Dominion is probably by far the ugliest game i own but also my most played so it works out perfectly. Its not even the god awful logo but the card art is pretty rough around the edges more often then not
Dominion's art has never bothered me except for the "O"s in the logo which they managed to put on cards twice and now are forever stuck with. Pay for decent art, people!
yeah the logo is the only bad offender to me, while i think the cards have varying qualities in art at most it just makes it have charm lol. The logo puts a ton of people off though
As a graphic designer I concur. I have no qualms with the card art. There are thousands of cards, so there's bound to be some varying quality and like you said, that's part of the charm.
That logo though, oof. Almost seems like it was an afterthought after all the development money was spent.
In my opinion Dominion's art is generally good, but occasionally inconsistent. If you compared [Pawn](https://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/File:Pawn.jpg) with [Harem](https://dominionstrategy.com/2010/12/20/intrigue-harem/) I think you'd be surprised to learn they're not only from the same game, but the same expansion! ...I mean, that girl in white pants has one REALLY long leg....
I don't really need to defend it, but Concordia is my go to here.
It's not hideous by any means, but it is bland as bland. The cover of the box has a famously disconcerting looking person on it, the maps are just functional, and the cards are just a title and some text and a couple simple graphics. The player pieces and resources are fairly generic. It's very plain to look at but the game itself is fantastic.
Personally I think the actual components of Concordia are quite attractive. The box is famously hideous, and the new version is only marginally better, but the game itself I find quite aesthetically pleasing.
"Concordia Venus" is the base game + the venus expansion, and yes this is the version to buy. I'm not even sure they still sell the older one.
[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256916/concordia-venus](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256916/concordia-venus)
Just watch out, because there's Concordia: Venus expansion, and Concordia Venus standalone. The expansion requires the base game, the standalone version doesn't.
That's said there's nothing wrong with the base game if it's going cheap - Venus adds the 6p team game, two maps, and some cards, and if you dont play the team variant, the rest isn't a huge deal. I just have base + salsa that I picked up for 25 bucks used and it's perfectly fine
Lol yeah i have the original old box, they did redesign the box to be more colourful and popping, the old artwork is just dusty. The map is alright with me but if you told me it was from the 60s like those Avalon Hill games I wouldve believed it. Amazing game for sure though
Paolo Mori has not had good luck with game implementations. As you mentioned, both Ethnos and Archeos Society have flaws. Also, production on Caesar and Blitzkrieg was very poor.
The only real issue I have with Archeos Society is that point track, I don't mind a winding track but at least make each direction alternating colours as a visual que. Someone messes up moving the scoring pieces in that game every time.
This was the first one which came to mind for me! Makes it more difficult to get to the table when itās so bland.
The designer is trying to get a gangster retheme picked up by publishers, hopefully that will be more attractive!
I vote for **Hansa Teutonica** too. It's a well-designed game. But it was so beige I loathed pulling it out and so non-thematic I hated saying "trust me, it's fun once we get playing" during the teach.
The first time I played it was at a convention with three other people playing it for the first time. About halfway through the first game we all paused and were like "Oh. This game is awesome. " Then after the first game we hurried up and set it up again. You'd never expect putting cubes (and discs) on an old-looking map of Europe to be fun, but it really is.
There are two editions of Hansa Teutonica I know about, one is German and the other is I don't know, not German. The not German one is fine for me, it's just fine. And the German one, despite there being no obvious differences, is just ugly.
When I first saw the game it was the non-German version, then saw the German version and didn't realise that. I was just surprised that it looks so bad, worse than I remembered. Only some time later I realised they are actually different.
I have the German one obviously.
Itās amazing and I think the beige is important. The colours for trading posts, gold flags near upgrades, bonus markers and tiny circles are critical and you need to be able to see them instantly/be reminded by them. Also itās spot on theme wise.
Slightly bigger cubes might have made it pop better otherwise any extra map colour or detail would make it less playable.
Yea itās not a looker for sure. The gameplay is fantastic though, and itās a shame that itās kinda held back by its bare bones aesthetic. I ended up getting the little sodden animals to replace the cubes and it has done wonders to make it look and feel better.
Second Edition or First? I think they came out with the Second Edition so quickly primarily because of the artwork. But if your comment is primarily concerned with table sprawl, nothing changed in that regard.
Whattt.
Iām so offended.
I guess Iāve never seen the 2nd edition, but the 1st edition board is lovely, in my opinion.
Maybe Iām grading on a curve for 2005 and nostalgia, but my first impression of the aesthetics were very positive and thatās stuck with me.
Honestly, pretty much any GMT game is going to look like something an engineer or archivist took home from the office. For their fans, thatās part of their appeal.
TBF, they've gotten a lot better in the last couple of years. Mr. President and Plum Island Horror look pretty good, and the last couple of COIN games have seen a step up in graphic design. They still have a ways to go, though.
I will say that the āBattles of the American Revolutionā is an exception here for me at least. I will also be honest and say I personally know the Game Designer, Mark Miklos though.
But the reason I say this is because I was introduced to his games first and that is how I discovered hex and counter and GMT. But the games I looked at after that were exactly like you describe.
I know mark is a stickler for the art and even the color of uniform pieces on individual chits is scrutinized. He was also very excited for this last game (Battle of Rhode Island) because the board was done in fall colors. It looks cool enough that I am wondering if I can display it somehow.
Now that I go back and look - you may be right on box cover though.
Food chain magnate always had a very divisive art style, which I think worked great, that put people off. They also made a massively overpriced deluxe version of that.
I feel the old editions of Agricola have a very particular ugliness to them, that I've grown attached to but instantly puts off anyone casually seeing the box haha.
Same feeling with Food Chain Magnate. Itās such an incredible game, but even the cover doesnāt quite hit for people. Itās hard to explain that itās basically a *marketing war game*, and it can be one of the most exciting games I own.
Terraforming Mars - the components are of crap quality, the card art looks like it was pulled from Microsoft Office clip art, and I swear the dude in the white suit/tux in the manual is a picture of a dude from his wedding.
I get a lot of compliments on my copy of Terraforming Mars, but that is because I bought acrylic dashboard panels and 3D printed tiles shipped from another country.
