The Top 100 Board Games of All Time: The Quest for El Dorado

[Music] hello and welcome back to the top 100 great news  we've had a huge problem we recorded this video a while ago and then we discover when going  to edit it that we didn't actually film the   discussion of the game Quinns is going to be here to  tell you about the game and then he's going to be   there in playthroughs playing the game but actually in terms  of us talking about this game in between it's   going to be just me and Tom sadly of course the  footage was lost because of the curse of El Dorado   which is why we are now trapped in El Dorado itself the  dimension of gold itself isn't it beautiful it is this city of   gold everything is made of gold but unfortunately  we can never take any of it home or sell any of   it for money I'm going to take some of it home  because I am made of gold cuz of my yellow coat   that looks like it's warm you should take that off it's really really warm  I'm going I'm going to take it off straight into   business it's another game from the big Kniz Dr. Reiner Knizia Dr. Reiner Knizia himself man of many bow ties man   of many talents he's designed thousands of games  billions of games billions of games literally poss-and- probably tens to hundreds of which are good yeah  there's one for every star in the galaxy and we're   touching one of those stars right now careful it's  hoooot wo-ho-hoo but to give you a little quick summary it's a   deck building game where you play cards from your  hand to traverse the jungle this is the Quest for   El Dorado actually technically this is the Quest  for El Dorado with the Heroes & Hexes expansion   bolted in it's a game where you're going to start  with a deck that looks like this some explorers   some people who have one coin and a man who has  one ore and in this game you're going to try to   get to the Golden City of El Dorado because in  addition to being a deck building game you're   doing all of this to race across a board that is  all segmented you and the other players trying to   get their expedition to the Golden City first and  the person who does that wins the game so it's a   combination a deck building game - everybody loves them - and a race game which for my money is often some   of the best and most durable and dependable and  exciting board games out there so we're not going   to get into all of the rules but I am going to  teach you the basics and frankly by teaching you   the basics I will have taught you almost all the  rules cuz this game is very simple on your turn   you're going to take your deck you're going to  draw four cards and then first you're going to   play those cards to move so for example if I play  a machete I can move my person into a space that   has one machete icon if I play a coin I can  move them into a space with a coin icon but   a lot of this game is looking at your hand and being  like well I don't I don't have the icons to move   into the spaces I want to go that's by design  the game is frustrating it's gamble-y it's I mean   it is frustrating but kind of in a good way once  you're done with your turn however you can take   any cards you didn't play for movement and spend  them on shopping those coin cards are also good at   the end of your turn to buy cards from the shop  I've got this selection of cards um and I could   buy any of these cards for the prices listed at  the bottom but there's only three of each if it's   my shopping phase and I want to buy buy something  and there's an empty slot then and only then can   I actually buy anything in the game and be like  I actually want a plane I'm going to buy a plane   and now the planes have entered the shop it's a  peculiar like sort of sometimes you have a limited   selection sometimes you have a massive selection  I don't know it works you know what what if I just   one two in front of Matt cuz that's hilarious and then  I'll spend two money to buy a fotografin [ed: we are playing the German edition, this is the Photographer card] cool   thanks going to play *** going to play *** so technically you fully resolve a card before   ye-yeah unless you're using it for money cave cave oh  I got a cool thing it's public so also do you not   want to know what it is yeah I just I was like I  know what that is obviously it's Pink Arrow hexagon  enter any hex right oh any hex Matthew this  game is very good it's fantastic it's really   really good I have played it three or four times  over the past few months oh yeah uh because I got   given this copy after by Quinns after we played it Quinns  basically was like do you want this and you said yes   I do he's like cool I don't want to take it home  if I hadn't taken it he would have just abandoned   it in one of the many gutters of London he would  have given it to an orphan sewer orphan yeah one   of the sewer Orphans of London Town who only have  very crunchy Euros to play most of the time so   please do donate your lighter family games to the  sewer urchins and when we played this for the first   time in the studio with Quinns that was the first  time you'd played it was and I was blown away and   didn't play very well no you spent most of that  game going into caves I did we were playing with   an expansion we were which added uh caves yes I'm  going to move away from the cave move towards the   cave you can just sort of hang around them yes  and you get bonuses and you were just go back   and forth between I was the man hanging around  in caves forever caves it was super interesting   because me and Quinns were sort of competing sort  of up towards the mid-board you were having a race we were   playing the race game you were trying to win a race and we were  like it's fine Matt's completely screwed himself   he's gone down a cave and we're never going to  see him again but then towards the end of the   game there was a genuine fear and then I'm going  to spend my captain to go back to the cave back