What is worker placement? + My top 10 games with worker placement! | BOARD GAME 101

[@brianstever2146]

My top 10 10 - Agricola 9 - Parks 8 - Tzolkin 7 - Dinogenics 6 - Champions of Midgard 5 - Egizia Shifting Sands 4 - Everdell 3 - Honeybuzz 2- Lost Ruins of Arnak 1 - Underwater Cities

[@MerlinsManor]

I still struggle to see Parks as a worker placement game, since you are limited to placing along a linear trail when typically in WP games you can choose freely which location you want to place your worker on (limited only by a location being full). I do know a lot of people do consider it WP, but it certainly isn't traditional WP. Also, a note on BGG, anyone can edit the info and the person reviewing the submission can mistakenly accept the submission. I did make a mistake adding a mechanic to a game one time and later realized it didn't fit, but it still got approved.

[@timothywalsh9637]

For Intro worker placement games I recommend: 1.) Lords of Waterdeep 2.) Stone Age 3.) Champions of Midgard 4.) Raiders of the North Sea 5.) Pan Am 6.) Olympus

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Thank you so much for the recommendations Timothy!! 😊

[@juanignacio8201]

LoW great game!

[@randalladkins7452]

Great list Jenna! Everdell is my favorite worker-placement game and my current favorite game! Great entry worker-placement games that come to mind for me are Tokaido (which you had on your list), Lords of Waterdeep (one that helped get me into the hobby), Champions of Midgard (Dice Placement), Honga (very kid-friendly Haba game), Targi (good for 2), Imhotep: The Duel (also good for 2), and maybe Kingsburg (though I remember when I first played it, preparing for Winter was a little tricky). However, I do know for some people any game can be their entry game (Besides Lords of Waterdeep, Agricola was another entry game into the hobby that blew my mind on how thinky board games could be and how to balance out negative scoring!). I know some people whose first games were Vinhos and Brass: Lancashire!

[@matthewzahnzinger]

Ah! I didn't think of Targi as a worker placement, perhaps because the "board" is fundamentally different in style from more conventional worker placements like Midgard, but I think you're right! Very nice, tight, two-player game that has been very well balanced each time I've gotten it to the table.

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Everdell is great! I do think that adding an expansion or two might bring it up on the list for me. We've had it for quite a bit so we had played it quite a bit. So adding something new to the game might be good! 😊👍🏻 Also thank you so much for all the other recommendations! And that is very true! Most board games are pretty "common sense" in a way and if you just take the time to learn the rules I feel like any game is attainable!

[@hanng1242]

1. If one use sure about liking Tokaido, I would suggest getting the Crossroads expansion with it (or get the Deluxe edition that has it included). What Crossroads does is gave a plyer an alternate action at each location. This is great if one has already completed a panorama, since it makes stops at that scenic spot useful again. 2. I think one of the most elegant and easiest-to-teach worker placement games is Raiders of Scythia. This game is a reworking of Raiders of the North Sea. It takes Raiders of the North Sea with both expansions, then streamlines it. In this game everybody shares the workers, and everyone has one in hand. On his turn, the player places the worker in an available spot,, taking the action, and then takes a worker from a different spot, taking the action. A lot of this is for the purposes of gathering resources needed to raid nearby kingdoms. For a raid, one places the worker on the spot to be raided, and takes the worker that was on that spot at the start of the game back in hand. There are 3 levels of workers, and the more distance raids will require getting a better worker either from an earlier raid, or from an opponent's raid. Or, one could play Raiders of the North Sea with one of, both of, or none of the expansions. 3. If one wants a heavier worker placement game that is not talked about often, one might try Argent: The Consortium. The theme is fun; each player is a professor at a university of magic trying to get enough support to become the next dean - Hogwarts office politics. To do this one sends out ones apprentice wizards to gather resources and research spells. All of this is to ultimately win the vote of the faculty committee; however, who is on the committee can vary by game to game, and they start the game unrevealed (there is an action that allows a player to peak). The board is made up of tiles selected from a poor of double-sided tiles, representing the rooms at the university where the actions will take place. The game lasts 5 rounds, and at the end of the game, whoever has met the criteria of the most people on the committee wins. Also, each player's wizards have a unique special ability. This game has a lot of replay vale since the rooms (and therefore available actions) and committee members (criteria for winning) can change from game to game. Just remember that this is a pretty heavy Eurogame, even though it has a cool/funny theme.

