My ABC's

I haven't played enough games to make a top 100 list like everyone else; if I did, the last fifty or so would already be hitting the mediocre games.

I can come close to making my ABC list, however:

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Non-alphabetic
4000 A.D.: I already covered this one in an earlier post.

Runner up: none worth recommending.

A
Age of Steam: Played only once. I like a good train game, so long as the pick up and deliver mechanism is at least as important as the stock holding mechanism.

Runner ups: Anagrams and Amun Re

B
Bridge: The acme of card games, but likely to make you feel stupid.

Runner up: Boggle

C
Cosmic Encounter: Mayfair or Eon editions. 30 years old and still delightful, as long as your edition has at least 75 alien races and flares.

Runner up: Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers

D
Dvonn: A deceptively chaotic abstract from the GIPF series, gets better each time I play.

Runner up: Die Macher

E
Euphrat & Tigris: Awesome game, and classic Knizia.

Runner up: El Grande

F
None worth recommending.

G
Go: 4000 years of gameplay. Like bridge, can make you feel stupid, but comes with a built-in handicap system so that any two people can play, regardless of their skill level.

Runner up: Geschenkt

H
Hearts: Works best as a partnership game, and can be very tense.

Runner up: Havoc: the Hundred Years War

I
None worth recommending.

J
None worth recommending.

K
None worth recommending.

L
Louis XIV: A nice area control game from Alea.

Runner up: none worth recommending.

M
Magic: the Gathering: Since I NEVER played in a tournament, the "money drain" doesn't affect me. As a card-drafting/deck-building/dueling game it is excellent.

Runner up: Modern Art

N
None worth recommending.

O
Othello: I would like to try this on a larger board, say 12 x 12.

Runner up: Oh Hell

P
Puerto Rico: You've heard enough about this on my blog, already. The tortuously controlled picking order is pure genius.

Runner ups: Princes of Florence and Power Grid

Q
None worth recommending.

R
Robo Rally: Belongs to the same category of loopiness and tactics as Cosmic Encounter. Only, can be too long.

Runner up: Ra

S
Settlers of Catan: Still great after 1000 plays, and still hooking in the newbies.

Runner ups: San Juan and Scrabble

T
Taj Mahal: Very tense game of connections, collections, and losing battles. Play with evenly matched players.

Runner ups: Tikal and Torres

U
None worth recommending.

V
None worth recommending.

W
Wallenstein: The closest I will ever get to liking a war game.

Web of Power

X
None worth recommending.

Y
Yinsh: Excellent GIPF game, like Othello crossed with Pente, but better than both.

Runner up: none worth recommending.

Z
None worth recommending.

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16 out of 26 letters. There are games on my want list that would allow me to replace a few of those "None worth recommending."'s, but alas, I haven't yet played them. For instance, Ursuppe is still unplayed on my shelf (although now it is called Primordial Soup). Some day.

Yehuda