to the cave   this is absurd this is a ridiculous way of playing  this game you'd emerge from the cave fully formed   ready to kill us this and I'm going to go into  hell which is great right because you know what   this means means I'm going back in throwing away  a guy I don't want and it's a cave yeah it required a   lot of work what I liked about this as a deck  builder is the fact that you really can get   stuck on some of the maps like on the easier ones  it's fine it's Breezy you can you can muddle your   way through and you'll move through the terrain  much more quickly when we were playing the longer   ones where you had some of the thicker forests or  for me I think it was some of the deeper Rivers I   just couldn't break that threshold I needed to  move through spaces yes so am I just like stuck now  you are fully ass-stuck or you go backwards where you've been yeah so I was faced with the decision   of either Milling through my deck hoping that  the captain with the big paddle would finally   come up and let me leave this flipping River  or to cut my losses and just go back and round   the long way okay that's fine I guess I'm okay  you could go back one good Captain would like   get you all the way here then entering this place  is real then you can't get into that so okay well I'm   going to spend the rest of my cards to buy another  Captain you know you still need a way to get from   here yes I'm very aware of that that's where the game  is strongest I think is this lovely consideration   with what you have in your hand versus what you  have physically on the board in front of you it   sounds like a really obvious thing to say but  it's like the way that you have to build your   deck around what you can see coming as well as  having to deal with what you're currently dealing   with at the time right now is such an interesting  sort of push and pull this is so much quicker than   going round the long way maybe you built your deck  to be really good at going the long way it's so   interesting because you can approach each tile of  this board in different ways yes like each tile   is asking you a question being like how you going  to deal with this buddy and usually the quickest   route will mean you don't get many good things  but if you take the slow route and go around the   edges then you're you're thinning your deck down  you're getting to add some juicier stuff and it   means you're probably going to like lag behind  for the race but again as with all good race   games Mario Kart included you want to wait for  the right moment to just suddenly push forward   to the front of the pack and be like ba-ba-ba-bam it's time for  me also to kill my cow as they rampage through   the woods how did this happen the end of it is  always exciting it is cuz it's never anybody's   no no until the very end when someone- because you  could look at someone's hand and be like well are   they holding in there two little tiny machetes  that's going to just nudge them forward or are they   holding the worst hand I've ever seen in my life  by worst I mean best mmm here I'm going discard my   last card to open this up do-do-da-do that's yours that's a tiebreaker  I know I know that's a tiebreaker and it belongs right up there   it's actually quite hard to do that yeah it looks pretty- how  does Waluigi manage it I also really like that   sort of dual consideration of holding cards or  spending them for money so some of the spaces   on the board require you to go through them by  spending money by using cards from your deck   that you know get you through money spaces but  also that money is what gets you new cards into   your deck yeah so if you're building a deck that's  like heavy on the cash are you using that cash for   movement or are you going to be using it to buy  like a big plane that's going to fly you over the   rest of the board and also all deck builders in a way are  a race, a race to points eee eugh and there's always that   element of trying to build the perfect deck yeah  and then knowing when to stop and being like well   actually no you've got a really good deck now use  it to win the game I think what happened is I'm   doing all cave strats as I was doing the teach  I explained the rules for caves and then he just   heard White Noise the caves you say I'm going to  spend my two battle token oh you know that always sunny episode   where they're like the money moves around in a circle I'm gonna move back into here  now I'm going to move and discard this other card and get another cave token I tend to fall into  the habit with deck builders this is why I love   them of just trying to make a little an ideal deck  engine and I don't really care about what it does   yeah I just want it to be a fun engine and that's  fine but with this it's having that tangible like   view of going oh gulp you know I've got to catch  up with people now there are other caves that specific cave it's   not even each subsequent cave he's more interested  if he ever gets here he's gonna be I maybe like triple dipped on   this cave but I think on this cave I'm now like I  don't know how many times I've been in this cave I   mean also I love the the simple choice to have the  the kind of like barriers these things oh they're   so good they're gates basically they're such a good decision if you're in the lead then it  means that you spend a certain resource or do a   thing to get through those gates to continue it  just counts really all it counts as as one extra   space yes but one extra space could slow you down  a lot and then as a lovely kicker it means at the   end of the game in the event of a tie whoever has  more of those things wins so it means that you're   you're being penalized if you are the player  who's constantly out front but when it comes to   it it might be what wins you the game yeah they're  like a resource as well as like a barrier which is   it's clever but it's a resource you might