[@TheHEAVYDAN]

My top 7: 7. Lost Ruins of Arnak 6. Honey Buzz 5. Agricola 4. 51st State 3. Underwater Cities 2. Viticulture 1. Dune imperium Some I am sure I would enjoy, but haven't played. Lords of Waterdeep, Stone Age, Everdell, Caverna, and Feast for Odin.

[@funkymarza]

Great list, thanks for sharing! My top 3 worker placement games: 1. Bruxelles 1893 2. Caverna 3. Everdell

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Thank you! I’ll need to look into Bruxelles 1893! Since I really enjoy both of your other favs I’m sure I would enjoy it too! Thank you! 😊

[@aquarius5719]

At home we are designing a game about space capital ships combat with fighters and troop transports. It is a worker placement game. Since everything takes time, what you do now, accumulated small decisions will become outcomes some turns into the future.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

3:15 I have seen 2 different ways for the structure of the actual worker placement: 1) You place your worker, one at a time - and IMMEDIATELY take the action which the spot allows you to do. That ends your turn - and then your opponent(s) take their turn(s) in the same matter. This is more traditional. 2) Players place all of their workers onto the board first and only after placing ALL of the workers out do players take their actions. This style of worker placement is more likely to occur in heavier games, because players have to plan out their turns more, thinking out their entire turn ahead of time, without having the luxury of seeing what the result of their going to X worker placement spot to get 2 fruit (resource) is, for example. This worker placement style can still involve players placing one worker at a time and rotating until it comes back to their turn, OR it could involve each player placing all of their workers at a given time.

[@jankogo]

Nice list! My favorites are: Keyflower (WP with bidding), Empires: Age of Discovery (WP with upgradable workers and area control), Caylus 1303, Kingsburg (Dice WP), Tzolkin (WP and time) and Tawantinsuyu (Different colored workers that get extra if you match the color correctly).

[@JJ_TheGreat]

2:46 Traditionally, you going to a worker placement spot blocks others from going there, but there can be twists - such as you can still go to the spot, but you have to pay more/pay the player that is currently there. In another instance, you can go to a spot where (one of) your opponent(s), but you will be helping “bump” there worker out of that spot and giving their worker back to them.

[@taylorlovell3072]

I had not heard of Seize the Bean before but now I am very interested! Thanks for the tip. Also, Alchemists is my favorite game of all time and you are definitely correct about it being a worker placement game.

[@MerlinsManor]

I would probably say Everdell is Gateway+ not so much because of how complicated it is, but because the start of the game could be a little discouraging to those who are new to board gaming or new to worker placement games. (Feels like you are not accomplishing anything on your first season). And Creature Comforts is standard worker placement with an added caveat that you must place the appropriate dice where your worker is in order to activate the space. When you place your worker you only know 2 out of the 6 dice, so you are placing in the hopes you will be able to use the space. If you are unable to use a space you get a lesson learned token which you can use on future turns to adjust a die up or down by 1 per lesson learned token.

[@starshocker]

I love worker placement as a mechanism in boardgaming. My favorite so far remaining Parks. I also enjoy any other placement mechanisms such as with dice.

[@boardsandstuff5008]

I enjoy tiny epic dinosaurs. Is a clasic worker placement and plays fast yet it feels as if your playing another player. Can he brutal at times with the AI completing many contracts. But very fun.

[@meeplechat5046]

Champions of Midgard and Raiders of the North Sea are super fun!

[@xxhawkdancerxx]

I just played Viticulture for the first time this evening and OH MAN I get the hype now! Belated to the party haha. I love worker placement too, definitely my favorite mechanism! I think my faves are: Everdell, Honey Buzz, and Parks, so quite a big overlap with your list. I can definitely see Viticulture climbing to the top of the list too!!

Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small is an excellent starting point for getting into worker placement (and its quite quick, easy to explain and its for 2 players). It takes out all the complicated stuff out of agricola and caverna and just focuses on the animal-breeding-side of things)

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Also, there are worker placement games, which involve different worker types - which typically give you different benefits/ability[abilities] for using that type of worker. Because of this, those types of workers usually cost more for you to get them/get them in play.

[@keith2570]

Whistle Mountain is an excellent worker placement game. Another instant keeper for us.

[@Naledgeizpwr]

In no particular order, I would say the worker placement games I enjoy the most are: Bus, by Jeroen Doumen & Joris Wiersinga. Snowdonia, by Tony Boydell. Tribune: Primus Inter Pares, by Karl-Heinz Schmiel. Lancaster, by Matthias Cramer. I could see Russian Railroads, by Helmut Ohley & Lonny Orgler, but I have only played it about half a dozen times since it was released so harder to judge for me. I think tracking the score is a bit tedious, although I believe it is on BGA so that should be taken care of.

[@dmillar71]

Great video, so many good worker placement games on your list. My current top 10: 10. Stone Age 9. Raider's of the North Sea 8. Robinson Crusoe 7. Architect's of the West Kingdom 6. My Father's Work (will likely climb when the final version of the app is released). 5. Lost Ruins of Arnak 4. Agricola 3. A Feast for Odin 2. Viticulture 1. Carnegie I just received Caverna, and can't wait to give it a go...I know it'll definitely make my top ten.

[@jimphilidor9031]

An interesting twist on the mechanic would be that the action space would give better bonuses for the player who comes there later. My favorites are Agricola, Barrage, Trickerion and Stone Age. Agricola and Stone Age are classics of the genre and the other two are more modern and heavier, with beautiful art.

[@longtimeninerfan1309]

Nice list! I learned from your presentation about several of the games mentioned, including that they are in the “ worker placement” category. I think you will enjoy the “Nightfall” expansion for your #9. I find the end game goal cards in the expansion more attainable, plus you gain more beautiful cards and the “ tent” variant is easy to integrate too.

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

I am so glad! 😊 And yes I am very excited to eventually add the Nightfall expansion and the Wildlife expansion (coming out soon!) to the collection. Parks is such a great game. Thanks for watching!

[@stacie_everdell]

I love Lost Ruins of Arnak for worker placement. Also Trickerion, Genotype, and of course...Everdell.

[@SanddollarStitcher]

Excellent video! You helped me get into board games. I just started in June and have since purchased 12 games! Lol. Thank you for the great videos.

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Thank you so much! 🥺💕 that makes me so happy that I got you into board games! That is my main goal of this channel, just spreading the love of board games and growing this amazing community. We are so happy to have you! You are so welcome! I really love making these videos! 💕

[@sentino68]

Nice job! I was on the fence for Everdell, not any more. I wish we had a store like your local FLGS in south Florida. At least we got Amazon.

[@heatherm9889]

Viticulture is a lovely worker placement game that I have played just a few times. I won once and barely lost during another playthrough. My favorites so far are Honey Buzz, Creature Comforts [which utilizes dice worker placement] and Viticulture. I haven't played a lot of worker placement games, although I have quite a few that are waiting to make it to my table someday soon.

[@blackboardgaming5348]

Viticulture is also my #1 worker placement game. Others on my list include most of yours. Lost Ruins Of Arnak, Everdell, Fabled Fruit, Anachrony, Parks, Tokaido, and Architects of the West Kingdom.

[@jamesbrazeal3847]

Good list. I imagine in next year or two this will be a world different. For me top worker Placement is Stone Age. I have not played a ton of this type of game myself. 11:35 I will not ignore Penny, she is amazing. #1PennyFan

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Thank you James! Penny also says thank you! She is currently laying by my feet. 🥰 And oh my goodness, this list will probably change in a few months! We just played Underwater Cities tonight and I can already tell its one that I enjoyed a lot and will probably be on the list soon!

[@ag4444]

I'm interested in seize the bean, but couldn't get my hands on it yet. those are real cafés in Berlin and I have been to some of them.

