I trully love these kind of videos you make ! You have a unique ability to convey all the love and enthousiasm for gaming, that is amazing ! Kudos to you Paul ! You are a legend in the hobby

Paul, you are such a treasure to the board gaming community. Keep up the great work!!

Carnegie is such a good game and the solo mode is nice and simple which is always appreciated when it’s also challenging

The way you spoke about each game in your to 10 was brilliant. Gave plenty of time to describing what you liked and potential negatives to the game. For example I sold Revive because of the balance issues. I really thought it was bad how the games random set up could massively favour a player. But it was great to hear that even though you voted it in your top 10 you gave the time to talk about your experience with this weakness in the game.

Awesome list. Well thought out and explained. Always appreciate how much effort Paul puts into his videos. Definitely shows in the quality of the content. One thing to add re Revive: for me, it's the best solo mode I've ever played. Quick and snappy with the 'timer' that is counting down from 20. Love it.

Thx for sharing! I actually prefer a “best of” list a little delayed rather than in January, tough to get a good sense of a game till you’ve played it 5-10 times at least. Looking forward to your 2023 list!

Loved this video. Your ability to be conversational and make me feel like we're sitting together in my living room having a chat was enjoyable. Thanks for putting together this list, I've added a few more games to my wishlist.

Paul, thank you so much for the long-awaited top 10. As it is always with your videos, it feels so good just to listen to your thoughts and impressions about the games. You have such much talent to transport this message to the audience. Thanks a lot for this passion 🙂 I totally agree with Carnegie. It is such a pleasure to play this game. And yes: there is so much interaction: you can't win without predicting the next turns of the players. I love this concept. All the best from Germany, Berlin Frank

Hi Paul, I ❤ the tremendous work and effort you show here. That's what shifts this channel away from bunch of others. Thank you! I was wondering if you could advice me on new games to explore. Generally we love good looking games (not ugly at least) but most importantly engaging gameplays. It has to be fun for solo (original or not) and play nice with any other player count. We keep tight collection which consists of the following euro games: Birmingham, Outlive, Underwater, Blackout. We've been testing Tiletum and it siticks for medium weight. Our "to try" list is too long, so I hope you can give us some directions 🤓

I am so glad and little surprised about your #1 game!!! I couldn’t agree more regarding interaction you mentioned. Such a great game!!! I get kind of old game feeling( i love that) and modern Euro feeling as well. I recently Got Carnegie expansion. 12 all completely new departments and all new donation tiles!!! Totally new feeling !!! Simple component but all new game!!!

So glad you mentioned Lacrimosa too! I thoroughly enjoy the solo mode and can’t wait to play it competitively. And Skymines! I’ve just finished playing it solo 10 times in the past few weeks. What a cool game. An incredible solo variant too, and I need to play it against competition. Carnegie is such a worthy number 1! My only game I feel missed this list (and not sure if you played it ) is Sabika.

Great list Paul. The fact that I have 3 games from it and would love to get 3 more (if I had the money!) I think says it all. Cheers!

Great list, love it that you also mention the issues you (and/or) others have with the games, and I definitely have to try Carnegie.

Great list. Has brought a couple to my attention that I wasn’t aware of. Good to see you gave Tindaya a mention at the start. It never gets talked about and I really enjoy it.

I'm with you on Frostpunk, I absolutely love it. Also, I never play Frostpunk solo, I play with myself and a glass of Laphroaig. It makes losing better.

Nice list. Don't worry so much about upsetting certain people. Just give your honest opinions. Honesty is important and that's all we expect of you.

Thank you very much, both for the review and the full solo gameplay footage. Of course, I watched both materials. I'm a solo player with a few games in my collection, and now I'm looking at Carnegie with interest. I have a question, how has your assessment of the game changed after a year since your review appeared??? Does Carnegie keep coming back to your table, or does the game get "bored" quickly - a common argument against this game is that it is mechanically repetitive... I'm very curious about Your opinion, now that the game is no longer "new" ;-)

I buy a few games each year and try to only buy the best. I paid up for the deluxe version of Carnegie and was was not disappointed!

