The Top 100 Board Games of All Time: The Quest for El Dorado

Our adventure through the Top 100 Board Games of All Time continues, with El Dorado! And unfortunately, these boys have been CURSED.
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[@Richard-Swift]

Entry 2 in the top 100 took 57 days to release since the series start! If this pace is kept up, we can expect to see the full top 100 games in 15 years!

[@mackenziejohnson5200]

Though hopefully the pace is at least a bit better when not having to deal with lost audio of central conversations

[@lkjkhfggd]

I imagine they will do some videos covering multiple similar games at once.

[@THESP-rz3hg]

So you're saying we have 15 more years of SUSD content to look forward to ...

[@mvdplas8145]

It's a neverending project. Every year will bring some new great games which will belong in the top 100.

[@gergelygocza7137]

Just as I started to do the math I saw this comment! Thank you!

[@PosIntSyndrome]

I feel like we were robbed of the riveting conclusion to Matt's Great Cave Adventure.

[@FAMILYUNITmusic]

FYI those rode lavalier microphones can be set to record on the pack. If you plug it into a computer and use the rode software you can configure it to work like a dashcam that records 30 hours of audio and then overwrites the oldest audio. This way if you ever have an issue recording on the camera you will likely have the audio on the internal memory of the lavalier mic pack.

[@NothingIsKnown00]

Please also tell RedLetterMedia this. They also have a few videos where “original audio went missing”.

[@samkeefer4747]

The board discussion in complete silence should be mandatory going forward. That was hilarious

[@wigoow1206]

El Dorado is soo good. It's a modern yet approachable boardgame. You can teach it to 5 year olds and 85 year olds, but it's still very entertaining for seasoned players. It manages to be at the exact transition point where everybody has a great time. It's also a great introduction to deck building.

[@paulsharke]

Oh that was quite nice of Quinns to let Matt have the game like that. I wonder why he- *jump to footage of Matt cramming the tiebreaker token under his nose* Ah.

[@FlawlesSanshiro]

..wait.. there's gonna be a hundred of these?? Bring it!

[@sasy707]

Absolutely love this style, the natural discussion with the back and forth editing to game play is really engaging and demonstrates everyones chemistry well.

[@stickdwarf]

Used to bring Quacks to my family when they asked to bring a boardgame. Bought eldorado a year ago and it has completely replaced it. Great party game which is very quick to learn.

[@TheDamageReport]

I've played this and taught this so, so many times and I don't think it has gone poorly even once. Endlessly replayable. Easy to grasp for people who haven't played a deck builder but with lots of decisions to keep veterans invested.

[@ianw0ng]

john from tyt in a boardgame video? what timeline is this?

[@fmoros]

Does the blocking, specially in the last spaces, creates a bitter experience? I have the game, but have not played it yet. Thanks for your time.

[@CheckmateSurvivor]

Now, please try Territorial Chess. Absolutely insane.

[@dankfarrik8376]

Happy to see this back again. Not gonna lie I thought they would be a bit more frequent. I'm curious what #1 is going to be about 10 years from now 😊 It might not even be released yet or even designed! Excited!! But all joking aside this is a great game, happy to see it included.

[@chrissharples6542]

don't forget these top 100 games are in no particular order. It was mentioned in the first video.

[@youdontneedit9114]

I'd love to see the final blackboard. With the plaques so big they'll need a full-size wall for it.

[@nighttrain1319]

Glad the fellas could film this one on-location!

[@TheECP]

To the people trying to call them out on the rules, the only thing they seem to have messed up is making a pile of cave tokens rather than stacking 4 on the cave (I can't speak about the hex tiles, haven't played that). But you are absolutely allowed to grab multiple cave tokens in a turn, you have to end your MOVE with a single card by the cave to collect a cave token, then you must end your move with another card away from the cave, and then you can use a 3rd card to end your move back next to the cave to get another cave token. So with 3 cards you can get 2 cave tokens in a turn (assuming your turn started away from the cave). You can get even more with some card draw. The rulebook is pretty clear about that.

[@Katzwinkel]

February 1st. March 29th. /counts on fingers... I look forward to watching these videos over the next sixteen years to see the final outcome.

[@bushibayushi]

remember that cave tiles are limited (4 per cave space I believe) - there's not an infinite supply of them ;)

[@shutupandsitdown]

Useful to know! I'm fairly certain that Matt never went so crazy as to on any single cave - so didn't change the game that much - but good to remember in future 'Matthew's Spelunky Special' attempts.

