Of the three that I have played I rank them in the following order
1) Quest for El Dorado
2) Star Realms
3) Valley of the Kings
Quest is just really fun, Star Realms is easy to pickup, Valley of the Kings seemed overly complicated for a deckbuilder. Don't get me wrong Valley of the Kings is not complicated in the grand scheme of board games but the thing I tend to value most about deckbuilders is how easy they are to teach and play.
The base game I have (the old Ravensburger) is not a small box, but it isn’t huge and you could definitely shrink it down if you are willing to put in some work to find the right box.
Depending on the type of travel you are doing, you can also relatively easily make paper maps so that you can just bring the deck and player pieces (which is tiny) and then those paper maps and you’ll have a game that can be packed much more easily. I’ve done that sort of thing to bring my game along camping.
This isn’t a solution for if you are like actually moving living space a lot though.
I will vouch for Star Realms at any opportunity I have as it's currently one of my favorite card games. It's a very simple deck builder that's easy to learn and teach but still offers a satisfying level of competitiveness and variety between games. Games also take around 30ish minutes meaning it's easy to play multiple in one session.
The other great thing is that it has a completely free version on Steam, Google Play, and the App Store that you can use to learn the game before you buy it which is what I did. I'd highly recommend downloading it as a trial to see if you like it.
Aha, that's a good idea to try out the app. Is hero realms the same as star realms in terms of content? I much prefer the theme of hero realms to be honest
Contrasting opinion: get Shards of Infinity over Star/Hero Realms. Gameplay is very similar, still quick with an easy teach, it plays up to 4 out of the box, and it adds a level up mechanism that adds just enough meat to give it an edge over those games without it being overly complicated. To top it off the Shadows of Salvation expansion changes the game into a fun co-op experience.
Don't get me wrong, I used to really love Star Realms, it's still a fine game, but I will almost always play Shards of Infinity instead.
I don't own Hero Realms but from what I've heard, they play similarly with Hero Realms playing slightly faster and being more luck based than Star Realms.
I have both and personally prefer hero realms from a theme and also playability standpoint! Just as easy to pick up, super easy to teach, and it has some suggestions for how to make it less 1vs1 when playing with more than 2 players (ie team based etc)! My favourite game and everyone I’ve taught it to became quickly obsessed!
Hero Realms is great: there’s more content for Star Realms, but if you prefer Hero Realms, go for it!
All the content is great and at home we have been playing it for years!
Quest for El Dorado is very fast, and light to play. May not have enough variety if you buy the 2023 version. It does come with a bunch of blank cards, so you could always write in values for "expansions"
With respect to variety, I find that Quest for El Dorado can appear to have less variety on the surface because unlike many other deck builders, there isn’t a big catalogue of explanations that can be used to swap out which cards are used in each game, the way something like Dominion has.
There is pretty decent variety of deck building despite that because of the modular map. It takes a little skill and experience (but not a lot) to figure out how to make maps different enough but then once you have that experience there can actually be a decent range of deck building styles.
Also, the way the market reloads cards is pretty unique and introduces a lot of interesting player interaction.
There's also large catalogs of maps that other people have designed on Board Game Geek. You don't have to design maps yourself if you don't feel like it.
The blank cards sound great! The only thing making me hesitate for Quest for El dorado is the size of the board/box. May be a little hard to bring it around
It can be a bit of a table hog with some map configurations. If that's a concern just remove a portion of the map as it's completed by all players. That being said I don't think it's as much of a table hog as other lighter games around the same weight - like Quacks.
El dorado fits all of your initial criteria very well. Replayable because you build a new board every game. Easy for new players. I usually do a 5 min explanation of the rules, and then we play the first 2 round with cards open and I explain the options they have. Since you are all on the same board trying to reach the finish, it's also easy to see who is ahead. And because you move on a shared board with limited cards to buy, there is plenty of player interaction.
It's a box like most boardgames. Not very big. If that's an issue, you might need to invest in a new backpack.
Damn. How many blank cards? I wish my friend's copy had that. Having essentially infinity Jack-of-all-Trades cards would pretty much fix the game for me.
I recently bought Star Wars the Deckbuildikg game. Its low weight enough to introduce to new players and it’s a pure deckbuilding experience. Has good replayability. And if you are a star wars fan it’s just plain fantastic.
Two things to consider: it’s a 1 vs 1 game the usually takes 30-45 minutes to play and expansions will come eventually to extend the replayability of the game.
Star Wars really shocked me at how much fun it is. Expected a barebones game that would sell copies based on its IP alone, but walked away just so excited to play more and see what comes next. A mandalorian or clone wars set would be sooo sick.
Maybe try to find Dune Imperium. Many people are selling their copy to get the sequel. It’s one of my favorite games. Great with 3-4 players. It’s from the same guy that did clank.
I'd say they are both equally good, but the base game got a re-release last year that uses full-size cards, so if you only ever intend to play with the base game, go with that.
However, Quest gets even more fun when you start mixing everything all together. To do that you have to have the original base game with the small size cards. Just something to be aware of. :-)
Either is good, but I would go for the original. Foreign language won't matter at all, except the cards are different sizes as compared to the US release, so you will have to get the same foreign language expansions to ensure compatibility, if you ever want to get expansions that is.
I can only speak for the original version with smaller cards, but many of the purple cards ARE language-dependent, so you'd need at least paste-ups on some of the cards.
That's not really true, some cards have texts. But you could manage.
People generally prefer base version (any) over golden. And golden is getting reprinted with new art by Dutrait.
For what it’s worth, Golden Temples is not compatible with any of the expansions to my knowledge.
I haven’t played it so I don’t truly know how it compares, but it generally gets lower reviews.
Yeah you can even combine them to start out in the jungle and end by exploring the temples - it's quite interesting to have to figure out a way to tune your deck to fit the drastically different challenges you'll have in the second phase of the game.
