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After spending time with Flockers   and seeing how it quietly builds into something far more thoughtful than it first appears, I was keen to hear from designer Mark Swanson about where it all came from. In my review , I talked about the importance of timing, preparation, and those big payoff moments when everything finally clicks. It turns out that was very much by design. So I caught up with Mark to dig into the inspiration behind the game, the thinking that shaped it, and what he hopes players take away from it. Hi Mark, thanks for talking with us. We love the game. What was your inspiration for making Flockers? Thanks, Jim. I really appreciate that! Truth be told, part of the inspiration came from something a little unexpected. I’ve always been fascinated by how sled dog teams in races like the Iditarod rely on a lead dog to navigate and set the pace, but that role is so mentally demanding that mushers often rotate dogs through that position. There’s something really compelling about that shared responsibility, but also a bit sobering when you realize how taxing it can be. That got me thinking about other species that travel long distances together, and particularly ones that shift roles dynamically. Migrating geese felt like a perfect fit, constantly adjusting formation, conserving energy, and working as a system. From there, the design followed naturally. I wanted to capture that balance between movement, preparation, and sustainability in a clean, tactical way where timing - not just speed - drives success. Well, that certainly comes across when you play Flockers. Who do you think this game is for? I think Flockers is for players who enjoy thoughtful decisions without a heavy rules burden. Certainly, it will resonate with people who love birds and nature, but mechanically it’s really for players who like weighing trade-offs. Do I move now, or prepare for something better later? Do I push forward, or make sure I can sustain that momentum? It’s approachable enough for newer players, but there’s a satisfying layer for more experienced gamers who enjoy refining their strategy over multiple plays. Folks can learn more about Flockers on Gamefound . All your games play very differently. What do you think is the common link with a Mark Swanson game? That’s a great question—and you’re right, they do play very differently on the surface. For me, games are a bit like novels. Some are about the scenic journey, where you’re exploring systems and possibilities. Others are about rising tension and payoff, building toward something and then executing at just the right moment. The common thread in my games is trying to marry those ideas with strong integration between theme and mechanics. I want players to feel like the decisions they’re making belong in that world. Whether it’s a large sandbox like Feudum or something more distilled like Flockers, I’m always focused on meaningful choices and giving players multiple paths to shape their experience. Playing Flockers gets better and better with each game. How do you think a game like Flockers can stand out in this fast-paced, "first impression" world we live in? The “first impression” world is definitely inescapable—and honestly, it’s the first step in the engagement cycle. The art draws you in. The story immerses you. The components and production value give you that tactile connection. But ultimately, it’s the mechanics that have to deliver a satisfying puzzle. If those elements are working together, the game starts to reveal more over time. With Flockers, the first play teaches the system, but later plays start to highlight timing, efficiency, and how small decisions compound. That’s where replay value comes from, and I think that’s what gives a game a longer shelf life in a crowded market. I agree. Its just getting people beyond those first few plays! What plans do you have for games after Flockers? Anything exciting you are working on? I’m always working on something in the background—haha. Right now, I have three projects in development. FIR is a worker placement game about timbermen in the late 1800s, focused on resource management and building out a working system over time. Forelords is a dueling card battle set in a dystopian world, where players develop their biomes, gather resources, and deploy forces across a tactical grid. And Fleck is a lighter, gladiator-themed trick-taking game where players secretly commit weapon cards, build strength through shards and amulets, and battle it out over a series of escalating rounds. They’re all very different experiences, but they each explore systems, tension, and meaningful decision-making in their own way. If folks are interested, they can see what Odd Bird is up to at www.oddbirdgames.com OK< I have to ask! How come all your games begin with F? Well, I’ve always loved alliteration in poetry, so after Feudum, it just became a fun, quirky thing to continue. Of course, people are quick to point out the comparison to Friedemann Friese—and I swear that part was completely coincidental! My first reaction was, “Wait, Power Grid starts with a P...” until someone reminded me it was originally titled Funkenschlag, which roughly translates to “flying sparks” in German. At that point, I figured—okay, maybe I’m not as original as I thought... but I’m committed now. : ) If Flockers  feels like your flavour of fun, this is firmly one to follow. It is a finely fashioned framework that unfolds further with every foray, fostering focus, foresight, and fairly fearless decision-making in a fashion that feels genuinely fulfilling. You can find the campaign for this game  here , and if you favour lighter fare with a fair bit of finesse beneath the façade, it is fully worth flicking through while the opportunity is still fresh.

Dominion: Second Edition WBG Score: 7 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Deck-building  Published by: Rio Grande Games Designed by: Donald X. Vaccarino This is a free review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey Dominion was first released in 2008 and this second edition was released 8 years later in 2016. Countless numbers of people have played this over the years and it’s still being played as much today as it was back then.  Box art generated with Photoshop as we have the big box and wanted to show the original box! It’s got 16 big expansions at the time of writing and a ton of other promos and up-date packs. So it’s safe to say that Dominion is kind of a big deal…people know it…it has many leather bound books and….no, sorry, that’s Ron Burgundy. With all that said, the question remains. How the hell do you review a game with this kind of legacy!? What else can I say that hasn't already been said over the last 18 years? Because surely at this point, reviewing this old of a game that’s this well known in the hobby would be like me saying to people  “hey have you heard of this David Attenborough guy? He’s pretty good at nature documentaries and you should check him out”. Well, whatever I say I should probably start with the rules right? How to Dominate To set up, make up a deck of cards for each player containing 7 coins and 3 estate cards. Place out the rest of the coin cards of 1, 2 and 3 denominations in their stacks and do the same with the rest of the Estate cards as well as the Duchy, Province and Curse cards but for these set out a certain amount depending on player count. These cards are worth 1, 3, 6 and -1 points. Then choose 10 kingdom decks and place these on the table. You can either choose these by personal preference, use the pre-set list or pick them at random. Each deck comes with a randomizer card and you separate all of these into one deck which you can then shuffle and draw ten at random to choose your setup. Each player then shuffles their deck and draws a hand of five cards.  On your turn you play cards in your hand following the three phrases of the game. First, the action step. You can play one action card from your hand. Action cards are usually the kingdom cards in your hand. These will do a large variety of things like giving you additional money, options to buy more cards on a turn, letting you draw cards from your deck and even giving you more actions so you can play other action cards from your hand. Once the action phase is over you go onto the buy phase. You add together all the money cards in your hand and add on any money you may have gotten from action cards. You can now buy 1 new card from the supply. Some action cards will let you buy more than this when you play them. Pay the money cost on the card and add it to your discard pile. Next is the clean up phase. Put all played cards and cards left in your hand into your discard pile and draw a new hand of five cards. When your draw pile has run out then shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.  The game will end when three of any piles of cards are empty or all of the 6 point province cards have run out. Then total up all the points on cards in your deck and minus points for any curse cards you have. The player with the most points wins. My relationship with Deck-builders I’ve said many times across my reviews that standard, card only deck builders don’t really do it for me. They usually have some kind of battle mechanic and I find them to be a bit anticlimactic for the most part I don’t really enjoy them (there is the odd exception) Even though I knew Dominion was a fight for points rather than attacking your opponents, the card only aspect still put me off trying it even when I’ve had the opportunity on a couple of occasions. Then I was sent a copy by Rio Grande and I figured that if it was on the shelf it'd be rude not to give it a try. As with everything I went in with an open mind but honestly, I kinda expected to be more on the negative side given my previous experience. Add to that the fact that my history with designer Donald X Vaccarino's games has been mixed. I have to say though, I was presently surprised by it! The evolution of a deck.  From the very first read of the rules the game categorically tells you that you're limited with what you can do on your turn. However, as you set out the kingdom cards they whisper to you “don’t worry, we’re gonna let you break those rules in so many ways that you’ll feel like you're cheating.” Regardless of that, those first few hands still feel a bit underwhelming (which is generally true for deck-builders since your starting hands are the barest of bare bones.) even with those first couple of kingdom cards drip feeding and even with the odd little bonus here and there it still feels like buying those expensive cards is going to be almost impossible. As your deck builds that impossibility melts away and before you know it those early stunted hands make way for some epic combos. One minute you're drawing your hand of five cards and only playing with those. Next you’ll be drawing cards and chaining actions as quickly as your drunken family joining the end of a conga line and boy is it satisfying, the cards not the conga, no one wants to be the one behind drunk auntie Pat, you’re basically in charge of holding her upright!  