Top 10 Annoying Characters in Board Games

[@eddieb8054]

Laughing that Zee said, "By now they should have written Bob out." When the final scenario does exactly that.

[@Spudkitty513]

I stalled on watching this particular Top 10 because I figured, having not played 300 games a year, that I wouldn't know most of the characters, cards, etc. which would be mentioned. While that is true, this video is hilarious! One of the best ones Zee, Tom, and Sam have done because they are so passionate about their choices. Really … watch this in its entirety and you will be thoroughly entertained!

[@ShadowedSaintTV]

Awesome Top 10... Almost didnt watch when I saw the topic, but this is one of the most entertaining lists yet!

[@AJ-nc4vr]

I played mansions of madness, and didn't know about the "no talking card". I honestly thought I'd upset one of our players somehow, it wasn't until the game finished I found out why they went quiet all of a sudden!

[@CobisTaba]

Ouch!

[@BCB8823]

"But why? ... Because of this bird!!" is my favorite highlight from any top 10

[@StuartHetzler]

not a character per se, but "shuffle a solved mystery back into the deck"

[@johansvanborg5870]

That card mysteriously disappeared from my game.

[@Shad0wSix]

Can I say the city of "Santiago" on the Pandemic board?

[@adilmajid8785]

I thought my and my gaming group were the only ones with issues with Santiago, nice to know we're not the only ones 😂

[@MoriMemento117]

YES!!!!

[@johansvanborg5870]

I changed to the legacy board.

[@jcb3393]

"The King" in "Love Letter" is probably the most annoying, because it is the only card that - when combined with the Princess - can guarantee a loss at the end of the game. Even without the King/Princess combo being your last two cards, the King's only advantage is his high number. If you ever play it, it's almost as bad as playing the Princess - nearly sure death after playing.

[@TylerAndToast]

This video needs more thumbs up. Love how you went in to detail on how these character and pieces worked in relation to the game as a whole. Enjoyable video.

[@Monkeyb00y]

Sam's #8 is like the "no talking" card in Star Trek Five Year Mission. NO one can talk to each other.

[@wroot_lt]

"Everything flies!!" - Sam reacting to Wingspan :D

[@sledgemofo1898]

The Omega Virus taunting you, chirping “help me, help me” was definitely painful. Good call Tom.

[@Pulpaldabadies]

12:05 That is why, in Catan, you use your cards BEFORE rolling, so you don’t lose half of it to the robber.

[@thomascocks9136]

I didn't think you could do that? I thought u had to roll at beginning of turn?

[@roundtuit2587]

We had someone win with the "You Win" Space Base card. At least in our experience it just made it really tense with everyone racing that one player. I love that Bob was a triple crossover! :D He is really fun to hate.

[@TheZMage]

This. It’s not easy to use and if you’ve got a strategy that makes it work you deserve it

[@stevehager]

Can we please have more segments dedicated to Zee as Bob critiquing players' games??

[@scyldscefing3913]

I hate bob. My entire gaming group hates bob. My daughter, who doesn't play the game, hates bob. My cat hates Bob. The birds in my yard stop chirping, and the toilets in my house spontaneously flush, when Bob makes a game appearance.

[@mauriziobriosi7037]

And people who do not give you a full briefing before the loud machine cover them....

[@elizabethlestrad5282]

Especially when Bob tries to sell you insurance...

[@konstantinstepanov5461]

My addition to the annoying characters is Roose Bolton in GoT Board Game. Literally just lets House Stark get all their cards back turning their whole game into a meta of loosing some fights on purpose. When you see a player start throwing 1 soldier into your army you know Roose is coming.

[@KuddlyKisses]

The "iron" in Monopoly. I don't trust that guy.

[@Pulpaldabadies]

If Monopoly were a game, then ok. But its a chore on a board.

[@nilsbaumann9808]

This was my favorite Top 10 ever, by a mile. I am laughing tears :-)

[@paveldundr6390]

I get that robber in Catan can be annoying at times, but at the same time he is a rubber band mechanic. Another complaint you guys had is the luck of the dice - which is correct, probability is not set in stone and in course of one game it's not gonna work the way that 8 comes up exactly as often as 6 and 9 will come up twice as often as 11 etc… Some numbers will come up more often and consequently some players will get more resources by virtue of pure luck. Assumption is the other players will use robber to block the leaders most productive tiles and steal from them to level the playing field and as such mitigate the role of luck. Try playing Catan without the robber (make it so that if you roll 7 you just re-roll until something different comes) and you will find the game much more frustrating because that one guy who built his starting villages next to both tiles with 4 will win just because 4 will come up 8 times out of first 20 rolls this game and there is nothing you can do to stop them...