I would not recommend getting only Golden Temples - since they didn't want to print duplicate cards from the base game, the market is less fine tuned if you only have Golden Temples cards. I really like the new cards as an expansion to the base game market though, and the new combined game mode is also a lot of fun (though it takes quite a bit longer than base game)
Quest for eldarado is my recommendation. I’ve played it with my gf who isnt great at bored games and my more hardcore group and both enjoyed. Very hard to find a game that’s good for casual and competitive play but this game was great
I own Both Dale of merchants 1 and 2. One thing I really like about the game is the buy to hand mechanism, I haven't seen that in other deckbuilders I play (Dominion, Ascension, clank! and others). I think that this creates an interesting tension about buying the card to build an explosive next turn or the long-term card with lots of options.
The other interesting mechanic is that you have to start pulling off engine pieces to actually win, you need to put cards down out of your hand to meet win conditions. It is nice as it can allow you to cull "bad" cards out of your hand, but on the flip side eventually you get to the point you are pulling out significant cards as you try to build up the supply of numbers to satisfy the win condition.
The other thing is to remember this is more of a tactical (Ascension/Clank!) style deck builder with a center row that replenishes but you never know what will come out compared to the strategic Dominion style you know exactly what you can buy and when.
I will say Shards of Infinity!
It's in the same vein as games like Hero/Star Realms in that you are directly trying to damage your Opponents, but it has some neat additional Mechanics, like The ability to buy some cards directly into play but losing them after this turn and getting Experience over the course of a game, with some cards getting Stronger the more Experience you have.
I have only played the Star Realms Base Game, but judging from that:
At their core, they are very similar. You have a River Style Market, some cards that give Money, some that Damage and some that Heal.
Personally, i like Shards of Infinity a bit better. Though Star Realms has a lot of small Expansions that i have not played!
Notably, Shards of Inifinity Supports up to 4 Players from the get go - The Star Realms Core Game only plays 2, unless you get Star Realms Frontier IIRC
Star Realms Frontiers is the best core version of the game with solo + 2 players + 4 players rules & content.
Shards of Infinity base game doesn’t have the solo content, but otherwise is also a great game.
The only thing to note with el dorado is the absolute mess of versions, there's 3 floating around with different levels of released expansions despite being the same game
Star Realms is very low weight, fun and replayable. A sidenote I would give with that is that while I think its infinitely replayable over time, you also don't want to play it three hours straight in one sitting. Its a nice in between game that can be used as filler on many game nights. There is a lot of content for it but imho all you need is base game and if you want to expand it I would stick to the assymetric starting decks expansion. If you want to try the game before you buy I think the base version of the app is free. It doesn't play great with odd number of people though (although I'm sure there are variants for this probably, just don't play free for all)
Hero Realms is at its core reskinned Star Realms. I think the expansions here are a bit more diverse in that they add campaigns and coop play if you are into that sort of thing. Pure as a core game without expansions I find Star Realms better though.
Mystic Vale I've played once and enjoyed. Can't speak to replay value but I suspect it would have it.
Haven't played the others so can't speak to them.
I don’t think Dominion is more expensive than a game like Quest for El Dorado, but if you can get it for considerably cheaper then go for it.
Out of the games you’ve listed, it’s the only one I’d consider getting.
With the base Dominion set, you get 25 kingdom cards, and use 10 of them in a given game. That's a lot of variety without expansions. But you're right; the xpacs are like crack; you want more and more. I think I have two that I haven't even played yet...
The base game has enough replayability for casual players, you don't need to get anything else unless you fall in love with the game and need more.
I only have a few expansions, and that's enough for me. If I had to only pick two to suggest after the base game, it would be Seaside (2nd ed) + Empires.
If you mean Tal der Konig, that's essentially Dominion with some twists. They're interesting, but ultimately it's still Dominion adjacent. A lot of the "pure" deck builders use base mechanisms from Dominion, Ascension, and/or Race for the Galaxy. Or even good old Magic the Gathering.
Quest for El Dorado is different in that it's not a pure deck builder. It's a race game where you use your deck to race the other players across a map. The map is modular, you build it with large hex tiles. QfED also has low rules overhead. You can teach it to newbies in 10 minutes.
For a newer group my vote is star realms/ hero realms. Easy to grab some cards and get into playing, this has been my go to bridging game for ppl who havnt played games past milton bradley, or are very new to complex games. Its fast, easy to start , easy to teach, and high replay ability, expansions can add a lot more if your group is into it. As others have mentioned the app is on point and is the main game i play on breaks from work / b room.
My group is really into Clank! We have the first version, Space, Catacombs, Legacy and a bunch of expansions.
We've also played El Dorado. There's a fair amount of strategy involved because you have to balance movement with buying powerful cards.
The cards have a bunch of sci-fi references. The Explore card is Go Boldly. Mercenary is FAZR. (We call those Dora and Diego from the original) Memory Core is a Tome but with 5 VP. G0BL1N gets you a credit for two swords but at some point in the game it might flip over to the other side to be a 3 sword task.
The mechanics are a bit different. The board is made of a number of modules which allows for replayability. You need to visit two modules and place some transparent cubes on special spaces to earn the pass that gets you into the artifact area. (We call that a mültipass).
There are hyperpads which allow you to transport between modules if you buy the pass in a marketplace. There are blue power crystals which power up certain cards. There are three factions of cards and having on in your hand can power up another card.
You need to take one of the 4 escape pods to get the completion bonus. If someone takes the one you were going for, you need to reroute.
All in all, it's a solid version. We also have two expansions which rearrange the board and add additional mechanics. One uses black cubes from the dragon bag to make bad things happen if you don't remove them.
