Top 10 Games from 2013

Tom Vasel, Zee Garcia, and Mike DiLisio take a look at the ancient past and talk about their favorite games that are a whole decade old, older than most of the people on the Dice Tower staff.
Intro - 00:00
Mike 10 - 4:01
Zee 10 - 7:38
Tom 10 - 10:15
Mike 9 - 12:46
Zee 9 - 15:02
Tom 9 - 17:17
Mike 8 - 18:49
Zee 8 - 20:35
Tom 8 - 23:35
Mike 7 - 26:26
Zee 7 - 29:11
Tom 7 - 30:36
Mike 6 - 32:36
Zee 6 - 35:27
Tom 6 - 37:48
Mike 5 - 40:32
Zee 5 - 45:57
Tom 5 - 45:50
Mike 4 - 50:42
Zee 4 - 53:50
Tom 4 - 56:08
Mike 3 - 58:36
Zee 3 - 1:00:27
Tom 3 - 1:03:03
Mike 2 - 1:02:35
Zee 2 - 1:07:55
Tom 2 - 1:10:22
Mike 1 - 1:11:37
Zee 1 - 1:13:59
Tom 1 - 1:16:26
People's Choice - 1:17:57
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[@JerzyMuller]

Love to hear the old counting audio. Took me a while to realise why this video feels nostalgic 😁

[@roblong1727]

Same here!!

[@gametable4two]

Ah the classic countdown! Pure nostalgia! :)

[@JimmyWorld]

Shocked Concordia wasn't on anyone's list. 10 years later and it's still one of the highest ranked games on BGG (at #21).

[@jonathanzj620]

One of my few 10s

[@maskalumni6037]

Yep agreed Concordia is middle weight Euro masterpiece. Though Mike was surprised it was made in 2013, so that might explain why no one picked it?

[@jonathanzj620]

@@maskalumni6037 they say (Tom at least) that they enjoy it when it comes up on the people's list but it never makes theirs. I think maybe they just don't actually like it that much? Dunno.

[@utahman06]

Yeah that is wild. I know these lists are fully subjective but a game like Sushi Go making a list and not Concordia is just so disrespectful 😂

[@ninjabiscuit1095]

It's probably due to the Dice Tower's general tastes skew away from super dry euros like Concordia, with a few exceptions from individual reviewers, if Chris Yi was on this list I bet it would be on his.

[@joshjenson8111]

Best game of 2013 was Coal Baron, such an underrated game

[@TheDungeonDive]

I sure do miss the DT podcast, especially all the top 10s you did with Eric. Those were the best.

[@tulsaborn545]

+tales of boardgaming horror

[@ogreman2229]

I started playing “hobby” games in 2011 but 2013 was probably the year I sank in the deepest. Great nostalgia for these games.

[@hanseathl]

I am absolutely baffled that Concordia did not made it to any of the DT lists. This one is still in my small circle of all-time evergreens. Such a fantastic game.

[@hucz]

I used to think it was fantastic. But it started to feel like a game kind of like chess or Root in the sense that every thing happening in the game is extremely important and thinky. Dry, punishing, very strategic, and the reason it went unmentioned IMHO, not very 'fun'. Feels like an exercise in efficiency and IQ and not much else.

[@nerzenjaeger]

@@hucz I agree. I found it incredibly dry. Good, but dry. Devoid of fun. For whatever reason, I don't have the same problem with Brass Birmingham.

[@hucz]

@@nerzenjaeger Very different game. Concordia has pretty straightforward rules to explain. Play a card, do that action. The action itself can at times be difficult to think about, but it's the weight of that action and when it's taken that is the core of the game's strategy. Brass Birmingham has more complicated rules to explain and more actions and decisions, imho. The player interaction is more integrated and it feels more fun for us becusee of how the game plays and the theme. I'm not explaining it very well but, I think they're pretty different games. I would compare Brass more to Barrage if I had to pick. Concordia more like Hansa Teutonica or Le Havre. At least for me.

