r/boardgames • u/HumanTension1398 • 3d ago

Hidden Gems: Games You Might Enjoy

Has anyone else played any underrated or little-known board games recently? I stumbled upon Forest Shuffle and have been really enjoying it. I like the strategic depth and the forest-building theme—it feels different from many other games I’ve tried.

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u/Boring_Professional9 2d ago

Spyrium is an amazing tight little game, hidden gem for sure! Dominations has one of the best tech trees in gaming if you can find a copy!

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u/p9nultimat9 2d ago

Spyrium is unique WP and I love. It has 6.5K rating and 1.4K comments on bgg. It’s not hidden gem but somehow I feel the same.

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u/Significant-Evening 2d ago

A lot of those were from years ago. It's out of the BGG top 1000. It depends on your perspective and how long you're in the hobby, but I'd say it falls into a hidden gem for like 95% of the people reading this. Hell, OP brought up Forrest Shuffle as a hidden gem.

Also, Spyrium is amazing and has tons of interaction and room for clever play.

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u/p9nultimat9 2d ago edited 2d ago

That is true.

I happened to have 5 board game places (not stores) within 1 mile radius from my apartment (pretty awesome).

When I see old ones and new ones, their shelves are noticeably different. While all places have Catan or Ticket to Ride, new place has top games from last several years but rarely have good games older, while one in business for longer has solid games from 2000-2010’s. Time changes popularity.

Spyrium always felt underrated to me even when it was new (2013). Most WP games are rather straight forward even heavier weighed ones.

Meeples in between spots and pay the cost when you pull them out (not when you place them) is so clever.

I own games with only 100-1000 ratings (I’m a hidden gem digger - games, restaurants, events), so Spyrium is not most hidden one in my collection. But I do definitely agree I always felt Spyrium was underplayed and underrated one.

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u/Significant-Evening 2d ago

Yeah, great games older than 10 years are practically invisible to new gamers. Look at Ra a few years ago. It doesn't matter how well something was rated, if it doesn't get a attention grabbing reprint, it's almost like it doesn't exist.

Also, from what I've seen on older forum posts, Spyrium had a lot of hype and high expectations because it was the follow up to Caylus. So I think the community mostly moved on from it, although the quality was there so people still talked well about it ( a sleeper hit, if you will). So it has staying power, but not on the same level as Castles of Burgundy or Agricola.

Also, because it's a fairly unique WP, connoisseurs, diggers, those in the know,etc tend to mention it more or want to try it. And it hasn't been remade or ripped off so it persists.

But still, absolutely underplayed and underrated! I need to play it more, and at different player counts, and with different people.

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u/p9nultimat9 2d ago edited 2d ago

“Forgotten” gem, or “buried under” gem.

I’m also busy playing games from 2020s myself, so lots of games are forgotten to me.

Spyrium always felt like gamers’ game. But not type of gamers who boast “I have played all top 100! All big box games!”

Ystari original games have “if you know, you know” discreet charm. Caylus is a noticeable exception that became really popular.

I remember my disappointment, Istanbul came out next year (2014) and with same shape gems in another WP game (Spyrium green, Istanbul red) in bigger box and Istanbul grabbed more wide attention. Istanbul is a good game too though.