There’s a trend going around social media right now where people list all the things they’d rebuy if they suddenly had to restart their collections from scratch. Books, games, LEGO, vinyl, tech, every hobby under the sun is getting the “what would survive the great wallet reset?” treatment.
And as NAG’s resident spends-money-irresponsibly-but-has-zero-regrets goblin, I thought: why not jump on the bandwagon and drag all of you down with me?
So welcome to my official guide to the five board games I would immediately rebuy if I woke up tomorrow and my shelves were empty. Which, honestly, would probably send me into a full existential crisis because have you seen the price of board games lately? I’d need to sell a kidney.
Still, if I had to start over, these are the games I’d hunt down first. These are the titles that earned permanent shelf space through countless game nights, chaotic dice rolls, strategy-induced headaches, and the occasional friendship-threatening betrayal.
So sit down, strap in, and let me convince you to spend some money. You won’t regret it. Trust.
Galactic Cruise
Players: 1-4
Play Time: 90-150 minutes
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If someone asked me which modern board game completely blindsided me with how good it was, Galactic Cruise would probably be my answer.
At first glance, it looks intimidating. Giant table presence? Check. Layers of systems? Check. Enough components to make newcomers quietly sweat? Also check. But once you actually sit down and start playing, it all clicks together beautifully.
Galactic Cruise is essentially a worker placement strategy game set in a future where luxury space vacations are the hottest thing in the galaxy. Players take on the role of supervisors competing to become the company’s next CEO by building ships, managing staff, attracting wealthy guests, researching new technologies, and expanding the company’s ever-growing network.
Every turn feels meaningful. You’re constantly juggling resources, planning launches, manipulating markets, and trying to squeeze maximum value out of every action while the rest of the table quietly ruins your plans in the most polite corporate way possible.
What really makes it special, though, is how interconnected everything feels. One player’s decisions can completely reshape the opportunities available to everyone else, which keeps every game dynamic and wildly replayable.
Why would I rebuy it?
When you own almost 200 board games, it becomes increasingly rare for something to genuinely wow you. But Galactic Cruise absolutely floored me.
It’s one of those games where the second the final scoring happens, everyone at the table immediately starts talking about what they’d do differently next time. That’s usually the sign of something special. If my collection vanished tomorrow, this would be one of the first games I’d track down again without hesitation.
Brass: Birmingham
Players: 2-4
Play Time: 60-120 minutes
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Every board game collection eventually needs that one big strategy game. The one that makes you feel incredibly smart right up until someone completely destroys your plans in the final round. For me, that game is Brass: Birmingham.
Set during the Industrial Revolution, Brass: Birmingham is an economic strategy game about building industries, developing trade networks, and ruthlessly chasing profits while trying not to collapse under your own terrible decisions. Players spend the game expanding canals and railways, constructing industries, selling goods, and carefully managing limited resources across two distinct eras.
It sounds dry on paper. It is not. This game is tense in the best possible way. Every action feels important, every resource feels valuable, and every successful move delivers the kind of satisfaction usually reserved for finally untangling your headphones on the first try.
What I love most is how interactive it is without ever becoming outright mean. You constantly rely on the infrastructure other players build, creating this fascinating push-and-pull where everyone is accidentally helping each other while also desperately trying to win.
Why would I rebuy it?
When I first bought Brass: Birmingham, I honestly wasn’t convinced it would become a favourite. I expected to appreciate it academically more than actually enjoy playing it. Turns out I was extremely wrong.
This is the kind of strategy game that keeps revealing new layers the more you play it. Every match feels like a fresh puzzle, and there’s never been a single opportunity to bring it to the table where I haven’t immediately said yes.
It’s meaty, clever, addictive, and somehow still incredibly fun even when your economy is collapsing around you like a Victorian stock market disaster.
The Initiative
Players: 1-4
Play Time: 30-60 minutes
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There are plenty of puzzle and escape-room-style board games out there these days, but very few have stuck with me the way The Initiative has.
