The abstracts category on BGG is a bit of a mess. Or not very well defined if I want to be more generous.
https://boardgamegeek.com/abstracts/browse/boardgame
The top 5 "abstracts" are Cascadia, Harmonies, Azul, YINSH, Patchwork.
I consider only one of these an abstract.
Faiyum. I read it can be a long game and it was (approx two hours) but it didn’t feel like it outstayed its welcome. Plus there was some reading of card references.
I was also worried the board would be loose at two player. It isn’t. First play got the wife’s seal of approval too. So a good first game. #BoardGames #BrettSpiele #j2s https://brettspiel.space/@lordsplodge/116041634182677514
We've been playing a bunch of Port Royal lately. The games has one of my favorite push-your-luck implementations. Busting is painful but not the end of the world because you often get to do stuff on other player's turns and when you bust they lose some opportunity too. I also like that the expansion, Just One More Contract, makes pushing your luck more worthwhile. We always play with the expansion now.
I am on the lookout for #boardgames where you wrangle the random. Some examples:
- Space Base is a long time favorite of mine. You roll a pair of dice and trigger your sectors based on the values. Sounds like a lot of luck right? And yet the better player wins 90% of the time. It's all about drafting those sector cards.
- A more recent favorite is Miams. It's basically Yahtzee with some innocuous card powers. But once you learn to find and use those crazy combos... so good!
Any others?
Been really enjoying Zenith on BGA. The multi-lane tug-of-war reminds me a bit of Caper Europe. The card powers are simple to understand but interesting and with multiple ways to use the cards there are usually some good options. I hope I will be able to find a physical copy soon.
Ranking of my recently discovered BGA favorites:
Zenith
FlipToons
Miams
Naishi
Diced Veggies
The drafting in Diced Veggies reminds me of My Shelfie but the sum limit is a nice addition. You take dice from the edge of the block, their sum must be 10 or less. Once you have the dice you mostly care about their color rather than the value. You use the color to fulfill recipes. So far this is quite simple, what makes it work for me is the Hype cards: these give bonus points when you fulfill additional constraints.
I've played Troyes Dice 4 times with scores of 50, 46, 56, and 64—the progression shows the learning curve in action. This Roll & Write has you building a medieval city through strategic dice placement. The transparent dice mechanic is unique, and combos are satisfying. Component quality could be better, but gameplay is solid.
Rating: 8/10.
Read my full review:
https://martasbgcorner.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/troyes-dice-a-medieval-roll-write/
Miams is a cute little rolliewrite. Doesn't seem to have an international release yet so only been able to play it on BGA so far.
The game looks very simple but thanks to the cards there is a tableau/engine builder hiding under the surface. Just had a game where I scored 40 points in a single turn with a crazy combo.
Marcus The Board Gamer
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Marta's BG Corner