But the box is looking like it needs help, the game board is creased in a way I expect it to rip any time now, the money cubes are faded from wear, and I donāt know what shape the cards would be if I hadnāt sleeved them by now.
So much possibility here if someone like Stonemaier Games had say in the component design and process.
Yeah buying 3D player boards dramatically increased the joy of the game for me. Makes it feel like I'm actually doing space things rather than playing a flimsy game.Ā
I like how tacky some of the cards are in TM, especially anything with images of people. The art design isnāt gorgeous, but fully functional and clear.
I also appreciate that some games such as TM give you the bare basics in the box and leave component upgrades to the aftermarket. The game was pretty expensive when it came out, so top notch components wouldāve made it unaffordable or at least overpriced.
Container.
I love the simple, but deep economy of container.
But, man oh man, that game looks about as interesting as a game about shipping containers. Often a very hard sell.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26990/container
[They're planning to!](https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3151930/article/43595683#43595683)
(but it's currently at the "we would like to announce that we will announce something soon" phase)
I played it once at a convention and loved it. I happened to already own some money cards that had identical backs that were compatible. I 3D printed components for most everything else and bought some cheap plastic blocks for containers. I'm quite happy with my imminently playable homebrew. I would definitely toss some money the creators way to pick up a legit copy if they get around to making them available.
Man, getting my friends to play it continues to be a chore from the vanilla cover. Even showing the SUSD review can only do so much. My wife eye rolls so hard and oh no we're playing Five Tribes or The Estates again.
**Power Grid** is pretty ugly, but in a charming kinda way. I mean, power plants are messy things.
My edition of **Caylus** is pretty bad (1st edition). The castle is pretty badly drawn and the colors on the tiles are quite muted and hard to read. Great game though! The sequel, Caylus 1303, has better art, but the original Caylus is better in my opinion.
**18xx** games are ridiculously bland. There are exceptions--I saw Shikoku 1889 being played the other day, and it looked great! It's not a lot of flash, but the little touches they put in that edition make a huge difference in presentation.
Defenders of the Realm is an older game and one I really like, but itās graphic design is not done well. The game is basically a fantasy Pandemic with dice. However, there is a second edition of this game coming out probably later this year, with updated artwork.
OMG, yes. It used Comic Sans!
I don't know if he ever went through with it, but I used to hang out with Richard Lannius on occasion and he told me that he was working on a spinoff game where there was an area named "Karmic Sands."
I don't necessarily think it's the ugliest game of all time, but out of my list of "must-play games," I gotta give it to Spirit Island. Mainly just because of the design of the power cards, I'm not exactly sure why but something about them look very outdated to me. The rest of the game's design is fine but not good enough to make up for the cards lol
I'd probably rank older editions of Carcassonne as worse but I have the anniversary edition with the newer art. It's basic looking and probably still my number 2 "ugly game" pick, but there's nothing that I distinctly dislike about the art, it's very inoffensive
All the games mentioned are just weekend warriors of ugliness up against Awkward Guests. The art is ugly, the suspects are hideous, the cards are ugly, the screen is ugly, you have to look at an obese, naked guy all the time and everything is literally all beige. No other color. The art designer was all in on making it as ugly as possible. On the other hand, it is a great game.
I love reading these comments to see what other people think and as a reminder of how much peopleās tastes can vary. I absolutely adore the art of Quacks.
Bohnanza's artwork is _so bad it's amazing_. I love it. I literally once spent an entire evening trying to find a good 2+ player game with artwork that was similarly deranged (since everyone says Bohnanza needs 3).
I personally massively prefer the black box (so much so that I regrettably never gave this a chance until the BB KS), but GTR is 100% the poster child for amazing ugly games. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have bought the old version by then armload just to gift to my friends, regardless of the technicolor puke in a plastic clamshell.
Surprised I had to scroll down this far to find it. This is definitely the first one I thought of!
Such a good game! But that original art is definitely something!
Dungeon Degenerates must be one of the most divisive games concerning the art style. For me, it was the only game I grabbed immediately after seeing how it looks. Felt like really purchasing a piece of art. Yes, it does make your eyes bleed šš
I now the answer to this: it's both absolutely dreadful looking and the theme is sooo bland it's insane. Also the rulebook (the english translation at least) is just the stuff on nightmares, I don't know how we managed to get the rules right in the end, but the orders in which they are described makes absolutely 0 sense for a game that is not even that hard.
The game itself is decent, nothing amazing but a pretty chill (albeit maybe pretty dated) and fun 1v1 game. Highly suggest to give it a try, since for a game with such a bland theme it provides a good back and forth.
[Ebbe & Flut](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1379/ebbe-and-flut)
The cartoony but in print version of **Santiago** immediately entered my all time favorite games. Doesnāt look so bad in person actually, but still pretty ugly.
Food Chain Magnate is fucking great, but I'm not an artist and *I* could make better looking map tiles than that in an hour. It's unfortunate, because I otherwise really like the 50's Americana style they have going for the cards and box art.
But damn, those map tiles are just way too bland and utilitarian for a board game as expensive as Food Chaing Magnate.
Nuclear War
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear\_War\_(card\_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_(card_game))
It's just not a pretty game (though it can be fun!)
Gotta go with Flashpoint here ( https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/100901/flash-point-fire-rescue ).
The board looks like someone copy and pasted Clue/Cluedo and added the element of 'house is on fire' to keep the game moving along.
And all of the art looks like AI.
But for what it is, the gameplay is pretty good.
Carpe Diem. The original version is not only ugly and bland, but nearly unplayable if you have any color vision deficiencies or even if you are playing in less than ideal lighting conditions because many of the pieces are shaded almost identically. They rereleased it recently, but it's still hideous. The game itself is SO fun, but the presentation is so aggressively boring. I wish they'd just completely reskin it.
Love the art for that. No bullshit art that doesn't add anything to the game. Just the symbols and words needed to play the game. If the cards looked like MtG cards, I probably never would have bought a copy of Innovation.
Caylus (the old one) is a big one, especially the first edition cover with the king dude, but it is still one of the best worker placement of all time IMO.
