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Cartaventura Odyssey WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Choose Your Own Adventure, Tales of Arabian Nights, Forgotten Waters. Published by: BLAM ! Designed by: Thomas Dupont, Ophélie Gibert This is a review copy. See our review policy here Minor spoiler ahead in the red text - very easy to avoid if you want too. There are a number of games in this range. You can read a bit about a few of them here. They seem to have landed well and so the team behind this have made a load more. This includes the 2022 release Cartaventura: Odyssée – Le Trésor de Libertalia which now has an English release. If you are a fan of choose-your-own-adventure style games, this could well be for you. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Cartaventura Odyssey Take the main deck of cards and the three place mats out of the box. Lay the three placemats down, left to right. It is worth reading the small bit of text on these to confirm their role in the game, but essentially one holds the main deck, one is for discarding cards onto, helpful for setting up subsequent games, and the final one holds the special cards. More on that later. And that's it! The game will teach you the rest. Very quickly, and in a highly engaging way. How To Play Cartaventura Odyssey Take the top card from the main deck and give it a read. The game will teach you the rest but if you want to get a flavour then read on, but be mindful that there will be very minor spoilers in the next red paragraphs after the next picture if you do. Things will get non-spoiler after the red text. You will play as a young sea faring adventurer. You will be very quickly presented with choices about where you want to go and what you want to do. This is done largely by a map being created in front of you with the cards, and a choice of other cards to travel towards placed next to these. You will see a map tile like below with numbers on the compass point in the bottom right. You will then place cards matching those numbers from the main deck in the corresponding positions. They will present choices to you, which if you choose, you will flip the card, or draw the shown card and proceed from their. The below example are non matching cards to avoid spoilers as best I can. As you progress through the story, certain cards will be discarded, even if you didn't visit them, so your choices really do matter. You will inevitably come to a specific ending, based on your choices. The ending will have a title and you will be told to mark that title off on the final card which shows all the possible endings. You can then go back and start again, aiming for a different ending, or move to chapter two. In total there are three chapters. Is It Fun? Cartaventura Odyssey Board Game Review If you enjoy chose-your-own-adventure style games you will love this. There is a real sense of adventure as you play. But also control. Your destiny will very much be in your hands as you make your way through the divergent story. The rules and way you learn is so natural and well thought out out. You can sit down and start playing right from opening the box. What few rules that do exist are explained to you over the course of the first few cards, incorporated into the story. It is a seamless and simple to grasp process. In this tiny box, there is a lot of story and a few surprises hidden away. The three chapter's will take you roughly 30 minutes each, and can be replayed over and over for the various different endings. As a bit of a completist, I have done this for chapter one and two multiple times now, but still have a few more endings for chapter three to find. You cannot always manipulate the game to go in the exact the direction you want, but you can of course simply make different choices to see where it takes you. As such, I do always enjoy my first attempt at each chapter the most. There, I am making the choice I want to, rather than the ones I need to, to find alternative endings. But, when I make bad choices on my initial game, it is fun to try and make better ones in later attempts. Although, it does feel a little like I am cheating! Ooh, I won't go there, I know that ends badly! If you are a fan of chose-your-own-adventure games then I would recommend checking this series out. The version you get will be based on the theme that attracts you the most. I do not want to say too much about this one, to avoid spoilers, but I think you can get a flavour from the box art! This is all about adventures at sea, set a few hundred years ago. It feels like being in your very own Pirates of the Caribbean movie, just without the confusing interconnected storyline and poor editing. But let's not get into that here!

Little Explorers WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: How ever many you want to fit around a tablet or smart phone. You’ll like this if you like: Treasure hunts! Published by: XD Productions, Hachette Boardgames UK This is a review copy. See our review policy here Little Explorers is out later this year. At the start of December 2023 from what I can see on the pre-orders available. It comes from XD Productions, a company that seems to specialise in AR technology, not games. With Little Explorers they have fused together their knowledge of the AR world with games with the help of Hachette Board games UK it seems. The result is an intriguing experience that my family and I have found to be really rather quite captivating. Let's get it to the table/house and see how it plays. How To Set Up Little Explorers Inside the box are three separate stand alone missions. One themed about Dinosaurs, another pirates, and the final one Space. Perfect for any little adventurer. Pick the one you want to do and then take the five cards and one map used for this game. You will need to scan the QR code on the back of the fold out map to download the app. The game doesn't work without this and will need to download the game and then the three challenges, but then the app can work offline. Next, someone needs to hide the five cards used in the game you chose around the house. Ideally you need to have them found in a particular sequence, the order of which seemingly can only be discovered from placing them on the map and joining up the back of the cards image to the map. They don't appear to be numbered and the rules are very light, in that, there are none! Below is all that can be found in the box in the way of rules. Although there is a brief tutorial on the app, but this doesn't talk about the rules either. However if you find and scan the wrong card it simply tells you to find another and you can come back to this one later. You can hide the cards anywhere you like in your house, or wherever really. Obviously you don't want to make it too difficult for the children playing to find them, and like I mention above, ideally you want them found in order. We found it best to hide each one in a different room and tell the children to look in each room in a specific order. When you are done, get the children to hold the tablet or phone you are using to play the game and click through the tutorial and start the game. How To Play Little Explorers The players will now walk around, trying to find the five cards. When they do find one, scan it with the device and it will either say it is the wrong one or create an AR world on the device in whatever environment you are playing in. This will begin the story of the adventure you are playing and will ask you to interact somehow with the screen. Mostly with just a few taps and swipes, but all linked very well with the animation and story. With each game, one of the cards is cut up into a jigsaw. So you can leave this separated and challenge the people playing when they find it to piece it together before they can scan it. When all five cards are found and have been successfully interreacted with, the game will ask you to lay them all out on the map for that game, and then scan them all together. You will then enter the final challenge which again will require some minor taps and swipes on the device you are using, before rewarding you with the final animation. The entire game will be timed so you can play over and over, trying to beat yours or other peoples times. The game also comes with some party invites, eight for each of the three challenges. So children can invite friends round to play with them, or the whole thing can be used to organise a children's party. Each game takes around ten minutes to complete, although you can of course make that harder by hiding the cards in more tricky places, but I am not sure how much fun that is? There are three games in the box, so 30 minutes for the lot. Perfect for a kids party I would say. Is It Fun? Little Explorers Board Game Review The game is very simple and the interaction with the AR is still somewhat limited but the concept and experience itself is intriguing and novel enough for any child aged between 6-10 to be quite captivated by it. You need to find a delicate balance between how hard you make it to find the cards. Too easy and everything is over in minutes. Too hard and you may loose their attention. And because this part of the game is played in the real world, it is entirely up to you how you do this. We have tried each of the three missions a few times each. Racing against each others times. My children are eight and ten, the perfect age for this. I can see us trying again a few more times, and the kids themselves playing alone now they know how to do it. They enjoy setting it up and hiding the cards around the house now, more than the actual game itself. There is some decent longevity and replayability here. The app works pretty well, but you do need to scan each code for a good few seconds, holding the device very still for it to work, and you need good light to do this. It works better on phones that iPads we found, but the slight delay and awkwardness of this part can loose younger children's interest. At the end of the game, the cards you found need to then be returned to the main map and place on it in order. We found some maps want the cards facing up, and others facing down. There seems to be no rhyme of reason for this, and in a timed game, working this out on the fly can be frustrating. Minor quibbles aside, I would recommend this game to anyone who is looking to find a game for a small group of 6-10 year olds to play within a 20 minute time frame. Devices are required but this game very much brings people out of the screen and into the real world in really rather a beautiful way as you are only ever looking at the screen for a small amount of time. The experience is unique, highly interactive, and offers a lot of fun as you go.