[@TheMacius99]

That was a pretty interesting and amusing list, keep it up guys ;-)

[@tiagomarques9822]

I just got Space Base and in my first game I got a pretty good engine running. When I had the opportunity to get the “You win” card, I noticed there were several other better ways to win, since getting double sixes five times in your turn is really hard. But there’s a card I will keep out of the game from now on as a house rule, and that’s the one where you need only a seven to remove Victory Points from other players. THAT one IS annoying.

[@cheriet87]

My family got so sick of the Robber in Catan that we changed it to the Social Worker. On a 7, the player can pick one resource from the bank instead of stealing a card from someone.

[@steelman774]

Cheriet that’s pretty ingenious. Instead of kind of hurting the player, your rule kinda helps the player. It still makes almost the same slight random power shift but it has a positive gaming feel instead of a negative one. 🤙

[@Grouik]

So ? Did you buy ice cream for all the dice tower? :D

[@davidw3281]

Moving the “You win” card in Space Base to an easy to roll space is devastating. Also, using a “put a charge counter on another card” ability makes it easy too.

[@ryanheckel37]

My number 1 has to be the die in Dead of Winter, that damn dice always infects my colony

[@DarthNVious]

I would have to argue that it's Gray Beard. You would want to use him as the traitor but that would be asking for an automatic Exile. The dice is just an interesting mechanic...not a character.

[@colinoneill3659]

RE: Sam 9: The robber. We hated the robber so much we changed the rules. Instead, the 'robber' because a 'market'. The market is identical to the robber (7+ hand size effect, & take one card from adjacent), except that the market does NOT stop production. Instead the market acts a port for the good produced where it is located, for those with adjacent towns or cities. So, the person placing the market is giving a benefit to the person that he is taking a card from. Often the market is placed where the person deciding shares the benefit with a neighbor, after taking one of their cards. It keeps the competitive nature of the robber, but accelerates the game (by adding a mobile port) instead of slowing the game (stopping production).

[@jshaffer3370]

Nekro Virus does not steal tech from you. They just copy it. The annoying thing is that it makes them VERY aggressive, so it changes that dynamic of the game.

[@thedicetower]

Sam here...I know that...I was speaking in more of a thematic sense than anything else. They don't pay for it, they just take it (hence, my use of the word "steal").

[@jshaffer3370]

Thanks Sam. I have really been enjoying your guys’ content recently. This almost made me laugh as much as the “Top 10 games we hate” video.

[@Straddllw]

@@thedicetower They don't get to vote though and can't research any tech so they're at the mercy of whatever tech people around the table researches. Nekro is not that good. Personally I find Mentak more annoying for stealing my damn trade good.

[@john-paulmacdonagh1014]

Sounds like the people’s republic of China in every business partnership

[@dorpth]

The thing I hate about Nekro is that they're entirely dependent on who their neighbors are and they sink or swim based on just that. Neighbors to N'orr? They're going to get stomped. Jol-Nar? They're going to roll over everything.

[@alexgimenez6716]

I propose a new game: the dice tower crumbles. It's a story game where Bob send the players to the Mansion of Madness. All players but "you" have the flying dragons clan. The first card you reveal is the Silence card. An hour later, someone plays the Back witch and everything is reset. Fortunately, when you were about to hit some points, Fenrir changes the scoring system. Sound like a terrible nightmare... Hahahaha

[@Ky-kx2hd]

"Does it have batteries?" "Yeah..." "Then burn it." LOL

[@trekker02]

Space Base: I like the card, but I think Tom's off in saying it's "almost impossible to win". One player has pulled it off twice in our group. You just have to have other die manipulation in play.

[@natelinhart114]

I spit out my food laughing at all the Bob bashing 😂

[@susanjohnson318]

I loved the pouring salt in the wounds and rubbing it in.

[@natelinhart114]

​@@susanjohnson318 Haha. Me too. Never played Time Stories, but I love Bob just because he gave me this video..

[@clarenceneal2622]

The card in Guillotine that keeps the players from regiggering the line. It takes all the fun out of the game.

[@JonSolo85]

"You hate wings you... Birdist!" -Tom

[@LeeroyPorkins]

Fire Giant & Mountain Troll (Blood Rage) Nanok as the Champion in Lair of the Wyrm (Descent 2nd) Tainted Abomination (Massive Darkness Crossover Kit) Gravestorm (Castle Ravenloft) The Pride that is ALWAYS successful at roaring (Roar: King of the Pride) The Imperial Class that piles Strain on the Rebels (Imperial Assault) Though in all honesty, you could have the Robber (Catan) give the active player 2 resources of the spot it's placed instead of stealing (It's already in Catan Jr.)

