With 2024 now being officially over, it’s time for me to crown the top game of the year. However, in a slight change to the usual proceedings, this time around I am going to announce a total of four awards. After all, one game is never enough. So, here goes…
Actually, before I start, let me remind everyone that the games I choose from are those that were new to me in 2024. These games weren’t necessarily released that year. They may have been around for a long time or they are yet to come out this year. I never believed in restricting myself to games published in a single year, because it always puts those that came out towards the end of the year at a disadvantage.
So, if you’re looking for a list of the best games released in 2024, you’re in the wrong place. Sorry. It’s just how it is. There are plenty of other places that will be more appropriate for you.
For the rest of you, here are the four games I want to call out for having achieved something very special last year as far as I am concerned.
PS: Apologies for the food puns. I wanted to name the awards so they had a link to something you have on the table. After all, the blog is called Tabletop Games Blog. So, there we go…
Signature Dish Award 2024
If you record your plays, like I do, you are easily able to find out which game you played the most. There is one game that really stood out. I played it over 30 times last year and it never got boring for me. In fact, it’s still a firm favourite among my game group. So far, I have played it only digitally, but it’s a game that I would like to add to my collection, because I think it would be popular at home.
The game I’m talking about is an interesting mix of tableau building, resource management and card drafting where you are a Viking tribe exploring the world and establishing trade with other cultures. The title of the game is the Norse word for a keelboat, a vessel that was specifically designed for trade. You may have already guessed it – that game is Knarr by Thomas Dupont from Bombyx.
You need to check out my review to find out more, but in short, Knarr is a wonderful small game that seems quite simple at first, but has a really interesting timing aspect to it and mixes the various mechanisms in a new, clever way. It was released in 2023, but seems to have passed many people by. In my game group, it only really came to the fore in 2024 and it’s still a hit with us.
Banquet Award 2024
I would also like to honour a game that I have played for the most hours in 2024. After all, playing a quick game many, many times is easy, but investing time in a longer game is harder. Yet, this game clocked up over 22 hours of playing time last year. It’s an evergreen title that has seen a large number of expansions and is the sort of game that is an interesting mix of luck and strategy.
It was released in 2019, so is a really old game, but one that we keep coming back to. It’s become an old, reliable friend. When we play it, we know what we let ourselves in for. There are some tactics, a fair amount of luck and plenty of planning ahead to ensure you have enough resources to do what you want to do. Every game is different. despite us having played it over a dozen times in 2024 alone and plenty more often since I first brought it to the table. The mix of tableau building, card drafting, resource management, area control, dice rolling and racing along four different tracks is sublime. It’s not an amazing game, but a good staple evergreen title.
I’m talking, of course, about Tapestry by Jamey Stegmaier from Stonemaier Games. Yes, it’s that one. I know some people don’t like it, because it’s not a 4x or civ game, but if you ignore how it was promoted, you find a lovely game that you can play over and over again and always have a different experience.
Buffet Award 2024
A game that lots of different people enjoy playing is always precious. I think many of us try and want to add such a game to their collection, because it’s the game that will probably get played the most. So I thought I’d recognize a game in this category with this award.
The game was originally released in 2023 and I know it under its German title. It has very bright illustrations of five different animals that go on a hunt. It’s sort of a game about the survival of the fittest, but it’s really more of a party game. Sure, you score food tokens for winning a round, but what you really want is to try and gauge what the other players are thinking and planning.
It’s really simple to explain. In fact, you probably just want to start playing and teach as you go. It plays pretty quickly and you can easily play additional games, if you want to – and most of the time, you do want to play just one more.
So far, I’ve played this game with 11 different people, which is a new record for me. I think that shows how versatile Prey Another Day by Brett J. Gilbert and Matthew Dunstan from Pegasus Spiele is. I played it with my parents, with one of my nieces, with the family and with my gaming group, as well as at a board game convention with strangers. These people represent a wide range of tastes in games, willingness to deal with rules and so on. It underlines what a real chameleon the game is and it definitely deserves this award.
Top Table Award 2024
Finally, we’ve reached the award of awards. The Top Table Award goes to the game that really stood out for me last year. It’s a game from a genre that I could finally fully explore with my friends. It also became a favourite with my dad, brother and one of my nieces. So this game is very special to me for these and some other reasons and clearly deserves to be crowned my favourite game of the year.
I’m talking about a trick-taking game where you have suits, you have to follow suit and you win tricks. You also bid how many tricks you think you will win this hand. While everyone still plays a single card, you actually have two in front of you: a suit card and a value card. Together they make one suited card. When it is your turn, you can only play a single card and either change the suit or the value. It’s such a clever twist that really does your head in, but in a good and very satisfying way.
The game was released by a small indie publisher, which is also very close to my heart, mainly because of the many trick-taking games they released this year, all of which do something clever. It was hard to choose between them, but the ultimate reason why I chose this game is because my niece liked it so much, I lent it to her to play with her friends – and she’s not much of a trick-taking player herself.
The game I’m talking about is Charms by Taiki Shinzawa from New Mill Industries. The game was originally released in 2014, but the US publisher re-released it this year and I just had to buy it. I was not disappointed, as you can see. It’s a very special trick-taking game that I strongly recommend you check out, if you can get hold of a copy.
So, there you have it. Those are the four games I wanted to call out for having achieved something special in 2024, at least in my view. They may not represent the hotness or the latest hype, but they each are great games for a good reason. Maybe you will check one of them out for yourself or maybe you have already played them. Either way, I hope you found these recommendations useful.
Happy 2025….
Useful Links
- Knarr review: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2024/ 07/ 20/ knarr-saturday-review/ - Tapestry review: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2019/ 11/ 09/ tapestry-saturday-review/ - Prey Another Day review: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2024/ 08/ 17/ prey-another-day-saturday-review/ - Charms review: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2024/ 08/ 24/ charms-saturday-review/
Audio Version
Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.
Music by Bensound
License code: LYKCDS6P6W5HKTVV
Music by https://www.bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: SVXGCFYODXVXB7AM
Music I Use: https://www.bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: QZZRB7J7EK43WPF5
Music: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: VZKVCIGTYHARBWUU
Music by https://www.bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: 3CAO8T8AI9D8TEKZ
Playlist
These are the songs I listened to while I was writing this review:
I’m glad you enjoyed my civilization game, Tapestry! (It isn’t promoted anywhere as a 4x game, but I did design it from the group up as the civilization game I always wanted to exist.)
Hello Jamey. Thank you so much for your comment. It’s always wonderful to hear from the designer of a game directly. I know what you mean about Tapestry. I agree it’s not promoted as a 4x game anywhere, but I have heard people say that they thought it was, because of the map and the military track. I also agree that Tapestry is about living through a civilization’s lifetime, when people think of civilization games they usually think of game where you directly influence a population by shaping the world. That’s what I meant in my article and that’s why I think some people never got on with Tapestry. They expected a different game and were disappointed, even though Tapestry is a wonderful game and one of our evergreen titles that we will keep playing regularly.