At the start of 2025 I set the goal (in hindsight, a conservative one) to play 500 games before year’s end. My tracking shows I played 196 games a total of 702 times. I played so many games, I started this blog to write about all of them. I’ve acquired skills I never thought I would have: rudimentary web design; board game photography (the art of setting up a game with no intent to play it); writing and giving scores on games in moderately interesting ways.
One of the first ideas I had when I began Manaworm was to create top-whatever lists of the year. For this inaugural year, I settled on doing just one: the listicle you’re looking at right now.
In order to allow a more diverse set of games into the top 20, I am not merely counting number of plays. Plays + Hours Played is instead being used for this ranking. Scientific? Not exactly. Just something to let longer games broach the list. I also am not counting asynchronous plays on Board Game Arena, but everything else digital or physical is fair game.
When I have a published review, the entry will link to that review. For games here without a review– they’ll likely get one when the inspiration strikes.
20. Let’s Go to Japan!
I have a love-hate relationship with cozy games. I want games that can bite back, where I can succeed by the skin of my teeth or fail magnificently, but I also like knowing that the game’s got my back through it all. Let’s Go To Japan cruises through that needle like a laser-guided thread. Each day of your itinerary gets loaded with points-scoring symbols, maybe a flexible walk, and ends with a contract of stuff you’ll have to do by that time during the week. If you like card drafting, or points salads-y things, or the idea of planning a cool vacation, you will find something to enjoy here.
19. Tag Team
My first impressions of Tag Team were not great. My partner did not enjoy it one bit. After a couple plays, I had given up and thought “well, it is cool but unfortunately not for me.” Luckily, I caught the Decision Space podcast episode where they talked about Tag Team and its emulation of fighting games. They echoed some of my gripes but, overwhelmingly, loved the game. I gave it another shot and, sure enough, it clicked. That’s one of my favorite things about games criticism and something I hope Manaworm does too– reframe how people think about games to lend more appreciation or understanding to them.
Tag Team itself is a two player only card where you draft two fighters to take on your opponent’s two fighters. Players play cards War-style from a deck which they add cards to each round. You block attacks, attack when they’re trying to power up– it’s a fighting game.
18. Duel For Cardia
This is another two-player only game about trying to read what your opponent is going to do and outwit them. It also has simultaneous reveal of cards, huh, I didn’t notice that until writing this blurb. Duel For Cardia has a lot of cool ideas but none better than the “Higher card wins the encounter, lower card triggers its ability.” Such an elegant system that lends itself to high-tension moments of reading your opponent’s intentions. The cards themselves, despite none having more than two sentences of text, also combo and interact with each other in unexpected ways.
17. Landmarks
Landmarks has issues, don’t get it wrong. But my family loves it anyway. This is a word game where one player is trying to get the other players to correctly navigate by creating a word association map. I think this hit the table so much because it my family loves two things: party games and cooperative games. You’ll see more of those later on this list.
16. Perfect Words
Oh hey speaking of cooperative party word games, we got another one right here! This is one I’ve only played on BGA, but I really do need to get a hold of a copy. I’m not sure how widely available the English version is, though. Perfect Words is a game about putting out word tiles into rows and columns such that they form little crosswords. Players are trying to create rows and columns of clues where all other players will agree what the row or column is describing. Maybe: Ocean, Movie, Ship– Nemo, right? Or is that Pirates of the Caribbean? Titanic? Why didn’t we narrow that one down more?
15. Cascadia
Cascadia is a staple for me. This year, I installed the app version which has kept me company whenever I have twenty minutes to kill and feel like clicking around on my phone in a non-brainrot way. I love this game and, honestly, it is due for a review.
For those uninitiated, Cascadia is an abstract tile placement game about building out a piece of the Pacific Northwest. You’re trying to make big biomes and put animals in whichever configuration they want to be in. Lots of opportunities for points and problem solving, very little rules overhead– you could teach this to a lot of folks.
