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This is a preview copy sent to us for our opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components may change in the final game. You can follow the game more here . If you have ever played Rummy or Gin Rummy, or a card game of that nature, you know, where you are collecting sets and runs, this game will be familiar to you. Deal out some cards, in this case, 12 each. Players take it in turns to draw a card from the deck. They then play cards in sets or runs if they can or want to, and then discard a card. Players keep going until one player has played all their cards. Simple. Well, this game does to Rummy what the Gang did to Poker. And what Flip 7 did to Black Jack. It takes as simple and beloved card game, ramps it up to 11, and see if it can make it exponentially better for the 21st century. Does it work this time? Before we get into that, lets talk about what this game adds. On top of the usual Rummy rules, there are five major differences. Lets look at them all in turn. Power Cards: In this version of the game, there are a number of power cards. Added into the deck and shuffled together with the cards for four colour suits numbered one to 12 are five different power cards. Bypass cards that force players to skip a turn, crucial if one player is close to victory. Burden cards, that add extra challenges to one player in one round and score you 50 points if they fail to meet this challenge. But they will score 50 points if they manage to complete this challenge. Flex cards, that act as wild cards. Sabotage cards, that force all players to discard any Flex card they may have in their hand at that point and have them all shuffled back into the deck. And Block cards, that stop people from adding cards to your runs and sets, keeping them only for you. Discard Pile: When you discard a card, you do so by laying it partially over the previously discarded card so that you can see that card, and any others previously discarded as well. This way, when it comes to the next player's turn, they can either draw from the top of the deck or from the open discard pile; and indeed, any card previously discarded, not just the last one. When you take a card from the discard pile, you must use it this round, and also take any other cards on top of it. So, for example, if you discarded a two and the next player did not want it and discarded a four on top of your two. But then the next player wanted that two, they could take the two, but they would have to use it that turn, and take the four on top of it as well. Round Goals: Here is the main change in the game. To win, you do not need to simply play all your cards in runs and sets; you need to meet your specific round goal. At the start of the game, all players will be dealt a random round goal card with 12 round goals on them. Each card is different. The goals are the same, but all in different orders. So one card's round one could be another card's round six, for example. Each player will be aiming for a different goal each round, and they vary in difficulty a lot. The goals are a mix of creating a number of sets and runs in various numbers, as well as groups of same color cards in various numbers. If you complete your round goals, called a Sequence, then you can add your remaining cards in your hand to your own runs and sets, and any others laid down by other players. When you get rid of all your cards and you have completed your round goals, then you have won that round and can advance to the next round. You will score points for every card still in the other players' hands and be on the next round goal for the next hand. Any players who did not complete their round goals will have to repeat that round. So, in the next round, one player could be on round two, while others could still be on round one, repeating that for a second time. The Rummathon Royale!: If you feel you can complete more than one round's sequence in a hand, then you can declare Rummathon Royale and now aim to complete two rounds' sequences. If you manage this, then on the next round you will be on round three. If you fail, and only complete one, or even none, then you will have to repeat all those rounds again. You cannot call Rummathon Royale on a round after failing to complete a Rummathon Royale attempt the previous round. AND! If you call Rummathon Royale twice in the same round, and complete three sequences in one turn, well, then you win the game! Everything stops and you win! Normally you would play 12 rounds and see who completes the 12 rounds first. Or, you can play the first or last six rounds. Or just the odd rounds, or just the evens. But either way, it is a race to the end of the prescribed number of rounds. But a double Rummathon Royale trumps all that and ends the game immediately. That is pretty hard to do though. But possible, thanks to the final little wrinkle in this game. Buying Cards. Buying Cards: When you win a round by completing your sequence and playing all your other cards, you will score points for all the cards still held by the other players at that point. Cards score you five, ten, 15, 20, or 25 points, depending on what card it was. So you can ramp up your points tally pretty quickly. Then, in later rounds, you can spend these points to buy extra cards. For ten points, you can buy one more card to add to your 12, and you can buy up to 20 extra cards. This is how you may, on occasions, go for a Rummathon Royale. So, this is Rummy. But not quite as you know it. These five simple additions make what is a well-loved and well-established game ramp up to 11. But do you want Rummy to ramp up to 11? Or are you happy with it as it is? Well, that is up to you to decide. For me, I love this game. I love games like this that are based on traditional card games and bring something new to the table. They are easy to teach, less intimidating to non-gamers, but show people who play modern games a lot just what can be done with a bit of original thinking. The wild cards perhaps do not all quite work as I would like. The Block cards do not come into use that often. The Bypass just seems mean and lazy. And the Sabotage needs to be played very quickly to have any effect. But the other additions with the layered discard pile, round goals, and ability to buy extra cards make this game so much more interesting than normal Gin. It makes it strategic instead of being mostly luck-based. It turns the experience from a quiet, relaxed parlor game with your nan to something you could enjoy with everyone, including your nan, but now where you feel in control. You have some agency over your future in the game. And it feels great. I would recommend anyone who enjoys simple card games with a twist to check this one out. The rule book is a little hazy, but being developed. However, the cards are clear and obvious, and once you have played a round, you won't ever need the rule book again anyway. One to watch for sure.

Space Bureau WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Worker placement games and tech trees. Published by: Hobby World Designed by:   Andrey Kolupaev This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . It's a space theme. Any other questions? In truth, I did not know a lot about this game when I saw it. But it was one of those covers that drew me in. It just looks good to me. I then started reading up on the rules and got a little bit excited about the simplicity of play, but complexity of choices. Six tech-trees to build up on your own player board using cute little aliens on a space ship. I was in! But is it any good? Well, lets get it to the table to find out. How To Set Up Space Bureau First, place the four starting hexes (identified by the chequered flag style symbol on the back) in a line of three as below, with the fourth tile at the top, leaving one space between. You add a fair few more tiles around this as the game plays on so be sure to do this in an area of the table you have space to grow around it! Remove at tiles not suitable for your player count, and then mix the remaining ones and place a face down pile next to this. This is your Universe. Next, place the bureau board next to these tiles along with one of the double-sided credit tokens for each player in the game. These are used if you circle the points board once or twice. Now, place the three different sample tokens into three separate piles, sorted by colour. Separate the 12 starting trade agent tiles for player setup as shown by the chequered flag symbol on the front. Give one of each type to each player. Then create a general reserve of the remaining trade agents with 28 random tiles added to the bag for a two-player game; for three players, add 38 tiles; and for four players, add all 50 tiles. Place any extra tiles in the game box. Then put the bag with the tiles you are using next to the bureau board and shuffle the tiles inside. Then take three out at random and add them to the right on this bureau track. Each player assembles their spaceship board by connecting the cabin and board. The cabin's colour indicates the player's colour and determines the colour of their components. You can use the reverse side in later games, but for your first game, the side with the OO on the front at the bottom is recommended. Each player places a fuel marker on the Two space of the fuel track on their spaceship board and two storage limiter tiles over the 10 to 15 spaces. Then each player now places their coloured spaceship figure on the central space hex of the Universe you created with the space ship symbol on the bottom, this is the starting hex. Each player takes and places their five office tokens of their colour in the space for them in the top section of their ship, below the cockpit. Along with the Captain ability just above this, if you want to add some minor asymmetry to the game. This part is optional, but well worth including. Each player also places their credit marker on the starting square at the top of the credit track and their bureau track markers on the Space Bureau’s starting office on the left on the bureau board. Give the starting player (decided either at random, or the last person to read something about Space) the Active player token symbol. You are now ready to play. Players will now take turns placing one of their agents and taking the corresponding action until the bag of agents runs dry. This is done by each player taking one of their three available agents and placing it onto the player ship board. At the end of their turn, when they have carried out their action, they will then take one of the agents on the main board and add it to their player area, taking one agent from the bag to replace the one they just took. This way, all players always have three agents to choose from in their hand and three agents to replenish from on the main board, until they run out. When there are no agents left in the bag, each player has one final turn, and then they move on to final scoring. When you place an agent onto your ship board, you must do so by joining the connectors on the side of the agent tile to either one of the ship connectors, as shown on the board by the white arrows, or an open connector of a previously placed agent. The space (cell) in which you place your agent dictates which action you perform. You can never move agents or go to the same spot again. So each action can only be done once per game. Some spots will have actions you cannot make full use of at the start of the game, and if you cannot do or pay for any part of an action, you simply miss that part. So pick wisely! Here are the main actions of the game. Gain Fuel: Take the shown amount of fuel and add it to your shipboard up to your maximum capacity. Gain Sample: Take a sample of the shown colour and add it to the rightmost available space of your fuel tanks. You must have your player ship on a planet or megamall to do this. Megamalls let you take a sample of any colour. Some action spaces let you take any sample. Others link to the colour of the planet you are on. You can also use samples to gain five fuel, and on some actions, you will need to use samples as payment to perform the action. Increase Storage Capacity: Remove the leftmost storage limiter, increasing your maximum capacity for fuel and samples. Move Bureau Marker: Move your marker the shown number of rooms within the bureau track. If you stop or pass by any bonuses, you may take these. If you enter a room with a level number and have a grey bureau inspector agent on your ship, you can flip that agent over to show more connectors for later turns. Place an Office: If your ship is on a planet and you have a matching office token of the same colour remaining, and that planet does not yet have an office on it from you or another player, you can add one of your matching offices to this planet hex. This will score you instant points based on the value shown on the office. Start A Flight: This allows you to make one flight of your ship on the Universe hexes. You can fly as far as you like, as long as you have the fuel needed. Each space costs one fuel to move. Or you can use two fuel to place a new unexplored hex down adjacent to a hex you are on. This will gain you the bonus shown on the bottom of the new hex and open up new places to explore. When you land on a planet matching the colour of any of the agents on your ship, you can drop them off by flipping over that tile, being sure to keep the orientation of the connectors the same. This gains you two points as shown on the tile. At this point, you will also gain one additional point for each sample you have that matches the colour of the agent and planet you just interacted with. At the end of the game, you will add six points for any set of three different coloured samples remaining in your storage. The player with the most points wins. Most fuel acts as the tie breaker. Is It Fun? Space Bureau Board Game Review This is a fantastic game. It plays a lot quicker and simpler than it looks and you may first think. But it offers a depth and balance that brings a tense, interesting, and exciting game to the table that plays in around 45 minutes, 30 for a two-player game. On your turn, all you are ever doing is placing one of three agents onto a space on the board. Where you place it makes a huge difference, and the orientation is significant too. But it won't take long to decide, and you can think about it during other people's turns. There is some element of things being ruined by what other people do, such as other players placing an office on a planet you wanted to place one of your own offices on, as this can only ever be done once per planet. But most of the time, you can plan ahead without too much fear of having your plans disrupted. And then the actual actions are mostly very quick. Some instant, such as removing a storage blocker, or adding fuel. It's only the take a flight action that takes a little longer, especially when you explore a new tile, but this still is very quick. And then, when you are choosing which of the three agents to pick to add to your supply and then refilling these three from the bag, the next player can start taking their turn if you want. It flows very quickly. And throughout this quick experience, you will feel like you are making meaningful decisions. The points will ramp up quickly as you play the game. Eight points for placing an Office. Five points for dropping off an agent with three matching Samples. It escalates very quickly. And you will feel under a constant pressure to keep up with the other players and score points regularly. But thankfully, this is relatively simple to do. All my games of this have been tight affairs, and most players have scored over the 80 mark, as in, they have circled the score board at least twice. The game does not bring anything new to the table. The mechanics have been seen before. The theme is a very well-explored one. But the production is very slick. The rules are very tight. And the gameplay is incredibly smooth. It certainly does deliver things you have seen before, but in a very appealing way. There are some intricate puzzles around the placement of the agent on your ship, and the orientation of them so you can access later action spaces easier due to the connectors rule. The higher up the position on the ship, the more powerful the action. This is a tech-tree game. You want to climb up the spaces on the ship as quickly as possible to reach the higher, more powerful action spots. But you don't want to waste turns doing things that either you cannot do or cannot fully utilize. So you need to plot a path through the action spaces on your ship, with the right agents, based on the state of the board. So, as much as this is all been-there-done-that in terms of mechanics, how it is presented to you will feel fresh. And full of interesting decisions. I would recommend this game to anyone looking for a filler plus style game. A fast but fun game that offers a crunchy and meaningful experience, but one that can be played in well under an hour. It is easy to set up and put away, easy to teach to new players, or pick up after a few weeks away from it. It delivers a game that satisfies your gaming urges for playing something of significance.

