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White Hat WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Trick taking games with a twist Published by: Dragon Dawn Productions Designed by: Thomas Klausner , Ren Multamäki This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . White Hat refers to hacking, but the good kind. Apparently, there are people who try to hack into websites and accounts to test vulnerabilities to protect the business from real attacks. Who knew? Well, this game is based - loosely - on that. (and the previous game, Black Hat, which was largely the same, but with no one player variant). The theme doesn't really come through, but it's a trick-taker, what did you expect? But what does come through is a game that is very well thought out and this hits you very quickly. In game one I would wager most playing this game would be slapped in the face with a big fat "ooh, this is interesting" vibe. It does two interesting things, both slimming down the usual trick-taking rules while adding a board. So, let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up White Hat Place the board onto the table. One is for the standard game, the other for more experienced players with a few more rules. Likewise, there are additional tiles you can add to the board for more variation. I would suggest you stick with the main board for game one. The extra tiles add a few new rules that may be a bit much for game one, but we will get to later and you can make your own mind up. Then each player chooses a colour and places their round score marker onto space zero, and their two hats onto the Internet Café and Public Server starting spaces. This is the only time you can have more than one hat on the same space. Next, shuffle the cards together and draw the top one. Then pick one of the three White Hat cards to play with, the differences are purely aesthetic. Give the White Hat card to the player who is sat the same number of spaces, clockwise to the dealer, as the card just drawn from the top of the main pile. Then deal cards out to each player so everyone has ten cards. So, nine to the player with the White Hat, ten to the rest. You are now ready to play. How To Play White Hat The player sitting to the right of the one with the White Hat is the lead. They must now play a card or cards. You can play as many as you like, and any card you like, there are no suits; so long as the cards all have the same rank (number). The following players must now play card(s) in turn order, following if they want, the same number of cards played. So, if the lead player played two fours, then all other players can either play two of anything, or a single card if they choose not to play a double, or cannot. If you do not follow the same quantity of cards played then you cannot win the trick. The person who played the highest value card that followed the lead quantity wins. All cards played in the trick are then discarded, and the player who won can move one of their two hats on the main board. They must move following the arrows on the board. you can only move one space, but if another hat is in front of you, you must jump that other hat to move forward an extra space until you land on the next free unoccupied space. They can also chose to move forward another players hat if anyone else currently resides on one of the negative one spaces. If this is not possible, to move any hat, then the winner draws an extra card to their hand from the draw pile. That is very rare though. There are joker cards in the deck which alone are worth fourteen, but with any other card, they replicate that card's rank. The White hat does the same, acting as a Joker. The only differences are that it is double-sided, so everyone knows who holds the White Hat, and also, when the White hat is played, the rules switch to the lowest cards win. Also, the winning player must draw the White hat card back into their hand and also pick up all other cards played, or the same number as were led that round, apart from jokers. If you want to play the White Hat, and you did not lead this round, you must match the lead quantity of cards. you cannot play it alone for example, if the lead was two cards. The White hat is also worth the most points, five. And in this game, points are bad! The round ends when one player is out of cards. All players then score based on the cards in their hand and the position of their two hats on the main board. The points are tallied up, and the score markers are moved accordingly. The White Hat and new cards are distributed just as before, and a new round begins. The game ends when one player moves their hat to the final space on the board, or no hats can move. Finish that final round, then score the last round and declare the winner based on the player with the fewest points. There are a few special spaces on the board with actions, more so when you flip the board, or add tiles during set up. In the main game, only the Honey pot exist, and the tracer, if you chose to include it. The Tracer is a space on the board indicated by the FBI Server. When a hat reaches it, that hat is stuck there for the rest of the game. Take the Tracer card (there are two of these cards for variable speed) and place the ring onto the first space. Then, when the player with the hat on this FBI Server wins a trick in later rounds, the ring on the Tracer card moves forward one space. When it reaches the final space, move it to the Public Server on the main board. It can then move to any adjacent space, even occupied ones. It does not have to follow arrows like the hats. It cannot get blocked like the hats, and when it lands on a space with another hat, that hat is moved to Tracer jail where you will score five points at the end of the game. The ring moves every time the player in control wins a trick, as well as their hat. When a ring is in front of a hat on the board, the player behind can choose to jump it, just like a hat, but of course, this is risky. The honey pot works similar to this, in that a hat gets stuck in this space. But that is it. There are no following rules or events. The Critical Asset space is the final space on the board, and when a hat enters this space, the game ends. There are six variants for the final Critical Asset tiles that you can add at the start of the game. Place it face down with the question mark showing. Then when a player lands on this space, flip it over to reveal the new rule. This could force the player landing there to now exchange their hand with any other player, reduce the penalty in the Tracer jail from five to one, force you to give one of your cards to another player, or other such interesting end game twists. A must-have addition for me. The Exploit space lets the player entering it increase or reduce the value of any other space by one. There are additional exploit markers that you can use to show this. The randomizer space allows the player entering it to draw a random game board tile and add it to the board, changing the face of the board set up mid-game! Any hats in the spaces that change are placed onto the new corresponding space, and any effects on their new space immediately come into effect. The Denial of Service space allows players who enter it to move any other player back to the Internet Café or Public Server starting space. This spot also locks any player that enters it. The Backflip spaces let the player entering it move another player's hat backwards one legal space. There is also an interesting variant where you can change the aim of the game for each player. Shuffle the Celebrity status cards and deal one out during setup. This card has values from 18 to 42 and shows each player their own target score. At the end of the game, the player who is closest to their target score wins. It's a very clever variant that makes the setup for each trick completely different. Sometimes players want to lose. Sometimes, they want to gain points. It is a very interesting way to play the game. Is It Fun? White Hat Card Game Review I love Trick-Taking games, but like most genres, it has been somewhat played out over the last few years with the saturation of the market. So, new games in this area, just like any other, need to add something more. A twist. This game does that so well. You think at the start of the game the twist is that this trick-taker has a board. And as much as that is a nice little addition, it really is just a nice visual way to move along some tracks that have a lot of easy ways to vary the setup. But the real twist here comes in other forms. Such as, no suits. No suits mean no trumps. And this opens up the card play in a whole new way. Players follow the quantity, not suit. And you win simply with the highest card. Unless The White Hat comes out, which reverses this. This has been seen in other trick-taking games, but the implementation of this reversal in a game where the card that instigates it is recycled back into that round is genius. Let's say we are near the end of a round. All players have around one to four cards left. Because, of course, a lovely wrinkle in this game's fabric is that players do not always hold the same quantity of cards as you can play more than one card when you have matching ranks, and not all players will be able to choose to do this. Anyway, when only a few cards are left, you will think the round is close to ending. And it is, but you never know exactly how many rounds that will be. Say someone plays The White Hat alone to lead. This is now a 14 and cannot win that trick. Now, say another player with only one card in their hand plays their final card, and it is a three and the lowest card played that round. They will now win that track, and be forced to pick up the White Hat card plus one other. They now have gone from one card, hoping to go to zero and end the round, to two and another round at least left. Maybe two. The White Hat is a handy card to have in the early stages of the game. It gives you a lot of control to get more cards into your hand, potentially build the number of matching cards in your hand, increase your chances of winning tricks, and move your hats. However, winning it near the end can be bad as you do not have the time left to get rid of it, and it gives you five points you probably do not want. There is a lot of opportunity for very clever card play in this game, coupled with some interesting options with the main board. Especially when you add all the variants in. I suggest you do not start with them all; instead, let players get used to the card play for a game or two. But then, when you add them in, this game feels rich and layered in ways other trick-takers simply do not. But it still comes in a small box, with simple rules, minimal set up, and quick gameplay. Games typically last around 30-40 minutes, and the game is very easily explained to anyone familiar with trick-taking as a concept. However, at first, they may find the concept of no suits confusing, especially as the cards are coloured differently. This is just to show more clearly their trace points. But it does throw you off a little, in a similar way to Hanabi, as players are so accustomed to seeing cards in a specific way. However, you will quickly get used to this and find the game to be highly rewarding for minimal effort. The only thing I do not love is the theme and art style. Others I have played with really liked it, so this is obviously subjective, but it just felt a bit 90's and harsh to me. It is hard to make a theme really come through in a trick-taking game, or any card game for that matter. The board here helps, but ultimately I find themes in card games to be very much secondary, so why not pick something that is a little more aesthetically pleasing? The art in this game is all low-bit numbers, computer hardware, and creepy-looking IT people. Not for me. But the game is excellent. I love playing this game, and have found the variations to be a wonderful addition to what is already a very solid experience. Especially the six end game variants that do not reveal themselves until the very end. I would like for this to be a little more game-breaking, but I understand that for balance and fairness, this is not the case. But in a game where sometimes you want to win, other times you want to lose, sometimes it's the highest card, other times it is the lowest, why not have one or two crazy end game twists as well? I felt that would have been a really fun way to play when you so choose. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys trick-takers, is looking for something that feels a little different, but still offers a very smooth and sympathetic entry into games. This would be easily taught to anyone not familiar with modern games but has played a few classic trick-taking games like Whist, for example, and I would wager they would quickly get the hang of the overall game and perhaps get hooked on the modern board game world. This publisher has made a fair few game in this genre, and I plan to cover some more soon, so stay tuned!

The Cat Mitt Game WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count: 2-6 You’ll like this if you like: Pretending to be a cat! Published by: McMiLLER Designed by: David McGranaghan , Julian Miller This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Have you ever wanted to pretend to be a cat? Yes! Okay, perfect, then read on. If you answered "no" to the above question, then I am surprised you got this far! But maybe you are curious? In which case, are you sure it was a "no"? Either way, The Cat Mitt party game is a hilariously fun game for children and adults, where you need to try to knock a ball about to get dice cubes out to match certain puzzles. That is pretty much it, but I seem to be addicted. Shall we see how it plays? Great, but first, I would like to mention the publisher, McMiLLER . They are a new independent owned group of wonderful people who just care. Serious. Check out their site. It's wonderful. Inclusive. Sustainable. Open. Honest. Fun. I love these guys. Check them out. How To Set Up The Cat Mitt Game Take out the two mitts and ball, and place all the dice inside the ball. It is easiest to do this one at a time and with a little bit of care, rather than trying to stuff them in too fast! Then, shuffle the order cards and draw one card for all to see and give each player playing a Kitty card of their chosen colour. Place the two Meow dice into a central playing area and get ready to play. How To Plat The Cat Mitt Game The oldest player will now put on the mitts over their hands and will begin to roll the ball from paw to paw. They are trying to get one of the dice to fall out. If one does, then you need to try and pick it up and roll it so that it matches one of the dice faces shown on the current order card being used for that round. When it does, pick it up and place it into your Kitty card into the correct space, as shown on the order card. Keep doing this until you match the entire sequence. However, as this is going on, the player to your right will be rolling the two Meow dice. When they roll two "Meow's" then they must shout MEOW! And then they can take the mitts off your hand, and they will now start trying to knock a dice out, while the player to their right takes the dice. This continues until one player completes the sequence as shown on the order card that round. They must shout MEOW MEOW MEOW and the round ends. At this point, all players score one point for each correct dice placed into their play area, and the player who completed the sequence gains the bonus as shown on the top right of the order card. The game plays for three rounds, most points wins! There are two extra dice you can add for more chaotic fun: a pure red and a pure green dice. When these come out, all players must pay attention and make the appropriate sounds and gestures. For the green dice, you must cry "PURR PURR PURR" while scratching the table. The first to do this can take a treat (dice) from another player's player mat and add it to their own area. When the red cube comes out, all players must HISS and hold their hands up like a scared/angry Cat. The last player to do this takes the red cube and will score minus three at the end of that round. Is It Fun? The Cat Mitt Game If you are looking for a silly, fun party game to enjoy with all ages, then this could be for you. You cannot take this too seriously, but trust me, some of the players playing with you will! Maybe even you. It is strangely absorbing how much you want to get those dice out of the ball, and when someone rolls a double MEOW quickly, giving you less time, it can be very frustrating! But you need to remember what it is you are doing and keep the game in context! Because this game is very much about just having fun. There is some skill and technique as to how you can best get the dice out of the ball, but the speed at which the other players get the dice is obviously pure luck. You may end up spending a lot more time trying to get the dice out than the other players, perhaps with far less time. That part is totally random, and you need to embrace this. And when you do embrace the chaos, this can be a lot of fun. My family loved it from game one, and wanted to play over and over. I plan to get this out in the evening over the festive holidays, and I am certain this will be a hit. How much replayability it gets, I am unsure. Games are short, and typically we play at least two games each time. Generally, as the losing child insists on one more go! But I do think there is certainly enough fun - if not strategy and replayability - in this box to warrant your consideration if you are after a silly fun party game. Especially if you are a Cat person!