Great video! My wife and I loved Gloomhaven but Frosthaven fell off for us about 20 scenarios in as we both had retired our first characters and then we didn't enjoy the new ones and had to start essentially from scratch. We instead swapped over to Aeon Trespass Odyssey and I think it's both of our favourite game of all time so far. Gloomhaven and Frosthaven to me has an issue of feeling like Retiring a character is a hugely frustrating endeavour. Restarting from scratch essentially, really sucks and I'm not sure why Gear, etc isn't just for the group as a whole and we might just house rule it to be more like Aeon if we ever go back to Frosthaven. I don't think that resetting level, gear, gold, etc and only getting a pitiful amount back (especially on the first retirements per player) feels good and then you may have a Scenario next that's very difficult and you get stomped, especially if only you retired, and other players characters' are high level still.

I look forward to your list every year Paul and appreciate your thoughts as always. Thanks buddy!

Great video Paul, very good games on the list. Carnegie is also my game of the year 2022 :).

For me, endless winter has no place in a top 10. Played it once, found it FAR too easy to do everything (the wife and i spent our last few turns just buying cards for extra points) just doesnt feel playtested at all. Such a shame as its a GORGEOUS production

The best 2022 top 10. We need another one next year 👍

I couldn't agree more with eveything said about revive! I love how the mini campaign slowly introduces a bit at a time 💕

Did you play Carnegie 2 players? We do but I think this is not meant for two player. I’m on the fence about keeping it.

A great list of games that I haven’t played!!! And here is me thinking I had. Probably the three games from 2022 I have played and enjoyed are, Caper Europe love the push and pull in this game. For a two player game it really sings. My group really enjoyed Dwellings of Eldervale, just a lot of fun rolling dice and putting big moves together. And finally my family really enjoyed Flamecraft. There are quite a few games i really fancy playing Revive and Carnegie being two. Thanks again.

Your top 10 is very interesting! So many great games! Now you got me very interested in Carnegie and Revive which I haven’t played. For Frostpunk, in your experience, how long is a solo game in average? Here are some other great boardgames from 2022: - Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood - Burncycle - Bear & Bread - Turing Machine - Wayfarers of South Tigris - Wonderland’s War - Return to Dark Tower - Weather Machine - Long Shot: the dice game

I just received a copy of Carnegie a couple of weeks ago, I just have not yet had a chance to play it. I am very much looking forward to trying the solo mode. Great list, Paul! Thank you for the video.

Thanks for sharing the top 10. Glad to see Carnegie not being dethroned. Yet to have a chance to play the rest of the list. Until next time 😊

During the first part of the segment on ATO, I was thinking 'Uh oh, maybe I should not have ordered the new Twelve Sins of Herakles set...". By the end of you segment on ATO, I was thinking 'Why didn't I also order Cycles 4 & 5 of Odyssey?"... I need to cut down on Jaffa cakes spending to fund this hobby.

nice great list paul not gonna spoil it but ur number 2 was my number 1 and the only reason ur number one didnt make my list despite being from one of my favourite designers is because i dont own it(a criteria for my lists) great video paul! Stay Hexy!

Very solid list.- thx My personal pick for 2022 would be Smoky Valley, but Carnegie is definitely in the Top5 for 2022,

Carnegie is so good, I need to get it back to the table soon! Marrakesh, Amsterdam, and Tiletum are up there for me as well!

Carnegie is my number 1 game of 2022.

Marrakesh & Carnegie added to my empty “ probably need to buy” list.

