Search Results

Expeditions WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Scythe, Innovation, Dune Imperium. Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Scythe is one of the biggest games in the board game world. Released in 2016, Scythe catapulted Stonemaier Games and Jamey Stegmaier to legendary status within the community. After a raft of expansions, many of which you can read the review for here Stonemaier have now released a sequel. Expeditions is set in the same universe as Scythe. Set in the time after the expansion, Rise of Fenris; Expeditions tells the story of mysterious meteorite crashing into the Tunguska River, awakening ancient corruption. Two expeditions set out to explore the strange goings on have already failed to return and now it is your turn to venture out in search of the previous search parties, glory, and end game points. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Expeditions Like Scythe, Expeditions looks intimidating to any new player, but is very simple to set up, learn, and play. The setup is shown in the top right of the starting board. Lay out the tiles in the displayed pattern with the six southern tiles face up, and the remaining central and northern tiles face down with map tokens placed on the top. In the gaps between the tiles, place five cards face up. Place your mech on the main board with your chosen player colour base snapped onto the bottom. Take the corresponding player board, then choose one of the characters and companions. Lay the rest of the cards in a face-down pile along with the money, map tokens, various-coloured worker meeples, and the corruption tokens in their own hessian bag, with the 20-point corruption token kept separate. You are now ready to play. There are a number of different starting characters and companions to choose from. They all offer different abilities and powers and require different worker meeples to fully make use of their powers. The way the cards work is when you play them, you will immediately gain the benefit shown on the top left. Generally, this simply gives you power or guile. These powers increase as you gain more stars in the game, shown with the smaller icons below next to stars. As well as the main benefit, when you play the card, if you have the required meeple, you can place this on the card and gain the bottom secondary benefit too. This will often be linked to various actions. Each mech has its own unique player power too. They offer a varied and highly asymmetric starting point for each player. It is certainly worth new players looking at each mech that is in the game and learning every player's own ability. This will help new players learn how the other players may act but also further their own understanding of the right strategy as they come to understand the game more. The asymmetry in this game, as is often the case with Stonemaier and asymmetry, has caused quite a stir within the reviewer community. Well, part of it anyway. It has been suggested that it makes the game unbalanced. I certainly agree that each power is very different, and some seem more powerful than others. But I think each can be utilised to create a winning strategy. Although I do agree, some more easily than others. But this is how is should be for asymmetric games in my opinion. I just feel they should be ranked by ease of use and strength of power so it is clear from the off. What I would suggest in situations like this is that the publisher ranks the asymmetric powers by ease of use, and also by their effective power. As such, they could then be used for a balancing mechanic to help new players learn the game and equal out more experienced players when they play with newer players. How To Play Expeditions Playing Expeditions is as simple as learning the game. On your turn, you must move your player cube from one space to another. You can then enact the actions that are visible. As such on your first turn or after refreshing, you have all three actions available as the action cube will be on the bottom blank box, not covering any spaces. This is in the top right of each player mat, seen above. On any subsequent turn, you will have to move the cube to one of the three action spaces as indicated by the red arrows. This will then leave two remaining visible actions that you can enact. On your subsequent turns, you can move from the action action space you are on to any of the other two spaces, as many times as you wish, always carrying out the other two actions, until you decide to refresh. The three actions are move, gather, and play. I will explain each in detail now. Move is as simple as moving your mech one, two, or three spaces. You must move at least one; you cannot remain where you are. You can move through other mechs, but you must finish on an empty space. When you move to a previously unexplored tile, you will flip that tile, take the map token from it, and then place corruption tokens from the bag covering the second benefit space until you have matched or exceeded the corruption level. So, if it has a corruption level of five, for example, and you first draw and place a corruption token of three, you must draw a second token to get to at least five. The second token could be another three, meaning this tile now has a corruption level of six. Five was just the minimum. On later turns, using certain card powers, players can spend power or guile they have acquired in the game to remove the corruption. Doing so frees up the benefits below and also helps players achieve glory objectives and score end game points. Gather allows you to take the benefit shown on the tile. The iconography is all very clear and will quickly become very familiar to you. There is an excellent player reference card that you can use for your first game to help with this, and the rule book explains any little quirks or vagueness. Mostly you will be recruiting new workers, gaining new cards, or increasing your power or guile. As you remove corruption from new tiles, you will unlock new powers that allow you to upgrade your mech and eventually place your glory stars onto the main board. The game plays until one player has placed their fourth glory token. But no one can place any glory stars until the glory star icon is unlocked. It is not enough to achieve the glory's requirements; you also need to go to the specific tile that allows you to then boast about your achievements before you can place the star. With this tile starting the game face down, and then when discovered, the star benefit being immediately covered in corruption, it goes without saying that exploring new tiles, building up your power and guile, and removing corruption is very important in this game. The final action is Play. This is how you move cards from your hand to your active row. Your hand in this game means the left of your mech board. All cards for all players are face up on the table at all times. Your hand simply means not active yet. When you play cards, you move them from your hand to your active row, on the right of your mech board. You will gain the immediate benefit on the top left, then activate the bottom benefit if you so choose and have the required worker meeple. Cards come in one of three types: Quests, Items, or Meteorites. When you have played all your cards, run out of workers, or simply want to, you can refresh. This means you move all your cards and workers from your active row back to your hand and mech mat. You miss a turn, but on your next go, will be able to move, gather, and play as all three will be visible, reducing the impact the dead refresh turn has on your progression. The items can be placed to the right of your mech board for a permanent ability when the appropriate tile is found to do this, and the corruption uncovered to allow this action. Some cards help with this too. The quests need to be fulfilled by visiting the displayed numbered tile on the quest, and then spending the shown mix of power and guile on the right-hand side of the card in order to then gain the quest's specific benefit. In the case with the above quest to Weaken the Leviathan, and apparently save the Seals, you must spend three power to then rescue one active card and claim one coin. Coins in Expeditions are points, just like Scythe. Rescuing a card simply means you can move it from your active row back to your hand, so it can be played again without having to refresh. Any workers on it are also rescued, meaning they are placed back onto your mech board to be used again. The quest card is then tucked under your mech board on the top row. The number of quests that you fulfil affects the points each glory star is worth. The multiples here are crucial, so you need to aim to solve three quests each game which is the maximum multiple. But if you achieve four quest, that fulfils a glory objective. The meteorites are another key way to score in this game. Certain tiles and cards will allow you to meld. This means tucking a meteorite card under the bottom of your mech mat. These mostly offer a cascading score bonus, where the more meteorite cards you have melded, the more you score. However, the one above is based on locations adjacent to your mech when you meld this card. There are eight different categories for the glory stars. You can fulfil one if you have seven or more workers or five or more map tokens, eight cards in your hand or active row (not melded), seven or more corruption tokens, the 20-point corruption token, four upgrades, four melded meteorites, or four solved quests. So, as much as you can only score multiples for your glory stars up to three, completing four quests is worth while if you want to claim this glory star. Players will continue to take turns moving, gathering, and playing cards until one player places their fourth star. Then each player gets one last turn, before final scoring takes place. You will score any coins gained during the game, as well as points for each glory star placed as a multiple based on how many quests completed; points shown on any upgraded item (the above Deceptor Crystal scores four end game points), and finally two points for any corruption token (including the 20-point token, which scores just the same) you have on your mech mat. Most points win. Is It Fun? Expeditions Board Game Review Expeditions is a hard game to review. If this was a new game, from another publisher, and had nothing to do with Scythe, I think... I think I would score it higher. Now, that is an odd thing to say, I know. But I think it is true. Scythe brings a huge expectation. Stonemaier knows this and sold this game off the back of that. It certainly increased the interest in this game and generated more sales, so they certainly do win there. But as such, they have to accept the criticism that comes with the fact that it does not feel like a Scythe game. The mechanics are completely different, and the turn structure is a whole new game. All that is fine, and Expeditions as a stand-alone is good. I am giving it an 8. But as I played it the first few times, I expected more. I wanted more. I hoped for more. And initially scored it lower based on my disappoint which overrode my actual enjoyment. Expeditions doesn't feel like Scythe, a game I have played many, many times and like many other gamers, absolutely adore. I don't want to be promised Scythe and then given something else. As such, the score has to come down. But, on its own, away from the expectations and unfair hope generated from its way more famous and successful big brother, Expeditions is a good game. The development of your deck, and the various ways to play, score, and aim for victory make this a very interesting and rewarding experience each game. It looks great, the Scythe artwork helps with that. It just doesn't feel like