Top 10 Most Influential Games of all Time

Tom Vasel, Sam Healey, and Zee Garcia take a look at the top ten games that have had the most influence on modern board games
00:00 - Introduction
03:09 - Sam’s #10
05:13 - Tom’s #10
06:34 - Zee’s #10
07:56 - Tom’s #9
09:08 - Zee’s #9
10:31 - Sam’s #9
12:43 - Zee’s #8
15:39 - Sam’s #8
17:41 - Tom’s #8
18:36 - Zee’s #7
19:35 - Tom’s #7
21:34 - Sam’s #7
22:54 - Tom’s #6
24:27 - Sam’s #6
25:35 - Zee’s #6
26:51 - Sam’s #5
28:25 - Zee’s #5
29:52 - Tom’s #5
31:08 - Sam’s #4
34:20 - Tom’s #4
36:34 - Zee’s #4
37:57 - Tom’s #3
39:30 - Zee’s #3
40:41 - Sam’s #3
41:54 - Zee’s #2
43:23 - Sam’s #2
46:16 - Tom’s #2
47:56 - Sam’s #1
49:55 - Tom’s #1
50:55 - Zee’s #1
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[@whoischrisknight]

Um... awesome! The fact that all three of you had widely divergent criteria for your lists was fantastic. Zee's list was super historical, Tom's more contemporary, and Sam's super personal. And therefore, all the bases got covered pretty well and the very concept of the list, "what is influential?" got covered more in depth than it would have if you were all approaching it the exact same way. Excellent!

[@Straddllw]

Most influential imo: *D&D* popularized roleplaying games, *Catan* popularized euro games, *MTG* popularized TCGs, *Monopoly* popularized boardgames in general, *Chess* popularized strategy games, *Dominion* popularized deck builders, *Risk* popularized wargames, *Cosmic Encounter* popularized player powers, *Poker* popularized card games in general and *Dice* popularized dice/self explanatory.

[@JohnBrown-wk4io]

Great list. The only thing that I would add is the fact that MTG & Catan seem to be gateway games to the larger nonmainstream gaming world. Mainstream meaning standard card games, chess, monopoly etc and the general stuff you expect to find at places like wally.

[@ElGrandoCaymano]

@@JohnBrown-wk4io I'd put Panzer Blitz, Squad Leader or even Tactics II ahead of Risk.

[@TheDragonhuntr]

This is a list of best selling games

[@gaozhi2007]

Diplomacy introduced the idea of losing friends over a game, lol.

[@GeoffreyScott571]

Monopoly introduced it, Diplomacy perfected it.

[@BinaryBard64]

It's a new genre!

[@sm5574]

I think modern wargaming owes a lot to Stratego. It brought the idea of freely moving around a board that resembles a real-world location, setting up ambushes, and trying to capture one strategic piece/location (as opposed to RISK, which requires complete conquest).

[@DefiasBrotherhood]

I 100% agree with Tom about Dominion. 50 Years from now the Dominion deck building ideas will still be incorporated in some games.

[@georgelucas12345]

This is definitely one of the most interesting top 10 lists so far. Three quite different and valid viewpoints on the subject, which made the video very worthwhile to watch.

[@Orion3T]

The only category I can think of that doesn't seem to have been represented at all is word games - there are a lot of them and the feature is quite distinct from everything on this list. I don't know what the 'first' was but I would guess Scrabble is the obvious choice?

[@rickdecker694]

Another great Top 10. The chemistry with these 3 and their willingness to agree and disagree make for a great watch. Keep em coming boys.

[@milkybizzle]

fantastic to have another top ten list to watch, keep up the excellent viewing guys, thanks for all the work!

[@Villakarvarousku]

I gotta say, I really enjoyed how each list had such a different scope and point of view. I was definitely expecting more modern games (if you had planned the different perspectives thing ahead, one list being games under, say, 20 years old could've been really interesting) but I was glad to see how it turned out. Nice work!

[@BGlasnost]

Love the top 10 lists you guys, keep em coming :) I have a recommendation for a top 10 list that people might enjoy: Top 10 Games with the Best Flavor. Slightly different from your previous "best theme" list, as that list involved games where the theme and mechanics meshed well. A "best flavor" list would involve things like the richest/most interesting backstory, best artwork, character descriptions, basically everything that is not crucial to the mechanics of the game.

