Zee Garcia / Tom Vasel / Sam Healey 10: Five Tribes / David & Goliath / For Sale 09: Saint Malo / Pandemic / No Thanks! 08: Augustus / Ticket To Ride / Wasabi 07: Hey! Thats My Fish! / Airlines Europe / Augustus 06: Race for the Galaxy / Libertalia / Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga 05: Lanterns / Reef Encounter / Smash Up 04: 7 Wonders / Tigris & Euphrates / Stone Age 03: Rolling America / El Grande / Kingsburg 02: Dimension / Seasons / Quantum 01: Karuba / Small World / Small World

Bruno Cathala is on record saying he made Five Tribes to be played with 2 players. Its suppose to be a 2 player game. The company made him make it for more people so it reached a wider audience.

Really surprised 7 Wonders wasn't on everyone's list. Yeah the 2 player mode is blah, but it's a game you can bust out with 3/4/5/6/7 players and get a solid experience. I think that's much more impressive than a game that scales well 2-4 players.

I'll stick up for Z with 7 Wonders being on the list. Scaling seamlessly from 3-7 is a great achievement, so the fact that the two player variant is only "pretty good" by comparison is a testament to being able to pull that game out pretty much no matter how many or few people are at the table. And at the end of the day that's what scalability is all about - being able to use a game no matter how many people want to play.

The original box of 7 Wonders stated 3-7, they changed it later on.

I also wouldn't put Ticket to Ride on this list but for the opposite reason of Zee. I think that at 2 players there isn't enough conflict and the game is just about getting lucky with the train cards. To each their own though.

Super high energy level between the guys in this one - love it!

With Zee on this one. Smash Up takes forever outside of three players.

watching you guys just makes my day! Thank you for all you do!

I disaggre with Zee about Libertalia. it's a really tight game with two but in my opinion heavily strategic. Also the 2 player variant for 7wonders is amazing. it's like an advanced mode of the game

I couldn't agree more with Zee on Smash Up. I've only played it a couple times and it was with 4 and I totally couldn't keep track of the bases and powers. I would put a guy on a base and then someone else is like "oh remember how this guy does X" so I wasted my turn. I haven't played Smash Up since and had no desire to. I wonder if I tried it with 2 first if that would have changed. When Zee talks about 7 Wonders calling, the point is, all the way from 3 to 7 it works just fine. It's basically a list of 'is this a good game if we add another or remove a player'.

This was a feisty top 10. I like it.

Hilarious how Zee gets crap for zeven wonders with 2 players and Tom gets away with El Grande (which also says 2 on the box, which they shouldn't have)

This is an interesting conversation. Some people might take scaling "well" to mean that it plays the same. I would take it to mean that it is still fun and doesn't have flaws or need excessive extra rules at different player counts. So how "mean" a game plays, or how many people can interfere with me seems more a result of more players than of poor scaling - at least to me. Basically if it's still fun, even if the game dynamics change significantly - it qualifies. I mean adding more players to anything will change how any game plays.

Very surprised that Cyclades did not make anyone's list. Between the different maps for number of players to the scaled method for bidding on the gods, this game scales perfectly in all regards.

Keyflower and Walnut Grove should have been on here. Glad to see Quantum on the list as it is a rather underrated game.

The player Kingsburg rule is before players place their dice, a neutral npc roll is made placing 3 dice on 1 advisor, then 2 die are rolled for the the npc. *If the total is the same as the 1st roll of 3 dice, then you split those 2 dice & put them on advisors matching each die's #. (If there's still a tie, then one die is discarded). I've never played w/ this rule, but may give it a try.

Tom! no love for Kemet? The changing map makes 2 through 5 work very well. Is your issue the 2 player version? I have had fun with 2.

Five Tribes was the first game that came to mind for me. Me and the girlfriend play it two player all the time and it's a very different game at 2 vs 3-4 but all three are fantastic.

Nexus Ops scales perfectly. Different maps for 2, 3 and 4

I love the two-player 7 Wonders variant.

7 wonders scales well because card drafting is simultaneous, and because additional cards are added to the draft for larger games.

Samurai! Easy setup and great tension at 2, 3 and 4 players.

Nice to see a bunch of games you guys don't normally talk about.