Scythe as the story is not in your face as you play, the thematic ties in the art and card text do not have a linear path and need to be really explored by the player to have any relevance to the game play. It is hard to follow or see any story in your first few games. Take away the expectation, though, and this is good. And flows deliciously. I have seen some complaints about the game length, and some reviewers have suggested it would be hard to enjoy in higher player counts. This very much depends on your own gaming tastes. But turns are quick and with experienced players it is fine. Generally, you can only do two or three things, and moving and gathering is very quick. Playing cards is fairly quick most of the time, but you will get the odd combination turn that takes a little longer. Thinking time is quick too, but I can see with new players it will take a moment or two. So, perhaps the lesson is, if you want a quick game, don't play this with new players in high player counts. But I would say it only takes a game or two to learn the strategy, and then you can fly through your turns and games in higher player counts. But there is limited player interaction so is this worth it? Players can block each other as you cannot move to a space with another mech, but other than that, increased players doesn't really change the game. So, I can see why an increased game length without an increased game experience can be frustrating for some. As such, I would say this is great as a solo. The Automa, as usual with Stonemaier, is excellent. Fantastic in a two or three, where for me, it shines. And functional in a four or five with players who know what they are doing. But it is the cards that are the real star of the show. There are loads of them, 123 in total. All unique. With gorgeous art, and they offer some intriguing game play options. The way your hand builds and develops over the game, and your options increase is where the majority of the satisfaction from this game derives from. The mechs in this game are also incredible. You can buy the icon-clad version with metal mechs for a few quid more, or get these plastic versions in the basic retail edition. If you buy the Ironclad version and want the plastic mechs as well to paint, they are available as a separate standalone purchase. But sadly, you cannot buy the metal mechs separately. But the plastic ones are great, more than good enough quality to play with, I would say, and all you need unless you absolutely must have the metal ones, which you can check out here. The overall production of this game is incredible but, like all Stonemaier games, also very functional. The box is huge and an awkward shape, but I will take that for this insert. It holds everything so neatly it makes set-up and tear-down a breeze. I will take that with a huge box over the carnage inside the insert-less Scythe and Tapestry box any day. Although, it is a bit of a hassle that you have to put the mechs back in in the right order, otherwise the plastic cover does no fit. Although this is clearly labelled, as is the way with Stonemaier games, on the side of the box. My only real gripe is the tiles. I am not a massive fan of tiles over boards. I appreciate it allows for a random set up but how much better does that make a game? When they are nudged it moves all the tiles and you get situations like the below, which just winds me up. I spend a lot of time fixing these minor aesthetic blemishes which lessens my enjoyment of the overall experience. There is a play mat available now which I think I will get to keep the tiles a little more secure and still. But the mat seems a little small to fit all the tiles and mech mats on. Essentially you need to put the mech mats off the mat once you start collecting cards. Which is down to the fact that the tiles are probably too big. They take up too much space on the table which does show off the great art they hold, but I feel this is more about allowing for the giant mechs to have space to move, which does increase the overall appeal of the game, but doesn't necessarily make it better or easier to actually play. It feels like a commercial decision over gameplay. Which I appreciate has to be a part of the process, but frustrating when it coms to affecting the enjoyment of actually playing the game. I would be happy with smaller mechs, smaller tiles, a smaller box, and a more convenient experience. Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of Stonemaier games. Not necessarily Scythe, as the game is not like Scythe mechanically; it just shares the same lore and art. But fans of Stonemaier in terms of their production and style of game will like this. This feels very 'Stonemaier' as you play, and if you like that, you will like this. The game is essentially a deck-building resource management game. If you like games like that, then you may well enjoy this too. The multi-use cards are the real star for me, being able to use them for various things and in such interesting ways is what makes me come back to this game. Especially as the stack of cards is so big! It will take a good few games to see them all, and many many more to use them all. If that appeals, this could well be a game for you.

Living Forest: Kodama WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Port Royal, Furnace, Mystic Vale. Published by: Ludonaute Designed by: Aske Christiansen Distributed in the UK by: Coiledspring Games. This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Living Forest came out in 2021. It won the 2022 Kennerspiel des Jahres, one of the most prestigious gaming awards of the year. You can read for the review for that game here. I love the game, but it does have some minor issues, particularly with one of the three end game conditions, which is a little less easy to grasp a winning strategy for. Certainly for players with less experience with the game. As such, a new expansion has been made that goes some way to addressing that. It also adds a new solo mode and some cool new cards. Let's get it to the table and see how this plays. How To Set Up Living Forest: Kodama Set up the game as you usually would, with just a few changes. First, add in the guardian cards into their respective decks when you lay these out. There are five new level two cards and five new level three ones. Second, when you place your player mat, add the new mini-board that runs along the left side of this, then add your matching spirit of nature Kodama card to your own personnel deck. Third, add the new Kodama board to the table, along with the new Kodama cards in three face-up stacks. A few cards are removed based on player count; check the rule book for that. Add the new Element tiles next to this board. These new tiles add a one-time-use bonus of your choice across the elements in the game. They are all the same but double-sided to make it easy to find the right one. No pointless flipping of tiles here! Fourth, add the new tree tiles to the new tree dispenser and place it on the table. Finally, add two rocks to the spaces shown in the rule book on the Circle of Spirits board and place the Onibi standee there too. How To Play Living Forest: Kodama The game plays much the same as the base game with these few changes: As you play cards in the drawing phase, you will, at some point, play your new Kodama card. The Kodama symbol on the top left is the crucial part here. It has no effect in the drawing phase, but during the action phase, these symbols allow you to take a fragment tile if you have two showing, an element tile if you have three showing, or perform an additional action if you have four on display. There is a new action available during the action phase, called Call a Kodama. This is how you add new Kodama cards to your deck. There will be three face-up cards which can be bought using your flower symbols, with the cost shown on the bottom right of the card. This expansion aims to make the flower symbols more useful. When you buy one of these cards, you can add it to your deck face down, but you must then move the Onibi standee forwards a number of spaces based on player count; check the rules for this. Each Spirit standee that is jumped over by Onibi causes an extra two-value fire tile to be added to the Circle of Spirits. There are six new trees in the game. They grant you extra elements based on a multiple of how many Kodama symbols you have face up in your card row during the drawing phase. The only other major change with this expansion is that the game now requires you to have 13, not 12 points, to win. This applies to either trees, fires, or flowers. Living Forest: Kodama Board Game Review: Is It Fun? I would say that this expansion does not necessarily fix the issue with the unbalanced end game conditions. However, I did not think it was too much of an issue to begin with. I felt that the flowers were certainly more difficult to master, and they took me a lot more plays to understand how to use effectively; however, this was possible, and I liked that the game offered different end game goals, each needing different strategies to be implemented to make them work. It is interesting to me that they made the game with this in mind, but then made an expansion to "correct" this imbalance. For me, it was not an unbalanced game, just a game with a different learning curve for each strategy. That said, this expansion exists now, and it is good. It adds more than an unnecessary correction. It brings a lovely new ruffle to the puzzle this game presents. Adding in a new function for the flowers does encourage you to get more early in the game and potentially target this end-game strategy more often, but it is more than that. Whereas before, when the flower symbols offered nothing more than potential end game points, useless until your final turn, they now allow you to acquire new Kodama cards. These bring new powers, as well as increasing your flower strength, exponentially increasing the chances of you winning through the flower end-game mechanism. However, this is not all this does. You can also use these cards to get more fragment and element tiles and take extra actions when they show up in your draw phase. Extra actions are huge in this game. Where you could previously only have a maximum of two, the chance for three now is a massive incentive to encourage players to aim for early flowers. Not necessarily to win this way, but to get ahead and then switch to trees or fire depending on their hand and the other players' actions. The new level two cards all allow you to perform certain actions twice, something that could previously only be done by acquiring a specific high-cost tree. One person having this early often made the game an inevitable win for them via the tree method. With these new level two cards, this opens up the chance for more players to try similar strategies and avoid that previous unsatisfactory end. The new level three cards allow players to take extra actions. With these in play, along with a strong Kodama strategy, there is now the opportunity for some powerful combination turns. Again, opening up the flower game by making a reliance on this less risky, as you can progress in other strategies simultaneously. I would recommend this game to anyone who has the base game. I would not say this is an essential expansion as the base game is already very good. But it does develop the game in clever ways that I think make the game better. As such, if you have Living Forest, I would strongly recommend considering this expansion. The solo mode is excellent too. I have not touched on it much here as I have only played it a couple of times, but it works very well, maintains a similar tension throughout the game, and delivers a very satisfying experience, closely aligned with the multiplayer game.