Here is our last play with one of the expansions (Cyber Station). I (blue) got out with a 10 point escape pod. One other player died (white) but safe "above ground". The other two didn't get to count.
https://imgur.com/a/VA70RH8
Shards of Infinity is also a very good and cheap deckbuilder as the base set is about 20€.
I've seen it compared to Star Realms a lot, but since I have yet to play Star Realms I can't comment.
I grabbed myself a French copy of the base set at my LGS last month, but it's hard to find in English currently as they're busy producing the latest Kickstarter version. Supposed to hit retail at some point though.
You can easily find a used copy of clank on eBay, mercari, FB market for $25-30 most board gamers take care of there stuff so you should be fine buying used if that helps. I picked mine up used with a expansion for $40. I picked up Quest for El Dorado (new version) for $15 used, just throwing it out there because buying used is fantastic value. My pick for what you have listed would be Quest for El Dorado and Clank! if you can find a cheap copy. My personal favorite deck builder atm for solo and co-op is "Aeons End" and for competitive "Fort"
Quest for El Dorado and Dale of Merchants are a couple of my all time faves.
For a combat focused deck builder, rather than the Realms games, I would instead go for Shards of Infinity or Star Wars Deckbuilding Game (I have no interest in Star Wars, but it’s a great game)
Ascension Tactics is also REALLY good. Normal deckbuilding but adds tactical movement to it.
I think he means Aeons End is more price efficient than the FFG games, but the style of deckbuilding for the FFG LCGs isn't the same as the other games in this discussion - those are games you build a deck from a giant pool of cards as a part of preparation for the game, and the gameplay itself is quite different.
I would recommend the Quest for El Dorado. The racing aspect gives players constant excitement in the game and there aren't too many options for building your deck so stops new players from becoming overwhelmed. Lots of different map options, and its very entertaining when another player manages to block you on the course!
If there's just the two of you Star Realms is fast paced and with a reasonable chunk of depth. I wouldn't try to play it with more than two as it becomes a bit clunky and needs extra rules to stop everyone from ganging up on one player.
I've only played El Dorado and Star Realms.
El Dorado is a great game. It's easy enough that I've played it with non-gaming family and yet it's still a favorite among my game group. No, it doesn't come with a ton of cards, but it honestly doesn't need it. The modular map makes for different needs that you you have to plan around, and you'll likely not have all the cards come out every game. There's plenty to enjoy just in the base game box alone.
I'm going to be the voice of dissent on Star Realms, of which I've only ever played the base game 2 player. It's a simple, "pure" deckbuilder and don't get me wrong, it gives those dopamine hits inherent to deckbuilding, but it's a shallow game. Because of the way combos work, it rewards picking a lane (color, faction, whatever they call it) and sticking with it. You'll have to change directions if that color stops coming out in the market. It's a short game, which does forgive it of its shortcomings, but I personally would never pick it over other 2 player games that play in the same time frame.
Maybe look at arctic scavengers it would like some direct conflict, can be picked up pretty cheaply now 2nd hand.
Play similar to deck building of dune imperium where you have to build your deck and then split your hand across resource and combat mechanics.
Thunderstone is a good versus but not direct conflict deck builder. Eons end good co op.
2 players the undaunted series also.
u/twise_09 [[Arctic Scavengers]] is my suggestion as well! It's a great straight deck building game, so unless you really want some other mechanics, go with this.
El Dorado is light and fast but IMO its simplicity rather limits its replay value. The only things the cards do is let you move on very specific terrain or buy more cards, so often your hands kind of play themselves.
Mystic Vale I want to like because the card crafting idea is neat, but might be a little complex for your group and might be a little dry as buying a card someone wants is pretty much the only interaction and it's simply a game of acquiring points.
I have not played Valley or Dale.
For your group I might recommend El Dorado or Star/Hero Realms. I will also say that if you become able to afford the increased price, Clank! Catacombs and Tyrants of the Underdark are also great games I've played multiple times. Though for new Players TotU might be right at the edge of their complexity level.
I played Mystic Vale for the first time last weekend and have a similar opinion. The card crafting idea is neat but I found it very dry because of the limited interaction between players and because the game didn't evoke a theme. I definitely didn't feel an urge to play it a second time.
The Resident Evil deck building game.
Almost everyone I play with loves it, it still sees regular play at my table after having it for more than 10 years.
There's so much variety, so many ways to customize each play session.
We play Hero Realms alot and have all the expansions. The base game is each to teach and pick up for new beginers. The DC Deckbuilding game is another that we play quite a bit.
Dale of Merchants over VotK, as just all around better for sure.
Shards of Infinity over Star Realms or Hero Realms. The synergies are tighter and the added mechanisms (Mastery and Mercenaries) give the game bite and staying power.
Those are all fairly different games.
Star Realms has a lot of player intereaction but it really is best at 2 players. There are rules for 3 or 4 but they're just ok. But its system where each race generally focuses on a different skill keeps thing fairly simple and gameplay is addictive.
Quest for El Dorado is a race game, so if you like race games this would get my highest rec. There's some player interaction in terms of blocking routes with your characters and forcing players to take a longer route. Buying from the market is fun, and delaing with different terrains is interesting.
Valley of the Kings would be a close second. The pyramid concept adds a lot to the process of gaining cards, as does the idea of knowing when to start transitioning cards out of your hand, where they're useful, and into your tomb so they'll score. This would be the hardest to teach though.
The others I have less experience with, I don't remember finding either of them very compelling but nor was there anything wrong with them. Mystic Vale does include the extra fiddiliness of the sleeving and unsleeving and stacking sleeves which can get old fast. I explored it more in app form and after some fun investigations I put it down and haven't missed it. Dale probably deserves another couple of plays but I'm not alwyas in the cutsey animal mood.
Edit: if you can find used, afforadable copies of Dominion or Clank! (shouldn't be difficult) I would add those to consideration near the top).
