Thank you, Dice Tower, for putting this together. I may not have agreed with all of the winners, but I had fun! We are lucky to have so many examples of great board game art!
I was essentially out of board games, and what brought me back was that Everdell cover. I saw it, immediately looked up a review (Zee's), reconnected with The Dice Tower, went all in and effectively got back into the hobby, much to my wallet's dismay. It called to me and I'm not even sure why, as objectively I think On Mars is the best board game cover I've seen. My top five from this list were: 1. Everdell, 2. On Mars, 3. Weather Machine, 4. Leaving Earth, 5. Wingspan.
I think that’s my top 5 as well, except replace wingspan with Formosa tea. I know what you mean about Everdell. On mars is more striking to me, but no other cover draws me in like Everdell. It compels me to play.
I feel like they lose the thread of the competition at times...this is supposed to be beautiful/best covers, and Wingspan is beautiful. It's like they were arguing that a simple cover is boring, but that just isn't true and isn't true for most people. Simple art is incredibly elegant at times, and certainly can be beautiful.
I think your opinion is colored by your thoughts on the game. The artwork is not unique or intriguing. The color palette is too muted. There's not a lot of texture. Think of all the birds of the world and you can picture 100 better covers in your head. If someone handed that cover painting to me as a print and without me knowing it was a game I'd toss it. It's entirely boring. It belongs next to a "Live Laugh Love" sign in a wine mom's kitchen.
@@chessthecatI disagree. I haven’t played Wingspan (though I did try out the app) and I like that cover a lot. It is so eye catching. Amongst all the dark, chaotic and color saturated covers in game stores, Wingspan is the one that jumps out and says “come look at me! I’m pretty!” I think that perhaps you might be forgetting that this is not “most beautiful piece of art for your wall” it is “most beautiful *GAME COVER* “ and as far as game covers go, Wingspan is very pretty. It’s simplicity is what makes it stunning.
I would also add that some of these covers are simply stunning when viewed in real life. Viewing on a computer screen doesn’t do some of these covers justice.
Yeah that definitely effected some covers more than others. Rising Sun for example. I always thought the cover was just okay, but the gameplay seemed interesting and when I got my hands on a copy I was shocked at how much better the cover looked in person.
Ive always thought that the monster on the Sleeping Gods cover looks a little dorky and looks slighty annoyed that theres a boat above it. Reminds me of that meme of that guy pointing to a butterfly.
Wingspans cover is more eye catching then people think. Our eyes are less attracted to busy things so the negative space does well. Plus our eyes are attracted to red so the bird stands out
Almost all of the best covers I was thinking of were mentioned in the video :) Except for: - Oath - Tapestry - Brass Lancashire - Kanban EV - Escape Plan - Dixit
re: Aquatica vs Abyss - it's always interesting to me (but not shocking, because I do it too) when people are shocked -- as many of the crew were at the responses to this pairing -- that their position on a very subjective question isn't validated by others. That being said, the question here is "Which is more beautiful?" and while both of these pieces of art are well done, neither are particularly compelling to me. And I would rather look at the seascape than the off-putting close up of a not-sure-what-it-is creature.
I know it's a matter of taste, but I'm a little disappointed with many of the choices and tons of misses. I would have changed more than half of those covers. I nevertheless enjoyed as always and the winner is such a gorgeous cover. -as a side note to Roy, if he's reading this, I think the contrast was off on the screen. I double-checked some of these covers on bgg and regained my faith in what I originally thought they looked like, which were a little different due to brightness/saturation issues. Particularly Merchants of the Dark Road 35:49 is dark and dim and the details are not visible. Yet again, kudos to you Roy and love how skillfully you put all these together.
For me it would have been Scythe. Everything on that cover 'covers' the entire game. The letter C as a scythe, the balance of farming on the foreground while there is battling in the distance. How the warfare is undeniably present, but not on the main focus. Just like the game itself.
The Best Inis Cover is the original English one done by the famous Painter that has the girl in red with people around her and wispy clouds in the sky. It is stunning in person. Easily 1 of the great covers of all time
Considering that my comment is the most liked comment in the entire comment section, you are in the vast minority and most people consider it an All Time Great Cover. I have multiple games on this list and they are nowhere in the same league. As an example, the Inis Cover is like 100x better than Mysterium
Chris going "also that's a moose... how do you fight against a moose?... you get in low, go for the jugular" and Zee going "WHAT?!" Was golden... I know it was an elk but Chris timing was great... plus... Elk or Moose... it would be the same strategy just saying😅
To quote Brennan Lee Mulligan "If you see an elk, you think 'That's a really big deer.' If you see a moose, you think 'Dear God, that's a monster from the dawn of time.'"