[@MehdiHusain]

Yeah ! Back on track guys ! This one was a proposition of mine when I commented Turkey Games. At least, you're not talking of the same games over and over. I love the approach. Thanks for this ! More of this !

[@JesseMillerA]

Being first doesn't make a game more influential, so I'm with Tom on the LotR debate. Pandemic is far more influential as a co-op game and has had a greater impact on designers and the gaming community. That said, Sam's list is obviously very personal to him and may not fit into what I would consider influential. Nothing wrong with that, that's why it's awesome that we get three different lists here.

[@robertmoffitt1336]

Very interesting top ten topic and lots of good discussion, glad to see you guys back with a top ten list. Also, I love the three points of view that you all bring to the discussion. Last thing here, @ Sam, "Leave No Man Behind"; damn straight.

[@BoxofDelights]

great topic guys. Nice job!

[@AdrianAlvarezNovelist]

Oy, guys... again, it would be really helpful if you defined your terms before coming up with these lists. As usual, Zee turns in a dutiful, studied list, Tom relies on his breadth of knowledge and experience to breeze through the exercise, and Sam didn't understand the assignment. Before counting him out, though, there is actually a ton of value in Sam's approach to this top ten list. While I think Tom intended a certain amount of objectivity in coming up with a list of very influential games, that task quickly folds. There are so many ways to approach the concept of influence and so many assumptions you have to make to be on the same project that Zee and Tom, although similar in intention, ended up revealing two incredibly problematic and arbitrary lists. Although he wouldn't be able to put it in an argument, Sam actually had a great instinct for this project. You can't be objective without defining a voluminous number of terms, all of which hadn't been defined. So he worked on a much more interesting and valuable project: total subjectivity. Although, I really have nothing in common with Sam's gaming interests, listening to him go though a personal history of games that have influenced him is WAY more interesting and valuable than watching Tom and Zee poke around in the dark with conjectures and opinions based on their experience with every game ever. Please make a top ten list called: "Top 10 Games in my gaming Biography." Viewers will already know the number one spot for each of you, but it will be so interesting to hear your gaming biographies. I love your banter, but the bickering can be irritating and a lot of that will go away if you get everyone on the same page before you start.

[@SamHealey6]

Adrian Alvarez Not having the mounds of industry insider information that Tom had or the historic interest that Zee brought, I was kind of left to my own devices. And while you're right, I probably wouldn't have put it into a crisp and clear argument, I definitely went with my gut here. I knew I wouldn't be able to piece together a coherent list based on the strengths that Tom and Zee brought, so I had to stick with what I knew, and that was what games influenced me, and how they seem to have influenced other games. I appreciate your words, as I found myself lacking in the confidence department on this one. Thanks again!

[@AdrianAlvarezNovelist]

You bet, Sam. Like I said, I really thought your instinct was great and I would love to see it fleshed out in an "official" top ten from you guys.

[@DemonmachinE]

Adrian Alvarez I like the free-form way they do it and the more fluid definition, personally. The reason being, you end up with different lists from different perspectives in this way. If they defined it in a specific way, this particular list would probably be really consistent from person to person.

[@davidbridgeman]

DemonmachinE Exactly. Why would you want the same list said 3 times in a slightly different order?

[@Gizmovolders]

Sam Healey these lists are fun because you all have a different view on things. The different approaches and discussions is what brings me to watch them. It doesn't really matter what you put in your list, as long you personally think the lists should look like that and you back it up with arguments, it is fun to watch. Just keep doing what you guys do and i'll be coming back to enjoy it.

[@sarahlanger2605]

I was going into this with scepticism, I thought those list were going to be pretty same-y, but of course, every one interpreted this topic a little differently - that's what I love about this videos :-) And I actually would like to see what Sam started to do in another video: everyones top 10 games, that peronally influenced them the most. That would be more of a trip down memory lane, I think that would be fun to watch and have some surprises in store.

[@shumandaniele]

I never play the original Catan anymore, but Seafarers and/or Cities and Knights still make it to our family's table several times a year. It's a great game. Still.

[@bushibayushi]

I love Zee's approach to this list! Very well-thought-out.