14. Leviathan Wilds
When Leviathan Wilds came to retail, I snapped it up. As a surprise to no one, I’m a big review reader and this one was getting the type of rave reviews that meant I had to get it. I figured I wouldn’t review it– there’s already a staggering chorus of voices singing Leviathan Wilds’ praises. And yet, I felt such a connection to this game I ended up writing a review anyway. It is that good.
This is a cooperative boss battler about climbing behemoths and chunking off corrupting crystals. Your little miner is small but resourceful, and everything you do feels earned. Also, this is great solo. Highly recommend it.
13. Flamecraft
Flamecraft is a gorgeous game. It feels like you’re doing a friend a favor when you introduce them to this. It is going to go over smoothly, it is cute, and everyone is going to have a good time. Whatever misgivings you may have about Flamecraft’s simplicity or overwhelming kindness, there is something to be said for the opportunity to bring out a euro game where nobody is going to be left behind or punished.
Maybe I’m a little Flamecrafted out with my usual gaming partners, but I won’t hesitate to give the gift of a Flamecraft session the next time the opportunity arises.
12. The Gang
This is another game I should review, even though there is already a critical consensus on how amazing it is. The Gang is the perfect game for the non-gamers I know, regardless of their familiarity with poker. With a small player count, the game is breezy and stands as a Texas Hold ‘Em tutorial. At higher player counts, folks around the table lock in and the melding of the minds is amazing to witness. I love the mechanics and game theory of poker but recoil from the gambling, so The Gang is perfect for my table.
11. Bomb Busters
Bomb Busters has dozens of missions and I’ve played, I think, somewhere around fifteen of them. Each mission beyond the tutorial has been unique and fun to the point I ask, “why don’t I play this more?” And still, I’ve played it a lot. Bomb Busters is a cooperative deduction game about cutting wires and trying not to blow up. The deduction is straightforward but retains difficulty, the components have a surreal amount of polish, and you get to be an incompetent little bunny man. I don’t expect to ever play through every mission of Bomb Busters, but I bet I’ll get through a significant chunk of them over time.
10. Dice Throne
Maybe you can relate to this. My partner hates dueling games where you deal damage or interrupt your opponent’s gameplan. I love those games. Trying to find games that fit somewhere in the middle ground, or exceptions that will sneak by, is a struggle. Somehow, someway, Dice Throne does it. Dice Throne is Magic: The Gathering by way of Yahtzee. Play cards, power up abilities, and then roll dice to see which action you take.
Over the past year, I’ve gotten a couple different things to where I own three boxes of Dice Throne. Eight characters total. I see two futures for myself: one where I buy a new box maybe once a year, and another where I give in and start buying it all. We’ll see where it lands on next year’s list.
9. Flip 7
My (patented) play hours calculation was intended to inhibit tiny games from overwhelming the top twenty. To be honest with you, I don’t feel as though I’ve played Flip 7 enough to be on this list. But maybe that is a testament to how many transitory moments Flip 7 has slipped into; a handful of rounds at a bar here, a couple of the head-scratching Grinch edition at a restaurant there, and suddenly it’s the ninth most played game of the year. I have mixed feelings about Flip 7, but it undoubtedly has been a hit for the wider board gaming world. Evidently, it’s been a hit for me, too.
8. Trio
If there was ever a game primed to supplant Uno No Mercy’s spot on your local Target’s shelves, it would be Trio. This is a memory-ish game about trying to find all three of any given card in order to score them. If you find three of these threesomes, you win. Problem is: your opponents are likely holding them and you have to Go Fish! them from their grimy hands by asking them for their highest or lowest held value. It takes less than ten minutes to play, and we always end up playing it a half dozen times before putting it away.
7. Dédale
Dédale is another game on this list I have only played on Board Game Arena, which is a shame because I should own this one already and it needs to be talked about more. Dédale is about cooperatively playing cards to build a room which contains the Minotaur. Each escalating mission has the Minotaur asking for more and more decorations or elaborate tiling. I love how each mission seems even more impossible than the last, but somehow you manage to piece together an adequately furnished labyrinth. I do wonder how this will fare on the tabletop, but I have hope it’ll be just fine.
