----======= THE INTERNET TOP 100 GAMES LIST =======---- Edition Number 020 March 22, 1999 r--------------------------------------------------------------------------, | This chart was compiled using votes sent in by 113 people. If you want | | to vote for a game, then send a message containing your votes to me at | | aarondf@bu.edu. Each line of your message should contain a vote for one | | game with a score from 1 to 10. For example | | | | Imaginary Game Title 4 | | Some Other Title 10 | | | | indicates that you thought the first game was rather poor, while the | | second was excellent. When you can, please try to use the most | | standard name, easiest to find by grabbing it out of this list. | | | | See http://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Top100/ for lots more information. | L__________________________________________________________________________J List Sorted by Diffuse Total # of Votes: 10682 Average Vote: 5.688 Pos Diff. Ave. Game Title Company Status SDev #Vot Year =============================================================================== 1 8.087 8.08 Euphrat & Tigris Hans im Gluck Avail 2.01 63 1997 2 8.059 8.06 Die Siedler von Catan Kosmos Avail 2.02 95 1995 3 7.892 7.92 El Grande Hans im Gluck Avail 1.76 54 1995 4 7.761 7.78 Modern Art Hans im Gluck Avail 1.41 50 1994 5 7.612 7.68 Bridge Public Domain Public 2.10 39 1925 6 7.550 7.62 Ursuppe Doris & Frank Avail 1.61 38 1997 7 7.382 7.49 Durch die Wuste Kosmos Avail 1.50 37 1997 8 7.260 7.26 Go Public Domain Public 2.52 38 9 7.199 7.20 Cosmic Encounter Eon OOP 2.01 65 1977 10 7.191 7.24 Lowenherz Goldsieber Avail 1.73 42 1997 11 7.177 7.19 Acquire 3M Avail 1.81 57 1962 12 7.108 7.14 Elfenland Amigo Avail 1.61 43 1998 13 7.098 7.12 Bohnanza Amigo Avail 1.76 50 1997 14 7.076 7.60 Samurai Hans im Gluck Avail 1.50 26 1998 15 7.057 7.11 Medici Amigo Avail 1.73 42 1995 16 7.008 7.23 Die Siedler von Catan Se Kosmos Avail 2.30 30 1997 17 6.848 6.91 Hare and Tortoise Gibson Games Avail 1.47 33 1970 18 6.765 6.82 Advanced Civilization Avalon Hill Avail 2.34 39 1991 19 6.752 6.78 Titan: the Arena Avalon Hill Avail 1.29 44 1997 20 6.728 7.04 Eurorails Mayfair Availab 1.82 28 1990 21 6.650 6.71 Empire Builder Mayfair Avail 1.82 35 1988 22 6.618 6.92 Britannia Avalon Hill Avail 1.78 25 1986 23 6.599 6.62 History of the World Avalon Hill Unknown 1.79 42 1993 24 6.581 6.56 Robo Rally WOTC Avail 1.98 72 1994 25 6.557 6.78 Wildlife Adventure Ravensburger Avail 2.05 27 1985 26 6.536 6.87 Showmanager Queen Games Avail 1.60 23 1997 27 6.520 6.53 Civilization Avalon Hill Unknown 1.72 59 1981 28 6.481 6.74 Take It Easy FX Schmid Avail 1.30 23 1994 29 6.466 7.00 Mu Doris & Frank Avail 2.34 23 1995 30 6.458 7.11 Hannibal: Rome vs Cartha Avalon Hill Avail 1.88 18 1996 31 6.420 6.50 Deluxe Illuminati SJ Games OOP 1.80 36 1983 32 6.410 6.42 Manhattan Hans im Gluck Avail 1.19 46 1994 33 6.392 6.86 Survive! Parker Bros OOP 1.36 22 1982 34 6.379 6.59 Dune Avalon Hill OOP 2.12 27 1979 35 6.374 6.56 Airlines Abacus Availab 1.76 27 1990 36 6.361 7.56 Die Macher Hans im Gluck Avail 2.22 16 1986 37 6.360 6.36 Chess Public Domain Avail 2.10 77 38 6.357 6.36 Die Siedler Kartenspiel Kosmos Avail 2.17 47 1996 39 6.329 6.32 Junta West End Games Unknown 1.98 46 1985 40 6.302 6.32 Cribbage Public Domain Public 1.65 44 41 6.300 6.53 Merchant of Venus Avalon Hill Unknown 1.55 31 1988 42 6.285 6.54 Cant Stop Parker Bros Avail 2.13 28 1980 43 6.283 6.63 Advanced Dungeons and Dr TSR Avail 2.52 26 44 6.265 6.25 Diplomacy Avalon Hill Avail 2.53 68 1959 45 6.236 6.22 Hearts Public Domain Public 1.63 55 46 6.236 6.31 Formula De Eurogames Avail 1.52 42 1997 47 6.234 6.89 Knightmare Chess SJ Games Avail 1.32 18 1996 48 6.221 7.68 McMulti Hexagames OOP 1.20 14 1988 49 6.219 6.38 Caesar & Cleopatra Kosmos Avail 1.94 33 1997 50 6.199 6.26 Linie 1 Goldsieber Avail 1.56 36 1995 51 6.188 6.24 Entdecker Goldsieber Avail 1.37 34 1996 52 6.183 6.26 Iron Dragon Mayfair Avail 1.75 34 1996 53 6.168 6.88 Rette Sich Wer Kann Walter Mueller Avail 1.65 17 1968 54 6.152 6.18 Magic: the Gathering WOTC Avail 2.47 62 1993 55 6.148 6.14 Scrabble Milton Bradley Avail 2.11 74 1949 56 6.124 6.55 Kahuna Kosmos Avail 1.84 22 1997 57 6.124 6.40 Auf Heller und Pfennig Hans im Gluck Avail 1.19 24 1994 58 6.121 6.28 Carabande Goldsieber Avail 1.80 29 1996 59 6.106 7.03 Elfenroads