Fire In The Hole WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Pretending to be a pirate! Published by: McMiLLER Designed by: David McGranaghan , Julian Miller This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Before we get into this glorious game, can I take a second to praise the publisher, please? Thanks. McMiLLER is a new group of independent individuals who are truly caring folks. Seriously, visit their website. It's fantastic, welcoming, sustainable, transparent, and so much fun. I really admire them. Take a look for yourself. Fire In the Hole is a game where players wear pirate eye patches, throw wool cannonballs at a pop-up 3D pirate ship. If you really need to know more, then fine. I guess I will just have to write this entire review. But surely that is enough? It certainly was enough for me when I saw the pictures of this game. I wanted to play the moment I saw it, and I sense you may be the same? So, here, take a look at this. Not enough. Ok, let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Fire In The Hole Fold out the game board to reveal the awesome 3D pirate ship. Be sure to open the two side parts as well; I missed that to start with. Then shuffle the cards, deal four to each player, and place the rest in a face-down pile onto the space provided on the board. Give each player six wool cannonballs in the colour of their choosing, as well as an eye patch. The black cannonball, along with the X marks the spot, along with the dice, and place them into a central area; you are now ready to play. How To Play Fire In The Hole Players will now take turns to draw one card and play one card. The cards offer various ways to throw cannonballs at the ship, as well as rotate the ship into a more favourable direction for you, and remove other players' cannonballs. The aim of the game is to get four of your coloured cannonballs onto the ship in an orthogonal group (touching, but not diagonally!). The first to do this wins. When you throw the balls, you must do so with your elbow on the table, and any cannonballs that do not land in a square can be rethrown until they do. When you throw, you will be instructed by the card you are using to roll the dice first. This will determine if this is a throw just for you - a solo throw, or a throw for all players - All Fire. In which case, everyone must follow the card's instructions and throw as it dictates. Be that with the eye patch on, eyes closed, two balls in hand, or however it says. You can go all together or one at a time if you want to watch the other players. Is It Fun? Fire In The Hole This game is hilariously fun. It looks fantastic, and it just cheers me up when I open it up and look at the ship. The game itself is very easy. It is just a simple dexterity game where you throw woollen balls into holes. But it is incredibly satisfying when you do it, and I cannot play a game without cheering my successes like I have done something meaningful! The variety in the cards is just enough to keep the game interesting, without it being taken too much away from the core game of simply throwing balls into a boat! Other than firing with your eye patch, the red cards that let you mother players cannon balls, or swap you colours with other players. The purple cards let you get more cards, fire two balls at once, or use the black cannon ball to destroy other cannonballs already in the ship! The green cards force you to fire with your non-dominant hand, let you spin the ship around, block a space with the X, or steal a card from another player. The chaotic fun of this game creates a highly entertaining experience that works for all ages. There is some skill involved, but not much. I would suggest that anyone over six could play this game and feel at ease with any adult, if not at an advantage! For a few minutes, anyone can pretend to be a pirate. Make pirate noises, wear a pirate eye patch, and throw cannonballs at a pop-up boat. What's not to like!

Dungeons Of Doria WBG Score: 8.5/10 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Gloomhaven , Resident Evil , Lots of Loot! Published by: Xploding 10 Games Designed by: Viktor Ahrens This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Dungeons Of Doria first came to Kickstarter a few years back and was successfully funded. Backers started to receive their copies at the start of 2024, and the game is now available at retail. I sense backers were attracted to the designer, Viktor Ahrens' passion, and the game's ambition. Early signs from those who backed this are that the game is delivering on the eely promises. Hundreds of loot cards, monsters, and levels to explore in a dungeon crawl for the ages. But is it any fun? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Dungeons Of Doria There are a lot of different ways to play this game. There are campaign-style mission books in the box that will set you up for multiple missions designed to be played across a multiple-game campaign. There is also a huge book full of one-off, one-shot missions that will keep you entertained for years! You can also design your own levels. But they all work off the core basics that I will explain briefly here to give you a feel for the game. To set up, begin by shuffling all Loot Cards (as best you can, there really are a lot!) and dividing them into three stacks of roughly 170 cards each. Bu don't worry too much about this. Just three piles of roughly the same height works. Place these stacks face down, then shuffle the small Monster Deck cards into a single face-down deck, placing the Level 1 Monster Deck nearby (or a higher level if you're playing later in a campaign). Next, set up the Initiative Board in the centre of the table and place the Doom Counter, Round Marker, and XP Marker in their starting positions on the board. Each player chooses a colour for their Initiative Marker and places it alongside the board. Gather the dice and sort out the remaining markers (Dungeon, Damage, and Bonus markers) so they’re ready for easy access. Each player now draws four Loot Cards from any of the loot stacks. With loot in hand, players either choose a character sheet or pick one at random. Set up the starting Room Tile, typically the stairs or tile 'A-1', in the middle of the table. It is worth noting that most scenarios need space for around eight to ten room tiles but keep in mind the layout can change depending on how you explore and open doors. You won't quite know which direction the game will progress too. In short, buy a bigger table! Next, prepare the Room Tile deck according to the scenario instructions and place it as a face-down deck nearby. Finally, select a scenario from the Book of Scenarios or choose from a Campaign Book, then read the story and details aloud to introduce everyone to the adventure ahead. There will be some scenario-specific setup and rules, but I won't go into that here. How To Play Dungeons Of Doria The game plays incredibly smoothly over a series of rounds that you can easily track using the game board. Players will be opening and exploring new rooms, fighting monsters, and trying to complete the specific scenario's goal. Defeat a monster, find an item, make a potion, free a prisoner, destroy an enemy storage room, blow up a bridge, collect loot... and so much more! But first, you need to choose your character. Pick one from the available eight, and assign them their matching equipment. Then draw six loot cards and assign them to your character. You can discard any items you do not want, exchange with the other players, or attach them to your character either in their current possession, belt, or backpack. Each character comes with their own set of base attributes. You can use these or create your own, distributing 50 points between the six attributes. You must set each characteristic above at least one, and at 13 or below. Each player uses one character, or in a two player game, it is recommended players have two each. Or, you can use just one and gain extra loot and each hero on level two as a base. The game will now play out over the below phases: Round Start : First, move up the round marker by one space. Shop Refresh : Next, it’s time to stock up! Refill the shop to keep three cards displayed, one in front of each loot deck. This gives everyone a fresh chance to eye potential treasures or new tools to buy. Roll for Initiative : Every player rolls two dice, adds their character’s Initiative Points (IP), and places their Initiative Marker on the Initiative Board based on this number. Just watch out—if anyone fumbles (two one's) while rolling, the Doom Counter creeps one space down the board. The Doom Counter isn’t just for show; it could mean trouble later on! Action Phase : Now for the heart of the round. Based on your available Action Points, players can perform a mix of actions like moving, searching for treasure, attacking, casting spells, and more. Plus, monsters might decide to join the fray, adding a twist to everyone’s tactics. Poison Check : Got any poisoned party members? Time to see if they hold strong. Roll for a test based on Constitution and Wisdom with two added dice—aim to meet or beat a challenging target number to shake off that venom! Special Actions : This is where things get interesting. Any special actions like Mods, multiplying zombies, traps, or scenario-specific events will activate now based on the room you are in, which monsters are present, and specific scenario rules, so stay alert. Doom Counter : For each room with at least one player in it and each unopened door, the Doom Counter drops another space. The lower it goes, the more the game’s effects kick in, so keeping an eye on this can be key to survival as this may activate more monster actions. Level Up : End-of-round rewards! Here, players can level up their character by collecting Hero Level Bonuses, distribute group XP, regenerate health, and recalculate IP and power points, readying up for the next round. Shop Actions : Finally, if anyone’s eyeing a shop item or needs to clear the space, now’s the time to buy or discard. The action phase is where the majority of the game occurs, so let's talk a little more about that first. The player with the highest initiative will take their first action. Moving costs one AP (Action Point), jumping costs five. You can reveal a new room tile for free by standing by a door. You can search for treasure for one AP, or five if you want to draw two cards. You still only get one card, but you have a choice now. Worth the AP, as not all loot is friendly! After moving, exploring, and looting, the main thing you will do is fight. All items have an AP score. To use a weapon or item, simply spend the shown Action Points on your initiative tracker and carry out the card. Most weapons require a certain dice roll and offer a modifier to that. Whatever you are attacking will have a similar defence based on the item they may or may not be using to try to block the attack. If you roll a ten (these are D10 you are using), you can roll that die again, adding whatever you roll next to the previous ten. If you roll another ten, go again! Fighting works according to usual line of sight rules. If you inflict damage ten points over the defence of your enemy, this is called a critical hit and will add a second hit. Different items will show different levels of damage. Different enemies will have different defence. Defeated monsters drop one loot card which you can immediately pick up for free. When you open a new room, there will be space for new monsters shown on the tiles. There is also an excellent room guide, a separate rule book with detailed information on what every space in every room means. It offers some flavour text and quick, simple explanations. It is the best of its kind for this sort of thing. Monsters are spawned by drawing from the monster deck at random. Whatever you draw, find the associated monster card and standee and add it to the board. If you draw a modifier instead of a monster, draw another card and add this modifier to that monster. This monster now has a special additional skill to battle! When you spend your AP and move your AP counter, you will most probably move it below another player, or even a monster. Always activate whichever character or monster has the highest AP score on the Initiative board. Be sure you spend the AP points for whatever action you do. When you have run out of AP, your round is over. But, if you have just one AP left, you can always do any action you want. When you spend AP, you must spend exactly whatever you need to if you have enough AP, but if you do not have enough, you can still do any final action, or use any item and go into negative initiative. Just move the AP tracker to zero and carry out your final action. The rounds will continue until one players' character dies, or you complete your scenario's objective. If you are in a campaign, you can play multiple scenarios with the same characters, levelling up as you go, gaining new loot and powers. One-off scenarios work in a similar way, but have a more immediate finish and no lasting effects. Is It Fun? Dungeons Of Doria Board Game Review This game offers an immense sense of exploration that keeps players engaged and eager to uncover more. The world feels vast and dynamic, both in its sheer size and the depth of loot it provides. Players have the freedom to approach the game in multiple ways, thanks to a wide range of missions, diverse gameplay styles, and paths they can choose. This freedom adds to the sense of discovery as players can replay the game with different strategies or focus areas, or simply to see more rooms, fight more monsters, and discover more loot! This makes each playthrough feel fresh and unique. The variety of monsters further enriches this experience. Each encounter feels new, challenging, and rewarding because of the different strengths, weaknesses, and behaviours of each creature. This constant adaptation keeps players on their toes, fostering a sense of excitement about what they might encounter next. The loot system also fuels the excitement of exploration; the rewards are as varied as the monsters themselves, meaning each battle holds the potential for new, powerful items or resources. Actually, that is not true. The loot outweighs the monsters by about 100 to 1! And that is not because there are not many monsters. There are loads. 160 monster cards in total. There is just so much loot! Over 500 cards. This element of surprise and potential for reward adds to the thrill, making each journey into new territory feel worthwhile. The huge stacks of loot genuinely make me want to play the game again and again. Never before has a huge stack of cards made me so excited for repeat plays. Except maybe Ark Nova. The game's design supports an exploratory mindset, encouraging players to deviate from the main path to uncover hidden areas, secrets, and treasures. There are a lot of little tricks and twists within the rooms themselves. The game rewards patient curiosity, but can also be played simply by rushing towards the goal. Either play style works and can be fun. This balance of risk and reward creates a compelling loop of exploration, combat, and reward. Overall, the game’s commitment to variety, challenge, and discovery creates an experience where exploration is not only encouraged but constantly rewarded, making it a game that players want to keep coming back to. And with over 60 scenarios, there certainly is a lot to come back to! I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys dungeon crawlers and is looking for a game that offers huge replayability and develops over multiple plays. If you want a one-and-done, this can be for you too. And you will have fun with it. But it is a big box full of great adventure, and it seems a waste to be treated like that. This game wants, yearns, and deserves repeat plays. If you want a game that can envelop you in that way, this could well be for you.

