Best Board Game Cover ...Again! - Live Voting Show

[@SanswayNuna]

I think Joey is hilarious and a great addition to the atmosphere of the group :) When they were talking about art around 1:38:00 and he said "That's an outlet sir" *Chefs Kiss"

[@NoNicknameRequired]

I watched the previous video on the subject right after watching this one. Here are some great covers that are way better than most of the ones mentioned in either video: - Anno 1800; - Detective: City of Angels; - Fury of Dracula 2nd Edition; - Kemet: Blood and Sand; - The Quest for El Dorado (Vincent Dutrait version).

[@Spiritoftheway333]

I highly agree with Mike on this one. The cover for Mind MGMT is flipping awesome!

[@flanakookn]

Fantastic "commentary" Zee was in rare form and all of you were just fabulous

[@natenoonen2235]

The Zee rant at the beginning is my favorite Dice Tower rant in awhile. It hit a bit too close to home as well :D

[@namelessfire]

It was hilarious, and he was spitting facts.

[@albertfajarito1]

What I love most about this video is the chemistry between the 4 gents in the screen.

[@WhatUpRob]

1:28:37 through 1:29:10 clip that now for end of the year highlights. Oh my goodness Zee you wonderful person.

[@stephenball2108]

I might be biased because I love the game, but man that My Father’s Work cover I feel is one of the very best game covers. It’s so evocative. It’s eerie, exciting, kind of campy, and all these things just sum up what the gameplay is like. I know that goes against the idea of just voting on the cover with no consideration for the game, but it’s definitely hard to do that when you have played the game, it makes good covers pop more.

[@VaultBoy13]

I've never played it and don't have any interest in it, but it was among the best covers in this competition. Better than this month's winner and last month's winner.

[@cailin5301]

I've never played and the theme sounds awful to me, but that cover is so compelling and evocative.

[@stephenball2108]

@@cailin5301 The theme actually is a bit different than it seems it would be, and it’s VERY tongue in cheek and humorous which softens the potentially dark theme and story. It’s funny, I say it’s my favorite legacy game, because it feels like full legacy campaign condensed into a single sitting.

[@warblefly81]

It lost to a game with a very similar vibe of moodiness and suspense. Covert’s action takes place between the two on the path, leaving us wondering what is going to happen in that interaction. My Father’s Work’s action was taking place in the house, leaving us wondering what is going on inside that mysterious house getting rocked with lighting, and what is that electricity charging up in there. I think it came down to more realism, vs more stylized art.

[@IdlestHands]

To each their own. It's well executed but as you said, it looks campy. Like a knockoff Disney film. Doesnt do it for me.

[@KarelTiteca]

A mistake was made. Wild Serengeti lost to Red Rising in the first round, and still it was featured in the second round and Red Rising wasn't. :)

[@c.w.2000]

They should have had the results verified by the real Deloitte & Touche instead of knock-off Alotte of Tush. 😀

[@zachras9643]

Red Rising would have beaten wayfarers in the next round too. It got robbed🙂

[@JerzyMuller]

WS cover is so bat it lost twice in the single-elimination bracket 😉

[@torchsight8258]

Android Bosley actually created the Earth cover, and i don't understand how it made it so far, tribes of the wind would have been my winner

[@vanyaserra1]

Zee, I haven't played Brass but I love that cover. The color composition is great. I admit I love the Earth cover too.

[@JosephFlemming]

I still have Anno 1800, haven’t played yet, and still own it mainly for that AMAZING cover art.

[@hyvll]

Wonderful to see Ash on the panel. 😆😉

[@ryananthony110]

Is that Bruce? 🧟‍♂

[@kommodore6691]

Like Jason Segel and Bruce Campbell had a baby

[@JonTalbain777]

Ah I loved the last one of these but missed this one, sadly. I would have gone with Unconscious Mind all the way by a long shot, but I would also pick both Everdell and On Mars from the last show easily over any of these. One cover I'm surprised didn't get selected to compete (I think) is Nemesis, which is pretty iconic. One that I've always been partial to personally is 7th Continent, which feels really dark and mysterious and evocative to me, and really fits the tone the game aspires to.

[@ClaudiaRodriguez-yq1qx]

I love this kind of competition....cause you are all so funny 🤣🤣

[@marcohoehener463]

I have one game in my collection almost entirely because of the cover. Thats Reykholt. That one really was missing here 😶

[@Lanxe]

How on 'Earth' did Earth get so far in that vote? It's a photoshopped picture of a landscape. It's exactly what they say - a cheap calendar picture. It doesn't look bad, it's just nowhere near as interesting as the games it went up against.