Obey The Clay WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 2-99 You’ll like this if you like: 20 Second Showdown, Making things with clay! Published by: Big Potato Games This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Big Potato Games, the absolute Kings and Queens of party games, partnering with Aardman for a clay-based party game? Yes, please! I am a huge fan of team-based party games; they work so well with all ages, and everything the Big Potato team touches turns to fun. Let's get this to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Obey The Clay Split into two teams. One player can act as the clay master and read the challenges and control the timer if you like, but this is not essential. If you have an even number or no one wants to be the clay master, you can just do this for each other. Get the clay out and ready. A nice warming roll on the table and in the hands will do the trick. Level the timer by evening out the bits on each side, then use a piece of the clay, fashioned into the shape of a coin, to determine the first active team with an old-fashioned coin flip. Then split the clay in half and give each part to either team. Finally, place the plastic eyes and cards out on the table. The cards are double-sided, with one half being aimed at either team. You are now ready to play. How To Play Obey The Clay The clay master, or anyone from the non-playing team, will now flip the timer to show the color of the active team on the top and read out one card with the corresponding color. The active team will then try to complete the task just read to them as quickly as possible. When this is achieved to the satisfaction of all players, the timer is flipped over, and a challenge card is then read to the second team. This will continue until the time runs out on one of the team's turns. The other side is declared the winner of round one. To win the game, you need to win three rounds. Is It Fun? Obey The Clay Party Game Review Playing with clay is fun, and doing so with the varied and hilarious challenges in this game is brilliant. The clay initially appears to be the star in this game, but it's the cards that make it truly enjoyable. They are varied, unexpected, funny, and most importantly, entertaining. It's not just about the thing you have to make, but the way you use it. You will need to act, run, recite verses, and generally make a bit of a fool of yourself. If you like this sort of thing, you will love this game. Moulding clay brings a very pleasing sensation. Crafts like this generally do not happen in adult life, doing so reminds me of simpler times. There is a satisfying sensation derived from playing with clay in your fingers, rolling it on a table to create a shape, squeezing it in your fist to make a ball. Or fashioning something funny looking that makes your friends laugh. It all brings joy. However, be careful not to enjoy this too much! The timer moves quickly, and if you get caught up in your own artistic hubris, you may well lose the game very quickly! This is not a game about creating works of art; it's about acting fast and delivering efficiency. This levels the game out for those of us with less artistic flair, making it accessible for all ages and skill levels. In order to fulfil the task of creating an umbrella, you need to sell the act with your performance more than the actual shape and styling of the clay. I would recommend this game to any family or group that enjoys party games with an element of creativity. Obey The Clay gives you a very simple and quick opportunity to create fun. That is what party games should do, and this delivers on all levels. You can set up and teach this game in a few minutes, and it guarantees laughter during the games.

Search Party: Chaos At The Park WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Micro Macro Published by: What Do You Meme This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Search Party takes the essence of what Micro Macro offers and presents it in a more family-friendly context. It eliminates themes of murder and adultery, replacing them with elements like clowns and balloons. Additionally, it introduces colour to the game, departing from the previous black and white drawings. The board itself is of a reasonable size, allowing it to fit comfortably on a regular table. As it is not made of paper, there's no issue with it sticking or needing to be folded into numerous pieces. Furthermore, the cases in Search Party are generally easier to solve, catering to a family-oriented gameplay experience. The addition of three significant pop-up features further enhances the game's appeal. Overall, it appears to be a significant improvement for a family setting on Micro Macro, if that is what you are after. Let's bring it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Search Party: Chaos At The Park Unfold the board. The pops ups are huge and a little delicate but open well, but do be careful when you fold it back up. Make sure you do it the correct way Then draw the first case file and begin. That was easy! How To Play Search Party: Chaos At The Park One person will read allowed the introduction to the scenario you are playing on card one. This will end with a question on the top of card two that you need to answer by finding something or someone, hidden on the board. The board looks like a Where's Wally/Waldo style environment, set amongst a busy and chaotic amusement park. Once you find the first person or object, you proceed to flip the next card and read the subsequent part of the story. This guides you to the next item or person you need to search for. This sequence continues through several more cards until you successfully complete the mission and solve the specific mystery or problem at hand. The game mechanics are similar to Micro Macro, where certain individuals or objects appear on the board at different points in their timeline. This allows you to trace events backward or forward, track the movements of characters through the park, and uncover mysteries by discovering their origins or destinations. By piecing together these details, you can unravel why certain events unfolded as they did. There is no scoring system or time limit in the game. The primary objective is to have fun while searching for the various objects or people. The enjoyment comes from the process of observation and discovery, immersing yourself in the engaging world of the game. There are 15 missions to complete. Each one takes around 5-15 minutes to complete. There is also colour booklet with 300 individual things to find that you can check off as you do. This is separate to the 15 main missions and works as a side mission you can dip in and out of on it's own. Search Party: Chaos At The Park Board Game Review: Is It Fun? First, let's talk about the board. It looks amazing and will draw a crowd for sure. My children instantly wanted to play this, just from looking at the board. It really does look very impressive. Now, let's discuss the accessibility of this game. Learning the rules, setting up the game, and getting started can be accomplished within a few minutes as you read through the instructions. Additionally, the first mission can typically be solved in just a few minutes, allowing children to experience the satisfaction of successfully completing a game early on. This quick reward and sense of accomplishment are likely to make children happy and eager to play again. In terms of targeting a younger audience, I believe the game developers have succeeded in creating an engaging and accessible experience. Moreover, the visual appeal of the game is captivating. The intricate details and hidden objects tucked away behind, on, or above certain parts of the board generate a thrilling sense of discovery. The board itself is brimming with secrets waiting to be unlocked, and the process of unveiling them is immensely enjoyable. The game includes a small magnifying glass to assist with finding smaller objects, but let's be honest, it's not a particularly effective magnifying glass. Furthermore, it's not truly necessary for children with good eyesight. The main reason for this to be included in the game is to have fun and engage in imaginative play as detectives, and I wholeheartedly embrace that concept! If you ever find yourself stuck, there's an option to flip the card for the item you're searching for. It will provide a grid reference to help you locate the next item and also display a picture of the object to give you a gentle nudge in the right direction. Throughout all the missions, I found the need to flip the card early on only three times. This was mainly to help my children quickly find the items, prevent them from losing interest, and then gently guide them towards the correct area to continue the search. We managed to complete all the missions in just one afternoon, and I must say, it was the most engrossed I've ever seen my children in a game. There are still plenty of items left to discover and tick off in the search-and-find guidebook, which provides ample replayability. However, I must admit that it does feel somewhat like a "one and done" experience. When playing the game again, it becomes more of a casual exercise or pointing things out since the excitement of the search diminishes once you already know where everything is located. Over time, some details may be forgotten, but I believe that won't be the case for most items or people. Nevertheless, with 15 missions and 300 objects to find, there is plenty of gameplay to satisfy me. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game and will continue to do so until we've uncovered every single item in the guidebook. The utilisation of 3D elements in this game is truly excellent. The experience of finding items on top of, behind, or placed onto specific pop-up features on the board is clever and adds a sense of significance to the gameplay. Discovering something hidden in such a way feels more magical and exciting compared to simply locating objects within a busy scene. The pop-up elements create a lifelike landscape with hidden nooks and crannies to explore. Players will find themselves standing up, rotating the board, and peering into small crevices in their search. Finding things in this manner is immensely enjoyable and adds a deeper sense of meaning to the game. I highly recommend this game for families with children aged between 5-10. It is the perfect experience for both children and adults to enjoy together. It is likely to be one of the quickest family games to complete, but in that short span of time, you will create wonderful memories and have a tremendous amount of fun. Now, where on earth is that pesky spider web hiding?