[@nerzenjaeger]

@@hucz They are very different, but they have a reputation of being "not for everyone". I actually wouldn't compare it to Barrage, because that game, though both are very interactive, is very much a rules-forward game, which I think Brass isn't as much. Personally, I've found that Brass is quite a tight rules set, it's just a sub-optimal teach, because of its exceptions. Thanks for sharing your perspective, always interesting to read, how other people perceive these games. Brass for me is full of life, which Concordia isn't, even though I owned and like that game.

[@psterud]

I thought Concordia was a lot of fun, but lethally flawed.

[@andrewgates2568]

We need a Top 10 SQT's! I'd love to see everyone's favorite games that have snappy quick turns! Maybe games that are easy to get to the table (quick setup, medium weight, not too long).

[@JonReid01]

I'm so upset we still never got the SQT list!

[@checkrazor76]

It was great hearing about some of these games again. So many that new people to the hobby have no idea about.

[@kristin4463]

The whole reason I purchased Cinque Terre back in the day was because of how pretty a production it was. Kinda weird to hear Tom and Zee say it's not a looker.

[@psterud]

I agree. It's the one game on all their lists that I want to play, but now it's selling for ridiculous prices.

[@imthestas]

2013 was my start to the hobby. The Duke might be my favorite from this year.

[@paulabbottii6937]

2013 was the year I got into gaming, largely thanks to the Dice Tower.

[@jdtyler7]

Haven't played enough games from the year to do a top 10, but here's my top 5. 1. Rococo 2. Skull King 3. Concordia 4. Sushi Go 5. Quantum This was a great year. 3 9s and 2 8s. All top 50 games for me.

[@antoniabrowne3029]

Do more of these lists! Love to revisit oldies and see how they stood the test of time.

[@aimajica]

My top: 10. Asante 9. Mascarade 8. Bruges 7. Forbidden Desert 6. Spyrium 5. Concordia 4. Longhorn 3. Caverna: The Cave Farmers 2. Lewis & Clark: The Expedition 1. Le Fantôme de l'Opéra Runner-ups: Origin, Concept, Steam Park, Skull King, Welcome to the dungeon, BattleLore: 2nd Edition Ordered after this video: Relic Runners! ^^

[@rhino451]

I might be the only other person other than Tom that has a pristine copy of Duel of Ages II in my collection... LOL

[@TheMrTelespectador]

Awesome series! Bring more of this :-D

[@theoldman2821]

I think Tom was trying to think of Sergeant Alvin York. Who was portrayed in the Howard Hawks movie Sergeant York. Not a sniper but a farm boy from Kentucky who sure could shoot.

[@KissellMissile]

Cinque Terre is one my favorite gateway games, and just a magnificent, underappreciated light Euro game. Played it for the first time at Dice Tower Con in 2014, and I immediately ordered a copy.

[@JosephFlemming]

Seeing that copes on eBay are reaching 400$ I will probably never get to play it lol

[@psterud]

@@JosephFlemming Same. Sad. It looks amazing.

[@blurryface123]

Bravo, this will be a fun series. Looking forward to 2014 and so on.

[@Bodyknock]

This was a fun list. 🙂 For me Eldritch Horror was the top 2013 game, it's easily the most played game with one of my gaming groups despite being a bear to set-up and a pretty long game. My number 2 is Euphoria, I just love the theme in that game and with the expansion it plays very well solo too. My number 3 is tougher to pick. The most played game for that spot is Pathfinder Adventure but, like Mike, I got a bit burned out on it after a while. So I think my #3 would either be Welcome to the Dungeon or Nothing Personal, they're both games that are a lot of fun but that I haven't played recently. P.S. Tom mentioned not having played the second edition of Carnival Zombie yet. That game is great! I finally got a copy last year and it's easily my favorite zombie horde game. 😄

[@funkoxen]

Eldritch horror is clearly better than many of the games on these lists.

