In honor of Daylight Savings Time, I was thinking of what games I could play in the hour I am losing. These are my Top Ten games that play in about an hour. Also there are some games that play in about an hour but the set-up time takes too long (see Honorable Mentions below). And one last caveat I only list games I have actually played. Some of these could also take longer if you play with someone with analysis paralysis (AP). As always you may agree, disagree or add suggestions in the comments.

Here are the top ten games that play in about an hour:

10. Space Alert – Since this game is in real-time, it can’t run too long. As I have posted before it is a blast but once you have the basics figured out it loses a bit of its luster.

9. Castle Panic – enjoyable by gamers and non-gamers alike, great for kids.

8. Dungeon Twister – strategic and pretty quick, but AP can rear its ugly head on this one

7. Modern Art – fun auction game that plays fast even with five players

6. Thunderstone – decisions tend to be straight-forward, kill or buy. And still has enough depth to make that decision meaningful

5. Rising Kings – lots of variety of actions add strategy but easy gameplay make this one fun and playable in about 20-30 minutes

4. Pandemic – if your group knows this game you could enjoy yourself and save the world in about an hour

3. Nightfall – due to the aggressive play and nature of the deck-building game it should be done in an hour

2. Race for the Galaxy – for as complex as this game is, it can be played in one hour if you can avoid AP and know the iconography on the cards

1. Dominion – with four players this great game can be done in under an hour and if played with more experienced players you could have up to six

Honorable Mentions:
Galaxy Trucker, DnD: Wrath of Ashardalon, Battlelore, San Juan, Guillotine, Lost Cities

So go enjoy more daylight, and don’t think too long about which of these games you could have played if you didn’t lose an hour.

As always feel free to tell me your Top Ten in the comments section.