Steve’s Topp 100 Games of All Time 31 to 40

Jumping into 10 more games as we head towards my favorite games of all time.

*Note This article contains an Amazon Affiliate link as an ad.*

Introduction

We continue with my top 100 games of all time today. We’re past the half way point, looking at games 31 to 40. I formed my list using Pubmeeple by comparing multiple games one at a time by which one I wanted to play more at the time I sorted them. This list could change from day to day, but mostly they’ll stay in roughly the same spots.

With that said, let’s jump into this set of ten.

40: Kinfire Delve: Vainglory’s Grotto

Publisher: Incredible Dream Studios

Designer: Kevin Wilson

Previous Entries: Debuting this year.

Kinfire Delve is a two player dungeon crawl. You’re working your way through the deck trying to get to the bottom to face off against the boss. To defeat the deck you’ll most likely need to work together to see how well each player uses their abilities. Some of the cards will allow you to remove cards from the deck. I’ve only played this one of the three games that are out with this system. I’d like to see how the ones I haven’t played use this system. I also like that having more than one of the sets lets up the number of heroes for the game.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

39: Barcelona

Publisher: Board & Dice

Designer: Dani Garcia

Previous Entries: Barcelona debuted at 6 in 2024 and fell down to around 40 last year. It’s now sitting at its current level.

Barcelona is a wonderful worker placement game where you are building up Barcelona. Each round you’ll place a pair of citizen tiles on an intersection of the city. Each road offers a different action and you will take the action of the intersection you use. You have tons of options in this game and lots of different ways to score points over the course of the game. Everytime I play this I feel like I try different things and still do well. It’s also fun that the points are insane, you will hit up into the three digits pretty quick. It feels really good to play this one.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

38: Just One

Publisher:Repos Productions

Designer: Ludovic Roudy and Bruno Sautter

Previous Entries: Debuted at 40 in 2024 and has risen and fallen over the years ranging from 57 to 25.

Just One is a cooperative party game where players will take turns being the guesser. All other players will be shown a word the guesser needs to figure out. To do this everyone else will write a single word on their placard, all words will be compared, and any duplicates will be excluded from what the guesser sees. This means that, as the clue giver, you need to pick a word that’s a good clue but still not so obvious that other players will give the same answer. You’ll get some wild swings on this one and its fun to get all of the clues through, but it gets really fun when only one or two get through.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

37: Tag Team

Publisher: Scorpion Masque

Designer: Gricha German, and Corentin Lebrat

Previous Entries: New to the list this year.

Tag Team is a two player duel game where both players will take two heroes, each with their own decks and combine them. Each hero has a starting card, you’ll take those as your starting play deck, with the rest of their cards being shuffled together to make an upgrade deck. You put the two starting cards together however you like. After the decks are set, you’ll each flip over the top card, perform its actions, and then flip the next card. Once the decks are empty you’ll draw three cards from your upgrade deck, choose one, and decide where in your play deck the new card will be placed. Then, you’ll flip the cards again. You keep doing this until one fighter is defeated, that player then loses. Since you never shuffle you play deck, only add a card after each round, it becomes a very I cannot choose the wine in front of me, but I can’t choose the wine in front of you, moment as you’re trying to figure out how to manipulate your deck versus your opponents even as they are also shifting theirs. There is a lot more thought and planning than you might expect with a game like this.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

36: Critter Kitchen

Publisher: cardboard Alchemy

Designer: Alex Cutler and Peter C Hayward

Previous Entries: Debuted last year at 24.

Critter Kitchen is a worker placement game where you are playing competing restaurants during critics week. Each round you’ll send out your three sous chefs to collect ingredients from different locations. You have three chefs of different sizes; the smaller chef goes first at a location but only carries one ingredient while the medium goes second and picks two, and the large goes last and gets three. You use the ingredients to fill daily recipes while saving ingredients for the final serving at the end of the week. You’re constantly working to balance what you need right now against what you want to keep for later. There are also three hidden scoring categories that you can research, but you’ll have to give up collecting an ingredient for them. The planning in this game is a lovely puzzle to solve. All of this is topped with lovely art from Sandara Tang, who is one of the best artists out there.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

35: Flip 7

Publisher: The Op

Designer: Eric Olsen

Previous Entries: Debuting this year.