[@tdasilva03]

Only at number 8 so far and I just had to head to the comments to say how glad we were to hear Eric announcing the numbers again. We have missed it so much. Hope it becomes more regular.

[@Szurumbur]

If I remember correctly this is not Eric, but "some guy" Tom gave a bit of money for this consistent. And the some guy is in quotes, because Tom does not remember who he was.

[@tdasilva03]

@Szurumbur Wow. Thanks for the info. I've been watching for years and always just assumed it was Eric.

[@ThymeKeeper]

I learned about gaming in 1978-9, but I came and went from it over the years, in many different phases (sports games, RPGs, CCGs, Clix, wargames). I got back into it in 2016 with Scythe and Terraforming Mars. In 2013 I was probably just playing Skyrim.

[@Ultra_Kuma]

Back and forth between video games and board games

[@jankogo]

@@Ultra_Kuma That is literally my whole life. 😂

[@TheOriginalSqueezel]

My Top 10 of 2013: 10. Potato Man 9. Lewis & Clark 8. Rococo 7. Twin'Tin'Bots 6. Concordia 5. Time'N'Space 4. Welcome to the Dungeon 3. Madeira 2. Bora Bora 1. Hanamikoji

[@lisabowen8765]

Great episode as usual! I loved the NEWS segment... a lot of food for thought.

[@family_meeple]

My favorites from 2013 would be Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia, Hanamikoji, SOS Titanic, and Skull King. My kids would pick Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters.

[@rexology_bg]

10. Metallum, 9.Cuba Libre, 8. Legacy: Testament of Duke deCrecy, 7. Hanamikoji, 6. Glass Road, 5. Nations, 4. Viticulture, 3. Caverna, 2. Kashgar, 1. Concordia.

[@robertcrist124]

2013 I know I had played your mass market games, but out of new hobby games, Catan and Munchkin were new. In 2015 I played Betrayal at House on The Hill. Then soon after was Above & Below and I found BGG and here we are haha

[@JasonZeppelin1]

I got into the hobby last year :) thanks for doing this list, helps me find good cheaper games.

[@woehrle17]

I don't have a ton of games played from 2013 but just for fun, here's my list: 10. Kobayakawa 9. Rise of Augustus 8. Bang the Dice Game 7. Quantum 6. Welcome to the Dungeon 5. Forbidden Desert 4. Concept 3. Sushi Go 2. Battlelore 2ed 1.Amerigo

[@designinsightsg168]

Cinque Terre is the best Pickup and Delivery game in my collection. Very underrated!

[@raggededge68]

Zee, I love the championing of Days of Wonder games! Relic Runners is one we haven't played much in the past few years but I totally agree with your assessment. It is a great game and will never be leaving my collection, either! Time to dust it off again.

[@rmiller6975]

I registered on BGG in 2013. I think I started modern boardgaming in late 2012 with Legend of Drizzt and Watch it Played.

[@stevewithington1787]

This was my second year in the hobby. Really surprised Concordia didn’t make anyones top ten (people excepted). My top ten for 2013: 10. Two Rooms and a Boom 09. Forbidden Desert 08. Mascarade 07. The Great Heartland Hauling Co. 06. Hanamikoji 05. Rococo 04. A Study in Emerald 03. Glass Road 02. Bruxelles 1893 01. Concordia

[@arekkrolak6320]

My top 10: 1 Cuba Libre 2 BattleLore: Second Edition 3 Freedom: The Underground Railroad 4 A Study in Emerald 5 Bruxelles 1893 6 Nations 7 Russian Railroads 8 Viticulture 9 Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends 10 Brew Crafters

[@PinothyJ]

2013 WAS the year I got into designer games, yes. Bioshock Infinite: Siege of Columbia, I thank you.

[@am5812]

Love the use of the old ticking time-bomb intro

[@ashrael37]