Mysticana: A Foundation Deck WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Solo or group puzzle with clever card play. Published by: Button Shy Designed by:  D ustin Dobson , Jamie Thul This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . In our recent review for Rove Jr we promised we would start covering more games from Button Shy. Why? Well, they release them at great speed. Generally, once a month. And they are mostly fantastic! Mysticana is a fascinating game. It has a Foundation deck that comes, as usual, with 18 cards and rules to play the game in one of three ways. We will talk about each below. Then, there are 11 other ways to play, two of which we will also cover. These come via mini six-card expansions that connect with the foundation deck to create new ways to play. It is an intriguing system. But are they any fun? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up And Play Mysticana For the base game, there are three ways to play, let's go through them all one-by-one. Nine Perils - Solo Game - Base Game Shuffle the main 18 cards and deal nine face down in a row. Flip the centre card face up and then draw one, two, or three cards into your hand, depending on the difficulty you want. The more cards you have, the easier the game will be. Then place the remaining cards face down into a draw pile. Now, flip any one of the eight remaining face-down cards so that it is face up, draw one card from the deck, and then play one card (face up) from your hand below any of the nine cards in a row that are currently face up or face down. The idea of the game is that the card you play below will "beat" the card above. Cards beat other cards if they have a higher number. Cards get a plus one boost if they have a higher element. Fire beats Land. Land beats Water. Water beats Fire. Some cards have a diamond icon instead of a number. These cards are called Avatars and simply win or lose based on rank. If two cards are tied, the way to resolve this is by comparing the two cards two columns to the right. This will also impact the cards directly to the right, regardless of the cards there. If you win all nine cards and avert the perils, you win the game. If not, shuffle them up and play again! The Path Ahead - 2-4 Players - Base Game This is a slightly more advanced version of "Higher or Lower." Shuffle the 18 base cards and place them face down into a deck. Flip the top card face up and place it into a discard pile. Players will now take turns to guess if the next top card of the deck will beat the top card in the discard pile or not. Cards beat other cards if they are either a higher element or a higher number of the same rank. Remember, element-wise, Fire beats Land. Land beats Water. Water beats Fire. The Avatar (Diamond) cards are all worth one in this version of the game. When the active player has made their guess, and it really does start that way, just as a guess, they flip the top card over to see if they were right or not. If they were wrong, they must then take either the card from the deck or the discard pile and add it to their hand. If the deck is empty, you must draw from the discard pile when this happens. After taking a card this way, if they then have two cards of the same rank (number) or three cards of the same element, they can reveal these cards and discard them. When the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile and form a new draw deck, flipping the top card again into a new discard pile to start the process again. The round ends when any player has three cards at the end of their turn. Every other player has one final turn, then each player adds the ranks (number) of the cards in their hand to the running total. The game ends when any player has scored 20 or more. The player with the lowest score wins the game. Sorcerers' Showdown - 2 Players - Base Game Shuffle the base deck and discard two cards face down. Deal the remaining 16 cards out, eight cards each. Players then play a series of rounds where they first set aside two cards to be used for the next round. The first player then plays a card face up from their hand, and the other player must then play a card on top of this, of the same element if they can. The player who played the stronger card wins the clash. A stronger card is determined much the same as in the other variants: either the higher rank (number) of the same element, or a stronger element. Again, Fire beats Land, Land beats Water, and Water beats Fire. The winning player takes the two cards and places them into a separate face-down pile. If they won using an Avatar (diamond), which counts as ones in this variant, they can also take another clash (previously won set of two cards) from a previous round that they had not won. When players have emptied their hands, the round ends. If one player won all the clashes that round, they win the game. If not, set up for the next round. Each player takes the two cards they reserved previously, then the other 14 cards are shuffled and four cards are discarded if it is round two, and six in round three; if you get that far. Meaning in round two, you deal five cards each into a hand of seven, and four each into a hand of six in round three. Continue increasing the number of discarded cards by two each round like this until a player wins the game by winning all clashes. Cave Of Djinns Expansion - Solo Game This expansion introduces six new Djinn cards. Shuffle them, including the odd flip, as they are double-sided. Then place them down in a triangular formation as shown in the rules. Shuffle the main Mysticana deck and place it face down. Then, play a series of turns where you draw two cards from the deck and place them one at a time above, below, or beside any of the six Djinn cards. The Djinn all set a unique riddle. A specific arrangement of cards that need to be placed above, below, and beside them. When you have achieved this for one Djinn, you will then gain that Djinn's power. This is either to move one Mysticana card previously placed into a new blank position, reclaim one previously played card and place it into the discard pile, or to switch two previously played Mysticana cards' positions. Then, you must cover the completed Djinn, either using a neighbouring card, if it is of a higher Element, or from the top card from the deck. This is to show it has been completed. When you play a card, it will be ideal to suit a neighbouring Djinn's riddle. But it is hard to make it suit both neighbouring Djinns. Most positions are next to two Djinns, and their riddles will not always align. This is why you need to move cards around after you place them, to try and complete one Djinn's riddle, then clear the way to now complete another. The Djinn's riddle requires certain cards to be placed orthogonally next to them, such as from specific elements (suits), ranks (numbers), or to work together and add up to a specific number. You will win the game if you complete all the Djinn's riddles. You lose if all cards are played and at least one Djinn's riddle remains unanswered. You can play a few variants by reducing the required number of completed riddles from six down to either five or four to make it easier, or by removing the top card from the Mysticana deck to make it more difficult. You can also make it a lot harder by filling specific spaces (as shown in the rules) with the top one, two, or three cards from the Mysticana deck, taking away your choice for the first one to three cards. Arcana Artefacts Expansion - 2-6 Players This expansion introduces six new Artefact cards. Shuffle these, randomly flipping some as you go, as they are double-sided. Shuffle the 18 base Mysticana cards separately and deal two cards to each player. Take the top Artefact card and read out the modifier shown on it to all players. These change each round and tend to affect a player's total hand based on various criteria. Each player then has one chance to discard one of their two cards and replace it with a new card. You can decide to keep what you have, or swap one card, and you can only do this once. Based on this, each player then decides if they want to Stay or Resign. Any player who resigns gains one point and is out of the round. If all but one player resigns, the one remaining player receives three points and the round ends. If at least two players remain, the round continues and the top card of the Mysticana deck is revealed. This card shows the number of points available this round, based on that card's rank (number). It also determines the value of any Avatars in each player's hands. If the point card is an Avatar, then the value of Avatars this round, and the points up for grabs is seven. All players still in the round then reveal their two cards and work out who gains the bonus from the modifier that round. Each player then totals their points, based on the rank (number) of their two cards played, plus any additional modifier bonus if they have it, and the player with the higher rank wins. Ties are split by the player who won the Modifier card that round, or highest individual card if that doesn't work. The winning player scores the round's points as shown by the card revealed earlier, and a new round begins, flipping a new Artefact. Play continues like this until one player reaches 30 points, wins the previous round, and has the highest score at the end of that round. You can play a quicker variant by reducing the points target to 20 if you wish. Is It Fun? Mysticana: A Foundation Deck Card Game Review (Including Expansions) Nine Perils Card Game Review People may enjoy this simple card game for its straightforward yet strategic mechanics that blend luck with decision-making. The setup is quick, and choosing how many cards to draw at the start lets players adjust the challenge to suit their preferences, adding a level of personal customisation that appeals to a broad range of skill levels. The game’s clever system adds to its appeal, with players needing to anticipate the face-down cards and carefully position their cards each round accordingly. Choosing which card to play under each flipped card and taking advantage of elemental strengths (Fire, Land, Water) adds a simple but interesting layer of strategy, keeping each game fresh and dynamic. The game is incredibly easy to replay, encouraging players to try again if they don’t beat all nine cards on the first go. The fast setup and straightforward rules mean players can quickly dive back in, turning the game into a rewarding puzzle to solve over multiple attempts. This combination of simplicity, strategic depth, and replayability makes it an engaging experience for casual and strategic gamers alike. The Path Ahead Card Game Review This advanced version of “Higher or Lower” builds on the classic guessing game by adding layers of strategy and interaction that keep players engaged. The element-based rules—Fire beats Land, Land beats Water, and Water beats Fire—create a more dynamic experience than simple number comparison. Players must weigh each guess carefully, anticipating the next card based on both rank and elemental strengths, what has been seen so far, and what may still be to come. There are only 18 cards remember. Another fun twist is the penalty and discard mechanic. When players guess wrong, they must add a card to their hand, creating a playful tension as they try to avoid accumulating cards. However, this isn’t purely a disadvantage—if they manage to collect pairs of matching ranks or sets of three elements, they can discard them, adding an element of resource management to each round. The game’s end condition creates an interesting balance between risk and reward. Players aim for a low score, with rounds continuing until someone reaches 20 points. This unique scoring keeps the stakes high, as players strive to avoid accumulating points and play for the lowest possible score. Altogether, these elements make it a fun, competitive game with both luck and strategy in the mix. Sorcerers' Showdown Card Game Review This game is a fast-paced duel of strategy where players aim to win clashes by playing higher-ranked cards or stronger elements (Fire beats Land, Land beats Water, and Water beats Fire). With each round, players must set aside two cards for the next, which adds a fun layer of planning, as they carefully consider how to build their hands and win each clash. A unique twist is the Avatar cards: when used to win a clash, it lets the player reclaim a previously lost clash from a former round. This power adds strategic depth, making timing of when to play these cards key as players decide when to play each card. The game continues until one player wins all clashes in a round, claiming overall victory. If not, a new round begins with reshuffled cards and a decreasing deck size, which heightens the tension as each clash becomes increasingly more tight. Cave Of Djinns Card Game Review The Djinn expansion offers a strategic puzzle-solving experience, where players arrange Mysticana cards to complete unique Djinn riddles. Each riddle requires careful card placement around the Djinn cards, rewarding players who think ahead and use Djinn powers, like swapping or discarding cards, to resolve tricky patterns. This makes each decision meaningful and dynamic. With powers to shift the dynamic of the ever changing card layout, players face exciting challenges as they balance riddle-solving with tactical card movement, creating a unique mix of strategy and adaptability. Difficulty options, like adjusting the number of riddles or restricting initial moves, add replayability and make the game engaging for various skill levels. There is a lot of replayability here, with the double sided cards. And games can be over in a few minutes. Success hinges on strategic card placement and efficient use of powers, making each playthrough engaging as players aim to complete all Djinn riddles before the deck runs out. Arcana Artefacts  Card Game Review This Artefact expansion is my favourite variant because it feels like more of a game than