Top 100 Reiner Knizia Games - with Tom and Mike

Tom and Mike take a look at the immense catalog of acclaimed board game designer Dr. Reiner Knizia, and choose their top 100 favorites!
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[@spieleware4206]

Reiner has designed 2 new games during this live stream and published 3 of them even before I finish this sentence 😅

[@danhopper8266]

Lol. This comment wins the internet today. So true/ dammit. This made me spit coffee out my nose and snort laugh

[@cameronpowell1864]

That intro was... FLAWLESS!

[@brixtonreyes2255]

In true mathematician form, the number of games he designs follows the exponential function.

[@LegoAssassin098]

Intros since Mike and Chris have come on have been so good!

[@rabidpickle]

Except for the glasses

[@mylor1066]

So good.

[@zacharyvalentin]

I love how in the intro the Dr had glasses on when Mike talked but when he talked had them off. 😄 I'm loving the new intros!

[@rentless666]

That sketch in the beginning is pure gold! Amazing work, guys!

[@ignaciomochi9151]

The initial sketch with Chris with and without glasses is hillarious

[@republikadugave420]

T&E is without doubt his best game. That game is just a unicorn among games.. no cards, no gimmicks, no dice absolutely nothing just tiles and a board and unique and awsome set of rules..absolutely love how you are never safe and everything can change in an instant..you never not have a good move...my top 5 all time

[@unkindled_dreg]

Absolutely - I just love that game to bits.

[@InXLsisDeo]

Perhaps worth checking out Yellow & Yangtze, which is a variant of T&E

[@kiarahnama]

These intros are truly amazing and hilarious! Thanks for putting the time into them team

[@adolfarmstarke]

The Nordic version of Quest for El Dorado has Dutrait art and includes English rules and cards as well.

[@esayzgy]

Another Kniziaphile here, and here are my top 10: 10) High Society 9) Lord of The Rings: The Confrontation 8) Modern Art 7) My City 6) Keltis: Neue Weg, Neue Ziel 5) Blue Moon 4) Beowulf: The Legend 3) Taj Mahal 2) The Lord of The Rings 1) Tigris and Euphrates

[@dandurkin9735]

Great list! For me, T&E is up there with Samurai.

[@steepedgamescommunity6120]

We are in fact designing the 25th anniversary with additional modules:) We were the Lanyard sponsors!

[@michaeldilisio557]

I KNEW IT!!!

[@steepedgamescommunity6120]

@@michaeldilisio557 Congratulations. You are not going crazy!

[@DTChrisYi]

@@steepedgamescommunity6120 Yes! I'm glad I didn't barge in and say anything incorrect. Excited to see that. Any time frame announced?

[@steepedgamescommunity6120]

@@DTChrisYi working on a few more things with some factories to get most designs/components locked down, but projecting an announcement in the first half of this year. Also, this is Bryan, the Community/Retailer Manager speaking on behalf of SG:)

[@DTChrisYi]

@@steepedgamescommunity6120 Awesome, thanks Bryan. And thanks for watching too!

[@BobbyReichle]

Royal Visit is a favorite of mine.

[@fionajackson8002]

Royal Visit not making the list astonished me. It might be my favourite Knizia game. I picked it up a couple months ago and have played it dozens of times already. Absolutely brilliant tug of war game with some big exciting moments. And the production on it is incredible.

[@pikulis]

Underrated Knizias (whether on this list or on publishers' lists): - LOTR: Confrontation (is it the licensing issue? why isn't this being reprinted non-stop? over 100 plays: fun, deeply strategic, thematic, interactive - one of the best modern 2p games!) - Loot (it's a simple, but fun and quite deep card game with a THEME that makes sense; plays well with up to 8 players) - Stephenson's Rocket (not on this list! cutthroat train eurogame with stock portfolio management) - Tigris & Euphrates (I've recently emailed a local publisher and asked about a reprint, and they responded with something like "there will be no reprint because we focus on newer games"... Hello? Have you seen how much used T&E copies cost? Are you aware that this is top game designer's top rated game? A timeless design, unlike any other game out there.) - Quo Vadis (not on this list! pure negotiation game when you don't have time for Dune) - Modern Art (I'm surprised to see it rather low on this list; it's a 10/10 in my book: very clever, strategic, interactive, can bring laughter to the table, surprisingly very THEMATIC (if you get a proper version with bad art (original Hans im Gluck or CMON)). - His kids' games. Smart games for small children that are also fun for parents are hard to come by. Knizia makes good ones, and there have been many excellent rethemes of his games with great kid-friendly art released in Poland: Pędzące Żółwie, Pędzące Ślimaki, Kurnik, Pszczółki, Nogi Za Pas!, Pędzące Żółwie: Gra Karciana, Lato z Komarami, Pędzące Jeże, Glutostwory, Detektyw Pozytywka na tropie, etc.