Each card gives that little dopamine hit as you draw another card, which could give you another action, which you can play to draw another card and each of those other cards have given you extra money to spend and even another buy action. It’s actually satisfying as you finish up your turn knowing you’ve done so much. Those big combos aren’t always going to trigger though and in fact, having those big chains of cards may not be your style of play. Fortunately that isn’t the only way to play Dominion. There are plenty of play styles to lean into and the game absolutely lets you because of its replayability. The game comes with 26 kingdoms and that gives room for a decent amount to mix and match each game and each combination will give you a chance to experiment and explore different strategies. The rulebook will give some recommended combos or you could just throw caution to the wind and randomly put together your own. Just make sure that if you have got attack cards then maybe have some reaction cards to help counteract the effects, otherwise you're sure to get those agents of chaos who like to snap all those cards up and just go on an all out attack and it’s not fun being on the constant receiving end. Will all of those combinations be balanced or fun? I’m going to say, probably not. Maybe you want to play Dominion but don’t want to put the time or even have the time to experiment with different combos and just want to play with the good ones. Don't worry because I'm sure there are enough seasoned Dominion players out there that can tell you the good stuff. In fact the big advantage of a game that has been around this long is the vast amount of information and community there is about it. Players have put countless hours into the game and there are going to be so many knowledgeable people out there who have probably compiled lists of the best and worst combos. Of course these are all subjective but if there's a way you avoid those bad games because some heroes out there have done the work for you then all the better. A game of two halves. As you start a game of dominion it’s all about building up your deck, getting those optimal combinations set up and really building that engine. You find yourself focused making sure you get exactly what works for your game into your hand. That is until you see people starting to reach for the odd point card, it may be now and then  and you may think nothing of it. But then you catch them going for that sneaky 6 point province. You might even notice that one or two of those decks are getting low. Now the game becomes a race. Now everyone is scrabbling for points. Every turn people are gonna be desperate for coins and just hoping that the engines they built in the first half are going to pay off and more importantly, if it’s going to hold up under the weight of all the points cards that are now clogging up their deck . It’s honestly like the standoff from reservoir dogs, just less violence. Everyone is just waiting for that perfect time to pull the trigger on the end game but one wants to be the one to do it unless they know they can consistently score points until the end of the game. It's that lovely balance of timing. Go all in too soon and you may be floundering towards the end, unable to score the bigger cards. Go too late and the bulk of the good points will have been snapped up.  Everyday I’m shuffling. Are you good at shuffling? Have you never shuffled a deck of cards before? Are you ok at it but need improvement? Well then worry not because Dominion is not just a board game, it’s a card shuffling crash course in a box. In one easy payment you can get all the shuffle training you’ll ever need! Depending on your play style it can be all too easy to burn through your deck in a couple of turns with a combination of +1 cards and +1 action cards cycling through your hand. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing to happen because you can cycle through to your really good cards even quicker and even accumulate a decent amount of money on a turn. The downside is that you’ll be shuffling your deck….a lot! For some this is a moot point and is barely worth bringing up because they don’t mind that aspect. For others it could feel like a chore that gets in the way of an otherwise fun game. I love shuffling cards. I'm the sort of person who, when asked to shuffle, will keep going until I'm told to stop, but I think even I get to a point during games of Dominion where I could do without shuffling my cards anymore.   Like most deck-builders, hands can turn into a luck fest. Even with some great cards in your deck and the potential to trash cards it's still possible to get late in the game and draw a hand of cards that resemble those of a starting hand. Now you could argue that with optimal play you could avoid this but during your early games (especially if you've not played a deck builder before) it can be all too easy to have a bad hand of cards and if that hand comes out in the last gasp for points then if can feel a bit crummy.  After enough plays, I felt the turns in Dominion really speed up, even if I’ve got that long chain of actions. This isn’t a bad thing by any means and one reason people love this game is because of how quick they can get through a game. However I can’t help feeling that a part of that is because I started to go into autopilot. You start to learn what cards do at a glance so you play them and react so quickly to them it’s like you are not really taking the game in. How you feel about that may sway your decision on if this game is for you. I know a lot of people love Dominion for that very reason but for me personally, when I play a game I like to be engaged on every turn and I increasingly felt like I was just going through the motions and I found myself not enjoying it quite as much as I did when I first started to discover it.  Indiana Jones and the original deck builder. It’s been 18 years and I have to say that Dominion still holds up. In a market full of games that have taken great leaps to innovate on Dominions foundation it’d be so easy to write Dominion off as a relic of the time and label it as “a good start.” But just like Harrison Ford refusing to let go of Indiana Jones, Dominion refuses to let go of its relevance. Unlike Harrison Ford though Dominion rightly proves why it shouldn’t stop. It’s still just as fun and approachable today than I imagine it was when it first came out. So the question is, has this journey back to the start of deckbuilding changed my mind on the genre? Am I now a fan of dominion? No and probably not? This “points”. style of deck builders has certainly taken a step in the right direction. So much so that I may actually look twice at something like this in the future. In terms of being a fan? Well, not quite. I’ve certainly had fun with my plays of Dominion and I can see why this game had the impact it did. For me, it’s not managed to make that leap over my own personal hurdles for me to consider it collection worthy. I’ll still play Dominion if it’s put on the table and I’ll still enjoy that time playing it but I might have to be in the right mood before I suggest it. If you're a fan of deck-builders, regardless of how many you’ve played and how many different types you’ve played, Dominion is still absolutely worth your consideration. It’s simple to pick up and play but offers so much more depth, strategy and replayability than I thought was possible, and that’s just the base game alone. Right, I’m off to take Dominion down to the pub for its first legal drink and let it get a tattoo. It is 18 after all.

Tatsumi WBG Score:  8 Player Count:  1-4 You’ll like this if you like:   Azul , Splendor , Harmonies Published by:   Adam's Apple Games, LLC Designed by:   Jeremy Rozenhart This is a review copy. See our review policy here Tatsumi is one of those games that immediately demands attention. A striking central tray filled with stacked rings, colourful wooden dragons circling a shared board, and the promise of a tactile, flowing puzzle. It looks like something fresh. And in many ways, it is. But once you get past that initial wow factor, Tatsumi reveals itself as something more familiar, and occasionally more demanding, than it first appears. But in all the good ways. At its heart, this is a spatial optimisation puzzle. You are not just collecting resources. You are constantly balancing timing, positioning, and opportunity, all while the board shifts under your feet. It sits comfortably alongside games like Azul or Cascadia, but with an extra layer of movement and timing that gives it its own identity. How to set up and play Setup is quick but visually impressive. The central “seaboard” is filled with stacks of coloured rings arranged across a five by five grid, sunk into perfectly fitting holes. This stores away full in the box, so simply lift out and place onto the table. You will need to remove a few rings for lower player counts, but this takes just a few seconds. There are four different colours and they will be randomly distributed into the multiple holes. So if any fell out in the box, simply place them randomly back in. They slide in very easily. Four shrine cards are then placed around the edges from a shuffled deck, one from each of the four different types. This defines how players will score in that game. Each player now takes a dragon, dragon card, an island board, scoring aid, and a set of scales in their chosen colour. You can play with the basic setups for a cleaner experience recommended for game one, or flip boards and dragons cards for asymmetric powers. Finally, place out the Sand Dollar tokens and you are now ready to play. It all takes just a few moments. On your turn, you will always perform two actions. One is mandatory: you must move your dragon in a straight line across the board, as far as you like, without crossing another player. When you leave a space, you take the top ring from that location. The ring is added to one of the three spaces located on the side of your board. Your second action is a choice. You can either gather additional rings from nearby spaces, or you can offer rings at a shrine to score points and place them onto your personal island board. When you gather, you will be thinking about where you want to move to, so you are close to the coloured rings you need to take. Your gather power will depend on if you are playing the basic or asymmetric version. The basic is any orthogonal space. The asymmetric opens it up to a few more interesting options depending on which dragon you are playing as. Again, the rings you take are placed into the spaces for them next to your personal player mat. There are three spaces, and each space can hold up to three of any one colour. When you offer, you need to be in one of the middle three spaces on the edge of the board, next to the offer tile you want to use. They will show what colour and quantity of tiles are needed to successfully offer at this space. If you have the amount of rings in your possession, you can move them from the side of the board onto your main board. That placement matters. Rings score immediately based on where they sit, but also contribute to end-game scoring patterns depending on how you arrange them. You must place the first ring on one of the spaces with an elemental logo on, the Elemental Rift spaces, and match the colour of the rings to the icon on the mat. Any other rings placed later in the turn or game can be placed anywhere, as long as they are touching at least one other previously placed ring. But the Elemental Rift spaces must always have a ring matching their symbol. You will then score points from zero to four, based on the number of different coloured rings you have placed in the Elemental Rift spaces. Next, check the shrine card you are using. Does it show its scale symbol? Each card has one on one side. If so, then you can place