Top Ten Games - 2017

I have put together my top 10 games for 2017. Note that these are games that I have played for the first time in 2017, not necessarily games that were released in 2017. With all the games that I already have, I got another 37 games plus expansions last year. Some were gifts, some were purchased at the thrift stores, and some were new.

The new games were: Batman Miniatures Suicide Squad, Blood Bowl (2016), Bob Ross: Art of Chill Game, DC Universe Miniature game, Dracula’s America, Five Points: Gangs of New York, India Rails, Iron Dragon, Iron Man 2: Game of War, Kill Team, Knightmare Chess 3rd Ed, Lanterns, Lost in R’lyeh, Lost Patrol, Mad Dogs With Guns, Marvel Universe Miniature game, Oddville, Pamplona: Viva San Fermin!, Perpetual Commotion, Risk Europe, Rogue Stars, Santorini, Shadows Over Camelot: the card game, Super Mario Bros. Power Up Card Game, Sushi Go Party, Zombies!!! 5, Zombies!!! 6, Zombies!!! 7, Zombies!!! 8, Zombies!!! 9, Zombies!!! X, Zombies!!! 11, Zombies!!! 12, Zooloretto.

The ones I picked up not new were: Bananagrams, Cathedral, Flames of War: The World War II Miniature Game, The Hunger Games: District 12 Strategy Game, Zombie Fluxx.


A lot of these did not hit the table this year. Some games from previous years were finally played.

Games that I played for the first time that did not make my list were:
Don’t Take My Word, Double Feature, Happy Salmon, Kittens in a Blender, Mars Attacks: Ten-Minute Takedown, Set, Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi – The Sarlacc Pit, Zombie Fluxx


13 – Zombie Run – has a Blind 31 feel to it. You have four face-down cards and you start by seeing two of them. You have to swaps cards out to try to get the lowest amount of zombies on your cards at the end of a round. The lowest score at the end of five rounds wins.

12 – Cars 2 Sorry Sliders: World Grand Prix Race Edition – a pretty simple flicking game. It works fine for younger kids as well as for adults.

11 – Sheriff of Nottingham – a bluffing game about smuggling goods in to the market. You don’t have to lie to win, but it is easier to win if you do lie at the right time.

10 – Sharp Shooters – an older Yahtzee-type dice game where you are trying to score points by finishing hands on cards. It seems to be a precursor to Roll For It!

9 - Dealer’s Choice – Despite being both heavily overproduced – with the blue books and the huge card holder, and having some of the cheapest paper money, this game still holds up surprisingly well. It represents buying used cars for your lot. The car values are very dated but the gameplay could be updated without too much trouble.

8 – Scotland Yard – one player plays Mister X and the rest of the players try to catch him based on his movements. They can see how he moves and occasionally get to see where he is. It is an older game but still holds up quite well. The logic trees in solving the location really appealed to me.

7 – Sushi Go Party – it is a larger version of Sushi Go! It has all the basic cards plus more cards for variations. While it is great with all the extra choices and the ability to play with up to xx people, it does require more setup time than the classic Sushi Go!

6 – Bob Ross: Art of Chill Game – A surprising good game. You have to try and mix paints to make the landscapes before Bob does. We played it with people who didn’t know Bob Ross and it still holds together. It plays just long enough to get the idea but not too long to become boring.

5 – Lanterns – You place tiles to match lanterns by color to get cards. You can cash in the card sets to get scoring tokens. It’s pretty easy to pick up, looks pretty, and has a nice light depth for the length of time it plays.

4 – Batman: Gotham City Strategy Game – You play as the villains and are trying to get enough resources to level up enough to win. Batman is a game mechanism that smacks you down. I like the way it plays. Our first play was a bit long but l am looking forward to trying it again.

3 – Lemonade Stand – similar to the old Apple II game. It has cute art and simple rules but it is a bit complex to start for such a short game.

2 - Pamplona: Viva San Fermin! – A quick game about running with the bulls. It looks like it should be quite simple but there is definitely something there. It is a bit confusing to start but by the second of the four heats you have most of the play down.

1 – Acquire – an old classic about buying stock in hotel chains that I was finally able to play. It still holds up well with strategy about which chains to merge and which stocks to buy and when to do both of those.