6. Tinderblox
I had this game checked out from my local library for about two weeks. In that relatively short time, Tinderblox made it to the table on several occasions. Every time there a moment to spare, someone wanted to prove their amazing stacking skills or needed to see if someone else would be able to grok those frustrating tweezers with the slippery rain cubes. I played it a lot. You should probably try it too if you’ve got ten bucks, a spacious enough pocket to fit a tin into, or a penchant for putting stuff on top of other stuff.
5. Santorini
I like the idea of an abstract but can’t fathom pulling a box from my shelf containing nothing but a grid and stones. I know, it is a weakness and I should get over myself. Santorini taps into the Richard Garfield-ized part of my brain that wants everything to have a unique power or a cool interaction.
There’s so much to discover in this box, all with a svelte ruleset and a skill ceiling I won’t be touching even on my tippy toes. Maybe it’s all a bit big and gaudy, sure, but that hasn’t stopped me from lugging it around and getting it played. This game also has a BGA adaptation (inexplicably with 3D graphics) in case you want to lose badly to incredibly skilled players online.
4. Marvel United
If Dice Throne threatens to pull me into its consumerist gravity, Marvel United is a black hole unto itself. Thus far I think I’ve resisted well enough, but I do play this game enough to justify another little box here and then… don’t I? Marvel United is (yet another) cooperative game, this one with an emphasis on unique baddies that completely warp the simple gameplay into a novel challenge every time.
Unboxing and setting up a dungeon crawl is too unwieldy, and lots of other cooperative games are best with three or four. Marvel United fits into a sweet spot where I get a dramatic, thinky experience without so much setup or downtime, and I find it perfect with one or two players. If you’re too good for chibi Marvel guys doing punches at thugs and star emojis at objectives, well, I’ll play by myself.
3. Things in Rings
Things in Rings in a Listicle. Everything in the world has now been categorized, I think.
I’m surprised to see this game so high, but this is another game which gets played a half dozen times whenever it comes out. I was worried it wouldn’t find its place in my board game oeuvre, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Things in Rings is a word game about logic-ing where everyday items fit into a venn diagram based on their attributes, context, or spelling. It is a tiny marvel; something so beloved by my family it is borrowed from my shelf more often than I have it in my possession. A great one.
2. FlipToons
I’ve never been more inspired to write a review than I was for FlipToons. Everything I read about it described it one way, and when I played it I felt the opposite. For me, this is a slot machine mixed with introductory deck-building that is dripping with so much charm and aura that it should be getting talked about everywhere (perhaps in all those Flip 7 conversations.)
FlipToons is about making a cast of cartoon characters and flipping six of them out onto a grid. On that grid, they will do things like flip over, give you money (fame), or “dismiss” each other from your deck. If you make thirty bucks, you win. If your deck can theoretically make fifty bucks but you flip out the worst possible hand in the worst possible order ever, you’ll resign to never gamble for real. Win-win.
1. Cthulhu: Death May Die
Cthulhu: Death May Die has simply been my go-to long game since I got it a few months ago. This is a game about chucking ever-increasing handfuls of dice at Lovecraftian horrors, taking risk after risk and being handsomely rewarded for doing so. I love the horrifying but still slapstick things that inhabit each corridor. Sometimes you’re extracting an evil undead crawly from a coffin, other times you’re picking up a six-shooter and blasting the face off a half dozen cultists.
Each encounter feels memorable and distinct from the last. I only own one box, so six episodes, but I have happily replayed nearly all of them at least twice if not three times by now. That’s enough, especially considering the two-ish hours each session takes, to end up at the very top of this list.
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Thanks for reading. I hope you had a great year full of spending time with loved ones and jamming board games. If you are someone reading who worked in any part on a game mentioned here, or you’ve played one of these with me, double thank you. This list wouldn’t exist without you. Keep doing cool stuff in 2026.
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