Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

An enjoyable history about board games. Some I was familiar with, but did not know some of the history or trivia about them which I found interesting. A good read for anyone who enjoys games and want to know more.

I received an electronic ARC from BooksGoSocial through NetGalley.
Gariepy presents a variety of information about these board games listed by Ranker as the top 40 most popular. Many of the write ups are interesting and offer insight on the games. However, some of the chapters jump beyond the book's premise (ex. Clue talks far more about the movie than the game itself). It was a swift read but disjointed in some chapters. I appreciated the author's inserted comments bringing the book to the present time but they were also a disruption of the text flow.
I gave this one three stars as I was looking for more tales and trivia than was included.

I will be completely honest and say that I did not read this whole book. The author spent a good portion of the introduction and throughout many of the entries about the games talking about Ranker's poll about board games and how he disagrees with the rankings (I feel he could have just found a different list to use or create his own for as much time as he spent talking about how terrible the list is). The write-ups about the board games either talk about the Ranker list (and how it is wrong) or some other random fact that really doesn't have anything to do with the game itself. I guess I was looking for little known facts or history of the games (seeming how that it the title...). I did read the entry on Clue (my favorite) and it talked all about the film (which is okay, but more about the game would have been nice).

This is a pretty compelling book with a nice balance of board game talk and history. As a board game enthusiast, I love all things board games, especially reading about authors rambling about them. Yet, there were a few areas this book fell short in. The thing that bothered me the most is that the format looks very unpolished. It looks like it is typed up on a computer with photos copy and pasted in. The formatting could use a lot of work to make the book feel less "low budge". I didn't necessarily agree with the author's assertations at each point, but it was interesting to read their opinion on various games, as I have a hard time finding people to board game talk with. The writing is intriguing, and overall I did enjoy it. The premises of unique and I haven't read another book that has covered board games quite like the author does.