I collaborated on the Nikkei 'Anything Ranking' for Board Games!
I have collaborated on the popular ' Anything Ranking ' corner in today's June 8th Saturday edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun! The theme is, quite simply, board games, and you can find the link here.
This time, in accordance with Nikkei's policy, while the condition was that they must be 'playable with family in about 30 minutes,' games consisting 'only of cards' were intentionally excluded, so the list includes quite a few authentic titles!
The format involves surveying about 10 experts related to the theme to narrow down candidates, and then having them rank and vote on those to select the final top 10 to be published. Since I published ' Board Games Change Society ' last autumn, I was invited to participate along with my co-author, Takuya Ono.
I will leave the final selected works for you to see by picking up the paper yourself, but I would like to introduce the games I voted for and the recommendations I provided at the time. First, in the 'second round' where I had to choose my best 10 from the list provided by the editorial department, I voted for...
1st Place Dixit
A game recommended for both first-time meetings and close friends, as it serves as a catalyst for understanding each other's sensibilities. Since you only need to give titles to pictures, there is absolutely no need to grasp difficult rules. The original artwork is also beautiful and stimulates the imagination.
2nd Place Codenames
It gets exciting when played as a team battle, and it is the best among quiz-style games. It is important to explain the situation by saying, 'As spy organizations, we are talking in code in front of a cipher table so that it's okay even if we are being wiretapped by the enemy.'
3rd Place Ciao Ciao
A game where you are 'forced to lie' because of a special die, and you have to see through each other's bluffs. Other than the bluffing, it is a normal board game, so you can play it with children, and everyone can enjoy the process of gradually 'getting better at lying'.
4th Place TransAmerica / TransEuropa
A railway game with the 'simplest rules,' perfect for an introduction to serious board games. The dual maps of the US and Japan are a nice touch. You can hone your competitive sense by 'hitching a ride' on other people's routes while trying to win on your own. (*) The header photo is an
overseas version I obtained independently used before the Japanese version was released. A little bragging (lol).
5th Place Majority Party It is interesting that while answering Yes or No to subtle questions that are hard to say either way, the goal is not to speak your true feelings but to 'aim to be in the majority.' If you win, you can praise each other as 'attentive,' and if you lose, as a 'person of conviction.'
6th Place Deep Sea Adventure A classic introductory game with the appeal of being compact enough to carry anywhere. You can easily enjoy this dilemma-filled board game where you can aim for high scores by diving deeper, but the risk of getting 0 points due to lack of oxygen also increases.
7th Place Werewords A mystery game that has become established as entertainment for junior and senior high school students during breaks, adapted so that it can be enjoyed in a 'short time' and 'without a moderator' without losing the charm of deduction. Since everyone naturally shares their reasoning, it also brings people closer together.
8th Place Kingdomino The goal is to build a 'high-scoring kingdom' by drawing boards that combine 'two terrains' like domino tiles. With the artwork, it has a gentle atmosphere, so you can play with anyone without things getting tense.
9th Place Blokus Trigon Because the parts are made of triangles instead of squares, it can be played by 3 people without any discomfort, making it suitable for families. It is a pleasure to successfully slip behind an opponent's block, and those who like Othello or Tetris will definitely get hooked.
10th Place Piece o' Cake A serious game where you repeat 'I cut, but I choose last' to try and make the best cake set possible. The atmosphere is excellent with the delicious-looking cake tiles, but it is a hardcore game that requires strategy and makes you agonize every time.
The links are mainly to
Gioco del Mondo, where you can understand the fun of the games.
Also, although they missed making the voting list (presumably because few others recommended them), I had also listed the following works in the 'first round'.
Carcassonne 21
A classic masterpiece where everyone competes for high scores while building a map together. The visual result after finishing is also beautiful.
Patrizier
A perfect introductory territory-building game with a beautiful appearance where you build towers on a Renaissance-style map.
The Way I See My World' and, for the upcoming season, '
Summer Treasures' were also close contenders.
Just a quick report for now. I hope this sparks interest for many people!
P.S. Next month on
Saturday, July 20th, I will be speaking at an 'Medicine and Board Games' event at Juntendo University! I plan to release a detailed announcement later, but for now, please check here.
(Image from Bodoge-ma)
That game, along with 'Carcassonne' and 'Elfenland', are the Best 3 beautiful games that are easy for beginners to play.
(I ended up letting them all go due to a lack of storage space, though...)