Neodreams WBG Score: 9/10 Player Count: 1-2 You’ll like this if you like: Furnace Published by: Hobby World Designed by: Ivan Lashin This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Neodreams is made by Ivan Lashin. He is the genius mind behind Furnace, one of my favourite games of all time. It is engine building distilled down to its purest form. The game is incredibly slick, and it plays so quickly, but offers so much. The downside of that game is its rather drab industrial theme and beige art. I like it, but it doesn't exactly pop. When I saw Mr. Lashin was putting his mind to a new game, and that game was another engine builder, but this time with added worker placement goodness and a bright, colourful futuristic landscape thrown in, I was all in. But does all this juiciness add up to a good game? Yes, it really does. Spoiler alert, this game is fantastic. Let's find out why, if you really need to know. How To Set Up Neodreams First, set the Oneirosphere board on the table within reach of all players, ensuring the side corresponding to the number of players is facing up. Place the Cycle marker on the appropriate space in the leftmost corner of the Sleep Cycle track at the top of the Oneirosphere board. Divide the Dream cards into three decks based on their back designs. Shuffle each deck separately, draw two cards from the top of each, and place them face up to the right of the Oneirosphere board to form the Market. Then, place all Object and Client tokens in the general reserve near the Oneirosphere board; note, the images on these tokens are just for theming, they do not factor into the rules are are all identical mechanically speaking. Each player sets a Mainframe board in front of them along with a Dream board and places it to the right of their Mainframe board. The Dream boards are double-sided. You can either add some minor asymmetry to the game or play with the same starting powers. They also show two cards that will make up your final total. Each player starts with two cards, not zero. Now, each player places three Oneironaut figures of their chosen colour as set by their Mainframe board in their personal supply. Each player takes three Object tokens and places them near their Mainframe board in their personal supply. Then, each player takes one knowledge, memory, and fantasy Resource marker and places them to the left of their Mainframe board, aligned with the three indicators. Each player draws one Lucid, Neodream, and Recursive Dream Card from the top of the decks and adds them to their hand. The Active Player token is given to the person who woke up latest today. Then, the Last Player token is given to the person to the right of the Active Player token holder. If all players are familiar with the game, the person with the Last Player token may move the Cycle marker to any position of their choice along the Sleep Cycle track. On your first game, this will mean very little, so just skip this step. You are now ready to play. How To Play Neodreams The game plays out over a series of rounds until one player has at least 12 cards in their dreamscape. Players take turns placing one of their Oneironauts onto an available space on the Oneirosphere board. They will then carry out the action of the space onto which they placed their worker. If they have used all their workers, then instead of placing one, you will remove all figures from one of the three columns, also taking the action at the top of that column. Other players can also remove any of their figures in the column too. All players who return a Oneironaut worker in this way can carry out one action matching that row or place one card from their hand. Once a player has either added a worker or removed workers from one column, you will refill any taken cards this round, then it is the other player's turn, checking first to see if anyone has reached 12 cards or more to trigger the end game. When you place a worker, you will be able to do one of seven actions. Let's take a look at them one-by-one. Gain Resources: Take the one, two, three, or four resources of the shown colour, adding them to your player board by moving the appropriate marker up the set number of spaces. You can never have more than a maximum of ten. Draw Card: Take any face up card. With the worker actions, this would be from any three card types. With the worker retrieval action, you will see this is linked to one of the three specifically. Create Card: This is how you can play cards from your hand into your Dreamscape. There is only one space on the Mainframe board to do this, but all worker retrieval actions allow you to do this as well. To play a card, simply pay the resource cost as shown on the top left of the card. Reduce your resources by the shown amount, then add the card to the right of the player board. The red Fantasy resources are wild and can be used to pay for either of the other resource types. When you add your cards, try to do so so they are in groups of the three different types. This will make activating them later a lot easier. Gain Object: Simply take one or two object tokens from the supply and add to your own personal supply. The picture on the token is irrelevant. Place Objects: You can now place as many object tokens as you like onto the cards that require them in your Dreamscape. Cards that require them have a star symbol on the left hand side. Add an object token over this to activate that part of the card. Most cards need more than one object token to fully activate it. This card will now have a stronger power the next time you use it. Link Client: Each Lucid card has a space on the bottom right to add a Client token onto it. Taking this action allows you to take one Client token from the supply and add it to any one Lucid card in your Dreamscape. You can now take the shown affect on that card. These are one time actions but there are ways you can remove a Client token and do this again. Broadcast Neodreams: Oneironauts The Neodream cards that you have added to your Dreamscape all have an action shown on the bottom of the card next to the Neodreams icons. When you take this action you can activate every single Neodreams card you have. When you return workers, this will allow you to move the Cycle marker one space to the right and then take the shown action in the new column. These are to either take resources and objects or to activate your Neodreams cards. When you have done this, you and all players with Workers in this column will remove them back to their supply, and can either carry out the Draw Card action linked to the row that they were in, or take the Create Card action if they have cards in hand and resources to spend. When a player reaches 12 or more cards, the game will continue until the player with the Last Player token finishes their next turn. The game then immediately ends and players will tally up their final score. Scoring works by awarding one point for each unused Object token still in a player's possession, totalling the Dream cards in each player's Dreamscape, and then adding up all unplaced cards, Objects, and unspent resources, and dividing that total by five (rounding down). The player with the most points wins. Is It Fun? Neodreams Card Game Review If you enjoy engine builder games and worker placement, then this could well be one of your new favourite games. Games are fast. 30 minutes for a two player. Under an hour for four players. Turns are quick too. Simply place or retrieve a worker and do the linked action. Refill any taken cards and move on. But the tightness of the worker placement spots, and the delicate nature of the cards building up your own powers is incredibly satisfying. This game is almost perfect to me. I adore everything about this. Setup is a breeze. I can teach the game in about five minutes, and it takes even less time to put away. The art is bright, vibrant, and the card art is wonderfully layered and detailed. The components are good quality, with nice chunky acrylic player pieces, and thick cardboard tokens. The asymmetry is balanced, and easily added or removed during setup. And the rule book is clearly laid out and offers nice thematic touches and examples. And mechanically speaking, this is an absolute home run for me. There are only 12 worker placement spots. This is the same in any player count. The icons in the spots change for three or four players, but the number available remains constant. So, you will find you will be playing and retrieving your workers at great speed. Timing the placement of the workers onto the right columns, so you get them back on other players' turns, rather than your own, is an interesting part of the game. But of course, the player that activates the retrieval does get to take a bonus action as well, gaining valuable resources and object tokens, or running your Neodream card engine. And this is the real genius of the game: the cards. You have three types. The Recursive cards give you various powers that activate at certain points in the game. When played, you need to keep in mind when these activate, as they can be easily missed. This is the only thing about the game I do not like. I find new players to the game often miss one or two of their powers here. It is easily done. The Lucid and Neodream cards, however, are a lot simpler to activate and will never be forgotten! The Lucid cards activate when you take the Link Client action and offer one-time-only powers that can be quite useful, especially when played at the right time. You can reuse these if you use another card's power to remove a previously placed Client token. And herein lies the beauty of the game. Linking relevant cards that work together like this can be very rewarding. Having a Neodream card that lets you remove a Client token and a Lucid card with a powerful client power is a wonderful combo that you could re-enact three or four times, or more, in a game. What other great combos can you build?! The Neodream cards will often be the most commonly collected and played cards. When you run your Neodream cards, which can be done at various points in the game, you will be able to run through and activate every Neodream card you have. This can sometimes be five, six, seven, or even more cards, depending on your strategy. They are not as powerful as the Lucid or Recursive cards, but can be re-used a lot more often. And running them in high numbers like that can massively advance your position in the game, and feels great when you do it. I can do to this, take this, add this, play this, run this... Wonderful! And it all happens fast, so it is not like other players are waiting ages for you to complete this. All the cards offer interesting options, look gorgeous, and often chain very well together. It will be your job to find the right combination of cards to take and play. You will be able to build a big hand of cards fairly simply in this game, and gaining resources is relatively in your control and quick to do. There is some scarcity here in terms of the worker placement spots, but they are freed up almost as quickly as they are taken. So, this game is less about acting fast, or taking things away from your fellow players, and more about building a strategy of cards that work well together. If you like the idea of that wonderfully delicious, rewarding, and oh so satisfying game experience, then this could well be one of your new favourite games. I absolutely adore this game. I would go as far to say that it is better than Furnace, which I am shocked to see myself type. I love Furnace so much and it sits in my top ten of all time. But this game is better. It adds a little bit more, without making the game complex, and looks far better, with a more interesting theme to me. Does that make it top ten of all time as well, or instead? Yes. Yes it does. Welcome to the top ten Neodreams. Long may you reign.

