10 Meanest Board Games Ever Made | Collection Starter
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- We accept no responsibility for any friendships ruined after watching this video.
Huge thanks to Draughts board game cafe for lending us some of these games for the video! For more info about the best gaming cafe in the UK, visit: www.draughtslondon.com/
0:00 #Intro
0:54 #10. Munchkin
2:00 #9. The Estates
3:12 #8. City of Horror
4:16 #7. Survive - Escape From Atlantis
5:12 #6. Citadels
6:22 #5. Spartacus - A Game of Blood & Treachery
7:31 #4. Nemesis
8:48 #3. Lifeboats
10:02 #2. Intrigue
11:29 #1. Diplomacy
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ADAM: If you’d like to buy any of these games, please consider using our Amazon Affiliate links to help out the channel:
10. Munchkin US: amzn.to/3lYFNuc // UK: amzn.to/3riggwR
9. The Estates US: amzn.to/3tSGQyr // UK: bit.ly/3m2huvv
8. City of Horror US: amzn.to/3vZBlA0 // UK: bit.ly/3cm6vd5
7. Survive - Escape From Atlantis US: amzn.to/2PqeQTS // UK: amzn.to/2PxE7vC
6. Citadels US: amzn.to/3vXv9bF // UK: amzn.to/3cnKKJI
5. Spartacus - A Game of Blood & Treachery US: amzn.to/3d93k7p // UK: amzn.to/3cjAxOy
4. Nemesis US: amzn.to/2QGv9N1 // UK: amzn.to/2NSDlJ3
3. Lifeboats US: amzn.to/3lO8utI // UK: amzn.to/2Pu5cQh
2. Intrigue US :bit.ly/3rnVCvi // UK: bit.ly/3rogtyP
1. Diplomacy US: amzn.to/31lBaAG // UK: amzn.to/3cjuhGv
Any chance of getting affiliation through Zatu here in the UK. Not only are they cheaper for most board games but there also... not Amazon.
People should really buy from their local game store before resorting to Amazon. Not only is shopping locally better for your community, local game stores support your hobby, providing things like events, a place to play, and a community of gamers ready to play. They may even help you find that perfect game. Amazon doesn't do squat but sell you a game.
There was no question about Diplomacy being the #1.
what if you're fascinated by these games but have never played them before, and want to learn to play them but you're autistic so it's difficult interacting with new people (or the people at the nearest game store aren't receptive to newcomers)?
@@Viking_Luchador I can't speak for every game store, but our store has never turned away anyone interested in games and gaming, no matter what the circumstances. Still, it is always a good idea if you need special help to talk it over with the shop or have someone else talk to the shop so they can better work with you to meet your needs.
One thing I've learned is, everyone never be the FIRST player to screw someone over, everyone remembers the first betrayal. Always be the second.
I'll settle for being the last player to screw somebody over. ;)
Yes! Always do it in return or revenge don’t be the first
it's like breaking hearts for the first time in the game Hearts.
Munchkin created the elvish mafia.
"We'll help you defeat that monster for none of the treasure."
"Nah, that's okay."
"I don't think you understand, you NEED our help."
"It's fine, it's just a level 1 potted plant. I can take it."
"I'm sorry it came to this."
*pumps the monster up to level 11*
"Wha? Okay, yes I do need your help."
"That's nice but now it's going to cost ALL of the treasure."
A Board Game Club video of Diplomacy would be absolutely epic!
^Tru
And so so soooo llllloooooooonnnnnnng
Doooo iiiit
That would be the last Board Game Club episode ever to air.
I love Munchkin, and especially the Cthulu expansion. My fiance bought them, and a few other expansions, and we had a great time introducing all of our friends to the game. We now have no friends, and only play against each other. I'm so glad we do truly love each other.
Still thinking about how Munchkin straight up has a rule that lets you cheat as long as you don’t get caught, and when the game’s developer got invited to play it on an episode of Tabletop, he cheated to win the game by purposefully fudging a calculation ;y
Yeah, those rules don't exist past the first iteration of Munchkin. Nice try. I knew of this one too.
They removed it a looooooooong time ago. Like, 15 years ago.
@@Kakaze1 Well the Tabletop episode where the creator did it was released *eight* years ago soooo 🤷
I house ruled that back in. It fits the theme and encourages creative play.
@@MrSkerpentine I do find it funny that Steve Jackson is called 'the creator'. I still think the best fun fact about Steve Jackson is that he wrote books in the Fighting fantasy series including Scorpion Swamp (book 8, one of the early ones) which is a series co-created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone despite not being the Steve Jackson who was said co-creator.
Even if I don't love the game, if you ever want to create permanent distrust in your friendships, set up really good trades for the single resource everyone needs in a game of Catan and then use the monopoly card to take it all back. Just be prepared for no one to trade with you, ever again.
Honestly, though.... Diplomacy is mean without even needing people to be dirtbags about it. Spend 3 hours learning the game only to be the first player knocked out after an hour of playing. Or keep playing for another [insert ridiculous number] of hours and slowly drain your sanity and will to live. Either way, Diplomacy really is the meanest board game ever made. Great video as always, Adam. 😊
Best Munchkin memory. Using the map card to set up the player in the lead while having a suitable monster and wandering monster card. His turn he ends up with both the Ghoulfiends and the insurance salesman attacking.The effects of both cards apply. One said he couldn't use any of his stuff, only his level. The other said he couldn't use his level, just his stuff. So he gets squished but the best thing was his reaction. He laughed! He was delighted the game had such twisty moves in it never mind that he was the target. To this day that is my best gaming memory.
@@tyrroo Thar's how we played it as it was such a rare combination of cards set up by me playing the roadmap card to set him up to get one card while I had the other in my hand along with a wandering monster card. I've never seen it before and I doubt I'll se it again.
I usually hate games like this, but Diplomacy... Diplomacy is something else. Primarily, i think, because a reputation for honesty can actually win you the game.
That said, my one memory of the game, that always sticks out to me, is one game where Austria and Italy had decided, in the first turn, to be allies. They promised to not move in on each other in the beginning to establish a central powerbase before the other players could move... And then Italy moved into Trieste. Austria then proceeded to dedicate his entire existence to ruining Italy, regardless of what he had to give up to do it. They both lost, France won, it was wonderful and watching it happen in real time as my friends yelled at each other is what made me realise the game is great.
I remember growing up with simple back stabbing games like Diplomacy from Avalon Hill. How the treachery has grown over the years along with the no longer hidden hate an loathing man appears to have for his fellow man .... And the games reflect this reality. And just imagine Diplomacy is still number one. There is nothing like that feeling of talking with your ally, agreeing to a set of moves so you can each prosper, and then sticking the knife in their back and taking their points just to laugh in their face ...... My crowning achievement was stabbing three players in the back in one move tossing a game into total utter chaos. I still remember it after all these years .. and laugh about it.
You…you gloriously evil bastard. My villain’s top hat tips to you, sir 🤣😈
@@tazdivil6527 It was glorious .. but all I could do was reach a stalemate line. But when you are England and the main battle line is so far across the map, the units get bored and had to do something lol
Ah, the feeling of pure fear in Nemesis when someone finds the Airlock Control room and you happen to be standing in a yellow room...
I was playing Nemesis with a friend who loves playing with me. We had introduced our other friend (lets call him Ryan) to the game and he was so hyped to play. Poor ryan was slurped out of the yellow room on turn 3. He didnt care cause he got to play as the Intruders and wreck our shit. Everyone lost lol, again.
Citadels does "screwing your friends" the right way. I absolutely love that characters (not players) are targeted in most cases.
Also, I removed the Assassin immediately and replaced with the Judge (or whatever it's called) so that there's a bit more fun to it.
Uno, with all house rules, can get HEATED. Especially when you're on a train and your friend has to pick up something close to +24
I've never played Uno on a train before. What's the rule for who wins the round when you get to your stop?