[@hairygnome1787]

Great video. Enjoying your channel, keep up the good work 🙂 For anybody looking for a heavier option on worker placement, you can't go wrong with the classic, Caylus, and I am a huge fan of Manhattan Project 2: Minutes to Midnight. It is a real brain burner that has some great tweaks on.regular worker placement and is criminally underrated.

[@hairydongle8054]

Just ordered Viticulture because of your top review!

[@gurnblanston2848]

I have to admit, I have not played many worker placement games. We have Arnak, and both Parks and Everdell have been on my wishlist for a while. You mentioned Creature Comforts at the end, and I was thinking of suggesting it (it's one of my wife's favorites), but it is dice worker placement, rather than meeples. Still, very fun!

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

I definitely recommend trying out some of those! They are amazing games! 😊 and yeah I though Creature Comforts was dice worker placement. I’m so excited to give that one a try soon! Thanks for watching Gurn!

[@markneary1889]

Carcassone was our first worker placement game and easy for new players.

[@MrJmarzetti]

Nice list, Caverns and Viticulture are two on my wishlist. I can recommend a couple of oldie but goodies for you if you are really liking worker placement. My top 3 that I have are Caylus, Village and Rococo. Three really solid euros.

[@CG_Hali]

Seize the Bean was only available in 2 stores in all of Canada, so totally missed out. Didn't realize I should have jumped on it. Hope they publish again. My top woker placement is little known: Robin Hood and the Merrymen (The Mico art). I just love the theme so much and the mechanics. Once the rulebook bump is over, you can have so much fun. Even made cardboard meeples cause I couldn't find the Deluxe edition with the added 5 extra characters.

[@tala1246]

Yay…I found your game channel, and you can, (as you say)…”bug” me all you want with every single video! I’m subscribed and ready to be one of your biggest game channel fans. 🎉🎉🎉

[@draheim90]

Great list! Will be playing Honey Buzz soon, didn’t realize it was worker placement. Seeing Caverna so high was delightful :) Worker placement games are easily my favorite style of multiplayer game and the ones I’ve played the most. I know you asked for a top 3 but it’s so hard to pick just three..so I’ll do tiers instead haha. Favorites: Caverna, A Feast for Odin, Dune Imperium: Rise of Ix. Excellent: Viticulture: Tuscany Essential, Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders, Robinson Crusoe, Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small. Very good: Rajas of the Ganges, Everdell, Raiders of the North Sea w/ expansions, Targi. Likely trying Underwater Cities soon as well, very excited for it!

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Thank you so much! Worker placement is definitely one of my top 3 mechanics for sure and I haven’t even tried a lot of ones people often talk highly of like A Feast For Odin and Dune Imperium! I’m excited to give all the ones you mentioned a try! We did just play Underwater Cities last night and we both REALLY enjoyed it! Can’t wait for you to try it. 😊👏🏻

[@draheim90]

Just tried Underwater Cities today at 2p and we both really enjoyed it as well! Don’t know if I’d want to play it with 4 or even 3 people though lol. Seems to be a good deal of replayability and strategies to explore.

[@keith2570]

Taverns of Tiefenthal combines dice worker placement and deck building in a great and fun way. If you haven't tried it you should give it a look. It was an instant keeper for us. I like your content. Just subscribed.

[@pm71241]

Hmm ... not a big Eurogamer, but I have a few worker placement games. If I should pick a few which stands out: Caylus and Barrage.

[@keith2570]

I'm going to look into Seize The Bean.

[@junosynth]

Hey my top 2 are the exact same as yours! I would definitely recommend the Caverna expansion too!

[@fraserskomorowski2311]

Great list. I had heard/read that Stardew Valley was a grindy. I enjoy the video game and would like to give the boardgame a playthrough. My absolute favorite worker placement is Raiders of the North Sea. Mostly, I play this solo.

[@edupazos]

Viticulture is my favorite WP game too, and it was before I got the Tuscany expansion. After I got Tuscany...I will never play Viticulture without Tuscany. Single most essential expansion I own. Get it Tuscany...it will change Viticulture for you soooo much for the better!