a puzzle, adding exciting layers of strategy and suspense to each round. The Artefact cards introduce dynamic modifiers that shift each round, impacting everyone’s hand based on unique criteria, which keeps the game fresh and unpredictable. Players then face a quick choice: stick with their two cards or swap one out, adding a fun gamble before anyone reveals their hand. This to me, feels a little like Poker, but in an incredibly simplified form. The “Stay or Resign” mechanic amps up the tension, as players balance the risk of staying for potential high points or opting out to score modestly. Each round’s scoring card, revealed only after players make their choices, keeps everyone guessing. This scoring unpredictability paired with the Artefact modifiers adds layers of strategy, making each round feel distinct and compelling. The game’s end-goal flexibility of 20 or 30 points lets players adapt it to their preferred pace, adjusting the score target for a quicker game if desired. Altogether, this expansion stands out for its blend of strategic depth and player-driven risk, offering a variant that remains engaging and ever-changing. Overall Thoughts This set of card games is impressively versatile, showing how much variety and depth can be achieved with only 18 base cards and 6 expansion cards. Each variant offers its own flavour, from pure puzzle-solving to strategic decision-making, providing something for different player types. Some versions focus on careful placement and pattern-matching, perfect for puzzle enthusiasts who enjoy figuring out the optimal moves. The Arcana Artefacts variant stands out because it feels more like a full game than a puzzle. With strategic choices and round-by-round modifiers that affect each player’s hand, this version creates a more competitive and dynamic experience. This variety across all versions and the modular nature of the expansions make it truly impressive how much depth is achieved with so few cards, offering both replayability and adaptability to suit any mood or player preference. The designers of these games really are very clever indeed! These games prove that good things come in small packages—who knew just 18 cards could deal out so much fun? Each variant brings a new twist to the table, and with the Artefact expansion, there is a genuinely good game here. It’s a deck of cleverness that’s sure to keep you shuffling back for more!

Justice WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count: 3-5 You’ll like this if you like: The fusion of trick taking and Deduction. Published by: Dragon Dawn Productions Designed by: Tony Cotterill , Ren Multamäki This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Dragon Dawn are a Finish publisher who make a fair few games about Dwarves. And a fair few using trick-taking. This is their latest release, a trick-taking card game set in the same world as a 2021 release Factory 42 , an industrial worker placement game about Dwarves. But this time, it's about Gnomes. No, only joking. It's about Dwarves. Of course it's about Dwarves. Machiavellian Dwarves, none-the-less. It's a deeply thematic trick-taker that incorporates deduction, tableau-building, and variable player powers. Intriguing concept isn't it? Well, let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Justice Place the main board in the middle of the table and then gather all the cards. There are seven decks in total: the Crime and Crime Definition deck, the Suspect, Identity, and Liability deck, the Reaction card deck, and finally the main deck of four suits made up of red Evidence cards, blue Testimony cards, pink Rosettes cards, and green Witness cards. For a three-player game, remove the suit and reaction cards with a value of three and below. Then shuffle each deck separately, except for the four suits and reaction cards that you will shuffle together into one deck. Unless you want a simpler game for your first experience, in which case you can leave the reaction cards out. Deal one Liability card into each of the three Suspect slots on the main board. Deal these face down. These cards either say "Guilty" or "Not Guilty." Next, deal face up one Suspect card on top of each of these face-down Liability cards. Remove the remaining Liability and Suspect cards from the game back into the box. Next, deal one Crime and Crime Definition card face up into the slots at the bottom of the board. Or top, depending on where you are seated. Read these cards aloud. The Crime card is just flavour text. The Crime Definition card sets the tone for this round. Finally, give each player two Soulgaze tokens placed on the blank side up along with one Identify card. These cards should be kept secret from the other players and set each player's own unique goals and scoring options for the round. Each player should note their goal for this round. For the first round, the first player is chosen at random. After the first round, the first player is determined by the player with the lowest points, who can choose whomever they wish, including themselves. You are now ready to play. How To Play Justice Deal out twelve cards to each player from the main suit (and Reaction deck, if included). Then, either each player discards two cards to form a hand of ten cards, or players can instead draft their hands. Each player will keep four cards from their initial hand of twelve, then pass the remaining eight to the player to their left. Then choose four more cards from these eight, and pass the remaining four cards. Finally, each player chooses two cards to discard from the final set of four cards, leaving them with ten cards. The starting player will then play one card from their hand. You cannot lead with a Reaction card. Each other player must then take one of two actions. Either they can play a card from their own hand following the same suit as the first card played, if they have one of course. If you cannot, you can play any card you wish, including a card from the Trump suit for that round, as determined during setup. Or, if you choose not to play a card from your hand, you can instead play one of your two Soulgaze tokens if you have any remaining. This means you will have more remaining cards and options for later rounds. But also, you can look at the hidden Liability card behind one of the three Suspects. You can pick either one of the three. You must keep this information secret from the other players. You will also score one point when you play your token in this way. Flip your token to the star side to represent this token is spent, and now worth a point. After a card or Soulgaze token is played, anyone can play one of their Reaction cards, if they are in the game, and if they were dealt or drafted any. Reaction cards can only be played onto another card of the same value. Playing a Reaction card in this way turns the previously played card into a Trump. You cannot play a Reaction card onto a Trump card. Any player can play a Reaction card. You can play one onto the card you played yourself or onto the last card played by another player. This isn't limited to the player sitting next to you. As such, the rules suggest you give a few seconds between playing each card to allow other players to play a Reaction card if they wish. Players would want to do this to either help themselves, or another player win a trick. They would help another player if they felt they could not win themselves, and thought another player had similar aligned goals to them. Although, of course, they can never be sure. The winner of the Trick (hand of cards played) is then determined by seeing who played the highest card of the lead suit, or the highest Trump, if any Trumps were played. The winning player can now choose to place one blue, red, or green card to the left or right of either of the Suspects. If they place it to the right, this will help the Suspect become acquitted. If they place it to the left, this will make it more likely that they receive a Guilty verdict. This is represented on the board with green or red icons. The card they place will show either a red number on the left or green number on the right that will add to the selected Suspect's verdict. Each card you add may bring new symbols too, which bring to the table interesting multipliers I will explain below. If they do not want to do this, they can instead place one pink card above or below one of the Suspects. Each Suspect can hold two cards above and below them this way. Each pink card shows various numbers of stars and symbols which will affect that rounds' scoring as detailed below. Players carry out this process, playing tricks, until a situation arises when one or more players has only Reaction cards in their hand. When this happens, those players call out "Case Closed" one final trick is played by the other players, and the first player to call "Case Closed" gains an Efficiency bonus of one star. This means, one extra point. Stars are points. Each suspect is then assessed for their relative guilt by looking at the cards played next to them during that round. The red cards played to the left are totalled up, and the green cards played to the right are also tallied. There may be multipliers in effect here, shown by the symbols on the cards. If there are any symbols on the cards on the left or right that match symbols on the suspect itself, or the pink cards played above or below the suspect, then the value of the suit that has this symbol is multiplied by the total number of symbols. If the total of the cards on the left equal or exceed the cards on the right then the Suspect is found Guilty. Otherwise, they are Not Guilty, and the Suspect card is turned upside down. You will now be left with three Suspects, either seen as Guilty or not, sat on top of cards saying Guilty or Not Guilty. The verdict you arrived to in the game may not match the verdict on the card below. Not all trials are just after all! Each player will now score based on their own individual scoring bonuses. All players reveal their Identity card and look at the green areas on their circle of justice; they will score each Suspect accordingly. Players will either be looking to get guilty Suspects to receive a Guilty verdict, or vice versa. Or a mismatch of the two, with the Guilty being acquitted, and the not Guilty being found Guilty. It may be that one player wanted both Guilty and Non-Guilty Suspects to be Convicted. Another may want everyone to be sentenced, no matter their Guilt. The Nationalist doesn't care if Suspects are found Guilty or not. They just wanted them to be actually Guilty in the first place! For each suspect that meets your chosen criteria, you will score the points for all symbols shown on that suspect card and any pink cards next to it, based on the totals shown against each symbol on your identity card. You will then score the stars shown on the pink cards that were added to any suspect with whom you scored this round. The cards on top add points based on the stars shown on the cards there. The cards on the bottom remove points. Finally, check the bottom of your own personal Identity card to see if you have any additional bonus awards. Most do, just the Anarchist does not. Calculate your total score and add it to the score sheet for that round. You can score negatively for a round, and a negative score can remove points from a previous round, but you cannot ever go below zero for your overall score. The game continues like this round after round until one player scores 42 points or more. If more than one player exceeds 42 points, then the player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the highest score in one round wins the game. Is It Fun? Justice Card Game Review Trick-tackers are rife. There are literally thousands of games that use this mechanic. 2,539 in fact. As of October 2024. As such, if you want to make a game that leads with trick-taking as a core mechanic, you need to do something clever with it. Make it co-op like The Crew . Or maybe give each player bonkers game bending powers such as Tournament at Camelot . Well, with Justice, there is an intriguing element of deduction thrown into the game, a deep theme (well, deep for trick-taking card games anyway!), and a fascinating scoring system that changes for each player every round. It means each round feels fresh. Each trick is interesting. And you will be constantly monitoring what each player is doing, why they may be doing it, and be on constant alert. Rather than simply playing your highest lead card and moving on with your life. Justice feels like the fusion between a trick-taking game and a game like Shadows Over Camelot . A brilliant, but sadly out-of-print deduction game where you are constantly analysing why each player has done what they just did, and how that may benefit you. As such, you can never relax. Every move could be crucial to piece together the puzzle of your opponents' hidden agendas. It's a lovely feeling! All this combines to make Justice a fascinating game. If you like deduction and trick-taking, then get this game. End of decision. It delivers fantastically in both these mechanics, and I don't see these two mechanics fused together as well as this very often. If you are unsure about the deduction element, well, you don't actually have to figure out what the other players are doing. You can just play your own game. But understanding what other players are trying to achieve will help you as you won't be able to win every trick, but you may be able to help other players win. And if you help the players with similarly aligned goals, well, your points total will race up. But if you don't like both of these mechanics, you may just find the rounds slip you by and you fall behind. As such, I would exclusively recommend this game to fans of both lead mechanics. There are plenty of great deduction games out there for those who don't like trick-taking, and vice versa. Plenty of great trick-takers exist without the use of deduction. But if you are a fan of both mechanics, then oh my, you are in for a treat!