never need yea I  mean that's the thing is like I think it's really   it's a really good bit of game design because it  it makes you feel like something has real value   it's not just like oh this is annoying it's like  this is annoying but I got this like 30% of the   words you're saying are swear words which means  it is a good game enough that you can spend some   of your like hard-earned hands to break a barrier  that might be useful if you are in the contention   to win the game so when you're breaking those  you're thinking like well I'm going to break   them because I'm going I'm going to win and it's  a good way of checking that confidence being like   well if you think that you're going to win that  much well we're going to have to pull you down a   a little bit and I mean I feel like that energy  as well of of people kind of clumping around and   being lazy and everyone standing and being like  hey maybe I'll let you go through this first **** eughhh okay okay I hate you at one point I think I was  just blocking you all by standing in a position   that was really annoying for everyone else the  fact that the expansion added the ability to   occasionally move other people's pieces backwards  um the player to your left moves you two spaces voodoo oh   no where are we going to go baby completely ruined  me at one point where I'd taken a whole bunch of   horrible curse stuff in order to go through this  amazing shortcut and then the last curse I took   allowed you to just move move yourself and move  me back and then move you moved yourself in and   you stole my shortcut that I cursed myself for  okay well first of all I'm going to move into   darkness I have to take a bad that means I'll need to heroes and hexes I will sell that oh uh I  think that's I'm now phasing through time I'm three men at once I   think that's every other player moves you one  hex let me uh uh wait-wait-wait look Quinns I'm not sure about this expansion in turn order  each other player may immediately move all their  pieces onto an adjacent unoccupied space ignore   space requirements let's go baby incredible  amazing that is so annoying I did the the the   base game is this but without the purple **** no no I know and the purple things are great don't get me wrong   even though I said that's so annoying it's still  great I mean that was very Indiana Jones that was   very like damn you Dr Jones it's extra good because  you stepped in the way it's literally so good it's   literally so good it's unbelievably frustrating I  was taking that hit for that reason I think that   blocking aspect is just like so strong though like  the fact that it has it isn't just like like we   said with other deck builders kind of being a race  game like they are you know Dominion is a race to   points but having this physical actual like track  that you are racing down gives it so much like   visible sort of immediacy in presence for like  families who want to get into this game like you   know rolling a dice and moving a thing is like the  most common type of game that families are used   to and you just change the dice to some cards  and you've got something that is approachable   but also it has all the meanness of that like  physical trap uh person to my left moves me two spaces Tom please oh Tom I was going to  move you forward get you out of this **** just free him   from this although he'll be stuck there which is almost  funnier oh there's another cave there no he's got loads of   money that's the thing no I'm moving backwards  is just the right thing to do surely like yeah   okay it's the fact that like it's not just a score  tracker it's the fact that you see someone move to   an area and then go ah and you're like yeah how  you going to get through that huh and watching   sometimes people just get stuck in an area for  a couple of turns because they just can't do   it yet there's some really cool stuff you can do  like imagine you know you're playing with someone   and they're going towards you know they've built  their deck to be really good at getting across   the ocean and they get right up to this lovely  three ore space and then you just sit right in   front of them and one of my favorite things you  can do is you can be sat right in front of them   and you can be like you know what this isn't an  ideal hand I'll just bin this hand and draw a new   one and just completely waste their time and and  there's so much spite in there that I think is   delightful oh yeah and very easy to access as well like  this is a super approachable game yeah I mean I   taught this to my family over Christmas and we  played with this copy of it uh and you know it's   German like there's a lot like obviously there's  not a lot of language in this game anyway but the   the little helpful things in front of you aren't  that helpful if they're in German and you're not   a German speaker the Spiel Zoo uh and obviously  some of the text on the cards is also in German   which doesn't help but still it's simple enough  that it didn't matter the iconography is very   clean and like there is like literally like the  amount of text in this game is about this much on   a card and you could look at that and be like  I know what that does already the final thing   I think about this is just really clever is the  fact that you have all of these different cards   that can potentially be in the shop but the way  that the game sets you up with a shop of these   things yeah and then when something runs out  in the shop and there's a space a player then   going to the shop gets to add something in and  buy one of those if they want to so I love the   fact that you've got this incredible as a base  game a pretty incredible scope of things going on   and then obviously with expansions more things  without it getting into that overwhelm zone of   being like well what do you want to buy from  these million things the fact that actually   it's like yeah