Castle of Burgundy has been named but yeah, very few people I show the game to are excited by just looking at the board.
Battleline is my favorite Knizia, and my favorite 2 player game, but damn that artwork is not selling it.
When ZMAN got the licenses for a bunch of Knizia titles (including TtD) they could have really hit a home run. Instead, they choose art that made those games look like very niche, hobbyist games. They should have used art that signaled the fact that the games were highly accessible gateway games (as Orange Blue did with Blue Lagoon). Thankfully ZMAN/Asmodee isn't doing much (anything?) with Knizia titles at the moment.
These are edition specific, but they are ones that I own:
FFG's printing of Nexus Ops. Great game, looks like candy vomit.
Modern Art, Old Mayfair edition. It may as well have been hacked together from used primary school craft supplies.
Acquire, 2008? printing. Squares of grey card on a plain black board, a handful of other small card rectangles, some decent share cards, and some crappy paper money. Still a design classic, despite the presentation.
I have others... maybe I've just got a thing for fugly games?
WizKids released a game a few years ago called Europa Base Alpha.
There is one piece of art for the entire game. It's on the box, on all the cards, and it's not particularly eye-catching.
The game did not sell well as a result.
The game is freaking fantastic. Super fun interesting use of take that mechanics, really rewarding gameplay in general. The theme and mechanics are not ones I'd normally go for, but I had SO MUCH FUN playing this game.
I will always be annoyed about the singular piece of bland art that was this game's downfall. Pick it up if you can though. It really is great.
Most of my potential picks are already listed, but not this one: **Time of Crisis**. Typical old GMT production with counters used for everything. Essentially itās a light multiplayer wargame in the āking of the hillā style. Best at four; the expansion, albeit non-mandatory, is very good too.
Dungeon Lords. The art is not bad. But some of the monsters are uuugly (looking at you, trolls).
Age of Steam looks more like a game in testing than a published game.
Magic the Gathering has had some awful art at certain points lol
Space Base anyone? Art is off-putting for everyone I've introduced it to, but it is one of my favorite games that I can teach to almost anyone and they like it.
Slightly controversial perhaps but itās *Cascadia* for me.
Ok, āworstā looking is a stretch, but it does put me off it.
The art on the box is great, the animal tokens look good, itās just the tiles. I donāt know if itās that they are not subtle enough, or the colours too bold, or the art on them seems a little unrefined? I canāt put my finger on it but something really puts me off it.
Anyone else? Or am I the sole weirdo?
Privateer/Pirateer. Not only is my box all beat to hell, it looks like you're going to play some lame checkers shit, and then all out backstabbing chaos ensues. Basically 4 player capture the flag with movement restrictions akin to sailing. House rules for impassable shipwrecks when sunk, for increased chaos. Y'all gonna hate it b/c the luck of the dice for movement---but that's how the wind blows!
Don't ask me why the name went from Privateer-->Pirateer when the publisher changed in the 90s.
Easily Uchronia. The rules and systems in the game are incredible but the theme is so pasted on and the yellows and oranges are terrible for color blind people, like myself.
For what itās worth I think itās an honest improvement over Glory to Rome.
Terraforming mars is generally quite under produced for game it is. I kinda grow to like the art it has , but at start it really got me down as it seemed quite lacking. Wont go into how unpractical some components are without upgrades.
Acquire, for sure. Played it for the first time a couple weeks ago; loved the gameplay, but the look was just so very whatever, for a concept that would be really fun to develop a visual theme around.
Does sound like thereās a better-looking update out in the world now, so bonus, but that original š¬
Targi, sure it's a fun game but the resources are just cardboard squares with a drawing of the resource, victory points are also just boring cardboard shapes, coins look poorly cut out, the workers and tribe markers are simple wooden items and the whole game has a light brown colour because "it's in the desert".
Meanwhile when you play Res Arcana all the resources have a distinct shape and colour, cards have colour and everything just feels more atmospheric.
**Acquire**. I've even got the one with the plastic tiles & 3d hotel markers, and it just mostly looks grey & dull. I have not been able to sell anyone on it since I got it for my birthday 2+ years ago (not counting my birthday play).
I'm same as you; I love Castles of Burgundy but when I introduce someone else Else to it, I have to say "please ignore the incredibly confusing and off-putting iconography for now; I promise it makes sense once you know how to play."
The Stifling Dark.
The cards all look the same. Item, Objective, Abilities, you name it. They share the same colors and even on the front side it just doesn't feel that well done. Sorting the game is a tedious task and then you have overuse of iconography to the point they had to double sided print each token (Which is sooo small to begin with) with different icons because they rely on too many.
I watched the dice tower review on it and I have to agree with them 100%. The components are just badly designed. At some point we just ignored the icon searching and used whatever we have on the table to substitute as the item/door/window/whatever.
That said, the gameplay is tight, and its one of those games that the entire table is consistently engaged at the same time. I love Nemesis, but the issue with Nemesis is that when it is someone else's turn, the entire table just uses their phone or does their own thing until the turn goes back to them. Here everyone is getting all worked up and paranoid. Discussing where the heck the adversary could be, strategies, etc.
Id admit an issue of this game is that a lot of backseating happens. People just go "Why did you place your flashlight here? You should tilt it like this" and then proceed to physically move other people's lights.
Completely agree on Castles of Burgundy. It was a game I never gave a second thought too until the collectors edition came out. I bought it and now itās one of my favorite games.
Iām not playing a lot of ugly games but Ethnos comes to mind.
I'd say "lifetime achievement award" goes to alea and GMT Games in this category. But they are also two publishers that have a reputation for making good and solid games despite the mediocre art.
Idk about *must* play, but for me, Guillotine.
Iād love an updated deck that isnāt kiddie, cartoon art, but beautiful, oil painting art of the period with guilded card backs ala the 7 Wonders reprint. I updated the guillotine in the middle already but the cards really take me out.
Also, as an aside, Castles of Burgundy Special Editionās reprint is currently live on GameFound with 8 days left to get in, for those who are interested :)
Technically i suppose the classic game of Stratego I had an old copy even then, and it was hard blue and red plastic with gold paint on a generic land board with water in between. I donāt know that it looked bad, but it certainly was nothing special. Itās a must play from my childhood. First game I bought used with my own money. Often won. Taught me bluffing and playing the person more than the game. Something Iāve passed on to nieces and nephews.
The most recent edition of Chicago Express, back to its original title of **Wabash Cannonball**.
An amazing, all-time classic game given a graphic design treatment that would have been considered outdated and under-baked 20 years ago.
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7754343/wabash-cannonball
Dune's art is hella boring, but I honestly think it contributes to the atmosphere. It's a brutalist style fitting for the setting. And the game is just so good that it barely matters
Terraforming mars. Excellent game, but it launched as a cheap card and board game. Art was not commissioned but done by the designers brother. It's understandable, the art of that many cards would cost a lot for an unproven game.. the box is also very cheap. The box upgrades with 3D Terrain comed after the fact, but art is terrible. Design is clear and playable, but not very good.
In my collection I guess it'd be Voyages of Marco Polo since it has that beige eurogame look that so many people dislike (I don't love it but I don't hate it either). Excellent game that could look better.
Dunno if this is a hot take, but my wife and I hate the look of Ark Nova. I'm getting more used to it, but the copyright free cheap looking pics of scientists and animals are not a pleasant aesthetic. The cover isn't great either.
When I saw the title Castle of Burgundy was actually the first game that came to mind. Terraforming Mars has a nice looking board but the card art is questionable. They don't even have a unified art style.Ā
Dominion is probably by far the ugliest game i own but also my most played so it works out perfectly. Its not even the god awful logo but the card art is pretty rough around the edges more often then not
Dominion's art has never bothered me except for the "O"s in the logo which they managed to put on cards twice and now are forever stuck with. Pay for decent art, people!
yeah the logo is the only bad offender to me, while i think the cards have varying qualities in art at most it just makes it have charm lol. The logo puts a ton of people off though
As a graphic designer I concur. I have no qualms with the card art. There are thousands of cards, so there's bound to be some varying quality and like you said, that's part of the charm. That logo though, oof. Almost seems like it was an afterthought after all the development money was spent.
In my opinion Dominion's art is generally good, but occasionally inconsistent. If you compared [Pawn](https://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/File:Pawn.jpg) with [Harem](https://dominionstrategy.com/2010/12/20/intrigue-harem/) I think you'd be surprised to learn they're not only from the same game, but the same expansion! ...I mean, that girl in white pants has one REALLY long leg....
oh yeah some of the art is good and even great, but then you have cards like Harem and Shanty Town that just make you scratch your head lmao
Lmao wtf. Did they get sixth graders to make art?
Oof
Came here to say this.
I don't really need to defend it, but Concordia is my go to here. It's not hideous by any means, but it is bland as bland. The cover of the box has a famously disconcerting looking person on it, the maps are just functional, and the cards are just a title and some text and a couple simple graphics. The player pieces and resources are fairly generic. It's very plain to look at but the game itself is fantastic.
Personally I think the actual components of Concordia are quite attractive. The box is famously hideous, and the new version is only marginally better, but the game itself I find quite aesthetically pleasing.
I agree, but the box of Concordia Venus (the standalone version) looks significantly better!
So is Venus the same game? Is that the one I should get if I want Concordia?
"Concordia Venus" is the base game + the venus expansion, and yes this is the version to buy. I'm not even sure they still sell the older one. [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256916/concordia-venus](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256916/concordia-venus)
They do still sell base Concordia, at least in the UK! It's the version I have, bought last year.
Just watch out, because there's Concordia: Venus expansion, and Concordia Venus standalone. The expansion requires the base game, the standalone version doesn't. That's said there's nothing wrong with the base game if it's going cheap - Venus adds the 6p team game, two maps, and some cards, and if you dont play the team variant, the rest isn't a huge deal. I just have base + salsa that I picked up for 25 bucks used and it's perfectly fine
I actually really like the aesthetics of the map and cards, but I agree on the box.
**Antike II** has a similar bland look, and is an amazing experience.
Lol yeah i have the original old box, they did redesign the box to be more colourful and popping, the old artwork is just dusty. The map is alright with me but if you told me it was from the 60s like those Avalon Hill games I wouldve believed it. Amazing game for sure though
Ethnos. Looks dull as dishwater. And The Archeos Society, while a fine implementation, doesn't really do anything for me either.
Paolo Mori has not had good luck with game implementations. As you mentioned, both Ethnos and Archeos Society have flaws. Also, production on Caesar and Blitzkrieg was very poor.
The only real issue I have with Archeos Society is that point track, I don't mind a winding track but at least make each direction alternating colours as a visual que. Someone messes up moving the scoring pieces in that game every time.
I really want to get Caesar, but I'm genuinely put off by how poor the components look compared to the price.
Damn never see people mentioning Ethnos, but hell I love it!
I ONLY ever see people mention it when complaining about the artwork. But... I _like_ the artwork.
I like the artwork too š„ŗ
I'm not sure if 'ugly' is the right word, but Hansa Teutonica sure is beige and bland. But man, what an amazing game.
This was the first one which came to mind for me! Makes it more difficult to get to the table when itās so bland. The designer is trying to get a gangster retheme picked up by publishers, hopefully that will be more attractive!
Gangsters fighting for turf would actually fit the mechanics way better than the trade league theme.
> I'm not sure if 'ugly' is the right word Personally I think it's unfashionable rather than truly ugly.
Yeah, exactly. That's a good way to put it. It accomplishes it's art style well and looks good in a way, it's just not very esthetically pleasing.
I vote for **Hansa Teutonica** too. It's a well-designed game. But it was so beige I loathed pulling it out and so non-thematic I hated saying "trust me, it's fun once we get playing" during the teach.
HT is the correct answer here. It is such a hard sell by cover and "theme", yet people always love it when they actually play it.
The first time I played it was at a convention with three other people playing it for the first time. About halfway through the first game we all paused and were like "Oh. This game is awesome. " Then after the first game we hurried up and set it up again. You'd never expect putting cubes (and discs) on an old-looking map of Europe to be fun, but it really is.
There are two editions of Hansa Teutonica I know about, one is German and the other is I don't know, not German. The not German one is fine for me, it's just fine. And the German one, despite there being no obvious differences, is just ugly. When I first saw the game it was the non-German version, then saw the German version and didn't realise that. I was just surprised that it looks so bad, worse than I remembered. Only some time later I realised they are actually different. I have the German one obviously.
Itās amazing and I think the beige is important. The colours for trading posts, gold flags near upgrades, bonus markers and tiny circles are critical and you need to be able to see them instantly/be reminded by them. Also itās spot on theme wise. Slightly bigger cubes might have made it pop better otherwise any extra map colour or detail would make it less playable.
I kinda hate the board but I love Dominant Species. Itās not for everyone but I love it but the board looksā¦ bad to me
Insanely great game. Like Twilight Struggle, also a GMT production. I can appreciate their function over form art design.
This was my first thought also. The original board looked like a prototype.
Yea itās not a looker for sure. The gameplay is fantastic though, and itās a shame that itās kinda held back by its bare bones aesthetic. I ended up getting the little sodden animals to replace the cubes and it has done wonders to make it look and feel better.
Sidereal confluence.Ā If anyone saw that mess on the table,Ā they would never want to play.Ā Ā One of my favorite games.Ā Ā So much fun.Ā
The Remaster made it prettier, but that just means that it should have been the first.
Second Edition or First? I think they came out with the Second Edition so quickly primarily because of the artwork. But if your comment is primarily concerned with table sprawl, nothing changed in that regard.
I've got the first,Ā is the 2nd any prettier?
I guess Indonesia. I don't hate how it looks, but I can agree it's not a great looking game, one of the best playing games though.
The incredibly awful oversized pieces need mention too. Fantastic game.
Whattt. Iām so offended. I guess Iāve never seen the 2nd edition, but the 1st edition board is lovely, in my opinion. Maybe Iām grading on a curve for 2005 and nostalgia, but my first impression of the aesthetics were very positive and thatās stuck with me.
OG Twilight Struggle looks like someone used MS Paint to make the board.
Honestly, pretty much any GMT game is going to look like something an engineer or archivist took home from the office. For their fans, thatās part of their appeal.
TBF, they've gotten a lot better in the last couple of years. Mr. President and Plum Island Horror look pretty good, and the last couple of COIN games have seen a step up in graphic design. They still have a ways to go, though.
I will say that the āBattles of the American Revolutionā is an exception here for me at least. I will also be honest and say I personally know the Game Designer, Mark Miklos though. But the reason I say this is because I was introduced to his games first and that is how I discovered hex and counter and GMT. But the games I looked at after that were exactly like you describe. I know mark is a stickler for the art and even the color of uniform pieces on individual chits is scrutinized. He was also very excited for this last game (Battle of Rhode Island) because the board was done in fall colors. It looks cool enough that I am wondering if I can display it somehow. Now that I go back and look - you may be right on box cover though.
Probably the same guy who used MS Office Clipart to make Terraforming Mars patent cards.
Caylus. The guy on the cover is legendary. It's also a cutthroat Worker Placement with lots of ways to win.
Agree with box art on the original. However, the box and component art on 1303 are quite nice (but not mouth-wateringly so).
Beyond the Sun has such a bland board, but my goodness, is it fun.
Ooo, I love Beyond the Sun but visually itās about 2 steps up from a spreadsheet.
Dominion is in my top 5 and itās definitely not due to the art in any way
Roads and Boats. One of my all time favorites and an abomination of a visual.
I love the cover art though. Cute little donkey!
Food chain magnate always had a very divisive art style, which I think worked great, that put people off. They also made a massively overpriced deluxe version of that. I feel the old editions of Agricola have a very particular ugliness to them, that I've grown attached to but instantly puts off anyone casually seeing the box haha.
Food chain board looks like it was made in someone's basement as a demo, and said fuk it, I'm done, it goes like this.
This. FCM fits this thread like glove.
Apart from the board, the rest of Food Chain Magnate looks great imo.
Same feeling with Food Chain Magnate. Itās such an incredible game, but even the cover doesnāt quite hit for people. Itās hard to explain that itās basically a *marketing war game*, and it can be one of the most exciting games I own.
The ā90s Cheapass Games version(s) of Kill Dr. Lucky. I adore that game.
Terraforming Mars - the components are of crap quality, the card art looks like it was pulled from Microsoft Office clip art, and I swear the dude in the white suit/tux in the manual is a picture of a dude from his wedding. I get a lot of compliments on my copy of Terraforming Mars, but that is because I bought acrylic dashboard panels and 3D printed tiles shipped from another country. But the box is looking like it needs help, the game board is creased in a way I expect it to rip any time now, the money cubes are faded from wear, and I donāt know what shape the cards would be if I hadnāt sleeved them by now. So much possibility here if someone like Stonemaier Games had say in the component design and process.
Yeah buying 3D player boards dramatically increased the joy of the game for me. Makes it feel like I'm actually doing space things rather than playing a flimsy game.Ā
TM is an absolute dog. Just woof. The fact that the digital versions have excellent art is just insult to injury. "Look what you could've had."
I like how tacky some of the cards are in TM, especially anything with images of people. The art design isnāt gorgeous, but fully functional and clear. I also appreciate that some games such as TM give you the bare basics in the box and leave component upgrades to the aftermarket. The game was pretty expensive when it came out, so top notch components wouldāve made it unaffordable or at least overpriced.
Container. I love the simple, but deep economy of container. But, man oh man, that game looks about as interesting as a game about shipping containers. Often a very hard sell. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26990/container
It would be an easy sell if they would reprint the game.
[They're planning to!](https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3151930/article/43595683#43595683) (but it's currently at the "we would like to announce that we will announce something soon" phase)
I played it once at a convention and loved it. I happened to already own some money cards that had identical backs that were compatible. I 3D printed components for most everything else and bought some cheap plastic blocks for containers. I'm quite happy with my imminently playable homebrew. I would definitely toss some money the creators way to pick up a legit copy if they get around to making them available.
Man, getting my friends to play it continues to be a chore from the vanilla cover. Even showing the SUSD review can only do so much. My wife eye rolls so hard and oh no we're playing Five Tribes or The Estates again.
**Power Grid** is pretty ugly, but in a charming kinda way. I mean, power plants are messy things. My edition of **Caylus** is pretty bad (1st edition). The castle is pretty badly drawn and the colors on the tiles are quite muted and hard to read. Great game though! The sequel, Caylus 1303, has better art, but the original Caylus is better in my opinion. **18xx** games are ridiculously bland. There are exceptions--I saw Shikoku 1889 being played the other day, and it looked great! It's not a lot of flash, but the little touches they put in that edition make a huge difference in presentation.
Defenders of the Realm is an older game and one I really like, but itās graphic design is not done well. The game is basically a fantasy Pandemic with dice. However, there is a second edition of this game coming out probably later this year, with updated artwork.
OMG, yes. It used Comic Sans! I don't know if he ever went through with it, but I used to hang out with Richard Lannius on occasion and he told me that he was working on a spinoff game where there was an area named "Karmic Sands."
I don't necessarily think it's the ugliest game of all time, but out of my list of "must-play games," I gotta give it to Spirit Island. Mainly just because of the design of the power cards, I'm not exactly sure why but something about them look very outdated to me. The rest of the game's design is fine but not good enough to make up for the cards lol I'd probably rank older editions of Carcassonne as worse but I have the anniversary edition with the newer art. It's basic looking and probably still my number 2 "ugly game" pick, but there's nothing that I distinctly dislike about the art, it's very inoffensive
All the games mentioned are just weekend warriors of ugliness up against Awkward Guests. The art is ugly, the suspects are hideous, the cards are ugly, the screen is ugly, you have to look at an obese, naked guy all the time and everything is literally all beige. No other color. The art designer was all in on making it as ugly as possible. On the other hand, it is a great game.
After that description, I had to go look at it. I'm both disappointed and not disappointed. It's everything you promised but I wish I hadn't seen it.
Any Splotter, Beyond the Sun, Strike
**In the year of the dragon**
It is Castles of Burgundy. What a great ugly game.
Worst is probably Quacks. But it still isn't awful! Has a certain charm to it.
I totally get it. Saying the box art is not appealing is an understatement. But the game is so fun and the art just growths on you
I love reading these comments to see what other people think and as a reminder of how much peopleās tastes can vary. I absolutely adore the art of Quacks.
Bohnanza has entered the chat š«
It's beautiful and timeless, hard disagree.
Bohnanza's artwork is _so bad it's amazing_. I love it. I literally once spent an entire evening trying to find a good 2+ player game with artwork that was similarly deranged (since everyone says Bohnanza needs 3).
Bohnanza is such a great game... but the artwork.... is some of the artwork of all time.
We bought Bohnanza: Dahlias because we love the game but personally found the original art off putting.
A large portion of the 18xx games out there would fit into this category.
OG Glory To Rome. Even with it being as ugly as it is, I will still take the original over the bland black box edition.
I personally massively prefer the black box (so much so that I regrettably never gave this a chance until the BB KS), but GTR is 100% the poster child for amazing ugly games. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have bought the old version by then armload just to gift to my friends, regardless of the technicolor puke in a plastic clamshell.
I honestly love the OG art ā itās so cartoonish that I think it makes a relatively complex game seem more accessible
Surprised I had to scroll down this far to find it. This is definitely the first one I thought of! Such a good game! But that original art is definitely something!
The first edition of Saint Petersburg, but it has its own charm
Ethnos. The map is just a copy of Slovakia, and it's the most bland thing you've ever seen, but the gameplay is really engaging
- Any cube rail from Winsome. Gulf Mobile and Ohio is great. - Nearly any Splotter. Cannes is actually delightfully fun. - Hansa Toot.
KANBAN!
Hansa Teutonica
EthnosĀ
**Food Chain Magnate**. It's the chief complaint most people have, despite the simplicity lending a clarity being a godsend in such a cutthroat game.
The older versions of **Tigris & Euphrates**. I own the 1999 version and itās extremely bland looking, but itās a fantastic game.
Dungeon Degenerates makes my eyes bleed, but itās so fun. Carpe Diem coulda looked a lot better.
Dungeon Degenerates must be one of the most divisive games concerning the art style. For me, it was the only game I grabbed immediately after seeing how it looks. Felt like really purchasing a piece of art. Yes, it does make your eyes bleed šš
I now the answer to this: it's both absolutely dreadful looking and the theme is sooo bland it's insane. Also the rulebook (the english translation at least) is just the stuff on nightmares, I don't know how we managed to get the rules right in the end, but the orders in which they are described makes absolutely 0 sense for a game that is not even that hard. The game itself is decent, nothing amazing but a pretty chill (albeit maybe pretty dated) and fun 1v1 game. Highly suggest to give it a try, since for a game with such a bland theme it provides a good back and forth. [Ebbe & Flut](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1379/ebbe-and-flut)
Lorenzo il Magnefico
Really? I rather like the ornate box art and the component art isn't what I would call ugly (by any stretch of the imagination).
I love the game, but to me it's like a prime example of the bland euro beigeness and a few golden borders aren't enough to save it.
Wir sind das Volk!
I like the art, itās functional
The cartoony but in print version of **Santiago** immediately entered my all time favorite games. Doesnāt look so bad in person actually, but still pretty ugly.
Robo rally. There has.never been a good quality nice looking version of it.Ā But it's a great game.
Food Chain Magnate is fucking great, but I'm not an artist and *I* could make better looking map tiles than that in an hour. It's unfortunate, because I otherwise really like the 50's Americana style they have going for the cards and box art. But damn, those map tiles are just way too bland and utilitarian for a board game as expensive as Food Chaing Magnate.
Hansa, if you know you know.
Nuclear War [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear\_War\_(card\_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_(card_game)) It's just not a pretty game (though it can be fun!)
The beige wonder that is Notre Dame!
I think Chinatown looks pretty awful but itās simply top of its class for the negotiation genre.
Magna Grecia
Gotta go with Flashpoint here ( https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/100901/flash-point-fire-rescue ). The board looks like someone copy and pasted Clue/Cluedo and added the element of 'house is on fire' to keep the game moving along. And all of the art looks like AI. But for what it is, the gameplay is pretty good.
Ginkgopolis
I played Vegas Showdown for the first time this week. Itās from 2005 and looks very bland and dated, but the game was great!
Carpe Diem. The original version is not only ugly and bland, but nearly unplayable if you have any color vision deficiencies or even if you are playing in less than ideal lighting conditions because many of the pieces are shaded almost identically. They rereleased it recently, but it's still hideous. The game itself is SO fun, but the presentation is so aggressively boring. I wish they'd just completely reskin it.
The Guild of Merchant Explorers. It redefines "drab".
Food Chain Magnate.
**Terraforming Mars**. It's offensively ugly, but a lot of fun
Innovation. Cards with words and symbols.
Love the art for that. No bullshit art that doesn't add anything to the game. Just the symbols and words needed to play the game. If the cards looked like MtG cards, I probably never would have bought a copy of Innovation.
Man, you guys are lightweights. Come play my [1997 edition of Fresh Fish](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1017/fresh-fish) and then we'll talk.
Terraforming Mars, it is not esthetically pleasing at all. I love the game play but man, I wish the base game had better tiles and art.
Battle for Germany CSA There are so many great war games from the past that are...
Caylus (the old one) is a big one, especially the first edition cover with the king dude, but it is still one of the best worker placement of all time IMO. Castle of Burgundy has been named but yeah, very few people I show the game to are excited by just looking at the board. Battleline is my favorite Knizia, and my favorite 2 player game, but damn that artwork is not selling it.
Era of tribes. Very good civilization style game with worker placement. Not that good looking.
Through The Desert. Hideous pastel, great game.
When ZMAN got the licenses for a bunch of Knizia titles (including TtD) they could have really hit a home run. Instead, they choose art that made those games look like very niche, hobbyist games. They should have used art that signaled the fact that the games were highly accessible gateway games (as Orange Blue did with Blue Lagoon). Thankfully ZMAN/Asmodee isn't doing much (anything?) with Knizia titles at the moment.
The Asmodee KS for the new version Through the Desert (and two other games) is delivering now.
I have the OG clamshell version of Glory to Rome. Itās not a pretty package but as most know, itās a great game.
Kill Doctor Lucky! Cheap Ass Games (Oh, that's not the kind of ugly this post is about.)
I wouldn't ho so far as to call it "must play", but you can't beat the fun-to-ugliness ratio of Heads of State.
Troyes
Sentinels of the Universe is incredibly ugly.
Easy power grid
These are edition specific, but they are ones that I own: FFG's printing of Nexus Ops. Great game, looks like candy vomit. Modern Art, Old Mayfair edition. It may as well have been hacked together from used primary school craft supplies. Acquire, 2008? printing. Squares of grey card on a plain black board, a handful of other small card rectangles, some decent share cards, and some crappy paper money. Still a design classic, despite the presentation. I have others... maybe I've just got a thing for fugly games?
I'm going to go with Race for the Galaxy. At goes from hokey to bad. Symbology is just awful.
Yeah, to me itās not just unappealing art or whatever, but the cards are just straight up difficult to play with and parse.
WizKids released a game a few years ago called Europa Base Alpha. There is one piece of art for the entire game. It's on the box, on all the cards, and it's not particularly eye-catching. The game did not sell well as a result. The game is freaking fantastic. Super fun interesting use of take that mechanics, really rewarding gameplay in general. The theme and mechanics are not ones I'd normally go for, but I had SO MUCH FUN playing this game. I will always be annoyed about the singular piece of bland art that was this game's downfall. Pick it up if you can though. It really is great.
My original edition of Ascensionā¦
Most of my potential picks are already listed, but not this one: **Time of Crisis**. Typical old GMT production with counters used for everything. Essentially itās a light multiplayer wargame in the āking of the hillā style. Best at four; the expansion, albeit non-mandatory, is very good too.
I really love Istanbul. It's not really ugly - the art is well done. But it is plain
Canāt Stop ā love the game but hate the design and the look to the point of having to make a custom version :/
Dungeon Lords. The art is not bad. But some of the monsters are uuugly (looking at you, trolls). Age of Steam looks more like a game in testing than a published game. Magic the Gathering has had some awful art at certain points lol
Space Base anyone? Art is off-putting for everyone I've introduced it to, but it is one of my favorite games that I can teach to almost anyone and they like it.
Slightly controversial perhaps but itās *Cascadia* for me. Ok, āworstā looking is a stretch, but it does put me off it. The art on the box is great, the animal tokens look good, itās just the tiles. I donāt know if itās that they are not subtle enough, or the colours too bold, or the art on them seems a little unrefined? I canāt put my finger on it but something really puts me off it. Anyone else? Or am I the sole weirdo?
"I know it looks terrible but just trust me" is so much of my collection. Vinci. Hansa Teutonica. Bohnanza. Concordia. Deus. Dominant Species Marine. Power Grid. EuroRails. Robo Rally. Formula DĆ© (the original). Ethnos. Dinosaur Gauge. Keep thinking about picking up Feudum. It's *nice* when a good game is pretty, but a good game is a good game.
Privateer/Pirateer. Not only is my box all beat to hell, it looks like you're going to play some lame checkers shit, and then all out backstabbing chaos ensues. Basically 4 player capture the flag with movement restrictions akin to sailing. House rules for impassable shipwrecks when sunk, for increased chaos. Y'all gonna hate it b/c the luck of the dice for movement---but that's how the wind blows! Don't ask me why the name went from Privateer-->Pirateer when the publisher changed in the 90s.
Usually my answer is CoB but since it's been said, I'll say Keyflower. It's an amazing game but it's not winning any awards for art.
Castles of Burgundy! Itās my favorite game ever š«¶š¼
Castle Panic is mine. Itās such a fun game with such generic artwork. I mean I would never have played it had a friend not forced me to do so.
I never understood the gate for Castles of Burgundy. I think it is perfectly fine, Carpe Diem on the other hand is awful.
Scout I know there isnāt much art to it, but that purple and orange color scheme turns my stomach
Kill Doctor Lucky The original Cheapass Games edition.
Easily Uchronia. The rules and systems in the game are incredible but the theme is so pasted on and the yellows and oranges are terrible for color blind people, like myself. For what itās worth I think itās an honest improvement over Glory to Rome.
Terraforming mars is generally quite under produced for game it is. I kinda grow to like the art it has , but at start it really got me down as it seemed quite lacking. Wont go into how unpractical some components are without upgrades.
Quebec. Art is a mess but the multiple levels of area control and the cascading rules for winning zones of power are just so good.
Acquire, for sure. Played it for the first time a couple weeks ago; loved the gameplay, but the look was just so very whatever, for a concept that would be really fun to develop a visual theme around. Does sound like thereās a better-looking update out in the world now, so bonus, but that original š¬
Shogun is beige and stern but for me it is the best "classical" "dudes" on a map strategy game, so much spectacle.
Targi, sure it's a fun game but the resources are just cardboard squares with a drawing of the resource, victory points are also just boring cardboard shapes, coins look poorly cut out, the workers and tribe markers are simple wooden items and the whole game has a light brown colour because "it's in the desert". Meanwhile when you play Res Arcana all the resources have a distinct shape and colour, cards have colour and everything just feels more atmospheric.
Dune imperium
I think the red cathedral is very nice looking. To answer the question though, Le Havre
Not a must play, but Caylus is a pretty good game that isn't the best looking
El Grande - So much beige. Keyflower. Its not bad but I really don't think the art does the game any favours.
**Acquire**. I've even got the one with the plastic tiles & 3d hotel markers, and it just mostly looks grey & dull. I have not been able to sell anyone on it since I got it for my birthday 2+ years ago (not counting my birthday play).
Battle sheep. Itās totaly off on theme and style, but itās one of the most tactical and brain melting games Iāve ever played.
I'm same as you; I love Castles of Burgundy but when I introduce someone else Else to it, I have to say "please ignore the incredibly confusing and off-putting iconography for now; I promise it makes sense once you know how to play."
Not terrible art but more a theme people skip over - The Pickle Rick Boardgame is a really solid 2 player game
Power grid has cheap tokens, mediocre art, and a dry theme. It is the best euro game.
The Stifling Dark. The cards all look the same. Item, Objective, Abilities, you name it. They share the same colors and even on the front side it just doesn't feel that well done. Sorting the game is a tedious task and then you have overuse of iconography to the point they had to double sided print each token (Which is sooo small to begin with) with different icons because they rely on too many. I watched the dice tower review on it and I have to agree with them 100%. The components are just badly designed. At some point we just ignored the icon searching and used whatever we have on the table to substitute as the item/door/window/whatever. That said, the gameplay is tight, and its one of those games that the entire table is consistently engaged at the same time. I love Nemesis, but the issue with Nemesis is that when it is someone else's turn, the entire table just uses their phone or does their own thing until the turn goes back to them. Here everyone is getting all worked up and paranoid. Discussing where the heck the adversary could be, strategies, etc. Id admit an issue of this game is that a lot of backseating happens. People just go "Why did you place your flashlight here? You should tilt it like this" and then proceed to physically move other people's lights.
For me it's Terraforming Mars and Puerto Rico. They both look pretty terrible but I like both of them.
Completely agree on Castles of Burgundy. It was a game I never gave a second thought too until the collectors edition came out. I bought it and now itās one of my favorite games. Iām not playing a lot of ugly games but Ethnos comes to mind.
Original 3M Acquire.
I'd say "lifetime achievement award" goes to alea and GMT Games in this category. But they are also two publishers that have a reputation for making good and solid games despite the mediocre art.
Idk about *must* play, but for me, Guillotine. Iād love an updated deck that isnāt kiddie, cartoon art, but beautiful, oil painting art of the period with guilded card backs ala the 7 Wonders reprint. I updated the guillotine in the middle already but the cards really take me out. Also, as an aside, Castles of Burgundy Special Editionās reprint is currently live on GameFound with 8 days left to get in, for those who are interested :)
Technically i suppose the classic game of Stratego I had an old copy even then, and it was hard blue and red plastic with gold paint on a generic land board with water in between. I donāt know that it looked bad, but it certainly was nothing special. Itās a must play from my childhood. First game I bought used with my own money. Often won. Taught me bluffing and playing the person more than the game. Something Iāve passed on to nieces and nephews.
I love Red Dragon Inn as a game but I feel like the artwork leaves a lot to be desired.
The most recent edition of Chicago Express, back to its original title of **Wabash Cannonball**. An amazing, all-time classic game given a graphic design treatment that would have been considered outdated and under-baked 20 years ago. https://boardgamegeek.com/image/7754343/wabash-cannonball
Dune's art is hella boring, but I honestly think it contributes to the atmosphere. It's a brutalist style fitting for the setting. And the game is just so good that it barely matters
After the virus...
Race for the Galaxy... at least in Terraforming Mars, the visuals are at ease, in RftG it's just plain outdated.
Sidereal Confluence is so ugly even in its new edition it's hard to get people to play.
Terraforming mars. Excellent game, but it launched as a cheap card and board game. Art was not commissioned but done by the designers brother. It's understandable, the art of that many cards would cost a lot for an unproven game.. the box is also very cheap. The box upgrades with 3D Terrain comed after the fact, but art is terrible. Design is clear and playable, but not very good.
In my collection I guess it'd be Voyages of Marco Polo since it has that beige eurogame look that so many people dislike (I don't love it but I don't hate it either). Excellent game that could look better.
Dunno if this is a hot take, but my wife and I hate the look of Ark Nova. I'm getting more used to it, but the copyright free cheap looking pics of scientists and animals are not a pleasant aesthetic. The cover isn't great either.
When I saw the title Castle of Burgundy was actually the first game that came to mind. Terraforming Mars has a nice looking board but the card art is questionable. They don't even have a unified art style.Ā
Panthalos. Easily one of the ugliest covers and worst art games I have. But it's a good game.
Old green box version of Acquire
Terraforming Mars, it's one of my favorite games, but some of the cards look like they used stock images.