did you find a pic of ROGUE ELEPHANT being played? Amazing.

[@JPBelanger]

Very fun list. Happy to see Dominion. Ghost Stories came before Pandemic.

[@rara58524]

Carcassonne - tile placement mechanics , also the game is insanely popular among casuals, up there with Catan

[@Mateilenberg]

Caylus defenitely should have been there. Worker placement is just a core element of soooo many games! Also Yahtzee should have been there :) The whole idea of dice rolling and trying to hit sets of something is used in a lot of games (King of Tokyo, Dice Throne to just name a few)

[@JPBelanger]

Worker placement, I'd go with Puerto Rico.

[@Makeybussines]

School of Sorcery is worth unwrapping! Cool little duel game that could easily have been a Harry Potter IP.

[@ProgressIsTheOnlyEvolution]

Great video and list. I agree with all of the games mentioned though I might have had a different order. But I can not argue with Chess at number 1.

[@Sharnoy1]

7:36 That's a Finnish Monopoly with marks as currency :D I used to play that with my dad way back in the day and it was pretty much the first board game experience for me.

[@ashtonwu7760]

Ahaha great eye :D

[@saveversus]

Wait, wasn't Risk Legacy the first??

[@tobyr21]

Altogether: a great video. Thanks! -toby

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

Didn't Viticulture create the solo Automa? I'm sincerely asking. I don't know.

[@SignatureStampsFan]

I definitely would give Bus from Splotter the nod for being the first worker placement.

[@manseekingmeeple]

Great list. I am surprised catan was just an honourable mention. Resource management and/or trading are in… virtually every euro and I think it’s safe to say that virtually every board game designer in the west has been inspired by it. I’d put it really high. But, that said, you had some great picks. I’m tempted to make my own list and see how it would differ from yours. Like would I put parcheesi instead of monopoly; or add trivial pursuit. Maybe I’d just stick to “modern” games. Anyway, great video!

[@davepierunc]

Gettysburg (1958) -- as the grandfather of war games where historical accuracy is the goal.

[@krathkacalle]

I only miss the "worker placement" mechanic, but don't know wich one would be influential... Maybe Stone Age?

[@WhereMyMeepsAt]

Dominion, Dominion, Dominion. Thanks for the awesome video!

[@davidk6269]

Amazingly, Candy Land or Chutes & Ladders should be very high on this list by your own criteria. Roll and move mechanisms are the MOST common board game mechanism IMHO. Every western child learns this mechanism first in their board gaming lives, so roll and move is the most commonly understood mechanism by all western board gamers. Most people in the world do not play board games other than in their childhood or with their own children/grandchildren, so most people do not ever have exposure to more advanced mechanism like deck-building, etc., but they all know roll and move.

[@Shelfside]

Pretty good suggestions! But I just haven't seen people really playing these to the same extent as Monopoly, that's why Monopoly gets the edge on this list. I'm pretty sure everyone I've met has at least heard of and/or played monopoly, but not so much these 2 (again in the western world). -Ashton

[@davidk6269]

@@Shelfside Wow, I'm honored to receive a response from you, Ashton! I think that if you ask any western parent, they will almost all have played Candy Land or Chutes & Ladders with their very young children, and that these are the two first board games that most people can remember playing as a small child. That's why I'd put them higher than Monopoly. But it's of course a subjective matter, open to anyone's interpretation. Keep up the great work with your fun content!

[@tobyr21]

I would like to ask you to think about something as far as the game of GO is concerned. GO is an area control game. I personally do not play area control games, but are there really no area control games that exemplify the idea of threatening to surround an area in order to control it? That would be a GO-inspired mechanic. -toby

[@Shelfside]

hmm, I've never framed Go as an area control but I think that is a fantastic way to view it: abstract area control. In that sense, yes it could be very influential to other area controls, although now I'm thinking about how western combat is more of offense, and eastern combat is more defensive and how that trickles down in how we view conflict in games. Thanks for this! -Ashton

[@tobyr21]

Sorry, you may have already gotten a lot of comments about this. The game of Bridge is relatively modern. As Wikipedia says, it has ROOTS in the 16th Century, as a descendant of Whist. Whist is the well-known, old basic trick-taking game. ALSO, the general idea is that each player plays 1 (or maybe more) cards, and some rules determine what can be played and what wins the trick. Following suit is common but not necessary. In Rauber Skat, for example, when Jacks are trump, they can be played on any suit. -toby

[@mattes939]

Just out of curiosity: What is "this anime boardgame" from 14:05?