The game follows a group of teenagers in 1994 who discover a mysterious board game called The Key. What starts as a simple game slowly unfolds into a much larger mystery told through an interactive comic book campaign packed with codes, secrets, puzzles, and story twists.
Each session feels like an episode of some lost 90s mystery adventure series, and the game does an incredible job of blending narrative storytelling with genuinely satisfying code-breaking mechanics. One minute you’re solving puzzles together, the next you’re staring at a clue board like Charlie Day in that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia meme.
The best part is how naturally the mystery unfolds. It constantly rewards curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration without ever feeling overwhelming.
Why would I rebuy it?
The Initiative is one of those rare board games I wish I could erase from my memory just so I could experience it again for the first time.
Because it’s largely a one-and-done campaign experience, I’d strongly recommend playing it with the same group from start to finish and going in as blind as possible. Don’t Google things. Don’t spoil surprises. Just let the mystery slowly consume your life the way all good mysteries should.
If you love puzzle-solving and code-breaking, this game absolutely nails it.
Zombicide: Black Plague
Players: 1-6
Play Time: 60-180 minutes
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If you’ve spent more than five minutes talking board games with me, there’s a very high chance I’ve recommended Zombicide at some point.
And honestly? I stand by it every single time. Zombicide: Black Plague takes the series’ zombie survival formula and throws it into a dark fantasy setting filled with knights, mages, necromancers, giant weapons, dragon fire, and hordes upon hordes of undead nightmares.
Players work together to survive missions, loot gear, level up characters, and desperately try not to get overwhelmed by an ever-growing swarm of enemies. It’s chaotic, cinematic, easy to teach, and constantly creates those ridiculous “HOW ARE WE STILL ALIVE?” moments that people talk about long after the game ends.
One mission can turn into an absolute disaster because someone got greedy opening a door. Another can become legendary because one player rolled impossibly well at exactly the right moment.
Why would I rebuy it?
I recommend Zombicide to almost everyone looking for a big co-op board game because it’s endlessly replayable and ridiculously easy to have fun with.
I’ve genuinely never had a bad session with it, regardless of who was sitting at the table. Hardcore gamers love the tactical decisions, casual players love the spectacle, and everyone loves watching the necromancer suddenly ruin the entire plan.
Also, few games generate memorable stories quite like Zombicide does. All it takes is one overconfident dice roll to create a gaming moment your group will reference for years.
Ticket To Ride
Players: 2-5
Play Time: 30-60 minutes
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Ah, yes, the gateway drug. Ticket To Ride is one of the most iconic modern board games ever made, and honestly, there’s a reason for that. It’s approachable, easy to learn, endlessly replayable, and somehow manages to create tension from tiny plastic trains.
Players collect coloured train cards to claim railway routes across North America while completing secret destination objectives for extra points. The rules are incredibly straightforward, but underneath that simplicity is a wonderfully sneaky strategy game where every blocked route feels deeply personal.
It’s also one of the best games ever made for introducing new people to the hobby because turns are quick, scoring is easy to understand, and nobody needs to sit through a forty-minute rules explanation before they can start having fun.
Why would I rebuy it?
Personally, I hardly ever revisit many of my older “starter” board games anymore. Most of them have simply been played to death over the years. Ticket To Ride is the exception.
No matter how many times it hits the table, it still delivers. It still creates those tense little moments where two players desperately race toward the same route while pretending they’re absolutely not doing that.
It’s timeless, easy to recommend, and one of the few classic gateway games I genuinely still love playing today.
If I were rebuilding my collection from scratch, this would absolutely be there from day one.
And there you have it: the five board games I would rebuy without hesitation if I had to restart my collection today.
Honestly, narrowing this list down was painful. Leaving certain games off felt like choosing favourite children, except the children cost thousands of rand and come with tiny cardboard tokens.
But now I want to hear from you, fellow cardboard addicts: what games would make the cut for your own “must rebuy” collection?
Let me know in the comments, and come back next week when I dive into another corner of my dangerously expensive hobbies.
