My last blog post of 2020 was about a few games for which I had high hopes, and was left a little disappointed. This seemed appropriate given the year that was 2020.
For this list, I am focusing on games that have taken me by surprise by how much I've enjoyed them. These are games that have over-delivered on my expectations and become favourites after seemingly coming out of nowhere.
Let's dive in...
I picked this one up on sale from one of my FLGS after seeing it appear on on the top 100 lists of The Brothers Murph. It sounded fun, and since I don't have Dixit, or any games of that type in my collection, I thought I'd give it a go.
I was confident that the game would be well-received by our more casual gamer friends, and it certainly is. Everyone I have played this with so far (including 11 year olds) has found it easy to learn, and we've been able to get up and running within 5 minutes. I have been impressed with how easy it has been for all players to get into the spirit of the game, with the storytelling and bluffing aspects of the game being a hit with everyone and the source of much laughter. Even players I expected to be uncomfortable at the thought of lying or trying to convince others have embraced this game.
On New Year's Eve we played this for over 2 straight hours and no one got sick of it. The game was consistently engaging and fun, and we stopped only to usher in the new year. After never having been a particular fan of Dixit, how much I've enjoyed this one has genuinely surprised me.
The only minor gripe I have with Detective Club is the scoring is a little convoluted and unintuitive. However, in all our games so far no one has asked about the scores or remotely cared who "won", so I consider that a win in my books.
Another really fun party game where players need to make choices with limited information. We played this game a lot on Tabletop Simulator through the dark ages of 2020, and introduced it to multiple groups. Belratti was a hit every time thanks to its simple ruleset, rotating player roles, and cooperative team play.
There is something very satisfying about racking up a high score as a team, and effectively using the action utility cards and recovering them. Going for a high number of artworks always feels risky, but often works out better than going for a small number, and the excitement of guessing correctly is always so satisfying.
Best of all, this game doesn't overstay its welcome, and we often found ourselves playing multiple games of Belratti in a row, driven each time to improve on our previous score.
This was a hidden gem, and one I've now had a lot of fun playing. Highly recommend.
I'd never heard of this game before playing it at a friend's birthday party. I've still only played it once, but boy did I love it. The hand management and tactical card play, combined with the area influence on the board made this incredibly engaging without being too complex or inaccessible.
As a big fan of auction games, I love the high stakes nature of the "auction" parts of this game, and how well integrated into the theme they are.
This is the kind of game I love to have in my collection: small box size, game with itneresting decisions but not too much to over-analyse, accessible theme, and encourages a lot of interaction while having the core of a euro game. Just terrific.
I'm generally not too big on 2 player, direct head-to-head competitive games. I often find myself in lose-lose situations where my opponent won't have fun if they lose, which in turns makes me not want to win, but then I'm not able to engage with the game freely. Thankfully, these are non-issues in Air, Land, & Sea thanks to the small component count, short play time, and small amount of card randomness.
This is a game that does a little with a lot, and while the gameplay is simple, your decisions are not The card abilities reward clever planning, and the withdraw mechanic is a really neat way for someone to cut their losses (if they can swallow their pride quickly enough).
The theme and mechanics are perfectly matched, and the artwork helps bring the World War II theme to life. If you haven't played this one, I encourage you to check it out.
I wasn't expecting much from a small, bluffing card game that had been compared to Uno. Thankfully, Spicy was a surprising treat, and lots of fun. Spicy has one core mechanic, and does it well, making great use of its face down card shedding structure.
That Spicy works at 2 players is amazing, and again the short play length and simple rules makes it easy to introduce to new players. As someone who teaches a lot of games, I can't tell you how much I appreciate something fun and variable that I can play that doesn't require a lengthy or complicated explanation.
Some people will be turned off by the randomness, and the luck of the draw, but this is a game that invites you to not take it too seriously. Being forced to accuse a player on either their suit or number ensures players have at least got a chance to get away with their bluff, which is important in a game that essentially requires to you to bluff successfully a few times in order to win. It also means that the game plays quick and doesn't overstay its welcome, so while it can be frustrating to guess incorrectly and be so close, the overall positives of this design choice outweigh the negatives.
What do you think of my list? What games have pleasantly surprised you?
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