My favorite Uno variant: Take 2 UNO decks, then throw away the number cards from one deck, and then shuffle them together. Use the standard rules. Play with at least 3 (preferably 5) players.
We had to add a new game night rule: no crying during Uno
Great list, but it's missing Junta, where the rulebook actually encourages you to watch your favourite movie villain for inspiration on how to play.
Love Spartacus. Probably my favourite board game, especially when you add the expansions
I own Munchkin, Survive and Nemesis...great times!
Just revisiting this video and loving that a large number of these ‘mean’ games have featured in BGC. Says a lot about you guys ;)
Watching this list makes me remember all the fights over board games I’ve had growing up in a competitive family😂
Played Munchkin with some friends - once. The backstabbing started at level 2. We played for 4+ hours before anyone could win.
These lists and BGC give me life ❤
One game I would add to the list is "Cosmic Encounters." It's a simple combat game with the object being to gain control of five enemy planets. The early planets are easy. The last one is like trying to find hens' teeth. Every player has a randomly chosen "alien power" that is some exception to the rules. That's where the fun comes in because there are as many powers that hurt other players as there are powers that help you.
Similar line of thought, Dune is also an incredibly mean game, combining parts of both cosmic encounter and diplomacy.
I thought they definitely need A Game of Thrones there.
I really love the new channels! I hope you guys get a ton of subscribers you guys deserve it !
I love Munchkin, it's great fun!
Can confirm, the most contentious game among friends I ever played was Diplomacy. Betrayal is baked into the game.
A great game is tokaido. As Will Weaton famously said when previewing the game, it’s the most zen like cut throat game you’ll ever play. You and your friends are on a vacation and depending on your choices you can screw up their vacation while making yours amazing.
Dude I used to watch tabletop but now this is my board game channel!!! Keep up the great work.
Nice to see Munchkin get some love! Two games that make my Top Meanest Games list are Pompeii (throwing fellow players into a volcano -- can't be beat!) and Revolution.
Your middlefinger is really well booked, here exactly when needed, when it’s here... liberating
I can appreciate how people like these games, but I personally really try to avoid the betrayal and arguments. Thanks for making this list to keep me warned!
I also tend to hate those games, but Survive Escape from Atlantis is actually good, I recommend it. Because multiple people can go on a boat, and the tile sinking mechanic, you don't target specific player's, but the ones you have the opportunity to (like if you want to be greedy and put 3 guys on 1 boat you can, but that will make you an easy target, while sharing a boat may make your game slower, but may also guarantee that people won't attack you). Yes it's extremely mean, but it's not frustrating or friendship ending. (hate munchkin though, hehe)
I'm really surprised Cosmic Encounter isn't on here. One of its core mechanics is betting on who is going to win a fight. Alliances are often made and broken within a few turns. Everyone has a different win condition and it may cause you to play in extremely deceitful ways.
Risk. I had one objective: to kill player black. Player black had downright suicidal war tactics. He had only a couple territories left, while I was a global superpower, meaning I struck a deal with him, getting rid of all of his enemies, slowly surrounding the territories he had left, and then... and then.
A Board Game Masterpiece episode on Nemesis? Yes fucking please. That game is so good.
Spartacus....you have to love a game where killing your opponent's gladiator is the LEAST mean thing you can do. That's what you give your opponent for a birthday present.
As of March 2023, half of these games have been featured on BGC. And I do so hope the other half get played in the future
Spartacus is our friend groups most favorite game for years already. We'll have to give a try to some of these other games as well, since they look so great!
In my first game ever of Diplomacy, I played as France and convinced England I'd help them destroy Germany - and Germany I'd help them destroy England^^
I LOVE this game - sadly it requires seven players and hours of time..
France promising England they’d help them destroy Germany, whilst also promising Germany they’d help them destroy England? Where have I heard this before?
Nemesis is worth it. Every single time. Also there is a chance there is no "traitor" on the ship but you might think there is so the intensity is always there! Otherwise many of those games just kill a gaming group! lol ok some of these game might be ok IF everyone understands that. But I will not play Diplomacy.
Loved this vid!