[@seahawksfan9168]

i highly recommend kingdoms, its so much fun

[@nedeljkodukic7279]

How is Tigris or Modern art underrated?

[@InXLsisDeo]

I believe all the art of Tigris & Euphrates can be found online so you could, at worst, make a copy of it yourself. But it's a dumb decision not to reprint it. Or check out Yellow & Yangtze which is a close variant.

[@theearlyresetband]

Great games! My wife and I play Royal Visit a lot!

[@Oaklestat]

It sounds like Catchapalooza just had 36 Reiner Knizia games added to it for Mike.

[@wolflarson71]

Spot on with the El Dorado reappreciation comments from Mike at the beginning.

[@maskalumni6037]

Fantastic top 100. Knizia has made so many great games! Also I loved the intro.

[@treyeck8705]

Tigris & Euphrates is my favorite Knizia game. I love the tension. I never feel like I lost due to one conflict. You have to play well the whole game.

[@zirkvandenberg7776]

My most played game of all time - Battle Line (Schotten Totten). And I've never even tried the optional rules! Greatest value for money out there.

[@RobertHovakimyan55]

Great list! Here's my top 10 from my favorite designer: 1) Yellow & Yangtze 2) Through The Desert 3) Medici 4) Stephenson's Rocket 5) High Society 6) Amun Re 7) Scarab Lords 8) Rapido 9) Pumafiosi 10) Schotten Totten

[@InXLsisDeo]

Y&Y is essentially a reimplementation of Tigris & Euphrates

[@RobertHovakimyan55]

@@InXLsisDeo Yep! I've played both and prefer Y&Y

[@andyharris4048]

My top 20: 1. Samurai 2. The Quest for El Dorado 3. Ra 4. Medici 5. Taj Mahal 6. Beowulf: The Movie Board Game (Kingdoms) 7. Ivanhoe 8. Modern Art 9. King's Road 10. Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation 11. Through the Desert 12. Ingenious 13. Schotten Totten 14. My City 15. Winner's Circle 16. Formula Motor Racing 17. Colossal Arena/Equinox 18. High Society 19. Blue Moon City 20. Tigris & Euphrates

[@dandurkin9735]

Samurai is my "favorite", too.

[@andyharris4048]

Played Whale Riders this weekend, liked it a lot. Probably slides in at #12 here behind Through the Desert.

[@kosnk]

I love having Mike in the show.

[@dexdouglas]

Wheedle at 95 is UNDERRATED! If I ever come to a DT Con, I’m pulling this one out of my pocket and making Tom play it again.

[@rexology_bg]

I now feel like I need to get a copy of Twins and paste it up with images from the movie Twins.

[@KB-gx5bs]

Great episode! Knizia is my all-time favorite, with Ra and Tigris & Euphrates on top. I actually also enjoy Tower of Babel, which did not make your list. I will be pullling out Blue Moon again this weekend due to this video!

[@yourebelscum9662]

I miss Out of the Box Publishing. Their games were never super complex, but they were usually really fun

[@mattanderson1088]

Surprised Royal Visit didn't make this list. I know the original theme was questionable, but the new theme and production is better and the game is excellent fun. (And Mike even mentioned it in passing so I know he's at least played it.)

[@Greasynils]

Whats questionable about the original? Honest question. I prefeer the old version to the new mess of a theme, mechanics fits much better with the old theme

[@FBracht]

I'm waiting on delivery for Royal Visit and I'm excited for it. It seems really original and tactile. I also love the new aesthetic.

[@drette5322]

We want a Kniziapalooza.

[@repertuaras]

Omg that sketch was soooooo gooooood!

[@nerzenjaeger]

Thanks. This significantly extended my Knizia "to buy/try" list.

