2024 has been another incredible year of board games. For the first day of Best Week, Dan Thurot brought to me… the best snacks of the year! These are the titles that pack the most gameplay into each cubic millimeter, the ones that can be carried in a backpack or even a back pocket, the stuff that makes for a perfect day trip.

#6. Murray the A**hole Frog

Designed by Jenna Felli. Published by Devious Weasel Games.

Murray the A**hole Frog is weird. Let’s get that out of our system right now. But what else did we expect from Jenna Felli? This is a game about collecting flies, hoarding wasps, and doing your best to avoid that Murray fella. When he appears, watch out, because somebody is going to lose part of their collection. For such a mean game, it also happens to be hilarious, perfectly balancing anticipation with the tools to mitigate the appearance of everybody’s least-favorite frog.

Review: What an A**hole

#5. Hand Games 21

Designed by Don Eskridge. Published by Orange Machine Games.

For a couple of months, Hand Games 21 occupied a hallowed spot at our dinner table. Designed by the creator of The Resistance but limited to the ten digits on your dominant appendages (hands or feet, your choice), Hand Games 21 is an exercise in creative limitation. The results are worth witnessing, tackling counting games, dexterity games, team games, deduction games, hidden role games, and so much more. The perfect option for little families.

Review: Four Hands and a Spare Finger

#4. Compile

Designed by Michael Yang. Published by Greater Than Games.

Compile is what happens when somebody decides to perfect the lane battler. This one is fast, punchy, and full of smart ideas. As dueling artificial intelligences, your goal is to compile your code before your rival. The method is dead simple: amass ten points in each of your three lanes. But with hostile effects sparking left and right, not to mention cards with multiple abilities piling atop one another, that’s easier said than done.

Review: There Can Only Be 0001

#3. Converge

Designed by Peter C. Hayward. Published by Button Shy.

Strictly speaking, Converge is three separate games. Four if you count the solo mode. Presented as a series of eighteen-card wallet games, Converge is a tug-of-war where even the slightest error might tip the advantage to your opponent. It’s like a sudden death match of foosball, except the foosmen are different classes of dystopian laborers with their own special abilities. The next time I’m stuck on a train, this is the one I’ll be bringing.

Review: The Suns of Malvios

#2. High Tide

Designed by Marceline Leiman. Self-published.

High Tide is one of those rarest of board games — and not only because its current incarnation is limited to a handful of handmade copies. This is a strategic stacking game. Bit by bit, your tiles move upward, covering neutral shells, opposing starfish, or sometimes even your own clams. When someone can no longer move up, the session ends and the side with the most visible pieces is named winner. A session lasts maybe five minutes, making High Tide a good fit for those unknown durations in our lives. Play, play again, then pack it away once it’s time to move.

Review: Intertidal Zone

#1. NAWALLI

Designed by Gonzalo Alvarez and Will Rogers. Published by Studio Tecuanis.

I love everything about NAWALLI. The simple spread of abilities, the unexpected depth, even the way it uses obsidian shards for resources. One of those shards drew a pinprick of blood from my fingertip. That makes me an official human sacrifice. Fitting, given the game’s Aztec lore. This is another lane battler, albeit one that dances to uncommon rhythms, featuring shape-shifters and serpentine gods and combinations that feel utterly overpowered until you discover methods to break them. My favorite one: gobbling up opposing monsters to steal their abilities.

Review: I Sacrificed My Blood to NAWALLI

There you have it — my six favorite snack-sized morsels of the year. What were your favorite snacks of the year, dear readers?

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