Top 10 Next Step Games

A video listing Rahdo's top 10 "next step" games...
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10. Between Two Cities
09. San Juan
08. Biblios
07. Fresco
06. Quest for El Dorado
05. Escape: Curse of the Temple
04. Valeria Card Kingdom
03. Big Book of Madness
02. Isle of Skye
01. Suburbia
........

[jiritsu]

I really like this idea of "next step" games list. Wouldn't mind seeing similar short lists later on with different starting games or even "sidesteps".
And thank you for all the content you make!

[claytonnguyen]

Rahdo love your channel, you have introduced me to so many new bigger games. Keep up the good work😁

[brendonius]

This video is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Ive managed to get my wife enjoying Gateway games now onto Next Step games! Thanks Rahdo.

[jyoung]

What a good list - appreciate the thought and time that went into coming up with these recommendations.

[Straddllw]

My first modern boardgame: game of thrones, second: dead of Winter, third: Terra Mystica. I guess I missed the boat on gateway/next step games XD

[joshyaks]

Thanks for the well-thought-out video, RIchard! Biblios, The Quest For El Dorado, and Isle of Skye are all AMAZING games (and I've heard good things about Valeria Card Kingdoms, though I've only played the excellent Villages of Valeria in that series). In addition to The Quest For El Dorado, I'd highly recommend Clank! as a next-step deck builder.

[davekoehnlein]

Very interesting list! I loved this one. Thank you for another awesome entertaining video Richard! Hope you and Jen and the pups are doing well :)

[benjamincarter]

Enjoyed the list. Possible alternative to Fresco that I really enjoy using as a next step is Viticulture. Start with the base game to get them hooked, then use advanced board, then add in expansions.

[ricke]

Good list! Some choices seemed a bit odd, but we don't watch Rahdo's videos for normalcy! Here are my thoughts on your picks:
10. Sushi Go -> Between Two Cities is a great choice. I would probably suggest Bunny Kingdom or Oceanos, though.

9. Splendor -> San Juan is a great game, but I would recommend Portal of Heroes.

8. Love Letter -> I don't see much of a connection between this and Biblios. I would probably recommend Hera and Zeus (or whatever the new reprint is called now). However, I think Biblios is an EXCELLENT next step for For Sale, which I think is a better Gateway Game than Love Letter (by a mile). Both games play in two distinct haves where the first half is all about building your hand of cards you'll need for the auction in the second half.

7. Stone Age/ Lords of Waterdeep -> Fresco is a perfect next step for these games. I would probably also suggest Kingsburg if they liked the dice use in Stone Age.

6. Dominion -> Quest for El Dorado is a great next step for basic, vanilla Dominion... But Dominion with even one expansion is more complex than El Dorado. My pick for a next step here would be Super Motherload.

5. King of Tokyo -> I think Escape is a bit of a stretch here. For Yahtzee style dice rolling and accumulation of special powers, I would suggest the classic Roll Through the Ages as a next step... Or possible Ancient Terrible Things.

4. Catan -> I haven't played Valeria Card Kingdoms, but it sounds like a good choice here. Usually I ask what they liked about Catan - if it's the player interaction and rolling dice for resources, I suggest Boomtown. If it's the building roads and settlements on a communal map, I recommend either Dark Horse or Milestones.

3. Pandemic -> I haven't played Big Book of Madness yet either, but this one seems very out of left field. I always suggest Forbidden Desert for a meatier next step in the Pandemic universe.

2. Carcassonne -> Isle of Skye is a perfect next step for this game. No complaints here.

1. Ticket to Ride -> I think Suburbia would be an excellent alternative next step for Carcassonne, but it's an extremely odd choice for TtR. I would recommend New York 1901, Airlines Europe, or Via Nebula.

[mattpburgess]

Wow - putting out a lot of content today Richard!! Thank you! 😊

[shivan]

Between 2 cities has such a genius concept...maybe I should check it

[EclecticCamel]

I enjoyed watching this list. I am perpetually measuring and weighing what really makes a good gateway and then next step, as I'm teaching games pretty often to newer gamers. I think you would have been okay skipping the correlations to gateway games as those were a little wonky in spots, but overall fun to watch / listen to. :) Edit: Biblios is a good call, but I would put it after another drafting game and an auction game like Fleet. I would use Elder Sign after King of Tokyo and Deus after Catan.

[guocaipan]

Thanks for doing this! Love your analysis & explaination eventhough I am not so in to euro games. You are like the Deckard Cain in the world of board games :)

[bobnetherton]

Thanks for doing this series. I'm always on the lookout for good recruiting games :-)

Since Ticket to Ride is, at its heart, a set collection game, I like Herbaceous as a step up. It may seem odd at first, moving from a big board to a little box game, but they both feature set collection, card drafting, press your luck and a little bit of take. The difference is that in Herbaceous, you only get one chance to pot your cards and it kicks all of those mechanics up a notch in intensity. It is still easy to learn, so a Gateway Plus, but oh so difficult to master :-)

[jollyroger]

My gateway game was Power Grid. An online forum recommended it as a step up from Monopoly.

[Vadimaster]

My choices for next step:
Deck building: Aeons End or Marvel Legendary
Worker placement: Champions of Midgard
Engine building: London

[ko]

Excellent video, and excellent topic! Very good idea to talk about this, and open discussion about it. I think a lot of gamers would like to get more people excited about deep euro games, and it's often that you'll start with one little game they turn out to love. Very useful to think about where to take them next :-)

[Jonaelize]

This was an awsome idea for a list. Really liked it.
Oh, and my gateway games were Arkham Horror and Agricola.

[antgerfitz]

Really Great idea for a video. My wife and I enjoy 7 Wonders Duel, so we must check out El Dorado. Also have to check out Fresco, and Suburbia.

[boardgamecloset]

This was a fun list. Thanks for sharing this!