Only 15 minutes in and some of them seem really sold on combining as many strong colors as possible all at once and opposed to a uniform color scheme with a few strong highlights. Many of the ones they were advocating for, I would describe as garish.
I find it fascinating how many of these covers have very static compositions. Primary subjects seem to be placed dead center on the covers. And in a case like Planetarium, where you have a very strong dynamic imbalance, the result is a huge win. Many of these pieces are not good cover art, even when the piece is good art when standing alone.
I really enjoyed this exploration of board game cover art. There is so much that affects a person's response to art including color, texture, style, media, theme, and the incorporation of other graphic design elements (fonts, logos, etc.) that it can generally be quite subjective so it was interesting to see how people responded to the different covers. The selections for this video were very good and I would like to see more of this including other artists such as Kwanchai Moriya (Capital Lux, Falling Skies, Catacombs, ...), Satoshi Matsuura (Hidden Leaders), Tara McPherson and Scott Hartman (Dreamwell), Jacqui Davis (Euphoria), whoever created the Mythic Mischief cover, Gjermund Bohne (Riverside) ... and so many more. This could be a fun series. (Most of the games I own are an art collection as well as being games.)
Granted, I'm only 4 pairings in and it seems like the bias for games you like and are familiar with will obviously be stronger for this "beautiful" list than the previous "ugly" list. I have played Aquatica and not Abyss. By art, I would say Abyss is objectively the better art -- but still am emotionally drawn to Aquatica as beautiful and even more "pretty". But, that's also the difference between some definitions of "beautiful" vs. "best art". There is amazing art that I would not consider beautiful -- and, technically, they are asking for "most beautiful".
I would have voted for Aquatica without hestation. The cover for Abyss wouldn't ever get me to play the game or even get close to it. It might be artistically well done - I don't dispute that at all - but it also turns me away from the game immediately!
Well, I haven't played either but am familiar with them. Aquatica 100%. Abyss has a neat cover, but it feels like a gimmick and if it wasn't for the designer, I don't think it would have worked that well. The cover tells you nothing about the game whatsoever (not even the title!). In my opinion, it is objectively a bad cover.
I’m really enjoying these voting videos. Some I loved were knocked out early, but I do think the best cover won. Before I played Everdell, I saw it as a beautiful cover. After I played Everdell, the cover now immediately draws me in and makes me want to play, because it so accurately reflects the feeling I get when I dive into that game world.
I love that Planetarium made it. From the moment that game arrived on my doorstep, I LOVED it. I actually had it displayed for quite some time. The fact that the game is about creating and seeding planets ... it's really evocative.
Great video guys. You should do another one of these for sure. For me scythe or root would have won it. Contenders for next time... Cthulhu death may die, unconscious mind, and my favorite cover I've ever seen is dune war for arrakis.
I don't really see why Everdell is so loved, the yellow washes out so much of the background. As for what was missing I've always really liked the Cry Havoc cover but Gale Force Nines version of Dune is just so striking.
Some amazing covers here. Had a feeling whoever came out on top of the Everdell/Scythe matchup would win the whole thing. Surprising omissions from the 64 were Brass: Birmingham, Lisboa and Kanban EV (though I suppose four Lacerda/O'Toole titles might have been asking too much). My top five from the ones chosen were Scythe, Everdell, Weather Machine, Formosa Tea and On Mars. As entertaining as the bad covers video was, this was far more fun.
Ahh well - it’d be boring if we all agreed about everything, especially when it comes to art. Everdell and Sleeping Gods wouldn’t get close to my top 100.
Game covers that would have beaten *almost every covers in this video, for me: MIND MGMT, That Time You Killed Me, Horrified, Kings Dilemma and without a doubt: Unmatched Cobble & Fog (close to perfection if you ask me)
Late to the video, but my favorite cover was not here and to me is better than any one shown and it is Brass Birmingham. It is such a beautiful piece of art, with the reflections in the puddle and the white box
The worst board game covers vid is easy to agree with lol, but I have very different tastes to the ones that generally get picked for best eg bright vibrant cutesy artworks ad infinitum. Give me some dry historical euro artworks anyday, or something with some character, not just glitz and glamour!