Death Valley: Highs & Lows WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 1-2 You’ll like this if you like: Quick, light tableau building games. Published by: Button Shy Designed by: Kevin Ellenburg This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Death Valley: Highs & Lows is the second instalment in the Death Valley series. The 18 cards in this game can be enjoyed on their own as a standalone game, or mixed with the previous Death Valley game to form a fresh set of 18 cards each time you play. This is a tableau builder at heart, and works just as well in solo as it does in two player. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Death Valley: Highs & Lows Shuffle the 18 cards and place them face down on the table. Flip the top card face up and place it next to this pile. Decide the first player, if you are playing in a two, and you are now ready to play. The game suggests you do this by finding out which player last drank water! How To Play Death Valley: Highs & Lows Players will now take turns to either Travel or Rest. Travel means to take either the face-up card or a face-down one from the top of the deck, collectively called the Desert, and add it to their own personal array. This is called their Journey. It will be a horizontal line, formed left to right in front of them. Rest means to move one card from your Journey to your Scrapbook. This is a line below your Journey, which again you form left to right. When you do this, you may hide additional cards from your Journey underneath this card. You can also shuffle any number of Journey cards you still have back into the deck if you wish. Hiding simply means to place a card underneath another. This card now does not score at the end of the game, but its Hazards will not count towards busting for you anymore either. Some cards, such as Salt Creek, let you hide one card with the paw print underneath it, or swap another hidden card with the paw print with any other card in your Journey each time it is your go at the start of your turn. Players are doing this to try to form the most point-worthy Journey possible. This is done mainly through the stars on the cards but also some of the card powers, such as the Desolation Canyon, which gives you two points for each card in your discard pile. Hells Gate scores you three points if it is your only card with a Sun hazard symbol. And Amargosa Opera House scores you one point for each star on the cards that are adjacent to it. Players then check that they do not have three of the same Hazard card type in their Journey and Scrapbook. If they do, they bust and must take the rightmost card showing this hazard type, flip it face down, and then place it in their personal discard area to the right of their Journey and Scrapbook. They must then shuffle all remaining Journey cards back into the deck. The Scrapbook cards remain in situ. You will know how many of each type of specific hazard cards there are by the number shown on the top left of the card under the hazard symbol. So, you can hedge your bets when you take each card, knowing how soon its hazard symbol will be. Then, refresh the Desert by flipping over the top card if the previous card had been taken, and then move to the next player's turn. When only one card remains in the Desert, the game is over. All players will score their cards based on the stars shown on them in their Journey, one point for each. Then subtract one point for each Bison's head symbol. I think it is a Bison? Then check any card's unique scoring ability. Most points wins. In solo mode, you must use the Backseat variant, which can be used in two-player too. Here, when you travel, players add cards to their opponent's journey, not their own. In solo, simply do this to an imaginary AI player. When the AI takes their turn, check if the face-up card in the desert would bust you or the AI. If so, add it to your own journey. If it does not match the hazard type in the AI's journey, add it to the AI's journey instead. If it does match, add the top card from the desert instead. You ignore card abilities in solo mode, but not hazard types. You score as usual, but the AI scores one point for each star or skull, as well as scoring points equal to the positive numbers in the scoring abilities of their cards, ignoring any negative points. Each card will have a special unique action as well, that will come into effect at various times. For example, the Manley Beacon lets you swap that card with any other card in another player's Journey whenever any player busts. The Surprise Canyon forces you to add the top card of the deck to your journey after your action. The Ventifact Ridge says you must shuffle that card along with a card from your opponent's Journey back into the deck before you Rest. And the Keane Wonder Mine says that as your action, instead of Resting or Traveling, you can take a hidden card from your Scrapbook and add it into your Journey. Is It Fun? Death Valley: Highs & Lows Card Game Review I cannot comment on how this links with the original or what the original is like, as I have not played it yet. But this game, as a standalone, is a brilliantly subtle puzzle game that works just as well solo as it does with two players. Games are short but full of fun decisions on which cards to take, which ones to use, and which ones to try and get rid of. You will be constantly evolving your journey, moving cards into your scrapbook, or busting, as you move along the desert path. The various ways to score will keep you coming back for more. Each game feels very much the same, but the end-game scoring can be quite different. The art on the cards is a little washed out, with pastel colors and simple design. But it looks gorgeous and adds nicely to the overall theme. The iconography on the cards is also incredibly clear, and you will find you are reading the cards in an instant, helping with your decision as to which card will be right for you. The higher scoring cards will often have an effect that does not help you, and vice versa, such as the Mountain Lion, which offers four points off the bat, but then its power means that it counts as two Paw prints when it comes to busting. That said, there are only two other cards with Paw prints, so it can be worth the risk. Each card comes with a small fact about the location or subject on the bottom right, which is a nice touch. It does not add to the game mechanically, but certainly helps with the theme. Each fact is short enough to read without slowing the game down at all. I would recommend this game to anyone looking for a simple solo or two-player game that they can take with them anywhere and play wherever they can lay out cards in a row safely, without fear of wind or spillage! The theme will draw in people who like exploration, the outdoors, or who have been to Death Valley. I drove through it once. In a convertible. I had the top down for one minute before I had to pull over, put the top up, and blast the air conditioning on full power for the rest of the journey. It's a hot place for sure, and so too is this little pocket game.

By Steve Godfrey As 2024 drew itself to a close, an inevitable smorgasbord of top ten of the year lists will have flooded your preferred social media channels, video platforms, and websites to give you their rundown of the year's gaming treats… and here I’m going to be doing the exact same thing. My list is going to be compiled of the usual “new to me” games that I first discovered this year. To be honest, this was a difficult one to rank. I played some really great games this year with at least 18 fighting for a top ten place. In fact, I’ll probably be rethinking this list until I finally press the send button and it’s out of my hands. One thing I will say is that my number one actually surprised me, but I’ll get into that when I talk about it. Even though this is a top ten, it was genuinely difficult to rank these (apart from my number one for the year), so while these are numbered 10 - 1, I really consider these to be “in no particular order” because on any given day these games could rise and fall in the list. So, without further ado, here are some honourable mentions. Grand Austria Hotel Undaunted 2200: Callisto Heat: Pedal to the Metal Forgotten Waters General Orders World War 2 All of these were hovering around the top ten at one point or another, and maybe in a different year with different games or maybe just more plays, then they would have made this list. But they're all worth checking out if you're interested in them.  10. Skyteam I love when a game lives up to the hype, and this one had quite the buzz around it, though hopefully not the buzz of a broken engine. From the first play, it offered the sort of tension that I’d never experienced before while looking into the eyes of another man and deciding which plastic cube I’m going to place down. There’s that underlying feeling of trepidation as you slowly move your dice to a spot and hope beyond all hope that it’s the right decision and your whole game doesn’t come unstuck because of it. It’s also at that point that you're thankful you’re not actually in control of a plane. In a year of “Duel” iterations of games, this one stands out to prove that you don’t need an already popular IP to make a fun two-player game. 9. Feed the Kraken Sometimes you just see a game and hear a basic premise, and you're immediately in. So when I saw Feed the Kraken and it was essentially pitched as Secret Hitler but with pirates and cultists and more, it went straight onto my wish list. If you've played the former and the theme (justifiably) isn't for you, then Feed the Kraken not only takes that simple and fun core mechanism but also adds to it and elevates it into a much better game. The fun twist of there being only one cult leader who can potentially recruit more to their cause as the game progresses, the idea that one player could lose their tongue and not speak for the rest of the game, and just the look of the game (I really want to own this so I can paint that boat) make this one of my new favourite party/deduction games.  8. The White Castle There's something about when a game has a ‘limited number of turns’ as a selling point that almost puts me off. However, if you couple that with combotastic turns, you almost instantly pull me back in. I love a game where you look at the rules, then your board, and all the while think, there’s no way I’m going to get any of these things completed. Then, before you know it, those satisfying combos kick in, and you're getting so much stuff done, but you still can't do everything. That’s exactly what The White Castle does, and for that, I love it. 7. The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth I try not to buy into hype in games; too much expectation could lead to much harder disappointment. Plus, after I’d moved on from my copy of 7 Wonders Duel, I wondered if the changes in this would make enough of a difference to rope me back in. Skepticism abounded, and despite the rave reviews, much like Bilbo did with Gollum, I stayed my hand on it. That is, until I played a mate's copy and immediately went and got hold of a copy (that was annoyingly put away as a Christmas present). I like 7WD, but the changes made here just made it feel less fiddly and more tense. The area control board gives the game a more epic presence, the ring track is a fun thematic component, and the simplification of the resource exchange along with the theme just make this a mainstay on the shelf for me.  6. Sniper Elite: The Board Game After being excited for a new edition of Fury of Dracula and then, after a while, selling it, I began to wonder if a hidden movement, one vs. many game would ever end up on my shelf again. That is, until Sniper Elite snuck up on me. It’s everything I want in one of these games; it’s incredibly tense, doesn't take up an entire evening, and whether you're the many or the one, every one of your turns and decisions means something and will have an immediate impact on the game. You don't need to know or have played the video game to get the full experience from Sniper Elite; you just need to know how to be very, very quiet. Full review here 5. Faraway It’s small with great artwork and looks pretty unassuming. That is until you play it, and the scoring melts your brain, but in the best way possible. I’ve said everything in my review, but if you're looking for a small box with a big puzzle inside, then Faraway should be your new go-to game. Full review here 4. SAS Rogue Regiment Yes, another stealth game. It certainly seems like 2024 was the year for sneaking. While Sniper Elite pits you against your fellow players, SAS Rogue Regiment has you cooperating to sneak through enemy lines and complete your missions before you set off too many alarms and have a full army after you. Whereas Sniper Elite is very contained, SAS Rogue Regiment lets you run around and play in your very own sandbox, allowing you to choose how to complete your missions and even build your own. Full review here 3. The Mystery Agency :The Museum Heist With so many fun and beautifully produced puzzle games in their catalogue, it should feel odd that a book is the standout for me, but the puzzles are so good, varied, and immersive that it was literally a page-turner that I reluctantly had to force myself to put down only because boring things like sleep and work were getting in the way. I can’t wait for the time when I’ve forgotten enough of the solutions that I can go for another run through.  Full review he re 2. Anachrony A game about time travel is always going to get my attention, and knowing that this was a well-loved game within the hobby didn't hurt it either. It justified that reputation by being a solid, tight worker placement game that gives you just enough space to get things done but also makes the race for every space really nerve-wracking. It takes the idea of time travel and adds just enough to make it fun without being convoluted enough that you need Basil Exposition to tell you not to worry about it. I’m not going to delve too far into it here, as you can check out my full review here 1. The Gang Told you it was a surprise. I was first introduced to the Gang at a games day hosted by Jim himself, and we got through a load of games that day (including Sky Team), but this one was our last play of the night, and man oh man did this one stick with me. So much so that I picked it up a mere few days later. This is basically cooperative poker crossed with the Mind. In it, you'll be playing hands of poker while trying to indicate to your fellow players how good or bad your hand is by using numbered poker chips. So why this over behemoths like Anachrony or the White Castle? Especially when you consider that this may not make my top ten of all time, where the others could well be up there. They've got the potential to be evergreens in my eyes. But The Gang, even in my short time with it, is the game I've played the most. We've had a great laugh with it, and it's the one game over all the others that I’ve consistently always thrown in my game bag to take to game nights because it's the one I’ve been excited to play, and it's one I can easily teach even when I’m tired and not wanting to teach a big game. It's also the game that I want to show to non-gamer family and friends because it's more universally accessible to them, plus any excuse to play games with different groups of people is a great one in my eyes.