Surprised that Tsuro didn't make the list. 2-8 players with similar length at all player counts. Player elimination may be a minor issue, but the game is short enough that I don't feel it's a big deal.

Some Euro’s that scale well- San Juan, Blue Moon City, Thurn and Taxis, Vikings, Age of Empires, Carcassonne, Ingenious, Karuba, Stone Age

I agree that El Grande scales really good 3 to 5 players but the box says 2 to 5. Also in 3 player game you don't score for the third place (which increases the tension of the game).

Zee is right on Race for the Galaxy and Tom is wrong. This game scales really well! Yes, the 2-player game (which is a variant btw) is different from 3 and 4, but it's still a great game and I'd happily play it at any player count. After naming Libertalia too... Come on, it totally sucks at 2 and it's not even that good with 3 players...

The name evolution of Augustus was opposite of what's mentioned here: the original was called "Augustus" but the second edition English copies carry the "Rise of Augustus" moniker.

Stone Age is definitely accurate - thousands of people play this on BGA at 2-4 players very evenly. 2/players may even have a slight edge.

What about Takenoko? IMHO it plays really and equally well from 2 to 4.

I like the chuckle they shared about Citadels.... it just crawls when you get too many people.

I like the scalability of Level 7: Omega Protocol. The way you spend adrenaline as action points, which then goes tot he overlord player to spend to activate the abilities on his dashboard really lends itself to scaling well.

Great list!! The best choices for me were: El grande, Pandemic, David&Goliath, For Sale, No Thanks, Stone Age and Augustus. I would add Castle of Burgundy, Takenoko and CV. Also I like Puerto Rico, Village and Tobago with any numbers of players as well!

This video/list was interesting. I knew it was coming so I had been thinking about it. And before watching, I put together a list. Although I didn't order it. I will order it as I write this. The idea of which games scale best vs which games I like and scale well was a tough choice. I decided to go with games that scale best. But these guys did throw in games that vary at different player counts but they like all player counts. This is true for me with Alien Frontiers. I like all player counts but not equally, and it is my 11th favorite game. So here is my top 10 games that scale well, based on how I feel they scale well: 1. Dungeons and Dragons Adventure System Board Games: I lump these as 1 entry on my top 100 at #16. I thought Tom would have this on his list somewhere, as it is even seen on his shelf in this video. Maybe his short list? I own 3 of the 4 games, but have only played one, and that is Wrath of Ashardalon. I also own 2 of the Dungeon Command games as expansions for these, and several individual monsters from the other Dungeon Command sets. The reason this game scales so awesomely well, as each player draws 1 monster. So its exactly the same no matter what player count. I have even played higher than the stated player count (5) by adding more characters from the other 2 games. But despite this, the game played in less than 2 hours. Easily the shortest fantasy based game I own (dungeon crawl or Adventure game that is). 2. Colt Express: Scales great because the length of the train is decided by the player count. Although I have not played the 2 player variant, which I guess would fall in the same "busted" as Zee's 7 Wonders (I loved that bit btw...). While interaction is increased with more players, and can be fun and interesting. I have found varying player counts seem to be just as fun. 3. Tikal: Maybe its a cheat, but I absolutely love playing Mini-Tikal an Unofficial 2 player variant. But it doesn't require anything outside the box. But the rules are not in the box and are on BGG. 3 & 4 player are great, and I do wish to try a 3 player variant, but haven't tried it yet. 4. Heroes Incorporated: I love every player count equally, but haven't played the game at all player counts often. But it seems to scale great and enjoy the game no matter the count. 5. Wiz-War: I have only played the game twice, and this is a lot of guessing, but each player comes into the game with his own maze. So I am fairly certain the game will scale perfectly. 6. Trias: I absolutely love Trias, it is my 8th favorite game, and have played many 2 player games, and it took several months to get a 4 player game. But when I did, it played just as fun as 2, and I had played a 3 player game as well. I have not played 5, but expect it will do well! 7. Run, Fight, or Die!: Now I haven't played this recently but played it a lot when I 1st got it. And all player counts seemed fun. Sorta like the games Zee had, this is almost a solo game, where you have your own board and do your own thing. I have bought and played the 5/6 player expansion and loved it. In fact, I think I played a 5 player game before buying it! Fun game! 8. Ark of the Covenant/any Carcassonne variant: I haven't played these much, but to me it seemed they were very player count friendly. I will even throw Isle of Skye in here, but perhaps more players makes the bidding slightly better. 9. For Sale: I agree with Sam on this one! 10. Star Wars: Rebellion: many may disagree with me, but I enjoyed the 4 player team play in the game as equally as playing 2 players. 3 players works just as good. I will comment on some of some mentioned in the video: No Thanks: (Sam): I thought about it, and my perspective may have changed after watching the video. This goes hand in hand with my intro. I like all player counts, but some better than others and the game play changes, not as much of a chance to have a big straight with more people. Ticket to Ride: I disagree with Tom, and agree with Zee. I prefer less confrontation in this game. Small World: This didn't even enter my mind, but mostly because I am not a fan. I prefer the computer version to the physical version. Tom's review of Small World was one of the 1st videos I ever watched. And I bought the game, looking for a "fantasy" game and was disappointed. Even though it isn't the typical fantasy game and like many other types, I just didn't enjoy the game. So I sold it. Jamaica (Sam's short list): I am a Jamaica fan, it is my 34th favorite game, but I do not like the 2 player variant, and think the game shines with 4 plus players. Interaction is necessary for the game to be fun. Mission: Red Planet (Sam's short list): This also was on my short list, but haven't played enough player counts to be satisfied with listing it. I have heard grumblings from some people that high player count is very brutal.

