Ranking All 17 Stonemaier Games

Today I’m joined by a number of special guests who have played and ranked all 17 Stonemaier games.

17. Smitten
16. My Little Scythe
15. Pendulum
14. Between Two Cities
13. Between Two Castles
12. Libertalia
11. Euphoria
10. Charterstone
9. Red Rising
8. Rolling Realms
9. Wyrmspan
6. Apiary
5. Expeditions
4. Wingspan
3. Viticulture
2. Scythe
1. Tapestry

00:00 - 11-17
10:35 - Top 4-10
32:00 - Top 3

[olivierjodoin]

This is by far the best video with ambassadors you have done so far. Great selection of people. I think it helps that it was a topic that everyone felt passionate about.

[optimustibbs]

Brilliant job by the ambassadors, and Jamey it's so good to see how conscious you are of getting everyone's opinions. Super!

[theromulans]

Wow, you've sold me on checking out Tapestry more seriously. Thanks!

[ThePercOfGaming]

As one of the 20 ambassadors who was asked to vote I am glad to see so many of my favorites on the top. To this day I still love Scythe (the game that got me into SM), Tapestry, and my number one Expeditions. I also appreciated how well spoken each of the people you had on were.

[brandonablack]

This was fun! I was glad to hear everyone's thoughts on the games. It's really helpful when deciding on which game is right for different groups of people. I have to admit I too was surprised by the ranking of a few of them, but I'm obviously not as familiar with them as the ambassadors.

[thetasigma]

I would love to see a Charterstone sequel or variation. I played through this legacy game twice with my wife and daughter, once at home (Australia) and once on holiday in Bali. Both have been the most memorable and happiest game experiences with my family. Thank you Jamey.

[zabelkid]

Tapestry feels so good, the progression feels good, completing a track, filling up the Capitol city. I love playing the game, it feels good even when you lose.

[StevenStJohn-kjeb]

First, let me say you have recruited some well-spoken Stonemaier ambassadors. These guys do a great job explaining game features.

For me, I have a clear 1 and 2: Scythe and Tapestry. Then there's about half dozen SM games that could be number 3 on any given day. Probably I'd say Wingspan, just because there is so much content for it and because the Asia solo mode is so good. Of those half dozen I'd highlight both Between Two Castles and Euphoria. These games were lower on the list in the video, but they are both such solid and pleasant games. They both work at 6 players, which is a rarity in the game market; Between Two Castles is probably the best 7 player game out there.

[dkshadowstalker]

Loved this list, and love the games. I would reverse one and two, placing Scythe first, but part of that is also because this was one of the first games that my son was so entranced by, he was determined to figure out a way to make certain factions work without going to the Internet to look up how other people may have done so.

[chrisdettmar]

4:13 Minor correction here ( it had been a while since i had played.) the criticism is not the end game trigger, but that it is possible to have multiple people max out all of the tracks. The variety has a way of going "past" the end of a track by removing cubes.

[kallethen]

Scythe was the game that got me interested in the hobby. I had seen an article talking about the art for the game and it intrigued me a lot. The art was beautiful and the setting was interesting. I became even more interested when I found that it could be played solo. I'm glad to have discovered it as I've gotten many enjoyable hours not just out of Scythe, but out of boardgaming in general.

[zacharywooten]

Just played tapestry for the first time a few days ago and can’t stop playing it. Already in my top 10 games of all time. Love to see everyone else love it too

[MakeTimeForGames]

I’ve collected quite a few Stonemaier Games now, I have loved every one of them. I appreciate all the details that go into a Stonemaier game and have even started to judge how well a game is made by comparing them to a Stonemaier game. Great video!

[MerrillWhiteKalEl]

I agree with this list. My top game is Tapestry! Got everything and love exploring all the different ways to play. I want to try Expeditions, and we love Wingspan.

[thrallj]

Truly shocking to see Tapestry at #1 - but I'm happy to see it there! Just picked this up in 2024 with everything and have gotten several plays in so far with all expansions and excited to dig into this game further!

[Mark-jagger]

Superb video. Great lineup of ambassadors. I enjoyed listening to all of their excellent insights. My favourite, by far, is Scythe. However, I’ve owned Tapestry for a long time and I’m ashamed to say I’ve never played a full game. That will now change after listening to such love for the game from the ambassadors. Really looking forward to playing it now! Thanks Jamey for setting this up. It was so enjoyable. And thanks to you for all your great designs. You provide a lot of joy and that is so appreciated.

Mark Hunter
Alberta

[denverbarker]

Hey Jamey, a couple of questions on Between Two Castles and Between Two Cities. At 6:55 you mentioned this is a favorite for you to send to classrooms. I am running a boardgame afterschool program at my kids ECE-8 school. At each meeting I introduce one-two games and briefly discuss a mechanic that is used in the game (open drafting, set completion, storytelling). I've opened up the club for 2nd grade on up and currently have about 1/3 2nd graders and the rest 4th/5th graders. Christian mentioned he likes these two games because you can put an experienced player next to an inexperienced player which makes me hopeful that this may be a good game for our club.

What ages do you think these two games work best for? What mechanics would you point out for them to notice?

[ncreson]

I've only played through part of Tapestry. At a convention, I checked it out of the game library with a players wanted sign, read the rules, two people joined me, we started playing and then it was last call and we had to clean up. I got to the game library and I guess they were worried cause I had the game out for a long time but then they saw the box and understood, lol. I did enjoy it, and I think we did a lot of jockeying up the science track.

[ChasGonnello]

I’ve been wanting to play euphoria for a while-such a great theme! This video has proven to me that I need to check out Tapestry. I own Western Empires, and while I love that game for its Civ-juiciness, 12-15 hour games are unrealistic. Thanks for making this list!

[robertaburnes]

Scythe will always be my first love. I play-tested it and have taught it every year at every con I've attended -- so much so that I'm now known as ScytheGirl, lol. But I've played more Tapestry than anything else, thanks to the incredible adaptation on Board Game Arena (upwards of 800 games). I love them both, and all the others too. Great video with great commentary. Thanks everyone and thanks Jamey for continuing to produce fantastic games.