[@dorpth]

Tsathoggua in Cthulhu Wars. All the expansion factions are pretty poorly balanced in that game, but Tasth is just flat out annoying that drags the game down. He is IMPOSSIBLE to effectively counter play against. His ancient one is literally immortal, and he can delay indefinitely to have free run of the board once everyone's power runs out. Even if every single player teams up against him, at most you would slightly inconvenience him (you might cost him a power or two for every 6 you spend against him). He'll always have at least 2 gates (you cannot take the one his immortal ancient one is at, and another one is off the board and unassailable). The thing is, he isn't the strongest faction that's most likely to win. He's not as flat out overpowered as Wind Walker or one-trick gimmicky as Opener of the Way, but he's definitely the most annoying because there is no way to act against him. You just have to treat him as a random natural disaster you can't do anything about and hope he doesn't target you. BUT...all bets are off if Crawling Chaos is in the game, because now he can copy that power and make all his units fly, completely breaking the game. Did I mention that all the expansion factions are terribly balanced?

[@thediceodyssey4690]

100 percent agree with Sam about a few cards in space base. One of our friends nearly rage quit because of that card and one other. Another one was the one that removes points from other people and it’s a 7 card, so the high odds are that it hits a lot and it did one game. We remove the cards from that game when we play now. Smooth sailing and still amazingly fun.

[@davidvandrunen3516]

I like that "Borrower" idea! It delays & interferes, but doesn't stop you.

[@MarcusOfLycia]

Catan Robber Fix (tm): Instead of stealing a card, choose a card from your opponent at random and acquire that resource from the bank. I just made this up so I make no claims as to whether it would be balanced or fun. But it sounds more fun, and I think whenever I get around to playing the game again, I'll be trying it.

[@larrywooters8635]

I love Baltar. I've played him several times and there were actually several games where I never ended up as a Cylon. But, everyone thought I was. lol

[@konstantinstepanov5461]

When I was playing through that scenario of Arkham Horror Dunwich Legacy with those damn birds, I was playing as Zoey and I think she was literally made for smacking those birds as she deals 1 damage with her cross every time she engages an enemy and whiporwills have only 1 health, so you are basically just running after them and they fall to the ground at the sight of your bling. It wasn't as funny as this one monster that was trying to get to a location and would walk away from me and all I was doing with Zoey was chasing him around showing him my cross like a Moroccan bazaar merchant 🤣

[@rectorsquid]

I really hate the Baron in Love Letter when I have two of them in my hand!

[@classicsubmarineguy5477]

Sams number one is extremely insulting to those of us that actually believe that Fenrir is coming back soon to eat the world all up.

[@EmpressInYellow]

Not gonna lie - as soon as I saw this pop up in my feed, my first thought was “I wonder how many times Bob is gonna show up on the lists.” I was not disappointed.

[@natedrumms8035]

Find somebody else... I quit! hahahahaha I was dying.

[@EviLNox8]

I've never once played time stories. Is this bob in it from the core box? You just read dialog? Is he voiced on an app?

[@peterr6062]

@@EviLNox8 He's in the first mission that comes with the core box, and I believe all the expansions (certainly all the ones I have).

[@mattromo]

I've had one guy successfully use the You Win card in Space Base twice.Once it was the last turn, he had a charge to set one die to 6 and successfully rolled the other 6. Another time he managed to move it to the 4 spot and the game was over pretty quickly.

[@normative]

Puzzled by the Nekkro Virus hate: I'd understand if they really did "steal" your tech-meaning you lose access to a tech you spent resources researching-but mechanically it's more like copying your tech. As opposed to, say, Yssaril, which actually does steal your action cards.

[@benjaminmeusburger4254]

Space Base: "I win"-card Our very first 2 games were ended by that card - we destroyed it after a discussion. too many possibilities to get those charges up fast and make every struggle for VP irrelevant. - "place 1 charge anywhere" - "2x?" - my favourite: "exchange this card with any other" - costs only 7 and ->9 to 6 -> 6 to 12 and the "i win" is on the most likely field

[@jcb3393]

Amen about the Robber seeming to block the one number that actually comes up. It seems like it just does that every game: "Not only am I blocking, but I am blocking *JUST* as you are about to roll that number!"

[@Bieranti]

So far this is the greatest top 10 list from Dice Tower that has been released for ages. Tnx for the effort.

