Kill, Marry, F...But Board Games

Hoping the title of this post won't get me cancelled!

This image is an AI image. I do not have a personal graphic designer. Plz don’t hate me.

Most of you are probably familiar with Kill / Marry / F from high school, right? If not, go ahead and look it up… maybe in incognito mode.

Anyway, I started thinking about how to adapt it for board games, and landed on this:

• Marry = a game you would play through sickness and in health.

• F (Play Once) = great experience, but one play will do.

• Cull = sorry not sorry?

A slightly more civilized version, if I do say so myself.

For this, I’ll be pulling from a mix of the BGG Top 100, the most played games lists, and a few other rankings. Some games may not appear on those lists directly, but I’ll do my best to keep things in the same weight and category.

Alright, let’s have some fun with it. I’ll start with five matchups, and if it lands well, I might make this a recurring series. I’ve also loosely grouped games into categories so comparisons stay relatively fair.

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1st Match-Up - Quick Card Games: Flip 7 vs. Take 5 vs. Scout

• Marry - Take 5: While I have only played Take 5 (aka 6 Nimmt) digitally, I really, really like it. We do not usually have game groups large enough for it to own, but in this category, it’s not even really a content IMO.

• F - Scout: This game was all of the hotness not too many years ago. I played it, I didn’t get why it was so hot, played it again, got it a little bit more, then landed on it just being ok. So I’d play this one once (more).

• Cull - Flip 7: This might be controversial, but I don’t like Flip 7. I will play it, and there’s a chance I might have fun, but I don’t like it. I like push your luck, I like quick and easy to teach games, but I’d much rather play just about anything in this category compared to Flip 7.

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2nd Match-Up - Racing: Heat vs. Flamme Rouge vs. Thunder Road

• Marry - Flamme Rouge: Call this love at first site, because I played it once and that’s all I needed to put this in the “games I adore” category. We don’t own it, it’s hard to find and pricey, but the one play of it from back in 2021 still resonates. Eloping with Flamme Rouge and you cannot stop me!

• F - Thunder Road: I enjoy and own Thunder Road, but it’s not a game I’d choose to play if I’m in a group. It needs the right people and the right enviorenment, so that’s why it’s just a one night stand for me here.

• Cull - Heat Pedal to the Metal: Another controversial one here, but I didn’t like Heat at all. I played it digitally, and it fell flat. I even bought it to see what everyone else saw in it…and it still felt flat. For me, it was just a gaming experience that wasn’t even a little bit of fun. The hotness got me on this one.

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3rd Match-Up - Small Box Card Games: Castle Combo vs. Faraway vs. FlipToons

• Marry - Castle Combo: I adore this game. It’s quick, it’s easy to learn, packs plenty of strategy, and the expansion adds even more to an already phenomenal small box game. I will never pass up a play of this.

• F - FlipToons: This was my No. 1 game of 2025, but it lands in the F here because well, you could be the first to eclipse 30 points, only to lose during the final flip. So, playing it once only for it to let you down? Fits for the F in this match-up

• Cull - Faraway: I like Faraway a lot, and we are not actually culling it. This is a hypothetical cull so don’t tell my copy I wrote this. Faraway’s drafting and scoring is not something I have seen in any other game. It burns my brain though.

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4th Match-Up - Nature & Critters: Wingspan vs. Everdell vs. Cascadia

• Marry - Everdell: Gorgeous artwork, tight gameplay, fun mechanics all packed into one. Everdell was one of the first bigger games we got when first started off in the hobby. I’ll never turn down a play of Everdell, even though I prefer Duo to its OG base. The expansions for Everdell change the game in some really fun ways, too. I like a game that has a good foundation and more to learn about it. So, Everdell, will you marry me (and the other games I’ve committed to marrying)?

• F - Cascadia: This one was tough. It’s pretty even with Wingspan in my head, but if both Cascadia and Wingspan were trying to seduce me, I think Cascadia probably has a better chance. I like the drafting and the variable scoring cards. If I only played Cascadia once ever again, that would be totally fine.

• Cull - Wingspan: Wingspan was another early collection mainstay, but we eventually culled it before buying it again a few years later. We enjoy Wingspan, but it just isn’t the peak of the board game space anymore. I’d be happy to play it, but would also be fine not playing it.

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5th Match-Up - 2 Player Hotness: Toy Battle vs. Tag Team vs. Agent Avenue

• Marry - Toy Battle: A game under $30 that comes with eight maps to play on, all of which have different effects for placement? Hard not to marry the hell outta Toy Battle. This one is super easy to learn and teach and the box is so deceiving. It looks like a silly little kids game, but there’s some abstract strategy and area control elements that I just love.

• F - Agent Avenue: We own this one and it’s terrific. I could play in five minutes, or even 10. Rarely above that. So it’s a good “quickie”. Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. In AA, you are trying to catch your opponent before they catch you, so it definitely has some push/pull, and picking between a card you know and a card you don’t. Mysertious little one, this Agent Avenue is.

• Cull - Tag Team: Pains me to say this, but out of these three, Tag Team just barely lands in the cull spot, even though we own it and are not culling (see note above from Faraway). It’s a really fun auto-battler, but I think players that are familiar with it have a distinct advantage over new players.

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Well, that was a good time. Hope you had fun too. Leave a comment for some match-ups you’d like me to do for the next post like this. Or maybe tell me this is dumb and to never post another thing like it again or else.

Either way, thanks for reading, you’re welcome for a post three days in a row (I can’t believe I did it). See ya next week!