[@w1reman]

Probably get shot down for this but Warhammer Fantasy Battle/Warhammer 40K would have been on my list. OK, not the most revolutionary or original in terms of it's gameplay or mechanics and their recent history has alienated most everybody in the gaming community. But, in the 90s pretty much every town and city in the UK had a Games Workshop bursting with (my wife insists I add the word "stinky" ) teenage boys, some even accompanied by bored looking girlfriends. Most of them still do.They have stores all across Europe and the USA. Even Limoges, my local French city has one and KFC only arrived here last year!! Every hobby type shop be it trains, plane airfix, even Hobbycraft stocked it. My local city, Bristol, had two GW stores. I know people with absolutely no interest in gaming, fantasy or roleplaying in any way shape or form (including D&D MtG etc etc), who will still have had this 40K army or that WFB army at some point in their teenage/university years, even if it was just to paint the miniatures. Surely for it's wide appeal, influence and success outside what we would think of as the usual gaming and/or RPGing crowd/community it should be up there.

[@batsonta]

completely agree, you don't have to be a fan to acknowledge the fact that there is an entire business devoted to those games. Warhammer has also directly influenced games like warmachine, hordes, Dropzone, Etc. The miniatures games have spin-offs that are successful. There are even businesses that make terrain for the game, it really is a very influential game. I tend to think they intentionally left it off the list, although i'm not sure why.

[@w1reman]

Thomas Batson I really think it's to do with the recent financial/commercial behaviour of GW. It's simply not the done done thing to acknowledge GW at the moment because of their price hikes and "legal activities". Ignore the financial success and subsequent capitalist behaviour and just look at the success of the two universes they created. I mean in terms of "intellectual property" Like you point out, just look at how many games outside of the WFB and 40K wargames use their setting. Fantasy Flight on their own make several spin-offs.

[@Sacrilege83]

Yep WarCraft was suppose to be Warhammer, GW lost out on that one.

[@Andromedax01]

Maybe people wont talk about Dominion in 40 to 50 years, but I sincerely think the mechanic, as it was used in Dominion, will still be there. That's influential. (ps : Monopoly published by Plaid Hat ?)

[@mwhite212]

I have no idea how AH's Civilization didn't end up on this list. So many games have endeavored to replicate its deep, empire building gameplay into a more manageable time frame. Like, maybe, Catan?

[@NicholasLA1]

I think overall you guys nailed it - particularly Tom's top 3 as far as influence on modern games are concerned.

[@kmj2l]

Zee is so wrong about Dominion. Like it or not, it's been highly influential, and as Tom said, brought in a whole new style of gaming. I often hear people reference it when discussing new games.

[@StefanLopuszanski]

I would have included Caylus (worker placement games), Mafia/Werewolf (social deduction / party games), Acquire (streamlined "Euro" games / economic game), and 1830 (18xx series and other economic / stock games). Granted, they would be MUCH farther down on the list than the big names, but those really did contribute a lot.

[@McBehrer]

Dominion is the game that got me into the hobby, so I'm glad to see it on the list. Also, I KNEW DnD had to be up there. It's just too huge not to be.

[@wetwillyccma]

Zee's list was on fire! He got it right. I thought the opposite on the start, that Zee's list would be not that good, boy was I wrong. Good job guys, all you lists were good but Zee had it the best.

[@JamesBondRPG]

TALISMAN- first of its kind. The closest board game to D&D back in the early-mid 80's.

[@darinlagarry3091]

I'm still a huge fan of Talisman, despite the despised roll and move mechanic :)

[@MazdA8896]

my first "real" board game. now I moved on, but its always nice to comeback to it.

[@cptsound1972]

Sam - I still have my original copy of Clue: The Museum Caper from the 1980s. I love it so much I kept it all these years.

[@KabukiKid]

1830 should be considered for really starting/popularizing the whole train game craze.

[@HardyGabriel]

And company share concept

[@jamesk8147]

To add to the co-op conversation, what about Arkham Horror? It originally came out over a decade before LotR, is very adult oriented and the new edition is still played on a regular basis.

[@Shady_Lane]

it's cool to hear you guys talk about go, my favourite game!

[@noderunner9]

I think Tom's list made the most sense. I think Zee interpreted the list as the top ten pioneering games, that is, the very first games to introduce some type of mechanism. But that's not what influential means.