[@americanisshh]

Damn birds! I get you Zee XD

[@Wh0isTh3D0ct0r]

The robber mechanic in Catan is specifically designed to discourage card hoarding.

[@xabulense]

Top 1: the dude at the Caylus cover

[@Wh0isTh3D0ct0r]

23:00 The ability for Sorcerers in Small World can only be used once per turn per opponent.

[@CobisTaba]

Yes, but they can do it wherever they want. So impossible to defend against if flying, right?

[@pczplughead]

I love playing as Gaius, I'll always choose him if possible! :)

[@austoncarpenter4702]

I'm surprised there wasn't any aliens from Xenoshyft Onslaught.

[@nathanradke221]

Sorcerers in Small World Secret Hitler teammates who don't know how to lie Playing as the explorer in Forbidden Desert (he is super weak) The weather dice in Robinson Crusoe Friends who are on their phone when you are explaining the rules.

[@chrishayhurst3005]

Poor old Gaius he gets a bad rep 😂

[@petacondon7906]

Jenny from the Robinson Crusoe scenario! Cant she help out just a little? All she does is eat! Aargh!

[@mauriziobriosi7037]

You should win by teaching her to do something...not by letting her survive

[@robertsedzik7827]

Try Darwin in HMS Beagle - Jenny is a hard-working ant in comparison!

[@michaelbaxter7452]

The card in space base that minuses other people's victory points!

[@slyash14]

Hey Zee, could you post the modifications you made to Zombicide Black Plague?

[@williamwilting]

Sam should try Catan with the card draw mechanism, because it will create more balance for the rolls. These cards seem to have an event effect as well, but I guess you can ignore that.

[@stephanberger3476]

Catan fix: put 2 and 12 on the desert or one of the empty tiles that come with the game. Call it gold, it will give a resource of your choice. Make two 7-chits and use them as you would the 2 and 12 in a normal game. Only use the robber with that card, but ignore hand limit.

[@Puzzu]

The Mesmerist in Unfair, super annoying when someone recruits him to take control of your park’s staff members 😝

[@Bodyknock]

Toward the end Tom mentioned not knowing about the Mysterio mastermind in Legendary, for the record he is super annoying! 😡 He has a low attack but his master strikes all are shuffled into his mastermind pile as additional tactics you need to beat him. And on top of that he has a tactic which says if this wasn’t the final tactic in his deck then you shuffle it back in and also reshuffle back in one masterstrike from every player’ victory pile, meaning you not only wasted an attack on a decoy but he just possibly got two or three more decoys added to the pile. Yeah u may have to punch this irritating bubblehead literally 15 times or more to actually win the game, it’s a sadistic game of whack a mole. I think if Tom had played against him recently this might have made his short list given how much he likes Legendary Marvel.

[@crain1rr]

Every Root faction that I'm not playing but specifically the woodland alliance. They're actually my favorite faction but having to give them cards, them blowing up a well-established clearing. They'll make you feel sad.

[@robertm3806]

I find Naalu Collective more annoying than the Nekro Virus. Sam, thanks for recommending Fenrir at CMON Expo a couple of years ago when I was deciding between getting that or a different Blood Rage promo monster

[@Seydaschu]

The worst thing about Zombicide abominations is that their figures are covered with actually sharp thorns, so grabbing the pieces physically hurts you in real life. Also, who thought the gigantic rat abomination figure was a good idea?

[@aegis2313]

There are a few characters at the first level that deal extra damage, if you can find a +2 damage item they can defeat Aboms!

[@scottdavis2213]

Man, I don't have any issue with Bob. This was a mega surprise. I actually enjoy reading his lines lol

[@MansourReviews]

The "we hate things that fly, especially if they are called Bob" list

[@odsonic]

the Xanathar in lords of waterdeep..yes you get points for having skulls at the end..but you still have to minus them as well...also Draco in eclipse..you cant kill the enemy ships...so if your opponent next to you is looking for extra tiles to draw from the bag your a great target on your side of the map...the Naalu collective in TI3...0 in strategy card initiative number every round nuff said

[@charleslatora5750]

Haven't played any of these games. Love the video. You guys r the best. The cruddy house from The Game of Life. Also, though this is not exactly a true fit, A long long time ago, back in my D & D days the DM had a "recurring character". Every time there was at least one encounter with a 1, repeat a 1 hit point Orc, who always killed 2 - 4 members of my party before we could zap him. Yes bad rolls. That's when I started "punishing" my dice.

[@richardsaunders9214]

Do you think that we are supposed to hate Bob because he’s the final villain?