one of your scale tokens onto the scoring tile next to this. There are multiple scoring tiles in the game, and four would have been placed at random during setup. They offer additional scoring potential based on various placement of tiles, etc. Then, flip the shrine card over to the other side, which will show a different configuration of rings now needed to satisfy this shrine card for the next time it is used. Play continues as the board gradually empties. When a reserve empties of rings, you will fill it with a Sand Dollar token. The end game is is triggered either by the final token being used, or if a player fills their personal player board with rings. Final scoring is now applied. The blue rings score you two points for every ring in your largest group. The Red get you five points for every group you have in a set of at least three. The yellow score two points for each individual group of yellows. And the Black get you scaling points for each other unique colour adjacent to them. Tally up your final points, and unsurprisingly, most points wins. What it feels like to play Tatsumi is at its best when you treat it as a flowing, tactical puzzle rather than a long-term strategy game. Every turn presents a small but meaningful decision. Where do you move? What do you take? Do you score now or wait? But it is so fast! It will shock you how quick this game moves. Its not like one of those classic euros where you crave just one more turn, I always end wanting at least ten more turns! In most games you could find yourself in a situation when you have lined up what feels like a perfect turn. Move across the board, collect the exact rings you need, ready to land next to a shrine to score big on your next turn. Except someone gets there first, flips the shrine, meaning the requirements for that particular shrine change, and suddenly your entire plan needs reworking. That happens a lot. The board state is constantly shifting, and your plans rarely survive contact with other players. Available rings go. Shrines flip. And the game ends, fast! That creates a very reactive experience. You are not building towards a long, carefully plotted strategy. You are adapting. Adjusting. Making the best move available right now. For some players, that keeps the game dynamic and engaging. For others, it can feel like the game resists deeper planning. There is also a real mental load here. The rules are straightforward, but the decisions are not. You are constantly juggling position, resources, scoring options, and timing. It is easy to drift into overthinking, especially as your player board fills and scoring possibilities tighten. But options are limited each turn, it just depends on how far forward people try to plan. But with the ever changing game state, this is not really advised or in truth, possible. With the right group, this feels like a satisfying puzzle. With the wrong one, it can feel abrupt and chaotic. Interaction sits in an interesting space. It is not direct or aggressive, but it is always present. Players inadvertently block paths, take key rings from other players, and flip shrines at the worst possible moment. At higher player counts, this becomes more pronounced, with the board feeling tighter and more contested. At lower counts, the puzzle opens up but loses some of that tension. Although it is easier to predict your opponent's next move in lower player counts, so blocking can become more planned than accidental! There is a lot of variety with the four asymmetric dragons, the six different game boards, five different scoring options for each of the four types across -16 scoring cards in total, and the advanced Weather mode, as seen above. The Weather is used all the time in solo mode, and when you want more variation in multiplayer mode. Two are chosen at random during set up, and one card is flipped to the minor side, the other to the major. Even more variation The cards are triggered through the game as play advances and the cards affect all players. The production of this game is a huge strength. The central ring tray looks fantastic and helps structure the game state neatly. It makes setup and teardown a breeze! And I think it looks stunning on the table. It is easily visible from all angles and offers a glimpse into what is to come, considering the box is transparent. Some planning then! The height of it can block the important text on the cards around it, though. But I found you need to read this out at the start and ensure all players understand them before you begin, so you won't be looking at them too often during the game, just a quick refresher. But the obstruction caused by the tray is a little annoying when you want those brief looks. Pros Engaging tactical puzzle with constant decision-making Strong table presence with eye-catching components Good variability through asymmetric options and scoring setups Cons Can feel reactive rather than strategically deep Visual design sometimes impacts readability and clarity in a small way Games are fast, maybe too fast! Tatsumi is a good game that sometimes feels like it is reaching for greatness. There is a clever system here, a satisfying flow of decisions, and enough variety to keep it interesting across multiple plays. If you enjoy thoughtful, tactical abstracts with a strong visual presence, there is a lot to like. Sometimes it soars, sometimes it circles, and it is always interesting to play. And at the end of the day, even if your plan falls apart, at least you got to fly a cool looking dragon while doing it.

Wispwood WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Cascadia , Sagrada Published by: CGE Designed by: Reed Ambrose This is a review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey There are many things that can be described using the term Wisp. The game Wispwood is of course referring to the will-o-the-wisps that emerge in the forest to conceal or reveal paths. It conjures such lovely ethereal images in the mind. Unfortunately for this reviewer the closest definition of a wisp I get is the last few wisps of hair that are clinging on to head for dear life. The only similarity of course is that both the wisps and my head both glow in the light! How to go for a wisp in the woods Fit together the wisp board in a random order and populate it with 8 wisps. Then shuffle and draw 1 card from each objective type and put them face up for everyone to see. Give each player a face down tree tile and a cat token on top of it. Place the rest of the tree tokens in face down piles. On your turn you’ll take one of the wisps from the board. When you do you’ll look at the two shapes on either side of it, choose one and take enough face down tree tokens to be able to make that shape in front of you including the wisp tile you just took. You’ll then place that shape in front of you. You can rotate the shape anyway you need and the wisp tile can go anywhere in that shape. The shape can go anywhere as long as at least one side of a tile is fully touching another one you’ve already placed. Here’s the real restrictions though. In the first round you can only make up a 4x4 grid, the second round a 5x5 and the third a 6x6. You also have to be aware of the scoring cards on the table as each type of wisp and the tree tiles will have their own scoring conditions. The Witch objective card is the only one that will dictate where it’s Wisp MUST be placed and generally it’s to do with its vicinity to the cat token.  At the start of your turn you have the option of using your cat token. You can flip it to either replace and refill all of the wisps on the board or you can use it to take a wisp but choose any shape around the board. You then take your turn as normal.  As an alternative to taking a wisp you can take a tree action. Here you simply take one, two or three face down tree tiles and place them in any empty spaces on your board. This is good for filling in those odd spaces. This action will also let you refresh your cat token for you to use in a future turn. The round will end when one person has completely filled their grid. At which point play goes round until it goes back to the first player. Players will now score each objective card. These are all different for each type of wisp, Once scoring is done players will then have the option of moving their cat token to another face down tree tile. Then everyone removes all of their tree tiles from their grid leaving the wisps where they were. The main board stays in the same state as it was and play starts again only this time players can now build out to a 5x5 grid and in the third round a 6x6 grid. The game ends after three rounds and the player with the most points wins.  Is it a wood or a forest? As seems to be the trend these days, Wispwood is one of those lovely, puzzly games that has a deceptively pretty theme wrapped around it so as to entice gamers like a moth to a flame. It pulls you in with its neon looking wisps (which apparently look good under a blacklight) and oddly included cats and then smacks you in the face with a different kind of polyomino puzzle. It’s one that all at once feels really tight but also really freeing in how it works and the choices it presents to you. With a regular polyomino game you get your shape. “there it is, this is how we printed it, you figure it out” In Wispwood the fact that you can put your wisp anywhere in that shape is huge. It may not seem like it at the time but that freedom can make all the difference between a big score and no score at all for that placement and all because you can move that wisp one square as opposed to a set place in a tile. With five objective cards out on the table you’ll need that freedom. These cards come in two difficulty levels and I would highly recommend choosing cards with just the one paw on for your first games. My advice would be to choose the ones that everyone can understand without too much trouble. This also helps for scoring as well.  Whatever you choose there’s going to be so many ways to score and so much to take into consideration when building out your grid. It can quite easily lead to players frantically looking back and forth from their grid, to the objectives and to the display of wisps and back to their grid again. Yep the chance for neck pain is high in this one which is exactly why I'm lobbying to have pots of Tiger Balm to be added to each copy (other muscle soothing brands are available and we at What Board Game are not sponsored by Tiger Balm… yet?) The game does say you can pick your objective cards at random. Personally I’d hand pick them because some of them can be tricky to get your head round, even for seasoned players and too many of these types of objectives in play at the same time could cause players to be laying in crumpled heaps of the floor by the end of the game.  The one advantage of so many objectives is that at least you’ve got some choice and can pivot strategies if a particular type of wisp isn’t coming out. The game has also thrown in a couple of safeguards to stop thing becoming too stale. Being able to swap out wisps when there’s only one type left can be a blessed relief. There's also a handy Mitigation Kitten you can use (that's not what its called in the rules but I just thought of it and i'm also going to lobby for that to be added to the rules…..in exchange for royalties obviously) Your cat is a great tool to help with any problematic situations you may find yourself in……if you’ve remembered to refresh it that is. Not having it available when you really need it can be, oh lets call it frustrating.  