I would have listed it, as I quite like it, but it definitely isn’t in the list of best deck builders for me anymore. It still is a relaxing play and I quite like the very first set for it’s simplicity (and actually like the art style, too). But other …

while pile shuffle doesn’t randomize, it does one thing (aside from helping to count) really well: distributing. Which actually in board games is something you probably want to speed the shuffle process, for the simple reason that after a game, cards are in a very “odd” distribution (like all victory cards in a localized part of the stack and other stuff like that) and the pile “shuffle” helps to first bring the deck into a more even distribution. Yes, the pile shuffle doesn’t help with randomization, but that’s why you combine it with overhand shuffles or other methods. I personally just do ripple shuffles if the cards are useable for that and don’t worry too much about damage. In case where I have a very uneven usage of cards – like for example player cards in LOTR:LCG – I just sleeve them and then do mash shuffles, which are mostly on the same level as ripple shuffles. But yeah, if the game has crappy cards that are not good for ripple shuffle and have odd sizes so I can’t sleeve them, which means I have to stick to overhand shuffles, I sometimes do a pile shuffle first, then a couple overhands afterwards, because overhands have the tendency to clump and therefore not giving a good enough distribution. Proper randomization is more of importance in situations where someone can bring a stacked deck that keeps some sub-structure and therefore predictability for that player in the case of bad randomization. This mostly is a thing with competetive games with pre-constructed decks the players bring to the table. It’s less a problem in games with shared decks where all you really want is prevent people to be able to predict the next cards, which often translates to “some overhand with a cut” being enough. Of course this highly depends on the players at the table, there are some who are prone to blame “bad randomization” for bad plays and in those cases it might be worth the effort of better randomization to cut that crap 😉

well, spelling the same words only happens during early game mostly, because after a bunch of buys you will have a different set of characters each. And even if it happens, we just decide not to do it 😉 – funny enough we almost allways play with the “helper” rule where you get a cube for providing a scoring word to someone who is on the look for a good one that you can later spend on buying cards (although we restrict the buying with those cubes to letters, no scoring cards).

To me it’s **Paperback**, because it’s a great combination that allows me to bring people into deck builders who aren’t even gamers when we start. They can start out with just building words, learning the rest of it quickly during their first game. It’s tons of fun to play, too. And comes with a bunch of variants that you can throw in to change the game a little if you grow bored (didn’t happen for me with roundabout 50 plays so far). Next would be **Shadowrun: Crossfire** which would rank higher if it was available in German, but as it is, it’s mostly for me to play solitaire. I love that you buy directly into your hand, this changes the deck building formula a lot. It is much more reactive in it’s card acquisition than other deck builders. And unlike other great deck builders, it has a really quick setup time, it’s mostly “grab stuff from the box and start playing”. And I like it’s take on character progression with that slight legacy touch. Place 3 probably would go to **Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße**, because it’s unique take on deck building and the fact that I actually get it to the table with my wife from time to time – and it’s easy to introduce to others, too. But third place is quite tied with others (**Thunderstone Advance** or **Xenoshyft: Onslaught** or **Valley of the Kings** or **Rune Age** all could be contenders, Kashgar mostly wins due to the higher possibility to get plays in). **Star Realms** and **Ascension** would probably be on the shortlist.

I found **Lord of the Ice Garden** quite interesting, thematically. Up to four mad scientists in a world of magic trying to overtake that world, fighting each other with quite asymmetric player powers and victory goals. I only played it solo, though, s…

