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title: "Board Games in 2024"
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tags: board-games 2024 year-wrapup
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Following up on the pattern set by my [2023 end of year wrap up](https://chrisglein.com/2023/12/29/Board-Games-2023.html), here are the board games that I played in 2024 that warranted commentary.
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The primary way my board game playing expanded this year was due to conventions like [GenCon](https://www.gencon.com/) and [OrcaCon](https://www.orcacon.org/); generally I aim to play games before purchasing them and conventions are a great way to do that. On the whole I had fewer logged plays than [2023](https://chrisglein.com/2023/12/29/Board-Games-2023.html). I think 2025 needs to be a year of reestablishing a game playing community. But for now, here are the board games that I played in 2024 that I have something to say about.
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## [Things in Rings](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/408547/things-in-rings)
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[](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/408547/things-in-rings)
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This is Venn diagrams as a party game (although can technically be played with as few as 2). One player knows the rules of the circles (for example "is a five letter word", or "is made of organic material") and the rest tentatively place cards in them to see if they have inferred the meanings. Make a mistake and draw more cards. Your goal is to play out all of your cards. I've only played it as a cooperatively puzzle but it does have a competitive mode. The art on the cards is charming, and playing with Venn diagrams in physical space is delightful.
Build an engine in reverse while drafting one card at a time. This game goes by wicked fast and through the whole thing you'll be working out how to adapt your strategy. Play cards in ascending numeric order and you get you an enticing bonus card, so there's this great tension of seeking the right play order. There are regular interesting decisions, a short play time, and it comes in an appropriately small package. Fantastic small box game.
Roll two six-sided dice, use the values either individually or as a sum to trigger your spread of 11 spaceship abilities. Gain currency, purchase new abilities to replace old ones, and transform old abilities into less powerful versions that trigger on other player's turns. It's a similar core formula as something like [Machi Koro](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143884/machi-koro), but there's a lot more depth of strategy to this one. I've mostly played this at 4 players, where the flip abilities (red) are far more important than what you roll on your own turn (blue). It's a game where you care just enough about what's happening on other player's turns, the turns themselves are quick, and there's enough game length to build a strategic arc. Over the past few years this game has had a ton of play in my friend group.
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## [Things in Rings](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/408547/things-in-rings)
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[](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/408547/things-in-rings)
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This is Venn diagrams as a party game (although can technically be played with as few as 2). One player knows the rules of the circles (for example "is a five letter word", or "is made of organic material") and the rest tentatively place cards in them to see if they have inferred the meanings. Make a mistake and draw more cards. Your goal is to play out all of your cards. I've only played it as a cooperatively puzzle but it does have a competitive mode. The art on the cards is charming, and playing with Venn diagrams in physical space is delightful.
This game aims to both teach and be fun, which is not easy. And I think it pulls it off. You have asymmetric nations doing work to address the climate crisis. And through the gameplay they will realize that they have to work together, leveraging each other's strengths, or civilization is going to collapse. I've found that not everyone clicks with this game. Which is too bad, because I enjoy the puzzle and the very relevant storytelling that emerges from the mechanics.
I've enjoyed the core gameplay ideas of past Evolution games, where you create and adapt species to compete for food and population growth. Oceans takes most of those ideas and adapts it for a dedicated aquatic environment with lovely colorful artwork. Then it mixes in a "deep" deck of crazy unique effects. So you combine some core heavily balanced traits with the spicy effects which creates an excellent blend of understandability with variety. Maybe you're a predatory super shark, or a lurking bottom feeder, or a plankton-scooping anchor species… the confrontation between players feels like building an ecosystem. It works better than any of the other variants on the Evolution series.
The first thing you'll notice about Harvest is the absolutely adorable art and excellent production put on by Keymaster. Anthropomorphic animals farming, but is it fun? I think it is. It's a worker placement game where you compete for the most productive spots and really feel that tension. You need to balance planting and harvesting crops, clearing more space on your farm, and layering together passive upgrades. It's an engaging little puzzle in great packaging.
Bright, snappy, and beautiful. Place tiles, buildings, and decorations while collecting the scoring conditions that make the most of all of those. The 4 category worker placement draft plays out well and quickly. So far this game has been a smooth teach and a pleasant time.
This game aims to both teach and be fun, which is not easy. And I think it pulls it off. You have asymmetric nations doing work to address the climate crisis. And through the gameplay they will realize that they have to work together, leveraging each other's strengths, or civilization is going to collapse. I've found that not everyone clicks with this game. Which is too bad, because I enjoy the puzzle and the very relevant storytelling that emerges from the mechanics.
Language is so nuanced that it provides a lot of space for games that are just about the confusions and collisions of words. So Clover is a word game where one player gives a set of clues to link word pairs. Each player takes a turn being the clue giver (and can do the prep part simultaneously) The gimmick is that the pairs are on individually rotatable cards, so there are many combinations that could play out. Additionally, a random card is thrown in after the clues are locked in, just to create unexpected associations the clue giver couldn't plan on. The experience of play is either as a clue giver watching people misunderstand your inferences, or as players cooperatively solving a word puzzle; either role is fun in its own way. This is an easy game to recommend for pretty much anyone.
The first thing you'll notice about Harvest is the absolutely adorable art and excellent production put on by Keymaster. Anthropomorphic animals farming, but is it fun? I think it is. It's a worker placement game where you compete for the most productive spots and really feel that tension. You need to balance planting and harvesting crops, clearing more space on your farm, and layering together passive upgrades. It's an engaging little puzzle in great packaging.
Language is so nuanced that it provides a lot of space for games that are just about the confusions and collisions of words. So Clover is a word game where one player gives a set of clues to link word pairs. Each player takes a turn being the clue giver (and can do the prep part simultaneously) The gimmick is that the pairs are on individually rotatable cards, so there are many combinations that could play out. Additionally, a random card is thrown in after the clues are locked in, just to create unexpected associations the clue giver couldn't plan on. The experience of play is either as a clue giver watching people misunderstand your inferences, or as players cooperatively solving a word puzzle; either role is fun in its own way. This is an easy game to recommend for pretty much anyone.
Roll two six-sided dice, use the values either individually or as a sum to trigger your spread of 11 spaceship abilities. Gain currency, purchase new abilities to replace old ones, and transform old abilities into less powerful versions that trigger on other player's turns. It's a similar core formula as something like [Machi Koro](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143884/machi-koro), but there's a lot more depth of strategy to this one. I've mostly played this at 4 players, where the flip abilities (red) are far more important than what you roll on your own turn (blue). It's a game where you care just enough about what's happening on other player's turns, the turns themselves are quick, and there's enough game length to build a strategic arc. Over the past few years this game has had a ton of play in my friend group.
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