221b Baker Street: The Master Detective WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 2-6 You’ll like this if you like: Cluedo, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. Published by: Gibsons Designed by: Antler Productions, Jay Moriarty This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Ah, so you're ready to embark on a mysterious and captivating journey through 1800s London and 221B Baker Street, the board game! Grab your detective hat and let's dive into the ingenious world of Sherlock Holmes. Get ready for a game filled with intrigue, deduction, and perhaps a few hilarious mishaps along the way! 221b Baker Street was initially published in 1975, featuring 20 cases to solve, and it quickly became a sensation. Over the years, many new cases were released as expansions, and different versions of the game were created. Fortunately, Gibsons has graciously published this new version, which includes a whopping 75 cases. There's also a deluxe version with 180 cases, but acquiring it can be quite challenging. Personally, I believe 75 cases provide more than enough content! So, let's gather around the table and see if this game, which predates me, still stands the test of time. How To Set Up 221b Baker Street Alright, my dear Watson, it's time to delve into the world of mysterious cases in 221B Baker Street! Are you prepared for an adventure? Indeed, Holmes! I have my trusty magnifying glass and my wit honed to perfection. Let us see if we can outmatch the brilliant detective himself! Splendid, Watson. Allow me to explain how the game unfolds. We are presented with a series of peculiar cases that require solving, and our objective is to be the first to unravel each mystery. Throughout the game, we will visit various locations, gather vital clues, and conduct thorough interrogations of suspects. However, we must remain vigilant, my dear Watson, as our opponents may attempt to foil our plans! Oh, the game of deduction and mischief! I love it already. How do we start, Holmes? Well, Watson, first, we will place the board into the centre of the table. Each player will choose a coloured playing piece and place it into the starting location. Is that 221B Baker Street? By Jove, you've got it! Each player will take one skeleton key card and one Scotland Yard card and place it in front of them. Place the remaining skeleton keys into the Locksmith and the Scotland Yard keys... Into Scotland Yard? That one was a little easier, but yes! Then choose a starting player with the roll of a dice, and a case to play and you can begin! The starting player should read the case aloud, a few times if necessary, and then the game will be afoot! A foot? How To Play 221b Baker Street ... On each turn, we'll roll the dice to determine how many spaces we move. We can choose to visit various locations, and once we arrive, we'll read the corresponding clue. Each case will show which number to read in the book on the back. Ah, the suspense is killing me, Holmes! What do we do with the clues we gather? Fear not, Watson, for each clue presents a baffling piece of the puzzle to add to the overall mystery, and our task is to collect all the clues we need to solve the case. Each case will have a different requirement of things that need to be solved. The murderer. The weapon. The motive. Who the Villain was. And why certain things happened. Each case has its own specific challenges. We can collect our thoughts on this handy sheet each game, so we do not forget what we have learnt. Do not read what is on the below Watson if you want to keep the first case a mystery. I cannot read your writing anyway Holmes! So, we must carefully strategize our route to narrow down where to go first to find the suspects and motive. But what if they try to mislead us, Holmes? Ah, Watson, that's the exciting part! Our opponents might try to throw us off the scent with outrageous and ridiculous facial reactions to clues they just read. They can block off certain locations they have visited using their Scotland Yard card. We can then only enter that building or location if we have a skeleton key. But did they lock it because the clue there is vital to the case? Or because they want to trick us into heading down a dead end? We must be prepared for their shenanigans and rely on our keen deduction skills! Oh, Holmes, this is going to be quite a challenge. But I have faith in our wit and cunning. What happens when we think we've solved the case? When we believe we've cracked the mystery, we must had back home to 221B Baler street. We'll announce our solution to the group then check the case book to see if we were right. If we're correct, we'll bask in the glory of victory! But if we're wrong, Watson, brace yourself for the laughter and mockery from our opponents. We must then watch on as they continue playing. Oh, I can already picture the scene, Holmes. Our grand theory shattered, and our rivals revelling in their triumph. But fear not, my friend, for we shall persevere! Indeed, Watson! Let us embark on this challenging adventure, filled with wit, mystery, and a good dose of absurdity. Remember, it's not just about solving the case, but also about enjoying the whimsical journey we're about to embark upon! Absolutely, Holmes! With you as my partner in this detective escapade, I'm ready to face any challenge that 221B Baker Street throws our way! 221b Baker Street Board Game Review: Is It Fun? The cases featured in this game offer a delightful range of complexity, presenting intriguing challenges to solve. The satisfaction derived from moving around the board, meticulously gathering clues one by one, and gradually piecing together all the information to crack the case is truly rewarding. The thrill intensifies as you race against other players, striving to solve the mystery quicker and more efficiently. It's crucial to pay attention to the details mentioned in each case. For instance, if the case refers to a theatre, it's wise to head there promptly. Similarly, if there's an event at the pub, make it a priority to investigate. Not every location is necessary for every case. Some locations may lack clues altogether, while others may provide redundant or inconsequential information. Knowing where to go and in what order becomes a vital strategy. Now, let's discuss movement on the board. In the original game, movement is determined by the roll of a single six-sided die (D6). However, I have addressed the potential frustration of long distances between buildings by introducing an additional twelve-sided die (D12). As the game was created in 1975, I believe it's perfectly acceptable to adopt house rules to alleviate the monotony of roll-and-move mechanics. Ultimately, the decision to implement this rests with you. Nonetheless, it's important to be mindful of your movement and its order. Consider which buildings are crucial for the specific case you are investigating. Also, remember that you must eventually end your movement at 221B Baker Street, so ideally, you wouldn't want to venture too far and then have to travel all the way back. Personally, I find it helpful to utilize the Carriage Depot, allowing me to travel to any building on the board early in the game. This way, I can plan my movements accordingly and ensure I am well-prepared when returning to 221B Baker Street for my final deduction. The cases themselves are absolutely delightful and mysterious. I won't spoil them here, but as you can see from the first case, they capture the desired style perfectly. They transport you back to the era of the great (fictional) Sherlock Holmes, where you're ready to engage in a battle of wits with the criminal masterminds of the late nineteenth century. The clues provided in the game come in various forms. Some are general statements, others are useless tidbits, and then there are the puzzles. The puzzles are often presented in groups, requiring you to visit multiple locations to gather all the pieces of those clues. They may be related to the weapon or the killer and often involve clever wordplay. However, at times, solving the puzzles may require pre-existing knowledge. For example, in the second case, you need to know what a group of orange trees is called. We resorted to a quick Google search. Additionally, in the aforementioned first case, having some familiarity with the play Hamlet proves to be quite helpful. These factors may make the game more challenging for younger players or those lacking specific areas of general knowledge. It's important to keep in mind that this game was created 47 years ago! Naturally, there may be aspects that don't align perfectly with the modern era. Just as you wouldn't expect a car from 1975 to have self-driving capabilities, there may be elements in this game that reflect the time it was designed. However, one can still appreciate the charm of that car and how it evokes a particular feeling while driving it. Similarly, this game possesses a certain charm that I find endearing, entertaining, intriguing, and, above all, fun. This game indeed benefits from house rules regarding movement around the board, as the standard mechanics can potentially lead to frustration. One alternative approach that I often employ is treating the movement as a worker placement game, allowing players to move between adjacent buildings without the need for dice rolls. This modification significantly speeds up the game, removes the luck factor of dice rolling, and minimizes frustration. While it may reduce some of the tension, it amplifies the importance of strategic decision-making when selecting the buildings to visit and in what order. In my experience, the true joy of this game lies in the process of solving the case rather than the movement mechanics. Thus, adopting this style of play addresses the issue and enhances the overall enjoyment. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone who appreciates deduction games, seeks a touch of nostalgic charm, or is a fan of the Sherlock Holmes universe. With 75 cases included in this version, it offers hours upon hours of engaging gameplay. I can envision playing through all these cases and this game becoming a beloved favourite for many years to come.