[@luv2hugapug]

9 mans morris, backgammon, chess, go, parcheesi all over a 1000 years old and still played so its not like humanity hasn't had things to play before 250 years ago

[@trentbear2044]

parchessi?, sorry, for the trouble. Been playing too much Ludo of late.

[@BinaryBard64]

Yea, there's way more than "3" games that are older than 250 years. I guess Tom thinks that nobody came up with games/toys before 1850? Baseball cards were already around by about that time.

[@jeffwmoore]

What about Dominoes?? Tile placement and scoring?

[@JohnCorley13]

wow!

[@mrdrock]

+Jeff Moore I was thinking about that. No mention of Dominoes or Mahjong... although I would say those two can be considered very cultural in influence.

[@JohnCorley13]

That's because these guys don't play the classics...which is a bit of a shame considering Chess might make it into the Olympics and is bigger than ever!

[@koalabrownie]

also Scrabble. Don't know what it's influenced but it is a HUGE game culturally

[@keithtextor4892]

koalabrownie Definitely. All word games are children of Scrabble. Banana Grams, Boggle, Pick Two, Upwords...

[@dboussios8694]

I just watched this for the second time and am surprised to realise backgammon is missing. It's 5000 years old in principle and probably influenced all roll and move games.

[@vgalimbertti]

And on the games mentioned, the only one I missed being on the list is Ticket to Ride. It is the one game, that after I introduced it, had the most people that went on and bought it afterwards. Even my mom bought a copy for herself after playing it. I understand that it might not have introduced anything new, but I believe its simplicity attracted a whole bunch of new people into the hobby, and this makes it important.

Nice topic, but I think a list with only post-Settlers games would be more interesting. Dominion was a good choice.

[@korywalsh299]

I feel that I have decent knowledge in games but you guys really opened my eyes. My list would be so different after watching this then before. I can't agree with you guys more on all your lists.

[@Daremachina]

This Top 10 brought to you by Virgil's Sodas and Root Beers ;) Also, I think the term Sam was looking for to describe his #9 pick is Asymmetrical. One person playing against several others and both sides having different objectives.

[@kevinbrown2438]

I'm very surprised that WH40K was not mentioned. I mean, you want to talk about something that keeps the lights on at many stores. I mean, just about every game that uses contemporary minis owes it's existence to 40K and associated Games Workshop products.

[@remimaloney2028]

Kevin Brown you mispelled Warhammer Fantasy

[@apanapane]

I would be interested in hearing where you would have placed Diplomacy on your lists. Seems like a rather influential game to me!

[@RedClaw87]

"Snakes and Ladders" also is an very old and very influential game. I think it would be in or near my Top 10.

[@Hinaguy749]

Tom and Zee keep mentioning that D&D isn't a board game but no one said anything like that for Magic, Dominion, or Poker.

[@dolphycj]

Although Tom and Zee hit most of the high lights I think you missed a couple: Scrabble. It basically defined word games. Acquire. Possibly the father of euro games.

[@bbbd77]

I think you used the wrong template on the Monopoly Designer / Publisher lol! Great vid! Just FYI if you didn't notice it

[@dboussios8694]

As a German I am very disappointed in Tom for not drinking beer! ;-) Thanks for taking the time to redo the top 10, guys. I can imagine that it was a lot harder to go through the motions and the discussions while knowing the lists of the other participants a priori.

[@ZeeGarc]

The list that was accidentally deleted was not on the same topic.

[@DastardlyMatt]

Not sure if it counts but in my mind the grandfather of all party games is Twister. That said, great to have another top 10 list. A bit surprising that Axis and Allies didn't appear on Tom's list, unless I missed that part.

[@matthewmurdock408]

Great job guys, entertaining and interesting as always....my nomination would've been maybe Shadows Over Camelot...?(I think Tom mentioned it briefly...?) Just for the introduction to the "traitor" element? Thoughts?

[@mattrondeau2]

I don't know how, but Zees face at about 48:44 needs to be a part of Catans box art, ads, etc.

[@xenothonstelnicki597]

Good lists, guys. Pretty much what I spelled out apart from Magic, which is in a blind spot for me; I just don't think about it at all, but absolutely does deserve to be here. Solid lists.