The meanest move I ever pulled in a board game was a betrayal fitting the theme of Risk Game of Thrones. Lets just say it was the first and last time my wife ever played that game with me.
Playing diplomacy, I always created several sets of orders each round. I'd show a player a set for what he wanted me to do, but it was seldom the set I'd actually turn in.
Junta watching everyone play sycophant so you can get the plum job to stage a coup
my friends still don't want to play it a second time (it's been 10 years)
All this games looks so Fun, I need to try them all!!
One of my favorites: the Vampire CCG.
It was designed so that you are sitting in a circle and everyone attacks in one direction towards their "prey" while fending off attacks from their "predator".
The thing is, that if one player takes someone out, they get a victory point.. as well as significant resources. Your prey's prey probably doesn't want this, and no one wants to see a deck that's doing well suddenly get a boost. In addition to the usual way you can screw with people, there are also vote cards that everyone at the table (with the appropriate cards) can vote on.
On top of this, certain type of decks are good/bad at things. A vote deck has problems with intercept/combat. A bleed deck cries to misdirect. Misdirect is useless against a vote deck.
I've even seen some decks so hated that players will just decide it's worth it to take out the player ASAP.
I watched this video purely to ensure that Diplomacy was number 1. Great video all round.
Diplomacy...played it with a buddy and his family, he betrayed me two turns in a row right at the start of the game...I got revenge on him 15 years later...I currently own a copy of the original printing (I love and hate that game so much).
Even though Adam isn't keen on Monopoly, I'm quite surprised that the Cheater's Edition of Monopoly didn't get a mention. Some of the things you can do in that game are massive dick moves. Like you can force a property trade and completely ruin someone's colour set or play a card to put someone's property back on the open market.
I definitely gotta try number 2, looks awesome.
Our group of friends had to ban Diplomacy. Love that game.
We just played the trick-taking game Stick'em this weekend. Super mean and really fun.
I don't know why, but Citadels being yeeted off pride rock by Rafiki was too funny 😂. I don't even dislike Citadels, haha
Survive! I had this game when I was eight (nearly 40 years ago!). I remember it dearly. It was great. I was wondering if anybody else knew about this game and now I want another copy to share with my kid.
I've been looking forward to an edition of Diplomacy for years ... Game of Thrones Edition.
Ends in disappointment?
@@spartanxdarth201 sounds like Diplomacy for sure.
It sadly doesn't count for this list since it's a Card game vs a board game, but when I was kid and my cousins & siblings got together and wanted to play game with trash talk and heated rivalry......Uno. Seriously, nothing made a family rivalry sprout up more then the Uno deck.
The board in board game is the table ;) Uno definitely counts
Intrigue showed me how a man could try to become a blood volcano after one betrayal .... this was a games design class.
Someone once made me play Monopoly. That was the meanest board- game related thing that ever happened to me. Still in therapy for that...
Oh, and a great mean game: SHASN.
I love Nemesis, easily it is my favorite game. I never go out of my way to screw anyone over but I do try to make sure my ass is the first one on a escape pod. Once that is done, usually players have a way of offing themselves one way or another and if the ship explodes then all the better.
I love the PvP in Nemesis !!
the game "Sorry" was probably the most vicious when i was a kid
When I play that with my nieces, it's called "Not Sorry".
Monopoly tends to be another of those friendship enders.
I love Munchkin so much
Anyone remember a game called Mille Bornes? A fine game to play when you want the person you're playing against to _never speak to you again_ after f'ing them over eighteen turns in a row.
I played a three-player game of that once. We all agreed to just give up after an hour, because we were never going to finish.
it is a good game, better with more players. And you can agree to lower mileage limits, but it is a "grand touring" game so the "1000 miles" does mean something. 500 miles works too, for shorter games
Played The Estates last night and it is so delightfully mean. If you like that game at all, also consider trying a cube rail game like Chicago Express or Irish Gauge. And speaking of trains, the meanest games of all are the 18xx genre. "Aww, thanks for investing in my company, I'm glad you have such faith in our success! Wait, what, you're selling all your stocks and I'm stuck with a company that will exist in the red for the remainder of this multi-hour game? Ffffff!"