One thing I really appreciate in Wispwood is the way they’ve incorporated what could have been seen as a dead turn in a lot of games, into something that’s worth doing. Tree turns are not the “well I suppose I’ll have to do this then” that they could easily have been. Not only does it bring your kitty out of hiding (why does that sentence feel weird) but it goes towards filling your grid, which gives you extra points if you do. Not only that but they’ve made tree tiles an objective. It’s a simple fix that’s gives meaning to something that could have easily been seen as “negative space”, I’ll be honest, I do kinda forget the tree scoring objective but the fact that I can do that, still have them score, something and not feel like its effected my game is a bonus. It’s a fiddly Forrest…..or wood? There can be a fiddliness to Wispwood, but with some fixes, it can be toned down. First, this isn’t just a spatial puzzle; it can be a dexterity game as well. Since you need to remove any tree tiles on your board at the end of each round, it can feel a bit nerve-wracking as you try not to flick your wisps across the table like you're playing a game of ice cool. This is escalated if you use the provided grid template properly, which keeps everything tight together. My advice: spread the grid out a bit and save some room for your fingers. While we’re on the subject of advice, I’d say get yourself a cloth bag for the tree tiles. Mixing up the tree tiles during setup and then flipping the resulting mess face down and putting them in piles I found to be a pain, unless everyone else is chipping in. I know you’ll sometimes see what is on the flip side of a tile as you pull it out to use as a tree tile. There are so many tree tiles that unless you’ve got someone counting every wisp that comes out and calculating the odds, I don’t think that will matter too much, plus it’ll make setup a lot quicker, especially if you’re playing solo.  Let's talk about scoring, which can cause the biggest amount of fiddliness. There's five objective and multiple different objective cards for each wisp and varying difficulty.. That means that scoring can get convoluted and confusing.  So much so that it's easy for people to miscalculate their scores. I know that's the case because of the app!. CGE have released a scoring app for Wispwood and it is a god send. Not least because it speeds the scoring phase up exponentially. You select all the objective cards you're using, the app accesses your camera which you hold over your grid and it sees where everything is and it scores for you. I know people make mistakes because they've tried to score their grid (and were unsure they got it right) so I checked with the app and they'd missed a few points from their score. So it's worth getting to speed the game up. At the time of writing it's not perfect since it can only score one player's grids. So if you want to do everyone then you need to keep flicking back and forth. It’s still quicker and more accurate than manual scoring though. Hopefully they'll have an update to change that soon. I’m not letting the integration of the app affect my score here purely because I know not everybody will use the app.  Wispwood can easily sit in the pantheon of games that you’ll happily pull out to teach new gamers, but with that decent array of goal cards and the varying difficulty I can easily see this one holding up to the longevity that others like Cascadia have had. Right, I’m off to have a lie down. I’ve just spent the last few hours following wisps round the woods, trying to find my cat. Then I realised that I don’t own a cat!

Estate: Raise The Realm WBG Score:  8 Player Count:  3-6 You’ll like this if you like:  Everdell - but you want more castles! Published by:   Grod Games LLC. Designed by:   Devon Grodkiewicz , Kathryn Hah n This is a review copy. See our review policy here A quiet engine with sharp edges Estate: Raise the Realm is not here to reinvent anything. It is here to take a set of very well-understood ideas, worker placement, tableau building, card combos, and make them run cleaner, tighter, and faster than you expect. Think of it less like a sprawling medieval epic and more like a well-run city after a crisis. Everything matters, nothing is wasted, and if you fall behind, it is because you chose the wrong moment to act. Where it begins: bricks, boards, and early intent Setup is a breeze. The central board goes down, era cards are seeded with a mix of positive and negative effects, three positive, two negative and ensure you always start with one positive. Four gather tiles are randomly selected, one for each level, and unique resource spaces are primed for your game. Each player takes a leader mat, workers, cubes for their tracks, and then builds their starting tableau using leader-specific cards based on their chosen leader mat. That last bit is important. You do not start from nothing. Your opening cards immediately remove cubes from your tracks, which means your engine already has a direction before the first worker is even placed. It is a clever way of skipping the usual slow ramp-up and getting you into meaningful decisions almost immediately. Finally deal each player five cards, and run a quick draft, then each player chooses a secret end-game scoring objective from two choices and you are now ready to begin. The game unfolds over five eras. At the start of each, an event card is revealed. This is part weather system, part economic policy shift. Sometimes helpful, sometimes disruptive, always something you have to account for. Each one also introduces a shared objective for that era, giving everyone a short-term race layered over their longer-term plans. From there, the structure is beautifully simple. Players take turns placing workers one at a time until they are gone. On your turn, you choose one of four actions: expand, produce, draw, or gather. That is it. The entire game lives inside those four verbs. Produce is where your engine pays you back. You activate a number of production cards based on how far you have advanced that track. Early on, it feels modest. Later, it can feel like flipping a switch and watching your whole system fire at once. I had one game where I delayed production at the start when it was weak, only to unleash it in a single turn that flooded me with resources and cards. It felt less like optimization and more like timing a market entry perfectly, and took the other players who had activated their production more frequently by surprise! Draw feeds the machine. You pull cards either from the open market or blind from the deck, based on your draw track. There is no hand limit, which sounds generous, but the real challenge is not collecting cards. It is knowing which ones actually matter before the game moves past you. Gather is where the shared tension lives. Workers go to the central board to claim resources, recruit more workers, or unlock stronger actions as your gather track improves. The resource spaces are particularly good. Leave them alone and they build up over era's. Take them too early and you feel inefficient. Leave them too long and someone else cashes in. It is the board’s way of quietly asking, “Are you sure now is the right time?” There are also four unique spaces to your game, based on the tiles you chose at set up. These all can only be accessed by one worker per era, so get in quick to the ones you really need! But you can only go to the levels you have opened by playing cards with the Gather icon on. Expand is the engine room. You pay resources to play a card from your hand into your tableau. Every card belongs to one of your three tracks, and placing it removes a cube from that track. This is where the game quietly does something clever. Playing a card does not just give you an ability. It permanently upgrades one of your actions. You are not just building wide, you are building sharper. Where Estate Sings! Layered on top of this are leader abilities, usable once per era, and the constant pull of era objectives. By the end of the fifth era, you tally points from cards, resources, tucked cards, objectives, and secrets. It is a lot of inputs, but it resolves cleanly. What stands out most is pace. This game moves. Turns are quick, decisions are meaningful, and you rarely sit waiting for someone else to finish a ten-step combo. It understands that tension does not come from length, it comes from timing. The track system is the star. It ties everything together. Every card you play is not just a new effect; it is a permanent upgrade to your capabilities. That creates a constant push and pull. It is the same decision you see in real-world businesses: reinvest profits for growth or take the return now. The game never lets you fully optimize both. It's a lovely decision each time. There is also a nice edge to the design. Era effects are not always friendly. Some rounds will disrupt your plans. I liked this. It stops the game from becoming a pure optimization puzzle and introduces moments where you have to adapt rather than execute. Sometimes even pausing the cards you were going to play, or actions you were going to take for the next era when the timing will suit you better. Re-plan, adjust, and adapt your strategy. You cannot noodle out all your turns from the start. Where it creaks The biggest issue is not the game itself, but how it presents itself. There is a familiarity factor. This game absolutely wears its influences. If you have played Wingspan or Everdell, you will recognise the DNA immediately. For some, that is a strength. It makes the game approachable. For others, it may feel like it is borrowing more than innovating. And finally, card knowledge matters. The deck is large, and understanding what is possible takes a couple of plays. Early games can feel reactive rather than deliberate, simply because you do not yet know what you are aiming toward. In one game, this is how many cards we saw in a two-player game; to the right is the rest of the deck. You will get through a lot of cards and have a lot of choices. So, knowing what to get is important. Who should step into this world This is a sweet spot game. If you like tableau builders but do not always want a two-hour commitment, this fits beautifully. It is particularly strong as a weeknight game, something with enough depth to be satisfying but light enough to get played regularly. It is also a great step-up game. If someone is moving on from gateway titles and wants more decision space without being overwhelmed, this is an excellent bridge. Less ideal for players who want perfect information, long-term planning, or something that feels completely original. It is not trying to be that. Pros Fast, focused tableau builder with real decision tension. Excellent track system that links card play to action strength Decent replayability from asymmetry, deck variety, and era objectives Cons Card familiarity heavily impacts early plays Feels mechanically familiar to seasoned players of similar games Final word Estate: Raise the Realm is a confident, disciplined design. It does not try to be everything. It takes a proven formula, trims it down, sharpens the edges, and delivers it in a way that respects both your time and your intelligence. It will not replace the giants it draws inspiration from, but it does not need to. It earns its place by being the one you can get played on a Tuesday night without hesitation. And in a hobby full of games that demand your whole evening, that might be the smartest move of all.