Hitster WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 2-10 You’ll like this if you like: Pop song trivia! Published by:   Jumbo Designed by: Marcus Carleson This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . I first came across Hitster at Essen. There was a large crowd standing around a table with loud music coming from a speaker. I was intrigued and went over to look. I ended up joining in a game and then played with my friends for ages. I had a great time. Hitster is that kind of game. It pulls you in, draws a crowd, and makes you stick around for a good time. But is it for you? Does it have staying power? Or is this just for conventions? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Hitster Take out the cards and give them a shuffle. Then give each player one card. They will place this face up in front of them to form their starting year. Any card is fine for this. The player doesn't need to know the song they get. They just need a year to build from. Now give each player two Hitster tokens, open (or download - it's free) the Hitster free app and sync it to your Spotify account, if you have one. If not, you do not need to download Spotify, but it would be better if you do and sign into an account there too. But it will work without an account, connecting automatically to the free version. You are now ready to play. How To Play Hitster The first player will now scan the top card of the deck. The back side shows a QR code and when you show your phone with the app open these code, it will instantly start playing the song. Do not flip the card over yet. The player whose turn it is must now place this card to the left or right of their starting card. They do this by identifying the year the song came out. If they think it precedes the year they have face up in front of them, they will place the card to the left of their starting card. If they think it is a newer song, then place it to the right. Now, flip this card to identify the song and year. If they are right, they get to keep the card there. If they are wrong, the card is discarded. Play then moves to the next player. As players get more cards, they need to try to guess where the new card will slot into their row of cards. It can be tricky if you start to get songs that were released very close to each other. Each player must slot the card they are trying to guess into the position they think it should go so there is no ambiguity with their guess, and then flip it over to see if they were right. Before each player flips their card however, other players have the opportunity to play one of their Hitster tokens if they think the initial player has placed the card in the wrong place. If that player was wrong, then the player who played their Hitster token gets to take the card instead. At any point, you can replace three Hitster tokens with a free card from the top of the pile, adding to your row of cards for free. Players can acquire extra Hitster tokens by naming the song's title and the artist's name before you flip the card. If you are correct, you get another token, regardless of whether you placed the card in the right place or not. You can also use the Hitster tokens to replace a card if you don't know the answer, or don't want to risk a guess. The game continues like this, in turns, until one player has ten cards in front of them. Or, just play for fun until you get bored. You can also play cooperatively in two larger teams. Take five Hitster tokens if you are playing like this. Less if you want a more difficult game. You can also adjust the difficulty of the main game by saying that the guesser has to name the artist and song on their turn to keep the card, or for an even trickier experience, you need to name the exact year! The songs are generated via the app connecting to a Spotify account. So, you will need someone who has this app too. And ideally, the premium version. Although it does connect automatically to the free version too. Is It Fun? Hitster Party Game Review If you like music and party games, you will love this. There is not much too it. Listen to a song, try and identify the year. Place the card into the right spot in your row of cards. But the game is more than the game itself. It is the songs too. You can listen to the whole song if you like. And make this party game last all night, simply as part of a play list! I played this at a friend's house once where everyone was given ten cards as they came in, and were then able to scan the card whenever they wanted to hear one of their randomly selected songs. We then all, as a collaborative, had to place the cards into order throughout the night. There is a lot of creativity to be had with these cards. The songs are incredibly varied, and range in genres, styles, and of course, year released. They date back from the 30's all the way up to the modern day, with songs from popular pop, rock, RnB, Hip Hop, Country, and Indie bands and Solo artists, as well as many, many more. There are over 300 cards in the box, so plenty of choice and variation for many hours of fun with this. Could you play this with just a music app? Sure, but it wouldn't be as fun. The app is very slick and seems to have overcome some previous issues of connectivity. It has always worked great for me, but I did hear about issues a few months back. However, it has been perfect for our games. The cards with their large QR codes make the process seamless and offer a "let's get straight to the fun" kind of experience. The second the app looks at the QR code, the song begins immediately. It is a very smooth process. My kind of party game. Set-up and rules can be done in seconds, and the game plays for as long as you want it to. This could well be the perfect party game for music fans around the world.

Forges of Ravenshire WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Euphoria , Alien Frontiers , The White Castle . Published by: B.A. Games Designed by:   Sam Stockton This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Forges of Ravenshire came to Kickstarter in 2023 and attracted over 1,000 backers with its intriguing mix of dice worker placement and contract fulfilment. I always think with cover art like this, the game is going to go one of two ways. Either in the direction of a game like Everdell and be a huge hit, or, to be polite, in another direction! So, the question is, which way does this game go? Well, if you want to find out, you are in the right place. Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Forges of Ravenshire First, place the main board into the centre of the table. Then place the Season Tracker on the first Spring space at the top left of the board. Now roll two of each coloured dice and randomly place one of each onto the leftmost spots of each of the six areas on the board. Now separate the three types of Guild Member Tokens into individual piles and position them above the Guild Halls on the top right of the board. Next, select the top two tokens from each Guild and place them face up beneath their respective columns on the board itself. Mix up the Title Cards and uncover cards equal to the total number of players plus one, discarding any remaining cards. Now shuffle the three Contract Decks marked level one, two, and three separately and place them next to the board. Then take the top three cards of each deck and place them face up next to their corresponding decks. Place the Coins, Action Tokens, and Mystic Tokens next to the board. Each player now chooses a player board and places it in front of them along with their upgrade tokens, reference cards, and cubes in their chosen colour to track each of their goods, starting with one of each. Then position the Player Tokens for each character chosen to be in the game onto the space farthest to the left on the Reputation Track at the bottom left of the main board. Take one die of each colour along with four Gold and one Action Token. Each player then takes three level one contract cards and chooses to keep one face-up, placing the other two at the bottom of the deck. Then, if you are playing with the optional Assistant cards, each player now takes one of these cards at random, taking with it any additional dice if required. All players roll their dice, keeping them with the faces shown, and the player who rolled the highest combined total takes the first player token, You are now ready to play. How To Play Forges of Ravenshire Forges of Ravenshire is played out over four seasons, tracked by the Season token on the top left of the board. Each season has three phases: Gathering, Production, and an End of Season Phase. During each phase there are also multiple free actions players can take. Let's go through the main phases first. During the Gathering Phase, players will take turns placing one of their dice onto the main board onto any available space and taking the associated action, and then taking another die back into their possession from the board, again taking the action linked to this die. The number on the die determines the actions and resources the players will gain from their actions. The die they take back then triggers one of the Guilds on their player board. When you place a die, you can do so into any open space, gaining the Goods, Mystic Tokens, and any actions shown at the District where you placed your die. Each District has two spaces. When they are full of Dice, you can no longer place dice there. Players will need to remove them to create new spaces. The number of the Die you place affects the efficiency of the turn when placing a die in each area. For example, in the Sharprock Mountains space on the top left of the board (shown above), if you place a one or a two, you will gain two Ore and one Mithril, whereas a three or a four will get you just two Ore, and a five or six will get you just one Ore. All the spaces generate resources, apart from the Guild Halls space, which lets you recruit a Guild Member and either gain a Good or a Mystic (fancy goods!) of your choice. Taking a Guild Member allows you to upgrade your player board to make your Guild action more powerful. When players have placed a die and taken the necessary actions at that location, they must then remove one die, again gaining the benefits shown there as indicated by the number of the die they took. You can take any die back, other than the one you just placed. This die is placed onto your Player Board in the matching colour Guild Column on the left of your player board. This is the only time colour matters. Be sure to keep the die showing the same number as the one shown when you took it. You can now complete all actions available to that Guild, in any order. This guild will be developed as the game runs on by gaining new Guild Members by placing or taking dice from the Guild Hall space on the main board. Players will do this in turn until all three dice have been placed, and three other dice gathered and returned to one of their three Guilds. Players then proceed to the Production phase, during which they will place dice on the Production Side of their Player Board, fulfil Contracts, utilise the Market Exchange, and expend Action Tokens and Gold to construct upgrades. These actions can be carried out in any sequence preferred by the players. This phase is conducted by all players simultaneously. To do this, take the three dice you gathered during the last phase and place them into any of the spaces on the Production spaces on the right side of your board. Be sure to keep the numbers shown on the dice when you gather them as you do this. Then, claim the benefit linked to the space where you placed the die. This is either allowing you to run one of your Guilds one more time, gain two Action Tokens, Reputation, or goods such as Ore, Goods, Mystics, or Gold. Or convert Wood to Charcoal. Or finally gain Steel, Charcoal, or Mithril. These areas have the potential to be upgraded in their efficiency during the game, and one of the starting Assistant cards does this for you from the start of the game. Play then moves to the final phase where players will check the Title cards dealt during setup to see if anyone has met their requirements. If so, they gain the benefits shown, and the card is rotated so the next player gains the secondary benefit (less cash!). Then, refresh the board for the next round, moving the Guild member tokens down, taking the bottom row off the board, and filling up the top row from the piles next to the board. Move the Round tracker one space to the right onto the next season space. Then pass the first player token to the next player, and everyone rolls their dice used during the last Production phase in front of them, ready for the next Gathering round. During these phases, players can exchange the Action tokens to take a new contract from the face-up supply. Only contracts in front of players can be completed. You must own it first before you can finish the card. Completed contracts will earn you multiple benefits, namely goods and money. When you complete a contract, gain the benefit and then place it into one of three spaces to the right of your player board. Two of the three spaces require payment, but then give you a benefit. One is a free space. Completing contracts is one great way to move up the Reputation track during the game and gain big Gold rewards. You can also use Action tokens