About the Author: Andy Kim is an honorary Little Meeples contributor, father of 2 young kids (ages 7 and 9 who play Terra Mystica with him), as well as a budding game designer with his first title due to launch this coming year. In this guest post he talks about the memorable games he has played this year. A combination of light family card games to heavy euros, Andy and his family don’t shy away from any game.
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Well, 2020 is almost over and for most, it’s been a less than great year. However, with everyone staying indoors, it was a great chance to get a lot of games played this year – and there were some really great ones! So I have come up with my list of the Best Games of 2020 – and they are some great games!
The criteria includes:
- Games that were published and in retail stories in 2020
- I own the game or played it while waiting for my pre-ordered copy.
[There were a few great games that didn’t make it onto the top 10 that I wanted to recognize so make sure to check out the Honorable Mentions after the top ten list.]
Top Ten of 2020
#10 – Ohanami
Designer: Steffen Benndorf | Publisher: Pandasaurus Games
Ohanami is not only a beautiful game to look at, but is an amazingly simple yet puzzly card drafting game along the same lines of 7 Wonders or Sushi Go. The game is composed of just a deck of cards numbered 1 to 120 in 4 different colors. Throughout the game, you will be creating three columns of cards in ascending order. Each turn you must pick two cards and place them in one of those three piles, either before the lowest numbered card or after the highest numbered card in each pile. Cards cannot go in the middle of the pile and that is the trick to this game. On top of that, you only score points for different cards each round. For instance, blue cards only score for the first round, then blue and green cards score in the second round and so on. So you really need to decide if you want to score blue cards early to maximize those cards or rely on scoring big in later rounds. It’s surprisingly thinky, very light and plays in minutes. It’s also the least expensive game on this list so there is no reason not to get this game into your collection.
#9 – Succulent
Designer: J. Alex Kevern | Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Honestly until I got this game, I didn’t know what a succulent was here’s to learning something new! Succulent is another beautiful game as you plant a communal succulent garden with the other players using various sized flower beds. You want to plant your succulents in optimal spots to gather water droplets and cuttings. You will need the cuttings to gain the ability to plant more efficiently and complete project cards open to the fastest gardener. Each project card gives the ability for players to gain more flower beds by placing your token on the card but as soon as someone finishes that project, you get a bonus for having your token on the card. If you can see what project cards other players are trying to finish, you can take advantage of that and score the valuable large water droplets to help you score more points at the end of the game. Succulent is another easy to play game but with some surprisingly deep decisions making this a must play.
#8 – Fossilis
Designer: David Alberto Diaz | Publisher: Kids Table Board Gaming
Fossilis is the most unique game to come out this year and it is amazing. Players compete to dig up fossils at a dig site. It has an ingenious dig mechanism where players push sand, clay and stone tiles to acquire trace fossils and uncover fossils. The trace fossils can be traded in to gain tools that give them special abilities or resources in order to extract the fossilized remains of dinosaurs to put their exhibits in museums to score points. Pushing the sand, clay and stone layers around to uncover the fossils is so much fun. The plaster needed to collect the fossils makes the game really tight forcing you into some tough decisions to either go after that dinosaur skull for big points or delay the end of the game to score one more exhibit. It’s a fun game and I highly recommend it especially for families.
#7 – Paladins of the West Kingdom
Designer: Shem Philips, S J Macdonald | Publisher: Garphill Games, Renegade Game Studios
The West Kingdom series is a trilogy of games starting with Architects of the West Kingdom, followed by Paladins of the West Kingdom and ending with Viscounts of the West Kingdom also released this year. Although I thought Architects was good, Paladins is amazing (keep in mind I have not played Viscounts yet). Paladins has the players developing their own towns and fortifying the city, all while fending off invaders by either confronting them with fighters or using faith to convert them to citizens of the kingdom. You can also hire the townsfolk to aid you in your endeavors, including shady criminals who will help you out but cast suspicion on you and possibly send an inquisition your way. This is the most complex game on the list but every turn involves a meaningful decision on how your town will develop and ultimately the outcome of the game. Will you choose a strategy that has you increasing religion in your town and converting the invaders to respectable members of society? Will you concentrate on fortifying the city using garrisons and contribute to building the wall? The choices you have to make throughout make this one of my favorite of the year.