Excavation Earth: It Belongs In A Museum WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Brass: Birmingham, Power Grid, Bonfire. Published by: Mighty Boards Designed by: Dávid Turczi This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Excavation Earth is a fantastic game. You can check out my review for it here. In 2021, the first expansion, Second Wave, was released. Although I haven't played it myself, it introduced two new playable races, new achievements to pursue, wildcards offering new powers for your race, and the Observation Barge, which provides new ways to manipulate the market demand for artefacts and score points. It sounds great to me! Then, in 2022, the second expansion, It Belongs in a Museum was released. Fortunately, for the purposes of this review, I have played it. Let's bring it to the table and see how it plays. What's New? The It Belongs in a Museum expansion introduces two new modules and two new alien races, all of which are compatible with the first expansion. Here are the details: New Races: Seekers and Commanders - The expansion adds two new alien races for players to choose from. The Seekers race is particularly interesting as it allows you to send artefacts directly to the museum without needing to sample them first. This ability will make more sense when we discuss the museum addition below. On the other hand, the Commanders race enables you to resolve an excavate action when you take a command action, using the same card. It's exciting to have these new races available, as they provide unique gameplay options and strategies for players to explore. Mysterious Artefacts - Set Up: To incorporate the Mysterious Artefacts module expansion into the game, follow these steps: Place the five map overlay cards onto the main board, aligning them with the indicated locations in the rule book. Add the 12 Mysterious Artefacts, as shown below, into their corresponding coloured piles. If you draw a Mysterious Artefact during the set-up phase for the black market, place it on the map instead. No replacement card needs to be drawn. Additionally, there are four new command cards that should be added to the command deck. Place these cards among the existing command cards. Also, include the 21 Reverse Engineering cards in a face-down deck next to the command centre. Mysterious Artefacts - How To Play: During the excavate phase in the game, mysterious artefacts cannot be sampled. However, you must assign a crew cube to the tile as a "custodian" to protect other players from the potential dangers of the new artefacts. If you don't have an available cube to assign as a custodian, you cannot excavate the artefact. The new artefacts cannot be sold, but they can be moved from your cargo hold to the mothership when you place an envoy during the command phase. When you do this, the custodian is returned to your crew pool. Additionally, you must draw the top two reverse engineering cards, choose one, and place it face-up next to your player board as a new active power. The other card is placed at the bottom of the deck. At the end of the game, you will score points equal to the value shown on all of these reverse engineering cards. If you offload a mysterious artefact during the smuggle phase, you will gain six credits for each analysed mysterious artefact on the mothership. The offloaded artefact is then removed from the game along with its custodian. During the survey action, mysterious artefacts must be placed on the corresponding dig site on the map, and a replacement card is drawn. Shuffling it back or purchasing it is not allowed. Galactic Museum - Set Up: Shuffle the new command cards and reverse engineering cards featuring the museum symbol into their respective decks. Add the museum board to the table next to the mothership board and randomly place exhibition tiles on each space based on the player count, as shown in the manual. Next, take a buyer pawn from the supply based on the colour indicated on the top card in the buyer deck discard pile, and place it on the top space of the board. Then, draw the next card from the buyer deck and place the corresponding buyer pawn onto the middle space. These pawns represent the curators. Galactic Museum - How To Play: There is now a new action available during the main phase of the game, as depicted on the new player aids. It's called "Exhibit." To perform this action, you need to discard a card from your hand. Then, you have the option to send an artefact from your cargo hold to the museum board, regardless of whether it matches the card you discarded or not, or even both. Additionally, flip the top card of the buyer deck and place a new curator from the supply at the back of the museum queue. Move the remaining curators one space forward as indicated on the main board. In case you draw a wild card, you can select any other coloured buyer, but you cannot add the wild buyers to these spaces. For each artefact tile you move, you will place it into an empty exhibition tile that matches the icon and either matches or exceeds the value on the tile. If the artefact matches the colour of the tour guide on the corresponding row, you will gain the bonus of the column where you placed it. Additionally, whenever you move an artefact to the museum, you must assign one of your crew members as a tour guide for that artefact. If you place an artefact on the last empty tile of any column, each player with a tour guide in that column receives the benefit shown at the bottom of that column. Each tour guide present provides one benefit. At the end of the game, players will earn credits for their tour guides in the museum. Pop-Up Market: The pop-up markets are placed on the board after every sell action and during the preparation phases of rounds two and three, where one market is added. When you place a pop-up market on the board next to the dig site shown on the card, it is considered part of that dig site. This means you can now perform actions on these sites in addition to the usual ones. These market cards allow players to either buy artefacts at a discounted price or sell artefacts to gain special rewards, such as engineering cards. Excavation Earth: It Belongs in a Museum Expansion Board Game Review: Is It Fun? I am torn on this expansion. It is very good, and what it adds is simple and fun. However, in my opinion, the base game is already excellent. It doesn't have any real issues that need "fixing" through an expansion. Moreover, the base game can be quite complex to teach and play for the first time. Therefore, this expansion is only suitable for those who have played the base game extensively and are looking for something new. For those individuals, I would say, go ahead and get this expansion. You won't be disappointed. However, I'm not sure if Excavation Earth is the type of game that people play 25 times in a year. If you are returning to the game every couple of months or so, adding this expansion might be challenging without a rule refresher each time. That being said, if you are familiar with the base game and want to add more, this expansion will deliver for you. I particularly love the new factions and the museum board, which offers bonuses that add an element to the game different enough to make the expansion a success. I believe most people will find it to be a rewarding addition. The reverse engineering cards are also an excellent addition, providing exciting new options. I appreciate how the new modules encourage players to consider all the available options on their turn, more so than in the base game where players may have become accustomed to focusing on just a few turn options. This expansion encourages exploration of less commonly used options, such as the command option when playing with the Commander race. Overall, I would say this is an excellent expansion for an already excellent game that will not disappoint. However, you need to decide if you are comfortable with the added complexity to the base game. I would personally advise against purchasing this expansion until you have played the base game at least ten times. But if you have done so, it's likely that you enjoyed it a lot, and this expansion will bring you joy.