there's all this but really you  just need to know what these things do this is   what you need to care about right now and maybe  you'll need to care about exactly one of these   cards that enter the shop and then you do get  that lovely moment of like when there is a space   empty and you something you're like - you get to pick - ooo ooo and it's exciting  rather than daunting right exactly it means you   can then have a look at things pick something  you specifically want now but it means also it's   just it allows the game to be taught as you play  you don't have to do that thing of going well and   this does this and this does this and this does  this you can just introduce things one at a time   and go now we've got this person here which does  this what does this foot do again just move into any   space except a Mountain I'm going to Capitan there  cave cave okay cave cave oooo two little paddles for   your little boat two little paddles for my boaty  boat this boy loves caves this boy freaking loves cave   what are you talking about I've never seen a cave  in my life it's neat it's a Reiner classic it is   a Reiner classic I think it's a fantastic game  it's so snappy and immediate and so grabby and   also just so approachable so simple to get to  the table but it has so much juice to it like   if you want to play this with your family you can  play it in a very like sort of straightforward and   simple way where things are just like immediate  and you just play the cards and move but you're   playing it with people who played a lot of deck  builders it becomes something else entirely um I we didn't   play this game at two players no and you may have  noticed as I set this up the two player has you   having two pieces that you can exclusively use to  block and irritate people so this at two is a whole   different box of frogs because it really leans  into that cruelty it's a box of horrible frogs it is a box of horrible frogs   but that's it you know obviously the the first  player token is a fedora and I mean really if you   think about it like it is very clearly modeled  on that kind of Indiana Jones Style Adventure   I was wondering where you were going with that no  no no no no but it's it is that like if you think   about it Indiana Jones films a lot of it is him  irritating other people and him being irritated   by other people yeah for sure a lot of it is like frustration of  being like aha we've broken this bridge and being   like why you why you done that and that I think  that's captured in this game you know you still   need a way to get from here to yes I'm very aware of that ok-ok I'm- I'll cross that bridge and die on it when it   comes I really adore how the cards that you put  into your deck feel like they're not necessarily   characters they haven't got that much characterization put into them but you really start looking for   the person who you need at the right time and when  they arrive you want to give them a little smooch   like if you're stuck in a river and you're waiting  for ages for your one captain that you put into   your deck like who knows when and then when it  finally arrives it just feels incredible oh my captain   my sweet captain although obviously sometimes  the captain turns up later yes and you're like   oh we're in a village now somebody turned up to  work thanks for the boat you berk should we rank   this thing let's put this somewhere in the shut  up and sit down top 100 alright this is a pretty   quick and simple addition to the shut up and sit  down copyrighted uh board it's going above Agricola it's going above Agricola that's what we decided  in our discussion last time oh blimey jeez   it's what we're going to decide this time it's fine why are  we putting it above Agricola Matt cuz it's better this   is the nuanced content that people subscribe to  us for we had a big discussion about this last time   and Quinns got very angry but I can't remember  in favor or against what I just think he was conflicted [Music] he was there to argue but I don't think  he knew why I think he was arguing for El Dorado   being better as in it's more no we were saying  it's better cuz it's more fun we realize that Agricola is important it's a game that's like it's got a  history it's relevant it's impressive how much it   holds up yeah and that's cool and so much of its  design has trickled down into all kinds of games   since then it is an important game it's important it's  a good game but this game this game is just really   fun just really fun and that means El Dorado using  our not exactly clear system for rankings that   we're going to work on as we do this series goes  goes there goes above Agricola this this time what numbers are   they we don't know we still don't know nothing has a number until we've  done 100 episodes yeah so you just we have to wait   a little while wait til episode 100 and we'll  probably we'll probably have worked it out by then that's it   now put it away yeah this was a weird one um  because we're in the Curse Zone thank you so   much for watching the shut up & sit down top 100 we'll  be back next time if you've enjoyed this show   then you can watch it whenever you want with eyes and- bonus bits we do we do extra stuff yeah also there's   loads of bonus stuff if you want to support shut up and sit down you can get loads of bonus bits   behind the scenes nonsense and lots of other fun  things yeah uh so do check it out if you if you'd   like more things we'll see you next time everybody  goodbye [Applause] great completely unhinged yeah

Channel: Shut Up & Sit Down

Views: 131,830

Keywords: Shut Up and Sit Down, SUSD, SU&SD, Board Games, Board Gaming, Boardgame, Board Game, Gaming, Tabletop, Fun Games, Quintin Smith, Matt Lees, Tom Brewster, SUSD Top 100, Top 100 Board Games, SU&SD Top, Top 100, Best Board Game

Id: UYrhTAD-D5s

Length: 20min 35sec (1235 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 29 2024