Sniper Elite: The Board Game WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: SAS Rogue Regiment , Fury of Dracula , Whitechapel Published by: Rebellion Unplugged Designed by: Roger Tankersley , David Thompson (I) This is the reviewer’s copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey I'm going to kick things off and say straight up front that I've barely played a couple of hours of Sniper Elite and, well, let's just say that I've not quite reached that "elite" level that the game boasts. I'm more on the level of "sniper who uses a Nerf gun because he can't be trusted with a real one." How to snipe defenders One player is going to be the sniper, and the other player(s) are going to take on the role of the defenders. The sniper wins by completing two objectives, and the defenders win if they either wound the sniper twice or start their turn on the 1 space of the turn track before the sniper can complete both of their objectives.  During setup, the sniper draws two objective cards. These will have numbered spaces on them that will be located in different sections of the map. If both cards are in the same section, then discard one and keep drawing objectives until both are in different sections. The sniper plays all of their moves on their own dry erase map of the board, and on their turn, they can, in any combination and as many times as they want, move, play a loadout card, and take an action. When you first enter the board, you must enter in one of the colored areas that doesn't match where your objectives are. The sniper can move 0-1 space with no repercussions, or they can move 2-3 spaces, but they have to alert any defender that they move adjacent to in the process. Shooting will see you drawing a number of tokens from a bag and trying to draw a number of hits equal to or above the range between you and your target. Beware, though, because if you draw two noise tokens, then you have to reveal your position. Also, if you draw 5 non-hit tokens, then you automatically miss. A hit will see the defender removed from the board, potentially moving them out of your way but also adding a hit token into your bag. If you're on an objective space (that you don’t hold), then you can take a new loadout card (but this will give a clue as to your whereabouts). If you're in an objective space that matches one of your cards, then you can play it to complete that objective. This will also reveal your position on the board. When you do this, the defenders will reset their action markers back to the ten space of the track, putting them further away from that particular win condition and giving you some much-needed time. For the defenders' turn, they will be able to take two actions per squad. A squad is made up of two soldiers and a commander. Every time you take an action, you move one of the squad's cubes one space down the track. You can have just one figure in the squad take both actions, but they can’t take the same action twice. As for actions, you can move, sweep by picking two adjacent spaces and the one you're in to look for the sniper, but these have to be the same type (interior or exterior). Spotting means you can search one adjacent space, but it doesn't have to be the same type. Punching in the space you're in will wound the sniper if they're in the same space. You can bring a defender back on the board, or you can dismiss one from the board. Each commander has their own special ability, which you can pick before the game starts, and this can be used twice per game. The last thing is to gather intel. If your commander is in their starting area, you can burn both of that squad's actions to ask the sniper if they’re in that colored area.  What’s going to work? Teamwork As with any hidden movement game, the experience you get will depend on which role you're taking in a given game, and in the hidden movement games I’ve played, this could be a bit of a mixed bag. With Sniper Elite, both roles are a ton of fun. As the defenders, you get to play a tense (I’ll be using this word a lot, so best not start any drinking games on it) game of deduction as you use every tool in your arsenal to try and hunt down your sneaky foe. It can start off feeling like you're looking for a needle in a haystack with literally nothing to go on except someone telling you that there's a needle in that haystack and you have to find it. This is where the ‘gather intel’ action comes into its own early doors as you try to get that first sniff of where the stealthy so-and-so is. Whether it be from an intel action or a slip-up from the sniper, eventually you’ll get a clue, and before you know it, the hunt is very much on. An excitement will wash over you as you pore over what said clue could mean, and it’s here you’ll realize that two actions per squad are frustratingly limiting, but also the perfect amount to keep the game exciting. It means that as you close the gap, each action you choose to take is massively important, and each square you choose to sweep/spot could be the difference between finding your prey and them slipping away by the narrowest of narrow margins. You'll find that a lot of your discussion will involve you debating between two or three possible routes or which specific spots you're going to be sweeping. At first, it would easily seem like a lot of back and forth over a couple of spaces, but when you factor in the above point about that small space between catching them or them getting away, then they actually become important points. Now, at the time, you won’t know exactly how close you were until the end of the game and the sniper reveals their path, and this reveal makes that end game discussion just as much a part of the game as anything else, and seeing just how agonizingly close you were at points will keep that discussion going long after the game's over.  The game really ramps up as those action markers tick down the track and you seemingly come ever closer to winning. That is until you ask yourself the question, are we about to win? ... or are they about to finish an objective and knock those markers back to the start? It's really nerve-wracking and, yes, tense. One is the loneliest number An issue with the hidden movement games that I've played is that being ‘the one’ can sometimes fall a little flat, and you can often find that your turns are over in mere seconds in comparison to the other players' lengthier turns that are full of discussion and some fun back and forth. Sniper Elite does, at times, fall into this trap as well, with some turns being literally as quick as it takes you to draw a line on a board. But that line also represents a lot, as it can hold your entire game in its inky fingers. It represents your entire plan, the clever plays you made, and the risky moves you put into practice. Most of all, it makes for a great post-game roundup as you relay to your friends how close or how far away they were from you at each step. It's this extra part of the game that you don't get in the rulebook but is absolutely part of the experience. Even shooting has its own devious edge to it. When you shoot, you declare how many tokens you're pulling from the bag. It doesn’t have to match the number of spaces to your target. Choosing to pull more comes with greater risk, but if you pull four hit tokens and you're standing next to your victim, it could be a great way to send your opponents running off in the wrong direction. If you thought turns as the defenders were tense, then welcome to life as the sniper. You know when you used to play hide and seek as a kid, and the seeker would walk within a hair's breadth of your hiding spot, and your whole body would freeze in the hope that they wouldn’t find you? Well, that's what you get as the sniper in this game, only you personally are out in the open, and you can't give anything away. It's like hide and seek coupled with poker because anything could give away a clue to the other players. An intake of breath, a twitch as they point to your space, even a small smirk as they fall into your trap. It’s all there for them to see, so you have to keep your cool and try not to let anything slip by. It's edge-of-your-seat stuff as they deliberate on sweeping spaces, one of which you're in, and you just hope they pick the other spot. Every time they point to that space or edge ever closer to where you are, you practically scream inside, but on the outside, you know you have to present an air of calm. I don’t just mean on the defender's turn either; it can sometimes be really hard not to let something slip as you set up a devilishly clever little move that would normally have you rubbing your hands with glee. With two different maps, random setup of the objectives, different loadout cards, and different abilities for the defenders to choose from, there is a ton of replayability in this box, including a solo mode. Here, you’ll take up the role of the sniper against the defenders. I’ve played this a couple of times, and the actual mechanics aren’t too hard to get your head around (roll a die and play out the card). The way the defenders moved didn’t necessarily feel all that intuitive to me, and that could easily have been me misinterpreting it, but on the flip side, there was a definite sense of them closing in at times and me having to change my plans to fit the situation, so there’s definitely enough of a challenge there for those who like to play solo. Sniping is a waiting game As much as I think that being the sniper is still a great role in the grand scheme of hidden movement games, it still has the potential of coming with a bit of downtime. It’s understandable that the defenders' discussions can get quite in-depth at times, although that depends on player count and the players themselves. It can be great to listen to these conversations, but even good things have the potential to go on for a bit too long. If this does become an ongoing issue, then potentially using some kind of timer to keep people in check could be an idea, especially if the deliberations are constantly “it could be this spot, but it could also be this spot” back and forth for a long time. On the flip side, the defender's role has the potential to have empty turns. Getting those clues is wonderful, but it could take a few turns until something presents itself. Gathering intel is great, but a clever sniper will know how to sidestep that for at least the first round, and as the defenders, using it constantly can feel like you're just treading water until you get a clue, at which point the sneaker could already be halfway to an objective, and there’s nothing you can do about it.  As I said earlier, I don't know enough to be able to tell you how fans of the video game are going to feel about this version. But I also think that ultimately it doesn’t matter if you come in from this with a love of the video game or if you didn’t even know that this was a spin-off of something because, I.P. or not, it’s just a really great hidden movement game and a great addition to the genre.  I'm off to clean the walls and floors of my house. I may have gotten a bit carried away and marked lines everywhere depicting every route I took. It's fine on the wooden floors, but the carpet needs a really good scrubbing.