[@brgibbons]

I was surprised at no Scrabble (or, I suppose, some other word game, if you can find one more influential)

[@AndyCgn]

i enjoyed watching the Video. But I think that Rommé (or Rummy how you would call it) has to be mentioned. Because this was the first game that brought up the idea to collect sets or rows to win a game. Even modern games like Catan or Ticket to Ride are using this mechanic.

[@Thorrk_THT]

Ok it has to be said, Dominion is not the first game that introduced deck building mechanic as part of the game. In early magic there were a game style called Rochester draft, where people were building their decks from a common card pool.

[@tourguidechuck]

I had never heard of a co-operative game until I played Pandemic and it was my gateway into boardgaming. Dominion followed shortly thereafter. Then Catan. Then Carcassone. etc. etc.

[@vgalimbertti]

Offtopic note about who invented flight, that I as a Brazilian felt obliged to mention: Look up who was Santos Dummond, the man behind the first flight actually witnessed by someone other than himself (of themselves) in the case of the Wright Brothers...

[@markjreed]

There are a few more than three ames older than 250 years: chess (and relatives - shatranj, shoji, xiangqi, etc), checkers, go, backgammon, parcheesi, senet, royal game of Ur, rithmomachy, dominoes, cribbage, mancala, hnefstafl, fox and geese, aware, morris, dreidel... plus many, many card games.

[@sturgeon137]

I'd like to see a top ten travel-friendly games. I recently went on a cruise with my wife and we brought along the game, Hive. Got me thinking about other games that travel well.

[@ricksleurink5064]

Nice list, but I really miss some games on it, like: Maffia/Werewolf (social deduction), Heroquest (dungeon mini's), Age of Steam (train games)... but most of all: No Citadels (role selection)? :P

[@randomfleming]

Really like how Tom and Zee would disagree on a topic about Sam...and then Sam takes credit for being "right!" Brilliant!

[@MexicanNinja007]

Interesting video. Here's a list I came up with. This list is based off what influenced myself as a gamer and games which I feel had an impact on other games. The number 1-10 isn't significat, it's just the way they came out in my mind. 1) Final Fantasy III- Open world RPG with a detailed level-up system and individual character stories. 2) Dungeons and Dragons- The leader in the "NAT 20" and led the way for other gaming systems like Shadowrun, D20, and Spelljammer to name a few. 3) Golden Eye- This 1st person shooter changed the1st person shooter in a way that gamers who never played this game won't understand. 4) Ultima Online- This MMO paved the way for many to follow. While WoW is obviously the leader of the pack for MMO's now, Ultima was my first MMO love and paved the way for many to follow. 5) Warhammer Fantasy Battles- This table top game has been around for more than 25 years and there is still a US Mster each year to determine the top player in the US and the top region in the US. 6) Warhammer 40k- The futuristic version of Warhammer and has played a significant role for other games. If you look at Starcraft you could identify the races with eldar, tyranids, space marines. 7) Heroquest- This action RPG based board game led to 2 moreversions and the original can be seen for as much as $300.00 on ebay. 8) Street Fighter- With out this game I highly doubt we have the level of fighing based games as we do now. I spent many hours before and after school at 7elevn playing this game. 9) Magic the Gathering- This game is still a huge deal and many other CCG's have used this as a starting point. I remember being 13 and tyring to build tournament decks in the mid '90's. 10) Risk- This was my learning game before gettting into Axis and Allies. You then saw Shogun and many other games based off the same "concept". Like I said, that's my list based off the influences they had on me and the impacts I feel and saw have on the other games that exist today. Many of the games listed in their video, I never playerd or care to play.

[@FranzBinder20]

Of course Dominion has to be on that list. It created a whole new mechanism and genre!

[@zachhookom3813]

I'd love to through out Tafl games as being very influential (such as Hnefatafl). Many historians agree they probably influenced modern chess and they are the earliest form of asymmetrical game I'm aware of. While I'm not surprised they didn't make anyone's list seeing as they aren't as popular today, I just wanted to give a shout out for those who also had their inner nerd excited by this list. I only know of Hnefatafl due to my Norwegian ancestry, but it's a great game none the less. I would place it up there with chess and go as classics, check it out if you're interested.

[@Davearmstrong42]

Whew, an new top 10 video. All is right in the world again. Man, I really need those dice. Chessex? what size are they?