[@S4ltyTar0]

It's called re;act

[@Metroidam11]

Engine Building and Worker Placement seem to have a bigger impact on modern strategy games. Most games I’ve played have that mechanism somehow. Maybe I’m biased based on the games I play.

[@windo508]

No mancala?

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

Stratego is one of my favorite games of all time.

[@haryadisuryonoto1118]

Monopoly to Chinatown and Sidereal Confluence is totally different mechanics for me. While the last two are yes, they are similar.

[@WhalePolarizer]

5:57 Le Macron - the REAL Macron big man

[@charlesberdan5608]

I saw TI3 in the upfront and strapped myself in. We got to #1 and I was ready to tilt. I guess chess makes more sense lol

[@MichaelSillion]

There are no action selection game like worker placement and rondel selection here. I would say that Puerto Rico has influenced the most of my top 50 games today with its worker placement mechanics.

[@VaultBoy13]

Legacy games made the box of unlocked modular content with new rules a popular design even in non-Legacy games. - Mechs vs. Minions - Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle - Mind MGMT - Gloomhaven (which is a wannabe legacy game) - Oathsworn The influence of Legacy games on the hobby isn't simply more Legacy games.

[@mateuszkiszlo1059]

Great list ❤

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

I would definitely include Puerto Rico in any top influential board game list.

[@schirmed]

I feel like 1829/1830 for economic and stock games and Agricola, or something else, for modern euros should've been on there. One of either Gloomhaven, Magic, or heroquest could go I think. I don't think your choices are bad, but just have knid of a crimped view of the whole genre. An adventure game, a tricktaker, area control, roll & move/trading, TCG, deckbuilding, stock game, modern euro, party/social game, one more? i feel like delineating the important subgenres or most prominent mechanics first would help.

[@escapeartist205]

giving monopoly props for being a very heavy game to be so mainstream....I subbed.... Dude if you can handle monopoly then you can handle 60% of my collection lol it may actually be heavier than a quarter of it we all just learned it when we were little and don't think about it anymore....great video

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

You should see my deluxified copy of Risk.

[@robmarney]

Diplomacy has to be in the top 10 most culturally influential board games. Probably the largest impact on geopolitics

[@BoardGameBlitz]

Good video and picks! For 18xx, I think 1830 is the most influential. 1829 was the first, but 1830 was a lot more popular and lots of people use the differences from 1830 to teach a new 18xx game. But in the grand scheme of board gaming as a whole, 18xx isn't that influential compared to other stuff.

[@RaveKev]

I miss yazzee. Roll 3 times, save a few dice, and resolve the result.

[@terencemccormick8178]

Interesting list. Bridge: never played (though parents were fairly avid). Gloomhaven: have played Jaws of the Lion. Cosmic Encounter: owned (and played) original Eon edition plus 2 expansions. Collection lost to a flood. Risk: had standard edition in the 70s. Played Lord of the Rings edition once in the 2000s. Monopoly: never played by the correct rules as a kid. Currently own a "themed" set that has yet to get to the table. Pandemic: have played. Vastly prefer Leacock's inspired variant, Thunderbirds. Werewolf: never played. Recently had an evening of 2 sessions of Blood on the Clocktower, which was enough to determine it is NOT my kind of game. Dominion: never played. Love other deck-builders like Clank! and Legendary. MtG: never played. Tried to get into a now dead CCG (X-Files) back in the day, but never found another interested player. Chess: who hasn't? Own 4 different sets.

[@DeadneckL]

Oathsworn review incoming?

[@SK-do5rv]

Suprised no kdm. I feel like its the big gateway game that created the boss battle genre and still relevant to this date

[@kennethpinder7983]

You did not discuss parchisi

[@yeshwanthyarremsetty528]

I think ludo has more influence than any other game because it is the game beginned using dice and moving forward mechanic monoploy core mechanic derived from ludo

[@2101super1012]

Great video as usual! Spoilers for Honorable Mentions below . . . . . . . Risk Legacy was actually the first legacy game! Pandemic Legacy came after, and was a much bigger hit than Risk Legacy. I assume that you meant Pandemic Legacy was the big game to inspire even more legacy games but I wasn't sure since you showed Risk as an "inspired game" right after :)

[@stephenemery1290]

Bridge is not the original trick-taker: it was derived from Whist, and there were others before. I would also contend that its status as "most influential" is limited to the English-speaking world. Tarot is the traditional trick-taker of choice in France, and in Germany it would be Skat, Schafkopf, or Doppelkopf (depending on region).

[@clericcabingames]

Runequest is a TTRPG, as is Gloomhaven. Just ask Zargon.