#6 – Aquatica
Designer: Ivan Tuzovsky | Publisher: Cosmodrome Games
You can tell there were a lot of great games this year when Aquatica shows up as only number 6 on this list. I got to play someone’s Euro edition of Aquatica early in the year and it was so much fun, I pre-ordered it right away knowing I wouldn’t get it for a full year. Now that I have played it again, I’m even more impressed. Aquatica is essentially a card game with a really cool triple layered board that you slide your card up to acquire resources or actions to gain access to various underwater locations, recruit characters and complete goals. It’s also a really fast game with one game I played lasting only 20 minutes. Every time I have played, the end of the game surprised me, so you really need to keep track of what is going on with the other players. On each turn, you must play a single card from your hand which gives you the action you get to do on that turn. However after that, you cannot use that same card again until you take a turn that lets you pick up all your cards again. It is a mechanism that is employed on games like Century or Concordia but done so well in this game. The artwork is also just stunning. It is just a joy to play this game and would never turn down a chance to play a round anytime.
#5 – The Isle of Cats
Designer: Frank West | Publisher: The City of Games
I’ve had several games that have passed through my collection that involved polynomial shapes (think Tetris-style shapes). Some great ones have been Patchwork, Indian Summer, and Cottage Garden. Isle of Cats is my current favorite. The story is a little quirky as you are pirates who are rescuing cats from an island about to be destroyed by an evil pirate Lord Vesh. You have 5 rounds to use fish to lure as many polynomial shaped cats on your boats as you can fit and as you do, you also discover treasures and learn ancient lessons. There are also two ways you can play the game. A family mode which simplifies the rules so you can jump right in and play, or a card drafting standard mode which adds just a little more decision making as each round involves a card drafting component to determine what cats and/or treasures you can haul onto your ship. The components are fantastic and if you happen to have a cat in your family, the game also comes with a spot to have your cat rest in the box lid as you play (I’m not kidding, there’s a labeled spot for your cat). If you love cats and love Tetris style puzzles, this is the game for you!
#4 – The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
Designer: Thomas Sing | Publisher: KOSMOS
When I first played The Crew early this year, I knew this was going to easily make my top 5 of the year and here it is in the number 4 slot. I have loved trick taking games since high school, playing Euchre in my lunch hours at school with friends. Since then I have acquired a lot more trick taking games that bend the game play into new and interesting ways. The Crew puts a twist into trick taking by making it a co-operative game and it is so elegant, I’m surprised no one thought of it until now. If you have no idea what a trick taking game is, the following description may be a little difficult to understand but bear with me. In each game of The Crew, a mission is selected to complete. Complete the mission and the players win the game. The missions usually involve one player having to take a trick with a specific card or having players get tricks in a certain order or one mission has a single player not winning a single trick to win the game. Once a game is over, you move onto the next mission. There are 50 missions that come in the game and they become progressively more difficult as you go and they are so good. You can even just pick a random mission and play it if you wish. So if you like trick taking games as much as I do, you owe it to yourself to get The Crew.
#3 – Coloma
Designer: Jonny Pac | Publisher: Final Frontier Games
When Coloma came out, I had no clue what it was going to be like and didn’t even have it on my radar. After seeing more on it, I started to grow more interested in some of the really neat gameplay mechanisms which make it all work. The different paths to victory, the wheel in the middle of the board that determines your actions, and the engine building that you get as you build buildings in your part of town. You and your fellow pioneers compete to score points by prospecting for gold, recruiting workers, rustling horses, constructing buildings, fighting off bandits, exploring riverways and the wild frontier. There’s a lot to do in Coloma! At the center of the game is an action selection mechanism like no other. Each action has a standard component and a bonus “Boom” action. All players will secretly select which action they want to do. The trick is to try to figure out what everyone is going to do and avoid going there because the action that gets the majority of players will go “Bust” depriving those players of the bonus “Boom” action. The design of the game is stellar as well as the board components, wooden meeples and tokens and the really cool magnetic action selection wheel. It’s the complete package that will have you traveling to the wild west and having a great time.
