Tabletop games have continued to grow in popularity and many new games go on to be very successful and even end up as household names. Thousands of new board games are made every year and, unfortunately, some of them fall through the cracks into obscurity.
For every extremely popular board game, there is an equally good game that never gained the recognition many gamers feel it deserves. These kinds of things can happen for many different reasons. The game may not have a look that appeals to players, it may have had a very small print run, or it simply may not have been advertised as well as it could have.
10 Battleball Proves That Football And The Future Mix Well
When Battleball was released, many players ignored the game entirely. Milton Bradley has made a lot of games that usually appeal to a younger audience and generally, so hobbyists don’t pay much attention to them. Battleball showed players of all types that this game can appeal to more people than first thought. The game combines football and the future where two teams battle each other in a carnage-filled game just to get a touchdown. Battleball is well regarded at this point, but it remains mostly forgotten.
9 Obscurio Lets Players Explore A Magical Library
Obscurio lives up to its name by becoming one of the more obscure games that L’Atelier has ever made. The game was designed by a well-known board game design studio and was published by the same company behind hit games like Dixit and Mysterium.
Obscurio lets one player take on the role of the Grimoire, pointing other players to correct answers by only offering strange images as clues. During the game, the players will have to face challenges like trying to see the images through smoke or filters and having a traitor in their midst.
8 Palm Island Creates A Game In The Palm Of A Player’s Hand
Solo, or solitaire, games are becoming increasingly common in the board game hobby as players look for tabletop experiences they can enjoy on their own. Solo games are usually smaller packages and don’t require a lot of table space. Palm Island is one of the smallest, fitting the entire game in the palm of a player’s hand. Players rotate cards, spend resources, and achieve goals all without having to put a single thing on the table. The game is also short, making it a great way to unwind for a few minutes.
7 Merchant’s Cove Lets Every Player Play Their Own Mini-Game
In Merchant’s Cove, players will take on the roles of different merchants, crafting and gathering different goods to sell to customers. The way players get their goods is different for each player. The blacksmith uses dice to forge weapons and armor, the alchemist uses marbles to make potions, the captain moves their fleet of ships to fish and search for hidden treasure. There are many different merchants to play as in the game, especially with expansions. Players have a lot of opportunities to play the game differently just by changing the merchant they play as.
6 Raptor Is Strategic Dinosaur Hunting For Two
Games designed for only 2 players are a very common genre in the board gaming hobby. Raptor sets itself apart by being incredibly asymmetrical between the two sides. One player will play as the scientists, searching for and hunting down the raptors. The other player will play as the raptors themselves, trying to either escape the scientists or eat them.
Each round, players choose a card from their hand and reveal them at the same time. The numbers and special abilities are very important, which makes every round tense and brain-burning.
5 Steam Park Is The Robot Theme Park Gamers Have Always Dreamed Of
Many board games feature the theme of robots. Many also use the theme of building theme parks. Steam Park takes these two ideas and mixes them in a game that balances different genres. At the beginning of each round, players will frantically roll and re-roll their dice at the same time until all players are happy with what they rolled. The player that stops first gets a bonus, whereas the player who stops last gets penalized. Then the game round continues with players spending their dice to build rides, attract robot visitors, and build stands.
4 Cheating Moth Should Never Be Played With Magicians
Cheating Moth is a simple card game with one incredible gimmick. Players will try to get rid of all the cards in their hands by playing certain numbers to the table. The catch is that players may cheat by literally dropping cards under the table, tucking them into their sleeves, or any other way they can think of. Each round, one player will be the guard, and if they catch any player cheating, that player will have to add cards to their hand. As long as nobody is particularly talented at sleight of hand, this game is a blast.
3 World Of Yo-ho Combines Apps And Board Games In An Incredible Way
Sometimes a board game will use a companion app either as a supplement or a key part of the mechanics.. World of Yo-Ho steps things up a notch. In this pirate-themed game, a player’s ship is their phone. The app knows where the phone is located on the board and allows players to do mind-blowing things like sailing their ship by moving their phone and firing a cannonball from their phone onto another player’s phone. It is certainly a game that needs to be seen to be believed.
2 Lowlands Is Filled With Sheep And Fun
Lowlands has two very important aspects: Breeding sheep and building a dike. As the game goes on, the balance of victory will constantly shift. The more players that build the dike, the more valuable sheep become, but the more sheep that are bred, the more valuable dike building becomes.
The game is almost perfectly even between these two strategies and players have to constantly keep in mind the consequences of their actions. Lowlands has been loved by many gamers for the past few years.
1 Dungeon Fighter Is A Dungeon Crawl Turned On Its Head
Most dungeon crawls rely on players working together to defeat the evil monsters, gain treasure, and eventually face the big bad boss at the end. Dungeon Fighter works the same way except that instead of rolling dice, players bounce dice onto a target to deal damage. Similar to D&D, players have different skills and attributes in this fantasy game. Different conditions might make players throw the dice behind their backs or under their legs. The game is wild, silly, and a good way to spend an afternoon with friends, especially if they want a unique dungeon crawl.
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