I'm commenting during the first round, but since they're going in alphabetical order, it would seem Brass: Birmingham has been left out of the competition, therefore this whole thing is invalid.
I don't quite see the appeal of Everdell. It's good, but to me it just doesn't stand out. The colors seem to blend in, and while it's very well done art, at a glance it looks similar to others I've seen. The striking look of Etherfields, the beautiful art and kind of hazy aspect to the On Mars cover, the perspective and view of Formosa Tea, and just the striking quality of Sleeping Gods are all covers I would easily have chosen over Everdell personally. So it's really quite subjective, and here the match ups can create quite a difference as well. Just interesting to watch I suppose.
I tried to vote for Vengeance in the original Facebook poll, but the poll had stopped accepting new entries by the time I go there. That cover is awesome. Days of Ire was robbed. That cover looks so iconic. No idea how Mysterium made it that far. The cover is okay, but really nothing special.
I went through the poll and my top 8 after matchups were: Aquatica, Everdell, FermosaTea, Mysterium, On Mars, Rococo Deluxe, Sleeping Gods, Unfathomable
For the future, because you can definitely do this a couple of times and then have the winners of these fight against each other: Darwins choice has a great cover ISS vanguard is gorgeous Fractal into the void, noz out yet but looks cool Call to adventure Mind Mgmt Transmission Dixit Oath Callico Dreams Make it happen n.n
Before seeing the video, mine is: 1. Brass Lancashire Scythe Brass Birmingham Trajan The Lord of the Rings LCG Ultimate Railroads Arkham Horror 2nd ed. On Mars War of the Ring 1st ed. 10. Terraforming Mars
Great video and idea, Thank you. But you should consider to not show the poll too soon. Because that may influence some of the people as to which game they will vote. Apart from that, you did once again a terrific job. Keep the amazing content coming, I love it.
I was disappointed by a lot of this list. I feel like there are so many gorgeous covers that were not present here. I really feel like the people voted for their favourite games with okay box art. Don't get me wrong, there are absolutely splendid covers in this list, but also w WHOPPING amount of meh ones.
Loved this show, even if I didn’t agree with all the polls! So many of these are amazing works of art, and I had never even heard of Planetarium before this. Very curious how it plays now. (Also, I love Everdell and Andrew Bosley’s art work and it was definitely my pick to win this). :)
I play Planetarium every now and then with my partner. It's fun and light and puzzly but you got to think ahead. It's about forming planets in a solar system. The other components are also nice, the board with the planets and matter orbiting the star in the center, and the cards that show all kinds of events and changes that can happen to the planets, each with a little bit of sciency info for those interested in astrophysics.
You should do another bracket with the choices you thought should have gone through. For example Lacrimosa vs Atlantic Rising or Nemo's War vs Rising 5
Out of all of the top 10s I've watch, i really wished I was there for this one to throw down some of my opinions. I personally think that for much of this, the discussion deviated from 'best board game covers'. It is probably because people would disagree about what makes a good cover but I feel like it should be a mixture of art quality, composition, graphic design, and of course 'does it make you want to check out/buy the game'. I'm glad they came back to it at the end. I also think that if you have to zoom in to appreciate the art, it hasn't done its job. I also think that Eldritch Horror should have been in over Unfathomable. The Eldritch cover is so full of action and the framing and font work much better with the art in the page. Love that cover.
Salty that Inis(original) is not in contention… also escape plan, beyond the sun, euphoria, public market(port), solarius mission are some of my fave and worth including.. i hope they do this again..
Hmm, there were a lot of very average covers on this list, I think you should take nominations for a 2nd list and do another video, then put the winners against each other.
There are frequent threads in wargaming forums about cover and map art. Numerous stunning examples from over the decades (in a few cases, centuries!), and around the world.
I completely agree with Tom on Mike's reversal of opinion, the Root art style is incredible but the composition is so flat, especially compared to Etherfields. The latter winning the poll is the moment I knew for sure that the audience were voting 'properly' rather than voting for their favourites.