Undaunted 2200: Callisto WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Any of the Undaunted Series Published by: Osprey Games Designed by: Trevor Benjamin , David Thompson (I) This is the reviewer's copy. See our review policy  By Steve Godfrey The Undaunted series has taken us to different theatres of war, has seen us fight tooth and nail across epic battles, and has even taken us to the skies. Now, it takes us to the next logical step in that evolution... the sea... space. Wait, space? Really? Well, in that case, here is my review for Undaunted. In. Spaaaaaacceee. How to Callisto. If you’ve played any of the previous Undaunted games, then, bar a few new changes, you’ll know how to play this game. If you haven’t, then essentially Undaunted is a two-player deck-building strategy war game. Players will make up a basic deck of cards as dictated by the scenario you're playing. At the start of a round, each player will draw four cards, then choose and play one of them for their initiative value. Then, in turn order, each player will play the rest of their three cards. Each card will relate to a unit on the board and have a number of actions on it. You can play one of those actions on each card using that unit to carry them out. There are actions that let you move, control areas, attack, add cards to your deck, and many more. Your objective will change each scenario, but needless to say (although I’m going to say it anyway), whoever completes their objective first wins! “That’s no moon” If you’ve read my other Undaunted reviews, then it’s no secret that I love this series of games. If you have read my previous reviews, then all the praise that goes for those previous games applies here as well. Don’t worry, I’m not getting lazy and making you read previous reviews just so I don’t have to put the work in here. I am going to get to why I love this game. Although, that’s not a bad idea for the future! Speaking of the future, that’s exactly where the designers have decided to place this particular conflict, and this decision alone has done so many things for this series that I personally really appreciate. I know quite a few people who’ve really wanted to try an Undaunted game, but the real-world war theme just isn’t for them, so they’ve avoided the games. The minute this new theme was announced, though, all of them were immediately on board. In fact, I think most of them bought it upon release, and that speaks volumes to me about how popular this system is and the reputation it holds. It suddenly opened up the door for so many people to try this awesome series and get to experience a game that I already love and, in a slightly more selfish vein, it means that there are now so many more people I can potentially play this game with. I’m not sure if this was their intention to bring new players to the game when they had the idea for this new setting or if they just wanted to change things up in general, but regardless, it’s really opened things up. When two become one…….and four What else has opened up is the player count (I am on fire with these segway's) previous iterations were two player only unless you brought the reinforcements box (which I reviewed here ) in which case you had a solo and four player mode for Normandy and North Africa. This is the first game to come with a solo and four-player mode out of the box. The four-player game is pretty much what it was in that reinforcements box. Two teams of two, each player with their own separate squads, and the player with the commander/captain card on each team will draw four cards, and the other players three. The leaders play a card for initiative, with the winner's leader playing their turn, and then turns alternate until everyone has played a turn. Leadership changes hands when the current leader plays the captain card, which then goes in their teammate's discard pile, and then command passes to that player. Since the squads are already split into two in the setup, it’s a simple case of setting up as normal and just handing each player a squad. I still really like the four-player mode. Having someone with you to bounce ideas off of is a really nice change of pace and opens up room for some nice banter in a game that can sometimes be quite “heads down and get on with it.” Not only that, I can now happily take this to a game night/meet-up and get it played, and let’s be honest, any excuse for me to get this game to the table more often is a good one in my book.  Of course, your other option is solo play. Solo play has changed from reinforcements. Rather than being on cards, the solo bots are now in one book, making things a lot more manageable, easier to set up, and taking up far less room on the table (I have mine on a chair beside me). It still takes a little bit to run and still has a good-sized learning curve, so knowing the rules of the regular game is highly recommended before giving solo a go, just to save you from hopping between two rulebooks. The solo runs off a flowchart-style system. For example, it will say, if this situation is true, do this thing. If not, do this other thing, and so on until you can play one out or the bot can’t do anything. They’ve certainly learned from their previous efforts, as it does feel simpler to run than before, but as I said, it will take some getting used to and will require some perseverance before you can run it at a pace that won’t drag the game time. After a few goes, you start getting the hang of it, and you'll find that it’s a solo bot that can actually give you a decent challenge. In terms of theme, I love the little thematic changes they’ve added here. Elevation brings a nice little bit of extra strategy to the game as players fight for Obi-Wan's favorite place, the high ground. Now, units shooting down from the high ground will roll a D12, and units shooting up to the high ground will roll a D8. There’s only a two-number difference between each of the dice, but it really makes a huge tactical difference and is hugely thematic. You can’t help but feel powerful sitting up high and throwing those D12s and feel like you're just taking a random potshot with those D8s. Especially as you have to get closer to be able to make the shot, it adds that extra element of danger.  The part where I gush about the artwork One thing that I’ve only ever really touched on in previous reviews for these games is the art. Roland McDonald’s art for these games is as much of a staple as the game design and wouldn’t feel the same without him. With this game, though, I think he’s outdone himself. The art on the cards really pulls you in, and the small pictures on the cards displaying the characters under the helmets are inspired and keep the personal touch of the previous games. Where he’s really allowed to shine in this one, though, is those boards. Up until now, the modular tiles have had their own restrictions art-wise. Because of the now permanent, unchangeable boards, he’s been given the opportunity to show what he can really do, and he hasn’t disappointed. Every one is its own work of art that could easily distract you from the game as you look at every little detail that he’s been able to flood the board with. It makes the whole experience so much more thematic. Let’s talk about the boards (seriously though, should I get into Segway riding? Is that even a thing?) Callisto veers away from the modular boards of old and now gives us four double-sided map boards. When this was first announced, I was a bit apprehensive about them. Now that I’ve played with them, that apprehension has gone away, for the most part. As mentioned above, the space for beautiful art is a huge bonus; it reduces setup time, and pretty much all of your mission info and starting setup (aside from the deck makeup) is printed on the board, so you shouldn’t need to reference the mission book after initial setup. On the downside, the box now needs to be much bigger than the previous games and is now a lot heavier. You also don’t have the flexibility to create your own maps. This one doesn’t bother me personally, as I never really did that anyway, but it could definitely be a downer if that was something you dabbled in.  The dark side of the moon The next thing I want to touch on may very well be a “me” issue, but I wanted to talk about it because it’s the main reason why the score is lower than I think a lot of people would expect from me at this point.  For some reason, I find the deck setup for this game takes me considerably longer than in the previous games. I don’t know if it’s the sheer number of cards that you use as the missions go on, or if it’s that you’ve got two to three separate units per mech, or just that I’m still getting my head around the different naming conventions of previous games. I’m not sure. The boards have made board population quicker, but the deck setup seems to have nullified that advantage for me. It doesn’t help that some of the letters in the LFA cards are quite similar. The V and the Y, and the font used, make these two look very similar. That similarity also doesn’t help when identifying units on the board, that coupled with the generic naming convention of the enemy and we found ourselves on a few occasions taking back a couple of moves because the wrong counter was moved. The names are of course very thematic to a big corporation and this may well be an overhang from me coming from the previous iterations but I’ve played the game enough that I probably should have acclimatised to it by now. I’d be genuinely interested to see if this is just me or if anyone else feels the same way, especially if you’re a veteran of the previous games.  There are also quite a few typos throughout and these can range from, not over important up to game changing. One is a wrong point objective value on the scenario two board and another puts a wrong unit into your deck setup on another scenario. It’s understandable that games will have the odd typo now and then, but it’s unfortunate that these have been missed and had game changing effects. I’m confident Osprey will have these corrected on the next print run but for now they’ve posted and errata document on board game geek which I’ll link to here   This game still presents all of the simple, fun and strategic game play of its predecessors that make these games close, tense affairs that will have you coming back to them time and time again either to try a different side or a different strategy.  If you already love Undaunted then I see no reason, other than if the theme doesn’t grab you, that you shouldn’t enjoy this new addition. The changes made are minimal in the grand scheme of things so the quick to learn gameplay of previous editions has been kept relatively intact. Right I’m off to try and predict where or when the next Undaunted game is going to be set. Probably not going to put any bets on it though, especially not after last time when I bet my house! That reminds me, I need to let my wife know we're moving!

A Nice Cuppa WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count: 1 You’ll like this if you like: Light, solo, puzzles. Published by: Button Shy Designed by: Scott Almes This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . A Nice Cuppa is the seventh instalment in the Button Shy Simple Solo series. These games are designed for a single player, feature simple rules, and offer great replayability. It successfully crowdfunded in 2024 and is now available for pre-order on the Button Shy website. The game centres around the theme of relaxing over a cup of tea, whiling away the stresses of life, and focusing in a mindful way on the single action of making and enjoying a cup of tea whilst solving a delicate puzzle It's basically how I live 25% of my life, so I am fully invested. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up A Nice Cuppa Shuffle the seven Tea cards and place them face up on their coloured focus side in a random order, in a line on the table. Now, shuffle the ten Worry cards and deal seven of them at random face down below each card. Discard the other three cards back into the sleeve, you wont be using them this game. You are now ready to play. There are two mini expansions that you can easily add to the game at this stage. The Good Book expansion adds in two new Tea and three new Worry cards. Add these into each deck separately and play the game as usual, but this time lay out nine of each card instead of seven. The Seasonal Stresses mini-expansion adds four new Stress cards. Pick one based on the season that you are currently in, or simply the one you want to use, and place it face up above the row of tea cards. How To Play A Nice Cuppa Flip one of the seven (or nine, if you are playing with the Good Book expansion) Worry cards. It can be any one. The game suggests you start with the card underneath the number one Tea card, though, in your early games. Then, from left to right, activate each Worry card. On your first turn, this will simply be the card you just flipped, but on later turns, you may have more than one Worry card to perform. The cards allow you to move the Tea card order around, mostly in pairs, but also individually. However, all within specific parameters, such as swapping an odd-numbered card with an even one, or changing the position of one pair with one other single card in the row. You are looking to get the cards in sequential order, left to right, but by the end of the game. Not too soon! When you have activated the Worry cards, you will now flip over every Tea card that is now above a face-up Worry card. This could flip it back to its focused side if previously you had flipped it already to its distracted side. Ideally, you want as many on the Focused side by the end of the game. Then remove any face-up Worry card that is now underneath a Tea card that is on its focused side. Then, finally, if you want to, you can swap any two adjacent Tea cards. This is the end of this round. Move onto the next round by flipping over one more face-down Worry card to its face-up side. Then activate all face-up Worry cards just as above. Continue like this until there are no more face-up Worry cards at the end of a round. When this happens, play one final round, skipping the first step where you flip over face-down Worry cards, of course. Then score your final array of Tea cards based on the longest sequence of sequential cards you have starting from the number one onwards. You will score two points for any card in this sequence that is on the focused side and one point for any card in this sequence on the distracted side. If you are using the Seasonal Stresses mini-expansion, be sure to take note of the specific requirement of your chosen additional stress. And then take the shown reward when you meet this requirement. If the stress card remains in play at the end of the game, it removes three points from your final score. The Good Book expansion plays exactly the same as the base game, except you will play one extra round, and the final scoring is a little different, starting from the zero card instead of the one. Also, be sure to check the back of the score sheet to see how your final score stacks up. Is It Fun? A Nice Cuppa Card Game Review This game is obviously aiming for the "cosy" category. The art style. The theme. The wording. Everything about it screams "love me because I am relaxing!" And I am not 100% sure it succeeds there. Not because it is a bad game. Quite the contrary. More that as a solo puzzle, this is actually quite tense. Relatively speaking! The experience is still somewhat cosy, if that is what you are after. You are sitting alone. Doing minimal actions. Flipping the odd card here and there. And setup and game length are all perfect for a nice cup-of-tea break. Playing this in between day-to-day tasks, or whilst you are having a relaxing meditative moment to yourself is a perfect opportunity to take yourself away from your everyday stresses. For that purpose, I can see this game being seen as cosy. But "cosy" is very much an overused word in the hobby right now. And what does it even mean? I interpret it to mean relaxing, solitary, and meditative. Not too taxing on your brain, but enough of a puzzle to take your mind off other things. And again, this game hits all those points with aplomb. As I mentioned above, there can be relatively tense moments as you come to the end of a game that you have done quite well in, and you only have one or two more turns left and you are trying to get the final few tea cards into the right position. If you get good and start winning a lot, this tension obviously will go. But for me, where my full point victories are currently coming in around 50% of the time, I want to get those final cards into position to claim a victory, and I know that fact is far from certain. It makes me a little tense. I am unsure if tense and cosy go together. But that makes this game better, not worse. It is just a little far away from cosy. But in terms of mechanics and enjoyment, this tension that builds perfectly through your turns will make this light and quick experience feel worthwhile. But I do not want to oversell this. This is a very simple and quick game that you will play through in minutes. The two expansions add a little more variety, but not too much. And you will have mostly the same experience each time. But that experience is a delicately and perfectly balanced puzzle that will test you just enough to make the game satisfying when you win, and still enjoyable when you don't score full marks. Because, of course, this is not a win-lose scenario. Getting all the numbers into sequential order will score you full marks, but the game gives you partial credit for still achieving some of the cards in order. It is up to you how that makes you feel when you do that. For me, in my first few games, I was obviously fine with it. It is actually quite a tricky puzzle to solve. But when you have played a few times and got them all in order a couple of times, you will want to do that every time. And that is not easy! And I think this difficulty level is set to the perfect spot. It keeps you coming back for more as you want to win. Winning with full points feels achievable. But you know it won't happen every game. So when it does come good, it feels great. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes the idea of having a small, portable, quick, and light game that they can carry around with them to play wherever and whenever, to give themselves a short break from existence, and absorb themselves into this intriguing little puzzle. If you are a fan of tea, this may appeal more. It can become quite abstract, I imagine, but I play mostly with a cup of tea alongside this, and really lean into the theme. It works for me both with the enjoyment of the game from the theme, but also to set my mind at ease and really reward myself with that five-minute break we all need once in a while.

