Best Tabletop Games at Gen Con 2018

Gen Con is the annual celebration of all things related to traditional gaming. This year there was no shortage of awesome tabletop games to check out. We’ve gathered the ten best tabletop games seen at the show floor. If you missed Gen Con 2018, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with our favorite games from this year’s show!

Best Games at Gen Con 2018

Gizmos

Photo Credit: Board Game Geek

If you like marbles and big, flashy centerpieces, this game is for you. Players take the role of scientists trying to build perpetual energy machines. The marbles represent energy, and they’re dropped from a large central dispenser. Players are encouraged to create massive, sprawling chains of ridiculous combos. Essentially, everyone is trying to build a better Rube-Goldberg Machine. Who doesn’t love being a mad scientist?

Arkham Horror Third Edition

Photo Credit: Fantasy Flight

Believe it or not, the version of Arkham Horror released in 2005 was the second edition of the game. We didn’t even know that, and we love board games! However, Fantasy Flight Games seems poised to recapture the imaginations of Cthulhu fans the world over. The original scary, deadly board game in the Lovecraft mythos is here to try to kill you and your friends. Bad news, gang: it’ll probably succeed. You’ll need cunning and guts in equal measure to have any chance of surviving encounters with the Eldritch cults at play in this gripping game.

Reef

Photo Credit: Spiky Bits

Reef is a fun, family-style game that encourages planning ahead and rewards tactical moves. You spend your turn either drawing a card or playing a card. When you play a card, you get to place a piece of plastic coral depicted on that card. If you create the pattern on the bottom on the card with that placement, you score points. Whoever has the most points at the end wins! The game is deceptively simple and often leads to players having tough decisions and trade-offs. It’s the perfect balance of approachable and deep, just like a real reef!

Coimbra

Photo Credit: Brettspiel News

If you’re a fan of mechanics-heavy Eurogames, you’re probably accustomed to bland-looking boxes with emphasis on mechanics over appearance. Coimbra is here to scratch that mechanics-heavy itch while still looking good. The game is colorful and gorgeous, bucking the trend of ugly Eurogames. The mechanics are up to snuff, though, and the game is a fun, cerebral experience. Drafting dice and characters to gain influence is fun and thought-provoking. Every action has consequences, and only the most cunning players will come out on top.

Arboretum

Photo Credit: Chits and Giggles

While this game technically released in 2015, it wasn’t very easy to pick up. For most people, this Gen Con was the first time they even saw the game in person. This game is an interesting contradiction: it appears beautiful and serene by its components. Or, its component: it’s composed of one 80 card deck. The gameplay, however, is brutal and intense. You’re trying to build a pretty path of trees from the ten suites of numbered cards. Managing your paths is complicated by the fact that your opponents can draw from your discard pile. As such, hand management and knowledge of your opponents’ game plans is critical.

Root

Photo Credit: Geek Dad

This wargame is asymmetrical and themed on woodland creatures. The artwork is gorgeous, and the concept is intriguing. The woodland map is home to a battle between four distinct factions of critters. Each faction has different goals, abilities and mechanics. Many who played Root at Gen Con described the game as four games that share a box. Depending on your faction, the way you interact with the game changes dramatically. The Cat faction, for instance, wins by building structures. The rebellious Woodland Alliance, however, wins by drumming up support to overthrow the kitty overlords.

Expancity

Photo Credit: Twitter

Expancity is a game about building a city. The buildings are represented by stacking plastic pieces that look like towering skyscrapers. As the game goes on, your city begins to develop a unique skyline and structure. You’re attempting to achieve goals, some known to the table and some secret to you. Zoning is important, and buildings that are nearby can affect your score, negative or positive. You build while your opponents try to achieve their own goals, so the counter-play opportunities are plentiful. If you love strategically disrupting your opponents, this is a game to watch for!

Nyctophobia

Photo Credit: Tabletop Gaming News

In an interesting twist, this new game has you play completely blind. That’s right, in this game, the players take the role of victims lost in a dark forest being stalked by a murderer. In order to survive, they need to find their way to a car and radio for help. Players wear blackout shades that completely obscure their vision and they have to use their sense of touch to navigate the maze. One player takes the role of murderer and keeps the action tense by harrying the victims. This interesting game really shows off how creative board games can be!

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Champions

Photo Credit: Game Nerdz

A new game from Lightseekers creator PlayFusion, this game is set in the Age of Sigmar fantasy universe. The gameplay is straightforward: you use your unit and spell cards to try to reduce your opponent to zero hit points. You have four champions that give you powerful skills, as does your opponent. Smart timing is critical to victory. The game is also interesting for the same reason Lightseekers caught attention: every card can be scanned into the game’s app to be used in online play. As such, each physical card is also a digital card. That way, you can always use your collection to find a game and kick some butt!

Keyforge

Photo Credit: Polygon

Created by Magic the Gathering’s creator Richard Garfield, Keyforge is something exciting. Easily our favorite game on display this year, Keyforge is a procedurally generated card game. When you buy a pack of this game, that pack is a fully-functional deck. It is also completely unique to you in every way. The cardback is unique to you, as are the cards and combinations in the deck. And you can’t change your cards out, at all. This is your deck now.

If that’s not enough to excite you, the game’s unique mechanics will. You’re trying to acquire a resource called Amber in order to Forge Keys. The first player to Forge three Keys wins the game. We’re looking forward to seeing how this one from Garfield shapes up. Considering one of his games created the CCG model, we’re sure he’s got something going here.