POP! Puzzles WBG Score: 7.5 Published by: Funko Games This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Ok, this is a jigsaw on a board game review site, but the last time I featured Jigsaws I got a lot of good feedback, so I thought I would look and see what other fun jigsaws were out there. I found these three beauties from Funko Games based on some pretty huge IP's Funko happen to be blessed with the rights for. So, lets check them out and see how they go. There are a number of different puzzles in this line including fan favourites such as Encanto and the awesome Ted Lasso (which you must watch if you haven't already). I have been sent Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic Park. I have been working my way through them but not quite finished them all yet. They are surprisingly hard! But rather than wait for my slow paced jigsaw skills to finish all of these puzzles, I wanted to share these with you now. They could be the perfect thing to get for those rainy summer days! The reason anyone would choose one puzzle over another is the art. I cannot really see any other reason to choose one over another. Can you? I suppose some like this one, previously reviewed, stand up from the parapet with some extra elements added such as hidden puzzles included within the art, which I love. But the main act is still about forming the puzzle and staring at the pieces for a few hours. So, you best like what you are staring at! Funko have sown up pretty much every major film and TV licence you can imagine within their Funko range, and this allows them to offer some pretty attractive puzzles. Blockbuster classics such as Jurassic park is going to span the generations, and Guardians has spawned many peoples favourite marvel characters from the recent movies. I am sure these are going to appeal to a lot of people. Avatar The last Airbender may not appear as natural a partner for these puzzles as you might originally think, but the 2010 movie made a tidy box office profit, there are a number of graphic novels out there; and although the sequels were all cancelled, there is a new series coming to Netflix next year. So, back to the puzzles. How hard are they? Well, at first, they look pretty easy. Nice big chunky pieces and some big elements to look for to form a base from such as these faces in the Guardians one. And, yes, they were relatively simple to do. It's the bits in the middle that are tricky! The first issue is there is no full easy image to copy. The box has the image on but covered by some logos in key places and that's it. The second issue is there are some very small detailed pieces with similar colours that make this quite tricky. And don't just take my word for it. My mother in law and mother who are both expert seasoned jigsaw puzzlers found this one very tricky. They got a lot more done than I did, and in a much quicker time, but found the smaller detailed sections as tricky as I did. This will not be a quick jigsaw by any means. But, stick with it and you will be rewarded with a bright, vibrant, and absorbing picture. Picture from Puzzles Galore. Each jigsaw is 18" x 24" and made up of 500 pieces. You can find them in the links above in the title of this review or from all good online stores. Enjoy!

Nidavellir WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Furnace Published by: GRRRE Games Designed by: Serge Laget This is the reviewer's copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey Some of you are probably wondering how to pronounce the title (you're definitely not alone in this). Some of you may be here because you recognise the name from Avengers Infinity War as the place with the giant dwarf that Thor got Stormbreaker from. Sadly anyone hoping to stare at cards with Chris Hemsworth on them will be disappointed, although there is a card that looks a lot like Robert Downey Jr so that's something. It is about dwarves though, just not giant ones, and even though it’s not the most thematic, it’s well worth your time checking it out. How to recruit a dwarf. First thing you’ll need to do is build the coin holder. It’s not that difficult and will easily fit into the box assembled. It’s not the sturdiest though, so my recommendation would be to grab a bit of PVA and glue it together. Give everyone a player board and their five starting coins. Shuffle the gems and give one to each player. Add or remove cards from each of the age decks according to player count. Place out the three taverns and place a number of age one cards under each one, one per player. Simultaneously each player will now secretly place one of their coins on each tavern space on their board face down. The two unused ones will go at the bottom face down. Once everyone has picked, everyone will flip over the first coin. The player who bid the higher value coin will get first pick of the dwarves at that tavern. They’ll take the card and put it in front of them and so on in bidding order until everyone has a card. You’ll do the same for the remaining two taverns, then set up and go again. If there is ever a tie for a tavern then the player with the highest gem will break the tie. Then the tied players will swap their gems. There’s protocol in the rule book for when multiple people tie and how the gem swap happens. There are five types of dwarves each with different coloured “ranks” (these are the coloured arrows on the card. I’ll go though how each type scores at the end. If you play a dwarf down and it completes a set (one of each dwarf) then you get to choose a hero to add to your army. These come in all different flavours, too many to go through here, but they add a lot of different ways to score. Every time you complete a new set you can pick another hero, even if playing a hero makes you complete another set. If a player/s bid their zero coin then, in turn order, that player flips over the two coins they didn’t bid, totals up their value and takes a coin of that value from the coin holder, then discards the higher of the two leftover coins. If the coin of the value you gained isn’t available then you simply take one of the next highest available. Some cards will also let you upgrade a coin by a certain value, usually 3 or 5. Once all the age one cards are gone you’ll have a “troop evaluation” phase where the player with the most ranks of each dwarf will take a special bonus. After that, age two will play out the same as age one. When that’s done, score up. Score for the total values of all your coins, then your dwarves, including your heroes. Green (Hunters) and Purple (blacksmiths) will score based on the handy chart on your board depending on how many you have. Blue (explorers) and red (warriors) will score the points on them, however, whoever has the most red will score their highest value coin again. The orange (miners) will score for the total values on times the number of ranks. Nobody outbids a dwarf! Nidavellir solves a problem for me that I have with some auction/bidding games, which is, If you can’t win what you want, then it’s easy to find yourself constantly on the back foot and it can get increasingly hard to claw your way back. Nidavellir doesn’t have that. Regardless of where you end up after each bid you’ll end up getting something that will net you points. Every card is useful in one way or another. Granted it may not be part of your well thought out plan and won’t be worth the max amount of points you were hoping for, but I’d take something over nothing anyday. It’s a strange attitude to have, I know, no one likes to “just settle”. We’d all rather have that card that scores us the big points. But somewhere down the road, that card that we “settled for” may just help us complete a set of dwarves. Even better, having that bit extra may set off a chain that will help us nab two heroes in one turn, which in turn may rack up more points than that 11 card ever could have gotten us. Don’t get me wrong being lumbered with a zero orange card a few times can still feel disheartening. But all it takes is a two orange card to wind up in your army and before you know it those seemingly dud cards are worth a lot of points! What’s fun is seeing that tableau of dwarves building up in front of you. But the real question is, how do you build it up? How does it look? Because it may not seem like it but this game has multiple paths to victory, and that’s just in your choice of regular dwarves alone! Going heavy on one or two types, with a smattering of others isn’t necessarily a bad option, neither is trying to get an equal balance to try and get as many heroes as you can. Whichever of the routes you decide to go for though, be prepared for your opponents to try and stop you. Since everything scores it may not be as much of a hindrance to nab cards you wouldn’t normally have gone for as it would be in other games. The heroes bring their own brand of chaos to the party. Each one will give their own way of scoring and could quite easily change up how you play the rest of your game, or enhance the plans you’ve already got in place. There are a lot of them though, which brings a huge amount of replayability as each game you can try out different combinations. The downside to this is that, whilst a lot of them are fairly self explanatory, be prepared to be doing a lot of rule book diving everytime someone gains a hero. The rule book does a great job of explaining them in their own section. But generally new players will end up going for the easier to explain ones rather than listen to what each one does…..or maybe they’re just sick of the sound of my voice! You have my axe……and my upgradeable coin. Although the bidding mechanism isn’t one I’m always drawn to, the game's bidding system, along with the coin upgrades is what really makes it shine. Everytime you lay a coin down is a gamble. Now normally that's because you don’t want to use your best coin only to find out that no one else really cared about that tavern and went low, so you could’ve used it elsewhere. In Nidavellir though, realising you used a high coin like that meant that you missed a potential opportunity to upgrade it for a better coin. Just knowing that you could have used your zero coin there causes that “argh” moment that is oh so prevalent in games but is weirdly something I love. But the bidding and drafting element creates all of this game's tension and moments of relief. Relief as you realise the card you want is still available, even though you didn’t go first. But tension as you watch people’s hands hover near the cards you want in what can only be described as a slow motion that Zac Snyder would be proud of (don’t worry, it won’t drag the game out to four hours) The system offers at least half, potentially even more of the game's strategy. There’s always a temptation to bid as high as possible to try and get as best a card as you can, but you also don’t want to neglect upgrading your coins. Not only because you can keep as competitive as possible in the later stages of bidding, but because those points are just as important as the ones you claim from everything else in the game. Nidavellir takes a mechanic that I try to avoid and turns it into a game that’s quick, has a ton of replayability and is one that I want to play again as soon as it’s over.