Zombicide can be played from 1 to 6 players, even up to 12 if you have Rue Morgue. It is a cooperative game among players who are survivors against zombies coming out based on the amount of survivors, so it will always be balanced.

Interesting what you guys were saying about Ticket to Ride. I think it works fine with all player counts, but 5 is by far my favourite.

It seems like many Euros scale very well with different players such as Concordia, Robinson Crusoe, Legends of Andor, Elysium, San Juan etc. I feel like Ameritrash-style games suffer more with player scaling. I just wish they would put the right number on the box.

Should have a shared characters game on there like zombicide, 2 players you take control of 3 characters, 6 you take 1....so from the start of your turn to the next, you have the same round time regardless. Very user friendly and scales to infinity and beyond.

Slaughterball is a great game for 2-4.. never played a game where ganging up on one player was an effective strategy. You mainly need to focus on getting points since it’s a high scoring game and spending a turn just trying to mess with someone in particular could haunt you.

Ha! I've often wondered how Tom organizes his games. I would look at the groups of games, searching, hoping to find some kind of pattern. Judging by how long it took him to find 7 Wonders, I'm not sure there is one.

I agree with Zee, Ticket to Ride is frustrating because players often block in a high number of player game but what bugs me is that the block plays are just on the way to doing your path. Hey that's my fish is just much more strategic.

Cyclades and Kemet both immediately came to mind for scaling, as well as Sentinels of the Multiverse (as long as we're not talking the team villains variant). As for games I have that don't scale well, I'd like to complain about King of Tokyo- it's absolutely abysmal as a 2-player game, and I'd strongly avoid 3-players as well.

I very much agree with Smash Up, I've even taken it up to 5 players and it plays fine with that many.

Surprised that Tom didn't mention viticulture. He's said in the past that he enjoys it with all player counts. I actually play it with 2 most often because that's the easiest number to get to the table for me but I also really like it all the way up to 6.

Nice list. Was listening through this episode and wondered "Why haven't they picked small world?!" and then... #1! How about 6 player small world? I think it gets quite crowded, but it's still great fun

Between Two Cities scales really well - 3-7 on the box.

Rattus, eight minute empire, blood rage, resistance, dominion, tiny epic kingdoms. Usually I have more cross overs with your lists, now I can think of many games that were not on any of your lists.

I've been playing 2-player Pandemic Legacy and agree it still works. The only downside is that many of the roles never really get played (until they die, that is).

I think Takenoko scales pretty well. Also had no problems with Caverna with all player counts. Same with Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Dungeonquest, Lords of Vegas, Machi Koro, and Queen's Architect. Just to name a few off the top of my head.

I'm with Tom on Libertalia. With 2 players I feel more focused on the secondary number for the character selection. This is a different kind of interesting.

It doesn't have solo, and the 2-player mode is a little funky, but I've always thought Cyclades always scaled pretty well.