Quoridor WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Go, Chess, SHŌBU Published by: Gigamic Designed by: Mirko Marchesi This is a review copy. See our review policy here Quoridor was first made in 1997 and is a reimplementation of another game Pinko Pallino made in 1995. It is one of the many games redesigned in the wooden Gigamic range distributed in the UK by Hachette Boardgames UK. It mixes classic elegance with modern board game production. Let's get it to the table to see if it is any good. How To Set Up Quoridor Each player will choose one of the four player pawns. This is placed in the middle on the front row by each player, either side of the board, facing each other. Distribute 10 fences to each players side, placed horizontally into the slots behind each players line. You are now ready to play. You don't have to put them there, you could just leave them to the side if you wish. But it is a nice visual aid to remind players how many each player has left. Which is pretty important in the game. How To Play Quoridor On each players turn they can do one of two things. Either move their pawn one space orthogonally in any direction, or place one of their unused fences anywhere on the board. When you run out of fences you must move. The fences can be placed vertically or horizontally, they don't have to be touching but must be in a complete space, they cannot straddle more than two blocks. The object of the game is to get your pawn to your opposing players base line, whilst stopping them from doing this to you. You can use fences to obstruct them but you cannot form a complete blockage across the board. There must always be a path for a pawn to move to the back line. You must slow them down but you cannot stop them altogether. When two pawns face each other you can then jump over the opposing pawn. If there is a fence blocking your landing on a jump, this is the only time you can move diagonally. You can play this game two player or four player. In a four player game the four pawns are placed on either end of the board, one per side. Each player is given five fences. The rules of the game are the same, jumping is still aloud, but can only only ever jump one pawn at a time. Is It Fun? Quoridor Board Game Review Playing this game feels a lot like a mix between Chess and Checkers. There is the delicate balance needed between attack and defence. With limited turn options, but seemingly endless opportunities. The game flows very quickly and you will find early games race by as players learn the various strategies available. Later games can become a little more of a stalemate, especially if one player begins to mirror another players moves. But as you must move when you have no fences, the stale mate can only last so long. Players must remain vigilant not to get too close to the other player, or they may offer them the chance to jump over them, gain valuable ground, and race to the base line. But you also do not want to waste any movement or turns moving away or moving backwards. This game is all about efficiency. One wrong move can often be enough to seal your fate. There are some hilarious moments as you play. Players often will try and block other players in, forcing them down winding paths, away from their goal. On occasions it can work out beautifully that you can manipulate the other player to go one way, only to block the path at the last minute, making them backtrack and go back the other way. But be careful as you are doing this to another player they don't simply go and do the same to you, but better! The opportunities to do some really clever and unexpected things with the fences in this game feels endless! As you learn the game, more options and ideas will come to your mind. You will start to pull out more intricate and forward thinking plans. Just like chess. It is an utter joy to develop your skills in this game. Online, the game has a huge following. You can play online for free on BGA. There are also some great online strategy guides worth checking out if you want to take the game a little more seriously. Here is a good one offering some good starting moves. My only downside is the fences are a little wonky, and the groves in the board seem to be cut a little haphazardly. There could be a little more craftsmanship in this game. But if you want a nice coffee table game to leave out and pick and up play easily when guests come round, this could be perfect for you. If you want a game you could obsess over for months on end, this also could be the game you are seeking. It is so versatile and offers a quick, fun, and layered gaming experience, one I would recommend to anyone. Available from amazon.co.uk and all good Hobby Stores.

Isla Board Game Preview - This is a prototype version and does not represent the final quality or ruleset of the game. Isla is from the team behind 2020 release Salvage Hidden Treasures. Ocean City Games Ltd are back again, this time with a roll-and-write themed around exploring a mysterious island. The game is coming to Kickstarter in 2024. You can get more information about the game and crowd funding campaign here. The game works very simply by all players taking a player sheet, pen, and setting up their items in a random fashion on each marked space. Each player will place their character in the start space on the bottom left of the sheet and the five dice tiles on the matching coloured and shaped space on the bottom left of the sheet. One player will then shuffle and set up the threat deck, placing it face down in the central area, along with the five dice. Finally, take the Exploration deck, shuffle that and deal the first four cards face up. Give one player the first player card and you are ready to go. Players will now take it in turns to be the lead player. Players will either be exploring which means moving through the island, researching which means exchanging tokens you have found for the research cards, or resting, to get a dice back. When exploring, you will choose the number on one of the rolled dice and move the shown number of spaces. If you move over a token you can take it for your collection. When exploring, you must move the token for the dice you chose to cover that dice symbol on your player sheet. This shows that you cannot use this dice again. If you move over a symbol on the map that shows a dice colour and shape, you can refresh that dice. When researching, you do not move, but instead hand in previously attained tokens to claim a research card. These will give you end game points. When resting, you simply refresh the left most used dice. You can only rest once per game, but one token that you can collect as you explore does gives you a second rest if you move through it. Whenever you roll a one you must draw a threat card. The old rules said you had to take one threat card for each one rolled. This made the game pretty tough and highly unpredictable. I think they made the right decision to update this rule. Most of the threat cards are bad you see. They restrict your movement, make you exhaust dice, or even give other players the power to act on your behalf. Some though do give you end game points if you can cover entire areas on the board. Something that is quite hard to do in your early games. One you have chosen if you are exploring, researching or resting, the first player rolls the dice and the players all carry out their actions. Multiple players can use the same dice, but players must take it in turn order if more than one player is researching. Once a card has been researched it is replaced by another. Each round one card is replaced too. So these are constantly being refreshed. The game ends when all players reach the exit in the top right of the map. Points are awarded to the first player who made it out, how far out of the map you managed to escape, how many dice you have unused at the end of the game, and for all of your completed research cards. Then, minus points are awarded, -1 for each unexplored space on the map! This creates in interesting balance between racing to get out first, whilst covering all spaces. Another change to the rules sees the player coming out second also receiving some points, three points versus five for the first space. I think this again is a good change to avoid the race for the finish being as important. In multiplayer mode, the desire to effectively move through as many spaces as possible whilst managing the quickly depleting resource of usable dice is negatively affected by the race element. I feel players need to have more reasons to cover the island in full other than negative points, which I hate in games. Secret challengers known only to them perhaps, that force them to visit certain spots on the map, or cover certain areas in full so slow people down. In solo mode however, this is very different. The set up for solo mode is very similar. Take out the threat deck. Also remove the first player token, and replace them with one of the four Keeper. There are four to chose from, each with a different degree of difficulty. Each one has a starting location as shown on the back, along with a little back story. Place any other non-playing character piece onto the Keeper starting location to represent your enemy. In the solo game you are looking to get as many points as possible, whilst avoiding the Keeper capturing you which happens if its piece ever moves through or onto your spot. The Keeper moves after your action each round. You do this by drawing the top research card. On the bottom left of this card a symbol is shown, not used on the multi-player game. This links to the symbols shown on the Keeper card, and it will move closer to you accordingly. It s a very simple but effective way to add some tension to the solo player game that works for me so much better than the multi-player version. The game becomes so much more than a race to the finish, and more what it should be. A resource management game. The resource in this game big the dice. You will be amazed by how quickly you run out of dice if you do not manage them properly. Will you use the higher valued dice to move further and more efficiently through the island, covering more ground more quickly, but in turn move away from the lower dice refresh spots that are situated at the bottom of the island. Or will you work you way slowly but surely through the island in an organised manner, refreshing dice as you go, starting slowly and building up? The race against another player who perhaps may be playing faster than you and going for that finish bonus is removed. It is replaced with the tension of the slowly advancing Keeper. Which, even with carefully made plans, and on easy mode, offers a significant challenge. It will either not move, or race forward one to three spaces. If you stay still to research, or run out of the higher dice, or force yourself to reply on a specific role, you can be easily caught. This is a wonderful tension that builds on the games suspense and enjoyment for me. Solo is where this game shines. If you are looking for a new roll-and-write game, and enjoy playing these solo, this well could be one for you to check out in 2024 when it comes to Kickstarter. I for one will continue to follow it closely.