Great job as usual Paul. My first game of Endless Winter i was able to accomplish everything and because of that I did not play it again and sold it. Really looking forward to playing my copy of Frostpunk. Hope to pick up a copy of Carnegie and Skymines eventually

finally done sleeving all of the standard sized cards in Isofarian Guard.. AND watching this top 10 list of yours! :) boy, was I surprised that Frostpunk did not make the number #1 spot in the end, I was really expecting it to be up there.. BUT, what a funny surprise, that Carnegie is your number #1 now! because.. I recently made a purchase of some sleeves online and wasn't too keen on paying extra for shipping, so I added a game (I did not know a lot about up until then, and I do not know a lot more now) - YES, Carnegie it was!! HAHA! really looking forward to playing it now, of course. I do not own (and have not played) half of your top 10 list (!), but I do own the other half and either have very much enjoyed it, or am very much looking forward to it! Undaunted, Lacrimosa, Marrakesh and Skymines (I do own and like Mombasa) are games I'd love to play, but at the moment am not wanting to own myself.. whilst Aeon Trespass Odyssey (one of the two games you talked about the most in your video - the other was Frostpunk which I really love!) is really tempting for me.. considering it a) costs a lot of money to get it all (I am a completionist) and b) I won't find the time or group to play it all (my only real campaign gaming group has difficulties finishing Gloomhaven Forgotten Circles and moving on to Frosthaven right now), my brain says 'NO'.. but as you know, the heart says something else! ;) great list, very much enjoyed to watch it, 73 minutes went by fast whilst sleeving.. ^^

45 minutes in, really enjoying this list of yours so far.. really thinking about getting Aeon Trespass Odyssey, not sure I should or will.. will definitely check out your sponsored videos about this game! ;) whilst watching, I'm sleeving hundreds of cards of Isofarian Guard.. :D

I completely agree with your opinion of Carnegie. It's such a great game. I like it.

I felt the cube tower in Marrakesh worked fine... it caught more cylinders if you gently dropped them in... all the keshis fell out easily less than half the time, and that worked good for us. [I did put the level pieces in "upside-down" like some suggested.]

Great list, could not agree more with your number one pick Carnegie, I think it's the best Euro of the last few years.

Thanks, Paul. Well done!

Great number one, Carniegie is so good! My number one is Oak. And for Marrakesh I've played the 2022 version but the essential edition has a better tower where more keshi's stay behind. Especially with two players more get stuck then with a higher player count. Which is great since I play mostly with two players.

Feels like I should watch this in 2024 to stay with the theme 😉 in all seriousness I love this « look back » especially because of te in-depth analysis you provide for each game. Great picks Paul!

OMG ROYAL PALACE!!! of course, how did i not see that!?!? also, as one of "those reviewers" we'll have to agree to disagree about marakesh draft in the case of a broken tower :)

Good video. If I may suggest, to put images of the game itself instead of just the box cover, it would be quite good. Thank you. Now to buy Frostpunk....

Carnegie is so good. We finally got Tiletum and after just one play I can see why it's so well thought of!

Great games. Loving Revive at the moment. I only played Carnegie once. I need to play it more. We’ve also enjoyed Endless Winter a bunch.

As someone who’s sung at Carnegie Hall and from the states, I’ve always heard it pronounced Car-nuh-gee

Carnegie is so good. I just grabbed Royal Palace in a trade, and I'd play a full day of Xavier Georges if I could get people to go along with it. My other favorite from 2022 is Decorum. Still need to finish the 2p scenarios, though

Carnegie is my all-time fave with over 200 plays, mostly solo!

Really nice list, Paul. I need to check out a few of these yet. Your list has only motivated me more to seek some of these out. ;-)

Big thumbs up for Surviving Mars. Great game!

I played a two-player game of Endless Winter with the variant to test Irving, and I still felt like too much was achieved, even without experience. I think the embarrassment of riches will really appeal to many players (similar to how people love that in Earth), so it definitely has an audience. I prefer sone struggle in my games to keep me coming back for more. Perhaps it stems from Agricola being my first “complex” game. For me, Arnak over Endless Winter, Wingspan over Earth. I am glad games exist dor everyone’s tastes, though!