Flip 7 is a fast party game that uses Black Jack as a base mechanic with a couple of special cards extra. The deck contains numbered cards, twelve 12s, eleven 11s, ten 10s, down to two 2s, one 1, and a single 0. On your turn you can hit or pass. If you pass then you score the cards in your display. If you hit you get a card added to your display, if it’s a number card you don’t have you’re safe, if it matches one of your number cards you already have then you bust. If you get seven different numbered cards then the round ends for everyone and you score the points on your There are some modifier cards that don’t count towards your seven card limit. There are also three special cards that have different effects. The game is fast and plays well. I tend to keep a copy with me at conventions because it has a small footprint and is quick and easy to teach. There is a second version of the game, Flip 7 with a Vengeance, it uses the same rules but comes with more take that cards. I like both, but prefer the original.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

34: Fox Experiment

Publisher: Pandasaurus Games

Designer: Jeff Fraser Elizabeth Hargrave

Previous Entries: Debuted at 7 in 2024, and fell to 20 last year.

The Fox Experiment is based on a Soviet attempt to breed domesticated foxes. It uses a dice pool mechanic where you’ll gradually add more dice to your pool. Each round you’ll draft a breeding pair of foxes, roll dice based on them, and then use the dice to generate symbols to give attributes to a new fox. That fox will be placed in the draft pool for the next round, when you will draft two new foxes and go again. Over the course of the game you’ll draft more foxes, breed new foxes, generate bonuses, and create your ability to roll more dice. Part of why I love this game is purely tactile. You start with a couple dice and end up rolling a handful. (I recommend dice trays.) It doesn’t hurt that this is from Elizabeth Hargrave, one of my favorite designers.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

33: Cthulhu: Dark Providence

Publisher: CMoN

Designer: Travis Chance and Martin Wallace

Previous Entries: New to the list this year.

Cthulhu: Dark Providence is probably the most recent game added to this list. This is a deck building, hidden role game, with a unique auction mechanic. Each player is dealt a random affiliation that they’ll belong to, no one knows what faction the other characters belong to. Over the course of the game you’ll be moving around the board, placing influence on various cards, spaces, and other items. At the beginning of your turn you can take control of one thing that you have more influence than anyone else. Since people can place influence on cards between turns then you can block other player’s attempts to take control of something, or boost your chance of gaining control. You also have a limited amount of influence, You can gain more over the course of the game, but doing that prevents you from doing other actions. Finding the balance for all of these things is a big part of why the game works. The hidden role bits are fun, because it’s important that you find who’s on your team since the player with the lowest score prevents their team from winning. You need to find any partners so you can boost their score as well as keep your own going up.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

32: Terraforming Mars

Publisher: FryxGames and Stronghold Games

Designer: Jacob Fryxelius

Previous Entries: Debuted at 20 in 2022, rose as high as 8, fluctuating back and forth between there and here.

Terraforming Mars is a tableau building game where you are drafting cards, buying some, and putting them into play. Your goal is to help terraform the planet in an attempt to have your corporation the most successful when the planet is finally terraformed. The game comes with a massive deck of unique cards and a lot of ways to advance your agenda. While I enjoy Terraforming right out of the box, I do recommend it with the Prelude expansion as it jump starts the start of the game and speeds up the entire experience. It also gives you a special ability that helps focus your strategy. A very fun game with lots of crunch and good decisions.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

31: Fun Facts

Publisher: Repos Productions

Designer: Kasper Lapp

Previous Entries: Debuted in 2024 at 21, dropped to 36 last year.

Fun Facts is a party game of questions and answers. Each round you’ll get a question with a numeric answer. Each player will write their answer on their tile and then they will go in turns to add them face down to a display. There are three types of questions; how many times have you done something, how long would you do something, and on a scale of 1 to 100 how much does this apply to you. Each player sets theirs in the row in an attempt to place them in order from lowest to highest. Once all of the cards are in place you flip over the tiles and see how you did. Part of why I like this game is the base mechanics are fun, but this game encourages conversation. Not every question will get your group talking, but I’ve had fun conversations and debates afterwards in almost every game. My family still talks about the one Disneyland question. The game is such a nice afternoon and worth playing over snacks and drinks.

If you’d like a copy of this you can purchase it here.

Outro

There we go, that’s all for this set of ten games. Up next time, we’ve got some racing, some storytelling, and some battling princesses. Let me know what are some of your favorite games in the comments.

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Until next time, stay safe and be well.