Elios WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Azul, Mandala Published by: Helvetiq Designed by: Philippe Proux Distributed in the UK by: Coiledspring Games This is a review copy. See our review policy here Philippe Proux likes making games with lovely bits of wood. I like playing games made of lovely pieces of wood. Seems like a pair made in heaven! There is something so satisfying about the tactile experience of holding a well fashioned piece of wood in your hands. But is this game any more than that? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Elios Place two yellow discs into the central playing area, leaving the others to the side, and place one beam of each colour around them. The beams can be placed in any order but a nice grading of colour may be more satisfying to your eye. Then give each player one white Joker piece each (two in a two player game) and depending on player count, either 16, ten, or eight other randomly drawn pieces from the bag, for a two, three, or four player game respectively. Each player will then place the beams they draw in front of them in groups of one to three. A group can never contain two beams of the same colour. The last player to finish this process starts. You are now ready to begin. How To Play Elios Players are looking to get rid of all of their pieces in front of them, placing them onto matching colours in the central playing area. You can never place a piece on a level higher than the central sun, and when needed, you can use your white pieces as jokers. On your turn, players will carry out one of three actions. Place all pieces in a group. If you can, players can place up to three pieces at a time onto matching pieces on the middle. Making sure to not place higher than the current central yellow discs. All beams must be placed onto the same level. Place one central yellow disc from the reserve onto the yellow discs in the middle to raise the level. Split one of your groups. You can turn a group of three into two separate groups of one and two. Or a group of two into two single pieces. The Jokers can be placed on any colour, and any colour can be placed on the Jokers. The first player to place their final piece is the winner. In a four-player game, players play in teams of two, working together alternatively to try and place all of their pieces. Is It Fun? Elios Board Game Review Elios is a thing of beauty. Both to the touch and to the eyes, the game just oozes class, feels wonderful, and looks bright and cheerful. To play, the game is incredibly simple, but wonderfully satisfying. Games are fast, and often played for us in sets of three of four. One game is never enough. Especially if you lose quickly! It can be frustrating to be forced into placing another central yellow disc when you are out of options elsewhere, and simply helping the other players. It has happened on occasions where a player has placed a yellow disc on their turn, only then for the next two players to take full advantage of this and leave the player who played the yellow disc no other options on their next turn that to place yet another disc! You can always split your groups instead of doing this, but if you groups are fully split, it may be your only legal option. Looking to your opposing players available colours you will see that you will be setting them up for a very good turn. This can be annoying. However, this is uncommon; and if you plan ahead, mostly avoidable. And the satisfaction gained from looking ahead, predicting your opponents moves correctly, and slowly placing all your beams is very satisfying. The beams do feel wonderful in your hands too, and everything just looks and feels so joyful. There is a tactile pleasure and satisfaction to this game that certainly elevates its score for me. I enjoy playing with pieces like this and find it does increase my own sense of enjoyment. I would recommend this game to any family who enjoy quick, fun, simple games that can be played with minimal fuss or preparation. I can imagine this be problematic for those with colour blindness though, there are no symbols or shapes here. Just solid blocks with different colours. Elios has captured my heart with it's pure and honest pleasures. It offers a solid and robust production, clear and simple rule set, and hours of fun and satisfaction.

Downforce Wild Ride WBG Score: 9/10 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Camel Up, Long Shot The Dice Game, Flamme Rouge Published by: Restoration Games, 2 Pionki, IELLO Designed by: Rob Daviau, JR Honeycutt, Justin D. Jacobson Distributed in the UK by: Coiledspring Games This is a review copy. See our review policy here Downforce is one of my favourite racing games of all time. It is so simple to teach and play but has layers that feel so juicy! For my full review of the base game you can check here. There are a few expansions for this game. First came the 2018 expansion Downforce: Danger Circuit which added two new tracks to race on and six new race powers. Then in 2020 Wild Ride was released, again with two new race tracks, and two new racer powers. And on these tracks we now have 3D ramps and animals! Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. The first new track deploys 3D ramps! They are very simply popped out, folded together and placed onto the marked spaces on the map. They add nothing mechanically, you could easily play without them. The pieces are purely for table presence. But I love them and would never now play without them being added. As players approach each ramp, you need to carefully consider which card you are playing as per all the usual parameters; but now also the size of the ramp. Each ramp displays a number, ranging from three to six. If you play a card with a movement score for the particular coloured car approaching the ramp with a number that matches or exceeds the ramp size you can then if you chose, take the jump! The landing space also must be clear and you must have at least one more movement left as you reach the ramps location. Using the ramps in the way, players can cut off a lot of the track and increase their chance of victory with particular cars a great deal. There is one ramp all players must take, but the others are all a choice. The ramps also provide some very interesting ways for players to slow down other vehicles. If you drive deliberately around a ramp, avoiding the start, or use other cars to block either the access to a ramp or the landing space, you can significantly slow other vehicles down by forcing them to take the longer route. Physically lifting your car after racing up to the ramp and making it fly through the air before landing smoothly with a skid in the landing area... well I defy anyone to not be taken back to their childhood and make a whooshing noise as they essentially play with cars again. What a joy! There is some lovley detail in the art for this board. Sharks and Sting rays can be seen swimming through the water as you race around. It adds nothing to the game but looks great. There is one final large jump on the home straight that allows players to miss three spaces. This can add a very exciting twist to the final moments of the game, with cars, previously languishing at the back racing up to the front spaces. A six for the orange or yellow car here changes everything! The second new map introduces three wild animals into the fast paced race! A giant snake, an Elephant, and a herd of Wildebeest are now casually walking around the speeding cars! They add a wonderful catch up mechanic and allow players some very interesting choices as they move each vehicle around the track. The snake is placed on each corner, four times, to force the lead vehicle to take a wider turn, thus using more movement and allowing the other cars behind to catch up. This works because as each animal is passed by the lead car, the animal is moved to its next location, freeing up the track for the other cars. The width of the Elephant taking up two spaces on the track means it creates bottlenecks, where cars can be blocked in quite easily before it moves on. The Wildebeest take up two spaces on the track and when moved are replaced by one space. Cars moving through spaces vacated by the Wildebeest can catch up with the lead cars using these short cuts. I love the design on this board, and how the animal migratory paths are clearly shown. Are these animals really getting in the way of this race track, or has some idiot built a race track over a group of animal migratory paths? You can see how the Elephants can be easily used to block other cars in. Here the green car has been placed behind the Elephant, and now cannot move until another car passes the arrowed lines behind the Elephant which would cause it to move onto the final space. Until that point, the green car has to sit and wait. So we have one track with jumps that allows cars to race on ahead and catch up other cars, and another track with pinch points and animal blockades that allows for a more congested race. Both offer interesting choices and make for a very different feel as you play the game. The game also comes with two new race powers. I am not sure I like Civilised much Personally I do not see why anyone would ever chose this one? Maybe I am missing something? Lucky is a lot of fun though, and one that if you are dealt a lot of low numbered wild cards could be a great addition to your strategy. Obviously there is a bit of luck involved but it creates a fun and quite separated moment from the rest of the game, that I think adds a nice little twist. I would recommend this game to anyone who owns the base game. It does not change the game drastically but certainly adds some variation and small twists that will keep the game fresh and interesting for many more plays.