[@huckhugh58]

I ordered some 50mm dice from Amazon after seeing those. 😀

[@DeathMonkeyOmega]

Tom had the other Top 10 on an SD card and accidentally recorded over it (he mentioned this in one of the live chats). I believe it was this same top 10, and they just had to re-record it.

[@Davearmstrong42]

It's still like holding back on my heroin. :)

[@Davearmstrong42]

Jim Bourland I just found 70mm on ebay. But I'll still get the 50mm from amazon. Thanks for the heads up

[@BugsHaveProtein]

DeathMonkeyOmega It was Top 10 games of 2005 (because it was a decade ago).

[@CardboardistYT]

Never played Dominion before, but I would like to point out that it was Zee who said 225 years for modern games and then everything before that as ancient. If you take it that way, a game like Dominion still being talked about in another 10-20 years after it's been out for 10 is hovering around 10% of the modern gaming era. That certainly isn't a blip to ignore. In the greater scale of all gaming history, sure, but certainly for modern games I think it is definitely a powerhouse.

[@murrrr8288]

My list would include Senet or Royal game of Ur, which was most popular game for thousands of years and introduced racing and dice and play pawns to people for the longest time. Chess -if considered board game - has been one of the most known games almost everyone knows and referenced everywhere

[@luckybutt2583]

i had a question. so im designing a game but i realized that the name that i had in mind is taken by a game that is already out. It is a different game and has different mechanics than the game with the same name. Also its on boardgamegeek and its like in the 600s-700s in terms of ranking. Would i still be able to use the name or do i have to go with a different name?

[@JohnCorley13]

Name it whatever you want. Tons of games use the same names....just don't copy the mechanics of the game in question - there is some legal scrutiny over copyright mechanics.

[@luckybutt2583]

right cool yea i just wanted to know whether itd be a copyright issue if the name was the same

[@sinquup]

Interesting topic, and I enjoyed Sam taking it in a different direction by making it personal to him. But if D&D can be included - which I completely agree with - I am surprised that table top miniatures wargaming didn't get a shout. The whole genre of board war games was born out of it, which in turn influenced other genres, and D&D itself came from medieval miniatures gaming.

[@JohnCorley13]

Dice Tower Chess is from India, homey. Every continent has had their influence on the game however (see "en passant"). Shogi is a cool Japanese version where you get to use the pieces that you capture. Chess has so many cool variants to it (Suicide Chess, Chess 960, Bughouse Chess).

[@jeffr.1681]

The most startling exclusions to me would be Civilization and Diplomacy, and Acquire comes close behind as a closer precursor to the entire genre of geometry and economics games (usually involving railroads)

[@veroniquemarceau7137]

Did you think about Carcassonne? It brings a famous thing: Meeple! I'm not sure if this game was the first, but I think it brings tiles placement.

[@jeffr.1681]

Tile placement was a lot older; Dungeonquest at least

[@gheilers]

But...Carcassonne, and "tile placement" in general, owes a *lot* to dominoes, does it not? That brings up the question: should any of the guys have mentioned dominoes?

[@JohnCorley13]

isn't a meeple the same as a pawn?

[@GeoffreyScott571]

The thing Carcassonne brought which changed the industry, was expansions. It may not have been the first, but it was the first I know of that had successful, playable, desirable, and affordable expansions.

[@Haldurson]

Empire Builder and its spin-offs, which is a lot older than Through the Desert, I feel was a bigger influence on Ticket to Ride. And it kind of started the whole railroad genre of games.

[@Killer62Joe]

Magic: The Gathering is how I arrived to playing modern hobby board games.

[@alxgonzalez4038]

I couldn`t agree more with Zee`s list. Great top 10 from the dice tower.

[@AtomicJimmyMack]

I really enjoyed your video and couldn't agree more with your conclusions, but most especially about D&D. I have an interesting side note though (considering the collapse of our current empire and much of the world falling into chaos of late). "Monopoly" was (stolen) based on 1904's "The Landlord Game" which included a second round that was designed to teach "just how unfair monopolies can be". One has to wonder how much different things might be had Parker Brothers decided not to drop that. Cheers.

[@non-alphagamer3618]

I'm not sure how influential Cosmic Encounter is. Tom is the only person I ever hear talk about it.

