5 Board Games for $100(ish) Dollars #3
Once in a while, I will be making a post highlight what game purchases I would make, at the time of writing, for around $100 (US) dollars. Some titles will stay the same, some will come and go, but ultimately, I hope it will inform new players getting into the realm of the modern board game scene where to invest their hard earned cash.
I will include one party/filler game, a 2-player exclusive game, a light game, a medium or heavy game, and something not of the ordinary like hidden gems or expansions. With these 5 games, I believe, you have a good footing to start a joyful game library—and one which doesn’t require a huge amount of capital.
Onto the games:
Oh My Goods! Box
Party/Filler Game: Oh My Goods! $12
You might think Alexander Pfister dedicates himself to the creation of these intricately mechanical games such as Mombasa, Great Western Trail and Maracaibo, but much to my surprise, he also designs a set of small box card games. Not as grand and expansive as his heavier titles, yet still with some thoughtful decision spaces, Oh My Goods! is the first title in the Oh My Goods! universe (and yes that actually exists).
Here, you’ll be making decisions based on a market row, utilizing the cards that come out to construct goods and build new factories with any income you managed to make in the round. The clever point here is to create a synergy between your constructed factories feeding goods from one factory to another to create better and more profitable goods. You’ll also have the chance to hire new workers to increase production at multiple factories since the more goods you create, the more profitable you become and the more you can invest in expensive factories that can pump out even more profitable goods.
It’s a neat little game, and one that can be added to with a few more expansions if you want more of that Oh My Goods! board game universe.
Santorini
2-Player Only (I’m cheating here): Santorini $22-25
This is technically a two to four player game, but I would never recommend playing it at those player counts. For me this is a strict 2-player abstract and anyone else that plays it at three or four is a board game heretic. Heresy!!
Ahem…Santorini is a dead simple game to understand; move one of two player pieces on the board one space in any direction, including moving up or down one floor, and then build one section of a building either as a new structure on the board, or adding one to an existing building. The first player that can maneuver one of their pieces to the third tier of a building, wins. It’s deceptively straightforward premise, but in actual playing it you start noticing the duplicity of its nature. For one, the moves made here need to work hard to accomplish more than its singular purpose. Yes, you move and build, but within that singularity you must also block and deny your opponent’s plans as well. By adding two pieces to your arsenal, you also have to process maneuvers on two fronts—and defend from your adversary as well.
It’s a cat and mouse game where at any instance the players will switch roles pushing and pulling each other in order to deny or gain victory.
And I haven’t touched upon God powers either…
Review of: Santorini
Town Builder : Coevorden Box
Gateway Game: Town Builder: Coevorden $18-20
If you’re still tepid about inviting others into the board game genre with a heavy Euro or just need a lowkey, forgiving card game to pass the time, a game like Town Builder: Coevorden might just be what you need in your library. This is a set collection card game as you try to collect the right cards to build your small corner of Coevorden. Pick cards with the right type of resources that will fulfill the requirements of a particular building. You’ll be competing with everyone else for those same resources so choosing promptly over others for particular cards will benefit you, but get too bogged down with tunnel vision and others might just build past you through other means.
Don’t worry, though, as mentioned before, this is a forgiving card game, and changing tactics on the fly might be the best strategy overall, so having a keen sense on when it’s time to ditch the current hotness for greener pastures is as much a skill as waiting patiently for that one card to accomplish your original goal. Easy going, with good art work, this is a good first step into the world of board games.
Ride the Rails Box
Medium/Heavy: Ride the Rails - $27
If you feel a sense of intrigue (or fascinating terror) towards the witchcraft that is train games, you might want to dip your toes into the shallowest side of that pool. Ride the Rails just could be the perfect depth of what you might seek if you have a passing interest within that genre. Part of a trio of titles under the Iron Rail series Capstone Games is introducing (Irish Gauge being the first and Iberian Gauge coming later in 2021), Ride the Rails is a pick-up-and-deliver styled game in which you’ll be creating routes, picking up different types of stock in different railroad companies and ultimately transporting passengers on these trains to far off destinations for points. It’s a light load, nothing equaling true 18xx games that define the genre, but it does have characteristics of those games—routes, railroads, stocks, cargo—that will give you a slight glimpse into 18xx.
Quite easy to understand, this is a light-to-medium game which should be quite satisfying once you wrap your head around the concept of stocks and transferring passengers through different routes owned by different companies. A definite dip into the 18xx.
Fox in the Forest Duet Box
Hidden Gem: Fox in the Forest Duet - $12
I know I just talked about this game, but seriously, I feel this had the buzz of a passing bee; you heard it coming and before you know it, you looked up and it was gone. Nobody is talking about this game and it’s quite possible due to coming out around the same time as last year’s small box darling, The Crew: The Search for Planet Nine. I can’t fault people for that, however. The Crew is a fantastic game, and has won various Game of the Year platitudes, it’s understandable how Fox in Forest Duet got lost in the shuffle. Add to it that it’s also a trick taking game and people’s proclivities for similar games might have tolerated only one purchase of that genre.
That said, Fox in the Forest Duet is a neat little gem of a game, and one that is inherently easier to get into compared to The Crew. If you’ve run through the full gamut of missions included in The Crew, but still need to scratch that itch of cooperative trick taking, Fox in the Forest might be a good addition to your libraby.
Review of : Fox in the Forest Duet
Grand Total: $91-96 USD
And there you have it; five games that can be had around the $100 mark, and if buying all together from a single online vendor, probably avoids paying shipping charges. I hope to come back in the near future to give another five game recommendations for $100-ish bucks.