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Hey Jenna, Video Request: Could you please do a similar style video for Engine-Building Games, which includes your top games involving the mechanism? I have a hard time answering the question: “What is engine-building?” Thank you! :-)

[@shockwavemasta]

Surprised Taverns wasn''t on this list

[@gee3161]

Great job Jenna!

[@MerlinsManor]

I'll have to check out Seize the Bean. Sounds interesting.

[@anthonium.]

Love this channel and the topics you cover. I own LROA and only played it once (solo) and enjoyed it. Would you say the expansion is an absolute must to enhance the solo experience?

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Thank you so much! 🥰 That means a lot. And as for the leaders expansion I do think it would add great variability to the solo experience for sure! Playing solo as one of the 6 different leaders would allow for some great strategic changes to the game and it adds more cards and a second 2 sided research track as well. Can't go wrong with that! Hope this helps! **I will mention that I haven't personally played LROA solo as of yet but I enjoy what the expansion adds to multiplayer and I'm sure it would be the same with solo.

[@samg3413]

Hello hello! I'll start by saying the quality of your production has improved!! I love seeing you grow with your board game content! I would love to hear about some of your current favourite filler games since I've been playing an awful lot of point salad as of late!

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Thank you so much Samantha! That means the world! 🥰 I’m trying to make each video as good as possible. And that’s a great list idea! We have a ton of filler games we love to take out often and I would love to talk about them! Thanks!

[@tala1246]

By the way…my name is Tala, and I love Tulips. So I’ll be a Tulip in your Garden, with you the Rose, of course.🌷

[@IllBuythePopcorn]

So many games that I want to try. I've only played Lost Ruins of Arnak. I really want to try honey buzz, Everdell and Parks.

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

All three of those games are fantastic! Just played Honey Buzz solo today and LOVED IT! 🥰👏🏻

[@shinhangpyo5190]

Argent The Consortium is my favorite worker placement/ probably top 3 game for me! It is like Harry Potter extreme

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Ohhhh that sounds AMAZING! 😱✨ I’ll have to check it out!

[@Michael-vv1gn]

I enjoy your channel you are easy to listen to

[@nyctophilex7]

Was surprised to not see Dune: Imperium here, maybe you have not played it (if not - you should definitely try!)? Anyways - nice list and video! I can't wait to try Honey Buzz.

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Yes we haven’t played it yet! Everyone in the comments are making me want to try it out though! 👍🏻 I’ll have to put it on the list! And thank you so much! Honey Buzz is fantastic! Just played solo today and loved it!

[@nihlify]

My list at the top of my head. There's probably a few more I can't remember atm. But the #1 was pretty easy for me. 1: A Feast for Odin 2: Everdell 3: Hadrian's Wall 4: Viticulture 5: Dune Imperium 6: Targi 7: Robinson Crusoe 8: Atlantis Rising

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Ohhh yeah I definitely need to give A Feast For Odin a try! Everyone is mentioning it as their fav! And I’ve never actually thought of Hadrians Wall as a worker placement game but I get see why it would be! Maybe that is why I enjoy it so much! Because it’s a mix of my two favourite mechanisms! Worker placement and roll & write! So good! That would definitely be on the list if I knew! 😊👏🏻

[@RafaelMartins-wq4bt]

How about Stone Age ? That is a good one to start with.

[@zacdredge3859]

Maybe I'm not understanding Tokaido but it doesn't seem like a worker placement game? It's just one meeple and you move along a track...

[@GaminUpWithTheJoneses]

Exactly I believe the mechanic is called a ratchet system.

[@krazykorean42069]

Check out whistle mountain

[@matthewzahnzinger]

Fascinating list! I never thought of Tokaido or Parks as worker placement; I only recently heard a term to describe it (time track? worker track? I can't remember for sure... think it was Alex on BoardGameCo who said it), but I think the difference comes down to whether the worker starts on the board or not, and how the placement of the worker advances the game (ie. in Tokaido and Parks, you can choose to alter the pace of the game by where you place the worker, whereas in typical worker placement you generally all get the same number of turns regardless)-at least, those seem to be the primary differences to my eye. Regardless, both are fantastic games! I should try and play Arnak with the Expedition Leaders; the base game alone didn't do it for me, unfortunately. Everdell and Viticulture are both on my shelf and need to be tabled, so very excited about those! And of course, I have to recommend Dune Imperium as the best worker placement game I own.