[@theakountant8444]

Really great video that I'm watching late. The only glaring omission seems to be Stephenson's Rocket, which has had a few printings and a respectable level of success. I know Tom hates it, but if we're talking objective rankings, it definitely has to be on there.

[@joeferreti9442]

I'm not a Knizia fan. I haven't found a Knizia game so far that I really liked. But I guess "Tigris & Euphrates" would probably be very high on my list of Knizia games. It seems to be an impressive design. "Amun-Re" and "Taj Mahal" are also games that I want to try.

[@joeferreti9442]

@ycuko2788 Loot / Korsar / Pirate ! I haven't played or seen much about "Battle Line".

[@edotgdotandfriends6802]

I would love to find a copy of Circus Flohcati with the dressed up fleas.

[@charlietwoteas3676]

Great vid, loved the sketch at the beginning. I'm fairly new to the hobby so the only ones I've played are High Society and Modern Art both of which I love. I really like how they both involve fuzzy logic and things that don't have fixed value, this seems to be a theme with his games. Definitely a few talked about today that have been added to my wishlist

[@ginewes]

My kids love Secrets of the Sea and it is really fun to play it with them.

[@derekyoung4892]

I loved this video. ALOT. Would love more videos like these with other designers!

[@joelmann6934]

Ra the dice game is my favorite!

[@dancondonjones]

Tom - I think you’ll love Sakura. It has a similar feel to 6 Nimmt. Very chaotic, with lots of laughs when people accidentally bump into the emperor and have to lose points and move backwards on the track.

[@donnab6391]

My family and I also LOVE Blue Moon City, the original art, not the CMON version.

[@TheJonoRawker]

13 of my 252 games are Knizia. My top Knizia games are: 1. Medici 2. Whale Riders 3. Yellow & Yangtze 4. Lost Cities 5. LLAMA 6. High Society I haven't played many high rated ones but I'm looking forward to the new version of RA that is due out this year.

[@IndianaGeologist]

Great video guys. You too have great chemistry

[@bushibayushi]

his top games for me: 1. RA 2. Tigris & Euphrates 3. Kingdoms (for 2 players) 4. Blue Moon Legends 5. The Quest for El Dorado ;)

[@teeeeeveeeee314]

AGE OF WAR!!! How could you miss that one?!?

[@DavidSupina]

I just want to state my appreciation for the specific publisher Herr Knizia cites that he wants to show his exponentially growing number of board games… is Fantasy Flight games. That touch is GOLD. 😂

[@RabbitofCaerbannog13]

The intro alone should get a nomination for an Oscar next year

[@gregbauer6638]

"How could I mess this up?" -Mike. My question though, "Are there rocks involved?" Great video, loved the intro

[@Jootie_de_Kop]

Isn't it about time to call this phenomenon the greatest board game designer of the millennium? Maybe a special surprice 2023 Dice Tower award?

[@paulanderson7347]

Age of War can take forever

[@seahawksfan9168]

kingdoms is the most underrated game by reiner, such a fun game

[@ElGrandoCaymano]

Notable Absences: (1) Strozzi (2) Medici vs Strozzi (3) Stephenson's Rocket (4) Merchants of Amsterdam (5) Municipium (6) Sakura (7) Great Wall of China

[@ElGrandoCaymano]

Have to disagree: the most recent and beautiful Battle Line/Schotten Totten is GMT's Battle Line Medieval (2017) which has art from Roland's Revenge, who also drew for Western Legends, Undaunted and Final Girl. There is though a new Schotten Totten 2 which is maybe what was being referred to...

[@annadworakowska5132]

Check out Polish version of Schotten Totten called "Spór o bór" (released in 2021): boardgamegeek.com/image/6432843/schotten-totten

[@stevevitka7442]

A better balanced mechanism for determining Ranking would be to use an expected value of 50(actually lower for Mike as doesn't have 100 games) for when 1 player didn't make 1-

[@fingersmaster]

9:08 Mmmmm... Brains (rethemed as Reiner Knizia's Monkey Mischief) is not a bad game at all, especially for young players. It has the pedagogical virtue to help kids dealing with losing. 2 phase game : gaining braaaains and then stealing them from each other until last zombie standing. The monkey and bananas retheme is more young player friendly. I recommend it.

[@jackiejlw5493]

The print & play game surprised me. A great idea if anyone at DT is a connoisseur of print & play games for a top 10 list, hint hint. 🤓

[@jimgrant9081]

Electric Boogaloo - outstanding!