The Resistance works great at 5-10 and that's quite a range. I'm surprised the lists aren't filled with cooperative games and 1 vs many. Those games seem to play identically at most player counts. If the list was instead "plays a large variety of player counts", games like Formula De would fit a lot better. That game is different, but enjoyable when you have around 4-10 players. 2 and 3 are OK. Still, 4-10 is quite a range in player count. It was fun to watch since people had such a difficult time coming up with games.

I was going to call shenanigans if small world was not on the list. Fantastic game for all player counts.

Why no Carcassonne on the list. It plays really well at 2 players, Sam's comment. And with many players you have to co-op with each other.

I thought Viticulture would make it on this list. Scales well from 1 to 6.

Steampunk Rally is a recent one that scales well 2-8, once people have learned the game. (Learning game at high player count can be a little clunky, but that's usually the case).

I would've expected shadows over camelot. not only does it play well at all player counts, it even scales well if players enter/leave the game.

With an AP group Small World is terribly long... People taking 5 minute + turns at my house, no joke... makes it unplayable with 5

the surprise absent game for me.. Bohnanza. I love that game all the way down to two players. It's a very different game with two but I like it. I think it fell into burnout amnesia. I know the TD guys have played it out for themselves but it's still a great game and still fun with 2- 7 players.

I'd like to see a Top Ten of games that play really well with only two players, but can be played with more.

I'd only add a caveat in Zee's Rise of Augustus: don't play more than 4 players if they are minimally AP or just new to designer games. This game should be 40 min, for 6 players, but we took 2 hours! Specially in those situations where various people hit Ave Caesar at the same time... oh dear god. "His it me?" "Wait let me re-check every single card that I own and then compare with what's in the market!" "His it me?" "I'm just waiting!" "His it me?" "What does this do again?" "His it me?"

Couple from my personal collection that i find work well (in no specific order) smallworld, deception murder in hong kong, roll player, one night werewolf (while i like more players it still works well with 3) carcassonne, forbidden island, and epic spell wars.

Speaking about two players variants i really like Tokaido's one (brilliant) and i think it scales fine for other counts also. Disagree on Seasons though, it is just too random with 3+. You can't plan for resources. Also, i thought the optional drafting is for all players counts, not just 4.

Agree with Tom about Ticket to Ride (and Ticket to Ride Europe, for that matter). It's very good at all player counts. I prefer 3 & 5, but 2 & 4 are fun, too. I really like Medieval Merchant at all player counts as well. Each count plays differently, but they're all fun.

Tom is absolutely right about 7 Wonders! If I'm in a 6 or 7 player game going for a military strategy and I get a hand with 3 military cards, too bad There is no way I will ever get more than one of those. Same goes for science strategy, or some other strategy. In a 3 player game I can try to guess what the other players will take and what might make its way back to me, allowing me to mitigate some of the luck of whatever happens to be in my starting hand. I won't play this game with 6 or 7, and I don't like playing with 5 if I can help it.

Can't figure out why no one mentioned Coup. Unlike Zee's list, Coup has extreme player interaction. Yet it's just as much fun with 2 as with 6.

between 2 cities should have been one as well. seems to work well with 2-7 players

I bought Keyflower because everyone one r/boardgames was raving about how well it scales (2-5). They were absolutely right. Fantastic game.

Games I find scale well in no particular order: Caverna Blood Rage 7 Wonders Ticket to Ride Dominion (I know some people try to play this with 5 or 6 but that goes against the intention of the designers/developers) Viticulture Food Chain Magnate I'm sure there are others I enjoy, but I can't think of them at this very moment.

citadels scales remarkably well up to about 4 and possibly 5, it seems to me. what surprised me more than anything was that 2 player citadels was so fun. like amazingly so! my preferred mode ever since my best friend and I discovered how it works.

I thought Small World was going to be Tom's No.1. First one I thought of too.

On the topic of scale ability, how does TI3 scale? I've only played it at 6, but I'm interested in trying it at both 3 and 8

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong scales well

Surprised no social deduction games made the list; they do tend to fail at lower counts but still have a larger spread despite that.