Mars Expedition: Sol 43 WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 1-2 You’ll like this if you like: Solving increasingly difficult logic puzzles Published by: Queensell This is a free review copy of the game. See our review policy here . This game looks just like any other game. And it has components just like any other game, but it plays very differently. This, as it says on the box, is a logic game. And if you think that is a small subtle difference to a usual board or card game, then fair enough. But I would say it sets it apart in a significant way. And I would go as far as to say that if you like logic puzzles, then you will love this. Adore it even. But if you are not a fan of logic puzzles, this will not be for you. The game will draw you in with its theme and components, but the gameplay may frustrate or even disappoint. But for fans of logic puzzles, this may well become one of your favourite games. I for one am addicted. So, with that said, let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Mars Expedition: Sol 43 Logic Game There are 43 unique missions in this game. For your first experience, it is strongly recommended to start with Sol 1 and work your way up from there. It will not only teach you the game in manageable bites, but it will also ramp up the difficulty in a way that you will become a master at this game, rather than become frustrated at the harder levels without having the necessary experience to solve them. That said, if you have played this game a lot, feel free to take aby level to start with or play as a one-off mission. Place your chosen Sol card face up in front of you next to the main game board. The card will show the components used in this mission, and the positioning for them on the main board. You can decipher this simply by looking at the symbols on the left and top of the main board. For example, in the below mission, Sol 4, you have a Base, Drone, and eight rocks. The Base is positioned on the row showing the Triangle, in the column with the shape half filled on the left hand side. Make sense? Let's do one more. The Drone starts on the second to bottom row on the second to last column, again, matching the symbol shown on the Sol 4 card. once you get a hang of this, set up for each level is very simple, and they all work like this. There will just be extra components in the later rounds. Mountains, Tornados, Gravitational Anomalies, Minerlas. All sorts. Place all the necessary pieces out on the board and add either one or two Drones to the starting location depending on if you are playing single or two player. In solo, you are now ready to play. In a two-player game, you now must now shuffle the deck of cards and deal five to each player. Place the remaining cards face down in a pile next to the wind dice. You are now ready to play. How To Play Mars Expedition: Sol 43 Logic Game The game mostly works the same in solo or two-player mode, except that in a solo game, you are racing against the clock in terms of how many turns you can have. On the back of the setup card for the solo game you are playing, it will show the mission and how many turns you must achieve this mission in. In a two-player game, you still need to complete this mission, but turn numbers are not irrelevant; it is simply a race between the two players to see who can complete it first and gain the most points in doing so. Missions range from simply getting back to base, as seen in the early Sols, to collecting minerals and substances, photographing specific locations, and navigating various weather and gravitational phenomena. Players will take turns, with the white drone always moving first, to move their drone in order to complete the missions. In solo mode, simply move the drone until you either complete the mission or run out of turns. The drone always moves in the same S shape: one forward, one to the right or left, and one forward again. You can do this in any way you like, moving in any direction, but it must always be done in the S shape. As the missions advance, you will encounter new rules, components, and factors that affect your movement and goals. I do not want to spoil it here as I think a big part of this game is experiencing that for yourself. But I will go as far as to say that certain things will move your drone for you as you advance the levels, and you need to really think carefully about how and where you move to complete the mission in the best way. This is a logic puzzle after all. In a two-player game, the first player back to base scores one point. There are also points for collecting various artefacts, taking pictures, and taking the shortest flight during the game. You can track this by keeping a logbook, monitoring your moves. This is not essential, but key if you want to score like this in a two-player game and cannot keep count in your head. You can play a single mission or a series, the complete set. As you get to the later levels, separate secondary boards are used to show close-up details of specific areas where your movement has new rules. All simply explained when you get there; again, I do not want to spoil that here. Is It Fun? Mars Expedition: Sol 43 Logic Game This is incredibly easy to review. If you like logic games, buy this. I think you will adore it. The theme is great fun and is used in a very clever and scientific way. The components all look great, and the development of the levels is perfect. They ramp up in difficulty in the perfect way, adding new things at the right time to keep things interesting and moving at the right pace. I adore the single-player mode that works just so well, and find the two-player game to be completely different, with obviously a lot more player interaction as you mess around with each other's plans. It makes for a very different experience. One that I personally do not like as much, as I want to focus on the most logical way through each level, and being messed around with is just frustrating! But it is fun, you just need to go into it with the right attitude. If you do not like logic puzzles, this may come across as too similar level after level, and not inspiring enough to keep you coming back for more. But if that is the case, why did you buy a game with logic puzzle written on the front? But joking aside, I can see why this game would appeal to those of you who do not like games like this, the cover art is fantastic and it has a very intriguing theme. But do not look past the simple fact that this is a logic puzzle first and foremost. I have very much enjoyed going through the SOL's one by one in single player. I have played only ten levels in two-player mode. In two-player, I would give this a 6. It is just too frustrating a game to play with people making you skip turns or moving their own Drone in a way you did not expect. It is very clever and works very well. It is just not for me. But I can see others enjoying that a lot. In solo mode, I adore this and have found great peace and solitude in working my way through the levels one by one. It is incredibly satisfying to get right and noodle your way through. I feel engaged as I play and smart and gratified when I complete a mission. Failing is fine. Set up and go again. And setup is a breeze once you get the hang of reading the symbols, which takes maybe one or two quick games. It is very intuitive. As such, this is a simple recommendation. If you like logic puzzles and this theme interests you, buy this. If you don't, maybe this is not for you. I, for one, adore it.

Order here - Tales Of Tails WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Cute animal themed push-your-luck games Published by:   Hobby World Designed by:   Denis Saidashev This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . When I look at the box art for this game, I get a real sense of the brilliant 80s children's cartoon, Dungeons & Dragons . And I loved that show! So, I was keen to try this game, simply from the box art. I knew it would have nothing to do with the show, but nostalgia is a powerful tool. Tales Of Tails is less about 80's cartoons though, and more about Dogs finding gold in a spiralling maze! Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Tales Of Tails Each player takes one of the Doggo player boards along with seven matching Paw tokens and places it in front of them. Each character has its own unique skill, so be sure to check that as you make your choice. Five tokens are placed on the board directly, whereas two are left off to the side. You may be able to get these later in the game. Next, shuffle the Quest cards and deal two to each player, placing the remaining cards back into the box. Each player will choose one of these Quest cards to keep as their own personal Quest, placing this face down in their play area. Keep that a secret! The second card is placed face up in the middle for all to see and is now a common Quests, open to all players. Now, find the starting heart-shaped room card—set to the appropriate player count—and place it in the centre of the play area. You can use the two-player side for higher player counts if you want a more challenging game. Next, stack three round tokens onto this card with round three on the bottom and round one on the top. Shuffle the remaining room tiles and form a face-down deck. Shuffle all Potion cards into a separate face-down deck, dealing each player one card from the top. Players will place this Potion card next to their player board face up for all to see. Give the first player token to the last player to pet a dog, and you are now ready to begin. How To Play Tales Of Tails Players will now take turns to do one of three actions across the three rounds. The first action is to explore the dungeon. Here, you will simply draw the top card and place it onto any open space in the dungeon you choose. The only rule is you must connect at least one path from this new tile. You can rotate it however you see fit and place it next to any other previously placed tile. The second option is to escape the dungeon. Here, you simply need to plot a route from the starting point to any exit. An exit is a way out of any tile that has no other tile next to it. You can move through as many tiles as you wish, but if you encounter a trap or monster, you need to be able to defeat or survive this encounter. This is done by having the correct symbols on your player board or any previously attained cards that match the amount needed as shown on the card you are currently encountering. If you do not have the necessary symbols, you can still get through traps and monsters, you just cannot take the card after the round to gain the benefit from the monster cards, and will take a forfeit from any traps that were not disarmed. Any card you activate, be that a defeated monster, a trap you have not disarmed, a room with a coin, potion, or artefact you want to collect, a treasure chest you can collect (with a key collected previously), a portal you use, or a Stray Raccoon you want to recruit, simply place one of your paw prints onto this room. Trace your route to an available exit, and that is the end of you turns this round. The final option available to players is to take a nap. This is what you will do if there is no available route of the dungeon for you, be that because the monsters are all too strong and you cannot defeat them, or survive an encounter with them, or you would simply prefer to gain an extra paw print. Taking a nap ends your action this round; you will not gain any benefits from any rooms, but you will move one of the two paw prints you placed next to your player mat during setup onto your mat, so you have an extra one for any subsequent rounds. When the first player escapes the dungeon, the remaining players will then take four, eight, or twelve cards from the top of the deck, depending on if there are one, two, or three other players remaining in the dungeon. These players will then only be able to draw from the reduced deck to explore the dungeon for the rest of this round. They need to plan and find a route to escape before this deck runs out, or otherwise, take a nap. At the end of the round, all players will take the cards with their paw prints on and gather them up. They will score any rooms with coins on at the end of the game, subtracting