I think you folks should change the name of these challenges to "Best Game Cover ART of All Time". There's...a difference. Feels like everyone is just responding to the art 70% of the time. Sagrada, though not deserving much praise in any discussion, is a better cover design than Root. Root has great art. Some of it's on the cover. But that is bad design on the cover. The box with the title smack in the middle, alone, is enough to knock it out of any competition. But...the art that is on the Root box *is* great. But it ain't a great cover. SImilarly, Wingspan IS a better cover than Yamatai. And the Rising Sun cover is a WAY more sophisticated cover design than Zee's critique of ONE of the art elements implies 1:16:16
Yep - very much with you on this one. Wingspan is a far better design for a board game cover than Everdell - simple, striking, unique. Whether you’d prefer to have the subtler complexity of Everdell to look at on a poster on your wall is a different matter altogether.
Zee is hands down my favorite person on the Dice Tower channel but he’s totally wrong on the Wingspan cover. It’s elegant and striking. Chris is absolutely right.
I have Everdell, Sleeping Gods, Scythe, Cnavas and few more games from this video in my collection... BUT only game cover on display in my house is Batman Gotham City Chroinicles!
I would like to see this done again, but with a game store owner, Tom, an art critic, and a board game artist voting. That would be interesting.
Thank you, Dice Tower, for putting this together. I may not have agreed with all of the winners, but I had fun! We are lucky to have so many examples of great board game art!
I was essentially out of board games, and what brought me back was that Everdell cover. I saw it, immediately looked up a review (Zee's), reconnected with The Dice Tower, went all in and effectively got back into the hobby, much to my wallet's dismay. It called to me and I'm not even sure why, as objectively I think On Mars is the best board game cover I've seen. My top five from this list were: 1. Everdell, 2. On Mars, 3. Weather Machine, 4. Leaving Earth, 5. Wingspan.
I think that’s my top 5 as well, except replace wingspan with Formosa tea. I know what you mean about Everdell. On mars is more striking to me, but no other cover draws me in like Everdell. It compels me to play.
I feel like they lose the thread of the competition at times...this is supposed to be beautiful/best covers, and Wingspan is beautiful. It's like they were arguing that a simple cover is boring, but that just isn't true and isn't true for most people. Simple art is incredibly elegant at times, and certainly can be beautiful.
I think your opinion is colored by your thoughts on the game. The artwork is not unique or intriguing. The color palette is too muted. There's not a lot of texture. Think of all the birds of the world and you can picture 100 better covers in your head. If someone handed that cover painting to me as a print and without me knowing it was a game I'd toss it. It's entirely boring. It belongs next to a "Live Laugh Love" sign in a wine mom's kitchen.
@@chessthecatI disagree. I haven’t played Wingspan (though I did try out the app) and I like that cover a lot. It is so eye catching. Amongst all the dark, chaotic and color saturated covers in game stores, Wingspan is the one that jumps out and says “come look at me! I’m pretty!”
I think that perhaps you might be forgetting that this is not “most beautiful piece of art for your wall” it is “most beautiful *GAME COVER* “ and as far as game covers go, Wingspan is very pretty. It’s simplicity is what makes it stunning.
I would also add that some of these covers are simply stunning when viewed in real life. Viewing on a computer screen doesn’t do some of these covers justice.
I think that's one of the problems the Etherfield cover had. It looks much better in person than the image being used.
Yeah that definitely effected some covers more than others. Rising Sun for example. I always thought the cover was just okay, but the gameplay seemed interesting and when I got my hands on a copy I was shocked at how much better the cover looked in person.
Ive always thought that the monster on the Sleeping Gods cover looks a little dorky and looks slighty annoyed that theres a boat above it. Reminds me of that meme of that guy pointing to a butterfly.
Thank you! It bugs me so much, he looks out of place
This and the worst cover vids are some of the best entertainment I've seen. So much fun!
Wingspans cover is more eye catching then people think. Our eyes are less attracted to busy things so the negative space does well. Plus our eyes are attracted to red so the bird stands out
THAN
Couldnt agree more, its a simple but engaging design, that sells the games idea and art amazingly
Meltscape is also eye catching.
Almost all of the best covers I was thinking of were mentioned in the video :)
Except for:
- Oath
- Tapestry
- Brass Lancashire
- Kanban EV
- Escape Plan
- Dixit
re: Aquatica vs Abyss - it's always interesting to me (but not shocking, because I do it too) when people are shocked -- as many of the crew were at the responses to this pairing -- that their position on a very subjective question isn't validated by others.