[@thedicetower]

Talk to top game designers and publishers. It's a VERY influential game. For one thing, it is one of the things that inspired Magic the Gathering!

[@olafbuddenberg4787]

THANK YOU, Zee, for putting D&D on the list, and TOM for putting it No. 1. It just would not have been a good list without it. D&D ist important not so much for the game itself but for the HUGE impact it had on modern gaming as a whole. For 4 decades now it has established countless tropes and memes throughout gaming and pop culture.

[@LMKlees]

Influence under the influence Tom! Lol love the videos keep the coming.

[@C0ldIron]

Wist, a forgotten game and favorite pastime of Horatio Hornblower. Always wanted to give it a try.

[@DuncanEllis]

all great games, but the one I think you missed is Scrabble: any word game is compared to Scrabble, but there are two specific mechanics that turn up in many other places: 1. drawing back up to a fixed hand size (whether of tiles or cards) 2. laying interconnecting lines (Qwirkle and Iota are two recent ones which are basically Scrabble with shapes)

[@chrishenderson3691]

Totally agree with the MTG, Catan, and Cosmic influences...I would have rather lumped all the older, chess, go, etc. into a single group, or just said, obviously they all are influencing games so we won't go there...:) From a REALLY modern gaming standpoint, would you think something like a Golem Arcana will be a future influence from the innovative app/gaming hybrid mechanic, or was there something that did that before?

[@cthutu]

Zee, roll and move was in backgammon!

[@keithtextor4892]

Matt Davies Backgammon should've been on SOMEBODY'S list. Father of roll and move games, like Parcheesi.

[@trentbear2044]

Some definite influential games mentioned there. I worked in a games shop from 94 to 02 and can backup those comments/recommendations. However Games Workshop needs to be thrown into the mix, whether we consider fantasy, 40k or side games like Blood Bowl. In short miniatures gaming. This extrapolates across to games like Hero Quest (By MB licensing). Between RPG's (Mainly D&D), Miniature Gaming (GW) and Magic the Gathering, we stayed in business (Those three would have been about 70% of revenue). Commercially wise, games like Catan done ok, but their biggest benefit was bringing people into other board games of the time (So Influential gateway game). I'd mention Axis and Allies as it's what got me into gaming back in the 80's, but I agree it was Risk Advanced and if Risk is mentioned it's technically covered. Anyway, great list Dice Tower Team.

[@aaronconnell3271]

kinda surprised to not see ticket to ride anywhere. It has to be making around as much as catan is at this point.

[@nerzenjaeger]

I think Diplomacy introduced negotiation in games, Tom. ;)

[@mb1rgw]

And also deterministic combat

[@KabukiKid]

Oh yes! Diplomacy should be on the list. Good choice!

[@raymonddavies2934]

I would agree. It's now over 50 years old and still being sold/played.

[@nerzenjaeger]

Diplomacy also happens to be essential as an influence on roleplaying games.

[@tomaszandraka8985]

You could attribute negotiation even with Monopoly (1930s)!

[@gheilers]

I am surprised no one even mentioned Bridge. It might just be my age group, but as a kid, it seemed that *everyone's* mom and dad played Bridge, at least one night a week. When one heard the term "playing cards" - it evoked images of parents playing Bridge.

[@JohnCorley13]

Yeah, but you have to think what else was influenced by it. If they were to include it, they might say 'Trick Taking Games' Not really sure which was the first that introduced Trumps, Tricks, and Bidding?

[@maxmaxwell3243]

Omitted: Diplomacy, Mafia/Werewolf. I think those two games have introduced some revolutionary mechanics and have an ongoing legacy, if not individual staying power.

[@ErmacFellwalker]

I'm really surprised that Pandemic didn't feature on this list - Zee even mentioned it as a joke. But seriously, while it wasn't the first co-op to the party, I don't see how ANYONE could deny the impact this game has had to the co-op genre. It literally exploded after this game hit. D&D, Magic, Settlers of Catan, poker, Monopoly, Chess - these would all have been on mine too.

[@davidbell5528]

next time for cards maybe just list Hoyles. Deteministic combat and negotiation Cosmic Encouter? think Diplomacy did both those far earlier and probably more influentially.

[@justinbrauchler7905]

Great list guys. Don't listen to some of these silly commenters, All 3 of you had excellent lists that were YOUR lists and how you interpreted them to be. Awesome job. Haters gonna hate!

