Hobby Games: The 100 Best

As the publisher (and a contributor) I'm totally biased but I read through the book as a proper book (as opposed to in pieces during approvals or proofing) and I can't commend editor James Lowder enough on the fine job he did with this project. I found myself reading essays on games I would never have willingly picked up on my own initiative and thinking how fun they sounded and how I should give them a try.

I guess you could say I loved this book so much I decided to publish it. I'd think it was pretty swell even if I hadn't been involved at all.

Very interesting mix of essays on games. There's some really good essays in this collection. The slightly low rating is that many are a bit repetitive and tend to describe the mechanics of games rather than what made the games enjoyable. I think this is an excellent book to own and read through the essays slowly here and there as a game catches your interest.

Scott's Haring essay on Illuminati is a great example of one that captured the spirit and what made the game great.

That being said, I'm likely to re-read this one before I return it to the library, taking better notes on games I want to play.

(just in case any read this and are board gamers, you can find me as jtgorman at http://boardgamegeek.com)

I went into this hoping it would be comprised of descriptions of why the contributors love these games, but too often they're straight-up descriptions that are no different from box copy or reading the manual. Disappointing - but more of a problem with me than with the text. RPGs, miniatures, wargames, and board games are all covered.