any traps that were not disarmed, and gaining any defeated monsters and recruiting raccoons, slipping them under the left side of their player board so the symbols showing the additional fighting power are only now visible. You will do the same with any keys gathered, slipping them under the right side of your board. You will now be strong to fight your way through the dungeon in any subsequent rounds. Take off the top round tracker from the central tile and start again with another round. Do this three times and then at the end of the game, players will total their coins, and the player with the most gold collected wins the game. Ties are broken by the number of monsters defeated. Remember to total any coins gathered from completed quests, be that your own personal quest, or any shared common one. Is It Fun? Tales Of Tails Card Game Review This game comes very close to excellent. As it is, it is good, but there are a two main things that hold it back a little. Let's go through them to see if this is for you or not. First, the number of tiles you will put down in the first round that you cannot really encounter can be frustrating. There will be monsters that are too powerful, treasure chests that need keys you do not have, doors you cannot get through, and traps you cannot disarm. It can be annoying to see all this opportunity that is unavailable to you. As such, you will find you take a fairly simple route through the dungeon, as long as there is one, and will not build your engine much at all. This then means the next round could well be the same. You really do need to try and defeat a monster or two as quickly as possible in order to level up so you can take on more monsters and harder foes later on to gain the bigger rewards. In three rounds, this is tough to do. I do wonder if this should have been five rounds instead. The game over the rounds is lovely and quick, finished within 15-30 minutes depending on player count; so I think another couple of rounds would have been fine. And it would allow you to build up your powers so you can have that big meaty round you really need in this game to make the rest of it worth it. There can be a lot of tile placement and dungeon exploring without the payoff in some games. Second, this is very much a push-your-luck game along with tile placement and dungeon crawling. Often, a perfect route will be available to you, but if another player escapes the dungeon first, this route is now blocked to you. You cannot pass through a room that has another player's paw print on it. If the other direction has a Dragon you simply cannot take on, or a trap you cannot disarm, this can be frustrating. And it leads to players jumping ship quickly and taking the sometimes only suitable route very early. This, compounded with the above point, makes the game quicker, engine building even harder, and the chance to develop interesting routes out of the dungeon even more difficult. Outside of that, this game is a lot of fun. As mentioned, it plays very quickly. Turns are rapid: draw a tile, place it somewhere. The sense of trepidation as you build routes that may or may not be for you, and waiting to see if other players take them before you have the chance to do so yourself, is genuinely exhilarating. But also, as mentioned above, it's frustrating when it does not pay off for you. There is a fine line in push-your-luck games like this, when the thing you are pushing your luck against is other players, and not the game itself. It is fine to lose out on something to the game, but to lose out to other players can be annoying, and does create runaway leaders sometimes in this game. If one player takes the only available route that gains them coins and power-ups, and other players have to take either weaker routes or perhaps even take a nap, this then means in later rounds, that first player really does have a big advantage to simply further their lead. I like the idea that when someone is out, the game then has a clock attached to it, with a limited amount of cards available to the remaining players to explore. This stops the game dragging and the player who escaped sitting there for ages waiting. But it does also mean the dungeon size is controlled largely by one player, the first one to leave. And the others have to go along with basically whatever is left. I think it would have made more sense to remove this rule, let other players build as they like so that the first player to go is less likely to do so as quickly as they know the other players then have an advantage to build for as long as they wish. There is still the advantage to go first by having first choice of route, but then it does not cause all the other issues mentioned. Perhaps there could be a bonus to the first player out, so there is still some incentive to get out, and not just take it in turn to build a huge dungeon. Limiting the number of cards to the other players when the first player leaves is a real issue for me. That said, this game is still fun. It is very light and quick, and will appeal to younger players from the art, theme, and simple gameplay. But I find for myself, playing with my children, it can be frustrating, as I see a game that could well be an 8 or even higher, limited by a few issues that just don't make sense to me. I still enjoy playing and look forward to playing the game more. It is so quick to set up and play, and teaching new players is a breeze. It does have a lot of appeal. The rule book is not the clearest, though, so I hope the basic rules add some clarity for some. But again, this layout, perhaps delivered from a language translation, does cause some issues for me, along with the above points, about exactly who this game is aimed at. It is a little too hard for a proper family game, but the art, theme, simplicity, and game length suggest it is more aimed at a younger audience. It is perhaps simply a filler for gamers who want a quick dungeon crawl game with elements of engine building, push-your-luck, and tile placement. And you either need to go into it with the above understanding or one or two house rules to overcome this.

Dream Catcher WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 2-6 You’ll like this if you like: Dixit, but you want a change. Published by: Magellan Designed by:   Mihail Rozanov This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Dream Catcher is an intriguing game. The concept is essentially Dixit , but with a touch element. As such, it is hard to review fairly. If Dixit did not exist, this could well be a 9 or 10 out of 10 game. But Dixit does exist. And this is just a variation of it, and we must take that into consideration. That said, the game itself still offers something quite unique. It is just based upon something that already exists. I will try to take all of this into account within this review. So, let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Dream Catcher Place the nine cloud tokens onto the table face down with the dark side facing up. Next to this, place the four circular choice tokens, and the large Dream Catcher token. Now, shuffle both decks and place the Dream cards face down next to the Touching cards in a separate deck. Deal four Dream cards to the first player (known as the Lead player) and five Touching cards. You are now ready to play. The lead player will study their cards and choose one Dream card to pick. They are looking for a Dream card that somehow links to at least one, but preferably more, of their Touching cards. Now, the lead player will randomly place their four Dream cards face up on the table for all to see. They will take the four Choice tokens and place them under the cards, being sure to place them face down, and the token with the star on underneath the chosen card. They will now hand over their chosen Touch cards to the other players. They must choose at least two, but can use all five if they wish. The lead player decides which players get which Touch cards. Each player who received a Touch card now studies their Touch card, without looking. Running their finger over the raised lines on the reverse of the card, to try and identify in their mind's eye what is on the Touch card. They all show simple objects or symbols. As hard as it feels to begin with, they are all achievable. Players can discuss out loud with their fellow teammates what they are feeling. They must be sure they do not look at the card themselves, or show it to any of the other players. The Lead player must remain silent at this point. As players start to think they have deciphered what is on their Touch cards, they then need to try and link that image to one of the four Dream cards. Which Dream card was the Lead player trying to make them think of with the Touch cards they chose? The Dream cards show a complex image with mixture of people, objects, and places. Similar to cards as seen in Dixit. When the group has made a decision, they will place the Dream catcher token on the chosen card. The Lead player then flips the Card choice tokens over to reveal which card had the star underneath. If the players chose correctly, you can flip over one of the nine cloud tokens to reveal a star. One point for the end of the game. If they chose incorrectly, remove one of the nine cloud tokens. The player sitting clockwise next to the Lead player now becomes the new Lead player, and they begin the next round. The game continues until all cloud tokens are either flipped or removed. The players then score as a team based on their stars on the cloud tokens. Seven or above is the top score. One to three is the lowest. Four to six is the middle ranking. The rulebook offers some flavour text for each grade. Is It Fun? Dream Catcher Party Game Review If you have not played Dixit or similar games, this will feel revolutionary. If you have played those games, then this will be a little gimmicky; clever - but potentially limited in terms of its replayability. This is down to the number of Touch cards. There are 83 in total. And after five games, we have started to see a fair few of these cards repeat themselves. Players are now able to guess what they are, based not just on what they touch, but what they remember from other games. Meta knowledge plays a huge part in how easy this game can become, which is a bad thing. The satisfaction in those early games of deciphering an octopus shape and then seeing something similar in a card after five minutes of blind panic and confusion is wildly satisfying, though. I just worry that this revolutionary feeling is limited to the number of cards in the game. Like Dixit, which has benefited from numerous expansions, this game would be considerably improved by more Touch cards. Or, being able to create your own would be even better. Some mechanic where you can draw your own shape, not too complex that it cannot be worked out, but specific enough to find the correct card. Perhaps in a time limit. I am unsure how this would work. How could you create a component that lets you make your own 3D touch cards? I have no idea. But that would make this game a lot better. A unique and new Touch card each time would make this game amazing. That said, as is, even with the limited Touch cards, and the strong leaning on the giant that is Dixit, this game is still a lot of fun. I own Dixit and will keep this game in my collection as it offers something different and unique, and I could see it coming out after games of Dixit to offer my friends that next surprise. If Dixit has landed, I can see myself saying as I place this down, "OK, now try it with just touch rather than words!" That appeals to me greatly. There are also chunkier shapes such as the ones below. Unlike the more simple line drawings, which are all a lot easier to decipher, these thicker shapes, with chunkier parts, are more complex and take longer to work out. Although, sadly, they are also the easier ones to remember on repeat plays. As such, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Dixit but wants something a little different. If you do not enjoy games like Dixit, this will probably just frustrate you even more. But fans of those games will find something that is trying to push the boundaries of this style of party game, and on this occasion, I think it has landed very much on the side of fun!