**Rune Age** is a deck builder with a dominion-style village but adds another player-private barracks for more cards (that only that player can ever buy) to the mix and provides many different modes of play: competetive, coop, hard PvP. It is kinda the Mage Knight of Deck Builders when it comes to modes and together with its (so far only) expansion it gives you a whole pile of asymmetric factions to play, each with it’s own private barracks to buy from. **Xenoshyft: Onslaught** and **Shadowrun:Crossfire** are two deck builders that really do the coop part well in that you often play cards on other players turns to help them. In addition, both directly buy into your hand, not your discard – so you are buying right for the moment, not for some possible future turn. That really changes the deck building formula quite a bit. **Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße** does “Deck Building” in a very different way: you have three stacks that you build up, “discarding” cards used from the front to the back of the stack, building up engines that way, sometimes removing cards with other card powers. Very different and very satisfying for me. Think of it of constantly having a hand of three cards where you can actually see what upcoming hands you will have, depending on what cards you use. **Zeppelin Attack** is a deck builder where you have to build up board state to actually do attacks to other players, deconstructing their board state. The multi-level play (you need to first bring out the needed zeppelin cards to then play attack cards while reacting to other attacks with defense cards and using operative cards to buy new and better zeppelins, attacks, defenses or operatives) makes the game much slower ticking than other deck builders. Normally deck builders rush through the game, esacaliting to higher and higher levels, while ZA hums along on a lower frequency. Sadly in the end it makes the game just that little bit too long. Still some neat ideas in it, like for example currency cards that you actually spend (as in they go back to the bank after use). **Eminent Domain** marries the role selection (and following) from San Juan with deck building. The neat thing: due to it’s structure, your deck automatically becomes better at the stuff you tend to do more often by grabbing additional cards for selected roles (which later when playing that role can be used to boost that role). So over time youre deck tends to become better at the stuff you did before, but that agai makes it harder to shift gears mid-game. So you have to balance what you do in a way that makes you efficient enough but not super specialized. Had a weird problem for me: the actual game felt like it was a bit too long running but at the same time when it came to the end, it was ending too fast – it took quite some time to take up gears, but when you had your engine going, before you could reap any benefits the game was already over. And to actually get to that state you had to play a few rounds too many. But some really cool ideas in it. Yeah, deck builders are my favorite mechanism, why you ask? 😉

Quite often, because some of my top favorites are solo games or at least playable solo (**LOTR:LCG** for example) and so I can decide when to play them without needing pesky “friends” or something obscure like that 😉 (and it helps that some of my favorite games are my wifes top favorite one, which means tons of **Paperback** and **Progress: Evolution of Technology** for me over the year).

Up to 100 I usually go for it without reluctance, when ut is more than 100, my brain kicks in. But there have been situations where I took my brain to the side and had a stern talk to it, which is why I spent over 200 for Hoplomachus for example or wen…

Well, Progress was an instant hit with my wife and there were times we played it multiple times a day. Lots of fun in that box for us. Jaipur is our go-to game for waiting at the restaurant or travels on a plane or train, since it can be played fast an…

10 or more plays **Progress: Evolution of Technology** 54 **Paperback** 47 **The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game** 26 **Jaipur** 25 **Waggle Dance** 18 **Sentinels of the Multiverse** 12 **Nations: The Dice Game** 10 5 or more plays **San Juan** 9 **R…

**Progress: Evolution of Technology** was the first. I miscalculated my tableau and finished fourth age probably a round too early and lost by 2 points.

by TheGargoyle

Related Item: Die Legenden von Andor: Chada & Thorn

Again, lots if fun in this little package. The stackbuilding from Kashgar really works great in this game. I only played solo with the Stinner expansion, but I am sure the two player game will be fun, too.

by TheGargoyle
Related Item: Die Legenden von Andor: Die Reise in den Norden Won’t spoil anything for you, but ut is fantastic and changes up the formuka of Andor quite a bit. Lots of fun!

by TheGargoyle

Related Item: Thematic Solitaires for the Spare Time Challenged

I would like to nominate Die Legenden von Andor: Chada & Thorn, even though it might not have a chance due to only be available in German for now. It has a dedicated solo experience if you got the promo expansion Die Legenden von Andor: Chada & Thorn – Stinner: Die Solo Erweiterung, but you can as easily just play both characters. Play time varies with scenarios, but the shorter ones are easily just 30 minutes and even the longer ones can be done in an hour. The theme is a run through an haunted island, on the flight from some curse to destroy you and it is really well transported by the mechanics and materials. Oh, and it is for the space challenged, too, it really had a low footprint. It has a nice take on the open deck (stack) building from Kashgar.

To me it does scratch the itch. Our games are currently in the 3 hour range, but that is due to learning the game. I can totally see it going down to 2 hours if we get deeper into it. The nice thing about Golden Ages is that – unlike other “shorter” civ builder – everything is still there. It is just reduced to essentials, but still “happens” (unlike with some other games where parts of civ building are abstracted away). I really like it and with the expansion it even gets more options (I only played base game so far, though).

Just finished a play of **Golden Ages**, seemed somehow appropriate to ülay a civ builder on the last day of the year ;). I guess there will be some **Progress: Evolution of Technology** later, too. No plans for tomorrow so far.