What does it take for a game to stay in your collection? A clever, unique mechanism? Nice graphics? Accessibility? The downside of collecting board games and the shear volume of games being published nowadays is that it gets tough for a new game to be brought to the table, let alone get repeated plays. Take Cellulose: …
Read more “Review of Furnace – Does a Clever Twist Make a Game?”
A friend of mine once commented that to the uninitiated, it must seem completely ridiculous we are playing board games for fun. We were fretting over some heavy euro, probably the original Caylus or something similar. Everyone around the table could be seen mildly frustrated that they were missing that one resource they needed or living in …
Read more “Review of Burgle Bros 2 – Let’s Have a Ridiculous Good Time”
When was the last time you have been pleasantly surprised by a board game? In today’s world of board game collecting, with all the great YouTubers out there doing reviews, crowdfunding campaigns hitting home their message months/years before we get a game into our hands and of course BGG, the times where you go to …
Read more “First Impressions of Cellulose – A Box of Delights”
In the last couple of years, automa design has made great advancements. From simple cleanup/blocker-automas that more or less at random remove tiles from the board or block action spaces without much intent (e.g. Messina 1347) to pace makers with intent (e.g. Jean in Maracaibo), from priority-automas that try to find the first of their desires that …
Read more “Review of Concordia Solitaria – The (almost?) Perfect Automa”
To say that I have been fascinated with Red Rising for a long time would be an understatement. I cannot remember when or where I first heard of it but despite not knowing Fantasy Realms, there was something that immediately appealed to me. The lush production, the to me unknown franchise it was based on, etc. But something …
Read more “Review of Red Rising – Case Study of a Passion Project”
There is an interesting intersection at which story telling and board games meet. Sometimes they strengthen each other, forming a cohesive experience, sometimes one tries to hide the flaws in the other. I always enjoyed games that have some light story aspect to them to propel the action forward and give me a reason to …
Read more “First Impressions of Now or Never – It’s Not Only About You, It’s About The World!”
Looks can be deceiving. We all know games that attracted us with great components and gorgeous artwork, only to realise they are not as deep as we hoped or the mechanisms are simply broken. And yet still, when we stand in front of a game shelf, browse kickstarter or click on a YouTube thumbnail, it …
Read more “First Impressions of Maglev Metro – A Beautiful Trojan Horse of a Game”
There are games that immediately hit you and others that need time to grow on you. Some that invite you by looking gorgeous and others that stop you from ever trying them out, simply by the way they look. And there are games that are chunky-complex and others that do not have enough meat on …
Read more “First Impressions of Messina 1347 – A Special Act of Balance”