Just Wild WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Cascadia, Abstract Academy. Published by: Helvetiq Designed by: Leo Colovini, Marco Franchin Distributed in the UK by: Coiledspring Games This is a review copy. See our review policy here Helvetiq makes small boxes full of joy. With Just Wild they seem to have turned their attention to promoting a very valid wildlife and environmental concern around four threatened species native to mainland Europe. This has come about with a partnership with Salamandre, a non-profit French/Swiss publishing house. The plight of the Lynx, Wolf, Bear, and Ibex are detailed in the rulebook within a production that has been made with the highest environmental standards available. But is the game any good? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Just Wild In the box you will fund a deck of 80 cards. 20 each for the four animals in the the game. The Lynx, Bear, Ibex, and Wolf. Each player chooses an animal to play as and takes their respective deck of cards. Each animal also has six tokens. Distribute these to each player based on their chosen animal as well. Each player then shuffles their deck and places their top card into a starting central area. Each card is placed in turn order, one at a time, touching each other adjacently, forming a rectangle. Each player then draws a starting hand of three cards and you are ready to play. How To Play Just Wild On each players turn one card must be played. This typically would be one card chosen from their hand of three cards, placed over the top of two other half cards. However, if a player cannot do this or chooses not to do this, then they must place a card face down on the table from the top of their deck. Players are looking to form the biggest total of their chosen animals cards. At the end of the game, each face up animal for each player scores each player one point. But, each player ends the game at different times based on when their deck runs out. When you place a card over the top of other cards, the card you are placing must be equal too or have a higher value than the cards it is covering. Each face up card has a number for each half, and the total of the two halves you are covering is totalled up, and you must be able to match or beat this in order to cover it over with your card. The cards have value running from one to ten. Whenever you are covering two cards, and one of the halves has a ten, no card will be able to match or beat the total, as it will be above ten, and everyone's highest card is ten. In this situation, players can still cover the cards but must use two cards to do so. One from their hand as usual, and another taken from the top of their deck, placed face down. Face down cards have a value too, and can be covered just like other cards. Typically they have lower values, and of course, do not show any animals artwork, so will not score any player any points. When a player places their last card they will immediately score one point for each face up animal of their chosen type. The other players will then continue as usual until they run out of cards. If any player who has finished has any of the scored cards covered by players in later turns, this will not affect their score. All players have a number of cards in their hands with artwork that shows their animal walking with an infant. Ten from their total deck of 20 in fact. When these are placed, players may choose if they wish to mark this half with a token. This means this half of the card is protected and cannot be covered by any card later in the game. You must choose carefully when to place these, thinking about which cards your opponents may try or want to cover. At the end of the game, when all players have placed all of their cards, the player with the most points is the winner. Is It Fun? Just Wild Card Game Review Before I come to the gameplay, I want to touch on the production. I applaud Helvetiq for creating such a sustainable and environmentally friendly product. It is clear from the slip case with no cellophane, and paper card holders, that everything has been considered with this production when it comes to being green. Well done to them for that. It must be said though that this does affect the quality. The cards are quite thin and the tokens feel quite cardboardy. With such a small box production, I wonder if there could be a balance here. Or if there are other methods than can be employed that deliver the same impact on the environment but with a slightly better finish for the user? But, I do want to be clear, the components are fine. They are not bad. They are just not up to the usual Helvetiq standards. I mention this with caution as I understand what has been attempted here, and it feels that the world and our children's future is the bigger picture over card stock! I mention purely for honesty. The gameplay however, absolutely is up to the usual Helvetiq standards. Like most Helvetiq games, this is incredibly easy to learn and teach, but still a lot of fun to play. I think it works best in a four player game. The two player is fine, and very fast. But does feel a little confrontational and full of take-that moments as you can only ever attack one other player. But in a three or four, where there is more choice and naturally a larger game area, the game opens up to more strategic choices. You don't want to let anyone run away with the lead, and as everyone has the same deck, games tend to be tight affairs, with all players being in with a chance right until the end. Being able to play seems to be the key. If ever you have cards in hand that are not of a high enough value to cover two other half cards, you are forced to play a card face down from your deck, which essentially wastes a card. Being able to prevent this and keep as many of your cards face up on the table is how you do well. Which admittedly has some luck to it. You only ever have three cards in your hand after all. As such, I wander if a better variant of the game would have allowed players to hold five cards instead of three? There is a lot of joy in creating little areas you can call your own though. Many board game designers seem to understand this and offer it within our hobby. Creating something, no matter how small or temporary feels good. Scoring that thing you have created gives your time some worth. Adding an see-saw nature to the control you have in what you can create by adding competitors makes it a game. With Just Wild, the elements of area majority have been distilled to its finest format and the result is an incredibly simple but fun game to play. I wonder if there could be just one or two more wrinkles to the gam though. It feels a little too light. I like the opportunity to add the tokens, but wonder if the artwork could have brought in a few other variants with some of your animals being in packs, or perhaps with other powers that allowed more strategic choices. This is Cascadia light. A very good thing! But maybe just a little too light. There is a delightful environmental message with this game though that must be applauded. Not just the theme and production, but also the preservation of the young animals over the old. Nurturing the next generation of these endangered species and putting more focus on the young. It has allowed for some wonderful conversations with my children that I otherwise might not have had. I would reccomend this game to any young family who have an interest in conseration or the environemt and are looking for a new game to play as a group after tea that brings both fun and conversation to the table.

