Top Board Games of the Decade

The Thinking Gamer has a great post up covering the last ten years of board games with yearly favorites and his top 3 of the decade.

Here's my take on the best board games of the last decade, broken down year by year:

     2000 - Carcasonne
A really good game, and a truly innovative design space to explore as well. It's no longer in regular rotation for me, but Santa brought "The Kids of Carcasonne" for Kira this year and I highly recommend that variant for anyone with a budding gamer who's 4-7 years old. It's easy to learn and no reading is required, but it's got a surprising amount of depth of strategy — enough to keep things interesting for parents too.

While there are a lot of games on his list that I've never played (I've been out of board gaming for two years now), there are a few I played and quite enjoyed.  One of my personal favorites is the one quoted above: Carcassonne.


If I was going to be voting for my top game of the decade, Carcassonne would be it.  The gameplay is simple, yet a logistical treat.  It's also dead simple to setup and get playing, a key to any board game being considered for game of the decade.

Another great game I enjoyed this decade was Battle Lore.  However, Battle Lore is a hardcore, fantasy-inspired version of Memoir 44, so I understand why it doesn't make Thinking Gamers list.

Board games offer a great escape from today's crazy world of video games.  Even after ten years, Carcassonne delivers greatness without the need for patches or new hardware.  I recommend everyone give one of the games on Thinking Gamers' list a try or break one out at their next get together with friends.