[@frk0788]

Lol that intro hahah awesome

[@LeechfootsHandle]

Just wanted to shout out my three favorite Knizia games that weren't on this list (I think): Sushizock im Gockelwok (called Sushi Roll in France) Similar to Pikomino but maybe better? Times Square (Royal Visit) - Great 2p tug of war. Old version has a champagne bottle meeple! Penguin Party - So simple and fast and yet devious as you cut off other penguin's ability to party!

[@elizabethgrayson4193]

Oh man, best intro!!! I watched it like 8 times hahaha keep up the awesome work!

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Who can you guys find to rank all of Bruno Cathala's games?

[@nedeljkodukic7279]

That would be Zee Garcia

[@dandurkin9735]

Millie Fiori is great! Knizia does Wolfgang Warsch (Ganz Shön Clever the board game).

[@jasondunham5780]

Did I order Yangtze from Poland just to "Be Like Mike"?....Yes, I did...Mike Dilisio is a National Treasure!!

[@katarzynabialik6448]

In Poland we have a special edition of Dream Factory called Tytus, Romek i A'Tomek. It's based on popular comic book series about 2 boys and an chimpanzee. Instead of making movies you're creating comic books with motives that derive from the most popular ones done by Papcio Chmiel ;)

[@TikkaTCM]

All I can think about now is Chris bursting through the door like the Kool-Aid man!

[@longtimeninerfan1309]

“Looks to be frozen”. ( Matches the opening skit).

[@billlavine3429]

Happy to see Age of War get some love. Even serious board gamers seem tend to not be aware of it. Great quick game and cheap too.

[@pikkdogs]

I can only do a top 10, so here is my Knizia top 10 1. Lost Cities 2. Indigo 3. Schotten Totten 4. High Society 5. Carcassonee the Castle 6. Loot 7. Modern Art 8. Looting London 9. Zero Down 10. Khan of Khans

[@PlanetHugger]

Lost Cities is the only game my Wife is playing with me so far. So Tom....it is GOLD. :) Hoping to find some new inspiratons with this vid of yours....any suggestions?

[@olanmills64]

Orongo was available in the US and Ravensberger does have games in the US with their name on the box. Bidder Up and Broom Service are two examples I can think of

[@markussabogabriel5846]

High Entertainment value with that two guys.

[@demonicbunny3po]

Good god. 100 games from one man. And not even a comprehensive list. That is insane.

[@darinherrick9224]

I can't believe I actually sat through this entire episode... But as I suspected, some (most?) of his best games are not games I have played, heard of, or seen for sale anywhere. Going to have to go hunting to find more of the good stuff. Also...some of the games with a lower rating look very interesting to me.

[@issa496]

This year alone I am buying at least 4 Knizias

[@enemene1020]

Best intro ever!

[@dandurkin9735]

I think Sumatra is good fun! Subtle design.

[@24cps37]

Great Wall of China is really good also, underrated Knizia

[@wolflarson71]

LLAMA should be top 50 easily.

[@dandurkin9735]

I'm surprised that Mike appears to think that "interaction" is unusual in Knizia's designs. Knizia has declared that he designs for player interactions - players are compelled to always pay attention to others; few of his games are soloable. Check out Ben Maddox's recent interview and this recent interview (kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5rdiaqJf5Kiapo).

[@lastburning]

Just from my own experience with Knizia games I think they are very interactive! My own personal problem with euro games is the low player interaction but it doesn't have to be so! Euros can be very interactive!

[@olanmills64]

Ra the Dice game is like a grail game for me

[@MadSlantedPowers]

I only have the following games: Age of War The Hobbit (not the one mentioned on this list) Lord of the Rings Lost Cities Lost Cities The Board Game I like Lost Cities The Board Game better than Lost Cities because of the theme comes through a bit more, but have only played a couple times and don't care for the setup. I have only played The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings as solo walkthroughs to figure the game out. Age of War is a nice dice chucker, though it can drag on if the dice are not coming up favorably for anyone. I've played Ra, and am thinking of getting the new version when it is available. I've also printed out and played a few rounds of the Decathlon game.