[@zvonk2480]

In Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, I've always hated Shuddle M'ell which causes you to discard 3/4/5 sanity with 2/3/4 players. I usually play with 2 players and we have lost so many games because of this one card. There have been times where one player can afford to go mad because they are about to close a gate, but most of the time we cannot be ready for this card.

[@willcookforboardgames]

oh hey, i know the Bob-mug you guys talked about, it's from BoardGeekGirl. mintmustard.co.uk/collections/board-games/products/t-i-m-e-stories-mug-set I got the other one, with the wrap of components on it. Great mugs!

[@wroot_lt]

This whole list was designed to make a rant about BOB :D Btw, very cool list. It gets a bit boring to hear about the same games essentially all the time. This is fresh. Btw, need to rewatch that Mountains of Madness playthrough again with Zee screaming in the corner and Sam talking without verbs or something :D

[@Dave-kr1uh]

Does Australia (in risk) count as a character?

[@coach_troy]

Sam is really channeling John Pinette in this one.

[@benjaminjohnson8377]

The Bandit in Dominion!

[@Skarpo89]

I know the usual way of doing top 10 with alternating the order you guys talk is difficult when doing it live, but it would be awesome if you still used the dice for number 1!

[@crain1rr]

Cave troll in blood Rage. I had my quest all wrapped up.

[@susanjohnson318]

I think T.I.M.E. Stories could make major money if they sold T-shirts with "We Hate Bob" on them.

[@stevethedba]

Very first play of Mansions of Madness I'd played. I drew that Insane card....

[@seraphonica]

Shocked Tom didn't have a single werewolf/mafia role on his list

[@LyciaD3]

You probably never played against the Lotus clan in a 3 player rising sun... It's just a nightmare for the player who get alone twice... it soo bad that i REMOVE this clan every time i play under 4 player game. Not only you got a lot less fewer actions, but the Lotus will actively prevent you from using some actions... If you played the game, you know what it means to not have any additionnal fortress because they were burrowed, the other two players have 3 or 4 ? well, if you recruit, they'll recruit more ! You managed to get that second forteress somewhere in turn 2 or 3 ? forget about recruit, they are burrowed !

[@demonhunter651]

Father Gascoigne boss card in Bloodborne: the card game. Got him first turn and pretty much wrecked our group that game.

[@BassForever]

Whipperpools from arkham horror the card game, when you draw 2-3 on the same turn they cripple the team

[@uofajoe99]

Didn't think I would like this video and I haven't played 10 of these games but was surprised this was one of the most enjoyable ones.

[@michaelvanhaverbeke6069]

The spy in The Resistance is literally the only reason we dont win every game

[@marcohoehener463]

one of the funniest top 10 in a long time :) and totally agree with Bob. Our gaming group's chat is named 'Bob is not satisfied!' :D

[@XGmastersX]

I played space base for the first time the other night and I was literally one turn away from winning with the I win card. I had a card that let me move cubes and had a card that let me set dice, I was primed and ready but some bozo won off points and they were the last player in turn order so I got no chance

[@hombrepollo]

Thorin in 'The Hobbit' card game from Wallace. He is a really pain in the ass for the good team

[@adamriddiough4440]

Just started watching this and my first thought was the Queen of Spades in Hearts....

[@MadManMatrix]

My mom would add commando orcs to that stupidly busted small world combo I was loosing by 60 points at the start of round 7 then commando orcs let me grab 20+ points a round it was insane and there was nothing she could do about it and I ended up winning the game by one point.

[@Cuuniyevo]

Gaius Baltar might be the character that most annoys me in all the television shows I've seen. I hate him so much. >__< I love Dragonfly Clan in Rising Sun though. I think the fact every clan can place their strongholds anywhere, and then summon new figures at those locations, does mitigate how powerful the Dragonflies are. It's always useful, but not quite as much of a gamechanger (in my opinion) as the Lotus being able to pick whatever mandate they want and deny the next player an option.

[@brownloaf]

Great episode. Flying sorcerers are the worst. But most importantly, what was the intro music?

[@aaronmesnar9868]

Is it me or does Sam and Zee look so little, esp Zee?! I think Tom is just a tower in height he shrinks everyone else!

[@funkoxen]

Hes wearing platform shoes. They go with his disco gangster themed outfit.

[@zajebex1]

I can think of like 20 or more cards and characters from Talisman that are annoying but turning into a toad is the worst I think.

[@jeremiahnice3842]

Recently I had a game of catan which we rolled like 30 7s

[@markvalentine4366]

Captain Fantastic in Conquest of Planet Earth