Top 20 Greatest Strategy Games
Throughout the centuries people have enjoyed games. From simple ones to pass the time to more complex ones that use strategy and challenge the participants to compete intellectually and have been called mental sports. Man’s love of competition and play has evolved over recent decades and there are far more choices now than ever before. For the list I have skipped video and online games, sticking with those that have actual physical pieces. No exclusions were made based on whether they are better with 2 or multiple players. In the 17th and 18th century, being a great gamer was admired as often top military leaders played wargames to determine different scenarios and plan attacks.Today gaming is simultaneously more popular yet often considered as nerdy. Hopefully this list will inspire some people to try out new games or dig their old ones out of the closet.
20 Dominoes – 12th Century
The game features bones (tiles) with a number of pips on them. Players match them up trying to empty their hands by matching one of the numbers with one of the free numbers on the table. Dominoes are also noted for being able to stand on end in long rows so that when one is knocked over they all fall in a row. A popular pasttime is lining up hundreds or thousands of dominoes to make designs when they fall.
19 Checkers/Draughts – 3000 BCE Persia
This popular game among children features discs which move along an 8×8 grid jumping opponent’s pieces to remove them from the game. It does feature pure strategy and no luck (outside of tournament play) but tends to be simplistic by today’s standards. In the 1930s Tournament play began reducing the number of draws by introducing random starting moves.
18 Monopoly – 1935 Darrow/Parker Brothers
The world’s most popular and imitated boardgame features players as landlords trying to buy properties, build houses and hotels, and monopolize areas for higher prices. A trading aspect is popular. The game has undergone criticism as being too simplistic but is still considered a classic by many and is a great game for kids. The economic aspects are highly balanced however and common rules variants such as collecting money while landing on free parking tend to remove the strategy turning it into a luck based game.
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