[@psmylife6832]

Coming at this from an extreme historical perspective, I'm thinking maybe flipping a relatively flat object and guessing which side landed facing up (or down?) would have to be among the first games ever invented. From that perhaps the concept of 'Dice', whereby a multi surfaced object was 'spun' and the up-ness (or down-ness) of faces with distinguishing features or markings may have been guessed, would have come shortly after. As such I would think that a game of Dice would be among the most influential games in the history of gaming. After that it is hard to say what probably would have come next. I'm thinking maybe the first, and maybe most enduring, influential 'roll and move' game was probably Snakes and Ladders. Not only introducing the concept of 'roll and move' but also the concepts of 'reward and punishment' (especially as a consequence of chance (in this case the the dice roll)). I would have liked to see Mahjhong included because of it being one of the first, and most enduring, picture 'card/tile' based games where the idea of set collection and matching was probably first introduced. Go for its introduction of the concepts of 'capture' and 'forward planning and strategy'. Similarly Checkers. Chess for further advancing this concept while introducing (a) more complex strategic variables, (b) assigning special powers to pieces, and (c) the introduction of the use of 'models that represent elements of real life'. Dominoes for 'piece placement' games and the concept of a 'dynamically-changing and evolving, creative board'. Then there are the more modern games in this list that have had not only an extreme effect on advancing concepts we take for granted in many games that we see nowadays (e.g. economics, discovery, sluething, cooperation, role playing, resource management, storylines, etc), but also have had a significant impact on generations by introducing countless thousands to their first fun game experience, that then lead them onto exploring gaming further. These include timeless classics and family and personal favourites such as, Monopoly, Scrabble, Connect Four, Operation, Snap, Uno, Cluedo, Guess Who?, Modern Traditional Card Games (probably would lump most in together, so hard to pick one, but probably Canasta, Bridge, Poker, Gin/Rummy, to name but a few), Risk, Dungeons and Dragons, Modern Table Top Gaming (as a general genre, e.g. Warhammer), Diplomacy, Axis and Allies, and then ultra-modern games such as Magic The Gathering, Dominion, Catan, and Carcassonne. :)

[@JCSmith-xv7yl]

One could argue the pips in Backgammon are Action Points, no?

[@MatroidX]

No, because different players get different action points based on dice they roll? Then why not say snakes and ladders has action points? :) Roll and move is different than action points.

[@monoludico6166]

I agree with Tom and Sam on Dominion as one of the most influential games because it was/is the pillar of the entire deck building genre.

[@dabraude]

What about Oware (I think it is the oldest) or some other type of Mancala game. If I remember correctly they were the first games to have something resembling a board, and we still use the mancala mechanic a lot in modern games.

[@bezoris2g]

Great stuff (long time lurker; A&A, D&D, Wadjet player - and if you can tell me how to actually play that last gorgeously produced game: Huzzah!). A piece like this screams out for a final predictive segment. As in: which upcoming, new or unreleased, game X with "new mechanics" Y will be influential for Z reasons... What's the new paradigm, or a movement in that direction? Best, Chris.

[@ghostlightx9005]

Tom is so right here...lumping Magic and Dominion together is really dumb. These games are extremely different. The deck building in Magic is "static" (drafting aside). You do it in advance of playing the game and then it takes no actual part in the game itself. In Dominion deck-building is dynamic, it *IS* the game. I'd put Hero Quest on the list.

[@Darthvegeta8000]

I'm surprised i'm surprisingly on Sam's side this time. ... I'm flabberghasted!

[@swedes95]

I had no idea that Plaid Hat's Isaac Vega designed Monopoly, haha!

[@StarshipMaximus]

Settlers of Catan is the board game that got me into the massive world of modern board gaming and I love it. I can also understand Sam's reason as to why he dislikes the game. There's just some games that don't stick with you, especially when you discover better and funner alternatives. So to hate Sam's opinion -which probably is just a misunderstanding on his stance on the game- on Catan is sorta weird and really illogical in the end.

[@JohnCorley13]

Tons of people hate that game. After a while, it's dry as hell. Still a great game to intro people into the hobby. That alone gives it staying power.

[@yvranx]

Zee at least mentioned Pachisi, should have been on everyone's list.