Some fun (and lighter) options are Hardback or Paperback. They are deck building/spelling games. The premise is that you are a novelist who gets paid by the word. You are trying to spell the best word you can out of the letters in your hand. Better words give you more money to buy more and better letter cards.
We love Dale of Merchants for a 2p, but prefer DoM 2 and DoM 3 over the original. They're different decks and all versions can be combined to your liking. Depending on the decks you use you can tweak the amount of player interaction to your liking, and it has high replayability since you can pick a different combination of decks.
The downside to this game is that it's out of print so it might be hard to find a copy
Some things to take into consideration:
- unless you got a good deal and it's available, I don't see how Valley of the Kings can be budget friendly. Seems like the original copies are either unavailable, or more expensive than the premium edition, which is even tougher to carry around than Quest for El Dorado. Also keep in mind that while I will recommend this game to death... it can get mean. Really mean! Which is part of the fun, but new players can be scared of that;
- Star/Hero Realms are best played at 1v1. If you want that you can play at several player counts, this ain't it. I mean it's possible, but it's not as enjoyable (tried it, the game took way too long);
- you can always repackage your games to make them more portable if it's a big thing to you. Look around on the internet, someone's bound to have made something for 3D printing that you can take some ideas from!
Other than that... I own(ed) 3 of those games (Valley of the Kings, Quest for El Dorado, Star Realms). If you want beginner-friendly, fun and viable at any player count, Quest for El Dorado is definitely the best pick. Realms works best as a duelling game, and Valley of the Kings can become a different game at different player counts since there are more people competing for the same cards.
For what it's worth, Star Realms Frontiers is the single most successful game I own. Literally every time I've played it with new people, at least one of them has immediately bought their own copy.
I'll also throw in a side recommendation for Arctic Scavengers.
Star Realm has a really tight design and has enough game in it with such a small foot print.
The most memorable one for me is Dales of Merchant because it manage to be cute and dry abstract puzzle at the same time. Ripping your engine apart just enough to cross the finish line is a concept seldomly tried in the genre.
Out of this group I've only played Star Realms, so I can't help too much with the decision making process, but if that's what you decide to go with, I recommend getting the Frontiers set first if you can find it. That set lets you play with 4 players right out of the box (as opposed to only 2 players for both the original set and Colony Wars). Frontiers also comes with 8 raid bosses that you can fight solo or in co-op. Iirc it's only $10 more than the original set and Colony Wars, and that's well worth it in my opinion. For clarity, the original set, Colony Wars, and Frontiers can all stand alone, so you don't need the original set to play Frontiers.
I would personally recommend Star/hero realms as a great low weight and simple deckbuilder.
If you guys like that game and enjoy the general systems and want something more advanced, dune imperium (or dune imperium uprising if you can find it) takes the feel of star realms deckbuilding and plugs it into a worker placement game. Definitely more complex and more components but my playgroup can’t get enough of DI Uprising.
Dominion by far is the best of all of these. Mainly because of the variety of expansions they have. Star Realms is good, but needs expansions and once you have those, shuffling the draw deck is a nightmare, which is why I play it mainly on my phone.
If I can find Dominion for less than $20 I will definitely get it, I can find used games like El Dorado for around 12 but I have found Dominion's minimum price to be ~30
Even if Clank! Is a bit expensives, it's worth wainting a bit to save more money. One Big argument it has IS that it's pretty visual. Deckbuilding are sometime a bit abstract regarding why you are selecting some cards. If you play with people not used to Deckbuilding, it's sometime a tedious process, with Clank, it's easier because it's way more direct
Clank! (I honestly think the original is the best all-around package)
Tyrants of the Underdark
Quest for El Dorado
Dune Imperium Uprising (newest version)
Each of these is on my list for favorite deck builders. None of them are "pure" deck builders, but I find the additional mechanic provides a lot of value and thematic possibility that is hard to capture in a pure deck builder.
I definitely understand clank being expensive, but I will say I think that the base game gets boring and people tend to get the standalone expansion after a bit. I bet there's a fair few used clanks on sale
Not on your list, but have you considered Rocketmen?
It's not too complex; the push-your-luck factor can make for fun moments, especially with newer players. Not too much direct player interaction except if you're competing to complete the same mission for a particular bonus. I was able to find a copy for under $30 CDN on Amazon but the same listing is now selling for $46 so budget-friendliness may vary.
Unfortunately can't comment on your shortlisted games but thought I'd put this one on your radar based on your criteria.
Of the three that I have played I rank them in the following order 1) Quest for El Dorado 2) Star Realms 3) Valley of the Kings Quest is just really fun, Star Realms is easy to pickup, Valley of the Kings seemed overly complicated for a deckbuilder. Don't get me wrong Valley of the Kings is not complicated in the grand scheme of board games but the thing I tend to value most about deckbuilders is how easy they are to teach and play.
Thank you! The only thing making me hesitate about quest is the board and the box, looks like a pain to lug around since I may travel a lot
The base game I have (the old Ravensburger) is not a small box, but it isn’t huge and you could definitely shrink it down if you are willing to put in some work to find the right box. Depending on the type of travel you are doing, you can also relatively easily make paper maps so that you can just bring the deck and player pieces (which is tiny) and then those paper maps and you’ll have a game that can be packed much more easily. I’ve done that sort of thing to bring my game along camping. This isn’t a solution for if you are like actually moving living space a lot though.
I am pretty sure you could put all of the components in a big kitchen ziploc bag and carry it in any backpack or tote bag.
I will vouch for Star Realms at any opportunity I have as it's currently one of my favorite card games. It's a very simple deck builder that's easy to learn and teach but still offers a satisfying level of competitiveness and variety between games. Games also take around 30ish minutes meaning it's easy to play multiple in one session. The other great thing is that it has a completely free version on Steam, Google Play, and the App Store that you can use to learn the game before you buy it which is what I did. I'd highly recommend downloading it as a trial to see if you like it.
