#3: El Grande

There is not a better game for five players. Seriously. It's also the best area majority game out there... can you tell I (Mark) voted for El Grande? The team of Wolfgang Kramer & Richard Ulrich place a second game in the top five with beautiful components and compelling game play.

Pat Korner: "The ultimate in area-control games. Another heady blend of tactics and strategy - maximizing performance on any given game round is good, but planning to maximize performance over the course of the entire game is better. I also enjoy the politics get added to the mix with the Veto card, choosing to let someone else score in return for tacit cooperation later...Kramer's masterpiece."

Greg Daigle: "This is one of the first two German games I ever purchased (along with Settlers). The look of the board, the wooden bits, the tower - all of this was new to me. After playing my first time, I was hooked."