[@jefferygould5788]

It's actually a real place (Mt. Kirkjufell in Iceland), but I agree with you, it shouldn't have made it that far.

[@WhatUpRob]

It may be a real place but the picture has been doctored, manufactured, enhanced to a point it doesn’t seem like a real photo anymore. The cheap calendar comp is so perfect, it looks good but is lifeless.

[@fingolfinfinwe]

100% agree, and another implication that folks are heavily swayed by how much they like or how excited they are about a game. Pretty much impossible to remove that aspect from folks considerations on this topic.

[@rogermccray]

I've never played Earth but I think it's a beautiful cover

[@guillermoz4914]

I agree, weak sauce.

[@BoredOnlineBoardOffline]

I don’t understand the hate for the Brass cover. I absolutely love that cover!

[@mikintosh6111]

I hope they do another of these at some point for recent releases covers. I want to see Sankore go up.

[@AahzmandusPervect]

Wow, there were a lot of covers that had no place in any discussion about being the best. Earth?Eko? Really? I particularly love the Yukon Airways cover that never seems to be mentioned.

[@fenixreborn3834]

The Yukon Airways cover is amazing!

[@lastburning]

Brass Birmingham has the more beautiful cover of the two.

[@MadMark118]

Mind MGMT has lovely highlighting, in addition to being fun on its core image.

[@stevewithington1787]

Well, commented about Brass: Birmingham, Lisboa and Kanban EV in the last video. None of them got put forward (in fact, the inferior Lancashire was chosen over Birmingham). Meanwhile, absolutely trash covers like Under Falling Skies get put forward.

[@stephenball2108]

I actually do think Brass Birmingham is one of the best covers ever, it’s not a game I’m excited about but the cover is stunning.

[@jamesjacobthomson6198]

​@@stephenball2108 The cover is literally a puddle. The best looking puddle I've ever seen. But still a puddle.

[@koalabrownie]

Black Angel looks like a John Berkey imitation, very dynamic lines, and that lost to man in a hat looking with a smokestack? Yeeesh

[@josephreidy6323]

Great fun, even when I disagreed. :) It'd be fun to do two more competitions on the best/ugliest game boards.

[@boardgameplays]

I don't think people are trying to be biased towards new games, but it's tough not to he a little. Once a game has sat on your shelf for a bit it loses it's "wow" factor. The mystery of a game you haven't yet opened, and the interest of a new cover is easy to get excited about. Mysterium cover, for example, no longer makes me excited. I've seen it so much.

[@KingdmHeartsFan]

Joey literally has the best laugh I have ever heard. Awesome addition to the trio. Would love to see him in some more videos.

[@WhatUpRob]

23:27 Why wasn’t the box cover for the completion collection of Petrichor used, it’s so much better?

[@WhatUpRob]

And the very next game, Ashes…, a specific cover was used because “it looks better than the other version”, Petrichor should get a reentry

[@Atlas-FM8]

In case you do a third one of these, I humbly put forward the original Lewis and Clarke cover for your consideration.

[@greenatom]

The background should be a neutral color, slightly dark, to allow the colors to stand out. And each pair of games should be sized as evenly as possible.

[@spencernewman7041]

I have never played Pax Pamir (either edition), but the second edition cover is pretty cool. I can definitely see why it made the list, even if I think Terror Below is slightly better.

[@nzcamel3]

No Zee. I put Pax Pamir on the options in Tom's BG post because I love the cover! Not because I think the game is awesome. FFS. There are plenty of games I think are awesome that have ugly covers, so don't belong on this list! I probably rate around ten games a 9 or 10 on BGG, and the vast majority of them I didn't add to the poll options. On the other hand there are plenty of games I don't like, but that I "voted for"* when following along at home. (*I missed the live streams)

[@nzcamel3]

And then you almost like Oath to a man!? I like it, but generic city scape vs Pax Pamir's stylised writing with the mountains of Afghanistan looming in the background!? No competition!

[@twdpepper6012]

Wow. Red Rising robbed! One of my favorites!! Even when it wins the vote, it doesn't move on. 😆 #rigged

[@warblefly81]

Never played the game or read the source material, but I always thought that box cover is super cool. So striking and memorable.