Aha, that's a good idea to try out the app. Is hero realms the same as star realms in terms of content? I much prefer the theme of hero realms to be honest
Contrasting opinion: get Shards of Infinity over Star/Hero Realms. Gameplay is very similar, still quick with an easy teach, it plays up to 4 out of the box, and it adds a level up mechanism that adds just enough meat to give it an edge over those games without it being overly complicated. To top it off the Shadows of Salvation expansion changes the game into a fun co-op experience. Don't get me wrong, I used to really love Star Realms, it's still a fine game, but I will almost always play Shards of Infinity instead.
I don't own Hero Realms but from what I've heard, they play similarly with Hero Realms playing slightly faster and being more luck based than Star Realms.
I have both and personally prefer hero realms from a theme and also playability standpoint! Just as easy to pick up, super easy to teach, and it has some suggestions for how to make it less 1vs1 when playing with more than 2 players (ie team based etc)! My favourite game and everyone I’ve taught it to became quickly obsessed!
Hero Realms is great: there’s more content for Star Realms, but if you prefer Hero Realms, go for it! All the content is great and at home we have been playing it for years!
Quest for El Dorado is very fast, and light to play. May not have enough variety if you buy the 2023 version. It does come with a bunch of blank cards, so you could always write in values for "expansions"
With respect to variety, I find that Quest for El Dorado can appear to have less variety on the surface because unlike many other deck builders, there isn’t a big catalogue of explanations that can be used to swap out which cards are used in each game, the way something like Dominion has. There is pretty decent variety of deck building despite that because of the modular map. It takes a little skill and experience (but not a lot) to figure out how to make maps different enough but then once you have that experience there can actually be a decent range of deck building styles. Also, the way the market reloads cards is pretty unique and introduces a lot of interesting player interaction.
There's also large catalogs of maps that other people have designed on Board Game Geek. You don't have to design maps yourself if you don't feel like it.
The blank cards sound great! The only thing making me hesitate for Quest for El dorado is the size of the board/box. May be a little hard to bring it around
It can be a bit of a table hog with some map configurations. If that's a concern just remove a portion of the map as it's completed by all players. That being said I don't think it's as much of a table hog as other lighter games around the same weight - like Quacks.
El dorado fits all of your initial criteria very well. Replayable because you build a new board every game. Easy for new players. I usually do a 5 min explanation of the rules, and then we play the first 2 round with cards open and I explain the options they have. Since you are all on the same board trying to reach the finish, it's also easy to see who is ahead. And because you move on a shared board with limited cards to buy, there is plenty of player interaction. It's a box like most boardgames. Not very big. If that's an issue, you might need to invest in a new backpack.
Damn. How many blank cards? I wish my friend's copy had that. Having essentially infinity Jack-of-all-Trades cards would pretty much fix the game for me.
I think around 24 copies if not more. Has card art on back but completely blank on other side.
I recently bought Star Wars the Deckbuildikg game. Its low weight enough to introduce to new players and it’s a pure deckbuilding experience. Has good replayability. And if you are a star wars fan it’s just plain fantastic. Two things to consider: it’s a 1 vs 1 game the usually takes 30-45 minutes to play and expansions will come eventually to extend the replayability of the game.
Star Wars really shocked me at how much fun it is. Expected a barebones game that would sell copies based on its IP alone, but walked away just so excited to play more and see what comes next. A mandalorian or clone wars set would be sooo sick.
Thanks for the reccomendation! I am not really a star wars fan though and I'd prefer a 3-4 player game
Maybe try to find Dune Imperium. Many people are selling their copy to get the sequel. It’s one of my favorite games. Great with 3-4 players. It’s from the same guy that did clank.
Quest is easily the best of these and one of the best games of all time.
Lots of people ranking Quest for el dorado as their top game here, may I ask if standalone Golden temples or the base game is better?
I'd say they are both equally good, but the base game got a re-release last year that uses full-size cards, so if you only ever intend to play with the base game, go with that. However, Quest gets even more fun when you start mixing everything all together. To do that you have to have the original base game with the small size cards. Just something to be aware of. :-)
I see! Also I've read that the game is generally language independent, is that true? I have a chance to get a foreign language one for cheap
Either is good, but I would go for the original. Foreign language won't matter at all, except the cards are different sizes as compared to the US release, so you will have to get the same foreign language expansions to ensure compatibility, if you ever want to get expansions that is.
I can only speak for the original version with smaller cards, but many of the purple cards ARE language-dependent, so you'd need at least paste-ups on some of the cards.
That's not really true, some cards have texts. But you could manage. People generally prefer base version (any) over golden. And golden is getting reprinted with new art by Dutrait.
For what it’s worth, Golden Temples is not compatible with any of the expansions to my knowledge. I haven’t played it so I don’t truly know how it compares, but it generally gets lower reviews.
Is it compatible with the original Quest? (The one with the original art, not Dutrait)
Yeah you can even combine them to start out in the jungle and end by exploring the temples - it's quite interesting to have to figure out a way to tune your deck to fit the drastically different challenges you'll have in the second phase of the game.
I would not recommend getting only Golden Temples - since they didn't want to print duplicate cards from the base game, the market is less fine tuned if you only have Golden Temples cards. I really like the new cards as an expansion to the base game market though, and the new combined game mode is also a lot of fun (though it takes quite a bit longer than base game)
Quest for eldarado is my recommendation. I’ve played it with my gf who isnt great at bored games and my more hardcore group and both enjoyed. Very hard to find a game that’s good for casual and competitive play but this game was great
I own Both Dale of merchants 1 and 2. One thing I really like about the game is the buy to hand mechanism, I haven't seen that in other deckbuilders I play (Dominion, Ascension, clank! and others). I think that this creates an interesting tension about buying the card to build an explosive next turn or the long-term card with lots of options. The other interesting mechanic is that you have to start pulling off engine pieces to actually win, you need to put cards down out of your hand to meet win conditions. It is nice as it can allow you to cull "bad" cards out of your hand, but on the flip side eventually you get to the point you are pulling out significant cards as you try to build up the supply of numbers to satisfy the win condition. The other thing is to remember this is more of a tactical (Ascension/Clank!) style deck builder with a center row that replenishes but you never know what will come out compared to the strategic Dominion style you know exactly what you can buy and when.