to refresh the available contracts on any row before you take a new card. They can also be used to recruit new Guild members, and along with the required resources, build upgrades to your player board. Upgrades either allow you to hold more Guild Member tokens or make your production or conversion of goods more efficient. Play four rounds and then after the fourth season, all players will take the gold shown on the space their token on the Reputation track occupies. You can convert any Mystic resources or Action tokens into gold. Add this to the gold you earned during the game. Most gold wins! Is It Fun? Forges of Ravenshire Board Game Review Forges of Ravenshire has captivated me with its interesting blend of mechanics. Dice worker placement, engine building, and resource management fuse into an intriguing game that is just fun to play. Each turn, players roll and place dice on the board, creating an ever-changing system of resource management where the dice act as workers with varying strengths and abilities. What you place, and where you place it, dictates what you will get this round. What you need will be largely dictated by which Contracts you have acquired. When you get what you need for each Contract, gain the benefits, then go again there is a real sense of achievement, and this happens most rounds, at least once. Sometimes more. There is a procedural nature to all this that can seem flat initially as the game is a little repetitive. But ultimately, this game delivers huge satisfaction as you play. More so, as you become more efficient with your turns. Despite doing the same thing each turn, what you are doing is fun. It looks nice. It feels nice. And if offers something most gamers love. Resource management, contract fulfillment, and points, lots of points! The game seamlessly integrates these mechanics along with tableau building, because everything matters. You can expand your personal board with upgrades, Guild tokens, and efficiency enhancements. Effective resource management through all this is essential, as gathering and spending resources efficiently to craft goods (complete contracts) drives both your engine, but more importantly, Gold production; the scoring in the game. This combination creates a rich, strategic experience where every decision matters and impacts your long-term goals. One of the standout features of Forges of Ravenshire is the exciting combo opportunities, where you can chain multiple actions together during a turn. The ability to trigger free actions in between turns—like gaining or completing tasks, upgrading your player board, or converting some resources without spending dice—makes the gameplay far more engaging than first expected. You can often do just that little bit more than you first thought. These combos are not only fun and satisfying but also create moments of high strategy as you plan how to maximize your actions. Stringing together these free actions with your main turn creates a sense of accomplishment as you complete more and more contracts and keeps the game feeling fast-paced and fluid, adding layers of depth to every move. Despite its potential initial complexity, the game is surprisingly easy to learn and play, striking a perfect balance between accessibility and strategic depth. Turns are quick and streamlined, with simple mechanics that new players can pick up quickly. Place a die, gather resources. Take a die, do the same. However, the game still offers a satisfying crunchiness as you navigate resource decisions, optimise your dice placements, and build up your tableau. And each turn you will get new resources. You will constantly be building up your engine and little pot of stuff. It's wildly satisfying to constantly grow your collection of stuff! This balance between ease of play and engaging strategy makes Forges of Ravenshire an enjoyable and deeply charming experience, providing a rewarding play that feels strategic and fun with each game. This is just the basic version, but the components are well produced, with double-layer player boards, and thick, cut-out spaces on the main board for the dice. Nothing moves or gets displaced as you play. And everything just looks and feels nice. The game also comes with two very handy trays for the resources, that also make set-up and tear down a breeze. The box insert is also very well designed and when packed away - which is easily done - everything remains in place, tidy, and ready for your next game. A superb production. This is the perfect mid-weight gateway plus style game for anyone looking to take their next step into gaming after the basic intro games that exist on the market. I would rank this alongside games such as Wingspan and Clank as being the perfect game to have in your collection to try to encourage people who have tried a few basic card or party games, and want to try something a little bit more meaty. Forges of Ravenshire has a lovely delicate weight to it that satisfies new gamers in this way, but also offers something for more experienced players to sink their teeth into. I worry a little about replayability over time, as the game could become a little too procedural for experienced gamers. I wonder how this could be remedied with any future expansions. The current Assistant cards go some way to offer this now, but there are only eight. More of these would be an easy mini expansion to develop this game further. I would also like to see more exaggerated asymmetry brought in with any new Assistant cards, and maybe even some level four contract cards (it currently goes up to three). But as is, this is a great game that will entertain you for multiple games, and could well be that stepping stone experience you were looking for to convert some more friends!

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art or components may change in the final game. I have previewed this brilliant game here and reviewed the first full expansion here . It too is brilliant. This second expansion is coming to Kickstarter soon. You can check the page for that here . This second expansion brings you more of you want you want. Four more fighters. This time round, all from the higher rolling walks of life. Lets look at each of them in turn. Bossman The Bossman is all about strength. Weak in almost every other area, this character hits hard. During setup, as well as separating the ultra card, you must also find and separate the Combo card. Later, during the planning phase, at any time you can play the combo card with any other played card. Then, if the card this is played with delivers knockback damage (which six cards do), then you can play the combo card with it, adding up to four additional movements and another hit with knockback. Juicy! The combo card can be used just once this way, but can be refreshed and used again two more times by progressing along the Meter track. This leads to his character essentially standing around, swapping positions, moving the odd space, but mostly just pulling their opponent towards them and smashing them at fairly regular intervals. A brutal character to fight with or against! Gamber The Gambler is another all-around character but offers a huge unknown. Even you, when you control the Gambler, do not know exactly what you will do and when you will do it! During setup, take the three D12 dice, roll them, and set them by your player board. During the planning phase, when you play a card, you must place one of your dice with the currently shown number on the card. This then represents that card's initiative. That dice is then rerolled and can be used in the next round. Burn tokens also allow you to reroll any dice you choose. The Gambler has a deck full of cards with the Mixup power, meaning they can be placed in any order you like. However, unlike other cards with this power, the mixup ability is only triggered for each card if the initiative is above a certain number. There are also certain actions on the cards that can only be carried out if the initiative is above a certain number, as shown on a number on the top left of the card. This creates huge variety with this character, and when you get the rolls you need, can create for a very powerful fighter. Dancer The Dancer is a highly versatile character, with some fascinating movement powers. During setup, take the Dancer's pole standee and place it above the fighter on the board. The pole can be thrown up to three spaces in front of you with certain card powers, and then you can use any pull action to move to the space the pole is currently on. If there is an opponent in the way when you do this, and you move through them on your way towards the pole, you will inflict damage on them. It is an interesting way to fight and works in a similar way to Vee from the base game, who I believe is the Dancer's sister. Magician The Magician is another highly versatile character. They come with two identical standees, but you only place one during setup. Later, using the double act power in some of the cards, you can spawn your second standee to any position on the board. Place the identification markers with each one, but face down so your opponent doesn't know which is which. You can then use both standees as usual, but only you know which is the actual real Magician, with the hologram version immune to hits if your opponent attempts to hurt it. You cannot attack with your hologram, but it can do everything else. When your opponent attacks the hologram or tries to push or pull it, then their identity must be revealed. When both tokens are face up, the hologram has to be removed, but hopefully by then your mischief will have been made! When the tokens are still on the board and both your standees are present, you can use Misdirection to take back the tokens, and replace them however you like. This keeps your opponent guessing, and makes this power incredibly useful at deceiving your opponent as to where you actually are on the board. A hilarious addition to the game. This game is so good. And the more fighters it has, the better. If you are a fan of the base game, and have the first expansion already, I would suggest this is as close to a must-buy as any expansion has ever been. I think you will enjoy the variety these four new fighters bring, and I especially like the randomness brought with the Gambler and the dice.

When I started my own collection, my goal was to get the best game from each major mechanic. That way, I would always be able to play the best game for whatever type of experience I wanted. It's a pretty hard thing to achieve. First, new games come out all the time. You cannot keep up. And second, "the best" of anything is obviously quite subjective. However, it is also the most common question I get asked when people are looking for a new game to buy for their own collection. So, I thought it may be helpful to you out there to list my top 5 from certain mechanics. Feel free to drop me an email with any specific mechanical top 5 requests. I don't want to just run through the top 5 from a mechanic though. That would be pointless for the purposes of helping you buy a game. You could all just check the rankings on BGG or simply skip and only look at the number one game. This may not necessarily be the right one for you. So, instead I am going to pick a mechanic, and then look at the best five games within that mechanic for different ways they use this specific mechanic, or how the game incorporates it into other mechanics. No game uses just one mechanic. Well, very few anyway. As such, this top five is not in any specific order. This is five great games each with specific reasons for their presence here. This way, you can make your own choices based on what style of game works for you. So, without further ado. Here are my top five games that utilise Worker Placement. The Classic: Lords of Waterdeep . And the best to play if you want to play something simple. Current BGG rank: 85 Published by: Wizards of the Coast Designed by: Peter Lee , Rodney Thompson WBG Rating: 8 All the games on this list score a 9/10 from me Whereas this first selection scores only an 8. Why then is it on this list? Surely, there are better games that use worker placement. Well, yes. I have ranked a few games that use Worker Placement higher than Lords of Waterdeep. But each game tells a story. A big part of every games story is where is came from. And a lot of modern board games owe a lot to what Lord of Waterdeep did. Bus from 1999 is regarded as the first game to use Worker Placement in it's current form. And games like Agricola (2007) , Keythedral (2002) , and Caylus (2005) all had huge roles to play in the development of Worker Placement as we see it today. But I would argue that it was the 2012 release of Lords of Waterdeep that accelerated the mechanic, both in terms of it's development in other games, but also in popularity. Lords of Waterdeep currently has 54k ratings on BGG. Caylus has 29k. Keythedral has 3k. Now, admittedly Agricola has 71k ratings, is a brilliant game, and is commonly regarded as one of the ultimate classics for a worker placement game. But for me Lords of Waterdeep gets mentioned more in this breath. It's so often the game that brought people into the hobby and made some of us fall in love with games. In my dealings with many other gamers, Lords of Waterdeep has played this role for many people. Agricola is more of a second or third game to try down to complexity. All these games could have made the list however. Stone Age (2008) too. They are all great games, and they all played pivotal roles in the development of the mechanic, but Lords of Waterdeep gets my vote as being the most main stream, and the most influential on subsequent games. But why is it so good? Why do I think it was so influential? Three reasons. 