Totally agree on Carnegie at nr. 1. Bit surprised that Sabika isn't mentioned.

Totally agree on Carnegie--it's not just the best from last year, but one of the very best from the past decade.

Heat is Snakes and Ladders for a new generation.

Oohhh damn Paul! And now because of you I have to buy Frostpunk...

I am surprised your n. one is also my number one! Finally some love for this game. Have you played Federation? It's my second favorite, followed by Skymines.

Wow! I haven't played any of the games you mentioned in this video. Not a single one! Seems like there is still a lot for me to discover from last year's games. My top five from 2022 would be: 5. Planet Unknown 4. Terracotta Army 3. Weather Machine 2. Wayfarers of the South Tigris 1. Sabika

Lots of games to think about.

For Revive, the main end game scoring that is unbalanced is the one for cards you gain. I tried house ruling that you cap this at 6 cards (not the ends of the machine tracks but the Artifact and corner locations), That puts it more in line with the rest of the end game scoring options and seems to work well.

Paul, just curious if you have ever played any of the Garphill Games? Don’t think I’ve ever seen you cover/ mention them and based on the games you do talk about they seem like they would be right up your alley! Games like Paladins and Wayfarers seem to be around the weight of most of you other favorites

I adored Skymines and the solo is phenomenal

Geez, this list makes me realize how many games from 2022 I still need to play (Revive, Lacrimosa, Perseverance, Marrakesh, and a whole bunch not on this list - Tiletum, Ostia, The Transcontinental, Virtu, Shogun No Katana, Woodcraft, GWT Argentina, Atiwa, Terracotta Army... too many games!). Carnegie is also my #1 from 2022, with Federation and Weather Machine as two and three.

I played Royal Palace once 4 years ago, and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to, so when I had a chance to buy it for £10, I had to turn it down 🙁

Paul can you post a link to the official variants of endless winter?

Yeah, there is currently no bad year for board games like it sometimes happens for digital games (if you just count AAA digital games), because board games had somewhat of a golden age in the last 10+ years.

I was slowly having a heart attack but then Frostpunk appeared so all is well 😅

Great to see you enjoying ATO but I'm heartbroken for ISS Vanguard falling out of the top10. John Company 2E, Guards of Atlantis II and Mindbug can easily replace some games mentioned.

We just started Oathsworn and the Encounters are almost how you explain the ATO fights, being swingy and things can go from good to bad and back again all in the same round. ATO reminds me of Kingdom Death Monster, but better game elements outside of the boss fights.

Great vid, bit of a delay lol😂 I really rate your opinion.

I haven't played any of the games in your top 10. I really wanted endless winter but was unable to get it, and then heard all the negative comments about the scoring and didn't bother. I think I would like ISS vanguard if there was someone(s) who was enthusiastic about that kind of game the way you are and I wanted to spend and was going to spend a lot of time with them. The one game I did back on Kickstarter was Flamecraft, and I played it with three friends, and we loved the art and the theme but not the mechanics as much as we thought. However we are going to give it another try this coming Saturday. The games I've been playing most from 2022 are probably scout, cat in the box, and long shot the dice game.

Hi Paul! I'm not finding a Top Ten list for 2021 for you, just an anticipated Top 10. Did you ever do a Top Ten of 2021?

Some interesting games new to me :)

I see Lacrimosa getting compared a lot to Newton. Do you have a preference? Which one is more accessible?

Hi, I remember your review of woodcraft being positive. Where would you say it would fall on your list here? It's definitely one of my favorites of last year but it's also not for everyone and has a lot to it.

I've had the opposite with Heat. I taught this to numerous 8-10yo players to far more experienced players and there has been little to no confusion. Odd. The way everything works is spelled out on the player card which is brilliant.