That being said, the question here is "Which is more beautiful?" and while both of these pieces of art are well done, neither are particularly compelling to me. And I would rather look at the seascape than the off-putting close up of a not-sure-what-it-is creature.
I know it's a matter of taste, but I'm a little disappointed with many of the choices and tons of misses. I would have changed more than half of those covers. I nevertheless enjoyed as always and the winner is such a gorgeous cover. -as a side note to Roy, if he's reading this, I think the contrast was off on the screen. I double-checked some of these covers on bgg and regained my faith in what I originally thought they looked like, which were a little different due to brightness/saturation issues. Particularly Merchants of the Dark Road 35:49 is dark and dim and the details are not visible. Yet again, kudos to you Roy and love how skillfully you put all these together.
Mike on a box cover would win every time 😍
If Mike was on that faces game cover, it would've been on this list instead of the bad list.
22:31 Formosa Tea, I’d never seen that game before and instantly my eye was caught by that cover. Very nice in my opinion.
44:10 Planetarium, once again a stunning cover of a game I’ve never heard of anywhere! Wow that is very nice.
RE: Leaving Earth. I love how the moon looks like a bow and the rocket and fire/smoke look like an arrow being shot up into the night sky.
For me it would have been Scythe. Everything on that cover 'covers' the entire game. The letter C as a scythe, the balance of farming on the foreground while there is battling in the distance. How the warfare is undeniably present, but not on the main focus. Just like the game itself.
Actually the letter C has a Sickle. Lol
Yes, the artwork is the best that I own.
Thank you, Dice Tower! A Very interesting topic! Enjoyed tapping into the artistic realm.
Inis not even being in the field is an Absolute Crime
The newer cover, maybe. The original was hideous.
The Best Inis Cover is the original English one done by the famous Painter that has the girl in red with people around her and wispy clouds in the sky. It is stunning in person. Easily 1 of the great covers of all time
@@jasonjanisewski78 that’s the one I was thinking of. Really ugly cover. It would have fitted in the other list.
Considering that my comment is the most liked comment in the entire comment section, you are in the vast minority and most people consider it an All Time Great Cover. I have multiple games on this list and they are nowhere in the same league. As an example, the Inis Cover is like 100x better than Mysterium
@@jasonjanisewski78 congratulations I guess
I'm so glad you're finally using overhead mics! A little echoy, but hugely improved overall!
Chris going "also that's a moose... how do you fight against a moose?... you get in low, go for the jugular"
and Zee going "WHAT?!"
Was golden... I know it was an elk but Chris timing was great... plus... Elk or Moose... it would be the same strategy just saying😅
To quote Brennan Lee Mulligan "If you see an elk, you think 'That's a really big deer.' If you see a moose, you think 'Dear God, that's a monster from the dawn of time.'"
Only 15 minutes in and some of them seem really sold on combining as many strong colors as possible all at once and opposed to a uniform color scheme with a few strong highlights. Many of the ones they were advocating for, I would describe as garish.
I find it fascinating how many of these covers have very static compositions. Primary subjects seem to be placed dead center on the covers. And in a case like Planetarium, where you have a very strong dynamic imbalance, the result is a huge win.
Many of these pieces are not good cover art, even when the piece is good art when standing alone.
Either of the Brass games Birmingham/ Lancashire should have been in there!!!!
Was just thinking about Leaving Earth and how much I wish I had a complete version of that game, love that cover (and especially the cards inside)
Would like to have seen Endangered. It is such a striking cover and connects the player to the emotion that they feel during gameplay.
I really enjoyed this exploration of board game cover art. There is so much that affects a person's response to art including color, texture, style, media, theme, and the incorporation of other graphic design elements (fonts, logos, etc.) that it can generally be quite subjective so it was interesting to see how people responded to the different covers.
The selections for this video were very good and I would like to see more of this including other artists such as Kwanchai Moriya (Capital Lux, Falling Skies, Catacombs, ...), Satoshi Matsuura (Hidden Leaders), Tara McPherson and Scott Hartman (Dreamwell), Jacqui Davis (Euphoria), whoever created the Mythic Mischief cover, Gjermund Bohne (Riverside) ... and so many more. This could be a fun series.
