Gloomhaven

THERE ARE BOARD GAMES. There are great board games. And then there’s Gloomhaven. Rated as the top game on BoardGameGeek in 2017, Gloomhaven is that rarest of things—legendary in its own lifetime. The Kickstarter campaign saw nearly $4 million pledged, smashing through the $100K goal. The initial printing was in such great demand that prices skyrocketed, and even now you can expect to pay $200 to get your hands on a copy. (Andnotacryptocurrencyin sight—Ed).

That’s a lot of money for a tabletop game, but amazingly, it’s worth it. There is so much to this co-operative dungeon crawler that the box alone weighs over 20 pounds, with character miniatures, player sheets, combat cards, monster cards, equipment, counters, and more. There’s an inherent excitement that comes with simply setting all these parts up for a scenario, but the core mechanics of the game are what really make it such a great experience.

The real genius of the game is the way the combat works—there are no dice rolls here; instead, each player has a limited number of combat cards to fight the various monsters you encounter. Over the course of a dungeon, you use up these cards, then have to rest to get them back (losing a card in the process). The scenario balance is brilliant, too, so that you often either succeed or fail just as you’re down to your last cards. Gloomhaven has an incredible reputation, but somehow it manages to live up to the hype. $140, www.cephalofair.com