For 7 wonders 2 player variant, do the better Among the Stars 2 player, where the hands are twice as big, and as well as taking a card, you discard one. (often looking at the other player's tableau while you do so)

I take issue with the lack of difference between "plays well at all numbers" and "scales well." many games can play well, although differently at different player counts, but a game that "scales well," needs to play very similar at each number of players. Both plays well and scales well games were on this list.

Totally agree with Zee on Smash Up. it's way too much at four. 2 player is pretty ho hum. 3 player is the sweet spot.

Small World was the first game that popped into my mind.

El Grande is 2-5 players, not 3-5... and it sucks at 2 players.

I agree with Zee on the do your own thing with a lot of people. That's what I love about Bananagrams. We're all playing at the same time so nobody has to wait.

Yessir, Zee. Drafting scales well in sense of fun, but it's definitely different, strategically, with 3 players than 7. Take MTG drafts: if you don't take that rare when you open your pack, it's probably not gonna make it back around. And that's when each player brings a pack to each round of drafting.

I agree on Augustus. But how do you get people to play? I've had trouble getting people (other than my kids) interested. I try pulling it out during filler game times and it gets a negative reaction around the bingo mechanic.

death angel, i have enjoyed playing that at every player count

Libertalia is really good with just two players. Nexus Ops and Runewars are fantastic 2-to-4 player games. I wouldn't have chosen coops like Pandemic, Arkham or Ghost Stories, since the important thing about those games is the amount of characters, NOT the amount of players, IMO. I can solo them easily.

Time to update this list y'all! :)

Keyflower, Escape: curse of the temple. So pretty huge scaleable titles missing, keyflower being one of the biggest. IMO. Euphoria plays really well with 6 as well. Augustus.

It is true that this is hard (love Acquire but the 2 player version sucks pond water). I have Union Pacific (the precursor to Airlines Europe) and it does scale well. I think more 2-4/3-5 games scale well because of limited player count. It is really hard to build a 2-6 player game that scales well. BTW, I have played Ticket to Ride with 2 and with 5 players and like both.

Battle sheep > Hey that's my fish Smash up scales amazingly all the way, and is very neat with 2, I agree with Sam Escape: the curse of the temple ... it's the epitome of scaling, since you all play simultaneously!!!! even better than pandemic for scaling Forbidden island/forbidden desert scale great, was surprised not to see those Lots i expected and did not see

Zee's complaints on Ticket to Ride sound like a toddle who cant always get his way.

Tom prefers ticket to Ride at 2?! The maps too big for 2, you can have no interaction/ competition etc. I prefer it with more

I thought there'd be more coop games on the lists, and for me games like Imperial Assault and Descent scale really well...

There are plenty of games that work well with 2-4, especially Feld games. And 3-5 is a similar range. I was hoping this list would include games that spanned 4 or different player counts (2-5, 3-6, etc.). And if you do have a game like 7 Wonders that supports 2-7, you can forgive not working at 2, even if it says that on the box.

Arrrrgggghhhhh! Smash Up? No way that does not scale well at all. I'm ok with 2 , best at 3, but 4 oh god no the downtime is insane!

This would be a weird list for me because I play different games when I have different player counts with a few exceptions. I got your back Tom, I like Ticket to Ride with 2 through 5. Smallworld would be another of the choices.

Also in disagreement about Smash Up. Ugh, with four players the other three can score a base before you even get a chance to try to get in on it. And if they decide to gang up on you, they can make sure you don't have a single minion stay on the board.

Ticket to Ride with 4-5 is fine by me. Played this way many times. It's tight, it's ok. Race for the Galaxy is fine with 4 (actually i would prefer it with 4 rather than just with 2). 7 Wonders is great at scaling considering play time (except for the 2 players variant, which i don't play, but i would really like to have 7 Wonders Duel). Small World - i get what Zee is saying and i agree. With only one opponent you don't have a choice (no, having an option not to attack the only opponent is not a choice..).

No Shadows? No ONUW? No Incan Gold? No Two Rooms and a Boom? No SpyFall or Codenames? No Dixit? Many of the games mentioned were very standard 2-4 or 2-5 anyway.

So this is in fact a top ten of games where the publisher hasn't lied about player count :D.

35:52 In a 6-7 player game 7 wonders cards are duplicated and you most likely will see all of them at one point. If you're very unlucky there might be all copies in one hand, and if you're last player to pick you won't every see them. But thats playing against the statistics of the game.