Ten Games

Surprisingly not included. 

Nerd Nighter Nate Owens posted an interesting question on his blog this morning: "Could I reduce my collection to just 10 games?" I think it's a fascinating exercise, and it's tangentially related to Jones Theory, which states that we should keep only the best game in each genre/style in our library, so as to play only the best games.

I'm occasionally asked what my favorite games are, and the answer is quick for me: "Betrayal at House on the Hill and Battlestar Galactica". These are numbers 1A and 1B, but I don't play them often because they require a specific type of play group (great friends!) and a specific atmosphere (relatively quiet, a place where folks can pay attention for 2-3 hours). When I started to answer the "ten games" question, I assumed I'd list both of these, but I surprised myself by omitting one.

The "rules" are that each game can have as many expansions as necessary included, and they all count as one item on the list. For my sanity, I'm not including my Magic: The Gathering cube as a game, as it occupies a different place in my gaming life and frankly, I'm writing the article so I get to cheat a little bit.

Without further adieu, my list of ten games that I'd keep in my library: