Board Game Endings, Ranked

This is my tier list for "ways that board games end." Either the trigger for the ending or the way you evaluate the results or whatever. Anything having to do with the ending of a board game. Many of these are mutually compatible, obviously.

I've put them in order of worst to best, and I've included some examples of board games for each one. However, that doesn't mean I'm rating the whole game based on that tier. Diplomacy remains my beloved.

This post is an olive branch to Quinns after my last post.

F tier

The death spiral

These are games where, once you start to fall behind, there's basically no hope of ever catching up. Yet also, it takes forever to actually lose. It's a huge drag, especially because the death spiral can often start pretty early in the game. Before long, you'll be begging for a "surrender" option, yet that also stinks because then you just have to watch your friends play through the rest of the board game. The only saving grace is that players caught in the death spiral often start doing weird shit out of boredom, since they know they've got nothing to lose. Or, y'know, they just become spite-fueled kingmakers.

Examples: Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Risk, Chess when you're horribly outmatched

The crab bucket

Closely related to the previous, these are games where, as soon as one player starts to pull ahead, everyone else unites to bring them back down. Thus, the game never fucking ends for anyone. The best outcome is for everyone to slowly climb towards victory at a roughly even pace, nobody ever getting too far ahead of the rest. But then, the first person over the finish line is usually just, like, whoever got lucky. And that's not satisfying, either.

Examples: Diplomacy, Uno, Root, Munchkin sometimes, like every one of those Oatmeal games I've played

D tier

Player elimination

Again, it's like the death spiral from F tier, but without the pain and agony. It sucks having to sit on the sideline and watch your friends continue to have fun, but at least the game naturally accelerates towards a dramatic showdown conclusion. I'd rather spectate than be stuck in the mud, personally. But honestly, the best way to approach a game like this isn't to strive for victory, but rather to just not end in last place.

Examples: Liar's Dice, Werewolf / Mafia, also Diplomacy (seriously, just make your goal "don't come in last" if you want to retain your sanity)

Abrupt ending

You're in the middle of playing when someone else suddenly triggers the game's ending (usually taking the victory, too). It can feel pretty cool to be that player, but for everyone else it's extremely jolting. You were in the middle of planning your next few turns, you had it all mapped out, and then out of nowhere you blink and your castle has collapsed into sad. It feels really bad to be a loser in one of these games. I'm serious, I'll be thinking about "what could have been" for days afterwards. That shit haunts you.

Examples: TransAmerica, a bad game of Twilight Struggle, Catan when someone has one of those goddamn Victory Point cards they've been holding onto

It ends whenever you feel like you're done playing

Okay, so these games actually do have official ending triggers or victory conditions or whatever. But that's not really how anyone plays them, right? At best, it's a casual activity that nobody is really playing to win anyway. At worst, it's so brutal that you just... give up at some point. Either way, it's not really a proper ending at all.

Examples: Tales of the Arabian Nights, Cards Against Humanity, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

C tier

Ending triggered, everyone gets 1 last turn

This one is a lot like the abrupt ending from D tier, but with a small consolation to help soften the blow. In my experience, it's rarely enough to help you secure a victory over the player who triggered the ending. But at least you get a sense of closure, and the challenge of optimizing one last set of decisions under highly constrained conditions.

Examples: Ticket to Ride, Splendor, Concordia, Carcassonne, Courtisans

B tier

Visibly looming ending trigger

When the last card is drawn, when someone completes a progress tracker, the first person to get 10 victory points, etc. Something that everyone is pretty actively aware of the whole game, and can respond to accordingly. This risks devolving into the Crab Bucket thing if there's too many players in fierce competition. But if it's easier to make personal progress than it is to undo someone else's progress, then it feels like a race and that's fun. As you can see from the examples, this seems to work especially well for competitions between two players / teams.

Examples: a lot of games in the previous category, Codenames, Pandemic, Jenga, Secret Hitler, Twilight Imperium, a good game of Twilight Struggle, a good game of Cosmic Encounter

Abrupt and/or Player Elimination but the game is fast anyway

That's right, a D-tier ending can make it all the way up to B-tier just by increasing the pace of the game. Yes, you'll suddenly get your ass kicked and thrown into the loser's corner, but the game is so fast that you just wanna play again right away.

Examples: Skull, Coup, Blackjack, Love Letter

A tier

Fixed game length

The game will last for exactly X turns/rounds/minutes/whatever, so everyone knows how long it'll go and how much time they have to achieve their objectives. Seriously, I don't know why more games don't do this. It fucking rules. Nobody is caught off guard, nobody is eliminated early, the game doesn't drag for too long, and it's easier for the designer to balance things.

Examples: Wingspan, Sky Team, Treasure Island, Monikers, Quacks of Quedlinburg, a great game of Twilight Struggle

Take your shot

These are games where a player has to choose to actively make a play for the victory. There are certain circumstances required for them to do so, but once they're ready for it, they take their best shot. Oftentimes, they even telegraph it first so the other players have a chance to catch up or stop them. "King-slaying" is like the good version of the Crab Bucket, because victory isn't defined in terms of progress. Instead, it takes a victorious action, often requiring cunning. 

Examples: Chess, Inis, Cyclades, Captain Sonar, Once Upon a Time, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong (kind of), a good game of Munchkin, a great game of Cosmic Encounter

Arcs, the 2024 darling trick-taking strategy game from Leder Games, is somehow a beautiful combination of both of these A-Tier endings. I don't even like Arcs very much, but the mechanics for scoring points, pacing, and winning are one of my favorite things ever.

Conclusion

These are ordered by how satisfying I personally find them to be. But I should caution you again not to view this as a review of the games themselves. Remember, 1) not all games are meant to be satisfying, and 2) not all games are enjoyed for their ending. In an all-day affair like Twilight Imperium, you better learn to find pleasure in the journey over the destination. Staking your enjoyment of a game purely on the emotions you feel in its very final seconds is probably not a great idea. In a truly good game, you usually find yourself wanting to play again regardless of the outcome.

That being said, I would generally like to see more board games designed using some of those A-Tier endings, and a lot less using the F-Tier and D-Tier endings. A great ending can be memorable and all, but a bad ending is the sort of thing that makes me never want to play a game again.

-Dwiz