Best Board Game of 2014 Nominees

Evolution

Designed by Dominic CrapuchettesPublished by North Star Games

A game of cuddly fat things, hard shells, and carnivorous climbers, Evolution charmed us and made us wish we could play game after game to explore all the combinations. A straightforwardly vicious game of eat-or-be-eaten, this is one where building a point engine can be secondary to defending yourself from others' stable to freaky creations, but you've got to balance the drive to survive against the need to win.

Excerpt from Jon Bolding's review:

The choices you make every turn are distinctly satisfying. What will each card you spend be spent on? Which kinds of traits will you exploit before destroying, and which will you keep in the long term? Will you gamble on a few carnivores, or try to defend your herbivores from predators? Most of the choices are straightforward, but the random card draws keep the game varied while not being punishingly uncontrollable.

Five Tribes

Designed by Bruno CathalaPublished by Days of Wonder

Board game trendsetters Days of Wonder don't often create a game for "Hardcore Gamers" in the tabletop sector, those seekers of games about points, scoring points, and nothing but the points, but when they do you should sit up and take notice. Five Tribes is their standout game from this year, pushing a strong element of indirect competition with its charming mancala-esque gameplay. When played well, it's a quick game that plays twice in the time most games have only played once, for two more satisfying experiences than you'll have elsewhere. There's not much here to hate aside from a smattering of questionable art direction decisions, and you can't blame otherwise flawless design by Bruno Cathala for that.

You can watch us playing Five Tribes and hear some thoughts right here and you can watch the Shut Up & Sit Down review here.

Shadowrun: Crossfire

Designed by Mike Elliott, Rob Heinsoo, Jim Lin, Gregory Marques, Sean McCarthy, and Rob WatkinsPublished by Catalyst Game Labs

The world of Shadowrun is a favorite of many Escapist staffers, so when we heard about this game from catalyst we were cautiously optimistic. We were rewarded with a difficult, fun game of teamwork and cooperation, where finishing missions gives permanent bonuses (using stickers!) to your runners. Definitely one for the consistent game nights of the world. Where Crossfire really excels is that it's a consistently challenging experience in a world of milquetoast cooperative games designed to be beatable on the second or third try - something we haven't seen since the release of Pandemic quite a few years ago.

You can hear our thoughts on Shadowrun: Crossfire here.

King's Forge

Designed by Nick SibickyPublished by Clever Mojo Games

While King's Forge didn't initially blow us away, with repeated plays this game has grown in our hearts to a place of honor. It's fast, fun, and doesn't require too much investment on the players' parts. Plus, you get to roll giant double fistfuls of dice, and who doesn't like that?

Excerpt from Jon Bolding's review: