by agnoul10 games

GeekList: The three mechanisms that define our shelf

10 games that match our most distinctive mechanism combination. Six years of logged plays, 112 games in our collection, 1029 plays recorded. We did not set out to collect a particular kind of game. But the data says we did anyway. Three mechanisms are common in the games we play: Open Drafting (40 games), End Game Bonuses (38 games), and Variable Set-up (32 games). Common tags, individually — nothing remarkable there. Here is the part that surprised me. If we assume these three mechanisms are spread independently of one another, our collection should hold about four games with all three, but we have ten. And those ten are not sitting quietly: 9% of the shelf, and 18% of every play we have ever logged. The part I felt worth sharing isn't that the combination turns up more than expected, but that it keeps turning up in the games we actually reach for. This is not a "best of" list. It is a list of what our own collection is telling us after six years of logging — that when a game offers an open market to draft from, provides direction with bonuses awarded in the end, and has a set up that is different each time, we enjoy playing it. The data backs it up. The list is ordered by play count, most-played all time first.

1
CE
Century Spice Road
61 plays. Nothing else on this list is close, and only a handful of games in the whole collection are. It is the purest expression of the combination on the shelf: the card row is the draft, the point cards are the end game bonus, and it sets up quick and different every time. Fifteen minutes, no friction, endlessly repeatable — the reason it has more plays than games I would rank higher. TTT currently labels it Cooling Off: five plays in the last twelve months, against sixteen the year before. Last played June 2026. There is a serious rivalry attached to this one too, which my wife is leading 31-29.
2
CL
Clank! Catacombs
23 plays. The open draft of the deckbuilding market is tremendously enjoyable, and the question of how you get out alive — and with what — builds to a riveting scoring summary at the end. The tiles make this one different from the Clank! games before it, and mean the dungeon has never once been the same. Last played with 4 players in March 2026. Cooling Off as well, which in our data means it was heavily played and has gone quiet, not that we fell out with it.
3
CA
Cascadia
20 plays. Together with Jaipur and Century, one of the three lightest games carrying this combination. Tile-and-token pairs to draft from, and scoring cards that guide what you are going for and only pay out at the end. The variable setup comes from the different scoring card set and the random tile and token pool. We adore both heavy interaction and multiplayer solitaire in our gaming sessions, and this is one of our favorite games in the latter category. We haven't played Cascadia yet this year which is surprising — although this year is seeing a lot less gaming in general, since we have a 2 year old who is still too young to join in on the fun. We last played it in September 2025. In TTT this qualifies as a Dormant Classic: well played, but then dormant for some time. Only 4 of its 20 plays fall in the last two years. I'll make sure to play it as soon as possible.
4
7
7 Wonders Duel
17 plays, and our household staple — still going as of July 2026, the most recently played game on this list and one of the first games in our collection. A card pyramid to draft from in each age and what a juicy draft it is: some cards you can see coming and plan ahead for, others arrive as a surprise. You can even steer the turn order to stay aligned with what you'll pick up. Then a lot to go for and score at the end, if you get that far. My wife leads the all-time head-to-head 10–7, but I won last time we played. Regular Rotation as labeled in TTT — we might not play it extremely frequently, but we play it consistently, at least once every year going back 6.
5
TH
The White Castle
15 plays. So many great things to say about this game, which provides a lot of game in a small box format. One of our favorites since we bought it at Essen 2023. Nine dice distributed across three bridges to draft from, and end-game scoring that rewards focus across 3 different areas. The clever tile arrangements change things up enough to stay interesting from one play to the next. Regular Rotation, last played March 2026. Fifteen plays, and it never asks much of an evening. Just like 7 Wonders Duel, we've played The White Castle every year since we acquired it, and we're neck and neck at 8-7 in my favor.
6
JA
Jaipur
14 plays. An open market to draft from while balancing the hand size limit. Making the right choices about what to collect, what to get rid of and when to sell is a satisfying experience. Bonus tokens for the bigger sales and the camel award supply the end-game bonuses, and the goods deck changes what's available every time. The lightest game on this list, and we still love it. This one went quiet after 2024 and came back helped by a Game of the Month bonus in our yearly tournament, which nudged us into it. It did not need much convincing — straight back into rotation, four plays in July 2026 alone.
7
AR
Ark Nova
13 plays, and the heaviest game on this list. Ark Nova is a top 10 game for both of us and together with Dune Imperium and Brass Birmingham it's one of the few heavy games we never have to talk each other into. Drafting from the card display — snapping or picking cards from reputation range — feeds an end-game scoring that supplies excitement and dictates when it's worth ending things. With many different maps and cards, no two setups play alike. It takes an afternoon and we still keep coming back: Regular Rotation, last played March 2026, 3 plays the past 12 months and 3 plays in the 12 months before that. Worth noting against the shelf's own numbers: our most-played complexity band is the [i]low[/i] one (around 2), at 13 plays per game. Ark Nova gets 13 plays anyway, at more than double the weight.
8
LO
Lorenzo Il Magnifico
12 plays. A long time favorite we've played since 2020, and even earlier than that but not documented. Cards drafted from four open towers — five with the Houses of Renaissance expansion — in a tight dice worker placement. The scoring that comes from some of the cards and characters you collect, as well as the military strength track, brings some excitement at the end. With the different card mix each time, and different characters guiding what you are going for, setting it up and planning that initial strategy is half the pleasure. Some time has passed since we last played Lorenzo, on 30 December 2024 — the longest gap on this list. A Dormant Classic in the truest sense: twelve plays at this complexity says we love it, the date says something else got in the way. Our son arrived in July 2024, and the heavier end of the shelf has seen less activity since. I lead the head to head 6-5.
9
CO
Concordia
11 plays. Almost everything scores at the end, and going through the different categories to see who ends up ahead is such an exciting part of the game. The open card market provides a lot of lovely tension over when to commit to acquiring new cards. And there are so many different maps, both tighter and more open, that change how the game is played entirely. If you wanted one game to explain why this combination works on us, it is probably this one. Concordia is an absolute masterpiece, and there is a similar story here as with Lorenzo: labeled Dormant Classic in TTT, last played December 2025. My wife leads the head to head 5-4.
10
SA
Saltfjord
1 play, August 2025. The newest game from this list in the collection, and we really enjoyed the first play of it. Activating columns and rows on your player board with dice drafted from a shared pool drives that competitive edge. Points at the end of the game from scoring tiles, crate tiles and technology tracks. It seems like the game will stay fresh thanks to all of the tiles that change each game — though we need to play it a lot more before I can say anything worth saying about Saltfjord. Which is why it belongs last. Nine of these games earned their place by being played into the ground. Saltfjord earned its place by sitting on the shelf carrying exactly the right three tags, and going to the table once. Nine games told me what we love. The tenth told me what I was missing in my collection when researching what to get next.
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