Pyramid Review
Hobby Games: The 100 Best
Published by Green Ronin Publishing
Edited by James Lowder
400-page b&w softcover; $24.95
Every January, there are lists of the previous year's best games and, taking the longer view, any gathering of gamers in general easily dissolves into a discussion -- or, in less generous terms, an argument -- about the best games of all time. It's a debate that can never be settled, of course, but if you want some truly knowing voices to offer their opinions, try Hobby Games: The 100 Best.
The object of the book is to wax enthusiastic about the 100 best games . . .
. . . and this it does. It's as subjective as any such list, but the star power of this one's authors lend it considerable weight. Editor James Lowder had a round centennial of some of the most famous names in the gaming industry write essays about what they thought were the finest products ever. The one hard-and-fast rule was that no author could talk about a game on which he was a principle creator. The result is an interesting series of articles on games and gaming written by the old hands of the genre. Each offers his own take on what makes a game "one of the best," and in the process, readers gain a bit of insight into the inner workings of the pastime that keeps so many transfixed around the dining-room table.
Here you'll find legends of the hobby like Marc W. Miller penning words about the old Lensman board game, and Warren Spector on Tikal, along with relative newcomers like Philip Reed . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 29, 2008
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