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Beauty Isn't Everything: Ugly Games That You Love Anyway
Kenny VenOsdel
United States
Saint Paul
Minnesota
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I've seen lots of games that are wonderfully produced, absolutely beautiful in boards, bits, and everything in between. These games get lots of face time between all the geek lists about images that are awesome and what not.
This list is a chance to let all the ugly games have a chance to be appreciated. The games on this list might not be beautiful, but once you get to know them you'll find they have wonderful personalities.
List here any game that you really enjoy but find visually quite unappealing. It is recommended that you choose a picture that accurately represents the games ugliness.
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Eric Jansing
United States
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This is a long-time favorite of my gaming group, but it definitely doens't wow anyone with its mostly drab white, gray, and black components. About the most colorful thing on the board is what is drawn with crayons. This thing could badly use an injection of color!
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Barteus Maximus
United States
Parsons
Kansas
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I find all of the contrasting colors to be garish - and the black writing on the dark green counters is almost impossible to read - but Revolt is a fun, light sci-fi game that is welcome at my table anytime.
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Rob Doupe
Canada
Calgary
Alberta
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Great game. But man, those red mountains, ochre hills, and jelly-blob contour-lines are defiantly ugly. I'd happily pay for $20 for a new map that didn't hurt to look at.
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Chris
United States
Austin
Texas
Glory to Rome!
"Let each man pass his days in that wherein his skill is greatest" Propertius Sextus
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Perhaps it's not ugly, but it sure is bland. A wall of tiles covered in a violet gradient does not a beautiful game make. It is like they just gave up on the graphic design after the plantation tiles. Hopefully, the 10 year anniversary will make up for it.
In the meantime, there is kungfro's Base game and expansion buildings, illustrated file to make up for it.
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Shemp Fill-in: Chan?
United States
Fountain Valley
California
Which way did I go?
Pick a card.
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Amazingly great game! Incredibly dull looking! Must be a Sid Sackson design.
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Shemp Fill-in: Chan?
United States
Fountain Valley
California
Which way did I go?
Pick a card.
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Very amateurish artwork and board graphics, like it was done with the free "paint" software that comes installed on your computer. Could pass itself off as a CheapAss game except for its size.
A very fun game though.
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Calavera Hermosa
United States
Tucson
Arizona
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Fantastic dexterity game with ludicrously bad art and graphic design.
Maybe my standards are too high. I mean these days you can't spit without hitting decent fantasy-themed art. But here... here, it seriously looks as if the art came out of a seventh-grader's notebook. Or bad pencil sketches by someone's nerdy girlfriend.
Observe:
..and this wizard is not the worst example (though, oddly, the worst ones are not in the image db.) And not just the bad pencil sketch... the colors, the font... what were they thinking?
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Lou Seelbach
United States
Huntington
West Virginia
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Obviously talking about early editions. The first time I saw it set up on a table I honestly thought it was a prototype.
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Rick Baptist
United States
Redlands
California
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This is a fantastic negotiation game. Why did they have to use the same zombie's face on everything -- and why that particular zombie? I just don't like the way it looks at all. Great game, though.
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Rick Baptist
United States
Redlands
California
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Overall, I like most of the art in here. But that cover ... I've often contemplated what in the world that thing is. That is no ship.
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Ben
United States
Washington
Dist of Columbia
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I love this game. And the wooden bits are cool. But the board is far too small, warps easily, and is needlessly busy. Seriously, we've got hexes and food overlaying a faded overhead shot of rivers, trees, and mountains. But if you don't know what you're looking for, it's just colors bleeding together into a beige cacophony. I'd rather go Age of Steam style than this.
And while I'm on the food, who decided to go photorealistic with the food icons, while using cartoony images of camels and dignitaries? Sadly, I can't get my game group to call this anything but "camel poo." Seriously.
Finally, the front box cover is awesome, but the sides are a splotchy salmon color that distracts from the font choice and looks a little like a bad attempt at tiger stripes when sideways on a shelf.
This game probably could have been a 9/10 with some better components and a few different choices.
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Roger Taylor
United States
Unspecified
Virginia
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Those of you who thought some other wargame was the ugliest, get a load of this:
Still, I played it a lot when it was new... in 1974. I still have my eyesight too. 
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Dave Seidner
United States
Willow Grove
Pennsylvania
In another time's forgotten space, your eyes looked through your mother's face. Wildflower seed on the sand and stone, may the four winds blow you safely home.
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Cheesey box cover depicting a lame looking billionaire guy.
Glossy and creased paper player mats. (Ugh!)
Cheap plastic poker chips.
Bland tiles with dumb "overhead view" patterns.
Small board with kitschy casino colors.
This is one fugly game!
Looks like somone chewed up a craps table and roulette wheel and then puked all over my game table.
I love it though! One of my favorites.
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Aaron Greene
United States
Cincinnati
Ohio
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If you only look at this box cover from a distance, it looks good. A guy looking out a window from a mediterranean villa. But upon closer inspection, its pretty terrible, like 5th grade art class quality (sorry to offend the artist...). Inside the box, the bits are just as bad, if not worse. From the board to the cards, to the little plastic pieces its pretty ugly. However there is a good game buried under that art once you get through the rules. Its a nice tight little auction based civ builder, especially for the 90 minutes it takes to play. Ugly as they come, but a solid game.
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Calvin Le Huray
Wales
Roath
Cardiff
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This is one fantastic game, but the components are very dull and the rule book is the same. I have the valley games version and the iconography is quite poor and hard to understand.
