This post is totally a ripoff of the most recent Top 10 List  from The Dice Tower .  But tension and stress in games is something that I like to discuss pretty often over here at GamerChris.com, so I wanted to throw my 2 cents in on my own version of the list as well.

Now, as I was thinking about this list, I'm concerned only with the "positive" side of stress.  These are not games that frustrate me or make me mad as I play them.  Instead, these are games that connect with me in a very real and visceral way to produce feelings of mounting tension and excitement.  And as I've put the list together, I've found a few elements in common between them, which I'll discuss after I reveal what made it. 

GamerChris' Top 10 Most Stressful Games:  

10) Shadows Over Camelot - This is probably what first taught me that a game could produce real tension in its players.  It was the first coop that I had ever played, and I was immediately impressed with how the cooperation helped you plug in and invest in the game, while the difficulty and potential traitor created a real sense of building threat and tension.  As I've said recently, I think that Shadows feels a little dated now in the greater realm of coop games, but I still like to go back to it from time to time.

9) Arkadia - The main reason that this game causes me stress is that it's almost a push-your-luck game.  So much depends on the timing of the other players in how they complete buildings, which pieces they use to construct the castle, and which seals they cover when they do so.  The uncertainty of how and when things will occur along with the very real possibility of getting behind the curve makes it wonderfully tense as well.

8) Acquire - In a lot of ways, Acquire is like Arkadia in that most of the tension comes from judging how the timing will fall into place.  There are a couple of critical tipping points in the game, and you've got to do a good job of staying ahead of them if you want to do well.

7) Steam - Steam is just full o' stress.  From the auctions for turn order to the competition to connect into cities, all the way through the timing of when you move available goods, you're always facing certain doom if things don't go your way.  Okay, maybe not doom, but at least severe inconvenience.  Every element of the game is under contention, and the experience is exhilarating because of it.   

6) Struggle of Empires - A great deal of the tension in SoE comes from the brutal auction for turn order and, more importantly, alliances.  Because while SoE would still be a very solid game of colonial conquest with lots of opportunity for shifting alliances without it, having it in there is just about as in-your-face as you can get.  Not only do you have to make a plan about who would be best for you to attack in the coming war, but you've got to lay down some cash to make sure that it can happen right up front.  There's still room for bluffing and all, but there's also room for the leader to use his cash to protect himself from his biggest threats.  Heck, just writing about it makes me desperate to get SoE back to the table! 

5) Fury of Dracula - Speaking as one who mainly plays Dracula, FoD can be a roller-coaster ride of stress.  Even with the best-laid plans, those pesky hunters are always on your heels.  And they always seem to catch up with you when you're at your weakest.  The only thing that I don't like about the game is that, completely opposite of what the title says, Dracula has to do his best scared rabbit impression if he wants to survive and win the game.  And usually, I'm as tense and jittery as that frightened little mammal through most of the game.

4) Pandemic - I think that what makes Pandemic so much more tense than even a more difficult coop (like Ghost Stories) is how close it always seems to play out.  Rarely are you just wiped out early in the game or do you have a cake-walk, but instead, you're watching the player deck dwindle and the outbreaks inch up as you struggle to put together your last couple of cures.  And as I've said before, even when you lose you're almost always left with the feeling that you could have done just one little thing better that would have made all the difference, and so you reset and try it again. 

3) Tigris & Euphrates - I always feel like I'm absolutely sucking in the middle of a T&E game.  You can see other people scoring all the time, but that little bit of uncertainty about which color is their weakest (and how weak it actually is) always keeps me on edge.  The freaky thing is that I win a lot more than I lose, but I still don't have much confidence in my position during play. 

2) Macao - I don't know if this game will keep its current level of tension in the long term, but for right now, it's probably the most wonderfully tense game that I've been playing recently.  It's got this really cool balance between long-term planning and random uncertainty, and the pressures that they create can be pretty intense.  And since there are so many elements that generate the -3 point penalty tokens, you always feel like you're under the gun and have to play efficiently. 

1) Agricola - Speaking of feeling pressure to be efficient, Agricola is the king-daddy of all stress-inducing games.  With the constant need to feed your family, the limited number of actions each turn, and the constant competition for action spaces on the board, it's like one big tension bomb waiting to be dropped on your gaming table.  I really love the game (and was thrilled to get it played last night), but I always feel like I've been at work or something whenever I'm done.  If you're looking for a game to raise your blood pressure and maybe take a year or two off your life, then Agricola is probably the way to go!



Assessment...

So, what do these games have in common?  Here's a few of my observations:

• For the most part, these are longer games.  In order to feel real tension from a game, you have to be significantly plugged in and invested in it.  Many lighter games just don't draw you in enough to make you care that much about what happens.
• Another way to help players "plug in" to a game is to introduce a cooperative element.  Coop games seem to make the players  invest more in the game because they invest more in each other.
• Hidden elements create a lot of tension, just because of the uncertainty that they cause.
• Other tension-provoking uncertainty can come from timing issues or "push-your-luck" mechanics
• Limited and contested resources are pretty stressful.  And remember that the number of actions or even turns in a game can be considered resources.
• The possibility of a "penalty" (like the -3 tokens in Macao or the begging cards in Agricola) can totally freak you out sometimes 
• Games are usually more stressful when the outcome is uncertain up to the very end.  Whether scoring is veiled or there is just an opportunity for a big "come back" move in the late game, big or obvious leads tend to ruin tension.

So, there are some of my ramblings about stress and tension in games.  What do you think?  Do you even like games that are tense and stressful?  What makes a game stressful for you???