Picky Eaters Player Count: 2 - 6 Published by: Le Fou Designed by: Tanya Basu, Avi Setton Artist: Alex Hoskins This is a prototype copy sent to us for preview. Since this is a prototype please bear in mind that some elements of art, design or rules may change. See our preview policy here Check out the kickstarter page here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pickyeaters/picky-eaters?ref=discovery By Steve Godfrey It’s probably fair to say that picky eaters aren’t necessarily the most popular people to have at a dinner party. As you spend your time lovingly preparing a beautiful meal, only to then have to find space in the oven for some chicken nuggets and chips. I’d also go so far to say that the person on the opposite end of the scale, the one who eats everything can be just as bad as the aforementioned meal is then mixed together with all of the side dishes to form a concoction that even the giants from the BFG would turn their noses up at. I live with both types…….send help! How to be a picky eater. Place the guest cards and the food deck in the middle of the table. Give the first player token to the person who last went grocery shopping and you're basically set up. At the start of each round reveal the top card of the guest deck and fill up the market with twice the number of cards as players. In a two player game place out six. Give everyone five cards from the food deck or six in a two or three player game. If anyone has more than ten cards in their hand at this point then they discard down to ten. On your turn you can take one of the following actions. You can take a card from the market into your hand. This market doesn’t get refilled when you take a card. You can prepare a recipe in your hand by paying the ingredient cards on it and playing it in front of you. Once per recipe you can substitute one ingredient by spending three cards in its place. You can have a maximum of five recipes in front of you but you can always replace a recipe with a different one regardless of how many you have in front of you. Play an item card by following the rules on the card. Some will be played on yourself and others can be played on other players. You can discard two cards to draw one from the deck or you can pass. The round will end once all players have passed. After five rounds count up everyone’s points. Every recipe in front of you is worth two points. Then take into account any modifiers from item cards on the recipes. Some will add points and some will subtract points. Each guest has a list of recipes on them that are broken down into, favourites, likes, dislikes and restrictions. You’ll get 4 extra points if a recipe you’ve made is a guest’s favourite, 2 for a like, -1 for a dislike and -3 for a restriction. Total everything up and most points wins. Can I have some ketchup with that? Each round of Picky Eaters will potentially throw the food equivalent of a spanner in the works of your best laid plans (I’m thinking a carrot would work as a good spanner replacement?) Each round you’ll be taking cards from the market or the deck all in the hope that you can play down the perfect recipe for the array of guests that are already out in front of you, and once it’s down you can’t help but feel that you’ve got this all under control. It’s a nice feeling knowing you’ve got a high scoring recipe in front of you. The problem is that the next guest could be anyone with all manner of food requirements. It’s like Schrödingers patron. They could either have likes that suit your recipes perfectly, or despise everything you’ve played so far. It’s because of this constant change that you can’t rest on your laurels. Luckily the game lets you change out an existing recipe with another (when you complete it and play it down of course). It’s a great way to stop yourself from getting caught out by bad luck. Take That…..and eat your vegetables. Just because you’ve been lucky enough with the recipes, it doesn’t mean that your opponents have to take it lying down. FYI don’t lay down during a dinner party, it’s rude and you’ll get food in your hair. The game incorporates a few “take that” cards into the mix. Cards like Extra Seasoning (which over seasons a recipe) and Hot Plate (which stops you from replacing a recipe) are there just to mess with your opponents, but equally there are some item cards that are used to enhance your recipes and even swap out guests. Use that last one with caution though, it could end up being more useful for others than yourself. I know that “take that” style cards aren’t always to everyone’s taste, but replacing that recipe will get rid of any cards that are placed on it and you never know, this may actually end up being an advantage depending on the guests that come out. The only one that will truly mess with you is the hot plate. Picky eater or picky chef? Making recipes is the name of the game here and ideally you want to try and make at least one per round to feel like you're being productive, or, at the very least have a couple ready to go as a reaction to a future guest. However the market is limited so you have to hope that the deck is your friend. Discarding two cards from your hand to draw from the deck can be a blessing or a curse, just like any blind draw. However, being able to discard three cards in place of one ingredient has been the difference between me playing a recipe or not on many occasions. A little behind the scenes here, the three card rule was added after I received my copy due to feedback from others who had received prototypes and got them played before I got a chance to. It’s nice to hear that the designers are listening to feedback and willing to create and implement changes so quickly if they feel it’s needed. About the chefs. I really like the amount of diverse foods included. That alongside Alex Hoskins' great art has made me go and look up a few that I’ve not heard of in the hope of giving them a try in the future. The guests included are just as diverse, I mean you can’t get more diverse than a sentient robot vacuum with its own tastes. At this point I’m not sure if it should be classed as being picky or just a huge step forward in vacuum based AI. It’s also nice to have little food facts on the bottom of the cards. If Picky Eaters sounds like it could be a game for you be sure to check out their Kickstarter page here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pickyeaters/picky-eaters?ref=discovery and sign up to be notified when they launch on the 11th July 2023.

You Can't Say Umm WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 4-10 You’ll like this if you like: Articulate, Sounds Fishy, Wits & Wagers. Published by: Big Potato Games This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Made for the TikTok generation, "You Can't Say Umm" is the perfect game to buy for any outgoing gaming group or young teenage family member, providing them with the materials to create great content! It seems to be part of a slight shift from the type of games Big Potato Games is currently producing – games that are more contemporary and aimed at a younger audience. However, they remain approachable, easy to learn, and fun! I believe these are the main goals for any Big Potato Game production. Let's bring it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up You Can't Say Umm Split into two teams and sit together in groups, ideally. If you have an odd number of players, one player can act as the referee, which can still be a fun role, especially for someone who enjoys punishing their friends! One team will take the pink scoring marker, while the other team takes the black one. Place these markers on the score board in the starting position. Deal six rule cards to each team. As a group, decide which three rule cards you want to give to the other team and discard the remaining three. Then, without looking at the new cards, each team will pass their chosen three cards to the opposing team. Place these cards face down in front of your team. Lay out the cards labeled stack A and stack B face down, and have the first player from the starting team draw one card from each pile. The other team will take the egg timer and dinger. Flip the timer, and the game begins. How To Play You Can't Say Umm The player going first is the describer. They must look at the two words on the cards they drew and describe them to their team in any way possible without using the words on the cards. If they pause, stutter, or say "um" or "err" at any point, the other team can ding the bell, and they will score a point. If the describer can get their team to correctly guess the two words together in the right order, they will score a point. The describer can go through as many of the two-card words as possible within the 45 seconds. Then play passes to the other team. When describing, there is no passing on any cards, although I would suggest allowing this if playing with younger players. As you move up the score tracker, you will reach yellow spaces. When you do, you must flip the corresponding rule card, previously placed in front of your team, face down. For the rest of the game, the players on this team must obey this new rule. It could be a new word you cannot say or a letter that your team can no longer use at the beginning of any words. Any time this new rule is broken, the bell is rung, and a point is scored by the opposing team. The final stages of the scoring track display exclamation marks, indicating the danger zone. When your score marker is in the danger zone, no member of your team can say "umm" or "err," even when guessing. This serves as a great catch-up mechanic that allows a team that is far behind to quickly and easily catch up to the leading team. The first team to reach the end of the scoring track wins. Is It Fun? You Can't Say Umm Board Game Review This game guarantees laughter! Everyone tends to say "umm" and "err," especially under time pressure. In this game, points are awarded to the opposing team when someone makes these slips, and it happens frequently. The result is nothing short of hysterics from all involved. I have yet to play a game where the entire group hasn't been brought to tears of laughter multiple times. If you're looking for a party game that generates laughter, this is the one to get! Now, it won't be for everyone. Those who dislike being put under time pressure in front of others may find this game challenging. However, they can always take on the role of the referee and still feel involved. For younger players, you might want to allow passing and give them a little more time. Other than that, I found that this game works well for ages 10 and up. Although, I should warn you that younger children may struggle with being in the spotlight if they feel they have failed or let their team down. However, with a group of adults who enjoy this type of game, I can't think of much else I'd rather play at a party. It's like a modern-day version of Articulate with some silly twists added. And it's those twists that will keep you coming back for more, game after game. There are a lot of cards in this game, and since you only use six each time, it will take you a long time to see all these rules. They are simple but add enough change to make each session feel different and create a sense of progression in each game. I love how the game gets harder as you progress up the points tracker, leading to a close and tense finish every time. It's difficult for a runaway leader to maintain a significant lead in this game, especially as the game becomes more challenging. The giggles usually take over for most players, making it harder to think straight or even utter a few coherent words within the 45-second time limit. I would highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a party game that works well with four players and up, and who enjoys having noisy fun with their group. It's the perfect game to play at parties as it includes everyone, both players and spectators. It provides a hilarious spectator experience and allows for quick gameplay, enabling multiple games so that everyone gets a chance to play. While it suggests up to eight players, you can easily play with larger groups. Everyone will enjoy being a guesser, and even if not everyone gets a turn as the describer, it's still enjoyable for everyone regardless of the role they play.