1. The game is so solid. It all works together so seamlessly. There is more going on than worker placement alone, but this really is the base of the game. You will be working towards set collection and contract fulfilment, but all through the mechanic of your workers being placed out on the board. It incorporates all the classic reasons why worker placement is so fun, engaging and rewarding. With limited actions based on limited available worker placements that bring a race game element to the game, and the desire to want to be first on some rounds. It is enjoyable to simply place workers to achieve goals but you need some tension to make this sing. Some scarcity. This increases the sense of achievement when you fulfil a quest. Without a struggle there would be now reward. Lords of Waterdeep creates this struggle so perfectly in all player counts, for all players, at all times. Through its simplicity and smooth engineering. It is one of the most pure worker placement games as well as being one of the best. This leads to other games leaning into this simplicity and just changing the theme. I would suggest hugley that popular worker placement games such as Raiders of the North Sea (2015) and Underwater Cities (2018) would not be here in their current form were it not for Lords of Waterdeep. 2. It bought DnD players over to board games, and visa versa. Waterdeep is a huge part of the Dungeons and Dragons roll-playing world. Wizards of the Coast who made Lords of Waterdeep own the rights to all things DnD and made this game as a gateway for both sides of the board game and DnD world, to cross over and try the other one out. It was hugely successful and brought new people to both hobbies. Quite an incredible achievement if you think about it. 3. It is so simple to learn and teach. Some say it is too simple, and this is why it perhaps does not score higher on BGG, and also from myself. But this is a gateway game, with pure and simple mechanics and ruleset. It is not trying to be anything else. This is one of the reasons the game spread so fast and found new fans so quickly. But if you want to add in a deeper level, the Scoundrels of Skullport expansion brings two new locations to add to the base game, with new Lords, Buildings, Intrigue, and Quest cards, as well as an entirely new concept, corruption , which removes points at the end of the game based on how corrupt you have been. It takes the game to a more mid-weight worker placement game, and adds new layers to develop the different Lords keeping more experienced gamers happy with their experiences with this game. The Revolutionary: Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar And the best to play if you want something crunchy but accessable. Current BGG rank: 59 Published by: Czech Games Edition Designed by: Simone Luciani , Daniele Tascini WBG Rating: 9 There are many worker placement games with a twist. That tends to happen when something becomes popular but then becomes overused. People want to find a way to stand out from the crowd by giving poeple what they want, but in a new way. I wanted to pick the game that does this the best. For me, that is Tzolk'in. When you play a worker placement game, you will expect there to be some similarities to other games that use the same mechanic. One of these will be the expectation that when you place a worker, they will carry out a specific action based on where you placed them. In Tzolk'in the worker placement is dynamic. The location where you place them won't be where they end up when it comes to your turn next. The game has one main central cog. One full rotation of this marks out the length of the game. This is the game clock. As this main cog turns each round, the connected smaller cogs will turn as well. On your turn you can only do one of two things. Place one or more workers or remove one or more workers. As your workers move with each cog turn, their actions will become more powerful. You will want to leave them on the board for as long as possible to achieve more efficient turns. But eventually you will run out of workers to place and will have to start removing them. This simple twist to the basic worker placement mechanic elevates Tzolk'in to incredible heights. The game feels incredibly deep and strategic, despite having relitivley simple rules and options to you each turn. The game started the T-series. A group of games, mostly using worker placement in clever ways. All made by Daniele Tascini . The series includes Tzolk'in from 2012, Teotihuacan: City of Gods from 2018. 2019's Trismegistus: The Ultimate Formula . The 2020 release Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun . 2021 Tabannusi: Builders of Ur . And one of my other favourites, and my game of 2022, Tiletum . I do not get Tzolk'in to the table as often as I would like as it requires a good hour and a half of serious consideration, and that is not something I sadly get to do as much as I would choose. But up there with games like Brass: Birmingham , Tiletum , and Le Havre (which nearly made this list), Tzolk'in would be right up there for me when I am choosing a mid-weight game to play on those rare occasions when I am blessed with the time and the right gaming group to really enjoy a crunchy strategy game over an hour and a half. The Highest Ranked (and optionally coop): Viticulture Essential Edition And the best for getting non-gamers involved. Current BGG rank: 34 Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier , Alan Stone WBG Rating: 9 This selection might stir some controversy, not because of the game itself—Viticulture seems universally well-received by most gamers. The contentious aspect lies in the reason for its choice as the highest-ranked worker placement game. On Board Game Geek, four worker placement games are ranked higher than Viticulture: Dune: Imperium, A Feast for Odin, Lost Ruins of Arnak, and Everdell. The decision to opt for Viticulture over these titles is straightforward. While the four games indeed incorporate worker placement, I wouldn't categorise them primarily as pure worker placement games. Everdell leans more towards tableau building, Lost Ruins of Arnak and Dune: Imperium are more of a deck building game, and A Feast for Odin has lots going on and I see more of an Income game, but it really could be many things. Though all four involve worker placement, it's not their core mechanic. Additionally, I find Dune and Arnak to be somewhat overrated, although Everdell will make an appearance later in the list for a differnet reason. In my view, Viticulture stands out as the highest-ranked game with worker placement as its core mechanic. Conveniently, I also consider it a brilliant game, deserving serious consideration from any board game enthusiast. As a big fan of Stonemaier Games and designer Jamey Stegmaier, Viticulture only solidified my appreciation after falling in love with some of his other designs. Like many worker placement games, Viticulture operates on a straightforward premise: place your workers and carry out actions. However, the path to victory is remarkably varied from game to game. Each playthrough feels like a fresh learning experience, unlike some games that I feel I've mastered after repeated plays. The perpetual sense of discovery in Viticulture is a delightful aspect for me. While many players suggest that the Tuscany expansion is a must-have, I respectfully disagree. While it does enhance the game significantly, I find the base Viticulture enjoyable even before introducing the expansion. Viticulture World's cooperative expansion is another noteworthy feature, making this game stand out in the world of worker placement. Cooperative play often doesn't gel well with worker placement games, but Viticulture World handles it brilliantly. Returning to the base game, Viticulture brings a rare yet intriguing theme of winemaking, appealing to a more mature and sensible audience. It's a game I often suggest to those who dismiss gaming as too nerdy or childish. Pitching it as a game centered around making wine and fulfilling wine contracts tends to generate a more positive response. Viticulture has proven itself as a successful gateway game for those who initially resist the idea of gaming being for kids or geeks, making it a top choice when seeking to convert non-gamers into enthusiasts. Viticulture has yet to disappoint in this regard! The Main Stream Hit: Everdell And the best to play with a more casual gamer. Current BGG rank: 32 Published b y : Starling Games Designed by: Andrew Bosley , Cody Jones , Dann May WBG Rating: 8 I previously mentioned that I wasn't including this in the highest rank, but Everdell has become such a big hit that it feels almost unjust not to feature it in this lineup. While I've emphasised that it leans more towards being a tableau builder, the influence of worker placement is undeniably significant, shaping your options each turn. As you strategically place your critters, you must consider your objectives, required resources, and the most effective way to achieve them. The game evolves into a complex tapestry as your cards expand, yet its fundamental charm lies in the straightforward act of placing an animeeple onto the visually stunning Everdell board. Everdell has seen numerous expansions, many reprints, and has amassed millions on Kickstarter. It stands tall among the modern giants of board games and cannot be overlooked. Similar to many things in life, its surge in popularity in the mainstream has caused some to undervalue it among hardcore gamers. While opinions may vary, it's important to acknowledge that Everdell is a solid game. Its inclusion on this list is justified not only by its success but also by its role in introducing countless new enthusiasts to the hobby. Personally, I derive enjoyment from Everdell, although it doesn't quite reach a nine, unlike three other games on this list. It firmly holds a commendable spot at eight in my rankings, and I relish playing it. Its accessibility, combined with its aesthetic appeal, rule set, and thematic allure, ensures it will endure as a cornerstone in many collections for years to come. Sometimes in life, compromise is necessary, and for me, including Everdell means having a game that not only enriches my collection but is also frequently enjoyed, especially with my wife, making it a practical and delightful addition. The Solo: Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island And the best to play if you want a challange. Current BGG rank: 88 Published by: Portal Games Designed by: Joanna Kijanka , Ignacy Trzewiczek WBG Rating: 9 Robinson Crusoe surpasses the typical worker placement game, offering a rich tapestry of theme and narrative—a crucial factor for me when selecting a solo game. The absence of a compelling theme can leave me feeling disconnected from the gaming experience, diminishing my enjoyment. While camaraderie and conversation are essential when playing with others, in a solo setting, I crave immersion. I want my mind firmly engaged, steering clear of distractions like my phone or the surrounding room. A robust theme and narrative play a pivotal role in achieving this. The allure of Robinson Crusoe lies not only in its stunning theme but also in how seamlessly it intertwines with the narrative and game mechanics. Its mechanical brilliance shines particularly bright. I previously discussed the significance of scarcity in worker placement games, a challenge compounded in solo play where there are no opponents to block your choices. Unlike many games that address this by introducing dummy characters or blocking certain spaces, such approaches would feel thematically out of place in Robinson Crusoe. Stranded on a desert island alone, the scarcity arises naturally. Survival becomes the crux of the game, with limited actions, time, and resources intensifying decision-making. The tension and reward emerge not from racing against opponents to claim spaces or actions but from the consequences of your choices. Undoubtedly, Robinson Crusoe is a challenging game—not in terms of complexity or learning curve but in the pursuit of victory. Unlike games where achieving the highest score is the goal, here the objective is survival. It's a stark binary: success or failure in your mission. Unfortunately, this challenge has contributed to an unfair reputation, with some labeling the game as overly difficult, dissuading potential players. Many, myself included, occasionally shy away from games with extensive rulebooks and complex mechanics, seeking simplicity after navigating the complexities of the real world. However, the effort invested in learning Robinson Crusoe is proportionately rewarded. To all solo gaming enthusiasts, I strongly encourage trying this game. Despite its reputation for difficulty, fear not; the learning curve is manageable. Embrace the challenge, for the moments of walking away victorious will be nothing short of incredible!