#2 – Calico
Designer: Kevin Russ | Publisher: Flatout Games
This puzzle game about constructing a quilt to attract cats was the surprise hit of the year. Calico is a small puzzle game where you place hexagonal quilt tiles of 6 different colors and 6 different patterns to acquire buttons, complete objectives and of course attract cats to your quilt. It sounds simple and it is. Every turn, you choose from one of the two tiles you have to place anywhere on your board with absolutely no restrictions and then replenish your hand back up to 2 tiles. How you attract cats and score buttons and bonus objectives is where the game really kicks into gear. Right from the first tile you place on the board and what tiles are available to choose from can really determine your strategy going forward. However, you may have to quickly abandon one strategy and go on a completely different route depending on how your quilt develops during the game. Beth Sobel’s artwork really shines here as the cats are adorable and drawn from real life cats who are introduced at the back of the rule book. Calico is a very special game and in a year with a bunch of really good games, Calico just edged out the others until the next game came along late in the year.
#1 – Dune: Imperium
Designer: Paul Dennen | Publisher: Dire Wolf
Dune: Imperium is based on the new movie coming out in 2021 directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson. It’s a masterful balance of deck building and worker placement involving tough decisions each turn. The tension is reminiscent of the books and movies as players representing one of the great houses of the Landsraad vie for control of the spice and influence the 4 political factions in the Imperium. At each turn, you send out your agents into the world to collect valuable spice, garrison troops for the inevitable conflicts or gain favor with the Padishaw Emperor, the powerful Spacing Guild, the mysterious Bene Gesserit sisterhood, or the resourceful Fremen. The game keeps you at the edge of your seat the entire time with every nail biting decision. If you like the Dune universe, this game is a must for your collection. This is not only my pick for the best of the year but is in the running to be in my top 5 games of all time!
And so, there it is. Ten games that came out this year that you can’t go wrong with. Keep in mind that just because a game is lower down on the list does not make it a bad game but it’s just that there were just that many great games this year! Each one is in my collection and will probably stay there for a long time.
Honorable Mentions
Remember Our Trip
Designer: Daryl Chow, Saashi | Publisher: Saashi & Saashi
This is definitely one of the most unusual games on this year’s list but it deserves mentioning. From Saashi & Saashi, who also brought other titles including “In Front of the Elevator” and “Let’s Make a Bus Route”, this game has the players competing to see who can “remember” an imaginary trip they took together by placing landmarks on each players memory board and solidifying those “memories” on the main board and scoring points for “remembering” the trip better. If you are looking for a game that is definitely different from anything you’ve ever played, this is definitely one to try!
Sovereign Skies
Designer: Aaron Andrew Wilson | Publisher: Deep Water Games
This game didn’t make it onto the list simply because there were so many games that were in competition, but it needed to be mentioned. Sovereign Skies has many mechanisms that make this game such a delicious puzzle of a game. You travel on your ship around 6 alien planets as an ambassador to maintain the peace. You score points by setting up space stations, recruiting politicians and gaining influence on the 6 planets. The movement around and action selection is the key to this game. You can have flexible movements if you have the energy (the currency in this game) to spend. On each planet, you can either perform less actions to gain resources,or spend more energy to perform more actions. The decisions in this game make this a must-play.
Wavelength
Designers: Alex Hague, Justin Vickers, Wolfgang Warsch | Publisher: Palm Court
This was actually number 10 on the list until the current number 1 game pushed it off the list. As far as party games go, you don’t need to look any further than Wavelength. Not only is it one of the best games of the year but my favorite party game ever. A sign of a good party game is how well you get to know your other players without forcing it. Wavelength does this by having a rotating wheel with a hidden target that is known only to the clue giver. The clue giver needs to give a clue that lies in the spectrum where the target is on a drawn card that gives the range such as Job – Career, Fantasy – Sci-Fi, or Overrated – Underrated. At this point, the other players try to get into the clue giver’s head to see where on the spectrum their clue is and this is where the fun is. Even getting it wrong is a fun experience as the group inevitably discusses the results. It’s a great time and one game I bring if we are playing games at any gathering.
The Menace Among Us
Designer: Jeff Gunn | Publisher: Smirk & Dagger Games
Unfortunately due to the pandemic, I’ve only had a chance to play this about 3 times but each play has been so much fun. This is my favorite social deduction game but it does take a little longer to set up but it is worth it. The game has you and the other players on a spaceship that is in trouble and needs to get their ship repaired before they run out of oxygen. Unfortunately there are a couple impostors that are on board trying to kill everyone on board. Several months later, a very popular video game called “Among Us” came out which I was hoping was an online version of Menace Among Us. Alas, it was not and so I will have to wait until we can meet in groups again to play this fantastic game!