Top 25 Favorite Games of All Time - 2026 Edition (Honorable Mentions)
Hello my friends! We're mid-way through the year so I thought I'd deliver my top 25 games of all time, 2026 list. People are always coming up with Top 10's, top 50 or top 100 lists, and while all of those have their merit, I thought a list of 25 games is long enough to be worthwhile but short enough not to bore anyone.
For reference, I used the PubMeeple board game ranking engine. If you are not familiar, www.pubmeeple.com has an engine that will import games either from a list or from your BGG.com account and set up a ranking engine that has you click between games until you've gone through all possible permutations and spits out a ranking of your list. Go check them out and support them if you like their product.
First some honorable mentions. I guess this is a cheat, because other wise I'd have a top 30 or 31, and that would just be weird. But I couldnt' let these games skate by without acknowledging how great they are.
My honorable mentions for this list are: Rock Hard: 1977, Star Wars: Outer Rim, Vantage, Sagrada, and Crokinole. These just missed my top 25 list but they're such great games I couldn't have this list without at least a mention.
Rock Hard: 1977 by Devir Games is a worker placement game designed by none other than Jackie Fox of The Runaways fame. In this game you're an up-and-coming musician trying to break out. You have to balance work, practice and performing to eventually get a record deal and become the best new artist of the year. The theme really comes through as you have to choose between a bunch of options...you can't work to make money and practice to become better at the same time, so making that choice can be tough. Over the course of the game those choices only get tougher to the point where you take "candy" (a clear nod to illicit drugs) just to keep going a little longer. The components are top notch and the artwork is a throw back to 70's pop/punk rock. I always have a great time playing this game, even when my band sucks.
Star Wars: Out Rim is exactly what you'd think...you're a bounty hunter racing through the galaxy, picking up cargo, bounties or other illicit items, and selling and delivering to the highest bidder. This game is published by Fantasy Flight Games and designed by Corey Konieczka. This is basically a pick up and deliver / contract fulfilment game where you start out as a well known Outer Rim smuggler...say...like Han Solo. You fly around the galaxy, including the infamous Kessel Run, to deliver bounties, find new cargo and avoid being boarded. As you encounter various factions, your reputation goes up or down which may affect events and other encounters. This game really gives you that Star Wars feeling and the rules aren't overly complicated. A very fun and rewarding Star Wars game.
Next is Vantage. This is a relatively new game by Stonemaier Games, designed by Jaime Stegmaier. This game has quickly risen through the BGG charts and currently sits around 195...and there's a good reason. I have yet to have a play of this, solo or in a group, that wasn't just a ton of fun. In this game, you're an explorer who has to emergency evacuate from your ship and each crew member lands on a different part of the planet below. On your turn, you basically have 1 action and then move to a new location. But that action can vary wildly. And because there's only one action, the limits for exploration seem boundless. It's clever, it's exploratory, and open world. There are missions...but they're basically optional. Don't want to die and just keep playing? Why not...keep going! Or work towards a goal and achieve victory! It's just so clever, easy to pick up and everyone at the table can experience the thrill of exploration, even if it's through someone else's eyes. You have to give it a shot, it's just a fun game.
Next is Sagrada which I just love to death. Interestingly enough, the actual cathedral in Spain that this game pulls its name from was completed this year (2026) after 144 years or more of construction. One of the salient features of the cathedral is the stained glass windows. They are world renowned for their beauty. In this game, published by Floodgate Games and designed by Adrian Adamescu & Daryl Andrews, you are recreating a stained glass window of the structure using colorful dice. Each die has a specific placement on the window based on a template selected at the beginning of the game. According to placement rules, you have to best draft your dice and place them effectively and efficiently to pull the most points from your window. At the end of the day, this is a drafting game, that's the core mechanism. There is a limited supply of dice and you are competing with everyone else at the table for those same dice. Towards the end of the game (10 rounds) the specificity of the die you need increases while the availability of that same die decreases. That tension is what makes this so fun. Aside from the gorgeous art and the colorful die, the drafting makes this a truly fun, abstract game.
Finally, the tried and true, old school Canadian favorite...Crokinole! Crokinole is a dexterity game that has stood the test of time. In this game you flick discs (literally flick them with your fingers) onto a large round board with pegs and quadrants, with the aim of getting the disc into the center whole. However, and here's the real genius to the game, if there's an opponent's disc already on the board, you have to try to flick it off your board before you can shoot for that center whole again. This one rule makes it a back and forth competition to score the most points while removing the other color discs. This is best at 2 players, but can be played with 4. It's even more fun if you make it a round robin tournament. Games are pretty quick and are simply a ton of fun. It's like skee ball, shuffle board and chess all rolled into one. The worst part about the game is that the board is expensive. A good board will likely cost you at least $150, likely more. So the barrier to entry is pretty high, especially for beginners. But, it's something that will always be a classic. It was invented in the 1870's and hasn't lost its steam.
Wow! Ok, that was a long post. I'll have to make a new one that actually starts down the list of 25. Hope you enjoyed that. If you did, please let me know or provide constructuve criticism. Thanks!
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