Just from the intro
I’m kinda hoping Ticket to ride comes up
We’ve all had that random 2 car track that has nothing to do with our destination and everything to do with punishing your family member with being too obvious with where they were going
Right
😈
Nah! I don't really consider TTR an evil game...sure, certain people can be cutthroat about it, but there are certain games that just by their very design will force you to screw with your opponents. TTR isn't really in that category.
Great first choice. There could be no other.
Kids like the theme of Survive, and it can be made less mean for them with a couple of easy house rules:
1. Empty tiles have to be flipped before occupied ones.
2. Roll results of the monster attack die have to be applied against your own villagers.
3. Change the goal from “getting the most of your own high-value villagers to safety” to “getting all the villagers to safety before the volcano blows,” ie making it cooperative.
Got to put my vote in for Lunch Money. It is literally about being mean.
" No deals are binding "
Scarier words have never been spoken
Diplomacy winning this was the obvious outcome and I am so cheerful to see it happen.
Ah yes, Diplomacy. The game widely known as "best played with people you're quite sure you'll never meet again". Knew it was going to be the dreaded king of this category before even clicking the video.
The fact that there's absolutely no random mechanics outside the players' control than other players' decisions ensures that no betrayal in any game could cut deeper.
Of course. I've never actually played the game myself, only know of it by reputation. and by that reputation I have less than 0 desire to ever attempt a game.
Trailer Park Wars is one that I would recommend. There's also Mausoleum. That one can be a lot of fun, until your friends gang up on you. lol
I'm loving this channel/these lists. And Mean games are really fun, but my game group can't handle them. Root causes a lot of arguments. I'd love to see the counter to this list, positive player interaction but not co-op
Ikusa/Shogun/Samurai Swords. The only time I've played a board game for hours and by the end it was dead silent and everyone was furious. Future Risk was bad, but that one was insanely mean.
I just want Adam to narrate an adult novel. I'd
p!ss me-self laughing!
If you think Diplomacy is mean (it is, of course), try Machiavelli. The system is directly derived from Diplomacy, but it also has bribery and assassination.
I think any of these would make for a highly entertaining BGC. I can almost hear Sully now.
What about a game I think is called "Junta"? I played it at a younger agee at a board game club.
There's a couple of mentions I'd like to add here.
-Shogun ( the first time someone decides to take your rice producing province everything becomes clear )
-Game of Thrones the boardgame for reasons quite similar to diplomacy ( Support and '' allies'' )
-Dynamite Nurse God this game is incredible for pissing people off. The instructions even encourage you to mock the person who's loosing the most for fucks sake. The name Dynamite Nurse is the nickname given to the nurse who's actually letting more patients die. In this game you each are a nurse with her own hospital trying to save adventurers who come back half dead from the ''dungeon'' Its a deck building game '' a la dominion '' but with a very simple twist. EVERYTHING YOU DO AND ALMOST EVERY CARD YOU HAVE affects the others and not you. Most Dominion likes are engine builders with minimal player interaction but this one is the complete opposite. If you go past the anime waifu sexualised thingy its such a well crafted game of cheap shots and engaging fun around a table. You play games of Dynamite Nurse and laugh from start to finish...... especially if you got a friend or two who doesn't take cheap shots really well. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I LOVE THIS GAME!
thank you for this video
Enemy in sight. The only game I have played were we actually started fighting every single time we played it.
I fully support your number one choice. Diplomacy takes too long for what it does. I see it as sitting 10 hours behind a table conniving for nothing, waiting till the final hour to discover who was the biggest rat after all.
I agree with your #1 diplomacy scars run deep
I like games where you’re bluffing and lying in order to win a game. But I have a serious problem with games (and people that enjoy games) where you can choose to lie AND stab your friends in the back and suck every single bit of fun of their gaming experience out.
I saw "Stardew Valley", my favorite game, in the intro, on 0:15, and I was something like: "Whaaat? SV? Mean???", but, thanks God, it's not in the list! You scared me, dude...
It's out of print, but I loved Supremacy. It was like Risk with economics and nukes thrown in. The dangerous thing was that if you were going down, and you had nukes, you could pull an, "If I can't win, no one will!" attitude, throwing nukes, leading to others throwing nukes, and others until it was nuclear winter.
Oh god.... I have never played a game of Supremacy that didn't end with everyone losing due to nukes.
Dealer's Choice 30 years later family still argues about it.
Kragmortha... by far the meanest one... move your little dude to try to get some magic "good cards" or go through and end up with some "bad cards" and those bad cards range from mild annoyance, to absolute crulety. What make it the worst, for me, is it's physical. "place this card on the table, place your chin on the card, at no point can either of those be violated" which can (and has) been paired with "stand up, raise one leg, you can alternate, but at no point can you have 2 feet touching the ground" 4 bad cards you lose... got someone with those two, added a third (comparatively ok) and then everyone was nice to him, and "helped" him by keeping him safe, so he wouldn't get the 4th card, to free him from his anguish.
I dont even play board games just here for adam
Haven't seen any mention of 'Who Should We Eat?'
Starts of all nice and cooperative, finding food and building a raft together to escape the island .... until you run out of food (and you will) - and then you have to eat someone. That someone is chosen by vote - and each player comes with different food values and capabilities to take into account. Or, if someone is feeling as though they're in trouble, they might just knife another player (if they have a secret knife).... but that player might have a knife too ...
And then, once someone is dead, they become a vengeful ghost, and actively try to thwart the remaining survivors through haunting them in special ways, so everyone dies/goes insane.
Really quite brutal.
That intro had me laughing my ass off
I have refused to play Diplomacy for two and a half decades now... and I don't miss it one bit.
Talisman can be pretty mean too. It's similar in concept to Munchkin. The objective is to reach a certain place, but to do so you must first improve your stats and/or get equipment and have the titular "Talisman" so you can pass. So if someone is close to succeed other players can attack them to decrease their lives, they can steal/destroy their equipment, they can cast spell that turn them into toads, or decrease their stats, they can even steal the talisman just a turn before they need it.
My personal definition for the mean-ness of a game is: How long do you need to keep playing after it is 100% obvious who has won and who has lost the game already. (EDIT: WITHOUT any option to turn around the game or impact the game-state in any way worth mentioning for the losing player) AKA: The time person A has to humiliate person B without any way for B to get out of it or do anything meaningful at all.
For example: In Catan this time-window can be an entire hour ... in Monopoly it can be multiple hours.
In contrast Nemesis has a lot of 'take-that' and it's can run as long as or longer than Catan or Monopoly, but the time-window where a player may be forced to not have any meaningful impact at all is MUCH shorter ... thus making it a "less mean" game in my book.
The very first time I played Spartacus I never won a single dice roll the entire game. I was the first player eliminated after this whole setup and rules explanation. It will be fun they said we'll all have fun so they claim. 12 minutes later I'm going downstairs to make myself a sandwich and have a good cry
Dead of Winter can be brutal, since there's a possibility of a traitor. And I LOVE Nemesis. Have all the expansion (very VERY costly, though, but worth it)
In my friends group we never play with a betrayer. We like being friends
Yes! A Perfectly Ordinary Bunny! That's BunBun from Sluggy Freelance!
Adam, if you are going to include Munchkin on your list, then you need to try Red Shirts. Think Munchkin with a Star Trek theme, except the goal is to be the first one to kill off your crew and your opponents can save them from dying. Be prepared to Vulcan grip your friends in the eyes.
Ok I can’t be the only one. Guys PLEASE add Intrigue to Board game club. This sounds Wonderful!
y'all should def play diplomacy
Battlestar Gallactica can get so mean. Especially when the cylons get humans thrown in the brig.
For me, Twilight Imperium 4th edition and Game of Thrones boardgame are top 5. I almost broke up with my boyfriend in those games. *Almost*
Indeed
I don't wanna be imperium rex anymore 😂😂😂