From the Archives (August 27, 2007) -- Interviewing James Lowder About HOBBY GAMES: THE 100 BEST

In 2007, Green Ronin Publishing released one of the best books on hobby gaming ever written. Their book, Hobby Games: The 100 Best, featured thoughtful articles highlighting some of the best games in the history of the gaming hobby written by some of the best game designers in the industry. Some of the games were well known and are played by thousands of gamers on a regular basis, others were rare games that influenced the creation of the games people play today. One thing is certain, the game became a Christmas Wish List for many gamers and started an internet meme where game hobbyists listed the games they own/play.

Your average consumer isn't a collector of games and doesn't have room in their house for 1000+ board/card/roleplaying/family games and resources like these two books allow for those consumers to purchase games based on the opinions of individuals who have a great deal of experience in designing and playing games.

In August of that year, I and my fellow Geekerati panelists had the honor of chatting with editor James Lowder about the book and added some of our own recommendations. You can listen to the episode here:

The list of games in this edition a wonderful selection of the popular and the rare and consumers cannot go wrong with any of the games on the list.

In case you are wondering, I have provided a copy of the games included in the new volume below. Those games that are in bold are games that I own and those games that are italicized are games that I have merely played. Some of the games I now own, like Apocalypse (aka The Warlord) and War & Peace, were purchased because of this book.

1. Bruce C. Shelley -- Acquire
2. Nicole Lindroos -- Amber Diceless
3. Ian Livingstone -- Amun-Re
4. Stewart Wieck -- Ars Magica
5. Thomas M. Reid -- Axis & Allies
6. Tracy Hickman  -- Battle Cry
7. Philip Reed -- BattleTech
8. Justin Achilli -- Blood Bowl
9. Mike Selinker -- Bohnanza
10. Tom Dalgliesh -- Britannia
11. Greg Stolze -- Button Men
12. Monte Cook -- Call of Cthulhu
13. Steven E. Schend -- Carcassonne
14. Jeff Tidball -- Car Wars
15. Bill Bridges -- Champions
16. Stan! -- Circus Maximus
17. Tom Jolly -- Citadels
18. Steven Savile -- Civilization
19. Bruno Faidutti -- Cosmic Encounter
20. Andrew Looney -- Cosmic Wimpout
21. Skip Williams -- Dawn Patrol
22. Alan R. Moon -- Descent
23. Larry Harris -- Diplomacy
24. Richard Garfield -- Dungeons & Dragons
25. William W. Connors -- Dynasty League Baseball
26. Christian T. Petersen -- El Grande
27. Alessio Cavatore -- Empires in Arms
28. Timothy Brown -- Empires of the Middle Ages
29. Allen Varney -- The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
30. Phil Yates -- Fire and Fury
31. William Jones -- Flames of War
32. Rick Loomis -- Fluxx
33. John Kovalic -- Formula Dé
34. Anthony J. Gallela -- The Fury of Dracula
35. Jesse Scoble -- A Game of Thrones
36. Lou Zocchi -- Gettysburg
37. James Wallis -- Ghostbusters
38. James M. Ward -- The Great Khan Game
39. Gav Thorpe  -- Hammer of the Scots
40. Uli Blennemann -- Here I Stand
41. S. Craig Taylor, Jr. -- A House Divided
42. Scott Haring -- Illuminati
43. Dana Lombardy -- Johnny Reb
44. Darren Watts -- Junta
45. Greg Stafford -- Kingmaker
46. Lester Smith -- Kremlin
47. Wolfgang Baur -- Legend of the Five Rings
48. Marc W. Miller -- Lensman
49. Ted S. Raicer -- London’s Burning
50. Teeuwynn Woodruff -- Lord of the Rings
51. Mike Breault -- Machiavelli
52. Jordan Weisman -- Magic: The Gathering
53. Steve Kenson -- Marvel Super Heroes
54. Gary Gygax -- Metamorphosis Alpha
55. Greg Costikyan -- My Life with Master
56. John D. Rateliff -- Mythos
57. Chris “Gerry” Klug -- Napoleon’s Last Battles
58. John Scott Tynes -- Naval War
59. Erick Wujcik -- Ogre
60. Marc Gascoigne -- Once Upon a Time
61. Mike Bennighof -- PanzerBlitz
62. Steve Jackson -- Paranoia
63. Shannon Appelcline -- Pendragon
64. JD Wiker -- Pirate’s Cove
65. Richard H. Berg -- Plague!
66. Martin Wallace -- Power Grid
67. Tom Wham -- Puerto Rico
68. Joseph Miranda -- Renaissance of Infantry
69. James Ernest -- RoboRally
70. Jennell Jaquays -- RuneQuest
71. Richard Dansky -- The Settlers of Catan
72. Ken St. Andre -- Shadowfist
73. Steven S. Long -- Shadowrun
74. Peter Corless -- Shadows over Camelot
75. Dale Donovan -- Silent Death: The Next Millennium
76. Matt Forbeck -- Space Hulk
77. Ray Winninger -- Squad Leader
78. Lewis Pulsipher -- Stalingrad
79. Bruce Nesmith -- Star Fleet Battles
80. Steve Winter -- The Sword and the Flame
81. Jeff Grubb -- Tales of the Arabian Nights
82. Shane Lacy Hensley -- Talisman
83. Douglas Niles -- Terrible Swift Sword
84. Ed Greenwood -- Thurn and Taxis
85. Mike Fitzgerald -- Ticket to Ride
86. Thomas Lehmann -- Tigris & Euphrates
87. Warren Spector -- Tikal
88. David “Zeb” Cook -- Toon
89. Mike Pondsmith -- Traveller
90. Zev Shlasinger -- Twilight Struggle
91. Kenneth Hite -- Unknown Armies
92. Sandy Petersen -- Up Front
93. R. Hyrum Savage -- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
94. George Vasilakos  -- Vampire: The Masquerade
95. Kevin Wilson -- Vinci
96. R.A. Salvatore -- War and Peace
97. Jack Emmert -- Warhammer 40,000
98. Chris Pramas -- The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
99. Steve Jackson -- The Warlord
100. John Wick -- Wiz-War

Which of these games do you own or have you played? Which games from the past decade should be added to the list?