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Find out more here Flockers is one of those games that quietly reshapes your expectations after the first few turns. You sit down thinking it is a light race across a line of terrain cards. Simple. Play birds, move forward, win. But very quickly, you realise the game is not asking how fast you can go. It is asking when you should go and how should you build your engine. That shift turns what looks like a gentle card game into something far more deliberate and, at times, surprisingly tense. Setup is clean and quick. Shuffle the terrain deck and reveal cards until you find one with multiple terrain types, which becomes the start of the shared flight path. Lay out three more terrain cards alongside it to form the visible route ahead. Each player takes five flock cards into hand, with three more face up for everyone to draft from, and places their token at the beginning of the path. On your turn, you play a card into your flock, building out a V formation with a lead bird and up to six supporting birds. Three above and three below. Every card gives you an action. Fly lets you move across the terrain by matching icons in sequence through your flock. Navigate lets you shape the path itself by placing new terrain cards down for all players to now fly towards. Graze trims your formation, removing birds that are no longer useful. A crucial part of the game. More on that soon. Swap lets you reposition birds to fix your sequence. There are also bonuses that reward you for assembling certain combinations. What matters is how those pieces come together. Movement only happens if your terrain icons line up in the right order. If they do not, you stall. So most turns are not about pushing forward, they are about preparing for the moment you can. Multiple turns of preparation, before one big surge. It feels great! That creates a very particular rhythm. In one game, I spent several turns doing very little on the board, just refining my flock and lining up terrain icons. It felt slow, even slightly frustrating. Other players looked to be gaining a huge advantage on me. Then one turn everything clicked. A single Fly action carried me across multiple terrain cards in one go, helped by a wind boost that extended the run even further. Pushing me from last to first. It was a complete swing, and it felt earned because of the setup that came before it. Every game has moments like this. The birds come in all types. You have adults and juvenile, and different colours. You can tell the difference very quickly from the colorations. Above you can see a juvenile blue, followed by an adult blue, and finally a juvenile white. The symbology is also very simple. You can see the first bird has the King power, which means you can activate the lead bird's power. The next has the same, and helps you fly over fields. The final one has no power but can fly over mountains. And finally, the first and last bird have a bonus power where if you can spot three or two other birds of the same type as the bird on this specific card respectively, you can then take a Navigate or Graze action in case of the first bird. Or a Graze or Fly action in the case of the last bird. It all makes common sense. The push and pull feeling sits at the heart of Flockers. You are constantly balancing short-term movement against long-term positioning. Do you take a small step now, or wait and build towards something bigger? Do you reshape your flock, or commit to the line you have already built? Those decisions give the game more weight than its presentation initially suggests. The game concludes when the first player reaches or exceeds the tenth terrain tile or when no player can place any more flock cards, which is actually quite common. You can only have seven flock cards in play at any time, and you play one card per turn, but you'll need more than seven turns to win the game. So, how do you achieve this? There are several ways to remove birds from your formation. For example, using the Graze power will remove all flock cards with the Graze symbol and one additional card. Landing on certain terrain can cause certain birds to be carried away or even eaten, though this sounds less harsh than it actually is. These moments of 'redistribution'—let's call them that—are challenging to manage. You won't always have access to these powers or know when they'll occur. It's like setting up for a big move in Tetris, but the straight line never comes. The anticipation that arises from assembling flock cards, waiting for the perfect moment to fly, and adjusting your formation to match the upcoming terrain all contribute to a finely balanced game that constantly teeters between failure and success. It's a fantastic sensation as you play. For example, if the above terrain cards were your next three cards in play, you would need a bird that can fly over water, then mountains, then mountains or forest. But if you stop on the forest, watch out for that Eagle! It will "remove" all your young! But maybe, just maybe, that's exactly what you need to then reset your formation for the flight ahead. The theme ties in nicely. The idea of maintaining formation, reacting to the landscape, and dealing with disruption along the way all reinforce what you are doing mechanically. The artwork is bright and expressive, and the table presence gives the game a bit of energy that helps carry the quieter, more thoughtful turns. Pros Strong decision space built around timing and preparation Rewarding payoff moments when your plan comes together Cohesive theme that supports the gameplay throughout Cons Progress can feel uneven, with stretches of limited movement Less immediate than expected for a race-style game Momentum can swing quickly based on a single well-timed turn Flockers is a game that rewards patience more than speed. It asks you to think ahead, shape your position, and wait for the right moment to commit. That will not appeal to everyone, but for players who enjoy building towards a well-timed breakthrough, it offers a satisfying and thoughtful experience. When your plan finally comes together, it does not just feel good. It feels deserved. One to check out on Gamefound. Find out more here

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Find out more here . The Secret Valley is one of those small box games that quietly does more than you expect. On paper, it is simple. Draft some cards, place them into a shared grid, score points. Done. But after a couple of rounds, it becomes clear there is a sharper edge underneath. This is not just about building your own little engine. It is about reading the table, timing your placements, and occasionally ruining someone else’s plans at exactly the right moment. The Secret Valley is also worth noting for where it comes from. Originally an Argentinian release, it built a quiet reputation locally before now getting a wider international release in 2026. That heritage shows. It has the feel of a design that has been tested, refined, and appreciated before making its way to a broader audience. It also carries a bit of charm in its story. Nomadic clans finally discovering fertile land after a long journey. It is light touch, but it gives just enough context to make your placements feel purposeful rather than abstract. How to set up and play Setup is quick. Shuffle the twenty territory cards and deal a hand to each player depending on player count. Each player also takes a set of clan tokens. The game is played over three rounds, and each round starts with a draft. Players select one card from their hand, place it face down, and pass the rest along. This continues until all cards have been drafted, giving each player a fresh hand to play from. From there, players take turns placing one card at a time into a shared grid. The grid size depends on player count, ranging from a tight three by four up to a four by four. Every time you place a card, you also place one of your clan tokens on it to mark ownership. The twist is in the scoring. Every single card scores differently. Some care about adjacent terrain, others about numbers, patterns, or uniqueness. Importantly, none of this scores as you go. You are building towards an end-of-round reveal where everything is counted at once. After the grid is complete, players score all their cards, reset, and repeat for three rounds. Highest total score wins. What it feels like to play This is where The Secret Valley stands out. The drafting pulls you in early. You are not just picking good cards, you are also deciding what not to give your opponents. That tension carries into the placement phase, where every move matters a little more than it first appears. One game, I picked up a card that rewarded unique terrain around it. Easy enough. I set it up carefully, leaving space for the right placements. Two turns later, someone dropped a duplicate terrain next to it, completely killing the scoring potential. It was not accidental. They had clearly read what I was trying to do and stepped in at exactly the right time. That interaction is where the game really lives. Another time, in round one, I took a card that rewarded neighbour cards being from my opponents, not me. I scored massively off it, and then took the same card the next round. But the other players had cottoned on to this plan and avoided it like the plague! There is a constant push and pull between building your own scoring opportunities and disrupting others. The grid is shared, so nothing is ever entirely safe. Even strong scoring cards can be undermined with a single placement. That creates a level of tension that keeps everyone engaged throughout. As you learn the cards and other players' preferred strategies, you have to constantly pivot and watch out as other players do the same. That said, it is not without its rough edges. The variety of scoring conditions is a strength, but it also means you are constantly reading and re-evaluating the board. In a full game, especially with four players, this can slow things down as players try to optimise every placement. There is also a noticeable reliance on the draw. Some cards have significantly higher scoring ceilings than others, and while they are harder to pull off, they can feel swingy when they land. But of course, that's up to you to watch out for and plan for or try to stop! Visually, the game is pleasant. The artwork is calm and inviting, fitting the theme of exploration nicely. It looks good on the table, especially once the grid fills out, even if the cards can feel a little text-heavy at times. Pros Strong mix of drafting and spatial puzzle creates meaningful decisions High interaction through shared grid and subtle blocking Quick rounds with a satisfying build and score structure Handy score pad with plenty of copies! Cons Can slow down with analysis as players try to optimise placements, although options are limited so not too much! Some scoring cards feel stronger than others depending on draw Text-heavy cards may take a few plays to internalise The Secret Valley is a smart, compact design that rewards careful play without overcomplicating things. It sits in that nice space between filler and something a bit more thoughtful. Not every moment lands perfectly, but there is enough here to keep you coming back, especially if you enjoy games where positioning and timing matter just as much as what you actually pick up.

