Talking Shelf Space

First Impressions of Inventions: Evolution of Ideas – Chains, Chains, So Many Chains

by AlexFirst Impressions 05/05/202405/05/2024No Comments

Vital Lacerda, master of interweaving mechanisms, has given us a new game, hurray! Vital is one of only a handful designers for which I actively seek out to try as much of their oeuvre as possible: Ryan Laukat, Vladimir Suchy, Jeroen & Joris from Splotter, Vital Lacerda are all designers that constantly seem to challenge …

First Impressions of Indonesia – Beating the Competition

by AlexFirst Impressions 04/13/202404/15/2024No Comments

I enjoy keeping my finger on the pulse, checking out what new games get released, what new mechanisms or themes get introduced to the hobby. As someone who writes about games, it’s gratifying to do deep dives into games that just came out and help them find their right audience. It’s a similar story on …

Indonesia Solo Mode: Local Competition

by AlexSolo Mode 03/31/202403/31/2024No Comments

I recently picked up a copy of Splotter’s Indonesia but faced a similar problem to when I got Horseless Carriage: I’m super intrigued but have a hard time to get this to the table with my group of friends. It’s got a long play time, requires repeated plays, graphics are … well … “Splotter-esque”. So …

Origin Stories: Evacuation – An Interview With Designer Vladimír Suchý

by AlexOrigin Stories 03/26/202403/26/2024No Comments

For this episode of Origin Stories, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Vladimír Suchý. In my mind, his name is synonymous with “something unique and different”. Similar to reading a great novelist, I’m always looking forward to playing his new releases, regardless of the specific story or mechanisms. Whatever one of his games might …

Review of Tranquility – Almost Universal Appeal

by AlexReview 03/23/202403/23/2024No Comments

I always planned to – at some point – write about games that have been part of my collection for a longer time. I guess it has taken me two years and a current lull of interesting new releases to finally get there. While there are a great many “older” games out there that players …

Games That Keep On Giving

by AlexStory Time 03/03/202403/04/20242 Comments

We’re in an interesting part of the year when it comes to the board gaming world. The lull of Christmas time and all those end-year recaps is over, crowd funding is only slowly picking up pace again, and fulfillments are still a bit out. The two most interesting things that have happened lately for me …

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First Impressions of Heat: Heavy Rain – Rainy Forecast Turns Out to Be Sunny With Clouds

by AlexFirst Impressions 02/26/202402/26/2024No Comments

Here we go again! It’s finally time for Heat’s first expansion to hit the market and it’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect: I’ve got a couple of days off work, a serious cold is keeping me mostly indoors, and even the weather here in Hamburg has decided to play along and be appropriately dreadful …

Patching Board Games

by AlexStory Time 02/18/202403/04/2024No Comments

Hi everyone! Hope you’re having a lovely weekend! I’m not sure where I heard it first, but someone once said that in the first two weeks after releasing an anticipated game, it gets played more often than during all of the months and years of playtesting combined. It’s shocking to hear at first but makes …

Review of Redwood – A Kickstarter Extravaganza

by AlexReview 02/17/202402/19/2024No Comments

Do you know that feeling when you see a crowd funding project and immediately fall in love with its visual presentation but at the same time get super skeptical regarding its game play? It just looks too good? There are positive and negative surprises when venturing into that territory. For example, I remember first seeing …

Review of High Season: Grand Hotel Roll & Write – Catering to an Audience

by AlexReview 02/16/202402/17/2024No Comments

Grand Austria Hotel is a game I adore, much more than I rationally should do. It’s punishingly tight, can easily become multiplayer-solitaire, and I get it to the table way too infrequently. But that’s emotions for you, right? There doesn’t have to be a rational explantation why we feel attracted to certain games while we …