There are many top games that I haven't played from 2013, but my top 10: 1. Concordia 2. Viticulture (essential edition) 3. Russian Railroads 4. Sushi Go! 5. Forbidden Desert 6. Maquis (current edition) 7. Going, Going, GONE! 8. SOS Titanic (current edition) 9. Nations 10. Lewis & Clark: The Expedition

[@joeferreti9442]

So, when does "Duel of Ages 3" come out? ;)

[@Draffut2003]

I spent this week doing a long overdue shelf clearing and it's amazing how many of these hit just the sell pile. Krosmaster, Battlecon, Caverna, Forbidden Desert, Hanamikoji, Bruges, Spyrium, City of Iron... Though I did find my unplayed Russian Railroads and am determined to finally get it to the table.

[@adwilliams1987]

Man, I can't imagine ever selling Bruges or Hanamikoji...

[@Draffut2003]

@@adwilliams1987 I almost never play 2 player games, and I am apparently one of the very few people who really doesn't like Bruges.

[@TheManofDew]

Just purchased Francis Drake off BGG and played it for the first time today. It’s really fun. 😃👍

[@chrisleyba3665]

Tom, the sniper you're referring to is Alvin York, in case it didn't show up in the comments.

[@Hmstowe]

Zee teasing Forbidden Jungle, totally had me for a min 😭🤣

[@carmenredmann6396]

Last year Peter Hawes came to our Game Day (Brisbane, Australia) and taught Francis Drake and Royals.

[@johchadow]

I was explaining Spyrium to a friend just last week. A solid game.

[@randalladkins7452]

25:54 - It’s technically the same push your luck boasting that was in the old game show, “Name That Tune,” and the new game show, “25 Words or Less.” I really enjoy that about w “Welcome to the Dungeon”!

[@MarcusOfLycia]

Nations is one of my favorites even today. It's a far less punishing version of Through the Ages that plays in 1/3 the time. I feel like I'm more focused on what other people are doing than in TTR.

[@ninjabiscuit1095]

Totally agree, and it doesn't force you to get military at the expense of everything else and severely punish you if you don't, which is one of the things I can't stand about TTR, that and the fact it takes 5 hours to play

[@MarcusOfLycia]

​@@ninjabiscuit1095 Exactly. Much as I like TTR, and I really do, the two main strategies are "steal all your points" or "make enough points to survive someone stealing about half of them".

[@mrp4242]

With you 100%. When I saw the title of the video I instantly thought of “Nations”.

[@Pacerfan]

Art aside, Duel of Ages is a tremendous game.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

No Concordia.......this makes me incredibly happy!!! 😈😈😈 The People are wrong!

[@robertcrist124]

Nice to see the old intros again.

[@DrFrankenolly]

Would love to table Francis Drake, but people see the cover and the board and then proceed to run away!

[@simonmcg23]

The Golden Age of Euro games IMHO.

[@JonathonV]

Lots of good games! Forbidden Desert was the first cooperative game I ever tried, and I still have it! Didn’t try Freedom The Underground Railroad until last summer, but I agree, it was very respectful and interesting! Kobayakawa was underwhelming to me; I’d rather just play poker (sorry, Zee). Sushi Go is even enjoyable to my students, who are notoriously picky as to which games they will try. I liked Viticulture when I first played it … need to play it again because it’s been a long while. Concordia is great and I am very tempted to get my own copy (despite the app being broken and expensive). In 2019 the owner of a local FLGS bought 20 or so copies of Kashgar because he was sure that it was going to become the next classic. He didn’t count on the bad cover art dissuading people as much, nor the accidentally untranslated German components in the picture on the back cover. No one bought it. That year for a Boxing Day sale he sold copies of Kashgar for super cheap and everyone bought them, so having a copy of Kashgar has become a sort of litmus test for how long you’ve been gaming in my city. 😂

[@stephenball2108]

Honestly I think Freedom: The Underground Railroad is one of the best cooperative games ever made, it's more famous for wonderfully handling the tough theme, and that's amazing, but it's also just a tremendous design. It's very different, everything makes sense, it flows well, it's just fantastic. Of course it's sad when there are slaves you can't help, but I think that's Academy doing history well. It's not a game where you can miraculously save everybody and single handedly end slavery. It's about knowing you can't save everyone and doing your best to grant lives to the people you can. I understand why some people are pushed away from playing it at all, even with everything I'm saying I don't bring it out that often, but I would suggest anyone give it a shot at least once, it deserves it.

