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Fantastic thread idea, great job. I want to go away and think about this more but the first things that came to mind: Race for the Galaxy In the Criterion edition, I'd have super sized glossy cards and clay victory point chips. I'd include the Alien Artifacts expansion new cards but NOT the Orb expansion. I think this is the best way to play 90% of the time. I'd want the box to be the minimum possible size - maybe a metal small box like Sushi Go Party, or even smaller. Something super portable. I probably still have more plays of Race for the Galaxy than any other game. It's great 2p or 3/4p. It's fast, setup is virtually non existent (basically counting out VP chips for the number of players and assigning start worlds). Some people complain about the iconography, but screw em, it's like 20 minutes of investment for a game you can chunk in a small bag and play it forever as one of the best travel games. Twilight Struggle It has a bunch of flaws - in particular, there are some clearly superior first few moves that approach the early game being scripted, you do have to have a moderately good understanding of the cards in the deck (especially the scoring cards and some of the 'trap' cards that can cause you lose the game), there are some key areas of the board you'll be fighting over every game and a lot which rarely see much action - but all that said, what a game, what a game. I can't think of many games with such strong thematic integration, tension over every move, and the feel that you are playing out history. None of the other games in the family really come close to the scale, tension and global scope, even if they are possibly better mechanically (Watergate, Wir das Volk etc). I'm sure SOMETHING could be done in a Criterion edition about the chits which are definitely the weak spot component wise. I can't see any Criterion collection being complete without this game. Feast for Odin with the Norwegians expansion I was debating between this and Agricola. Agricola is probably the one that really deserves the place here. It's an amazing game and another obvious inclusion. I think out of all the Uwe Rosenberg games in that family, it's the least divisive pick. But I do think that Feast just has fractionally more appeal for more people. It came out later and didn't have nearly the same impact on the industry. It's a little harder to learn. But I think more people will have more fun with it, and you're not playing the full experience if you're not playing with the Norwegians. I'd integrate it in and put it in the first wave of Criterion releases. (Probably the 'gric too honestly) Maybe the Criterion edition could have high quality plastic tiles instead of cardboard? (This could make it worse - maybe it doesn't need anything) Imperial 2030 Another fantastic thematic game. Slightly prefer it to Imperial mostly because the theme is more appealing to most. World politics is controlled by super rich investors - you get to be one of them and compete over the world. The rules are super simple, the game is highly interactive, its a world domination stocks game. I think this is a great way to get into stocks games and I love fighting over who gets to control China to invade Europe and wreck both economies so the Brazilian stock goes up. For the Criterion edition I probably want to change the money and the shares to something cool but the other components are already great and simple. I'm debating about which Knizia designs deserve the first Criterion release - probably Tigris & Euphrates but I'm also thinking about Ra, Modern Art and Whale Riders. Chicago Express is also a strong candidate IMO for auction/stock games. For small box games, For Sale! and Air Land and Sea might also be strong contenders.
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Mar 27, 2023 06:30
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| # ¿ May 20, 2024 23:39 |
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fr0id posted:I’m surprised it hasn’t been said yet, but I might as well add Heroquest Are we, as the Criterion Committee, allowed to disagree? I think based on the OP's: and a dozen or two timeless ancient games that are still worth playing today. I don't think Heroquest is worth playing today (or Talisman, for that matter, and maybe even not Roborally!!). I think the Criterion brand should be preserved for true excellence - not just trend setters, but evergreen games that are still a great choice to pull out for a gaming group today, and maybe even are still the leaders in their gaming family. I think those choices are contestable but that's the fun! Tigris and Euphrates for example is probably a paradigmatic example of a classic, influential game that is still amazing to play. If you brought out your top five tile placement games it rightfully deserves a place today. But for heroquest, there are so many dungeon crawlers and an awful lot of them are probably more fun to play. I reckon a part of the criteria should definitely be 'still does what it does as good as or better than anything else on the market'.
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Mar 28, 2023 04:35
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I reckon the GW game most worth Criterion inclusion is probably Space Hulk. Maybe Claustrophobia is a Space Hulk beater but I can’t think of many others. Definitely has its flaws but I think it’s the one that stands up the best today.
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Mar 28, 2023 08:24
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I agree lets try and separate the "Game of historic significance" from the "All time classic", because there are huge amounts of stuff in that first category that nobody sane (or with any idea about what else is out there) would play today. Very few criterion films are unwatchable and presumably they all some merit/reason to be watched again and again in future, but I'd never try and sell someone on playing HQ or Talisman with me (or God forbid Magic Realms). Or even Catan! Whereas I probably would give Space Hulk a go with someone - and definitely games like Tigris & Euphrates, For Sale!, etc. Not everyone will like them but i'd give them happily a try with most groups/people interested in that sort of game. If someone was interested in the sort of game that Hero Quest is I'd definitely recommend something else - whatever experience they are wanting out of that kind of game, there's many contemporary alternatives clearly better in more or less every way. Whereas if someone was interested in an auction game i'd happily give Ra, Chicago Express, Modern Art, For Sale! etc a go.
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Mar 29, 2023 00:45
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PurpleXVI posted:You know, I feel like Catan has somehow ended up as a punchline to making fun of boardgames more than anything people play these days. I've played it a few times and found it a pretty inoffensive, chill experience that even newbies could get into pretty easy without a lot of explaining needed. Did something change or is it just a polite riffing in the board game community rather than a serious critique? As they others said, it was a huge milestone and most game shops still have tons of copies and direct people to it as a gateway game. (Carcasonne, Ticket to Ride and Pandemic I think are similar in this sense). But unlike those other three I think Catan in particular has just been massively eclipsed by a lot of other games, more so than the others. Like you say it’s fairly inoffensive (although the variance sucks and there really aren’t that many strategic choices) , it’s just I think for newbie friendly experiences there are gazillions of other options that are more fun, have more to explore in terms of repeat plays, play faster, etc. Like I think if a group had access to a good collection of highly rated similar games from the last ten years they’d never pull out Catan by choice. But all that said if the thread is recognising “milestone” games in terms of industry impact yeah it’s totally top 5 material. (I just think the evergreen classic games still awesome today topic is a more interesting chat, but cool if people want to think boardgaming history instead).
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Mar 29, 2023 23:41
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| # ¿ May 20, 2024 23:39 |
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Perry Mason Jar posted:So what Criterion worthy game has supplanted Catan? I think basically the whole euro genre has supplanted Catan, at least the ones that aren’t multiplayer solitaire - the gazillions of mid weight euros with resource conversion. What are the gold standard games in that space? Maybe Concordia, Agricola, Caylus, Hansa Teutonica, Dominion, El Grande, Ticket to ride? If it has to have trading, Chinatown or Bonanza? (Sidereal is better than both but hard to get to the table)
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Mar 31, 2023 05:46
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