[@adamtorkelson8272]

Kings road is pretty good, actually. It IS area control, not just an area control “aspect” to it as mike said. Super light, but one of the best gateway AC games, what mint control wishes to be. It’s actually like a lighter version of mission red planet imho, if you can imagine something lighter than that. I’m not sure which design was first (as you said KR is based on an even earlier game of his own) but I’m guessing knizias, and then Cathala expanded on the idea.

[@michaeldilisio557]

Sorry if I misspoke on the level of area control in the game. It’s been a while since I played, so I’m not surprised if I missed nuance on this (or others in the list as well…we covered a lot of games). It’s definitely older than Mission Red Planet in its original form.

[@adamtorkelson8272]

@@michaeldilisio557 it’s all good! Didn’t mean to be too hard on you. I’ve been a fan of yours since your early days of solo mode games btw. I enjoyed the knizia review a lot! I wish zee was there too! He has a lot of knizias on his top 100 I think and I like his knizia reviews as well.

[@InXLsisDeo]

Tigris & Euphrates definitely one of the best games ever designed. Not sure what's stressful in it, bu it's certainly a brain burner, so it's for chess amateurs. I would like to try Ra and Amun-Re.

[@perwesterlund1725]

The Dutrait version in the Nordic countries has English cards and rules as well in the box.

[@bifi1977]

Piatnik has a couple of more letters, is situated in Vienna Austria and might not be a big Boardgame publisher but it is one of the biggest producers of classic Card-Decks in the world and at it for almost 200 years. Obviously Klaus-Jürgen Wredes name does in no shape or form resemble what ever Tom sad. In case this was lost in translation. Loving the video and the intro.

[@martinlebduska8344]

Best Intro :D :D

[@jasonsmith1133]

Can’t wait to see where Whoowasit? falls.

[@FranzBinder20]

Timestamps/chapters?

[@nirszi]

I played Money on the iPhone a LOT. It was awesome. Sadly not available anymore.

[@JonoNZBoardGamer]

I find it amusing when a knizia sequel comes out where the major change is from square grids to hex grids :) Tigris and Euphrates to Yellow and Yangtze, now My City to My Island. Are there any others?

[@holgerchristiansen4003]

Ingenious to Axio went the other way. From hexes to squares!

[@jimgrant9081]

For a top 10 idea - best games for your quiver (very small form factor)

[@DoppelgangerF02]

Lmaoooooo this intro is incredible

[@paulraggett6105]

Can’t believe that Qin is so low. Should be in the top 20 at least. And Escalation didn’t even score a mention. Also can’t believe that Tom says that he’s surprised that he hasn’t played Indigo, as I geekmailed him a few years ago, that he should give it a go as it is a superior game to either Tsuro or Metro and he said that it wasn’t his sort of game.

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

I backed the RA Gamefounding.

[@ludwigmises]

Fun intro!

[@Jonathan-ei7vp]

Mille Fiori is my favorite

[@adamtorkelson8272]

One you also left off is (don’t laugh) Zombiegeddon. Reviews of this game are pretty much nonexistent, but it’s a shame. It’s actually not bad and I would highly recommend it to light gamers and knizia fans especially. It has both a mass market mechanism but several euro mechanisms all at once without feeling overwhelmed. It’s a pawn moving game (no rolling) and is set collection mostly, but it’s also one of those games where the tile spaces are removed on your moves so the board becomes smaller on each turn. On top of that, it is pick up and delivery as you are trying to place supplies on bunkers during the first and second phases of the game. As if that’s not enough, it has the blue lagoon thing where the first phase determines the start of your second phase. Your pawns start on the bunkers you supplied. If you weren’t able to get there and supply one, you can’t start a pawn there in the second phase. And what is more, you have to collect weapons to destroy enemies and zombies (the latter of which only come in the second phase). You have to make sure you collect enough and don’t use them all in the first phase on enemies so you can get the points for killing zombies later. Make sure you use them all as weapons are worth zero points at the end. There are also obstacles and ways of transporting. Not his best, but one overlooked game that is worth mentioning.

[@JL-ku7wo]

Ra preordered!

[@Poiuytrew.Q]

Bow tie!

[@eVanDiesel]

No love for Looting London.:(

[@thedicetower]

I've played it, and found it fine, but it didn't make the combined list (Mike).

[@MarekCholostiakow]

You should definately look at the new Polish version of Schotten Totten: Spór o Bór ;).

[@daleygamer]

Definitely disagree with royal visit not making the list. One of my wife and I's most played games.

Those people are marketing material