The Night Hunter: Murder Mystery Party WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1- 99 You’ll like this if you like: Unsolved Case Files, Exit Games Published by: University Games Designed by: Jordan Goddard, Mandy Goddard, Ryan Schoon By Steve Godfrey This is a review copy. See our review policy here NO SPOILERS!! It’s October (when this review originally went up) so it’s nearly time for Halloween. The time of year where us parents buy a load of sweets “just in case” we get trick or treaters. Then we don’t get any because we’ve not put up any decorations or indications that we want trick or treaters, so we have to eat all of the sweets for ourselves. I know we could cut out the middleman and buy ourselves sweets, but sometimes it’s just nice to blame someone else for our sugar habit once in a while. At least this year we can gorge ourselves while solving a murder mystery. How to catch a killer. It couldn’t be easier to get playing The Night Hunter. Open the box and take out the field guide, the light and read the first note from the captain. Collect the contents for chapter one then read the next note which has your first objective. You’ll have to successfully solve the first objective before you can open the next envelope with a new objective. Each chapter has a few objectives that you’ll have to solve using the evidence you’re presented with. Each objective will be along the lines of “why did the killer use Frosties to murder their victims?” The answer of course is because they were a cereal killer. Don’t worry, the real ones are actually proper questions. A true detective. The first thing you’ll notice, especially if you’ve played other puzzle games, is that this is presented very much as an investigation more akin to something you’ll see on TV rather than a series of straight up puzzles like an Unlock or an Exit game. Although you will still get one or two of those here. You’re going to be presented with pieces of evidence, crime scene photos, witness statements and a great many things. It’s then your job to sift through these to solve each objective you’re presented with. I’ve played another mystery game in this sort of style before and I’m really enjoying how the format works. It’s just great fun being surrounded by all that evidence and scrutinising every piece like a real (fictional) detective. We’ve all seen those tv shows and I reckon we’ve all fancied ourselves as a bit of a detective at one time or another. I mean how many times have you sat on the sofa and uttered the words “I reckon it was them”? That’s made even better of course if you turn out to be right. Well here you get to flex those muscles properly to prove how good you really are. You get to have those epiphany moments and then have to rifle through everything to find that evidence you read earlier which, at the time, was a bit weird and probably nothing but now it’s a key piece of the puzzle. You get so into it that you’ll want to run to the shops and get yourself a notice board, push pins and a ton of red string. Just make sure you get the notice board though and don’t use the wall, trust me, filling in that many holes in the wall is a lot of work! The puzzles themselves are a good mix of difficulties. Some we got probably too quickly, yet others took a good while to crack. Personally I prefer a good mix like this. There’s nothing worse than being constantly stuck on every puzzle and having to resort to hints. It doesn’t do your confidence much good and takes you out of the experience. On the flip side, make everything too easy and you fly through the whole thing and you don’t feel like you’ve got enough of a challenge out of it and you can feel like you’ve not gotten your money's worth. Speaking of getting your money's worth, the box says that play time is about 4-5 hours which I think is the longest of the puzzle/mystery games I’ve played. I’d say that was about right for us over our three sessions but that’ll vary depending on how quick you are solving and how many players you play with. In case you are worried about the time then the multi chapter format gives you a good place to save your game. It also serves to make the game feel like you’re playing through a true crime Netflix documentary. You’ll be tempted to binge it, but soon realise that it’s late and you should really try and go to bed. The good thing is that the story is engaging enough that you want to keep coming back and does a nice job of ramping up to a tense conclusion. If you feel like the current line up of fictional detectives just aren’t cutting it then why not solve the mystery of The Night Hunter to show them how it’s really done.

By Trywin Games Checks Paper copy of Essen ticket. Check. Paper list of stands to visit, along with interview timetable. Check. Fully charged phone. Check. Small rucksack containing wireless microphone set, bottle of water, power pack, demo copy of my game just in case, and numerous other trinkets to support any unfolding scenario. Check. It’s the 40th anniversary of Spiel Essen. Let’s do this! This is Spiel Number Two for me. The first, last year, was a tourist affair. My personal brief was to experience the event from the fan perspective. To enjoy the fair, but also to analyse it from a designer/publisher perspective to see the different tips and tricks to draw fans to booths and stands. This year the brief was different. In what may become a long running tradition, I was linking up with the gang who went last year to create a bunch of misfits each with our own desires and expectations of Spiel. In addition to the social aspect I had volunteered to grab interviews and sound bites from folks in the gaming world for the Meeple2Meeple podcast. If planning had been a minor consideration last year, it was a big focus this year. Each day was punctuated with specific meeting rooms or places for me to find, along with arranging on-the-fly sound bites with members of the Instagram community and checking out as many of the games from the Meeple2Meeple recommendations list. Between said missions I had a personal desire to explore as much of the event as possible. So what was it like? Travel Travel into and from the event is often missed in summaries of the show but it’s a vital consideration. Notionally there are thirty-five hours available to you, if you are the first in and last out on each public day, Thursday to Sunday. If you want to arrive promptly then travel will be a priority for you. The pre-show grapevine suggested that train schedules would be unpredictable and thus car traffic was likely to be higher and a knock-on effect to local car parks demand. Our accommodation was in Duisburg, a circa twenty-five-minute car drive to Spiel. This journey could also be a rail ride, with estimates between one hour and one hour and a half. Across the weekend a mix of methods was used. But suffice to say, despite using the rail journey (two trams, two trains) four times I never got the one-hour version of the trip. How many people? Thursday is the day for hardcore gamers. The super fans will want to make the dash to their favourite stalls, often with large empty suitcase, to snag the priority games. Aside from the early rush the rest of the day is relatively relaxed, with stallholders looking fresh faced and happy to explain their wares. However, customs delays seemed to be prevalent with many gamers queueing for games to arrive at the show (rather than them already being at the stand as expected). Friday is busier. There is still room to move around but the bigger stands are becoming busy. The smaller booths have now realised that they need to schedule play tests so that their entire event isn’t spent managing would-be players. Saturday. You know that move you do when you need to squeeze through a small gap? Perhaps between a Ford Focus and a Toyota Yaris in the car park. Or maybe through a door, that hasn’t opened all of the way. That shoulder lift, the breathing in, the heightened sense of where your body is, trying not to collide with any of your surroundings. Now add in all of the extras from Ben Hur, and get ready for some penguin shuffling all day. It’s hot, it’s cramped, it smells of coffee, pretzels, body spray and body odour and farts. To answer the question of how many people are at Spiel on Saturday – all of them. Everywhere. Sunday. There is space. The air is fresher. There is a glazed look on the stall holders. Maybe they have slept over the last few days, maybe they haven’t. Maybe they have kept track of time, maybe they haven’t. Time has no meaning at Spiel. Sunday is a nice day to enjoy the event. Games There are so many to check out. Some I played, some I saw, here are my notes. Played: Furnace – already known, but played according to Jim’s rules. Fit and forget. Still makes me shudder. (Editors note: Not my rules, the official variant that makes it better! haha) Ito – great game that reveals more about your fellow players than you might realise. Or want. Nmbr9++ - The expansion to Nmbr9. A fun little puzzle. Gay Sauna – What happened at the sauna, stays at the sauna. Patterns – A two-player area control, tile flipping, point scoring delight. Kavango – A nature lovers dream! Spotted, would like to play: Kelp – two-player asymmetric shark versus octopus Flamme Rouge Grand Tour – campaign version of the classic, coming 2024. Skyteam – two-player dice placement to successfully land a plane. 