You have to hand it to Dutch independent publisher / design duo Splotter Spellen: if you’re in the market for innovative game design mixed with high amounts of player interaction and quirky humour, they are hard to beat. I’ve been slowly digging my way through their back catalogue, from 2005’s Indonesia to 2004’s Antiquity (which …
Read more “Review of Greed Incorporated – Never Has Embezzlement Been This Much Fun”
Sometimes it’s funny why you end up buying one particular game over the many, many others that are out there. I discovered the classic Grand Austria Hotel for no other reason than it was on sale at a bookstore and I thought “never heard of it, but it’s Lookout Games, let’s give it a try”. …
Read more “Review of Sol: Last Days of a Star – We Already Screwed It Up This Far, So …”
As much as I like playing heavy games, I have to admit I groan inwardly every time I open a box and am faced with 20-30 pages of rules. It’s not the amount of pages I mind, it’s more that feeling of “is this really necessary”? It seems that nowadays more and more games create …
Read more “Review of Iwari – Few Rules Can Make For Big Time Drama”
I bought Kanban EV so long ago that I can’t even remember what made me aware of it in the first place. Maybe I saw it in the BGG top games ranking (currently at an impressive number 46) or in No Pun Included’s excellent review of it, I don’t know. What I do still remember …
I like Vital Lacerda’s games: Kanban EV is still one of my all time favourites, I previously wrote about Inventions: Evolution of Ideas, and by now I was fortunate to have either played or owned most of his big box titles. One that unfortunately hadn’t struck a cord with me was the fan-favourite The Gallerist, …
Read more “Review of House of Fado – It Swings Baby, It Swings!”
Ryan Laukat (and in extension Red Raven Games) is best known for his story-infused big box titles such as Sleeping Gods, Near & Far, or Empires of the Void II. The degree in which story is the driving factor varies from game to game – from being at the forefront in Sleeping Gods to pretty …
The base game of Kingdom Legacy, Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom, has been one of my favourite solo experiences of 2024. As a small package of 140 card deck and some stickers, it is affordable yet packs a mighty punch. In 3-4 hours, you’ll build your kingdom from untouched grasslands to castles with knights, astronomers and …
Read more “Review of Kingdom Legacy: Distant Lands – Onwards to New Horizons”
After much waiting and a couple of false news alerts, the latest expansion for bike racing game Flamme Rouge is finally really here: Grand Tour is available for purchase. For some unknown reason, this expansion has been multiple years in the making – or rather waiting as there were multiple times where it looked like …
Read more “Review of Flamme Rouge Grand Tour – A Beautiful Swan Song”
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”
After playing the original Pandemic for over ten years, struggling with mutating viruses and terrorists in Pandemic: On the Brink, and upending the usual way to cure things with Pandemic: In the Lab, the prospect of digging into another version of the all to familiar Pandemic seemed daunting to me. Pandemic has rightfully become a …
Read more “Review of Pandemic: Rising Tide – You Saved the World, but Can You Save the Netherlands?”