(Most of the games I own are an art collection as well as being games.)
Kwanchai is a favorite of mine, and I really dig the Dreamwell art.
How is Oath not on this list. I'm in shock. The use of color on that cover is incredible.
I'm baffled that Planetarium got as far as it did. Sure it's a striking image but I found it got less interesting the more I saw it.
Spoiler alert: I couldn't disagree more with the poll for Abyss v Aquatica! What were people thinking.. 😮
Granted, I'm only 4 pairings in and it seems like the bias for games you like and are familiar with will obviously be stronger for this "beautiful" list than the previous "ugly" list.
I have played Aquatica and not Abyss. By art, I would say Abyss is objectively the better art -- but still am emotionally drawn to Aquatica as beautiful and even more "pretty".
But, that's also the difference between some definitions of "beautiful" vs. "best art". There is amazing art that I would not consider beautiful -- and, technically, they are asking for "most beautiful".
Probably the exact same thing you were just opposite. 😉
I would have voted for Aquatica without hestation. The cover for Abyss wouldn't ever get me to play the game or even get close to it. It might be artistically well done - I don't dispute that at all - but it also turns me away from the game immediately!
Well, I haven't played either but am familiar with them. Aquatica 100%. Abyss has a neat cover, but it feels like a gimmick and if it wasn't for the designer, I don't think it would have worked that well. The cover tells you nothing about the game whatsoever (not even the title!). In my opinion, it is objectively a bad cover.
Also why not Abyss vs King of Tokyo: Dark Edition for similar composition themes?
I’m really enjoying these voting videos. Some I loved were knocked out early, but I do think the best cover won. Before I played Everdell, I saw it as a beautiful cover. After I played Everdell, the cover now immediately draws me in and makes me want to play, because it so accurately reflects the feeling I get when I dive into that game world.
How can this even be a legit contest without the Cosmic Frog cover?
"Seasons of Love" - that’s a second time I hear Tom making a Broadway reference in a video. Waiting for more! :)
art vs design considerations is the key determining factor. uniqueness is another
I like the Everdell Cover but compared to Scythe it is not even close. However, very fun show to watch. Thank you!
Yeah I feel like a lot of these are determined by how much people enjoy the game more than the actual coverart
Brilliant contest to watch! Discussion, great art and unpredictable public voting!
I love that Planetarium made it. From the moment that game arrived on my doorstep, I LOVED it. I actually had it displayed for quite some time. The fact that the game is about creating and seeding planets ... it's really evocative.
Great work Dice Tower! I would have love to see "Covert" in there!
Lots of pretty, cartoony, and colorful. And water, lots of water. 😂 Interesting list
Great video guys. You should do another one of these for sure. For me scythe or root would have won it. Contenders for next time... Cthulhu death may die, unconscious mind, and my favorite cover I've ever seen is dune war for arrakis.
Next time you could have a wildcard where the top 4-5 losers compete for one last spot.
I don't really see why Everdell is so loved, the yellow washes out so much of the background. As for what was missing I've always really liked the Cry Havoc cover but Gale Force Nines version of Dune is just so striking.
Alternative sagrada, a stain glass window being installed with light rays coming through
I fully agree with Zee on the Sagrada Cover. The most generic angle of view they could find.
geez the people who expect full on movie budget production sound on these videos crack me up
Some amazing covers here. Had a feeling whoever came out on top of the Everdell/Scythe matchup would win the whole thing. Surprising omissions from the 64 were Brass: Birmingham, Lisboa and Kanban EV (though I suppose four Lacerda/O'Toole titles might have been asking too much). My top five from the ones chosen were Scythe, Everdell, Weather Machine, Formosa Tea and On Mars.
As entertaining as the bad covers video was, this was far more fun.
I’m boggled that people like the Oceans cover. It looks like a Lisa Frank story exploded.
A game not listed that I would have loved to have seen is the cover for King of Tokyo Dark Edition.
When is the voting show for prettiest marble?
The more people there are at the table, the harder it is for Tom to wrangle the chaos.
Very interesting introduction! Great to see Etherfields and Flamecraft two board games. 😉
Ahh well - it’d be boring if we all agreed about everything, especially when it comes to art. Everdell and Sleeping Gods wouldn’t get close to my top 100.