[@tonkabeanicecream5698]

Tom's Rune wars rant is epic and justified!

[@MBOrcher54]

Pick up and deliver Firefly came out this year which i think is one of the better pick up and delivers of its time.

[@KristoVaher]

NOTHING PERSONAL! I still love this game, it's brilliant :)

[@drewkennewell4267]

Mike's reactions to the artwork :D

[@family_meeple]

I put Viticulture on my list of 2015 games because I've only ever played the Essential Edition. It's a good game.

[@utahman06]

Come back in 2 years with this comment

[@family_meeple]

@@utahman06 haha. True!

[@vanyaserra1]

I love Francis Drake, Good Pick Mike and Tom. Mine is probably pretty boring 10. Hanamikoji 9. Francis Drake 8. Terror in Meeple City 7. Glass Road 6. Bora Bora 5. Bruges 4. Amerigo 3. Rococo 2.Russian Railroads 1. Concordia

[@matthew.strout]

My top 10 from 2013: 10. 1775 Rebellion 9. Ka-Boom 8. Coconuts 7. Concordia 6. Rialto 5. Amerigo 4. Axis & Allies WW1 1914 3. Glass Road 2. Bora Bora 1. Hanamikoji

[@petercsm5769]

Cinque Terre isn't hideous but it does look like a circus picture frame around a photo of spinach with some cubes tossed on it so I'm a little less perplexed than Mike as to why someone might think it isn't a real looker.

[@MrScrawnjuan]

That red die showing 3 & 4 faces bothers me. Opposite sides are supposed to equal 7 🤪

[@nobbynobbs8182]

Man, time really flies

[@Simplycoburn]

shocked Caverna is not on Tom's list with it being near his top 10 now

[@areallystupidguy630]

Camp Grizzly is an underrated one from this year, it needs to be reprinted now that Final Girl is taking off. It's my #2 (EH is my #1).

[@joeferreti9442]

Hanamikoji seems to be more a 2016 or 2017 game, if you don't count the Japanese version.

[@robertcrist124]

Today I learned the term “component dump”. I always sort my stuff when I open a new game.

[@andrewellis712]

Ah component dumps used to be a dice tower staple

[@balukawaiirenekton7537]

Russian railroad was my most played game in 2013 & 14. Almost played once or twice a week till Marco polo was released.

[@johnthomas4567]

1 Forbidden Desert 2 Bang the Dice Game But apparently 2013 was not a strong year for me or I have simply not played many as I can't find any others I really like a lot.

[@davegildersleeve4316]

I've really, really cooled on Sushi Go. I'd much rather play Point Salad as a super light intro game . To me , it just feels like there's more of a chance to strategize, for lack of a better word.

[@RickKoeppen]

I refuse to believe Battlelore 2nd Ed is 10 years old.

[@jcb3393]

Cinque Terre did pickup-and-deliver with contracts before Auf Achse?!?

[@Agent_Pendergast]

2013 was a good one. For me it’s a toss up between Bora Bora and Nations.

[@benleague3115]

I did not know Forbidden Island was done by same designer as Pandemic. We love F.I.

[@frankbolton5546]

What about leap frog games? You can only go forward and person at back generally gets to go.

[@lisabowen8765]

OFPG question: I have a 4 year old who is getting into board gaming. Do you recommend letting him win sometimes or not? My husband and I disagree on this concept.

[@janikloffel5836]

Look at Gem Rush upside down🤯

[@Jammonstrald]

Nations is probably my favorite game ever, so easily the best game of 2013 for me. Tom is flat wrong about the length; I don't know of any other game that provides as fulfilling a civ building experience in the time that Nations does.