Get The Ick WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 2-8 You’ll like this if you like: Herd Mentality, Sounds Fishy, Wits & Wagers. Published by: Big Potato Games This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Big Potato Games sure do know how to create fun! And they have done it again with this small box party game that can be learnt in seconds. The game is based on guessing what sort of things your friends and family either really like, or find really icky! It's a simple "know your friends" style game but with some very modern themes. This all comes from a TikTok trend that two members of the Big Potato social media team, Nat and Lily, thought would make a good game. How cool is that? Good you you Nat and Lily! Let's get it to the table to see how it plays. How To Set Up Get The Ick Open the box and give each player one of the small square emoji faces. One side will show a heart eyes emoji face, the other showing the "eek" face, which for this game represents the "ick"! One player who starts as the chooser will take the four larger circular single sided pieces. Shuffle the cards and deal three face up. All players will now read the cards and you are ready to play. How To Play Get The Ick The player with the four large tokens is in the hot seat. They will now place three tokens from these four available face down, one each next to the three cards. Two of the tokens show a blank face, one has a love face and the final one has an eek/ick face. The player in the hot seat does not have to use both of the emoji faces, but must use the ick token. Either two blanks and one ick emoji face will be placed face down, or one blank and two emoji's. The other players now need to guess what this player has chosen, placing their one small coloured token down to one of the three cards, either love eyes face up or eek/ick face up. They have one token so can only pick one thing for one card. When all players have placed their token, the hot seat player will now flip their tokens to reveal what they love or hate. Players will score one point for a correctly guessed ick, three for correctly guessed love (both for the player in the hot seat and anyone who chose it), and zero for an incorrect guess. If half or more of the players guess the ick correctly the choosing player scores a point. If the choosing player in the hot seat used the love token and no one guesses this correctly, they loose one point. Play them moves round one space, and the next player is in the hot seat choosing with three new cards. You can play for fun, a timed game, or to a certain points target. It's up to you. The rules suggests you play for as long as it takes for each player to have a turn in the hot seat choosing, but I found this to be way too short! You will want the fun to lost way longer than that. Get The Ick Party Game Review - Is It Fun? Will you enjoy this game? Well, ask yourself this. Do you enjoy spirited conversations with your friends and family? That's all this is. Inside this small box you will find all you need to create a great conversation. Of course, this is a gamified conversation where you are trying to guess what things your fellow players like and dislike. But ultimately, this is about enjoying time with fellow humans. Sat round a table, or relaxed on a coach, Get The Ick gives you the tools to discuss, debate, argue, cheer, and become thunderstruck by your friends choices. "You don't hate it when...?" "You like that?!" You will hear a lot of cries of surprise such as this when you play. As players realise that not everyone shares the same beliefs as them. And what a joy that is. There will also be the satisfaction as you guess your friends likes and dislikes correctly. But it always seems to be the wrong guesses that evoke the biggest reactions. And what fun that is! The cards are brilliant. Contemporary. Relevant. Universally accessible. Thought provoking. But most importantly, funny. The odd card did not work for my younger child (seven) but it is very easy to discard, flip or replace. Knowing that your family knows you find certain things amusing or not is strangely satisfying. Finding out your friends think you are way nicer than you actually are is also quite amusing. Although, perhaps potentially damaging! The game is light-hearted, good intentioned, and full of cheer. Approach the game with the same mentality and you will have a blast. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys games with friends or family that spark debate and discussion and enjoys a laugh as they play.

Honeycombs WBG Score: 7 Player Count: 1-8 You’ll like this if you like: Bananagrams, Tri-ominos, Rummikub. Published by: Gibsons Designed by: Dave Clarke This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. I'm always on the look out for new games that work in any environment. Games I can play outside or by the pool. In a pub or restaurant waiting for food. Wind, rain, or shine. Honeycombs is a delightful game that ticks a lot of these boxes, although it does require a decent amount of table space, so not ALL pubs! The lovely, weighty acrylic pieces that make up 100% of this game bar the canvas bag are robust, waterproof, and weighty. They would work anywhere. So, let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Honeycombs There are three main game modes. For the first variant, in a two plyer game each player takes 26 tiles. For a three player, take 17. For four player's, each person takes13 tiles. Stack your tiles into three face up piles in front of you. When all players are ready, spread all your tiles face up in front of you. You are now ready to play. For the second game mode, place one tile in the middle of the table and then each player draws three tiles to their hand. Keep the rest in the bag for now. For the third mode, simply place all tiles face up on the table. How To Play Honeycombs For game mode one, players will now race to piece all their tiles together. The rules are simple. All pieces that touch must do so with matching symbols. You can only have one piece that only touches one side of another piece. The rest must touch at least two sides. When one player has connected all their pieces, they shout HONEYCOMBS and then each player must stop, and check the person to their right to see if they have made any mistakes with misconnections. If they have, then the mismatched piece must be removed. All players then score all correct connections, one point for each match plus a bonus five points if any tiles correctly matched all six sides with other tiles. All unused tiles will lose you one point. The player with the most points after three rounds wins. For the second game mode, players take it in turns to connect one of their three tiles in hand to the central shared honeycomb. After you have played one tile, draw back up to three tiles. As you place tiles, you will score one point for each match, and a bonus five if you are ever able to connect all six sides of one tile. Once all 52 tiles are placed, the game ends and the player with the most points wins. Note, there are three special symbols on some tiles that come into effect in this game mode. The x2 offers double points on anything earnt that turn. The robber symbol allows players to shout STEAL when it is not their turn, and play a steal tile, collecting points as usual, and forcing another player to miss their turn. The game then continues with the next scheduled player. The arrow lets you take an additional turn after playing a tile with this symbol. And finally, the Bee allows the player who played this tile to chose one symbol on this tile to become wild. The third game mode works simply with all players working together to try and form one giant honeycomb. You can score as you place tiles if you wish, or just try and make all the tiles connect. Your choice. We like to see how many we can do in a time limit. 10 minutes generally works. Although we rarely do them all! There is always a couple left! But it seems to be the right length for some tension, but not too much to make it stressful! Is It Fun? Honeycombs Board Game Review The quality of these tiles is wonderful. They feel great in your hands. But not every version of this game is the same. I would urge caution when buying this game to check the tiles and what they are made of. This Gibson's version is the one to try I would recommend. This seems to be the one that most retailers stock, but there are some others out there with lower quality tiles. There are also some versions with slightly different rules such as being allowed two single tile connections instead of the one here. Playing Honeycomb feels very different based on the version you are playing. It can go from a relaxing jigsaw puzzle style cooperative experience, to a more race style challenge not dissimilar to the feeling of playing Bananagrams. If you do not like one style, try another. This game can suit most moods. I like the variations based on your mood and the opportunity to play this as a solo experience, one I find very relaxing. I would recommend this game to any family. The game is so versatile and robust, it will work with most people, situations, or moods. I am delighted to have this in my collection and can see this get many plays in the future. It's lucky the tiles are so durable!