[@LoneWolf-zc7nw]

I think so many things are omitted in your list. First game with concept of Area control El Grande. More important than that first game which makes scoring track in board game, Heimlich & Co. which a lot games using that. First game which uses Meeple, Carcassonne.

[@HoganLong]

Meeple is a trademarked game piece design shape. Not a mechanic. Having game pieces represent location on a game board goes back to chess and checkers as a mechanic.

[@earthling-ad]

I get why you chose Pandemic, but Matt Leacock has stated many times the reason he got into designing cooperative games was Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings. It might not have the same mechanics but if it inspired him to design a host of great cooperative games since, then surely LOTR is the truly influential game.

[@Shelfside]

Oh that's a good one! Haven't heard of that before -Ashton

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

In the Monopoly World, I prefer Mega Monopoly and Advance to Boardwalk. (I'm talking about games, not mechanics.)

[@devinreviews192]

I think Kingdom Death deserves an honorable or low spot. As far as im aware it invented boss battlers and i dont think its crazy to suggest it inapired the huge campaign games we see today

[@Shelfside]

That's a good one! Definitely inspired oathsworn. -Ashton

[@innerdemonpat9027]

Great video.

[@anonmisfit]

gloomhaven mentioned - good night boys ❤

[@rossjaax]

Great to see you back with your punchy lists

[@mename7670]

What’s the name of the anime game you mentioned in the mtg section during the “stack” mechanic? Re;ACT - The Arts of War Is that it?

[@Shelfside]

yep, correct! -Ashton

[@truce11]

I would smash the like button hard if you guys did video about Netrunner...

[@otakuofmine]

The sad side is that Monopoly put(s) a lot of people off other board game or board games in general for how un-fun it is designed. Together with Risk it did that for me for a decade til I found out about the great diversity there is, that they can be fun. But i still have a natural hate of betting games and areal control because of that.

[@pyrotelekinesis7253]

Risk inspired cosmic encounter too

[@tobyr21]

I believe you did not consider the entire generation of civilization building games. The grandfather of these games is either Diplomacy or the game: civilization. -Toby

[@99zxk]

He has card games, but i bet that there's no Battletech, Avalon Hill games, or even Outdoor Survival (important in D&D history.) Yep. Most of these are not even board games. And Monopoly? That's like the OG "board game." Clue could have been here, too.

[@polvoazul]

Bridge is SOOO good. Its an amazing game

[@tommasoduccini5487]

It Is a bit out of topic, but I recomend to try unmatched, It Is a very cool game with of different character

[@Shelfside]

yep, I've played it a ton. Cool system! -Ashton

[@gabriellorenzo6589]

Time stories for card rpg

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

I would also include Chess on this list.

[@GeorgeVelev0]

14:00 Do you mean chain and not stack and overall describing combos? And YuGiOh is much more famous for it.

[@dylanrander3862]

Chess was definitely inspired by several much older predecessors. When you say chess is 1,500 years old, you should be saying the games that inspired it are at least 1,500 years old.

[@victormenchaca2420]

Carcassonne ?

[@mortagon1451]

I personally don't think card games are boardgames TBH, but good list nevertheless. It has three of my least favorite games though (Risk, Dominion and Monopoly) but I can't deny their influence.

[@buddhawasright]

bruh...TIC TAC TOE INSPIRED GLOOMHAVEN!

[@cadekatsuda3852]

Hate to be that guy, but magic commander is 4-8 players not 2-6.

[@jonathanpickles2946]

Bridge is an odd one, I'd pick another trick taker with a wider player base like Hearts, but "classic trick taker" would do. While you're on cards rummy features set collection of various types that's painfully common in euros. I don't think Gloomhaven is very influential mechanically, a couple of games in exactly the same genre doesn't count. I wouldn't include chess as I think modern games are more likely convergent solutions to simulate the same problem. Same with Risk. CE, magic, Dominion, Pandemic, werewolf absolutely. There's even a werewolf tv show in the UK The Traitors. In wargaming there's a whole different set of influential games, kriegspiel, We The people for card driven games. 1830 is huge for 18xx but it's so niche it's not top 10.

[@Shelfside]

Hearts is a good one! I played a lot of that. Bridge just seems to have the edge in the trick-taking popularity from my point of view. -Ashton

[@LiamJacenMusic]

No poker is a bit surprising

[@dago6410]

Cosmik shpuld be number 1 ;D

[@michaelnolan9416]

I’m not sure I agree that cards against humanity is more influential than apples to apples. Cards against humanity is just nsfw Apples. You go to the family game aisle at target and there will be twenty family friendly clones like what do you meme. I think you can only give cards against humanity credit for nsfw versions of popular games