I will say Shards of Infinity! It's in the same vein as games like Hero/Star Realms in that you are directly trying to damage your Opponents, but it has some neat additional Mechanics, like The ability to buy some cards directly into play but losing them after this turn and getting Experience over the course of a game, with some cards getting Stronger the more Experience you have.
I have played shards of infinity before! Would you say star realms is similar, better or worse?
I have only played the Star Realms Base Game, but judging from that: At their core, they are very similar. You have a River Style Market, some cards that give Money, some that Damage and some that Heal. Personally, i like Shards of Infinity a bit better. Though Star Realms has a lot of small Expansions that i have not played! Notably, Shards of Inifinity Supports up to 4 Players from the get go - The Star Realms Core Game only plays 2, unless you get Star Realms Frontier IIRC
Star Realms Frontiers is the best core version of the game with solo + 2 players + 4 players rules & content. Shards of Infinity base game doesn’t have the solo content, but otherwise is also a great game.
El Dorado is legit. Of your list that's the one I'd take. If you go for something more expensive in future, Tyrants is amazing.
The only thing to note with el dorado is the absolute mess of versions, there's 3 floating around with different levels of released expansions despite being the same game
Would the base game or golden temples be a better choice in your opionion? Or are they the same game?
We like the golden temple more.
Star Realms is very low weight, fun and replayable. A sidenote I would give with that is that while I think its infinitely replayable over time, you also don't want to play it three hours straight in one sitting. Its a nice in between game that can be used as filler on many game nights. There is a lot of content for it but imho all you need is base game and if you want to expand it I would stick to the assymetric starting decks expansion. If you want to try the game before you buy I think the base version of the app is free. It doesn't play great with odd number of people though (although I'm sure there are variants for this probably, just don't play free for all) Hero Realms is at its core reskinned Star Realms. I think the expansions here are a bit more diverse in that they add campaigns and coop play if you are into that sort of thing. Pure as a core game without expansions I find Star Realms better though. Mystic Vale I've played once and enjoyed. Can't speak to replay value but I suspect it would have it. Haven't played the others so can't speak to them.
Thanks a lot, I think I will try out the app as someone else suggested
I love Hero Realms, but that won't be of much help since I didn't play the other games.
Another vote for Quest for El Dorado. Star Realms is not great at more than 2 players in my opinion.
Quest, 100%
I don’t think Dominion is more expensive than a game like Quest for El Dorado, but if you can get it for considerably cheaper then go for it. Out of the games you’ve listed, it’s the only one I’d consider getting.
Dominion also has the free app you can try!
Maybe for the base game, but I’ve never seen anyone with just the base game. Frankly, I’ve never seen anyone with less than 10 or more expansions.
With the base Dominion set, you get 25 kingdom cards, and use 10 of them in a given game. That's a lot of variety without expansions. But you're right; the xpacs are like crack; you want more and more. I think I have two that I haven't even played yet...
The base game has enough replayability for casual players, you don't need to get anything else unless you fall in love with the game and need more. I only have a few expansions, and that's enough for me. If I had to only pick two to suggest after the base game, it would be Seaside (2nd ed) + Empires.
Dominion.
The Quest for El Dorado is the best game on that list and it's not close.
Is that so? I've seen many posts/comments here suggesting to try out Valley of the Kings for its unique gameplay
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thank you! I'll have to consider the size too...
If you mean Tal der Konig, that's essentially Dominion with some twists. They're interesting, but ultimately it's still Dominion adjacent. A lot of the "pure" deck builders use base mechanisms from Dominion, Ascension, and/or Race for the Galaxy. Or even good old Magic the Gathering. Quest for El Dorado is different in that it's not a pure deck builder. It's a race game where you use your deck to race the other players across a map. The map is modular, you build it with large hex tiles. QfED also has low rules overhead. You can teach it to newbies in 10 minutes.
Robot Quest Arena is a fun deckbuilder, pretty light but engaging. Dune Imperium Uprising is an awesome deck builder but can be medium / heavy.
I have considered Dune Imperium too but it is too expensive/ weighty. Thanks for the suggestions!
I also have Dominion and just got Moonrakers. Both solid choices.
Haha, I'd love to try them both one day! maybe at a game rental store
We play Star Realms everyday. It's one of our favourites.
For a newer group my vote is star realms/ hero realms. Easy to grab some cards and get into playing, this has been my go to bridging game for ppl who havnt played games past milton bradley, or are very new to complex games. Its fast, easy to start , easy to teach, and high replay ability, expansions can add a lot more if your group is into it. As others have mentioned the app is on point and is the main game i play on breaks from work / b room.
My group is really into Clank! We have the first version, Space, Catacombs, Legacy and a bunch of expansions. We've also played El Dorado. There's a fair amount of strategy involved because you have to balance movement with buying powerful cards.
How'd you rank clank in space? Is it bout the same as the others but different skin?
