Mermaid Top Five Board Games

 

Growing up, I have always enjoyed board games. In recent years, this has evolved from the occasional game of Monopoly on a Sunday to full on girly game days and regular game nights with more complex beasts. From Carcassonne to Stone Age to Seasons, I have a great long list of games that I adore. My own collection is ever growing too, all those kickstarters I backed are starting to arrive! So today, you get my top five board games because I am always willing to share this love. But Emily, you've written this before! True, but these lists evolve as more games are released, discovered, and appreciated.

5. Anomia

 

Anomia is snap meets word recall meets shape recognition. Each player takes it in turn to draw a card from the deck and place it in front of them. The cards feature a category, such as Jam Flavours, and a symbol, like a cross or a diamond. An easy to recognise and distinct shape. This is because, if the shape on your card matches another on the table, you and the other person go head to head. You must recall a word that fits the other player's category before they find one for the category on your card.

Sounds simple, right? In theory, yes. In practise, this game makes you forget how to word. The instant pressure to come up with a word before your opponent does, leaves you uselessly making sounds and pointing at the card you've matched with. Certainly does the way we play it anyway! I played this hungover once and genuinely yelled the word "Jam" for the "Jam Flavour" category. 

It's a great one to play at the pub and with larger groups because it's really easy to pick up and will leave you falling over yourself laughing. Cannot recommend enough!

 

4. Aqua Garden

Aqua Garden is a game I have written about before here. It's a water themed board game, of course I have waffled in the past! It is such a beautiful game, it warrants more rambling. All the different fish meeples are increibly cute and with so many expansions, there are amazing replayability with this game. Plus, I really love games that aren't centred on being competitive. You are competing, but the mechanics guide you to be more focussed on perfecting your board rather than screwing over the other players.

Board games are a pasttime for me, and this game is wonderfully relaxing. I do not shy away from games with a stressful element - Betrayal at House on the Hill is a fantastic game even if the idea of being the betrayer stresses me out! - but sometimes you just want to play to relax. There is enough forward planning in this game for it to be a challenge perfectly balanced with lowkey gameplay.

And you know, shark meeples. 

Even better, this game has a solo mode so I can play it on my own when Human doesn't fancy an evening at the table. Also, solo modes are great for figuring out game mechanics so you can teach others to play with more confidence. Talking about it now, I might crack Aqua Garden out later and try out the expansions in solo mode!

3. Chakra

I don't physically own this game, but I have played 292 games of this on Board Game Arena. Not that I haven't tried to own this game, it's on my wishlist on Zatu. Chakra is the OG chill, non-competitve game in my repertoire. If the name wasn't a big give away, you are trying to harmonise your seven chakras.

To do so, you have to work coloured crystals into their corresponding charka by using one of the set actions - arrows denoting how far and how many crystals you can move. Crystals are collected from the pool and can either be put directly onto a chakra, which costs an action until it's harmonised, or for free at the top of your board. The first to harmonise five chakras triggers end game and whoever has the most points wins. Each chakra is worth 1 to 4 points, drawn randomly and secretly, so you can win even if you don't trigger end game!

I love this game, it is so chill. There have been many games where I am so focussed on my own board that I don't notice end game has been triggered until the scores are being totted up. It is so satisfying to play, getting your moves all in the right order and harmonising your board I have yet to manage the full seven, but it is the dream. As well as, you know, actually owning it.

2. Century Golem

Century Golem is a recent discovery. I played it at a friend's after helping her move some stuff into the garage, and have since been hooked. Very kindly, another friend from that group has lent me his copy for the time being. This game is utterly beautiful and the components all look delicious. Apparently, it's a thing with me that I find game components so nice that I want to eat them. In my defense, the cubes in Planet Defenders do look like jelly cubes...

Anyway, Century Golem is a resource management game. You're trying to gather and exchange resources to match the price on the golem cards. This allows you to buy them, for they are worth points at the end of the game. To gather and exchange resources, you use the action cards in your hand or acquire more from the market row. These cards are one of three actions: gather, exchange, or improve. There are four coloured gems that you collect and swap out to meet the golem prices. End game is triggered by a certain amount of golems being bought, depending on the number of players. Ie, when there are two players, end game is triggered by someone buying six golems.

There is no secrecy in this game, you do not hide the resources you've gathered which does open this game up for some sabotage. But again, you are more focussed on your own project than the other players'. Another uncompetitive-but-still-competing game. I really do have a type. What captured the imagination with this game are the golem cards themselves (as well as the desire to eat the gems). Their artwork is goregous and really reminiscent of Studio Ghibli. Not in the way that they are anime style, but just the general vibe of the golems themselves. They really remind me of the giant robots from Laputa Castle in the Sky. 

Also, much like with Aqua Garden, the mechanics are easy to pick up but allow for a certain degree of forward planning. Each game is different, because what comes in the marketplace is randomised. The action cards may not align with the golem prices, making for longer play, or they could line up really nicely for a couple quick and easy acquisitions.

Honourable Mentions

Lucky Numbers

CuBirds

Labyrinth

 

1. Happy City

This was a BGA discovery, picked purely because of the name. Our Greatnan gifted us a number of copies of this cardboard town game/thing/? called Happy Town. I cannot quite remember what the end product was, but playing with it involved a theme song and a home video for my Greatnan to watch the next time she visited. (Orchestrated by my mum, just to point out.) The artwork and name of Happy City just gave me Happy Town vibes, and I just had to check it out. Turns out, it is a cracking game and a firm favourite amongst the many people I play with.

You are trying to make the happiest city by drafting building cards to your tableau. There are shops, museums, entertainment centres - everything! These buildings earn you income, residents, happiness, or a combination of the above. Your end score is the number of hearts (happiness) multiplied by the number of residets. Getting more income allows you to buy buildings that offer more happiness/residents, improving your score. Plus, there are special buildings that you earn when your tableau features the types of card they require. The building cards are split into types and colour-coded for the special buildings. These then give you a juicy combo of residents, happiness, and income. The first to fill their tableau of ten triggers end game - the round is completed and scores are totted.

This is a great easy game to warm the brain up with, and the artwork is heckin' cute. Whilst you are subject to luck of the draw, you can plot ahead or even choose to sabotage the next player by drawing cards they can't afford. You can only take one special building, so that influences your choices, especially if you are aiming for a specific one. Plus, there are lots of different special buildings, so no two games are the same. Even better, there is an easy and hard mode. Easy mode, the special buildings are just worth happiness/residents/income. On hard mode, their worth is contingennt on other factors like number of colours, what your opponent has, and such.

I got this one for Christmas and I'm loving introducing it to all my non-online players. I have yet to find someone who hasn't enjoyed it.

So what board games do you like? Want to try any of these ones? Drop a comment, below!