Pizza Thief WBG Score:  6 Player Count:  3-6 You’ll like this if you like:  Cute art and snappy gameplay Published by:   Scrungo Games Designed by:   Laura Erwin This is a review copy @explosmofficial  @ giftpruk   See our review policy here Pizza Thief is one of those games that immediately sells itself on charm. Cute Fuzzballs, a pizza party theme, a small box that looks like it belongs on the table next to your takeaway. It promises quick, chaotic fun with a bit of bluffing and sabotage thrown in. And to be fair, it does deliver some of that. But once you get past the surface, the experience is a little more uneven than you might expect. How to set up and play Pizza Thief Setup is simple. Place the Fuzzballs Pizza Party Card into the centre of the play area and the Party Timer Card somewhere below this. Each player starts with a small hand of two cards which is constantly replenished throughout the game. At the beginning, everyone secretly contributes a card face down to a central “pizza pile,” choosing whether to play the positive or negative value on the card. Each card has two numbers you see, one at the top, one at the bottom. This creates a hidden total that nobody fully knows. You know what you placed, but not what anyone else is plotting! From there, players move to the second phase called PATRY TIME! Here, players take turns either adding to their own prediction by placing one card face up in front of them, again either with he positive number on the top, or the negative. Or playing action cards by adding card horizontally to the Pizza Timer Card. When adding to your prediction, you play cards in front of you, choosing whether to use the positive or negative value, trying to estimate what the final pizza total will be. What you display with add to your final end game guess, but will also gives clues to the other players what cards you may be laying in the Pizza Party line. Alternatively, you can use cards for their effects by placing them in a timer pile and following the card's instructions. These effects might include stealing a card from the Pizza Party line to add to your Pizza Prediction, revealing a card from the Pizza Party line and then rotating another player's top card in their Pizza Prediction, among other game-changing effects. Adding a card here also contributes to the end game. Most cards feature a timer icon ranging from one to three. When the total on the timer reaches 21, the game concludes. Those effect cards are where most of the interaction happens but it also rushes the game to its end. And as you can only play one card in this phase, you are either adding to your prediction, or the game clock. You need to think about what will benefit you the most. When the timer reaches the limit, the game concludes right away, the concealed cards are shown, and the person closest to the actual total with their prediction is the winner. What it feels like to play The core idea is genuinely interesting. You are trying to estimate a number that is partially hidden, while also having tools to influence that number and disrupt everyone else. In theory, that should create a tense mix of deduction and bluffing. In practice, it leans much more heavily into chaos than calculation. There are moments where it clicks. You get a small piece of information, adjust your prediction, and feel like you are reading the table. Then someone plays a card that flips a value, swaps piles, or quietly shifts the total in a way you could not realistically track. Suddenly your carefully built estimate is guesswork again. One game I played summed it up perfectly. I had spent a few turns nudging my prediction into what felt like a strong position after peeking at a key card. Then two quick actions from other players reshuffled the central pile and altered multiple predictions. By the time the round ended, it felt less like I had been outplayed and more like the game had simply moved on without me. That unpredictability will absolutely land for some groups. If you enjoy games where the table is constantly interfering with each other and the outcome swings late, there is fun to be had. It creates plenty of noise, reactions, and moments of surprise. But if you are looking for a cleaner deduction experience where your decisions feel reliably rewarded, it can feel a bit untethered. The presentation does a lot of heavy lifting. The Fuzzballs are genuinely charming, the artwork is bright and inviting, and the whole pizza party theme gives it an easy, approachable vibe. It is the kind of game that looks great on a table and draws people in. The short playtime helps as well, keeping things from dragging even if a round does not quite land. Pros Fun, interactive card play with plenty of player interaction Charming theme and artwork that make it easy to bring to the table Quick playtime that suits casual game nights Cons Heavy reliance on randomness can undermine strategic play Outcomes can feel more chaotic than earned Best at specific player counts, limiting flexibility for some groups Rule book is surprisingly confusing for a simple family game Pizza Thief is a lively, unpredictable party-style card game that leans more into chaos than control. There is enjoyment to be found in the back-and-forth and the constant meddling, especially with the right group. But if you are hoping for a tight deduction game where you can carefully outplay your opponents, this may not quite deliver. Sometimes you will feel like a pizza prophet. Other times, you are just guessing toppings and hoping for the best… and occasionally ending up with pineapple when you really did not ask for it.

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Ok, strap in. This is an exciting one. Harbour of Blight comes from the same author and designer of a delightful book we covered here, called In The Blink Of A Dragon's Eye. You can read about that here . And coming to Kickstarter soon, is a solo or two-player co-op, campaign-based board game/RPG hybrid, Harbour Of Blight: Obsidian. You can check that out here . That is set in a world that is being introduced here, in this adventure book, Harbour of Blight: Scenario Zero. A teaser to this upcoming RPG style game. Which you can check out here . The designer, wanted to merge the video game style RPG into the book game world. When talking to WBG, he said: "It's really a way I thought up to bring a video game RPG experience to tabletop (for 1-2 players) with an ongoing story, characters, campaign over many acts that all connect together and you use the same character that will be a "job system" so each act you'll have a new Profession to level up with your character." And with this book, we have an introduction in to this world, its characters, and the game style that is going to be brought to our tables soon with the upcoming Kickstarter. I was utterly intrigued from that moment and very exited to try this mystery book. The book functions similarly to many other choose-your-own-adventure style books. You start with some backstory, assume the role of a character aiming to solve a specific mystery, and make decisions to read certain pages or sections of the chapter based on what you believe is the best way to advance the story. You will face time limits depending on the world you're in, allowing you to explore, investigate, or interact with only a limited number of people or places. Therefore, you need to choose wisely based on what you think will lead to the best outcome. Your decisions will guide the story's progression into a captivating narrative of your creation. No digital tricks. No apps. Just good, old-fashioned writing and decision-making. The game is set in the Harbour of Blight universe, around an event called Founders Day. A time when the City of Obsidian celebrates its founding. You play the roll of a new member of the Hunters Guild, but you are thrust into the action from the off, when a mysterious and ominous theft takes place, and you are best placed to help solve the crime. I won't go into specifics here, for fear of spoilers, but you will run through two main chapters of exploration, visiting different locations of your choosing, talking to different people, and discussing specific things. All based on what you feel will give you the best chance of finding the right clues to solve this mystery. Will you tail certain people, or approach them directly and ask the questions on your mind? Will you push your luck and delve deep into the mystery, or play it safe? But how does this all work? Well, much like classic choose-your-own-adventure stories, it is largely based on simple decisions. A or B. But here, often with a C, D, E, and beyond too! But also, dice rolls! The book comes with these utterly delightful crafted custom dice that you use throughout the book. For example, you may be searching a specific area for clues, and you may want to risk continuing your search while being patrolled by unfriendly guards. Here, instead of simply making a choice to back off or carry on, you will also need to roll your dice if you choose to risk it, to see how successful you will be, D&D style. Roll the gorgeous d20 provided, and test your luck. The game then gives different outcomes based on your roll. Once you have searched all you can, and your time has run out, you will move to the decision phase of the game. Here, you must make your choice and volunteer a name as to whom you believe the guilt lies. This will lead to more spiralling avenues of dialogues, before ultimately you enter the final stage, combat! Here, you will use a D&D style mechanic to fight the "enemy" (no spoilers here!). There are various scenarios of how this will play out, so the game moves into a "your adventure has been chosen for you" over a "choose-your-own adventure," based on your success or lack thereof in the battle! Each round you will choose a skill, and roll a D6 to decide how your enemy will attack. Each skill will have a set speed that will determine who goes first in battle. You will continue until either you or your foe is reduced to zero health. Then you will read the following text accordingly, potentially gaining rewards that I guess may be used in the following games? Redacted to avoid spoilers! Harbour of Blight: Scenario Zero feels like someone took the best bits of a moody RPG prologue and poured them into a choose-your-own-adventure mystery book, then refused to “fix” it with an app. You’re a fresh Hunter’s Guild recruit dropped into Founders Day festivities when a sinister theft kicks off the plot, and from there it’s all pressure, pace, and choices. The time-limit structure is the secret sauce. You can’t do everything, so every visit, tail, question, and detour has weight. In my head, I kept doing that thing where you stare at two locations and think, “If I go to the docks now, I’m not speaking to the folk at the pub later.” It’s simple, but it genuinely creates tension. I enjoy how the book blends decisions with with your mind and dice in a way that feels earned rather than bolted on. Sometimes you’re doing classic branching narrative picks, but then you push your luck and the book asks you to roll that gorgeous d20 like you’re in a tabletop RPG. I can picture the exact moment: you’re snooping somewhere you shouldn’t be, guards are nearby, and you decide to risk “one more” search. Roll high and you feel like a genius. Roll low and suddenly your neat little plan turns into a messy scramble, and the story snaps into a new shape. Bad bad roles do not punish you too much. I cheated a bit and explored a few areas of eventuality, for the purposes of the preview of course! And it felt fair how the dice rolls results offered a fair outcome, either way. There is some luck, of course, but not huge swings that will change your game experience. Then, after the investigation window closes, you make your accusation and the book escalates into a combat finale with skills, speed, and a simple enemy AI driven by dice. It’s a neat arc: investigate, commit, face consequences. If you love narrative games, mystery, and solo decision-making with a bit of crunchy spice, this is going to land. If you’re the sort of player who enjoys squeezing value from limited actions, taking notes, and living with outcomes, you’ll have a great time. If, however, you want deep tactical combat, or you hate dice deciding whether your clever plan works, this may frustrate you. The book is aiming for “video game RPG energy in print,” which means it leans into risk and consequence more than pure player control. Also, because this is a teaser for a bigger campaign world, you may finish it wanting more connective tissue, more character progression, and clearer payoff for rewards beyond the immediate scenario. But don't worry, that is coming! Pros Tense time-limit investigation that makes choices matter Dice checks add drama without needing an app Strong escalation from mystery into a proper finale Utterly gorgeous custom dice Cons Some luck of course, there are dice! Combat sounds fun but stays fairly light and structured As a Scenario Zero, it does feel like a prologue more than a full meal Overall, Scenario Zero is a smart, atmospheric gateway into Harbour of Blight’s world, and it does a great job of making you feel like the author is quietly watching you make bad choices on purpose. If you want a solo mystery that reads like a campaign’s opening chapter and plays like a tabletop RPG highlight reel, this is why it’s worth your time. Just don’t get too comfortable. This harbour has a habit of leaving you out to dry. For more information - check this out .