[@twdpepper6012]

@@warblefly81 Really is striking. I've not read the books either, but love the game! Just as much color inside the box as is on the outside.😍

[@IdlestHands]

Were Pret-A-Porter, Sorcerer City and Vindication in the first grouping?

[@victorhahs3798]

My personal favorite cover (not that anyone asked) is Cloudspire. Does anyone else feel the same?

[@garicb9271]

How do you separate the game from the box art when one of the goals of the box art is to introduce the game.

[@warblefly81]

I for one prefer the original Brass cover which I always thought was about a circus when I first got into the hobby. 😂😂😂

[@warblefly81]

TBH, I think both the new version of Lancashire and Birmingham are both really cool. They evoke this feeling of Grimy, wet industrial age England perfectly.

[@kirbyrock5]

Rayguns and Rocket Ships cover makes me wish we could get some Space Man Spiff style cover art from Bill Watterson.

[@searose6192]

I like the look of Moonrakers and Brass better already.

[@brandonmarkwell6613]

Everdell baby! Keeps the crown

[@robinmarks4771]

Cherry Tree is beautiful, Inis is exquisite. What a tragedy.

[@VexylObby]

It is wild to me the amount of people that seemed to vote on the game they just liked better.

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

I love the Brass cover. I've never played the game.

[@JonoNZBoardGamer]

Idea for the next live stream like this: Best unique game component

[@rogermccray]

I don't understand why Mike excuses the bad art because it's "true to the original art" or "they did it on purpose". That doesn't make it good, or in case of the other video, not bad.

[@jefferygould5788]

Final two should have been My Father's Work vs Unconscious Mind (and btw, it is Mind, not Minds, as it was repeatedly called in the video). Earth made it too far. Yeah, technically photography is art, but it shouldn't be considered as artwork in this context when going against actual creative artwork for a boardgame cover. It's just a photo of Mt Kirkjufell in Iceland. I could have done something similar myself, whereas I couldn't have made any of the other covers, as I'm not an artist.

[@IdlestHands]

It's not which is the best art, its which is the best cover

[@ErmacFellwalker]

I wish I'd watched this live so I could have asked whether you meant the *cover* or the art work itself. These are two different things. For example, the art of Galzyr was definitely better than Mind Management, but as a cover, MM works miles better

[@Animal_board_gamer]

I did put a bunch of red raven games and none of the ones I put in from the Facebook poll were in it. Well I submit them again the next time you guys do it.

[@nzcamel3]

The Brass Lancashire cover is beautiful. It isn't just people voting for the game!

[@cailin5301]

I like it quite a lot myself - not my favorite cover of all time, but certainly a very nice one. I'd have voted for it in Round 1. I've never played the game.

[@fingolfinfinwe]

It is nice, but sorry I do think folks were voting for the game, because Black Angel's cover is ridic great.

[@nzcamel3]

@@fingolfinfinwe that's just subjective taste. I'm not saying that Black Angel doesn't have a nice cover, it does! But both Brass covers capture that industrial revolution theme amazingly. I wouldn't have voted for Lancashire cos I love the game. I would have voted for it because I LOVE the cover!! Don't accuse people of doing something underhanded when tastes vary so wildly.

[@torchsight8258]

yup, i don't like the game but i think the cover looks great

[@fingolfinfinwe]

@@nzcamel3 The entire topic is subjective... and I'm not accusing you specifically, lol, but still do have a strong hunch that game preference is at play here. But yes this is all just opinions being thrown around here.

[@JoeyOstrander]

I expect that, if all voters composed their own lists of top 5 game covers, no two lists would be the same. Art is too subjective to achieve an honest collective ranked list. ... But it's fun to try.

[@jonathanzj620]

I'm surprised trekking through history won anything....I find that cover to be an overly colorful mess. Moonrakers is classy and retro.

[@namelessfire]

I unironically think Roads and Boats should have been on this list.

[@Crs9072]

So many of these covers should never be on the these lists. Also what we can take from these lists is that people seem to be really into pretty colors and pictures way more than stylish and clean covers.

[@nathannemeth4094]

This video absolutely affirmed that my taste in artwork is completely different from that of The Dice Tower. I really don’t like chopped up bright pieces stitched together and I can’t stand the pencil crayon look of Vincent’s work.

[@themeeplesociety]

I am confused by the fact that WIld Serengeti got beat twice? Once in the first round by Red Rising, then again in the 2nd round by Wayfares?

[@bushibayushi]

That Earth cover looks like a generic 3D render... really dislike this style.

[@glow2hi]

earth was such a bad cover, how did it make it so far?