I love Marrakesh. It is the level of complexity that exactly fits my interests - not too complex, but varied enough. I haven't played many of the others, because they are too long or too complicated for the groups of people I play with or teach games to. For example, I recently taught 7 Wonders, the old drafting standby. Just the base game. The group of people I taught it to found it really challenging. The next week, I taught Great Western Trail, 2nd edition. This one was almost out of their range. They ended up enjoying the games, but these are one shot classes, so longer and more complex games, especially champaign style games aren't really possible. That is why I would love to get a second and third copy of Marrakesh. I think it is the right level for this group. Too bad I can't seem to get my hands on a second (hopefully less expensive) copy.

Hope/discontent tokens… I feel the same, always have to go back to the rule book on that one. Thoughts on Twilight Inscription for solo only?

Hi Paul. Are you still playing Aeon Trespass regularly? I'm waiting for my CI-V pledge to come later this year and wondering if it still held up for you after all this time.

imho, your way is the best way to do such a list.. I recently saw a "top 2023 games" video, and thought wait a minute, the year is not over yet.. and they even added a few games that weren't even released in 2023, but in 2022 or earlier.. wait, whaaaat? :) >70 minutes long, wow, you have to say a lot about those 10 games it seems.. ^^ so let's get it on..

Maybe we got lucky but we had a really fun and close game in our first game of Frostpunk (on normal difficulty). We barely lost but it definitely made me want more… the only issue was how long the game was. This was an all day game for us (fun the entire time) but quite long.

What's your opinion on Revive's solo mode? I've read the rules and I'm a bit disappointed that it makes no effort to simulate having an opposing player, to the point that it's the thing that's put me off of buying the game; what's your take on it?

I would add Mosaic: A Story of Civilization to me games of 2022. I really love that game. and the expansion is really good also. Perseverance 1+2 in the 2022's list. Voidfall in 2023? I will be receiving my copy tomorrow and am so excited for it. I'm also excited to see where they take Perseverance 3+4, MCG hits it out of the park for me every time.

Awesome list, must be hard to close this one with 10 slots only.

About Endless Winter, do you have any link available about the rules update for regular and solo? I would be interested in reading them.

I LOVE Revive but the solo mode is a total let down. I was disappointed the expansion didnt include a solo automa deck that gives you some competition on the board to think about.

I have to agree with the criticism of Heat. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone played Heat wrong I'd be a rich man. Took me several plays myself to figure out how it all worked, which is kinda sad when I consider the big box games that play in 3+ hours that I've mostly gotten right from the very first play.

Is it wrong that the game which watching your video really makes me wish I could play is ISS Vanguard? 😅 But also Revive, which I didn't know a thing about and seems really interesting!

Your first pronunciation of Carnegie is exact how it is. I don't get why this confuses people so much. I like this list a lot because it aligned mostly with my top 10s. Marrakesh is my 2023 top game because I only played it this year. Skymines is the surprise and it's very refreshing seeing Heat where it is and not higher.

it's "Carnegie" btw..

Can you post the list of games top 11-20 ?

Carnegie is one of the best games Ive ever played.

I really don´t like the solo mode for Carnegie for the exakt reason you mentioned that watching the other players and figure out what they are likely to is a a big part of the game. I find the fact that the Automa actions are completely random are very frustrating since luck is way too much of a factor in how you will be doing.

Carnegie didn't do much for me. I like games where I get excited for my turn and that doesn't happen for me in Carnegie. In fact, there's nothing in the game that particular stands out, imo. The departments are fine, I guess. The transportation tracks are there. Taking back workers from the board isn't that fun or satisfying. And neither of the two main actions are very exciting. It's just a game where I do stuff but I don't have a lot of fun doing it. :shrug:

How's there debate on how Carnegie is pronounced? Shouldn't it be pronounced the same as the concert hall he had built?

The huge omission is Wayfarers of the South Tigris.

i like Carnegie ,too . i think it is undergraded , The witcher old world and tesseract is on my lise 2023 ,too

No Hoplomachus Victorum?