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Find out more here Super has had an interesting journey. It first appeared a few months ago as a digital version that showed a lot of promise, even if early feedback suggested it had not quite found its footing yet. The core idea was clearly strong, it just needed refining. Fast forward to now, and the physical version feels like that potential fully realised. The gameplay is tighter, the decisions land better, and it now delivers a genuinely satisfying experience from start to finish. At its best, Super is about building a slick, efficient team of heroes and then unleashing them in perfectly timed bursts of mission-completing brilliance. Setup is quick and clean. Each player takes an agency board with six slots, a score tracker, and a player aid. In the centre, you lay out the main board with two rows: one for Supers available to recruit and one for Missions available to complete. Shuffle both decks and deal four Supers face up and four Missions face up to form your recruitment line and mission river. Add a pool of stun tokens nearby, hand the first player token to whoever last read a comic, and you are ready to go. On your turn, you must recruit one Super from the row and add them to your agency. Each Super adds a certain strength to your team, and each mission has a certain requirement to complete it. When you have enough Supers in your team, you can begin to complete missions to earn followers (points) if your team has enough combined power and the right colour leader to meet the requirements. The Supers you use to complete missions are discarded though, so you can only use each one once this way. But certain powers do allow you to keep them for a second mission, or use them passively to support from base. This is where the game opens up. Supers have abilities that trigger immediately or stay active while they sit in your team, and missions can chain into further bonuses, extra recruits, or scoring bursts. After your turn, the rows refill and play continues. The goal is simple: be the first to reach 50 million followers, or have the most when the mission deck runs out. At the table, this really comes alive through its combo-driven engine building. You are recruiting Supers into a six-slot agency, slowly shaping a team that works together rather than just sitting there looking impressive. Where you place them matters. What group you use together is important. It all links and there are combos everywhere. One game, I found myself quietly collecting a few of purple Supers, after recruiting one that rewarded repeated Purple Supers in my base. It looked unremarkable for a few turns. Then suddenly, one turn flipped into a chain reaction. A recruit triggered another recruit, which nudged my power just enough to complete a mission with just one Super, which then gave me a bonus that set up the next turn. That sense of delayed payoff is where the game sings. You are not just playing cards, you are building a plan that clicks into place later. The theme and presentation do a lot of heavy lifting too. The artwork is bold, vibrant, and genuinely fun, with a comic-book energy that matches the gameplay. It feels like assembling a superhero squad that evolves over time, rather than a dry optimisation puzzle. There is also a nice tension between racing for followers and deciding when to cash in your team for missions versus holding them for something bigger. It keeps everyone engaged and watching each other’s boards, especially when someone looks like they are about to pop off. Pros Satisfying combo building that rewards planning across multiple turns Strong table presence with vibrant, energetic artwork and theme Constant sense of progression as your agency becomes more efficient Cons Early turns can feel a little flat before your engine gets going Some iconography and interactions may take a game or two to fully grasp Can occasionally feel swingy if one player chains multiple bonuses at the right moment Super is a great example of a design that has clearly evolved in the right direction. What started as a slightly underwhelming digital concept has been refined into a punchy, engaging card-driven engine builder with real table appeal. If you enjoy games where you build towards clever, explosive turns and watch your plan come together, this is well worth your time. Just be prepared for your carefully assembled team to occasionally steal the spotlight like true superheroes do… dramatic, slightly chaotic, and loving every second of it. Find out more here

Are you gearing up for an epic board game night with friends or family? To ensure a memorable and fun-filled gaming experience, I think a well curated menu of games is essential for the perfect evening. When planning your game night, curate a diverse collection of board games to cater to everyone's preferences. I can sometimes get hung up wanting to play one specific game. But what if your guests have played that game before and hated it? It's always good to have options. I suggest you aim to have a simple party game to start the night, a more substantial strategy game to play for the bulk of the evening, and then a light fun, filler card game to end. But, with options for each part of the course! Having a variety ensures there's something for everyone to enjoy. This way, you can switch things up, give people a choice, and keep the excitement alive throughout the night. So, without further ado, here are a few recommendations. The Perfect Dishes - A Three Course Gaming Menu of Perfection. Starter Course: Something to get everyone into the mood. light in rules, high in fun, and quick to play. Just search "Party Games" on WBG and you will find a plethora of choices to look through, but here is my top three recommendations. Block Party - Read more about that game here. Its pictionary, but you don't need to draw! Use blocks to create objects for your friends to guess. No artistic skills needed here, and can be taught in seconds. Just One - Read more about that game here. Party game heaven! So easy to teach and play, generally lands well with everyone I have ever played with, and can be played just chilling around sofas with no need for a table. Monikers - Read more about that game here. The perfect party game? Its basically articulate with random words and phrases, but then with layers. Round one, describe the card. Round two, now with one word. The in round three, with charades! But the things you describe stay the same, so players will remember what was previously said, so it just works. Hilarious fun! Main Course: The main event! High in strategy, a few rules to learn, but people are ready for something of substance. This time, search "Strategy Games" on WBG and you will find a whole heap of games to read about, but here is my TLDR top three recommendations. Circadians: First Light - Read more about that game here. My highest rated non-solo game from 2023 (when including the expansion!) Combo fun! This game will be sure to have your guest's scream with joy as they start to build their powers and enact outrageously powerful turns. Fun guaranteed, win or loose. Tiletum - Read more about that game here. My number one game from 2022 . You may argue with your friends how to pronounce it, but you sure will have fun playing with it! The CRUNCH in this game is delicious! But, it is a little beige. Beware! Blood Rage - Read more about that game here. It's one of my favourite games that isn't two-player only, or a legacy game, so it has to appear here. And thankfully, Steve is written a wonderful review for it! looks a bit "laddy" I admit. This is classic dudes on a map smashing around, right? Wrong. This is intricate card play with some awesome drafting. Dessert: A fun, quick, light, filler game to end the night if people have more tie, more appetite for more fun, but do not want to get into anything serious at this time of night. Now it's time to search "Card Games" on WBG. Years of work from me, condensed into a few seconds of your life, just to find the perfect game. A great trade off! Hanabi - Read more about that game here. If you want some cooperative fun, I cannot recommend anything higher. My favourite card game of all time, this is pure joy for me. Still offers some meaningful decisions to give you a proper game, but rules lights and the perfect way to end the night. And this time, hopefully everyone wins! The Crew - Read more about that game here. My third favourite card game of all time. The Mind is number 2 if you are interested. But this makes the cut due to the familiarity it will have to anyone who has played a simple trick-taker before. But now, they will do so in a co-op experience which could well ease the pain of for anyone who spent the previous two hours loosing your strategy game of choice! Ten - Read more about that game here. Every time I teach someone this game, they go out and buy it for themselves. It is so simple, quick, and easy to learn, but wildly addictive and fun to play. The perfect way to end any game night. Now, put out the snacks and refreshments, make sure you have comfy seats and good lighting, and away you go! Have fun.