[@m-sousa]

I'm seeing quite a level of negativity in the comments. I am kind of astonished by that uau... I don't feel like earth is a bad picture/cover; the thing, for me, is that it misses a "cinematography" element. In the first match-up, Century's cover tells me more story than Earth's; also the same, and more, for Iki. That is why I feel Pax Pamir was an odd cover to show up here, it doesn't tell me anything besides being good calligraphy. From the final 4, Tribes of the Wind was my choice and I think it could (would?) win against Everdell. That covers fires my imagination for what it exists behind it. Unconscious Minds is a great piece of art too, but it misses that element for me. Bottom line, I had fun with this and I liked to see Joey in this set. Good job!

[@randalladkins7452]

Great fun … again! :)

[@GameWeekendChalbie]

I need to see Covert in person cuz I’m not understanding the love for that cover

[@jeffbuckler5625]

And the other side was a face, but covered by a gun. Hahahaha

[@hanslamal5632]

Cosmic Frog!

[@harryofgo]

Wonderlands War is a Hot Topic pin

[@garesonc9672]

Who is Joey Evans exactly? Never seen him on the DT.

[@theoldman2821]

Mike's semi-replacement.

[@adwilliams1987]

He's just a friend of Tom's met him at the board game meet up or a show or something and he's been a dice tower contributor for a little while. Not a board game industry insider to my knowledge.

[@AahzmandusPervect]

With Mike leaving Florida, I hoped Roy or Chis would get more screen time. I'm not sure how I feel about Joey.

[@ryanwantland]

@@AahzmandusPervect Mike is leaving?

[@ThaGamingMisfit]

I guess I'm making myself unpopular by saying I don't feel anything special looking a the cover of Unconscious Mind NOR Tribes of the Wind. I felt really different watching this one, my favorites were out in round one or two. A big difference with the first covers video where I could pretty much agree with most winners. But these ones? I'm missing something here, I mean how did Heat get in these 64, heck let alone to the final 8??? I guess it's the selection of 64 that gave me that feeling. Almost felt like Eurovision where the winner is already decided months before the event takes place because people just follow hype.

[@ConPictures]

Sadly, it's really tough for idiosyncratic and unique covers to make the cut in this format. I even haven't played Pax Pamir, but it's obvious to me why it was selected. It's a gorgeous caligraphic cover, no image, no generic font, just a magnificent design of letters. On the other hand there's an understandable bias towards "just beautiful" covers, that evoke positive feelings (looking at you Everdell and Earth). The Brass Cover is one example. It conveys the apocalyptic rise of industrialisation and capitalism perfectly. It doesn't want to make you feel good (too dark etc.). That's why it will never reach the finals on those formats. I really would have liked it more if the covers would be more discussed as actual board game covers, not just images. I really hated the prominent placement of icons and logos on the cherry tree cover, despite the image. The whole package needs to be good. This includes the game itself. How is the cover working as a prelude to the game itself? Is ist detached from the game (not so good) or does it capture the game perfectly? This is the reason why I would exclude unreleased titles from those competitions. The cult of the new is very prominent here (UM as the winner and Sail and Earth as front runners). People get excited about the games they would like to play. And mostly they only got the cover to look at when it's still unreleased. And this is a quite "unfair" advantage to the older/released titles. Nevertheless, nice format and excited for more! :-)

[@djmurp2]

Mostly agree, I would say there’s a preference for “pretty” rather than beautiful and often fantasy subjects and over saturated color. Covers are marketing and that’s not the same thing as art broadly defined.

[@m-sousa]

I think they said from the beginning they wanted to discuss the art in the images alone and not the composition of the cover. It is a valid setting for these match-ups and I agree with it. In that manner, I actually think Pipeline could have pass the 1st round. The image in the cover is quite amazing, but then the cover set loses some points.

[@ConPictures]

@@m-sousa ah, i missed that part. That explains some decisions. As a basis for this format i think it‘s suboptimal and it kinda ignores the work of grafic designers and layouters that went into the covers, especially in the case of pipeline.

[@ianoble]

Why does it seem like Mike's mic is off lately?

[@fenixreborn3834]

I confess myself disappointed my most of the covers selected for this competition. The commentary was good as always, but next time you do this, I would suggest having all 4 hosts submit 16 covers they really like, which would give you 64 covers to let the live chat vote on.

[@Valcurdra]

I am constantly on FB including the Dice Tower page where is comment or post almost daily. Why do I never see these posts by Tom about these videos?