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Jim Hills
Canada
Saskatoon
SK
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One great game, one ugly board. Good old GMT functionality.
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Adam
United States
Bloomington
Illinois
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The cover looks like it should be on the side of someone's custom van. Most people hate the counters:
But I've always loved the style. It reminds me of primitive stained glass and I think it gives the counters an strange beauty.
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Linda Baldwin
United States
White Plains
New York
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Not so much ugly as deadly dull, even by old Avalon Hill standards. Nothing to indicate what a raucus bunch o' fun this game is.
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Sicaria Occaeco
United States
Salt Lake City
Utah
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Oh who are we kidding?
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H.C. O'Neill
United States
Bethel
Connecticut
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This was bought entirely because the art work was so over the top bad. Someday this will actually get played. (unfortunately only came with German instructions and no translation available that we could find)
But this game gets pulled off the shelf and thumbed through all the time. Anytime somebody new joins the group, they must pull it off the shelf to see what it is... then be horrified by the "sexy" deer ladies. It's the secret surprise lurking among the other games!
This has provided WAAAAAY to much amusement for a game that nobody can actually figure out how to play!
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Keith Jones
Scotland
Kilmacolm
Inverclyde
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...and maybe the theme isn't to everyone's tastes but I love this game. It's a real brain burner and once you've got past the overall look and the role cards which can be a bit confusing it really is an excellent game.
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Joseph Hayden
United States
Amelia
Virginia
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This is an absolutely great little game family. I no longer feel the need for miniatures wargames, and at a better price.
But the artwork is terrible!
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Lyle Rhodebeck
United States
Westerville
Ohio
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To me, the mix of colors on this game and the fact that the board never really looks like a set of islands being discovered makes this game hard to look at and even hard to play. I sold my copy a long time ago.
L. Rhodebeck
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Ben Foy
United States
Ellicott City
Maryland
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Wow, alot of pretty games on this list...
... compared to this!
This is a great game. For Sale uses some of its mechanics. When I try to get people to play it, they cringe because of the artwork.
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Kirkland
Washington
Fountain Valley
California
Saint Paul
Minnesota
Thanks! I considered titling it "Butter Face Games" but that seems a little to mean.
Granada Hills
California
Pronunciation: \ˈə-glē\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): ug·li·er; ug·li·est
Etymology: Middle English, from Old Norse uggligr, from uggr fear; akin to Old Norse ugga to fear
Date: 13th century
1 : frightful, dire
2 a : offensive to the sight : hideous b : offensive or unpleasant to any sense
3 : morally offensive or objectionable
4 a : likely to cause inconvenience or discomfort b : surly, quarrelsome
— ug·li·ly \-glə-lē\ adverb
mid-13c., uglike "frightful or horrible in appearance," from O.N. uggligr "dreadful, fearful," from uggr "fear, apprehension, dread" (perhaps related to agg "strife, hate") + -ligr "-like." Meaning softened to "very unpleasant to look at" late 14c. Extended sense of "morally offensive" is attested from c.1300; that of "ill-tempered" is from 1680s.
I am not claiming that for something to be ugly it should inspire fear. However, "ugly" does not just mean you would rather look at something else, it means you don't want to look at this. There are few games that made me want to look away. Chaos in the Old World is the only one that I can think of. Fortunately it's not a game I want to play.
There are some that have ugly elements, but I am not stuck looking at these ugly elements enough to call the game ugly. El Capitán has a slightly unpleasant motif. Pandemic, The Pillars of the Earth, The Scepter of Zavandor have bits I would rather not look at, but after seeing them once, continuing to look at them for another hour or two does not cause distress. I think the style of Pandemic is all wrong. It should have been all silly cartoony art.
Saint Paul
Minnesota
Pronunciation: ˈə-glē
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): ug·li·er; ug·li·est
Etymology: Middle English, from Old Norse uggligr, from uggr fear; akin to Old Norse ugga to fear
Date: 13th century
1 : frightful, dire
2 a : offensive to the sight : hideous b : offensive or unpleasant to any sense
3 : morally offensive or objectionable
4 a : likely to cause inconvenience or discomfort b : surly, quarrelsome
— ug·li·ly -glə-lē adverb
mid-13c., uglike "frightful or horrible in appearance," from O.N. uggligr "dreadful, fearful," from uggr "fear, apprehension, dread" (perhaps related to agg "strife, hate") + -ligr "-like." Meaning softened to "very unpleasant to look at" late 14c. Extended sense of "morally offensive" is attested from c.1300; that of "ill-tempered" is from 1680s.
I am not claiming that for something to be ugly it should inspire fear. However, "ugly" does not just mean you would rather look at something else, it means you don't want to look at this. There are few games that made me want to look away. Chaos in the Old World is the only one that I can think of. Fortunately it's not a game I want to play.
There are some that have ugly elements, but I am not stuck looking at these ugly elements enough to call the game ugly. El Capitán has a slightly unpleasant motif. Pandemic, The Pillars of the Earth, The Scepter of Zavandor have bits I would rather not look at, but after seeing them once, continuing to look at them for another hour or two does not cause distress. I think the style of Pandemic is all wrong. It should have been all silly cartoony art.
I think you are forgetting that ugly is really subjective! You may find some of the artwork is quite appealing but for me I can't even stand to look at it.
Don't take the comments on this list to seriously. It is just an opinion geek list!