I love card games, and I have always had a particular soft spot for trick-taking ones. If you search this site for “trick taking” or “trick taker”, you will find reviews of quite a few games in the genre. It is one I return to again and again. Over the past few years, the genre has absolutely exploded. New trick-taking games seem to land on the table every few months, each one trying to bring something fresh to a very old idea. That is the challenge, really. With so many trick-takers out there, a game needs a clever twist or a standout feature to truly make an impression. After playing more than 50 trick-taking games at this point, I decided to go back through them and pick out a handful that really stood out. Originally I thought about doing a traditional “Top Five”, but the truth is there are simply too many good ones for that to feel fair. Instead, I have picked five trick-taking games that each shine for a different reason. Think of this less as a ranking and more as a celebration of what makes this genre so endlessly enjoyable. So rather than simply choosing the “best”, I have highlighted: • The classic trick-taker – no wild gimmicks, just brilliant core gameplay. • The best cooperative trick-taking game. • The one with the most wonderfully chaotic twist on the genre. • The one that stands out the most for theme. • And finally, the one I think works best for solo play. Not necessarily the best solo mode, but the trick-taking game that shines when played alone. If you enjoy trick-taking games even half as much as I do, there is a very good chance one of these will earn a permanent place in your card game rotation. The Classic Trick-Tacker: Skull King And the best to play if you want to shout as you play. Current BGG rank: 296 Published by: Grandpa Beck's Games Designed by: Brent Beck , Jeffrey Beck WBG Rating: 8 Skull King is the trick-taker I reach for when I want the table to get loud. The structure is brilliantly simple: rounds one through ten, everyone bids simultaneously on how many tricks they’ll take, then you try to hit your number exactly for points. But watch out, misses sting big. That single decision, made before a card is played, creates instant tension. You’re not just playing the hand, you’re defending a promise you made out loud five seconds ago. The pirate theme does real work here, because the special-card hierarchy is where the drama lives. The Skull King, mermaids, pirates, and escape cards turn “standard” tricks into proper moments, the sort where a confident bid starts wobbling and suddenly everyone is shouting advice they’re not allowed to give. It’s high interaction in the best way: bluffing, table talk, and those swingy momentum shifts that make even a bad hand feel like it might be salvageable with one perfectly timed escape. It can be chaotic, and the scoring and special-card order can take a game or two for complete newcomers to internalise, but that volatility is part of the charm. It scales ridiculously well from two to eight, packs down tiny, and stays fresh because no one ever plays it politely. That mix of easy teach, huge table energy, and constant “did you really just do that?” moments is exactly why Skull King sits among the best trick-takers. Classic simple fun! The Top-Ranked Campaign Co-op: The Crew: Mission Deep Sea And the best for playing over several sessions. Current BGG rank: 43 Published by: KOSMOS Designed by: Thomas Sing WBG Rating: 9 The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is proof that trick-taking can be cooperative without losing its bite. Instead of trying to outplay each other, you’re trying to complete mission objectives as a team, under tight communication restrictions. You’re playing cards silently, hoping other players understand your strategies, earnt game after game through your own groups dynamics. The game makes this feel tense rather than gimmicky. When it works, it’s one of the most satisfying “we did it” moments you can get from a deck of cards. What makes Mission Deep Sea stand out over the original (this is a sequel) is how flexible and varied the objectives feel. It’s still recognisably The Crew, but it’s more elegant in the way it asks you to coordinate, and it can be more challenging too. The best sessions are the ones where your group slowly starts reading each other through play patterns and timing, building a shared language of leads and sacrifices without ever having to break the silence. And the progression over various missions becomes alarmingly addictive! Yes, the luck of the deal can spike difficulty, and the “no talking” pressure can frustrate some groups. But the design is so clean, the replayability so high, and the portability so good that it earns its place on this list effortlessly. If you want a trick-taker that feels like a campaign of little shared victories, this is one of the best because it turns teamwork into the main mechanic, not an afterthought. The Mind-Bending One: Cat In The Box And the best for trying something new. Current BGG rank: 370 Published by: Bézier Games Designed by: Muneyuki Yokouchi (横内宗幸) WBG Rating: 8 Cat in the Box is the trick-taker I recommend to people who think they’ve seen every twist the genre can offer. The “quantum” idea is the hook: suits aren’t fixed until you play a card and declare what it is, with a central board tracking which numbers and colours have already been claimed. Each card can be any colour, but once a colour has been claimed for a specific number, that's it. You cannot play that card again. That would create a paradox. It’s instantly intriguing, and after a couple of hands you realise it’s also quietly brutal because every play changes what will be legal later. The tension comes from the paradox risk. If you paint yourself into a corner and can’t make a legal play, you trigger a paradox and take a chunky penalty. That means you’re not only trying to win tricks and hit your prediction, you’re managing space and availability like it’s a puzzle. Watching the board tighten over a round is delicious, especially at four or five players where the state shifts constantly and every confident plan has a chance of collapsing. It’s not a gentle onboarding for beginners, and it demands more brainpower than your average trick-taker, but that’s exactly the point. The strategy is deep, the decisions feel fresh, and it rewards sharp planning and observation in a way few games in the genre manage. Cat in the Box is one of the best trick-takers because it doesn’t just add a twist, it changes how you think  about suits, risk, and control. The One With Theme: Origin Story And the best to play if you want a longer single game experience. Current BGG rank: 2,299 Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by:   J amey Stegmaier , Pete Wissinger WBG Rating: 8.5 Origin Story feels like someone asked, “What if a trick-taker actually had a story arc?” and then committed to the bit. Underneath, it’s classic 52-card trick-taking with the Love suit as trump, played across five rounds of eight tricks. All very familiar. The twist is the tableau: each round you draft a Story card and use stamina to charge abilities, building an engine over the game. You’re not just surviving hands, you’re developing a character, and it’s rare for a card game to make theme feel that intertwined with the mechanics. The hero/villain dial is the secret sauce. Every round you choose your alignment in secret and reveal simultaneously: heroes want to win tricks for points, villains are trying to lose everything for a big pay-out. Suddenly your “best” play isn’t always the highest card, it’s the card that fits the role you’ve chosen and the powers you’ve charged. Throw in the one-off event in round three and the superhero reveal in round five with a huge points opportunity based on the engine you have built up tot his point, and the whole thing has a tidy rhythm and a genuinely satisfying payoff. It’s longer than many trick-takers and could overwhelm casual card players who just want something like Hearts, and the solo mode (while solid) loses the warmth that comes from reacting to other people’s evolving engines. But when it clicks, it absolutely sings: clever, tense, and bursting with personality. Origin Story is one of the best trick-takers because it turns progression and character-building into the reason you care about every trick, not just the points at the end. The Solo: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game And the best to play if you to feel part of a story. Current BGG rank: 173 Published by: Office Dog Designed by: Bryan Bornmueller WBG Rating: 9 If you care about solo mode, Fellowship immediately jumps a tier, because it actually has one. You run four characters at once, each with a simple win condition. It sounds like a lot to manage, but in practice it’s surprisingly clean because the characters are straightforward and the goals do the heavy lifting. And in essence, it is no different to the multi-player version of the game. Simply that you can see four hands at once and need to figure out how to achieve each players round goal. The campaign structure is also a natural fit for solo play. Each chapter is short, the listed 20-minute playtime is pretty true for a single game, although some will be quicker, and the “keep going until you win” campaign loop makes failure feel like a quick reset rather than a brick wall. The big win is how easy it is to start and stop. This is the kind of solo game you can play when you’re tired or distracted, because the decisions are engaging without being exhausting. You’ll still have plenty to chew on, but you won’t need to hold a million conditional rules in your head to make progress. As a solo trick-taker, this offers a rare thing: thematic, approachable, and genuinely replayable solo fun. If you want a campaign trick-taker you can actually enjoy alone, that’s why Fellowship earns its place among the best. Top 5 Trick-Taking Games If you’ve read this far and just want the “tell me which one to buy” answer: pick Skull King  if you want loud, competitive, easy-to-teach chaos for three to eight and don’t mind a bit of swing; pick The Crew: Mission Deep Sea  if you want the smartest co-op, mission-by-mission, where the table learns a shared language in silence; pick Cat in the Box  if you want your trick-taking to feel like a tense brain puzzle with a delicious risk of blowing up in your hands (best at four or five); pick Origin Story  if you want a longer, meatier one-and-done experience with real powers; and pick Fellowship  if solo play is king and you want a Middle-earth campaign in a small box. Different flavours, same goal: a trick-taker that actually feels memorable the moment the first card hits the table. Which one is right for you?