Survive The Island WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: The Original Survive game , Take that , Forbidden Island Published by:   Zygomatic Designed by: Julian Courtland-Smith This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Survive: Escape from Atlantis! first came out in 1982. 1982?! Can you believe it? It still blows me away such great games were round in the 70's and 80's like this and Cosmic Encounter and yet everyone still went out and board Monopoly! What were they thinking? Anyway... The game saw various reimplementation's over the years, including a gorgeous 30th anniversary edition that I own. There are also a number of expansions that bring in new elements, change player count options, and introduce friendly dolphins. In 2024 a new edition came out with a slightly new name, Survive The Island. What has changed? What's new? And does this game stand the test of time. Is it still good? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Survive The Island First, place the main board in the centre of the table and place the five Sea Monster meeples in their designated spaces on the four corners of the board and the central space. Next, place all the tiles in the central areas as indicated by the black line. Randomly place them without looking at the bottom of the tile. The tiles are made up by land, forest, and mountain artwork. Try to spread these out, but a few clusters of each is fine, and actually looks aesthetically pleasing! Each player now takes a player board in their colour, along with their ten meeples. Look at the bottom to see the meeples' individual scores. Each player will have two Meeples each offering one, two, three, four, and five points respectively. Now, each player places their meeple onto one land tile, one by one, until all Meeples are on the island. Once the Meeples are placed, players cannot look at their scores on the bottom again until the final scoring takes place. You need to try and remember where each one is. Each player will now place two rafts onto spaces next to the Island. Place all remaining rafts, the Shark and Kaiju meeples, and the dice beside the board. You are now ready to play. How To Play Survive The Island Players will now take it in turns to carry out three actions in order. First, they will move their Meeples three spaces. The idea of the game is to rescue as many Meeples as possible from the sinking island and get them to one of the four corners of the board where more stable land awaits. So, as you move your Meeples, you will be moving them onto the rafts you positioned during setup and then sailing towards the island. Sounds simple? This game is far from simple. The Meeples can move up to three, but in the water, they can only ever move one space. And in the rafts, you can only move a raft that you have a majority of Meeples in or that is empty. If you have one Meeple in a raft, but another player has two Meeples present, that raft is now out of your control. Once players have moved their Meeples, they must now remove one land tile. When all the land tiles are gone, you must start to remove the Forest tiles. When they are gone, the Mountain tiles start to go. Any Meeples on a tile that is taken this way immediately fall into the sea, staying in the location the tile once stood. Flip the tile you removed and look at the icon on the bottom. If it has a red background, the tile has an immediate action. Creatures appear, Whirlpools suck away all nearby rafts and Meeples, and Volcanoes signal the end of the game. When you flip the third volcano (all present on the mountain tiles), the game ends. The tiles also have helpful actions such as generating rafts and offering players extra powers on their turn. The green tiles offer other benefits. If you take one of these, add it secretly to your player board, and you can activate this later on any turn. These tiles offer powers to fight back attacks from the Sharks of Kaiju, and even friendly dolphins that help your Meeples in the water swim towards safety. Once an isle has been removed and the action on the back carried out, the active player must then roll the creature die. This will activate one of the three types of creatures on the board: Sharks, Kaiju, or Sea Serpents. If they are not present on the board, nothing happens. But if they are, and remember the game starts with all five Serpents present, so they always activate, then the active player must move the shown creature. The player board shows clearly what each creature's movement looks like. The Sharks move in the same way; they can move up to three spaces and always go for the nearest swimmer. If they move onto a space with a meeple in the water, then that meeple is removed from the game. The Kaiju target the boats. Whereas the Serpent has a relentless desire for anything in its path, destroying rafts and meeples alike! Players continue taking turns like this, trying to get as many Meeples as possible to safety until either the third Volcano is found, and the game immediately ends, or all players run out of Meeples. Either getting them all to safety, or more likely, killed! Players then look at all Meeples who were rescued, checking their individual score on the bottom of each Meeple. You may have rescued far more Meeples than any other player, but you won't know if you have won or not until this point. Two five Meeples can defeat five Meeples from another player if no four or five-point Meeples were rescued. Is It Fun? Survive The Island Board Game Review Ok, first. What has changed? Well, the big change is this game now plays up to five players, whereas the original and 30th-anniversary editions are for four players only. You needed an expansion to make it work for five. Other than that, there are just a few aesthetic changes. The player boards are new. They offer a quick refresher as to how your game works, and what each monster does. Some of this information used to be on the board itself. So, the board now is a little cleaner. Although, even though it now plays up to five, it is smaller. Just by a little and the number of tiles is the same. It's just a little more condensed, which works better as the previous board was a touch too big for my table! And this new one is still large and offers a great table presence. Also, with a slightly smaller board, comes a more traditional size box. Much more aesthetically pleasing on my shelf! The only other change is the removal of the Whales, and introduction of the Kaiju. Oh, and the Sharks, mysteriously, are now green, not blue. As such, if you own the original, or the 30th-anniversary edition, then this may not be a must-buy for you. Unless you want to play with five and cannot get hold of that expansion. But if you don't own a copy yet, this is the one to buy. It is readily available, a great edition, and offers more flexibility in player count. But is the game any good? If you enjoy games with a lot of "take-that" in them, then this is a lot of fun. Simple, easy rules, a great gateway, and full of laughs. But you have to accept that when you play this game, you cannot control the situation. Meeples will be lost. There is a lot of luck, uncontrolled variety, and unexpected twists and turns. If you can lean into that and have fun, then this game could well be for you. But if that sounds frustrating, then you may want to look elsewhere. However, when I play this with my family, we sit on either end of this scale. Some of us like this randomness. Others find it 'strategically frustrating'! So, I tried playing it cooperatively. A crazy little house rule where we set ourselves a target score of ten points per player, so a total of thirty points with three players, and we then play the game as usual, but trying to help each other rather than hinder each other. When one person has an unlucky moment, others now do not laugh. It hurts all players. And likewise, if one player gets lucky, well, then we all benefit. I am not saying that this is a way I would encourage others to play, but it certainly works with my family as I recognize we have different agendas when we play games like this. However, with my daughter in a tow, where each player control two lots of meeples, otherwise the game is the same, we have a blast. Both her and I love games like this and we find the back-and-forth take-that hilarious and ruthlessly fun. But I think the best advice to have fun with this game is to go into it knowing your meeples won't make it. Expect them to die. Do you hope to save them all? That is not realistic. Understand there are 'uncontrollables' in this game and see it as more of a family party game than a strategic experience, and you may well just have a blast. I personally prefer something heavier with more agency, but when I play this game with this mindset, I have a great time with it. The speed of the game is perfect. You can play in 30 minutes easily with three players, and turns fly by. The island very quickly starts to disappear, and your meeples will be fleeing in all directions. There is some random pandemonium in this game that ramps up so fast, and I love it. But if you don't expect that, if you don't embrace that, if you don't understand that is why you are playing this game, you will become frustrated. A Sea Serpent destroying three of your Meeples on a boat in one foul sweep based on the roll of a die when they are one space from safety and a potential 14 points can be mind-numbingly excruciating. Unless you expect that to happen, and simply rejoice on the odd occasions when it doesn't happen!

Harrow County: The Fair Folk WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Smallworld , Mountains out of Molehills , The comic . Published by:   Off the Page Games Designed by: Jay Cormier , Shad This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Harrow County is a fascinating game. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, the game follows the exploits of two battling factions, trying to sway the fortunes of the people of a small American town. You can learn how to play and read our thoughts here. The game plays one to three players, but is best at two I would say. But with this expansion you can add a fourth player, and introduce a fascinating new way to play with three. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Harrow County: The Fair Folk If you are playing a two player game, you can use the Fair Folk against Hester in a new way to play two player. If you're playing a three-player game, you can have any combination of the base factions (Emmy, Kammi, or Hester) along with the Fair Folk. For a four-player game, all four factions are used: Emmy, Kammi, Hester and the Fair Folk. This board becomes crowded with more Leaders, Haints and importantly, conflicting objectives. The Fair Folk, with their manipulation abilities, can serve as both an ally. But ultimately have their own goals. To find their Queen! To set up, place the Fair Folk's Queen's Board next to the player using the Fair Folk faction along with the three tokens representing the Sword, Crown and Queen. Then the other players choose a starting location for the Queen, Crown and Sword on the main board. They keep this secret from the player using the Fair Folk. They can be placed in any location but are marked secretly on the small white board representing the game board. Place this facing away from the Fair Folk player s the other players can see it, but not the Fair Folk. Next, the Fair Folk player places all their offer tokens into the bag and draws three out. Place these into the nest tokens. The Fair Folk player also places one silver cube on one terrain on their Queen's board. This terrain now gives the Fair Folk a benefit when they activate it in the game. Finally, shuffle the two decks of cards and draw three from each. Three objectives and three Fair folk cards. The rest of the main board setup remains the same. How To Play Harrow County: The Fair Folk The Fair Folk always act after each of the other factions in the game have carried out their turn. Apart from Hester if they are in the game. So, in a game with four factions it would flow between the Fair Folk, Faction one, Fair Folk again, Faction two, Hester; then back to the Fair Folk again. The aim for the Fair Folk is to find the location of their Queen. When they do this, the game ends at the end of that round and they win. It may be that another faction shares the win if they can get to seven or more points in the same round. On their turn, the Fair Folk can do three things. First, they can place a nest along with an offer in that nest on any hex on the map without a unit or bonfire. If they place it on a terrain that matches the one they chose in their player board during set up they take a silver cube from their supply and add it to the battleground. If another player takes the offer later in their turn, (which they do by ending their turn with a unit on the same space), then you activate the tree. You do this by gathering all cubes in the battleground and dropping them into the top of the tree. Then, if the Fair Folk have more silver cubes in the battleground than the player who took the offering, the Fair Folk player can play an arrow token on the board. More on that soon. When another player takes an offering in this way, the nest stays where it was, and the player who took the offer token can use that as a bonus action later in the game when they choose. When playing Nest’s, the Fair Folk are looking to match the patterns shown on their objective cards. These all show representative layouts of four Nests. You must match these layouts, either by where they are on the board or what they are next too, and then when you achieve this, show the completed card to the other players. The Fair Folk can now do one of two things. Guess where the Sword, Crown, or Queen are. Or, if they have no idea, gain some clues as to their location. They do this by placing one of their arrows onto the outside edge of the board, the same as when they win a battle as mentioned above. The arrow must point to one of the Nests that still has an offer on it, that was used in the recently completed objective. The Fair Folk declares which item they are looking for, the other players then check the secret location of the searched for item, and either leave the arrow where it is or rotate it. This shows the Fair Folk player if the item they seek it above or below this imaginary line on the board. Once they have done this a few times, you can quickly determine where the items is. When the items are found the Fair Folk player gains additional powers as shown in their player board to use in the rest of the game. When the Queen is found, the game ends that round. The final thing the Fair Folk can do it play their cards. The cards have a cost as shown on the card themselves, and offer various powers to help this player during the game. The rest of the game plays as per the base game. Is It Fun? Harrow County: The Fair Folk Expansion Board Game Review I am already a big fan of the base game. I like the three player option, but I think the three player game as offered by this expansion is better. And of course, the option to play this in a four, with wildly contrasting asymmetric faction is a pure joy. They are all SO different, but they work incredibly well together. I have no idea how much testing or math went into balancing these contrasting playable characters, but it works very well. It may not feel like that as you play. Like similar asymmetric games such as Root, the speed at which different factions play is very different. Players can pull ahead during the game itself and it may feel unbalanced during the early and mid-game phase. But by the end of most games I have played, taking into account different player experiences with the game, it has always been even. And certainly a fair experience. This really is a huge compliment considering just how different these factions all are in how they play, how they score, and how they win. Of course, the biggest change is the ability to play the game with four players. In a four-player game, the presence of all factions makes the game much more chaotic. The board does not get bigger like many other games of this nature when player count increases. Area control becomes more challenging, as players need to negotiate and contest with three other factions for control of certain hexes. But of course, the Fair Folk do not build like the other factions. They can help and hinder. Their disruptive abilities become hugely impactful for all players. But they don't mean to help. They are out for their own, and you cannot forget that. But during the game, mini alliances can be formed, however they are never as genuine as you may think! If you own the base game and enjoy it, this is a must-buy from me. Not just for the increased player count options; you may not ever want to play this at four. But more for the variety this brings, even at two players. I think the two-player game of the Fair Folk versus Hester is better than the base game experience. It is certainly more intriguing to me anyway. The three-player game with the Fair Folk is similar in quality and enjoyment but wildly different in terms of actual gameplay. So again, worth it if only for variety. And if you do want to play with four, well then this really is a must-buy.