12 rivers – three-dimensional river valley which looks fantastic and gameplay seems great too. Forest Shuffle – a sell-out at Spiel, nature-based ecosystem builder. Too Many Bones – Intriguing dice roller to defeat big monsters. Nokosu Dice – a recommendation….need to find out more! Galactic Cruise – stunning table presence…need to know more! Celtae – play as Celts, building your clan and fighting the Romans. Western Legends Showdown – two-player wallet game. Looks fun. Liars and Looters – bluffing to claim loot! Master of Rules – multi-player-invoked-rule trick taker. MLEM Space Agency – co-op push your luck in space. And cats. Among Cultists – social deduction game that looks fun. Lowlights No open gaming. For an event of this size and type open gaming would be enormously useful. Not only for resting but to help spread awareness of the games on offer. And to make new friends. Not enough seats. Even without open gaming there are nowhere near enough seats for the amount of people. Around the inside and outside catering areas people can be found in some sort of post-apocalyptic setting hunched up over a paper box of poutine with a wooden fork, sat awkwardly on the tarmac floor. Everyone is spying the couple across from them who are seated on two stacked wooden pallets. Oh to obtain the timber luxury! No water refills. At four euro per bottle, staying hydrated could be expensive. Free water seems inexcusable. Unless there was a spring that I failed to locate. Highlights Fresh air. Between some of the halls were central loading areas that now housed the catering wagons. These areas were great for short term breaks, as well as grabbing food. Never has air felt so fresh than when emerging from the heady halls of Spiel. Evenings. Every evening is an opportunity for some great fun. Thursday provided the ‘never to be forgotten’ comparison of which is more beautiful a Crow or Cheesecake in a game of Ito in the apartment Friday night. Friday was a great big burger meet and eat at Traumkuh. Saturday was a hearty meal at Olga’s. Creepy dolls didn’t detract from the deliciousness. Sunday was a motorway service burger on the way leaving Spiel. Demo of Can’t Go. On each day I carried a copy of my game, just in case the moment arose to play. And on Saturday, in the Europa room as part of the Content Creator’s meeting space (above the foyer at the entrance to Hall 3) I demo’d the game with brodatyboardgames. That was cool. Final thoughts It’s a really tricky thing to culminate the whole Spiel experience into a few words. Describing it as a wonderful, congested, frantic, exuberant, unique and bizarre experience goes a little way towards the feel of the cornucopia of tabletop gaming. The thing that really made it memorable was the fantastic people I got to meet. Thank you to everyone who said hi, or played a game, or shared a meal. You’re awesome.

In 2021 I was excited about Excavation Earth, Riverside, and Golem. You can read about that here. Some useful tips for the show too if you ever plan to go and want some advice. In 2022 it was all about Walkie Talkie as I fell hard for the designers behind The Red Cathedral. Again, its here if you want it. This year, it was different. I planed going very late. So, I did not book many meetings with publishers which meant I was free to do what I wanted more of the time, with no obligations, and it was lovely. I played what I want, and came home with what I want. It cost a lot more! But was better. I was very keen on getting some games still, I had still done my research, here was my hit list pre-show. I got them all apart from Nokous Dice which sold out every day, Planta Nubo which a friend bought instead and I thought I could play theirs! On The Moon was demo only, Cascadia Landmarks was overpriced in my opinion, Sea Dragons sold out and Redwood was on a stand I sadly did not get too in my two days. The rest are sat next to me right now, plus a few more. Onto the awards! Best game I played Nekojima, Ito, and That's not a Hat all take a three way tie for top spot this year. Three small, party games. "Where are the big euros Jim?!" Best game I bought I still have a lot to play, but Nekojima, Ito, and That's not a Hat will take a lot of beating. I bought all three after playing at the fair, well, ITO I didn't play but knew what it did, and loved them all instantly. I may come back here later and re-address this once all purchased games are played. Nucleum is looking at me right now with a cheeky grin on its face! Best small box game I still have not played it yet but I am confident this will be The White Castle which I am so excited about playing soon! Best Party game Nekojima is more of a dexterity games so I will exclude that. So it is between Ito and That's not a Hat and I will have to go with another tie. But if you really forced me to pick on, I would hide one inside the other, they are tiny, and pretend I had picked one but in truth, they cannot be separated for me. Both great fun! Best Kickstarter coming soon There was so many but the one that really caught my eye was Galactic Cruise coming to Kickstarter next spring from Dranda games. It looks epic! Best Kickstarter out now This has to be Kavango from first time designers Matt and Zara, who are the nicest people and have made an incredible game. Well worth checking out. Best Kickstarter in fulfilment Oh my, I am so excited for Mythwind. I got to meet one of the designers there and this game just seems more and more incredible every time I think about it. Open world gaming, potentially, at its finest. We will see. Best Stand This year I am giving that to Board & Dice. A nice big stand with lots of staff on hand. Loads of tables. A lot of people were dressed up in fancy dress to honour their big release of the show Nucleum, and the whole area looked amazing. I had a fantastic demo of their 2024 release Windmill Valley there too with a great teach. It looks amazing fun. My only disappointment of the show was not being able to do it all! Standard. And not being able to get a few games I wanted as they sold out. I was there 10:20am on day one, 20 minutes after opening, and Nokosu Dice was gone for the day. I could have gone in early with my press pass but I feel that is not fair on everyone else. Exhibitors get to buy early which I am sort of ok with, they cannot do it during the rest of the day as they are working. The next day, a similar thing happened, although I got there a little later. This game was out in 2016. A re-print and some hype after some big names talked about it have given this game it's five minutes and sadly it seems the publisher could not respond in time, and print enough copies. I hope when it comes back to print and is available to buy, people are still keen. I for one will be. But I fear the hype will fade and we will all move onto the new shiny thing. All I have played of this game is one round (of three), but I loved it and I think it deserves the hype. It is so clever with just a few simple twists on the usual trick-taking experience, the game feels so fresh and new. So, what did everyone else think? Let's see as we hear from some of my favourite people in the gaming world who are here to share their experiences with you so you can get a fully rounded opinion of the Spiel. Lee from Gamingoverboard This was my first time at Essen, having only been to a handful of cons before (UKGE twice and Airecon once), so I was basically expecting it to be like UKGE on steroids. Which it both was and wasn’t. The venue is enormous, and packed to the rafters with exhibitors, games, demos, games, dice, games, accessories, and a few more games for good measure. If you have a wish list, this is the place to make all of those wishes come true – I unexpectedly managed to pick up some games, promos and expansions that are either impossible or prohibitively expensive to get in the UK. Of course, Essen is also packed with people, so if you’re not a fan of crowds this is not going to be your vibe (although perhaps the relatively quieter Thursday or Sunday would work better for you). That said, the aisles are very wide and the exhibitors well spaced out so, a few bottlenecks aside, I felt far less crushed than I did at UKGE, and there are a couple of empty halls/outdoor spaces if you need to step out and take a breather. On the downside, there is very little gaming taking place. I was prepared for this in theory, but the significance of its absence didn’t hit home until I was actually there. My favourite bit about cons is sitting down and playing games with friends I don’t usually get to see. Not only is there ZERO open gaming in Essen (hell, you’d be incredibly lucky just to sit down full stop) but it’s also very hard to demo any games. Every exhibitor has a handful of demo tables, but obviously not enough to satisfy the enormous demand. If there’s a hot game or big developer you want to try out, you’re gonna have to loiter for a very long time or get very lucky with timings (every time I went to the Garphill stand it was just as a new teach was starting, and let’s not forget the kind gentlemen who stole the Art Society table we’d been waiting for longer than them). Due to this, my favourite day of the con was the day we didn’t actually go to the con and stayed in the Airbnb gaming all day. Which does beg the question if there’s any point in me going again in the future, when I can get my fix much closer to home instead… Mubeen from mubeen_saddique This year, as I made my way to Essen, I wasn’t sure what to feel. There didn’t appear to be a standout game to look out for, there were predictions of impending chaos due to the new hall plans, and I’d been told I’d be demo’ing one of the most anticipated games of the fair, Galactic Cruise. But as the doors opened, the halls filled and the humdrum of people enjoying their hobby grew into a hubbub, the nausea I was