I don’t even remember how I got to my copy of the original Tokyo Highway. It might have been on a board game flee market or something like that, but I’m sure I hadn’t seen it on YouTube and I hadn’t read a review. I picked up that grey Ticket-to-Ride-sized box, looked at the back …
Read more “First Impressions of Tokyo Highway: Rainbow City – Smaller Package, More Toys”
Since the beginning, I’ve been fortunate that my reviews became popular on BGG quite quickly. My assumption has always been that it’s a mixture of the format (long form, in-depth), having lots of pictures that help to illustrate points, and that I don’t write fluff pieces. I don’t accept review copies and can thus write …
Read more “The Thumbs-Economy – Looking at the Data Behind a Review’s Popularity”
Two years in board gaming really feels like an eternity! I realised this more than ever before when I finally receiving my copy of Unconscious Mind a few weeks ago. Hard to believe, but it’s been two years since I decided to back this game, mostly on the strength of its visuals, theme, and because …
Read more “First Impressions of Unconscious Mind – What it Means to be Truly Thematic”
Since last year’s conversation for Origin Stories: Brass was so much fun, I once again caught up with Martin at SPIEL Essen 2024. I was interested to learn why there were suddenly so many releases of his at the fair. Also that very morning, I had played my very first session of Steam Power, a …
One of the things I was most looking forward to going to SPIEL Essen 2024 was to once again be able to chat with Vangelis of Hegemonic Project Games … and demo their upcoming Kickstarter World Order of course! Vangelis and me had talked for Origin Stories: Hegemony as well as did an impromptu interview …
Read more “Table Talk With Vangelis Bagiartakis – World Order”
October 2024, SPIEL Essen, one day before the convention opens. I’m browsing through the novelty show, a press-only event that’s basically all new releases cramped into one convention hall. Each game has about 30-40cm of table width, maybe less, and the hall is buzzing with representatives of the publishers pitching their games as well as …
Read more “Review of Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom – Honey, I Shrunk The Kingdom”
Lately, I’ve gotten a bit tired of the typical modern Euro: mechanically solid, great art, but no real theme or story being told. In the last years, I found myself wondering more and more often “why should I even be playing this?” as combo-heavy, low-interaction games kept coming to my table that wouldn’t produce any …
Read more “Table Talk With Tomáš Holek – Galileo Galilei, SETI, Tea Garden”
I guess I’m inventing a new-for-me format here: “Table Talk” 😀 While my usual interview format Origin Stories is based on 90-120 min conversations that are well researched and in-depth on a single game or topic, Table Talk will be shorter 20-30 min conversations to catch up with interesting people in the hobby. While being …
With SPIEL over and me on a long train ride, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the whole trip and answer a number of frequently asked questions. What Did It Cost? For trips like this, that’s always the big one. Well, it depends on various factors: How expansive is it for you to travel …
And here we are already: the final day of SPIEL Essen 2024. It’s the first time in a while that I’ve attended SPIEL on a Sunday. I would usually just do my shopping/gaming Thursday and Friday and avoid the weekend in favour of playing my new acquisitions. But this year there were more people to …