Kavango WBG Score: 9/10 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Card games with interesting layers and scoring. Published by: Mazaza Games Designed by:   Matt Brown , Zara Reid This is a free review copy of the Delux version. See our review policy here . I previously previewed this game here . But I wanted to write a full review as well because this game is good. It is very good. But I saw a very strange review on The Dice Tower where it was rated a 4, 5, and 7 out of 10 from the three reviewers there. Which to me was very interesting. I simply do not agree with their criticism. But I felt I perhaps may be a little biased. I met the designers a few times at various conventions over the years and thought they were delightful people. They gave me a copy of the preview version of the game to test, and have since sent me a full final version. I was concerned I was defending them from this criticism simply because I liked the designers. Usually, I like to get my reviews out as quickly as possible. I don't like to create a backlog of reviews. That stresses me out. And as I typically play new games five or more times over one week, I feel I can get a good feel for them within a short period of time and my reviews out within the first month of receiving them. But for Kavango, despite thinking like this, I wanted to pause. Give myself a few months. And see if, after time, I still felt how I originally did. My first score for this game on BGG was a nine. Would I still feel the same way after months of play and many different games of this in many different scenarios. I have tried all play counts. With gamers and with non-gamers. With people who love heavier games like Ark Nova, and with those who prefer lighter experiences and were initially intimidated by this. I feel that now, after time, I can review this game as fairly as possible. I am sure I still have some bias, but the games I don't like that come from the designers I do, I simply just don't really talk about. I send them back with reasons for why they don't work for me. This game however, has seen may repeat plays. There is a reason for that. So, with that said, let's get this to the table and see what we can gain from the Dice Tower review. But first, how does it play? How To Set Up Kavango Each player takes a landscape board and places it in front of them along with the matching Protection board, which you can place above this board to the right side. You will need space on the left for cards. Then place the main board into the play area so that all players can reach it. Place the bank of coloured cubes and card trays alongside this. Now, all players take the matching animeeple and completion tokens matching their colour and add their animeeple to the zero space on the score tracker, and their tokens next to their player board. Then, each player takes one, two, or three cubes from the bank matching their colour, depending on if players want to start with an easy, intermediate, or expert difficulty rating for the game. I recommend taking three for your first few games. It's a lot more fun to be able to do things! Next, shuffle the goal cards and deal one to each player. You can remove these for a simpler game, but I think they add minimal complexity and give some nice direction for each player. Give each player one Conservation expert card as well; this will give each player a unique power to help them in the game. Explanations for all cards can be found in the rule book, but they are mostly self-explanatory. Next, deal out two C cards for each player, and draft one at a time until all players have two cards. These are added to each player's Sanctuary on their player board on the right-hand side. These cards can be added to each player's main board later if they meet the requirements for these cards. Like the goal cards, they simply give each player some direction in the early game. Now, set up the cards for round one. The process for this is shown on the player aids and card tray itself. Deal out three Action cards, two for a three to five player game, and six A cards and six B Cards. Five of each in a three to five player game. These 12 or 15 cards are dealt to each player. Finally, deal four research cards into the central board, face up so all players can see them. You are now ready to play. How To Play Kavango Play now proceeds through three rounds, starting with a draft phase. All players will look at the cards and pick one to play immediately. If the card they chose was an Animal, this will be placed directly into any space on their player board. This is the main way to score points in the game. But you can only add animals if you meet their criteria. This is broken down into two main areas. Each animal will have a minimum protection level required in order to be safely housed in your sanctuary, along with specific food requirements. There are three protection criteria, Habitat and Poaching, as shown on your own Protection board that each player controls for themselves; and Climate, which is a shared level seen on the main board. During the next phase, players can add cubes they have to either one of these three trackers, filling them in from left to right. There are four levels for each, and you need to fill the complete section for each one in order to meet that levels requirements. The Climate protection is a shared tracker that all players can contribute too. Players are encouraged to all work together on this tracker with a reward of 10 points at the end of the game if they added at least eight cubes to it. Climate is everyone's problem after all! Each animal also has specific food requirements, shown by various symbols. You will need to have the same or more of these symbols in your sanctuary already, either on other animal cards previously placed, or in your tucked producer cards (more on that soon) in order to add new animal cards into your sanctuary. For example, this Honey Badger requires level two or higher Poaching, and at least one Bee, one Small Mammal, and two Invertebrates. If you have a Water Snake and one other Invertebrate, this Pygmy Mouse, and one Bee for example in your play area already, you could add the Honey Badger from your hand to your player board in any position for free. If the card you add from your hand is a Producer, you will add this into the appropriate column, tucked under your player board in the top right. Producers are seen in the A cards only, and are identified by the Producer symbols on the top left of the card, instead of showing a points amount, and the simpler art without the text. Producer cards do not get you points like animals, but they allow you to build up your engine so you have the right things needed by other Animals cards that you will be able to successfully place later. There are a limited amount of each Producer type, and gaining the right ones in round one will be crucial to your success. The third thing you can do with cards is to simply discard them. This can be done with previously played cards in your Sanctuary as well, although this should be a last resort! Each discarded card will gain you one cube. Each cube is worth one million. Cubes can be used to advance levels in the three protection levels or by purchasing rewilding cards. Rewilding cards cost $4m can be bought on the next phase, and can act as any of the Producer cards. Critical if you do not gain the Producers you need in round one. The final thing you can do with cards is play them as action cards. There are only a few in each round, and any action cards must be played immediately before being discarded. Action cards give you various powers, such as the below cards which allow you to swap an animal in your sanctuary with one from another player's board, gain $2m from the bank to spend on climate protection and gain a point, or gain a rewilding card for free. Pretty valuable when you consider they are usually worth $4m! When all players have chosen and played their cards, they can then decide if they want to complete any of the four research cards drawn for that round. There are three different levels for each research card, and the further up the levels you go, the more money and points you can claim. You can only claim each research card once though. So, you must decide if you want to do it early in order to gain much-needed money to help you advance further in that round with other goals, or do you wait until you have reached a higher level to be rewarded with higher riches later on? Place a completion token on any research card you want to complete now, and then take your money and points as shown by that level on that card. With any money you have, this is the phase of the game where you can now advance your various protection levels and/or buy rewilding cards. When all players have done this, players pass all remaining cards clockwise to the next player. The round continues with players taking one card from this new set of cards, playing that card, and then deciding if they want to complete any research cards and invest in any protection levels once more. Continue like this until all players have played ten turns. Any remaining cards are simply discarded. After the round ends, players will complete any additional research cards they have left that they can now complete, and then four new research cards will be added for the next round. The next round's cards will be dealt to each player, with round two seeing the number of A and B cards reduced to three cards each, and six C cards added for one to two players, and five added for three to five. In round three, you simply have 12 or ten C cards (based on player count) along with the usual three or two Action cards (again based on player count). At the end of the game, players will score points for all animals in their play area, plus ten points for meeting the criteria of three different conservation awards. The first is for adding eight or more cubes to the shared Climate protection. The second is for having at least one of the eleven different types of species in your play area, and the third is for reaching level four on both your own personal Poaching and Habitat protection levels. Players will also score points based on their own private goal cards, and any final research cards from round three. The most points wins. Is It Fun? Kavango Board Game Review I adore this game. I find the simplicity in rules and mechanics incredibly refreshing. The game looks like it will plays like something far more complex and it gives you the satisfaction and personal reward of playing a much heavier game, but it does so in a light and relaxing experience. The card play is so rewarding. Choosing which Producers to go for, to match with the Animal cards you want to get is highly satisfying and an interesting process to go through. But this all happens within a drafting game, where of course, you will not always get all the cards you want. If you see more than one card you "must" have in your first hand, it is obviously unlikely you will get the second, so which one do you go for? Choices like this are fascinating to me. But there are always ways to recover from any card losses, with the rewilding cards being a huge blessing when needed. And if you miss out on something juicy in one hand, there are always more coming your way in the others. I think the game looks and feels incredible too. The production levels are fantastic, and the art is simply stunning. Everything about this game screams quality to me, and I simply adore it. Everyone I have played it with has enjoyed the experience too. Some have said it was a lot lighter than they thought, but this was a good thing. And of course, thinking a game is heavier than it is based on the number of components and size of the box but then finding out it is a lot simpler for me is a good thing. But players do need to have their expectations managed. And it must be said, the size and weight of this box, and number of components, do create a feeling this is a medium to heavyweight game, when it is in fact rated a 2.28 on BGG, and I would say even that is a little high. This is very much a medium to lightweight game at most. So, set your expectations accordingly. But, it still gives you a wonderful feeling of playing a game full of meaningful decisions, interesting card play, rewarding scoring, and challenging interactions with other players. So, what about those Dice Tower criticisms? Well, let's get to them all, one by one. For the record, this was reviewed by Wendy, Camila and Zee. I tend to agree with Wendy and Zee on most things. Camila, I have often found I disagree with a lot of her opinions. We obviously have different tastes. First, they talked about the focus being too much on the goals. For me, the main area to concentrate on is the animal cards. You will want to do well in the goals, but you do that by finding the right animal cards. The goals add a level of focus for each round, with the opportunity to gain money throughout or big points at the end. This choice is a wonderful addition to the game to keep your money coming in if you need it, or a big points reward at the end if you can get to the final goal. Second, they talked about turn order issues. The only time turn order comes into affect in any kind of significant way is when you play an Action card at the same time as another player, and even this has minimal impact on the game. There is an element of importance to turn order in terms of which card you take from your hand, as you always get first choice from the hand you are dealt, but so does every other player with every other hand. But they also suggest issues around the shared Climate goal, that I will come to shortly. They talk about liking the passion behind the project, and they say this can be clearly seen. I agree. But they say they think the game is too long for the simplicity of it. I would agree for game one. But play this again and you will fly through it. There are only three rounds, and each round you draft one card and play it. I have played three-player games of this in 40 minutes. This criticism screams of a reviewer who has played the game once or twice. The game is very light but can take a while to play for your first game. But after that first learning game I believe the weight to length is on point. They also say the player boards are too big, and you can simply stack the cards instead. This is true. Stacking would be a disappointing way to play the game, it would take away a lot of the theme and delight from the artwork. But the boards are too big; this is a table hog, and they perhaps could be designed better. They talk about the theme not coming through, and how it simply disappears when you play and that you are just matching symbols. I could not disagree with this more. Of course, that is what you are doing, but I struggle to see how most people would not name each card based on what it is, and at least glance at the artwork, and think about what each card needs based on what it is, rather than simply the icons on the left of the card. I suppose this is down to your own play style. But it does seem unlikely to affect most players in this manner. But then the reviewers on the Dice Tower do go on to say the irrelevance around the placement of the animals on their board affects this lack of theme. I agree here, the lack of relevance to where you place the cards is disappointing. I would like for additional scoring to be made available based on specific groupings or placements on the board. But you can place cards anywhere on your board and this does not affect anything. I disagree this makes the game theme-less, but it does remove some additional scoring layers that could have made the game more interesting. The main criticism though seem to be around the simultaneous nature of the game, where players draft and play cards all at once. This links back to the earlier turn-order issue. They say players can all contribute money to the shared climate protection level in different orders which is a problem. They say if it is simultaneous, it all should be played this way, or not at all. I am unsure quite what they are saying here, as players all play at once in the choose card and play card phase, then in the complete research and invest phase, you can decide here if you want to place money into the shared climate goal or not. They say players will simply wait to see if other players do this first. Sure, you can do this. But there are ten points up for grabs if you add at least eight, and other players may not have cards that need higher Climate levels. If you do, then you need to add cubes there. If it helps other players, then so be it, but you will get ten points for doing so if you place enough, and you can now place your cards that require this level. There is no way you can reach the higher levels alone, so you need to assess if other players are looking at cards with higher Climate levels or not, perhaps even talk it through if you want. Or look at the C cards they were given during set up. It is all part of the strategy. It is the only area of the game where there is some cooperation, so it does stick out, but in a good way. I don't think games have to be 100% one thing. I like a mix of cooperation within what is otherwise a competitive game. It also develops the theme that all players have their own poaching and habitat levels to worry about, as would any landowner or country looking to protect their animals. But climate is a shared concern for all humans. This is very thematic, and I think they completely missed the point here. Feeling like you don't want to do something that you need to do to place a card you want to place, just in case it may help someone else, is incredibly petty in what is a light, quick, fun card game. Personally, I like helping people in real life and in board games too. Positive player interaction is a good thing in my opinion. It never bothers me. They talk about the player powers in the Conservation cards not being balanced, and this is true. Some are way more powerful than others. I have added a small house rule to address this by sorting the cards into categories and each player taking a card from one category per game, rather than simply being handed any at random. So they are right about this point, as I should not have had to do this. I tend to avoid house rules. But this is necessary in the game to add more balance. If you want a heavy or a light game that either plays over two hours or under 30 minutes, you will be disappointed. But if you are looking for a clever card game that hits the light to medium weight sweet spot in the middle of this, playing under an hour (quicker with more experienced players) that offers interesting choices and clever scoring, this could well be for you. In my preview, I suggested this is Ark Nova lite. That may be a bit of a stretch in retrospect, but I stand by the sentiment. It is perhaps though more Ark Nova very lite!