[Felix]

Space Cadets is another spectacular-trainwreck space co-op game that I like a lot, but it's so deliberately overcomplicated that it's hard to get a group of 5+ together who actually want to play it. I've only managed a whole game twice in the year I've had it but it's pretty terrific.

my standbys are Galaxy Trucker, Cosmic Encounter, Chinatown, Agricola, Tash Kalar, and String Railway. just ordered Mysterium (eastern european game that hasn't been localized yet but there are english rules available and it's not too hard to find a copy to import) and Alchemists which I'm eager to try out. also a big fan of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective (genuinely good mystery co-op, great writing, good pacing, etc.) and Eclipse (literally the only tabletop 4X I've ever tried that isn't convoluted/overlong/unbalanced or doesn't abstract away several of the elements in order to still put together a good game without running into those problems, e.g. Through the Ages, and while there's nothing wrong with that, Eclipse is still a major achievement for getting it all in there so well).

[Felix]

yeah, it's ridiculous well-rounded and well-paced. I kind of don't think it's possible to do a straightforwardly better eurogame, but that's OK because most eurogames don't go for straightforwardly better

[Felix]

love me some Vlaada.

I've heard Caverna described as Agricola but bigger, and while I see nothing wrong with Rosenberg wanting to make a followup and that being the most sensible way to do it, I almost don't need it to be any bigger than it already is. but a friend has it and I will probably try it soon.

there's a primarily mail order shop run out of a guy's basement nearby me here in Vancouver called starlit citadel that is mostly notable for having Amazon-competitive pricing in Canada, which is never an easy feat for any product, but particularly valuable in this niche when it's often the difference between spending like $45 and $70 on a given game. they are surprisingly good about having popular-obscure games for purchase between NA print runs (I got sherlock holmes no problem on a whim when it seemed to be out of stock everywhere, and their price for the Polish import version of Mysterium is way cheaper than the Ukranian copies on ebay, albeit with no guarantee of when they'll come in).