Preparing ‘best-of’ lists challenging

It has been noted by a number of sources that the last couple of decades have been a ‘Renai-ssance’ of sorts in terms of board games.

There are, to my mind, several reasons for the renewed interest in boardgames, including access to development dollars via crowdfunding platforms, a retro reaction to the anonymity of computer games taking players back to the table, and the connectiveness of the Internet in growing the boardgame community.

But what of my beloved abstract strategy subgenre of games?

That was a question I asked myself recently as I was flipping around www.boardgamegeek.com where I am a fairly active poster.

At BGG you can create ‘geeklists’ which are simply a listing of games under a particular topic heading of your choice. Over the years I have authored many, and decided one night to create the ‘Golden Dozen’ abstract strategy games of the new millennium.

The process proved rather easy, most choices obvious, although there are certainly more than 12-games which warranted consideration in my mind.

So the last 17 years have been good in terms of abstract strategy games, (I will share my top picks in the fourth installment of this small series that this column starts).

But, the list quickly left me with another question; has it been a better era, or is that simply the perception.

Another list was clearly warranted, one listing the Golden Dozen abstract strategy games of the 1900s.

Covering 100-years I had expected brain-burning decisions to be ahead of me.

Like most lists the top half-dozen games came rather quickly to mind. If you are a fan of a genre you most likely have the better games of any era.

But as I neared the bottom half of the list it grew harder and harder to find games worthy of the top-12 of a century.

That certainly seemed to confirm we are now in a Renaissance of game creation.

But why stop at two lists, after all it was only 1 a.m., so I delved into one more greeklist creation, the Golden Dozen pre-1900.

Frankly any game still remembered and played after 117 years or more, obviously have some level of greatness to them, so I wasn’t expecting too much difficulty, although the total number of games from that era is rather small.

Again the top-games came easily enough, but by the end it was considering which of a number of remembered, but rather obscure games to include (that list will be covered next week).

But the initial premise was at least conformed in my mind, that today some of the best games in the genre have been created, although readers can decide if they agree following along the next three weeks.

I will note here to close, if you are a happy owner of the 36 games (39 actually, you will see why), then you have a very inclusive collection of the best abstract strategy games ever created – and we should definitely meet and be buds.