[B] Stick 'Em | Dice determine which cards to collect. Memory game where forgetting costs points. Somehow both too simple and unnecessarily complicated simultaneously.
2/30
2. High Society
[A] High Society | Bidding game where poorest player automatically loses. Status symbols cost millions you don't have. Red cards force spending against everyone's will.
3/30
3. Apples to Apples
[D] Apples to Apples | Judge picks favorites while everyone argues objectivity. Helen Keller beats everything inexplicably. Green cards accumulate proving nothing about your humor.
4/30
4. Frank's Zoo
[B] Frank's Zoo | Animals fight hierarchically except when they don't. Elephants fear mice canonically. Mosquitos beating everything makes less sense each play.
5/30
5. Guillotine
[A] Guillotine | French Revolution line management with terrible puns. Noble heads roll while players optimize point collection morbidly. Marie Antoinette worth most obviously.
6/30
6. Meuterer
[A] Meuterer | Mutiny on ships where captain changes constantly. Merchant sells goods nobody wants. Victory points hidden until someone unexpectedly wins.
7/30
7. Saboteur
[D] Saboteur | Dwarves dig for gold while saboteurs break everything. Path cards never connect properly. Everyone suspects the quiet player immediately.
8/30
8. Wyatt Earp
[C] Wyatt Earp | Wild West rummy where outlaws score points. Sheriff badges multiply capture values. Historical accuracy abandoned for gameplay immediately.
9/30
9. Netrunner
[C] Netrunner | Asymmetric cyberpunk before it was cool. Corporation versus hacker seems balanced until it isn't. Ice melts when you need it most.
10/30
10. Nuclear War
[A] Nuclear War | Mutually assured destruction as entertainment since 1965. Propaganda cards delay inevitable apocalypse. Spinner determines millions of casualties casually.
11/30
11. Mamma Mia!
[B] Mamma Mia! | Pizza making through memory and hope. Ingredients disappear into deck mysteriously. Pineapple on pizza causes real-world arguments predictably.
12/30
12. Caesar & Cleopatra
[B] Caesar & Cleopatra | Two-player influence where patricians pick sides reluctantly. Number cards do things. Philosopher changes everything last minute irritatingly.
13/30
13. Loot
[D] Loot | Pirates fight over merchant ships eternally. Captain breaks ties theoretically. That one ship worth 8 causes disproportionate warfare.
14/30
14. Ratzia
[A] Ratzia | Quick bluffing where lying becomes mandatory. Dice never match claims. Getting caught costs tokens you desperately need later.
15/30
15. Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
[C] Vampire: The Eternal Struggle | Five-player politics where everyone loses eventually. Bleeding left makes sense thematically. Four-hour games standard, friendships optional.
16/30
16. Pinochle
[C] Pinochle | Double-deck trick-taking Americans inherited from Germans. Melds score mysteriously. Around the table costs 240 somehow.
17/30
17. Show Manager
[D] Show Manager | Broadway productions through set collection. Musicals require everything. Critics appear exactly when your show lacks quality predictably.
18/30
18. Oh Hell!
[B] Oh Hell! | Tricks must match bid exactly. Also called Up and Down the River among family-friendly crowds. Scoring variations cause heated debates.
19/30
19. Edel, Stein & Reich
[A] Edel, Stein & Reich | Gems, stones, and realm literally. Simultaneous action selection causes analysis paralysis. Event cards ruin plans with German efficiency.
20/30
20. The Bottle Imp
[A] The Bottle Imp | Trick-taking where lowest card wins but curses you. Price drops inevitably. Literary theme justified by one Stevenson reference.
21/30
21. Wizard
[D] Wizard | Predict tricks while wizards and jesters break everything. Canadian exclusive until recently. Bidding zero hardest ironically.
22/30
22. Odin's Ravens
[C] Odin's Ravens | Race where ravens fly through matching landscapes. Auxiliary cards bend rules temporarily. Loki cards exist to annoy specifically.
23/30
23. The Great Dalmuti
[D] The Great Dalmuti | Social hierarchy where peasants become kings temporarily. Greater numbers are worse confusingly. Taxation reinforces class warfare literally.
24/30
24. Mille Bornes
[B] Mille Bornes | French racing where flat tires happen constantly. Safety cards provide immunity rarely. 1000 kilometers feels like actual distance traveled.
25/30
25. Skat
[C] Skat | Germany's national card game nobody else understands. Three players, two against one usually. Null games score backwards obviously.
26/30
26. Money!
[B] Money! | Currency collection where exchange rates hurt brains. Chinese coins worth least because game design predates sensitivity training.
27/30
27. Verräter
[C] Verräter | Traitor mechanism before traitor mechanisms were everywhere. Conflict resolution through rose selection seriously. Supply cards determine everything unfortunately.
28/30
28. Sluff Off!
[A] Sluff Off! | Trick avoidance where winning tricks hurts. Sluffing means discarding strategically. Wisconsin's revenge on standard trick-taking games.
29/30
29. Babel
[B] Babel | Temple building where destroying opponent's work satisfies deeply. Skills cards completely unbalanced. Two-player Knizia that nobody remembers exists.
30/30
30. Up Front
[D] Up Front | WWII squad combat without board. Relative range confuses everyone. Avalon Hill complexity in card form unfortunately.