Did you ever plan to buy a board game, but couldn’t figure out which one would be the best for your gaming group?
Or even worse, bought a game thinking it would be fun only to end up having a terrible experience?
Well, I have, and this is exactly why I created Board Game Critics.
The Board Game Critics mission is simple: to create the most helpful & trustworthy board game reviews.
Just like other forms of entertainment, such as movies, music or art, tabletop games can generate totally different feelings for different players: some might love it, while others will swear it’s the worst game they’ve ever played.
So how do we make sure our reviews accurately help all players, regardless of their own personal preferences?
Well, here’s how we do it:
- Playtesting: we play the game before we review it, multiple times, and with different player counts
- Type of game: we define what type of game it is, based on 4 objective criteria
- Gamer profiles: we identify which type of board game players will probably enjoy the game, based on our 8 profiles
- Review score: finally we assign a rating to the game, based on 3 objective + 1 subjective criteria
The result of this process is a well-rounded review, mixing factual analysis & expert critique, that will allow you to quickly identify if a game is good or not, and most importantly, if it would be a good fit for you & your gaming group.
How We Buy Games
So many games to test, and so little place to store them all!
With the amount of games we have reviewed on Board Game Critics, a legit question to ask is: “but where do you store all of these games?!”
Well, truth is we don’t store them all. Some of our critics do store an unthinkable amount of games, but for me it’s downright impossible. Living in a small Paris apartment forces us to make some hard choices in which games to keep.
Overall, these are the 4 main ways we test the games we review:
- Purchase from retail: we buy them from retail, with our own money, just like everyone. Games we love get to stay on our shelves and the rest is either sold back or given to friends
- Play in a board game café: a good way to try new games we’re not sure we will love, without breaking the bank
- Discover from friends: here and there some friends might bring a game we haven’t tried yet, and we make sure to get enough plays for a solid review
- Receive a free copy: in some cases we might receive a free copy from the publisher to review. When it’s the case, we always state it clearly in our reviews, and we publish the review even if it’s negative
How We Make Money
Board Game Critics is a free service, 100% reader-supported.
When you click on one of our affiliate links to retail stores and buy a product, we receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This commission is paid by the retail store, and this is what funds this site.
If you end up returning the product, we make 0€. This is also why it’s in our best interest to create helpful & trustworthy reviews, so that we are sure that if you end up buying a product, it will be a perfect fit for you.
Define the Type of Game
The second step of our review system is to use descriptive elements to define the game type.
This is meant to provide you with an objective look at the game, so that you can quickly assess if this would be something you’d enjoy, independently from our own judgement.
Here’s an example:
Type of Game
| 🎭 Theme | Abstract RPG |
|---|---|
| ⚙️ Complexity | Easy Difficult |
| ⚔️ Player interaction | None Constant |
| 🍀 Luck factor | Strategy All luck |
This is not a rating, there is no good or bad. Simply an evaluation of 4 objective criteria.
🎭 Theme
The theme is the topic of the game, and how well the topic is integrated in the game. Can you feel like you’re in the game, or just moving abstract pieces around?
- Example of abstract game: Chess
- Example of RPG game: Dungeons & Dragons
⚙️ Complexity
How easy is the game to understand and play?
We assess game complexity based on a variant of the Weight system of Board Game Geek:
- How long does it take to play?
- What proportion of time is spent thinking and planning instead of resolving actions?
- How hard and long do you have to think to improve your chance of winning?
- How much technical skill (math, reading ahead moves, etc) is necessary?
- How many times do you need to play before you feel like you “get” the game?
The complexity scale does not take into consideration if it’s easy to start playing the game or not.
- Example of easy game: Time’s Up
- Example of difficult game: Twilight Imperium
⚔️ Player Interaction
Player interaction is when the actions of the players will impact the general state of the game, and other players.
- Example of no player interaction game: Ricochet Robots
- Example of constant player interaction game: Survive: Escape from Atlantis!
🍀 Luck Factor
How much luck is there in the game? Can you control the result of the game, or is it entirely random?
- Example of strategy game: Agricola
- Example of all luck game: Chutes and Ladders
Relate Game to Gamer Profiles
The third step of our review system, closely related to step 2 above, is to relate the game to the type of board gamers that might enjoy it.
We have defined 8 main types of board game players, that you can easily identify to. For each game reviewed, with this suggestion of gamer profiles that might like it, you’ll be able to evaluate if it will be a good match for you and your gaming group.
Read the full description of all the board game player profiles
Give a Final Review Score
The last part of our review process is the review score. All of the previous elements were objective, either descriptions or based on scales.
But here, we critique the game and assign a rating that defines if the game is bad or good.
Our review scale goes from 0 to 10, with half-point intervals. The overall score is based on 4 ratings, all contributing equally:
- production value
- ease of play
- gameplay & fun
- replayability
Here’s an example:
| Production value | 8.5 |
|---|---|
| Ease of play | 7 |
| Gameplay & fun | 4 |
| Replayability | 9 |
Production Value
This first ranking factor evaluates the physical aspect of the game.
What is the quality of the components (cards, coins, miniatures, pieces, boards, …)?
How beautiful is the artwork? Does it fit the theme?
Does everything go well together, or do they look like separate parts stitched together?
Is the box well-made? Does everything fit nicely in the box? Is it easy to put everything back in the box?
- A rating of 0/10 means: seriously? Someone approved this? If I keep playing the components might fall apart.
- A rating of 10/10 means: have you seen this game? I cannot believe how amazingly beautiful/epic this is! I need to show it to all of my friends. I will take photos and frame it in my office.
Ease of Play
How easy is it to start playing the game?
Is the rule book simple, and well-made? How long does it take to learn the rules?
Is it easy to teach? Is there too many exceptions to the rules? How many rules feel unnecessary?
How long does it take to set up the game?
- A rating of 0/10 means: good luck ever playing this game, you need hours to understand the rule book, which is incomplete, and you keep making incorrect plays because you just can’t keep track of how many special rules exist.
- A rating of 10/10 means: you can just take out the game for the first time, and start playing in 5 minutes.
Gameplay & Fun
This is the most subjective, personal part of the review. This will depend a lot on the critic.
Gameplay & fun is the evaluation of how much fun you have when playing this game. Whatever your idea of fun is.
Do you laugh out loud? Do you have some exciting moments?
Is there too much downtime between your turns, with nothing to do while you wait?
A game can be absolutely terribly made, a nightmare to understand how to play, you can only play this maybe once a year, but if you have tons of fun when playing it, then it will hit the table.
- A rating of 0/10 means: ugh. Boooooring!
- A rating of 10/10 means: playing this game is the most fun you ever had. It’s always a blast.
Replayability
This ranking factor evaluates how many times you can keep playing the game over and over.
Are there always new things to discover? So many different combinations that the game always feel different?
Is the game still fun to play even after you’ve mastered all the strategies?
- A rating of 0/10 means: you will never play this game ever again after 1 play.
- A rating of 10/10 means: you can keep playing this game every day for the rest of your life.
Creating Helpful & Trustworthy Reviews is Hard Work
You’ve probably gathered it from all of the above, but each review published on this site took a lot of hard work.
It went through an extensive review process, done 100% independently, with the goal to be as helpful as possible to you, the reader.
If you appreciate our hard work, please let your friends know about Board Game Critics, so that we can keep helping more gamers and review even more games.
Thanks for the support.
Founder, Board Game Critics