[@cailin5301]

Facebook is really weird and I hate how it shows some posts but not all. I always change the sorting to Newest posts and then scroll down to make sure I'm not missing any. But to be extra sure, you could try searching "Tom Vasel" and clicking on his name to see all his posts

[@warblefly81]

They often get pinned to the top of the DT FB page once they’ve run their course of being in your feed.

[@Mogurt1986]

Is it just me or did it feel like Tom and Mike were genuinely butting heads a lot lol? Hard to tell if they were just messing around at times.

[@m-sousa]

They were just messing, no doubts on that

[@blakebush7661]

Brass is a great cover regardless of the game. I don't get their criticism.

[@RadeTcg]

They should really just take the board games for this and show the actual covers. A picture of it doesn’t do it justice

[@Coastercinder]

Art remains subjective, but compared to last time for me this clearly was the "B-list". With a few exceptions I didn´t care about almost any of these.

[@mazman9355]

1:08:40 I don't want to ever see Zee's Terror Below.🤢

[@carlthompson170]

Wow, strange votes and opinions on this. Still waiting for people to acknowledge the impact typography has on a cover. A cover like Struggle of Empires suffers so much from its typography. And it's the only reason Earth looks good.

[@carlthompson170]

Even then, I'm not that impressed with Earth's type either.

[@tabletalkreviews]

That is not what the MIND MGMT cover looks like. It is not off centre like that and the text is in different areas. Also helps to see in person, there are UV text and hidden details, very cool production.

[@jonathanzj620]

No idea about source material on Mind Mgmt but it's a great cover. Galzyr is super duper generic fantasy looking.

[@joshjenson8111]

A lot of these covers were generic and ugly, earth and heat are generic looking covers yet they both advanced only because they're popular games

[@Qyro]

Really don’t understand how Covert managed to get so far. What an unremarkable cover, and it somehow beat multiple stunners.

[@jpotter2086]

Listen to my BFA and agree with me forever: Moonrakers was robbed.

[@rabidpickle]

These are always fun, but you can tell this is round TWO of the best covers. Last time It seemed like everyone mostly liked all the covers This time there was so much: "I HATE that cover!" "What?!" "You LIKE that?!" "How dare you!" I'm surprised a duel didn't break out. Surprised and a little disappointed.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Glad to see Dungeon Degenerates win! Fantastic.

[@Fluffusmaximus]

JOEY!!!!

[@andrewwilson895]

I don't particularly like most of these, and most of the ones I did like lost in the first round. -_-

[@guillermoz4914]

Heat should have won!

[@AdamWhitehead111]

I believe in the stupidity of masses... it is a thing that definitely exists.

[@bigd5773]

The best board game cover should be the cover that makes me want to play the game the most. Some of these seemed like the best board game cover lost to the better artwork, which isn’t always the same thing.

[@seahawksfan9168]

cosmic frog got ROBBED, wonderlands war is the most overrated cover of all time

[@nzcamel3]

Not surprised the DT audience choose Petrichor over Fire in the Lake :/

[@ramonosuke]

We need a worst covers… again video. I know they’re are more horrible ones

[@TheWildernessEnthusiast]

The pollens must be old, most of these decisions were just terrible and dated

[@odditie]

7th Continent should have been included in this. By far my favorite cover.

[@_Cervantez]

#inisgotrobbed

[@danpsou]

The critique of Tom's taste in art is on par with some of the funnies DT moments ever, in my book. But I have poor taste in comedy.

[@Hybridtheory2007]

Joey needs to have firm opinions, he does too much flip-flopping and presenting a non-committal thought before agreeing with Tom or Mike

[@jonathanzj620]

Encyclopedias cover is nice, but it's very generic and doesn't really evoke anything

[@TheGatorDude]

Turned off when Brass Lancashire won, realized the people voting didn't understand the premise.

[@ralelunar]

The blessing and curse of democracy 😂

[@fingolfinfinwe]

Didn't turn it off, but 100% agreed.

[@Szurumbur]

That is simply BS. The game has absolutely great cover. I have not played it once.

[@ferver-san]

18% of people voted for a stylized font over actual art in Pax Pamir vs Terror from Below. Talk about bad taste.

[@EngMadison]

Fire in the lake lost to that cover?! Well, I'm outta here.

[@EngMadison]

Much like BGG rankings...my preferences do not match the voting populous. Too bad, your loss 😜

[@grantofat6438]

64 garbage covers.