feeling dissipated, and slowly but surely, it was replaced by pure joy. My personal highlight was the chance, once again, to meet with friends I usually only get to see a few times a year, to catch up and have a laugh interspersed with some gaming – double the fun when they come over to watch me demo! I also enjoy seeing people from around the world come to the booth and take a seat ready to get into the demo – I had folks from Australia, America, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK partake in games, and it’s great to see how folks from different cultures react over their love of their shared hobby. As an exhibitor, I was lucky enough to buy games at Essen in the hour before the doors open to the public, but when there are few copies of a game, the public doesn’t stand a chance at getting a copy, as they’ll all sell out. In my opinion, publishers need to reserve some stock exclusively for sale to the public (perhaps a gradual release of stock during the day?). It's also very hard to get a demo of a game if you walk the halls alone. The app this year was superb – perhaps it’s worth adding a “find a person to demo with” feature to team up with others during the convention. I took great pleasure in encouraging individuals or groups of two to join the Galactic Cruise demo, as it was a great way to ensure everybody who was interested could be included, and I hope they appreciated it too. So, another Essen is in the books, and with plenty of new games, now it’s time to nurse my sore throat, eat something healthy again and remedy the sleep deprivation! Erlijne from Mostly Solo There was one thing I knew for sure this year: I needed all the Saasi & Saashi games. It was my second time visiting Spiel and last year Saashi & Saashi did not have a stand. Despite their fantastic artwork and fun games, they're not the most accessible brand in Europe. That meant: spending my first 45 minutes at the fair anxiously awaiting the moment I could ask for a copy of Come Sail Away and Newsboys. Those two games were the start of a very artwork centred haul: Jokkmokk has cool vintage graphics, Islet is as beautiful looking as its predecessor Coral, both Bonsai and The White Castle are right up my aesthetically pleasing Japan obsessed alley, and Portals has amazing box art and great components. And that's just the haul part, because boy did I see pretty games I wanted to try! Satori (cure monk meeples), Galactic Cruise (amazing box art) and of course Evenfall, which has amazing art, even better player boards and — as it turns out — fantastic gameplay. (For those of you wondering: Yes, all of the aforementioned games come with a solo mode.) But maybe the best part? Sitting down with friends after two days of walking the fair, playing games for a whole day and laughing until we cried. Despite all the money I spent on fantastic games, the 9 euro party game I did not buy will forever have the most impact of Spiel 2023. Marie from Burtons Boards This was my third year attending Essen Spiel and I’ve pretty much been looking forward to it since the end of the last one. I know exactly what to expect now and so this year felt more relaxed right from the start. Also turning up late and missing all the queues to get in is my new favourite thing! There was only one game I really cared about buying and after that it felt nice to just leisurely wander the halls, ticking off games I was interested in checking out. I’ve seen a few people complaining about never getting a space to demo games and that may be true for all the big hype games but whenever we decided our legs ached and we wanted to sit, we would find ourselves a table. You just can’t be too picky. It felt a little different this year. Not being so concerned about buying everything on my list meant we moved through the halls at a slower pace and so there was a lot that I didn’t end up seeing but that also meant that the crowds and the queues didn’t bother me. It was a difference that I liked and I look forward to this new, less obsessed me attending again next year! But what was the same was the joy of seeing friends. There are some people that I completely count as friends even though we see each other once a year and talk for 3 minutes. And there are others who are now firmly my Essen family. We will live and game together for 4 days every October from now on. This year we stayed in apartments, rather than hotel rooms, which meant we could game together in the evenings. This more than made up for the lack of open gaming at the convention. We also stayed an extra night so that we could have a full day of playing all our exciting new games together and it was perfect. 2 days of Spiel is always enough for me but I will never have enough of playing games with friends until 2am and laughing so much you can hardly breathe and making memories that make you smile when you think back on them. So tell me, which do you find more beautiful? A crow or cheesecake?

There are about 1,200 games on the BGG release list for this year's spiel. From this extensive list, there are a lot of duplicates to be fair. Games being released in different languages. A lot of expansions and games only available for demo. But that still leaves about 700 games actually being released, for sale at the spiel. Out of all of these? Which is the best? I have no idea. Do you think I have played them all? Give me a chance. Most have very little information out about them yet. But, I have trolled the list of games, researched as best I could and come up with a nice simple list for you. My top 5 games I am most excited to try and maybe buy. In no particular order. But starting with my favourite! The White Castle - This is designed by two of my favourite designers in the board game industry. Isra C. and Shei S. form Llama Dice and have so far made one of my favourite small box games, The Red Cathedral and one of my favourite little cards game from last years Essen Walkie Talkie. Now they return with another small box full of juicy euro goodness that looks so crunchy, so tight, and yet so accessible. A proper Euro you can play in under an hour that is full of great decisions. It has had mixed reviews so far but I think this will be right up my street and I cannot wait to play it for myself. Nokosu Dice - I love trick-taking games but with the way the market is now-a-days, you gotta have a twist, right? Well, relax! This game introduces dice, yes dice to a card based trick-taker. In each trick, each player plays either a card or dice. And that's about all I know about this one. But that's enough for me. Plus it has a cool box. But I did find this on the BGG description. "There is also a chance to win bonus points at the end of each round if the number of the tricks won in the round matches the last dice left OR if a player declares they would not win any trick for the round and actually won no trick." Which sounds wicked to me. I am in. Picture courtesy of BGG user - Eric Planta Nubo - This is a tile laying worker placement game where players are trying to grow energy rich flowers and plants in cloud based gardens. What you grow is then delivered to biomass converters to be transformed into green energy. Sounds right up my street, and that is just the start. But in short, this is crunchy steam punk farming. Early signs are that this game could be quite weighty. It currently ranks as a 4/5 on BGG for weight, but its very early days. That may well come down. But colour me intrigued. Here is the back of the box in German. Helpful? Portals - This is an abstract pattern building game in which players are collecting magic keys to open portals to other worlds, I think, to try and find someone called Dominick Dey’s? There is an open draft in which players draft Elemental stones to complete various shapes on Key cards. When done, you can activate them to gain points. It looks gorgeous (from what I can see) and sounds wonderful. ito This is a cooperative game where each player is given a secret number between 1 and 100 that then have to be placed in order with the other players number based on some vague clues you can give each other based on various themes. It sounds a little like Wavelength which I love, so I am intrigued how this builds on this idea. I am also very excited for the Furnace: Interbellum, Cascadia: Landmarks, and Sea Salt & Paper: Extra Salt expansions which all look incredible, and Apiary, which would have made this list, other than I know I am going to be getting that after the show, so I don't need to play it here. Honourable mentions: (Other games I want I can find even less info about) From the Moon - I demo'd this last year and it looked ace. Love a space theme and mini Rovers look wicked! Nekojima - This is dexterity game, and it looks like this. Do you really need to know anymore?! Papertown - This is an abstract strategy city building game that looks like it has multiple ways to score points. It seems quick and fun, and I want it! Redwood - I demo'd this last year as well and it looked incredible. Beautiful components, original gameplay, and a slick ruleset. I am in. Sail This is a pirate themed cooperative trick-taker. The world needs more of those right? But it seems to have a cool twist in that players can not always communicate based on the noise of the Kraken and each player will have a unique character skills that can sometimes use to help benefit the group. Sea Dragons - This is an area control abstract strategy game that looks stunning and i want to touch these pieces immediately. Check it out. Picture courtesy of BGG user Jose Manuel Alvarez Right, I am off to pack my bags. See you there!