Game covers that would have beaten *almost every covers in this video, for me:
MIND MGMT, That Time You Killed Me, Horrified, Kings Dilemma and without a doubt: Unmatched Cobble & Fog (close to perfection if you ask me)
How was Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn not on this list. It is one of the most striking covers ever
Late to the video, but my favorite cover was not here and to me is better than any one shown and it is Brass Birmingham. It is such a beautiful piece of art, with the reflections in the puddle and the white box
Who is hammering! Lol. You guys did great keeping your composure.
baffled that planetarium kept winning. it's just an image of a planet. cant even see the fonts that well it's so dark.
The worst board game covers vid is easy to agree with lol, but I have very different tastes to the ones that generally get picked for best eg bright vibrant cutesy artworks ad infinitum. Give me some dry historical euro artworks anyday, or something with some character, not just glitz and glamour!
I'm commenting during the first round, but since they're going in alphabetical order, it would seem Brass: Birmingham has been left out of the competition, therefore this whole thing is invalid.
What does the Dice Tower have against a Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher???
#SaveAtlantisRising
I don't quite see the appeal of Everdell. It's good, but to me it just doesn't stand out. The colors seem to blend in, and while it's very well done art, at a glance it looks similar to others I've seen. The striking look of Etherfields, the beautiful art and kind of hazy aspect to the On Mars cover, the perspective and view of Formosa Tea, and just the striking quality of Sleeping Gods are all covers I would easily have chosen over Everdell personally. So it's really quite subjective, and here the match ups can create quite a difference as well. Just interesting to watch I suppose.
I wish there was a way to use the box art for Everdell for the big box. Many great boxes lost to the expansion or big box issue over the years.
I tried to vote for Vengeance in the original Facebook poll, but the poll had stopped accepting new entries by the time I go there. That cover is awesome.
Days of Ire was robbed. That cover looks so iconic.
No idea how Mysterium made it that far. The cover is okay, but really nothing special.
surprised no one brought up that everdell cover looks inspired by wind in the willows.
I went through the poll and my top 8 after matchups were:
Aquatica, Everdell, FermosaTea, Mysterium, On Mars, Rococo Deluxe, Sleeping Gods, Unfathomable
WOW! Saying Wingpan should get blown away by Yamatai? I am now saying Wingspan is amazing but Yamatai is actively bad.
Roy used the wrong cover for Dwellings of Eldervale. Should have used the limited edition Croc cover.
For the future, because you can definitely do this a couple of times and then have the winners of these fight against each other:
Darwins choice has a great cover
ISS vanguard is gorgeous
Fractal into the void, noz out yet but looks cool
Call to adventure
Mind Mgmt
Transmission
Dixit
Oath
Callico
Dreams
Make it happen n.n
Mike could find 30 better covers, but was wrong almost every round, lol.
I want to see his top 64.
Before seeing the video, mine is:
1. Brass Lancashire
Scythe
Brass Birmingham
Trajan
The Lord of the Rings LCG
Ultimate Railroads
Arkham Horror 2nd ed.
On Mars
War of the Ring 1st ed.
10. Terraforming Mars
Great video and idea, Thank you. But you should consider to not show the poll too soon. Because that may influence some of the people as to which game they will vote. Apart from that, you did once again a terrific job. Keep the amazing content coming, I love it.
I would have had King of Tokyo: Dark Edition and Dinosaur World as contenders
Yes, KoT Dark I agree!
Best cover I think, and I know add it to the poll next, but its probably too new anyway, but iss vangaurd!! That cover is so insanely beautiful!!!
Out of these Oceans, Weather Machine, and Formosa Tea are my favorites
I'm missing Pilgrim from this list, I think that's a stunning cover. If you don't know it, give it a look, gorgeous!
The art is great on that cover. I would love to play the game. Nick Case's tales of the northland noggin the nog is fantastic.
Suddenly Planitarium is on the BGG hotness list... wonder why...
I was disappointed by a lot of this list. I feel like there are so many gorgeous covers that were not present here. I really feel like the people voted for their favourite games with okay box art. Don't get me wrong, there are absolutely splendid covers in this list, but also w WHOPPING amount of meh ones.