White Wind OOP 2.29 17 1992 60 6.105 6.80 Wizard US Games Avail 2.34 15 61 6.102 6.16 Wiz War Jolly Games Avail 1.88 37 1983 62 6.087 6.20 Liars Dice Milton Bradley Avail 1.91 38 1987 63 6.058 6.22 Serenissima Eurogames Avail 1.66 32 1996 64 5.991 6.17 Drunter & Druber Hans im Gluck Avail 0.99 26 1991 65 5.985 8.27 Up Front Avalon Hill OOP 1.51 13 1983 66 5.983 6.02 Poker Public Domain Public 2.93 49 67 5.981 6.03 Pit Parker Bros Avail 2.14 40 1903 68 5.978 6.03 Spades Public Domain Public 1.64 31 69 5.972 6.12 The Awful Green Things f TSR Avail 1.65 32 1980 70 5.967 6.06 Ogre SJ Games Avail 1.84 34 1977 71 5.943 6.09 Age of Renaissance Avalon Hill Avail 2.44 32 1996 72 5.943 6.14 6 Nimmt! Amigo Avail 1.52 35 1994 73 5.931 6.94 Stadte und Ritter Kosmos Avail 2.51 17 1998 74 5.928 6.04 Kremlin Avalon Hill Avail 1.86 34 1988 75 5.910 6.13 Kill Dr. Lucky Cheapass Avail 1.31 26 1996 76 5.890 6.08 Dampfross Schmidt Availab 1.59 32 1983 77 5.890 7.00 Advanced Squad Leader Avalon Hill Unknown 1.83 16 1985 78 5.864 6.33 Twixt 3M Avail 2.14 24 1962 79 5.851 5.76 Guillotine WOTC Avail 1.77 37 1998 80 5.815 6.33 Outpost TimJim Games OOP 2.10 20 1991 81 5.811 6.88 1856 Mayfair Avail 2.69 17 1995 82 5.808 5.89 Taboo Milton Bradley Avail 2.09 32 1990 83 5.793 7.07 Tales of the Arabian Kni West End Games OOP 1.49 15 1985 84 5.787 5.84 Scotland Yard Ravensburger Avail 1.62 41 1983 85 5.776 6.70 Santa Fe White Wind OOP 1.28 15 1992 86 5.774 6.58 Silverton Two Wolf Games OOP 1.89 20 1991 87 5.771 6.21 Igel Argern Doris & Frank Avail 1.55 19 1990 88 5.753 5.75 Backgammon Public Domain Avail 2.01 61 89 5.747 6.42 Republic of Rome Avalon Hill Avail 2.38 20 1990 90 5.728 6.32 GEV SJ Games Avail 1.73 19 91 5.728 6.38 MarraCash Kosmos Avail 1.78 17 1996 92 5.724 5.77 Titan Avalon Hill Avail 2.48 39 1982 93 5.708 5.80 1830 Avalon Hill Avail 2.55 43 1986 94 5.701 5.86 Circus Maximus Avalon Hill Avail 1.53 32 1980 95 5.694 5.70 Mississippi Queen Goldsieber Avail 1.80 50 1997 96 5.690 6.62 Middle Earth: the Wizard Iron Crown Ent Avail 1.71 16 97 5.687 6.42 Squad Leader Avalon Hill Unknown 2.01 19 1977 98 5.657 6.05 Rail Baron Avalon Hill Avail 1.76 22 1977 99 5.636 6.39 Reibach & Co. FX Schmid Avail 1.09 18 1996 100 5.634 5.71 Adel Verpflichtet F. X. Schmid Avail 1.83 38 1990 NOTES ON LIST Votes average: Please try to send votes on Both the games you like and the ones you don't. Your own average of votes should be as close to 5.5 as possible. Status Codes: OOP: Out of print - may be very difficult to find. Avail: In print - should be easily available in the company's area. Unknown: Status unknown to me or unclear for some reason. Ordering: This list is sorted by 'diffused average'. Basically, what this means is that games which have been on the list longer and which have more votes get higher scores. Over time, the 'diffused average' moves towards the simple average but this is fairly slow. I would in general suggest ignoring the 'diffused average' numbers and only consider the ranking - the simple average is of course also listed so consult that as well. See http://www.clark.net/pub/iz/Books/Top100/top100.html for the list of SF/Fantasy books this list's format is based on and details on the 'diffused average' system. This list is periodically posted to the rec.games.board Usenet newsgroup. This list is also available on the WWW at: http://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Top100/list.txt and links to the latest list, a more comprehensive list, and the FAQ are at http://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Top100/ Errors/Suggestions: Please email any such to me (Aaron at aarondf@bu.edu). Notes on Database features: 1) Basically identical games released under different names will be considered the same game. I will generally follow decisions made in Counter (the Sumos) or other sources on such issues. 2) Expansions will be listed independently if and only if they significantly change the game. Small or minor expansions (ex: "Groo" expansion) will not be listed seperately. This will come down to a judgment call on my part I guess. Future Plans: I intend to shortly make it possible to search the database and do more detailed queries on any field via the WWW. This will have to wait on my time and your interest and the database growing (from your votes) so that this would be worthwhile.