[@basieellington6493]

@@shutupandsitdown but there's another thing I think you played wrong: if you start your turn next to a cave, you can't collect a cave token that same turn. (Or collect two cave tokens in one turn. That's also not allowed)

[@sykes1024]

@@basieellington6493 My groups reading of the rules was that it's not that you can't get multiple cave tiles in a "turn", it's that you can't get multiple cave tiles in a single "movement". So, if a player plays a single card to move next to a cave, they get a cave token. Then they can play another card to move away from the cave. Then they can play a third card to move back next to the cave and get a second cave token. Each individual card played is one "movement", and so long as you weren't next to a cave at the start of a "movement" and you end your "movement" next to a cave, you get a cave token. So, you can get multiple cave tokens per "turn", but it requires playing an additional 2 cards beyond the first to get an additional cave token.

[@dodgerberlin]

​@basieellington6493 That's not right. The restriction with caves is not per turn, but per card used for moving. You can absolutely use a card to move next to a cave and get a token, then use another card to move away, and then use a third card to come back to the cave and get another token. What you can't do, is paying for this three step movement with one card and get two tokens, because if its the same card you are not ending your movement, but if it's different cards you do.

[@TheECP]

@@basieellington6493you’re allowed to collect multiple cave tokens per turn, you just have to move away from the cave, finish the movement, and then play a new card to move back to it to collect a new one

[@timclark4273]

Love it - great video for capturing the fun at many levels that is El Dorado. One of my regular playing chums is _obsessed_ by the Prop Plane - no-one knows why..... I think he just likes having a plane in the jungle.

[@LaboratoryGrey]

Glad you found a way to put this together. Still turned out really well despite your difficulties!

[@JoelDullard]

I LOVE this series. Please keep it up!!

[@mchagawa1615]

Thank you so much for covering :D this seems really fun :) and the review is always fun :)

[@konczalr]

I have overlooked this game for years--totally going to pick up a copy now for sure. Great video as usual.

[@Ovetupp]

I love this game. The experience feels fairly straightforward, but it also makes you decipher the board and construct a deck that has multiple solutions to the same problem. It is clever without feeling overwhelming, just wonderful game design.

[@fairlyodd922]

This is my go-to recommendation for anyone wanting to try a "weird" (their word) game for the first time.

[@HelderP83]

This is a great video format to showcase a game, loved it.. thank you!

[@SanderPastoor]

I've played this game over a dozen times now and it's one of the rare games that's exciting every time. The ending is always incredibly tense, there's always someone trying a new strategy, it's just consistently fantastic!

[@fmoros]

I bought the game and I have not played it yet. Does the blocking rule creates kind of bad experience in your games? thanks

[@SanderPastoor]

@@fmoros On the contrary! The blocking rule makes the game. You're hardly ever truly stuck. If someone blocks you, you can typically take another route, albeit a less optimal one. You can also wait it out and use the time to build out your deck. It's tense, and it can be really funny.

[@onewholeegg]

Nice! I was just recommending this to a friend today!

[@joshuacollins9547]

This is going to be an expensive top 100... these guys constantly convice me to buy games I hadn't thought about.

[@jamesnicholson4890]

These episodes are great. Looking forward to the next 98!

[@GrimDarkDude]

What a brilliantly fun series and way of doing this

[@jeremiahfranz9776]

At this pace, we'll get to game 100 on October 21st 2039. I'll see you all then

[@basieellington6493]

Oh man, I love the format. So much energy and it's great to see all three of you together discussing games hands-on... And yeah, Quest for El Dorado definitely belongs above Agricola. Such an underrated game! Didn't even win the Spiel des Jahres,

[@glum_procedure]

Great Stuff as always 👍

[@therizinosauruscheloniform2162]

This is such an exciting video!

[@kevandodds]

I would love to buy some SU&SD merch. I love all of your reviews!

[@siyuanxi9985]

All three of you guys! Fantastic!!!

[@Duck_Ellington]

Can we bring in a lip reading expert to examine the review section with the lost audio?

[@mungomidge1090]

Bought a copy on the strength of this review and we absolutely love it!

[@richardguidote8490]

Very much looking forward for the next installment. Just wishing that it would be on a fix or regular interval. I was waiting for so long and thought that the series was dumped. :)

[@martinteece8983]

So happy the second game was this one, since it Such a cool idea for a race game with deck builder

[@ezee_27]

I'm loving these top 100 videos, but I'm also wondering, can we see the full playthrough too?

[@raphajacob]

At least tell us who won the game.

[@littlewooll8]

I love this series

[@EForrest88]

Love El Dorado, bought it after your guys first reviewed it, don't get to play it with the family enough though as there's five of us!

[@Cosmitzian]

Race for El Dorado has got to be in any boardgamer's collection, i feel even if you can only have ten boxes of any game, it should. It's such an infinitely replayable experience and works across so many skill levels and if you can look over the somewhat dated theme, it's a real winner of a game and always produces a good time.

[@jandean9268]

Watching the ebb and flow of Matt’s beard is quite interesting too…

[@EngMadison]

Played this game for the first time this year with the cave expansion and loved it!

[@WoodTurtleElbows]

Well I wasn’t planning on buying anymore boardgames in 2024, but 8 minutes in and I’m sold. Reminds me of clank and I love clank.

[@Nezbo]

Love Clank too, and I love this. Word of warning, there are multiple versions out with different artwork right now, the version they play here is the old art. For whatever reason not all previous expansion are out for the new art version and there are new expansion(s) out for the new that can't be used with the old. Probably safest to go with the new one though :) (Vincent Dutrait art)

[@ratguy69]

The new version has larger cards, which I prefer but some people don’t as they take up a lot of space. Also, there are some out there who are tired of Dutrait’s art style. I’m not one of them though. In my country this game is pretty hard to find, so I was happy to get either version.

[@tomgp]

further confusing matters there are now 2 versions with the new art where the cards and board pieces are slightly different sizes 🫠

[@jonnyramsden1161]

I'd say clank has definitely borrowed from the mechanics of this one pretty heavily. I haven't played this but the similarities are pretty clear

[@Odi_A]

This is all well and good, but when are you doing Oath?

[@senorfix]

Argh, so sorry you forgot to roll the audio. Just did that yesterday while interviewing a subject for a docuseries I'm working on. Realized it before the subject left so was able to redo. Anywho, carry on with the great material.

[@Cosmitzian]

I heavily recomend for everyone to just always record ambiance on a separate device. It won't be perfect, but it will be /something/ if anything happens to your audio, as well as sometimes actually working well as a way to compensate audio deficiencies. Also, video without audio is entirely useless outside of b-roll, but you can absolutely salvage an audio-only recording in an interview setup.

[@scottdarrington6009]

My favorite game (tied with two others). If you've played the base game and thought, "Hey, this is pretty neat," you have ~got to try some of the amazing community maps you can find on BGG. And once you've seen how robust the base game can be, my oh my, the three expansions bust the door wide open. It's an amazing thing.

[@AshleyRiddell]

Dangers and Muisca! Adding the 4 Key Shrines just launches this game into another dimension.

[@StuartHetzler]

my first 'modern' board game. picked it up randomly at a bookstore a long time ago and it's been an endless money pit ever since

[@stormburns]

Got me confused how you could spend a lot of money on QfE but I guess you mean on the hobby 😂

[@tahunuva4254]

​@@stormburnsmaybe _in_ the game?

[@testingreadaboutit]

Love these

[@ytubeanon]

while this particular board game doesn't interest me, the idea of a Top 100 series is a very good one, perhaps with a dedicated playlist

[@Pat43489]

It's actually the second in the series. The first entry of the list was about 57 days ago

[@Groovestonenz]

Ah what a lovely birthday present, thanks SUSD!

[@basieellington6493]

Happy Birthday! 😊

[@andrewbellavie795]

This is my favorite deck building game

[@aztecjaguar6571]

„Silent Quinns“ is a new innovative psychological horror card-based euro-boardgame RPG crossover… coming to Kickstarter soon.

[@GeneralHomsar]

I don't think you played the caves quite right... but awesome video please make more!

[@martinkremer412]

You are great guys.

[@hudeduge9240]

Enjoying the big breakfast vibe.

[@j-mc2144]

Went into this absolutely convinced I didn't care about this game. Wow the game design is so simple and fun. Amazing game I MUST get!

[@THESP-rz3hg]

The quest for elevated dorado. A true classic (of a SUSD joke)

[@andywhy5879]

An excellent second game for the series. I've played both this and Agricola many, many times and while I rank El Dorado highly, it is definitely below Agricola in my estimates. The occupation cards add so much more replayability. Looking forward to the next game!

[@gordonsloan4332]

Played this for the first time at a board game cafe with my kids (5/7) - had such a great time. we all got to El Dorado at the same time with my daughter winning on points - brill

[@wanplaypause]

I’m holding back from buying this because I want the version with Victor Dutrait’s artwork but can’t seem to find anywhere selling it in London!

[@christopherhealey8807]

Will "the Stig' be test driving Heat next?

[@throwawwy53]

the magnet board reminds me of Top Gear and their coolness board speaking of, your board does need a second dimension other than "good" and "less good"

[@IndianaGeologist]

Great video gents

[@mchamberlain7408]

So I bought the game based on this video....and I'm not disappointed. My wife and son have enjoyed three games of it already (it's hard to get them playing games).

[@mchamberlain7408]

I also have to say....it's LITERALLY the only game I didn't need to watch a rules explanation for. The rule book was so easy to understand

[@gawys28]

Loved it

[@witteverheul]

Could you pretty pretty pleasse do a review of Rite?

[@tylerttinsley]

The only ranking for the top 100 should be if it’s above or below Agricola.

[@nwillett2884]

Maybe I missed it in the video, but now I really want to see the playthrough. Is it available anywhere?

[@fungiplays2289]

Matt attempting to Private Baldrick that false moustache on top of his real one was a treat to behold

[@Resuarus]

There's something uniquely hilarious about watching a top 100 series that won't have any rankings for what will surely be years until there are 100 games discussed.

[@alexdan380]

Still one of the best top 100 board game list. 😂😂😂

[@ChristopherZAR]

I love and respect you guys and really appreciate the effort that you put into this, getting the motivation and energy to re-record a whole discussion about this game. But I have to politely protest. Allthough El Dorado is a lot of fun, each game of it can feel incredibly similar and the skill ceiling is not very high. I agree that Agricola is (somewhat) harder to get into and just enjoy, but I would say it has a lot more potential for endless replays and developing strategy. I just want to raise a hand for trying to bump Agricola up :P (I know you probably don't want to open the can of worms of allowing games to be swapped in subsequent videos, but I have to try)

[@derrickoakes4879]

2 down. 98 more to go.

[@nib71286]

Since you are having trouble ranking them, check out board game barrage's 3 person vote: pup meeple but if two people disagree, the third person breaks the tie. Also, this series will be interesting if the three hosts are able to stay the same throughout 🤔

[@ag806]

This way of ranking is so much better and makes more sense than these ridiculous top 100 lists other channels release.

[@funkoxen]

Tom Vassel does a top 100 games , there are 300 games in it, he gets through it in a month and everyone is in the same room the entire time What do you have to say to that, eh?

[@spencercapier2258]

Surely there are some trained lip readers in the SUASD universe who could create a transcript and then you could use AI voices of your favorite cartoon characters to redo the voices of the commentary? I mean, how hard could it be?🙂

[@xanadu1215]

This game is more fun with Loui Martini Cabinet Sauvignon

[@Benjahmin1138]

There’s only supposed to be 4 cave tiles on each cave, not in a pool.

[@NestorMandela]

Top 5 Knizia and maybe the best deck building game ❤

[@alexderosa791]

Man I love Race games, Flamme Rouge is tops for me but Qfed is up there too!!

[@korylemon8911]

Looking forward to the finale of this series in 2032

[@mattroso1210]

excellent moustache :D

[@golgarisoul]

And here i had assumed you stopped the series of videos with its first one as a joke. Good to see you back at it!

[@christopherleffler4096]

Can we take a moment to marvel that Matt is one of the few human beings who can actually pull off a moustache?

[@xCriticalStrikex]

I love deck builders but this one didn't hit home for me. Maybe I need to revisit it?

[@fazzi4019]

It fell flat for me too

[@roundishwhale]

I am entirely convinced that the audio was borked on purpose xD It feels like such a good bit😅

[@travismorton9727]

I have to agree, closed captioning, this *is* a rhino classic.

[@Flip5ide]

Great game 🙂

[@Timothyjackman]

the animations only get smoother my goodness

[@zakwhite5159]

I always hoped there would be an expansion to play at higher player counts.

[@General_153]

do you make the lists or is it a set list you are following?

[@kimbalfour]

I will need access to a cryogenic sleep chamber to have any chance of viewing the hundredth episode.

[@reubenm.d.5218]

That box is huge. Does it need to be that big?

[@RulebooksForYou]

Yeah good game bro!

[@danielpetersen8753]

It’s going to take about 4 years to get all 100 games 😂

[@jameskeith6009]

Oh dear, Matt's delight in using cave tokens is based on them playing with *so many* wrong rules with how they work... EDIT: Turns out I had gotten part of it wrong myself, I had originally thought players could only acquire a token if they finished their *movement* next to a cave space, but the rules do specify that it's if you finish resolving a *card* to move next to a cave space. I'll have to remember that for next time!

[@chress98]

they did teach it correctly in the original video though, so maybe that's just some houserules they play with

[@AggelosFelekis]

He went back and forth to take the cave token though, the only wrong rule they got Is the unlimited supply but we don't really know If any player took a 5th cave token or not

[@chress98]

@@AggelosFelekis yes, but you're also not allowed to pick up more than one token per round, are you?

[@AggelosFelekis]

@@chress98 I missed that, did he take 2 In a single round? Yeah I am pretty sure that's wrong

[@basieellington6493]

@@chress98 not just that. When you start your turn next to a cave, you must first end your turn somewhere else and then come back to the cave if you want another cave token

[@Greggiexplore]

Can you combine two copies of Eldorado for longer play?