What Makes These Epic Boardgames Awesome?

I think the best board game ever created is Marco Polo. Wait. No. It has to be Puerto Rico. Or maybe Agricola? Or Power Grid, perhaps? Or maybe it is Caylus. Or Istanbul, perhaps? No, it has to be Ticket To Ride… Okay, that's not an easy choice.

I like games where there is little luck and quite a lot of strategy elements built into the mechanics (Euro style strategy). But that doesn't mean a board game should stress you out or put you to sleep - after all, it's about enjoyment, no? There is a fine balance between complexity and attractiveness.

So, what does make a good game?

Importantly, the overall concept. A bad game either has a terrible concept or limited connection between the concept and the mechanics of the game. A bad game is also one in which:
(a) luck influences the results way too much
(b) the game mechanics are too easy and simplistic
(c) the game is boringly repetitive and you can, therefore, almost play it with your eyes closed and mind switched off
(d) there is very little variability in either the strategy or the result, irrespective of who you are playing with and how they play!

The following are my recommendations of the best games ever (and the elements that make them awesome):

Puerto Rico: Each player builds colonies that grow crops, produce goods and ship these to earn victory points. There are so many different strategies you could use in playing this game. I don’t think I'll ever get tired of this.

Marco Polo: Imagine you are Marco Polo! Recreate his journey, with different characters and special powers! This is a worker-placement game with some exquisite twists. I have played this numerous times already and have never played the same strategy twice, even though there is a large random element to it!

The Ticket to Ride Family: This is a large collection of games. It started with the original Ticket to Ride (TTR) in 2004. Since then, Alan Moon, the designer, has released some 14 expansions including 1910, Europe, Switzerland, Marklin (Germany), India, Asia, Africa, etc. This game has an elegant and simple mechanic. You build train segments and claim points for completed routes.

Ingenious: No best board game compilation can be complete without a Reiner Knizia designed boardgame. He does have plenty of highly “tight”, intricate and really complex strategy board games like Amun-Re, Modern Art, Medici, Ra, Keltis, etc. I chose Ingenious (also known as Einfach Genial – yeah, I wonder why they changed the name), players place coloured conjoined hexes/tiles on a game board, trying to grow similar colour lines. But there is a twist! You score for your worst coloured area, which means you try and grow all your colours simultaneously. This is just brilliant.

Mohan Krishnamoorthy is a board games nut who has three cupboards full of games! Catch him on Twitter here.

If this sounds awesome to you, get one of them - or try them at the many board games-based cafes coming up in various cities. If you're in Mumbai, there's an excellent chance for you to learn to design your own game!