Loved this show, even if I didn’t agree with all the polls! So many of these are amazing works of art, and I had never even heard of Planetarium before this. Very curious how it plays now. (Also, I love Everdell and Andrew Bosley’s art work and it was definitely my pick to win this). :)
I play Planetarium every now and then with my partner. It's fun and light and puzzly but you got to think ahead. It's about forming planets in a solar system. The other components are also nice, the board with the planets and matter orbiting the star in the center, and the cards that show all kinds of events and changes that can happen to the planets, each with a little bit of sciency info for those interested in astrophysics.
Def need a round 2 of this and then the winner of this video against the winner of round 2!
You should do another bracket with the choices you thought should have gone through. For example Lacrimosa vs Atlantic Rising or Nemo's War vs Rising 5
Babylonia is the one cover I thought of off the top of my head that wasn't included in the list. It's a gorgeous cover.
Out of all of the top 10s I've watch, i really wished I was there for this one to throw down some of my opinions.
I personally think that for much of this, the discussion deviated from 'best board game covers'. It is probably because people would disagree about what makes a good cover but I feel like it should be a mixture of art quality, composition, graphic design, and of course 'does it make you want to check out/buy the game'. I'm glad they came back to it at the end.
I also think that if you have to zoom in to appreciate the art, it hasn't done its job.
I also think that Eldritch Horror should have been in over Unfathomable. The Eldritch cover is so full of action and the framing and font work much better with the art in the page. Love that cover.
Salty that Inis(original) is not in contention… also escape plan, beyond the sun, euphoria, public market(port), solarius mission are some of my fave and worth including.. i hope they do this again..
I love how tortured Mike was over the Everdell vs Sycthe match up.
Where was twilight imperium 4th edition??? That cover is lovely.
Hmm, there were a lot of very average covers on this list, I think you should take nominations for a 2nd list and do another video, then put the winners against each other.
How the heck is Tapestry not on this list? I hate the game but I love the art.
There are frequent threads in wargaming forums about cover and map art. Numerous stunning examples from over the decades (in a few cases, centuries!), and around the world.
First 3 matchup and the audience was wrong every time! Did they listen to Toms caveat at the start? 😋
I love the Wingspan cover and I'm not a fan of Sleeping Gods cover. That monster just looks weird and not in a good way.
No Wonderland´s War box cover?. One of the best box covers on the past years. Beautiful, inviting, with amazing colors.
19:50 I expected Feudum in the other competition :P
49:00 Same for Root :D
Wingspan stands out. Same goes for Azul or Power Grid. They stand out in a store between a dozen other games.
No Kwanchi Moriya? He's done some great covers.
Dual Powers: Revolution 1917 should have been on there...or at least something.
Agreed, he's my favourite board game artist.
Kwanchi Moriya was there. He did the cover for Days of Ire which got voted out in the first round.
@@melissalobegeier6420 Oh good catch! Many of his other great covers probably would have fared better.
I completely agree with Tom on Mike's reversal of opinion, the Root art style is incredible but the composition is so flat, especially compared to Etherfields. The latter winning the poll is the moment I knew for sure that the audience were voting 'properly' rather than voting for their favourites.
First three votes just shot my confidence in any of the votes.
I think you folks should change the name of these challenges to "Best Game Cover ART of All Time". There's...a difference. Feels like everyone is just responding to the art 70% of the time. Sagrada, though not deserving much praise in any discussion, is a better cover design than Root. Root has great art. Some of it's on the cover. But that is bad design on the cover. The box with the title smack in the middle, alone, is enough to knock it out of any competition. But...the art that is on the Root box *is* great. But it ain't a great cover. SImilarly, Wingspan IS a better cover than Yamatai. And the Rising Sun cover is a WAY more sophisticated cover design than Zee's critique of ONE of the art elements implies 1:16:16
Yep - very much with you on this one. Wingspan is a far better design for a board game cover than Everdell - simple, striking, unique. Whether you’d prefer to have the subtler complexity of Everdell to look at on a poster on your wall is a different matter altogether.
Zee is hands down my favorite person on the Dice Tower channel but he’s totally wrong on the Wingspan cover. It’s elegant and striking. Chris is absolutely right.
Formosa Tea got done dirty. It was the best cover in the whole video.
I have Everdell, Sleeping Gods, Scythe, Cnavas and few more games from this video in my collection... BUT only game cover on display in my house is Batman Gotham City Chroinicles!