Malum Hortus is the new ambitious project from Atikin Games. The people behind a number of charming small box games and projects. You can find out more about them here. But now, in what is their first big box game, Malum Hortus takes players into a mysterious and enchanting garden, as dangerous as it is beautiful. In this preview we will run through the basic gameplay and give you our thoughts. You can find more about this game here - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atikingames/malum-hortus?ref=discovery Malum Hortus Board Game Preview - This is a prototype version with only some final art and components, and it does not represent the final quality or look of the game. Malum Hortus is set within a strange and dangerous garden. But don't be fooled by the word garden. You are playing as a small Nymph, and this garden is more of a spiralling jungle to you. Your job is the help save as many critters as you can, whilst avoiding the plants attacking you as you try to make your way to the fringes of the garden and escape. This is a cooperate game where you will all win and lose as a team. To set the game up, place the board as below with critter tokens on each critter space. Place the flowers onto their marked spaces onto he tracks, two per path. And set each standee onto the starting spaces in the centre of the board. Give each player a character board, health tracker and power token along with three rune stone cards. Shuffle the rest of these cards and place in a face down deck with three cards facing up forming the rockery. Shuffle the animal cards and place them into a face down deck in the central player area along with the three dice and Root board, which shows the flowers in play for this game and their turn order. Place the Corruption token into the middle location. This is given to any player who loses all their health to remind the players it has happened. Finally, set up the night deck, placing as many cards as you want based on your desired difficulty. You are now ready to play. Players will now take it in turns to play one card from their hand in an attempt to escape the garden before they become trapped within its grasps. Each card has two uses. The main action shown on the top left, which will be to either take damage, gain magic, heal, move another player, move one of the flowers, or gain an additional night card. Players will take this action, then move the number of spaces as shown on the bottom right of the card. Movement can be forwards or backwards, and sometimes there will be no movement at all. Generally when the card has a stronger power. Players will then carry out the action of the space they landed on which will be to either take a damage, gain magic, heal, or attempt to save a critter. To save a critter, players must discard five magic tokens and then draw a critter card. Some reward you with a bonus, whilst others may punish you in ways you did not expect. Once players have played their card they will redraw one card from one of the three face up rockery cards to get back to a hand of three. Other options available to you are to discard your cards and redraw three cards, or to discard the current three face up rockery cards and redraw these. Players also have one passive and active power. The passive powers are in play at all times and helps players gain extra magic, take less damage, heal, or save critters with less magic. The active powers come in to play when players chose so at a cost of two magic, and allow players to move their character extra spaces, move the flowers out of their way, heal, or stun a flower making it inactive that night. When all players have taken their action, the night phase begins. All flowers will become uprooted which means they will move and attack. One player will need to roll the D6 to determine each flowers movement which is done in order according to the Root board. If any plants move onto a space occupied by a players standee then you need to roll the D4 to determine damage. Some powers, cards or effects will increase or decrease this so be sure to check. When all flowers have been uprooted, draw the top night card read it aloud and carry out its actions. Some cards will help your progress, others may hinder your way. They continue the story in a beautiful way. The writing is wonderfully ethereal and engaging. When a player reaches the end of their track, they have escaped. They are still in the game and play cards as usual, but will now focus their attention on helping the other players. If the final night card is drawn and last least one player is still in the garden then all players will lose. If more than one player loses all their health then all players lose. The only way to win is for all players to reach the final spaces of their tracks before either of these conditions are met. There are multiple ways to set the game up to create the right level of difficulty and tension for your current desire. This is crucial to the success of the game. The balance needs to be right for a good game. And when it is right, this is wonderfully tense. The best way to describe this the feeling I have when I play this game is a poetic wistfulness. It has a delightful narrative running underneath the clever card play and cooperative movement of the players that keeps you hooked. It will be interesting to see what the final artwork looks like. A lot is just holding copy for now, so it is hard to get a true feel for the game, especially as it relies so much on the theme to help with the story. But, the mechanics are solid, and the tension created from the gameplay is a very enjoyable. A good co-op game for me needs to be winnable but challenging. Suspenseful but achievable. This game delivers here. You need to set the game up right for you to achieve this though. You need to decide how many Night cards are used in the night deck and reducing the amount of lucky critter cards in the critter deck to suit your groups experience with the game. The game ends in a slightly strange way currently but I think this will be ironed out in the final version. You will score based on how many critters you saved, how much health, magic and unused night cards you had left, and then lose points if any player had their health reduced to zero or not. But this score feels arbitrary. You either won or lost. What good does a score do? But perhaps some tiers of scoring based on the difficulty level could be used to present different endings. Currently there is a brief piece of text to read based on how the game ended. Perhaos there could be different ones for each score? This would hold the thematic ties to the game a little more. There is a delightful introduction to this game. The story within the game from the night and critter cards shines through. It needs and deserves an ending of a similar nature. I like the small asymmetry with the characters and perhaps would like to see this developed with the eight different flowers, which currently all operate in the same way. A small change in each flowers behaviour would be interesting to me. And perhaps a way to make the game path a little less linear. Maybe some of the unused spaces on the paths now could be portals where characters can jump from one path to another. I will follow this campaign with great interest and am keen to see how the game develops both in terms of look and rules. But in its current form I would say this is a sure fire hit, and a game I would happily play again and again. I found myself wrapped up in its beauty and whimsical charm. I found the theme intriguing, original, and captivating and the balance of the game play perfectly poised.