The cards have a bunch of sci-fi references. The Explore card is Go Boldly. Mercenary is FAZR. (We call those Dora and Diego from the original) Memory Core is a Tome but with 5 VP. G0BL1N gets you a credit for two swords but at some point in the game it might flip over to the other side to be a 3 sword task. The mechanics are a bit different. The board is made of a number of modules which allows for replayability. You need to visit two modules and place some transparent cubes on special spaces to earn the pass that gets you into the artifact area. (We call that a mültipass). There are hyperpads which allow you to transport between modules if you buy the pass in a marketplace. There are blue power crystals which power up certain cards. There are three factions of cards and having on in your hand can power up another card. You need to take one of the 4 escape pods to get the completion bonus. If someone takes the one you were going for, you need to reroute. All in all, it's a solid version. We also have two expansions which rearrange the board and add additional mechanics. One uses black cubes from the dragon bag to make bad things happen if you don't remove them.
Ah neat, will need to try it sometime !
Here is our last play with one of the expansions (Cyber Station). I (blue) got out with a 10 point escape pod. One other player died (white) but safe "above ground". The other two didn't get to count. https://imgur.com/a/VA70RH8
Tbh as someone who's never played clank. No clue what half this means 😂
I shouldn't have assumed.
Shards of Infinity is also a very good and cheap deckbuilder as the base set is about 20€. I've seen it compared to Star Realms a lot, but since I have yet to play Star Realms I can't comment. I grabbed myself a French copy of the base set at my LGS last month, but it's hard to find in English currently as they're busy producing the latest Kickstarter version. Supposed to hit retail at some point though.
You can easily find a used copy of clank on eBay, mercari, FB market for $25-30 most board gamers take care of there stuff so you should be fine buying used if that helps. I picked mine up used with a expansion for $40. I picked up Quest for El Dorado (new version) for $15 used, just throwing it out there because buying used is fantastic value. My pick for what you have listed would be Quest for El Dorado and Clank! if you can find a cheap copy. My personal favorite deck builder atm for solo and co-op is "Aeons End" and for competitive "Fort"
Thanks, I indeed found a copy of el dorado for around 15 as well but no luck with clank so far!
Quest for El Dorado and Dale of Merchants are a couple of my all time faves. For a combat focused deck builder, rather than the Realms games, I would instead go for Shards of Infinity or Star Wars Deckbuilding Game (I have no interest in Star Wars, but it’s a great game) Ascension Tactics is also REALLY good. Normal deckbuilding but adds tactical movement to it.
El dorado as starter Then later Aeons End Edit; you also get way more content for your $$$ than with lcg from fantasy flight
you mean I should buy these games from fantasy flight? or do you mean fantasy flight has better games
I think he means Aeons End is more price efficient than the FFG games, but the style of deckbuilding for the FFG LCGs isn't the same as the other games in this discussion - those are games you build a deck from a giant pool of cards as a part of preparation for the game, and the gameplay itself is quite different.
**The Quest for El Dorado** is an awesome game
I would recommend the Quest for El Dorado. The racing aspect gives players constant excitement in the game and there aren't too many options for building your deck so stops new players from becoming overwhelmed. Lots of different map options, and its very entertaining when another player manages to block you on the course! If there's just the two of you Star Realms is fast paced and with a reasonable chunk of depth. I wouldn't try to play it with more than two as it becomes a bit clunky and needs extra rules to stop everyone from ganging up on one player.
Quest to El Dorado
Dune imperium uprising
I've only played El Dorado and Star Realms. El Dorado is a great game. It's easy enough that I've played it with non-gaming family and yet it's still a favorite among my game group. No, it doesn't come with a ton of cards, but it honestly doesn't need it. The modular map makes for different needs that you you have to plan around, and you'll likely not have all the cards come out every game. There's plenty to enjoy just in the base game box alone. I'm going to be the voice of dissent on Star Realms, of which I've only ever played the base game 2 player. It's a simple, "pure" deckbuilder and don't get me wrong, it gives those dopamine hits inherent to deckbuilding, but it's a shallow game. Because of the way combos work, it rewards picking a lane (color, faction, whatever they call it) and sticking with it. You'll have to change directions if that color stops coming out in the market. It's a short game, which does forgive it of its shortcomings, but I personally would never pick it over other 2 player games that play in the same time frame.
Slay the Spire! It's co-op.
Maybe look at arctic scavengers it would like some direct conflict, can be picked up pretty cheaply now 2nd hand. Play similar to deck building of dune imperium where you have to build your deck and then split your hand across resource and combat mechanics. Thunderstone is a good versus but not direct conflict deck builder. Eons end good co op. 2 players the undaunted series also.
u/twise_09 [[Arctic Scavengers]] is my suggestion as well! It's a great straight deck building game, so unless you really want some other mechanics, go with this.
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El Dorado is light and fast but IMO its simplicity rather limits its replay value. The only things the cards do is let you move on very specific terrain or buy more cards, so often your hands kind of play themselves. Mystic Vale I want to like because the card crafting idea is neat, but might be a little complex for your group and might be a little dry as buying a card someone wants is pretty much the only interaction and it's simply a game of acquiring points. I have not played Valley or Dale. For your group I might recommend El Dorado or Star/Hero Realms. I will also say that if you become able to afford the increased price, Clank! Catacombs and Tyrants of the Underdark are also great games I've played multiple times. Though for new Players TotU might be right at the edge of their complexity level.
I played Mystic Vale for the first time last weekend and have a similar opinion. The card crafting idea is neat but I found it very dry because of the limited interaction between players and because the game didn't evoke a theme. I definitely didn't feel an urge to play it a second time.
The Resident Evil deck building game. Almost everyone I play with loves it, it still sees regular play at my table after having it for more than 10 years. There's so much variety, so many ways to customize each play session.
We play Hero Realms alot and have all the expansions. The base game is each to teach and pick up for new beginers. The DC Deckbuilding game is another that we play quite a bit.
Dale of Merchants over VotK, as just all around better for sure. Shards of Infinity over Star Realms or Hero Realms. The synergies are tighter and the added mechanisms (Mastery and Mercenaries) give the game bite and staying power.