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

Thank you! Yeah I was shocked when I was doing my research. Totally makes sense though. I feel like mechanics in general have so many ways of being interpreted and played out. I love it! Both Tokaido and Parks are so great! Both are definitely comfort games for me. 😊 And yes! Definitely give LROA another chance with the expansion. I would maybe try to borrow the expansion though. If the base game didn't do it for you I'm not 100% sure the expansion will change much. It doesn't change the game much at all. It just gives some variable player powers, adds some more cards and another research track. Hope this helps! And I definitely want to give Dune Imperium a try at some point! It's #1 for a reason I'm sure! 👍🏻

[@MerlinsManor]

Also, I did a similar video on my channel and am doing a series on various mechanics called Game Mechanic Monday in my channel if you want to check them out. My list of games (usually around 5) is more focused on games I feel do the mechanic well (the mechanic shines in the game) than an actual top 5 or so. Some games I like better might not make the list due to the mechanic itself not being at the forefront of the game. Likewise a game lower on my list may make the list because the mechanic really stands out or is done in a unique way, even if the overall game is lower on my list than others.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

7:40 It seems like PARKS did something similar.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Lol…

[@J-Wheeler-G]

Wait until you play Underwater Cities. It will shoot up this list. My top Three; Lorenzo IL Magnifico Underwater Cities Terramara

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

We played it last night! SO GOOD! 👏🏻

[@danielengel4593]

I really love Alchemists, but damn it is so difficult to learn and teach. Never really played it properly :(

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

I totally agree! I absolutely love that game but it is so hard to table. We haven’t taught anyone so we just stick to playing 2 player. And we do leave out the “smiley face” cards. I don’t even fully understand that part of the game. 🤣

[@keith2570]

Stone Age?

[@zmollon]

Have you played Dune imperium?

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

I haven’t! I want to just because I know it has similar mechanics to LROA. 😊👍🏻

[@draheim90]

Just a heads up that it’s slightly misleading that these two games get compared so much. They’re both very solid worker placement deck builders released in 2020 that have great expansions and involve playing both a card and worker to access spots, but they’re also *very* different games under the hood. Arnak is more of a resource management game and the spots you go to don’t matter as much so long as you’re being efficient in converting resources to points. Dune Imperium is harder for me to succinctly describe but it’s a fantastic combination of mechanics and has more depth and variety in terms of the cards, action spots, and strategy. I like them both (Dune a bit more) but know many people who like Arnak but not Dune or vice versa.

[@TheBoardGameGarden]

@@draheim90 good to know thank you! I did just recently watch a bit of All You Can Board’s video on the comparison. They really are very different games and it’s a shame they get compared so often!

[@draheim90]

For sure. Funnily enough I’m a patron of AYCB and that video from Carlo was a really thorough and fantastic dive into the base games. It caused quite a discussion in their Discord channel as well.

[@zmollon]

@@TheBoardGameGarden I don't see how it is a shame. Isn't any discussion of two games a food discussion? I think it's great that two games with two shared mechanics can play so very different.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

22:20 The designer’s name, Jamey Stegmaier is soelled incorrectly… You have it spelled “Stagmaier” and not “Stegmaier”.

[@grog3514]

I just don't understand the love for arnak. It's seriously just average resource conversion with a tacked on theme. You don't even see half of you cards more than once. Is it just the art/ components?

[@aquarius5719]

"The captain is dead" is a very intellectually challenhing game.. Imagine USS Enterprise under attack by Borg. Survive. Players need to use their skills to fix the jump core and escape. Easier said than done. Intensive worker placement.

[@estefaniaowl]

What is your mother tongue? You say sometimes you cant speak english but you speak so well xD