Whereas they don’t seem to be a laborious science, and ought to be seen with as a lot scepticism as (video) avid gamers would take a look at a web site like Metacritic, it can’t be denied that the consumer rankings on BoardGameGeek play an enormous half in serving to individuals select which board video games to purchase, play and/or argue about.
The positioning, a priceless asset that’s every little thing from a neighborhood discussion board to a wiki to an belongings platform, permits anybody who has performed a recreation to present it a score. The extra individuals who price a recreation, the extra precious that score turns into, and whereas it’s removed from an ideal system—this 2019 put up has an excellent information to the rankings’ execs and cons—most individuals, myself included, can’t assist however take a look at a recreation’s score and really feel that it has some type of affect.
You’d assume that, with the location being over 20 years previous, there would have been dozens, and even a whole bunch of video games which have risen to occupy high spot on BGG’s rankings chart. However no! Within the web site’s existence—or extra precisely within the time that the rankings system has been in place—solely eight video games have ever clawed their technique to the highest of the pile.
The primary seven are:
- Paths of Glory
- Tigris and Euphrates
- Puerto Rico
- Agricola
- Twilight Wrestle
- Pandemic Legacy Season 1
- Gloomhaven
Gloomhaven, the largest board recreation of the previous decade, had been #1 since December 2017, however this month was lastly dethroned, bringing its five-year reign to an finish. And never by a brand new recreation, both; it was as an alternative overhauled by Brass: Birmingham, a recreation first launched in 2018. Whereas I’ve by no means received round to reviewing the sport on the location, I did play it for a bit again in 2019 and thought it was fairly good! Not better of all time good, however then, that’s why overview aggregations are a difficult enterprise.
G/O Media might get a fee
In lieu of a Kotaku write-up, then, right here’s SUSD’s overview of Brass: Birmingham as an alternative, in case you’re questioning what sort of recreation can discover itself collectively rated so extremely amongst board recreation nerds:
In case you’re questioning what recreation would possibly subsequent obtain this feat, BGG say that the purpose differential between Gloomhaven and Brass: Birmingham is so minute that they “will seemingly swap spots for some time”, as will Pandemic Legacy (which can be proper up there), so recent blood may need to attend some time.
BGG’s put up saying the shift additionally consists of some very helpful recommendation for overview aggregation, whatever the medium:
It’s not like all of those rankings are fastened in time or {that a} recreation lands in its “correct” spot and by no means strikes once more. The rankings don’t point out absolute greatness, however quite greatness for variety of people who find themselves followers of that specific recreation or recreation style.
Gloomhaven, for instance, isn’t a recreation that informal recreation gamers will decide up on a whim, however quite an expertise that calls out to those that is perhaps focused on what it particularly provides. I don’t fall into that bucket, so I’m unlikely to ever play the sport, which implies I’ll by no means add my (seemingly low) score to the sport web page. You could possibly get a “correct” score for a recreation provided that you pressured everybody on the earth to play it and price it — and coerced rankings most likely aren’t a dependable measure both, so let’s not go there.
Rankings and rankings have which means solely insofar as your tastes match the tastes of others. Don’t assume that each one highly-ranked video games are beneficial for you, and don’t keep away from that low-rated recreation that looks like an ideal match to your tastes. You do you, boo.
Right here’s the highest 10 because it stands in the present day, in the event you’re focused on seeing the complete record of video games that get BGG customers actually excited:
Whereas I by no means received round to reviewing Brass: Birmingham, I have reviewed various different titles on this record—together with Pandemic Legacy, Terraforming Mars and Riot—and you’ll learn these right here.