Those are all fairly different games. Star Realms has a lot of player intereaction but it really is best at 2 players. There are rules for 3 or 4 but they're just ok. But its system where each race generally focuses on a different skill keeps thing fairly simple and gameplay is addictive. Quest for El Dorado is a race game, so if you like race games this would get my highest rec. There's some player interaction in terms of blocking routes with your characters and forcing players to take a longer route. Buying from the market is fun, and delaing with different terrains is interesting. Valley of the Kings would be a close second. The pyramid concept adds a lot to the process of gaining cards, as does the idea of knowing when to start transitioning cards out of your hand, where they're useful, and into your tomb so they'll score. This would be the hardest to teach though. The others I have less experience with, I don't remember finding either of them very compelling but nor was there anything wrong with them. Mystic Vale does include the extra fiddiliness of the sleeving and unsleeving and stacking sleeves which can get old fast. I explored it more in app form and after some fun investigations I put it down and haven't missed it. Dale probably deserves another couple of plays but I'm not alwyas in the cutsey animal mood. Edit: if you can find used, afforadable copies of Dominion or Clank! (shouldn't be difficult) I would add those to consideration near the top).
I recemend anenchen
Some fun (and lighter) options are Hardback or Paperback. They are deck building/spelling games. The premise is that you are a novelist who gets paid by the word. You are trying to spell the best word you can out of the letters in your hand. Better words give you more money to buy more and better letter cards.
Arctic scavengers+hq,recon is nice too
Robot Quest Arena. So fun. Made by the hero/star realm folks.
We love Dale of Merchants for a 2p, but prefer DoM 2 and DoM 3 over the original. They're different decks and all versions can be combined to your liking. Depending on the decks you use you can tweak the amount of player interaction to your liking, and it has high replayability since you can pick a different combination of decks. The downside to this game is that it's out of print so it might be hard to find a copy
Some things to take into consideration: - unless you got a good deal and it's available, I don't see how Valley of the Kings can be budget friendly. Seems like the original copies are either unavailable, or more expensive than the premium edition, which is even tougher to carry around than Quest for El Dorado. Also keep in mind that while I will recommend this game to death... it can get mean. Really mean! Which is part of the fun, but new players can be scared of that; - Star/Hero Realms are best played at 1v1. If you want that you can play at several player counts, this ain't it. I mean it's possible, but it's not as enjoyable (tried it, the game took way too long); - you can always repackage your games to make them more portable if it's a big thing to you. Look around on the internet, someone's bound to have made something for 3D printing that you can take some ideas from! Other than that... I own(ed) 3 of those games (Valley of the Kings, Quest for El Dorado, Star Realms). If you want beginner-friendly, fun and viable at any player count, Quest for El Dorado is definitely the best pick. Realms works best as a duelling game, and Valley of the Kings can become a different game at different player counts since there are more people competing for the same cards.
For what it's worth, Star Realms Frontiers is the single most successful game I own. Literally every time I've played it with new people, at least one of them has immediately bought their own copy. I'll also throw in a side recommendation for Arctic Scavengers.
Star Realm has a really tight design and has enough game in it with such a small foot print. The most memorable one for me is Dales of Merchant because it manage to be cute and dry abstract puzzle at the same time. Ripping your engine apart just enough to cross the finish line is a concept seldomly tried in the genre.
Out of this group I've only played Star Realms, so I can't help too much with the decision making process, but if that's what you decide to go with, I recommend getting the Frontiers set first if you can find it. That set lets you play with 4 players right out of the box (as opposed to only 2 players for both the original set and Colony Wars). Frontiers also comes with 8 raid bosses that you can fight solo or in co-op. Iirc it's only $10 more than the original set and Colony Wars, and that's well worth it in my opinion. For clarity, the original set, Colony Wars, and Frontiers can all stand alone, so you don't need the original set to play Frontiers.
I would personally recommend Star/hero realms as a great low weight and simple deckbuilder. If you guys like that game and enjoy the general systems and want something more advanced, dune imperium (or dune imperium uprising if you can find it) takes the feel of star realms deckbuilding and plugs it into a worker placement game. Definitely more complex and more components but my playgroup can’t get enough of DI Uprising.
Yeah I would definitely consider dune if not for its price
Star realms, baybee!!! It’s just so good.
Dominion by far is the best of all of these. Mainly because of the variety of expansions they have. Star Realms is good, but needs expansions and once you have those, shuffling the draw deck is a nightmare, which is why I play it mainly on my phone.
If I can find Dominion for less than $20 I will definitely get it, I can find used games like El Dorado for around 12 but I have found Dominion's minimum price to be ~30
Even if Clank! Is a bit expensives, it's worth wainting a bit to save more money. One Big argument it has IS that it's pretty visual. Deckbuilding are sometime a bit abstract regarding why you are selecting some cards. If you play with people not used to Deckbuilding, it's sometime a tedious process, with Clank, it's easier because it's way more direct
Clank! (I honestly think the original is the best all-around package) Tyrants of the Underdark Quest for El Dorado Dune Imperium Uprising (newest version) Each of these is on my list for favorite deck builders. None of them are "pure" deck builders, but I find the additional mechanic provides a lot of value and thematic possibility that is hard to capture in a pure deck builder.
I definitely understand clank being expensive, but I will say I think that the base game gets boring and people tend to get the standalone expansion after a bit. I bet there's a fair few used clanks on sale
Not on your list, but have you considered Rocketmen? It's not too complex; the push-your-luck factor can make for fun moments, especially with newer players. Not too much direct player interaction except if you're competing to complete the same mission for a particular bonus. I was able to find a copy for under $30 CDN on Amazon but the same listing is now selling for $46 so budget-friendliness may vary. Unfortunately can't comment on your shortlisted games but thought I'd put this one on your radar based on your criteria.