[@JoachimErdtman]

Great year for board games! Here are my own favorites of 2013: 1. Firefly: The Game 2. Room 25 3. 1775: Rebellion 4. Lost Legacy 5. Impulse 6. A Study in Emerald 7. Sherlock 13 8. Animals Frightening Night 9. Office 21 10. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords

[@sylvander4972]

Its incredible you guys how all your played game works.. You played more then me and I dont remember all so good xD

[@TylerAndToast]

Koba yakawa sounds cool

[@markstamp3937]

it's a great little filler, don't understand why Tom doesn't like it

[@Noordhof]

I think there are two scales for scoring games. If you are counting during the game then I think it feels good when 100 is considered a good score. If all the scoring is at the end then I would say 50.

[@PinothyJ]

Ratchet already exists to describe tension. Call it an Action River, or Action Stream.

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Concordia!

[@eesef]

Caverna discussion made me think of a wolf in sheep's clothing top 10 - Looks easy but it's not or looks complex but it's not, etc

[@IndianaGeologist]

I like the ratchet mechanism term

[@randomfist797]

Neat

[@bostonkris34]

Instead of ratchet... lobster trap? Funnel tunnel?

[@m-sousa]

Kashgar definitely deserves more love. I think number 10 was too low Zee, come on! I also love Lewis & Clark and I will play it at 3 if everyone knows the game and what they need to do. With new players, it is hard to get it to a fast pace. Besides that, I still feel feel the race is more interesting at 3 than at 2. Playing it at 4? Sounds like a challenge I would have to be convinced somehow to be part of.

[@chestersleezer8821]

The year that I got into gaming hmm, going to have to go back a bit like a really long time ago. It was the rocking 1960's and the year was 1965 and I was eight years old. There was no Euro type game back then but their were still games to play.

[@Straddllw]

My top 10 from 2013 10. Lewis & Clark 09. Russian Railroads 08. Rococo 07. Francis Drake 06. Bora Bora 05. Amerigo 04. Bruges (one hell of a year for Feld) 03. Caverna 02. Concordia 01. Eldritch Horror and the only non euro on my list.

[@Subangelis]

"Tom Vasel, Zee Garcia, and Mike DiLisio take a look at the ancient past and talk about their favorite games that are a whole decade old, older than most of the people on the Dice Tower staff." Is Dice Tower saying they hire underage workers? lol

[@SGFlicksify]

CONCORDIA! 🫣

[@ryanahr2267]

Ah, I also didn't realize that Firefly came out that year. That was the year after my first ever board game group started. The whole crew loved the show and one of our number bought it and brought it. I loved the flavor, of course, but god did the game itself suck. The flight deck in particular was just awful. Everyone else got the luck of the draw in their favor and got to move where ever they wanted at will. I never got more than one space before disaster struck and stranded me. I frequently found myself limping along without fuel. I got maybe one or parts of the objective done by the end of the game if I was lucky.

[@funkoxen]

Finally, the list we all waited ten years for!!!....we whinged, they listened. Now do bath tub games. And a backflip. Barefoot.

[@jparish1987]

A large score track is very disconcerting. First time we played endless winter we used the playmat, the score track goes up to 200 and we all scored under 60.

[@Wh0isTh3D0ct0r]

Played Viticulture for the first time this past weekend. I wasn't impressed, which is a shame because I normally love worker placement games.

[@joshjenson8111]

Did you play essential edition or the 1st edition?

[@Wh0isTh3D0ct0r]

@@joshjenson8111 Essential Edition. I hear it’s better, but to me it just felt like it patched some obvious holes with the original game. And it was still “meh.”

[@robertcrist124]

I’ve collectively only played Sushi Go, Viticulture, and Astane. If you include the People’s list add: Concept, Eldritch Horror, and Concordia.

[@Shad0wSix]

2013 was the year that I got into board gaming!