Captain Flip (2024)

Most played game for me, on BGA and IRL

Learning ‘Captain Flip’ takes on a few moments - you pull a tile from the bag, careful to only see one side. You ponder it, and decide if you want to play it onto your board OR flip it and commit to the other side.

Of course, each tile has a unique power, be it end game scoring, immediate scoring, or interacting with an adjacent tile. And depending on which game board you have chosen, the column you choose could also quickly turn the tide of the game (yes, that’s a sailing pun, it’s a pirate-themed game).

And I LOVE IT. I have been OBSESSED with this silly game since it launched on BGA. The art is whimsical, the game play is quick, and there is just enough balance of push-your-luck and strategy that I keep going back for more. My friend had a physical copy and every time we played, we had to go through all 4 different boards. And then I got a physical copy and immediately made my non-BGA friends play so they could learn. Which is why it has SO many numbers in my bgstats for the year.

Yes, that 101 plays is a combination of in person at BGA, but as you can see, it blows the rest of the games out of the water (Yarr, I did it again).

Is it a ground-breaking game that will change the face of game design? No. Is it incredibly tense to watch your friend flip over a tile during the last round only to have it be their third gunner which is an insta-lose if you have that many when the game ends and everyone groans because they know this? Yes. Even when I was playing live games on BGA, I could hear people sigh/groan at their flipped tile result, because how could you not?

While the game design has minimal player interaction (you pass/steal a map around that gets you a bonus coin each round), I think everyone stays engaged as they watch to see what everyone else does, as it is very easy to look at other player’s board and think of what you would do next.

This will probably be the rare instance when my most played game and top game of the year are actually FROM that year. 2023 it was Castles of Burgundy on BGA and something else on IRL tables…that I have forgotten but probably a 2-player game since most of my game time was at my lunch break.

If you haven’t tried Captain Flip, definitely give it a go on BGA! It’s a great starter/wrap up game after something heavy. It moves really quick.

I plan to post about more games I played in 2024 soon! This was a good year for me and my gaming.